Weekly Chat ~ Dec 17 - Dec 23 - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[Lynann]

I think the gender issue is interesting too. We don't push stereotypes, but we certainly notice that our boys are most definitely typical boys. Their favorite things to play with are cars & trucks and building blocks. They will build large towers and then launch something at them to knock them over and send the blocks all over the floor. They have a baby doll, but it is mostly used as a missile to knock over blocks. We have got them a play kitchen for indoors and a play grill for outdoors for Christmas, so we'll see how those go.

We do keep our baby "stuff" gender neutral, as we intend to use the same "stuff" for how ever many children we end up with, and since we don't find out gender before birth its easy to not go for anything that is too one way or the other. Most of our baby clothes up to 3 months is neutral too, even after 2 boys. Right now they get dressed mostly in t-shirts and around the house we just have them in their cute cloth diapers (DS1 is transitioning to underpants some of the time, so he wears shorts with them) and then when we go out we put shorts on them. Living in a climate where it is warm/hot all year really helps to keep their clothing simple. As babies they mostly just wore a diaper and white onesie unless we were going out somewhere, and I'll do the same for any girl.

I've also noticed that our boys have a definite preference for men over women. When we are both home DH wins over me, unless they are ill. When DH's parents visit they play with Papaw and ignore Gigi, and the same goes for my BIL and his wife. I have no problem with them being very male oriented in both play and relationships. They have fairly similar personalities and to me the important thing is they like playing with each other, even at their very young ages. It will be interesting though to see how this new baby effects their dynamic.

[Quinalla]

BaileyB, thinking of you, I hope they are right and your baby is on the mild end of the spectrum!

ntstewart, I hope your friend is ok too! It is amazing how something like that can put things in perspective.

CoBaby, I hear you on shopping, I was so glad to be done!

Got the gifts for my siblings wrapped up last night, woohoo, and got some laundry done too! Now I just have DD's gifts to wrap and the gifts for my parents, we'll open theirs when they come visit in January. DH had his company Christmas party so DD and I had the evening to ourselves which was nice as a one-off thing. Need to do some grocery shopping this weekend before things are closed or mostly closed on Monday & Tuesday. It snowed here last night and is snowing now too, it's snowed a bit before now, but it is actually sticking some so first real snow this year for us.

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by Lynann 

I've also noticed that our boys have a definite preference for men over women. When we are both home DH wins over me, unless they are ill. When DH's parents visit they play with Papaw and ignore Gigi, and the same goes for my BIL and his wife. I have no problem with them being very male oriented in both play and relationships. They have fairly similar personalities and to me the important thing is they like playing with each other, even at their very young ages. It will be interesting though to see how this new baby effects their dynamic.

That's funny.  My DS is definetely girl orientated when it comes to other little kids and grownups too.  Is it fair to say that a 2 year old can try to "pick up" girls at the playground, or the mall?  Because my DS does.  He was a born flirt and he's good at it!  God help me when he hits his teen years.  And he already notices pretty girls.  We were eating at a restaurant, out on the patio.  A pretty brunette walked by, DS watched her as she walked by, and still staring, says "Dat" (as in, what's that?).  lol.  

[timesway]

bailey- so so glad you got better news.. will keep my fingers and toes crossed for as healthy a baby as possible for you. I have to say tho, your girls look IDENTICAL :D they are gorgeous on the ultrasound.. my lil boy looks like hes boxing in my latest u/s hehe..

(ha talking about gender stereotyping and all ;) ) i dont want to stereotype too much, however my mum pushed us the other way and we werent allowed to be girls really which made me get a year or 3 as a rediculously girly girl at about 17-20 :P glad to be out of that bit, but its weird i was a tom boy growing up.. but also a total fairy deep down.. strange life we live..

Is everyone ready for christmas?
 

[jacquelinej]

Bailey, I am just catching up but I am thinking about you.  I remember being told several times how unlikely it would be for me to have another stillbirth OR a child with a major disorder...and guess what?  I also got both too.  Weird.  The chances are supposed to be phenomenally high and yet...  I am hoping you get the mildest form.  Did you ever go through a genetic screening?  I have had to do it twice now since I have 2 different husbands/fathers of my children.

Marie, good luck on your moves!  We will also be starting this prep soon...I can wait though.  Not excited at all.  I have always packed and weighed my suitcases because we always bring gluten free food with us, and a back up milk, almond or rice, just in case we can't get to a store quickly.  It all weighs a ton.  I am sure TSA has a field day opening our suitcases, as evidenced by the little slips of paper I always find in half of our suitcases!

For gender specifics, it's so strange.  I was raised in a very gender specific household but I hate pink, with a capital P in Passion.  So I learned all about fixing things, cars, engines, house stuff etc.  My father was not Mr handy, and my mother well we will leave it at no way.  So it was left to the kids, namely my older brother and me, to fix what we could in the house.  It's a great way to learn some things, but others, like electrical systems, it can be a bit scary!  So I was the quintessential tomboy, right down to the blond hair blues eyes and fierce independence.  

