# May '04 Babes--It's our July Toddler thread!



## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

I'm starting the thread, I'm starting the thread! Woo hoo!







:
And to start, I just have to say that Rowan is standing in the drawer to his play table and throwing blocks EVERYWHERE. :LOL
Have a fabulous month, mamas!









Oh, and the link to our June thread: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=294665


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

That looks beautiful, Renae! Wow! The colors are so vibrant---totally perfect for you! (an aside--we're not going up to CT after all this weekend because the drive and the family drama would make me







)

Walking and crawling are becoming interchangeable around here and it's really cute. She's so darn cautious that she hardly ever falls, but man is she proud of herself. She spends the evenings walking back and forth between DH and I.









I'm a bit







: as I waited home all day yesterday for the ped to call back (after speaking w/ one of the nice nurses) about getting a referral for her eating issues.

I'll answer Elsanne here-- just super TIRED these days is all. First mw appt is on the 11th....can't wait!

No signs of weaning here so I think tandeming will definitely be a possibility.







Although for my sanity, having dd sleep in her room w/ DH in the middle of the night (2-6ish) is a sort of partial nightweaning as she was waking 2-4 times during that stretch.


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

Renae,I LOVE LOVE LOVE you new ink!!! I'm so jealous!! I was saving for my next work (I was going to get my sleave started) when I found out I was preggo w/ Asha!! Oh, and it turns out that it will be ok for the girls to be at the reception, they thought they were doing us a favor!








We also have the uneven tooth thing, Asha has had 7 for about a month and a half, but I think I see #8 under the gums now....we'll see.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

sheesh... july already... it hasn't been feeling like summer here with all the rain we've been getting. and we still haven't even planted anything in our veggie garden.

still eating with a vengeance here. the diaper rash from last sunday morning is finally almost gone, so we're gonna try new foods again. we're not sure if it was food related or if it was the saliva-teething thing, so we're playing it safe.

on the eating thing, i forwarded this to kk and fiddle, but it seems like everyone would benefit from this page about oral development and eating skills: http://pacificcoast.net/~twendorf/strategies11.html the page was written for families with children who have delays, but there's a bunch of interesting info there that i didn't know about so you might find something, too.

m is walking while holding hands now, and he's moving his feet heel to toe instead of turned out foot moving forward. every now and then he'll stand free for a few seconds, but then he notices and plop, on his bum.

i just bought a used sachi mei tai from someone on the babywearingswap list on yahoogroups, so i'm waiting for it in the mail. i've been wanting to try a mei tai and the price was so good for this gorgeous one in purple brocade that i couldn't resist.

almost forgot to say renae, that ink looks faboo!!!!!!!!!! i love the symbolism of a lotus, the whole rebirth thing, the opening in the morning, closing for the night. awesome, awesome, awesome!!!

glad to hear the pregnant again mamas are feeling strong, albeit tired and hungry. i admire you women, 'cause i can't even imagine being pregnant again while this one is so small. i've been nostalgic for pregnancy, but not nostalgic enough to do it again quite yet...

okay, gotta go shower and get ready for the day!

lots of love to my may mamas...
~claudia


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Jacqueline, T hikes. We choose hikes that he can manage (ie, not terribly steep or terribly long, usually), and we try to make the hike interesting (looking for flowers and identifying them, looking for wildlife, etc.) We take snacks, we take water, we take breaks. One of our favorite hikes ends at a playground (hmm... wonder why it's one of our favorite hikes? :LOL). Hiking with a friend helps a lot, too, but he's gotten to the point where he just likes to hike with us, too. This is a high energy child...

Great tattoo, Renae.

Crystal, I'm glad things turned out that way. I had a hunch...


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

whoooooo---a 3 day weekend! i'm so excited!!









i love your tattoo renae









and i admire the pregnant mamas too. we've decided to try next year. holding off on this year. my coworker is due in september and it seems like her pregnancy has just flown by. she makes it look easy....none of the nausea or heartburn i had







she's starting to get big. she's trying for VBAC. i really hope she can do it. she'll be fine either way.

i *think* isaac only woke up once last night. he didn't go down until 10pm though. we went out to see dh's new shop after work so we got home late. they found a FUNKY shop/office to rent. it's an ancient texaco station. they're like excited kids with a new toy. they were painting and i could tell they just want to hang out there. it's cute. the male version of nesting. isaac was tearing around and managed to grab a grease gun. yuKKKK

crystal~that's great about the reception

have a great 4th of july everyone!!!!!!


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## Jacqueline (Jun 11, 2003)

Renae-beautiful lotus! I love them, too.

Crystal-glad the reception worked out. We've been lucky and Gabriel has been welcomed to the four wedding receptions we've been too (lots of weddings recently!) Other kids being there do help...since we take him everywhere with us, he always does quite well and we always get so many compliments! Let's see if that sticks when he's two!!!









Speaking of weddings, we're going to one in California in two weeks. Really looking forward to it. The evening before the wwedding they're having a bonfire on the beach. I looooove the ocean and can't wait to get Gabriel out on the beach to feel the sand in his toes!!! We took him to the Gulf of Mexico here in Tejas, but it's not quite the same as the Pacific. Doesn't one of our May mamas live near Sonoma???? We're staying in Occidental.

heather-I'm glad to hear moving C into her own room and bed is working. You're our inspiration! As soon as we get a bed, that is.

On the next baby scenario...I'd like to be pregnant by G's 2nd birthday. This also coincides with when we might be moving again! Having moved last time with a 3-week old, I think I'd rather move pregnant. We'll see how the time works out...we learned a while ago that this baby-making thing isn't on our time frame. Divine timing has been our mantra.

Gabriel is babbling away, speaking his own language but often it sounds Dutch. He's starting to repeat words after us, but not all the time. He says "duck" "ki" (for kitty,I think) and he talks and points to his toys like he knows what he means. I still don't think he says "mama" or "dada" when addressing us, though he makes those sounds. He's dragging us around everywhere while we hold his hand and he walks. Won't let go, though.

Oh, his rash seems to be better! I think it might have been prickly heat. He had all these little bumps all over his neck, shoulders and part of his torso and arms and legs. If he scratched them, it got red and raw. The bumps are still there, but he's not scratching, so I'm hoping it will go away. My mom said I got this prickly heat thing in the summer all the time, so I'm hoping that's it. We gave him a couple salt baths and rubbed calendula ointment on it. We'll see.

Happy 4th everyone! It's dh's birthday, so we're planning a little family party (just the 3 of us.)


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

We have had some major yeast probs here. Am I going to have to boil the pocket dipes? CAN I?????? Bleach? I don't know what to do. Yeast is hard to kill in my experience but that is mainly lab experience and we use bleach, antifungals and major autoclaving... :LOL I could autoclave the dipes... :LOL
I am so tired I feel weird.

Dh is out of town for the weekend till the 6th or 7th








Today my mantra is that I need to just be good enough.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

nuggetsmom: have you tried washing them in cold water with a cup of white vinegar? no soap or else you will have an exploding washing machine!

yeasties do bite the big one...

happy 4th, everybody!

~claudia


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Renae--looove the tat! So beautiful. Love the image and the symbolism.

I just got done with the Da Vinci Code so I'm all about the symbols right now.

Jacq--I'm thinking that too, I'd like to try to get preg in sept/oct because I really want a cancer baby. Tauruses & cancers get along famously and both Sol & I are Taurus. But who knows, really. If it's meant to be, great.

*yawn* getting tuckered now. Long day and bebe is soooo needy for mama these days. It's funny though, because I can leave her pretty easily (at least I have so far!) with others...but when I'm around, it's all about mama, man! I can't believe how fast this babyness is going.







:


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Yay, preggo mamas! Yay for mw appts! Poo on yeasties!

Yeah, talk about the baby-ness going fast. Man oh man, Lily is truly a toddler. She's started asking for the potty occasionally. Has pooped in it a handful of times, and peed a few times. Wowza. But her main thing to do with it is drag it around the house, yelling "Paw! Paw!" :LOL

I went to Goodwill today and found FOUR pairs of pants!! That means I've doubled the number of pants I own! Yeehaw. I really needed them for school - we have to wear business casual under our lab coats for some clinical days.

Ah, mamas, I feel like my days are numbered. Just want you to know that I prolly won't be around so much coming up here pretty soon, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you all!

Sarah


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

wowsas with the potty going! i'm starting to think isaac has figured out peeing on the carpet. he has that one down. maybe we should buy a potty. and buy a carpet cleaner


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Potty biz: We did/do Elimination Communication since Sol was 9 days old, and by about 8 months we had it DOWN, when crawling happened and she could not be bothered to stop and be hauled to the potty. THEN, walking, and life has never ever been the same. I KNOW she knows what it is, because she's nakeybutt most of her life (no carpets down here) and every single time will look down, and sometimes make the little cue noise, but there's NO warning like there used to be and she screams if I take her to the potty. So now, I just kind of gently remind her that she could use the sign if she wants, or make the cue noise, or even go to the potty (which'll happen once in a blue moon). It's frustrating though because we so had it down! I'm hoping that those many months of work will pay off when she does decide she'd like to do it in the potty, maybe it'll be super easy. I hope.

We've got a couple more signs here! It's fun because she was not at all interested in signs prior to this, but now she loves them! She does "dance" (a very cute scratching of the opposite palm), more, and sleep as well as eat and milk and bath. The potty sign, however, has been used for aeons by me but she's not going for it yet.


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

Julia hates being interupted in her plans for world domination so I understand how Sol must be too. It took so incredibly long to potty train Naomi that I don't see why I should wait with Julia. I think in August and september we will be nakey butt here too and be outside and start putting her on the potty about 20 minutes after she has a drink. I think I can be so much more patient with a 1 yo that a 3 yo that in the end my potty training 3 yo is a bad idea. Besides, we teach them so many things that they don't have words for and I am beg\inning to wonder if waiting is just a new trend in parenting that is not neccesarily good or bad depending on the family. In my case it may be better to do it now KWIM? But then again I may be at it for 2 more years, who knows.

OK, I have to do some work for DH.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Gods, mamas, I haven't even THOUGHT of potty training/learning!







Rock on you potty training/EC mamas! I can't imagine leaving Rowan nakey-butt for much longer than 10 minutes; it's like when his little penis hits fresh air he's like "wooo! I'm so excited it's time to PEE!" :LOL More than once our living room rug has had to be spot-cleaned.








I will probably start thinking about it after he's learned to walk and talk a bit more.








I'm actually here with a food dilemma; Rowan has turned into SUCH a picky eater!







I used to be able to spoon any old thing into his little mouth, from spinach to broccoli to oatmeal to fruit: ALL kinds of fruit.
Now, it's all about DAIRY, which is making him constipated, no matter how much water I try to give him (he spits juices out too now; darn it!







: ) He will eat cheese sandwiches, but not almond butter or hummus ones. He will not eat any jarred anything anymore (which is fine, but we're trying to get rid of the three-four jars we have left!) and he eats cottage cheese and shredded cheddar and those crunchy veggie stix, but NO "real" veggies anymore, it seems.















Even when I try to sneak TEENY pieces of broccoli into his sandwiches or mac & cheese, he somehow eats what he wants and SPITS the broccoli/fruit/veggie OUT.








I'm wondering what I did wrong; I offered him a big variety of foods when he was littler, I still try it now, but mostly he won't touch anything that isn't milk-based. *sigh* Sometimes I can sneak in some hummus or fruit purees...SOMETIMES. At lunch time today I had to mix a fruit puree into cottage cheese (this after he had eated easily 1/2 CUP of it plain!)...he at ONE bite of the almond butter sandwich I gave him and spit out the peas. He also ate like ONE blueberry.
I think he's got some issues with textures too; I know he'll get used to things in time and he eats all manner of crunchy/bread things, but other textures (ground meat or grains like rice or whatever) get the big spit-out.

I was gonna post some questions either in the healthy eating or toddler forum...but I'm kinda scared of being accused of not offering him enough healthy stuff from the start.







: Oh, I dunno. I don't even want to admit that I give him goldfish crackers!







:







:







:
I'm not as crunchy as I would like to be in the food department; we can't always afford organics and we eat meat sometimes; and DH likes some unhealthy snacks (he had to distract Rowan when he was eating a mini-cupcake the other day because of COURSE he wanted what Daddy was eating!














: )
Oh mamas, sorry for the longer-than-I-thought-it-would-be ranting, I just worry that he's never gonna poop again if all he eats is dairy.








Good thing he's still nursing, and *I* eat (sorta) healthy. That has to count for something, right??









Anyway, I have to go try and get the babe to nap (another issue, but when is sleep NOT an issue?!)...and hopefully with some coffee my mood will improve.








Have a great holiday, mamas.
(ooh, another reason I may be down; DH's vacation is almost over and he goes back to work tomorrow.







I'll miss him! And his help!!! It's just me and the bebe tomorrow...)


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Oh, Renae, you're not doing anything wrong! Toddlers are toddlers - and picky eaters are picky eaters. Have I told you all that my older brother ate NOTHING but Cheerios and milk for his entire second year of life? I kid you not. My mom was of course scared to death, but the doc just smiled and told her to give him a multivitamin...which he sometimes ate and sometimes didn't...







Some toddlers are just like that.

I've read time and time again that all you can do is offer. Don't force, don't cajole, don't make it an issue. Always offer veggies, have it on hand, let him eat what he'll eat (within reason of course - don't offer Twinkies







) and move on. Eventually they'll try the green stuff again and take off. We go through days of Lily eating nothing but Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and string cheese, too. I always offer a fruit or veggie with the meal, and sometimes she'll eat it and sometimes not. Oh, and the other thing I've read is to look at what they're eating over the week, not the day. And of course the breastfeeding is giving Rowan the good stuff, so no worries. You are a great mama!

If it's any help, I've found that Lily will often refuse what I offer the first round, but I'll leave the bowl where she can reach it and she'll come back and eat a few grapes/peaches/whatever later.

Sarah


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Renae, I second what Sarah said about the eating. You're doing a great job, and Rowan's persnickitiness is not your fault!!! My DD ate almost exclusively dairy products btw ages 2 and 3 and seems no worse for the experience... What do you think about a multi-vitamin for Rowan? Maybe that would put your mind at ease a little. We also do what Sarah mentioned - leave the veggies/fruits within reach at meal time but don't feed them to Ben and he grabs for them - maybe that would work for R too? Ben also looooooves smoothies. I get one everytime we go to the co-op for groceries and he'll drink anything - even wheatgrass!







: Hang in there!

And







for that beautiful tattoo, Renae! DH is pretty fluent in Sanskrit and was walking by when I had the picture up and said, "Wow! Nice tattoo - it says 'water'...?" I said no, it says 'mother' and he looked again and corrected himself. Then he told me the Sanskrit words for water and mother are just one letter different and probably come from the same root - how cool is that? So perfect for you!

Potty learning is something I haven't even begun to consider yet! Ben loooooves to be naked and like all other little boys, loves to pee all over the place - he squeals with delight -







But maybe we should get on it while the weather is nice and we can be outside a lot? Hmmmm....

Ben is thiiiiiiiis close to walking - finally! He took 4 steps the other day to get a remote control car at my neighbors house, and he walks in the wading pool, but nowhere else. Crawling is still faster. We were hoping he'd take some steps for the relative during our trip to the East Coast, but no dice.

Today he was a surfer for our local 4th of July parade, and rode in his little pushcar that DD and I decorated to look like a surfboard. DD stole the show in her hula costume though! Pics on YG...

Off to knit a bit while Ben naps and we all have a break from the 4th festivities. I get to go to fireworks with DD tonight!







Send Ben and DH some gooooooood sleep vibes!


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## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

Hi all. I'm so glad I finally remembered to join in before the thread got to be 20 pages long this month. I can't believe that I't July already and DS is 14 months and I'm almost done being pregnant. So many things are going on in our life!!

DS is so big now. I realized the other day that it had been almost a month since he's crawled at all. Now it's all walking and now even starting to run. he figures out something new every day and is just so fascinating to watch.

Renae, DS is hardly eating anything at all. Could Rowan be teething? That's what we're blaming Kesi's non-eating habits on. That and the fact that he is just moving so fast with the gross motor skills, that he has nothing left for eating. He is nursing tons, but eating barely anything. He is super picky with foods and will be all into something one day, then couldn't want it less the next. Unless you count fruit. Not veggies really, just fruit, he'd eat anything we offered him. Strawberries are a personal favorite.

When are most babe's going down for the night? Since ds cut down to one nap at 12 months he has been going to sleep at 6pm. Earlier if he had his way, but we don't want to put him down so early. He is isn't co-sleeping, but does wake at night and is nursed back to sleep(anywhere from 1-4 times a night), then he usually wakes at 7ish and will play in his crib happily for about 30-45 minutes.

ETA that I hope everyone had a good weekend.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AugustLia23*
When are most babe's going down for the night? Since ds cut down to one nap at 12 months he has been going to sleep at 6pm. Earlier if he had his way, but we don't want to put him down so early. He is isn't co-sleeping, but does wake at night and is nursed back to sleep(anywhere from 1-4 times a night), then he usually wakes at 7ish and will play in his crib happily for about 30-45 minutes.

Kailia, your ds sounds a lot like ours, sleepwise!







Rowan finally finished the transition to one nap a day, and it's usually anytime from 11:30-12 till about 1:30-3 (big jump I know...but seriously, he'll sleep from 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours, usually needing someone to pat his back or at the extreme, to nurse back down once during the nap) He usually goes to bed at around 7 (he was ready at 6:45 this evening) and wakes 3-4 times to nurse at night (on "good" nights) and then at least once early in the morning it takes a longish time to pat him back to sleep, and then he's down till about 7-7:30. Again on "good" mornings...sometimes he's up at 6 or 6:30. All over the board here! But bedtime is pretty consistently 7-ish.
I do wish we coslept, but right now Rowan isn't inerested, so it's cool.
Anyway, hope I answered your question without







ing too much! :LOL Best wishes for a comfortable end-of-pregnancy! Wow! I don't know if I mentioned it before, but you pregnant mamas rock my world.








And thank you all for the food input! I never thought of smoothies! Rowan LOVES drinking through a straw so maybe next time we're at Whole Foods I'll get him a special smoothie.







I think Rowan's teething too, but it's not stopping him from eating crunchy things like veggie stix and goldfish (gotta switch to annies bunnies or something a bit more organic...once the HUGE bag from BJ's gets used up!) so I think his persnickitiness is mostly just because he's...a toddler!!







:LOL

Okay, I have to get my butt off the computer for now; I fell down the stairs this afternoon and wrenched all sorts of stuff, including getting myself a bruised tailbone (







: :LOL







it's funny NOW. Good thing I wasn't carrying Rowan when I fell!!), so it hurts to sit. Good thing I have a chiro appt this week..
Have a great night everyone! Have fun at the fireworks Maggie! (and anyone else who gets to go; none for us but that's cool)


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Witness it! My one THOUSANDTH post is HERE! Yay!








And I will use it to say...um...thanks to your DH for verifying that my tattoo did in fact say what it was supposed to say, Maggie! :LOL I got it from a Sanskrit dictionary, but I was still kjinda worried that I had the word for "loser" inked into my flesh. :LOL But no more! I am validated.








And DOUBLY cool that it is one letter away from "water". Indeed, perfect!

Okay, off I go to bed. I have made it to one thousand posts! I RULE!















:LOL
Sweet good nights, mamas (and babes!)


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Renae, you're a posting fool!









Fireworks were great last night (my first time in at least 7 years! wahoo!) And Ben slept well for DH. Well, at least by his standards - woke twice but went right back to sleep after being rocked for a bit. I'm so relieved.

And Ben walked!!!!





















He took about 5 steps to my dad and then a few steps here and there to get to us or to his toys. He's still shaky and perfers to crawl when speed is needed, but he's going to be walking for real any day now!

DD needs me - more soon! Hope you all are having a good day!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Hi Mamas!

Hope everyone had a relaxing holiday weekend. We sure did. Dh had the whole weekend off, which was SO nice. We did alot of outdoor improvements. Mowed, planted some lilies and mini evergreens, etc. It was nice to spend so much time outdoors. Yesterday we went to a parade in the morning. We had alot of fun. Both girls really enjoyed themselves. We were prepared to leave early if needed, but ended up staying for the whole thing. Sarah had fun watching everything and collecting candy that some people threw off their floats. And Katie went wild every time someone with balloons went by. She screeched "BALL". totally cute. and both DD's boogied a little bit whenever something musical went by. After the parade, both dd's napped and dh and I got ready for the bbq we had for some friends. I think everyone had a good time, and both girls were wiped out at the end of the night. They played sooo hard. As I was rocking Katie to sleep I heard the beginning of he fireworks. So as soon as she was asleep I went to Sarah's room and we watched them out her window. We had a nice view from there.
Now we're back to the daily routine. I miss my dh, it was so nice to have him around for three days in a row!

Sarah-thinking of you on your first day of school...

Renae-







Happy 1000 posts!








: for the walking Ben!







:


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## Jacqueline (Jun 11, 2003)

Sounds like many of you had Happy 4ths! We didn't do much holiday-related. It's just sooo hot here, we didn't feel like venturing out too long for any of the parades or fireworks. So, we stayed in the A/C and eventually went to the mall for some walking in more A/C







:

Today, dh and I cleaned out the garage while Gabriel made a huge mess of himself by getting into everything we were throwing out!! Afterward, I had a dirty, tired baby! But, the garage is clean and we can finally park both cars in it (after a year!)

He's been so fussy the last few days...throwing little temper tantrums, banging his sippy cup on things with great force. Between the teething and almost walking, I guess that's what's going on. But, it's not been too fun. And, he's been going to bed so late....to answer the question posed by AugustLia23. He's still on two naps, though. But, he's been taking the first one later, so the second one's later, therefore his bedtime has become much later! Gotta stop the spiral!!!

Tonight I'm going out by myself for a while....a friend I met at LLL is a Mary Kay consultant and asked if I'd be her "model" for her MK class tonight! I am so not a big makeup person...but I thought it might be fun to be pampered a little bit. and, it's free with no pressure to buy crap. We'll see how it goes. Wish dh and Gabriel luck as I'll be gone during what's traditionally bedtime, although it hasn't been lately. He usually only goes to sleep with nursing, so we'll see. I predict he'll be awake when I get home. That's fine, too.

Okay, he's bored with me at the computa. Gotta go.


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

It's funny how every few mos we all get focused on our next child...I don't think I will have anymore of my own, but I think that I'm going to do a surrogacy. I just love being preggo and giving birth (all natural, both times) but I dont know that I wanna have more kids, so I figure I should try having a babe for someone else. Any thoughts on this?


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Ben's walking WOO HOOO!!!

Crystal--I toyed with the idea of surrogacy in college...neat idea. I think it'd be too hard to give it up at the end--UNLESS--it was THEIR sperm & egg, not my egg. And of course, if it was well paid. :LOL It's a year's worth of work, and then some!

And hey mamas, did you see what I posted on the main Toddlers board? It's great for a giggle.


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

crystal - if you love being pregnant and birthing....that would definitely be a way to experience it again. i think it would be hard for me to give up a being from my body (even if it weren't my egg) to someone else. it's a very generous gift to give someone. (would it be your egg or is it someone elses?) i didn't particularly love being pregnant or birthing. i think they're magical processes.....but i was so ill for a while.

i'm *really really really* loving this age right now. i see new things clicking for isaac every day and i get teary just thinking about him. his comprehension of everything is just growing. he's really started signing consistently and regularly this week. he's doing 'more'. and all done. and he does milk with both hands now. because two milkies are better than one :LOL and he does more when he wants to switch boobies. also i can ask him questions and he'll nod. he'll also insistently say 'ah. ah. ah.' until i can figure out what he wants. he's not using any words anymore. i'm scared the signing is making him less verbal...but i know i'm just paranoid. i don't even know anymore signs than those he's doing. i should learn a few more.

i think we're at a new stage with sleeping. getting much better. i feel pretty rested after two really good nights this weekend. (sleeping in til 9:30am 2 mornings in a row......i felt like i won the lottery!!!). last night wasn't as good--i think the fireworks scared him

i had a great weekend. dh went out friday night. i put isaac to bed and got into organizing photo albums and doing isaac's scrapbook for the last year. at daycare they make cards and little projects on all the holidays. it was so sweet to look at his little tiny handprint turkey again







and his 'pumpkin butt'







and his valentine's card







so i put those in with photos of him. he probably won't care...but maybe he'll like it someday. it was kind of fun. it took me half the day saturday too. then i spent the rest of the weekend pulling weeds. talk about a gigantic pile of biomass. isaac puttered around behind me with his toy garden tools and dh kept him pretty occupied. and then we went to the nursery and bought some pretty flowers







the yard looks SO much better. we planted the buddelia too (isaac's birthday butterfly bush). i couldn't get to it before now because the WAIST HIGH WEEDS were out of control. all that rain we've had this year.....

time to go get the punkin

yay on ben walking!

glad everyone had good holiday weekends









have fun with the makeup pampering jaqueline

good luck with the picky eaters. isaac won't eat ANY banana now after he ate so many he almost turned into one. blueberries are the latest hit. and plums out of our yard (scary because he tries to stick the whole thing in his mouth). and green veggies....yeah right :LOL funny. canned peas. i guess they're sort of a veggie. yesterday he ate a few bites of celery though.

ok really gotta run.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Real quick to say YAY for Ben walking, and that thing Elsanne posted rocked my (and DH's) world!







