June Moms!

[SusanD]

Time to start a new one! :)

Krista, hope you survived your in-laws visit...I can't believe the Uncle story! How perfectly awful! I don't blame you for not wanting him to hold Jared.

Susan, remember how we were discussing how our daughters' food preferences are similar to ours? There's no doubt that Erin has her mommy's taste buds - I gave her a taste of guacamole on Saturday, and she couldn't get enough of it. She kept pointing to the bowl and yelling for more!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

[lhall]

Thanks SusanD

I was waiting for someone else to start this thread.

We had a busy weekend, but no kids for most of it!

Mariel's doing well with a fork and spoon now. She's eating from them more now. For a while she would hold her silverware in one hand and eat with the other one.

I'm making the black bean tacos (with tofu SSSHHH!!!) tomorrow. I'm curious how Mariel will like them. When I made the black bean burritos in April I made a quesadilla too. Mariel loved the quesadilla, she cried when her piece was gone. This time I got an extra can of black beans so we can make more than one quesadilla. I'm not a huge avocado fan, but I'm doing the avocado salsa too. I'll see how it goes over, might be interesting!

Marisa, are the in-laws gone? How was it?

SusanR, 9 more days til now work! I'm sure you'll be relieved when the 12th is over!

About the florida trip. I thought I'd post another thread. I told DH that I wanted to meet some of the BB Mom's, and he said that was fine.
I'll have to check with my dad, but I think he keeps his laptop there. If he doesn't I should be able to get him to leave it and show me how to use his AOL so I'll have internet access. He does have a phone, but I don't know the number.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

Leigh

[beacooker]

Hi, mommies!

Krista - I agree - no way a drunk person should be anywhere near your precious child!!

SusanR, congrats on getting to go on leave early! I'm sure the time 'off' will be great.

My childbirth class held a 6-month reunion picnic this weekend. It was neat to see all the other babies. One baby, who is the same age as Mason (5 mos) weighed 25 pounds!!!!! Wow. I felt bad for him, because he looked more like a 2-year old than a 5 month old, and I'm sure that will continue as he gets older, so people will probably look at him strange for acting much younger than he looks.

Bye.

[lhall]

Originally posted by beacooker
One baby, who is the same age as Mason (5 mos) weighed 25 pounds!!!!! Wow.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Mariel is almost 18M and she doesn't even weigh 25lbs!! Although I do admit she is a small child.

Leigh

[MrsReber]

Susan, I have to wonder how much influence we have over the food choices! I made the mistake of eating cheese doodles in front of Casey (I know I shouldn't be eating them myself!) and that's all she wanted the other night. At least she'll help me keep on a healthy track since I have to be careful what I eat in front of her!

DH was a huge baby! His mother claims he was over 30 lbs by one year. They have these pictures of him sitting in a chair with rolls of fat all over his body! She said he ate everything! But, as he got older, he got much taller (he's 6'5" now) and is quite thin so you just never know! Casey is still small and hasn't hit 20 lbs yet. I just want to turn her car seat around!

Leigh, those quesadillas sounds good! I'll have to make some. Casey loves beans and cheese. She tries to use her fork and spoon, but she isn't so good at getting the food to stay on the utensils. She usually hands them back to me for a refill. If she's really hungry, she just lets me feed her and doesn't even reach for the spoon. My mom bought her the cutest table set from Oneida. It almost matches our regular flatwear pattern! It has different size forks and spoons and a little knife. She found it in an Oneida outlet store in NH last month.

[lhall]

Susan,

The quesadillas are from Ginger's cookbook Pretend Soup. They call for refried beans, but since I had black beans I fried up some of those to soften them, spread on a tortilla, topped with cheese, warmed in a skillet on both sides, and cut into quarters. I figure I need to make at least two tonight, maybe more.

Oh, and we found a solution to Mariel sucking her thumb in the car due to boredom. MAGNA DOODLE! She loves it. She can even draw and erase. WOOHOO! Not to teach her to say 'eat' so she'll stop doing it when she's hungry!

Leigh,
hoping this post works!

[SusanD]

I'm going to try making those for Erin. You guys always give me such good ideas - am I just a totally unimaginative mom or what? One of her favorites these days is macaroni and cheese with ham, she gets so excited whenever she sees me putting it on her plate. We're working on utensils, she likes to hold them but isn't very good at loading yet. With the fork I let her try a couple of stabs and if she isn't able to pick anything up I'll do it for her. With the spoon, I just load it up and hand it to her and then she gives it back to me for a refill.

Susan, I've had the same problems - I really have to watch what I eat in front of Erin because she wants to try everything! DH gave her a tortilla chip, I wasn't very happy about that.

Leigh, I'm going to give the magna-doodle a try. My SIL gave Erin one for her birthday but I put it away because I was worried about the little pieces - but maybe she'd enjoy it (under close supervision of course).

Anne, how fun that your childbirth class had a reunion! I wish ours had done something like that.

Where are all these big (25 lb) babies coming from? Yikes! Erin was 19 1/2 pounds at her 1 year checkup (we turned her car seat around anyway). She was only in the 10th percentile for height and the dr. said I could expect a growth spurt within the next few weeks. That was over a month ago and I'm still waiting...

[lhall]

Actually, we're doing much better exposing Mariel to new foods than we did with Ginger. Mariel started eating what we eat at age 1 when we put her on table food.

We'd feed Ginger at 5pm as soon as I got home them put her to bed, then eat. I think she started eating with us at age 2, but I'd fix her different food a lot. Hot dogs, chicken nuggets, canned soup, canned veggies, etc. Mariel just eats what we eat, with some modifications. I do have to make non-spicy versions of some foods, such as last night's coconut shrimp.

Leigh

[claire797]

Not much going on here. Emma's crawling all over the place and pulling up. I've been taking her swimming on a regular basis and she loves the water.

We're having lots of fun with food. I'm still nursing Emma, but every day she eats more and more solids. Is it normal for babies to like everything? So far, Emma has chowed down on anything I put in front of her. The only thing I haven't tried to give her (besides honey and all of the usual no nos) is fish.

She's waking up from her nap, so I've gotta run.

When is this Florida trip?

[KristaMB]

Finally my Monster-In-Law and Damon's DrUnkle (get it- drunk uncle= DrUnkle) Denny are gone! They drive me nuts! I caught my MIL giving Jared sips of her iced tea!

Anna, Jared is also crawling and pulling up. He started doing that about a week and a half ago at my parent's house. Does Emma know how to get down after she pulls herself up? Jared just starts whining when he's ready to sit down, and we help him. How did the rest of you handle that?

Damon and I get to go on a real date this weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We're just going to dinner and then a movie, but it's been so long that I've seen a movie in the theater that I'm really looking forward to it.

Marisa, I hope that you are quickly recovering from your in-law visit.

Anne, it's cool that your class had a reunion. That sounds like fun.

I'd better get back to work. Take care,
~Krista

[MrsReber]

Casey used to eat everything, too! It's just recently that she is developing her own taste in things. For instance, she LOVES scrambled eggs with cheese. When she sees it on her plate, she yells at me and her arms and legs get going. If I give her eggs and fruit together, she won't eat the fruit (eggs win out). I have to give her fruit and then give her an egg. I am learning which are her favorites so I keep some of the food in the kitchen or she'll pig out on what she likes and dump the rest on the floor. We're working on the latter problem.

Krista, that's great you're getting to go on a date! Enjoy! Your wonderful in-laws sound like fun :rolleyes: . I'm glad they're gone! I hate when relatives feel like they're allowed to give your child certain things without asking how you feel about it (the iced tea incident). They should simply respect your wishes whether or not they agree with you. You're the mom! But I have the same issues. My in-laws do what they feel- MIL was trying to feed Casey shrimp with cilatro and then deviled eggs after I told MIL that Casey doesn't like hard boiled eggs at all. What do I know?

Susan

[claire797]

Krista,

Emma doesn't stay up long enough to ask to get down :). She usually just topples over. Poor little thing. Good thing she's tough.

Have a great date with your hubby! Do you know what movie you're going to see? I liked Spiderman better than Star Wars.

Susan,

What age can I give Emma eggs?

[lhall]

Originally posted by claire797

When is this Florida trip?

We will be in FLA from June 22nd (arrival) to the 29th (leaving early). We'll be in Titusville, about 1 hour east of Orlando.

Krista, Mariel loves iced tea, but we use decaf only. I tastes the same. We do use artifical sweetner, but I use very little, and I'd be more worried about the caffine. Have fun at the movie, and happy anniversary.

Anna, I think you can start with egg yolks only at about 10M, and whites at 1 year. Mariel also loves eggs.

Leigh

[MrsReber]

Anna, I started giving Casey eggs around 11 months. They do recommend egg yolks only until 1 year, but we have no food allergy problems so it wasn't a big deal. Casey loves eggs over easy and scrambled, but not hard boiled. All the books recommended hard boiled egg yolks.

[SusanD]

I think I started giving Erin scrambled eggs around 10 months. I tried hard boiled egg yolks before that, but she didn't like them...still doesn't, I think it's the texture. I bet you'd be safe trying those with Emma, though.

[claire797]

I guess in two weeks I'll try giving her a scrambled egg. She'll probably love it.

[mb]

hello all! we survived the weekend!

we didn't have a Drunkle, nor a Reber MIL...but a new breed: a stupid, obnoxious BIL! i'll spare you all the stories (which there are a ton of), but the best was how upon his arrival he wanted to make sure we got HBO so he could watch the big fight on Saturday night. (which he proceeded to sit and watch while everyone one else cleaned up from the party...)

the party went reasonably well, with a few exceptions. for DH and I, we had to be the host/hostess, photographers, chefs, etc. and still try to enjoy the day. luckily, we didn't have more people. amanda did great with all the people and behaved quite well. our biggest disappointment was at cake-cutting time, when my dad sort of delegated himself to be the one to feed amanda the ice cream cake. DH and I have been waiting since amanda was born for the day that we could feed her ice cream for the first time - and we've been planning to do it on her first birthday. so while we're getting together the candles, knife, plates, etc., my mom put amanda in her high chair and my dad saddled up with a plate of cake and a fork to feed her! he wasn't even going to wait for us to get the cameras ready! DH and I are still upset over it, even though it seems like we shouldn't be mad that someone else gave her a spoonful of ice cream... my parents are out of town anyhow, coming back later today, so we haven't confronted them on this. it's like you give them an inch and they take a mile...

so despite that episode, and having to spend time with the BIL, all went well. my niece and nephew are doing ok, i suppose. my niece was born at 31 weeks and only about 3lbs and had to have several surgeries when she was born. now, she is 21 months old and still not walking, crawling, or talking. her parents don't seem to do anything to help her out either. they have 3 different therapists that come to the house 2x/week each, but my SIL and BIL don't seem to do much with her on their own (BIL is very good at sitting her on the couch next to him while he watches TV though). my nephew is really huge - 5 months and 22 lbs. (amanda was only 19lbs at 1 year). they feed him A LOT, and when the grandmother was like, 'he just ate, why are you feeding him again? he's going to get fat!', my BIL smartly responded with, "he's not going to get fat!". and i'm thinking - your kid is 5 months old and 22 lbs - he already IS fat! :o

also, when we went out on sunday, they forgot to bring his formula, and getting some more turned into a whole expedition because they didn't mention it when we were near the store. then, my BIL bought the big bottle of formula, even though we didn't have anywhere to refrigerate the leftovers...

DH and I were really glad when they left, mostly because we coudln't stand to be around BIL anymore. i think we are still going to see them when we are in NY in the fall, but luckily it will only be for about 1 day.

quick question: have you all had a problem finding pajamas in 12-18 month sizes? i've been using the carters pjs with feet and snaps up the front, but they only go to 9 months and amanda is outgrowing them. i can't seem to find any pj's in sizes bigger than 9 months but smaller than 2T. they had some at the gap, but they were like $22, which i felt was too expensive. i will check old navy. but in the meantime, my mother has declared this as her new 'project' and she is scouring every store looking for them. it's making me crazy because i don't want her buying them because she keeps picking out things i don't like! i've tried to tell her nicely, but it's not working. ugh. i hope i'm not like that when i become a grandma!!! and i feel bad too, because i know she is just trying to help!

whoah - this has been a long message! sorry about that!

susanD, glad to hear erin liked the guacamole. it's great that she is eating 'real' foods now - and see, you were worried before! about making 'creative' dinners...i never feel too creative about amanda's meals, so i just get ideas from what we're eating. sometimes, she will just have our leftovers, or i will modify what we're having into something she can eat too. we feed her around 6pm, then she goes to bed around 7pm and we have our dinner afterwards. this way, we get to enjoy a peaceful meal.

leigh, i made some quesadillas for amanda too, and she liked them. i just mashed up some black beans, and put in some cheese and some avocado slices too. now i can add a little not-spicy salsa since amanda can eat tomatoes now!

anna, amanda also likes most everything we give her. if she spits it out, it's just generally because she isn't hungry.

susanR, that is funny about the cheese puffs. i know it's important to eat right in front of the little ones - they always, ALWAYS want to have a bite of what you're eating. a few weeks ago, i was eating a small bowl of ice cream, and amanda really wanted some. so i just gave her the spoon with nothing on it and pretended to feed her, and she was satisfied! i had to laugh! yesterday we went to DH's office for lunch, and amanda really wanted to taste DH's coleslaw, so he let her, and then i think she was sorry she ate it!

that is great that casey loves eggs so much. amanda thought eggs were ok, but she REALLY loves fruit! her favorites, hands down, are mango and bananas.

anne, that reunion sounds great. i wish we had become better friends with our childbirth classmates, because that would have been fun to do.

leigh, i will have to check the calendar and see if we can get to titusville during that time. that would be nice!

have a great day everyone!
marisa :)

[claire797]

I'm just heading out the door to go buy ingredients for Jewel's Peanut Butter Ice Cream, but I thought I'd let you all know what happened yesterday at our local H.E.B. grocery store.

Be warned.

Emma now rides in the grocery basket. As we left the store yesterday, I leaned over to pull her out and noticed her ankle was stuck between the tines of the cart. I had her strapped in properly, but she still tends to lift her legs out of the two big leg holes and kick them around. I never thought she'd get stuck.

Thanking God that I hadn't pulled really hard on her, I slowly pushed the basket back into the store and headed towards the pharmacy. The minute I walked back into the store, the clerk who had just checked us out shouted "Her foot is stuck!!!!" and ran to get some lotion from the sun care display. The clerk immediately started rubbing lotion on her and together, we tried to nudge her foot out of the basket. It wouldn't budge. Meanwhile, people were gathering around to see what the fuss was about. About 3 minutes later 6 H.E.B. managers were gathered around the basket trying to sum up the situation. A guy named Maxwell came over with a GIANT pair of pliers and ended up cutting the basket and prying the tines open so we could pull her foot out. Emma was fine. Meanwhile, H.E.B. took our name and phone number in case anything went wrong.

Emma is fine, but had I yanked her out of the cart without looking, I could have twisted her ankle. So BE CAREFUL with little ones in grocery carts. H.E.B. just called us to see if we were okay (Todd called it a "don't sue us" call) and I told them we were fine.

Just thought I share that. That's probably the most interesting thing that's happened all week.

[MrsReber]

Well, Marisa, you survived! Your BIL is crazy. That's one huge baby!

My mom does a great job finding 12-18 month size pj's at the Carter's stores. She bought 2 or three pairs. She also bought me a pair of 2T size. They are big, but they stay on because of the snaps. Sorry your mom picks out stuff you don't like! My mom does a good job and actually listens when we tell her "stop with the pink!! There are other colors in the world!"

Anna, that must've been pretty frightening! I'm glad that Emma is okay and thanks for the warning. I have a catalog at home with the other day. One of the items is a harness type thing for the shopping carts. It certainly seems to restrain a child better than the belts on the carts plus it'll always be clean! I may have to buy one (or two- yikes!)

That's funny about the cole slaw! Casey did the same thing! Guess it's an acquired taste?

[lhall]

Anna, Wow! I'm glad Emma is ok. How scary! Mariel is a major wiggle worm in shopping carts. I'll be extra careful from now on.

Marisa,
I don't know what you should say, but because the whole cake think has upset you and Evan I think you need to say something. Maybe about how as parents those 'special days/things' are very important to both of you. That you understand the grandparents wanting to be involved, but you are the parents. Good luck. BIL had a problem with MIL/FIL not wanting my neice to open/see any of her Christmas presents from BIL/SIL until MIL/FIL arrived at their house. BIL put his foot down, and said No, we want our own time at Christmas with just the 3 of us. We live too far away for them to do that kind of stuff to us!

We have no specific plans for FLA. Maybe a couple of days to Orlando for Magic Kingdom/Sea World/Universal, maybe a trip to Cape Canaveral. We'll just see what happens. We haven't mentioned MK to Ginger! I'll get the phone # and try to make sure I have dad's laptop while we are there.

Leigh

[mb]

anna, that is so scary about emma's leg in the shopping cart. i'm glad that she wasn't too upset by it. i'll keep an eye out on amanda very closely now when we go to the supermarket!

susan, my mom stopped at the carters outlet the other day, but i don't think she ended up getting me anything. see, i'd prefer them to buy pink pj's. otherwise, i get all sorts of weird looking stuff! i stopped at old navy today, and found several 12-18 month pj's for $4.99. :D there are so many pj's that are just basically shorts and a t-shirt. i think amanda would turn into a little ice cube in pj's like that!!!!

leigh, thanks for the advice re: my parents. i'm sure they're going to get very upset if i mention something to them, but it's also something that i don't want to blow off. i need to put a stop to those things now!

marisa :)

[SusanD]

Anna, poor little Emma! Thanks for the heads up about grocery carts, though. Erin loves to ride in it, and I've never given it much thought. I might look for one of those safety straps like MrsReber. Yikes!

Marisa, I totally understand your frustration about the cake issue. It's the little things like that, that are the most important. Better to say something now than to keep thinking about it and just keep getting madder (which is what I tend to do)! As for pj's, another suggestion would be to try the Baby Gap website. I've found some really great deals in their "sale" section - good enough to offset the shipping costs. I do like their pj's the best, whenever I find them on sale I stock up. Erin has some pairs that she's had for 6 months, and being laundered every week they've held up really well when other brands have faded, shrunk, gotten pilly, come apart at the seams, etc.

We've been eating dinner after Erin goes to bed, too, but I think that may be starting to catch up to me! I had my "annual" (blech) on Monday and it appears that I've put on a couple of pounds. :rolleyes: DH and I made the decision that I would stay on the pill for another year, and then next summer when I have my annual I'll trade my pills for pre-natal vitamins and we'll start trying to make Erin a big sister! :)

[claire797]

Susan,

I'm a firm believer that it's not WHEN you eat that makes you gain weight but WHAT you eat.....and maybe the pill.

It's kind of nice waiting for baby to go to bed then having a relaxing dinner. That's one of the things I really missed for the first 6 months -- eating with 2 hands.

Now, I lunch at naptime and eat dinner late. Emma eats with us at various snack times. We've also been taking her to places like Barnes and Noble and Central Market's cafe so she can work on her "eating out" skills. Still. It's nice to have a quiet meal and conversation with the hubby once in a while.

[claire797]

This is a test.

http://genjala.image.pbase.com/u11/claire797/small/2379965.cheerios2.jpg

[claire797]

Yay. It worked. I figured out how to use our camcorder as a digital camera and now I can take pictures in real time. The Cheerios picture is from a couple of days ago. Here's right now. If it weren't for this box, I wouldn't be typing.

http://genjala.image.pbase.com/u11/claire797/small/2380095.box.jpg

[mb]

susanD, i think the pill can cause some weight gain. that's why i don't like taking them.

anna, loved the pics. i wish i could set that up. right now, amanda is playing with an old credit card, and trying to stuff it into one of DH's sneakers that is sitting here onthe floor...

uh oh, gotta go change a diaper!!!
marisa :)

[shoyski]

<slow clapping>STOR-REE STOR-REE <faster clapping>STOR-REE STOR-REE <wild clapping and whistling, stomping of feet>STOR-REE STOR-REE

Com'on, give us some more stories, Amanda and Krista! I laughed pretty hard with the "drunkle". I got it immediately. Krista, I hope you have a fantastic date!

Marisa, man, the "firsts" thing is really important to me as well. You seem to have been very gracious about the whole thing but I agree with the others; best to have a chat with them soon so this doesn't happen again. :(

Anna, great pictures. Emma looks like she's having a ball. :) I agree with the "it's not when you eat, but what." My addendum is one MUST incorporate exercise with a moderate diet. In fact, I was just discussing this tonight with a friend and both of us felt that without exercise, we would gain weight, even with eating healthy.
Thanks also for the grocery cart tip. Glad everything worked out okay.

Anne, the reunion sounds fun. Since we took private classes at home there is no chance of a reunion for us. :rolleyes:

[beacooker]

Originally posted by shoyski
Since we took private classes at home there is no chance of a reunion for us.

