PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Mara]

5m 1w

ginger...oh def don't think there is a wrong/right way... ! we don't always observe the whole 3 day rule either, hehe. the funny thing is J really likes sweet potatoes so i have been mixing them with foods he only 'tolerates' ... sneaky mom..aka mixing in PEAS.

subject line is a cute idea but you have to do it for EVERY post you write, it won't save your settings, so i prob won't remember to do it all that often esp since i am typically just posting on the fly when i have like 5 min between meetings or something!!

it is fun to see everyone's ages though because mentally i can never keep track of every baby, i just generally 'know' where a baby is in relation to J.

btw did anyone see my Q about teeth...any other 5-6monthers showing signs of teeth breaking through yet???

 

[jcrow]

3m today!

anyone else's baby sleep with their eyes open sometimes? creeps me out. haha. i just walked into her room because i thought i heard the beginnings of her waking up. nope she's fast asleep with her eyes half open.

 

[AmberWaves]

7 Months 2 weeks

Mara, Piper isn't 5-6 months, but she's halfway to 8 and no teeth!

 

[ChinaCat]

10 Months, 3 Weeks

Hmm on the subject line, I totally won't remember everytime! Maybe just something to try and think of if you are asking a question that relates to milestones. If you're just responding/chatting/venting, probably won't think of it. It's so hard for me to remember everyone's ages now. I know where everyone right around me is, but there are so many new babies on this thread (for me!) that I can't remember and then I can't offer any help!

Amber- No thoughts on tofu. Why are you asking? What is the potential issue there?

DRK- O didn't switch his bedtime to 7 pm till really late, like maybe 6-7 months? Especially while I was still nursing him, I just waited till his last nursing time to put him down, which often was 8 or 9 pm. If you like it that way, maybe just try and get her to take a little 30 min nap. But you can't force a baby to nap!

Mara- LIke I said, I can't remember when he got his teeth! Bad momma. He has 4 now at 10 months, pretty sure they all came between 6 months and 8 or 9 months. Bottom two, then top two. Wouldn't worry. Though my aunt just told me a story about a woman that had NO baby teeth. Ever. Just got all adult teeth when she was like 7. Though my aunt is a bit of a storyteller and I'm not sure I believe that one!

 

[Sha]

viz - thanks for clarifying. I was hoping to copy your strategy a bit.... (Did you ever think a few months ago we would be asking you for CIO tips? he he... ) So happy things are going better with sleep! Do you feel well rested as yet?

Mara - Dalila didn't really show any symptoms before her first teeth cut through. Her appetite dropped a bit the week before, and that was it. I wouldn't have known she was teething if I hadn't seen the tooth poking through.

Fiery - please stick around!

Amber - DH is so distracting during D's bedtime as well. I usually have to shout at him, "No stimulation!" so that he doesn't smile and tickle her during her bedtime routine. Hope you and the DH figure out a good compromise. It's great that he wants to be so involved, though.

tao - wooooh! that's scary and exciting at the same time! What month are you thinking of TTcing? I used to scoff when people said they didn't think they could love their second babies as much too, but I think I know how they feel now. I would love to try for baby #2 sometime soon too, esp. since I just turned 34 this month, but like you said, the thought of managing two babies under two is pretty scary sometimes! But completely doable too- people do it all the time, right?

***********
AFM - Dalila slept for 8 hours without a feeding last night! I had to go out so DH put her to bed. She woke up at midnight and started to cry, and I was about to go give her the pacifier as usual, but DH said I should just ler her CIO. She cried for about 10 minutes then stopped, and didn't wake up again until 5:00! She's never ever gone that long without a feeding before. I think she might be close to STTN!

 

[ChinaCat]

Sha- That's awesome! They surprise us sometimes with what they can do when we let them. Yay for sleep!

