October Chat Thread! - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[poppylove]

Hi y'all! Hope the babies are well.
I have one of those dh's too that needs a real shove to do any sort of washing and folding.
Although, he would stay up all night rockin a baby if I was acting crazy so I can't complain to much. Luckily there hasn't been too many days like that yet.
We are coming up on 8 weeks already! How did that happen? Crazy!
Still trying to get a Routine down, but are so far unlucky. This kiddo is so unpredictable.
My big girl is doing better. Thank goodness.
Anyways, just checking in.

We take showers too. Have with both babies. They love it. Great idea about the onsie!!

[NewMumJoy]

Yay Boots!!!  I'd love to try that method out (once I'm able to leave William in a bouncy seat long enough to get the shower ready)....  Yesterday was day 5 w/o baths or showers for neither of us (yep, another loooong week w/DH away), and I finally asked my landlady downstairs to hold him for a few minutes so that I could take one, I just couldn't stand it anymore!  I still feel so inefficient....

We're embarking on a cross-country road trip/relocation to NYC in just over a week, we have a ton to get done here, and I can't stop nursing/soothing long enough to get anything else accomplished!

With the amount of glass-shattering screaming that William does through the day/night (basically anytime he's not held), I've got a ton of anxiety about surviving his meltdowns outside of this house (where we've been holed up for the past 2 months)....  It's a 16 hr drive to my inlaws in MI, then another 15 to my parents in MA - what if he screams the whole way?  Are we going to spend more time pulled over than driving?  What if he wakes up the whole floor of our hotel in the middle of the night?  We're moving to a tiny apartment, what if he wakes up our new neighbors every night?  And then 1 week after we move-in to NY, we fly back to MI for Thanksgiving - what if he screams through the entire flight?!?

I wish I could skip over the next 2 months and just wake up in our new home, all unpacked and settled in, with our family and friends visiting us as promised......

[Veritas Vitae]

Big hugs, Joy I'm so sorry you're having to deal with all of this, especially with DH traveling so much. I'm thinking of you for the move and hoping things go as smoothly as possible.

[iixivboots]

Joy, you are awesome for dealing with all you are dealing with! I saw on FB you said you still have not had more than two hours of consecutive sleep since he was born. That's amazing you're still functioning. Are you going to ask the doc about reflux or will you even have time to get there with the big move?

I am wishing you guys a peaceful journey, not only that Will stays calm but that you encounter some helpful people to make it easier. Fingers crossed.

poppy, good to see you, glad things are going well with you and your kiddos!

AFM, I have the worst headache over my ear. It started last weekend, came back this weekend. I saw the doctor last monday and she told me I could take Afrin for three days and I did and it went away, but now it's back. I took one decongestant with no drop in supply but no real relief. I think I am going to have to go back to the doc for antibiotics. I think it's an ear infection but I've never had one that hurt so much OVER my ear and not in it.

What are all the babies going to be for Halloween???

My MIL sent us a pumpkin and a peapod costume but they are all SO hot for AZ. We are going to this meetup.com meetup Halloween party for mommies and babies. I haven't really connected with any of the moms (and they all seem younger than me) but I'm trying to get out of the house more. They'll have a photographer there for $5. So I need to decide what he will wear. We have some mustaches and a Hawaiian shirt and we were contemplating Magnum PI. :)

[CCoello]

Joy, best of luck to you! I am nearly through with my relocation journey. FWIW, flying was easy. The hard part was that I was flying by myself, so once I was at the airport I didn't ever take him out of my arms, carrier or lap for 14 hours... but he hardly cried at all because i was NIP all over the place! My seat and row mates were fine with it (or seemed that way), and thanked me at the end of each flight for keeping him quiet.

The carseat was another story. He screams nonstop in it - or he did until DH insisted the buckle was squeezing/pinching his little scrotum and made the straps pretty loose. Now he's fine. I hope it isnt' a big safety issue because we are all MUCH happier. He would scream for the first half hour of every trip until he basically screamed himself to sleep. It was gutwrenching.

