# February 09 mamas-a new home here?



## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Here we go! This way we can still chat with those not on fb!


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## javilu (Oct 20, 2007)

nak

i had an early march due date (so i'm in the march DDC), but my baby was born at the very end of feb, so i'll probably be lurking around here to see what's going on with other february babes.

hi!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Thanks for starting! 

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Yay!







:
Thanks for starting it, *monkaha*!
It's great to have a place for those of us not on Facebook!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm in the FB group too, but I'll join both!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm here too! Thanks for starting this!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Great!


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

Liv and I are here!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Hi everybody! I had a Jan due date but ended up with a February baby so I will join in on this thread







:


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

I'm in too!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

nak

ok ... let's start chatting! Naps ... tell me about you LO and naps. Do they?
Don't they? Where? How? How long?
Esmé falls asleep in her carrier on our morning walk ... sleeps about half an hour. Then she falls asleep on our afternoon stroller walk, another half hour, maybe. Then she might doze another 20 minutes around 6pm some days.
That's it! Then she falls asleep for the night between 8-9pm and sleeps through, hardly rousing to nurse. Am i doing something wrong? Or does that sound ok to you? I have a publisher deadline I'm supposed to meet and won't get it done at this rate!


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Each of my kids has been different. Anthony, now 3mos, usually takes a morning and an afternoon nap, with some catnaps before and after each. Then goes down about 9pm for 4-6 hours, then nurses a couple-three times (in our bed, I'm half asleep so don't know times) before we get up for the day.

I just put him down in the bassinette so that I could put some laundry in and he fell asleep on his own! That NEVER happened with DD and was rare with DS1. Anthony has been much more tolerant of being put down, I feel like I have to be careful not to abuse that. Of course, it's not like I'm setting him down and leaving him alone; I'm in the same room, plus the big kids and DH are in and out amusing him. It just seems weird after having DD, who refused to be put down ever for any amount of time, and DS1, who was ok with it for maybe 5 min at a time.

Starling, can you work on your deadline at night, after she falls asleep? Nap with her when she does her day naps and then you could have longer to work uninterrupted at nite. Hope you find something that works!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce usually get's up for the day around 6:30-7:00 and will be up for an hour or so with dh. Then he often will have an hour nap with me (I'm usually still in bed







). He will usually sleep in the wrap during our late morning walk (30 min to an hour). Then after lunch he has a long nap (about 2 hours) again with me next to him - sometimes I can sneak away to get some chores done. Then he usually is tired right around supper time and will have a short nap or we go for a walk and he naps in the wrap. He usually goes to bed at around 8:00, with me next to him. The odd time I can get up to do somethine, but that usually only lasts a maximum of 20-30 minutes. And he does not sleep through the night - between when I fall asleep (around 10) and his morning wake up he will wake 2-3 times and nurse back to sleep. HIs wakings are very brief though as we cosleep and so we are both back to sleep in minutes.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn naps like it's heaven. The only easy part of her sleeping habit is her naps. She wakes up between 6:30-7:00, stays awake about an hour and a half to two hours. Between 8:30-9:00 she goes down for a 2-2.5 hour nap. She wakes up for about 2 hours, then goes back down for a 2-3 hour nap. She'll stay awake another two hours or so, then takes a 30-45 min. cat nap. After she's been awake about an hour, we start her bedtime routine (bath, massage, pj's, nurse, and rock). She falls asleep around 8:00, but beyond that is a work in progress.

Naps are easy for us, it helps that I have two other babies here during the day and they follow the same napping schedule. She just synced up with their schedule when they started coming. Before that, naps were sporadic and had no rhyme or reason.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*mal*... do you lay her down while she's still drowsy?
*Gillian*... your day sounds a lot like mine!


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## PaigeC (Nov 25, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
nak

ok ... let's start chatting! Naps ... tell me about you LO and naps. Do they?
Don't they? Where? How? How long?
Esmé falls asleep in her carrier on our morning walk ... sleeps about half an hour. Then she falls asleep on our afternoon stroller walk, another half hour, maybe. Then she might doze another 20 minutes around 6pm some days.
That's it! Then she falls asleep for the night between 8-9pm and sleeps through, hardly rousing to nurse. Am i doing something wrong? Or does that sound ok to you? I have a publisher deadline I'm supposed to meet and won't get it done at this rate!

Oh thank goodness! I thought Aellyn was the only one! She sleeps at night like a dream - 12 hours with 2 nursings - but her naps are never longer than 20-40 minutes. My mom said I was the same way so it must be ok!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
*mal*... do you lay her down while she's still drowsy?
*Gillian*... your day sounds a lot like mine!

During the day I can lay her down just as she drifts off, when her eyes are very heavy and little slits. She'll squirm for a second, getting comfy, then settles in for sleep. I guess that's still drowsy... If she's the last one I put to sleep (which is how I prefer it, but doesn't always work out), I'll snuggle with her for a little bit before laying her down, just to get that alone time with her. Then, she's completely passed out when I lay her down.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Naps are all over the place for my little guy. The only thing that keeps him out for a substantial amount of time is taking a walk in the wrap. But we can't walk forever. So he usually gets one longish (1-2 hrs) nap that way, and scattered shorter 1/2 hour ish ones either in bed with me until I try sneaking away or on my lap after nursing while I'm working at the computer, or in the wrap right after a walk, or on a short walk. There's no schedule to them, they just happen when they happen - but we'll take him for a walk when he seems overtired and fussy. He won't "go to bed for the night" without me, so he only goes to bed 11 PM to 8 AM ish with me. I think he gets enough daytime sleep though?
People always ask "How does the baby sleep at night?" and I wonder why they don't ask about daytime! Cosleeping at night is a breeze - it's the naps that are hard!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm so happy to see this conversation started...

Fiona does well nursing to sleep during the day but its often difficult to keep her asleep. I often wear her in the wrap for naps but usually lie down with her in bed. She'll drift off. I usually have to pop back in once or twice to nurse her back to sleep. A typical nap schedule is a one-one and a half hour morning nap and a 3 ish hour afternoon nap. So that is pretty great! My concern is her need for absolute quiet and need for me to pop back in. It works well now but I'm going to begin babysitting 2 children soon and I just don't know how the naps will work. I hope she can get used to more noise in the house!

Our trouble time is getting her down for the night. She FIGHTS it almost every night. I don't know why she'll nurse to sleep for naps but not for bed. I've been trying to have a nice quiet routine going but usually DH ends up in the bathroom bouncing on the excercise ball with water running and her looking at herself in the mirror. Sometimes she will drift off within moments but other times it takes 15-20 minutes. Dh leaves for 3 weeks next weekend so hopefully I can figure out something while he's gone. Its hard on my back to do the bounce and sway in one place with her...


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Naps are all over the place here too. Makenna usually sleeps from 9 till 5 or 6then back down for an hour or two but last night she was up at 1:30 and 4:30 then up for good at 6:30...today she napped for 2 hours at 9 am and now has been down over an hour and went down at 2. Usually she takes 1 longer nap but that could mean 45 minutes and then takes a couple cat naps in the car or stroller. No rhym or reason as to when but lately I've been trying to put her down when she gets cranky. Sometimes I can just put her in her sleep sack and then put her down in the pack and play and she'll go to sleep. It doesn't always work. Today she fell alseep while eating both times.

Do you babes suck their thumbs? When I put Makenna down awake or if she wakes up after she's asleep, as long as she gets her thumb she'll go back to sleep easily. I am reading "Goodnights" by Jay Gordon and it's all about co-sleeping (which we actually don't do anymore but she is still in our room). Anyway he says co-sleeping babies don't suck their thumb as much bc they don't need to comfort themselves. I'm thinking I'm going to side car the crib and go back to that. I end up co-sleeping in the mornings and really love the cuddles. But I think we all sleep better with her in her own bed.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
My concern is her need for absolute quiet and need for me to pop back in. It works well now but I'm going to begin babysitting 2 children soon and I just don't know how the naps will work. I hope she can get used to more noise in the house!

I find it helps us if there is noise in the house when she goes to sleep. If it's completely quiet when she falls asleep, then I try to do something (like put dishes away or laundry, noisy things) she'll wake up. But if there's already noise in the house when I'm putting her to sleep, it doesn't bother her.

I also put a pretty noisy box fan in her room and it drowns out a lot of the noise outside her room. We have a neighborhood full of kids who are out of school for summer now and make a lot of noise outside our house. This was waking her up until I put the box fan in there. It's an old school metal box fan that makes a lot of noise, but since it's constant noise it doesn't wake her, just drowns out all the other noise in and out of the house.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
People always ask "How does the baby sleep at night?" and I wonder why they don't ask about daytime! Cosleeping at night is a breeze - it's the naps that are hard!

Amen to that!!!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Do you babes suck their thumbs?

We co-sleep and she doesn't suck her thumb. No paci either. Coincidence? Connected ... I dunno.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Mine cosleeps, but he sucks his entire fist! Sometimes he'll try to do that and nurse at the same time.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
Mine cosleeps, but he sucks his entire fist! Sometimes he'll try to do that and nurse at the same time.

ouch!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Hey everyone. I've been missing a lot because we are just going through a really tough time. We have digestive/yeast/mineral imbalances types of health issues going on, which are the root cause of many difficult things, like Eliza's thrush, my fatigue, the boys' trouble sleeping, and so many other things. The boys and I are on a special diet which I am constantly tweaking to try to figure out what will work best. I am exhausted. So, that's what we are up to.

Eliza usually falls asleep by me bouncing her in the sling (or sometimes another carrier but she likes the slings best) and then when she is in a good sleep I deposit her gently in her swing, tuck her under a blanket and she swings away. She takes nice long naps and sleeps well at night usually, too. Thank goodness, with everything else going on I really need these "breaks". She is a wonderful baby.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
We co-sleep and she doesn't suck her thumb. No paci either. Coincidence? Connected ... I dunno.









Owyn doesn't suck her thumb, she likes chewing on her fist though. She is, however, a pacifier baby. And I have to say, I'm slightly thankful for that. She's a brute to put to sleep without it.

The baby I baby sit just found her thumb and is very talented at finding it. They finally gave in and started co-sleeping last week due to lack of sleep trying (and fighting) the crib. They started doing it after I told them we co-sleep and sleep great at night.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

So naps well on a good day she's up for 2 hrs down for 1.5hrs then up for 2hrs down for 2hrs then up for 2hrs down for 45min or so and then up for 1.5hrs and bed at like 730pm. She wakes around 1 and 4am to nurse then up for the day at 630 or 7am. On a bad day she cat naps every hour or so for 45min and I spend all day putting her down. She's been pretty consistent in getting a long afternoon nap but it usually overlaps with pickup time for dh. So we're planning on him starting to bike to work.
Getting her down has been a lot easier lately I still nurse her till drowsy and then pop her off when her sucking slows. Then I move her back to the middle of the crib (we have it sidecarred) and lay there while she drifts but lately I've been able to leave very quickly while she growls herself to sleep. She sounds like a little engine lol.
Cordelia sucks her fingers and she will sometimes take a paci but that's very recent before that she would just gag on it and scream. But I got desperate a couple nights ago when she needed to suck but my boobies couldn't take anymore and she took the paci. Let me tell you I was overjoyed. My boobs need a break.
Anyone else have an extremely wiggly nurser? She's already starting pinching and pulling and she arches her back and kicks off of me with her legs. This all causes her to pop off a million times and make a huge mess. It's driving me crazy! The only way we get efficient nursing sessions is swaddled and sidelying which only works at home obviously.


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

Honestly I have no idea. She sleeps when she does and doesn't when she doesn't, helpful huh? I tend to hold her a lot when she naps, sometimes I can lay her in her carseat on a blanket or on the couch. She almost always goes to sleep when I wear her at the store etc, she loves her pouch. She's a decent sleeper at night (if it weren't for her reflux and another ear infection), she eats and goes right back to sleep. The problem is when she's sick or her reflux flares all she wants to do is eat, sigh, I'm exhausted some days. DH is out of town this week so I'm going to go crazy, I know it!

She takes her thumb sometimes in the car, takes a paci sometimes, but mostly nurses, and we do co-sleep. My 2yo takes the binky way more than the baby, sad.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

My DS sucks his thumb, his fist and his toes, will not take a paci. And he beats me up when nursing I tell everyone he is going to be a MMA fighter. I actually have bruises from him kicking me.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

I am so in love with DD! She's amazing!!! I love when she is sleeping, and cherish my chance to relax or give the boys some extra attention or get chores done-- but I get so excited when she wakes up, so I can just go and scoop her up and love and kiss and cuddle her!!!







:


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LionTigerBear* 
I am so in love with DD! She's amazing!!! I love when she is sleeping, and cherish my chance to relax or give the boys some extra attention or get chores done-- but I get so excited when she wakes up, so I can just go and scoop her up and love and kiss and cuddle her!!!







:


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LionTigerBear* 
I am so in love with DD! She's amazing!!! I love when she is sleeping, and cherish my chance to relax or give the boys some extra attention or get chores done-- but I get so excited when she wakes up, so I can just go and scoop her up and love and kiss and cuddle her!!!







:

This post just warmed my heart. I feel the same way. I don't hate it when my daycare kids wake up, but when I hear DD in there talking when she's woke from her nap I get so excited that I get to see her again! I just love those moments right after I get her up. She's so excited to see me come in the room to get her and grins and giggles for the next few minutes while I change her diaper. Such a happy girl!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
I just love those moments right after I get her up. She's so excited to see me come in the room to get her and grins and giggles for the next few minutes while I change her diaper. Such a happy girl!









Isn't that just the best!!!









DD has such a great sense of humor, too-- more, I think, then I remember the boys having. She laughs in her sleep.







And it's easier to get her to laugh at us when we play with her. I adore that!


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

Lucius is 4 months tomorrow. I can hardly believe it's been so long since he was born.

He's a sweet, smiley little snuggler. He takes 4 naps a day, 2 short ones in the morning, a longer one mid-afternoon and then a longer one in the evening. He usually either falls asleep nursing or will just fall asleep on his own in our arms or the bouncy chair or something. We put him the pack n play after he falls asleep and sleeps just fine through all the noise of his 4 older siblings. I guess he's used to all the noise.

He does take a paci and we do co-sleep. He just sometimes really wants to suck but doesn't want any milk. It doesn't mean we're not connected. Be careful before you judge. Some babies just have different needs.

I'm in school now but thankfully have a wonderful babysitter that comes to help my DH out while I'm gone. She says between the two of them, Lucius never leaves someone's arms the entire day. Luckily he takes a bottle of breastmilk just as easily as milk from a boob. It must be working because he's already doubled his birthweight.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Anthony is trying to roll over! He can get from his back to side. He's really liking laying on the floor squirming around. Wish I could let him be down there more. His big brother seems to think that a baby out of my arms is an invitation to poke and prod. He also likes to slide across the wood floors to see how close to baby he can get with one slide. Good times.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

It's so nice to still be able to hear everyone's updates!

LTB - Oh I know! I am so in love with my little boy. My whole heart feels like it's going to burst sometimes. He's only 4.5 months old, and yet to me he's the most interesting, funny, beautiful little person I know. I love spending my days with him









Cindy - We cosleep and Ds does not suck his thumb and would not take a pacifier. However, I think it probably has more to do with personality. It is an interesting idea though.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

This is such a great topic :]

As far as napping goes, my daughter will generally wake up around 7am, stay awake til 8, then want to go back to bed for at least another hour, sometimes two or three! It's great, but after that -- there is _no_ reliable napping pattern. She'll go down for maybe 20 minutes max, maybe twice a day, but for the most part she stays awake for the entire day. Then she'll crash for the night between 8:30-9:30.

She's gotten past her colicky stage though, and lately is just the most amazing, inspiring, and loveable little person I could have asked for. I mean, I've always loved her, but now? Oh my goodness. I didn't know I could love her any more, but I do.

She has started to roll onto her tummy, and is SO PROUD of being able to do this. Not only that, but she's taken to being "independent". Several times a day, she likes to spend time just lying on her blanket on the floor, rolling onto her belly. She'll look around for awhile, then start to holler... at which point I flip her onto her back, she rolls back over onto her stomach, and is happy again! Too cute.

Also, re: the co-sleeping / paci question -- Maia sleeps in the bedroom with us, but we don't bed-share for most of the night, only from around 4am-7am. She's loved to suck her fist ever since she discovered it, but lately she's also discovered her fingers and likes to suck on them instead!


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

So who does well baby checks? We do even though we don't vax. I love our ped and enjoy our relationship w/ her so I have no reason to NOT do them. It's not like we wouldn't see her anyways, my darn sick bf kids, lol. Olivia is on EI #3 right now, or #1 and it just won't clear so we're hoping she's o.k. till at least her appt on the 11th and then we can decide if we need to go see our ENT (who we love).


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *monkaha* 
Anthony is trying to roll over! He can get from his back to side. He's really liking laying on the floor squirming around.

Eliza is at this stage, too! She can get to her side, and she squirms and squirms, trying to move around. I think she's trying to stand up, lol!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
LTB - Oh I know! I am so in love with my little boy. My whole heart feels like it's going to burst sometimes. He's only 4.5 months old, and yet to me he's the most interesting, funny, beautiful little person I know. I love spending my days with him



















Quote:


Originally Posted by *AVeryGoodYear* 
She's gotten past her colicky stage though, and lately is just the most amazing, inspiring, and loveable little person I could have asked for.

Oh; isn't that the best!?!?!?!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *thepeach80* 
So who does well baby checks? We do even though we don't vax. I love our ped and enjoy our relationship w/ her so I have no reason to NOT do them.

I'm sorry your kids are sick, peach. I have a great relationship with our family practice doctor, too. We have been seeing him quite often between the boys' digestive/diet issues and Eliza's WBV. We do not vax either, and our family practice doctor is supportive of that, especially considering our family history with GAPS and ASD and so forth.

*As far as cosleeping/pacis* ~ Eliza used to take a paci and now she won't. She likes sucking on her fingers sometimes, but mostly nurses both for nutrition and just for the sake of sucking. She knows how to suckle for food and how to just suck a little so that not too much milk comes out. (She's a pro!) She has slept between us in our bed from the very beginning. Our two-year-old son sleeps with his four-year-old brother in a shared bed in the next room for most of the night, but climbs into our bed for the last few hours of the night. And, we have a queen-size bed, so it can get crowded! Especially on the rare occasions when our four-year-old needs to sleep with us, too! Yikes!

*Talking* ~ any other babies "talking" yet? Eliza says "nuh-nuh" for nursing, and she's also said "mama" a couple times. DH doesn't believe me, but I feel experienced enough now to feel quite confident in this! She's also very good at expressing other things, like she'll mimic a burp sound to me if she wants to be burped, or squirm in a certain way when she really wants me to pick her up.


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*Glad to join you all!







:

Miles was due in March but came in Feb with a bang!

Naps are getting better, thank GOD!*
*Mary*







:


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Naps go pretty well here. Willa typically wakes between 7 and 8. She is then up for an 1.5-2 hours and down for her morning nap which is about 1.5-2hours. Then she is up for usually around 3 hours and down for her afternoon nap--again about 1.5-2 hours. She will also take a shorter evening nap and the goes to sleep about 8:30-9. She stays asleep for about 5-6 hours and then is usually up every 2 hours to nurse until she wakes. Overall its pretty good. Outings will change up her napping as she loves to sleep in the car. Last two weeks were kinda wonky cause she was teething---and now that her tooth has pooped through she is sleeping good again!

Co-sleeping and thumb sucking: We do co-sleep and Willa LOVES her thumb. She will come off the boob and suck her thumb back to sleep. Its kinda nice not being used as a pcai like DS did. She refused a paci early on.
Willa "talks" all the time. I swear she says "hi".


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn "talks" up a storm! Don't think I've heard any actual words, sometimes when she's fussing it sounds like she says mama, but I think she's mimicking more than anything. She tries to copy everything everyone does. Last week my daycare baby found her feet, so Owyn spent all weekend trying to get ahold of her feet. My daycare baby sucks her thumb, so the last week or so Owyn has been trying really hard to get her thumb. She's used to the paci though and her thumb is pretty small, so once she gets it she's just not sure what to do with it.

Bedtime is getting better. I keep crossing my fingers it'll stick. I'm afraid to leave the house.







She had been taking a short catnap at around 5 or 5:30. But she is always ready for bed by 8, but that little catnap was screwing with her. She wasn't tired enough at 8 and would treat it like a nap, waking up around 9:30 and wanting to stay awake for a couple of hours. So, we've nixed that late nap. She takes two long naps during the day and sleeps around 11 hours at night, sometimes more. So, I feel like she's still getting plenty of sleep (minimum of 15 hours in a 24 hour period). She's done well with it. I just spend a lot of time playing with her in the evening and it keeps her happy until we start our bedtime routine. It's worked the last 3 nights... I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm also so happy I finally figured out my Moby! We put it away because she hated it in the beginning. I've been using the Babyhawk, but lately she'll only tolerate it when she's sleeping. She doesn't like facing me in a carrier. Now that she's holding her head up really well, I put her in the Moby facing out and she LOVES it. She gets so excited when I start to put her in it, she'll flail her arms and legs and start smiling. We've been taking a long walk in it every evening and she adores that. She talks to the trees and the road and anything else she sees.

