May 2012 Rockstar Mamas - Page 9

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by Baby_Cakes 

And, what irks me, is that for all the sites that say it's normal, and don't change anything unless YOU feel like you need a change -- they offer little advice on how to actually change things!

Maybe that's because there isn't really much you can do? Like you said, it's a milestone thing and you can't make a baby sleep longer until s/he is ready unless you just ignore him/her. So, what do you do? IDK

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by akind1 

One day I will not be tired. I don't know when, maybe sometime this decade if I'm lucky.

I feel the same way!  Sometime in the next few years, this will be a distant memory!  I have faith in that!

Originally Posted by MarineWife 


Maybe that's because there isn't really much you can do? Like you said, it's a milestone thing and you can't make a baby sleep longer until s/he is ready unless you just ignore him/her. So, what do you do? IDK

Very true!  Very very true!!

I have to keep my sense of humor about it, too.  That's what keeps me sane.  Plus, once I have my coffee in the am, I'm usually fine.  It's just the actual getting up in the morning that hurts! (and sometimes I'm propping my eyelids with toothpicks to stay awake at night!)

Finn is officially crawling and is getting fast!  Up til today he was hesitant anywhere but indoors, but today he crawled a few feet on grass.  It's fun!

He keeps getting into the cats water fountain!  I have to put the gate up to the kitchen, I suppose, even though honestly I love having him play with the fridge magnets while I cook/clean.  I could just keep redirecting, otherwise!

Had a great day today.  Got to whole foods, had a good shopping trip with both kids (unheard of!?) and then we played out back with the kiddie pool for a bit (the one Finn was born in, which was neat!).  Finn took a short nap on me while DH worked from outside and Nora played.  It's officially summer!  Love it!

It's strange thinking things like "this time last year" b/c we are getting so close to 1st birthdays!!  Alysia, Lauri, anyone -- you guys have bday party plans?

[AnnieA]

Isn't the mobility fun?!? DD isn't doing traditional crawling but she gets to where she wants to go. The other day she was in the living room kind of fussing and I was in the kitchen getting her lunch ready so I said "Come here Ava!" and she came to me! So easy! But she laughs when I say "Not for Ava" and attempt to redirect...this child is going to give me more gray hair!

We are having DD's party the Saturday before her b-day. We are going to have it at my mom's house and just have a cookout w/the baby pool out for DD and my nieces. I submitted DD's info to that organization Icing Smiles and they are donating a special cake for DD's 1st b-day because of her heart. I requested an Elmo cake because that's going to be the theme. I'm aiming for very laid back.
 

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by Baby_Cakes 

Plus, once I have my coffee in the am, I'm usually fine.  It's just the actual getting up in the morning that hurts! (and sometimes I'm propping my eyelids with toothpicks to stay awake at night!)

This is me, too! It's so hard getting out of bed in the morning when I think of all the things I have to do before I can even have that first cup of coffee. Just having to carry Dylan downstairs seems like so much sometimes. I keep telling myself I should set the coffee up the night before but I'm usually way too tired to even think about it as I'm heading to bed. Hmmm...maybe I should try setting it up during the day right after I get my last cup.

And, ok, I don't want to burst anyone's bubbles but I'm not sure you will get a full night's rest until maybe your kids are 30. I can see me laying awake at night worrying about my boys even after they've moved out. I know I did that with Ryan many nights. It was hard to sleep knowing he wasn't there.

Dylan is a fast crawler! He can really book it when he wants, especially when he sees a gate down and is making a break for it.

I've been too busy with planning stuff for dh's birthday and then Kellen's to think about Dylan's yet.

That reminds me. For the Williamsburg timeshare payments, my mom said payment a month before the trip would be good, so August 14th or so. I'm thinking it's probably easier if I PM or email you all her name and address so you can send checks straight to her. But, if you all would rather, I can collect the money and just give her one check. It's totally up to you all. I don't mind one way or the other.

We went to the library with the homeschool group to make medieval swords and shields as part of a Rick Riordan book club thing. I don't actually know the author but I knew Ethan and Kellen would love making the stuff. They are still asking me and dh to make them things at home. There is so much more homeschool stuff to do up here. I am amazed. It makes J'Ville look like hicksville. They have horseback riding and foreign language and music and art and oceanography on a working boat and just about anything you could think of. It's been hard for me to not sign up for everything but I have to remember that we are just visiting and can't sign up for a 6 week course.

