PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[mela lu]

Happy in-between Christmas and New Years Everyone!
It sounds like everyone got a dose of "the good with the bad" this Christmas!!! Like, Mgal being passively aggressively bullies by her MIL (WTF!!!), baby meltdowns, and Sabine's Teething and Sleeping issues.

Sabine - sorry about the teething. This will pass, but it sounds like you're going to have to persist with the napping. Romeo still fights the afternoon nap (only giving me about 40 mins) but I still put him down the same every day and even let him stay in his crib 'playing' after he's woken up as quiet time. Hopefully, he'll get the hang of it soon. I can appreciate the frustration.
Funny about the solids. Romeo will be months on the 31st and we still haven't made it through all the started foods yet! lol. Romeo is a slowpoke. Also, in that pic, I totally see a resemblance to your DH! amazing!!

DD - Did you get your BGD ring? I'm dying to see it. I'm def going to work with them on my next project

Hilarious about the re-enactment. Imagine you used a "look-a-like" instead of H like they do on those corny shows. LOL!

Blen - glad to hear George charmed everyone and that you all faired reasonably well on your trip. YEY!

CTD - LOVE "the claw" hahah. That is so cute!

Tao - dusting you for more, better and longer sleep!!!! What a doll Evan is.

Mgal - adorable. Kyle is the cutest. Sorry about your MIL, but you do make cute ones....

Our Christmas was GREAT! Low key and low stress. Just the way Romy and I like it! He was pretty chill, but he did manage to roll from his back to his tummy ONCE ONLY for the first time. Oh, 7 months old and still pretty lazy. Gotta love him. He didn't get mega spoiled, as our families are pretty tame in the gift-giving dept. He got some cash from my in-laws

and some coins from my parents. Kid is going to be richer than us!!

I'm going to go find a good pic of him on Christmas. Stay tuned!

Also - HELLO to all the PS Mommies out there!!

 

[mela lu]

Pic #1

 

[mela lu]

Opening a gift on Christmas Eve...

 

[mela lu]

Last one, on Christmas Morning

 

[taovandel]

Romy is just the cutest! Glad to see he enjoyed opening his presents.


We had another successful night---He fell asleep at 9 and woke up around 3. He normally goes to bed around 10 and wakes up at 130...so woohoo! It looks like he might have dropped one of his feedings all by himself.

Today we go to the doctor''s for his shots

I''m so sad about it. I hope he takes it like a champ and doesn''t get too upset by it.

 

[Blenheim]

Mela - aww, what a cutie! I love the googly eyes on his frog, haha.

Tao - glad it went so well last night. Hopefully the shots today go fine too!

CDT - his comments make a lot more sense now. Ugh. I'm sorry.

DD - that's awesome! We only have pictures because my MIL was on top of things. I didn't even remember to get a camera out.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 12/29/2009 11:41:30 AM
Author: Blenheim


DD - that''s awesome! We only have pictures because my MIL was on top of things. I didn''t even remember to get a camera out.

Egad, we are all terrible mothers, you me and Tao! LOL!

Mela What a little cutie TT!!!!!!!! I dont have any pics by the tree, I will do that today.

 

[taovandel]

Back from his appointment.

He took his shots like a champ! He cried while she was doing them and then stopped as soon as she was done. He''s perfectly fine still. So proud of him!

He kept smiling and flirting with the doctor...so cute.

He weighs 10lbs 10 oz and is 22 inches....both are at the 28th percentile.....She said that was small but at least they were both equal and he is growing and putting on weight so she wasn''t concerned.

 

[ChinaCat]

Tao- Yay for Evan! O is fine with his shots too, cries for like a second and then is over it.

DD- I am cracking up over "restaging" your Christmas! It''s like a Hills episode.

Mela-

That''s all I have to say. I love his cheeks.

 

[Pandora II]

Season's Greetings to all...

Have just returned home from a surfeit of relatives and a load of travelling to see the three sets of parents. Daisy seemed to get into the spirit of things and is a dab hand now at wrapping paper. She was spoilt rotten by everyone, so life is going to seem rather disappointing for the next few weeks I think.

Love all the Christmas photos, keep them coming, so adorable!

Date: 12/24/2009 1:43:53 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 12/24/2009 12:06:10 PM
Author: neatfreak

Well said Dreamer. Except about potty training. I want these darn kids out of diapers ASAP!!!

I have a couple of friends who have been sitting their baby's on pottys from basically the start. I guess their kids are very regular and they try to predict when they will go and have them go on the potty. Interesting idea. One of them was asking me why I don't try it with Hunter. He poops 2x per day, when he wakes in the early am and again after his morning nap. I don't know how I would catch him ready to go unless I could predict when he woke up! But both these moms cosleep so I guess it is easier.

