Sept 2004 Mamas - Welcome to Toddlerhood! - Page 8

[Robin926]

Welcome, Sitara! Savannah, what an awful situation. Becca, enjoy your trip!

I just had to go catch up on a couple day's worth of posts again. I was out of the house all day yesterday, we were only here for about 3 hours! Jacob was super cranky last night though, being out of his routine so much. Poor babe. So he's staying home all day today and tonight. He's taking his morning nap early to catch up on some sleep too.

Hitting - Jacob is starting to hit now. He's been a hair puller since he was 5 months old, and I still can't get him out of the habit. I tell him that hurts mama, gentle, etc, and I pull his little fingers out and show him gentle touches. But I'm extremely tender-headed, and sometimes I get so frustrated and it just plain HURTS. It's hard to not react too much sometimes. He bites too. Ouch! I have little red bite marks all over. I pull him back, tell him not to bite, hurts mama, etc. He always thinks I'm funny. : It's really bad when he does with strangers; I have to watch him like a hawk when someone else holds him. Of course, the advice I keep getting is to bite him back or smack him. : I hope it passes soon!

Does anyone else have a climber? Jacob learned to climb onto the sofa and coffeetable. DH thought it was sooo cute and funny, because he gets onto the table and dances. But now if he's up, he wants to be on there! I keep telling and signing no (it's dangerous so I think it warrants no), pulling him back down, and trying to keep him from getting up there. I take him to his toys and play with them, but he just wants on that danged table! It really is adorable though, but he fell off the other day because I wasn't paying close enough attention. : I wish there was somewhere in the house to put it away until he's bigger.

[midwestmeg]

Hey Jen! The baby Eccos are in the back of the Ecco store.... they don't have many of them and some are kind of strange (gold little baby boots?!!). I wouldn't have even gone in but my girlfriend insisted. We were at the Albertville outlet mall. I didn't know the one pair would be $15; they just rang up that way, surprise!

Becca, I hear you on that bottle thing! I don't know why...

Awesome tips on the toddler traits like hitting, biting, etc.

Good luck on the trips/IL visits/etc!

PS: the utensil thing sounds CUTE...

[Sitara]

I just literally laughed out loud when I read Jilly's post about the spoon and the cat. We don't have any animals ( besides my dh ) but my daughter too loves to take spoons around the house and test them out on all sorts of surfaces. I can only imagine what any animals if we had some would go through.

Its really good to hear what other mothers are doing when their children hit. At first it was hard to differentiate between hitting in excitement and joy, and hitting out of frustration. I've got it down now though, and I'm just going to have to bare it out until it passes.

My daughter used to pull my hair, but she hasn't in a really long time. I actually had completly forgotten about that stage we went through, and it made me chuckle because hopefully one day i'll say the same thing about hitting

Yeppers! A wopping 14 months apart. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous, because I do all of the parenting myself here, my DH works alot, comes home eats then sleeps, and I don't know what i'll do when its my 2 daughters and myself. I'll just have to find a rythym and way to make it work. It will be hard at first like it was when I had my first daughter, but now its so easy with her.

My milk did decrease a bit, I started drinking mothers milk tea 3 times a day and HOLY MOLY I was like the fountain of milkies! Now towards the end of my pregnancy my colostrum is coming in and my supply seems to have built itself back up again, and i'm not taking the tea anymore.

I'm so stoked to be having another daughter. I can't wait to see her and hold her, but i'm so sad my pregnancy is coming to its end. Don't you all just love being pregnant? I do. My pregnancy is going really well. My first born daughter was breech, I was going to attempt a vaginal breech delivery and the only doctor that would do it with me, didn't show up...he missed the call, and before I knew it my daughter was being taken from me via c-section. I was devastated for months. I felt so violated, and robbed. So when I found out i was pregnant this time, I decided I'd have an unassisted home birth no matter my daughters position. I have been seeing the same midwives I saw last time, and by law they could only work with me for the delivery if this daughter wasn't breech, and guess what.................. SHES NOT BREECH!!! I'm so excited about it. Having a midwife with me does give me that bit of extra security especially cause we're good friends, shes been through so many births. I'm still shooting for the home birth, my daughter in utero has dropped, and I'm embracing what lies ahead for us. I'm really excited.

