March Toddler Moms Thread

[nori]

I've seen several post from today in February thread but since it's March, I'll start new one this time.;)

Kim, so the name of the book is "Making Terrible Twos Terrific"? I have to check the library to see if they have one. I think it's great Lainey is so interested in wearing underwear. Hopefully the next try will be a success!! That's cute about cell phone. When I had cell phone and Noah was much younger, I used to let him have it to play with for a while (especially when I was desperate to distract him). I did that until one month I saw unknown "Internet connection" of 5 seconds on the bill!!!:eek: He also pushed speed dial somehow and called my friend at work. She called me back, becuase she had a caller ID. Since then I stopped letting him have my cell phone.

SusanR, hope your coworker was there to attend the conference!! 2 hours of commute in snow doesn't sound like fun. And what a workout....an hour and half of snow shoveling!? Wow.

I think it's great that daycare has some male teachers. Some males really have sort of "mother's instinct", and can take care of even babies pretty well. Although, I don't think my DH can handle that.:D

Oh Joanne, I forgot to say....I'm also impressed that your DH willing to volunteer 3 days a week in Ian's class. I bet it'll make some difference to Ian!

Lately whenever Noah says yes or no, he'd say "Yes, mommy" or "No, mommy" It's kind of cute. When he says Yes, he sounds like a very well-behaved boy. I like how he sounds.:)

I have a confession. I yelled at him after I hang up the phone because he was being soooo loud when I was on the phone. I was leaving a message on the answering machine but I could barely hear myself. He sneezed and wanted to be wiped. I told him before that he has to wait when mommy is on the phone, but today he was just shouting and being exceptionally loud. I said "Shut up!":rolleyes: and I think it got Noah really off-guarded. I shouldn't have said that. Later, I had a talk with him and told him that whenever mommy or daddy is on the phone but he needs some attention, he should gently tug the shirt to get attention, not being loud. Is it too much to ask from 2 years old? Maybe. I feel so bad yelling at him. Oh well, I guess today was kind of a bad day.

He was sneezing all afternoon with runny nose. Hope he's not catching anything bad.:(

We went to apply for Mary Ann's passport (we are planning to go visit my parents this year sometime), for second try. Last Tuesday DH made an appointment and I was supposed to get him and go to the post office together, but he wasn't in the office. (They have several locations in the town) I called him, paged him, asked the receptionist to page him but I couldn't get him. I went to the post office and cancel the appointment (You ahve to have both parents for kids' passport application). It turned out that he TOTALLY forgot, adn working in another office. When we paged him, he was driving and couldn't answer. Anyway,we rescheduled it for today and I again drove kids to the 30 min. away post office. DH was there too, thank goodness. However, it turned out DH forgot to fill her SSN on the application and of course her card was at home!!:mad: So we just made another appointment for next Tuesday. Hope we'll be able to get this through next week!!

[hrk]

Happy March everyone.
Sorry I ahve been MIA but it has been crazy with the snow down here. Monday LOgan's school was saying they would close at noon so I just stayed home with him, and yesterday they were on a two hour delay,and then I left early cause they had the Cat in the Hat come in and read to the kids in celebration of Dr. Suess's birthday and I wanted to get some pictures. Someday I will actually have a full work week.

The aquarium was a blast as Susan already mentioned and we did a group shot. I will see if I can figure out how to post it this evening. We really enjoyed meeting Susan, Brenden, Casey, Susan's DH and Susan's mom. And as much as Casey liked my DH, Susan's DH was great whith Logan when he had a meltdown in the middle of the aquarium as we were trying to leave cause we hadn't fed him all morning (bad parents). But the kids certainly had a blast. And Logan was asleep as soon as we put him in his car seat and took a nice long two hour nap.

Kim- I am sorry to hear that potty training didn't go well. But I would trust what Lainey's teacher and doctor said.

Becky- We saw Movin' Out when it was here in DC and I absolutely loved it. I think it is one of the few shows that I would love to see again. What a nice treat for your anniversary.

Nori- The bedroom turned oout great. Where did you find the truck stencils? We ahve been looking for some train ones with no luck so far.

Joanne- That is great that your DH will be in the classroom helping out. I hope it helps improve the situation with Ian.

Well we have our appointment with the allergist tomorrow to see if allergies are contributing to Logans ear problems. We will see how it goes. And Friday is my birthday, and DH is annoyed with me cause I don't seem to want to do anything for it. Anyone else feel this way, like it really isn't that big a deal. Last year was 30 and we made a big deal out of that so I just think this one can be spent quietly at home.

Happy hump day.
Heather

[MrsReber]

Heather, DH has learned how to deal with Brenden's meltdowns out in public so he's pretty good with that now. We had a delayed opening yesterday, too. I forgot that Logan also goes to a Goddard school. I was very impressed with ours. They just received a score of 100 during the unannounced visit from the Goddard people. We just got our registration contract for September, too. For the first time in 4 years, our tuition is NOT going up in September. I was very surprised. I do have to pay $90 for summer activity fees- $50 for Casey and $40 for Brenden. I think yours was much higher than that. I also have to pay $75 per child for September registration. I hate paying all of this, but they are an excellent school. So I gripe about it for a month and then move on.

Nori, I hope you get Mary Ann's passport soon. That's great you're going to see your parents again this year. It's got to be difficult being so far from them. I hope your dad is doing well.

DH lets Casey play the games on his phone. We don't have anything too fancy as far as cell phones go, but Casey loves the Snake game.

I hope Logan's appointment goes well. I know how you feel about birthdays. I just want DH to remember it and maybe we'll go to dinner. We didn't do much last year since it was two days before Thanksgiving. It gets hectic around that time of year and we had a lot of invites with my sister and MIL in town. Yes, she's here for good now- or at least as long as SIL can get along with her since MIL is living in her house. We'll probably see her just as much as when she lived in FL. But back to birthdays- I find that we have to get theme cakes now (for me and DH) since the kids expect it. They're disappointed if we don't celebrate someone's birthday. For my mom's birthday last year (before our surprise party) we got my mom a Cinderella ice cream cake. Casey picked out the theme. My mom likes Cinderella so it worked out well.

In any event, Heather, enjoy your day!

[SLFlyt]

Hi everyone, happy March!
After Florida, it stinks coming back to the snow. It was so gorgeous there with perfect weather every day. DH and I spent a little too much time at happy hour at one of those outdoor bars and enjoying the night life - so I'm feeling kind of "down" right now with this dreary weather.

Noah was really funny when I got home. First he looked at me like he had never seen me before. I guess that was my punishment for abandoning him. Then he changed his mind and ran to me with his arms out and the biggest grin on his face I've ever seen. He hasn't left my side since. It was sweet, but it made me feel sad for leaving him at the same time.

Nori - where does your mother live? I didn't know you could get a passport at the post office.

It sounds like everyone is having "fun" with the potty training. I'm really looking forward to that!

There are no male teachers at Noah's daycare. One of the "students" is from another country, Ecuador I think, and is in the process of being adopted (or was just finalized, not sure) by a single male. He has only had the child for a few months but it's clear that they have a very strong bond. I just wish he would dress his baby a little better. He wears the same outfit day after day, not always that clean, and I wonder if that's because he's a guy and it just doesn't register with him. I know my DH has no idea what I like to put on Noah, but he would definately notice if the outfit were not quite clean.

[paula]

We had a first this morning... Alex awoke at an unreasonable hour (4:15) insisting that he had to go potty! Given that he still sleeps in his crib, this was an adventure that had to include Mom. Given that he was screaming at the top of his lungs, this is an adventure that had to include Rachel. Given that Rachel was not happy to be awoken so early, this was an adventure that had to include DH. Given that the entire family was now awake, neither kid was interested in returning to bed... Given all that, Alex's diaper was dry, and he did use the potty (and the floor, and the wall...) All in all, it was a positive experience, but we learned a couple of things. One, we need to convert the cribs to toddler beds, and two, we need to buy a night light for the bathroom. I don't think either of those adjustments would have prevented this morning, but they might have made things smoother.

I, too, had a great time during the Aquarium trip, and was particularlly delighted with how well behaved the kids were at lunch. You could see the dread in the hostess's eyes when she was asked to seat five "toddlers" (with all apologies to Casey, our "big girl"). However, all five behaved amazingly. Everyone was able to eat and enjoy the company.

If anyone else is planning to be in the Baltimore area and/or would like to come just to see the Aquarium, let me know. It is a great place for kids and adults, alike.

Paula

[MrsReber]

Susan, I always dread coming back to NJ- doesn't matter where we go! Sounds like you had a very nice vacation, though. I hear some more snow may be on the way for this weekend.

About the guy adopting the little boy- my DH is more into "practical" than aesthetic (did I spell that right?). He doesn't care if Casey looks absolutely adorable in a dress, he thinks she'd be more comfortable in jeans and a regular shirt. So maybe this guy really doesn't think about the clothes all that much. Also, I know that our kids do some pretty messy things at daycare so we tend to dress them down a little and save the cuter clothes for when we're home.

Paula, it was really a nice Sunday- thanks again to you and Heather. And congratulations on Alex waking up dry! We have night lights all over to help the kids find their way to the bathroom at night. It's great. They don't even wake me up, provided they are in 2 peice pj's.

By the way, DH and I were interested in what you were saying about NJ and cancer. We were still talking about that on the way home. I'm pretty concerned about continuing to live in the state for various reasons- taxes, overcrowding, air quality. I never thought much about the cancer issue. We both really enjoyed staying overnight in MD. We normally just drive through the state and don't see many sights.

I still call Casey my baby girl :D . Last night, she wanted her scissors to cut something out for a game in her Sesame Street magazine. Somehow, Brenden got a hold of them. She told him to give them back because "scissors are not for little boys!" He said "but I'm a big boy!" Casey somehow or other stole my scissors the night before. I found them on the floor in her room yesterday morning. Not good. Then I realized that she had cut out 2 game peices for a game in a different Sesame Street magazine. I said "how did you cut those out?" She said "with your scissors. I only just borrowed them and put them right back." This kid will find a way to reach anything that we put out of their reach.

[SLFlyt]

Casey somehow or other stole my scissors the night before. I found them on the floor in her room yesterday morning. Not good. Then I realized that she had cut out 2 game peices for a game in a different Sesame Street magazine.

Susan - You're lucky she didn't decide to use them on other things. I remember when my daughter decided to cut her hair and her sister's hair. Their bangs were about 1/4" long. Also, you are probably right about the guy who just adopted the little boy. I wasn't looking at it the same way. It makes sense.

I didn't hear anything about NJ and cancer. It's a shame we have such issues with car insurance and extremely high property taxes, because I really love it here. It's such a great location for so many reasons. I'm sure eventually though I'll end up in Florida. MIL lives there and she would love it if we came down to stay. It's such a resort area that I don't know if I could live a normal life there with a job, etc. I automatically go into vacation mode when we drive over the Jolley Bridge into Marco. Also, the biggest problem would be leaving all my loved ones. I guess time will tell.

The Aquarium trip sounds great. I've never been to the Aquarium in Baltimore. I love the one in Boston. Believe it or not, I've never been to the one in Camden even though it is very, very close. It IS on my list of things to see though.

[RunnerKim]

Susan F - I laughed a little about the single father too. I've been pulling out Lainey's old clothes for the baby and went hmmm, we don't have that much in the 3-6 size (even before I weeded out all the too girly stuff) and then I remembered DH often didn't bother to changer her out of her PJs. (he was home with her during that time). They weren't dirty though. We had a little chuckle at the fact that she rarely spit up as a child and thus we rarely had to change her outfit as a baby (considering her gag reflex and how often we've had to change her clothes when she's coughing/sick now, we thought it kind of ironic).

Paula - one of those nights you can laugh about later! It is great news about Alex waking up dry and then demanding to use the potty!

Heather - neither DH nor I do that much for our birthdays either. Now that we both work together downtown, we do go out for lunch together which is a special treat for us (we don't eat out much, didn't before Lainey came along either). DH's birthday is this month and most likely the plan will be to meet my sister and her boys at a park with a great playground, grill lunch and I'll make a cake. Not exactly an activity designed for DH.

Nori - what a pain with the passport! I had looked in to all that when I thought DH and Lainey were going to go with me to Vancouver, BC but I could get away with just her birth certificate for that trip.

susan R - I agree you're lucky Casey didn't cut her hair! (or Brenden's). That is a bonus that daycare tuition isn't going up.

Kim

[nori]

Kim, are you going to have any babyshower? I bet if you do, you'll get tons of boy's clothes. I got a lot from the showers for Mary Ann. LOL, my DH probably won't mind having Noah runing around with pj's all day either!

SusanF, my parents live in Japan. We try to visit them every other year. Last time was when Noah was 7 months old. This time around it'll be a challenge to handle 13+ hours flight.:eek: You can apply for passport at certain post offices around this area. You ahve to call in to make an appointment, though.

My DH can come up with the combination of clothes for kids I could ever imagine.:rolleyes: Last Sunday he went in to change Mary Ann (hers are still a lot of one pieces so he can pick those) but then came out not doing it. He said "I thought you want to pick clothes for her since we're going to the church". Good thinking.;)

SusanR, my dad is doing well. Thank you for asking.:) Last test he had after they went back home was clear, except that he had high number for hepatits C so they increased medication for it. But no cancer, thank goodness.

If I call Noah "big boy" (or "baby boy", for that matter), he'd say "No, not big boy, I'm Noah!!!"

Paula, what a hectic morning, but congratulation on Alex's progress! That's great!

Heather, DH made those templates from cardboard (very simple, using squares and circles mostly) and used that like stamp. Maybe train is easy enough to do the same? When he did duckie theme for bathroom, he used sponge, which worked out well, too.

DH made a big deal out of it for my 30th birthday ( a year ago), and it was kind of fun but usually I want to keep it quiet...but like SusanR's case, Noah likes to celebrate birthdays so we'd probably do it for his sake, cake and stuff.;) Personally, dinner out would be great.

For some reason, Noah's been waking up at night, wanting me to be next to him lately. Last night was crazy. Mary Ann woke up like every hour (she doesn't sleep well by her own), and Noah woke up probably 3 times, once with Mary Ann which was just crazy. DH finally got up once, since both of them crying, but he scared me to death since he appeared VERY quietly on my back, so I turned around and almost screamed.:eek: I probably said something like "What are you doing?" or "What is it?" so he mumbled something and went to bed. I didnt' know what to ask him since both kids asking for me. Very exhausting.:( Although, I started to liking to sleep in Noah's bed. It's kind of cozy and nice to lay down with him.:)

[MrsReber]

Nori, that's funny about Noah saying "I'm Noah!" Remember when Casey used to call Brenden Yaggi? We tried calling him Yaggi, and he got upset and said "I'm Brenden! Not Yaggi!" It was kind of cute that she called him that. We're sad that it stopped.

Brenden always wants to sleep by me. He'll come looking for me in the middle of the night. He can be very restless when he sleeps so sometimes it's not so good. However, I do think that he won't be this little for long and I should just enjoy snuggling with him while I can. I can sympathize with both kids wanting you in the middle of the night. That's usually the case with mine, although Casey will now go to DH, too. They just know that mom has more patience.

[JoanneOR]

I haven't been able to post much lately; work is just crazy for the next two weeks. We have a big conference next week; I'll be staying overnight at a hotel down here one night next week. DH said he's going to bring the kids down to use the pool. That will be fun, but I told them they have to go home by 8:00! I can't imagine trying to sleep with us all in one room.

Nori, what a pain with MaryAnn's passport! Hope you can get it all take care of at your next appointment. I think it's pretty normal to get frustrated at the kids sometimes (you had posted about being on the phone and Noah talking). It's pretty comical when I'm on the phone. Inevitably, someone wants something or starts fighting or yelling the minute the phone rings. So, it's something important I'll be trying to talk and be walking around the house trying to get away from whatever noise is going on, with the "noise" usually following me!

DH has been at school two days this week with Ian in the afternoon. Ian has been doing great this week. They started the behavior modification program. He has a chance to earn six stars each day. One for the morning and one for the afternoon for not talking in class, for being respectful of others and for behaving in activities outside of the class, like gym, or waiting in line. So far, he's gotten six stars each day. He gets a treat at the end of the day if he gets all six and a prize at the end of the week if he gets six every day. He's really been excited about it and really seems to want to earn his stars. So, hopefully it's working. DH has to bring Caitlyn with him to the class. The teacher told him he has the patience of a saint. She's usually pretty good, but she likes to run out the door and run down the hall. Next week he might only go a day or two.

Kim, sorry to hear the potty training didn't go so well. It sounds like Lainey is interested since she wants to wear the underwear, but just not ready physically. It was that way with us for Jameson and Colin. So many accidents. Then we'd wait a few weeks and try again. Ian was easy, but I don't know about Caitlyn. I haven't tried putting her in underwear yet. I need to be at home for a few days at once uninterrupted and don't know when that's going to happen!

Heather, hope Logan's appt. goes well. It's today, right? The aquarium sounds like alot of fun! Can't wait to see pictures. No pressure, though. :)

We don't do much for DH's and my birthday. I always get DH a cake, though, especially since the kids expect him to have one. We always have parties for the kids, but I'm thinking this year for Jameson's I'll just let him invite a few friends over, maybe for a sleepover. Or take them somewhere, like to a movie. Then just have a family party. I'm not sure at what age kids stop having "kid parties", but I know it's gotten really expensive. I'll probably let Ian have one more and then Colin can have a couple more. We'll have a small party for Caitlyn. She's been to enough now that she knows all about the cake and singing, so I think she'll enjoy it this year.

My DH is actually much better at dressing Caitlyn than he was the boys. He comes up with some cute outfits for her. Speaking of keeping them in pajamas, a few years ago when the boys were all little I went out of town for a couple days. I came home and they were all in the same pajamas as when I left. He never changed them at all! I'm assuming they never left the house.

SusanF, welcome back! Sounds like a great vacation. I'm sure it would be hard to come back to the snow. That's sweet about Noah's reaction.

Paula, sorry, but I had to laugh at your potty adventure! :) So, has Alex used the potty any more after that?

Susan, scissors are a big thing in our house. I'll let Jameson and Ian use them, but not Colin without me, and of course, not Caitlyn. Tape, too. They love to take tape and put up pictures all over the house or "do not enter" signs on their doors. Either Colin or Ian cut Colin's hair awhile ago. Neither one will admit who did it, but Colin had a big chunk missing on the top of his head.

Nori, sounds like a very restless night! Hope things get better, or at least that you can get a chance to nap during the day.

Gotta run...

[RunnerKim]

Nori - I'm not sure about a shower. One of my small work groups has a lunch meeting planned at the end of march where there was no topic/agenda given and it's pretty obvious it's for me. DH expects his immediate office-mates will probably acknowledge the baby in some way too but we're not expecting a shower per-say as it is our 2nd. I think you're right though - people love to shop for clothes and since we're having a boy, I think we will get several clothing gifts.

Joanne - so glad to hear the positive attention is helping Ian. That's great. Hadn't you talked about Caitlyn starting a preschool class part time? Maybe that was'nt until the fall though - just thinking about your DH handling both Caitlyn and being in Ian's class at the same time. I agree with the teacher.

I pair all of Lainey's clothes up - one pair of pants to 1 shirt and don't mix them up (hang them in the closet together) so Lainey nor DH mess up an outfit. I need to go get more kids hangers with clippies on them since I started hanging up the baby clothes.

I've done that same phone dance - trying to escape the noise. It's mostly Lainey insisiting on wanting to talk on the phone, which I let her do if it's my sister or my good friend (and Grandma of course).

Heather - what did the allergy doctor have to say??

Susan - that is sad to lose the Yaggi knickname. It was so mysteriously unique.

I'll share another bus story. There were a few non-regulars on the bus sitting in the front section and thus we sitting next to Lainey was a young man with his guitar and had his head phones on etc. on the other side was a friend that Lainey loves to interact with. She brings one of her stuffed animals almost every day now and will pass it around to all her friends on the bus. So Lainey kept passing her stuffed elephant behind this person and then across the aisle etc. She tried to get the attention of this man but he was in his own world (probably vowing never to take this crazy bus again) and finally Lainey says Hi! and he responds "What's happening, dude" and later she tried to give him her stuffed elephant and his expression was fairly comical (along the lines of OMG what is that?!). i hadn't heard the man's response until he got off the bus and the woman sitting across from him shared it with me.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Kim, yes, we had considered starting Caitlyn in preschool. She can't start until she's three, though. But, actually DH was a bit hesitant about it. He doesn't think she's ready. Although, I'm sure she'll mature quite a bit in just the six months until then. Actually, and he admits it, he's much more protective of her. I think he just doesn't want to "let her go". I think what we'll wind up doing is sending her for the winter term, probably starting next January. Her speech should be much better and she'll definitely be potty trained (at least, I hope so :)). Plus, if she starts in Sept., she'll be in preschool for three years since she has a Sept. 6 birthday. She can't start kindergarten until she's almost 6.

I'm sure you'll get lots of boys clothes after the baby is born. People love to buy baby clothes. At least, I do. :)

That's funny about the Lainey's seatmate on the bus!

[SLFlyt]

Kim - DD#1 was just like Lainey in that she never spit up or drooled. All our bachelor friends were in love with her because she was so "clean" all the time. LOL. Then along came DS#1 and he drooled so much it was like someone turned a faucet on in his mouth. Water just poured out!

Very cute story about the "dude" on the bus.

Nori - 13 hours on a plane sounds like an ordeal, but I envy you that trip to Japan! I've always wanted to go to Japan. I'm not sure if the biggest motivation is the food or not - DH and I love Japanese food.

JoAnne - I've been busy at work too. I have to go away in April to Chicago for a few days. I just hate leaving Noah again so soon after my Florida trip. I would take him with me, but that's impossible. It tears me apart being away from him.

Noah is getting kind of bratty. He is going through stages now where he tests us. He'll take a handful of his food and throw it on the floor just to get our reaction. We tell him no-no but that does nothing. Nori, have you noticed at times that the name Noah has disadvantages? I call him Noah, but sometimes I call him Nono without realizing. That's a real problem when you're saying "No, no, Nono!"

[tbb113]

Joanne: I don't what the norm is around your neighborhood, but here the kids have birthday parties through elementary school (5th grade) at least. Some still have the in middle school. Alex didn't have one last year (only because his birthday is in July and I didn't feel like having one in June or September). He'll definitely have one this year since its his Bar Mitzvah. By HS, its usually just having some friends sleep over or taken out to dinner. Come to think of it, by 4th grade I seemed to be hosting sleepovers almost exclusively. :eek:

[Julia1Pin]

I've been MIA as well. Just alot of stuff going on at work, home, etc... I seem to write more when I'm in a better mood. I guess I don't want to whine too much on these threads. I need to get over that ;) I did lurk last month though.

Nori - The rooms turned out really cute. I can't believe you had time to do that with 2 little ones at home. I can relate on Noah waking up often. For the past week Abigail has been waking up every hour or so and crying. A couple of nights ago she was trying to climb out of the crib so DH brought her into our bed at 12:30am!

Heather - Happy early Birthday! Personally, I like celebrating by just going out to dinner with DH. It gives us a little much needed romance since most evening we're working or with the kids.

Kim - Good luck on your next potty training try. Why don't you want her playing with a cell phone again? Aside from calling someone that is? Although now that I started letting her talk on any phone, now I can't talk on the phone at all because she will have a fit if I don't let her talk to whoever I'm talking to. I feel so bad for everyone, having to listen to a 2 year old saying "hi" over and over again.

Susan F - That's great that you and DH were able to spend some time alone, and that Noah gave you such a warm welcome home.

Paula - That's awesome that Alex had the sense to wake up and want to us the potty (even if it does make for a very long next day!).

Abigail is potty trained at school but won't even think about going in the potty at home. Whenever I try to putting pull ups on her at home she goes into fits. I guess she'd rather play. I really nee dto choose a weekend (when it's a little warmer) and try and train her at home! It's so much easier when the school does it for me :)

DH is very into asthetics and would definately notice if the girls were in dirty clothes or if the clothes were horribly not matching, etc... He's such a guy about most things but is very into dressing well.

Joanne - It sounds like you guys have come up with a great solution, for now, to Ians behavior problems.

I'll write more about my hectic month later.

[HRJ]

Kim, OMG, that "what's happening, dude?" is so funny. I love Lainey's bus stories. Too bad I didn't know that you liked the hangers with the clippies -- I end up with so many of them (almost all the stores here give you the hangers when you buy kids' clothes) that I put a whole bunch out with the recycling not long ago. (Not sure if they're recyclable, but thought I'd give it a try). As I get more (and I'm sure I will) I can save them up to mail to you.

Joanne, glad to hear that things are improving for Ian -- I think just the fact that your DH has begun to make the effort to get to his classroom -- even if it's "only" once a week -- can provide Ian with some of the attention he seems to need.

Nori, Noah is so cute in that cowboy hat! And the kids' rooms look great -- your DH seems very handy and creative. Too bad about the hassles with the passport. At one point, I went to the post office to get Victor a passport (we don't need an appointment here, if you show up during certain hours) because we were talking about maybe going on a vacation to Guatemala with him sometime soon (we've since decided we'll wait until he's old enough to understand more about it.) Anyway, I didn't know DH had to be with me, so we couldn't get it, and we haven't gotten around to it again. At this point, I think the passport photos we had taken of him are probably too old to use now, anyway.

About the phone: Victor can be playing very contentedly by himself, but as soon as I get on the phone, all heck breaks lose! It's impossible. All my friends with kids tell me they have the same issue.

Sorry you had such a bad night -- hope you can get some good rest today.

Susan R, you have such a good attitude about the kids cramming into the bed with you. Victor is still ending up in our bed at some point almost every night (and waking up and calling for me several other times, too), and it's getting very difficult -- I know he's only this little for a while, but it would really help all of us -- him included -- if we got better sleep at night.

And, I'm sorry to hear that you dislike being in NJ so much -- are you planning any house-hunting trips any time this spring?

Becky -- you asked if anyone wanted to visit Cincinnati? My best friend from college lives just outside Cinci, and I used to visit there often, but haven't gotten there since Victor came along. But, I'm sure we'll be back sometime -- I do miss those trips to Graeter's! (And also seeing my friend!).

Susan F, sounds like a nice vacation. Who takes care of Noah when you go away?

Paula, congrats on Alex's early-morning potty adventure. :)

Julia, sorry to hear things have been so hectic.

Heather, how did the allergist appt. go? Happy early birthday! Maybe I'm a big baby, but I like it when DH makes a big deal out of my birthday (not that he does that very often ... :rolleyes: ) I think especially now, when I feel like I have so little "me-time," it's nice to have a special day. My b'day is later this month, so we'll see what happens this year.

Speaking of birthdays, my MIL is turning 90 on Sunday. (DH is 49, and MIL was two weeks shy of her 41st birthday when he was born.) We'll be going to Utica to celebrate with her. (Utica is not a very "happening" place, to say the least. :rolleyes: )This is the first time we'll be taking a long car trip since Victor has been toilet-trained, so I imagine we'll be checking out most of the rest stops along the Mass Pike and the NY Thruway.

Helene

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, most of the kids in our neighborhood are younger than Jameson, but in his class I've noticed this year that he's only been invited to one or two parties. He's friends with alot of the kids in his class so I imagine if they were having parties, they'd invite him. Some of our friends with kids around 9 or 10 stopped having big kid parties around that age. His birthday's not for six months, so I have alot of time to think about it! We'll probably have a family party with his cousins and then let him invite some friends over for a sleepover or take them all somewhere. I better get used to the sleepover idea. I have a feeling we may have lots of them in our future. And, DH works nights.

Friday night the cub scouts are having a sleepover in the church basement. Kind of like an indoor camping trip, I guess. They are having games and showing a movie. I told DH me and Caitlyn will come for a few hours, but then we are going home to sleep in our beds! Luckily he took the night off work.

Julia, sorry to hear you are having a hectic month. I wonder why Abigail will use the potty at school, but not at home? You mentioned she's trying to climb out of the crib. I don't want to sound out of line, but that's how Caitlyn broke her leg. Just be careful. Have you thought about moving her to a bed soon?

Helene, I'll admit I like when DH makes a big deal out of my birthday. Except he never does! I've learned not to take it personally. He's just not a birthday or a gift kind of guy. Now it's fun when the kids make me cards or gifts for occasions.

[Julia1Pin]

Joanne - I've been telling DH about people on the Toddler thread forever and reminded him just yesterday that that was how Caitlyn broke her leg and that we need to transform her crib into a toddler bed this weekend!

Helene - I forgot to comment on the V Day pictures. Victor is such a little man now. how handsome.

Nori - The same goes for Noah. He's so much bigger now than the last time you posted a picture of him.

Here's an updated picture of my 2:

http://images.ofoto.com/photos1125/2/21/78/45/58/8/858457821205_0_ALB.jpg

[RunnerKim]

Julia - I can't see the photos??? It's that Lainey's playing with someone else's cell phone that made me nervous. She apparently had called the operator. DH and I have yet to get a cell phone ourselves - we haven't had a big enough need since we commute together (although my sister has "threatened" to give us one).

Helene - did you ever purchase a seperate potty for Victor to use? You could take that along for emergenecies? I hadn't thought about the store hangers actually - I'm not sure why not either. I've recylced them as you do and then go buy other ones. :rolleyes:

SusanR - you have a king sized bed don't you? I think that has something to do with her accomdation ;) (Lainey's taken to crawling in to bed with us at 5am - any earlier and our rule is she goes back to her own bed - amazing how it's the exact same time on my digital clock every morning!)

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

I can see the picture. How odd. Can anyone else?

[tbb113]

I had to copy and post the properties in my browser first. But now I can see them. They are both adorable :D

[HRJ]

I can't see the photo either -- and there's not even one of those red X's that I can click on to get the properties -- just an empty gray area. I'm using Mozilla Firefox at the moment -- I'll try it later using IE and see what happens.

Kim, we got rid of Victor's little potty (can't say I was unhappy about that! :) ) since he now stands to pee, and uses one of those "rings" to sit on the regular toilet and poop. We're planning to bring the ring with us, so we can use it while we're on on the road, and at my MILs. I think it would be too difficult to try to set up any kind of potty system inside the car, and it's too cold and snowy out to attempt anything by the side of the road (last I looked, they were predicting single-digit temps for Utica this weekend.) We'll just keep a close eye on his liquid intake, and make sure we stop every so often, and I'll have extra clothes on hand in case of accidents.

Ah -- so SusanR has a king-sized bed? What a luxury! We have a queen -- going any larger would really squeeze the space in our bedroom too much. Also, we spent a lot of money for the headboard we now have, which matches the rest of our bedroom set -- I'd really hesitate to get rid of it.

Wanted to share a nice story -- yesterday afternoon, I got a phone call from our neighbor's son -- he's 12. He says, "I was doing my homework and looked out the window, and there's a brown cat in your back yard who looks a lot like one of your cats, but I know your cats aren't allowed outside -- so I wanted to let you know, in case one of your cats had gotten out." Sure enough, Fred, that wiley old guy, had somehow gotten out of the house and was enjoying a trot in the snow. I ran out of the house (in my slippers) and grabbed him. He must have slipped out either in the morning, when first DH and then Victor and I left; or in the afternoon when I came home with Victor. I really hope he wasn't stuck outside all day, but he seemed none the worse for wear. I'm so glad the boy next door thought to pick up the phone and let us know -- he's a very thoughtful and responsible kid. I'm sure I would have panicked if feeding time had come and we had then noticed that Fred was missing, once it was dark out.

And Tyra -- how's the new job going? Is the work picking up?

Helene

[nori]

Helene, what a nice neighbor you have!! Glad he thought of calling you, and you could get Fred immediately. Yes passport thing is so much hassle. Having both parents present is one thing. I really hope we can get it done next week. That'd be fun to visit Guatemala with Victor! I wonder how he'd think of it.

Julia, I couldn't see the picture either but did the same thing as Tyra said so now I can see it. How adorable!! Abigail looks so mature! And Nicole is such a cutie, too! As for rooms, the paint (trucks) was mostly DH's job. What I did was move some furnitures and made curtains (which wasn't too hard anyway). Sorry that you're having hectic time! Hope things will slow down soon.

Kim, that's so funny about the guy's comment. Didn't Lainey repeat that? I'd think Noah would have repeated what he said, if that sounded fun for him. I bet he didn't know how to react to the little girl greeting him.

Joanne, how wonderful the program is working for Ian! that's great he's so much into earning stars. I agree, your DH is very patient and caring taking Caitlyn to volunteer at Ian's class.

SusanR, I'm kind of sad that Casey doesn't call him Yaggi anymore. That was the cutest thing I'd ever heard!

SusanF, LOL I almost said that several times, although I haven't done it yet. When Noah said "Noah", it sounded "no" at some point and it was confusing...


I gotta go now...

[tbb113]

Helene: The job has picked up and looks like it will work out well. THe people are all very nice and thats half the battle right there :)

[MrsReber]

No, the Rebers don't have a king size bed. I only wish. It's a queen. Our bedroom is too small for a king, too. Someday, in my new house, in VA, I'll have a king size bed and a dishwasher (another sore spot with me). I hate to always sound so down about NJ. When I was a teenager in Pt. Pleasant, it was great. I really loved the town. The problem is that the population has grown so much. Everything is so crowded all the time, the traffic is awful, and our acting governer is trying to introduce 20 new taxes because the state is almost bankrupt. Yeah, we don't need to cut government spending, just tax the heck out of the residents. It's frustrating because our dollars don't go very far. If we lived in almost any other state making the kind of money we make, we'd be living large and I probably wouldn't have to work. We are planning to go to VA in April. I don't think we can go before then, though I look at houses on line almost every day. I have a favorite and I have a feeling it'll be gone before April. We lost 2 others that we liked, but I'm sure something else will pop up, especially in the spring. I don't have much time left here. The merger will probably be completed in another 9 - 10 months and then we're history. They're moving our corporate headquarters to Chicago. The part of the company that I work for supports the corporate headquarters. There's about 1400 of us and they're looking to cut 1500 jobs.

Helene, I was going to suggest taking the potty seat along, too. That's what we always do and it's come in handy- especially in those spots along the highway where there's no restroom for 20 miles! We've found that a 5 gallon bucket also works well. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go! Our only problem last weekend was when we stopped for Casey to go, Brenden thought it was cool to go in the potty in the truck so he wanted to go, too. I knew that would happen.

Julia, I have to check out your picture! I can't see it here so I'm going to try putting it in my browser.

Helene, what a nice neighbor. Poor Fred if he was stuck outside, being an older indoor cat.

Nori, we miss Yaggi, too. Casey tried using it again, but Brenden wasn't too happy about it. He was awake when I left this morning. I handed him to DH, who was asleep on the couch (we have learned that any sleep is better than no sleep). I put my coat on and Brenden got upset. I thought "uh oh." But he just wanted to give me a hug and kiss good-bye. It was so sweet. Then he put his head back down and went to sleep.

[hrk]

Good morning everyone-
Thank you for the birthday wishes. I think we will end up going out to dinner as a family tonight and then see what the weekend brings. It is supposed to snow, rain whatever actually happens, so we may all be inside most of the time.

Logan had his allergist appointment yesterday and it was very long and taxing. Basically since his ear infections started in August (not usually cold season), started when he was 15 months old, don't usually seem to coincide with Logan having a cold, they are suspicious that the ear problems might in fact be allergies. The problem is the two they are suspicious of are milk and dog. They did a skn test yesterday (which Logan was a tropper for) and they were inconclusive for either so they took blood and we ahve to wait until TUesday for the results. The milk I can handle, as it would just mean a more restrictive diet for Logan, but none of us would be able to handle the dog. Bailey (our Basset) is our second child and we would all be devastated. But we ahve to wait and see. But in the meantime the second set of tubes ahve been postponed because if we can get this cleared up he may not need them. Personally I am suspicous of the milk, since Logan was exclusively BF until 12-13 months and then milk was introduced. So that is where we are.

As for pictures- I promise I will get them up this weekend :)

Julia- the picture of your girls is adorable.

Kim- Those are great bus stories about Lainey.

Helene- I went to college in upstate NY and the closest "city" we Utica. It is amazing what life in a nowhere town will do to youor perspective of civilization.

Joanne- Gklad to hear things are going better with Ian and that he is getting good rewards.

Well I have to run. Sorry this was mostly about me. I will try and check in later.
Heather

Edited to add-Need advice on a debate between DH and I. DH's grandmother passed away, and we have been told the funeral will be in April up in Buffalo(they can't bury her until the ground thaws) Anyways I think we should leave Logan at home that a 21 months old shouldn't be at a funeral, even if it is family. DH thinks it's no big deal to bring him he doesn't understand and it won't be a problem. Any advice or experiences?

[HRJ]

Now I'm using IE, and I was able to see the little box with the X, get the properties, and finally see Julia's picture. The girls are adorable!! :) And it looks like they are playing so nicely together, too.

Heather, I hope the news from the allergist is good, regarding dog allergies. BTW, where did you go to school? I went to college in Binghamton, which is actually a kinda cool little city -- or, at least I thought so at the time. Utica is just so drab, to me. DH grew up in Oneonta, which is a very pretty town -- I liked visiting my ILs more when they lived there. (They moved to Utica about nine years ago, right before FIL passed away.)

About funerals -- first off, I think my opinions may be influenced by the fact that I never attended funerals as a child. (Is that a cultural thing, I wonder -- because I very seldom see children at Jewish funerals.) But, I think that with a child Logan's age, I would leave him at home. Even for the most well-behaved child, having to keep still, be quiet, etc., plus all the traveling from funeral home to cemetery, etc. would be a bit much, and his presence might prove to be distracting for other family members.

Plus, it's not as though the event is going to help him get any kind of "closure" or deal with his great-grandmother's passing -- I'm sure he doesn't have any real concept about death, etc. at this point. So it's not like you're denying him an experience that would be meaningful for him in some way. If he were older, I'd say that should be taken into consideration, that going to the funeral could be a helpful experience for some children, but not at 21 months.

Susan, I can't believe so many people are going to lose their jobs over that merger -- I know you'll be happy to be leaving there, but that's going to be a big blow, economically, to north/central Jersey. Also, it's another piece of "local identity" that's disappearing.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

I should have guessed it's a firefox issue ! My company has (prematurely IMO) switched and all sorts of little things like that crop up. Julia that's a great picture of the girls! You can certainly see the resemblence.

Oh Heather - I know how you feel about the allergy issue. I have joked that if it became an issue that the pets were here before Lainey, so she'd have to be the one re-homed. Many people probably don't even understand a comment like that but our pets are truly family members for us. When Lainey's asthma issues came up I was almost afraid to ask about a connection to having pets in the home, but fortunately there's nothing conclusive (in fact some studies show it's better to have pets). So I just wanted to say I understand your anguish and really hope that the allergist doesn't come with with dog allergies. I know lots of people (kids included) that manage to co-habitate with animals they're allergic too, so there are some options treatment-wise I'd think if you end up having to go down that road. :(

I agree with Helene about the funeral. Make the decision based on what would be most comfortable for you and DH. If you need to be able to focus on your/DH's grief or helping others with their grief then I think it would make sense leave Logan home. But if leaving Logan home isn't an easy/comfortable option then I don't see why you couldn't take him either. Children can often bring hope, future, joy etc. to otherwise sad events like that. How's that for a non-answer!

Helene - glad you reminded me of how cold it was there b/c the next thing I was going to suggest was the peeing on the side of the road thing. For some kids that's really hard to do actually - I had a nephew who wet his pants instead of going on the side of the road/in the bushes. He was way too uncomfortable with it. NOt sure it's exactly something you want to practice in your backyard though!

What an incredibly thoughtful young neighbor you have!!!

Hmmm Susan - maybe you'd talked about needing a King sized bed at one point. Who know, my brain has not been functioning that well lately. That is a lot of layoffs - morale must really stink around your office. :(

Lainey sneezed this morning and had a small amount of light greenish ummmm snot. I'm so..... mad. It's exactly 2 weeks since she got over her last cold. It's over 60 degrees here almost all week. What is up with this? Today is suppose to be the last day of her inhaler (again) since she's gone 2 weeks without coughing. Since she's congested though I'm sure she'll be coughing within a couple of days. :mad:

We're planning another potty training weekend, although we do have a few things we'll have to run out and do.

Kim

[paula]

Heather,

I think the appropriateness of children at a funeral really depends on the particular funeral. My grandfather died when Alex and Rachel were just over 5 months, and they went with us to all of the events involved, as did the five other great-grandchild, all of whom were under three years old. In many ways, my grandfather's funeral become a huge family reunion, and I think that is exactly what he would have asked for. He had been sick for a while, and his passing was generally considered a good thing. Bring children to this particular funeral was not only appropriate, it was expected. That is clearly not the case with all funerals. Also, I don't think any of the five children aged 15 mon to 3 yrs had any clue as to the reasons for the assorted family gatherings.

Paula

BTW. Happy Birthday!

[JoanneOR]

Heather, I think you should do whatever is easiest for you and your DH in terms of the funeral. If it's easier to leave Logan at home, that's OK. But if you have to bring him, he's so young, it won't effect him at all. And, I'm sure they'll be other kids there. We've brought the kids to funerals and wakes before. The few we've gone to have been family-related and we had no choice but to bring them. If they were old enough, we'd explain what it was all about and they were OK with it. But Logan's so young, whatever you decide is fine. How's that for another non-answer? :) I hope you can get some answers about the allergies. Hopefully it's not the dog. I know that would be though. When Jameson was born we had two dogs and our last dog died about three years ago. They were definitely family members. I've heard before that kids who grow up with dogs are less likely to be allergic. Although, Jameson seems to be allergic to dogs and he spent the most time having a dog. So, I don't know. Crossing my fingers for you that's it's something easily controlled.

Julia, the girls are adorable. Glad to hear you're moving Abigail out of the crib! :)

Helene, we had to let the kids use any empty pop bottle to pee one time when we were traveling somewhere. Just something to keep in mind in case of an emergency. :) It's better than getting out in the cold if you don't have to.

Kim, that's got to be so frustrating about Lainey's cold. Hopefully it's not coming back. She seems to be trooper about the treatments, though.

SusanR, any chance of moving to Chicago? :) I can see why you'd want to leave where you are now. If the cost of living is so high and you're not happy it makes sense to move out. Especially if your job is being cut.

We actually do have a king bed. I'm not sure why; DH works nights so he's only home two nights a week. So, I get the big bed all to myself. It has come in handy when we've had all the kids in there with us. We got it before we had any kids; only the two dogs. They slept in there with us more than the kids do now, I think. :)

[MrsReber]

Happy Birthday Heather!! Well, I haven't run into the funeral situation yet, but I know what others in my family have done. When my grandmother passed away, all the kids were there because my sister came from out of town and had no one to watch her kids anyway. They were older than Logan, though. I think my sister's kids were 6 and 4 at the time. My other neice was 8, but she was only 3 when her grandmother passed away. The funeral home had a little room for kids. However, she made several trips to the main room and asked questions about her grandmother, which we tried to answer as best as we could. She even brought me in to look and then, to my amusement, asked "but where are her legs?" I also think Logan won't really know what's going on at that age. I remember going to my grandfather's wake and funeral when I was 7. I basically hung out with the other cousins. We were all there. Personally, I don't know what I'd do. I tend to think people may be disappointed if you don't bring him, though.

Oh, I forgot to tell you and Paula- we got free parking on Sunday. DH put the ticket into the thingy when we left the garage. It wouldn't take his ticket and the gate opened up! He tried to pay, it just wouldn't let him.

Helene, this state has changed so much, and not for the better. The politicians are all getting rich and having a field day. Did you see last week when they arrested 11 politicians, alll in Monmouth County? 2 of them were mayors! All accused of taking bribes from contractors and one guy was accused of money laundering. They said it was like some sort of mafia story. The U.S. attorney said he's far from done, too. It's awful.

