PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Mara]

lurve the new baby pics..!! PS'ers do make the best looking babies...but i think i am biased.

it's friggin HOT here today, almost 90 probably. it was 73 when i went to uJam at 9am. we also got a gardener, FINALLY because i put my foot down with G. he loves to do the yard but it takes him literally like 3-4 hours every time and he does it every other wkd. now that its nice weather and i am back to work i want us to be together doing stuff rather than him being in the yard most of a wkd day. so he finally gave in when i said lets just try it for the rest of the summer. we are using my mom's gardener and they did a great job so i think he's happy.

however no rest for the wicked today--he's putting J's ceiling fan up and man it's taking forever, with a trip to the hardware store, climbing into the attic, etc etc. i just went through J's clothes AGAIN. kid needs to stop growing for just a little while.

J is really mellow so far today, i think it's the heat? i kind of like it!! we are going to the festival at 5 so hopefully the sun is going to be less intense then. kim--glad to hear that J did well in the bjorn last wkd for you guys...our J likes it typically but i just hope the additional heat doesn't turn him into a sweatbucket.

in bird news, the fledgling is making it almost as high as the fence but then hits it and falls into the bushes. poor baby. he is at least drinking out of my bird bath in the shade. the birds will prob never want to leave now. they have a nest in this huge tree in our neighbors.

amber...i always want to write and call you piper, i do not know why! it's so weird. anyway glad P gave you guys a break last night and hope it continues!!

cdt... love that you made that pic of lex your avi... its soo priceless.

kim... awww i love when they start reaching for the toys and interacting more. when J started doing that i would just sit and watch him. now he is trying to pull them all down and put them in his mouth and he contorts his body in crazy ways to try to make this happen. J hated tummy time for so long but now he actually seems to like it and will hang out there for a while and when he is tired rest on the side of his face if he doesn't totally roll over.

and wow i love the weekends again now that they aren't just another day in a string of 7 for me. nothing like working to make you appreciate every second you aren't.. and somehow i feel like i am appreciating J even more too, at weird times, like when he's screaming.

 

[jcrow]

kim - how old is j again? their smiles are the best, aren''t they?! e and i had a smile session yesterday where she smiled so big and open-mouthed as if she was giggling but without the giggle sound. she totally melted my heart.

in other us news, yesterday we tried giving her a paci in preparation for a 2.5 hour trip we thought we were going to take this weekend. all that worrying i did, she didn''t even like it! sheesh.

also, just as i was saying i wished she''d nurse for less than 30 minutes, she started nursing for 7-15 minutes. it''s be awesome. she especially goes for less at night. love it. she did do a longer session today, though.

hope everyone''s having a great weekend!

 

[KimberlyH]

jcrow, jane is 3m 2w. she''s been smiling for a while but always cries during tummy time, until yesterday. it was so fun seeing her smile rather then cry.

mara, jane was fussing a ton in the stroller, which defeats the purpose of walks being enjoyable, so i was using the bjorn a lot, but with summer coming i had similar concerns so i''ve been sticking her back in the stroller and she''s been really good about it.

we went and sat in the park today, it was a bit chilly but nice. i think our neighbor is coming for dinner. his wife and baby are out of town. he may decide being a bachelor is more fun, though. we''ll see.

 

[jcrow]

kim - ours are close in age! e will be 8 weeks on monday. i find it hard to remember how old everyone''s LO is! gotcha about tummy time. e gets frustrated too.

 

[MonkeyPie]

I can''t even tell you guys how much I loved the meltdown pictures. They''re so funny, even if it might be mean to laugh lol.

I have a couple here of a "real" meltdown. In the second one you can tell he''s totally faking, just pretending to cry, which he does a lot when he wants me to pick him up. But in the first one there are real tears (in the small version they''re hard to see, but he had some good ones). You can also see where he has two white spots - teeth, omg!

 

[fieryred33143]

I love all the meltdown pics haha. MP, M is getting so big! He’s gorgeous. Love his little face (even if crying hehe).

Qt-I know that when I reduced to pumping twice a day at work, my supply suffered because of it. I couldn’t do 3 times a day which was a shame. Hope things continue to get better! J is really cute!

Vesper-don’t have any tips on handling two but you ladies with 2 are my heroes! I can’t even imagine how much work that takes!! I always joke that I’ll have another when Sophia can wake up at night to put the baby back to sleep haha

Jcrow-I might have missed it but have you gone to do a weighed feeding? At 7 weeks, Sophia was 50-1.5 hours on the boob and it turned out she was getting all she needed within 15 minutes. I would keep her on for 30 because it helped my supply.