For halloween this year, i'm dressing up as a BIG duck, and my daughter as a duckling, and my dh as a hunter. ( even though he doesn't hunt, what else could we all be ?) then I thought we'd cruise the streets so my daughter could see all of the costumes out and about. But she doesn't eat candy so I think we'll pass the trick or treating.

well sorry to have rambled so much..... thanks for welcoming me so much, it feels good!

[veganbaby]

Welcome Sitara and congrats! That is so awesome that you're tempting a UHBAC! I want a HBAC as well.
Jilly sorry about your PITA inlaws. My mom is the same way. It gets so annoying. One time she was complaining why I give Desi junk all the time...Desi had an avacado and a lime while we were there. And then at our next visit she wanted me to give Desi cake and icecream.
Happy Annivesary Jen! What did you guys do?

[HeatherB]

Sitara, welcome and congrats on your soon-coming babe! I had an HBAC with my September babe. It was definitely the best decision I could've made! I had a wonderful midwife attend and she really was wonderful through it all. I sometimes wish for another baby just to be able to do a homebirth again! (Though then I remind myself *just* what it was like, and I get a little less excited! )

I'll have to find out if we have an Ecco outlet! I have a pair for myself that I got on big sale out in Santa Cruz. But Iain is outgrowing his shoes so it's time to look for some more!

Has anyone tried sports bottle tops with their toddler? We just got SIGG bottles for the whole family, and the ones for Iain are SO cute! He knows it's to drink from, but I haven't tried letting him actually suck from it yet. He does well with an Avent sippy cup and really enjoys that.

We've had some sort of cold going around... Gabriel had a cough for a few days, but it seemed to get better. Though now it seems deeper than before. And Iain's got a runny nose and cough that sounds bark-y at night or when he's sleeping. That's pretty typical for him with teething, though, and he's drooling, too. So hard to know what's going on! I feel awful myself, though, so I tend to think virus... but still, even I have other factors that could be contributing. I just hate having everyone feeling cruddy.

We've got a Houston Area Diaper Party tomorrow, which should be fun! It's been delayed for weeks due to the Hurricane, etc. We go to a 3yo birthday party and then the diaper party. Should be quite a day!!

[midwestmeg]

Sitara, you are going to do great with your two babes; I just know it. And I read your post and smiled, I remember really liking being pregnant too. Especially the later part of the pregnancy but before the last month when I just go impatient. I'm so glad the baby isn't breech! My daughter was born at Long Prairie Hospital in one of these deluxe birthing suites with a midwife. She was a water birth and it was great. What I'd REALLY love is a home water birth but I may stick with my midwife and the LP hospital because my insurance covers that. So I just can't wait to hear your story!

Ohhh, Heather, you got the SIGG water bottles?!! How cool. I noticed those on a web site, but sort of choked at the price. Anywhere you can get a deal on them?

Cecilia has a cold too! She was almost completely over it, but today we're doing the whole snot nose, coughing, congestion thing all over again. And I have been so good about keeping her warm and ears covered. Poor little babe is pretty pathetic today.

What's a diaper party? Sounds fun.

I love the ducks and hunter idea. What a great idea! I sent my sister into town this morning with my check card to pick something out at Once Upon A Child. Hopefully, I'll get a little more creative in the future, but for this year, just something warm and snuggly will do.

Oh, baby awakes!

[Sitara]

ooh my daughter drinks really well from sports water bottle tops!
thanks for the encouragement about the hbac! I know its the right thing. I won't step foot in a hospital again ever, but thats just me, and to each their own.

[veganbaby]

Desi is going to be a fairy this year. Fred's mom made the costume. Its so cute! I may try it on tonight to see how she looks. I'll take pics.
Desi likes to drink from the sports like caps. She has never mastred the sippy cup. She will sometimes drink from a straw and is really good at drinking from a regular cup.

A bit belated but I finally have her party pics up.
I did however get pics of Halloween up in time at least.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...mybMMI&notag=1

[JenInMpls]

I've been giving T water out of a SIGG bottle since before he tried a standard sippy cup. I got one for myself in Germany years ago and at the time was disgusted that they only had the pattern I wanted in a 1/4 liter (4 oz or so) bottle... now I'm tickled because it fits perfectly in my diaper bag. Meg, we got 2 new ones recently on sale at Erik's bike shop, dunno if they are still on sale.

