July Toddler Moms Thread

[nori]

I just realized it's already July!!!:eek: Time flies so quickly.

Leigh, I enjoyed the photos!!! Your girls are so cute. And seems like they've met quite a lot of characters there! How fun.

Joanne, sounds like the damage isn't too bad...whew!!

Kim, trash theme sounds like fun, too.;) You can get a big trash can and let kids throw stuff in there. I think Noah'd enjoy that kind of game.

Helene, bummer about the train place, but that farm park seems like fun place too! I love to take Noah there! I think he'll enjoy petting zoo. He's fascinated with animals, too. I'm sure Victor will have a great time.

Well I had a very frustrated day today. My car had a little problem a few days ago (it was a tube that goes to heater and it had some holes on it...DH found it.) and DH ordered the parts to fix it this weekend. But he also heard from his buddy that you can also fix it without replacing it, so he did that quick fix (using some sort of glue) 2 days ago, he told me the car would be ready the next day (which was yesterday) to drive. Well yesterday I didn't have any plan so we didn't really go out. I should have, just for quick test drive. That thought came to my mind but I ignored it.:rolleyes: Today I had my doctor's appointment. My friend who was supposed to watch Noah was sick so I decided to take him with me. I just didn't have enough time to call around to find other friends who could watch him. I thought, no big deal, I'll bring some snacks, toys, and he's usually good at being well-behaved, so hopefully he'll sleep in the car way back home just in time for nap. Perfect. We left the house a bit earlier because I needed to get some gas on the way. We drove about 3 min. and I saw the heat gauge (for the engine) shot up waaaay high.:eek: It was almost reaching the red zone, and I wasn't driving any crazy way. Yes AC was on, but that's normal. I remember DH told me if something wrong (like the heat gauge goes up high, see RPM going way high etc.), just let him know, but he added it won't happen. Well it happened, and I just couldn't drive any further with Noah with me and being pregnant. I didn't want to break down in the middle of busy street when I had Noah. So I pulled the car over to the Costco (where I was about to get gas), called DH. He was puzzled, since it seems like there's nothing he could think of wrong. But he said he'll come to help me. Meanwhile I called the doctor's office to let them know that I'd probably be late. I was hoping they could still check me in, but the lady on the phone told me (very coldly) that more than 5min. delay would cancel the appointment, and I have to reschedule it. I know that's the rule, and she just had to follow it, but I was getting so emotional and stressed, I was hoping she'd check with the doctor to see if she can still see me, or do some asking around to see if there's something she chould do. Well she didn't. I was asked if I'd like to reschedule it, or try to make it today. I said at that moment I'd try, but I knew I wouldn't be able to make it. Anyway, DH came around the time of appointment and the hospital was about 15 min. drive. He offered to swap the cars. I was in tears (remember I'm pregnant.), and agreed and I told him I'm heading back home.

Sorry it's getting kind of long, but he came home in the evening after driving my car for a while, and said the gauge was normal.:o We figured it must be just initial reaction to that fix....it just goes up for a while although there's no real problem. If I drove more, or if I wasn't looking at the gauge, I'd probably be okay and had no problem with the appointment etc. But not knowing what's going on, with the heat gauge that hight, I just couldn't drive more with Noah.

I rescheduled my appointment, and since the first day I could see my doctor was 2 weeks away, I decided to see other doctor next week. I'm getting close to the due date and didn't feel comfortable not seeing a doctor for that long. I had a list of questions I wanted to ask her today, too.....I'm sooo bummed I couldn't make it today.

I couldn't help to cry while I was waiting DH. Noah was confused, he looked a bit worried and he let me play with one of his toy cars he had.:) It was cute.

Sorry for the long rambling, but I was just so frustrated that I got all of those stress for nothing.:o Oh well, I'll just put this behind and move on, I guess.

[Julia1Pin]

Leigh - So cute. I'm glad you had fun at Disney.

Joanne - Sorry about the unexpected charges for the car damages. those unexpected expenses suck. Too bad there aren't more unexpected windfalls of money :)

Kim - I'm glad the Lainey is getting used to her new room. We finally took Abigail to nursery school starting on Monday and she loves it so far. She LOVES!! playing with lids. And by 8pm she is ready to conk out she gets so worn out with the day.

Nori - No fun on the car troubles but it's nice that Noah has such a good heart and let you play with his toy. What a nice boy.

[lhall]

LOL! I totally forgot it was July. :o

I guess I should repost the pictures here:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lgmhall/slideshow?&.dir=/ca93&.src=ph

Nori,
Wow, I'm glad everything turned out ok. I've never heard of an office that only allows you to be 5 minutes late. I do know one of mine will put you in the back of the queue if you are late, behind everyone on time who was already there. That's so cute that Noah gave you his toy to make you feel better.

Leigh

[JoanneOR]

Helene, I crashed my parents car right after I got my license, too. It was in high school and they still haven't let me live it down! I am not looking forward to when the kids are old enough to drive.

That's too bad about the train place. But, I'm sure Victor will enjoy the farm. Kids always love that stuff

Nori, sorry about the car trouble. I get very paranoid whenever some type of light comes on in my car. I broke down once and it was not fun at all. That's too bad about the appointment. Do they ever make you wait more than five minutes? It doesn't seem fair to cancel for only five minutes.

Julia, how is the baby doing? I'm sorry, I can't remember her name! That's great that Abigail loves school.

Leigh, the pictures are great! Looks like the girls had a great time.

Last night the boys and DH had a camp out in the backyard. It was really cute. They had the tent set up and they all slept out there. Well, they actually didn't fall asleep until at least 11:00. I could hear them giggling outside. They were still asleep when I left this morning.

[RunnerKim]

Leigh those pictures are great! I'm embarrassed to say I don't know half the characters the girls posed with :o I kept thining "how does Leigh know their names" and then I saw Lilo and Stitch which I do know and realized I've just missed all these movies. I'm sure my (errrr Lainey's) time is coming. Was that id tags they were wearing around their necks? Did Disney give those or was it something you thought to do.

Nori - sorry about your difficult morning. :( That does seem to be a pretty strict rule for the doctor's office. I hope they're never more than 5 minutes late.

Helene - the farm place is really cool. Someone told me of something like that around here but they didn't have specifics and I haven't been able to find it (if it still exists). Our zoo is opening a farm exhibit this month and I know Lainey will be thrilled about that (but I find it odd for a zoo to do farm animals).

I'm so happy it's Friday and a 3 day weekend to boot. We don't have any major plans for the weekend but hope to get a hike in which we haven't done much of lately.

Kim

[lhall]

Kim,
Kenai and Koda are from Brother Bear, but MIL/FIL took them to that. I still don't know where Governor Ratcliffe is from. I did know everyone else. :D

I made the ID tags on the computer. They had names, ages, and campsite number on the front. On the back was a list of who they were with, and cell phone numbers. They wore them maybe 1/2 the time. We used nametag holders from conferences.

Joanne,
We do want to take the girls 'real camping' some time soon. Camping with Dad doesn't count. :D :D I guess we could do a trail run with the tent in the back yard. Sounds like the boys had a blast!

Leigh

[MrsReber]

Leigh, thanks for the thoughts on allowance for a 3 year old (back on the June thread). I love the ID tags for the girls. That is such a great idea.

Nori, sorry you had such a rough day. Not fun at all. But I also think that's so cute that Noah let you play with his car. What a sweetie. He's going to be such a great big brother.

Helene, glad your cupcakes got to daycare! I'm always so paranoid when I ask DH to take stuff in for the kids' birthdays. I don't know why it's so important that those cupcakes make it in! He hasn't failed me yet.

DH wants to take our rowboat to the lake tomorrow so all four of us can go fishing. He has an electric motor so he doesn't have to paddle us all around. On Sunday, it's DH's neice's baby's first birthday party (Grand-neice?). His neice went into labor on Tuesday night and had her son on Wednesday. I'm glad for her. She really wanted to have the new baby before her daughter's party so she didn't have to worry about not being there. So that's where we'll spend our 4th. DH is now concerned that no one will recognize Brenden's birthday because of the new baby and all. I told him it doesn't matter because we'll have our own little celebration at home. DH volunteered me to make food for the party, too, which I was not happy about. But I'll do it. I already shopped for the presents for DH's neice's daughter and the new baby (paid for it out of my own money and did all the shopping WITH the kids) and now he wants me to make food? Also, they never bring anything over when we invite them to our house. Remember how they invited themselves for DH's birthday and showed up empty handed?

On Monday, we're going to have an early dinner and ice cream cake, now with a Pooh and Tigger theme instead of dinosaurs. But what's really important is that Brenden gets his cake, we wear silly hats, and he gets to blow out his candles.

MIL is coming up on Wednesday. We're pretty busy so I don't know when we'll see her. DH's company is having a family picnic on Friday so I'm taking a half day and meeting him and the kids at the picnic. It starts at 12:00 and goes until 4:00 or later, if everyone hangs out. Then on Saturday, Casey has a birthday party and DH is going on a fishing trip with his friend.

DH wants to take the kids to see some fireworks tonight. I think we'll try to go since it's only down the road. I told him we should be prepared to leave suddenly if the kids are scared. He thinks they'll be fine. I sure hope he's right!

Brenden still won't sleep in his crib. I snuck him in there a couple of nights and he had a fit. We're worried he's going to hurt himself. The longest we let him cry was about an hour. He's been sleeping in our bed so that we can get some sleep. I don't know what to do with him. He got up when I got up at 4:45 this morning. He was so upset that I was leaving for work. DH put him back in his crib and he screamed. He finally got him and told him that if he was going to cry, he wasn't allowed in our bed. He stopped crying immediately and they got back to sleep for about an hour. I'm going to ask the doctor how to handle it. Crying it out is not an option. We still haven't taken the rail off his crib to try that out. He simply doesn't want to be in his crib.

Well, have a great weekend everyone! I'm going to try to sneak out early!

[HRJ]

Happy 4th of July!

And if I don't get back to this thread by tomorrow, Happy Birthday Brenden!

Nori, sorry you had such a rotten day with the car. That 5-minute policy at the doctor's is way too strict -- I think they should at least make it 15 minutes, and reduce it to 5 minutes for those who are constantly late. But how cute that Noah offered to let you play with his car!

Joanne, that campout in the backyard sounds like so much fun.

Leigh, thanks for posting the pictures. I also don't know any of the "newer" Disney characters -- meaning, any that came along since I was a kid! ;) But I'm sure I'll be learning.

Victor's birthday was so much fun, for all of us. Farmland was an absolute blast -- I wish all of you could take a trip to Boston, so we could take all the kids there.

Victor loved, loved, loved it!! You get to go right into the pens and feed, brush and pet the animals, most of whom are babies, and very gentle. Victor wasn't scared of the animals at all -- he went right up to them. He did indeed get to pet a cow -- in fact, we had to visit the cow pen three times, and when it was time to leave, he kept crying, "More cow!! More cow." Before we got there, I figured we'd stay for about two hours, because that often seems to be how much Victor can take of something -- we were there for 4 1/2 hours, and Victor cried and cried when it was time to leave (mostly because Mama and Daddy were exhausted ;) ). I knew it would be hard getting him out of there.

In addition to the animals, they had several playgrounds with really good equipment, lots of climbing stuff; a sand pit where you can dig for "dinosaur bones"; a big wooden train you could pretend to ride; lots of real farm equipment, like tractors, that the kids could climb on and pretend to ride -- we didn't even get to try everything. They even have a "racetrack" for toddlers, that uses Little Tykes riding toys!

I brought Victor's bathing suit, but, as I suspected, he didn't want to go to the water park -- it sure looked tempting to DH and I. Maybe next time.

The other great thing about this place was that it was completely geared for kids under 8, in every way -- at no point were you not within sight of a restroom; the restrooms were clean with lots of changing stations and child-size toilets; at no point were you not within sight of a snack-shack, especially good when we ran out of the water that we had brought; there were hand-washing stations and dispensers with hand-sanitizing stuff all over, so kids and parents could clean their hands after touching the animals. There was also a picnic area, so you could bring your own food -- I didn't realize that ahead of time, so we ate at the "cafe," which actually had decent food, although, of course, the offerings were limited to "kid-friendly" stuff. Next time, though, I'll bring a picnic. Oh, and they had fantastic fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Here's something I'm almost embarrassed to admit: Victor ate a small handful of animal food. :o :eek: I made him spit it out, or at least as much as he could, when I saw what he was doing -- DH said it would have been OK to let him swallow it. (What is it about men? :confused: ) I was kinda freaked out -- but finally decided if the food was really poisonous to little kids, they wouldn't be dispensing it at a place like Farmland. Victor seems to be fine this morning, so I guess it did him no harm. (Although I'm a little annoyed that he often turns his nose up at the healthy, tasty food that I make for dinner, and then proceeds to eat cow chow! Ugh.)

I was too tired to cook when we got home, so we got take-out burgers from a new place here in town, "Krazy Karry's." It's sort of like a swankier version of Friendy's. Not sure if it's part of a chain -- has anyone else heard of it?

Today I think we're going to go to our little town beach, which is only a couple of blocks from here. It's on a manmade pond, not the ocean. I doubt Victor will want to go in the water, but I think he'll like playing in the sand.

Tonight, there's a park here in town where they broadcast the Boston Pops annual 4th of July concert on a giant screen. You can also see the Boston skyline (in real life) from the park, so when they set off the fireworks after the concernt, you can see them for real, and also on the screen -- it's kind of weird, because the ones on the screen are delayed by about 3 seconds. We've had fun going there in the past, but were thinking it would be too late for Victor to be up and out -- but now, we're wondering if maybe we should go.

I've gone on long enough, I think.

Have fun today!!

Helene

[tbb113]

Helene:
Farmland sounds great. Glad you all had a good time. As long as you or your husband can carry Victor if he falls asleep, I personally would go to the fireworks. I LOVE fireworks and am disappointed if I don't see them :o I know that when the boys were little, we took them all the time and just dealt with a sleeping kid if we had to. The artwork the next day at preschool is usually full of 'fireworks' :D And please tell Victor "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" from all of us.

Susan:
Hope Brendan has a great birthday as well

Tyra

[JoanneOR]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Brenden and Victor!! Sounds like a great time at farmland, Helene. I'm sure Victor will be begging to go back there soon!

We had a pretty quiet 4th. I'm actually sick again. Am I too old to have my tonsils out?? I'm only half kidding. My throat is sore and looks horrible. I had some amoxicillin so I started taking that. I also have a fever. I so hope I don't pass this on to anyone else in the family. Particularly Caitlyn. We've got three weeks until surgery. Hopefully if she gets it, it'll be soon and she'll get better soon. I can't deal with another cancellation. But, anyway, DH took the boys to a party a friend of his from work had. I stayed home since I wasn't feeling good. They got home around 8:30 and we sat outside with some neighbors. There are tons of fireworks going on around here. The boys enjoyed them; Caitlyn was asleep. Maybe next year for her.

Helene, I'm sure the "cow chow" wouldn't harm Victor. When we had a dog and Jameson was little, he would try to eat the dog's food. I know, gross! He probably actually ate a couple pieces. He didn't suffer any ill effects. I know what you mean, you struggle to get them to eat something healthy, but they have no problem eating animal food!

Hope everyone had a good holiday!

[nori]

Helene, that farmland sounds like so much fun! I wish we all could get together there with picnic potluck or something..Would be so much fun! Just curious, how much was admission? That's funny about Victor eating cow chow.:eek: Maybe you can tell him that dinner you make is really for cows or other animals? He might eat them then.:p

Never heard of that restaurant around here. Isn't take-out great when you're not in mood for cooking?

Happy Belated birthday Victor!!!

Susan, Happy birthday to Brenden!!! And congratulations to your DH's niece. Hope you had fun at the party.
Sorry to hear about Brenden's sleeping struggle. Letting him cry an hour must be unbearable!!:( The longest I did when Noah was still infant was 40 min. and it felt like eternity. And he didn't stop crying. Now I might let him cry if I know he's sooo tired, but he's usually sleeping after 5 or 10 min. of crying. Nothing I can say to help except maybe you should convert the crib to the bed??? Does he have anything he's attached to it(Toys, stuffed animals?)so he can snuggle with? Maybe your doctor would give you better advice.

Leigh, the ID tag is a great idea!!! I was thinking that's Disney passport.:o

Kim, don't worry, I couldn't recognize a lot of those characters either. I guessed those bears, but wasn't sure until Leigh mentioned it here. Yes, our time is coming.:p Aren't you excited??:D

Joanne, my DH said he had a camping in his backyard when he was a kid (with his daddy) and loved it. Sounds like fun!

Julia, how often Abigail goes to school?? Did you decide to have her there to give yourself some time with new baby? Hope you're doing well.

About my hospital's appointment rules.....I have a feeling if I didn't call them up and just showed up on that day, say 10 min. later or even 15 min., chances are, they'd take me in. Last months I had an accident on the way and was 1 hour late but I could still get to see the doctor. But then, that was when she was running late, too, so maybe that was exception. (and I WAS in the accident...) Most of the time, we'd be called promptly without waiting but once or twice I had to wait for long time, because of emergencies.

This weekend was nice. I don't think I mentioned it here before, but I was in the process of getting my citizenship here and last month I finally got approval from INS. So last Friday was Oath Ceremony. We had 444 candidates who sworn in that day, mostly from Mexico due to the location. (It was like more than 90 percent was from there) Anyway, DH took a day off and brought Noah to the ceremony. I am really excited to get to vote this year!!

For tonight, we planned to have a cookout with several friends. One family had her parents in town so they were supposed to bring 4 adults and 2 kids. But they called in Saturday morning to cancel it.:mad: The reason was because her parents didn't want to come, and her DH said they should all stay in if they were not coming.:confused: My DH was upset because this wasn't the first time for them to cancel at the last moment. We've been trying to have them over here but everytime they came up with some sort of reasons. Granted, some of them were because kids got sick, but they just didn't seem to be eager to come here to spend time with us. DH and her husband are coworkers, but they really don't get along in private. That's too bad, since we get along and kids do, too. Anyway, so we had this cancellation and ended with just a small party. But we had fun. There will be fireworks in town but this year we'll stay in. Noah's alreay sleeping, and I'm too tired to drive overthere and deal with tons of people. As I type I can hear the fireworks. Happy 4th of July!!!!!!

Oh, Joanne, I just noticed you posted. Hi!:) Sorry you're feeling sick.:( Must be hard not to pass it on to anyone in the family. Or if you have to, do it early so Caitlyn'll be fine by the surgery date.(Half joking! Hope no one else gets sick.) Please take care of yourself!!!

[lhall]

Happy Birthday Brendan & Victor!!!!

Helene,
Farmland sounds like it was a blast. I did laugh at Victor eating animal food.

Susan,
Congrats to your neice.

Nori,
Congrats on getting your citizenship. I know that's a long process. Happy Voting. :D :D

Joanne,
I do hope you are feeling better soon.

We just hungout at the pool with some neighbors yesterday then did fireworks. We had a great time, but poor Mariel was worn out by spending 3 hours in the pool. She even fell asleep during the fireworks.

Leigh

[JoanneOR]

Nori, wow, congratulations on your citizenship! That is so great! How long have you lived in this country? Were you born in Japan? How exciting to get to vote this year. That's too bad about your friends cancelling. I have a friend that I used to work with that I am always trying to get together with. She always winds up cancelling at the last minute, so I know how you feel!

I am feeling better. My throat is still sore, but I don't feel so sick anymore. It's pretty inevitable Caitlyn will get this. I remembered she was drinking out of my straw the day I started to get sick. I'm thinking of calling her doctor to see if we can put her on antibiotics just in case.

I took the kids to the zoo today. I'm glad I did. I wasn't feeling too great, but I was OK once we got there. DH stayed home to sleep so I was on my own. I was hoping it wouldn't be too crowded since alot of people go away for this weekend. Well, it seems like everyone else thought the same way because it was packed! We still had fun, though. It was neat because the last time we went Caitlyn was too young to really appreciate it too much. This time she loved it. She got really excited about the monkeys. The lions seemed to scare her, though.

Susan, hope Brenden's sleeping improves soon. So, is he pretty much sleeping in your bed all the time now? That's hard. Maybe the big bed would work. This might not be the same at all, but we've been having problems with Caitlyn eating. We put her in her high chair and she refuses to eat; just screams to get out. Finally, I said she really doesn't need to be in the chair; why can't she just sit in a big chair at the table. So, I tried it and she was so happy. She ate much better. I think she just felt left out and wanted to be at the table like everyone else. Best part is, now I can get rid of the high chair! We can use the room in the kitchen.

OK, better go get to bed. Back to work tomorrow.

[MrsReber]

Blech, back at work. So very tired. The weekend was lots of fun. On Friday night, we took the kids to see our town fireworks. We went to an overpass where I saw lots of cars gathering last year. It was a perfect spot. There was no loud noise because of where we were and you could see the fireworks perfectly. Casey was half asleep, even though she was the one who insisted we go. Brenden just kept saying "stars, mommy!" and his eyes were so big. Too cute.

On Saturday, we took the kids fishing in the rowboat (DH has an electric motor). I can't believe we were on the lake for almost 3 hours. We ate lunch in the boat. Casey caught about 10 fish. Brenden caught 2, but he was much more interested in reeling in his line. They both passed out when we got home.

On Sunday, we had the birthday party for DH's neice's baby. DH was very disappointed that his family made no mention of Brenden's birthday, even though SIL told us on Memorial Day that they would do a little something for him, too. The kids did have fun. They went all out and had a ton of people there. We were there for about 6 hours (way past my limit). We got home and the kids were so wound up that they wouldn't sleep. Casey ended up having a fit and she went to sleep crying.

The new baby was back in the hospital Friday night, which was supposed to have been his first night home. DH's neice happened to be in his room when he stopped breathing. The doctor said he's got a bad reflux problem. He's being released today, but he'll be on a machine for 3 months to make sure he's breathing while he sleeps. DH's neice is breastfeeding so she's been running around like crazy.

Monday, my family came over for dinner and cake. My mom got Brenden a Thomas the Tank Engine track from Barnes and Noble. I told her he'd love it and he sure does. My brother and SIL got him a little camping set- tent, sleeping bag, flashlight, compass and chair. He was really excited about that. The tent is in our living room. My kids and my niece played in it the whole time they were there. I tried to get them to go to sleep in it. I was hoping maybe the tent would get Brenden out of our bed. No such luck.

Nori, congrats on your citizenship! How exciting and what a great reminder to the rest of us not to take our rights for granted with voting!

Helene, sounds like a great place. I would love to go with the kids. That would be awesome.

Joanne, sorry you're not well! I hope you're feeling better soon. And no, I don't think there's any age limit on having your tonsils out. However, I think they try to not do that as often. It IS worse as you get older. My friend had her's our when she was in her 20's and it was awful.

This Friday, I'm leaving early to go to DH's company picnic on Friday. Then DH is going on a fishing trip Saturday and I'm taking the kids to a birthday party (the mom said Brenden could come, too!). I found out on Saturday that my MIL is staying for 2 whole weeks :eek: ! I knew she was coming on Thursday. SIL wants us to all have dinner Thursday night. I think DH may go, but he agrees that it's too much on a weeknight and the kids need to get back into a semi-routine. They had a pretty busy weekend. No nap yesterday!

Well, gotta run to the gym. I am so tired. I hope this wakes me up!

[RunnerKim]

Happy Birthday Victor and Brenden and Congratulations on your Citizenship, Nori!

Helene - Farmland sounds amazing! I'd love to take Lainey there, she'd be thrilled. I wouldn't worry about the cow chow. Now if it were snake chow..

susan sounds like a great weekend. Being out on the lake in a boat is quite a treat (at least it seems like it to me). What fun for the family. The camping gift sounds pretty cool. I have lots of great memories about camping/sleeping in the backyard (or other parts of the house).

Joanne, I'm sorry you're not feeling so well and I really hope Caitlyn doesn't catch it. Glad you enjoyed the zoo despite the crowds.

Lainey liked our little fireworks a lot. My sister bought some small ones and we set them off in front of the house. She kept saying Wow and More More. She didn't like the last couple that screamed. We did those when it was just starting to get dark - the neighborhood really started up around 10pm. Maybe next year we'll go to one of the big displays.

Yesterday we went hiking to a place that had a lot of wildflower. It was a steeper climb than I anticipated so it was a good thing the view was worth it. Lainey really enjoyed the different colors and would point out the purple flowers (her favorite color). She knows purple, blue, green, and brown and is close on red, orange, yellow, white and pink.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, I'm impressed that Lainey knows that many colors! Casey still gets confused with black, gray and brown, but she's got the rest of them down.

Nori, I forgot to mention yesterday that having Noah's party a little bit after your due date is probably a good idea- especially after I saw what DH's neice went through last weekend with her new baby. She did have her mom there to run the show, but she probably would have been a bit more relaxed if her son wasn't at the hospital. She was also in a little pain between her milk coming in and the normal pain of delivery.

Well, back to work.

[HRJ]

Nori, congratulations on your citizenship!! :) That's very cool. I hope your dealings with INS went smoother than ours did when we were adopting Victor -- the first time we sent our paperwork in to them, they lost it!! :mad:

Joanne, hope you're feeling better soon. Maybe the doctor will agree to some antibiotics for her.

Susan, your weekend sounded like a lot of fun -- but, I just cannot believe that your DH's family didn't acknowledge Brenden's birthday !! :mad: Sorry, but that's just so ungracious.

Kim, I remember a while back, you were talking about wanting alphabet stuff that had upper- and lower-case letters. I saw a very nice foam puzzle made by Laurie that includes both -- I know Lainey's a little too young for that right now, but you might want to keep your eyes open for it, or check out their website. I like Laurie toys.

We went to the town beach Sunday -- they call it the "Rez," because it's at the site of a former reservoir. Victor had a great time, although he refused to go in the water. We ran into a mom we know from our Guatemala group, and her son, who is 18 months, was running and splashing in the shallow water -- I'm hoping that if Victor watches the other kids enough, he'll venture in sometime before the summer is over.

Decided not to take Victor to see the fireworks -- glad we didn't, because they didn't set them off until 11 p.m., even though it was dark by 9. (Since the Boston fireworks are broadcast on national TV, I think they were waiting until it was prime-time on the West Coast. No offense to the West Coasters, but it really annoys me when things have to wait until practically the middle of the night here on the East Coast, so the networks can go live in the West -- why can't they do tape delays?)

Anyway, we watched on TV. Turns out, it didn't occur to us that Victor had no idea what we meant when we told him we were going to watch "fireworks" -- he thought we were going to watch firefighters working on firetrucks! :D (Actually, that was a pretty logical assumption, if you've never heard the word "fireworks" before.) So he was very disppointed, and a little upset -- here we are, pointing at the flashing stuff on the screen, saying, "Look! Look!" and he's going, "Firetrucks!! Where firetrucks???" :rolleyes:


Helene

[Julia1Pin]

Joanne - Nicole is great. She's growing like a weed. She's 1.5 months now. I can hardly believe it.

Leigh - You should consider selling those name tags at like Babies R Us or something. I'm sure people would buy them.

Helene - Happy Birthday to Victor!

Susan - Happy Birthday Brenden! I tried letting Abigail cry once. Vitaly couldn't handle it and took her out of the crib after 5 or 10 minutes. :rolleyes:

Nori - Congratulations on the citizenship!!! That's one of my earliest memories from childhood, getting my citizenship with my parents when I was 10, in 1085.

Abigail goes to school every day from 9-5. We did it for a couple of reasons - time with new baby, she needs to be around other kids because she loves them so much, structured learning environment, she was going crazy in the house, etc... The first couple of days were way too quiet without her! Now she cries when we pull up to the day care but apparently calms down right away.

[RunnerKim]

Helene - LOL about the firetrucks. Not for poor Victor but I can totally see that happening. Thanks for the tip about Laurie toys, I will certainly check those out.

I think if you keep going to the beach Victor will start splashing around. We've had the same issue with Lainey and we just keep going to the beach and just this last time she was happy to stand in the waves if they didn't go over her ankle. It's helped having a little kiddie pool in the backyards so she's learned the joys of splashing. But at the Children's museum here they have a water room with all sorts of fun contraptions as she's still intimidated by that room but was happy for me to splash or make things work. We haven't been to a lake but I fully expect her to not want much to do with that either right now. So I'm just trying to make sure we get to the water several times a month. The end of the month we're signed up for swim classes and I know she won't be thrilled with the big pool in the beginning either.

Susan - DH and I sometimes disagree on what a color is, so I find it amazing that they ever figure it out. We play the color game a lot with cars while riding the bus and some of those can be pretty tricky. She has brown shoes so that's how brown has become so well known. The problem is she's now asking to wear clothes that are a certain color - mostly purple and she just doesn't have that much purple in this size. I'm tempted to go buy a few more pairs of purple socks so she can have some purple each day. :rolleyes:

Oh and all these new words and she still calls DH mama. Well actually it's often Nana now. Distinctly different from Mama - but still not a D sound. It's really strange. For awhile I think she transitioned from Mama to her own name which she for awhile pronounced Nana. But now she gets the L sound out for her own name but DH is Nana. We've never made an issue of it and I think it's kind of cute, but isn't Nana what some grandmother's are called? Not sure DH will appreciate that too much if she keeps it.

Kim

Julia I was posting at the same time. Glad to hear Nicole is doing well. Are you settling in to the new house? You had a lot of transition all at one time.

[Julia1Pin]

Kim - We moved in right around Halloween and just this past weekend finished decorating the kids room. Nicole's room is pink with butterflies and Abigails is purple with flowers. Abigail has SOOO many toys and books we just bought 2 dressers from Target to fit everything.

Nicole is doing great. we've even put her in the pool twice now. We put in solar heating so the pool is at about 90 usually. Abigail shows absolutely no fear in the water and has a great time. Nicole still isn't sure what to make of it :)

[nori]

Julia, wow Nicole is already one month and half? Thought you just had that baby.:p In one month and half I'm about due for my baby, too. Hard to believe. That's great Abigail enjoys water. Noah doesn't care for it, although he likes bath time and splashing water from the hose. He's just not sure about water in the pool.

Kim, great tips for kids to get used to water. I'll use that, too.:D I think DH kind of planted some fear of water on Noah.....he used to pour water from top of his head to rinse in the bathtub and he hated it. I'm doing bathtime routine now, and I used some bath toys to get him used to water. He's getting better, but not enjoying fully.

