April 2010 Mamas, through October 16th - Page 3

[jenfl]

triony -- We've also started failing at EC. I have no idea why. But, yeah, Sprout just doesn't pee on the potty as much any more.

Jess -- We often do what I've termed an "external swaddle" with Sprout on his tummy. Sometimes, putting him down, he'll be really tired but really tossy-turny. He just can't calm himself down to lay there and suck his fingers and fall asleep. So DH or I will put our hands on his back and butt fairly firmly -- like a heavy blanket. It seems to help him calm his body down and go out.

Ericka -- I'd second going to an LC and using their nursing scale.

Georgetown HB Mom -- Sprout's working on 3 -> 2 naps, so naps are all over the place. Night sleep is 7pm (or a little later) to 7am (or a little earlier) with 1-3 wakings. It's been consistent since his 4 month sleep regression, and I'm so grateful!

rhi -- I just looked really quickly, but it looks like L might actually have gone UP the charts? http://www.who.int/entity/childgrowt...irls_p_0_6.pdf

[rhiOrion]

It looks to me like she was really more like 25% at 4 months and is more like 17% now. But the pediatrician said she was 50% last time (at 4 months). But I feel like she always over estimates. So I guess let's hope she keeps doing that? And I'm assuming she's using the CDC charts, which would be even farther off....

[snoopy5386]

Ugh....this time zone change thing is sucky! I've been up at 6:30 am with one or both of the kids every day of our vacation. Today it is the baby who at least takes naps, so not as bad as the 4 year old who just gets cranky. Yesterday DD1 was up at 6:30 am and it was 1 pm before all the parents and kids were awake and not groggy. Hoping for a better start today.

Ericka - can you take him back to the ped? Is he eating solids, can you mix the sodium in those?

[loveneverfails]

Jen, we welcome you back to the sisterhood of the poopy pants.

My oldest turns 8 today! And I really really really want to go back to bed now. Please?

[Peace+Hope]

ivy, love the shaved apple idea! and i only have one kid, but the mess and extra work are in my mind for sure.

snoopy, great to hear all your ideas! lol, the bumkins supersize superbib is hysterical!

rhi, i like the idea of the shirt....hm....

oh pepper, so sorry! my first thought was medicaid too. however, i do know that making onesself a complete nuscence to insurance companies tends to get results. if you can document well why it wasn't possible to get ada's BC in 30 days, perhaps they will give in. i know how it feels to want to give up, but persistence can pay off. so glad to hear ada's fever broke!

crazyeight, ditto on diapers being worth more than clothes, heh. i use wool covers, so they are either handmade or more than any outfit we have.

triony, thanks . glad your trip went well!

dena, thanks, i see those ikea things, thanks - they look cool and are $4 for a 2-pack. hmmm.... have you used them? i'm wondering if they are plasicky/cold or soft/warm. what happened w/ your husbands' job opportunities?

jsh, i have read in some locations that SIDS peaks at 6 months, but if you read all the risk factors, i think tummy sleeping can be safe with certain precautions, and for babies who are rolling or even pushing up a lot, not really a big deal, imo. i'm sure you aren't putting her face-down on a pillow or anything like that!

ericka, s. j still seems more advanced in some of his physical things than charlie. since he was such and early preemie, won't that be expected for a couple of years, for him to be behind i mean?

georgetown, sorry for the sleep woes! charlie is taking 2-3 daytime naps, may be transitioning to two, ugh. some naps are 30 minutes, some are 2 hrs, totally random as far as i can tell!

[jsh7809]

Ericka, so sorry to hear about Jennings. Thankfully he has a great mom who is noticing and is concerned about him! Hope you get some help and good advice soon.

LNF, while I'm very sorry you're going through the bad sleep time (especially with 4 other kids!!), it kind of also makes me relieved that even super-mega-mom has cruddy sleep and gets exhausted and over it sometimes. That said, hope you get some rest soon...

I think we're entering 6 month sleep regression land, without ever really getting out of the 4 month one! Ah, well... S seems to sleep pretty well, it's just that she cries in her sleep a lot so I have to soothe her to keep her from waking up. I keep thinking, well, if she's asleep, then I should just let her cry until she wakes all the way up and then deal with it! But then it takes a LOT longer to get her to resettle, and everyone's grumpy that way. So I'm just doing whatever I can to get us all the most sleep we can... which means DH and I haven't had much time to ourselves but like all things, this will pass. She's loving the tummy sleeping, so my next wish is to get her to sleep in the crib rather than on the cozy futon with me - especially since she'll be crawling soon!

