PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[monkeyprincess]

Hi all, it's been pretty quiet in here lately. Hope everyone and their little ones are doing well!

Things are going alright around here. I was out of town a lot the past two weeks, so I'm looking forward to a weekend at home with my boys. We have a full-fledged crawler now, and he is starting to do a bear crawl, which is hilarious.

We found out a bit of upsetting news today. For awhile, I've noticed Ev's back kind of looks crooked sometimes when he's bending over, but I didn't think much of it. One of his teachers at daycare noticed it and thought he had a bump or something, so she called to ask about it. I was out of town, so DH took Ev to the doctor yesterday, and the doc wanted him to have an xray to check his spine. He had that done today, and it turns out Ev has a bit of a curve in his spine and a few of his vertebrae (I think he said 2 or 3 of them) are smaller than normal. He said that he is not too alarmed because Ev doesn't seem to have any other signs of a genetic disorder or other syndrome, but he wants us to take him to orthopedic surgeon to evaluate and see what if any treatment he needs. I am hopeful that whatever the issue is, we will be able to treat it, especially since he is so young. I realize this is not that big of a deal compared to the serious illnesses or disorders some parents have to go through, but I'm feeling pretty upset about it.You carry and give birth to these helpless perfect little creatures that you love more than yourself, and the thought that anything might be wrong with them or that something might make their life harder in the future just kills you. Anyway, I'd appreciate any good thoughts or PS dust you have to spare for little Ev.

Again, I hope everyone and their little ones are doing well. Have a good weekend!

 

[amc80]

Hi all, it's been pretty quiet in here lately. Hope everyone and their little ones are doing well!

Things are going alright around here. I was out of town a lot the past two weeks, so I'm looking forward to a weekend at home with my boys. We have a full-fledged crawler now, and he is starting to do a bear crawl, which is hilarious.

We found out a bit of upsetting news today. For awhile, I've noticed Ev's back kind of looks crooked sometimes when he's bending over, but I didn't think much of it. One of his teachers at daycare noticed it and thought he had a bump or something, so she called to ask about it. I was out of town, so DH took Ev to the doctor yesterday, and the doc wanted him to have an xray to check his spine. He had that done today, and it turns out Ev has a bit of a curve in his spine and a few of his vertebrae (I think he said 2 or 3 of them) are smaller than normal. He said that he is not too alarmed because Ev doesn't seem to have any other signs of a genetic disorder or other syndrome, but he wants us to take him to orthopedic surgeon to evaluate and see what if any treatment he needs. I am hopeful that whatever the issue is, we will be able to treat it, especially since he is so young. I realize this is not that big of a deal compared to the serious illnesses or disorders some parents have to go through, but I'm feeling pretty upset about it.You carry and give birth to these helpless perfect little creatures that you love more than yourself, and the thought that anything might be wrong with them or that something might make their life harder in the future just kills you. Anyway, I'd appreciate any good thoughts or PS dust you have to spare for little Ev.

Again, I hope everyone and their little ones are doing well. Have a good weekend!

Yikes, how scary! I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers!

 

[dani13]

Oh MP, I am so sorry to hear that! I never brought it up here, but L has a congenital eye issue that his ped found at 8 wks. It's called persistent pupillary membrane, and as many yrs as I've been in OB, I ( or any of the docs I work with) had never heard of it. Basically he still has a remnant of membrane in his left eye....this is a membrane that's job is to nourish the pupil when the baby is in utero. The membrane is supposed to disappear by 6 months gestation, but for whatever reason, L still has a tiny piece of it in his eye. The ped found it when she was looking deep into his eyes at his 8 wk appt, and I'm am SO GRATEFUL to her. We ended up seeing 2 different specialists, and one in NY is following him now. He assures us that " in his experience" L's issue is tiny and that he will have
" perfect or near perfect vision." I know docs are not God, so we just won't know what he's seeing or not seeing until he is old enough to tell us. So far, so good, but he's so young......

I TOTALLY understand how you're feeling right now. I literally cried every day for weeks on end when we first found out. I kept envisioning my son having a big black dot in his field of vision, and that killed me. The dr has assured me that that isn't so, but it still absolutely breaks my heart every time I think about it. We have to patch his good eye every day for an hr to make sure he doesn't develop a lazy eye. Doc says its just to be cautious at this point. The whole thing just sucks. I blamed myself for so long. I just want you to know that you aren't alone in this. Lots and lots of dust and prayers for little EV!! Please keep us posted. Hugs!

 

[JGator]

MP, I'm sorry to hear about Ev. Hugs to you. It's great that you caught it early though, and I think you will get good news from the orthopedic surgeon. Hopefully, it's something that can be fixed easily or will correct on its own. I hope it will not impact Ev functionally or cause any pain to him. My thoughts are with you. Congrats on the crawling!

Dani, sorry to hear about L's eye issue also. I had to wear a patch when I was young for a lazy eye, and I'm sure L doesn't notice when the patch is on. I know that can't be easy for you to do on a daily basis though with such a young baby! My thoughts are with you too.