PG-Hope Claire starts to feel better soon!

Mtj-You have such a beautiful little girl! Perfection!!

Mere-Do NOT feel bad about not keeping up with the thread. We all went through the phase of asking questions. Plus, no one should have to feel like responding to each person! C is so adorable!

OMG Sha that pic of D is just too cute! Haha

Mara-you already know I love that pic.

Socal-hope the baptism goes great tomorrow!

Amber-Love that photo of Piper!

Haha Sabine, is Jacks under the jumperoo??

Re: diaper changes-I change her diaper everywhere but her changing table (which was on the dresser). Now I just lay the pad down wherever we are and change her that way. It’s a huge mission though.

Re pacis: Sophia never cared for it. She would take it randomly in the 0-3 stage and then stopped all together. Sometimes I wish she did because it helps with soothing.

Re diapers: We use Cruisers which I *think* has the drymax. It hasn’t affected her but they still suck for night time so we use the huggies overnights.

Um Yeah…where are Viz and Ginger!! Thinking of you guys and hoping everything is well.

 

[fieryred33143]

AFM (hehe): nothing new here. Still the same ole crazy Sophia

. She refuses table food. REFUSES. Such a drama queen

. She''s discovered the game of ''if I drop stuff, mom picks it up.'' Everything gets thrown on the floor and she just stares at it until I pick it up. If I don''t, she''ll continue to point at it like HELLO pick my stuff up yo!

Here are a couple of pics of her. First her meltdown in the car last week...

 

[fieryred33143]

And 30 mins later...

 

[fieryred33143]

Here she looks like she''s going on a safari lol

 

[fieryred33143]

And here she is with Hayden (my brother''s dog) causing trouble. She loved him and he was so afraid of her. He would hide behind furniture and she''d go chasing after him haha.

 

[jcrow]

mp and fiery - SUCH CUTIES! omg. so cute.

fiery - what do you mean by weighed feedings?

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 6/5/2010 11:23:28 PM
Author: jcrow
mp and fiery - SUCH CUTIES! omg. so cute.

fiery - what do you mean by weighed feedings?

Thanks jcrow!

The LCs do weighed feedings where they will weigh the baby before the feeding, you nurse, and they weigh the baby after. It tells you how many ounces they take in during the feed. Not to say that an hour isn''t a normal time for feeding but in our case, Sophia would keep nursing and nursing and end up so uncomfortable. But she didnt know how to unlatch to stop eating. It was weird. Anyway, I thought she wasn''t getting enough from me or something so we did a weighed feeding and IIRC she got about 5oz in 15 minutes at 7 weeks which was plenty so I didn''t let her nurse for an hour anymore. I did 30 minutes, unlatched, and waited to see if she showed hunger signs.

Again, not saying an hour isn''t normal. I was just curious if you had done a weighed feeding before.

 

[Mara]

love the pics..!! sophia is SOOO cute.

mp.. he looks so cute but those don''t remotely look like meltdowns hehee. J gets all red faced and looks like he''s about to croak.

jcrow... a weighed feeding is where you take E in before feeding, they weigh her and then you feed her on one boob for ~10 min, they weigh her to find out how much she got...then you might either continue on that boob or switch boobs. basically it''s a good way to see how much the baby is getting in how many minutes... so just as an example if E gets 3oz off first boob in 10 min, you put her back on for 10 min and she only gets another 1/2oz then you know the extra time not getting her that much more milk. but if you want to leave her on for longer then it''s more like a comfort suck and supply increase.

the festival was great! we went at 5 so it was still about 82 but the sun was moving down and was not too bad at all. we ate inside a hall instead of outside like we typically would without J...since it had A/C. this was the first time we faced him out in the bjorn and he loved it..!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/6/2010 12:16:13 AM
Author: Mara
mp.. he looks so cute but those don't remotely look like meltdowns hehee. J gets all red faced and looks like he's about to croak.

LOL he does those too, but they are so rare I could never get a picture of one. He just doesn't throw real temper tantrums most of the time. Although today, he got something in his eye and it made him SCREAM

I felt so bad, we couldn't do anything but trickle water in his eye and hope it washed out. It finally did after a couple minutes, but I felt like crying because it was something hurting him and I couldn't fix it.

He slept 8 hours straight last night! I am SO hoping for a repeat lol.

 

[jcrow]

thanks fiery and mara! i hadn''t heard of doing that. we have a pedi appointment [yikes her first shots!!] on tuesday so i may ask about that.

speaking of which, hub has been able go to nearly every pedi appointment thus far... but won''t be able to go to this next one where she receives her first shots. i''m going to be a flippin mess. i hate needles and shots and oh, to see them give them to her. mess i tell you.

