September 2009 Moms and Toddlers! - Page 2

[2boyzmama]

Hang in there confustication! Too bad we don't live closer, we could schedule regular play dates and dinner dates.

SO...I am...ALONE!!! That's right, alone The RC Air Show is this weekend http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/new...p?id=123216047 something the boys love going to (and I'm counting my husband as a "boy" ) so my husband promised me weeks ago that he would take the boys by himself and let me stay home.

It's perfect timing, since I'm recuperating from a bout of mastitis. I'm feeling just good enough to be away from the baby for a few hours (I have my pump if I need it) but I could really use extra rest still.

So I got them all dressed, packed, and sent them on their way!

In other news, it's cool weather here today, and the trees are starting to turn colors already. I had all three boys try on jeans and it looks like we're good to go on jeans for all three through at least the fall. Ian might need some new jeans by winter time, depends on if he grows any. Gavin looks so darn cute in jeans!!

It's 10:45am right now, I'm going to treat myself to Chipotle lunch when they open at 11, then I'm coming home and laying in bed with my burrito and a movie Ahh...truly heavenly!

[tzs]

no, can't be. we're not even toddling yet.
plus, i just started feeling like i knew what i was talking about with all the "baby" stuff. crap.
we had our first birthday last week. (on the hebrew calendar, which is lunar, we were 9/9) yeah, i got her her own cake.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=5043942277
she got a riding toy and hopped right on it even though her feet don't quite make it to the floor. she's actually climbing everything. i don't think we're even close to walking but she can climb!

[Dmitrizmom]

I need to figure out a way to keep Viv out from under the kitchen table - she scraped her head yesterday (left about an inch long bloody scratch). Biggest challenge is when people are sitting at the table.

We are working on what to get her for her birthday - I'm thinking little people (she has 3 she loves), a book or two and maybe a wooden puzzle.

I can't believe how fast this last year has gone.

[octobermoon]

Amiel has taken his first steps not toddling but getting there. i'm half ready to be here. sometimes i get bored over at the other forum but it's bittersweet our babies are growing up!

[Dmitrizmom]

OUCH! I was wiping down Viv's teeth and felt something toward the back of her gums... she's got at least one molar in. Didn't feel anymore before she decided to chomp on me.

[tzs]

do they get molars before the other teeth on the side or are you just way ahead of us? we only have two on top and two on the bottom.

[Dmitrizmom]

Viv is ahead (all my kiddos seem to get teeth early). She has the four front top and bottom, and a one year molar on the left (can't remember top or bottom). She also has bulges for 2 other molars. After the molars come in, they usually get the canines. A great chart here: http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInf.../0043-pop.html

[ladymeag]

We've still got only the two bottom teeth. He keeps grabbing his mouth like he did when they were coming in and in the past two days has started grabbing my hands and my husband's hands to chew on them but we're not seeing any significant teething progress.

Anyone else flopping back and forth between one nap and two? It's driving me crazy! I want to know how my day is going to be affected so I can plan ahead. I know I have to give up sometimes but I really need to be able to do laundry and dishes and prep dinner and... I can't do all of that with a nap-refusing kid that's rubbing his face and crying all over the place.

[newmomroxi]

Happy birthday to the kids! I can't believe we're here. Remember when we were on labor watch and daydreaming about meeting our LO's? Time has flown by!

2bozy, I'm glad you're starting to feel better.

Lake is still getting 2 naps a day. He used to flop back and forth but now he is definitely getting 2. They are later in the day though so his bedtime is horrendous. I hate putting that kid to bed. DH and I take turns, thankfully.

That is amazing that Viv has a molar already! I should check Lake's gums since he and Viv seem to be on a similar schedule.

How is feeding going for you guys? Lake used to eat solids wonderfully. Now, not so much. The bulk of his nutrition is still formula. He definitely has favorite foods (strawberries, eggs, yogurt) but spits out anything else. I would like to start giving him proper meals but besides breakfast he won't eat. I guess I will just keep trying until he starts liking everything again.

[sugarpop]

@2boys~thank you for your support. I have a recent calendar for this months activities in the town and circled a whole bunch I can walk to. It is giving me something to look forward each week and keeping me busy. I am feeling better already. There is even a blue mamas group this saturday that I think I will check out. I am still waiting on a therapist to call me back, although I am a bit hesitant to follow through on that, b/c I am afraid the solution is drugs

Sophia fell out of bed last night! I feel terrible, she even has an impression of the floor on her forehead. DH freaked, so we called the on call and made a trip in this morning to the Dr....but all was well. She was her new normal cheery self.

