PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[phoenixgirl]

Viz, your night sounds really awesome! Way to go!!! It sounds like C is on his way to being a great sleeper in his crib.

LL, I can't believe they took your TP!!!! Seriously!!! They thought that was a worthwhile use of their time when they were trying not to get caught committing larceny???


I had a rather unpleasant day in the car . . . icky traffic coming back from Grandma's house. Claire was a superstar. I, on the other hand, had a little break-down and cried. But we made it (8 hours after leaving, but I did stop for 1.5 hours at my sister's house and half an hour to feed her/pee), and as a consolation prize, we took Claire out to a restaurant that was probably a little too nice/candle-lit for a baby when we got home. I know I will have to give up on my fine dining at the spur of the moment when Claire is mobile or we have a #2, but I am clinging to my youth! I mean, you know you're probably overstepping your bounds when you have to BYOB (bring your own Bumbo) because you figure that restaurant doesn't have high-chairs, right?

 

[Burk]

drk~Thanks! Meant to say earlier way to go with the pumping/bfing schedule you are keeping!! You're a trooper!

Viz~of course I want you to weigh in!! The post shots thing has been miserable for poor K. And then his reflux got worse (needed to adjust meds...gotta factor in the 4 lbs he had gained since script was written). I am by no means ready to hard core CIO yet but do want to start laying the groundwork. I hope your weekend of CIO goes well! As for other stuff, I'm doing alright. We are going to start cleaning my grandpas house out next week so that will be hard and DH is out of town so it' just me and the kiddos...always fun times!

Mara~Thanks for ideas. I wondered growth spurt too and then today I think I felt a bump on the bottom gum so now I'm thinking teeth? If it's not one thing, it's another. And yea he's been waking more than just once to eat so that's why I'm thinking something has to be done. I have yet to let him fuss/cry for more than 5 or so minutes so that is the direction I'm planning to go for tonight and then if he's unable to soothe then I'll resort to bottle last.

fiery~Thanks! I love those eyes too.

The morning lack of hunger and total day consumption is what causes me to think he probably doesn't need a night feed too (or three for that matter

)

cdt~Wow that first tri flew by!! GOod luck with the NT scan.

Operation "Kade needs to sleep" update:
As I reported earlier the crab pants cried himself to sleep for his first two naps b/c he was overtired. Slept for 45 minutes nap one and 2.5 hours nap two. Only cried for 10 minutes to fall asleep. Success. Nap 3 he only fussed on and off for 5 minutes (that's pretty normal) and was down for about 45 minutes. Then, for bed time he didn't cry or even fuss at all just fell asleep. So he's been pretty well rested today and ate well before he went down so I'm planning to let him cry (20 minutes is my max since he's young and I'm worried about both teeth and his reflux was kind of bad tonight) if he wakes any time before 1am. If he wakes then and can't be soothed with binky or patting I'll probably feed him. I think that's a good start. I'm not ready to do hard core CIO and I doubt he really needs it since he's able to put himself to sleep most of the time. I just haven't let him cry or fuss even for much longer than 5 minutes or so at night just because he was sick, was so good about only waking to eat, has reflux, ect.....it's just time to try it. Hope it goes well because DH is out of town and if I have both kids up at the same time (since T is such a light sleeper it is very possible K may wake her)it may not be pretty!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. We're planning to head to the pool tomorrow. Yay!

 

[gingerB]

so the exciting part of my friday night...having the time to comeout of lurkdom to say

out there!

pg - literally LOL at BYO Bumbo -- love it.

viz -

and

!!!!!!!!! i am so excited for you and c! sounds like you guys had an awesomely successful first go at cio (the modified hybrid viz verion of course) and things are moving in the right direction. anxiously awaiting updates on the adventures of viz and c in the land of nod

mara - i''m really jealous you have the option of part time. i think i would so jump on that right now. i think a combo of the pt work and cupcake biz sonds like so much fun

ll - so sory to hear about the break in and a serious W.T.F re: the tp. seriously? and um the reading on the can pic? seriously the cutest pic ever.

drk - when i started back at work and pumping i wasn''t sure how long i was going to last either... but it really does get easier as you slip into a new routine. you''re doing awesome mama...keep up the good work!

burk - so sorry to hear about your grandpa. glad to hear K is making steps back to a better sleeping schedule

AFM - it''s been a busy few weeks...A seems to be growing in leaps and bounds! lots of updates

we''ve officially de-swaddled. the little acrobat has started rolling and our sleep issues are ongoing, i figured now is as good a time as any. going cold turkey sisn''t work so well, but the 1 arm for a weekish or so went well and yesterday we went full out sleep sack. so far, things aren''t any worse than usual so i''m calling operation swaddle free a tentative success.

and we''re finally getting hte drowsy but awake thing. he has never ever been able to hit this elusive state before -- it was always total coma when going down, or instantly wide awake. so i''ve strated to try to pat him to sleep in his crib and tonight -- second night in the swaddle i was patting away after he woke up 30 minutes after the intially putdown as he fidgeted and flailed and rubbed his sleepy eyes and all of a sudden he turned on his side and PASSED OUT

. i was totally shocked. half jumping for joy and half omg his face is so close the the mattress i''m freaking out and don''t know what to do but i don''t want to wake him. after 5 minutes standing there anxiously watching him breathe i decided at some point we would have to trust him to be able to sleep on his side as it would be impossible for us to stand there and watch him all night every night so i slowly backed out of the room. it''s been three hours and hubbs and i are holding each toher back from going in to check on him. will see how this turns out.

