*Our Nov. '05 independent toddlers*--July thread! - Page 7

[spughy]

....and I'm done! Wooooohooooo!!!!

[savvybabygrace]

Hi, all...

My dd Emma is out. of. control. And I completey understand why, am not upset with her, but just feel like the worst mother in history sometimes.
Her little sister is 2 weeks old, we recently switched her to a toddler bed (she was jumping/climbing/being very dangerous in the crib), and we have my MIL visiting (which doesn't happen often). So there's a LOT of changes in our home lately. Understandably, Emma is having a hard time coping I'm afraid. She screams at everything, hits, and is having a very hard time falling asleep, even when I rock and hold her.

The thing is, I completely understand that this is the age where she's going to assert her independence (I'm an early childhood educator...or I was before I had two babies in two years, LOL). I also understand that she's going through a lot! I just feel awful sometimes because it's so easy to lose patience and yell, which I hate doing. I find myself doing it more and more often though and have to really calm down to redirect Emma instead of yelling.

*sigh* Anyone else in this situation? I feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes, and I just want to help my dd get through this...while getting me through it, too!

[Awaken]

Ok, now I'm back to actually contribute instead of whine about myself!

Kier- I totally get you- see my previous post! Except I don't have a newborn baby, but a very needy 4 1/2 yr old! to you, and forgive yourself- and welcome to the group, I don't remember seeing you before but I've been LOA a lot so maybe you've been around for a while!

Kaspirant- : woooo hooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Teresa-ooooooh, exciting! Can't wait to hear! I forget if I already said, when I checked out your blog for the photos of Woody a while back, it really brought back memories of our pg days! You were so great about updating your pregnancy photos and I totally remember your smiling face and growing belly.

*Amy*- do what makes you happy re: the username, but I for one won't feel like MDC is the same place anymore, without *Amy*!! You are a fixture around here, it would take a lot of getting used to Pretty cool about your professor, what a great attitude about exams!

Spughy- congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! I love this one that someone else posted I'm so happy for you!

Helen- I"m so glad Steve did well And how great that you actually took Skye to HP and made it through- I could not even contemplate taking either child to something like that! Thinking of you with your belly babe

DiD- what an interesting proposal. I'll be interested to hear how it works out!

Have a great night, everyone!

[flapjack]

savvybabygrace.

Sorry, ladies. I kind of assumed that most people had read the book and knew that broomsticks and London were involved at one point : It's quite cool for us because we know two of the locations really well (Durham cathedral and Alnwick castle) and it's so weird seeing them all tarted up into film sets.
Amy, I forgot to mention, when you were talking about the Police concert, my dad taught Sting Apparently he never told him he was hopeless at music though.

[*Amy*]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Amy, I forgot to mention, when you were talking about the Police concert, my dad taught Sting

Shut UP! Is your dad a musician? That is so cool. I'm so excited for tonight!

Re: broomsticks and the Thames, we saw HP on IMAX last night, which was awesome, and the last 20 minutes (including that scene) were in 3-D. It was really cool. Kavita, her DH, and Ella came to stay with Brynn while we were gone, and after they had left, Brynn said, "....what Kavita said." So I said, "What did Kavita say?" and she replied, " 'Come snuggle with me!' " Awww. Kavita is so good.

Mel, your post about "pineapple!" cracked me up!

Awaken and Savvybabygrace, sorry you are experience so many parenting challenges right now. Our kiddos are at such a precarious age, it seems. But you are both awesome Mamas, and this too shall pass.

[Awaken]

Originally Posted by flapjack

: It's quite cool for us because we know two of the locations really well (Durham cathedral and Alnwick castle) and it's so weird seeing them all tarted up into film sets.

Hey, that must be really cool to see places you know in such a big movie!