AFU, K has been refusing her night time bottles the last few nights. I think it's related to teething pain. Still no visible teeth even though the doctor said one was coming in at her 9 month appointment. No updates on the crawling front.

 

[Dandi]

Oh mp, I'm so sorry! Like you said it's failry benign in the whole scheme of things, but it doesn't discount how distressing it is to you, as a mother. I hope Ev doesn't need any treatment and continues to charge along at full speed!

Dani, so sorry to hear you went through that, it breaks my heart when I hear of issues relating to babies' health, no matter how minor. I especially for the parents! Babies, they are such resilient little monkies!

 

[monkeyprincess]

Thanks so much ladies for your kind words. I'm just anxious to find out more information as some of the stuff I came across when looking it up made me a little worried. Hopefully it is just a flukey deal that will only require him to wear a brace and monitor it. He also has surgery to remove his cyst on his temple coming up soon. Just wish he didn't have to go through any of that. But Dandi is right that little ones are very resilient.

Dani sorry to hear about L and his eye. I hope the condition will resolve itself and didn't affect the little guy too much.

 

[JGator]

Happy Monday! My mom just left - she was here visiting for 10 days. Here is a photo of K on the slide - her grandmother was holding her, but I cropped her out. Next up, my inlaws are coming for 2.5 weeks on Wednesday! It's so different when it's your own family, isn't it? My inlaws are very nice, but after so many days, you just want your house back! At least my MIL does all the cooking as they are vegetarian and Indian which is good and bad as the house will smell like Indian spices the entire time they are here, and I'll be sick of eating Indian food after a few days.

Hope all is well with all the babies! K will be 10 months later this week! Time sure flies.

 

[jfo]

Wow, I feel like I missed a lot over the past couple of day!

MP, I'm so sorry to hear about Ev. I sincerely hope that the orthropedic surgeon's evalution is positive and he won't need treatment or it will be quick and effective. The good thing is that you guys have already started to do something about it. It doesn't matter if it seems minor or not, we all, as parents, want our children to be healthy, no questions asked. You and your husband are doing everything you can--Ev is a lucky little boy. Hugs and *dust* for you guys!! Keep us updated on that and his cyst removal!

Dani, wow, you are very lucky to have such a great pediatrician to catch L's eye issue and so early on. It sounds like he is getting some fantastic care and the prospects for his vision not being affected is great. Please don't blame yourself, but again, I understand that feeling as a mother!

JGator, love the new photo of K! Such a beautiful, happy girl! Happy almost 10 months! I hope one of K's teeth pops through soon--I know that you'd probably be happy for her to have some relief. Ha ha, about in-laws! Even if you get along with them well, it's always... different. Maybe the Indian cooking smells (which I love, but I can understand can be overwhelming) will overtake the dog smell?

AFU, poor L woke up with a fever of 103.1 on Saturday morning. My parents were supposed to watch her this past weekend while we did some hardcore packing. Well, obviously, those plans went completely out the window. As soon as I noticed the high fever, DH and I said to each other that it's got to be an ear infection. The pediatrician confirmed it later that day and she got another antibiotic shot. Well, she still has been running a fever on and off of around 102 and we go back in less than an hour for a follow-up appointment. I don't feel confident that her infection is getting any better. They can't tell if this is a new infection or that the last one never went away fully since it's only been a couple of weeks. The ped asked us to make an appointment with an ENT specialist since this is L's 5th ear infection since she was born, and her third in a month and a half. I hope that the ENT can help us get to the bottom of her recurrent ear infections and we can find a way to give her real relief. I started researching putting tubes in and I guess there's some controversy as to whether it's good or not to do it. I do hate the idea of her having to get general anesthesia and suffer from some scarring, but I guess I will wait until we hear what the specialist has to say about what to do next.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

[JGator]

Jfo, thanks for the compliments on K. Does L always get a fever and/or a runny nose with her ear infections? Our pediatrician said we should expect runny noses along with ear infections. K sometimes pulls on her ears, and I wonder, but she hasn't had a fever or runny nose. If the ENT thinks L needs tubes, I would go for it. I think there was a thread on here not too long ago about tubes/ear infections. I was a tube kid. They worked for me, but I had to have them done every 2 years growing up - my first surgery was when I was 3. I remember horrible ear aches and never being able to get my ears wet in swimming pools growing up. I really feel sorry for L - I was really worried that K would inherit my small eustachian tubes, but so far, it looks like she hasn't. I do have scar tissue in one ear which I am told later in life will potentially cause some hearing loss, but I had 7 surgeries so I am pretty sure that most kids only need them done once, and hopefully L will be one of those kids. The surgery is pretty routine - takes about 15 minutes if I remember correctly. They put a small tube which looks like a grain of rice in to drain the ear and equalize the pressure. I know it's has to be really scary to think about with anesthesia, but she should get a lot less colds and ear aches going forward. One other suggestion, you might want to try or ask the pedi/ENT about. I put Little Noses Saline drops in K's nose almost every time I give her a diaper change. The pediatrician recommended it a long time ago, but also my ENT has me using a Saline spray in a can every day in the shower. He said it would reduce colds and ultimately reduce subsequent irritation/ear/sinus infections. I have noticed a tremendous difference in the number of colds I get every year, and I think K has only had 1 cold when she was about a month old.