Helene, I am not surprised to hear that INS lost your paperwork.:rolleyes: I'd say it's very typical of them. One time I mailed our address change using the specific address and form they mentioned but it never got changed and I was almost in trouble when I found out that here in Arizona. And about this process, when things were slow I wrote them letters to inqire (that was the only way to ask, they said) but all were ignored. Finally DH got mad and he wrote to our Senators. One of them wrote us back saying that he's in process of getting contact with INS regarding my case. Then, things started to move VERY smoothly. It was amazing.
How funny Victor thought fireworks is related to firetrucks. It could happen around here, too.

Susan, sorry to hear that your niece's baby had a hard time. And thanks for the insight about birthday party....if I had someone reliable (like family member) to take care of the whole show, I'd probably schedule it like that, but I just don't see it's possible to ask someone to be responsible for the party here....I really have to start think about it, but then I also need to get ready for this new baby.
So your MIL is going to stay for 2 weeks?? Would she be mad if she didn't get to see her grandkids?? I'm sure you won't miss her, though.:D Sounds like you're going to have a busy weekend again!

Joanne, I've been living here about 5 and half years. So this naturalization process went pretty smoothly (compare to other complicated cases). When I just had alien registration card (which expired after 2 years of recieving it), I had to show up at their office, get a number and wait for 5 or 6 hours (depending on how slow they're doing) just to get one year extension stamp on my passport. I did that twice with Noah, and the first year Noah just hated to be in that building I spent most of my waiting time outside of the building. I even asked them to give me longer stamp, but she said that's impossible. Anyway, now all is well, I'm just happy.:)
Glad to hear that you're feeling well.

Leigh, 3 hours by the pool side! Wow she must be exhausted!! That's the thing about water play I like.....kids get soo excited they'll be knocked out later. That's why I want Noah to get into more water play.:D Plus it's more fun to deal with water than sand when it's above 100 degrees!

We had a playgroup today and it was waterplay. But Noah just said "NO" to the water, so he played with pushing car and other stuff. It looked fun to me....it was just kiddie pool, not the one adult is supposed to get in...but just being the side of water made us feel a bit cool.

Tomorrow our friend is coming over for playdate. She wants to go to the park nearby, but I"m not sure how hot it'll be. If it's not too hot, we can go but we haven't been to that park for weeks now. It's just too hot. If it's cloudy, we might go.

[MrsReber]

Nori, my kids aren't thrilled with pools, either. My SIL is always pushing to get them to play in her pool. I think they get scared because the other kids are pretty rough in the pool and they splash all over the place. They just like to sit on the edge and splash their feet in it. It's quite intimidating since they can't feel the bottom when they're in the pool.

MIL will be here tomorrow. I doubt I'm going to the dinner at SIL's house. DH may take a day off work to go fishing with his mom, but she must know that we work so we can't be lounging around with her for 2 whole weeks. 2 weeks- yikes! Well, that's this weekend and next weekend. I'm sorry, but we have plans until Sunday so I really don't know if she'll get to see the kids until then. She called at 11:10 the other night to complain to DH about how her teeth hurt and she had an emergency root canal and (of course) she has no dental insurance and doesn't know how she's going to pay for all of this. I said "did she ask you for money?" DH replied "not yet, but she's setting me up." Bad timing for her. DH's company is switching them from weekly paychecks to bi-monthly so he's not going to get paid for 3 weeks.

Brenden was not himself yesterday. The daycare almost called me because he was very clingy and crying. They say he NEVER cries there. I wish that was true at home! They also told me he was pulling on his ear. I think it's his teeth more than anything. I really doubt he has an ear infection now that he has his tubes. He can still get one, but the doctor said we'd notice right away because there would be drainage. When we got home from daycare, I gave him 2 motrin (love those chewables!) and he was much better within about 10 minutes. Something must have been hurting my little guy. I ran into this mom that I haven't seen in a while. Her daughter is one of Casey's "best" friends. Her kids were with her ex for 2 weeks so she was practically in tears when she picked them up last night. She missed them so much. She told me that her ex said he wants to fight her for full custody! I feel so bad for her. I pray that doesn't happen. She's so nice. Her ex is a jerk. She was 3 months pregnant when she found out he cheating on her! He's an alcoholic and he was physically abusive to her. The only thing is that he's got lots of money to fight. Her parents told her they'd take out a second mortgage if they had to. I pray that doesn't happen to her.

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone.

Happy belated birthday to Brendan and Victor.

Helene, Farmland sounds like this little petting zoo by my mom's house. Its a free petting zoo/little farm done in memory of a police woman who died in the line of duty. Garrett loved it there. He especially liked to watch the ducks. I'm sure that cow chow is not too bad for Victor. I'm sure it was made out of corn or oats and some molasses (sp). When I was in grad school I did some quality consulting and spent some time at Hills Pet Products. I do know that dog and cat food is at the same standards as human food in regards to cleanliness.

Leigh, great idea about the name tags. I'm in the process of making Garrett and his friends ones now. We're taking Garrett to Chattanooga to the acquarium and children's museum with his friends for the next few days.

Susan, I don't know what to say about Brendan's sleeping problems. Do you think if you made the crib into a big bed and let him have a voice in what kind of sheets he would like it would work. Since he's two, I bet he'd do well in a big bed. That said, I hope Garrett stays in his crib for as long as possible.

Kim, Garrett knows several of his colors too. Although I think he plays a game with me testing me on the colors. I think he intentially messes them up to get my attention. He knows green, white, blue, red, pink, and purple. Black, brown, and grey confuse him.

DH is having car trouble, so I'm without a car today. I had to meet my cousin at the mall so Garrett and I took Marta (the train). It's a mile walk to the station and then I had to ride 2 stops. I think it took me longer than if I would have walked to the mall.

I got a whole new wardrobe on Saturday. My cousin ordered a bunch of Liz Clairborne clothes for me using her discount. I really needed some new things. I started to clean out my closet and filled up 3 bags of things that don't fit me or I just don't wear anymore. I still have a lot more things to go through.

Today, one of the neighbors is having a party at 4:00. Garrett and I will probably try to make it down. He fell asleep in the stroller on the way home from the train station. Hopefully, he'll get a good nap in today. Lately, he's been playing in his bed for a long time before his nap and bedtime. Then he gets made when I wake him up at 5:00 pm.

Nori, I remember you posted about Noah's rash around his mouth. Garrett's dr said that if the rash is strictly around the mouth then it is likely to be related to excess saliva instead of a food allergy. Garrett had it when he was getting his molars and I thought he might be allergic to something. We were there for something else and she took a look at it as said for me to put some petroleum jelly or A&D ointment. She also said not to put any cortizone cream on it.

Joanne, sorry to hear you are sick. Get well soon.

Cheryl

[lhall]

Finally, success, if it leaks I'm going to hurt it (badly)!!!!

Today has been my first (and last) day spent as a plumber! What moron decided it would be best to install the pipe to the shortest connection on the faucet control last? GRRR:mad: :mad: I had to unassemble part of the faucet and pull everything up through the hole in the counter to get the spray thing's hose attached.

Don't even get me started on the water filter.

Ok, so my new counters & sinks are in, they are beautiful. All the sinks & the water filter now work, but it wasn't fun getting them that way.

Cheryl,
I did the name tags in Word and too the pictures with our digital camera. I think I was able to do at 10 point font and get them the same size as a credit card. I used some self-laminating sheets to make them waterproof. It was pretty easy to do.

Have fun at the aquarium and children's museum. We went when Ginger was 2 and she had a great time. We had lunch at the children's museum since they served BP&J. :D :D

Susan,
((((Hugs)))) For your friend, I hope things work out well for her. Good luck with your MIL. I hope Brendan starts sleeping in his own room soon, it does sound like he's ready for a big boy bed.

Leigh

[RunnerKim]

Cheryl - Lainey will do the same thing with purposefully doing/saying the wrong thing. She does this a lot with puzzles. When she asks for help on something, we'll often point to the wrong thing and say is this one yellow? point to another, Is this one yellow? until we point to the correct one, so maybe she got the idea from us. She also likes to call things purple and then say the correct color. I think she just wants the whole world to be purple (or just likes saying the word). The new wardrobe sounds fabulous!

Julia - isn't it amazing how much stuff these little kids collect! Are you able to pass Abigail's stuff/toys down to Nicole or is she too possessive of it?

Leigh - sounds like all your hard work has paid off. I'll admit to not quite following what you had to fix but it certainly sounds like it was a real pain in the patootie to do!

Susan, I hope Brenden is feeling better. I hope your friend's custudy sitatuion doesn't turn ugyl. I'm betting he's just threatening though.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Thanks for the good wishes for my friend. She said he wants custody so he doesn't have to pay her child support! He's a rat.

Kim, Brenden says everything is purple, too! I think maybe because Casey likes purple. She's trying to teach him colors and corrects him when he says the wrong one. I'm betting he picks up pretty quickly. He's already counting to 10 because Casey likes to count things. She knows her numbers in writing, too. We're working on letters now. I wonder if Brenden will pick up on that sooner since Casey is learning.

DH may get the kids early today so his mom can see them. Yes, it's "B" Day. (her name is Betty). I told him that was fine, but he should go after nap time so they are not crabby from being woken up. I told him that I will meet him over at SIL's house and we WILL leave by 9:00 since we have his company picnic tomorrow. He seemed to think it'd be a good idea to keep them up late and then wake them up early (at 5:00, as I'm leaving for work) so that they'd want to nap before the picnic (it's at 12:00). Men can be so silly. I told him they need to go to bed early and then sleep late because I seriously doubt they'll nap that early in the morning. I do wonder about that man. The kids get very wound up when we're out and they tend to stay up later so I figure if we're home by 9:00, it'd be reasonable to get them to bed by 10:00. Besides, if they stay up late, guess who stays up with them?

I went home early last Friday because of the holiday. It was about 4:00 when I walked in. DH was taking a nap while the kids were playing in the living room. I told him that was unacceptable to me. He thought I should relax, after all, he had all the doors locked so they couldn't get out of the house. Was I being too protective? I'm thinking not, but I'm actually thinking it over and wondering. In my mind, if the kids are up, an an adult needs to be awake with them- especially at ages 2 and 3.

[tbb113]

Susan:
Regarding the friend with the custody...if he does have a drinking problem, why does he have them at all? I seriously can't see a court granting physical custody to someone with a drinking problem. And he can't honestly believe its cheaper to have the kids than it is to pay child support? SHEESH! some men!

Regarding DH napping...that is a hard call. My youngest didn't sleep well at night. There was MANY a night when he was two/three that he would get up, put a video in the VCR and watch TV by himself at 3am. I sure wasn't staying awake with him! As long as your husband was in the room and would hear a problem (crying, thuds, etc) I personally wouldn't freak out about a nap. Wouldn't you love it if the kids could entertain themselves if they woke up at 6am on a Saturday so you could sleep? But keep in mind...my kids are 3 years apart and its been awhile since they have been that young. Bottom line...you need to do what makes you comfortable.

[MrsReber]

Good point, Tyra. I admit that I have fallen asleep a few times before the kids did. I guess I feel they're less likely to do harm at night. They won't go into a dark room (can't reach the light switch!)and it's dark outside so they won't go out there. They will usually just hang out in the living room. During the daylight hours, however, they have been known to go into Casey's room our our bedroom and get into all kinds of trouble (drawing in pen on my bedspread, playing in my makeup, finding nail polish and putting it on, dumping things in the toilet) We do have to leave the bathroom door open, too, so Casey can go in when she needs to.

She's doing great, by the way. No more accidents. I guess the school transition messed her up for those couple of days. She has not had one accident at night since I talked to her about wearing underwear to bed. I'm actually very surprised. I had no hand in it at all, other than talking to her, but she gets up at night to use the bathroom all on her own. We put a night light in there just for her. No more buying pull ups for night time!! I'm so proud of her. We're going to buy more books this weekend. :D I guess we both get something out of that deal. I sure do love the bookstore.

Tyra, I laughed about that, too- to think that having a child in your home costs less than paying a set monthly fee. Ha ha ha!

DH emailed me. He said he's going to get the kids, but wait for me at home. I knew he wouldn't want to have to watch both kids by himself at SIL's house. They can get themselves into lots of trouble there. I'm going to be standing and running all evening. Good exercise, though!

My BIL (sister's husband) had a bad accident at work yesterday. My sister left my mom a message on her answering machine yesterday so my mom called me to see if I heard from her. BIL is a machinist. He got his hand caught in a machine. It cut through his pinky, his ring finger, and his middle finger. Unfortunately, they couldn't save his pinky, but the doctor is optomistic about his other fingers. It happened before lunch yesterday and because the stupid hospital didn't transfer him quickly enough, they were unable to re-attach his pinky. My sister is looking into suing them. Not that she's greedy and wants money, but if my BIL's hand doesn't heal properly, he's not going to be able to go back to his trade. It took the hospital hours to transfer him to the university hospital (they're in NC). When they got there, the woman at the hospital told my sister that her first call would be to a lawyer. The doctor even noted that if they had acted quickly, he would've had a much better chance. He literally sat there with his hand like that for 6 hours!!! He wasn't in surgery until 5:30 last night. I'm surprised they sent him home today. He's all doped up. His wedding ring actually saved him. The blade hit his ring and it forced his hand back out. Probably would've been even worse. Poor guy. I wish I were closer so I could help. :( I need to send a little something.

[RunnerKim]

Susan - that's awful about your BIL :(

I've been thinking about your question about DH napping. I've done it once or twice many months ago with Lainey but that was well before she could get in to things like she can now and I could more easily create a safe zone. He had the house locked and the kids were doing fine, so maybe as long as he'd wake up if they needed him. I can see why you were uncomfortable with it too. I'm mostly jealous that your DH could do this.

I figured Casey was doing fine with the potty training since you hadn't reported any more accidents. That's great news.

Kim

[nori]

Susan, I have to admit I fell asleep while playing with Noah on the floor several times.:o About a few minutes, though, and those power naps really helped to refresh me at that time. (Whatever I can do to catch up on sleep now!!) Noah's pretty good at playing by himself for a while. And he'd rather wake me up than doing something mischevious if he's bored. (So far...I know I can't count on that forever!) I'd say it's unacceptable if DH sleeping in the bed, kids in the different room. If he was in the same room as kids, and as long as he can wake up when he heard some noise, I'd say it's okay. But those things depend on families and kids. You just have to draw the borderline. From what you posted, sounded like he was in the different room from kids so that'd upset me a bit, too.

So sorry to hear about your BIL.:( How awful. I wonder what took them so long to transfer him to the big hospital?? Sounds like they'll need a lot of support....I know how you feel, being so far away you feel so helpless. Sending something small or even a phone call they'd appreciate, I think. Hope his hand heals good enough to use the machinery again.

Yay Casey on completeing toilet training!!! Congratulations to you that you can buy less diapers from now on.:D Have fun at the bookstore. Oh, and how's Brenden doing now??

Leigh, impressive you'd done plumber work!! I"m jealous of your new counter and sink!!! My kitchen would appreciate some remodeling if it's possible. We have a plan (or dream), but not sure when it's going to happen. Hopefully soon.

Cheryl, thanks for the comment on the rash. It was around his mouth plus a bit on the cheek where the toast touched. That's why I suspected it....I gave him a toast in little pieces the other day (buttered) and he was okay. I have a sensitive skin, so maybe he has one, too?? New wardrobe sounds wonderful! That reminded me I have to go through my closet to sort things out, too....

Noah woke up from his nap after 1 hour and half and it wasn't enough for him so he was cranky after that for about an hour. I tried to put him back to sleep, but he didn't. Why can't they try to sleep when they're tired???:rolleyes:

[lhall]

Susan,
I've also fallen asleep while the kids were playing. In all cases I was in the same room with them, and just couldn't stay awake any longer. I wasn't sound asleep, just a short nap. If anything had happened I'm sure your DH would have woken up.

I'm glad Casey's not having anymore accidents. I wish Mariel weren't. She's having trouble adjusting to being at home. Some weeks are great, and others are terrible.

(((Susan's BIL & Family))) I'm so sorry to hear your BIL, but I am glad that they were able to same some of his fingers. Good thing he had that wedding band on!!!

Well, I found out that I had the sprayer & the faucet supply lines backwards so I had to get back under the sink and do more plumbing. We still don't have good pressure on the hot water, but I'm going to let DH fix that! :D I'd never done plumbing before.

Leigh

[MrsReber]

Leigh, I applaud your plumbing efforts! I don't like it much, either. Our toilet in our newly remodeled bathroom leaks. It leaks because DH doesn't want to call a plumber, but he knows he can't fix it himself :rolleyes: . We got our driveway paved yesterday for much less than I thought it'd be. The guy approached DH as he was taking the kids to daycare. He fixed all the tree roots that were messing up the driveway. It does look good, especially with our new siding. It's still not enough to make me want to stay!

Well, DH got the kids early yesterday. When I got home, I figured I'd get changed and then we'd go to SIL's house for dinner. However, DH couldn't reach SIL. He called her phone, her store, her cell phone, his other sisters. He tried until a little after 6:00. Noboby knew where SIL and MIL were so he got pretty angry and went by his other sister's house. Poor Casey was asking why she wasn't going to see her grandma. She was looking forward to it. How do I explain these insane people to my daughter? Around 8:00, the phone rang. It was MIL, asking where we were. Seems SIL cancelled the dinner plans, but failed to tell everyone else. DH's brother stopped by to see MIL and she wanted DH to run over there. He said he was sorry, but it was just too late and someone should have called him sooner. Poor DH. I said "just think, you have 2 weeks of this ahead of you!"

I'm leaving at 10:45 this morning (1/2 day) to take the kids to DH's company picnic. I hope there's other kids there. DH said that most of the guys he knows aren't going. They're mad because they have to take a half day of vacation to go or take the time without pay. They can't really justify all these contractors getting paid for a picnic, though. They are technically paid by the government and the taxpayers would have a fit. Oh well. I'm just glad to be getting out of here early for a fun afternoon with the family. It's supposed to be pretty nice out, too!

Leigh, good luck with the sink!

Thanks for the thoughts on sleeping. I couldn't decide if I was being unreasonable or not. I guess I was. And, as someone said, maybe I was just a bit jealous! If I ever tried to sleep during the day with the kids in the room, they'd be waking me up every 2 seconds. As it is, they tell me to wake up when I'm falling asleep at 9:00pm! "Wake up, mommy! Wake up!" Brenden woke me up like that last weekend. He was sleeping next to me for a few hours and then started saying "wake up!" We go to the doctor first thing Monday morning for his 2 year check up. DH wants me to take the day to go fishing with him and MIL, but I told him no.

[RunnerKim]

Susan - I hope you understood that *I* was jealous that your DH (and probably mine too) could sleep when the kid(s) are awake (not that I was saying that you were). It'd never last long for me either.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm taking off early today too so that I can go home and finish loading the car and then picking DH and Lainey up and off to the coast for a camping trip. We're going with people from our CL supper club so we'll eat well :D Of course that also meant I was up way later than I usually am trying to get everything together.

For the past several nights Lainey has just not been going to sleep at her normal time (and of course last night I was antsy to get stuff done). I think it's too light in her room so am going to have DH try to rig something up. And no matter what time she goes to sleep she still wakes up at the same time - 3 minutes before the alarm goes off (this really "annoys" DH).

Susan - LOL at least your ILs are predictable! Glad you didn't plan to just meet at SILs.

Leigh, I'm doubly impressed with your plumbing work now that you've said you've never done it before. Hopefully it's all fixed now.

Well Lainey's transition to the toddler room is almost complete. I dropped her off in that room this morning. She really loves how the sink is set up since it's all toddler sized and the water is motion-detector. Unfortunately the soap is also accessible and she really likes bubbles. :eek: It's a different world in this room though - DH (and Lainey) witnessed one boy just slug another boy - toy possession issues. The poor teacher was in the middle of changing a diaper of course (and the other 2 with with the rest of the kids outside). Lainey just watched with big eyes apparently. The level of interaction (both good and bad I guess) is certainly higher in this room/age.

I'm really sad from a friend - a mom in my playgroup has come do with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. I gather is a farely rare virus that came on after she had the flu recently but basically she's paralyzed in several parts of her body so that she needs help being moved in bed and being fed etc. I'm not sure if she can even speak much as part of her face is paralyzed. The doctor's are optimistic that it's temporary and should be gone within 6 months. But holy cow! I'd never heard of this before. She's still in the hospital and her daughter (Lainey's age - 21 months) is freaked out by the tubes and mostly just wants to run up and down the hallways. OMG I just can't imagine. :(

Kim

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by RunnerKim
I'm really sad from a friend - a mom in my playgroup has come do with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. I gather is a farely rare virus that came on after she had the flu recently but basically she's paralyzed in several parts of her body so that she needs help being moved in bed and being fed etc. I'm not sure if she can even speak much as part of her face is paralyzed. The doctor's are optimistic that it's temporary and should be gone within 6 months. But holy cow! I'd never heard of this before. She's still in the hospital and her daughter (Lainey's age - 21 months) is freaked out by the tubes and mostly just wants to run up and down the hallways. OMG I just can't imagine. :( Kim

Kim, my heart really goes out to your friend and her family. When I was in junior high our next door neighbor had this. They had a new baby and hired me to help the elderly grandmother care for the baby while the husband was in the hospital recovering. It's been a long time since then, but I remember it being a scary illness because it slowly paralyzes all the systems in your body (including respiratory), then gradually goes away. When our neighbor was out of the hospital he underwent months of rehab to learn how to walk, talk, etc. I know it was a really long haul, but he did make a complete recovery and was able to eventually do everything he had done before Guillain-Barre- work on the house, return to his law practice, etc. I'll keep your friend and her family in my prayers. It's such a frightening thing to have happening.
~Krista

[HRJ]

Kim, hugs to your friend -- how awful. Enjoy your camping weekend.

And Susan, hugs to your sister and BIL. Hope you can make it through your MIL's visit without losing your mind.

I do think it's awful that the employees at your DH's compnay have to use their "own" time to attend a "company" picnic. Personally, as a taxpayer, I don't have a problem with paying employees for a few hours of R&R. There's so much government waste on so many other things, and so many people who pad their own wallets at the public's expense, why not give some hard-working guys a little break?

Leigh, I'm very impressed with your plumbing expertise.

We're going down to New York for four days, to visit my brother and some good friends of ours. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. My friend has a 5-year-old DD, whom I've met before, and a 2-year-old DS, whom I haven't seen yet. And she's never met Victor. So it will be nice to see all the kids together. Aside from going to the Central Park Zoo on Sunday, I'm not sure what our plans are -- guess we'll play it by ear. I grew up in New York, so it's not like we're looking to do the tourist thing.

Helene

[erinl]

Hi guys! Oy, things have been nuts around here. But first...

Kim, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. I can't imagine how awful that would be. It's good to know that she should have a full recovery, but wow, the road is going to be long. Have fun camping.

Helene, have a good trip, too.

Susan, I'm sorry to hear about your BIL. I hope he can continue working after some physical therapy. Good luck the next two weeks with MIL in town. I'm so glad I like my in-laws.

My apologies to everybody else, I can't keep up with all of the posts!

We just got back Monday from spending some time with my family. My nephew was baptized, so the whole family was there. It was a lot of fun and Hanne just adores Daniel. Tuesday Paul left on a business trip. Tuesday evening I started experiencing spotty vision. After about a half hour, I finally called the doctor and she wanted me to come to the hospital. So, I called MIL to come get me. We packed Hanne into the car and off we went. Luckily, I felt well enough to pack a change of clothes for both of us, as well as some toys and books for Hanne. They sent me up to labor and delivery for some testing. Hanne wasn't allowed back in that wing, so MIL had to stay out in the waiting room with her. About 9 we finally got ahold of FIL to come get Hanne and take her home. I got released about midnight. I was a little dehydrated and it was causing me to contract, so they hooked me up to an IV for a while. Anyway, everything is fine. MIL brought us home on Wednesday and stayed until this morning. DH was supposed to be home by now, but his flight was delayed. Wednesday afternoon Hanne dropped a can on her big toe and it bled like crazy. She was really upset, but it looks much better now. I don't think she'll lose the nail. While she was napping this afternoon, I put together her birthday cake. It's shaped like a car. I hope I can decorate it decently. We're celebrating with Paul's family on Sunday, so I baked the cake today. I'll decorate tomorrow.

That's my life. I'm tired. :D

[MrsReber]

Ugh- day 3 of MIL's visit. Not too bad. We didn't see her until this morning (Sunday) DH had to call her up and ask when she wanted to see the kids. She said she could come by for breakfast. She didn't want to do anything Saturday because she said she had heartburn. Okaaaay.

So she comes by this morning from 9:00 - 11:00 and then she had to go because she wanted to go buy some perfume. DH and I had planned to take the kids down to the park. We were going to take the kids out in the boat again for a few hours and then DH was going to fish by himself for a bit while I took the kids to the playground area. Well, MIL called while we were at the store. She left a message saying we were supposed to come for dinner and bring food!!! I'm a bit annoyed that my nice afternoon was cancelled. DH is taking off tomorrow to go fishing with them. I made a comment about how he never takes me out. He told me that I was more than welcome to go with him MIL, SIL and his nephew. I just shook my head and told him I want to spend time alone with HIM, not his family. Besides, Brenden's 2 year appointment is scheduled for Monday morning. I made this appointment before I ever knew MIL was coming to visit. I'm not changing it. I have some questions for the doctor, too.

Please help me get through the next week and a half!!! I'm going to lose my mind if this keeps up. We don't hear from anyone and then they call out of the blue and tell us we're supposed to come over. I told DH there was no way I was going to go out to the store again. I went food shopping at 7:00am so we had breakfast stuff for MIL. I probably wouldn't even mind so much if he'd only show my family the same respect. He could barely find the time to come to Easter dinner at my mom's house and then he ate and ran. Sorry- I just need to vent. When I talk to DH, he thinks I'm being impossible. This is my weekend, too. I was really looking forward to going to the park later.

We went to the birthday party on Saturday. It was really nice. The kids had a great time and Casey got to see a couple of her buddies.

The picnic Friday was fun, but the kids got tired very quickly. We left there around 4:30. I drove DH home. The place had a bunch of kids toys there for them to ride around on. Some of them were old, but they were fun for the kids to play on.

Kim, I hope you're having a great time camping! That's on our list of things to do this summer. Glad Lainey's doing well with the transition. It is a whole new world. It's amazing how much they grow during 2-3. They really turn into kids as opposed to babies. Sharing is a huge issue. The boys tend to be a bit more rough, at least in our experience.

Erin, hope your cake came out nice! I wanted to make a race car cake for Brenden. I found a really cool kit on line from Nascar. It came with all the decorations so it'd look just like one of the race cars. Maybe next year.

A guy I work with had that virus. It was sad. He's got 4 year old twins and it struck him over the Christmas holiday. He was in the hospital on Christmas Day and he did indeed need help learning to walk again. It's such a strange virus.

Time for me to go (ugh!!) We better be home in time for baths! SIL and MIL want the kids to go in the big pool. Casey already told me no and that she wants to bring her sprinkler instead. (big sigh). See everyone tomorrow!!

PS- Kim, have you tried room darkening shades? I can't remember if you have them or not. I put them up in all the bedrooms so we can con the kids into taking naps!

[nori]

Susan, hope you are home by now!! (Well it's around 8:30pm here so you'd better!!!) Sorry to hear that you're dealing with such an impossible in-laws. At least, your MIL comes to see kids! (Remember my FIL???:rolleyes: ) Did you end up cooking/shopping something for dinner? Hang in there! Just think of 1 and half week ahead....she won't be around you anymore!
And not telling us in advance where or when the gathering would be would drive me nuts, too!

Erin, what a busy life you have!!! Glad you're okay, though. Drink tons of water!

Helene, you must be still having fun in New York..? I'm sure Victor is excited to hang out with all those kids!

Kim, camping with CL supper club sounds yummy. What did you guys eat?:D Glad to hear that Lainey's transition went well. What a big step!

Sorry to hear about your friend.:( I've never heard of that virus before. How scary, and how frustrating it will be for her and whole family while she recovers. At least she's expected to be fully recovered, right?

Leigh, hope your DH got to help you with plumbing this weekend.
:D

Nothing exciting around here. It's been just so hot, and since monsoon is coming it's humid, too. Our room temp went up to 87F this afternoon.:eek: I decided not to take a look at the room thermo since it makes me depressed. It was about 102F outside. Swamp cooler cools it down about 20F. But still....DH suggested he might want to change the filter of the unit. That might help. I feel relieved to drive in the car with AC on. How sad is that.:o

How often do you give kids snacks? Noah woke up from his nap around 3:30 and I gave him some animal crackers and milk around 4pm. Then before dinner, DH started to nibble on chips and salsa and of course Noah wanted some. He ate too many chips last night he didn't eat dinner well. So we limited the amount this time. But around 6pm for dinner, he didn't eat anything.:rolleyes: We had some of (used to be ) Noah's favorites but he didn't want them. He didn't even taste it, just licked ketchup on top of it. Anyway, he got down from the chair but came back later while we were still eating asking to get up. So we gave him second chance. But he didn't eat this time either. I'm sure he'd liked it once he tasted it, but he didn't even do that. He wasn't hungry enough, I guess. So we made a rule....no snacks or milk (seems like milk fills him up pretty well) after 3pm until dinner time. But I was just wondering....you know people say you should give them snacks to supplement nutrition, but how often do you give them snacks, and when?

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

[lhall]

Nori,

When the girls were younger they got 3 or 4 snacks a day. Breakfast at 6:30, snack around 10, lunch at 12, snack at 2:30, snack at 4, dinner at 6:30. So they were only going 2-3 hours without eating.

Susan
(((Hugs))) It will all be over soon.

Erin,
I'm glad to hear you are doing well now! The cake sounds cute. Post pictures for us! :D

Leigh

[MrsReber]

We were home by 8:30 last night. Everyone was like "you're leaving before dessert?" and MIL kept saying that she bought ice pops and ice cream for the kids. Too bad. At first, DH wanted me to bring all the bath stuff to SIL's house so we could stay there, but I nixed that idea. I put the kids right into the tub, but they were a bit wound up so they wouldn't fall asleep until after 10:00! Ugh! The fishing trip was rained out today. I'm sure glad I didn't tell my boss I was taking off. DH left the house at 5:30 since they elected him to get to the boat at 6:00. It didn't start raining until 6:30 so he went to work instead.

