March/April Thread #3

[Jayri]

hey girls, just a quick note beofre I go to bed, we have a very earlt start tomorrow as it is Jay's first day at daycare. No biggie about Janean, I don't think she realised how much I have changed since I have had my children. We do have a possible place for Ri, to start in January, we have to go and check it out this week, PLUS she said she would follow a routine if I wrote it down for her. I was so worried that she would fall off her routine if she went else where, but his lady has no probs with it.
Just wondering, Ri is now getting very hard to wind down, she is fine at first but then goes NUTS when she realises what is going on, there are a few things I can think of that it could be;
1- anxiety from me going to work
2- she could need a longer A time, she is now at 3hrs....or....
3- it could be her teeth that hurt her when she lays down.
It seems at times that it is only me that can comfort her, other times nothing works and the best I can do is to hold her and whisper in her ear that it is all okay.
I am just looking for suggestions so I can maybe pin point what is going on with her, I may have her at 3.5hrs for A time to see how she goes as she does not seem tired at the 3hr mark.
k....I am off to bed my fine hotties, I will "see" you all when I am home from work and the kids are tucked in bed.
Enjoy your day tomorrow....where ever you are....

[kate585]

Oh my goodness!  I am so excited for you, Erin!  I got goosebumps...it must be all the positive vibes from around the globe that made that ring pop up!

Traci, I can't believe Cold has gotten TEETH (you can say that word now!)  I'm hoping Ryan gets some before his first b-day.   :roll:   Scary about the standing, but so fun, too.  ~~~Good vibes~~~ for your Dad!

Nikki, Micky, Lisa, Ankie---love the pics!  (Hope that was everyone). 

Michelle, hope Molly is feeling better.  So smart to take her to the urgent care instead of just waiting until tomorrow to see if she felt better (that's what I might have done  :oops: ). 

Well, we'll see how tonight goes.  I had to do pu/pd for both naps and bedtime tonight.  It seemed MUCH less stressful though, as he isn't really crying too much just standing up a lot (but he cries if I leave...so confusing!)  I'm hoping he'll repeat last night again.  I feel SOOOO much better after a decent night of sleep after almost a week of crap sleep.  Well, I should go, just in case it doesn't work out well.

Have a great Monday!!!!

[hayes]

Quick note.  DH needs attention AGAIN after a long weekend with his buddy here! 
Traci-Thinking about you and saying lots of prayers for your dad. Time here is going way too fast.  Everytime I say that to others they say, then just have another one!!
Erin-Yippee!  I shouted out loud when you said that you found your ring.  DH lost his in a school dumpster after loading bales of hay.  We went through the entire thing tons of sour milk, half eaten hot dogs, rotten apples BARF.  Never found it but the insurance paid for a new one.
Hannah-THinking about you as you go back to work.
Olivia-so glad that someone else has similiar probs at Church.  Now they know that Ben will be a red eyed maniac by the time we pick him up. 
Everyone who posted pictures-so adorable keep them coming.
Cathy-I pureed up some soup tonight and Ben loved it.  He is into peas.  Hates brocolli and green beans.  I am thinking they may hurt his tummy or he just hates green vegetables.
Kate-Remind DH how well everything has been going up to now in regard to BW and remind him to be patient!
Naomi-Do you think that the activity time is too long.  If I go 15 minutes past bed time here there is a lot of crying.  Glad that you are looking for a new nannie.  The right one will be placed in your path.
Holly-Prayers for your dad are being sent tonight.
Cathy-Hope your vision improves with rest and help from the doc.
Judy-You continue to amaze me and remind me that I do want lots of kids.
Love love love surprises here.  CHristmas presents are hidden in the rafters so I can't peek.  We didn't find out the sex.  I was hoping for a boy but said I didn't care.  Can't wait to have another baby and do it all again.  Had 2 names for a boy and a girl.  When the little bugger popped out we knew which boy name would work.
OFf to bed. 
hugs to all of those who need it and a virtual coffee time with lots of chatting for those who need company.
This ended up being a bit longer than expected!
macaire

[B&BMommy]

Kate-Congrats on last night!

Naomi-love your new cut! Looks great!  Sorry it didn't work out with Janean, but glad you found out now!

Nikki-great pics

Traci - as for Brady, I got all stressed out cause I found a lump just a small on the back of his neck, worried, but my mom and dh say its nothing...and I'm starting to think its nothing as well, just me being overly cautious. As I said on the phone to you earlier today....YAH  for the teeth and the standing up...I'm so proud of Cole .....Positive vibes for your dad and his surgery tomorrow....