Cynthia thanks we went out to eat sub sandwiches at a restaurant on the U of MN campus (my alma mater) and then we went to see the new Wallace and Gromit movie.

ok, baby is obsessed with the computer so I'm going to close it now... j

[jilly]

Jen -- I LOVE Wallace and Grommit, too! Although I doubt the movie will come to the-middle-of-nowhere, Saskatchewan. NO one here would be able to understand it due to the accents, and the weird humour. :

Sitara -- I am amazed by anyone who loves being pregnant. For me it is a means to an end. I hate being big. I hate having to pee all the time. I hate being punched and kicked and used as a trampoline. The crazy thing is, I didn't even have a complicated pregnancy; I just didn't like it. Maybe I'll like it next time. I'm glad you've enjoyed it, though. I'm so sort of envious, because I wanted to be pregnant again right away (to get the whole pregnant - nursing - diapers stage over as quickly as possible), but I"m still not even menstrating. Good luck with the home birth. You are a brave woman. I looked at the list of things you needed to have handy in order to have a home birth and decided it was not for me. I prefer to let other people clean up after me if at all possible.

So, the IL visit is going ok. No major fights so far. and I got to go to the mall by myself and pick out the fabric for my first quilt -- I"m taking a class in two weeks for my birthday present. I couldn't get quite what I wanted because the fabric was SO expensive, but it's going to be cool. My main pattern colour is black with these dark purply-red flowers. Andrew was exhausted by the end of the day, though, because he was SO overstimulated. And of course he is getting molars and woke up soaking wet and out of sorts at 4:30 this morning and didn't go back to sleep until noon. But other than that its all good so far. Keep your fingers crossed, ladies, I'm almost half way through.

[leomom]

Kate drinks from a retractable straw cup. She just can't figure out how to tilt the sippy cup up, so the straw cup works better.

Cynthia the bday pics are so cute! Desi is small just like Kate. I love the fairy costume!!!!

I hated being pregnant, too Jilly. I didn't have a rough pregnancy, I was just sick all. the. time. : Congrats, Sitara!

Savannah, you hanging in there?

[Robin926]

We haven't given Jacob a sports top yet, but I bet he'd like it. He tries to drink from anything he can get his hands on. He's pretty much always using his straw cup now though. He never figured out to tip the sippy cup up, either, so he'd just be sucking on it and getting nothing. As soon as he figured out the straw, we bought him that kind. He loves it!

I loved being pregnant, Sitara. I felt so beautiful and powerful. Amazing! I would love to be pregnant again, but I am SO not ready to have another baby yet! My friend came over with another friend's 2 yo and 13 mo a couple days ago. I was EXHAUSTED! Three toddlers made for a crazy crazy afternoon, but it was a lot of fun. I just wouldn't be able to do it every day :LOL

We haven't even found Jacob a costume yet, I'm such a procrastinator. I think he's going to go as a monkey, though. I'm always calling him my little monkey because he's climbing all over everything now. DH saw a monkey costume the other day he wanted me to go look at.

Now we're out for the day to get Jacob's 1 yo portraits done! (Okay, it's been a couple weeks since his birthday, but this was the first convenient day to do it :P)

[AugustineM]

Jilly -- soooo glad that the visit with the inlaws is going well so far. Mine are coming to town Wednesday because MIL has to have surgery. They'll be here for over 2 weeks. It's the longest that I'll EVER be around them in the whole time DH and I have been together. One good thing is that they're staying in a hotel. One bad thing is the last visit we had with them in AK did not go well. MIL is in general often a "downer" type person. She gets angry and irritated very easily and I know she does not at all approve of how we parent Thor. She never breastfed, so doesn't understand it at all, and thinks we're spoiling him by cosleeping. She even said that while her and FIL were here they could build Thor a bed! I just laughed. I blog, so I always send her the link, and I swear it is the best way to let people know about how you parent and how much you love how you parent, and believe in it, because you don't have to directly tell them and thus risk a confrontation. In my blog I have many times talked about how much I love waking up next to Thor. But I guess she still doesn't get it.

