just can't get it right - part 3!

[hjrmom01]

Alex, welcome back!!!!  Glad to hear all is well with you and Xavier.  Don't feel bad about him falling off the bed, it happens!  H fell off the toilet the other day, left quite the huge bruise and goose egg!  I felt horrible, too because I was RIGHT there!

Martina, have fun exploring the wonderful, messy world of self feeding. I know H will let me spoon in a bite or two now but I've totally given up and rather enjoy the time to eat my own meals!  Tristan will eat what he wants and let you know if he wants more, less, something else, etc.  It's so much fun to give them new foods and watch them explore.  I do feel like I waste a lot of food, though.  But I'd rather give H the options and leave the choosing to him!  I've found that cracker/toast with spread (PB..I know I know...hommus, veggie puree, etc) are a big hit!

[aimeeL]

LOL - lots to catch up on!  Apparently, that's what happens when I'm in the west-est time zone..    Let's see -

Alyssa - Yup, L has NOT been wanting her cold teethers now that she's teething... it's the oddest thing.. she used to love chewing on her frozen teether and other cold stuff, but not recently.  

f you can see a little slit then it will be SORE for the next 48 hrs until you can feel it. Once you can feel it the worst is over and it isn't too bad as it pushes through

Good to know, Liz!  I've been dosing her up with Tylenol every night since we saw it, but I think I'll try putting her down tonight without it.. I wonder if maybe those first two nights that she screamed for an hour or so were the worst of it, and I missed it! - and have been giving it to her when she HASN'T really needed it...  Our little tooth sure is taking its time, too!  I swear it's in the same place as when we first saw it on Thurs... sharp little thing, though.

Also, about the bath - we stopped using the bath seat when she was around 3-4 mo old.. but I still use the baby tub on my bathroom counter... SO much easier than bending over... she's really too big for it now, but I'm putting off moving her into the regular tub as long as possible to save my back!  Have you seen those inflatable ducks that sit IN the big bath tub?  It's basically like a baby tub but it sits higher because of the inflation... anyways - it looked cute, but seemed like it might be a pain to clean...

We're going to be in GA with the ILs for father's day AND for DH's birthday... we (he) just bought a pool table, though, and that was supposed to suffice for both, but I should probably still do a little something...

Gave L a little veggie meat mushed up with her carrots this a.m. and she LOVED it... I'm wondering if she's just getting bored with the single veggie purees I've been giving her... I've just been trying to be careful with new foods because we were dealing with constipation... which is why she still gets either pears, peaches or prunes with EVERY meal; good thing she likes them..

She bfed VERY little this a.m., though - maybe 6 min, max... sighh... Had a good night, though - went down at 7:15 p.m. and up at 7 a.m., with 1 NF at midnight... haven't done a NF in forever, but I think it's because she's been taking in less during the day...

Yes - Liz, I think, mentioned it - I've found that isn't as prone to OT anymore if I miss by a few minutes here or there, HOWEVER, I've also found that there is a MAGIC window where if I put her down RIGHT THEN - she will go for 2+ hrs... if I miss by a little, then it's 1.5 hrs... if I miss by a LOT - well....

Martina - sorry he's not eating as well for you!  Made me laugh about his beeline to the dishwasher, though...  Isn't it funny the things that fascinate them?  I now understand the whole "look-at-the-world-through-a-child's-eyes" thing... I love how L is wide-eyed at EVERYTHING.. this a.m., we had our carpets cleaned (yay!!) and she could probably have sat and watched them all day.  

I was reading back and realized how judgmental I sounded about my B and SIL.  Oops.  Really didn't mean to... especially since becoming a mom myself... I have realized how quickly your child can expose your deepest flaws and weaknesses...  besides, their kids are GREAT sleepers...  

Trampolining class sounds MARVELOUS.  Sorry about the tantrum, though...

Well, better run... we leave tomorrow am so lots and lots of packing and getting ready to do today!

[~inbalance~]

Oh, self-feeding certainly isn't new for us!  Tristan's been wonderful with the finger foods from the moment he started.  I did like that he was eating both though...oh well!  Time to try something new I guess!

Aimee - are you sure she isn't get enough when she BFs?  DS never BFs for more than 10 mins (usually it's less) but I know he gets enough.  He's quite an efficient little guzzler!  They tend to get faster as they get older and more efficient, so perhaps 6 mins is all she needs right now. 

