[BlueIrises]

Okay...this is the month for Halloween...who participates in this holiday? What will you be doing for costumes?

Also, what are your plans for birthday celebrations? Will you be having a party? How big? Who's coming? Are you buying a special gift?

Also post a recent pic!

I personally am not a fan of Halloween as costumes embarrass me, but do plan on making Jack's first costume...my mom and grandmother always made mine.

I was going to do a "Jack in the box" but couldn't quite figure out how to do the box and make it wearable...so we are going with the "Jack of Hearts" (like in a deck of cards)...my neice helped me come up with that...rejected ideas from the dictionary that had the word jack in it...Jack @ss and Jacket...jack hammer...lol...

I'm so confused on what to do for his b-day...we don't know enough babies to go to say a gymboree and the house we are buying this month is small so having everyone over to our house will be tight for December...renting a place like a community center seems a little over the top for a 1st b-day, but I want to do something...

As for a present...I want to get him a wooden swingset but that won't be until spring b/c it's snowny in Dec in NY...I'm really leaving presents to my family...for both Christmas and his b-day I wll buy just few essentials...the swing set will be his big gift even if it comes months later...plus we bought him a house this month!

I have to download pics from my camera...will post again!

 

[UUMamaVeg]

Happy October, everyone!

We love Halloween here--we do it pretty big every year and my DH and I always dress up! Beatrice, whose nickname is Bee, is OF COURSE going to be a little baby bumblebee! Her dad is going as a Beekeeper, and my older DD is going as Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess. It was her idea, don't ask me why she chose that of all things! I haven't decided yet what I'm wearing.

Bee is doing well. The big news around here is that we have language going on! She has said "Cracker," "diaper," and "cat." She gives "mama" and "dada" a try, but it isn't quite there. She still has very little interest in crawling, although she can. Mostly she just pulls up and cruises around holding on to people or furniture. She stood for about 20 seconds a few days ago--when she finally plopped down it really scared her.

We've pretty much moved away from spoon feeding any purees now. She basically just eats a little of what we eat, being careful of high-allergy risks, of course. Mostly she just nurses, although she does love crackers, green beans, tofu, and spaghetti. Not sure what she weighs--it was 19.5 three weeks ago, though. Probably an even 20.

Three teeth are coming in all at once now, so sleeping is a little funky. We've moved to part-time co-sleeping as of last week. It was an agonizing decision, but we think we'll all sleep better. Indeed, the first night we did it, we got a five hour stretch, which was wonderful! Adding a lullaby CD is also helping. She usually comes into our bed around 3 or 4 and stays there the rest of the night. Her crib is just a few feet away from our bed, but it is really making a big difference with our sleeping--she's such a light sleeper!

She's got a cold right now on top of teething, but is on the mend. I, of course, caught her cold. She's starting to seem like a big girl lately. I can actually see the possibility of walking! That combined with the few words she's acquired, is making me wonder where this year has flown.

We're not doing a big birthday party. Just family and a close friend or two--no other babies.

Can't wait to hear about the other babes!

 

[feministmom]

Hi Everyone!

We are also celebrating halloween by dressing up, and handing out candy, but no trick-or-treating. The costumes for Jack and Bea sound soooooo cute!!!! Originally I was going to dress Natalie as a duck, since she's always loved the song "5 little ducks." But then my MIL pointed out that there is no way Natalie will wear a hat or a hood, so I had to go back to the drawing board. Trouble is, most baby costumes include headgear. I think I decided to make her a butterfly costume. I can sew wings onto a black shirt, and have her wear black pants. If she'll let me, I'll put her hair in two pigtails on the top of her head with black rubber bands. But I'm open to suggestions...any ideas?

As for the first birthday, I think we'll have a party for family and a few friends. Keep it simple, since it's likely to be too cold to go outside and our house is on the small side. I doubt we'll do a theme or anything like that. I can't believe the birthdays will be here so soon!

Has anyone had their DC's haircut yet? I haven't, but I'm thinking about it...Natalie's hair isn't that long, but it's getting harder to keep out of her eyes, plus she's got a nice Carol Brady-esque mullet going on in the back....I guess I'm sentimental about it and want to wait as long as possible, plus I doubt very much that anything short of anesthesia will keep her still through a haircut. I can barely get a hair clip in her hair

Teething is happening at our house too, but seems to come and go in waves....she's close to cutting two on the bottom, on either side of the two she already has. A couple of days last week she was really cranky, couldn't get comfortable...she would cry to be picked up, then struggle to get down, then cry when we put her down, etc. Now she seems fine, but still no more teeth.