although we''ve cut down to one bottle a night, he has still been waking up in between. although the stretches are longer thankfully -- 2 to 4 hour stretches with a very occasional blissful 5 or 6 hr thrown in rather than 1 hour stretches. so some progress. and i''ve finally dropped my motn pump so i can actually occ benefit from the longer stretches.

the pedi gave us the green light re: solids -- told us the current AAP recs first food is rice cereal but likely that is going to likely change in the next 6 months to veggies. i wasn''t super enthused about starting solids as i felt like we had enough on our plate to deal with, but then hubbs and i were making homemade guac, and i thought why not? whipped out the flip vid and the camera, plopped our little porker in his bumbo, mashed up a bit of avaocado with some breast milk and here was the result

seriously, the kiddo was grabbing at my hand to shove the spoon in...so much for waiting a bit longer to strat solids.

 

[Mara]

lol ginger love the pic!!! J has that bib too. A is so cute! btw J is sleeping on his side now too and at first yes I was kind of freaking out but now that he is deswaddled and sleep sacked, like you said it's not like i can sit there all night and keep turning him over. i have to trust he will roll if he needs to. so far he seems to start out on his back then roll to his side sometimes in the wee morning hours. then normally he will move around so roll back to back. sometimes he does more side than back and vice versa...just depends. so far no tummy sleeping, he doesn't seem to like being on his stomach really much less being 'soothed' or sleepy there. so i figure i can deal with side.

i am so jealous of you moms whose kids grab at the spoon... J is a passive accepter but i guess i should be happy he doesn't seem to 'dislike' anything yet (but we might try peas this wkd so that could change!)..! and maybe not grabbing at the spoon just yet is a good thing lol. my feeding skills are still solidifying!

burk..when you say if its not one thing it's another, ITA!! it's like ... oh it's 4mo wakeful! oh it's growth spurt! oh its deswsaddling! oh its teething! i feel like we are just lucky he SLEEPS. and 'crab pants' made me laugh. we have this sign that hangs in G's bathroom that says 'the crab is in' and i always say we should hang it on J's door when he's fussy.

PG love BYOB... great idea!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Gosh A is so cute! I love how happy he looks about the avocado. I have never met a baby that doesn''t like it!

My mom and dad are out of state for 5 days and they were all but in tears when they left. "We won''t see mi hito for almost a week!" Oh, mama, lol. We plan on Skyping a bit tomorrow so she doesn''t die of sadness. I''m going to miss her too though, she has been keeping the baby off and on all week. She even kept him overnight once so I could sleep, it was kind of awesome. My MIL is going to a funeral Thursday too so this will be a weird week babysitting-wise.

Micah is seriously hilarious. He''s so naughty for his daddy! He woke up TONS last night when DH tried to watch him so I could sleep. For me he wakes up once, between 1-3. I think he just isn''t sure what to do when it''s just him and DH, even after all this time. He seems to be a bit of a mama''s boy...uh oh.

 

[drk]

Kara''s started crying occasionally while on the breast, as of last night. She protested madly when I tried to get her latched on more deeply today, and then started crying. Makes me feel like the end is near... I may be pumping and bottle feeding and giving formula very very soon.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Aw, drk, I''m sorry to hear that. Sometimes things like this are meant to be - you are an awesome mommy and she will never lack an ounce of love, just BM

 

[vizsla]

drk - i've noticed that a LOT of babies do the breast refusal thing around 3-4 months. mine did. anyhoo, i just wanted to let you know that for whatever reason it seems to be a really common issue. hugs!!

ok, since it's sat night and i don't want to feel too much like a dork for posting on the weekend

i'll just give you all a quick update on c - b/c i know you are all just *dying* to know how things are going.

the long and short of it is that c is doing really great*
(*in the grand scheme of things

)

the good news is that he is napping and sleeping in his crib - auh-mazing! and he is a rockstar at night**
(**between feedings)

(see ** above) he's actually sleeping and not restless and when he does wake up (**) he cries maybe 1-2 mins and then finds a paci and goes back to sleep.

the other news is that:
his new napping schedule is making him a total fuss bucket during the day
he's teething hardcore (runny nose, pulling at ears, drooling like a faucet) so i'm having a hard time truly letting him CIO for naps or otherwise
he also has a bit of drippy ear

and was terribly constipated today

we shall see what sunday and monday bring

ok, i'll properly catch up monday... nighty night

 

[Dreamer_D]

Viz When Hunter teethes like that we give him ibuprophen at night and it really helps.

 

[mtjoya]

I think this is post your pic with bebe in bumbo! LOL! Here is a close-up of J eating her cereal! Hehe!

So beautiful bebes everyone!

Mara-your a hottie! lol!

Viz-

 

[mtjoya]

Okay! Forgot to post pic!

 

[taovandel]

MP: We haven''t officially met---but Evan hates Avocados.....I''m going to try it again with him in the next couple of weeks...but he was so pissed at me for serving them to him!

Loving all the cuteness!

