PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[AmberWaves]

Viz: I am sad to admit I am hesitant to put her in her crib because of the raccoons. Partially.

So our room was 70.9 degrees last night, but with the cool mist humidifier it was so cold to me. Her little hands were freezing. That''s supposed to be still warm, though, so should I not make it warmer?

 

[steph72276]

Hey, Mamas! Had a better night last night..not great, but not too bad. Put E down at 10 and he slept until 2, then up at 4 and 6. If I could just wipe out that 4am feeding, I would be okay since I was used to getting up at 6am anyway before he was born. Oh well, baby steps. Good thing he is so darn cute. Everytime he falls asleep, he smiles huge smiles and even starts laughing in his sleep...ahhh, makes all the sleep deprivation worth it!

Nov, thank you! I def. know what you mean about FB...I was hesitant at first, but just signed up for a diff. account without using my last name. So scary about your friends...I never post any status updates about going out of town for that reason.

Hi Charger!

RPS, if you love being up so much, pop on over to FL and you can stay up with E! Haha, just kidding...I know what you mean about it being nice to have peace and quiet sometimes.

CDT, I still look over at the girl clothes too...they are so cute. It''s really the only thing I miss about not having a girl. My sis in law is pregnant right now and I hope it''s a girl so I can shop!!

Viz, your girls night and mani sounds like fun...have a great time!

Amber, I always keep it a little warmer than that, but I am paranoid about him being cold. Maybe just up it a few degrees.

 

[Mara]

thanks ladies ,the pics are sooo cute but they feel so fraudulent since he is rarely that sweet looking. well thats not true since he spends 1/2 the time sleeping and the other 1/2 split between screaming and eating, so he''s about that cute 1/2 the time.

i think we will go with the one of us 3 and then him in the blue hat since that is what people seem to lurve the best. i do love the belly shot tho.

steph... i agree that it''s the little things that make it so worth it. J has started nestling his face kind of under mine when i have him on my shoulder and am trying to soothe him to sleep...well he''s done it 3x and i am making the assume he is doing it on purpose.

and the laughing in the sleep is priceless!! J does that too. i can''t wait to see him laugh for real.

cc...our house is old too and we have all wood floors. everything echoes and also the floors creak like crazy in some areas. so we really can''t be totally quiet even if we wanted to...but it is super hard not to creep around. right now i have him in the swing with the TV on just a bit too loud for me but i figure better than too soft.

ok someone tell me real quick what is TTT officially? i miss all these little acronyms til like 5 pages later. i just know that it''s something about a TIP right? i have no tips since my kid is a fuss.

speaking of a fuss... so last nite he slept 5 hours in his bassinet in his room (YAY!) and then after the 4am feeding he would NOT go back to sleep. this is what i am dealing with now in general. he is tired and comatose but fights it so hard. i know it''s the stage of FOMS (fear of missing something) but kid it''s 4am and the room is dark. what are you really trying to see so hard with those big eyes??? sleep is GREAT. learn it now.

so we soothed him, tried putting him down 2x but he woke up both times. so i changed his diaper and made sure he was ''safe'' and then let him CIO in his room with his door shut and our door shut and the monitor just barely on (but our house is so small and all wood floors so we sitll heard him!). we were so tired we passed out and woke up at 8:30 and he was quiet. but of course within minutes of waking he started crying... i think he must have 6th sense that we wake up and wakes up too (more likely i heard a slight noise on the monitor that woke me up) to make sure we have NO alone time hehe.

i know that he''s not a bad kid, that this is just a stage and that he''s not doing this to torment us (really?) but i really wish he was just a little less of a mover and shaker and could ''appreciate'' things more. he spent 30 min this morning just laying in his boppy after eating and looking around quietly. then he started shrieking. more of the former would be GREAT. i put him in his swing and he os catnapping after 10 min of crying. i have read that a lot of fussy kids end up model children but on the flip side a super helpful friend told me that her friend said that newborn temperments are how they are forever. i am like THANKS..HOPE NOT. but maybe i should get one of those kid leashes just in case?

it''s just funny because while we are both pretty fiesty in general, we love harmony and quiet in the house. we knew that a kid would bring disruption but i just hoped he''d be more like US and like quiet too. HAHAA. maybe that should be my friday confession...i was silly to think that a baby would have our aweome temperments off the bat.

mand...sorry to hear about the boys!!! hope everyone feels better soon. and yes i have got a few of those vitamin baby brand things from one of the discount stores!! i also got some mitted sleeper brand from kohls that is really soft. oh and LOL if it was up to J he would only take 20 min naps. i am totally paranoid he will be sleep deprived though and if i know he is tired i just keep trying til he passes out.

