~ JULY 2010 Oct-Dec Thread ~ - Page 8

[Terrilein]

@InsideOut and @zenmumajen welcome to our humble thread! And Leo is a real cutey!

@slgt - try Pilates. they're helping me strengthen my back and tummy. I bet it would help firm up your tummy, too.

@Crafty - I haven't been on much lately because 1) X-mas and New Year's and 2) we're sick here, too, at the moment. My dd's got a lovely cough and head cold going while ds has bronchitis and is running a high fever nights for the last two nights. We're off to the ped in the morning again.

Have finally figured out after all this time that DP is a textbook passive aggressive and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to deal with him in future, if at all.

[Surfacing]

Not much time to read and write right now, but it's so lovely to see all the photos and read peoples' updates! <3

Things are good over here, am struggling with seasonal depression right now though. Even though I'm in treatment, it's not quite enough right now. Need some help. Anyway, be well everyone!!!

[majazama]

[MJB]

Here's a picture of Edie on Xmas morning with her new favorite toy.

She is such a little person these days! She goes onto hands and knees when I try to lie her down for tummy time (and gets mad and wails when she collapses to the floor), is walking holding my hands, and starting to "talk". She has 3 "words": dada (which means dada and "I am happy"), nuh nuh ("I want that"), and "hey" (which means "hey"). She's really starting to understand what we're saying. We've started signing to her. She likes to splash wildly in the bath. She loves books and turns the pages of her board books.

She's joining the kid gang around here; the boys take her in their room to play (she just sits and watches them play). I'd worried she'd always be left out because of the big age gap but they include her so nicely already! I've let her take a bath with my 5yo a couple times which makes her think she's a big kid. It's unbearably cute. 

Her bottom teeth are *right* at the gum and she woke up screaming every hour last night. Poor baby. She's been biting me a lot which isn't fun. I tell her "no!" and unlatch her but then she just giggles hysterically. 

Solids are going well. She eats dinner most days now. We're still doing a mix of homemade baby food and table food. Dinners are so much more pleasant now that she just sits in her high chair and eats with us. I start school next week so she'll probably get a little bit of food in the mornings I'm gone (1.5-2.5 hours 3 days a week) as well as at dinner. I still have plenty of breastmilk that I pumped when she was tiny, but she won't drink it unless she's really hungry. 

[somegirl99]

Happy New Year!  It's been a while since I posted here, been quite busy!  I started back at work in December, we had an au pair move in (and had to prepare a room and car for), were doing some renovations (new flooring with radiant heat in living room/dining room) and DH, DS and I were all quite sick over the holidays, doing better now though.  I usually try to catch up on MDC when bouncing DS to sleep so it makes it harder to post.

Hopefully soon I will get a chance to upload new pictures...I really love seeing all the other babes!  DS is doing well, he will be 6 months in 9 days.  He loves to roll from his front to his back, tummy time has now become rolling practice time as he just flips over right away.  He will roll from his back to his side but hasn't rolled over to his tummy yet, but he doesn't really enjoy being on his tummy so that might be why.  He has also started lunging forward from a seated position to reach something and can pass a toy from hand to hand.  He loves to practice standing and walking as well, and can sit on his own for a little bit before flopping over.  We haven't started solids yet as he hasn't shown any interest, but he likes sitting at the table with us and playing with toys (we use an Inglesina hook-on chair).  He smiles and giggles a lot and loves watching the dogs and has started grabbing at them, fortunately he mostly gets their sweaters.  He used to babble a couple of months ago but now he mostly shrieks and blows raspberries, hopefully he will get back to babbling soon.  His next well baby visit is in a couple weeks, curious to find out how much he weighs now.

He has had a bit of tooth poking through for a little while now, but it hasn't been bothering him too much.  We use an amber necklace, not sure if that is making a difference or not.  Nighttime sleep has gotten a little better now that we have cut down on the length of his naps.  For a while we were using the double swaddling with a second blanket inside the woombie (thanks again for the suggestion), then we were able to move to just the woombie, and now we are just using the woombie at night and a sleepsack during the day.  He wakes up 3-4 times at night, most of them now are just to nurse and go back to sleep, but if he wakes up needing to poop or burp then we are up for a while.  EC is going pretty well overall, at least when it is me and DH doing it.