No, actually, you get to have a reunion every day. :)

Yeah, we are getting some really good family stories on here lately! I still think SusanR wins - Marisa and Krista, you'll have to try harder! I got the drunkle thing right away, too.

We took Mason to Friday's for lunch today (well, we wanted Friday's, and we took him with us!), and he was the most un-fussy he has ever been at a restaurant, and in the car. The whole time, he sat in his car seat, and didn't fuss once. We take him to restaurants probably about once a week, and I usually end up having to hold him on my lap by the end of the meal, but today he was great the whole time, and didn't even fuss in the car on the way home. Nice.

Anna, cute pictures. I love Emma playing in the box! That is scary about the grocery carts. It just started to occur to me that I am not going to be able to lug Mason around in his carrier for much longer. I hope he gets strong enough to sit on his own soon, or I will have to carry him all the time like I remember Krista had to do with Jared.

I was sitting on our back porch with Mason yesterday, and noticed a slight bad smell like something was dead. But a breeze came up, and I couldn't smell it anymore, so I forgot about it. This afternoon, Clint came in from mowing the lawn and said he smelled something dead-smelling coming from the neighbors house/yard. Our neighbors are a couple in their 80's. So, now we are kind of worried about them. We talk to them some, but not a whole lot. Since we have never gone over to visit before, we can't really think of an excuse to go over now and check on them. It would be kind of weird to say 'Oh, just making sure you are still alive'. Hopefully tomorrow we will either see them outside, or think of an excuse to go by. :( :eek:

[mb]

well, i realized that i skipped out on telling you all one of the best stories of all. it just shows how very much i love my SIL and BIL... :o

when our niece was born, we got her several gifts and we went up to NY to personally deliver them. here's what we brought: a Sony baby monitor for the nursery, several books (dr seuss, fairy tales, etc.), about 10 CDs of baby music (lullabys, etc), a bikini bathingsuit (for their trips to Florida - ha!), and a little tiny bathrobe, plus some small Baby Gund toys.

well, the toys got buried under all the other toys she got. and who knows what happened to the CDs. i do know that they don't bother reading to her. i guess they thought it was stupid when she was so tiny, and now she grabs the books, so they don't read the books we gave them. maybe in a few years...

meanwhile, when amanda was born, they sent us a box of stuff 'to borrow'. well, the first thing in the box was the baby monitor that we gave them...and they said we could keep it because they didn't need it. they never opened it either. that was the first of the gifts we gave that we got back. SIL told us that someone else got them a monitor anyways, and they couldn't return it because it was like a free gift with some purchase. so they let ours sit in the box and collect dust. i wish they'd have returned it and gotten something they needed. oh well.

also in that box was the baby bathrobe, with all the tags still attached to it. SIL told us that someone else got them a bathrobe, and they never use it anyway. hmm. at least amanda has gotten a lot of use out of it, after baths and after swimming.

well, i never thought much about the bathingsuit, except i told DH that they probably didn't use that either, because i saw a pic of the baby swimming and she wasn't wearing a bathingsuit. then this weekend when they came to visit, SIL pulls me aside with a bag and says, "don't be upset", and she basically gave back the cute little bikini bathingsuit too! all tags are still attached and everything. now i wouldn't be so upset, but why did she wait almost 2 years?!?! the suit is size 6-12 months and amanda can get only a handful of uses out of it at this point.

meanwhile, we have brought gifts upon gifts to their kids (in the 4 times we've visited NY, plus sending a big savings bond for a bday), and i think all amanda has gotten from them is 2 little outfits (plus all the stuff we gave them!). DH think the outfits from them are recycled gifts anyway.

well, that's just one saga....if i learned anything, it's "be sure to give a gift that you'd want to get yourself!"

in a way, i think my SIL/BIL are on par with susan's inlaws. but when it comes to krista's DH's drunkle...well, that is another story altogether! talk about completely unacceptable and dangerous too!

marisa :)

ps anne, i'd be worried about your neighbors. you might just want to go over there to find out if they smell something too. you don't have to mention the fact that you thought it might be them! :eek:

[beacooker]

Ok, I just got off the phone with my neighbor - he seemed very much alive! He called us because he is the neighborhood watch co-ordinator, and apparently a woman who lives near us has called the police out to her house the past few nights because there have been 3 men/boys hanging outside her house at night. So, I am no longer worried about the health of my neighbors, but now I am kind of worried about strange men hanging around the neighborhood. :eek: :eek:

Marisa, it sounds like you bought Amanda some really nice stuff - just in a round-about way. Your BIL and SIL sound like real winners. Them not doing much to help their daughter with her developmental difficulties is really sad.

[KristaMB]

Anna, DH's drunkle bought us a camcorder that takes digital pics as a gift this weekend. I think it was his way of apologizing for making Damon late to his own graduation. I will definitely have to figure out how to use it. I loved the pictures, BTW. The Cheerios picture reminds me of my daily grind! Something spills at least once a day. Luckily we have the floor mop, er, dog to pick up after all the food messes. I'll have to see how entertained Jared is with a box. I haven't tried that one yet, although he did tip over and empty my laundry basket last week.:rolleyes:

What happened to Emma sounds so scary. Would something like this have helped, or was her foot in a part that is uncovered? I've been thinking about getting one of these. http://www.cleanshopper.com/details.htm

Oh, and Shelley, the drunkle has never been this awful before. He does drink too much every time we go out, and he's rude to waitresses, which mortifies me, but he's never been this abrasive. I thought my dad was going to beat the #$@* out of him during the Kings/Lakers game Friday night. They were rooting for opposite teams, and the drunkle was yelling and cursing up a storm. He also has a tendency to start or end every sentence with the word "Christ" which really offends me. Ex: Christ, did you see that play? Grrrr. Enough ranting about him.

As for the MIL, most of her horror stories occur before she stopped drinking a few months ago. I can't decide which is worse. 1) Her calling me two days before our wedding crying that I was stealing her son (I told her she didn't have to come to the wedding) or 2) Her admitting that she went through our drawers and cabinets the last time she visited. I could go on and on. The plus side is that unlike Susan's MIL, mine lives far away, so I rarely have to deal with her.

Marisa, your BIL and SIL sound great, too!

Anne, glad to hear that your neighbors are okay. I was thinking maybe you could make a food dish and take it over as a disguise.

Take care,
~Krista

[MrsReber]

Thanks for all the great in-law stories! I don't feel so alone now :)!
Do I still hold the title? I think Krista's story of her MIL calling 2 days before her wedding is pretty tough competiton! I haven't had to deal with any of mine - at least the crazy ones - since MIL's birthday party. That was enough for me. I hope they stay away until after this baby is born. Marisa, that's awful about your SIL. How rude! She should've said she didn't want/need the items you sent and exchanged them, like you said! I went to my SIL's daughter's birthday party last year. Again, I had a less than 2 month old baby and went to Barnes & Noble to buy some little gifts. I go to the party and she actually LOSES my gifts. They're unopened and nobody has any idea where they went. Never mind a thank you card. I just shake my head and wonder why I bother.

Glad the neighbors are okay! That's weird! Probably some samll animal died in the area. That smell is awful, though.

Okay, I have a digital camcorder and we know to press the one button for still photos, but then what? I can't figure it out and DH is hopeless with modern technology. He wants to keep his old 86 Ford truck forever because he understands how it works. He hates computerized engines.

I have taken Casey to Friday's and Applebees because they're "busy" places and I know she's entertained by looking around at things. She does well in other restaurants, too, but we've been taking her since she was about a month old. I try to think of places that would be interesting and colorful now that she's getting older. Anna, I so dread going back to eating with one hand when food is available! Casey eats at 6:00 and has been going to bed around 7:00. I think they're wearing her out at daycare. She was staying up until 8:00. Either that or the teething. I can see 2 more coming in and something on the side has been bothering her badly. It's about time! Poor girl still only has 5 teeth!

[beacooker]

Krista, that Clean Shopper looks really neat. I think I will have to get one - the first thing I thought of when I realized Mason wasn't going to be in his carrier forever is that I didn't want him chewing on those nasty shopping carts.

So, Krista, was drunkle rooting for the Lakers or the Kings? If he was rooting for the Kings, then I'm thinking maybe he isn't so bad after all. ;)

[mb]

krista, wow, your MIL sounds like a rival to susan's!!!! my SIL and BIL are mostly self-centered, which is good in a way because they're never doing anything purposefully towards us. it's usually their lack of doing stuff that makes us crazy.

anne, glad to hear your neighbors are ok. but that doesn't explain the smell, does it?!?!

susanR, your camcorder should come with a cable that you can hook into the computer so that you can upload the pics you took. DH usually does all the uploading, so i can't help you there. speaking of which, i'd better get some new pics up to show y'all!

marisa :)

[shoyski]

Krista, that Clean Shopper DOES look cool! I don't consider myself a fanatic about germs but gnawing on shopping carts just turns my stomach.

We're heading to Dave's parents this weekend to celebrate their 45th anniversary. I"m looking forward to it. Dave's two siblings and their families will be there as well and we always have a good time. Dave's mom emailed Tru and me yesterday and said she's counting the days. :)

I feel like a bad mom (or one who's in big trouble). Dave and I hardly go out to eat so Tru hasn't been to ANY restaurants yet. I think we've been out twice to a restaurant since Tru's been born and he stayed home with the babysitter. Yikes, I guess I better get started. Thanks for all the suggestions on where to try.

Right now Tru is upstairs, trying to convince me he doesn't need a morning nap. :mad: I went to the dentist today and Dave met me there to watch Truman while I got my teeth cleaned. Of course Tru fell asleep on the way home for a whole 10 minutes so I guess he thinks the catnap was enough. Think again, good buddy! :D

[SusanD]

Wow...hearing you guys makes me really appreciate my in-laws! My MIL is a saint (Krista, she actually THANKED me for marrying her son!), FIL can be a bit high-maintenance but he's good to us and loves Erin dearly. SIL is great, too but she lives far away so we rarely see her. My only issue with her is her eating habits - which she is clearly passing on to her son, and was trying to pass on to Erin while we were with them Memorial weekend. She's never been a healthy eater (breakfast = Mountain Dew and Fruity Pebbles) - and now she feeds her 20-month-old things like potato chips, hot dogs, chocolate doughnuts, licorice, etc. I have to admit I was a bit disgusted. When she saw Erin eating green beans, she commented how her son was so picky that she could never get him to eat like that. The entire weekend I never saw him eat one vegetable, and the only fruit he ever had was juice. And then she called me a party-pooper because I didn't want her giving Erin potato chips. Ick! Anyway...compared to Krista, Susan and Marisa, if that's the worst I have to deal with then I'm certainly not complaining! Oh, oops...I forgot about DH's uncle who offered us pot (yes, as in REEFER) at our wedding, and took off his shirt to dance at SIL's wedding. Does that count as a "crazy in-law"?

Anne, what a relief! Good thing your neighbors are OK, but did they ever find the source of the odor? Maybe something got underneath their house and died. Blech!

Susan & Krista, sorry I can't help with the camcorder issue. We've still got our big ol' VHS video camera that my parents bought to record my sister's HS graduation 8 years ago!

Oh...in regards to my recent "plumping"...I'm sure it's not the pills because it's the same prescription I've been on for years. Just nothing more than too much indulgence in treats lately...shame on me! :o :o :o

Shelley, we must have been typing at the same time...just wanted to say "hi"!

[claire797]

Grrrrrrrrr.

Just when I thought sleep issues were getting better, Emma has decided that our two night feedings should be 4. Two I can live with, but 4!!!???? Has this happened to anybody else? I'm afraid that continuing to nurse her every 3 hours will reinforce the wakings...then again, I hate letting her cry. Could this be one of those "Milestone" things? I read that when they reach milestones they often have sleep problems. Emma just learned to pull up and the sleep problems are coinciding with this. Is there any truth to that?

Susan,

Your camera should have come with a cord that you attach to your PC. Also, I don't know if your camera came with it -- I think we bought ours -- but there's a program called Pixlab Lite which lets you upload the pictures to the computer. If you have the cord and Pixlab lite, I can help you from there. Let me know.

Krista,

I think the Cleanshopper would have helped. Heck. Even putting a blanket over the tines of the basket helps. Most importantly, just watch where those little legs are going.

Shelly,

You've got plenty of time to teach Tru how to eat out and since you and DH don't go out that much anyway, it's probably not a big deal that Tru still eats at home. While I'd like to believe that all our little outings to the bookstore, sandwich shop etc. are helping Emma learn about restaurants, it may really be just a matter of time and temperment. I don't know. In our situation, I just like knowing that yes, I can have an enjoyable lunch out with both Emma AND another adult. It *seems* like a good idea to acclimate babies to restaurants, then again, who knows. My sister's child has been eating in restaurants since the day they brought her home from the hospital (literally!) and she is still a terror to eat with....screams, throws food, whines. But don't get me started on that ;) Unlike you all, it's not my in-laws who are crazy. It's my blood relatives. My in-laws are angels.

[mb]

krista, that cleanshopper does look kind of neat. i must say,, though, that amanda outgrew her desire to chew on all parts of a grocery cart. now she is much more interested in what i'm putting into the cart rather than the cart itself. i have seen some people using similar items with their babies at the grocery store, but if i had bought it, it would have been a waste of $. however, it could prevent what happened to emma, so i guess that would be worth it.

shelley, amanda is also trying to convince me that she doesn't need a nap. ha!

anna, about the night-wakings. well, i would say that there is some truth to the wakings coinciding with new developmental milestones. it could also be some separation anxiety. when amanda wakes in the night now, i know it's her teeth, and she usually wants to nurse for comfort. knowing that that will only last 1-2 nights, i usually indulge, and then she goes back to her normal sleeping all night. i'm certainly no expert, but i think emma should be able to sleep through the night completely at this age. maybe if you let her cry-it-out, she will get the idea and start sleeping all night. if you remember a few months back when you first put emma in her crib, i also let amanda cry-it-out. it really helped her, because after that she pretty much started sleeping through thenight every night. maybe emma just wakes out of habit. but then again, you know her best, and you have to do what you feel is right.

our dr had told us that if i didn't mind waking up with amanda, then it was fine to go in and nurse her or comfort her, or whatever. it's basically up to you as to when you'd like to sleep again!

susanD, i believe your uncle-in-law qualifies to be added to the crazy-in-law list! and your SIL sounds like mine in terms of food she feeds her child.... i don't think i saw my niece eat a piece of fruit all weekend. amanda, of course, ate enough to make up for her!

shelley, we don't go out much either, so don't worry about it! i'm sure tru will do fine when you take him out.

marisa :)

[lhall]

Originally posted by claire797
Unlike you all, it's not my in-laws who are crazy. It's my blood relatives. My in-laws are angels.

Anna, you are not alone. My grandmother (mom's mom) is so stubborn (that's where I get it from).
She twisted her ankle two days ago and didn't tell anyone. Then when she couldn't put any weight on it she decided she had to use her walker to get her newspaper (down two steps). Guess what, she fell! Broke a rib, punctured and partially collapsed a lung, and has a sprained ankle. She's in the hospital for 3-4 days and Dad and I are going to see her tomorrow. Last year she had emergency surgery for an ulcer. She's 87 and only weighs 130 saggy pounds. She lots tons of weight (100lbs) by not eating when Mom was dying and Aunt got divorced. Never has picked up her feet when she walks. Crazy aunt (really) and uncle are picking up my cousin at the airport tomorrow and taking her up to see my grandmother. Age 63 aunt can't stay and help 87 year old mother. Like driving her around a cooking for her is hard! Cousin was coming anyways. Don't even get me started on the schizophrenic cousin (at least he's a 3rd cousin and doesn't know my address)

Oh, had my annual exam tuesday (those don't really bother me). Lost 8lbs in 1 year and had a nice discussion about portion control during the whole thing?!?! Icky part was I was 130.5 and I'd like to be 125!

Leigh,
I'll stop ranting now!

[djoygirl]

Hello all! Just wanted to check in b/c I haven't been around in awhile. Morgan is so high-maintenance and hardly sleeps, I hardly ever have the chance to get on line and when I do, it's always kicking me off. Compuserve sucks.
We're doing well, though. Dr. just put her on Zantac for her reflux. She's still thriving, 14 lbs, 12 oz at 11 1/2 weeks, but she throws up so much and seems to be in alot of pain when she does. Hoping she'll outgrow this crying business soon.
I only had time to read the 2nd page, but whatever the clean shopper is, I'm going to have to look into it when Morgan's big enough to ride in the shopping cart. I'm a germ freak! I don't even like touching the handle myself, I sure as heck don't want her putting her mouth on it!
Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to check in more often, but right now I'm going to catch a nap.

[MrsReber]

I'll have to look for my camcorder cable! I read the book, but it wasn't much help at all. I don't think we got any software with it.

Emma could be going through a growth spurt or getting some teeth- you just never know. I hate the guessing game. I keep saying that I can't wait until Casey can tell me what's wrong. That way, I won't give her motrin if it's not needed and I won't not give her motrin when she needs it. So frustrating.

Susan, what nice in-laws you have! I know my MIL is glad I married DH becuase I'm so wealthy (????). She has told her friends and relatives about how I make a ton of money (???). Okay, I make a decent living, but I'm certainly not making six figures! Your uncle sounds like a winner! Bring drugs to the wedding- please!

Shelly, the 45th anniversary sounds fun! Now that I'm one of those old married women, I love seeing people who have been married for a long time.

Leigh, 8 lbs is good! You're not that far away from your goal! I think you probably have the eating and portions under control if you lost weight. Why would your doctor spend time talking about that?

Sorry Morgan is still spitting up. At least she's gaining weight, which is a good sign. My neighbor's friend has a baby boy with the same problem. We havent' seen him since last year, but he's about a week younger than Casey. I'd be curious to see if he outgrew that.

[lhall]

Originally posted by MrsReber
Why would your doctor spend time talking about that?

Well the whole 'normal conversation during the exam is a little surreal'. He just checked my chart and said it was good that I'd lost 8 pounds. Then I started talking about portion control and CL cause that's how I lost the weight. Ok, so I'm a junkie, but I didn't mention the BB!

Denise, enjoy that nap!

Leigh

[MrsReber]

Ah, now I see. Yes, normal conversation under those circumstances is a bit strange. They do try, though!

[SusanD]

What, you don't like it when they peek up over your knee and ask if it's still raining outside???

[beacooker]

Have you guys ever had the experience of running into your gynecologist outside of the office?? The cool thing is, they don't recognize you, since its not your face they are used to looking at!

Once when the dr has been 'down there' and not saying anything, I was trying to think of something to say, and all I could think of (but I didn't say it) was 'So, you finding anything good down there?'. I started to laugh just thinking about it, and of course then I was all embarassed, because I'm sure the dr was wondering if I normally enjoy my exam so much! Luckily, I had already been planning on switching dr's, so I never had to go back there again.

[MrsReber]

I preferred my first doctor, who was my mom's doctor. He actually saved her life when I was about 7. I didn't mind this little old man so much. But then he retired and I got another doctor in the practice. He's a bit overweight, but has dark hair with a hint of gray and these amazing blue eyes just like Ray Liotta! Ahhhh!! I try to schedule with the woman doctor instead. They are usually very quick with their exams, though, and I am very grateful for that.

My doctor doesn't usually peek over my knee, though! I can't even remember what we discuss, but they do try to keep the conversation going to keep my relaxed. It is sort of a very uncomfortable silence if no one is speaking.

[lhall]

I've only been to 2 OB/Gyns. Both have excellent bedside manners. My first gyn (no longer an OB) actually delivered my little brother. Mom went to a family friend, I couldn't bring myself to go to that kind of an exam with him since I'd been friends with his daughters.

I've seen all the Drs and all the midwifes in this practice and there is only one midwife I didn't like. One Dr is too much 'old southern' for my tastes, but not a bad DR.

Leigh

[SusanD]

Actually mine's pretty good, but a total chatterbox (there's never any awkward silence while she's poking around...). Erin & I see the same dr, she's Family Practice & Gyn. There's a total of 3 doctors in the clinic - another woman who does OB/GYN (she delivered Erin) and then a man who does just Family Practice. He sees Erin if our regular dr. is unavailable, and...YOWZA...he is one handsome dude! "What's that, Erin sneezed in daycare today? I'd better get her down to the doctor quick!" :D

[beacooker]

I decided to give up on Ferber last week, because after trying it for more than a week, it still hadn't done s$^*, except make me, Mason, and Clint miserable. So, back to nursing him to sleep at night, and we are all happy again. EXCEPT - all this week, when Mason wakes up to eat between sometime between 3-5am (the same time he has been waking up to eat for several months now), he refuses to go back to sleep! It used to be, he would often only nurse on one side before going back to sleep. Now, he is still awake after nursing on both sides, and tries to get me to play with him. If I try to help him get back to sleep, by holding him and rubbing his back, he just starts laughing and smiling at all the stuff in his room (yes, I do have the light off, but there is a night-light). If I put him back in his crib, he will play for a little while, and then scream and cry until I come get him. I am trying to let him cry it out, but he can go for hours, and I get up at 6, so when I get up I usually just go get him, and figure we should just start his day as normal. I feel like I should probably try to make him stay up until his normal morning nap time (actually Clint would have to do it, since I leave at 7:30), but by 6:30 or 7, Mason is yawning and getting fussy, and it seems like cruel and unusual baby torture to make him stay up, so I end up putting him down for a nap right then. This is driving me crazy! Help me, expert moms!