I really do miss my tiny newborn baby, but she is getting to be so much fun as she gets older! It makes me so excited to watch her keep growing and see who she'll become.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Mal I thought of you yesterday. I had a cousin's 7 month old for 5hrs. It was sooo tough with both babies. He is really sensitive/high needs and when he was crying she was crying. He cried a. lot. I was burnt by the end of the day. My 3yr old would take toys from the 7 month old who would burst into tears which would make dd cry so I would pick up both babies and then the 7mo would get madder and try to bite and slap dd. He was also teething and going through separation anxiety bad. Every. time. I left the room he would scream bloody murder. I don't know how you do it every day. I couldn't get either one down for an afternoon nap because the other's crying would keep him/her awake. It really made me realize that my daughter is not high needs at all. My son was super duper easy and she is pretty easy going too now that we have a routine and we can 'communicate' a little better.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Lol, ya it's not easy with all these babies! I have to say I'm really lucky, though. I've got a great bunch of babies. They nap well and are all pretty content to entertain themselves when I'm tending to another. The 4 m/o I have likes to be held a lot, so I just save her for last when it comes to naptime, so she gets a little extra one-on-one time. The 9 m/o is who really wears me out! He's learning to walk and is just into everything and loves to grab at the little ones! I take it by shifts. I know if I can make it through 2 hours, they'll all be sleeping again soon and I get a break!


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital* 
.

He does take a paci and we do co-sleep. He just sometimes really wants to suck but doesn't want any milk. It doesn't mean we're not connected. Be careful before you judge. Some babies just have different needs.
.


My babies have all taken soothers (not been thumb suckers though) and I believe it's because they wanted to suck but not get milk. Ramsey would get so frusterated trying to suckle but getting milk. Evangeline had just such an intense sucking need; she wanted to suck all. the. time. Axel, well, whatever.

Naps: we do pretty good around here, but I sure am not paying as close attention as I did with the other two! Ramsey will sleep longes either in the swing or in his bassinet.
He has two longer naps- 2-3ish hours, one morning, one afternoon, and shorter 1/2-1hr naps throughout the day. I can tell when he misses one; he gets cranky! All my babies have had high sleep needs (like me) but I can tell they need it. I know lots of babies sleep less; but I think you can tell if they _need_ more.

Ramsey is changing so much right now! And I'm hitting the 'gosh, I'm so in love with you!' stage too- my boys it seemed to hit a bit later. He's so cute and adorable, so social and energetic. Someone on facebook mentioned their babe was 'busy', Ramsey is! So active. He's starting to grab and grasp things, chewing of course. He's really loving his exersaucer.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Maia has learned how to stick out her tongue, courtesy of her Daddy... too funny!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

That is the cutest picture!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

So cute! And what a gorgeous head of hair on that little beauty!
Esmé has discovered her 'growl' ... she cracks herself up with it, and loves if someone imitates her.
So, exercaucers ... now is a good time? Worth the investment? *Queen*, would you recommend one? We're trying to avoid many of the trappings of infancy, but always like to have a place to put her every once and a while. Right now she's digging her baby gym, but I think she might like the saucer better as she loves being upright.
Opinions to help a first time mama out?


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

We put Anthony in the exersaucer today for the first time. He really liked it... for a while. Then he really didn't. He's a late Feb baby though (25th), so I'd bet yours would like it, especially if she really likes being upright. Check yardsales, craigslist, freecycle, for one, as they have a fairly limited lifespan for each kid (but if you have room to store can be used for a few kids).


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

That tongue picture is too cute!!

My kids have all loved the exersaucer-type toys.







We always got them free, though, both times we had the boys. This time we don't have one (DD likes her cousin's when we visit them, though) so I don't know if we'll buy one or not. The biggest con (after the cost) is finding a place to put it. They take up so much space! We'll see!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

My son loved his exersaucer and dd is just now starting she still kind of slumps to the side in it so I don't think she has the trunk control for it but she grabs at the toys and bounces a little.
Any tips on keeping babes this age cool in the heat besides ac? It's so hot here and my kiddos don't like the heat. Although dd is tolerating it better than ds did.
This stage/age is my favorite. I am falling head over heels for my daughter. She greats me with this happy smile all the time. She laughs at her brother even though he's poking and prodding. She snuggles in when she's picked up it's so lovely.
Ah gawd they are advocating CIO on the Mom Show. Breastfeeding's the next topic. Last year I sent a huge email because the doctor/ped on the show advocated bottles and only EBF for 6months and didn't know the WHO advocates bfing until 2. He's way more cautious when talking about bfing on the show now.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Thank you for all the kind words re: my baby's tongue picture... it cracks me up every time I look at it, so I'm happy it brought a smile to other people as well.

Maia isn't really laughing yet. She'll giggle once in a GREAT while (literally once every few days maybe) at something, then we won't hear it from her again. I think maybe we just aren't providing her with something that provides her with that much "joy", which kind of makes me feel guilty, but... ah well. She'll laugh when she's good and ready to, I figure.

Insofar as dealing with the heat, it's hardly been warm enough here (Southern Ontario, on the lake) to worry about it, but on the warm days we have had, I just undress her down to her diaper and spend most of the day sitting on a blanket on the floor with her and playing there, vs. having her in my arms or in a carrier all day and sharing our body heat. Our apartment only catches the morning sun though, so it doesn't get too hot in here.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
Ah gawd they are advocating CIO on the Mom Show. Breastfeeding's the next topic. Last year I sent a huge email because the doctor/ped on the show advocated bottles and only EBF for 6months and didn't know the WHO advocates bfing until 2. He's way more cautious when talking about bfing on the show now.

That show can be irritating, I guess just because the 'guest moms' can give any advice they want, which often makes me cringe. But I still used to watch it sometimes







:. Now we don't have cable/satellite, so I don't watch it anymore.

And no worry about the heat here! It's not even 20 out! (that's 20 celsius for all you Americans







)

I don't have an exercauser. I guess it could be useful/fun for Royce. I'd consider getting one but they are all so big, I just don't want one in my living room!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

The space issue is why I'd rather not get an exersaucer, but maybe we will give it a try ...
As for heat, it's been 35 celcius here, so we're COOKING.
We go for a short walk with the sling in the morning before it gets too hot, then we hang out at home for the worst part of the day with the fans on high (no a/c) and then go for a stroller walk later in the day.
I keep her in a t-shirt and diaper or nothing but the dipe ... *do we need to be giving them supplemental water at this point?* DD doesn't take a bottle or cup, but we could try.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

I have an exersaucer for my son when we are at work so I can get some work done and he loves it, it is rather big though, but without it I was getting nothing done.

I have often also wondered if I should be giving water to my DS, its always in the 90's here already, and only getting hotter.


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## luv (Mar 20, 2007)

Bolding mine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
I am reading "Goodnights" by Jay Gordon and it's all about co-sleeping (which we actually don't do anymore but she is still in our room). *Anyway he says co-sleeping babies don't suck their thumb as much bc they don't need to comfort themselves.* I'm thinking I'm going to side car the crib and go back to that. I end up co-sleeping in the mornings and really love the cuddles. But I think we all sleep better with her in her own bed.

I've also heard 'if you dont nurse enough they will suck their thumb.' I dont believe either saying.

DD1 sucks her thumb. She still nurses 3 times a day and co-sleeps on and off. I think she just needs to suck more than other babies.

-luv


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

If you guys are breastfeeding, you don't need to give extra water. If you're using formula, I don't know, but bf definately no. The amazing thing about bf is that it changes composition thru the feed-more watery at the beginning, more fatty towards the end. They'll get all the fluids they need if you're nursing on demand. And they need the calories from the milk, don't want them to get full on water and then not eat.

I had 2 babies in the AZ desert, so I researched this to death.







Just make sure YOU are drinking enough water.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *luv* 
I've also heard 'if you dont nurse enough they will suck their thumb.' I dont believe either saying.

DD1 sucks her thumb. She still nurses 3 times a day and co-sleeps on and off. I think she just needs to suck more than other babies.

-luv

She's only nursing three times a day?!?!?! And she's three-four months old? Oh my goodness, she needs to be nursing more than that!!! Wait, unless she's also bottle-fed. Are you pumping or supplementing? My baby nurses approximately 8 times during the day, and then two-three times at night, and that is significantly less frequently than she used to nurse a month ago. Each of my babies has been the same way.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn has slowed down on her nursing a little as well. I think my supply has finally evened out, it's always been a little much and I think she had trouble getting to the hindmilk. She seems to be doing better with it lately, although still spitting up like a champ. I'd say she nurses, on average, 5 times throughout the daytime hours and 2-3 times overnight.

I actually tried going without nursing pads the other day. I don't seem to leak at night when she eats, so I thought we'd give it a try during the day. That was a no go and a big mess, lol. Will I ever be able to go without those darn things??


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

I am pretty sure luv was referring to her older daughter that is almost 2...

Willa is a thumb sucker. We co-sleep. She only wakes 2 or 3 times during the night and usually only about 10 minutes. Then she rolls over and sticks her thumb in her mouth and goes back to sleep. During the day she will sometimes go 4 and 5 hours between feedings. I offer more frequently than she eats.

Mal85- I hear you on the leaking...I am over that as well!


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *thepeach80* 
So who does well baby checks? We do even though we don't vax. I love our ped and enjoy our relationship w/ her so I have no reason to NOT do them. It's not like we wouldn't see her anyways, my darn sick bf kids, lol. Olivia is on EI #3 right now, or #1 and it just won't clear so we're hoping she's o.k. till at least her appt on the 11th and then we can decide if we need to go see our ENT (who we love).

We do some vaccines on a delayed schedule and we do all the well baby visits. I too have a ped. I love and she is really cool about helping us with our vaccination decisions and respecting our wishes. We'd see her even if we weren't vaxing at all.

Btw, my little butterball had his 4 month visit yesterday. He's 16 lbs. 14 oz. and 25 inches. Holy cow.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

We don't do WBV's as I have a GP who I despise. I really feel like I should but it stresses me out soooo much I just avoid it. My son was never really sick though and we never had a reason to go. We don't vax either. I have to weigh dd again she's getting even more rolls if that is even possible.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

I do well baby visits, we have one on monday, but I like his doctor so I don't mind going even though we don't vax. And yep I have leaky boobs also, but only when I nurse or when he goes most the night without eating. But I don't wear pads at night only in the daytime at night I just don't care anymore.


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Excersaucers:
My kids have all enjoyed them, it's nice to be able to set them down for a second and not have them on their backs. (I don't like bumbos) We don't have too many baby 'contraptions', just a swing and an excersaucer, oh and a little bouncy seat. I find Ramsey _really_ loves it even though he's a little young because he loves the physical challange, loves being upright and is getting interested in the toys. I have a smaller one, though, not too many attached toys and it's round. I agree with Monkaha though- free or 2nd hand!

Water- no, not if breastfeeding. I agree with Monkaha below (again!) and was really impressed with my daughter how her nursing changed when it was hot. Shorter, frequent drinks. I don't know why my son didn't do that as much- oh, he was a bit older in the summer.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *monkaha* 
If you guys are breastfeeding, you don't need to give extra water. If you're using formula, I don't know, but bf definately no. The amazing thing about bf is that it changes composition thru the feed-more watery at the beginning, more fatty towards the end. They'll get all the fluids they need if you're nursing on demand. And they need the calories from the milk, don't want them to get full on water and then not eat.

I had 2 babies in the AZ desert, so I researched this to death.







Just make sure YOU are drinking enough water.


Hot: well, being in Southern Ont it hasn't gotten too bad yet.







However; we head out! If it's unbearable we'll actually go to a store b/c we don't have a/c. But otherwise the Beach! the Park! wherever there's a cool breeze, some shade and a chance to cool off. I echo the diaper/t or just a dipe. So cute.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamamillet* 
I am pretty sure luv was referring to her older daughter that is almost 2...

Oh, okay!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

My cat spilled water on my laptop so I've been out of touch!

DD had her 4 month visit last week. 12 lbs 14 ounces and 24 inches. 50% for height, 40% for weight.

DD loves her exersaucer. My sister taught me to take a blanket and pad it around her so she isn't wobbly in it. we got ours second hand from my good friend. We finally put the batteries in yesterday...she's enjoying turning the pages and pressing the buttons to make the sounds. She smiles up a storm in that thing!

No talking here but the raspberry stage just ended and now she is learning to shreak...bu they're happy shreaks of delight so they make me smile. My house definitely is getting noiser though!

Cindy


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Oh, a blanket around them! Duh. Great idea!

I'm still having trouble with the Ergo. Anthony only tolerates sitting in it (legs around me) for a little while. And I can feel him squeezing with his legs the whole time, like he's trying to bring his legs together. He will go in froggy-legged, but seems so high that way-I like that I can reach him with a kiss easier, but he seems unstable that way, and I can't put him in a back carry like that. Should I do something to stretch his legs out? Or is this normal at this age?

He's learned to raspberry and squeal too-the big kids LOVE it! Me too.


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Bumping!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
No talking here but the raspberry stage just ended and now she is learning to shreak...bu they're happy shreaks of delight so they make me smile. My house definitely is getting noiser though!

Cindy

Shrieking! Tell me about it! Ramsey LOVES his piercing little scream! I'm sure he's just trying to be heard above the din...but good grief!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Oh goodness, we haven't hit the shrieking phase yet, but raspberries ... Maia blows so many raspberries that sometimes I'm amazed she hasn't run out of spit 

Our "landmark" this week is that she's soothing herself to sleep consistently. I lay her down when she's tired, she puts her fingers in her mouth, and then she's out. I know it's awesome, but at the same time, my heart just aches that she's more independent and doesn't NEED to fall asleep in my arms.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Well I'm in the midst of solo parenting as DH is in the field for work. It's hard and I wish I could at least talk to him but I'm handling it ok. Times like these is when I really wish we lived closer to family. He won't be home until the 24th.

Fiona has her two bottom teeth coming in. She's handling it pretty well. I've given tylenol a few times but pretty much sticking to the teething tablets. She wears an amber necklace too. (Perfect timing Daddy! He owes me big time!) They have both cut through the gum but don't seem to be making much progress in coming all the way in. The first one came in on Sunday and the other yesterday. Pretty exciting though!

We've got lots of shrieking going on around here! She's really chatty and stares at me so intently as she coos and gurgles. I think she's really trying to tell me about her day! I love it.

We do WBV. I actually go in once a month due to the vaccine schedule I'm doing. We do one (DTaP) during the WBV and then go back the next month for the PCV7 with the nurse. Fi was 11 pounds 13 ounces and 25 inches at her visit on the 1st. I think that's like 5% for weight (maybe!) and above the 75% for her height. I wonder if she'll always be long and lean or if she'll fill in her weight at some point.


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## baileyandmikey (Jan 4, 2005)

hey, joining in! Jacob is so fat, I am getting worried! We actually got out the exersaucer today and he loved it!


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

I've got a fatso too!







20lb 8oz a couple weeks ago, when I took his brother in for kdg shots. Curious to see if he's slowing down at all when we go in at the end of the month for his 4mos visit (we do all the well baby visits too).

I'm not worried about his size, love the pudge, but it is getting a little old that everyone that sees him has to comment "Oh he's a biggun' isn't he?" or "He's HOW old?







: " or "Wow, you must have really strong arms!"

For you moms with double (triple) chinned babes: I've found that the chlorine from swimming pools does wonders for fighing the yeasty funk that grows in that fold under there. The "cheese". Just FYI.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *monkaha* 
I'm not worried about his size, love the pudge, but it is getting a little old that everyone that sees him has to comment "Oh he's a biggun' isn't he?" or "He's HOW old?







: " or "Wow, you must have really strong arms!"


We get the opposite when we're out and about, especially when she's in the sling. "Aw, a brand new one!" or "Oh, so tiny ... like a little doll!" It irks my mother to no end, but I don't care. I just say, "Yes, she's petite." And then they are shocked to discover that she's nearly four and a half months old!

I'm soloing parenting too right now as my DP has moved ahead of us to start her new job. We join her when the house sale is final, at the end of the month. I'm feeling very lonely. We have no family and not many friends in this town, so I know how you feel, *AKislandgirl*. I feel very isolated. It's just me and Esmé and the dogs and cat ... e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y ... good thing she's a content, happy little camper. I can't imagine if she was colicky!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

There is a baby down the hall from us who is formula-fed and six weeks older than my baby. She is MASSIVE, literally looking like she's twice as heavy as my 14.5 lb baby. My landlady said to me the other day, "I think that baby has a weight problem. She's so fat! Yours is cute." I thought that was just so incredibly rude and uneducated, even though she was trying to compliment us.

Maia has her 4 month WBV on Friday. I have a really weird feeling in the pit of my belly about the vax shots she is getting, like something just doesn't feel right. Going to talk to my hubs & doctor about delaying them... I don't want to go against my gut.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

: There's a February 2010 thread!!!
Imagine, this time last year for all of us!!!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I hadn't yet found out I was pregnant at this time last year. Still living in denial with my sore boobs and nauseous tummy, thinking my period would be coming anytime. Little did I know...

So, Owyn is pretty average on weight. She was 12lbs8oz at our last visit 2 1/2 weeks ago. My niece is 7 months old, at her 6 month visit she weighed just over 13 1/2 lbs and is 24 inches long. Crazy how tiny she is. Her and Owyn look about the same age, but my niece is sitting up and starting to crawl and all that good stuff. She just looks tiny doing it.

Went for a walk last night and stopped to visit our friends who were outside with their basset hound. The dog was barking up a storm at us when we walked up (she's very sweet, just young and easily excited). At first, it startled Owyn and made her cry. Then she started laughing her little butt off. Like full belly laughs, it was hilarious! I'd never seen her laugh like that before. She just couldn't get enough of that silly dog. I will have to get that girl a puppy one day.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well!

Last year at this time I knew I was pregnant







:. I got my bfp on June 4th last year









Royce is doing very well. The last time we had him weighed (just over a week ago), he was 17lb 6oz, and I think he's about 26" (if I remember correctly). He always get's the "wow he's big for his age!" comments. I like it though, I always feel proud of my big boy







. And my husband is very tall, so I figure he's just taking after his Daddy.

I'm also lonely







We moved to a town where I know absolutely nobody, and dh works all day long every single day. It can be kind of boring too. At least the weather is getting nicer so we can get out of the house everyday. And in the winter dh will be home all the time so it'll make up for it.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Got my bfp on June 17th, so that's coming up. This time last year, I would have been thinking about it constantly, wondering if I should test yet or not, sure that I wouldn't be pregnant yet, since we'd just started trying. And here we are!







: What a difference a year makes, huh?


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Everyone says my DS is big for his age, but I don't know if he really is at our 4 month WBV Monday he was 17 lbs 4 oz and 25 1/2 inches long. His dad is very tall though so im hoping he will be like him and not short like me.

He is making growling noises and sometimes very high pitched piggy noises though, its hard on my ears but I love hearing him make noise :







they grow up so quick I cant believe hes already 4 months old!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

It is so strange that I was pregnant a year ago! I found out June 6th last year.... Wow. Time flies. Some days I still can't believe I'm someone's mama.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

I found out May 29th, they wrote me out a prescription that said "pregnancy test positive" I still have it, im going to keep it for a memory book


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Hugs to you mamas home alone! It's a long day when DH works late. It's nice to have a little time to myself to take a shower without having to rush.

I got my BFP on June 1st. Funny bc I was home visiting my parents when I got it and this year I took my little girl home for the first time on June 4th. 

Cindy


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

I took my positive test on June 18- it was such a shock! I had been charting and couldn't believe that every day my temps didn't fall (indicating a coming period)- I was a full week 'late' before I clued in. I had a hard time accepting I was having another winter baby!

Sorry to the mamas alone! It's hard, especially if you're isolated. My dh works long, long hours in the summer, and then haying season starts on top of it. I always make up for it by having more fun with the kids- more beach time and park time. This year I'm thinking positively and focusing on healthy suppers for us- my dh's eating habits are terrible so I can feed the kids good food with no negative influences!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 

I'm also lonely







We moved to a town where I know absolutely nobody, and dh works all day long every single day. It can be kind of boring too. At least the weather is getting nicer so we can get out of the house everyday. And in the winter dh will be home all the time so it'll make up for it.

Gillian; have you checked out your local Le Leche League? Are you mobile? When I'm alone with the kids I need some social time, and when I joined LLL I found so many moms who did things the same way I did! It was so great- it can be so hard to not know anybody with children.

