March/April 05 Thread #2

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Everyone,

Since our wonderful March/April thread was almost 100 pages we thought it would be great to start a new one so as to avoid confusion.  Our old thread has been locked so no new posts can be added. 

a few things to keep in mind this time around as we have grown into a very large group (and will continue to grow Iimagine)

 :arrow: Please do not feel obligated to respond to everyone everytime you post a reply. In other words, do not feel that you need to "catch up" with everyone!
 :arrow: If you want, pop in to just tell a story or share some news!
 :arrow: If you have a question that no one here seems to be able to answer, post it elsewhere - a lot of other members have been there before, whereas most of us are going through it now with you(some of us have more than 1 child, but most are first time parents).
 :arrow: Introductions for existing members and new members would be great to help us get acquainted/reacquainted!

To start with me, I am a first time mom and am 29 years old.  DH and I have been married for 6 years    Our DD is Taylor and started out Spirited but has turned out to be pretty Textbook/Angel!  (45 minute naps and all!).  I recently quit my job as an account manager to stay home with Taylor and help DH out with his business.  We have a pug, a lab mix and a cat, so with Taylor we have a regular zoo!
My hobbies include reading, watching movies and hanging out with family and friends. 
Taylor's hobbies include blowing raspberries, squealing, rolling all around and putting anything and everything in her mouth!

Hope to talk to you all soon!
Andrea

[Richelle]

Hi Everyone,

I hope it was ok to go ahead and begin a whole new thread as I was feeling like I needed to introduce myself as well. Well thought Hannah and I also feel like an impostor most times! I know how great and understading all of you are and how great it is to know everyone here is in the same relative boat.

So here goes ;

Richelle: Hi, my name is Richelle and I am a Baby Whisperering mom...

ALL: Hi Richelle

Ok - bad joke.

Anywho my name is Richelle and I have been married to Woody for 4 years. I am a Canadian and he is British and we met and married and procriated in the Caribbean, namely the Cayman Islands. I am a Food & Beverage Consultant and Manager and am back to work full time. Sophie is our 1st baby and we have been blessed with an Angel (I can't wait for another!).

Thank you again and my dh thanks you as well - as my mood is always lightend after 'venting to you ladies.

Can't wait to meet everyone in ernest.

Richelle

[Judy]

Andrea thanks for starting this new thread!!  I wanted to reply to your second last post on the other thread but didn't before it was locked.  Do NOT feel silly being upset over the short naps.  I wasn't implying you shouldn't be upset, just that for myself I find if I can figure out WHY *I* am bothered by something I can solve things better - whether it be the nap or my 'issue'.  Believe me I get upset about these things too -   I feel like my whole day/night revolves around getting people to sleep, to stay asleep, to stop crying, to stop shouting... it's exhausting.  I've just recently given up my stressing over keeping the older girls quiet while the babies nap.  I finally realized that this is their home too and their only childhood and how fun is it if mommy tells them to stop laughing so loud in case they wake the babies?  PLUS since the babies don't seem to be so in to sleep at night, well, maybe limited the day sleep is a good thing.

Ok - so after all that...  for those who don't know I'm Judy   Mom to 4 girls, Zoe coming up on 3.5yo, Sarah just turned 2, and Kaia & Hannah almost 6month old twins.  I'll have been married 4 years this November but together with dh for 9 years now.

Our house is crazy busy and everyone but dh & I seems to feel that sleep is overrated .  K&H slept through the night (from 10pm - 7am) a few times around the 3month mark but now I can't even remember when I last slept past 4.30am.  On any typical night here I get to bed around 11pm and am woken the first time by one baby at anywhere between 3.30 & 4.30am.  Feed or not feed at least one little lady will stay awake for 1.5hours by which time her sister will be up.  By the time the second little lady had gone back to sleep the first one is often awake again - or the older two are waking up.   I've recently decided to give up the df just so I could get to sleep earlier, although Hannah obviously wasn't game with this as since then she's decided to wake on her own for this feed at 10.30pm.

They are also VERY touchy babies.  I didn't want to have to admit that since it sounds a negative label BUT, they pretty much are only happy when I'm close by and we are all in the house.  They're not so thrilled with the idea of travelling in the van (although we have gotten some quiet moments recently!!), Kaia doesn't even care so much for being outside in our own yard even.  They smile and coo and laugh a ton - but it takes very little to upset them and set them off.