 

[Mara]

lol thanks mtj. love jacque's pic..!!

i am feeling a little down today. my milk supply is just continously declining which i guess is normal but it's sad. i can only get like 2.5oz at each pump now so 5oz a day. it's depressing considering i was doing like 20oz with 3 pumps just 2 months ago. oh well. is it normal for your body to kind of self-wean like this? i have this irrational fear that when i stop giving J milk his health will suddenly decline and he'll get sick. i know it's crazy.

and i officially lost my first friend since baby... she and i were recent friends, just about 3 years, but were 'fast friends' and had a lot in common and did a lot with each other, including traveling (as couples), baking etc. well after the baby came she just kind of fell off the face of the earth--never came to see us or J, really never talked to me, never commented on my pics on fb or anything. i didn't quite get how suddenly after the birth she went MIA. just as i was about to write her off, she sent me this huge email about how sorry she was for being MIA, she had been so busy with A, B, C and she realized J was almost 4 months and that she hadn't seen him and was so sad about how she let life get in the way of our friendship etc. so we reconnected and they made plans to see us etc. well those plans fell through, then she was having a party and ended up cancelling the party the day of saying too many peeps were coming. turns out she resched'd the party and didn't invite us (a huge thing as we have many of the same friends--many of which *I* introduced her to!) and then last nite i saw her at a mutual friend's bday party and she totally ignored me. she was pretty drunk but she didn't even say hello and she made a point of hugging everyone else hello (even people i know she doesn't even like). anyway, she is kind of a mental basket case overall, pretty much an alcoholic couched as a party girl...and Greg thinks she is jealous of me somehow now that i have a baby and things seem to be going well, i don't know if that's the case but i am seriously baffled. she was supposed to be trying to have kids this year but i just don't see it based on how much she drinks and her lifestyle (always traveling and out with friends leaving her hub at home). anyway... overall i am thinking that i don't really miss her crazy ways, esp now that i have a baby... but i do miss the good parts of her friendship and the stuff we did have in common and our couple times out. plus there's a part of me that says 'what is wrong with me' because i used to be so close with her and now she won't give me the time of day.

and umm not to mention it's awkward that we have all these mutual friends but now we don't speak? greg says i should ask her what's up and just be like...ok if we can't be friends lets be civil, but i almost don't want to deal with it. and why send me some huge email about out friendship and how sad you are about it and then a month later be doing the SAME thing. i totally don't get it. it's not even like we had an 'event' like a fight or anything to break up the friendship--we literally spoke like 3 weeks ago about her bbq and just our lives in general and we ended it on a good note and now i'm shut out again. anyway, it's a little sad and it feels SO high school and i hate that. i pick my friends really carefully so i feel like i made a bad choice on this one, so i think i am also disappointed in myself.

and since i'm woe is me today... i feel like J doesn't even love me. i know that sounds silly but i left him with G all day yesterday to be at this baby shower then this bday party and when i come home he doesn't seem any happier to see me, and he just follows G around the room with his eyes. he loves when G comes home and gets really happy and smiley. so on top of everything i feel like my kid could care less i am even around. i am happy he seems so well balanced when he is with other people (all family), but since he's not really snuggly, sometimes i just feel like i am the caretaker or something.

blah blah its all about me. anyway... sorry i just had to vent about all that. it must be mom hormones or something because i am really not this emotional ever. oh and i have also been snapping at G. boo.

drk...i was sad when J started crying on the boob too. i guess it's part of them growing up. don't be sad for whatever comes, and so true that she won't lack for love, just BM.

viz... on fri night i was in bed at 9:40 so don't feel bad for being at home posting on a sat lol!! and yay for C making progress.i personally think that you guys are doing great. baby steps..!! And him sleeping better in between feeds in his own space is light years ahead than a month or two ago. how long before drippy ear stops??

re: avocado--J likes it but didn't seem to LOVE it. it was his first food so maybe we should try it again. so far pears are his FAVE!

speaking of food... i made peas and sweet potatoes yest for him, we'll try peas today. so far i've been pleasantly surprised how easy it is to make the first foods. but talk to me when it's meat time and i may be singing a diff tune!

we have a bbq with some friends today, so that should be fun. and it's warm out..love it! happy sunday all.

 

[drk]

Mara - hope the BBQ lifts your mood. Sorry your friend is being weird. We just don''t have that many friends, sad to say. Lots in Germany, few here. And those in Canada often live a ways from us, so we rarely see them. Hate it when one goes weird on you and you don''t know why. That happened to me with my best frend from uni - never found out what her beef was.
I worry about K prefering others to me (DH now, nanny later). Will have to spend qualiy time with her when I''m home and hope for the best. I think babies can react differently to Dad because Mom is more nurturing, Dad more fun/exciting. Doesn''t help that the pumping is failing you now. I guess at some point the effort for what you get will be too much. At least he''s not in daycare, so hopefully it won''t make too much difference with how often he''ll get sick.

AFM I think I''m going to have to get up an extra time at night to pump. I just don''t feel as full (or get as much out) after a 6 hour interval between feeds as I used to after 5 hours. It''s been getting worse since K moved herself to 6 feeds a day last week. I have a feeling my production is going down even more because I''m just not emptying them as often. Boo. Should be interesting to see how things work next weekend and the one after when I''m on call at night and working one of the days. I''m not going to have a heck of a lot of time at home with K the next couple weeks.

On the positive side, she''s now taking naps in her crib and only waking up once at night (well, I sometimes have to wake her to feed at 2:30am when her restlessness wakes me up). And can frequently soothe herself to sleep. Occasionally she needs to suck on my thumb briefly to settle herself, but that''s pretty much it.