[flapjack]

Yeah. Amy, my dad was a music teacher. And Mary, it is. There's a film called Brassed Off (I don't know if it ever really made it over there) about the closure of the last coalmines which was actually set in the area I grew up (so was Billy Elliot) which is even weirder though- the HP sets are dressed up so much that if you didn't know, you'd just assume that the set designer thought "cool pillars, must use that idea some time." Brassed Off and Billy Elliot are so real I get homesick

pic of Skye and me on the carousel

[spughy]

Wow Helen that's a pretty fancy carousel! And look at Skye with HAIR now!!!! I always think she looks so very very English.

I went and picked up a few diaper covers for the stash of flats I found in my closet. Now that I'm going to be home and close to the laundry, we're going to give cloth diapering a go. Then we went to the market and got these amaaaaazing organic blueberries - we bought a pint and Rowan and I chowed through half of it at the market. So good. Rowan even decided all on her own to share them with the other babies there. : And I ran into a friend whom I haven't seen in a long time and we're going to go for a picnic sometime next week, and I ran into another mama I know and tentatively agreed on a playdate, and had a really good chat with the bakery lady (who is goddess-like awesomeness personified - she stands at the bakery booth all morning on saturdays with her 2-month old babe in a sling, usually on a boob, EC'ing him when required.)

In sad news, the chickens got into the garden and ravaged the strawberries again. Completely bypassed all the other veggies though, and the strawberries aren't actually producing at the moment, so I guess the garden spirits were looking out for us. As much as they could.

Keir - Sounds like a really rough patch for you. I'm sorry I don't have any advice for you, but it seems to me you've got a pretty good handle on things. Be gentle with yourself.

Am I some kind of weirdo for not being that into Harry Potter?

[HoneyTree]

Adorable, Helen! You are both so cute! And those Birks are hysterical!

So AF showed up yesterday. My cycle was WAY, WAY wacked out, so I don't think that should count against the vacation clause ! I'm pocketing all of y'all's baby dust for when the time is right.

Woody just cut his incisors. Eeee-yow that must have been painful; he nursed constantly and was up many times a night for a few days there.

I've only seen and read the first HP book. I keep wanting to catch up, but now it's like, what, 6 more books I have to read and 9 hours worth of movies!?!? That's so cool that Billy Elliot was your neck of the woods, Helen. I love how the particulars of place are used in that movie.

ETA: Mary, I've been thinking about your situation, and Kier, yours, too. And I have been reading some research lately about how when stress (like the likelihood of one's child running into the street, EVERYTHING about having a 2 week old) is a dominant factor in a situation, we get a surge of stress hormones and we operate from the limbic part of our brain (the fight or flight place) rather than the cerebral place, the ratioinal, calm, thoughtful brain. So basically all our decisions and actions are filtered through that anxiety. One suggestion I read, from a Becky Bailey book for teachers, used the acronym S.T.A.R. to help with remembering the very first thing to do when you feel stress in your body, via tight shoulders, quick, shallow breathing, tense muscles, angry thoughts, etc.: Stop, Take a breath, And Relax. I don't know if that is helpful or if that is a "Duh! The problem is I CAN'T relax!" kind of suggestion, but the idea is that if you can just get your body to move away from the stress a little bit, then your brain will follow--your thinking brain can take the front seat again.

[HoneyTree]

So I'm just sitting here doing nothing, futzing around on the Internet, when on a hunch I look up all of my recent posts, you know, how MDC puts them all in a row for you? And just as I suspected, I have a scary amount of posts between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. TWO A.M.!!!!! And since it is nearly 1 a.m. now, I am guessing that this is becoming a pattern. I think the problem is threefold: 1) I am getting a little re-addicted to the Internet (it happens), 2) I am avoiding things I should be doing but don't want to, such as laundry, and 3) I am clutching madly to the only hours of the day that I can do what I want to do because my baby is soundly asleep.

I'm not offering any meaning here, just sharing a self-indulgent observation. People are wont to do such things at 1 a.m.