 

[Mara]

awww MP poor M..!! it''s heartbreaking when they don''t feel well or something hurts. hope he keeps sleeping well!

J rarely has a mega meltdown anymore, but sometimes if he is a little crabby and hungry and I have to put him down to get a bottle ready and he doesn''t like it, he just scrunches up the eyes, turns crazy red and lets out the most piercing shrieks. it can last about a minute but then all of a sudden he''s like...yeah done and just starts looking around like hey isnt anyone paying attn? or if you come back and stand over him he will see you and actually start LAUGHING. i can''t take him seriously at all!! i feel like most of what he is doing now is almost like ''testing'' to see what happens.

jcrow...the shots are def hard but thankfully they are over really fast. both times we gave J a bit of non-aspirin beforehand and he ended up falling asleep on the way home the first time and after eating the 2nd time. i know E doesnt take the paci but this time J took it (he never really took it much before 2 months, just intermittently) and i think it helped with soothing.

 

[Mara]

i was going thru pics uploading for prints and came across this one... it can be my tantrum contribution even though he''s really just PO''d that we are posing him with leia ears aka his tshirt over his head before bath.

 

[Mara]

and this is a favorite, after bath, i just love his eyes and lashes here.

 

[curlygirl]

Love all the photos, ladies! I come over here to get my fix since I am done with having babies, although I would love to have a few more!!

Mara, J is totally you in that 2nd one.

 

[gingerB]

hi ladies

just a quick hello as i''m still in the midst of my 4 week work craziness -- hitting the home stretch though with my last weekend on and last week of carrying the pager. then things go back to just my regular 12-14 hour days but weekends off and no calls at home

. at least until july starts then its a crapshoot again. someone tell me it''s worth it for me to finish my fellowship.

for whoever was asking about roating freezer stash -- i started doing that because my ibts are shockingly making too much milk even though i''ve cut my pumps in half (was making almost 50oz at my peak 7-8 pumps a day, now down to 40ish ozs with 3-4 pumps a day -- A is taking 28-32oz) and i''ve run out of room in my deep freezer. i don''t want to stop freezing or throw away milk so i''ve been thawing out a couple of the older milks and mixing it with fresh bm and freezing some of the milk i''m producing now. it''s a bit tedious but this way at the end the milk he gets won''t be from super way long ago as the milk you produce is supposed to change as your baby matures.

next week is his 4 month visit -- my big baby! can''t wait to see how he''s growing.

everyday he is getting more and more interactive. it is sooooo cute to see him figuring out how to play with his toys!

sleepwise i had thought we were making progress -- for 2 days in a row he did 2 three hour stretches (heaven in our household right now!) before he had his every hour shenanigans, but last night was a disaster and he was doing the every hour thing all night. i really need to as the pedi what''s going on as i don''t think that''s normal for an almost 4 month old.

fiery, china and mara...thanks for checking up on us

i''ve barely had time to lurk -- forget trying to form comprehensible posts! bad ginger!

hopefully at some point i can start posting more regularly again...miss you guys!

 

[jcrow]

mara - man, he's got killer eyelashes! dh has gorgeous ones and i really hope e gets them! it's like everyday i'm on an eyelash hunt to see if hers have gotten longer, thicker, darker. haha. and thanks for the paci idea. i'll need to be sure to remember to bring it with me. maybe it will help!

ginger - when you talk about him getting 3 hour sleep stretches, does that mean he's just starting to do so, or did he in the past and then it changed and now's he's doing it again? i know things with babies are always changing and i just want to know what we're in for!

 

[taovandel]

I am now a proud mother of a baby with teeth....yes that''s right not of a tooth...but of teeth! His second one is coming up now!

Went to a wedding yesterday on the beach.....It was about 95 degrees outside...invite said 6:30....About 6:30 I was wondering what was going on because it hadn''t started....I overheard some guests saying that she put 6:30 on the invite but that it wouldn''t start until 7:00....Um it was 90 something degrees out!! I thought it was a little rude....but thankfully a breeze started to kick in right around then and the ceremony was beautiful.

 

[Burk]

Look at all the adorable babies!!

I missed BPF because it was a teacher work day. I didn''t have daycare for K so he had to come with so I had to work quickly -no PS time!

Yay for summer!

Mara~Glad you were able to get a good deal at diapers.com. As for diapers, K is in size 3 Huggies and we really like them. I''ve done pampers through size 2 with both my kids and then moved to Huggies at size 3 because I like them better from 3 on.

