December 2012 Mama Chat! « Back to Group Discussions

[poppyseed2012]

Hi all! I hope you don't mind me re-inserting myself and starting the monthly chat up! (I used the format from November...)

I've loved keeping up with everyone online and realized it's time I make some time to share!

 

Baby's Age This Month: 7 months, last Friday

How are you feeling/adjusting? I'm feeling pretty good. I've lost all of my pregnancy weight (60 pounds!), plus 15 additional pounds. I still have 15 to go to feel comfortable. The crazy thing is, my shape has totally shifted. Whereas I used to be a solid pear, I am now a nice crisp apple. My old jeans hang at my thighs but pinch my belly button! I'm not used to this at all. So I'm thinking even if I loose the additional 15, I'm going to be a different size, which is fine. I just want to feel good. Also my feet are still .5 size larger. So before I went back to work in September, I bought 3 new pairs of shoes! I had to buy new clothes also, so to make up for the nice new shoes I bought, I went crazy at St. Vinnie's (a second hand store) and bought an entire new work wardrobe for under $100. It was pretty great!

Anything different/new than what you were expecting?(about baby, parenthood, anything) Well, the first few weeks were unreal. I had no idea how hard it was going to be. But then, slowing things started getting easier, and now, it's like, this is how our life has always been! Oscar is a super good baby. He's very flexible and rarely cries. When he does, he's either tired, hungry or his teeth hurt. Oh yeah, he has FOUR teeth!

Any new tricks baby is trying out? We started Oscar on solids a week after his six month birthday. We use the baby bullet. So far he's had sweet potato, squash, peas, avocado, turkey, carrots, banana and apple. He really loves peas and sweet potato. Not so sure about the avocado and turkey.

General Stuff? I met a huge goal of six months exclusive breast feeding! I'm so lucky that I had all of the support I did. It was a great milestone for me. My next goal is to make it to a year. It hasn't been easy: low milk supply, homeopathic regimen, non-dairy diet (for a Wisconsin girl!), terrible bout of mastitis, antibiotics, pumping two times a day at work and once in the middle of the night, a five day/four night work trip to D.C. without Oscar, which required a ridiculous amount of pumping... but I'm doing it! And I'm so grateful for it. I have a husband who tells me frequently, "You're doing such a great job!" or "Good work, Oscar's so lucky to have you!" It's nice that he recognizes how much work breastfeeding can be. Especially since I know he's jealous sometime of the quality time it affords me with our babe.

[Kamiro]

He is just a sweet heart of a doll baby, Poppy! O looks so proud of his self also. Beautiful babe!

I can't believe he has 4 teeth, crazy talk. lol

And yes, great job on the breastfeeding. It has definitely been more trying than anything else for me also, but now we are nursing without the nipple shield and she gets in there and does what she does like she's always done it...I can fall asleep nursing if I wanted to.

Thank you so much for posting and the message back :) So good to hear from you. I miss all of our regular posters, so its very nice of you to update.

[Kamiro]

Baby's Age this Month: 7 months on the 9th! WOW.

How I am feeling: I am feeling pretty well. A little tired. My day is spent taking care of kids, teaching, cleaning, cooking, and sewing if I can get to it.  I've been slacking a little lately. But I am really loving the ability to be a SAHM and just concentrate on the house. With me going to school or working I've always felt guilt. Now its much less lol

I started watching my caloric intake and eating non processed foods as much as possible (last night I ate noodles for the first time in a month and also gorged on 3 donuts though...*ahem*) and am excited to go next Monday and do a 1 month weigh in. "weigh in" sounds like something you would do for a baby elephant, but I digress. Eating well has really helped me to have more energy because from july-november I ate absolute crap and lots of it. If I wasn't nursing I'd do a leek fast just to purge my system some.