 

[Sabine]

This will probably be my last post for a while...the big move is this Thursday and things are going to be INSANE until then. I might be on during the move while we stay at hotels, but it might take a while to get internet set up at the new place. If you guys could spare some dust to send my way that we don''t have too long a wait for our stuff, I''d appreciate it!

I was hoping to get to meet Tao today before we leave, but poor Evan is having eye issues. Probably for the best though, Jacks and I both still have small colds, and it was so hot today that it wasn''t even worth it to be outside.

Burk and Viz, hope the sleeping continues to improve!

Ginger, great pic! All of you starting solids, enjoy it! What a fun time!

drk and mara, I''m sorry you''re having issues with supply, and mara, sounds like that girl is better forgotten! I know Jacks went through a phase where he would light up when he saw Matt even though I never got much of a reaction from him, but separation anxiety started soon after. I felt the way you did too, like I wasn''t special to him even though I knew it was because he was around me all day. As crappy as SA is, it did help me get over that and realize that basically, right now I am his world, and that''s a nice feeling (well, most of the time

).

cute pic, mtj!

 

[taovandel]

Sabine: I''m sooo upset that I couldn''t make the playdate (well a tiny part of me that hates sweating is okay with it because it was BEYOND ridiculous outside today).

I''ll tell my tiny little story!

I woke up this morning and around 9 a.m. Evan woke up screaming his head off....he normally wakes up quietly and plays in his crib for a bit until we come and get him. I go in his room and he is crying like a mad man....crying so hard that he sometimes makes no noise. I change his diaper and change him from his pj''s (this normally gets him smiling..he loves getting changed). He gave me a few smiles and I noticed his eye for the first time (his eyes were scrunched shut when he was crying). I thought he had just slept on it weird so didn''t really pay attention to it too much. I was feeding him his morning bottle and noticed the eye was still a little red (just around the eye...the whites of his eyes were fine).

He downed his 8 ounces of formula so I knew he wasn''t too sick.

He was all smiles and having fun with me; playing with his toys and laughing. I had my sister come over and around this time his eye started to tear up and one HUGE tear drop would fall from the one eye and he would burst into huge screaming cries! And then he would cry like this for 3-5 minutes and would stop and be a happy little Evan again. And then about 20 minutes later the same thing would happen.

At this time I had to tell Sabine I couldn''t make it to the playdate....just incase it was pink-eye.

We were going to take him to the doctor if the crying continued.....which it did---but he was also being fussy because he needed a nap. So I drove to get his insurance card from my husband at work and then took him to my moms to get him to take a nap first.

He took a two hour nap and when he woke up the crazy tear drop/crying thing finally stopped and his eye wasn''t red anymore!

I have noooo clue what happened---but we opted not to go to the emergency doctor today...figured if it was still bothering him tomorrow we could take him to his regular doctor and not have to pay a huge bill.

I think he might have poked his eye when he was waking up or maybe a clogged tear duct?

It was so sad though---this was the first time in 8 months that he''s even been semi-sick.

I''m really upset that I missed the playdate with Sabine over a possible poke in the eye--but better safe than sorry I guess.

 

[Burk]

Ginger~Good to see you around. A is so cute and yay for deswaddling!

mara~Sorry about your bad day....the (ex)friend situation....weird?!?! but I guess probably for the best. Supply-girl, I feel ya. My supply is going down hill fast. Started going down when K weaned himself then even worse when my stupid pump broke. Boo... You''re a better mom than me, though, because I got pissed and dropped my second pumping because it just felt like a waste of time. So, now I''m just pumping before bed. We''ve started supplementing so that we can at least do at least some BM for at least a couple more months with what I''m still making and frozen. I will never know why BFing is so complicated. Hope you had fun at the BBQ.

mp~K is a serious mama''s boy...he always acts up when DH watches him (which is never through the night, though.

)

drk~K weaned himself from daytime feeds around 3.5 months-like threw a fit if I tried to nurse him... but he would still nurse for his night feed. I was okay with that because it actually gave me some freedom, but then he started to refuse to nurse at night around 4 months. That pretty much killed my supply and we had to start using frozen milk and now we''re starting to supplement. I feel like I did what I could and at least he was EBFed for 4 months.

viz~Sounds like C is doing so well with the sleep!! Yay for that! Hopefully the nap schedule starts to stick and he gets back to his happy self...wonder if some of the crabby has to do with the teething too? Are you doing teething tabs or pain reliever?

mtj~Cute pic!

Sabine~Good luck with the move!

So the sleep "training" has been going really well. Day sleep has been good...he put himself to sleep most of the time for that anyway, but I''ve only had to let him cry I think once in the past couple days to fall asleep and even then it was only 8 or so minutes. Last night he went down at 7 and woke and I binkied him around 10 and then woke again at 12:55. My rule was 1am so I decided to be hard core (ha ha) and let him cry. He was rolling around like crazy so I''m sure that pissed him off so I went in at around the 10 minute mark and binkied him, put him back in the middle on his stomach. Didn''t work. At 17 minutes though he was pretty much done (just some little sniffles) and by 20 minutes he was out. Didn''t wake until 5:15! I fed him and put him back down and he went back to sleep and slept until 7:40. Good stuff.