Well, it's weird because I don't feel pregnant really, yet, except my nips are getting excruciatingly sore sometimes. Nursing at night has become not good at all. So I'm slowly trying to nightwean. But VERY slowly, because Thor is a hard teether and has been sick lately. I'm just trying to do other methods of comforting at night and also giving him lots of time to try to settle himself before offering to nurse. He won't take comforting from DH lately at night at all so that is hard. He used to be so great about that. But, I think we can do this if I work slowly towards the goal of no nursing at night, or only once. I hope.... I don't see how I could deal with two nursing nightwakers!! Yikes.

Thor just in the past two weeks has figured out how to tip a sippy cup. I think it's from going to daycare and seeing the other kids to it. Now if he forgets I just say, "Tip it up" and demonstrate and he remembers! Amazing.

[JenInMpls]

Augustine just wanted to say that we have been working on names for your next kid and want to suggest Loki for a boy and Freya for a girl

We went in search of piles of leaves for some cute photos and were successful. Luckily we got the pictures taken before he took a nice spill on the sidewalk and scraped the heck out of his nose... ah the life, mother to a rough-and-tumble little boy...

j

[banana girl]

Hey mamas!

After reading 3 pages of posts, my mind is spinning with responses and thoughts, but i can't seem to collect them and order them....

so, we recently faced the nursing dilemna that many others seem to be dealing with as well. I was feeling very resentful and frustrated with her waking so often at night to nurse, were talking about every 2 hours... all night long!
I found I was waking up angry and not being very compassionate with her and she was getting more and more hysterical when she woke. I swear she would scream like her Papa was burning her if I left the room to go to the bathroom. He would get so frustrated because she wouldn't let him comfort her, and I would get frustrated because he wasn't "helping" me with her at night.

So, I had to do some soul searching and really rethink my commitment to nursing on demand. We talked about night weaning and I found that simply giving myself permission to change things was very freeing. Sometimes I feel kinda bound by my child care philosophies... you know. Like I have to do things a certain way because it AP, or because that's how my sister did it. anyway, once i spent some time really thinking about her needs and my needs and how important nursing is to me, I came to a decision.

My decision was to continue nursing on demand. This meant that I had to mentally readjust myself to being more compassionate in the night, to prepare myself mentally to accept that she still needs me. So, i have started trying to get her to sleep earlier in the night, (because it seems like she sleeps deepest the 2nd half of the night) and to remember to be loving and responsive when she awakens.

It seems to be working. While she is not nursing less at night, she is calmer and more affecionate to me and Papa when she wakes up. Monkey see, monkey do... I guess. It also seems to me like she doesn't nurse for very long when she wakes and i have been able to shorten the length of time I'm awake with her. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed but hoping it will get better soon.

Welcome Sitara! I also loved BEING pregnant, well after the first tri anyway! I have very fond memories of carrying my daughter and of our awesome home birth. Good luck with yours!

Jen Happy Anniversary! Tell Jo hi from us!

Savannah, I'm so sorry to hear that things just keep getting ugly with the IL's. I wish I could just give you a big old hug! Hang in there mama, and focus on your blessings. You have wonderful healthy children and know your heart. We believe in you.

Blessing to all!

[veganbaby]

Jen, those are great pictures!

What do you guys think growth spurt or the vitamins? After 2 weeks of giving them Desi has gained almost a pound. Maybe she was lacking vitamin b12 in my milk. I still take a prenatal. I just hope its a growth spurt and its just a coincidence that she happened to be taking the vitamins during that time. She is now 14 lbs 4 oz.

[veganbaby]

Anna, we must have hit reply at the same time. Hugs to you about such a hard decision. I'm thinking of night weaning. It gets frustrating when she wakes up every hour still.

[AugustineM]

Originally Posted by JenInMpls

Augustine just wanted to say that we have been working on names for your next kid and want to suggest Loki for a boy and Freya for a girl j

:LOL :LOL Jen that is hilarious. DH jokes about naming the next boy Loki, too. And I still want to get a sign above our door that says, "Welcome to Valhalla." What we're really waiting for is to get a dog and name it Loki, because Loki is the god of mischief (and Thor's brother, for those who don't know) in Norse mythology. Thor was the lover and saviour of humans on earth... a very powerful and generous god.

Anna -- I totally feel where you are with the night nursing. The way you feel about DH and starting to get resentful about him not being able to help at night. That's the way it's starting over here. Because I'll be like, "Will you try to get him back to sleep?" And he'll try for like, 4 minutes, and then bring him back. ARGH.