She is becoming more and more independent. I can manage to squeeze a shower in...although 12 months ago I would not have called the fiasco a shower, but I think I have changed my standards! I manage to wet my hair and shave in the tub, then she insists on joining so I use the shower while she plays at my feet in the tub, then I escape, dry my hair and get dressed while she splashes away. House cleaning is still hard to accomplish. We spend many hours outdoors, where she is the happiest. She is taking up to 10 steps at a time, but still prefers to crawl, especially if I try to get her to walk to me. Everything has to be her idea otherwise she ignore me...and I mean ignores me, looks at me out of the corner of her eye while she points her head at the wall. It is SO cute. I bet in another 4 years, heck probably less than that, I won't find it nearly as cute!

Still no Mama or Dada. Bird, Tay (dog's name), Dog, bird and Book, those are her words. Oh and my personal favorite. Okay so you know if you go outside to call your cat, you make a clicking sound with your tounge against the rough of your mouth and yell "here kitty kitty kitty". Well that clicking noise...that is her "word" for kitty. LOVE this!

Food is still a joke, water is something to spit out, food is for the dog and mama milk is for Sophia! Someday she will catch on...when she is ready.

OH and teeth. two on the bottom, four on the top. She is measuring 29.5 inches long and 22lbs. Just bought the new car seat today!

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by ladymeag

Anyone else flopping back and forth between one nap and two?

YES!!!
Our only OK thing, is that the timing is still the same. Meaning, Rowan's still tired around 10am & 2pm. Sometimes he naps, sometimes he just plays with his animals for 20 minutes.

It seems like most days, he does a nearly 2hr nap ONE of the naps. There are days when he still takes 45 minutes twice, normally if the morning was only 45 minutes, he'll take an afternoon nap. But if he only plays with his animals in the morning, he'll take a huge long afternoon nap.

But it's at 2pm.

He is no where close to making it til noon for the One Big Nap of the day. I'm not sure when this happens?!?!

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

Still no Mama or Dada. Bird, Tay (dog's name), Dog, bird and Book, those are her words. Oh and my personal favorite. Okay so you know if you go outside to call your cat, you make a clicking sound with your tounge against the rough of your mouth and yell "here kitty kitty kitty". Well that clicking noise...that is her "word" for kitty. LOVE this!

Rowan will say Mama, but it's still, mamamamama. And at toys and other people. I'm not considering it personal.

Really, no words at all. he babbles constantly, so I'm not "worried". But, no real words. he understands a lot. I can say... "do you want to get in your CHAIR?" and he'll crawl over to the chair. Same with the bath. Same with BOOK, and he'll grab a book.

But his vocalizations, everything is babababa. Only when it's the actual bottle, is it a singular, baba.

[newmomroxi]

Hi ladies! I hope everyone is doing well.

Lake has learned how to get into the fridge on his own. When things are too quiet, we find him in the fruit draw chewing on grapes or plums. He's not too keen on kiwi though, hates the skin! Lol, it's very cute but messy!

[ladymeag]

We've got two teeth on bottom and cut two on top this week. I'm really over the teething already - it's miserable for weeks at a time! He eats less, fusses, sleeps less frequently and is generally cranky. Then as soon as the teeth pop through, he eats everything in sight!

Originally Posted by newmomroxi

Lake is still getting 2 naps a day. He used to flop back and forth but now he is definitely getting 2. They are later in the day though so his bedtime is horrendous. I hate putting that kid to bed. DH and I take turns, thankfully.

My husband, bless him, handles nearly every night's bedtime. Granted, the kid won't sleep without being on top/next to of one of us - but my husband takes that bullet every. single. night. I move the sleeping baby once we're ready to settle in for bed ourselves. He deserves a night (and a long morning) in a nice hotel or something.

How long did he flop back and forth? I'd love some predictability again in our schedule. It's hard to plan anything - even small stuff like grocery shopping.

Originally Posted by newmomroxi

How is feeding going for you guys? Lake used to eat solids wonderfully. Now, not so much. The bulk of his nutrition is still formula. He definitely has favorite foods (strawberries, eggs, yogurt) but spits out anything else. I would like to start giving him proper meals but besides breakfast he won't eat. I guess I will just keep trying until he starts liking everything again.

