February mamas, it's July! - Page 14

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by cwoodard

This is how the meeting started... The host told us a story about how her friends from her playgroup helped her with letting her son cry it out at 5 months because he wasn't sleeping through the night yet... Then one of the new moms spoke up and told about how they found out their baby (2 months old) would cry for 7 hours when they try to CIO. They let their 2 month old cry for SEVEN hours??!?! I can't let Alex cry for 10 seconds without it breaking my heart, I can't even fathom letting him cry for 7 hours. I feel pretty disheartened about this group already, but I think I will at least give it a shot for a month or so. Maybe there's at least one or two other mom's who think more like I do. :

I will never forget the time a woman raved about the benefits of CIO at a LLL meeting. My eyes about popped out of my head. The leader was a lot more tactful than I would have been; She just very politely and deftly changed the subject. I was just *horrified*.

Originally Posted by PlayaMama

okay, from my costuming days (i don't do that too much anymore but i did manage to dress up as the bermuda triangle, an insect (think sexy) and flora as part of a flora and fauna duo (also sexy)) i think fear would be fun. if i was going to do fear i'd do some really heavy eye make-up, maybe some kind of cape or covering with symbols and lots of dark blue, dark purple... OR you could turn the theme around and shed nothing and gain something like wings (though these days wings are overdone and also hard to do well) or wisdom... i'm not sure. my friend rebecca used to be the best at coming up with good costume ideas, she would always do the opposite of what everyone expected.

so, i'm trying to figure out how to get some cute pictures up, then i'll post. i know i have a photo account somewhere...

Well.. it's for the Shapeshifter's Ball, and it's "Show up in costume, leave as yourself..." So I have a feeling that everyone ends up buck naked at the end In other words, putting something on isn't really an option. I like the eye makeup... but i'm not sure i could pull it off. I mean, I can't "see" fear in my head. I tend to think in text.

[Jezzy]

Originally Posted by cwoodard

They let their 2 month old cry for SEVEN hours??!?!

That poor poor baby! Makes me wanna cry!

operamommy nice to see you!

eilonwy sounds like a fun party. Sorry I cant help you with your costume Idea.

Chore Wars. I am loving it but it is also making me notice what a couple of lazy teens I have and it makes me sad that they have NO intrest in helping me out around the house. Even the chores that THEY picked for themselves. (DS taking out the garbage) (DD unloading the dishwasher) are clearly to much for them.: It is kinda starting to tick me off! I hate the way the take me for granted. I was really sick of looking at Ds dirty room. I told him I would help him clean it. I did all the cleaning.... he took off to a friends house to help him chop wood. To top it off he never thanked me! WTF?? Ideas anyone how I can get them helping a bit more? Chore wars is not working for us...

[ThisLove]

Hey ladies ... I'm new. But, C was a February baby and I thought I'd join in the conversation. I haven't had time to read through all of the pages, but I *will* get caught up, I'm determined to!

[True Blue]

Hi everyone!!! I know I've been total MIA for a while now, but with moving and such it was hard to get on here! Only have a sec again now but wanted to say HI and get advice since most of the babies are older than mine! Lucy isn't sleeping anymore and I don't know why....4 month regression? What did you do for it? She wakes CONSTANTLY and only used to wake 2-3 times...not like every 30-70min....

[Jezzy]

Hi Thislove!!! Welcome! Have fun catching up

True Blue Nice to see you again! Sorry about your sleeping problems. Ash doesn't sleep very good during the day but she is still sleeping good at night!

[firecat]

hi ladies, I missed you!!

Things don't seem to let up around here, we have just got through a huge growth spurt (nursing every hour almost around the clock) so I was super sleep deprived and gardening and cleaning up and doing some side work and...........

My friend's girlfriend just had her baby. They had a sweet little girl, her name is Fenix I can't wait to meet her!!! She had a c-sec (imo got railroaded into one but I'm not going there) and is now having trouble nursing. She really wants to nurse though and she's getting some help so I am crossing my fingers!

Hi and welcome Thislove!

Jackson is rolling around everywhere, trying to crawl and has been super cranky the last couple days so I think we are on the brink of some major developmental milestone. He seems to have mastered the one-handed grab already so I'm not sure what is coming. I guess he could be teething though. It'll all become clear soon I'm sure.

Sorry I haven't been able to keep up much. I hope everyone is doing ok. Unfortunately I'm going off again this weekend, I've got an art show, so I may be mia again

[flapjack]

Hi, we're back. I'm having severe internet withdrawal atm, as the keyboard on our desktop (my computer) is broken and I can't get to the laptop often.

Cheryl, Jackson sounds adorable! (and so much like River it's not funny..)

TrueBlue, I have no idea. Sorry.

Welcome, Thislove!