Ramsey is starting to pudge up finally; I think no matter the size or shape of your baby you're going to get those conversations. People just love babies and try to think of anything they can to talk to moms about. In a way, I think it's about showing support- by talking to a mom they're sort of saying, 'welcome to the worldwide community of parents', acknowladging somehow all the hard work and experience of it. Perhaps that's just romanticising, but that's how I feel.
On the other hand, when Evangeline was so fat I loved bragging about it, saying it was all breastmilk. I gladly took the opportunity to discuss breastfeeding publicly and in such a positive, 'healthy' light.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

My positive test was on July 3. I was almost 7 weeks pregnant already by then. I was so clueless. Took two negatives mid-May before partying it up at a music festival (pretty sure that's where she was conceived







) and thought nothing of it when my period didn't show (my cycles were always screwy). I described my boobs as feeling full to my sister after coming home from work early because I thought I had the flu. She insisted I go get a test. I didn't believe the first one. I showed it to my sister, my mom, my SIL before I believed it. Took 2 more that day just to be sure. I don't think I really believed I was pregnant until I saw her at my first dr. appt. on the ultrasound.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

I don't remember the exact day I took the pregnancy test, but I pretty much knew I was pregnant from the start -- just a strange feeling I had. I still tried to deny it though! I was staying at my mom's house for a few weeks while DH was off working, and since I was the only one home all day, I attributed my sleepiness to being bored, and my aversion to coffee as being that the house was too warm to drink it. Later, once I got that positive result and started reading about pregnancy, I was like "Oh hey, yeah, food aversions and sleepiness are first trimester symptoms!"

Baby wasn't planned, but there was no question in our minds that we were ready to be parents. We celebrated four months with Maia yesterday! ^_^


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Queen of my Castle* 
Gillian; have you checked out your local Le Leche League? Are you mobile? When I'm alone with the kids I need some social time, and when I joined LLL I found so many moms who did things the same way I did! It was so great- it can be so hard to not know anybody with children.


I just did a search - the closest one is 2 hours from here. There is an early years centre here that I go to once a week. I may do some more searching to see if there is any parent groups a little closer.

Yesterday I caved and bought a Fisher Price Jumperoo. I find the thing to be a huge plastic neon-coloured eye-sore, but, DS loves the darn thing! He was bouncing around and laughing and smiling. So I guess it's worth it


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 














: There's a February 2010 thread!!!
Imagine, this time last year for all of us!!!

WOW!!!!

Yikes.

Lots of emotions there.

Let me just say, I am so HAPPY to be HERE and not there anymore. Whew.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Gillian: How old do they need to be for the jumparoo? Is that what hangs from the doorway? I got a hand me down one but figured DD was too little still...but I think she's only 2 weeks younger than Royce. Also I heard of something called moms club (www.momsclub.org) that I've been meaning to look up. A group of stay at home moms that gets together...they are nationwide and sounds like they are everywhere. Does your local library have any sing alongs or story time? I went to one so far at mine and the other moms were pretty chatty...nice for the time I was there and maybe I will make friends with them. Try looking on meetup.com for local attachment parenting groups or new moms groups too. I'm new to my city and I feel really lucky that I saw an ad for a new moms group forming right before I moved so I do things with those moms once/week and other things with some of the moms outside of the group get togethers.

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

This is the jumperoo we bought. It says to use only for a child who is able to hold their head upright. I would think your DD would be able to use it just fine. The only thing is you may need to put something under it so her feet can touch (I remember you saying she's petite). I have it on the lowest setting and it fits Royce.

And thank you for the tips! I'm going to check with our local library to see if they have anything interesting. As for the other places, no luck, I really live in the middle of nowhere. My grandma refers to it as "God's country"


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Gillian: Your jumper is different than I was thinking of. I was thinking of one that hooks onto the doorway. But you gave me the idea of trying to find the same thing online and seeing what it says for the age. That jumper looks really cool though!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

My sister has one of those jumperoo things. Her daughter adores it. I put Owyn in it today while I was over there, she holds her head up very well and sat in it just fine, but her feet were inches from the ground. She only sat in there for a few minutes, obviously she couldn't jump around or anything. I just wanted to see what she thought of it since she loves the exersaucer so much.

Went to the wedding last night and was actually looking forward to some baby-free time. I enjoyed myself for a little while until my boob felt like it was going to explode from missing a feeding. It was about 3 hours and then I started missing my baby, so we had to go get her. I guess that's my limit for being away from her. I was better when I was in school, but now I've been home with her everyday and I just can't stand to be away from her for more than a couple of hours.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

So, looks like Owyn has pink eye. My poor baby. We went to that wedding last weekend and my good friend held her for a while. She thought her allergies were acting up (outdoor wedding, muggy day). Turned out she had pink eye. So, I've been watching for it and last night her eye started looking bloodshot. This morning she woke from her nap with it really red and watering badly.

I heard breastmilk helps pink eye, so I squirted some in her eye (that was a sight to see!). It did seem to help some. By the time I got her to the dr. her eye was just a little bloodshot. They said it looks like the beginnings of pink eye or possibly a plugged tear duct. So, I'm supposed to watch it for the rest of the day and see if it gets worse. If it does, they gave me a prescription for it. The breastmilk did a pretty good job though...

I just checked on it again a few minutes ago and it is looking more red than it was a couple hours ago... She doesn't act bothered by it, but not much seems to bother her, so who knows.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

well, one more week to go before DH gets home. I miss him! Fiona has been amazing though! I feel bad that DH is missing so much of her though. Since he has been gone she has perfected rolling from back to belly and gotten 2 teeth! (all this in less then 2 weeks! Phew, she's been busy!) She's also gained some good weight... we've hit 12 pounds!

I find myself thinking about having another baby a lot lately. Am I crazy to be thinking about this now?! The reality is it will be some time before we conceive again. I have fertility issues and had to conceive with clomid and IUI. Clomid tends to dry up your milk so I need Fi to be close to weaning. So maybe in 2 years! I'm just really loving her up so much lately and have fun thinking about expanding our family.

I remember getting my BFP. I swore I wasn't going to test because I was getting really frustrated by our treatments not working. I had been on clomid for 1.5 years and was on my 4th IUI. My dr and i had begun to discuss IVF. Well, I kept falling asleep on the couch at like 7 and was so hungary all the time that I gave in and tested. I didn't tell DH. When I got the two lines I called him into the bathroom. He thought I had seen a spider because I was "using my spider voice." I will always remember that moment! Makes me teary thinking about it now!


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Hey ladies--

AK -- I can't believe Fiona already has 2 teeth! Wow. Kudos to you for single parenting too.

I thought my girl was teething but the doc didn't see anything so I think she's just obsessed with her fist/fingers. They're constantly in her mouth and drool is everywhere.

We have a jumparoo that she's starting to enjoy. Her feet don't touch the ground but we have a firm piece of foam beneath her so she can move about. She enjoys it but, like everything, it has its time limit.

I've been back to a work schedule lately and we have a nanny at the house for 7 hours a day to watch her. It's going well but I wish she would drink more of my milk while I'm away. Yes, she finally took a bottle but now it's a matter of how much she'll take -- always something, isn't it?

Visiting family next week via plane -- trying not to stress it but can't help it since I'll be traveling without my DH. He's meeting us there after a business trip. Ugh. Just seems like a lot to juggle on my own.

Here's a quick sit-rep of other 'stuff':

Naps: Still unpredictable but usually clocks around 2-3 hours of total nap time while I'm gone
Nighttime: Down around 9-10; wakes 1-2 times; awake and alert by 6-6:30!
Babbling: All the time
Tummy Time: Not a big fan
Rolling over: Only a few times (?)
Smiling: Huge flirt


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

My little guy has been obsessed with back to belly rolling recently (he rolled both ways by 3 months ish, but wasn't real concerted about it). It's the only thing he'll do when put on his back the past few days, so he's been getting a lot of tummy time. Luckily he doesn't mind being on his belly now that he's strong enough to reach for toys in front of himself.
He's also our little flirt - smiles and laughs at strangers more than us, I think.
Still won't nap or sleep alone, but we don't really try and force the issue.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Mal - Oh no! I'm sorry to hear about Owyn's pink eye. I hope she get's better soon.

AKislandgirl - I'm glad your solo parenting is going well (and almost over!)

Oh, and I also can't stop thinking about the next baby! It does seem so crazy. I even had a dream last night that I was pregnant - it was another little boy and I told my husband that it was a boy and we were so excited and then we were feeling it kick. I can't wait to start trying again, but we'd like to wait until next spring.

Heinz - good luck with the big trip! I would be stressed about that too. Actually, even going on a shopping trip seems like a big task to me









I also have a big flirt. He smiles at anyone who talks to us and shows his big dimples. Having a baby has really forced me to be more social because everytime we go anywhere there is someone who wants to talk to me and Royce.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Anyone else hitting the dreaded 4 month sleep regression? This is even harder than when she was a newborn, because I'm used to a little more sleep.

Maia was up 7 times last night... tonight, three times between 11pm and 2:45am, at which point she's now been up for an hour. I really feel like I'm running on empty.

And no, she's not teething. I swear, anytime I say something about her, I get, "oh, she must be teething!" I can say she's awake a lot at night, napping a lot during the day, sucking her fingers, reaching for the dogs, more interested in Daddy than me... whatever... the response is "oh, she must be teething!" Drives me crazy!

Anyhow, like I said... running on empty. Phew.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

DD's sleep regressed a little too. She used to go from 9 until 5 or 6 and go back down for an hour or 2 or 3. Now she goes to bed earlier...between 7 and 8. But she only sleeps until 2 or 3 then she's back up at 4 or 5 and I end up needing to bring her in bed to nurse on and off until around 7, at which point she's up for good. Today she actually slept in her bed until 6 but wouldn't really go back to sleep, she only nursed lying down for half hour then was up. Thankfully she's not waking up a million times though. I agree...it's so hard to wake up now at 2 or 3...not used to it anymore.

My 1 year old neice just regressed to waking every 2-3 hours...my poor sister in law is pooped...especially since she is crawling all over during the day.

Cindy


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Cordelia went in the jolly jumper for the first time yesterday. She loved it and it was so funny to watch her face as she jumped away. My ds didn't care for it so I never used it although it was a present from his uncle.
Heinz your little girl could be teething although the doc felt nothing. They can teeth for up to 2 months before anything pops through. I know my girl is. She has all the telltale signs and she screams at times when you put something near her mouth like the paci when she's hurting really bad.
She's been getting quite the rash in her thigh fat folds. I'm trying to give her more naked time. She pees and gets instantly red. I use pockets and AIO's so there's always a dry barrier. She has really sensitive skin. I'm thinking maybe I need to switch my detergent for my dipes.
She also doesn't like to be hot and sweaty at all. If the car seat is hot she will scream the whole trip even though we have a shade and ac. I'm thinking of getting a battery operated fan to position in front of her seat.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AVeryGoodYear* 
I swear, anytime I say something about her, I get, "oh, she must be teething!" I can say she's awake a lot at night, napping a lot during the day, sucking her fingers, reaching for the dogs, more interested in Daddy than me... whatever... the response is "oh, she must be teething!" Drives me crazy!

I seem to have the same problem, no matter what he does my mom and MIL say "well he is teething" and finishes almost every conversation with "you should be feeding him solids by now" (they both wanted me to start cereal at 4 WEEKS!) I just keep telling them that I will be waiting til at least 6 months and only when he wants them thereafter.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

*AK*, the part about the spider voice made me get teary! I can't believe how far we've come.

*Pogo0685*, I know what you mean about pressure re. foods. My mom told me the other day that I needed to start spoon feeding her so that she would "learn" how to pull food in to her mouth. It's hard for me not to second guess myself when everyone around me is telling me to do something I think isn't quite right for us....

Aubrey is almost 18 weeks now, and I think Huz and I have only DTD a half dozen times. It's still really uncomfortable, and I don't understand why. [I didn't have a vaginal birth--fully dilated then emergency c-section....] I'm really feeling bad about the lack of intimacy. It's just so uncomfortable that I'm not interested. How are you all getting back in to it?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Justkate: My friend who had a c-section found it painful too. I'm guessing it has something to do with the hormones of breastfeeding. It doesn't hurt for me anymore but things are a bit drier. DD still sleeps in our room and occasionally we dtd while she's sleeping (in her own bed) but very very rarely. Usually we end up on the living room couch. We bought a used futon for guests but it smells like smoke so I won't go near it...DH is desperate to get a new matress. LOL! I'd say we still only do it once or twice a week. Everyone is too tired and the couch isn't as nice as a bed.

We pulled out the jumpy thing but DD didn't know what to do with it. Guess we'll try again in a few weeks. I had the video camera out and everything expecting a good show and she just sat there.

I'm feeling for you single mammas right now. DH is working late and I was so tired and DD was cranky so I put her to bed an hour early.

Cindy


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Yeah my doctor (and I generally like him) told me that the tongue thrust reflex meant nothing, they have to do that to get food he said, I almost laughed at him but I held back, I think I am probably one of the most non medicating people hes ever met







He generally sees people who come up with illnesses just to get prescriptions.

As far as DTD I also fully dilated but ended up with a c-section, but I don't have any pain so im not sure I could help, we more have the problem of finding time. When we first started DTD again we had to use lots of lube though. And my little tail things from my IUD like to poke DH so that stops us in our tracks when it happens







:. I hope it gets better for you!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

AK - Your BFP story sounds very similar to mine. I can remember that moment so vividly in my mind. We had people over so I had to take a deep breath and 'casually' call my DH into the bedroom to show him the test.

Re Sleep - I don't think DS can 'regress' because he has never been a great sleeper







. Actually, if anything he's been getting better over the last couple of weeks (starting to sleep longer stretches on his own). We still co sleep, but it is nice having a couple of hours in the evening to do my own thing.

Re Sex - I still find it uncomfortable but I'm feeling some pulling where I had my stitches (I talked about this on fb already, sorry to be repeating myself







). I'm going to try the vitamin E tip that was recommended, I hope it helps. And as DS is in our bed for naps and nighttime, we have to find other locations to dtd. I think buying a futon for the 2nd bedroom (eventually DS's room) would be a lot nicer then, say, a blanket on the floor - not that I would know


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm a little ashamed to say we have yet to DTD.









For a long time, I was afraid (still am a little). Now, there just hasn't been time. DD doesn't sleep without us at night and DH is at work while she naps during the day. Our weekends have been extremely busy and we're never home during the day on the weekends. We're both feeling the itch, badly. This week, DH somehow got poison ivy in a very, shall we say, uncomfortable place... so it's definitely out of the question until that clears up.

I took Owyn swimming for the first time today. My sis has an above-ground pool and the water was the perfect temp. She wasn't sure about it at first, but ended up loving it. She floated on her back, kicked her feet and splashed, and even went under the water a couple of times. She was having a blast!

ETA: Owyn definitely just came out of a growth spurt. She was eating 4 times at night (unusual, she usually does twice) and not sleeping great. Took her to the dr. the last week of May and she weighed 12 lbs. 8 oz. and was 23 in long. Took her to the dr. yesterday for her eye, she weighed 13 lbs 4 oz and was 25 in long! I was shocked! That was all in 3 weeks!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
I'm a little ashamed to say we have yet to DTD.









Phew, I'm glad to read this. We tried once at around the 13 week mark... I ended up pulling away and saying, "Okay, this isn't as painful as I thought it would be, but I think I've had enough". Thank goodness DH is an understanding man, because he took it in stride without being insulted or angry or whatnot.

I just haven't had any desire since then.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

DTD: we've only done it a handful of times. I am feeling more interested but its so hard to find the right time. Fi sleeps with us and although I can put her down at night and get up she's likely to need me again with in the hour. Its hard to be in the mood while your listening for the baby and worried she'll wake up. Nap time seems a better option but DH is at work... I suppose at some point we'll make it happen.









Ay carumba, I think we have another tooth coming! Poor baby. It's hard to get a good look but I think she's got another one coming in on the bottom. I expected her to get her top two before anymore on the bottom but maybe not. I could be wrong, we'll just have to wait and see. Is it normal to get teeth "out of order"?

I'm wondering about excersaucers and jumparoos. She doesn't sit up on her own and I sort of feel like she should have more trunk control before using them. Is there any damage that can be done by using them too early? I don't know why I'm leery of them. We have an excersaucer that was given to us but I'm afraid to use it. What are your thoughts on this? Am I the only that has hesitations about these things?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 

I'm wondering about excersaucers and jumparoos. She doesn't sit up on her own and I sort of feel like she should have more trunk control before using them. Is there any damage that can be done by using them too early? I don't know why I'm leery of them. We have an excersaucer that was given to us but I'm afraid to use it. What are your thoughts on this? Am I the only that has hesitations about these things?

From what I've read, they just need to be able to put their feet flat on the ground beneath them. Don't necessarily need to be sitting unassisted, yet. I put Owyn in the exersaucer. It's on the lowest setting and her feet are flat. She's also very good at supporting her weight with her feet (loves to stand up!). So, she has a great time. My daycare girl does not support her weight well with her feet and is not at all interested in standing, so she doesn't go in it. I tried putting her in it a couple of times, but she just looks very awkward in it, so I took her out (she prefers our activity mat on the floor, loves grabbing for things in front of her and above her).


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

AK - I was nervous about it at first too (because of the worries of it being bad for development). But I personally feel that it is okay as long as it's not being overused. Have you tried putting her in it? You could probably tell just by trying it whether or not she's ready. When I first put Royce in an exercauser (at a playgroup), he just kind of slumped and didn't seem very happy. So I took him out, then a few weeks later I tried again, and he really seemed to like it, so that's when I bought the jumperoo - which he *loves*.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that yesterday Royce turned 5 months old!!







:


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Sooo Maia has started shrieking... it's kinda endearing, kinda makes me want to put earplugs in.

I am keeping an eye on the local Freecycle groups for a jumparoo or exersaucer. Think we're going to get rid of oour swing to make room for one.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

I've gotta give the swing back to my cousin too. It's never used anymore and just taking up space. I also have the high chair out (It has a recline). She likes to be up at the table with us and I'm getting a little tired of eating dinner one handed.
DTD: We've been finding more interesting places







. But we do have a spare bed for company in our computer room. The problem is by the time we have a moment I'm exhausted. Early mornings are my time







but ds and dd wake at the crack of dawn







. I actually am finding that I have more of a libido than I did after ds which is nice.
I think the sleep is getting a little better. Might have been a growth spurt combined with teething. She spent a couple nights screaming in dh's arms.
But last night she took about an hour to go down but only woke twice to nurse and then slept until 645am and I woke up to her smiling face.
Anyone have hardwood floors? What are you gonna do when crawling happens?


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
Anyone have hardwood floors? What are you gonna do when crawling happens?

Yep! We actually just but a rug today because I was tired of laying out blankets so DS would have a play space. This is the first time I've had hardwood floors (we moved here in April) and I'm finding them a pain for pet hair. It's everywhere and I just know that when DS is crawling it'll get stuck to his hands - which will then go in his mouth. Ugh! I'm hoping that using the rug as his play space will help prevent that at least a little.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

We have hardwood in our two main/big rooms and lenoleum (sp?) in the kitchen and baby room. Only carpet in 2 bedrooms. I hadnt thought about crawling on it. We do have a rug in the living room. As for pet hair...I have always had hardwood and vacuumed almost every day to get up cat hair! It' a pain but I consider hardwood floors much cleaner than carpet...the hair and dirt is there but people don't clean it nearly as frequently (generally).

Unfortunately we have a floor furnace in our dining room which is our only source of heat for the entire house and it gets hot enough to burn. So we're going to have to come up with some way to gate it off even though it's in the middle of the pathway b/w the living room and dining room (which is the path into the house from the front door). Pretty inconvenient and unsafe.

I checked out a book on baby proofing from the library this week. I think now might be a good time to start before baby is all over the place!

We just put DD in the jump and go for the 2nd time...she has no clue what to do still. She did enjoy being swung in it though. And she finally laughed for the first time yesterday!! She's 10 days shy of 5 months...sure took her a long time! So worth the wait though!!

Happy early fathers day to all your partners!

Cindy


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

We have hardwoods. I've just been putting baby down on the floor to wiggle around, no blanket or anything. He couldn't get any traction with the blanket and was getting frustrated. He can spin in a circle, but doesn't roll yet. (like his head will be pointing at the fridge and then he wiggles till his feet are pointing at the fridge.) His back is covered with dog hair when I pick him up again, but I supposed we just need to get used to that-dog hair is EVERYWHERE over here.


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

AVeryGoodYear: Maia is adorable, even with the shrieking!

Ditto to everyone else about the dog hair. I have two dogs and I'm constantly vacuuming/brushing/lint brushing. Babe should definitely be used to it by the time she's crawling. We also have hardwood floors but there's a large carpet in front of the couches so she'll likely start crawling there.

Speaking of hair, I remember one of you said they were losing a lot of hair. I wasn't at the time of the post but recently I seem to be losing hair by the brush full. It's crazy and gross. I'm rivaling the dogs.

Sleep was brutal last night--she woke every 2-3 hours! I'm a zombie today but just took a power nap (with DD). The only thing about sleeping together is that she HAS TO HAVE my nipple in her mouth, like a pacifier (which she refuses), so sleep for me ain't so great. Weird, eh? While she'll sleep by herself at night (usually), if we're together, she won't let me just lay there beside her. My peanut is demanding.

Oh, and the Pantley pull-off technique hasn't worked.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Yep! We actually just but a rug today because I was tired of laying out blankets so DS would have a play space. This is the first time I've had hardwood floors (we moved here in April) and I'm finding them a pain for pet hair. It's everywhere and I just know that when DS is crawling it'll get stuck to his hands - which will then go in his mouth. Ugh! I'm hoping that using the rug as his play space will help prevent that at least a little.


