PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Lanie]

Hahaha! Pouty lip IS cute. It's like the end of the world, SO DRAMATIC.

Baby cries. I ask him, "what could possibly be so wrong?" Did your gf break up with you? Did your pet die? Did you lose your job? Do you owe thousands of dollars in taxes and you don't know how to cope? No? Oh, you are just hot. OK. That warrants a GIANT SCREAM.

 

[noelwr]

oh darn, this baby language is for newborn to 3 months. so I've only got 2 weeks left of understanding my kid. haha

 

[meresal]

Noel, that picture is so cute!

Re: the sympathy crying, all babies do it. We actually had this happen at Gymboree class when C was about 3-4 months. All the babies were all laying around a mirror on the ground, practicing tummy time. One baby began to cry and like clockwork the babies on each side started, and it went around the entire circle like this. Every single baby was crying, and all of us moms were laughing hysterically. Not one of them had a single reason to be crying.

I have never heard of the communication thing you wrote about. Interesting.

Today my baby boy is 10 MONTHS old! What a blessing he has been, and he lights up my day begining every morning when I pull him out of his crib!

Here he is, yesterday was his first trip to the park, and he LOVED it:

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

O.M.G! I can't believe how big he is!!!

PS BABIES NEED TO STOP GROWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[icekid]

MP- Looooove that photo of Micah. What a little ham, even from behind.

Mara- Happy very belated birthday Julian! Time really does fly.

noel- Aww, Skye the smiley little girl! What a doll. Jumper is not bothered by other babies crying He is a little man and wonders what the fuss is all about hehe. We've been going to the library lately and he loves looking at other babies, though.

drk- Kara is gorgeous. Congrats on making is so far with breastfeeding. You sure worked hard for it and should be really proud!

Kunzite- It is definitely hard to deal with the no reason crying. Fortunately, we do not have it often anymore. Hopefully as O gets older his will wane, too. Remember to cut him some slack because he really is still very young! It will get easier though, mama. Hang in there. I'm sure his insane cuteness helps, though!

ss- HOORAY for Lily coming off her meds. That is wonderful news.

Lanie- It is slow-going around here! How is A?

mer- Little C looks so happy! Can't wait until my little guy is big enough to do more outdoor activities. It must be so exciting to watch them discover everything outside.

Dunstan baby language... have heard of it, and Jumper definitely has distinct cries but I don't pay much attention to it to be honest. He pretty much only cries if hungry or tired. If he has just eaten, then he is tired. If he has just woke from a nap, he is hungry. Ha.

--------------------

Well, Jumper and I have been MIA lately because... work is next week SO sad and I have been trying to spend every waking moment with him. We are completely blessed (and lucky!) with a really easy baby. He truly only cries at this point when he is hungry or tired. He is totally a joy- smiley little man and SUCH a talker and mover. He likes to have "conversations" with us already. It is the cutest thing Mommy and daddy are complete mush over this kid.

I do feel somewhat ready to go back to work and use my brain! But do not feel at ALL ready to leave my baby yet, especially with my hours. When I start back, I won't see him for about 24 hours and work 14 days straight This is totally terrifying. Of course, I KNEW it would be this way, but knowing and being there are always so different. Pumping is stressing me out, too. Thus far, Jumper has been EBF which I am so proud of because there have been pretty much constant (and still continuing) struggles. We're going to do a little trial tomorrow where hubby will feed him all day and I'll pump, just to see how it goes.

On the nanny vs daycare debate- we have decided to try daycare, with the option to change our minds at any point Family members are going to visit and take care of him for the first three weeks, which will be great (even though MIL is going to drive us NUTS!) The daycare we picked has video cameras so you can check in and see what is going on remotely. They seem nice. But of course, it's never the same as if you were taking care of your baby. Sigh. This is really hard. Fortunately, hubby will always be the one dropping him to daycare because that sounds awful.

At 2.5 months (and maybe around 12 lbs now), we're getting a 5 or 6 hour sleeping stretch followed by a feed, then another 4 hour sleep most nights. I think this is pretty impressive given his stats and that he is breastfed. I am under no disillusion that we have caused this and know we are darn lucky! Fortunately sleep deprivation is a normal part of my life, but it is still going to be extra PAINFUL to get up for work at 4 or 5. He is generally falling asleep around 10:30 or 11, and on normal work nights my bed time is usually around 9:30. Hopefully over time we can shift his sleep schedule up.

I am looking forward so much to this summer when we will be able to get out and do more. We're planning on the beach, tons of walks, and maybe the aquarium! Yay for the warmer weather.

 

[dcgator]

A quick fly by to say, OMG, what a bunch of cuties we have here! You all could start your own baby modeling firm, Btw, Lanie, I love the crying comment, lol.

