July 2009 new Moms

[acginkc]

Where did the last month go? I was about to post on the last thread and saw that it was July 2nd now. Time flies.

Me: Ashley 30
DH: 31
DS: Matthew 4.5 months (2/20)

Everything is going well over here. We've had some sleep hiccups around here, but we are working on getting back on track. We are working on sitting up here. He can't get there by himself yet, but can sit in the tripod for short stints, maybe 1 minute TOPS. We are going to start cereal this week so hopefully he does well.

I have 1 more week at home before I head back to work and I am going to try to spend as much time as I can just loving on my boy.

So for those of you who are not using infant carseats anymore (or have older children), what convertible carseat are you using? Matt is growing and will probably be out of his sooner than later. Also we will both need one in our cars since we will be equally driving him around and we don't want to be transferring it constantly. I know they aren't cheap so need to watch for sales and do a little saving.

Ok so some personals from memory...
Beth G Yes, Matt still sleeps on his side, though in the last week or so he's started to sleep on his belly as well. I lay him down on his back, but he turns over at some point in the night.

Welcome to all the new moms who have joined us. It looks like we've got some veterans here so it will be great to hear about your experiences this time around.

Anita- I LOVE you family pictures. They are absolutely beautiful. Where did you find the dress you are wearing? It's really cute.

Ok, so as many of you know Nancy (fancyn) get together for playdates and Natalie and Matt already can't keep their hands off of each other. Here are a couple pictures from our lunch yesterday.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs147.snc1/5455_222165715570_503150570_7558770_6158772_n.jpg
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs147.snc1/5455_222166185570_503150570_7558798_3346156_n.jpg

[Pony]

I need to get caught up on some personals....

Me-33
DH-just turned 33 this week!
Evelyn- will be 6 months on the 9th :eek:

We are heading to Jacksonville to visit the in-laws. It will be great, b/c Evelyn will meet her great grandparents, aunt, 2 cousins, uncle, great aunt, cousin.........etc.....

I'm at work, but we are heading out later today and coming back on Monday afternoon.

Things are going well here. Not sure if I mentioned it here, but we gave Evelyn some sweet potatoes last week. She went NUTS! Loved them so much. So, my MIL bought some sweet potatoes for us to give her during the trip. When we get back in town, we will be doing more solids.

Sleep---same same. We are putting her down anywhere btwn 7:30-8:30. She gets up once or twice before 10pm, but will go right back to sleep if I nurse her. Then waking up at 1am (although, I think the past 2 nights she skipped this, but I really don't know, ha!) and up around 4am, occasionally up at 6am and up for good 7-8am.

I'm really struggling with getting her out of the bed. I don't think I want to. I realized I only spend, on a good day, 4 hours with her M-F and that is just not enough time for me. Sleeping with her makes me feel like I get more time with her. I struggle with what I should/should not be doing and how it will impact us later on, but maybe I should just stop worrying about it and enjoy it NOW!

Ok, that is it for now.....gotta go work on some personals!!

[Bawstinn]

Me: Maria, 39
DH: David, 35
DD: Madeleine, 3
DS: Christopher, 1 month on the 6th

Things are going pretty well here. I had a bit of a scare the other morning. He is still in the pack and play in our room. Yesterday at 4:30 inthe morning I heard him gurgling and such but it sounded muffled. I go to check on him and he had flipped himself over on his stomach. :eek: He has done this twice before - he uses his legs to push against something and flip. Great, something to worry about.

Over the last week or so he has been so alert during the day, just watching everything around him. Makes me wonder what he is thinking.

He really is a good baby though. Not big on crying unless he is hungry. We are still dealing with a lot of gas issues though. Mylicon isn't doing anything for it and I'm not sure if this is somehting we just need to wait out or not. I was reading kellymom.com and there was a comment on there about what I eat doesn't affect him, but I am not sure if I believe it.

Ashly - cute pictures! We had an Eddie Bauer convertible carseat for Madeleine. After looking at so many of them, they all start to seem the same.

Our company (David and I work for the same one) gave today and tomorrow as holidays and daycare is closed (work daycare) so the 4 of us will be home the next 4 days. I forsee my little routine getting messed up (no naps for me ;) ).

www.wholesomebabyfood.com is also a good reference for making baby food. I made all of Madeleine's vegetables. We were really in the wrong season to make any fruit (not in season) other than apples. Until I could give her the canned fruit (in juice) cut up, I bought the Gerber stuff and mixed it in oatmeal. She wouldn't eat it any other way - too runny. She actually liked her food better when it was thicker or had some texture to it. I couldn't puree meat (just looked gross) but she wasn't a fan of it until she was over a year anyway.

Time to feed someone.

[Pony]

Maria-glad things are going well! Sounds like your little one is quite strong, already flipping himself over! I also beg to differ about our food not affecting our bf babies. You could always bring a diaper in and have them check for blood. That is how we knew to cut out dairy. Hopefully, he is just gassy and will grow out of it soon. Do you think he is in pain? Thanks for the baby food website! Enjoy your family time.

Ashley-great pictures. They are so cute! I'm so sorry your maternity leave is ending. So sad. :o Have you been successful w/ weaning Matt from rocking to sleep?

Tami-Maya is putting her foot down on chunky foods, huh! She is strong willed!!! I'm sure she will come around, but it is good that you keep trying!!!! You are doing a great job by exposing her to all these healthful foods!! Do you sit down and eat with her? If not, do you think that would help her? She could watch you chewing and may take part b/c mommy is doing so. Regarding cookbooks: I have a 100 baby puree cookbook and an organic baby food book. Plus, the one Melissa mentioned. I just started flipping through them, but can't remember anything that was in them :rolleyes:. How did the "asparagus risotto" go? The teeth have not been an issue w/ BF yet. I am afraid for the top teeth to come in!!! I need to get Carlto stop swaddling her arms. She is a very calm sleeper, but it is still important like you mentioned to get those arms out!!! One more thing on our to-do list ;).

Melissa-I got The Petit Appetit Cookbook, by Lisa Barnes at my baby shower. I haven't looked through it yet, but will! I'm glad Neal is such a good eater and is now crawling!!!!

Beth G-I'm so glad you got the daycare you wanted! I'm sure your mind will be at ease now! I can't believe how different daycares can be. I'm glad your husband is better. Glad the sun came through! We haven't been able to get out, b/c of the 100+ temps! So sorry about the allergies. Is Michael still waking up screaming? Evelyn banged her head on the crib this morning. Poor thing. I hope it doesn't turn black and blue as we are heading to see family and I'm sure my SIL is going to nuts w/ her camera. And I will too! I got the extra bottles from BRU. That is awesome that Michael is such a good sleeper and self-soother! Evelyn will have a small cry and can sometimes fall right back to sleep (rare), but she can get really red faced and upset (usually what happens). This happened last night, so I just layed w/ her and nursed her back to sleep. I enjoy doing that, but don't want to interfere w/ her learning an important skill.

Anita-WOW! Those pictures are amazing. You have a beautiful family. My plan is to make Evelyn's baby food. I'm going to try to not stress about it, since she should be getting what she needs from breastmilk for a while. So, I'm going to do the best I can about making it, but if we don't have any for some reason, then oh well....and I'm sure I will have a stash of jarred food just in case. Don't hold me to any of what I just said, ha! What a great gift to your BIL and his fiance. That is awesome.

Sarah45-I thought Evelyn had skipped the 4 month regression, but she started it when she was about 4 1/2 months. I hope he grows out of it quickly for you. Yay for a good doc appt.

Beth H-I keep thinking there are more teeth coming as well. She keeps chewing on her fingers, but I don't think there is anything. She hates when we investigate her gums! Can't wait to hear about the Vegas trip.

Heather-How is sleep going or should I not ask? :p;) And how is your back? I have major back/neck issues, so I feel your pain. Sorry about the choking scare :(. Evelyn does a lot of babbling when she wakes up in the AM. She wakes up crying usually w/ her naps, but the AM is a happy babble. I love it and typically go in there if I am home, b/c she is all smiles. Maybe I should see if she will go back to sleep, hmmm.....I'm glad napping seems to be getting better.

[Pony]

I just got this in an email from someone in a babywearer's group listserve about carseats! --


I just wanted to let everyone know Bed, Bath and Beyond is selling car seats online for the same price as all other sites. You have to go into your local store, if you want to use the 20% off coupon you get in the mail, and order the car seat. But it is so worth the savings.

We just purchased Noelle the Britax Boulevard CS and saved $66!!!! I have been searching for 2 months for a good deal and finally found it!

P.S. if you don't already get the coupons in the mail, you can sign up to recieve them at www.bedbathandbeyond.com



And here is a picture of Evelyn the foodie :D

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d809b3127ccec72db04d37d000000060O08AaOGzhy1aNQ e3nwc/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

and Evelyn licking up the scraps of sweet potato on her shirt....

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d809b3127ccec72d126e37a200000060O08AaOGzhy1aNQ e3nwc/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[kabs]

Me: Kim, 36
DH: 35
DS: Alex, almost 4 months (3/9/09)

We had a big week around here. Alex got his first tooth, he laughed (well, he's laughed before but it always came out like this awful choking/gagging sound :o) for the first time, and he rolled over on his own for the first time! We haven't repeated the roll yet, I think it was because he was swaddled in his crib and that made it easier. So, what do you all say, should I stop swaddling him now that he's flipping over? I am dreading this, as I've tried recently to stop swaddling him and he really wakes himself up with those flailing arms. When does the flailing stop? Does the flailing stop? :p

Sleep was abysmal this week due to the "tooth cutting", but he really was still pleasant and smiley during the day. We survived on our own for the first time as DH had to go out of town for work and my mom was occupied for much of the week. But, I reread some of my books and now feel armed and ready to get the sleep back on track.

Pony: Those pictures of Evelyn are adorable. I especially love the one where she's chewing on BA. It looks like a cover shot! Thanks for the info on the carseats at BBB, I would never have known that they sell carseats!

Maria: Congrats on Christophers arrival! It sounds like things are going pretty well, but that would have scared me to see him flipped over so early! Strong little man...

Ashley and fancyn: Those pictures of your little ones playing together are adorable! My brother/SIL had a baby boy a week after we had Alex and so far they are completely oblivious to each other. Although one day Charlie's arm spazzed out and hit Alex in the head, but other than that they are not really aware of each other yet. Someday...

Anita: Your family photos are gorgeous. What a beautiful family you have. Thanks for sharing with us!

Here are a couple of pictures of Alex chewing on his hand and fingers...which is what he does 24/7 these days.

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt96/kharbaugh_2009/018-1.jpg

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt96/kharbaugh_2009/015.jpg
Happy Fourth of July!

[Beth G.]

Me: 39
DH: 40
DS: Michael, 6 months on Monday

I can’t believe July is here already. I am going back to work on Monday. How the time has flown. I took Michael to the new day care for a couple of hours today so he could get acclimated. I slept much better last night than I did the night before his first/last day at the other day care. I spent the first hour there (the bad place told us to leave ASAP). There were only a few babies today because of the holiday, which I think was good for him. I expect next week will be like that too, and by the time the room is full he’ll be used to it. He didn’t eat much (1 ounce) but took an 80 minute nap in the crib (they think they are getting a good sleeper;)). All in all, an excellent first day.

Yesterday was an interesting day. Michael’s morning nap was 90 minutes (with a few wakeup/thumb sucking breaks). I put him down two hours later for another, he went to sleep almost immediately, and napped for 80 minutes. It is probably just a coincidence, but due to a laundry crisis I had him in his fleece winter sleep sack instead of the cotton knit one I’ve been using. I thought maybe he slept better because he was toasty. Tried it again this morning and the nap was just shy of 30 minutes. Oh well.

The first nap totaled up to Michael’s usual napping for the entire day, and we were already in the bonus for nap 2 so I wasn’t too confident going into nap 3, but I tried. Put him down in the crib and he finally decided it was time to complete the back to belly roll that he’s been 95% completing for 2 months now. Watching him on the video monitor, he was very confused, and didn’t know what to do with himself except – tummy time! Head up, trying to crawl, push ups, etc. Obviously not napping. Went up and rolled him over in the hopes of getting him to nap. One minute later – tummy time! I decided that napping was not happening and he could do tummy time in the living room since my friend had come from the city to see him.

Night sleep was weird with a wakeup to eat less than 2 ½ hours after bedtime but then not again until 2 am. As usual, that was the centerpiece meal of the day so when he was babbling at 4 am I let him be and he fell back asleep. When I woke at 6 I found him sleeping on his tummy for the first time ever. While that does not delight me, I was happy that he was sleeping and the rolling to his tummy was not cause to wake up and scream and not be able to fall back asleep without my intervention to roll him back.

He finally woke at 7 and was not especially interested in eating. I am planning to wake him to eat at 6 when I go back to work – not feeling very confident that he’ll be cooperative. I would much rather direct feed him than pump but he’s got to partner with me on this one.

Bed Bath and Beyond sells car seats since they acquired Buy Buy Baby last year. They may have changed the fine print on the coupons, but Britax is usually only 10%, however, if you get lucky sometimes the cashier will do the 20% discount. Buy Buy Baby is an awesome store if you have one in your area and haven’t checked it out – the staff there is a lot more knowledgeable than BRU staff usually is.

Not related exactly to being a new mom, but I went to see an allergy doctor to get my alleged tree nut allergy retested. I had no reactions to any of the nuts! Next (when I have time, which is never) is some bloodwork. Unless the bloodwork shows really conclusive badness, then we will hopefully proceed to the “challenge” where I get to eat nuts under medical supervision and if I don’t react I will be cleared. Unfortunately it’s in the city nowhere near work and I have to go two separate mornings since they can’t test the walnuts and hazelnuts (which I reacted to 4 years ago) the same day. But ultimately, it will probably be worth the inconvenience. Oh how I miss so many things with walnuts and Nutella. I have abstained from nuts since I got pregnant.

Anita – beautiful pics. What a smile Aayan has! I’m really not ready to night wean Michael – especially with the return to work that would basically mean giving up BF. His normal schedule is ok – one night feeding and then the one before I leave for work (right now that’s a night feed, but starting Monday it’s not). I just would like for 1 or 2 am not to be such a huge feed – normally 20-25 minutes of serious gulping where his day feeds go about 5. I probably don’t even need a book – he doesn’t cry to be fed, but once I see he’s up I can’t resist the urge to feed him since he’s not a fast gainer. Once I’ve taken him from the crib and changed him, then he’s awake enough to notice he’s hungry and may cry. He’s just so much more focused at night. It’s dark, quiet, no distractions. I wish he was able to give me a few minutes to concentrate on eating during the day. But we’ll see how he does with the bottles. I am also planning to (have DH) make Michael’s veggies but we aren’t at the reality of that yet.

Tami – Avidly reading Maya’s solid food experiences and wondering how Michael will react when we try to give him cereal this weekend. I am sure he will find new ways to challenge me too.

Ashley – love that second picture with Natalie. Matt looks so mature for 4 ½ months and I can’t get over how he and Natalie are interacting. We can commiserate over the return to work and starting cereal experiences. From what I understand, Britax is the top safety choice in convertible seats. I haven’t done much on that front yet though, as Michael will be in his bucket seat for quite some time. We are getting our money’s worth on that one! Babies R Us has been sending coupons regularly for 15 or 20% off one item, and they also usually have a 15% off all car seats, although the latest circular I got is only 10%. I put Michael on his back too and he’ll stay that way when he’s really tired, but often turns to his side if he’s still awake and just now might be starting to belly sleep.

Michelle – our BRU only had the bottles with nipples, so I called Medela and ordered directly from them. They were encouraging me to save on shipping and call a bunch of smaller local stores until I found what I was looking for, then go there, and um… you know how much gets done around my house. I said, I just want to order them NOW. So exciting that Evelyn loved the sweet potatoes. On the days I commute I will have less than two hours a day with Michael. It makes me want to cry. Michael stopped waking up screaming – I think he was upset about the bad day care or us leaving him there. I will see how he is tonight after being left at the good day care. He was so much happier there so I hope he’ll be fine. Have a great trip! I hope Jacksonville gives you an opportunity to get out. 100+ sounds quite unpleasant. I love the picture of Evelyn with Bon Apetit! Michael’s sleep schedule is very close to Evelyn’s. Asleep between 8:15-8:30, sometimes a 10:30 feed, a 1 am feed, 5:30 am feed, then up for good 7:30ish. This morning he was up before 7 though.

Maria – I would guess the gas may be something you have to wait out. My OB told me by the time I went through figuring out what the magic thing is that I should stop eating he’d be 12 weeks and by then it usually gets better anyway. I know my neighbor used Gripe Water preventatively. That wholesomebabyfood.com website looks great, thanks!

Melissa – having made my own ground chicken in the food processor from chicken breast, I might have a chance of chopping up meat. We’ll see how brave I get when the time arrives!

Kim – Alex had beautiful eyes!

