Weekly Chat, March 3 - March 9 « Back to Group Discussions

[aidenn]

Okay, so I know the super active threads are the "how are you feeling" and the "appointments" one, but I have really been enjoying the weekly chat threads too.  I feel like they are the catch-all for any information going on (baby or not) and that makes me feel a little closer to you ladies!

So, what's happening this week with YOU?

My big accomplishment so far is getting my oldest DD enrolled in VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten).  She won't begin until September (what lovely timing, hauling my swollen self into a car to take her to pre-K!) but she's been asking to go for about a year now.  VPK is free in Florida, so while financially, I couldn't afford the luxury of a Mom's Day Out pre-k, now she'll get to hang with all the other kids.  My husband and I are agnostic, and the location of her chosen pre-k is at a church, but I feel comfortable with the curriculum, and if they throw a few Bible stories in, I don't think it'll harm her.  Many places here have waiting lists and I loath the effort and competition that some parents load into those.  We have a Montessori nearby, but they ban all sweets from your child's lunch, which I think is a little excessive.

[dakipode]

Hehe, aidenn, you remind me of myself a few months ago when I was doing research on daycares. We are also agnostic/atheist and I found myself wondering how much I would care if my child went to Jewish or Catholic day care since they are both reasonably priced options in the area.

VPK sounds great. I'll have to look into whether there is a program like that in NM.

Based on my own experience I'm a big supporter of day care, kindergarten etc. I was an only child and those places were my only opportunities to interact with other kids my age. I do worry about the cost.

This week is pretty chill for me. I'm looking forward to my first appt at the birth center on Wednesday.

Looking to get some house stuff done today, all the exciting chores like laundry, changing the bed, collecting the trash and doing dishes!

[katalopolis]

My big accomplishment of the week was NOT telling my fiance's family that I'm pregnant. It was actually quite hard because his sister is pregnant and I kept having to not say, "me too!" or "my midwife said________". But my fiance and I agree that we're still waiting until Easter to let everyone in the world know.

Other than that this week is going to be pretty much usual with work, fencing class if I'm able and now that it's actually sunny, some work on my vertical garden project!

[MamaMash]

I feel so far away from worrying about pre-k and I'm a sahm so I haven't had to worry about the cost of daycare thankfully. My dd is just about 20 months, and man are there days where I wish I had a least a little part time job so I got some away time and dd got to interact with other kids her age more.

Other than that, my goals this week are to write a meal list, go real grocery shopping which hasn't happened since I got pregnant, keep the house in order, and get the binky away from dd. Doesn't sound like tons huh. I have a terrible head cold. My head might explode. I can't function today at all so I'm hoping tomorrow is better. Any natural remedies for ridiculous sinus headaches and pressure? My poor dd had to deal with my morning sickness self for the last 2 months and now when I finally start feeling better on that front I get hit hard with this head cold :/ bad mom points over here.

[aidenn]

katalopolis - I am envious of your ability to withhold that information!  My belly sticks out so much now that there's no way I could wait until Easter!  You stay so fit with the fencing, I am sure you look amazing!

dakipode - Oh, I am so grateful that you went through the same situation!  This particular day care offers a Mom's Day Out for kids aged 2 and up, so I am thinking in lieu of presents for the new baby, for anyone seeking to give things, to maybe buy a month where I can drop my middle child off at daycare with my older DD.  I'd never say to family, "oh, buy me this!", but if someone asks, I would definitely consider asking for this.  I think it's only like, $140 a month or something.  I'm going to call tomorrow and ask.  We really don't have the extra cash to do this right now, but maybe as time gets closer, I'd work the budget a little harder.  My middle DD is speech delayed, I think, so I think the social aspect would be terribly important to her.

MamaMash - Dude, I swear by the NeilMed sinus rinse (or any neti pot) for the sinus pressure.  I used to think it was totally gross, but it means the difference between breathing and not.

I am worried about speech therapy for Jeni for a couple of reasons: cost, ensuring she stays developmentally on track, etc.  I think she's just lazy - she clearly hears and follows directions/questions but she only says a few words and made up words, like mama, dada, bye bye, and baa baa.  I have been told by others that it's just because Maiya would talk bark off of a tree that Jeni doesn't feel the need to speak yet, and she'll speak when she's ready, but it's been difficult to take the wait and see approach, if it means she won't be ready to enter school on time.

[MamaMash]

Aidenn-I sent dh to go get me a Neti pot and he totally came back with the NeilMed one! I just used it. It was my first time and it was interesting haha. But, I can breathe through my nose! My head is still throbbing though :/

[bohemianmama]

Oh my ladies I am in a similar boat! My DS is starting kinder in the fall, at public school, the thought that I will be a. majorly prego or b. with tiny newborn and toddler in tow, and I will have to go back and forth from school 3 times a day!!!!! We live .2 miles too close to ride the bus I think is a bunch of bs! I could walk them across the street to get on the bus, but can't instead I have to pack up and drive them (DD and DS) to school grrrrrr.

This week planning on starting to declutter closets in my house.  they are scary and I need storage room bad.  Have a midwife appt wed. Get to hear a heartbeat!!!!