Unfortunately things are not going very well with the au pair, so we are investigating other child care options.  We were hoping not to have to do day care because I work from home a good portion of the time and the nearest day care options are about 45 minutes drive from here, but we live in a pretty remote area so finding a nanny is not easy.  Hopefully we will work something out soon because this is causing a lot of stress for us.  Thankfully my MIL can stay with us for a little while to help out...she can't take care of him all by herself but she can keep an eye on the au pair.

[expat-mama]

Happy New Year!

Wow it's been a while since I've checked our thread and there are so many new cute pictures and updates. Our babies are getting sooo big!

Konrad turned 6 months on wednesday and to celebrate we introduced his first taste of solid food, banana, to him. He played around with a hunk of it but I don't think he really ate much of it. He made some weird faces so I'm not sure he liked the flavour. We are going to give him some more today and try something else in a few days. I'm not really pushing the solids at all, I don't think he's really ready to eat much but just in case I thought he's big enough to give it a try and have some fun playing at least.

We had an amazing Christmas holiday- my sister and her dp came to visit and to meet Konrad for the first time! They fell in love with him right away of course and it was really cool to see my boy bonding with my sister. We did all sorts of fun vacation stuff here in Dubai too and Konrad was soooo great through it all! We were out all day and evening and even had some overnight trips and Konrad was so easy and happy the whole time. I was so worried about how it would go being busy and out all day but he just napped in the ergo and we nursed (albeit awkwardly- since I'm not so great at NIP) everywhere and he would be so tired by bedtime that he just passed out every night. His absolute favourite thing we did was going to the aquarium at the Palm Atlantis- he LOVED it! He was amazed with all the fish and sea creatures and we got some beautiful pictures of him. He is a water baby- loves the bath, the pool, and the aquarium. I can't wait to take him into the ocean!

We had some sleep issues about a week ago but those seem to have been mostly resolved- I saw the thread about six month sleep difficulties. Konrad was waking about a billion times a night for a week or so but then I started giving him a 6-8oz bottle of expressed milk when he woke up at around 10-12 at night and that did the trick. He doesn't nurse well at night (hasn't since he was born!) and giving him a giant bottle at night really helps. After the bottle he only wakes up once or sometimes twice more for a diaper change and a few minutes of comfort nursing then he's back down! I just have to pump a lot in the morning which is kind of a pain.

As far as mobility- egad!- this boy is going to be crawling really soon. He gets up on his hands and gets his bum in the air and wiggles it around but doesn't get anywhere. He rolls around to get where he's going right now. I'm having a hard time with naps because I can't leave him nap in the middle of the bed anymore but he won't go down in his pack n play unless he is really, really passed out. So lately he has been napping on me or in the ergo.

Konrad is sitting up pretty well- he still falls over alot, but he hates laying around on his back now and he only ever wants to sit like a big boy. He got a few great toys that he loves to play with while sitting up- this monkey on a ball that rolls and tips but stays upright, a bunch of wooden blocks and a wooden box/house to put them all in, and a bunch of stacking cups. He loves them all. He is really into BANGING these days. Banging his toys together, banging his hands or toys on surfaces, banging his hands on whoever is holding him etc. It's pretty cute. He's really into his books now too- his favourites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?, How do Dinosaurs Eat their Food?, and Bedtime in the Jungle. And he got loads and loads of books for Christmas from family members too.

Thankfully he has pretty much stopped making his zombie noise except when he is really tired. Now he really babbles with consonant sounds (ma-ma-ma, da-da-da) I don't think he's saying mama or dada yet really- he has no idea what he's saying. He does this really cute exageratted jaw movement thing when he gets really into it. He is into trying to mimic what his dad or I say. And he does the raspberries too! We are starting sign language too, I'm not sure he gets it yet. We have just been doing the signs for mom and dad- he just looks at us weird when we do it and tries to suck our hands.

We have a whole repertoire of things we do to make him laugh- he especially loves to watch us chew especially when exagerrate with a "num num num" sound. Cracks him up every time! He likes when I pretend to eat his hands or feet or bite his belly too.