PG...awww on the mommy moment. i am sure it will happen to all of us once. i am a little paranoid about our car seat, i want the local place to check it even though i know greg read the manual and read our car''s manual and looked online and did everything he was supposed to. i just feel like you almost never know if it''s REALLY correct even though it seems fine.

re: boys clothes...ooh i will have to look at some of the other recommends. i also love dwell''s line at Target. i also don''t like crazy patterns or really silly patterned stuff...but some of the stuff where the baby is saying stuff is too cute. so i admit to having a fair amt of that in J''s closet hehe. but i also LOVE the ''little boy'' clothes like madras shirts with khaki shorts etc. i can''t wait til he can wear real clothes. my aunt also got us the cutest little corduroy jacket with a little puffy fleece hood on it for 9 months, sooo cute!!

re: milk production...for anyone reading this... this may sound silly but a friend told me it made a huge diff for her, drinking way more liquids. she produces like 15oz per pumping (i know crazy!) and she said that her turning point (she used to produce like 5-7) was when she drinks a ton of liquids. she said she notices a big diff when she doesnt drink enough. so yest i tried to drink 2x as much liquid, mostly in the form of teas and waters and this morning i pumped 7+oz in one sitting, my new record! so i will keep trying that but for ginger and anyone else trying to up it... maybe try doubling your liquids and seeing if that makes any diff.

 

[lili]

Mara--

the pictures.
how come Greg didn''t wear black as well?
Julian is a cutie!

Steph--

your pictures too.
Your boys are so cute and sweet!
Looks like their momma.
Love the one you chose for the announcement.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Mara, the pictures are adorable! I love the little blue thing she put him in for the second pic. My mom knitted me a sling for the newborn pictures and I can hardly wait to use it.

 

[Mara]

lol lili because i forgot to tell him to.

but he did change into a black shirt later...i have a pic of him kissing J that is super cute. i will collage 3 of the fave vertical ones and post either later or tomorrow.

can anyone recommend a toy or something that plays music constantly for the babies? J really likes music like the nursery rhymes, non verbal, just tones but the only toys we have that do this just play one song and then stop. ideally something that is portable not just stickable in a crib because we''d like to use it in the living room etc for him too.

 

[sbde]

gorgeous baby pics everyone!

mara, by far the music that my son loved the MOST (still does at 13 mos old) is from this CD that we received as a gift: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart/dp/B0001IXTU4 You can run a quick preview of each song on amazon.

I basically uploaded the songs to my ipod so that I can just plug my ipod into the docking station in the nursery when i need it. i left the actual cd in the DVD player so that i can play it downstairs when we're in the family room. the music is nice enough that it doesn't drive ME crazy when i put it on, which was a huge reason we used the CD so much.

it's the cutest thing now whenever i put the music on he immediately stops what he's doing and starts to sway back and forth haha - he must recognize every melody because he's heard it literally since he was a week old

 

[ChinaCat]

Amber- If you''re not ready to move Piper, then don''t!!! If it''s working for you then that''s what you should do. I worried so much in the early months about what I "should" be doing, that I feel like I missed out on just enjoying O. The raccoon thing is funny but would totally freak me out.

RPS- The limited feeding thing sounded weird to me too. O was about 2 months maybe and hadn''t gained as much as the ped would have liked. I told him that O ate all the time and that''s when he said to try 15 mins on each side. I was nervous but figured I could try it for a week or two. I should say that O was eating at least every 3 hours, if not sooner. I would never have tried it if he was sporadic in his eating. And it worked, or at least he started gaining more. Now I let him eat as long as he likes, but I think I did the 15/15 thing for about a month or two.

Mara- You sound like me.

I was not prepared for the disruption and neediness of a baby. I knew he''d need me and wouldn''t sleep a ton, but I thought I''d still have me time. Not so much. O is a really really easy baby, only cries when he''s hungry or tired. My mom kept saying how good he was, but to me he was still a BABY and no matter how easy he was, it wasn''t easy enough for me.

