March/April 05 Thread #2

[Richelle]

Hi Ladies,

Sorry to have missed that darn chat again but I was zonked, I slept like the ens and so did my little ens, bless her cotton socks!!  I put her down ealry as she only napped 1 hour for both of her naps and started grumbling at 530PM :shock:  bath is usually at 630.  I bathed and had her in bed and asleep by 615 and I had to wake her at 630AM!! 

Although to answer you Jody - Sophie does usually wake around 3 or 4 AM and talks to herself for awhile before going back to sleep but if it bothers me or wakes me up I just turn the monitor down :oops:  :wink: .  I figure if she really needs me i will here her screaming.  I couldn't imagine having to worry about one waking the other up, god love you mom's with twins!

Traci- How sweet are those pictures, Cole is so flippin' cute!

Macaire - Glad to finally put a face to the name, hotstuff, lol driving with DH!

Bec - What's up?  I got all pumped as well for the picture and nada, what gives?

Cathy - I have had the pleasure of AF for the past 4 months.  I got it while still exclusively BFing but Sophie slept through the night by then so I guess that was it.  I unfortunately have her visiting at the moment (i know TMI) but am soooooo dissappointed as we are trying for another.  So, disappointed in fact I think I got too stressed about it and think maybe i need to put it out of my head for awhile .

Hayley - I give Sophie her lunch before a bottle.  I used to at breakfast as well but now i give her 1/2 her bottle an hour before solids and 1/2 right after.  Then her supper feed she gets solids and water, she has a bottle at 3PM and 1 before bed so I am not worried about her intake although at lunch she leaves a few ounces. 

Kate - That Ryan, what a smile...soooooo adorable! 

I cannot even begin to think about Christmas - our lives are mayhem right now and will be until after Christmas.  IL's get here3 on Wednesday night and will spoil her to death with presents and I know that we will have an early Christmas while I am in Canada with my parents and she will be spoiled beyond belief.  I can't imagine when I get back (Dec. 14th)having to unpack(my suitcases and all our moving boxes - could I assume that DH will do this while I am away? :roll: ) and decorate but I probably will :wink: !  We have a HUGE inflatable Xmas tree with snowmen attached - I will unflate out by the pool for some Xmas pic's of Sophie and maybe get around to doing some cards by the new year!!

I am sure that I will be back again this evening - I am at work but I am just running shifts until Saturday as I have wrapped up my admin stuff, so basically I will have time to kill unless we are busy :wink: !

[kate585]

should NOT be near the computer right now, but can't seem to stay away!  Just wanted to say great pics, Bec!  Halle seems to be a perfect  combination of you and dh...lucky girl!   :wink:

And, go, Richelle!  So excited you are almost done.  Maybe you should tell dh that the best gift he could give you is an unpacked house.  Then, if you are like me, you'd have to rearrange everything anyway, but at least it would be unpacked.   :lol:

Cathy, no AF due to low estrogen birth control...but only for another few months! 

Ummm...I think that's it.  I do not have super brain like Andrea.      
We are off for a bath and then an (early) evening at the childrens museum!  I am in this parenting group through our school district and you have to go to one group meeting and this will count. Won't stay very long but am excited to see Ryan in the baby room!
TTFN!!!

[sophieandhannah]

Hey girls.
bec, you sure do know how to make a girl feel good
Love the photos.  It is so fun to put faces with names.
It is slowly dawning on me that mothers look like us!  Does that make sense?  Or that we look like mothers?  I guess what I mean is I always sort of had this picture in my head of what a mother looks like (maybe my mother?) So I keep expecting you gals to look like "mothers" but you're all just super cute chicks with babes   How fun is that?!
Soooo sorry I missed the chat last night.  I too got embroiled in a long heart to heart with dh.  It all started when I asked him to bathe Sophie and he said "No, that's OK, I'll let you do it"...I was like "What?! You'll LET me do it?!"  How sweet of you.  :evil: (Where the shooting emoticon when you need it?)  So anywho, we needed to talk.  Thank goodness he is a good talker...once we get going.  It just amazes me how quickly things can "build up" if you don't discuss them.  And it's never done of course, there's always so much more...
Judy and ? My dh will NOT read either...totally know what you mean about the attitude of not needing another person's opinion..drives me up a wall..
Anywho...
I took some friends to the airport this am.  MIL came over to sit with dd.  Snuck into the mall afterwards to return and just happened to pick up a gorgeous pair of chocolate brown cords...mmmm...just kinda tired of wearing jeans all the time.   Mind you this is the same mall where there was a shooter yesterday...just opened fire in the mall.  Lovely huh?  Gun control anyone? 
I was supposed to go grocery shopping but, woops! used up all my time shopping for clothes...ah...who needs to eat anyway
So I totally missed you girls last night and one of the results of dh and my talk was to instate a "date" night, and get this the only night that really works is Sunday!!! Crike ...my new favorite word by the way!  OK, I know this is totally selffish, but is there ANY chance that anyone would be willing to change the chat night???  If not, of course that's ok. I just thought It can't hurt to ask.
Hope you are all well.
Hannah

[Colesmom]

i just have one thing to say, DH walking in in 2 minutes for dinner.