At first they told us 1400 jobs between both companies. Now they raised it to 1500, but they emphasize that it's "only 5% of the total number of employees." Yes, it is a blow to this area since it's such a depressed area to begin with. They will keep the operations headquarters here, but not corporate. Anyway, I expect that number will rise over the next few months. Kim, you're right - morale is reeeeaaaallly low around here. They keep saying that we're an important part of this merger and we all need to work hard to get good financial results for this quarter. Maybe we'll see it in our serverance packages? :D I am getting a decent bonus next week, but as far as I know no one has gotten a raise in my group. Just like last year.

Good luck with potty training this weekend. 60? Degrees? We still have plenty of snow on the ground.

[tbb113]

I also have a king size bed (just for me). My ex is 6 foot, 200+ lbs and wanted one for his own comfort. Michael keeps telling me that I should switch beds with him since at 6'3" he doesn't fit in his twin bed :D

Helene: another thought is to take along a diaper or two and use the inside in a large cup. That way if Victor needs to go, the diaper absorbent part will absorb the pee and you won't have to worry about spillage/smell.

[MrsReber]

Tyra, my DH is 6'5". Skinny, but tall. He sleeps sort of diagonally, which I sometimes find annoying because he encroaches on my foot space.

Joanne, we really don't know much about Chicago. However, I have heard that they're not offering relocation packages to anyone. I did think of you, though! It'd be cool to be your neighbor :cool: .

[Julia1Pin]

Heather - First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

If DH was close to his grandmother, and/or if you thing there might be a lot of tears, it might be a bit scary for Logan. I never went to a funeral until my grandmothers, when I was in my 20's. It is a cultural think, like Helene said. Jewish people don't usually have kids at the funeral unles it's very close family.

I hope the alergy tests come up for milk and not dogs!

We have a king bed and Abigail has been sharing it with us on and off this past week but I still somehow end up pushed to the edge :rolleyes: I guess most of our DHs are tall. Mine is also 6'3".

Susan - It's crazy in LA too. The combined salary for a couple to be able to afford a home in California is somewhere around $92K/year. And that's taking into account the really poor areas of the state. In our nieghborhood the average house price is over $500K
:eek: !

[tbb113]

Heather: Happy Birthday

Regarding the funeral. I think it really depends on you, your family and Logan. I know that I didn't attend a funeral until I was 12. When my paternal grandfather died, I was 8 and I didn't want to go to the funeral. Same thing when my great uncle died (I don't know how old I was). My mother didn't push my brother and I to attend funerals, so we didn't go to them.

[JoanneOR]

My DH is 6'4". Now I remember that his feet would hang off the end of the bed; that's one of the reasons we got the king. But, like Susan said he sleeps diagonally sometimes, invading my space!

Susan, Chicago is great. I've lived here all my life; different neighborhoods, but always in Chicago. Actually I'm in a suburb now, but I work in downtown Chicago. I love it; except for the weather. That kind of stinks. But, I guess we appreciate our summers more. The cost of living is pretty high, though, but not as high as California. Although our housing prices have gone way up since we bought our house. It would probably go for twice what we bought it for, not that we are going anywhere.

Susan, I saw your post about mitral valve prolapse. I searched a little on some heart sites I visit but didn't see anything. But, heartcenteronline does have quite a bit of information on it; but nothing new. This is the link http://www.heartcenteronline.com/myheartdr/common/articles.cfm?ARTID=76. I guess maybe I should have posted this on your other thread, but since I'm here anyway...

[MrsReber]

Thanks for the heart info, Joanne. I'm kind of surprised that noboby posted anything on my thread. In any event, I do have an appointment with my cardiologist on the 9th. I was supposed to have seen him a few months ago, but, well, you know how it is. He told me to come in after my life ins. guy refused to give me the preferred rate because of my MVP. He said with the new criteria, I may not have it. I still think I do, though, because I have all the symptoms.

That's nice that you like Chicago so much. I want to live somewhere that I really love. I feel like I'm missing out. It's still scary, though. My mom says she's not ready for me to take her grandchildren away. I know that will be the worst part. But, if I don't have to work or can work part time, it won't be so hard to make trips. And 6 hours by car isn't that bad at all. We're pretty used to it by now.

I talked to the kids at lunch. Casey wanted to know when I'd be home. Poor girl misses me so much this week. It's sad. Time goes by so fast. I just wish I could spend more time with her.

Julia, I finally saw the picture of your girls. They are absolutely beautiful!

Wow, we do have a bunch of tall DH's- and a bunch of gorgeous kids, to boot.

[RunnerKim]

Happy Birthday Heather!

Okay - any of you second time moms (or maybe even some first timers) - for the last several days I've had pain in my.... groin area. Not strong or specific but not really achey. And not all the time. Definitely the area I had contractions in with Lainey (but I'm not having contractions). I talked with another woman who had her 2nd not too long ago and she said she had the same thing and she was dilating. Started weeks before she actually went in to labor (although she did go about 10 days early). i"ll mention it to my doctor next time but that's a week and half so I was curious if others had experienced this too. It's moved a couple of things up on the to-do list for this weekend (get that crade assembled!), I want my mind at ease if we have to go off to the hospital. I'm still 5 weeks out and as I said they're not contractions, just the same area. Thoughts???

Kim

[JoanneOR]

I think I know the feeling you're talking about, Kim. It could be your cervix softening up or dilating a bit. You could be dilated 1 or 2 and still not deliver for a few weeks. Also, not to scare you, but you can have contractions and not really feel them. When I had some of the stress tests with Caitlyn they told me I was having contractions. I didn't feel a thing. But, they weren't productive ones, so I wasn't in labor. And it was still a few weeks after that that I delivered. Could just be your uterus stretching out, too?

Susan, yea, that would be hard to leave your mom. But, like you said, it's not so far that you wouldn't be able to see her very often. And, if you don't have to work, you can take more trips with the kids to see her. I know what you mean about time slipping by. Sometimes I just want to freeze it and enjoy the age the kids are.

[tbb113]

Susan: When both of my boys were born, my parents lived in the LA area. My mother would come up for a weekend visit every 6 weeks or so, or would pay to have me come down to visit them. When I decided to get divorced, they decided to move up to be closer to me and the boys (they are the only grandchildren). Nothing is preventing your mother from relocating to wherever you decide to live if she really misses you and the kids ;)

Good relationships can also be maintained via phone calls.

You need to do what is right for you and your family.

[SLFlyt]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER

Julia - I can't see the pictures. :mad:

Helene - I have a big family, 3 sisters, 3 brothers. There is never a shortage of babysitters.

SusanR - Are you going to see Sesame Street Live at the Wacovia Center next week-end?

Noah was so cute tonight. We were singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and he was very serious. Until I started singing it really fast, at which point he just went crazy, laughing hysterically. He got so wild he started to hit me in the face, so I told him he had to have a time out. He went to his little infant bouncy chair (yes! I still have it sitting out) and sat in there. When I glanced over he was sound asleep. Now I feel bad for putting him in a time out because I didn't have the opportunity to rock him like I usually do or just to tell him I love him.

Have a nice week-end everyone!

[BeckyM]

Well, I feel pretty foolish! I was wondering why there weren't many posts on the Toddler's thread and thinking everyone must be really busy. Yesterday I decided to come check the website to see if there really were new messages and I just wasn't being notified for some reason. It was only then that I realized, DUH, it's March, so there's a new thread! Of course there was LOTS of activity on the new thread, so I used up all my allotted time just reading through the messages. I've come back today to post -- hopefully I'll remember all the things I was going to respond to!

Helene -- if you do end up coming to the Cincinnati area to visit your friend someday, I would love to meet you! And maybe we could include a trip to Graeter's in our get-together, because I rarely allow myself such a decadently fat- & calorie-laden treat unless someone's visiting from out of town! :D Anyway, it would be fun to meet someone from the BB IN PERSON!

Heather -- I agree with the other "wishy-washy" answers about the funeral. I think it really depends on how people will be acting at the funeral and what they'll expect. Katie has already attended three funerals in her short life -- her grandmother (DH's mom), a great-uncle, and a great-aunt. At the latest one, she was almost two, so that's close to the age you were saying Logan will be (if I remember correctly). Of course she wasn't very patient for the church stuff, and she ran around a lot, but we sat in the back and tried not to disturb others. In all cases, it was DH's family, and they're a HUGE Irish-Catholic family with lots of kids. Everyone expected small children to be there, and everyone expected that they would NOT be sitting still and being quiet. I do think the small children present gave the family members a feeling of continuity and hope -- that as the older generation leaves us, a new generation is joining the family. One of the funerals was for DH's aunt who was a nun, so there were a lot of nuns in attendance, and not one of them gave us a dirty look as Katie was running around in the back of the church, wandering the halls outside, and asking loud questions about the big picture of Jesus just outside the entrance. In fact, they all smiled kindly and seemed to be cheered by the youthful exuberance Katie showed.

So anyway, I don't think being at the funeral would be detrimental to Logan, unless everyone there is weeping uncontrollably (which might scare him -- I know it probably would scare Katie), OR if there is a big expectation that he be absolutely still and quiet the whole time. I agree you and your DH should figure out what type of atmosphere the funeral will have and decide how a small child will fit in. Then you should do whatever works best for the two of you. (Oh, and Happy Birthday, too!)

Kim -- I'm sorry to hear you're having disturbing feelings "down there" that you can't really identify. I can't give you any suggestions as to what they might be, though the explanations about your cervix starting to stretch and prepare for labor sound reasonable. I have heard that a woman's cervix can start dilating LONG before actually going into labor, but I know sometimes it can be pretty sudden too. If it were me, I'd probably call the doctor's office just to be sure. I know they get lots of questions all the time, and I'm sure they won't think yours is stupid or pestering. My doctor's office is always glad to answer my questions, and they'd rather I ask than maybe let something go that could lead to a problem. So if you call and ask, and they tell you not to worry, you can be reassured. I sure hope it's normal and nothing to worry about!

Sounds like lots of you have VERY tall DH's. Mine may be the only "average" height guy around. He's right about 5'11" or 6'. I'm 5'6", so we match pretty well. I'm glad he's not so tall that he takes up my foot room in the bed! We have a queen-sized bed, and a king-sized definitely would be tough to fit in our room (or to get up the stairs!). We also haven't let Katie sleep in it with us (though she isn't in a "big-girl bed" yet, where she gets out on her own), so at this point it is big enough.

I'm getting geared up for my first solo-parenting trip to visit my parents in Montana. Katie and I leave Tuesday afternoon. I'm sad DH won't be coming with us, but since he'll be gone anyway (doing volunteer work for a foundation for people with MS), it's a good time for us to visit the grandparents! I'm really glad my parents now have a car seat so we don't have to lug ours with us this time. I'm trying to travel with just one carry-on backpack diaper bag, the umbrella stroller, and one suitcase. That will be a challenge for me, because I tend to throw in lots of things "just in case". I'll definitely need DH to look over my pile of things to pack with a critical eye, to help me eliminate the questionable things. He reminded me that I can't just cram a huge suitcase full of things, because with me being pregnant, I probably shouldn't be lifting something too awfully heavy. I'll just have to see how "minimalist" I can be in my packing. AND I'll have to remember that my parents DO have a washing machine, so I don't necessarily need a new outfit for each day. (Underwear, yes though -- I never want to run out of clean underwear! Plus, they don't take much space.)

SusanR -- I didn't realize your company had been bought out and you were in danger of being downsized. Ouch! I hope that does enable you to live in a better area for you and your family though. What about building on the property you have in Virgina or West Virginia, or wherever it is? (Sorry I've forgotten exactly.) I remember at one point you were talking about doing that, and I never heard how that came out. And I sure hope if you did move further away that you'd be able to still see your mom lots. That's my biggest complaint about living in Cincinnati -- that my family is so far away.

Well, I'd beter get back to laundry, cleaning, etc. FIL is coming over for dinner tonight, so I need to get that organized too. Luckily I had a CL Turkey Tetrazzini in the freezer (one of the recipes specifically written for freezing -- I LOVE those!), so I've thawed it to make things easier. Now I just need some things to go with it!

I may not be back here until after we get back from Montana, so I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Becky :)

[MrsReber]

Becky, our property is in VA. We do think about building on it, but the location isn't so great for raising kids. There are kids around here and there, but the median age is a bit older in that area. A lot of people go there to retire. We do want to build a cabin on it and try to do it the right way so we'd have the option of building on to it later or just keeping it small for retirement someday. Lots to think about with that.

Tyra, I keep trying to convince my mom that she'd love the mountains! :D

Susan, we're going to see Sesame Street at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. I can tell that you live closer to the PA border. We're a bit north of there. It'll take me about an hour to get to the Tweeter Theatre when we go see Dora. The state theatre is probably a little closer, but we'll most likely be stopping at my mom's on the way home from there since my sister and her family are coming up for Easter.

Kim, I had a lot more pain with the second pregnancy, for some reason. I had worse ligament and back pain. I recall having some sort of an ache in that area. I'm sure it's just your body getting ready since you're getting rather close. I don't think I ever found out what it was, but it felt more like pressure in my case. When Brenden would stretch, I would feel it even more. I knew why when he came out over 21 inches long! They say the second ones come much faster and that was true in my case.

Becky, I hope your trip goes well. I can't imagine traveling on my own with a child while pregnant.

Saturday was pretty quiet for us. Today, we went to lunch with MIL and SIL (not the one that lives with MIL). DH told them we needed to go to lunch at 12 because the kids would be too tired if we went later. So, of course, they both showed up at our house after 12:00 and we got to the restaurant at 1:00, with Brenden having a fit. Lunch was nice. At least MIL waiting until the end to ask me if, since I lost weight, my "boobies got flabby?" She was asking me about this while DH was talking to his sister. Guess he didn't hear. I mumbled a "no" and tried to change the subject, but she had more questions and had to tell me about how her's got all floppy on her. I didn't need to know that. When we got home, I told DH that he's lucky my mom doesn't ask him questions about his floppy body parts. Why me? But she's "home" for now. At lunch, she said something about everyone investing in a house in FL and that she'd go back to live there eventually. DH's other sister has the flu so we've been trying to stay away from everyone. The SIL we had lunch with today also had it.

I made the CL 2 bean chili for dinner tonight. We didn't eat it yet, but it was pretty spicy when I tasted it. Kids are melting down. They refused to nap. I guess they got an energy boost from lunch. I have a feeling they'll be asleep soon. I hope!

[hrk]

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. It was a nice weekend with some extended celebrating with friends and family. And of course resting so I could finally kick my cold that wouldn't go away.

Well we decided to leave Logan at home for the funeral. DH and I are going to fly up to Buffalo, just for the day and leave Logan with my brother. It will be a weekday, so most of the day Logan will be at daycare anyways. We just decided that was easier for all involved. And I do agree with what others said about it being a cultural thing, being Jewish I didn't attend a funeral til I was much older either and I guess was raised that that is just what is appropriate

Susan- That is quite the conversation to be having with you MIL. I would die if mine ever asked anything like that. And I know how you feel about taking the kids away from their grandparents, I think about the fact that my mom is so far away all the time. But you have to do what is best for your family first.

Becky- Have fun visiting your parents. I have taken Logan to California twice on my own and I found the only real hard part was making sure I didn't pack too much. I guess I always figured if worse came to worse my parents had a washing machine.:)

Kim- I can't help you with the pains but I hope you are feeling better.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.
Heather

[RunnerKim]

Yeah some potty training progress this weekend! I was tempted to take today off to continue working on it but alas that big 12 week leave coming up and I didn't think I should. DH and I were both so amazed at the difference between this weekend and last Saturday when she peed every 30-45 minutes. I'm glad her teacher encouraged me to continue. She started out Saturday morning holding it for long stretches - 1 1/2 - 2 hours or more. Interestingly enough she's gone back to wanting to use her little potty instead of the ring - it's much easier for her to get on and off of it herself and we keep it in the living room/kitchen, wherever we are. Saturday she still hadn't actually peed on the potty but I felt we were getting closer - peeing right before sitting again and the much longer periods between accidents were encouraging. Sunday morning DH was brave and actually took her to church in underwear, although he made sure to sit on the wooden pews (vs. in the "cry room" that has a bathroom but had individual seats with cloth bottoms). She went 4 hours without peeing Sunday morning! I'd just gone to the bathroom myself and was mixing up some apple juice to help get things going when she had an accident. But it was small so we knew there had to be more. DH went and parked himself on the potty (he's one of those men that takes awhile to poop) and Lainey put her potty next to him but would get up and wander around and then she just went and sat and peed on it! I don't know who was the most excited about it. First time she's really peed on the potty although she's sat on it forever. I think it really helped that she only had a shirt on so could easily plop herself down when she felt the urge. She'd been wanting to go for a walk (beautiful weather here) so even though she still hadn't peed that much, she and DH went around the block while I made lunch. Sure enough halfway around the flood happened. But we were still very happy. Diaper for nap and then we went to the pool. Afterwards, while making dinner, I had her go around with just a shirt again. She actually came in from the living room and plopped down on the potty and peed quite a bit. Yeah! I hope having to go back to diapers for school doesn't mess her up too much but I didn't feel we'd had a enough success to have her do underwear at school yet. Every time she peed in the potty she'd say "no more diapers!"

I've had some more "cervical pain" over the weekend but actually none on Sunday. Mostly afternoon and when I go to bed. If I have more I'll check in with my doctor. DH put the cradle and crib together and the car seat is in the car now (love our new car that has LATCH - so much easier!). So all the most critical things are done. Considering last time I was barely dialated at all when my water broke and it took pitocin to finally get me going, I'm actually hoping my body is getting a head start on things (as long as it's not too early!)

SusanR - your MIL! :rolleyes: So glad you all have close enough of a relationship to talk about such personal things! ;)

Becky I saw your other post on the March thread and wondered a little about it - thought you were being nice and preventing me from being a "thread killer" My DH is even more average than yours - I think he's around 5'8" His dad is several inches shorter than him (it's kind of funny actually as the men get younger in his family they get taller - Dad's the shortest and DH is next and the youngest two (4 boys) are taller than average.) The other thing to remember about your trip is that you can always buy stuff there. Have your parents pick up diapers and wipes and just take enough for the trip. Will they have bought toys? just take a couple for the trip. I think you're right that traveling as light as possible is a good plan - do you have a layover? Very cool what your DH is off to do!

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Susan, too funny about your MIL! :) It could have worse, she could have felt the desire to show you how hers had "flopped." :) Yea, I can't imagine my mother asking my DH about his floppy body parts.

Becky, hope you have a good trip to Montana with Katie. That's too bad your DH can't make it, but you'll have some nice mother/daughter time with Katie. I'm like you, I always overpack. I wind up not using half the stuff, but I feel better knowing it's there just in case.

Yea Lainey on the potty training progress!! I just read an article in our newspaper on the way to work about a woman who has a business potty training children. I read it hoping for a few pointers, but there really wasn't any. She charges $175 a day or a weekly rate, I forget what it was. Can you imagine paying someone that much money to potty train your child? Yikes.

We had a nice weekend. It was a beautiful day yesterday so we got together with all the neighbors and had the kids out playing and riding bikes. They had a blast. It was nice to catch up with everyone.

Ian got his expanders put on Saturday. He was such a trooper about it. They had this contraption on him to hold his mouth away from his teeth and this plastic thing on his tongue. The whole process was about 30 minutes and he was great. I think it was a bit more than he expected, though. He didn't want to eat anything Saturday. I was kind of worried, but Sunday he did fine and was back to eating pretty much normally. They'll probably be on for 4-5 months and then he'll get regular braces.

Caitlyn was pretty funny this weekend. Ian is not supposed to watch TV; it's part of his punishment for his behavior at school. Well, Saturday morning Ian was downstairs with the TV on and Caitlyn starts yelling, Ian, eyes, wee-wee! Finally I figured out she was trying to tell me Ian was watching TV. Wee-wee is her word for TV. I guess she picks up on alot more than you think! She realized he wasn't supposed to watch TV and was telling on him.

[SLFlyt]

JoAnne - That is so cute about Caitlyn. "Ian, eyes, wee-wee", LOL.

Kim - I remember having those exact same pains when I was pregnant "many" years ago, but that's all I can say about them. I was't one to question the doctor very much back then. Oh, how times have changed. Or I guess you can say I have changed. I ask the doctor a million questions now, especially after DH's heart attack!

SusanR - Your MIL is a riot. I'm not sure if you think of her that way. LOL. Still, funny story, as so many are in hindsight.

Noah was pretty wild this week-end. Took him to the super market and he was an angel there, but once we got home he just took off. He insists now on eating with a fork, just like the rest of us. He also tries to walk up and down the stairs holding onto the railing with one hand and one foot on each step, just like adults. He is becoming so independent now. We're looking forward to seeing Sesame Street Live on Sunday. That should be fun. I bought him his Easter suit, an olive green Eton suit which suits his olive complexion. I figure this is his last year to wear a "sissy-boy" outfit. No knee socks though - just white sox and new white leather sneakers.

The weather here is gorgeous. I wish I were home and not sitting here at work.

[BeckyM]

Kim -- congrats on the potty training success! Last night I thought I was going to get Katie to actually pee in the potty, but no luck. She wanted to sit on it before putting her pajamas on, and we read three books while she sat there, but nothing went in. I guess she just doesn't realize what's supposed to happen. It sounds like Lainey is really learning! Hopefully it won't be too long before the "no more diapers" is a reality!

Also, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one without a super-tall DH. In my DH's family it's true about the youngest ones being tallest too. DH's father is the shortest, then his oldest brother, then the next one, then DH. It's the same way with his three sisters too -- the oldest one is shortest, and the youngest is tallest, with his mom being the shortest of all. Funny.

Thanks all for the well wishes on my trip. I know I need to pack light -- it's just hard for me to do! Luckily my younger sister (who has no kids of her own) is a sucker for kids' books, so she has a LOT, and she brought a huge box full over to my parents house for Katie while she's there. My mom said she had NO IDEA my sister had so many kids' books, and they're all age-appropriate for Katie. My parents don't have many toys, so I'll bring a couple small things, and definitely her favorite stuffed animals (there are four DH and I agreed need to go -- she has a whole menagerie, but we agreed upon the four she would miss the most). Mom & Dad bought a booster seat for Katie now that she has outgrown the ancient highchair that my sister and I used when we were kids, and they have a few sippy cups, plates, & bowls, so I don't need to bring too much. As it is, I'm already wondering if I should bring an additional tote bag on the plane for the stuffed animals and to throw our coats into to help keep track of them. I was trying to keep it to just the diaper bag backpack, but I'm not sure everything will fit!

Well, I've been interrupted multiple times on this post, so I'd better end and just get to it. I'm madly doing laundry, so I need to start folding the clean stuff and deciding what to try to bring with us. I HATE packing! But the trip will more than be worth it!

I also wanted to say cute about Caitlyn telling Ian he shouldn't be watching TV. It really is amazing the things kids pick up on!

Have a great week, everyone!

Becky :)

[Julia1Pin]

Susan - My MIL likes to ask me personal questions, also. she also likes to announce with her friends how much she thinks I weigh vs. my SIL (who's had issues and weighs probably 100 lbs soaking wet). Nothing like being compared to a twig for self esteem issues ;) The only thing that helps is that I know she's not doing it maliciously.

Kim - Way to go on the potty training progress! Can you put her in pull ups for pre-school or does she have to be in real diapers?

Joanne - That's so funny about Caitlyn "tattling".

Question for those who have seen Sesame Street live - how long is it? I'd like to make reservation for May but I don't know whether to go at 1pm (Abigails nap time) or 5:30pm. It's about 30-45 minutes from my house (at the Kodak theater, where they have the Oscars).

[MrsReber]

At least I don't have the only wacky MIL. And yes, I do laugh at some of these things later on. Since DH's family is tall, MIL acts like I am so tiny and short. She buys me a small whenever she buys clothing. I appreciate the thought, but I generally wear at least a medium.

Kim, that is great about the potty training progress. I know some people have success overnight, but it really is a process. Even though Brenden surprised me with being trained so early, he really had gone through all the stages- sitting on the potty with clothes, sitting on it without clothes, pretending that he went when he didn't. I know you said your daycare isn't very proactive at this point, however, if you tell them about the success you had at home, would they enforce it a little? In our daycare, they really didn't do much in Brenden's previous room, even if we asked. They tried, but all the kids were in diapers there so they only let the kids sit if they wanted to and at changing time.

Joanne, how cute about Caitlyn telling on her big brother. Guess it's just the beginning! Whenever our house is a mess (which is frequently) I'll say to Casey "how did it get this way?" She'll say "Brenden." Yesterday she told me "Brenden likes messes." Then she went on to say how I liked to clean messes. It must appear that way to her, since I do it all the time.

Casey had a check up yesterday. I called the dr for something else and they told me she was overdue. I said "but you told me I didn't have to come back until she was five." I even questioned that when they said it at her 2 year appointment. Nope. They said she's supposed to come every year. So we went. She's 31 lbs- the 25th percentile. She'll be 4 in 2 months! She did just grow a lot taller suddenly, which must be why she's eating so much lately. She's in the 75th percentile for height, but she's normally around the 60th.

Snowing out right now. It was so warm yesterday. The kids asked to go to the park. I was so busy with work. I must have worked about 10 hours yesterday. I did take them to the park and, since they were mellow when I got home (no nap!) I was able to work until after 6:00. We got another corporate communication today saying that my part of the company will not exist after the merger. I just wish it were happening sooner. It's not much fun around here.

Joanne, I want to live in a neighborhood like yours where the neighbors and kids get together. That's hard to find in my neck of the woods. We're friendly with a couple of them, as in DH talks hunting with a couple of the husbands, but that's about it. Our kids certainly don't play together at all.

Heather, glad you had a nice birthday :) and glad you were able to make arrangements for the funeral. It's interesting to see the differences in responses, actually.

[Julia1Pin]

Susan - What a wmix up at the Drs office. I think mine is 1/year forever :) And wow! Casey is skinny. Abigail weighed 31 lbs at her 2 year check up and looks pretty skinny to me. But then again, she's off the charts tall.

Question - Abigail has been eating non stop for a couple of weeks now. She's been eating when she wakes up (opening the fridge and just taking out food like yogurt, etc..), eating 3 hot meals a day and snacks at day care and then eating fruits, vegetables, yogurt, whatever she can get her hands on when she comes home :eek: :eek:
Is this normal?? I'm hoping it's a growth sourt but it's starting ot worry me that she a bottomless pit!

[nori]

Whew, things have been a bit crazy in my life, hard to find time to post on BB anymore.:( I wish I worked outside of home (like I used to), where it was easier to post more often, for some reason.:D

I just skim through the thread...sorry if I forgot something...

First off, Kim, congrats on such a big progress on Lainey's potty training! That's great! Now, if you can ditch her diaper before little one arrives, that's great. I've been buying two sizes diapers and I'm tired of it. I just bought size 5 diapers, in mega box, hoping this will be the last box.....

Joanne, that's so cute about Caitlyn tattling. So now boys know that they can't do things they're not supposed to in front of their little sister, huh? Is your Dh still going to volunteer at Ian's class after this week too? He is very devoted. I'm impressed!

SusanR, your MIL is something.:rolleyes: As someone said, glad she didn't show you how flabby her parts are.:o That's funny Casey thought you liked to clean.:) I guess she thought you're doing it because you like it. You never know how kids see things.

Heather, sorry to hear about your DH's grandma. Glad you figured out the arrangement of funeral and not bringing Logan there. Oh, and happy belated birthday!

Becky, have a safe trip! How long are you going to be staying?

Julia,sounds like Abigail is going through growth sprouts. I wouldn't worry about it, but I'll try to keep healthy snack available to her. I bet she's been burning all energies during the day!

SusanF, enjoy Sesame Street Live! I bet Noah'd love to see Elmo and other characters live.:)

On Sunday I was a very bad mother.:( This is not about Noah, but Mary Ann. I was cleaning the dishwasher while holding her, Noah was eating his breakfast and DH was sleeping. I had to use 2 hands for something, so I set her on the countertop (can you guess where I'm going?). She's been sitting up pretty well so I made sure everything around her isn't dangerous and looked away for a few seconds, then I heard Thump! I looked back and she was on the floor, face down.:eek: I know, I shouldn't have done that. She of course started to cry and I was so upset about what I did. I called the nurse line through our insurance company and as I expected, the nurse I talked to thought it's better to take her to ER to get evaluated. She seemed fine, but I dnd't see her fall so I didn't exactly know where she hit. So I took her to ER, for the first time in my life to go to ER, crying all the way as I drove there. It turned out she was fine, and they just told me to watch for signs of some abnormal but I haven't seen any. She's been acting just fine. The doctor said that babies are flexible and most of the cases they're fine. But it's also good to be checked out. He also commented that since she's so chubby, she had a good cushion. I felt so relieved after this, but still, I can't believe how stupid I was. I'd never do this. I have to admit, I've already done this several times and other times she was just fine. When we were heading to ER, Noah wanted to come, too, but of course he stayed with DH.

Noah now likes to push his stroller with Mary Ann in it. We've done this only in our backyard so far but I'm thinking to take them to the nearby park that way soon. He's pretty good at, and he likes pushing it with Mary Ann in it. He's funny. He's been saying "Wanna play, Mary Ann?" "Look, Mary Ann!" "Wanna come to my room, Mary Ann?" "Sit down and watch, Mary Ann!"....He just loves to have her around. He can still get a bit rough on her so I have to be careful, but so far they're doing great. He likes to hold her hands and shake them up and down, and sing a song. Mary Ann seems to like it, too. Actually he can entertain her when she was about to cry, and I was in the kitchen busy etc. He'll do a good job for a while, most of the time.

[MrsReber]

Nori, I'm so sorry about Mary Ann! I think we've all done things without thinking them through. Our babies grow so fast, too, that we forget. Don't be too hard on yourself. I remember Casey falling off her changing table when she was about 1. It was at a time when she was fighting being changed and refused to sit still. It all happened so fast, but it is scary. Brenden took quite a fall a few weeks ago on the wet kitchen floor, too. That was bad. When he gets that upset, he'll cry and not breathe in. I tried blowing in his face, but it didn't work that time. DH was watching and freaking out because he could see Brenden starting to pass out. His hands were clenching up, too. It was very scary. But kids are more resilient that we think. It is upsetting, though, to think that they're hurt.

That's so cute that Noah likes having Mary Ann around. I hope they become good friends. It's the greatest thing to see your kids playing together nicely- and it gives you a break, too!

I thought once I was done breastfeeding, I'd never have to discuss my chest with MIL again.

Julia, that sounds like a growth spurt to me! Casey has been eating up a storm lately. She's probably eating an average amount of food, but it's a lot for her. Yes, she is skinny. We have a hard time buying pants for her because they all fall down. I have to get her some cotton dresses for spring and summer. Good thing she loves wearing dresses. It's hard to find pants with a small enough waist.

It was horrible going home last night. Took me 2 hours a 15 minutes. The roads were still very icy this morning. It looked like no plows or salt trucks were out last night. I drove up on an SUV that was spinning out of control and coming at me on my way to the train station. Luckily, I was able to drive around him on the shoulder. Roads were closed all over the place due to accidents. Not good at all. DH got out early so he got the kids in the truck.

Casey is still having separation problems. It's getting so bad. My boss wants me to come in on Monday because one person is on vacation next week. I'm fighting him on it because there's no reason for me to be here in person (no meeting I need to go to or anything). We'll see what he says. I've been avoiding his phone calls. He's at another facility for a few more weeks. I'm leaving early to go to my cardiologist today. I heard some news last week about mitral valve prolapse so I'm going to have him check me out again. I was diagnosed with it about 15 years ago and was supposed to go back for another echocardiogram last year.

[LA98]

May a lurker de-lurk to ask you more experienced moms a question?

I post on the Wobblers thread, but I like to read this one occasionally to see what I'm in for in the coming months. :D My question is: Is there an opposite of a growth spurt? DS is 18 months old and seems to be on a complete food strike. He's getting by on a container of yogurt and some crackers a day. He won't touch any other food and he doesn't seem to be hungry (he'd let us know, believe me). It's been going on for about a week. He just had his 18-month checkup and he's fine. Just wondering if this is common. Thanks so much!

Lori

[JoanneOR]

SusanF, have a great time at Sesame Street Live! I'm sure Noah will love it. I know what you mean about the Easter suits. My boys are definitely out of the cute little outfits - they wouldn't be caught dead now in some of the outfits I had them in as toddlers - especially for the holidays! But the pictures are very cute!

Becky, sounds like you don't need to pack too much. I'm sure your family will be thrilled to see Katie again.

Julia, I don't know how long Sesame Street live is but I would think probably about two hours with intermission and everything. You might be better going to the 5:30 show if Abigail really needs the nap. What you described with her eating definitely sounds like a growth spurt. The boys will do that where they'll have a week or so where they eat like crazy. Sure enough about a week or so later their pants are too short.

Susan, we really didn't know too many neighbors until we had our first block party a couple years ago. It really brought people out of their houses and talking to each other. Now there are 6-7 families on our block that we've become really good friends with and all of our kids are about the same age. Actually Jameson is the oldest and there are about 15 kids between all of us. The kids have a blast together. You've reminded me I need to call for Caitlyn's 2-year old check-up. She's 2 1/2 now. She was supposed to go the week she broke her leg, but they said to wait until she was out of the cast. She wasn't due for any shots, but we should still go. I'm thinking she is pretty big for her age. On our scale she's 31 pounds. Quite a difference from when she first came home after her surgery. I think she was down to 22 pounds.

Nori, that's scary about Mary Ann. Glad she is OK. I'm sure she was just more scared than anything. I think we've all had moments like that where you look away for a second and something happens. Don't be so hard on yourself. When Ian was about 7 months old, DH put him on the table in his bouncy seat. I know, a big no-no. Well, of course, Ian flipped over onto the floor. I was at work at the time. He had a nasty bump on his forehead and had to go to the doctor. He was fine, but I would have freaked out if I was home and saw it. Jameson fell off our bed as a baby, too.

DH probably only go to Ian's class Friday this week. He has a dentist appt. today so can't make it. It was pretty hard going with Caitlyn. The teacher gave her a little purse Friday for helping out. She carried it around with her all weekend. Ian did great last week. He earned 29 out of 30 stars. The one he didn't earn was for talking in music class. He told me there's another girl doing the same program he's doing. I hope they have them separated in class. :)

Caitlyn was so funny this morning. I was sweeping the crumbs up off the kitchen floor and she grabbed the swifter. She tried to get into the cabinet to get out the pad for it. I put one on for her and she was pushing it all over the house. She loves to "clean". Not sure where that comes from.

Jameson has to do a project at school to trap a leprechaun. Any ideas?? I'm not so creative and can't think of anything. He has to come up with an idea for a trap, build it, and write about it.

[JoanneOR]

Lori, I just saw your post. Maybe your son is teething? When my kids were younger they did go through stages where they would hardly eat at all, but they weren't very good eaters overall. Now they're a little more consistent.

Growth slows down after they turn 1, maybe that has something to do with it? If he's acting normally and not sick, I wouldn't worry about it. Also, if he's now more active and running around, he might be too "busy" to eat. Does he drink alot? When Caitlyn drinks too much milk or juice, she won't want to eat. Sometimes I wish I could get by on a yogurt and some crackers!

[SLFlyt]

Nori - Sorry about Mary Ann falling off the counter, but don't feel guilty about it. I can't imagine a parent who hasn't had something like that happen to them. DD#1, Tracy, fell off the bed, but that was nothing compared to what I call the "freak accident". She was about 8 months old and I was holding her. I was eating one of those hard pretzel sticks, the big ones. DH opened the car door for me and the door kind of sprung back on it's hinges and hit my hand with the pretzel. Tracy was crying and the pretzel went straight down her throat and broke off. I couldn't get the pretzel out and she was turning blue so I did something they tell you to NEVER do....I reached as far into her throat as I could and pushed it DOWN. Thank God it worked. By now DH was rushing us to the hospital. I will NEVER ever forget that moment. It was horrible.

Lori - All my kids have gone thru spurts where they hardly eat. It's nothing to worry about unless they act sick and eventually they come around.

Noah was weighed the other day and he weighs 28 pounds at 19 months. They told me he is "big", but he doesn't look that big to me. DS#1, Tommy, was 10 pounds at birth and just kept growing from there, so Noah looks little compared to what I remember with Tommy. I usually dress him in a 3T, but he could easily fit into a 2T - he just looks cute when his shirts are a little big, I think.

Susan R is right. I almost broke my neck this morning getting from my car to the office. It's a sheet of ice out there and no one salted. I am so looking forward to Spring.

[RunnerKim]

Nori - what a scare! I'm glad Mary Ann is okay. My sister did the exact same thing with one of her boys. Fortunately little kids seem to be fairly hardy.

Susan F- that is a freak accident!!! Wow, I'm so glad it turned out okay.

On the eating questions (Julia & Lori) - Lainey very often goes through spurts. In both directions. They never seem to last long - not more than a week or so. Lori, if he's not eating much is he drinking juice and/or milk? Those contain significant calories and it's easier to consume, Lainey's pediatrician really stressed that a lot to me when Lainey was a little younger (making sure she didn't get too much of either). And I know at least once that her lack of appetite had to do with teething.

SusanR - I'm sorry Casey's having a harder than usual time. Sheesh with impending layoffs, it's not like they should expect employees to give more to the company than they did under normal situation (i.e., asking you to come in on your work-at-home day). I was surprised when your doctor's office had first told you not another appointment until 5, so much happens development-wise at this stage.

Lainey is somewhere around 31 lbs at almost 2.5, haven't done a height on her recently though.

Hmmmm, Joanne. Leprechauns like gold, so maybe something where he paints some bricks gold colored and puts them somewhere with the trap? Interesting assignment.

Potty training continues to go well. We had supper club on Monday night so didn't do much then (only had about an hour of diaper-free time). But last night I gave her a little sports bottle filled with diluted apple juice which she drained. It's very warm her - over 70 and juice at home is quite a treat. I have her going around naked on the bottom. She wanted to watch her Elmo music video which made me nervous (would she be so absorbed she wouldn't know she had to pee) but she did great - she actually self-initiated sitting on the potty a couple of times before she actually peed. Then during dinner she had to go again - had to quickly pull down her underwear since I'm not having naked bottoms at the dinner table. I wasn't very graceful about helping her do that and she didn't pee while I was helping her, so I thought that was great.

Susan - yes her teachers offered to help at any time once I told them of the success we've had. School is more intimidating for her and the potties not quite as easy to get on, so I want her to have more success at home first (actually having clothes on and having to pull them down) but we're prepping her by saying next week she'll go pee pee at school too. Julia - the lead teacher doesn't allow pull-ups actually. I've had a couple of moms tell me they were sorry they started using pullups because their kids instantly became less interested in underwear and they lost some good motivation. Diapers have been a pain lately and a couple of months ago I thought about pullups but since *I* didn't know the difference, I thought I'd tough it out with diapers since I knew she'd have to be potty trained for daycare around 2.5.

For those of you that experience "regression" when the next baby came along. What did that look like? How long did it last and how did you handle it? I'm expecting Lainey to be wearing underwear starting this weekend except for nap/bed times. That doesn't give her that much time before #2 could come along (I'll be 4 weeks from my due date) so I expect there to be some regression.

All you East Coasters - stay safe! Although I'm really enjoying our warm sunny weather, we're going to be really in trouble this summer with drought and fires (and probably too hot - no a/c in many homes out here, including mine!).

Kim

[MrsReber]

Lori, my kids aren't big eaters to begin with. As long as your son is healthy, I wouldn't worry about it. They won't starve themselves. Actually, these young toddlers are more in tune with their bodies than we are. They're not conditioned in any way with bad eating habits (nor are they able to buy chocolate for themselves!) They normally just eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full. I'd just go with it. It's also very true that as they get around better, they're too busy to stop and eat.

Susan, what a scary thing to have happen with that pretzel! The ice is fun, isn't it? I should've put on skates to walk to my building. I hope it's better on the way home.

Kim, I agree. My boss has not responded to my email (I asked him what the advantage was to my being here vs. being at home) My daycare costs, commuting costs and taxes have all gone up in the past 3 years, yet this company hasn't given anyone in my department a raise (or a very select few) so I have little incentive to go the extra mile these days. In reality, I get much more work done at home in one day because I don't have to commute for 3-4 hours.

Wow, Kim, only 4 weeks away! I didn't have any issues with Casey when Brenden was born. She was only 13 1/2 months old, though. The biggest problem I had was keeping Brenden out of her way because she wanted to hug him all the time. He was like a live doll to her and she adored him. She still does, actually. She's very protective of him. My sister's kids were the same way. Her daughter is 2.5 years older than her son. I don't think there was any regression there. Her daughter was potty trained by the time her son was born, too. She just made sure her daughter was involved (letting her hold the baby while sitting down, getting things for him, etc.) Still and all, it does depend on the child. DH's neice has a 1.5 year old girl and an 8 month old boy. The girl hates her little brother and, from what I understand, tries to hurt him! I hope that changes. This is a little girl with a huge attitude, though. I hate to say it, but she's just like her mom!

[tbb113]

Nori: Don't feel bad about Mary Ann. I did something similiar with Michael when he was a baby. I was at the doctor's office, I had him on the examining table, I turned my back and he was on the floor. At least he was able to be examined right away :) :o

Kim: I don't remember any regression with Michael. He did want to try nursing (and I let him for about 2 seconds) and then told him that big boys don't do that. I also told him that no matter what he was doing with Alex, if Alex cried, he needed to stop doing it. My only regret on this one is I would tell him to stop doing something and he would look at me and say 'but Alex is crying'.

Sorry to hear that the East Coast has snow. They are forecasting 80 here by the end of the week :D Yes, this is why I moved from Chicago.

[cchhbb]

You all have been busy. I couldn't read last week due to the church consignment sale that I chaired. We grossed over $20K. I'm really happy with that since it was a 25% increase over August's sale. We were super busy with customers especially on Friday morning. We had 5 cash registers going and the line still went 1/2 way around the outside of the gym. We now have to process the payments to the sellers and then this one will be put to bed.

My mom, dad and aunt left Sunday morning early to head home. My grandmother who's 93 was admitted to the hospital on Saturday. It doesn't sound good. She keeps filling up with fluid. I have my 32 week appointment tomorrow and will check with the OB about flying up for the funeral if I need to.

Garrett barely missed me last week when I was gone all the time with the sale. Only on Saturday did he want his Mommy. I took him to the zoo on Monday after we dropped off donations at one the charities for the sale. I did feel like a terrible mommy after having breakfast with him on Saturday, he threw up all over the floor. I wiped him off and cleaned up the floor, handed him to my mom and left for the rest of the day. Poor kid. He's like Lainey with a sensitive gag reflex. He threw up today after lunch too. Fortunately I was in the bathroom with him so clean-up was easy.

Have a great day.
Cheryl

[MrsReber]

Wow, Cheryl, $20k is a lot of money! Good for you. I'm glad your efforts paid off so well.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this before. I actually totally forgot about it. Last night, Casey wanted her scissors to cut some things out of her new Sesame Street magazine. She did a great job. She's so careful. Well, I was making dinner and didn't think much of it. Later, while we were eating, she ran to the bathroom (my kids have a habit of always pooping either while I'm making dinner or while I'm eating dinner!!) she told Brenden to come with her, which she normally does. She'll tell me to leave, but she likes him to stay with her. After a few minutes, Brenden comes out to the living room and starts to tell me how his hair is brown and mine is black. I looked up and said "no, mine is brown, too." Then I saw the hair all over his shirt. Yep, she cut his hair. In the bathroom. She only cut it on one side in the front. DH was hysterical over the whole thing. He couldn't stop laughing! She had taken her little scissors into the bathroom. She told me that since Brenden had too much hair, he needed to cut some. She also let him cut her hair, but I couldn't see where he cut it. Needless to say, I spent the next half hour fixing Casey's
work. She cut it pretty short in front so I had no choice but to cut the other side short as well. I did the best I could with it. It might actually look okay, I'm just used to my boy having longer hair in front! Good thing his hair grows so fast. After everyone here said it, I can't believe it actually happened. I did take a "before" picture of him with his horribly crooked haircut. Before I fixed Brenden's hair, we asked Casey if he looked silly. She said "no, he looks handsome." She said that everyone at school will tell him how handsome he looks, too.