[flapjack]

Sniff. I don't see anything funny about my birks (I live in patterned DMs for the other six months of the year.) Thanks for the compliments though- and yeah, Spughy, I know what you mean about Skye looking very english
Teresa, I think DiD is on a different timeline to you but she's the only other person who is often online just before me. I think the middle of the night thing is pretty normal, because it's time for you- precious stuff, and you get it where you can.

[*Amy*]

Hey Ladies. I'm headed out for Chattanooga and Athens GA today, so I won't be around til Friday or Saturday. I hope y'all have a fabulous week, and Spughy especially - enjoy your first week of SAHMiness!!! Oh and...

Originally Posted by spughy

Am I some kind of weirdo for not being that into Harry Potter?

Um, yes.

Catch y'all on the flip side.

[barcelona]

Happy Sunday, everyone.

I have a quick question for you lovely ladies, and will check in more later today or tomorrow, but if you don't mind, helping me out a bit in my temporary insanity of the 2WW.

did any of you, before you got your first PPAF, (or for those of you who still haven't gotten her) have intense cramps as if you were about to get AF, but no AF came?

thanks so much for your help/input.

it is probably just my body trying to get fertile again, getting readjusted.

i tested yesterday at 14 DPO (in the afternoon, diluted), and it was negative. so i am trying to wait a few more days to test again. in the meantime, want to know if it's possible that my cramping episode is normal PP-body trying to get-AF.

more soon, ladies!!!

[flapjack]

Were you charting? Are you ABSOLUTELY certain on your O-date?
IME, pp cycles tend to have short luteal phases- at least for the first one or two. If you have a LP of 14 days, I reckon this sounds promising-although the cramping could be either
:

[barcelona]

Thank you, Helen.
No, I am not charting. I need to get a proper thermometer before I can start really temping (have a digital one, that isn't reliable), and thought I should wait til my first PPAF comes, but I think I'll go ahead start temping as soon as I get a thermometer.

But, I have been keeping chart of my of CM, and I had about 3 days of EWCM...and based on that, and the position of my cervix, I guessed about my possible O date, though can't imagine it being another time.

I have had a lowgrade fever since I O'd, but that could also just be me being a bit stressed or something.

I'm going to test tomorrow morning (that would be probably 16 DPO), and if it's negative, for the sake of my sanity, I'm going to tell myself I'm not pregnant. I don't think AF is going to come. I think it's just my body acting wacky.

[DreamsInDigital]

I'm online a lot at night too because it's really the only time I get. Sometimes I go to bed early and completely skip checking MDC and I wake up feeling great and wonder why I don't go to bed early every night and then I log on to MDC and have thousands of posts to catch up on and get sucked back in

[savvybabygrace]

thanks for the support, mamas! typing w/1 hand, babe nursing, but wanted to say a quick thanks for making me feel validated in my efforts! have a great week, all!

[Kavita]

Originally Posted by barcelona

Happy Sunday, everyone.

I have a quick question for you lovely ladies, and will check in more later today or tomorrow, but if you don't mind, helping me out a bit in my temporary insanity of the 2WW.

did any of you, before you got your first PPAF, (or for those of you who still haven't gotten her) have intense cramps as if you were about to get AF, but no AF came?

thanks so much for your help/input.

it is probably just my body trying to get fertile again, getting readjusted.

i tested yesterday at 14 DPO (in the afternoon, diluted), and it was negative. so i am trying to wait a few more days to test again. in the meantime, want to know if it's possible that my cramping episode is normal PP-body trying to get-AF.

more soon, ladies!!!

Well, uh, not that I remember. But I do remember having a lot of cramping and period-y feelings (and several negative tests) when I was pregnant with Ella. : I was absolutely charting with temps and mucus and everything else, and definitely got a temp shift, and definitely got negative tests even at day 14, didn't test positive until about day 16 with tests that are supposed to be accurate as early as day 10 PO (sensitive to 25 mg/dl.) I was feeling like I was going to start my period for about a week, and it never started! Sorry if that doesn't help you. Really though there is nothing much that is going to help you during the 2ww, it's all conjecture until you get a positive test or a period, and it's agony! I did have definite new EWCM before my first PPAF, and thought, "oh, I must be going to start my periods again (damn!)" and then sure enough I did.