: It's all clear now...

And jstar, the thing about this age being AMAZING. Boy, it really is!







Rowan says "da! da! DA!" while pointing, very non-specifically, at something or someone and will continue with the "da"'s until we figure out what he wants. Sometimes he will point at something like the shell wind chimes out on on the porch or our ceiling fans, and when we tell him (again) what they are he kinds makes this giggle/chuckle/'hmph!' sound that DH likes to call his "oh yeah! I remember now! My bad" sound. :LOL
We've been trying to sign more consistently too, and it's (kinda) working!! He is starting to do "more" and he responds (VERY favorably!) to "milk", and before I finish signing it to him he's "getting into position" to nurse! (basically, he dives for 'his" boobie--remember, I've been nursing him with just my right breast since about nine months!) :LOL I need to try and do more signs for him...we do "cat" all the time for Julio, and he's really SAYING "kitty" more now. But not too many words here either, jstar, and we don't sign as much...so I think it's just a matter of time when these kidlets will talk. I'm starting to understand more of what Rowan wants/needs though, even without actual words...which amazes me. I am just trying to get him to say something like "more please" instead of screeching and pointing for more cheese! :LOL

Oh, I am so in love with the amazingness of my babe right now! I mean, I always was but...you know what I mean.








He stood in the kiddie pool today for almost 5 seconds (!!!) before realizing what he was doing and plopping back down into the water. When I said "are you ready to come out?" he came right to me and lifted his arms. Awesome!

Okay, I actually finsihed watching a movie tonight so I have to package it up for Netflix. I watched "Nights of Cabiria", in case anyone was curious. I used to be SO into arty films, and this Fellini one just took me right back to when I watched stuff like this *all the time*. I feel very accomplished that it only took me two evenings to watch! Go me.









Oh yeah, as for me, I was thinking of donating my eggs...but then someone, a friend I think, said, "dude, they want eggs that are 25 years or under! Yours are past their prime!" Yeah, it was my crazy best friend.







She was joking but serious at the same time. And then I realized "whoah, she's right!" Do you ever notice how all those research studies hospitals want to do on people want people ages 18-25? I'm no longer their target demographic! Whoah! Hahaha. It's kinda neat, realizing that I really am, for goodness' sakes, a "grown-up".
...with my tattoos and stretched earlobes and pink hair. Yep, I'm a grown up alright!







: I so rule








Anyway! hahaha. As for surrogacy, it's something DH does NOT want me to think about doing...I mean, ultimately it's my choice but he reminds me about those last few weeks when I felt big as a HOUSE and wasn't too fond of being pregnant...not to mention my delivery.







: So um, if I ever get preggers again, it will most likely be with a kid that's gonna be ours. Heh.
But seriously, what an amazing gift to be able to give someone. I don't know if I would be strong enough...

Okay,







I was SO not gonna have this be a long post! Oops...have a great night, everyone.


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Just wanted to let you all know that Z is walking! Well... actually, he's been taking a few steps for a while now, it's just that he's taking more and more steps, and I think sometime in the next week he'll probably make the shift to fulltime walking. His furthest distance tonight was about 10 ft.

There's more dr. grumpiness, but I'll save it for later. Z also gained 5 1/2 oz. in the past 2 weeks, which is great.


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

OMG Renae I am so jealous. I want to get ot 1000!!! Post for me for a while would you? I don't even know where I am at and right now I am feeling delicate and not very AP so I am not on MDC except here. Not that Sears would see a single fault with my mothering but you know. It is just that MDC can be a littel harsh sometimes and I am finding solace in my playgroups (who are AP or otherwise very open minded for the most part)

DH is going to be gone till late friday it turns out and I think I may need to get a babysitter for Thursday or Friday and NOT run a single errand. That is what I have been doing with my babysitting time and it is not cool. I am fried since DH has been gone since Tuesday early mornign. In fact he called at 6:15 to ask if he had left the door open.







woke me up and who cares. The door was closed anyway. So not till Friday.








but the hearing is going well he said.

Hooray for Z







:

Do we love the







: or what :LOL

I know someone who may want a surragate. A gay couple so PM me if you are serious.

About eating. Naomi si SUPER picky. Julia less so. I am convinced that it is absolutely not my fault. THey are totally different in their apporach to food and such. So every meal I offer meat/beans grains vegetable and fruit adn they eat what they eat. I encourage Naomi to taste stuff now but I didn't till she understood "you are not getting yogurt till you tast everything" And by taste I mean touch it to your tongue that is all.







So don't worry Renae he will get what he gets and when he goes to college it will be his problem if he is too picky to eat dorm food.

OK MIL in town so gotta go


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## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

Cheers for the two new walkers!!! It's really so exciting when they go biped. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to keep up with him, but thankfully 1 year olds take little steps and always come back pretty quickly







.

Earlier in my pregnancy I was totally considering being a surrogate, but I have put off those plans for now. I mean it's definitewly worth it for my own children, but I would have to be pain a lot of money to do all this and then give the baby away at the end. Plus I would want some say in how they were going to raise the baby, which I'm not sure I'm entitled to. It would also have to be a gestational surrogacy too, not using my eggs. But it's not out of the question yet, I just need to think about it more.

Renae, Kesi does the same thing!! "Da, da!" while pointing at things around the house or wherever we are. We never really got into signing, but he is very verbal and so most of the time we are able to understand what he's saying.

Have a great day everyone.


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

nuggetsmom- I think you're idea to get a sitter and NOT run errands is a good one. Yipes- going solo till Friday. Two and a half more days left, mama!

mammaluv- I think a surrogacy is a wonderful idea. If you feel you have the strength to do it, I say







It is an amazing gift to give someone- the gift of a child. We also think this probably our only bio kiddo, but I'd love to have more via adoption. Dh keeps saying "let's just focus on the one we've got now."







He's not a planner-type. I am.

Any commiserating I would do about eating issues would NOT be reassuring to ya'll, so I'll hold off. And oh, the sleep......









kkmama- I also have the medical grumpies, but I've talked about it all day to a friend and my mom, so I'm kinda processed out. Short version: I'm still a bit worried about Luke developmentally (no walking, talking, signing, or major verbal compressension like ya'll) and so I called our state early childhood intervention to get an evaluation. Still waiting for the call back (so being online is counterproductive :LOL ) Another ped appt today, he's probably got a UTI so they put him on antibiotics and referred him to a urologist to rule out long-term issues. This kid has been referred to more specialists than... I don't know what. Sigh.

Good news... We THINK he may have said "daddy" this morning.


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

big







to fiddle and kk. I wish you didn't have to deal with so many medical issues.


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Yes,







s to KK and Fiddlefern. Yuck, UTI. I hope little Luke feels better soon!

Yay for walking! It really is a whole new world.

nugget - oh, mama. Huge props to you for going it alone for a week. I think the babysitter is a wonderful idea. Go out and get yourself a super-duper-triple-caramel-mocha-frappuccino with extra whip, and a pedicure.









Sherri - thanks for thinking of me. It was a pretty boring first day, just a long lecture. But exciting to actually be there and be out and about with my freshly sharpened pencils and brand-new notebooks! :LOL I am such a dork.

This weekend DH put up Lily's swing and made her a "sandbox" with little landscape rocks (kinda like colored pea gravel). She loves the "rockbox" and can happily spend half an hour in there. Who needs a mother's helper when there's pea gravel around?!

Sarah


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Hi all. Just de-lurking quickly to subscribe. I can't believe my LITTLE BABY is fourteen months old! Yikes!

I know what you mean, jstar, about leaps and bounds in learning and development these days. Amelia seems to be taking so much in all the time, a little knowledge sponge.







She's picking up on new signs like crazy, and 'perfecting' the ones been using for a while. Lots and lots of fun my Peach is nowadays.

Hugs to you both, KK and FF. You mamas are so amazingly strong!

I'm watching a 22 1/2 month old for a few days and I tell ya, it's draining. I think often of my cousin who has to rambunctious toddler boys who are barely nine months apart. I don't know how she does it. So







to the pg mamas who will soon have TWO toddlers!!!

I second the smoothie idea to anyone worried about their munchkin getting enough to eat. On the days that A is super-picky I throw some fruit and yogurt into the blender and thin it down with water or a wee bit of juice so she can drink it through a sippy cup. (if I'm not in the mood to help her with a normal cup). You can hide virtually anything in a smoothie.









Surrogacy wowza! I say more power to you if you can give such an awesome gift to someone!!! I've briefly thought of it but what makes me hesitate is the thought of giving hte baby up obviously, and the fact that *you're* never quite the same after pg and birth- physically and mentally, emotionally. Like, the giving doesn't end when the babe is taken away, kwim?

OK gotta run. Sorry to be non-participating for so long and just pop in and out like I do. But I think of all you mamas *often*.

Happy Wednesday everyone.


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

I so totally respect anyone who surrogates for others... I could never do it (and yes, I have a close friend that I told "I'll consider it" before I had T... I really don't like being pg, and each of my births has been difficult in its own way... obviously, I'm not going to be doing any surrogating for my friend and his partner, which makes me feel selfish, but...).

Congrats to Renae. I need to pick out a senior title (I became a senior member a year ago, I think, and I still haven't done anything about it). Are you considering anything?

Maggie, maybe Ben and Z can have a walkathon. They sound like they're in a similar place.









I finally had my 90 minute massage (gift certificate that dh gave me for Xmas), and psst, I have to tell a secret (I won't tell him; I don't want to hurt his feelings)... it sucked! It was definitely about the most non-exciting massage I've ever had! And I have achey spots now... Should I call the place and complain?

On the eating... Our OT recommended a couple of books by Ellyn Satter (I think?) that I still need to get and read. From the sounds of it, they might be something some of you "standard picky toddler" mamas could get something out of...

Beth, another big







for you. Maybe we should have a PM gripe-fest.

Jacqueline, I think you should get a sitter and go out for lunch with a friend, or get your hair done, or go to the gym....(but take me with you!!).


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

KK, I'm all about a Ben and Z walkathon if that means we get to come do it in your neck of the woods! I've been missing the mountains and your whole lovely state something fierce lately...









Surrogacy.... wow! I too could never do it but have total admiration for those who give such a huge gift. More power to ya!






























to FF and KK for all your medical-world trials and tribulations. Your little guys are in my thoughts.

Just now I got proof that Ben is not really awake when he wakes at night: He was sitting up in bed saying "Mama...Mama...Mama...Mama" so I laid him down and said nice things about going back to sleep and snuggled him and he kept flipping around so I said, "Do you want to nurse?" and he lunged for me, tried to lift up my shirt while vehemently saying, "NO! NO! NO!" :LOL He might be a nutcase, but he's *my* sweet little nutcase!

Off to catch up on YG stuff. 'Night all!


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

Have you guys seen the article about surrogacy in Brain, Child? I nee to renew my subscription (and that would be good summer reading if you don't get it already)

Oh, Julia is sick today. I still need to call the sitter but I don't want to leave her if she is sick. Naomi needs more stimulation and I need to come up with a plan for her entertainment.

The hearing may go into next week but DH promised to come home for the weekend.

Phew!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

We were on page two!









Not much to say. Feeling tired today, weather is yucky...

I just realized the other day that Katie never crawls anymore. Now that she can walk, that's all she wants to do. Kinda funn, kinda sad.







:

Today we're just laying low at home. I got a lot of cleaning done. I don't think my house has been this clean for a looooong time!

Have a good weekend everyone!


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

I think it is amazing how fast my house goes from just OK to total pigsty. I was tired today and DH finally came home last night after almost two weeks away. Well, I will save a comment on that for the YG. So I did nothing today and the sink is full of dishes. Toys are scattered everywhere. The laundry is threatening to engulf the whole house. It is frightening. But we had a fun day eating pancakes, going for a hike, playing in the backyard, resting and going out for dinner.
Julia is either teething or has something else wrong because she is miserable though.

doin my part to keep us on page 1


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

I posted this in my livejournal because it's just where I was at the time...but since that thing is friends-only (so if you don't have an LJ account you can't see it! Sorry...) I had to mention it here.
You know those little plastic cars, called Cozy Coupes? I think they're made of some sort of special freaking plastic that compels little children to TOTALLY LOSE IT in the presence of one.







:
Case in point: A neighbor, out of the kindness of her heart, brought us one from a yard sale because she thought we'd like it...I thought we might too...but the thing was filthy, so I wanted to give it a good scrubdown while Rowan napped this afternoon.
Problem with that; we got home from the store and Rowan saw it on the front lawn as we walked in...when he realized DH was carrying him INSIDE the house instead of TO THE COZY COUPE...he utterly, as we say, lost his sh*t!!! I mean, mamas, I have NEVER seen the boy lose it for more than a couple seconds, especially when I've offered him his favorite snack, his favorite toys (tupperware with lids is the new fave), I mean, everything short of sharpened KNIVES







...nothing worked. He screamed and cried and his nose was dripping and the tears were EVERYWHERE...DH and I looked at each other like "now what? do we give in to this???" and, mamas, I have to admit it, I weighed the options in my head. It wasn't going to KILL him to go to the car now, we could feed him while he sat in it and I could give it an initial wipe-down with a wet cloth...or, we could keep on with the tantrum, force him to sit in the highchair to eat his lunch (which he wouldn't have done) until naptime...we brought him outside to the car.







:







: <---me and DH

Rowan was happy as a clam, ate a HUGE amount of food all while playing in the cozy coupe. *sigh*
But, when we finally came inside, he was all wound up and wouldn't nap until 10 minutes ago.
So did I do something wrong? Should I have stuck to my guns? Was it the "gentle" thing to do, acknowledge his "need" (to HIM, it was a need) to play with the car for a while rather than our want for convenience (feeding him in the highchair and then putting him down for a nap), even though it messed up naptime and kinda stressed us out?
On "paper", as it were, it looks right. No one was hurt, our babe was happy and it took a little while longer to get him to sleep.
But until writing it out here, it was sitting wrong with me and I was all stressed out. We also have to be somewhere at 3 but we're probably not going to make it on time now, because I KNOW he's gonna sleep for a WHILE. I see where my stress is coming from...I'm just trying to get it all out.
Thanks for listening. Hah. I thought I had all these responses but dude, I come here to whine instead.
I had better go get some of the stuff we got at the store put away while the babe sleeps.
I do feel better now. Thank you.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

renae: i know it caused you stress, but gosh, that sure is funny when i read about it. they really are such toddlers, now, huh? :LOL

nuggets: glad your honey is home now. pshaw on the house being a pigsty. more important to have a nice breakfast, go for a hike, play in the backyard and rest than clean the house.









thank you for all the birthday wishes, mamas! bill totally surprised me on friday by NOT mentioning it was my birthday at breakfast, when i talked to him that morning on the phone, then at lunch, and even went as far as to ask me to pick up stuff from the grocery store for dinner, but M was tired so I told him we were going home instead and we could go grocery shopping later.

so then bill came home early (unusual since he is exceptionally bad at estimating time...







: but a pleasant surprise and not totally out of the blue).

so i'm finishing watching yummy johnny depp on oprah and the dishwasher is going in the other corner of the room and bill is apparently running around doing "stuff", and then our friend jenni is suddenly there and says happy birthday and bill says come on let's get dressed. and i'm like... huh?

so jenni watched M while bill and I went out for a yummy dinner in the july portland rain... (what's up with that?) and it was fun. and M slept the whole night until about 7 in the morning. i swear jenni does magic with children...

it was a nice birthday. they even gave me my dessert for free at the restaurant.









yesterday, we had a fun lunch with our friends at their house, who we haven't seen in literally 4 or 5 months. and then we went geocaching for this one d*** cache we've gone to hunt for 3 times now and can't find... i feel like a cartoon character saying all that gibberish in a frustrated voice when i think about it. altogether, a good weekend so far.

and i got to sleep in this morning. ahhhh... sleep...

with love,
claudia


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

Happy birhtday late Claudia.

I think you did the right thing and you will love the cozy coupe. I fished mine out of a garbage pile and Julia LOVES it. Naomi still rides in it too. The dirt was probably mainly outdoor dust which is hopefully harmless but in any case, not so bad it should worry you.


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

Renae- follow your heart with discipline. As long as YOU feel it was what the boy needed, then it was. I think discipline is so personal and situational- two diff. kids will need diff. things, and two diff. parents will need to act in two diff ways. My background is being a sixth grade math teacher in a high-stakes high-performing district, so I tend to err on the side of firmness, and though I am pretty good about avoiding power struggles, once I'm in one, I have a VERY hard time letting go.

I'm not really much into using distraction. I'll try redirection- you want to bang, how about banging on this, or you want to hold something, how about holding this. If I try one or two redirections and Luke is stuck on something, I just affirm his feelings and let him wail. "Oh, you REALLY wanted to climb the steps instead of coming inside. The steps are fun and outside is fun and you don't want to be in here. You're frustrated that we can't go back outside." Then I let him have his tantrum and kind of pat his back and the like till he's done.

But that's just me, and like I said, I have a hard time letting go of power struggles and I'm sure that some day soon it'll come back to bite me, just as giving in TOO often probably would come back to bite someone else. So like I said, it's really individual. You're probably right that lunch and nap-time would have been impossible, and instead your family had an enjoyable time together. Sounds like it was the right choice.









Luke update: he has his FTT apt on Wednesday- I can't wait. I think he's doing well right now health-wise and developmentally, though maybe not weight-wise (we'll see next time he's weighed). He took his first steps over the weekend! So exciting. Plus, he's started putting one thing on top of another and doing/undoing things (like a hat on his head), which are new tasks for him. And he's getting a lot more adventurous about food. So for today anyhow, I'm happy.









Claudia- glad your B-day ended up being fun.

Sarah'smom- hooray for your lil walker!

nuggets- so glad your dh is back and you're not doing everything solo. I'm glad you had some fun and got away from the grindstone. The house will still be there when you're ready to deal with it. LOL


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

DH is back on his way to NY as we speak... N was very upset. He should be back Tuesday though.


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Hey guys,
I have been reading along but not been able to post in more than a week. I will never reach 1000 posts like Renae - there should be some way to track the time spent reading on MDC - senior lurker - or some such thing. Sorry I am not giving the community as much as I get right now - I feel blessed to have this safe place to visit even if I can't take the time to participate.

E is moving quickly into toddlerhood. She walks and it is all she wants to do. She used to play with her toys and be content, now all she wants to do is push a small table we have around the room and beg to go outside to play. Half our garden patio is lovely lawn and the other half is a baby death trap of broken pots, storage boxes, and gravel, so E can't go outside and play without it being an endless, "no, NO, not there Eleanor. No, wait, put that down. Okay, look at the this, No, we don't touch that." Not really fun for anyone. She is teething (waking all night long to nurse included so I am in a fog today). No words still except the occasional "mama" that may or may not refer to one of us.

I know there have been a mix of food challenges on our little group. Any words of wisdom on this: Eleanor will eat finger food of a certain type (mushable or dissolvable crunchy things, cheese/tofu/turkey dog, but nothing wet like fruit/vegs) and she will eat smooth purees. She has a major aversion to anything with lumps. She still only has the two middle bottom teeth so maybe she is just slow to eat because she's slow to get the tools, but we worry that she is getting old enough that it's a potential problem. Any ideas or comments? Is there a certain age by which babies should be eating 'table food'?

Nuggets - Total props to you for making it until the weekend with your DH. Hang in there until Tuesday, mama. Call me if you need a break or if I can help in any way.

Fiddle- I am so happy that you are feeling good about Luke's progress.

Claudia - I am glad you enjoyed your day! How nice to have a surprise dinner and a sleeping baby.

I joke about being a surrogate since Alison says that we are only having two (and she's the next birthmom, if possible). She always just quips back, "You're too old to be a surrogate!" Ouch. Slightly related, some friends of ours are pregnant with their second, and some of the moms in Alison/Eleanors playgroup are pregnant - so Alison said to me the other day that it is making her think about trying sooner than we planned. We are aiming for Jan 06, but I was so excited that she's tempted to start trying earlier I have begun to look into learning how to do at-home-IUI. I am trying to contain myself...

Alas, must get to work. Love to you all.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Well, apparently it's not just the posts that make me a senior member...but dude, I've been here for over a year!







: Oh well. I'll figure out how to get my title sometime.
I don't want to spend forever online while the bebe naps, and I JUST got caught up with ONE of the THREE email addresses I keep (I know...I'm trying to get down to one but it's rough, my friends.







) and he's already been asleep for almost an hour...and I bet he'll wake up any sencond and need me to pat his little back to keep him asleep for just a little. while. longer!








I hope you all had a great weekend. Hi Lisa, I was the one up with Rowan all night (DH and I have to switch...but not even switch because I STILL have to get up on nights he gets up.







: Anyway) so I'll join you in the fog.








Oh, and the only reason I reached 1000 posts so soon is because I cheated...well, not really, there's that boost your post count thread. :LOL And well, I seem to have no life as well.









I've started a load of laundry, washed dishes, and boiled some water to make wipe sauce. Oh, and folded Rowan's dipes in his room SILENTLY while he slept. I guess I deserve some online time! :LOL
Anyway, take care mamas.







I'll be back later.
Thank goodness I have yoga tonight. Even though it will kick my butt.


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

OOOOOOoooooo! I love being easily ruffled. Thanks for the thingee under my name!









(Now I am really bummed it took me so long to post again







: )


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Aww, Lisa, it's okay! We still







you!








Hope you are doing well. What's the Bay Area like, weather-wise? I am SO homesick...


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## Jacqueline (Jun 11, 2003)

Hey all-
Lisa, I feel we need something like a "PowerLurker" title, too. I could pass for that, no problem.

We had an interesting weekend...started out by dh's wallet getting stolen on Friday while we were swimming at the "Y"! They took his car keys from his locker (which he had left unlocked, yes, not smart, he knows) and then got in our car, found his wallet, but left the keys there as well as the CAR, his Palm Pilot, iPod, and laptop! So, it could have been much worse. We had to cancel three credit cards, and they had already gone ahead and charged some stuff on it, but the credit card cos. were pretty cool. Anyway, we felt very unsafe and insecure for a few hours. Better now, but it was no fun!!

Claudia, Happy B-day late. Sounds like you had a good time.

Nuggets: yay, you made it! It ain't easy. I haven't had to do it nearly as long as you or with two kids, but it's still tough. Oh, and I get Brain, Child too and love it! It always makes me want to be write something amazing.

Renae, Gabriel is feeling about his little wading pool like Rowan does about the cozy coupe, sounds like. I feel for ya. I've got to keep it out of his eyeline!

I went out to the Mary Kay party last week and had fun. The best part was coming home to a sleeping boy! Yep, dh got him to sleep. It's the first time in 13 months he hasn't nursed to sleep at night. I almost felt unneeded, but I got over that. It was nice. Don't think it would work if I'd been home, but it's nice to know that we have an option when I need to go out.

G was up tossing and turning in the middle of the night last night. He was fussing/crying and couldn't get back to sleep. He finally did, but it was a tough 2-3 hours. It may be teething (always) or being sooo close to walking on his own. He also got some mosquito bites yesterday that might have been bothering him, cause he kept rubbing them while fussing. Besides that, we've been sleeping pretty good, though.

I think that's all I've got for now...we're heading to the Bay Area later this week and I can't wait! It's probably our most favorite place in the U.S. and I can't wait for Gabriel to stick his toes in the sand!