I'm giving this idea a go. Daisy has a bad dose of diaper rash at the moment and so it seems like a good time to start. I bought a book on 'Elimination Communication' which was all a bit hippyish for my tastes as far as books go, but the advice on how to do it seems useful. The island I grew up on all the mothers did this and the babies were dry from about a year. I remember the house-girls doing it with my brother and it worked pretty well - plus I have hard-wood floors and the time to spend doing it. I'll see how we get on - no pressure on her for definite.

On the walking thing, D doesn't seem too keen on crawling - she will crawl as far as the nearest furniture/leg/taller object, pull up and then walk along it. She keeps letting go and launching herself into the middle of the room in the hope of walking across to things and of course just collapses. She can't co-ordinate her legs at all, so 'Daisy go bump' is a very frequent phrase round here!

On the whole competitiveness thing, I find it quite trying. I have a frenemy (who is really DH's friend) whose daughter is 3 months older than Daisy. She is practically not speaking to us because they are fairly equal regarding motor and verbal skills despite the age gap. I can hardly wait till they start school...

I know that D is hitting a lot of her milestones early and I actually find it quite embarrassing at times - I've had people ask her age and then say 'Oh, she's very advanced' to which I'm not sure what you reply. Even worse is when you ask after their kid and they're quite a lot older but not doing what she can. I'm almost getting to the point of adding a couple of months on.

IMO it's all actually irrelevant - all kids learn to speak/walk/draw eventually and when they do it is more about individual inclination than a sign of specific talent. My brother didn't talk till he was nearly 3, I talked at 8 months and there's not much difference between us now! I won't do anything as far as 'teaching' D as I don't want her going to preschool and being bored for the first 6 months. We have books in the house but I don't do educational videos or toys. Right now all that matters to me is that she's happy.

Blen - I was wondering what you do with George for naps? I've always put D in the middle of our bed as we often co-nap (and the poor kid doesn't have a useable room or cot yet and won't for a couple of months still) but she can now get out. We've been okay for a while as she'd make a noise when she woke up and I'd get in there as fast as possible, but the week before we went away she would get toys and books out of the co-sleeper that was up against the bed before making any noise so she was awake and moving around. She's already fallen off the bed twice! I bought a bed-rail and tried it out at my parents: she crawled straight over, pulled herself up, shook it a bit and then leant right over to look at the floor

, so I've only succeeded in giving her an even higher launching opportunity! Any handy tips on where to put her? Our house is pretty tiny being London, so there's not really even room for her to sleep on the floor...

Commiserations on the car journey - we still have issues with that, very trying!

 

[taovandel]

Question about growth percentiles...I was plugging in his information online and I was getting waaay different percentiles then what the doctor said. She told me his weight was at 28th percentile (Same with length) but when I put it into the different programs I keep getting like 5-10 percentile.....I''m obviously going by what my doctor said....but just wondering why such a big difference?

 

[phoenixgirl]

Ha, we may need to restage Christmas too. Claire was mostly eating or napping during the present opening, so I'm not sure if we got any shots of her with presents. Still need to find the camera in the unpacking process.

Claire was back to eating every 3 hours over night during my trip to my mom's, so either she is having a growth spurt or the change of scenery messed with her rhythms. She was in our room for 3 of the 5 nights, and we didn't want to wake up my family so we grabbed her much sooner than we would at home where she might have gone back to sleep before she really woke us up. I hope she reverts to her old schedule of bed between 9 and 9:30, wake once to eat, then sleep til 6 or 7 because it was keeping me sane!

Both trips to and fro NJ (South Jersey for the Jerseyites out there) took way longer than usual, which I guess was all to blamed on everything taking much longer with a baby. DH changed Claire's diaper on his lap 3x during the trip home yesterday. It was too cold and too hard to find nice bathrooms, and Claire kept pooping! And I fed her in the car twice (parked in a parking lot, of course, but my brother told me that my SIL used to breastfeed her babies while the car was moving! She would just lean over the carseat! Insanity! Not to mention physically impossible for me as someone who has "ballooned" from an AA to a B). Today Claire has been unusually fussy, perhaps because she was stuck in the car so long yesterday.