Sleeping is up and down too. One night she slept from 10 to 7, our longest stretch yet, but the next night was terrible. I'm trying to go with the flow and trust that one day, she will sleep more consistently and easily. I do feel like lately we're on more of a predictable schedule, which is nice.

We have words here too! Natalie very clearly says "baby"!!! She will say it looking in the mirror, at pictures of babies in books and of course when she sees a real baby. She is trying hard to say "cat" (we have 2) but can't make the "kah" sound. She'll say "dat" or "tat" but it's clear she's referring to the cats.

Natalie loves waving and does it all the time. Here she is waving to the fish at the Bronx zoo:
https://flic.kr/p/1464537216
She also does this really cute thing where she breathes in and out through her teeth while her nose is scrunched up. It looks like she's really mad, even though it's more a face of excitement. Here's a pic:
https://flic.kr/p/1358515272
Can't wait to see more pics and read all the updates!!!

 

[feministmom]

I look forward to this thread every month, then I usually forget to sub!

 

[Harmony96]

BlueIrises, aw you didn't want to do jack hammer? lol. The Jack of Hearts sounds cute.

UUMamaVeg, lol at Bee's assortment of words. Hope the teeth don't give her too much grief.

feministmom,

I hope the sleeping starts to get a little more regular for you. For her hair, I found some clips at Walgreens that have some grippy stuff on the inside to keep them from sliding around. I have to clip Lydia's hair ALL the time now or it gets in her nose and mouth... not fun since she has a runny nose a lot lately. lol. Lydia does the teeth-nose-squinchy-breathing too.

I want to transition Lydia to eating what we eat, but we usually eat foods that are a lot firmer than she can handle, kwim? How much longer will I have to prepare her foods separately?

For Halloween DH and DD and I are going to a party, and we'll be the Flintstones.

I even made a Wilma costume that's nursing-accessible. lol

No haircut here yet, although if she were a boy she probably would have had about 4 haircuts by now.

I just really love it too much to cut it right now. Amy, Lydia has a mullet starting to come too. lol

For her first birthday it'll probably be just DH's parents that come down, so it'll definitely be very small.

There's pics linked to her name in my siggy, including the one where she fell down in the corner and was stuck sortof like a turtle on its back. lol. Oh and she had an appointment this morning, and she's a "whopping" 14 lbs 8 oz. Now she's no longer on even the breastfeeding growth charts.

 

[lemurmommies]

Yay for a new thread!

We are not going to do much for Halloween, but one of our friends is hosting a party, so we may end up there. Since Ezra is so big for his age, we are thinking of dressing him as Paul Bunyan. We've got plaid shirts and Carhart overalls, as well as rubber boots. And he has a blue moose, that we are going to try and pass off as Babe.

Things are going well with us, but the teething. Oh, the teething. He now has 6 teeth (two came in last week!), and he seems to be feeling worse now instead of better. I have heard of children getting molars before they get the teeth on the bottom next to the center ones. Has this been the case with any of your LOs? I am worried that that is what is going on with Ezra.

feministmom - we have cut his hair 3 times now. The first two times were scissor cuts (one by my, one by a barber) and then last time I just went ahead and cut it with the clippers. He sat still well enough and didn't seem bothered by it, so that was good! It's getting long in the back again, though, so I'm thinking I'll have to get at it again.

For Ezra's birthday, we are going to have a brunch party here at the house. Cheap, early (which is good for his mood!), and not too stressful. We are going to have about 8 people, and 1 baby. Sadly, there isn't any family close enough to attend.

I have new pictures from September linked in my sig.

Looking forward to hearing about everyone!

 

[tankgirl73]

You guys have real words? That's so cool. DD does a MAMMAMMAMMAM when she's upset and needs me or is hungry. There are lots of sounds, but no obvious meaning attached to them yet other than that.

Haircuts? LOL... DS had had a haircut by this age, but none for DD for quite awhile yet! There's only just finally enough hair that you can almost kind of sort of see what colour it might almost be...

Halloween... it's a pretty big deal for us. I have a 9yo after all.

I like to make our costumes whenever possible, but the last couple years just haven't had time. DS is going to be Batman, and DD is going to be Tigger -- we just happen to have a hand-me-down Tigger costume that fits her.

Sleeping -- still unpredictable of course, but on the average, she goes down for the night around 9pm and has 2 naps during the day. More and more often, I'm putting her down for her naps. Sometimes that's a bad idea and she wakes right up anyway but other times she sleeps on her own for 2 whole hours and seems better rested than when she naps in the sling. It's not something I'm trying to 'teach' her at all, I'm just taking advantage of her being more open to the idea now in order for me to get some work done that's hard to do with her in the sling.

