PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Loves Vintage]

Thanks for the advice, Noel and Lanie. This is going to be hard!! I think I'm going to have to bring tylenol to daycare and let them give it to her if she's really bad. I can't have her sitting there all day screaming like that little boy was the other day. I'm going to have to call the pedi again about these drops.

Noel - Thanks for the advice on the bananas. She gets a very small amount, so hopefully no negative effects. Do you do sweet potato at all? Has your doctor advised anything differently re: teething? I wonder if the have different recommendations?

Lanie - YES, the pedi suggested starting solids at her 4 month visit. I've read 4 mos, 6 mos and beyond. He said we can start with whatever we want, so long as we try one new thing each week (since an allergy would appear in a few days or so and then we'd know which food was the cause.) She does really well with it, and totally goes for the spoon. Haha!

Oh, those pictures are adorable. That second photo is priceless. Almost got a tear in my eye!

Geri - I forgot to mention. I do think she babbles less now. She almost seems to have conversations with us now, and she quietly observes everything around her. I'm not sure I would have noticed it if you hadn't mentioned it, though.

 

[Kunzite]

Allie - Look how cute C is! Seeing him only a month older than O makes it really obvious that my little guy was early! C is so steady sitting there. Is he feeling better?

Laine - So cute!! O does that same little smile at the mirror. I'm glad to hear the trip went well, it gives me hope for any future trips we might do!

LV - Baby Legs!!! We have three pair, I love them so much. Without them I don't think O would ever be in a onsie. You're lucky because the girl ones are so much better than the boy ones!! We just moved from rice cereal to actual food this weekend. We started with sweet potato and it was a huge hit. I plan to make my own baby food but we started out with a few jars of Earths Best just in case he didn't like starting food so I didn't make a batch that would be potential waste. Now that he likes it I need to get to meal planning! One down side of solids... Diaper spraying!! Get ready for some fun my friend

AFM - O was back to his normal sleep schedule last night, yahoo! Now let's hope it lasts

 

[AllieLuv83]

Thank you for asking. He seems to be feeling much better. The second round of ominicef really knocked that ear infection out. He is breaking his first 2 teeth so he has been crying about that a bit but it is such an insane difference from seeing him sick all the time.

How many weeks gestation was O when he was born? Charlie was a little bit early but still full term. They say preemies catch up to their age appropriate peers by like 2 years old I think, you can't see a difference. C has been slow with his milestones, he didn't really sit steady, on his own until close to 6.5 months. He sat in a tripod at like 5 months but that lasted for a long time until he finally mastered the sitting.

 

[noelwr]

Kunzite & LV - what are Baby Legs?

Kunzite - when you move on to fruit & veggies, you will find that diaper cleaning becomes so much better. it comes out pasty at first and then gradually harder. no more leaks!

LV - sweet potato isn't big here, so I haven't tried that. I pretty much stick to carrots, peas, fava beans, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, potatoes. regarding teething, the doctor hasn't recommended anything and they don't even recommend medicine for when it really does get bad. Skye isn't in pain as it doesn't keep her awake at night. try giving S lots of chew toys... and you can try the ones that you have to cool in the fridge before hand.

Lanie - A has got awesome legs! I really need to catch up with SYTYCD... I'm still on New York.

I know it's mean, but with her bald head and big eyes, my baby often reminds me of Paul, the alien...

 

[AllieLuv83]

God she is so cute. I love that look on her face like "What did I do mom?".

 

[Puppmom]

Kunzite, diaper changes will get better. The *peanut butter" poo is temporary. Now, when N poops, I can literally just pick it up off the diaper and drop it in the toilet. I have a diaper sprayer and only have to spray maybe once or twice per week now.

...so MIL is in the hospital. She *called out* yesterday with what she thought was a stomach bug. We got a call from FIL that the pain became too much so they went to the ER. They admitted her and poked at her all day. They didn't find anything but the gastroenterologist will be looking at her this morning. Keep her in your thoughts!

 

[Lanie]

Oh no pupp! I hope your MIL is back home feeling better soon.

For those that plan on having more kids on down the line, how do you organize your old baby clothes? Do you keep everything? Do you keep the good things and donate/sell the rest? Also, what do you do with the old baby gear your baby has outgrown? Right now I have giant shopping bags full of old baby clothes in his closet bc I haven't gotten around to a better system yet.