He's just such a happy kid- I didn't realize it until my sister said so when she was visiting, but he NEVER cries. I don't really know what it would sound like if he were to have a crying fit because he never really has. He has only ever cried for 30 seconds at a time and it's usually for a reason that is easily remedied. It's pretty amazing when I think about it, maybe that's why hearing other babies wailing and wailing really upsets me- I'm not used to it at all!

Anyway, I could ramble on and on about Konrad forever- so I'll stop now and post a couple of pictures.

Sorry to hear you are struggling with the winter gloom Surfacing- I'm hoping spring comes soon for you, I know how hard those Canadian winters can be and I don't miss them at all. Hang in there!

Also sorry to hear about the ongoing issues with your DP, Terrilein.

Somegirl, if you don't mind, what are the issues with your au pair? I only ask because I'm really curious about how people get along with a live-in caretaker. In a couple years when DH and I (hopefully) have another baby we are seriously thinking about hiring a live-in nanny. It's very common and affordable here in the UAE, most often the nannies are from the Phillipines and those that I have met are just wonderful, amazing ladies. But most of the people we know who have a nanny aren't as particular about their parenting choices as DH and I are. I'm just not sure how we would deal with someone living in our space and how to go about getting someone to conform to our parenting style. Anyway, just wondering.

Take care everyone! I'm really enjoying reading about all your little ones!

[MommaKitten21]

We are doing fairly well over here.... DH is in limbo and not sure what his schedule is looking like as far as the Army goes. He may be leaving us for a little while, so that's a bummer since we just got him home at the end of October! ughh. Oh well, we will deal like we always do :) Little Evie is doing well... she's a very spirited child, so that's been a huge challenge for us! I'd say this week has been pretty well with her though :) I finally feel like she is becoming a little more "normal" if I can say that :blush Does anyone know if a baby can start off spirited then kind of out grow it?

Here's little Evie a few days ago

[Noah's mommy]

Hi everyone,

So sweet to see everyone's big babies! I can't believe they are six months old!  Stella turned six months on the 4th.  We just came back from a whirlwind trip stateside.  It involved 4 international flights and and three domestic flights in a three week period! I think I am scarred from flying that much!  Stella actually did really, really well most of the time-but the fear of what might happen just about put me over the edge.  I tend to be an anxious person naturally and three weeks on the road, with all of that flying, really did me in.  I need some time to recover here before we travel again in March! 

Stella has her two bottom teeth now and is CRAWLING!  She gets her belly off the floor and just goes.  Nothing is safe now!  She is sitting up if we put her in that position, but doesn't get there on her own yet.  Sleeping...ah, could be better.  She was up every hour during our travels and hopefully things will settle down now that we are home.  I hope.  Getting up every hour hasn't been good for my mental health.

She's not a particularly interested eater.  She nurses when she feels like it, though she's more of a snacker than anything.  We've tried solids a few times and she's not really into it.  Maybe in a few more months.

We got some big news in December...come June we'll be moving to India!  Dh and I both found jobs at and American school there.  It will be sad to leave Brazil but I think it was time to move on.  Dh is traveling to Italy for the next 10 days and I'll be flying solo.  I hope I survive!  I go back to work next Friday.  It has been great having almost 7 months off, but my time is up.  We have a wonderful nanny that cares for Stella and I am not too worried.  Just a bit sad.

I love hearing everyone's updates...I'll try to be around more!

[neonalee]

Originally Posted by neonalee 

 The last couple of nights he's been really fussy though, nursing a lot, not sure why.  In fact I'm nearly numb right this moment!  The pacifier made him scream :

Oh my gosh!  It was a tooth!  Wednesday night DP noticed a sharp/rough spot when DS was chomping on his knuckle, and there it was!  A little tooth had come in!  Then Friday night he rolled back to front & front to back a couple times.  Yesterday he was sitting up on my legs completely unassisted!  And last night I noticed the second tooth could be seen coming up!  I can't believe how fast it's happening all of a sudden!  Happy New Year mamas!

[lrgs]

Noah's mommy.......all that flying sounds stressful, glad it went well.

ex-pat.....cool aquarium pictures!

MommaKitten......too bad about your dh, hope everything works out allright. I'm not sure on the spirited thing........my ODD is spirited, she was as a baby and is still going full steam ahead at just over 3.

somegirl......sorry to hear things aren't working out with your au pair, hope you can get that resolved.