Editing, to add some info - His bed time is usually about 7:30 at night - has been for months, and he takes 3 short (only 30-45 minute) naps during the day. So, I don't think the issue is that he is getting too much sleep. Other than the aborted Ferber attempt, we haven't made any changes to his schedule recently.

Anna, how did Emma do last night? Believe me, I feel your pain!

[mb]

anna, how did the sleeping go last night?

denise, sorry morgan is still spitting up. the spitting up itself isn't too bad, i'm sorry that it's bothering her though. amanda would spit up fountains (literally) all the time, but it finally stopped about 3 months ago. my best advice is to stock up on cloth diapers and take them everywhere with you...

leigh, that is great about your weight loss. keep up the good work! oh, and you guys were totally cracking me up with all your ob/gyn comments!!!!! :D

anne, i definitely can't condone the nursing-to-sleep, but then on the otherhand, i can't be one to talk... :o although, amanda is currently napping, and i didn't nurse her to sleep this time.

i have only a little advice, and take what you'd like. i'm certainly no expert, but i can tell you what's worked for us:

as far as the nightwakings go, you might want to try taking out the nightlight (or if he didn't have one, i'd suggest putting one in). maybe when he wakes up and sees the light, he thinks it's time to get up. babies supposedly wake often during the night, so i guess it's important that they learn to go back to sleep on their own. maybe the nightlight is distracting him.

also, he might be teething. amanda sleeps all night now, but if she does happen to wake in the night and is screaming for us, it has meant that she wants to nurse because a tooth is coming in. she has 12 teeth now, so i think i've figured out that correlation!!!

amanda's napping has changed drastically over the last year. for a long time, she was hardly napping at all. now, she will generally go for over an hour sometime around 10am and around 2pm-ish. it didn't used to be like that though. sometimes, she would take 3 30 min naps like mason, and other times she'd sleep an hour and that was it. just try to go with the flow, as frustrating as it might be. even if that means putting him down for a nap an hour after he 'woke up'. mason's internal clock might just be adjusting. good luck.

i have a quick question for everyone...i'm curious to know how much interaction your child gets with other kids, and what your 'support group' of other moms is like. i know anna goes to a few playgroups and la leche meetings, and i know some kids are in daycare, where they get a lot of socialization. i think it's time i get amanda into some playgroups, because she absolutely goes nuts around other kids and babies. i haven't felt like i needed other women to talk to (in person) because i have you all. the support here has been all that i needed and more, and it's nice because all our babies are around the same age.

well, i'd better go. have a great weekend everyone.
marisa :)

[sherrieklein]

Anne, I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. I don't have too much to offer but wondered if Mason might be getting ready to teethe? I know Truman's sleep routine was definitely altered when he sprouted a couple of teeth.

Is Mason really tired at 7:30pm? Maybe moving his curfew back to 8:00 or 8:30pm might help if he's not yawning and doing the eye-rubbing routine at 7:30pm. Tru goes down to sleep at 8:30 or 8:45pm, sleeps until 6:30 or 6:45pm (7am on a good day :D )and takes the kind of naps you describe Mason taking. I know every baby is different, though. You'll make it through, one way or the other, but I wanted to offer some support.

I have a similar issue right now. Truman is experiencing separation anxiety....BIG TIME! For the last three days he has cried when I'm in the shower whereas before he was content to swing or play in his ultrasaucer. And when I say cry, I mean CRY! :eek: Big crocodile tears, shakey breathing and wailing. It takes me a couple of minutes to get him to stop. I know the answer to this is to not disappear on him like that so I won't but wow, this is amazing. He won't even stop crying if I try to play peek-a-boo behind the shower curtain or talk to him non-stop. I guess I did a pretty good job of conserving water the last three days.:D Also, Truman is resisting naps and bedtime by crying when we lay him down. Before, he would just "talk" and whine a bit. Now it's outright crying.

Hey, maybe Mason is experiencing some separation anxiety. Is he going down to sleep easily and without crying at 7:30? Good luck!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Okay, this is really weird. I'm really shoyski, even though it says sherrieklein. Sherrie is a friend of mine. I'm typing on Dave's new laptop and I know Sherrie used this about a month ago but I can't figure out why it signed me on with Sherrie's name. Oh well, too bad it isn't April Fool's day! :p

[MrsReber]

We're having trouble with nap time and bedtime, too! Casey is definitely teething, though. She does suffer separation anxiety. After I get home from work, she'll cry if I leave the room to go to the bathroom! She wants me to hold her constantly until it's bedtime. No easy task in my condition! I try to just sit on the floor with her and play.

I was going to suggest no night light, too. Casey had a similar problem last year before she started sleeping through the night. DH took her night light out and she'd go back to sleep. We also have room darkening shades so she's not up when she sees that it's light outside!

Marisa, as you know, Casey is in daycare three days a week. She loves it. She is just now starting to interact with the other babies as in they share their finger foods with each other. It used to be strictly side by side playing. Casey will get angry when we pick her up early. She wants to stay there and play with her friends. It makes me feel much better about things. She's always been interested in other kids, as long as they weren't in her face. As far as support from other moms, I usually just rely on my own mom for things and I will sometimes talk to my one neighbor or the couple of women at work who have kids (there aren't too many in my department!). Things are just so hectic that I don't even really think about a mom support group. It's nice to talk to women who have kids because it's a common ground and it's great to hear other advice.

Here's a good tip that DH picked up from a mom at daycare. She said to put Orajel on Casey's toothbrush when she was having teething pain. It works out well because she puts the toothbrush on the right spot and chews all by herself. No more fighting to get it on her gums!

[KristaMB]

Question: Should I be brushing Jared's toothless gums?

Shelley, I bet the cookies weren't deleted (or whatever) so it didn't ask you to log in, and it was still logged on as your friend. I was wondering who this Sherrie person was that knew all about Tru. :p

Denise, it's so good to hear from you. I was thinking about you the other day and wondering how things were going. Sorry to hear you're having a hard time.

Marisa, I'm really seeing the need to get Jared interacting with more kids. He's never around any babies, and I feel bad. I want him to have that interaction, but how many play groups that you know of meet at night?!? Maybe I should investigate part time day care so that he can have interaction? I have some friends from work with babies, it's just so hard to find a time when we can all get together.

To all the moms with sleepless children, hang in there. I hope things work themselves out soon. Oh, Anne- for the record, I regularly put Jared down about 1 1/2 hours after he wakes up.

Well, I guess I had better get back to work. I've been so bad today. Has anybody seen Insomnia? That's one of the movies in the running for our date this weekend.

~Krista

[lhall]

Hi all,

Yes, I got mad a the daycare again. What irritates me so much is the lack of respect and tact from the front office. For 4 years we've been leaving a carseat once a week for DH to pick up the kids. I've been told it's fine to put it in the bathroom or under Mariel's crib. No problems on Wednesday. Well, this morning (ginger was terrible, grandmother in hospital...not good day). I'm told, while I'm standing with Mariel in one arm, carseat in other, ginger in front of me, Mariel's daycare bag and one hand, and Ginger's backpack over my shoulder....This is against our policy and you can never leave a carseat again. I asked if I should send them a bill for a new carseat! The lady took everything I said (refering to the daycare as a personal attack against her). Anyways, I was unhappy. Why is this a problem now, it's been fine for 4 years. NO real answers. I told her that I was sorry I got upset, but there were better ways to do that. Like saying she needed to talk to me before I left. Well, I got more you're attacking me attitude and no real answers so I was bad and made it personal. Said something really mean, but I did call an apologize. But, she still thinks saying that to me with my hands full was the best way to tell me I couldn't leave my carseat. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the daycare to provide storage for carseats. Oh, she also said, we don't know who the carseats in the bathroom belong to.....ours has Ginger's initials on it and I've always told the teachers when DH has to pick the girls up, always! Just one example of how they lack tact, respect, and listening skills.

If the kids didn't like it so much, and we didn't like the teachers so much we'd be outta there. I'm pretty close now, but there's not another good daycare near us. ARGH!!!!

Otherwise things are fine. My grandmother is doing well considering her age and my cousin (sane person) is there til Sunday. Someone MUST be there when a DR or Social Worker talks to my grandmother because we can't trust her to remember and/or tell us what the Dr really says. We pretty much all agree that she needs to go into an assisted living facility.

Leigh

[beacooker]

Leigh, it sounds like you had a tough day, today. I'm glad that your grandmother is doing allright. I agree, the daycare definitely should have told you they had a problem with the carseat in a better way than that! Its amazing how bad some people are at dealing with people. It is nice that you called and apologized for saying something mean - I don't know if I could have done that! Hopefully the rest of your weekend will go much better.

Shelley, I also was wondering who this person was who knew my name, and lived in the same state as you, and had a baby named Truman. Did your friend log into the BB? It looks like she must have registered, but never posted. <gasp>Did you tell her about us?? We're supposed to be your secret friends! ;)

Thanks for the support on the sleeping issue, guys. Maybe I'll try getting rid of the night light altogether. Up until about 3 weeks ago, I had a brighter night light that was actually in his room, but I did want him to have the experience of darkness, so I bought one of those super-dim nightlights, and have it in the hallway right outside his room. Of course, I could also try bringing the old night light back. But I really think that the cause of the issue was the Ferberizing attempt. The whole time I was doing it, his day and nighttime sleep patterns got all messed up. Except for this, his sleeping has gone back to normal. I want to nip this thing in the bud before it becomes a habit.

Krista, whatever you do, don't go see Star Wars! Clint and I left Mason with a sitter (his SIL) for the first time a few weekends ago, and thats what we went to see. I really hated it, and was sorry we wasted our afternoon out on that. I've heard good things about Insomnia. The other movies I have heard good things about are About A Boy and Undercover Brother (for stupid laughs).

[KristaMB]

Our date night was a success.:) We went to see Insomnia and then went out to dinner at a great place near the beach, Pacific Coast Grill. I had Macademia Nut Crusted Halibut with Mango Mint Sauce, served over a bed of brown rice. It was to die for! DH also had fish, (Atlantic Char (sp?) similar to salmon) but I think mine was much better. Jared did great at my aunt and uncle's house. He figured out how to turn their TV off and kept turning it off while my cousin was trying to watch it. He thought it was hilarious.

This morning we have been *trying* to baby proof. DH got so angry attempting to install the cabinet and drawer locks, that I took the drill away from him and told him we'd go buy a different kind. :rolleyes: I actually can't blame him. The picture on the outside of the box is nowhere near what the actual latches are like. They are virtually impossible to install because you have to line up a hook within millimeters of the latch.

Leigh, sorry to hear about your daycare. It seems like there could've been a much better way for them to approach it. I'm impressed that you called to apologize.

Better get going...

~Krista

[shoyski]

Hey All, I hope your weekends went well. I'm going to be a bit rude and ask a quick question without responding to anyone's posts and then post with more tomorrow.

Who uses bumpers in the crib and are they really necessary? We have some up now but on the nights that we keep the windows open and it's a bit warm, I worry that Tru isn't getting enough air. I checked on him a few minutes ago and he seemed a bit sweaty. I thought if we took the bumpers off, the air could circulate more and he would be more comfortable. Just looking for opinions. :confused: Thanks!!

[mb]

shelley, we used crib bumpers until about 8 months or so. i think we were supposed to take them out at 6 months. many people think that once babies can pull up, then they can use the bumpers to climb out of the crib. amanda's were really soft though, so i wasn't too worried. she doesn't have them in her crib now, and she's doing fine. i'm sure it'd be ok to take them out of tru's crib. the separation anxiety will pass, but it can be frustrating. i don't think i have any more advice than that. just try to be patient with tru, that's all.

krista, glad to hear you had a nice date night. gosh, i can't even tell you the last time i went out to the movies and then to dinner!!! about jared's gums and brushing them: my dentist told me just to wipe amanda's gums with a wet cloth before bed and in the morning. i give her a toothbrush now and we sing a little song, and she tries to brush her own teeth (but she's really just chewing on her baby toothbrush...) oh, and i know about not finding time to get together with people. one of DH's coworkers has a baby born 2 weeks after amanda, and still, 1 year later, we are trying to get together with them!

anne, how is the sleeping going? also, DH saw star wars and thought it was terrible too.

leigh, i'm so sorry to hear about your daycare situation with the carseat! how is it that so many people out there can just be plain stupid?!?! i mean, what the heck are you supposed to do with the carseat! and the line about them not knowing whose is whose sounds stupid too! and for her to deliver this news to you while your hands were so full...well, i think there was probably a better way! i just don't understand people sometimes!!!! nice of you to call and apologize. i doubt i would have :o hope your grandmother is doing well. i know it can get tricky at that age. my grandma is 89, and probably should not be living on her own anymore, but she wants to stay where she is. we just try to take 1 day at a time with her. luckily, we all live close by in case she needs us.

susanR, hope you're hanging in there...

hope you all had a good weekend. we took amanda swimming this weekend and she loved it. my parents actually bought her this baby inflatable swimming pool that we can keep on the patio, and it's easy for her to crawl in and out of it. there are tons of little toys that go with it too, so she has a lot of fun. also, i finally confronted my parents on the ice-cream feeding issue, and they felt really bad and especially wished we had said something at the time. i think it was mostly an issue of circumstances, since everything sort of happened really quickly. so all is clear on that front. oh, and i found several pj's at old navy for $4.99, so i was very happy! :D

well, i'd better go get some rest. have a good monday everyone!
marisa :)

[lhall]

Shelley,
I took the bumpers out of Mariel's crib at 6M. They are mainly protection from hurting themselves on the crib.

Marisa,
I'm glad you said something to your parents and that they were very understanding.

SusanR
3 more days of work and 2 in the office. YEAH!!!

Krista,
Movies are a rare treat. Glad you went to a good one. We were sneaky. Last supperclub the girls stayed with Grammie & Gramps, and it was family day at church so they got home late. We did the shopping early then went to a movie before we picked them up!

Anne,
Hope the sleeping issue works out.

Thanks for thinking of my grandma. She's home now and doing well. We will have to move her soon, but not immediately.

Pool success!! Mariel got her face wet, and I put her head under water she did fine. Ginger has always been afraid of putting her head under the water. We took a lot of time, but finally go her to put her face in the water. Then I held her and we both went under together. She did pretty well, didn't freak out, but held on really tight. Then mommy bribed her! Yes, I'm not above that. I told her that if she put her head under the water twice with daddy that they could go home and share a huge hunk of watermelon (they love watermelon). Guess what? Now putting her head under is fun!! She actually did it herself several times and is much more sure of herself and doesn't mind getting her face wet. Now I can buy one of those swimvest/flotation thingies and she can start learning to swim.

Leigh

[claire797]

Shelley,

I took the bumper off Emma's crib as soon as a neighbor told us she'd come upstairs one evening to find her baby with his head stuck under the bumper. It's very easy for babies to get tangled up in the bumper.

When Emma has a restless night, we will find her sprawled out with her legs dangling through the crib rails. It looks funny, but to me it seems safer than getting caught under a bumper.

[beacooker]

Shelley, we took the bumpers off when Mason was about 2 months old. It just seemed like the bumpers were a suffocation risk. And we also sometimes find Mason sleeping with his butt right against the rails, with his legs sticking out!

Mason has been doing much better with his sleeping - all this weekend, he would wake up to eat at 4, but then go right back to sleep! So I had a restful weekend of sleep.

Marisa, glad to hear that your parents were understanding about the ice cream.

[lhall]

Anne & Marisa

Since the pop-ups for Private Messages don't work...You both have PM's about my upcoming Florida Trip.

Leigh

[SusanD]

Hi all!

Well it's good to hear (read?) that I'm not the only one with napping problems. Erin was never a good napper, I considered myself lucky to get more than 30 minutes out of her. Then, for a few months, she fell into this great pattern where she'd sleep for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours in the late morning and then again in the afternoon. But now she seems to have reverted back to her old ways. The past couple of weeks it has been almost impossible to get her to nap at home, and she's not doing any better at daycare. This weekend, the only way I could get her to sleep was either to put her in her crib and let her cry, or else take her in the car. Ahhh! The only reason for this that I can think of is that with DH being off work, we've taken her down to 2 days at daycare - so that might be messing up her routine a bit, but it's not like she's in a strange place or with strange people. At least she's sleeping like a log at night (7:30 till 6:30 without so much as a peep), but still this is very frustrating, especially when I need a nap myself!

Anyway....

Shelley, I still have the bumper around Erin's crib. It's soft enough that I don't think she would be able to use it to climb out. Plus it has ties on the top and bottom, so I wasn't too worried about her getting underneath it.

Leigh, sorry to hear about the daycare frustrations! That would make me mad. Suddenly they don't have room for one carseat? That just seems really weird, and they way they handled it was totally rude and insensitive. But that's great that your girls are having fun in the pool! :)

Marisa, that's good that you said something to your parents about the ice cream thing, and that they were cool about it!

Krista, yay for date night! We need one of those soon. As for brushing Jared's gums, it probably isn't totally necessary at this point. I asked my dentist about it and he said that when they're this young it's more to just get them accustomed to it. Unfortunately I need to get better about brushing Erin's teeth. I know this sounds very irresponsible of me, but I can't seem to remember to do it regularly! I keep her toothbrush in our bathroom, but maybe I need to keep it in her room instead where I'll see it and remember. The good thing is, she doesn't like juice (will only drink water and a little bit of milk) so at least there's a little less sugar on her teeth.

Well, I took Erin in to Stride Rite for a size check, and sure enough she's gone up to a whopping 3! It's so hard finding shoes for her, there's almost nothing in her size...and especially nothing cute! I'm supposed to get her a pair of aqua-socks for daycare (they run thru the sprinkler), and the smallest they come in is a 5. I went to 4 different stores over the weekend looking for them, with no luck.

OK, there is a car on fire in the parking lot across the street from us. The fire trucks just showed up and flames are shooting out of the hood! Big excitement for a Monday!

[claire797]

Yikes! A car on fire? No excitement out of my window today. Just cars going up and down the street and the sun burning a hole in our front lawn. It's so hot here in Texas. It makes it kind of hard for Emma and me to take walks. We have been doing a lot of swimming though and that's been fun.

Anne,

Congratulations on your restful weekend. Sounds like things are looking up. With Emma, things have been better too. We go through weeks where she does sleep well and naps sporadically to weeks where she naps for 3 hours.

SusanD,

Don't you hate having to listen to Erin cry at naptime? Emma's been pretty consistent with her naps, but there are days when she just won't go to sleep and I have to put her down crying. If she doesn't fall asleep within 10 minutes, naptime is shot and we try again in 2 hours or so......and pay the price. I've found that whenever naptime is delayed or skipped, Emma is a terribly cranky person. I absolutely love waking her up after a 3 hour power nap because she just seems so remarkably happy.

Marisa,

I'm glad your parents were cool about the ice cream situation. I guess they just got caught up in the moment and didn't think. I am dying to give Emma a spoonful of ice cream. Perhaps I'll try it today. I am cranking out a batch of low fat cookies and cream right now.

Leigh,

Sorry to be blunt, but your daycare situation is rotten. You must be miserable leaving the kids at a place where the staff is so smug. Have you talked to the director? Who is the customer here? I wish there were a better daycare in your area or that you could just get a nanny. Some of my girlfriends are using part-time nannys and they love it. The rates are pretty reasonable too.

Susan R.,

I'll send some teething vibes your way. Emma's been teething too. 4 came in at once (hence the crankiness a few weeks ago) and a mysterious 5th tooth popped up last week. I suspect there is a 6th one on its way. Yippee.

Well. I'd better go check on the ice cream. It's one of Jewel's condensed milk concoctions.

[lhall]

Ok, the teachers at the daycare are great, the kids both love it. That's the only reason we are still there.

Apparently the carseat rule changed quite a while ago, maybe even some time last year. Naturally, the first time I heard about it was friday! As for the Director, who do you think this lady learned to be tactless and disrespectful from? One teacher says a lot of the changes are corporate, but people skills and listening skills are lacking in the front office staff. I'm considering writing a letter to the owners/corporate but I need to cool off first.

Things are not going well with my grandmother right now so I have other things to deal with first. She's threatening to kill herself if we put her in a home. She's really just being dramatic, but my aunt called my dad almost in tears and my cousin is coming back into town today (she went home yesterday).

Leigh

[MrsReber]

First off, for all of you who are wondering, it looks like my work week has come to an end. DH says I cannot go in tomorrow. I am already 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Baby is head down, too. Good news in that I am now certain we will not still be waiting in July. Bad news in that I'm not ready for 2 babies at once!!!!! Oh well. I'm not the first one to go through this.