[onetwoten]

Originally Posted by AnnieA 

JJ, is Ten in her own room now? If so, mama, I would figure out a way to sidecar her crib, even temporarily. I don't sleep well with Ava right up against me but since she has her own space in her sidecarred crib, we sleep better. And now I only wake up when the bottle is empty. If she were nursing, I probably wouldn't wake up. She eats on and off all night. I know your house is small but I would seriously do whatever it takes to get her back in the room if she's out.

She is. I keep going back and forth with that. We had her in the pack and play beside the bed, but she started refusing to sleep in it. She would wake up within 30 seconds of us putting her down in it. So we finally just last week pulled it out of the room and brought it to the living room instead, and she sometimes plays in it. I don't have anything else I could sidecar. I'm wondering if it would be worth trying her crib mattress on the floor? When DH put the crib together he put some sort of lock tight stuff on the bolts and I'm not sure it'll ever come undone without breaking it *grumbles* (especially since it converts to a toddler bed, and won't fit in and out of the room without disassembling...)  I'd just have to put higher pillows up against her crib mattress, because when she wakes up, she fusses herself to the edge of the crib as it is. 

Originally Posted by akind1 

Norah doesn't sleep well or for long without human contact. she is just a touchy baby. One way in which DS was easier, is that he could and would fall asleep whenever, wherever. She will not. Needs to be wrapped, laid down with, or in car seat to sleep. And she won't transfer from car to crib/bed asleep. She will stay asleep from car to wrap, but that's it.

Norah can get her self into a sitting position and pull herself up to standing now. Still not quite crawling. sort of backwards, but nothing fast or efficient.

See T doesn't have to be touching (most of the time, sometimes she does sleep better, but I chalk it up to teething and such), but I do wonder about the proximity- like her being able to hear us and smell us, if that would help her settle more. We've got a good naptime/bedtime routine down, so she falls asleep quickly now (is this a repeat, I've been talking about this so many times, I don't know where I've said what) it's just the staying asleep, like I said. 

It's too funny how different every baby is! T is sitting like a pro, and can push herself backwards really fast, and is working so so hard at going forwards. But she has no interest in doing the jumping thing if you stand her on her legs, and has no idea that she even could pull herself up to sitting! lol. I don't think its even crossed her mind. Her second cousin is exctly a month older than her, and pushes/jumps really well on his legs, but hes like jello if you try to sit him up. 

Originally Posted by AnnieA 

We are having DD's party the Saturday before her b-day. We are going to have it at my mom's house and just have a cookout w/the baby pool out for DD and my nieces. I submitted DD's info to that organization Icing Smiles and they are donating a special cake for DD's 1st b-day because of her heart. I requested an Elmo cake because that's going to be the theme. I'm aiming for very laid back.

That is so cool about the cake! 

We are quite a ways off (SIX MONTHS TODAY! HOLY CRAP!), but I have no idea what's going to happen for T's birthday. I love all the neat ideas I see on pinterest, but nobody in our family really does stuff like that, so I have a feeling it would be a lot of work for something nobody would notice or appreciate. We'll see I guess. Some of them look too tempting to pass up. 

Originally Posted by MarineWife 
And, ok, I don't want to burst anyone's bubbles but I'm not sure you will get a full night's rest until maybe your kids are 30. I can see me laying awake at night worrying about my boys even after they've moved out. I know I did that with Ryan many nights. It was hard to sleep knowing he wasn't there.

LOL It's funny how your perspective changes though! Who cares about a whole night's sleep? I'll take four hours! That sounds like heaven! lol

Ok, so last night, I knew T was going to have a normal wakeup at about 1130, so I went in at 1120, and picked her up out of the crib and cuddled her while I read for a bit. I didn't nurse or anything, and she didn't wake up, just cuddled. After about 10 minutes, I put her back in her crib, and she kept sleeping. She slept for another hour and a bit before she woke and then rob brought her into the room. So that meant she went from 730ish until about 1245 without nursing. If I could get one 5 hour stretch a night that would be beyond amazing. Heck, even if she's waking a bit, but not needing to nurse, that means DH can go in, while I keep sleeping. That would be miraculous. 

I got some packaged meals today, and talked to rob about a mother's helper. He wants to try family again first before paying people. I get it, but I feel so pathetic constantly asking people again and again. We'll try one more time. 

In other non-baby news, I have a meeting/coffee date tomorrow with the girl from my attachment group who is going to be my backup doula/partner. I'm so excited! And then we're going to try to go out to the lake on Thursday I hope. 

