*~*~Our litte love-bugs*~*~ FEBRUARY 2013 CHAT - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[thedenverduo]

Hi Mamas! I just read back through the last few months threads and I am so glad that everyone is doing well for the most part!

Ezra is doing great.  He's 9 and a half month old today and determined to keep up with his big brother.  He is crawling like a crazy person all over the house and so fast!  He's also pulling up to stand on everything he can get his little hands on and even did some cruising around the coffee table today.  I'm so happy he's healthy and growing but I'm not ready for a toddler yet!

After Sol (my 3 year old) was born we weren't very serious about birth control.  I did some NFP to get an idea of when my cycle might start again, but I didn't have a period until after Sol weaned at 22 months.  Then I had one period and got pregnant again! So in 4.5 years I've had ONE period.  Can I expect my cycle to take that long to start up again or is it different for each baby?

Anyhow, after Sol was born I was open to the idea of closely spaced babies but not exactly trying to get pregnant either.  The day after Ezra was born I called and set up an appt to get an IUD.  I was (and still am) totally uninterested and opposed to getting pregnant right now.  I've had the IUD for 7 months now with no issues, but I haven't started my period again either, so we'll see.  I was totally surprised at how strong my reaction was to starting BC right away.  I don't think we're done having kids, but I would have a REALLY hard time if we got pregnant right now.

GTG, naptime's over!

xoxo

[BubbleMa]

Hello ladies!  :D

We're doing great over here!  Layla went through a phase at 8 months where she woke up every 1-2 hours at night.  It lasted about 4 weeks, but we're back on track now.  She's waking every 4-6 hours, so not really sleeping through the night but it's not bad.  Some nights she sleeps 6+ hours, but that's rare.

She's also "army crawling" all over the place!  It's so cute how she follows me around.  :)  And she's very curious, which I love.  Gotta do some baby-proofing though. 

She still has NO TEETH.  

[Astraia]

What is UP with naptime?!?!  He usually takes a nap from 8 until 9:30 (we're up at 6 am, so it's reasonable) and then goes down again at 1. The last few days he's been awake and happy until 10 am, then I can eventually get him down for this super short 20 minute nap (that he fights and fights and fights, turns into a royal scream-fest for a bit because he doesn't want to sleep), then naps again at 3 pm and gets up at 5. That would maybe be okay, except that he then screams for the next two hours, doesn't eat dinner, and by bedtime he crashes so hard that he falls asleep while I change his diaper and put him in his pajamas.

I don't remember how to transition to one nap. I'm thinking I'll just see if I can keep him awake and happy until noon... wow, that's such a long time.... and then put him down right after lunch. Is that how you do it? Is it too early? Should I keep him on 2 for awhile and just keep trying to make him have a morning nap?

My other two kids started to walk at 9 months 2 weeks exactly, to the very day. Everett is just over 9 months now and has started purposely standing without holding on to anything and has been cruising since Christmas so it's theoretically possible- although he just learned to crawl (weird backwards kid!) so he really doesn't seem to have any interest in walking. I am definitely aware of the fact, though, that this could be screwing with his sleep patterns. He is really, really busy. He can't sit still for even a minute, so nursing down for naps has turned into one of those, "can i stand on my head and pick my mom's nose while nursing and falling asleep?" acrobatic adventures.

Man, this kid is making me feel like I have no idea how to deal with a baby! I feel like I spend more time googling "what the hell am i doing, anyway" type questions than anything else.

[cristeen]

Ezri is doing that refusing to eat or nap thing because everything else is more interesting, too.  My solution is to strap her into something.  Put her in the swing, and she takes a nap.  Put her in the car seat and I can feed her (and then she takes a nap while I'm driving).  Not helpful for anyone BFing, obviously, though.  Although maybe a sling or a MT would be helpful for nursing, since they then can't go anywhere.  I've been wondering if we're starting the transition to 1 nap, also.  Whereas before she would go down right after we dropped off big brother at school, it's getting later and later and shorter and shorter. 

[Kamiro]

Naps have become sporadic here. like today she woke up at 9 and took a 20 minute nap at 1 and then stayed awake til 10:30 pm.

Pretty much the same pattern as her sisters use to be.

A few days ago she had a 2 1/2 hour nap. That was nice.

[Astraia]

Oh, okay, so maybe several kids are getting ready for one nap? The internet made me feel like a terrible person for considering one nap (two naps is developmentally necessary for babies under one year, blah blah blah, almost no baby under a year is ready for one nap) but he sure LOOKS ready for one nap.

He woke up stupid early this morning (5:30) but was so miserable that I put him back to bed at 6:30- he obviously wasn't ready to be awake yet. Whenever he wakes up, I'll push his nap until after lunch- should be easy!- and start that transition today.