[SLFlyt]

I did something similiar with Michael when he was a baby. I was at the doctor's office, I had him on the examining table, I turned my back and he was on the floor. At least he was able to be examined right away

That was convenient. LOL. Seriously though, glad it turned out ok! I wish you hadn't mentioned how cold Chicago is - I'm going there for a business trip on the 29th! :)

Cheryl - Sorry about your grandmother. Life is very delicate at 93. Hope all works out for the best.

[RunnerKim]

Cheryl - I'm always so amazed at how well your sales do. Glad it's behind you (mostly at least) and you can recover. I hope Garrett is feeling better. I hope you can attend the funeral if that is necessary. :(

Susan - LOL!!! I think we jinxed you. Seriously though - doesn't every child have a hair and scissors incident. Too bad she's not more upset about the results though, better put those scissors under lock and key.

[HRJ]

Julia, we saw Sesame Street Live about a month ago -- I think it was 2 hours, with a really long intermission. I seem to recall we went to the 2 p.m. show, and there was another scheduled for 5 p.m.

And Susan F., enjoy the show!

SusanR, I can't believe Casey cut Brenden's hair! :eek: Glad you were able to "salvage" it -- but as you said, kids hair grows really fast.

Can't believe your company is expecting you to come in on an at-home day, considering the circumstances -- they should be trying very hard to make you happy. After all, if you quit right now, how successful would they be finding a qualified person to take your position, knowing that it's going to be eliminated in less than a year?

And, you reminded me about one thing that I *didn't* like about NJ -- ice storms. Up here in MA, we're just far enough north that we get more snow than NJ, but we manage to avoid most of the "freezing rain" and ice that I remember so well.

Kim, yay on the potty-training progress -- it sounds like Lainey has made the first big steps and is on her way! How exciting.

Joanne, glad to hear Ian's doing better -- and it sounds like he's being very good about dealing with the braces. I really did laugh out loud, however, when I read about "Ian-eyes-wee-wee." That's priceless!

Maybe Jameson could try trapping the leprachaun with Lucky Charms (the breakfast cereal?)

Nori, don't be too hard on yourself, about Mary Ann falling -- as you've heard here, it happens to everyone. When Victor had only been home for about six weeks, he started jumping on our bed one night -- DH was across the room and I was on the other side of the bed, and couldn't get to Victor in time to stop him -- Victor fell and cut his lip/gum on the edge of DH's night-table. There was blood everywhere -- it really gushes out when you have a mouth injury. So we took him to the ER, but the cut was so minor, they didn't need to stitch it or anything. But I was totally horrified, thinking here I'd had my child only six weeks, and I let him get hurt -- it was terrible.

It's so nice that Noah likes to play with Mary Ann -- I love the image of him pushing her in the stroller.

Cheryl, glad to hear your sale was so successful. Sorry to hear about your grandmother -- hope things improve for her.

Becky, don't know if you're still in Montana, but hope your flight went well. I was pretty nervous back in Feb. when I flew with Victor alone for the first time, but it went well.


BTW, my DH is 6' -- I guess that makes him one of the shorter guys on this thread, though.

Speaking of measurements, Victor weighs about 38 lbs now, and is about 38 1/2 inches high -- he's actually the shortest boy in the preschool room. If you look on the charts, it would seem like he would be "chubby," but he's not -- he has a very stocky build, and he's rather muscular and "big-boned" -- he's a solid kid.

He must be going through a growth spurt right now -- like Abigail, he seems like a bottomless pit these days. It seems like most of his 3T pants have gotten a little short on him within the past few weeks. But, he's also gone through periods where he seems to exist on practically nothing.

Remember I mentioned I'd done some research about sites that have "movie ratings" for kids? I'm going to use it as the basis for an article I'm writing for the parents' newsletter I've gotten involved with -- so when I'm done, I'll just post the article.

Our road trip to my MILs went OK -- we took two bathroom breaks (one as part of a long lunch stop) during the ride each way, and that was fine -- we didn't have any potty problems in the car. :)

The rest of the weekend at my MILs was ... well, fine. We had a nice celebration for my MIL's birthday, but ... as I've mentioned before, my MIL is a rather emotionally distant person, and it can be a little trying to spend long periods of time with her. I was a little annoyed about something she did involving Victor, but I don't have enough time to get into it now ... things are really busy at work right now, but I'll try to stop by tomorrow.

The news from the preschool room is that Victor has "graduated" to the "big" bathroom! They have two bathrooms for his room -- one with a tiny little toilet, basically potty size (but it flushes), and the other with three larger toilets (but still smaller than regular size) that are in individual stalls. The little bathroom is for the kids who are considered "newly" trained; the larger bathroom for the more "experienced." I'm so proud -- my boy has hit the big time! ;) :D

Helene

[nori]

Helene, that's great about Victor graduated to the big boy bathroom! How exciting. I'm dreaming of that day would come for us soon...or at least, Lainey's progress point.:D Looking forward to see your article!

Kim, that's really wonderful that she's been doing so well. I can't say anything about the regression....But Noah was very, very happy about having a little sister for a few months and everyone commented on him that he must be very proud of her. Then, when Mary Ann was about 4 or 5 months old, he started to show some signs of jealousy....being like a baby etc. Hope Lainey won't be distracted by baby stuff and keep progressing on potty training!

SusanF, what a scary incident with Tracy!:eek: It is freaky. Glad she was okay.

SusanR, LOL on Casey cutting Brenden's hair! How funny. Like someone said you should really keep those scissors in the locked box from now on.:D Too bad Casey is having separation issue....and hope you don't have to go to the office on Monday. Why does he want you, when there's no reason for you to be in the office???

Cheryl, congratulations on successful sale! Your church must be very big. That's great Garrett did well during the sale. Sorry to hear about your grandma.

Tyra,wow, the examining table is pretty high, too, isn't it? But really, it WAS convenient place for something to happen like that.:D

Joanne, Glad Ian is doing well. As for Jameson's project, I had the same thought as Helene...Lucky Charm.:o I'm not so creative to start with, either. I'd need to do some research about leprachaun...don't know much about it.

Lori, Noah's apptetie decreased significantly around 18 months also. He wanted to play rather than eat. I think it's normal, and as long as he's growing fine, you odn't have to worry about it. As everyone said, kids won't starve themselves....he'll eat when he really needs to eat. I know how you feel, though. Noah was a big eater and when he started to not to eat so much, I was worried, although it didn't last so long.

I think Noah is in the stage of where he wants to do everything by himself, in his own way. This morning, he wanted eat banana. Usually I start to peel and give it to him and he can do everything by himself. I took a banana, and noticed that one was kind of dirty (dirt, or some stuff on it) so I washed it. He didn't like it a bit.
:rolleyes: He kept saying "no wash! No wash!!" but it was too late, so I told him it's still the same banana and he should eat it. I asked him if he wanted me to peel, and he said yes, so I peeled it and gave it to him. He was still complaining (by this time he was almost whining), about me washing banana. He didn't focus on eating so much, then somehow he broke the banana in half by accident. He got so upset, and tried to put them back.:rolleyes: Then he started to throw a fit about it. What a way to start a morning, crying and timeout and screaming!!!! And all this happened before 7am.

Thanks everyone for commenting on my mishap with Mary Ann on Sunday. I don't recall dropping Noah, so I thought this must be something to do with having a second child. Oh, but with Noah, I almost dropped him while I was on the rocking chair, dozing off. And I also hit his head with the corner of the armrest several times. Ouch!

[hrk]

Good morning everyone.

SusanR- How was the cardiologist appointment? Any insight gained? And how is Brendan adjusting to his new hair cut? I think every child with a sibling has a scissors and haricut story.

Kim- Congrats on the potty training success with Lainey. It sounds like you guys found just the right time for things to click. And Boy is #2 getting close. Did you get everything done you wanted to in Lainey's scrapbook?

Helene- Congrats on Victor's potty training success as well and glad to hear the road trip went well. My MIL is a very emotionally detached person as well and I think Logan picks up on it. He is much more open and forward with my FIL than MIL. I figure its their loss.

Nori- Scary experience with Mary Ann, but glad to hear everything turned out all right. And Logan is getting into the stage that NOah is at where whe wants to do everything. Sometimes we ahve the time for it, but when we don't DH and I never know what the reaction will be.

Charyl- Congrats on the success of your sale. Did you pick up any great buys yourself?

Joanne- Glad to hear Ian is doing so well with this new program. As for catching a leprechaun, hmmm that is something to think about.

Well things have been busy here. DH was in Philly the last two days so Logan and I were on our own again. Anytime now that Logan notices DH is gone, he walks up to me and says "daddy, plane, nite nite" cause when he was gone for a wekk I kept telling him daddy was on a plane and he would see him in so many nite nites.

We got the test resuls back from Logans blood work and nothing out of the ordinary showed up. They did it to rule out any immuno diseases. So now we ahve to explore the possible dog allergy more in depth and then the milk allergy. So right now we have to give him a shot of Nasonex up his nose everynight for three weeks and see if that helps. If not then chances are it's not the dog. I thank my lucky stars eveynight that Logan is so good about medicine, ear drops etc.

Hope everyone else is doing well.
Heather

[MrsReber]

Brenden still looks odd with his new haircut. DH finally agrees with me that a buzz cut may not be a good idea. Brenden has a big head, it's always measured in the 95th percentile. With less hair, it's much more obvious. I think he will grow into it in time because he is quite tall. His cheeks are getting chubby again, which means he's getting ready to grow even taller. He's in 3 or 4T now. Casey is still in 4T and some 3T stuff.

My doctor's appointment went well. Looks like I may not have MVP after all. Due to my insurance coverage, I have to be referred to another specialist, even though my PCP is a cardiologist! So I have to make another appointment with a different doctor who can do another echocardiogram and another holter monitor. We're also going to do bloodwork. If I don't have MVP, we still need to find out the cause of my irregular heartbeat. Nothing life threatening, but it's interesting to see that they know so little about the heart still. They can do transplants and all kinds of crazy stuff, but there's still more that is unknown. They had been diagnosing it wrong for years, apparently. In the mid-late 90's they realized the mistake. By that time, they had diagnosed about 30% of the population! They began to question it since it was such a high number. In reality, my doctor tells me only 2 or 3% of the population really has it. They weren't taking correct views of the valve in their assessments. In any event, I hope I don't have to take medication for anyting. I hate taking stuff. I was on medication for MVP for about 7 years to get my heartbeat under control. It's been fine since then, but it does go wacky here and there and I do feel many more irregular beats than the average person.

Heather, it's good to know that Logan's blood tests came back fine. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not the dog! But even if it is, there are probably things you can do. My sister's DH is very allergic to just about everything on the face of the earth, yet they had a dog at one time and a cat later on.

Oh, Nori, I can sympathize. Brenden always says "MY do it!" about everything. That's something he picked up from Casey. She always said the same thing. The difference, though, is that Casey understood when she needed help with something. If I attempt to help Brenden when I see he's having a hard time with something, he'll throw a fit and yell at me. I have walked away from him many times. He's becoming very opinionated. It's funny you mention bananas because Brenden insists on peeling them himself, too. Most of the time, I secretly get it started and then push the ends of the peel back together so when he takes it from me, he thinks he started it all on his own.

I'm not coming in on Monday. My boss finally sent me a message saying "if it's a problem, I understand. I just thought we'd have a better shot at being successful." He also noted that he wanted me here to help out this other girl (who has had more training with Purchase Orders than I have!!!) This place is insane. I told him I just didn't see why it was necessary as we have had 2 or 3 people out just about every day last week.

Helene, wow, Sesame Street was 2 hours long with an intermission? Our show is at 10:30am. I was planning on stopping by my mom's for late lunch/early dinner afterwards since my sister will be up. I don't think the kids could handle staying there for dinner and DH will be too restless to stay at my mom's for that long. Well, I'm glad I got tickets to the earlier show.

[RunnerKim]

Okay the banana stories are too funny because of course they're just like the ones at our house. I also have secretly begun the peel of the banana. Often I can give her half a banana since that's how they're done at daycare, but I better not peel it!

SusanR - I'm glad your don't have MVP and it's not serious. It does seem there's a lot of minor irregularlities of the heart that don't have good explanations. A coworkers teenage daughter is having some minor issues right now too. It's scary any time you have issues with the heart I think.

Heather - I'm getting closer and closer on the Lainey's 2004 scrapbook. It's my last big To-Do before #2 arrives. I'm just finishing Labor day weekend. If I weren't so darned tired in the evenings I'd be further along. I think I can still make it - I can just see myself doing the last bits as I'm in labor. :rolleyes: I actually took a photo of Lainey standing next to her peed in potty :o She was so proud though.
Glad there's nothing concerning in her bloodwork. And that is good that Logan is so accomadating with the medications. Keep us posted.

Helene - the big bathroom! Go Victor. That's great that they allow kids to grow accomsted to the bigger toilet like that. It'll make it easier now when you go out.

DH's office is giving him (us) a baby shower in a couple of weeks. I'm happy for him since he missed out on it the first time around (not working at the time Lainey was born).

I just found out another of Lainey's teachers is leaving soon - that makes it 3 of the 4! First is April 15th and then end of April and the third probably not until Lainey's moved from the room (she's going to teach English in Japan and isn't sure yet when she's headed over). The poor 4th teacher! They've all been together for over 2 years so it'll be quite the change for that room. I'm sad that #2 won't get a couple of these teachers as I think they're really good (but I also understand it's not the type of work that most would do long term). I need to plan ahead about doing their Thank You cards/gifts since particularly for the first teacher, we could not be coming downtown during his last days since it's around #2's due date. (instead of a gift at Christmas, we do it when Lainey graduates from the room, since the first room Lainey wasn't in at Christmas time).

Kim

[paula]

DH once fixed an "inadvertently" opened banana with Scotch tape...

Paula

[Julia1Pin]

Nori - Iam glad that Mary Ann is alright. At least you know you're not the only one that isn't the "perfect mom". I have so much respect for people who stay home with kids! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I couldn't do it. I need to go to work to restore my sanity (not to say that most people at work aren't insame ;) ). Abigail was the same with with being thrilled at first and then at 4-5 months becoming quite jealous. I think it might be because the new "play pal" can't play yet. Even worse, the baby is taking attention away from the big kid. It seems better now that Nicole is a bit more mobile and not as fragile.

Cheryl - Congratulations on your sale! That's wonderful. What's the money being used for?

Susan - Casey is so mature with her observations! Will you let her cut your hair next? :D Great news so far from the Drs appt.

Kim - Go Lainey! Go Lainey!

Helene - May you have many more celebrations of the "big" bathroom magnitude!

Paula - I have to ask, why did he fix it with Scotch tape?

Has anyone seen the new Disney Dream Desk? It's the whole computer set up? What do you think? Is it worth it? We are getting a discount on it as employees, but I'm wondering whether the kids really need it.

[paula]

Sorry for the disconnect. My comment was a belated response to Nori's story about Noah and his banana independence.

We were having a similarly rough morning. Nothing was going according to Rachel's plan, and she had wanted to open the banana, herself. It wasn't a battle worth fighting, so DH "closed" the banana and returned it to her. She is convinced that tape can fix most anything and was perfectly happy to re-open and peel the banana.

Paula

[MrsReber]

Paula, that is too funny about tape "fixing anything." For some reason, my kids think the same thing. I was sharing a bag of popcorn with the kids last night. Casey was being really brutal grabbing popcorn out of the bag. I told her to stop that and, of course, she ripped the bag. Brenden immediately asked for tape. Batteries is the other big thing. If something doesn't work, it MUST be in need of new batteries! They'll go so far as to bring me a screwdriver to help replace the batteries- even if it's something that doesn't use batteries.

Well,it's sort of good news from the doctor. The best part is that if I don't have MVP, I can go back to my life insurance company and insist they give me the preferred rate. They refused based on that diagnosis from 15 years ago.

Just had my weigh in for WW- I'm down 10.4 lbs! I'm so excited. I never thought I'd lose that last bit. Now, if I can lose 5-7 more, I'll be where I was on my wedding day.

I think Casey's hair cutting career is over- or at least put on hold. She promised to never do it again. And I have to make a promise to keep a closer eye on all the scissors! I hate to tell her that she can't cut stuff out of her magazines. It's good for her to practice and she's quite good at it. Just need to pay closer attention. Well, it gets kind of crazy at home around dinner time, when I'm cooking and everyone is hungry. Live and learn.

Julia, I haven't seen that desk so I can't offer an opinion on that specific one. However, we have a Little Tykes desk. Casey liked it for about a week. It's a hand me down from her big cousin. The first night it was in the house, she actually feel asleep while sitting at the desk. Then it lost its appeal. We now have a computer set up in her room. It was a novelty for about 2 weeks. She hasn't turned it on since then. Just my take on things. DH and I tend to be more on the practical side. Also, I don't know if the desk you're talking about is similar at all to anything we have. I'd probably consider how long you'd be able to use it and if you have the room for it.

[RunnerKim]

Julia - can you link to a photo of this desk? I haven't heard of it either. I would love to find a pre-schooler sized desk to put Lainey's computer on. WE have it on a little tykes table with a board on it to extend the area so both the keyboard and mouse fit on it. Not ideal. But I get the idea that this is more of an activity desk???

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

http://image.compusa.com/prodimages/55/20cf2c20-42d8-458b-9fc8-d3225a23435c.gif

The offer we are getting comes with the digital camera, video camara, printer, joystick, etc... (all of the extras). It look scute and I really like the vedieo camara since we haven't taken any videos of the kids, but I'm just wondering if it's really worth it.

[Julia1Pin]

I was just on the picture thread - everyone's kids are absolutely adorable!

[nori]

LOL, I'm glad I wasn't the only one going crazy about his "independence". Paula, Scotch tape is actually a good idea...and I think your DH was wise to decide that wasn't worth fighting about. I should have done that this morning, too.....(I mean not fighting.) I don't think I could have fixed the split banana with scotch tape, thoguh. I'll keep that in my mind, just in case.:D

Julia, the computer looks so cute, although it's more like just a computer rather than "desk" I had imagined. I've never heard or seen it. Looks perfect for kids, though.

SusanR,. yay on another weight loss!! You have to post your recent picture! You weren't so big to start with, but it must be a great feeling to get back into the shape when you were married. I bet your DH was excited.:D Glad to hear that your heart is doing well so far. Noah is big on batteries, too. When we change batteries he has to have a screwdriver by himself and "fix it" by himself. He looks so satisfied after done that.

Kim, so you're doing a scrapbooking for every year? You're so amazing....compare to when I was pregnant with Mary Ann, I just didn't have any energy. Plus you were working full time, where do you get all that energy??


Heather, glad to hear that Logan's bloodwork didn't show anything serious. Keep crossing fingers that it's not dogs, though. But as someone said there might be some ways to deal with it, even though it turned out that he's allergic to dogs. When I was a kid, I had asthma and we also had a parakeet. The doctor said we shouldn't have any pet so my mom persuaded me that we should give her away to her friend.:( We did, and I was so sad. But my asthma didn't get any better at that time. Back then, (and this was in Japan) they didn't know so much....they just thought getting rid of pets would work. I know they consider those pets as family members as well now.

[LA98]

Hi, just popping back in to say thanks for all the responses to my question! It's a relief to hear that a decreased appetite is pretty common at this age. Now I'm wishing it was common at my age, LOL! Thanks again. De-delurking now... :)

[Julia1Pin]

Lori - Why are you de-lurking? Stay and talk :)

Abigail decided last night that she wasn't going to sleep for more than5 minutes in her crib :eek: So at about 12am she came and slept with us. I think her caughing woke her up originally but it was her obstinance that kept her up! I hav eot admin,k it is kind of pleasant having her sleep next to me (aside from being pushed to the edge of our king bed).

The in-laws should be here any minute now to take the girls up to San Francisco. DH and I will be going later this evening. I'm taking the day off (I thought we were taking Nicole with us) and I get to go get a haircut and have lunch with a friend! It will be nice. Of course I have to work for DH all afternoon and evening until we leave :rolleyes: but that's ok.

We're going to SF for my moms 65th BDay!

[LA98]

Hi Julia, believe me I could talk all day long about my DS and usually need no prompting :) but since he's only 18 months I'd probably bore everyone on this thread since you're all pros now! But I just posted a photo of Brian on the Other Stuff thread -- I see you posted too, but I can't see your girls though, just red x's.

[RunnerKim]

Julia have a fun trip! Interesting that they call that a "desk" as it's not really at all is it? It just looks like a computer to me. Very cute.

Nori - maybe a little soy/cashew butter would have stuck it back together? Not that that particular melt-down will happen again of course, it'll be something just enough different to keep you guessing.
Nori - I'm so tired it's not even funny how much time I spend in bed/sleeping. I expect as Lainey (and #2) get a little older I won't do an album/year but right now I take so many photos and there seems to be so much to write about that it takes a whole album (the writing I get from the emails I send to the grandmas and from what I post here, so I'm not writing new stuff). If I took the time to do a good editing job I'd probably cut the journaling part of the albums in half. :o It's the 1 hobby I seem to have right now and since it's mostly sitting on my bottom, it doesn't take too much energy. My parents were horrible at "formalizing" our childhoods. There's photos but where they are or how they're organized is very haphazzard. When I saw that MIL had individual albums for each of her 5 kids, I thought that was such a neat thing that I knew I wanted to do it for my kids. Well I get a lot of enjoyment looking through them too ;)

SusanR - Way to go on the weight loss! You're doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work. Glad you don't really have MVP and hope your insurance gives you the break in cost now.

More good success on the potty training last night. She peed 3 times - once was even after we'd put her night-time diaper on. We had a little extra time so we were in on the computers and DH hanging out on the potty (one of those long poopers) - Lainey goes off, drags her potty to the bathroom and tells DH she wants to pee on her potty, so he helps her take her diaper off and sure enough she does. Our big step this weekend is to have her fully clothes (in underwear) and see how that goes. Plus we have playgroup at a park on Saturday morning - we're going to take the potty along with us. So Monday we'll continue with diapers only for sleeping time. I'm a little (okay a lot) nervous about transit time. I'll put her in the padded underwear so hopefully if she does have an accident it won't be a huge mess. If she pees in the morning before we leave, I think we'll be fine but she's been going around without a diaper the past several mornings and hasn't needed to pee, but the one morning this week she wanted to sit on the potty when we arrived at daycare, she'd already peed in her diaper.

Kim

[HRJ]

Kim, Lainey's progress sounds great! Good luck on the bus ride Monday. One thing I've found helpful is to do everything you possibly can do to make sure they pee right before you leave the house -- I know you can't actually "force" someone to pee, but I find if I stress it enough, Victor will be able to empty his bladder, even if it's only a little bit, before we go out, so we're starting "fresh," so to speak. ;) (At our day-care, they require that the newly-trained kids use the bathroom as soon as they arrive at school, so I think that also got Victor used to the idea of always peeing at a specific time and place.)

Susan, congrats on the weight loss! And good news about the MVP -- I don't know much about that condition; I should look it up. I never even heard of it until I met Ellyn (eas11), because her DH has it.

Julia, enjoy your day of leisure -- sounds wonderful. And have a nice weekend with your parents.

I checked out some reviews of the Dream Desk -- here's one from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1683621,00.asp

Basically, it gets 3 stars out of 5 -- says it's a decent system for kids, but you can put together a comparable system at better prices if you forfeit all the branding stuff -- however, since you're getting a discount, that may make it worthwhile.

I was cracking up over all the banana stories -- that's exactly the sort of thing that happens at our house! :D

And, about batteries -- I think Victor is addicted to batteries. DH got him a few of those battery-operated Thomas trains (I really wasn't in favor of that idea .... :rolleyes: ), and it seems like they go through a battery every day. Fortunately, we use rechargeable batteries, so it's not like we're buying them all the time.

And Victor loves to try to change the battery himself -- I had to start keeping the screwdriver in the locked drawer with the kitchen knives, because he'd go get the screwdriver and run with it across the kitchen or living room, with the pointy side up, and I was afraid he'd fall and hurt himself. (I tried trying to explain that you always have to carry it point down, but he never paid attention, so I figured I'd err on the side of caution and just keep the screwdriver out of reach.)

Speaking about injuries -- last night was horrible. Now that Victor is toilet-trained, we've been trying to wean him away from always going into the bathroom with us when we need to go. So last night, DH went into the bathroom, and Victor tried to go in with him, and DH told Victor he wanted some privacy, so Victor should wait outside.

Then, DH started to close the bathroom door, but didn't notice that Victor had his hand between the doorframe and the side of the door (y'know, the part near the hinges?), and Victor's fingers got pinched by the door as it closed. OMG. Victor was screaming and crying; there was all this blood on his hand; DH felt so awful. Turns out only one finger was badly crunched, but he could bend it, so we didn't think it was broken.

We put ice on his fingers (I HIGHLY recommend something called the "All-Better" ice pack, which is an ice pack in the shape of various animals -- ours looks like a cat -- that slips over the kid's hand. Much better than trying to hold a regular-style ice pack on a squirming child. It also plays a song when you squeeze it. I'm pretty sure we got it at BRU.) DH made up this game involving the ice-pack cat, and Victor calmed down pretty quickly and we bandaged his finger and gave him some Tylenol -- he seemed to be doing fine by the time he went to sleep. Oy.

I'm supposed to go to a meeting about my parents' newsletter tonight, but they're predicting lots of snow, so I have a feeling it will be cancelled.

Sunday, we have tickets for a concert by a great group called Sol y Canto, which plays bilingual kids songs in English and Spanish. We have one of their CDs, "El Doble de Amigos/Twice as Many Friends" and Victor really likes it -- I've heard they put on a good show. Here's a link: www.solycanto.com

Helene

[HRJ]

Forgot to mention: all the pictures on the photo thread are great! So much fun to see the kids, but also, to see some of you! I really need to find a pix of me and Victor, or me alone, to put up.

H.

[tbb113]

Julia: have a great trip. The weather up here is just beautiful. Today's forecast is for the mid 80's (and I think the city is supposed to be just as warm).

Helene: Michael did that to Alex by accident at the pool one summer day. No blood, but I did take him to the ER to make sure it wasn't broken. Fortunately it wasn't.

Kim: I used to require that the boys tried to pee before we left the house. "If it doesn't work, that's okay but go try." Most of the time, it worked ;) I still go before I leave the house (you never know when traffic will be bad).

[MrsReber]

Kim, Lainey is making great progress. My SIL told me that it does click for them eventually and it just sort of happens. It's so frustrating to go through, though, isn't it? I'm still a bit nervous about driving the kids to the train with me to meet my mom. The thing is, they eventually develop the ability to hold it when they really have to go. The kids are usually in the car for about an hour when I take them to my moms. I drive and meet her there, we put them in her car and then we all wait for my train to come. Brenden loves to watch the trains and I enjoy a few minutes catching up with my mom and telling her anything she needs to know about the kids for that day. So far, no accidents.

I've been letting Brenden sleep in his underwear at night. I'm always awake at some point during the night so I bring him into the bathroom and he'll go and then go back to sleep. It's been working pretty good so far. Now, what to do with all those Buzz Lightyear pull ups!

Helene, MVP is interesting. When I was diagnosed with it at 19, the doctor admitted that they know little about it. However, they thought they were diagnosing it correctly based on what they knew. Guess they were wrong! I wonder if Ellyn's husband has had a recent echocardiogram. My doctor said it wasn't until the mid 90's that they realized the mistake. Might be something for him to check into if he hasn't had any testing recently. Of course, since I went to the doctor, my heart has been beating wacky. Always happens. Guess it's a subconscious thing.

We have one battery operated train. It's now in hiding. MIL bought it. It was so cool, though. DH and I were playing with it. We couldn't believe how many trains it could tow around the track. Brenden makes trains that are about 15 cars long. But, as Helene mentioned, it does go through batteries very quickly. Plus, Brenden was getting very angry with it if it couldn't tow every one of his trains at the same time or if any fell off the track. It was really stressing him out.

Poor Victor! I hope his little hand is okay. Your DH must have felt so awful.

Kim, that's a great idea to use text from emails and the BB in the scrapbook. I know I don't journal enough and that'd be a good way to get the information in there. The infamous haircut pictures will have to go in there. I sent an email to my dad telling him all about it so I can print that out to use. I'll have to get the photos on a disk so I can share them here. It's too funny. And Nori, you're right- I need a new picture of myself minus 10 pounds. Well, I'm not done yet, though. I'd like to lose just a few more. It feels so wonderful. I literally cried on Sunday morning when I put on my favorite pre-pregnancy suit and it fit.

Julia, I'm the same with my kids. If they sleep in their beds all night, I actually sort of miss them. Casey has been going to bed on her own this week. She says she likes sleeping in her Dora bed (Dora sheets). I can't blame her. It's probably a lot less crowded there!

[RunnerKim]

Are we talking about battery operated trains for the Brio/Thomas wooden tracks?! Hmmmm, I wouldn't have even thought about those existing. Yes, I can see that would be something Lainey would be better off not knowing about. She's been in to making really long trains (at school and in the community center/pool lobby - poor deprived child only has 3 cars at home).

Ouch - Poor victor. I bet your DH felt horrible. Those ice packs sound pretty neat, I'll have to look for one. Lainey loves to get ice for any owie (imagined or real) so I'm not sure I'd want to use it for more minor things or I'll have a child self-wounding herself.

So far - and it really hasn't been that long - Lainey has never peed on the potty when I (or the timer ;) ) requests her to sit on the potty. I think it'll come as she figures this out a bit more, just not sure if it'll be there by Monday morning though! I did warn the regulars on the bus about it though.

I haven't uploaded the photo yet or I'd post this great picture I have of Lainey using the screwdriver while helping DH put together baby brother's crib. He's in the background with this big concerned look on his face while she's using the screwdriver - he was afaird she'd strip the screw.

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

I'm slaving away ;) at DHs business (well I guess it's our business) and it's probably 85 degrees here!

Tyra - My mom told me that it was nice and warm. I'm so happy. They live right by ocean beach so I'm sure it will be beautiful with a nice breeze. One of these times, we'll have to meet up. We're leaving at about 7pm and coming back Sunday morning. I wish we could go for a longer stretch of time. Myabe for Memorial Day.

Kim - I need to strat telling Abigail about how well Lainey is doing on the potty training front. She is pretty much trained at school (except poop, which is 50/50) but she refuses at home! That kid is way too smart for MY own good.

Helene - I hope Victors hand is all better soon. And that ice pack sounds awesome. I'll definately have to look for it next time I'm in BRU.

Susan - Congratulations on the weight loss!!! I got down to my wedding weight after I was sick for those couple of weeks but quickly have gained that weight back :mad: :mad: I keep trying. I need to start going to the gym in the evenings after I put the kids to bed.

OK - Someone needs to stop me. I'm addicted to Gymboree. Between buying to get the gym bucks, then redeeming the gym bucks, and all the other cool sales (and the new lines coming out every other week) it's like CRACK! I went again today. I've even gotten comments on how cute the kids are always dressed in Gymboree outfits( about 75% of their wardrobes).

I have a worried mom question - Nicole is 9.5 months. She doesn't crawl yet. Should I be worried? She can get where she wants by rolling or stretching her body but she can't crawl yet. I should be over this, being a 2nd time mom, but I'm not.:rolleyes:

[cchhbb]

Kim, My consignment sale isn't all that big. The one Leigh has consigned at in Atlanta grosses about 120K with a profit of $40K. Our sale is fairly small. I don't know if it is a southern thing or not, but there are tons of sales every weekend from late February through April and again in August and September. I really don't want our sale to end up really big. I'd like to make a $10k profit for charity each time. I really do enjoy doing the work and I am glad to be able to put it on my resume. I want to keep my project planning and implementation skills up to speed.

Kim, Yea for Lainey. Garrett has been asking to sit on the potty more, but hasn't really made progress. During his spring break in early April I think we might make another run at potty training. Maybe it will be warm enough for him to go without pants. Right now, it's fairly cold for Atlanta in March with a high of 55 degrees.

Julia, I think the important thing is that Nicole can move around. I know several kids which didn't crawl, just rolled places that they wanted to go and then started walking.

It sounds like Abigail and Garrett are a lot alike. He is definitely too smart for me. We were at Home Depot and I gave him the choice to walk holding my hand or riding in the cart. He decided to walk and then told me he didn't want to hold hands. Then he told me Ms Dot doesn't make him hold hands. I can't believe he is trying to reason with me already. I can't imagine what I am in for with him.

Our bonus room project is nearly over. Yea! DH stayed home from work today and painted the baseboard and put it up and installed the light fixtures. I need to pick out and order some carpet, but I can't seem to get it together to get it done. Maybe next week. I would like to get it done so I can move all the stuff being stored in the baby's room out of there.

Someone asked what I bought at the sale. Well, I bought way too much stuff. I ended up buying 5 pictures for Garrett's big boy room of trucks, trains, ect. I also bought a valance that had a transportion theme. I decided to do the boys' bathroom in rubber ducks and was able to get everything there. There was a shower curtain, rug, valance, and some accessories. I then bought a Peg Perego double stroller for $125. I figure I can sell it for about that price when I'm done with it. I bought the baby a white Simmons crib similar to Garrett's for $50. Then I bought clothes for Garrett, the baby, and my niece. I got some great stuff, but spent close to $500.

Helene, sorry to hear about Victor's hand. I'll have to take a look for the ice pack you mentioned. We have a boo boo bunny and Garrett loves to hold it, but never on the injury. When he fell and hit his head I put an icepack on under a hat and then tied a scarf to it while I drove him to urgent care. We must have been a sight, but at least I kept an ice pack on him. I wonder how big the goose egg would have been without it.

Susan, Yea on the weight loss.
That's great that Brendan can fall back asleep after you take him to the bathroom. I don't think Garrett would. Once he's up, he doesn't fall back asleep easily.

That's too funny about how your kids are really into doing things by themselves. Garrett plays great by himself, but seems to understand when he needs help and comes running Mommy Fix It. Sometimes I have to laugh about what he wants me to fix.

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday. I'm still measuring small. All Kim's preparations should inspire me to get something done. Maybe I'll pull the bassinet out and wash the bedding and get the car seat out too.

Garrett showed some interest in a baby today for the first time. My mom brought my Cabbage Patch Doll from when I was a kid and a glass baby bottle. Garrett got the doll out of the package and gave it a bottle. Kim or Tyra, do you have the website for that great doll store handy. I'd like to get Garrett a little boy doll before this baby is due.

Cheryl

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by cchhbb
Garrett showed some interest in a baby today for the first time. My mom brought my Cabbage Patch Doll from when I was a kid and a glass baby bottle. Garrett got the doll out of the package and gave it a bottle. Kim or Tyra, do you have the website for that great doll store handy. I'd like to get Garrett a little boy doll before this baby is due.Cheryl
Cheryl, the place Tyra posted is Learning Express (http://www.learningexpress.com/jsp/homePage.jsp) . I bought Jared's doll at our local store and he loves it. If there is a store near you, and you get a chance, you should go in person. They have such neat stuff, and Jared loved picking out his own baby.

[tbb113]

Actually the one I posted is LakeShore Learning (http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/LSHomeSelection.process?def_page=home&referer=&clearTracking=&uniq=2005yr%3A3mth%3A11day%3A18hr%3A56min%3A24s%3A 781ms%3A+) but I bet all teacher supply stores have similiar dolls

[SLFlyt]

I just looked at all the pictures and they're really great. Most of you didn't look at all like what I expected, you know how you get a vision in your mind? All the kids are so adorable. On Monday I will try to post a picture too, maybe take one this week-end with my digital camera.

Helene - Glad Victor is ok! Thanks for posting the link to the CD. I have been looking for something like that for Noah. Me gusta la música. Gracias.

Lori - We're not all pros. No matter how many kids you have you're never a pro, because each child is so different. Stay and talk, everyone has been so welcoming toward me.

Julia - I love Gymboree too. Although the stuff for girls is so cute, there are times I wish I had a little girl to dress up! I didn't know about the Gymboree points though. What are they? I buy lots of stuff there.

SusanR - Good news about your test results. Congrats on the weight loss. I'll use you as my incentive to lose weight. Everyday I say, "I'll start tomorrow." And since I'm making a pound cake today!!! I have to stop with the excuses.

Have a nice week-end everyone!

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by tbb113
Actually the one I posted is LakeShore Learning (http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/LSHomeSelection.process?def_page=home&referer=&clearTracking=&uniq=2005yr%3A3mth%3A11day%3A18hr%3A56min%3A24s%3A 781ms%3A+) but I bet all teacher supply stores have similiar dolls
Oops! That's what I get for de-lurking. ;) :D

Lakeshore Learning was the store I visited. I don't know why I thought of Learning Express. I just checked the Lakeshore site and they don't have the doll I bought available. I was able to get a 17" baby doll, which I like because it can fit into some of the newborn clothing we have.

[RunnerKim]

Yep, I bought Lainey's boy doll from Lakeshore. I also bought the eyeglasses (and hearing aid) "add on" set since both DH and i wear glasses, Lainey's pretty interested in them. We haven't given it to her yet, we're planning to do it after #2 is born (along with a stroller). I bought a premie outfit that I thought might fit the doll (shorts outfit) but haven't actually checked. The one other baby doll Lainey has, seems to go around naked all the time, so I'm not sure if I'll worry too much about having outfits for her to change the doll in to. Lainey's not very interested in dolls either - goes in fits and spurts, but I think having a special one after the baby is born will be of interest to her.

Cheryl - if you start feeling cervical pain/dialation (I'm guessing it's dialation - I'll find out on Wed) then that tends to really motivate you to get things done! We had to buy a new base for our car seat b/c it wasn't LATCH - they weren't all LATCH until Sept. '02 which is of course when Lainey was born so we'd bought the car seat a couple of months before that (and our car at the time wasn't LATCH compatible so we didn't give it a second thought).

Julia - do you take the girls to Gymboree for classes? I've been meaning to look in to that as I'm looking for a gymnastics type class for Lainey. I didn't know the classes and the store were connected, but I'm guessing by your post that they are??

Cheryl - that's great about finishing up another big house project! I don't think we have the big consignment sales like you talk about out here. That's too bad because it sounds like some fabulous deals!

Well today is Lainey's first day at school with underwear on. Fingers crossed. She did fabulous over the weekend - she had a small accident once while we were out with our playgroup at a playground. But every other time she peed in the potty - including once when she had to come in from outside and once during her bath. Poop is another matter - pooped 3 times over the weekend and all in her underwear (the first time, she'd tried a couple of times on the potty to get it out with no success). The bus ride went fine this morning - she did sit on the potty before we left the house and actually sat long enough to give it an honest attempt to try. We have a doctor's appt. for her early evening as a follow-up about her asthma - so we put her little potty in the car since we won't stop at home first. This potty stuff adds a whole new timing thing to getting out the door on time.

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

Gymboree has times when they give out "Gymbucks" - For every $50 you spend pre-tax, they give you a $25 off your purchase of $50 pre-tax at a later date. I usually end up going when they're giving out gymbucks and then again, when you can redeem the gym bucks. It end up being about 25% off in total (since you're really spending $100 to get the $25) but if I'm going to buy from them anyways I'd rather get something for it to use at a later date. And the gymbucks are good on anything in the store.

You can also get gymbucks if you you sign up for the classes. The classes and the store are connected, with alot of the play areas attached to the actual stores.

I took Nicole once and she really like it but I haven't taken Abigail. I know alot of people who go and really like it. Now they even have music classes. I'd love to go to the siblings calss that they offer but it's in the middle of the day during the week:mad:

Now that I sound like an ad for Gymboree... I return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast!

I'll write later about my trip to SF and the drama with my MIL :rolleyes:

[RunnerKim]

Whew - DH just emailed and Lainey has peed on the potty at daycare and is still wearing the same pants. :D I felt like that was a big hurdle.

Kim

[cchhbb]

Thanks for the info on Lakeshore Learning. We have one nearby. Garrett and I will have to make a fieldtrip soon. I have seen their catalog and there is a lot of things that I want to get there. I will need to be restrained.

Consignment sales are big business down here. I think it must be a southern thing. I don't think I remembered seeing one when I lived up north, but I didn't have kids so it wouldn't have made an impact on me. I know my cousin's church in Kentucky has one, but I don't think my aunt's church in Ohio has one. You could literally spend 2 months in the spring and fall going every weekend. It's a great place to get second hand stuff. I stumbled on one right before Garrett was born and a wonderful volunteer helped me determine what I really needed. I spent about $300, but got nearly everything I needed for him, but the crib, stroller, carseat and crib.

Kim, I think with your second you actually understand a little bit what is happening with your body. Now I know I was having a lot of contractions for the week before I had Garrett, but at the time I just thought he was beating up on me a lot. Now I realize what I'm having is contractions.

Kim, Yea for Lainey on her potty success. I need to give Garrett another shot at it. Maybe we can start on Friday and see how it goes. We gave him 5 days last time with no diapers other than sleep time and he just didn't make progress. He didn't seem to understand needing to hold his urine so I don't think he had the bladder control needed. Now that things have settled down here, maybe I can work with him a little bit. His classroom at school is just not set up to work well for potty trained children. The bathroom is down the hall from his room so one teacher has to stay with the class while the other one takes the child to the bathroom. When he moves up to the next class next fall, there are bathrooms in every room.

Last night, DH, Garrett and I went to Lowes to look at carpet and then out to dinner. They opened a new Lowes about 10 minutes from our house and they have race car carts. Garrett loves them. While I looked at carpet swatches, Garrett and DH played on the lawn tractors. I think he rode them all. We went and had Mexican and Garrett ate everything in sight. He ate a whole cheese quesidilla, all of DH's and my mexican rice, and a ton of chips. He tried salsa and decided that was too spicy. I did pick out some nice carpet and will probably order it on Tuesday.

I have the cleaning service coming tomorrow and I really need to get my act together to straighten the house. They just do a better job if you take the time to put things away. I have so much stuff laying around that needs to be put away from the consignment sale. I wish that nesting stage would hit. I never really had it with Garrett, but I did have him about a month early.

Cheryl

[MrsReber]

Kim, great news on the training! I remember how nervous I was sending Casey in underwear for the first time. That's when I realized how much better they do at daycare than at home! It took forever to get her to poop in the toilet. Hang in there. It will happen.

Cheryl, mmmmmm...Mexican food. I don't know if we have consignment sales around her, to be honest.

Our weekend was fun- on Saturday, after Casey's gymnastics class, we went to the mall to do some shopping. I got my bonus check last Friday and was in desperate need of new sneakers and some under garments. Casey also needed some things and DH wanted some nice clothes to wear since he only has jeans and t-shirts and one suit. The kids seemed fine. We brought the double stroller and they were real troopers. We got home after 6:00. Brenden just seemed a bit tired. We all fell asleep early. At 1:30am, Brenden woke me up. He was crying and coughing, with an awful barking cough. It was really scary. It's nice that they don't get very sick very often, but at the same time, I get so scared when they do get sick because we're just not used to it. I was ready to take him to the hospital because he couldn't calm down and he didn't look all that good. Finally, he settled down. I gave him a decongestant and he fell back to sleep. Unfortunately, I was up until 5:00 after being scared out of my wits.

Sunday he was a little off. He even asked to go to sleep! That never happens. He and Casey both took a late nap. DH woke them up at 8:00. I would've let them just sleep, but he thought they needed to get up. So we were coloring Easter eggs at 9:15 last night. They did go back to sleep just after 10:00, though, which was good. Brenden had his barking cough again last night so I brought both kids to the doctor today to rule out strep since Casey said her throat hurt, too. It's been going around here. They don't seem to have it according to the test done in the office, but they do also send one swab out for further testing. They both have red, swollen tonsils, but no strep. I got a prescription decongestant for Brenden and a steroid in case he starts with the barking cough again. She said if I start the steroid, I have to do the whole course. I didn't know that. She thinks we won't need it, but it's nice to have on hand if we do. I gave Brenden the deconestant after lunch and he's been out ever since. Poor guy. He has a runny nose, his eyes are watery, he sneezes constantly and he's got a cough. However, the doctor said it's just a cold and if he's had it for 3 days already, he'll be much better tomorrow. I hope so. DH asked MIL to come over and stay with him all day. I didn't know that. I can imagine it being a fiasco, even though she said she'd do it. I doubt he explained that she needs to be here at 6:45 am and stay until at least 4:30. I don't think she'd go for that. He said he'll call her back and tell her to just be on stand-by in case we need her.