Started solids just over a week ago now.  Kaia has taken to the cereal from the start and loves it.  Demanding it a little faster even.  Hannah, will smile and stick her tongue out at me or simply smirk with tight lips... opening for a bite once a day maybe (that's ONE bite in three meals).  Interestingly Hannah is very good at working the food back in her mouth to swallow and is extremely neat, not spitting out any of her ONE bite LOL.  Kaia, as I said laps it up, but each bite she takes is inserted about three times before it is all swallowed.

I am breastfeeding both girls which I do simultaneously WHILE I surf here!

[mickymuscles]

Yeah!!  I love hearing about everyone!

My name is Michelle (aka Micky) and DH and I have been married 2 1/2 years.  DH works away from home in the oil patch and is gone for 4-5 weeks at a time.  Jackson is our first munchkin.  He is a touchy/textbook/spirited cutie!  We have had a rough start.  He was an extremely crabby newborn...me not being very baby smart...just thought he was a crabby baby and so carried him all day long and then let him fall asleep on me at night :shock:  :shock: .  Well, long story short, at 4 weeks of age he had hernia surgery (harder on me then him!!), at 8 weeks of age he stopped breathing I had to resuscitate him...we spent 2 weeks in hospital trying to figure out what was wrong with him.  All tests came back normal, of course, and they figured it was bad reflux that caused him to choke and stop breathing.  Since that hospital stay we started BW and he has become a MUCH happier baby!!!  Due to meds for his reflux , having better naps, and me not being so drained from carrying him!! :shock:   Now we are waiting for his foot surgery....he definitely hasn't been a dream baby !  But I wouldn't trade him for anything! 
We also have a german shepard X named Tiga, a Rottweiller named Max, two cats Fiasco and Miko and nice fish tank....so yes this is a busy house too!!  I can't wait to keep reading about everyone!!

[Jayri]

Well hi! it is me, Naomi.
Judy, you are soo supermom, I am trying to figure the mechanics of bf twins together while surfing on here, and typing to boot.
Well for those who don't know me, as if!! This is me, I am 26, married to andrew for 3, been together for 5. We have 2 lo's Jayson Xander who is 2 1/2 and Riley Maeanne who is 6mths.
Things are relativly good here,I just wanted to pop on here and introduce myself on this new thread, we are in the midst of the start of the cold season in this household. I have been missed by it thusfar.
I will check in with you girls when I have a little more energy.

[Erin M]

Hi everybody-
I was just thinking it was a good idea to start a new thread as well, glad you all beat me to it!  Glad to hear the "introductions" though I feel like I know some of you rather well already and glad to hear from anyone new too.  I have learned so much from hearing about all of your LOs. 
Anyway...
I'm Erin, live in northwestern NJ with my husband Mark.  We've been married for 4 years and we've been together for almost 10 years (yikes!).  We have two cats, Ariel and Scout, and would love to have more pets, but we've got enough going on right now!  Up until I had Katie I was teaching 8th grade, special education - mainly learning disabled kids, behavioral stuff thrown in, lots of ADHD, stuff like that (sounds like we have that in common Ankie).  I'm on maternity leave this year, perhaps longer, but don't think our finances will allow for that.   Currently I'm working two days a week teaching other teachers how to teach dyslexic kids to read.  Katie is our first of hopefully two...or more...we'll see    and she is definitely a little angel, but a spirited one at that.  Daytime sleep is not her thing, though she usually is pretty good at night, so I never complain about the naps (well, almost never  :wink: ).  Hmmm....I think that's about it.

Micky - holy cow  :shock:  Jackson really had a rough first few weeks.  You posted last the same time as I did, so I just read about his surgery.  Hope all goes well and that it is the last of your hospital visits with the little guy.  I can't imagine how tough it has been for you. 

I look forward to hearing everyone's introductions and to continuing our chat. 
Take care,
Erin

[Colesmom]

Andrea, thanks for getting the new thread started

I'm Traci.  I'm 34 years old, married to DH Tony for 2 years Sept.26th.  I'm a SAHM until I go back to work next April.  I'm in the mutual fund accounting industry (yawn) but hope to go back to something different. Cole is just over 6 months, born April 6th.  Cole is Textbook with smidges of Angel and Spirit. 

I read BW when I was pregnant but I have a poor memory on the best of days so once Cole arrived many of the principles left my brain!  And when a baby is crying you tend to do what is necessary to get them to sleep.  Cole didn't latch well from the start so I was hesitant to introduce a paci...but once we did at 5 weeks it was a huge relief.  It used to take an hour of swaddling, shushing, swinging etc to get him to sleep without it.
I followed a loose EASY.  he didn't fall asleep on the breast.  I think my biggest mistake was overstimulation and therefore he rarely napped well.  I remember 1 2 hour nap in 4 months!