Tao- It's such a hard and personal decision. I personally think you're crazy. But only because I couldn't handle two so close in age. The newborn stage was really hard on me, plus I feel like O is still such a little guy and I want him to have as much undivided attention as possible. I have a few friends that did it really close together and I will never forget their exhausted faces for the first year. BUT they all say that it's great NOW to have them so close in age as they play together and are best friends. I just look at O and until he can SOMEWHAT understand that he needs to go do x while Mom feeds baby, I just can't do it. BUT the thing to think about is they bake for 9/10 months, so think about what Evan will be like then. Also, who knows how long it could take to get pregnant. If you feel financially and emotionally prepared, then if you feel ready, go for it. There is simply no way you won't love another baby as much. How could you not? My mom told me she feared the same thing before she had my sister. Your heart is big enough for two. You couldn't imagine the love you feel for E before he came, and I am sure you will love another baby just as much. My rule of thumb is that they have to be AT LEAST 20 months apart. But that's just me. I am an admitted scaredy cat about number 2!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Hahaha Micah sleeps with his eyes cracked all the time. Freaky in the middle of the night when it's dark!

And Mara, Micah already has a tooth hovering under the surface - a molar!

 

[AmberWaves]

7 Months 2 weeks

CC: Our pedi gave us a timeline of what foods to give when, and tofu was amongst the proteins in months 7-9, but I had heard soy-based stuff can cause issues in babies, something to do with it having high amounts of "natural estrogen"? I don't eat meat so I was kind of looking forward to Piper getting protein in other ways, too.

Sha: Yay for D sleeping 8 hours straight!!

Tao: I had forgotten to respond to you! I want to be pregnant again ASAP. Then Piper gets up in the middle of the night randomly, and I have to get up, wake up for work, take care of her all day and all that. Then it's like, Yeah, I SO can not function with two when the first is so young. My husband works 7-5/6 every day, and he works weekends, too. It'd be like doing it alone most of the time. I just don't have it in me. We're probably going to start TTC when Piper is 2.

 

[Mara]

thanks ladies... i know 5mo is still 'early' but just wondering what the average amongst PS babies was! i personally don't care if he is gummy for a long while longer, i love his big toothless smile.

amber...no help on tofu either. i am a meat lover, but i am not looking fwd to giving J meats. the thought of pureed chicken or something is just revolting!

sha... yay for 8 hours!! That is great. she can prob STTN at this point, but maybe the 'habit' of waking is sticking with her. my friend's baby is 5mo like J and still has 2 night wakings but only takes like 1oz and for whatever reason they are having a really hard time cutting that out entirely, he won't go back to sleep.

mp..omg a molar! i thought that J had a molar coming in but it turned out it was the little cysty bump thingies. i read that the first 2 they get are middle top or bottom but i guess there are exceptions!

tao...girl you are cray cray. i can't even imagine having two under 2! actually, i can't even imagine 2. but i do think you have enough love for 2..or more.

--i just realized today that when i stop pumping that i will hopefully not have too hard of a time cutting back on eating too. i am so hungry at lunch and at 3pm... but once i stop pumping i won't have that excuse anymore to eat extra. yikes!! back to small portions for lunch. sadness.

 

[taovandel]

See I think one reason I think I can handle another baby is because in my crazy imagination the next one will be equally as easy as Evan has been. I know that it isn't a guarantee though, obviously.

We were thinking of starting this month or next month (we've been talking about it for awhile now...but now that the month has hit I'm like What!!).

China: I can't for some reason picture Evan any bigger or walking or anything...so when I think about having two kids---in my mind he's the current size he is and I also have a newborn. haha. Evan is also pretty small so it makes it that much harder to imagine life with two small kids. (Evan was under 15 lbs at his 6 month appointment)

I think we are going to go for it and like you said, we might not even get pregnant the first couple of months....so things will work out the way it's supposed to.

Sha: I keep saying that over and over again---people have babies close together all the time. My husband and his sister are 11 months apart--and they all survived just fine...

 

[Sabine]

We're FINALLY all moved in and settled! I thought hotels were bad, but it was nothing compared to trying to unpack and organize while watching Jacks...serious craziness! The movers were 'supposed' to help us unpack, but arrived totally unaware of that. When we asked about it, they said they would help, but we could tell they didn't want to and they were really reluctant about it. I got the kitchen unpacked while they were still unloading, and they helped until the nursery was unpacked too, and then I just told them to go. At that point, you couldn't even walk into our bedroom or the guestroom, they were wall to wall with boxes. But luckily we upgraded in terms of rooms, so we now have a playroom for Jacks, so we just put some toys and his high chair and in there, and I basically shut myself in there with him while dh unpacked. The thing I always forget about is how much dang packing paper they use in each box, and how much space even the empty boxes and 'garbage' boxes take up. But dh was awesome and broke down all the boxes and moved them out. And then we took turns watching Jacks while unpacking.