Some first time in the high chair pictures. It’s a bit big for him still!

http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp73245%3Enu%3D3247%3E4%3A2%3E%3B96%3E WSNRCG%3D3274%3A%3A%3B5%3A%3B329nu0mrj

http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp73252%3Enu%3D3247%3E4%3A2%3E%3B96%3E WSNRCG%3D327489%3C2%3A5329nu0mrj

[Bawstinn]

Such beautiful babies!

If Christopher was rolling over, I'd be fine. It is the fact that he uses his legs to push up against something and flip that has me nervous. There is no way he can roll himself back over to his back. I think he is my daredevil child (just like his dad - wonderful) :o

Kim - with Madeleine we were told once she rolled over to make sure to at least leave her arms out of the swaddle so she can use them to roll back if needed. I know, doesn't help if you are swaddling to stop the flailing arms.

[tholbrook]

Great pictures, everyone!!! Such a bunch of sweet, beautiful babies.

Ashley - we have a Recaro Signo convertible seat... of course, when I went online to look which one we have, I found they had been recalled. :eek: One more thing to do, I guess, but it's good to know... Other than that, I love the carseat, although it takes up a lot of space. It's very cushy, and I sure wish the driver's seat of my car was as comfortable. We've been using it since Maya was about 3 months. The pictures of Matt and Natalie are so sweet - best friends already!

Michelle (Pony) - yep, Maya is being really stubborn when it comes to food. Darn it, I was hoping that she wouldn't be picky. And she's not when it comes to flavors, but she's really got a hang-up with textures. The asparagus risotto was a flop - until I pureed it perfectly smooth and added a spoonful of plain yogurt. Then it was fine :rolleyes:. Re: (co)sleeping. IMO, I think you still have some time, especially if you both are sleeping well. I can totally understand why you want the extra time with her. I'm home with Maya most days, but it still occurs to me that I don't see her for 11 hours straight at night :(. I love the picture of Evelyn with the Bon Appetit magazine - you should send that to the BA editors :D.

Maria - Christopher must be a strong little guy! The rolling over at that age would freak me out too :eek:. Gas drops never worked for Maya either, and she had really bad gas. My diet was all over the place, so it would have been really difficult to find out a culprit (if there was one)... we just worked with her a LOT to get the gas out: rubbing her belly, sitting her up, bicycling her legs, bringing her knees to her chest. Different things worked for us at different times. But we could always find something that worked. Hope the problem gets better soon.

Kim - Alex has such beautiful long eyelashes! Wow, a tooth already! He's growing up so fast! I really don't recall when the flailing stopped - seems like Maya went right from flailing to reaching for her toys, so her waving arms were always a distraction. We did swaddling for naps up until she was 6 months, but then again, she always napped in her swing, so no chance of rolling... it was really just to keep her still so she would sleep. But I'm in agreement that if he's rolling over, it's probably time to get away from swaddling the arms. I do remember that when Maya was 4 months, we went on a long trip, and never swaddled her the entire time, and she was fine, so I don't think the flailing was an issue.

Beth G - enjoy your time with Michael ... I'm sure it must be stressful knowing you're heading back to work after this weekend. Sounds like the new daycare is a much better fit, so at least you'll know he's in good hands. Maya was all over the board with her naps from about 5 months (?) to 7 months, with lots of 30 minute naps. Between 7-9 months, her naps started becoming longer, and now at 10 months, most of the time, she naps for 75 minutes, twice a day. From the sound of Michael's sleep and other moms' posts from last month, it seems like he's at the age where naps are just inconsistent as a rule, no matter what you do. I've heard a few moms mention that naps are easy, great, wonderful, etc, but that sure does seem to be the exception. So hopefully you don't stress about it too much! :)

[tholbrook]

Oh, I almost forgot...

Me (Tami): 34
DH: 37
DD: Maya, 10 months (8/25/08)

I posted pretty recently to the June thread, so not a lot of news to tell. Still struggling with solids and Maya having zero interest in self-feeding. I catch her getting ready to put a piece of food in her mouth, she sees me looking at her, and promptly flips the food on the floor. Stinker! :rolleyes:

Naps are the same - I have to sit nearby until she falls asleep, otherwise she's all over her crib. I miss that phase where her naps were easy! :o Now it takes anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes for her to fall asleep. It's a good thing we only do 2 naps now, or our entire day would be spent sleeping or trying to go to sleep.

Night sleep is okay. For some reason, she's waking up once in the middle of the night... first it was 4:30 a.m, and it has been progressively earlier by 15-30 minutes every single night, so last night it was 2:45. I have NO idea what would cause this. I plan on sending an email to Nichole (of PickNicksBrain) to see if she has any suggestions. Letting her fuss a bit and go back to sleep (which she does, although it might take awhile) has not helped with getting her sleeping through the night. She's not crying or wailing - just some quiet fussing - but it's not sleep either.

That's about it. We went to a breast-feeding support group meeting today (mostly to get free replacement parts for my Medela pump! :D) and Maya was such a little ham. She would crawl into my lap, then peek up over my shoulder and grin at everyone. And she talked and sang and blew raspberries ... very funny! Everyone got a kick out of her antics. I've been taking her to storytime at the local library and she's fascinated by the other kids.

Here are some pictures... the first one is our "usual" backdrop of outdoors with flowers :p and the next two are from her professional 9-month pictures (which were actually taken just 2 weeks ago)

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee70/turtlehouse/090628CarrillonPark06.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee70/turtlehouse/090619Maya21.jpghttp://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee70/turtlehouse/090619Maya07.jpg

[Beth G.]

Well, they have our local fireworks on July 3. Let me just say... even for a self soothing baby, um, that was not fun. Especially the finale :eek: I hope there isn't a repeat tonight. He has never woken up from a thunderstorm but this was way too much :( Everyone be warned if you have fireworks nearby tonight - put on some white noise or something!

[Sarah45]

Come on ladies, it's only the third of the month and you are already testing my resolution to stay up-to-date with the thread :D

Me: 33
DH: 32
Jackson: 4.5 months, 2/24

Like Maria, we're also on a 4-day weekend here and DH and Jackson have been having a great time together outside. Lots of guitar playing and strolling around the yard. Of course it's been nice for me to get some non-baby time too.

I'm not counting on it but it looks like Jackson's sleep has gone back to normal. Hopefully this post doesn't jinx things. ;)

Cereal is going really well, as you can see from the picture below :) He's eating 1T+1oz twice a day. It has helped tremendously with my BM supply issues and he seems much more content and not so hungry all the time.

Ashley - Great pictures of Matt and Natalie! Have fun with the cereal, I bet Matt takes to it as well as Jackson did.

Michelle - Love the Evelyn pictures, the Bon Appetit one is precious and I agree about sending it to the editors! Sorry that you're going through such turmoil with the sleep decision, it seems like a tough one. I know that if Jax wakes up anytime between 5-7 a.m., I bring him to bed with us to feed him and get him back to sleep and part of me feels like I shouldn't do this but it's such a wonderful time and I don't want to give it up!

Maria - Sorry to hear about Christopher's gas issues, I hope it resolves itself soon. Enjoy your nice long holiday weekend!

Kim - A tooth at 4 months! Don't let Alex tell Jackson that, he'll want to be growing one of his own :) Re:swaddling Jackson is rolling over like a champ and we still swaddle him at night. BUT, he makes no attempt to roll when he's swaddled, if he did, I wouldn't use it. And, I'm really hoping the flailing stops because Jackson WILL NOT sleep unswaddled for this very reason.

Beth G. - Don't you just love those days that they turn everything you've come to expect, right on its head? I think that the Mommy's Motto ought to be "Expect Nothing" :)

Tami - Sorry Maya's being such a stinker about food, that's got to be frustrating. Thanks for the tip on PickNicksBrain, the site looks interesting and I am going to look into it further. Maya's pictures are great, she has a wonderful smile!

I know a few people have posted professional photos, is there anyone NOT doing them or am I the only bad mommy?

Here's Jax's first cereal-face picture...
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_SpH-dIFli7o/Sk56PkieSWI/AAAAAAAABQE/vqCllZvgltU/s640/DSC01084.JPG

[mabvt]

Me-32
DH-33
Neal- 9 mos tomorrow

After all of the junk food yesterday and my resolve to eat better after the holiday I just polished of a slew of m & ms. Sigh...


Neal is taking his second really great nap of the day. After all of the excitement of the 4th and the church nursery this morning, the poor kid is worn out. We did our first parade yesterday- he was not overly impressed with anything. There were scads of kids around though, and that he loved, he just watched with big eyes.

My biggest struggle these days (besides my lack of will power!) is the fact that DH had surgery last week and cannot lift anything over ten pounds. It means a lot of baby changing/schlepping/chasing for me. And with the summer and all of the picnics this weekend I was making so many trips out to the car to load up, etc. But he is healing well, so I shouldn't complain.

DH and are going to Las Vegas next week. I have a conference there. Neither of us has ever been, so it should be interesting! It is the first time we have ever flown anywhere together besides to visit family. We're leaving Neal for a few days...I hope it goes okay!

Sarah--Neal's never had a prof. picture taken, and I don't know that he ever will! I enjoy taking pictures and digital is so easy!


Beth G--We had fireworks related sleeping issues last night too, despite the white noise machine! It's making for great napping today though.

Beth & Ashley-- Good luck with the transition back to work. It is hard, especially at first, but it will get better! It is very doable-- especially once you find your routine (and you will, eventually!)

Tholbrook--Have you tried rice cakes with Maya? We did the unsalted ones. It's a thought.

Kabs--Congrats on the tooth! What a big boy! Neal still doesn't have any. He has been drooling, chewing on his hands and getting rosy cheeks for five months. I've stopped even checking! :rolleyes:

Bawstinn--Enjoy your family weekend home!

Pony--I absolutely love the pic of Evelyn licking her shirt. And those eyes!

Well, no photos to post right now. We are having computer/wireless issues related to moving.

[acginkc]

Hi all. It has been an exciting weekend around here. Matt has started cereal and doesn't seem to hate it. I'm not completely convinced that any of it has been swallowed, but he seems to have fun trying. We also bought a highchair which he really seems to like sitting in. Then Saturday night at a BBQ he decided he was going to start trying to blow raspberries. He hasn't mastered it, but has kept us laughing while he's learning. We are starting our last week of leave, though after a stop by work last week, I'm starting to feel a bit better about that part of the whole thing. They seem to have missed me while I was gone.


mabvt- I hope your husband has a quick recovery. And have a great time in Vegas.

Sarah- Great picture of Jax. I don't think its bad not to have professional pictures done. I love our photographer, but can't afford too many sessions with her so it will probably be quite a while before we have more professional ones done (maybe another year or two). I'll just keep snapping away till then, I'm sure to get a few good ones.

Beth G- Sorry the fireworks kept everyone up. I was just waiting for Matt to wake up last night, but he seemed to sleep through it. Good luck tomorrow. I'll be excited to hear how the 1st day back to real life goes for everyone.

Tami- Strange that she has that 1 wake-up at night. Hopefully it goes away soon. Any progress on the eating? I'm giggling at the sneaky self feeding.

Kim- Wow, a first tooth already. Matt has been showing all the teething signs for almost a month, but nothing yet. I have a feeling it will still be a while. And a laugh and a roll. He sounds like he'll keep you on your toes.

Michelle- How was Jacksonville? We are still rocking...:o... Though i put him down the other day awake, had to go up a couple times to roll him over or reinsert the paci, but he put himself to sleep. I was SO excited, till he woke up 15 minutes later and wouldn't go back down. He also woke up at about 6am this morning and wasn't due to eat so we left him to play in his crib and he finally went back to sleep till 8:30!!

Maria- You've got a strong little guy there. But I'm glad he's been so good for you. I hope you find some relief from the gas for him. How is Madeleine liking being a big sister?

Great pictures everyone. I love looking at these sweet babies.

[Beth G.]

Heading out to the bus in a few minutes. Has not been the routine I've been hoping for this morning - Michael woke at 4 so I fed him then (I'd been planning for when I woke up at 5:30). I was not able to go back to sleep, so I've been up since then. I am sure after today I'll be exhausted and not falling back asleep won't be a problem, but today will be a very long day. Maybe the motion of the bus will get me a nap ;) It was also a bad idea to not put any earrings in my ears the entire maternity leave and then try to put one in today. One of my holes is kind of closed up. Ouch.

We started rice cereal yesterday and it went much better than I thought. He was really into it (still a mess with probably half on his shirt). His cheek got a little red though, so we need to watch again today for any reaction.

[mabvt]

Neal at the parade on the 4th.

Doh, cannot remember how to link photos right now! I'll try again later.

[BakerJane]

DD: 6 months

Thanks for the advice on the babysitter issue. A few more things happened that just made me uncomfortable with the situation so we found a new sitter. She started this morning and so far so good.

Eileen has started cereal and carrots and peas. Half ends up on her shirt (or on me) but she seems to like it all and gets pretty excited about eating. I'm trying to feed her twice a day - cereal in the morning and then a veggie in the early evening. Anyone care to share their feeding schedule?

Beth & Mabvt - sorry for the fireworks issues. Eileen was awake too, so we took her outside to watch (we can see the village's display from our backyard) and she seemed to enjoy them. I kept her ears covered though. And I got to sleep in on Sunday a.m. b/c she was making up for the late bedtime :)

Good luck stating back to work Beth and Ashley. It's hard but I'm sure you guys will get the hang of it.

Kabs - Eileen is starting with the teeth too. She was up Thursday night crying. We tried the baby orajel and it just made her cry harder - I don't think she liked the taste. Baby tylenol and a cold rag seems to work for her.

Love the pictures Sarah, Pony, Tami, beth, Kim & Ashley. We need to break out our highchair. We've been putting her in the bumbo seat to feed her so far.


Love all the pictures! We found another sitter who started this morning - so far, things are going well.

[helios7]

Hi ladies...

I'm hoping to have time to finally check in. So far our month has been all about sleep. We've had some busy weekends, and Quinn has just not napped very well which has been frustrating for us all. Even when trying to plan car trips around nap time and other ways to make a busy schedule work for him -- he just hasn't gotten enough sleep. Sadly he's actually quite tolerant of being overtired. We know he's overtired, but aside from being a bit screechy he remains good tempered. Which always leads to my favorite comment - "But he seems wide-awake!!" :rolleyes:

Our other big issue has been trying to go to sleep independently. I have been really working this one, putting him down awake but drowsy and even reading a story AFTER nursing so as to be sure he's not going in half asleep. Sometimes (increasingly more often thank goodness) he can do it but sometimes I have to go back in and help him. It takes a WHILE... usually 30-45 minutes, and I'm finally getting what Tami talked about all those months back. It goes better when he goes in BEFORE getting too tired. Which has been a challenge as his sleep window has shrunk to about an hour/hour and a half between the time he gets up and after his second nap. The glazed look kicks in almost a hour to the minute after he gets up from nap number one. Bizarre.

We did experiment with a more formal sleep training method, but I don't think we're going to go that way now at least. I was hoping Quinn would be a 10-15 minute crier like I hear about, but we never made it more then an hour with 5 minute checks as he continued to escalate. Plus with all the changes coming our way with moving next month (it would appear although not all the i's are dotted or the ts crossed yet) life is going to be so chaotic. So, I'm going to keep working on the indpendent sleep, and possibly start working on some night weaning (although I have noticed that as his putting self back to sleep skills are improving he's putting himself to sleep sometimes when he wakes up at night without crying).

So that's our life - lots of time at home, lots of naps and lots of sleep worry. But as I've typed, he's put himself to sleep after 25 minutes so hopefully we're on an upswing.

Baker Jane - I'm glad you resolved your sitter issue. I dread things like that - we have a cleaning lady who drives me bananas but she's cheap so I put up with it. I will be happy to move though, so I won't have to deal with it anymore as I've never worked up the courage to fire her. Obviously it would be different with my child, but I still find those types of confrontations hard.

BethG - How's it going? I should send you a PM, we may be moving out your way (possibly past it). We'll have to have a playdate!

Ashley - I'm glad the cereal is going well. Quinn really likes his cereal - its my go-to fall back when I need him to eat a good meal.

Melissa - glad to hear from you and that things are going well. I can't believe Neal is 9 months!!! Enjoy the trip to Vegas. I'm sure it will be a great time.

Sarah45 - I agree with you about enjoying the special little moments too. As much as I am trying to increase Quinn's independence with sleep, I do remind myself that he won't nurse/be takeable to bed forever. And I don't want to miss these moments entirely!!! I love the picture.

Tami - Maya is just looking so sweet. Love the pictures! How's the night waking going? I'm intrigued by the solids/chunky issue. I'm so paranoid about choking, but also don't want to end up in the same boat. I make his food, so I will try to leave a few chunks in here or there. :)

Kim - how's the swaddlng/not swaddling going? We found starting with 1, and then 2 arms out very helpful. It eased the transition into going swaddle free. But yes, if he can roll he should at least have his arms available for pushing himself back over.

