September 2004 Moms - Happy April! Mobile babies in the near future! - Page 11

[msrog]

Hi, all. Thanks so much for the birthday wishes! The retreat went really well. (Except for the first night; upon arrival the babies screamed simultaneously for a good 30 minutes. Then McK finally fell asleep while William was inconsolable for another 30 minutes or longer. Ack. And my nipples HURT after all that!!!!) But they were happy and easy the rest of the time. I got some scrapping done (I'm still cropping photos for my 10-year-overdue wedding album. One day I'll actually start decorating pages!).

My dh forgot my birthday this year. Waah. He's been making it up to me nicely, though. Today we walked down to the neighborhood park as a family (something I always want to do, but he poo poos the idea every time)... it was so nice! Then we went out to dinner at the new Carrabba's. Now the babies are asleep in their car seats in our room, I'm completely stuffed, the weekend's diapers are being washed, and dh is waiting for me to get off the computer, LOL.

I'll write more later. Loved the updates, everyone, and I can Soooooo relate to them all! (Except the floods, celings caving, and hostage crisis). And the taggie is cute, too.

OK, I really must go now.

[chrissy]

Originally Posted by msrog

Loved the updates, everyone, and I can Soooooo relate to them all! (Except the floods, celings caving, and hostage crisis).

:LOL

[MamaAcorn]

I've got a lot of catching up to do with this thread! I made it through the weekend with my MIL, though not so easily. I was wearing thin come Sunday, but eh final straw came last night when we went to dh's boss's wedding and left the boys with MIL and her husband to watch. This was the first time I left Jackson with anyone but dh. The wedding started at 6. We called home twice to check on the boys, once after the ceremony, around 7:30-8 and again at 10. Everything was fine the first time around. The second time, not so. Dh stepped out in the hall to call and came back and told me that Jackson wasn't taking the bottle and was crying and hungry. We immediately left with me driving. We got home in twenty minutes thanks to catching many green lights. Jackson was very, very upset and crying and immediately stopped when he saw me. I took him into the bedroom to nurse him (had to take off my dress to do so) while I listened to dh and MIL argue. As we were coming in the door, MIL went off on how Jackson was crying NON-STOP, how he gave her such a workout that she wasn't missing her treadmill at all, and how bad the bottle and nipples were that I had left. She said that they ended up squirting the milk from the bottle to a baby spoon and fed him an ounce that way. WHY DIDN'T SHE CALL US!!!!???? Her answer was that she thought he got enough milk from the spoon feeding (1-ounce in five hours for a 6-month-old?). Obvious that everyone was tired, we all went to bed, but on the way to the bedroom, dh's stepdad said that they turned down the thermostat and we might was to check it before bed. I did, and it was turned down to 64 degrees. It was COLD in the house and Jackson was wet and his outfit was half off of him. So I turned up the thermostat to where we normally keep it and went to bed. So this morning when dh got up, he still thought it was cold in the house, and low and behold, MIL re-adjusted the thermostat back down to 64 degrees after I went to bed! She complained this morning of hot flashes and such, but there are five other people in this house that aren't suffering from "hot flashes" and shouldn't have to be frigid and cold! MIL left this morning, thank goodness! Oh, how I could go on and on about this woman!

I need to read a few pages of posts before I can really respond to anything. Will try to do that later on today.

Pam

[leomom]

Stinky hemp: (SEEPAE shared this info. with me) quick cold rinse, longest super hot wash with 1/2 c. baking soda and 8-10 drops of TTO. 2 extra rinses. It worked wonders for me. Also helped me with some build up issues!

Another CD question: Kate has started leaking through her FBs at night. I use 2 JBs and just started added a micrifiber insert. What else can I do? Should I use 3 JBs, or should I switch to another nighttime diaper? TIA

Pam, your MIL sounds like a nightmare. Mine was here this weekend, too. Always tons of fun. :LOL I had to explain (for the 50th time) WHY we don't have paper towels and paper napkins, HOW the CDs work, WHY I use a laundry ball, WHY she can't feed Kate, WHY we dont' let Kate watch TV, WHY Kate doesn't need a jacket in 80 degree weather, etc. etc. I'm exhausted and this was a relatively civil visit! :LOL

[JenInMpls]

Quick replies here:

Stacey: if Kate doesn't seem interested in foods, I'd wait. She'll let you know.

Pam: UGH! Sorry about your MIL.

jarred foods: I make all of Tristan's foods but my friend who sends her son to daycare buys Earth's Best and stands by it. I guess it's easier for her to slip a sealed jar of food into her son's bag instead of packing homemade in ice. Best of all she gave me a ton of her old jars and they are so handy for defrosting frozen cubes of avocado, sweet potato, etc.