Leigh, I'm sorry your daycare is like that. I understand. They raised our rates $40/month beginning in September. That didn't sit well with me so I called them to ask how they could raise the rates $70/month since I signed up in August of 2001. That's alot of money from each parent! They said it was the "cost of operating". Then we get this wonderful memo about how our Goddard school recieved the "Goddard Cup" for all their accomplishments. How nice. Then it goes on to say how Miss Allison and Miss Jody went all the way to St. Thomas for a week so they could be presented with the cup. Hello?!? We couldn't do this at some local joint? I think I see where the money is going. We have the same problem as you- Casey loves the teachers there. The teachers really are great with her and they just adore her. It's the management that is lacking.

Casey now has 7 teeth! I think another is on the way on one side. She keeps chewing on her finger. Naptime was a challenge today. It was great this morning. She went down a little after 9:00, but I had to wake her up at 10:30 to go to the doctor. Then she refused to nap. I do the same as Anna. If, after 10 minutes of crying, we're not getting anywhere, I'll take her out of the crib and try again in another hour. I finally got her to sleep at 3:40 after trying since 1:30.

We still have the bumper on Casey's crib. We thought about taking it off, but she is crazy when she sleeps. I was afraid of her arms or legs getting caught in the crib. She does try to step up on it, but she can't climb out. Once she does climb out, she's going right in the toddler bed!

[lhall]

Originally posted by MrsReber
First off, for all of you who are wondering, it looks like my work week has come to an end. DH says I cannot go in tomorrow. I am already 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Baby is head down, too. Good news in that I am now certain we will not still be waiting in July. Bad news in that I'm not ready for 2 babies at once!!!!! Oh well. I'm not the first one to go through this.

WooHoo!! Glad to hear you don't have to make that long trek into work again! I'm sure everyone will be fine and you'll be ready as soon as you see that sweet wonderful little baby!!

Baby wishes are coming your way!!!!!!:D :D :D :D

Leigh

[beacooker]

Go Susan!! Or should I say, Go Susan's cervix! I am so glad to hear that you are done working. Try to get some good rest.

[shoyski]

:cool: Wow, you guys are great! Thanks for all of your quick responses.

Anne, excellent news on the sleeping front with Mason! I hope it keeps up. And to answer your question, you guys aren't so secret but I don't think anyone has any idea how much I frequent this board and how much I rely on all of you for good advice. My friend Sherrie logged on one time while she was over here for dinner and hasn't been online since. What, is she crazy?!! We are SO COOL! :D

SusanD, good luck finding shoes. I don't think Tru's going to get any for awhile since he's not even crawling at this point. Sorry the naps aren't going well for you either. At least you know you're not alone. ;)

Leigh, I don't have too much more to add regarding the people you have to deal with at daycare. It's just incredible that you shell out this money and have to deal with that kind of treatment. I'm just really glad the teachers are great. Glad too that the pool thing is a go this year for you. I'm looking forward to taking Tru soon. Thanks to SusanD's advice (I think it was her) on the diaper situation in the pool, I am stocked with Huggies Swimmies and am ready to go! :p

Marisa, I'm glad you spoke to your parents and am super glad of the outcome. It is almost always best to be up front with people and I'm glad it paid off for you. Your parents sound like good people.

Krista, Truman has two teeth and I've been using the little finger brush with toothpaste. He loves it! I went to the dentist this past week and told him what I was doing. He said I could just use a cloth at this point if I wanted. I told him I wanted Tru to get used to the brush feel so it would be a habit by the time he "needed" to brush his teeth. I'm not sure if it will make a difference but it can't hurt to try. I'm glad your date night went well. Dave and I have a big "date night" tomorrow night....Infant CPR class...take two! :D :rolleyes: My mom is coming up to watch Truman. Keep your fingers crossed for her.

I absolutely love waking her up after a 3 hour power nap because she just seems so remarkably happy.
Anna, are you trying to start a fight? :p :D Just kidding! A three hour nap sounds incredibly great! Truman has never in his life taken a nap longer than 90 minutes! I must say, though, that Tru is a pretty happy little guy, nap or no nap so even though it would be nice if he took power naps, I'm lucky he does well without them.

MrsReber, the countdown has started, eh? I know it's scary but think how great it will be not to be pregnant when it's so hot!

Well, I was hoping to have some great in-law story for you from this past weekend but all went smoothly. The only goofy thing was Dave's dad forgot how young Truman is and offered him a bite of a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich. Luckily Dave was right there and nipped it in the bud. Dave's dad tried to feed Truman chocolate when Tru was three months old so I told Dave his dad was not allowed to feed Truman until Tru was a year old.:rolleyes:

[mb]

well, there must be some sort of full-moon thing going on, because ever since anne and anna brought up the sleeping issues, amanda has been a BAD napper! for such a long time, she was taking 2 90 minute naps a day. over the past few days, we've been lucky to get her down for one 45 minute siesta. ugh. don't know what's up with that!

also, i got amanda's feet measured this weekend! i didn't want to buy her shoes yet, but i wanted to find her size after all the talk around here about foot sizes. well, i think she has big feet compared to all you guys: she's a 4.5! we didn't get any comments from the lady in the shoe department about having big feet... but they did say, "she's 12 months and not walking yet? what's wrong with her?" honest. :o

leigh, glad to hear the swimming is going well. i think i have a dare-devil child. she puts her face in the water by herself (and then splashes up and laughs!). it scares me a little, but i'm always there, and i'm just glad she doesn't have any fears of the water.

shelley, did your dentist say anything about the toothpaste? i was told not to use toothpaste until age 2. just curious.

susanR, you are in the homestretch now. you'll be fine with 2 babies. casey will be a great big sister too, i'm sure!

anna, when do you find time to do all this cooking and baking? can i come over for some homemade ice cream?!?!?! we have a ton of ice cream in our freezer, but it's all store-bought :o it's been hot here (more humid than anything), so we haven't been able to take walks either. luckily, amanda also enjoys swimming.

how come my messages are always so long? i'm really NOT such a chatty person...

oh, just one more question: what the heck am i supposed to do with my freezer full of breastmilk? i feel like some of it is 'expired' now. meanwhile, amanda won't drink it from a bottle, nor does she like eating oatmeal or other baby cereals. but i feel like it's such a waste to just throw it out. any suggestions?

marisa :)

[MrsReber]

Thanks for cheering on my cervix! I laughed when I read that! Too funny.

Casey is at daycare today :( . I miss her so much, but there are some things I need to get in order since we could be in the hospital any day now. I'll go pick her up after lunch- and after I get to take a nap!

My mom brought Casey to have her feet measured again 2 weeks ago. Well, Marisa, you're not alone. Casey's feet went up to a size 5! One foot is 4 1/5 and the other is a little bigger so the salesman told my mom to go with the size 5. I had wanted to get her sandals, too, but it would've cost too much for sneakers and sandals. We just keep her barefoot in the yard and the salesman said the sandals don't give such great support anyway. My mom was all set to buy both pairs! I couldn't let her spend all that money.

Marisa, I don't know what you'd do with the breastmilk. I read so many different things about it, how it's good for 4 months or 6 months or you can deep freeze it for longer. I never had a problem with it, but I don't think we went over 4 months with any of it. It seems like such a waste to throw it out, though.

Our daycare has an infant CPR class, but they want us to pay $15 per person. I have no idea what they cost or if the hospitals would offer one for free?

Yikes! Peanut butter and chocolate?!? Big no no! My MIL was like that with chocolate. She swore Casey just took it out of her hand. Uh, who is the adult there? I told her to please be careful because it could make her quite sick. My mom was the culprit with the peanut butter. But you all know how it is- "when you were little, it was okay to feed you table food at 4 months and you turned out okay. We didn't have car seats and you lived..." I still say that they should just respect the parents' wishes! I often tell my mom (sarcastically) that I'm so glad she's around to point out all my mistakes. But then, I'm sure her mother did the same thing to her!

[lhall]

Marisa,
Call the lactation consultants at the hospital about the breastmilk. I remember reading about places you could get breastmilk for you baby if you are unable to nurse. Like a blood bank, but for breastmilk. Hopefully you can find some place to donate it. I heard it could be kept in the freezer for 3 months.

As for the pool and Ginger. It's just alien to me to have this fear of the water. I could swim 1/2 the width of an olympic sized pool at 2 1/2! I was a fish.

Regarding toothpaste. I use the Gerber or Orajel baby tooth and gum cleanser. It has no flouride and does not need to be rinsed out. I just recently switched to a soft toothbrush because Mariel was biting my finger with the other one.
We didn't start flouride toothpaste with Ginger until after she was 2 AND we taught her to rinse and spit!

Marisa, the average age for a child to learn to walk it 13M. That's an average only, some walk sooner, others later. Nothing is wrong with your child!

Wow, what BIG feet. Mariel is just barely in a 4!

Oh, forgot to mention earlier. Mariel has finally learned to say "NO"!

She's also learned that "kitty cat"s and "cow"s both have 4 legs. So while 2 weeks ago everything with 4 legs was a "kitty cat" now the kitty cat si a "cow". This rule applies to everything except her "lalas", which are her stuffed lambs.

Leigh

[SusanD]

Marisa, wouldn't you love to just be able to punch someone in the nose when they said something stupid? Geez! And it's always the older ladies who feel the need to butt in with their comments. :rolleyes: That's great that Amanda is so comfortable in the water! About the breastmilk - maybe this is a dumb idea but what about putting it in a sippy cup? Or maybe mixing it in with yogurt? I just donated the rest of the jarred baby food to Erin's daycare center, and I still have three big ziplock bags of vegetable cubes in my freezer. I'm trying to figure out what to do with those...anyone have a recipe that calls for purreed carrots, sweet potatoes or peas???

I did find new sneakers and sandals for Erin over the weekend. She outgrew all of her shoes in one shot, so we had to start over. And fortunately I didn't have to spend $38 on those ugly institutional-looking things at Stride Rite, I found a pair of pink & white sneakers that were just as flexible and supportive for much less $$. I went cheap-o on the sandals, since she'll probably only wear them with her little sundresses to go to church and won't be doing much running around in them.

Shelley, I hope you make it to your infant CPR class this time...and maybe you'll have time to sneak in a quick dinner since Tru is in such good hands! :D That is such a great idea, I should try to find a class for us. I just have a "how-to" page that I tore out of a magazine and tacked inside Erin's closet door.

I was wondering about the toothpaste, too. I've just been using water to brush her teeth, but maybe I'll get some of that Gerber tooth cleaner.

Leigh, good luck with the pool - it sounds like you're making great progress, though! We've never tried Erin in a pool (mostly because there aren't many around us), but she loves her bath, she'll take the plastic cup that I use to rinse her hair and dump it over her head and laugh.

Anna, 3 hours? Ahhh...I'm jealous!!! Actually Erin slept for 2 hours yesterday morning, which is a miracle. I don't leave her too long in her crib - she usually only cries for a minute or two and then either falls asleep or starts talking to her stuffed puppy. If she doesn't fall asleep then I go in and get her and try later. You can definitely tell when she's "off" her nap schedule, though. Yikes!!

And...
Good Luck to MrsReber!!! We'll be thinking about you...keep us posted! :)

[beacooker]

Leigh and Marisa, I PM'ed back.

I have started reading the Super Baby Food book. It is kind of hilarious - the little 'tips' that the woman gives really make me laugh. Like, when I open a pot with boiling water, hold the lid over the pot, so that the water dripping off the lid will fall in the pot, not on the stove. What the heck does that have to do with baby food?

Marisa, I can't believe the woman in the shoe store said that. She must have gone to the same class for dealing with the public that the people at Leigh's daycare went to.

OK, I've been at work for over an hour now, and its time I actually started working...

[MrsReber]

We brush Casey's teeth with the orajel tooth and gum cleanser. A dentist came to visit them at daycare so we now have a little Reach toothbrush. After Casey's bath, she'll point to the toothbrush and want to brush her teeth. She's so good about it. She'll let either me or DH brush and then she wants to brush herself. DH will brush her teeth in the morning before daycare, too. She needs it! She has some bad breath some days! Maybe DH and I are just overly sensitive to that stuff.

Looks like my boss put in the call to HR for disability paperwork. I'm annoyed he didn't speak to me about it first, though. They told me I can't come back to work until the doctor gives me the okay. Guess I won't be working from home! It's just as well. Now I can relax and not worry about it.

My mom found really cute shoes at Stride Rite, but I think the smaller sizes only come in the "institutional" style. My mom said there were three styles to choose from so she got a cute pair of pink sneaker type shoes. DH even likes them!

[shoyski]

Marisa, I've been using the Gerber toothpaste. Sorry I don't have any more suggestions on the breastmilk situation but the other's ideas sound great! I agree with SusanD; you just want to ask people like that clerk, "What's wrong with YOU?!" I guess you have to feel sorry for people like that who unintentionally alienate without meaning to.

MrsReber, we are taking the CPR classes through the Red Cross. It cost us $38 per person for both the adult and infant classes so $15 sounds good. The Red Cross won't let you take the infant class until you are certified on adult CPR. I'd be interested in knowing who is handling the classes at your daycare. Checking with the hospital is a great idea!

Anne, I thought some of the tips in the book were a little far-fetched myself but I think she was trying to reach "all" audiences.
How is the situation at work going for you?

SusanD, there's a CL brownie cheesecake torte that calls for a jar of babyfood carrots. I"ve made it several times and we like it.
http://cookinglight.timeinc.net/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=222315 If this link doesn't work, you can find it in the recipe finder under Brownie Cheesecake Torte.

[SusanD]

Thanks for the recipe, Shelley! It looks delicious! :)

[claire797]

Hi Moms,

I finally have a chance to sit down and type. Woo. For those of you who commented on Emma's 3 hour naps, let me assure you all that those naps are a rare event. Emma's naps are generally 90 minutes - -which gives me just enough time to eat lunch, post to a few threads and make a call or two. Marisa asked how I found time to do baking and ice cream making, the answer is that I do it sporadically. I might make part of a recipe during naptime then come back and finish it when Emma's in a good mood and is willing to play by herself on the floor. And then sometimes, I cook with her running over me in her walker. It's painful, but it works.


I may check out that Super Baby Food book. Sounds like the tips alone make it an entertaining read. And it might be nice to have healthy babyfood around the house instead of homemade ice cream and cookies. My biggest issue with homemade baby food is storing it. I like the store bought jars because they are so nice and sterile.

SusanD,

We were just discussing kids's shoes today at playgroup. Sounds like you've got what you need. But I heard that Target carries a brand of shoes that is actually Stride Rite and cost much less. We're in the "almost needing shoes" phase so I am taking interest.

SusanR,

I didn't get a chance to cheer your cervix on so "Go Susan's Cervix!" from me too.

Shelley,

I'm going to check that Brownie Cheesecake Torte out ASAP. I have no problem using jarred babyfood in a dessert recipe. In fact, I use a little prune puree in some of my low fat quick bread recipes in place of oil....works great.

Yikes. I hear Emma waking up.....her crib is in the room above the study so I hear her thumping around above me. I wanted to say quickly though that Emma got to see Alton Brown last night IN PERSON. There was a book signing downtown at 7:00 PM and I packed her in her Baby Bjorn and headed downtown an hour before bedtime. Yes, she was cranky the whole time and fussed a little while Alton was talking, but I got some good photographs and a chance to see him in person. I did pay the price of screwing up normal bedtime ritual though. Emma cried for 15 minutes even though we didn't put her down until 8:30......her usual bedtime is 8:00. Oh well. She didn't hate me in the morning so we're A-Okay.

[lhall]

Well, Mariel had her checkup this morning.

She's 22lbs 1oz, 30 1/4 inches, and her head is 47 cm. Yes, she's back on the chart for her height!!! WooHoo!! I have been making a joke of her being so short (like Mommy), but she's grown a lot in the past three months. I've got to dig out those 24M summer clothes from Ginger. She got all her little check marks for development, and did well considering the wait. The Dr was a little late and we were early, then she (the Dr.) needed to work on transfering a sick little baby to Scottish Rite and getting a specialist in to see her. I didn't mind that. That's what I'd watn the Dr to do if my baby was sick.

And, since I haven't been able to access the board all afternoon I've completely forgotten what I was going to post earlier.

Leigh

[shoyski]

Wow, I don't know what's up with me but I am a crying machine! I just finished reading and responding to two posts on the Other Board and can't stop crying. On Tuesday I almost cried at a video we saw in our CPR class. I'm not due to starte for three more weeks!!:confused: I need to get ahold of myself.

I must say, though, that Tru is a pretty happy little guy, nap or no nap .....
Was that me who said that?! I've jinxed myself!!:eek: Tru had his first temper tantrum today. I was trying to adjust his helmet and he was having a fit. When I stopped he laid on the floor and kicked and cried for what seemd like forever (20 seconds?:rolleyes: )until I picked him up. Needless to say, we didn't go rollerblading. I decided to mow the lawn instead. Tru was unhappy with that choice as well but I made it through, only running out of gas once. :o I had him in the ultrasaucer and he ended up pouring out his water from the bottle on the tray part of the saucer. Apparently the little worms that play music don't like to get wet because they won't stop playing. Wait, I"ll go check and see if they still are........Yup, two hours and they're still going strong. Luckily I can't hear the dang thing since it's in the garage. Otherwise it might get chucked out of the second story window.:D Twinkle twinkle is not too bad if you hear it a couple of times.......:p Hurrah for the dad who came home at lunch. I had called Dave to advise him Tru had a temper, just like his dad. :p I think Dave was aware that I might need a couple minutes of down time after mowing the lawn. He even got Truman to take a 35 minute nap. Wahooey!

Leigh, glad to hear Mariel is on the chart!

Anna, cool on the Alton Brown meeting. That's pretty neat!

[beacooker]

You're not pregnant, are you, Shelley??! Yesterday, I read a kid's book to Mason that my mom had given me when I was pregnant, about a mom telling her child how much she loves him. Near the end of my pregnancy, I read that book several times, and it always had me bawling. I was laughing when I read it yesterday, because while the book is touching, its not so touching that it should have made me cry like that! A pregnant woman I know was telling me that she cried in BRU the other day. I laughed at that, too - I did that several times when I was pregnant!

Feeding Mason real food is turning out to be an interesting experience - put food in one end, and wait to see what comes out the other! :eek: Sweet potato was his new food this week, and I can't say that I'm enjoying diaper changes too much - sweet potato poop is pretty nasty. Next week, the plan is to try avocado. Can't wait to see how that comes out.

[claire797]

Poor Shelley.

Sounds like you are very hormonal today. This has been kind of a crazy month for us all.

Now you'd better run out to the store and buy a pregnancy test kit.

[MrsReber]

Ha ha! That was my first thought, too! Come on! Join me! It's so much fun to be way pregnant with a 1 year old running around! :D

Here's a funny little anecdote. Today I was on the floor (how did I get there?) playing with Casey. DH comes home from work and he gets on the floor, too, about 5 feet from me. Casey comes walking over to me, which she sometimes does just to give me a hug. This time, however, she jumps up and lands on my kneee, knocking it right out! Ouch!! I have knee problems to begin with, but the pregnancy hormones have loosened up all my joints. The pain was not fun. Luckily, my leg was straight so my knee cap slid back in. I put ice on it right away. I have no idea how it's going to feel tomorrow.

[beacooker]

Susan, what an interesting sense of humor you have! 'A funny little anecdote' is not how I would describe that story. OUCH! You poor thing. I hope that your knee will not hurt too badly tomorrow.

[shoyski]

:eek: If I'm pregnant, the folks at Trojan are going to get a very angry letter. (think, index fingers crossed, backing away from Anna, MrsReber and Anne!)

MrsReber, I do hope your knee is fine tomorrow. Not what you need on top of an already weary, achey body.

[mb]

shelley, i also thought you might be pregnant after reading your post! i don't know which threads you responded to on the other board, though, so maybe that really had something to do with it. i have to say though that i've found myself having weird symptoms as if i were pregnant (but i'm not). i think even though it's been several months since we actually had our babies, the hormones still go crazy from time to time. well, that's how i try to explain it. and i've even had some whopper "symptoms" like nausea and being really tired. hmmm.... (gee, i hope i didn't jinx myself there!)

leigh, glad to hear mariel is on the charts! that is great news!

susan, i agree with anne..."funny little anecdote" is not how i would have described that either!!!!!

anne, in terms of feeding and seeing what comes out the other end...just wait until you give mason kiwi :D

no big news here. amanda still isn't walking, but she is oh-so-close. we've been having a lot of rain lately, so we haven't gone swimming much either :( maybe the weekend will be nice.

oh boy is it late. i'd better go to sleep!
marisa :)

[shoyski]

Let's see, how to condense this story....:p

My plan was to use some finger paint and frame Tru's handprint as a Father's Day gift for Dave. I waited until today since Tru had a temper tantrum yesterday. Golly, who would've thought he could be grumpy two days in a row?! :rolleyes: I think he may be sprouting some new teeth. So anyway, there I am on the back deck (picture to come) with Truman screaming while I force his hand on the paper. We had to do it about 10 times or more to get a fairly decent print since he was a bit uncooperative. Man, I felt like the worst mother in the world but I knew I wasn't hurting him. He ended up with paint all over himself...and me.....so much so that we took a bath at 1:30pm! :eek: I'm still not satisfied with the end result. I think I'll present the gift and then ask Dave if he minds if I re-do the print. I also purchased a big frame and put the first go round paper in that. It's pretty cute. I think we'll hang it in his room or the kitchen. This is about as crafty as I get, though, so don't worry about me turning into Martha Stewart or something of that ilk.