As I mentioned above, when we're seeing teeth headed in, he all but stops eating solids and then he eats everything in sight. Today, for example, he had 1.75 bananas, half a cup of multi-grain Os, a PINT of strawberries, a full bunch of grapes (halved), 2 ounces of cheese, a quarter cup of bunny crackers and a few bites of our dinner, 8 ounces of water and 48 ounces of formula.

Originally Posted by sugarpop

Sophia fell out of bed last night! I feel terrible, she even has an impression of the floor on her forehead. DH freaked, so we called the on call and made a trip in this morning to the Dr....but all was well. She was her new normal cheery self.

Don't feel bad - Niall fell off of our bed when he was starting to roll really, really early. Everyone kept telling me that there was no way he was really rolling yet, I must be imagining it and I set him down on the bed to turn around and get a diaper and he rolled himself from the middle of our queen sized bed to the edge and fell off! I was horrified. He's fine but man was I freaked out. Now, he purposefully bonks his head into the wall because he thinks it's funny.

Originally Posted by sugarpop

She is becoming more and more independent. I can manage to squeeze a shower in...although 12 months ago I would not have called the fiasco a shower, but I think I have changed my standards! I manage to wet my hair and shave in the tub, then she insists on joining so I use the shower while she plays at my feet in the tub, then I escape, dry my hair and get dressed while she splashes away. House cleaning is still hard to accomplish. We spend many hours outdoors, where she is the happiest. She is taking up to 10 steps at a time, but still prefers to crawl, especially if I try to get her to walk to me. Everything has to be her idea otherwise she ignore me...and I mean ignores me, looks at me out of the corner of her eye while she points her head at the wall. It is SO cute. I bet in another 4 years, heck probably less than that, I won't find it nearly as cute!

I bet if I had time for a real shower, I don't know what I'd do with it! Niall hates, hates, hates the bath and shower - water in general, as far as I can tell - and shakes if you take him in to bathe him. We take turns showering.

[2boyzmama]

Hi ladies!

Can I just say...Gavin is freaking adorable

He's in a really cute stage, smiley, laughs a lot, snuggles a lot, starting to get mischievous but still easily distracted, he's sleeping better, he'll eat almost anything...he's just in a great stage!

Connor, on the other hand, is NOT Sure he's cute and all, but goodness that child is testing us! We went to Deaf Awareness Day Festival in our town today and I was trying to pawn Connor off on people HAHA! Ian was his hardest as a 2 year old, 3 wasn't fun but was definitely easier than 2. Connor, on the other hand, is much harder at 3 than he was at 2!!

Ian is doing great, he's in Kindergarten this year, and loving it. Such a smart kid, and so social! He's really thriving.

Gavin is moments away from cutting his 4th tooth. He has 2 on bottom and 1 on top, the 2nd top tooth is *right there*. Definitely my fastest teether, although still slow (which is one milestone I'm HAPPY my kids are slow with!) He's a mean crawler, pulls up to stand on everything, and my husband reports that he is starting to walk behind push toys, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm hoping he's making it up, I'm not ready for a cruiser!! Still trying to decide what to do for his birthday, we have several weeks still, we'll have a party, but not sure where or anything. I guess I better start thinking about it, huh?!

We're still a 2-a-day napper here, but on weekends the 1st nap seems to come later and later, pushing noon sometimes. Then I don't want to let him have a 2nd nap because it will mess up bedtime. During the week my husband is pretty good about keeping a schedule, so there are definitely 2 naps still. And he's sleeping through the night about half the time! The other half he wakes up once for a quick snack and that's it. Now if I could just get Connor to sleep...sigh.

[confustication]

Napping is all over the place here. Both boys are trying to drop a nap at the same time- only they aren't doing it the same days! Ack! Nighttime is AWFUL lately- Keagan just will not stay asleep. I have to swaddle and pat him to help him sleep, then I pray that he will stay asleep while I move him to the bed. He is also waking up a ton at night. Last night was so miserable that I was *thisclose* to yelling at him (like that would have helped?)

Of course, I finally got him to sleep at nearly 5am and his brother woke up at 6am ready to start the day. It's hard to be too frustrated though when they both wake up with these great mischievous little boy grins.

They do really well on days I stay home and stick to a routine like glue, but deviating from that course- like for a doctor's appointment- sets us up for a LONG night. Of course, we have about 10 appointments a month for Aiden these days. SO many things going on for one amazing little boy- I feel like Keagan is sort of being dragged along for the ride, but he seems to adapt pretty well to it all.