Nori, I can relate to heat and humidity, but at least it's not 120 here! Wow, that is very hot.

My kids get breakfast between 7-8, then a snack at daycare around 9:00, lunch between 11:30-12:30. After nap time, they get another snack. That's usually 3-4. By the time I'm ready to eat dinner, they're usually starving so I may give them some fruit or cucumbers to munch on before dinner. As long as it's a healthy snack, I don't mind so much if it interferes with dinner.

We had Brenden's appointment this morning. Both kids are tired since they got to bed late and then had to get up at 6:30. Usually I let them sleep as long as they want on Mondays because I enjoy the quiet morning. I'm looking forward to a big nap time this afternoon! Brenden is definitely a tall one! He's 36 1/2 inches tall. His head has always measured in the 95th percentile. I imagine he'll need a big head since he'll most likely be over six feet tall. He weighs 27 1/2 lbs now. He's up .4lbs since he had his tubes in.

I don't think we'll see MIL again until the end of the week or the weekend. DH plans on working late on Friday to make up the time for the picnic last Friday.

Joanne, hope everything is okay!! Back to work.

[jjsooner73]

Originally posted by RunnerKim
I'm really sad from a friend - a mom in my playgroup has come do with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. I gather is a farely rare virus that came on after she had the flu recently but basically she's paralyzed in several parts of her body so that she needs help being moved in bed and being fed etc. I'm not sure if she can even speak much as part of her face is paralyzed. The doctor's are optimistic that it's temporary and should be gone within 6 months. But holy cow! I'd never heard of this before. She's still in the hospital and her daughter (Lainey's age - 21 months) is freaked out by the tubes and mostly just wants to run up and down the hallways. OMG I just can't imagine. :(

Kim

Lurker here....For a class I'm taking, I recently interviewed a man that had this . Just some background info I received from him and from reserach--this strikes 1/100,000 people. Of these, 1% do not make a full recovery. The man I interviewed was one of them. He was paralyzed neck down for nearly a year. Now he has use of his arms and upper body and can walk with a walker, though he generally uses the wheelchair and a service dog. Cause is unknown and it is non-discriminatory.
Anyhow...hope your friend makes a full recovery. :( That is so sad. THe man I spoke with was an AMAZING person in the way he has dealt with this.

[nori]

Susan, just for clarification, it was 102, not 120!!!:D If it's THAT hot, I'll be begging DH to move somwhere else!! 102 was bad enough, with humidity.

We barely stay someone's house until after 8pm when Noah's around. It just doesn't work out. And people understand it. Glad you could come home pretty reasonable time. I guess your in-laws never understand.

Wow Brenden is a tall boy! Noah's head measured 95 percentile, too. He has a big head, too. Too bad your DH has to work to make up for company picnic. It just doesn't seem right.

Hmmmm, I guess I should come up with some healthy snacking...DH likes to munch on chips before dinner (tortilla chips with salsa), or crackers with cream cheese. Not unhealthy, but they're filling.

We're guessing our evaporative cooler (AKA swamp cooler) has some problem....we just don't know so much about it, maybe we're lacking of some sort of maintenance. Last night we had lightning and thunder but rain didn't come. I hate that. Just humidity, not any rain to cool us off. Room temp didn't get any better at night. I had horrible night sleeping, and had some nightmare about AC or cooler or something. I'm going to do some search on the web about evaporative cooler to see if there's something we can do. This unit is pretty new and good one (suppoesd to be...that's what people are saying when they see our unit). Can't be broken or outdated. Must be something about how to take care of it.

Oh Susan, how do your kids eat cucumbers as snack? Do they dip in some sort of dip??

[RunnerKim]

Hi everyone,

I received an email from my friend (with her DH acting as "secretary" so she must be able to talk. She says she's in good spirits considering and that she fully expects to completely recover and hangs on to that. Her legs are completely paralyzed and part of her face. She's looking forward to moving to re-hab but at this point still is in the hospital. It is such a bizarre thing - sounds very soap opera-ish actually.

Nori - that's unbeleivable hot. I'm sweating just reading your post! Here's Lainey's weekday meal schedule. She eats breakfast (normally yogurt) at around 6:30. They serve snack at daycare at 9:30, lunch at 11:30 and afternoon snack at 3. We'll eat dinner around 5:30-6. In the wobbler room they also give a 2nd afternoon snack to the kids that are still there at 4:30-5. Sometimes Lainey would get that snack but we mostly had her picked up just before 4:30 and try to eat dinner shortly after getting home. Now on the weekends this schedule doesn't hold up quite so well and and often she doesn't have an afternoon snack or lunch depending on if she falls asleep before eating lunch (while returning from morning activities). I try to give her an afternoon snack but she's just not interested. Lainey's just never been a frequent eater though (even way back in the breastfeeding days). And i think she's more of a morning eater. Sunday she'll often have 4oz of yogurt before church, she grazes through service on raisins and goldfish and then will eat some pancake or whatever the "real" breakfast is. I only give milk with meals. Daycare will do it with some snacks. I think it is filling. I have some questions around feeding too and need to go back and read Child of Mine again. I'll probably have a few questions once I get a chance to do that.

Susan - argh. Just try to keep in mind that there at least is an end to MIL's visit. She has moved away - this could be your life again :D I'm sad too about your outing - I think they sound like tons of fun and great family time.

Erin - don't apologize about not keeping up with the thread. I think we all understand that it's not always possible nad would much rather hear from you. Glad your better but what a long experience at L&D. The car cake sounds cute.

We had a grea time camping. Now I know why this is one of my coworkers favorite campground. Very beautiful - it's alogn a penisula so you have the ocean on one side and a bay on the other. The weather ended up being fabulous - sunny and 70s which is about as good as it gets for the OR coast. Dinner was great - DH grilled some salmon (July recipe "pastrimi style") and I'd made some Calzones that did okay over the fire, a couple got too charred. Another woman had done a zucchini, gorgonzola lasagan dish in the dutch oven. A big production getting it altogether and her DH dumped it carrying it to the picnic table. :eek: :( I felt so bad for both of them. There was just enough left in the oven for us to sample. A yummy olive tapenade with bread and a good tossed salad and rich chocolate brownie dessert with fresh raspberries. And lots of Oregon wine and beer.

DH went kayaking with several of the group (while Lainey napped) and they saw seals. Too cool! I was jealous but also knew that physically I wasn't up to kayaking with these people (neither of us have ever gone before but DH has lots of canoe experience). The really neat thing though was they took us GeoCaching. Anyone ever odne this??? I'm hooked. You have a GPS unit and there's a web site where people post where they've located a GeoCache and you enter the coordinates in your GPS unit and then go about finding it. There's a log book and trinkets inside. You put in a trinket of your own and take one. A treasure hunt!

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Hi everyone. Things have been crazy at work, so not much time to post, but I've been trying to keep up!

Kim, so sorry to hear about your friend. Hope she makes a full recovery. And, Susan, how scary about your BIL. Have you heard any more about how he is doing?

I guess you can think of your MIL's visit as a reminder about how nice it is to have her live in another state now! Just keep counting down the days till she's gone!

Nori, we'll usually have a snack in between breakfast and lunch and then between lunch and dinner, but nothing very structured. If the boys tell me their hungry, they'll have a snack. Caitlyn will usually pull at the refrigerator doors if she's hungry or thirsty. I'll open it up and she'll either grab her milk or keep fussing. If she's still fussing I know she's hungry. Pretty scientific, huh?!

This week DH may take the kids up to the cottage his mother rents every year. I can't take off work, since I'll be taking two weeks off for the surgery. DH has Tues, Wed, and Thurs off this week, so he can take them on his off days. I have mixed feelings about it all. We weren't planning to go at all because we thought Caitlyn would just be coming home. After the surgery got cancelled, we still weren't planning to go since I had to work. We have so much on our minds, we just weren't into it. Well, MIL and SIL had other ideas. They said they would take the boys up for the week without us. I just wasn't comfortable with the idea. For one, I'd miss them. Also, I felt it was a big imposition on them to take care of the boys for the whole week. I just didn't feel right about it. They insisted it was no problem. I know they meant well in offering to take them and I appreciate it, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. We must have gotten 10 phone calls over a week insisting that we let them go. I was getting pretty annoyed. Finally, DH said maybe he would take them up on his off days. He has to take Caitlyn too since I'll be at work. I'm really trying to keep everyone healthy these next two weeks. Hopefully no one up there will be sick. So, it looks like I'll be alone for a few days. It will be strange. I know the boys will have fun. I wish I could find someone to take care of Caitlyn while I'm at work so she could stay home with me. But, anyway, I'll be happy when they are all back home, safe and healthy!

Nori, that heat sounds very uncomfortable! Especially for you being pregnant. Do most of your neighbors have that same system? Would you be able to get maybe a window unit for your bedroom? We don't have central air, but we have window units in our bedrooms in and in the living room. I'm afraid to see our next electric bill, though.

I took Colin to his kindergarten check up last week. He has grown two inches but not gained any weight in a year. The doctor didn't seem too concerned, but that seemed a bit strange to me. Although I know the scales can be off a bit, so he may have actually gained a pound or two. The poor guy had to get three shots. He was so brave, though. He held it in for the first two, but lost it on the third. I told the doctor about his vision therapy and she said there is a controversy about whether it is of any use. So, now I'm totally confused about whether to keep taking him. She suggested I make an appt. with a ped. opthamologist, which I did, but we can't get in till early Sept. She said he may need a patch, but the therapy probably doesn't do any good. I'm not sure what to believe. Leigh, did Ginger have any type of vision therapy? I know she was wearing the patch, right? I guess I'll just wait to see what this doctor says. The doctor we originally went to was an optomotrist (sp?), but he was very thorough and certainly seemed knowledgeable.

Erin, glad you're OK. Take care of yourself and drink lots of water!

Kim, hope you're having fun camping!

Leigh, I'm pretty impressed with your plumbing skills! I'd never even attempt it! We had a problem the other night. DH took a bath upstairs. We never use that bathtub for baths, only showers. Well, about an hour later the boys tell me "I think we need to call a plumber". Not something you want to hear. I go in the kitchen and there's water all over the floor. It's coming out of the cabinets. I guess something is wrong with the "overflow valve" (I have no idea what that is, but that's DH's diagnosis), so we can't take baths up there. News to us! So, we spent an hour cleaning everything up. DH says we have to knock out the bathroom wall below it to fix it. I say, let's just ignore it and not take baths in there for now.

OK, well, I'm writing a book here (again!). I better go, just wanted to check in. Sorry if I missed anyone's posts; it's hard to keep up when you don't post as often.

[MrsReber]

Joanne, I don't blame you for being concerned about the boys trip with your DH. I think that is kind of rude of your in-laws to insist that they still go. They shouldn't put so much pressure on you, especially since you have enough on your mind as it is. I hope that everyone stays healthy.

I had eye exercises to do as a child and they cleared up my lazy eye. It was bad, too. My parents could see it drifting off by itself. I wonder why your ped would say eye therapy has no value?

Kim, DH has a GPS unit (I got him a very nice one for his birthday). I'll have to check that out. It sounds pretty interesting. Camping sounds like fun, too. We were just talking this morning about our trip to VA- when we're going to go and if we're going to camp. I just want to relax and spend some time with DH and the kids. Life is so hectic. I'm also secretly hoping he gets hooked on Roanoke and wants to go back. We don't have much of a future here, especially if I were to leave my job. MIL wants me to keep it and keeps telling me that I should try my best to keep my job if we move. It's funny that she never says DH should get a better job or go for more schooling. I guess I'm supposed to support him :confused: ? By the way, I'm so glad that your friend is doing a bit better. I hope she recovers fully. She certainly has a good attitude.

Nori, whoops- guess I mixed those numbers up! I just saw the weather forcast on CNN. It's a hot one in AZ! Casey just got up. She was napping in Brenden's crib. We took the rail down, but he still hates it. I put him in our bed to nap. He got up five times. I put him back down for the 6th time and stayed with him until he closed his eyes and drifted off. The doctor told me that his molars are definitely coming in. She can see that one is about to poke through his gums. He went from the 75th percentile in height at 15 months, to the 80th at 18 months and now he's in the 90th! He grew three inches in the past 6 months!

Nori, Brenden loves to eat cucumber slices with nothing on them. He will dip celery in salad dressing or sour cream/onion dip. I also spread cream cheese on celery and he eats that. I try to scrape the strings off the celery as best as I can. Casey won't eat them (they're a vegetable, after all). Brenden will also occasionally eat baby carrots- the really tiny ones. He won't eat the regular size baby carrots, they have to be really small. I also get the single packages of string cheese for them to snack on. It's a low fat mozzerella.

[tbb113]

Susan:
Its amazing how fast kids can grow. For the longest time Michael averaged 3 inches a year (guess that is why he is 6'3" now). The year that he was in kindergarten I remember he gained over 20 pounds as well. I know that he has almost always been off the chart in height. I wanted to get t-shirts made up that said "I'm only x-years old" so that people wouldn't expect him to act at the maturity level of his height :rolleyes:

Joanne:
I'm surprised that your in-laws were that insistent about the trip, but maybe they thought by taking the boys they would be giving you a much needed rest before the surgery? And give you and your husband some time just with Caitlin? Hopefully they will have a great time, stay healthy and you can have some 'me time'. Make plans with some friends for dinner, go to the movies, hit the mall...all the things you can't do because you need to get home to the kids and hubby. The time will go faster if you don't sit at home and stare at the walls and think about the kids. That said, I still miss mine when they are gone more than 3 nights.

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, you're right, my ILs did want to give us a break by taking the kids. I know they meant well, but I just thought a week was too long. Maybe I'm being selfish, but I just didn't want them gone that long! Plus, I felt bad about having them take care of them that long. They're good kids, but after all, they are boys! They can be a handful at times. And, I do plan on doing some things I normally don't get a chance to, like see a movie, or go to dinner with a friend. I'll be at work most of the time, so I won't spend too much time at home by myself.

I forgot to post last time that we had Colin's Chuck E. Cheese party Saturday. If I ever have a party there again, I'll never do a Saturday. It was so crowded. We had Jameson's on a Sunday and we were just about the only ones there. All the parents left the kids, which was OK, but it was hard to keep track of them. There were only 7 besides our 3 boys (we left Caitlyn at home with my mom). We had the little boy across the street with us and he is only 3. His mom was going to stay but I told her to leave, since they were having a party later that day and I'm sure she still had stuff to do for that. So, I helped him play the games. He is such a cute little guy! We got home, rested for an hour or so and went to the party across the street for their one-year old. The kids have a blast. They have an in ground pool so they got to swim. We wound up staying there till 9:00, but it was nice to just cross the street and be home.

[MrsReber]

Joanne, I hope you enjoy your time by yourself. As much as I'd miss my kids, I'm about ready to send them somewhere overnight! Now they refuse to go, though. Casey is so afraid I'll forget to go pick her up again.

Casey slept for almost 3 hours and Brenden is still asleep after 2 hours. Good thing. I know he's not getting enough sleep. Casey got up and came into the livingroom, only to fall asleep again for another hour.

Tyra, that's one of my fears- that people will think Brenden is slow because he's so big for his age. I think DH went through that, too, because he was, and still is, quite tall.

I haven't spoken with my sister since last Thursday. My mom talked to her on Saturday. She's very upset about making ends meet while BIL is on disability/worker's comp. It's going to be a long time before he can return to work. My sister is going to get a bus license so she can drive the school bus a couple of hours each day in addition to her part time job. She wanted to cancel her son's birthday party this weekend. My mom sent her some money and I think I'll also send some instead of sending a gift. His party is at a baseball stadium and he was so excited about it. I can't let her cancel it. It wasn't even that much money, considering it was less than what I spent for Casey's 90 minute party!

[Julia1Pin]

Kim - Abigail is a huge sharer. She keeps trying to feed Nicole whatever she's eating. She got a new cell phone toy and keeps trying to put it up to Nicole's ear. It's funny. She was "talking" on her new toy and she would pause for the "reply". Then she said "bye bye" and hung up the phone :) I'm justcatching up on the thread, I'm so sorry about your friend.


Susan - So sorry about your BIL. MY FIL shot a paint gun into his hand and we were worried about his finger for a while there too (thankfully he didn't need to have it amputated).

On Saturday we had Nicole's showing (like a baby shower but afterwords and more like a party, and not just women). I think it's either a russian or jewish thing. It was alot of fun. thankfully Nicole slept through most of it :) Abigsil had a great time. Some of my friends came with thteir kids (all under 1) so it was nice to see everyone. At one point we were holding all the kids and it just felt right. The weather was gorgsous and people were in the pool most of the time. the older people sat under the trelis with the misters on. There was a TON of food. I don't know how we're going to eat all the left overs. There was a LOT of soft drinks and alcohol also. We're pretty much stocked until the next big party! It's nice to have this back yard because that way no one was in the house and the clean up was minimal (Vitaly and my dad just hosed down the back yard on Sunday). We got some really nice clothes and gifts for Nicole and some cash for her college fund.The last guests left at 11pm!

Hope everyone is doing well

[RunnerKim]

Lainey will eat cucumbers too. She prefers them pickled but will eat them raw too.

Julia - I can picture Abigail sharing with Nicole. How endearing. :)

susan - I searched and found your thread about GPS units. Which one did you end up buying your DH?

Joanne - I'm sorry your ILs weren't getting the message. You'd think after a couple of refusals they'd understand it wasn't what you are needing right now. We've taken my sister's boys with us places - never for a whole week but for several days and they always do really well with us. They were with my Mom and me and 4 other kids for 5 days at a beach house and then my sister shows up and their behavior became more normal. I don't want to call it worse but more typical for their age. That's been typical of when we've taken them places (or they stay with us). They're just not quite "comfortable" enough with us to behave badly.

Kim

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone.

We survived our trip to Chattanooga last week. We went with my friend, her husband, and twins. The twins ended up getting sick the day they got there. They threw up and had diarrehia (sp). Somehow Garrett didn't end up getting it. The other mom and I were sick before we left on the trip, but thought it was something we ate at a party on Monday. I ended up picking up some other bug and have a sore throat and a fever.

Even though the kids were sick, we managed to have a nice time. Garrett and the twins loved the Children's Museum. It is really great for little kids. The one in Atlanta isn't as good for this age group. They had a water area where the kids could send water up a wheel and use pulleys ect. They also had this area where only children under 4 could play. Garrett loved the trains. He kept running back to that area to play with their train set.

On Friday, Garrett got up super early and we took him swimming while we were waiting on our friends. When they were finally ready to go to the aquarium, Garrett fell asleep in the car. He slept for over 2 hours at the aquarium. After he woke up he had a blast. He really loved the seahorses.

We ended up taking Garrett to the zoo on Saturday night for member night. He really enjoyed watching the animals eat. DH carried him in the backpack. It was nice not to have to haul the stroller around. When I take him by myself, I end up picking him out of the stroller all the time so he can see.

Susan, wow Brendan is really big. Did the DR give you any advise on him sleeping? Just think you only have to see your MIL a few times a year. You can make it through the next few days.

Kim, sorry to hear about your friend. What an odd ailment. I hope she recovers quickly. I'm very impressed by your camping food. Most of the people we've gone camping with think anything not out of a box is gourmet.

Joanne, Maybe you can split the trip with SIL/MIL. The boys could go up with them and DH could pick them up midweek. That would allow Caitlyn to spend time at home and not get as exposed to other kids. Just a thought. Granted this comment comes from someone who rarely leaves her child and hasn't left him overnight yet.

Nori, wow it sounds hot out in Arizona. Garrett eats breakfast about 8:00, snack with milk at 10:30, lunch at 1:00, snack after nap, and dinner at 7:00. He then gets milk with Carnation Instant Breakfast in it after his bath. I don't give him starches (cookies, crackers) for snacks. They tend to fill him up. Instead I give him fruits or veggies.

Cheryl

[nori]

Cheryl, sounds like you had such a fun trip. Glad Garrett didn't get sick from the twins, although that must had been stressful for their parents.:(

Now I'm more inclined to give Noah veggie snack...usually I give him crackers, or cheese. Sometimes fruits. I need to gather up some ideas about veggie snacks. He likes to dip in the ranch dressing so it might help.

Kim, what a nice dinner menu! Can't believe it's from the campsite! What a bummer your friend's tipped the lasagna over, but good thing they still had some for you all to taste it.

Hmmm, GPS....my DH wanted to get one, but not sure if he was talking about the one you attached to the car, or is this ones you and Susan talking about differnt from the on es for the car? Sounds like a fun game you had!

Julia, you must be tired from that big party! Did you prepare food, or was it like a potluck?? Leftover must be a great time-saver for you especially now with two little ones. I kept thinking of cooking ahead to freeze some meals but nowadays I'm so tired. And HOT. I know, those are just excuses. Probably I should just get up and do it.

Susan, I'm impressed Brenden eats cerely!! I thought they're too bitter for kids' taste. Probably not for him. As I said before, I'll try to come up with more veggie snack for Noah...he only ate some pieces of tofu (somehow he likes them) and didn't touch the rest of the dinner (stir fry, rice...I made buttered rice with mixed veggies for him but he didn't eat it.). It sure is getting hard to make him eat at the dinner...he won't eat it, unless he knows it's his favorite. Some of them I know he'd love it once he tasted it. We decided not to force him at the table...if he's not eating, and wants to get down, that's it. But he won't get to eat until next morning. Now I'm seriously considering to give him children's multi vitamins just in case.
Sorry to hear that your sister is having stressful time. Must be hard to make ends meet while her DH is on leave.:(

Joanne, yes a lot of houses here have evaporative cooler. DH suggested the window AC just for one room as you mentioned. We might have to do that. But if we do, I'd like to have it in the living room (since that's where we spend most of the time) but our living room is like one big room with kitchen/dining/patio area(no doors to separate them). DH thinks if we installed it in the living room, it won't be efficient. I agree. Bedroom is another idea, but then I wouldn't want to come out from that room!:D Today was better than yesterday, maybe because it was cloudy out and wasn't sunny.

Sounds like your in-laws are just trying to be helpful. But again, when you're trying to keep germs minimum before the surgery, pushing you into this kind of situation isn't very thoughtful. Anyway, you'd made the decision, and you're going to have some days-off!! Yay! just enjoy it, and get enough rest to be ready for those busy weeks ahead. I pray that Caitlyn won't get any bad germs from kids there.

We went to the Barns and Nobles this afternoon just to get out from the house. We browse the store, Noah had fun at the kids corner. They had the Thomas the Train set for kids to play, and he played there for a while. I got my own book and sat with it on the chair nearby. It was nice. Then, we read some books, and stopped by the starbucks in the store. Noah pulled the high chair, knowing that's where he's going to sit. It was cute. While I had frappucino (yum!) and share a scone with Noah, he was having fun looking around and looking at the cars outside. He was smiling at the other customers or store staff. It reminded me of Brenden.:D He was in such a good mood.

[Julia1Pin]

Regarding celery - if you use a potato/veggie peeler on the fiber side of celery you can take it ooff easily and then the celery tastes sweeter.

Nori - We BBQ'd halved cornish game hens under a brick, whole salmon in foil and lamb kebobs. We roasted quartered potatoes. I made an Orzo salad from Barefoot Contessa from this BB. My dad brought his homemade smoked salmon and smoked whitefish and smoked chicken sausage. We bought cold cuts and different cheese. My MIL's friends made a ton of sushi and her aunt made crepes for which my mom brought red caviar. I made guacamole. My nanny made piroshki. There was other food too, I just don't remember what. I bought a cake, my MIL ordered pastries and we had a ton of fruit. Now I'm trying to find recipes for leftover cooked salmon and smoked salmon.

[JoanneOR]

OK, Kim and Julia, you're both making me hungry! Both of those menus sound delicious! Your poor friends who dumped their lasagna! Sounds like something that would happen to me. :)

Well, DH and the kids take off for the cottage today. I'm at work now so I said good bye to them this morning. Of course I cried. I was telling them I love them and Caitlyn says "I love you." Then the tears really started. She's never put two words together, let alone "I love you". It was so sweet. They'll be back Friday. I guess they'll be less people than usual there. Last year there were about 20 all staying in one cottage. This year it's just my two SILs and their kids and MIL. I know the cousins will have a blast together.

Cheryl, sounds like a fun trip. Good thing Garrett didn't catch that virus. Does not sound fun! Hope you're feeling better soon.

[MrsReber]

Joanne, I get sad just reading about you saying good-bye to the kids! They'll be back before you know it. Hey, I'm hoping the rest of this week goes by quickly, too!

Nori, Brenden would be more adventurous with food if his older sister didn't say "I don't like it!" every time I made something new. He loves cream cheese, though. DH made venison jerky last week. Brenden asked to try it and then kept asking for more. It's a bit spicy so I was really surprised that he liked it so much.

Kim, this is awful, but I can't remember which model GPS I got for DH. Everyone had suggested the blue Garvan, but I got a gray one because it looked like it had more capacity than the blue one. Nori, DH loves it for hunting. He realized it also came with some kind of attachment so he can put it on his bike. It has all kinds of information in it already, too. We scrolled down the map all the way to VA. It shows the bigger towns and gives you a blurb on each one. Pretty cool.

Cheryl, the doctor just told me to be consistent with the bedtime routine. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done during these hectic summer months. Since it's light out later, we often lose track of time if we're out somewhere and that throws it all off. Plus, it's a chore to get these kids to take naps on the weekends so their sleep schedule is all over the place. I know it's up to me to fix it, but it's hard and I'm tired. I'm at the point where I'm happy if they're sleeping through the night, wherever they may be sleeping. Glad you still managed to have fun on your trip, even with the sickness!

Nori, we went to Barnes and Noble on Sunday, just before nap time. Casey wanted to get the "Miss Mary Map book". It's really Miss Mary Mack, but she always says Map. We had to order that and Commotion in the Ocean. She's getting too wise for me. She looks on the back covers of her books and if she sees something she likes, she comes and tells me that we need to go to the bookstore! Well, I love the bookstore so she doesn't have to plead with me very much. I got DH to go with us. There was a woman outside the store doing face painting so Casey got a fish painted on her arm. We did buy Chicka Chicka Boom Boom because I was curious. We also got a Franklin book because Casey wanted "books on tape". They read them at daycare. She was pretending she had books on tape. She'd sit on a chair with the book facing out. If I attempted to read the text, she'd say "Shh, mommy! Books on tape!" Now we play the one Franklin tape over and over. She sits by herself, facing the book out, just like the teacher at daycare.

Yesterday, Casey wanted to draw. I told her I'd get her something to write on. I handed her a little notepad and said "here, you can write on this." She said, very seriously, "my handy, dandy notepad?" I cracked up. That's what they call the notepad on Blue's Clues.

[RunnerKim]

Susan - that's funny about the books on tape!

DH put up a dark blanket over Lainey's window last night (coincidence that he put her to bed the night before, hmmmm I think not :D ). It really helped, she settled much fast (more like normal). Of course she woke up a half hour early. Ugh. Why is it, if she goes down late she doesn't sleep late but if she goes down "early" she'll wake up early. How much sleep do your toddlers get? Right now Lainey's getting around 10 hours at night and 1.5-2 for nap.

Joanne - I love you!!!! Wow that's great. How sweet. Ahhhh. I can't wait for that one.

Nori - sounds like a fun visit to the bookstore. I'm not familiar with the evaporative cooler system but I can't believe you don't have a/c with that kind of heat.

Cheryl - what a trip! Chrildren's museums are great. The one here has a neat water room like you described, but it's too intimidating for Lainey to do much there. It has an area for 2 and under but it's geared for more the wobbler stage I'd say. I've only been a couple of times but there's so much to do we keep finding new things. Lainey's favorite is a ball pulley system. She'll crank that wheel for a long time.

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

Joanne - How sad that the kids are gone but I'm sure it was worth them going away just to hear "I love you". Did that just make any sense at all??:confused:

Well, Abigail went to Nursery school today without any crying at all. She usually cries for about 30 seconds but today she just took the woman's hand and went (albeit still a bit hesitantlt).

I'm off to try and swim laps. I'm hoping to loose the rest of this weight and tone up before going back to work.

[lhall]

Wow,

It's been busy here. I'm lost already.

Joanne,
No, Ginger didn't have vision therapy. She didn't have any eye drift so we just had to patch. We did see a Pediatric Opthamologist, and they are better trained to treat these eye problems than optometrists. You might try patching Colin's good eye for 3-4 hours a day. Our Pediatrician works with medical students, and when we were there for the checkups the current student wanted to be a pediatric opthamologist. Ginger was a good example for him. :D

My mom did eye exercises as a child, but that was 50+ years ago. She had paralized muscles in both eyes, and uncorrectable double vision. She also alternated patching each eye so she could see out of both eyes, but they didn't work together.

That's so sweet about Caitlyn saying "I Love You". Makes you feel so good inside doesn't it! :D

Leigh

[HRJ]

Hi-- sorry for not having time to read what I've missed the past few days -- will respond tomorrow.

Just wanted to note that we returned from our long weekend in NYC today, and all of us -- Victor, me and DH -- have Coxsackie virus. :( I started to notice some bumps on my hands yesterday, but thought they were bug bites. When we woke up this morning, however, I had painful bumps all over my hands and feet; Victor had them all over his feet only; DH had no bumps, but a wicked bad sore throat and low-grade fever.

We called the pediatrician this morning from NY, who said she was pretty sure from the sound of things we all had Coxsackie. Of the three of us, Victor is doing the best -- no fever, and he's been pretty happy and active all day. DH and I are really tired and achy -- I think we're both probably going to take sick days tomorrow. The drive home from NY (in the rain, too! :mad: ) was no fun at all.

Our trip was a lot of fun -- Victor cried and cried (and then screamed and threw a tantrum :rolleyes: ) when we had to say goodbye to my brother. Victor is really attached to him -- it makes me so happy to see what a great uncle my brother has turned out to be. We also had a chance to meet my bro's new girlfriend, who is very sweet. (I felt really awful earlier tonight when I called to inform them we may have exposed them to Coxsackie over the weekend. :o )

Helene

[nori]

Helene, sorry to hear that all of you are sick.:( That virus must be really around. Take it easy, I know it's easier said than done with a toddler in the house, but hope you get nice rest tomorrow and recover soon. Sounds like you had a nice trip, though. That's great your brother was very good with Victor!!