And, you have a good point. I'm sure I will not be able to smell the dog anymore once the Indian cooking smells start. I do like/love Indian food, but it gets old on a 2.5 week visit!

 

[jfo]

Jfo, thanks for the compliments on K. Does L always get a fever and/or a runny nose with her ear infections? Our pediatrician said we should expect runny noses along with ear infections. K sometimes pulls on her ears, and I wonder, but she hasn't had a fever or runny nose. If the ENT thinks L needs tubes, I would go for it. I think there was a thread on here not too long ago about tubes/ear infections. I was a tube kid. They worked for me, but I had to have them done every 2 years growing up - my first surgery was when I was 3. I remember horrible ear aches and never being able to get my ears wet in swimming pools growing up. I really feel sorry for L - I was really worried that K would inherit my small eustachian tubes, but so far, it looks like she hasn't. I do have scar tissue in one ear which I am told later in life will potentially cause some hearing loss, but I had 7 surgeries so I am pretty sure that most kids only need them done once, and hopefully L will be one of those kids. The surgery is pretty routine - takes about 15 minutes if I remember correctly. They put a small tube which looks like a grain of rice in to drain the ear and equalize the pressure. I know it's has to be really scary to think about with anesthesia, but she should get a lot less colds and ear aches going forward. One other suggestion, you might want to try or ask the pedi/ENT about. I put Little Noses Saline drops in K's nose almost every time I give her a diaper change. The pediatrician recommended it a long time ago, but also my ENT has me using a Saline spray in a can every day in the shower. He said it would reduce colds and ultimately reduce subsequent irritation/ear/sinus infections. I have noticed a tremendous difference in the number of colds I get every year, and I think K has only had 1 cold when she was about a month old.

And, you have a good point. I'm sure I will not be able to smell the dog anymore once the Indian cooking smells start. I do like/love Indian food, but it gets old on a 2.5 week visit!

Hi JGator, we have found that L will develop an ear infection after having a cold for some time. We'll realize that she has one by either a fever spike or because she will wake up multiple times at night crying and in pain. She usually does have a cold symptoms like a runny nose or a cough from post-nasal drip when they occur. This time, she only had cold symptoms (and really pretty minor, it seemed) for a couple days before her fever spiked, so I was caught off guard. I suspect that her old ear infection never really went away.

I really appreciate you sharing your personal experience with tubes. It really sounds like you had pretty severe issues growing up--how horrible! I'm so glad that K doesn't seem to be plagued by this. It really is so miserable for kids and the last time I was in the pediatrician's office, we were in the waiting room making sure that L didn't have a reaction to her antibiotic shot and no less than 3 moms in the waiting room were telling me how their kids had tubes put in and how it made a world of difference for them. I'm waiting for a call back to schedule her ENT appointment now. Hopefully they can see her soon and we can start to understand what are options are and ask all the questions we have. And thank you for the suggestion about the saline drops! I have those same drops and usually just use them before I use the Nosefrida when she has a runny or stuffy nose, but I would be absolutely willing to use them with every diaper change if it would help prevent the number of colds she gets! It cannot hurt and how easy to do! Now if I could somehow get the daycare to do it too...

 

[monkeyprincess]

jfo, I definitely agree that if your ENT doctor recommends tubes, you should go for it. My brother needed them as a kid, and they were a godsend. I have a couple other mom friends whose kiddos have had them in the past few years, and without exception, they have been very relieved afterward. Your poor little L. That must be so miserable for her. You know, Ev had one ear infection awhile back when I think he was around 4 months maybe? I felt horrible because we had no idea until we went to his well baby checkup. He didn't have a fever at the time, but he did have a cold. Since then, we have taken him in two different times to have his ears checked because he kept pulling on them, but they were fine both times. He sure gets his fair share of colds though.

JGator, you must be a very patient person. I would probably go a little crazy if I had houseguests that long, especially if they were not my own family. I'm sure it's nice for them to see their son and granddaugther though. Hopefully it will help having more room in your new house. K is such a beauty. I hope she is eating and sleeping better these days!

AFU, our ped is having us get an ultrasound done on Ev's kidneys next week because apparently baby's with spinal abnormalities sometimes have kidney, heart or tracheal abnormalities as well. He thinks they probably would have picked up any problems during prenatal screening, but he just wants to make sure. We won't see the orthopedic surgeon for a month, so we probably won't have many answers until then. Other than that, I'm exhausted. Ev has been waking up a few times a night again around 2-4 and not being able to settle very easily. We try getting him to go back to sleep in his crib, but he keeps waking up again. A few times, I have just taken him into bed or out to the couch to sleep, but then I can only sleep really lightly because I feel uneasy when he's not in his crib. When I lay with him, he goes back to sleep without a bottle, so I know it's not because he needs to eat. I guess that means we might need to do a bit of sleep training.