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by jeninejessica 

She is. I keep going back and forth with that. We had her in the pack and play beside the bed, but she started refusing to sleep in it. She would wake up within 30 seconds of us putting her down in it. So we finally just last week pulled it out of the room and brought it to the living room instead, and she sometimes plays in it. I don't have anything else I could sidecar. I'm wondering if it would be worth trying her crib mattress on the floor? When DH put the crib together he put some sort of lock tight stuff on the bolts and I'm not sure it'll ever come undone without breaking it *grumbles* (especially since it converts to a toddler bed, and won't fit in and out of the room without disassembling...)  I'd just have to put higher pillows up against her crib mattress, because when she wakes up, she fusses herself to the edge of the crib as it is. 

If it were me in that situation, I would be scouring craigslist or kiijijii or whatever in your area to find a used crib that I could put in my bedroom. We have Ava's crib up against the wall and then our bed pushed up against Ava's crib. Like this:

So when I lay where the brown duvet cover is in the picture, Ava is there, but we aren't interrupting each other's sleep. I seriously would have been close to suicidal if I was having to get out of the bed and go to another room when DD was on her every 30 min wakeups a few months back.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by jeninejessica 

LOL It's funny how your perspective changes though! Who cares about a whole night's sleep? I'll take four hours! That sounds like heaven! lol

This is so true. I know those 3 hour stretches of sleep feel like heaven now, especially when Dylan does one of his refusing to settle things like he did this morning. He probably flopped around for about 2 hours from about 6:30-8:30 while I tried to get him back to sleep. Ugh.

Annie ~ I forgot to say that cake deal is very cool! I want to do something like that in our room so we'll have room for everyone in our bed but I can't get dh to agree. He keeps hemming and hawing about it. I think he still thinks we can get the bigger boys to sleep in their room. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Here at my mom's the boys and I are in a queen with a twin air mattress next to it. I've had to insist that Ethan sleep on the air mattress. He is not happy about it at all even though he's right next to me and can touch me. I don't see why we can't just chill and all be together in the same bed.

Ethan has decided he wants to make a red velvet cake for dh for his birthday. I think we're going to try to make one from scratch. DH is being a very good sport about it without me having to say anything since he doesn't really eat cake and I seriously doubt he likes red velvet. Ethan got the idea from a baking game he plays on the computer.

[akind1]

Birthdays: We have so many fall birthdays, I am torn what to do. I think this year we may do separate parties, since it's Norah's first birthday. But I think we may do joint parties in the future, since they are so close together. Shoot, between my dad, me, and the kids, we could have one big fiesta and call it a day.

Annie - that's awesome about Ava's cake. the idea of sidecarring a crib is very tempting. I wonder if Norah would go for it. It would sure make DTD a bit easier. (I am about to ovulate I think and sex is on my mind alot. go figure)

Carrie and MW - crawling is awesome, isnt' it? Norah gets closer and closer every day, but isn't fast yet. She gets frustrated easily.  She loves to stand and jump and I know will be walking before her first birthday. That scares me a little.

JJ: hooray on a 5 hour no nursing stretch!

My coffee is delayed this morning due to stupid fasting bloodwork. ugh. I am hungry and want my coffee!

[MarineWife]

I don't do big things for birthdays until the kids can ask for it. I'm so glad Kellen changed his mind. He first said he wanted Chuck E. Cheese, which I can't stand, plus up here in NoVA I imagine it's crowded all the time, and we don't know any other kids up here to invite. Yesterday, though, he said he wanted to go bowling. We can do that as a family without making it a big production.

Sean got a new truck. It is so ridiculously huge. It's obnoxious. I am embarrassed by it. I don't even know what to say.

[akind1]

what sort of truck?

I fully admit I use the kids birthdays as an excuse throw a party and see all our friends. They could care less, really.

[MarineWife]

It's a Ford F-150 crew cab (I think). The problem I have is that it's jacked up on humongous wheels. The bed is taller than me. I need a stool to get into it. So much for getting something that I can drive. And, to think, he argued against a SUV because he said he'd need a Suburban (which was not true but whatever). This thing is bigger than a Suburban.

My mom says it's his mid-life crisis. It really is embarrassing. It makes me wonder what he's trying to compensate for. I don't know if I could bring myself to ride in it. I don't want it parked anywhere near my house. I don't want people to know that I'm associated with something like that at all.