PG~Hope Claire is feeling better!

jcrow~Good luck with the shots. I cried when my first had her 2 month shots.

fiery~Why does every baby love the "drop it so mom can pick it up" game?

So annoying...must be why they make ''em so cute!

ginger~You''re my pumping idol!! I have no idea how you ever found the time to pump 7-8 times a day. Sorry you''re having sleep issues. I''d ask his pedi, too.

tao~Yay for teeth!!

Last night K slept from 7pm-9am with only one feeding!!!

We''re getting there. I''m trying to be patient but it''s hard when T was sleeping 7-7 from 3 months on and here we are at close to 4 months and not. even. close. to that.

Thank goodness he''s cute! Here''s my late pic...

 

[Mara]

burk... thanks for the info on the diapers. i might try a huggies if i can get my hands on a few samples. i read also that some parents use Pampers Baby Dry for day time and i am not sure if they are switching to dry max, it doesn't LOOK like it...but not sure. anyway we use those for night for J but they don't seem 'day' diapers to me, not sure why. they don't seem to have 'padding' if that makes sense. but i guess they are comfy since he sleeps well in them.

tao...yay for teeth!!

ginger...glad to hear you guys are hanging in there!!

viz...where are you?? i know you went to visit your parents last wkd but typically you check in all week long, is everything ok?

curly... thanks... most of the time he looks like G but sometimes i totally see him and think 'that is so me!'...usually when he is laughing and looking mischevious or when he's kinda dopey with big cheeks, that is how i looked as a baby hehe.

jcrow... yep he has crazy long lashes, they are Greg's! he was born with pretty long lashes but they grew crazily prob around month 2...suddenly they were ridiculously long! i am so glad he has G's lashes because mine are stubs. i hope E gets great lashes. my sister has the longest lashes i have ever seen before--they literally look like she has mascara on all the time. they are full and long and perfectly separated out, it is crazy! and neither my mom or dad really have great lashes, it's kinda funny...anyway her eyes are beautiful.

AFM...i need some help on sleep. J's sleep has been pretty decent the last two nites given his room is 77 when we put him down to sleep each night. i left him w/just tshirt and diaper the first night and he woke up at 10:30 crying so i swaddled. last nite he woke up at 11:30 crying, swaddled him. both mornings he slept til 8-9am. it's cooler tonite so i swaddled him with one arm out. i am really struggling with how to break the swaddle.

i thought about trying to leave him out again and see if he went longer (aka midnight or 1am) without swaddle before crying but i really would like a full night's sleep tonite due to work! so i did one arm out and want to see how he does.

so here is some info...any suggestions from mamas who have BTDT??

-he has great sleeping habits in general, usually down by 7:30 or 8pm and up at 7am or 8am. some night wakes from time to time, but usually a paci will soothe him.
-his biggest problem is putting himself to sleep, he waves arms and legs like crazy and won't let himself relax.
-he loves to be cuddled in lots of blankets which is how he naps, and he will go down pretty easily that way as grabbing the blankets and pulling them near his face soothes him even if his legs keep going. but i just don't feel comfortable putting him in the crib with a ton of bedding at night. for naps it's one thing because you can check on him, see him in the monitor etc. but at night when everyone is sleeping i want to know he's secure.
-i want to have him in sleep sack when all is said and done, either that or just a sleeper and/or tshirt and diaper...but basically arms and legs free to move.

with the warm nights coming i am just struggling on how to swaddle-break him so he keeps his great sleeping habits and also doesn't overheat or get too cold at night. it's harder too because i don't want to leave his windows open as cars will drive by etc. in the winter it was easier to regulate the noise because windows and shutters were closed. anyway ideas appreciated. mandarine..i think you did one arm out then both arms out...so we might try that.

 

[MonkeyPie]

I am SO buying a Woombie this week. I think Micah will love it, plus it''s fairly thin so he won''t roast. How one earth do people swaddle when it''s so hot out? Our house stays fairly cool but I was holding him awhile ago and his head got sweaty where it was touching my arm so I know he''s hot. I feel terrible swaddling him up but it''s part of our nighttime routine and he sleeps so much better that way. During the day for naps he''s fine without it, but at night he seems happiest all wrapped up.

Mara, we have been using Huggies most of the time (once we ran out of baby shower diapers, which only happened last week), and I really like them. They leak SO MUCH LESS than Pampers, and my baby is an extreme pee machine.