 

[monkeyprincess]

One other thing - do/did anyone use any sort of walker type toy for your baby? I noticed at daycare, they have something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053X62GK/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Just curious if anyone has heard this is a good or bad idea? Ev is still nowhere near walking. He loves to walk when we hold his hands and support him, but he has zero sense of balance on his own.

 

[amc80]

One other thing - do/did anyone use any sort of walker type toy for your baby? I noticed at daycare, they have something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053X62GK/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Just curious if anyone has heard this is a good or bad idea? Ev is still nowhere near walking. He loves to walk when we hold his hands and support him, but he has zero sense of balance on his own.

We had one. B was standing up and cruising furniture at 8 months or so and didn't finally walk until 11 months (first steps at 10 months, but they were very sporadic). I have no idea if the walker hurt or helped his progress, but he did enjoy using it.

 

[blondebunny]

Hi! I cant remember who asked.. but Ya Chase fell down the stairs.. We had him in his superyard and it was like a few days after we got it and we didnt realize that even though you can hook the top the bottom doesnt always latch and in the 2 mins i went to the restroom like 10 ft away he somehow escaped thru the bottom hole (not sure how his big butt fit though) and got down about 4 stairs... i thought a drawer or something had fallen when I heard the noise and it took me a min to realize he was down the stairs We were just so thankful it wasnt worse... But his cast is off and he finally seems back to normal after 2 weeks of having it off... He has started to walk some with the walker that you just posted MP! We actually love that toy.. Chase is OBSESSED with it.. he will play with it for hours if I left him.. and he has just started walking with it.. But be warned.. not sure how big Ev is.. But Chase is pretty heavy so if it isnt careful he leans back just a little thinking its going to support him.. and well it doesnt haha so he goes flying backwards.. toy and all.. but this happens with every toy in his defense he's a big boy.. Chase is getting into EVERYTHING.. He has like spiderman hands.. we always put everything so far away and still cannot figure out how he gets stuff... I was just playing with him in his play area and he likes to crawl on top of me.. well somehow he grabbed the wire to the lamp.. and ya.. it fell on my head and cut it open... atleast it in my hair area and you cant see it.. but boy do i have a headache right now

Oh Chase cut his 3rd tooth the top right! We could see it for 2 weeks before it finally cut thru.. Hoping the next one was as painless as this one haha Other than that Chase has started trying to say "Hi" to everyone.. its so cute when he wants your attention he is like HIOOOUUIIIIII... He was doing it all day today when we were out and about in the stores trying to get peoples attention haha


MP- I am so sorry to read about Ev! I hope nothing is wrong and its an easy fix! But let me tell you.. these little kids are SOOOO resilient! From Chase's surgery to broken leg... it surprises me how quickly to heal and are back to normal and how much stuff doesnt affect them.. Chase was still crawling and standing with a full leg cast.. didnt bother him a bit.. He was smiling and laughed for the first time the day after his surgery.... Atleast it was noticed early so you can get treatment! Chase had a broken leg for 8 days before they found it and it had healed half way in that time without a cast! I'll keep Ev in my thoughts!

Jgator- K is beautiful!

Im sorry everyone's babes are having ear infections that doesnt sound fun at all!

 

[jfo]

MP, I'm glad to hear more good tube success stories! We will see the ENT a week from tomorrow, so we'll know a lot more then. In the meantime, L does seem to be feeling a lot better. We go back to the ped this evening for her second follow-up to make sure that the infection is going away. I'd be surprised if it isn't... otherwise, the ped was mentioning possibly a third antibiotic shot. I really hope she doesn't need it. She already is starting to freak out now when we go to the doctor's office and she sees a nurse or when the doctor pulls out her equipment to examine her ears. She just bursts into tears in anticipation. Her memory is becoming better and I don't want her to hate the dr's office!

I'm sorry to hear that Ev has been waking up at night. Has he been doing any new things lately? I read somewhere that sometimes sleep will get disturbed because of a developmental leap. Either way, I hope he can get back to STTN because I know you must be exhausted! And much *dust* for a good ultrasound next week! I will be thinking of you guys!

amc and bb, good to know about that walker. I had been looking up the same one on amazon and had saved it for later. I'm thinking that L isn't quite ready for it since she isn't trying to grab on to my hands and trying to walk yet and still isn't doing much cruising. She will, however, take her little fisher price table (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Laugh-Learn-Friends-Musical/dp/B0015KOOHO/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1377784796&sr=1-1&keywords=fisher+price+laugh+and+learn) and unintentionally push it around while standing up, so she's forced to walk. But since it doesn't have wheels, she can go slow and catch her feet up if she accidentally pushes it too far ahead.

bb, omg, poor Chase! Falling down the stairs sounds horrible! But that's great that he's such a resilient little guy and it sounds like he's doing really well now!