I'm quoting my own post so I can laugh at myself - I didn't "just but a rug", I "just *bought* a rug"







I think I need a nap









monkaha - DS spins like that too, but on his tummy. He usually does it so he can keep his eyes on the dog!

heinz - I'm still shedding. I keep having to pull it out of the drain - very disgusting.

Royce sat upright on his own today, long enough for me to snap a few photos. I'll try and get one uploaded so I can show you all!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Ugh I am sooo disgusted by all the hair I'm losing! I think he amount in the drain might be decreasing ever so slightly but it's still a lot. Ick!

DD is so into sitting now. I think we might have to abandon the swing bc she flings herself upright and ends up too far forward. Really really hard to give her a bottle now bc she insists on sitting up and she needs to be leaned back to get the milk in the nipple!

She rolled from tummy to back today. First time she's rolled all on her own. I don't think she knows how to do it again though. LOL. Thankfully DH was sitting there and got to see it too. 

Cindy


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

I am loosing my hair also, I keep thinking I will be bald any day now. My little man is doing so great though, hes rolling over both ways, has started to pet the dogs, can kick himself about 10 feet across the room, he is so active, he hates to nap so by bedtime he is SO cranky, then once I get him sleep he just fades away into dreamland. He wakes up 2-3 times a night to nurse for maybe 5-10 minutes each time so I am getting a pretty good amount of sleep. He cant quite sit up unassisted yet, today he sat strait up for about 2 minutes today then fell over it was so cute though


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

My little guy could care less about the dog - even when she's licking his feet! He has grabbed the cat's fur a few times, but that's more due to the cat putting his long fur right where the baby's hand was, rather than any particular interest on baby's part.

He also doesn't seem interested in sitting at all. I try and prop him up a bit, and he immediately lunges forward and sideways until he ends up on his tummy (or bangs his head if I'm not careful). And if I put him down on his back he immediately rolls to his tummy. I guess he's just in a "tummy" phase.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *heinz28* 
AVeryGoodYear: Maia is adorable, even with the shrieking!

Thank you!

I just wanted to let all of you know that I'm hosting a Blog Carnival on July 1st to honour the Babies of 2009







If you are unfamiliar with the term, a blog carnival is when several bloggers write about the same subject and then a host blog (mine!) links to everybody. It's a great way to get more visitors to your blogs and find other people that you have something in common with.

If you'd like to participate or read more, please swing by my post about it: http://averygoodyear.net/?p=1580. I'd love to get to know all of you whose babies are close in age to my own a bit better!


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Hey girls

AkIsland- you know, personally I use ours as a change of pace, but I don't think there's anything wrong with being uncomfortable with them at all. I hate bumbos, I think they're developmentally inappropriate, and I don't feel bad! If you feel leery about it, then go with that, your baby is not going to miss out at all. I also used my exersaucer (which is a barebones one) early because Ramsey loved it, but as someone else said, if your child is uninterested than what's the point?

Hair! We have all hardwood, no rugs or carpet in our house. We have 1 dog in the 'foyer' and a cat. I LOVE my swiffer VACCUUM. It's a regular dry swiffer with a small vaccuum in it, and it gets all the hair! It's great for wood stove ash too. It has a re-chargable battery which works fine with our solar, and it's so easy and quick.
I have found that crawling is harder on hardwood, more for the slipperyness than for discomfort. I do put down blankets and stuff; I just hate rugs other than small mats or ragrugs.


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Hi there,
I just found this thread. I was never too active in the DDC, but just wanted to say, "Hi." to everyone and thought I'd have a look to see what the other February babies were up to.

DD says, "Hi," in response to people smiling and saying, "Hi" to her. It's so cute. She also gives kisses. She'll dive in with her mouth gaping open, smack you in the face with her open mouth, then pull back grinning and gabbering at you. It's awesome!!

She is getting stronger and can scoot around on her belly a little bit. She loves our animals and sits in her stroller watching what I'm doing and checking out chickens walk by while I milk, or work with the horses. I prefer to have her in the Ergo, but it's been over 100 ever day, so it hasn't been quite comfortable. So, I dug out the stroller and have been using it for barn chores.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

VNE: Wow - she says Hi? So soon!

Anyone else already jealous of prego women? I know it's way too soon but it's been on my mind so much lately. I think I should wait another yr to get prego though.

DD has stranger anxiety these days. I went to get some dental work done and DH was late meeting me there so the ladies offered to hold her while they got started. Didn't work. She wailed like crazy. Always has to see momma.

Cindy


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

I don't think she has any idea _what_ she's saying, just that she's shooting back what she hears. It was an interesting progression. When she started babbling, it was at random times. Then, she would babble in response to you. Then, an "eh" when you said "Hi" to her, and now, in the last two weeks or so, it's a definite "hi". Beats me. If someone else told me about it, I doubt I'd have believed them.







But, even other people say, "Did she just say 'Hi?'" with this dumbfounded expression. It's pretty funny.

DD is pretty mama centered. She's fine with anyone, strangers included, as long as there is good stuff to keep her engaged. But, at home, when it's 'dull', even DH has a hard time keeping her happy if I'm not right there. DS was never like this. It's really strange to me, even though I know it's totally common.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is also getting the stranger anxiety thing. She is fine if I am not there at all, but if she can hear me or knows I'm nearby but someone else is holding her, she freaks a little. She'll be good for a few minutes and, seemingly, out of nowhere just has a meltdown. Sometimes people try to comfort her on their own, which bothers me a little. I know she just wants her mama back but don't want to, like, shove them out of my way to get my baby.

She is rolling all over the place and pulling her knees up under her trying to scoot. She hasn't made the connection with her arms, though. So, she just spends a lot of time with her legs tucked under and her butt in the air. It's pretty funny to watch!

She is entranced by her hands and becoming very social. She loves to hear the sound of her own voice!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

So wonderful to hear the updates on all the wee babes!
Esmé went to her first Unitarian Church service this morning (we just moved to a city that has one after living in a tiny town that didn't ...) and she was the belle of the ball! She had a wonderful time flirting with all the little old ladies.
She isn't sitting up on her own yet, but has fired the bouncy chair as it's not sitting up enough for her liking.
She's LOVING our dogs and cat, and they are being so good to her, even when she pulls out a hunk of fur with gleeful abandon.
She's also playing strange with folks, with the cutest pout that precedes the all out wail for mama. She's such a cool kid. She rocks!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Saying hi? Wow!

My guy does the butt in the air thing too. Rolls onto his tummy, gets his knees under him, then plows his head into the ground (and fails to do more than move an inch or two). Very funny looking.

He had a week or so around 2.5 months old where he was shy around strangers, but now he's our little flirt. Gives great smiles to everyone.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Anthony is such a love bug. He gives hugs and kisses (open mouth, with a little mmmaaa sound at the end). No stranger anxiety yet, hopefully he waits to start that until after my parents visit. They were here when he was born, and can't wait for them to see how much he's changed!

Anthony isn't really trying to move much. He can roll from back to front, but has only done it a couple of times. He's not crazy about being on his tummy unless he's sleeping. He does really like to stand and bounce, either in our laps or in the exersaucer.

This is such a fun stage! (though really, I think that about almost every stage







)


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## eewieew (Jul 25, 2008)

i was originally in the march ddc, but dd decided that she wanted to be a feb baby, so here we are!

she's a dream baby. sleeps well, naps well, and is generally cheerful while she's awake. rarely cries, and is very easy to figure out so she typically calms down within moments to her usual giggly self.

developmentally, she's rolled from belly to back a few times, loves to stand up, and can sit unassisted for a few moments. she's also starting to get really shy and give "kisses". drools everywhere. everything goes to the mouth.

she also thinks she's hilarious. she will just lay there and laugh at absolutely nothing. thinks mommy is the funniest thing in the whole world








when she figured out how to do raspberries a few weeks ago, she made the connection that by doing them, others would laugh, so would do them, look to make sure you were smiling, laugh with you and do them again. absolutely warmed my heart to see her little brain functioning that way.

me personally, i'm not doing too bad. the fatigue of almost 5 months of interrupted sleep is beginning to set in, but i know that many mamas have it far worse than i. my hair is falling out at an alarming rate, i just finished af for the second time, and i miss my pregnant body, mostly because my belly didn't look like a deflated balloon. i'm contemplating tattooing a bowl of green jello on my stomach at this point







. i've been getting back into my pre-preg workout routine but this weight is not going anywhere. most importantly though, i feel strong again, which is a good thing!

doing the deed. sigh. in the past year, i have only dtd once, and it was with my estranged husband, while i was still pregnant, more than 6 months ago. this makes me sad for a myriad of (obvious) reasons.

i'm wondering, when one waits so long to dtd postpartum, is it still as uncomfortable as it would be closer to the birth? hopefully this isn't too uav, but i have a, ahem, prospect and would like to know what to expect so that if things go well, i can at least prep him a little bit.

also, another very personal question - has the appearance/sensation of your lady parts been altered by your birth?


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Hey everyone! Glad to hear all the updates!

DS is doing well. He can sit like a pro now, which makes going out to eat a lot nicer as we can put him in a high chair. He's not crawling yet, but is pulling his knees under him and definitely *wants* to go places. He get's frustrated when he can't. He also seems very ready for solids (less than 2 weeks to go!), he reaches for my plate and get's frustrated when I don't share. He also hugs me all the time - when he get's excited or when I first pick him up he just clings on and squeezes while pressing his face into me. It really melts my heart. He is pretty social and doesn't get too upset when other's hold him - unless he's sleepy or hungry then all he wants is me.

DH and I had our first date since before DS was born last night!! My mom is visiting so she watched him while we went out for dinner. It was so nice. I wish we had family in town so we could do that more often.

Re pregnancy envy - Um.. Me







. I am so excited about the next one. We are going to wait until probably March to start ttc again.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Is anyone else's baby completely uninterested in sitting? He's doing great at rolling, loves to stand up holding onto my thumbs, wants to crawl, etc... But when I try to prop him up sitting, the second I let go he dives forwards, then kicks his legs out so he's on his tummy again. I thought sitting was supposed to come after rolling over but before any of the other physical things?


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Maia's not terribly interested in sitting yet, but I find that the less I try to "teach" her to sit, the more likely she is to do it. For example right now she's sitting in my lap and grabbing at my hands while I type, and although that means she's lunging forward, she's also balancing herself and keeping her spine straight while doing so -- but a few minutes ago I was trying to get her to sit up on the couch with me to look at a book and she wanted NOTHING to do with that, kept flopping forward and kicking out her legs like you describe your DS doing.

She's also very interested in trying to crawl and can propel herself forward when on her belly. It's so funny because I'll very often find myself saying, "How did you even get all the way over there?!" after she squirms around for a bit and ends up on the total opposite side of her blanket from where we laid her.

Sleep is really weird lately. In the last ten days she's slept through the night twice, but on almost every other night she's woken up a lot and decided to stay awake for two hours for no apparent reason - like right now  She's super talkative, active, and happy during these two hours, but I'm not particularly thrilled to be awake myself!


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

My DS isn't even rolling yet, let alone trying to sit. Our ped. says bigger babies sometimes take longer to get moving because they have a lot of weight to move around. Lucius is over 20 lbs. already.


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## kssinca (Dec 17, 2006)

monkaha, my litte one gives me kisses too!!! DH didn't believe me until one morning, DS did it to him! It's wet and slobbery but I love it!!









eewieew, hello! I have to keep reminding mself that DS really is a mellow baby. He does get bored easily. And I have to limit my caffiene intact to every couple of days. It really affects his sleep.

He enjoys sitting - more so if he can sit on my lap or DH's lap. He's rolled over a few times but still not consistently. He is definately teething. His favorite items to teethe are fingers, diaper and Sophie. He doesn't lke any of the other toys I got him.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

So willa does not really sit yet--she also flies fwd. She does likw to roll everywhere and can roll clear across the room. She rolls with purpose







. She is also working on her 3rd and 4th tooth which prompted me to buy a teething necklace today. We will see how that works out. I am really enjoyong being home with her (and ds) but will need to find something part-time when school starts back for ds.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

How are all the February babies doing?

My little guy decided to learn to sit all of a sudden a couple weeks ago (it really did seem like it was overnight). Still completely incapable of moving himself, though he's really cute when he tries to "inchworm" forward, burying his head on the ground and trying to push with his legs. Has just learned to grab moving objects as they swing past over his head. Just starting to get separation anxiety - strangers sometimes scare him now. A pity, since his great grandparents are coming to visit soon. And he seems more whiny and needy the past few days - I'm wondering if maybe a tooth is coming? Or if it's just a developmental stage...


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna will be 6 mos on Wednesday! She can sit for a few minutes at a time but still eventually topples over. I think she might be getting her first tooth. I feel a teeny bit of something in there but can't see anything. Not that it's easy to get a clear look in a baby's mouth. We're starting solid food this weekend. Sweet potato. I'm excited.  Oh and she's found her feet. She's always grabbing them and they've made it in her mouth a couple times. LOL. She loves to drink from a cup and grabs at our cups when she sees us drinking but she usually forgets to close her mouth so it dribbles back out.

Makenna has a some stranger anxiety and some people she doesn't mind. We visited with DH's whole family this weekend and she really didn't want her grandma to hold her. I felt bad. I think I'm finally ready to start leaving her with a sitter here and there so DH and I can have some nights out but I'm super nervous about how it will go. I think we're going to have our neighbor in the house attached to ours watch her so hopefully she can spend a good amount of time with her before we leave her.

Cindy


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## JosieAK (Sep 6, 2007)

I'm so glad this is still here.







I am always thinking of the other February Mamas and wondering how their babies are fairing.

We are doing well. Clara (2/8/09) is a little smiley butterball who laughs and giggles and shows her dimples often. She's cuddly, loves her mama and daddy, and is everything that I ever dreamed of in a baby.

She's been rolling all over the floor, shoving everything she can get her hands on into her mouth (I am constantly struggling to find safe items for chewing on--I do not permit her to chew on the edge of the carpet that she managed to flip up today!), and drooling constantly.

I finally got my washer and dryer (we moved), and I took the plunge and started CDing! Yay! I finally understand the CD love and the stash pictures from pregnancy days. It's so addictive! We are doing mostly prefolds (cloth-eeze) and covers (as economical as we can get right now), but I hope to add other things that people recommend as we go. Too fun!

Right now, though, I am finally wondering if I need to get more serious with No Cry Sleep Solutions stuff and try to help all of us sleep better at night (and her during the day). In side car-ing and co-sleeping, we are digressing in getting LESS sleep than we were at 2 months! She no longer goes 5-6 hours in a stretch and the last few hours of the night, I feel like I am constantly sticking my breast in her mouth just so I can have a few more minutes of sleep instead of working with whatever real issues are at hand. She is also not falling asleep well at night (despite trying hard to create a night routine) and even naps fitfully during the day (even when I can tell she's tired). I do live in Alaska, and there is a lot more light around in the evenings and early mornings, but that didn't seem to really bother her until recently, so I don't know. I'll ask around in night time parenting, but are any of you other mamas experiencing this? Is this a developmental thing I should be taking in stride? Should I just expect her to grow out of this? Is it time to start solids?

Sorry to complain. Things are really okay here. I love being a mama and really actually have learned to function pretty well on inturupted sleep. I realized that I haven't slept longer than 5 hours since February 5 (mostly less)--it's pretty amazing! If I ever got a full night's sleep--I would feel like Wonder Woman.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

I think the bad sleeping is a phase. Really. That was me last week. And now, the last couple nights, I've slept long enough and well enough that I've been dreaming. (knock wood, lest I jinx it!)

Anthony has not been napping much though. Little catnaps, less than half an hour.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

I think the bad sleeping is just a phase--and we are moving out of it currently! Willa still does the cluster nursing in the am for the 2 hours or so before we get out of bed but other than that is only waking once to nurse during the night! SO, she goes down pretty easily at 8-8:30 then wakes usually somewhere between 2-3 and then is up again about 6 for her cluster nursing until about 8 or so.
We are working on sitting and its getting better. she is starting to out her hands down for balance and can do ok for a minute or two. She is also doing an inchworm/commando crawl that can get her across the room--slowly! Its very exciting. She will be 6 months on Tuesday and we will try some solids sometime this week.
We are also dealing with some stramger stuff though it is not as bad as her brother was!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Maia decided the other day that she wanted to sit up and that was it, she started sitting up. For a few days it seemed like she was constantly falling over, but she only fell over twice yesterday, so, that's nice. It still kinda blows my mind to wake up and see her sitting next to me.

She's also pretty much crawling. Slowly and a bit awkwardly, but she can lift one hand, move it forward, and move a leg forward. It's pretty impressive. Looks like she's just going to bypass the whole "army crawl" thing altogether.

Ever since she learned how to push up on hands and knees, 2 weeks or so ago, we've been having some sleep issues. Most nights she wakes up at some point on her hands & knees and won't go back to sleep for another 1.5-2.5 hours. It's exhausting, especially when paired with the fact that for the last two nights she's decided that going to bed after 11pm instead of before 8pm would be fun.

Can't wait for this crappy sleep phase to pass.


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## akayerich (Jun 1, 2008)

Hi ladies-
I was technically in your DDC, but not too active. Then my little guy decided to be a late January (1/27) baby instead of February, but I thought I could maybe get away with joining you









We've been sleep regressing lately, too. He was STTN, like 8-10 hours, since about 2 months old. I felt like the luckiest mom in the world. Then about 4 weeks ago, he started waking up every 1-3 hours again. Now he's back to sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch, again. So, I'm thinking like some of the rest of you- just a crappy sleep phase.

Our big milestones are sitting up (and then toppling over after about 30 seconds) and constantly rolling over on his belly (and then crying because he still can't figure out how to get back over on his back). I don't think we're even close to crawling, yet. Lincoln's pretty laid back and happy with wherever he is, so I guess he's not too worried about learning to get anywhere else.

Oh, and we tried a little bit of banana the other day. He did end up chewing it up and swallowing it, but he made some really disgusted faces, and then didn't really seem interested anymore. So I think we gonna just take it real slow with solids - maybe try a few other things and see if he likes them any better, and if not, just wait a while longer.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I don't think my guy is close to crawling either. He really wishes he was, but I don't think his arms are strong enough. He loves practicing standing holding onto things and doing deep knee bends, so his legs are really strong but his arms haven't caught up yet. I feel sorry for him though, because he really wants to move!

Does anyone's baby make sounds that are remotely like English yet? I kind of thought babies were supposed to babble, like mamamama and babababa kind of sounds, but so far mine only squeals and croaks.

We had a few weeks where he was very difficult to put to bed, screaming for no apparent reason, but sleep seems to have gotten a bit better lately.


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## akayerich (Jun 1, 2008)

The only babbling sounds we've heard so far are ah-ah-ahhhhhhh and mm-mm-mmmmmmm, and sometimes he'll combine them to make ahhhhhh-mah, ahhhhh-mah (the first time he did that one, it was so close to mama it almost made me cry







). But mostly he just screeches loudly and does raspberries.

My baby's got stronger legs than arms, too. He loves standing (with help), but can't even lay on his belly and hold his torso up with his arms yet.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

I just remembered that each of my big kids went thru a phase of poor sleep and extra nursing right before a developmental leap. Rolling, crawling, talking, walking, all preceeded by round the clock nursing.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Is anyone else's baby late on the rolling over?? Mine has rolled tummy to back a few times but nothing lately and no back to tummy. No interest really. She rolls to her side but doesn't try to go further. She gets plenty of opportunity.

Today is a big day for us. Makenna just had her first solid food. Sweet potato. I'd say she liked it. She ate a good amount, kept opening her mouth for it and was very smiley. For those that offer water afterwards - do you use a cup, sippy cup or bottle? In addition to getting solid food today Makenna is going to sleep in her crib in her own room for the first time tonight. I'm not sure I'm ready but we'll see. She's been in the pack and play and she's going to outgrow that soon when she starts pulling up so either she goes to her own room or we move the crib in our room. DH is eager to reclaim the bedroom as our own even though he loves having her near.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé isn't in a big hurry to be mobile either. She's starting to sit up over the last few days, and can roll when she wants. She's not on the floor a lot, so that might have something to do with it. She LOVES standing of any kind. And she's still sleeping great ... which I hope continues, from what I hear from the rest of you. She'll be six months on the 31st!
She started swim lessons last week, and went under quite happily. She loves the water! We just spent the day at the **** baseball tournament here, where she was the belle of the ball. She's conked out now, napping.
As for solids, she's been eating them for a couple of weeks now. Sweet potato, avocado, mashed blueberries, and yogurt for the first time today! She loves food, and is still happy at the boob ... which is great. I'm a low supply mama, so we're aiming to boost her weight with solids. Here's hoping!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Delia has learned to sit and can do so for several minutes. I think she's on the verge of crawling because she can push herself up off the floor with her arms belly and all. She can get her legs under her but she just can't get it all together yet. She's ready to move. She can scooch backwards on her belly. I left her on the floor and went pee and came back and she had scooched under the couch lol.
Haven't started solids yet waiting for that 6 mo mark. We were going through a crappy sleep phase that is slllllooooowwwwwlllyyy improving. It's been hot here so that has something to do with the crappy sleep. She's still swaddled and I'm unsure of how to break that habit. I've tried doing naps "free" and she only catnaps and then she ends up way overtired by the end of the day. I'm hoping she gets more sleep 'maturity' as dr. sears calls it soon.
I've been back at work for 4hrs a week for 2 weeks now. It's nice to get out. Delia still won't really take a bottle though so it's usually kind of stressful for dh. We need the money though.
As dd gets more smiley and interactive I feel like I'm falling more in love with her. We're definitely 'attached'.