Julia, there's a whole range for crawling. I think we all seem to think they're late if they happen to be on the later end of sitting up, crawling, walking, etc. If everything else seems fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much. My brother crawled the wrong way when he started crawling. Instead of getting around on all fours, he'd turn himself over (like playing crab soccer?) and crawl with his body facing up. Well, okay, he's still a bit weird :D , but not all kids fit the norm.

[JoanneOR]

I had a really busy week at work last week, so I really couldn't keep up here or post too much. Now, that my life is somewhat back to normal, I'll try to keep up again!

Kim, that's great about Lainey's potty training!! Sounds like she's just about there! It does get easier with going out. It'll take a little time, but eventually you won't have to worry about it too much. Caitlyn has been asking to use it occasionally and she'll go, but she still uses her diaper 90% of the time. I need to do what you did; just have an underwear weekend.

Helene, how scary about Victor's finger. I know exactly what you're talking about. One of the boys fingers got caught in that same place in our laundry room door when he was about Victor's age. I think it was Jameson and it was Ian who closed the door. Now every time there are two of them by that door I get nervous!

Julia, I think some kids never crawl; they figure out other ways to get around and then go to cruising and walking. My niece did that. She never crawled, she would just scoot around on her butt.

Susan, hope Brenden is feeling better soon. Caitlyn has had a cough for the last couple days. I'm hoping it doesn't progress to anything else. She hasn't had a fever or anything. She can't take any cold medicine because of her heart so there's not much we can do for it. If it gets any worse, we'll take her to the doctor.

Cheryl, great job on the sale. I'm sure you're glad it's over. Sounds like alot of work. I don't think we really have any around here; churches will have rummage sales, but not on consignment.

Kim, you asked awhile ago about regression when the new baby is born. I really don't remember any with the boys. I think it was a bit of an adjustment for them at first because they couldn't be held as much as before the new baby came home. But I don't remember them acting out at all. I do remember when Caitlyn was born, Colin was upset that he wasn't the baby anymore. He had the longest "being the baby" stretch of the boys :) since he's almost three years older than Caitlyn. He didn't want to be called a big boy. I told him he'd always be my baby boy. He never showed any hostility or anything to her, though. I think the doll for Lainey is a good idea. I bet she'll love being a big sister. It's really fun to see the older sibling react to meeting the new baby for the first time. I still remember Jameson kissing Ian when he came home. I have a picture and it's so cute. Of course, he wouldn't be caught dead kissing Ian now!

Susan, that's great about your test results. Although, it's kind of like you worried about the MVP most of your life when you really didn't need to. But it's good news that now they say you don't have it.

Someone was talking about batteries, I think. Caitlyn was so funny on Christmas this year. I guess she noticed us putting batteries in just about every toy :(, so one of the boys was opening a present a few days later and she went and got a screwdriver thinking we would need it to put batteries in.

Well, Thursday is our Dora adventure. I've been trying to tell Caitlyn about it, but she just runs to the TV if I mention "Dora." I hope she likes the show and isn't intimidated or anything by it.

Jameson built his leprechaun trap this weekend. He just painted a box green and decorated it with shamrocks and leprechaun stickers. We had some rocks that looked like gold from somewhere so he put those inside and made a door. It's a graded project; I'm curious to see how they figure out the grades.

Gotta run...

[BeckyM]

Hi All!

Wow -- lots happened while I was in Montana. It took a LONG time to read through all the posts. I don't have much time to respond, but wanted to just post quickly before I head to bed.

SusanR -- congrats on the weight loss! My sister has had similar success with WW on-line recently, and she looked great when I saw her. Of course I felt even worse about my body, since I was heavier than I wanted before getting pregnant this time, and I'm just getting bigger now. I'll certainly have my work cut out for me after this baby is born! And I'm glad to hear Brenden isn't too traumatized about his recent haircut experience with Casey. One of my SIL's has a similar story where her daughter cut a cousin's hair, and that cousin was a little girl (maybe about 7 years old) who had NEVER had her hair cut before. The cousin's mother was VERY upset! Thankfully they're able to laugh about it now.

RunnerKim -- congrats on Lainey's success. Katie still hasn't successfully peed or pooped in the potty, though she will sit on it without her diaper. While we were in Montana, Katie got up from her nap and was wandering around upstairs without us knowing about it. (We had the monitor on, but she was fairly quiet.) She got her pants and diaper off and we found pee and poop on the carpet in different spots. :eek: After that, we bought a little potty for my parents' house, and Katie liked sitting on it, but nothing ever went into it. I think I need to work on getting Katie on the potty at her normal BM times (about 9am) to see if that works.

Cheryl -- congrats on the consignment sale success. I haven't heard of those before either, but I've only ever lived in the north.

nori -- glad to hear Mary Ann's fall wasn't serious! I'm sure it must have scared you to death!

Well, our trip to Montana was lots of fun, and Katie was a great little traveller. We had two flights each way, and Katie took a nice nap on the second flight each time. In the airports she really enjoyed pushing around her stuffed animals in the stroller (instead of riding in it herself), but luckily we had enough time to allow for that. She did well sleeping in the toddler blow-up bed, (other than the one incident after her nap that I mentioned above), so hopefully that means she'll do well moving into her "big girl bed" when we get the room ready. Katie also had a great time with her grandparents, and it was fun seeing my parents with her. They're great at being grandparents -- I just wish they weren't so far away!

Well, tomorrow is my first day back to work in over a week. I'm dreading all the e-mails and new issues that are sure to have cropped up in my absence!

Oh, and Wednesday is my ultrasound. Hopefully we'll find out the gender of the baby!

Glad to be back and hear how you're all doing!

Becky :)

[nori]

Becky, welcome back! Glad the trip went well. And it does sound like Katie would probably do well with the room transition. How fun finding out the gender of the baby! Please let us know!

Joanne, I bet Caitlyn'd love the Dora show. How funny though, that when you mentioned about Dora she'd go to TV.:) I assume you're going with her, and leaving boys home?

SusanR, sorry to hear about Brenden's cough.:( Glad it's nothing serious, but how annoying to disturb his (and your!) sleep! Hope he'll do better tonight.

Cheryl, what a great stuff you got for 500 bucks! That's a lot to spend, but looks like you got way more than you'd be able to buy with regular prices. And Garrett sounds like he's going through a growth spurt? That's a lot of dinner!

Kim, Yay Lainey! Curious to find out how was the rest of the day...I bet she did super! Wow I'm so impressed. I'm thinking we might have to wait till summer, when we can let him run in the backyard half-naked for him to feel the pee. Today he went through a lot of diapers than usual, not sure if he's going to outgrow the size 5. Yikes!!! I don't really want to go for size 6, which only Pampers make? I buy Luvs for him now and I know they don't make Super Mega Box for size 6. Grrrr...

Julia, I didn't crawl, according to my mom. Noah crawled for a short time. I bet Nicole is okay. Don't worry about it.

Helene, sorry to hear about Victor. And I bet DH was feeling pretty bad after that. I don't know if I mentioned it before here, but I did that to Noah with car door, not knowing his finger was there.:eek: It was pretty scary. Hope he'll get better. I have to check that ice pack thing out, too.

Today he scratched himself and his knee started to bleed a bit. I didn't want him to smear it on the couch etc. so I told him he should have Bandaid on it. We have Sesame Street one, I said "You can have Elmo sticker on your knee". And he freaked out, he didn't want to have one on his own skin, although he insisted he'd put it on his Elmo. Anyway, I forced it and put it on him anyway, thinking he'd probably give up and calm down, but he didn't, he kept crying and eventually he took it off by himself. Well it wasn't a big deal anyway, but I wonder why he hates to have it on his own body? He loves stickers, and put them on paper etc so it's a mistery to me that he doesn't like Band Aid. He was crying so hard, it was like I was hurting him. Should I do something about it, or probalby it's not a big deal?

Oh, and Kim, using nuts butter to stick the banana together sounds like a good idea. I'd do that next time, to see how it works.:)

[tbb113]

Nori: Neither of my kids liked band-aids. They would keep them on long enough for the blood to stop and then they would take them off. Noah might just be the same way.

Julia: Every child is different. If you are worried, ask your doctor but I'm sure its nothing. Alex didn't roll over until he was 10 months old (he was sitting up and crawling...but wouldn't/couldn't roll over). The doctor told me he was just fine.

[MrsReber]

Nori, how funny about the band-aid. My kids love them and stickers. They'll put stickers on themselves and on me. It's more of a problem for me to not put band-aids on them. They want one even when it's a teeny scratch or if they're not bleeding at all.

Brenden seemed fine last night. He slept for 2 hours and then was his old self again- running around, playing, and even eating a bit. MIL called and DH told her he wasn't sure what he'd do. It's in his hands now, but with all the money we pay for daycare, I like to make sure they go! Also, as I mentioned, I know it'd be a fiasco to have MIL there all day. We'll see what happens. Brenden slept quite well last night with his decongestant. No coughing or fussing until about 4:00. I gave him some more medicine when I left and he was going back to sleep with DH then.

Becky, I'm glad your trip went so well. It must be hard to not see your parents so often. I'm so excited to be seeing my dad in a couple of weeks. It'll just be a few hours most likely, unless they can get out here earlier. He hardly gets to see his grandkids at all (5 of them). And I hear you on weight loss! I started out about 10 lbs heavier than I wanted to be with Brenden. I didn't let myself get too upset over it, I just realized that I needed to be serious about losing it after he was born. It has taken a lot of time, but it will all be gone soon. I had to remember at times not to beat myself up over it, no matter how long it took! You'll get there, too.

Nori, I was worried about the size 6 diapers, too. Many times, I couldn't even find the size 5's that I liked at the store. My only thought was that I'd have to go to pull ups. As it is, the 4T underwear is a bit small on Brenden. I had to go to a regular 4, but I don't know how long that will even last. They don't consider bigger diapers for bigger babies! It's not really fair. There are plenty of very large 2 year olds that aren't potty trained.

Off to the gym then back to work. I worked yesterday until about 5:30. There's no one here at that hour. Most people leave between 4-4:30. It's a whole different world here.

[paula]

We just completed our “potty training weekend,” and I was pleasantly surprised at how well both kids did, particularly Rachel. My sister arrived late last Thursday and stayed with us until dinner time on Monday. She has worked as a nanny off and on for the past ten years, and has infinite patience with young children. I don’t think I could have done this with two children without her help. (DH doesn’t do well with bodily fluids…)

When the kids awoke on Friday, we told them, “no more diapers,” and we haven’t used a diaper since. Rachel had two learning incidents Friday morning. Then, all of the sudden, it seemed to make sense to her, and she has been almost perfectly dry ever since. Her only wet accident in the past 48hrs was while on the playground. (Her BM’s are only about 50-50, at the moment). Alex has been more hit-or-miss. He is more forgetful and requires more prompting. His accidents are more likely when he is watching a favorite video or eating lunch. And, he has yet to have a BM on the toilet. I am very pleased with the progress that we made this weekend, and I expect to donate all remaining diapers within a weeks or so. I was particularly impressed with Rachel and Alex yesterday.

We had taken the kids to an Easter party on Saturday, and they were both leery of the full sized toilets in the church bathroom. So, yesterday morning we purchased a portable toilet adapter in a Dora design (at BRU) before going to the mall. It can be folded small enough to fit in a ziplock bag and carried in most diaper bags. Both children used the toilet three times while we were at the mall! I think they were highly inspired by the Dora seat, and I strongly recommend it for all young Dora fans. Sesame Street and SpongeBob patterns were also available. This item is from One Step Ahead and is similar in function, although much less inspiring in design..

http://www.onestepahead.com/images/product/detail_views_jpgs/9980_dv_1.jpg

I sent them to school this morning with five changes of clothes, each. I wonder how many I will be bringing home.

We also have the huge consignment sales. I haven't seen them at the local churches, although it wouldn't surprise me if some of the sales were sponsored by churches. All of the local Mothers of Multiples chapters use twice yearly consignment sales as primary fundraisers. I have purchased most of my children's clothes and toys from these sales.

Paula

[RunnerKim]

Yeah Paula! Or rather Yeah Rachel & Alex! So are you not using diapers for nap and over-night then either?? I could see going without for nap pretty soon, but Lainey still has pretty wet diapers in the morning.

Lainey did continue to do great yesterday. I picked her up before her afternoon buggy ride to go to the doctor. So she'd only peed the once at school (and in her diaper during nap). I had her sit before leaving (without anything happening) and when we arrived at the doctor's office i had her try on the potty we had brought in the car. She didn't want to but did humor us. The doctor was running late and she had to go - the waiting room has a larger single bathroom and Lainey had no issues sitting on the big toilet and peed in it. :) It had a loud, powerful flush that she didn't like. Fortunately I thought to mention it to DH because he took her again while we were meeting with the doctor and she balked at the potty, but he knew why and she was fine standing in the hall while he flushed it. She didn't poop at all yesterday (she doesn't have a regular poop time but does go normally once a day - on about a 20-22 hour schedule, sometimes she does go twice). She peed completely by herself this morning. DH left her downstairs watching a train video while he came back up to shower (they were both up before me :o ) and she came up and told us she peed in the potty. I really think she has the peeing thing down (hope I'm not jinxing her for today!). We'll see how long it takes on the pooping thing but she doesn't get much practice. I'm still so impressed considering how long she's sat on the potty without actually ever peeing in it until a week and a half ago and now it seems she has it all worked out.

Susan - glad Brenden is better.

Joanne - can't wait to hear what Caitlyn thinks of seeing Dora and crew in person.

Becky, I'm glad Katie travelled so well. I was wondering how it went. It does sound like she'll transition to a bed/new room fairly well. I'm glad you had a good visit and hope getting caught up at work doesn't wear you right back out!

Nori - that is interesting about the band-aids. Lainey loves stickers and would put a band-aid on every conceivable owie if she could. Maybe his skin is more sensative.

Kim

[paula]

Another note on the large children's consignment sales. I went searching online for more local locations, and I found this site: http://home.comcast.net/~sbreaden/outsideGAsales.htm Interestingly, it is based in GA, but it does lists sales in many other states and lists all four MD Mothers of Multiples sales.

Kim, I have put a Pull-up on the kids O/N, but they are both awaking dry. We have also decided to use Pull-ups for our 1+ hr commute. Alex can't tell and/or doesn't care when he is wet while wearing a Pull-up. Rachel is very proud to "see the stars" that indicate that her Pullup is still dry.

Interesting gender story about the Pull-ups: when I first went shopping, the store only had pink ones; and therefore, I only bought pink ones. DH was not happy with Alex wearing pink underwear, and the next time we went shopping, he bought a box of blue ones. However, Alex has decided that he would rather wear a pink Pull-up and that he particularly prefers the ones with the "blue princess," ie Cinderella. I figure the blue ones will get used once the pink ones are all gone. I am not sure how long I will require a Pull-up for the commute. Unfortunately, there are very few bathroom options along the trip.

Paula

[MrsReber]

Paula, congratulations on the potty training. I had to laugh at the pink vs. blue pull up. When Casey switched to underwear all the time, we had a few princess pull ups left. DH would put them on Brenden and, oddly enough, I was the one who felt weird about it. Brenden does really like the color pink, though. When given a choice of colors, it ranks pretty high up there. I think he likes green best of all right now.

Well, DH emailed me to say the kids are home with MIL. I have no idea why since they're fine. I called her to see if she needed anything. I could hear the kids screaming and running around like crazy in the background. DH is trying to justify them being home by saying they haven't missed a day yet this year and how Casey sounded bad when she woke up. He doesn't realize that she's old enough now to understand if she doesn't feel well, she stays home. She's been trying to entice me to let her stay home because "I'm sick." She's also trying to get me to medicate her, but she wants to choose which medication she takes. Needless to say, she didn't get anything. The doctor also said she didn't need anything. I keep trying to explain to DH that masking all the symptoms does little to remedy the illness. I give Brenden the prescription decongestant because his nose was running like crazy and his eyes were watering. He was having trouble doing anything because he constantly wanted to wipe his nose. Otherwise, I like to let these things run their course without medication. I think that in some cases, it may make the illness last longer. In any even, there was really no reason to keep them home today.

Kim, that's great that Lainey is doing so well. I know it'll be a big help when the baby arrives. I remember many, many, months of having to change 2 diapers. It was not fun and it was quite expensive.

Joanne, I'm curious to hear about Caitlyn's reaction to Dora, too. My kids are so funny when they see something on stage in front of them.

[Julia1Pin]

Congratulations Lainey!
Congratulations Alex and Rachel!

We're starting to make some progress also. Abigail will now take off her clothes at home and sitty on the potty but nothing is happening yet. I can't figure out why she's fine at school! I'll pick her up today and go to BRU and let her pick out a new potty. Maybe that will help.

Well, Nicole is now crawling backwords and getting this perplexed lookk on her face. I guess all it took was for me to worry.

MY MIL decided that we weren't feeding Nicole enough so after fighting with our nanny decided to feed her at 4pm and 5pm. Why? Becuase Nicole only had formula at 2pm, and formula is not food:eek: :eek: WTF??? So Nicole threw up at 6:15pm (they were gone by then). I pulled the explanation out of my nanny because she didn't want to tell me because my MIL would be mad at her. Also, she trimmed Abigail's hair, and didn't tell us!!! This woman is out of control. DH is supposed to talk to her this week.

Tyra - Did you happen to notice that SF was sunny Friday and Monday but foggy on Saturday when we were there :rolleyes: ?

Nori - Abigail loves the cookie monster band aids, but only when she's not really hurt. I guess it's psychological.

Becky - Welcome back. What a great traveler Katie is!

I did order the dream desk. It is supposed to arrive next week. I think I'm going to turn our spare bedroom into the kids playroom and take back the living room. DH used to have his office in the spare bedroom but since we leased a place he doesn't really work from home anymore.

[nori]

Julia, why your MIL was at your place? I must have missed something. Anyway, she's way over the line. And for Nicole, formula IS food!!!! Poor Nicole, she must be fed up to her throat!! That'll be nice if you could have a play room and take back a living room. I doubted it, though, because no matter what we do, it seems like the living room attracts toys the most.:rolleyes:

SusanR, I just remembered I read before that MIL is going to stay in NJ for now. Oh well.:( Hope today went okay for everyone. Brenden is outgrowing size 4 underwear!? Wow, he's a big boy!

Kim and Paula, congratulations on successful potty training (so far;) )! I guess Noah'd be the last one to be in the diaper on this thread, probably. Paula, you said that you told twins that no more diapers on one morning. I don't remember well, but did they sit on potty (and pretty familiar with the potty) before that? Or did you "force" it? I'm just wondering, because Noah totally refuses to do anything but a diaper so I'm at loss what to do next.

Julia, congrats on Nicole stated to crawl!! Mary Ann is tring to lift herself up, too, like trying to crawl. Noah didn't crawl for long time so it'll be interesting to see how she will do.

We made some Easter cookies today. I didn't have meringue powder so I couldn't make royal icing, so I just used powdersugar icing, which worked out fine, although I can't stack those cookies at all. Noah loved to roll and use cookie cutters! We'll bring a plate to the gathering tomorrow. I want to make another batch using royal icing. I've never done that, though!

[tbb113]

Julia: I did notice how the weather changed (for the worse) for your trip. But since you live where its nice its no big deal that you missed the 85 degree weather ;) Its supposed to get even worse this weekend and rain some more. I was so hoping it was going to stay warm.

[Julia1Pin]

Tyra - one problem. I am cooped up inside an office all day. It's going to rain this weekend here too.

[tbb113]

So am I. At least here I have windows to look out of ;) But think how disappointing the weather would have been if you were flying in from Chicago. Then again, grey, foggy and 60 sure beats grey, snowing and 20 :D Its all relative

[MrsReber]

Originally posted by tbb113
So am I. At least here I have windows to look out of ;) But think how disappointing the weather would have been if you were flying in from Chicago. Then again, grey, foggy and 60 sure beats grey, snowing and 20 :D Its all relative

Depends on how you look at it. I can live with 20 and snowing if I'm unable to go to work! :D

[paula]

Nori,
Potty training has been a long and gradual process for us, and remarkably similar to what Susan and Brenden went through. Over the past six months, we have transitioned from playing with the small plastic potties, to sitting on them fully clothed, to sitting on the undressed, to occassionally having "an accident" while sitting on the potty, to learning to "pee-on-command". I also think a full-open door policy at home and exposure to peers at school has helped. There is only one kid (out of 12) in their room at school who is fully trained, but there are several kids in various stages of pull-ups, and everyone "tries" during diaper change time. My decree of no more diapers came after months of preparation and with a significant amount of confidence that both kids were comfortable and knew what to do. And, Rachel had a perfect day yesterday - not a single accident! Alex's record is a bit more spotty. I am not sure how badly it went because he didn't bring home any wet clothes, but his sheet from daycare lists two times when he was wet??? We'll see how today goes.

I don't know whether this is important or not, but over the weekend, we re-read the potty training section of Happiest Toddler on the Block, and both kids met every one of his criteria for potty training. He only has a couple of pages on this topic, but I was reassured to have his assent.

I don't mind 20 degrees and lots of snow either because I too like snow days. It is nice to get an extra vacation day. The only problem is when the powers-that-be take a long time in deciding to close our facility. Then, I have to stress for a while over whether or not it is safe for me to drive and should I wake and prepare the kids or will they eventually cancel.

Congratulation to Nicole regarding crawling. Rachel was nearly ten months before she learned to crawl, but was walking almost three weeks before Alex. I guess I have a constant reminder that every child is different.

Paula

[MrsReber]

Paula, it is funny that all kids seem to go through very similar stages with potty training. I still tend to think a lot of it is based on physical ability. I was talking to my SIL about it when we were working with Casey. SIL said she had the same problems with my niece, especially pooping in the potty and that most kids have that problem. She loaned me her copy of Dr. Spock. Reading it made me feel that everything was perfectly normal. Of course, I didn't find any helpful hints in the book. It just took some time.

Everything went okay yesterday with MIL. I just don't like some of the things she'll say to the kids. She was asking Casey last night if she'd go to Sunday school because it'd be good to grow up Christian. Um, isn't that up to us as her parents? She is still upset that we never had our kids baptized. She said they won't go to heaven now. :rolleyes: . I'm not against religion, it's just that I wasn't brought up going to church so I'm on the fence about it right now. I would eventually like to see the kids involved because I can see what a difference it makes in my sister's kids. They are so kind and always thinking of others. They like to be involved in the community, too. We have gone to church a few times, but we're not sure if we can committ ourselves at this point. But anyway, she even got the kids to nap, so she did quite well.

Nori, I like the idea of Easter cookies. Casey asked last night if we could make cookies again- "the kind that you roll." My poor KA mixer has been sitting idle. It needs to do something so that might be on the list for the weekend. Casey has her own little rolling pin that she likes to use.

I finally got the cold that DH, Casey and Brenden have. It took a while.I was hoping I wouldn't get it, but I woke up with a scratchy throat and some sinus pressure this morning. DH emailed me to say that Brenden fell this morning as they were leaving for daycare. He bit his lip again! That poor kid is never going to have a normal bottom lip. DH said it was awful. Brenden was so upset that he was passing out from crying. I hate when he does that. The doctor said it's normal, but it is so scary to watch. He was also bleeding. That's going to hurt for a while, I'm sure.

[RunnerKim]

It is interesting the various potty training journeys that each kids undertake - how similar and different they are. Lainey's day didn't go as well yesterday. I'm not really clear though on how many accidents she did have. I took home 6 pairs of underwear and 4 pants but one of the teachers said once Lainey said her underwear was wet, so she changed her even though she didn't feel it herself and a couple times it was just very lightly damp. Could be b/c she doesn't wipe herself very well. Such a big difference that I can't believe they were all truly accidents (one was poop and another the pants were still wet when we got home - they tie them up in bags) and she did also pee on the potty there too, so that's a lot of peeing incidents. So we'll see how today goes. 2 different teachers there yesterday (4 regulars that rotate, but they had a sub on Monday) and I feel that perhaps a little of it was their expectations that she'd have a lot of accidents to start off with, but maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. I certainly know the school environement is a lot more distracting than at home. (Nori, remember we don't have a baby in the house right now either. When/if it's warm enough try letting him go bare bottom for awhile - that might help his awareness a lot).

SusanR - I hope the cold is a minor one for you. I have a little one right now that seems to just be hanging out in my throat. Wow - Brenden works himself up so that he almost passes out. I bet that is scary to watch.

Julia - I remember that backwards crawling stage and how perplexed and even upset Lainey would get about it! Your MIL is too much. I don't know why you haven't put duct tape over her mouth yet. Let us know what you think of the computer desk. And best of luck reclaiming your living room :D

Nori those Easter cookies sound great. I've never worked with royal icing before either.

I think I mentioned we took Lainey in for a follow-up appt about her asthma. So DH and I could make sure we had a handle on it etc. Right now Lainey's completely off any medication and the doctor thought she's doing fine and we'll see how the rest of the winter/spring goes (hopefully she won't get another cold - knock on wood!). She spent a lot of time talking with us, I'm so impressed with her. She's raised 2 kids with asthma so has a lot of personal and professional experience that made us feel a lot better. She altered the "protocol" the other doctor had given us and explained why. I remembered to ask her about over-the-counter cough medication and she said yes that large studies have shown it to be ineffective and generally not to waste your money on it. However, if it helps the kids sleep better (and she says for a couple of patients they say it does) then there's no reason not to use it as the medication has proven to be very safe. Makes me feel better for not even thinking to have any in the house despite all Lainey's coughing issues. I know we'd talked about cough syrup a few weeks ago so thought I'd mention it.

Kim

[cchhbb]

Yea Rachael and Alex. Great job. I think I may try Garrett in underpants again this weekend. I might have an appointment in the am, but if I don't I think we will make another attempt.

Kim, I know when I tried underwear on Garrett that he would sometimes come to me and tell me that he was wet and essentially there was just a little dribble in them. He would get really upset if I wouldn't change him so maybe that is what your teacher decided.

Today, we went to Walmart in the morning and then walked down to Borders to read some books. Garrett was being so good walking around looking at the books, not wanting to go far away from me and then all at once he took off running. I chased him down and made him sit down. I told him he was in time out. He was crying his head off. Then I said we had to leave since he ran away from me. He was quite upset not to get one of the bunny books too. I think he is making progress on not running when we are out, but it is such a struggle.

I am exhausted today. Last night, my bible study ran really long. I didn't get home until 10:30. It took me a long time before I was able to fall asleep. Then Garrett got up a couple of times last night. He never does this, but I think his little teeth were hurting. He had a little fever and after some motrin, he crashed again for about 4 hours. Then he was up for good at 5:30. I put him down for his nap a little early and am getting ready to go to bed myself.

I have to fill some Easter eggs today. My friend's twins are sick and she can't make it to church this week to get their eggs in for the big hunt so I said I'd do them for her. Then I have to bring in some for Garrett's class. I think I'll fill them with stickers. I bought a ton of them earlier this year.

Yesterday, I picked Garrett up from school, ran by Burger King and we had a picnic on the screened porch while the cleaning lady finished up. I decided not to continue using her as I just don't think she pays enough attention to detail. I am looking for another one now. Garrett and I then went to Lowe's and ordered carpet for the bonus room. They come to measure on Friday and hopefully it will be installed in about 2 weeks. I can't wait. When we were at Lowe's there were a couple of Nascar race cars parked in front. Garrett really liked them and was upset they wouldn't let him ride in the car. So we went and road on all the lawn tractors. He had to try every single one of them.

I'm off to take a nap.

Cheryl

[JoanneOR]

I've been in a meeting for almost four hours. Yuck! I can't sit still for that long. It's just about time to go home, but wanted to check in here first. :)

Yea Rachel and Alex on potty training! I've always heard girls are a bit easier to train, so maybe that's why Alex is having more accidents. Nori, don't worry, I'm still far from having Caitlyn in underwear! It's more my fault than hers; I just haven't had a stretch of time where we can be home to really work on it. With the boys, I really didn't think they were ready till three; so Noah probably just isn't physically ready yet. Maybe he'll pick it up really quickly once he starts. Kim, maybe because the teachers are inconsistent with Lainey is why she had a few accidents? My boys would do the dribble thing too and cry to be changed when it was only a drop or two in their underwear.

This may be totally psychological, but it's working for me! :) I've been taking that Airborne stuff whenever I feel like I'm coming down with a cold or I've been around someone who's sick. It really seems to work. Tastes horrible, but I can deal with it for a few minutes. It's supposed to lessen your cold symptoms if you are just getting one or stop you from catching a cold if you are in contact with someone who is sick.

Kim, that's great that you found a doctor for Lainey's asthma that you are so comfortable with. I think it helps alot that she has two kids with asthma.

SusanR, religion is such a personal issue, but I'm sure you're not surprised that your MIL thinks it's OK to tell you what she thinks. :) I hope she doesn't say that stuff about going to heaven in front of them. I do send the kids to religious education. Honestly it's not something I feel all that strongly about, but I want them to have the foundation and be able to make the decision for themselves when they are older whether or not they want to practice their religion. I wanted them to make their sacraments, at least communion. I think the way kids are raised at home plays a much larger role in how they interact with others than formalized religion does.

Julia, your MIL is wacky! Poor Nicole! That's great that she started crawling. That's true, as soon as you start to worry, they start to do what you were worried about.

Tomorrow is Dora! I'm really excited. I hope Caitlyn likes it. Then after that we are taking the kids to the waterpark. It's a three hour drive for just one night, but they will have a great time, I'm sure.

Ian was really sweet last night. I got an exercise video in the mail and he asked me why I kept buying them. He said "you don't need to exercise anymore, you're as skinny as the ladies in the videos." It would have been nice if DH said it, but I'll take it from my seven year old. Then he did say, but "they have better hair than you." :) Such honesty!


Gotta run and get my train...

[BeckyM]

Hi Everyone! I'm still here, just trying to catch up on things from being on vacation last week. It's just so hard to return to the "real world"!

Julia -- I agree your MIL is way out of line. She certainly shouldn't be telling your nanny what to do! And to cut your child's hair without your permission is also just awful. I hope she's not always like that!

nori -- Don't worry too much about the potty training -- Katie hasn't made much progress yet either. I haven't really "worked" with her on it, though we've been encouraging her to sit on the potty, and she usually is pretty eager to do it. It took a long time before she would sit on it with a bare bottom, but now she'll even pull her pants down (though sometimes she can't quite get them over her little bottom). She still hasn't actually gotten anything in the potty, but I'm hopeful that it will happen soon, and then things will start to "click" for her. And the Easter cookies sound good too. We made some St. Patrick's Day and Easter cookies while I was at my mom's house, and that was fun, though we didn't really involve Katie. I guess we should have. I always worry too much about the things she could get into and the possibility of her falling off a stool if she's up at the counter with us. I guess I should just try it and see.

Joanne -- what a great compliment about not needing the exercise videos! And I laughed out loud when I read the comment about your hair. I guess we can't have it all. Enjoy the Dora show this weekend -- I'll be eager to hear about it. Katie loves Dora, even though she's never seen the actual TV show.

Susan -- how awful that your MIL said your kids will never go to heaven because they weren't baptized. As someone else said, I certainly hope she doesn't say that in front of the kids! I've been struggling myself with actually getting to church since we had Katie. I don't always agree with every last aspect of my particular religion (we're Catholic), but I want Katie to grow up with a belief in God and a feeling of religious community. I don't know if DH and I would do a good job of that without actually taking Katie to church and having her go to some sort of religious education, but getting to church is just not happening lately. I admire those of you who do it every week! We did go to church Sunday when I was visiting my parents, and I was pleased that we made it all the way through mass without a major tantrum. Katie did want to run around a lot, so we walked in the back for a little while. Then she was playing in the aisle, and she almost made it down to the altar area before I caught her! Hopefully no one thought she was TOO distracting.

Well, my ultrasound was today, and it looks like Katie is going to have a little sister! The ultrasound technician said she is definite it's a girl, and she showed us the "girl parts", even though they weren't all that clear to us. They didn't look like boy parts to us though, so we trust that she knew what she was talking about. More importantly, everything else looks healthy and normal. The baby was playing with her ears and her feet, and we even have one picture where her toes were up by her mouth! It was so fun to watch. Based on the measurements the technician took, she said our baby weighs about 13 ounces right now, which is just right. It's kinda hard to believe she'll grow so much between now and the end of July!

I've got a meeting tonight, so I'd better get going. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Becky :)

[RunnerKim]

Congratulations Becky on having a girl! With Lainey we were certain she was a girl - well the technician was and I could go along with it once he pointed it out a little better to me.

Joanne - LOL! I say treat yourself to a hair cut/style. :) I was thinking of Caitlyn last night as Lainey was saying that Swiper is only on TV. She has an animal book with a fox in it and will say it's not Swiper. I think she might be a little afraid of Swiper, so I don't know what would happen if she saw him live!

I had my 36 week appt. and it was boring - I was hoping she'd look at tell me I'm 3cm dialated or something. But she didn't look - I know it doesn't mean anything anyway but it would have been fun to know. She's out next week on spring break so I'm not suppose to have my baby then and I'm going to skip my appt. that week too. I'm actually not really that worried about if she's around or not - she ended up not delivering Lainey and the doctor that did was fine and was only there for such a short amount of time anyway. I'd still like to make it to April (well the 2nd - don't want an April Fool's baby!).

I didn't get my Lainey fix today. She's visiting the Young Preschool classroom and was still napping when I went over. I'm pretty sure she's wearing a different color pants than what she was wearing this morning, but I hope it went better today. It's just so strange for her to be "perfect" at home and to have a lot of accidents at school.

DH is a practicing Catholic and is raising Lainey (and #2) Catholic. I am not Catholic (nor Christain) and thus it's completely on him to cover that area. We have many friendly discussions/debates about Catholicism and religion in general and I hope the kids grow up with an appreciation and respect for different views as well as a foundation for their own belief system.

Kim

[tbb113]

Regarding religion. I'm a Jewish, my ex was raised Catholic. We chose to raise the boys as Jews because it was more important to me than it was to him (and truthfully, he is non-religious at this point). I know that his mother had a hard time with it (she is fairly devout). When Michael was about 5 months old, she told me she was just glad we were raising him as SOMETHING. When the boys ask me why they are Jewish, I tell them because it was important to me and that they need to learn so they have something to rebel against when they get older :D

Given my understanding of Christianity, its not surprising that Susan's MIL feels that way about heaven. If she didn't, she wouldn't really believe in the teachings of her church. Hopefully, she doesn't verbalize them in front of the kids, but if she does, a simple, I know that is what you believe, but I/we believe that all good people go to Heaven should calm the kids. Personally, I don't think a child of Casey's or Brenden's age has a clue what she is talking about anyways....

[Julia1Pin]

Becky! Congrats on having a 2nd girl! I thought I'd be upset about not having one of each but I absolutely love it! We're done with having kids and I don't miss not having a boy.

Today I was invited (random selection) to a Q&A session with Bob Iger (new head of Disney, taking over from Michael Eisner). It was really cool and I even got to ask a question about Working Moms. He seems very in tune with Working Mothers, which is great!

Nori - My MIL spends Sundays at our house, which is both a blessing and a curse. She is normally terrific with the kids, and treats me extremely well. But sometimes I just want to smack her!

Joanne - That was so awesome of Ian. What a nice son! And so observant ;)

Cheryl - You're such a busy and active mom.

Abigail has been much more willing to sit on the potty at home this week. But she won't ever "go" in it. I wonde rwhy it's so different at school. This morning she did pee on the floor in her Bedroom :rolleyes: At least the floors in our house are tile or wood. Hopefully she will start wearing underwear soon. (I hope I didn't just jinx myself).

[MrsReber]

MIL does say those things in front of the kids. I know they don't get the whole heaven thing yet, but if she keeps it up, they're going to be asking questions about it. My problem is that, since I wasn't brought up with any religion, I really can't answer those questions. My parents were raised as Jehovah's witnesses. They had a horrible experience when they were first married and ended up leaving the group. My dad's mother would visit the house while my dad was at work and tell my mom that she had to leave him because he left the witnesses! It was very weird. I don't want to offend anyone as I stepped on some toes a while back when I mentioned the Witnesses, however, my parents were very turned off by religion at that point. They sort of put their views on us so we grew up thinking that it was odd to go to church and worship God. They thought that by not educating us at all about religion, they were leaving the door open for us to explore and choose ourselves when we got older. That really backfired, in my opinion. I think all the parents who are taking their kids are doing a good thing because it will give them some basis, whether or not they want to continue or seek out a different religion. I'm just totally clueless. I like the values that church teaches our children, but I'm not sure I believe in some of the things they teach. It also seems to be bigger in other parts of the country. I honestly don't know many people who go to church so it's not a community thing for us at all.

Bekcy, that's great that they could tell you're having a girl! Personally, I love having a girl and boy, but it doesn't matter in the end. We all love our babies no matter what. At times I think I would've loved seeing Casey with a sister because of the friendship I have with my own sister. In any event, it's just great seeing 2 siblings growing up together.

Kim, that is strange that Lainey does so well at home. Our kids were the exact opposite. They did great at school and then had accidents at home. All in good time. It sure sounds like she's almost there. Too bad they didn't do an internal exam at your appointment. I always liked knowing how and if things were progressing. Wow, you are so close!

Joanne, have a great time at Dora! I'm very curious to hear about it. Is it the Pirate Adventure you're going to see? When I looked on line, there seemed to be another Dora show going around, too. We have the Pirate Adventure DVD at home so both kids pretty much know the story. They really like that story, too.

Funny abou you not needing the videos! Casey told me the other day that she wants to "grow up to be pretty, just like you mommy." She also asked if we could all get married together- her, Brenden, DH and me. She wants us to always be together. She's been complaining about going to school, even though she loves it there. I asked her last night if she's happy at school. She said "I like it, but I also like you guys."

Erin, I have a cookbook that had tips for letting kids help. One thing that was mentioned was putting everything on the child's level so that you wouldn't have to worry about things falling. If you have a little table and chair that you could move into the kitchen for rolling dough, that'd work great. And realize that you'll have a mess no matter what. I have had sprinkles spilled all over the place. You just have to expect messes and do what you can to alleviate the possibility. Also, you never know how long the attention span will last. I've had Casey take forever to roll out a piece of dough and cut some shapes (use big shapes for fewer cookies or you could be there forever!) and I've also had her lose interest after a few minutes and leave the room. Decorating the cookies seems to be the biggest thing- sprinkles, chocolate candies- any kind of decoration.

[RunnerKim]

Erin - yep, as Susan says, you do have just be prepared to have a mess to some degree. Lainey does stand on a stool and we have't had any problems with her falling off of it (it's a step stool). She likes to play in the sink a lot actually - I have a very diluted thing of dish soap that she uses. She's also big on sampling everything. Like Casey, sometimes she'll help with everything and other times she moves on pretty quickly.

Julia - how neat that you got to be in a session with Bob Iger. I've always had a lot of respect for Disney's HR/family policies so I'm glad to see he's in sync. Have you asked Abigail's teacher's what their routine is for the potty? Maybe there's something they do there that you could replicate at home?

Anyone have hints on poop-training? Does it just take more time and practice on Lainey's part? She only goes about once a day and we can guessitmate when that will be (about a 20 hour schedule) and we can often tell she needs to b/c she'll initiate sitting on the potty w/o peeing.

Kim

[nori]

Thanks for some reassuring that it's not still "unusual" that Noah's not so interested in potty training.:o I sometimes feel like I want to "force" him to sit on potty (stripping his pants etc.) but I know that it'd traumatize him, probably. He already has bob the builder underwear which he wanted to wear before, but now he's not so interested in it. Now, I mentioned him that there's Nemo underwear and his eyes sparkled. I might get one, but I'm not going to let him even try out. This will be when he's ready to use potty. As I said before, last few days I noticed his diapers get soaked even faster than before. And we only have half a box of diapers left, so I probably have to go and get another box. Oh well.

Becky, how fun finding out the gender of the baby. I bet they'll be best friends together.

About religion, we're Christian and we're going to give kids basics about what we believe, so that they can make decisions later by themselves. We didn't baptize our kids....our church had "baby blessing" event and Noah was there when he was almost a year. I think this is very personal issue and MIL shouldn't have any place to say something like that.

Joanne, have fun at Dora show! And how cute Ian told you about the exercise video!! Do you exercise when kids are around? I do my DVD exercise most of the time when kids are awake and Noah even does some moves with me, wich is very funny.

Kim, no advice on poop-training;) but that's great Lainey's progressing that much. And that's nice to find a doctor you like for Lainey. What a relief!!

Um....I'm thinking it was Becky who mentioned about making mess with cookie making?:confused: :) I have to admit, it gets pretty confusing as the thread gets longer. Anyway, Noah's interest was more to eating cookie dough than helping me. This time he used cookie cutters and rolled a little (I didn't let him that much...we have to get another small pin he can use!). Decoration part, he just couldn't wait to eat so I decorated one very quick and gave it to him. Rest of them I decorated while kids were napping. We did this on dining table (not formal kind), just because my kitchen is so small and not much counter space. Of course mess was expected, but in this way you don't have to worry about her falling from the chair trying to reach the countertop?

Julia, how cool you got to meet the new CEO and that's great he's very eager to hear working moms! And that's nice that your MIL is usually good to you. What a great help she must be to you!

Cheryl, sorry to hear about Garrett's meltdown at the store (or was it runnigng away??). It is stressful when kids don't listen to you in public. Great idea using stickers for Easter eggs!! Noah's very much into stickers I might use them as contents since I don't want to bomber him with candies.
:D I'm thinking to do egg hant this year for him in our backyard. We had one at the playgroup and he enjoyed it a lot! Hope you had a nice nap.

[hrk]

Happy Friday everyone.
I have been lurking but just haven't had time to post these days.

Becky-Congrats on having a second girl. I hvae had friends tell me that they loved having two of the same gender cause it was so much fun to compare and contrast personalities.

To everyone potty training- best of luck and continued success. We aren't there with Logan yet, but I think we are getting close. Of course he won't be two til May so we are in no hurry. He has always fussed from the time he was little when he was idrty so I can see him wanting to get out of diapers.

Susan- When are you guys heading to Cargenie Hall to see your family, it's soon isn't it? That is very cute about Casey wanting all of you to be together.

Joanne Have fun at Dora. I am sure Caitlyn will love it, if for no other reason than she has you to herself.

We have a quiet weekend planned. DH has a root canal scheduled for tomorrow, and Logan and I are supposed to go to a local childrens book fair so that he can rest afterwards. Sunday is a playdate for Logan, but other than that watching college basketball all weekend. It is actually one of the few things Logan will watch for a little while on TV. He screams yeah when they make a basket and then yells at them to run, it is so funny to watch. Gee you think DH and I watch alot of basketball;)

Heather

[MrsReber]

Heather, Carnegie Hall is on Easter Sunday. I have to talk to my dad and my little sister this weekend. My sister will be in NY all week, but I probably won't see her because they have events planned for the group. I'm not sure when my dad and stepmother are flying in. They were trying to arrange business meetings so they wouldn't have to pay for the airfare. In any event, we'll all be having dinner afterwards. I can't wait. I have a feeling the kids will fall asleep during the concert since it's 1-4 in the afternoon. DH told his mom that we'd love to go to SIL's for Easter dinner. I said "uh, honey, what are we doing on Easter Sunday?" Took him a while to figure it out. We'll have plenty of events with the in-laws in the next 2 months. There are five birthdays (one of them is MIL's birthday!), one graduation, Mother's Day and then Memorial Day. MIL might also have a "graduation party" for SIL. She graduated college 15 years ago, but she just recently said she was mad that she never got a graduation party :rolleyes: . I want to hide for the months of April and May.

Heather, your poor DH. Doesn't sound like much fun!

Casey asked me on Monday if we could go watch a basketball game. I have no idea why since we don't watch it at home. Of course, the season is over for her 2 cousins who play on the school teams.