T is being quite interesting, making all sorts of faces and sticking his tongue out all day.  Lots of drool today too...gosh I hope this tooth comes soon, then we get a break....right?   

Well, almost time for the pm nap.  Fingers crossed for at least an hour! 

[aimeeL]

I'm not sure - don't think I ever am!!  I guess it's just "noteworthy" because it's been a sudden drop/decrease in time... just last wk and the one before that, I think, she was doing about 15 min!  But that's a LOT of time for her - so I'm wondering if maybe that was just a fluke/GS and now we're "back to normal"... 10 is about the norm for us... I find that's the one drawback about bfing - is not knowing how much they're taking in... That, and ugly nursing bras, of course.

Someone else mentioned the distracting thing... we went through that when she was 4-ish mo old... haven't seen it as much since, but you're right - maybe it's back..  I'm thinking of doing a split feed - before and after nap, but I'm worried that's going to make her more of a snacker...

I was also thinking that the last couple wks when she's been nursing longer, we were also on a much longer EASY - sometimes almost 5 hrs... but the last few days, she's been napping shorter, so it's more like a solid 4... so maybe I should try waiting until 4.5 hrs to feed her..

[~inbalance~]

T is really easily distracted when BFing right now too.  Any noise or movement and he whips his head around to see what's happening.  It's made it a little trickier to BF him lately as well as he seems to know other things are happy so sometimes will refuse or will stop prematurely and want to get down.  I think it's just a phase as well - like everything else!  You will probably get some clear signs that she's not getting enough liquids - not enough wet diapers, not being able to go between feeds without getting hungry and generally unsatisfied.  Give it some time and I'd say if things don't improve in a bit then maybe investigate further. 

[hjrmom01]

Aimee, hope you get all packed and have a WONDERFUL trip to GA.  If you don't have internet while you are down there you are going to have a LOT of catching up to do    We have the little inflatable duck that I used to use before H could sit up unassisted.  It really isn't that bad but I figure he's too big for it now...never thought to try it again. 

Martina, hope your pm nap goes well!  ~~~sleep well, Tristan~~~~~

We ran to our local store and got DH a father's day card...I got the recordable kind so hopefully I can get H to say Dada and I can record that and a laugh...I think he'll like that...and he'll take it to work and show it off.  He really is quite the proud daddy...he has an ipod touch and has almost 200 pictures of H on there...he takes it to work every night and updates it weekly so people can see new pictures. 

[~inbalance~]

lol - DH has a whole wall at work in his office dedicated to pictures of Tristan - so cute!   

[*Liz*]

HOWEVER, I've also found that there is a MAGIC window where if I put her down RIGHT THEN - she will go for 2+ hrs... if I miss by a little, then it's 1.5 hrs... if I miss by a LOT - well....

That is true here too - if its 1.5hrs then I should have got him down about 5 mins earlier. But 1.5 hrs is a great nap anyway. I find the next A is about 10-15 mins shorter than if it was 2 hrs. I was doing so well for a while and getting LOADS of 2 hr pm naps - but recently I've been back to 1.5 hrs. But my EWs have been much better, so I'll take that any day!!

Hmmmmm - must rememeber fathers day card for DH!!

Whereas my DH has one photo on his mobile 

[clazzat]

2 WHOLE PAGES IN AN AFTERNOON!!!  Do you girls not have children to look after??!!    I'm having to put off watching my show to read through it all.

We had a much better afternoon.  M had a good sleep at lunchtime, and while the terrible twos weren't completely gone, she was much happier.  We went to my friend's house (saw the same 2 people we saw at trampolining) and they all played really nicely together.  E was fine unless I stepped more than about 2 inches away!  We are in full-blown SA here - such a pain. 

E's christening is on fathers' day, so I don't think we'll be doing too much.  We haven't really got carried away with it before anyway - we're not big on celebrations - so we probably won't notice much difference.

E has 2 new bruises on her head - I think I might have to buy her a helmet to wear for the rest of the week in the hope that we can have a couple of bruise-free photos at the weekend.  My neighbour just came round to tell me that her lo has chicken pox, though, so we might end up with spots instead...

[X-LUV]

Thanks for the welcome back!