Now that I am feeling better started back to the gym daily.  It feels great just to do a brisk walk.  I don;t know if its the exercise or the 45 mins of alone time just me, my headphones and the tread mill.  But I feel great!

MashMash - we had horrible sinus cold a few weeks ago, and the only think that made me feel ok was really hot showers and hot lemon tea.  I was drinking tea every 30 min. hope you feel better soon :)

[MamaMash]

Has anyone else experienced pretty bad jaw pain with a sinus cold?? I do have TMJ but it has been pretty mild the last couple years. But right now I can't even open my mouth farther than a couple inches. Hmm.

Bohemian- That sucks about the bus! My mom drove the route that our junior high wanted us to walk to school and made a huge deal to the district about how really it was too far. They closed a road (which was over very busy railroad tracks anyways!) that the district wanted us to walk over and the district was choosing to ignore that fact. But, my mom totally got the bus for our neighborhood and the kids there now still get to ride the bus to school. She to this day feels very accomplished haha. Thanks for the advice about the awful sinus cold! I plan to take a hot shower tonight once dd is asleep.

[haurelia]

I just finished w/the cold from hell. Another vote here for the NeilMed sinus rinse bottle. I also gargled with warm salt water, drank ginger tea, homemade chicken stock (i always make gallons at a time to can in quarts), and garlic lemonade (thanks Aviva Jill Romm!). I took extra vitamin C and zinc. I had a CST appointment in the midst of it, and she worked on my face/sinuses as well as the reflexology points for sinus with some diluted Thieves oil. I used hot packs in my face a couple times to ease congestion. Oh, and there's this awesome cough remedy that works pretty well (although it tastes crummy) http://www.pitt.edu/~cjm6/sp99cough.html.

I don't have the day care/preschool thing on my radar presently, as I SAH and have a pretty good trade thing going with two other mama friends if I need time for appointments, house work stuff, or self-care.

We are gearing up for maple syrup making here. We call ourselves "urban tappers" because we collect from a bunch of trees in our neighborhood right in town. It's fun, but can be a bit labor intensive. Sap isn't running yet but will be soon, and were hoping for a better run this year. Last year we only made 3 gallons so looking to double that this year (we split with another family).

I have a MW appointment Wednesday, so am hoping for hearing the HB with Doppler (I'm 11weeks today). I feel less queasy and a bit better energy since my cold is better...but it freaks me out a little to feel more "normal" and less symptomatic, kwim?

[cmu204]

Aidenn, were I in your shoes, I would do speech therapy for J.
I have a couple of friends who have done it with their reluctant talkers and they swear by it. Some kids just need a little extra help getting started. Plus, it should be free to you!

[cmu204]

Also, we are having work done on our upstairs in order to make room for bebé. It is soooo weird to see walls taken down!

[chispita]

Stressful and disappointing day at work - so now I have a headache and am ready to go to bed.

Also thinking of how / when to tell my parents that we're using midwifery care, since I know they're going to take it *very* badly - and I'm not good at keeping a cool head in arguments with my mother. So I've been worrying about this for the last few days.

I've also gone up one pant size overall (good thing I kept a few of my bigger clothes in a box when I lost weight a couple of years ago), but in the evening my belly gets swollen (gas, probably) and even these bigger pants are uncomfortable. I was hoping to wait a few more weeks before buying maternity stuff (which is something I'm dreading since for normal clothes I cannot find my size - this bigger one - in physical stores, and I'm afraid the same is going to happen with maternity wear).

[nettlesoup]

I'm so glad I don't have to worry about school! I'm home schooling my daughter so we already go to groups for that. Unfortunately her Granny is still telling her she has to go to school.

It was my daughter's 4th birthday yesterday; I can't believe she's 4 already! She's also got this awful nighttime cough, so none of us have been sleeping all that well. I also need to finally move her into her own bed at some point. I hope it goes well as she's quite happy to stay with us. But we're going to need the space for the baby when it comes.
 

[thefreckledmama]

I'm in the midst of trying to choose homeschool curricula for next year. My older girls started out homeschooling but have been public schooled the last two years since the divorce. Next year it will be 3: K, 4th, and 6th; and my 3 year old doing some pre K fun things to feel included. I'm excited to have them home again, but nervous to have so much going on in September.

[nettlesoup]

That'll be really nice, Freckledmam and as you say, very busy! We're still quite new to homeschooling as my daughter is only just 4, so it's going to be a steep learning curve for us.

[cmu204]

Wow, this is awesome. I wanted to homeschool, but that didn't work out for us. I'm jealous of those of you who make it work!

[Bromache]

I'm another one who is feeling a bit stressed about the super-busy, back-to-school time in September!

My three-year-old turns four at the beginning of October, so he's supposed to start Junior Kindergarten this year. He is really not ready for it: he is TINY for his age (still wears some 18-24 month and 2T pants), and is behind in his speech (he had hearing difficulties due to ongoing ear infections that affected how he learned sounds; he had tubes put in a year ago that solved the hearing and infection problems, but he needs more speech therapy to get up to speed), and he's just not really independent in things like dressing and feeding himself. And not potty-trained yet, of course! I know a LOT can change in a few months, but I'm still not sure if it would be best to hold him back another year or send him and accept that he may need to repeat. At first, I was planning to send him for half-days only, to ease him in more slowly. (His brother had a year of three-mornings-a-week nursery school and a year of half-day kindergarten before his first full-time year which he's in now, but we moved and don't have the same amenities here, unfortunately, for the younger guy.) But now with the baby coming, it's more tempting to send him for the full days. Socially and emotionally, he would be fine. He is so ready to be there in those ways! I'm just not sure about the self-care stuff, and he's definitely behind academically....

Ugh! So much to think about and consider!

Other than that, I'm anxiously awaiting the end of this month for my second midwife appointment and to finally (hopefully) feel better! I started tentatively planning a little Easter getaway to Niagara Falls yesterday. I need to run the prices and discuss with DH, but it would be really nice to have a little mini-vacation. It also gives me something to do, since I can't really move much (moving = puking). :P

Aidenn - I would definitely look into having your daughter's speech assessed if I were you! Not sure what services you have available (I'm in Canada, and even here, things differ from province to province), but if you happen to have a public health service that will do free speech assessments, check it out. We did it for my little guy when he was 18 months. I knew, even then, that he was behind. I wasn't sure he  was bad enough to need help, but I wanted to have him checked out. Turned out, he DID need help, and I'm so very glad we looked into it as early as possible! We had no idea that he had hearing problems until he failed his hearing tests. Once we got the tube surgery, what a difference! But, even before that, we had him into speech therapy and it was making an improvement. Unfortunately, the public system is swamped and the waiting list for free therapy is long. We had to pay for some private therapy. But it was so worth it. I can't believe how far he has come in the past year! We're currently waiting for more free therapy. It's been another long seven or so months. But we're finally getting in again on the 22nd. I can't wait! It helps him so much! Anyway, my advice is: if you're concerned, it never hurts to get it checked out and get started with the process as soon as possible. Good luck!

[aidenn]

cmu204 - Unfortunately, Jeni's speech therapy is completely NOT covered, which is the main reason why I am dawdling on the whole thing.  Her hearing exam at birth was clear and she definitely responds to questions and commands, but she's just not speaking.  Lots of pointing and nodding and shaking of the head, but nothing much else.  She has no other markers for autism, so my insurance is worth nothing to me on this.

Bromache - I totally get what you're saying on the potty training.  Some days I am so blessed that my ODD is so advanced with that (but still in diapers at night) but my youngest is taking her sweet sweet time with it.  I hear other moms comparing and sometimes I feel like I am in a parenting race that I am behind on.  I know I should just not care and focus on my individual child, but when I am feeling particularly shallow, it bugs me.

To all who homeschool - I admire you ladies.  I started out thinking I really wanted to do it full time, and some days, I still dream of it because our schools are pretty abysmal in Florida, but I don't know how I would homeschool and continue my part time lactation consultant work.  I try to stay focused on providing enrichment in addition to school-related activities and I hope that will be enough to counteract the bajillion worksheets I know my kids will suffer through...

[thefreckledmama]

aidenn-Have you talked to the school district?  I know that in our public school district in MO, anything like what you described is handled directly by the school district, and has nothing to do with insurance.

If your heart is wanting to homeschool, I encourage you to explore it a little more in-depth.  Ironically, my close friend-who is also a homeschooling mom-and I have been talking about getting our IBCLC and starting an independent LC business; one of the main reasons being that we could each work in a "part-time" capacity, and still continue to homeschool.  She and I have 4 and going on 5 children, respectively.  So let me throw in a big huge "I totally think you could do it" if you really do feel like you want to give homeschooling a go. :)

nettlesoup-the curve honestly doesn't exist.  I remember when I started out and sought out other moms on forums and groups, I was always afraid of being "behind" or not doing enough.  The most common response I got from seasoned HS moms was "behind WHAT?"  That's supposed to be one of the awesome aspects of hsing....that you can go at your child's own pace, and give them the education that best suits them.  I know some states and areas have laws that do require certain parameters be adhered to, but even then I think as long as you are moving forward and there is progress, you're ok.

All that being said, truthfully, I'm terrified of this upcoming school year.  My Ex and his family were so negative about homeschooling in the past, so as much as I'm excited to be doing it without their judgmental eyes constantly on me, I'm also still lacking confidence in my ability to do it well.  My oldest will be in 6th, and I feel like that academics are starting to get a little more intense, and I just hope I can give her everything she needs. I am absolutely NOT an organized person, but I take great pleasure in all the planning and setting up of schooling things-and I do keep things ultra organized when it comes to their lessons and supplies. My "plan" is to start early and plan in a week or two of no lessons around the time the baby comes, but that way we stay on track with the rest of the year.  I also think all things considered, to have a structured day to day set up will help everyone keep it together once the baby is here. But you know what they say about best laid plans...lol.

[nettlesoup]

Thanks for that, Freckledmama. We're lucky here as there are no laws about homeschooling so we're free to do what we want pretty much. I've already got a great homeschooling netowrk so we should be fine.