In terms of his sleeping, I *hope* we're getting somewhere. Since we've been in the house, we've been following the new schedule with the time change, but he's still getting up at 5 AM (well, 5:20 today), and taking 30ish minute naps. Today for his 2nd nap, we let him CIO when he got up, and after about 15 minutes he fell back to sleep for another 45 minutes, so hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better. He seems to finally be settling down now that he has all his toys back . He was definitely thrown off during all this, but at the same time I'm so proud of how well he's done!

It'll take me a while to catch up, but wanted to throw a shout out to VIZ and say YAY for sttn! I'm so happy for you! How are you sleeping now? It took me a while to adjust when Jacks finally did.

And Fiery, don't leave us!

Fiery and China, are S or O getting close to walking yet? Jacks isn't, but I can tell he wants to. I'm so anxious for those first steps!

 

[ChinaCat]

Tao- I know, I have such a hard time imagining O bigger too! And he's a peanut as well, was only like 17 lbs at his 9 month appointment. AND O was such an easy baby that I am TERRIFIED that my next one won't be. So funny how we can have the same experiences yet have such different reactions. FWIW, you seem like you have handled motherhood with joy and grace and I can't imagine you won't be the same with number 2. People do it all the time and while it may be insane for the first year, we know how fast it all goes. Keep us posted.

Amber- I will ask my friend about tofu, I don't think she's given her little guy any meat and he's over 1 now. She was having a hard time as I guess she gives him a lot of beans but there was some concern recently about cans???? Anyways. I give O chicken and fish. He's had a little bit of a hamburger patty at a BBQ, but he was more interested in the peas. The boy LOVES peas.

Ok so I have to give a shout-out to all of the moms that have successfully done CIO. We definitely let O cry but have not had to do hard-core CIO. I put him down like usual and he was fine like usual. I got on the phone with the cable people to fix our DVR box and O all of a sudden started crying HYSTERICALLY. I could see him on the monitor so I knew he was okay and I had been on hold forever so didn't want to hang up. Plus I figured he would stop crying. NOPE. OMG, it was breaking my heart, he just sounded so pitiful. I finally got of the phone and went it and picked him up to calm him down. Of course he stopped crying immediately, he was fine but he did that pitiful gasping/gulping sad noise, you know the one AFTER babies have had a nervous breakdown. He was just lying in my arms, falling asleep but still gasping and holding on to my shoulder so tightly. Sweet sweet baby, I knew he was ok but WOW is it hard to let them cry like that!!!! So I have to say HUGE props to those of you that have to do it. I still believe it works, but it takes a strong woman to listen to that!

Sabine- I can't tell if O is close to walking or not, but my guess is no. He's been crawling forever and has been pulling up and cruising since like 6.5 months. He can stand on his own and balance, but he shows no interest in actually trying to walk. My guess is he could if he WANTED to, but he doesn't seem to want to at all. I'm ok with it. Part of me is excited to see it, but he's already so busy that I think it will be crazy so I am good with waiting. When is Jacks 1? Soon, like this month right???? I know you did the pre-birthday party before you moved, but are you going to do something on the actual day? Glad you are finally in your new place. Do you think you will like it there?

 

[MonkeyPie]

Mara, yeah I thought the molar was weird, too, but the pediatrician saw it and then poked her finger in his mouth to rub it and she said it was definitely a tooth. It doesn't seem to bother him, though, thank goodness.

Omg, Micah did the most funny and gross thing yesterday. He had his first blow out - at Wal-Mart! And he was wearing footie pjs, so I had to strip him out of them in my moms kitchen sink and then wash him off. It was everywhere! That's what happens when you go two days without a BM, naughty monkey!