[HeatherB]

Megan, I got my SIGG bottles through a co-op. There's one open now, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gaeasgarden/. I don't think you need an invite for membership, but if it says you do, just send me your email address and I'll get you invited! It was listed on the TP here, so I assume it's okay to post about it.

I sorry to hear Cecilia's been sick, too! It's so hard to keep them from all of the germs out there, especially at this time of year. I'm still not 100% sure what of Iain's cold is teething related versus viral.

A diaper party is just a get-together for mamas who cloth diaper (or are pg and plan to). We bring our stashes (or part thereof!) and show people different diapers we have and love, get to "pet" other people's fluff, etc. It's a lot of fun! You can find stuff to buy and trade, too. This is the third I've been to in the Houston area and I organized one while we were living in California, too. So nice to hang out with like-minded mamas!

Sitara, you'll have to be sure to post your birth story here when your little one comes!

So glad to hear other babes do well with sport tops! We were at a birthday party yesterday (before the diaper party - busy day!!), and Iain wanted my cup of punch. Umm.. no! I'd forgotten his cup so I gave him some water from Gabriel's SIGG. Definitley messier than the Avent! But he seemed to like it. I guess I'll be washing out his SIGG now and hauling all three around with me. :LOL

Jen, which SIGG design do you have? Gabriel has the .4L size, Iain has the .3L, and I have a .75L and a 1L (and DH has 1L). The .4L is a great size for packing around, I have to agree! My big ones can get heavy - but it is nice to have plenty of water around!

Jill, so glad your IL visit is going well! How long are they there?

leomom and Robin, I remember when Gabriel was little laughing at the normal progression of cups. In theory they're supposed to have sippies and then straw cups, but in reality, it's often easier for them to drink from a straw earlier on, and then later they try to mimic OUR drinking and can't get anything out of a straw cup! :LOL I've been really surprised that Iain has done so well tipping his cup, though, especially as he's never been much for the bottle. He loves picking up cups of ANY sort and tipping them up to his mouth!

I still haven't gotten Iain's one year portraits done. DH has the equipment to do it, but not so much the time... I've wanted to take him to a nice place in the mall, but have been TOO busy. :

He's waking... gotta go...

[midwestmeg]

Oohhh; Desi is so CUTE! 14 lbs; Cecilia is 21.5! Wow, what a difference. I'm thinking growth spurt, but if you think the vitamins help, keep going with them?! Every kid is so different, I really think they were meant to do things at their own pace. :LOL She is such a cutie; and she looks happy and healthy. I'm a big fan of the 'try not to worry too much' approach.

Heather, thanks for the sigg tip! I'm going to check it out.

Are your kids getting molars, too?! I can feel the tip of one of Cecilias. But she still spiked a pretty good fever yesterday and we ended up starting her on Augmentin. I HATE the feeling of having your baby be sick, wanting to make it better, but at the same time thinking 'is it really so smart to be giving antibiotics, is this teething, could a little ibuproferin (sp) get us through this?' I just wish I had the answers! Cecilia was almost over her cold and then BAM, yesterday she really was miserable.

I want to go to a diaper party!! Around here most think I'm nuts, although my LLL group is super cool and I have met a few other cloth diaper moms, and even gotten a few others started!

It is so cool to hear about the night weaning/not stories. Anna, I think what you are doing is really neat and I do think you are right, whatever you are going to do you just have to carefully evaluate your 'plan' and just go for it. Cecilia has been pretty good, even through her cold. She does want to nurse for comfort when she doesn't feel well, but then she starts coughing and up it all comes!! Gross!! And I hear you about the dh thing, Greg would get so frusterated that she didn't want him and I would pat her while she wimpered (she sometimes wakes at about 6:30 am and that's just close enough to morning that I try to hold off). Greg was TERRIBLE about trying to get Cecilia back to sleep if I was in the room at all, that's why I finally left him to it.

Right now I'm ordering the NCSS, a book about ear infections and a new Baby's Colors book from Amazon. Cecilia has been dragging Baby's Colors around since birth and it finally really fell apart.

Great pictures, Jen!

Augustine, are your IL's from Alaska? That's where I grew up.