We are heading up to Cleveland tomorrow to celebrate my aunt's 70th birthday. It'll be a mini family reunion with some cousins and their families, my brother and wife and two sets of aunts and uncles, plus Dave, Tru, my mom and dad and me. I'm looking forward to it as most of the gang hasn't seen Truman since Thanksgiving.

GO Amanda GO!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

[MrsReber]

Luckily, my knee didn't hurt at all yesterday. I thought I was in for it for sure! Okay, so maybe it wasn't that funny. I think my sanity is slowly slipping away. Each day I wake up thinking "okay, I want out of this body today! Please?!?!"

Love the story about the handprints. That's one thing I love about daycare. They made a cute little gift for Kyle for Father's Day- it's a little keychain with a poem about a child's footprints and Casey's footprint is on the other side. Whew-sure gets mom off the hook! I know, that's bad, but in the current situation, anything having to do with a 1 year old and paint could be disasterous!

Marisa, Amanda will be walking in no time! Don't worry! I thought it was actually a bit easier once Casey started walking because then they can just walk after you and you don't have to carry them around as much. The only bad part is when you're outside. At least inside, they can only get as far as the walls permit!

[KristaMB]

Good morning! I'm in Sacramento again. Rana's (my soon to be SIL) bridal shower is today. Jared and I flew up on Thursday. Besides him continually reaching over and grabbing the watch and seatbelt of the guy sitting next to us, it was a smooth flight. My dad will be doing a solo babysitting gig today while my mom and I are at the shower. Should be interesting since my dad hasn't changed a diaper in 26 years! :eek: He swears he won't be changing any diapers, either. He claims that grandpa's don't have to. (I sure hope he's teasing!)

Susan, glad to hear that your knee didn't get severely injured. That would have been just what you needed, eh?

Shelley, I can just picture the Truman paint fiasco. You are mighty brave to have even attempted that. Maybe I should try something like that while I'm here, then my mom can help me with the mess! :)

Another cheer for Amanda! Go, Amanda!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

~Krista

[lhall]

Go Amanda Go!!! Marisa, one day very soon she'll just start walking all over the place.

Susan R, what, you're still here. Where's that baby?!?! I could see you and Casey with Paint, that's really funny!! Mariel's gift fro Daddy was a paper tie with her picture in it. Well, we had no idea her tounge was that long!!! It's really funny.

Krista...The first time my Dad babysat for us (just one child) he put her diaper on backwards!!!
*hehe* hope your dad did ok!

Leigh,
a very tired mom.

[MrsReber]

Yep, still here! I told DH this morning that I don't want to go through this. Guess it's too late now. I want this baby out of me! I am so uncomfortable! But then, I am not looking forward to labor. It was a breeze last time so I don't expect it to be too difficult this time, either. However, it was not "fun" in any sense of the word. Oh well.

Casey has been much more gentle with Mommy. I sit on the floor and she brings me books to read. We read the same ones over and over, but I understand that's really good for babies. I'm so glad she's interesetd in the books, too. She could care less about the tv.

If I'm still hanging around here, I'm going to try to get a manicure and pedicure on Tuesday. I got a coupon in the mail- $28! There's a new place down the road. On Monday, I'm going for my doctor's appointment. My mom is coming along to drive me there and help with Casey. Then I'm bringing Casey over to daycare to have her fingerprinted. They're doing it right there and it's free. I figure it can't hurt. DH was a bit against it. I don't know why. Anyone else do this with their kids? I made CL's zucchini bread for Casey. Let's see if she eats it! I know I'll eat it if no one else does. It's pretty good.

Krista, glad your trip went well. I hope the guy next to you didn't mind Jared playing with his seatbelt and watch! Hope Grandpa does a good job babysitting, too, so you don't have to worry!


Well, it's late. I must try to get some more sleep!

[SusanD]

Hi! Hope everyone had a great father's day. (Shelley, you are so ambitious! I didn't even think to do something like that. I just bought a cute little card & signed Erin's name to it). We didn't do much, DH wanted to go to an art fair that was being held at one of the parks along the lake. However, it had rained Saturday night, so the place was a big muddy swamp. We left the stroller in the car because I didn't want to push it thru the mud - so we took turns carrying Erin (all 20 pounds of her). My arms were killing me! But DH said he had a very nice father's day, so it was worth it.

Erin is definitely turning into a toddler, Saturday we had a little lunch incident. She decided she didn't want to eat what I had prepared for her, so she proceeded to throw the temper tantrum of the century - screaming, kicking and trying to push the tray off her chair. We had all the windows open, so I'm sure the neighbors all heard and thought we were torturing her or something. I didn't know what to do about that, I want her to eat but I also don't want her thinking that if she doesn't like what's prepared for her that she can throw a fit and she'll get something else. DH solved that one, he took her out of her chair and explained to her that if she didn't want what was put in front of her that she'd just have to go without lunch. (She did get a big snack a couple of hours later) I'm a little nervous...is this just a sample of what's to come? :eek:

Susan, you go get that manicure & pedicure! You need to pamper yourself a little. Ouch about your knee - good thing it's OK now. Oh, and we did the DNA lifeprint with Erin. They use a Q-tip to take a sample of their cheek cells and put it in a little vial that you keep. It's a very scary thought to think that you might need it someday (maybe why Kyle wasn't crazy about the idea?) - but I suppose it's a good thing to have.

Krista, hope your flight back was as easy as your first one, and that your dad did OK babysitting!

Marisa, Amanda will be walking in no time - it just takes lots of practice. Another cheer - GO AMANDA! :)

Shelley, Tru isn't going to be a big brother...is he?

Back to work - see you all later!

[mb]

hope everyone had a nice father's day. i just realized that for many of your DH's, it's their very first father's day!

thanks everyone for all the cheering for amanda. but still no steps on her own yet... :o

susanD, sorry to hear about the temper-tantrum. sounds like you handled it as best as you could. i can't think of anything i'd have done differently. ahhh...toddlerhood. :p

susanR, yeah, i think it's a little late to change your mind! i'm sure all will be fine though. how was your manicure and pedicure? i could really use a pedicure. why didn't anyone get me that for mother's day?!?! amanda doesn't like TV either. sometimes i'd like her to watch sesame street or something, but then i realize she'll probably watch lots of Tv later on, so there's no need to rush her! she also loves books.

the other day, she gave DH a book, but didn't want to go on the couch and read it with him. so he pretended to read it on his own, and he was laughing at the pictures, pretending to have fun. i told him he was acting crazy...next thing i know, amanda grabs another book and starts going through it and pointing at pictures and laughing, just like DH was doing!!! DH thought it was the funniest thing!

leigh, sorry to hear you're so tired. but just think: vacation is coming! hope your DH liked his tie from mariel.

krista, how was the shower? i hope all went well with your dad watching jared. i dont' think my dad has ever changed amanda's diaper yet, but at least the tabs are resealable!!!

shelley, how did dave like truman's prints? sounds like you had quite a time getting it done. i wanted to print amanda's hands and feet again, but the idea of getting her to sit still that long is making my brain spin!!! maybe i'll try it while she's sitting in her high chair one day. how was cleveland?

well, our father's day weekend went well. we went for a walk on the beach yesterday morning, but amanda was really scared of the ocean!!! uh oh! she is often scared of things though, and then she gets used to it, so i'm sure she'll end up loving the beach too. i mean, you can't live in florida and be scared of the beach!!!! :D

our big fiasco was last night after we got home from my parents' house. amanda didn't get to bed until 9pm, 2 hours after her bedtime (but she wasn't fussy while we were there). but then at 1am, she woke up SCREAMING! we ran to her room, checked that she was ok, and comforted her a little and put her back down. about 45 minutes later, she woke up again, SHRIEKING! again, we had to settle her down. then around 2:45, SAME THING! i gave her a bit of tylenol, and i read her some bedtime stories, and she fell asleep on my lap. she slept until 7:30 this morning, but then resisted her morning naps. i don't know what's going on. she doesn't seem to have a fever, and she didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. i thought maybe she was having nightmares about the beach? hopefully, tonight will be better, because last night was torture!

well, i'd better go. hope you're all doing well.
marisa :)

[lhall]

Marisa,

That's too funny about the books. Mariel loves to imitate Ginger, but I don't think she's copied daddy yet.

I'm not tired anymore. I'd spent 8 hours lugging tons of free stuff around at a Conference all day. That's why I was tired. Hope Amanda is feeling better soon.

Leigh

[KristaMB]

Let's just say that my dad could use some diapering help. He changed two diapers- the first one got peed through, and second one got pooped through. I don't think he's lining them up on Jared's body correctly. Luckily my mom and I were there when the poopy diaper happened so my dad didn't have to deal with it. I think that would have put him over the edge. He did take Jared on a walk to the park and then to the driving range so my brother and dad could hit golf balls. My brother fessed up that Jared almost got hit with a wayward ball.:mad:

Marisa, the shower was fine. A little boring, but overall it was okay.

Shelley, I was feeling inspired by your finger painting story so I made my parents help me print Jared's feet for a little gift for Damon. It was quite a scene! I chickened out and decided not even to attempt the hands.

Susan R, hang in there! That little baby will be here in no time and I'm sure that everything will go smoothly. Enjoy your pampering tomorrow! I've never even had a pedicure. I'm scared to show anybody my ugly toes! :rolleyes:

Susan D, I am definitely not looking forward to temper tantrums. Jared has thrown mini ones when we don't let him touch things he shouldn't. Sounds like you handled it the right way.

Back to work. Somebody rescue me....

~Krista

[mb]

just wanted to post a link to some new amanda pictures. let me know if it doesn't work... (i usually view them in the "slideshow" format).

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/marisabower/lst2?.tok=bchyy2PBfSOwrd8Q&.dir=/NEW!+Amanda+at+11+%26+12+months&.src=ph

gotta go - she is getting into EVERYTHING!!!
marisa :)

[SusanD]

Very cute...Amanda is such a pretty girl!

[beacooker]

Whoa! I hit 'Slideshow' and then the Play button, and the pictures went flying by! So I missed a lot of the pictures (I'll try again later when I have more time), but I love the one of Amanda in the sink. And in the first picture, I can't believe how much Amanda looks like you, Marisa!

SusanR - where are you today??

[claire797]

Great slideshow!

I'm going to update Emma's too when I get a chance.

Marisa,

You and I do bear a *slight* resemblance to each other. Someone mentioned it back on the photo thread and I didn't agree. Now I kind of do. Hmmmmmmm. Maybe we have the same frame and hair length?

[lhall]

Marisa,

Such a cutie!

Not much happening heree, I'm too busy getting ready for vacation.

Leigh

[KristaMB]

I'm at work and they won't let me look at the pictures. :( We have this filtering thing called WebSense that blocks certain websites. I'll have to look at home.

[MrsReber]

Unfortunately, I'm still here. Soon, I hope!! I'm thinking it'll be at least next week now. Casey was almost 2 weeks early so maybe this one will be 2 weeks early! Today is the start of week 37 so it's okay, I suppose. I just want out of this body!

[SusanD]

Krista, we have Websense here too (it won't let me in to marthastewart.com :mad: ) but I didn't have a problem seeing Marisa's pictures. How strange!

[shoyski]

MrsReber, hope you're doing well and that your pedicure/manicure was great!

Krista, I guess it's good your dad "tried." Glad to hear the pictures of the feet turned out well. Dave loved his gift and had a good time hearing my "story."

SusanD, you are a trooper, slogging through the mud. Sorry to hear about the tantrum but I agree, it does sound like you guys handled it well.

Leigh, I'm so jealous you get to see everyone in Florida! I"ll be looking forward to hearing about your trip. When are you leaving?

Anna, you and Marisa do look amazingly alike! That's pretty wild.

Marisa, the website is great! Anne is right, Amanda does look like you, lucky girl. But if she looked like her dad that would be good as well. ;) You are a nice looking family. Sorry to hear about Amanda's sleeping problems. Truman is waking up about three times a night as well. He isn't shrieking but definitely upset enough for us to go in and check on him. I don't know why he's doing this now....no new teeth appear visible.

On Saturday night in Cleveland he woke up about every 10-15 minutes from 10:30pm until 2:30am. :( Long night! And then he woke up at 6:30am. I brought him in bed so he didn't wake anyone else up. He and Dave slept but I was wide awake, petrified I'd roll over on him.
I think he's waking up at home because we're trying to make him sleep on his stomach and he still isn't too keen on that. Also, the bumpers are gone and the occasional appendage will slip out and get stuck, causing a bit of grief on his part. :rolleyes:

We've had some big "firsts" around here. Last weekend Truman started saying da-da, although I seriously doubt he knows what he's saying yet. It was nice since it was Father's Day weekend. :) Also, yesterday evening he rolled from his back to stomach, sat up to a sitting position from his stomach, and the biggie, started crawling. Backwards, of course, but up and moving a bit!!:cool: Dave was so excited that he called both sets of parents. Truman is officially no longer a spot baby .

[lhall]

Originally posted by shoyski
Leigh, I'm so jealous you get to see everyone in Florida! I"ll be looking forward to hearing about your trip. When are you leaving?

We're leaving saturday. Marisa is not going to be able to come up. It's a 3 hour drive and she doesn't want to do it alone (her DH can't come). *pout* I'll have to talk to DH about heading down her way. I wouldn't want to make that drive alone either. Don't feel bad about that Marisa, we totally understand.

I'm not sure about Anne and her DH yet. Can you come Sunday? We will be at Disney at least once. Ginger started asking about going to see Mickey again so we told her we could go one day.

GO TRU, and those 'firsts'!!! What a big boy, that's great the did those things for Father's Day. I'm sure Daddy was proud.

Daycare is finally moving Mariel to the next room, one month later than we were originally told. Naturally they told us yesterday that they would do transition and move her on July 1. We're gone all next week so she gets 2 days of transistion (at most) then vacation, and comign back to a new classroom. That's going to be fun. Maybe in the new class she's stop taking her shoes off when she gets bored! State law requires children (walking & older) wear shoes all the time. She does not take her shoes of at home so it's hard for us to discipline her.

Leigh

[mb]

leigh, well in an interesting turn of events, it looks like there is a possibility of me heading up to Atlanta in a few weeks! DH's work wants to send him there, either to do work in one of the offices or for a class (i'm not sure which). so i might get to meet you after all!!!

shelley, wow, you had quite an exciting weekend!!!! maybe that is why tru is having some sleep issues. i've read a lot of things that say babies usually have some sleep problems when they start hitting all kinds of milestones. luckily, amanda is back to her normal self in terms of sleeping!!!

susanR, hang in there. your new baby will be here before you know it! but knowing how uncomfortable you are, i'll put in extra good thoughts to have the baby BEFORE your due date, rather than a few days after!!!

well, the update here is that i found a way to use that breastmilk up. amanda doesn't really like oatmeal, but i found a way to get her to eat it: MIX IT WITH BANANAS!!! so she's enjoying the oatmeal finally, and i don't have to waste all the milk in the freezer! bananas are the only fruit that seems to work, but i won't complain. luckily, they don't give her tummy a problem.

also, things are going well with not-nursing her to sleep. now we're down to nursing before 1 nap and before bed. but at bedtime, she doesn't fall asleep while nursing, which is good. i guess this is really the first step to weaning, which kind of makes me sad, i guess. i know i don't need to stop now, but i don't want her to be 3 years old and nursing either.

hope you're all doing well.

marisa :)

ps krista, i thought of you yesterday... well, more specifically, your dad and jared's poopy diaper. i left amanda with my aunt yesterday while i went out for an hour to tutor. while i was gone, my poor aunt had to tend to what sounded like the yuckiest diaper ever. i felt so bad, but hey, what can you do?!?!? luckily, my aunt had 2 kids of her own, so she knew what to do! but apparently, amanda laughed up a storm when she saw the look of horror on my aunt's face!!!!

[lhall]

Marisa,

That's great! Let me know when and where you'll be.

Leigh

[shoyski]

Marisa, I can relate to that diaper your aunt had to change!:eek: Last night I went to change Tru before his bath and he had his biggest blowout yet. I'm assuming the increase in fruit might have something to do with it since he's had his first case of diaper rash. Pretty mild, though. I ended up putting him in the kitchen sink. He seemed a bit skeptical of that bath but it was handy! :D

Leigh, I never thought about kids having to wear shoes in daycare. Interesting that she's been bored. Hopefully the new class will be a bit more stimulating.

[mb]

leigh, it could be around july 17-21 or so (not sure of exact dates). i'm going to be checking airfares though for me. DH will be all expense paid. hopefully my part won't be too costly, or else i might have to stay home... :(

shelley, quick question for the rollerblading master ;) : i'm thinking about getting a jog stroller so i can go out rollerblading with amanda. but i'm worried that it's not safe (i read somewhere once that you should never push a stroller while on rollerblades.) what's your take on this? i mean, obviously you think it's safe, and to be extra safe you got the helmet for tru... but i just wanted your input. i used to be a good rollerblader, but i haven't been out since very early in my pregnancy, which was now almost 2 years ago! :eek: it's getting too hot and humid here to go walking, but i figured we'd get more of a breeze on skates.

marisa :)

[shoyski]

Marisa, I guess it depends on how well you feel you can maneuver, etc. I've been rollerblading about five years, quit when I was 6 weeks pregnant, and started up again when Tru was four weeks old. I practiced using the jogstroller for over 2 weeks before I plopped him in it and went fairly slow (for me ;) ) the first couple of times out.

If you haven't been out for awhile, I'd start going regularly by yourself until you feel pretty confident in your turning, stopping and overall balance. Then I'd add the stroller for a bit and then Amanda. I don't think you have to go fast to get a good workout...you can just go farther. I think the helmet for the child is a must, of course...good luck with that! :rolleyes:

We love the jogstroller for walks as well. It glides so much nicer that we haven't used the Graco stroller since I broke out the js.

Hi Anne! I hardly ever check to see who's on the board but saw your name. Hope work is going well!:cool:

[beacooker]

Well, Shelley, work is not going well at all. I was supposed to go back full-time this week, but now it looks like I will be continuing to work as a part-time contractor. And they laid off one of my good friends at work, but they forgot to tell her at the right time, and she found out about it in a nasty way. :mad: :rolleyes:

Shelley, it sounds like Tru has had a busy couple of days! He has had some big accomplishments! He really gave Dave a nice Father's day present.

Mason and I are in the midst of the Great Diaper Wars - he feels like now that he can roll from his back to his tummy that he should be able to do it whenever he wants to, which is usually while I am changing his diaper. I've got some toys hanging up over where I change him, but they aren't cool enough to keep him interested. So I guess I need to find some super-cool toys to hang there. It used to be kind of fun to change his diaper, because we would play while I was doing it, but now I spend the whole time fighting to keep him from rolling over. :eek: He has also learned to get on his knees and rock back and forth, which he is obsessed with doing now. Sometimes he manages to go forward some, but usually he ends up rocking himself backwards.

SusanD - I mentioned it here before, but the book Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter is a really good book about feeding children. I really like her philosophy, and you may also, based on your reaction to Erin not wanting to eat the other day. The approach of this book is that it is the parent's job to make the food available, and the kid's job to decide whether or how much to eat.

SusanR - sending quick and PAINLESS thoughts your way.

[shoyski]

Anne, sorry that work sucks. Do you think you might go looking for another job, then, based on the company's tactics? It doesn't sound very cool. Wow, Mason is a go-getter compared to Truman. I was telling all of you about Truman's new tricks and he hasn't done a one of them since I blabbed. I guess he must be REALLY laid back. I read today that some babies who are laid back are pretty slow to reach milestones...that's my Tru.:)

I tried some new taste sensations on Truman today and unfortunately have to report that Tru doesn't enjoy avacado. He also didn't like cantelope today, although he ate it a couple of days ago. We settled on mango so cross your fingers he likes it tomorrow. I really feel like we're progressing much slower in the food category than any other baby. I don't view it as a contest. It's just that I wish I felt more comfortable with trying new things and not worrying about him choking. I know I'll get over it, though. In a year or two I'll forget all about my feeding angst. :rolleyes:

MrsReber, I almost forgot...did you get the manicure/pedicure? I hope Casey's sibling comes out to play soon!:)

[lhall]

Shelley,

It will take less time than that to forget about the feeding angst. If Tru is anything like Mariel! It was like pulling teeth to get her to eat enough to gain any weight at all. The right person had to feed her at the right time or she wouldn't eat. Now, she's Mikey!! (from the life cereal commercials). She'll eat almost anything and eats well at just about every meal. The exception is if she has too much snack at 5pm she doesn't eat dinner well. Earlier in the week they served vegetable soup for lunch. None of the other babies would touch it, that is until Mariel started eating hers. I was told the other babies just watched her, and when it didn't seem to hurt her, they all decided it was ok to eat too!