Hannah-i know what you're saying about us moms.  MILF, that's the word you're looking for.  it's been covered         :wink:

[kq]

Am with Hannah about wondering if we could change chat night. I work Mondays and this is when the current chat is on. Don't worry if it is a hassle.
Karen

[Richelle]

ROTFLMAO - WE ARE A BUNCH OF TASTY TID BITS AREN'T WE!

Kate - After rereading my post I thought to myself that it would probably be more work if he did actually unpack the house.  These poor DH's of ours (or at least mine) get a bad rap sometimes!!  I love that big lug but I honestly do not know how I have gotten by without smacking him around at times :oops:  :lol: !  He always says that it is good that he drives me crazy, that means that I am still nuts about him and that he can't wait to be crochety old bitties nagging at eachother!

I am also interested in this organization 'thing' that involves a shiny sink? 

Naomi - Was it you who suggested the Caribbean cruise?  Take a cruise here and we can all hang at my house for the day!! :lol:  :shock: !  Wouldn't it truley be great to all meet up?  We could have a MILF convention!

Anyway should go try and appear busy :oops:  :shock: !

[Arwyn's mom]

You ladies are just great... my entertainment for the day... during the day... during my free time... at night... spending way too much time on here!!

Great pictures everybody! Thanks for posting, Bec!! Was going blue from holding my breath  :wink:

Missed you chatting, Hannah!

So... no AF here either. EBFing and even when feedings were missed when Arwyn slept through the night (which is NOT now  :roll: ).

Karen... about giving the bottle... So... did you mean that you gave Sam the boob before and after those 6 hours? I need to start giving the bottle and I need Arwyn to take it before Dec 1st. I have a 3 day meeting starting then. Also, I am afraid that if I don't BF her during the day, she will use the night to make up for it!! What's your opinion.

Traci... what have you tried so far?

Hayley... how did you do it, again? I tried to go back in the pages to find it but hey, we are up to 114 pages and I have a short napper :wink: .

Frozen BM... anyone notice that it smells funny? Not at all like fresh BM?

[Richelle]

Ankie - I had to post!!  When I read your post I thouhgt to myself Frozen BM (Bowel Movement)?  What in the heck is she freezing poo for? Come on especially after the next line - Notice that it smells funny :shock:  :shock: !

OMG I am sooo thick somtimes - it seriously took me an embarassing few moments to catch on :oops:  :shock:    :roll: !

[Carter'sMama]

I think it is weird how AF works ... there is nor rhyme or reason eh?  I got mine back at 2 months postpartum and it lasted for a whole MONTH!!!!  Then nothing for 2 months.  I went to my ob who said I had low estrogen and may not get AF for a year, and he put me on estrogen cream.  Last month AF shows up, lasts 5 days (shorter than prepregnancy) and now nothing again.  Who knows ... definitely makes it hard to ttc!!!

Ankie:  I totally know what you mean about frozen breast milk.  I am always afraid that it has gone bad because it smells funny.

We just got home from getting Carter's Xmas pics done.  I won't get them for 2 weeks unfortunately but they turned out really nice.  I planned them for the same time that DH gets home from work so he showed up just as we were starting and Carter was all smiles cause his Daddy was there.

Anyway, it's bottle and then bf time sooo here's hoping everyone has a great night!

[Olivia's Mommy]

Holly--sorry to hear about the cold. Olivia just got over one (and now DH and I have it!) She also refused bottle and solids the whole time she was sick. I ended up offering her bottle every couple of hours instead of at regular feeding times, b/c she would only eat 2-3 oz at a time. I figured since she was sick it was OK. Since she's been feeling better the last couple of days, her appetite has returned to normal and so have feeding times.

Traci--when we were trying to first get Liv to take a bottle, we tried offering every hour like the book suggested, but she only got more mad the hungrier she got. We finally caved in. What worked for us was offering it to her at the same feeding each day (only one feeding). If she refused after 15-20 minutes, I BF her. It took about a week of doing this before she finally took it with no problem.

Cathy--no AF yet. I BF for 4 1/2 months. I called my OB last month when I got no AF, and she said it's common and the longer you BF the longer it can take for AF to return.