Nori, my kids try to exercise with me. I have a stability ball and a bunch of hand weights. Casey uses the 3 or 5 lbs weights. Brenden was walking around with a 5lb weight in each hand the other day! I'm just worried they're going to drop them on their toes. They like to use those resistance bands and they ask me to tie them to the doorknobs.

Kim, poop just takes longer, unfortunately. I think there's a bigger psychological aspect with that for some reason. Both of my kids didn't want to poop on the toilet. My brother's wife loaned me her Dr. Spock book that explained kids have a sense of ownership over it and thus aren't so willing to give that up. It seemed odd, but almost made sense. Didn't give me any helpful hints! What finally got Casey to really try was the promise of a trip to the store with DH to buy gummy worms. Brenden didn't need that kind of motivation. It was a bit easier with him, but it did take time. If he didn't have a diaper on and he had to go, he'd beg me to put a diaper on him or he'd put a pull up on by himself. Once at Thanksgiving he didn't have a diaper on and I encouraged him to go sit on the toilet. He did go, but he looked at me like something awful had just happened, like it was a traumatic experience.

I signed up to bring strawberry ice cream for Casey's class and jellybeans for Brenden's class for the "Spring Fling" next Thursday. I'm guessing a half gallon of ice cream will be enough? They'll also have chocolate and vanilla. It's for 18 kids. I don't want to seem cheap, but I think a whole gallon would be too much?

[RunnerKim]

Susan, I think a half gallon will be plenty for 18 kids. They don't eat that much of it, especially if there's other treats to be eaten. I just love your ILs - that they're yours and not mine ;) Graduation party 15 years later. If it had made her that made, she should have hosted one herself.

Heather that's cute about Logan and basketball. When we were watching baseball Lainey would get in to it too - but she didn't always cheer for the appropriate team.

Nori, I did that thing with thinking I had bought my last box of diapers and it seems a sure fire why for it NOT to be the last box. We're doing a little Easter egg hunt too - my sister's boys will come over too. Last year I dyed the eggs and Lainey used a sponge kit to decorate them that worked well, plus I did some plastic eggs.

Okay, I'll just give the poop thing time to work itself out. Wasn't sure if there was something more I should be doing. Lainey was pretty much accident free yesterday - they apparently put a diaper on her before lunch (nap is right after) and she asked to have it taken off to use the potty and the teacher gave her the option of not putting it back on for nap, and she chose not to and had an accident while she's sleeping. I don't count that at this point. (she had pooped in her morning diaper so we didn't have that issue yesterday). So a good day in that regards.

I had the official letter from the director yesterday saying Lainey was next to move up to the Young Preschool room. She'll start there on April 4th (with transitioning time until then). There are 2 open spots right now and the other child selected doesn't have a birthday until 10/31 and there are 3 other Sept. girls but none of them are very far along with potty training, so they're pretty serious about that being a criteria! We'll meet with her new teachers some time next week, I'm curious what all the changes will be. I know she now gets to actually walk (and not sit in a the buggy) for the outings. They have a rope that they all hold on to. I think the ratio jumps from 1:4 to 1:7 and we pay $100/month less. Yeah for that part!

So now I just have to wait and see when #2 decides to make an appearance and how much that disrupts lainey's transition.

Last night Lainey was refusing to get in her car seat to go home (after the bus). DH "threatened" that if she didn't get in/buckled she'd have to walk home. And of course what does Lainey choose - to walk home! DH didn't mind at all though. It's about a mile walk. So I drove home and she ended up walking about 2/3 of it - requested her car seat 3 seperate times. Then she said she had to use the potty so DH picked her up and rushed home. She then didn't sit on the potty/pee for another 10 plus minutes or so (hmmmmmm). I'll be curious how willingly Lainey gets buckled in tonight.

Happy Friday!!

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, I love the Lainey story with the carseat. For some odd reason, my kids have never complained about getting in the car seat. Dora always put her seatbelt on "so we can be safe!"

That's great about the price reduction for the next daycare room. It's such a relief when the cost acutally goes down. I'm still pretty surprised that they push the potty training so much. I guess it's a good thing in the end. Diapers are expensive!

I'm so bad today- don't feel like working at all. It's so quiet here, too. We did get notice that they're changing our benefits packages, which includes the severance package. Can't wait to see what happens with that.

[paula]

Quick suggestion regarding Easter eggs.

We did two dozen over the weekend and had great luck using traditional tablet dyes with a cheap plastic device that looks like two spoons connected like scissors. I don't know what they are called and I don't have time to look for a picture, but I picked them up from the Easter display at the grecery store. The kids practiced picking up eggs with plastics eggs and cups of water, and then did a great job of dipping hardboiled eggs. The scissor-like devise was much easier than the little metal ring that comes with most egg-dye kits.

Paula

PS Happy Birthday Helene!

[HRJ]

Susan, I think a half-gallon for kids that age will be more than enough -- I remember I bought *way* too much ice cream for Victor's birthday party last year.

Enjoy your sister and brother's concert -- that sounds like such a wonderful opportunity for them. You've probably mentioned, but I forgot -- how old are they?


Kim, I also agree that poop just takes longer -- in addition to the psychological aspect, I think sitting down on a seat to poop is just a more awkward thing, physically. When Victor was toilet training, he'd tell us when he had to poop, and even go into the bathroom, but then he'd often end up going in his underwear anyway. We worked really hard on hustling him into the bathroom, pulling down his pants for him, and trying to lower him gently (or, I'll admit, in some cases, not-so-gently) onto the potty every time he told us he had to poop, or even when we suspected poop was on the horizon. After a little while, he seemed to get used to it.

I think it also helped, though, that he had no "issues" with the idea of his poop going into the potty, and later, the toilet -- this may be TMI, but he actually used to like to look into the potty/toilet and try to figure out what his poop "looked like" -- ie, "today it's a turtle, mommy!" and he also really liked to watch it flush -- still does, actually. Sometimes he yells, "bye, poopy!" :rolleyes:

One of the problems we still have, sometime -- again, TMI coming -- it that sometimes he'll go pee standing up, and not seem to realize that he also has to poop, and he won't be able to turn around and climb onto the toilet seat fast enough, so he ends up pooping on the floor in front of the toilet. He gets very, very upset when that happens. (those of you with girls should be glad you can avoid this dilemma).

About religion -- I'm Jewish, and we had a conversion ceremony for Victor last summer, so now he's Jewish, too. This was an issue that DH and I discussed as soon as we got engaged, and we've always agreed that we'd raise our children as Jews. I was raised in a fairly observant household, and while that's not the kind of atmosphere in our house now, it is important to me to incorporate the traditions and moral/ethical values of Judaism into our lives. Next year, we'll probably start Victor in a Sunday morning preschool program at a synagogue.

As for DH, he was raised in a very non-religious home -- his parents took him to the Methodist church when he was young, but they really weren't too enthusiastic about organized religion; they lived in some rural areas when DH was growing up, and I get the idea that going to church was as much about the social connections as anything else. They stopped going when he was a teenager. He's very interested in spiritual/theological matters, but doesn't follow Christian belief; he has done a lot of reading about Judaism since we've been together (sometimes I think he knows some of the "rules" better than I do!), but he's not interested in "signing up" with any particular religion. I have to admit, my mother used to ask DH every so often whether he'd like to convert, but she never argued or tried to pressure him when he told her how he felt. She hasn't brought that up in a very long time. I have no idea how my MIL feels about Victor's conversion -- when we told her, all she said was, "Oh." But, that's typical.

Heather, good luck with DH's root canal. Do you have any favorite teams you're following in the NCAA tournament?

Nori, I think Noah's going to surprise you some day, and decide he wants to use the potty. ;)

Becky, congrats on having another girl! I think everyone comes to find whatever gender combination of kids they have as "normal." For instance, even though we told the adoption agency that we had no preference whether we got a boy or a girl, I have to admit, when I used to think about what it would be like having a child, I always visualized having a little girl. Then, of course, we got a boy -- and, I really mean this, I honestly can't even imagine what having a girl would be like at this point -- having a boy just seems like the most natural thing in the world to me now.

When Victor helps in the kitchen, we either work at the kitchen table, or he stands on a kitchen chair at the counter. And yes, there's always a huge mess! (Of course, I can often manage to make a mess all on my own.)

All we have scheduled for the weekend is a trip to our accountant, to get our taxes started. Ugh. I have a huge file with all the tax stuff just stuffed in it, no organization at all. I don't even know when I'm going to have time to get it together in some decent fashion.

And, we're going to go out tomorrow night (DH, Victor and I) to celebrate my birthday. (which is today). Victor has been so cute -- all morning, he's been saying, "It's my mommy's birthday -- we're going to have a party!" After dinner tonight (we're getting takeout Italian), we'll have ice-cream cake.

And -- I know at least Susan will appreciate this -- Victor thought it was really cool that my age is now "Gordon's number, twice!" ;) (I'll let the rest of you figure out what that is! :D ).

Helene

[Julia1Pin]

Happy Birthday Helene!

I just find it so amazing that even though we're in different parts of the country we pretty much have similar issue going on all the time.

Well my MIL is a crazy lady. DH confronted her and she started crying and saying that she does so much for us and that she just wants what's best for our kids and that she didn't do anything wrong. She told DH that she wouldn't do anything for us anymore. DH said fine. When he talked to her a few minutes later she infered that we weren't going to let her see the kids again. DH said, "I didn'y say that, you did". We just want her to abide by our rules. Then she called at yelled at our nanny and called her a bad, dis-honest person and a liar and that she was going to tell everyone not to treat her very well (well except for us, sinc eshe has no say over that). MIL has this amazing knack to turn everything around and make herself the victim in everything. At least DH sees that.

[RunnerKim]

Happy Birthday Helene! DH's birthday is tomorrow and Lainey's been talking about making his "Happy Birthday cake" all week. I think our household runs pretty much along the same line as yours regarding bathroom practices -- although we haven't actually discussed what shape the poop resembles, we do often talk about size, shape etc. etc. Lainey says bye to her own poopy and often ours too. I really liked what you had to say about having a boy (different gender than you expected).

Paula - thanks for the tip on the egg dying method/tool. They have so many options out there these days.

Susan - this is a silly thing to be bummed about but Lainey's easing out of diapers at just the point we have to buy for #2 so I won't get to "feel" the savings. But I am glad I don't have to find additional room to store them.

Kim

[MrsReber]

So you're 8 :D ?? Brenden really wants a Gordon cake. I can't believe he likes the boastful engine. He used to love James. Have a happy birthday. Take out Italian sounds great to me.

Julia, your MIL is as weird as mine! Always the victim and the drama queen. At least we both have DH's who realize these things. It'd be a whole different story if they defended these insane women. It's one thing to want the best for her grandchildren, but entirely another thing to be so rude to your nanny and to do things that she knows you wouldn't like. If she thought that extra feeding was so harmless, why would she tell the nanny not to tell you? That's awful. She doesn't need to create a situation like that between you and the nanny.

Kim, I see your point about not seeing the savings since you were only buying diapers for one child. I can say from experience, though, that buying diapers for both kids was a major monthly expense. I know Paula understands that all too well! Happy birthday to your DH!

I got an egg dying kit that had sparkle paints in it. It came with 3 little sponges to sponge paint the eggs. First you dip them in the colored dye and then you sponge paint over that. We did that last year and the kids had a blast. They seemed to enjoy it again this year, too. It's very easy for them to do. I didn't let them dip the eggs. I don't eat hard boiled eggs so I'm pushing them on DH.

We have similar bathroom discussions. Lately, the kids put the toilet lid down and press their ears against the lid while they flush. I have no idea why or where this came from. They do say "bye poop!" and Casey told me the other night that her poop had rocks in it. I keep telling her to eat more vegetables and that won't happen.

[tbb113]

Happy Birthday Helene. Hope you have a wonderful day.

[tbb113]

Helene and Heather: Just a heads up. Thursday night is Purim. The local temple here is putting on a Purim Carnival this Sunday for its religious school (actually the 10th grade confirmation class is putting on the carnival). You might want to check and see if any of the temples/JCC's in your area are doing anything this weekend.

[nori]

Happy belated birthday, Helene! Hope you enjoyed your dinner out!

About Easter egg decorating...do you keep them outside (not in fridge) to display until Easter, and what do you do with those eggs.....would you eat them? Last year we made just a dozen right before Easter and kept them in fridge so we could eat them eventually. But I'd like to do that this week, then enjoy displaying them until next Sunday. Should I just consider those eggs as decoration-only? It's nice to get reviews of those products here. I'm going to buy some soon and try them out with Noah.

Helene, that poop thing about Victor made me LOL. How funny. Noah also says "bye-bye poopy!" when I flush it in the toilet. And I noticed today that when I was changing him (wet diaper), he said that he wants to flush his poopy. I don't htink he can still recognize poopy and pee difference. Maybe he's not ready yet....but I hope you're right about Noah surprising me by using potty one day! I don't mind that surprise at all.

SusanR, your MIL is something. Graduation party after 15 years??! I think she just wants to have an opportunity to have attention from everyone. I also think half gallon would be enough for kids, especially because they'll have something else to eat, too. That sounds like fun. Hope your company's serverance package won't change, or change to something positive to your benefit. How stressful!

Kim great news on childcare cost reduction! Just in time for your second's arrival, huh?

Heather, hope your DH's surgery went well. That's funny Logan likes basketball game! Noah loved watching football when it was in season. On Saturday, he demands that he'd watch the game on TV.

Julia, what a drama queen your MIL is. All those MIL talks makes me think about what would it be like if I still had MIL around. I'm sure she would have been great, but you never know. There's always pros and cons, though. You just can't have them all.;) It's nice of your DH to talk to her, though.

So my laptop computer is broken and won't turn on. DH took it to work to fix it this morning, spent entire morning in the office but came back with a bad news...it IS broken. So, only way to save my stuff in there is to get the exact same model and replace the harddrive. I had my mastercook, my journal, a lot of records, etc. in there, so when he said he couldn't fix it I was so shocked and I started to cry. (I hadn't done any backuping for a while either...) But he found the same model on eBay and we won the bit at about 80 bucks. So with shipping, it's 100 bucks which I agreed to pay from my personal account (like my pocket money). I'd do anything to save my Mastercook!!! Plus all e-mail stuff is in there, so if I can't get it, I'd be in a big trouble. The new ( but not brand-new) laptop should be here in a week or so. Until then, I have to use my DH's Linux machine.

This morning I took both kids to grocery shopping (since DH was gone), although it was raining outside. I had Mary Ann sitting in the cart for the first time (until now I'd been doing Baby Bjorn). Noah was so funny. Now he wants to help picking produce and putting stuff in the cart. So I had to hand it to him each time and he'd put it in the cart. Then he'd push the cart using the bottom part of the bar. Yes it takes twice as much but you know, he's 2 and his favorite saying is "Let me do it!!"

:)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

[MrsReber]

Nori, the hard boiled eggs keep in the fridge up to 3 weeks. I think if I were to use them as decoration, I'd buy some just for that purpose and not eat them. I don't eat them myself, but DH does and Casey surprised me by eating them! I should've known. She tends to like bland foods.

We went to an Easter egg hunt yesterday at one of the orchards around here. I thought it'd be fun. Well, they didn't plan very well! The place was packed. Casey and Brenden got one egg each. Some kids didn't get any eggs. It was over in about 2 minutes, too. I don't think they put enough eggs out. They did have a separate area for the 3 and under crowd, but it was a circle and the eggs were gone in no time. Casey was so disappointed that I'm sorry I even brought them. She said she wanted to go home and have a "cookie hunt." So we made some cookies last night. They don't taste so great, unfortunately. It was a recipe from an ad in the newspaper. They will work for hiding, though. At least I won't want to eat them!

Today is gray and kind of rainy so maybe we'll do our hunt today.

Nori, that's terrible about your computer, but good that you were able to get another one so quickly. I would love a laptop and I never thought to look on ebay. By the way, I got a bogus email last week about me "adding an email address" to my Paypal account. Of course, I didn't, so the message told me to click on the link and log on. When I clicked on the link and logged on, it asked me to verify my account information by putting in my credit card info. Of course, I didn't do that and immediately reported it to ebay. So beware!

It's just me and Casey awake right now so I told her we could play a computer game together. She wants to play Dora. She told me last night that she wished I didn't have to go to work. She told me how when she's bigger, me and her can go to work together every day and not have to miss each other. Sigh. It just kills me inside, especially since I don't really like my job at the moment. I do think I'd have to work at least part time.

Last night, I made the CL lemon ginger pork with snow peas. I think it's in the March issue. It was really good. DH wasn't too thrilled with the ginger. Says it's not his favorite, but he did say it was still very good.

[hrk]

Good morning everyone.

Susan-
Sorry the egg hunt was so disappointing for Casey and Brenden. I find that many places around us don't plan activities very well when kids are involved. And I am sure that Casey missing you is very hard on you.

Nori- Sorry to hear about your computer. I could only imagine how sad I would be if mine crashed. But I am actually very anal about backing it up since we have all our pictures of Logan on there. I am glad you ahve such a great helper at the grocery store. DH and I actually take Logan on Sunday mornings when the store is pretty empty cause Logan loves to help and we use it as a learning adventure, he has to name the stuff before he can put it in the cart.

Helene- Happy Belated Birthday. Hope you had a great weekend.

Julia- Sorry for the headaches with your MIL. I hoope you and DH are able to do what is best for your family without too much heartache.

Joanne- How was Dora? Did you and Caitlyn have fun?

Tyra- Thanks for the heads up on Purim. I am actually really excited about it this year. The temple we joined last year is VERY family friendly. They have a purim carnival at 5:30-6:30 aimed specifically at preschool and under, then everything shuts down and they have the various purim services including their Purim for Tots service, and then they reopen the carnival for school aged children. So it should be lots of fun for LOgan and DH and I love services on Purim so we will get to enjoy it as well.

Well this weekend was quite. DH's surgery went fine, he has a little pain left, but is very grateful he can use both sides of his mouth again.
We took Logan to a childrens book fair Saturday afternoon and we picked up some used books from the Library at 0.50 a piece. They are a little old for Logan right now but the Goddard school is having a used book drive so I may donate them there or just keep them aside.
He was very cute at the book fair, they had a person dressed up like Clifford. Logan would follow him around and then as soon as Clifford would turn around to interact with him he would run away.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.
Heather

[JoanneOR]

Well, Dora was fun, but I'm not so sure Caitlyn was all that thrilled with it! We were pretty high up, which was fine, but I think to her it was just a giant TV show. The first part was 30 minutes and she sat through all of it. We went out for the intermission and walked around a bit. We sat down on some benches outside entrance and she started pulling on me saying, "Dora, wee-wee (her word for TV)!" That's when I realized she probably thought it was just a big TV screen! She only sat for about 15 minutes of the second half and then decided she didn't like where we were sitting and she wanted to go all the way up to the top seats. They were empty, so I followed her up there. Then she decided she wanted to go back down to our original seats. We actually left as they were doing the closing song because she started getting really restless. Good thing, because just as we got to the bottom of the stairs the electricity went out and the music stopped. I'm not sure how long it was out or what they did, but I'm glad we were on the way out! So, I think she liked it and it was good to do something with just the two of us, but I think if she was a bit older she might have enjoyed it more. I think Susan asked if it was the Pirate one, and it was.

After we got home, we picked up the kids early from school and went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells. We only stayed one night because DH had to work, but we had a great time. We really haven't done anything as a family in a long time and it was really good to spend time together. The boys had a great time running around in the water and going down the slides. Caitlyn was a little apprehensive about the water but she warmed up to it. She and I spent alot of time in the hot tub when the boys went down the slides. :)

Susan, sorry the egg hunt wasn't so good. I know what you mean. We've gone to one or two that our park district has done and it's just a mad scramble and the biggest kids usually wind up with the most eggs. We don't go to them anymore. It's not worth the tears! My SIL has been having one at her house the day before Easter for the last couple years. She invites about 20 kids and has tons of eggs. We make sure all the kids get plenty of eggs.

Nori, I'd be pretty upset if my computer crashed. Hope you can get everything back up and running with the new one. Mine has all our photos on it which I've never backed up. I do have some of them at shutterfly, so at least I could go get them from there. Our CD burner has never worked right, so I can't burn them onto a CD. I did lose all of my mastercook recipes a couple years ago when it crashed and I still haven't gotten over it. :( I can't bring myself to enter anymore because I'm afraid I'll lose them again.

Heather, glad to hear your DH's surgery went well. How are Logan's ears? Have you heard any results from the allergy testing? Maybe you already posted, but I missed it.

Nori, I don't think you should eat hard boiled eggs that aren't refrigerated. Although, I remember as a kid eating them. We would leave ours out and then eat them, and I'm still here! :) Although I wouldn't do it now. We keep ours refrigerated. We'll usually wind up making egg salad about a week after Easter to use them up.

Julia, sorry to hear about your MIL. It's good that your DH is talking to her. What a mess!

Happy belated birthday Helene!!

Kim, I guess you have to think of the diaper savings as how much you won't be spending buying two sets of diapers! It would be nice to have a little break with no diapers, though! I'm hoping that day comes soon for us! Each of the boys trained later with pooping on the potty than peeing (the things we talk about here :)). I really don't know why, you'd think that would be easier to control.

Becky, congrats on the healthy girl!

[RunnerKim]

Happy Monday everyone :rolleyes:

Heather, that's exactly how Lainey handles the big costumed characters. She's fascinated by them but doesn't want to actually touch or interact with them. Glad DH's surgery went well and he's recovering.

Joanne - glad you were on the way out, that would be kind of scary to be in your seats when the power went out. Interesting that she thought it was just a giant TV show - I hadn't thought about that reaction. Sounds like a great time at the water park!

Nori - Oh no! I think $100 is a small price to pay to get all your stuff back. We had to wipe our entire hard drive recently to do an O/S upgrade but fortunately we knew it was likely to happen and were able to back everything up first (especially the photos!).

I also wouldn't eat eggs that have been sitting out for that long. If you're worried about the hard-boiled eggs going bad/starting to smell, you could blow the eggs - take a needle and and poke tiny holes in each end of the egg and blow out the insides. I think you also need to use the needle to break up the yolk so it'll come out. Then you have a hollow egg (of course it's more fragile than a hard-boiled one too). We do use our Easter eggs but they're only out of the fridge for a couple of hours. Along with deviled eggs, I think i'm going to try pickled eggs this year - Lainey loves pickled things. My parents always did it and the purple jar of eery white eye-looking things in the fridge seems rather sentimental to me know. :eek:
Paula - I found those tong/scissor style thingies you mentioned and picked it up. We'll see how it goes.

A potty training news is that Lainey actually pooped in the potty this weekend. It was right before nap and I was getting rather impatient as I thought she was just stalling by repeatedly sitting on the potty etc. But viola! Of course on Sunday, she was going around without pants on and pooped right there in the kitchen. She's starting to figure it out anyway. We had one accident at home when her cousins were over - first time at home that she's been too pre-occupied to go on her own. We need to train ourselves to do reminders. She did great while we were out and about - no issues at all with using big toilets (as long as they don't have a loud flush like the one at the doctor's office!). I think she's also learning to go ("empty her bladder") when she doesn't really have to - before bed, on our way out etc.

Not sure what was up with this weekend but she was rather ornery. Our stand-by of giving her choices and her choosing one wasn't working anymore - she'd want neither. It was kind of cute sometimes when we'd make things happen "No thank you Daddy!" so polite about it. We blame it on the couple of days she's spent in the YP classroom ;)

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Yea for Lainey!! Your mentioning the big potty reminded me of a funny thing last week. We were in a restaurant for breakfast in Wisconsin and Caitlyn told me she had to go to the potty. She's never gone on a big one even at home so I wasn't sure how she'd react to it. Actually, I think it was an excuse to leave the table, but anyway we go in the stall and I start to pull her pants down. Well, it was an automatic flushing one and we must have "activated" it somehow because it flushed and scared the daylights out of Caitlyn! Needless to say we didn't use the potty. Then I'm trying to get her pants back up and out of the stall and it flushed a couple more times and scared her again. That probably set us back a bit in the potty training business!

[hrk]

Congrats to Lainey on the continued success with potty training. I love that the preschools and daycares seem to reinforce manners. Logan says please and he is starting to learn that it goes with other things but for a long time we would aak him what he wanted and he would just say "Please"

Joanne- Glad to hear that the show went well and that you guys were on your way out when the electricity cut. That would ahve been scary I am sure. We are taking Logan to the circus this wednesday and DH and I are wondering how long he will sit still for. We shall see.
Glad the family had fun at the waterpark. I think they just opened one of the type you are describing near Willimasburg. It is an indoor water park with a hotel associated with it. I am sure LOgan would love it, as he loves the indoor pool we go to with all the water stuff to play in.

As for the allergy testing we are in a holding state right now. The great news was the blood work came back negative for any kind of immune deficiency, but it also came back negative for allergens. So right now they have Logan on a steroid nasal spray and are seeing if that helps at all, the next step will be a higher level of dog testing and then if that is negative, a milk free diet for a month. DH is very convinced that we are just going to find out this is something he has to outgrow. So we wait until mid april now. Thanks for asking though.
Heather

[BeckyM]

Hi Everyone! I've been keeping up with the thread, but I haven't been finding time to write. Right now Katie is napping, and my "Mexican Chocolate Cake" for supper club tomorrow night is in the oven. I should be cleaning up my baking mess (and folding laundry), but I thought I'd take a quick break and come here.

nori -- I agree about the hard-boiled eggs. I wouldn't leave them out long enough to get warm. I would take them out of the fridge in time to hide them just before the Easter Egg Hunt (assuming you're having one), then just leave them out for a little while afterwards while you're all admiring them and eating chocolate. Then I'd put them back in the fridge until they're eaten. Growing up, my family would usually put a dish of the hard-boiled eggs out on the table for the next few meals so people could look at them and eat them, but at the end of the meal they would go right back in the fridge.

I was also going to suggest the same thing Kim did -- blowing out the insides of the eggs and then decorating them if you want to have them out longer. My mother has some beautifully-decorated blown eggs that she has used for YEARS. She blew out the insides and then decorated them with oil paint swirls. She poured some different colors of oil paint in a bowl of water and swirled them around a bit (not enough to mix, but to swirl), then dipped the eggs in the water and pulled them out (I think maybe with string threaded through the holes in the eggs), leaving multi-colored swirled patterns on the eggs. That was NOT a project she did with us kids! But she still has those eggs and uses them every year for decorations. If you do blow the eggs, even if you use a simple Paas kit for decorating them, I'm not sure how well Noah would do with them. Since they'll be extra delicate, it depends how gentle he is with things.

I bought a Paas coloring kit to try with Katie this year (you all gave me the idea), and when DH saw it, he said, "Isn't Katie a bit too young for that?" I might try giving her an egg or two to color, but I bought a kit with lots of stickers, and I figure that's the part she'll enjoy the most. I looked at the kits with the sponge-painting stuff, but when I read closely, it said the sponge-paint part may stain, and I was paranoid, so I didn't buy that one. Katie isn't really all that into art things yet, so I'm sure stickers will be more her speed anyway.

Joanne -- sounds like you had a great family weekend. It's nice you had a fun excursion with Caitlyn to the Dora show. And the swimming sounds like a neat family adventure. I got some "girl" time with Katie this weekend accidentally. We were going to all three go swimming at the Y (which has a nice little indoor water park that Katie loves), but Katie and I were already in the pool when we discovered DH forgot his suit! So he was going to run home and get it (about a 20 minute drive each way), but he didn't reappear for over 75 minutes! Finally Katie and I got out of the pool, because we needed to get her fed and down for a nap, and DH was there waiting for us outside. Turns out he went to Sam's Club (which was closer than home) thinking maybe he could just buy swim trunks. They didn't have any, but he found a couple really cute outfits for Katie and some cute books for her Easter basket. Usually swimming is an activity where DH takes Katie, and I stay home to get things done, but this weekend was reversed. It was fun to play with her in the pool.

Congrats Kim & Lainey on another potty accomplishment! Sounds like she is definitely on the right track and making great progress. I just have to keep reminding myself that every kid is different, and Katie will make it there when it's right for her. I keep hoping she'll be one of those kids who just all-of-a-sudden "gets it" and goes straight to using with potty with very few accidents. (Maybe those kids are actually a fable though!)

On another "potty" note -- Joanne, thanks for the story / warning about those automatic toilets. I imagine Katie would be pretty startled and scared if that happened to her too! I'll have to be sure to watch out for those once we start needing her to use the public restrooms. I actually don't like those things anyway, because I've had them flush on me right after I've put down the seat cover, before I've had a chance to sit down! I've figured out I need to stay really close to the toilet to prevent it doing that. Then of course sometimes they won't flush after I'm done! :confused:

Susan -- sorry about the awfully-planned Easter Egg Hunt. We went to one of those with two of our nieces when we were visiting them around Easter one year (in the days before Katie). It was very similar to what you described. They did have it divided roughly by ages, but they just set candy out in the grass, had the kids line up, and then let them scramble to get candy. The older niece got a couple pieces of candy, and the little one didn't get any! Luckily the older one shared, and we tried not to let them see how much some of the other kids got. Some of the other kids' parents were even running out there with the kids, scooping up candy for them! :mad: I thought that was WAY out of line, especially when the other kids weren't getting any candy. So now my SIL (the mother of the two nieces) has a nice Easter Egg hunt at their house Easter morning, inviting over some friends, and it's really nice. Last year we were there with Katie, but she was too little to understand to look for the eggs. This year I think we'll just hide some eggs around our living room for Katie to find. Hopefully she'll think it's fun.

Well, I'd better get back to my messy kitchen. I really ought to get it cleaned up and start on dinner! Since this is one of my days off, I try to make something healthy for dinner. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are usually hit-or-miss in terms of an evening meal (meaning we often eat leftovers, frozen food, etc.), but I try to make up for it when I'm home.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Becky :)

[RunnerKim]

OMG Joanne, I never thought of the auto-flushing toilets. I'm glad I'm forewarned about those. I'm sure that would set us back on public potty usage!

Heather - I'm sorry you don't have a more definitive answer about the allergy issue. Very frustrating. How are his ears doing right now?

Becky - it's kind of fun to do the role reversal thing isn't it. For anything involving dye - Lainey wears a bib and often I'll have her take her shirt off too. We have a vinyl tablecloth. She does pretty good with it. She helped me ice some "Easter doughnut cookies" this weekend (KA recipe that I thought was blah but they do look pretty). She actually was able to mimic me and dip just the top part of the cookie in the cups of colored icing. I was going to let her just dip in the side and go back and "fix" hers (since we were giving them away).

Okay I have a question that falls in the TMI catgory. As you all know I had lots of troubles with breastfeeding last time - part of it ended up being an inadqueate milk supply from the beginning. A couple of days ago I got some... discharge (colustrum/liquid??) when I manually expressed (why I did this I don't know - just seeing if I remembered how or something). Could that mean I'll have a better supply this time around or does it not really mean anything significant? Any thoughts?

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Mmmm, Becky, mexican chocolate cake sounds good! I'm trying really hard to cut down on my sweets, though. I'm doing OK with exercise, but am having a hard time with the treats! I've gained some weight, but my clothes don't feel too much tighter, so I'm hoping some of it is muscle. One can hope, right? :)

Those blown eggs sound interesting, but I don't think they'd last too long in my house! I bought some decorating kits, but I'm not sure when we'll get a chance to do the eggs. Maybe Wednesday after school since I'll be working at home that day. Anyone who celebrates Easter doing anything special? I know Susan, you said you are going to Carnegie Hall, right? That will be fun. I don't know what DH's family is doing; no one has said anything. I think they're all waiting for someone to volunteer to cook! My parents are having my aunt and uncle over and we are invited. But, I told DH why don't we go out to a brunch, just our family and then stop by my parents for dessert? I even thought about cooking, but I kind of want to just have a relaxing, low-key holiday. DH said he doesn't care; it's up to me.

I finally called for Caitlyn's two-year old check-up. I know, she's 2 1/2 now. But she had her surgery and then the complications around the time she should have gone. Then she had an appt. and broke her leg so they said to wait. I called and they said just wait until she's three. So, we don't have to go until September. I need to call her cardiologist to make an appt. He wanted to see her in April and they are going to put a 24-hour heart monitor on her. I'm kind of nervous about it and I think I'm avoiding making the appt. because of that. There's a good chance she'll eventually need a pacemaker and he just wants to keep an eye on her which is why he wants to do the monitor. I'm just afraid it'll show she needs one. She hasn't shown any signs of needing it, though. He told us to watch for her tiring easily or sleeping more, which certainly hasn't been a problem!

Becky, that sounds like something my DH would do; stopping at Sam's Club and finding things to buy! We go to Costco alot and I usually find clothes for the kids or me. I love that place.

Kim, I don't really know the answer to your question. But, I think that's something that happens normally when you are close to delivery. I hope it's a good sign for you. Did they have any suggestions about why your supply was low last time? Or things you might try to do to increase it. You're getting pretty close, aren't you? Just a few more weeks? I know it's easy to say, but try not to worry too much about the breastfeeding. I know you had a hard time with Lainey. But, hopefully, things will go smoother this time.

[cchhbb]

Kim, I think the discharge is probably a good sign. I had a meeting with the lactation consultant who worked with Garrett and I and she had some recommendations. 1. Put on more weight (with Garrett I gained 11 pounds, now I'm at 23); 2. Start pumping for 10 minutes after nursing the new baby while in the hospital. As I understand, it is crucial to get supply established. It is very difficult to up supply after a while. 3. Make sure the baby is nursing well before leaving the hospital. Have OB write an order for LC to come in immediately. 4. Have a outpatient LC consultation as soon as milk comes in.

I think with our kids having a difficult time nursing initially, we ended up with supply issues. I asked one of the midwifes at the practice her thoughts and basically that is what she said. We need to make sure these babies have their suck and latch working right and soon since we have had problems in the past with supply.

She also told me to relax. I think I ended up being so mentally worked up about breastfeeding that I hindered my body.

I really hope things work out well for you. I think this time, I am less emotional about the topic. I remember how difficult for me it was to feed Garrett some formula. I really felt as if I failed him. Now I realize that feeding him the formula was the best thing for him. I just know I will not be able to devote the time and energy to breastfeed DS2 if he has the same problems. I remember with Garrett getting about 1 hour off between feedings since I would nurse him, give him a bottle, and then pump. Generally that took about 1 1/2 hours. Obviously, I will not have that time available since I also have Garrett.

Today, I took Garrett to church for the holy week service. Every day there is a 1/2 hour service with a lunch that follows. This is the first time he has gone to services as he usually goes to Sunday School. He was reasonably good. At one point, he was singing wheels on the bus. At the closing prayer, he stood up and said 'There's a Big Cross Up There!' in a very loud voice. I hope to take him tomorrow too, but he has school and we'll see how interested he is in going right after that. At school he has a Easter Egg Hunt. I bet he enjoys it.

Last week, I had a tough love day where I took away the straw cups and made him drink from an open cup. Boy that was painful for both of us. Now he's doing great with an open cup. When he spills he has a total fit though and won't drink any more water. Unfortunately, his class at school requires a sippy or straw cup so I will have to give it back to him tomorrow. I hope it won't cause us problems. I really don't want to go back to the fits we had Friday.

Cheryl

[BeckyM]

Kim -- I don't have the same experience Cheryl does about the breastfeeding difficulties, but I can say that seeing colostrum does seem like a good sign. It sounds like your body is preparing, and I've heard that once your body knows what to do (like making milk), it happens much more easily the next time. I had some very initial problems with Katie, where my milk didn't come in for much longer than is supposed to be normal, but being persistent working with a LC helped me come up with a way to satisfy Katie AND stimulate my milk production. I was so relieved that I was able to breastfeed her successfully after a stressful & worrisome first couple weeks. I remember both you and Cheryl having difficulties previously. I hope both of you have an easier time with it this time!

Becky :)

[nori]

Kim, my milk supply was obviously better than with Noah. With Noah, when I think back, I suppose it didn't come in until later and he was probably not getting enough for a while, although still enough to gain appropriate weight. With Mary Ann, I could feel myself very "full", and it was a big difference from first time around. I wish you and Cheryl a luck this time! I agree that seeing coloustrum coming in is probably a good sign. Oh, and congrats on more success on Potty training. Way to go, Lainey!

Becky, how fun to have girl's time with Katie! And I think Katie'd enjoy doing egg thing this year, especially if you use stickers! We did coloring with Noah last year, which was obviously pretty too early and I ended up most of them, and he ended up cracking several eggs. This year my friend invited us over for egg coloring this Friday so I'm excited.

Cheryl, I think Garrett will get better as he practices more. So he gets upset when he spills? He must be a perfectionist.;) I don't think he'd get confused between using straw cup and open cup. We still use all of them....sippy, straw, sometimes open cup.

Joanne, how funny Caitlyn thought the Dora was on big TV! Glad you both enjoyed it. Good luck on Caitlyn's appointment. And that's good to know that doctors are keeping eye on her heart as well. That's great she's doing so well so far.

Heather, so what was Logan's allergy problem again? (was it in his ears??) Good news on negative results so far. Must be anxious just to wait it out. Glad your DH's surgery went well, too.

SusanR, sorry Casey was that much dissapinted about the not-so-well planned egg hunt. We had a hunt at our playgroup last week, and it was mix of big kids and small kids. We went to this place and they told them to go for looking for eggs, then when you find one, bring it to the basket which was placed in the center of the room, then go back to find more. Then at the end, we all shared those eggs. I think they did it that way so everyone could get some eggs, because we were mixed group. But I thought it was a great way to do it. Noah actually found some, and he was excited. Some little kids opened the eggs anyway and started to munch on, but most of kids did well.

We're invited to my friend's egg coloring party this Friday so I guess that'll be it for this year. I have to talk to her if we need to bring supplies and eggs or not. And I guess I'll be keeping eggs in the fridge, and making salad next week. Personally I don't mind eating them. Last week at the play group we made a lamb from a boiled egg and it's still sitting on the table. I guess I'm not eating that thing.:D

DH's good friend (single guy) will come down to see us over Easter, and he'll stay for a week. So we might go to our friend's house for Easter dinner but other than that, nothing particular. I was thinking about hosting brunch or dinner but we have this friend we usually visit for Easter and she said she'll likely be hosting this year too, so she said we can come along. In that case, we'll bring salad and dessert, I think. I have to come up with recipes. Since I don't have my Mastercook right now (hope I can get it back!!), I have to browse through the Food Board looking for some ideas, I guess.

[MrsReber]

We have a very busy weekend coming up. It's all my family, too, so I told DH he can stay home on Saturday. Friday morning, we'll see Sesame Street Live. My dad called on Sunday to say he will be driving to my house from the city after he sees his clients. He figured my house was easiest since my brother is further south. Anyway, he told me to invite my brother and sister and their families for dinner. He wants us to just get pizza. I'm so excited that we'll get to see him Friday. He's not sure if my stepmother is joining him on that trip or not since she's having business meetings as well and trying to look up every old friend they have. They lived in Manhattan for a number of years. On Saturday, my mom insists on making her Easter dinner (she bought a ham, even though she knew none of us would be spending Easter Sunday with her) so I'll take the kids up there in the afternoon. My sister's kids want to do an egg hunt at Grandma's house, which is a good thing after our experience last weekend. We did one last year for all the kids and they had fun. On Sunday, we all trek into the city for our big day. I'm pretty worried about it because it'll be a lot for my kids. We'll get through it somehow, though. My mom is really bent out of shape that we'll be spending the day with my dad. Easter was never a big holiday for us since we're not religious. She claims my dad doesn't "deserve" to spend any holidays with us. They've been divorced for 30 years now :rolleyes: you'd think she'd be over it by now. She said that my sister is only having dinner with her once over this whole weekend, yet she'll have dinner with my dad TWICE! I said "in five years." She said "what?" I said "it's been five years since she's seen him. How many times have you had dinner with her in five years?" I think that may have helped. I hope.

Joanne, I just know Casey will love Dora. I wondered how the kids would react to The Wiggles and wondered if they thought it was like tv. We were pretty close and they all ran through the audience several times so I knew they understood it was live. It must be scary dealing with Caitlyn's heart issues. I hope she doesn't need a pacemaker just yet. You need a break!

Our "cookie hunt" went very well. I wrapped 3 or 4 cookies in plastic wrap and hid them around the house. There were 10 little packages. I was surprised at some of the places Brenden was looking. I would've made it harder if I knew he'd search as well as he did. After they found them all, Casey told me, Brenden, and DH to leave so that she could hide them for us to find.

Becky, your weeknight dinners sound like mine! I think we're having leftovers tonight. I do try to sort of plan things because it makes it so much easier, but I go through spells where I just stand there and say "I have no clue what to make!"

Nori, I love the idea of the kids putting all the eggs in one basket to share. That's really nice. I told my kids not to open each egg they picked up, but to put them in the bag and keep going. We'll just be doing egg hunts at home now.

We colored more eggs yesterday. Brenden squished one of them. Casey did a nice job decorating with stickers. Neither of them would take a nap! I really tried to at least get Brenden to nap. I thought for sure he was asleep at one point, but he wasn't. He was still up until 9:00! Casey fell asleep between 5 and 5:30 yesterday and pretty much slept through the night! She did get into our bed twice. I gave up after her third appearance. Then Brenden joined us. It wasn't very restful.

My first email yesterday from work was about how we have a new VP! Seems this guy is ready to retire so they put him with us since they know our part of the company is going away after the end of the year. I'm not sure what to think about that. I just know that this place is going to get more and more weird as the year goes on. Totally blindsided all of us.

Well, guess I better get back to work!

[RunnerKim]

Cheryl - I think I have very similar feelings to you. I'm hoping that bf will go tons better this time around - that I and my body will know better what to do. But I'm way over the "don't want to use formula/do anything and everything to make bf work" feelings. In fact, I actually bought a can of formula to have on hand, figuring I can easily donate it if I don't need it. I hadn't thought about pumping at the hospital, but was planning to go see the lactation consultant right away (alas weight is not an issue for me). I don't remember what you did last time - did you rent a hospital pump or have your own? Just wondering if I should take my medela pump-in-style with me to the hospital. I too simply can't do everything I did last time. Not only is Lainey around (although she'll be going off to daycare too) but last time I had DH around for my entire leave too - so he could take Lainey right after I fed her and I could pump. I did that for weeks (months??) and I think it was really not worth it (too much pressure on me and I really felt like my only role was as a feeding machine since that's about all I did in the beginning and I obviously wasn't a very good one at that!). The main thing is I know this time around that there really is so much more to being a mother than feeding a newborn. It was a really dark place I was in after Lainey was born and that makes me a little nervous this time around.

Hmmmm, Lainey's response when she spills is to over-enthusiastically clean it up - often with just her hand and a big sweeping motion. I think I like Garrett's response better! It's pretty rare these days that she spills her cup so it really gets better with practice.

susan - you do have a really busy weekend coming up. That's great you get to visit with your Dad, I know you don't get to see him that much. I hope your mom comes to terms with it, so it's not unpleasant. The cookie hunt sounds like a lot of fun! what a great idea. Hmmm, a new VP who's clearly headed out the door to retirement... gee thanks. Hopefully you guys are fairly self-sufficient. At least you won't have any regrets about leaving your job!

Nori -that's reassuring to hear about your milk supply being better with Mary Ann. Sounds like a fun egg coloring party - I bet Noah really enjoys it. My sister and boys will come over to our house for the egg hunt and we'll do a simple brunch (that yummy creme brulee French toast!). I didn't let DH mow the grass for the past couple of weeks so we have some nice tall grass for hiding eggs for Lainey.

Today is DH's baby shower at his office. I made him review all the people I should know. I'm so bad with names/faces :o

Kim

[tbb113]

Just an idea for those of you having egg hunts. When the boys were little we lived on a street with a bunch of kids. We had our own egg hunt, each parent hid a dozen eggs per child, then we had the younger kids start first (maybe 1 minute) and then the older kids could join in. I think we told them that after they found 12 they had to stop looking. We also had one or two 'special' eggs that could be redemed for a larger prize. It was nice because you knew everybody would get 12 eggs, it was kids you knew, and it only took an hour at the most (start to finish)

[JoanneOR]

I did call and make the cardiologist appt. for April 22. So, now I can forget about it for another month! The kids were so funny last night. Ian and Colin were playing ring around the rosey with Caitlyn for about a half hour. Everytime "they all fell down" Caitlyn would laugh hysterically. Then they were rolling each other up in blankets on the floor. Jameson was sorting his hundreds of yu-gi-oh cards while all this was going on. For the life of me, I can't figure out that game!