Kim, Noah sleeps about 10 hours at night, and naps about 2-3 hours. So sounds like same as Lainey. He goes to bed around 7:30pm and actually sleep by probably 8, then lately he'd sleep until 6am!!! I wouldn't have believed myself saying this a year ago...now he sleeps 10 hours straight at night and getting up after 6 in the morning!!

Susan, how cute Casey saying about notepad " handy dandy notebad". I wouldn't have any clue where she got that!!

Joanne, how sweet of Caitlyn saying "I love you".:) Must be very special for you. I know you'll be lonely and sad not having kids around, but try to do something for yourself!!! Have fun.;)

Julia, thanks for tips on celery. I have to try that. Since we don't do PB on Noah yet, I'll try cream cheese. He loves cream cheese, it might work.
I wish I was a guest at the party. What a fabulous menu!!!

After dinner tonight, DH played with Noah in the living room (I gave him options...clean up dishes or keep Noah busy:D ). He played loud music and they just went wild. Noah imitated whatever DH was doing, and then started to go round and round and got dizzy. He just loves to run around. They did that about half an hour. Noah was sweating after that. I was glad DH could do that with Noah since I'm no in shape of doing that kind of play during a day.

[cchhbb]

Helene, I'm so sorry your family is sick. That virus is really going around now. I thought it was supposed to be a colder weather virus. My niece has it now. She just has sores on her feet. They think she got it at the local pool.

Nori, sounds like Noah had a really great time last night playing with Daddy. Garrett loves to run around too. We saw my friend with the twins last night and all three of them were playing chase. It was too cute. Garrett kept running away to look at their books.

Kim, Garrett sleeps about 11.5 to 12 hours at night and 2 - 3.5 hours for a nap. If he goes to bed late, he rarely sleeps late. He goes to be about 8 pm. Last night he was still talking in his crib at 10:00, we put him to bed at 9:00 and he's still asleep now at 8:45 am. Ususally he wakes up extra early to punish me for keeping him out late. He did take a late nap and didn't wake up until about 5:30. I usually wake him by 5:00 if he is still sleeping, but I lost track of time when I was cleaning.

Susan, sorry to hear the doctor didn't have any great suggestions about the sleep situation. I do think a consistent routine is important for our little ones. I know Garrett sleeps best in his own bed and when I do the same things each day. He didn't sleep great in the hotel last week. I think he is a little creature of habit.

Garrett woke up and I'm off to get him up. We have a lot of things to do today so I need to run.

Have a great day.

Cheryl

[JoanneOR]

Susan, that's great that Casey loves books so much. Jameson was like that as a toddler and still loves them. That's cute about the books on tape.

I must admit, I had a very relaxing evening last night! I just came home, had a quick dinner, cleaned up a little and watched TV. It was weird not to feed anyone else or give any baths. I kept feeling like I was forgetting to do something. It was strange to go to bed and see all the kids empty beds! But, I slept eight straight hours and I don't think I've done that since Jameson was born!

I didn't hear from them last night, so I'm assuming they got there safely. There's no phone in the cottage and our cell phone doesn't work up there.

Kim, Caitlyn sleeps about 11 hours a night (up once or twice, though) and takes either one really long nap (3 hours) or two shorter ones. She might sleep a bit longer, though, because of her heart condition.

Helene, sorry you're all sick! I'm thinking it's a strong possibility that's what we all had a few weeks ago when we had to cancel Caitlyn's surgery. I had a low grade fever for at least a week and a sore throat and just felt run down. Hope you're all feeling better soon.

Nori, sounds like your DH and Noah had a great time dancing around! I love to do that with the kids. Caitlyn is pretty funny when she dances. Now Ian will turn on the stereo himself and they'll all pretend they are in a rock band.

[paula]

I posted this a couple of weeks ago, but here it is again, if anyone missed it. http://www.healthcaresouth.com/pages/enteroviruses.htm

There are 30 strains of Coxsackie virus identified so far, and likely to be more, if anyone actually goes looking. Other members of the enterovirus family behave very similarly and can be hard to distinguish from Coxsackie viruses. These viruses are very common during the summer, and toddlers can experience as many as five different infections during a given summer. However, they only exhibit overt symptoms about 50% of the time, and as many of us have seen, the same strain of the same virus can cause widely different symptoms in different people. Most of the time, the infection is self-limiting, and symptoms resolve within a week.

We try very hard to keep sleep and meals consistent with their daycare schedule. My kids sleep about 10 hrs per night and take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. Currently, they have three meals per days with a morning and afternoon snack. This constrains our weekends a little, but it is a price I am willing to pay to maintain a level of predictability for everyone. I love my kids dearly, but there are days when I am counting the minutes to bedtime!


Paula

[RunnerKim]

Oh Helene - how rotten about the Coxsackie virus. Not a fun way to travel at all. I hope your brother doesn't get it. Knock on wood I haven't heard anyone locally talking about it, but it sure seems to be getting around.

Joanne - glad you enjoyed your free evening. That does sound relaxing.

Paula - I hear ya on the post-bedtime freedom. I try not to stay up too late but that hour or so is wonderful.

Nori - it's great to see DH and kid having a great time like that, isn't it. Makes your heart smile.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Well, we got our Miss Mary Mack book yesterday. Had to read it a billion times. On Monday night, I was putting my pj's on and I heard Casey yell from her room "Come on mommy! Dance party!" We have no idea where she learned this, but DH and I were hysterical.

You all have me beat with sleep. Brenden, my former great sleeper, now sleeps about 8-9 hours at night and then takes a 2 hour nap. This is a kid who could sleep from 8:30pm until 11:00 the next morning. He must've been doing some serious growing at that point. He's so afraid he's going to miss something now. I don't think he's getting enough sleep these days. I did get him to sleep at 9:00 last night. I actually fell asleep with him and Casey. She got in lots of trouble for beating on her brother. They were out of control last night. And to think, they played together so nicely on Monday. Hardly any problems at all. They also napped from 1 - 4:30!

It's a toss up with me- do you let them take a 4 hour nap or do you wake them up to make sure they'll still go to bed on time? After finally getting Brenden down at 2:00 on Monday, I was enjoying the quiet so much that I let them sleep.

Joanne, that must have been heaven to sleep for a full 8 hours. Sad that the phone won't work up there, though.

We're going to yet another family birthday party on Thursday. I really don't want to go and I'm stressing to DH that we must leave by 8:30 sinc I'm waking the kids up at 5:00 to take them to my mom's. I don't know why SIL can't have a celebration this weekend instead. Her son is turning 15 on Thursday. I think he'd understand if we moved the bbq and cake to Saturday. The family will probably be together all weekend anyway with MIL being here. One week down, one to go. It hasn't been so bad visiting with MIL. I just hate having to run here and there. DH's sisters don't work traditional jobs. His one sister owns a store and can take off whenever she wants. His oldest sister works at that store. His other sister lives on a farm and takes care of the boarded horses so she has lots of flexibility, too.

Helene, how awful that everyone got sick. How's your brother and his girlfriend? Did they end up getting it, too? One of Casey's friends at daycare had strep last week. I think we're in the clear. So far so good. We've all been pretty healthy lately. I hope it stays that way!

[Julia1Pin]

Is it just me, or does anyone else get the giggles at "Coxsackie"?

[nori]

Grrrr...let me vent first. Last night, DH came home and we had dinner. After that, as usual, DH went with Noah to play with him. They played with Brio train, but obviously Noah was trying to grab some of train cars from the engine and DH didn't like that. Noah kept coming to me (I was cleaning the table), crying. Finally I went in, found DH laying on the floor with Brio train, and nicely made trucks. I told him that it's Noah's toy, and if Noah wants to grab some trains (or didn't like it's tagging the other cars ), that's fine, let him be. (That's how I am anyway...sometimes he's good, but recently he just wants to see engine train going around the truck, not freight cars behind it.) I felt like I was talking to another 2 years old who can't share.:o Probably I was talking to him that way, too. DH got up, said "Fine, then." and went to his computer and opened up his work. So it was like 6:30pm, still plenty of time until bedtime routine(bath etc.) so I ended up playing with him. Well, that's okay but since I'd spent ALL DAY doing that, I kind of expected DH to play with him. Plus, as I mentioned before, I love seeing them interacting each other. I decided to give him an early bath, because he wanted to play with his bath toys. Usually DH comes over to poke his head in, but he didn't come last night. ( I thought he'd heard us) Anyway, I gave him a bath, put diaper and jammies on, and brushed his teeth (which was DH's job) . Then finally DH came, and he gave Noah story time but at that point Noah wanted me with him. But DH kept try to read although he wasn't listening at that point. I hate to see when DH is doing that (as if it's duty, not fun). It was a bit early for bedtime so we let Noah play a little more. DH didn't stay (although he was the one to suggest Noah should be up a bit longer) so I pulled out the lego blocks and started to play with him. Eventually Noah went to bed, (I put him to the bed because he was clingy and cried a lot when DH did that.) Dh kept working on his computer and I did something else for myself. He went to bed earlier than I did (told me Good night, and kissed me but nothing to talk about the evening, although something was wrong).

Anyway, this morning I got up at 6am when Noah cried. I thought DH would go to get him but it didn't stop, so I got up (I slept in the guest room since I was getting up so frequently in the middle of the night), and realized he was already gone!!!!:eek: :rolleyes: It was before 6am. No sign or memo or anything. Not that I expected, and I guess I was wrong not to tell him how I felt last night. I still expect him to understand my feeling without me telling him. (He used to be good at it, when we were dating, you know.;) )

Sorry for rant...

Susan, if Noah's taking a long nap, I would let him, unless it's very late in the evening. (After 5pm, I'd wake him up) Naptime is a blessing to us, I think. If it continues regulary, however, I might try to shift his nap time but not sure how good that'd do.

I just realized I posted last time how fun it was for Noah to play with daddy after dinner. I guess yestereday was one of those days. I feel like we didn't reconcile last night before we went to bed and that's why I feel bad. Oh well.:(

[JoanneOR]

Nori, sorry to hear about your troubles with your DH last night. It sounds like you guys just need to talk about what happened and how it made you feel. Maybe you could send him an e-mail at work or give him a call? Sometimes the hardest fights are when no one is saying anything. It can be more stressful than the actual argument. I've been there alot! It sounds like your DH was upset that you didn't like the way he was playing with Noah (by the way, it sounded like an argument my boys would have :-) and he decided he wouldn't take part in anything else that night. He should have told you what was bothering him. Oh, I agree, he should let Noah play how he wants with the trains, especially if Noah was upset and running to you. It's his toy and he's the kid. :)

Susan, I try not to let Caitlyn sleep past five. But, there have been times where I'm making dinner and it's just easier to let her sleep. DH, on the other hand, will put her down for a nap at 5. I get home around 6 and then have to wake her up. Makes no sense to me. But, that's men!

I haven't heard from my family at all. I'm not surprised because I know it would be difficult to call, but it would have been nice to hear their voices! I do miss them now. I'll be ready to see them on Friday. I wonder how Caitlyn is doing up there. She's not real fond of water, so I don't know how she'll take to the lake.

[RunnerKim]

Nori, what a stressful night. It is much worse when things are allowed to fester when you don't/can't talk about what's bothering each other. I really have to try hard to not be sulky and silent when I'm hurt about something. Sounds like your DH was feeling hurt. Hope you get a chance to talk about it soon. (((Nori)))

Joanne - that's tough not hearing from them at all (understandable considering their location). Did you do anything fun last night? (and I consider being a bum fun!)

Julia - I agree coxsackie is.... giggle worthy.

Susan, I don't know what to say about naps. I've always had a hard time waking Lainey up and just tend to let her sleep. But no matter how late she naps (or how long) it doesn't affect when she goes to sleep at night.

Kim

[nori]

Well DH called, and guess what time he got to work this morning? 3am!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: I remember getting up after that for bathroom, but didn't realize he was gone. Noah woke up around 1am, I remember that, DH said he went in and put his fan on. Then he said he couldn't sleep, thinking the problem he's trying to work on at work. So he decided to go to work. He said he'll come home early today.

Kim, I have hard time not to be silent when I'm angry. I feel like if I speak up, I'd blow up everything or make him mad. Part of it was my fault last night not telling him.

Joanne, yes I felt like I had 2 little boys in the house.:rolleyes: I thought DH should accomodate Noah's wishes for now. He thinks Noah's being wimpy when he comes running to me. But hey, he's not 2 years old yet!!! It's not that he's whining all the time. It is stressful to hear him cry at the end of the day and I just want to avoid those things, if possible, and seems to me DH was making him upset on purpose. (I know that's not what he meant, though.) I guess if there's any emergencies, you'd hear from them by now. No news is a good news. Hope Caitlyn's having fun, too.

Julia..I missed your comment last time. It IS funny word, I agree.:D

Helene, hope everyone's feeling better in your house!

[JoanneOR]

Actually, when Caitlyn does sleep till 6 or so at night, it really doesn't affect her bedtime, either. I'll put her down maybe a half hour or so later than normal.

Last night I went over by our neighbors. Some of the other neighbors were there, all with their kids. We were all in the backyard and it was strange because I felt like I had to keep looking to see what my kids were doing. Then I would remember, oh, they're not here! My neighbors kids were really cranky and whiny. Understandably so, they just got back from Ireland and still haven't adjusted to the time change. Anyway, a small part of me was thinking, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that right now! But I'm also really ready for them to come home. Tonight I need to go home and cut the grass. DH asked me to do it while he was gone and was being a smarta**, saying are you sure you know how to start it?? I said, yes, would you know how to operate the vacuum??

I can't believe it, but Caitlyn's surgery is next Monday. I so hope she doesn't pick anything up while she's at the cottage. She better come home as healthy as she left!

[JoanneOR]

Nori, looks like we were posting at the same time. Wow, 3am! Sounds like your DH is under some stress at work that's affecting how he is at home. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon. I know my DH sometimes brings his stress from work home (and I do, too, I'm sure), and it's tough to separate your work and home life sometimes.

OK, gotta run..meeting a friend from high school for lunch.

[MrsReber]

Nori, when I read your first post, my first thought was that something else was bothering your DH and it didn't have anything to do with you or Noah. I'm bad at not communicating when I'm angry about something. I really do that because I don't want to say something I'll regret later. I need time to figure out what I'm angry about and why it makes me angry. I think many of our arguements result from miscommunication. The other night, when I fell asleep with the kids, I think DH got upset. He came to bed later, talking to me as if I were awake, and said that he thought I was coming out to the livingroom instead of going to sleep with the kids. He had called on his way home from work and said he was going to seal the new tile in the bathroom. Here I thought I was keeping the kids out of his hair and he really only wanted to spend some time with me. It's a hectic life with kids and sometimes you just need to step back and look at the real problem.

Joanne, I'm hoping Caitlyn comes back okay, too! I'm still feeling bad that the original date had been cancelled. It'll all be behind you soon, though. That's sad that you can't at least talk to the kids on the phone. Just think how great it will be to see them all again! Have fun mowing the lawn. That's actually one of my favorite chores. I like the exercise. Casey tells everyone that it's "mommy's lawnmower." At least I own something. She always takes the remote away from me and tells me "that's daddy's!"

Thanks for the notes about naps. I know we're in trouble if one of the kids falls asleep around 6:00. I try not to let them sleep past 5:00 when I'm home with them. However, when we are home, they take later naps than they would at daycare.

I laugh at coxsackie, too. I usually call it hand, foot and mouth disease. I can't figure out which of those is better to say!

[Julia1Pin]

I CAN'T STAND SILENCE. Even if it makes things worse, i have to talk out problems. The worst thing you can do to me is freeze me out. I have to try to make everything better. And it's really hard for me to go to bed angry, although I have done it from time to time when DH is being anything but "Dear".

[JoanneOR]

Well, they just called me from the cottage. Sounds like they are all having a great time. They were using my SIL's cell phone which kept going in and out. But I got to talk to Caitlyn and DH said she seemed very excited to hear my voice. Colin and Jameson were taking a nap out on the deck. Rough life, huh? Ian was collecting acorns. That's Ian, off doing his own thing! I'm glad I heard from them and they're having a good time, but it made me sad not to be there. Oh well. They'll be home sometime tomorrow.

Susan, DH and I have misunderstandings like you described all the time. I'm trying to be better about communicating and getting him to be better, but it doesn't always work!

[tbb113]

Susan:
I've been curious since you posted Brenden's 2 year old stats. Michael wsa 36 3/4" and 29 1/2 pounds at the same age. Looks like Brenden might end up just as tall as Michael :cool:

[nori]

Joanne, how nice to hear from them! I'm sure they're missing you, too. So tomorrow is your last day at work? Did you say you'll take 2 weeks off from work after Caitlyn's surgery? Hope she'll come home healthy, and this time the surgery will go behind you soon.

Susan, I'm like you....try to figure out how I feel before I speak anything. I try to be thoughtful, but I guess that's the main reason of miscommunicating. How funny Casey saying the remote is "Daddy's". That tells you who's in control of TV.:D

Although we live in AZ, we have grasses in our backyard so we have to mow, too. That's DH's job, although I don't mind doing it. When he was gone for 2 weeks last time, I tried to do it but it was too hard to push that thing when you're pregnant. I made some streaks in the grass and gave up.:rolleyes: Ours is totally manual-roller type mower (grass area isn't too big), so that makes it even better exercise.

DH came home around 4pm saying he worked 12 hours today.:eek: He's 5 hours ahead of the schedule so tomorrow he just need to work 3 hours. He said he'll go to Noah's exercise class in the morning with us, and take the morning slow. I asked him if he's under pressure or stress from work, and he said no, he just enjoys what he's working on so much he wanted to get it going even more. Good thing he enjoys what he does for his job, but yesterday (and whenever this happens to him) he wasn't home when he came home. He was physically here, but his mind was still at work. I have to say I hate that. I used to work, so I understand sometimes it's hard to separate your office life and private life. But I tried to do that as much as I could, and I wish DH could do that a bit better. And he admitted he was childish last night and apologized.

Do you give your kids multi-vitamin?? Noah had been a pretty good eater but lately (especially at dinner) he doesn't eat as much as he used to. If dinner was something he knows he likes, he'd eat it, but if it's something new, he refuses to eat. Yesterday was Indian Curry which I made for him especially without spices. He just ate about 1/4cup of yogurt which was just a condiment. Today we had penne with tomato sauce which I thought he'd like, but he just ate a piece of bread and was done.:o He eats pretty good during the day, but still I think he needs to eat more veggies etc....So I started to think of giving him children's multi-vitamin but my friend just told me yesterday that she read (or heard) somewhere that giving kids multi-vitamin isn't always good...:confused: She couldn't remember the source, and said had to dig around to find the article. I remember some of you talking about vitamins here. Do you give them regulary?? Or do you give them certain type of nutrients??

Or maybe I don't have to worry that much...

[JoanneOR]

Nori, Caitlyn's surgery is a week from Monday, so I'll be at work next week. I'm taking off Friday because she has to go have some pre-op tests done (again :() I'm not looking forward to the blood test. Last time they put some cream on her arm to numb it so she wouldn't feel anything. I was happy about that, but she still screamed when they did it. I think it was more not liking being held down. And, I'm also going to donate blood for her. Last time I couldn't since I was sick, too. DH did so now he can't do it again. I can't believe it's getting so close. Start praying for us again.

One of our neighbor's is having all the neighbors over tonight for a "block party planning" meeting. We actually talk about the block party for about 10 minutes and the rest is just hanging out and letting the kids all play together. I told them we might not come because I don't want Caitlyn exposed to all those kids so close the the surgery. Actually, I don't know what time they'll be home today, might not be till later this evening.

Nori, glad you and DH were able to talk things over. It is hard to separate home and work life. That's good that he'll be able to spend some time with you and Noah today.

Yes, I do give the kids a multi-vitamin. We use the gummy bear ones. They pretty much have everything but iron. My ped. said to give Colin the ones with iron since he doesn't eat much meat. I'm going to look for some with iron next time. My kids are just such bad eaters it gives me a little piece of mind to give them vitamins. I don't think they can do any harm, but I'd be interested to hear what that article says.

[MrsReber]

We used to get prescription vitamins, but they are still out of stock on the ones with iron. Brenden had borderline low iron so I'm trying to be diligent about him getting a vitamin with iron. We have the liquid ones, but they smell awful and stain everything. He hates them so they get all over the place. I gave up and got a regular over the counter chewable with some iron in it. Jimmy Neutron :rolleyes: . We have a separate prescription for flouride since we have well water. I think I'm going to get a new brand of vitamin next time, though. I took a few of them and they leave a horrible taste in my mouth. The kids haven't complained about it.

Tyra, thanks for posting Michael's height! That's helpful. I'm pretty sure Brenden is going to be tall like his dad. His feet are pretty big. It seems like his shoes are getting small again already. It's funny how he jumped up so much in the percentiles. He's going to be such a tall handsome boy. He's thin, but he seems muscular and built, not skinny.

Joanne, prayers are coming your way! I'm glad your DH and kids are coming home tonight. That's a long time to be away from them. At least they had fun and it was good that your DH was there with them.

Nori, glad your DH apologized. I hate arguments and when things seem off. We've both been working on it and things seem better than ever lately. Having said that, I'll probably curse our entire weekend.

We went to BIL's house last night and, of course, didn't leave until 9:30. The kids were still up at 10:30 because I was running around trying to straighten up, wash all their dishes from daycare, do some laundry and get everyone ready for today. DH sat on the couch and fell asleep. My mom is probably going to have a very quiet afternoon. The kids got about 6 hours of sleep last night because I woke them at 5:00 to go to Grandma's. They both got stung by bees last night! BIL has lights on the walkway leading to the porch. The lights are at Brenden's level so he was playing with one of them. Well, apparently some bees took up residence there (thanks for the warning BIL and SIL!) and said bees were not very happy with the curious 2 year old. I saw the bee on Brenden's hand and he shook it off. Casey ran over and stomped on it. She was mad that it was on Brenden! I didn't think he was stung because he seemed to shake it off real fast, but I was wrong. So, instead of moving away from the light, my two very curious children began to get closer and look into it! Ack! I didn't get them away fast enough. Casey wound up getting stung on the arm. All in all, they were very brave. No crying at all. I took them inside and we put ice on the stings. Every minute or so, Brenden would start to yell "no! no! No, bees! Go away, no!" Then he'd give me his hand so he could kiss it. It was time for ice cream cake by then and they pretty much forgot all about the bees after that.

[nori]

Susan...Ouch!!!!:( I'm so impressed your kids didn't cry. I'd cry, I think.:o So your BIL&SIL knew there were bees around the lights? If that was my house, I'd warn ALL guests about it, no matter how old they are. Glad the stings weren't too serious.

Joanne, I somehow thought this coming week is the last week of July, and thinking, Gee, I only have a month to go until my due date! (Not that a week would make a big difference) I sure will keep you in my prayers. You must be very excited to see kids (and DH) tonight.

Thanks for the insights about vitamins. Joanne, do you give Caitlyn gummy bear vitamin, too? I wonder if gummy bears are too chewy for their age?? I'm sure Noah'd love to eat those bears! I'll probably check some brands out when I'm shopping next time. Susan, when did they do the blood test on Brenden? If it's routine for 2-year appointment, that's someting I can look forward to, huh?

DH went to haircut to the barbar the other day and said they could take any age kids for haircut, so he's thinking to bring Noah over. He said he'd probably have time this afternoon after he comes home. I kind of agree that Noah's hair is getting long (a bit) and it's hard to cut it by ourselves, but not sure if I should go with them to the barbar just to hold him. He might do better without me around. On the other hand, I really have to trust DH about how short his hair will be and I need to have a discussion with him.

Tonight we're going to our friends' house for BBQ. I made CL's chocolate-eclair icebox dessert this morning and it's chilling in the fridge. I LOVE to make (and eat) that stuff! It's a perfect thing in this heat.

Happy Friday!!

[JoanneOR]

Nori, that chocolate eclair dessert is one of my favorites. It's so good!! Too bad you're so far away. :(

Yes, I give the gummi bears to Caitlyn. I tear it in half and she doesn't really chew it; kind of swallows the pieces whole. She does love fruit snacks, though and will chew those, sort of. That reminds me of the other day when she had some tootsie rolls. The boys had some and she kept trying to get them. I finally tore a small one in half and gave it to her. It seemed like she ate it real fast and then wanted more. I gave her the other half. She wanted more after that. So, I gave her one more piece and said, that's it. It seemed like she was eating them really fast. Well, I look at her and shes got chocolate running down her face. I look in her mouth and most of the tootsie roll in stuck on her bottom front teeth, in between the gum and her mouth. I was trying to pull it out because I was worried she would choke. She got mad; I don't know if she was saving it for later, or what!

Nori, I'd let your DH take Noah for their haircut. It can be their own special bonding time. I was really surprised, but my boys all loved getting haircuts. I think it's because DH used to take them with when he got his cut and let them sit in his lap. So, they were used to it. If Noah doesn't like it, I think you're right, he'd probably be worse if you were there. Would want you to "save" him. :)

It's been rainy here all day. I'm a bit worried about DH driving home, but I'm sure they'll be fine. It'll be nice to see them all.

Susan, your kids are brave! I've had a bee sting and it really hurt! Your BIL should have taken care of the bees before having kids over, if he knew they were there. Especially since people can be allergic, you never know what can happen.

Have a good weekend, all!

[nori]

Joanne, hope you had a nice "reunion" with your kids.:)
That's a good idea to split the gummi bears in half. I might try that. So funny about Caitlyn keeping her candies in her mouth! Maybe she was saving them for later, just like chipmunks! (sp?)

Well Noah had his first barbar haircut yesterday. I didn't go, and it was a good thing I didn't. DH said it was like 5 min. total to cut his hair but he cried the whole time.:( He was happy to go out with daddy, but DH said in the barbar when it was his turn, he looked at the barbar and the chair and started to say "mom? mom?" as if I'd have saved him from that situation. DH held him the whole time and he said it was horrible. But he did a good job. His hair just looks like his daddy, and it's so short it looks like a military-cut. He has big ears just like his daddy, and now they're so standout.:D Kind of cute. They stopped by Wal-mart and he got a matchbox car as a treat having haircut done. So when they came home, he was happy with his new toy. All I could say was, "Gee I'm glad I decided not to go!!!" Joanne, I think you're totally right. Noah would have thought I'd save him if I was there.

We went to our friends house for dinner last night and didn't get home until after 9. I expected him to sleep in the car but somehow it didn't happen. So eventually he went to sleep about probably 10pm, but he got up at 5am this morning!!!:eek: He's been acting like he's still sleepy, though. Why couldn't he just go back to sleep??? Anyway, I've been up with him and I'm hoping he'd take a nice nap today.

[erinl]

Geez, can coxsackie be transmitted over the internet?! You guessed it, miss Hanne has it now. She started with a fever Friday afternoon. It was still 101 when she got up the next morning, but her spirits were still good. After her nap, the sore throat must have kicked in because she wouldn't eat or drink anything, including Tylenol and Motrin. She pretty much cried for the next four hours until I finally decided that we were having milkshakes for dinner. She ate that. Her fever was over 102, though, and she still wouldn't take medicine. I finally called the doctor because she was drooling so bad, I was afraid she could't swallow. She recommended acetaminophen suppositories. I was horrified, but it worked. She slept horribly last night, but things seemed much better today. She ate a little drank more and finally took the Motrin. Oy. What a lousy weekend.

Hanne decided this morning that she didn't want to wear a diaper. So we put her in training pants. Despite sitting her on the potty frequently, though, she didn't use the potty until right before her bath. Because she was so dehydrated, she only wet the training pants twice. When she did finally use the potty, we made a big deal out of it and gave her 2 m&m's. She seemed pretty pleased with herself. We don't have anywhere to go this week, so this is the big push to learn. I wouldn't force her if she were resisting, but she seems interested.

Joanne, I can't imagine how it must have felt to be alone that long. A couple of weeks ago, Paul took Hanne to his parents without me and I realized that was the longest I'd been alone in my home since before Hanne was born. It must have been great to see them on Friday.

Nori, Hanne takes the gummy bears, too. She's taken them for 2-3 months now, and I've never cut them in half or anything. Hanne is really good about chewing, though. I don't cut foods nearly as small as most other moms I know. Hanne would rather have a big hunk that she can gnaw on. I really only cut things so that they cool faster. She eats apples just like an adult. (Except that she somehow sucks all of the fruit off and spits out the peel. :rolleyes: ) Oh, and Hanne had a finger stick at her two year appointment to check iron. (BTW, she's 28# and 34.25" tall.)

Susan, Hanne got stung by a hornet a few weeks ago. She didn't cry, either. DH saw that she was near it, and then she started waving her hand around. We iced it, and there wasn't even a bump the next day. We were at a party and the host immediately went out and took care of the problem. Their swingset doesn't see much use these days, and a small nest was built on the stairs of the slide.

Good night!

[MrsReber]

Joanne, hope you had a great weekend with your family. More importantly, I hope everyone got home safe and healthy!

Nori, I think Brenden would look cute with a short haircut, but I can't bring myself to do it. I finally got my hair cut on Saturday. The girl took 3 inches off the bottom and trimmed my bangs. Nobody noticed. Casey begged to go with me and get her haircut so I called and asked if they could do her. It only took about 1 minute. I want to keep her hair on the long side. It's just below her shoulders and so pretty. She got a lollipop to eat while I got my hair cut. Then we went to Toys R Us to spend the money my grandmother sent for their birthdays. I got Brenden a toy lawnmower. DH asked if I would do that so he'd stop pushing the pink stroller around the yard :p ! We also got a crazy blow up pool that was on sale. It has 2 big dolphins that attach to the side. They stand up with a beach ball between them. You can hook up the hose and it'll squirt water. There's also a little slide and 6 balls to throw through hoops on the side. We set it up while they napped and they had a blast all afternoon. It was on sale for $20! They had a Barbie hotel for only $50. It was a $130 toy! Casey really wanted it so I called my mom and told her to pick it up for Christmas. She also had a $10 gift card so it was $40! We don't have anything Barbie, but Casey seems to really like Barbie stuff and the Disney Princesses. My girlie-girl!

