May New Moms

[Delanl]

I'll start us off this month.:)

Me: 30
DH: 29
Kylie: 12 weeks

Achievements: We started giving Kylie a bottle this weekend for one feeding and she did great. Both times she drank 3 oz. with no problems. My MIL and mom are going to come by this week and give her one each day, so she will keep getting used to it. Next week I plan to start supplementing formula for one feeding, gradually adding another every few days. It makes me very sad to think about it, as I wish I could EBF longer, but it just won't be possible when I return to work.:( At least I can still breastfeed at night and in the morning though. I'm not ready at all to give it up completely.:o

Kylie has also been sleeping at night for 5-6 hour stretches, which has been wonderful! Her nighttime fussiness has seemed to have tapered off too. She is such a happy baby, smiling and cooing all the time. We are just so in love with her.

Challenges: MIL. Need I say more?:D I think its going to be VERY interesting having her watch Kylie. I think we may be butting heads quite a bit. Long story short, practically EVERY TIME she comes over she asks if we have started giving Kylie cereal yet. Kylie was being fussy yesterday when she was over because she was overtired and my MIL was insisting that she was STARVING, even though she had just eaten and hour before. After a few minutes of walking around with her, she konked right off. It really ticks me off, because it makes me feel like she thinks my breastmilk isn't enough. DH finally stepped in after the cereal comment and very firmly said, NO, not until she is 6 months old. She is doing great with bf-ing, she's happy and gaining weight, so stop asking us that. Oy. I also had a conversation later with her about over-feeding Kylie when she starts on the formula. If Kylie is fussy when she's watching her, I would really, really like her to try other ways to calm her rather than shoving a bottle in her mouth. DH and I def need to have the little sit-down with her soon to go over everything for when she watches Kylie.

Other than that, our other challenge is getting Kylie on the bottle consistently and supplementing formula. I am hoping that I don't have to go through 4 or 5 formulas to find one she does well with. My ped recommended when start with Similac Lipil.

Kylie is being christened on the 25th, so I have begun preparations for that, ordered favors, booked the restaurant. We are keeping it small, only about 15 people. I am hoping Kylie will be able to wear my christening gown. I was 5 months old when I was christened though, so it may be too big.

How is everyone else doing?

leigh

[valchemist]

Me: 38
DH: 43
Julia 6
Kate will be 3 in july
Nelson just turned 4 months

oh the in law stories make me cringe. I am happy to have really great in laws. my mom does think I should start cereal earlier than I will, but she doesn't bother me too much.

nelson is still up 2-3 times per night. sleeps from 8 til 6 or so. not great, but better than my other two kids ever did.

he was 21 pounds and 27 inches at his 4 month checkup. and on the day he got the shots, the poor kid cut his first tooth. so he has been on the fussy side lately.

but overall, things are great. the girls are loving him (as are we) and getting quite a few giggles out of him these days. he has been enjoying his feet for a while now. just grabbing them so far, but I know one of these days we will transition over to toe sucking. always fun!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db24b3127ccea86b122fbab500000026100IbMWjhy5bsd

[RebeccaT]

Since Ben is 10 months old, I don't really qualify as a new mom anymore, but I am crashing the party to tell Val that Nelson is BEAUTIFUL!!! What a great smile!

Leigh, you are not alone with the MIL and cereal issue. We went through that with both of our kids and my MIL. It was just their generation, they fed their kids cereal when they were TINY compared to what's recommended now (my mom said she started giving me watered down solids at 2 weeks!!! But that's what her ped told her to do!). But it really stinks when they don't respect current research, or, more importantly, your wishes. My MIL was the same way, and she had this way of phrasing everything that made me feel like she was questioning my parenting. For instance, she would make comments while holding Julia or Ben as newborns when they started to fuss, "Aw, I know honey! Mama needs to feed you! Mama needs to feed this hungry child!" :mad: DH and I just kept repeating ourselves like broken records, "Our pediatrician told us to wait on the cereal. He'll start when he's 5-6 months."

As an aside, will our kids even know what a broken record is? :p

[valchemist]

"Aw, I know honey! Mama needs to feed you! Mama needs to feed this hungry child!" :mad: DH and I just kept repeating ourselves like broken records, "Our pediatrician told us to wait on the cereal. He'll start when he's 5-6 months."

As an aside, will our kids even know what a broken record is? :p

thanks, rebecca. and my mom is guilty of using this line, too. even once with nelson, who isn't exactly a light-weight. annoying, but I have found that it is best to try not to let it get to you instead of letting it fester. sometimes easier said than done. but really, you are the mom now. and moms really do know best.

nelson is now getting his second tooth. he can't catch a break, it seems!

oh -- and to the broken record comment... julia went to a preschool where they used real RECORDS! (old school with older teachers) so although I don't think she has ever experienced a broken record, at least I can properly explain the phrase to her now.

[rmg_CA]

Coming out from lurking...