 

[somethingshiny]

Noel~ YES!! I use it all the time with newborns! I heard about it on Oprah when I was giganto preggo with JT. I implemented it right away and I think that's why I'm really good at deciphering what cries mean even with kids that aren't mine. I have people call me up and tell me to listen to their baby cry so I can interpret. lol. I think maybe you have to have an ear for it because my mom and sis can't make heads or tails of the sounds.


Lily is doing so good getting off her meds! We've had zero problems, knock on wood. I am over the moon! Everybody is thankful for their healthy babies being handed to them at birth. I get that feeling now at 7 months old! It's kinda like that new mama feeling all over again.

 

[Skippy123]

PSA: IKEA Repairs Cribs Due to Mattress Support Collapse. More info here. http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_us/about_ikea/press/product_recalls/index.html


aww, all the babies are sooooo Adorable!!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

So it's been a looooooong time since I last posted a pic of Aidan, so today you're getting a few! I finally uploaded all of the pictures from our camera. Enjoy! Aidy will be SIX MONTHS on the 9th! Can you believe it?

These days we're working on sitting up and enjoying the jolly jumper.

 

[somethingshiny]

JT had a great Birthday party this afternoon/ Lily napped for the first time in a crib at my in-laws. That's big for us because it means she can stay there some night. Not yet though. Mama's not ready for that!

Lily is doing crazy things with her tongue now. Here's a pic from today.

 

[AllieLuv83]

Here are a few late pictures of my little man. Charlie's Grammy and Grandpy are visiting this weekend and he is being such a sweet little ham.

Please excuse me looking a hot mess and hubby looking like a goon!

 

[drk]

Cute pics everyone!
Love Lily's hair. Wish K had that much to style...

So the dry spell here is finally over and sexy time is back - just before the 2 year anniversary of the last time we did it. I don't remember it being so uncomfortable when I did it for the first time at 19. Youch is all I can say about today. I don't know if they put everything back in the right spot when they sewed me up, but things felt very different down there. Hope it all gets better soon! Happy Bday to DH at least...

 

[noelwr]

I love it when we get this thread hoppin' with baby pics.

meresal - wow, 10 months! where do you live that you can go to the park in the middle of Feb? what color are C's eyes?
by the way, why do they practice tummy time around a mirror?

icekid - sounds like Jumper is one content baby! I love the open mouth smiles and how they shape the tongue. he sounds like he has a similar sleeping pattern to Skye. we give last bottle around 11, then she sleeps til 6, has another bottle, then sleeps til 10am. this is working great for me as I'm not working and won't be the coming months, but when she starts daycare in May, we'll have to start getting her to bed earlier.

shiny - that's fantastic that you have an ear for baby language. can I have your phone number??? I agree with drk that it must be fun to be able to do stuff with Lily's hair. we're limited to headbands for now. I bought barrettes, but doubt we'll get to use them for months.

HH - A does look totally happy in his jumper.

Allie - Charlie's got beautiful eyes.

drk - yay for sexy time coming back! we're not that far yet and might still be months with my surgery, chemo, waiting for DH to get a V. but I do expect that after all that, I will be "revirginized". read in What To Expect... that the first few times will probably be very sore. so best just keep at it. I mean after all, you did pass a baby through there so it's got to be doable!

 

[AllieLuv83]

HH Aidan is such a cutie I didn't see these pictures on the OTHER WEBSITE but I just love him and can't wait to meet him.

Shiny - Lily is so sweet! Love that hair.

Mare - C looks like such a little man how adorable.

All the babies are just sweet!

Drk- Welcome to sexy back land! How in the world did you make it 2 years?

 

[drk]

Allie - well, first we were stressed with my big exams and IVF (and the fun had been taken out of sex by the years of infertility treatments), then in early pregnancy we were worried about bleeding making us worry about miscarrying again, then just as we were going to go for it in the second trimester, I got put on pelvic rest with my super frequent contractions. Plus I was still on progesterone suppositories the whole time, so the goo from those didn't make sex very appealing. Then everything was sore from the delivery, and then the frequent feeding/pumping/going back to work just exhausted me. And DH doesn't usually come to bed the same time I do, so opportunities to go for it were pretty limited. Plus I think my hormones aren't all there, since I haven't gotten PPAF yet. Now that I'm down to pumping twice a day and have nights where I get 9 hours of sleep, I'm a little more prepared to spend sleeping time doing something else! I'm not sure how DH went nearly 2 years though... Guess he kept himself happy!

 

[Puppmom]

re: sexy time. I could totally see it getting that far. DH and I have only tried a few times since N was born. DH is dying to get it on but pumping/breastfeeding has left me with NO drive.