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Lisa, love the thingy under your name! Mine did not last nearly as long as my not being wife material will. Although, I think your title should be, "Feather Ruffler"

I've been away for the weekend, in San Luis Potosi with DH's bro & family. Fun. Tiring. Best part: I have started jogging again! And am so far loving the sweat thing! Worst part: Sol had a freak accident while holding a large plastic serving spoon (sand play) and the end of it cut the roof of her mouth!!! It's been a helluva day but it looks like we're all gonna survive. She didn't eat or drink anything for like 9 hours. She just now finally nursed down to sleep, poor thing. She screamed for HOURS today. Ugh. I think I earned some kind of mothering badge.


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

Well, since everyone else has been doing funky stuff like tatoos and hair gye and the liek I decided to henna myself. I have a large flower on my arm and a design on my foot. Then I got sandals today to show it off.








I had to be in and out of the shoe department in 10 minutes because I was shopping with two (bribed







: ) children. The sales man was laughing and saying he wished all his customenrs were as decisive. I guess this other woman had been there over an hour. :LOL

With respect to feeding those without challenges there is some information on Ellyn Satter website. Her books have been mentioned here I think. Basically she advises that it is the parent's job to provide the food and the childs job to decide to eat it. THis is basically what I do with the girls now since I can't see myself cooking multiple meals at every occasion. I keep some food out plain but if you don't like it then that is too bad. Of course neither of them have any eating challenges and this is obviously not advise for those who do.

Julia has an ear infection so we went to the Dr today. She doesn't treat with antibiotics unless the baby is obviously acting very sick and has a fever, but it is good to know what it is. Meanwhile we are supposed to give her some sudafed and tylenol and keep nursing.

OK, I am going to bed now.


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## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

Lisa, if you would like any tips on home insemination, I would love to help. I am currently almost full term pregnant with our second insemination baby and love to talk about TTCing. We did home and office IUI's to get pregnant, but we are both pretty sure that the home IUI's did the trick, according to timing both times.

Heather lost her wallet the other day. Just what we need 4 weeks before baby arrives, of course. So far nobody has used the credit cards, but this still means that we have to go down to the DMV and replace her ID. What a pain in the butt.

Gotta go now, but more later...


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

hiya may mamas

our sleep thing last week was a DREAM--> one wakeup per night. now we're back to the human pacifier pop on and off all night. we got isaac a twin mattress though this weekend







appropriately it is the 'back saver' model. no more screaming hips and back from laying on the floor pillow. so we're doing a crib/mattress combo now. i sneak back to my bed when i can

last night it was the cat that kept dh and i up for a couple of hours rattling the gate on isaac's door







:

the language thing (lack thereof) is getting tricky right now. isaac will be pointing in a generic direction and insistently repeating da! da! da! which i know is 'that.' but i don't know if it is food/toothbrush/water/openthefridge/gointhebasement/any other of one million possibilities. i'm practicing my mind reading skills :LOL

isaac is in the major crusin BRUISIN stage right now. he has a new bruise on his head every day (literally). last week he had 'accident reports' 3 days in a row at daycare! they were happy to report he didn't do anything yesterday. as soon as he stops crying he wants back in whatever car he was trying to drive
















which reminds me of the cosy coupe. i had no idea that is what they're called (cute). but they have one at daycare and it is a hot ticket item. i could see why rowan needed to try it NOWWWWW!

i'm lovin all the new pics of the cuties on the YG. i haven't even downloaded my vacation pics off my camera yet (and that was practically a month ago). maybe i'll have a good one of isaac in the pool.

we took him to the zoo this weekend. a nice little family date. the polar bear was swimming by the big window and isaac was going ooooooh oooooooh but only because of the other kids i think. he was still pretty oblivious to the animals. but we had fun :LOL

i hope everyone is having a good week


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

A Good Thing: my sweet bebe has been napping for going on TWO hours...and I never had to go up there and nurse him back down!







:

A Bad Thing: I was "on call" last night to get up with the bebe so DH could get some rest...and said bebe woke once an hour (or less!) for about 4 hours...and then was up for the day at 6!









A Good Thing: It's much cooler and less humid today than it was yesterday.

A Bad Thing: I feel so unaccomplished today! We have nothing to do and no plans except to take DH's old running trophy (that Rowan broke!) to get fixed this afternoon. :LOL

Anyway. I'm done making lists. Hah. I just made myself a STRONG iced coffee so hopefully it will get me through the rest of my day. I have been feeling uninspired on what to do with my easily-bored toddler...and his wading pool deflated (I think it has a leak!!) so we have to go get one of those hard plastic ones, I think.
Honestly, I don't feel like being exciting-entertaining-momma today, at ALL. I want to pop in a video and sit on the couch, comatose, while the little baby tears around destroying things all around me.









Scary about the stolen wallet! Our old apt. got broken into two weeks after we moved in. The place was ransacked and a small safe was stolen (it had DH's meager coin collection in it) no big deal, but we were SO paranoid and felt so violated afterwards. Ack. Glad you're all recovering nicely.
Aww, hope the sweet Sol is feeling better! Rowan has been getting into all sorts of scrapes lately. My chiropractor says she's gonna be expecting more visits once Rowan starts walking!








Yay for henna! I want to do this to my hands/feet but I am afraid I'd mess it all up and have a blotchy dumb stain for weeks. :LOL I'll stick to having another, more talented party color me in.







You need to show us pictures!
The "The food is there, eat it or don't method" is sort of what I want to do once Rowan is older and understanding of that sort of reasoning. I'm not all about "clean your plate" but I AM about "at least TRY everything, if you don't like it fine but you HAVE to try it"...obviously not something we can do yet! I gave Rowan salsa (mild peach stuff...mmm!) this afternoon with his quesadilla and sweet potato fries at lunch and he looked at me like I had spiked it with arsenic and cat poop. As he spit it out. Violently.







:LOL
Now I'm still like "oh, PLEASE eat, I don't want you to starve and then nurse me inside out later!"







(whoever coined the "nursing inside-out" phrase gets mad props! I forget who it was though)

Okay,







I think I have to go check on my STILL sleeping babe! I'm gettin' kinda worried.








Take care, mamas.


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Hi Mamas-

I am still here!







I am reading and thinking about all of you, and will try for a longer response later.

School schedule is brutal. I've been missing Lily so much on school days, then get frustrated with her on my days off when I need to do homework and she won't nap...but overall I guess it's been okay. DH loves being home with her more, but I think his work is suffering, too. The nanny thing in the Fall will be good, but sad.

Anyways, gotta run, but more later!

Sarah


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

i was wondering how lily (and you) were adjusting to the school thing, sarah. it must feel WIERD to leave her. like missing an arm. i felt like that when i went back to work. i feel like that every monday morning :LOL i just look forward to seeing his little face every day after work. and i LOVE weekends (who doesn't). did you find a nanny for the fall? will school be more hours then?

i haven't heard the nursing inside-out thing before. that's a good one. i've been trying harder with the variety on isaac's food items. and offering some things i think he really should like but he doesn't seem to dig much. he'll have a few bites and do all done/down (which he does by the two hands up in the air). i don't think he's eating enough. although apparently you can live on blueberries! but his teacher told me he has started eating more at daycare. so that is good. and she said yesterday he threw his bottle at naptime. ok then.







he still does not like milk. oh well. at least he does like to drink water now


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

I think Heather was the nursing inside out coiner.


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

Hey all, got back from the wedding yesterday and boy am I pooped! I have to say that Kayla was the cutest flowergirl in the world







!! Unfortunately, Asha screamed and cried herslf to sleep for the 40 mins she was w/ the baby-sitter!







Makes me so sad!! her first time too. But on the bright side of things, they were both incredibly happy at the reception, and ppl were constantly telling me how well behaved my kids were and that they couldn't beleive how quiet the baby was during the loooong toasts. I was so proud!! Any way, I hope everyone had a nice weekend and I'll actually catch up later!


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

glad the wedding reception was fun









i remembered what i keep coming here today to ask (3rd post is the charm). sooo after AF returns can bf draw out your cycle? longer than normal? i am 35 days since my last "." and i am usually a 28-29 day girl. i'm not pregnant so i am wondering if bf will keep my cycles a little abnormal for a while? anyone have experience with this (2nd time moms)?

thanks


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Yeah Jstar I think your cycle is really irregular at first, like I had one when she was 13 months old and it's been about 6 weeks since then. I don't know when to expect the next one.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Hoot hoot! I am absolutely ROFLMAO about my "still not wife material"!!!

OMG I am crying I'm laughing so hard...


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

My cycle is really irregular right now weven though AF cam back at 3 mo pp.

I would post a picture of the henna but my computer wont' talk to my camera or vice versa. In any case, my computer needs some updating so I am going to send it to my BIL and I will be offline in the meantime. Plus we are going to family camp starting this weekend so I wouldn't be around anyway.
Soooooo, if you don't hear from me that is where I will be. Unless of course I freak and go to the library just to check in here.
I will never get my post count up at this rate and I have been here a while. Plus, I seem to spend most of my online time at MDC...


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

My af is SO irregular...the first time I got it pp (I think at about 9 months? 10? I can't remember...I wrote it down) I got it again 2 weeks later, then in another two weeks...and then I think one of you mamas told me if I was taking the mini-pill, I had to take it EXACTLY the same time each day or there would be breakthrough bleeding.







SUCH a moron, I am...I was used to my OLD pill where as long as I took it "within 6 hours or so" of the usual time...I was okay. Anyway.
Now, it's *roughly* every month...I'm still writing it down. It's also a LOT heavier than it used to be. I'm actually due for a gyno appt.







I HATE them. I don't even have a primary care doc in my area so I'd have to go to my old OB...I don't really want to...maybe I will make an appt with my old doc near DH's work so we can have lunch or something...though trying to go to the doc with a SUPER-mobile babe is SO beyond me...ack!
Sorry, didn't mean to think out loud. Hah.

Anyway...we're supposed to be having a morning playdate with a friend in the city, so I have to go.
Yay Elsanne! Still not wife material, indeed! Don't you LOVE DDDDC?
















Peace, ladies.









Oh yeah, that afternoon nap yesterday? 2.5 HOURS!!!!







And last night's sleep wasn't too shabby either.








Though DH had a heck of a time getting him back to sleep while I was out with a friend for her birthday earlier in the evening...but they've both recovered.
Okay, really, bye! :LOL


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

I must've forgot to subscribe to this thread or something cuz now i'm like 3 pages behind! Doh!









AF still has not surfaced here, but when it did come back after DD was born it was super irregular for about a year - really short and then really long cycles, some heavy, some light. I think it finally evened out after DD weaned and I wound up with longer cycles (35ish days) and overall lighter, but with one super heavy day at the begining. (Hope this isn't TMI!







) So, IME it took a long time to even out, but it was better when it did.

(Is there anyone else who still hasn't gotten AF?







: I'm begining to wonder if I should worry...)

Nuggets, family camp - wow! Where are you going? I've got this idea that we'll go maybe next summer, but don't have any leads yet... DH has never been to camp in his whole life, ever, whereas I went every summer from the age of 8 onwards, and then was a counselor, etc... Family camp may sell him on the idea. If you're still online, I'd love to hear more!








: for the Super Sleeping Rowan! Renae, could you have him give Ben a call and fill him in on how to nap? Cuz Ben just doesn't seem to have a clue anymore... He's been doing one one hour nap a day and then total nighttime insanity for the past week.... lemme tell you I am THRILLED. This was supposed to be my chance to get moving on homeschool plans, but if Ben will not sleep, I dunno...









I'm lovin all the new pics on the YG! What a pack of cuties you all have!









Off to do some work while DH is running with Ben. Hope you all are having good days!


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

MaggieMae- I haven't had AF either. Are you nursing frequently still? That's probably why.

Renae- what about going to your old doc for you appt, and leaving ds with dh for a couple of hours instead of having lunch together. Could dh do that? Oh, and really you gotta have Rowan teach these other babes how to nap.

Nuggetsmom- have fun at camp!

Elsanne- tee hee!

Jstar- the info I got at Luke's 12 mo appt said that (for normal babies) growth and eating slows down at this point, so it's probably fine that he's not eating as much as he used to. And hooray for blueberries!

mammaluv- the first couple of times I left ds with dh (I think around 4 mo), he cried himself to sleep too. Asha will be OK







. And hooray that you and the kiddos had such a great time at the reception.

I've been charting Luke's night nursings as part of tracking his food intake for the gastroenterology appt today. Last night was a typical night: 10:30, 11:15, 12:30, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30, then nurse and up at 7:30. Yes, that's right- on a GOOD night he has _6_ night nursings. I even feel refreshed this morning.







Wish us luck at the big intake appt. today.


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

ok i won't sweat it then (phew). (isaac's eating or the AF) my last one was so heavy i leaked through my clothes in 2 hours at a meeting at DEQ. i was MORTIFIED. and then bled all over my car. luckily my seats are not fabric.







there's my tmi for ya. so maybe my body's saving up for another whopper. greeeeat.

good luck with the intake appt today fiddlefern









i haven't done my annual yet







:


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

fiddle-thinking of you today....

No af here either. I was just thinking the other day I haven't had her visit it almost TWO YEARS! wowza. I almost forget what its like, honestly....

OK, does anyone know if its possible to get mold stains out of clothing? I just loaded the washer, and as I was taking things out of the basket, some of them were moldy.







The basket had an assortment of (once wet I assume) towels and my kids clothing. I know this happened in the summer last year too, and nothing I tried would get it out. I ended up throwing clothes away.







KK-our microbiology queen-any ideas??

Seems there was more I was gonna say, but now I forget....


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

I'm keeping you and Luke in my thoughts today, FF!









No annual exam for me yet either - mind if I share your







: jstar? Gotta get that done... ugh.

Renae, Rowan must've called Ben b/c now he's asleep for nap #2 of the day and it looks like it'll be a good long one! Pass on my gratitude, will ya?









Oops - pasta's done. More later


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

I'm glad someone else asked the AF question, because I was going to... mine isn't back yet, either. With T, it came back right around 12 mos. post partum, so I guess I'm a little late now.







And for me, the first couple of cycles were yucky. I swear that starting about 10 or 11 mos. PP, it was like I was going through puberty again (the zits, the moods, the cramps, etc.). I got pretty regular within ~6 mos. I need AF to come back by next summer, because we'll start trying for another kid then.

Sherri, the only things I can recommend are bleach and strong sunlight. Sorry. Maybe lemon juice or peroxide would help? (Obviously, you can't put bleach or peroxide on just anything, especially bright colors...)

Beth, thinking of you today.


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## Defenestrator (Oct 10, 2002)

Sherri -- I have had luck with sunlight. Get everything dripping wet. Put the items in direct sun outside, preferrably on a horizontal surface (I use the hood of my car :LOL ) and check in about 1 hour. If stains are not gone, rewet and try again.


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

FF--thinking of you and your sweet boy today! Hope you get lots of ideas and helpful suggestions and I'll help you thumb your nose at any idiotic tips or statements.

Els---I think maybe it was Gabriel's mama (power lurker Jacqueline







) who came up with the inside out thing....or was it KK??

AF came back here at 8.5 mos then not again til 10.5 mos and then maybe 40ish days after and then well....







:









So on the eating stuff here.....it finally clicked w/ my absent-minded mother to remember that I had very similar eating/food issues when I was C's age so I am going to hold off on more interventions for the moment. I'm just relieved that she will drink the Pediasure as she'll need something to sustain her when my supply does dwindle. That and milkshakes I'm sure. :LOL

Can anyone recommend a good source for wooden puzzles or wooden peg type toys? We were at the library today and she sat and played with their wooden puzzles for a good 45 minutes.


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Hi all! This is one of my days off! w00t!

Heather - I really like Melissa and Doug puzzles. They are cute, sturdy, and way cheaper than some of those hoity-toity Euro brands. I don't have any recommended websites because I can get them locally, but I'm sure you can find some reputable-looking places if you just google Melissa and Doug.

On AF: I finally got it about a month and a half ago, I think right around 13 mos, and have had two. So I think it is a little irregular so far (close together). We'll see what happens.

Sherri - I, too, recommend sunlight and/or Bac-Out. That stuff works wonders on just about anything organic in origin.









AugustLia - I've been thinking about you as the date draws nearer, mama! Positive and strong labor and birth vibes to you. I have a good friend in the same place - she's 36.5 weeks now - so I'm experiencing her frustration, lethargy and anxiety firsthand! :LOL It must be crazy with another little one underfoot, too! Props to you.

nugget - have fun at family camp! Sounds like fun, although I don't really know what it is...









So, um, school. Right now it's kinda all basic nursing stuff, pretty boring. Being away from Lily is really hard. On my days off she nurses a LOT. She seemed almost ready to day wean before I went back, so it's quite a change. So I know it's affecting her, which makes me kind of sad. But at least she doesn't seem upset or needy while I'm actually away - just kind of restrospectively. I am glad that DH is spending more time with her - he loves it. I've been pumping once per day while I'm away, and I'm trying to decide whether to keep that up or try to cut it out altogether. Lily does drink the EBM out of a sippy, but it's only about 4 to 6 oz. per day, so I'm wondering if she'll do just as well with goat or cow milk...hmmmm.

OK, had more to respond to, but I will stop for now! Take care, everymama.

Sarah


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Sarah---everymama...is that like from the smurfs when they would call out to "everysmurf"?


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *elsanne*
Sarah---everymama...is that like from the smurfs when they would call out to "everysmurf"?

Exactly. And also from "Cricket" magazine, where the little insects call each other "everybuggy". :LOL

Sarah


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

Thanks for the well-wishes, mamas.

The short report for skimmers on Luke's gastroenterology appt:









For those with time to read the ugly details:

No they don't have any explanation for why he's not gaining. All of his labs came back normal.

Let me quote from the after visit summary:

"Pediatric GI Recommendations:

* All food should be high calorie, including Breast Milk. Breast Milk should be given only by cup or bottle fortified with Pediasure or 1/2 and 1/2.
* Only 6 meals: 3 meals/3 snacks daily. No night feedings for now until taking sufficient amount during day.
* Iron deficiency anemia: (interesting 'cause the ped said he was fine iron-wise looking at the same test results- not that I mind giving iron) Start Iron supplementation as prescribed for 3 months, should then re-check a CBG.
* Recommend sweat chloride testing to rule out Cystic Fibrosis (though she said she really doubted it, or other blood tests would have come back funny).
* Weekly wieght checks. Return to Dr. ___, feeding clinic August 2nd.
* If unable to gain weight may need hospitilization with nasogastric feeds."

So...... she wants me to wean. Completely. Cold Turkey. Even at night.














:








She says if I want, I can pump and supplement, and then if he starts eating "enough" (didn't ask what enough was) during the day, then I could go back to doing SOME nursing at night.

Obviously, I am not happy. Why do I have to wean cold turkey? Couldn't I cut down to a couple nursings a day? I mean, the kid is getting the majority of his calories from bm right now. That seems REALLY harsh emotionally on both of us. Now, I care about Luke's weight and it IS a big deal and I am willing to be drastic if we have to. But I'm looking at KK's story and seeing how they worked gradually with Z to get him to take things from a cup, and he didn't have to be HOSPITALIZED for his tube feedings. What's up??????? My choice is cold-turkey weaning or hospitilization?

I tried to ask some questions during the appointment and share my feelings, but I didn't do a very good job. My brain kind of shuts down when I'm under pressure. I wish I could write this doc some more of my questions, because I think I'd do a better job.

OK, this is getting really long. I think I'll head over to the Yahoo group to talk about some of my ideas about how to implement her plan while still staying true to what's important to me. Thanks for listening, all.

Peace.


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Beth, I'm working on a longer reply to PM you, but I'm so sorry. I think you got some shi##y advice. Don't wean.


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Awww, Beth! I don't see how weaning is going to make things better. I don't kno how Luke likes eating solids, but the breastmilk is very important to his diet. I'm so sorry I don't have any good advice, but I just wanted to send out my support to you. Could you get a second, or third, or fourth opinion? Is there a Lactation Consultant that could work with the doc and show him/her that the breastmilk IS important and vital to his diet? BIG







coming to you...


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

I agree...definitely don't wean. I think a couple nursings is fine (although who am I to opine), at minimum for comfort, like as I understand it older toddlers nurse mainly in the morning and at bedtime.

Here's sending you lots of hugs & support.


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

egads, Beth!







I'm so sorry to hear that the appt went so poorly... like others have said, it sounds like you got some nutty advice - don't wean! I know you are a strong advocate for Luke and that you will seek out other (hopefully more helpful!) professionals to help get things back on track. Please come here (or to the YG) to vent and get support whenever you need to - we are here for you and believe in your mama powers. You and Luke are in my prayers - hang in there mama!


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

ff - I'm so sorry you are dealing with such limited options. I agree you should seek out other advice that's more in line with your values.









No AF here either. We still nurse pretty frequently, so I guess that's normal. I've heard a lot of women say their pp af is much heavier than their af ever used to be. Lucky for me, I was really light before, so hopefully I won't be flowing a huge river when the time comes.

Mia is currently taking anitbiotics for our first ever ear infection! Oh, the fun! I wish we could do this medicine wrestling thing *every day*!







And of course, in true daddy's girl form, she will take the meds calmly and easily for DH - what up with that!?! She also has a eye infection, so I'm giving eye drops too. Luckily, she actually likes the eye drops and strangely requests more after I give them. At least that's one less wrestle match we have to have. She's been sleeping horribly, but at least there's a reason, right?

thistooshallpassthistooshallpassthistooshallpassth istooshallpassthistooshallpassthistooshallpass

Heather - I like this site , although I have never purchased from them so I can't comment on service, but they have tons of cool puzzles.

I am way behin don everyone's posts, but I wanted to pop in and say hi.







More later if Her Sickliness will allow it.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

beth, I just have time to run in and give you some MAJOR






















Sweetie, hang in there.
I wish I had more time to write but I am going to dinner with some yoga-mom-friends tonight and I HAVE to help DH get our baby-who-only-took-a-45-minute-nap (because we were at a friend's house during naptime; note to self; NEVER EVER do that again!!!!!!







)
down to sleep.
Peace, everymama.







.


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

FF,







I agree w/ everyone else, don't wean! I can't believe they're giving you such drastic measures! Don't they know that stress can be an appitite suppressant? I realise that this may be too little too late but have you tried upping you own cal intake? You could even take ensure or drink slimfast w/ your meals. do you eat meat? maybe adding more to your diet too. I just don't think that weaning could possibly be the best idea...I'm so sorry that you have to deal w/ this! I wish I had more ideas/info/knowledge to share!


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Hi Megan! I was just thinking about you a bit ago. As I walked in from getting the laundry.

I want to say that I am grooving here as I made tomato sauce to Dar Williams from Maggie Mae's mix, oh my god now here is joni mitchell, one of my absolute FAVES....anyway Maggie I am totally enjoying it!!!!

So I'm wiggling my eyebrows at those of a mind to make a Summer Soundtrack...anyone in?


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

Hey girl... sure is nice to be though of!







Count me in on the summer mix! I didn't have my shite together to do the first one, but I would love to trade some jams with my maymamas this time 'round!







Anyone adverse to hiphop? Hope not, 'cause any mix *I* make will have lots of it. Hiphop and Ani... what would I do without them? :LOL (Don't worry, its none of that bunk crap rap that gets played on the radio







Just the good stuff over here! I mean, how bad could a hiphop song about babies and homebirth be?







)

I'll try to post later to the yg w/an update about more personal stuff. But I can breifly say here that things are going well, much better than I expected, and I'm feeling positive about our future.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

It Works Like Dis:

Okay, Mamas of a Mind:

Go to yahoogroup (those who are new to our group, request to join, with--lame-o me cannot remember if it's--Claudia? Please forgive me)

And we'll rally up.

The deal is thus: you make X number of copies of a very cool Soundtrack to your Summer 2005, coolness as assessed by you, of course, who else, and everyone who wants to sign up agrees to the same, and then we do a mass mailing by a certain date, and we all have kickass new music! Oh, did I just say A$$??? Whoops.

yahoo is being super duper slow tonight so it might take me a while to start a thread...


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

I hereby solemnly swear never ever to kill this thread again. Please post again! Don't be scared off!!!

:LOL


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Elsanne :LOL

My library had a copy of Satter's Child of Mine so I picked that up yesterday on Jacqueline's rec. I like that it has pregnancy nutrition info as well. I was a little







at her weaning/bf'ing comments, but she does have some interesting thoughts on how to approach food w/ toddlers.