Ainsley is going to be 6th months on the 24th, I just can't believe it. I'm so, so, so in love with my big, chunky, squishy baby. She's such a sweet, happy little monkey. She was 17 pounds almost a month ago so I'm going to guess she's about 17.5 or so now. I tried a little bit of solids (banana, apple, sweet potatoe and some cereal) but she had NO interest. She liked to squish and play but anything that made it into her mouth was spit out....while gagging and looking at me like I was a horrible person for subjecting her to something so gross. When I tried a bit of cereal she closed her eyes and shuddered. I think I'll wait another couple weeks and try again, I think she's going to be satisfied with mom's milk for awhile. She has a bit of a cold and her second tooth is poking out so she isn't all that comfortable but seems to be doing really well with it. She's rolling all over the place and we had to pack up ODD little toys and stash them in her room because Ainsley makes her way around a good amount of the play room. So far I am amazed at her ability to stay busy playing on the floor.........she seems to prefer playing on the ground to being held and that makes me sad but at least I get snuggles during nursing. We got a good cuddle in today at Mya's gymnastics, she fell asleep in the wrap which she hasn't done in a long time. She's mastered sitting up but still topples over from time to time so I have to put pillows behind her but she just loves to sit and play. She gets so excited and flails her arms around. I love this stage so much, she plays happily on the floor and isn't crawling and getting into stuff. Sometimes her toys get just out of her reach and she gets angry and starts flailing her arms around........I keep them close to her because I can wait awhile longer for crawling. Mya started army crawling around at 6 months and I'm not ready for that!

 Ainsley absolutely adores her sister and Mya does a good job getting her smiling. Ainsley is rear facing in the back seat and Mya is forward facing and they kind of keep each other entertained......it's nice. Mya always likes to sing "Jingle Bells" if Ainsley starts getting fussy. The other day Ainsley was crying despite Mya's singing and Mya yelled at her "AINSLEY, I ALREADY SANG YOU A SONG......JINGLE BELLS, YOU STOP CRYING"

Mya is giving us a heck of a time. I think some of it's me, maybe having unrealistic expectations of her but she is definitely giving us a run for our money. Terrible 2's didn't exist at all for us and I thought we were out of the woods.............not even close, 3 is SO hard on us. I'm having a hard time being patient with her and feeling very guilty when I do lose my patience.

[expat-mama]

Wow, I can't believe so many babes have teeth popping up! We have absolutely no signs of teeth around here. Every once in a while when DS is extra fussy I think hmm, could it be? But it never is.

We started some solid food on Wednesday, his 6 month birthday, not because I'm that anal about waiting till exactly six months, but because I kind of wanted to do something special...obviously cake was out! DS has been reaching for food and so enthralled with our chewing and eating food in front of him he just couldn't wait. So we started with banana- I gave him a chunk and also had some mashed up which I tried to give him with a spoon and he didn't like that. Then I just gave him some on my fingers and he loved that. He had a hard time man-handling the slippery chunk, but he had fun trying- most of what he ate came from my fingers. He made some crazy faces the first time he tasted it. He's had banana a few times now, and he just seems to like it more and more. Yesterday we tried steamed carrots, but he didn't seem to like those as much. Boy is it all messy. DH says he has always been totally disgusted by messy baby eating, and that he doesn't think it's cute at all. I can understand that I guess, luckily he didn't think DS eating was too gross.

What are your sitting up babes playing with? DS has blocks and stacking cups that he really loves to bang around. He still likes some of his rattly and soft clutch toys, but I think he wants something more to bang around. I gave him some wooden spoons and he liked those...until he poked himself in the eye with the handle end and I took them away. It's all about the banging around here. What can I give him that he can "bang" with?

[ProtoLawyer]

We've given E. some avocado--he's had a good time mashing it around but almost none of it made it into his mouth. He was interested in licking some avocado bits off my finger, but wasn't sure what to make of them. He kind of tongued it like a dog does with peanut butter. We'll try some other stuff tonight. We're BLW, but understanding that more traditional baby food will probably be given in daycare (my husband is running for office and E. will be in daycare in April if he wins--he's got a good shot, wish him luck!) and we're OK with that.