I will say I was frustrated and tried for too long to make O fit into my life, and when I finally gave that up and realized that THIS is my new life and my new normal, it got a lot better and I was able to enjoy him more. I kept trying to "manage" him to fit my life and it just doesn''t work that way with a newborn. I still think you need to have you time and try to get back to "your" life as much as possible which it sounds like you are doing by going to the gym, getting out with Greg, etc. But your old life is pretty much gone, at least for now.

I will say that I think you might be like me and will enjoy Julian a lot more once he''s a bit more interactive. I am just not a newborn person. I think they are adorable, but frankly I was a bit bored. Some people love the newborn stage, I am not one of them. I felt guilty about that at first, but it is what it is. I LOVE the age O is now. Just wait till Julian starts laughing and reacting to you. It''s the best.

 

[Mara]

thanks CC... i def want J to be more interactive. thinking about him laughing and grabbing my face or wanting to play with me is super exciting. but i am trying to enjoy this phase too because we probably will only have one so i don't want to look back and not remember J the way he is from day 1. i take a ton of pictures and i finally got his memory book so i can start jotting things down. i know this is a finite period of time which makes it doable.

i actually am doing an ok job of 'accepting'..thankfully i can still get out and have ME time, Greg is great about that and my MOM is great about giving G and I 'us' time...so we are very grateful and i know our situation is better than many! i think G sometimes has a hard time with the whole 'this is our life' because he is back in 'regular world' with his job and all that so sometimes at night he is like 'is it time for us to eat dinner?' and i am like...well we can try but it might just be me stuffing my face for 10 min before J starts his evening fuss. and i know it's hard for him because we had this whole routine before (and we've been together 10 years!) and now things are WAY diff. and i am not complaining at all, G is GREAT with J and is super helpful. but it IS constant mental reminders of 'this is how it is for now'. i think it's mostly more 'real' for the moms because we are home with the babies all day and the dads tend to be at work.

but yeah i look back sometimes and have to laugh at how we knew things would change but you don't really KNOW til the baby is here yanno. i know most of you moms prob get it. but J is WAY more fun outside than in for sure.

i actually didn't have too many expectations re: how much time we'd have, but i think you just aren't mentally prepared til you are in the thick of it.

SB...thanks for the recommend, we do have some CD's people gave us but i havent loaded them into my ipod yet. i thought about getting J his own iPod but i am lazy. also we play the satellite music channels all the time in the house (more than we watch TV we have music on in the house) but i would love something that is more 'tunes' than verbal... he loves this Bee thing we have and i wish i could get something like that that just plays continuously for him. the sleep sheep is great for white noise but if he wants to be 'interactive' and awake then the sheep bores him.

MP... i can't wait to see the pics of M in the sling!! just do them right away because if your kid is anything like J he will lose that newborn pliable thing early..hehee. we had pics done of J at 2 weeks and he was already in that slightly awkward stage. i just love how uncomfortable he looks in that blue spandex lol, when she was taking the pics he looked so cute but when she posted that one i just started laughing haha.

 

[fieryred33143]

Hi ladies!

The pics are so adorable!

Charlie is gorgeous as is Piper

.

Mara-Love the newborn photos of J

. I always put in my plug for the sound spa machine that I have since it has nursery rhymes too that plays constantly

. Although we never use it because a) it''s one song over and over and over unless you manually switch it and b) it''s kind of scary. That''s just me though lol

Re: babies and life, I gave in to Sophia a long time ago. I still incorporate her into my life and don''t disrupt what I want to do because she''s a permanent fixture

but I realize that I don''t want to do things the way I used to. My life changed. Period. And I love that it did.

re: those first few weeks and fussiness. I honestly believe that from Sophia''s perspective, it was an easy stage. She slept. She ate. She pooped. She fussed. No biggie compared to now when I try to feed her and she thinks its funny to blow raspberries thus getting milk all over my work shirt. Or when I try to change her diaper and she has rolled over 6 times before I could get the first wipe out of the container. Or how her cries are no longer cries and instead full blown screams of DAAADDDAAADDAA which surprisingly doesn''t even mean Dada and it really means Mama get your butt in here

But from my perspective, those first few weeks were the absolute hardest. I was tired all the time. Everyone kept saying that all they do is sleep. Well yeah they sleep a lot but it''s not normal sleep. No one wants to feed a baby, put down to sleep, and one hour later be up doing the same thing again. Yeah 5 hours of sleep is awesome at that stage, but who the heck wants to be bouncing a baby around at 4am no matter how cute they are??