At 4 months he started waking more frequently and I made the mistake of bringing him to my bed.  He then would only return to sleep with me.  After about 3 weeks of this I re-read BW but didn't find my answers there.  I googled baby whisperer and the rest is history!  I have been here since the end of August.  It took many weeks to get Cole's sleep schedule fully in place.  It took a lot of hard work but was certainly worth it.  A baby who used to be held to sleep for all naps and bed, had a paci, went to bed between 9 and 10pm and only ever took 45 min. naps is now a dream baby.  I still feed him twice at night (10pm and 2am) but he generally sleeps 6-5:30 and takes 2 1-1.5 hour naps and a 45 min. catnap.  I used to think he was a bad car baby...but that was because he was overstimulated/overtired and couldn't soothe himself.  His is now wonderful in the car and absolutely charming in social situations.

I am so lucky to have found this site and all you wonderful women to share my thoughts, hopes, fears and concerns with.

I love coming here (as you can tell) each day to tell of how we are doing and read about everyone else.  I look forward to chatting with you all in the future, and possibly even meeting some of you sometime.  Come on Judy...lug that army to Toronto! :wink:

okay, I think that covers most of it

Traci

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Hi Everyone!

I'm Nikki, 33, and married to Simon for 5yrs.  We live in New Zealand on the lovely Kapiti Coast (Car-pity or Ka-pity depending on whether you use the Maori pronounciation or not) where we moved just prior to getting married, I've lived in quite a few cities in the Nth Island of NZ.

Nathan was a touchy/textbook baby who definitely improved when I found BW when he was 3wks old.  He's an adoring big brother to Danielle who is an angel baby through and through.  She has had about 2wks of sleeping through the night but currently wakes between 1-3am for a super quick feed (down to about 2mins). 

I'm fairly loose with the EASY routine this time around after stressing over it with Nathan and often have a lot of A before E.

I'm a SAHM, but worked up until having Nathan and then when he was 11mths old returned to work 3 days a week until I was 6mths pregnant with Danielle.  I don't intend on returning but will be starting some correspondence study in a couple of weeks to get a Diploma in Proofreading and Editing which will take about 12mths to complete - hopefully then I'll be able to freelance from home.

 

[sophieandhannah]

My name is Hannah. I live in Olympia, Washington. I am 32 years old and a 4th grade teacher. I have one child, dd Sophia born April 11, 2005.  Sophie is an angel/textbook child who can be everything else, of course.  But truthfully she has been fairly low maintenance.  I keep thinking I need to get her all sorted out before I go back to work.  And then I remember she's a baby, not lesson plans to write...that will probably always be my issue.

I also have a stepson, Brendan who is 6 years old. He lives with his mom. We have visitation every other weekend. My husband Mike and I will have been married one year on Nov. 26th...yes we were pregnant before we got married Smile
Sophia was a complete surprise and I am truly loving it, as difficult as it can be at times. Mike and I had only been together 1 year when we found out I was pregnant.  We had both been married young and divorced, thank goodness, so we had some experience/knew a little bit about what we were getting into. 
I am on leave from my job until Dec. at which point I will go back full time. I read the BW when dd was about 4 months. She slept with us up until I read bw....then we started sleep training. It was rough at first, especially getting Mike on board...but had gotten much better.  He was a stay at home dad with Brendan for awhile and can be very skeptical of advgice from parenting books.  But I have to give him credit he has really gotten on board, although I sense we are not through all of the rough waters yet (who is?).
I love coming here, venting, getting advice, sharing stoies and reading your adventures.
Thanks for being here.
Hannah

[Judy]

Come on Judy...lug that army to Toronto! :wink:

    Traci did you miss the part where K & H scream 80% of the time we're in the van?  LOL  BUT - hey, now why don't you drop on down to London?  We've got Storybook Gardens (which btw we've done and it was a nightmare to start... ok I admitted K & H were touchy,  but... so is Zoe.  My goodness I think having to walk *through* the darkish 'castle' with paybooths was too much for her.  And me being the distracted mom that I am didn't take time ahead to explain it all to her and give her time to be prepared to do it when she was ready)  Ok... see how distracted I get?  Ok - so we have nice parks!  And hey, I have an awesome playcentre that dh built right in my backyard which btw is 25acres so there's room for *everyone*.

Traci I also JUST noticed (being the overly aware person that I am) that Cole was born the same day as K&H!  Ok, but explain to me how your ticker calculates him as being 6months 1week because I thought my girls weren't quite 6 months... although I'm counting April-May-June etc. rather than weeks - that must be the difference.