 

[Mara]

5m 1w

tao...define 'just fine' and how is DH's mom? a little crazy sometimes? hehee. no really, good luck and i hope you guys don't have to wait too long before you get good news! we'll live vicariously through you (and CDT!)..

quick post before i have to run to an early meeting, ugh!

J woke up last nite at 11pm when i tried to pull his lovey out from under his body (he was on his belly). then he woke up at 11:30 and proceeded to cry at intervals until 12:15. i finally got up because i thought maybe he was hungry OR had pooped. well he didnt poop but he ate 4oz of a bottle and i gave him a little tylenol because he was so restless and chomping (chewing) on his paci. so maybe a little teething. he slept well after that til 7am but was up at his regular time and ate his whole 9oz. so wow, maybe he's growing. the last 3 nights he has slept like he's comatose so maybe this is the extra feeding time.

as a result i am tired today and i have this early meeting. BOO. i also applied for some PT/flex schedule jobs this week so keeping fingers crossed something ideal comes my way. back later. oh and have i mentioned i'm addicted to babysteals? yes.

 

[vizsla]

china - it IS the worst! especially when they do the gasp thing. the other morning i let c cry b/c he kept getting up increasingly earlier.. and once he stopped i could hear the gulp gasp for like an HOUR! it was awful to just let him be in there w/out going in and comforting ETA: i know there was something else i wanted to tell you but i keep forgetting... snap! i know it probably has to deal with O being a wiggle worm and what to DO with them.. C literally does.not.sit.still.. anymore i just let him have at it on the floor.. but he can't crawl yet and gets p.o'd... i'll think of it while i'm driving or something

mara - c started teething teething when he was 5 months or so .. then we felt a nub in his gums (which you can massage to help break the tooth thru) but didn't see 'real' teeth until a week or so ago (@ 8months). both of his bottom teeth are coming thru.. he looks so funny! good luck on the p/t! totally jealous!

amber - i worry about the 'plant based estrogen' too.. and soy milk isn't recommended either for babies until 2 years (or older??) i know you are a veggie but i may hold off on tofu for a little while (or run it by your pedi?)

ok.. back to work but i have tomorrow off! i'll be able to post a proper update.

p.s. last night c cried for about 5 mins after i put him down... 20mins later i went upstairs and it totally reeked of poo! i was all freaked out about leaving him in his poopy diaper all night... DH kept saying 'let sleeping dogs lie'... luckily he woke up around 10 (t.o'd from his poopy diaper i imagine) and i did the fastest diaper change in history!

tao - yes, you are crazy

ETA: sha... NOOOO!!! i sooo don't want to be the CIO girl... i'm pretending it never happened but i did think it was worth pointing out that part of CIO is to let them CIO allllllll night... for some reason this part of the equation never registered with me... i thought they would cry at the beginning of the night and that was that... not so much...

hey sabine!!! glad you made it thru the move!

 

[Mara]

oh re: CIO--i mentioned that J was intermittently crying last nite. i was like ok time to do some CIO when he woke at 11:30. i mean the kid ate all his regular stuff yesterday so i figured he CANT be hungry. then i thought oh maybe he has a poopy. so anyway he would cry for 10 min, and then just pass out. then it would start again 10 min later. and 10 min later again. so finally i got up, no poopy. he must have just been hungry. but yeah it is super hard to do CIO--esp in our small house where he sounds like he's literally in the room with us. as a result i got 1.5 hours less sleep so today has sucked so far!

re: poopy diaper... J has started to sometimes poop after he falls asleep, maybe because i give him 'solid dinner' at 6pm and then this massive bottle at 7pm, so his little body is like 'must. let. poopy. out.' ... anyway it has happened 2-3x and it sucks to have to change him while he is sleeping, esp if he just fell asleep about an hour or so ago...but i cannot leave him there like that!! esp if i want him to STTN. he has only 'woken' once but he fell right back asleep. but i hope it doesn't continue, i hate changing poopy in the dark.