AimeeL, looks like you're going to be in my neck of the woods for fathers day.. I live in Austell, GA ... BTW, DS also gets extremely distracted when I'm feeding him, especially BF'ing! Its really hard to BF him in public where there is a lot of noise because he just wants to look around, even if he's really hungry...   They're so nosy at this age.

hjrmom01, the recordable cards are such a neat idea! Especially if you're able to catch DS saying "dada"... so cute! This week we are going to paint a canvas for Daddy, actually Xavier will be painting it..LOL. I'm going to try and see if he'll let me make his hand prints using toxic-free acrylic paint on the canvas so Daddy can hang it up in his office. Should be fun. I made a cute photo story book for DH using cute photos of him and DS. I teared up looking at it, I hope he loves it too!

Martina, hope Tristan sleeps well today. He might be teething especially with all that drool. Whenever DS has trouble sleeping well, I always blame it on the teething... darn teething! LOL. DS definitely has his top teeth coming in - Dr. confirmed it today. Oh btw, his appointment was great! He's in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height so I was pleased.  

[Isabellasmummy]

I've blamed teething on everything since she was about 5 months old and kind of get bored saying it... seems to go on so long but with no end in sight.

Clare- Hope E doesn't get chicken pox! that will be terrible, has M had them? glad M is a little better today? does she goes to nursery or play school at all?

Alyssa- That card idea is brilliant I anm going to see if i can get one here, plus i like the drawing idea, so i might make a little card... all she say is dada and daddy no sign of mama or anything beggining with M....
Another new work is Hi and T-O which i think she means Theo the cat... bless.... I WANT A mamma though!!

We have serious thunder and lightning here it is really scary every few minutes we get it, so far she has slept through it - BUT i bet if i step on a creaky floorboard she would wake up lol

[hjrmom01]

I like the idea of a painting, too!  Might have to go get some special paints, take H outside to go to town and get messy painting!  And of course, we'd have to do feet and hand prints 

Toni, I HATE SCARY THUNDERSTORMS!! Especially when DH isn't home.  I hope it isn't too bad and wakes Isabella up. Sounds like she's really starting to put some words together!  Mama is harder to say than dada, it's a phonetical thing...that's why the majority of kids say dada first. 

Clare, ohhh, I hope M and E don't get the pox    I'll keep sending ~~~~~stay healthy vibes~~~~~~ your way!  I hope the girls went down easily for the night and you can get some rest.  Glad that M turned around a bit today from this morning.

We had an interesting afternoon. H cried as soon as he hit the crib but I let it go...and he was asleep in less than 5 minutes!  Woke up after 40 min and I thought "here we go!" but he rolled around and went back to sleep after about 5 min    I let him sleep until 4:45 so not exactly sure what to do about bedtime?!  Kirry had suggested maybe UT and moving bedtime closer to 8.  I am going to have to just play it by ear tonight and just throw hands up in the air and caution to the wind!

[Isabellasmummy]

I'm not sure I think maybe she is OT, Especially if she might be teething, I would put her down after 3.5A time give her chance to fall asleep earlier aim for 7.30/7.45 in bed.

Isabella woke at 4.30 and she was in bed by 7.45 but because of thunder as sleep by just after 8pm, but think she is OT now.

x

[~inbalance~]

Alyssa - I'm leaning towards an earlier bedtime too - 7:30 at the latest I think.  But you'll have to see how she is and how your evening goes. 

Interestingly enough, Tristan said mama first...then it was dada for awhile and now it's back to mama all day long.   

Clare - glad your afternoon was better than the morning!  Here's hoping they don't get the pox, but on the other hand at least it will be over and done with! 

I can almost never BF in public anymore - way too distracting!  So I try to work our outings around it, and if I have to hopefully he can stay focused enough to at least take in a little.

Our pm nap was a bust, AGAIN!  Not sure if it was OT or UT, but I'm leaning towards UT even though he was screaming when he woke (which is normal most of the time).  I kept the pm nap at 2 but I probably could have pushed it a teeny bit later.  Ever so scared of the OT though!!  So, like yesterday I hope it doesn't mess up our night!

He has been quite whiny all afternoon, and is turning into quite the little biter!  I'm really hoping it's because of the teeth and not becoming a habit as it's really annoying and painful!  He just crawls up to me and tries to bite me, or if I'm holding him he'll try too.  I always say 'no' but not sure how much he understands just yet....

On the plus side, he ate all his dinner without any fuss!      What a weirdo, just can never tell what's going on inside his little brain.   

Well, time for bath and bed....fingers crossed the long afternoon A doesn't bite us in the bum!! 

[hjrmom01]

3.5 hrs would be 8:15.....woke at 4:45...that was 1.25 hrs...