Meanwhile, DH had taken Brenden to BIL's house to pick up a slide. It's just a slide so he has to build something so they can climb up it. The poor kids want to play on it so badly, but there's no ladder or anything. It's just a piece of plastic! DH also took Brenden for a walk in the woods behind BIL's house. He seemed to like that. DH later took his nephew fishing on the lake. He got home after 9:00 and Brenden really seemed to miss him while he was gone.

MIL's visit may not be over! SIL is going away to the Bahamas at the end of the week. She asked MIL to stay with her son for an extra week. MIL says she'll stay if SIL pays her for the time she'll miss at work. We're actually having nice visits with MIL, but we've only seen her 3 days so far. She came by for lunch yesterday. We went to a restaurant right down the road. It's just funny that she doesn't seem interested in spending more than an hour or two with the kids, yet she'll babysit her great grandchildren for a whole day. She was supposed to have gone fishing with DH Saturday, but SIL volunteered to babysit. Guess SIL forgot she had a wedding to go to so MIL got stuck sitting instead. The thing that really gets me is that I don't understand why she had to babysit. DH's neice has a 1 year old and just had a baby 3 weeks ago. His niece refuses to be left alone with her 2 kids so she keeps asking people to babysit her daughter. She's scared to death of it. When DH dropped his nephew off, MIL was sitting there with the 1 year old, the 1 year old's mother was there, along with DH's neice's mother and father! I told her last Thursday that she should just plan a day to be alone with both kids because it has to happen sooner or later and it's not as bad as you'd think. Her daughter goes from her mom, to SIL, to her bf's mother and hardly ever stays at her own house. MIL goes on about how rough she has it and how hard it is to watch a 1 year old with another baby around. I later told DH how ridiculous that was and how they weren't rushing over to my rescue after Brenden was born. They claim that the fact that he's on a monitor makes it so much worse and that the 1 year old always tries to pull the wires or pinch the new baby. Yeah, and Casey didn't try to smother Brenden on a daily basis? I feel for her because I know it's scary, but she literally has not been alone with both kids ever.

Sorry poor Hanne had coxsackie virus! It really is going around. DH's neice's baby had it twice already!

Nori, they only checked Brenden's iron after his 1 year appointnent, with the regular bloodwork. I see that not all doctors do it that way, though, since Hanne had her's checked at 2 years. I thought my ped might check again since it was low, but she didn't.

Well, off to start working. Casey is still sleeping. Brenden is sitting here with me, giving me kisses. He's such a sweetie!

[nori]

Good morning!! Well it's after 7am here and guess what!? Noah's still sleeping.:cool: This is probably the latest he's ever slept in. I wonder how long it'd last.

Erin, sorry to hear that Hanne has the virus, too. Must be REALLY going around. Except that I haven't heard any locally. Is this really going around on Internet?:D How do we prevent it, stop posting here???:p :D That's a great news about Hanne is getting into potty training. Isn't it nice if she's trained by the time your baby comes? Less diapers, the better!!

Susan, is your DH's niece scared of dealing with 2 babies at the same time?? I was amazed she never spent time with both of them up until now...I can't speak for herself, since my kids won't be that close but still, I'd think you somehow deal with it....YOU did it really well! I was also surprised to read that your MIL asked for money watching grandson for a while???:rolleyes: Well they might offer to pay her, but she asking them sounds not right.

Okay Noah's up now. Didn't last too long.

Susan, are you going to take Brenden to your hairstylist in the future? Because I was thinking to do that before. But DH's barbar doesn't need appointment and he said it lasted about 3 min. and it was done. Do you think your DH would take him there?? Is he scared of haircut?

Joanne, how's Caitlyn? She's still as healthy as when she left for cabin? I really hope so!!

Last night Noah had a great supper. Actually he slept when we had lunch, he woke up when we were about to leave the store so he didn't get to eat much. But he wasn't hungry then and didn't have any snack except apple juice until 5pm. He ate baked beans, broccoli, and 1/3 of hot dog bun. And had second for beans and ate probably 10 broccoli!!! I used to put "child portion" of everything on his plate before the meal, but DH thought it's overwhelming for him. So he put one broccoli, maybe 6 beans, and tiny piece of bread on his plate. Noah gobbled them up and asked for more. So maybe DH was right. Or combination of light lunch, no snack etc, etc. But I'm glad that method worked. DH was so pleased to see the clean plate. Noah was funny. When he finished, he'd pointed the plate and said "Done!!" and clapped his hands. Since he had such a nice dinner, I gave him dessert. I'm just worried about diaper issue today since he had "broccoli and beans":o :o that much.

Okay gotta start the laundry. Have a nice day everyone!

[MrsReber]

Nori, according to Dr. Spock, your DH is right about the servings. I was just reading about that over the weekend. The book said to serve smaller portions and let the child ask for more. That way, they feel that they have some control over eating and it's not overwhelming to them.

Brenden asked me for a haircut this morning so I trimmed it for him. I think I did a pretty good job. He sat still, but he let me know when he was done. He does look older with his hair cut shorter. My baby!

Yes, DH's neice is terrified of being alone. She said there was a 10 minute period when she was waiting for her mom to get there and her BF left for work. She told me she couldn't handle it. She was changing the baby and her daughter was jealous, crying, and hanging on to her leg. I said "she was fine. You should have just tuned her out, concentrated on getting the baby changed. She was fine, she was only crying." I told MIL that it wasn't good to keep separating the two kids because the older one will never learn not to pinch, pull, smuther, the other one. She needs her mom to set the rules and reinforce them. She drove to her mom's house with both babies in the car and told me that was the longest she had been alone with them and she was frantic the whole way, hoping her daughter woulnd't hurt her son (he was born last week of June) On the very day that Brenden was one week old, SIL was supposed to come over and help me. I was alone with the kids for a few hours (DH had been home with me for a few days) when SIL called to cancel. She had a good reason; her son broke his arm and had to go to the doctor. At first, I had a panic attack- but then I realized that I had to do it sooner or later. It worked out fine. We all survived and DH picked up a pizza for dinner because it was pretty tiring! The secret is to remain calm. DH's neice is saying that her daughter is into everything and she can't keep her out of trouble. My response to that was "well her house needs to be baby proofed if that is such a problem." I worry about them. Her BF isn't much help, he's been out drinking with his buddies every weekend (and driving drunk). They're still not married and don't want to get married until they can have their big wedding. I say they should just get married quietly and then have their big ceremony later. Her grandfather agrees with me, but SIL thinks it'll all work out. I sure hope so. They don't even have enough money to pay their bills.

The reason MIL asked for money if she stays is because she'd be missing out on the money from her job since she was supposed to be back at work next week. I feel bad for DH's nephew. His dad is appealing his case from jail so maybe he'll be out earlier. That poor kid is so confused.

Well, enough about that. Brenden took his diaper off this morning and told me "poop." He was wrong, it was only pee. He seems to get the two words confused, even though he knows what he means. As I've been doing for the past week, I asked "do you want to go pee pee on the potty?" He ran down the hall to the bathroom and slammed the door. I left him alone for a minute. When I walked it, he was bent over, like Casey after she poops. He said "mommy, poop!" Well, no, he didn't poop, but he did pee! Half of it was in the potty and the other half was on the potty seat and on the floor- but he went!!!! It's a start. I was pretty excited. He's been sitting on the potty here and at daycare, but he never went before. Hmmm, Casey and Brenden just walked out of the living room. She had her arm around him. I asked "where are you going?" She said "umm, pee pee." Maybe she'll train him after all!

[JoanneOR]

Susan, sounds like your DH's niece is really having a rough time. That's a hard situation. She needs to be able to feel comfortable with both kids, but she's so young herself. But, eventually she needs to do it, she's responsible for them. Too bad her boyfriend isn't more supportive. I remember being overwhelmed with Jameson and Ian when Ian was a newborn and I was 35!

Talking about the boy's haircuts made me remember how my boys looked after their first haircuts. It was like a transformation from a toddler/baby to a little boy. Kind of sad! But they do look so cute.

Everyone arrived home safe and sound around 8:30 Friday night. I was getting a little worried because I hadn't heard from them that day. DH was really wore out. I guess Caitlyn was a handful. I knew it would be tough trying to keep her occupied/happy. Then, of course, he has everyone trying to tell him what to do with her. But, I think she enjoyed it. DH said she seemed to be looking for me alot and would call out "mommy". She even reverted to calling him "mommy." I think she was the happiest to see me. I asked Ian if he missed me and he said "no, how could I, I was having too much fun." That's my honest Ian! He said "I had so much fun, I didn't even think of you." At least Jameson was a little more diplomatic and said he missed me! But, they really did have a good time. I'm glad they went. But it's nice to have everyone back at home.

So far, everyone is healthy, although Caitlyn had a 99.5 fever Saturday. My heart dropped when I took it. I was like, oh no, here we go again. We gave her some tylenol and it's been normal ever since. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I couldn't sleep last night. I'm getting all stressed about the surgery again since it's so close. I had a few strange dreams too.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - glad everyone is home safe and sound. Too funny about Ian's comments. Good to know they had a good time. Try not to worry too much about the higher temperature. I don't think 99.5 is even considered a fever and could easily be that high just from running around or being bundled up too much etc. Hopefully anyway. Sending lots of strong healthy vibes to Caitlyn.

I remember feeling scared of being alone with Lainey when we first came home from the hospital. There's a lot I'm hoping not to repeat the next time around though.

Susan - I'm glad you're having some good visits with your MIL. Has she asked your DH for money yet? If Casey trains Brenden, would you mind sending her out to Portland?

Sheesh I think we're still months away from Lainey's first hair cut. And that will probably be just some trimming of her bangs. Mostly it's because her hair is so curly but it's also pretty thin still on the sides of her head.

Erin - oh no! Coxsackie through the internet?! Lainey had some diahhrea on Thursday and she and DH had a fun day on Friday (she acted fine so it was more like a day off for them). I was wondering if she had gotten through the internet too. No other issues and she's back to nuggets so probably not. I hope Hanne is better now.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, I'll send Casey on the US Potty Training Tour 2004 (and tooth brushing for those who need help). She and Brenden now have Crest spinning toothbrushes so it helps them to do a better job when they brush by themselves. She likes to help Brenden with things that I would normally help him with. The funny thing is that he is very cooperative with her.

DH's neice is 25 now. Yes, she's young, but she needs to take charge with her kids. I was talking to my mom. She was married with 2 kids 15 months apart at the age of 21. It's one of those things where you have to realize you're responsible for those little lives and you have to step up. Her BF, too. My own DH was a bit lame when we came home with the kids. He just figured I could handle it all until I told him that I do need his help and started asking him to do things- maybe not so much taking care of the kids, but I would send him to the store and ask him to do laundry or just watch the kids while I took a shower.

Joanne, so glad everyone is home. I hope that the surgery takes place Monday. It's not fair that you should have to go through any more stress and worry over the whole thing. It'll be great when this is all behind you. That's funny about Ian being so honest. I always tell DH that I love that he's so honest. It's a great quality, even though it hurts sometimes!

[erinl]

Ooh, we could use the tooth brushing assistance. Hanne hates it when I brush her teeth, but she just chews on it. She's feeling much better today, although she is more prone to meltdowns. She peed in the trainers 3x so far today and once in the potty.

[JoanneOR]

susan, for some reason I thought your DH's niece was 19 or 20. She does need to learn to deal with the kids. Probably the best way is to actually do it alone without any help. If she keeps getting help and is never alone with them she won't learn how to do it on her own. Having her son on a monitor probably adds to the stress. I know I was more nervous about Caitlyn when she came home because of her problems and just having had surgery.

Caitlyn just wants to chew on the toothbrush, too. Actually she just likes to suck the toothpaste off the toothbrush. She uses the toddler stuff with no flouride, but I keep having to remind the boys to keep theirs in the back of the sink because she grabs the tubes and tries to eat it.

Send Casey over our way, too! I'd love Caitlyn to be potty trained soon, but I'm not holding out any hope yet! She doesn't show any signs of even considering it. But, I haven't pushed it at all. Maybe in the fall.

Kim, I was hoping that was the case with the fever, too. I have to stop myself from taking it every hour. I've become obsessed with her not getting sick. OK, no more talking about being sick here, in case it does come through the internet. :), just kidding, I'm not totally losing my mind yet!

Caitlyn's hair is really thin, too, but straight as a pin! I've only cut her bangs because they were hanging in her eyes. And, that was quite an undertaking. She was not a happy girl. I found these really tiny barettes in Target and they slip right out of her hair.

[nori]

Susan, make sure Casey stops by here in Arizona, too!!! We could use teeth brushing AND potty training.:D He's good with DH (most of the time) but with me it's awful. Wouldn't it be great if Casey potty-train Brenden? You should give her some Dora toy or something for that if it really happens.:cool:

I guess I kind of understand DH's niece's baby needs monitoring must be so much stress, more than usual situation but still, you can't rely on people all the time....And it's not good for kids to be separated either. Hopefully she'll change her mind and start keeping two kids together with her.

Joanne, maybe Caitlyn was tired from the big trip and that's why she had a fever? I certainly hope so, and I'm praying that her surgery will happen next Monday!! Sounds like everyone had a great time there.:cool:

Kim, I think it's a blessing not have to cut Lainey's hair yet. Trust me, it's not fun. We've trimmed his hair for several times before this barbar thing happened, and we were exhausted after that 5 min. I love curly hair!!!

Erin, wow way to go Hanne!! Sounds like she's getting to understand the potty thing. Impressive!

Okay, here's the photo of Noah when he came home from barbar...

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid129/p01f7f9626605845d2630d147d7e829b3/f7c88d91.jpg

He looks like a little monkey, too....:o

[tbb113]

I don't know if they have them in your areas...but when the boys were little I took them to special 'kiddie' haircut places. They got to sit on carousel horses or have a steering wheel or something. Even had small hand held toys for them to play with while they were getting their haircut. I must have taken them to that type of place until they were 5 or 6, I then went to a barber shop, and now I use SuperCuts for them.

[erinl]

Joanne, I hope Caitlyn stays healthy!

Nori, I took Hanne to a kiddie salon, too. She got to sit in a yellow Porsche and watch an Elmo video while she got her hair cut. She didn't mind a bit. Oh, and Noah looks good with his new haircut!

Well, Hanne ended up using the potty four times today! Yea! She wet her training pants or pull ups 4 times, and pooped in a pull up. When she wet the training pants she came and got me immediately for a change, and would always sit on the potty for a minute or two. When she wet her pull up it never phased her. Does anybody actually fully train using just pullups? Anyway, Hanne honestly wasn't showing any real "signs" of being ready. We've had the potty seat around for a couple of months so she could get used to it. For the past couple of weeks, every few days she would strip completely and want to sit on the big toilet. She never did anything, though. We had a quiet week this week, so I figured I would give it a shot. If she had resisted, I wouldn't have pushed, but I think things are going well. I wanted to try (1) before the baby was born and (2) while the weather was warm so we don't have to deal with a lot of clothes. She has spent most of the past two days in nothing but her training pants. :rolleyes:

[MrsReber]

We couldn't fully train using pull-ups. The thing that made the difference was putting Casey in regular underwear- not even training pants. It was Dora underwear, of course. That was the trick. It took about a week and we were done. Then, another four weeks later, she didn't want to wear pull ups to bed anymore. She has NEVER wet her bed (she wet mine once!) and has not had an accident since she changed rooms at daycare. I'm a bit upset with them, though, because they put Casey in the pre-school room with all the kids that aren't trained. I have no idea why they did that. I think she's with most of her friends, though. Her best buddy went to a different room because she was trained at 2. Brenden didn't pee on the potty anymore yesterday. He did sit on it a couple more times and after his bath, he told me he wanted to wear underwear. It was bedtime so I talked him into a diaper. I don't think he's ready for underwear yet. I might have to let him wear some pull ups instead. I had a swim diaper on him yesterday. He thinks they're really cool and calls them underwear. Good luck with Hanne! Sounds like she's really making progress. That'd be great if you could get her out of diapers this week. Being home and being consistent makes a huge difference.

Nori, Noah looks so cute! Who knows, we may be in AZ next year. I have a feeling my little sister will be graduating from college and they'll have a party and invite us. If they pay for us to fly, we'll come out. Otherwise, we'll never be able to afford 4 seats. It was almost $1000 for us to fly with the kids when they were both under 2! We got 3 seats. Casey's seat was half price. Anyway, Nori, if we do get out there, we'd have to meet up and get the kids together.

Joanne, I keep thinking DH's neice is 20, too! How'd she get so old? I just personally think she and her BF need to learn to be responsible. She's a bit better than him, but I'm finding she's still got a lot of growing up to do. DH called SIL last night. MIL is staying for the extra week so she can help DH's neice with her kids. He made a comment about that and SIL said "they didn't realize it'd be so much work with 2 babies." :rolleyes:

[JoanneOR]

Erin, where was that kiddie salon? I've never heard of one in the Chicago area. Probably quite a ways from where we are though.

No, my kids didn't potty train with the pull-ups. Like Susan said, the thing that worked was putting them in underwear. Just be ready for lots of clean-ups! I used the pull-ups if we were going out and at night. Sounds like Hanne is doing great! That would be wonderful to have her out of diapers when the baby comes. When I had Caitlyn Colin was still in diapers and he was three. I really couldn't put any effort into training him when she was a newborn, so that put us back a few months. I probably should have started before she was born.

Nori, Noah is adorable! He looks great with the short hair.

Caitlyn is doing good, no more fevers. Just six more days now.

Saturday I'm having my parents and MIL and FIL over for cake for Colin's birthday. My MIL's birthday is the next day, so I'm having cake for her too and inviting the rest of DH's family. It's close to the surgery, but I thought having people over might take our minds off the surgery. And they all know that if anyone is sick not to come.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - I'm glad to hear Caitlyn's staying healthy. Keeping my fingers crossed.

And ummm - how about that pitching ;) :eek: :D

Nori - Noah is looking like such a little kid now! Not a toddler. Cute buzz cut.

Erin, it sounds like Hanne is making great progress! We've been stalled out not really doing much different and I think we should change something up and see how that goes. I need to find a quiet time in the schedule, but would also like to take advantage of these warmer months.

So training pants - are these disposable things, sold near diapers? Or are they more like underwear that I'd buy at BRU?

Took Lainey to swim class last night. It's every day for 2 weeks (well M-F). Intense and hard on the schedule but I think it helps them remember from day to day. We arrived at the community center and Lainey starts throwing a fit before I even get in the locker room. I have never seen her so upset. I was able to get a swim diaper on her but no way with the swim suit. She's worn it only a couple of times when we were in New Orleans and used the hotel pool. She didn't much care for that experience either but I thought she tolerated it and had a little fun splashing. She continues to carry on so much I'm not sure what to do. If I should quit so she's not traumatized or just work her through it. Fortunately a friend from my little playgroup was also in the class so she helped try to distract Lainey. Lainey carried on through the first song activity and then I had her chasing after a kickboard and she calmed down completely. Then the instructor suggested we could work with them on jumping in the pool - we're in the deep end as the non-parent swim classes have filled up the other areas. Lainey watched her friend Sophie do it several times (they took a class earlier in the summer too) and so I set Lainey on the side of the pool and held her under her arms and she jumped in. She liked it and then she did it standing and then she'd throw a couple of toys in, jump in, we'd go after the toys and repeat. Now why in the world could she like jumping in the pool (in the deep end!) but yet have such anxiety over the whole pool in general? :confused: I hope today goes better because I really don't want to traumatize her but I also don't want her so afraid either.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Yeah, Kim, that pitching was something. :( I actually didn't see the game or any of the "highlights", but I read about it in the paper. He sounds a bit immature, to put it lightly! It saddens me to admit it, but I think our Cubbies are falling apart! We've still got some time to pull it together, though! We'll see what happens today.

It sounds like Lainey took to the class well once you got her in there. Maybe she was just unsure of what was going to happen when you got to the center. If she didn't like the pool too much in New Orleans, maybe putting on her suit reminded her and she just wasn't into it. We did a swimming program like that a couple years ago, five days a week for two weeks. Just Jameson and Ian, though. They seemed fine with it, but my friend's daughter who was maybe a year older than Lainey at the time, threw a fit the first few days and didn't want to be there. My friend thought about taking her out, but she was OK after a few classes. I'd give it a try for a few days and see how she does. How are you managing this with work? Do you just go in later?

Pull-ups are disposable and are with the diapers. Training pants are just like thicker underwear and aren't disposable. I've never actually bought the training pants; we got some from my SIL. I imagine BRU would have them; I've never really seen them at department stores, but I've never really been looking, either.

OK, I have to get off the board and do some work!

Oh, one more thing! Susan, I saw your pictures on the pictures thread and the kids are beautiful (DH is handsome, too :)). They've gotten so big. Brenden looks like he could be three.

[MrsReber]

Kim, I bought training pants at Walmart and I found some on the sale table at Carters. I thought the ones with the plastic outside would be better, but they leak either way. The ones I got at Carter's don't have the plastic and Casey will still sometimes put them on when Mommy hasn't done laundry and we run out of Dora.

Joanne, Brenden is about the size of a 3 year old. I know he's taller than my friend's 3 year old daughter. He's speaking very well, too. I'm amazed at the things he says and how he understands everything we say to him. I don't remember Casey having that much comprehension at that age. I think she's the key to all of that. She'll have two toys and ask him if he wants the pink one or the green one, so he's been learning his colors. It was only a couple of weeks ago that he called everything purple. Now he's added yellow, pink and blue to that and he can tell them apart. He can count to 10 and he's looking at letters now that I'm working on letters with Casey. She's got her numbers down so we need to move on. She has a dry-erase Barney book of the alphabet. She's been tracing the letters. I asked her to draw some of her own on Sunday night. She did H and I with no problem. She was so proud of herself! She worked on letters for quite a while yesterday, too.

Kim, wow, I can't believe Lainey jumped in! I want to go for lessons with the kids, too, but I think we'll wait until next year. I hope things go better today with the class. Can't be much fun to have a crying child on your hands. Still, it seems odd they would put the babies in the deep end of the pool.

[erinl]

Joanne, I got Hanne's hair cut at a place called KidSnips (http://www.kidsnips.com). There are several Chicagoland locations, but I think they are all North and West. They really did a fantastic job with Hanne's hair, though. Since it was her first cut, they saved some clippings and attached it to a certificate with a polaroid. It was really cute. Her hair wasn't long or anything just uneven and the fine baby hair kept getting really tangled. They shaped things up and told us not to cut it again for awhile. I hadn't planned on it, but I appreciated that they weren't trying to get her in every 8 weeks. I would definitely go back again. I also found a nearby place called Cookie Cutters. I haven't checked it out, but I'm guessing the concept is the same. I couldn't find a website for them, so I don't know if they have multiple locations.

Kim, I got Hanne's training pants at Target. They were with the baby stuff, not diapers. I have several pairs of thick cotton underpants and a few vinyl covered pants that are also somewhat absorbant. I've been putting Hanne in the vinyl pants, but I may quit that. Yesterday I noticed her bottom was a little rashy. I thought that maybe she was just getting hot and sweaty in the vinyl pants. Today I noticed hives. She hasn't eaten anything different or in any unusual quantities, so I have to guess it's from the pants. Oh, and we haven't had a successful trip to the bathroom yet today. I know this will take some time, but it's hard not to get frustrated.

[HRJ]

Hi everyone -- haven't had much of a chance to get to the BB since the weekend, so I've missed a lot of posts here -- I don't mean to be "ignoring" anyone.

Joanne, sending healthy vibes for Caitlyn!! (And everyone else in your house as well). I'm guessing from your last few posts that your DH took the kids to a cabin for a few days? Sounds like a nice trip for them, and a break for you. And Happy Birthday to Colin!!

Nori, Noah is adorable with his new haircut!! :) I'm partial to very short hair on men/boys, though -- I try to keep Victor's very short, mainly because it's so much easier to take care of.

I was taking Victor to get his hair cut by my stylist -- she is great with him, and the first few times, he really liked it, gave her big hugs after the haircut, etc. The past few times, however, he has started to kick up a big fuss -- last time, he ran and "hid" under her station, cried a lot, etc. So I'm thinking of trying to trim it myself next time -- I bought a clipper and "haircut kit." I actually used it to trim DH's hair this past weekend -- and, I have to admit, it came out pretty good -- at least not any worse than most barbers, I think. So we'll see if Victor will sit still for a home haircut.

Susan, it's so cute that Casey is "tutoring" Brenden on potty training. I agree, DH's neice needs to "bite the bullet" and spend time with both kids -- maybe she could arrange to have someone on "standby" if things got out of hand.

The first time I had to spend time alone with Victor, was in the hotel room in Guatemala -- DH and our attorney had to go to the American embassy to pick up Victor's visa, and I stayed behind with V. He was 2 years old, mobile and didn't understand any English yet -- and I quickly used up all the Spanish I knew. I was afraid to take him out to the pool or even down to the lobby, so we sat in the room and mostly watched cartoons all afternoon. Everything went fine, but I remember being so terrified.

Kim, Victor had his 3-year doctor appt. yesterday, and the pediatrician gave me a lecture about the importance of swimming lessons for toddlers/preschoolers. It sounds as though Lainey will probably get used to the pool after a few sessions, especially if she lasted through the first lesson OK.

I was considering signing Victor up for swimming this summer, but since he didn't react too well to the gymnastics and music classes that I tried to bring him to earlier, I figured he's not ready for the structure of a "class" just yet.



Here's a question -- I sent out invites for Victor's birthday party (scheduled for this Saturday) three weeks ago. I wrote "RSVP by July 19." I left invitations for 9 kids. So far, I've only got two responses -- one "yes;" one "no." During the past week, I've run into four other parents, and asked if they could make it, and they've all said, "I'm not sure. I'll get back to you." At this point, I really need to know if anyone else is coming, so I can plan food, goodie bags, etc. (If only one guest is coming, then it would be more of a "playdate with cake," which would be fine, but I need to know one way or the other).

So -- do I have to call all these parents tonight? Leave a note in the kids' mailboxes at day-care this afternoon? Assume if I haven't heard from them, they're definitely not showing up? My neighbor told me, "most people don't like to say 'no,' so when they say 'I'm not sure,' that really means 'no.' " Has that been your experience? I guess I'm a fairly assertive person who doesn't have much problem offering a polite "sorry, we're busy that day," so I'm having trouble with the idea that declining an invite to a kid's b'day party could be so difficult.

I know parents are busy, but you'd think after I specifically asked four of them last week, they'd be able to spit out a yes or a no -- doesn't take any more time than saying "I'm not sure." I'm busy, too; I offered some hospitality; and, frankly, I'm surprised at the overwhelming lack of courtesy -- I expected there would be a few parents I wouldn't hear from, but 7 out of 9?? (well, there's a set of twins in there, so I guess it's 6 out of 8.)

Sorry, I guess this is turning into a rant. :o I guess I'm also disppointed because I feel I don't have enough real-life contact with other parents of kids Victor's age, and I thought this would be a way of extending a hand and getting to know some of the other moms from the day-care. I guess I thought the day-care would be a natural venue for making social connections -- but it seems not. My attempts at forming a neighborhood playgroup fizzled; how does one go about meeting other moms of 3-year-olds?

Rant over. Guess I've gone on here long enough.

Helene

[MrsReber]

Helene, I was surprised at how many people didn't respond or responded at the last minute for Casey's party. There were 4 that we never heard from at all (but I invited 21!! Was I crazy??). I correctly assumed that the ones who did not respond were not coming. Still, kind of rude when you specifically ask them to respond by a certain date. I think some people honestly believe that they only have to call if they are coming. However, it'd be nice to know who was coming. That way, if there were enough conflicts, you could even have the option of re-scheduling the party. One woman at daycare did that. She scheduled her son's party for the same day as another little girl's birthday party. Most people already responded to the girl's mother so they couldn't go to the boy's party. She changed it to the following week. I found that Casey had the biggest turn out of all the parties we went to, probably because it was in May. Wish we lived closer! We'd come for the party! Casey and Brenden love to have "happy cake". That's Brenden's interpretation of birthday cake.

It does seem odd that the other parents are not more social. The parents in Casey's class are great. I now know most of them after all the birthday parties we went to and it's really nice to talk to them. I look forward to the parties so I can see them again. We talk about getting together, but it never seems to work out. We're all so busy and most of the moms work. Summer is usually busy with vacations. Of course, I could help the process along if I were to call them and get the ball rolling. It's been hard for us. Last weekend was the first weekend since June 5th that we didn't have a birthday party to go to. And we could have gone to one! I declined the invitation because I didn't even know the boy and Casey moved out of his class three weeks ago. She said she didn't know him either. Another mom told me he just started there so I suspect he and Casey were only in the same room for a couple of weeks.

[tbb113]

Helene:
Regarding places to meet other parents, the best place I found was a group that the Adult Education ran in a neighboring town. It was called "Parents and Young Children in the Evening". We met once a week at 6 with our kids (spouses were welcome, infants were also welcome) WITH dinner (fast food for most of us). The class was basically a preschool setting (art, crafts, playdough, circle time, outside time, etc) but you interacted with your child. I did this when Michael was 2 - 5. There was a group of us (about 5 kids) where not only did all the kids get along, and the moms got along but all the dads got along as well. We would get together on the weekends, parties, etc. I moved about 25 minutes away and lost contact with the group but it was a life-saver.

You might also see if your temple offers anything. The only problem I found with trying to go that avenue (or the JCC) was that it was mostly geared for stay-at-home parents. Your best bet IMHO is to find a group geared for working parents. Is there a MOMS group in the area? If so, they might have a playgroup for working moms (we called ourselves the weekend warriors). Only problem was that there was a large age range in the kids (babies to 5 years old). I outgrew that group when Michael started playing sports.

[HRJ]

Thanks Susan -- wish you lived closer, too. If we were still in Metuchen, we'd only be about a 40-minute drive or so.

As I said, the ones that bother me the most are the parents I directly asked last week -- if you're not coming, for whatever reason, just say no!! Re-scheduling really isn't an option at this point -- my mom will be in Boston for the three weekends after that, and that brings us to mid-/late August, which is another big vacation time (sometimes I think we're the only people in Boston who don't have a summer home on the Cape :rolleyes: ), and then it's Labor Day.

