PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[ChinaCat]

OMG, Pandora, I am so smitten with Miss Daisy.

I so want to be her friend. She is so cute and seems really smart. I LOVE the chimp reins, she looks so cute in that picture!

And you look pretty smashing yourself, love your boots.

Are you off and leaving us now?

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Pandora she is adorable and you look great--ditto on the awesome boots! The cake looks super cute and I bet it was DELISH! I

lemoncurd HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAISY!

 

[steph72276]

Happy Birthday Daisy!! She is beautiful and the cake looked fabulous!!

 

[Mara]

so i posted last nite on the new site but it apparently got eaten in the rollback...

the jist was...

i got the Baby's Only formula at Whole Foods and we started it today, 1/2 old and 1/2 new, we'll see if it affects J at all with the brown rice syrup as the primary carb vs sugar.

i hope i didnt freak anyone who ff's out on the DHA/ARA thing...but i just had heard about it and was thinking if anyone wanted to look into it more, they should.

i also started power pumping in the mornings and evenings to try to up my supply. i get about an extra 2-3oz per day doing it...but it's a PITA on the time management for sure.

i start work tomorrow ..BOOO on work again but at least i am at home for 2 weeks. i was reading some emails today, and i was thinking 'seriously i don't know how interested i am in this right now!!'...haha. so we'll see how it goes. it actually is a bad time for me to be 'meh' on work because of the reorg stuff....i am supposed to be all into proving myself.

J's napping during the day is taking a turn for the more difficult. he just does not want to nap at all during the day even if i know he is really tired. it takes longer for him to nap, and even if he does fall asleep he keeps waking up and crying for like 15 seconds, then going back to sleep. knock on wood but his night sleep seems to be ok so far, i think because he's so tired.

happy birthday Daisy! pandora the pix are great, love the cake.

so my update for today. we went to visit a friend who has twin toddler boys. well they are kind of unsteady on their feet, just learning to walk etc. one of them tottered by J who was hanging out in his bouncy chair and tripped and put a hand out to steady himself...right on J's head. my poor baby, i watched it happen, totally too quickly to even react, and his hand went out right on J's face/forehead, lifted up as he kind of righted, and then came down again. J started screaming, red face, etc...poor thing, he was so surprised and freaked out. he seemed 'ok', but he was really hard to calm down. anyway it just underscored for me how little and fragile he still is, even if he seems like such a big boy to me already. i gave him extra snuggles later. of course tonite, i was convinced he had internal damage or something, mom paranoia. ugh. it prob only gets worse, esp when he gets more mobile!

 

[qtiekiki]

Pandora
Happy Belated Birthday to Daisy.
The cake looks awesome. Love the duckies. I wanted some duckies like that on M''s meet the baby party.

Mara
Oh poor J. Must''ve been hard for you to see it happen. I am sure he is ok. M pushes on J''s face and belly a lot, and we have to remind her to be gentler.
It takes a few days to get back into the swing of thing for work. It''s probably harder to work at home. knowing your babies is in the next room.
Naps had always been harder for M, and same thing for J now. It''ll get better eventually.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Happy Birthday Daisy!

Mara, poor J! DH''s grandfather stepped into/kicked Claire''s head when I was changing her on the floor this weekend. I saw him coming, and I know he''s not sure of foot, but I thought surely he saw Claire there on the floor! Claire didn''t like it either.

Happy ending to this story . . . last night DH''s bike race was back on (thought it was cancelled due to rain), and I was annoyed because I wanted to run, but we decided I would take Claire in the car to the park where the bike race is and then run with her in the BOB during the race. But then everyone wanted to hold Claire, so I got to run hands-free. So it turned out to be even better than me staying at home and trying to take the BOB out on the streets.

 

[vizsla]

Ok, I seriously don’t know where to start – I felt all out of sorts without my PS yesterday... who have i become?

CDT – holy sticky bean batman! Whoo hoo!! Congrats a thousand times over!! Lex is so cuuuuttteeee! New baby has some adorable shoes to fill

Mere!!! Congrats lady!!! How are things going??? Come and ask away! keep on enjoying your little one! They grow so fast!

PG – so glad your house guest didn’t end up being too weird. Hope things are going better with you and the hubs! Don’t you want to start down some sort of ‘school’s out’ countdown so I can be officially jealous??

Mara – by jeggins being ‘so wrong’? Did you mean ‘so right?’ HA! I gotta admit that I am loving them! So comfy. hope you can enjoy your last few weeks at home! Remember to come here and commiserate with us as often as you need to! I''m a super good commiserater

Kimberly – hooray for sleep patterns and hooray for jane! Hope this weekend was more of the same for you!

Hey QT and NAT!!! miss you around these parts! Serious cuteness!