 

[Mara]

MP that is part of our issue. Our house doesn''t have AC and we don''t really mind it but obviously we can kick our blankets off when we get hot kind of thing. For him, he sleeps better when swaddled but I don''t want him to overheat! The last few nights his room was 80 when he went to bed so no way did I want to swaddle him...even though our MB is pretty thin. I will sometimes swaddle him with legs out but then his legs get COLD. It''s just an ongoing struggle now that the temp is not consistent! So I figure the faster we are done with the swaddle the better--I just don''t know that he is totally ''ready''.

I wonder if we should try a Woombie but I hate to move from MB to Woombie when really I just want him deswaddled. Hmm.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/5/2010 8:01:22 AM
Author: KimberlyH

Date: 6/5/2010 3:02:40 AM
Author: dreamer_d

Date: 6/4/2010 11:08:33 PM

Author: KimberlyH

i understood/stand the guideline to be 8 soiled diapers in a 24 hr period, doesn''t matter if it''s urine or feces after the first 6 weeks.

There seems to be variation in this advice. Health Canada and the BC Health guide (Canadian gov''t publications) gave the rule of thumb of 4-6 heavy wet diapers per day for babies that are over 6 weeks old, and no rule for BMs since they can be so variable once the baby is over 6 weeks.

i''m still confused. six wet diapers a day or in a 12 hr period? which would mean 12 wet diapers a day.

i think i''m reading too much into this!

hee hee... 6 heavy wet per 24 hours (a day). And then poops asnywhere from like one every hour to like one every 2 weeks for EBF babies!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/7/2010 12:39:24 AM
Author: Mara
I wonder if we should try a Woombie but I hate to move from MB to Woombie when really I just want him deswaddled. Hmm.

Maybe the Woombie will make the transition easier - plus it''s only a single layer, whereas the MB "wraps" so it''s really more like multiple layers, if that makes sense. I just poked Micah into his bassinet all swaddled and I have the air conditioner going hardcore so he doesn''t roast in there, but little nose is cold lol. You just can''t win I guess.

 

[KimberlyH]

dreamer, j must have read our conversation and been confused as well, she had 13, yes 13, dirty diapers yesterday. 12 wet, 1 poop.

mara, we''re in the same boat w/ swaddle, no a/c and all. just a bit behind you as we''re at the nap stage. and i don''t think jane is ready either. we''re considering buying a floor a/c unit until we can get a/c in the house. the ideal room temp is 68 degrees for babies, which makes me nervous. as it gets warmer i think she''ll go to bed in a diaper until swaddle is gone.

we use same diapers, huggies, day and night.

**

jane took a 30 minute nap unswaddled today.

she chatted up a storm at dinner, it was so cute!

i have a work mtg tmrw, will be the longest i''ve left her. am sad, but she''ll get to hang out with her dad.

 

[Sabine]

Tao, yay for teefs! I know they say babies don''t need teeth to eat finger foods, but I think having at least the bottom two helped a lot because he could then bite pieces of food off.

MP, Fiery, Mara, such cute pics!

Ginger, yay for a 4 month old! Sorry for the sleep issues...I believe that is what''s known as the dreaded 4 month wakeful period that some babies go through as they become more aware and realize hey, I''d rather be with mommy and daddy at night. Good luck with getting longer stretches!

Mara, have you tried opening the window and putting a window box fan in it? Maybe the noise of the fan would help drown out the noise of outside and help with the cooling. And I must have missed your diaper q, but we''ve used Luvs ever since size 1 swaddlers were too small and size 2 were too big and I couldn''t find size 1/2 anywhere...the Luvs definitely feel cheaper, but they fit him a lot better than any other brand and work really well, so we''ve stuck with them.

Jackson had an extreme fussy day yesterday. It was so unlike him, but there didn''t seem to be anything going on (well, teething, but he''s always teething, and still is today). I think babies must just have days where they wake up on the wrong side of the bed too. He''s back to being his cheerful self again today even though he was up at 5:40

.

He''s also got a new obsession with crawling THROUGH things. If I stand and make a tunnel with my legs and arms, he''ll crawl through it, turn around, rinse, repeat. The other day, he tried to crawl through the DOG''s legs, and the dog is not big enough, so he basically just rammed her . And this morning he discovered that the table cloth on the little table I have in his nursery next to the rocker (has a lamp and the books we read at bedtime on it)is not a solid thing and he can crawl through it, so he spent about 20 minutes doing that, hitting the legs of the table, hitting the wall as he went under the table, getting stuck behind the rocker, etc. I have a feeling that table needs to be replaced with something more sturdy, stat!