I kind of feel like I did back in my early 20s, when I was trying to find all sorts of ways to met men -- only this time, I'm trolling for moms! :D

Helene

[HRJ]

Thanks for the suggestions, Tyra -- I guess we were posting at the same time.

One of my difficulties is that I have a visual disability that prevents me from driving at night, which makes getting around to after-work activities a challenge, especially during the winter. I have to rely on public transit (OK for me alone, harder with Victor in tow); have DH drive me; or constantly impose on other folks.

Unfortunately, there is no MOMS group near me, nor Mothers and More. As you mentioned, most community organizations offer stuff during the day -- I'm at home on Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays, which limits things, but it's not impossible. I also know there are some "adoption" playgroups out there, but I've shied away from them since we're already involved with our Guatemala family group and I didn't want to make everything in our lives about adoption all the time. Maybe I should change my thinking on that.

I think my best bet is working harder to make connections through my Older First- Time Mothers group, which meets once a month (I usually beg rides from two other members who live near me -- hate feeling so dependent). We have "discussion groups" mostly -- every three months or so, we meet at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The group used to have a Saturday playgroup, which apparently fell apart a while back -- every so often, someone says, "We really should re-activiate the playgroup," but no one steps forward to do anything about it. I'm thinking that this month, I should just take the initiative and volunteer to host and see what happens.

I also recently heard about a woman in my town who is trying to organize a Jewish social/cultural group for families with young kids, to celebrate holidays/Shabbat together. (There's no synagogue in my town, although there are several in all the surrounding towns, so the local Jewish community is very fragmented.) This has spurred me to send her an e-mail.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Helene - that does suck. How hard is it to say "we already had something else planned." I am not looking forward to the whole birthday party ups and downs. I figure I have another year. My sister cuts DH's and her boys hair and trims mine. All fairly simple and she does a good job. She had a tough time with the boys getting too ticklish with the razor on the back of their necks and ears but she had them pull their knees up and bury their faces in their knees and that helped them not move their heads so much.

Thanks everyone for all the tips on the training pants, I will look for them now.

Joanne - the swim class is at 5. There was another "aquaducks" class at 6:40 but that was getting pretty late for us. I can take a bus directly to the community center (I do have to leave 15 minutes early) and DH has enough time to run home, start dinner and then come pick us up. Not ideal, but it works. The part I didn't figure out well was that by picking Lainey up early she can't go on the afternoon buggy ride. She gets put back in teh wobbler room. I really worried how she'd react to not getting to go with her friends and having to go back to her old room. Apparently she handled it fine yesterday, so hopefully that will continue.
Helene - this class isn't very structured. You can pretty much do whatever you want - the instructor calls everyone together 2-3 times to do a song activity together but it's fine to not participate in that either. She gives ideas on what to do inbetween activities but the age range and ability is pretty big - 0-3 years (same class I did with Lainey last summer). Don't know what your swim classes are like there but might not be as structured as the other classes you tried.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Helene, I think that's terrible that those mothers couldn't give you a straight answer. And, 4 of them! They are parents, they should know how inconsiderate they are being. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying, no, I can't make it, for whatever reason. Most people know what plans they have for the weekend ahead of time. I guess I would probably give daycare a note to send home with their child asking if they are coming. Or maybe ask them again in person and they'll get the idea that you need to know. Were you asking the parents to stay with their child or just drop them off? Maybe if they're dropping them off, they feel uncomfortable leaving them since they don't know you too well? That's no excuse, but maybe that's why they're being indecisive. I've started writing "RSVP regrets only" on my invitations. That way the people who are coming don't have to call; only those that aren't. I've had pretty good luck with that.

I've run into the same issues meeting other moms. When Jameson started kindergarten I volunteered to be a room mom. I wanted to help out but I also thought it would be a good opportunity to meet other moms. Well, I never really clicked with the other moms. I'm not sure why; some of them were already friends and I just felt like I didn't quite fit in. Same thing when I was a room mom for Ian's class. But, I have become friends with some of the moms on our block. One is actually of mom of one of Jameson's classmates. It really took awhile, though. I think Tyra had some good suggestions. It's hard when you're working, too.

DH cuts the boys hair in the summer. He gives them all real short haircuts; almost crew cuts. In the winter we take them to the barber. He wanted to cut Caitlyn's but I said no way!

[HRJ]

Well, I just left a note in the mailboxes at day-care asking parents to phone or e-mail me about whether or not they can come. (It kills me to write "whether or not," because it's not grammatically correct -- I used to be a copy editor. :o But I figured I needed to stress that the parents should respond either way). I hope I didn't come off as too "naggy."

I also assumed that at this age, the parents would of stay with their kids -- guess I shouldn't assume. I'd plan to stay if Victor were invited to a party -- if not for my own peace of mind, because I know he'd freak out if we left him alone at a place he'd never been before. And, the idea of having to supervise the party alone, with all those other 3-year-olds, is absolutely terrifying to me!!!! :eek: (Yeah, DH will be there, but .... :rolleyes: )

But, I made it clear in my note that parents are invited to stay, and also noted that siblings are welcome too, if anyone needs to bring them. Don't know what I can do to make this more user-friendly for the other parents.

Erin, forgot to mention, I'm so sorry to hear Hanne had coxsackie -- it's spreading so fast, you'd think it was an internet virus. There was a note in Victor's mailbox today saying that it's going around the day-care -- I sure hope he doesn't get it again!! (And that DH and I don't get it again, either!!). But, aside from hand-washing and good diapering practices, there doesn't seem to be much you can do to prevent it.

Helene

[nori]

Helene, RSVP thing is really annoying. I'd assume if they don't respond they won't come, but just having one certain "yes", I wouldn't know what to do. Hope some of those parents respond to your second request!! It's just a few days away!!! I can't believe some people could be rude like that.

Joanne, Happy Birthday to Colin!! So this Saturday is his actual birthday? Would be nice to have small family gathering before the surgery. Glad to hear Caitlyn's doing well.

Kim, the swim class sounds like fun! They offered here also about 2 weeks, and this year those kids classes were offered free, but I couldn't get on the phone quick enough. They also had 2 weeks, every week days. I was also worried I might not be able to help him enough to get in water, being pregnant myself. Chasing him on the land is hard enough.;) I can't believe Lainey jumped in the water that way! How cool. I wish Noah's more into water. He'd better be, living in this hot climate.

Erin, don't be frustrated about toilet training! Hanne is still ahead of the schedule, I think. I understand that, though, I'd be thrilled if Noah got out from diapers when the baby arrives!!

Susan, that'd be great if we could meet up together! Your father is living in Scottsdale, right? I've never been there, but I've heard that's close to Phoenix...For your sake hope your sister will graduate in spring, not in summer! Summer isn't the great time to visit Arizona for sure.

Tyra, I have to check some local kids haircut places. I haven't thought of that. I kind of like the job the barbar did, though. But fun haircut place would be great if that makes Noah happy.:)

Well we had an estimate on AC today and it turned out our furnace is too old to accomodate the system they'd install (cooler/heater combination), so it'd cost us about $5500!!!:eek: Plus our electric meter is too old too,:o so it has to be upgrated. That means close to 6K total, and I don't think we can go for that right now. DH thinks this guy was full of b**s*** that they only do cooler/heater combo. Maybe I was taken lightly because I was a woman and didn't look like I'd know so much? Anyway, we decided to put emergenfcy room AC (window type) from the store(DH declared pregnant woman in the room temp of 88! is an emergency case), get it installed (DH will do it) ASAP, then he'd look into our evaporative cooler. The thing is we couldn't find the exact model of filter for this unit so DH got different one and modified it. So that might have something to do with this hot house. It should lower the temp about 20 degrees, but right now it's not working that way. Our unit should be fine, and I don't remember being this hot last year so we assume the cooler itself has some problems to be fixed. Since it'll take some time, we'll get room AC for the time being.

I know this is totally off-topic. Sorry.:o But hope this works. The whole thing should cost less than 1000 so it's easier to handle.;) DH is out with Noah to the store to get the unit tonight.

[JoanneOR]

Helene, I would think the parents would stay, too. Hopefully you'll get some responses today. I've never left one of the kids at a party, except Jameson one time last year, but he was seven. It was at the girl's house and I knew the mother pretty well. Although I am surprised that lots of parents do leave their kids at places like Chuck E. Cheese. At Colin's party, all of the parents left! I had expected some of the them to stay. So, it was DH and I and 10 kids. Most of the parents were good friends of ours or family, so I didn't mind and I knew they trusted us. When we were at the table it was fine, but when they went to play games there was no way we could keep an eye on all the kids. It was just chaos there. I stayed with the youngest ones. When we left we took our neighbor's boy home with us. They have no way of knowing if he's our son or if he came with us. That scared me a little. Anyone could walk out of there with any kid. They stamp you when you come in, but no one checked us when we left. Scary. Ian has been saying he wants his party there. I keep trying to talk him out of it. I asked him why and he said he wants one of the Chuck E. Cheese balloons. I said, no problem, I'll get you a balloon! If it costs me $10, I'd get the balloon instead of having another party there!

Colin's birthday is actually July 28, two days after the surgery. We always have the grandparents over for dinner and cake on the kids actual birthdays. Since Caitlyn will be in the hospital, I thought it would be better to do it this weekend.

Nori, hope you got your AC installed last night and had a nice cool night! 88 degrees is really warm for anyone! Is there anyone you could have come out and look at your cooler? Hopefully it can be fixed or the filter is the problem so you don't have to spend so much for a new system.

DH painted Caitlyn's fingernails and toenails this weekend. I thought she was a bit young for that, but DH seemed so proud to do it, I didn't say anything. At first I thought there's no way she's going to let him put that on her. But, she loved it! Now if you mention her "pretty fingers" she smiles and shows everyone. I think she's going to be a "girly-girl". Which is funny, because I'm totally the opposite! I don't even have any nail polish in the house; DH went out and got some. He also came home with a dozen roses and put one in a small vase for Caitlyn, the rest for me. I'm not sure what's up! But, it was very sweet of him.

OK, enough rambling!

[erinl]

Joanne, that's so sweet! DH has painted Hanne's toe nails, too. Although he didn't have to go out and buy it. I thought she would touch it and get the polish everywhere, but she was really good. Hopefullly, you can convince Ian that Chuck E Cheese isn't that great of a place for a party. I'm hoping to keep Hanne away for as long as possible.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - that is so sweet of your DH! To cute. Sending you good luck on avoiding another Chuck E Cheese party - seems you've paid more than your dues! There's a place her that's a family enteratinment center - has laser tag, tunnel play area, pizza parlor, video games outdoor puttputt etc. And I've worried about the same thing - no security.

Nori - I hope you've found some relief. DH told me the weather forecast for this weekend had been revised. It was 95. Now it's 98-100 depending on forecaster. It's even suppose tobe 90 at the coast which is unheard of. I think today is still suppose to be reasonable mid-80's. Ugh, I'm not sure what we're going to do but at least I'm not pregnant which makes it so much worse.

Helene - any more updates on the party? ARe you having it at your home? I remember you discussing the train place but it was closed etc.

Much better swim lesson yesterday. Thanks for the stories of other kids who overcame their fears fairly quickly, it gave me confidence to stick it out. I started talking to her about what we were going to do as soon as i picked her up and all during the bus ride. We're going to splash in the water etc. I think that really helped. She did get a little upset in the locker room but nothing compared to Monday. But then I realizeed I hadn't packed my swimsuit. :( I was pretty upset about it since Lainey was doing so much better I didn't not want to get her in the water. The instructor said I could just waid in the shallow part (there's a ramp the descends and the shallow end is only 1 foot, it's a really cool kids pool). I think that actually worked better because Lainey could become really comfortable in the water and not have to cling to me because she couldn't touch the bottom. She had a good time and didn't want to leave when we were done.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Joanne, that is odd that no one checked your stamps on the way out of Chuck E. Cheese. I've only been there once with kids and they wouldn't let me leave without checking all of us. It was quite a fiasco for me since Brenden was screaming about having to leave! Not easy to check, but they sure did. I have to wonder how many different stamps they have, though. They certainly can't have one stamp for each family. I wasn't sure how the whole thing worked, but I was impressed that they were checking everyone on the way out. I don't remember them having that all those years ago at my friend's daughter's party. Of course, that was probably the ONLY thing I was impressed with!

Helene, I wonder if some parents thought it was too late to respond? When people called for Casey's party, I got a few who asked if they were too late to attend. I, too, hope you get some more responses! I was so thrilled yesterday to run into Brenden's girlfriend's mother. We had been at their house and she said we could come by any time. Only problem was that I didn't have her phone number. We may go over this Sunday. MIL agreed to stay for the extra week to watch DH's nephew while SIL is in the Bahamas. She leaves on Saturday. DH stopped over there yesterday after work. SIL asks him to take her son for the day on Sunday because she wants to get him away from MIL! :eek: My comment "uh, didn't she just beg your mom to stay an additional week? Why does she want to get her son away from her?" His sister gets weirder every day. So, anyway, I told him to have at it. I'll just take the kids over to Brenden's friend's house for the day. I'm thinking I could bring a nice black bean taco salad for lunch, too. She's so nice. So nice, in fact, that my cynical self has to look for ulterior motives. I wish I wasn't like that. Maybe it's from growing up in this area. Makes me suspicious of anyone who is simply a nice person and likes to do nice things for other people.

Kim, glad the lesson went better last night. I agree about them being able to reach the bottom. Casey and Brenden freak out when they can't feel the bottom in a pool. DH had them in last time we went to SIL's house. Both kids clung to him so tightly that he didn't even have to hold them. They were literally stuck to him. However, with their little pool in the backyard, they'll go down the slide headfirst with no problem.

It's been hot here, too. After we got home last night, I told the kids to put their suits on so they could play in the sprinkler while I cooked dinner on the grill. I refused to turn on the oven. I made the beer can chicken and some rice (on the side burner). I steamed broccoli in the microwave. Last week, DH took out all of our regular lawn sprinklers. We have a Spongebob and a Shrek for the kids. Shrek was a gift from DH's sister. She brought both kids a small gift at DH's nephew's birthday party last week. That was really nice of her. Anyway, DH took our regular old lawn sprinklers and gave them all names. One was the Dora sprinkler (goes back and forth), another was the Scooby-Doo (goes in a circle) sprinkler and the third was the Jo-Jo sprinkler (also goes in a circle). Now my kids ask for the Dora and Scooby-Doo sprinklers as opposed to Spongebob and Shrek. It's too funny. They remembered which name went with which sprinkler. Last night, Casey asked DH to hook up the Dora sprinkler. He couldn't remember which one that was so she showed him. They were pretty funny with it. Casey realized she could pick it up and aim it at Brenden without getting herself wet. They were cracking up and they had so much fun. I'm really liking these summer days. Summer is usually not my favorite season, but this year, it's been really good.

[JoanneOR]

Kim, glad the swim lesson turned out better yesterday. Wow, 95 is really hot for that area, isn't it? Well, it's hot for anywhere! And, you don't have any air conditioning, right? I'd be heading for the mall or a movie theatre with air conditioning. Oh, and thanks for not mentioning the game last night. :(

Susan, so, Brenden has a girlfriend? :) That's nice that her mother invited you over. I'm sure you'll have a good time. My kids always like going to other people's houses. New toys to explore! We were out in the sprinkler last night, too. Actually it was my neighbors sprinkler and there were about 10 kids running through it. They had a good time. All the neighborhood kids play really well together and get along well. I'm hoping that's still the case when they are teenagers!

I wondered the same thing about Chuck E. Cheese. Do they have different stamps for each family? Maybe they're numbered? It didn't matter at ours, because they didn't even check us. Also, DH came in after we did, so he would have had a different stamp.

I'm kind of annoyed. My SIL is trying to make an appt. to give blood for Caitlyn and the center right by us is telling her that they are all filled up and she has to go to a place about an hour away. Really frustrating! So, DH is calling our surgeon's office now and seeing if they can do anything. They told us to call them if we had any problems with donating blood. SIL works and she doesn't have time to drive way out there.

[nori]

Joanne, that's so inconvenient of the center for your SIL to donate the blood! I hope they can figure something out. Why they can't even accomodate one person for blood donation, especially when she's the family member and they know they're going to need to have that supply for Monday's surgery.:confused: So cute about Caitlyn liking painting nails. I was surprised to read yours and Erin's post that girls didn't mind having painting done. I'm looking forward to so some girly thing with this new baby...No, I'm not so girly-girly myself either, so I don't know how I'd respond when she asks me some certain things about cosmetics that I don't know of.:o Well, it'll be a long time by then.

Susan,that's nice to have mom-friend like that. It is kind of hard to find someone (mom friends) whom you can click on nicely. I'm sure she'll appreciate you bringing that yummy sounding salad!
I wish Noah plays with sprinkler, too. We have them, in-ground and installed by DH, but whenever it's on, he'd just watch from the distance. He likes to splash, but he's somehow particular about it. I guess those sprinklers are too big? Hope he'll like water more in future.

Kim, I second Joanne's advice...run to the mall or bookstore!:D That sounds pretty hot for your area...We'd be happy to have 90s, though.:p Sounds like Lainey's swim class is going well.

Well DH installed the window AC in Noah's room this morning, and it's been great. Guess where we spent most of the day today?:D DH brought the futon from our futon couch in the living room, and spread it on the floor in the Noah's room. He said he's going to sleep in there. I may join him, but I have to see if it's comfortable enough...the temp. is great, but with DH there isn't enough room to toss and turn. And I've been so terrible about it I've been sleeping in the guest bed room.:o I can't believe I still have a month until due date...I feel so large, and don't think I can't get any bigger. I had Noah about this time period so from now on it's a new territory to me. I've read the book that said you'll get even bigger in the last 4 weeks....yikes!!:eek: I've been feeling like such a slob...it's hard to bend down so I don't pick toys up anymore so much. The house is a mess. I really wanted to get done some freezer cooking for later but my back aches just standing in the kitchen long enough to wash a bunch of spinach, and with this temperature, cooking casserole doesn't sound so tempting. Oh well. Enough rant.

[MrsReber]

Nori, hope your baby isn't late! I remember how awful those last weeks were. There was no way to get comfortable. Glad your air conditioner is in!

Brenden has many girlfriends. Little Melanie is one of his favorites. She's a very beautiful little girl, too. I can see why he likes her. She has the prettiest blue eyes. I first really talked to her mom last Thanksgiving. They had a little feast at school. I got there a little early and sat around with a couple of other moms eating left over fruit salad. She told me how much she loves Brenden. When they were in the infant room together, one of the teachers took pictures of the two of them holding hands. They couldn't even walk yet, but if they sat next to each other, they'd hold hands. She put a little "Just Married" sign on them. The teacher gave pictures to both of us. Brenden has two other girlfriends. We went to Gabby's party a couple of weeks ago. Her mom couldn't wait for us to show up. She said each time someone else showed up, Gabby asked if it was Brenden! Well, he is quite handsome. I can certainly understand why they like him.

DH told me last night that when he stopped by SIL's house Tuesday night, she was giving his neice's daughter beer to drink. She's 1. There are some things I just wish he wouldn't tell me. He said not a taste on the lips- she gave her the bottle to drink out of! I shook my head and said "not my kids. All I can do is raise my own kids. I have no say over that." However, she will never watch my kids.

Joanne, I hope the problem was worked out with your SIL donating blood. That's crazy. I hope you get to have a nice relaxing weekend before the surgery. It'll be good to have family over to sort of take your mind off things. Did you try to explain anything to Caitlyn? Brenden was very receptive when I told him what would happen with his ears. I believe that's what kept him so calm. We went over and over what would happen while I sat waiting for the doctor to come get him.

DH now says he doesn't want to go crabbing with his nephew and MIL on Sunday. I'll have to wait to see what he wants to do. I want to do something fun with the kids. I'd like to go to Melanie's house if he's not going to be around. He just needs to make up his mind!

[JoanneOR]

Nori, glad you have a nice cool room to escape the heat! I don't know how you can do it, especially being pregnant.

I do remember the last month of pregnancy being the toughest. You just feel so big and wonder how your belly could possibly stretch any more! But, it's so worth it in the end, as you know! Hang in there, maybe she'll decide to arrive a couple weeks early. Do you have to go for weekly doctor's visits yet? Any changes happening? I can't wait to see pictures of your new daughter!

Susan, giving beer to a one year old is just terrible. I'd never let her watch my kids either. You just have to wonder what goes through people's minds sometimes.

Sounds like Brenden is quite the little ladies man already!!

DH called the blood center and was able to get my SIL in at the closer one. He said it took awhile and lots of arguing, but they made a time for her. I'm glad, I really didn't want her to have to travel across the city when there is a place 10 minutes away. She has also passed out before when giving blood, so I really appreciate her doing this; I know it's not easy for her.

No, I haven't said anything to Caitlyn. Her vocabulary is still minimal and I don't think she'd really understand what I was saying. If she did, it might scare her since she can't ask me questions. That's one of the things that I hate about this whole thing, that she's not going to have any clue about why all this is happening to her. She's too little to understand. I hope it doesn't change her at all. But, hopefully, because she's so young, she won't remember it when she's older.

[RunnerKim]

Yes this is incredibly hot for Portland. Seriously it is big news if it reaches 90, let alone upper 90s (I can't even bring myself to say that other 3 digit number). Not many people have a/c around here and there's only so much you can do with closing up your windows. I think the entire metro area is going to be at the coast. It's funny though because the hot weather hasn't happened yet - yesterday was decent, mid-80s. So there's all this anticipation and doom and gloom about Friday and Saturday. Maybe it'll never happen (fingers crossed). Lainey's daycare is taking a fieldtrip to the Zoo tomorrow morning, I'm going along as a volunteer so I hope it's all a weather forecasters hoax.

Nori hang in there. Have you decided for sure on the name Mary Ann? Hopefully she'll be here soon. I'm glad you have at least 1 room you can be comfortable in during the day. Just use a broom and sweep all the toys to one side of the room :D I've always said if Lainey grows up to be a girly-girl (which I am definitely not!) she can go to my sister who is much more in to nail painting and makeup and such.

Joanne, I'm glad to hear that Caitlyn is still healthy (I'm assuming by you not saying anything to the contrary). I think it does help to some degree to let them know what's going to happen before it happens - they understand more than they can verbalize. (it helped Lainey with the pool) But I don't see how you can explain this and I think you're right, she won't remember it and as long as you and/or DH are there for her, she'll remember that in a more general sense. Rotten she has to experience such unfair things at her age. Hang in there. Surgery is on Monday right?? I know you won't have much time to post during her recovery but know that we're all thinking of you, Caitlyn and the rest of your family.

Susan - Brenden sure sounds like a charmer. A string of girlfriends already :eek: With Casey being so close in age I'm sure he'll be eyeing her friends in the teenage years. I've told my sister her boys better of good upstanding friends. Her youngist is 3 years older than Lainey and I can just see Lainey as a freshman. I'm scaring myself here! she's not even 2 yet. :rolleyes:

Kim

[erinl]

Nori, I haven't been motivated to cook freezer meals either. I did, however, pick up a big package of chicken breasts at Costco the other day. I repackaged about half--2 to a freezer bag--and froze them. The rest I threw in the oven for a while. When they were done I put them in the fridge until I had a chance to chop them. Now I've got chopped, cooked chicken in the freezer to add to a meal. It was pretty painless. I'm sick of being pregnant, too. I was bigger last time, but I just feel so stretched and achy.

Joanne, I'm glad they could squeeze your SIL in. Every time I see donating blood mentioned, I think that would be such an easy way for me to help you guys out. Then I remember that probably isn't such a good idea for a pregnant woman. :rolleyes:

[JoanneOR]

Kim, hang in there with the heat! I don't enjoy the 90's at all. I can't understand when people complain about it not being hot enough! We've been lucky, although today we are supposed to hit 90, at least, but then cool off this weekend.

Yes, Caitlyn is still healthy (keeping my fingers crossed). And, as far as I know hasn't been exposed to anything. So we are still on for Monday. Tomorrow we go for the pre-op tests. I remember that they had a computer with Internet access in the waiting room of the heart surgery intensive care unit. I should be able to get on here from there and post an update. For the first few days after the surgery, she's pretty much sedated and on lots of pain medication, so I'm hoping she won't be in too much discomfort. We'll just take it day by day.

Thanks Erin. You're right, they won't let you donate if you are pregnant. It's been kind of weird asking people to donate. With family it was OK, but I didn't ask any friends. People have been asking what they can do to help, but it just seemed like alot to ask. We have three people donating and that should be enough. Last time I was sick, so I couldn't, but this time I can, so I'm going to do that tomorrow.

That's a good idea about the chicken. I actually was planning to go to Costco to buy their chicken. I think I'm going to make chicken parmesan for Saturday's dinner. I've never made it before, but why not experiment on guests?? :)

[erinl]

Originally posted by JoanneOR
I think I'm going to make chicken parmesan for Saturday's dinner. I've never made it before, but why not experiment on guests?? :)

I ALWAYS experiment on guests and it drives DH crazy.:D I can't help myself. Oh, and I don't think donating blood is too much to ask. It's such a simple thing to do. I'm glad you should be set, though.

[RunnerKim]

I too like to experiement on guests - well on us too. These days I don't get to experiement as much as I like so having guests is a good excuse.

And I also agree that giving blood is not a lot to ask. I had a coworker I didn't really know well that had leukemia (details are fuzzy now but I think that's what she had but was an adult) and I gave platelets a few times for her. That's a longer process than whole blood. It made me feel good that I could do something for her. And if the blood isn't needed for Caitlyn somebody else will benefit. I say if someone asks you could mention it.

Erin - so how's hanne's potty training going? I'm really curious because I'm thinking of seeing Lainey's interest level next month. I really think she's ready and I need to offer the opportunity for her to progress. Have you used any rewards for peeing on the potty?

Kim

[erinl]

Potty training seems to have stalled a bit. For a day or so, Hanne would give me signs that she needed to go. Then she stopped doing that and whenever I ask if she needs to go she says no. The vinyl pants gave her hives, so we're just using thick underpants. I'm thinking of ditching those too, though, because they aren't very snug at the leg so they aren't absorbing much more than her normal underpants would. When she uses the potty she gets 2 m&m's. If she ever decided to poop in the potty she'd get 4. She doesn't seem to care much, though. We often forget. After I've emptied the seat and washed my hands, she's off playing.

[nori]

Erin, that's a good idea about cooked chicken. That sounds much easier than making something actually. I might do one or two dishes, but I'm not motivated. I'm just so exhausted at this point.:o I've heard potty training takes some patientce. I'd say she's still ahead, so take it slow. I wish Noah was ready as much as Hanne is.
I feel for you being achy and stretchy. We're almost there, right!!?

Kim, must be hard with that heat and humidity being close to the coast.:( And you shouldn't expect that kind of heat when you're living where you are!! We kind of expect this, but....stay cool!
Yes her name will probably be Mary Ann. I thought of coming up with differnt name but we've been calling her that way quite a while now so it suits her somehow.

So you're taking a day off tomorrow to go to the zoo? Have fun! We went there yesterday and this time we got the passport. We have a summer program for the members, like early morning admission during weekends. They'll open for members at 7:30am. (usually it's 9am) We are thinking to go one of those weekends. Shouldn't be so hot at that time. We have a lot of shades in the zoo but still after 9 is very hot.

Joanne, I had my appointment today, and next one is 2 weeks from now. Then after that it'll be every week.:eek: Feels like they start to count down on me. Everything was fine, we discussed about delivery method and I'm still "undecided" either going vaginal or c-secion.:rolleyes: I'm inclined to try vaginal but still planned c-secion is tempting....
Glad to hear that your SIL could be squeezed in.

Totally agree with what Kim said....you'd probably be too busy to check in here, but remember we're all thinking and praying for you! Soon all this will be behind you.

Susan, that's so cute Brenden has a lot of girlfriends already! Of course he's a good looking kid, so no surprise.;) How sweet you have that picture of them holding hands. Would you show it to him or his girlfriend in the future? We took this picture of Noah and another girl kissing (more like the girl kissing Noah). We're laughing taling about what if he'd think of this in the future.:D Cute childhood memories.

I can't believe 1-year old given a beer bottle!:eek: Hope it wasn't full, at least. Maybe just little drops inside??? Doesn't she know that kids/babies are not supposed to drink alcohol? Grrr....

I have a question. Do you know any good cream/ointment for itchiness coming from (probably) heat rash, or bug bites?? Does hydrocortisone (sp?) work? I'm looking for some good soothing thing OTC. Noah has a bit of heat rash (at least it seems that way) around his neck and I haven't put anything except trying to keep his body clean and cool. But I'd like to have some ointment or cream on hand just in case. It's not serious to get prescribed ones, but I have no idea what's out there in the market I can put on him.

[Julia1Pin]

Hi guys. It's been a while. DH has been having me run a TON of errands and help out with his business. Last Saturday was also my Birthday. I got a Sur La Table gift certificate from my BIL and SIL and an amazon.com gift certificate from our good friend. Hmmm, decisions, decisions :D My parents came into town and we all went to dinner. It was very nice. My parents bought us a garbage disposal ( I love those things) and my dad will install it when he's next in town. DH didn't get me anything on Saturday but gave me his gift a couple of weeks ago (a gorgeous watch that's I'd been eyeing with one eye because it's more than I would want to spend). I did kind of wish that he got me flowers or something on the day.

Joanne - Good luck with Caitlyn's surgery. I will be thinking of your family all day on Monday.

Nori - I don't know what to say. The last month, in the heat of summer (our 100 degree summers) sucks (Abigail was born in Sept). Just try to lie down in Noah's BR and play in sprinklers if you can't be in a pool.

Kim - That's great that Lainey is getting used to water. It took Abigail a little while in swim lessons (maybe 1 year ago) but now we can't get her to be MORE careful in our pool. She absolutely LOVES to jump into the water.

Susan - Your SIL souns insane. Beer?????

Abigail and Nicole are doing great.

[HRJ]

Gee -- I dropped in on Tuesday, complained a lot, and then disappeared. :rolleyes: Sorry about that -- things have gotten unusually busy at work, considering it's the summer, and at home too, it seems.

Joanne, can't believe Caitlyn's surgery is coming up so soon -- here's hoping everyone stays healthy over the weekend.