 

[Mara]

thanks ladies, i feel better after a day of fun... i took J over to my friend's pool where he had an awesome time...he was loving the water and i was floating him on his belly but holding his head up and he was even kicking his feet. then we had our other friends over for a BBQ.

it's true it's probably 'good riddance' kind of thing long-term but it's just hard to get over right now esp since we were so close at one time and again...there's that whole 'i really don't get it' kind of feeling. ah well.

and on the dwindling supply...it really isn't fair that BF'ing is so hard. it should just be like rivers of milk flow out whenever you want them to and never when you don't...right? that must happen in the world where after you give childbirth you turn into a 36/24/36 with mile long legs. yup...so unfair. burk i am envious that you have so much frozen milk. we have enough to prob continue giving him like 1-2oz for each bottle for the next 2 weeks and i'll continue pumping so we'll see. i get the same at morning and night pump so it doesn't make sense to give it up but when i did give up that 3rd one (middle of day, too hard and inconsistent while at work) i lost 2-3oz so i totally contributed to the decline..boo.

oh and in other J news, we tried peas today! he was such a trooper, he made kind of a funny face (same face he always makes when trying new stuff!) but nothing too crazy and he didn't gobble them up like pear but he def ate them, almost 1oz. not bad for first veggie. mom will give him some the next 2 days then we'll move onto sweet potato.

and yep ..first foods are fun so far. we are all enjoying it immensely and i actually really like making him stuff so far. i will do it whenever i can...time permitting.

here's a pic of mr happy with his pea mustache..hehe.

 

[drk]

Tao - glad the eye thing cleared up on its own. Sounds really weird. Hope Kara likes avocados more than Evan does - I''m going to try them with her next weekend.
Sabine - good luck with the move. Hope your stuff shows up sooner than expected.
Burk - didn''t realize you were having some BF issues too. I thought you had such a great supply that you''d be set, but I guess that''s no guarantee either. Glad sleep training is going well.
Mara - cute pea face! I don''t even have as much frozen milk as you do. Maybe enough for 2oz a day for the next 1.5 weeks, and then it''s over. Maybe adding in the evening/night pump again will help my supply imcrease back to what it was at last week.

K slept from 8:30pm to 3am last night, and I kind of woke her up to feed. Wow, she''s a pretty decent sleep at night! Naps are only about 45min right now, but I''m guessing she''ll start consolidating into a longer morning and afternoon nap sometime in the not-so-distant future. I''ve got a lactation consultant appointment on Friday to see if there''s anything else I should be doing to keep things going.

 

[Burk]

Mara~Cute pic!! I have yet to try anything but pears mixed with oatmeal but I am hoping to get some more stuff made this week. Things are a bit crazy in my kitchen right now, though, because we have new counter tops going in today....As for my frozen milk, while I''m happy to have a pretty good stash it also makes me nervous because of K''s stomach issues. I tried to write notes on the milk but I still feel blind about what he''s getting (aka did I mess up and eat some corn syrup that day). I am still getting about 10 oz in my one pump and I''m fine doing 50/50 BM with formula so I don''t have to use too much frozen right now so I guess I''ll just go with it.

drk~Yep, I had an oversupply and now it''s going down hill fast. K weaning himself was what made it so hard. I just don''t have the time to pump as much as I would have needed to when he dropped the night feed and then when my pump broke I again just didn''t have the time to add another pump to try and get it back up. I think if he were my first I probably would have been able to make a better effort, but since I have to think about Tayva too I just figured what I can get is good enough.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Mara, yeah, that friend sounds too dramatic to worry about. I often feel like Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice: "My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever." There are exceptions, of course, but usually if somebody has let me down spectacularly, I don''t stick around to let it happen a second time. There really are some friendships that don''t survive the transition into parenthood, and with good reason: you really don''t have the time to keep up as many relationships as before, so you need to stick with the most important ones.

Drk, Mara, and Burk -- hope you''re able to maintain your supply where you want it. It really is the.hardest.thing to get through.

So, speaking of annoying friends, we have this "friend" who is dating one of DH''s friends who is just a mess. She taunts and ridicules her boyfriend in public. The last time they were over, she broke a wine glass and then begged me not to tell her boyfriend (this is at least the third glass of ours she''d broken over a couple of years), so I didn''t, but then DH came out on the porch and was barefoot, so I told him to beware of broken glass. Well, DH told her boyfriend, he told her, and as they were pulling away from our house she yelled out of the car, "You TOLD him???!!! I HATE you!!!!" at me. And then she sent me all of these "I''m sorry: I don''t hate you" text messages afterwards. Oh phew, because I was really upset at the thought that an annoying, immature woman might hate me because I didn''t want my husband to cut his feet on the shards of the nice wine glass she broke . . .

Anyway, last night they came over, and we wound up having another friend stay for dinner too, so it wasn''t just us two couples, and she actually asked us in the middle of dinner if DH still used the girls like Claire does when she''s BFing (which, BTW, didn''t happen before Claire was born anyway . . . oedipal, anyone?). Except she said it a lot more crudely. Seriously. As if that''s not bad enough, then she kept bringing it up and saying she was embarrassed and apologizing all night.