Burk – how is little K doing? after reading your post I took C back into the pedi to check out his lingering cough… I also bought some florastor probiotics – they recommended this brand for babies – is this what you use?

Lulu – with as much as C has been sick I would choose separate waiting rooms – but this will come in handy more so when s/he is older – right now our practice schedules babies first thing in the morning and they whisk right into a room anyway. Might be something to ask the ‘not separate’ doc – maybe they have the same policy?

Sha – OMG! I want to smooch little D up! She’s so beautiful!

Hey steph!! I’m always so jealous of your days! How you manage to do it all with a newborn is beyond me E is getting so BIG!! Total cutie!!

Hey MP!! That pic is so freakin’ cute! I can hear your DH saying ‘shh’ and then sticking his finger in his mouth…. Hahahahahaha! And Micah is looking at dad like “ummm what just happened here?” – sorry about your job! Hope things get settled without legal mumbojumbo.

Amber – ummm yeah, SOOOO NOTTTT deep south… like SOOOO NOTT. That may be the strangest association ever. People are weird!

MT – j is so happy and smiling in your pic! Cute!!!!!

Thanks DRK for the info!! I have a call into the surgery center to ask specifics about the feeding portion. The information I have says no food after midnight and surgery isn’t until 8 in the morning.. (shutter)
How’s baby k doing???

Tao – as always, E is a total heartbreaker! I can’t believe he has a tooth!!! So advanced and all of that hair!! So jealous… I’ve got baldy mcbalderson! (takes after dad – shhhhhhh

Mandy – how are things? How is baby food researching going? I wish I lived near you. I was feeding C some happy baby food and wishing I had some homemade purees to give to him. Did you happen to see the today show story about the link to pesticides and ADHD? Makes buying local and organic sooo important!

Hey Ginger – glad they are not rushing into surgery! I hope you find some relief soon! And so so so sorry about being away from A all week. That has to be so hard! You are doing an awesome job mamma!!

Hey CC hey Fiery! how are things?? CC WHAT is this poopoo day of which you speak?? (hugs) girls

Pandora - OMG!!! she''s such a little rockstar! Happy birthday Daisy!!!

_______________________________________
Well, we’ve had a rollercoaster few days. I successfully made it thru the bachelorette party- and only fell down twice - which is actually quite an accomplishment for me (I’m kinda known for being clumsy) the kicker was that I wasn’t even tipsy!
Ok, well maybe just a little…
but not enough to make *normal* people fall down.
It’s viz in HEELS that are the problem. I’m sooooooo not used to wearing them – my DH is slightly shorter than me, and I wear flip flops to work everyday so I don’t really get to practice much these days. Needless to say, a few glasses of wine and some platforms do not a good combo make.
However, I managed to get up at 2:30a and feed C AND get up for the day at 7:00a. Mostly b/c DH has an awful sinus infection and was being a complete baby. UGH! The ONE time I’ve been ‘out’ since getting PG, and i had to get up with C all night and take care of TWO babies.

Sunday C would waiver between being happy and being a total cranky pants. He wasn’t eating very much so I knew this latest round of antibiotics wasn’t really working either. Sunday night pretty much confirmed my assumptions because he was up every hour or so ☹ I had DH take him into the pedi Monday morning - and sure enough his right ear still has not cleared up and now he has an infection in his left ear! They gave us a prescription for augmenten (which I don’t want to put him on, but we are out of options). I called the ENT to see if I could get his surgery moved up to this week – no such luck. This really ticked me off. I am still half tempted to take him to our children’s hospital – but our pedi said they would just send us home with some antibiotics and tell us to wait until next week.

What doesn’t make sense to me is this: the ENT and the pedi agree that as soon as he has the tubes put in he will feel better – the infection will be drained from his ear and he won’t hurt anymore. They also agree that the augmenten will upset his stomach, give him bad diaper rash and make him poo 12x a day. BUT they won’t move the surgery up. Basically, the antibiotic is just tiding him over until surgery. I was trying to understand why they would willingly put him on yet another round of antibiotics if the tubes will clear up this infection. Why wouldn’t they make it an ‘emergency’ or do whatever they could to get him in earlier? It makes zero sense to me. I think I ticked off both the pedi office and the ENT office b/c I was arguing with them about not doing enough to get him in earlier. Ugh, it’s so frustrating. That said, I had to give him the augmenten b/c it''s the lesser of the two evils at this point. The infection will grow if I don''t stop it with antibiotics and cause him to run a fever - not to mention the constant ear pain, but it causes MAJOR upset belly and diarrhea. I hate to give him Tylenol several times a day and his antibiotic (and his prevacid!) his poor little liver!