Michelle - hi there! How's life? Love the BA picture - Evelyn is so adorable. How's sleep going? I hope you are starting to experiment with Evelyn putting herself to sleep a bit too. I know she and Quinn were similarly "hold me all the time" babies. It really is a long road... we're having a tough time. Don't put it off too long!!! :o I think its fine to keep cosleeping as I totally understand why you aren't ready to give that up. But definitely start exploring her putting herself to sleep. It is taking Quinn a LONG time to learn the skill without too much crying (see above comment about formal sleep training) so think months!!! My back still nags a bit, but is much better. Thanks for asking! :)

Maria - thanks for the babyfood site. I need to get cracking - I've done a few basic veggies (steamed carrots, broccoli) but haven't really gotten that creative yet. I do have a Beaba babycook which is WONDERFUL! I love it so much.

And finally, a pic of my little man. :)
http://www.cheesenpickles.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSC8405.jpg

[Beth H]

Hi all. Well, DH and I had our trip to Vegas last week - it was a really nice getaway. It was wonderful to be able to just sit by the pool, have a few drinks, and read - multiple books and magazines! It also was a tremendous treat to sit and have unlimited cups of coffee in the morning. :) But I missed Will, too, and was so glad to see him when we got home. However, he had a great time with his grandparents.

Will had his six month checkup yesterday - as usual he was at the top of the growth chart; almost 29 inches long and 22 1/2 pounds. The car seat definitely is getting heavy! I started his first "real" food last night (not that cereal isn't "real") - squash. I'm going to try to make all of his baby food - the squash was easy as I bought frozen cubed butternut for this. He got a really funny look on his face when I gave him the squash, but he ate about 10 bites of it.

I love all of the photos! Heather - Quinn has such beautiful eyes! And the pictures of Natalie and Matt are so precious!

Beth G - I'm glad that you got into the daycare you wanted. It makes such a big difference to be happy with the daycare situation.

Jane - in terms of feeding schedules, Will's daycare feeds him cereal in the morning; I had been doing cereal at night (around 5:30 - 6 pm) and now will do veggies/fruit at night and keep the cereal with the daycare. (Except on weekends of course.)

mabvt - if you need any advice about Vegas, just let me know. DH and I have been there many times.

Kim - exciting about the rolling and the tooth! Will still wiggles and moves his arms around a lot - so I'm not sure when that stops! Will rolled some at 4 months and then did it only sporadically - until last week. Now he's rolling around a lot.

Ashley - that's great about the cereal. My sister told me that as long as the food isn't being pushed away, it's OK - even if they don't seem to be eating too much or not super excited about it. The raspberries are so cute, aren't they?

Evelyn - hope you had a good family trip. Love the Bon Appetit photo too!

Maria - thanks for the link to the making baby food website. I'm definitely going to check that out.

Tami - all of the photos you posted are great! Good luck with the night sleeping.

Hello to anyone I may have missed in the personals! Hope everyone is having a good week with their babies.

[Sarah45]

Well, it's a dreary, rainy, cool, day here, perfect for sleeping - this is what I keep telling my son :) We have had one good afternoon nap since last Wednesday and today's the day to break that streak! On the up side, night sleeping has been great and we've even slept through a couple times.

Jackson wants to crawl NOW :D He is serious about it too, no messing around. DH claims that he moved forward about a foot and a half the other day but i've been unab le to get him to replicate the feat. We really need to think about baby proofing :eek:

I know that Jax was supposed to discover his feet a while ago but that has been his most recent discovery. He loves putting them in his mouth :p

mabvt - Hope your DH is doing well and that you are surviving all the baby duties. Since Jackson was born DH has had to go on two different week long trips so I know how exhausting a full day of baby schlepping can be, let alone multiple days.

Ashley - Just wait until Matt decides to blow a raspberry while eating cereal..Yeah, that's fun:rolleyes:

Beth G. - Hope your first day back went well! How's the rice cereal going? Any other signs of a reaction?

BakerJane - Jackson just 4.5 months but he is eating cereal at 9am-ish and then 6pm-ish. We won't start other foods until 6 months but I am planning on introducing them at the 6 pm feeding.

Heather - I feel for you with the sleep issues, Jackson doesn't nap well if we have busy, out of the house days either. On the 4th he was awake from 7 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. :eek:. I can't believe that he wasn't a little monster. I'm going to start the independent sleeping in August. We have a trip to see family lined up here and I just don't want to rock the boat before that. I look forward to reading all about your experience with it, and I am going to go back and read Tami's posts. I am NOT looking forward to it. Love the picture of Quinn, what beautiful eyes!!

Beth H. - I'm glad that your trip to Vegas was a great one, lounging by the pool, reading a book, sounds like heaven to me :)

[Pony]

Evelyn did great in Jacksonville and she got to meet lots of family and friends. She was passed around and around and around. She did very well. There was one meltdown and one 3 hour nap! We gave her sweet potatoes while we were there and she didn't devour them like the first time, but did enjoy them. I bought a sweet potato and some rice cereal for us to start using at home. We took her to the beach for about 20+ minutes. I kind of freaked out even though Carl was holding Evelyn. She was so tiny and in such a big ocean! She liked it, but really had to hold on tight otherwise she was not having fun.

Evelyn is getting more teeth! And, I've been bitten! :eek: OUCH. My in-law's friend said something like, "oh, that is when I stopped bf'ing, once they have teeth give them food.". I am sorry, but that comment drives me crazy. Luckily, another family friend said on another occasion how she bf until her babies were 2 and you just teach them not to bite. I don't know if I will bf until she is 2, but just b/c a baby has teeth does not mean they should stop bf'ing!!!!

Another comment we got...."oh, you are going to make her food....yeah, that will last long" :rolleyes:

The Austin Milk Bank gave me a nutritional analysis of my milk. I was hoping for more info beside calories and protein, but this is what they sent me:

My milk has:
20 calories per ounce
1.1 gram protein per ounce
The average caloric content of donated milk to the Austin Mothers’ Milk Bank is 19 to 20 kilo calories per ounce (Cal/Oz), and the average protein is .9 grams per deciliter (g/dl).

I cheated on my dairy-free diet this past week. :o Evelyn seems to be fine, but I'm going to bring in a diaper to her 6 month appt. next week to get tested.

kim-sounds like Alex has had some major milestones this past week! Teeth, rolling, laughing!!! The flailing does stop, but Evelyn still wakes up very easily if she is not swaddled. She wakes up when we lay her down. I think you are supposed to start letting the arms out when they roll over. Alex is beautiful!!! Love his eyes.

Beth G.-Happy 6 month Birthday to Michael! Evelyn turns 6 months tomorrow! Can't believe it. Too funny about his naps and turning himself over for tummy time. He was proud of his accomplishment! Glad you found your bottles. I'm glad to hear Evelyn and Michael have similar eating habits at night. Michael and his highchair! So cute. How was your first day? Did you sleep on the bus? ;)

Tami-I thought of you and Maya this weekend. Our friends were visiting us in Jacksonville and we were watching another little girl eat some cheese. Her parents were commenting on how surprised they were that she was eating it, b/c of her "texture issues". My friend then made a comment that she has "texture issues" as well and she is 32, ha! As always, I love Maya's pictures. Sorry about Maya waking up once a night again. I would be curious to hear what Nichole says about it. How long does she fuss? So, have you been having to go sit near her or do something else to get her back to sleep? Is this a growth spurt time?????

Sarah45- I'm glad Jackson is sleeping well again at night. Glad you got some alone time during the long weekend. He looks adorable eating his cereal. We haven't done any professional pictures either.........I would love to, but haven't yet and not sure when we will. There is a photographer here that we would love to use, but I'm sure she is $$$$! Evelyn is ready to crawl too. She is all over the place these days.

mabvt-I'm sorry you had to do a lot of the carrying this past weekend, but look at it as a way to burn more calories, ha!

Ashley-Too funny about the raspberries. It was nice to go back to work and see friends. Plus, you get to talk about your baby for a while!!!! Enjoy these next few days.

BakerJane-Good luck w/ the new babysitter! I was planning on doing some sweet potatoes and maybe some cereal in the PM for now. She breastfeeds as soon as I walk in the door around 5pm. If we are prepared, I guess I will have to feed her after that feeding, b/c after that she doesn't eat until she goes to bed.

Heather-Quinn is so adorable and looking old these days!! I wish him and Evelyn could meet. Are you ready for # 2! ;):p "But he seems wide-awake!!" ha! We got that a lot last weekend. Evelyn's first nap in Jax was difficult for some reason and I needed Carl's help. I think she was so distracted by the new room. So, Carl's mom said a few times during the trip, "Carl can always put Evelyn to sleep....Carl never has trouble getting her down, etc....". :rolleyes: Then she would be so surprised when I would come downstairs after getting Evelyn down w/in 10 min a few times. Good for you working so hard on Quinn's sleep. I'm impressed. I feel bad, b/c I feel like I keep taking the easy way out. Dancing her to sleep, feeding her when she wakes up, etc. I know I need to work on Evelyn's sleeping independently!!!! ahhhhhhh!!!!!!! :o:( When Quinn needs a little bit of help, what do you do to help him? During the day, Carl will let Evelyn "make noise" and she sometimes goes back to sleep. I'm the one that runs in there making sure she is ok. :p In Jacksonville, she slept upstairs which made it harder to get to her right away and she occasionally put herself back to sleep. She has never put herself to sleep though. I love hearing about your sleeping adventures. I have learned a lot.

Beth H-Glad you all had a nice time in Vegas. I need to catch up on magazine reading. I'm glad Will did well w/ the grandparents. Will is quite the healthy baby! Good job on the squash. I think we might try squash after the s. potatoes.

[acginkc]

Hi all. I'll be back for personals later but had to share my scare of the week.

Matt and I had been out for a park date then out to lunch. He was super hungry and in need of a nap by the time we got home so I nursed him. He was dozing and started shaking all over. He didn't pull off and stopped shaking when I picked him up and "woke" him. Went back to eating and did it again. Of course I was immediately panicked. I called the Dr (of course this happened while they were at lunch) and the nurse said it was somewhat common and is just his immature nervous system (like when we flinch as we are falling asleep).

How did I miss any warning of this before? It makes sense, but I was totally freaked out. Hopefully the rest of our week is free of this kind of excitement.

[helios7]

Thanks for the picture compliments! :) I of course think he's a cutie, but what do I know??? :D:D:D


I am pleased to pronounce we are 3 for 3 in terms of Quinn going into the crib awake and putting himself to sleep. He has done so for both naps at home today, and just put himself to sleep (in 20 minutes no less). Obviously I don't expect it to be smooth sailing forever more, but am thrilled to have at least one toe around that corner. I'm also learning that when he cries, there's a reason. On nap #2 he cried after about 3 minutes, and i went in at 5. He'd spit up. I dealt with it, put him back in and 30 minutes later he was out. A similar thing happened last night. Overall, I'm feeling reassured. We'll keep practicing this skill for a while, and then next up will be night weaning I fear. Or at least night paring down of feeds. :)

Michelle - I wish Evelyn and Quinn could meet too. I'm really having fun with him these days - he is his own little man and becoming really great company. Most of our mommy friends are back to work, so we do our own thing now but I'm happy doing it with him. I really do urge you (and Carl) to start experimenting with seeing where Evelyn is in terms of putting herself to sleep in the next few weeks/months. If se sometimes makes noises and puts herself back after waking up, she may surprise you!

DH is home early. What a treat! Sadly Quinn is already down, but still a nice treat for me. :cool:

[Beth G.]

DH is out with the boys tonight so if I have some free time after I put Michael to bed and pack up all my stuff for work tomorrow I'll be back with personals. Two quick updates.

Work is going ok. It has been seven months since I've set foot in the office since I worked at home the last month I was pregnant. In many ways it feels like I never left (which is good and bad). Made it past hump day now and only one more commute this week. I'm loving the two days at home and hope it will continue.

DH called the state inspector yesterday and they went to the bad day care today and caught them with a baby sleeping with a blanket wrapped around its head and cited them with a violation. He couldn't believe that they had not stopped doing it already since we'd complained about it to the director.

[kabs]

Hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July weekend. The weather was (finally) beautiful here and it was great to be outside with Alex.

Well, we stopped swaddling because of Alex's new rolling talents. (Thanks for all your thoughts and advice!) He quickly learned to roll even when not swaddled so now he is sleeping on his stomach. The first few times he rolled onto his tummy, I flipped him back over. But, then I realized that was a futile fight. :p I still sat in the chair in his room for 3 hours the first night though. I couldn't help it, I was so worried he would lay face down and not be able to breathe! So, I think it's so funny that he can roll from back to front with ease, but still hasn't mastered the roll from front to back. Isn't it easier to roll front to back? I've seen him do it a few times, but not with any consistency.

Sarah- What a cute picture of Jackson! We have our 4 month appt for Alex this week, and I'm excited to start him on cereal. Sounds like Jax is enjoying it...

Tami- Sorry to hear Maya's night sleeping has hit a bump in the road, hope she's back to normal soon. Those pictures are great. She's got such a sweet smile!

Beth G- Michael is such a cutie! That’s how Alex looks when he sits, a little slumped over (also with his fingers in his mouth!).

mabvt- Sorry to hear about DH’s surgery and your increased schlepping duties. Hope he heals well and can help you more soon! Have a great time in Vegas!

Ashley- Raspberries while eating cereal? I have lots to look forward to, don’t I?

BakerJane- Good luck with the new babysitter!

Helios- Good luck with your sleep issues with Quinn. We sure do spend a lot of time trying to figure out these little ones, don’t we? My SIL and I talk every morning and the first thing we ask each other is, “How did _____ sleep last night?” Adorable picture.

BethH- I’m glad you had a good trip to Vegas. I’ll repeat what others have said…sitting by the pool reading magazines sounds wonderful about right now! Feeding Will real food sounds fun!

Pony- Sounds like Evelyn was a trooper on your trip! Did you get any pictures of her in the ocean? We have a similar trip coming up (family reunion) and I’m anxious to see how Alex handles all those people wanting to hold him and coo at him. Just hope the sleep doesn’t get messed up too bad while we’re gone! Interesting about the nutritional breakdown of your milk…I agree, I would want to see more information.

Hope I didn't miss anyone! Have a good weekend in case I don't make it back here before then!

Kim

[Beth G.]

Hi everyone. It’s so quiet here with Michael sleeping and DH out. I should try to get to bed soon. I feel like I must have something else to do but I can’t think of anything. Cereal is going well and I added some in the evening tonight. He does really well with the spoon. He’s been doing ok at the new day care – still a challenge to get him to eat and he’s not napping in the crib there. They have been rocking him and letting him sleep in their arms. I don’t want him getting used to that – hopefully he’ll get used to their crib. I am definitely tired from the commute but I’ve slept about 40 minutes on the bus both mornings. Yay motion! I need it since it’s so light out.

Pumping went ok. Tomorrow I am trying the hospital grade pump for the first time. I’m not sure I’m going to like it. It’s a Lactina – so no two phases, no hands free. But if it’s faster/more powerful it might be worth it. It hasn’t been too bad carrying my pump though and I love my Freestyle. Especially the larger membranes – those tiny little white ones seem like they will be so hard to clean and so easy to lose! I can always keep using mine. There is a sink in the lactation room that I’ve been able to fill my water pitcher in. I am trying to pump as much as I can. So worried about supply and keeping up. Of course, I still have a nagging voice saying you are going to turn 40 this year and need to get pregnant and this is not helping.

Tami – glad to hear you went through a similar napping phase and are now seeing improvements. I have heard that he’ll get exhausted at day care and take better naps there, and they are on a nap schedule so maybe that will carry over into our weekends. Any update on the waking at night and chunky foods? Great pictures – she’s really standing well!

Sarah – glad the cereal went well. We haven’t done professional pictures either, but we had them included from our wedding so eventually we will. Michael loves his feet too and will happily play with them in the pack and play. No further reactions from cereal so must have been a coincidence.

Melissa – second night of fireworks wasn’t as bad here, so it did not wake him thank goodness. Have a great time in Vegas! I have never been either.

Ashley – glad to hear Matt is ok after your scare. That sounds really frightening. When does Matt start day care? Good luck with your return to work. I’m sure I’ll tire out eventually but it hasn’t been horrible. I even miss changing Michael’s diapers though.

Jane – we are feeding Michael in the Bumbo too. The high chair seems so big. I hope the new babysitter works out.

Heather – I was wondering where out of the city you were moving. Definitely PM me. Glad Quinn’s making progress on his falling asleep for his naps. My parents often tell the story of trying formal sleep training on me. Each night I cried longer and longer instead of shorter and shorter. They gave up and moved my crib into their room and I was fine. It doesn’t work for everyone. Also, apparently I liked to stay up to watch Johnny Carson – quite the night owl. Certainly no early bedtime. Awesome picture of Quinn – love his eyes!

Beth H – glad you had a good time in Vegas. Michael just weighs 16 pounds, it is funny how different they can be. We don’t have our six month appointment for a couple more weeks. How were the shots? I am trying to decide if I should take the day off. How do you do the cereal for the day care? Do they mix the powder and warm milk for you? Or do you give them premixed?

Michelle – welcome back! What was your dairy treat/cheat? I hope it was ice cream or cookies! Sounds like you had a good trip. We are going to try to take Michael to our kiddie pool soon – not ready for the ocean just yet. I am liking my bus naps. Happy six months to Evelyn. I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. I am really scared about what Michael will do when he gets teeth. He already gums my boob pretty hard. Fortunately nothing doing there yet. He wants to crawl so badly too.