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## newmomrose (Jun 11, 2009)

Hi! I wasn't on mdc when I was pregnant (I was on another forum) but would like to join in here if that's OK.

My DD was born Feb 26, so today is her 5 month birthday. She has just started sitting unassisted for a few minutes at a time, and can roll over, mostly back to front, and she pushes herself up with her arms. She loves standing holding onto things and blowing raspberriers. We are thinking about starting food soon as she is reaching for our food now and sitting, but I think I want to wait a little longer until I can just clearly feel that she is ready. She STTN from 3 months until last week, and now she is waking 1-2 times/night, but usually will just nurse back to sleep. I'm wondering if it's the heat that's getting to her, or if she's having a growth spurt, or if she's not eating as much during the day because she is so interested in the world right now, but hope that whatever it is passes before too long. She mostly sleeps in a side-car but sometimes sleeps in our bed.

Regarding an earlier poster's question about DTD and how your parts feel, we just did it for the first time since dd was born, and it went great. I had a lot of anxiety about it around the 6-week mark when I had heard your body is supposed to be ready and I SO did not feel ready. DH didn't pressure me and I'm really glad we waited because I feel so much more healed now. I had a 2nd-degree tear and it definitely still feels different down there but dtd was actually enjoyable, which I had been worried about.

Thanks everybody else for sharing!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Welcome newmomrose!

So Makenna slept in her own room last night for the first time! She slept great! 7:30 until 4:15 and then back down until after 7!! Normally she is up at 2 or 3 then only back down until 4:30 or 5 and I end up nursing lying down for an hour or so to get more sleep. Not sure if she slept better bc her crib is more comfortable than the pack and play, bc we weren't rolling around making noise or bc she had some solids yesterday. I on the other hand slept horribly! Kept trying to hear her breathing on the monitor. DH is going to move the monitor closer to her today so hopefully I won't have to have it blasted and won't hear all the other creaking noises so loudly.

She rolled tummy to back twice in her crib this morning...I guess it's easier in there.

Cindy


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## kssinca (Dec 17, 2006)

I got a job offer today!!!! It's field I want, it's close to home and the pay is good! It's contingent on the background check but I don't have a record or anything. I'm excited and nervous! As much as I want this job(and NEED it), I am unhappy that I won't be able to spend all day with DS anymore. DH and I tried to find ways for me to be able to stay home but nothing was happening fast enough and it seemed like more and more obstacles were popping up.

Any moms that went back to work have any advice for me?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

When, oh when does the puking stop?! I'm soooo tired of my clothes and my baby smelling like sour milk all the time!

On a good note, Owyn has her two teeth on the bottom now. I thought we'd get a break from teething because I can't feel that her top ones have set in at all... but I think we're at it again. Very sleepy during the day, restless at night, running a fever on and off. But it's her bottom gums feeling swollen, I think she's getting another on the bottom. Weird.

Without the teething, she is down to nursing once a night. The pacifier has become our very best friend. She can't find it and put it in her mouth herself yet, but she can keep it in her mouth pretty well and get to sleep with it. Now, she's not attached to my boob all night long! She still eats when hungry though, she refuses to go back to sleep with the pacifier when she's hungry and will just suck on it and wiggle all over the place trying to find the boob. But that only happens about once a night. I feel like I'm getting a lot more rest than before!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

We just returned from a 3+ week visit with family. Fiona was amazing. We started the trip with a family reunion camping trip. Her uncles took her for walks to visit all the family camp sites in the morning. She loved visiting with everyone and was happy to be passed around among the family. Her cousins were great with her and she loved watching them play.

She's working on her 3rd and 4th teeth right now but doing well with it. I really recommend those amber teething necklaces! She's rolling a lot but often content to kick on the blanket on her back. Not sitting on her own yet but loved sitting up in the highchair at my moms. I have to get one of those things!

She'll be 6 months on the 1st. I let her start playing with food a bit which she LOVED! i was going to wait until she was 6 months + but it was so nice to have access to such fresh produce. I let her lick a piece of watermelon one day. She smiled, grabbed it out of my hand and shoved it in her mouth! That was her official first food! She tried cucumber, peach, and nectarine as well. Mostly just sucking on them but really enjoying it. She is always trying to drink from my glass... I tell her coffee is yucky but water is good! She does better with water from my glass then with water in the stupid sippy cup I got her.

We are happy to be back home now to our own bed and own routines. I enjoyed catching up on the feb Mama news!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Aleric can roll all the way over now, and he has been eating solid foods (he will be 6 months on the 7th, he fed himself off my plate so I just decided to give in and let him have food) He has had yogurt, avocado, peaches, he loves peaches! and now prune juice and carrots. He is "talking" up a storm, he loves to hear himself he gets louder and louder as the day goes on. He is also sleeping pretty good, he has huge bumps on his bottom gums where his teeth are trying to break through, they just haven't done so yet, I hope its soon because he is so angry when they hurt. I really want to get him an amber teething necklace but I am struggling to find a site that sells them, I don't want to buy a fake one. So if anyone has any recommendations for me it would be very helpful. And he LOVES my animals, he chases the dogs in circles in his walker in the kitchen, its so cute, he just wants to pet them but they are scared of the walker, he does lay on the floor with them and he reaches out to pet them, same with the cats but with them he more grabs a handful and hold on for dear life... poor cats... good thing they are very calm. He is such a great baby everyday I am more and more amazed by him!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

http://www.happybottomus.com/SPD/amb...6196844801.jsp

There is a link for an amber teething necklace. My favorite baby store!


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
http://www.happybottomus.com/SPD/amb...6196844801.jsp

There is a link for an amber teething necklace. My favorite baby store!

I LOVE that store!!

DH and i were marveling over the fact that we have been parents for over 8 years now. 8+ years of snugging to sleep with a baby (toddler/preschooler/big kid) between us.














Anthony fits so well into our family that i can't imagine life without him.







:


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

My guy won't be 6 months until the 14th, so I haven't fed him yet (unless you count helping me pick broccoli in the garden - but he doesn't swallow anything from raw broccoli). He's certainly interested, but I think more in the bowls and things (so fun to grab those and push them off the table) than the food.

He's figured out the rhythm required to bounce in his jumper thing now (one of those that swings from the ceiling), and is bouncing and croaking all over the place - like a little frog.

I'm amazed at how strong he is - he grabs at everything, and once he managed to carry a 2 lb bag of carrots!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

welcome to you *newmomrose*!

its wonderful to see how all of the babies are growing! Aubrey is right at 5.5 mos. now and trying desparately to sit/stand/eat everything except food. She can roll over but doesn't like to, and still _hates_ being on her belly for more than a minute. But I'm not pushing it, so if she walks before she crawls that's fine with me. As for food, we've only tried rice cereal and bananas so far, and she's not interested in either. She likes to put things in her mouth, but gags herself to keep from swallowing anything. But its fun to make a mess, so we keep trying.

*kssinca*, congrats on the job! My only advice is get a good breast pump and make time for yourself and your baby when you get home. The dishes/dinner/housekeeping can wait. Good luck!

Quote:

She is always trying to drink from my glass... I tell her coffee is yucky but water is good! She does better with water from my glass then with water in the stupid sippy cup I got her.
Yeah, Aubrey is the same. She doesn't get the sippy cup but loves to try to take a glass of water away from us. Then when it gets close to her mouth, she gets nervous and turns her head away. Since we're starting (trying) solids now, do we need to give water? B/c Aubrey won't take it--in a bottle, sippy cup, regular cup. Just not having it. What are you guys doing?

Quote:

egarding an earlier poster's question about DTD....
Still not going there. Just not in to it.







Wish it were otherwise. Does BFing affect one's interest in DTD?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

justKate: Yep, BFing totally affects the drive. We're doing so so in that department. Definitely took a big jump up this week since we moved DD to her own room though. That was DH's idea of course.

DD rode in the BOB stroller today without riding in the infant seat attached to it for the first time. This is a big thing for me...she is facing out and I can't see her. I don't like that! I ended up wearing her the whole way home bc she melted down. In fact I ended up walking over half a mile while nursing her in the bjorn. It felt really weird to be walking around people and lots of cars with my boob hanging out. Such is motherhood! LOL! And it worked - DD fell asleep right away.

Cindy


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## kssinca (Dec 17, 2006)

Sam can roll over, front to back, back to front. He can sit for a couple of seconds by himself now too. I still don't think he is interested in food yet - it's more like, he wants whatever mama is holding! I was eating some watermelon granita and I put a little on his lips and nothing. He loves loves loves standing. If I had a jumper, I think he would really enjoy it but all I have is an exersaucer.

We just DTD a few weeks ago. I feel bad it took us this long but I just couldn't....not because I didn't want to - it's almost like, I forgot how! lol! I'd like to start trying for another baby now (just worried it will take a long time again) but I still haven't had a period.


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## JosieAK (Sep 6, 2007)

It's so neat to read about all the other babies. It's very reassuring to know that Clara is definitely within the realm of normal and that this difficult sleeping phase is probably just a phase. I'm impressed with the crawlers and talkers out there. I know that day is fast approaching as I admire Clara's increasing ease at navigating our livingroom floor in a series of expert twists and rolls and listen to her babble a few syllables. I should probably start signing to her very soon if we are going to use sign language. She is definitely more alert and deliberate everyday.

Well, I need to take advantage of her sleeping to go to bed myself. It has been an exhausting week. Happy weekend everyone!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Emsé just finished her first swim lessons and the instructor commented on how 'chatty' she is during class ... somehow I think this will be a theme on further report cards. So funny. She's sitting up for a few seconds at a time. This weekend is her first Pride parade. Should be fun!

*Cindy*... I hear you about the stroller. I started to get it out today (the **** march is today, Pride parade tomorrow) but then looked at it and figured I'd rather take her in the Ergo. I don't like her facing away from me either! And it seems so bulky!

As for DTD ... my philosophy is that I don't wait until I feel 'ready' ... once we get going, I get into it. If I waited to 'feel like it' we'd never do it, but I enjoy it once I get into my groove.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
As for DTD ... my philosophy is that I don't wait until I feel 'ready' ... once we get going, I get into it. If I waited to 'feel like it' we'd never do it, but I enjoy it once I get into my groove.

Same here.


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

i'm technically crashing the party here too.. had a feb due date but jan 31 birth.
we started solids this week and this kid is a machine! he ate an entire banana in like 10 minutes. we've done bananas and brocolli but i think the broc caused some gas issues. anyone had this with broccoli?
so glad to hear about others not interested in DTD. i was starting to think i was a freak! we've done it a few times but i just dont have the drive.

phoenix is way interested in cups too. at first he would just dribble the water back out, but now he seems to be actually swallowing it.

glad to have found you over here!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

It's never occurred to me to give Katmai a cup of water! All we have is glass canning jars and coffee mugs to drink from, and I think he'd just drop them on the floor. Maybe I could use a measuring cup?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

McKittre: We hold the glass for sure...we don't give it to DD. I do have a tiny tupperware I let her hold sometimes when I dont mind her spilling it all on herself. I find if the glass is very full it is easier for her to drink. She used to lap it like a dog and forget to close her mouth so it would dribble out but she's doing better now. She's inhaled it a couple times so she is cautious to sip and then pull her head away to swallow. But usually she only gets a few drinks in before she spits up in the glass (it's always after eating solids). Mmmm.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé has mastered drinking from a cup ... which is good because we've been working on it for a while, due to low supply issues. She backwashes like crazy though, so I like her to have her own glass. Shot glasses work well.


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

oh a shot glass is a great idea. Now that you mention it I think I have heard that mentioned before. haven't had any use for one of those in quite some time.. i'm sure i've got one floating around somewhere..
Starling- your dd and my ds share a birthday! i actually noticed this in a post on a different thread but my internet crashed while i was trying to post..
what time was esme born?


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for the tip on the shot glass Starling. Going to dust one of those off for her. Will make for some great pictures.







Along with when she tries to drink from mine or DH's beer. Yes, we are great parents!

I've got to get Fiona back to the pool. We went to a hot springs while on vacation. She loved the pool so much. She actually fell asleep in the pool with DH she was so relaxed. So cute!
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1536.jpg

For those of you who have started solids a question about poop. Did your lo's poop schedule change right away? I would say that although she's been playing with food for a couple of weeks it has just been this week that she's swallowed any. (well, I have scientific evidence so to speak that she's swallowing food now!







) She's normally pooped 3-4 times a day and has been down to once a day this week. Is this similar to what you've experienced? Are the days of 4 poops behind me?!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
http://www.happybottomus.com/SPD/amb...6196844801.jsp

There is a link for an amber teething necklace. My favorite baby store!

Thank you for this link! I am ordering one today for my little man, I am hoping it helps him so much. I also have a question about poop, about a week ago he had not pooped for 6 days, then he pooped (we gave him prune juice) now hes been eating yogurt and prune almost daily and has not pooped again for 5 or so days, should I just stop solids for a while? Like try again in a few more weeks?


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pogo0685* 
Thank you for this link! I am ordering one today for my little man, I am hoping it helps him so much. I also have a question about poop, about a week ago he had not pooped for 6 days, then he pooped (we gave him prune juice) now hes been eating yogurt and prune almost daily and has not pooped again for 5 or so days, should I just stop solids for a while? Like try again in a few more weeks?

Did he seem uncomfortable with the not pooping? If not, maybe that's just his new normal pattern. That's how my DD was.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *monkaha* 
Did he seem uncomfortable with the not pooping? If not, maybe that's just his new normal pattern. That's how my DD was.

I don't really know, he has been more angry and grouchy lately, but hes also getting his first 2 teeth, they are raised and so red







I feel so bad for him because of his teeth. He did just poop though and it was almost solid so maybe that's why he hasn't been going as much? I am so lost on it all, thank god I have this forum or I would go crazy! DH had the idea of me also eating prunes and drinking prune juice on hopes it would pass through my milk to him, would that be a good idea? he seems to really like his solid foods but also doesn't seem quite ready to eat them because I have to help him if its not in his little net thing.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Pogo: Have you read much about baby led weaning? I really believe that if the babes can't do it themselves they aren't ready for food. It's important to remember that food is just for fun and learning about different tastes and textures until they are a year old. I knew that Fiona was ready when she started grabbing our food, could pick up wedges of fruit or steamed veggies and put it in her mouth. She nibbles off small little pieces. I'd say she's only "eating" a very small amount and learning and playing with the rest. Maybe you should wait a couple of weeks and try again. Your lo can still sit in the highchair with cups and spoons or something while you eat dinner to be apart of the meal. That's the approach I'd take.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

I wanted to do baby led weaning, and for the most part he feeds himself everything he eats except the yogurt, if he can get the peach slice get to his mouth he bites off a chunk and chews it up and swallows it... but say I put small pieces on his little plate thing that's on the highchair he cant pick them up, but he can a wedge... so confusing he is! But for now im just going to not feed him anything until next week to see if his poops get better. Thank you for your help!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

What are the other February babies new tricks?

My guy has finally started really covering ground. Backwards! He can push up on his arms enough, but hasn't got his knees under him yet to really crawl, so he scoots backwards across the room. Very funny, and occasionally frustrating for him.

He also pulled himself from sitting to standing for the first time today. I had no idea he could do that, but we'd left him sitting in the garden cart (which has a side wall of just the right height, I guess). He did it over and over again, and we were very impressed.

Not 6 months for another week, so we haven't really been feeding him yet, but he likes to play with and gum raw broccoli stalks from the garden.


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## moonshine02 (Jun 23, 2008)

Hi ladies- I was in the feb ddc but had a March 3 baby. Man it was hard waiting and waiting when all the babies were coming- I so hoped she would come early. It is nice to see names that I recognize. Anyway, little Phoebe is getting her second tooth, was rolling over both ways at 4 months. She is such a squiggler! She loves to kick and she holds herself up on her belly so high!. I try not to worry about sleep stretches because I pump during the day and know that she needs to eat at night since I only pump 12-14 oz. Such is life. glad to be back!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is getting so big... not by size or weight really, but just turning into a big girl. There is no newborn left in her, she is all baby, if that makes sense. She even gets looks on her face sometimes and I feel like I'm catching a glimpse of her toddler years to come.

She still only rolls from back to belly. She can roll the other way, but prefers not to. She really likes being on her belly. She can push herself all the way up with her arms. She'll do what looks like push ups on the floor forever!

She is also _very_ social. She loves when we are around groups of people and goes to anyone that wants to play with her. She is all smiles for everyone! She gets very distracted though, which has made nursing anywhere but home a pain in the butt... even sometimes at home if we have company. She has to be in everyone's business! I cannot have a conversation while nursing her and usually have to end up going to a room by ourselves to get her to nurse.

We took her camping for the first time last weekend. It was just overnight. And it was really hot, so we waited until the sun started to go down before we even left, so she wouldn't get too hot. She loved it! All the distractions made it hard for her to go to sleep. And she did get sweaty, so I stripped her down to her diaper and that's how she ended up sleeping all night. I was hoping she'd let me put her to sleep in the camper and then I'd be able to go back out by the fire with our friends, but once she fell asleep I was stuck inside with her. She wouldn't let me leave her side. It was okay, though, she didn't pass out until after 11 anyway, which is wayyy late for her.

I'm getting a little nervous. I'm attending a musical with some women in the family in a few weeks. I'm leaving Owyn at home with DH and I'll probably be gone around 7 hours. That's the longest she has stayed at home with Daddy. I've been having him do more for her the last few weeks just so they both are ready for it. He has given her a couple of bottles, which she has trouble with. He ended up taking the nipple off and just feeding it to her that way. I've also had him put her to sleep a few times so she's used to it.

The show is kind of a test run for me. My family has a tradition of taking a weekend trip to Branson in November to do Christmas shopping at the outlets there. No babies, kids, or husbands allowed. I haven't decided if I'll be able to leave her for the weekend. Gonna see how the musical night goes and go from there. DH is a little nervous at the thought of taking care of her by himself all weekend.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Hey ladies!!! I haven't been around for a few weeks - it's so exciting to read everyone's updates!!

We are doing well. DS will be 7 months old in a week, time just keeps flying by. He isn't crawling yet, but definitely wants to move. He is sooo squirmy all the time and he's strong so he can be hard to hold onto. He has been sitting for a while. He doesn't roll, but he's not often on his tummy or back, he just wants to sit. We've started solids but we're doing blw and he doesn't really eat anything, just plays with it. He's still waking a few times at night, but with he's in the bed with us so it doesn't affect my sleep. And he is napping better (usually he has 2-3 naps of an hour long each, which I guess isn't much, but he stays asleep without me which is awesome!) He is an extremely happy baby, always smiling and laughing at everyone. That is the one comment I get the most from people (including strangers) is that he's the happiest baby they've ever seen.


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

has anyone else's lo started to become more aware of the outside world?
now if he's nursing and a truck drives by, he has to pop off and see the truck. before i think he didn't really associate the sound of the truck with something he could look for. if that makes any sense! i wonder if this has to do with an improvement in eye sight?
he also in the last week or so started to startle and sometimes cry if there is an unexpected loud noise near him. i think this must have to do with the newfound awareness of his surroundings. anyone noticing this stuff in their babes?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I think the greater awareness of things is what makes him cry at strangers sometimes now. And he cried when a large machine came to do digging at our house. I also think the awareness is linked to humor - he laughs at a lot more things now too. Things that are a little bit strange (funny faces, noises, etc...) are funny. Things that are really strange are scary. Which I take to mean that he's getting a much better idea of what normal is, in order to figure that out.

He also only likes to roll back to belly. He rolled the other way first, but basically never does it. He likes being on his belly better, unless he's too frustrated at the lack of mobility.

We've taken him on a few short backpacking trips (3 days max), and are planning a 4 day trip this weekend. He goes hiking nearly every day though, and loves it.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I can totally see the awareness issue. Owyn is the same way when she's nursing. She can't stand it if I'm in a room with other people who are talking. She makes a big ole mess trying to eat and pay attention to what's going on at the same time. She's also stopped falling asleep during church, because she's too busy watching everything that's happening.

She also laughing and crying more at external stimuli. She has started crying when I vacuum. If we're watching something funny on TV, she cries when DH laughs too loudly or suddenly. She sometimes cries when someone else is holding her and I leave the room, but usually only if she's sleepy or getting hungry. Otherwise she's very social. She cried at my husband's aunt the other night. She hasn't seen her in a while and she has crazy curly hair and a spunky personality. I think she was just a little much for DD.