 

[AllieLuv83]

I saved each and every piece of clothing, hopefully when LO #2 comes along, if it is a boy and depending on the season I will go through and donate some, if it is a girl then I will keep it for one more round of baby. I bought things that are timeless, things that can be outdated I might donate sooner.

 

[geri]

Skippy - I!m glad things are improving with the feeding. Those early weeks are tough, even without preemies and twins. You are doing a great job!

Allie- C is so precious with those big eyes. He really does look like a litle person now!

LV - He, he. I didn't think about stroppy being a particularly Australian expression! We also use an expression about people "spitting the dummy" when they get mad about something (dummy is what we call a paci). Not sure whether it is used in the US but now I have a much better understanding of where it comes from!

Re solids - like Noel, we are starting with rice cereal and a little pear puree to help with the constipation. No issues so far but Claudia is really only have tastes of 1-2 teaspoons at the moment. We will slowly increase it but don't plan on having solids replacing milk before 6 months.

No advice on the teething but I hope the fever has gone away.

Lanie - those photos of A are great! Funny re the sturdy butt - Claudia can sit unassisted for small amounts of time and I wonder whether it is because she is a little on the ah, chubby side!

Noel - so sweet!

Pupp - hope everything is ok for your MIL.

Well, Claudia has found her voice again, except everything is now a high pitched squeal! She is also really hard to feed at the moment because she is soooo distracted. Patience, patience!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Kunzite - O is very cute in his baby legs! Do you find them on etsy too? How are you planning to make your food in advance? Ice cube trays or something like that. I have to research. We are still on bananas. Haha. She really only takes a few tastes. I don't have a sprayer yet. Guess I need to work on that.

Noel - Thanks for the teething tips. The next day after that one bad night, she chewed on a teething ring all day. Today she seemed just fine, so hoping things stay manageable. Your baby menu sounds yummy. Do you prepare everything in advance and freeze? Baby Legs are baby leg warmers: http://www.babylegs.com/ I notice a lot of the moms on a cloth diapering forum use these. That's the only place I've seen them. I noticed O was wearing them in the 2nd pic on the last page.

Puppmom - I hope everything is ok with your MIL. Sending healing thoughts.

Geri - I learned what a dummy is from reading posts here. No, we don't use that phrase, but I totally get its meaning too. Haha. Glad your little girl has found her voice again! hee!

**********
I think we're going to see a roll soon. S will raise herself up on her back legs, but ONLY when she's on the changing table! When I put the changing pad on the floor, she won't do it. Is that part of rolling at first? Launching off that way with their legs? She seems like she wants to roll when she's raising up on her legs.

 

[noelwr]

LV - yes, I mostly prepare her food in advance for a week, but sometimes I do it while cooking our own food so that I don't have to fry her teeny tiny bit of meat/fish/chicken separately. regarding rolling, S doesn't roll by raising herself on her back legs. she does that (also on the changing table) when she is irritated! S started rolling the day after she started grabbing her feet. the feet go up, the hands grab them, she rolls to one side. however, now she doesn't have to grab her feet anymore to roll and can manage it by extending her whole body and arching/twisting.

 

[Kunzite]

Allie - So glad to hear that C feels better. O was nearly 31 weeks when he was born. I don't even think we're close to a tripod sit yet. I actually think my baby had no desire to sit at all. He loves to be on his tummy!! I think he's going to crawl before he sits!

Noel - I love that picture of S!!! How have you been feeling?

Pup - Good to know the peanut butter doesn't last forever. It's even worse because O went from pooping once every 3 days to at least once, sometimes twice, a day. Ornery baby. Please let us know how your MIL is doing, dust coming your way!

Laine - I was going to get rid of all of O's clothes but apparently my DH is pretty sentimental about them. So I'm just storing them in the closet ATM and we might have a quilt made out of our favorites sometime down the line.

Geri - Little C is such a doll. Happy to hear she found her voice again.

LV - I bought some little storage containers from One Step Ahead (I don't know how to link them from my phone...) that I got from Amazon. They hold 2 oz and have grooves in the bottoms/tops so they can stack together. They're pretty nifty. Our Baby Legs are all made by BL (two of them are from the BumGenius line so they match the diapers!). DH's cousin knitted us some leg warmers but since there isn't any elastic on them they just fall off of his legs. For that reason I've hesitated to get any off Etsy. O never pushed off his back legs to roll, he just swung them around to get momentum.