Kim– well, you are hitting four months tomorrow so the tummy sleeping goes down as a concern. We enjoyed the good weekend weather (finally) too. So much rain until now!

I am off to bed, but had to post a cereal shot.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d924b3127ccec7dff122152a00000050O00AbsmzZw2cN2 IPbz4e/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[Beth H]

We don’t have our six month appointment for a couple more weeks. How were the shots? I am trying to decide if I should take the day off. How do you do the cereal for the day care? Do they mix the powder and warm milk for you? Or do you give them premixed?

The shots at the six month weren't too bad - just two of them (at our practice at least), another DTaP booster and a pneummococal (sp.). Luckily Will's never really had any reaction to shots (fussiness, fever, etc.) but I know that it really varies.

Luckily our daycare mixes the cereal for us. They even provided a box for us these past few weeks, but that's almost out and we have to bring in the cereal now. I'm a little more confused about what to do with the other kinds of food, which will be more of an issue in a month - 6 weeks. I asked, and the teacher said just to bring in a supply of jars, but when I told her I was making my own, she seemed a bit taken aback. I guess I'll figure it out when the time comes.

[SooCookie]

Come on ladies, it's only the third of the month and you are already testing my resolution to stay up-to-date with the thread :D

I can't keep up either!:rolleyes:

Me: Michelle (31)
DH: 32
DD: Kayla (3)
DS: Benjamin (10 months)

Checking in from the land of chasing after two kids! Ben has perfected his crawling and is super speedy now! Fortunately, he still doesn't like the tile, so he is pretty much confined to whatever carpeted area I plop him down on, so life isn't so bad yet, but I know it won't last. He still only has the one tooth. We are having a lot of texture issues over here too, so I am beginning to wonder if that tooth will ever get used. He eats the fruit puffs, but I seriously doubt a well balanced diet consists entirely of puffs!;) How in the world will he be eating enough solids in two months time for me to take him off formula?

Sorry I don't have time for personals, but wanted to check in before July was over. I love all the pictures. What a bunch of cute kids!

Michelle

[Beth G.]

Beth H. - Thanks for the info on the shots. Michael did fine with the four month ones (and there were quite a few) too. I have hopes of making Michael's food too and was planning to check out these "Baby Cubes" - they might be something you could bring to the day care instead of the jar, as long as they have room in the fridge.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3432811&CAWELAID=307591722

[Beth H]

Beth G - thanks so much for the link to those food cubes! They look perfect. I'm going to order some right now (instead of working which I should be doing :)).

[Pony]

Beth H., I have some of those cubes Beth G. posted. I haven't used them yet, but they seem like a perfect solution. I also have some that look like ice cube trays. I just pureed some sweet potatoes and put them in the freezer. :)

[Sarah45]

Beth G. - Those baby cubes look really nice - we're making all of Jax's food when it's time - thanks for the link! And I LOVE that picture of Michael :D

[tholbrook]

Just popping in for a few minutes for a quick update:

Sleep seems to be a little better now: Maya is back to sleeping until around 6 (but just as frequently, it's about 5:45 or even 5:30. Grrrr :o). I don't think she's teething, but who knows. I can't feel anything, but she won't let me take a look at her gums. So we're not giving her Motrin at night anymore, and it didn't really affect her sleep. She's had a couple of strange night-time episodes, where she wakes up sobbing - not the typical mild fussing. It's SO different than her usual behavior that I rush upstairs, and find her standing up in her crib. I don't know if she's "sleep-standing" and it scares her when she wakes up, or if she's having nightmares. But I give her a quick cuddle and short BF session, and she's back asleep in a few minutes. It doesn't happen regularly, so I'm not worried about it becoming a habit. I just wish I knew why it happens. Nothing unusual happening through the day that I know of.

Naps are going well .... BUT I'm sitting next to her crib until she falls asleep. While she is technically going to sleep without my assistance (I'm only there to encourage the sleeping, instead of playing - and I'm not really soothing to sleep), I'd really like for her to be able to go to sleep without my presence. I periodically try to leave the room, but sure enough, she pops up and "cruises" her crib. Not a chance in heck that she'll sleep once she's up.

Oh, and food... I think all the encouragement we're getting from all of you has helped! :D Maya has been eating great lately, although still not much interest in self-feeding (except in her mesh feeder-thingie). She loves plain yogurt, so I mix in a spoonful with a spoonful of slightly-chunky food, then gradually reduce the amount of yogurt. Tonight was quinoa with roasted zucchini and mint - I put the first portion through the food mill, and added yogurt: she loved it and gulped it down. The second portion was just through the food mill, no yogurt: still good. And finally, I wanted to see what she would do - I gave her just the quinoa with mashed-up zucchini and finely minced mint: she ate it without complaint! I was so shocked. :p:)

We've also been doing some other fun stuff, like sorbet - I make up the fruit part in the blender - banana, passion fruit puree, pineapple - and remove a little to put in the freezer for Maya (the rest of it gets sugar and rum ;) for the adults in the house). I give her just a few little spoonfuls after lunch and she LOVES it. So the food thing is starting to be a lot of fun, now that she's moving past her texture issues. I just wish she would show some interest in the little pieces of food I put in front of her... I'll just keep trying, I guess. :cool:

Maya is cruising like crazy now. She can pull up without actually holding onto something, like against a flat wall or door. And she's been letting go! She plops down on her butt, of course, but one of these days ... :eek::eek::). She's all over the place, and into everything she shouldn't be in. Her crawling is still a little weird, but I don't think it will change since it serves its purpose.

My question of the day: those of you with older kids, or babies around Maya's age - any recommendation for cool toys that I can get for her? Her rattles and teething rings are not really holding her attention anymore, and I'd like to get her a few age-appropriate toys (12-18 months?). So what do I NEED to add to my Amazon shopping cart? :D And my dad wants to get her some kind of ride-on/roll-around toy for her birthday, although she's not quite ready for it now - any suggestions (or what NOT to get)? Thanks in advance...

I'll do personals later, but the pictures of all the babies are great - keep 'em coming! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Okay, one quick personal: Ashley - so glad Matt is okay! That would have totally freaked me out. I've never heard of anything like that, so I would not have been prepared either.

[Sarah45]

Quick question for everyone...Diaper pails...What do you use, and do you like it?

Currently we just have a lidded trash can in Jax's room and it's been great - until we started rice cereal. Just that little change in food has caused a bit of an increase in odor and can make his whole room smell. I hate to go through a small trash bag every day and take it out every night but if I have to I will.

Any advice? Is the Diaper Genie or Champ worth it? Moms of more than one have any long term knowledge cause I know this is only going to get worse :eek:

Thanks :)

[MinEaston]

delurking...

I mostly did cloth at home with DD1 (and will do so with DC 2 due in early Sept), however, when I do use disposables, I wrap each one up in a newspaper delivery bag. I can actually wrap one of these bags around a diaper twice. Do you have that option? That might buy you a day or so on changing out the diaper pail...

[kabs]

Sarah- we use the Diaper Dekor and we like it. Seems to hold in odors pretty well. It was recommended in Baby Bargains so we registered for it.

I have a question for all of you that have been through the first cereal feeding...how did it go? We just tried our first feeding and Alex hated it! He gagged and didn't seem to swallow any of it at all. I didn't want to push it, so we threw in the towel and will try again later. Anyone have any tips? He was pretty tired when we tried...think that could have been why?

Kim

[Beth G.]

Tami - seems like Michael and Maya have a common trend at the moment. We have seen a marked increase in what I call "crummy time" - crib tummy time, when I put him down for a nap, and yesterday he was starting to pull up so DH promptly lowered the mattress. While Michael will sometimes belly sleep during the night when he rolls over in his sleep, he certainly doesn't know how to go asleep while on his belly, and since I've always stopped tummy time anytime he started putting his head down, the only thing he knows how to do while on his belly is full on playful tummy time rolling all over the crib. Which makes it very hard to nap. Now that the mattress is lower, maybe I will let him try a little more on his own, but on Friday when he started it at bedtime I pulled him out of the crib and tried my best to nurse him to sleep so he wouldn't be rolling around. Got him 3/4 of the way there. Funny that everyone else is trying to get their babies to put themselves to sleep and here I am trying (not very successfully) to nurse Michael to sleep. Like Maya, he's also waking occasional nights 1-2 hours after bedtime full on screaming/sobbing, not his normal mild fussing when he wakes up later during the night to be fed. I do the same short BF session and he's fine. Last night I was able to get him back to sleep without the boob, which I try first since I know I can't use the boob forever. I think it's nightmares.

Sarah - we have the Diaper Genie and we love it, but like you, we've just started cereal so I'm not sure how it will be as the diapers get smellier. We've been on cereal for a week now though, and no smells so far, so I guess it's working if you're already finding the room smelling without it.

Kim - if Alex is gagging and not swallowing he may not have lost his tongue thrust reflex yet and may not be ready. Did he open up or try to close his mouth over the spoon? We started Michael only at six months on super runny cereal (milk on a spoon) and he did great with the spoon so we're already one week later on 2 tablespoons dry, pretty thick. You may want to give him a little time before you try again if it doesn't go well the next time. Good luck!

This mommy was happy to read on Michael's "infant experience sheet" from day care on Thursday that he smiled and laughed when the teacher sang "If you're happy and you know it..." That's the song the musical inchworm we have plays and I sing it to him all the time. I guess he remembers me at day care :cool:

[acginkc]

Well, it's here and i guess I'm as ready as I can be. After 20 weeks, today is my first day back to work :(. Of course as some cosmic joke I slept like total cr@p. I tossed until almost midnight, and woke up at 3:45 to feed Matt and haven't been able to go back to sleep. Grrr. We had a busy weekend. Friday night we had a dinner party to go to so Matt had his first non-family babysitter. He did great and they kept telling us how great he was. Saturday we had a BBQ at our house and he did great with all the friends who wanted to hold him and play. Finally, Sunday we had a luncheon at church and he did great again, didn't seem to care who was holding him. I'm now very confident that he will do just fine at daycare, not sure I'll do as well without him all day. He did give me some great cuddle time yesterday so that was nice. Cereal is going really well which is nice. We haven't upped the amount too much, but I'm not too worried about that yet. We'll wait till he actually makes it all the way through the bowl we are making.

Beth- I'm so glad Michael is doing well at daycare. How is he doing with the bottles? Are his naps okay there? How is pumping going for you? And so cute about the smiling to the song you sing to him.

Kim- We tried the really thin cereal with Matt at first and didn't have a ton of luck (now we do 1oz milk/1T cereal). He didn't hate it, just didn't really eat much of it. We figured out if I nursed him first he did much better with the cereal. Now that he's more patient with the cereal we can do either 1st and he's fine. Try different consistencies, or even a different "flavor".

Sarah- We also have the Diaper Dekor and really like it. It contains odors really well, and the bags are so easy to change. I'd recommend it.

Tami- The sleep standing is crazy. I've caught Matt cooing to himself in his sleep several times lately (looks like he got that from me :rolleyes:). And can I have the food Maya doesn't finish, it sounds delish. I'm glad that her eating has been improving.

Michelle- Sorry about Ben's texture issues. Perhaps if you can find a variety of flavors of the puffs he'd be okay ;):D. Did Kayla adjust to solids pretty easily?

Heather- Yay for the progress on sleep. Matt is still so inconsistent, but I'm hoping daycare will help that a bit since they can't be rocking him all day.

Michelle- I'm glad Evelyn enjoyed her trip to Jacksonville. Really interesting that you can get that info on your milk. I agree I'd want to know more as well.

OK, I've managed to kill some more of this sleepless night, so time to start my day. Eek. 6 pm is going to take forever to get here.

[Sarah45]

We've had some great sleep days recently, good afternoon naps (in the swing) and sleeping through or only waking up once. After our trip I am still going to banish the swaddle and teach him to put himself to sleep but for right now we're all good :cool:

Thanks for the input on the diaper pails, I think for now I am going to empty the trash every night and see how that goes. If that doesn't work then a Dekor, Champ or Genie it is...

Jackson is up to eating 1/4c dry cereal mixed with bm twice a day and he devours the entire bowl - i'm sure that he could eat more. Does that sound like a lot or normal? The Ped said that we needed to use his cues on how much to eat so I guess on that scale we're doing OK but it's nice to get other input.

My biggest frustration right now?? Post-partum hair loss. Ugh, it's so awful. I have pretty long, thick hair and I am constantly shedding. I have taken to wearing it twisted up in the back just so I can contain the shedding to the bathroom instead of the entire house. Because my hair is thick I am only seeing signs of the thinning at my temples but still, it's really freaky and I hope it stops soon :(


Ashley - Good Luck at work today, I'm sure that Matt will have a ball at day care!

Kim - I think that throwing in the towel and trying again later is the way to go. Jackson took to it right away but if he hadn't I would not have pushed the issue. Since it more of developmental step than a nutrition one, I would let him dictate when he's ready. Just keep trying every once in awhile. I will say that the first few feedings, when it was really runny, were very messy and I don't think he got much actually in his mouth but he was smiling and enjoying the experience - no gagging.

Tami - Don't you HATE those 5 am wakings? If the clock says 5-anything it just makes my heart sink. I can deal with anything after 6 though :) No wonder food is going better for Maya, it sounds better than what I am feeding myself right now :D

[Beth H]

My biggest frustration right now?? Post-partum hair loss. Ugh, it's so awful. I have pretty long, thick hair and I am constantly shedding.

Sarah - I have really thick hair as well and went through an awful shedding period from about 4 months - 5 1/2 months postpartum. (We had to Draino our shower several times :rolleyes:.) Over the last several weeks, though, it's slowed noticeably (although I'm still shedding more hair than "normal"). I'm hoping that over the next month or so, it will slow even more.

[Bawstinn]

I am woefully behind. My brother was here for the last week visiting the kids from Oregon. He just left this morning.

Sleeping is OK although gas is still an issue. Christopher slept from 8-1:30 last night, ate and then woke up at 3:30 with gas. Sleeping was hit or miss after that. I was trying to get him to stay up and eat at 10 but he has pretty much decided that 8 o'clock is his bedtime.

His baby acne has gotten bad though, over the last couple of days.

I go back to work in 5 weeks <sigh> so I have started pumping in the morning after he eats and then before I go to bed to start a freezer stash. I was OK when Madeleine was taking 4 oz bottles but when she jumped up to 6 oz bottles I started having a hard time keeping up.

Sarah - Yes, the smell will only get worse. ;) We have a Diaper Champ that we used with Madeleine that I am using again. I like it because I can use my own trash bags and not their special ones. I bought a round, flat air freshener / odor absorber from Super Target that I place in the bottom and have never had a problem with the smell escaping. I am guessing that DH works at the same company that we do, since I remember a comment you made about have a 4-day weekend over Memorial Day too.

Pony - Madeleine bit me a couple of times too. I just pulled her off, told her 'no' and that was it. She learned quick it was the end of a meal.

I purchased cubes like that for food but didn't find them very economical and mostly used ice cube trays. One squash makes a LOT and you'd need a lot of those cubes to be able to freeze it all if the intent is to keep it in the cubes (I would get 5-6 ice cube trays from one squash). I froze in ice cube trays and then popped out the cubes. For daycare, I'd take out a cube and defrost overnight in a container and then stick it in the little cube to take to daycare. I also liked to have quite a few different veggies in the freezer to choose from and would have needed a ton of those cubes to be able to freeze them all.

I have both of them home with me today and need to entertain the 3 yr old before her brother ends up decorated with princess stickers again. :eek:

[Lrimerman]

I haven't posted on CookingLight in a long time. However, thought I would pop in.

I now have a 2 month old boy named Elliott. He was born on April 27th and is my 4th child (3 boys and a girl). He was 7 lbs 9 oz at birth but lost a whole pound before my milk came in and he is now up to 9 lbs 2 oz.

We are switching pediatricians and so I started the switch with Elliott's 2 month check up. I was a bit concerned about all the vaccinations at 2 months and didn't want to do them all at once and wanted to know which are most important, etc. Our old Drs really dismissed me and said they recommend them all at once and that they are all recommended by them rather required or not (they basically said they may not all be required now, but by the time he goes to school they think they will all be required--I don't feel that is a good enough reason to give him extra shots). The new doctor was very willing to discuss my concerns and fears and said she doesn't do a set schedule, she looks at each patient individually. She only likes to give a maximum of 2 shots at a time and she doesn't like to start till they are 4 months old. She also recommended which 2 shots he should get first based on the fact we will be heading into Fall and the cold and flu season. She was very reasonable, respectful and helpful. Made my switching a bit easier, but it will take a bit of getting used to a whole new practice since we have been with the other for almost 11 years. This practice does kids and adults and there is not a separate sick and well waiting room, which I don't like, but I suppose when they are there for well visit and sick people are in the waiting room, I will just ask to wait in the hall.

DH is back to travel almost every week for this month at least, so that is a bit challenging. I am glad it is summer but it has been a bit of a crazy summer so far!!