[MarineWife]

I figured out who BFS is on FB. Her boy turned 1 today! DH's b-day is today, too.

[akind1]

Happy birthday to your DH. would you like it better if it were on normal wheels? (trying to find a compromise LOL) and would he do that? I don't know if I'd feel safe even trying to put kids in carseats in a vehicle that high. (Safety concerns, that's a talking point!)

Am I friends w/ BFS? I know I am with Lyterae.

[annie2186]

MW - sorry about the midlife crisis!    I wonder if/when me or DH will go through something like that. I can't stand driving big vehicles. I learned how to drive with a van though. I think the smaller top part just makes it easier. 

RE: sleeping. I can't really complain anymore. Usually I get a pretty good nights sleep these days. A is about the best sleeper I have had  The only times I really hear from her at night is if she is teething or something else is bothering her. But I really think that the amber necklace has helped. It sure seems like she has had the least amount of trouble with teething. Who knows though - its super cute either way!

I guess I really am lucky that my husband is OCD and not me. I keep things at least surface clean most days, but if I am ever sick or really tired he picks up the slack. PLUUUUS he is super clean, so I don't ever really have to clean up after him. Srsly though ladies, it's all about survival. Especially with only one kid, I would take a nap every time the baby slept if I was tired. I never really had that opportunity as I never JUST had a baby. 

JJ - if you slept more during the day would you maybe have more energy to do things at night when she is sleeping? Also, maybe you could start taking b vitamins or coq 10 or something.

I feel sooooooo much better now that I pay attention to what I eat, eat smaller meals, and started taking probiotics. Probiotics made me feel like craaaaaap for about 6 weeks though, I am just starting to recover. It is totally worth it to not feel so tired all the time though 

Anyways I am sure I am forgetting a bunch - but that is all I can think of for now.

[annie2186]

I'm not friends with BFS or Lyterae. I thought BFS had her baby before me? I guess not.

[onetwoten]

Originally Posted by annie2186 

MW - sorry about the midlife crisis!    I wonder if/when me or DH will go through something like that. I can't stand driving big vehicles. I learned how to drive with a van though. I think the smaller top part just makes it easier. 

RE: sleeping. I can't really complain anymore. Usually I get a pretty good nights sleep these days. A is about the best sleeper I have had  The only times I really hear from her at night is if she is teething or something else is bothering her. But I really think that the amber necklace has helped. It sure seems like she has had the least amount of trouble with teething. Who knows though - its super cute either way!

I guess I really am lucky that my husband is OCD and not me. I keep things at least surface clean most days, but if I am ever sick or really tired he picks up the slack. PLUUUUS he is super clean, so I don't ever really have to clean up after him. Srsly though ladies, it's all about survival. Especially with only one kid, I would take a nap every time the baby slept if I was tired. I never really had that opportunity as I never JUST had a baby. 

JJ - if you slept more during the day would you maybe have more energy to do things at night when she is sleeping? Also, maybe you could start taking b vitamins or coq 10 or something.

I feel sooooooo much better now that I pay attention to what I eat, eat smaller meals, and started taking probiotics. Probiotics made me feel like craaaaaap for about 6 weeks though, I am just starting to recover. It is totally worth it to not feel so tired all the time though 

Anyways I am sure I am forgetting a bunch - but that is all I can think of for now.

I keep thinking about getting an Amber and holding off. Initially I didn't, because she had the hazelwood and I didn't want to mix them. But then we started being lazy and forgetting to put the hazelwood back on, and she's been ok without it, so I really should get an amber one and try that. 

I used to sleep with her during the afternoon nap, but her naps now aren't usually longer than half hour or so at most. Every now and then she'll do a long one, and I try to take advantage, but normally by the time she falls asleep, I crawl into bed (or shimmy myself into a laying down position and get comfy), and close my eyes and five minutes later, she's waking up. 

But yes-- good timing, DH and I were talking last night, and he said he suspects food is at the root of some of it, and I agree. I've started eating a lot healthier- but part of that has been avoiding packaged foods- which are the easy ones often. And so in wanting to eat healthy, a lot of the time if I didn't have time to make 'good food', I just didn't make food. Then I get hungry and sick and it's a cascade effect. I need to start taking my vitamins again (multi, vit D) and eating at least two freaking meals a day and go from there. 