Micky - Love the pic 

Erin - wow great that the ring showed up!!!!!  I'm so happy for ay!

Cathy-I'm sorry about your eyes.  Great though for the good sleep.


Michelle- Hope Molly feels better very soon.

Ankie-love the cute pics

As for us, I have to say I'm so happy, well rested...as Traci mentioned (shhh, don't want to jinx myself too much) but we had a great night of sleep last night. Better than ever!  Finally 8.5 months later...lol...Brady went down at 8pm with no problems, settled within 10 minutes and slept till 1am, was up wanted to play until 2:30am, then back to sleep until 7 am .....Yah!!!! 

Today two great naps again, both 2.0 hours long had to wake him both times...then bed at 8pm again, and only stirred twice and settled back...again don't want to jinx myself but here's hoping we have another good night...can you tell I'm excited...lol

Night All! 

Holly - Mom of Brady - Our Touchy/Spirited/Textbook Little Boy - Born March 20 2005

[B&BMommy]

macaire - we were typing away at the same time, sorry I missed ya... I know what you mean about the green beans, we are keeping them away from Brady right now too, they really bother his tummy, lots of gas etc. thanks for the prayers...well appreciated.

Holly - Mom of Brady - Our Touchy/Spirited/Textbook Little Boy - Born March 20 2005

[B&BMommy]

Finally here is a pic of Brady and I...Dh took it at the birthday party last weekend. Not the best pic of me, but oh well, at least its one!

[B&BMommy]

one more pic, this is Brady with the clowns, he made friends...lol at the birthday party last week.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Good to see some more pics of everyone - Holly, Naomi (cute haircut), Lisa and Ankie.

Naomi, sorry your nanny didn't work out, but you sound positive about your new options.  With Ri now fighting naps, just wondering if Janene stuck with the same routine for putting Ri down for naps and did she deal with any crying in the same way? 

Erin, yay for finding your ring!

Kate and Holly, good luck with your pu/pd tonight.

Macaire, that's so funny that you need to hide the pressies in the rafters so you can't peek.  :lol:

Kate, I'm wondering if D will pop teeth by her birthday as well.

Traci, your night out sounds really nice.  Positive vibes for your dad's surgery.

Michelle, sorry to hear about Molly's ear infection.

Night all.

[Olivia's Mommy]

Wow...a lot to catch up on after being away for the weekend. It was cold and yucky here, so we all spent a quiet weekend inside. Although DH did watch Liv a couple hours yesterday so I could get out and do some shopping...it was crazy out there!!

Ankie--YEAH Arwyn for the poo!! Isn't it funny the things we get excited over these days?

Nikki--beautiful family!

Kate--YEAH for sleep!

Erin--YEAH for finding your ring!

Michelle--so sorry to hear about Molly's ear infection. Liv had a bad cold that almost turned into infection a couple of weeks ago. It was the longest few days of my life!! (Didn't help that I was sick, too.)

Naomi--cute hair! Your problems at bedtime could be teeth. Liv fought sleep a few nights last week (she usually goes down no problem). It ended up she had another tooth coming through (her 3rd). I just tried to make her comfortable and give her extra cuddles during the bedtime routine.

We're now in the process of dropping the dreamfeed. It seems to be doing well so far. We've moved it from 11:00  to 10:00 and from 6 oz to 4 oz. So far, there doesn't seem to be any change in her sleep. She still sleeps the rest of the night. (I hope I don't jinx it now!)

I'm going to attempt Christmas pictures tomorrow on my own...just me, my camera, Liv and the Christmas tree. I hope it's not a colossal failure. We will also be going to DHs workplace for pictures with Santa sometime...he keeps forgetting to send me the info on it. Men!

Well, off to sleep. Wishing everyone a good night's sleep.

[mickymuscles]

Traci: We'll thinking of you and your family tomorrow.  I hope all goes well!!!  (((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))

Erin: Yippy!!!  I'm so glad you found your ring!!  I would be a wreck if I lost mine!

Good Luck to Holly and Kate with PU/PD.  I hope your nights start to smooth out.  You too Ankie!!!