I have maybe a few issues with parenting rage and have spent a lot of time identifying and working around triggers, and fighting sleep/useless attempts at getting kids down for naps/short, pointless naps that result in children who scream more than before are one of my "things" - so if we can reduce this bedtime frustration by doing one nap, I think it's important for my sanity, ha!

[forestmushroom]

For what it is worth, my baby still only naps on me or in the car.. .we are in the car for school pickups at the same time each day... and during the day he is in the carrier napping/nursing at least at one other point in the mid-morning... so still at least 2 naps, often 3 (he will nap in the evening, too... and then wake up and go to bed at about 10pm).

His sleeping at night has totally gone to shorts, though... he is waking and squirming... his first tooth finally broke through (on the top? huh? weird, eh?) and the other top tooth in coming in.... so he will only sleep on me/touching me.... and often has to be nursing .... ugh.
 

[MLog]

We're having a rough time with sleep here too.  We're starting the bedtime routine at 8:00pm with the hopes of having Elliott asleep by 9:00pm.  He usually sleeps until 12, sometimes 1 if I'm lucky.  But then after that it's up every two hours to eat and then even more often after 5:00am.  He gets up for the day between 8 and 9am.  I've kind of adjusted to this interrupted sleep and by that I mean I just give a half smile when people comment on a regular basis how exhausted and drained I look.  I can usually get him down for a decent nap (at least an hour) in the morning around 10 or 11.  Afternoon naps are a crapshoot since some days he's with me at home, some days he's at my in laws and some days he's with me at the dance studio.  We're lucky to get a half hour in the afternoon.  On the days when DH picks him up at the in laws then he takes an evening nap which of course means he goes to bed later and everything gets out of whack.  He does put himself to sleep for the night after our bedtime routine, but no luck on the day time naps - you either have to take him on a walk, drive around, or bounce him to sleep.  He does nurse to sleep for naps as well.

In other news, Elliott can crawl backwards for a bit.  He's super frustrated because he can't go forward.  He loves, loves, loves blueberries.  He's growing out of his longies and I can't decide whether it's worth getting some a bit larger or to just do with what we have until the weather warms up.  Today it's snowing, next week it's supposed to be in the 50's.  Who knows.

Okay, fussy pants wants attention!

[lightheartedmom]

OMG all the babies quit naps at the same time?!
(hi everyone ;-)
baby C turned 9 months old two days ago and like magic...poof. Morning nap went byebye. Much to my dismay. I really needed her 11:00 nap to Get Stuff Done. Especially with the older one who I am theoretically home schooling.
Now she naps around 12:30 for an hour (two if we are VERY lucky) and then is unfit for public consumption by 6:00. She's almost always asleep for the night by 7-7:30. She nurses a lot throughout the night and then wakes up like a little sunshiny alarm clock at 7am sharp...followed by poo precisely at 7:05. Why yes, poop is exactly what I LOVE to wake up to each morning. So sweet of you to think of me.

The only qualifier is that if I carry her in the Ergo in the morning, she will nap. Actually, she will nap almost any time in there. If I wore her all day, she would probably nap 3x a day. But my back cannot handle it. And as hands free as the ergo is, my range of motion is still stunted. So I can't wear her all day.


@Astria - what you said about nursing...Lol! It's SO true. This age is really hard to nurse because they're just always on a mission to get somewhere, see something, investigate that, taste this, busy busy busy. It's like trying to nurse a contortionist.

Any one else's baby still a toothless wonder? C has no teeth! I keep thinking she's teething and then she's not. She eats solids, she's perfectly healthy, normal, etc...but no teeth.

Other than that...we're great. She's a jolly little stinker and we're all head over heels for her. :-)

[Astraia]

No teeth here either. I'm expecting them between 10-11 months, like my first (he seems to take after my first in all respects).

Everett will also nap on my back in our Ergo style thingy- but I can't do it. He's too danged heavy. He also seems to have picked up a gross, snotty cold and cough and is now sleeping more than normal (but still up every 2 hours at night, like so many other babies) so we're not going to switch to one nap any time soon, I don't think! 2 hour morning nap, and down again for his afternoon nap. I hope he sleeps for awhile, I'm transferring  a new embroidery project now :)

[cristeen]

The last 2 nights we've only been really up once a night.  How did we get here and can we keep it? 

Forest - our first teeth were top, too.  But then she had all 4 within 6 weeks. 