Tristan only bites me when he's done eating and I keep trying to force a nipple into his mouth. It seems he is mostly an eating nurser so I am wondering how long it's going to be before we lose the SNS filled with formula.

xo, j

[Almamiel]

Isn't this forum cathartic :LOL

Raney is working on her 1st tooth! She was a total crank-monster yesterday, poor thing.

Sorry to all with mother-in-law issues. I'm lucky and really love mine.

Glad your dh is making up for your missed birthday, Savannah.

Oh, Chrissy - I'm A sarah with an 'h' but I don't think I'm THE sarah with an 'h' :LOL

[AugustineM]

Thanks for the advice about the biting. I will start trying the "pulling the babe into the breast" technique. He has slowed down on the biting last night and today, so that's a relief. He's mostly an eating nurser as well, so maybe I should just slow down on the offering of the breast at every sign of discomfort.

As far as jarred baby food, I've been getting some jars of the Naturally Preferred brand, the generic organic brand they sell at Fred Meyer and places like that. So far DS's favorite is the winter squash. It's pretty tasty, actually. Mostly I feed him whole grain organic rice cereal, banana, and applesauce. He did chew on a big chicken leg bone the other day and was completely in heaven!

Leomom -- DS does the same thing as far as waking up crying several times a night. I think it's teeth, but it could also be seperation anxiety. I usually just rock him or nurse him back to sleep, but if I'm too exhausted I make DH do it, even though he goes to work early. I don't think I could do it night after night unless he helped sometimes!

My MIL just left yesterday! Yargh. It was a better visit than usual, but still, she's so negative towards DH (her son) and is constantly making comments about how he can't do things as good as "mommies" or how he leaves his shoes everywhere, or "why can't you get up and get it yourself?" kinds of things. I just wish she could be a more positive person. It drives me batty sometimes. At least she has quit making comments about DS and where he sleeps and how he sleeps and nurses and all that. That's somewhat of a relief.

Hope it's a good week for everyone!

[JenInMpls]

ps esp to Stacey re: watching TV:

Yeah, well, my very well-meaning godmother got a recommendation from someone about "Baby Beethoven" videos and is just clamboring to get us one. Amazingly she looks at K-Mart and Target and can't find them. I think it was actually baby Einstein, but maybe she'll keep looking for baby beethoven and we'll luck out and not get any videos :LOL that sounds pretty mean, but I can't convince her that we just aren't into TV and videos and battery-operated toys for Tristan. She keeps buying him books that are songbooks that have little buttons on the side that play the songs in a 1980s-video-game-esque electronic format. And the two she's given us have had weak batteries, so they're off-key to boot. I'm sorry, I just so prefer to sing to my son! It's a lot more beautiful and natural! My mom says I should just let him have them, it won't hurt him, but I've got the play-me book of Jesus songs (Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, etc) on a pile to go to my church for the nursery and the baby Looney Toons play-me book of lullabies - I mean, who really could fall asleep to that? - in the donation pile for Arc (association for retarded citizens)... what do you all do with gifts that are not your parenting style?

The only TV T's been allowed to watch was the World Series (go Sox!), the movie The Snowman at Christmastime, and a portion of the Pope's funeral. Odd combination...!

I need to go figure out how the rain cover works on the Zooper since we'll hopefully walk up to the Post Office after he has his lunch.

xo, j

[leomom]

I have several charities that pick up in my area, so i just keep a box all the time to fill with stuff we don't need. I throw all the clothes/toys that we get from people (that we don't need or want) in the box and I don't feel guilty about it at all. I figure they will go to homes that will appreciate them.

Hannah's mom brings over lots of noisy toys and I can't really do much about that except hide them...

[bunsmom]

[QUOTE=Chloë didn't crawl at all, went straight to walking. I just continued to follow her cues and accepted that she knew what was best for herself. She HATED being on her stomach anyway and there would have been no way that I would have even been able to make her crawl. Yes, I could have tortured her by leaving her on her stomach all the time, but I doubt she would have done more than just cry for the whole time.[/QUOTE]

FF- Thanks for posting that. It made me feel better. I can not get Buns to be on her stomach and I get so much grief for that. I try not to worry about it, I really do think babies eventually get where they need to be.

Jen-We have a few places that pick up and we just donate what we don't want/need.

:LOL at the baby Beetovan. Do not tell her!!!

To all the Mama's with the wicked MIL's. I hear ya. We get a lot of comments from my MIL. I do try and ignore some of it, but DH is going to have a talk with her about commenting on Buns body in a negative way, and saying that she "needs to learn to be independent!" all the time etc...She also was one to say "your spoiling that baby" when she was a few days old, and I was holding her. Oh brother!