DD went to a local Jewish camp for 10 days from the end of June till the beginning of July and loved it but now that she is home she is back to her old crabby, pre-teen self, UGGH!!

Ben my 4 year old almost drown 2 weeks ago, so I am still recovering from that scare, thank goodness he is ok!! He also ran into the island in the kitchen last week and has the worst black eye i have ever seen which is finally starting to get better. He had x-ray and nothing was broken, but boy does he look bad!!

DD got a huge sliver last night and DH had to take her to the urgent care to have it removed as it was too deep for us to get it out, she is deathly afraid of needles so it was an ordeal, but they numbed her toe and got it out!!

So far in the past 2 week we have been to the ER/Urgent care 3 times, hopefully that is it for a while.

Hope you all have a great rest of summer.

Lisa

[valchemist]

J
My question of the day: those of you with older kids, or babies around Maya's age - any recommendation for cool toys that I can get for her? Her rattles and teething rings are not really holding her attention anymore, and I'd like to get her a few age-appropriate toys (12-18 months?). So what do I NEED to add to my Amazon shopping cart? :D And my dad wants to get her some kind of ride-on/roll-around toy for her birthday, although she's not quite ready for it now - any suggestions (or what NOT to get)? Thanks in advance...



this is a great toy. most reviews here are very good, and the couple ones that are bad are off base for several reasons I won't go into.

Spiral Tower
http://www.amazon.com/I-Play-Super-Spiral-Play-Tower/dp/B0006N8YU4

we also like this toy.

Brightlings Exploration Station
http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-10500-Brightlings-Exploration-Station/dp/B000NRX5X4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1247500579&sr=8-2

both of the above toys really grow with children. they use them in different ways as they grow.

if you want something bigger, the fisher price laugh and learn house is also a great toy that grows with kids.

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-C6327-Fisher-Price-Learning/dp/B000284X6W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1247500651&sr=8-1

activity tables are also GREAT for this age where they are starting to stand.

we don't have this particular one, but this is the kind of thing I mean. leapfrog also has some.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3109734

another smaller toy that I have seen in stores and that I think looks really fun is this one.

mailbox
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3372560

[kabs]

Back to post a quick update (since I'm up at this ridiculous hour)...We tried the cereal again and it went much better. Thinned it out a little more and fed him a few ounces from the bottle first as I think he was frustrated (and hungry!) when we tried it before. No gagging this time.

I read on one of these threads about books you all recommended about solid foods, and I just spent about 20 minutes trying to find them with no luck. If you had a book you liked would you care to share?

BethG- Cute story about the song at daycare!

BethH and Sarah- I, too, am losing tons of hair! We've had to Drain-O our shower on more than one occasion. I guess I'm lucky that I have thick hair and can stand to lose some of it, but I am constantly finding it stuck in Alex's toes, or fingers, or neck:o!

Lisa- Congratulations on Elliott's arrival! It sounds like you've had quite an eventful summer so far. I'm glad you've found a doctor that you're more comfortable with, too!

[Beth H]

I guess I'm lucky that I have thick hair and can stand to lose some of it, but I am constantly finding it stuck in Alex's toes, or fingers, or neck

One of the cutest photos we've taken of Will was marred by a one of my long hairs that was laying on his face. :)

The book I've been using for solids is called Cooking For Baby - it's a Williams Sonoma-published book. I really like the way it is organized and the advice it gives for gradually expanding what baby is eating.

Will did great with his squash last night - the best ever. I've started mixing a tablespoon of rice in with it as the squash alone did not seem quite as filling for him. Next up: peas (I think).

Don't have time for full personals now but hope everyone is having a good week!

[bekki]

Me: Bekki
Boys: Will&Andy (8.5 months)

My goodness, I have been out of the loop for so long! We have had a crazy month--3 weekends of house guests in a row and then we flew to CA for a few days (DH had to go for work and we tagged along to see family). And I'm hosting a baby shower next weekend. The boys did well on the trip, except the flight home. It wasn't a total disaster, but it was not fun at all.

They're crawling. They crawl on top of everything and each other. And they're pulling to stand. Yeah, my life is over and full of trouble. It's amazing what 4 days can do (that's when these new things popped up). We're also in a never ending wave of teething--one takes its sweet time coming in for Andy, and once it finally pops through, we're in for another long arduous process with Will.

They're doing better at feeding themselves, but the food has to long and thin or else they can't get it into their mouths. They can't do puffs with any regularity, but a thin trip of toast works well. But they still would rather I just spoon it into their mouths! I came across this frozen baby food called Happy Babies. I bought a package that had two varieties (one was called Baby Dhal--lentils/veggies/spices and the other was a mix of banana/black bean/quinoa which they LOVE). Although I've been making most of their food, it was nice to have some inspiration for new things. Got to figure out the banana/black bean mix at home!

A couple of notes:

RE: Diaper pails--we've been pretty happy with the Diaper Genie II. We throw wet diapers in a little trash can, but dirty ones go in the DG. Seems to work for us.

RE: Toys--the biggest hits around here (and I know my two are younger than Maya, but I'm hoping they still like these in a few months!) are the LeapFrog Learn and Grow music table, soft blocks (I make towers and they knock them down!), one of those bead/wire maze things all doctor's offices have and and Oball rattle

RE: Food storage--I have been using silicone muffin pans to freeze. They hold about 2 oz+/-, and I find them very easy to use. Plus I already had a ton of them hanging around, so I didn't need to buy more stuff!

And finally, because I love these two pictures:

http://www.adamlyon.com/gallery/d/6565-2/wIMG_0212.jpg

http://www.adamlyon.com/gallery/d/6586-2/wIMG_0306.jpg

[Pony]

Hello there.....

We had Evelyn's 6 month appt. yesterday. She is 17 pounds 9 oz and 26 inches long. And still sensitive to dairy :o:(. I cheated recently and brought a diaper in to the appt. So, the ped. said to wait another 3 months and then I could have yogurt. Shoot...I don't want yogurt. I want butter and cheese and chocolate! Carl felt so bad for me, so he went to WF on the way home. He had gotten me a slice of vegan chocolate cake before and wanted to get me another slice. Well, they were out of the cake, so the lady gave him a complimentary vegan chocolate parfait!!!!!!!! Love WF. It was so good. I feel horrible that I cheated. The ped said 60% of babies grow out of it at 6 months and to not worry about it, b/c she is growing. I guess her colon gets inflamed from the protein which then causes the bleeding.

She is doing so many things these days! Waving her hand and moving her fingers around. She is scooting around all over the place. On Tuesday, my coworker came by and I was telling her how she is scooting, but doesn't realize she can use her knees yet. Evelyn immediately started to try to use her knees :eek:. She definitely is not crawling, but it looks like she is going to try do it sooner then later. She is sitting up very well.

Napping/Sleeping/Bedtime.....:)
Evelyn does not seem to be ready to drop a nap. She actually seems to have picked up a 4th nap! :rolleyes: Lately, her 3rd nap is over at 3:30 and there is no way she can stay pleasantly awake for bedtime. We put her down for another nap at 5:30 and it is a quick one. I've noticed when I try to put her down btwn 7:30-8, she wakes up once or twice before 9:30. If I put her down at 9 pm, she typically sleeps until 1ish. She still gets the same amount of sleep, b/c she usually wakes up a bit later. Anyway, just talking outloud here ;).

Will return with personals and I hope everyone is doing well!!!

[helios7]

Just flying by to say that Bekki, those are the cutest pictures ever! I love the bath one. So cute!

Sleep hasn't been so great on our end lately. Lots and lots of wakeups - I swear, he woke up every hour last night. Or close to it. I'm hoping it's teething, but I'm exhausted. He's down for a nap, so I'm going to go lie down until the moving estimator comes at 3.

We tried yogurt (yobaby) this week. Home run! Quinn LOVES it. No funny faces on that one!
http://www.cheesenpickles.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSC9379-1.jpg


Hope to be back later or tomorrow with personals. Michelle - Quinn does better with a third nap most days, particularly when he's done with nap #2 by 2. Today he just went down, so I don't anticipate a third nap. But who knows. I didn't anticipate being up so often last night either!!! :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[SooCookie]

Ok, trying to do personals! Both kids are asleep at the same time! This never happens…

Heather – sorry you had a rough night last night! :( While Ben is sleeping through the night, he has decided that 4:40 is a great time to wake up these days. I am going out of my mind trying to figure out what I am doing wrong with his naps to cause this. Are his naps too short, too long, too late or too early of a bedtime. I haven’t noticed any trends, so I think he is just wanting to party! So very sleep deprived over here too.

Michelle – sorry to hear Evelyn still has a dairy sensitivity. Hopefully she will outgrow it soon enough and you can have your chocolate again!

Bekki – what absolutely adorable pictures! They look professional. The lighting in both of them is perfect! I am jealous of your picture taking abilities.

Lisa – welcome to Elliot! It sounds like you are crazy busy with 4 kids now. I don’t know how you are managing with your DH traveling so much. Sorry to hear that you had to switch pediatricians, but it definitely sounds like the new place is a much better fit. Good luck!

Sarah45 – just wanted to add my opinion on the diaper pail discussion. We have a diaper champ and find it does not contain the poop smell very well. So wet diapers go in the pail, and poop diapers go into the trash outside. We don’t have the odor absorber thingy that Maria mentioned though, so maybe that would help.

Ashley – how did you 1st day back at work go?

Tami – glad to hear the texture issues are getting better. Quinoa with roasted zucchini and mint sounds delish. Maybe I should try making some tastier food and then he would eat it! I have never been much of a cook and am a far better baker, so dinner is always a struggle for me. For the toys, Val gave you some great suggestions. I also can add stacking cups, and several sets of them! DD LOVES her cups and has a set for the tub, for her sandbox and now she is stealing Ben’s whenever he is playing with them. Another toy that was and still is a big hit is the Little People farm: http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=lpproduct&pid=37354 . Another great one is this bird house: http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Toy-Put-Peek-Birdhouse/dp/B0001NEAB6 . Oh, and since you mentioned she is cruising, I’ll bet she would love one of these push type of walker things: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Tikes-Tracker-Activity-Walker/dp/B000096P3A/ref=pd_sbs_t_4 . The link is the one we have. I am not sure if it is still available, but if you do get one, make sure you get one where the wheels have a tension adjustment lever so that it doesn’t go too fast for her while she is still learning how to walk. I could go on and on. Yes, my daughter was and still is very spoiled.

Well, about us. As I mentioned above, Ben’s latest thing is waking up insanely early. I am going out of my mind not only because it is happening, but trying to figure out how to stop it. There are so many things it could be attributed to: teething, trying to pull up, just generally wanting mom to be cranky all… day… long! Who knows? But whatever the reason, I am so over it. ‘Cause you know it is all about me, right?! ;)

He also has been chucking all of his 7-8 pacifiers out of the crib and then crying for me to come get them for him. It is a real dilemma for me what I should do about this one. It has obviously turned into a game for him. I almost wish he was a thumb-sucker like DD!

It seems like there was more I wanted to say, but can’t remember any of it now. Hope everyone is doing well.

Michelle

[valchemist]

funny,

we have blocks (soft rubber-like pooh version), stacking cups, a large sized wire/bead maze (awesome... don't settle for the small junky ones), the little people farm, and even the manhattan toy bird house. all these toys are great, as mentioned by t he people who posted.

we have one push toy (melissa doug clacking alligators) which is cute, but the window where this gets used is so small that it wasn't worth the space it took up. that's just our experience though... they just seem to progress from cruising to full walking so quickly, that the "walkers" aren't as useful as something like this...(see links below) where they can use it as a walker for a while but also as a ride on. I should say that the one michelle posted looks good because they can also use it while sitting in front of it. and she is right about the tension adjustment on those walkers. the clacking alligators (which was a gift) had no such adjustment and nelson was like an out of control train with that thing.

http://www.amazon.com/John-Deere-Scoot-Activity-Tractor/dp/B00080VMF4/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1247786541&sr=8-22

or

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Flight-Airplane-Ride-On/dp/B0007PAQF2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1247786513&sr=8-1

these ride ons that can be pushed and also that have a storage compartment are great fun.

[Pony]

Back for personals...

Ashley-How is daycare and work going? How is Matt adjusting?

Heather-Is Quinn still able to put himself to sleep in the crib? I'm so sorry about all the wake-ups!! I hope last night was better for you both. Another adorable picture of Quinn!!!

Beth G-I'm glad you all called the state inspector on that daycare! How is he doing with naps at the daycare now? Any improvement? Cute picture of Michael and his cereal. Too cute about his "infant experience sheet". :D

Kim-It sounds like Alex did fine without the swaddle! How was his 4 month appt.? We didn't really get any great pictures of Evelyn in the ocean.....we were worried about our new camera near the water :rolleyes:. I'm glad the cereal went over better the 2nd time around. Evelyn seemed to do fine with it, but occasionally we've added sweet potatoes to it. I have "La Petit Appetit" and some random 100 best puree cookbook I got at my shower. I like the La Petit Appetit so far.

Michelle-good to see you!! Glad Ben is doing well with crawling. So sorry about the early wake-up times!! Ouch.

Tami-Has Maya still been waking up standing and crying in the middle of the night? So sad. Sounds like a nightmare or something. I'm glad she is eating better!

Sarah-I'm glad sleep is going well. Sorry about the shedding. I haven't experienced it yet, but know some of my friends have.

Maria-How sweet that your brother came to visit. Mine came to visit right before I had to go back to work. When did Madeleine start 6oz bottles? Sorry about the gas and the baby acne. I hope they both get better soon!!

Lisa-Glad to see you here. Ohhh, Elliott was one of my boy names I wanted to use!! I'm glad you found a new doctor you are comfortable with! Sounds like you have your hands full. I'm so sorry about Ben's black eye and drowning scare. How scary for a mom!!!!

Val-thanks for the toy recommendations!

Bekki-those pictures are great. You must have an excellent camera, b/c the colors are amazing. Sounds super busy at your place. It is funny you mentioned the bead/wire maze things all doctor's offices have, b/c our room had one in it at our 6 month appt. The door was open and a 3 year old comes running across the hallway saying "I want to play with that". Well, I thought he was talking about Evelyn and he ran into our room and jumped over us to get to the bead/wire thing! I hadn't even noticed it on the wall, b/c Evelyn isn't interested in it yet. It was hilarious. His mom was embarrassed, but we enjoyed the company while we waited for the doctor. :D

[Beth G.]

Have finished two weeks back at work and it’s hard but going OK. We got some good news this week, the day care will be able to give us four days a week for August, so DH will only have to work/watch Michael on Wednesdays then. He is getting used to his new routine too, even on the days we have day care he’s got to do more bottles/cereal and vitamins and all the packing up, driving, etc. I think we will both be much less stressed once we have full time care in September. It’s totally worth it though – we love the day care and Michael is doing well. It’s still inconsistent with things like sleeping in their crib since he’s not there full time. He’s barely eating there so we changed the nipple to medium flow and that is going a better for them and DH. Some days cereal goes well and some days, as DH said, he looks at him like he’s feeding him poison. The telephone lactation specialist thinks he’s reverse cycling but he isn’t that interested in eating today either, and I’m home. Basically, he takes two good feedings a day, at bedtime and in the middle of the night, and might deign to eat in the late afternoon. Not interested in the morning at all.

Pumping – the bane of my existence. It is really hard to get away for three 30 minute sessions during my workday, and I’m totally rushing to get everything washed and ready for the next time before my slot is done. I like the hospital pump and a friend gave me a hands free bra so I can relax a little. I’m trying to bring home 16 ounces each day but my supply can get screwed up by Michael’s inconsistent eating on the days I’m home. The other emerging issue is whether I have to pump before I leave home in the morning or can feed Michael directly (my preference). His sleeping/night feeding schedule is trending towards my having to pump in the morning before I leave, too. If he seems restless and hasn’t eaten in 3-4 hours then I’m willing to chance waking him to try to get him to eat, but if he’s sleeping soundly I pump. The first week it wasn’t an issue as he was waking to eat at 4, but the last few nights he’s been sleeping longer stretches and it hasn’t been the right time to feed him when I leave. So much pumping… not what I wanted to be doing.

My allergy bloodwork went shockingly badly and I’ve been slapped with tree nut allergy. I really thought I would be cleared and even bought my favorite Luna bar with walnuts to motivate me to finish up the testing. I’ve read that there aren’t many false negatives (and I didn’t react to any of the nuts on the skin test) and a 50-60% false positive rate but it’s not the kind of allergy you can mess around with. I’m forever going to be stressing once we start introducing nuts to Michael, but I suppose we have some time before I have to worry about that.

