*****~January 2011 DDC Babies~***** - Page 3

[~Adorkable~]

i have been finding that my girl need to TIO as we are putting it, she needs to talk to herself, talk to the universe, sometimes argue a bit to settle herself down. and yeah if i am there "trying" to calm her it just pisses her off or prolongs things.  it was so hard the first few times to leave her to work things out, i felt like i was later her cry. so i finally got my phones stopwatch out and times how long it all took, sometimes less than a min, never more than 2-3. in the end i realized that she is a pretty big girl now so from about 10 month on i have let her do what she needs.

my boy on the other hand will almost alway escalate into real tears and that is sad, not ok with me and so very hard for him to recover from. i just moved him out of our room two night ago (temporally into a spare room so he can learn the ropes before sharing the nursery with his sister) and it has been hard, i dont remember how the first few days went when we moved her 2 month ago. but i spent most the night sitting next to his crib trying not to fall off my chair resting my hand on his back, the rest of the night went fine, cause i gave up and brought him back to bed. one day at a time right?

on a fun note we have taken the first of what i hope will be a annual picture (my avatar), with them in jeans and a t shirt and bare feet, i figure it is the one outfit we wil always have for then all the way into adulthood.  i am just in love with the first one. it really captures their personalities

[MPsSweetie]

I was just looking at how cute your pic is adorkable! What happened to our babies?

Abbott has been needing to get himself to sleep lately also. He nurses, then pulls away and rubs is eyes, over and over, until I put him in his bed, then he's out. He still wakes to nurse (and cough, still sick) but as long as I take care of him right away and put him back to bed he'll put himself to sleep. Not that I expect it every time, but phew, a break is nice!

Anyone else start to feel super drained around a year? I don't know if it's the nursing, the year of not great sleep, or what, but I am feeling awful. Of course we have all been sick, but I don't know. I feel exhausted, sad, headachy, weak, my heart pounds, but I cant sleep, I'm not sure what to do. I am pretty sure I felt this way with my other two, but that was a while ago. I just feel like I can't keep up with it all. We homeschool, but most days it's a fight. My kids are smart and I see them learning every day, but still feel so guilty that it's not more structured. If I wasn't so tired.... Lol.

Oh, and my dh is a disabled vet with major health problems cropping up...

Wow, sorry.

[MPsSweetie]

I'm already on zoloft for ppd. Tiny, tiny dose.

[Breathless Wonder]

MPsSweetie- I know what you mean. I've actually been going for acupuncture, and it has REALLY helped with energy levels, and PPD.  I didn't expect it to, but it did.  I've also been making a more concerted effort to take care of myself, like I did when I was pregnant.  I try to focus more on getting good rest, plenty of water, and taking supplements to fill the gaps where my diet is lacking.  I just need to get through, because I know after the previous kids, this isn't forever, and if I need to take shortcuts to allow me to get through it with my sanity, that's okay.  I've also cut back on the extras for the older kids.  A little more self motivation, self reliance, and a self entertaining never killed anyone.  Not sure how old you older kids are though...

[MPsSweetie]

My other kids are 9 and 5.

We had Abbotts birthday party today, he was so cute.

Otherwise, super overwhelming day.... :/

[LM96]

Anyone else start to feel super drained around a year? I don't know if it's the nursing, the year of not great sleep, or what, but I am feeling awful

Yes!  I had a horrible couple of weeks right before/at Christmas.  WE didn't do much for Christmas--no traveling and no big celebrations but I was having a rough time.  Getting a decent amount of sleep really helped.  Before Micah started sleeping better he was up every 2 hours or so and I was just exhausted.  I couldn't form coherent thoughts or even do something as simple as make a meal plan for a week and a shopping list.  Our bodies have been through a lot over the past 2 years and I think it really takes its toll.  I've also found that if I don't take my fish oil supplement, I feel much, much worse.

What are your babies eating now?  I'm stuck in a rut of giving him crackers too often and need some new ideas.  He eats whatever we are having for dinner, but I need quick and easy snack ideas.  He likes apples cut in small cubes and clementine segments (I have to watch him carefully with those because he can't chew the pulp part), black beans, refried beans, scrambled eggs are hit or miss and I give him yogurt for breakfast daily.

I'm also noticing that he is becoming much less interested in nursing.  It is almost 2pm and he has only really nursed twice since waking up (and I've offered several times).  Just too busy doing other things!  My goal is to keep him nursing through the worst of cold/RSV season though so hopefully he won't completely give it up quite yet.  

[~Adorkable~]

Will write more later since I would love to talk food stuffs. But I just wanted to share that Aunt Flow finally found me! 1 year and 2 weeks of nursing my twins on request so far. Both have been eating a lot more solids and the second one just moved to his own room for the start of the night about 2-3 weeks ago, so while I'm still night nursing, it's a lot less. I've been really feeling the reduction in the mornings!