Michelle: I hope Molly is starting to feel better soon!  That's gotta be hard on both of you! That was smart of you to check out our website before we were supposed to meet.....I would never have thought of that!  A little slow sometimes!!    Maybe next time we will actually get to meet!  :wink:

[kq]

Hi all,
NIKKI-great pic and I cannot believe how much Nathan has grown..the new diet must be working well.
ANKIE-Sam would have screamed the mall down if I had handed him over to Santa to get a pic...he is not so keen on strangers at the mo.
TRACI and HOLLY-hugs and prayers for your dads.
Sooo please to hear you found your ring, ERIN. I would have been a wreck if I had lost mine!
JUDY-your tree sounds hillarious! Your girls are such characters. I love reading about them.
KATE-glad to hear that your nights are getting better. Hang in there.
NAOMI-cute haircut. Hope the new childcare works out. Good that you found out when you did though!
MICKY-love your little drummer boy

Sam has taken to waking at 5 am. The last time he did this, he sprouted 2 teeth or toothy buds as we call them. Hoping that there is a 3rd on the way or I am stumped as to what is causing the wakings..maybe it is the darn birds chirping at 4.30 am!!!! :evil:

Date night was fun and we survived a night out without missing Sam too much! He did just great and did not even stir. Discovered that we are just as happy at home watching a movie and having takeaways so that was a revelation!

And the T in BRAT stands for toast!! Read somewhere that B.R.A.T represents bungy up foods...banana, rice, apple and TOAST!!! Loved all the other suggestions though.

Am off to bed as I am gearing myself up for another 5 am waking.  Sorry this ended up being sooo long. :oops:  :wink:

[Judy]

Nikki your new avatar is so cute.  D&N look so much alike.  Loved the HAPPY family pic to awesome!!!

DH comes home tonight   YAY!!!  In fact his flight should be taking off from Germany any moment now!!  I hope he gets into Toronto and out of the airport on time and is home by supper.  That's what I've told the girls and boy is it going to be bad around here if it doesn't happen. 

We had a LONG night.  Kaia was up at 10.30pm just unsettled and sad.  Mayber her top tooth??  She was a bit warm but not a 'fever' per se.   Ended up having to feed her/let her suckle so she'd go to sleep.  Then Sarah woke having peed the bed   Gosh she must be upset with Chris gone - it's been a rough pee week for her.  She didn't want to get IN the bath then didn't want to get OUT of the bath.  And I didn't want her waking up everyone else.  It was a frustrating half hour of her crying that she wanted to get dressed MYSELF! yet wrapped around my leg crying "mommy mommy" and complaining she was cold.  But if I dared to touch her underwear even just to help get the right leg in she'd take them off.  I honestly was crouched down for a couple minutes with her screaming and putting a leg in, taking it out, other leg in, take it out, first leg in ....  OMG!! It was 11.30pm and I still had to change the sheets and get the fire going for the night!!  ACK!!  I wasn't so happy.  Her pillow had to go in the wash so I gave her one of Chris' pillows and she kept crying that it was "tight"  What does that mean? Too fluffy?  She woke me up at 4am to have that same arguement again.  I finally had to give her my stern voice "Sarah, I do not want to talk about the pillow.  I don't understand what is wrong with it.  Use it, don't use it, come to my bed it doesn't matter but *I* am going back to sleep!"  And Kaia was crying on and off for 15minutes at 3am.  But at least they didn't wake at 4.45AM they waited till 5.45AM this time... funny how 5.45am seems good all of a sudden  :roll:

Soooo my plan today?  I'm thinking VIDEO!!  Hope K&H will both sleep more than 30min (one or both have only been napping 30min MAX for the last half week) and Z&S can watch DORA and I can sleep.   A girl can dream anyway can't she? 

Sorry to hear about the ear infection   Ick.  And poor sleeps   Thrilled to hear Brady had a good night!!  And Cole is standing up?  Wow!!  K&H are just working at crawling and still trying to balance longer for sitting on their own. So different than Z&S were. (OUCH!!!  Kaia just gave me the hardest bite ever and wouldn't let go!! Geeeeeez... Ankie, how's that on your end?)  On that end I have to go - oh the throbbing nipple!!  :oops:  :oops:

[Colesmom]

Judy-Ouchie on the nipple, and after such a dreaded night :cry:   so hope DH gets home on time and you get a break!

Kate/Holly-hope the night turned out well again.

Erin-woohoo!  so great you found your ring.  hmmmm, maybe you can get a nice necklace instead of the replacement ring :wink:

Naomi-sorry about the difficult windown...not sure why.  maybe Nikki's onto something if Janean hasn't been consistent? 