 

[AllieLuv83]

LOL "Guess he kept himself happy" that's too funny when DH tries to get all on me I send him off to keep himself happy. I have to admit for some odd reason my SEX drive has been crazy since having the baby. I thought it would be the total opposite. It is 10 time better now than it ever was.

 

[turtledazzle]

Such cute pictures, everyone! We are terrible about downloading our pics from our camera. must.do.it.soon!

T had his 6-mo appointment on Friday. He's 28" long and 19lbs 5oz -- still a very big boy, but actually moved down in the percentiles a little bit (92% height and 81% weight). He thankfully handled the vaccines well -- just took a couple of extra-long naps the next day.

He is just a sweet and happy baby -- we are truly blessed. DH can get him to completely crack up laughing. He doesn't do that for me, but he is always smiley for me so I'll take it .

Solids are going well. So far he has had rice cereal, oatmeal, banana, butternut squash, green beans and sweet potato. Green beans were definitely his least favorite, but he still ate them (especially when mixed with some cereal). Avocado will be next, I think.

 

[meresal]

HH- Isn't it crazy how much the grow and so quickly. I realized today that I have somehow just blocked it all out... which for me, is probably much better.
We went to a 1st birthdya party today at Gymboree, and saw his little friends for the first time in what feels like months. It hit me, that the last time I was in Gymboree with C, he wasn't even sitting up yet! So crazy!
Love the new pics of Aiden!

Ice- Thank you. He is a VERY happy baby. Literally smiling all the time. It is infectious
I love all the things he is doing now, and can't wait for him to be even more active. I may be weird, but I wasn't a huge fan of the young stage. I think my fondest memory of those first few months was of meeting him for the first time, ever since then, the growing up and finding all new things has been my favorite part!
Jumper is such a looker! He looks like a very happy baby as well!

SS- Lily is such a cutie! C started doing funny things with his toung as well. So cute.

Allie- Thank you. I LOVE the new pics! C is gorgeous!
Drk- Congratulations on ending the dry spell. A good birthday for DH indeed. I hope things start to feel better for you.

Noel- We are in Texas, south. It has been in the 80's the last few days. His eyes are blue, but not a real bright blue, they are the kind that pop in the right color shirt.
They use the mirror to get the babies to look at themselves. You don't lay their entire body on the mirror, just from the shoulders up. It is actually pretty neat.

Turtle- Greens took us a bit longer as well. Glad to hear everything else is going so well!


I have some exciting news as of today! Though C still won't hold his own bottle or feed himself little snacks, he drank from a STRAW today!!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

TD-can you believe our little guys are 6 months? A is almost there, he'll be 6 mo on the ninth. It just blows my mind. One thing I've found that works to get him on board with green veggies (he's not a fan of green or orange veggies), is to introduce it two or three times alone and if he still can't get on the veggie train to cut it with apples or pears so there's a bit of sweetness but he can still taste the taste of the veg. Then as the week progresses cut back on the fruit until you're doing straight veg. It's worked so far with A.

 

[AllieLuv83]

C had his 4 month appointment on Wednesday of last week. He is 16lbs (75th percentile) and 27iches long (90th percentile) he dropped in percentiles for weight so I was a little concerned. His shots caused him to spike a 102 fever for about 36 hours. I had to take two days without pay because they made me use all my sick days on my maternity leave and I was so concerned about the little guy. HE WAS BURNING UP! I gave him cool baths all day long and then tylenol every 4 hours. I want to make an appointment for the 6 month appointment on a Friday so in case he reacts the same way at least we will be at home with him. PS has some big babies !

 

[Puppmom]

Wow, Allie - C is tall! ...and so handsome. Sorry he had such a reaction to his shots. Our doc does well visits on Saturday - that has been a lifesaver for us!

HH, too cute that A fell asleep in the jumperoo! I hope he allowed you lots of sleep this weekend.

Turtle, T seems so close in size to N. He was 20lbs5oz at his 6 month appt. Today we took him out to breakfast and the waitress was going on and on about how chubby he is. Like - OVER THE TOP - was he big when he was born? what do you feed him? were you a big baby? I was like - Alright, I get it. He's big!

SS, LOVE that pic of Lily! Looks like that kiddo has a sense of humor! It's so fantastic that she's doing so well off her meds. What else is up with her these days?

Ice, that Jumper looks like such a happy kid! I see such personality in that handsome face!

There are so many of us with baby's around the 5-7 month mark. Lots will be happening for us soon - the sitting, the crawling, the solids. It's all so much fun! Tiring, but fun.

RE: solids - do you guys give veggies in the morning? We're trying each thing for 3 days to make sure there are no allergies but giving N green beans for breakfast seems so gross! But we gotta get him on the veggie train because, so far, he's only had fruit, rice cereal and sweet potatoes. This kid's gonna get a sweet tooth!

