Jan/Feb 05 chat - Thread #3

[Daniel's mummy]

Well, we just arrived home this evening after a very nice but very tiring 5 days away.  Daniel has had a whale of a time - MORE new toys  :shock:  and lots of fun.  He is certainly happy to be home - started to become quite unsettled yesterday.  Think he was just missing the old routine that we're all used to now!

Will catch up properly tomorrow.

[thitz]

Debra, Santa loves chocolate milk.

Us, We were out till midnight last night.  Got together with a bunch of friends our age and another couple had a 7 month old.  Emily behaved perfectly and we put her to sleep in her packnplay and later transfered her to the car with no problems!!  It was really nice to enjoy a night out with everyone as a family:)

[HeatherC]

Well, girls, we're way down at the bottom of the board, so I thought I'd boost us up again.
I think Kelsey's is teething again.  Funny thing is that it looks like teeth are coming in on each side of the 2 bottoms ones rather than her 2 top teeth.  Either way, she was grumpy and crying at the drop of a hat all day, then chomping down like mad on her soft rubber toys and other toys.

She's really doing well on walking.  She can go short distances on her own just fine, but I tend to stay with her for longer goes at it.  Then, she thinks she supposed to hold my hand since she always has, even though she can do it on her own.  It's quite cute.  She's barely holding on to me, and it's more like we're just walking hand in hand.  I've been letting her walk to her room for diaper changes and naps thinking this will make her feel she has a part in things.  Does that make since?

I'm also going to be looking for a music class in her age range.  She has really been dancing up a storm to any song she hears, and I think she'd enjoy going.  Her favorite is the theme song to COPS if any of you see that show (probably US only).  Then she was dancing away in a mexican restaurant today when we went in to pick up lunch!

Here's a fun tidbit.  HGTV is giving away a $2 million dream house.  Log onto to hgtv.com to view it and register.  I'll be submitting the allowed one entry a day until Feb. 17!!!!!  But if one of you win, I get to visit all the time!!!!   :lol:

[branwen]

Hi everyone,

Slow these days I think because of the holidays.  My obligations are fading I am happy to say and I hope to be online more.

Heather- that is amazing about Kelsey walking.  How wonderful!

US- We're trucking along on our routine.  It's quite good.  I think Eirwen might be having a growth spurt as she is wolfing down her food.  She no longer eats one at a time.  She shoves cheese crackers, pears and avos in all at the same time until her cheeks are puffing out!!! :shock:  :oops:  :lol:   How do I get her to slow down???  She is doing much better on standing but as soon as her feet are planted she falls over in a triangle.

Me- struggling with depression again :roll: Somedays I have really irrational feelings as if no one cares about me.  No one sees the work I do.  Because I am a SAHM I am somehow just watching soaps or playing happily with my child, that somehow I am not as busy or working.  GRRRRRRRRR :evil:   At least that is my latest pity party.

Happy Eirwen News-  Yesterday she went from tummy/crawling to sitting.  Today she was practicing up a storm. She did it over 10 times.  Every time she sat up from crawling dh and I clapped and cheered.  She's too precious for words.

[julieb]

I'm excited to report that Asher likes avocados now!    I've tried them SO SO SO many times, both pureed and finger foods, taken breaks, etc, and he always hated them.  But I wanted him to like them so much because they're so good for you!  :lol:   Haven't tried them in 2 months and bought a few on a whim because they were such a good price.  And he's been eating them just fine!   :shock: 

We've been having some night wakings.  I THINK it's teething related, but I'm so tired.  Once he turns 1 and we introduce the cow's milk, I'm handing the monitor over to DH on the weekends and I'm sleeping in!!  :wink:

We've started taking Asher to the potty with us in preparation.  He's quite fasicinated.  He especially loves to flush and we somehow have to teach him that we only flush AFTER we go potty.  I really hope this stuff works.  I'm so tired of changing 6-7 poops a day!  Especially after I read about other babies' once a day schedules!!  :shock:

DH taught Asher how to turn the light switch on yesterday (he already knew how to turn it off).  It's become a new bedroom ritual.  :roll:   And we took Asher to the park yesterday.  He LOVED the slides and did so well on them.  He went down belly first and even went on the big one a few times.  I think we'll get one of those small toddler slides for his birthday.  He won't be able to climb up it yet, but I'll just have to help him until he's big enough.