These days C is doing this to me







with her







....as in forget mama's attempts to show empathy, etc. with her frustration she's all about shouting at me when she's peeved with me and will shout/scream and get the last word all the time. Mama says something, C goes AAAAHHHH, mama tries another tac and C goes AHHHHHHH and on and on.







It's kinda hard not to crack up when she's busy pitching fits, but I try.









Okay....I really have nothing to say, just trying not to make Els feel bad for killing all our threads!


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Hi mamas!!!! Haven't had much time to post but I *do* think of you guys all the time.









Not much news here, just popping in to say hi mainly. The mamas from our playgroup and their dh's and families are coming over tomorrow for a bbq, yay!

Not sure if I already said this (sorry if I have, I'm a flake) but the wedding I was in that I had been worrying aboutvwent splendidly. Amelia was a doll for my parents ALL DAY (with a couple nusring breaks) which is huge, good to know though, that she can do it if need be. And my mom took some gorgeous shots of her in the field of wildflowers next to the chapel. They'll be her offucial year-old pics, even if she's nearly 14 mos in them.







:

Happy weekend all,
Jackie


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

jeez talk about killing a thread!!! Elsanne, y'ain't got nuttin on me! I swear, this happens every time I post here


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Haha! AGrace, you didn't kill the thread! See, it lives, it liiiiiiiives! :LOL
How great that Amelia did so well all day! I have to try something like that with my IL's sometime...actually, DH and I are trying to find a reliable sitter for a Friday night in a couple of weeks--the club we used to go to all the time when we first began dating is shutting down and opening somewhere else...and we wanted to go for old time's sake.








Not sure if it'll happen yet but we'll see.
This weekend I've really not been at my computer much though...had a birthday party and work Saturday, then today we actually made it to church and got stuff like grocery shopping done.








Rowan just woke up...DH is trying to pat his back but I may have to run. He is just so incredible in what he does every day. He can almost spear food with his little baby fork (it's a safety fork with rounded edges..he loves it!) and he can bring the fork to his mouth almost every time I give it to him. I'm trying to let him feed himself more often now, but oh, the messes! I am so neurotic about food messes so it's hard to watch and let him...but it's also wicked funny! Also, I sometimes worry he doesn't get enough food in him so I sneak a few bites of fruit, veggie or yogurt from my spoon.








Okay, DH is back down so we're finishing the movie we were watching.







Enjoy your Sunday night, mamas.


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

Wow, it's so quiet here lately, I can actually keep w/ all the posts! :LOL Nothin' new or crazy here, just wanted to say hi to every one!


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

I am too overwhelmed by the diapering forum. It's way too much! Here's my question for you cloth dipe mamas: What would you recommend for cloth diapering just on the nights and weekends? Eleanor starts day care next month and they won't do cloth there







so she'll be in Tushies during the day. We currently use a service, so prefolds with prowraps and bummis covers. Should I just buy some prefolds and then more covers if we need them (obviously the cheapest option) or should I make the real dive into diapering and get some AIOs or fuzzibuns or something else?


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Lisa - I think its really a matter of personal preference. If the prefolds and covers are working for you guys, you could go for it on your own. We use AIOs and love 'em, but I think it really just comes down to what you are happiest working with. Perhaps if you only need enough dipes for at-home time it wouldn't be too costly to switch to AIOs, nor would you really be bothered by longer drying times as you wouldn't have that many to wash at a time... Maybe a combo? Ben now needs some super stuffed nighttime dipes, plus a cover on his AIOs in order not to leak. Have fun researching and shopping! (And here is my favorite diapering site - run by a WAHM mom who lives right near me, who is *super* helpful and dedicated.)

Speaking of forks, Renae, Ben spent the better part of breakfast spearing cheerios with his baby fork. The rounded tines are just the right size to fit in the hole and he very carefully forked a whole bunch - and if the fell off he'd carefully put the cheerio right in front of him on the table and re-fork it - no finger food for him! It was too cute.

So we're all melting into puddles of goo here in the seventh circle of hell (formerly know as the midwest). If its 87 at 10:30pm and the humidity is about 80% how can anyone be expected to survive? The forecast remains the same for the rest of eternity...









Due to the horrid heat there's not much going on. Pretty much we sleep and eat and swim and mooch my mom's air conditioning. Ben doesn't seem to mind but the rest of us are crabby as all get out.

Today is a homeschool prep and library day - wahoo! I'm soooo excited to really be doing HS, finally!









Have a good day mamas, and stay cool!


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

Lisa~ i think you could go either way or go for a mix. i would buy some prefolds since you already have the covers. when i canceled my diaper service i bought a dozen diaps (or maybe 1 1/2 doz). and i have 2 fuzzibuns and 1 aio. i send wraps to daycare because they do diaper service so we only use a couple of our own diaps per day in the evening. i use a sposie at night. i bought the fuzzis with the intention of nighttime wear but they wick all over the place. and i have never gotten around to getting some fleece liners for the prefolds (or even buying fleece to cut up and make them). so i prefer the sposie dryness vs. the cotton wetness for all night. *someday* maybe i'll get some liners. i need new wraps right now too. the mediums are squeezing his legs and i got a BUNCH of XLs for his bday but they are just a leeeetle to big still. the diaper is kind of floating around in there :LOL i've found the moderate pile of diaps i have is perfect for the weekend too. i just tend to do a load as soon as he poops in one (which is not very frequent of an occurance) or as soon as the bucket starts filling up.

forget the diaps we had plenty of time cruisng around nekkid and diaper free this weekend!!!!!!! summer finally arrived. our upstairs is about a billion degrees. it sounds like everyone is experiencing some major heat









we saw fiddlefern and the fam yesterday. luke chowed on some bacon







they're off camping and i am *jealous* the beach will be having perfect weather









not much else for news with us. we had a babysitter friday night and it went well. also went to a couple of bbqs. did some mountains of laundry. played in the kiddie pool. then because isaac wasn't digging the kiddie pool immensely dh bought a sprinkler beach ball. he's an overgrown kid







i think it will be a popular item. isaac and i planted some flowers/ate some dirt. he loves the hand trowel.

i have a new goal to start a QUILT for isaac's bed. as if i need another major undertaking in my life. i have to keep it simple or else it will be his high school graduation present







there are so many cute vintage fabric reproductions these days. it should be fun. i bought a book. haven't bought a scrap of fabric yet. and my sewing machine needs a tune-up. (my grandma wouldn't consider that quilting but oh well)

we're having MAJOR separation anxiety at every daycare drop-off now. i pretty much want to cry too. it is very hard. they can tell i'm freaked out and tell me he is a-ok all day long. i have to believe it

oh yeah and....the 39 day cycle ended! woo woo. i look forward to the next babe but right now would be such a bad idea for us financially. so now that i know i'm not going to be my usual clockwork self i need to try not to worry.

agrace--photos of amelia in a field of wildflowers sound lOVELY!

happy monday ya'll







:


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Lisa--yes that forum can be pretty overwhelming even for the most savvy! It all depends on your budget and laundering preferences. For the sake of simplicity, I would probably recommend just getting some regular prefolds (or premiums if you don't mind the extra bulk), a few snappis, some basic dappi pull-on covers (to go with snappied pf's) [I get mine from integritydiapercompany.com] and perhaps a few bummis for laying in. If you have any questions about how to snappi and get a snug fit, I can send you a link to a pictorial I have of my helpful model. For overnight we just have one pocket (fuzzi bunz) that we stuff with some plain hemp fleece fabric that I bought and cut up and fold so it has extra up front. The thing with pockets overnight though is that when she was wetting during the night and belly sleeping (she now only wets first thing in the am) I would sometimes get wicking so silly as it sounds I would put a knit wool cover over top of the super stuffed pocket to catch any wicking wetness. :LOL Wonderoos are a great pocket also, but now that she's a bit bigger it's harder to get a snug fit without leaving red marks. We have a bunch just sitting here and I could send you one to try out to see if that would work for E. I usually just stuff with pf's. Okay I'll stop







incoherently now!


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Oh, dang it, after some research it really does seem that I should just buy some prefolds and be done with it. We are okay using two prefolds in a prowrap at night so it's really just the cuteness factor that makes me want to try a pocket or AIO. Alison will never go for that unless I can find a pocket or AIO that are a good trim nighttime system (which it sounds like they are not).

Thanks Heather for the offer of a Wonderoos test. I would like to try them but when I went to look for them it seems they are not available from the manufacturers right now. If you really wouldn't mind sending one my way I would give it a try.

jstar- I have a quilt I started for my nephew before Christmas. Now my goal is to have it done by Sept for his birthday. Of course in the meantime he has started using a twin bed instead of a toddler one so I may have to add a few borders!

Gotta run to work!


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Hey, I really don't want to spend much of Rowan's PRECIOUS (you have no idea...wait, yes you do. :LOL) naptime today online...*sigh* Last night he was up at midnight and would NOT go down until 2:30am!







Of course, this on the night DH and I decide to stay up later, and the night *I* am supposed to get up with bebe all night! Whew. We're tired.
But, pretty much what Maggie said about cloth dipes. Do what works for you all and just do prefolds and covers if you've been doing it. We use Fuzzibuns and love them but they are expensive (worth it at the beginning when DH was kinda scared of cloth) and as for nighttime, we do fitted diapers with a doubler (or two) inside, and then a wool cover. We need lots of absorption for Rowan's little bum at night. He's a leaker!








One favorite site of mine is Punkin-Butt, they also have supplies for cleaning and such....and I know someone (probably more than ONE someone!) who loves Kelly's Closet I believe she does free shipping on all orders.








HTH! Feel free to PM if you have any other questions! I haven't been to the diapering forum in a while myself--I get overwhelmed too!

Okay, now that I started this HOURS ago...Rowan woke up, we went to the zoo, the playground, the carousel...all in NASTY humid 80-degree weather!







. I hear you SO well, Maggie! Gross in New England too.








I just want to languish in our not-so-great-but-better-than-nothing AC and not do ANYTHING else...but we may go to a kid's concert tonight OR play in the pool. DH thinks the pool should happen. Hah.
Anyway, have a good day, mamas.

Oh and Maggie, ROCK ON with your homeschooling self!









ETA: WHOAH everyone replied while I was out. Haha. :LOL I will read soon when Rowan is not going into the guest room and CLOSING THE DOOR on me!!







: :LOL
Later


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## emmalola (Apr 25, 2004)

HI everybuggy! (I loved Cricket when i was a kid. what good memories!) It's taken me forever to get caught up here. I'm back after another long trip away- it was my longest trip away from my son ever, at five nights and six days. the sixth day was the longest because there were all sorts of flight problems on the east coast on Friday when we were flying back. It was ugly, my friends. The worst part of it was realizing that I was going to have to pump in the Dulles airport, and there were no "family" bathrooms where I could lock the door and plug in my pump. It was too late in the evening to try to use the nicer and hopefully cleaner bathrooms in the elite class lounges, so I had to use the hand pump while standing in a filthy stall in one of the women's bathrooms. Trying to get let-down while pumping away in that bathroom was almost impossible, so I gave up after pumping for twenty minutes and yielding only an ounce of milk. (I usually get four ounces of milk per session with the electric pump.) But that did relieve the pressure and I was able to last until I got home much later that night. The good news is that I learned so much, and got some great ideas to get my dissertation back on track, so it was almost worth being away for so long. Now the lentil is super clingy, but I expected that, and I'm pretty clingy too. It was so good to come home and pull that boy to my chest for a good nursing after so long with the pumping and dumping yuckiness.









I still haven't seen hide nor hair of AF, for the record. Which is good, because I'm cranky enough in this humidity without it, thankyouverymuch.









ff- big hugs from us too. yuck.

faery, I hope you're surviving this nasty humidity better than we are. This evening we tried to hide in the little market down the street from our apartment just because it's air conditioned. We couldn't think of anything to buy, so we ended up bringing home a bag full of chocolate. heh. Tomorrow the granny comes and I can do work, so I will be sure to spend that time in the A/C at school if I can. I will just tell the granny to put the boy in the bathtub for the afternoon.

I tried getting shoes for him today- he complained like I was dipping his feet in vats of boiling oil. He hates the shoes. For him, it's robeez or nothing at all. I felt so bad for him, I can sympathize. But I worry that he will burn his feet on the hot pavement, or step on something nasty if he isn't wearing something with more solid soles. The woman at the shoe store, who was all of about 19 years old, told me that I just have to let him cry until he gets used to them. riiiight.

well, this has gone on long enough. nice to check in with y'all!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Hi Mamas....

this heat/humidity is draining me, too. I feel like doing absolutely nothing. And it makes me tired and cranky.







: Tonight, dh got home from work at a reasonable time, so we ate dinner, and then went out for ice cream. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Katie started going "mmmmmmm" it was so funny as we have only been out for ice cream one other time this summer, and it was at a different place. We told the kids we were going out for ice cream, and it amazes me sometimes what Katie actually understands.
















Can we talk nursing?? Katie seems pretty ready to daywean. She nurses before bed, wakes to nurse at night, nurses first thing in the morning, and then before her nap, and that's pretty much it. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I had the best weekend. Last week I asked dh if we could split the weekend up. He take aday to do whatever he wants, and I get a day to do whatever I want. It was the first time since Katie has been born that he's taken care of both kids for more than an hour or two. and it was the first time I felt comfortable leaving her for that long. She did fabulously. And I think dh was proud of himself, and had fun with the girls. I was so proud of him. I had such a good day, too. Went to lunch with SIL and then we shopped till we dropped. (which was only about four hours, LOL). But it was so relaxing and great to do something for ME and ONLY ME! After I got home we all went out and bought a trailer for dh's bike and went bikign around our neighborhood. It was so fun to bike, I felt like a kid again. All in all, a very perfect weekend.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Now, THESE are the May Mamas I know & love! Chatty Kathys!!! Not that I don't love ya, when we aren't chatty, what was that, maybe in the stars or something, nobody was posting for days there.

Sherri, how nice to do something for you! Awesome Possum!

Emmalola--wow...what a long trip! Psyched that it was good for your dissertataiondesserthotfudgesundae, glad you are back with Mr. Lentil. How that heck did DH do it without you.

Kisses to you all--just back from my first night teaching tango in aeons! Feelin' groovy! (Gotta love the Moving of the Skeleton biz) I am psyched because dance-wise everything's looking great these days...several private bellydance lessons, a great new gig Wednesday night, another one the next week, wooooot! Plus one last Friday night and I made a hunnerd bucks!!! I absolutely







making money doing what I love.

Sol's doing well and DH and I are in the honeymoon phase of our cycle...we just keep goin' round n round, durnit...anyway but right now it's all good.


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Hi Mamas!

I have been reading - finally have a chance to post now!

School is fine, just time-consuming. I'm meeting a lot of great people and getting excited about my chosen career. Although this first year is just plain nursing stuff, a lot of the philosophy and such will apply to a midwifery practice, and I've been thinking about the future a lot.









Lily is just dandy and so much fun these days. I am loving the developing sense of humor, curiosity, and affection. She loves giving hugs and kisses to everything and everybody, and it is so freakin' cute. I worry a little about other kids' personal space, since she'll tackle and bring down a toddler of similar size in order to give a kiss. But even as I'm pulling them apart, reminding her to be gentle, and reassuring the attackee, I secretly think it's adorable.







Of course when it's the other way around I protect her, and can't stand it when parents let their kids hug others when they clearly don't want it, so I completey understand the issue. But darn it, it's cute!
:LOL

Lisa - I'm another in the sposie-at-night camp, so sorry, can't help ya much.

Sherri - your weekend sounds divine! Glad you and DH both felt good about it.

emmalola - wow, six days! I bet you were glad to get back to nursing the Lentil. I am a litle worried about leaving DH for 10 days when Lily and I go back East in Sept. Neither one of us has ever been away overnight, and I hope she doesn't miss him too much (and vice versa).









And as for shoes, have you looked at Preschoolians? They have a line that's just like Robeez, except they have a very thin layer of rubber on the bottom. Great for outdoors. http://preschoolians.com/

jstar - Well, I was inspired by your diaper-free weekend so we took Lily's diaper off this evening for a while. Um, a word to the wise: don't let your bare-butt baby go down concrete stairs on her butt! Yeee-ouch.









Renae - Hope you all get more sleep tonight!

Elsanne - Woo-hoo for moola, and WOO-HOO for honeymoon phases.









Take care mamas-

Sarah


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

i'm here reading, too. just don't have much time to post, nor do i have much important stuff to say... ha ha...









it's too darn hot here in the pacific northwest, but at least it's not humid. yeegads, i can't imagine the 90% humidity that i grew up basting in. glad for dryness.

all of sudden, our summer has gotten really, really busy, and i'm not sure it's a good thing. i feel like we are constantly going somewhere or coming from somewhere, and i also feel like the monkey is not sleeping enough for naps most days. the good thing is that he is generally sleeping well at night, although last night he woke up half an hour after i put him down, which was very weird for him. it must be the molars, though, because today as i was searching for stray object he picked up from the floor and inserted into his mouth, i felt the bulges on his gums in all four quadrants. poor baby... i gave him prophylactic teething tablets before nursing to sleep tonight.

he's mostly dayweaned, except for before nap in the afternoon. and he's been nightweaned for a couple of months now. i think i kind of miss him nursing more, but then he has an exceptionally chewy day like today, and i'm like, ugh, maybe i'm done breastfeeding? and then i'm like, nah, it would be fun if he could talk before we think about totally weaning. but then i remind myself, it's not about what i want, it's about what we both can work out together. and although he's a busy little person and much of the time couldn't be bothered to stop what he's doing to nurse, he does calm down while nursing and that's helpful. he likes it, and although i don't like the teeth marks on my nipple afterwards most times, i can put up with it a while longer.

okay, gonna go snuggle with my honey on the couch and watch some of the boob tube...

i love my may mamas.









~claudia


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

TC, just have to say I LOVE your sig quote.








So, Rowan is sitting IN the drawer to his play table, playing happily, and it's just adorable. We're just hanging out, having some free-play time before we go to our library's storytime (gotta do SOMETHING today...)
Oh, so the only reason I am really posting is...ROWAN TOOK THREE STEPS YESTERDAY!!!!














:














:








From the dining room chair to me, arms in the air, stumbling...it was awesome. He seemed kinda shocked that he did it and he hasn't done it since but we're on our way, mamas.








He also has been slooooooooowly letting go of things while standing. It's so great to see him gaining these amazing new skills. Heh.
Sleep was a little better last night, LOTS of night waking but he mostly went back down after some patting post-nurse (he had to nurse EVERY time he woke...







We're nowhere near weaning yet...) and he slept from 4:30-7 (unheard of--usually he wakes at 5ish and that's when DH gets up to go to work) so poor DH was running around the house trying to get ready to go with some semblance of time--poor guy didn't take a shower this morning.

Elsanne, I WISH you lived near me...I wanna bellydance (or ANY dance) again!

Okay mamas, I am gonna try to get myself some







while the babe is happily occupied. Have a great day!


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Renae--honestly, I wish YOU lived near ME....New England, I dunno...







Then we could jam. I *heart* dancing. And YAAAAAY AND ALL SORTS OF DANCING PRODUCE for the beginning walker! It's just a matter of time!!! Here's a fun thing: pull the baby out of the car and put her on the ground! No more insta-carry 24/7!!

Sarah--HATS OFF to you, for going to school. I bet it's so stimulating and neat. I am happy for you. It is so hard to be in school, and be a mama! Rock on, you!

TC--take some time for you, if you can at all, busy busy mama.

*breathe in, breathe out*
Gotta remember to do the breathing thing. Y'know, inner peace & all that biz.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

P.S. I am soo happy I am still not wife material!! Yaaay! Thanks to whoever did that!


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Hey guys,
Thanks for the diaper thoughts. I may be able to slip a few cute dipes into our mix once both Alison and I are working again. Until then being cash poor means I have to show restraint. Sigh.

Many cooling thoughts to everyone - it's hot here too but not humid, blessedly. Being from Michigan originally, I can feel your pain.

Oooh, I love the preschoolians. Dang it, we just bought Eleanor some Stride Right first shoes ($42!!!!) because she had to have something besides Robeez for daycare and the Stride Right ones were the only ones that came in her size. She has tiny feet. I like the ones we ended up with even though they are not as flexible because they are more protective on top too. Eleanor had her foot stepped on when we visited daycare last week and since the other kid had on clunkers it really hurt. Let me know if you try out the preschoolians, Emmalola.

Sarah - I am so interested in how things are going for you at school. I want to train to be a midwife too but I am stuck when it comes to figure out how to do that and be responsible for my family at the same time. We live in one of the most expensive places in the US and it took two years to save up the money that we needed for Alison to take a year off work. I get paid well, have good insurance, and bottom line, we couldn't live off one income. So, I dream. There will be some way to do it at some point - I just don't know what it is yet. How did you work school into your already full life?

Sherri - your post about ice cream cracked me up because Eleanor hates it. A lot. I would love a kid that will get excited for ice cream because I really like to indulge myself especially after the last year dairy free. I am glad you had a good time! Let's take over the thread and list our favorite flavors. I love cookie dough, pralines and cream, and lemon sorbet. What are your favorite flavors?

Speaking of food. Many of you responded to my post about Eleanor's lack of progress with food. Thanks.







We are working on it by adding more and more to her plate. No go; she is very insistent that she likes purees or crunchy/dissolvable foods only so that's all she'll take off the plate. Her only proteins are marinated tofu (thanks Megan), goat cheese, and turkey/chicken dogs. Over the weekend she shocked us by eating almost a ½ cup of shredded chicken in one sitting. She won't eat beans at all and she refuses all dairy. No dairy challenge for her because she won't even try it. Ahhh well, I just have to have faith.

Claudia - day wean/night wean stuff is so confusing. When I went through my breastfeeding counselor training I thought that I wouldn't even to talk to weaning moms since the getting started issues are so much more challenging. Of course I have had calls about weaning - usually worrying about the baby choosing to wean too soon - and I feel woefully inadequate to help. The organization I volunteer for basically supports CLW with some gentle recommendations if moms need to do it more cooperatively and push it a bit. I stick to the program and focus on the mom's feelings, so I do okay, but the experience has prepared me a bit for my own weaning time. I am personally hoping that Eleanor can go to daycare without a bottle (because she won't take ebm in a cup) and thus she'll be day weaned from milk except on the weekends. But how to get to that point&#8230;without her weaning altogether or screwing up my milk supply&#8230;? Of course, she is already day weaned since I am not with her all day, but you know what I mean. Anyway, my point was that I loved your post going back and forth about your feelings on weaning. It's true; it's about what you can work out together.

Bye for now, chickadees


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

And a second post to say

Hip hip hooray for walking baby, Renae!


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *elsanne*
Renae--honestly, I wish YOU lived near ME....New England, I dunno...







Then we could jam.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I would ABSOLUTELY go to Mexico to live...hello, it's my "mother" country! :LOL
And you're welcome.














:LOL

Speaking of titles...my Senior Member title is here! Whoo hoo!







:
And before anyone thinks I was getting all full of myself, the whole "love goddess" thing...it's a modified title from a book of erotica







by Francesca Lia Block called _Nymph._ I recently re-read it and there was a quote from one of my favorite stroies in there that struck me, as it did the first time I read it.
The character, Plum, just told her best friend Sylvie that apparently whenever she has sex with someone they find their true love right afterwards...and it's never her (the story of my life until I found DH):
Sylvie: "But you really are a nymph"
Plum: "Like how?"
Sylvie: "Like a woodland sprite. That's what you remind me of. Like a little love goddess or something."

*sigh* I'm all nostalgic, don't mind me! So anyway, being the whole "Mama Faery" thing, and the story, AND my recent tattoo...it works.
Maybe I'll change it someday but for now...it works.

Haha.







Didn't mean to babble! I should go get some lunch while the bebe naps. Hope you all are having a great day...and those in the nasty yucky hot humid weather (like ME!)...try and stay cool!! Ugh, how hard it is.


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

:














for The Amazing Walking Rowan! And for the schooling of our beloved McSarahB! And Elsanne's *honeymoon*! And Eleanor the Chicken Eating Machine! And Sherri the Super Shopper! And Emmalola's Triumphant Return!







:














(so much good fun stuff! And if I forgot anyone, I send you dancing produce too, even if I didn't remember to mentioned you by name!