OK, girls, here's a question--DH has been home since Friday afternoon sick. Olivia was taking great naps until yesterday. Suddenly they've gotten shorter (today only 2 30-min naps!!) and she's having a hard time going down at night (not like her). We've tried to keep to the routine (as much as we can with both of us being sick). Do you think just having DH around all the time is throwing her off? He plays with her and carries her around more than I do when it's just me all day. Any thoughts on this? DH is feeling better and going back to work tomorrow, so I'm ready to get back into our regular routine...just in time to leave on Wed for the holidays! Aaauuuggghhh!!!

Speaking of having trouble going to bed...have to go settle her. Catch you girls later.

[Judy]

Nancy: Yes it likely IS dh throwing a wrench into things.  Life is much different here when dh is at work than on weekends.

[sophieandhannah]

Hardly on the eye bags Bec.

Definately different with the dh around...can sometimes be harder.

Af is all over the place since dd.  Who knew things would be so different for so long

Thanks for the info on signing Ankie.  So when you say you only reinforce her when there is milk around what do you mean by reinforce? Sign back? Dh cracks me up sometimes.  he wants to make her sign milk before he gives her the milk, so he holds the bottle behind his back waiting for her to sign it :? I mean I'm no expert but that kinda goes against my common sense.

I had a little giggle at frozen BM too...anything having to do with butts pretty much makes me laugh...Sophie will love my sense of humor from about age 3-7
Someone once told me that you should taste your bm (EEEEWWWWW gross...OK got out my 1st grade humor) Breast Milk that is (some of you may still be saying eeewww grrooosss) so that you know what it tastes like fresh vs. sour.   It kinda makes sense.  I can't really bring myself to do it all the time, but  I did do it once or twice with fresh milk so I have a good idea what that tastes like so now if I have any concerns (which is rare any more) I'll tase a tiny bit.
Hopefully I haven't ruined all of your appetites.
Of course now tonight I have all the time in the world...dh working late. I'll check back in a few minutes (Oh who am I kidding---I'll be checking back all night If anyone is on and wanting to chat...let me know  I also have a stack of  2nd hand People magazines calling my name...soooo trashy and such a delicious waste of time.
Hannah

[Arwyn's mom]

Hannah... I'm here and DH is not... will sign in to the chat room and stay there until 7:45 pm PST.

[Little Bear's Mum]

Richelle & Ankie = ROTFLMAO (is that right???) I was laughing so much at frozen pooh that Daniel started laughing too!! :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Okay, as for the bottle, firstly I found it was DEFINITELY the type of bottle/teet that did the trick (I'm sure of it). It's called a B-Free bottle was called Dr Brown's bottle but now renamed. They come from the UK but there's an importer in NZ that I got mine from. The teet is really soft and Daniel was able to do the breastfeeding 'suck' from it and get milk out, whereas with the normal bottles if they do that nothing comes out. So for the first day he managed to get milk from it even though not sucking correctly. We've tried Tommee Tippee and Avent and the flat teets since he was about 2 months and he would never drink from them. Even when I tried one day once before not giving him any feeds but bottle, he just got really upset. And a nanny told me not to try feeding bottle when they're upset, wait until he calms down or it will be worse.

Secondly, although he took the bottle from DH he actually preferred to take it from me. He's fed for 7 months from me, so I think he found it more reassuring/comforting. But yes, I left DH to feed him for the day. He got up for the first feed, he took about 50 mls I think only, still had solids as usual and we put some of the formula in the solids too, so he could get used to the taste. I did come and go a couple of times during the day but NOT around feed times. Just so Daniel knew I hadn't abandoned him. Also we made sure he saw me leave.

The other thing I did which I think helped was for about 1 month prior to the day I started giving him the bottle with water in it as a play toy. Just so he could get used to it being in his mouth. THat was before I got the great bottle. He would chew on it mostly, but every so often I'd try to give it to him with formula in it or b/milk and while he was playing with it try to feed him with it while he was sitting down. Oh yeah, the first couple of days we COULD NOT HOLD HIM. He would sit on the floor infront of us and just tilt his head back for it. The bed time feed was the first one he'd let me hold him for.

The actual day of change over we kept the routine the same. He probably took about 600mls throughout the day. He now happily takes 1 litre or more if I'd let him! The other trick is to have the bottle quite warm. Warmer than the temperature indicators say to have it. If it cools down while feeding he'll often stop drinking! If I reheat it he'll take it again. As a guide I microwave it for about 15-20 seconds if it starts at room temperature.

Sorry this is so long, but I was soooo relieved when it finally worked, I know what you're going thru, so anything I can say that might just help I'm happy to share. If you want to know anything else, just PM me.

Gotta go, Daniel's wanting dinner.

[Richelle]

Hannah

I was trying to PM you and it wasn't going through.  I was trying to tell you I got booted off the computer, or site or something. 

I am not sure but I was all pumped to have a beer with you, poop!

So sorry....talk to you soon...