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

dh burped loudly while changing the baby and that made him cry! like "my parents are so RUDE!"
i hadn't thought about the way that he's starting to figure out 'normal'. that makes so much sense.

i've been meaning to post about this as well- he eats so much. he used to nurse a. lot. like for 10 hours straight sometimes and now that he's eating solids too there is no stopping him. the other day he was eating a peach and i kept having to take it away to peel off more skin and every time i would take it away he would scream bloody murder. heaven help us if he finishes whatever he was eating but isn't full yet.. last night he was eating yogurt and he wasnt content with eating off a spoon (normally he grabs the spoon and i help guide it in) but last night he had to slurp it out of the bowl, and when it was gone it was like a bomb went off! i had to refill the bowl while he was still slurping at the remaining yogurt. and now its 9am and he is still sound asleep.
anybody else have a baby who is an eating machine?


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Hey ladies,

Love all the updates. Don't you love the baby laughter?! I swear I'm addicted to hearing my DD laugh, laugh, laugh.

Nothing new on my end. She's not into solids yet so we're waiting on them a little longer. Other than that, she's rolling and babbling -- and laughing! Here's a clip of her laughing from a few weeks ago. Turn up the volume! Please excuse my looks. I had just returned from a day of studying (bar exam).






hope all is well moms!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

can I just come here for a sigh and a hug? My MIL is in town for a visit. Enough said.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
can I just come here for a sigh and a hug? My MIL is in town for a visit. Enough said.









btdt. good luck


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *heinz28* 
..Here's a clip of her laughing from a few weeks ago... (bar exam).






hope all is well moms!

*SO cute!!!







*


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *moonshine02* 
Hi ladies- I was in the feb ddc but had a March 3 baby. Man it was hard waiting and waiting when all the babies were coming- I so hoped she would come early. It is nice to see names that I recognize. Anyway, little Phoebe is getting her second tooth, was rolling over both ways at 4 months. She is such a squiggler! She loves to kick and she holds herself up on her belly so high!. I try not to worry about sleep stretches because I pump during the day and know that she needs to eat at night since I only pump 12-14 oz. Such is life. glad to be back!

Second tooth! Aubrey still doesn't have any teeth--six months today. My baby book says I had two teeth at 17 weeks, and I'm definitely relieved that Aubrey's are slower to come in. She's not very interested in being mobile, either. She just wants to walk, and seems completely uninterested in crawling. Who knows.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Aleric now has 2 teeth! He got his first one on Sunday (he was 6 months on the 7th) and the second one on Tuesday! I am so excited for it but he was so sad when they were coming in and his gums bled







His 6 month well baby visit went not so great though, the doctor (whom I normally like) started it off with how good hes doing, he was 29" and 19 lbs, then after I told him he still eats 97% breast milk he started the "you need rice cereal and blended, pureed veggies" I was like whatever he eats slices of peaches and chews on carrots and has no problems. Then he asked where he slept I told him he starts the night in the crib next to my bed, then he ends up sleeping with us halfway through the night because he gets hungry and its easier for me to do it that way and he told me that in ten years he will still be in my bed and I will never be able to get him out of our bed.







: So thanks for reading my rant! how is everyone else doing?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

No teeth here either. Perhaps that's why he's been unsuccessful in eating so far? We've only been offering him food for a little less than a week, but I doubt he's swallowed a thing. He likes to suck on broccoli stalks though.

He's pulling himself up to standing on the edge of the cardboard box we sometimes leave him to play in. Time to find a new (more sturdy) place to put him!

I'm now totally convinced that he understands his name, and understands when we ask if he wants to nurse. Half the time he seems to understand the hi-five game too. I can't tell on anything else. How about your babies?


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
he seems to understand the hi-five game too.

yes! its the cutest thing!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn says mama! It is the most precious thing I've ever heard. I seriously doubt she knows it's me, but when she's playing she says in the sweetest little voice "ma-ma ma-ma". Always that many times. She also says "ba-ba".

Just yesterday, she figured out how to scoot backwards on her belly. She was very serious about it, too. She made it all the way from the living room into the dining room, but once she got off the carpet and onto the hardwood she didn't know what to do.

I recently borrowed a jumperoo from my sister, and now Owyn prefers that over either one of her parents. DH is a little jealous of it. And when we hold her, all she wants to do is jump!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fiona is working on some stubborn teeth. Her first two (bottom) came in with no problems at 4 months. These top ones are stubborn as hell and have been giving her a heck of a time. Her gums are bulging and I can see the white of one of the teeth. I hope they come through soon.

She's been saying Mama too. Sometimes when she's really upset she says Mama over and over. I don't really know if she knows that is me but sometimes I think so. She's also signed milk several times. Many times in context... just before she latches on, but lots of times when she's grabbing at a toy or eating and wants more food or water. So again, I think she knows that she is communicating but not always using the right word. Its really exciting!!

Just in the last week I feel that she's had a major jump in development. She can sit up with out support for little bits and she is trying to crawl! I think she'll be crawling soon. Yikes! I have to get on this baby proofing thing!!









MIL is still here but with DH off of work now that its the weekend its much better. I have a hard time when its just the three of us. She's here till Monday. I can make it! She's a bit freaked with just about every choice we are making but I don't really care. BLW is probably the biggest one!







: Is it bad that I kind of like pushing her buttons?! I know, I'm evil.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

DD just started making chewing motions all the time...but there is nothing in her mouth. I am wondering if it's practice chewing or a sign of teething? Does anyone know? It makes me giggle. No teeth here yet.

I just can't get over how big my tiny baby is getting! I visited a friend last week who had her baby early and her baby was about the size DD was....but I can't imagine my baby was ever quite that small!

I'm going to be doing some work from home next week and need to hire a mother's helper. Separation anxiety is super high here right now. I was just down visiting my family this week and it took 2 days before DD would let my mom hold her without crying. So this mother's helper thing is going to be interesting! I hope I'll be able to actually get some work done the first couple days.

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm jealous of all the "talkers"! I keep waiting for anything that sounds even vaguely like human language, but all I get is grunts and squawks and pants and squeals.









I think his separation anxiety is getting slightly better. We'll see. Another grandma is coming to visit tonight. Then I'll see how he does on a 4 day backpack trip! (longest yet with baby)


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Hello!! It's so nice to read everyone's updates! I can't believe all the things some babies are doing - crazy! My DS will be 7 months on the 18th. He has been sitting for a long time, but isn't crawling yet. He doesn't roll either, but he's never really on his belly. Once he learned to sit that was all he wanted to do. It is so nice to be able to sit him down with his toys and let him play on his own so I can have a meal or get something done. He tells lots of 'stories' but definitely no 'mama' yet. Solids are going well. I can't even have him at the table with us unless I have something for him to play with/chew on. He get's so angry if we have food and he doesn't. I give him pieces of fruit or vegetables and I think he has started to swallow bits if it's soft enough (no teeth yet!). He is a very happy baby - always smiling and laughing. I even have strangers comment on how happy he is (he smiles for everyone). He's my little charmer. He still isn't a very good sleeper (for example, today it is now after 3:30pm and he has napped a total of 30 minutes today). And he's still waking often through the night. Oh well!!


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

ds has yelled MAAA-MAAA at me three times so far. twice while being upset in his car seat and one upset while i was cooking. not sure if he knows thats a word or if its a coincidence.. i have heard dada as well.


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## MamaBinWA (Aug 14, 2009)

Hi Ladies-
A little late to join, but I hope I can jump in.
My little Felix was born Feb. 8th this year and it is great to read about all these other babies and what they are doing now.
He has started saying mama and buhbuh (I think its papa- Papa is his daytime caretaker when I am at work), and just in the last few days sitting on his own. I think he is really teething now, normally he rarely cries or fusses, but the last week or so he has been kinda cranky, with a runny nose, and lots of "sad face".
I don't feel any teeth though...
I am feeling a little discouraged with pumping (I pump at work- he has been able to be exclusivly bfed), I seem to be getting less and less, and would appreciate any tips or encouragement, I don't want our bfing relationship to end so young!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MamaBinWA* 
Hi Ladies-
A little late to join, but I hope I can jump in.
My little Felix was born Feb. 8th this year and it is great to read about all these other babies and what they are doing now.
He has started saying mama and buhbuh (I think its papa- Papa is his daytime caretaker when I am at work), and just in the last few days sitting on his own. I think he is really teething now, normally he rarely cries or fusses, but the last week or so he has been kinda cranky, with a runny nose, and lots of "sad face".
I don't feel any teeth though...
I am feeling a little discouraged with pumping (I pump at work- he has been able to be exclusivly bfed), I seem to be getting less and less, and would appreciate any tips or encouragement, I don't want our bfing relationship to end so young!

Hello my son Aleric was born on the 7th of Feb. for the teething have you tried an amber teething necklace? I just ordered one but everyone I have talked to says they help a lot. For the pumping, I drink a tea that boosts my supply and it helps a lot, if you haven't already you can try that.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Welcome MamaBinWA!

I start my daycare this morning. Wish me luck!


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
Welcome MamaBinWA!

I start my daycare this morning. Wish me luck!

Good luck!!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
Welcome MamaBinWA!

I start my daycare this morning. Wish me luck!

How'd your first day go? I started in May and have all babies. On one hand, I'm fortunate they're all the same age and will grow together and I'm doing the same types of things for all of them. On the other hand, when they're all awake and waiting to be fed and the one year old is into _everything_, it's pretty crazy. Naps are consistent and important, though and are my saving grace, lol!

I had a new baby start on Monday and she's such a sweetheart. Reminds me of Owyn when she was a newborn.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Everything went great! I was thinking of you Mal with your babies. I can't believe you added a new baby to the mix! You are superwoman!! I have 3 kiddos, 2, 2.5, and 3.5. The 2.5 and 3.5 were here yesterday. They are sweet kids. Fiona liked watching them play. I think its going to work out well. All the kids are part time and mostly in the morning. Its nice to still have the afternoon with just Fiona and me.


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## MamaBinWA (Aug 14, 2009)

Anyone's lo pull themselves to standing yet? The other night I had Felix in his play yard (which still has the bassinet level in it) while I was packing boxes (we are moving-funfunfun) and he had been sitting in the middle, and when I looked over at him he had grabbed the edge and pulled himself to his feet and was leaning over the edge!
He seemed to think it was pretty funny.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
Everything went great! I was thinking of you Mal with your babies. I can't believe you added a new baby to the mix! You are superwoman!! I have 3 kiddos, 2, 2.5, and 3.5. The 2.5 and 3.5 were here yesterday. They are sweet kids. Fiona liked watching them play. I think its going to work out well. All the kids are part time and mostly in the morning. Its nice to still have the afternoon with just Fiona and me.

So glad it's going well for you! The babies I keep are very sweet babies, I've been lucky to get fairly easy going kiddos. The new one is a sweetie, but she is pretty gassy and it seems to be painful for her, so that's no fun. We have crazy days here and there, when I'm ready to pull my hair out by the end of the day. This week is an adjustment with the new one, but she's falling in pretty easily. She's still young enough that she sleeps a lot of the time, it's just kind of throwing the others for a loop having another here.

All that being said, I have a possible job opportunity that came my way unexpectedly. I'm so undecided on what to do. It's a Family Development Specialist for the Head Start program in my town. I'd be working with families in poverty and setting up a plan of action for job training and things like that, as well as making sure they are following their plan set up through the program. The hours are flexible, meaning I can choose to go in early throughout the week and take Fridays off or work a half day, which would be great. I'd be off by 4, have state benefits, make about the same as I am now, and have my summers off. Summers off was huge to me, I'm already imagining all the things I could do with Owyn (outside of the house) with my summers off.

I contacted their human resources department and am waiting to hear back. The more I think about it, the more I want to go for it. But part of me has this tug to stay home. I love my daytime hours with Owyn, but am feeling stretched a little thin with all the other babies I'm caring for. I'm not too worried about child care. I have a sister who is a SAHM and I'm sure would love the opportunity to make a little extra money by keeping Owyn. Ugh... any advice?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

MamaB: my baby can also pull himself to standing. He's been doing it in the cardboard box we sometimes put him in, which isn't too stable! So we're trying to set him up with a better place to practice.

He did awesome on our 4 day backpack trip (bushwhacking, scree slopes, snowfields, the works...), only getting a little fussy for the final paddling section (I think he finds the boat more boring than walking).


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## MamaBinWA (Aug 14, 2009)

mckittre- That sounds amazing. Felix has only gone on 1 night camping trips so far, but he loves it. I can't wait to have time to take some longer ones!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
All that being said, I have a possible job opportunity that came my way unexpectedly. I'm so undecided on what to do. It's a Family Development Specialist for the Head Start program in my town. I'd be working with families in poverty and setting up a plan of action for job training and things like that, as well as making sure they are following their plan set up through the program. The hours are flexible, meaning I can choose to go in early throughout the week and take Fridays off or work a half day, which would be great. I'd be off by 4, have state benefits, make about the same as I am now, and have my summers off. Summers off was huge to me, I'm already imagining all the things I could do with Owyn (outside of the house) with my summers off.


Sounds AWESOME! That is a dream job, mama! Take it! Take it!







Sounds like you can manifest a beautiful work/life balance with a job like that. And what a fulfilling job! When I go back to work, my shifts will be 12 hours, not including mandatory overtime and getting there and back. What I would give for something with a little flexibility! My only saving grace is that I hope to get away with working two days a week, with Esmé hanging with her baba (her other mother) and auntie and grandma, alternately. I still have 5 months to go on mat leave, but I will admit to looking forward to the challenges that come with being a paramedic again. Give me a good ol' straightforward busted femur verus trying to figure out my little human bean!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

mal: That job sounds amazing! You should go for it! It sounds like you really want it and with your lo being with family while you are away it would be really great! This was my first summer off and it was glorious! I say go for it!! God luck with your decision!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

It sounds like I'm going for it with the job. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity. It's something totally different than anything else I've ever done, but I think it will be very fulfilling. A close friend of mine just got a position as a lead teacher at the Head Start preschool, she's the one that informed me about the position. She's been getting info for me about it. I can't get ahold of anyone in the office because they're in training all week this week, so I'm anxiously awaiting a response.

Apparently, I'm the only person that has shown interest in the job and the fact that I have a degree in the field made them all perk up. I got a number for the person I'd be replacing and I'm supposed to call her first thing Monday morning. From the sound of it, if I want the job it's pretty much mine since they need someone right away and haven't had any takers so far.

I'd actually be working side-by-side with my close friend. We'd be doing home visits together and setting up the plans for the families together. Which is even better, don't have to get to know another new person and I know I work well with this person already. So, now I just have to wait until Monday so I get talk to an actual person!







:


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Congrats, Mal85. It really sounds like it was meant to be! Let us know how the transition goes.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

congratulations on the job!

How are all the babies doing? My guy is getting up on his hands and knees and really wishing he could crawl! No luck yet, though. My husband's away for the first time since his birth, so I have two weeks to be a parent by myself, and not really looking forward to it.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is pushing up onto her hands and tries to push back onto her knees, but ends up scooting herself backwards instead. This seems to be good enough for her for the time being. She'll do that for awhile until she gets to a place where she can't go backwards anymore, then get mad because she can't go forward. Poor girl. It is fun watching her learn.

Headed to the lake this weekend with a group of friends. We're the only ones going that have a baby, so I'm interested to see how it'll go. I think she'll have fun.

I submitted an app. for that job and am just waiting to hear something. I got an email from human resources that said they were forwarding my info to the people that do the interviews. So, still waiting impatiently.

Today, I laid Owyn down in her crib fully awake and she went to sleep by herself, for both of her naps! I was shocked and amazed. She's been fighting me really hard when I try to do our normal routine for going to sleep, so I thought we'd give it a try. The second time, she did wake up half an hour later and let me rock her back to sleep. But I say that is some serious progress! She's becoming such a big girl. That makes me







and







at the same time.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Aleric just figured out how to crawl a few days ago, now im chasing him everywhere for as small as he is he is fast! We just figured out that he is allergic to bananas, so is my husband so I was real scared to give them to him but I did anyway







. We are going to the state fair this week so I am excited for him, he will be able to see some new animals, he has pet our neighbors cow before but he will be able to pet the horses and sheep and pigs so that should be interesting for him.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

I haven't checked in in a couple weeks. So cool to hear all the updates.
Mal-Delia does the backward scoot thing to. It makes her furious when she gets stuck against the wall or a piece of furniture. I'm beginning to wonder if she'll ever learn a forward motion since she scoots so fast.
She's been sitting for probably 3 weeks now. She can sit for a long time by herself.
We officially started solids the other day as in I give her something everyday at approximately the same time. She's been 'tasting' for about 2 weeks now. She ate about a quarter of a bagel last night. For BLW what all are you ladies giving your babes? I hate the slimy stuff like peaches, nectarines, pears. I give these to her in the mesh feeder but it still gets everywhere. I made her some oatmeal the other day and she seemed to enjoy it.

The awareness thing is killing me. We can't finish a nursing session without her trying to rip my nipple off at least twice and she only nurses for about 10min max. She screams when I put her down and turn around to pick something up or if I walk in the opposite direction or she can't see my face. She fusses for me when anyone else is holding her and she can see me. My back and arms are killing me from carrying around a 23lb infant. OTH She's so smiley and when someone leans forward to kiss her she squeezes me and mashes her face into my shoulder and then looks back at them with this coy smile and wrinkles her nose. It's so cute! No talking yet but she knows her name and she understands her brother's name and the words 'nursies' and 'boobies'.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai does the backward scoot thing too. He did that more a week or two ago. Less now that he can get up onto his knees as well as his arms - he tends to get onto all fours and rock back and forth for awhile. And he pivots in circles a lot as well. I don't think he likes going backwards.

What do other babies do with cups of water? I hadn't gotten around to giving him any yet (we started food a couple weeks ago, but he hasn't really consumed much), but he grabbed for my jar of water tonight, so I let him play. He was incredibly excited. Grabbed the rim with both hands and kept bringing the jar back to his mouth over and over again (I was supporting it a bit so it didn't fall, but letting him mostly control it), making super excited noises and trying to drink like it was the best game in the world. Didn't seem to mind at all when he spilled it down his front or got too much and coughed. He actually drank quite a bit as well, despite never having any non-nursing liquid before.


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*Miles is also doing the backwards scooting till he reached the end of the line (headboard, a large toy, etc.) then he gets real mad. He MUCH (understatement) prefer to stand than sit. Everytime I try to get him to sit he straightens his legs to try to get up and bear weight. He's been creeping and quasi commando crawling lately, maybe we'll have hands and knees crawling soon.*


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

What do other babies do with cups of water?

Esmé is a pro with any container like that ... she's actually very good at not spilling. We've been working on it for a while, being that she gets a supplement through a Lact-Aid SNS at the breast and I've been aiming to stop using the SNS soon. She can't figure out a bottle to save her life, but give her a glass and she's good to go!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

That's great Starling! I usually give DD a shot glass (with me holding it) and she definitely gets excited to see it and wants it but she's not very good with it. She does pause and swallow some and sometimes inhales some but mostly it gets all down her front (I make sure to leave her plastic bib with the pocket on and it catches most of it) and she likes to dribble it out of her mouth too. I guess she's still learning. She totally cannot figure out a sippy cup...but thinks it's fun to play with.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
She totally cannot figure out a sippy cup...but thinks it's fun to play with.

Same with Esmé ...


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

When Royce gets a cup of water he spills it everywhere - and if I try and hold it, he will want to take it from me









Still no crawling or scooting. All he does is sit, he doesn't want to be on his tummy. But he will reach way far out for things and sometimes will fall onto his tummy (but then gets upset). When he is sitting he will spin around, and he also can make some forward movement while reaching he inches forward little bits at a time. Also in bed, when lying on his back he slowly moves up because of kicking, but again, it's all unintentional movement.

He's still a horrible sleeper and some nights I think I may lose my mind. He usually goes to sleep easily, but then wakes up after only half an hour and won't go back to sleep. And once we join him, he's still up every couple of hours. It is so frustrating, and I find I get really resentful when I read about babies who are good sleepers. So don't tell me about yours I don't want to hear it









How often does everyone offer solids?? I find I'm pretty lazy about it. I try and offer something once a day. He is 7 months now. I guess I should probably start offering at each meal? What do you do??


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

I've been using the dome bottle lids as cups (you know, the part that goes over the whole nipple, like to carry it in a diaper bag or put it in the fridge?). Anthony likes drinking the breastmilk that I offer that way. Some of it runs down his chin, but he actually swallows most of it, I think.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 

How often does everyone offer solids?? I find I'm pretty lazy about it. I try and offer something once a day. He is 7 months now. I guess I should probably start offering at each meal? What do you do??

We offer solids at every meal. Our food day looks like this ... breakfast of applesauce or blueberries and rice cereal, lunch of yam fingers and yogurt, dinner of chunks of whatever we're having and a cube of greens (that we puree and freeze). She gets rice puffs to play with after breaky. She loves eating, and it's been a way to boost her weight, which has always been low due to my chronic low milk supply. That's why we're not doing BLW. I'm happy that she's a jolly eater ... finally a way to beef her up a bit!


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

We have a little stainless cup that Aurora uses with some assistance. She also gleefully, though with spills, will drink from anything possible. We've never tried a sippy cup and just tried a bottle on Thursday, because yesterday she had tongue tie surgery and they suggested that she might balk at nursing afterwards, so I thought I would show her a bottle and see what happened. She thought it was great fun, chewing on the nipple, shaking it, beating it on the floor. But, as a "bottle?" HA!