Leigh

[beacooker]

Shelley - Mason does the exact same thing as Tru - he'll often do a new trick, then not do it for a while. We start to wonder if we imagined him doing it. Then suddenly he'll start to do it again. And about the food - do you continue to try to feed Tru the foods he doesn't like? So far, Mason has liked just about everything we have given him, except he wasn't too thrilled when we first started sweet potato. The next day, he was a little better with it, and now he eats it just fine.

I envy how laid-back Tru is! There are several things you have mentioned doing with him (like taking him to hair appts, dentist appts, leaving him in his Exersaucer while you mow the lawn) that have made me very jealous, because I can never do those things with Mason - he requires way too much attention for that!

[shoyski]

Did you guys ask me if I'm pregnant?!

Well,....I'm not. :D I went to the doctor today because of some lingering/increasing dizziness and one of the things he tested me for was being pregnant. I've actually lost a bit of weight as well so he was leaning in that direction. Sorry to disappoint you, MrsReber. ;)

I want to vent a wee bit here: A couple of weeks ago you'll remember I went in to get my wrist checked out and had to wait an hour and a half past my appointment time(while entertaining my baby). Today I had an 8:15am appointment thinking I could get in right away. I was taken back to the room right away but waited 35 minutes for the doctor! I had a small list with a couple of problems I wanted to address and gave it to the nurse thinking the doctor could read it before he came in to see me. It would answer a lot of his questions like am I dizzy because of lack of sleep, hunger, etc. Well, darn if he didn't ask me all the questions I had answered on that paper. AND THEN, when we finished discussing the dizziness and I was to go pee in the cup, I said I wanted to talk about one other thing and asked if he had read my list. His response was, "Yes, but I wanted to cover the most important thing in the time we have." Wait a minute, did I not just wait 35 minutes past MY scheduled appointment?! :mad: :mad: I am finding another doctor. I was so stunned that I couldn't even express what I was feeling. Okay, I'm done. Thanks for listening.

Leigh, Tru usually eats very well but he just didn't like the new stuff I tried. Great story on the soup! Doesn't that make you feel good to hear a story about Mariel like that!:)

Anne, I do try to keep at it with the food Tru doesn't like. Up until yesterday it was just spinach and zucchini he didn't care for. I've tried spinach four times now but I"ve read sometimes it takes 10 times before a baby might start to like something. Personally, I don't like the cooked spinach either and will probably wait until he can manage raw spinach. Marisa told me Amanda likes the raw spinach so I think I'll quit torturing my poor kid.

[MrsReber]

Ah, the food wars. Casey hated cantaloupe for a very long time. Now she absolutely loves it. She was the same way with watermelon. This morning, she had some dry cheerios while I cleaned up the kitchen from last night's dinner (too tired last night!). Then she ate some watermelon, then I made her a scrambled egg with cheese and she ate all of that. Then I sat down to have myself a bowl of multi-grain cheerios and she insisted on having that, too! She ate half my breakfast! No wonder I'm still hungry! She then took a nap at 9:00 after getting up at 5:30- and, of course, waking mommy and daddy up at 5:30. Not that I can sleep much anyway.

Yes, I got my manicure and pedicure. I want a real foot massage! They don't do enough massage there! They were afraid to turn the massage feature on on the chair when I was getting my pedicure. They thought I might go into labor. I had heard before that massage can bring on labor. I was like "hey, go for it! Turn it all the way up! I'm ready!" My toes look nice now, which is great. I've given up wearing shoes that tie so I slip my sandals on whenever I go out.

Today, me and Casey are meeting an old friend from high school and her 2 daughters for lunch. I haven't seen this girl in 15 years. She saw my name on an alumni website and emailed me. She's been working 5 minutes from my house for the last 10 years. How weird. But it'll be nice to get out for a bit and do some catching up! DH keeps saying "what are you going to talk about after 15 years?" I said "I'm sure we'll think of SOMETHING that's happened in the past 15 years!" Besides, we ARE women ;)!

[lhall]

We made it. Took 9.5 hours. We didn't even get our of metro atlanta and Ginger had to go potty! Then again 20 minutes later. Otherwise the girls did great. Had some traffic slowdowns on 95, and TONS of rain.

Leigh

[beacooker]

Leigh, I can't believe you have computer access on your vacation. Good deal! It was nice to get to talk to you on the phone. I am looking forward to Tuesday (or whatever day you make it here)!

[MrsReber]

Well, it had to happen sooner or later- here's my latest MIL rant!! MIL calls three times on Tuesday. Left a message, then called DH at work to say she'd be free Wed to come over and help me clean, see Casey since she misses her "so much". She calls again Tuesday night and leaves another message that she wants me to call since she had 2 children close together and knows I need help with things. I call her back Wed morning. We talk. She says she's so busy helping my SIL that she has no time. She has her grandson everyday, she cooks dinner for SIL, cleans and waters all her flowers in her yard (they have tons) since SIL is so busy and can't do these things. Okaaaaay. No time for me- why did she offer? I have no idea. Then she asks me for a recipe for this graduation party tomorrow. I tell her fine, I'll write it down. She says she'll stop by on Thurs to pick it up. Never calls, it's now Saturday. DH stopped by SIL's house Friday night to pick up some cd's he left there. He's going to leave and MIL shows up. She gives him some sob story about how she's so busy she can't come to see us (she works 10 minutes down the road from us and she's at SIL's house every day which is 20 minutes from her job :rolleyes: ). He asked why she never came to get the recipe since I took the time to write it down for her. She says she's "too busy" once again. Then she tells him that while he's there, she needs him to look at her car for her since she doesn't have time to take it to the shop. Meanwhile, I am 9 months pregnant taking care of a 1 year old all day. Think I might need some help with something or other? Of course not. Grr. She had the nerve to tell me on the phone to just drop Casey off at the party tomorrow so I'd get a break. Uh, yeah, I think not- mucho alcohol, a pool, 90 degrees and she'll just get passed around. I refuse to let her go. DH is probably going to stop by. He can go by himself. If she wants to be a grandmother, she can make time for her granddaughter!!!! My other SIL stopped by today (I like this one). She told me to give up on MIL now and don't waste time worrying about it. This is her own mother! She said she has been let down so many times. Also she won't let her daughter ride in MIL's car because the woman is crazy. Her phone message on Tuesday was interesting- she was on her cell while driving to work. She said "I'm late so of course I'm speeding". Oh, that's safe! Yikes! Okay, that's enough for now.

Lunch on Friday was fun. Casey had a great time. We went to Applebees (yes again). Casey saw my friend's girls eating so she ate everything in site. She even ate a couple of bites of my salad! She never touches salad, but the girls were eating it. We got balloons from the waitress. We went through four balloons! My friend's one daughter popped 2 of them and was too scared to get another one! Her other daughter finally popped her's. Casey was flinging her's around and it came loose from the ribbon. It deflated, flying across our table and then the room! It was really funny, but almost embarrassing! We came home and Casey was exhausted so we took a nap (ahhhhh) for about an hour.

I'm jealous you guys are getting together! Some day!!! I will meet some of these other moms! I just know it!

Bummer, Shelly- I was hoping someone would join me ;)! Too bad about your doctor. I hate that, too. It's not fair that we have to wait for so long when we schedule an appointment.

[KristaMB]

Oh, I'm so jealous that you get to meet!

Not much is going on here in terms of baby development. Oh, Damon claims that Jared can stand by himself, but I haven't seen it yet. Until I see it with my own two eyes, it isn't official!

My dad is here visiting and he and Damon are golfing this afternoon. I'm going to try and impress my dad and make a lemon pasta recipe from the BB and a blueberry crisp for dessert. Maybe before he leaves on Monday I'll give another diaper changing lesson! :D

Shelley, your doctor sounds awful! That is so rude. No doubt that I'd be doctor shopping, too.

Jared used to hate spinach, but he did eat it when I tried it a few days ago. Good thing since i have a ton of it in my fridge.

Marisa, I'm glad you found a way to use up the frozen breastmilk.

I have a question about shoes. How in the world do you manage to get them on your baby's feet? My neighbor girl works at Kids Footlocker and gave me a pair of tennies for jared. They're his size, but I can't get his feet in them. I haven't had a problem with his Stride Rite shoes. Any ideas? I guess I can always have Megan (neighbor) come give me a lesson.

ANother question: How do you handle your baby throwing everything off the highchair, out of the shopping cart, etc? I'm going crazy!

Anne, I think I might try to find that book you mentioned. IT sounds interesting. Sorry to hear about your work situation.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend.

~Krista

[MrsReber]

Krisa, Casey throws all her food on the floor once she is done eating. We're having problem with this so we're trying a new tactic. At the table, once she throws a piece of food, the food goes away. I felt bad about it at first, but the truth is that when she throws it, she's usually done. She's been feeding the dog because she thinks it's great. I was just reading in Parents that we should ignore the bad behavior and focus on the good. Sounds easy enough. Making it work is another story. DH and I are giving it a try, though. No yelling, no saying "no", we just remove the food and put her on the floor. This has worked with our end tables. She is forever opening them and taking stuff out. One day I was in the bathroom (for the 20th time) and she walked into the livingroom and opened the table. She didn't touch anything at all because I was not there to yell at her! I don't know if it'll help in your situation, but this is what we're going to try. And I wondered why the people I talked to laughed at me when I said it was hard having a newborn! Seems like everyday we have to deal with new challenges!

[mb]

amanda also throws food down when she is done. but sometimes if she is feeling nice, she'll try feeding it to me instead. and if she is being especially kind, she'll even put a non-chewed up piece of food in my mouth! :D we have tried saying NO, but it never really seems to work at all.

anne, amanda also used to do that flipping thing while changing her diaper. it was very frustrating for a while there, but it seems to have subsided. there were times where i really thought i was going to lose it though. imean, you're just trying to put a clean diaper on, and if she'd stop squirming you'd have finished 10 minutes ago!!!!

well, dad needs some backup with a diaper change right now, so i'd better go!

marisa :)

[lhall]

Originally posted by beacooker
Leigh, I can't believe you have computer access on your vacation.

Ok, this is totally decadent camping. We went to Cloudland Canyon with Dad once. Thats a GA state park near Lookout Mountain. Well, it was awful. There were so many trees the satellite dish wouldn't work so we could only watch videos.

We have air, satellite, cable, vcr, dvd, unlimited internet. We even have a printer!

Mariel is really bad about throwing food. She also tends to do it when she's finished eating. We have a 'splat mat' under ther chair at the table, only because I have a rug under the kitchen table. We generally take her food away or just put her on the floor when this happens. We have to try to pick up any high protien foods because they are bad for the cat. Sometimes, though, we just leave her. It depends on how many times I've gotten up while eating. I would love to eat a whole meal without getting up once!

Mariel at first was scare of the ocean too, but she warmed up to it. It was rainy this AM so we didnt' take stuff to play in the water. Well it cleared up, we came back, had lunch, and went back to the beach. It didn't rain until almost 3pm. I think we'll do the beach in the AM tomorrow too....then go in search of discout Dinsey Tickets.

Leigh

[SusanD]

Hi! Hope everyone had a good weekend! We took Erin to the zoo on Friday - she laughed so hard at the monkeys and was in absolute awe watching the polar bear swimming around. I had more fun watching her than watching the animals! It was pretty hot, though, so she was starting to get crabby towards the end. She was getting restless in her stroller and wanted to walk around, but there were so many people I didn't feel comfortable letting her walk unless she was holding my hand (which killed my back from bending over). So we had another temper tantrum. :rolleyes: Oh well, at least we were outside! Yesterday we decided to go out for breakfast to this little outdoor cafe that we used to go to when we lived downtown. Bad idea!! We forgot how slow the service is (I guess when you don't have kids, you don't notice those things) and it took over an hour from the time we ordered till our food came. Erin was good for as long as we could expect, then DH and I had to take turns walking around with her. Not exactly a relaxing Sunday morning! Fortunately when the food did finally come, she was totally occupied with her scrambled eggs and toast which allowed DH & me a few minutes to enjoy our food too.

I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one with a picky eater! The strange thing is that she's only picky at home. At daycare, she'll pretty much eat whatever's put in front of her. The only think I can think is that either she's so hungry from playing, or else she's watching the other kids eat too. She used to be a food-thrower too. When she was done eating she'd fling her plate, sending everything that was left on it airborne. We would try to catch her in the act, take the plate away and say "no". That seemed to work - now she just whines and waves her arms when she's done. Not great either, but at least there's less cleanup involved.

Anne, thanks so much for the heads-up on the book! I think I'll run to Barnes & Noble on my lunch hour. Sorry to hear about your work situation! Hope you & Leigh enjoy your visit together...I'm jealous, I'd love to meet you all too! You'll have to take pictures and post them for us to see.

Krista, Erin wears sneakers and I've never had too much problem getting them on her (she has very tiny, narrow feet). I've found that it helps to loosen the laces a LOT. The struggle that I have is getting her to sit still long enough for me to tie them - I usually have to put her in her high chair with a snack to distract her.

Shelley, I'd be furious with your dr! How did Tru do with the mango? Erin liked it once, but then didn't the second time I gave it to her. She does like guacamole, though, unlike her dad. Shoot...now I'm going to have to share it! :p Oh, question for you (or anyone) - what's the right way to peel and cut a mango? I can't seem to do it without totally mushing it up in the process!

Leigh, I'm jealous - can I come camping too?

Susan, ARE YOU STILL WITH US??? ;)

Whoops - time for the Monday morning department meeting. Gotta run, have a great day everyone!

[mb]

leigh, sounds like you are having a good time. the florida weather can be tricky this time of year, but you can be sure it will rain for some part of the afternoon (even if it's only 15 minutes). actually, this year it's very rainy (vs last year's drought). we've had 3 times the normal rainfall this month!

susan, about cutting up the mango. don't bother peeling it. there is a long flat pit inside, and the object is to cut down the sides... so stand the mango up (with the little stem up towards you) and slice a little to the left or right of the middle. you should be able to cut all the way through without hitting the pit. then do it on the other side too. with those mango halves,cut into the flesh (but not through it) in a criss-cross pattern. then push from the outside to turn the fruit inside-out and cut the cubes off the skin. from the middle part, cut as much fruit as you can off of the pit. did any of that make sense?!?!?!

shelley, how did tru like the mango?

krista, i'm no help with the shoes. i'd just second susan's suggestion of loosening the laces.

oh, the big news here is that Amanda took 3 steps yesterday! i know it was because of all your virtual cheers ;) but i was glad she did it on the weekend when DH was home. in fact, she walked over to him! i even got a little bit of it on video (she did it a few more times). so far no walking by herself yet today, but that's ok with me. i know once she starts running around i will really have my hands full.

this weekend was also frustrating because she didn't want to take her morning nap. i'm working on cutting out nursing before naps, so it's been tough for her, but the good news is that she went down for her morning nap today without nursing and is sleeping already 1.5 hours! maybe i should just go check on her!!! :eek: i think she also has a tough time taking naps on the weekends because she is excited when her daddy is home!

well, i'd better go eat lunch before she wakes up!
marisa :)

[MrsReber]

Still here. I have a sick baby so I haven't been able to put her down at all. Ahhh! She does sleep lots which is a plus!

I think they teach Casey at daycare to take her shoes off. She now gets her socks and places them on top of her feet and then tries to put her shoes on top of her feet. I haven't had any problem getting her to sit still long enough to put them on! She also knows that when the shoes go on, we are going somewhere and she'll start to wave good bye.

Casey is very picky at home! With her not feeling well, I'm going crazy trying to find something that she'll eat. Breakfast today was a little bit of applesauce. She didn't eat much at all the rest of the day until DH suggested chicken soup for her dinner. That worked. It took a while, but she ate a good portion so I felt better putting her to bed at 8:00. She's got a fever and gets really uncomfortable at night. I was going to take her to the doctor today since he's down the road from my doctor. Instead, I called daycare to see what was going around. It seems to be just a cold/virus. One other mom brought her daughter to the doctor (same symptoms) and the doctor said it'd just have to run it's course. We give her motrin so she can sleep at night. We're just hanging out in the a/c! Too hot outside!

Oh, the doctor says I'm now 2-3 cm dilated! Shouldn't be too much longer!!! Oh please!! I know I'll have my hands full, but at least I'll be able to move again! I want my body back to myself!!!

[shoyski]

Marisa and Susan, Truman liked the mango. I'll be trying it again this week. I'm sure they aren't nearly as good here in Ohio but good enough, I guess. Marisa, thanks for directions on cutting the mango and Susan, thanks for posing the question. I'd forgotten the trick but will be glad to use it.

And CONGRATS TO AMANDA! Marisa, I'm with you, though. It's nice to see the kids do the new trick but I'm not anxious to be hopping around, trying to keep up with Tru.

Krista, your dinner sounds good. I hope you get to see Jared stand soon.

Leigh, your vacation sounds like a dream. I hope you have good weather.

Okay, more updated shots of Truman if you're interested:

http://home.woh.rr.com/hoyski/truman

[beacooker]

Love the pictures, Shelley. Especially the naked baby picture!


Yeah, Amanda!!! What a big girl she is! Marisa, glad to hear that you have been able to cut the nursing before naps.

Well, my news is that as of yesterday, I am working full-time again. After telling me last Monday that they didn't want me to come back as a full-time employee, they called me on Friday afternoon and said they did want me back. I love how much notice I got. I did get them to put it in my offer letter/contract that I can work for home half of the time, and I also asked for and got more money. I also told them that given the short notice, I wouldn't have my home computer ready until the end of this week, and I can't work from the office all day, so I am only working about 6 hrs a day this week. So, this week I am getting my computer ready, and I need to find a couple babysitters to come help me out in the afternoons. I already have 1 lined up, but she lives a ways from me and can't drive yet, so I have to shuttle her back and forth, but I trust her very much. I also want to find someone in my neighborhood, and as I learn to trust her more, I will stop using the other one.

On the sleeping front, Mason has been doing much better. At nap time, he used to always cry for up to five minutes before going to sleep, but for the last few days he has often fallen asleep without crying at all. And the big thing, last night I had Clint put Mason to bed (no nursing him to sleep), and Mason just cried for a few minutes, then fell asleep. We are going to try that for a few more nights, and if it continues to work, I'll try putting him to bed. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Leigh and I are supposed to meet for dinner tonight. I'll bring my camera to take pictures to show you guys.

[SusanD]

Yay, Amanda!
Congratulations, Marisa, and thanks for the mango-cutting tips. :)

Shelley, great pictures...Tru is adorable!

Anne, that's nice that you're getting your work situation straightened out - even if it's taking your company awhile. Good luck!

Susan...good luck to you! We've all got our fingers crossed!

[MrsReber]

Have fun at dinner, you two! That is so great that you're getting to meet!!

Marisa- forgot to congratulate you and Amanda on her walking. I have such a hard time remembering what I want to type when I get on here! Now you can go back to the shoe store and yell at the stupid, insensitive sales girl! When I was at the doctor's yesterday, one of the women who works there asked me when Casey started walking. I told her it was about a week or two before her first birthday. She seemed a bit worried because her son was very near his first birthday and he wasn't walking yet. I told her that was fine and not to worry- and to count her blessings! I think she recently found out that she is pregnant again, too.

Well, I have to sign off. Casey is feeling better today so she's been playing nicely by herself. No daycare today since we want to make sure she's all better before sending her back. She was up last night, burning up and sounding rather hoarse. She ate this morning and isn't clingy anymore. What a relief! She wanted to be held constantly and it was killing my back. She's almost ready for a morning nap. So am I!!! Of course, I have whatever it is she has- sore throat, runny nose. I hope I recover quickly!

[beacooker]

Originally posted by SusanD
Anne, that's nice that you're getting your work situation straightened out - even if it's taking your company awhile.


Oh, did I give the impression that my work situation is getting straightened out? I'm sorry. Actually, I just discovered that while they are offering health insurance coverage to every other employee of this new company, they are not offering it to me. Uh, WHY??? I know the REAL reason is that they don't want to pay the extra money for another person, but I think they need to come up with a better excuse than that. I sent an email to the CEO about an hour ago. I'm sure he's still trying to come up with a good excuse. More than you guys wanted to know, I'm sure, but I just needed to rant. Oh, wow, I just got an email from him, and I think he was actually honest - he did say that it was because they didn't want to have to ask the investors for more money, so they would prefer it if I could wait a month to get insured.

You know, I better be racking up some big mom points for putting up with this crap so I can spend more time with Mason rather than getting a real job.