I''m really, really enjoying being home. I''m slowly getting through all of the stuff (kitchen drawer of junk, laundry back-up, mess of a pantry, school stuff to put away, etc.) that I have on my To Do list. It feels good to feel like we can stay on top of our home and not just throw junk in a corner to hide it. That makes me a lot more relaxed. We have two play dates this week. Yesterday we got to go to Daddy''s bike race, and there were tons of babies and Moms to meet there. Next week we''re going on vacation to the beach. Things are going well with DH''s job. I''ll let you know when I have an attack of boredom, but so far, so good!

 

[vizsla]

morning-
real quick as i have a crazy work week and won''t be able to post very much...

mara- i totally understand your mixed feelings about your friend. while it''s easy to just say ''to heck with you'' - you girls have HIStory.. and that''s hard to let go. boys are so much better at washing their hands of toxic friends and not looking back. it does sound like she may be a tad bit jealous of your situation and is acting out. and her actions do seem a bit childish, then again, no one can really predict how people are going to react to life changes... and having you out of her life b/c of baby may have been a life change she wasn''t expecting? anyhoo hugs!

oh, p.s. babies are just hard wired to love their moms more it''s just the way it goes. c is a super snuggly baby, but on fridays when he''s with DH all day he''s ALLL ABOUT DH and it takes a bit until he warms up to me.

tao - sorry to hear about evan. hope his eye thingy was just a fluke!
sick babies are the worst! luckily i have lots of experience with it now, but it doesn''t get any easier... i''m just slightly less paranoid now

for the mommas going thru BF woes i just want to send out some huge hugs!! i likened it to a death in the family - and there is some mourning that goes along with the end of BF. it''s totally normal to be sad and down in the dumps about it.. there are SO MANY emotions that go along with BF.. it''s crazy!!

quick update from me:
on saturday c slept from 7:30-5:30a - ate, then went back down until 7:30a! that''s right, he STTN!!!!

but yesterday he woke up with a full blown cold

naps were awful! he didn''t want anything to do with his crib. he did, however, go down at 7:30p in his crib - cried for about 5 mins at 9:30p slept until 12:00a, cried for a few mins, fell back asleep and woke up at 2:00a *really* crying. DH fed him, back down - cried, i went in and soothed him, back down - cried. DH went in, c finished his bottle, back down - and he woke up at 6:00a.

we did not think that letting him CIO last night was a good idea b/c he *is* sick. hopefully once he''s feeling better again he will continue to sleep longer and longer and longer.

i''m totally encouraged.

 

[drk]

Viz - sorry he''s sick, but yay for STTN! I''m sure you''ll get back there quickly when he''s feeling better again.

Burk - I''ve had thoughts about how poorly a second child of mine would fare with the feeding. I sure wouldn''t have the time or energy to expend on pumping after every feed if I had another child to look after. I guess I''ll have to hope that if I''m lucky enough to have #2, my supply issues won''t be so great. Who knows. All I can do is try.

 

[Mara]

tao forgot to say sorry about E''s eye and the missed play date!!! poor baby..!!

sabine hope the move goes well... can''t wait to hear about the new place.

viz yay for STTN! c is so ready and BOO about the cold. i think he''s doing great given the minor setbacks he''s had over the last few days, J sometimes doesn''t want anything to do with crib for naps but he totally knows that crib means sleep for night so we''ve really never had him pull the same for sleep as with naps (knock on a ton of wood!) so sometimes we just make naps work wherever, but sleep is always in crib.

pg wow that girl sounds like a piece of work. seriously sometimes people are so baffling!! maybe it''s also now that i am a mom but i have such a more critical eye towards people. i actually am NICER to those people in my life and in general i think, which kind of makes me laugh, but on the flip side i also am like ''really you are 35 and you are still acting like that''... and i also think that now that we have a baby i guess i should be more picky about my company--like do i want my kid around so and so or not. who can help be a good example for the baby. not like right now he''s picking up on anyone''s bad habits but eventually he will want to emulate or do i want a crazy party girl holding my kid while drunk (not!) etc.

and you are so right about expending energy on people. i normally keep a close group of small friends anyway. part of the reason why this one gal is so hard to just dismiss is because she is more enmeshed in my friend circle (thanks to me i guess) and so its not like i won''t ever see her again. anyway greg says its her issue not mine. and yep viz, guys are so much better at just ''peace out'' cutting people. anyhoo. whatever, i need to just get over it.

and i confess i like the idea J is hard wired to love me. my boobs are destroyed beyond recognition so that little mr cutie pea face can have whatever''s left of momma''s milk. a little lovin'' on his part isn''t too much to ask right?!? hehee.

drk...hope things stabilize and continue for you. do you know anything about if there is a difference if the babe gets for example 5oz a day of milk (aka in 3-4 bottles) vs 2oz a milk (in 2-3 bottles)...are the benefits much less or does it matter how or when the mother''s milk gets distributed? now that we are coming to the end i could maybe put like 1.5oz in each bottle or just do 2-3 oz in 2-3 bottles. not sure if one is better than the other in terms of benefits to baby.

pg.. i hear ya re liking being home. when i wfh on fridays i have been also trying to tackle a home project during my down time too. on fri i cleaned out the kitchen area...it looks so much better without all the extra baby stuff piling up everywhere. enjoy!

AFM--i walked 11 miles last week (its the only activity I can do with J), and i feel thinner and my baby gut is smaller, but the scale hasn''t moved at all. W.T.F body. oh well, i will take what little positive i can get (aka smaller baby gut). happy monday all.