 

[vizsla]

ha! mara.. that was our conundrum last night.. i didn't want to turn on the light and was all freaked out i was just smearing poo everywhere

p.s. our house is super small and c's door is like 4 feet from ours -- pillow over the head works well

 

[MonkeyPie]

LOL about poop in the middle of the night - thank goodness we use the dimmer in the living room as a night light, because there is NO WAY I am changing a poopy diaper without a light of some kind! I would likely have poop all over ME if I did that. Micah sleeps through most of his midnight diaper changes anyway so I doubt he cares, and he would probably stay dirty all night happily, but I would feel bad about making him lay in it. Yuck.

Viz, I hate the gasping/gulping thing, it makes me feel like crap. Micah has only done it once, and it was when he had something in his eye and cried super hard for about 5 minutes. Then afterward he kept making a little hiccupy gasp for air, and it just broke my heart.

 

[Sabine]

I had many a 'are you crying because you pooped' conundrums on our journey. I don't think there was a single time that I went in that he actually HAD pooped, and I quickly learned that me going in really did just prolong the process of him falling asleep. Then there were a few occasions where he would cry for a minute or two and go back to sleep, and when I'd go in when he woke up for real, he had pooped. We're at the point now where I just put on diaper cream before any sleep, and don't go in (I wouldn't be able to smell poop from outside the door). We haven't had any issues with it, but Jacks is not one to be seriously bothered by poopy diapers either.

 

[Mara]

lol re all the 'should i/shouldn't i' poop conundrums! J has only just started doing it at night, he NEVER used to. so now i have to add it to the list of 'reasons' why he might be upset or crying. BUT given that i have walked into his room to turn down his sound machine and smell it the second i walk in the door and he is sleeping blissfully and could care less, i really change the diaper for ME and not him...hehee. solids smell BAD.

re the gasp and choke cry... i am immune to it because i have a drama king. people are like oh your kid is so sunny and happy!! And i say he really is EXCEPT if he doesn't like something. then it's not just a cry, it's a full on red face, tear streaming, screaming little creature thing going on.

every once in a while he will do this droning moaning cry which is part of him soothing himself but most of the time it's the scream. though i felt horrible that one time i tried to let him CIO on his belly, he was relentless--then i go find him all sweaty, crying in a puddle of barf. thank god that has only happened once.

 

[Mara]

oh one more thing mommies...

Do you have your carseat in the middle or on either of the sides? my friend has her 5 month old babe's carseat in the left side and i meant to ask her why and forgot. we have ours in the middle. i always thought it was supposed to be safest? and she gave us this really awesome window shade thing with toys on it from leapfrog and J just LOVES it...but his carseat is in the middle so he can't play with it til his carseat is on either one of the ends. which led me to think--is putting it in the middle not very common? Because otherwise why would there be a special toy for the window for babes to be able to reach and play with? Hmm.

 

[fieryred33143]

oh one more thing mommies...

Do you have your carseat in the middle or on either of the sides? my friend has her 5 month old babe's carseat in the left side and i meant to ask her why and forgot. we have ours in the middle. i always thought it was supposed to be safest? and she gave us this really awesome window shade thing with toys on it from leapfrog and J just LOVES it...but his carseat is in the middle so he can't play with it til his carseat is on either one of the ends. which led me to think--is putting it in the middle not very common? Because otherwise why would there be a special toy for the window for babes to be able to reach and play with? Hmm.

Mara, the middle isn't necessarily the safest position. Car seat experts say that the safest position is the one where the car seat is installed correctly and doesn't distract the driver. It also depends on your car manual. On R's car, we could have placed on the sides or the middle. We chose the side because he has a center cup holder/arm rest and we felt the seat was more secure on the sides. Sophia's seat in his car does have the true side impact protection.

In my car, I also chose the side because I preferred to install using LATCH rather than a seat belt. My seat belts have a lock but I just feel better using the latch since I was able to get a more secure installation.

 

[ChinaCat]

10 Months, Week 4

Re: Carseats: Supposedly middle is safest but my car doesn't have the latches in the middle, so ours has to be on the side.

Poop diapers- I NEVER change O's diaper in the middle of the night anymore. I did when he woke to eat but no way do I wake him up now. BUT dirty diapers never bother him and he really doesn't have them in the middle of the night very often.