Jezzy :

Eilonwy, I'm reading and I have visions of the Sandman here, particularly the character of Delight/Delirium. I THINK the reason that you are struggling so much right now is that you are going through such a powerful metamorphosis already and this year has been such a powerful year for you in terms of your relationship with Mike, your kids, your self, your body, money, home, EVERYTHING has been called into question and examined afresh, more or less. If you have a weakness, I'd say that your biggest weakness is your need for language, to talk, to label and to communicate verbally- and therefore, your costume must be based upon words. Either the ubiquitous ballgown made from newsprint, or something with more significance to you- and if you go for the ballgown, people could have a hell of a lot of fun removing it, if you want the help

Thanks for the compliments on the haircut, btw It made my week.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Eilonwy, I'm reading and I have visions of the Sandman here, particularly the character of Delight/Delirium. I THINK the reason that you are struggling so much right now is that you are going through such a powerful metamorphosis already and this year has been such a powerful year for you in terms of your relationship with Mike, your kids, your self, your body, money, home, EVERYTHING has been called into question and examined afresh, more or less. If you have a weakness, I'd say that your biggest weakness is your need for language, to talk, to label and to communicate verbally- and therefore, your costume must be based upon words. Either the ubiquitous ballgown made from newsprint, or something with more significance to you- and if you go for the ballgown, people could have a hell of a lot of fun removing it, if you want the help

*blink* Wow. When did you get to know me so well? You're like, dead on there, huh. That's just brilliant. I could even *burn* it. And all i need is newspaper and staples... hmmm... *wanders off into the imagination*

[Theia]

just really quick as DD is hungry..... could someone either re-post or PM me the link to our yahoo group? I tried to sign up a while back but never received approval (my yahoo username is different than my mdc name) and I would like to join in.

Thanks so much! :

[applecore]

Rynna, just make sure you take it off before lighting it on fire! But it is a great idea! You MUST take pictures for us!

[nausicaamom]

Rynna - I think the newsprint ball gown sounds wonderful and I'm sure it will be a blast to put together. Be sure to take pics!

We have 2 teeth and sat unassisted for a little bit this afternoon. I, am sick once again - actually I think the low-grade (and not so low-grade as we are gowth-spurting this week) sleep deprivation is making me super suceptible to anything and everything that comes down the pike. I see lots of vitamin C in my future, since large chunks of sleep aren't happening anytime soon.

Love and hugs to all! I'm sorry I'm not responding to everyone, but there is no way I can make the time for it and I end up not posting at all because I feel guilty. Fussy, sleepy babe - ttfn!

[Theia]

Applecore and Nausicaamom

Nausicaamom - If your immunity seems low, vit C is good, but you might also try echinacea tincture too. I've had really good luck with it. Congrats on the teeth and sitting unassisted. I hope you are able to get more sleep soon.

Rynna - I like the newspaper gown..... I bet you could really liven it up by cutting out letters/words/phrases from magazines that fit your theme. I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Helen - You rock!


Thislove -

Trueblue - It's hard when our LO doesn't sleep. I use aromatherapy, really simple stuff, like rosewater and lavender to help calm DD. The rosewater is really great this time of the year because it also has cooling properties. HTH

firecat - I hope you have an abundant art show!

Jezzy - Ok, I don't have to deal with this, so my suggestions might not be helpful, but I'll give it a shot. Consequences and consistency are what come to my mind. Set rules, expectations, and reward or consequence for actions. Make it clear to your older children that things are going to be different from now on. They'll probably test you, push you to see if you are serious, to see how much they can still get away with. This is where you have the hard work of staying true to your new rules. Be consistent. Don't give in, don't let them take you for granted. If DS doesn't clean his room he could be grounded, or on restriction of some sort, the same for DD and the dishwasher. You could still use Chorewars for this, set up real-life rewards that can be earned through the gold coins and the other items that are "won" on CW. I hope this helps you though.

cwoodward - ugh.... stories like that are so upsetting. I don't see how people can still believe that CIO is good. I mean really, if you go back in history, everyone used to live in extended families and a baby would rarely be out of arms, let alone left to CIO for hours. I know that few ppl live with extended families anymore, but still. How could anyone listen to a child CIO for even minutes without their heartbreaking and running to scoop up the child and love on it? <sigh>

No new news on our front. DD is doing well, she is so much fun. I like seeing her personality grow and emerge. She loves discovering new things, like today she discovered cold via a frozen washcloth that I gave her to chew on. I'm just happy and loving being her mama. Even DP is being good. He's been much better for the past few weeks and it is such a relief. I am going to my parents place so they can see DD in the next couple of weeks. I am looking for plane tickets cuz its a 12 hour drive and I could do it alone, but I'd much rather fly alone than drive such a long distance alone. So I need to manifest a plane ticket that costs about the same as the cost of gas driving. : cheap plane tickets, my fingers are crossed.