I've been fretting about a first birthday cake for Asher.  He hasn't had wheat, eggs, or dairy yet and I wasn't sure about introducing all three in the next month.  I also wanted something low sugar as to not to make him sick to his stomach.  So I though of doing cheese cake!  I'll introduce cheese and yogurt a week or so before to make sure he'll be okay and make it with no crust.  I'm also gonna look into using alternatives to white sugar, like maybe fruit juice, though it doesn't call for much sugar anyway.  I can make it with fruit and put fresh fruit topping on it to balance it out.  I'll just make a normal cake for the adults.   

Deb, I've been feeling the same way about the PC and my lists.  :oops:   I have WAY too much stuff I should be doing at home.  I'm such a procrastinator and I feel so over-whelmed, it's just easier to avoid.  :oops:  :roll:

Heather, I let Asher walk to and from his room for diapers and naps too at times.  It helps with the transition between activites.  I also talk to him about it "Let's go change your poopy diaper," etc before we head off.  It seems to reduce the number of tantrums.  He's getting pretty good at following me and understanding what I mean when I say time for the nap or diaper change.  Sometimes for the naps, he'll go grab his luvie and go stand by the gate, waiting for me to take him to his room!  :lol:  I hope he'll always be this willing to go to sleep!  :lol:   Try checking your library for a baby music class.  A few of them offer them here.  They're during morning naps though. 

[julieb]

Forgot to mention, Asher had steak tonight and loved it!  He is SUCH a meat eater!!   :shock:  There is no meat he has refused yet.  He goes for the meat before any other thing on his tray -- even his favorite, pears!  Too bad I have to limit it since it binds him up.   :roll:

Branwen, hugs!!  No helpful words except I sometimes feel the same way -- or that I don't seem to get anything done, but I seem to stay so busy??  :oops:  This SAHM stuff is a lot harder than I thought it'd be.  And Asher stuffs his mouth as well.  Always has.  Unless I give him one piece at a time, I figure he can only learn by experience and practice??  He gags on a regular basis and I watch him like a hawk.  I even taught him the "chew" word because I have to remind him so much (he tries to swallow things whole  :shock: ).  I chomp my teeth together and say, "Chew, chew, chew" and he copies me.  :roll:

[Daniel's mummy]

Branwen, I just watched your video clips - Eirwen is so similar to Daniel in terms of movement!  Their crawling techniques are so similar    And Daniel has just recently been practising the tummy to sitting trick.  He is getting very confident now but it has taken a while.
I too have days when I feel so sad about my life :?   Dh gets to go out and have real conversations all day at work whilst I stay at home doing washing, cleaning and dealing with ds and all his ways...  But then again, I wouldn't have it any other way     I reckon it's normal to feel down about this sometimes.  I too get the feeling that noone sees the work I do all day.  But the truth is Eirwen sees.  She will grow up knowing that her mum loves her and looks after her so well.  She will love the fact that you are busy making her life happy    Being a SAHM mum is definitely harder than I ever expected.  I try to be really careful and make time for myself each day.  I spend a lot of time (too much? :wink: ) cross stitching and often feel bad that I am wasting time but it is so important to take time for you or else you feel like you stop existing.  I read a great quote in a book recently. It said something along the lines of 'Have a life apart from your child.  If you don't you'll have nothing left to give' them.  I reckon there's a lot of wisdom in that.  Take time for you whilst Eirwen sleeps.  Leave the cleaning, the dishes, the ironing and whatever else you feel compelled to do and just do something fun and relaxing for you.  Don't feel guilty about it either.  You NEED to look after you or else you can't look after Eirwen or your dh. 
Please know that you are not on your own.  I reckon every mum feels like this at times.  I know I certainly do.

[Deb_in_oz]

Branwen - sending you some hugs - i am also struggling with my PPD these days. i just wish it woudl go away already (wishful thinking or what?) i hate the 2 steps forward 1 step back as it feels like at that rate the kids will be in college and i will still be suffering

Heather - i can't believe Kelsey is also walking - how many kids is that now? i feel like olivia wil be the last one - she is only just starting to test the standing on her own thing - she lets go and can stand for various lengths of time and is getting better every day this week but that is it.