I have raised my daughter the same way, for better or worse.  She is not a girly girl in any way.  She adores Disney Cars and Princess Ariel in equal parts.  Loves trains and cooking in a pretend kitchen.  She is so evenly balanced that when you look in her room, it's hard to tell if it's a boy or girl room!  This was not entirely intentional although I really like to live a balanced life, not too much of any one thing and I think this has definitely come through to DD.  She plays with DH as much as she hangs out with me, maybe more with DH because I am usually a little rushed and if she is under my feet I get frustrated.  She plays Cars with DH, and he just told me that Jack Frost has become her newest favorite toy.  Jack Frost is from the movie Legend of the Guardians which I have now seen twice and will enjoy a third time so that DH can see it too.  Cute movie, love the special effects.

And we saw The Hobbit last week!  UGH!  So wish I was back in the US I'd pay to watch it again!

Tonight, is Christmas Eve..and no I have not wrapped a thing.  DH and I are not giving gifts to each other this year since neither of us want a single thing more to pack.

Merry Christmas to all!

[TwilightJoy]

First time mom question.

Co-sleeping mamas: Where do you do diaper changes in the middle of the night?

We're planning on co-sleeping, but also setting up a nursery down the hall for babe. It will have dresser, changing table, toys, etc in it. In the middle of the night when babe needs a diaper change, should I do it in my bedroom, or walk down the hall to the nursery and change the baby there? (I'm wondering if I should move the changing table to our bedroom, and if so for how long.)

Breastfeeding mamas: Do you do all the diapers changes in the middle of the night, or does your DH do some? Do you "let him sleep" or does he get up with the babe as well?

Thank you!

[CoBabyMaker]

TJ, We don't really co-sleep but baby is right next to our bed.  I usually just change the baby on the end of the bed.  I really can't remember if I have DH change diapers at night or not.  I think maybe at first he's done some because I've ended up having c-sections so getting up and down a lot was hard.  Other than that I generally handle night time care since I'm up to nurse.  DH  kind of sleeps like the dead though so waking him is sometimes more work than it's worth.

[aHikaru]

I co slept with my DD until she was 6 months and we changed her on our pack n play bassinet/ changing table next to our bed. She then slept in her own bed until she started having nightmares around 2.5 (which is normal at that age) and now she'll be 4 in a couple months and has made herself at home on hubbys side of the bed :p When he gets back I want to transition her to her own bed and hopefully own room next to us. 

[jacquelinej]

We coslept because I had no choice, although I bonded with dd really well because of it and will likely do that with this one as well. For night time changes, it was always in the changer on top of the pack play, which we use as a bassinet, or on the end of the bed. Truth be told, I am not getting a changing table this time since it seemed useless, mostly, last time. It was quicker and cleaner, and easier on csection stitches ( hopefully none of those this time). I let DH sleep sometimes and have him help other times. He would change dd and I would nurse. Tis is a different DH this time, and we haven't worked it out yet. But I imagine that DH will help sometimes and sleep through other times. He is much more sensitive and aware of my sleep needs then previous DH. So if I start looking like the walking dead, I hope he will step up without my having to make a scene! I will if I need to but I really strive to avoid confrontation. He also sleeps a lot harder then I did, but I also slept harder then I do now. Even at 7 , I still wake right up if dd gets out of bed down the hall to go to the bathroom. It's my mom sleep style for me.

[Quinalla]

I honestly can't remember what we did when trying cosleeping. The first few weeks, DH helped with night time care, but later I handled it as I was already up anyway breastfeedig and it seemed to make sense to have one of us getting some sleep, especially once he was back to work and I was still on maternity leave. I would still get him up on occasion to help get her back to sleep, she was a bad sleeper! If you need help though, definitely he should get up and help!

[Quinalla]

I think this thread will do for this week too, let's switch it next week!

I hope everyone who celebrated it had a great Christmas, we had a nice, lowkey one. The play kitchen + play food/dishes I got for DD were a huge hit, she played with them all Christmas day and she loved the stuffed Lady Rainicorn (unicorn-ish character from Adventure Time cartoon). She also loved many of her other gifts from my siblings and DHs siblings and parents (my parents and us will be doing gifts in January when they visit), most notably a big tiger and Cap'n America comforter from SIL, a stars-on-the-ceiling night light thing from DHs parents, a small soccer ball from my brother and Brave & Little Mermaid nightgowns from my sister. It was nice to have Christmas with just the three of us and we skyped with my family on Christmas Eve to see them and participate in the book readings we always do, good times, and we called DH's family to chat with them a bit. DH also found the video camera and recorded some Christmas stuff and DD making funny faces and we were looking at footage from when she was around 6-8 months old, so cute We both mentioned we'd have two of those soon enough, exciting but also scary!