I managed to work out 3x over the trip using some DVDs I brought along, which kept me energized since I only left the house once to return some Christmas presents. During one workout I had an audience of nephews who asked me why I was exercising. I gave some overly complicated answer involving the industrial revolution and the evolution of a sedentary lifestyle, and then my nephew told me that only working out 2x per week isn't enough. He's 5. Apparently this is common knowledge in kindergarten. I don't seem to have gained any weight over Christmas and I'm feeling stronger, so all is good.

Claire rolled over (front to back) in NJ! At first I thought it was just a fluke since DH had her on the bed and his body weight was putting her at an incline, but then she did in on the floor too. She basically held herself up on her elbows, then dropped one elbow and fell to the side. That counts, right?


Tao, I don't know about the percentile differences, but I'm glad your appointment was good. Claire's weight was 25th percentile at her last appointment, but my doctor didn't seem concerned. It's not like a standardized test where the higher, the better . . . 50th percentile is exactly average.

 

[Blenheim]

Wow, we apparently have a lot of terrible mothers with the picture taking!

PG - That totally counts as a roll! I have size Bish breasts and... not that I''d recommend it... but I have, in the past, really loosened my seatbelt and leaned over the carseat and nursed George while in the car. So it''s POSSIBLE. In my defense, when I did that we were stuck in heavy traffic that just wasn''t moving, had nowhere good to pull over, and George was hungry and screaming. I wouldn''t do it if we were really moving more quickly than foot-off-the-brake-foot-back-on-the-brake as I can''t imagine that it would be good in a crash. I changed George multiple times on our lap on our trip, but thank goodness he saved all of the pooping for when we weren''t on the road! Your poor DH.

Tao - different organizations have put out different growth charts. I think that doctors offices tend to use the AAP/CDC charts. I''m not sure what the program you were using does, but that could account for the difference.

Coincidentally I chose to spend George''s afternoon nap having fun with graphs... ''cause I''m cool like that.

The AAP/CDC chart was developed using data from babies who tended to consume formula and have earlier introduction of solids, and on that one George started out around 75th percentile but was at the 50th percentile on his last visit at 6 months and again today when I weighed him. The WHO chart was developed with breastfed infants, and he''s been steadily at the 50th percentile on that one ever since he was born.

Pandora - Funny you should ask. George has the same reaction to bed rails. We''ve been doing one of two things - naps on the floor, or naps with him on the bed and one of us in the room supervising. I use it as an excuse for guilt-free laptop time.

But to give us a bit more freedom, we just moved our mattress to the floor yesterday and moved the frame and box springs into the basement for the time being. My in-laws think that we''re CRAZY for moving our mattress to the floor, and have both told us so. That''s the first time that we''ve gotten that kind of reaction out of them, and I find it surprising that it was over that.

If George crawls to the edge of the bed I''ve been trying to teach him to turn around and go down feet first. There''s a stair separating the kitchen and family room and I''m trying to do the same thing there. No luck yet, but my understanding is that you can teach that fairly young.

As far as Daisy being "advanced", I wonder if it would be any less awkward if you mentioned something about it not meaning much of anything in the long run? I''m not sure how a good way to put that would be.


George has a new favorite food - meatballs! He ate about 3 for dinner and just did not want to stop. He also ate some spaghetti, but more than once he took a handful and draped it over the side of his highchair so that a dog could eat it.

 

[Blenheim]

And this is George''s intent face, when he''s really concentrating. Here he was examining the tray for specks of meatballs, and then picking them up and eating them.

 

[taovandel]

love the date on the camera blen! also, he''s so cute!

 

[cdt1101]

Blen - LOVE the pics

he''s so cute! I can''t wait to let Lex go crazy w/ "real" food

Mela - Romy is adorable! love those rosy cheeks

Phoenix - you were in NJ too?? I''m originially from South Jersey, that''s where my family still lives, we were actually down that way this past Saturday.

Tao - I''ve noticed the differences in charts too, I just go by the dr chart.

Hello to everyone else

 

[MustangGal]

Blen - love the pics!

Tao - i''m happy shots went well for you! The first batch was the worst reaction for us, and each set since has been easier.

So how do you gals get your kids to eat lumpy food

. Kyle REFUSES to each anything remotely lumpy. We tried a stage 3 meat/vegetable mix again last night, and any time he got a tiny piece of carrot, he spit it out, make a grumpy face, and acted like we''re trying to feed him poison. He eats puffs like crazy (but not cheerios

), so I know he can handle chunks, he just doesn''t want to.

And here''s a pic from Kyle''s first trip to the park last week. DH took him down the slide a few times, then hung him off the money bars. He was able to hold on by himself for almost a minute!

 

[cdt1101]

OMG MGal! That pic of Kyle is the CUTEST! He looks like he's having so much fun!

no advice on the food thing...maybe just keep trying?? good luck!