I think this picture does a good job of summarizing how napping and bedtime are going here.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d933b3127ccec7cc9516b7d300000040O00AbsmzZw2cN2 IPbz4e/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

There is a very small paragraph in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child about how to handle this type of thing (don’t play games) but other than that I’m at a loss. Someone asked me if I could just let him cry it out, but he’s not usually crying – he’s figured out there is no need for that when he can do push ups and play, play, play. This morning he finally figured out how to go to sleep on his belly which will help since he’s often in that position in the crib now. Michael’s been great at bedtime for the last couple of months but last night was rough and he didn’t fall asleep until 9, which is bad since he seems to wake up at 6:30 every day now (used to be 7:30). One of the problems is he will fall asleep in the car on the way home from day care – a late nap. He is much better on the days he doesn’t go and I can control how late the last nap is. I’ve read the only solution for this is to find day care closer to home. Oh well. And as much as I hate to think about it, we need to move the crib to his room soon.

The toy discussion is great. I have a 15% off Babies R Us coupon just waiting to be used! I want one of those activity tables.

Ashley – how is work going? My first day was a lot like yours, I was up for the day at 4 am. Napping at day care is hit and miss. Some days in the crib, some days not at all. The first week he slept in their laps a lot which is not a habit I want him getting into. They also roll the cribs a little to help. He is still not eating much there and we got a smiley on our sheet when he finished a 3 ounce bottle. Woo hoo – 3 ounces! How is Matt doing at day care?

Sarah – I’m with you on the hair. DH is mad at me as I’ve taken to drying my hair in the downstairs bathroom when I’m getting ready for work so the hair dryer doesn’t wake Michael. The upstairs bathroom is already covered in my hair; I’ve now added another one.

Maria – how is sleep going? Any better on the gas? LOL about Madeline decorating baby brother with princess stickers.

Bekki – great pictures! The boys are so cute. I am dreading crawling as much as Michael is desperate to do it.

Michelle (Pony) – so sorry about the continued dairy intolerance (with my nut thing, I understand your pain!). I keep meaning to try this King Arthur chocolate cookie recipe that’s butter-less (it’s dutch cocoa powder, too) so if I ever do I’ll let you know how it is. We weighed Michael Wednesday since our 6 month visit is not until next week and he is 16 ¼ pounds. He is NOT screaming at my boobs when I walk in :( Michael is napping a little more at day care and is totally fine without the third nap although he’s quite tired by bedtime (not cranky though). I sheepishly admit I don’t try too hard on the third nap since it makes bedtime so much easier if he doesn’t take it. I know that’s counter to what they say about overtiredness, but it works for us. If he missed the third nap I put him down in the crib, he turns on his side, and goes to sleep. If he takes that nap it can be a much more difficult process, like last night it took him 30 minutes to get to sleep. No teeth yet here but ouch did he clamp down and gum me hard today. I assume the teeth are close to the surface. Stopping the feeding is not a particularly effective strategy for Michael though – he could care less.

Heather – did you find a house??? I hope sleep improves soon! I am dreading teething.

Hello to everyone I missed… have a good weekend!

[acginkc]

Hey everyone. I'm super excited because I figured out that the office I use for pumping will pick up the coffee shop next door's Wifi. Yay for internet access at work.

Matt has been doing great at daycare. The first day he didn't eat much (not a surprise with all this fun new stuff to look at). Since then he's been eating like a champ. Pumping is going ok. I am doing it 1-2 times a shift (once being on my lunch break). I've found it really hard to get off the sales floor more than that. I'm going to start adding a pumping at home to help up my stock a bit. I think we are going to move up from 4oz to 4.5 or 5 oz next week. Right now I'm getting about 12oz from my 2 pumpings.

DH seems to be doing really well with his transport of Matt to and from daycare so thats great. It has made it much easier on my transition back to know Matt is doing so well without me there all the time.

He did have a rough time from Wed evening to this morning. He was warm, but didn't have a temp and was so fussy. Tylenol seemed to take care of it, but not sure if it was teething or adjusting to all those new germs in the world of daycare (which truth be told is a LOT cleaner than my house I'm sure).

OK, I'm done with my break. I'll come back for personals later this weekend.

[EmilyD]

my goodness this thread is just flying by this month. I have started posts but not had time to actually read through carefully enough to do personals. I'll do those separately...

me, DH - 33, married almost 8 years
J.D. -- 4 mos (b. 3/14)

Today was J.D.'s 4-month appt and he got his shots. His last set left him feverish and clingy for about 48 hours; so far I think he's doing better this time but I still have my Saturday open to be with him. He's doubled his birth weight but is still a little peanut at 12lbs 15.5 oz (not *quite* 13 lbs and about 10th %tile) although he's 25.5" long (50-75%tile). I was never on the charts (<5%) through adolescence so it's not a huge surprise he's falling on the bottom half for weight.

He continues to be a "happy spitter" -- and did a great job of demonstrating that to the pedi today :rolleyes: I've kept a diary off and on and it doesn't seem to correlate to my diet but more to the time of day and his activity level while nursing. As he's gaining well enough and doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, we're just keeping an eye on this. Michelle, how did you get the Dx of a diary intolerance for Evelyn? I know they eval the diaper, but were there other flags? My mom thinks this may be the issue but I'm not seeing any indicators it is. But we do devour dairy here (I buy 4-5 gallons of milk a week for the two of us, and we eat yogurt daily, plus cheese and ice cream. And that's just the obvious stuff).

In other milestones, he rolled over from back to belly for the first time yesterday. He was soclose for several days and then finally moved his arm out of the way last night, just after my DH got home from work and was able to witness it. Earlier today he rolled from belly to back, but I think that was more accidental as he's not repeated the feat since. We still swaddle at night so I'm not sure what to do about that -- sometimes he has one arm out, sometimes both in. It's also probably time to move him out of the cradle in to the crib full-time, but DH isn't ready for him to leave our room for the nursery. I'm more ambivalent about it; I know it's possibly time but I do like having him nearby.

He continues to be a good sleeper (ducking ;)) but I am planning to start being more consistent about routine. He naps wherever during the day and still nurses to sleep many nights as well. Just in the past couple of weeks he's starting to sleep much later in the morning -- he falls asleep for the night around midnight and is now sleeping until 9am or later. If he gets up around 7am then he falls back to sleep while nursing and might sleep until 10 or 11am. It's been nice for to get some work done. I'm still trying to juggle caring for him by myself while working from home as a contractor. I currently have two projects I'm working on so it's getting tricky.

We've also had some big adventures recently. I just returned from that trip I asked for advice about last month. On Sunday we went to the airport and my DH dropped me off for curbside check-in but then I still had the stroller, baby in the bucket carseat, the diaper bag, purse/milk storage/diaper bag, and a carry on. Getting through security actually went pretty well, but they were already boarding our plane by the time we got to the gate :o After gate-checking the stroller (BOB did ok in the plane's belly ;)), we were good to go. Luckily there was *1* vacant seat on the plane so I was able to keep his carseat with me and he did great on both takeoff and landing (the flight up was direct). Our biggest glitch is that the bottle nipple got returned to the wrong bag after going through security and was in the bag that was in the overhead compartment so I had to nurse him both times rather than using the bottle as planned. No biggie though. The return trip I had a layover halfway through, but no plane change. That also went well; he slept through one descent and did fine on the other elevation changes. He was a great traveler! It was nice to introduce him to my 91-year-old grandmother; she had good days while we were there (clearly knew who we were and was able to see a little bit). We used a PeaPod sleeper while in the hotel -- that was great for travel.

In late June we also joined friends at their family's lakehouse. It was relaxing to wither in the heat in another location :cool: They have a one-year-old and we took the boys out for their first boat ride. They both mostly slept through it but it was fun. The heat here has been *so* oppressive: already 31 days over 100 and we're very deep in a drought. When we were in PA I just kept noticing how *green* everything was.

Here are a couple of recent pix -- I hope to be back to do personals over the weekend!
http://picasaweb.google.com/domaschk/OurNewAddition?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKF1rb6q_HI6gE#53475 50431325262002

http://picasaweb.google.com/domaschk/JDMonth3?authkey=Gv1sRgCPa0rdaE4qST5AE#53565599160 52456882

http://picasaweb.google.com/domaschk/JDMonth3?authkey=Gv1sRgCPa0rdaE4qST5AE#53565593943 06420258

(not sure if pix are showing up or not. the boards are being wonky -- I pasted this post in a few times before it went through and now the pictures aren't showing up... Guess I'll check again in the a.m.)

[fancyn]

Hola chicas!!! A little late checking in, eh? Things have been non-stop busy before the month began. Been reading along at least…

Me: Nancy, 30
DH: 36
DS: Nicholas, 4.5 years
DD: Natalie, 5 months yesterday

The month has been a bit trying, self-imposed I guess. We went for an extended weekend at the lake for the 4th and then have been house sitting for 10 days straight. I’m ready to be home and tend to my own surroundings but the extra $$ is a blessing. With two in daycare soon enough, we’ll be shelling out a small fortune each month. I REALLY wish I was making a smidge more because I’d let DH stay home with the kids…in theory anyways. ;)

So NJ turned 5 months yesterday and the time has gone by in a blink. We ‘thought’ we had a tooth a week or two back ( my dad and I BOTH saw and felt it) but in several hours it was gone and nothing since. Unless of course you count the overstock of drool, the random whining and the occasional temp that seems to accompany a cranky mood. Nick didn’t cut his first until 7 months but DH had 2 teeth by 4 months so I guess there really isn’t a pattern. I do however remember Nick being this way for at least a month before the first one reared its ugly head. Grrr. She’s so easy going (hence while coming to work still works) most of the time but these days and bouts are brutal. So we live on Tylenol during them. :D (which works like a charm)

Solids have been going MUCH better. Thick oatmeal mixed with applesauce finally took. Since we’ve been house sitting I haven’t had the option of bringing anything else along. Nick’s favorite first food was my homemade zucchini, which we’ve yet to try… Can’t wait to get home!! I’m hoping her sleep mellows out there because she’s taken to waking several times a night again.

And our other excitement has been our inch-worm. She scoots herself to where she likes, only on her terms of course. Sometimes she’d rather lie there and gripe if something is out of reach: But yesterday she got up on all fours twice!!! She looked at me and I think we were both equally as shocked. I’m not sure if this is a start to anything because if I’m remembering correctly, they will sit unassisted before crawling (we’re still tripodding the majority of the time). But I can say I’m not ready for any mobility yet!

Must get to bed! Hopefully personals tomorrow….

Since everyone is doing high chair shots. :)

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs086.snc1/4907_1164369556333_1440692609_30450216_7972492_n.j pg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs168.snc1/6295_1170274303948_1440692609_30470905_1404045_n.j pg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs188.snc1/6295_1171665258721_1440692609_30476909_516724_n.jp g

More photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=3&aid=2024091&id=1440692609#/album.php?aid=2024091&id=1440692609&page=3

[EmilyD]

OK, trying to post the pictures again. They showed up in the preview before...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1N43sSENtCk/SjZQyOWhELI/AAAAAAAAC_Q/ELhCGQY7hsc/s400/IMG_1971.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1N43sSENtCk/SlZSY4vqbiI/AAAAAAAADLg/wVHuCzoj8EA/s576/IMG_2457-1.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1N43sSENtCk/SlZS3QZnJbI/AAAAAAAADMY/1stJUHMlbpk/s512/IMG_2410.JPG

Nancy, we both have pictures of our little ones in the life jacket!

[tholbrook]

OK, I finally wrapped up the personals that I've been working on sporadically for something like 2 weeks... :o;) I'll see if I can type up an update for us too, although at this rate, I'll have to post it in the August thread!

Ashley – Has Matt perfected his raspberries yet? I’m convinced that babies know exactly how to make sure they are the center of attention at all times! :p Congrats on getting through your first week back at work… sounds like daycare is going well for Matt too!

Sarah – glad that Jackson’s sleep is back to normal! I love that little gummy grin; it sure seems like he loves that cereal. Is he still flailing in his sleep? I have the post-partum hair loss too – although my hair is fine and thin to begin with, so this is certainly not helping. I also have little “tufts” at my temples where Maya has pulled out handfuls of hair, and it’s starting to grow back. So that’s really nice looking. :rolleyes:

Melissa – how was your Vegas trip? Does your DH still have a restriction on lifting weight post-surgery? Hope you’re able to get a picture of Neal posted soon! ;)

Beth G – so cute about Michael smiling when he heard the song! And how great that this daycare writes down that kind of detail. So, so glad you found a daycare you’re happy with – and congrats on getting more days! That’s insane about the “bad” daycare – I’m flabbergasted that they would put blankets on the babies’ heads!
I hate pumping too – and I’m sure that doesn’t help the output. I’m admit to being a bit envious of your workplace, however … I can’t even fathom a dedicated pumping room, with hospital-grade pumps that you can use. I pump in a locked conference room with the blinds pulled. It doesn’t help either, that I work in a male-dominated environment.
Cute picture of Michael too – I think he loves the crib, maybe a little too much! ;) And he looks like he is already capable of causing lots of mischief! :)

Jane – I’m so glad you were able to resolve the sitter issue. How’s the new sitter working out so far? Welcome to the messy world of solids! I’m giving Maya just lunch and dinner, because she spends so much time nursing in the morning (catching up after the whole night, I guess) – there’s almost no time to fit in breakfast before her first nap.

Heather – love, love, love the pictures of Quinn. What a great expression in both shots – he has such beautiful eyes! Maya loved Yobaby yogurt too... and yogurt continues to be one of her favorite things. Sorry about the waking-every-hour thing :(. I hope it was a one night deal, and he’ll get back on track quickly. And I’m so happy for you on the progress he has made on getting himself to sleep! Good luck on the night weaning – keep us posted on how it’s going!

Beth H – we use covered ice-cube trays for freezing baby food. I’ll second Maria’s comment that the trays fill up quickly: I use at least 2 trays per batch of food. How did Will like the peas?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41H7XG5K12L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Michelle (Pony) – aw, that stinks about the continued “no dairy” … but so sweet of Carl to get you a special treat! I wouldn’t worry about dropping down to 2 naps quite yet – I think that’s typical of babies 9-10 months old or so. If you’re still doing the naps after 2 hours of awake time, a 4th nap sounds reasonable to me. I can’t believe Evelyn is getting close to crawling already – time sure flies! As far as the biting goes, I think all babies are different. Telling Maya “NO” didn’t help – her chin would quiver, she’d cry like the world was ending – and then promptly do it again. Stopping the feeding didn’t help: she’d cry and then get distracted, and then bite again next time. But I think it was a phase for her, since it’s been quite awhile since she’s done it, save a couple of accidental chomps when she starts talking with her mouth full (ha!)… :D. But we got through it, I didn’t suffer any permanent damage, and I’m sure we’ll go through it again when her top teeth come in.

Michelle (SooCookie) – thanks for the toy suggestions! I was thinking about a walk-behind toy, but I had visions of Maya falling on her face when it started rolling – so good to know about the adjustable tension. The birdhouse is so cute – I got her something similar but it’s a picnic basket. Sorry about Ben starting the day so early! We went through a stage of ridiculously early wake-ups (who am I kidding? we’re still going through it more often than not) with no discernible cause. Drives me crazy too.

[tholbrook]

Part 2...

Maria – sorry that gas is continuing to be an issue for Christopher. We had the same problem with Maya for quite awhile … I’m thinking at least 3 months, but my memory is a little fuzzy now. At the time, it seemed like forever! Funny about Madeline and her stickers! Is she doing well with the new addition, or are you getting a lot of jealousy issues?

Kim – glad the second try at cereal went better. It’s been awhile since we started solids, but I remember we started off with a fairly liquidy mixture. Of course, I’m pretty sure Maya would be perfectly content to still have all her food that consistency! :rolleyes: I’m pretty sure the book recommendations were on the June thread, maybe toward the end… June New Moms Thread (there are recommendations scattered throughout, but several in a row on page 3, posts 80-84, or something like that)

Bekki – oh my, your boys are SO cute. Those are wonderful pictures – echoing Michelle, they look like they were taken professionally. And the laundry basket in the tub is brilliant! Sorry about the teething … I hope you all are able to catch your breath soon. Although it sounds like your hands are going to be full from this point forward with the crawling and climbing…. eek! I have a hard time keeping up with Maya, so I have a mixture of awe and sympathy for you! :D Thanks for the advice on toys. I did end up buying one of those wire/bead contraptions since she really likes the one at the photo studio.

Lisa – a belated congrats on Elliot! Looking forward to your input here since you’ve done this a few times before! :D And wow, a lot of craziness for you! I’m so glad Ben was okay. We have a pediatrician who is very open to different vaccination options, but when we were looking, we came across several who would only go by their established schedule, and would give you a big guilt trip if you asked about alternative plans.

Emily – J.D is so cute, and I’m glad he still has that wild hair! He looks so different in the first picture vs. the second – I didn’t know if there was a lot of time between the two, or whether it was just the pose/lighting/etc. Yay for the rolling! Another almost-mobile baby for this group! Maya’s a little peanut too, still at the very bottom of the charts for weight … but since she’s so active, and hitting all her milestones (and her pediatrician said she was perfectly healthy), I’m okay with it, although I do keep an eye on her weight. DH and I were both small babies, although we’re both “average” now.

Nancy (fancyn) – as always, Natalie is a doll! I can’t believe it’s been 5 months already. She’s obviously grown a lot, but she still has such petite features (reminds me of Maya! :)) Very odd about the tooth… wonder what the deal was with that. And it’s not going to be long before Natalie is off and crawling… I’m sure it won’t take long since I’m sure she wants to keep up with her big brother.