)

TC, I hear ya about the suddenly busy summer... we're preparing for our epic road trip out east and I'm constantly asking myself if I *really* want to do it. *sigh* But I know I'll enjoy myself. Balance is just elusive these days.

I'm struck again by how much comfort and encouragement this group gives me - its so wonderful to *know* you all and hear about the wide wide range of normal that our babes fall in to. So much Mama-Neurosis has been avoided because I can come here and find that my babe is just fine, as are all of yours.







Don't know what I'd do without you all!

Not much new here. Its a bit cooler today, thank goodness! So the boy-child and I will go harvest zukes and tomatoes this afternoon! But sadly, no







:

Lisa, I'm interested in the breastfeeding counseling that you do - tell us more! What organization do you volunteer for? I'm kicking around the idea of becoming a doula, probably starting as a PP doula, but as I do more resarch, I feel more called to do some sort of LC something. I'd love to hear more about your experiences.

Time for knitting!


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Weeeelll I had a whole reply all reacy to post then wham! the computer monkey- thieves took it away. Poo on them. I'm in sort of a














mood today.

The Peach is napping, hopefully she'll get a good long sleep in today, she really needs it. You could cut the tension in this home with a plastic butter knife, and it's taking it's toll on her. Let me just say that dh and I arent' exactly honeymooning right now.

BTW Elsanne, how exciting about all the dancing! Yay! And a big woo hoo about your honeymoon phase, I'm happy for you! That's always fun.









Sherri, very cool about the shopping day, how fun!

I have to chime in about ice cream and shoes: A had her first taste of ice cream at my family's jUly 4th bash. We always make homemade for that holiday, so we let her try it. Man, did she loooove that! She would come get a bite, then do a lap around the patio doing her Victorious Battle Cry Roar, swing around for another mouthful of creamy sugary goodness, then do another roaring lap, and aruond and around she went. Everyone was in stiches.

She loves shoes! and socks, and even getting her toenails clipped!!! She'll grab a pair of socks and sit down, stick a foot waaay up in the air and try with all her might to get a sock on it, then whine until I come and help her get it on. And she sits perfectly still and mesmerized (sp?) while I clip toenails or put on shoes for her. So funny.









Lisa, the ocunseling sounds really neat! I bet you're learning a lot.









Sarah, rock on with the schooling, that's great!!!!!









Go Rowan, Go!!!!









Jstar, a quilt! Wow. you go, mama! It'll be a cool thing for him to have and keep foreverandever.









Yeah, it's hot here, too. But nothing like it was when I lived in Iowa, yuck! TG for dry, dry CO weather. Hang in there midwesterners and east-coasters and whoever else is dealing.

Gotta run, love to all.


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Maggie Mae
I'm struck again by how much comfort and encouragement this group gives me - its so wonderful to *know* you all and hear about the wide wide range of normal that our babes fall in to. So much Mama-Neurosis has been avoided because I can come here and find that my babe is just fine said:


> http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/grouphug.gif[/IMG] Don't know what I'd do without you all!


yesyesyes I agree. I feel the same way!


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Aaaawww Agrace I am feelin' for ya honey, because right before we got to this honeymoon phase I went looking at apartments to move out. That's what it took, for both of us. Hoo boy, we have a long way to go...but I was sooo depressed at who I was and my life, and more depressed trying to imagine single parenthood and what I can afford in rent when I make about $500 a month if I'm lucky, anyway I just said THAT'S IT. And he jumped around all over and is now kissing my tushie, the way it SHOULD BE.










love youguys.


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

I am so there with y'all with the love-my-may-mamas sentiments.







AGrace, sorry to hear things are rough. I know all about that, girl.























Things are starting to get back to some sense of normal around here. Between me being sick, us having a near marital meltdown, and then Mia being sick, it feels like about a month since we did any of our normal activities. But yesterday I made it to the gym, and today we went to tumble tots, and it feels good to be back in the world of the functioning humans.









Speaking of getting out in the world, our #1 project right now is finding a babysitter like NOW so that DH and I can start having a regular date night. We don't spend nearly enough (any?) time together like that and it's time time time to get some of that going on again. More on that later in a YG post.

I am in a friend's wedding this weekend. The whole fam will be staying two nights at the lodge where the wedding will be. I think it will be a fun mini-getaway for us all. I will be busy with wedding stuff (but for me, that's fun







) and DH will get to hang out with the kids and visit with friends, go swimming, relax. A nice break. And the bonus? I actually LOVE my bridesmaid dress! It's orange!









Okay, gotta go try to put this girl down for a nap.... again.


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

I love you guys, too! *mwah*

Lisa, I could talk Ice Cream allll day! Lets see, I have more than a few faves...
1. Birthday Cake
2. Ben and Jerry's Phish food
3. Chocolate with Peanut butter chunks
I could go on and on, but I'll spare ya.

Yay Tentative Walking Rowan!

If we don't see you around much these days, we know why, Elsanne









Thinking of you during your schooling, Sarah!

Heather-how are you and Camille and baby bean doing?

MM-when do you leave for your trip? Whereabouts in the east will you be? Good luck!

Agrace-







to you for your lack of honeymooning...

TC-I appreciate your insight on the weaning. I never pictured Katie to be a wiener :LOL but I'm just tryig to go with the flow. I want to follow her lead. Plus, she still loves to nurse at night, so we're nowhere near total weaning yet. Lisa, please share more if you feel comfortable about your counseling!

We went to the kiddie movies this moring to escape the awful heat. Had a good time, Katie enjoyed watching for most of the movie. It was a nice escape, but now we're all drippy wet, again







Yuck

OK, must go. Take care!


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

oooh so much good news from everyone and cute stories





















i love our may mamas too









and hugs for the non-honeymoon phases. dh and i ARE thankfully getting along well right now but i'm in an i=can't-stand-business-startup-and-i-know-you're-only-going-to-get-one-paycheck-til-november-want-to-strangle-u stage














: i hate financial poop-i-ness. arggghhhh. but we'll live. i know he's stressed too so i'm keeping my part of the stress to myself

we had a MUCH improved drop off at daycare this morning. PHEW







isaac's classmates were outside playing with the water table when we got there, which he really likes. she said he is just fine after the transition of me leaving. and the director was standing there too--she asked if we'd gone on vacation recently. yep. so i guess that was the reason for the 180 turn. it was like he was ok and then all of a sudden, not. sometimes the things that should be obvious...are not! (the first week or two after vacation he wasn't fussing and then it started)

i was gone last night (to a foot spa party...very nice) and dh put isaac to bed and gave him a bottle of milk. he actually drank 3 oz of it (wow). and then when i picked the bottle up this morning he wanted it 'ma!' so i got him a new one. this is a NEW thing. he's hated milk AND bottles. he only had a few sips of it. i do'nt really want him to get hooked on the bottle but i'm always happy when he'll take any liquids besides boobiejoo. he doesn't drink very much water or juice out of the sippy and i worry about him dehydrating.

we are down to a handful of nursing sessions now too. morning wakeup, after daycare, bedtime and one or 2 at night. weekends he will get a couple more day nursings in. but he's starting to sit up and sign 'more' and i think there isn't enough to satisfy him now. since he's dropped off so much, my production has really dropped off too. he's so busy busy now. and sleeping better on average

he also picked up the phone this morning by our bed and dh said 'hello' and isaac said 'alo' or something







maybe he will talk someday!

yay for roadtrips and vacations and busy summer days and shop-a-thons! and ice cream (peppermint stick, bubble gum, dulce de leche, pralines&cr, maple walnut). we have a gelato place right next to my office--all fresh fruit or ingredient flavors made daily. it is da bombdiggity.

emmalola's dh gets a big prize!!!! BIG one. very impressive daddy skills!

and i am oh so jealous about the peach mesmerized with the toenail clipping. i STILL dread nail clipping and he hates it. that must be adorable

isaac's 2 pairs of shoes right now are both sandals. one carter teva-style pair ($8-target) and one super-flexi leather pair. the leather ones seem to trip him up more even though they are theoretically the better shoe and cost almost $30. go figure






















man can i ramble (and procrastinate!!!) mwhahahahhaha :LOL


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

GO, ROWAN!!







:

Lisa, I would recommend prefolds, but I recommend them to everyone.







And just keep trying on the food.

I hope y'all don't mind me blathering about food, because I figure I've still got the worst eater in the bunch, and anything I share can only be "good food for thought" for everyone else.







Boy, after everyone's helpful suggestions on the YG about how to prepare meat from scratch, I have to admit that I've found the frozen food aisle at Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage.







: I found some very natural fish sticks (good, because cooking fish totally gives me the willies, esp. white fish, and the fish inside these seems to "go down" very well). I also found some free range, precooked turkey meatballs which he really likes (I just heat up 1 meatball at a time, tear off and totally mush up tiny bits with my fingers, but then ugh, my fingers smell like schmaltz). He's still loving sardines, and lately, he'll eat salmon if we mix it with a little avocado (and OF COURSE we're falling all over ourselves to give him more fat). And remember, when I say he "eats" something, it's generally not a ton (so don't worry about your own babe's eating). And I've discovered that of course he doesn't like the Eden organic healthy baked beans, he likes the Bush's brand (I get vegetarian, but there's SUGAR in there). Couple of other high impact flavor things... health food store (Barbara's?) cinnamon graham crackers, and cracked pepper saltines. We play a game (very OT) about biting things--crackers, pretzels, green beans, etc., and it's really improved what he'll eat, his biting ability, and even his gumming (can't call it chewing when you still have only 6 teeth).

Heather, belated







(you know what it's for).


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

: Reading along and replying in my head as usual these days!

Sherri--thanks for asking! I'm pretty much exhausted most of the day every day no matter how much sleep I do or don't get. The humidity is giving me an excuse not to feel guilty about not going to the park. I think I'm 3x as tired as I was with C, but thankfully no nausea to complain about. I hope to be feeling better by the time we get to Maine!

The kid is driving me nuts! Anyone else's kiddo doing the total drama meltdown/fit throwing?? Last week she was hitting in frustration and this week it's a mix of spitting in frustration and smacking her face with both hands (ouch!) The rest of the time she's incredibly funny and engaged in figuring out new things. She loooooves that she figured out how to stand up from a squat or one knee and not have to pull up on something. Crawling is slowly being phased out.

On the weaning thing....well we have mostly nightweaned as I was feeling totally touch-sensitive at night and exhausted with the broken sleep. I'll take her into bed or feed her anytime before midnight and when she wakes after coming to bed DH takes her into her room until 530/6am. She's pretty much been waking for the day then so we've had some loooooong days. I have suspicions that my supply has begun to taper as she's much more interested in food stuffs and has tried a couple new things lately. She ate a whole fig newton yesterday. :LOL And the girl just loves ice cream and any frozen treat I happen to be eating (popsicles, italian ices...) Lisa---C sounds a lot like E as far as the favoring purees/meltable crunchy things. We've had recent success with pastinas and sauce and I'll be trying different toppings with that. She seems to like it with parmesan cheese too.

Okay...time to start dinner and count the minutes until DH gets home!


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

KK and HF you both just made me laugh out loud! KK, because you used the word "schmaltz" and HF because I'm not hte only one counting minutes until DH comes home. Good to hear from you both too - I was just thinking about you and your little people.

And now I have to go get DD 

Where did my afternoon go? *blah*


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Hands down, no contest, Numero Uno:

Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie!









I'd love to respond to everybuggy, but gotta do some homework before naptime is over.









Sarah


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Hey! I do *not* need a timeout! :LOL We're just having a very long naptime today (thank goodness, it's so friggin' hot outside).


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KKmama*
Hey! I do *not* need a timeout! :LOL









:







:LOL

Whoo! And I didn't even do it! :LOL

Not much to say but that...we're back to being chatty kathys again for sure!
Rowan went to bed LITERALLY kicking & screaming and since DH refused my request for sushi I am eating frozen microwaveable pad thai. Thbbbt.
Heather, we have tantrums here too. Oh lordy, the tantrums...kicking, spitting, violently wiping his hand across his booster seat tray, throwing food...yeah.
Anyway, have a great night, mamas. There was a HUGE thunderstorm here earlier but it is STILL hot & muggy. Peace.


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

Tantrums here, too. In full effect. I say, FULL EFFECT!


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## emmalola (Apr 25, 2004)

uuuuggggggghhh. huuuuumidittttyyyyY! gah! this is miserable. The husband and I were just discussing whether we would try to have a little "couple time" in the same room as the sleeping lentil, because that's the only room with A/C. We decided to try the shower instead. Funny, taking a cold shower never sounded so appealing! heh. (I hope that isn't too racy for MDC....)

Shoes- I tried to find the boy elephanten shoes, but they didn't have his size in the one store that carries them. He loves him some robeez, so I went ahead and bought him another pair to replace the broken ones because he was completely without shoes otherwise. Then today I went to the mall (air conditioned!) and found him some pretty soft-soled sneakers at sears. I hope they aren't too offensive for his highness's tender feet. My husband tried putting them on him and he screamed like a banshee, so maybe we'll have to do it when he's nursing or something. If not, we'll just wait for another few weeks and try again. As long as he's wearing shoes by the time daycare starts in Aug, I think we're good.

I've seen those other shoes before, but they were a bit pricey and I didn't want to go to the effort to mail-order something that was essentially the same as robeez, only a little less smooshy. But if these new shoes don't work, I may give it a go.

dang! the heat! dang!

I am trying to learn to eat well again, so my fav. ice cream flavor is chocolate and rasberry frozen yogurts, swirled together in one cone. which I realize is very boring. just rub it in, why don't you.










We are getting strange stranger anxiety/tantrums where the lentil can't decide if he's mad or just needy. I know the feeling.

the nightweaning has flown the coop, and the lentil is nursing as much as ever. I like the idea of CLW, but I don't know if I can tolerate the pinching and kicking and biting and nightwaking for that much longer. We'll see what happens when we stop traveling all over the place this month and next.

Finally, the husband certainly could use some recognition for being a kick-butt father, but he wasn't unassisted during my six-day absence. He packed up the boy and took him to my in-law's house for a week of free and doting babysitting. He probably got more done the week I was gone than he has the past three weeks.


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk!























Who here is a doula? Claudia, I know you are... anyone else? I have questions for you on the YG.

I feel your pain, you sweltering east coasters!







If its any consolation, we've had 2 nicer days here in the midwest, so hopefully relief is on the way!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KKmama*
Hey! I do *not* need a timeout! :LOL











:LOL


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mcsarahb*
Um, a word to the wise: don't let your bare-butt baby go down concrete stairs on her butt! Yeee-ouch.










oh yeah. we kept sucking in our breath every time he would have a near miss on the concrete or steps. so i finally put some shorts on as a protective layer. deck splinters on the tooshie could have been perilous

i think i love ALL ben and jerry's flavors









i am somewhat relieved to hear that my sweet child is not the only one that has been replaced by spawn-of-someone-evil. the last few nights after getting home from daycare have consisted of him stomping around crying and banging his face or biting the cupboards or basement door and no amount of hugs and nummies seems to cure it. i think he's just pooped and frazzled and hungry. but it is a bummer that the two hours we spend as a family in the evening have not been the usual relaxing fun this week.

i've figured out (duh!) that this sep anx thing at daycare is a result of us moving isaac out of our bed completely. we did that after vacation. soooo obvious but he's been very easy at night so it was not very obvious at first. so i'm feeling guilty we pushed it but it is definitely working better for us.

i'm not complaining about the heat at all. i LOVE IT!! i might complain tomorrow when it is 94 but yesterday was portland summer perfection







i'm a heat lover.
but we should have bought a house with AC. that's for sure.

happy hump day! :LOL


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

I remember having a difficult time with dd1 around this age, and it seems to have happened again with dd2. It is so frustrating for us both when there is something she wants/needs/wants to do that she either can't do or is unable to communicate enough of what she wants. She knows a few signs and that definitely helps, but I think this age of burgeoning independence is hard for all involved. It really tests my patience. I think of all of the ages I've parented dd1 through, this one was the hardest. But it does get easier. Sometimes looking at dd1 and realizing how far she has come is what keeps me going when Katie is having a tough day

OK, everyone is giving me reason to go out and buy more ice cream!







:LOL


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Renae - I love Francesca Lia Block too. My partner likes to have her juvenile books in the classroom for her kids to borrow actually so I have mostly read her young adult stuff. Perhaps I need to delve into her adult adult stuff&#8230;tee hee. Love the senior title, btw.

Megan - good for you on getting a babysitter now. I was a long time babysitter for a family and it was great for me and for them to have a regular night. I hope you can find someone good and soon.

Sherri - birthday cake ice cream??? Really? Where oh where can I get some of that?

About being a bfing counselor: I volunteer for Nursing Mother's Counsel which is a pretty low profile organization right now but we're celebrating the NMC 50th anniversary this fall and there is hope that there will be a resurrgance of interest. Basically, I think of NMC as LLL without meetings and without the judgmental policy statements on non-breastfeeding topics. NMC focuses on helping any mom breastfeed for as long (or as little) as she wants. We have a hotline and do community training/presentations in childbirth classes where we collect contact info for women who would like to have someone call them nearing their due date. I went though an extensive training program and I am not yet a full member because I have to reach certain milestones as a volunteer, but I like the work. I find that it makes me feel good to help other moms bf especially women who work and bf (the norm, y'know) because it's hard to get good non-judgmental but encouraging support when you work and want to bf.

Jstar - I am interested in your trials and successes with daycare drop off since I will be doing that beginning in August. Eleanor already has something like separation anxiety. She acts like once she has me with her she just can't can't can't let go but unlike when Alison leaves her someplace new (day care at the Y, etc.) it doesn't seem to be actual anxiety and fear with me. Her practice sessions at day care are going okay but not great so far. She gets really touchy and cries at the least provocation. Sigh.

KK- thanks about the food comments - I for one do not mind talking about it endlessly at all. You have been so dedicated and patient and such a champion for your boys that I find it inspiring. I love how you list what you are trying out including meat which I am not particularly wild about. BTW, we food milled a bunch of stuff last night to mix with E's purees. We are hoping to keep adding more and more lumps overtime and then hopefully that will up her willingness to try wet as well as lumpy foods. She only has 2 ½ teeth so she can't really chew - I suspect that has everything to do with it.
Heather- E hasn't taken to pasta yet but we continue to offer it since it is a carb (her fav) and it can be a good base for adding other nutrients to over time. What sorts of things are you trying as toppings?

Emmalola - just clicked on mom in your sig and was delighted to read your piece about children's books and the ridiculous descriptions and marketing on the backside. Too funny and true. I like to read the backs to E in addition to the actual text and that sometimes makes me crack up because it is indeed often longer then the entire book. She doesn't seem to mind and sometimes laughs along. The backside is her favorite part of her bath book and she will hurry me along by slapping the book closed to get to that part.

Okay enough


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *A&L+1*
Jstar - I am interested in your trials and successes with daycare drop off since I will be doing that beginning in August. Eleanor already has something like separation anxiety. She acts like once she has me with her she just can't can't can't let go but unlike when Alison leaves her someplace new (day care at the Y, etc.) it doesn't seem to be actual anxiety and fear with me. Her practice sessions at day care are going okay but not great so far. She gets really touchy and cries at the least provocation. Sigh.


yeah i would probably expect some tears just because she's starting daycare at an age known for the separation anxiety. but you never know...she may adjust very well. isaac has been at the same daycare with the same routine for a year now (well 11 mos) and this is a relatively new development. he fussed a bit in the past on some dropoffs but there is a much more conscious effort or something lately. and like i posted i think it is a result of us moving him into his own room at night and then a week on vacation being with us full time. before the vacation he wasn't crying at all....he'd be off to play! later mom! (or dad)

if he is crying, i ALWAYS make sure one of the two ladies can take him and hold him while i leave. i think that's the key so they feel loved and welcomed.

when we get there i always try to get him involved in whatever is going on--sit down and listen to a story, or take him to the tactile table or water table....or whatever. and i always give a hug and kiss and say goodbye and try not to drag out the departure stage. i KNOW that he quits crying by the time i'm in my car but it is always hard. times i have stopped in the office to talk and then peeked in the windows on my way out i see him playing and he is over the 'separation transition'

it is GREAT eleanor is having some trial days so she will be familiar with the place. easing into it that way is really smart. and i wouldn't draw any conclusions on the first couple of weeks. after a bit she will get used to the schedule and the routines and she'll settle in

it is hard when he cries but when i show up at the end of the day he is always playing and busy and content.

and my coworker's daughter (18 mo) absolutely LOVES daycare. she is superexcited when she gets there and dances around. i think social babies really dig it. it is very stimulating for them

so don't fret


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

Hey, sorry to change the subject back to ice cream...but have any of you tried the new ben & jerry's flavors?? They have one now called chocolate therapy and it is soooo friggin' GOOD!!!


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

i do believe i;ll add that to my grocery list for today







:


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Chocolate therapy?!?! MMMM!
Maybe I will have to add it as well! Hehe. DH is having a video game party Saturday so he has to go to the store for some party stuff--I'll just add that to his list!!







:LOL
Dude, Rowan slept very fitfully last night, and then woke at 5:45 FOR THE DAY.















So, despite my best efforts to distract and occupy him until a "reasonable" nap time (11:30 or later would have been fine)...he was losin' it at TEN-THIRTY. So...10:45 had him snoozing away upstairs.
WHAT are we gonna do when he wakes up and it's like noon?!?!? How am I gonna keep him awake till 7???? Or, how will I get him to take another nap?!?!
Okay, that's enough out of me. We'll deal but I had to get it out here. I never wanted to do the "scheduling" thing but our lives work really well when we have a sleeping "routine"...and now, well, it's gonna be off.
Guess we'll deal. Wish me luck!
I may vent more on the YG later. Heh.
Oh, DH has a username with MDC now! OrigamiJoe. I don't think he's posted anything at all but I thought it was great that he was putzing around on MDC the other night.








Okay, have a good day, mamas. Eek, let's hope Rowan naps for a loooooong time!







:


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Lisa--well, C won't do regular pasta of any variety either, but the pastina stars are a huge hit and just a lumpier puree in her book I think :LOL So far we've just done a couple different sauces...some with lumpier bits of tomato. I'm going to pick up some pesto today and have also done just butter and parmesan cheese which got a so so response. I am going to start mashing cooked veggies into the sauce and also look for some gravies at WF next time I'm there. She likes broth so when she gets a little less







: at soft veggies I'm going to make some soups. It really helps the chicken get more tender so I'll try that when fall arrives....can't bear the though of cooking soup these days!

ICE CREAM....mmmmm....again my one big pg craving! Chocolate therapy you say?? I'm all over that!

Renae--we're having a few restless nights and lots of early wakings here too. DH said he thinks she has a few teeth cutting through on the bottom right so maybe that's it. I also think I need to put up some dark curtains in her room as I'm wondering if she's just waking to the morning light?? In any case, DH has been a lifesaver as he'll play with her in the AM til she starts making the more/milk signs and then I feed her while he showers and I get to sleep til 8 (if he doesn't have to be in the office early)

Okay....naptime is over!


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

i need some chocolate therapy!!!! mmmmmmmmmmmmm sounds good

my latest discovery: isaac likes cold cut up steamed broccoli right out of the fridge







who woulda thunk?????????????

no tears at daycare this morning


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Oh yea, Chocolate Therapy here I come! DH is going to Atlanta for a long weekend to finish his book and I think Ben and Jerry are just the guys I need to get me through the single-parent days ahead!
















Renee, I'm sending Rowan some super-mellow-sleeper vibes! I never thought I'd be a schedule person either, but like you said, things just go better when there is some sort of predictable routine.

Heather, your food ideas sound great! I'm going to get some stars, along with my pint of B&J this afternoon.

Here's a







: for the broc lovin' Isaac who didn't cry at drop off - yay for you, Jstar!

Speaking of day care, I think I've stumbled on to something really good. A friend with a baby and a 2y.o. is doing very part-time in-home childcare this school year, and wants to have DD and/or Ben a few days a week. I'm jumping at the chance to have some garunteed me-time, plus garunteed one-on-one time with DD since we'll be homeschooling and I will be doing the vast majority of the work, not to mention being home with the kids all day everyday. We're going to hang out next week and see how all the kids do together and then if it works we'll start sometime in early September. Wahoo!

So now that I've got a taste for Ben&Jerry's I guess I better motivate to get to the grocery store! Have a great day mama!