Though lately the poor guy has been constipated and watching him try and squeeze one out is both a)painful and b)hysterical to watch. I feel so bad for him, but he makes the freaking funniest faces and either goes behind something to do it, or bends down, face gets all red, and then when he's finished he does the bouncy dance as if to make sure it's all out. He's gotten better, I think it was just the travelling that did it.

 

[Sha]

Just a drive-by 'mecentric' post...

Took Dalila to the clinic today for her 7 month appt. She's about 15 lbs 6 oz - so only about 15th percentile or so for weight. Looks like she'll be petite.

And I think I see a front tooth coming through! No teething symptoms whatsoever this time!

 

[jcrow]

re: carseats, i was wondering the same thing. i thought the middle seat was best but then both of our cars have the latch system on the two sides and not the middle! my cousin just bought a volvo suv and it doesn't have the latch in the middle either. seems like if latch was the way to go then the new cars would have them in the middle if middle is best, right?

 

[gingerB]

re carseats: i believe middle is the safest due to less ichance of injury if someone t-bones you. and you have to check your car manual for the correct way to install the carseat -- i.e. the way your car model was tested with a carseat for safety. we went to the sheriff's office to get our seat and installation inspected and they were SUPER helpful and full of great info.

AFM - A's sleeping has been a problem (waking every hour) and for a while it was starting to get better (down to 1-2 wakeups a night) we thought. but recently it has been harder and harder to get him to fall asleep and he started waking up more (evry 3 hours, then 2.5, then 2, then last night 1-1.5). don't know what's wrong last night he he woke up and after 2 hours of trying to get him to go back to sleep including feeding, changing diaper, rocking, patting, bouncing, and him getting just more agitated and i could SEE that he was sleepy, but couldn/wouldn't sleep i put him down in the crib and lay down on the floor next to his bed and waited. he fussed for 15 minutes, escalated to all out crying with breaks for 30 minutes, then silence.

i felt horrible. my skin was crawling and i felt just awful. in the morning i was anxiously awaiting sounds of him waking so i could go in and pick him up. when i did he was not his usual happy cheerful self. all day he was quiet and i could not get a smile out of him. i think my heart is a little broken

before i had A i was all for cio, but then when he came i just could not stand the thought of him crying alone in the dark feeling abandoned, but thought i would be willing to do it if i had to when he was "older" not sure what i meant by older. but last night i just didn't know what else to do. nothing i did was helping and i felt like me being there was actually making it worse. i keep wondering if we made the right decision, but now that we've started, i feel like we need to see this through.

so tonight i fed him, burped him, held him and rocked him for 10 minutes hoping he'd fall asleep, but when i put him down he opened his eyes and was just looking at me. i patted his bottom for a while. nothing. so i forced myself to walk out. gave hubbs the monitor, and turned on the tv so i couldn't hear. after 30 minutes i came back up and asked for the verdict. dh said he talked to himself a bit, then fussed, then all out cried for 20 minutes, and just as hubbs was going to give in and walk in, quiet.

feeling conflicted. not sure if i'm doing the right thing at the right time y'know?

 

[NovemberBride]

Re car seats - we just went to the car seat clinic and children's hospital and I asked about location of the car seat. First, Fiery is right, the safest position is where the seat is installed correctly. Beyond that, the middle is safest because of side impact collisions. Most cars do not approve the use of LATCH in the middle position - check your manual and don't use LATCH in the middle if it is not approved for your vehicle. However, I was told that LATCH is not "safer" than regular seatbelt installation, it is just easier (which may mean safer if people aren't installing correctly though). Their recommendation, all other things being equal, was to install in the center position, with seatbelt or LATCH as permitted for your car. That said, a correctly installed car seat is safe no matter what the position and if you have more than one kid they can't both be in the middle. Also, they are now definitely recommending rear-facing as long as possible.