Going back to something Ivy said a few pages ago - I definitely understand that feeling of trying to figure out if your good or okay days are outweighing your bad ones, and wishing there was a way to pinpoint what is making that difference. Oh, I so do! I hope you're able to get lots more great days and easy days soon... and that when things are good, you're able to just go with it (and when things are not so good, you can also go with it and not get stuck - that's one difference I've noticed with depression and just having a bad days - with the depression stuff I get stuck and start obsessing about WHY things are sucking).

OK, grouch decided she's done playing and squealing and talking and needs to nurse and nap NOW. Hope everyone's well - any plans to take the cuties to pumpkin patches for adorable photo ops?!

[jenfl]

We have a square foot garden! I've wanted one for years but never put the time/money into it. This year, with DD being 3 and really into experiential learning, we decided putting one in would be a great learning experience. I'm so excited, but also so covered with compost and peat moss. Next up, seedlings!

The weather has gotten gorgeous here. Sprout has been really enjoying hanging out on the lanai, and he's LOVING it when we put his jumper out there.

Sprout and Nugget are currently hanging out under a quilt in the living room, playing "sleepover".

[jsh7809]

Mamas, this is totally off topic (well, what isn't!), but I need your wishes and prayers. DH has been working with a very challenging boss for 3 or 4 years now (he's just a terrible manager, always comes to work late/ leaves early, and has been coming in on Vicodin and Xanax so often that he rarely seems lucid), and while we've been hoping DH would get a new manager, he just got one... a WORSE situation, if you can believe it. This woman has been a difficult thorn in his side for years, and DH actually just accidentally sent an email TO her ABOUT her (everyone's biggest fear!) last week, saying "I can't stand that woman." Not his finest moment, for sure, but she had said something really innappropriate to a coworker and DH was trying to commiserate and messed up.
Well, that happened last Friday and this morning DH found out that the woman is his new boss. We are kind of freaking out

I think his job is safe, but the promises of a new, better position his old manager had been making might be out the window (along with the huge raise that we really needed), and DH texted me "my work situation just went from stressful to impossible"... I am feeling really sad and scared for him.

[jenfl]

Jess -- Best wishes and positive thoughts from over here.

[Peace+Hope]

Originally Posted by jenfl

Jess -- Best wishes and positive thoughts from over here.

from me too. so stressful!

[jsh7809]

Thanks, guys! I'm trying to think positively for him...
Also, is anyone else's Monster not napping? I mean, she's always a shorty napper, but this is ridiculous! She'll close her eyes a little for maybe 5 minutes and then suddenly it's like, "OH I have to stay awake and roll and grab stuffff!!!!". Argh.

[Dena]

Originally Posted by jsh7809

Thanks, guys! I'm trying to think positively for him...
Also, is anyone else's Monster not napping? I mean, she's always a shorty napper, but this is ridiculous! She'll close her eyes a little for maybe 5 minutes and then suddenly it's like, "OH I have to stay awake and roll and grab stuffff!!!!". Argh.

Oh, man, story of my day here. Hannah will.not.nap today. And while she is not napping, she is miss cranky pants who demands to be held or ELSE. (or else she screams at the top of her lungs.) I have no clue what is going on. Maya actually took a three hour nap. Its like they switched roles or something.

Sending your dh good thoughts and prayers.

[jenfl]

Weird afternoon and evening around here. My parents took Nugget "camping" at Fort Wilderness, Disney World. They picked her up a little after lunch and we'll get her tomorrow.

So for the rest of the day, it was just DH, Sprout, and I. It was so... quiet. DH and I aren't used to having time to talk to each other when it isn't squeezing a few words in between Nugget's endless monologue. And we had no idea what to do with ourselves. Our daily routine is driven by preschooler needs, with Sprout along for the ride.

I miss that little girl. I can't wait to get her back tomorrow!

[smeisnotapirate]

My kids were switched today too. My 2yo took an awesome nap and Nomi had to be nursed every 10 mins. Even DH was ragged from the 2hrs I was at work.

[waiting2bemommy]

hi guys! I posted about Alisa's birth back in the old DDC but here it is again, I don't know how to do the bold thingy:

Alisa Giselle, just shy of 7 lbs, I *think* 19 inches (gotta go back and look ), born april 21st at 41 weeks. An intended home birth that ended up being a hospital induction; they broke my water and labor was fast and furious, no pain medication, but LOTS of pain, lol.