MIL bought Buns this crazy electronic bear, that is for ages FOUR and up. He is one of those that will hug, burp, drink a bottle (yeah, a bear drinking a bottle, because they do that in their natural enviro.) etc...and is big on giving her things that we don't need or use (a mat for under a high chair that we don't have, a bottle warmer and bottles that we gave away, etc...) so this will just be added to that pile.

MamaAcorn- I find it strange when people visiting find it o.k. to tamper with things such as the therm. at a house they are visiting. I try REALLY HARD to never let anyone stay the night. Thankfully we have a small house, made smaller by two pets and now Buns. It doesn't stop DH's Mom or Sister from asking or trying to stay over when they visit..ugh.

Edited for typos. NAK!

[Mama Bear]

nurturemama.com FYI

Ok - so the babe with the black spots on his face really did make me curious, so I wrote them an email asking why

The response I got was that "It’s an actual caricature of our son when he was 6 months old and he had been “helping” grandpa work on the car"

So now we know :LOL

[JenInMpls]

Originally Posted by Mama Bear

The response I got was that "It’s an actual caricature of our son when he was 6 months old and he had been “helping” grandpa work on the car"

:LOL

thank you p.i. christine!!!

off to watch supernanny...

[msrog]

LOL thanks for the nurturemama mystery solution! I clicked over to see what the buzz was about and had to laugh. I always thought that baby was in some sort of corrective helmet or something. And the spots bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it until you ladies mentioned it. Certainly doesn't make you think of a nurturing mama, does it, LOL?

I got to watch both nanny shows tonight! Woo hoo! SuperNanny needs to stop playing reruns if they want to compete with Nanny 911. Luckily I had only seen the end of tonight's show, so didn't feel bad watching a rerun.

Astonishing Accomplishment Announcement: I nursed the babies to sleep in my arms while watching SuperNanny on the couch, and with dh's help, we were able to put them down in their crib -- together!!! They barely fit in there, and who knows how long it will last, but it hasn't happened in about 5 months, so I'm pretty psyched.

Well, ciao for now. (Don't you just love how that rhymes?!) :LOL

[FeministFatale]

Bunsmom -- You just really can't listen to that stuff, the thing I do is just smile, then let the advice roll right off me. Something that I always think about is that just a few generations ago, actually I think this happened even just one generation ago, people thought that being left-handed was really bad. Some well-meaning parents would tie the left hand up to train the child to only use the right hand to save them from whatever horrible thing that would happen if the child was left-handed. That was obviously bad advice, and I'm thinking that training a kid to use her/his right hand dominantly when s/he is left-handed would probably mess the kid up in some way, rather then just leaving the child alone to develop in her/his own way.

Also, if crawling is so important, let your baby crawl around when your baby is older and wants to. Chloë didn't crawl before walking, but she finally crawled when she was 13 mo. and will even crawl nowadays, so there you go, she has gotten lots of crawling time in, just according to her own schedule.

Oh, and my response to the "you're spoiling your baby by holding her/him too much" was always "no, she's spoiling me" with a blissful smile on my face. That would normally get a smile out of those people.

[HeatherB]

I finally looked at nurturemama.com again - I always thought it was a little boy in a big hat with mud or something all over him. Pretty close, anyway! :LOL

Savannah, I'm glad to hear your weekend went well! I've been getting advice back and forth on whether or not to take Iain to the Stampin' Up Convention. Now I just have to figure out what to do with Gabriel. And congrats on your Astonishing Accomplishment! Isn't it wonderful when they actually cooperate? :LOL

to those with MIL issues! Mine may be coming out to visit while we're here... It's always difficult, but she generally respects our decisions. She can be passive-aggressive about it, though.

"Baby Beethoven" is one of the "Baby Einstein" series - there's Beethoven, Mozart, Einstein, Shakespeare, etc. A few of them are really good. Disney took over and the quality went WAY down - but some of the originals are neat. And, yes, I let my kids watch them. : It's one of our "treats."

If you watch TV but your kids don't, how do you manage that? I guess they could be in bed, eh? :LOL Mine are rarely in bed early enough to enjoy any TV. Anyhow, just wondering!

Thanks for the info on jarred foods! They really are easier, sometimes, especially for those veggies that I don't typically prepare at home. (I bought a butternut squash to make for Gabriel when he was a baby, and ended up wasting the whole thing because I was never brave enough to cook it. : ) I like the idea of trying a few different ones to see how they taste.

Hemp stink: We're getting it again, too. I stripped all of my diapers (lots and lots of HOT washes with small loads on lowest water setting) a few months ago. I think I'll try working on just the hemp for now. I feel like I can be a little "rougher" with it than with some of my other, new dipes. :LOL

Speaking of new dipes... We're finally growing out of some! Iain actually had his bum peeking out of small FBs last night, so I have to officially remove those from nighttime duty. :LOL They still fit reasonably well during the day with just one insert, but we'll probably have to stop that soon, too.

