Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

i absolutely believe she's capable of understanding cause and effect: i scream for mom, she comes, i'm happy. i just don't think of it as faking, it's her means of communication/expression.
i don't think we give children enough credit for their intelligence in general, but i also don't think it's wrong or bad to respond to my kid crying, whether it's intense or a "hey where are you?" cry.

fiery, i'm hopful j will follow a similar route as s to sleep so i don't have to consider other options. how did you transition from rocking her to self soothing? j wants nothing to do with pacifiers most of the time, so that option is out.

**

my parents are coming to visit tomorrow. that will be nice.

eta: i decided to break out the pacifier again, it's naptime, and she took it after a few tries. too funny.
 
Just wanted to post this quickly for my first BPF...M''s first smile captured on camera.
30.gif


Love all the other pics, more please!

psIMG_3289pb.jpg
 
I love all the baby pics. I have been MIA lately because work has been insane. I''ve been running home to see Olivia for an hour before she goes to bed and going back to work until 11 or 12. It is exhausting. Add to that Olivia is getting her first two teeth and she''s not sleeping well at all. And she bit me while nursing this morning. All this = Nov needs a big glass of wine! TGIF!

Mara - re sunscreen - I hated the rubbing in part too - Neutrogena Baby makes a stick for the face and head that is much easier to use than the cream. It looks like a mini deodorant and you just rub it on.

Viz - Yay for better sleeping - sounds like C is on the same schedule as Olivia, she wakes around 12 and 4. I''d love to drop the 4 am feeding but it hasn''t happened so far. Usually she just ends up in bed with us till we get up. Sometimes she also doesn''t want to go back to sleep so DH and I take turns staying up.

Kim -I am also anti-CIO for myself. I love the baby snuggles and I willingly forego sleep to get them.


Here''s my BPF contribution. Olivia loves the dog to no end. First thing when she wakes up in the morning she wants to pet him. When he gets bored and runs away she screams at him. I was taking some pics of her and he hopped on the couch and she grabbed his leg - I think she was saying "Hey you, stay right here so I can pet you". He''s so good with her.

livandrex.jpg
 
Lovely pics! I love all of them! So freakin'' cute! Luff the summer pics! Here is J and I hanging out!

jandme123.jpg
 
I don''t understand why my mom still has the xmas lights around lol.

Here is Jacky on our way to my cousin''s quince all dressed up!

quinceflower1.jpg
 
Great pics PrettyBlues, November, Mara, Meresal, DRK, Tao and Sabine!

CIO- I am in b/w. I am not anti-CIO but I would have a much harder time using it than I thought pre-baby. I think it''s a great tool if it''s the right time/right baby/right reason. I also think there is nothing wrong with responding to their cries at night and/or rocking them or comforting them to sleep. That being said, I also believe in schedules and discipline and setting expectations for the baby, and that includes sleeping. Again, all of this is assuming that your kid is healthy and cooperating. All bets are off if the kid is sick or teething or screams no matter what. O is a relatively easy baby, no real issues and no real habits. So with that being said-

KIM- I was very dedicated to getting O to sleep well. Luckily he did a lot of it on his own. My big thing was getting him to sleep- once he was alseep, he pretty much stayed asleep. We did rock him to sleep for a few months- maybe like months 4-8? Partly b/c it worked, partly b/c I don''t see him during the day at all and I had no problem spending an extra 30 minutes or so cuddling and rocking with him. We had ZERO problems once we decided he was ready to self-soothe. We didn''t really have to wean him from rocking, just started reading his cues and realizing he didn''t need it anymore. I think babies will naturally do a lot of things on their own if you simply wait until they are ready for it. Anyways, now we do his bedtime routine and put him in his crib awake, say good night and walk out. Sometimes he lays right down and goes to sleep. Sometimes he plays for 20 minutes or so. Sometimes he screams bloody murder when I walk out but usually quiets down within 5 minutes. If he screams for longer than about 10 minutes, I go in and pick him up, soothe him for a few minutes and put him right back down and he usually conks out in 5 minutes. Point being, J is still small. I don''t necessarily think that rocking her to sleep right now means that she won''t be able to self-soothe later.

