Babies of Oct-Dec /04

[MorganLeigh]

GiGi's mom! Morgan is very random with strangers. She will talk to anyone but if I try to hand her off she freaks, not with everyone though and not everytime she sees them. And thanks, she likes to put cloth, cotton any kind of clothing on her head and crawl around. She does it with her night night too. its so cute to be sitting here at my desk and see her prance in here with some strange clothing item on her head!

[jillybeansmith]

Lindsey - Connor is wonderful with strangers, so far, the only trouble that he has with strangers (or with anyone), is there approach.  If they approach him too quickly or there is something in their voice that is sharp or the get in his face and startles them, he will freak...and he can be quite unforgiving.  My aunt moved in on him too quickly once, and it took him a few times to see her before he would warm up to her.  Other than that, I can leave him with anyone. 

I went to a soccer party a month ago, and I had some things to bring in from the car.  I brought Con in and sat him down on a friends lap (that he never met), and went out and got the stuff.  He was happy that I came back for him and he was looking for me, but he wasn't upset sitting on her lap...

Sleep - Last night, Connor & I had a wonderful sleep...BUT...I probably didn't do things the way I should.  Firstly, I think he might be afraid of the dark, so I left his light on, and he fell asleep without a fuss (like during the day naps), but then woke up with gas at 10:00, and wouldn't settle.  I put him in his rocker/bouncer (I got one to accomodate a bigger child..up to 40 lbs), and let him relax with us...he drifted off, stayed asleep until 1:30 (the usual)...I heard him start to stir, rolled over, rubbed his hair for 10 secconds, and off he went again, until 3:30 (the other usual time), I rubbed his hair again, off he went...then at 5:00, I gave him a bottle.  This is the wrong way of going about things, but boy it was nice to have him settle so quickly...I was only up for 2 minutes total!!! 

So, he didn't have to fall asleep in the car...he was close to me without being in the same bed, and he was quick to settle....

[lil'monkey]

Caroline - day 1 was fine as dd went to sleep for her nap and bedtime very easily.  However, the following days were not so great.  I don't know if it is b/c of her night wakings or what but she clearly needed the second nap (but not without some fussing) :roll: .  Lately I'm just taking things in stride and offer her the second nap but if she screams/cry then I'll try again in 30 min.  But I stop at 4 pm.  It would seem that her awake times are 3hrs & 45 min and 4 hrs on a good day.  This really messes up her eating schedule so at the moment, it seems that I'm offering her something to eat/bottle every 2-3 hrs.  Oh well, such is motherhood! :?

Lindsey - dd is great with strangers.  She doesn't mind them at all.  If only she feel the same way about her ped as well.  Everytime she sees him, she would cry with these huge tears running down her face.

Phoebe - I know how you feel about wanting to head back to work.  Just the other day, I wanted to call my manager and asked if I can start right away!  You love them so much yet, it is very hard to deal with the crying, screaming, whining, and lack of sleep. 

DD has found a new way to express her love/affection - biting/slobbering your nose!  I guess she sees us kissing and haven't quite got the aim down yet.

What is your lo's unique way of expressing love?

[Gigismom]

GIANNA IS FINALLY CRAWLING!! IT'S A MIRACLE!!!!!

that's all i got...

[Gigismom]

by the way, does this mean i have to now vaccuum EVERY day or what?  how clean are your floors? 

ps-we have 2 (indoor) dogs...

[pdb]

Lindsey - Susana has been the same way about strangers, but not all strangers.  She seems to go through phases too.  Sometimes she's all smiles for anyone she sees.  Other times she screams her head off if someone looks at her.  In fact, she screamed her head off everytime she saw my mil from the time she was 4 months until just recently.  Way to go on the crawling.  I know you are excited.  We also have a German Shepherd that lives inside and 3 cats.  When I was home, I vaccuumed the lr rug once at least once a day and swept at least twice. (we have hardwoods)  I still try to do that, but there are days when it doesn't get done now that I'm working.  I'm sure my child will be the first ever to get a hairball. :lol:

Mimi - Susana also does the open mouth kiss sometimes and lately it's turning into the open mouthed bite.  :shock:

jilly- Glad you got some sleep.  Sometimes it's worth it to do whatever it takes.

Caroline - I feel constantly overwhelmed.  I am so far behind at work it's ridiculous.  Teaching was always overwhelming even without a child, but now it's so much worse.  But I don't have the option of staying home, so I just have to keep wading through and try to keep my head above water.  Where in SC did you teach?

Sleep is better here.      Went to the doctor yesterday and no ear infection.  He thinks it's just the teething that's throwing her off.  She's gotten four teeth in the past couple of weeks with another one coming any day now.  I figured that was all it was combined with some separation anxiety, but she tends to get ear infections when she's teething so I wanted to be sure.  We went back to sleep lady techniques last night.  It took her a while to fall asleep, but she didn't wake up at all last night.  Tonight I just left the room.  She did a whiny cry for about 30 minutes but then went to sleep on her own.  I knew if I went in and sat by her crib, she would just get more upset trying to get me to pick her up.  She's quite the drama queen.  Dh is getting better but still not back to his usual self.  I have a crazy couple of weeks.  Have to stay at school until 6:30 tomorrow and then PTA next Tuesday night.  That combined with having to take my husband to PT twice a week is going to make it tough, but then hopefully things will settle back down.

[ForeverHopeful]

Hi everyone  Was wondering if I could join you. 

I just make the cut.  Owen was born 31st Dec 2004.  I've been reading your posts for past couple of weeks because we've been having a more difficult time than usual.  It's nice to hear similar stories to mine.