Us - we finally had 2 1/2 days of no standing in the cot and no shh/pat needed this came about after i realized she was actually overtired and i pushed her naps back to 9am and 1pm for windown, etc and for 5 naps and 2 bedtimes she was good as gold, but she has caught my cough (Alex and I are still suffering ourselves and Dh woke with a scratchy throat today) and today she barely ate any solids and refused her afternoon nap (i lost track of time and did it at 1:10pm) - i finally gave up as she was hysterical and then tried again at 3:30 with success    she took a while to go down for bed but at least without any help from us. so - so much for extending A time it was the opposite... i think she is so hyper-active in her A time these days that she is wearing herself out!! she races around, climbs on alex, even left the house today on her own (climbed down the back step to the deck and was off and running  :lol:  she is exhausting ME)

exciting news - well we have booked a real family holiday for Oct 06 for 10 days at the beach on Rarotonga, the Cook Islands.  this is where Dh and i had our last couples holiday (i found out i was PG upon our return home back in Oct 02) we are convincing my mom to come along with us so we can rent a 3-4BR house and Dh and I can really relax as we will outnumber the kids then    the girls will be 20 months and 3yrs 3mo so i am optimistic that i will be all better and will be living it up in a relaxed state of mind (i can dream can't i?)

also - Dh and i are discussing taking a year to travel with the girls around australia for 2007 and hold alex back from preschool for a year - she can start in 2008 and then go to kindergarten in 09.  Dh gets long service leave (in Oz if you work for 1 company for 10 yrs you get 2 months paid leave, 15 years gets you 3 mo) so if he takes 2 mo + accumulated annual leave... he should have 4 mo income from work, if we let go of ourt rental at that time and put stuff in storage we have no overheads, and if we work at various towns here and there to supplement $$ we shoudl be fine (and we still have our money we have been saving to buy a home SOMEDAY if we get stuck...) are we crazy??? it woudl be our last chance because then alex will be in school and only get little holidays until she is an adult KWIM

[sedona314]

Debra:  No you are not crazy, that sounds like an awesome plan!   After the kids are school age, you wont be able to do that, so definitely go for it.  Not only that, it sounds like financially its quite doable.

Julie:  I am amazed that Asher poops 6 or 7 times a day! On another note, Matty has always loved avocados, but for some reason lately, i can only give them to him once a week because he gets a stomach ache from them.  It bums me out because they are his favorite food and he would eat them all the time, but he can't.

Branwen, thanks for you words of support, it meant a lot to me.

Matthew has been walking for three weeks now. I keep forgetting to post it.  He is now able to walk across the room without falling.  He is so funny cause his favorite thing now is practice practice practice.  We will be trying to play with him and he keeps picking up my hand or daddy's hand and then he just holds on and walks, usually in a circle which is quite hard on the grown ups knees.

He is also doing the ball throwing over the gate thing some of you have posted about.  That and the walking are his favorites.

We have had some trouble with getting him to sleep lately.  He has a slight cold so Im not sure if that's it, but we havent had this problem in ages.  Three nights in a row now its taken over an hour to get him in, sometimes longer.  And he cries so hard when we try to leave him in his crib, it reminds me of how hard it used to be when he was younger.

Everyone:  Would you all mind posting what you are planning for your first birthdays?  I'm thinking of just having a few close friends and his aunt and uncle over, nothing big.  I also like Julie am not crazy about introducing a cake, wheat, eggs, milk, sugar, so I am trying to figure out what to do.  I was thinking of getting a cake for the grownups and maybe making him a special cake made with spelt or other flour than wheat.  Any ideas?


Julie

[Leah's Mom]

First birthday cake - I think there are some healthy recipes in the Super Baby Food Book. Does anyone have it? I will check when I am at home later and see.

SAHM's - I understand how you feel. When I stayed at home this summer I felt the same way. Just remember how important it is for your LO's! Yes, I do enjoy working and have adult conversations, but if I had the choice I would stay home. Unfortunatley I carry the awesome insurance, so my staying at home is not poosible.    Remember - Your job is VERY important!