The night drama continues over here. Our one good night must have been a fluke. I'm starting to wonder if it's just a delayed wakeful. The night before last was another 2 hour awake period from 3 - 5. Last night he woke at 1 but I as able to get him to eat 3 oz and go back to sleep in about 15 minutes. Then he got back up at 3 again. This time I just brought him to bed with me and he slept fine. I don't mind bringing him into our bed if it will help him sleep (in fact I love it, hehe) but I afraid that it will start a cycle of him not being able to get back to sleep in his crib.

 

[somethingshiny]

pupp~ Hope everything is going well with your Mil!!

RE: keeping stuff, After JT, although we knew we wanted more kids, we gave nearly everything to my sister whose son was born right at a year later. We still had the crib and the big stuff, but the clothes and toys that were outgrown were immediately passed down. I already gave all of Lily's clothes away to a friend of my sis whose daughter was born last month. We're not sure if we're done yet or not. But, I figure someone should get use out of them. If they remain in good condition and I need them, they'll come back to me. If I had kept all JT's stuff it's not like I would've had much use for them with Lily. I have kept a few outfits and some keepsake stuff for each of them. My sis gave me a bunch of stuff back after her son outgrew it and it got ruined in a basement flood. I'm glad that the stuff at least went through 2 kids before it was trashed.

sorry, this was all kinds of rambling! With all these babies and kids running in and out it's all I can do to keep a thought in my head for five minutes.

All of these babies are getting so big! I can't believe Lily is close to a year old!

 

[Puppmom]

Hey, ladies. Thanks for thinking of MIL (and us!). Just popping in to say no real news. She's still in the hospital and still in pain whenever they back off the meds. We're worried but hopeful that it's nothing big. FIL's tennis partner is a gastroenterologist (SP?) and he came by to take a look and ordered a bunch more tests. Getting information from FIL is really like getting information from a toddler - he won't tell you anything you don't ask and even then you're lucky to get a straight answer. As for us, I took off Monday and today, DH was off yesterday and our darling 16YO DD will watch him half of tomorrow and most of Friday. I totally trust her with N but get nervous that she has no transportation in case of emergency. My BFF lives about 3 miles away. I won't ask her to watch N because she has a two month old but she's close in case of an issue. DH and I both commute about 45 minutes to work. Next week - well that's going to be interesting! DD starts her first job and DH's boss will be in Greece. I have about 20 PTO days left but I'm SO busy at work. N is pretty sheltered so anything other than MIL or the immediate fam is going to be rough on him (and his mommy!). One day at a time...

 

[Skippy123]

ALLIE, your son is precious and looks like a joy!!! I love his blue eyes, so pretty!

LAINE, your son is darling; aww, I just want to squeeze him. I love the pic of him seeing himself in the mirror and getting a kick out of that, so precious!!!


NOEL, she is adorable!!!

SS, wow a year already!!! Pics please!

LV, oh fun that she will be rolling soon; she is adorable!!!

KUNZITE, I hope your little one sleeps better, hugs momma!

PUPP, thinking of your MIL and hope everything is okay.


Keep the pictures coming; they make me smile big!!! super stinkin adorable babies
My boys will be 2 months on Saturday. Miles is home and doing well except he loves to stay awake from 4 am to 6 am but otherwise a joy. Evan is still in the NICU and I go there everyday and give him cuddles. E is 6 lbs 10 ozs and M is 5 lbs 8 oz. Miles has put on some weight which is good. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

 

[AllieLuv83]

Oh Skippy I am sure you just can't wait to have both boys home. Do you have any fathers day plans?

How about all you other ladies?

I got P some smallish gifts, new set of steak knives, small meat thermometers, car care kit, shammies. Charlie got Daddy a "best dad" mug, some tea, a picture frame and pictures of him, and we painted a card together. Painting with an 8 month old is an adventure. If I was not so anal I am sure it would have gone better.

 

[Lanie]

Allie, that is so cute. What paint did you use? He didn't try to eat it?

 

[AllieLuv83]

I used a crayola finger paint. He didn't try to put it in his mouth, he really didn't know what to make of it at first, then when he saw me swirling it around with my fingers he joined in the fun. I got the tubes of paint at Joann fabric. The aftermath clean up was a pain but I think DH will feel special and will treasure his first picture for a long time.

 

[random_thought]

Have any of you used fenugreek? I go back to work on Monday and noticed my supply had decreased a bit so I'm giving it a shot. I hope it helps!

 

[noelwr]

geri - we call the paci the dummy, too! but that's because DH is from South Africa so we say things like "nappies".