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

jstar, I've noticed that A seems to like cold cooked veggies out of the fridge too. better than when they're cooked fresh the day before or whatever. maybe they get softer when they sit in the fridge?









tantrums: Amelia doesn't really do any head-banging or throwing herself around or any of that. when she's frustrated she either just sits still and screams, or takes it out on the dog. the dog has been at the recieving end of a lot of Amelia's frustration lately. poor dog. she'll be laying calmly on the floor then Amelia decides she's had enough of *whatever* and will grab both of the dog's cheeks/lips (whatever you call them) and pinch really hard. the dog just takes it. and I pull A off (reminding her of course, that we're *gentle* with the animals) tufts of fur stuck in between her sweaty little fingers.







i love this dog, she's such a good sport!

so i really had intended to look for that chocolate therapy this morning at the store but forgot.







: and man, do i need it today! aahh well.

happy thursday all.


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

just remembered that i wanted to ask a really silly question: Amelia got a hold of a potato the other day and had bitten a chunk out of it before i took it away. she seemed to LIKE it! she was happy as a clam wandering around eating little bites of raw potato. i was busy at the time and let her do it, but i'm wondering, for in the future, is there anythign bad about raw potato? she mostly just got skin, and i can't imagine there being anything alarming about it, but i thought i'd ask.


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

According to Super Baby Food, pg 455, "... potatoes can be eaten raw, and their vitamin C is intact since no cooking has destroyed it."

Sounds like you're good to go AGrace!









And I'm







: on all the cooked, cold veggies suggestions. I'm not very good about the veggies.







:


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Mmmm... chocolate therapy. Sign me up. I can't have *ice cream* (Z and dairy intolerance), but I eat chocolate Soy Delicious (in a therapeutic way).

Contrary to Super Baby Food, I know I've read somewhere that too much raw potato is *not good* for babies/toddlers/smallish children. Is it the solanane (do not misread as elsanne), or is it the indigestible starch? Can't remember, but I'll try to find something.

Z likes canned green beans







: (the







about them is that they are soft enough that he will eat them in their entirety). We also do sweet potato or regular potato homefries (not these HOT days), the potatoes in potato salad (with Nayonnaise), thin thin thin strips of red pepper (with supervision), steamed or grilled asparagus, frozen (petite) peas, frozen blueberries (still frozen), thin thin thin fingers of watermelon (for biting practice), tiny chunks of cantaloupe (cantaloupe and sweet potatoes are two of the healthiest things in the produce section, and most little kids like them, so STOCK UP, girls!). Once again, I'm making it sound like he's a chow hound--he's not--these are just the things I have the most success with. Oh yeah, did I tell you guys about smoothie popsicles? I can put ANYTHING into a popsicle (incl. baby rice cereal, flax oil, silken tofu, whatever) and general get some into him (he likes the coldness).

Agrace, those would be the dog's labia. (Oh, someone smack me please for what I just said.







)


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Hmm...there's no *smack*ing smilie for KK, so I guess I would have to use the







:LOL
Awesome about the foods your bebe will eat. Rowan won't even eat FROZEN peas. *sigh* I can sometimes get canned green beans in him too though. Watermelon is also fantastic! We do cantaloupe here ALL the time too. I also always get the feeling that blueberries are super-good for them too--antioxidant foods and all. Rowan was eating TONS but lately, not as much. Grapes are a constant here too; he *can* eat whole ones but I am still paranoid so I cut them in half.
I wasn't going to write more tonight but then you all said a bunch of stuff I wanted to reply to...but I spent all evening watching The Sopranos (recent convert!







) and now it's almost bedtime!







And of course I'm here. :LOL
Rowan slept from 10:40-12:40!!







: and the rest of the afternoon went *fairly* smoothly...though I left at 4:30 to go see the dentist (the first time since I was pregnant! Hah) and DH was in charge of dinner, bath, and pajamas before I got home. I don;t even want to know what the man fed Rowan for dinner.







But whatever. They were both happy with themselves when I got home, and as I took Rowan upstairs to bed I said "ooh, you smell good! Did Daddy give you a bath?" and he said "Ba! Ba!"







It was SO awesome! DH later told me that in the bath Rowan saw that they both have penises (as per our talk about private parts in the YG! :LOL) and he kept grabbing himself, then tentatively touching DH...and then grabbing himself...apparently he didn't stop until his diaper went on. DH was like "um, yep, it's still your penis, it's still there!"







I just think it's great.

Maggie, rock on about homeschooling and possibly getting some help for "me-time" and DD-teaching-time! Yay Isaac and happy drop offs and cold







:! Rowan SPITS the broc out so hard I swear it flies across the room.







I can get fruit into him though, so I am picking my battles and counting my blessings. He'll eat WHOLE avocadoes for meals if I let him...and sometimes I do.
Oh, potatoes. I don't know if they can or shouldn't eat them raw, but I have distinct memories of my own mom cutting them up for frying (fried potatoes...mmm! and







: ) and giving me raw pieces with SALT (more







:s!) to eat. I was maybe 6-7? Heh.
Your dog sounds SO mellow! We have just our Julio-kitty who puts up with a TON of baby-grabbing...there are always tufts of Julio all over the place, but nary a claw comes out. My cat rules.

Right...if I missed something I'm sorry, I am tired and it's not even 10 yet. Have a great night, everymama.








(I am SO getting some chcolate therapy tomorrow! Unless the tried-and-true Cherry Garcia wins me over!







)









Oh, I meant to say before...YAY for Francesca Lia Block! I am SO excited for her new album in August!


----------



## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Hi ever' body...*yawn* scratch scratch








It's one of those mornings.

Counting my blessings, Sol will eat: cabbage soup, cooked broccoli, cooked spinach, and many fruits. Grapes are a hit, like rowan. Yay! And egg is definitely the winner in terms of protein. I know this is bound to change the closer we get to 2 but I'm happy now.

I am confused about the dog's labia.

I am diggin' KK's little title!

The gig in the new place went REALLY well!!! It was super fun. I made another tidy little bundle of dough. I'm going to go get Sol's block set made. I am (or was) an avid rubber stamper (and scrapper) and have a huge set of rubber stamps which has been her block set.

Does anyone have one of those big plastic little tikes climbing or play structures? I'm thinking about getting one (of course would prefer a natural wood version, but...) (hmmm...why not get one of those made too?....hmmm) anyway am thinking that maybe she'd play on it for a little bit and then not anymore, and I'd have a hulking piece of neon plastic in my yard. Have your children got many moons of use out of those things?


----------



## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

els- they're kinda ugly, but we're big fans of the little tykes climbers. there is one in my parents backyard that has been there for going on 7 years now... and that is after its first life in the neighbors yard, from which it was evicted when they put in a fancy big hulking thing. DD ****** plays on it - she's big enough now to jump off the top (







) and of course ben loves it. DD and her buddies also make forts out of it. and you can even get some that are more neutral colors - dk red and forest green and beige i think.

KK,























couldn't find Chocolate Therapy at the grocery store last night so I consoled myself with guacamole and beer and Bollywood DVDs. And the kids did there part by going to bed nicely and staying asleep almost all the way through my movie!









i've been up for 4 hours already, but i still feel like you do, els... time for more


----------



## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Quote:

Agrace, those would be the dog's labia. (Oh, someone smack me please for what I just said. )
oh jeez. :LOL









I do want to clarify that my child does *not* grab at my dog's private parts. Didn't think anyone actually thought that but I had to make sure. :LOL


----------



## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Oh, sometimes Rowan grabs for the cat's bum. :LOL














I think it just happens to be the part he sees the most, since Julio is almost always walking (running!) away from him. Haha.

Today I feel like a Bad Mama. I posted to the YG about it.







I'll get over it, but Rowan's already been up twice (the last time totally crying) and I had to pat his back to get him back down for a longer nap...and I blame myself.
He'll eventually wake up and have forgiven me everything, but right now, I feel like this:







:














: and well, yeah.
*sigh*

AND I have to work tonight. ugh.
But it sounds like your work went well, Elsanne! Rock on!









Give me strength (and patience!) mamas...have a good day.
I, too, need more







...


----------



## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Holee poop!
http://www.astrologycom.com/mercret.html













































(^^^^^^ that's why I needed to come here to reply, Claudia.







)

I KNEW THIS! And still, I was sitting here freaking the f%*# out because I didn't know WHY I was freaking the f%*# out. *sigh*

One more for good measure:








Now, I am slinking off until Mercury comes out of retrograde...excuse me.







:


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

my sister always says 'doooooooooog lips!' while pinching them

but labia works too :LOL :LOL :LOL

our dog is getting more and more hounded by isaac every day (doh). he is not overly thrilled about it


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Bring on the dancing produce:







:















Eleanor had a fabulous few hours at daycare today - including actually eating lunch (!) and taking a nap(!!!)







:















Fluke or not, both Alison and I are so overjoyed we could cry.

BTW, lunch was sloppy joes - uh, wow, we don't eat beef at home so that's a totally surprising texture for her to accept!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Here they come.....








:







:







:







:







:







:







:







:








:







:







:







:







:







:







:














































































































































































































Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Isn't labia the Latin term for lips?









Go, Eleanor!!!







:







:







:







:


























































We need emoticons for the YG.

Is it hot everywhere, or just here?


----------



## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

We TOTALLY need emoticons for the YG.








And YAAAAAAAY E!!!! I am so happy for you mamas!







:







:
Rowan is so amazed by our friends' dogs when we visit them that he doesn't know WHAT to do except point and exclaim "DA!"







Totally cute. Her dc just started to crawl and is chasing the poor pooch all over the house though. My friend says the dog is like "dude! You didn't tell me these things could MOVE?!?!?" :LOL

So...Mercury is in fact in retrograde, as I







shared before. :LOL Rowan had a HORRIBLE night with DH last night while I was at work (and *I* had a bad night too.







)...he woke at 10:45 and WAILED/fought sleep/screamed/fussed/etc. until I GOT HOME AT 2:45!!!







Sucks. He's napping now and seemed fine all morning (didn't even nurse in the morning, he went from 5:30 till 10:30--weird for him!) so um, yeah.
I keep reminding myself that a combination of full-moon & Mercury stuff means that things are gonna be wonky for awhile (DH believes the moon stuff but thinks Mercury retrogrades and astrology in general is a bunch of hooey.







Well, I've seen it in action enough to trust my gut about it so blah to him! :LOL) so that I don't go completely









I'm just babbling, I'm still tired. Off I go to inflate a baby boat for our pool!







Have a great weekend, mamas. It's hot today but not as bad as yesterday!







:

(I never got to update this because MDC went down for maintenence!







So now it's almost 9pm and the bebe is asleep and prople are playing video games. Rowan had a great time playing in his boat in the pool and playing with his other baby-friend, Ben today!







)

Have a great night, mamas.


----------



## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KKmama*
Isn't labia the Latin term for lips?


i had no idea. there's my something new for today.







and whoa! it's crazy-hot 'round here, huh?!?!

YAY for Eleanor! that's so great, Lisa!

On top of all the stress A has diahrea







( i can never spell that word... good thing i don't have to all that often.) or maybe it's partly *because* of all the stress. but i do want to call her ped monday. my poor bebe. wish i could just take like a week off from life and do nothing but just lay around with her playing and nursing.

send us some peace vibes mamas.









hope everyone's having fun this weekend. love to all.


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

AGrace-




















































and


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

A&L+1- only a fellow parent could understand how HUGE that is. I can't imagine Luke willingly going down for a nap with anyone other than me. And eating lunch- a totally NEW lunch. Wasn't E one of the puree lovers? Ground beef is quite a challenge. What a wonderful day indeed!























Tee hee- KK, you are hilarious.









Renae- when does Mercury move out of retrograde? Tell your husband that his disagreement with you about Mercury is because of Mercury. :LOL. Hooray for baby pool fun, at least.

I'll do a Luke update on Yahoo, I started it here and it got WAY too long.

Peace out.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Agrace---I hope her diarrhea clears up soon! I sure wish peace for you and your family. I ttoooootttalllly can relate to tense households.

Renae, thanks for letting us know about Mercury. THAT explains EVERYthing.

DH & I did something really awesome and bonding: we made a set of blocks for Sol! We only have the most basic cutting & sanding tools and I did the detailing, the hand sanding, it was really fun to have something to work on together.

I cannot believe!!! how needy Sol is being these days. It's mamamamamamama only, from the moment she wakes until she goes to sleep. This is annoying. right noiw mus go she is insiisting on playing at computer AAAARRRGGGHH DEATH BY CHILD OVERWHELM!!!!!!!


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Hey, all.
AGrace, MUCH







s and







to you and A! Hope her diahrrhea (dude, I can't spell it either!) clears up quickly!























I don't have a lot of time to post...but AF is here, reminding me that I was going to buy some mamapads!







I am looking at Lunapads...anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on what I should do? I was looking at the "starter kit" and the "deluxe" kits...not sure what I should spring for! I know I want to make the switch--not too into cups and sea sponge tampons but I can handle cloth pads for sure. I also know it makes sense--If I CD my babe, I can do the same for myself, right?








Maybe I will do a search on MDC about this...

Oh, Elsanne...Mercury is in retrograde until August 16 (according the article I linked to!) and then EVERYTHING should straighten out completely by August 30. Eek.
Another







day (DH is napping) because last night was another rough one. Poor bebe and poor us!








Enjoy your Sunday, all.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

sleep... sheesh... dunno if it's that bill is away on a business trip or the molars moving in or the almost-walking-ness, but he woke up 5 times last night, one of them he wouldn't go back to sleep for an hour (from 1am to 2am). i am a little bit of a walking zombie today. i want coffee, but i think i'll hold out for the starbucks later...







:









watching the end of the tour de france. wow.

happy sunday, mamas. hugs and strength and peace to all, especially those struggling with relationship issues...

~claudia


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## Jacqueline (Jun 11, 2003)

Hey all-







:
I've got a walker here!!!! yep, Mr. Gabriel decided to casually saunter over to me the other day, and this has progressed steadily each day.







:





















:







It's pretty crazy. Dh created a little "movie" we're trying to upload to our website, so I'll post a link on the YG once we get it up. Corny, but fun.

Thus, getting him to sleep the past few nights has been tough, but we're dealing.

Yeah, Mercury in retrograde always throws me for a loop, too. I'm a Virgo, which are ruled by Mercury, I believe. So, it's a tough time. It was even worse when I worked in a office! All office equipment goes haywire during this time. Yikes.

Okay, off to spend some time with dh. See ya!


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Yay Gabriel!







Strap on your running shoes now, Jacqueline, he'll be all over the place soon.









Good sleep vibes to all with restless babes lately.









Just saving us from page 2.

Happy Monday to all!


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

WE LOVE DANCING PRODUCE







:





















:





















:





















:





















:















yay gabriel! yay eleanor!! sloppy joes??? napping? wowzers.

a hug for agrace
















we went on a crazy short camping trip this weekend. i had to go to bend for work so we did a last minute trip sat-sun. we went to newberry cauldera (which was like 4 hrs drive each way plus 1 hr of my work driving around yesterday....ugh). isaac was surprisingly ok in the carseat but dh and i were pretty frazzled







we no longer have our comfy road-trip suv...just a single cab truck with isaac in the passenger seat and ME on the HUMP







but we made it.

the cauldera was AWESOME. (i LOVE anything volcanic). we hiked the big obsidian flow--very moonscapy. and camped by paulina lake. camping with a 1yr old was not overly relaxing but isaac did have fun. gone are the days of plopping my butt in the chair and 'hangin out taking in the view'







and i've realized our food is going to have a LOT more dirt in it than ever before :LOL he was having a blast digging in the dirt with our cookware. and he really perfected the 'footed fleece sleeper with tevas' look

gotta run


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

"Footed fleece sleeper with Tevas"!!!! :LOL Hoot! That is funny to picture. The funny part is, I CAN picture it!

Sounds like a fun little trip Jstar. Doing ANYTHING with one year olds is anything but relaxing.

Just home from tango class--this is our weekly babysitter episode--it went well! Sol has been suuuper clingy so I was nervous but it always goes better than I expect.

It's alright, everybody, just because you're all envious of my blocks I understand why you wouldn't comment on the coolness factor...








It's so run of the mill these days to be making blocks, I mean jeez....









just joshin'...

I went to a baptism party over the weekend, a lower socioeconomic Mexican family (everyone CLAP NOW for the gringa who just danced salsa, hooo boy!)...gotta love these cultural excursions...the thing that made me sad was this: of the 5 babes there, every single one had their bottle, and scandalous me was the only one nursing my OVER ONE YEAR OLD babe...two of those babes were less than a month..and there is NOT ALWAYS FORMULA in those bottles, the child who was baptized, a 7 mo. old, has been drinking powdered cow's milk for who knows how long...where's that sad emoticon...we have so much work to do in this world ladies...


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

AND I want to say, Renae, that every dadgum time I post and see the "still not wife material", I get to gigglin'. LOVE IT!!!

Hope that babe o' yor'n sleeps well tonight..


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Wow, Elsanne, that tag has lasted a WHILE, huh? :LOL
Love it!
Anyhow...on the block thing. HOLY CRAP you are SO MUCH cooler than all of us!








:LOL
Seriously, I forgot to mention it because my brain was in shock because it was so cool. That must be it!







:
Okay, SERIOUSLY seriously. You totally rock.








I would write more but I have to go see what my babe is doing in the other room. It's veerrrrrrry quiet, so it can't be good!















Powdered COW'S MILK?!?!














Oh wow. We do have much work to do...


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Tee hee!!! Now, that's more like it Renae!!!! Hoot hoot! ROFLMAO here...

Say, where's Heather these days?


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Els---I'm totally gonna use my "I'm pregnant!" excuse til like February ya know. Just tired and dealing with one wild and crazy baby. I couldn't trust my DH to help make anything that a small child would eventually play with...would not be safe! Need pics! Very sad about the powdered milk. I hate that the formula is pushed in developing countries so early on and then when it's unaffordable it's not like you can go back to bf'ing. Grrrrr.

Camping?? We will attempt it one of these days, but DH has never been so it could be interesting. If I didn't strangle him trying to help me set up a tent it might go okay. :LOL

Hiding inside with the A/C until Thursday is the plan here! I'm such a heat wimp that even going out to the hot car to go some place air conditioned like the mall is too much.

11 days til vacation in Maine...can't wait!

Lisa--I'm astounded...sloppy joes??? So glad to hear that the daycare situation is working out so well. Sounds like a very caring, nurturing environment!


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

oh yeah elsanne---very impressed by your sanding skills and SWEET that you and dh did a project together for you munchkin









true dat. 1yr olds aren't high on the relaxation scale but htey are F.U.N.


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

footie PJs and Tevas - how sweet, jstar! Got any pics?

Els, you've got MAD skillz...







you make blocks, you dance like a wild woman, you coordinate the most fabulous mama-music-exchange EV-AAHHHH - who coud be cooler than you!







We love ya, we really do!

HF - glad you've got some AC to hide out in! Hope C is giving you at least some breaks... I'm about done with Ben's drama and I'm not even pg! Don't know how you do it! Hang in there!

So the weather *FINALLY* changed and I'm sitting here in pants! SOOOOOO happy!

Ben just started saying "pleeee" for please. As in "UUHHHHHBUCKLE!!! AAAAHHH!!! EEEEEEEEEEE!!! pleeee" Its very sweet that he tacks the 'please' on to the end of a screaching fit when he's trying to get something.

I'm a little bit fried from getting homeschool stuff pulled together, and from starting the process to resolve the DH issues I mentioned on YG, so I'm gonna go enjoy Ben's nap with a magazine and some chocolate milk.







to you all, my beloved May Mamas!


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Heather - Any pregnant woman who stays indoors near AC in this kind of heat I would consider to be *reasonable*. NOT a wimp!

Maggie - I dont' think I've said this before, but I think it in my head a lot (a lot of good that does YOU







)... but I'm so happy for you, and for your dd, that you're taking on homeschooling. Awesome awesome! And totally cute, btw, that Ben is *polite* about his lil' tantrums :LOL You definitely deserve that chocolate, mama!

Jstar - Your camping trip story has inspired me to try harder to get out this summer. Sounded like fun. Can you believe that I live like 5 minutes from the mountains and Amelia hasn't been camping yet her entire life???!!??







: *bad mother*







:

And yes, Elsanne, of course you and your dh rock for coordinating your talents for such a great cause... your sweet punkin'.









So, the husband took my car this morning to work







: (and I'm not about to put dd in his beat-up old jeep. i think he even took the doors off it this weekend) so I'm stuck in the house all day. I hate that feeling of having all sorts of errands to run and things to take care of and not being able to do them.







So I've been on mdc a lot







: more than I should be.

Ahh, my motivation to get away from the computer just woke up.









Happy Day, Mamas.


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Howdy mamacitas!

Elsanne - You ROCK! Homemade blocks sound awesome. Are they all different sizes and shapes? Does Sol like them?

Heather - You are so allowed to be a wimp! Jeez, I remember being too hot last APRIL when I was pregnant. Never mind freakin' July! When exactly are you due again? At least it won't be hot when you're super huge, right? Whew.

jstar - Camping does sound fun. I'm sure Isaac was a cutie patootie in his pjs. I'd love to camp somewhere if I had more time these days.

Maggie - Yes, you do rock for homeschooling. I am still so clueless about schools and such. I know it's going to sneak up on me and we won't be prepared.

I totally agree that they are really fun these days. Lily is just bopping around and so talkative. I love just putting the baby gate up on the deck and letting her go in and out, around the house, whatever she wants. She's got a bunch of new words this week, all verbs. It's interesting to watch this development. Now instead of "book", it's "read!" She's putting a lot of words together, and thinking of things that aren't in her immediate environment. Last night we were in the kitchen, and she said, "Park...swing!". So off we went to the park for a while - I couldn't deny her after that cuteness! I do realize it's probably gonna get old REAL quickly, though.









Okay, one more thing. I am probably the world's most clueless cloth diaperer, since I've only ever used CPFs and covers. Sooo, Renae, you sent me those cute Kissaluvs. But how in the heck do they work? They seem to fit Lily, but they're too wide for all of our covers (Nikkys and Bumkins) - they just stick out of the cover at all of the edges and wick like crazy. Am I doing something wrong, or are they the wrong size, or...??







: I feel dumb.

Okay, mamas, back to studying. Big pharmacology midterm on Friday! Yipes.









Sarah


----------



## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

First of all..um, CUTE!!








How awesome that she talks so well! Rowan still kind of mumbles. Heh. "Pickle" the other day sounded like a "gurgle". :LOL
I don't have a lot of time...going to eat what passes for Mexican food here in New England...hehe...but YUM anyhow! And spending time with a friend will be nice.
The Kissaluvs are pretty much the same deals as other dipes, I thought...I kind of had to tuck them into the covers...Maybe you fold your prefolds smaller than these?







I would have to see to help...oh well, guess I gotta come visit and help ya!








What I did was fold them, I used a snappi to close them (it didn't always work great, but supposedly they would stay folded inside the cover but I thought it was better with SOME sort of closure) and then put the cover (I have Bummis and one prorap) over the whole thing. If anything stuck out I sort of tucked it in.
Hope that helps a little...hope you can use them!

Okay, send some long-sleeping vibes to us so that DH has an okay evening while I'm gone.







Have a great night, mamacitas.


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

kiddos that say please and have verbs?????????







we are sooooo not even close to that. i'm starting to worry even though i know i shouldnt :LOL he will talk someday (i think)


----------



## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Sarah--how cute! C used to say "read it!!" very emphatically a while back when she really started getting into books, but now just throws 'em at ya. :LOL Good luck with your midterm...not that you'll need it---I know you'll kick a**! Officially due 2/12 or so, but I'm thinking 2/6







cause a 2/06/2006 bday would be cool.

Renae--lol at the what passes for mexican...I so ate all the good mexican stuff I could get while in AZ. Hope you have a fun night!

Maggie---even cooler than your polite tantrum throwing cutie is that he can say C's name! I keep trying to get her to say it, but no go! She did give a "buh" though when I said, "fine say ben then" joker! I'm so excited for you and dd to get going on the homeschooling stuff. She is such a bright kid I know you'll guys have fun with it! I'll be thinking of you on the relationship front....facing stuff head on is never easy.

Nothing much to add....just like to babble and







:









can't forget a







: for a walking Gabriel! It's really amazing how fast they go from tentative franken-baby walking to getting really confident and fast. Yikes!