We're ECing and the 9-10 month age is the classic "potty strike" phase and boy are we there! How dare we interrupt her worldly explorations to offer the potty? Poor DH had a time with her last night... he said "I put her on the potty, she screamed, so I took her off. 5 minutes later, she peed on me. (she was nakeybutt) Awhile later, I put her on the potty, she screamed, 5 minutes later she peed on me. Awhile later, I put her on the potty, she screamed, so I put a trainer on her. 5 minutes later, she pooped in them."

Oh well... other days she's totally loving the potty and night-time is still a breeze for pottying, and of course every successful potty is a diaper saved! We're just not stressing, not pushing, following her leads and waiting for the 'strike' to evolve out lol...

Oh, she does that funny breathing thing too, only more through her nose than her teeth, and she's started wrinkling up her nose when she does it. She finally does have 4 teeth now, the first one popped through just a month ago, and 3 more came all at once about 2 weeks ago. now she GRINDS them and DH can't STAND the sound of it!

Birthday -- probably just a small event with some cake and prezzies. Dunno yet.

Here's her wrinkle-nosed smile:
https://flic.kr/p/1387282199
Solids -- we've been BLW all the way so there's no 'transition' from purees. She eats what we do. Whereas at around 7.5mo she started actually ingesting, at 9mo she started really CHOWING DOWN like a little pig. The other day I made a veggie curry, with eggplant, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and yellow string beans. She ate a whole bowl, along with rice and naan. Still nursing TONS too.

Not walking yet, but close. And she CLIMBS onto everything! Loves playing with her blocks, putting toys in boxes, taking things out of cupboards, opening and closing doors. And her favourite game right now is taking apart Duplo constructions lol... we'll make a big stack and give it to her, she'll take one block off and hand it to us (or put it in a box) and repeat until it's all taken apart...

 

[paradoxia13]

October already! Where does time go?!

Brenten is 9 months, 3 days and a great big boy! He is 25lbs, and was 33 inches last time he held still enough for me to check!

We LOVE Halloween around here, but, with a very shy, anxious of strangers(anyone but mom and dad) little guy, we're playing it very low key this year. I hunted for a costume for him to wear for the day/evening that wasn't fleece and looked like it was made for the snow, but no luck. Instead I just got him some really cute black and white skullie pajamas. They are light weight, cute, comfie, and perfect.

Brenten has been crawling for the last 3 months, and started pulling to stand and cruising within days of that. He has stood on his own for a few seconds now and again, but as soon as he realizes he's doing it, down he goes - plop!

He's made no attempts at walking yet, but, since he holds the world's speed crawling record, why bother!?

His interest in food has really picked up on the last few weeks and he MUST have some if anyone else is eating. Even at the dog's dinner time he demands a nibble of something (not dogfood of course! haha) We've never done purees other than one pumpkin one that is just so yummy I couldn't resist. He loves chicken and turkey in almost any form, and now that I've relaxed the wheat ban a bit he enjoys the occasional bit of bread or cracker. Lots of fruits and veggies too.

We'll have a birthday party here at the house for his birthday. We have no actual blood family around, so it will all be our very wonderful ChosenFamily, who spoil Brenten rotten already. I'm sure his birthday will be no exception.

Here's 2 recent-ish pictures!
Very happy in the pool

Not so amused by the hat

 

[silverspook]

I've been thinking a lot about Halloween and the 1st birthday. So exciting! I splurged and bought Eli a Tom Arma elephant costume.

: Pictures at the bottom. We plan on going to our church's "Trunk or Treat", hit up the grandparent's houses (mine & DHs parents live 10 minutes from eachother) and maybe a costume contest, since I've heard the Arma costumes always win. I have no idea about the 1st b-day. Our house is small, like less than 1000 sq ft, and we have a lot of friends & family who live close. I guess we'll all just have to get cozy! It'll be December afterall!

Eli is 25 pounds and I don't know how long, but he was 30" at 6 mos, so probably 32-33"? We've been crawling & pulling up for months, and now he's climbing and cruising! He climbed up stairs for the first time two nights ago at his great-aunt's house (we don't have any stairs at home). He zoomed up them like he'd been doing it forever and then turned around and crawled down head first! He is saying words too! On his 9-month b-day he clearly said 'mama' for the first time, only he said it to daddy! lol. He's been saying it ever since along with 'dada' (to dada!) and 'hi' while trying to wave. Today during a cuddle after a fall, he looked up at me, pointed to my cheek and said 'mama'!