Susan, that does sound like a busy weekend. I bet the kids will do fine. It seems like whenever I worry about how mine will do with something, they are really good. Like our trip to Wisconsin. We were in the car for at least three hours straight and Caitlyn was great. It's the little trips, like going to the grocery store, that can turn bad. :) Have fun at the concert. That's so great that you get to see your dad. Have the kids seen him much? I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see them again. That's too bad about your mom. She's probably feeling a little jealous maybe? That's not the right word, but you know what I mean? My SIL called last night to see what we were doing for Easter. I said I didn't know, that we might be going out. She's having MIL and FIL for dinner. I hope that don't mind if we don't go for dinner. She didn't seem to mind, but I don't know about MIL and FIL. We went to a brunch a couple years ago with the kids and it was fun. They had the Easter bunny there.

Nori, that's a great idea for the Easter egg hunt. More places should do that. Have fun painting eggs at your friend's house.

Ian decided he was going to make up a little Easter basket for the Easter bunny. He asked me if anyone ever gave candy to the Easter bunny before. I told him I didn't think so. So, he got some leftover candy from valentine's day and put it in a little basket. He made a card for the bunny and put it all on the living room floor. I told him that was really sweet, but he might not want to leave it sitting out on the floor for a week! As I was telling him that his sister would probably get into it and eat it, here she comes into the kitchen unwrapping a hershey's kiss! I convinced him to put it up in the china cabinet until "Easter-eve".

Kim, it sounds like you have a really good attitude about the feeding. I'm sure it's hard remembering what you went through last time. To me that was the hardest part of having a newborn. The breastfeeding. Everyone talks about lack of sleep, but breastfeeding can be so difficult! I pumped for six months with Caitlyn because she couldn't eat at first and then she didn't latch on properly. Actually I think if I worked with her more, she would have, but I was so worried about her getting enough nutrition I pumped so I knew how much she was getting. I think you got alot of really good suggestions for increasing your supply. You'll know you've done all you can and if it doesn't work, switch to formula. Lainey did great and the new baby will too. My hospital did have an electric breast pump I could use. You might want to call ahead and see what they have available. If all they have is manual ones, I'd bring your own.

Cheryl, Caitlyn drinks surprisingly well from a cup, but had lots of spills at first. You might want to try bringing a little cup into the bathtub with Garrett and letting the faucet run so he can fill up his cup and practice drinking. The only problem is if he tries to drink the bathwater!

Kim, have a great time at the shower!

[MrsReber]

Joanne, I'll be going to my cardiologist on the 21st for an echo and a monitor. I'll be dropping the monitor back off on the 22nd. I'll be thinking of you during my visit!

I love watching my kids playing together. That's so cute that Caitlyn's big brothers play with her like that. She's a lucky girl to have 3 big brothers.

I think my biggest fear about going into the city is being in close proximity to the potty at all times. I don't want any accidents while we're out! When Casey was learning, I'd tell her that I'd find her a potty no matter where we went and that she should tell me when she had to go. Now, every single time we go somewhere, she asks "mommy, is there a potty here?" Brenden had a couple of accidents at home over the weekend. Guess he was just too involved in what he was doing. In any event, I'm thinking the kids are going to fall asleep during the concert. I almost hope that they do so they will be calm at dinner. My dad still has to figure out where we're all going to have Easter dinner. He was hoping we'd all drive into the city so we could drive back to NJ to eat. However, I think he under estimates the Easter dinner crowd. I have no idea where we'll end up, but we'll all be together!

My dad has seen Casey about 3 times and he's seen Brenden twice. He was in the city on business twice and came by for dinner- once before Brenden was born and once after. Then we flew out to AZ 2 years ago and spent 4 days at his house. I wish it wasn't such an expensive trip. My sister hasn't seen him since March of 2000. We do talk about Grandpa at home and the kids talk to him on the phone. I doubt Brenden remembers him from dinner last year, but I know Casey remembers parts of our trip out to see him. That little girl has some memory. I can't believe the things she remembers.

For the Dora fans, Casey was telling us that Dora was going to be a big sister. DH and I didn't believe her. Sure enough, she was right. We finally saw what she was talking about, though we haven't seen the episode yet.

Kim, sounds like you're in a good place with breastfeeding and definitely have the right attitude. I do hope things go much better for you this time around. I miss those first days at home with a new baby. Even though I was tired and sore from feeding, it was so magical to meet this new little person.

Ian is so cute, making a basket for the Easter bunny! Casey, for some reason, thought the Easter bunny would take all the Valentine's candy and replace it with Easter candy. Brenden is still frightened of the Easter bunny. MIL gave us a dancing, singing, bunny a few years ago and he's terrified. It's kind of funny, but we try not to laugh in front of him.

[RunnerKim]

Oh what excellent timing with Dora becoming a big sister :D We got out a couple of books that I bought awhile back that are about her becoming a big sister and when she was inside Mommy's tummy and she loves them. I think we might have talked a little too much about babies crying though because when one of her classmate's Dad's came to pick her up, he had the "new" (3 months) baby brother along and all the kids crowded around to look at the baby. Lainey told me later "Sadie's baby brother not crying"

Joanne - what wonderful relationships your kids have. Glad you don't have to worry about the cardiologist appt. for a month now.

tyra - that's a great idea about just telling each child how many eggs total they get.
Kim

[HRJ]

Wow -- lot to catch up on.

First, about the self-flushing toilets, we had a run-in with one of those on the NY Thurway when we were going to visit my MIL. Yikes! It was terrible. I had Victor in the stall with me and he stepped in front of the toilet to pee, and set off the "flush monitor" -- he started screaming "Get me out of here!" Took a long time to convince him it was OK to pee.

Susan, sorry about the badly organized egg hunt -- that sounds like the experience we had last year with the pinata at the fiesta sponsored by our adoption agency -- all the big kids swooped in and snatched up the candy, with parents helping them!

Your weekend sounds very exciting -- enjoy the concert. Sorry your mom still has issues about your father.

Joanne, that's so sweet about Ian making a basket for the Easter bunny! But, I *knew* you were going to say that Caitlyn tried to eat the candy! :D I can see how she'd think the Dora show was a giant TV -- I've been to a number of rock concerts where I was sitting so high up, it might as well have been a giant TV, too. Good luck with the cardio appointment -- I hope it's reassuring to you to know they're following her so closely.

Tyra, thanks for the reminder about Purim. Our local "Jewish Circle" organization is having a carnival on Friday, the actual day of Purim, since it also happens to be Good Friday and the public schools around here are closed. Unfortunately, I have to work Friday and I'm too backed up with assignments to take the day off, so we're going to have to skip it. But, I was thinking of taking Victor to a Megillah reading on Thursday night. My mother sent him a box with all different kinds of really cool groggers in it. I'm thinking he'll either have a really good time, or be scared by all the noise -- in which case we can just leave.

Kim, have fun at the shower -- it's so nice of DH's co-workers to do that for you.

Victor had a cold over the weekend, and now DH and I both have it. :rolleyes: Our weekend was pretty quiet, but yesterday was busy. In the afternoon we went to one of those big indoor playgrounds with a friend from my moms' group and her son. In the morning Victor had a check-up at the dentist, and they said his teeth are doing very well; the dentist was quite pleased. (Victor had some significant dental problems when he first came home to us).

Helene

[tbb113]

When Alex was little, he actually managed to SLEEP through a Purim Service. How he did that is still a mystery to me. The temple we belong to uses the teen group to come up with songs parodies for Purim. So, its them, the 2 rabbis, the cantor and usually the education director up on the bima telling the story. I have a feeling we will skip the service since it is a school night here. But I'm busy making hamentashen. I made two batches already, have the dough for two more made and then need to make a batch for my brother.

[MrsReber]

I love these bathroom stories! I had the kids at the supermarket with me one day. Casey had to use the bathroom so the three of us went in. We were in the handicapped stall since there's plenty of room in that one. My kids insist on a clean bowl and they will flush if there's anything at all in the toilet. This particular one was obviously not working well. I told Casey not to flush it after she went, but she insisted. With the first flush, the water was almost to the top. I yelled "No, don't flush again!" just as she flushed the second time. The water came pouring out of the toilet. Both kids were terrified! Casey screamed and tried to keep her feet out of the water. I was trying to get the stall door open so we could get out, but the kids were huddled on the wrong side of it. I had to get them to step in the water. Both of them were traumatized by the experience. They cried for a long time. Casey still won't use the bathroom there. I, on the other hand, had to stop myself from laughing when I told DH the story. Okay, so maybe I have an odd sense of humor. ;)

[cchhbb]

Kim, I have a pump in style breastpump. I bought it from a friend before Garrett was born. The hospital will not let you use your own while admitted, so I rented one for the 48 hours I was at the hospital. I am going to pack my kit I think so I don't have to buy one. I need to find out if my insurance pays for lactation stuff this time. Last time it didn't so until Garrett diagnosed with a occupation/speech problem, I had to pay out of pocket and it was expensive. When I called the insurance company the other day, they didn't seem to know and told me to contact HR. Well, DH is the guy who makes the decisions on what is covered so I guess it will be. I do think I will contact the insurance broker to see if she can find out for sure.

Kim, I pretty much have the same idea about breastfeeding this time around. I think I'm mentally in a much better place. I just felt like such a failure when I couldn't feed my baby properly. I'm going to try and if it doesn't work, I know formula won't poison my baby.

Garrett does seem to be a perfectionist in some things. He just gets so upset about spilling water or dropping food. I don't make a big deal about it, but I think school does. He's gotten so much more fussy about things being on his hands this year. He's constantly asking for a napkin to wipe his hands while eating. I've started buying really cheap napkins so I can give him 4 or 5 during the meal.

Susan, Have a great time visiting with your dad. I saw on GMA this morning a couple of choirs who were going to be singing at Carniege Hall this week according to the signs.

Today, Garrett had his class Easter Egg Hunt. He seemed to really like it. He was smart enough to run down to the other end of the playground and get all the eggs down there while the other kids stayed right by the entrance. I followed him with his basket since he didn't want to hold it. Then I took him to the Holy Week service at church. He was pretty good. This woman came up to me afterwards and told me that they did have nursery and/or a cry room that I could use with him. Oh well. The pastor who gave todays message commented afterward on how well he did. I figure if she's not bothered, then I won't worried about it.

I spent the morning cleaning Garrett's closet out. He barely has any clothese to wear with long sleeves now. I hope that spring finally gets here. DH had made a hole in the ceiling of Garrett's closet during the bonus room renovation so he fixed that over the weekend. What a mess. There was drywall dust everywhere. He then put up the rods and closet system in the baby's room. I put away a lot of the baby's clothes this morning too.

Helene and Tyra, what is Purim? I'm not very familar with the Jewish religion and am curious if you can give me a short explaination.

Cheryl

[tbb113]

Cheryl: I seem to remember that not liking stuff on your hands was a sign of potty readiness (made no sense to me, but that is what a pre-school teacher told me).

Purim is a holiday that is based on events in Persia. There was a foolish king that had a prime minister that didn't like the Jews (since they wouldn't bow down to him). So the PM with the King's blessing decided to hang all the Jews. The king had an advisor that was Jewish that heard about the plan. He convinced his niece (Esther) who conviently was the King's wife to talk to the king about this (the King didn't know that Esther was Jewish). She told him of the plan, the King ordered the PM (Haman) to be killed instead. Great partying followed.

Today, Jews celebrate by going to a service where the story is told. Everytime the name of Haman is said, you make noise (noisemakers, stamping feet, etc) to drown out the name. Kids go in costume (since there were hidden identities in the story) and there usually is a costume parade and/or a carnival. Adults are actually supposed to get drunk enough to not be able to tell the difference between "blessed be Mordechai" (the adviser) and "cursed be Haman". The prayers are chanted to the wrong tunes, etc. Its a pretty good time (especially if you are between 3 - 10).

Purim actually means 'lots'. The date of the hanging was originally determined by picking from lots. Supposedly Haman wore a three-cornered hat, so a lot of the treats are triangularly shaped. Esther ate a vegetarian diet in the court (so she could keep kosher). So nuts and seeds are also used in the treats (poppyseed fillings, etc).

[RunnerKim]

Interesting Cheryl - I wonder why they won't let you use your own pump. That seems kind of weird. I'll have to call and check what's available - i'd rather not lug it there and home anyway (but good idea about taking your own kit).

DH's shower was fun - all clothes (and a couple of gift cards).

How smart of Garrett to go where there was easy pickings!

Wanted to point out in case some of you miss it on the Other Stuff board that Sarah428 posted an article warning about leaving the regular car seat belt loose when using the LATCH system. I honestly don't have any idea if ours is loose or not - I know it's not securing the car seat (in addition to the LATCH) since we do have to take Lainey's seat out on occaison and will frequently be taking the infant seat base out to pick our nephews up when my sister has to work late. Simple enough change to connect the seat belt behind the car seat.

Kim

[BeckyM]

Susan -- thanks for the excuse to laugh today! I actually had a fairly stressful work day, so reading your story about the overflowing toilet made me laugh out loud. I can just see Katie having the same reactions as Casey -- insisting on flushing it even when you tell her not to, then being scared by the water.

Tyra -- thanks for the explanation of Purim. (And thanks Cheryl for asking!) I had been wondering the same thing. I know a bit about some of the other Jewish holidays, but that's one I hadn't heard anything about before. I remember the story of Esther saving the Jews but didn't realize there was a Jewish holiday recognizing the event. Sounds like a neat, fun way to celebrate.

Our Easter plans are solidifying as we go. We just found out for sure that DH's single sister will be in town for the weekend, but she has to drive home on Sunday, so we decided to host the family "Easter Dinner" on Saturday. DH's brother who lives in town is invited with his family too, but they have a daughter who is autistic, and apparently she's having a real rough period right now, so they made no promises about whether that daughter and the mother will be able to join us or not. Of course FIL will come too. Now I just need to figure out what to make. DH originally requested turkey, but we have some other stuff going on that day too, and I don't want to be tied in to getting the turkey in the oven by a certain time, etc. I think now we're leaning toward getting a ham. I've never done a ham before, but I think I saw some threads about ham on the food board, so I'll have to go check them out. I think I have the dessert figured out though -- I was thinking of making CL's Lemonade Layer Cake. To me, Easter food seems like it should be "spring-like", and that cake is nice and light.

I miss Katie today. I had to travel for work (driving), so I left before Katie was up. I got home a bit earlier than expected, but Katie is still at daycare. DH won't get home with her until after I have to leave for CL Supper Club, and I won't get home again until after Katie goes to bed. I hate days when I can't see her!

Sunday Katie was really cute. I sometimes forget how sensitive she is to my moods. I was reading the newspaper Sunday morning while we were eating breakfast, and there was a big whole-page article about a woman who had died of cancer. She had a seven-year-old daughter, so of course the whole story really touched me. DH looked over my shoulder and just saw the headline "Jayme's Story", so he made a sarcastic comment like, "What's so special about Jayme that she warrants a whole page about her?" I immediately snapped, "She died of cancer!" and then burst into tears. I managed to choke out that she had a young daughter, and then cried some more. DH instantly felt badly that he had made such an insensitive remark, but Katie reacted even more strongly. She looked at me very concerned, and she started getting upset and worried. She said, "No Mama be sad! Katie give Mama a hug so she will be GLAD!" She was very upset seeing my tears and wanted to make me feel better. Of course that made me even more sentimental, but I managed to pull myself together so as not to worry her further. What a sweet little girl!

Well, I need to do a bit of housework before heading to supper club. Talk to you all later!

Becky :)

[nori]

Becky, Katie is so sweet!!! Yes I tend to forget about how Noah reacts to my mood swing. I've been having a bit stressful life and I sometimes sob or cry. Then, he'd come over and pat me, and hug me. He also says "Are you okay?" "Don't cry". I try not to cry or be upset in front of him, but he's so sweet if he sees what's going on with me.

Kim, glad you had fun at the shower. How thoughtful of people at your DH's office! When I had Noah, the office I was working threw a surprise shower (did I tell you all this before? Maybe I did...) and they even invited my DH there. So I entered the room and there were so many people plus DH, and it was so overwhelming. Have fun checking out boys' clothing. Some of infant boy's clothing are so adorable!

Thanks for heads up on LATCH system warning. I think I saw it on the paper yesterday. I got a new carseat for Mary Ann and I believe it has LATCH system, although right now we're just using the regular seatbelt. Those safety issues are so hard to interpret....

Tyra, thank you for explaining about Purim. I wasn't sure about it either, and it is interesting to learn about Jewish rituals.

Cheryl, I somehow always had this image of Garrett being so smart and "perfectionist" little boy.:) That's VERY smart going to the other side of the yard to look for eggs.

SusanR, how funny about your toilet story! Sounds like you're going to be super busy this weekend. Have fun seeing your dad. It is kind of sad that your mom is still bitter about your dad, but I hope your explanation (your dad had probably 2 dinners with your sister in 5 years ) helped her to cope with. I am sure it IS hard to go through those emotions, though. So is it your brother singing at the Carnegie Hall? Good luck for your experience at the City! Oh, and have fun at Sesame Street show! I'm kind of jealous. (And I know Noah would be thrilled to see Elmo in person). I wish they'd come to Arizona soon.

Helene, sorry to hear that you all had cold. Hope everyone is on mend. Yay on Victor getting complement from his dentist.

Joanne, how cute Ian made a basket for Easter bunny! He's such a creative little boy. That's great your boys are such great big brothers to Caitlyn. Although Noah is still young, I can already see him wanting to play with Mary Ann. Today as he watches Sesame STreet he wanted her to sit next to him on the chair. So I put her up there (living room chair), but she kept sliding down so I had to take her down. He insisted that she should sit next to him. As Susan said, it is neat to see him wanting to play things with Mary Ann.

Sibling issue reminded me of....Mary Ann has been very, very interested in Noah's toys. Of course at her age she'd put everything in her mouth and Noah doesn't appreciate it happening to his favorite toys. She seemed to like his trucks or cars so I got her infant toy car (plastic, bright color, fun small balls inside that pop as you roll the car), but she would choose Noah's toys over her toy, if they're within her reach. Same thing with books. She'd love to reach for books I was reading for Noah. I'm just wondering if she is just interested in whatever Noah has, or she's already interested in trucks or cars?? It's fun to watch them, and compare them how they're different. Oh, and Mary Ann already can stand up holding onto something (still wobbly, though). I'm in no rush for her to start walking, though. Second kids' milestones come pretty quick than the first one, maybe because we're distracted with 2 kids.

[MrsReber]

Becky, glad I could make you laugh! I still laugh at that story. As if we'd all drown in the bathroom stall or something.

About the turkey, I am cooking a turkey breast (4.5 lbs) in my crockpot today. Maybe you could do that if your DH wants turkey? I don't know how many people you're feeding, either. The recipe I have says to cook it on high for 6 hours. I have mine on low for 12 today. As for ham, my mom usually buys those spiral cut hams. I think all you really need to do is warm it up. Not sure since I think I've only made 1 or 2 hams in my lifetime.

Nori, I think my mom is just upset about being "alone" on Easter Sunday (even though my sister wouldn't have driven up if we weren't going to Carnegie Hall). After 30 years of guilt trips, though, me and my sister are pretty much over it. It's one day and I feel awful that I never spend any holidays with my dad. I really wish my mom would stop carrying so much hatred around for my dad. It's pointless and I'm so tired of hearing about how she doesn't like him. The ironic part is that all through my childhood, she insisted that we visit him and have a relationship with him because "he will always be your father." Now we have a relationship and she says he "doesn't deserve" to see us. I just tune it out now. I told her that nobody lives forever, life is too short and my dad has a right to see his grandchildren. And they want to see him. Casey is so excited about her grandpa coming over. My stepmother will be joining him, which is great.

My little sister has been very into singing for quite a while. I have never seen them perform at all. I don't talk to my little brother much, but my sister says he's one of the top rated singers in the state! I don't have a clue what this show will be like. Both of them are singing with the choir. It's supposed to only be college level, but they got my brother in (he's still in HS). My sister's boyfriend's father is the conductor. They've been planning this for over a year. I can't believe the day will finally arrive.

Kim, that's so nice that your DH's co-workers had a shower. I know the dads sometimes feel a bit left out. My DH got gifts from his co-workers when both kids were born. It was very unexpected and very welcome.

Tyra, that's interesting about Purim. I have never even heard of it :o ! It does sound like fun for the kids- and the adults if they really want you to drink ;) !

Nori, I have learned that no toy has any value until someone else picks it up. It's been a long road, but my kids are learning how to share and take turns with things. However, Casey often insists on having "five turns" instead of one at a time. Brenden has this favorite truck that he runs around with. He could be not even thinking of his truck, but if Casey touches it, he suddenly wants it. I'm actually surprised at the progress they have made with sharing and taking turns. It just takes a while.

[RunnerKim]

Nori - I'm sure that it being brother's toy adds significant value to it! Happens all the time a daycare. I think this is why my parents and sister have duplicates of a lot of things ;)

Becky - that is very sweet of Katie!

We've done the Fire & Spice ham a few times for easter and Christmas and think it's great (and I don't do spicy, so even with that name it's not that zippy). It's pretty simple to make/re-heat. I love the lemonade layer cake and think it would be great for Easter.

SusanR - Sounds like you have quite some musical talent in your family - the concert should be amazing! I have a professional singer in my family (a cousin) and I just love to hear her sing - wish musical ability hadn't skipped me, but I can certainly enjoy it.

Kim

[RunnerKim]

I forgot to ask earlier - I was reading Lainey a Thomas book last night (Crack in the Track) and she's wanting to know who all the different trains are. It starts with "Henry the Green Engine" but you can't see his number in the illustration. Later there's Percy (#6 I think) who's also green, so I was trying explain they were different trains. I told her I'd ask today what Henry's number is.

I probably shouldn't even ask this, but are there any girl named trains?

Kim

[tbb113]

Kim: Its been a long time since I memorized the train numbers so I can't help you there. Yes, there are some girl engines but I don't remember them either (not much help am I). I think there is a Daisy and a Henriette.

Thomas the Tank was originally written by a minister in England after WWII. It really is an allegory about the class struggle (workers/unions/aristocracy) etc.

[KristaMB]

Originally posted by RunnerKim
I forgot to ask earlier - I was reading Lainey a Thomas book last night (Crack in the Track) and she's wanting to know who all the different trains are. It starts with "Henry the Green Engine" but you can't see his number in the illustration. Later there's Percy (#6 I think) who's also green, so I was trying explain they were different trains. I told her I'd ask today what Henry's number is.

I probably shouldn't even ask this, but are there any girl named trains?

Kim

Kim, Henry pulls a coal car with "3" on the coal car, there is no number on his engine. There are a few girl trains. Tyra mentioned two, and there is also Lady. She is a burgandy and gold engine from the Magic Railroad. There are also Annie and Clarabel, Catherine and I think Bertie the Bus is a girl. Mavis is a girl name isn't it? There is a Mavis engine, too.

Editing to add that Jared pointed out to me that Henry is a bigger engine than Percy. He insists that he can tell which engine is which by their size and face when no numbers are shown in the books.

[tbb113]

Kim: check this website (http://webpages.charter.net/mortickles/friends.htm) it lists all of the trains by name :)

[KristaMB]

Tyra, Thanks for posting that site, I think Jared will enjoy it. I just learned that Bertie is a boy. I thought Bertie was a girl's name. :o

[MrsReber]

And don't forget Emily! She's a pretty engine. Casey loves Emily- it also happens to be her big cousin's name.

Kim, my grandmother (father's mother) plays the organ and piano. She gave lessons for many years as well. My dad plays the guitar, though not as much as he used to. My one neice, Emily, plays the violin and made second chair. I haven't heard her play yet. The concert I was going to go to was snowed out. My sister's daughter plays piano and is being tracked. She has a sort of audition each year with some group. I'm not sure of the particulars. And then my sister's son is playing violin, but I don't know how into it he is. Yes, it seems to have skipped a generation in my family! Actually, I think we just weren't encouraged. My little brother and sister had piano lessons for years and they're both quite good. As jealous as I am, I do support them in what they do and I'll definitely be there for them this weekend as a proud big sister.

It's been snowing here for most of the day. Snow! I gave Casey a kiss as I was leaving this morning. She was half asleep and asked where I was going. I told her that I had to go to work. She said "I don't want you to go." I told her she'd have fun playing all day and I'd be there to pick her up later. She said "Can you pick me up after breakfast?"

[Julia1Pin]

Kim - that's so nice of them to throw you a shower. My co-workers didn't really do anything for me with Nicole. A few of them got me little gifts on their own, but nothing as a group. About the discharge, I don't remember having any with either of the girls, and I never had a problem BFing (in fact I'm still nursing 2/day with Nicole). Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come (or easier at least).

Have fun on all of your easter egg hunts! I'm sure the girls will do them when they go to school but as of now I don't do anything for it. I would love to go to a Purim carnival but we have 2 kid BDay parties on Saturday and DH's dads BDay in the evening. I'd like to take the kids next year though.

Question for the Jewish moms - what age did you start "hiding the afikomen(sp)". I'm wondering if Abigail is too young for that.

Abigail was being a total brat this morning and I had to yell at her a bunch of times for her to get ready. Then she didn't want to leave with out her bag of cereal so I just ripped it out of her hands and she cried almost the whole way to school (it's only lieka 5 minute ride, but still). I feel badly for yelling but she was annoying the hell out of me. ARGH!

[tbb113]

Julia: I truthfully don't remember when we started hiding the afikomen, but I would think around 2 or 3. If you hid it pretty much in plain sight, she should be able to find it. We gave plenty of hints too about where it was

[HRJ]

Julia, I was wondering about the afikomin, too. We didn't hide it last year, when Victor was 2 1/2, but I think we'll do it this year, and put it someplace where he can find it pretty easily. There won't be any other kids at our Seder, (well, my cousin's DD is coming, but she's 23!) so maybe DH and I, or my brother, will "hunt" along with Victor, to give him an idea how it's done.

Also, Julia and Heather, in case you're interested -- I bought Victor some vinyl Passover placemats to use at the Seder. They have a Passover scene on the placemat, and come with a bunch of those "clingy" re-useable stickers. I got them from an online site -- can find the link if you are interested.

Kim, about the engine's names -- yes, there's Mavis, Emily and Lady. Henrietta, Annie and Clarabel are coaches. There's also Elizabeth, who's a vintage steam truck -- she's kind of haughty, but very amusing.

Krista, funny that you thought Bertie was a girl -- I had a great-aunt Bertie (her real name was Alberta), but people used to think she was male, (before they saw her) because of her name.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Okay, what is afikomin? Part of the Purim festivities I assume... It's fun to learn so much here.

Thanks for all the help with the trains - I thought I was getting a grasp on most of them until I saw all the ones listed on that site! And it must not be complete because Emily and Lady aren't listed.

I ummm too thought of Bertie as a woman's name (for Bertha) but didn't think one way or the other about Bertie the Bus.

tyra - I knew the series was from a Enlish reverend but didn't know the timing. How interesting, I'll have to pay more attention to the subleties now (I think it's intersting to learn about the true meanings of nursery rhymes too).

Julia - Lainey was being rather... resistent this morning too. I had to practically sit on her to get her shoes on and she was of course not happy about that so only wanted to deal with Daddy because "mommy sat on me" Helene, I hope your morning ritual has gotten a lot better so that there's hope for us!

Kim

[tbb113]

Actually the afikomen is part of Passover. During the Seder, there are 3 matzos on the table. The middle one is broken in half and is hidden by the leader. The children need to search for the afikomen and bring it back to the leader where it is usually redeemed for some cash :) I have no idea of the real significance of this custom (and in some families the younger kids have to steal it from the leader and then they hold it for ransom). The seder isn't complete until this is done and everybody is supposed to have a bite of that matzo.

We usually pre-wrapped and hid a piece of matzo before the seder started. Made it much easier on the leader than trying to hide it with the kids around.

My grandfather one year slipped it UNDER the tablecloth. Needless to say, he had to point it out before my brother or I found it. Who would have thought it would have been at the table :cool:

[HRJ]

Originally posted by RunnerKim
I had to practically sit on her to get her shoes on and she was of course not happy about that so only wanted to deal with Daddy because "mommy sat on me" Helene, I hope your morning ritual has gotten a lot better so that there's hope for us!

Kim

LOL! Sorry, had to chuckle at that one. Before you had kids, would you ever have thought yourself capable of "sitting" on them to get them dressed? ;)

Anyway, our morning routine has gotten a lot better -- I don't think there was any one thing that did it, just time and a little more "maturity" on Victor's part. And maybe some consistency on our part. We still have some difficult mornings, particularly if Victor has been up a lot during the night (sleeping still *is* an issue), but, in general, it's gotten much, much better and I've been getting into the office earlier, in general.

We did have some problems during the few weeks after "Pajama Day" back in February -- Victor would balk at getting dressed, and I'd tell him he couldn't go to school in his pajamas, and he'd say, "But I did the other time." And I'd say, "well, that was pajama day." And he'd say, "So today can be pajama day, too." (I really don't think he was trying to be a smart-a$$ -- I really don't think he understood why it was OK, even mandatory, to wear pajamas to school one day, but not another. After all, it *is* sort of a weird concept.) So I finally told him that Pajama Day was like a holiday and it only happened one time a year (even though he doesn't understand the concept of a "year,") and he seemed to accept that.

One thing that's interesting -- I remember when Victor was about 2 1/2, and most of the other kids on this thread were 18 or 20 months or so, and he was having some behavior issues that were different, and I was sort of starting to feel like a freak. Now, it sounds like some of the other kids are entering that late toddlerhood stage,which includes a little more defiance -- ie, realizing that when given a choice between two things, they can also opt to choose "none of the above."

Tyra, you seem to have become our resident rabbi, as well as parent advisor! :) When I was a little kid, the afikomin "winner" would get some sort of
prize, and all the other kids would get smaller "consolation" prizes.

Becky, that story about Katie not wanting you to cry was so sweet. Victor also reacts to our emotions -- if DH or I seem sad or upset, he'll say, "I think you need a toy," and then he'll go get one of his toys -- usually a favorite stuffed animal or train -- and bring it to us, and say, "This will make you feel better." Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch, sniffling and sneezing and whining about having this bad cold, and he curled up next to me and said, "don't worry, mommy, I'll make you feel better. We'll read books." Then he went and brought me a bunch of his books to read with him. (Unfortunately, my throat felt really raw so it was hard to read out loud for very long.)

Susan, they tell us your snow will be heading our way, but I haven't seen any yet. Hope you have a good commute home.

Helene

[nori]

This must be really the age thing, but Noah was kind of difficult as we were getting ready to go out this morning. He used to be so easy when I told him that we'd go out so he needs to get ready (i.e., getting socks and shoes, etc.), he'd happily go to his room to get them both. I was pretty impressed about it. But nowadays, (especially this morning), he said "yes" but then he started to play with his train or other toys. So I said, "Okay so Mom and Mary Ann are going because we are ready. Bye- bye!" Then he said "No! I come, too!" he went to his room to get socks but he'd only get one sock, then on the way back, he was distracted by some toys.:rolleyes: I had to pretend we were walking out the door to get him more serious. Then when he put shoes on, he wanted to do it himself, which takes about 3 times as much time than I help him do it. (It's a velcro sneaker, I'd open them up and he wants to put his feet in there, without me holding the shoes to make opening wide) If I try to help him, he'd say "No, no mommy, no help. I can do it."

Helene, I bet it's confusing for Victor to understand "no-pajama to school" after having PJ day. That's so sweet of him bringing you his toy or books when you were upset.

SusanR, wow quite a musical family you have! Are you planning to get your kids into music soon? My parents put me into toddler music class since I was 2 or 3 and from there I played some piano and later mainly electronic organ. I played until high school, when I quit because the school got so busy. But I am now glad because of that, I know how to read the music score and know some code. I thought it's like common sense. I didn't know not everyone can read them. Enjoy the concert! I'm sure you'll be so proud of them!

I just went to ToysRus to get some toys for Easter basket. I got some matchbox cars (again...but it was buy one get one free deal, and I know he'd love it.), and "food in tube". It's food toy, which he can play pretend cooking. I thought he'd enjoy that. I also got 3 Dr. Seuss book since it was buy 2 get 3rd free. I got peek-a-block and Pooh activity board for baby for Mary Ann. I just need to fit them into basket by Sunday....

My friend invited us over for lunch today. She has a daughter who's age is about the same as mine, and her house has so many fragile and cute, family heirloom stuff. I was a bit worried about Noah causing trouble, but he did very well. She had this coffee table with glass and supported only with middle (so if you put too much pressure on the glass it'd tip over), and that's the only thing I had to remind him constantly not to put pressure on it. He didn't really get the idea, so he was having hard time. She admit her house is "toddler's mom's nightmare". Considering that, and getting close to his nap time, he did very well.
It was a very lovely house, so, so far from our house.....:rolleyes:

[MrsReber]

Nori, I understand what it's like to see nice houses. I always wish that our house was nicer, but part of me doesn't want to put the effort into it since I don't want to stay there forever.

I have thought about putting Casey in some sort of music lessons, probably piano. She does show an interest in it. I wonder how parents who work juggle all of these activities! As it is, I'm happy with just gymnastics on Saturday mornings. I would like to expose her to other stuff. I asked about dance, but she prefers gymnastics right now. I'd like to see her in one physical activity. She also mentions that she likes soccer.

Brenden is really funny with music. He loves to dance and his dance moves are hysterical. I don't know where he gets them from. Nori, I could never read music and found it very frustrating. I had an ex-BF try to teach me to play guitar and I could never sight read. It took me so long to figure out which note was which. I still can't play!

Brenden is much like the other 2 1/2 year olds. Casey was a bit easier. She understood when she needed help. I'd let her try to do something on her own and I'd tell her to let me know if she needed help. She was usually reasonable with that. Brenden, on the other hand, gets completely out of control. For instance, he's determined to pick out his own clothes and put them on by himself. I'm glad he wants to try, but even if he can't do something, he refuses to let me help. He'll have a meltdown and scream at me rather than let me even touch his clothes. I can't so much as fix the waist on his pants if it gets folded over. He frequently puts his pants on backwards, too. He's finally to the point where he laughs and fixes them when we point it out. Nori, I've had to pull the old "well, we're ready so I guess you're staying here" on Brenden. I feel evil doing that, but it's the only way to get him to react. Casey is great about getting dressed and putting pj's on at night. She is so proud that she can get completely ready all by herself.

Helene, we still have sleeping issues, too. Our kids wander around. On Tuesday night, Casey was in her bed, our bed, and then I found her out on the couch when I was getting ready for work. Scared me half to death because I didn't see her there. That same morning, I woke up with Brenden on my head. I was so tire that I didn't even notice him there until the alarm went off.

We were watching Nanny 911 the other night. There was a family with 3 kids and they all slept in the parent's bed. I finally saw a woman I identified with, though. She always put the kids to bed. When the nanny had dad put the kids to bed in their own beds, she went in and snuggled with them because she missed them. That's my problem. I tend to take over all the activities at home because I love being around the kids. Even bath time. DH rarely gives the kids a bath, but when he does, I feel like I'm missing out. It scares me a bit because I don't want to be controlling and I really don't want to smother my kids. It makes me wonder if Casey's separation issues are a result of her picking up on my own conflicted feelings about working.

Helene- have you seen the snow yet? We got rain at our house, mixed with some sleet. It was snowing this morning- a very heavy, wet snow. However, when I got to Newark, there was about an inch of snow everywhere. I hear they got 4-7 inches in the northern-most counties.

[RunnerKim]

Originally posted by HRJ


One thing that's interesting -- I remember when Victor was about 2 1/2, and most of the other kids on this thread were 18 or 20 months or so, and he was having some behavior issues that were different, and I was sort of starting to feel like a freak. Now, it sounds like some of the other kids are entering that late toddlerhood stage,which includes a little more defiance -- ie, realizing that when given a choice between two things, they can also opt to choose "none of the above."

Helene

this is exactly what we're going through and Lainey was 2 1/2 yesterday. So I hope you're feeling a little more "normal" even if it's after the fact. I've certainly thought of everything you posted about back then when all of a sudden (it seems) Lainey started doing this stuff.

Yesterday was a nightmare picking her up from school. I know in my head that when she sees me arrive she's overwhelmed with her feelings right now - and she's acting out. She ran around the room, threw a bunch of beads on the floor, there was some spitting involved at one point. I picked her up and went and sat in a chair for a few moments but that did little good. Eventually I had her on my lap and she picked up a couple of the beads (not so easy sitting on the floor these days) and then she needed to try the potty before we left. She wanted to be carried and I wasn't going to make an issue out of that so picked her up, turned around and her foot knocked the teachers water glass over and all over their stuff on their counter. :o I seriously was almost in tears. Potty wasn't too much of an issue but washing hands (with soap!) was and then getting the coat on. She'd run off and engage in something else, etc. etc. etc. She didn't get to go ride the escalators as we waited for the bus which of course made her very upset and she kepts saying "i pick up beads" which made me feel sad for her but tough love right? I think I'll try playing with her for a few minutes when I first arrive instead of "rushing" to get the bus.

Helene - I know you've chosen not to do the abondment threat (due to adoption) and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that either (we did it this past weekend) but is the only other option to force physically getting shoes etc. on? This morning worked well b/c it was trash day, so Lainey was willing to do all the morning stuff so she could help DH with the trash (willing meaning neeing just a couple of reminders - oh you don't want to put your shoes on, then Daddy will do trash by himself etc.).

Whew - enough about all that.

I can read music - I took several years of band in school and some private lessons - alas there is no talent there. In fact I wonder if I do more "harm" than good by even singing to Lainey. Lainey quite often says "No Mommy, No singing, only Lainey sing." She even knows :)

Nori, sounds like you'll have some fun easter baskets! We need to hard boil eggs tonight. Whew - congratulations on making it through your friend's house. That would have been very nerve wracking.

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

OMG!! I totally fogot Abigail was 2.5 yesterday! Thank, Kim :) Maybe that's why they were being nutty in the morning? It's the middle of the terrible 2's right?

I threaten Abigail every morning. I tell her I'm going to leave and she can just stay home all day! Luckily she loves day care and wants to go there. Our biggest time waster is that she takes off her pants and diaper and then runs around the house and doesn't want to wash up. However, she does want to brush her teeth forever, squeezing out more toothpaste every 5 seconds :rolleyes:

Nori - We are looking to hire someone in the Phoenix area for DHs business (insurance appraiser) so if we find someone, we'll be making a trip to Arizona! Maybe we can finally meet (although I won't have the kids with me). Is the Penzeys near you ;)

Tyra - Thanks for being our resident expert on Judaism :)

[MrsReber]

Kim, your daycare pick-up sounds awfully familiar to me. I just said to DH last night that Brenden is having a transition problem. He has been so crabby when we get home. He'll yell at me and cry. As much as they say they don't want to go to school, I can't ever get them to walk out of there. It takes me 20 minutes on average to get both kids to put their coats on and leave. Casey is a bit easier. Brenden used to be easy, but in the last few months has really been stubborn. He wants to bring toys home from his room or he doesn't want to stop what he's doing. Also, by the time I get there, there's usually only 2 other kids in his class. They prefer when it's quiet and they can play with all the toys without having to share. He refused to put down a toy hammer on Tuesday night. He had a fit and, after 15 minutes of being nice, I just took the hammer out of his hand and told him it was time to go. Amazingly, he dealt with it quite well. I thought he'd cry all the way home, but when he saw I meant business, he was ready to listen to me. DH is right- I think I'm not harsh enough with him. Not harsh, really, I think matter-of-fact is a better term. Brenden tries to push it with me and I try to make going home as nice as possible for everyone. Last night, we got all the way to the car before Casey said "what about my Dora book?" Apparently, she brought a book to school with her. She refused to leave without it so the three of us had to go back inside and get it.

I have also been told not to sing on occasion. :o ! Don't worry, Casey now asks me to sing at times so that might be an age thing, too.

Julia, brushing teeth is always an event. We finally got the kids to realize that more toothpaste is not always better. They just want to do it all themselves.

[tbb113]

Its amazing how much you learn and retain from your kids when the temple actually teaches them things :)

Mornings are still tough in my house. Alex will get dressed except socks and shoes and packing up his backpack and Michael is hard to wake up period :rolleyes: They do manage to make it to the car on time, but not without reminders. I know when I was their age, my mother didn't even get up with us in the morning (she didn't work). How come they can't get out the door on time without my prodding?

[BeckyM]

It's interesting to read about all the "power struggles" with the 2.5 year olds. Katie will be 2.5 on April 1st, and we have definitely faced some of those same situations. For a while, Katie would run around in the morning in just her diaper and socks, refusing to get dressed. It seemed like more of a game to her, because she would get this cute little sparkle in her eyes as she ran away from us. Of course if we didn't play along and insisted she get dressed, things would quickly turn ugly, with tears, screaming, and fighting as we tried to get her clothes on. Thankfully we haven't had one of those episodes lately, but I'm not convinced we're completely beyond that stage.

We had some great news from daycare today. Up until now, Katie has declined to sit on the potty there. They have short ones for kids, but they're actual flushing toilets. I was assuming Katie was just a bit intimidated by sitting on them. (It also took her a long time to feel comfortable enough to sit on her little potty at home with the lid up, and then with her pants off.) Well, today she sat on it AND peed! That's the first time she's actually USED a potty! I know we still have a long way to go, but I'm excited by the bit of progress.

Daycare actually shared a very interesting article with us the other day about the stages kids go through in learning to "toilet independently". It called the first stage "toilet play" -- when kids are interested in what happens in the bathroom, spend a little time sitting on the toilet, washing hands, etc. Then comes "toilet practice" -- when kids practice motor skills related to toileting, such as pulling pants down and up, flushing the toilet, pretending to wipe, etc. They say the third stage is "toilet training" -- when kids may have some success, but they need reminders to check whether or not they need to use the toilet, since they are still learning to read their bodies' cues. The article also says to expect accidents to happen frequently at this stage. "Independent toileting" is the fourth stage -- when kids don't need constant reminders to use the toilet, and they can take care of their bodily needs without prompting. Anyway, I thought it was helpful to think about it in those terms, because I think Katie is still in the "toilet practice" stage and still needs to work on those skills some before moving solidly into the "toilet training" phase. The most important thing the article said, which I know we've all heard before, is to go at the child's pace so it doesn't become a power struggle. I definitely needed that reminder, because I was starting to get a little impatient hearing about the successes some of your toddlers have been having!

Susan -- sounds like musical talent definitely runs in your family. I took piano lessons for years and played the clarinet in band, but I gave both of them up when I became a teenager and they no longer seemed as "cool" as other things I wanted to do. I actually had some talent on the piano (though I don't think I would have become a concert pianist or anything), so I now regret having given it up. I think that's something I'd like to return to at some point. Anyway, enjoy the concert with your little brother & sister both singing! Oh, and I too have gotten the comment, "No Mama sing -- just Katie!" There's actually a family story that the first sentence one of our nieces said was, "No Daddy sing!" Sounds like a common sentiment among children!

Well, our Easter menu is planned, and DH is at the store right now buying ingredients. When we were talking about all the preparations, he realized turkey was a bigger deal than ham, so he agreed to ham. I called the HoneyBaked Ham store and reserved one from them that I'll pick up tomorrow. I was surprised they said they actually recommend NOT heating it up. They said to serve it straight from the refrigerator for the best taste & texture. That seems a little odd, but I'll do what they recommend. I'm going to serve CL's Hash Brown Casserole with it, as well as CL's Garlicky Lemon Broccoli and a CL Spinach & Strawberry Salad. DH is supposed to buy frozen rolls (I was originally thinking to do homemade, but I've decided I don't have enough time), BIL is bringing a jello salad, and I'm making the CL Lemonade Layer Cake for dessert. I don't know if we'll squeeze in the dying of Easter Eggs -- maybe that will have to wait until Sunday. I'm not sure about hiding the eggs for Katie though. Like the Jewish matzo pieces some of you were talking about hiding for Passover, I'm wondering what age is right for hiding Easter eggs. I guess if we don't have any dyed in time, I won't have to worry about it anyway.