Anything different: Cradle cap is crap. D had a head of hair (well..for one of my bald babies it was a head of hair) but as I've scraped off the cradle cap there has went the hair. Now its been replaced with really fine light hair. Guess I have another blondie! No idea where that comes from lol

New baby tricks: Crawls and gets into everything, stands and cruises on everything, and now....*drumroll* I feel on her bottom left the gum is 'tore' and there is a little bit of something sticking out...Time for her first tooth at 7 months old. I get overcome with love and emotion sometimes just staring at her. Children are the best thing I've ever done and I've lived a pretty full life. She laughs and smiles at her sisters and dad...not so much for me, but thats ok. I get the snuggles!

General Stuff:

Just genuinely happy. I need to send SmilinSara something because her shower partner bailed on her, and I need to quit procrastinating it because I want to do something for that sweet girl and little Soren. So typing this here to hold me accountable for this month. Get my butt in gear!

[MLog]

Poppy - so glad you checked in!  Hopefully other lurking mamas will do the same.  And way to go on the ebf!  I'm glad your DH is so supportive.  I think that's super important to bf success.

Baby's Age This Month: We just reached 6 months.  It was frustrating while we were all pregnant to be at the end of the month and have to wait for everything, but now I kind of like getting a heads up from everyone about what might be in store for us soon.  That reminds me - I forget who posted about the advice to pull baby into the breast when he bites, but thank you!!!  It's made a huge difference.

How are you feeling/adjusting? Right now I feel tired.   Pretty much since Elliott's been born people feel the need to let me know how tired I look.  Even DH's grandmother!  She's always such a sweetheart and puts a positive spin on everything so I feel like it must be pretty bad if she's saying it!

Anything different/new than what you were expecting?(about baby, parenthood, anything) I am amazed everyday by how being a father has changed DH.  He is so good with Elliott - always explaining things to him.  He's a very involved dad even though he's working a lot and I love watching the two of them play together.

Any new tricks baby is trying out? Elliott is very good at sitting up now.  He only falls over every once in awhile.  He's not big on rolling and doesn't seem to be progressing toward getting up on hands and knees.  This is probably because we almost never do tummy time.  He is very vocal - in the form of screeching.  He's got the ear piercing screech down quite well.  We're going the baby led weaning route slowly.  Elliott has tried carrot, broccoli, potato, and corn tortilla.  We haven't really been proactive about giving him foods.

General Stuff? The diaper rash is mostly gone.  Thank goodness!  We're putting on our annual Nutcracker production next weekend so life is super stressful right now.  Nutcracker is always stressful and then you add the babe in the mix and...  I am definitely not on top of things like I usually am.  The only laundry that's getting done is the diapers.  DH is pretty good about cooking up big batches of soup so we have some food to eat so that's good.  I don't have a stash of milk in the freezer so we're definitely concerned about the milk situation.  I thing DH will end up bringing Elliott to the theater most nights and I'll have to squeeze in some time to feed him.  I find myself really looking forward to when Elliott won't be so reliant on me for food.  On the other hand this makes me sad because it's automatic bonding and cuddling time and I will miss it.  Okay, enough procrastinating.  I have to get back to writing end of term evaluations for my students.  But I will leave you with a pic of Elliott in his new woolies - photo was taken just this morning!

[rozziemama]

MLog! Elliot is so cute! Did someone make him those cozy pants?

Poppy! welcome home :)

Originally Posted by MLog 

Poppy - so glad you checked in!  Hopefully other lurking mamas will do the same.  And way to go on the ebf!  I'm glad your DH is so supportive.  I think that's super important to bf success.

Baby's Age This Month: We just reached 6 months.  It was frustrating while we were all pregnant to be at the end of the month and have to wait for everything, but now I kind of like getting a heads up from everyone about what might be in store for us soon.  That reminds me - I forget who posted about the advice to pull baby into the breast when he bites, but thank you!!!  It's made a huge difference.

How are you feeling/adjusting? Right now I feel tired.   Pretty much since Elliott's been born people feel the need to let me know how tired I look.  Even DH's grandmother!  She's always such a sweetheart and puts a positive spin on everything so I feel like it must be pretty bad if she's saying it!

Anything different/new than what you were expecting?(about baby, parenthood, anything) I am amazed everyday by how being a father has changed DH.  He is so good with Elliott - always explaining things to him.  He's a very involved dad even though he's working a lot and I love watching the two of them play together.