 

[MonkeyPie]

tao, how sad about Evan''s eye! Goshm just reading it made me feel bad, I hate when they do that scream where nothing comes out. It''s like they are just so angry/sad they can''t make sound. What a terrible feeling, but I''m glad his eye is better now. But a bummer about the avocados! I really hope Micah likes them, his daddy hates them and I love them so much I could eat them every day.

Mara, I think that friend loss is probably a benefit for you in the long run. She seems really weird. To me it sounds like insane jealousy. I don''t get why people do that, my brother lost three friends when he got married because all of his friends were single and they just didn''t get it. So sad. LOL @ his pea mustache!

Burk, yikes, shame on K for being naughty for daddy! But LOL - doesn''t it make you feel good when he''s freaking out and you come pick him up and he''s happy again? It hurts my DH''s feelings so bad, though. I wish we could be equal in Micah''s eyes!

PG, wow, that girl sounds like a real winner. Why on earth is your DH''s friend even dating her? I wouldn''t be able to stand that mess.

Viz, yay for STTN! But boo about the cold. Your poor little guy, he just can''t catch a break. I hope he feels better soon. At least you know he CAN STTN when he feels good!

AFM, I had a dramatic morning, haha. Micah was fussy all day yesterday so I was worried he wouldn''t sleep for me, but he only woke up once around 1:30 (like usual) and went right back down, thank goodness. Then he started grunting in his sleep around 4:15 so I pulled him into bed with me and he was out like a light, he slept through my alarm and me getting up to shower and dress no problem. (I love this, he cuddles up to me and breathes on my neck or arm like I am the most wonderful thing ever.) Then he finally started whining, so I went to get him, and what do I find? Him on his back (he started on his side) and a puddle where he had been lying. Haha, he was soaked and furious! Poor baby, his diapers just do not hold up when he''s on his side or belly, I don''t know why. I hate leaving him on his back so much, so we just deal with wetness most of the time, but this morning my bed got the brunt of it. And then DH got to come home and sleep in it, haha! Poor guy.

 

[gingerB]

sneaking in a monday workday post

viz - yay for C sttn!! boo for the cold. looks like he''s made AWESOME progress and hopefully the cold will go away soon and you guys can keep moving forward.

mara - booo on a friendship turning toxic. ditto everyone who said she isn''t worth your time. we haven''t had that happen yet post baby- but actually almost the opposite. A has been rather time consuming

and so we''re definitely not nearly as social as we used to be and i feel like we''re def neglecting some friends. but priorities -- A needs us now and if the friends are really friends, they''ll understand and things will resume when they do is my theory.

tao - poor evan! maybe he had some dust or dirt in his eye that now washed out? glad it wasn''t anything more serious

burk - glad k is responding well to the sleep training

AFM - speaking of dwindling supply, count me in also

. i am prob going to be dipping into my freezer stash in the next day or so in order to keep A EBF. i do have a good stash built up and it should get us through 6 months, but it''s def a sad feeling, esp remembering how hard it was to establish my supply in the first place. never thought i''d be sad that i don''t get engorged anymore

. i''m blaming it on work and the fact that i''m sooo busy i haven''t been hydrating myself like i should be. and on top of that....

i think the dreaded harbingers of AF coming back into town are rearing their ugly heads. my hair is falling out in handfuls (kind of disturbing) my supply is dropping fast and things are acting funny down there. or rather they are doing what they used to do? anyway...1 year of blissful freedom for AF, sooner or later it was going to end

as for A -- yeah that awake but drowsy thing -- ha. total fluke. we''re still de-swaddled, but he does seemto need a bit more help again to stay saleep. it''s like he doesn''t know what to do with all this freedom. def scaring me and hubbs as he does roll to his tummy to sleep and we really don''t know what to do as he hasn''t reallized he can roll back at will. and we''ve found him soctted real close to the bumer on his side. i''ve ordered the mesh bumpers and hopefully we''ll be without incident until they get here.

speaking of ordering stuff -- amazon is like my new best friend. it''s soooo hard to find time to go shopping around and i swear, alomst anything we need is on there. i broke down and am likely going to sign up for their prime service. hope it''s worth it.

mommy confession - i was feeling a bit down because A always lights up when hubbs is around -- he can make A smile and giggle better than anyone else and i was feeling a bit not special to him ya know? but this weekend he woke up from a nap to find the in-laws over to watch the game and g''ma quickly rushed over to hold him, and he burst into tears -- so not his usual happy self. but then he quickly stopped as soon as i took him back. and it felt REALLY nice to feel like he knows and has at least some preference for me! even though it''s not nice that he cried with his abuelita.

so here is A this weeknd cheering on the now sadly eliminated equipo Mexico:

 

[Mara]

i forgot to also say...ginger your post reminded me...that i found J sleeping on his stomach 2x last nite. that is the first time ever. he has been doing the side sleeping thing for a while now but the stomach was new. it totally freaked me out when i realized that i was looking at the back of his head when i got into his room. his head was to the side but as i stood there i poked him to see what he''d do if he realized he was on his stomach, he lifted head and started to struggle and flail the arms and then he laid back down and fell into a light sleep. prob was he was basically on his face at this point, i could hear him breathing into the mattress. THAT totally freaked me out. so i rolled him over myself...but came in 2 hours later and he was on his stomach on his side again.