AFU, the only other thing new is that L started to say mmm and mmmah mah mah a little bit in the past several days. Best I can tell is that she saying it when she is protesting something...

 

[monkeyprincess]

AFU, the only other thing new is that L started to say mmm and mmmah mah mah a little bit in the past several days. Best I can tell is that she saying it when she is protesting something...

Haha, that made me laugh! Everett was the exact same way when he first started saying mama. He would only say it when he was crying or mad about something. But now he throws it out in regular "conversation," and he sometimes says it when he sees me and is happy, so I think he might be making the association. It does take him a lot more effort to make a "ma" sound than the other ones. Does L talk a lot? Ev is constantly "talking," and he is so loud. His daycare teachers mentioned the other day that his the loudest and biggest chatterbox in the room. Definitely doesn't get that from me! He still doesn't really say any words other than mama and dada, but he will repeat sounds when we ask him to like "da" "ba" "ya" and "ma." I'm much more rested today because he has stayed in his crib all night two nights in a row now, although, he still wakes up 2-3 times fussing before putting himself back to sleep. The only thing that I can think of that is different is that now that he is a pro at crawling, he bolts up in his crib every time he wakes up, so that might be why he doesn't fall right back asleep.

Good luck with your ENT appointment!

 

[JGator]

Jfo, I wish L the best of luck with her ENT appointment. Hope you get a great ENT and that the ear infections become a thing of the past very soon. Keep us posted on that and the move! Good luck with packing. One word of advice, if you have those monthly stickers for L's birthdays, put them someplace you will be able to find them by before L's 11-month birthday! We could not find K's stickers yesterday for her 10-month birthday despite looking all day!

MP, I am pretty patient, but I still like to vent/complain! So far so good, the grandparents watched K this AM when she got up for a few hours before the nanny arrrived so that was a nice break. My MIL approves of the nanny which is a good thing since they will be together all day for 2.5 weeks! My in-laws live in Europe so they hadn't seen K in person since January before the nanny started. We do video chats every week though. She was a little shy when they first met (cried when they tried to hold her). but she warmed up within an hour. I'm glad Ev is sleeping through the night even though he's fussing a few times. It's great to not have to physically get out of bed, isn't it. I don't get that luxury very often!

BB, that's great that Chase says Hi now! I'm glad his teeth have come in easily too.

AFU, K turned 10 months old yesterday. She has been waking up around 4/5am for a bottle and then taking a few rocking sessions to get back to sleep. I think it's the teething, but who knows. Our nanny is back to rocking her in the chair for her naps for some reason. She used to rock her and then put K down and monitor her from outside the room, and now she's in the room the whole nap with her - I assume she is not sleeping in the crib at all for naps now (or else the nanny is just avoiding all the inlaws)! Bad habits that I need to address but didn't want to rock the boat with the move and the teething lately. K rolled over from back to tummy twice for the nanny and grandparents to get a toy. She also sat up from being flat on her back for the first time this week so I think progress is being made finally! She's still scooting around sitting up, but she does put both hands down on the floor more often than she used to. She also has said Ma a few times when crying/teething! That must be a distressed sound for babies! She babbles constantly during the day to the inlaws delight! K threw up fo the first time this week after gagging from sticking her hands too far in her mouth. She has her hands in her mouth all the time now and pretty far back on the sides. No Indian cooking smells yet. The MIL has been too tired from jet lag to cook yet. I think the cooking will start today.

 

[Puppmom]

Long time no talk! I haven't had any time to post but I pop in to see how all of the babies/toddlers are doing. Life has been INSANE since N2 has been born. He was born in February, I went back to work at the end of May then changed jobs in July, DH decided to go back to school and I sent my baby off to college last week!

I guess I'll start at the beginning since I'm not sure I posted much since having N2. It was a rough beginning because it took longer for me to recover this go around. I had a hard time bonding with him too because I felt pulled in a million different directions. With a 2.5 year old and one about to graduate high school, I just felt like I didn't have a second to spare. Things haven't slowed down any really but N2 is much more engaging now and will not be ignored! He was kind of a crabby newborn but has turned into such a pleasant boy. He's slow pokey like his big brother. He's 6.5 months old and doesn't sit up quite yet and just started rolling over. I would be worried if I hadn't been through this already! My kids don't seem to pay attention to the milestone charts!

Well, I was hoping for a longer post but DH just came downstairs begging for mercy...putting a 3 year old to bed can be quite the task!

I'll leave you with a picture of my beautiful boy. Ugh...picture posting not going so well and now BOTH kids are up! Gah!

 

[Puppmom]

Posting pic from phone

 

[monkeyprincess]

Pupp, great to see you update and what a handsome little man you have. Such pretty eyes. Sorry to hear that life has been so crazy for you lately, but hopefully, things are starting to settle into a pattern and getting easier. We are trying for a second, and I try not to think to much about how much more chaotic it will be if and when we add another baby to the mix, but I know we'll somehow figure it all out just like you are doing!