 

[Sha]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the concern about the heart murmur. The doc said to give him a call tomorrow to find out. I hope everything's okay -

I felt a bit teary in the X-ray room thinking that something could be wrong....

although I know that most heart murmurs are innocent enough.

Mara - Sorry about the fussy spells you're having. Dalila also had a very fussy stage as a newborn -she would cry and cry for no apparent reason at all, especially in the evenings. Nothing seemed to soothe her. I don't know if it was colic or what, but I was a bit worried about her temperament as well. Anyway, she started growing out of that fussy stage at around 6 weeks - she started crying less and less, and now? She's smiling and cooing and quietly alert most of the time! Sooooo much more enjoyable! I think that most babies will grow out the fussy stage by about 2 month or so. As babies grow they tend to cry less and less, too. When Julian starts smiling and cooing at you, too, everything will be sooo much more enjoyable. You'll see!

Lovely pics of Julian! He looks so much like you. Especially around the cheek/nose area.

Entertainment/stimulation - I just bought the Fisher Price Precious Planets playgym for Dalila. I think she'll like it. I try to stimulate her a lot during the day (singing, playing with her hands and feet, taking her for walks, cooing at her), but I think she needs some non-Mommy stiumlation as well. Plus, I can't carry/hold her all the time. Sometimes I need to do things around the house, but don't want her to be just sitting, bored, in her carseat.

Amber - love that bow and pic of Piper! Her eyes are very striking.

Tavo - I may have missed it, but did you decide to test? Are you having any pg symptoms?

My confession of the week (one day early) is that I've peed on opk strips twice so far...hoping to see some sort of line that might indicate pregnancy

I've been feeling kind of 'off' these past few weeks- lightheaded at times and nauseous here and there - I think it's some kind of stomach bug, though. I know opks are not reliable as pg tests, but that was the first test I took a year ago to see if I was pregnant, and it had a medium strong line that made me think something was up. I don't have any hpts at home, either - but lots of opks. And I kinda miss peeing on sticks! I love the anticipation of..."Will there be a line?? Will there? Will there???" The last two opks I took didn't even have a HINT of a second line, though, so I guess there's absolutely no LH surge going on right now. Not to mention pregnancy. Ha!

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 3/4/2010 3:23:48 PM
Author: Sha
Hi guys,
Thanks for the concern about the heart murmur. The doc said to give him a call tomorrow to find out. I hope everything''s okay -

I felt a bit teary in the X-ray room thinking that something could be wrong....

although I know that most heart murmurs are innocent enough.

I''m sorry Sha I must have missed that above. I hope everything turns out well for D! Keep us updated

 

[Blenheim]

Mara - the pics of Julian are just gorgeous!
TTT - Tips and Tricks Thursday, I think.

Q - Another boy clothing source that hasn''t been mentioned is Osh Kosh. He had some super cute overalls from there last summer. He also has a bunch of polos and button downs from (I think) Macy''s, now that we''re dressing him more like a little man and less like a ragamuffin. Janie and Jack is adorable but out of our price range.

Sha - hope everything''s okay!

 

[vizsla]

i just thank my stars that i didn''t have an easy baby first - then charlie much like mandy, i don''t know any better when it comes to charlie and his temperament. ignorance is bliss.. and then it isn''t

i will say, however, that every new day with charlie he gets funnier, and more interactive and a true blast to be around. he still needs and craves to be held all of the time, but is much more interactive and just plain fun ... and as long as he is being held or one of us is super close by he''s a breeze - no crying, no fussygussy just laughs and giggles. so yeah, i gave into holding him a long time ago. i can do so much one handed

mara - we have a couple of songs/white noise on a loop on our ipod. and i did order the baby crack machine that fiery posted... i''m anxiously awaiting it''s arrival.

but if you want some FANTASTIC music for babies check out rockabye baby from itunes.. it is lullaby renditions of popular music..

have our 4month apt tomorrow morning.. shots :-O

 

[Mara]

thanks Sha...i appreciate hearing that there are other fussy newborns that turn into shining happy children hehee. i have read the same thing elsewhere but it helps to hear it again and again.

and i hope everything is ok on your end!

viz...i just gotta say i love your avatars. hahaha.

steph...forgot to say YAY for sleeping a few more hours last nite!! fabulous.

fiery...uhh yeah not much is fun at 4am but SLEEPING. no matter how cute the little cheekster is!

i am afraid to check out the other suggestions for the baby clothes, my wallet can''t take it! hehe. and yes i have seen the J&J stores at the mall, SUPER cute stuff and their clearance rack has some good deals if you catch it at the right time...but i wouldn''t buy their stuff full price. there are also some fab boutiques in our area here and there and again great clearance deals but a lot of that stuff is WAY too exp for me regular price. like $30 or $40 for a sleeper??!!