Last night was more of the same. He''s OK for about 2 hours and then starts in with the whining and crying all.night.long. I didn''t work yesterday partly b/c of my shear exhaustion from Monday night and partly b/c the dude just wants his mommy when he''s sick. The kicker last night was the vomiting of half his bottle all over our bed, our pillows, himself at 1 in the morning. I changed, changed the dude and slept in the guest bed with him. DH went down on the couch. So i got to be on baby patrol all night by myself. DH is still sick and for no other reason than feeling sorry for myself I''m slightly ticked at him. I know it''s not his fault he''s sick, but ALWAYS when C is really sick so is DH - and he''s sooooooo not helpful. He does these big ol sighs and huffs and puffs when i ask him to help me. It''s annoying! I feel so callous but I have to choose C over DH and he gets miffed about it. THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH OF ME TO GO AROUND.. and I have to WORK. UGH, I''m totally feeling sorry for myself.

To add insult to injury - this weekend is my mom''s 60th birthday. I am supposed to go ''home'' (3 hrs away) OR she was thinking about coming to me - but right now I can''t imagine doing either with a sick baby. I feel awful that I''m pushing her birthday off to the side - it being a pretty major one and all - but (see above). I''m losing it ladies.. losing it!

Anyhoo, that’s what we are dealing with.. I’m so ready for this to be over and MOVE ON from this constant sickness… it’s getting really old, really fast!

p.s. I posted this on that ''other'' site, but I was thinking about getting DH an iPad for Father''s Day - does anyone have one? thoughts?

 

[Sha]

Hi guys!

I really missed everyone yesterday! Had a brief moment of panic when I couldn't find the 'Family & Home' button in its usual spot. For a second I thought they'd removed it and was like, "

What am I going to do without my girls?!!

" But then I found it.

Pandora - lovely pics! Daisy looks like such an engaging child.

And you...you look like a model! Love the boots.

Mara - ouch!

Glad J is okay.

 

[KimberlyH]

Happy belated birthday to darling Daisy!

Vis, I''d be questioning the timing and use of more antibiotics too. Poor C''s little body, so hard on him. I''m sure your mom wikk understand.

Phoenix, glad you got a break and a run in.

Mara, I bet that was hard to see happen.

Fiery, I hope you relaxed a bit last weekend.

****

My boss still hasn''t returned my call. I also emailed hr so they know I did contact him. I can''t say I''m sad about not having gone back yet.

Jane is growing more aware, which is fun to watch. She loves fans, doesn''t matter if they are on or off. My nephew loved them too. So funny to watch her smiling up at the ugly ceiling fan.

 

[steph72276]

Hey girls! Just got back from an hour long run/walk with the babe...I''m kicking this baby weight to the curb even if it kills me! I have so many summer clothes that are within about 5 lbs of looking decent, so I refuse to buy more and it''s hitting 90 degrees here now, so I''ve gotta work hard! We''re meeting some friends that are vacationing at Disney for dinner tonight....can''t wait to get a little dressed up and have a drink! Oh yeah, and E has 2 bottom teeth that are just about in! Hope everyone has a great day.

Mara, oh no about J''s accident. I''m sure he was more surprised than hurt though. Good luck today, hope it is a good day for you!

Hi, QT!

PG, yea for a good run!

Viz, sorry about the antibiotics and I would have wanted the surgery moved up too. Hugs to you and C. Oh and I got Adam the ipad for his bday and he LOVES it. He uses it at work as his planner, we play on the internet at night, watches movies on it from Netflix, and he even reads Andrew''s bedtime story on it sometimes. I think it is a great gift.

Hi, Sha

Kim, so cute about the fan. E does that too!

 

[ChinaCat]

Mara- Hope back to work is a smooth transition. I think you may actually find it easier once you go back into the office. There''s no way I could work from home and plus you really can''t "connect" like you were mentioning. Just be aware that J might react in different ways once you go back. For me, my STTN for 12 hours baby started getting up at night to nurse again. I really really hope that doesn''t happen to you, but I wish I had been a bit more prepared that things could go wonky. It sorted itself out within a few weeks, so if J does react, just know that he''ll go back to his usual self soon. Good luck, keep us posted!!!!

VIZ. My heart hurts for you and C. I seriously don''t know how you aren''t losing it. I guess it''s b/c you CAN''T fall apart, YOU are the MOM. As is obvious from your post, you are the one keeping it all together. That makes absolutely no sense to me, other than for them it''s their job and maybe they see this all the time and are a bit desensitized to it. The light at the end of the tunnel is that he WILL get surgery and he WILL feel better. But yeah, it''s a hard call to give C medicine that you know is going to make him sick. Ugh. Double ugh.