She only balked a little at nursing and is nursing so much better!! We didn't really realize she wasn't nursing well, since she was gaining, I had no pain, etc. But, she was definitely tied on her tongue AND upper lip, so we had them done to avoid the dental/speech/social problems she would end up with later from it. The significantly better nursing was an added surprise!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I think for Katmai it must be something about the glass. I have a stainless steel cup, and other more appropriate ones, but he's not interested unless it's the glass canning jar (though the steel cup is fun to bang on the floor).

We aren't too formal about meals around here, except we do usually eat dinners as a family. So I'll give him a few pieces of what I'm having at dinner (sitting in a crate on the table, or on the floor), and at other times if he seems interested. The days of the crate are limited though, since he's getting too good at pulling himself to standing in it, and I don't want him to topple out.
He often gets things like toast/bread, broccoli, potato, and salmon, and is improving at swallowing bits. He hardly ever gags, but does let things fall out of his mouth a lot. He gets greens and peas and carrots and such too, but can't swallow anything from them, so just sucks whatever dressing or sauce I've put on. I can't say I've noticed much in the way of food preferences/dislikes except for that he seems to really enjoy broccoli. I wonder if the pickiness comes later?


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

We have been offering just at dinner though we may do more often soon. Solids have definitely changed the poop around here. And sometimes if she skips more than a day she sleeps really poorly. Also, I have noticed that much of what she actually consumes (instead of just tasting and playing with) comes out looking the same as it went in? Is that pretty typical. My ds is 9yo and everything from that first year is a blur







. DD was born with gastroschisis and her poops have never been the typical BF poop that I remember with ds so I know her gut works a little differently.
SHe is about to crawl up on all fours! She has been doing the army crawl for weeks and is really fast! She sits OK, but not for long cause she wants to be on the move! Her stranger anxiety has greatly improved







and I am looking for some very very part-time work (about 10 hours a week)--she will be able to stay with family members. I love checking here for updates.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

DD *finally* rolled back to tummy yesterday while I had my back turned. She caught a stomach bug at play group and has been pooping every diaper change for 8 or 9 days now! Last sunday was really bad - 12 poops...I thought she'd be back to normal by now. It's not a lot each time usually but it's pretty annoying and her poor behind is not happy with all the wiping.

DD has had a stuffy nose the past 3 nights but I can't get anything out...but she's been sleeping awfully..and sounds fine during the day when she's upright. PLus it's been unseasonally hot. I'm pooped! Had to cosleep the past couple nights and for us that means my boob stays in her mouth the entire time or she gets mad so I can't move and I get really uncomfortable. I love having her near but I don't know how people sleep like that every night all night!

I'm lazy about solids. 1x/day here still. Lately DD has been sticking her tongue out a lot (teething?)...it's getting in the way of feeding her now. I tried some finger foods and she never knows what to do with them. Maybe she's not that into food yet.

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I feel like we are going through some major transitions right now. Fi is working really hard to get on her hands and knees and wants to practice ALL THE TIME! Like in the middle of the night, when going down for a nap, its non stop. She's tired but won't sleep like she used to. Add in getting used to other kids being in the house and a noiser house because of it with the daycare kids here. Its hard. This weekend we've been doing long walks for naps because she loves her stroller. Yesterday was in the pouring rain (we have a great rain fly!) but I was desperate for her to get some sleep. Today is a gorgeous sunny day so that was better for me!

We've been doing BLW which was going pretty well. She'd gag a bit now and then but handled most things ok. And yes, it does come out looking much the same as it went in! But the other day she started choking on some mango and totally freaked DH and I out. She did cough it out but we were so scared. I haven't given her any food for days because of it. I know I need to try again though. Until then we have just been offering food at dinner. It is really nice to sit down as a family.

She loves water from a cup. I just keep her bib on because a lot does come back out but I like her to practice with a "real" cup instead of a sippy cup. She thinks a cup of water is the greatest thing ever! I think she's getting better at swallowing it too. I need to track down a smaller cup for her.

I'm hoping that we can get into a groove with the other kids and naps. Fall is upon us which means its going to start getting really dark and rainy around here. We usually start getting snow by halloween. I'd love for her to nap outside of the stroller walk!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn has started drinking some water from a sippy. I got some that don't have a leak guard on them, just cheap ones from Wal-Mart. She loves it! She drinks from it really well if I put it to her mouth, but usually just plays with it when she's holding it. Although this weekend, she got it to her mouth and was drinking from it a couple of times. She doesn't even dribble much, she actually drinks the water.

We took her for a weekend trip to the lake for the first time this weekend. I was nervous, she's only stayed away from home once when we went camping for one night. But she did awesome! The first night, she fell asleep on her own and slept in a room full of people until we went to bed at around midnight. She even let me put her down and was sleeping the bed. I was able to socialize and everything, it was great! I got a compliment from our friend that is most afraid of babies. He said she is the coolest baby ever. She was so laid back all weekend and just enjoyed whatever we were doing.


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I am pushing Miles (a little) to crawl. He is 6 mos. old. Are there other 6 mos old los that are not crawling yet but is trying to figure it out?*


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Mine isn't crawling and she's 7 mos. She scoots backwards a little but not a ton. She finally lifted her belly off the floor today while on her tummy..so almost into the crawl position. I'm in no hurry for her to be mobile though!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

6.5 months and not crawling. Gets on hands and knees and rocks, scoots backwards, and goes in circles, but not crawling yet. I don't think most babies can crawl by 6 months? I'm sure some do, but I think average is later.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

7 months old here and no crawling. She's happy where she is! Lots of scooting and spinning and inching, but no crawling. There's lots of time for that!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

AKislandgirl, I hear you on the choking. Delia choked on a carrot and I had to tip her over and do the between the shoulder blades thumping. Scared the wits out of me and her poor girl. I've just decided no more carrots since that's the only thing she's had trouble with.
No crawling here yet either and although I'm not really ready for her to be mobile I am ready for her to be able to go after people. She shrieks now when anybody leaves her including her 3yr old bro who can't pick her up.
Gillian we're having sleep issues here to. Although she doesn't wake after 30min initially unless she's teething. But she is up every couple of hours and sometimes she doesn't want to nurse she just wants to fuss. We sidecar cosleep and I have white noise going and she sleeps in a woombie. She has a great routine and goes down for naps easily and goes down at night fairly easily she just won't sleep for longer stretches. I don't really know what to do. Dr. Sears says if "you resent it, change it" but I don't know how. I've tried changing my expectations and if it was just her waking me I might be able to handle it but my dh comes in at a different time and wakes me and my ds wanders in to sleep in his tent beside the bed and wakes me. Some nights the dog wants out or is restless. I just can't ever seem to catch a break. If she's sleeping someone else is waking me. Ugh sorry that was a long rant.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Choking sounds scary! We've been lucky so far - Katmai's dealt with everything we give him fine (a bit of coughing and some falling back out of his mouth occasionally). He's really loving eating and goes to town on whatever we give him (all self feeding). His poops have definitely changed because of it, though.
I gave him yogurt for the first time tonight. I offered him the spoon, and he immediately grabbed it, stuffed it in his mouth, sucked the yogurt off, and got mad because the spoon was empty! I had to keep two spoons going in rapid succession, handing him my full one for his empty one as soon as the yogurt was gone. Very messy, but he loved it!

It's all hands and knees all the time here as well AKislandgirl. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks and rocks and gets annoyed he's still going backwards. I can't wait for him to figure it out so he doesn't get frustrated by it anymore. Though maybe I can wait - my floor is nowhere near free of baby-grabbable objects yet.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Oh man, last night I felt like I had a newborn again and realized I do not miss that. Owyn is normally a very good sleeper, but last night a monster came out that I haven't seen since she was 3 weeks old. She cried and cried and cried for over 2 hours straight. She cried so hard she threw up all over me and herself. I could not figure out what was wrong with her. She was soooo sleepy and rubbing her eyes and digging into my shoulder, but could not stay asleep. I checked for teeth, but nothing was swollen.

She finally calmed down enough to nurse, slept for an hour and was at it again for another half hour. That's when I finally gave her some Tylenol and was able to nurse her again and she slept for 5 hours. She didn't have a fever, so something must have been hurting.

Anway, had a job interview on Thursday for that job I was talking about earlier. I'm supposed to hear from them next week. Keeping my fingers crossed.

And my best friend found today that she's pregnant!! I was so excited, I squealed and jumped and scared the crap out of Owyn. I can't wait for her little one to get here!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I feel for you Mal. DD had her first stuffy nose and it's been hot here so we had a bad few days of sleep too! Last night was our first great night in a long time! I hope Owyn is feeling better today.

Makenna had her 7 mo checkup yesterday (she goes in extra since we're spreading out the vaccines). 25.5 inches and 16.1 lbs. She's getting so round these days! 

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Last night was a full moon (I think ...). Esmé had her first rough night since she was a newborn too. She's got a cold, and couldn't settle lying down, so she and I spent the night sitting up in the La-Z-Boy. Yeesh. We are a couple of tired chicklets today. Here's hoping tonight is better for all of us!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Starling: We put a few books under the crib mattress to keep DD elevated. I know you cosleep though so I'm not sure what you could do to prop her in your bed. We also ran a humidifier and I think it helped a bit. I hope Esme feels better soon.

Cindy


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Last year at this time: http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...d.php?t=960177


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I may be crazy but I think DD said her first word last night! Kitty! And she copied us by saying dada...now she is constantly babbling dada and baba. I think she also said Lulu...our cat's name. It's like a switch flipped on all the sudden. She's said kitty at least 4 or 5 times now in the past day - all when the cats come over.  So cool! Or maybe I am imagining it. LOL.

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Wow! Impressive! I was pretty happy the other day when my little guy started babbling mamamamama.... And I'm sure he hasn't got any meaning associated.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is definitely starting associate the word Mama with me. She says it when she wants me. She says it if I'm across the room from her and she's looking at me. She says it when someone else is holding her and she is getting sleepy. And she'll really sweetly say it and bury her head into my shoulder. It's the sweetest thing. Sometimes is Mum-mum, which I think is even cuter.

She also has a name for my nephew who is here 5 days a week. She says Bruh over and over when he's around. His name is Brodie. I may just be crazy, like you Cindy. It seems so early, but from where I'm at it totally seems like she know that Brodie is Bruh and I am Mama.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Maia's getting her first tooth in and she's dealing with it REALLY, REALLY well. We've had to give her baby motrin three or four times over the past four days and, other than some serious drooling and a few coughs, that's been about it. No excessive fussiness or whatnot.

She's also thisclose to walking. She's been standing for weeks, holding on to the couch for balance, and in the past two days has begun standing on her own. She cruises along while holding onto the couch / tables / chairs / anything at all, and she's trying to move her feet without holding onto things too. She'll be 7mo on the 13th... looks like I am going to have an early walker!

Solids are going pretty well, but they're really just still for fun. She LOVES peaches, broccoli, quinoa, corn on the cob, and tomato sauce. We haven't tried letting her drink out of a sippy cup or anything yet, but we might, since we were hanging out with an 8mo the other day who was drinking out of one and Maia was really interested.

I LOVE this age. She has so crazy much personality.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

So, I got offered that job. They wanted to pay me less than $9/hr. I turned it down. I could barely afford daycare with that kind of pay. What gets me is that this is one of those agencies that works to get and keep people out of poverty, yet they won't pay me enough to keep me out of poverty.

Oh well, back to concentrating on my home daycare. DH and I have a plan for fixing up the basement so I can get down there with the kiddos. Hopefully, once it's through, we'll only be in my main living area for naps. My upstairs just isn't set up for daycare. I need a nice big playroom, which is what the basement will be.

Owyn is doing well. Her 6 month check up is coming up. We started a couple of vaxes at her 4 month, so she'll be getting another shot. We're not looking forward to it. She's also trying to get a top tooth. I'm really excited to see what she looks like with her teeth. I miss that toothless grin, but I love seeing her turn into a little girl.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Hi everyone! It's been kind of a long time since I posted on this thread! I didn't know you guys were still posting . . . life has been kind of crazy and I get very scatter-brained. Anyway . . .

Eliza is doing great! She is 6.5 months old. She has been saying words for a month, and she definitely knows what they mean-- num-num for eating and mama when she wants me. She has also tried to say dada for DH but she can't quite figure it out yet. She is crawling everywhere and now trying to pull up on furniture-- with varying results. This sometimes involves tumbles and tears, poor precious. She is still large, with the hugest butt-- I love it! She has a well baby checkup next week, no vaxes for us but our doctor is great. She is still exclusively breastfeeding, too. I am just sooo in love with her! It's so nice not to be pregnant anymore. Not to be up all night with a newborn anymore. I am so much happier!







:

So I'm catching up, and it's nice to read about how everyone else is doing . . .







:

P.S. I have a photo album in my profile! Click on my username, then from the drop down menu select my profile, then the photo album is in the lower right hand corner of that page.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Mal: I'm so sorry about the job. How frustrating about the pay. Really, how do they expect to hire and keep qualified individuals with that pay? No one can afford to work there! (especially with kids!) It sounds like you are putting good energy into your day care though. I know that you must be disappointed but at least you will be with you lo during the day while earning an income!

Fiona seems to be having a really hard time napping lately. I just took her for a walk in the stroller so she's asleep in it now in the garage but i can't do that when I have day care kids here. It has really been hard. She's been grumpy, I've been grumpy... I keep thinking she will adjust to the kids being here but I don't know. She's also super busy these days which I think is part of it. She's trying to crawl, just mastered sitting on her own, and working on her 5th tooth. I guess i would have a hard time settling down with all that going on in my life too. I just have to keep telling myself, "this will pass!" I'm sooo open to ideas to help her nap though! I miss being able to quietly nurse her to sleep. These days that only works about 1/2 the time. sigh...








: We're back to BLW but pretty relaxed about a feeding schedule. In general she eats dinner with us and maybe some breakfast in the mornings on the weekends. I'm not ready to feed her with the distraction of all the other kids here yet. She's pretty mellow about it all and doesn't seem to mind or notice skipping "dinner". She's nursing up a storm though!

Hope you are all well!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Mal* ... how disappointing! What hypocrites. I'm sorry ... I know you really wanted it to work out.

As for us ... we're all about food right now. I've been a low supply bf mama since day one and have used a LA SNS this whole time, to keep Esmé at the breast. But I think our time with the SNS is done. Esmé is a master at drinking from a cup, and the bags for the LA are costly, and she is eating tonnes of solids. I'm also on 160mg of domperidone daily, which is resulting in some side effects, such as headaches and weight gain. I think I need to wean off of it too. This will likely make my supply tank, so we'll have to see how much more supplement Esmé will need.
I'm grieving the breastfeeding relationship that I always dreamed of, but it just isn't meant to be. We've made it this far with her exclusively at the breast, and now that she's drinking from a cup, I think this is my signal to let myself go off the drugs. Sigh. This isn't how I wanted it to be, but I'm thankful for what we did have, and what we do have. I'm hoping I'll still make enough to keep her at the breast as long as she wants to be there, even just for comfort. We've had no paci's and no bottles, so maybe there is hope.

I think I just need a hug, if anyone is offering them?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Big hug to you Starling!! I'm still on 160 mg of dom too and I use the LA for 2 feeds/day. We do bottles for the rest bc it stresses me out w/her popping on and off. I plan on sticking with the dom until the 1 yr mark or thereabouts and then I want off the 28 pills/day I take (dom, fenugreek, vitamins, dha, lecithin so I don't get plugged ducts,etc). I plan to still nurse if she wants beyond 1 yr but it'll just be comfort too, I imagine. You've kepy Esme at the breast exclusively...I doubt she'll want to give up nursing, even if your supply decreases. You should feel proud...you've made it the better part of a year already! We've come so far! Even if you stopped nursing now, you've made it further than soooo many moms with no problems do! Sorry you're having side effects. I've been lucky to not really have any other than I think it effects the ol' sex drive! I want to extended nurse if that's what dd wants, but I am looking forward to hopefully having my body to myself for a little while before TTC again. Dunno if it will work out that way. It will be nice to not worry about my supply and pill taking once I hit 1 yr though.

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

BIG BIG







s to Starling *and* Cindy!!! You should both be so proud of yourselves! I'm very impressed with the effort you have both put into breastfeeding.

Mal - big







for you too, I'm sorry the job didn't work out. I've had that happen to me before (a job inteview I prepared really hard for, and it turned out to have such a crappy pay and not be worth it). It really sucks









I can't believe all the things some of your babies are doing! Royce is 7.5 months, but he isn't doing near the things as others are here! He was born 4 weeks early (I was 36 weeks) so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe that has delayed him a bit. He has been sitting upright on his own for almost 3 months now, but hasn't taken the next step to lean forward onto hands and knees, and definitely isn't crawling in any way. I'm sort of worried now.. And he is definitely not talking yet!

Is anyone else's baby *not* crawling/standing/walking/talking??


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Is anyone else's baby *not* crawling/standing/walking/talking??

Owyn is 6 months and isn't sitting on her own yet. She will for a few seconds. I fully believe she can balance, but gets too excited (she's always excited!) and just lunges for things. I still sit her up on the floor, we have carpet in one room. When she lunges forward, she just ends up going flat on her belly (where she prefers to be anyway) and doesn't hurt herself, so I just let her thinking one day she'll get the hang of it.

She isn't crawling or pulling up either. She swims across the floor, that's what it looks like anyway!

ETA: Thanks for all the hugs and support. I'm bummed because I feel like I had a lot to offer to that job and was excited about helping people in my community. I fully believe things happen for a reason, though and I must be where I was meant to be... at home with my daughter.


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## Carhootel (Jul 16, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Is anyone else's baby *not* crawling/standing/walking/talking??

ds is 6.5 months now and he's not crawling, standing, walking, talking or anything like that. He seems like he's on the verge of crawling but I've been saying that for weeks and he still just pushes up onto his arms and kicks his legs but can't seem to coordinate it all together yet. He scootches forwards or backwards a tiny bit. I'm also amazed at some of the things your lo's are all doing!


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## bedheadmaestro (Jul 22, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
*Mal*
I'm grieving the breastfeeding relationship that I always dreamed off, but it just isn't meant to be. We've made it this far with her exclusively at the breast, and now that she's drinking from a cup, I think this is my signal to let myself go off the drugs. Sigh. This isn't how I wanted it to be, but I'm thankful for what we did have, and what we do have. I'm hoping I'll still make enough to keep her at the breast as long as she wants to be there, even just for comfort. We've had no paci's and no bottles, so maybe there is hope.

I think I just need a hug, if anyone is offering them?

Here's a hug. I was also struggling with low supply and abandoned the dom, SNS, pump, etc, etc, etc. at 5 months, dried up overnight, she abandoned the breast just as fast, and she is drinking the last of the donated breast milk. You did a great job. Not many people will ever understand how emotionally and physically hard it is to not be able to nurse, and that's the most frustrating thing. When I see others nursing I always find myself sobbing. Here's hoping your DD stays interested in the boob. (My DD was born on 15 February and I lurk here because I have nothing interesting to say, usually....)


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bedheadmaestro* 
You did a great job. Not many people will ever understand how emotionally and physically hard it is to not be able to nurse, and that's the most frustrating thing. When I see others nursing I always find myself sobbing.









I can't imagine!







Big hugs to all of you who are struggling with this! starling, you did great! I'm so sorry it didn't work out the way you would have liked. Your perseverance is inspirational.























Mal, I'm sorry the job didn't work out.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bedheadmaestro* 
Here's a hug. I was also struggling with low supply and abandoned the dom, SNS, pump, etc, etc, etc. at 5 months, dried up overnight, she abandoned the breast just as fast, and she is drinking the last of the donated breast milk. You did a great job. Not many people will ever understand how emotionally and physically hard it is to not be able to nurse, and that's the most frustrating thing. When I see others nursing I always find myself sobbing. Here's hoping your DD stays interested in the boob. (My DD was born on 15 February and I lurk here because I have nothing interesting to say, usually....)

Here's a hug back at you ...








It is so hard. And we are so hard on ourselves. We'd all do best to be a little more gentle with ourselves. Thanks for the hug, mama!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Big hug to you Starling!! I'm still on 160 mg of dom too and I use the LA for 2 feeds/day. We do bottles for the rest bc it stresses me out w/her popping on and off. I plan on sticking with the dom until the 1 yr mark or thereabouts and then I want off the 28 pills/day I take (dom, fenugreek, vitamins, dha, lecithin so I don't get plugged ducts,etc). I plan to still nurse if she wants beyond 1 yr but it'll just be comfort too, I imagine. You've kepy Esme at the breast exclusively...I doubt she'll want to give up nursing, even if your supply decreases. You should feel proud...you've made it the better part of a year already! We've come so far! Even if you stopped nursing now, you've made it further than soooo many moms with no problems do! Sorry you're having side effects. I've been lucky to not really have any other than I think it effects the ol' sex drive! I want to extended nurse if that's what dd wants, but I am looking forward to hopefully having my body to myself for a little while before TTC again. Dunno if it will work out that way. It will be nice to not worry about my supply and pill taking once I hit 1 yr though.

Cindy

Big hug to you too, Cindy!