Val – thanks for the toy advice, and for the links! I like the idea of toys that can be used for a wider age range (and I’m sure that has helped with 3 kids!)… I fear that Maya’s toys will take over every square inch of the house, so it would be nice to have a few “bigger” toys that will grow with her. I can definitely see Maya enjoying something like an activity table


Hello to Nancy (Couperine), Mary Jo, Megan, Anita, and Stephanie too - hope that you all are having a great July!

[Pony]

Hi everyone.

Love all the pictures!!!!

Evelyn had 2 rough nights...waking up 5 times! Last night, we decided to do our old nightime routine. Carl danced her to sleep and she was out w/in a 5 min. Getting her to sleep is not an issue, thankfully. She slept from 8:15-10:45! Very good, b/c when I nurse her to sleep she wakes up w/in the hour and then again and again...... So, we will try it again tonight. I'm just wondering if nursing her to sleep is causing her to wake up more???? We noticed she started waking up more at night when we started doing that, so who knows??? She still woke up 2 times, but it was better then the past two nights.

And....she fell off the bed the other day :(:o. Carl had her on the bed playing. We put her up there sometimes w/ her playmat and have the blinds open. She loves looking out the window. He went to get his cell phone and heard a loud thump :(. He raced over there and found her on the ground and she started to cry as soon as she saw him. I think it freaked him out more then her. So sad.

She pulled herself to standing in the crib. She is just all over the place these days, which could also be why the sleep has been funny.

We've only tried sweet potatoes and zucchini and she has enjoyed them both. Zucchini was a bit harder to introduce. She refused it plain the first time around, so I added sweet potatoes and she loved it. Then the 2nd night, I added it to the rice cereal and she ate it up. Then the past 2 nights, I gave her plain zucchini and she enjoyed it. Not sure what we will try next....we have some avocado at the house...or maybe peas??


Beth G.-sounds like the daycare situation is all working out! Any new developments on his napping? I do not enjoy pumping either! I am able to do it twice a day. When I was doing three times a day, it was exhausting. I feel for you! How long were you wanting to breastfeed? Let me know if you try those cookies. Cute picture ;)

Ashley-I'm glad pumping is going well!

Emily-great pictures! I hope he is doing better after his shots. He is long!!! Yes, they tested the diaper and then the ped told me dairy is the most common allergy. I stopped that first and repeated the test 3 weeks later. It takes 3 weeks to get the protein out of their body and 3 days to get out of our milk. Her diapers were occasionally mucousy and green. My friend went through the same thing, so she encouraged me to bring in the diaper. Cutting out dairy has not helped her spitting up :rolleyes:, although she is starting (at 6 months) to get better w/ the spitting up! So, hopefully you will see a change in the next few months! That is great that he is rolling over. We still swaddle Evelyn. Naps we leave an arm out and she has ended up on her stomach. She is fine and can push herself up or her head is to the side. At night, she gets out of the swaddle. I guess we should just get rid of it, but it is soooo hard to transition her w/o being swaddled! She wakes up so easily. Glad he did so well w/ the traveling.

Nancy-such cute pictures. Does she have your eyes? Evelyn has been playing around on all fours these days and we are not ready either! I hope sleep gets better when you get back home!

Tami-how is Maya doing with food? What awesome meals have you been giving her lately? How is sleeping?

[tholbrook]

Michelle, sorry about the multiple wakings - I'm sure it must be hard to stay awake the next day at work :(. Hope Evelyn's sleep gets better soon. Poor girl, falling off the bed - but I think all kids fall off the bed at least once ... rite of passage! Maya had a narrow miss last week, and I just managed to grab her leg before she took a nose dive.

As for us, we're just having a good ol' time enjoying the great weather - unseasonably cool for July - and puttering around. We've had a really busy couple of weeks, going out to lunch and on little outings to the park and such (and to work, of course).

Not much has changed since I posted a few weeks ago...

Maya is sleeping okay most nights, although she does let out a few whimpers when she's going between sleep cycles. Occasionally, she wakes all the way up, and if she doesn't settle in less than 5 minutes, I go upstairs and cuddle and rock her for a few minutes. It seems to be all she needs, because I put her down, leave the room while she's still awake, and she goes right to sleep. Fortunately, this doesn't seem to be causing her to wake up more often. And truthfully, I love the cuddle time, where she's not trying to wiggle away from me.

The food is going better but not great. She still has little interest in feeding herself, although she was munching on some steamed asparagus spears the other day (see picture below). I was elated, but when I looked closer, she was biting off little pieces and spitting them on the floor :rolleyes::o. But she'll eat just about anything as long as it's mixed into something soft. I swear the kid is just swallowing her food whole, and not chewing/gumming at all. We don't have any food allergies on either side of the family, so we did polenta the other night. I mixed with diced roasted red pepper, avocado and cilantro - she LOVED it, and had a second serving. I was shocked, and pretty pleased :D (I was in my late 20's before I liked cilantro)! Tonight she had coconut rice and lentils, and gulped that down too. We've done some other fun stuff too, but now I can't remember what I made. Quinoa continues to be a favorite. Oddly enough, the only thing she really doesn't seem to care for is sweet potatoes. And she loves fruit, so it can't be because it's too sweet. Strange kid!

I'd love to get some more ideas for food combinations to try... is anyone interested in sharing ideas? If so, let me know, and I'll either start up a thread (or bump up an older one).

And mobility: she's up and around like crazy, and has gotten much faster. I went to grab something in the kitchen this morning, turned around and almost stepped on her. She had crawled across the living room, down the hallway, and was almost to the kitchen. I really have no idea what I'm going to do when she's toddling around on her own. She's been letting go of whatever she's holding onto for just a few seconds and standing on her own. I. Am. Not. Ready. For. This. :eek: She's also determined to stand up in the tub... she is so slippery, it's nearly impossible to hold on to her, keep her sitting down, and wash her all at the same time.

Okay, a few pictures: the first is the closest we get to a high chair here (since we have a theme going :)), and then a couple of my favorites... I have no idea what she's doing in the last picture, but she does it all the time.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee70/turtlehouse/090721AsparagusisSOyummy.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee70/turtlehouse/090720Checkoutmychompers.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee70/turtlehouse/090708CowTongue.jpg

[Beth G.]

Happy Friday everyone. I hope to be back this weekend with our updates but since there's been some discussion of solids I thought I'd share some funny info from the pediatrician records my mom gave me (mine and my brother's) from the early 70s. It shows which foods we were eating by month.

4 months = peach
5 months - beef
6 months - meats & what looks like "cooley" (it's a doctor's handwriting, I have no idea what it is)
7 months - soup (how very specific)
8 months - choc (am assuming chocolate? excellent! no wonder I like it so much)
9 months - whole egg

Anyone see any cereal, veggies or yogurt/cheese/cottage cheese in that diet? :D:eek: Veggies in the soup I guess?

[mabvt]

http://images1f.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp8%3B9%3Enu%3D333%3A%3E267%3E587%3EWS NRCG%3D3273379638335nu0mrj

[tholbrook]

Beth G - LOL on your list! Funny how what's acceptable changes over the years. My dad told me that I started eating whatever they ate right from the start (put through a baby food grinder) - but I suspect his memory might be a little hazy on the subject.

Melissa - Neal is so cute! And he's grown so much! I love how you have him dressed for the occasion. Looks like he is having a great time at the parade.

(I am still seeing a red "x" where the picture should be but if you right-click on the picture and select "Properties", you can copy the link, and paste it into a new window)

[mabvt]

For goodness Petes. Thanks Tholbrook. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person and I spent waaaay too long posting that one. huge. picture!

Anyway, yes that is Neal at the 4th of July parade where he also (cover your ears!) ate his very first candy, a dum dum sucker AND some smarties!

Sarah—Our poopies go directly outside. No fancy product necessary. Not so bad this in this Michigan summer, I’ll let you know how it works in January when it’s 5 below! Also, Neal is a piglet. He eats and eats and eats. When I asked his doc she said that babies are very well in tune with what they need, so he’ll stop when he’s full. I shudder to think of how much he’ll eat when he’s 14!

Tholbrook—No toy recs here, tho I read the replies with interest. Neal happily pushed a cooler around at my parents while we were in Vegas! I assumed that he would get those “big kid walking toys” for his first birthday, but he’s ready now!

Beth—So cute that Michael recognized “your” song. Good day care is truly priceless, isn’t it?

Maria—We had terrible baby acne here too. The hardest thing, I think, was that I could not step out of our door without receiving scads of well-intentioned advice! Neal is very fair and every little scrape and bump shows up on his little face. Not to worry, that phase will pass!

Welcome Lisa—Good luck with your single parenting, for the time being. I hope that you don’t have any more trips to the ER!

Bekki—Your pictures are priceless! Seriously though, how do you do it? Half the time I don’t know how to keep up with Neal, and he can only go in one direction! Your boys are adorable and (from the pictures at least!) seem to be so good natured!

Michelle—I feel your sleeping-pain. And we have a couple of months on you! Ours has been a summer full of crazy disruptions and just when we get into a routine it seems to get screwed up again. And poor Evelyn (and poor Carl!) with her fall. I think it’s always harder on us, isn’t it?

Helios—Quinn is such a doll! And we have that bib. :-)There was awhile there where I attributed all of Neal’s sleeping issues to teething. And we’re still having issues and (at 9 mos) NO teeth!

SooCookie—Where are you in MI? Sorry, just noticed that...Funny that Ben chucks things out of his crib. Neal does that too. It used to be just pacifiers but lately he has advanced to stuffed animals. What’s next?

Beth G.—Oh, I have been there for that infuriating little smile at bed time. This week all I wanted to do was watch “So you think you can dance” and have a glass of wine after JR went to bed. But he would NOT go to sleep. And so he ended up pulling himself up by the tv and “dancing” along with the show. You don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Nancy—Oh my! Natalie looks like such a little peanut in her high chair! I have been thinking lately that “Neal and Natalie” sounds awfully cute…maybe if next baby is a girl…

[mabvt]

Now for us. :D

We continue to struggle with sleep issues. We have had a very busy summer--move, surgery (DH), trip (where N stayed at Grandpa and Grandmas), Other Gpa came for a visit. Just when we get a routine down SOMETHING happens to mess it up. I'm afraid that we won't truly find our schedule until I go back to school in Sept. Sigh.

Neal continues to eat like a champ and has not turned away any food we've given him (duck!). Tonight it was fresh grilled tuna. I'm also curious to hear about combos you're serving. Some of our favorites:

-Potato/spinach/corn/sour cream
-quinoa/split pea
-lentil/brown rice/chicken broth
-couscous/tomato sauce/cottage chz (baby lasagna!)

[Sarah45]

He survived! And, more importantly, Mom and Dad survived :) We just got back from our first family trip to Ohio to see the grandparents. 10 hours in the car with very minimal fussing. Of course I had to sit in the back seat and entertain and feed him the entire way but hey, it gave me something to do too!

I was really concerned about Jax's sleep on the trip since we have had so many issues at home. On the first morning I decided that since I didn't have his swing I was just going to put him down in his playpen for a bit after breakfast and let him fuss while I showered. Well, I did that and lo and behold, he flipped over onto his belly and went right to sleep. From then on I had him nap on his belly and he slept like a champ, morning AND afternoon. I guess I just needed the change of scenery to force me to try something new.

Of course, now that we’re home he slept TERRIBLE last night, up repeatedly from 12:30 on, but at least he’s napping in his playpen to make up for it.

We had an awesome trip though, stayed half the week with DH’s family and half with mine, he was fawned over repeatedly and came back with more new toys than he owned to begin with. It’s hard living so far away sometimes…

Off to do laundry and unpacking, will catch up with the thread later :)

[Pony]

Quick question about pump parts.....

How do you all wash them?

I typically rinse them and then let them soak in soapy water. Rinse and let dry. I'm using Dawn soap or whatever we have for the dishes. I think it is an antibacterial soap. I am wondering if I should not use this type of soap??? Plus, I can sometimes smell the soap in the Medela bottles. There isn't soap in them, but the smell is there. Anyways, just wondering what you all do??

Thanks!

[mabvt]

During my very short stint of pumping I washed with dish soap and dried, then sterilized using the medela microwave bags. Loved those things for doing nipples, pacifiers, etc. too. Got them at target.

[MinEaston]

delurking...

Quick question about pump parts.....

How do you all wash them?

I typically rinse them and then let them soak in soapy water. Rinse and let dry. I'm using Dawn soap or whatever we have for the dishes. I think it is an antibacterial soap. I am wondering if I should not use this type of soap??? Plus, I can sometimes smell the soap in the Medela bottles. There isn't soap in them, but the smell is there. Anyways, just wondering what you all do??

Thanks!

I'd wash them at the office in between sessions, with some dish soap (I filled a travel shampoo bottle and kept it in the pump bag), then rinsed with hot hot water. Then on the weekends I'd run the stuff through the dishwasher. I used Ivory dish soap - the clear stuff.

[Pony]

Thanks mabvt and MinEaston.....I've started wondering about using that antibacterial dish soap. I would hate for any of that stuff to be lingering in her bottles and if it is lingering around, is it killing anything it should not be killing in the milk! I may buy a seperate soap or stop buying antibacterial soap or maybe I'm overthinking this morning :p

[tholbrook]

I wash everything in hot soapy water too... and I also get the soap-smelling bottles/pump parts on occasion. If I sterilize them (plain boiling water, no soap), the smell usually goes away. I use antibacterial soap, but I try to avoid the stuff with added moisturizers.

Generally, I just sterilize the bottles and pump parts maybe once a week now, if even that often - I always use boiling water; I've never used the steam bags. I used to do it every single time, until I read somewhere that once the baby gets to be a certain age (6 months?), it's not as critical, and you can just wash with soap and hot water.

As a side note, I've noticed sometimes that the breastmilk itself smells faintly of soap. When I looked it up, it might be caused by variations in enzymes, or hormones, or ... (there were a number of reasons given). Since it doesn't seem to bother Maya, I don't worry about it. I seem to remember someone on this thread who mentioned scalding the milk to get rid of it, but I can't recall who.

Sorry, probably more information than you were looking for! ;)

ETA - your question got me curious, so I did some searching online. Apparently the reccomendation is against antibacterial soap - but because of the whole overuse of antibacterial products, not because of any residue it might leave in the bottle. Interesting...

[Beth H]

Hello all. Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

Beth G - that's funny about the solid foods list. Feeding Will has been going OK - so far, I've made: squash, peas, carrots, and peaches. Peas were by far the least favorite. Unfortunately last Thursday and Friday, Will had a little issue with constipation - I think the combo of carrots and using the Similac for fussy babies (purchased because they did not have the regular kind at the store) did it. Wow - that was not fun. He had his two worst nights of sleep since early baby days. But, he's back to normal now and babbling up a storm and trying to sit on his own. He's such a big baby that he still doesn't quite have the hang of balance.

I don't have time for personals right now (and the thread is getting so long!), but I love all of the posted photos and information!

[Pony]

ETA - your question got me curious, so I did some searching online. Apparently the reccomendation is against antibacterial soap - but because of the whole overuse of antibacterial products, not because of any residue it might leave in the bottle. Interesting...

I was wondering about that, but didn't search it. THANKS!!!

[acginkc]

Hi all. Quick post while I pump.

Everything is going OK here. Work and daycare are fine. I hate pumping more than just about anything else in the world, but really trying to stick with it. Matt has been reverse cycling lately which has me totally drained. Where we were starting to get 4 and 5 hour stretches at night (even the occasional 6) we're back down to 3 and I am so tired. Since he's definitely not eating much when I'm away I don't feel like I can try to cut those out quite yet (not enough as in only eating) 8 ounces the entire day. Cereal is going great and we're going to add another serving in the morning. His naps at home suck. He won't sleep longer than 30 minutes usually.

OK, enough of my whining. He learned to sit up on his own and is all about rocking on all fours now. He's so cute because he looks so determined to go somewhere only to faceplant moments later. He has a new fascination with the dog. He just wants to touch her (and try to get her ears in his mouth). She's a bit less enthusiastic about him, but still loves another human she can lick.

Here he is showing off his newest trick.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs183.snc1/6093_235524050570_503150570_7934458_7691816_n.jpg

I'll be back with personals in a bit.

[Beth G.]

Michelle, my Medela bottles smell too. I also use these other bottles the hospital gave me when I pumped there and they do not :confused: I've never met a "natural" product I don't like, so for the pump parts we use Dapple baby bottle and dish liquid, which I got at Babies R Us and supposedly is naturally derived and has no bad stuff like phtalates (sp) in it. I'm sure I'm a sucker, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. DH sterilizes in a big pot of boiling water once every couple of weeks, but we have hard water and I'm not delighted by the mineral layer it leaves.

Tami - that was me who was talking about scalding the milk. I have this Medela Breastmilk Management flyer they gave us at the breastfeeding class, they also give it out a Babies R Us, that mentions doing that if your milk smells soapy (and if it bothers baby).