----------



## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Heather, so there you are!!! Hiding out in the A'C...bless your pregnant self...

Tee hee...thanks guys for rising to the "bait"....'bout those blocks...Here's a pic of Block Baby...and Here's another one.

Finally, 'cause I just can't resist, check out Blue Eyes & Bicycle Dress.


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

jstar, i think Ben is more of a parrot than anything else - he's getting really good at repeating words he hears but without much meaning - so don't worry about isaac!

At dinner tonight Ben was coloring (because what 14mo baby actually *eats* at dinnertime?!) at his short table and then casually walked over to the porch door and made a big old purple line down it. I said "No way! No way! No way!" and moved him back to the short table, but my little *darling* looked up at me after I put him down, said "WAY!" and walked right back to the door! :LOL I took the crayon at that point, but we all cracked up. Sooooo cute!

Heather, thanks for your words of support. We're feeling much more confident and excited about hs these days... and about the relationship situation too. For a long time C's name was the only one Ben would say, but now he also says "muuuh-kle" (Michael) and "Valdo" (Waldo, as in the stripey dude from the books). But despite the growing vocab, "Mee-al" will always have a place of honor in the list of Ben's first words!









Sarah, good luck on the mid-term! Around here, legend has it that the lepruchans stashed their pot of gold with the pharmacologists...









Renae - you just plain rock! You deserve all the quasi-Mexican food you can handle!

AGrace, hang in there (did you get the car back yet?) More







for you! (And thank you too for the good HS vibes!)

Off to knit. Sending you all good sleep vibes!


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

sarah: sending you good pharmacology vibes...









we got an almost walking babe here, too! yesterday, he took a few miniscule, wobbly steps twice in the evening, and today, he's taken some almost regular sized steps a number of times during the course of the day, once even while he was on the webcam with daddy who is in japan until thursday! yay! hopefully, bill will be back in town before he starts the full-on walking... :fingers crossed:

maggie and megan and jackie and kk and jstar: mucho hugs to you all. so glad that you feel comfortable sharing your struggles, and wishing you safe passage through this part of your life's journey...

more later... gotta run out to pick up some food for tomorrow and then put the monkey to sleep. thankfully, i finished the new harry potter book earlier today so i don't have to stay up late anymore reading it... *sigh*

~claudia


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

Just a quick note to report on yesterday's arrival of every body's favorite relative, Aunt Flo! And she brought Cousins Cramps and Backache with her. In theory, I'm glad she's back, but she would be a whole lot easier if she would leave those pesky cousins at home.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamameg*
Just a quick note to report on yesterday's arrival of every body's favorite relative, Aunt Flo! And she brought Cousins Cramps and Backache with her. In theory, I'm glad she's back, but she would be a whole lot easier if she would leave those pesky cousins at home.


I totally feel you on this, Megan, but your post totally made me







: Aunt Flo is visiting here as well, along with cousin Cramps and great-Aunt B*tch to boot. :LOL
And, my MIL is here...which made my sweet little babe lose it when it was naptime. *sigh* I'm having a rough time with the tantrums around here...but hey, I deal.
Not much to report, I'm feeling kinda blah and b*tchy here, so off I go to try and get out of my funk. My MIL *did* bring a new black-and-red soaker for me to lanolize, which is always YAY.








Have a great day, mamas.








Oh, and YAY for the walking babes! Rowan is taking MORE and more steps lately, but still prefers crawling to anything.







He also loves to try to feed himself (which causes some drama due to the mess (I have neuroses I am trying to get over about food messes--hah) but again, I deal, because he is SO proud of himself when he uses his spoon!) and he is trying SO hard to copy what we say, so I am so trying to keep my voice gentle and positive. But it is SO hard sometimes when I get stressed...oh there I go, ranting again.








Sorry, off I go. Peace.


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Els---you totally need a warning before sharing those mesmerizing baby blues! Wowza---what a beauty! Love the dress and the blocks! C would love to come over and play. She is a block stacking fiend! She got up to 12 high last night!

MM--Bwahahaha on "WAY!"---love that boy! Of course it wasn't my door so I can totally :LOL my butt off. We have washable crayons here and a stash of Mr. Clean magic erasers just in case! Whatcha knitting? I have some baby projects lined up once I get the cotton yarn and I think I'm going to send them all to you to seam up when I finish!









Megan--you crack me up. So sorry that you're getting overrun by those pesky "relatives" My 3rd ppaf was a doozy so I just up and got pregnant the next month.









Renae--Woohoo...go MIL for bringing another soaker! Wool is







! C gets a little out of sorts with relatives visiting too. Knock on wood, but the cranky tantruming seems to have settled down a little bit around here so hopefully R will chill a bit in the coming weeks.

Claudia--yay for a wobbly walker!! I bet Dh will be thrilled to see his newly trodding toddler!

Not much to report here other than it's damn hot!







: C has been taking supah long naps the past couple days so I am almost getting bored without her! DH says she is sleeping better at night too when he is with her in her room on the floor mattress.







Okay....can't spend to long on the computer because the a/c just isn't cooling the front room on a day like today and I abhor sweating!


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Hey... I'm not having a timeout







: , but T is totally absorbed in something and Z is asleep. I just want to report that so far, I am *not* pg. (I had my annual this morning, and my ob laughed and laughed and laughed at me.) But I won't know for sure for ~another 2 weeks (yes, the last time I had "oops" sex was Saturday, and Saturday afternoon... I think I may have ovulated







). So AF would be pretty welcome here. (Yes, we do want #3, but we'd prefer to wait a bit longer.)

Z is totally walking (and I'm dying to get some cute little shoes, especially since Nordstroms is having a sale right now, and I could get the Stride Rites for much less... but we should probably wait a bit). He flaps his arms a lot.

I'll reply in greater length later.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

els: i was totally going to say something about the adorable pics and the way cool blocks but then i spaced last night. blocks: so cool! my dad made some for M before we went to visit them in may, but i was limited on packing space so i told them to bring them when they come visit next time. and pics: soooooooooooooooo cute! i think i may have told you this before, but every time i load a pic of yours and i look at it, i tell M, look, it's your mexican girlfriend!







sarah's lily is his portland girlfriend, and heather's c is his pennsylvania girlfriend.







:

only 24 more hours without daddy! yippee!!!

off to playgroup...

~claudia


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

I'm devoting an entire post to Elsanne and her dh's awesome block abilities!

YOU ARE DA BOMBS!!!

Nice work! And Sol sure is purty....


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

It's hot here today. UGH.

Wish us luck, we're leaving tomorrow for my IL's until Tuesday. Send me happy and social baby thoughts please! My FIL seems to think he can calm kids down in any situation, when in reality, Katie goes ballistic if anyone but me tries to calm her. But he walks away fro me with her sobbing, and I have to go chase them down, because clearly Katie is calling for me and reaching for me. It's one of my pet peeves.







:

I really need to pack, but I'm still catching up on the laundry.

Sorry to hear about everyone's encounters with the nasty relatives. Luckily she still hasn't come to visit, but its only a matter of time. Can you believe its been two whole years since she visited?!?









tc-glad B will be home soon!

Renae-your MIL sounds thoughtful bringing Rowan a new soaker.

Love all the cutie pie stories of all our little ones!


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

big news!!!

M is a cousin to two, big, healthy twin boys!!! Born today at 12:39pm and 12:40pm EST via cesarean, weighing 6 lbs. even and 5 lbs. 11oz, and measuring about 19" long, and that's a month early!!! Named Aidan and Evan. Bill's sister is doing well, although we haven't talked to her yet, just heard through his other sister.

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!

~claudia


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

awwww how sweet claudia







lucky M!! that is so exciting. very exciting about the steps too!!









i hope isaac gets to have some cousins someday. we each have one single sister who may never be mamas. our cousins' children are probably going to be more like isaac's cousins but it isn't quite the same. (two of my cousins had babies in february and april right before our babies....we saw one of them last month on our trip)

mcsarahb~good luck on the pharmacology midterm









heatherfeather~keep it cool ovah there belly mama! i was knitting a pair of longies for isaac and have abandoned ship. not.knitting.fast.enough. so i'm back to knitting myself some stripey socks. first socks!

elsanne~mighty fine blocks! and blue eyes is a darling little thing









kk~i loved the arm flapping walking stage. SO CUTE. and i could go nuts buying little shoes at nords. they're all adorable. especially the mini ecco boots. i'm thinking i might spring this winter

sarahsmama~happy visiting vibes to ya! hopefully it will be fun and relaxing.

renae~teh mexican food in portland sucks. we PIG out whenever we go home to cali. now i'm craving it....thanks :LOL

mamameg~ :LOL at the pesky cousins

maggie~i'm impressed by 'parroting' especially when he sounds like he knows what he's saying..WAY!!

hi to all the other mamas who aren't as chatty as us crazies. how're your babes doing????????????

i'm heading home. it's been a frustrating few days (or i should say weeks) of figuring out the FAA noise model. it is my FIRST airport noise modeling job (woo woo). i'm a freakin MONTH behind the deadline and ppl are breathing down my neck. nothing like some minor PRESSURE when you're figuring out something new and extremely complicated







but i think i got zeee answers today









ta ta ya'll


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

jstar: whaddya mean, portland mexican food sucks? ever been to la calaca comelona? it's authentic oaxacan food, no burritos in sight (or site, if you read harry potter... hee hee







). i'll take you sometime, and we can leave the daddies at home with the monkey boys...

hey lurking mamas... saartje??? defenestrator??? sending you happy summer vibes...

oh, and i forgot to say that Sarah'sMama's katie is M's new england girlfriend...







just kidding!

i'm feeling giddy with baby cousin news...

~claudia


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Hey, way cool about the cousins!!!!







Twins, wowza!!!
















Gee, M is quite the little Lady's Man ain't he, TC?!









I'm sort of in the same boat as you, jstar. Siblings for Amelia is pretty much out of the question, and the brother closest to me has vowed not to get married until he's 40, if at all. (and that's 20 years away!) My cousin has two boys, one 6 months older and one 6 months younger than Peach. But they live far away. Makes me kind of sad because I have 3 siblings and umpteen cousins, I can't imagine childhood without siblings/cousins to grow up with. Heh, I'm sure she'll be A-Okay.









mmmm, mini ecco's. I used to do customer service work for a place that sold ecco's and the like for WAAAY cheap. (outlet-ish place) Wish I could still get the employee discount there! Baby shoes are too fun to shop for.









:LOL :LOL :LOL at the unwelcome relatives... Dearest Auntie Flo and the cousins, etc.

I am so impressed with all the kids that are talking so much! A still just labels EVERYTHING "da". She can do all kinds of different animal sounds, but no human vocab.









Maggie, the "way"/crayon incident is hilarious!







Oh, and thanks for asking: yes, I was able to use my car today







But now h is going to be working on *his* vehicle so we'll be sharing for a while.







: Things have calmed down somewhat so it'll be ok for a while.









Good luck MCSarahb on your test, I'm sure you'll do great.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Claudia, WOOOT about the twin cousins! Good healthy weight for twins!!! How exciting.

Jstar what the hey's your job? I had me a husband once who was a pilot n all that...good guy, I'm just...like...NOT WIFE MATERIAL.

Sherri--ooooh boy the inlaws. Good luck honey. Whenever I must relinquish Sol to people who believe they have her best interest at heart, I have to realize, that she will develop her own relationships with these people, independent of me, during her life, and might as well start now. Must. Let. Go. Hate that. And your post dedicated to Sol's blocks really made my day!!!

I may receive a lynching for admitting that one of the first places I go when I go stateside is TACO BELL. No, I'm not kidding. Sometimes that faux Mexican food tastes purty damn good...when ya been eatin' quesadillas EVERY SINGLE DAY...corn, not flour...Although hijole, some of the best eatin' can be had here...

Mamameg--:LOL about your relatives coming to visit. Renae, I would love to go cloth too, one day I will. I did postpartum, and hated it. But I was also, well, postpartum, and was just barely dealing. I have a huge stash of organic tampons from prepreg I've been using. I've had two visits from AF so far. Not on normal schedule.

Claudia: awwww Sol likes being M's girlfriend. She's into distance relationships. Bet those blocks M's got (or will have soon) are awesome. There's just so much love goes into homemade things!!!

heather--OMG 12 blocks???? Have you contacted Guinness Book of World Records yet??? Sol has been duly out-blocked, and could learn a lot from C!!







But seriously mama, that is one heckuva tower. I wish wish wish we could just come on over and play blocks with youguys. And "read it!"!!! OMG the cuteness!!!

Partytime for the walkin' Gabe!!!! Drive your mama crazy, boy!!!

Rainy night here in Mexico...bread rising in the oven...babe finally down after several hours of mania...


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Maybe this is an inappropriate question for here, I have no idea.







: Anyway, we only CD part time, but I'd like to buy my last package of sposies ASAP. A local gal has offered to sell me some used stuff, and I don't know what a reasonable price would be for this stuff. This is what she has:

I have 6 hemp inserts... 24 never used cloth diapers ........ and 5 other inserts not as good as the hemp...3 lavender happy heinies MED.... 1 penquin MED pocket diaper.... One green happy heinie and One peach both MED ... I also have Proraps..... 2 small.... 5 med...2 large.....and a blue wet bag....

and she's asking about $80. Is that reasonable? Oh, and I looked at the happy heinys website and it seems like medium is what Amelia would fit into. (For now all we have for CD's are a few motherease one-size, and those have worked great and will still fit her for quite a while it looks like)

thanks so much,
Jackie

PS Sherri - good luck with the inlaws. Elsanne put it very well about the relationship between the child and Whoever Else. Something I really really need to work hard at remembering too.

jstar - i wanted to ask what your job was, too. veeery curious but i felt silly, like i should already know from what you said. Thanks for asking, Elsanne. gawd I'm a chicken
















enough of me tonight.


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Hey Claudia, can Ben be M's Wisconsin boyfriend?









(now that I've got that crack out of the way I'll actually read everybody's posts and say something intelligent!


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Alrighty, here I go with the intelligent stuff.... :LOL















for the twins, TC! How fun that M has cousins! I too fear that Ben and DD will be cousin-less for a good long while, if not forever. My bro is waaaaay (WAY!) into being single and commitment-less in all aspects of his life (which means supa-travelling for him) and DH's sisters just are not at a kid-having places in their lives. All in good time I guess!

And TC, Bill is home by now, right? Hope you all are heaving a sigh of relief to be back to normal.

jstar - rock on with your bad self, you sock knitter you!







NEver mind those neck breathers giving you a hard time - you dominate. Give us a sock update on YG, will ya? I want to take the sock plunge but all that 'turning the heel' business freaks me out.

AGrace - I'm glad to hear things have smoothed out just a little. Hang in there - I'm thinking of you!







Just like A, Ben did animal noises well before almost any real words - just like his dad.

I can't keep all the new walkers straigh, but







: and







and







for all the little people now on the move!









A 12 block tower, Heather? Did I read that right? OMG, C is brilliant! Ben is just Dr. Destruct-o - no building whatsoever. And under no circumstances are you to send me any knitting to seam!!! :LOL I have this *%&$# blanket to finish which will require me to sew 160ish inches of seams....







Stay cool mama!









Alrighty, I'm too silly to keep this up, and my banana bread is just outta the oven.














Time to get crackin on the mix! Sweet dreams you all!


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Oooh boy, everybody WATCH OUT, Maggie Mae's feelin' frisky!!!














I just love it when people get all goofy. MMmmmm banana bread! We're on the same page doll because I'm gittin' ready, fixin' that is, to pull some whole wheat bread right outta that there oven!


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

Aaaaaawwwww yea, Els! I was just gonna email you, but the bread calls.





















Enjoy it sister!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Aw, shucks, Katie has her first boyfriend! And he lives across the country. The hubby will be happy he lives far away so he don't have to sit on the front porch cleaning out his rifle when M arrives... :LOL

Thanks for the reminder Els about letting go. You're totally right, and I really need some practice in that dept! Will work on it this weekend, I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity!

Congrats on baby cousins for M! Way to go B's sister!

Me loves me some Taco H-e-double hockeysticks Dh and I say we're going to go "rent" TB, because it goes right through ya!









AGrace-did the Peach's diarrhea ever clear up? I sure hope so...

Gotta go crash...Much love to all!


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## Sarah'sMama (Nov 30, 2002)

Do we have any carseat gurus? I got a new vehicle, back around Christmas, and it has LATCH, where my old one didn't. I was just using the seatbbelt to anchor it in, but tonight I reinstalled it using the LATCH and tether. I don't have to do seatbelt *and* LATCH, right? Just one or the other?


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Agrace---glad things are peaceful for you for now--I think that $80 for all that (are all those CDs prefolds, or what?) sounds like a purty good deal. A schweeeeet deal! (this last part said with squinty eyes and impassioned face)


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

maggie: sure, ben can be M's wisconsin boyfriend! woohoo! only one year old and already gender aware!

spending way too much time on mdc today, but bill is not back untl tomorrow (he started his traveling already, however... damn, it takes a long time to come back from japan.







)

to answer everyone's question about jstar's job, she is an engineer, e.g. like smart with the math and science and fluid dynamics and calculus-y type stuff. can't remember if she's an environmental engineer or something more general like a mechanical engineer or such.

agrace: that seems like a good deal to me! a dozen chinese prefold diapers (is that what she has? 'cause there are other types, like flats and india prefolds...) usually cost about $20 or more, and used happy heinys in good condition could go for about $8, so if you are getting 2 dozen chinese prefold diapers x $20 + 5 happy heinys x $8 == $80, and that's not even counting all the other stuff you're getting!

okay, need to get out of the house for a bit to tire the monkey out for the night...

oh yeah, update on the twinnies: they are NOT in the NICU, don't even think they went there! mama is in pain, and maybe had a reaction to the percoset they gave her for the pain, so she is taking heavy duty motrin now. i sent her flowers, and we are going to call her tomorrow if she doesn't call us first.









love my may mamas...

~claudia


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## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

Hey all you silly mamas-

Gawd, it's way too hot here to even think about baking. We are roasting with the AC on in the bedroom for the babe. But Taco Bell sounds hella good.

Sherri - I feel you on the inlaws, sistah. DH's dad and stepmom are flying into town TONIGHT and will be here 'til Tuesday. Fun, but also eeeeek!

And about LATCH - yep, it's seatbelt or LATCH, not both. We have it in our Mazda and it's just an easy *snap* using the LATCH hook-y-thingies.









Claudia - YAY for twins! I'm so glad to hear everything went well with the babes, and I hope your SIL feels better ASAP. Did you ever figure out a sling to get her? Yipes, slinging twins...

And YAY for a walking M!

Okay, I'm REALLY gonna go study now. Now that I'm done cleaning the house in preparation for the inlaws.









Sarah


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## emmalola (Apr 25, 2004)

yay for the walking, block-stacking, talking, calculus-doing babies! Well, nobody is doing calculus (yet) but I thought I would throw that in for no good reason.

I'm lurking a lot these days, the computer is in the back room without air conditioning, so I haven't been spending a whole lot of time online lately. But I am following y'all. And working on my summer CD (ack!)

Right now I have a break because I went to see a patient at the clinic and I got the clinics wrong- she was at the other one, miles away. So I came home and cleaned a little and am going to try to find her again later today. What a pain. Then the weight watchers meeting, then the dinner out with the husband who I desperately need to connect with again. Egads, we spend so much time trying to be perfect parents, we neglect trying to be good partners. We need a love-infusion seriously. So we have a babysitter to watch the lentil for a few hours while we go out to an early dinner, then we will be home in time for bedtime and the regularly scheduled thursday evening activities. television, getting caught up on patient charting for me and working on dissertation for husband.

thank goodness for breaks in the heat.

the lentil is fabbo, by the way. He's parroting everything we say, he's walking like a champ and he does the cutest deep knee bends whenever we ask him to dance. I'm in love.


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Dang you all are a chatty bunch! I guess I didn't get an alert email cause there were 2 more pages of







: . Ack!

Claudia--absolutely no fair mentioning oaxacan! I would loooove some oaxacan cheese right now if soft cheese weren't a no no. Yaaaaaaay! for big healthy twin babes! They must be thrilled!

J--yup, sounds like a great deal on the dipes!









Sherri---hope the visit goes well. I'm thinking it must be a universal thing that at least one relative just doesn't "get it"....my mom always insists on holding C and she just doesn't go for it and practically throws herself off my mom's lap! :LOL We make the rented burritos joke around here too!

MM---you sure??







Must be why I've never attempted a baby blanket! I'll have to post pics on the yg when and if I ever do finish the sweaters I have in mind.

jstar--







:







you rock, mama!

emmalola---i kwym about the focus on parenting over couple time! I'm really hoping we can really enjoy our vacation away. Still working on trying to get C to stay with a sitter, but so far all our dinners out have been as a threesome!









I must admit that I looove baby shoes (looking at them that is) but just can't stomach the cost of them at the moment when she is growing so darn fast. Her latest pair is a size 5!!! nike sandals that are only a tad big.







: I guess she takes after me with my size 10/11 footsies! I also bought her a few pair of $3 canvas sneaks from walmart. I will probably wait til I have the time to take her into the city and browse all the cute kid stores and larger dept. stores there and try to look for some shoes for the fall.

My new computer is here and I finally figured out how to burn a song onto a cd! I'm a little late for this go 'round with the cd exchange, but I'm all over the next one.









Okay...really should be making more productive use of naptime--need to clean the kitchen and ditch the rest of the computer boxes! I'm going to make the biggest one into a little mini playhouse for C in the kitchen.


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## Jacqueline (Jun 11, 2003)

Hey all you chatty gals! Whew! Lots to catch up on just in one day. And, the homemade bread sounds sooooo good!

We're lucky to have central a/c here in Hot Houston...it's a birthright, I tellya! It makes it sooo hard to go outside, though, and Mr. G is all about using his new walking skills to be into everything! He gets sweaty,dirt sticks to him, I gotta bring him in to wash him off, he cries cause, apparently, wiping off his face is just the WORST thing to ever happen to him! Blah. And I'm sweating from watching him be outside....you don't even have to DO anything here to sweat, just standing still does it. Have I mentioned how much I dislike sweating :LOL Yeah, Texas is not the best place for me to be in the summer.

But, you really didn't need a dissertation on the heat, did ya?









We are experiencing more temper tantrums with the walking. I went into Michael's (a craft store) today to get some washable crayons (thanks, heather, for the idea!







) and I let him walk around while I was looking over things. Then it was time to go, and OMIGOSH! He didn't like that. Didn't understand why I had to take him away from this fun new world. So, on we went to the grocery store where I put him in the seat and he did pretty well. Used to sling him in the stores, but he's gotten so big, it's hard to do on a big shopping day.

He's awfully sweet though, in addition to the tantrums. Still on two naps a day though. They're short, though, maybe one hour each. And, some days he doesn't want one of them, but I never know which one. And, then he gets tired around 4 or 5, which is an awful time to nap, but if it's been a long day, I just let him, cause MAN, I can't take it anymore and I need a rest!

He's just babbling, everything is DA, as others of you have mentioned.

Claudia, I tell G about all his little girlfriends/boyfriends, too. It's funny, but hard to believe, that some day he'll actually be dating! ACK!

emmalola-we've got the same problem finding time for just us'ns. I think DH and I will make a date for after g's bedtime, that's the only way. No babysitters here, yet. I want to find one and do a "mother's helper" kinda deal for a while, but haven't been willing to invest the energy into that yet.

Okay, better go do more stuff while he's asleep!


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Holy moly roly POLY, you ladies are chatty!!!








I will respond in turn soon enough, but right now I have some horchada (rice milk cinnamon vanilla drink...MMMM!) waiting and Rowan JUST got to sleep, so I am gonna go chill a bit. But I had to say:
We, in fact, have a TOTALLY bona-fide walker on our hands as of yesterday!







: I cannot believe how freakin' cute it is to see him toddle all over the place.








AGrace, the diaper deal sounds, as Elsanne put it, *schweeeet!*








Speaking of, I felted some soakers (washed and dried them) in hopes of them shrinking so they'd fit the bebe better, and I have to go and lanolize them now.

Diarrhea and taco bell, what a combination!







:LOL (but I love me that TB too!







: ) We actually ended up not being able to find the restaurant so we ate at an AMAZING vegetarian place instead. Mmmm!









Peace, wonderful mamas, I will read and







: more soon!


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

soooo soooo TIRED.