Alisa is beautiful, wonderful, sitting up and trying to stand up. She had already figured out that there is life beyond the boob and makes a grab at our plate at every opportunity, but no teeth yet, (though lots of teething misery).

She still cosleeps and isn't into any baby contraptions, but I got a used exersaucer for her and she finds that pretty amusing since the puppy likes to curl up in the bottom of it under her feet and then she can step on him. So.....yeah.

Me, I have really bad PPD, with some good days and some horrible days. Hoping for a change soon. But hanging in there for now. it sounds like all the other babies are scooting around already? Sounds like fun!

[jsh7809]

welcome back, w2bm! glad to hear your cutie is doing well. sorry about the PPD... I have been struggling a lot since the birth, as well. 10mgs of Paxil a day (the smallest dose possible, one of the safest meds for BFing possible) has really helped me a LOT. that and therapy and asking for help like crazy. I hope you are able to keep getting more and more good days!
and our cat likes to hang out under the bouncer, doesn't seem to mind getting bounced on either... ha ha, crazy animals and babies!

I'm wondering if my catnapper is trying to drop one of her (few) naps already... she takes one pretty easily an hour after waking, and definitely needs another one around 12 or 1... but since she doesn't sleep more than an hour max, and bedtime is typically 7pm, I usually try to get her a longer one around 3 or 4. but the past few days it's been a big struggle. I would love it if she would take a long nap at 1 or so, and then be up until bedtime, but it's much harder for me to take the 2 hours getting her to sleep and getting her to STAY asleep requires in the middle of the day... sigh.

sometimes I think about just letting her stay awake until she literally can't keep her eyes open anymore . but I'm not a fan of meltdowns... so I always try to get her to nap before that happens. maybe she is a person who needs to go and go and go until she just CAN'T (that's how her dad is).

[Pepper44]

Ada is very much a cat napper also. She takes 5 short naps a day. Sometimes it's very annoying but I'm really trying to not think about it and go with the flow as long as we're all semi content and functioning. I do get frustrated when she wakes up after only 10 or 15 minutes. Blah.

EC: We have a lot of misses while she's playing on the floor. I was kind of expecting that to happen, since she's distracted and so am I!

Food: Ada is totally not ready to eat. I stuck one grain of rice in her mouth and she gummed it happily then spit. On the other hand I found bits of what looked like a fall leaf in two poops. Hmm. Not sure when she snuck that in!

Mobility: Tonight I set Ada on one far corner of a big blanket, then went to clean the toilet. A few minutes later I heard the songs on her big playhouse toy. I peeked in and she was sitting up at the toy! Sneaky baby. She must have scooted herself somehow.

[jenfl]

Originally Posted by jsh7809

sometimes I think about just letting her stay awake until she literally can't keep her eyes open anymore . but I'm not a fan of meltdowns... so I always try to get her to nap before that happens. maybe she is a person who needs to go and go and go until she just CAN'T (that's how her dad is).

This is pretty much what we do. If we're at home the whole time, Sprout plays around on the floor, in the Exersaucer, in the bouncer, etc. As he gets tired and fussy, we start carrying him around as we do things around the house (deal with Nugget, clean, etc). When he's so tired he just can't stop fussing or he's falling asleep on our shoulder (or in the carrier), we put him in the crib.

If it's a 3 nap day, he goes about 2 awake hours between naps. If it's a 2 nap day, he goes more like 3-4 hours.

[Peace+Hope]

i think charlie may be transitioning to two naps, but it's not easy for him. he's been refusing the middle of the day nap, or just putting it off, or yesterday being a sleepy, fussy lump after waking up from being asleep for 10 minutes til he finally went to sleep for #3.

today we tried to go out to lunch, and i thought we had time since he's not been going down as soon for nap #2. weeeelllll, it didn't work out so well. we ended up getting our food to go and he went down as soon as we got home.

jenfl, i'm jealous that you have a baby that can be put down when he's sleepy.... charlie hasn't done that since he was an early 4 months! glad for you though

waiting2bemommy! i'm adding you to our list. glad you are reconnecting with us.

[jenfl]

Okay, I'm pretty sure that's the LEAST number of posts in a day we've ever had in this DDC! I was away from my computer all day (at Fort Wilderness!) and there's only 1?!