He's also graduated to the big tub for baths--we never had a baby tub, could fit him in the sink for about a week, so for the last several months, I've just been bringing him into the shower. Well, I threw out my back last week, and Mr. Gigantor Baby (he's probably right around 20 pounds) is too wiggly and slippery for that to work anymore, so we bathed him in the tub. He really got a kick out of kicking, but didn't care much for the toys.

In other news, our diaper service suddenly went out of business, never picked up the old diapers--about 60 prefolds (and we have no idea where to bring them, nobody's answering the phone), so we washed them and are CDing on our own, which has been much better than I had originally expected.

[InsideOut]

Proto-Lawyer - that's kind of funny about the diaper company just vanishing. Are you wishing you'd just started with your own stash? Our dryer is broken so laundry has been a real pain around here for the last month or so.

DS turned 6 mths a few days ago. I can't believe it. He's had 2 baths in the big tub and the second time I let him lay out in the tub. The water just covered his ears and his face was out of the water and his head kind of floated. He became so quiet and peaceful. It was awesome to watch. I find myself just staring at DS all the time now. I'm going to be away all day during the weeks starting next week and it's really starting to dawn on me how much I'm going to miss out on.

DS has no teeth either. He's 20lbs. He's so happy and good-natured. He's in cloth and I think that really restricts his movement because when he gets "nakey" time he is all over the place wiggling and rolling.

I hear him waking up, gotta go! So nice to read about your LOs and see the pics, love those aquarium pics.

[lrgs]

Ex-pat.......I was talking to another mom from Mya's preschool today, she had her 6 month old DD there and she already had 7 teeth! Apparently she got her 4 top teeth all at once (ouch!).

Re: Sitting toys, so far Ainsley isn't picky at all about toys, she'll play with anything that happens to be laying around.....if we're out at a restaurant she'll wave a napkin around for 20 minutes. My first was never like that though. I'm not sure what your tolerance is for non-wood, non-natural toys but my brother gave Ainsley this penguin for Christmas and she loves it, we just didn't put batteries in it and she loves to swat it around. At first I was a bit annoyed at yet another giant toy in my house but it's been pretty good for her.

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=gobabygo&pid=42970

[ProtoLawyer]

Originally Posted by InsideOut 

Proto-Lawyer - that's kind of funny about the diaper company just vanishing. Are you wishing you'd just started with your own stash? Our dryer is broken so laundry has been a real pain around here for the last month or so.

Actually, I don't--there was no way we could have kept up with the laundry at the beginning, and I think we would have abandoned cloth diapering soon enough. This gave us enough time to really see the benefits, and also get into a groove. On the upside, we now have 60 nice, soft prefolds (which, yes, if the owner ever gets back in touch with us, we will happily return or negotiate terms for purchase).

[a-sorta-fairytale]

I love seeing all the baby pics :)

Ds will be 6 mth on the 23

ds is a food loving chunk!  He is about 22lbs and busting out of the 12mth clothes

He devours food.  His favorites are sweet potato, applesauce, mango, and beans.  If it is too thin he gets mad - he likes thick purees. 

If we eat and dont feed him he screams.

He loves jumping on my lap - he sits straddling my leg and stands up holding my shirt and jumping up and down.  If i put him in an excersaucer he does the same thing.

HE thinks slapping his hand on things is so fun - especially a table with a puddle of water  -that gets huge squeels of joy.

He has 2 teeth and is getting more so sleep in this house is nonexistant.  He likes sitting but hates tummy time on the cold hard wood floors.

He fell off the couch for the first time the other day and my 2y/o ds said "you are a bad mama - your baby fell off the couch"  OUCH!

[MJB]

Wow, all these babies are huge! Edie is only 14 1/2 lbs. She hasn't gained in 2 mos. which is a little worrisome to me, but she's doing great developmentally, peeing and pooping lots, loudly gulping mama milk tons of times a day AND eating a good deal of food, so I think it's just her. My oldest was a skinny baby.

No teeth here yet but I can't believe it! The bottom two have been bulging for weeks. I don't remember it taking so long to go from bulging to out.

Sitting toys: Edie likes to take her pacifier in and out of her mouth, chew on the edges, pass it from one hand to the other. We have a silicone teething ring she chews on a lot. Those two things are always with us. Her favorite toy at home is this big stuffed cloth block with ribbon tags along the seams that has a rattle inside. She also likes to pull off her socks or shoes and eat them. Or her toes. 