Walking - WOW! All the toddling babies!  In the last week Leah has made leaps and bounds herself. She has decided climbing is fun. I posted videos of her climbing the stairs on our dropshots site - http://www.dropshots.com/crebner. I am also posting a picture of what she decided to do the other day. We have an open kitchen/diningroom/livingroom. I went into the kitchen to make her bottle. I turned my head for 30 seconds and when I turned back, this is where she was. At first I freaked out, then I had to laugh! (The fireplace is never hot, we hardly ever turn it on.) I guess she wanted to play on the other side of her learning table. I put it there to keep her off the hearth....

BTW, yes she is still in her jammies at 10:00 in the morning.  :oops:

[thitz]

Debra, that's so neat about Olivia going down the deck steps and running into the yard:)  Alex must like it that Olivia can do stuff now and play with her.  And very understandable that she might need earlier naps with all that activity!

JulieB, I think I'm going to buy a real birthday cake (but not chocolate) and just give Emily a tiny taste and scrape off the icing.

Branwen, I'm always telling dh all the housework I do so that I feel like at least he's aware of it.  And dh always thanks me for cooking dinner at night which makes me feel good:)

Heather, I think Emily and Kelsey are at similar walking stages.  And Emily is finally starting to get better at falling properly.  Although last night she did a total face plant and went hysterical :oops: .  I pretty sure they'll be walking pro's by their first birthdays.  And it was so neat to show off Emily's walking to everyone at christmas cause for so long she didn't do anything, since she still hasn't learnt to crawl or pull up :?

Us, we've had a night waking here and there but I'm sure it's due to teething (she's got at least 3 coming in).  Luckily a quick pat and a shot of advil is doing the trick.

[dkjokisch]

Ok, vacation is over.  Not that we had a real vacation, but with dh home (and sleeping in), Maya started sleeping in too.  Most days she went until 7:30 or 8am.  How awesome is that!  But alas, all good things must come to an end.  It was also very nice to have dh around.  He didn't take off the entire holiday, but the days he did work, he went in late and came home early.

Julie - We do have a large extended family, but we don't live near most of them.  Even our immediate family is 500 miles away.  At the holidays we have to go to them if we want to see them.  Maybe it's selfish, but Maya doesn't travel well, and dh and I didn't want to deal with a cranky baby the entire time, so we stayed home.  No one came.  Our solution has always been to find friends to celebrate holidays with.  We call them friends we wish were family.

Branwen - I am with you.  Despite having some extra help the past few weeks, I have been having a really rough time lately.  With all of Maya's medical dramas and appts, I haven't had time to work (my mental outlet), and we haven't made it to playgroup (my social outlet).  And she has been so cranky, I can't take it anymore.  I had a little meltdown last Thursday.  Maya was screaming in her high chair, and I just lost it.  I started bawling.  Not that I would EVER leave my family, but I sat there thinking that I understand why women do.  It sounds horrible to say, but right now I just do not enjoy spending time with her.

Maya just learned how to go from crawling to sitting too.  She practices all the time!  If only she could sit up from laying down.  She still cannot sit up from either her back or her tummy.  And she can't pull into a crawling posture from her tummy either.  And she too shoves ridiculous quantities of food in at one time she'll try to cram half a slice of cheese in all at once, smushing it in with the back of her hand.

Debra - Do it!  Dh and I took several months to travel a few years ago when we were moving from FL to NC.  We put all of our stuff in storage to minimize our expenses, and took off on a 13,000-mile roadtrip.  We visited 27 or 28 national parks across the US.  We camped and cooked for ourselves (ate lots of PB sandwiches) to save money so we could travel longer.

Birthday and Birthday cake - My parents are coming for a visit, so we will just have a quiet family dinner.  Due to her high fat, high protein diet, Maya has had dairy and eggs.  We have also given her wheat products, though we try to stick to whole grain stuff.  That said, she is getting cheesecake for her birthday.  She's had it before, and she loved it.  And she's stopped gaining weight again, so maybe it will put some meat on her bones!

Christine - Maya is ALWAYS in her jammies until after her AM nap (11am) unless we have an early AM doctor or PT appt.

[branwen]

Deb- ohhhh Eirwen isn't even close to walking.  She might be the last.  But I read a thread about when little one's started walking. I was shocked to see that most were around 14 to 15 months.  I expect Eirwen to match with them.