I'd better get going. I need to send a couple e-mails to friends and then get to bed. DH told me he expects me to get to bed early tonight, because he KNOWS I've been staying up too late and I'm really tired. That's why he volunteered to go to the store tonight -- so I could get sleep. Not so I could spend more time on the Internet!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Becky :)

[nori]

Becky, thanks for sharing the summary of that article. I think Noah's in "potty practice" or even "potty play" stage.:o When I think back, I feel like we missed the opportunity by not having total "open-door policy" at the bathroom. When he was much younger, of course he wanted to flush the water and was interested in bathroom stuff. But then, I told him "flushing is not a play." And he was so good to listen to me so he never pushed further than that. I should have grasp that opportunity, maybe. Oh well. No progress here either, so Becky, don't worry.;) BTW congrats on potty success at the daycare! Now I feel like I want to send him to daycare to get that peer pressure!

SusanR, I personally like to snuggle with kids. Since Noah's in a big bed now, sometimes when he wakes up at night and asks for me, I'd go in and just lay down with him. It's nice. As for Mary Ann, I snuggle up with her on the rocking chair and most of the time that's how I sleep at night. You know, kids won't be that small for too long. Although, Tyra's kids sound so snuggly and sweet (so there's hope!), usually they don't want mommy snuggling with them anymore when they're older. So I'd say enjoy it, if you can manage (I mean, if it takes your sleep away and you get cranky, there's no point). I'm not sure if it's contributing Casey's separation anxiety issue, though.

Noah's favorite songs are ABC song and twinkle twinkle little star. He'd sing out loud and especially in the car, if I join in, he sometimes say "No mommy, no singing!".:rolleyes: But other times he wants me to sing. What's up with that?

Julia, I'm in Tucson. I didn't know Phoneix has Penzey's, though. It'd be great to see you, but would miss to see your kids if you can't bring them.:) Are you helping your DH's business too? With full time job of your own, you sound like a super-mom!!!

I got some stickersto put in Easter egg today. (Boy it was tricky to buy those secretly when you have kids with them!!) Tomorrow I'm going to Target to see if I can find some Easter clothes for Noah. For Mary Ann, we have the last item from baby shower which is 12 months size, but it's pink and very cute dress. so I think she's going to wear that. I'd love to buy something for myself, too, but I"d rather shape up a little bit more before I buy anything for me.:o I tend to eat from stress and I"m not in a good position right now. Sigh.

[RunnerKim]

How long is it okay for a toddler to go without pooping? Lainey hasn't pooped since Tuesday morning. She's done a lot of farting though. Susan - didn't Casey go through some constipation issues? She's normally a once a day pooper (about every 3rd day would have 2 poops) but this is seeming really long to me and I worry with the whole potty training thing she's preventing herself from pooping or something.

Yeah Katie! That's excellent progress with the potty. Once that connection is made it really makes a difference I think.

Becky, I think Katie could certainly do some simple Easter egg finding. Lainey got in to it last year. We didn't hide them so much as spread them around the grass - the grass was tallish so not super obvious and she quickly figured out looking around for them and putting them in her basket. We would sometimes give her little helpful hints about where to go/look.

Yesterday's daycare pickup was better - it still took awhile to get tasks done, but there wasn't the acting out/going crazy part of it. i did spend the first couple of minutes playing with her, so maybe that helped.

Nori - I hadn't even thought about Easter outfit for Lainey. :o Hmmmm, I'll have to see what's the most spring like thing in her closet.

Kim

[BeckyM]

nori -- I'm glad you felt like the descriptions I gave about the toilet training article were helpful. I wish it were something from a website, so I could just post the connection here. It looked more like it was a photocopy out of a book. But that is one thing they encourage in the "potty play" and "potty practice" stage -- to be very matter-of-fact about bodily functions and encourage your toddler to learn about what happens in the bathroom and let them practice the parts they seem most interested in. And I definitely can understand your feelings about not buying clothes until you're more in shape. I never feel like buying clothes for myself when I'm heavier than I want to be. I find it depressing, because nothing looks as good as I want it to. I do have a somewhat spring-like maternity dress that I bought when I was pregnant with Katie, so I'll probably wear that on Easter. I didn't buy anything specific for Katie to wear, but we do have a sleeveless dress with pink gingham and cherries on it that would be cute if it is warm enough. It's supposed to be chilly and rainy on Easter here though, so I'm not sure what we'll have her wear.

Kim -- thanks for the thoughts about Easter egg hunting. We won't do it outside, partially because it's supposed to rain, and partially because our deck is under construction and we don't want Katie running around back there too much. But we could hide the eggs in the living room (which is what we ALWAYS did growing up in Montana), in fairly obvious spots and help her find them. I think we'll try to dye the eggs Saturday morning. Though we have a tax appointment that morning, DH and his cousin (who does our taxes) thought it would be okay if just DH came, and they could call me if they have any questions about my income and stuff. So I think maybe DH's sister will come over that morning (she's supposed to arrive at their dad's house tonight), and I'm sure she'd enjoy the egg project with us. She doesn't have kids of her own, but she is REALLY patient and fun with all her nieces and nephews.

About the pooping -- I think Tuesday is a long time to have gone without a bowel movement, especially if Lainey normally does once a day. I too would wonder if it's a potty training issue. Maybe just a call to the doctor's office would help to see if they think it's a problem yet. One "home remedy" that works really well for us is to feed Katie the baby food prunes. She LOVES prunes, so sometimes we give them to her just because she enjoys them so much. But if she seems a bit "irregular", we'll give her prunes just to get things moving in that area.

Katie and I went swimming this morning at the Y, and it was really crowded! There were lots of dads there with their kids -- it looked like maybe they were taking advantage of being off work to spend some extra time with the kids. Katie was occasionally bothered by all the splashing, but it didn't interfere too much with her enjoyment of the pool. Afterwards we went to Panera Bread for lunch and then to the HoneyBaked Ham store to pick up our ham. I wasn't exactly sure where the store was, but then I saw a big crowd of people standing around outside a strip-mall area. Sure enough -- that was where we needed to go. I think at least half of Cincinnati is eating HoneyBaked Ham for Easter! They did have a fairly organized set-up inside the store, with employees standing there just to direct people, chains & posts set up to form lines, multiple people getting the hams and other food, and multiple people checking out. They even had a uniformed security guy opening the door for people as they left. Katie did fairly well with the line, though she definitely got impatient. She said, "I don't want to go in there anymore!" She did lay down on the floor one time in protest, when I was trying to get her to move ahead with me and she didn't want to, but luckily she was fairly easily distracted. We made it through the line in about fifteen minutes, which wasn't too bad, and fortunately we didn't have any major melt-downs.

Well, I'm off to make my Lemonade Layer Cake while Katie is napping. I seem to remember last time I made it that the cake was pretty flat, so I'm going to check old threads on the food board to see if anyone has ever tried making it in 8" cake pans instead of the 9" it calls for. I would just try it, but I don't want it to overflow or something!

Hope everyone is having a good Friday!

Becky :)

[JoanneOR]

Becky, I love that Lemonade Layer cake. It's Jameson's favorite, too. He's already requested it for his birthday this year. I've noticed the layers are a bit flat, too. Maybe an eight-inch pan would do the trick. Sounds like Katie was a trooper at the ham store. Caitlyn's new thing is taking off on me at the grocery store and running as fast as she can down the nearest aisle and trying to hide. Then she laughs at me running down the aisle to catch er. Last time I freaked out because I couldn't find her for a minute or two. I'm sure people think I am nuts running down the aisle after her. If I have Jameson or Ian with me they help me keep her in line. Last time I made her sit in the cart after she ran off. She was not a happy camper and I had to keep physically holding her in there until she realized she wasn't going anywhere.

Kim, I think Lainey's pooping might be related to potty training, too. Maybe she's holding it in because she doesn't want to do it on the potty? Becky's suggestion of the prunes sounds good.

Becky, that information was helpful. Caitlyn's definitely in the beginning stages; we've just got to keep at her to progress to the using it again stage!

Caitlyn has had a horrible diaper rash the last day or two. I remember some suggestions here about creams to use, but can't remember what they were. Anyone remember? Right now I'm using nystatin in case it's a yeast infection and something called "drc", I think. Last night she woke up crying because it was so sore. I felt so bad for her.

Yes, enjoy the snuggly kids while you can. Caitlyn for the first time in over a year fell asleep on my lap last night. It was so sweet. Jameson is 8 and he still likes to snuggle, but Ian really doesn't. Colin is still very snuggly.

Becky, have you thougth about using those plastic Easter eggs and filling them with little candies or toys? Then they'll be fun for Katie to open to see what's inside.

I had more stuff to say, but they just told us we can leave at 3:00, so I'm outta here! I'll try to come back tonight. Everyone have a great weekend and Easter (if you celebrate). Tyra, I found the information about the Jewish holidays very interesting. Thanks for sharing it.

[HRJ]

Kim, when Victor once went three days without pooping, I called the pedi, and she said kids could go as long as a week (a WEEK? :eek: ) and it was still OK. But, since she's fairly new to toilet training, and was having some difficulty with pooping in the potty, I think I'd get a call into your pedi. before the holiday weekend, to see what she/he has to say.

I remember the doctor told me to feed Victor dried fruits and raisins, and grape juice, and stay away from bananas and rice (opposite of BRAT), to try to get things moving. She also recommended a small dose of Bene-Fiber if the constipation continued for four or five days, but we didn't need that.

About getting a recalcitrant child's shoes on -- sorry to tell you this, but there was a period last year when, more times than not, I just had to force the shoes onto his feet. I'm not saying there isn't another way, I just never found out what it was. I actually got pretty good at forcibly sitting him down on the floor, grabbing the foot at the ankle, shoving the shoe onto the wildly-waving foot, and snapping the Velcro shut, all in one swift, continuous motion. :rolleyes: I even had to do that several times this winter, with his snowboots.

Actually, one thing that did seem to help was that I tried to get his shoes on his feet at the same time he was getting dressed in his other clothes. (I don't have any problems with anyone wearing shoes in the house, but I know some people do.) That seemed to "break" the association between putting on shoes and leaving the house, so he didn't put up as much resistance. I think that's why we ran into the problems with snow boots this year, since we put those on right before walking out the door.

Becky, I've always made the Lemonade Cake in a 9-inch pan, but I can't imagine why you couldn't do it in an 8-inch pan and bake it for just a little longer. But that's JMHO.

And, congrats on Katie using the potty at day-care!!

Victor has recently discovered he loves to sing -- for so long, he just would not sing, no matter what. I think it had to do with his speech/language delay. Anyway, about two or three months ago he discovered his voice, and recently, he goes around singing all the time. His favorites are the Alphabet Song and Old MacDonald (which he sings on and on, recycling the same animals over and over again). He also loves the theme from Elmo's World, and dances around like he's Elmo. There are also some songs from school, that I can't quite make out the lyrics to -- one is about falling rain, I think.

He also likes to make up his own little songs, which are hilarious -- one is called, "I want some milk." Another is "I need to poop." ;) :D :rolleyes:

And yes, DH and I are usually not allowed to sing along, either -- or even tap our feet or move our heads in tune to the music. He snaps: "That's MY song."

Susan, we did get some snow on Thursday morning, but it was heavy, wet snow and most of it was gone by the afternoon.


I've been feeling really terrible all week -- my cold is still hanging on, my throat is kind of raw, and I'm wondering if I don't also have some other sort of low-grade virus -- I've been really achy and way more tired than usual. It's also been a very busy and stressful week at work -- yesterday I was feeling so lousy I really wanted to stay home, but I had several assignments to finish, and my deadline was today. My supervisor is very patient and flexible when I need to take time off if Victor's sick or for other family stuff, so I try and make sure that I get my work done under any other circumstances.

All the Easter meals sound yummy, and I'm sure the kids will all look adorable. Hope you all have nice, spring-like weather for the holiday! :)

Helene

[BeckyM]

Joanne -- The Lemonade Layer Cake is in the oven, and I did decide to use 8" cake pans. The batter fit in just fine. It actually looked like the recipe was MADE for the smaller pans. I'll let you know how it bakes.

Good suggestion on the plastic eggs. We do have some we bought for Katie last year -- she loves playing with them, so they have been in a basket in her room since last Easter. She would probably think it's fun to find something inside, though hopefully she wouldn't then be disappointed later when there's nothing inside. The only problem is coming up with something to put inside. Katie doesn't really know what candy is yet and isn't really asking for it, so we're not eager to introduce it to her just yet. Maybe some stickers like nori was mentioning. I think I have a sheet of butterfly stickers somewhere, so I could cut them up and put one inside each egg. THANKS for the suggestions!

Your story about Caitlyn running away in the grocery sounds a little similar to issues I've had with Katie in Target. She usually is fine in the grocery, because our grocery has some carts shaped like race cars, and Katie loves to ride in those and pretend to steer. But Target just has the regular carts, and for a while Katie was refusing to ride in them. I told her she had to either hang onto the back of the cart and help me push or hold my hand while we went through the store. That worked fine until I would start to go down an aisle that she for some reason decided she didn't want to go in. She would pitch an absolute fit, sitting down in the aisle and screaming, "Don't want THAT aisle! Want a different aisle!" I would usually end up forcing her into the seat in the cart and buckling her in, while she tried to fight her way out. I hate making everything better with food, but I try to have some goldfish or crackers along to offer her in the cart, and I tell her she can only have them if she sits in the cart. After all the fighting, that usually works to calm her down, then she'll sit contentedly eating her goldfish. (I'm hoping I won't create a daughter with some sort of "food issues" that way -- I don't want food to be a reward, but sometimes I just have no other means to make her happy.)

I'm glad you got to leave work early today. I sure wish DH could! He hardly ever gets the pseudo-holidays off. He doesn't work weekends, and he gets the major things like Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Thanksgiving Day, but he always has to work on days like today, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, President's Day, etc. I guess I shouldn't complain though, because he has a fairly good job that pays well and he mostly likes. We certainly could do worse!

I'm off to make the frosting for my cake now. They recommend chilling it for an hour before putting it on the cake, so I figured I'll make it while the cake is baking. I just have to make sure I don't "sample" it too much, so there will still be enough frosting for the cake!

Oh, I almost forgot something I was wanting to share with our group. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate how warm, welcoming, and accepting everyone here is. It is so nice to come here where people from different backgrounds and beliefs can freely share feelings and ideas with each other. It's fun to learn about different religious traditions as well as people's family backgrounds and things people grew up with. It's neat that this group does not let those differences push us apart, but that we instead find them interesting ways to learn about others and to experience ideas different from our own. I was recently reading a Parents' magazine article about new mom "cliques" where new moms are judgemental of each other because of what type of stroller they have, how they feed their babies, what brand of clothing their babies wear, etc. It's so nice that we see absolutely NONE of that here! Everyone is supportive and encouraging, which makes this a very nice place to come. So, THANK YOU, all of you, for being so wonderful!

Becky :)

[RunnerKim]

Well Lainey beat me to pooping before I could call the doctor. She did it during nap. I imagine some more should come soon though. I almost wonder if it has more to do with not wanting to poop in her underwear than not wanting to do it in the potty (she talks a lot about peeing and pooping in the potty and not her underwear) - and I don't think she sits long enough/quite has it figured out how to poop on the potty- thus holding it for so long. The good news was that she didn't pee during nap time (2 day this week) - yeah!

Becky - Katie's response to some aisles at the store sound exactly like something Lainey would say.

I've put goldfish crackers in her eggs last year, stickers, character band-aids, and dried fruit/raisins. This year I have some yogurt covered pretzels, choc. covered raisins and some M & Ms along with band-aids and stickers. Alas, Lainey knows all too well what chocolate/candy is (but it was very effective bribery tool for her asthma inhaler mask).

Helene - I didn't really expect there to be another answer out there about getting shoes etc. on. It's one of those things where it makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one becoming "mean mommy." Often times humor works really well with her - does the sock go on your nose? hmmm, doesn't fit etc. And eventually she'll say foot. It probably doesn't take any more time than the force method but it's hard to be calm and silly when the seconds arre ticking by!

Joanne - great to hear the Caitlyn is feeling so strong and physically active ;) :D There's definitely something about running away and hiding at this age.

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Kim

[tbb113]

Granted, I live in a more moderate climate than most of you, but there was many a time that my kids were put into the car barefoot and as they got older, putting their own shoes/socks on in the car. I keep trying to tell them that its not fair to make me late since I seldom (if ever) make them late. Eventually, they have caught on to the concept of getting dressed quickly (at least most of the time :D )

[RunnerKim]

Hmmm, Tyra, I just don't think Lainey would ever get to the point where she felt she needed to have her shoes on. She's quite happy to not wear them. Maybe if I warned the bus driver ahead of time to not allow her on b/c of their no shoe policy, and she saw her bus (and bus friends) drive away, that would have an impact, but that seems a little drastic. I'm not sure how well she could put them on in her car seat anyway (she'd very likely naturally drop one). In a couple more years maybe...

We did seem to put a stop to her taking her shoes and socks off in the car (short 5 minute drive home from the park 'n ride) when I made her walk from car to house and the rainy season started. :D

Kim

[tbb113]

Lainey sounds like Alex. He would prefer to live in flip-flops over shoes and socks. Matter of fact the compromise in the winter is he can wear flip-flops and pants or shorts and shoes and socks. Obviously this is weekends only since the schools require shoes up to Middle School and since he doesn't want to keep a pair of shoes for PE, through 9th grade at least ;) We have strongly suggested that he consider UCLA for college since the weather is conducive to his preferred dress code :D

I did find that once they were in their car seat, it was much easier to put shoes and socks on then when they were running loose in the house.

[BeckyM]

Helene -- I guess you were posting the same time I was before, because I hadn't seen your message. The 8" cake pans worked really well for the Lemonade Layer Cake. They still aren't really high layers, but it definitely looks like a normal cake now. I remember DH commenting about how short the cake was last time I made it in the 9" pans. I frosted and decorated the cake, so it is all ready for our (early) Easter dinner tomorrow. Our family tradition for decorating Easter cakes is to color a little bit of coconut green with food coloring, and shape it into about three little "nests" on top of the cake. Then we put jelly beans or pastel M&M's into the nests to make them look like they're "Easter Bunny Nests". Anyway, I thought the cake turned out really cute.

And I have one more bit of potty news -- Katie peed in her potty at home tonight! It was quite the production pouring the urine into the big toilet and flushing it. Katie was so happy about it she wanted to sit on the potty again. Then she said she had "put urine in the potty", so she insisted on dumping it in the toilet again, even though there were only drops left over from last time (she hadn't given me time to clean it up yet). Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend, where she can learn HOW to actually urinate in the potty.

About shoes and socks -- Katie will seldom let us help her put on her shoes. Her favorites are little white Keds with a velco closure that she can easily put on (and take off) herself. The only time she asks for help is when her socks are twisted or bunched up, and she needs us to straighten them out for her. She does sometimes take her shoes off in the car, but I tell her she needs to put them back on so she can walk from the car into the house. She knows otherwise I'll carry her, and right now she much prefers the independence of walking versus being carried. That usually convinces her to put them back on. I do think she has naturally hot feet though, because her feet are almost always sweaty (with slightly damp socks) when she takes off her shoes.

Okay, time to get to bed. I have a busy day preparing for our Easter dinner tomorrow! (And I did find those butterfly stickers to put in the plastic eggs for Katie. And maybe I'll put in some goldfish too -- she LOVES those!) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Becky :)

[JoanneOR]

Becky, you are really making me want to make that cake! The easter "nests" on top of it sound so cute. I was actually thinking of making some of those with the kids tomorrow. Ian brought home a recipe with the chow mein noodles and the chocolate to make them. Maybe we'll do that. We're going to my parents for dessert, so maybe I'll make that cake and bring it. We've decided to go out to a chinese restaurant that we love for Easter dinner. Sounds strange, but I think it'll be fun. We had a good time with the kids last time we were there.

Congrats on Katie using the potty! When Caitlyn does use it, she loves to empty it out herself in the big potty, too. I have to make sure I catch her and "help" her put it in. Oh, and she definitely knows what candy is, too. I'll be glad when these candy-related holidays are over and we get it out of the house, for my sake and hers! It starts with Halloween, then Christmas, then Valentines, then Easter. The kids bring home tons of candy for each holiday. It's really too much. We wind up throwing away alot or DH or I bring it to work to give away.

Caitlyn actually loves to put her shoes and socks on. If she notices anyone saying they are going somewhere or if someone is putting on their coats, she'll run and get her socks and shoes and try to put them on. Then she starts panicking because she thinks we're going to leave her or something. I'm sure when she starts to go to school, that could all change! There have been more than a few times that Ian has been putting his shoes on during the short drive to school. He's our "straggler". :) I've threatened to bring him to school in his pajamas before. He's gotten better at getting ready, but it was quite a struggle for awhile.

We colored eggs tonight. Caitlyn decided to try to drink the dye from the cup. I guess to her it was perfectly logical that it was drinkable. It was orange and in a cup! Luckily Jameson stopped her before she actually swallowed any.

My kids are always telling me not to sing, too. And, I thought it was just me! I love to sing in the car. They'll hold their ears and tell me to stop, I sound horrible and they can't hear the song.

You're right, Becky, this is a really welcoming and accepting group! It's great to have a place to bounce things off people. Especially for me, this has been a life saver for me. Being able to come here and vent and share what's happened with Caitlyn since I was pregnant with her has been so helpful emotionally to me. Don't want to get sappy :), but just wanted to let everyone know how great it's been to be able to share things here. The support I got when we went through the surgeries was amazing. And, it's great to get to know everyone and their kids!

[nori]

Becky, I was inspired by you and decided to make the lemonade cake for Easter dessert which I was supposed to bring. I never made it before, and although I have two round pans but not sure if it's 8 or 9 inch.:o I hope it turns out well. Making a nest sounds like a cute idea!!

I just made a batch of sugar cookie dough(again) tonight because Noah wanted to make more Easter cookies. I can bake it and frost it tomorrow, and bring some along with the cake. I couldn't find meringue powder at the store so I have to make another powder sugar icing, though.

Becky, congrats on potty success!!! That's great.

Joanne, Balmex is the name of brand SusanR recommended when Noah had a bad diaper rash. It was great. My doctor also suggested using hydrocortisone cream plus antifungal cream. But I suggest using Balmex! That stuff was amazing. Plus it wasn't so sticky so no white-streak when you take a diaper off! Hope Caitlyn's rash will get better soon.

Helene, Noah loves Elmo's World theme song, too. I bet they'll be good buddies.:) I am sorry you've been feeling so yucky...rest as much as you can!!

Kim, glad to hear that Lainey had BM. That's great she hasn't pee during nap for that long. I'm sure she's pretty close to completely trained.

I made some plastic eggs today, hoping to do egg hunt tomorrow or Easter day. I put some stickers, goldfish crackers, graham crackers (Clifford ones), some candies. Didn't make so many candy ones. I'm sure he'll be happy with goldfish cracker ones. Can you tell I'm trying to avoid sugary-stuff as much as I can?:)

Tyra, I think Alex should be living in Arizona.:D Our dress cord (anywhere!) is pretty casual, and I think it may be okay to wear flip-flops at schools, too. (but not sure)

Well kind of potty training progress....or at least for me! I am still trying to make him wear pullups which he's been refusing. Today, I told him that I can make pullups' side apart to make look like a diaper. Then, he agreed to put it on! So he had it for a while, after dinner till bath time. It was the one with liner that helps kids to feel wetness. But he didn't complain even once, and when I took it off, it was soaking wet and the pictures were all faded.:rolleyes: He seemed to be pretty proud of wearing that once he had it on, but not sure how much it'd help the training itself. I wonder why he likes diaper rather than pants....I told him he can wear it by himself if it's pants style, but he just says no.

We went to Target to get clothing but they didn't have any toddler formal clothing! I was talking to another mom I met there, who was also looking for exactly what I was looking for. They had bunch of pretty girl's dresses but none for toddler boys. We finally found 4 (same design) dress shirt, pants, and vest set that size was 12 months, 4T and 5T. And it wasn't so nice design so I ended up just buying casual shirt and thought he can wear pants he already has. We both agreed they don't have any good boy's clothing after all. I also got him a pair of Sesame Street shoes with flashing lights on. (I never thought I'd buy one of those before...:o ) He's so excited. I told him he can wear it on Sunday.

I took kids for lunch yesterday with my friend. They both did pretty well, but I noticed Noah said a lot of "I don't like it." and picking something from his own plate to hand it to me. Not only once, but even tiny bit of lettuce (for example) he'd say "I don't like it.". I just noticed it's pretty annoying. I told him to put it down on the plate and he doesn't have to eat it, but is there any other better way to make him stop doing that? He said it so many times I was getting so annoyed and a bit embarrassed by it. I suppose it's kind of typical for this age?

Oh and I have to agree with Becky and Joanne, this group has been so great. I can't believe that I haven't met any of you, although we know so much about each other! And everyone is really nice and thoughtful. It is great to have a place to come and vent, and you all know that I've been doing it forever. It helped me tremendously when I was stuck at home with kids and DH wasn't willing to listen to me.;) It's been great to know you all. I really wish we were all neighbors.:)

So thank you to all from me, too, for all your support and friendship!

Have a nice weekend, and Happy Easter for whom celebrating Easter!

[BeckyM]

Joanne & nori -- I hope your Lemonade Layer cakes turn out well. I've been thinking and talking about mine so much, I'm glad we're having Easter dinner tonight, so I can finally EAT some!

Joanne -- I forgot you had asked about diaper rash creams. Katie used to get REALLY bad diaper rash -- so bad that Desitin, Balmex, and all those creams didn't help. Hopefully Caitlyn's isn't that bad, and the standard things will work. Our pediatrician actually said those were making Katie's rash worse, so he prescribed Elidel, which is a prescription cream which is primarily for eczema, but which he thought would work for Katie. It really does help her a lot! The doctor also recommended we just use plain old vaseline as a protective layer on her bottom at every diaper change, then if she starts to get a rash, put the Elidel on (twice a day) with Vaseline over it. It clears up her rashes really quickly -- we usually only need to put the Elidel on once or twice before it clears up. It is really a miracle cream for us, because Katie's bottom would get bad that she had blisters and raw-looking parts that would bleed. When it was that bad, she didn't want to even get her bottom in the bathtub, and cleaning her up after a poopy diaper was a nightmare! But as I said, hopefully Caitlyn's isn't that bad, and the standard creams will do the trick.

We colored eggs this morning, and Katie did pretty good with it. DH's sister came over (DH and his dad went to the tax appointments) to help. We would let Katie pick which color she wanted to dye each egg, then I'd help her put the egg into the dye (so it wouldn't splash). She would then stir the egg in the dye to make sure the color was even. A few times she stirred a bit too enthusiastically, and we had some splashing, but after that she would say, "I'm stirring it carefully so no splashing." She did try to drink the dye once too, by lifting the spoon up to her mouth. We had told her previously that it wasn't to be eaten, but I guess she forgot. Luckily we were both watching her very carefully, so she didn't get any in her mouth. Katie knows the eggs are for the Easter Bunny, and we told her he would hide them so we could find them tomorrow. She sounded pretty interested, so we'll see how she does with it. I bet she'll have fun.

Well, I'd better get back to my dinner preparations. I still have plenty to do before people arrive in an hour and a half!

Becky :)

[nori]

Well I made Lemonade Cake and although it didn't look too flat, the cake wasn't exactly light and rather rubbery. Maybe I baked it too long....I baked for 20 min. and it was still watery, so I put extra 10 min. The edge was a bit brown. Icing was great, but I just didn't like the texture of the cake. I haven't read through that long thread about this cake but maybe I missed something....:confused: Then, again, with kids around, it is just hard to concentrate on things so maybe I made some mistakes.

This Easter was as I said, rather boring. Going to our friends' house was canceled and DH took his friend to the baseball game so this afternoon was just me and kids. We played a bit in the yard and I could smell some ham baking. Hmmmmm! This morning was fun, though. We put one egg on Noah's chair for him to discover. Then, we said that Easter Bunny left more for him in the house and he started to look. He did pretty well! Breakfast was pancake (his favorite) but he didn't eat much, and wanted to play with toys and open the plastic eggs. He ate all of crackers in there, and some candies. So that was his breakfast.:o They seemed to do some Easter activity at the chruch for kids. Oh, and he was thrilled to wear brand-new Elmo-Cookie Monster shoes with flashing red lights!!!

Becky, hope your dinner was a success!

[tbb113]

Nori: I think that cake had mixed reviews. I haven't made it so I can't comment on it personally.

Glad that Noah was able to find all of his eggs.

I spent a very quiet day with Alex. We went out to lunch and then went to see Steamboy (an anime movie). Made very little sense to me, I fell asleep for the last 10 minutes or so, but he enjoyed it. I really want to see Millions. Maybe next Saturday night while the boys are busy (Alex has a Bar Mitzvah, Michael is doing a temple event for the HS kids).

[MrsReber]

Whew- what a busy weekend we had!

First of all, Kim, we had the same poop issues with Casey. She did not want to go in the toilet so she wouldn't go at all at school. She sure went when she came home- in her underwear. Just takes a lot of patience. I tried to be very supportive and tell Casey that I understood that learning to use the toilet was a new, intimidating thing. Seemed to make her feel better that I knew she was trying.

Casey and Brenden love to sing. On the way to the train station yesterday, Casey was singing "where is pointer?" However, she had been picking her nose so the song went like this: Where is pointer? Where is pointer? Here I am with a booger on my head." I'll have to write that one down for the books.

Friday was Sesame Street. DH and I actually weren't too impressed with the theatre. Well, it was more the other kids and parents. We were pretty high up so the kids had trouble seeing the front of the stage. I couldn't believe how many people arrived late. We were on the aisle so when these people showed up, they took their sweet time finding seats and Brenden couldn't see at all. The show started at 10:30 and there were people still finding their seats at 11:45. Also, the parents made no effort to have their kids speak quietly! Even the parents were yelling across seats! My kids enjoyed it anyway. I was surprised when my SIL asked Casey about the show later. She was actually following what was going on. My dad, stepmother, sister, BIL, 2 kids, brother, SIL and their daughter came for dinner. It was really nice and so great to see my dad and stepmother. They headed back to the city around 9:00

Saturday, we all went to my mom's for an easter egg hunt (Casey found 19 eggs by herself!) and dinner. DH didn't go with me for that one, which was fine. I told him I wouldn't want to spend my entire weekend with his family so it was okay. Sunday was our big day in the city. We went on the train with my sister, BIL and their 2 kids. The time went by so fast. We took the subway over to Carnegie Hall. The show was 3 hours long with 2 breaks. It was all very complicated music. I couldn't believe all the different singing parts. There were quite a few choirs there, too. Brenden fell asleep about 5 minutes into the first set, which was just my brother and sister's choir. For that show, we were allowed to sit wherever we wanted. DH and I sat on the aisle. Brenden fell asleep before the first song was over. Halfway through the performance, a couple came an insisted on sitting in the two seats next to us! There were plenty of other seats so it is beyond me why they had to sit there. It took us a few minutes to get up (me with sleeping child!). After that part, we had to go all the way to the top to our ticketed seats. I can't even believe I carried Brenden the whole way up. It was four long flights of stairs. He slept through it all. He woke up after almost 2 hours! Then Casey fell asleep.

After the show, we had dinner at the Stage Deli and then went to Starbucks for coffee. There were about 17 of us. We took a ton of pictures. It was the first time we five siblings had been together since my wedding in 1999! I hope all the pictures come out. We headed home around 7:00- back to the subway, back to the train, and back to NJ. It was a long day, but all the kids were exceptional. The people at the theatre commented on how our kids were so well behaved and knew to be quiet. The only time Casey got loud was when DH was egging her on! What is it with men? He was play arguing with her during the performance. :rolleyes:

Speaking of pictures, I'm taking the kids for an Easter picture this morning. They couldn't get us in before Easter. Oh well, close enough.

Joanne, I would recommend Balmex for a great over the counter rash remedy.

I hope everyone else had a great Easter and all the egg hunts went well. I have to go back and really read everything! I skimmed a bit. I do have to get in the shower, though. After pictures, I need to do some shopping and get back on track for eating. I'm so upset that I totally blew it all weekend. My dad and mom both gave the kids at TON of candy and I've been eating it because it's here. I hope I didn't do too much damage. Yesterday wasn't all that bad because we had breakfast, then just had a snack and then we had dinner. DH and I split a dish. Maybe I can fix it all by my weigh in on Thursday! I hope!

And I completely agree about how nice everyone is here. I think we all really understand that we all do what works well for our respective families. There's no approach that works for everyone and we're respectful of that. :)

[paula]

Susan,
Quick question... which KitchenAid did you buy? My birthday is in April, and I have announced that I will be buying my own present! I listened to too much whining this weekend from my ancient, cheap Betty Crocker hand mixer.

Paula

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - I meant to respond about the diaper rash and forgot - I hope it's better by now. One thing that really helped when Lainey had a really really bad one was a "sitz" bath (not sure how you spell that - but it's basically vinegar in the bath water. Keeping her sitting (legs spread) in the water was challenging but even what little she did seemed to make a big difference right away.

Okay - I want the Lemonade layer cake now too! Yum, I've made it a couple of times with good success but I know there were several people who's didn't turn out at all (hence that really long thread). Sorry yours wasn't so great Nori.

Paula - Thank you for the suggestion about the egg tongs! I was so impressed with how well Lainey could use them. She could get the egg out of the dye and put it in the carton all by herself with them. We had to work on the no splashing thing too and she did pretty well after the first splash. I hadn't even thought of her trying to drink the dye :eek: Glad you all were able to stop them from actually drinking it. i had picked up some cheap plastic oval shaped cups that worked well for the eggs so maybe it didn't look like a cup to her.

We had a rainy, swampy Easter (we desperately need the rain, so I can't complain about it). My sister and her boys came over for the hunt and the kids all work rain boots and jackets and slogged around. It was fun.

Yeah Katie on peeing at home! sounds like it's really starting to come to gether for her! Lainey pooped twice on the potty over the weekend and then a couple more times while she was sleeping. I think she just needs to learn that she has to sit for awhile for the poop to come out, which I think will be particularly tough in the exciting world of school.

Susan - I can't believe people would arrive that late to the Sesame Street show! And to make you get up when it was open seating at the music performance :mad: Glad you had some great family visits.

Nori - Lainey will sometimes say she doesn't like something and not want it on her plate. We'll often let her put it on our plate instead of making a huge deal about it. Sometimes she'll put it on a part of her plate that's not near the "good" food. I've thought about getting her a small little plate that she could put food on, still her plate but it's segregated.

I agree too - this is an amazingly supportive and informative place. :D

(Paula - I got my KA from Costco - I think it's the epicurian 5, lift bowl, boring white but I'm very happy with it).

Kim

[MrsReber]

Paula, I bought the Empire Red 5 quart artisan mixer. It's the tilt one, not the bowl lift. It fits perfectly under my cabinets, too. I LOVE it and even got compliments on it over the weekend. It sure came in handy. I made whipped cream for an angel food cake (DH's request- something MIL used to make when he was growing up). The whipped cream was the best I have ever made. No problems whipping up nice and I didn't even add anything to it. It's such a beautiful thing. I bought it at Target because they usually have them on sale for $249. That's the cheapest I've ever seen them. I also had a $50 gift card and they gave me another $20 gift card with my purchase.

We have food problems all the time. For Easter, I told Casey she had to try some of everything or no more Easter candy. It was a struggle, but she tasted the vegetables and then told me she hated them. She hasn't pooped in about 3 days, by the way. She told me twice she had to go and then couldn't. I'm stressing to her that's because she doesn't eat vegetables. Brenden was also told to try everything. None of the kids would touch the carrot souffle! Even the three older ones. Finally got BIL to eat it and he said it was great. He also doesn't eat veggies. I did get Brenden to eat some and he seemed to like it. I hate carrots, but I love that carrot souffle. Casey has issues with food touching other food and even asks for more than one spoon if she has 2 things that she wants to eat with a spoon at one meal.

[paula]

Thanks, Susan.

I thought you had purchased the Artisan and that is the one which I find most attractive. Amazon currently has the 5 qt Artisan with the tilt head on sale for $239, is offering $25 off purchases of $125 or more and $30 off any purchase if you apply for their credit card. I also have a gift card ($25) left from last Christmas, and the mixer comes with a rebate card for a free 3 qt bowl and some spatulas. And, it qualifies for free shipping! All together, this comes to a very attractive ~$160. My only hestitation is the allure of more power (insert Tim the Toolman grunt.) However, more power also means bigger, heavier, and noiser - none of which sit well in our little apartment kitchen.

Kim, Thanks for the suggestion about Costco. We are members of Sam's and I looked at their site, but they only carry the Wolfgang Puck stand mixer. It looks like a good deal, but it is not a KA and I don't know anything about WP appliances, but that is another thread.

I am surprised that we didn't have any issues with drinking the egg dyes because I had used heavy, ceramic tea cups. My biggest concern was someone accidentally knocking over the cup of dye, so I used the heaviest cups I could find. It didn't occur to me that someone might try to drink it.

Paula

[BeckyM]

Wow -- glad to hear everyone had a great weekend. Susan, just reading about everything you and your family did wore me out! I too am amazed you could stand up for that (rude) couple to get by AND walk up 4 flights of stairs without waking Brenden. Katie occasionally will sleep in our arms like that -- the other weekend DH was bringing her home from the park and she fell asleep for the last 2 minutes or so in the car. She was so sleepy that he managed to get her out of the car seat and into the house without waking her up. Then I ran upstairs to clear a spot in her crib for her nap (she sleeps with so many stuffed animals that we need to push them all to the sides to get her into bed) and realized her diaper had leaked the night before, so I had to change the sheets and everything. She was still sleeping as we transferred Katie from DH to me, and I carried her up to put her in the crib. Of course the minute I put her horizontal in the crib, she woke up and started crying. I tried to get her to nap, but it was completely unsuccessful. For some reason there's something about being put in the crib that completely wakes her up, and she's been that way from infancy!

nori -- sorry your Lemonade Layer Cake didn't turn out so well. There definitely have been mixed reviews on the cake. To me, the texture is moist and dense, though I wouldn't call mine rubbery. Maybe someone who is more used to fluffy cakes would feel that way though. Anyway, it sounds like people either LOVE or HATE that cake. No one here complained about it, and everyone ate their piece, though none of DH's relatives would probably tell me if they thought it seemed rubbery.

Kim -- glad to hear your Easter Egg Hunt went okay even though the weather was soggy. It was definitely wet here, so we did our hunt indoors!

Well, our weekend was really nice. Our dinner was good, though the last-minute preparations took longer than I thought, so some of the food got ready before I had everything else all pulled together. I put my potato casserole back in the oven to stay warm, and I forgot to serve it until everyone was almost done! Thankfully it hadn't dried out or anything (the oven was off, but still warm). Katie enjoyed having all her relatives over and thrived on the extra attention.

Easter morning we had a basket with a couple books and some Fisher Price Easter-themed Little People. Katie was pretty excited about those. We went to 11am mass, and Katie did pretty well. The only problem was that we arrived only a few minutes early, which on Easter makes it difficult to find a seat. I was hoping FIL & SIL would already be there and would have saved us seats, but they weren't. We could have found seats, but DH had dropped Katie and me off at the door since it was raining, and Katie refused to go find a seat until Dad got there. It took him forever to find a place to park, AND it took FIL & SIL forever to get there too. By the time they arrived, people were already starting to stand in the back, so we knew we couldn't find places to sit together. FIL & SIL found two seats near the front (FIL is over 80 and would have had difficulty standing the whole mass), and Katie, DH & I were going to stand. Katie was wandering around with DH following her when a woman I slightly know from our neighborhood came up and asked me if I'd like to sit in their row, since they had room for 1-2 more people. I thought about saying no, because I always tend to think there's someone who needs a seat more than I do, and then I realized "I'm pregnant! I shouldn't have to stand all through mass!" So I sat down at the end of the row, and DH and Katie found me. Katie sat with me for much of mass, and she really was pretty good. (DH stood along the wall by us.) She ate her goldfish, played with her stuffed bunny, and colored a bit on her magnetic drawing pad and some on her "color wonder" paper with "color wonder" markers. She wasn't too disruptive to others, though she was asking me rather loudly to "draw another otter, Mommy" or "draw a blue mouse?" She also protested, "No want Mama to sing!" several times during the musical parts of the service. Being Easter, the mass was inordinately long, and I was proud Katie lasted almost until communion. Then she wanted to go outside, so DH took her out there, where they ran and jumped around. Thankfully it had stopped raining at that point.

After mass, FIL & SIL came over for lunch (hot ham & cheese sandwiches with our leftovers), and DH hid the eggs in the living room while Katie was finishing lunch. She had a fun time finding them and putting them in her basket. We kept having to caution her to handle the eggs gently though, because she kept wanting to just drop them in the basket on top of one another. (These were the hard-boiled eggs.) DH had also hidden her plastic eggs with the stickers inside, but Katie wasn't too interested in them. I think they're so familiar to her that she didn't think finding them was that big a deal. I did show her there were stickers inside, and she put one of the butterfly stickers on her dress, but that was it.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. DH and I watched "The Incredibles" while Katie napped, then we had a simple dinner, gave Katie her bath, and went back to the mundane routines of paying bills, cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, etc.

Oh, and Katie hasn't had any more successful toileting experiences. She has sat on the toilet several times, but nothing came out. I think maybe she is requesting to sit on the toilet right after she pees. I'm not sure though. Anyway, I'm not rushing out to buy "big girl underwear" just yet!

Hope you're all having a good start to the week. I'm making some bean soup with some of our leftover ham. I had a box mix (from a company holiday basket several years ago) that I've never made because we seldom have ham in the house, so I'm making that now.

Talk to you all later!

Becky :)

[MrsReber]

Paula, be careful with the Amazon deal- I did that with DH's Christmas present. They later told me that I couldn't use any other coupons or deals with the $30 rebate. If I remember correctly, they were having a sale on kitchen items (don't know why the gift fell into that category, but it did) When I tried to use the $25 off and the $30 for getting the credit card, they told me I couldn't use those 2 deals together. However, the nice lady who emailed me back put the $25 credit through anyway, so give it a shot and email them if they don't give it to you up front. It wasn't clear when I ordered that I couldn't use the 2 offers at the same time.

Becky, I can't believe I walked up all those stairs, either! There were about 2 flights between each floor. We tried waiting for the elevator, but it never came and we got tired of waiting. At least we were making progress walking up the stairs. The weekend was tiring. I was so afraid of bathroom issues with all that traveling. And so, now that we're home, both kids had accidents today. Casey's was most definitely related to her eating habits. She finally pooped and it was all over the place (yuck!). Brenden's accident was probably my fault. I didn't get him to the bathroom quickly enough when we were at the store earlier. I was too anxious to just get the stuff I needed and get home. Guess I learned my lesson.

[HRJ]

Hi -- glad to hear you all seem to have had a nice holiday. The weather was wonderful here on Sunday -- sunny, high 40s. (yeah, I know some of you -- Tyra? -- think that high 40s is positively frigid,-- but believe me, IMHO, it's absolutely delightful. :) ).

In the afternoon we took Victor to the playground. There were a few other families there, but it was empty enough that he had some of the equipment all to himself. He's officially graduated from the "baby swings" -- he can't squeeze into them any longer -- and he had a ball going on the "big boy" swings.

Then we took a walk over to our little shopping district -- I'm glad it's getting warm enough that I can walk over to TJ's when I need something there. Aside from the fact that it gives me some badly-needed physical activity, I really don't like trying to find a spot in the parking lot there.