ANYWAYS... this is all prelude to... SHE SLEPT SO WELL LAST NIGHT!!!  For the first time in probably a month, she went to bed around 8ish, and then woke at 915 or so? but I didn't even have to pick her up, I just rubbed her back and shushed her and stroked her head. And then she slept until 1 !!!  And then we nursed a ton, and I put her back in, and she slept until 530 !!!!  And then she woke up for good at about 7, and laid quietly in bed with me, nursed quickly a couple times, until 8am.   Oh it was heaven! I missed the first stretch because I was still awake, but even just knowing it happened was wonderful! And then for it to happen AGAIN... *happy sigh*

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by jeninejessica 

ANYWAYS... this is all prelude to... SHE SLEPT SO WELL LAST NIGHT!!!  For the first time in probably a month, she went to bed around 8ish, and then woke at 915 or so? but I didn't even have to pick her up, I just rubbed her back and shushed her and stroked her head. And then she slept until 1 !!!  And then we nursed a ton, and I put her back in, and she slept until 530 !!!!  And then she woke up for good at about 7, and laid quietly in bed with me, nursed quickly a couple times, until 8am.   Oh it was heaven! I missed the first stretch because I was still awake, but even just knowing it happened was wonderful! And then for it to happen AGAIN... *happy sigh*

Go Tenley!!!  That's how it's done, baby girl!!!

MW - I'm LOL'ing about the truck!  OMG!  I'd prob be to embarrassed to ride, as well!  That's just too much!!  

re: mobile babies - so Finn crawls, but can't sit up from laying down.  He also doesn't roll over.  He can stand forever, but doesn't pull himself up.  Interesting, huh?

Today I've been making mental notes of all the times Chris belittles me or puts me down.  I feel like he does this more than he realizes.  I think I file it away and try not to get hurt more than not...but lately his comments are stinging.  What is good way to approach talking to him about it?

[AnnieA]

OMG, MW, I'm imagining that truck and it does sound obnoxious! Yikes! Maybe make him keep it on base and run back and forth to work once you guys are back home?

JJ, so glad Ten slept better last night! Ava's sleep is slowly getting better too. It's just one of those things. Takes time, sucks in the moment.

AFM, I was freaking out last night and this morning! My pump started making this weird noise and was hardly sucking at all. I do not have the money in our budget to buy a new one (this one was loaned from a friend so warranty voided since it's a "single-user" product) so I posted to my local mothering group to see if anyone had one to sell me cheap and one of my friends said she's done with babies and gave me hers! Oh sweet relief! I was so uncomfortable and felt like I was starting to get clogged ducts because the pump wasn't emptying my boobs.

Oh and Baby_Cakes, DD can get herself all over the place but she's not crawling. She has sat herself up from laying down twice but can't consistently do it. She can sort of pull herself up but won't stand for long. Babies are weird.
 

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by AnnieA 

AFM, I was freaking out last night and this morning! My pump started making this weird noise and was hardly sucking at all. I do not have the money in our budget to buy a new one (this one was loaned from a friend so warranty voided since it's a "single-user" product) so I posted to my local mothering group to see if anyone had one to sell me cheap and one of my friends said she's done with babies and gave me hers! Oh sweet relief! I was so uncomfortable and felt like I was starting to get clogged ducts because the pump wasn't emptying my boobs.

Oh I'm glad you found one!  Otherwise, honestly I would have sent you mine to have!!

Did you check/replace your membranes?  I had to do that quite a few times, and I was only using my pump for work!

[MarineWife]

JJ ~ Woot!

Kat and annie ~ I checked FB and only have 1 friend in common with BFS, Carrie. Everyone's birth dates are listed in the first post. That's how I figured out who BFS was.

lyterae was before you, annie, and BFS was after.

DH already has the truck with the ridiculous tires on it. I did talk to him about that sort of thing after we looked at some Silverados. They were all jacked up and I commented All on how huge they were and I didn't see the need for that. I also mentioned that the higher up a vehicle is the less safe it is. DH doesn't seem to care. I'm going to get a photo of me standing next to it when he comes up this weekend. I'll post it so you guys can get a visual. All I can say is that it is ridiculous. And this from a man who when we met was driving a Mazda 626 because before me he was dating someone with a young child and he wanted a safe car with enough room to transport him. WTH? He'll do that then for a girlfriend and some other guy's kid but he won't do it for his own wife and family?

Carrie ~ Either say something right away when he does it, ask him when he can make some time to talk about it or write everything down and let him read it. Try to make whatever you say or write about how you feel rather than what he's saying/doing.