Stacey, did you get an answer to your diapering question? I think 2 JBs and one microterry insert should be good, unless she's a super heavy wetter. You might try putting the microterry closest to her, as it absorbs a bit faster than hemp, so that might help if she's "flooding." Could they be too small now? Or repelling? Are the inserts soaked when she wakes up? If not, it might be repelling fleece.

[leomom]

FF, I the "she's spoiling me!" comment. I can't wait to use it on my grandmother!

On TV, we only watch TV when Kate is sleeping....so we rarely watch it! :LOL But we Tivo a lot in the hopes....

Baby Einstein: I admit I haven't seen the whole series, but the ones I've seen were really dumb I thought. Also, I'm afraid it would be a slippery slope..15 minutes would turn into 20..25, etc. Our plan is to only let her watch TV in Spanish (my husband only speaks to her in Spanish) for the first few years, but we haven't decided when we'll start that. Not anytime soon, though.

Diapers, they're soaked, so I think she's just becoming a heavy wetter since she's eating less frequently and more at a nursing?!? Last night, I used a fitted and a wool cover. She didn't leak, but she smelled like urine this morning. I guess the FBs keep the stink away....

[Almamiel]

Originally Posted by jilly

Dh and I also have the "when and how do I get a break?" discussion every few weeks. I think it's hard for them when they're in the work world, becuase they think of their at home time as "off" time, and therefore time whenthey get to relax. .

I think you all need me as a partner :LOL I work full-time and Dp is a SAHD. The moment I walk through the door he's off duty for the night. I figure he's the one with the hard job...though sometimes I would kill for a moment to myself

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by FeministFatale

Bunsmom -- You just really can't listen to that stuff, the thing I do is just smile, then let the advice roll right off me. Something that I always think about is that just a few generations ago, actually I think this happened even just one generation ago, people thought that being left-handed was really bad. Some well-meaning parents would tie the left hand up to train the child to only use the right hand to save them from whatever horrible thing that would happen if the child was left-handed. That was obviously bad advice, and I'm thinking that training a kid to use her/his right hand dominantly when s/he is left-handed would probably mess the kid up in some way, rather then just leaving the child alone to develop in her/his own way.

:LOL I am a leftie!!!! And I recall when I started school, my kindergarten teacher keep putting crayons into my right hand (and I'm only 24 - so not too long ago) Craziness!!! :LOL

[veganbaby]

My dad is orginally a leftie too, but the teachers would hit his hand so he wouldn't be one (It was okay to do it in Vietnam).

Cats~ I'm glad that you are safe and okay.

As for TV we no longer have a connection to it, but we still have a DVD player. Desi has some videos given by a friend. She hasn't watched them yet. Don't want her to until she is over 2.

[bendmom]

Oh my goodness, I take a break for 2 days and I can't even catch up!

I noticed a mention of jarred baby food. I give Bryn Nature's Best because there is no way while making a meal every hour for my five year old and dh and myself that I am going to be making my own baby food to boot. Alot changes between #1 and #2. I just try to give him organic and hope for the best. He has had some of my oatmeal, and avocado in his mesh bag thing. I have just been to busy to get to much baby food. And he FREAKS when I put a bib on him, so I have to take all his clothes off of him to feed him and then bath him after every feeding. Quite time consuming. I have one of the BUMKINS sleeved bibs coming and hopefully the full length sleeves with do the trick.

Savannah~ Dh missed my last birthday and last mothersday, and the one before that. It's almost like he is getting worse as the years go by, arent' they supposed to get better?

Still no teeth yet. It's really frustrating and I don't even want to talk about it anymore. On the bright side, Aidan didn't have the chick. pox. Three other kids at his school where out for the same thing and it turned out to be some wierd bugbites from a bug from the river. I'm pretty sure he didn't get the vac. for it, and am contemplating Bryn getting it. It just would suck if he got it right now.

Sorry about IL's as well. My MIL and FIL are very AP and my SIL is downright AP militant. I don't think I could have gotten through the cd and breastfeeding and co sleeping if it hadn't been for my MIL and SIL. Well, family calls. Oh, I feel kinda wishy washy about battery toys and all that. Aidan has so many crappy toys from gifts, christmas, birthdays, I have given up. Bryn plays with whatever can't fall apart in his mouth, and I caved and bought him a pacifier as well. We were really militantly against them with Aidan, But Bryn is a horrible napper and I thought I would see if it helped. He now takes 2-3 hour naps instead of a million 10 min. naps. It gets put away and only comes out for that purpose, and I still bf him to sleep and have to bf him back to sleep once or twice, but it's nice to be able to get laundry folded or dishes put away, or even watch alittle Oprah.

Have a Good Day!