Becky, your situation with getting Katie into the crib sounds exactly like what happens to us with Victor. He'll fall asleep in the car, and we'll manage to get him into the house, asleep; up the stairs to his room, asleep; and the minute we put him into his bed, he wakes up! :eek:

Nori, sorry you didn't like the way the Lemonade Cake turned out. That is probably one of the most controversial recipes in CL history. I've found that while I really like the cake, I didn't like the CL frosting that went with it -- I usually use lemon curd between the layers, and frost it with a cream cheese/lemon frosting that I got from Epicurious.

Paula, I have the KA Artisan, like Susan , (but mine is cobalt blue) and think it's wonderful. I wouldn't worry about not having enough power -- I have made double batches of cookies, and double batches of bread dough, and it's come through like a champ. Can't imagine what I would need to make that it wouldn't be able to handle. I also have the meat-grinder attachment, and like that as well. I got mine for $199 as a Gold Box offer from Amazon (do they even run those anymore?), and it came with an offer for a free attachment (hence, the meat grinder.)

Susan, glad you had such a nice time at the concert, and with your family.

Is the carrot souffle from CL? (Sorry if you mentioned about it before, I must have missed it.)

Kim, I was talking to DH about needing to line up a babysitter for April 9 (our anniversary), and was thinking of you ...

Just wondering ... at what age do kids start to show a preference for "handed-ness"? Victor has always pretty much done things with both hands, but we've been noticing lately that he always seems to hold his fork in his right hand, but always draws/colors with crayons/markers in his left hand. He doesn't really do much "writing" yet -- the only letter he has any interest in writing is "V," and he'll "write" his name by making a "V" and then a line after it, like this: V---

Today was very rainy, and Victor was getting a little antsy being inside, so I decided to give him a bath in the middle of the afternoon -- he really liked being able to splash around for a while. Then after he got out of the tub, he actually decided to take a nap. I had a ton of stuff to get done around the house, but decided to use the quiet time to just sit and read for a while -- probably one of the few things I sort of miss from my pre-parenthood days.

Helene

[tbb113]

Its all relative Helene. When the low is usually only in the 40's, then 40 during the day would be frigid here :) 60 in Hawaii would probably be considered down right cold as well.

I don't know when one hand becomes more dominant. I know that for a long time I thought Michael would be a lefty (while Alex was always strongly right handed). There are certain things that Michael still does with his left hand (drinks from a glass, dribbles a basketball) but in general he is right handed. His paternal grandmother is left handed so it was a possiblity that I strongly considered.

[RunnerKim]

I'm trying to remember what age I heard for handed-ness. I'm a lefty, so had hopes for Lainey but she doesn't even humor with with using her left hand for much of anything. I'm thinking around 4 it settles in????? I'd think Victor would be getting close. More boys are left-handed than girls.

Ugh, I'm totatally falling asleep at my desk! Good thing it's time for my Lainey visit and I can get some fresh air too.

Kim

[tbb113]

Helene:
check out this website (http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/faq.html) about right hand/left hand

[RunnerKim]

Wow Tyra - that's a very informative web site. Up to your usual good sleuthing job! :D

[nori]

Hmmm, the cake was dense....I guess I was expecting more "light" "fluffy" cake. I didn't really care for the frosting either. Not sure if I'm going to make it again. Half of the cake is still sitting in the fridge ( I ate a piece this morning for breakfast...bad, I know). Noah liked the frosting part. What should I do with the rest of them?? DH and his friend didn't comment on anything and since I"m not so confident about it, I don't feel like offering it anymore. Oh well.

Tyra, I think it's great Alex wanted to go to the movie with you (although it wasn't the exact movie you wanted to watch). Is Millions "Million Dollar Baby"? I'd like to see that movie, too! (or is there new movie I don't know yet?:o )
And thank you for always being so helpful and resourceful. You're the best mentor for us toddler moms!!

Kim, you have an excuse to fall asleep at your desk.....you're pregnant, and living with a toddler. (I admit I fell asleep a bit at the desk when I was working and pregnant). About the food, I usually don't make a big deal out of it but since it was in the restaurant, it soudned more loud and more frequent than usual. Sometimes they insist on something so little (like leaving food on the table, not on the plate) and it's not really worth getting upset over it.

Helene, that's a cute sig of Victor! I noticed Noah using both of his hands for drawing, but for folk and spoon he'd use right at this point. That's a very interestign question! Sounds like you had anice quiet break while he was napping. I tend to try to do all works I was supposed to be doing while kids napping (or getting sleep for myself), I wish I could use that time more for myself. I guess I should do that once in a while. This Thursday, my friend offered to watch kids all day. I have a meeting in the morning, but in the afternoon, I'll have several hours of freedom, without kids!!! What should I do? I'd probably go to the cafe to have a nice cup of coffee! But I guess I can do more than that....go home and sleep?
:D

SusanR, sounds like you had a busy but nice holiday. THe concert sounds amazing. And you are strong to carry Brenden for 4 flights of stairs!!! (What your DH was doing, may I ask??:D ;) ) Sorry the Sesame Street was a bit of dissapointment because of audiences.

Becky, your weekend sound nice, too. Glad Katie did pretty well at the mass.

Well tomorrow we're going to visit zoo. DH's friend wants to go too, so I'll probably pack some lunch and spend morning there. He's an easy guest, since most of the time he'd be gone by himself, visiting places during the day.

[tbb113]

Nori: Millions is a different movie that is in limited release right now. Here is a review (http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/review.asp?ID=256) I saw the coming attractions and I really want to see the movie. I think I'll go on Saturday night since both boys will be at an event. Million Dollar Baby was also very good. Has a surprise twist in the story. Hilary Swank did a great job and I really like Morgan Freeman.

[MrsReber]

I didn't look at that link, but I think it's around 4-5 that kids will pick a dominant hand. Casey used both for a while, but is now using her right more often. I have no preference either way. I hear lefties are very creative. I tend to believe that since my SIL and my mom's friend are both lefties and they're both extremely creative.

Nori, DH was actually helping Casey up and down the stairs, so I can't fault him for not helping :D ! Brenden fell asleep on my lap and prefers mommy. I knew if we switched, he'd immediately realize mommy was gone and he'd be wide a awake. I'm amazed that he slept for 2 hours. On the way down all those steps, my brother actually carried him most of the way. I was getting worried becuase my brother has had several knee surgeries. I knew my knees were burning at the end of it all. I took Brenden back for the last 2 flights down. I also carried him through part of the city, but both kids really wanted to walk. They love walking around the city streets and looking at everything. It was really great for them. Brenden especially liked the horse drawn carriages and the pigeons all over the place. I was trying to carry him so we could go faster, but he insisted on walking.

On the way home from the train station Sunday, after we said good-bye to my sister and her family, Casey said "mommy, I miss my cousins." It was so cute. She gets along so well with them. She acts like she's a big girl around them. And they are wonderful with her.

Helene, yes, that's CL's carrot souffle from Nov. 2002. My family and my in-laws love it. They raved about it. I highly recommend it. I even used Splenda in place of the sugar (1/2 the amount of sugar called for). When I made it without Splenda, I used less sugar because it was sweet enough.

Nori, wow, I'm sure you can figure out something to do with your spare time! What a nice friend to take the kids for a day.

Helene, I use the bath as a secret weapon sometimes. They may grumble about getting in, but it usually makes them very happy to play for a bit. We do baths in the daytime on Mondays so I don't have to do it after dinner.

[JoanneOR]

Thanks for the diaper rash remedies. Thankfully, Caitlyn's seemed to clear up with the nystatin and desitin, but it got to the point where she wouldn't sit in the bath. But, I'm going to get some balmex to keep on hand. The best solution would be to get her out of diapers! Yesterday morning she was up at 5:30 and said she wanted to go potty. I'm thinking, great, but why does it have to be 5:30 when she doesn't want to use it any other time of day?? So, I got her up and she peed alot, but then of course was awake for the day. Luckily she took a three hour nap later and the boys were playing their new video game from the Easter bunny so I actually had a little time to myself. I wasn't quite sure what to do!

Helene, I agree, 40 degrees can seem really nice! It was actually close to 60 yesterday so I had Caitlyn out riding her bike with the little boys across the street. She's right in the middle of them age-wise, they are all so cute together. The bad part was she fell and skinned her knee pretty bad, and that was with pants on. I didn't make to much of a fuss over it and she only cried for a minute or so.

Last night we took the boys to a Bulls game. We left Caitlyn home with grandma. They had a blast. Except we got seats way up at the top and Colin was really scared. I felt so bad for him; he was clutching the armrests on his seat for most of the game. He didn't even want me or DH to hold him because he didn't want to move from his seat. When we got home he said next time can we get seats at the bottom? It's hard to explain to a five-year old that we can't spend $500 to go to a basketball game!

Nori, I agree about the boys clothes. Once they're out of baby sizes, it's really hard to find dress clothes. Luckily, there's no too many occasions for dressing up, but every time ours do I have to scramble to see what still fits them.

Caitlyn's favorite phrases lately have been "I don't want it" and "I don't like it", so it sounds like she's doing what Noah's doing!

Sorry the cake didn't turn out too well, Nori. I never did get around to making it. I probably don't need to, because then I'll be eating it and I really don't need it! It's not really the same texture as other cakes, it's a bit denser. At times, mine has been a bit more "rubbery" than others; I'm not sure if it has to do with how long it's baked or how long it's mixed.

Enjoy your free afternoon!

Tyra, I want to take the boys to seem Millions, too. I think Jameson especially would enjoy it. DH took them to see IRobots the other day. I think they liked it. I stayed home with Caitlyn.

Becky, I've had the same issue with all my kids about waking them up when you put them in the crib. Never works!

Susan, sounds like a really nice time at Carnegie Hall and with your family. That's great that the kids did so well. It sounds like it was pretty soothing for Brenden!

Our Easter was nice. Saturday we did the egg hunt at my SILs. Caitlyn was totally uninterested in picking up the eggs until we showed her there was candy inside, then it was a different story! Sunday we went to mass and the kids were pretty good. We were sitting on the side on some chairs since it was full. Caitlyn wandered around a bit, but was pretty quiet. Then we went to FIL since he had some baskets for the kids (more candy, ugh :(). Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. That was fun. Then we left DH at home to sleep and went to my parents house for dessert and more candy. I'm having the same problem as you, Susan, I can't stay out of the kid's candy! Everyday I say I'm not going to eat any, I have one piece, and it's all downhill. People brought candy into work today; I'm hoping I can avoid it!

Well, I'm going to go work out now and try to burn off some of that candy!

[tbb113]

Joanne: When I was little my mother used skinned knees as a sign of spring :D

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, that's funny, that's actually one of the first things I thought of when she skinned her knee.

Kim, how are you doing? Your due date is so close. I haven't seen you here today, so I was wondering if maybe something is happening? :)

We took lots of pictures over the Easter weekend. Although Caitlyn has decided that "let's get a picture" means let's cry and cover our face! I'll try to post a couple after I get them downloaded.

[RunnerKim]

I'm still here - just lots of pesky meetings interupting my day. ;) I was having some "tightening" stuff going on yesterday that had me thinking maybe something would happen. It was fun to panic DH a little about that was about the extent of it. He's so unflappable it's fun to see him go into higher gear (or hear about it, since it was mostly me getting his coworker's cell phone number so I could always track him down etc.).

I had a really long road to delivery with Lainey - sporadic contractions at 10pm, water broke at 7am, started pitocin and "real" labor as the nurses called it at 2pm and Lainey was born around 9:20. So DH says to me the other day - well if labor starts while we're at work and it's mid-morning, then he'd go get the car (via bus) during his lunch hour and then pick me up. Um... I don't think so! So see, he deserves to be panicked a little. :D

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I was hoping you were delivering! Just wishful thinking! Tell your DH second babies can come much faster!! :) Jameson was about 20 hours from the time I went into the hospital and Ian arrived about 30 minutes after we arrived at the hospital! I'm sure your coworkers would be a little nervous with you in the office in labor and your DH taking the bus home to get the car!

[nori]

Yay!! My new laptop(well not exactly new) arrived yesterday and DH installed the old harddrive and it's working! He said since there were extra slots, he put more memories in it. Plus, this one's battery is working so that means I can charge it and move it anywhere. He told me to back everything up in the main computer drive from now on. I'm not sure how to do it so I have to ask him to teach me. Only problem is his computer is Linux, so I'm not sure how all those my files (especially mastercook ) would be saved there. This computer itself cost less than $100 but it didn't include the power cable and DH messed up the old one while trying to fix it. So he had to get the new one, which cost $130!!!:eek: Ouch! I can't believe I am paying that much for cable, more than the computer! Oh well, all my files are alive now so I shouldn't complain.

Kim, good luck on your delivery! Although each delivery is different, second time was much easier for me, too. (They both came a month early, thoguh) With Noah they tried to induce me and I didn't dialate much, so by the time they decided to do c-section I was exhausted. Hope everything goes well!

Joanne, glad to hear that Caitlyn's rash is getting better. What a relief! I can't imagine the amount of candies you'd accumulated between 4 kids in the house. We didn't get much, but still he got candies here and there and as most of you, I can't stay away from it!! Bad, I know. And that cake, sitting in the fridge, I found myself munching on it occasionally. I complained about the results and still I'm eating? If I knew it was a dense cake, I probably didn't think it wasn't a success.

SusanR, I'm still thinking what should I do on that free afternoon! They're having a sack lunch at the meeting but I'm debating to skip it and leave it, then have time for myself. I probably have 3-4 hours, I think. What would you do?:D The fact is, there are so many things I want to do (which includes naps, and gettins some house stuff done...but I'd rather use this time for purely for myself.) My friend has 2 kids, one in school in the morning, and on that day she's watching her friends' kids, 2, and one is in the school in the morning. So she's alredy got 4 kids. She said it doesn't make any difference to her. To me it does, but she was a teacher so probably she is better at dealing with them. Anyway, that is very very nice of her and I really appreciate it.:)

I have to try that carrot souffle...sounds pretty good!

Tyra, thanks for the link. Seems like a good movie. I haven't heard the name around here but maybe they're playing at the small theaters??

We went to the zoo this morning with DH's friend. It was fun. I packed a light lunch for us (we always bring lunch or snack), and spent about 3 hours there. Noah was getting a bit tired at the end and Mary Ann cried a while to fall asleep. But the weather was gorgeous, and zoo wasn't too crowded. Sometimes they have field trips etc and very very crowded. Then it'd be hard for Noah to push his stroller. I like it when it's kind of empty.:)

[MrsReber]

Nori, I honestly think if I knew in advance I'd have 3-4 hours to myself, I'd schedule a full body massage. Then I'd go to a store, maybe a book store (my favorite) or go somewhere for clothes. I need a new bathing suit. It's been quite a few years since I got a new one. I still wear the same one piece from when I was about 19! I did get a couple of 2 piece bathing suits for my honeymoon over 5 years ago, but after 2 kids, it ain't pretty! Don't quite fit the same. I can't try clothes on with kids and if I leave them with DH, I never have a whole lot of time. I might also clean (not fun, but so nice to have a clean house!) or go to lunch with a friend. Thinking of this makes me realize that I very rarely have time to myself without the kids around.

Oh, that horrible Easter candy is lingering! All four of us were eating it last night. It needs to go away!

Kim, 2nd babies do come much faster, from my experience. My first labor was short, but my second was REALLY short. Good thing we're not planning on number 3 as we'd probably never get to the hospital in time. Good luck with things. I'm sure the pregnancy watch has started with your family, friends, and co-workers. I loved it when everyone would start with "you're still here?" Or the phone would ring constantly because everyone wanted to know what was going on. Pretty soon, though. I can't wait :D !

[JoanneOR]

Nori, glad to hear you've got your new computer up and running. That is frustrating to have to pay more for the power cord than the computer!

Hmmm, I think if I was you, I wouldn't even go home for your free time. You'd probably wind up doing things around the house like laundry and cleaning and not do anything fun. I love to go to the movies, so I would probably see a movie. I haven't seen an "adult" (meaning non-kid movie :)) in I can't remember how long at the theatre. Shopping is a good idea, too. Or call up and friend and have a nice lunch out somewhere. Or, go home and take a good nap!

DH might take the kids to his brother's farm overnight tomorrow, but the weather's not looking too good so I don't know if they go. If they do, I'll actually have a bit a free time, too.

Last night wasn't too bad with the candy. I just ate the malted milk balls. I love those things! Thankfully they're all gone now so I don't have to worry about them! I think I may start weight watchers online again today; I need something to keep myself accountable.

DH took the kids to the zoo yesterday. He said it was really crowded and it took them and hour and a half just to go the last mile to the zoo. I guess it was a free admission day for some reason and also lots of kids are on spring break. It was even on the news about how crowded it was. He said they had fun though. Caitlyn was very excited to see the monkeys.

[RunnerKim]

Yes, the PG watch has definitely started. When I call my sister I now make sure to first tell her that I'm not in labor. I do hope 2nd babies come faster b/c I just don't have time to hang around laboring ;) It's weird when I get to this point though because I start thinking - it's never going to happen but of course it will. I have a dr. appt later this morning.

Nori, I was thinking about a movie too or shopping. Something you can enjoy leisurely. My best friend works for Best Buy corporate and their employee discount is a certain percentage above cost of the time and she says the markup on things like cables is astronomical. I'm glad your back up and running though.

I forgot to mention I crossed my last "to-do" item off my baby list - I got Lainey's 2004 scrapbook done. Yeah! Of course I'm already 3 months behind on 2005 but I'm fine with that, I actually like a little time to give perspective before I do it.

Joanne, I hope you get a little free time. Is your BIL's farm a real working farm? What fun for the kids.

Kim

[BeckyM]

nori -- glad your "new to you" computer arrived and the files were all recovered. It must be a big relief to know you didn't lose everything. And I'm surprised by the cost of the cable too!

I'm jealous to hear about those of you who went to the zoo recently! Yesterday we had Katie's parent conference at daycare (more about that later) and were done at 4:30, so we decided we should try taking her to the zoo. We had her all psyched up for it, and she was talking about seeing the monkeys and giraffes, then as we pulled up, we saw the signs that the gates closed at 4pm, and the park closed at 5pm! They are still on "winter hours" until Memorial Day! :mad: It was such a beautiful day yesterday, I thought they should have extended the hours just for us! :D We told Katie the animals had to go to bed now, so we couldn't see them. She seemed to accept that and was perfectly happy to go to a nearby playground where she could climb and go down a slide.

nori -- how nice of your friend to watch the kids for you for a while. It's nice too that you have some advance notice, so you can think ahead about what you want to do with that precious free time. I agree a massage or shopping sound good. I desperately need some new shoes and have had no opportunity to go shopping for them. Or if you don't want a massage, maybe a pedicure, manicure, facial, or some other "body pampering" type thing would be fun. I agree you should definitely take time just for you. Though it might feel good to get the house cleaned, taking care of yourself is important too!

Joanne (and everyone) -- good luck avoiding the remaining Easter candy. I know that has been a difficult thing for me too, and we didn't really have all that much Easter candy around. Fortunately for us, Katie's daycare does not give candy to the kids, and we didn't give her any either. We just had some Easter M&M's (that I bought) to have around when DH's family was over, and of course DH and I finished them off. One of the additional challenges for me is that I gave up candy for Lent, so now when there's some available, I find myself rationalizing that I gave it up for a long time, so now I DESERVE some. Logically, that only goes so far. Yes, having a nice piece of chocolate to enjoy is fine now that Lent is over, but eating half a bag of M&M's is NOT!

Kim -- congrats on getting the 2004 scrapbook completed. I am in awe! I'm supposed to bring in a picture of Katie with her grandparents for daycare (they're decorating the room with kids doing various things, and instead of just random pictures of kids out of magazines or something, they had us each sign up to bring pictures of our child doing a particular activity), and I can't even seem to find time to print out that one picture! And good luck on the "baby watch". I hope the baby comes before you go absolutely insane hearing "isn't the baby here yet?" for the bazillionth time.

And just an anecdotal story about the 2nd baby coming faster . . . . A good friend of mine went into labor and delivered very quickly with her first child. It was so fast there was no time for any sort of pain relief or anything. With the second one, they assumed it would come even faster, but it took forever! She went to the hospital and had an epidural, then her contractions slowed way down and they had to use pitocin to get the contractions going again. So, even though most people say the second one comes faster, I guess we shouldn't count on it!

As I mentioned, Katie's Parent Conference at daycare was yesterday. It was a nice discussion with her lead teacher. We weren't quite sure what to expect, since it was the first time we've had one of these. They had filled out a developmental assessment form that talked about various things a child that age might be doing, and they rated it either "Always", "Sometimes", or "Emerging Interest". For example, under the heading "Language Development", it said things like, "Uses words to label familiar items in books," and "Communicates wants and needs verbally". Other areas they assessed were gross motor skills, cognitive development, toileting, etc. It was interesting, and we were glad to see that they assessed Katie right about where we would in most areas. There were a few surprises, like the fact that she can use safety scissors. We didn't know they had ever used scissors at daycare, but apparently they have, and Katie does well with them. Anyway, it was a good conference, and it makes us feel even more confident that Katie is in a good place that really takes the time to help her develop as an individual.

Oh, and we've had some more potty success. Katie successfully used her potty at home Tuesday morning (and I thought she was just stalling because she didn't want to go to daycare), and she also used it at daycare Tuesday during the day. At daycare she stood up before she was completely done though, so she had a new outfit on when we picked her up. Her comment was, "I peed on my socks." Her teachers at daycare tell us she is making good progress on it, and we should just continue to encourage her, but let her go at her own pace. Last night before bed and this morning before we left home she tried again, but nothing came out.

Well, I'd better get back to work. It's a slow day around here today. I think lots of people are out today because the weather is so nice, AND we lose our carryover vacation (from 2004) if we don't use it by the end of March.

Hope everyone else has nice weather AND is able to get outside and enjoy it!

Becky :)

[JoanneOR]

Kim, BIL's farm isn't a real working farm. At least, not for them it's not! They just bought it last summer and I guess it has all the buildings for farming and lots of land, but they don't have any animals, except for a few chickens, I think. He mostly bought it for the space (he collects cars and motorcycles like my DH does). They've got a couple acres and a huge swimming pool. I've never been there, but DH took the boys a couple times last year. They are planning on going on a dairy farm tour that is nearby if they go tomorrow.

Becky, that's good that Katie wasn't too disappointed about the zoo. The preschool that the boys went to didn't allow any candy either or anything with sugar. So, that was good. But their school now allows just about anything. It wouldn't be so bad if there was just one of them in school, but all three bring home big bags of candy for every holiday. Some kids give out treat bags full of candy to each kid; I think one piece would be plenty. My kids don't really eat too much of it; they'll have one or two pieces a day and forget about it. Well, except Caitlyn, she'd eat all of it if we let her. :) I wind up eating it and that's not good!

Kim, that's great about the scrapbook. You're way ahead of me! I've still got most of the kids pictures in boxes. :(

Gotta run to another meeting...ugh...

[RunnerKim]

Becky, I think the parent-teacher conferences are so intersting. We had one recently too, it wasn't quite as structured but they had 4 areas to make comments about and it was interesting to hear what each of the 3 teachers had to say. That's great on the additiona potty success!

Joanne - Lainey's daycare is like the preschool the boys went too - there's no outside food at all. Well the kids did go trick-or-treating in the offices and the candy was split up and sent home. Maybe I'll see more of it in the preschool rooms, but it doesn't seem like it.

Our zoo is still on winter hours too. We haven't been in awhile and Lainey's asking about it, so maybe we'll go this weekend if I don't have anything better to do ;)

Had my 38 (1/2) week appt and I'm 2cm and 75% effaced and she thought I'd go by next week. She said I couldn't go in to labor today as she just got done begging the hospital to take a woman who was in labor. sheesh it was super busy the last time I gave birth, I was thinking it wouldn't be so much this time.

Kim

[nori]

Kim, good luck!! Sounds like we probably wont' hear from you next week.:D In that case, we'd assume you're in labor! Is your hospital bag ready? How exciting!

Joanne, that sounds like fun to go to the farm. I hope they get to go, so you can have some free time, too.

Becky, congrats on another potty progress! That's great!

Well thanks for the ideas and suggestions for tomorrow.:) I've been thinking, and I would probably go to the park for some jogging (I used to jog, but since Mary Ann had arrived I hadn't done so much), then come home and have a nice bath, and head out for coffee at the book store. It would be strange to come home where it's so quiet. But it'd be fun! I hope kids do okay. This will be the longest I'd leave Mary Ann to someone else.

This morning around 5am Noah woke up crying. I was with Mary Ann, nursing, but I went in to his room with her. He sounded a bit muffled, and I tried to see what's going on but he wasn't on his bed. I couldn't see anything so I hit the light. Guess where he was...I saw his feet sticking out from under the bed. Somehow he got underneath the bed, lying down, head deep under the bed. The rail was intact, and I have no idea how that happened. He must had fell and didn't wake up, and then he rolled himself into that position?\:confused: Of course he was upset, I pulled him out but I was a bit upset, too. It was scary not to see him where I thought he'd be. So after that, we all got into his bed and tried to get more sleep. Noah wanted to get up, but I told him it's still night-night time. Eventually he fell asleep too, and I did too. We all slept until 7am this morning.

SusanR, I agree you should get your new bathing suit! With that weight loss, I bet you look fabulous with new suit. But, maybe you can try the old one to see how it fit? It might look better after you had such a great success!!
:)

[hrk]

Good morning everyone.
Wow I have been MIA for a long time and boy can this thread move.

Kim- Congrats on finishing up Lainey's 2004 scrapbook. I am moving right along on our family one, but I am still far behind. I have lot of scrapping planned for this month though so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will make some good progress. Good luck on the baby watch.

Becky- Congrats on the potty progress. And we have parent teacher conferences at Logans daycare similar to yours, where they rates the kids progress in abunch of areas. It is always very informative to compare how the teachers rate his progess, vs. us vs. his pediatrician. We have our next set at the end of April.

Susan- Definitely go out and uy the new bathing suit. There is nothing like good fitting clothes to keep your spirits up and provide incentive to losing the weight. Glad to hear the kids did so well in the city, I am sure it was quite wonderful to be with you family.

Nori- That must have been very scary to find Noah under the bed, but I could totally see where that would be even scarrier for him. Hope you have a great afternoon to yourself, that is a rare treat.

Well my parents have been here since Friday and it has been wonderful to see them and Logan interacting. Logan just thinks the sun rises and sets with my father who he calls Pop Pop for some reason. This weekend we took a long road trip down to Monticello and Logan did great on the tour and the long car rides. My mom is a big history buff and she loves doing stuff like that.
Logan is talking up a storm these days and picking up new words constantly.(but they still seem to be muffled so I don't think the ears are cleared up yet) He says tons of two word phrases so we are working on three word phrases. Our biggest issue right now seems to be daycare. They don't work on numbers or letters at his daycare in the 18-24 month room and thats Logans biggest interests these days. He loves to count to ten although he skips five and seven for some reason, and he is starting to recognize letters. I am not sure how we approach this as I realize there are eight other kids in the room, but on the other hand Logan gets bored and the teachers even seem to notice his boredom. Something we ahve to work on.

Well Happy Thursday.
Heather

[JoanneOR]

Nori, I could see how you'd be scared to go in Noah's room and not see him! I'm glad he was OK. I'm sure I've told this story here before, but one morning we couldn't find Ian anywhere in the house. Turns out he was sleeping in the closet. :) I was just starting to think about calling 911 when we saw his feet sticking out. Enjoy your "time off" today. Sounds like a good plan. I used to love to run; I don't get to do it too much now because DH isn't home in the mornings so I can't go out. I usually use videos instead and hope I can get through it before someone wakes up!

Heather, sounds like Logan is doing great with his speech. How close is he to moving to the next room? I forget how old he is. Maybe the teacher can find some time to work with him on letters and numbers. Maybe when he'd normally be doing something else he's already mastered or when he seems bored. Or maybe he can move up sooner?

Kim, sounds like you're so close! I'm predicting this weekend. :)

Well, Ian threw up in the middle of the night last night, so I don't know if the farm is on or not. I haven't called home yet, but he seemed OK this morning. I pray this is not a virus that will run through the family. Stomach viruses are the worst.

[RunnerKim]

Still here, which is fine as I have some work projects I'd really like to wrap up a little better. DH thinks he'll arrive on 4/1. I'd prefer not (since it's April Fool's Day) but at least it would be April (better birth stone :rolleyes: ) and the date would be 4/1/05 (so the 4+1=5, kind of cool) and people aren't likely to forget the kid's birthdate. Is that good rationalization????

Whew Nori - I can see how scary that would be not to see Noah in his bed. A jog sounds like a great plan! Enjoy.

Heather, glad you're having a good visit with your parents. I wouldn't say the toddler teachers (same age you incidated) "work" with the kids on letters & numbers in Lainey's daycare, but they'll certainly pursue interest of the kids (i.e., if they're spelling things out or counting or asking what a letter is) that shouldn't be too much to ask and I'd think they'd pick up on it naturally just interacting with the kids. It's a 1:4 ratio right? So even thought there's 8 kids there's 2 teachers. What kind of books do they have in the room - any of them counting or ABC books? That would be a good concrete suggestion (or maybe you could send in a book with Logan every once in awhile for him to share).

Kim

[paula]

Heather, Our daycare doesn't "teach" letters until preschool (3yo). Before then, number and letter recognition and comprehension is encouraged through play. For example, the toddlers (1-2 yo) have 4-inch tall velvet-covered letters as one of their toys. When that basket of toys is presented, the children are encouraged to playswith them, as appropriate for their age - the young ones touch and chew, the older children may identify/group by color, and the most advanced may get to know some by name. In the two's room, they practice recognizing each other's names (A is for Alex, R is for Rachel, etc) and they have "labels" on many of the larger objects to help establish the connection between word and object. They also point to letter when they sing the ABC song, count on the classroom calendar, and have letter and number puzzles. I guess it could be called "structured exposure," and while subtle, is remarkably effective.

Already, both of my kids can recognize most (if not all) of the letters, and it has been such a gradual and smooth process that I am not sure how or where they learned them. I know that the biggest advances were after their verbal skills were sufficient to be able to say the names of the letters (and sing the ABC song). I am sure that it helped that we have letters everywhere at home (magnetic, bathtub, dollar store puzzles, etc). They are also very fond of the "froggie videos". We have LeapFrog "Talking Letters" and "Talking Words" videos which introduce letter names, sounds, and simple phonetic word construction. The theme of the Talking Letters video is the same as the Fridge Phonics that is always highly recommended.

These videos have been so popular that just last week, DH and I were discussing giving one as a birthday present for a certain soon-to-be two-year old...(Alex and Rachel were invited to Logan's birthday party!) We purchased our Froggie videos at Sam's, but when I was there last weekend, they were no longer in stock and were not on the Sam's website. However, for the Dora fans among us, I did see several 2-DVD sets of Dora videos for about $18. We don't have any Dora videos, so I don't know how this price compares, but Sam's usually has good deals.

BTW, I did order a KA just like Susan's for my birthday present. It should arrive sometime next week. I am so excited. I have been hinting and suggesting a KA to DH as a gift for years, and I am so glad that I decided to buy my own present this year! I decided against any of the more powerful units because I don't have any where in my kitchen to store something so big.

Paula

[MrsReber]

Paula, congratulations on your purchase! I, too, hinted for a very long time. My hints were not taken seriously. I know you'll love yours as much as I love mine!

I just bought those DVD's that Paula mentioned. I actually bought them from the Barnes & Noble website. There was a set with the 2 DVD's and a stuffed frog. I'm going to give it to Casey for her birthday. I have a B&N membership card so I also got 10% off their price. It was cheaper than on the Leapfrog website. It also looks like there are different versions as well- or volumes.

Our daycare sounds similar to Paula's where they don't really teach certain skills, but they do expose the kids. With Casey, we were working on writing her name and spelling some words. We later found out that this is advanced stuff and they're mainly working to get the kids to recognize the letters in their own names.

Bathing suits have always been scary for me. That's why I only wear a 2 piece on islands far away. I figure I'll never see those people again :D ! I somehow maintained my weight from last week, which was probably due to the exercise and carrying the kids around in the city (up and down stairs mostly since they were holding everyone up).

DH emailed me and said Casey was hiding from her teacher on the playground yesterday. She wouldn't come out. I told him I might hide from her teacher, too! I'm not that fond of the teacher, but Casey doesn't seem to have a problem with her at all so I let it go. We're cutting way back on tv at home with the kids. Casey was so out of control. She started just turning it on when she walked in the door. I told her she had to ask first and get permission. Even then, she'd ignore me and say "but I just want to see what's on." We now allow her to wacth Dragon Tales at 7:30 and that's it for kid tv. Until 7:30 arrives, she will ask constantly "Is it 7:30 yet? Is Dragon Tales on yet?" At least with the weather getting nicer, I can send them outside with DH while I make dinner.

Kim, April 1st is too early. I give you another few days. I know that I walked around at 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced for at least 2 weeks- but it won't be that long for you!

[RunnerKim]

I think this weekend or early next week. Who knows I suppose really. Lainey (and myself a little) has a cold, so it wouldn't be a bad idea for her to be able to get over that. That was my first internal check, so maybe i've been at 2cm/75% for awhile, or maybe not. My doctor really doesn't seem to want to do the internals, it was a new/sub assistant who'd assumed she would and had me undress.

I just had the most amazing staff meeting (Not words I'd normally ever put together ;) ) but they surprised me big time by sneaking in a little presentation to me - several people said incredibly wonderful things and they gave me a big gift card to BRU. We'll probably use it to get #2's convertable car seat. It's great to really enjoy the people you work with. :)

Paula - have a blast with your KA! What's your first recipe you have planned?

Joanne, I hope Ian is feeling better soon.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Paula, congrats on your new KA! You'll love it.

Kim, how nice of your coworkers. You're right; working with people who you enjoy makes working much more pleasant! I'm kind of bored with my job but everyone here is great.

Kim, you're lucky - my doctor did internals every visit the last month or so. I hated it!

DH said Ian has been fine today. He ate four bowls of cereal for breakfast. He wanted more, but DH made him stop. For dinner last night he had five pieces of chicken. He must be growing. People with older boys have warned me about how much they'll be eating later on. I never really believed them because my kids have always been picky eaters. Well, it may be coming true!

Susan, my body and a two-piece suit will never meet again. After four kids, it's not pretty! :) That's great you kept your weight the same. My big accomplishment yesterday was I didn't eat one piece of candy! The only sweet I had was a healthy choice ice cream bar after dinner. I'll be happy if I can keep this up.

[tbb113]

Kim: On the silly side, my second c-section was much faster than my first c-section. My waters broke with Michael at 4am but I didn't call the doctor until 7 (I wanted him well-rested before he did major surgery :D ). But since Michael was so early, I had to be seen by a high-risk ob first, so I didn't deliver until 4pm. With Alex, I woke up in labor at 6am and delivered him by 10:30am :) And unless my memory is wrong, I never had an internal exam prior to delivery (Alex was 2 weeks early as well).

Joanne: My sons never seem to eat THAT much in one sitting. Its more the full meal 'snack' before or after dinner that amazes me. You know, eat an entire dinner and then an hour later, eat it all over again (more Michael than Alex). Alex has a sweet tooth and will prefer ice cream and then popcorn if he is hungry vs eating dinner for a second time :D

Paula: Enjoy your mixer. I know I enjoy mine when I use it

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, I'm with Alex...I'd much prefer ice cream and popcorn than a second dinner. :)

[nori]

Today was fun, although I found out that we had dentist appontment at 11am. Our plan was to bring kids and we take turn to watch kids in the waiting room, but since I didn't have any kids, DH didn't have to come early. After I came home, I went out for jogging. It was a gorgeous day, a bit bleezy which was perfect for running. I ran 3 rounds around the park, and felt pretty good. I have to admit, I felt so strange to come very quiet home. And while I took a bath, no one came in to invade my privacy.;) Then I headed for Barns and Noble and had a frappcino and browse the store. It was very nice. Kids did great, too. Noah had so much fun he didn't want to come home. My friend said we can do it again. I'm so thankful I have such a great friend.:) I told her I can do the same for her in return. (although the thought of having 4 kids in the house is a bit scary to me!!!)

Joanne, glad to hear that Ian seems okay so far. Wow that's a big breakfast!! I wonder what that throwing up was about, but maybe something he ate?? Did they go to the farm eventually?

Paula, enjoy KA mixer! I have one, too, and I love it!

Kim, that is very nice of your coworker to give you a surprise!! Good luck on this weekend or next week! I can't wait to hear all about it!

[MrsReber]

I actually didn't mind the internal exams because they gave me some hint as to how things were progressing. Also, the doctor noted that they can try to sort of get things moving with an internal as well. I don't know how true that is, but with Casey, I had an internal on a Tuesday afternoon and we were at the hospital that night at 7:00.

Nori, what a great day! I can't even imagine relaxing in a bath. Sounds wonderful. I try to get through a regular old shower without being disturbed and having one of the kids leave the door open while I'm in there - Brrrrrrr! The bookstore sounds great. The house is too quiet without the kids. It's such a weird feeling. And so strange to think that after not having kids for so long.

It's supposed to rain here for much of the weekend. I think we only had one really nice day this week. It poured rain on Monday. After Casey's gymnastics class, I told her we could go home, have lunch, take a nap, and then go to the movies to see Robots (Brenden is dying to go and keeps asking about it.)

Tyra, I'm surprised they waited so long with Michael. My water broke at about 6:00pm with Casey and they told me to come right in. They were going to induce labor if it didn't start by 8:00.

Joanne, as much as DH tells me I should get a 2 piece, I don't think I'd go in public with one. I was apprehensive before I had kids (except on a far away island) I might weigh about the same as before, but things sure don't LOOK the same. The sacrifices we make! It's all worth it.

Kim, that's so nice, what your co-workers did. Isn't it great to feel so appreciated?

[tbb113]

Susan: They waited because Michael was so early (5 1/2 wks). Protocol required me to be seen by a neonintoligist (I butchered that spelling :o ) before I could be delivered. He didn't get to the hospital until close to 2pm. So, that is why I delivered so long after my waters breaking. I guess the thought was maybe to delay labor so they could give me steriods to hasten Michael's lung development, but they didn't do that. So, he did have Respitotory Distress Syndrome and needed to be ventilated, etc. Scary first week, but obviously he thrived. I always joke that it was the extra oxygen that made him so tall since Alex didn't get it and is average in height :D

Nori:
Glad you enjoyed your day.

[JoanneOR]

Nori, glad you had some nice time to yourself. It is really weird to have a quiet house. The few times I've been alone in the house I keep thinking the kids are actually there - that I need to go check on them or something. It's very strange.

They didn't go to the farm yesterday. DH didn't want to take a chance with Ian. And, the sister of DH's best friend died a couple days ago from pancreatic cancer. Very sad. It's been a really tough time for the family and DH has known them since he was a little kid. DH wanted to stick around home in case they needed anything. He went to see his friend last night. We're all going to go to the wake tonight.

Ian is actually doing fine, so I don't know what caused him to be sick the other night. He ate his dinner, then had two more bowls of cereal last night.

Susan, you're right, things certainly don't look the same! :). But, like you said, it is worth it.

[RunnerKim]

Nori - I'm glad your dentist appt. didn't eat too much in to your free time - that would have been rotten. Sounds like a lovely way to have spent your time.

One of my coworkers decided to send around an April Fool's message saying I spilt the beans on the name after drinking some wine last night - Wendell Waylon Wier (WWW - I do the web/tech stuff at work). It'll be interesting to see how many people fall for it.

I'd really like to make it through today - DH keeps reminding me how many hours I still have left in the day to deliver. He's predicted today - I think more out of an attempt to prevent it from happening today than really wanting an April Fool's Day baby. We'll see I guess. I was feeling some stuff last night that made me wonder. I'm going to feel like Chicken Little if I'm still pg the middle of next week!

Joanne - Glad Ian's feeling better and I'm sorry about your DH's friend sister.

Kim

[HRJ]

Glad I'm finally getting a chance to pop in -- I'll be so glad when I get through all my work for this semester! (My work-load is about a month ahead of the academic calendar, so I'll get done with "spring 05" by late April.)

Kim -- Wendell Waylon Wier -- LOL, I love it!!

Nori, Glad you enjoyed your "day off" -- sorry it had to be interrupted by the dentist. Whenever I'm working from home and Victor is at day-care, the house always seems kind of eerie, being so quiet.

Joanne, glad to hear Ian's feeling better -- maybe it was just something he ate?

Paula, enjoy the KA! Are you going to name it? (I refer to mine as "Big Blue.")

The approach to teaching letters and numbers at our day-care seems to be similar to what Paula described -- I know they did a lot of play that involved letters, and labeling of things, when Victor was in the 2-year-old room. But he wasn't there for the "Tiny Tots" rooms (approx 15-24 months), so I don't know what they did in there. In the preschool room, where he is now, they incorporate reading-readiness, etc. into other activities -- we get a "curriculum letter" each week that explains how the concepts of literacy/reading-readiness; math; and science/nature are going to be incorporated into the daily activities -- the goal is to have each of those covered in some way each day.


Tomorrow, DH and I are going to the annual New England Adoption Conference -- it's a great experience and resource. We attended it the year we began our adoption process, and the next year while we were waiting for Victor. We didn't go last year because we didn't think Victor was ready to spend a full day away from us (other than at day-care).

This year, Victor is going to stay with his friends the twins -- it was really nice of their mom and dad (who DH and I have become friends with) to agree to take him for the whole day.

This conference draws hundreds of people; they've got so many workshops and speakers we can never manage to get in everything we'd like -- and that's with DH and I "splitting up" and each going to different workshops. It's also great to get a chance to catch up with other adoptive parents we've met over the past few years, and to chat with new people. They also set up a little shop, where you can buy all sorts of adoption-related books for both children and adults. The only downside is that it's close to an hour's drive from where I live. Hope the weather's not too bad.

Helene

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone.

I have been super busy the last few days and everytime I try to post I get an error message.

My friend with the liver cancer is not doing well. She is on a ventalator and not expected to make it through the weekend. I am so sad about this. I just saw her 3 weeks ago and she was in such good spirits after getting good news from the specialist in Houston that the tumor was softening and she was responding to the experimental treatment. She has 2 young children and is in her early 30's. Her daughter is almost 5 and her son will be 2 in a couple of weeks. Her son won't be able to remember what a cool, caring mom he had. I keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking about her. I just keep praying for peace.

Garrett is wearing underpants today. We've had a few accidents, unfortunately 2 BM's, but I've kept it pretty low key. I was supposed to have a babysitter today, but she called to say she was sick so I decided to try the underpants thing again. Garrett is on spring break next week.

My mom is due in on Monday for a week. Garrett can't wait to see her. He keeps talking about it all the time.

I just had the carpet installed in the bonus room. DH moved furniture into it so now I can walk into the baby's room. I need to get my act together to get it cleaned out of all the junk that has accumulated in there.

I bought tickets this morning for Garrett to go to Chattanooga to see Thomas and Friends. Boy, that was a pain to use their web site. They would say that there were tickets available for the time I wanted and then when I tried to buy them they wouldn't be available. Finally, I was able to get some an hour earlier than I had planned. It for a week before my due date. My mom said she would fly in to take him or DH could take him. I don't think I should go since it is about 2 hours from our house. The tickets were $16/person. It includes a 25 minute train ride.

Cheryl

[JoanneOR]

Cheryl, I'm so sorry about your friend. I just can't imagine what her family is going through. Her poor kids.

I've had a hard time getting on here today, so maybe something is going on with the site?

I'm sure Garrett will love the Thomas the Tank show. Too bad you won't be able to make it, but it sounds like too far away to take a chance that close to your due date.

Helene, that adoption conference sounds great. I'm sure it's nice to talk with other couples who have adopted and share your experiences.

Kim, hope you make it through today without having an April Fool's baby! :) That is pretty funny what your coworker did!

We actually have nothing planned for this weekend, except the funeral mass tomorrow. I really need to do some cleaning in the house and some organizing. The next few weekends are really busy. We've gotten three invitations for communions on April 30. One is for my nephew, so we'll go to that one. Jameson's is May 7 and I'm not sure what we're doing. I know we're having a party at home, but I'm not sure how many we'll be inviting. Just immediate family, I think, and a few friends.