I was reading that thinking "ok this is why I can't figure out how to get them to sleep - I can even figure out how old they are"   So NOW I'm amazed even more that Cole is crawling the stairs and pulling up and such!!  WOW!!  Kaia & Hannah are nowhere near that yet.  And they're so tiny yet - just over 13lbs.  In fact they are *just* fitting into sleepers that Sarah wore at 2months!!

[mrayohler]

Hi everyone!

I'm so happy to see the new thread because as hard as I tried to follow I couldn't keep up and was actually getting a little intimidated with all the unfamiliar people.  New introductions will take that all away....

Name: Michele
Age: 33
Husb: Eric - married 8 yrs together 11 yrs
Kids: 2 girls: Lauren - 3. 5yrs & Payton 7.5 mos
Home: WI, USA - Milwaukee suburb
Occupation: Full time project mgr for large insurance company YAWN! but I love it!

Introduced to babywhisperer by my sister in law and best friend.  I loved how well their kids slept and behaved and was committed to it before ever thinking about kids.  I'm always amazed at how hard I find infants and can't imagine how I would survive w/o this method.  There's no way we're having another child because my stress level about infant sleep would never allow me to stay sane.  I often think I'm honestly losing it and my kids are actually pretty good sleepers when I look at the big picture.   My husb has 8 siblings and I look at his mother and wonder what drugs she took for 15 yrs of her life to survive that (J/K)

Payton is a textbook/touchy baby who has always been a fantastic napper but often still wakes 1x at night.  I haven't fed her at night since right at 6 months old but her nights are rather short compared to many on this thread (8pm to 6am on an average night).

Both girls go to an in home daycare and I just asked the day care provider to start waking P earlier from naps (she was getting 4-5 hrs in naps and now 3-4) so she would sleep more at night.  This worked wonderful the first night (last night) but we'll see about tonight. 

Payton is so very, very happy that its often easy to miss her tired cues.  She just started doing SO BIG and I think she's waving Bye Bye to me in the morning.  She's got 2 bottom teeth and been on solids for a while now. She's not the most excited eater but is doing okay.  She really likes things with more texture than the jars of food so I'm quickly going to transition her to mushed table food.

Payton nurses for the morning feed and I pump 3 other times during the day for about 24 oz breastmilk in a day.  I'm wondering what you think your little ones are drinking in a day.

Enough, enough.  I really love interacting with you all.  Thanks for sharing and most of all listening!

Michele

[kq]

Hi,
Introductions as follows:
Also, I am Karen, 33 years old. Married to Des for 5 years. Sam is our first child. We live in Auckland, New Zealand. We discovered BW when Sam was 8 weeks old and prior to that, he had to rocked for all his naps although night sleep was good. I work at the Emergency Room, child rearing is a complete mystery to me! Am going back to work part time in the beginning of November. Would love to be a SAHM but dh says that I have brain rot and need to get out. I think that he wants some alone time with Sam..he will look after Sam while I am at work and vice versa.

I am also very confused. JUDY and TRACI, your lo's were born 26th April and your ticker says 6 months, 1 week. Sam was born on the 23rd of April and my ticker only says 5 months, 3 weeks etc... How old is he really? And you thought you were bad, Judy lol! Will have to go back and try and work it out.

Anyway, must go as time for our bedtime routine!

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

How weird with the tickers - guess it changes depending on whether they work it out as calendar months or 4wkly mths perhaps.  I have no idea how many weeks Danielle is anymore and just go on calendar months so I say she's exactly 6.5mths being born on the 1st April.

Karen, I think I read on the old thread that Sam is now on solids - was he the baby that only pooped once a week along with Danielle?  So has that changed now?  Danielle's getting better with her intake and today had 2tsp baby rice, 1/2 water cracker and 1 oven potato fry at dinner.  I doubt it will change her digestion much at this stage but she did poop twice last week which is a lot for her.  Does he show any signs of straining etc?

[solnme]

Hello everyone,

Seems like a good time to introduce myself.  I've been a spy on this thread for a minute.

I'm Roz, age 30 and my ds is 5.5 mnths.  DH and I have been married for 3 years and together for 9.   ds was a big surprise. I was too busy to realize I was pregnant until the 4th month.

I picked up BW while pregnant after leafing through about a dozen books at the store.  The information just made sense to me and boy, am I glad I bought it. 

ds is textbook/spirited and has made me take a totally new direction in life including a change in career.  I think this forum is great and have enjoyed reading this thread.  Looking forward to contributing!

[Judy]

solnme Great to meet you!!  Wow  - your pregnancy must have flown by!!  Oh cool to not find out till 4months!!  You got to miss all that 'first trimester worrying'