 

[MustangGal]

Thanks CTD! he''s a skinny little monkey

. We''ve been trying to offer him "lumps" almost every night. You should hear the angry sounds he makes! You''d think we were killing him! He did actually choke a couple times last week when he was really stuffed up and not chewing his food, and now he seems paranoid that the lumps are out to get him.

 

[cdt1101]

I would just keep trying. Lex makes faces when he experiences food w/ texture/lumps, but I still give it to him and eventually he eats it. Like he used to hate puffs, would just spit them out and make a face..now he eats them no problem.

 

[Blenheim]

Was everyone in NJ this past weekend?!

"Real" food can be a hoot, although I hate cleaning him up after it. SO MESSY.

I need to figure out how to change the data on the camera - we misplaced our battery charger in the move and I''ve borrowed my mom''s camera while we try to find it, and so I''m still figuring out how to use it. It had the correct date on it when she lent it to us. I don''t know what happened.

MGal - if he''ll eat puffs, do you know how he''d react to just tiny pieces of food, not in a babyfood mix? And he is so cute! The park sounds like fun.

 

[MustangGal]

Blen - I''ve done bits of bread, with mixed reations (and very tiny pieces). Banana went much better. I tried blending the mac & cheese I made for dinner the other night (home made), as well as a bit of hamburger last night, and neither went well. He''s also been given full rolls, pizza crust, and an olive at x-mas dinner, and won''t put them anywhere near his mouth. He will eat teething biscuts and toddler cookies, yet spits out cheerios. We''ll just keep trying, and I need to buy more bananas since that''s the only "real" thing he''s taken so fay.

 

[E B]

Long time no update! Hope everyone had a great holiday. Anyone planning to stay up past midnight for New Year's? We're going to try, though I'm not sure it's possible.

Sabine- Teething is rough, but you'll hit a calm patch soon enough, I hope! Jackson is darling.

Mustang- Kyle is adorable! And the cross-stitch present sounds very odd, esp. since she knows Kyle's your only.

cdt- I'm so sorry about your job. What a bummer! Being a SAHM can be so much fun, though! You might really enjoy it while you look for something else. I definitely do, esp. now that Henry's older and can interact more. BTW, that little man of yours couldn't be any cuter. I love the claw!

mela- I love that Romy is so relaxed. Maybe he'll be a chill toddler, and you'll be the envy of every other parent while we're having to constantly pull our kids away from electrical sockets.

Love the Christmas pics- he's so handsome.

tao- Glad Evan did so well with his shots!

Pandora- Ugh, I'm sorry about the frenemy. All babies hit milestones at different times, and it's so silly to be bitter about what someone else's baby can do.

phoenix- Yay for rolling over, Claire! Her needing to eat more could very well be a growth spurt. They seem to hit so many in the beginning.

Blen- George is so cute! And meatballs are delicious. He's got good taste in food.

In Henry news, he's hit a couple of milestones in the last few weeks. He can now independently sit for several minutes at a time (but will fall over when he gets too excited), had his first tastes of banana (which he seemed pretty 'meh' about), and we're going to try avocado today. Oh, and when we put him on his stomach, he'll barrel roll across an entire room in seconds. No more tummy time for this little guy. Anyone else's LO do this?

We got a lot of clothes, toys and books for Christmas too. Most people got us clothes in the 9-12 month range, which is good, because my six month old already fills them out. He's in Carter's 9 month footie pajamas and they're a perfect fit. Looks like we're always going to have to size up unless his growth slows a bit.

 

[MustangGal]

ebree, his barrel rolling made me smile. Kyle never figured out that if he kept rolling he''d get somewhere. And one of my co-workers had the best idea of what to do with the cross-stitch, make it for SIL''s baby! She''s 16 weeks preggo now

. DH seems to think his mom doesn''t know I''m done, yet I remember mentioning it with her around several times

. He thought it''d be mean to give it to SIL, I told him it would just be getting even.

 

[cdt1101]

Mgal - I somehow missed the gift from MIL...WTH??? That''s strange!! I agree w/ your co-worker...give it to your SIL

Ebree - Is it wrong that I''m secretly looking forward to be "forced" to be a SAHM?

That''s so funny Henry rolls like that. Lex never did that much, but he was never that into rolling. He only rolls when I put him on his back, he quickly switches to his belly and then crawls away...even when trying to change him

Fun times!

 

[Blenheim]

MGal - giving the gift to your SIL''s a great idea. If your MIL gets mad, you can even play dumb and say, "Oh, I thought that''s what you meant by next baby, since we''re not planning on having any more!"