Any new tricks baby is trying out? Elliott is very good at sitting up now.  He only falls over every once in awhile.  He's not big on rolling and doesn't seem to be progressing toward getting up on hands and knees.  This is probably because we almost never do tummy time.  He is very vocal - in the form of screeching.  He's got the ear piercing screech down quite well.  We're going the baby led weaning route slowly.  Elliott has tried carrot, broccoli, potato, and corn tortilla.  We haven't really been proactive about giving him foods.

General Stuff? The diaper rash is mostly gone.  Thank goodness!  We're putting on our annual Nutcracker production next weekend so life is super stressful right now.  Nutcracker is always stressful and then you add the babe in the mix and...  I am definitely not on top of things like I usually am.  The only laundry that's getting done is the diapers.  DH is pretty good about cooking up big batches of soup so we have some food to eat so that's good.  I don't have a stash of milk in the freezer so we're definitely concerned about the milk situation.  I thing DH will end up bringing Elliott to the theater most nights and I'll have to squeeze in some time to feed him.  I find myself really looking forward to when Elliott won't be so reliant on me for food.  On the other hand this makes me sad because it's automatic bonding and cuddling time and I will miss it.  Okay, enough procrastinating.  I have to get back to writing end of term evaluations for my students.  But I will leave you with a pic of Elliott in his new woolies - photo was taken just this morning!

[Sky]

keeping it short

Baby's Age This Month: 8.5 mths

How are you feeling/adjusting? tired.

Anything different/new than what you were expecting?(about baby, parenthood, anything) did i say i was tired lol!

Any new tricks baby is trying out? she can say 3 words well, mama, "A" we think its "hej" which means hi in swedish pronounced like (hay) because she says it at the right times to say hi she is still crawling like wind up toy and loves to "stand"  up on her knees, trying to pull up

General Stuff? Sång has RSV!!! Ack! and we are super careful with her but as ds says "mom there are germs everywhere" Oy! she is doing good though and we saw the pediatric pulmaologidst she says she is doing very well. the first 5 days are the hardest then it gets better. of course i'm going to worry until she is 100%

[rozziemama]

Baby's Age This Month: 7 months next Friday... (the 14th)

How are you feeling/adjusting? I am ok. I go up and down, very much in line with sleep (or lack thereof ) and whether or not I get to yoga class! The good news this time around vs with DS1 is that my postpartum body image issues seem to have lessened. This also varies depending on how much sleep I get and whether DH and I are fighting...but I have lost the "baby weight," and now fit my old clothes. My diastis rectii is still there though smaller and of course, so is the lovely umbilical hernia from first pregnancy. So not happy with my pp belly but I am still doing a good job of being "kinder" to my body, as in reminding myself that 7 months ago I was 52 pounds heavier with a 9 pound baby, and my body is amazing for carrying baby & birthing...

you know?

Anything different/new than what you were expecting?(about baby, parenthood, anything) two kids and two full time working parents = CHAOS. Its really nutso. Some things second time around are easier, some are harder/the same.

Any new tricks baby is trying out? He sits, he wants to move but hasn't figured it out yet. I think he is trying to talk and wave hello.

General Stuff? Love this group. As always!

[JynxGirl]

Baby's Age This Month: 7 months on the 16th of December

How are you feeling/adjusting?I really flip flop on this. I was diagnosed with liver disease (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) about a month ago, and I'm really fighting myself on talking about it. I want to talk about it, but I don't want to think of possibly not seeing my kids grow up. I bounce between okay and really depressed.

Anything different/new than what you were expecting?(about baby, parenthood, anything) I was NOT expecting to be handed a disease along with my son, but I'm coping, sort of. I'm also re-adjusting my expectations of babies, because Patrick is so different than my daughter!

Any new tricks baby is trying out? He is starting to crawl up on his hands and knees. He's been doing awesome commando crawling for about a month, but now he's getting up and going backwards, so it's only a matter of time!!! He loves his solid food, and I am glad we started when we did, because I really don't know if I could keep up with him for another month!