Viz- YAY for more sleep!!! Go Charlie! He''s going to be STTN totally sooooon, I can tell. I would drop that last bottle if he''s not really eating. That''s how I could tell O was ready to drop feedings, I think that''s one of those cues that we can use to tell the kiddo is ready for something different. Sunscreen- I generally am not that concerned about it, think a little Vit D is good for us. BUT O is like translucent so I am way more careful with him. Walks- no sunscreen generally but I do pull the full shade cover over him and make sure he''s in the shade as much as possible. Pool action- he wears a rash guard, hat and sunscreen (CA Baby and I use Neutrogena Pure stick on his face).

Nov- That pic of her holding on to your dog is hysterical. O is obsessed with our dog (a 90 lb lab, mind you). He feeds him puffs, pets him all the time, and pretends like the dog is chasing him- he will look at the dog, then crawl away from him as fast as he can, gurgling hysterically, and looking over his shoulder at him like he''s chasing him. He crawls over to me to pick him up as if to "save" him from the dog. The funny thing is our dog is just sleeping in the corner, totally ignoring O.
9.gif
It''s so funny.

O is TEN months today.
23.gif
WHERE does the time go? He''s a funny bundle of energy. He cracks himself up all day long by things like: the dog (see above), toothbrushes, crawling as fast as he can into any room if a door opens, trying to touch anything that I say "Not for Oliver" about, playing peek-a-boo in the curtains. My nanny has brought her little girl to work a few times- she is 7 and so cute and sweet. O is obsessed with her. Stares at her all day, is always trying to touch her, especially her hair. But he reaches out, touches her with his finger, then snatches it away, buries his face and giggles. So. Funny.

What else? He eats anything and everything. Loves the pool and will go underwater if he can. Dives headfirst off of everything. He is such a daredevil, sometimes I have to let him "fall" (gently, on carpets and pillows) so he can learn he can''t just go head-first off the couch! I need to get him into a gymboree class or something.

Oh and speaking of playing peek-a-boo in the curtains, my nanny told me he was doing this and stayed behind the curtains for a longer period of time than normal. When he came out, he was stinky. Yep, he went behind the curtain to poop.
3.gif
The things I miss!
 
Delurking here to say NovemberBride that pic is ADORABLE!!! Seriously, Christmas card material!!!
 
pb, i keep meaning to comment, j has a bald spot and her head is a bit flat. her ped basically said it looks like what most parents would hope for, so i''m not going to worry.

darling pictures, everyone.

nov, i love the leg holding!
 
November, sorry work is stinky. Hope you get your glass of wine tonight! That photo is a little American Gothic with the serious expressions on baby and doggie.


China, funny "peekaboo" story!


OK, so I'm officially Summer All Year PG and I'm a little bit like, "OK, so, um, now what?" But in a good way. Now we play and take care of household stuff that's been piling up and feel like we have time to cook and clean and breathe and did I say PLAY?!


Here's my darling girl:


ETA: look at her gums. She should be getting teeth soon!

clairecutehatanddress.jpg
 
pb, i keep meaning to comment, j has a bald spot and her head is a bit flat. her ped basically said it looks like what most parents would hope for, so i''m not going to worry.

darling pictures, everyone.

nov, i love the leg holding!

eta: china, my hope/thought is that she will be ready eventually and i''ll know when that is. she isn''t much of a cryer, only when she''s tired and occasionally when she''s hungry. she''s very calm in general so the crying signals "not ok" to me. and she does pput herself back to sleep at night, usually once or twice. she just needs help with naps and first time doiwn. awake but drowsy works in the middle of the night.
 