I''m not sure about the food. I''d just keep trying and offering, as I''m sure that he''ll catch on eventually. I mean, have you ever seen an adolescent still eating baby food?

I feel like there may be someone in the toddler thread who had something similar going on though, so maybe they''d have some advice for you too.

Ebree - George never figured that one out. But then again, he HATES being on his back and has only rolled onto it once or twice, and so that probably prevented barrel rolling.

I''m not sure how late we''ll be staying up on NYE, but I know that we''re planning on staying in. George has a later bedtime and wakeup time than most of the babies on here, so we may be able to make it to midnight if we try.

CDT - I don''t think that''s wrong at alll!

 

[MustangGal]

Cross-stitch was successfully returned

.

SIL pulled a fast one on us for x-mas too. She and BIL decided they''re broke (which they''re not, they just didn''t save up for their high insurance deductible before TTC

), and didn''t want to exchange any presents on DH''s side this year. DH felt really bad, so we bought a small gift for FIL and MIL and slipped them into their stockings on x-mas eve. Then x-mas day, we were opening gifts that MIL and FIL got the grandkids, and SIL pulls out a gift for MIL and FIL! What happened to no gifts? If we hadn''t gone behind their backs to get something, we would have felt horrible.

 

[ChinaCat]

Hi everyone! Too much to catch up on, so forgive me for just jumping in.

O had a great Christmas, or rather we had a great Christmas with O. He''s oblivious! It actually snowed on Christmas Eve and stuck, so we had a white Christmas. I don''t remember that ever happening where I live. So beautiful! Everyone had so much fun with O, I feel like I barely saw him as everyone else wanted to hold him, change him, feed him, etc. He was a delight for everyone, thankfully, and had no problem being held by anyone. Though around once a day he would get fussy/upset and the only thing that comforted him was if I held him, so he definitely needs his mama!

It was sweet. On the other hand, he started waking up at least once, if not twice, during the night. I know it''s b/c I let his schedule slide a bit and also I think he just wanted to nurse, which I didn''t mind. But now that we are back home he''s back to sleeping all night, thankfully!

A few questions:

1. Anyone here on the mini-pill that is safe for BF? I just started a pack, but realized I don''t know how it works. I haven''t seen Aunt Flo yet, but do the pills "force" a period (real or not) on you? Just don''t know what to expect.

2. When did you guys stop counting weeks and go to months? Seems like around now makes sense, but hard for milestones. For instance, in weeks he''s almost 5 months, but as far as the actual date, he won''t be 5 months till Jan. 18. Doesn''t make much difference, I suppose, but say I wanted to keep BF till 6 months- is that in weeks or until his "date" of 6 months???

Took some cute pictures and will upload them this weekend, hopefully. DH''s mom is visiting so it''s still a bit crazy at home. No big plans for NYE, we were going to a dinner party that got cancelled, so now maybe we''ll just stay home. Thinking some wine and a few board games might be fun. I just re-read that sentence. Who have I become????

That''s right, I am a boring mom who would rather stay home on NYE. And I wouldn''t have it any other way.

CDT- Glad you are happy about staying home! I wish I wanted to stay home. But I don''t.

PhxGirl- O''s sleep schedule was off over the holidays too, but back to normal now. Hope Claire''s is the same!

Blen- That picture of George eating is so cute!!!! Can''t believe how grown up he is, amazing to me how fast these babies grow up. How old is George now?

I know I''m forgetting a ton of people. So

and Happy New Year!

 

[cdt1101]

China - hello

We stopped counting weeks at like 12...I just couldn't keep track after awhile, and it just seemed easier to use months. And I've gotten so lazy that I really only use either the month or month and a half. So he won't be 7 months until Jan 3rd, but when people ask he's been 7 months for about a week already

. I just cannot be bothered to say he's 6m 3 weeks or whatever. Since he's closer to 7 months than 6 1/2, he's just 7 month now

 

[Blenheim]

China - I''m not sure about your first question, but as for your second, we stopped counting in weeks when he hit about 12 weeks/3 months. I viewed the milestones and other guidelines in terms of the calendar month at that point, but honestly I don''t think that in your example a week here or there''s going to matter to anyone but you.

George is 8.5 months now, almost 9. I swear he looks like a little boy now and not like my baby.

(It''s more dramatic when he''s, yanno, wearing clothes and "walking" along furniture.) It''s just amazing how fast they grow up. I already want to have another little newborn as does DH, but we''re holding off.

Haha on the NYE plans. I''m the same way.