Kim and Nori, I feel for you about the heat -- I absolutely hatehot weather, which to me means anything over 80 degrees! I'd never be able to cut it in Arizona or So. Cal. It's supposed to go up to 87 degrees here today, and I'm pretty bummed.

Nori, I tend to get heat rashes a lot myself. (Just one of the many
reasons I dislike summer!) I use Gold Bond powder -- I've seen that they also make something called Baby Gold Bond. Maybe that would work for Noah?

Happy Birthday, Julia!!!

About Victor's party -- I left notes at the day-care for the parents who didn't respond, and, as of last night, all but one either called or e-mailed me. We'll have three guests, plus Victor, and, I think, the younger brother of one of the kids. I've heard it suggested that a good number of guests for a kid's party is the kid's age plus one, so I guess it will be a manageable number.

I think my friend's junior-high-school age DD (the one who sometimes
works for me as a mother's helper) is going to come by to help run the games and such during the party -- she's really good with little kids, and, to be honest, I'm a little nervous about what to do with all those kids. :eek: I still haven't finished getting the house/yard ready, or even bought everything I need -- guess that's why I work best with a deadline. ;) They say chance of rain tomorrow is 30 percent -- I really hope we're able to do the whole thing outside.

Helene

[MrsReber]

Helene, I'm so glad you got a couple more replies for Victor's party. I know from my experience that people do get busy and forget to call. I hope it doesn't rain on you. It's pretty miserable here today. We wanted to go to the county fair early tomorrow. Casey wants to ride a pony so we're hoping they have pony rides.

Nori, I wouldn't worry too much about the potty training. Casey was almost 3 before we got her fully trained. Besides, you certainly have other things to think about right now. About the rash, I would be very careful using cortizone on Noah. We have used it in the past, but we got some with very low percentage- I think it was 0.5%- because cortizone can be very harmful to young children. I think I'd try the powder first.

Yes, my in-laws are out there. DH said there was more than a drop left in the bottle. I still think that DH's nephew has so many problems because SIL let him drink when he was barely 18 months old. He has behavioral problems, psychological problems, and even though they kept him back in kindergarten, he's still having trouble keeping up in school.

Happy belated birthday, Julia! Sounds like you had a great day and lots of very nice, thoughtful gifts!

I went to pick up Brenden last night and the teacher told me that he actually went on the potty! So far, I haven't been able to catch him in the act. I only know that he went twice when I wasn't in the bathroom. Not good since it got all over the place. His teacher said it was all over yesterday,too. She was trying to tell him to point down! They have him sitting. I think it's best he start off that way since I'll most likely be the one teaching him at home.

Erin, Casey was the same way with training. She had it down and would use the potty and then she'd just give up. That's when I went for the bigger prizes. But she was a little older than Hanne at the time, too.

Busy, busy day. So glad it's Friday!!

[tbb113]

Susan:
I keep thinking about your IL's and the beer. I really think you should report them to Child Protective Services. It is a form of abuse and maybe CPS coming and speaking to them will wake them up and stop the behavior.

Helene:
Glad you got a few more yes responses for Victor's party. Sounds like you will have just enough kids to have a good time...but not so many that it will be a mad house

I forget how spoiled I have become living in CA. It doesn't rain here from mid April to mid November (with very few exceptions). Its so much easier to plan an event when you KNOW the weather will be good ;)

I need to figure out what to do for Alex's birthday (he will be 12 on the 31st). I know he wants Lord of the Rings Monopoly and an Adventure Quest T-Shirt. Hasn't committed to telling me if he wants anybody to sleep over or not, my mother will be in the midst of her 'down' week from chemo (okay she is down 10 of the 14 days) so a family get together isn't in the cards and Michael gets home from camp that day, so I know he will want to be with friends since he hasn't seen them for 2 weeks. I told Michael that dinner was not something he could get out off though!

Oh well...at least I don't have to plan a party with goodie bags any longer :D

[MrsReber]

Tyra, I go over that in my head, too. It seems irresponsible of me if I don't do anything. But then I think of the horrible state of NJ's youth and family services. It's really bad so I don't have much faith in them. I wish I could just get someone to educate them. I talked to DH's brother's wife. She feels the same way I do. She saw DH's neice letter her daughter drink beer so she probably doesn't have any issues with SIL giving the baby beer. DH does tell them. I don't think they understand the potential problems it can cause in a baby's body. The development is so rapid at that age. I read everything I can get my hands on regarding safety and what not to do. It's beyond me to think that there are other parents who don't feel the same. I remember my parents letting us have sips of alcohol or whatever, but I know I was at least 5 at the time and I was not drinking a lot- it was just a taste here and there. They really weren't ever big drinkers. Do you think CPS would just speak to them or would there be an investigation of some sort?

Happy early birthday to Alex! Must be sad to see the little guy growing up, though. It goes by so fast. I wish my kids could stay at the ages of 3 and 2. They're so cute and so much fun!

[tbb113]

Susan:
I don't really know what CPS would do. But I think even if they did an investigation, if the parents went to a parenting class, etc, the kids would stay with them. But I'm not in social services so I don't know what would really happen.

I don't know about wanting to keep my kids at 2 and 3. I think I would want the potty trained first :D Its different when the kids are older, but fortunately my kids are staying nice and loving. I don't have teenage horror stories yet (at least not that I'm aware of) ;)

Its actually been very quiet (and will be for the next few weeks). Michael is at camp until 7/31. Alex goes for a week to his dad's house on 8/2 and when he comes home, Michael will go for a week. Just one son at a time for a whole MONTH :cool:

[RunnerKim]

Whew back from the Zoo.

Susan - you can call anonymously and ask what would happen if you did report it (without giving your ILs names etc.). My sister has been involved in a couple of cases with her daycare kids and the kids being removed from the home is not the first step that's taken. Parenting classes are often tried first etc. So that very well could wake them up.

That's pretty amazing about Brenden going potty when you're never around! Wasn't he the one that wouldn't walk (or crawl?) while you were around too. Hmmm sensing a pattern here. :D

Helene - glad you did get a few more responses. That sounds like a reasonable size party to me.

Julia have fun spending your birthday presents - gift certificates to cool places are lots of fun. I know what you mean about your actually birthday though. My dad institute a Hostess ding dong policy in their house. If your birthday was celebrated on a day other than your birthday you still got a ding dong or twinkie on your actual birthday. Sure didn't have that policy when I was a kid! I'm not sure if my dad or the kids enjoy that more. :D

The zoo was okay - the temperature hasn't gotten too hot yet. But Lainey was pretty fussy. She was this morning too. She wanted to be a held a lot and didn't want to wait around with the group. I was hoping to get to know the other parents a little bit but she didn't want to eat her snack at all but instead go visit the elephants. Maybe we've been to the zoo too much lately.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, that's a thought- to call anonymously.

You're right about Brenden, too! I forgot about him not walking while we were watching. Hmmm. Last night, Casey told me that she couldn't point her pee pee down. I told her "no. Me and you have a different kind than Brenden does." So she pulled her pants off and said "see? I have this kind." We talked about the difference for a minute and then it was over. My sister thinks I'm crazy because I want to educate Brenden when it comes time for "the talk". She asked if I was comfortable with that. I told her it'll never be comfortable, but I want them to learn the right things so I will do it no matter what. Besides, I'm afraid to leave it up to DH! All in all, I actually enjoyed discussing the difference with Casey last night because she was fine with it and she was talking to me. I want to keep the communication lines open. I was reading that 3 is the age to start talking about inappropriate touching so I gave her a quick sentence on that. I guess I have to keep reinforcing it with her. I'm beginning to wonder when the kids should stop bathing together. I think they're okay for now and it sure saves me a lot of time at night when they take a bath together. But I know it won't last too much longer.

I don't know what we're going to do this weekend if the rain doesn't stop! It's really bad out. Of course, I don't have an umbrella. I bought a raincoat with a hood because it was too much trouble to carry the umbrella. Well, it wasn't raining this morning when I left so I have no raincoat, either. Going to be a soggy walk to the train.

[tbb113]

Susan:
I'm sure that there are 'proper' guidelines regarding being naked in front of your opposite sex sibling...but my gut feeling is if Casey is asking questions, she is old enough to be separated. No big deal if she sees Brendan naked (or the other way around) occasionally though. Then again, my brother and I have a larger age gap (3 years) so I'm sure he was ready for privacy WAY before I was ;) Alex is just now getting modest around me....Michael was modest way before then.

I started talking with the boys at a very early age about touching, differences, sex, etc. I am hoping that they will always feel comfortable asking me questions.

[erinl]

Well, after a perfectly lousy potty training day yesterday, we are doing fantastic today. Hanne has been signalling when she needs to go, and when I'm not around she finds me. We had one very minor accident this morning. She found me and dragged me into the bathroom. When I took her underpants off they were a little wet. Then she proceeded to pee some more on the potty. She must have caught herself. I never did find a puddle anywhere. I put her in a pull-up for naptime and she pooped in that, but those are the only two incidents where she didn't make it to the potty. We even went to the grocery store and she stayed dry the whole time. I really needed this after yesterday!

Helene, I hope the party goes well this weekend!

[HRJ]

Susan, I understand the reasoning behind Tyra's suggestion to contact the authorities about your SIL and the beer, but, knowing what I do about NJ's Division of Youth and Family Services, I'd say not to do that. I think other states have better-run, more responsible child protective services, but DYFS, as you mentioned, is a wreck. I'm basing this on what I've learned first-hand during my newspaper days, and things I've read in reputable sources, like the NY Times and Star-Ledger. Frankly, I wouldn't trust them to make the situation any better.

But, I can't believe that your in-laws see nothing wrong with giving babies beer! What is the matter with those people? Do you think they'd take it seriously if you or DH printed out some material about the hazards of giving alcohol to young children, and gave it to them? Really, it just seems like common sense. I guess this is none of my business, but I'm wondering -- did DH's niece drink while she was pregnant?

Victor's day-care has "anatomically correct" (did I spell that right?) dolls -- in fact, I think that's the only kind they have. Both girl-dolls and boy-dolls. I think that's a great idea. When he's in the bathtub, I talk with Victor about how because he's a boy, he has a , and that girls have vaginas. [testing to see if we're allowed to mention [i]that organ]. I don't know how much of that he understands, but, since he doesn't have a sister, I figure there has to be some way to start to introduce the physical difference between the sexes. I guess he gets some of it, because he'll point at his [name of unmentionable organ] and say, "Me Boy!"

I should be getting the house ready for the party ... :o

Tyra, happy birthday in advance to Alex! Be glad you're past the goodie bag stage. :)

Erin, I'm impressed with Hanne's training progress. Good luck!

I'm thinking that potty training with Victor is probably going to be like the way he started dressing/undressing himself. For the longest time, he had no interest in doing so, even though I thought he had the motor skills to manange it. I'd say, "Do you want to try and put your shirt on?" and he'd say, "NO!! MAMA DO IT!!" So, mostly because it was quicker and easier, I'd just do it.

Then, about a month ago, I went to put his shirt on, and he said, "NO!! ME DO IT!!" And he took the shirt and with only a little assist from me, got it on all by himself. Within practically a week, he was taking his shirt, shorts, shoes on and off by himself (yeah, now getting dressed takes 4 times as long, too :rolleyes: ). He had to decide the time was right, and that he could do it, and that it was his idea, and then, he just did it.

So, DH and I are thinking potty training may very well be like that -- we're goin g to wait for him to be pro-active, so to speak, because he's showing no interest when we try to prompt him. I tried to reward him for sitting on the potty by offering stickers, but it didn't make a difference. I've noticed from other situations that external rewards don't have much effect with him -- he needs to be internally motivated.

Helene

[nori]

Helene, hope the weather cooperate today and you are having a nice party for Victor! Thanks for the recommendation about Gold Bond Baby powder. I'll look into that. His rash is not really bad, but I'd like to have it on hand.

Erin, congrats on Hanne's progress on potty training. Sounds like she's almost there. She'll be like Casey, and probably try to train her baby brother (it's going to be a boy, right??? Did I remember correctly?).

Tyra, nice to hear that your teenage boys still stay sweet and nice. I can't imagine Noah being a teenager, but I know it'll come and I was dreaded to have him so rebellious, not-so-sweet buy. At least you give me some hope.:) Sorry to hear your mom is going through chemo. Hope everything goes well. And good luck on planning Alex's birthday party!

Susan, I think the cortisone cream I have is also 0.5%. And I'm not going to use it for light rash. It was for his eczema around his legs etc, and I used it very carefully. Congratulations on Brenden going to potty at the daycare! That's great! I'm trying to not to rush on potty training, as you said I have other stuff to worry about at this point(um, well, I'm too tired to think of anything at this point...that's the truth:o ). He's not showing any signs yet, but I'll go ahead and buy potty and have it in the bathroom. (I know, I talked about it before and haven't done it yet.) That's funny Casey wanted to point her peepee "down".:D I'm not sure how I'd handle those topics with kids yet, but sounds like you're handling it very well. About your SIL.....if they are not aware of the risk of giving beer/wine to kids (which I thought was common sense), maybe you can inform them casually? But if they're not going to change what they're doing, I think they really need some help for kids' sake. Must be hard to see this happening in your family.:(

Kim..that's the thing going to the zoo with someone else...it's hard to keep up with the group! We've been there as a group of several families before and it always ended up we got separated from someone in the park. Sounds like Lainey had fun watching animals, though.

Happy belated birthday, Julia!! Enjoy making decisions about your gift certificate. What a tough, life, huh?:p

Nice cool weekend here. (I mean below 100F) It was cloudy yesterday and this morning and it didn't get so hot in the house either. Plus we've been utilizing Noah's room a lot. This weekend DH is going to work on the cooler to see if he can get the cooler pad we really needed for our unit. Hope that helps to cool the house down.

Have a nice weekend!

[nori]

Joanne, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be thinking of you on Monday!!! Wishing for a successful surgery and quick recovery for Caitlyn.

[HRJ]

Well, we're now recouperating from Victor's party, which turned out to be a lot of fun. :)

When I woke up this morning, however, it was pouring rain -- I mean, sheets of rain. DH kept saying, "Maybe it will stop by the afternoon." But even then, the grass and everything out there would be soaking wet, so I figured we'd better plan on doing the party inside.

I also ran out to the closest craft store and spent an insane amount of money buying all this craft stuff, so that the kids would have something to do. Which, was pretty much unnecessary -- all I should have done was haul out some paper and crayons, because the kids weren't interested in sitting still and doing crafts. They pretty much made their own fun, playing with Victor's Thomas train set; a bottle of bubbles; and their imaginations.

We ended up with Victor and three other kids, and the 15-month-old brother of one of the other boys. (What a sweetie!). I also was lucky enough to have Emily, my mother's helper. The other parents were very nice, and because Emily was there to help supervise the kids, I actually had a chance to sit and talk with some of them, and it was just a lovely afternon -- even though I wrote on the invitations that the party would go until 4:30 p.m., two of the parents stayed until almost 6 p.m. The kids played so nicely together -- they all hugged each other goodbye.

I got a pinata for the party, since a birthday pinata is a popular custom in Guatemala. It was supposed to be one of those "easy open" pinatas, with ribbons attached to the belly, and the kids pull the ribbons to open it up. However, the kids pulled all the ribbons off, and it still wouldn't open. :mad: The kids were getting really impatient. :rolleyes: So Emily took a scissor and, well, gave the pinata a C-section. (sorry, hope that doesn't offend anyone!). They loved seeing all the candy and toys come tumbling out.

BTW, today is the one-year anniversary of the day we returned from Guatemala with Victor. So I guess it was a good day for a party.

Helene

[tbb113]

Helene:
Glad that you had a great party. Too bad about the rain though but it sounds like it worked out just fine.

I always wondered about those ribbon pinatas....sorry to hear that it didn't open as planned, but I think the surgery was the perfect solution :D

[tbb113]

I keep thinking about your comment regarding the date of Victor's party. Given the fact that his birthday is always going to fall on the 4th of July festivites...you might find it easier to do his birthday party with friends around this anniversary date instead. You might find that you get a better turnout.

[nori]

Helene, sounds like you had a nice party. Sorry the weather didn't cooperate.:( That's a great idea to have a helper so you can sit down too and relax with other moms. I agree with Tyra..since it's a special day, maybe you can make a tradition of having a party at this time of the year for him. No worry about hitting the holiday weekend!!

DH found a new cooler pad and installed it yesterday. Seems like it's working at least a bit, the temp didn't get higher than 82 today. Considering it usually lowers temp about 20 degrees, it was around below 100 outside so it wasn't too bad. Plus today was so humid. So maybe it's working, and this is the way it's supposed to be. As long as it's not like 88 in the house, I can handle that!!

We also got bassinet and infant carseat from the shed today. Noah found the infant carseat a good toy, he played with that buckle for a long time. Then he wanted to sit in it. He was saying "Sit, sit." and got in there, and wanted to be buckled in. There was no way he could fit in, though. I can't believe how small he used to be!!! He also found bassinet interesting, too.:)

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!!

[MrsReber]

Helene, sorry it rained on you! We had all that rain on Friday. Sounds like the party was very nice. I always like having time to chat with the other daycare moms. It's like you have something in common that you can't really talk about with other people at work or wherever.

You're so right about DYFS in NJ. It's awful. I saw DH's neice drinking while she was pregnant. I know lung development takes place in that last month. That's when I saw her drinking. Her son was born right on time, but his lungs were under developed. I have no idea if there's any connection with that and the drinking. I pray that there's not. In reality, I think my own DH would give his kids sips of beer if it wasn't for me. His parents didn't see anything wrong with it when he was growing up.

Casey isn't asking all that many questions, but she does now understand the difference between girls and boys. She's seen boy parts before, but it seems to be hitting home with the potty training. I'm doing what all the articles say- only give the answer to the question they ask. No further information. My sister's kids took baths together forever and they're pretty laid back about nakedness. Not that they're exhibitionists or anything, but they're okay with it. They're 7 and 9 now. They don't bathe together anymore.

The weekend was nice, though it was overcast and in the 70's most of the time. On Saturday, we went to the county fair. No pony rides! We did go on the kiddie rides. Even Brenden went on. DH took them both down one of those big slides where you sit on the mat. We all went on this little dragon roller coaster. I didn't think DH was going to fit in the car because I had trouble getting in! We had some lunch, walked around, forced the kids to eat funnel cake, and saw an old time puppet show. They did not want to try the funnel cake! After I forced it on them (bad mommy!) they finally agreed that it was really good. They saw lots of animals.

On Sunday, MIL (who told DH they'd do something) called to say she was at the golf range with DH's nephew. She said after that, they were going to his neice's birthday party at the bowling alley. Uh, what party? Too bad we weren't invited. DH was not happy. MIL said we should go anyway, but we had made other plans. I went to Delicious Orchards (Helene knows all about that!). I only wanted fruit and veggies. Really! I think I came home with one of everything. It doesn't all fit in the fridge. After that, we went to Brenden's girlfriend's house. I thought we'd only stay for a couple of hours, but we were there from 2:30 until 7:00! I really like the mom. She's very down to earth and funny. We went to the tot lot in the development, then took a little walk to drop off her older daughter's friend, then back to the house where the kids playes some more. They don't really play together, but they're aware of each other. I'm surprised they don't interact more, but they all had fun. No naps for either of them. Casey passed out at 9:00, but Brenden wouldn't fall asleep! He woke up at 6:30 this morning, too. Casey is still sleeping.

Joanne, I'm thinking of you and sending prayers for Caitlyn! Hope everything is going well.

Erin, that's great about Hanne's potty training!

Nori, hope you're keeping cool. My dad called last week. I said "what's it about 120 there?" He said it was pretty hot, but that he's so used to it being hot that he sometimes forgets sunscreen and ends up getting burned.

Well, guess I should start doing some work.

[hrk]

I am sorry about butting in on this thread, but I need help and I don't think the new moms can help me with this issue.
Logan is 14 months, and seems to have quite the will of his own. Lately Logan has begun climbing on oour bakers rack and DH and I are really afraid he will pull it over on himself. We pul him off immediately and tell him no, he just laughs at us. We try puttingn him in his exersaucer, but as soon as we take him out, he goes right back. We went through this five or six times this morning which made it very hard to get everything done and all of us out the door. DH and I don't know what to do, anyone with any help or suggestions? The next step for us is going to be moving the rack to the basement for now.:(
HEather

[MrsReber]

Heather, we have secured all our dressers to the walls so the kids don't tip them over. If you can somehow secure the baker's rack, I'd suggest doing that. I know it's not the prettiest thing to have your furniture attached to the wall, but it does work. Casey's dressers came with a wire and hardware to do this. I think you can get a similar set up at a baby store.

[clairea]

Delurking for a minute

Heather, I think you probably need to either find some way to secure the baker's rack to the wall, or move it out of Logan's reach for now You can buy straps designed for securing large furniture to walls (I had a climber, so all of my tall furniture was attached to the walls at one point). I don't think a 14-month old really has the capacity to consistently remember and put into action the rule "no climbing on the baker's rack." They just operate too much on impulse. Obviously you want to continue teaching him limits, but it sounds like there is a pretty serious potential safety issue here, and it is probably not the place to take chances. Keep working on limits in other areas where potential consequences are less serious, and when he is a little older you will be able to bring it back out.

Claire

[paula]

Heather,

As you have already mentioned, the safest option is to remove the rack from temptation. If you want to keep the rack in its current location, you can try fastening it to the wall, so that it is more stable while you continue to teach Logan that it is off limits. DH and I have a huge collection of books, and consequently many very large bookshelves. When our kids first became mobile, we fastened all of our shelves to the studs of our walls with "L" brackets and screws from Home Depot. We also bought a bunch of furniture brackets from One Step Ahead http://www.onestepahead.com/product/27181/205/117.html to use on fancier furniture.

Paula

[hrk]

Thanks to everyone for their quick replies. I think DH and I will look into bolting the rack to the wall and just continue to work on saying no and distracting him. I did read in one of my books, that they suggested putting DS in a playyard with no toys, but 1) that doesn't sound like it will work for a 14 month old and 2) Ithe only playyard I have is his pack and play which he sleeps in when we go away so I don't want him to have negative associations with it so I think we will go with the wall bolts.
Heather

[tbb113]

Heather:
Is it possible to fence off the bakers rack so Logan can't get to it? Otherwise you either need to move it or at least bolt to the wall.

[nori]

Heather, looks like everyone else already answered your question, but I agree you should fix it on the wall to keep it safe, and then keep telling Logan it's "no-no" to climb up there. At 14 months, he may not fully understand what that means, but I think it's important to start teaching him about it. If the rack is secured, you don't have to worry constantly that might hurt him.

Susan, how much DH's niece was drinking when she was pregnant? I've heard one or two (okay, maybe just one) glass of wine (for example) occasionally would not hurt, but of course a big amount of alchol is always risky. I thought that was a common sense, too. That's too bad they're parents and don't realize those things. I'm sorry for their kids, too.

Well your in-laws are really something.:rolleyes: But sounds like you had a nice weekend, and the orchard sounds like fun! I wish I could go somewhere like that. There is a place we can go to pick apples or peaches. It's about 40 min. drive from here. We might go this year...Noah'd love to do that, plus watching big tractors going by.

I think the adjustment DH made on the cooler this weekend is really working! This morning temp stayed around 75, although I was using the oven to bake some quick bread. It's around 79 right now, but I don't mind...it feels much, much cooler than before, and I'm so thankful. Now I'm not so cranky, and feel like to do more stuff around the house. Before all I could manage was breathe and lay down, and wait for sunset.:o No, it's not cool in the house but it's much livable (is it a word??). Thank Goodness!!

Joanne, hope everything is going well today. I'm thinking of you a lot.....(((((Joanne, Caitlyn and family)))))

[HRJ]

Just stopping in to send hugs to Joanne and Caitlyn -- I've had you two in my thoughts all day. Hope everything is going well.

Helene

[Julia1Pin]

Adding my good thoughts for Joanne and her family!

Heather - Ditto on all the advice you've received. Is he trying to reach something specific on the rack?

Nori - Sounds like the heat is more bearable now, thanks to your DH.

Helene - What a great party. And I agree that the anniversary of his arrival in America makes the occasion even more special.

[MrsReber]

Hoping everything went well with Caitlyn yesterday!

My in-laws did it again. We changed our plans yesterday because SIL said she was having cake for her daughter. He tried to call her and MIL all day. Finally, at 5:30, SIL calls and tells him that she's just too tired to have cake so she canceled it. This is after we decided we weren't going to the boardwalk for the evening with the kids. Grrr! She says she "might" have cake tonight. Now Casey is upset that we didn't go wish her cousin a happy birthday. We even got a card for her and Casey signed it. When will I learn? :rolleyes:

Nori, I want to go peach and nectarine picking! They're out here and they are so good straight from the orchard. I like to go with my mom and we just haven't had the time yet. The kids really enjoyed apple picking last fall. They were finally old enough to understand. I know we'll at least do that. Apples are very popular at home! Glad that the temperature is finally bearable in the house.


Nice and quiet here. The boss is out this week. Time to go to my aerobics class!

[erinl]

Joanne, I hope everything went smoothly yesterday. We're keeping you in our thoughts.

Susan, don't ever, ever change your plans for those people again. What nerve!

Well, we've had another potty setback. Things were going REALLY well Friday and Saturday. Saturday evening Hanne started saying that she needed to go pee pee and then not going when she sat down or freaking out when we got to the bathroom. Sunday was more of the same, only she would get near hysterical until she actually started peeing. My first thought was a UTI--DH thought she was just being ornery. I called the doctor yesterday and she got us in right away. I somehow managed to get Hanne to pee in a cup (that was fun:rolleyes: ). No obvious infection, but we should get culture results back today. Now this doesn't mean that she isn't irritated down there, so no more bubble baths. Upon closer inspection, Hanne has labial adhesions. Her skin down there is growing together, so her urine doesn't have a straight shot out. This does increase the chance of infection and/or irritation. So, we're giving her a bath 2x a day and applying an estrogen cream in the evening to break up the adhesions. It's always something.

Time for a bath.

[Sarah428]

Question: When did you move from the New Mom thread to the Toddler thread? DD will be 1 y.o. on August 10th, doesn't feel like a toddler but not so much a baby anymore either:( .

Sarah

[JoanneOR]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that Caitlyn is doing well.

The surgery went well, the surgeon said there were no surprises and he was very happy with everything. They took her around 7:30 and she didn't get out until 3:00. The waiting was horrible, but they kept coming out to update us.

She's doing good but they are keeping her sedated until at least tomorrow. I won't feel like everything's really OK until she's awake and talking and I know she's her old self.

It was really tough to see her with all the tubes and wires, but I know they all need to be there. They'll gradually be weaning her from them. Right now she's on a breathing tube, but they won't take that out until after they wake her up. I have a feeling she won't be a happy girl when she wakes up!

There is a chance she might need a pacemaker, but the surgeon didn't want to put it in during the surgery. He said there was too much trauma to her heart already and he didn't want to up the chance for infection. He wants her to heal a bit and if he feels she needs the pacemaker, he'll put it in before she goes home. I'm not too happy about that, but I'm trusting his judgement. I'm sure that will extend her stay a few days.

I'm really glad this part is over. I stayed at the hospital last night and DH is there now.

I'll try to post again in a few days with an update. Thanks so much for everyone's thoughts and prayers.

[tbb113]

Joanne:
Glad to hear that the surgery went as planned. Hopefully the recovery will go easily on all of you as well.

Tyra

[MrsReber]

Joanne, thanks so much for updating us. I've been checking to see if there was any news. I am so very glad that things went well. Not so great about the pacemaker, but the bottom line is that your little girl needs to get better and get home.

Sarah, feel free to join us if you have more "older" baby questions. I've been here for a while. I'm sure I was posting here when my son wasn't even 1 yet. We have no real limit, it's whatever you think suits you best.

Erin, poor Hanne! 2 baths a day is tough. I never heard of that condition. I hope there's no infection.

[Julia1Pin]

Joanne - Thank G-d Caitlyn came through the surgery well. I thik there's a collective sigh on the BB!

Erin - Abigail had labial adhesion when she was about 1 month old which went away with massage. It was pretty bad too. Right in the middle of her labia. I don't know how we missed it. Nicole has a little bit now too. But it's on the bottom. We're massaging that as well. By massaging, I mean pulling it apart gently each time we do a diaper change. It took about a month for Abigail's labia to seperate.

Susan - I'm just shaking my head at your strength with your in-laws. I would be screaming my head off by now.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne- glad you checked in and that's great to hear the surgery is over and went well. I'll keep my fingers crossed that she doesn't need the pacemaker. Would that be permanent or temporary situation? (((Joanne)))

Erin, I hope Hanne does't have a UTI. Maybe she's just trying to figure it all out and is frustrated that she doesn't quite have it all together yet?? (if it's not a UTI)

Sarah, yes feel free to join in. the Toddler and New mom thread were one thread until several months ago (beginning of the year maybe?) when it was decided to split them.

Susan - I don't think I'd even be speaking to your ILs anymore. Certainly not changing plans. Sheesh. I understand why you do it and it's their sorry loss. :mad:

Heather - I'm way late on the baker's rack advice but wanted to mention about using an "x-pen" to block it off. Basically a series of baby gates that makes a fence. X-pen is the dog term, can't recall right now what it's call for babies :o We have a plastic one we've used for various things like that. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about and are interested, I'll track down a link for you. And I agree with all the others - a child that age cannot be expected to have a concept of not climbing. Climbing/exploring is what toddlers are suppose to be doing, so you don't want to keep reprimanding for that either. Secure it, block it or remove it.

Helene - sorry it rained for Victor's party but glad it didn't phase the kids! That's great you were able to visit with the other parents - a gread idea having the helper there.

It was a pretty rough weekend for us. After the zoo, daycare called in the afternoon saying Lainey had a 102 temperature. Explained why she was clingy and fussy. I'm on the (non-air conditioned bus) on my way home with her and realize I don't have keys with me. Fortunately our bus stop is right by a grocery/home store, so I call DH and tell him to come find me, we'll be shopping in the a/c (it's over 100 outside). I could tell Lainey was feeling really bad, she just sat at the bus stop and snoozed on the bus. She is never still. We finally get home and I take her temperature with our temporal/forehead thermometer and it's 106! I remembered what Joanne had posted before and got her in the tub right away while DH got the medicine. I think it was artificially high from it being so hot as it came down to 102-3 quickly and disappeared basically overnight.