 

[Pandora II]

Sorry, am missing loads here - bad week... Daisy ill for 4 days, DH ill all weekend, I was ill on Sunday and then the fever hit again yesterday. Euggghhh.

RPS, you might know this:

When Daisy was ill she wanted to nurse all the time, literally 24/7, so I just sat with her on my knee and switched sides every now and then. Then once she started to get better she wasn''t so interested and I landed up with an oversupply.

Since I got ill, I seem to have very little - to the extent that I''ve just given her a bottle of formula to get her off to sleep. I haven''t done that since she was 5 weeks old. Is it usual to have this happen? I didn''t stop feeding her when I got ill or anything but I noticed I didn''t have a let-down at all.

Amber - Go with what you feel comfortable with. Daisy is still in with us and she''s nearly 9.5 months. She''s a silent sleeper, as am I - shame DH is not - so we don''t disturb each other. It makes feeding easier and TBTH, I''m far too scared to have her anywhere else. When she got really ill last week it came on during the night - I woke up because she was hot, grabbed the thermometer and it was 101 degrees under her arm, shoved some Tylenol into her and got the fever down. If she''d been in another room I wouldn''t have known till the morning.

Sha - Hope all turns out well!

Gorgeous photos! Julien is a cutie Mara!

Boys clothes - I buy quite a lot of these for Daisy as I don''t like pink and the boys stuff is really cute over here. I don''t know if you have these brands in the USA, but I love the following:
H&M - suprisingly have amazing baby clothes. They''re really inexpensive, organic and great quality. I get kimono onesies, tights, dungarees and sleepsuits from them.
Monsoon/Accessorize - Really nice sweaters, I got D a cute sleeveless one with a dinosaur scene on the front.
The White Company - Gorgeous sleepsuits, onesies with collars
I also like Petit Bateau, Katvig and Baby Bamboo...

Apologies to everyone I''ve not mentioned - I do read all the posts, but my head hurts right now!

 

[anchor31]

Oh boy, I''m behind! Every time I get around to posting it''s time for a feeding or pumping session... I''m not sure when to begin, so sorry if I don''t really respond to anyone.

Yesterday Jacob had his first shots, so he''s been either sleeping or fussing. Poor little guy, he cried so hard there were actually tears! He''d never had tears before. He still skips a feeding at night, but he''s not passing out after feeding like he used to, and now he wants to be up for 2 hours or so after his evening feeding than wakes up 4 hours later to be fed, so I''m not getting so much sleep. I''m getting as tired as I was during his first month of life!

I got the ok from the doctor to start exercising again last week, so I started using my Wii Fit last Sunday to work out. I try to take 30 minutes every morning to work out and it''s great to have some me time. It feels great to be exercising again too!

Does anyone else''s boobs leak like crazy? It''s very unpleasant.

I hope eveyone''s having a good week!

 

[steph72276]

Pandora, are you drinking enough liquids? You might be dehydrated and that could affect your supply

 

[Sabine]

Sha, I missed your original post too, hope everything turns out ok!

Pandora, hope you are all in better health now!

Mara, Jacks was an extremely fussy baby. I''m not sure if it was from the reflux and formula issues, stomach issues, or if he did genuinely have colic (dh thinks he did, I didn''t really), but around 2.5 months things started slowly getting better. By 4 months he was a different baby. Now he is so happy and easy going almost all the time. Yeah, he gets fussy if he''s teething or hasn''t napped well, but most days he barely ever cries. So there is hope! It''ll be interesting to see what kind of kid he ends up being!

So I just dropped off dinner for a mom in my navy spouse group who just had a baby boy, and she has 3 daughters under the age of 7! I really can''t imagine ever doing that! It seemed so chaotic in their house that it made my blood pressure rise just being there for a few minutes!

And you girls will appreciate this...Jacks has discovered my engagement ring! He loves playing with it/trying to grab it, especially when I''m changing him.

 

[ChinaCat]

So I swear I came home from work to a different baby. He is on the move. Not technically crawling but moving nonetheless. He scoots backwards, gets up on his hands and knees, rocks, moves one knee and then the other, and then his hands, and can sit up from lying on his stomach. Plus he is just climbing all over us, the couch, everything. He will NOT stay still. He is obsessed with the remote control, our phones, anything. SABINE, he has NOT discovered my ring yet!!! That''s so funny.