Oh, and for anyone having difficulty wearing the baby on your back - try a different carrier.  On your back is by far the least demanding place to carry them.  I'm not a "wear them all day" type of person (I can't handle it emotionally), but I do try to wear her for 20-30 minutes at a time. And other than this morning at the ped, it's on my back.  I can't do the front for long any more.  My fave carrier for this age/stage is my Onbuhimo.  With DS, it stayed my fave until he got too heavy, and now I can only wear him in a wrap.  I haven't figured out the wrap on my back with a squirmy baby thing... she does NOT sit still for me to tie her on, but the Onbu is the easiest back carrier I've tried. 

[Kamiro]

I feel like I have been nauseous for like the last 3 days. I went to dollar tree and bought some preg tests. Its a couple days before my period is due and I had a dream I got my period last night...but I took 2 preg tests last night and nothing but I could see where the "T" part of the strip was (but a very strong evap line today on that one)...Tonight again I took another one and it had a very faint (very very faint) two lines, so I am going to take the last one first thing in the AM.

Perhaps my fertility has returned. Maybe I just go in spurts of 3 or something. haha.

KM, how'd your results fare?

[Astraia]

I think if you can see two lines, even just barely, then you're probably expecting :) Congratulations!

[KM84]

Oh wow, I'm guessing the next few day are going to feel long for you...

AF showed up here and I've got no other symptoms so I think we're in the clear. I'm glad I had a little scare though, it shook me off of thinking I was ready to think about baby #2. I am most definitely not.

[cristeen]

Is this our first BFP of the group?  It's really unusual for it to take this long.  Congrats OneMore!! 

[rozziemama]

Wait WAIT, onemore - really!? Wow!

Can I just comment (for the thousandth time) that I love coming to a place where we are all at the exact same stage? It's great. I love you ladies

Kai turned 9 months on 2/14. Then I turned 35 on 2/16. 35, with two sons. Huh, who knew. I'd always thought I would have daughters.

Kai has 6 teeth, 4 on top, 2 on bottom. He seems to have stopped biting - hoping I didn't just jinx myself - but I do think it was the ear infection/cold plus teething that was making it happen, biting yes to the point of bleeding, and I had a tiny bloody bite mark on my nipple. As much as I knew it was not an indication he was weaning, I very nearly quit due to the horrible pain. DS1 NEVER bit. (And was toothless at this age). I am so glad I pushed through.
I am still hating the pump. I went down to about 8-10oz per day (2-ish bottles), which means he gets one of formula, sometimes more if my work day doesn't allow me to pump - and I am working VERY hard at giving myself a huge big break about it.... Even though I think the formula (earths best milk based w/iron) makes him constipated a bit and messes with his digestion in general...
I may not make it pumping another three months. I am so busy. It seems I've enough milk supply to nurse when I am with him if I cut down to one pump a day. We shall see. Did I mention I hate pumping?

He crawls but prefers the commando scoot, he pulls up to stand. He says mama dada and lots of other things that I can't quite make out yet
He loves food, eats pretty much everything. But he is extremely oral and I live in constant fear he will choke.
He sometimes naps. Mornings are easier. I am awake at 5am every day.

What else? I am tired... I just finished an epic 10 day first post partum AF return. Oy. It was exactly the same timing with my first - 9 months in 9 months out . I like the symmetry somehow. And am thrilled not to be pregnant.
I almost took a pregnancy test (evn though I have an iud) because I was so bloated and crampy for what felt like months leading up to it... But luckily it arrived. And then WENT ON FOREVER. WTF.

love reading all the updates
Oh - and for what its worth DS1 officially gave up his morning nap at 10 months and we all slept a lot better after that.

[Kamiro]

Alright....way too many pregnancy tests later and it is definitely positive. Holy crapola.

[Kamiro]

Ok I'm back..

We are down to about 2-3 nursings a day. We co sleep and nurse unrestricted at night, but in a 24 hour period she doesnt nurse much. I dont  have much milk, and she never nurses longer than 10 minutes unless she is going to sleep for the night... I wonder if I should switch her to formula? I am not sure how to proceed at this point.

Still just the two teeth. She is not walking yet! I have never had a child crawl for this long. It tickles me to see her crawling all over the place cause I just love a crawling baby.

I am exhausted so I am going to bed

[rozziemama]

Holy Moly congratulations!!!

Originally Posted by Onemoreontheway 

Alright....way too many pregnancy tests later and it is definitely positive. Holy crapola.

[lightheartedmom]

Holy moly is right! Congrats and good luck to you onemore! :-) I was thinking a few weeks back "I wonder who will be the first in the ddc to get pg again?" (hah...as I took a test myself...my cycles are all over the place)
All I can say is may the force be with you because...I know early pregnancy with little ones is a hard slog. I wish you a very easy and healthy first trimester!

And seriously I kind of wish we could repeat this ddc all over again for the next round of babies. I'm not here as often but you ladies are the best!