Then Saturday we spent most of the day at my sister's as she has a window a/c unit at least. Lainey was teething really badly (2 yr molars) and there was a good hour where she was unconsolable - I was afraid something else was wrong with her she was so upset. Her earlier teething experiences really weren't so bad. This sucks! I felt horrible for her being in so much pain and not being able to do much for her. She's been better the last couple of days but I don't think the tooth has broken through yet.

Kim

Edited to add - I forgot to include the good news. DH got a promotion. We're pretty excited about it as it's a sizable pay increase and he was underemployed before (but having been laid off, was happy to just get a job). This means we can now afford a 2nd daycare bill. :D

[tbb113]

Kim, sorry to hear about Lainey. I don't think my kids EVER ran that high of a fever...how scary for you both.

I keep thinking about you and Nori with the heat. A suggestion if it gets really unbearable is to check into a motel (with a/c) and a pool for the night. That way you can sleep in the a/c comfort and the kids can play in the pool (assuming that Lainey and Noah like the water). My parents used to do that occasionally for us growing up as a treat. It was really nice. I've thought about it this summer for the boys, since we don't have a pool with this rental. But so far, I haven't done it (if I'm too cheap to turn on my a/c...why would I pay for a hotel room for the pool :D )

[nori]

Joanne, thank you so much for checking in!!! Glad to hear that surgery went well. I'll keep praying for quick recovery and that she doesn't need the pacemaker. Hope you and the rest of the family are doing well, too.

Susan, your in-laws are really rude! How come they think they can change the schedule that way?!! Poor Casey, expecting to wish her cousing happy birthday and not be able to do it. I don't know what to say. Maybe shouldn't plan on attending any of functions they plan, assuming that they'll get cancelled??

Erin, hope Hanne doesn't have any infection!! 2 baths a day isn't appealing at all. Good luck!

Sarah, ditto to everyone else....there's no rule about when to join which one. Just do whatever you feel like!!

Kim, Oh sorry to hear that Lainey had such a high fever...:( 106 is scary. And 100 in your area sounds like insane. Try to stay cool....I bet it was hard to come home after spending a day at your sister's house where there's window AC.:D I had hard time getting out from Noah's room when we were using it a lot.

Tyra, sounds like a good plan if you can't bear the heat....fortunately for us, the evaporative cooler is working much better now. Temp the highest it reached yesterday was 82, which wasn't too long time and wasn't too bad, considering it used to be 85 in the middle of the night! It's been below 80s today, and it's hot out. I'm so thankful we have a cool house now!!

[tbb113]

Nori:
Only people that live where its over 100 can understand how 78 - 80 is a cool house :D I use to freeze at my mother's house when I would come home for the summer and she would have the air set at 70. I keep mine at 75 (when I even have it on). I slept with all the windows/doors open last night and the house got all the way down to 69 (from a high of 96 outside/80 inside).

Am I the only one whose kids loved their baths? Other then the time...mine would have been very happy with two baths a day :D Alex will still soak in the tub for a good 15 - 20 minutes when he can and Michael commented on how much he likes a good, long hot shower (in my shower, since the shower head is on a sliding thing that goes up higher than his head ;) :cool: )

[HRJ]

Joanne, so glad to hear that everything went well. Thanks for checking in. I hope she doesn't need the pacemaker, but it sounds like the doctors have a good handle on things. Please try to get some rest for yourself -- how are your DH and the boys doing? Will the boys be able to visit Caitlyn while she's recouperating in the hospital?

Tyra, you're right, about the temperature -- there's no way I can conceive of 80 degrees as "cool." :eek: Yesterday and today, it's been in the 60s here, which, to me, is just heavenly. :)

Kim, that's scary about Lainey's fever -- I remember the first time Victor's fever hit 105, we took him to the ER. That was before I knew about putting them in a cool tub -- and we also didn't wait for the Motrin to kick in before heading to the hospital. Glad to hear the fever's down. Victor got his 2-year molars shortly after he came home last year -- he was very uncomfortable for a few weeks, but, it seemed, mostly at night -- he was generally OK during the day.

And, temps near 100 are indeed beastly -- hope your heat breaks soon. And congrats on DH's promotion!!

Nori, glad to hear the house has cooled down -- at least, the Arizona version of "cool."

Erin, hope Hanne's feeling better soon.

Susan, you deserve a medal for putting up with your ILs.

About baths -- Victor makes a big, huge fuss about getting into the bathtub, and then a bigger, huger fuss about getting out. :rolleyes: He loves to play in the tub, though, and, lately, he's gotten into washing himself with the bar of soap -- he seems to really like the way it feels, and he likes to watch it make soapy tracks all over his arms, legs and belly. The part that's still difficult is washing his hair -- he hates to have the suds rinsed out, no matter which way I try it.

In our previous house in NJ, which had been build in the 1920s, we had this wonderful, large, cast-iron, old-fashioned pedestal tub -- I loved soaking in it. That was one thing I definitely missed from our old house. But, it had very high sides, and I could see that trying to bathe a child in it would be a pain in the neck -- probably, literally. So I'm glad we have our un-charming but functional modern tub in this house.

For the past two days, there has been constant air traffic overhead -- mostly Air Force jets, I think. My house is only a few miles from Hanscom Air Force Base, which I think is the closest AFB to Boston, so a lot of the planes doing air coverage for the Democratic convention are flying in and out of there. Victor is having a ball watching all the planes and the helicopters. Frankly, I'm finding it a little unnerving having F-16s, or whatever, flying over my head so often.

Helene

[MrsReber]

Nori, glad the heat has been better. I hate having our air on. We have a wall unit in the living room and a window unit in the bedroom. The wall unit is so old and it makes tons of noise. I'm sure it's not very energy efficient either. I never turn it on so it's been around 75 in the house. It's actually not so bad. I've been getting used to it.

Kim, I hope Lainey is doing well. I'd be scared to death seeing a temperature of 106!

My kids do like taking baths, but I think 2 a day would be pushing it-mostly for me! They like to play so it takes a good 20-30 minutes for the entire process. I have gotten them fun things in the past because they'd cry through the bath. I bought Crayola paints for the tub, crayons for the tub, bubbles (but they insist on blowing them and then dump the whole container in the water), the dolphin symphony. The one thing that gets them in there now is Dora and Boots. Casey got a bath set for her birthday. It's a plastic Dora with flippers and a life vest and Boots squits water.

By the way, Helene, Dora's cousin, Diego, is supposed to be getting his own show. I thought of you because maybe Victor would like a boy character better? I have a feeling that's the reason behind the show- the girls all love Dora and there's no boy Dora stuff, although Brenden is more than happy to wear Casey's girly Dora stuff.

My sister and her family are coming up this weekend. Casey is excited about seeing her cousins (at least I know they'll actually show up). DH told me that MIL invited about 15 people to stay at SIL's house for the week while SIL is away in the Bahamas :eek: !! SIL's friend from HS moved to FL a while ago. There was a death in their family so they're all up from FL and MIL told them that SIL would have insisted they stay at her house! I hope she's right. That's an awful lot of people. Still no cake for DH's neice.

My brother's birthday is next Tuesday so we're going to all go to his house on Sunday with food and cake to celebrate. He's got a nice pool, too. I'll have to bring the blow up pool for the kids to play in. Should be another fun weekend.

[RunnerKim]

Lainey likes her bath too. I never have a problem getting her in to the tub. Now that does not translate to take a bath at my sister's house (or I assume anywhere else) for some strange reason. My sister's boys love taking baths too and have been known to take 2 a day.

Our heat broke Saturday night. It's been mid-80s this week which is tolerable, most importantly it cools down at night so the house can get cooled off. Tyra- I did think about going to a hotel actually. There's a couple close to the house that I should see if they have pools etc. although I'm not expecting another heat spell like that again this summer.

I think it helped that I didn't see the thermometer say 106, DH took it. The underarm temp was 104, but aren't you suppose to add a degree to that? I know the temporal one is suppose to be the same as rectal. I think DH came down with it yesterday, fortunately it is a short lived virus and he's fine today. We're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate his promotion and I would hate for him to miss it. ;) :D

Susan - sounds like it's birthday season in your family.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Birthday season, indeed! I think the kids are confused, though. They seem to think that if we go to anyone's house for dinner, there will be a birthday cake after the meal. They got upset one night earlier this month because we left SIL's house after having a bbq and we didn't have "happy cake".

Kim have fun at dinner! That sounds nice. Glad the heat spell is over. I think it's supposed to be 90 here all weekend.

[nori]

Susan, so your MIL is going to "host" 15 people at her daughter's house? I wonder how she's going to manage that. You know, having someone in the house, you can't just "cancel the dinner tonight".:D That's nice to have your sister's family over the weekend. Sounds like it's going to be fun! How funny your kids expect cake everytime there's family gathering!!

Kim, forgot to mention before, congratulations on your DH's promotion!! So Lainey's feeling better now? Have fun at the dinner.

Helene, we have AFB in the town and sometimes see jets flying over the sky. Noah loves to watch them. It's amaizing how those things fascinate boys.

Tyra, that's right, I never thought 80s would be "cool" for me but now it is.:) At least here in AZ. We've been having some rain here and there and it's nice. 69 at night! Nice and cool. I miss sleeping under the blanket. I hardly use it nowadays!

We went out to McDonald's to get together with other moms. (Good place to go in summer when the park is too hot) We got there too early, but ended up staying until 1pm and by that time Noah was so winded up he didn't want to leave but he was tired. I had to drag him out from the restaurant, which was hard because he'd kick me and punch me (especially my tummy). I put him in the car, and he fussed a bit more and he was knocked out. Nice way to get him to take a nap..take him somewhere late morning, then drive him home.:D

[nori]

I'm sooooo tired of Noah saying "no" when he didn't even mean "no". For example, this afternoon when he woke up from his nap he was still cranky (after 2 1/2 hours....he maybe needed 3 hours of nap). I took him out from the crib but his eyes were closed and just cried and said "no, no, no, no!", lying on the floor etc. It didn't stop, and he didn't want to be held. So I let him be on the floor, he continued this for an hour, on and off, until finally he settled down and was himself.

One thing I realized is he's saying "no" just as one of the words he knows of. I try to remind him that when he didn't really mean no, he shouldn't say that and mommy is very tired of hearing it all the time (honestly:rolleyes: ). But of course I don't think he understands the concept. He even says when he's going to bed, not crying but low-key "no, no, no" until he falls asleep, sometimes.

Should I be concerned that he says too much "no's"?? Probably the reason he says it a lot is because we're saying a lot of no's to him. So go figure.:rolleyes: But it is hard not to say no to him when you're home with him all day!!!

Overall, he's a good kid, and I would guess other toddlers go through this stage of "NO", but I wonder if we should do something about it...

[MrsReber]

I love the "no" stage! Casey did this for a while around age 2. I'd start asking questions that she'd have to answer "yes". She'd get snotty and say no to everything so I'd ask "oh, do you want a chocolate chip cookie?" She'd then say "yes" so I knew she understood the difference between yes and no. She was just testing things. I don't think it's anything to be concerned about, though I know what it's like to hear it so much.

You did the right thing, leaving Noah to have his "no" fit. Casey has done that as well. I'll leave her or simply talk over her to get her interested in something else. She'll sit there and wine and I'll say "do you want to go outside?" or some other activity that she likes. If she keeps whining, I just keep repeating the question. She'll either get out of her mood and come do something fun, or she'll sit there and whine so I'll just walk out of the room. If I leave her, she eventually comes out in a much better mood. She gets the point that I'm not going to deal with a tantrum. This has definitely had an effect. It's very rare that she has a tatrum now. If she does, it's usually because she's tired or hungry.

Brenden is funny- he says "on" for "off" all the time. He'll want his socks off, but he'll say "mommy! Socks on!" I keep saying "no, honey, you mean off."

[RunnerKim]

It's very hard (impossible?) to not say "no" to a toddler! We try not to use the word very much for the very reason you mentioned Nori. Sometimes there's only so much re-directing you can do. We actually say "no thankyou" because that's what they do at daycare. Strange phrase when I think about it. So far giving options has worked around the No most of the time but I just feel the no-tantrums coming. Hang in there Nori!

Susan - Lainey is doing the same thing with on and off! I wasn't sure if she was commenting on her current state vs. desired state or if she actually has them confused. Does this with lights too.

I slept horribly last night - Lainey woke up briefly (just needed a sip of water and back to sleep) but it was warm in the house and I just couldn't get back to sleep. And apparently what little sleep I did get was in a funny position because I have a horrible pain in my shoulder/neck. I didn't even drop Lainey off at daycare this morning because I can't really move well. I hope this doesn't last all day.
ugh.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, Brenden also says "on" when he wants the lights off! I do correct him, but if Lainey does the same thing, then maybe it's common?

Hope your should loosens up! Not fun.

[nori]

Kim, sorry to hear that you hurt your neck and shoulder. Not fun. Hope it's getting better by now!
So do you say "No thank you" when you just mean simply "no"? That's interesting, and sounds more polite, somehow.:D
Your place must be still hot since Lainey woke up just to get a drink of water. Hope you'll have cooler night tonight.

Susan, glad to know that "let him be" method was at least right thing to do. Yes ususally Noah'd calm himself down that way. Yesterday it took just longer than usual and it amazed me how long he could keep his energy saying "no".

I know he really doesn't mean "no" all the time, but it annoys me.:rolleyes: I'll try to be patient, and although it seems impossible, I'll reprhase or try to avoid saing no as much as possible. I don't think I ever spent a day with him without saying "no".

That's funny about on and off with Lainey and Brenden. Noah's another favorite is "down" and sometimes "up", but mostly he uses "sit" instead of "up".

Joanne, hope Caitlyn is recovering well!!

[HRJ]

Kim, hope your shoulder is doing better -- that happens to me a lot, getting sore from sleeping in a bad position. I find an an Advil and a hot shower help a lot.

Nori, try not to get too upset about the "no" thing -- I think kids are supposed to go through that "no" stage. Our day-care, too, uses the "no thank you" phrase -- to be honest, I think there are times with kids when a straightforward "no" is just fine -- when they're doing something dangerous or especially disruptive, or when they're wanting/asking to do something that's just not possible.

But, it's funny -- because they use that "no thank you" phrase at day-care, Victor has really picked up on it. So I'll say something like "It's time for dinner, you have to wash your hands now" and he'll reply, "No thank you." Or, "It's time for bed, let's put your pajamas on." "No thank you." It always makes me giggle -- he comes off sounding like the perfect little gentleman, but, of course, these are not optional activities -- I'm not asking for his agreement.

Victor uses "hot" and "cold" in strange ways -- he'll say the way that he wants to be, rather than the way he feels -- so when he gets in the car during the summer and it's all hot and uncomfortable inside, he'll yell, "Cold!" meaning, he wants it to get cold.

My mother is arriving in town tomorrow. She's going to be attending an elder-hostel type program at a college in Boston. She'll be staying in a dorm at the school and taking classes and going sight-seeing with her classmates during the day, and we'll see her during some of the evenings and on the weekends. She'll be here for two weeks. Fortunately, because of Victor's party last weekend, my house is pretty clean -- more or less ;) :o

Victor has been eating like crazy lately -- I can't imagine how he fits all that food in. This morning for breakfast he had cheerios and skim milk; pineapple juice (watered down); about 4 oz. low-fat yogurt with several heaping scoops of fruit salad; and, on the way out the door, he insisted on grabbing an oat bran muffin and eating it in the car on the way to day-care. That's after a big dinner the night before, and then he finished his whole lunch and two snacks at day-care. I assume he's having a growth spurt -- since he doesn't have a weight problem and the pediatrician is pleased with his progress, I don't want to limit him on anything as long as its healthy food.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - just want you to know you're in my thoughts. Hope you've heard Caitlyn's sweet voice saying Mommy.

My neck/shoulder is much better. It was horrible yesterday. I didn't feel I could safely handle Lainey in public. I could barely turn my head side to side. DH went with us to swim class. It's still a little stiff today but so much better I'm not complaining.

Helene - sounds like you'll be able to have some good visits with your Mom. That sounds like a great thing - she goes off and does stuff with friends and yet you all still get to see each other over several days without it interfering too much with a regular routine.
Your posting of what Victor ate for breakfast prompts me to ask, when do kids switch off whole milk? Age 2?

The friend I told you all about with the Gillian-Barre syndrom is getting better. She's moved from the hospital to rehab and is using a walker. She can have visitors now so I might pop in for a short visit next week. We don't know each other really well so I don't want to be intrusive.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, age 2 is correct. Then it's 2% milk. I asked our ped if we should ever go lower. She said only if there's a weight problem. By switching to 2%, they claim you cut the risk of heart disease. I may have finally convinced DH. He was so happy to have me buying gallons of regular milk for Brenden. I told him those days are over and if he wants regular whole milk, he's going to have to get it himself.

Kim, glad to hear your friend is doing better. That reminded me about DH's friend. He's been on dialysis for a couple of years. He said if it wasn't for his kids, he'd never go through all that. I think he was doing 11-12 hours each day! He got strep throat, it wasn't treated properly and it caused severe damage to his kidneys (or that's the doctor's theory). He moved to FL at the end of last year and kept in touch with DH. Well, he called on Monday night around 9:30. He was calling from his hospital room to tell DH that he got a kidney transplant! We're both so happy for him. I hope his quality of life improves.

Okay, now back to kids. I called my mom. She's got the kids outside in the sprinkler. I'm trying to talk her into taking them home with her. We're not sure if they'll go or not. They seemed excited about the idea for the first time ever. Usually they freak out and think I'm not going to ever see them again. Casey told me last night that she wants to take her bed with her, though. My sister is driving up tonight with her family. I'm wondering if Casey wants to stay at Grandma's to see her cousins. DH and I are dying for a night out together and a possible 1/2 day fishing trip in the morning. Just have to see if the kids go for it. My mom only wanted Casey at first, but I told her she has to take them both! We haven't had a night off since last December! My mom said the kids were running through the sprinkler, first Brenden, then Casey- and then they'd hug on the other side. Brenden would wait for Casey with his arms open. Too cute. It's hot out here! And humid!

Joanne, my thoughts are also with you. Hope things are going good.

[tbb113]

Susan:
Alex takes his pillow and comforter when he goes to his dad's house. You might let Casey take the bedding if it will make her more comfortable. A night by yourselves sounds great. Hopefully your mom will take them and it will work out for you.

[RunnerKim]

So there's not set recommendation on going from 2% to skim? We always drank skim milk in my family and that's what I'd prefer to have in the house regularly. DH and I don't consume enough milk ourselves to buy a different kind. Hmmm - wonder if my baked goods will not taste quite so good.

Kim

[HRJ]

Joanne, thinking of you, Caitlyn and family. Hope Caitlyn is doing well and getting well and strong.

Kim, kids usually switch off whole milk at 2 -- our pediatrician kept Victor on whole milk until about 30 months, because he had some "catching up" to do, nutritionally speaking. Then we did 2 percent for a little while, but at about 33 months, she told us it was fine to do skim -- since that's what we drink, it's easier to just buy one type of milk. (Have to admit, I miss having the whole milk in the house -- it was nice for my morning coffee ;) ).

Glad to hear your shoulder is doing better.

Susan, hope you and DH get some time together -- it's probably good to get the kids into the habit of staying with your mother every so often, if she's willing to do it. Like Tyra said, maybe bringing her pillow and blanket will make it easier.



It is intolerably hot and humid here today.

I'm thinking tomorrow, maybe we'll go with Victor and my mom to the Children's Museum in Boston -- we have a membership, but haven't been there as much as we thought we would. Last time we were there was to see a see a production of "The Three Little Pigs" back in October -- I don't think Victor really had the language skills to appreciate it at the time. I think he'd enjoy the museum much more, now.


Helene

[MrsReber]

This is not fair- right after lunch, my throat started to hurt! No! I cannot not feel good! What if my kids to go my mom's house?! We also have a big weekend ahead of us. Figures. Maybe I can just take some advil. Lots of advil.

Tyra, I told my mom maybe Casey can bring her Dora pillow. My mom said "I don't know if I have enough room for them to sleep." I said "well, they'll both be in your bed when you wake up so don't worry about it!"

[tbb113]

Susan:
Why don't you stay at your Mom's house and let her stay at your house? That way they all will have plenty of room to sleep and you still get your night out! :D On your sore throat...its mind over matter, just tell yourself you can be sick TOMORROW night ;)

[RunnerKim]

Susan - You're not sick. Complete figment of your imagination. Or maybe you're just allergic to your desk or something. Go home, doctor's orders. :D

[Julia1Pin]

Susan - Good luck with the night off. I hope you get it and enjoy your evening sick free (if that's even a phrase). I agree with everyone - let her take her comforter and pillow.

Kim - I hope your neck feels better. Good excuse for a massage?

I can switch at 2? Yay! I'll switch to 2% and then don't need to buy 2 milks! I didn't even realize.

Helene - Abigail eats like a fiend too. I'm just thankful she burns the food off as quickly as she eats it. She is one of the bigger eaters at pre-school and she's the youngest one there.

Nori - Are you full term yet?

[nori]

Susan, hope you made your night out tonight! I agree, it must had been your allergic reaction to your office.:D Seriously, if you're sick, hope you'll feel better soon!! Good news about your DH's friend getting kidney transplant. That must be a life-changing experience.

Helene, have fun at the museum! We have a local Children's Museum here too, but we haven't been there yet. My friend said it's pretty good, they also have a place for toddlers or babies. I meant to try there one day. Plus, it's indoor with AC so better deal than going to the zoo in this season.

Kim, glad to hear that your friend is getting better.

Julia, my due date is Aug. 31st. So I'm like 35 weeks?? Is it full term?? With Noah I delivered him around this time.

This morning we went to the baby exercise class and somehow neither of teachers showed up on time. We originally have a small class since it's kind of early in the morning, but today it was Noah and another boy. Well one of the teacher (main) showed up 10 min. before the next class starts, and shocked to know that other teacher wasn't there for our class. Sounded like miscommunication between them. She had a bad headache so decided and left a message for other teacher (assistant) to take care of the first class. Somehow assistant didn't get a message, plus she oculdn't make it either. We got in the gym, but didn't have enough time of course. She said we could stay during next class, but it was kind of big class and for little babies I didn't feel like it. She suggested we can take one of her other classes next week. So we'll probably go twice next week. That's okay, but shouldn't they be more responsible to take care of the business?? Next week is a gratuation week.:)

Seems like everytime Noah wakes up from his nap, he's cranky. Today he woke up after an hour and half, wanted to get off from the crib but he just rolled on the floor for about half an hour to calm down. Looked like he needed more sleep but he wouldn't want to. Usually he takes 3 hour nap and when it's that long, he'd wake up happily. But past few days it's always less than 3 hours and he'd wake up as if he had a nightmare. Most of the time I try to put him back to sleep (at least I try), but it doesn't work always. I know I have to be patient, but the way he cries....SCREAM!!!!!!!! It's hard not to get upset, but I'm working on not to make a big deal out of it. Do you think he's having some trouble sleeping, or having a nightmare or something?? Or it's just another phrase??

Happy weekend, everyone.

[JoanneOR]

Hi, hope everyone is doing well. I haven't had a chance to read all the posts, but just wanted to let everyone know that Caitlyn is doing well.

She's still in intensive care, but she's breathing on her own and is awake. They are weaning her off some of the heart medications, but she still has a few IV's. They have one line in her that measures her pulmonary pressures. Hopefully they can take that out tomorrow and we can hold her. She's getting so restless lying in the bed. It was so hard today. She kept crying "mommy out" when I was there. She doesn't understand why I can't just take her home. They are letting her eat now, but she wants no part of it.

Her recovery is going well. She's collecting too much fluid in her chest, though, which is a common complication, I guess. But it was much better today and they have her on diuretics.

DH brought the boys to see her tonight. They said she smiled when she saw them. That's the first smile since she had the surgery.

It's really been a crazy week. Lots of ups and downs. But I think (hope) the worst is over. I've met lots of parents at the hospital and it's just so sad to hear about the kids. One woman had twin girls and one of them had to have the same surgery Caitlyn just had and she's only two weeks old. She had a different defect and they couldn't wait till she got bigger for the surgery. They've told her she'll be in at least three more weeks.

They really haven't told us when we can expect her to come home. I've asked every nurse and they say that they take things really slowly. Which is good, but I want her home! I don't think it'll be any sooner than a week.

Hope everyone has a good week. I'll check in in a few days!

[cchhbb]

Joanne, I'm so happy to hear from you. Your family and Caitlyn have been in my thoughts and prayers. I bet the last week has been so tough. I hope Caitlyn is able to continue her improvement so you can take her home quickly. It must be wonderful for you to see her awake.

I will continue to pray for you. Please know we all would do anything we are able to help you during this time.

I haven't had much free time lately. I'm gearing up for the church kids consignment sale. Pretty much that is where all my free time is going. I have been scanning the thread to see updates on Caitlyn though.

Cheryl

[MrsReber]

Hi everyone. Joanne, it's great to see a post from you. That's so sad that you can't hold Caitlyn yet. So cute that she smiled when she saw the boys. We're all still thinking of you and praying that she comes home soon.

Kim, I think you're right about being allergic to my desk. So I left at 3:00. Of course, it decided to pour two minutes before I had to leave to catch an earlier train. And, of course, when I got to the station, wet, the train was late! I got home before 5:00, though, and the kids decided to go with Grandma. We started getting stuff ready and then Casey told me she didn't want to go to Grandma's house until the morning. But we got them out the door. DH and I decided to go to the bar for some wings and beer. We figured that was one place that we'd never go with the kids. I was not pleased with our neighbors that night. We had no kids, we could sleep and then the stupid Rottwieler across the street started barking. They left the one dog out all night long. It began on and off at 2:30 am and then was constant beginning around 5:00. We were getting up a early to go fishing so I left a note on their mailbox asking them to not leave the dog out to bark all night. It was not nasty or anything. I didn't even sign our names. The dog has been away since.

So, we went fishing from 7:30-12:30, we came home, I showered and went to get the kids. They were having fun with my sister's kids, which was good. They had a big weekend and no nap on Sunday! We went to my brother's house to hang out and celebrate his birthday. The kids actually went in the big pool with my mom and with my brother's daughter. She has been so great with my kids lately. They adore her. She's 12 now. We left there at 9:00 and they passed out in the car immediately. They're still asleep at 7:00 am. Brenden woke up and came out to the living room. I picked him up, he put his head down on my shoulder and went back to sleep.

MIL may stop by today. She's done playing hostess to the out of town guests. She got upset with DH because she's leaving today and she wanted to see the kids yesterday. Too bad. We had plans. I learned my lesson and I did not change our plans. I told DH, not for nothing, but she decided to spend her extra week here entertaining other people rather than spending time with her family. Not my fault, not my problem. DH said he'd call her and see if she wanted to come by a before lunch time. She probably won't. He really tried when she was here. He called her every other day, but she was always busy. She catered an event for the out of town people on Friday, after the funeral. She said every bed in the house was filled (it's a pretty big house!)

Nori, are Noah's 2 year molars coming in? That could certainly cause that kind of behavior. Brenden was very crabby when two of his came in. He still has 2 more to go. That's so weird about your exercise class. They don't sound very organized. They need a better plan of communication if someone is out.

Casey did have a fever Friday night. My sister's son was throwing up on Friday and threw up a few times over the weekend. He seems fine otherwise so it's kind of weird. Sunday morning, Casey woke up with diarrhea. She did make it to the toilet all but one time and it seemed to get better during the day. Guess is had to do with the fever on Friday night. She was running around just fine all of Sunday. Now my stomach isn't right! Must be something going around.

Love the terror threat in Newark. That building is very close to my work building. Guess it's better to know about the threat than to not know and not be ready.

[lhall]

Joanne,
Thanks for the update. I've been thinking about you a lot lately and I'm glad to Caitlyn is doing well.

Susan,
I'm glad you had a good night out. Our kids love to stay overnight with Grammie & Gramps. We love the free babysitting! :D

Mariel's first dance class is this afternoon, and I guess I need to work on finding Ginger a gym or cheerleading class.

Cheryl,
PM me your Church name so I can check out your sale. I do lots of consignment shopping for the kids. When is your Fall Sale? The one I sell at isn't until late September.

Leigh

[erinl]

Joanne, I'm glad to hear things are going relatively well. I've been thinking about you and your family.

Well, our potty training has taken a decided step backwards. I'm trying to motivate myself for another intensive week because we aren't doing much this week. I just don't feel like following her around cleaning up accidents. I'm also considering dumping naptime. She won't go to sleep unless we are out running errands and she falls asleep in the car. I won't be able to take her for a drive everyday when the new baby arrives. Then she'll sleep for at least two hours and we have a hard time finding a good bedtime. She didn't nap at all on Thursday and then she slept from 7-7. Paul and I aren't getting any alone time and it's starting to wear on us.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne, It's good to hear an update. That must be so incredibly tough to not be about to take her home when she's asking for it. Very sweet about her smiling for the boys!

Erin - wow, losing nap time already. :( Sounds like what is happening though. Maybe you should hold off on the potty training thing for awhile? Are you trying to get her trained before the baby comes?

I bought training pants and some regular underwear this weekend for Lainey. I might wait until after Labor day weekend to take a significant step though - we're doing a long car trip and I don't know if that would be confusing for her (or just harder on me).

Susan - glad you weren't sick! That sucks about the barking dog. :mad: I wonder if they weren't home. I don't know how people can handle hearing their dog bark, so I couldn't imagine being home and being able to sleep through it or ignore it. (obviously you couldn't it!).

How's your office/commute. Has the raised threat level made it a lot more difficult for you? I hope the sickness has passed through quickly. We seemed to have something like that out here a couple of weeks ago - the good part was it was really only a 12-24 hour thing.

Cheryl - good luck with the consignment sale. I remember you mentioning how much organizing and work you were doing for it.

Kim

[tbb113]

Joanne:
Glad to hear that Caitlyn is doing well. It must be very hard for all of you given how little she really understands about what is happening. Hope that the recovery continues to go well and that she comes home soon.

[erinl]

Kim, I'm thinking about letting the potty training go for awhile. I'll see how the next couple of days go, and I'm really not pushing hard. With only two weeks before the baby is born, we're going to have more regressions at that point anyway.