When did everyone lower their crib? So far he can''t pull up yet but I think that''s just cause he hasn''t thought of it. He is so mobile, I am afraid he''s going to pull up on the crib and topple over.

Definitely teething too, I can feel a bottom tooth.

What happened to my BABY?????

Plus he seems to think that 5 am is a perfectly acceptable time to wake up for the day.

 

[taovandel]

Amber: Yeah--Evan never changes up the fingers...he tried his thumb once and for some reason it didn''t appeal to him...so it''s always the two middle ones...I wonder why he picked those two and Piper picked her first two? Strange little babies we have...haha.

The raccoon story is both funny and scary! Raccoons are just gross.

Mara: I moved Evan around 8 weeks and like Mandy--It was the best thing ever. He was a huge grunter and would wake himself up flailing about...which in turn would wake us up. We moved him to the crib and he was a completely different baby. He stopped squirming and grunting. And our sleep improved. But if he wasn''t a squirmer and grunter---he would totally still be in the room with us.

Also, super cute pictures!!!

RPS: I love getting up first to take him out of the crib for the day....but I prefer for that time to be 7:00 or later..hehe. He''s so smiley and stretchy in the morning...I just want to eat him up!



Okay, my period started last night...whew!


Evan had a Dr. visit today.....it went okayish.

He weighs 13.4 lbs and is in the 16th percentile for weight. His length was 24 3/4 inch and is in the 42nd percentile. His head is apparently small as crap (It looks normal though---I swear!) His head is 15 3/4 inch and is in the 6th percentile!! We keep calling him shrunken head baby....so yeah for new nicknames....

The Dr. said his growth curve is excellent so they have no worries about his head or weight--even though they are on the smaller spectrum.

We got the okay to start some solids. We might try the cereal thing on Saturday---But I don''t think I want to introduce anything else just yet...Might wait til 5 months instead.

Also, we''ve noticed a bit of a concave chest on Evan....we asked the Dr. about it and she said it is a bit concaved but nothing to be concerned about right now....she said that they would keep an eye on it.

He was a total flirt the whole time at the Dr.''s. He kept smiling at her...haha.

He also took his shots like a champ (He was really good the 1st time also). He literally cried for like 5 seconds. By the time she had the band-aids on he had already stopped and was smiling at us! My husband even had him laughing....so happy I have the baby I have.

 

[Mara]

ok so my kiddo is keeping me on my toes mentally.

while yesterday i couldnt get him to nap for nothing (until 3pm when he napped til 6)... today he has done hardly anything but nap. his first one was 11-2, his second was after he ate at 2 so basically from 3-6 (and he fell asleep in my arms not even finishing his 4oz bottle) and then after i fed him again at 6 he did some quiet alert with the bee music toy, and then now is passing out again! i am trying to keep him just 'slightly' awake, because i don't want him passing out NOW because we put him down at about 9:30 (and start his routine at like 8:30)...and i don't want him not sleeping tonite. on the flip side i keep remembering the whole 'don't wake a sleeping baby'...maybe this is part of his growth spurt, aka eating a ton yesterday but not sleeping and then today the sleeping? anyone have comments?

at 5 weeks i don't know if i should be even be trying to keep him from falling asleep or just go with it. hmmm. i think i am mentally traumatized from him not wanting to go back down at 4am last nite...hehee, i don't want a repeat.

greg would say i have WAY too much time on my hands to be overthinking this. he would prob be right...haha!

tao... did E stop flailing his arms around yet? J totally does that and wakes himself up all the time!! but he hates when we swaddle them in. lesser of evils? hehe.

sabine...thanks so much for your story too!! i totally feel like J has a happy sunny baby in there somewhere, hopefully we'll see it soon hehe. i just love his quiet times, he looks soo cute and interested in things.

greg's mom and sis come tomorrow night...it will be interesting to have guests for so long, we all get along well thankfully. they are staying with my mom about 10 min away but will be over most of the time. i am excited to see them and hopefully the visit will go well... lots of familial emotion will be going on i am sure. hopefully his mom won't be asking if i am feeding J enough like my mom!!