Date: 6/18/2010 3:50:11 PM
Author: KimberlyH
pb, i keep meaning to comment, j has a bald spot and her head is a bit flat. her ped basically said it looks like what most parents would hope for, so i''m not going to worry.

darling pictures, everyone.

nov, i love the leg holding!

eta: china, my hope/thought is that she will be ready eventually and i''ll know when that is. she isn''t much of a cryer, only when she''s tired and occasionally when she''s hungry. she''s very calm in general so the crying signals ''not ok'' to me. and she does pput herself back to sleep at night, usually once or twice. she just needs help with naps and first time doiwn. awake but drowsy works in the middle of the night.
Click to expand...
Kim- Sounds like O. He didn''t really cry much as a baby, only when hungry or tired. So if he was crying in the middle of the night, there was a reason. Once he started STTN, the only time he woke up at night was if he was hungry or if he didn''t feel well. Obviously every kid is different, but sounds like she''ll get there on her own. Hopefully.
3.gif
How old is J again? I ask because I would get really uptight about the "what if''s" when O was younger- what if this or that creates bad habits was a big one. And the thing is, at least in my experience, when they are really young, you just need to BE there for them and do whatever you can to create a healthy and happy baby. Once that is established and they start moving into other milestones developmentally, then it becomes more important to worry about these things. I think about 6 months was when O finally seemed like more of a "baby" and less of an "infant" and it became apparent that we needed to institute some guidelines and rules and let him figure some stuff out on his own. I should say that I do believe in schedules and routine though and I was very insistent that O stick to a routine, especially concerning naptimes and bedtime. We just changed up that routine depending on his age.

I really didn''t worry about the rocking him to sleep thing until he was about 8 months and it became apparent that he was starting to figure out that if he cried- then Mom rocked him. And I could tell it was just crying to get my attention, there wasn''t anything wrong. So I stopped and he went oh, okay, and now he puts himself to sleep. Oh, also, he let other people put him to sleep and my DH definitely didn''t rock him to sleep, so I also *knew* he could do it if I needed him to.

I think the key for you is that she already does it in the middle of the night, so you know she is learning it and you know it will be possible for her to do it.

Sorry for the novel, but hope that helps.
 
Oh MY!!! The baby pics today are soooooooooooo CUTE!!!!! I know I say that every week, but SERIOUSLY!!!!
30.gif
30.gif
30.gif


mtjoya - you're one gorgeous lady!!!!

tao - hubba hubba on the hubby!
3.gif
 
China, she''ll be 4 months old on the 26th. I''m big into routine, She goes down after a certain period of time after she wakes, bedtime pretty close to the same time every night, we have a routine for that, etc. What you''ve shared does help. Hopefully she''ll follow in O''s footsteps! She''s on the small side like him, perhaps she''ll chose to emulate him in other ways as well.
 
NovemberBride--
That picture is priceless.
30.gif
30.gif
how the expressions on both their faces are the same :)
 
kim...sorry if anything i said made you feel defensive...i really don't think what you are doing is 'bad or wrong'. it's what is right for you and that is all that matters. i just don't tend to put that much emphasis on crying always equalling he needs me so i am more of a skeptic. it could be since i also have read a few things that note crying is simply a way of communication rather than saying 'i need you now'.

i think everyone should do what they feel is best for THEIR kid and THEIR family. that's the beauty of parenting. and i am sure jane will turn out just fine, she's too cute not to.
1.gif


funny too re: sleep discussions because i opened my Parenting mag today and there is an article on 'the sleep wars' about CIO vs not and two families who did totally diff things and their kids both ended up STTN happily. so yep--more than one way!

today J and I did a 3m walk with my mom and sis and wow i am tired and my legs are tired. i feel ready to pass out.

happy pre-fathers day everyone...hope you all are planning something fun. i got greg a frame that says 'dad and me' so i 'll put a pic in, a card from J and a card from me, and a tshirt from red envelope that says 'lawn care expert' hehe. we'll bbq on sunday with my family and i am making him the peanut butter and chocolate cake from smitten kitchen.