Our days of living 2 adults, a baby and a dog in a single hotel room are coming to a close, as we found a small house to rent and we move in on Friday. It's been nearly a month since we left our old place, and I am SO READY to get back to normal life :)

Oh yeah, and I have intestinal parasites. I saw a 14 inch worm a couple of days ago in my poop, which has to be the scariest/grossest thing that has happened to me in a long while - much worse than childbirth! At least childbirth is supposed to happen! I am so ready for our luck to change.

[NewMumJoy]

Thanks so much ladies..... DH is back home now and we'll be together for the next several weeks, for a nice change.  I'm feeling more optimistic since he's taking control of the logistical matters and my MIL is flying in this w/e to help us pack (or at least hold William, while we pack).  I'm hopeful that the long awaited company of our family & friends will quickly heal us from any trauma suffered while in transit!  VV - how are you holding up during the week nowadays w/B traveling, is it getting easier for you, I hope?

William seems to have passed another developmental/growth spurt since last week, which might account for some of that fussiness he's had in general.  He's still nursing (or latched to me) nonstop from 1:30am - 7am, but I try to stay in bed as late as possible (often close to noon) so that I can function normally through the day.  Still no answers on these mucousy poops and suspected reflux - there's no available peds here so I have to find one in MI for next week.  

Oh, Halloween!!  Right, that's supposed to happen sometime in the midst of our travels, ha.... We don't have a costume, but hopefully someone (ahem, grandparents!) will have that covered  for us - it's his first holiday!  Boots - the costume meetup sounds fun... you should get some pics of Lyle in both costumes at home (he'd be adorable in both of them!) - that's assuming that you have a/c in your house....  Oh that reminds me that I bought a portrait studio Groupon here that never got used.... not sure if we'll find the time this weekend to get a baby-shoot done..  :/

CCoeello - wow you made it through your trip, glad to hear you'll be settled soon - good luck with the move!  The parasite sounds AWFUL - you poor thing!! I hope you get rid of it quickly (eww!)

[pennywhistle]

We're not doing anything special for Halloween - my husband is going to a party the weekend before, and I'm going to a party on Halloween, and Atticus is staying home the whole time.  But I feel bad not dressing him up, so I think I'll just put him in the baseball uniform sleeper that we picked up at a swap.  That counts, right?

[intime0]

Someone asked if I was still homeschooling...sorry read too many threads...LOL...YES.  Still homeschooling but we took a LLLLOOONNNGG break and just now getting into the groove.

Newmumjoy, might I suggest you sit next to him in the car?  That way you can nurse and nurse and nurse.  Some states even allow you to take them out of the carseat to nurse, if you are comfortable with that. I know some people would never. 

Crosby has torticollis...basically his head leans to one side.  Took him the PT yesterday for some exercises.  he doesnt like them very much. 
 

[LilyTiger]

Re: Halloween.... My aunt bought Piper a glow in the dark skeleton onesie that should be hilarious.  I think that's all we'll do. 

I'm gearing up for a road trip to Pittsburgh this weekend to visit my sister.  I'm planning on timing it during Piper's usual long-ish sleeps, so we'll see how that goes.  I'm a little terrified, since I basically have to let her cry it out if she decides to totally freak.  There's a limited number of times one can pull over and nurse, especially if doing so doesn't actually solve the screaming problem permanently.  Ahhhh!

NewMum, I hope everything goes well on the big move.  It must be so hard getting things done with high-needs little man.   It's a good thing he's so darn cute.  Poor guy and poor you.  It'll be over soon though!

[sallyrae17]

Since I have an older kid who is SUPER excited about Halloween, we are going out. Baby M is going to be a hotdog. When I saw the costume, I cracked up. Everyone seems to have the peapod/pumpkin/bee costume as a baby and I wanted something different. So hotdog it is. My son was a punk rocker for his first halloween - he had a onesie that said "anarchy in the pre-k" and we put his hair in a mohawk and put some skeleton babylegs on him. It was adorable.

[Tizzy]

Fun costume ideas!

I picked up a Lobster costume for Gilbert, we have a little harvest/dress up party tomorrow at play-group so it's our trial run. 

His costume...well actually all of the kid's costumes may be a little large

Many thanks to whomever suggested carseat swaddling, I've been using that with Gil and it's working really well!  He mainly has issues when it's dark out, similar to his sister.