[claire797]

Anne,

You do deserve some sort of award for putting up with that job crap and being a Mom at the same time. No health insurance? Huh? As for your CEOs excuse. BULLCRAP. I may be stepping out of bounds here, but I don't think it's fair of them to use "we're too embarrassed (or whatever) to ask our investors for the money to cover one employee. They should just do it. Again, maybe I'm out of line here for assuming I know all the details, but his excuse sounds fishy to me.

SusanR,

I'm glad Casey's feeling better. I keep checking this board to see if you've rushed to the hospital yet. Do you have someone who can post to let us know?

SusanD,

Sounds like Erin's trip to the zoo was fun. Emma's still too young to appreciate the zoo, but I'd like to do. We have a dinky little zoo here in Austin called "The Austin Zoo" which has things like goats, monkeys and a few big cats. It's near my house, so when it cools down I may take Emma one afternoon.

Shelley,

I am going to go look at your pictures in just a minute. Emma just woke up from her nap so I have to hurry.

Emma is having a good day today as opposed to yesterday's teething day. Don't you all hate those teething days? No naps, clingy, whiney,. ARRRRRGH. I just wanted yesterday to end. I've found that a little Motrin at night really helps.

Emma's first birthday is in August and I'm planning on having it at a place called "The Little Gym". Anyone heard of it? It's an actual gymnastics place where instructors take the birthday guests through various age appropriate activities . Emma's only 1, so she won't remember it, but I will and we'll have lots of good video footage. I'm thinking I'd better hurry up and reserve our hour and a half time slot because this place is starting to generate quite a buzz and I live in an area with lots of over-enthusiastic (hello me) moms wanting to do big shabangs for their children's birthday parties.

DH and I have some exciting/stressful stuff happening right now so we may have some interesting news in the next few weeks. Maybe. Maybe not. And no. I'm not pregnant :)

Sorry I've been quite. It is just so hard to sit down and write coherent E-mails these days!!!

[KristaMB]

I'm at work so I can't write much, but I just wanted to say to Anna: I'm glad you clarified you weren't pg, because that's the first thing I thought of. You know us too well! :)

I'll write more tonight after Jared goes to bed. I've been lurking a lot lately.

~ Krista

[claire797]

Hee Hee Krista,

I don't even want to think about that right now :).

Maybe in a year or two.....MAYBE... but not now.

[KristaMB]

Well, Jared's not in bed, but he's entertaining himself, so I'll see how this goes.

Susan, sorry to hear that you and Casey have been sick. What a bummer. I hope that you get better quickly so that you can focus all of your energy on a painless and speedy delivery. I can hardly wait to find out if you're having a girl or a boy!

I think one of the reasons Jared throws so much food on the floor is that he likes to feed the dog. Like Casey, he thinks it's funny. I don't know if he's throwing because he's full, though. Today he only ate a half of a small jar of food for the babysitter. Maybe it's the heat. :confused: He's also teething. Could that be it?

Marisa, "no" isn't working for us either. We have one of those plastic wallpaper corner protectors (nice description, eh?) in the kitchen that he's always trying to pull off. He doesn't listen when we tell him no and distracting him with other toys and things doesn't work. The only thing we can do is block the corner with a barstool and his high chair. :rolleyes: It's so annoying.

Congratulations to Amanda on those three big steps! Yay!

Shelley, the pictures of Tru are great! Gotta love that little tush.

Leigh and Anne, I hope you are enjoying a fabulous dinner. I can't wait to see pictures! I have another free airline ticket coming up, so where are we all gonna meet? ;)

Anne, sorry to hear that they won't give you benefits at work. What a bummer. You get major "mom" points! Do you have any new pictures of Mason to post for us? (I know, I'm one to talk.)

SusanD, glad to hear that Erin had fun at the zoo. I'm looking forward to when Jared will really be able to enjoy going places like that.

We took Jared to the fair on Sunday and he cried when a sheep baaahed at him. I'm a mean mommy for saying this, but it was actually kind of funny. My dad also took him into a little area where you could pet goats and sheep, and he enjoyed it. I took him on the carousel, but he absolutely hated it. He didn't cry but he had a death grip on me the whole time. Maybe next year... Oh, and my dad fled San Diego without having to change a diaper.

Anna, can I guess at your news? I think I might know what it is. :D

Mr. Fussypants is ready for his dinner. (BTW, that's Jared. Damon isn't home, in case you were wondering. LOL!)

Take care,
Krista

[shoyski]

Krista, your post cracked me up! So does Jared usually eat around 9pm or is this different because of teething? If everyone wants a get-together, I'm all for it! Maybe after all the babies turn one...

I can hardly wait to hear your news, Anna. Krista, you can PM me and tell me what you think. Totally kidding!! :p :D The birthday party sounds like a riot. We don't have anything in the area like that that I"m aware of.

Anne, dang, rats, shoot, park it on the grass (that's a new phrase Dave came up with to subsitute for something I absolutely HATE to hear and I'm sure you can guess what it is). :eek: You ARE a great mom no matter what but I'm wondering if it couldn't hurt to look around a bit...it seems like your kind of work is in high demand and maybe some other company would let you work from home. I guess you know the market, though. I hope things smooth out a bit for you in that department. :(

Marisa, is Amanda running through the house with wild abandon now? I can just picture her running around with you chasing her. :p

MrsReber, you deserve a long, long rest and I hope you can put your feet up soon. I also hope you start to feel better and Casey, too!

Well, Tru is almost on the move. He started in this evening with the crawling and going from his stomach to a sitting position. He hasn't done much of that at all since last week. We've put the foam guard on the fireplace just in case he decides to get up and run. I say that in jest but I'm amazed at how quickly things are moving along now. That one year mark is coming up soon and I can hardly believe it!

Okay, now someone else start posting pictures or I'm going to feel like I'm imposing on you guys. Don't tell Dave but I'm actually starting to enjoy geeking around with the digital camera and laptop. ;)

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by shoyski
So does Jared usually eat around 9pm or is this different because of teething?

Goodness, no! Shelley my dear, it was only 6 pm here in California. :) And to top it off, he's actually all snug in his bed at the moment. Apparently he didn't nap well today, either.

Ah, a whole evening to myself. Too bad I can't leave the house. Should I do laundry, read the book for my book club, lurk on the BB, or do Tae Bo? Decisions, decisions.

[shoyski]

Shelley my dear, it was only 6 pm here in California.

Schhhhmmmack! What an idiot! See my "You guys are in big trouble" post over on the Great Food board and you'll understand my problem this evening. Krista, do everything. It sounds like a very nice dilemma to have!:D

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by KristaMB


And to top it off, he's actually all snug in his bed at the moment.


JINXED. He was up screaming 15 minutes later and is still going strong. Stupid dog barked and woke him.

Shelley, that's too funny about dinner. Sound delicious though. Can I come over?

[mb]

krista, sorry your evening was interrupted by the barking dog. hopefully you got jared to sleep again...

shelley, sorry about your dinner. i often try to enlist my microwave for a task during dinner, whether it's to steam some veggies or cook some rice. one less thing to think about. but i've had days like that too, where just NOTHING seems to go right in the kitchen!!!

otherwise, i loved the pictures. tru is really a cutie!!! i posted my site a few days ago, so i have no more updates as of yet. what about the other moms?!?!?

anne & leigh, can't wait to hear about your meeting. i think you two are the first moms to meet? anne, we live relatively close too; we should definitely try to meet sometime! krista, i'd love to finally meet you too. maybe we can all meet in NJ to make it easier for susan...

hey susan, is that baby here yet?

anna, emma's bday party sounds fun. especially since you won't have to do any cooking or cleaning up! ;) i did gymnastics for 13 years, and then worked as an instructor, plus i ran some bday parties on the side. the kids really love that stuff!

anne, definitely push for some health insurance. one month shouldn't make much difference to the investors, but it could make a big difference in your life. health insurance is a very important thing. i actually think that's the biggest thing that is keeping DH at his job right now!!!

also glad to hear you were able to cut out the nursing before sleeping. i know that is a big accomplishment! i know that cutting out the nursing to sleep will eventually mean that amanda is completely weaned. i don't know that i feel ready for it, though. i worry about the milk drying up, even though i know she doesn't really "need" it anymore. i guess it's just been the mentality for so long to keep up the milk supply, that it's hard to stop even when you know it's ok. now we are down to nursing in the am, before the afternoon nap, and before bed. the nap is the next one to cut out, then the am, then before bed. before bed she is still awake though when i put her down.

well, this is long enough. amanda isn't racing around just yet. she is still busy trying to take a few steps alone here and there. my knee pain is still problematic, so the longer i can go without running after her, the better. tonight, amanda ate tomato soup, and some leftover tomato-lentil couscous. she LOVED it! i was glad too, because the last few times i tried tomatoes/tomato products, she didn't seem very interested. it's like you wait 1 year for the 'forbidden foods', and then it's kind of disappointing if they don't love them right away! she does, however, love orange juice, berries, and peanut butter!!!! if she loves peanut butter, then she's definitely my kid!

ok enough rambling for tonight. i gotta go to sleep! hope everyone is doing well. anna, can't wait to hear your news...

marisa :)

[lhall]

Well, It looks like I beat Anne to the BB.

We had a nice dinner. We went for BBQ at 5pm, so it was casual and empty. Which is good because neither Ginger or Mariel would eat. Mariel wanted to make off with her diaper bag, and Ginger just talked to Anne the whole time!

Anne forgot to take pictures though! We spent so much time talking I didn't even think of it. Mason was a cutie, and he was very well behaved. He was having fun with his tounge, which was adorable. I hope he went to sleep ok. Anne, thanks a bunch for dinner. We enjoyed it. It seems like Al & Clint hit it off too. It was especially nice to get away from the Disney crowds for a few hours. We went back and rode one ride and saw the parade.

Anna, my first thought was that you were pregnanat too! Glad you put that clairfication in.

As far as our vacation. We're having a good time. We've been to the beach 3 times, and spent yesterday at Disney. It's been rainy, but that's ok. We won't melt Mariel & Ginger were initially afraid of the ocean, but warmed up to it nicely. Mariel has had more fun playing in the sand though. Oh, and only mommy & daddy are sunburned. Ginger did my back, missed a few spots, and I got a little red at Disney yesterday, and Al's face is red. We forgot to do suncreen, yes we know that you can get sunburned when its' cloudy.
We may do Sea World later in the week. We think Ginger will enjoy the animals, and she's been talking about a zoo.

The only bad thing was the van was rear-ended on monday evening. Don't ever get in an accident in FLA with two drivable cars and no injuries. We waited over 3 hours for the police report becuase only Florida Highway Patrol can deal with a traffic accidents. The girls did fine considering, but now I have to deal with the car after vacation. We finally got the FHP to put us as the priority for the next available officer mentioning AGAIN that we had two small kids and were from out of town! It still took 45 minutes. But, with no police report I can't guarantee that her insurance would pay. We could have done a 'no fault' thingie, but that was not an option. The office estimated the damage on her car at $25.00, and ours at $2500.00!!!

Ok, this is a book. I'll post more later.

Leigh

[beacooker]

Leigh, I just came over here to post, and you had just beaten me! Yes, I brought my camera along, but forgot to take pictures. However, I am proud of myself for just remembering to bring it. I can't tell you how many times Clint and I have gone on vacation and realized that we hadn't even thought to bring the camera.

Dinner was great - it was so neat to actually find that there is a person behind the words. Ginger really cracked me up - she is such a chatterbox! Every sentence starts with "Guess what?" My very favorite was "Guess what? My mom and dad sleep in the same bed." :D Leigh, I think you were talking to Al and Clint and missed that one. I was kind of worried about what was going to come after that! Mariel was totally adorable. She kept looking at Mason and yelling "Baby". Mason kept trying to grab her pretty dress. He also managed to grab a steak knife, and the container of salad dressing, which of course spilled all over. The kid has got quite a reach.

Mason slept for about 10 minutes on the way home, and then was wide awake. I nursed him, and put him in his crib while he was still awake. He played quietly in his crib for about 30 minutes, then cried for about 30 seconds, then fell asleep. I have accused Clint of switching babies on us.

All these zoo/fair trips sound like fun. Krista, we would have laughed about being afraid of the sheep, too.

Shelley, so how did dinner taste?

It would be fun if we all had a get-together. Might I suggest that Disney would be a fabulous place for it? ;) Marisa, I was just telling Leigh last night that it seems so silly that you and I haven't met yet! Of course, 3-hour car trips are kind of difficult with babies.

I was just thinking the other day that I would probably recognize Amanda and Tru and maybe Emma if I saw them someplace, but I haven't seen pictures of the other babies in quite a while. Then I realized I've been bad, too. Here's a picture I took about a month ago. (We'll see if this works)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid21/p8df74beadf4d1f101249c793364fab79/fdb198dc.jpg

Well, better get to work. It may be stupid, but its my job. (The best line from the movie oh, shoot, the one with Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, comedy about them being actors in a sci-fi tv series, oh well, I give up!)

[MrsReber]

Hello. Casey was impossible yesterday afternoon! She refused to nap yesterday. I finally got her to nap from 1:15 until almost 2:30. That's nothing for her so she was cranky all afternoon, wanting to be held, but insisting that I stand up and hold her. Ha ha ha! Doesn't work well when you're 9 months pregnant. We finally found a common ground. I brought her into the computer room and let her play with all my stuff (things that weren't harmful, of course!). She wanted to sit on my lap, but then she'd pull my hair as hard as she could. She thought that was a fun game. If I got stern with her, she'd laugh at me and do it again! I got to the point where I'd put her down if pulled my hair. That seemed to work. She cried when I put her down so I felt horrible. She has to learn somehow!! When DH got home, he could see that I was at the end of my rope so he played with Casey and gave her a bath. She conked out at 7:30 and we didn't hear a sound out of her until 6:00 this morning. We fingured she'd be okay to go to daycare. At least she'll eat something there. She hasn't really eaten in three days. Just some applesauce and yogurt and some chicken soup Monday night.

No baby yet. Just a verrrrry uncomfortable mommy. The contractions seem to be getting stronger, but they're still really sporadic. I have maybe one an hour and then at night I have them more often. No pattern to them or anything, though. Today would be great, though. I think today should be the day. Now I just have to get the baby to agree!

Anna- wise woman! Wait a bit before having that second child!!!!!

I like Marisa's idea- come to NJ!!! Actually, it's not too exciting around here. Too crowded, perhaps!

Krista, we can't wait to find out if we have a boy or girl, either. It's fun, though. I like the suspense. Oh, and teething can definitely make a baby refuse to eat. We go through that alot. We're working on tooth number 8, on top of the cold!

Leigh, your dinner sounds great. Glad you had a good time! Sorry about the accident, though. You just don't have much luck with vehicles lately!

Anne, I agree, push for the insurance! If you start working for them without it, I wouldn't be surprised if they just kept telling you to wait for it. I give you lots of credit for going through all of that for this job. Then again, I know how important it is to be able to work from home.

I'll be checking in! Don't know if I'll be able to share the news until I come back from the hospital after the baby is born. I'll work on that!

Susan

[lhall]

Originally posted by beacooker
Every sentence starts with "Guess what?" My very favorite was "Guess what? My mom and dad sleep in the same bed." :D Leigh, I think you were talking to Al and Clint and missed that one. I was kind of worried about what was going to come after that

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

OMG I did miss that!

Yes, Ginger totally wears me out when she won't stop talking!

Oh, and the girls did NOT sleep late. Both got up a 7. I got up at 6:15, Al's still in bed!

Leigh

[SusanD]

Good morning! Not much new to report here, except that Erin seems to have picked up a summer cold too - and she's decided to share it with mommy! Ugh! Last night I was eating some goldfish crackers in the family room and Erin was playing on the floor next to me. I got up to get more lemonade and left the almost-full, OPEN (dummy!) box of goldfish sitting there on the coffee table. As I'm walking into the kitchen, back turned to the family room, I hear this whooshing sound, and turn around just in time to see Erin holding the empty goldfish box upside down over a huge pile of fish on the floor. Then, before I could run in there to scoop it up, the dog seizes the opportunity and and beats me to it!

Anne, sorry, at first it did sound like your work situation was starting to smooth out. Guess not, though! That's absurd that they won't cover your insurance b/c they don't want to ask their investors for more money. Very lame! Sounds like you & Leigh had a fun dinner - I look forward to the time when we can all do it! Great picture of Mason, he's a cutie. Maybe we can fix him up with Erin someday, if he's into older women! ;)

Leigh, that SUCKS about your car accident! Hope you get it all straightened out before you leave.

Anna, Emma's birthday party sounds like fun! And we're all anxious to hear what your big news is...don't keep us in suspense too long (but thank you for clarifying, b/c you know that pg was the first thing that came to everyone's mind...)

Krista, Susan is right, teething can have an effect on their appetite. It probably hurts their mouths. Erin's appetite comes and goes depending on the teeth.

Marisa, I'm still amazed that you have kept up with nursing for this long! That's wonderful! I didn't produce much milk to begin with, and then working didn't help, so my milk gradually dried up on its own and I HAD to wean Erin. I would have kept up longer if I could - and I think that's great that you are.

Susan, still waiting...maybe today will be the day! :)

Oh, here are some more recent pictures of Erin (well, sort of recent) the beach one was taken on our trip to GA, and the other one was up at our cabin over Memorial weekend. Here goes...hopefully this works!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid23/p37860bf00c6d731aaecd03bd36180f95/fd9b0741.jpg.orig.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid23/pdc294a9b87691057b9978ad05329a3de/fd9b0742.jpg.orig.jpg

[claire797]

Krista,

I hope Jared is having a better week. Emma is on a wild rollercoaster ride with this teething stuff. I ended up having to sleep with her upstairs in the guest bedroom last night because she refused to sleep alone. She'd been having a great day, then things turned. She seems okay this morning.

Feel free to try to guess my news. If any of you are really bored and want to know, you can E-mail me at anna@ginsberg.com and I'll tell you. It's not that exciting, really but it's news.....and I can't post it on a public bulletin board.


Susan,

Good thing you have a dog and the goldfish didn't get smashed into carpet. Emma likes goldfish, but she has a tendency to grind them up in the palm of her hand and then crawl around on that hand. Cheerio goo is easy to wipe up, but goldfish goo is a toughy.

Emma is an adventurous eater. Yesterday I caught her eating her dad's salty licorice. She'd gotten into his Father's Day basket and was chomping away. I guess Emma's going to be a licorice lover because this was the super-strong, imported from Holland kind.

She's also eating a lot of yogurt. I've started using Emma as an excuse to buy Stoneyfield Farm yogurt (so I can have tastes) and she's (we've) discovered that their caramel flavored variety is SO good. I probably have no business feeding it to Emma because it's so rich.

Hey Leigh,

Guess what. I am really jealous that you got to go to Disney World AND that you met Anne. How cool. Sorry about the car accident though. Ick. I hope all the insurance stuff gets straighted out. I absolutely hate dealing with insurance companies.

SusanR,

I really feel for your no-nap day with Casey. No nap days just kill me and I am very UN-pregnant. I wish I could be there to help you out somehow. Poor thing.

[shoyski]

Susan and Anne, I love the pictures. We sure do have a bunch of good looking kids on this BB! :D

Dinner turned out fine, albeit a little late! I posted it on the GF board.

MrsReber, we're pulling for you!

Leigh and Anne, glad the dinner turned out well. Nice that the men could meet as well and find out we're not a bunch of crazies. I'm not sure what I would have thought if Dave emailed back and forth with a bunch of guys he never met, prior to doing this with all of you. Now, of course, I think it's a very healthy outlet and a great resource, not to mention fun having met some really cool people!:cool: :D

[KristaMB]

Am I the only one who can't see Susan's pictures?:confused:

[shoyski]

Actually, I saw them earlier and now I can't. That's weird!:confused:

Quick question for you guys who make your own baby food. I accidentally left about three trays of food in the freezer with only aluminum foil covering them (not too tightly either :( ). It's been almost a week. Should I pitch the food or do you think it would be okay to feed to Tru? Thanks!

[lhall]

Thanks for asking about the car. I called my insurance and we've got the police report. I'm going to wait until we get back to deal with the repairs. We need the car and it can't be fixed by Friday. My insurance is USAA and they are really easy to deal with. I can either call them or call the other insurance. They will be a go between with me if I want. I just want a rental car and mine repaired, but I'd like to take it to a USAA preferred shop.

Shelley, those are great pictures. But, Tru is going to hate you. Naked baby pictures on the internet!!!

SusanR,
I can't see your pictures either. Glad to hear Casey is feeling better, and I'll keep sending those baby wishes your way!

I must say that I'm glad Anne forgot about the pictures. Everyone else looked ok, buy my hair doesn't like rain and I looked like I'd been rained on at Disney all day!

[beacooker]

In order to see SusanD's pictures, I had to right click on the Imaestation image, select 'Properties', then copy the 'Address' up to the point where the first '.jpg' is. I think I'm explaining terribly, maybe I'll just re-link the pictures here.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid23/p37860bf00c6d731aaecd03bd36180f95/fd9b0741.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid23/pdc294a9b87691057b9978ad05329a3de/fd9b0742.jpg

Erin looks so cute sitting on the beach! She looks like a very grown up little girl.