speaking of smitten kitchen ... she just started a baby food blog since she has a baby (7 months i think?) so i can't wiat to try some of her recipes, LOVE the original blog.

and the BPF's are sooooo cute.
PG love her dress!
PB aww bumbo shot..J was so wobbly in there til recently. love his leggings/pants.
NB great pic of the two of your loves ... that is priceless.
mtj, the pic of you and J is just adorable. i lurve her little roly poly body.
oh forgot to say that tao i love the pic of E lolling back in the pool too.

speaking of bodies, ummm my giant kid grew again. a super cute ralph lauren striped jumper i got him that fit with a little room in the crotch last week is now TOO TIGHT on the crotch. i swear, this kid is crazy...i can't keep him in clothes! i need to start buying 18 months or something.
 
mara, tone is difficult to convey when writing at times, i don''t feel defensive just differently, and i find discussion interesting.

i''m not worried that my responding is harmful to her or will negatively effect her, if i was i''d do things differently.

i read the sleep article too, found that interesting as well. our friends w/ a 2.5 month old just started what equates to ferber-light at the advice of their ped. baby is totally healthy, normal size and was only going 1-2 hrs between feedings. it will be interesting to see how it plays out. she had been asking me for advice/suggestions as jane technically is sttn, she goes 6-7 hour stretches typically with some random off nights thrown in to remind me what her newborn days were like.

john''s friend is in town and asked him to lunch on sunday, so we''ll celebrate father''s day in the evening. he made me promise no gifts, so i wrote him a letter from j and am going to make him a recipe binder to store his favorites from the internet. monday is his b-day so maybe we''ll go out to lunch or something.
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to EB'S HENRY!!


bdayparty.gif
1144968sqp3kc2pis.gif



Happiest birthday to you! Hope you guys have a great day!
9.gif
 
Happy Birthday EB!!!
36.gif


(fiery, how do you remember all the bdays?)
5.gif


My late BPF contribution....Dalila smiling with daddy in the background; showing off her toothies....
1.gif


dalilalaughing.jpg
 
fiery and Sha- Thank you both SO much! How sweet.
huggies.gif


We've got a whole day planned (and are getting started quite late) but I'll be back later with an update and a photo or two.
9.gif
 
Sha-a long time ago I asked everyone to tell me their LO''s b-day because I didn''t know old all the babies were. So I kept a list
3.gif
. I like celebrating the first birthday. Kind of like a graduation
4.gif
. D is beautiful!

All of the babies are adorable! I need to catch up once I get on a computer (am on phone).

Kim-Jane''s temperament sounds a lot like Sophia at that age. As for the transition from rocking, I took my time with it. Up until she was 4 months, I did what worked. Lots of naps in the swing. I''d bring her in to bed with me whenever I had a hard time putting her back to sleep.

At 4 months, we started concentrating on getting her to fall asleep on her own. We''d put her down half asleep and leave her there. If she didn''t cry, we didn''t go back in. Sometimes she would lay there awake for 5 mins, sometimes 45. But as long as she she wasn''t crying, we''d leave her. When she did cry, we did pick up/put down instead of rocking.

That was to fall asleep. She was really good with waking to eat and falling back to sleep immediately. When we eliminated the bottle overnight at 5 months, we''d rock her when she woke up. At that point we knew she just wanted to be soothed since she was taking in 2oz, sometimes just 1. After a day or two, we went from rocking to standing and swaying. Then standing and patting her back. And finally rubbing her tummy without picking up. It took a week or so for her to not wake up over night. Same thing happened a few weeks later with the 10-11pm feeding and then she STTN.

While we were strict with routine and picking up sleep cues starting around 6 weeks, for the most part we just followed her lead.

Happy 10 months to O, China!!