[operamommy]

Peter has officially "outgrown" his Kozy mei tei! We went hiking the other night and he threw an absolute fit every time I tried to carry him in it; dh ended up having to carry him in arms for 2 miles. Today I got out the Ergo and he did great in it - turns out what he was objecting to was being so closed-in and close to my chest...something he loved only the other week. My little man wants to really see the world now! He even rode on my back for a bit around the house - I don't think I'll put him on back for hiking yet, though. It's so neat to see him expressing his preferences!

nausicamom, hope you feel better soon *hugs*

welcome, thislove!!

trueblue, I hope your sleeping woes end soon. Good to see you again!

firecat, good to see you again, too!

Jezzy, I go through the same thing regarding chores with my older two. Ask them to clean off the table, and you'd think you assigned them to slave labor for the next ten years. I think unfortunately the total disinterest in helping out is the norm for those ages. We've had numerous talks about how we're a family and we all have to work together and all they hear (I think) is

[flapjack]

Jezzy, I hate to admit this on MDC but I'm going to. I had one really, really really bad day when I got a rake out and put all of the crud from the floor of the boys room in the middle of the floor- set a timer, and told them that anything that was still there in 3 hours was going in the bin. 3 hours time, I bagged it up and set it outside the house. I didn't tie the top and I didn't put it in the wheelie bin. EVENTUALLY, someone realised that they were missing something they wanted and they started sifting through it. That made a big difference.

Operamommy River really quite likes my babyhawk for back carries, and I'm looking for an ergo or something- possibly a connecta?

Jenn, get better soon. And look at your diet- I would bet that you're missing out on good fats

Rynna you're welcome, babes. I want one for myself, now BTW, your short-hair photograph is beautiful.

Gen : right back atcha.

I had an extremely intense phone call last night with a dear friend that I haven't spoken to in several months. She's newly engaged, which is great (and means that we're going to be in Germany in September 09 for the wedding, Jezzy) but her whole family are struggling to come to terms with the unexpected arrival of her first niece 3 months early (was due around the same time as our lot). The baby has hydrocephalus and substantial medical problems, and they're just now starting to figure out where to go from here I'm just reeling right now, and so sorry for them.

[True Blue]

Well...I think I see why she's not sleeping...she started creeping yesterday!!! Doesn't have the arms in it yet right but she is pushing herself across the floor...slowly...but moving....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I feel like I missed her whole newborn stage with all the moving.

operamommy DD doesn't like being smooshed in so much anymore either, she LOVES to see the world!

[Jezzy]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Jezzy, I hate to admit this on MDC but I'm going to. I had one really, really really bad day when I got a rake out and put all of the crud from the floor of the boys room in the middle of the floor- set a timer, and told them that anything that was still there in 3 hours was going in the bin. 3 hours time, I bagged it up and set it outside the house. I didn't tie the top and I didn't put it in the wheelie bin. EVENTUALLY, someone realised that they were missing something they wanted and they started sifting through it. That made a big difference.

My mom use to do that! i hated it.... but it did work

Originally Posted by flapjack

(and means that we're going to be in Germany in September 09 for the wedding, Jezzy)

Where are you going to be??

[salt_phoenix]

Making friends:
Seems like I have "my friends" for social things, festivals & parties, camping etc... but they either parent VERY differently from me or don't have children at all. Then I go to homeschool activities, bfing stuff or other events where I might have more AP stuff in common, but we don't click *socially*. Religious differences or lifestyle differences... I really AM a square peg.

Speaking of which:::
I'm SO EXCITED! : I'm volunteering to help staff the Breastfeeding Cafe that will run here through the month of August. It's being held at a large downtown space. Should be fun!!!

[True Blue]

OMG!!!! The video and website are done for the birth project I was part of!! It's really nice from what I've browsed through so far. I don't know if anyone remembers me mentioning it, but it was a great way to help and get my birth videoed. It was done by some journalism master's students at Columbia Univ. www.insidehomebirth.com You can see me and my birth at Home Birth: The Debate. I look and sound like a dork in my interview...I had so many great things to say but really when she put the camera in front of me I was a bumbling idiot LOL!!

[operamommy]

Trueblue, you sounded and looked great!!!

Was the video of your birth supposed to be dark, or was it my computer? The docs and midwife talking were fine, but every time it switched to your birth it was very shadowy and difficult to see...there were a few times when I couldn't see anything?

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by operamommy

Peter has officially "outgrown" his Kozy mei tei! We went hiking the other night and he threw an absolute fit every time I tried to carry him in it; dh ended up having to carry him in arms for 2 miles. Today I got out the Ergo and he did great in it - turns out what he was objecting to was being so closed-in and close to my chest...something he loved only the other week. My little man wants to really see the world now! He even rode on my back for a bit around the house - I don't think I'll put him on back for hiking yet, though. It's so neat to see him expressing his preferences!