: He also sings along whenever I sing to him. We have 8 teeth (no new teeth in over a month) but I think we're going to have some more soon. Our EC has de-railed too. I don't remember the last time he went in the potty. He sleeps well for the most part. He's been going to bed between 7 and 9 pm, waking up between 4 & 6 am to nurse and then will sleep until 9 or 10 am! Woohoo! I am still dealing with insomnia though, so I rarely get that much sleep. DH is about to start a new job with 12 hour shifts 3 days a week on top of doing natural pest control (which drops off in the winter) to make "ends meet" this winter. We're not sure if it's going to be from 6am-6pm or 6pm-6am, but it's going to be tough on us either way. I hope I can get some sleep before then! Here's pics:

Trying on part of his Halloween costume. He thought it was hillarious!

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o...tinabox001.jpg

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o...tinabox002.jpg

Other recent pictures

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o...9-23-07002.jpg

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o...9-23-07027.jpg

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o...tinabox007.jpg

 

[BlueIrises]

These pictures are wonderful!

I like the Bee constume for Bea...and the pic of Eli in the elephant head is hysterical...so cute...Paul Bunyan is cute...you need to get one those plastic axes, lol...do you have suspenders?

I can't believe how much older Natalie looks than Jack...she is a cutie pie!

Wow, Lydia has a lot of hair...so funny those little pig tails...love them...

Ezra pictures are great...his round little face is to die for...so cute!

Cailiegh's smile is cute...my neice would do that breathing thing too, we called it the squishy face...

Brenten in that hat...Jack was giggling too...

Jack is getting 3 teeth soon...he has one on the bottom and the other side is all swollen now as is the top two...he is officially starting to cruise...

Here are pictures from apple picking last week and then bathing at my sister's later that day after a very messy supper...and lastly just Jack being happy.

Sunday I cut off 10 inches of hair to donate to Locks of Love...I've had the same hair style for about 6+ years and ever since I had Jack and all the hair loss that follows, I've wanted to shave my head...I needed change...I was feeling very frumpy. I figured this is the time to cut it all off since it grows like a weed when I'm PG...I feel great, but it is kinda like I had a body part amputated as I will go to flip it off my shoulders or neck and there's nothing there...I'm using a lot less shampoo now...lol...my before...and my after...it was only straight for a day...

 

[steffanie3]

I love all the pictures! I need to figure out how to post them. I have a shutterfly account, I could get a flicker or photobucket to share I guess.

Gabriel is doing great. He is getting into eating more and using a pincer grasp sometimes. More and more he is wanting what we are eating and drinking. He doesn't do a lot with a tippy cup, I am going to start setting it out every time at dinner or giving him a cup with a tiny amount of water at least.

We don't do Halloween and I haven't even thought about birthday yet

: Although thinking of it now, it will be family and we will probably let big brother lead on how involved it is.

Gabriel got his 7th and 8th teeth right at the close of September.

We are lazy ec parents, but we do have him naked quite a bit. tankgirl~ I know what you mean by taking them and having them go five minutes or less after you take them. This morning and last night and a couple of times we have just tried and he didn't go and then we tried about five minutes later and he went, this morning was a poop. I just love saving the diapers when we can and helping him to be aware he is going.

I can't wait until he says mama

: He still says ada to daddy and sometimes dada.

He needs a haircut, well at least off his ears and away from his eyes. I am thinking that it will not be very fun so I have been putting it off. This week though I though about just seeing about using our longest attachment on the clippers and going for it myself.

I am really happy we are keeping up with threads. Can't wait to hear more

 

[lemurmommies]

So Ezra has been cruising around the furniture really steadily for the past 6 weeks or so, but today we had a bit of a leap in mobility.

I got one of those things that a baby can walk behind off Freecycle a few weeks ago, and before today he wasn't able to walk behind it. He'd push it out too far ahead, and then flop on to his tummy. But this afternoon he totally got it! Ezra was pushing that thing around like there was no tomorrow. It was too cute!

Here is a quick video we shot of his first attempt.

He has also acquired a few words in the past week. In addition to "mama" and "Zeus" (one of our cats), he now also says "boo," can roar like his polar bear and tries to woof like a dog.

Also, my mom is visiting and has been reading the Dr. Seuss ABC book to him non-stop. Every time they get to the letter N, she has been asking him where his nose is and pointing to her nose and then his. Two days ago, he started pointing to his own nose when you ask him where his nose is. It's shocking how quick he caught on to that one.