No crawling here, but she is moving in circles and backwards. Our hardwood floors are too slippery so I put my yoga mat out for her. 

[majazama]

alistair was 19 lbs at 4 1/2 months.. I have no idea how much he weights now. probably 21 or 22.. he's a biggun. He can sit occationaly, but does fall over unless buffeted. He is good on his tummy and can do 360 degree turns. He sticks his butt up and rocks on his hands and knees.. It won't be long now till he's crawling..

he has two teeth on the bottom, and I've been feeding him solids since 4 months.. he just really wanted it, so I figure that he knows what he needs. It's my third baby, so I'm pretty lax about the whole thing. You shaoulda seen me with my first baby. You would have thought brown rice cereal was toxic waste if you tried to give it to my girl at 8 months.. lol....

how many naps does your LO have per day and for how long? I think I need to do something about my baby's schedule.. he likes to go to bed every night at 10 or 10:30... arrg.

and my kids dad moved out.. I don't know if any of you remember my dramarific story, but needless to say, change has come and I think we're better off for it.

[Terrilein]

MJB: mine is slimming down, too, and he's not even crawling. I don't think it's the solids though, since he nurses more than he eats even though he'll eat a ton. He eats usually 1-2 meals a day and the rest is nursing on demand. My oldest was a skinny-mini, too, and she was EBF for 10 months. So I think my babies are just meant to be slim. At our last pedi visit he weighed in at approx. 8 kg, that's roughly 17.5 lbs. So he's not one of the super chunky babies, but he's definitely got more meat on his bones than his big sister did at this age.

We also have no teeth showing yet, and ds turned 6 months on Monday. Sleep is also horrible over here. He naps 1-2 a day, depending on when he gets his midmorning nap in. And if the last nap is too late then he's hard to put down in the evening. I won't say for the night because he wakes up hourly no matter what. DP keeps harping on about how I'm doing something wrong and that the baby should be sttn already. I think he keeps hearing too much crap from his family which thinks CIO is awesome. I get really tired of him bringing up their parenting styles and how "successful" they are with their kids, but he never allows me to draw on my experiences with parenting my dd. He claims I'm making comparisons between them that I shouldn't be doing. So he's acting like I don't know anything about parenting and all my practices that for me were researched, tried and true with dd are being treated like crazy ideas I've picked up from who knows where. The only good thing right now is that he's gone most of the week most of the time so that he can't criticize me 24/7.

And ds is still a spitter. Or rather he's turning into a puker. Now that he's eating solids regularly, and sits in a high chair well enough (he doesn't sit independently well yet), he's slowed down a lot on the spitting front. Lately I've noticed that it smells more like vomit, though, when he spits up. It's really kind of gross and I hope this phase is over quickly. DP - who only really sees our son on weekends - gets asked all the time if ds is still spitting and everytime he tells them, "Oh no, he's stopped doing that . . . " Only to leave ds and me to correct him with the evidence. It's just so silly how DP wants to present our son as the perfecty parented baby to his family. You know, the baby that sttn, doesn't cry, doesn't spit up, eats everything he's offered, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I'm really stressed as it is and am due for a psychiatric rehabilitation next week for a few weeks, but have to postpone it for a few months due to 1) dd's schooling registration for next year (Germany has a VERY different system) and 2) the baby! I just can't imagine the clinic having the resources to deal with a baby while I'm off jogging, in a therapy class or whatever. And I don't understand why they (German Pension Fund) couldn't just send me off to a mother-child-rehab. Maybe it'll come down to that in the end. It's just irritating that I have to deal with all this paperwork, phone calls and emails that get no where. It's not easy getting a rehab measure approved, and I've already had to let one slide due to other burocratic reasons. I don't want to miss out on this one as I really need the opportunity to relax, do something for me, find out if I need to do anything more to prevent another episode of depression, and figure out how to deal with my passive-aggressive partner and his parenting insecurity issues..

[lrgs]

Going to try and add a picture......but I'm challenged so let's see if it works! Here's Ainsley "helping" me fold her flats, she thought my yogurt container was the funest toy in the world.