[fancyn]

Quick fly by post (I know I keep promising personals :o) but I'm diligently reading and LOVING all the pics and stories...

To Beth G (b/c you always are a natural advocate :)) or any of you out there who are 'conscientious' consumers... Question: what sort of bath and baby products are you using? This is a little selfish research for part of my business, but also out of curiosity. Phthalates were mentioned. We've discussed BPA in baby bottles and water bottles - but is anyone concerned about PVC and phthalates in personal products?

Lots of research has come out, just not sure how public it's been made.

Thoughts anyone?:o

[mabvt]

I generally like Aveeno products for myself and Neal. He has excema and the doc recommended the more natural the better. Right now we have a Method Baby Squeaky Green Hair and Body Wash. I love how it makes him smell! Supposedly one of the main ingredients is mallow, and he smells like a little marshmallow after his bath!

[Beth G.]

It was so nice to have a weekend with no plans. The first two weekends back at work I had to spend Saturday away from Michael and Sunday sharing him. It was great to have the whole weekend with just DH and him. He’s been taking two 90 minute naps at day care. When I was away last Saturday he took a 100 minute nap for DH. I was wondering whether this would carry over into our weekend. Not at all. Short naps again for me. I’m glad he’s at least getting more sleep at day care. Obviously he can take longer naps, and just doesn’t want to when I’m around. It’s also really warm in the room there, so they probably get tired from that.

Not a ton going on here. He’s not eating much cereal. Every time he seems enthusiastic, and then when he realizes it’s cereal he’s disappointed. I can’t blame him – I never liked hot cereal either. We’ll see if he likes veggies better, but I wasn’t into sweet potatoes or butternut squash until my late 30s. Might take fruit to get him into solids. Our six month visit has become a seven month visit as our pediatrician had a family emergency when we had our visit scheduled and is on vacation next week. I am amazed at how Michael knows what he wants and does it. He’s quickly discovered tummy sleeping and now turns himself over immediately almost all of the time so he can do that.

We went to the kiddie pool Saturday for the first time. He didn’t cry, but he wasn’t splashing or squealing with delight. As long as I hugged him close he tolerated it but if I tried to do anything “fun” like glide him through the water he got ready to cry. We’ll try again soon. I want him to be comfortable in the water.

Last Thursday it rained so instead of getting home around 6:40 I got home at 7:20. I hardly had any time with Michael, until he got up 3 times between 9:30 and 10:30. Maybe he missed me too?

EmilyD and Sarah – glad your trips went well. We are not brave. Our big “trip” will be 1 hour 15 minutes to my parents summerhouse this weekend. Very adventurous! Michael hasn’t slept in the pack and play since April – I hope it won’t be a problem. Since he sleeps in the portacrib at day care I think it will be ok.

Nancy – how did you prepare the zucchini for Nick? I should start getting some stuff frozen, or my ideas of making our own food will never come to fruition! As expected, I'm concerned and I use mainly Burt’s Bees and Yes to Carrots/Cucumbers body/shampoo products for me (claim to be like 98% natural), Alba unscented lotion for me, and California Baby or Avalon Organics wash for Michael. I still get my hair colored traditionally and use normal anti-perspirant though – haven’t found a good sub. We use the Neutrogena pure and free baby sunblock Stephanie recommended. I use All pure and free detergent – no stinky Dreft for us! I miss some of my old products with the bad stuff in them though. Some of the stuff I buy is expensive but since I'm a lot more limited in what I can buy I spend less overall.

Tami – while I’d prefer not to be pumping, I so realize I have a great setup at work. I am lucky enough to work at a big site (over 1,000 employees, used to be more like 2,000) – when I was in a smaller building years ago my friend was pumping in the supply room and dragging around her pump in style, cooler etc. I’m not sure how long my back would hold out under those conditions, and I’m sure the hospital grade pump is helping maintain my supply better since I only get to breastfeed twice a day on the days I go to work Been meaning to ask how do you think Maya would react to a later bedtime for one night – I’m trying to decide what we are going to do the weekend of my brother’s wedding. Michael will be Maya’s age then. I might need to bring him to the rehearsal dinner. Our babysitter options are pretty limited since everyone will be at the wedding functions. The wedding is at 5 PM which should not be a problem for him unless his sleep habits change radically (or staying up late the night before puts him in a really cranky mood the next day – but he’s not usually one to complain from being overtired). By the way… I still don’t like cilantro.

Ashley – reverse cycling, ugh… so sorry. Michael wasn’t getting much more than 8 ounces at day care either, until we changed to the medium flow nipple. Today he took three 3 oz bottles there, so tomorrow we’ll give them 4 ounce bottles. It has been a process getting him to eat there. I love Matt’s shirt. I just showed it for DH and he wants to get it for Michael. They are working on Michael’s sitting at day care but he is not interested. I hope you get some sleep soon.

Melissa – How great that Neal is an adventurous eater! I think Michael is waiting for us to serve him something good. This day care really is priceless. Every day DH comes home singing its praises. I am so glad we got the spot there.

Beth H.- glad Will is feeling better. Can’t believe the fussy baby Similac would make Will… fussy. Strange. We’ve been lucky on the constipation front – I know cereal can do that, but so far so good. Of course, he’s eating less than a tablespoon dry a day. Michael’s a small baby and can’t balance either. Or he doesn't care about sitting.

Michelle – I can’t believe Evelyn slept from 8:15 – 10:45. Michael is routinely up by 7 or earlier. And pulling to standing! Wow! I keep telling DH to ask the day care how they get him to take these long naps. I am waiting for my explanation! I need to know!! Did you try the avocado? I’d like to breastfeed until he turns one, but with the big 40 looming two weeks before that and no sign of a return to fertility, I may need to think about stopping a little earlier. I think my prolactin levels must be pretty high. But I don’t want to sacrifice what’s best for the child I have for the hope of one I might not have… difficult call. We haven’t had the world’s greatest nursing relationship, and he’s totally distractible and utterly infuriating as he’s grabbing his feet, sticking his finger up my nose etc. while nursing (I know that's fairly common, but it's still makes for acrobatic positions), but as much as I’m tired, I love the little smile he gives me when he gets sight of my boob right before a middle of the night feeding, or how focused and comforted he was by nursing during a really bad thunderstorm. So I’m not ready to think about stopping yet, but if he starts sleeping through the night and I’m predominantly pumping and he's mainly getting bottles and not nursing, then it may be time to move on. Meanwhile, today I was unusually awash in milk – almost 7 oz from one side in the morning! I keep freezing but we're awful about rotating stock so it probably won't help us to extend the use of breastmilk if I stop early. Must be more diligent, but it's so much easier to use the fresh pumped. By the way, the cookies were terrible - flourless too. Not a repeater.

[tholbrook]

I generally like Aveeno products for myself and Neal. He has eczema and the doc recommended the more natural the better. Right now we have a Method Baby Squeaky Green Hair and Body Wash. I love how it makes him smell! Supposedly one of the main ingredients is mallow, and he smells like a little marshmallow after his bath!
Melissa, so THAT's what the smell is - I ADORE Method Baby, and could spend hours sniffing Maya's head after I give her a bath. Nancy, we use Method Baby, Aveeno, and Burt's Bees.

Beth G - we decided last weekend that we needed to get out of the house, so we headed out to dinner with Maya in tow. We didn't get home until 10 pm, and it was 10:30 before she went to sleep. She did GREAT and there were minimal repercussions: she woke up at her usual time the next morning, so obviously she didn't get enough sleep. But she slept an extra hour for her nap on Sunday (DH was watching her; I'm sure she would not have napped that long for me! :rolleyes: so I know where you're coming from) and she has been sleeping great ever since then.
Maya is totally a tummy sleeper too - it's funny to watch her wiggle around until everything is just right.

I think you and I have (or have had) a lot of the same BF issues ... I was positively thrilled to get 6 ounces this morning, mostly from one side as usual. And that's after not nursing for almost 11 hours; my night-time production has slowed to almost nothing since Maya was night-weaned. And Maya is doing the same thing to me: she REALLY wants to stick her fingers in my nose :eek::rolleyes::rolleyes:. Her constant kicking, leg-waving, and oh, did I mention the pinching - drives me batty. But like you, I put up with it because I also get the grins and sighs of utter contentment.

Beth H - Weird about Will's digestive "issues" - maybe it was just the change in formula that got things out of balance. Maya had a terrible time with constipation when we started her on cereal. She was already one of those "goes-every-3 or 4-days" babies, but the cereal made it much worse, to the point that she was obviously uncomfortable. We gave her prunes or apricots a lot, and then just quit with the cereal. But it was an awful week or so until she was back to normal. These days, she is quite regular. :p

Ashley - LOVE that shirt, and expression on Matt's face matches the sentiment quite well! :D Hope he starts sleeping better soon!

Sarah - glad the trip went well! I'm sure Jax will adjust to sleeping at home again soon ... and glad he figured out that he can go to sleep on his belly! Where did you go in Ohio?

Okay, with July almost over, I'll do one last update for the month:

My little girl will be ONE in 4 weeks. That's all I have to say. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea.

[helios7]

Hi ladies...

Wow, this thread has been hopping! I've scanned quickly. I hope I've gotten the main ideas.

Regarding bath wash - We have used Aveeno for Quinn, and have now just picked up Burt's bees. I wash his clothes with either 7th generation or the Method rice milk/mallow detergent.

Regarding soap - my husband has been big on the no antibacterial soap train for years now. So we have Mrs. Meyer's dish detergent (Basil flavored) which is not antibacterial. (I love that brand of natural cleaning supplies, they're a bit $$ but smell and work great!) And I wash his bottles with it. I confess it has been a while since I've scalded them with hot water, they're probably due for one. :eek:

Sleep has been a bummer here lately. We were doing so well, and then the past week he's fallen apart. Gone back to nursing to sleep, and he hasn't been going down after the "tank up" feeding. That's been killer - being up for an hour or an hour and a half (usually ending close to 9) has made mommy very cranky! Last night was better, so I'm hoping it's teething. I *think* I saw a new tooth line but he won't really let me look. The other sleep issue we're having is that he really cannot roll from tummy to back. And he is NOT a tummy sleeper, and hates being on his stomach. So he gets stuck. A friend of a friend who's a physical therapist that we saw at a party last weekend looked at him, and pointed out he's frogging his legs. And you can't roll with your legs in a breaststroke frog position. So we're trying to hold his legs straight and help him get over his arm (his other issue) but in the meantime if he rolls onto his stomach, he cries and needs help. Last night he needed a lot of help. :( And this nap seems to be a bust - he woke a half hour in, and when I went up after 20 mins he was on his stomach. Sigh. I'm jealous of all the belly sleepers, I don't know why he can't tolerate it. But he can't, and its really a challenge for us sometime!

Food is going better. Quinn tried (and liked) red lentils. I think we should totally start a food thread!

And now I'm calling this nap a bust. He's been awake as long as he was asleep. I'll get him up, and hopefully the next one will go better.
ETA it just went quiet. Poor kid has been in his crib since 8:10, asleep from 8:50-9:15, and now back to sleep again at 10. What a weird napping day it will be!

[Pony]

Michelle – I can’t believe Evelyn slept from 8:15 – 10:45. Michael is routinely up by 7 or earlier.


Quick reply....have a lunch meeting at Maggiano's (and not sure what the heck I will be eating there since it has to have no butter, cream, cheese, etc...ahhh!!)
Beth, don't get to excited by that 8:15-10:45...I meant 8:15pm to 10:45 pm, ha! :rolleyes::p

ETA: I was happy w/ that b/c when I nurse her to sleep she wakes up w/in the hour.

[Sarah45]

Not much new since yesterday :D I decided to put Jax down w/out the swaddle last night since he rejected it on SUnday. Well, he woke up w/in a half hour screaming. I put him back down and he was up an hour later - screaming. So, I got the swaddle back out and by the time I was done wrapping him he was asleep. I just can't figure him out sometimes :confused:

Cereal is still going OK but he is eating less of it in a feeding. He was up to a 1/4 cup and wanting more but now we're lucky to get him to finish it.

Oh, and while we were visiting family with no chores to do, DH and I discovered facebook - what an addictive time-waster!!! :D

Michelle – I just use whatever detergent I buy which this time happens to be Dawn and antibacterial. I’ve never detected a soap odor in the bottles, if I did I would probably change soap.

Ashley – Love the photo of Matt. Jackson just got a Tshirt that says the same thing but it’s a 2T so he won’t be wearing it for awhile. Yay on the sitting up and loving cereal! Your experience with the dog sounds about the same as ours, Jackson loves her and wants to touch her all the time. on the other hand, the dog is content to lick him every once in awhile but mostly just tolerates him.

Nancy – We are using Aveeno and Method Baby over here. I love how the Method smells but the Aveeno is great when his mild eczema flares up every so often.

Tami – We were visiting DHs family up in Elyria and mine in Akron. We also went on a trip to my brother’s house in Chardon. Maya’s BF antics sound just like Jackson! I can’t get the kid to concentrate on feeding for more than five minutes at a time right now, EVERYTHING is more interesting than eating. Today he was singing while he nursed – it was hilarious – but at least he was eating.

Heather – I like the idea of a food thread, we start in a month and I really need to start thinking about what I want to do.

[tholbrook]

Okay, it's done: :D
Baby Food Thread: http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=77292
(I bumped up a really old thread from 2005)

[mabvt]

we have a tooth! we have a tooth!

[Bawstinn]

Hello!

I feel so far behind. Figured I'd check in while pumping. Getting my freezer stash established.

We had 4 nights in a row of 7 hours of sleep ... I got so excited. Back to being up every 3-4 hours this week. Sigh, I was so hopeful. I go back to work in 2.5 weeks so I hope we go back to longer stretches.

I haven't weighed Christopher lately but he is filling out his 3 month clothes quite nicely so my assumption is he is growing just fine. His 2 month check-up is next week - hard to believe! His gas issue also seems to be working itself out and he has episodes every couple of days rather than every day now.

I moved him out of our room and into his crib at 6 weeks and he was fine. He is my mellow baby. Still not enthused to nap in there. Still takes his best naps in the swing or on me although he really will fall asleep anywhere. He is actually napping next to the pump and it isn't phasing him at all.

Pump parts - I wash the shield thingie with soap and hot water (only have 3) and toss in the dishwasher when it runs (not every day). The bottles (have a lot) all go in the dishwasher as they seem to have a greasy feel to me if I wash by hand.

mavbt - congrats on the tooth! Madeleine was 9 months before a tooth popped out so I won't be looking until next Spring! Even now she is still behind - short the top 2 2 yr old molars and she is 3.

No real challenges at the moment other than the night sleeping. I am so not forward looking to going back to work in a couple of weeks. :(

[acginkc]

Dh just headed out the door to take Matt to daycare so I'm going to try to get through some personals before I head up to get ready for work.

Tami- Thanks for getting the food thread going. I'm not sure if I'll be making all of Matt's food, but I definitely would like to make a few things at the beginning. And I can't believe Maya is going to be 1. It's been fun to read all your experiences so I know what to look forward to.

Sarah- Sorry about the swaddle. I'm no help on that since we stopped at like a month because he'd freak out every time we were getting him in it. Matt still gobbles up his cereal, but the first bite or two he makes this face like "What the hell are you trying to feed me?". I'm glad you had a good trip.

Heather- I'm sorry about his sleep changes. Matt wasn't a tummy sleeper until her figured out how to roll from tummy to back. And even now he won't sleep that way if we put him down like that. He's much more a side sleeper. When we were helping Matt learn to roll (we got tired of waking up just to roll him over) DH and I were rolling around trying to figure out how you actually get from your belly to your back. It was pretty funny.

BethG- I'm glad Michael is doing well at daycare. I feel the same about ours, so lucky we found such a good place. Matt seemed a bit unsure about the pool the first few times we went as well. Just this last time did he seem to get into it a little. We got a few splashes, but no squeals of delight. He does like to kick so i contort myself to get him resting on my but his body sort of floating and let him go to town. We got that tee at the Gap Outlet. We were cracking up so had to get it.

Nancy- We use Burt's Bees and Aveeno as well. I keep forgetting to ask, any signs of that tooth again?

BethH- Sorry Will had such a bad reaction to the other formula. But I'm glad he's back to feeling good.

Michelle- I wash in soapy water and then rinse with hot water. At work I use the cleansing wipes because while I'm not ashamed to be pumping, I don't really want to wander the sales floor with them either. I'm constantly just catching Matt before he goes rolling off something. You'd think I'd just figure out not to take my hand off him. The other day we were getting ready for a walk and I set the wheel lock on his stroller while I grabbed something from the car. Apparently didn't get it fully engaged because I turned around to see his stroller rolling down the driveway. TG I caught it right before it got to the street.

Melissa- I love your picture of Neal. And your baby food sounds great. Much better than I make for DH and I :o. I hope his sleep gets back to normal. Sounds like a very busy summer. Has your DH recovered ok?

Emily- JD is so stinking cute. I love his sweet smile. I'm glad your trip went well.

Ok, hope I got everyone. I have to go get ready for work now. Have a great rest of the week.