he''s deswaddled and has mesh bumpers, but what can i do (if anything) about him rolling over and deciding to sleep on his face??? i feel pretty confident that he is ''aware'' of his surroundings and he is great about yelling or crying to let us know something and i always wake and look at the monitor to check him out...but i''m still a little freaked out that he would put his face down and fall back asleep on his nose. granted i didn''t give him any more than 2 min to wake back up and right himself so maybe he would have.

ginger re: AF returning...while it sucked big time for my supply...i have to say i loved feeling so much more normal again mentally and hormonally. i don''t know what it was but i just felt better. like i am totally myself again. i never felt like a basket hormone case but i don''t know...after AF came back i was like its me again. but DRAT i did not miss AF herself!!!! bah.

ditto your love of amazon. i have prime so i LOVE going on there and being like ''yup, buy, ship''...and its'' here in 2 days and 1 day if we really need it. and i also am having a love affair with diapers.com since they do next day ship for free so we get J''s organic formula there (and it''s a great price).

and yeah i am tired of shedding hair..i can make a chia pet out of it every time i shower.

on the positive note of finally probably weaning J off milk entirely within the next 2-3 weeks is that i can finally get that brazilian blowout thing. i have been waiting til i was done bf''ing/pumping.

mp... so envious M is a cuddler! j is soo not and my best opp to get a cuddle in is when he is milk coma in the morning or night or when he has literally just gotten up.

 

[Burk]

mp~yea, K is naughty for pretty much anyone but me in the evenings. While it warms my heart that he can go from screaming for my MIL to calm in my arms in a matter of seconds, it also frustrates me that he does this in the evenings because it makes me feel so guilty to leave him with others.

It''s hard for my DH because he feels bad plus he usually has Tayva too and she has to just hang out while K is screaming and DH is trying to calm him. yay for cuddles!

ginger~Such a cutie you have there! Boo to digging into the freezer stash. Right there with ya...I started in with some formula recently and have started to have to use my freezer stash too. Hoping to give him at least 50/50 until at least 6 months.

mara/ginger~I started putting K to sleep on his tummy about a month back (when he was able to roll from back to belly anyway). He learned to roll from tummy to back a few weeks back but never did so in his sleep until this past week...the kid is NUTS rolling around in his sleep. He likes to sleep on his side/belly most. I actually put his regular bumper in because he rolls so much he limbs were getting stuck in the slats and I wanted some cushion for his poor little body. Made me a little nervous at first but it''s been fine. I have had T''s in since she was a newborn so maybe that''s why I''m a little more lax about it?

 

[phoenixgirl]

Viz, that's AWESOME about STTN!!! When Claire's sick, all bets are off sleep-wise, and we just comfort and feed as much as she needs. But the good thing is that you know he can do it!!!

Mara, I just had to google "Brazilian Blowout" to find out what you were talking about, hee hee.

Ginger, sorry about the supply issues. Pumping just doesn't get as much milk as straight BFing, I'm sure. But great job on the big stash! And that's funny about A rejecting his abuelita! Claire did the same thing to my mom when DH tried to pass her off, and DH kept gushing about how cute it was that Claire reached out for him in front of my mom. Oh well, at least my mom is the laid-back kind of person who wouldn't mind a baby shying away from her. And when we visited last week, Claire warmed up to my mom a lot after the first day.


AFM, I just used my Floppy Seat grocery cart seat/cover for the first time. I don't think I've gone grocery shopping with Claire since I returned to work because it just felt too hectic/depressing to lug Claire to the store during rush hour after a full day at daycare, so I would always go when DH could watch her. It was a success -- I don't think I had the straps exactly like the directions say, but I did figure out how to strap it to the seat and around her middle. She's still small, so without it, I think she would have been flopping from side to side and sliding all over the place.

Last night Claire did the cutest thing ever. I wish I had filmed it! She has played "peekaboo" 3 times now with a tee-shirt or napkin. The first couple of times, she didn't have the dramatic timing down, so she would drop the shirt just as soon as she pulled it up without building any suspense (almost too fast for us to yell out "Peekaboo!" before she pulled it back up). But last night (at dinner with the horrible woman -- MP, we don't have any clue why DH's friend is dating her -- he's divorced and you would hope that means he is looking for something better but maybe it means he doesn't know how a positive relationships works???) Claire did this ridiculously cute Peekaboo game with a napkin. When she pulled it down, she would just beam as everybody yelled "Peekaboo!" and then pull it back up and wait a second or two before pulling it down again. And because her little arms are so short, it is just the cutest thing to see her with her arms fully extended but barely reaching over her head . . . my genius baby!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/28/2010 3:53:43 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
Claire did this ridiculously cute Peekaboo game with a napkin. When she pulled it down, she would just beam as everybody yelled ''Peekaboo!'' and then pull it back up and wait a second or two before pulling it down again. And because her little arms are so short, it is just the cutest thing to see her with her arms fully extended but barely reaching over her head . . . my genius baby!

Omg, that sounds so ridiculously cute. Haha, how funny, her short little arms! I play peekaboo with Micah all the time and he cackles like crazy, but he can''t figure out how to move the blanket himself yet. I can hardly wait now!

burk, I hear you about the evenings being the worst. DH always tries to give me some time to sleep without being woken by the baby, but that is the time when Micah is the most restless. When it''s just me taking care of him he won''t cry, but I think DH is just too slow with the bottle and diaper changing so he gets really mad. And then I can''t sleep anyway