My mom told me a "funny" story about my dad when we were babies. My mom, my dad, and I all got some terrible flu and were all literally stuck in bed together all weekend. I was about 3 and my little sister was a newborn (and a preemie at that). After we were all better, my dad said something to the effect that my mom couldn''t possibly have been as sick as he was because she kept getting up to feed/change/tend to my newborn sister.

She was like, well who was going to take care of the PREEMIE NEWBORN????? Men.

And thanks for asking about my "bad" day but it was seriously NOTHING especially after reading your post. Just small things going wrong all day. O has had a terrible diaper rash for almost 2 weeks now and it got better and then worse and he was in so much pain it was killing me. And nothing seemed to work. I think we''ve got it sorted now, but I just felt helpless, which I imagine is just a tiny percentage of what you must feel with C. We had a dr appt and even though O is totally hitting all of his milestones, some even early, and even though he eats all the time, he''s STILL only in the THIRD percentile for weight. FOURTH if you go by the world standard, third if you go by fatty America standards. So compared to the rest of the world (which includes STARVING children) he''s in the FOURTH percentile. Great. I know he''s fine, he''s totally healthy and thriving, my DH was a skinny kid, I was a skinny kid, we both have high metabolisms, plus O NEVER stops moving so I know it''s just genetic, but STILL. I feel like a bad mom. And then I had to go to work, which made me feel worse, because I felt like I should be home with him. So it just started the whole cycle. Plus I exploded an ink pen all over my white shirt, I had a crazy hormonal day which led me to take it on DH. AND AF returned, so clearly I was just hormonal and feeling sorry for myself. Like I said, NOTHING bad, just one of those days.

But DH and I had a good talk (after my freak-out) and watched Chuck (so good) and other good tv, plus he fed me mac & cheese so it was all good.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Viz, ugh, that is so annoying that they couldn't move up the appointment. Poor little C. And sorry your DH was sick too and couldn't help. But glad you only tripped twice! I am so not a heels person either.

And you're right . . . I should be counting down. 22 more days of work! Then [da dum da dum] School's Out For Ever!

We are heading to the fancy schmancy stroller store tonight, assuming DH gets back from his business trip in time. I'm thinking we might go more with a regular (but still compact) stroller over an umbrella stroller. This thing will get used nearly every day. I'll let you know what we get.

China, you mentioned once about not knowing you were supposed to "air out" your pump tubes, right? Well, my sister forgot, and her tubes grew mold! Then she had to pump at work the next day, so she got a $35 single side manual pump just for a couple of days while she was waiting for her new tubes, and she said it's surprisingly effective/easy to use. I assumed it would be a big pain. She says she wishes she had one all along (instead of now that her third and presumably last child is 8 mo.) as a backup to leave at work or in the car.

 

[Mara]

viz...ugh and ugh!! i totally agree re: being PO"d they won't move the surgery up. WTF is that? and poor C. it's like hi you are already sick, lets make you more sick, what are those doctors thinking? so sorry for you all. i really hope that the days fly by and before you know it C is getting better from his surgery and sleeping. i also feel you re: 'everyone wanting a piece of mom'... it is totally hard sometimes to feel like you are the only one. big hugs. oh and actually if anyone can rock those jeggings, they are you skinnie minnie. not me with my birthing hips.

china... awww re: a crappy day. i hate when all the little (and not so little) things just add up and get to you. totally hear you re: being hormonal, sometimes i get this 'down' feeling from nowhere and go what the heck is that. thankfully it doesn't last.

steph... you go girl on the weight loss. i have been woefully sedentary lately, it was raining last 2 days so of course i dont want to do anything. today it's sunny so i plan to take a break late afternoon and walk with J the 1.25 miles to the safeway to get an easy dinner as a friend is coming over. most of my body is 'back' but i still have a little beer gut and things are still not quite as firm...AND i am still carrying the 12lbs on the scale, prob in my gut and boobs...ugh!!

fiery...hope you guys are doing well.

kim... hope J's sleep continues to improve, and fun re the awareness. i just love how fast the babies change...J does something one day that he wasn't doing 2 days ago. and ditto re: the fan, J loves it! we actually got him one for his room since he will need it come summer and i know he'll just zone out watching it which is totally fine with me, one more 'sleep tool' we can use hehe. we have the dark wood ones so they actually go well with our decor.

thanks ladies...re: going to work...yep i can see that being in the office will be better for sure for overall sanity. i am alone today and then my sister is coming to help me starting tomorrow, her last final is today. our house is really small too, and ranch style so you can totally hear J if he is screaming...i have a few calls today so hopefully he cooperates with me putting him down in his crib for some 'him' time while i have to be on the call. i already had 2 calls this morning, but he slept through it thankfully.