Our schedule is great.  I REALLY can't complain too much.  It's mainly the mobility issue at the moment.  He is sooooo ready to crawl.  But just can't!  :lol:

I'm glad to meet you all and hope to have plenty of input 

[ForeverHopeful]

Oh, my name is Laura and I'm from Scotland.  I really need to put on a signature in my posts.  I thought I did but didn't see an option to attach it  :?

[jillybeansmith]

Hope all goes well with any southerners that we have here (alligirl??)...with hurricane Rita...Good luck, keep safe!!!!

[lil'monkey]

Welcome Laura!

Yay Gianna!!!

[lisa regent]

welcome Laura I'm new to the site also, I live near Manchester England, my gorgeous boy Ben is almost 10 months now and is the same as your baby he so wants to crawl but can't, we have a wood laminate floor and I think he is frightened of falling onto it which he has a couple of times! He leans right over but just can't seem to go the extra little bit, if I put him up on hands and knees he just moves backwards and eventually sits back on his bottom! I'm not overly worried cause I know that once he starts there will be no stopping him! and I'll wish he was sat in one place again, good luck with your little one. 

[Gigismom]

welcome laura and owen.  glad to have you.

some serious news:  this am, our 3 year old weimaraner bit gianna in the face!  (she's ok)  i was sitting RIGHT there.  mainly i am posting this story to remind everyone that ANY dog can bite under the right circumstances.  bailee (the dog) has had professional obedience training and is very obedient.  from day one, she has been excellent with gianna.  we only allowed her contact with gianna's scent for the first few months, but gradually increased their contact.  now we allow them to sit together on the floor as long as one of us is sitting literally right there supervising.  we allow some actual physical contact as we guide gianna's hand teaching her "gentle" and to respect the dog (and vice versa).  when she does occasionally pinch or pull, bailee either responds by getting up and leaving or scooting away.  so for the last 9 months, there have been NO signs of aggression or even dominance toward gigi. 
but today, we three were sitting there.  i have no idea what happened because it was over in half a second.  i saw gianna scoot toward the dog.  i am assuming she must have hurt bailee somehow as bailee yelped, growled and next thing i knew, gianna was knocked over and had a puncture wound on her forehead.  i cringe when i think it could have been her eye.
we always swore that if one of our dogs ever hurt gianna, the dog would be gone no questions asked.  it is proving to be harder than that.  bailee really is like one of the family, but obviously gianna's safety comes in far ahead of that.  my dh is doing research online today and we are contacting various weimaraner rescues and trainers to get opinions and advice.  it could be a freak thing that never happens again or a sign of what she is capable of.  i take some comfort in knowing that it wasn't sheer aggression (she was obviously hurt) and that it was really a warning nip.  bailee is 75+ pounds and capable of far more than that.  in any case, i feel horrible because it basically is my fault as i was the adult in charge.  anyway, just thought i'd post this little reminder so no one gets too comfortable with babies and pets.  hope this never happens again in our home or any of yours.

[jillybeansmith]

Wow..that's scary...will there be any scarring on Gianna?
We don't have a dog, but my husband's parents have 5 in the house...only one is allowed in the room when Connor is there, but you just never know...One is an unpredictable sharpay (I don't know how to spell it)...but he's never allowed around Connor.

Anybody's kids slowing down on the formula consumption???

Anybody's kids switching to one nap???

Also...I think Connor is scared of the dark..Still doesn't sleep though the night, but he kicks up no fuss about going into his bedroom now...he falls asleep on his own at 7:00...I had a nightlight, but now I have a lamp on...Anybody else have a fear of the dark?

He would scream as soon as I went from the hallway into his room....

[MomtoRee]

Welcome Laura!

That is so scary about the dog.  That is why I don't want any dogs around Reegan.  My dog that usually lets my nephew sit on her and pull her tail nipped at him.  Plus we have a serious dog bite case at work that had never done anything like that before.  Never know what they are going to do.  Better be safe than sorry is what I think. 

Crongrats on the crawling!  I know what you mean about cleaning the floor.  Our carpet is old and I steam clean it all the time.  I just don't think that the vacuum gets it all and Reegan finds every tiny thing on the floor.  It is so cut when she finds something and picks it up I say "no" and she shakes her head no and hands it to me.  I was so ready for her to crawl and it has only been a week and now I am ready for her to be still again.  She goes straight for whatever she can't have.  So don't be in a hurry for them to crawl. 

How is signing going foe everyone?  Reegan does milk when she is hungry and when I am getting ready to feed her.  She also does "all done" when she is done eating and more. 

We just finished tooth 8.  Last night was not fun.  I ended up feeding her at 11:30 last night because she wouldn't settle and I knew that she was in pain.  Since she only wakes at 5:30 and I always feed her I think that is the only way to settle her now  :oops:  We are gone out of town everyweekend in October for weddings and then I am going to drop that feed, I think  :?  I know that is is past time. 

With the one nap we only have one every once in awhile.  I think that she will be switching in a month or so.  Right now it is hard if she gets up a little late or takes a little longer nap.

[pdb]

Lindsey - How awful!  Your story reminded me that I need to be more careful with my animals.  We have an 85 pound German Shepherd, who we took through obedience training and is very tolerant.  But you're right, a dog is a dog and as our trainer taught us, ALL dogs bite. I must confess I've been a little too slack with Susana's interactions with our dog.  She tries to grab him and will pull his hair.  He so far has been very good and will just get up and walk away or lick her, but I guess I need to be more careful.  I'm glad to hear Gianna wasn't seriously hurt.  I know how difficult it must be for you to decide what to do about your dog.  Our dog is also like our first child.

Welcome Laura!