Good luck with whatever you are hoping for at this juncture, and I'll be thinking of you!

I had a very weird dream last night/this morning, so I will be anxiously watching my cycle in the next weeks too.

[MelW]

Originally Posted by barcelona

did any of you, before you got your first PPAF, (or for those of you who still haven't gotten her) have intense cramps as if you were about to get AF, but no AF came?

Still no PPAF, but certainly crampy feelings as if it's coming at times. Even different than cramping, but the feeling of awareness of my uterus inside my body, if that makes any sense. I used to chart and have long irregular and often anovulatory cycles pre-Neela, and often had patches of EWCM or almost EWCM, but where I wouldn't acutally O. And occasional cramping then too.

Then again, I also had similar very mild stretching/cramping feelings through my first trimester with Neela, so I'll fuel your insanity and say that either may be possible.


Saavybabygrace~ Welcome! I suggest you look for the thread here in toddlers for mamas with a toddler and a newborn for suggestions and support. It used to be near the top, though I haven't seen it for a while. Maybe DID posts/posted there?

Helen~ The carousel is almost as beautiful as Skye. And your birks are terrific

Amy~ Have a great trip!

We're working on cutting down nightnursing and towards nightweaning with Neela. Her sidelying latch has never been that good, but over the past month and a half has been horrible. I have not had both nipples intact in over a month, and know I need to do this to save our breastfeeding relationship. That or not nurse in bed, but I can't reasonably function if I get up more than once or twice a night. I'm hoping that short-term sleep deprivation of being up/rocking/cuddling, etc. to get her back to sleep pays off in better sleep and healthier nipples in a week or two.

I don't know why we have never been able to nurse sidelying very well- it took me two months to get it working when she was a newborn, and despite every LLL trick in the book she still pinches my nipples. Or more recently tries to chew them off :

On a more positive note, we went for a picnic and swimming at a lake today. Neela loves swimming so much- she ran right in! And even dunked her face in the water.

[spughy]

barcelona - here's hoping you end up with a result you're happy with!

We had a busy busy day of doing not much at all. We went for a walk this morning and met friends for coffee, then visited the petting farm this afternoon (where Rowan kissed every single goat there I'm sure) and then went shopping, then I came home and made dinner and suddenly the day was over. I have no idea how it went by so quickly.

This evening while DH gave Rowan a bath I was downstairs helping our neighbour with her computer, then DH brought Rowan down because he didn't think I could fix the problem myself :. Rowan was cuteness personified and chatted away happily with our neighbour, stark naked (Rowan, not the neighbour). Then she totally started doing a pee dance, holding her crotch and sort of dancing back and forth. I asked her if she needed to pee and she said no, of course. Then we went back upstairs and I went to get her jammies and whatnot and she suddenly started saying "clean up pee pee, clean up pee pee"... fortunately she'd peed on the plastic mat under DH's office chair. What was weird though is that while I was mopping it up, she was muttering "good girl bunny" to herself. ? I don't SAY "good girl", and nobody who would say that calls her "bunny". It was kind of odd. I think she was feeling a little insecure about peeing on the floor - I gave her a hug and thanked her for showing me where it was and generally tried to make her feel ok about it. I'm going to try keeping her naked more and next time she does a pee dance, I'll try to get her to go on the potty.

In other news, I tried to use the flat diapers I found and she won't have anything to do with them. She's all over the one Baby Kanga I have though... and those puppies go for about $20 each. Sigh. The girl has expensive taste.

Mel, can you enlist your DH's help with the nightweaning? It went so smoothly for us, Rowan accepted cuddles to go back to sleep SO much more easily from DH than from me. Even now when she wakes up at night she sometimes asks for boobies, but doesn't protest when I tell her the boobies are asleep. I think it would have been much more of a struggle if I'd been the one nightweaning her.