i am glad though that i have the 2 weeks at home to kind of 'wean' him off my constant presence. he isn't really old enough to have true anxiety re separation IMO but it will prob def be harder for him. so this way i will still be here but my sis will be taking care of him and doing all the stuff i do, and i can 'visit' a little but not be the primary. and then hopefully when i go back to work he will be into the new routine and won't even notice i am not always there. that's the hope anyway...i guess we'll see what the reality is shortly.

and in the meantime i am going to keep saving $$ just in case we decide in a few months that things need a change.

of course i am totally having all the mom guilt about going back to work... like... omg what if he doesn't love me anymore, what if he doesn't smile when he sees me, what if he doesn't remember me, what if what if what if. i just try and remind myself countless women do it and their kids and they are ok for it.

oh and thank the lord for the loose flowing dress and skirt styles in fashion now... there is no way i am wearing pants to work!!

oh and re: hubs and moms doing what they need to...seriously. G is great with J but he can totally sleep through anything, including screaming baby near his ear. moms just do what they need to do cuz guess what? no one else is going to!

 

[AmberWaves]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO DAISY! Oh my god, has it been (more than, now) a year already?? Where does the time go??? I love the baby harness, I want to get one for Piper for when she''s older, my husband is 6''3" and I just KNOW he''s going to hate having to always bend over to hold her hand, he already has back issues.

Mara: can''t believe J got smacked in the head! Paul''s nephew kept trying to "pat" Piper''s head while asking just HOW soft her soft spot was. I''ve got my eye on that kid. Glad J is okay!

Viz: Seriously. WHY can''t they move it up? They can''t POSSIBLY squeeze in a very sick, and in pain INFANT? That''s UTTER BULL***T and I want to go over there and kick the crap out of someone. And if they get pissy with you for wanting oh, your child to not be MISERABLE (since he WILL be no matter what- meds or waiting it out), then that''s just crap. UGH. I can not WAIT until C gets his tubes. Perhaps he''ll get to have a full night of sleep (and you) and will just be so much happier at night. Honestly, I do not know how you manage, you coffee-fueled Mombot.

Steph: Two teeth! I swear, you do so much more with two kids than I do with my one. How do you do it??

Hello to everyone else! I missed all of you!!

 

[jcrow]

i wrote a post yesterday, guess it got eaten too. let''s see if i can remember what i wrote...

question for those of you pumping and bfeeding, how often and for how long do you pump? i''m pumping about once a day for 10 minutes after one of her feedings.

afm [yea for now knowing what that means!] - this weekend we finally decided on and purchased a stroller. we had been torn between the bugaboo bee and the city mini. loved the bee but didn''t love the $529 price tag. and that was for the 2009 model. the new 2010 model is $649! anyhoo, i was checking our registry to see what all we needed to purchase to finish it up and noticed the bee we had on there was now listed for $399. i did a search online for it at bbb where we have our registry and there was no bee listed at all. so we called the store and they confirmed that they had both the 09 and the 10 model. hubs went to check it out and was able to score a bee for $399 + 10% off thanks to our registry completion code. we also picked up our video monitor and a few other odds and ends. because we returned things that post baby we realized we didn''t really need, we were able to get the stroller, video monitor + other odds and ends for under $400!! score!

what also helped with our stroller decision is that i decided to hold off on purchasing a fancy pump. so that $200 we put towards the bee. when we rented the hospital pump, we were given a manual pump that we could keep. i figured if i''m not pumping exclusively and just need to pump occasionally, the manual one could do just fine.

will post more in a minute... time to nurse...

 

[Burk]

Happy Birthday Daisy!!

Thanks to everyone who was thinking about K. He''s doing much better now (after a trip to the ER

). I''m seeing the BFing doc today regarding my right cracked (STILL) nipple. It''s been so so painful lately. I''m really hoping that doesn''t mean there is something seriously wrong.

Viz~So sorry poor C can''t kick the infection and boo for them waiting on the tubes!!! That poor baby (and you) have been through h*** and back. Oh, and I checked what type of probioics we use and then forgot to log on and post

so I''ll post tonight!

Mara~I just looked into the Baby''s only formula since you mentioned the brown rice syrup and I think I''ll order some to keep on hand for when K needs a BF cleanse (we do 50/50 when his belly gets bad and I obviously ate something I shouldn''t have to help him heal) because it''s one of one TWO formulas that doesn''t use corn syrup. K is intolerant to corn and the one formula I knew of that didn''t have corn syrup is crazy expensive. I''m going to order some from diapers.com since we don''t have a Whole Foods here. Thanks for the heads up!!! Oh, and K is a terrible napper. Terrible. We''re talking 45 minutes tops. And he''s been throwing absolute tantrums to go to sleep. Just doesn''t want to. So not fun. My MIL (who watches him while I''m at work) just holds him the whole time he sleeps. I''ve tried to ask her nicely not to but since he''s been sick I look like a bad mom saying "put the sick kid down. Let him cry." Hopefully when he''s recovered I can nicely convince her to quit holding him.