On a strange note, BOTH babes were inconsolable all night last night, something that is totally completely strange for them. Even bringing them back to bed with us fixed nothing. I wonder if the sensed something was different about me, AF started this morning.

Anyway very happy about my first PPAF, been having a ton of O pain for a prolonged time and worried about a luteal cyst, which I have a history of. But the pain has calmed in the past week, so I'm guessing it was just a slow prolonged ramp up to my first O.

Now the question as to if we are ready to accept another pregnancy suddenly becomes very real and now, we have been open to it, but it's also been pretty hypothetical. Hmmmmm.

[anjsmama]

!! Yes. yes. yes. Could have pretty much written this myself. DD has totally upped her solids in the past month, I got my first AF, and she seemed totally spastic like I was an alien. It just ended yesterday and today already she seemed so much less fussy. What the...?

Totally feel you - the presence of AF suddenly makes your brain go, "OK - WHAT IF?" . For me, it was an excellent wake up call. Because my brain was actually thinking things like ... "Could I give my own child up for adoption?" That's how NOT ready we are! Needless to say, BC appointment is Monday....

Originally Posted by ~Adorkable~ 

Will write more later since I would love to talk food stuffs. But I just wanted to share that Aunt Flow finally found me! 1 year and 2 weeks of nursing my twins on request so far. Both have been eating a lot more solids and the second one just moved to his own room for the start of the night about 2-3 weeks ago, so while I'm still night nursing, it's a lot less. I've been really feeling the reduction in the mornings!
On a strange note, BOTH babes were inconsolable all night last night, something that is totally completely strange for them. Even bringing them back to bed with us fixed nothing. I wonder if the sensed something was different about me, AF started this morning.
Anyway very happy about my first PPAF, been having a ton of O pain for a prolonged time and worried about a luteal cyst, which I have a history of. But the pain has calmed in the past week, so I'm guessing it was just a slow prolonged ramp up to my first O.
Now the question as to if we are ready to accept another pregnancy suddenly becomes very real and now, we have been open to it, but it's also been pretty hypothetical. Hmmmmm.

[anjsmama]

In other news... DD will be turning 1 in 2 weeks, and I can't get over how grown up she is. She reminds me of my DS when he turned TWO. She says milk, ball, mom, dad, brother, give me, thank you, water, uh-oh, and "vroooooom" - LOL she loves toy cars! She's not only walking, but running, climbing, sliding. She eats what we eat. She plays together with my 3 y/o DS pretty well now and doesn't panic when I'm gone for an hour or two. She is even getting more patient about nursing - she'll ask for milk and I'll say, "As soon as we get home"  and that seems to be OK for her. It's all just so so strange to me how two children that are both mine could be  so, so , so different!

[LM96]

FWIW, I've had 4 cycles now and my milk supply seems to drop drastically in the week leading up to AF.  I think that is part of why ds loves his solid foods so much now.

I made cheesy quinoa bites for him for lunch today and he liked them well enough.  I'll be able to keep them in the fridge and warm up a couple pretty easily for a quick snack for him, so that will be good.

He has at least one molar coming through right now and it is giving him fits.  The poor guy is really cranky and clingy.  I hope it comes through quickly so my happy baby returns!

[MPsSweetie]

I have had two cycles, one in september and another in December. Yeah, there were a few tests taken during that time, lol. Even tho I know nursing messes it up. Anyhow, my supply seems to drop around then also. Actually it seems pretty low all around lately.. Abbott seems SO hungry all the time, he follows me around clicking his tongue, which means "feed me!". Lol. He is now wanting to eat to fill up, not just to taste everything.

Abbott also seems so grown up, maybe because he wants to do what his big siblings are doing, none of that baby stuff for him, lol. He loves to play outside, digging in the dirt. Likes to try and put legos together. It's just so cute! I don't want him to get any bigger! Although napping and sleeping better at night would be nice.... It seems so hard to nail down a nap routine with the bigger kids and dh always needing to do stuff.

I wish more from our group would join us! I have a whole group of friends on Facebook from a May babies 2002 group I was a part of years ago. It's so neat to see them all now turning 10!

On another note... Do we have to move to the toddlers sub forum now?

[~Adorkable~]

wow we have toddlers dont we?  i guess i felt like i would start using that word when they walked, but i actually changed my signature yesterday and was struck by it all. I'm fine with moving.

as for the rest of the DDC, yeah we never really had a group that was to chatty, some months are some rant, i always noticed that since i was an ambassador to the DDCs in general. i do wish we would hear how some of them were doing.  i made the choice a long time ago to keep MDC and IRL separate so that i could be free to talk openly on MDC, so no Facebook crossover  for me, that falls under IRL for me.

plus i always wonder how that lady from NYC that got banned early on from MDC every turned out, i hope she is doing good

[MPsSweetie]

I think we have always moved at one year, but I'm not sure, lol.