Does anyone else still feel like they are up all night with their babe? I'm thinking it's a little crazy that for us, a night with only 4 wakings is a good night...

 

[bc1995]

Sounds like there will be a lot of cuties for Halloween.

silverspook, my ds1 had the Tom Arma Elephant costume. Ds2 wore it, too. It is just too adorable for words!

Kate is going as the Tom Arma flower. (I am a big fan of Tom Arma costumes.)

For her first birthday we will do something small with family and maybe a few friends. I already have the decorations for it (1st birthday girl theme). I got them at a consignment sale last month for $5! All the plates, napkins, centerpieces, table clothes, bib, etc. that we could possibly need.

Kate is still not eating much in the solids department but starting to show more interest. I usually offer some of what we are having. No purees here.

Here is a video clip from a couple weeks ago. I posted it on the last thread, but I haven't uploaded anything more recent.

Kate walking: http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e8...9-25-07010.flv

And a picture from last week. She wanted to play in the rain like her brothers.

: http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e8...9-25-07004.jpg

Kate is saying "hi" and "bye bye" along with dada. She can say mama but saves that for times when she has totally had it and wants me now. She is still taking a few steps at a time. I think 7 steps at once is still her record amount. She is working on #7 and #8 in the tooth department. I suspect they will break though by the weekend. She is sleeping better at night now than she was for a couple weeks. I have been totally spoiled by her being such a good sleeper. It totally threw me off when she started waking 4+ times at night. Her naps are not near as good as they used to be though. We rarely get more than 45 min- 1 hour straight anymore.

She is arounds 21.5lbs and tall, but I am not sure exactly. No haircuts in her near future although she does have a head full of curls. I let my boys get past their shoulders before I cut it. I always cry at the first haircut.

 

[MotherWhimsey]

well I think I'm going to join in. Linden was born 12-15-06.
He's fat and happy. He picked out a duck costume for halloween... while I had my back turned to help dd pick out a costume, he pulled the duck one down and started eating it. He got very upset when I tried to take it away, so I figured he'll just be a duck for halloween. lol

he's 22 lbs 2 oz, so he's a pretty big boy. He's allowed to eat orally now, so he's trying food. He wants nothing to do with purees, and really there's not reason that they have to do that first, so he's trying table food. He's still getting all of his nutrition from his feeding tube.

He's supposedly very speech delayed cause he still won't babble. He's super social but just doesn't feel the need to babble... he growls instead. But I swear that he's just skipping the whole babbling thing, cause I think he's saying a few words. I could be on crack though, lol. He says "dat?" for what's that, mama, dada, Niena (for aniyah), ball, and dog dog. He's actually totally terrified of dogs, so dog dog is usually screamed in a total panic. Our speech therapist thinks it's totally possible that he's saying things. So that's very cool.

Here's his picture, he's super cute. Linden

 

[steffanie3]

MotherWhimsey~ I just watched your video montage, it was powerful. Your family has been through a lot.

And you are right, Linden is super cute.

 

[MotherWhimsey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steffanie3 MotherWhimsey~ I just watched your video montage, it was powerful. Your family has been through a lot. And you are right, Linden is super cute.

it desperately needs updating, but it's already really stinking long. I think that he's had four more hospital stays and three surgeries since I made that. So just would be ridiculously long if I updated it. He has a G-tube now (so no more tube up the nose). and I am hoping that we're done with surgeries and maybe even with long hospital stays. We're over the hump now, and that's veeeeery nice.

 

[bc1995]

MotherWhimsey, I am so glad to see an update from you. I think you of you guys often. Linden is beautiful. His montage made me cry. You have all been through so much. I am glad he is doing so well now! How have your latex allergies been with all of the hospital stays? I hope he continues to improve and you guys can stay out of the hospital for good!

 

[MotherWhimsey]

all the children's hospitals we've been to are latex free. I think that most are now. Adult hospitals aren't yet, but are headed that way. so luckily it wasn't even an issue.

 

[feministmom]

MotherWhimsey--Linden IS super cute. I just watched the montage. Thank you for sharing, it was really powerful. Hugs to you and your family.

 

[carmel23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherWhimsey well I think I'm going to join in. Linden was born 12-15-06.

Hi motherw.

The pictures of you sleeping next to your lo in the hospital brought tears to my eyes. When my baby girl was 6 weeks old she was hospitalized with bronchiolitis. Makes you treasure every little bit of them.

Welcome!