Steph~You go girl!!! I''m still over 10lbs away but my clothes are all starting to fit better. I haven''t had time to work out lately but being back to work helps me because I''m on the 3rd floor and I walk a lot teaching. Hopefully once K is feeling better and I''m getting more sleep I can resume the 30 day shred.

 

[phoenixgirl]

So, I believe Claire is a genius baby. And I''m not biased at all, so she must be.

When we were giving her eye drops for her pink eye, instead of struggling physically, she would just lie very still and clamp her eyes shut. I could see the wheels turning in her head . . . "Have I waited long enough? Are those big mean eye-drop giving parents gone now?" and then she would open them real fast to check, which is when we would strike of course. My sister said her babies would just squirm. I like how Claire is so thoughtful! Why waste your energy on a physical struggle when you can just close your eyes?

 

[ChinaCat]

Burk- Are things any calmer over in your neck of the woods? You aren''t back at work are you?

Mara- Oh I didn''t realize you had help while home. That would be doable, still hard but totally doable. I think your idea of slowly doing it is good, but probably more for you than J. At that age, O really didn''t know what was going on or that I was leaving. Thankfully. Now he''s much more aware. But it just makes it so much of an easier transition for you AND J. I think that is SO smart of you, I really wish we had started planning for the possibility of me not working way in advance. I just honestly thought there was no way I''d want to stay home. I''m still not sure I do, but having the financial cushion would make the decision a lot easier.

JCrow- Yay on the stroller. When I was home with O, I really didn''t pump much at all at first. I started pumping when I started giving him a bottle. And even then I would only really pump when I knew I was going to be away from him for a feeding. I always had a bottle or two worth in the fridge. I didn''t start pumping regularly until right before I went back to work.

Phxgirl- Sounds like a genius to me.

That is such a funny image. O is the total opposite, all fire and guts and loud, squirming determination. Such a boy but such a drama queen at the same time. I kinda hoped he would be calm and methodical (like DH) but nope, he''s a lot like me, at least at this age.

Viz- I love how you went from complaining about your DH acting like a baby to "should I get him an I-pad?"

You are a good wife. The dads need some love too! I am trying to decide what to do about Father''s Day as well.

 

[jcrow]

alright, baby fed, mommy fed. now where was i...

yesterday was my 6 week postpartum follow up appointment. she said i had healed up nicely and gave us the go ahead to dtd.

i pulled out the baby bjorn today to see if e liked it. she was all fussy and i wanted to get some things done so i put her in and walked around a bit. she got instantly calm. i did some laundry and other house stuff and she promptly feel asleep :]

 

[steph72276]

Burk, thanks. I''m sure you''ll drop the rest with all you have going on! Hope K starts feeling better.

JCrow, yea on the great deal for your stroller!

PG, she does sound like a smart lady!

CC, I am trying to decide on Father''s Day as well. Share ideas if you all have any good ones!

Haha Amber, I think multitasking with kids comes from my years of teaching 20 5&6 year olds at a time! Seriously though, I didn''t do nearly as much when I was working when Andrew was a baby. I feel like I have to keep moving now or else my brain might fall out! Which leads me to my early confession...

Well, not a confession really, but I honestly am a teensy bit jealous of all you fab working moms. Sometimes I really want to do something part time so I can get dressed up in the morning and get my brain going. But financially, I think I would have to be all or nothing for it to make any sense at all to pay for childcare for 2 kids. Sigh...I''m really considering going back to finish my master''s part time.

 

[vizsla]

awww thanks ladies!

china - your day reminded me of one of my favorite books "alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."
one thing after the other after the other - blah! can we just hit rewind and start over? did you ever figure out what was up with the diaper rash? what did you find that worked? i'm nervous i'm going to be in for a serious case of it in another day or two with this augmenten. poor O, poor YOU! and i totally get you on feeling like it's your fault your baby is a peanut... charlie is in the 24% or some such for weight too. you don't want them to be 'fat' but yeah, you want them to be plumpy and chubbs... i get it. C still can wear 3 month clothes. ((hugs)) girl! and thanks! any news on work or work hours?? oh and sorry about AF - bumtastic... talk about insult to injury!