I''ll catch up some more later when I get a computer. Funny, in the training yesterday (about fraud and how to prevent it and the new anti-bribery laws in the uk and how that will affect business zzzzzzzzz) they talked about technology and how everything is done with your phone. No thank you. I still prefer the big computer
 
happy birthday Henry..!! i can''t believe he is 1 already, eBree. hope the day goes spectacularly and can''t wait to see some monkey pics.

sha, great pic!!! love the girls in their dresses. while i do love having a boy, the clothes for girls are pretty darn cute. my friend is having a baby girl in aug and i have amassed a big pile of stuff for her shower next weekend hehe.

burk, i got my loveys and they are sooo cute!!! the one i got for J is adorable - it''s blue, green, purple and white elephants and ribbons. i got my friend the giraffe for her daughter. now just gotta wash it.

so J seems to be doing pretty well with his wakeful thing now. the last 3 nights he has woken up only once each time and the paci puts him back to sleep easily. he was on his side again last nite as well. both last nite and the night before he stirred around one more time, but fell back to sleep within 5 min. fingers crossed he continues.

ferber is CIO?

one of my friends who is japanese just did CIO with her 4 month old who only wanted to be rocked to sleep. she said it is very common in japan to use CIO, and she said it was really hard as he would cry for an hour sometimes, but within a few days the baby picked up on it. he went from sleeping i think 3-4 hours with 2-3 night feedings to sleeping 12 hours with no feedings. she is still struggling with naps though because he will still cry for 45 min to an hour and then sleep for 30 min so she is spending all day trying to nap him...makes for a tired mom and babe and the dad works 12 hour+ days...so he is not around much. anyway...i can see it''s tough for her but glad he is sleeping at night now.

happy saturday all.
 
Cute babies everyone!

Know what I did in my rush to get in and BF K after work yesterday? I put a big scratch or two on our new Audi Q5 leased car. Ran into a cupboard in our packed-full garage when backing in. Darn it!
 
Ouch, drk!
7.gif
That sucks!

Love, love, love all the babies. Gah, BPF is the best day of my week.

Micah got his shots yesterday. I cried like a big ole baby but he just let out two little screams and got over it. He hated the oral rotavirus one more than the shots, and he loathes the baby tylenol, but he did ok. I only gave him a half dose of the tylenol after we got home, and many hours after the shots (almost 8), but he slept tons yesterday too, so I think he mostly slept them off. He still slept like usual last night (I stayed with my mom for the night) so I think he did great.

My BPF contribution is late, but here is the funniest picture ever of Micah with his daddy.

balance_monkeypie.jpg
 
EB - oops! I meant to say 'Happy Birthday Henry!", not EB!
14.gif
4.gif


fiery - I figured you had a list...
5.gif
D was born on November 30. My confession is that I really wanted a December baby, since no one in my family is born in that month (My father and brother were born in Nov). I even wanted my labour to be longer so that she could be born on December 1st....it just sounded like a nice birth date, but the pitocin nixed any chances of that happening. I think if I wasn't induced she would've been born on Dec 1st. Ah well !
14.gif


MP - cute pic! I'm sure Micah is going to have some fun rough-and-tumbling with Daddy when he gets older!

drk - sorry you hit your car.....
8.gif


Mara - thanks!

***********

AFM - I'm struggling with sleep-deprivation this week. Dalila is back to waking every 2 hours a night...I guess because she has a cold - that combined with the teething. Gah!!! Soo...sooo...tired.....
14.gif


Still no AF for me. I guess that egg white cervical mucus I had the other day was just a random thing. I took a pregnancy test as well and it was negative. Thank God! I really think it makes sense to wait a bit longer. I'm feeling too tired and run-down at the moment to even THINK about another baby!
 
ferber is cio modified. you return and sooth in increments that you coninually space out.

fiery, what you guys did sounds like what i hope will work with jane.
 
It''s almost 2 and I am awake! Eek!!