I'm working on adjusting to not being the primary income-earner for the family, and struggle with guilt when 'all I have to do' is to take care of the kids. I feel like I am being lazy. I know it isn't true, but I've been trying to do it all for so long that I'm rather lost without that challenge.

I am also considering working towards weaning Keagan earlier than I would like. We are absolutely not there yet, but I am very much feeling the need to focus on my own health though one of the medications I should take is not a breastfeeding-friendly medication. I also feel like I want my body back sometime within the next year or so. MUCH guilt for someone who is child-led-weaning advocate. I need to find the balance there. For now though, he's a wonderful and happy nursing little man.

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by confustication

I am also considering working towards weaning Keagan earlier than I would like. We are absolutely not there yet, but I am very much feeling the need to focus on my own health though one of the medications I should take is not a breastfeeding-friendly medication. I also feel like I want my body back sometime within the next year or so. MUCH guilt for someone who is child-led-weaning advocate. I need to find the balance there. For now though, he's a wonderful and happy nursing little man.

I hear you!!! I am working on gently encouraging Connor to wean. He has an immunology appt Sept 22nd, if we get his tests back and they show no worsening of his immune deficiency, then I think I'm going to wean him. I might kick myself for this when we're in the thick of winter, but like you, I need to focus on myself, and just really want my body back!

I am working on decreasing my pumping, that is helping. I'm very surprised to be having these wishes to wean (even Gavin!!), I mean here I am an LLL leader, I worked my TAIL off just to get Connor to nurse at all, I've been through the wringer with thrush, plugs, mastitis, working and pumping, a really sick kid, nursing through pregnancies, etc etc etc...why would I want to quit? Who knows. I'm hoping that by decreasing pumpings and potentially weaning Connor, my mind will be back in it and Gavin can nurse for a good long while still. But I do dream of the day that I'm done.

Confus...how's your hubby? Is he getting settled? Has he started his new job?

[confustication]

Originally Posted by 2boyzmama

I'm hoping that by decreasing pumpings and potentially weaning Connor, my mind will be back in it and Gavin can nurse for a good long while still. But I do dream of the day that I'm done.

Confus...how's your hubby? Is he getting settled? Has he started his new job?

That's exactly it- I'm not pumping now since I am home and that has helped a lot, and I'm hoping that by just creating a "normal" bf-ing relationship with Keagan I can remind myself that it can be a simple and positive relationship. Still, I want my body and health back.

My husband is doing well- meeting a lot of resistance among his family about our family/parenting choices, but doing better than I anticipated about setting some boundaries.

He's settled into his new job and is staying with his brother for a bit while looking for a place for us. He's really enjoying the fact that he's able to support the family on his own- which he hasn't been able to do here for a multitude of reasons. He misses the kids a ton and they miss him, but we're all muddling through.

[Dmitrizmom]

Hi all! Viv has a 2nd molar poking thru and two more bulges that are almost there. On one side, I'd like if she would wait a bit, but on the other side I will be glad to have teething done a little sooner.

This morning at church, she wiggled out of my arms and walked two pews back to see Grandpa. She is so very independent.

On my side, I ran/walked my first 5K yesterday, barefoot, in just under an hour. I broke my little toe last week and it hurts to have shoes on. Today my feet are a little sore, but not too bad. After my race, my bigger two did a fun run. Then, I had an open house for my new office (pictures of the space - mostly finished - are up on Facebook under "Body Balance Wellness Center") from 9:30-3. We had over 2 dozen people come through.

Dh is working and got a promotion (small one, but still ). We are looking at this job as a stepping stone to something better - he needed experience with HR/management/money handling to move up the ladder anywhere. He's got crazy good customer service skills.

[2boyzmama]

Congrats dmitrizmom on the race! I have a marathon next Saturday, and I know two people running the FULL barefoot and several people running in those weird barefoot toe shoes. I'm running the half (eek!) but my training runs have not been consistent (thanks to illness, mastitis, family illness, etc) so at this point I'm happy just to finish, bonus if I can still walk the next day, LOL!

The boys and I spent the entire day out and about today (daddy was working) and boy, I'm exhausted!! We left the house at 8:30 this morning, met up with some friends, went to a festival, did a lot of walking in the heat (ugh), spent a lot of money (oops!), then came home and I promptly took a nap. Now it's back outside, Ian is out riding his bike, Gavin is nursing real quick and then we're all headed back out. Must take advantage of the last of this warm weather!