N is changing so much these days. He's sitting for minutes at a time playing with his toys. It's very cute. He leans forward and almost gets on all fours. Then, he ends up on his belly "swimming" and gets all a fuss. He's enjoying his days with his Grandma. She's really great with him. She's very much looking forward to spring as they'll be doing swim lessons and music group.

 

[somethingshiny]

You know, looking at pics of Lily it would seem her hair is fun. But, I think I spend half my day either getting it out of her eyes or combing out tangles. I started using Burts Bees regular shampoo and conditioner this week and have had better luck with the knots. I used it on my hair first and rubbed it in my eyes because it didn't say tear free. It didn't hurt so I went ahead and used it on her. lol.


This is her first day completely off meds. So far so good! The sleeping and eating are completely thrown off. I think she was used to being awake at certain times and kind of had her internal clock set. Since we started weaning, she's confused her schedules. I'm sure in a couple weeks she'll be fine. She's actually eating a bit less too. For 3 days she hasn't had more than 36 oz. Hopefully if she's not gaining weight so fast, she'll be able to crawl some day! She still hasn't rolled onto her tummy. But, she's a great sitter.

RE: solids. Lily gets solids twice a day. She isn't really hungry in the morning so she just takes a small bottle. Lunch is solids and dinner is solids (plus bottles). HH's advice about cutting a veg with a fruit is spot on! Even a new fruit can be cut with apples so it's more familiar for the picky eaters. You can also cut with carrots or sweet potatoes if baby particularly likes them. I don't think JT ever ate a straight green veg, it was always cut with carrots.

I planned on writing much more, but Lily has been CIO this naptime and I gotta go. Bye!

 

[Sha]

Just delurking to say how cute all the little babies are! Seems like they born just the other day - and now they're all so big!

 

[noelwr]

I used it on my hair first and rubbed it in my eyes because it didn't say tear free.

wow, what a dedicated mom! I haven't even tasted the formula milk, yet. nor do I ever plan to...

 

[Puppmom]

Yesterday we went to the grocery with N and he sat in the front of the cart like a big boy! That was surreal.

 

[blushingbride]

Hi Ladies!

Just quickly jumping in on the solid conversation. The twins are 5 months (crazy! ) and started on solids about two weeks ago. We started out with a few tablespoons once per day. This week, we are doing rice cereal in the AM and veggies at night (I introduced fruits to them first). How much are you giving your LO? I've just been doing a couple tablespoons per baby, but is that enough for their age? Also, we got the green light to introduce water, but how are we supposed to do that? Just give them an ounce or two during the day? The whole solids thing is so confusing! I can see that Alen is going to be a good eater, but Laila does not like carrots at all...her faces are priceless!! She's still learning to open her mouth and move the food to the back of her mouth. Alen's got the hang of it though.

Anyway, any advice on all of this for 5-month olds would be appreciated!

Love to see all the pics of everyone's growing babes!

 

[drk]

BB - I just started giving K little bits of water in a sippy cup when she had her solids. It took her a while to get the hang of it. I have no idea if I'm doing the food thing the right way, but we started out with solids in the evening, then moved to morning and night, and later added a mid-day meal in. She gets 4 5oz bottles a day with 3 meals of solids in between (with water to drink with the solids). She's pretty much eating or drinking every 2 hours through the day, then sleeps her 12 hours at night.
She got the hang of eating pretty quickly, I'd say, and since I made a lot of her food myself, wasn't used to totally smooth purees from the start. She'll gag a little from time to time if too big a chunk makes it to the back of her mouth, but thankfully has never thrown up from the gagging.
Sounds like you're doing well, and should just keep on doing what you're doing!

 

[blushingbride]

BB - I just started giving K little bits of water in a sippy cup when she had her solids. It took her a while to get the hang of it. I have no idea if I'm doing the food thing the right way, but we started out with solids in the evening, then moved to morning and night, and later added a mid-day meal in. She gets 4 5oz bottles a day with 3 meals of solids in between (with water to drink with the solids). She's pretty much eating or drinking every 2 hours through the day, then sleeps her 12 hours at night.
She got the hang of eating pretty quickly, I'd say, and since I made a lot of her food myself, wasn't used to totally smooth purees from the start. She'll gag a little from time to time if too big a chunk makes it to the back of her mouth, but thankfully has never thrown up from the gagging.
Sounds like you're doing well, and should just keep on doing what you're doing!

Thanks Drk - how much water did you give in the beginning and did you start with water in the bottle or went straight for the sippy?

 

[AllieLuv83]

Charlie will be 5 months on March 12th and I can't wait to try some solids with him. Right now we are giving him some brown rice cereal and he seems to be doing very well with it.