January 2010 Mamas DDC - Page 2

[AfricanQueen99]

Munich! Wow, how extremely cool!

Congrats on the engagement.

[Mawood]

Oh, how nice. You are moving to Germany!!! I am from the North though. South germany is really a whole different Germany Lots of lederhosen and beer, more like the Americans picture all Germany to be. And congratulations!

[hakeber]

Ah a work visa marriage. That was me and DH. They wouldn't put him on my work visa in Argentina unless we were married, so it was off to city hall...and then the event grew a life of its own (ie our parents got wind of it) and we wound up with a proper wedding on the beach to boot.

Munich is beautiful! Congrats on both, CMTB.

So sad to hear about all the sick and bothered babes. Hope they get well soon or get through the phase fast.

Emily is now at a solid 8 hour stretch at night, and I can manipulate when that happens up to a point. As long as she gets to at least have a nap from 5-7 she'll go down at 10:30 and sleep until 6:30, but if she can't fall asleep for whatever reason, or can't have a solid nap earlier in the evening, she'll crash at 7 and wake up at 3am and eat and snooze for the next four hours until we get up.

She is such a happy baby. EC is coming along great. We still go with a nappy at night, because I like the 8 hour stretch that it allows me.

She's laughing and social and super sweet. I am totally in love.

All is gearing up foir moving to Colombia in August. I am so excited to start a new challenge and get to know a new culture. It's going to be fun...in the meantime it is a huge PITA in terms of papers and apostilles and yadda yadda yadda, but it's going to be a great shift, AND I just found out that my BEST friend in Argentina is going to be moving to Colombia too! In Novemeber! How's that for a small world coincidence?! I am so excited to be going to a real city and to have a best girlfriend back.

[smokeylo]

4 month sleep regression

if i couldn't see and feel the teeth, i wouldn't believe holly was teething either!

[Gray's Mommy]

Liam found his thumbs & he tried to put both in at the same time...sometimes prefers the thumb over the breast

Overall we are doing well. I'm working through some issues surrounding my birth & I think I am doing a tiny bit better everyday.

I can't believe that our fourth trimester is "up" on Wednesday...3 months old. WOWZA! Cross fingers here ** We've avoided all the sickness going around town too. We are going to go in to see a pedi.urologist for a possible penile torsion. Praying that I'm just a paranoid mom & my baby won't need surgery.

I would love to have the chance to experience pregnancy & birth all over again & sad that that season of my life is coming to a close.

[Mawood]

Anyone is loosing hair like crazy ? My hair seems to be everywhere...

[MEcatlady17]

Originally Posted by Mawood

Anyone is loosing hair like crazy ? My hair seems to be everywhere...

Yes! And it is weird because pre pregnancy I lost hair like crazy (or at least it seemed that way but I am sure was a healthy amount). At some point in pregnancy my hair stopped falling out at all and I forgot what it was like. Last week my hair started to fall out again and I was shocked. It isn't necessarily anymore than I would have lost pre-pregnancy but it seems like a ton because it has been so long since I shed! And now my hair is at least 5 inches longer since it grew so fast when preggo...so it seems like more hair. And I don't see the humor nature has in starting shedding right on time for DD to be practicing grabbing things (i.e. hair)....now I am pulling my hairs out of her hands all the time. Hello 24/7 ponytail.

...Oh boy, I heard that poop from across the room. Too bad her daddy just left on an errand, this ones all mine....

[Happiestever]

Originally Posted by Mawood

Anyone is loosing hair like crazy ? My hair seems to be everywhere...

Yep, me too. But I thought it might have had something to do with me turning my hair platinum blonde and then reverting back to my natural brown LOL
I thought it was kinda weird that it didn't fall out until weeks after I was done with all the coloring, but hormones must have reared their ugly head.
Although this amount is nothing compared to when I had the mirena IUD in. I could barely touch my hair without a handful.

[Lauren31]

Do you mind if I join in? I have been lurking in your DDC since my baby was due so close to January and the Feb DDC is kinda quiet...

[AfricanQueen99]

Hop in, Lauren.

Things are going well. Griffin's runny nose has dried up. He was doing full-on belly laughs this afternoon. And I found a recipient to start pumping for. All is well in my world.

[geo_girl]

...so I'm on my own for a couple of days with the children. DH doesn't do THAT much around the house, but it gives me something to look forward to. I find that the real challenge when he is gone is eating decent. My default is to eat poorly when he isn't here (thanks to previous food issues)...oh well, now the 3y.o. is keeping me honest when it comes to snacks and meals.

oh ya, and they all have a runny nose. ...and I'll admit that I just gave Margaret a dose of Tylenol.

things are definitely getting better with Margaret. She doesn't cry for hours on end anymore, and she is smiling! She has been our most difficult baby.

I'm starting to struggle with the idea that she is our last. It is hard to put away the 0-3month clothes, knowing that we won't be using them again. I *know* that our family is complete, but is difficult to mentally move on from the pregnancy & newborn stage.

cheers,
charlene

[marinak1977]

Hi Lauren31 - nice to see you. I remember you from the TTC forum. Nice to make it over here.
So bummed to hear about all the sick LOs - hope everyone gets better soon.
DS is almost 4 months - yikes! We are getting a little more of a daily routine and I'm getting a lot better at reading him, so we're getting by with a lot less crying and fussing. His worst times happen in the car, but most of the time he falls asleep. We're now down to about 3 naps a day but they are longer. Yay! And bedtime is getting easier as he goes down faster after starting to act tired. Although I still have to be near him for him to sleep well. That means I often go to bed when he does. Good thing I have a laptop.
Nights are usually not bad - I do well with interrupted sleep even if he does wake up a few times. He usually goes straight back to sleep after eating. Yay. He's on the brink of rolling back to front and is a squirmy wormy when I'm changing him - fun! Sometimes it's like trying to put a diaper on a fish. He's also talking a lot - so many new sounds, the latest one a roar, and some kind of disgruntled mumbling when he's fighting sleep. Too cute!

I was at a baby shower today - and it was nice but very non-AP. I was by all the negative spin for natural birth/breastfeeding etc. The new mama wants to breastfeed/natural birth, but I saw her face when other women there talked about how breastfeeding hurts and I hope she sticks with it, but I'm not hopeful. I was really irked at the scary talk about breastfeeding - sure it can hurt sometimes, but it's really worth it to work at it. I cringed at statements like "oh, you breastfeed?" (sounding surprised), "breaking in the nipples", "don't need to be a hero" - about natural birth. Grrrr... so I NIP'd (probably weirded out all the guys there), waxed poetic about natural childbirth, carried DS in the ergo, but pretty much that's all I could do. We'll see... She already had bottles there (Dr Brown's) so I just hope things work out. There is just so much discouragement for natural parenting in this culture. /rant

Looking forward to hearing about everyone!

[Lauren31]

Originally Posted by marinak1977

Hi Lauren31 - nice to see you. I remember you from the TTC forum. Nice to make it over here. ....

There is just so much discouragement for natural parenting in this culture. /rant
!

Thanks for the welcome!! And I can TOTALLY understand where you are coming from. I am the token "hippie" among all of my husband's coworkers friends *he is an Army officer* so living here in Germany has been amazing! What everyone else views as odd parenting in the states is really just done here normally. NIPing without a cover is more common then not wearing a cover for example. My Midwife told me that "Mother's Milk is all this baby needs for the first two years!!!" Which I loved bc when I tell people I want to breastfeed for two years they are like, ummmm... you know they make formula for that. Or they say something ridiculous like "yeah, I wanted to breastfeed but I had no milk, my baby weaned herself at 6 weeks, it was too hard, etc." I feel like most people just don't understand breastfeeding. Here I got 6 weeks of a German midwife coming back to make sure I was fine. She caught mastitis early before it became an issue and we treated it hollistically. I think American women really get the worst end of the deal bc not only are they uneducated about BFing but so are their medical professionals! You have to make yourself educated about that stuff there, here it is just the normal thing to do. Same with a natural birth. HB is not as common but the hospitals are SOOOO natural friendly they are more like birth centers back in the states. I am actually debating having another baby here before we go back to the states lol.