okay, we had our WORST night ever.  after such a fantastic bedtime I cannot believe what happened.  Cole was up 3 times from 9-9:30.  Would settle back but just kept waking.  I thought maybe his 5:30 feed wasn't so great so I fed him.  Then he was up every 20 minutes all night long.  Would settle in his crib but then wake again.  No screaming or crying just couldn't sleep.  I did from 9:45 to about 2:00, then DH took him until 5:15.  I tried Oval and I tried tylenol.  He would even wake in my arms and with DH on the futon :?:  :roll:  :cry:  :?  He would grunt occasionally and pull up his legs.  I thought of getting up and feeding prunes but just thought maybe it would get better-nope.  Fed him at 5:15 thinking must be hungry, good feed, still didn't settle, fed more at 6:00, still didn't settle.  got him up and fed prunes, carrots and oatmeal.  15 minutes later a poop. not huge but listen to this.  I looked at it (as I always do, the curious mom I am) and there was something WHITE in it.  And HARD.  I looked closer.  It was a WATERMELON seed.  DH had let him suck on a piece of watermelon at lunch yesterday before I turned around and gave him WHAT FOR!!  He's been down for 1:15 minutes now for first nap, totally unassisted so I'm thinking DH is to blame for our totally crappy night!!  poor cole, his belly was probably aching all night long :oops:

I was rewriting my log last night and also noticed our sleep went downhill when we started zucchini.  so, going to eliminate that and see how we go. I used to log every sleep, eat etc on a pad of paper, also jotted down milestones, then I rewrite main stuff in my good log.  Anyway, stopped doing the notepad on the 25th so I am learning to relax a little bit anyway

i totally should have showered but thought cole would wake from his nap early.  on a positive note i had a much needed 1 hour massage this morning.  unfortunately the room was freezing so it wasn't as relaxing as i would have liked, but still needed it as my neck is still a mess.

have a good day ladies.  Cole and I off to ped at noon.  Figured couldn't hurt to get him checked.

[Judy]

Traci what a crappy night!!  Poor Cole   Sounds like he's feeling better though after getting that seed out

Sorry about the cold massage - nothing worse than a cold room.  Geez they should know better.  I haven't had a massage in ages - mmm I should really book one soon - how nice would that be?  Yup I think I'll do that this morning  - book it I mean.

Keep us posted on your dad too ok?

Erin - yes how cool about the ring. Isn't that funny that you took the machine apart and couldn't find it then it shows up in the lint trap?  Must have been stuck somewhere?  In any event too cool that you've got it back now.

Well had 30min nap on the couch this am with the girls watching Dora.  Would have like more but I'll take it   Been checking dh's flight onling - so far it's ontime (anxious or what eh?)  I hate it when people I know are flying... I like them on the ground!!

K&H are waking up, gotta feed them, gotta get myself dressed and gotta bring in some wood.  Almost out and it's cold so I need to keep the house warm today.

Oh and Traci - good for you letting go of the journals a little bit.  I think journals are great to keep but I found too that it became so consuming when I kept mine.  Just take each day as it comes

[albertasweetpea]

Morning guys!! Or afternoon, evening...wherever you are!! Just wanted to thank you all for the thoughts of Molly and her wee ears! She is much better this morning after just 2 doses of antibiotics. Only woke up once last night, around 4 am moaning...so I gave her Tylenol and she slept another hour and a half.

Erin - how wonderful about your ring!! A new one would have been nice, but the old sentimental one is even better!!

Traci - "crappy" night. Poor little Cole and you too! I did laugh at your "crappy" night lingo after reading about the watermelon seed. You wouldn't think something so small would give such a problem but their insides are still so tiny!!  Great on him having a long nap, must be so tired from last night!  Keep us posted on your Dad, healthy vibes being sent his way!

Judy - truly, I do not know how you do it - two toddlers and twins, and DH away?? You are SUPERWOMAN!!
I guess we do what we gotta do though. You get a huge gold star, you sound like such an awesome Mommy too. I remember when Mason was little and our tree at Christmas was always only decorated at the bottom. Heeheehee.

Mickey - we are heading off to Victoria for a week on Thursday evening, but what does Jack's schedule look like cause I was thinking a coffee meet up perhaps at WEM if our schedules permit sometime this week?? We could see if Jody is available too?

Nancy, how did the weaning off the DF go?? We actually stopped Molly's cold turkey as she kept taking less and less herself. We did a DF last night though as she threw up just before bed. Poor thing, the meds must be hard on her tummy.

Also wanted some advice on PU/PD for nap extensions...currently she will only ever do 45 minutes in the a.m. which, when she gets up at 6 am, makes her schedule all wonky. I want to extend her a.m. nap with the eventual plan of dropping the evening catnap as we are starting daycare in the new year. They do 2 naps during the day at this age so I want to help her along to that schedule. Any advice?? Should I try the PU/PD for the a.m. nap extension? Any tips on making it work? Just be consistent? How long should I do it for? Until she goes back to sleep? Even if it takes up to next feed time? Should I give up at feeding time if she hasn't gone back to sleep??  :shock:

Thanks ladies in advance for any help you can offer.
 :lol: