September 2004 Mamas February Thread - Page 10

[HeatherB]

Wonderful pictures, everyone!

Anna, I love the hair! :LOL The shots of Mielle looking at you and your new hair are priceless!

Savannah, they've gotten so BIG! WOW! I love the one of them both looking at McKenna's hand. Too cute! They look more alike to me now, as they're both filling out.

I can't believe how all of our babies are growing.... Iain has been rolling over, and trying awfully hard to when he hasn't been. :LOL I've put him down on several occasions, only to turn around and have him be flipped! He turns in circles (pivots), too. It's too funny. It's not obvious until he's gotten moved a good bit, and then I think, how'd he do that so fast? We don't have animals, but he LOVES to laugh and squeal for Gabriel! It is so incredibly sweet - Gabriel can just walk in the room and Iain lights up and grins. If Gabriel plays "for Iain," he'll laugh and grin and squeal the whole time. It's so wonderful to see them play together!

Well, I called CafePress this AM and asked them to rectify the situation. She ended up agreeing to refund me for my order - AND let me keep it. So, I won't get to show off the cute shirts at our diaper party tomorrow but I'll still get them AND not have to pay for them.

I'm having so much trouble keeping up on here... I find myself skimming posts. Tomorrow we've got a Houston area diaper party, Saturday there's a 2yo's birthday party, then a grown-ups only party at our house, then perhaps a 4yo's birthday on Sunday (might be next week). Next Saturday we're having an early birthday party for Gabriel before we leave. Somewhere in here I have to actually PACK and CLEAN. Oh my. Oh, and I'm still working on a swap! Eek! I'll be so glad when that's done tomorrow. I'm also very glad I didn't join anymore! :LOL Wednesday the move coordinator is coming to walk through our house to see what we're taking - my house is NOT ready for *anyone* to walk through! So this weekend we clean for a party, then we clean for movers.

So, I'm taking this short break to say and I'm missing everyone! Gotta get this stuff done, though.

[HeatherB]

Oh, Savannah, washing wool really ISN'T that bad! I just washed our wool cover (hoping it dries for tomorrow! I think I'll wrap it in a towel if not :LOL), and it was quick and easy. I have a little sample of wool soap from the Soap Deck, which has lanolin in it, so it does both in one step. (You might need to lanolize more at some points, I dunno... I have Wool Buddies, too, and that's super easy to do the lanolizing with.) Check out http://www.thesoapdeck.com/ and http://www.middayfaire.com/ for their products. I have some Eucalan liquid wool wash on order, too, to try out. I have some wool pants that I didn't want to scrub with this little chunk of soap - though a full size bar would probably work fine.

Hope you can reclaim your wool!

[MamaAcorn]

Just had to pop in and say how cute all the pictures are! Those are some beautiful blue eyes that Mielle has! She's beautiful! And I like your purple hair Anna. Savanna, all three of your kiddos are sweet as can be! I love #57 with McKenna sucking her thumb with her lovey! So cute!

We're doing okay. Taking one day at a time. I had some good snuggle time with the boys this morning and a pretty low work load, so I'm feeling pretty good about the day. Oh, and I did taxes the other night and was overjoyed with the end result being a refund! That's gonna really help reduce some stress for me!

I'm also going to a cloth diapering party tomorrow and I'm so excited about it! Can't wait to meet more like-minded mommies and see all the fluff! I've got to bring something to eat, so I've decided to make two batches of scones (oh, I love scones!), one blueberry and the other white chocolate raspberry. I'm already drooling over the thought of them.

Anyone have plans for Valentine's day? I still have to come up with something. Inspire me!

[chrissy]

i just have a quick sec, so i'm sure i'll forget half of what i wanted to say.

anna, i your purple hair!!! in a fit of "i can't really be this old and stable, can i?" i got my nostril pierced a few months ago. mielle is gorgeous! her eyes are the bluest i've ever seen.

pam, i can't wait to meet you guys tomorrow! i hope you have a great day today. awesome about the refund!

jen, i love all your new pics too. i really love the one of you with t on your back. is that an ergo? i really think i need one of those. the pics of jo and t are great too!

heather, i'm so glad you got your money back! good for you! bummer that your shirts won't be there in time for the party though. how exciting that your move is so soon!

savannah, your pics are wonderful too! i agree that your babes are looking more alike these days. such cuties! washing wool is intimidating at first but it is really soooo easy.

i live in the south too and the ants are invading us as well. and there were mosquitos biting us earlier this week! what the heck?!

stacy, great pics! how exciting about the commercial! i hope you get it!

okay, better run and get stuff done while lilah naps.

[leomom]

I keep meaning to tell you guys that Elizabeth Pantley is going to be on a live chat on mommychats.com this Tuesday (15th) at noon central time. She'll be answering questions about NCSS and her other books...

Anna, I Mielle's eyes. Gorgeous!


Ok, I have to ask this again because I really need some advice:

How can I help Kate not to get scared and cry whenever Hannah "talks." Savannah, do you have any experience with this and the twins? Kate gets scared and starts screaming bloody murder whenever Hannah coos?!?! She's gotten really timid in the last few weeks and jumps at all sorts of noises that didn't used to bother her. Any suggestions?

Also, I'm thinking of putting Hannah in some of Kate's cds while she's here...I'm wondering, what is the process for dealing with formula poop in cloth dipes? Can you just throw it in to soak in the machine like I do Kate's dipes?

[Almamiel]

Everyone's pictures are beautiful!!!

Anna, your family is way gorgeous - love your hair!

Jen, your new pics are awesome - love the new shots of you and T and Jo and T. LIke the ERgo pic, too.

Savannah, your kids are so cute - and looking "twinnier!"

Pets: WE have 2 dogs and a cat. Our cat, Bonnie, loves babies - like loves, loves them. R goes a little nuts trying to get her tail, though. Our two dogs are great with the kids - Sunshine, our beagle mutt, has really started to hang out with M (our 2 1/2 yr. old). Both dogs are great spit-up-cleaner-uppers.

Dipes - I don't know, I think I've spent under $300 on both kids. Lots of prefolds, a few fitteds and fuzzibunz. I always go for used.

Anyone else dying for a king-sized bed? We just got our tax refund back and I can't wait to drive over to Ikea in Pittsburgh (closest) to buy one. Dp doesn't understand why we need one, even though he's the one that keeps complaining that we don't have any room with 2 adults, one toddler, one baby and two dogs in the bed! He's going to be spending a fortune mastering his new album, though, so I'm putting my foot down and insisting :LOL

Stacey, don't really have any advice for you and Kate. I think she'll probably just grow out of it? Raney went through a stage where coughs scared the living daylights out of her. She'd really be scared and just scream and scream. For a while there, every time we had to clear our throats we'd be running to the other room :LOL But she doesn't seem to do it anymore.

[wardermom]

Arowen is scared of loud noises too-mostly voices. Dh's voice and the kids' when they get too loud, or even mine. When I'm the one that startled her, I just look at her and smile. She gets the idea that it's not so bad and doesn't react as badly. Maybe just smile at her and reasure her that's she's alright.(You probably already do that.)

[StacyL]

Originally Posted by bendmom

Hey Stacy, how did you get dh to dress up like that? I could barely get mine to wear a suit jacket to our own wedding .

You want to know something funny? When we met all he had were a few unmatched suit jackets and a few pairs of slacks and only white shirts. So, I said to him one day, "You know, you would look really good in some COLORED shirts." He had been wanting to buy at least two real suits, but after I said that, I would point out some colors that I thought would look nice on him when we were in a mall or something. Well, lo and behold, I have created a monster! He got three suits from a consignment shop - really nice ones, Armani and Valentino for only about $300 each. And then he started buying colored shirts and ties to wear with them. Now, he only buys them from places like TJ Maxx and Ross, where you can get nice stuff for cheap - but he has gone totally crazy! He has an entire of rainbow of shirts and ties and I don't know how he will get around to wearing them all! But hey, at least he looks good when we go out!

Anna those pictures of you & Mielle are adorable!

Alex has also begun to startle at certain noises. He flinches everytime Maggie gets up from laying down and shakes herself, because her ears flap loudly. He also jumps when dh sneezes.

[punkymonkeymom]

Stacey I have no idea what you could do other than just expose her to more noises all the time. Things are extremely loud around here so Makynzi is used to anything. The dogs are always barking, the tv is always on : and the kids I keep and Madyson are always yelling.

I love all the new pics! All our babies are really starting to look like little people with personalities instead of just a baby laying there.