JGator, hope everything is continuing to go well with all the extra activity around your house. It sounds like K is really ready to take off any day now with the crawling. And just wait, that's when the fun really starts! Ha, I say this after an exhausting weekend of following that little man around all weekend. Our poor cats feel tormented I think now that he tries to chase them around.

We had Ev's ultrasound this morning. It took a long time because they checked all of his organs, and the poor little guy couldn't eat after 3 this morning, so he was hungry and not thrilled with the process. But the good news is that everything came back clear. I feel much better about things now that we know it is just his spine we are dealing with, the doctor wanted to check because apparently babies with scoliosis often have heart, kidney or tracheal problems as well.

 

[JGator]

Pupp, N2 is adorable. Glad to see you posting again. I am sure you are crazy busy.

MP, so happy to hear Ev's ultrasound was clear for any other issues. That's great news. Glad to hear he is crawling all over - sorry for your kitties though!

AFU, my MIL is starting to get on my nerves. Opinions on sleeping and eating. K should be eating cheese, milk, etc. We need to let her cry more, etc. K sat up from being flat on her back twice this weekend, but she doesn't seem to be able to do it again. She has been constipated also so we are giving her prunes every day. We had a good 2 nights (6am wakeups) followed by 3am and 5am wakeups most recently. Still no teeth that are visible to me at 10 months!

 

[jfo]

Hi all,
This will be a quick drive by because I'm currently trying not to stress out with the house closing tomorrow (although we're still waiting for the "final" clear to close from our mortgage lender... uhhh, what's going on??!) and many other balls in motion related to the move, etc.

MP - I'm so glad to hear that Ev's ultrasound came out clear! What great news and, like you said, now you can just focus on his spine and not be concerned about anything else. Sounds like he is really getting around quickly these days. We need a new photo of him chasing some cats or something

Puppmom, hi! N2 is a supercutie! He has such a beautiful smile. Good to see you posting here and I'm sure we'd all love to hear more about how you are doing and how life is handling multiple kiddos.

JGator, when I get a chance, I'll have to post the latest on the house buying saga in the other thread. Happy 10 months to K! It sounds like she is definitely getting closer to crawling. While she may not have done it since yet, the fact that she has sat up from laying down means that she will do it again and soon! And rolling over from back to tummy is a big step too!

Sorry to hear about all the opinions coming from your MIL. Hopefully it's just her "expressing" her opinions, but not actually trying to tell you how you should parent!

AFU, we are taking it day by day, hoping that L can make it to Friday's ENT appointment without developing another ear infection between now and then. She has been waking up fussy every morning and wanting to be held only by me, but then after her breakfast and some time playing, she seems to be fine the rest of the day and has been sleeping well (once asleep) at night although sometimes she's been having a tougher time settling down to go to bed. I did notice that her top two front middle teeth are coming in, so now I wonder if teething on top of the fluid that remains in her ears are what's causing the fussiness. Otherwise, she's just crawling around and pulling up to stand wherever she can!

 

[Dandi]

Hi ladies! Sorry I've been so slack posting (as usual!)!! Oscar has been crawling for nearly two weeks now, gosh he keeps me on my toes. The little guys just hoof along at lightning speed when they get the hang of it, don't they?! And just in the last few days, he has been pulling himself up to kneeling, and very occasionally standing for a split second. DH and I have dropped his cot down, just in case. He has been a bit grumpy for the last week, and off his solid food while his 4th tooth came down, but now that it's down, he is back to his usual cheery self, and foodwise is a bottomless pit!
mp, great news about E! I think about you often and am so relieved that everything else looks perfect with your little guy. Onward and upward!

pupp, N2 is just beautiful. You are such a clever mama!!

Argh JGator, sorry to hear about your MIL. It astounds me how everyone else seems to know how best to raise YOUR child, and have 'advice' for every little thing. Small wonder that many new mums get so anxious!

Sorry to hear about L's ear troubles, jfo, the poor little sausage, and poor mama! I really really hope that once her teeth are through that things settle down for you. Oscar's two top middle teeth just came through and man, did they give him grief. Now that I think of it, he did pull at his ears alot until the teeth broke through, I guess they can get a fair bit of referred pain in their little ears. Nasty teethies.

Hi blondebunny, amc, mlk, bibi, Dani, and anyone else I may have missed!

I'm just hoping for a bit of advice for those whose babies have a few teeth, when did you start brushing them? Oscar now has 4 teeth, and up until now I have just been rubbing them with a wet flannel after his milk feed before bed, so milk doesn't sit on them overnight. He isn't a huge fan of me doing that, so I figure I should get him used to having his teeth brushed sooner rather than later?!

Here's the little devil while I was changing the sheets on his cot, he was 'helping' me with the housework

 

[amc80]

Dandi- everything I've read say a cloth is fine at this point. We started using a toothbrush when B had 4 teeth. But that was just because he hated them being wiped down. He loved the toothbrush at first but now it's iffy. The bottoms are easy to brush but he hates the tops being done.