[SusanD]

Thanks so much, Anne! I don't know why they disappeared like that. They were fine when I first posted them. She was so funny on the beach, perfectly content as long as there was a towel between her and the sand. Try to take her off the towel and all he** broke loose.

Leigh, glad that it won't be TOO much of a hassle to get your car taken care of - I've heard good things about USAA.

Shelley, the food is probably still OK. I used to forget about Erin's sometimes and it would sit there for a few days. It looks icky in the cubes all covered with frost, but once you heat it up it's fine.

Anna, now I'm really curious - if it's something you can't post on a public BB...it must be pretty juicy! Hee-hee!

Well, I'd better get off DH's laptop, he's busy monitoring the NBA draft ('cause you know, it's not enough to just watch it on tv).

[shoyski]

Nice job, Anne. It's nice to have a "cool geek" amongst us. :cool: That's what I tell Dave that he is and he just laughs at me.

Boy, did I get lucky today. I had a haircut at 10:30am and then planned to grocery shop since it was right next door to the salon. Well, Master Truman decided he didn't want to nap this morning...AT ALL!!:eek: :eek: So we went to do the errands and I was very worried about possbile bad behavior. Once again he proved me wrong. He was terrific! Then he fell asleep at 12:15 in the car and I was able to transfer him to his crib and he continued to sleep until 1:30pm. :)

But then he didn't want to take an afternoon nap. :( He cried for 15 minutes in his crib and when I went up to get him, he was sitting up (a first in the crib while "napping") just sobbing. It broke my heart. For some reason he just looked so pitiful and small at the end of his crib. He immediately stopped crying when I picked him up.

Dave and I are heading out right now to do some more errands and I'm crossing my fingers that Tru falls asleep in the car.

[claire797]

Originally posted by shoyski
It broke my heart. For some reason he just looked so pitiful and small at the end of his crib. He immediately stopped crying when I picked him up.


This same thing happened with Emma on Monday. When I went up to check on her (read: get her) after 15 minutes, she not only was standing there crying, she had pulled off her diaper and pooped on herself. It was sooooo pathetic and sad.

I don't think I'm going to let her cry at naptimes anymore. It just never seems to work and I end up feeling bad.

[mb]

it is definitely very sad to walk in and see your baby crying, sitting up in the crib, and staring at the door waiting for you... since i've stopped this nursing-before-naptime thing, i've had to let her cry several times... many times she'll go to sleep, but lots of times i have to just go get her and say, "ok, naptime is over", and i think to myself, "who is going to be more sorry about that - me or her?!?!" :( :o :(

today was one of those days. she refused her breakfast (even though it included bananas, her favorite). after a while, she was sleepy and i put her down, like usual. but she just cried and cried. so i went and picked her up - naptime was over. meanwhile, we were meeting some friends to go to lunch and the mall for the afternoon. amanda was pretty whiney and squirmy, although it could have been much worse. she evenutally fell asleep in her snugli for about 30 minutes, and then didn't sleep in the car either. she went to bed at 6:20 tonight...

anyhow, she's been getting braver about walking now, and is taking more steps. well, it's still 3-4 steps at a time, but it's occurring more often. i checked out stride rite inthe mall today - yikes! $40 for a pair of shoes? i don't even think i spend that on my own shoes! (unless they are like $150 shoes that have been marked down... ;) )

susanD, loved those pictures of erin. she really looks like a little lady in the beach chair!!! and thanks to anne for fixing them up!

shelley, i think the food will probably be just fine. just try defrosting one cube, and see how it tastes if you want to be certain. and as leigh mentioned, i don't know how tru will feel that you posted naked pics of him on the internet. actually, i had some of amanda's bath pics on my site, and DH made me take them off... :eek:

leigh and anne, glad you had a great time. shame on you for not taking pictures!!!

leigh, hope you're enjoying your time in florida, other than that pesky car accident thing... i'm sorry that had to happen. if it's any consolation, on june3, someone backed into our car in a parking lot (she wasn't looking and just kept going even though we were already most of the way pulled out of the spot). the police came (in a timely manner, though), and he asked DH and the other girl if they just wanted to settle things "on their own". (is that even legal?!?!) anyhow, i got an estimate from the dealership and it was about $1400! :eek: the 19 year old girl who backed into us didn't want to pay that. meanwhile, DH called her insurance co and they said there was no policy holder by that name!!! finally, it got all worked out and she filed a claim, but we never heard anything. DH called again, and they said, "oh, we didn't know there were any damages involved.." at least they promptly sent a check after that, which we finally got yesterday! and all i'm thinking is, "thank god she had insurance!!!!!"

anna, i also like the stoneyfield yoself caramel flavor. yum! amanda likes all the yobaby flavors, plus any other yogurt that she sees us eating. in fact, we can't eat it around her, or she will eat most of our container!!!

well, this is long enough and i should be preparing dinner!!!
marisa :)

ps SusanR, are you still there?

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by SusanD
I hear this whooshing sound, and turn around just in time to see Erin holding the empty goldfish box upside down over a huge pile of fish on the floor. Then, before I could run in there to scoop it up, the dog seizes the opportunity and and beats me to it!


This is one of the few reasons I actually like our dog! Without the beagle-mop I'd sure have a lot more cleaning to do! I do love him, but he can be such a pain. And that howl. Don't get me started.

Anne and Leigh, I'm also quite jealous that you got to meet. As for us all meeting at Disney, how 'bout Disneyland! Just kidding. I know I'm the only one way out on the West Coast. You Easterners pick the spot and I'll come to you. (Before Shelley and Anna throw things at me- let me clarify. I know you're not technically on the East Coast, but you're east of me, and that's what counts. :D )

Anne, thanks for posting that picture of Mason. He is a cutie. How much does he weigh? I put "download pictures" on Damon's list of things to do this weeeknd, so hopefully I can post some here by Monday. Don't hold your breath.

Leigh, sorry to hear about the car accident. What a bummer. Ginger sounds like a riot, BTW.

Anna, if it's that secretive then maybe it's not what I'm thinking. Hmmm. Sounds intriguing. ;)

SusanD, Erin is so cute. I'm amazed at how much hair she has. What a great beach chair! We haven't taken Jared to the beach recently. Maybe a trip is in order this weekend.

Susan, if your baby is born on a weekday, you can always call my 800 number at work and leave me a voicemail and I can post the news for you. :p Man, are we desperate for baby news, or what!

Jared has not been napping or eating well. He won't eat his finger foods, and he pushes the spoon away and flings food all over if we try to spoon feed him. He'll hardly touch his bottles, and won't drink from a sippy cup either. I know he'll eat when he's hungry, but that's hard to accept right now. I just wish he'd cut a tooth and get on with it. Okay, stop laughing. I know after one tooth there will be another and another, but this sucks. :( Poor guy.

Anna, your diaper story reminded me of a story about my friend, Anna and I from when we were babies. Our moms went shopping and left the dads in charge. Big mistake. The Raider game was on, and they plopped us in the playpen and ignored us. When our moms got home we were both naked and covered in poo. Lovely little tale, eh? To this day, 27 years later, our dads have not lived that one down. In fact, when I was in Sacramento for the bridal shower our dads were going to watch their grandkids (Jared and Anna's neice, Shea) but our moms vetoed the idea because of the Raider game incident.

Marisa, I just about died at the price of the StrideRite shoes, too. My mom insisted on paying for them, though. Lucked out on that one.

Tomorrow is my day to bring breakfast for my department at work, so I'd better go get my act together.

Hope you all are doing well.

~Krista

[MrsReber]

Krista, no one is anxiously awaiting baby news more than I am!! I am so ready. DH is ready, too. He calls me everyday asking how I feel and if I think today will be the day. I went out to the store yesterday in the 100 degree heat index with 70% humidity (am I crazy?) to try to at least walk around some. Yuck. What should I do? Jumping jacks? A run around the block? My sister says if I'm dilated, I can try taking castor oil and that will bring on contractions. I think I best wait until the baby says it's time, though. I don't remember it being this painful last time. I'm sure my stomach has stretched out more this time, too. It's numb on the right side from all the stretching. Wish it were numb inside, too! Let me illustrate how irritable I have been. It was way hot here yesterday so I asked DH to just pick up McDonald's (I had been watching the commercials all day). He goes inside as the drive thru is packed, as usual. He comes home and, for the second time, they forgot to put the 2 apple pies in the bag. One time I can forgive. We don't get dinner there that often, but twice?? Okay, so he bought the new chicken strips, too. They were completly dried out. Blech. I thought I'd just use the dipping sauce to make them edible. No luck with that since they didn't give us any sauce! And there's a spot where the sauce goes in the box, even! My french fries were nicely fried in a coating of salt (like I need to retain water right now?!!). So this morning, I logged on to McDonald's home page and sent an email complaining of the poor service. Yes, I understand they are just kids who make $6 an hour, but still. I'd be embarrassed if I couldn't pack up a McDonald's meal at the age of 16! I have some other issues going on, too. A newspaper that keeps getting delivered daily even though I told them I don't want it. They say I don't have to pay for it and I get a bill. Still no plates for my new car and my temp plate expired on teh 18th. I love doing battle. These people don't understand pregnancy hormones!!

Enough of that (did I ramble or what??), this is the mom's thread! I thought Casey was much better yesterday. She was plenty happy in the morning. I went to pick her up at daycare and she was asleep. They told me that she was very cranky and seemed worse than the day before! Not good. I brought her home and she was happy, but her nose is running like crazy. She is also sticking her finger in her ear. I don't know if she has an infection (no fever at all) or if she just feels some pressure. The Tylenold Cold and Robitussin seem to help her sleep. This morning, DH was going to leave for work and she put her arms up. She must've thought she was going to daycare! She got very upset when he left withouth her. I was really surprised by that. She's napping now, finally. She went right down without a fuss.

Krista, if you want to pm me with your 800 number, I'll put you on my phone list! I have another phone number from the BB so that will give me two options- but I'd call both of you anyway! I'm bringing a pre-paid calling card with 250 minutes!

[LaraW]

MrsReber, here I am butting in again, but I wanted to comment on Casey seeming to be sticking her finger in her ear. I have heard from both my mom and my BIL who is a doctor that little kids especially can have an ear infection and not show any symptoms except for being cranky generally not seeming like they feel good. You might want to take her in to have her ear checked (well, have DH take her in!!! :D ) I had an ear infection when I was 26 - the first one I'd ever had, and it was so painful I would not wish it upon my worst enemy.

OK, back to lurking....

[lhall]

SusanR,

Lara's right. Mariel frequently has ear infections with no fever. She even had both ears infected with no symptoms! It's better to have her checked if she doesn't get better.

Leigh

[MrsReber]

Great minds think alike! Casey woke up from her nap at 12:30 and would not stop crying and throwing fits. I'd get her to play and then she'd get mad at something and throw herself on the floor. She never does that. I called the doctor and then called DH to say I was taking her. He came home right away and told me I was crazy for thinking I could take her there myself. I would've done it. The doctor said her ears look fine, but her throat had white spots so he tested for strep. She's good to go- no strep, but obviously has a very sore throat. He said between that and her teething, she probably had pain in her ears, but no infection at all. I have to wonder if that's a result of the breastfeeding, that she's never had an ear infection. Of course, as soon as DH came home, I had a darling child who sat happily clapping in her car seat all the way to the doctor's office! Grrr. It wasn't until we got home that he got a dose of what my day was like. Then he understood. He didn't help much, but at least he understood. Baby is now sleeping peacefully in a Motrin induced slumber. Ahhhhh. Mommy finally gets to put her feet up and rest!

[mb]

Originally posted by MrsReber
I have to wonder if that's a result of the breastfeeding, that she's never had an ear infection.

i was formula-fed and had either an ear infection or strep throat nearly every month while i was a kid. i was also sick the first week my parents brought me home...

meanwhile, amanda has only caught one small cold since she was born, and it went away after a day or so.

i know a sample size of 1 doesn't account for much, but if you ask me, either amanda got her dad's immune system or the breastfeeding really works!!!

marisa :)

ps susan, sorry your day wasn't so wonderful. we all understand what that's like... luckily, casey is a great kid the rest of the time! :)

[lhall]

Well, sometimes breastfeeding helps, but not always.

Mom stayed at home with me, breastfed me, didnt' smoke (all things you should do) and I still had terrible ear infections. I had my tonsils and adenoids out at 9M.

Ginger was formula fed and went to daycare. She had constant ear invefections for 5M, but didnt' get 'sick' a lot from daycare. Tubes at 9M.

Mariel was breastfed exclusively for 6M, when to daycare, didnt' get 'sick' at all from school and still had ear infections. Tubes and adenoids at 10M.

The surgery on both kids made a huge difference, and was the right decision. In my case it's genetic. The girls were destined to get ear infections. Their problem was the fluid never came out of their ears.

We got home ok 10 hours. Traffic in GA was awful around Valdosta so we stopped for a 1 hour lunch. After that it wasn't bad. Lots of construction.
Leigh

[shoyski]

Hey guys, not much going on around here. Just wanted to say hi and hope all your weekends were fun. MrsReber, if you're still here, I hope you had a nice cool, calm, relaxing, weekend-free-of-the-MIL! :D

[MrsReber]

Hello- still here, still have a very cranky child (who is now sleeping :) ) No MIL. She'd never actually visit us when she can hang out at SIL's pool and cabana drinking all weekend. My mom came by and helped me with Casey a bit. She's coming back tomorrow to take me to a few stores to check out the double strollers. She wants to help us pay for one, but I still don't know which one to get. I need to try them out and see what they all weigh. DH is going to register my car at the Fort so he can drive it to work and leave me the truck all summer. It'll probably be easier to get out with 2 kids if I have the truck.

Hopefully Casey will be back to her old sweet self soon! My mom wanted to take her overnight, but I told her I didn't know if it was a good idea since she's still not really well. Okay, off to make some dinner. Or warm up some leftovers! I'm hungry and tired!

[lhall]

Well, we've given up sippy cups. I was planning on it anyways, but Mariel drinks tons more milk with a straw. She thinks it's fun too. Also, she's decided to be a vegetarian for a while. She's been eating less and less meat. That's fine, I just need more bean recipes! She LOVES beans. I made the Seattle Black Beans toinght and she ate a whole serving herself.

SusanR, where's that baby?!?!

Leigh

[mb]

Originally posted by lhall
Mariel drinks tons more milk with a straw. She thinks it's fun too.

which reminds me of something i've been meaning to ask y'all... how do i teach amanda to use a straw?!?!?! :confused: if i give her a drink with a straw in it, she just pulls it out and starts chewing on it and playing with it :rolleyes:

leigh, amanda tasted boca burgers today and really enjoyed them. she also likes beans a lot!

hope you all had a good weekend. who has a short week this week? DH is off thursday and friday...i'm begging him to call in sick on tues and wed too! we dont' have any big plans for the 4th though. amanda can't stay up until 9pm to watch fireworks, and we aren't planning on spending any $ to go away somewhere, so it looks like it will just be a relaxing few days at home. what about you guys?

marisa :)

[KristaMB]

Hi, everybody!

Leigh, while you're giving up sippy cups, I'm still trying to get Jared to use one. He still refuses to drink anything out of it, and just throws it on the floor and whines. :rolleyes: Does/ did anybody else have a horrible time switching from bottles to sippy cups? Help!

Jared also has decided to not eat anything mashed, pureed or that requires a spoon. I am feeling challenged in the lunch department. Ideas? Leigh and Marisa, beans sound intriguing. How are you preparing the beans for your girls? Just beans from a can?

The big news here is that I see a tooth! Finally! He'll be 11 months on Tuesday, so I figure it's about time. I think he finally decided to grow some teeth because I've been telling him that he won't get any birthday cake unless he has them. ;)

I ditched Damon and Jared yesterday and went on a hike with my friend in preparation for my Mt. Whitney trip in Septemeber. Even though it was hot here yesterday, it was great to get away. We had a 360 view of San Diego County and into Mexico from the top of the peak.

Marisa, we're heading to Long Beach (about an hour and half north) to a friend's house on the 4th. Unfortunately I have to work on the 5th, so I don't think we'll be staying for any fireworks. What are the rest of you doing? SusanR, maybe you'll have your baby by then? Oh, no! I just realized that I won't be able to check the BB on the 4th! What if I miss some sort of baby news!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

~Krista

[beacooker]

Originally posted by KristaMB
Oh, no! I just realized that I won't be able to check the BB on the 4th! What if I miss some sort of baby news!


Oh, no, you??? Oh, no, us! I thought SusanR was going to call your voicemail when she has the baby.

Go, Jared. Way to go on the tooth! Guess he didn't want to miss out on birthday cake.

Marisa, Clint and I don't have any $ to do anything on the 4th, either. We could head down to Vero for a family barbecue, but we were just there yesterday, and don't feel like making the trip again. So, just hanging out at home for us, too. I also have the 5th off.

Krista, have you tried giving Jared a regular cup to drink out of? Maybe its the sippy part he doesn't like. Do you drink in front of him often? You probably do, but just checking. Mason always wants a sip from our glasses after he sees us drinking from it. For straws, at restaurants we started getting liquid in the straw, and then pulling the straw out and dripping the liquid in his mouth. Now, he will sometimes drink out of the straw the right way, as long as the liquid goes up high enough in the straw that he doesn't have to suck for too long. Marisa, maybe if you drip some liquid from the straw in Amanda's mouth, she'll get the idea that liquid comes from a straw, and then catch on to sucking.

SusanR, I hope Casey is feeling better today.

[lhall]

I may try some veggie burgers. I don't normally buy those so that didn't cross my mind.

About the beans though....Mariel had TOO MANY!!! She passed gas this morning and it lasted AT LEAST 10 SECONDS!!!!

We just gave Mariel a straw, it didn't take her long to figure it out.

Krista, I had trouble switching Mariel to a sippy. She would do what Jared is doing to you. Maybe give him a break (3 days to a week) and try again. I had both mine switched at about 13M. If you keep offering it then he'll get used to it. Once Mariel drank a decent amount (3-4 oz) from a sippy that bottle was switched.

I just follow a recipe for beans. Sometimes canned, sometimes dried. Last night they were dried so it took all day to make them. The Seattle Black Beans are in the July issue.

Leigh

[SusanD]

Good morning everyone! It's soooo hot and miserable today - high of 95 and it was 81 as I was driving in this morning...blech! Marisa, Anne and Leigh - don't laugh, I grew up in MN, I can't take this! :eek:

Looks like Erin is getting more teeth. I can't say how many because she won't let me feel around to check - but she's been crabby all weekend. Saturday night was the worst, about 3:15 am she started SCREAMING so I ran in there thinking something was terribly wrong. She was rolling around in her crib (still dreaming?) but when I reached down and touched her she woke up and held her arms up for me to take her. She was very very hot, so I took her temp and it was 101.5 (yikes!). I gave her a squirt of Motrin, then took her down to the kitchen and tried to give her a drink of water but she didn't want any. So I took her back upstairs and just as we got to the top she started gagging and acting like she was going to throw up. So I stood there in the hallway for a minute - thought processes a little slow at 3:30 am - deciding what to do. Decided I didn't want to have to clean the carpet, so I took her into the bathroom and held her over the sink...then thought, I don't want to have to clean barf out of the sink either. So I took her over to the toilet and stood her in front of that (still not thinking real clearly). She stopped crying, looked into the porcelain abyss, then gave me this look like, "Are you crazy, woman?" Then suddenly she was fine. At that point, DH came out of our room and said "Why don't you bring her in with us?" So she spent the rest of the night with us - sleeping horizontally across the bed, head pushing on DH and feet pushing on me. Good thing we have a king size bed! Sunday morning I had signed up to work in the nursery at church, so I brought her with me and she had a great time playing with the other kids. She was a bit crabby all day yesterday and didn't eat much, and she woke up crying again last night (but not nearly as bad as Saturday). Definitely tooth time!

Krista, I had trouble getting Erin over to the sippy, too. What helped was to take the no-spill valve out at first, just till she got the hang of using it. Of course, I had to watch closely and clean up lots of spills. I agree with Leigh, though, you might want to take a week or so off and try again. Oh, and congratulations on the tooth! Yay, Jared!

Susan, you're still here! Poo! Sorry to hear about your bad day on Friday. :(

We're going up to DH's family cottage for the 4th. It's about a 5.5 - 6 hour drive normally, and on holiday weekends it's worse. So we're leaving early Thurs. morning hoping we'll beat some of the traffic that way. It's fun once we get there, but the drive is yucky.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

[lhall]

Originally posted by SusanD
Good morning everyone! It's soooo hot and miserable today - high of 95 and it was 81 as I was driving in this morning...blech! Marisa, Anne and Leigh - don't laugh, I grew up in MN, I can't take this! :eek:

You're going to hate me....but it's only supposed to reach 90 today with a slight chance of scattered thunderstorms in the afternoons. The highest temp for the week is listed asss 92. It's warmer her than it was in FLA last week!

Leigh