Me 36
DH 39
Nicholas 3
Olivia 5 mo

The comments on cereal and sleeping make me chuckle. DS ate like a little piggy by the age DD is now. He was on 8oz bottles and cereal and first vegies/fruits. Olivia tried cereal at 4 mo and had the worst tummyache reaction, so I held off until 5 mo and the same thing happened. So now she's off it until at least 6 mo. She's doing great too, a little happy chunky baby. She wasn't ready. There's no rush, she's doing really great on just breastfeeding/pumped bottles. For us cereal kept her from sleeping well at night for a couple of days because she was way more gassy! She was up howling arching her back and tooting -- NOT sleeping!:rolleyes:

[veschke]

Me: 34
DH: 34
Lydia: 3.5
JJ: 4 mo

Hi, gang! We made it through our vacation, a whole week away from home. We visited my mom, sister, niece, and my grandparents in Erie, drove down to Butler to visit my father's mother there, crossed to Du Bois, PA to visit a high school friend of my husband's, made a brief stop in Bloomsbury, NJ where he lived for a while as a child, and finished up the trip in Brooklyn visiting a guy we know from college. We got home yesterday and I'm going to be days recovering. :) 1365 miles total. The new Accord performed flawlessly.

Things went very well, considering the kids and all the driving. JJ turned out to be a very good traveler, though he was up at night more than he is at home. We did have two panics, once when we lost sight of Lydia at the New York Aquarium, and then on our way back through CT we stopped for gas and managed to lock the car keys in the car - with the kids. :rolleyes: Thank goodness for AAA, they had a truck there within a half hour, no harm done, but I'm calling the dealer today to get a spare key made!

People love to give advice about feeding kids, it's amazing. I usually just nod and say something noncommittal. We'll be starting JJ on cereal in a few more weeks, I think. Ravenous creature that he is, I think he'll take to it. :)

[Delanl]

Just popping in in between my IL's and my parent's house to wish all the new mom's a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Hard to believe that this time last year I was so sad on this day after having gone through a miscarriage a few weeks prior, and now and I have a happy, healthy 3-month old! What a difference a year makes!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!

Leigh

[Krysia1031]

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! :)

Me: 26
DH: 29
DS: Matthew 8 mos.

Leigh - Great news about the bottle. I was in the same boat with the breastfeeding. I just couldn't do it when I returned to work, but built up a freezer supply and then switched to formula completely. Sounds like Kylie is doing great! Sorry to hear about your MIL. Mine drives me nuts too, for different reasons, put still drives me nuts sometimes! :( And I hope this Mother's Day was special for you.

Kim - When Matthew was 6 mos. old I had to go on a business trip for 4 days! :eek: I hated it, but they (DH & DS) made it, of course with lost of help from my mom. I think it was probably harder on him than it was on me. :o It was the one opportunity I could have slept all through the night, but wouldn't you know I kept waking up thinking I wonder how DS is sleeping? Is he awake? How is DH? :p

Val - Nelson is adorable! What a cuite (and we have that same outfit). He's such a big boy already. I can't believe the poor guy is cutting his 2nd tooth! We still have yet to see one tooth appear!

veschke - Glad to hear the vacation went good and the Accord held up! The story about locking the kids in the car made me chuckle. Last week, I went to the store, parked the car, got Matthew out of the seat and into the stroller, when I started to look for the keys to lock the car. Duh...they were still in the ignition and the car was still running. Not sure how I missed that.....Good thing the doors weren't locked. ;)

We are doing good here. Mother's Day was nice although the weather was horrible, cold & rainy. I tried giving Matthew the geber puffs, but he likes to play with them more than he likes to eat them. He loves all fruits & veggies and is crawling like a mad man all over the place. His favorite thing to do is crawl over to the dog's bowl and play with the water! :) He just babbles away and is so cute! He is still trying to stand whenever he can and we continue to have some "accidents" when he falls but nothing major and I know its just part of growing up! Still no teeth...I swear he'll be walking before he has any teeth!

DH & I had a surprise "date night" this past Friday. He surprised me with dinner & a movie. It was really fun. Tommorrow I need to fly to Newark for 2 days (part of my new responsibilities) and work with the woman whose job I am taking over. Can we say awkward? But I am coming home Wed. night so at least I won't be away from home too long.

We just can't wait for some nice weather to spend more time outside, especially since my son got me a hot pink gardening set. (Gotta love my DH...he tries). ;)

Hope everyone esle had a great Mother's Day! :D

Krysia

[aprilbride]

It's been a while!
Me: 34
DH: 39
DS: Just turned 3
DD: 3 months

All is well here! I'm back at work and we're getting back into a resemblance of a routine, which makes everything a lot easier. Mia is a laidback, easy going baby, only wakes up once at night and smiles a ton! She's doing great at daycare and DS enjoys going to visit her in the "baby room". I even took her to Germany for a week during my leave and she did great on the flight...