BooBah wanted OUT of the sling at this age-- she was trying desperately to walk, and no sling could happily contain her unless she was nursing, freezing (she was born in June, so when she was five months old it was COLD) or tired (by which I mean exhausted). Bear is also trying desperately to walk, but he loves the snugglebugs. I think He'll probably walk on the early side, but hopefully not quite as early as BooBah did. : He's sitting up very nicely now, though. My littlest man is getting so big. : In any case, your little man may simply have been too hot, curled up so close to your chest. Never underestimate the power of weather on your baby's preferences. BeanBean was very happy being snuggled up in the sling at 12 months, but it was November and it was bloody cold.

Originally Posted by flapjack

Jezzy, I hate to admit this on MDC but I'm going to. I had one really, really really bad day when I got a rake out and put all of the crud from the floor of the boys room in the middle of the floor- set a timer, and told them that anything that was still there in 3 hours was going in the bin. 3 hours time, I bagged it up and set it outside the house. I didn't tie the top and I didn't put it in the wheelie bin. EVENTUALLY, someone realised that they were missing something they wanted and they started sifting through it. That made a big difference.

I've tried this with BeanBean and BooBah, only I sealed the bag. They didn't take me seriously because I didn't put said bag into a green borough bag (the only kind that the trash collectors take), and proceeded to empty the entire thing out into their room while I was nursing Bella. Since then... we throw things out when the kids aren't around. : Hey, it's got to get out *somehow*.

I'm struggling right now with paring down the clothing, which is really quite out of hand. Somehow, even going through everything, Bear hasn't got all that much, and nor has Bella.. but BeanBean (the biggest?!) has at least two dozen pairs of shorts. It took me a while to figure out that the trouble isn't that I've been buying too much for the big fellow-- it's that I bought a great deal in advance thinking that he'd outgrow things, and he just hasn't. I mean, shorts are diffcult, the length factor is really quite minimal and Bean's scrawny. Then of course, there's the fact that the shorts I bought for BooBah (size 6, becuase she's got a big booty for a tiny little white girl) fit Bean perfectly, and he happens to love them: they're very comfortable because BooBah's got SPD issues, and they're pink and purple which happen to be his favorite colors. Pink shorts with a little pink bow? He's right there. : So he's got these size 3/4 shorts that I bought when he was two (they fit beautifully over those giant cloth diapers), and which still fit him just fine. They don't really fit BooBah because she's got bigger hips than he does, and they're entirely too long for Bella who is even more petite than her siblings. :

Bear would be absolutely naked come fall... if not for the fact that another child's mother brought my sister a huge bag full of clothing her son had outgrown. Said child inherited a TON of things from a pair of identical twins who had been born about 10 months before him (and who got huge in a hurry). So I'd be totally fretting... but I'm sure he'll be fine. Bella? Well, she just hasn't grown that much. If she continues at this pace, she'll probably be able to wear all the things she wore last fall. She's just a little slip of a person.

Wow, didn't mean to rant about my clothing-sorting problems. I'm so bad with clutter. I'm trying so hard but I seem to be perpetually lost. I did manage to find ten things which were in decent enough condition to consign (fall/winter things-- most of that stuff is put away, but some of it pops into our laundry), so I dropped those off and hope to get a few bucks out of them. I've also got to get *something* for the diapers, because I just can't even afford store them if I don't. : I hate this, I'm so wretched at it. I wish I could just trade skills with people. I'm really good at a lot of things, but having a yard sale, even, seems to be beyond my capacity. :

Rynna you're welcome, babes. I want one for myself, now BTW, your short-hair photograph is beautiful.

Thanks. I rather liked it-- it was comfortable and of course incredibly simple. I stayed bald or damn-near until I was a few months into my pregnancy with Bella, and then I started letting it grow again. Mike hated it when it was that short-- he called it the "prison b****" look, and resented it something fierce. He said he doesn't mind when it's short short, but the nearly bald thing really bothered him. I pretty much told him to suck it up and cope. Most people found it "scary," though, even though I'm incredibly baby faced. I think women are just afraid to be bald in our society, they kept going on about how brave I was to shave it off. It's only hair, for crying out loud! I mean it grows back in most cases, and I knew mine would.

In any case, I think your hair, Helen, is much cooler-- it's got a *style*! I mean it doesn't look like you just hacked it all off because it was a pain in the neck, but like you made a conscious effort to make things look nice. Go you!

I had an extremely intense phone call last night with a dear friend that I haven't spoken to in several months. She's newly engaged, which is great (and means that we're going to be in Germany in September 09 for the wedding, Jezzy) but her whole family are struggling to come to terms with the unexpected arrival of her first niece 3 months early (was due around the same time as our lot). The baby has hydrocephalus and substantial medical problems, and they're just now starting to figure out where to go from here I'm just reeling right now, and so sorry for them.