[Lauren31]

Originally Posted by rlmueller

So, I make a stupid amount of money for what I do really and I outearn my spouse by nearly 3x's. I want to quit working. I went to mint.com and did a budget (superfabo site check it out). I figure if we pay off the cars, I'd only need to really make $1000 so we don't actually lose the house--and trim a heck of a lot off of the budgeted variable expenses.

This is probably a dumb question, but could your husband do your job? You said you make three times what he makes! Also, if you worked part time would that allow for the 1000 a month? I feel so incredibly blessed to be a SAHM so I know how much you want to make that work! Part time or WAHM would be ideal for me bc I think after the baby is a bit older I will miss doing something else as well.

[Lauren31]

Originally Posted by Mawood

Anyone is loosing hair like crazy ? My hair seems to be everywhere...

Me! My husband commented on the fact that he is covered in long dark brown hairs. I thought it was just annoying me!

[smokeylo]

Originally Posted by geo_girl

...so I'm on my own for a couple of days with the children. DH doesn't do THAT much around the house, but it gives me something to look forward to. I find that the real challenge when he is gone is eating decent.

I'm starting to struggle with the idea that she is our last. It is hard to put away the 0-3month clothes, knowing that we won't be using them again. I *know* that our family is complete, but is difficult to mentally move on from the pregnancy & newborn stage.

cheers,
charlene

I just finished a week of mostly solo parenting... :yawning exhausting!! Yet I'm proud to have made it through and done well. Makes my regular days feel luxurious.

I am also sad to say goodbye to newborn clothes and days... a friend of mine just had her second and I know she will have more kids and I've been feeling a lot of envy!! I know that our family is just right... but it's sad!

[Mulvah]

I hope all sick babies start to feel better soon!

Originally Posted by jtrt

...My sweet Edelweiss is 4 months old! That seems crazy! ....

Isn't it nuts that we have FOUR-month-olds already? Ack!

Originally Posted by PoetryLover

...My little Malachi (3 months today) is doing great. He had surgery a few weeks ago to repair his cleft lip and is healing wonderfully....

I'm glad to hear your baby is healing well.

Originally Posted by CrunchyMamaToBe

Ella, too! She was sleeping for 5-6 hours at a time nearly every night and then about a week ago decided that 3 hours at a time is the most she can manage. It means that I am awake 2-4 times in the night rather than just once. Yawn. I knew the once a night thing was too good to last. (Says the mama whose 3.5 year old is still up in the night 95% of the time...)

...We have made contact with a mama-baby group in our new town that's supposed to be AP, but I am surprised to see so many mamas who consider themselves attachment parents who are bottle-feeding and sleeping separately from the LOs. But a few who are also experimenting with EC like we are, which is nice.

Our dual big news items are that my DP was offered a dream job in Munich, so we will be moving there at the end of the summer, but they won't let me come unless we are married, so we are planning a wedding, too!

My LO stopped sleeping, too, so now we're up every 1-2 hours. It's hard.

As for the attached parenting and bottle feeding, I feel my LO a (BM) bottle when we're out.

Congrats on the job and the upcoming wedding!

Edited by Mulvah - 10/16/11 at 11:33am

[Mulvah]

Originally Posted by Mawood

Anyone is loosing hair like crazy ? My hair seems to be everywhere...

Originally Posted by Lauren31

Me! My husband commented on the fact that he is covered in long dark brown hairs. I thought it was just annoying me!

YES!

I could make a Mulvah doll out of all the hair that comes out. I think it just seems like so much more than it is because my hair is long.

[nola79]

Hi ladies! Emma is doing so well, I have no complaints. Sorry to hear about all the sick little ones, I hope everyone is feeling better soon.
Crunchymamatobe- How exciting! Congrats!

[CrunchyMamaToBe]

hair falling out, yes! yikes!

thanks for sleep regression article, and also wedding congrats.