 

[Dandi]

Thanks amc! He just hates the cloth, so I bought him a baby toothbrush today and he loves it! Let's see how long that lasts for

 

[amc80]

Thanks amc! He just hates the cloth, so I bought him a baby toothbrush today and he loves it! Let's see how long that lasts for

Oh good! I also got some training toothpaste (without fluoride) and he seems to like the taste of it.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Dandi, love your cute little blondie. And I agree with you. Once these babies figure out the crawling thing, they can go crazy fast. This is terrible to admit, but I'm almost relieved to be at work today because I am so exhausted after spending nearly the whole weekend chasing my little rugrat around the house and rescuing the cats from him! The part that worries me the most is that even though he does not yet know how to stand (without holding onto something) or walk, that doesn't stop him from regularly just letting go and taking a step forward. I stopped him about 10 times from falling flat on his face. He certainly did not inherit my sense of caution!

Jfo, how is L? Did you have your ENT appointment yet? And have you closed on the house? Hope things are going well!

JGator, do you have your house back to yourself yet? You are such a good DIL. My MIL makes little comments here and there about how she did things or how her daughter/my SIL did things, which sometimes gets to me. I know she means well and loves Ev so much, but it is hard not to feel protective of my own little family and how we do things. We live in the same city as my in-laws, so I see them a lot, but it is mainly in small doses, thank goodness.

AFU, things are going pretty well. I feel like my baby is all of a sudden a toddler. He is getting around like crazy, and he is SO willful. He is no longer willing to sit still for a diaper change, and he gets so mad at me when I stop him from going somewhere he wants to go or touching something he wants to touch. He is also becoming so much funnier, and I can really see his little sense of humor coming out. Definitely seems like he is going to be a jokester like his daddy.

On another note, DH and I have had three showings at a particular house, and we really like it. It is a lot bigger than our current house, and it is only three years old and in a great location right near a great elementary school. However, it is at the top of our price range, and we are having a hard time deciding if we want to make an offer or if we should just wait and hope we find something less expensive that meets our criteria. We are big into saving for retirement and childrens' college, etc., and this would slow down our level of saving. For those of you who have recently bought a house, did you experience the same thing? What made you decide to go for it? It is driving me crazy, and I just don't want to buy it and then feel like we overextended ourselves, but I also don't want somebody else to buy it before we make a final decision on it. Argh. I wish I weren't so indecisive.

 

[JGator]

Jfo, how was L's ENT appointment on Friday and how did the closing go? I hope L is feeling better.

Dandi, wow Oscar is crawling and has 4 teeth. I can't help with your teeth cleaning question as K has no teeth yet!

MP, I say go for the house - particularly since it's only 3 years old. We bought a 24 year old house which had an updated kitchen and nice new Trex deck, but we are having issues with bathroom water leaks in 2 of the bathrooms. I told my DH we will buy a brand new house next time to avoid these issues! I also am annoyed by all the brass in the house - light fixtures and bathroom fixtures. We chose our house because it was large enough to accomodate family visiting and a nanny and me working from home, close to shopping, nice sized yard, and a good school district. We ended up getting an older house because we did not want to move too far out in the suburbs - we are a good 30 minute drive from our major city, but we didn't feel comfortable going further out. We also have an elementary school rated 9 out of 10 on greatschools.org within walking distance of the house.

AFU, my MIL is still here for another 5 days. I think my MIL thinks anything her daughter does is the correct way to do something and that annoys me. Their child went to a Reggio Emilia pre-school and that philosphy is the only way now. We don't have a Reggio school close to our house so K will not go to that type of pre-school. I can already hear her opinions when we pick a pre-school for K - she already told me she doesn't like Montessori for some reason which is where I went. I feel sorry for our nanny as she gets to hear the opinions during the day. My MIL doesn't want K to have anything in her hands when she eats, and K will not drink her bottle or eat baby food without something in her hands (like a spoon or water bottle) to distract her. I know - it's weird, but we go with it because it works! Every day, she asks what time K woke up last night and says we should let her cry or only give her water. i told her if I do that, I'll have to get up again 15 mins later, and I need my sleep! I think K is close to getting that one tooth in that the doctor found at her 9 month check up! She's been sticking her hands in her mouth and drolling a ton lately. She has been sleeping horribly and getting up at 2/3 am which has been no fun.

 

[monkeyprincess]

JGator, I hope those teeth finally break through for K. Either your doctor is the boy/girl who cried wolf or maybe K is just an especially slow teether... I know in our case, you can see the little tooth buds for quite awhile before he actuallys start to teeth. He's had 4 on top and two on the bottom for quite awhile, and now two more on the bottom just broke through. I kind of miss the gummy smile because he's looking a little bit like a jack-o-lantern right now Thanks for the advice on the house. We're still mulling it over. The house has been on the market for nearly a month now, and they lowered the price $10K about a week ago, so we're thinking there might be a bit of negotiation room. DH put together a really complicated spreadsheet to show me that he doesn't think our finances will have to change that much if we do buy the house. DH is just struggling because he doesn't know if something even better will pop up right after we commit to the house. The house we are looking at is very classic, whereas DH prefers a very modern/contemporary look. I really do think he will be kicking himself though if somebody else decides to get it before we've made our decision.