ETA: i know right? one second i'm totally pissed at him and the next i'm like "OMG i could NOT do this without his constant support - he needs something good for F day" i'm totally manic these days....

mara - yeah, going back is the pits

i was all worried about the EXACT same things you are worried about. now when i look back - c totally didn't know if i was with him during the day or not (ugh, i just broke my own heart but *NOW*... yeah, it's a different story, b/c he totally knows where i am at home all of the time. he lights up the second i walk in the door.. but at the beginning.. not so much. i guess the comforting thing is that by the time j is 6-7 months old he will also know your mom and sister.. and be super excited to see them too! so while he may miss you, he will be happy to see them, KWIM?
i'm not going to say stop calling me skinny minny b/c i secretly love it - even if it couldn't be farther from the truth

ETA (again) - burk!! ugh lady! poor K - is he on the mend?? i know C gets crazy clingy when he's sick and i just hold him b/c i don't know what else to do. i think a lot of the napping issues are related to our children's intolerance. i'm supposed to speak with a dietitian this weekend about it. i wonder if C is intolerant to corn as well, but i just don't know b/c his poo isn't black. he doesn't like peas and they are in the same 'family' of intolerances. what formula do you use when you are 'cleansing' him? i wonder if it is broken down enough for C's MSPI????

anyhoo about the surgery... now that i've had my little pre opt phone call describing to me everything that is going to go on that day, i'm a little bit nervous again. i know it's super easy breezy, but the surgery center has to handle it just like any other surgery - so all of the same scary talks etc. the nurse also said that babies typically wake up inconsolable

i guess b/c #1 they are coming out of sedation and #2 everything is so LOUD. my little trooper. i guess they put him in a tiny hospital gown too

....

the ONE saving grace is a bag of frozen BM i found in the freezer!!! how long are those good for? i can give him BM up to 3.5 hours before surgery!!

and don't i know it about not moving the procedure up!!! i nearly had the nurse at the pedi office in tears b/c i was arguing with her. apparently, i'm not the only one who has ever gone thru this

- but ummmm i kinda am since *i've* never gone thru this before! my begging did nothing... she agreed with me on everything i was saying, but the ENT only does the procedures on monday and since c is 'fine' during the day he's not in any immediate 'emergency' need. oh lordy did that send me thru the roof. my mamma bear instinct kicked in and i was taking names!.... DH reminded me - after i told him about my phone conversations that - nice viz gets more results than ticked off viz. too late

 

[Burk]

I now hold the doctor''s record for longest time with severe cracks...and she''s been at this for like 10 years. Awesome. She said I''m really doing all I can to relieve them and that while it doesn''t look like an obvious infection that it may an infection that''s prohibiting it from healing. So, we''re going to try an antibiotic.

China~Things are much calmer (although calm may be a relative term in my life

). I am back at work as of last Thursday. Luckily I only teach part time and my students have been very good and my MIL is watching K so I didn''t have to worry about daycare when he was sick.

JCrow~Yay for the Bjorn. T LOVED it. Put her to sleep instantly. K, on the other hand, too restricted for him.

Steph~With swimsuit season around the corner, I sure hope the rest falls off soon. I''m tired of this remaining baby belly!! And FWIW, I say go for it on getting your masters!!

Viz~K is on the mend...slowly getting back to his happy self and sleeping better at night at least. He has been pretty clingy and I do hold him as much as I can but it''s hard when it''s just me and the two of them because poor T needs me too. Sleep/nap issues are def. related to the intolerance/belly pain. Seems both my kids really struggled during the day with sleep but were better at night. Weird. We use Similac Alimentum ready serve for the "cleanse." K is intolerant to dairy and corn so I bet C would do well on it because it''s broken down for MSPI. You use Nutramigen now, right? Maybe give the alimentum a try? It has to be the ready serve one.

Okay, gotta run and get T and then off to a volleyball meeting.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Viz,

You can store breastmilk 3-4 months in the freezer. I still have a bunch from January so maybe I need to make up some reasons to use it!

 

[Mara]

some LC''s think BM is good for 5 months in the freezer. btw they told me that if you defrost and smell it if it smells bad then don''t use it. otherwise it''s ok.

pg she certainly sounds smartie!!

steph i think you should def get your masters! i hear you re: wanting something diff sometimes, i waffle all over the place day by day!

 

[jcrow]

wow, i''m glad you asked about bm storage. i had been reading it wrong and wondering if pumping was worth all the trouble! i thought it was 2 weeks in a reg. fridge/freezer and 3-4 months in a deep freezer. i totally read that wrong. thank goodness. it''s 2 weeks in a freezer that''s inside a fridge. 3-4 months in a side by side or top and bottom fridge/freezer and 6-12 months in a separate deep freezer.

 

[taovandel]

Mommies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I missed you all!

I have nothing further to post except for Happy Birthday Daisy!!

 

[Pandora II]

Thanks for all the birthday wishes for my little bear. You guys all mean the world to me!

China - Have you tried Metanium for the diaper rash? It''s what my father and D''s GP advised me to use when she had a nasty bout - it seems like she gets it a few weeks before a new tooth. That time, it had started ulcerating and looked terrible. The Metanium cleared up the worst of it in 48 hours.