General Stuff? Despite my health and the major changes with my daughter's programming that are about to occur, I am about to open a cafe and education center! We've hired a caterer, rented the location and are setting up schedules now, for a grand opening date of the 17th!!! Lots of work to be done!

Edited to add pictures from his Baptism. :) 

  He really did NOT like the fact that I wasn't home when he got home. (We ended up agreeing to take too many people home, so I walked the three blocks from the church.)

 I am super in love with this shot!!! 

 This was Patrick getting dressed at the church. I love his sly little grin. 

 Daddy and Patrick!

[KM84]

Great photos!

Baby's age: 7 months on Friday! Eek.

How are you feeling:  Honestly, pretty crap. I don't get anything resembling enough sleep, DD still gets up every ~2 hours, and I'm so irritable I'm starting to wonder how any marriage survives children. 

Anything different / now: I dunno, I guess I thought I'd be getting a little more sleep by now... everyone else tells me about how their 3 month old sleeps like a log and I want to stab them. Last night we woke up at 12, 2, 3:45, 4:15, 7, 8:30, and then up for the day at 10am.

New tricks: Standing! When I came into her room to get her from a nap fail the other day, she was standing in her crib holding onto the bars. Really glad we lowered the crib last week. We're trying lots of new foods, so far just fruits and veggies but I think I'm going to try a little rice cereal this week.

General stuff : I'm starting a new part time job this week, and as such we're scrambling to find daycare for DD. I think  (hope?) she'll actually enjoy day care, this baby LOVES a party and HATES hanging out at home just the two of us. But give her an audience and she's pleased as punch.

I'm really hoping that going back to work will help me feel more like "me" and less like this angry, resentful, ineffective stay at home mom. I love my daughter to pieces, but I'm realizing that being a homemaker isn't and never has been something I wanted for myself. 

The big bummer about going back to work is that there's pretty much no way I'll be able to keep up with my milk supply, I have to pump hourly to get any sort of meaningful amount and I just won't be able to do that at my new job (retail). So I'm making my peace with formula and planning to nurse / pump as much as possible on off days... but I'm not going to kill myself trying to avoid formula. She's been breastfed for 7 months, and will keep nursing as long as she wants, nothing bad will happen if she gets a little formula too.

[lightheartedmom]

Baby's Age This Month: 7 months on the 17th

How are you feeling/adjusting? Add me to the list of moms who have mood swings seriously tied to how much rest I'm getting. Oh, and hormones. As I mentioned in last month's thread, EPO + omega3s and a few other supplements do seem to help. I've been having some other issues and got a bunch of bloodwork done over the weekend...I don't know if I should hope it's all normal or hope there's something there (so at least there will be an explanation for my symptoms). And speaking of...Jynx, I am really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Anything different/new than what you were expecting? I feel a little guilty for how much I love baby C. I don't love her more than the others, truly, it's just...different. She and I are bonded like two parts of the same soul still, though she is finally starting to sort of branch out - she reaches for daddy now when she never used to, etc. My oldest has moody fits sometimes (she's 6 and as much as I think this is a super fun age, she's still very emotional by nature) and when she hears me say "I love you" to the baby, she'll say "Mommy, that means you don't love me!" OMGfacepalm NO IT DOESN'T...I guess on some level even though I know it's totally not true, I'm afraid of that...I am not so excessively demonstrative with my love for the older two as I am for the baby. I guess she has really picked up on it.



Any new tricks baby is trying out? Wow. She is a little mover. She's been crawling for close to a month but it was more of an upper body-powered slither. Now she's getting on all fours and moving. Yesterday, she was in the office with me and DH and we were just watching her explore (something we NEVER did with the others #recoveringhelicopterparents) and she just got on all fours and then very carefully plopped herself into sitting position for the first time ever (she was sitting up for quite awhile, but never by herself). And then she just kept doing it over and over again. She was so proud of herself. And she WAVES to herself in the mirror (she loves the full-length mirrored closet doors we have in our new house). The cuteness will kill you. I swear. Plus she's babbling a lot and I have definitely heard "mmmaaamaa" and "dada" a few times. Again. Death by cuteness.
On the food thing though...she's still ebf'ing. I've tried to introduce a few foods but she doesn't seem to like anything. She likes tastes (quinoa, avocado) but hasn't done well with any sizeable quantities (increased spitting up, gas). So I'm just holding off awhile longer. DD1 didn't eat solids until she was about 8 months so I'm not totally surprised by this.


