February 08 - Bring Out Your May Flowers! - Page 6

[eilonwy]

I'll be the voice of dissent here, and say that I love baby boy blue. It was cute on Bean, but it looks *fantastic* on Bear, who is colored... well, differently from any of us. Bean looked fantastic in red, then BooBah was born and looked positively *ill* in red-- she can wear yellow, though, and looks adorable in peach and coral. Bella is similarly colored to BeanBean, and looks sweet in reds and bright primaries, and as I said I think Bear is absolutely gorgeous in baby blue. Darker blues don't set right on him, though, he looks better in lighter colors.

I'm also gonna have to disagree that poo is poo. Given the choice between exclusively breastfed baby poop and *any* kind of formula poop, I"ll take the boobie poo any day. Neocate poo is especially heinous. To give you an idea, the stuff is the color of overcooked spinach left to sit in a pot for a week or so. I know, rationally, that the darkness comes from the iron, but the rotten green tinge? And the texture of it... yeesh! Bear's gas smells so awful that whenever he farts, everyone (save Mike and myself) in the room will make that horrible "He needs to be changed NOW!" face. He needs a fan built in to his diapers.

I'm pretty sure I'm anemic (surprise, surprise). I really need to get on that, anemia makes me weird and it will kill the good, warm, fuzzy feelings I cultivated over Beltain.

[lovetobemama]

I've got to agree with Rynna on this one...all poo is not created equal. A friend's baby was on formula (I don't know what kind) but each time he pooped and I offered to change him, I immediately regretted it. I have never worked so hard to not vomit on an infant in my entire life.

I also will admit a secret addiction to "baby girl pink" with Molly. I am usually against any gender dressing, but her skin color is a beautiful, warm tone that is stunning with a reddish pink next to it. It just suits her to a T.

She is doing well otherwise. After very stressful co-sleeping with DS, I didn't plan on doing it this time, other than the co-sleeper, but definitely not the actual bed. Well, Molly has put me in my place, and we are sharing a very wonderful sleeping partnership every night about 4 inches away from eachothers faces. I guess every baby really is different, and I'm amazed and how wonderful it is when it is working right.

[sarahn4639]

I have so many things I want to say to everyone and just never have the hands to type them. Here are a few off the top of my head while I have a moment.

Applecore, I'm so happy about your gallbladder update!!

Dea, she's gorgeous and atleast you can know you did everything in your power to breastfeed so you are one of those people we are so thankful formula exists for!

Playa, yay!! I'm so happy you got somethign worked out!

elyse, man he is cute! so is your daughter! james is the same way with grace. just adores her!

NOS you just need to start reading your own posts and you'll get lots of great advise!

eilonwy, I'm SO glad things are looking up for you!!!

If I missed you I'm sorry, I just don't have enough time!

We are doing pretty well here. James is another easy baby. Easier than his sister was. He'll nap on him own sometimes, nurses when he's hungry and not all the rest of the time too, happy and flexible. It's great! Don't get me wrong we have our days but overall things are good. I'm struggling a little with getting out enough and I really wish I had some friends in town. All my friends are in the "city" and with gas we just can't afford to go visiting more than once a week when I teach there.

I got sick after lunch today, wierdest thing, it came on really fast. I was able to get the kiddos to sleep before the vomitting and diahrea started. I'm feeling better but still pretty crappy. I have no idea what this is and I really hope the kids don't get it!!

i'll have to do some pics soon.

[sarahn4639]

i was just wondering about you emily!!

bubbles man, this kid loves to blow bubbles!

bath time he loves to "swim" i keep the water low enough that he can lay with out me holding him and he kicks an moves around. i have a cute video of it but for the sake of a public board i won't post it. oh, and yes, that is his sister's first black eye:eyeroll

james and the giant cat

[nolonger]

with my oldest and my youngest at the volunteer appreciation bbq

[sunkist33]

Originally Posted by noordinaryspider

with my oldest and my youngest at the volunteer appreciation bbq

Gorgeous!!! All three of you
and what a cool sling!

[LoveChild421]

Colors...I love baby blue on both my guys because their eyes are baby blue. But it does look better on ds1 (who is very fair with red hair) than ds2 (who somehow got dark hair and a darker complexion.) Baby blue was my always fav on ds1. Turquoise is my fav on ds2- poor guy looks awful in red though.

I'm loving these sibling pics! elyse- hannah looks so proud and like such a little mama. And you can tell Cash just eats up all that attention from her.

Sarah- the video of Grace reading to James is precious! and your cat is HUGE!

NOS- love the pic of your oldest and Terran in the tye-died sling (which I'm betting you made yourself). Have you tried Terran in turquoise? Grant has a dark skin tone and it looks heavenly on him.

I can't seem to get a good pic of Grey and Grant. Everytime I try Grey runs off or pinches Grant and them I get a pic of a wailing baby! At least when he had professional pics done Grey waited until after the pics to pinch the little guy. I don't know what it is about pinching...but I remember I used to love to pinch my little sisters fat rolls when she was a baby too...