Oh, and you are being such a good DIL to put up with company for that long. It will be so nice for you (and I'm sure the nanny) to have your house and routine back. I know exactly what you mean about your MIL comparing you and your daughter to your SIL and her kids. My SIL's kids go to this really elite school that is ridiculously expensive (at least to me - I went to public elementary and high schools and had academic scholarships for college and law school, so the idea of paying $18K a year for each child to go to junior high and high school is crazy. I'm sure that is not crazy in some parts of the country, but we have very high quality public schools in our area) My MIL just keeps raving about my niece and nephew's school and about how advanced they are, blah, blah, blah. My kid will be going to public school, and I know my in-laws will not agree with that decision. Anyway, I digress!

 

[jfo]

Hi ladies! Wow, this past week has flown by. We closed last week and are now moved into our new house although there is much unpacking that still needs to happen and I'm already exhausted . I'll save all the gory house closing and moving details for the house thread.

Dandi, Oscar is looking as adorable as ever! Isn't it crazy how quickly they start moving once they figure out the whole crawling thing? As for brushing teeth, I had bought a couple of those silicone infant toothbrushes a few months ago that L would like to play with although I still would try to wipe her teeth after her bedtime milk feeding with a wet washcloth. DH made fun of the silicone toothbrushes, saying that they weren't "real" toothbrushes, so I bought her a toothbrush that has the training toothpaste without flouride like amc--specifically this one: http://www.amazon.com/Aquafresh-Training-Tooth-Gum-Cleaning/dp/B004QWPG70/ref=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1378827158&sr=1-2&keywords=aquafresh+infant+toothbrush
I now ask her to brush her teeth after her morning milk feeding and after her dinner. I still wipe her teeth after her bedtime bottle, which she hates. She sometimes is really into "brushing" her own teeth and other times she takes the toothbrush and proceeds to throw on the floor like it's a toy. She doesn't really like me to trying to brush her teeth for her although I still try, especially with the top two teeth coming in. I just don't want toothbrushing to become some sort of battle of the wills...

mp, I'm glad to hear that things are going well. It sounds like Ev is in that "have no fear" stage--he just wants to get up and go! A friend of mine has a little boy who is about a week older than L and she was telling me that her son is just black and blue all over his face because he is constantly falling down and landing on his face or head, but he doesn't even care! I was telling her that might be a boy vs girl thing because L is extremely careful and cries as soon as she slips even if she hasn't actually fallen! But I hear you about being willful... L HATES having her diaper changed and will try to roll over and crawl away as soon as I lay her on her back. And anything that I tell her not to touch, it's like she has a one-track mind--now she's gotta go over and touch it.

As for the house, if it were me, I'd seriously consider it. Some things to consider--what is the housing market like in your area? Are houses moving quickly or do you know if houses are closing at, below or over list price? Although at the top of your price range, it sounds like it's in a location you like, in a great school district and would be a great size for a growing family.

The rate of savings for retirement and college is always a factor, so you will need to consider if you're comfortable enough for that. For us, we had been renting a relatively cheap 2 bedroom apartment for the past 7 1/2 years since we've been married. We've been able to save a lot of $ over that time, so buying a house at the very top of our price range, while not ideal, was still doable. After looking at countless houses for 7 months, the house we bought was the best for our needs (large enough for us to grow with) in a decent location in our city. We did have to compromise on public schools though--there are very few areas of our city that one can go to a good public school--so we had to resign ourself to the fact that L will go to private school for as long as we are living in this house. Also, like JGator was saying, the fact that it's a very new home is fantastic. Our house is well over a 100 years old. While I love the charm and character of the house, that fact does not come without many, MANY challenges... Best of luck with your decision! Keep us posted!

JGator, only a few more days with in-laws. I can empathize a bit--although it's experiences with my own mother. I love her and she is fantastic with the baby, but I am first-generation American and she has some very distinct, strong opinions about raising and caring for L that I find myself often pushing back on. I just have to remind her gently that I am L's mother and this is what works for us! I hope that K will have that darn tooth break through and I hope she can get back to sleeping better! Is K getting used to the house?

AFU, the ENT appointment was last Friday. The doctor found that she still had fluid in her ears (which was not a surprise to us given that L still has tons of nasal congestion and is coughing). Given her history, he recommends tubes, but wants us to take our time to think about it and make a decision. We have a follow-up appointment in mid-October in the meantime. With the house closing and the move, we've had to focus on that, but will now need to think about what we're going to do. DH absolutely hates the thought of having our baby have her ear drum purposely perforated and wants to get a second opinion. While I don't like the idea either, I also think that this is pretty inevitable and will likely give her some much needed relief since we are heading into cold/flu season and her knack of catching cold viruses while at daycare is likely not going to end anytime soon. I'm going to see what I can do to either see another ENT to make DH happy or else try to schedule the procedure.

Hope everyone else is doing well!!