[Mama Bear]

I all the pics of the babes and families!!! We September mommies have the cutest bunch of babes out there...(no bias here : )

I don't know what to say about babies getting scared with noises. DS is fairly laid back. The only times he freaks is if he's just beginning to fall asleep and the phone rings or something like that. So I just console him and he usually goes back to sleep. Maybe have music playing in the background??? I don't know...

leomom - Re: formula poopies on CD - I've heard the ff babes have more solid poops so I would think you could just flip it into the toliet???

I've been on a severely restricted diet b/c ds reacts to tons of foods through my milk so I wish I could eat all the yummy things you all write about. Last night for dinner I felt very southern - I had black eyed peas, rice, carrots and collard greens...it was really yummy!!!
Speaking of food, I need to eat some lunch...hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

[Llyra]

Regarding formula poo on cd's:

Julia's been on formula for a little while (long story) and I just wash them in the washer just like I did with breastmilk poo; no special treatment needed. They're not solid, they're kind of like green peanut butter-- yuck-- and they stink much worse, but there's no bits of undigested food in them so they dissolve nicely in the washer.

[sistermama]

Bendmom - when I use Bummi covers I just fold the dipe in thirds, stick a liner on the top of it and stick it into that little "pocket" on the inside front. Know what I mean? No pins necessary. I have bummis that I used from Jack, but I am liking proraps better this time, because they can just be wiped out inside and reused over again. I love Fuzzi Bunz. I've got one side snapping AIO from Fairyland Creations that I love and several bumkins AIO that are just okay ( I find them kind of plasticky). I also LOVE wool.

Savannah - on a wool note - here is the lazy way that I wash mine. Fill a bucket in the kitchen sink with some warmish water and eucalan (woolite or baby shampoo will work, too.) Toss in your covers and swish them around. Let it sit for a while. Come back and scrub out icky spots. If you use eucalan, you don't have to rinse them out, the others you do. Lay a towel on the kitchen counter. Gently squeeze out your covers and put them on the towel. Roll up the towel with the covers inside squeeze the towel out to get out the rest of the moisture. Then I put stained ones out in the sun until the stain is gone and let them dry the rest of the way inside. If you have lanolin, you can also relanolinize them, pm me if you want to know how!

Almamiel - I would KILL for a king sized bed - we are squished!!!

Jen - Lucy is DESPERATE for food, but I have tried a couple of times to give her a little taste and she thrusts it right out. What a cute pic!

We ended up not going to NY, because my grandma was freaking out that it was going to snow 15 inches and we wouldn't be able to land, etc., etc. And if we did land, she won't drive in the snow. Also, none of my other family up there would come to pick us up and we (me, Jack and lucy would have to get a CAB from the airport!!!) So of course it didn't snow barely at all. So anyway, here we are. I'm not irritated or anything - ya right.

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by Almamiel

Anyone else dying for a king-sized bed?

I want one SO bad. When we get a house (hopefully in the next few months) we are going to get a king. I can't wait!!!

Re: babes wanting food - ds looks at me while eating though he hasn't tried grabbing anything, he's too interested in his toys or sticking his fingers in my nose...:LOL silly boy...

[JenInMpls]

Stacey - I just try to warn Tristan before a big noise comes around - like if I'm going to sneeze, I put my hand on his chest and say "I'm going to sneeze, don't be scared", or if I'm going to grind coffee I tell him, look at him, smile like crazy, coo and then grind the coffee at the same time. He's used to it now. He still cries sometimes when Jo sneezes and then blows her nose really hard you'd think she'd get the message. I would just take Kate up into your arms and kiss her and tell her that it's ok. I think that eventually she will adjust.

However, Tristan can make Oscar cry with his crying, and it's the only thing that really makes Oscar *cry*, with the bottom lip out and everything. Speaking of Oscar and Tristan, check out INSANELY cute September baby pics on T's website, page 14 (see sig).

As for formula dipes, yeah, formula poo is really gross (and stinky, eew!) but it washes out just the same. The only problem I have had before is letting one sit for 2 days and having some of the smell remain but it came out with a super-hot wash. If you try it, be sure to wash the same day and I think things will come out just fine! We use a dry diaper pail, biokleen detergent and bac-out enzyme treatment, cold-water pre-wash, hot water wash, cold rinse + extra rinse.

speaking of dipes, I've got some languishing in washer that need to go in the dryer.