I always wonder about her also!

[Breathless Wonder]

My DD has been getting into a lot of mischief lately. She has not been content with being in her crib or her play yard for some time now, not even for long enough for me to use the bathroom.  She keeps trying to climb out.  I've caught her with her leg hitched over the top, trying to pull herself up.  A few weeks ago, she started using items to assist in her escape attempts.  I had to remove everything 3 dimensional from her crib and play yard so that she wouldn't pull it over to the side, and stand on it. We co-sleep, so the "containers" were only used when I needed to put her someplace safe so that I could have both hands free. Now I need to get someone to hold her, or watch over her when she is in the crib or play yard.  She has never really liked the sling. She prefers to be down and moving.  And even if she did like the sling, I'm having a lot of problems with my hips and back still, so I couldn't use it for large chunks of time.

She's walking a lot now, and really well.  She really doesn't crawl much any more. 

We bought a membership to the local children's museum. She loves going there. They have some nice wide, shallow steps for climbing, that lead up to a huge platform, and a gently sloping wooden slide wide enough for us to go down side by side. They also have a lot of little hiding places in their 5 and under room, that she enjoys playing in. She seemed somewhat interested in the drum they had, but the sticks were attached to the drum, and she couldn't get the sticks in the right position to make some really good noise.  She really liked their pretend shopping area, and the tiny shopping carts in particular.  She walked all around, pushing it, and taking things out of it, and throwing them on the floor.

Her favorite toys right now are balls.  She enjoys throwing things in general, and engages in a reasonably good game of catch for someone her age.  She also loves it when the older kids build her a tower out of dominoes, and she gets to knock them down.

We haven't really tried coloring yet...  And she's not ready to sit down with books.  If she could be outside all of the time, I think she'd be happy...

[Breathless Wonder]

MPsSweetie- Did you belong to our DDC group on Facebook?  I don't share personally identifying info here on MDC.  I will however share photos and such on Facebook.  I just don't share my MDC user name there.  it's still up, but is scheduled to be archived...

Adorkable- if you belong to a closed group, they can't see your profile, and people outside of the group can't see what you post.

[~Adorkable~]

BreathlessWonder, but they can see my real name, right? really haven't looking into the groups and stuff on Facebook, I've been on it forever but mostly just cause i move a lot and i wanted the folks i know IRL and in my past to be able to look me up.  i dont use it for socializing really.

as for the babe, do you have any whole rooms baby proofed and gated off? we babyprooofed the living room as they first learned to crawl and it has been their domain, it works well since it is open to the dinning room and then kitchen so line of sight is good, there is a banister between the rooms so they can watch me as i fuss around or prep & clean up after meals. now that they are on the verge of walking we are expanding the baby proofed area to include the dinning room as well so now they will be able to come right up and peer in the kitchen while I'm in there thru the double wide opening that we will gate off. this also lets us bring in some larger more physical toys.

as for the larger toys we got them a ball pit last week and wow that is a HIT! we got a great price on a used playpen (like this one) that is friendly to bump up agaist and filled it with 2-3 layers of balls 400! rainbow ones  boy they really like it. we got two of the playpens so we can make it twice as large when they get walking or have a friend over and plan on getting a few 100 more balls in the coming months, right now i think the amount is perfect. i think something they can slide down and climb on is next, figuring out if i can make something.

[Breathless Wonder]

Adorkable-

As far as Facebook, yes, other people in the group could see your name, but people who don't belong to the group should not be able to, depending on the settings.

I have to think about the baby proofing, and which rooms I could add/improve that would make my life easier.  We have 4 older kids as well, so that doesn't help with keeping things clear for the baby!

I love the picture!  I see a Rody Bouncer in the back ground! DD got one for Christmas/ her birthday!

The ball pit is a GREAT idea!  I already have a plastic panel baby play yard, and I know where I can get balls. 

We have this slide:

http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt290/Immie83/CraigsList484.jpg

Which i have brought in and set up for the other kids. I like it because it is low, with a large platform for maneuvering at the top.

[MPsSweetie]

Hmmm, I had forgotten about the group on Facebook, off to check it out again!

[MPsSweetie]

Oh, I was the last one to post in august! Lol

[~Adorkable~]

ok got a hair up somewhere and decided to start a Toddler thread for us,, here you go

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1342509/january-2011-ddc-chat-our-budding-toddlers#post_16837237