General Stuff? Cannot believe this year is almost over. The end.

[Kamiro]

I remember a few mamas were from CT. Praying that you and your children are all safe and well. Hug your children extra tight tonight...

[forestmushroom]

HI! I have no time to read or post these days... but wanted to say that A is crawling all over and pushing up/pulling up on everything....

Has had a few bites here and there, but mostly nurses 100 percent ( we do baby led weaning)....

Getting excited for sledding, skiing, mountain trip in one week :D

hope all is good!
 

[BubbleMa]

What's new with us:

We've started solids.  We've done some "finger foods", but she really loves mashed food.  Bananas, avocado, carrots, apples, and pears.  I don't puree it, I want her to get used to textures so I just mash it up and mix it with BM.  She LOVES it!!  Oh, I've also tried a couple "Happy Baby" organic foods.  They're pretty good.  They have some good combinations.  They're really smooth though, so I add a mashed banana.

She has also started throwing fits.  I'm not just talking about crying to be picked up or whatever.  These are full on fits.  She trashes around, throws herself backwards, and screams.  Oy!  I'm not really sure how to handle that with a 7 month old.  :\  Other than that, she's happy and sweet.  Very easy baby!

She's still waking up at least once a night.

She says "mama" and waves, but still isn't crawling or sitting up very well.

We're flying to my mom's house Wednesday!  I'm so excited!  My mom hasn't seen her since she was a week old!  One of my sisters came to visit in September, but other than that no one has met her yet. 

[Sky]

Originally Posted by Onemoreontheway 

I remember a few mamas were from CT. Praying that you and your children are all safe and well. Hug your children extra tight tonight...

we are ok! Our kiddos don't go to SH we live in a different town but we know families in newtown :-( so sad.

[Rowdie]

Age: 7.5 months

Adjusting: Lost more than my baby weight (hip bones and ribs sticking out) BUT my belly is still jello-mush. With work, I haven't had the chance to get any serious workouts in. I jog with her, carry her, stretch here and there to stay fit, but my core needs concentrated attention.
Cosleeping and BF means we sleep through the night. I barely notice when she does wake up because I just scoot in closer and we both pass out again.

Unexpected: That I'd become such a baby-person, that I'd start pouring over Craigslist and get excited about diapers, that I'd be into doing the research on feeding, etc.

New tricks: started BLW last month--holy cow, how fun! Her first love was yams, then pears. Now she won't even look at the two if avocado is in the room, blueberries too, which she can now pick up herself. She's pulling herself up and proto-cruising along window sills or the bar at the pool. Goes from seated to hands-and-knees and back, but still has little patience for it.

Aw, Jynx, I'm sorry to hear about that diagnosis. What a heartbreaking thing to be confronted with when you should still be basking in first-year joy. It seems you've been handed a lion's share of trials. Wishing you strength and (virtual) support through this latest one.

[lightheartedmom]

I'm assuming by this point most of our babies are eating solids so maybe some of you can tell me what you think...
This is my third baby, so I've had a few tries before at solid feeding. Baby C though is totally different with solids than my other two. #1 didn't eat much beyond breast milk until about 8 months (she reacted badly to rice cereal at 6 months so I just gave up and started on mashed sweet potatoes at 8 months). #2 refused all things that came on spoons and went straight to finger foods at 5 1/2 months (!). Baby C...I tried rice cereal (homemade instead of boxed), I tried bananas...she hated them. She gags and fusses and cries whenever I try to give her sweet things. She will tolerate small quantities of avocado (about 1 tbsp per feeding). The things she seems to love most are eggs (either scrambled from my plate...which means they have cheese in them, which is probably a big No-no; or gently cooked egg yolk with a little salt) - but again, she only eats small amounts...and she LOVES chicken stock. I've been roasting a chicken every week and then making stock from the bones and she will guzzle down that stuff and then bounce up and down with joy like a normal kid would if you gave them a lollipop.
Obviously her main source of nutrition is still nursing but my milk supply seems to swing up and down in accordance with my cycles, so we have weeks at a time where she's nursing ALL night long trying to get enough food...She seems very healthy with regular poops and wet diapers and growing out of clothes, etc so I don't think there's much to be concerned about...but her food preferences and acceptance of bigger quantities of solids make me pause just a bit...Plus I think we might all be able to sleep a bit more at night if she had a full tummy.