 

[Mara]

ginger, why would you feel conflicted about timing? both times you did CIO, A fell asleep on his own after 20-30 min of crying. that is great--some parents have to do 1-2 hours of crying before the kid falls asleep.

i don't LIKE CIO either. J is a really sunny happy baby in general but if you do something he doesn't like, he gets really PO'd. that would include us not coming to get him when he cries or if we put him down when he wants to be held. he's got a little bit of an attitude already and i have his number! i adore my kid but i don't want to overly cater to him.

our kids are SMART. and while i don't think they can manipulate us at this point because that implies that they have negative intentions, i DO believe in cause and effect. aka i am left alone, i cry because i want to be with the others, and mom comes to get me, i feel better. that leads me to think that 'chain of events' is the way it SHOULD be going right??? we can't expect them to think anything else if that is the way we act.

A might be a little young for you to feel comfortable CIO but if he was 9 months or 1 year, and you were just simply flat out exhausted, would you feel differently? because sleep is a necessary item for EVERYONE in the household, parents and kiddo. you can be a better parent and he can be a better child if you guys were all well rested.

i read something recently that said that about 4mo is when the baby can realize that they are NOT abandoned and left under the banana leaf to expire...but rather that they know that mom and dad are nearby but just choosing not to respond. that rationale has kind of stuck with me as an interesting point. i am not sure why experts think it happens AT 4mo, but it was just interesting.

anyway blah blah all this to say... seriously after TWO HOURS of you trying everything, what else should you be doing? he's not a newborn anymore who doesn't know how to sleep. if you know he's exhausted but won't let himself sleep, what else can you do. i wouldn't even sleep on his floor, if you have a video monitor you can see he's fine. and just based on his history of not wanting to sleep longer than 1 or 2 hours, ithis seems like a good enough time as any to start training him to sleep better.

just my two cents. i own up to totally going into J's room and give him paci or roll him over since getting stuck sucks, BUT if he was waking every hour OR not letting me put him down after 2 hours, i would have to find the courage to just let him deal, toss a pillow over my head ala viz's suggestion and say 'work it out baby!' because i would need to get some sleep. i know he'd still love me in the morning when i fed him his bottle.

as for him not seeming sunny today, that's probably a bit of mommy guilt and also he's probably a little tired-!! anyway, hang in there, do what you guys feel is best but from what you said it sounded like it's WORKING, even if it's extremely hard. BIG HUGS regardless, as i know it sucks.

re: carseats, thanks ladies for the knowledge, greg read our manual and put the carseat in based on what it said. i think our car does have LATCH in the center too. but now i am curious and will have to check.

 

[Burk]

HI mommies! My first post in PS2 and I don't have a lot of time but wanted to say hello and respond to a few things.

Viz~yay for C!!!

Mara~K is getting both his bottom teeth right now (or at least they're right there at the surface, but haven't broken through so it may be a while until they do) but I thought it was pretty early actually. T got her bottom two right at 6 months but didn't get any other teeth until after a year! Good luck with the part time jobs!

Ginger~I agree with Mara. You did everything you could-2 hours worth!! A couple weeks ago I started a little CIO with K (not hard core because I'm not ready for that) because of his night waking so I can totally relate!

Tao~I started to get a bit of "baby fever" when T was 9 months old but we didn't actually plan to start "trying" for another until she was closer to 18 months.... we ended up getting preggo when she was 16 months. They are 25 months apart and it's really perfect for us. Tayva is old enough to understand direction, she can communicate well with me, she can even "help" me with the baby. There were, of course, little "hiccups" when K came around (she started crying at bed time, became more clingy, ect) but I think there are bumps in the road with the first no matter how old he/she is when baby 2 arrives. Anyway, all this to say, do what's best for you. There are times when I wonder what the h*** I was thinking but there are many, many more days that I wonder how I got so lucky to have TWO amazing kids!

Hi to everyone else!! We are having a house warming party Saturday so I have a million and one things to do tomorrow and Saturday. I won't have time to post tomorrow so I better run and find a pic for BPF......

 

[Burk]

BPF pics:
First is how I found K the other afternoon when I came downstairs from going up to get T from her nap. Yep, he was on the middle of the blanket you see in the background when I left him. Second is my happy baby and I on the fourth of July.

ETA: whoops, mislabeled the pics-obviously first is of K and I and second of him after rolling half distance of the room.....still figuring this version two stuff out!