The boots are from Clarks... I have very high insteps and wide feet and have major problems finding shoes that have straps and will stay on so I tend to wear boots a lot. This is my second pair of this style - ALL my shoes/boots are from Clarks so I often buy more than one pair if I really like something!

I''m pretty pleased with the election result... I''m a Liberal Conservative (large L liberal, small c conservative) so it was ideal for me. Not totally happy with some of the economic policies but we shall see... most of the policies haven''t been announced yet.

Oh, and Daisy would be your friend anyday!

Fiery - You''re a sweetheart! Sophia is such a pretty little girl and I just want to hug her! Sorry S is going through the standing in her sleep phase and scaring you. Honestly they do bounce pretty well. I was so scared of Daisy hurting herself on our wooden floors I wanted to buy a helmet for her... until DD said she''d call the cops on me for child abuse if I did.

D has had numerous tumbles, bumps and bruises and is just fine. Tonight she got whacked really hard on the side of her head by a door and has a massive bruise coming up - she screeched for less than a minute, asked for mummy milk and was smiling and laughing 30 seconds later. Babies are very resilient.

Viz - I''m so sorry about the ENT drama with C. Fingers crossed that it is a success and you FINALLY get some rest!

PG - I think you and your DH could do with some counselling. You will get more and more resentful if he doesn''t wise/grow up. It''s not just a case of him having ''me-time'' and you having ''me-time'', he doesn''t appear to factor in ''family-time''. You''re handling it A LOT better than I would and you give him WAY more ''me-time'' than I would. My DH gets to play poker on Sunday evenings IF we are in London and if I don''t need any help. Having kids is a joint commitment and it seems that he is doing less than his fair share.

Glad you weren''t all murdered in your beds by mystery man!

Cdt - Congratulations crazy person!

Tao - We started table foods at 6 months, but have also never done purees.

Love all the photos - definitely a cute bunch!

Breast-pumps - I only ever got a small manual pump. Honestly it worked great, wasn''t tiring to use and I never felt the need for a bigger one.

Well, I guess I''m now off to the big girls thread...

(I''ll be keeping my beady eye on you all though!)

 

[MonkeyPie]

viz, good lord. I would be infuriated if I were you! Is it possible to find another doctor to do the tubes? Making your baby suffer needlessly seems REALLY stupid. I''m so sorry

I have a question. So I have a Medela Swing that I got to use for a whopping two weeks (sort of - I used it maybe three times). Can I sell it, and if so, what parts should I take out for health reasons? I see no reason to horde it, especially if Micah ends up being an only child.

And just because I love to look at my baby, here is a super cute smiley pic even though it isn''t BPF. Happy Wednesday, all!

 

[phoenixgirl]

MP, my sister said everyone passes along their pumps and just gets new tubing, flanges, etc. I got a new pump, though, so I don''t have any personal experience.

Stroller . . . I got the Mutsy 4 Rider Lite. I posted some about it on my stroller thread. I think we''re really going to like it.

The annoying thing is that it''s not in stock so I have to wait until next week. I really wanted to drive home with our stroller for use this weekend. Also, the salesman/owner annoyed me (hipster doofus). He kept lecturing me on things in this condescending fashion (great sales technique). In the middle of his, "The weight of the stroller doesn''t really matter because . . ." speech I jumped in and said, "OK. I believe you. I work out. I''ll just carry the thing. So what do you recommend?" Then he said something like, "Well, you''ll never have to carry the stroller, just push it," and I was like, "Yeah, what about the part where I mentioned that I live in a city rowhouse and I will have to carry the stroller down 8 steps and then go back and get Claire?" Then he lectured us on how you can''t raise kids in the city! Then he tried to convince me to order some fancy color that would take even longer than navy, red, or brown because surely the color of my stroller must be really important to me, what with my limited intelligence and arbitrary aesthetic requirements, and I was like, "Just show me the colors that I can get next week! Or keep talking and I''ll just order it on Amazon.com!" I suppose She Who Must Not Be Crossed was coming out a little bit. Luckily SWMNBC got the guy to offer to drive the stroller to our house when it comes in because I was complaining about how I didn''t want to have to drive back out to the annoying ''burbs where hipster doofuses reign supreme.

Anyway, I liked the feel and look, and I ordered this ADORABLE basket that pops off for shopping at the market. Yay! We ordered brown . . . I wouldn''t normally like brown, but the picture looked nice, DH liked it, and it''s available next week. I''ll try not to cry about how I couldn''t get lime in the fancy material.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Jeez, phoenix - you''re a nicer person than me, I wouldn''t have bought from him. I looked up that stroller though and it''s super cute! I hope you love it despite having to carry it up and down steps - ouch.