Any thoughts?

[forestmushroom]

remember the rule "Before one food is just for fun." Meaning, that no baby under one is capable of significantly digesting solids to obtain nutrition from the food and most nutrition is going to come from breastmilk, no matter how much baby eats.

My little guy has had maybe a few bites of squash here and there, a taste of avocado here and there... but nurses still and food is just something he has on occasion for fun. He is almost 9 months old.
 

[BubbleMa]

Originally Posted by lightheartedmom 

I'm assuming by this point most of our babies are eating solids so maybe some of you can tell me what you think...
This is my third baby, so I've had a few tries before at solid feeding. Baby C though is totally different with solids than my other two. #1 didn't eat much beyond breast milk until about 8 months (she reacted badly to rice cereal at 6 months so I just gave up and started on mashed sweet potatoes at 8 months). #2 refused all things that came on spoons and went straight to finger foods at 5 1/2 months (!). Baby C...I tried rice cereal (homemade instead of boxed), I tried bananas...she hated them. She gags and fusses and cries whenever I try to give her sweet things. She will tolerate small quantities of avocado (about 1 tbsp per feeding). The things she seems to love most are eggs (either scrambled from my plate...which means they have cheese in them, which is probably a big No-no; or gently cooked egg yolk with a little salt) - but again, she only eats small amounts...and she LOVES chicken stock. I've been roasting a chicken every week and then making stock from the bones and she will guzzle down that stuff and then bounce up and down with joy like a normal kid would if you gave them a lollipop.
Obviously her main source of nutrition is still nursing but my milk supply seems to swing up and down in accordance with my cycles, so we have weeks at a time where she's nursing ALL night long trying to get enough food...She seems very healthy with regular poops and wet diapers and growing out of clothes, etc so I don't think there's much to be concerned about...but her food preferences and acceptance of bigger quantities of solids make me pause just a bit...Plus I think we might all be able to sleep a bit more at night if she had a full tummy.
Any thoughts?

Bone broth is an excellent first food!  So are egg yolks!  :)  But yes, before one it's just for fun.  I wouldn't worry about it at all yet.  I would keep trying other foods though, just to get her used to different tastes and textures.  Layla didn't eat a lot in the beginning, but then one day she just started devouring everything I put in front of her.  :)

Our trip went well, for the most part.  She had a really hard time adjusting to not being in her own bed.  :(  Naps were in arms the first three days.  She was so over-tired all the time and just cried and cried. :(  She eventually started sleeping better and was a totally different baby.  She also had a bit (or a lot) of stranger anxiety, which didn't help since she was meeting new people every day.  :(  But she got over that too.  We went to the IL's house yesterday and she let everyone hold her.  At Thanksgiving she screamed any time anyone tried.  So, I think she's cured!  Yay.  Hopefully it doesn't come back.  I guess that's incentive to get out of the house more.  ;)  My sister got us a gift card to a local baby fitness place that does mom/baby yoga, water aerobics, etc.  I'm super excited to start that!  :D

She still has no teeth!  That's normal right? 

[forestmushroom]

Originally Posted by Sky 

we are ok! Our kiddos don't go to SH we live in a different town but we know families in newtown :-( so sad.

just reading this... heart breaking!

[Kamiro]

lhm, nak--- but maybe baby needs a few sips of water? d. refuses to nurse sometimes and just tosses and turns. finally i figured out shes thirsty. Haven't had a problem since. my cycle makes my milk supply drop lots too.