I think your travel plans sound wonderful.  I want to do similar things with Eirwen.  I want to take her with me to Paris for a summer when she is about 4 and travel around Europe.  I figure it will be my last chance.

 :arrow: I feel better today about my pity party.  The husband was just driving me nuts.  Oh, and I have an appointment with a nanny agency tomorrow.  I plan to go back to grad school so I want someone about 15 hrs a week- that can do like 2 to 6 or something a few days a week.  I'm excited.  I hope we can afford it but I think I really need the help. :oops:

[Schae]

Hello again! Finally connected at home, on dial up and it is terribly slow.

Well done to Emily and Matty! Can't believe that this time last year our little ones were newborns or still waiting to be born!  :shock: How time flies.

Debra: DO IT! What a great plan! We are planning on doing something similar before we turn 30 (kids only start school here at age 7). Awesome idea!

SAHM: I've had similar feelings to the ones you ladies mentioned, in fact there was a point where I was really looking forward to going back to work. But now that is literally around the corner, I find myself hating the idea. Our nanny arrived today for training, and that hit me so hard. I'll be leaving my little boy with someone else the entire day. And I have to explain the whole idea of EASY to her. Luka goes down for naps fairly well, and eats quite well too. But I have to explain things like: tell him before you do something. Don't just pick him up and change his nappy, explain to him what you're going to do (she looked at me like I was nuts  :?  :lol: ) Anyway, we've got about 10 days of training, and then I start work (12 Jan)

Christine: Luka is also in his pj's till after his first nap (9am/10am), they don't know the difference and it cuts down on washing  :lol:

Vaccinations: When is the measles vacc done where you live? It's done at 9 months here, and you need to have exposed your child to egg before the vacc in order to make sure they're not allergic as the vacc is cultured (or whatever) in egg. Luka has had egg yolk, but not the white.

First Birthday: Having a small party at a kiddies venue. I decided long ago that I would not be holding parties at home (especially after all the dishes I had to do over Xmas  :lol: ) We have already introduced dairy and egg and wheat (since 9 months) and he hasn't had a reaction. And since he was fed all kinds of rubbish by well meaning relatives over Xmas, I figure he'll be okay. I'll probably bake his cake though, or do little cupcakes?

Branwen: Well done Eirwen! Sounds like she's rushing to do all her milestones now.

Julieb: Luka also just luurrrves meat. He used to be the biggest fan of lentils, but not anymore. Meat meat meat. Also does the stuffing entire pieces into his mouth thing.

Will catch up with you ladies again later on...

[HeatherC]

Branwen-I'm so sorry you are feeling down.  It is normal to feel in a rut, especially when you are home all day.  So many people do not realize what a strenous job it is to take care of children.  But it's the most important job in the world!  You're doing great!  And that's very exciting about grad school.  What will you be studying?

Deb-Wow!  A chance to travel?  Go for it.  It's so rare for someone to get that opportunity, and if you can give that to yourselves, and you children, you should.  I hope the plans work out.

Julieb-Kelsey has about 3 poops a day, and they are all usually after she wakes from naps.  She used to always have one in the car, but hasn't been doing it then as much lately which is a relief.  Anyway, she has them as she's waking before I can get to her so I don't know how to work that into potty training except to hope that her schedule might change by then.

Julie G-we are planning a simple afternoon with immediate family at our house for Kelsey's b-day.  I will get her a small cake to smash into, but not eat alot of it.  We'll just have some snack foods for the grown ups. 

Tarri-Kelsey is also better about catching her falls.  It's so interesting to watch her get her balance with her tiny feet.  She has learned to back up if she feels she's going backwards, and she can side step.  But she hasn't maneuvered around things well yet, she just runs into whatever and falls forward (usually me!).  Does Emily stand up just from the floor?  Kelsey crawls over to something and pulls up, then goes.

Deborah-I've been there about not being able to take it.  We'll get through this!!!  I get that feeling when Kelsey is teething and I just want to scream.

In addition to the mac and cheese Kelsey loves, she's now also eating pieces of turkey lunch meat and a noodle/chicken lunch bowl.  I have been so relieved to find that she will eat textures now and I don't have to fret when it comes time to do away with the baby food.