 

[taovandel]

Ha....Evan hates having his hands/arms covered....He hated the swaddle until about 8 weeks and now he likes his swaddle. It''s the only thing he will allow to cover his hands. If we try to cover his hands with a blanket to keep him warm when we take him outside in the carseat---he will fuss and pull them free by any means necessary.

 

[fieryred33143]

I''m a firm believer in sleep begets sleep and I have seen the monster that is over-tiredness so if it were me, I''d let him fall asleep

 

[taovandel]

I second letting him fall asleep. We tried once to keep E awake until his "normal bedtime"...we learned quickly and only did the the one time. It was terrible! Plus E was always changing his bedtime...When he was younger (ha!) he would stay awake until 9:30-10:00. Then he slowly moved down to 7:30....he''s back to about 9:00 now....

 

[Mara]

thanks ladies, we decided to let him sleep and see what happens tonite...i was thinking he ate a TON yesterday and fussed most of the day so maybe he is in a growth spurt and needs to sleep. if he is up all nite we''ll learn. but for now we''ll experiment. he is not in a deep sleep right now, more a light sleep.

 

[sunkist]

Hi everyone! I think I fell behind for maybe the past week

Ive been doing my best to read and keep up with everyone though. Just dont think I can respond to everyone, but Im thinking of you all!

Wes had his doctor appt today too Tao! If you''re calling E shrunken head... Wes measured at 2% today (last time was 33%)!

But I think thats strange cause I was just thinking how much his head has grown, since birth I guess. Anyways I think Evan is so cute! Good size head

Then his weight percentile stayed about the same as last time, around 50%, but his height %ile fell dramatically, I think! Last time he was around 90%, now he''s around 40% maybe? (sorry, Wes is asleep on my lap and I cant go look at his measurement card!) I was surprised at how his height growth rate slowed so much, but he''s healthy so thats fine.

The shots were another story! Getting them wasnt too bad, but when we got home a little while later he was upset and in pain or uncomfortable or something. I gave him Tylenol and just comforted him. I felt so bad for the poor guy

and I could feel my love grow for the kid! Love him so much its amazing! Then we both passed out on the couch and I think each of us felt much better after that nap

Amber did you get a play mat for Piper yet? I finally bought one today, the Infantino Vintage twist and fold one. He loves it so far! One evening on it

The toys are the perfect height for him to bat and grab, it has a tummy time cushion, and its cute and only $36! BRU has a sale starting tomorrow on the Tiny Love lights and music mat, I think its going to be around $40 instead of $64. I was considering that one too.

Mandy, Pandora, sorry about the sicknesses! Not fun

PG, I too have forgotten to buckle Wes up all the way before driving home, twice!

Makes ya feel horrible, I know, but we''re not perfect. oops!!

Mara, for baby tunes, have you listened to Rockabye Baby songs? They are definitely just tunes, some of the songs I think are weird cause Im singing along in my head with rock lyrics while playing and cooing with my baby.. sorta odd, haha! but the Beatles ones are good and others.
Sorry about the fussiness! I just tried to enjoy every stage, cause they all pass too soon. But trust me, there were plenty of days where I just cried while trying to calm my fussy baby. I think my hubby really thought I was losing it one night cause I was crying, singing some Christmas song (?? cause thats the only one that came to mind at the moment!) and dancing around the room swaying Wes back and forth

K, Wes is waking and hubby is home, gotta go

But I know my mommy confession already so I''ll be sure to post that tomorow

 

[gingerB]

omg omg omg my boobs hurt so bad. i don''t know what is going on but they are literally ENGORGED every 3 hours. it started at the photog studio today -- don''t know if it was cuteness overload or what.

more likely it''s because i started BFing again and the stim from having him on the boob? even the minimal time i do it for? i''ve been pumping 4 oz every 3 hours insterad of my usual 2.5-3oz. i am loving the increased production but omg the pain. and it doesn''t help that my nipple are raw from him BFing. seriously on the good thing he''s so cute because i don''t know outside of a mom who would do this?!

A did so good today! he slept like a champ and we were able to get some curly/bendy shots. hopefully they turn out well! and after we actually ate out together for the first time and he slept the whole time so it went really smoothly. yay for baby steps back to some form of a life outside of being a 24/7 newborn caretaker

 

[CaliMama]

Hi!
I am new here (I am doing some research for my sister's boyfriend), the title of this thread caught my eye, since I have an 11 week old.
I hope you don't mind me jumping in.