[Dea]

Sarah and everyone else who complimented me on my Trixie, thank you so much! You're all so sweet!

Sarah, Trixie blows bubbles like that. I put her down one day and went to do something and came back and they were all over her chin like a little santa beard. Anyhow what is with the bubbles? Are they just playing, is it indicative of something?

About baby poo, Trixie's isn't too bad, it's not stinky, it's not too horrible.

And colours. Holy did I get me some pink at the baby showers! And I've cultivated a healthy disgust of pink. She looks okay in it, but I think it kind of washes her out. She looks lovely in yellow! I don't like yellow on me but it's her colour for sure. I also like baby blue, I love it on me and I think it would be nice on Trixie too, but I prolly think that because it's "breaking the rules". Heh.

[flapjack]

Dea, IMO they're blowing bubbles because they can: BUT the ability to blow bubbles is developmental, tied in to moving teeth and increased salivary gland action and all the rest of it.
NOS, love the picture

[Jezzy]

NOS great picture you look soooo happy!

I have some new ones too

A pic of Ashlee and mommy

Ashlee

[flapjack]

Bwahahah. My little dandelion girl is jumping up and down shouting Fwowah! Fwowwah! at Ashlee's picture, Jezzy. She's gorgeous

[Writerbird]

Have you guys noticed that our babies are looking more and more like people? I mean, there's this general baby look that all babies have. I've noticed this homogenous (sp?) look has gotten more pronounced as our culture in general gets more blended.

But I can look at all your children and picture the men and women they will become. I wish I could draw well enough to show you what I mean.

The only baby I can't do this mental exercise with is my own. I can look at older pictures and say, yes, I can see how my son went from this baby to that baby, but I can't see what he'll become. Big ol' mental blind spot, probably to keep me firmly in the here and now.

[salt_phoenix]

Originally Posted by sarahn4639

james and the giant cat

I have almost that same shot of Ms. Ember Lotus!

And THIS is what she thinks about all my bfing woes. :

This weekend, we are off for Embers THIRD camping trip since she's been earthside!!!

[lilyblossom]

I just spent an hour one hand typing a message only for the computer to tell me I wasn't logged in - GRRRRRRR!

Just quick since I'm frustrated - I had my nipples pierced and loved it. I took them out after my surgery but miss them!

I'm thinking of a tatoo for my daughter and husband both...we'll see!

Here are some recent pics:

Family
Smile
One to make your heart melt

HUGS and love to you all!

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by Writerbird

Have you guys noticed that our babies are looking more and more like people? I mean, there's this general baby look that all babies have. I've noticed this homogenous (sp?) look has gotten more pronounced as our culture in general gets more blended.

But I can look at all your children and picture the men and women they will become. I wish I could draw well enough to show you what I mean.

The only baby I can't do this mental exercise with is my own. I can look at older pictures and say, yes, I can see how my son went from this baby to that baby, but I can't see what he'll become. Big ol' mental blind spot, probably to keep me firmly in the here and now.

I can see exactly what all of my children will look like as adults, and have always been able to do so. I remember when BeanBean was born everyone said the same thing: "I can tell exactly what he's going to look like at eight, eighteen and eighty." He was just born looking like a *person*, there was none of the generic babyness about him. Bella and Bear each had a little bit of generic babyness, but BeanBean and BooBah had none to speak of. Bear and BooBah have lighter hair, so it's harder to project haircolor into the future (Bean and Bella both have the same dark brown hair as Mike, only it lights up flaming red in the sun-- this absolutely *astonishes* people who don't believe that I could possibly have naturally auburn hair ), but their faces? So easy to see.

I've met generic, baby-looking babies but my mother's grandchildren in particular are very distinctive looking, one and all. This group also has a high preponderance of distinctive looking babies. Fun stuff.

So... please tell me someone else has a baby who is talking? Or signing? 'Cause I want to brag on my Bear, but I get tired of being told I'm crazy and I can't afford a memory card for the IL's camcorder to load a video of Bear on YouTube.

[Jezzy]

We don't have a pic of Ashlee and a big cat but we do have a pic of her with our little dog who loves her!

Ashlee and Kiedes

[applecore]

Rynna, is Bear saying words? I'm going to be amazed if you say yes! My older two started saying words at 8 months, and I thought that was early! Twyla coos and mimics, but not anything close to words yet!

Anyone starting to see cradle cap? We're just starting to see some. Boo. The other two had it pretty bad, so I figured Twyla would end up with it as well. Guess I was right.