Allie - painting - how adventurous of you! that is something I am too anal to even think about! I already get annoyed just feeding Skye and her grabbing the spoon, putting her hand/sleeve in her mouth, etc. they were busy at day care with Fathers' Day cards as S came home with paint on her foot. I'll let them do the messy work there.

regarding what we're going to do on FD, pretty much nothing. DH got me earring for Mother's Day and I got him a new amp for the sound system for FD which has already been connected and working for 3 weeks. he couldn't wait to set it up. what these presents actually have to do with MD and FD - nothing. just using it as an excuse to give gifts.

- - -

AFM, I am on to the 2nd batch of chemo treatments (which is weekly for 12 weeks). had the 2nd one yesterday, and so far no bad side effects - don't even have to take nausea pills! I am so relieved because I thought if I had to be nauseous for a few days every week for 12 weeks, I was going to get clinically depressed. the only problem is that my veins are so small and hard to find, so it takes them a few tries to insert the IV and then sometimes the vein gets irritated that they have to run the drip at 3x less the speed so yesterday I was on it for 7 hours when I should have been done in 3. anyway, I am scheduled to have a little metal box with a tube that goes into my vein (port-a-cath) inserted under my collar bone so they only have to prick through my skin into the metal box. this is a day operation and should happen in about 2 weeks.

 

[somethingshiny]

RT~ Good luck going back to work!

Noel~ As always, you're in my prayers. I'm so glad that you're feeling good!



Baby T ended up getting sick yesterday. Fever, throwing up and diarrhea. He's at the dr right now and I'm hoping Lily doesn't come down with it.

Lily has finally said "Mama"!!! I'm not sure she meant it though....lol

That's all for now. My house is a wreck after not being able to keep up with it all week. And, since it's a mess, of course I expect some of DH's family to stop by.

 

[noelwr]

Kunzite - I just wanted to say you could try putting the rice cereal into O's last bottle at night as that might keep him satisfied enough to STTN.

shiny - yay "Mama"! I hope Lily doesn't come down with anything.

- - -

Things I have learned about Skye:

1. She loves her baby cookies. I mush them in warm water and spoon feed them. When it's all gone she gets very upset and starts crying! I could try giving her 2 cookies at once, but I'm afraid to spoil her appetite for dinner which is 1.5 hrs later.

2. She loves to catch the shower streams. After her bath, I lightly run the shower over her and she loves to try to catch the streams with her hands or tongue!

I was able to get a barrette to hold on to a few strands for a few minutes.


and here she is yesterday as her usually smiley self

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Have any of you used fenugreek? I go back to work on Monday and noticed my supply had decreased a bit so I'm giving it a shot. I hope it helps!

Im taking More Milk Plus by Motherlove, it's a combination of fenugreek, blessed thistle, fennel seed and something else I can't remember right now. It's helped. I initially bought it locally but then found it about $10 cheaper on Amazon. Good luck with work!

 

[AllieLuv83]

I just actually ordered Mother Milk Plus on Amazon. The girl I know that takes it says that by the end of the day her boobs feel VERY full, and my problem is that I feel like by the end of the day I am seriously empty.

 

[Puppmom]

MIL is out of the hospital and feeling "alright". She wants to watch N next week but I think we're going to make alternate arrangements. I don't want her to push it and she's certainly not going to say it's too much. I'm considering going to work late - after I put N down for his morning nap (he sleeps 9 or 9:30 to 12 or 12:30), then she'll have the morning to relax. He'll go down again from 3-5 and then I'll be home. That leaves her just the few hours mid-day to entertain him. Either that, or I'll take some PTO and ask my mom to do a few days. Thanks for all of your well wishes. Have a great Father's Day weekend!

ETA - official diagnosis was colitis but they don't know the cause so more tests are in order.

 

[random_thought]

Just wanted to update that I have been taking the fenugreek capsules and my milk has quadrupled! I'm so relieved!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

RT, do you smell like pancakes yet?

 

[random_thought]

RT, do you smell like pancakes yet?

Haha not yet! I'm waiting for that though

 

[random_thought]

I took Cayden for some photos today and thought you ladies might like this one Sorry it's blurry! I don't have the actual prints yet

 

[KimberlyH]

Lanie, we have all of Jane's clothing in large tupperware containers and her toys she's outgrown stored in the garage. We're moving, and there's a storage area in the guest room/basement where all that stuff will go for the next baby.