Alison just told me I can go to bed and she'll take care of E...it's only 7:50 here and I am going to do it. It has been a very long week, folks.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Everything okay, Lisa? Hope you got a good night's sleep...remember that mercury in retrograde thing...

So what would you do about this:

Sol has had a very light cough, only at night, like about 3 x a night, phlegmy, for about 6 weeks now. Finally we got her throat cultured, and she has a bacterial infection, and after doing internet research, that particular bacteria can go away by itself, but most (allopathic) sites recommend antibiotics. Sol has yet to take any antibiotics and I'd like to keep it that way as looong as possible.

What would you do? All opinions welcome.


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Els--no idea, mama. I hated the one time C had to be on them for an ear infection. Constant poop/'rrhea and she lost a lot of weight. Any info on infection spreading/progressing if it doesn't go away on it's own? I guess I'm just thinking of strep infections that can affect the heart if left untreated. Doesn't sound like she seems overly miserable?


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

Wait... you mean, you guys keep your blocks all together in a SET???? What a novel idea! Mia much prefers them scattered around the house. That way, where ever she is, she always has a block ready and waiting for her to grab and shove in her mouth. Because you know, all the tough chicks eat the blocks. Stacking is for sissies.









emmaloa, cute on the dancing babe! Mia has started dancing every time she hears any sort of music. She started out just bouncing, but now she jooks her shoulders around and is developing some pretty good moves.









Claudia, congrats on the new arrivals!!! How fun to have twins around! I always wanted twins and then after Mia was born I was like, "WHAAAAAT was I thinking????"







: to all the paretns of mulitples. I am in awe of them.

Elsanne - have you thought about giving her some probiotics? If the infection is mild and can possibly correct itself, would probiotics help? Admittedly, I don't know much about them, but I know they are supposed to help increase the good bacteria that helps kill the bad? Wow... great pre-coffee advice I'm giving here.







Feel free to ignore me.









Speaking of







, Mia is running around the house with an unstuffed fuzzinbunz on her head, yelling and laughing and carrying on. Oh, my silly girl! :LOL

I'm got to get some coffee and get my day started. I'm totally determined to make it to playgroup today (I don't think we've been in a month







: ), but today the host has organized an art project. She got little canvases and non-toxic paint and we're going to do hand and foot prints of the babes. So fun! And a refreshing change from the normal playgroup activity of sitting around and talking about what we're feeding them.

I know there are other responses I should give, but I've been trying to write and post this for over 12 hours and it's just time to hit submit................


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

ooooh playgroup crafts...that sounds like fun. my playgroup has really fallen apart lately because the babes are on 1008877 different nap schedules and we can't find any time that works for everyone. we'd all really like to keep it going though so we're trying an 8:30am time. we are hardly even out of bed (let alone driving) by that time but it will probably involve drinking coffee now









claudia is correctamundo







i'm an environmental engineer. i have a mechanical engineering license. (most enviros are licensed as either mechanical or chemical enginerds.) i do noise and air quality work. elsanne-for this noise job i rely on those trusty pilot types to give me the data and explain what the funk is going on with flight patterns and aircraft types and yadda yadda.

the daycare drama has really passed for the most part. 4 out of 5 drop-offs this week have been tear-free!!!!!







he is back to his ready-to-play self thankfully

sock-knitting.....'turning the heel' scares me too. i haven't gotten that far yet. i'm doing knee highs on size 2 dpns. it's like knitting with toothpicks and i only seem to have time to pick it up for a few rows a week. so i will be faced with a heel at some point. and THEN once i actually manage to finish a sock (in sh'allah) i will have to start all over on another one!! these are the socks...the red ones. am i actually going to wear them??????? they're pretty darn colorful

http://www.bust.com/knithappens/spread8.gif

knitting-wise...my friend had this pattern book of rowan big wool projects. i photocopied almost the whole thing. i am super-coveting one of those sweaters. they knit up quickly with nice and big needles and wool and i'm thinking i need to start that along with these socks. i'm sure it would be $80 for the wool though. eep.

oh yeah and mexican food in portland. i have been to la calaca once. the food was tasty but the portion sizes and $$$ killed us. i guess i should say the prices in portland kill us. in bakersfield you get a gigantic plate of chorizo and eggs, rice, beans and tortillas for $3.75. (or whatever combo plate you want.) it is plentiful, cheap and delish. and the food is just different. i don't know how to explain it (besides the amount of lard probably having something to do with it :LOL ) i do love the tacos el carbon at el tapatio though. we went to a good place on killingsworth one time too

but yes we should leave the babes at home and go back for another taste test at la calaca









so glad it is friday!! dh took isaac to daycare at 8:30 this morning and i *scandalously* read a MAGAZINE and took an amazingly long luxurious shower before coming to work at 10







shhhhhhhhh!


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

: for a luxurious morning jstar! those socks are rad, and you crack me up with your 'insh'allah' - my DH says that all the time too, good episcopalian/ buddhist that he is! :LOL

Lisa, hope you're better rested and that everything's ok with you...









Megan, I've been chuckling about Mia and the diaper-hat all morning!

i have a hella messy house and company coming for dinner but i just got on quick to tell you all to go check out cnn.com there's a video story about a CO mom who got ticketed for NIP.

alright, more lay-tah.


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Hey guys,

Thanks for your concern&#8230;I am fine really. It's just been a terrible long week with
1.Eleanor struggling with a cold and she couldn't sleep without nursing all night long
2.Eleanor growing a molar - Yikes! Now she has two front bottom teeth and one molar on top right and one molar on bottom right. I guess this means she can half-bite and chew on one side, eh?








3.I worked a couple of long days at work and it's been crazy frustrating and stressful work = restlessness. I was waking up with Eleanor and then staying up stewing about stupid work issues&#8230;not good.









So, I was just really dangerously behind on sleep and cranky (I guess, *I* needed a time out). I am so thankful for my lovely wife. She is amazing to me, you have no idea, and I do not deserve it at all.

Tonight we are being interviewed and filmed for a documentary about lesbian parents. Kinda fun. They want to shoot footage of us putting Eleanor to sleep because they think that will be so sweet&#8230;hmmm, wrestling, half-crying, acrobat-nursing one-year olds are not what I would call "sweet" but maybe we'll luck out and E will drop off to sleep easily.









Jstar, you are a STAR for knitting those socks. Too too cute! We are going to a friend's house this weekend for a babysitting/crafting co-op day. I am going to finally finish my nephew's quilt and also sew ribbon on some prefolds for burpcloths for some friends. That is, if we don't get talking and laughing so much we don't get anything useful done.









Elsanne - the blocks rock my not-hand-knit socks off!









Hello to everyone else (Megan - hi!) - I am leaving work now so have a good weekend all!


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

My house is messy, too, but no impending guests. Whew.
















IMO, the heel of socks doesn't turn out to be *that* hard, but yeah, sox take a long time (too much time, IMO).









Hey Elsanne, I have a weakness for (cheeseless) TB bean burritos.







: Has the bacteria been IDed? (What is it?) Why do the allopathic sites rec antibiotics? If you can just monitor and wait, I'd do that. I'd go for probiotics (and maybe garlicky stuff) too.

Hey Lisa, I hope that the long week has only to do with work and not to do with family. Get some rest...









TC, congrats on the twins! I love babies... 2 babies is even better.














:

Jstar, I don't think T and Z will have any 1st cousins. My bro died (childless) 7 yrs ago, and dh's bro is "adrift" shall we say (and I don't see him getting any kind of mooring at any point). I only have 2 1st cousins myself, and only 1 of them has kids (2), so those are the most "cousiny" folks we've got. I feel like if my bf had kids, they'd feel like cousins, but she still hasn't had any luck on the pg front.







It seems like people are having fewer kids, which means fewer cousins as one consequence...

T and Z and I went for a hike today (then playground with some friends).







I feel like I'm finally really "back in my body" after having Z (the whole butt thing really slowed down my progress, but I'm finally back).

I feel so







: but I just don't want to do cloth whatnots for myself. I have some of those keeper-like thingies (which are supposed to be disposable but I just wash and reuse). To be honest, cloth dipes IMO should be dry almost all the time; they're there for when they go, then you change them pretty quickly. Pads are there to soak up a constant dribble, and I don't like feeling that against my ahem, YONI.









Emmalola, I think a love-infusion sounds pretty good... We've mainly been doing better at doing our *independent* stuff. We're working on finding an actual babysitter so we can go on the occasional date. I *really* don't want to do it (leave my kiddos with someone who is not family or a close friend), but I think dh and I could use some quality time alone... (and actually, I have to say I'd feel safer saying this on the YG). But I know y'all understand.









I went emoticon crazy. I DARE YOU to try to best me.


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## A&L+1 (Dec 12, 2003)

Hey, where's nuggets? Is she on vacation...I seem to remember something but...
















KK - yeah about the butt thing not being so irritating. I am feeling a little problematic in that area these days and it's not okay with me.








:LOL :LOL
















And just to take you up on your challenge:







:LOL



































:



































:



































: :girl:



































:







:







:







:







:





























































































and


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

Ohhhhhhhhh KK! Lisa not only called your emoticon bluff, but she took you OUT! :LOL


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Hey, if a picture's worth a thousand words how much is an emoticon worth?









Lisa, hooting here about the goofy rhyme.

KK--moxarella catarrhalis. The sites rec. antibiotics because it can lead to ear infection or a host of other infections...and y'know, the general public is INTO antibiotics anyway. Nothin' like 'em to wipe out infection, but I'd love to stay away from them as long as possible.

I am DYING HERE. IT's midnight after quite possibly the worst show we've ever done (bellydance). Not because of the dance, but because of DH, dorkhead!!! I could just (blowing up emoticon here)!!!! Some how he TOTALLY F'ED UP PLAYING A SIMPLE F'ING BELLYDANCE RHYTHM HE HAS PLAYED MANY TIMES BEFORE, the fact is he's always sucked as a drummer but tonight he didn't have others to make up for his suckiness, he has been completely unveiled, and we haven't spoken a word about it. OH GAWD ladies it's not so much the gig, which TOTALLY SUCKED, due to the awful music, we tried to do our best & save it but ugh, it's more that his sabotage of himself and me came to a head like an ugly zit tonight. How much longer am I gonna put up with his b.s.??? Deny though I may, the fact is, I DO NOT love this man, although I have nice feelings for him and he's incredible in bed.







I would be so much better off calling a spade a spade instead of coddling his f'ing ego...oh my god. When will I ditch this LOSER. Yes, he's a great dad, he's got that goin' on, but jeeeez I am so OVER THIS. I have been singing this song too damn long.

Cool blocks or no cool blocks. I have tried, ladies, and like Renae's mix (32 flavors, Ani) sang to me four times on the way home: And I would like to state for the record, that I did everything that I could do...

Is this the end? Will Elsanne finally discover her courage and leave Viet? Stay tuned, may mamas, for the continuing episodes of Drama en Mexico...


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Hey Elsanne, I'll trade you dramas. At least you can say yours is good in bed and a good father.

uuuuuhhh, totally didn't mean for that to sound mean or snarky by any means. I'm in that "anything's gotta be better than the mess I'm in" state of mind these days. We can be Rant-About-Our-Useless-Soon-To-Be-Exes buddies.


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Oh yeah.... I finished my mix







and they're pretty much ready to send off, but I think I'm missing an address. I tried emailing you, Elsanne but I'm thinking maybe it didn't work. I'll pm you.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

Yes honey it worked, I am just too out of sorts to get my addresses together at the moment. I promise I will send them to you tomorrow.

I hear ya on the DH drama!!! Egads. MEN!!!!


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## mommaluv321 (Aug 14, 2004)

Hey all! I'm back from the Cape and only a lil sun burned...ok, maybe alot! but just on my legs and feet, where I didn't put sunblock







: the girls had a great time and I'm pooped, so I'm gonna keep this short. UGH! it was fun, but not something that I'd do again real soon, yk? anyway, I hope everyone is doing well, I'll try to play catch up later when the babe is sleeping.


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

Oh, those with relationship d-rama...







s! I wish I could offer more than that...but hey, if you EVER need to vent, it's ALL good!
I spoke to Nuggetsmom on the phone last week! She called me, what a nice surprise, but I was putting the bebe down for a nap so I missed the call, but my caller ID saved it (woo hoo!) and so I called her back! IIRC, she WAS on vacation, then her computer needed work...she's in WITHDRAWAL, mamas! That's why she called me. :LOL It was fabulous to chat though!








Hopefully she'll be back soon...she mentioned visiting a library for computer access...I would totally do the exact same thing. I don't know what I would do without my May Mamas (and the INTERNET?!?! ACK!) I'm an addict, oh yes I am.
Rowan went down for a nap WAY too early this afternoon (morning) and so he went to sleep tonight a bit earlier as well.







And he's already been up TWICE. We'll see how long this stretch goes.
But we went to the Children's Museum this afternoon which was a BLAST. DH had such a good time he bought us a membership.









LOVIN' the emoticon wars, ladies. Hahah!







:

And with that, I think I am gonna go and read more of Harry Potter before the bebe decides to get up again. Wish us good-sleep vibes, and have a great night, wonderful mamas!
My CD mix is done too, I just have to put the track list in and get that last address! Yay! Can't wait to send it out!
Peace.


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## fiddlefern (Nov 9, 2003)

:LOL :LOL :LOL
















Thank you, KK and Lisa, I really needed a good laugh. And the super-funny thing is, when I was looking, all Lisa's bananas are frozen, probably watching the other emoticons with fascination.

Meg- what would a toddler household be without those midnight block discoveries on the way to get a drink of water?









mamaluv- oochie on the burn- hope you have some aloe around the house.

Super-oochie for those with dh dramas. Be true to yourselves.

You gals can send some peaceful vibes the way of my dh. I think he's kinda been in denial about all of Luke's weight stuff (always listening to everyone who says "ah- he'll be fine"), and he's suddenly pretty depressed about it. I think the fact that we're only nursing Luke every three hours (read: dh getting up often to get ds back to sleep) is wearing on him, and we all know how sleeplessness can wear down our ability to cope.

I have suddenly become the non-worrier of the couple (I guess since he's worrying, that makes me feel like I can let go of my worry). Just makes me realize all over again how much I love this man and take him for granted too much.

kk- thinking of you and your family, and hoping all of your medical issues are settled down/ progressing positively.


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## elsanne (Mar 10, 2004)

It's funny how over weekends it's all quiet on the Western Front here.

FF--isn't that funny how in partnerships it works that way? One person's worry habits kind of "cancel out" the other's, or makes it so that the other person takes on the "oh, it's okay honey" role...

My personal drama has subsided a great deal. This always happens in this relationship. We had a good talk about why the heck the music sucked SO BADLY. Anyway, one of these days mamas, I swear. I care about him, etc.,







but I'm just...well...NOT WIFE MATERIAL!!

mamaluv---fun in the sun! Glad to be home, I bet!

Am I the only one who has waited until the last minute to finish my mix today? EEEeek!


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

I am still finishing my mix, too. I already have 13 tracks on it, but that feels skimpy to me. Off to add more songs.... ! FUN!


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## Maggie Mae (Sep 14, 2004)

*raises hand for the mix-slacker club*







I'm supposed to be finishing my mix right now too, but for some reason MDC didn't send me an email alert after I last posted so I had mucho catch-up to do here!








to all of my sisters in the crazed-relationship boat... We'll get off this roller coaster sooner or later, I just know it. Things have been totally nutso here lately on that front - last week was all peachy-keen and then last night we had a huge blow-out which ended with me telling DH to 'f**k OFF!' and him sleeping on the couch.





















Goodtimesgoodtimes... but there's another appt with a counselor tomorrow, so let's hope it turns around. SOOOOO sick of this!!!

Lisa, hope you're feeling more rested and that this weekend was fun and rejuvenating! Your crafty playdate sounds awesome.

FF, you and your family are in my thoughts - sending you all lots of positive, peaceful, GROWING vibes! Glad to hear you're having a bit of a mental repreive.

Welcome home vactioning mamas!

Off to burn songs I go!


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

: Okay, so Lisa whupped me.







Lisa

Elsanne, please take my comments with a grain of salt... It sounds like Sol doesn't seem really sick to you right now. I seriously doubt that she would get an ear infection without you realizing it. Did the dr. give you a estimate of when the Moraxella should go away on its own? There's nothing wrong (IMO) with *monitoring* the situation, and then doing the antibiotics later if you think they're warranted. *I* would give antibiotics for an ear infection (because they're really painful and potentially not so good for hearing), but for what you're describing right now, I'd probably continue monitoring it for at least a while longer. Moraxella *can* cause ear infections, but it's also part of the normal flora of the respiratory tract... it's not some "superbug". (So sorry about the bad show, sucky music, dp stuff, etc.)

Ha ha, frozen bananas...









Ff, sorry about what your dh is going through (though to be honest, I'm glad that *YOU* are finally getting a break and that you're worrying less). The latest pix of L were super cute, by the way.

We've had a pretty crappy weekend. Z has gone through teething hell... since Thurs/Fri, he has eaten very little (mainly frozen blueberries and frozen peas, even a frozen fishstick--see the theme?) and has been pretty crabby (this for a *very* easy going guy). Fri nite was hell and involved tylenol (which we never do unless we're sure there's pain--we were sure there was), Sat. afternoon was awful too. Then of course, last night, we felt the new molar (whew). Much better since. But now he's got 4 incisors on the top, 2 incisors on the bottom, and a random molar.







Oh yeah, I woke up this a.m. with really bad vertigo (of the "clutching the bed because I feel like I'm going to fall off" variety). It's much better now, but I'm getting tired of this. I see the ENT in a couple of weeks.


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

i am not usually chatty here on the weekends but isaac is napping (read: drooling) on the couch right now

i forgot to say in my last post: our experience with antibiotics for an ear infection was no biggie. no diarrhea or anything. bigtime excitement about the bubblegum flava. so i'm king of







about antibiotics.

and ickys on my yoni







ick no thanks. pons all the way man









i need to schedule my annual and explain that i think i have some major scar issues from tearing. ouch. still. i can't imagine birthing the next babe...those scars are not going to stretch







of course there probably isn't much to be done about it (????)

worry-sharing is a good thing i think. i hope your dh doesn't get too down ff. my dh is having his fair share of worry right now. i know he is insomniated lately.

just want to say I LOVE WEEKENDS. and the kiddo has been napping for 3 hours. whoa.


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## jstar (Jul 22, 2004)

oh those molars were SOO hard. just the worst so far. i think we're starting on the eye teeth now here.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

ahhh... weekends...

ff, glad to hear you are worrying less, but sorry that your honey is now worrying more... and those recent pics of mr. lukas are durn cute.







one of these days we will stop playing phone tag and actually TALK to one another instead of just leaving messages. hee hee...

elsanne, have you considered peeling a garlic clove and just sticking in sol's ear for a while? (a big clove that won't slide inside, of course. you could probably use some bandage tape to hold it in place for a while.) i've heard this is good for staving off ear infections, what with garlic's antibacterial/ antimicrobial properties. kinda like the garlic clove in the yina for yeasties.

jstar, on the scar tissue front, there are physical therapists who specialize in pelvic floor and post childbirth healing. i have an acquaintance who does this, and she is a totally amazing woman. i will pm her name and contact info to you. even if you choose not to use her services, it's worth talking to her to hear what she does and if she could help you heal.

monkey is napping right now. schedule is all screwy, nursing is all screwy and extremely painful and chewy instead of suck-y -- ugh -- it makes me cry if i let him do it too long and i have teeth marks for like half an hour after most nursing sessions. i'm beginning to seriously think about weaning even though i don't really want to.

up from nap...

bye, mamas.

~claudia


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## emmalola (Apr 25, 2004)

elsanne, are the symptoms actually bothering the babe? If not, you might wait and see if the illness resolves itself. If she's actually having trouble with it (can't sleep, bad diarrhea or vomiting, in pain, etc.) if it were my lentil we'd be at the doctor's office getting the antibiotics, but also going heavy duty with the probiotics simultaneously. but that's just me.

I'm way behind with the cds- I was hoping to get them done tonight but as it turns out I need to go out. I will get them done in the next few days though, as soon as my husband figures out the kinks in the cd recording software. I'm getting a new computer next week, but until then we just have to make due, huh.

I need to schedule my annual too. bleh.

oh claudia- we're having trouble with the nursing too! I am trying to encourage the boy to find other ways to satisfy his need to suck, but he's still nursing so frequently and so actively it gets pretty painful. The worst is the nighttime nursing, when he's just wiggling around and it drives me up the wall! Not weaning, but sometimes....

almost august!


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## Mama Faery (Apr 19, 2004)

I *still* haven't finished putting the track lists in the cd cases, etc...and stuffing the envelopes...but it'll happen.







We were at a neat graduation party for a coworker-friend this afternoon, pretty much from 2:30-8, and it was a blast. Rowan had a great time with the other kids, dogs, music, and there was a New England-style CLAMBAKE!







Wow, good food.

Rowan ate Italian cookies.







And a potato chip.







: DH loved the party because he finally got to meet some friends/coworkers I had been talking about for a while, and because the friend's family (the ones giving the party) were "his people".







ie., A Big Italian Family. Yay! Hence, the MAJOR food, and italian desserts! Mmm!
And I got to meet some more cool people, friends of friends, and feel really old because the average age of said friends was 22-23. :LOL It was super-cool though. One of them called me the "best mama ever"









So, um, here I am on the internet instead of working on the CD's. Heh. I have also been FLYING through Harry Potter and it is so good! I will be sad when it's done but then there will be a NEW Francesca Lia Block novel for me to read on August 2!







(the bananas almost ALWAYS freeze for me. ???







)
Oh gods, the molars. Holeeeeeeee poop! Rowan was getting Motrin almost EVERY night here for a while...I hate it







: but it really seemed like he woke up screaming if he didn't get it.







The Dr. told me it was no big deal if I didn't give it to him ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. But I still don't like it so I try to avoid it and give teething tablets/use gels or something instead of drugs, KWIM? *sigh* oh well.
We also have a minor rash on the penis/a little on the testicles...but I think it is clearing up and it didn't seem to bug him any. DH thinks it's because every time we take off his dipe, he GRABS for the penis and tugs HARD. Yeow!







: So, worries here and there. Last night he was up almost every hour. Tonight I am







: for a better night. Let's hope!







:

Garlic cloves in the ears?!??! I have NEVER heard that before, that is amazing! I will keep it in mind.
I hope all you awesome mamas are having a good Sunday night. Happy Lammas (tomorrow--first of the harvest holidays)...and sweet dreams. You are all amazing.


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## orangecanoe (Aug 3, 2003)

Renae--just looked up this cool link on Lammas! Should really start exploring more aspects of UU...our fellowship does have quite a few earth-based/Pagan types--we'll have to chat sometime! I'm so not gonna be baking some bread in this heat, but might just have to do something they suggest! Hope you get some better sleeps! I know when C started walking it was a couple weeks of very restless sleep. That combined with teeth was







. I love Italian gatherings. My aunt's MIL makes the BEST italian cookie assortment....man I have a craving!

MM--hope the session helps you guys sort some things out. It must be so hard to have the ups and downs. **hugs**

TC--Ah, the chewy stuff has got to go, huh? C got very rough with her latch for a while with the teethies, but nothing that left marks. Is he chewing/mouthing on anything else but you? Feel for ya, mama.

Ugh on the annuals. Such a fun necessity, huh? I got mine out of the way at my first mw appt. and am just glad it's not an every 6 months thing like the dentist!







Can't wait til my next MW appt the day after we get back from vacation...should be able to hear the







!

I can't believe that S&L will be 15 months tomorrow! Wasn't it just yesterday that they turned 1???







:


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## jaam (Sep 29, 2004)

Mmmm, italian food, mmmm.









Ok I'm confused, I don't know if I'm missing someone. Are there a total of 8 or 9 of us for the Mama exchange this time around?

KK, I think we're starting on molars here too. Poor little bebes. Hope this week goes better than your weekend did.









FF, I think it's good that some of the worry-weight is off your shoulders, peace vibes to your dh.









TC, hugs to you,







about the chewy-nursing.

Heather - oooh, hearing the heartbeat is so cool!!!! for me, everything seemed so surreal until that point. yay!

OK need some sleep, just wanted to make sure I don't forget anyone when I mail out the cd's tomorrow.

Happy MOnday everyone!


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

New thread for August 2005!

see ya all over there!

~c


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