Here'sa new one

[slf]

nak

applecore- we're getting a bit of cradle cap... none before now.... but he has so much hair, i'm reluctant to rub olive oil or anything on it.... i guess i'll have to see if it gets worse.

jezzy- love the pic with the puppy! we have a big 100 pounder who's been really good with Connor

[nolonger]

Rynna, you're not crazy. Terran says words and has been doing so for absolutely ages. He's old enough to start learning some signing, but I almost don't see the point since he does such a great job with vocal communication. I thought my other kids were early, but not compared to my "dessert" baby.

His voice has really changed in the last little bit. His speaking voice is more masculine than I remember his brother's being (nobody is EVER going to mistake this kid for a girl, so I'm going to let his hair grow down to the ground and cover him with all sorts of cool boy-jewelry if it all looks as nice on him as his amber necklace) but I think he's going to be able to sing boy soprano parts every bit as beautifully as big bro used to,.

Sarah, your advice is absolutely right on, and I think I'd been as PPD-ish as I'm ever going to be this week, although it's actually situational and stuff I'd have to face up to eventually even without the hormones. For those of you who don't already know, I'm staring down a possible eviction that I probably deserve for being a "bad housekeeper" and it's getting kind of surreal.

I've got a friend helping me with a dump run tomorrow and i've barely even made a dent in all the stuff in the closets, but it's all so incredibly poignant...letting go of the past with Terran in the sling pointing me towards then future and two heroes-turned-friends (I'm having trouble resisting the urge to name-drop because it really is humorous as hell; Al Gore isn't hauling my old typewriters and used homeschooling workbooks to the dump, but that would be a close guess.) cheering me on and helping me through this little turning point in my journey of motherhood.

I'll be okay, I'm just a bit moody is all.

Turquoise looks good on ds1, so it probably looks horrid on Terran. Chris just gave me a HUGE bag full of the most fabulous...well, it's rejected teenager clothes, but they're 100% cotton jersey and the most incredible colours for Terran! Oranges and a bright yellow, as opposed to that insipid "I don't know the gender of this baby" pale urine shade that looks awful on him. I've come to the conclusion that any colour that looks good on Chris looks bad on Terran and vice versa.

I'd forgotten all about red and the blondies until you guys reminded me! As you can tell from the sling in the last pic I posted, it's just fine on Terran, although I personally prefer tie-dyes and other combos of bright primary colours to solid red, but it makes my little Vikings look awful! XMIL kept getting Jeanita red polyester dresses with huge prints that made her look sunburned and sick, sick, sick, but I had to dress her in them anyway so XMIL's feeling wouldn't be hurt.

Julie, Ember is CHUBBY! I cracked up laughing at what became of the poor scrawny baby I was so worried about and I think Terran recognized her picture and how much healthier she looks too. Nursing really is different this time around; Helen has pointed it out too, even though she doesn't have quite as huge a gap between her youngest two as we do. I haven't ANY of the familiar sensations of nursing a newborn: no rock hard painfully engorged breasts, no changing my shirt as often as I change the diapers, no squirting across the room...crap, I can barely squirt into Terran's and my infected eyes enough to clear them up and make them healthy again...it feels more like the years between Christopher's weaning and Terran's birth were just a bad dream that I woke up from and now everything's back to normal again.

You show 'em, Miss Ember Lotus!

applecore, I've been driving myself nuts with Terran's "cradle crap", which goes all the way down into his eyebrows and keeps coming back and coming back. My older kids' always had it ONCE, and then when I treated it, it was gone forever. I actually postponed Terran's first treatment because I get a certain chimpanzee-like satisfaction from picking at it and getting rid of it seemed to be a kind of milestone. This was not the case with this kid. Now I'm trying to stop picking and obsessing and just leave it alone; it doesn't really bother him much except when it itches and he'll let me know when he's in the mood for a good scratching.

I'm off to watch Jeanita's final recital for her dance class and may or may not dissapear for awhile, but will be okay and will be back eventually whatever new adventures life has in store for me.

[flapjack]

Rynna, River is doing the actions to Twinkle Twinkle little star (opening and closing his hands) and is anticipating things- you say "round and" and the giggles start and this foot gets stuck out a bit further for ease of tickling. It's taken Skye several weeks of coaching him 23 hours a day for him to learn that, though He is sitting for short periods, though, so I'll take your verbal precociousness and raise you gross motor development I wish he'd just stop growing so fast- one of my other DDC had a baby yesterday and I saw the first photos today. He weighs the same as River did, so how does he look so tiny???
Other than that, I'm blasting all the hours of the day and night on setting up a breastfeeding support website: the goal is to provide a safe space for people to share their stories so new mothers know that there's a huge range of normal, and a lot of support available to overcome problems. The vision is for every woman to be able to look back on her breastfeeding relationship confident that she made the best choices possible in the circumstances and can move on past their nursing years with no regrets- though the wording needs polishing. I'd welcome any input, and I'm probably going to be asking MDC mamas if they'd write their breastfeeding stories for me. I'm hoping to get at least the call for submissions live by the end of Breastfeeding Awareness week (starts on Monday)