No experience with mommy blogs...But I'm curious what everyone else has to say...if there are some great recommendations I might have to check them out.

[Delanl]

Hi All!

Kylie had her first fever today. :( We had an appointment with the ped for her DTaP shot, but the poor little thing had a 100.1 temperature. She has no outwards signs of illness, so they just advised me to watch her closely and take her temp every few hours. I took it a little while ago and it was 98.0, so hopefully it stays down. She has been drooling and sucking on her hands like crazy lately. My MIL is convinced that she is cutting a tooth, but I can't see or feel anything in there.

And how's this for ironic, Kylie will take a bottle from my DH and mother with no problems at all, but cries like crazy when my MIL tries to give her one! :cool: I find it a little humorous, but my MIL is the one who will be watching her when I go back to work, so I hope she gets over it soon. She is watching her tomorrow night while DH and I have a date night (yay!) so we will see how it goes.

Krysia--what formula did you start Matthew on? Did he have any problems adjusting to it? My plan was to start Kylie on formula this week, but I keep putting it off. :o I am dreading giving it to her because she finally has gotten calm at night and her gas has seemed to have subsided as well. I am so afraid that when we start to supplement with formula everything is going to start up again. Also, can I use bottled water to mix it or tap? I am so clueless about formula, I did all my research on breastfeeding!!

KimCL--I don't read any mommy blogs, but if you know of any good ones, please let me know.

Aprilbride--Nice to see you hear! Glad everyone is adjusting well. Mia is adorable!

Veschke--Glad you had a nice trip, you guys really got around!

Val--Nelson is so cute, he looks just like you!

rmg_CA--Welcome!

[ACooper]

Me: 33
DH: 32
Madeline : 4 months

Glad to hear everyone had a nice Mother's Day. Is anyone still getting used to the idea of being a "Mom"? :p Sometimes it still weirds me out.

Madeline is doing well. We have the first appointment with the new pediatrician at the end of the month. Hopefully we will all get along much better than with the previous practice.

Delanl - Hopefully Kylie's fever will stay gone. Just chiming in on the formula - Madeline has been on formula since the beginning. We went through several before finding one that would work for her. What has been best for her is the "Gentle" formula. She tolerates it well with no constipation. She did say that when trying new formulas to give them 2 weeks. It takes this long for the digestive system to adjust.

We are also on a well. The Ped told us to boil her water for 5 min before mixing with the formula & we also sterilize the bottles by doing the same or running them through the dishwasher. My MIL is on municipal water and the Ped indicated that she could use the water from the tap. The Ped recommended this until approx 6 mos of age. I hope this is helpful to you.

[veschke]

She has been drooling and sucking on her hands like crazy lately. My MIL is convinced that she is cutting a tooth, but I can't see or feel anything in there.

The signs can start a long time before the tooth actually shows. JJ is definitely teething; we've resorted to the occasional use of Oragel, which brings nigh-instant relief, because sometimes it interferes with him nursing.

I saw him roll from his tummy to his back yesterday! He does not like to be on his tummy, silly guy. He's getting close to going the other way, too, he just has to figure out the "arm problem." :D

Yesterday was one of those days that really showed the challenge of having more than one. I feel like it was my fault, too. We had such a beautiful day here that after lunch I took the kids out the back yard. All of the neighbor kids were back there, mostly much older than Liddy but she likes them. Well, we were out there for I think 2 1/2 hours, which was probably much too long. When it was finally time to go in she thew a tantrum like I have never seen - seriously screaming, thrashing, sobbing. She *never* does that. And then of course JJ started crying, and no sooner had I gotten Lydia to hush a bit than I had to give him attention, which set her off again. A perfect storm of jealousy and exhaustion. :rolleyes: Dave thinks that she was as alarmed by her own emotional extravagance as we were; when he took her to her room to try to calm her down she eventually told him to leave. Fifteen minutes of alone-time later, she was her usual sunny self again, but we spent the rest of the day on eggshells!

[ACooper]

Hey Ladies. Just reporting and checking in.

We had Madeline's 4 month check up this week and it went really well. I love, love the new pediatrician. In addition to having a personality (something doctor 1 was missing) he is also very practical about baby care.

Madeline is doing well. She's in the 50% for weight at 15lbs and 90% in height at 25.5". She definately did not get any tall genes from Mommy. We have the go ahead to start on cereal so we'll try that sometime over the weekend. She is a happy baby and likes to laugh out loud and "talk" constantly.

Hope everyone else is doing well. Here's a pic from our trip to the lake on Memorial Day:

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/57plymouth/Widdle%20Baybeee/4%20months/SANY0770.jpg

And one with Daddy and her car in their matching car show shirts. (I usually add a pink bib to this outfit, otherwise she looks like a boy.)

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/57plymouth/Widdle%20Baybeee/4%20months/Picture003.jpg