Tomorrow is kind of a sad day but I''m going to make it great for FI. It''s my dad''s beat and I still hurt but it feels more special now with S.

Speaking if, she was so sweet all day today. I had her playing on the ground and I sat next to her to read a book. She climbed (with my help) on to my lap with her toy and just played quietly while I read. We were there for about 45 minutes and she never complained or tried to squirm away. LOVE!
 
Fiery, hope you got some sleep! Today is a sad day for me too. My family would often do a trip or at least meet somewhere for a baseball game together. Plus we lost my dad in June, so it''s a hard month. But I know my dad would want me and my family to enjoy DH''s first Father''s Day.

I made DH a little children''s book on Shutterfly called "The Adventures of Claire and Daddy." Sweet man cried.

I''m throwing a baby shower today. Although I was my sister''s maid of honor and my youth group leader''s bridesmaid, I''ve never thrown a shower and haven''t been in a wedding in 10 years. Now I''m throwing a shower by myself and am my friend''s MOH in the spring. Apparently in my 30s, I am becoming the "go to girl" I never was in my 20s! I think I''ve got it all figured out for today, but I''m still a little nervous.

My friend asked me if this weekend would be hard for me, and emotionally oblivious me, I was like, "Oh, because I''m stressed out about the shower I''m throwing? Yeah . . ." and she was like, "No, because of Father''s Day . . ."

And leaving work and picking Claire up from daycare for the last time got me too. I''m sure I''ll cry for one reason or another today!
 
Hope everyone has a fun Father''s Day!

Like Fiery and PG (big hugs to both of you) my Father''s Day is also a sad one. My grandpa committed suicide yesterday. He was sick (recently had a stroke)and old age was pissing him off but no one would have suspected he''d do something like this. My aunt found him.
 
Hugs PG, Fiery, Burk... !!

Burk what sad news...prayers to your family.

Happy Father''s Day all... hope everyone enjoys the day with their DH or SO!! We are going to breakfast just us 3 and then later we''ll bbq with my mom, sister, grandma. I am making G a chocolate peanut butter cake, YUM. The cake part is done so just have to assemble and frost.

J gave us a gift last nite and slept the whole 12 hours with no wakeups. Yay. Now Greg is feeding him his morning bottle. Oh and yesterday I took J out into the front yard while Greg trimmed some bushes and put him on this big picnic playmat thing we have and he LOVED it. Its the first time taking him out like that and we have a big tree in our yard to give lots of dappled shade. Anyway, I was surprised at how much he just loved being outside and checking it all out. We did tummy time, practiced sitting, standing, etc. He was all smiley and crazy giggly. So friggin cute.

drk , booo sorry about the car! the first few days i was away from J i was driving really haphazardly. i almost got into an accident and i realized i had to calm down--that rushing to be home with him would get me in trouble. since then i have been a lot more careful but i swear mommy brain affects other areas hehe.

Also random note but I am thinking of potentially starting my cupcake biz back up again and seeing if I could really make a go of it... I was thinking why am I stressing out about finding a PT corporate gig when I could just do this and be home with J and if I really wanted to, get a 10 hour consulting thing on the side if I wanted to use my work brain. So I''m mulling this over but we''ll see.
 
Fiery, PG, Burk - I''m so sorry about your sad Father''s Day. Burk, my condolencences... How terrible.
39.gif


Jacob has a bad diaper rash (
14.gif
) so I''m having him nap nekkid right now. He''s slowly getting used to rice cereal, I''ll keep going with that twice a day for a little while until he''s really eating before starting veggies. I''ve already frozen some purees, but I''m not in a hurry, he''s not 6 months yet after all.

My parents came over yesterday and we''re seeing my in-laws today. Again. We''ve seen them every. single. week-end. since we moved into our house on May 1st, so I''m having a major overdose, but it''s Father''s Day, so I''m not going to say anything. And it''s definitely not as sad as what some of you are going through, so... it puts things in perspective.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top