We are home today as a big snow storm is rolling through, so I went and grabbed my laptop from work last night before any snow started. Most everyone is on vacation this week anyway, so I really don't mind working from home to avoid headaches and danger on the road and I am pretty sure DD's daycare will be closing early today anyway. So glad I have the option to work from home, I think I will be using it to rest up in the third trimester sometimes!

[nstewart]

We've been having a nice family Christmas here as well.  Drove up to the inlaws on Saturday, and have just been hanging out doing the family thing.  DS and his cousin are having a blast.  They are only 4 months apart and just playing non-stop.  It's very cute and ensures they both sleep like rocks all night.  Unfortutnetly, DS came down with the flu Christmas eve and threw up while we were at church.  Thankfully we were at the back, right by the bathrooms!  Still, yikes.  He was fine by the next morning, but I picked it up and spent the entire day between the bathroom and bed Christmas day.  I got up to watch the kids open gifts, and for about an hour in the evening, and that's it.  I am feeling much better today, but not 100%.  Hoping to be over this soon!

TJ - We did cosleep and BF. I think we did diaper changes in our room, but we used sposies over night so unless DS had a BM I didn't change his diaper every time he woke up just when he was wet enough to warrant it. Except for maybe the first week, I did all the night time diaper changes since I was awake anyway and since DH was working and I was not.

[FarmerMomma]

My birthday blizzard. Neighbor tried to plow me out and kept getting stuck. Sure is pretty and I didn't want to do anything for my birthday but recover from Xmas and this cold.

[Quinalla]

I hope you are feeling better nstewart!

FarmerMomma, we got about the same storm over here in Ohio, just some HUGE snowflakes and a lot of accumulation all at once. We don't usually see more than a few inches at a time so it was quite fun, though it wasn't so fun scraping my car off this morning, but at least DH shoveled (twice!) yesterday so the driveway and walkway was clear.

[BaileyB]

We are surviving over here. DH, DD, MIL, 1 BIL, and DH's grandparents all got a 24 hour pukey poopy flu thing. DD didn't get sick until today. Everyone had a good Christmas besides getting sick. I actually feel really good and have good energy and I am also feeling really positive about baby and baby's outcome after delivery. DH was suppose to go out of state for work today but didn't because of being ill. I kinda have an evil laugh going in my head since I was puking twice a day for 10 weeks and still had to take full care of DD, but he pukes once and feels icky and is out of commission for 2 days. And then I tell myself that's not nice, haha. We have just been hanging out around the house since Christmas. It's been nice to get all the new and old toys organized and I got DD's playroom set up. She hasn't gotten to use it much since I got it set up lastnite and she got sick sometime in the middle of the night.

[timesway]

so ive had a lovely time seeing my neice but im absolutely exhausted and i have been mainly in bed other then a trip out today and for quick cuddles.. it is so lovely to have a new baby and see my cousin and her husband.. i just cannot wait for mine to come along now.. i want to steal hers ;) here we are from yesterday :P i could feel mine squishing around in my belly more when i was giving little isla cuddles, so i think they could sense each other.. and isla was trying to burrow down into my boobs quite a lot (which are contnuing to get bigger, which i think meant she could smell milk  and was hoping to have 2 mummys hehe :P anyway from a sleepy bed in cornwall i send lots of christmas wishes to you all and hope you all had a wonderful xmas :)

[nstewart]

Thanks, we are all over the flu here but I still have the remenents of this darncold hanging on. We are still at the inlawsb headed home tomorrow. Its been a nice visit but between the flu and it being -28C the whole time we've been here we all have cabin fever and are ready for a change of scene. DS and his cousin are getting rather boss with eachther too and they always play so nicely together.

Step, the picture with your niece is so sweet. It will be so ni e for your children to be so close in age. I hope you can rest up and get your energy levels back up. This is an exhausting time of year.

Anyone have big new years plans? We have none. I am thinking that ordering take out and watching a movie sounds about as exciting as I wan. Maybe I'll even stay up I'll midnight! Lol

[Quinalla]

No New Years plans here except that we all have New Years Day off. Probably will be a lazy day I doubt I will stay up until midnight, I normally don't and I'm sure I won't want to while pregnant I might get myself some more fake bubbly (sparkling grape juice) for the evening, I got some for myself for Christmas so that was nice to have a special drink.

Also just got a call from our carpet guy, he's been having trouble getting hold of the carpet supplier, but he has the carpet so we will be getting it installed in the basement tomorrow

[timesway]

wooo what are you doing with your basement quinalla?

nstewart.. i cant wait, she lives a little way from me (about 2 hours drive) but my sister and cousin were almost the same age and are more like sisters then cousins, and i hope that our 2 can be similarly close dispite the distance.. :D they will look so cute together tehe.. :P

hope you feel better soon :)

and no plans for nye.. not sure i have anyone to look after me either so need to  try and sort something.. if im still this exhausted i wont wanna do anything tho..

[BaileyB]

We have a party we were invited to but I am not sure I will want to go. They always want us to bring DD to play with the other kids and then stay up til midnight or later. I'm not sure what they are thinking or how that will work. I think movie and pizza sounds good.