Chrissy - yes that is an Ergo!

I met an MDC mama at our "play group" today whose partner is the German teacher at one of the other Waldorf schools in town - small world!!!

j

ps: wow! all those cute Sept babies! Anna, your hair is wild! Jo said to tell you that it looks great! And Mielle's eyes, WOW!!! *swoon*

[msrog]

Jo, I didn't see any page 14...

No real advice here on scary noises. Sorry. Before I turn on the vacuum, I say in a loud, sing-song voice "big noise...."

[TudoBem]

Ds used to startle and sometimes still will, but we just make funny faces and try to make it funny. Maybe if you imitated Hannah and acted goofy so that she would laugh, then when Hannah is there and she starts making the sounds, put on the same goofy face to see if you can get her to laugh again. Then she may start to associate Hannah's noises with something fun/funny.

Regarding wool diaper covers, we love love love our wool! I find it so easy. We just do the eucalan wash, too, and let them dry overnight. We've been using Sugarpeas cotton/hemp fitteds with the Sugarpeas wool covers (and Fuzzibunz at night) and it's worked out great. Keep in mind that the wool is really great in the hot summertime because it breathes so well. The only time ds has had even a little redness is the afternoon we put disposables on him.

[veganbaby]

I so want a king sized bed! But DH says we can't get one. We paid a lot for our sleep number bed.

[JenInMpls]

Originally Posted by msrog

Jo, I didn't see any page 14...

yeah, sorry, not uploaded yet at the time - up by now!!



we went to a lenten fish fry tonight and all of our clothes reek of deep-fried fish! fish was good, but smelly! we found out that our host's daughter has the same bday as T, one year earlier! she was very excited about T and kept patting him (rather vigorously) on the head and saying "baby! baby!".

yawn - night night.

j

[3boobykins]

Poop! I had a bunch written, tried to review back a few pages, and lost my reply somehow.

Such beautiful photos, everyone! Anna, Mielle is so photogenic, and I also love your hair. I've had really short hair for about 1.5 years, and I've started growing it out, but seeing yours makes me want to do something fun like that--feeling kinda frumpy these days.

Bhavani has two teeth, as of this morning! I hope this means a reprieve from teething pain and discomfort for awhile. She cried so much a couple of days ago that her voice is still hoarse--she has a chesty, rattly cough, too, so now she has this raspy little baby voice whenever she cries or babbles. It's pretty cute, really.

Mandy, sorry to hear about your troubles with your dad. I think your decision to put your immediate family first is a good one. Wishing you the best in dealing with that situation.

Stacey, sorry I have no other advice about Kate's fear of noises. I think some of the ideas you've gotten here sound good. Good luck with that! That must be really hard to deal with, since Hannah is a talkative baby.

Savannah--I'm super lazy about washing the few wool covers I have. It's really easy, too, but it's just one more thing to do when our days are already so full. Have you tried making recycled wool soakers from sweaters? It's reallly easy, and super-cheap if you use thrift store wool sweaters. I haven't made any for ages, but I have some longies cut out for both dds from a cashmere sweater I got at Goodwill for $2.50--so amazingly soft. My sewing machine isn't working right, though, so I can't stitch them together. I'd better find a machine to borrow before the girls outgrow them!

Is anyone else's baby not rolling over on a regular basis yet? Bhavani has rolled tummy to back a few times--maybe 8 or 9 total over the last month or so? I'm sure she's fine, just taking her time I suppose.

Okay, dishes await, including the cast iron pans I've left with crud on them for days.

Heather

[msrog]

Very cute boys, Jen. And wow, does your little Estella friend have some hair! LOL.

We our king size bed. Though dh still ends up on the couch lately, since the babies fuss and wiggle a bit too much at night when he's having to get up early and go to work.

Heather, I just saw directions for sewing recycled wool butt sweaters this week! You're right; it defnitely looks easy and fun. Speaking of angora, I received a beautiful rose print angora cover in a trade this month. It is luxurious! And seems to work well. I don't know if it has the same lanolin, antibacterial properties as wool???

I just got my sewing machine back from its first "doctor" visit. Supposed to be $55; ended up $79. I guess that'll be my Valentine's Day gift! Egads. I'd better be able to make/save some money with this booger now, LOL.