I noticed there's a lot of breastfeeding questions and advice, kellymom.com is a GREAT website, it has tons of info, pretty much every question/ neurosis/paranoia I had I was able to find an answer there. Also, drjacknewman.com is fantastic (he is a doc that specializes in lactation issues), there are videos of a proper latch that were sooooo helpful for me; people explaining what I should do didn't help at all, seeing what it should look like was the trick.

The LCs at my group say you should drink at least 80 ozs of water a day, I carry a water bottle with me all the time, and knock wood I have abundant supply. The days when I slack on the water I definitely feel a difference in my supply.

Oh, and to the poster with the fussbudget 5 week old (Mara, I think?)- there is a big growth spurt at 5-6 weeks, clusterfeeding and crankiness is to be expected. My sweet, calm baby turned into the Exorcist for a few days, then things calmed down.

Anyway- I have an 11 week old son, my first baby. He is amazing, a big, happy chunk of boy (9 lbs 2 ozs when he was born, and he has been putting on almost a pound a week). I was a nanny for years, I have lots of baby experience, but having my own is a whole different ball of wax. My husband and I have been a couple for 16 years, we waited a long time to be parents, and we are loving every minute.
I live in Northern California. This is an amazing site!

 

[Mandarine]

ughhhh I hate the stupid shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Friday, they had their shots on Tuesday and I'm dealing with constant crankiness, refusing to eat and screaming since then. I'm seriously about to lose it this morning.

They take the actual shots great...cry for less than a few seconds...but the days following are HELL.



Mara It's funny how expectations can really mess you up!...hehe. You expected it would be more "quiet" and well, J had his own plans! hehe. I expected things to be MUCH worse...specially that first month. I serioulsy had prepared myself for the worse so I was actually pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought. I think for me month 2 was a little harder. Maybe not harder, but different. That's when I thought "ok, so where was I?".....that's when I started looking for some sense of normalcy in our lives and it was hard to find that balance.

My babies are not "easy" babies....but like Viz, ignorance is bliss! I thought they were easy and normal...and then I joined this mommy group and have met over 6 babies the same age. Now I know my babies are not easy at all...but they sure are entertaining!!!!!!!!.

I have no problem letting them CIO a little (like right now because they were really driving me nuts and I knew they needed a nap. It took like 10 minutes). When they were really little I did have a hard time letting them CIO...just because I think newborns have a high cuddling need!. I remember many nights of just holding and rocking a baby thinking "what in the world is wrong with you?"...but nothign was wrong, they just wanted to cuddle.

So hang in there. They are only so little for such a short period. It's ok to cuddle them...you won't spoil J. What I try to do is to never do something that could spoil them, many times in a row. So they each take at least one nap a day with me lately...and that's ok...they still go down for their naps in the crib most of the time. I figured it won't be long before they say things like "mommy, stop hugging me so much!"...hehe

Sunkist I was laughing because I also used to sign Christmas songs and cry while rocking them!!! hahaha


Sha Keeping you in my thoughts! I hope everything is ok.


***

Confession......Gosh I don't know...I'm running a blank!!!! Maybe one will come later!!

So we went to Ikea yesterday (my sister and I). I got the boys the Antilop high chairs. They are so cute!!! I'll take a picture of them in the chairs later today (if they get in a better mood!!!).

Weight: I'm only 6 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight!!!!

Went to my sister's house and she was amazed of how much weight I lost sinc ethe last time she saw me (a few weeks ago). My BIL said I looked GREAT! He said I don't look like I had twins at all!!!. Then at Ikea two different women asked who the mom of teh twins was...and then they said they couldn't believe it because I looked good!!!. So yeah, my ego got a MUCH needed boost!!!. Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to feel sexy and seduce DH again (so I can end my dry spell!!!).

I guess that's my confession? 5 months PP and no action? Born again virgin for sure...

Tomorrow is my 10K race!!!!!

I ran 6.2 miles (10K) on Sunday and 4.5 miles on Wednesday...so I'm ready!

. DH will take the babies to teh corner by the house since the course takes us right by there. I think I'll make a little sign for their stroller that says GO MOM! or something like that!.

Someone started screaming again...time for me to go and see who's trying to drive mommy nuts....

ETA: It was Alex...he doesn't want to eat this morning but doesn't want to sleep either. I just put him on the swing so he doesn't wake his brother up. I. CAN'T. HEAR. MORE. SCREAMING.........seriously...how does he keep this up!!!!!???

ETA2: Seriously...HOW DOES HE KEEP THIS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????