Also we are fortunate to have a vehicle where he can sit in the front beside me whether I'm driving or a passenger, this has also helped.

Honestly, I wouldn't sacrifice safety when it comes to driving as far as loose buckles, nursing while the vehicle is moving etc.  I trust my DH's driving for the most part, it's the external factors that worry me like other vehicles, wildlife, even something random like blowing a tire. But I'm a freak about car safety with the kids so....lol!

Gilbert has turned into a total chatterbox this week which just makes me melt. He babbles on and on to me and interjects with huge smiles.   He's also a big fan of tummy time which none of my others have been, so it's a novel concept to have him on his tummy on the table while we eat dinner

[iixivboots]

Okay, we forget we had a chicken hat, so we are going to make a "cracked egg" onesie and some orange babylegs with felt chicken feet on them and call it done. I am going to this Halloween party during the day on Halloween that my local mom's group is doing, and one of them is photographer and so for $5 she will take a professional shot of your munchkin. Cute. I am not sure i am clicking with all the moms but I'm trying to stay busy while my career is up the air.

Today I got a voicemail saying they don't have the paperwork to extend my leave that I faxed to my principal and he told me he turned in. Fantastic.

In other "fantastic" news, my husband's best friend called him this morning because I posted a picture of Lyle napping on the bed on his tummy. He is about to become a first-time dad in a week or two and apparently thought it was his duty to inform us that babies shouldn't sleep on their tummies. When their moms are right there, taking a picture, in the middle of the day. Jesus. I am going to start a list of stupid judgmental crap people say about our fairly uncontroversial parenting. My mom asked me why he was sleeping with his "head hanging over the edge" in one picture. He was sleeping on the boppy. And the DHs mom told us to not put weight on his legs, his bones are too soft.

.

[Tizzy]

LOL boots, that's hilarious about the advice. It gets better after a little while when you have the physical evidence of a healthy child to prove that you may know a thing or two

[Sol_y_Paz]

I could fill up a notebook with all the advice I have gotten, most of it well meaning I can only assume but offensive at times none the less.  I think it must be part of the new mom thing.

[Veritas Vitae]

Halloween: Q is going to be a skeleton kitty cat, so skeleton long sleeve onesie and kitty hat. Boots, I can't wait to see Lyle as hatching chicken!

CCoello, so sorry about the parasite, that would freak me out as well. 

Joy, it has been better dealing with Brian being gone and I've gotten out of the house for some LLL meetings.  He was also able to come home on Thursday the last two weeks, which makes a huge difference, and will be home for at least the next three weeks.

Sally, the hotdog costume sounds cute.  My one requirement for first halloween costumes was not a pumpkin or pea pod, since those seem to be the go to costumes for itty-bitties.

Tizzy, Q is like your first three, not a fan of tummy time at all.

[pennywhistle]

A friend of mine suggested, for babies who hate tummy time, that when you first roll them onto their stomachs to prop them up on their forearms - pull their arms in so they're up on their elbows, with their hands touching at the top of their chest/near their chin.  I tried this with Atticus, and he seemed to like it - it helped him pull his head up, and he was able to look around more before sliding down.  He still only wanted to be on his tummy for a few minutes, but he seemed more engaged with it.

[Sol_y_Paz]

I used a boppy and DS likes it better than being flat on the tummy mat. 

[iixivboots]

Hey, those that have been following my career saga (or not) -- i just filed paperwork to extend my leave for the rest of the school year. My principal took it well, was supportive, and told me my job might even be available next year. Better than I could have hoped for.

I am a stay-at-home mom for the next 10 months at least! I am going to try to get some part-time online teaching stuff, and then really see if I feel healthy enough and mentally prepared to go back to the classroom. I'm so excited to start on this journey with my little guy.

I feel liberated and scared but happier than I have been in ages. :)

Penny, I just read that somewhere about propping them for tummy time. Lyle seemed to like it better but we still need a lot of work :) I think since he has reflux he hates it even more :( I also read that some babies love tummy time on a yoga ball but before I could try it our yoga ball was mysteriously flat after the three cats were romping around.

PLEASE can we have Halloween baby pics!!!!!!!!!!?????

[rebecca10]

Great news Boots! I'm excited for you.

[Sol_y_Paz]

That is great Boots!