We've come a loooooong way, mama!
Hearing that someone else is going to stick out the 160mg of dom for the whole year renews my determination a bit. I've scaled down to 120mg ... we'll see if my supply keeps up!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Hugs to all the mama's who struggled/are struggling with low supply.

Mal so sorry your job didn't work out but like you said there is a reason.

Gillian, Delia is scootching and sitting but no crawling, walking, talking or standing. She also sleeps like crap if that makes you feel better too lol.

The sleep deprivation is getting to me. She woke up every hour last night! I'm getting so short with my son because of it. This weekend I am going to bed as usual and the first time she wakes to nurse I will nurse her. Then I am waking dh and moving to the spare bedroom with my earplugs. If she starts hollering and he can't settle her I will go back in but I am at the end of my rope here. 7 months of sleep deprivation is too much! She's teething up a storm but the ibuprofen and teething tabs only last so long and if I try to give her a second dose then she is wide awake and screaming and takes 2 hrs to get back down.
We've always wanted 3 kids but lately dh has been talking about stopping at 2 he says he doesn't know if he wants to do this part again. I'm torn, I love our daytime life and resent/dread our nighttime life.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Big hugs to you mamas struggling with low supply! What lucky babies to have moms that have worked so hard to provide breast milk. Be gentle with yourselves if you stop before you'd originally intended. Just think how very much good breastmilk they got before you stopped. ((hugs)) again.


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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

Hey, mamas









Sorry I haven't been around in a while, but things are crazy here, it seems, but in a good way. I haven't read the older posts, but







to everyone having sleep, nursing, and job problems.

We've been really lucky for the most part, and I'm grateful.

Eowyn's been saying "mama" for a little while, but still not sitting unassisted for long yet. She's a big baby though, so I'm not worried. We haven't really done much in the way of solids yet, aside from a bite of mashed-up pears (which she did not like), and a teething biscuit on occasion (which she does like). I'm in no rush though, and waiting until she can sit unassisted to start introducing more.

She's just a super laid back, happy baby. I'm so grateful, especially since Guinevere was really challenging as a baby. She's such a precious helper with Eowyn, and they make each other laugh all the time.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

We took Maia to her first playgroup at an Ontario Early Years Centre today. When we arrived, I set her down on the floor and she immediately started playing with toys, greeting the other babies, and exploring her surroundings. NOT ONCE did she turn around and look for me or her daddy. She seemed to know we were nearby if she needed us, and seemed perfectly content to amuse herself.

Every other mom there hovered over her baby, and it made me feel a little strange, like I was the weird one out for sitting in a chair and just observing. I'd go over to her if she was trying to "steal" another baby's toy (I know they have no concept of possession right now and honestly I don't care if babies exchange toys, but I didn't want other parents judging...), or if it looked like she was about to climb onto something that she might fall from. Mostly, though, I just watched, and I felt SO PROUD of her. At the same time I felt sad -- she is so independent!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Hugs to everyone that needs them!

Not a lot of crawling/walking/talking around here either! Katmai's 7 months now, and been able to sit well for about a month. He's also been getting onto his hands and knees for a month. I keep thinking he's on the verge of crawling, but he hasn't progressed beyond the pivoting and the unintentional backwards slide. And he can pull himself up to a stand if he's sitting in a box or something, but is nowhere close to cruising/walking. As for words - still just mummumum and babababa, with no meaning whatsoever. I think that's all still within the normal ranges though (I hope).


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
I can't believe all the things some of your babies are doing! Royce is 7.5 months, but he isn't doing near the things as others are here! He was born 4 weeks early (I was 36 weeks) so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe that has delayed him a bit. He has been sitting upright on his own for almost 3 months now, but hasn't taken the next step to lean forward onto hands and knees, and definitely isn't crawling in any way. I'm sort of worried now.. And he is definitely not talking yet!

Is anyone else's baby *not* crawling/standing/walking/talking??

Ramsey is 7 months tomorrow, but he only started to sit last month. He's not crawling, pulling up or talking. I'm not worried at all, I think he's completely normal. I wouldn't think Royce is delayed at all, he's right on track!


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Big hugs to those mamas with supply issues- what an amazing job you've done, feel proud of yourselves!

Ramsey's doing great! I haven't been here forever- he has 2 teeth, he's sitting up and trying to get mobile. Nursing at night- he can be restless at night too. We started playing with solids- I do self-feeding with them- but even though he's keen, he has a strong gag reflex still and hasn't figured out the whole 'eating' what's in his mouth. I find this hilarious as everything he does could be interepreted as 'he's hungry! he's ready for food!' yet when he puts something in his mouth with the intention of eating it, it's totally different than anything else he puts in his mouth. We've tried avacado, banana, apple, peach, bean. Honestly, though, I hate the extra cleanup!

He's a very funny guy. Very expressive, very verbal. He's always 'blowing bubbles', making raspberries, sticking his tongue out and blowing etc. He gets spit in the back of his throat and gargles loudly. He makes this awesome growling noise all the time. He also shrieks, screams, gargly-throat screams and yells a lot. And laughs. A smile for everyone, a laugh for anyone, even when he's crying or very frusterated. Last night I was getting groceries at 9:00pm and he was with me, tired. By the time we left I had all the clerks and staff around the cart laughing at him growling and shrieking while I checked out- he was extra expressive because he was exhausted! But still smiling!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna is not into eating these days! She was happily eating what I fed her and now she will hardly even eat the things I know she previously liked. No biggy. I try twice/day and don't push it. I guess she's not ready or just doesn't care right now. When I give her foods to explore herself they almost never even make it to her mouth...so that tells me she's not that into it.

She's scooting backwards and going in circles on her tummy. She's also ending up on her tummy a lot from sitting. I think crawling will be coming soon. Looking forward to seeing it but not to the inability to leave her on a blanket and walk away, knowing she'll be where I left her.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé is a little foodie ... tonight she had fresh, local blueberries, along with organic chicken mixed with dill and yogurt. Lucky girl! She also has been turning her nose up at stuff she was eager about before, so we've just switched things up a bit.
She went to storytime at the library today with her baba (this is what we're calling my DP) while I went to the gym ... hallelujah! Self-care!








Esmé is going to her first political rally tomorrow as my paramedic union is on strike and has been since April and we're trying to get the bargaining back on while still doing essential service levels. I have a feeling that Esmé won't like the noise, so we might not last long. She's very sensitive about noise and atmosphere. We were at playgroup on Monday and she was the most timid one there, which is fine by me. I'm no social butterfly either. Which is why I try to get us out to these things (which I do NOT enjoy!!!) so that she can be socialized and get comfortable in group situations.
We're getting ready to move (AGAIN) in two weeks, so the house is upside down ... can't wait to be finally settled. We've been on the move since she was born (selling, moving towns, looking, buying, changing our minds, listing, selling, looking, buying and moving again.) All hail stability!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh my Starling - you bough and are already selling and moving again? My hat goes off to you! We moved when DD was 3 mos and it was a pain but worth it. Couldn't imagine doing it again any time soon though! Good for you for getting out to playgroups. I so look forward to them - it's my only social interaction these days and I sooo need it! I'm about to join my 3rd mom's group. And yay for the gym. I just started running with DD in the stroller this week. I hate running but she doesn't do well at the gym daycare and we have a jogging stroller...so. Anyway, feels good!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is getting on her hands and knees and rocking now. She started doing it the other day and now wants to do it all the time. She is definitely going to be crawling soon. She can sometimes scoot her knees forward without face-planting, but can't quite coordinate the whole thing yet. She thinks she's quite funny when she lunges forward and smashes her face into the floor.

I haven't been able to leave her on a blanket in quite some time. She rolls all over the place and scoots everywhere. Her favorite place to be is under our coffee table. It's like her own little fort down there. She also likes to scoot about halfway under the couch. She's a funny little girl.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Queen of my Castle* 
He's a very funny guy. Very expressive, very verbal. He's always 'blowing bubbles', making raspberries, sticking his tongue out and blowing etc. He gets spit in the back of his throat and gargles loudly. He makes this awesome growling noise all the time. He also shrieks, screams, gargly-throat screams and yells a lot. And laughs. A smile for everyone, a laugh for anyone, even when he's crying or very frusterated. Last night I was getting groceries at 9:00pm and he was with me, tired. By the time we left I had all the clerks and staff around the cart laughing at him growling and shrieking while I checked out- he was extra expressive because he was exhausted! But still smiling!

Awww, what a great personality!!! Lol! My little guys were both pretty loud, with the shrieking and all, but Eliza is so quiet in comparison! Every once in a long while she lets out a sharp chortle and it nearly makes me jump because it's so unexpected! Most of the time she looks around the room quietly, taking it all in, with such a snobby, aloof, darling little expression, like she's just so above all of this-- with her little eyebrows raised just a bit. Then she laughs, which wins you right over. She laughs all the time, what a sense of humor! But she has an unusual laugh, at first DH and I couldn't tell if she was laughing or getting ready to cry. It's hard to explain, it's just different! But the rest of the time, when she's not laughing, it's not easy for most people to get a smile out of her, and she usually has quiet smiles, maybe just one corner of her mouth goes up, not full-face smiles. I wonder if she'll be more of an introvert? It will be interesting to see!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
We're getting ready to move (AGAIN) in two weeks, so the house is upside down ... can't wait to be finally settled. We've been on the move since she was born (selling, moving towns, looking, buying, changing our minds, listing, selling, looking, buying and moving again.) All hail stability!

Wow, good luck with moving-- I hate moving, too. I hope your new place feels warm and comfy and like home in no time at all!

P.S.

Eliza has been pulling up to standing on everything, and just barely started taking steps while doing this (like, yesterday!) Let the cruising begin! Eeek! Her words repertoire is mama, nuh-nuh (for nursing), dada (that's new!) and she can wave "hi". She can also say baba but I don't think that means anything yet.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Hi girls!

It's been a while, but I'm still around and wanted to say hi to everybody. I've been following on and off, and am happy to see how far the little ones have come! It's good to hear what the babies are up to--makes me feel better about Aubrey's progress (and lack thereof) towards so-called "developmental milestones" and whatnot. She's 7 months now, sitting up pretty well but not crawling or sitting _herself_ up. No teeth, no hair, no words, but her dispositions GREATLY improved from the first couple of months. They were rough! She's still small--about 26 inches and 15 lbs., but growing steadily. She's very observant and particular about things, and its so great to see a little personality developing.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the ride!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Its really cool to see such a wide range of development! Willa is moving all the time. She is now crawling on hands and knees--as opposed to her army crawl she did for weeks. She pulls up onto her knees but not to standing. Not really saying much but very vocal, if that makes sense! She enjoys eating and seems to prefer things with spice and flavor! LOVES black beans and rice! She is very spcial with family but will nopt give strangers the time of day, but no longer cries when someone makes eye contact with her...yay!
She adores her bog brother and he continues to be great with her. I feel truly lucky.

I have been trying to find some part-time work but there isn't anything that would work for us so I have started sewing and I love it!!! I am trying my hand at some cute appliques for onesies that I hope will bring in a little extra and its work I can do at home while Willa sleeps!


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*Miles (6.5 mos) has been getting on his knees with his butt up in the air (for a mos or so now) but hasn't quite gotten the arm part yet to make crawling happen. He's scootches along this way and rolls about. He is just about the sharpest little bub I know. He just *gets* things and is very social and emotional. Makes dead-on eye contact since the day he was born. LOTS of vocalization, no words as of yet. Wants to get into everything but gets frustrated if what he wants is out of reach. The monkey that he is, he'd try to get what he want by using his feet if its closer!!! Not big on the taste of solids yet, fine by me.*


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Eliza has just started doing this funny little thing where, when she's sitting, sometimes she wiggles her little torso. It's adorable!!! I've never seen this before! Lol.

She also managed to find a small piece of chocolate graham cracker on the floor today. So much for her pure gut and introducing grains last.







When I found her with chocolate cracker sticking out of her mouth she said "nyum nyum" with a totally contented, gummy little smile that just melted my heart! I couldn't bear to take it away from her, especially since the "damage" had already been done, so I let her have her fun with it.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

For those of you whose babies are crawling, how long did they do "hands and knees rocking" first? My poor little guy has been getting up on his hands and knees for a month, but still can't seem to go forwards. It's frustrating for him. I think he's half given up on it. He tries to go towards something, ends up scooting backwards, pivots around to find something interesting closer to where he is, and repeat...
He's been pulling up to stand for even longer than he could get to hands and knees, but there aren't many places that he can easily do that (especially considering he can't crawl to them).

Katmai's just getting over a bout of stranger anxiety, and is back to his sunny love everyone personality again. He saves most of his "talking" for family though - treats strangers to his gorgeous smile.

He's been playing a lot with his fingers lately, getting better at picking up small things, and working on turning the pages of board books. Most of the time he'll turn the page if I ask him.

He loves to eat, as long as he can feed himself. Yogurt is one of his favorites, though he insists on grabbing the filled spoon and feeding himself. Messy! First tooth is just poking through now.

I've been working on back carries with my wrap, since at 17lbs, he's not so easy to carry on the front anymore.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn has never really been shy with strangers before and really doesn't seem to prefer a certain gender over the other like I've seen babies do. My town had a baby contest last weekend that we took Owyn to and she cried and cried for the judges. She was the only baby that got scared of the judges. It was so out of character for her, I was surprised she reacted that way. I guess she just didn't like being judged.









We just figured out the back carry in our Babyhawk and Owyn looooves it. We've taken a walk that way almost every evening this week and she just seems so comfy in it.

She also adores dogs. We have two cats and she doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to them, but when we're around a dog she is glued to it and laughs at everything it does. I want to get her a puppy so bad since she loves them so much. Our house and yard isn't really set up for a dog though, so I promised DH we'd wait until we get a different house. Now he just needs to get a promotion so we can make that happen!

ETA: Owyn went to the dr. yesterday and weighed in at 16 lbs 6 oz and is 27 in long. She is such a skinny little girl! She also got a shot and didn't even cry. Such a brave girl.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

I just watched this video today, about the vaccine-autism link-- fascinating.

On an entirely different note, I think Eliza was crawling backwards for about 6 weeks or so before she really started moving forward.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Sorry, I killed the thread.







Eliza is 7 months old today, and she is now trying to say my oldest son's name-- which sounds like "Ba-ga-ga" when she says it. She says it just the same way each time so I really think that's what she means! It's awesome!

P.S. After she ate that graham cracker yesterday, she was spitting up and having gas all day, so I think we will not soon be repeating that experiment-- at least not on purpose!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Wow, so many updates here in the last day or two -- I read them all and smiled. Everyone's babies are growing so much! I definitely needed the smile. Maia is on a nursing strike since Wednesday and I feel so rejected and hurt by it. She's drinking EBM at least, out of a bottle, but I'm terrified that our breastfeeding relationship could be over. It was just so abrupt - she literally woke up from a nap and refused to nurse - no warning! From what I've read, babies don't usually wean themselves this young & when they do wean, it's a slower process, so, fingers crossed she'll come back to me soon.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AVeryGoodYear* 
Wow, so many updates here in the last day or two -- I read them all and smiled. Everyone's babies are growing so much! I definitely needed the smile. Maia is on a nursing strike since Wednesday and I feel so rejected and hurt by it. She's drinking EBM at least, out of a bottle, but I'm terrified that our breastfeeding relationship could be over. It was just so abrupt - she literally woke up from a nap and refused to nurse - no warning! From what I've read, babies don't usually wean themselves this young & when they do wean, it's a slower process, so, fingers crossed she'll come back to me soon.

DS1 did that when he was a baby. I know what you mean, it is hard! Try nursing her in bed, before she's all the way awake. Even when DS1 was in the middle of his strike and wouldn't nurse the whole day, I could usually get him to nurse that way. Make sure you're pumping enough to keep up your supply-she'll be back before you know it, and you'll want to have enough to keep her from getting frustrated.


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

AVeryGoodYear, they call it a nursing strike. The bottles could spell the end of your relationship if you're not careful.

Please check out http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/...to-breast.html It should be a big help. DS went on strike a few times. We never had a bottle or any pumped milk, so he would get nothing until he decided he was willing to nurse. I understand this might be different if she's already getting bottles for daycare or something. Anyway, I hope that page can help you!!

DD has had two mild strikes. I just offered constantly and she came back around eventually.

Good luck, Mama!!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Hugs to you *AVeryGoodYear*. That sounds hard. I hope she's over her strike soon.

Fiona (and I!) are still struggling with naps. She skipped her morning nap today. It would be fine if she didn't need it but without the nap she's fussing constantly and has to be held or worn. I miss my happy baby! Thank goodness she is sleeping now. I hope its a long nap...

Lately I've been getting lots of comments about how I never leave her. Is it really that abnormal to not want a babysitter? I work at home with her so that we can be together because I think that is what she needs. I appreciate when she's napping so I can get other things done but I don't want anyone else to watch her. My neighbor keeps asking to babysit and I just keep saying no thanks, maybe when she's older. Other friends keep saying things like, "surely you need a break by now!" As far as I'm concerned we are a unit. Where I go, she goes. Yes, sometimes it means we have to skip things like the film festival but we can still eat dinner with friends or meet for coffee. DH takes her for walks in the neighborhood or has her during a dentist appointment or whatnot but really I've not been apart from her and I don't want to be. Am I alone in this feeling?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*AVeryGoodYear*...How about going back to skin-to-skin? In the bath together, or co-sleeping? Good luck!









*AKislandgirl*...I feel the same way. DD and I are symbiotic. We're a unit. For now anyway, and for as long as I can eke it out. I have to go back to work in January, and I'm slowly working my way up to leaving her with DP, my sister, or mum. An hour at a time! More than that and I go through withdrawal!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Other than my husband taking him on walks (sometimes a few hours), I've not really been apart from Katmai either. I do a lot of work (on the computer) while he's napping on my lap or playing nearby. There aren't really any social events or places in my town I can't just bring him to. My mother-in-law lives right next door and would watch him (and he's played at her house for a half hour or hour sometimes), but I don't really need to go do anything without him, so it doesn't really happen.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I had to leave Owyn with a sitter while I finished school in the spring. It was three days a week, two full days and one half day. By the time I finished, I was kind of appreciating my time away. But ever since then, we haven't been apart much. There were two occasions over the summer she stayed with my IL's for a couple of hours.

I just left her with her dad for his first extended period of time while I went to dinner and a musical with the girls in my family. It went well for them, so that made me feel okay about leaving her with him.

I am planning a weekend trip to do outlet Christmas shopping in November. She'll be 8 months old and staying with her dad for the whole weekend. I'll leave Friday night and come back on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it, but interested to see how I do without her. I fully believe she will be okay without me, she isn't a clingy baby, not one that needs her mommy all the time and does very well with others. I think I'll be okay during daytime hours because we'll be busy, but we'll see if I'm able to sleep without her by my side...

Sometimes I think I'm more attached to her than she is to me.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Other than leaving DD with my hubby, she has been watched 3 times by grandmas and for a couple 15 minute stints at the Y and that's about it. I would like to be able to leave her with a sitter so DH and I could go out on occasion but she's not having it and that's ok with me for now. I suppose she is extra attached bc I am home with her but that can't be a bad thing.

Nursing seems to have changed for us lately. DD is soooo into it. She will pull my shirt away to nurse and just really seems to be enjoying it so much all the sudden. This is a big thing given all my supply issues! She also isn't as distracted as she had been the past few months...thank goodness. That was so frustrating!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Anyone else's baby pant like a puppy dog? Katmai's gotten into panting when he's excited - very cute.

He's also absolutely obsessed with spinning things - like fans, and especially the little spinning thing we have over our woodstove. He'll literally laugh out loud when it's going, and crane his neck to look at it even when it's not going.

He also got to play fetch with a dog the other day (ours won't do fetch), and thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

Yes! Miles used to pant just like a puppy for boob! Lol! Its the cutest sound. Now that he has more motor skills, he'll reach for them but yes,so funny.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé is always panting with glee! I thought she'd learned it from the dogs, but by the sounds of it, it's a normal thing ... very, very cute!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fiona sniffs her nose when she's excited! Especially when she first sees someone she knows when we are out and about. So darn cute!


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

It's nice to find this thread again and read what all the babies are doing and how the mamas are, too.

My dd (feb 24) is very, very sweet, but very, very busy. She crawls all over the place and is in to everything. Someone has to be watching her all the time. She's pulling up and is starting to cruise. She really wanted to skip that part and just walk, but now she's trying it again. It's funny because she really, really wants to walk. So, within three days of learning to pull up (which she did one day shy of 6 mos), she started to stand without holding on to anything. She can stand now for about 10-15 seconds at a time. Anyway, she would pull up to something, and then turn and get all excited and FALL to me. She's too little to know how to put one foot in front of the other! She can do all sorts of things, but just does not have that skill down. Last week, though, she started to cruise along the couch. She loves her bath and the older two kids. She shrieks and squeals when she sees them coming, and this week she's started chasing after them. She'll go anywhere without me...like down the hall and into another room and then into the closet. And she does it fast. Uhm, what else? She says a few words, too...hi, mama, her older sister's name, mimics lots of things, jump, maybe a few more? And we don't do solids until a year, so I don't know what she would do with food or a cup...but I do know that she finds and picks up any tiny thing so we really have to be sure no food or whatever is left on the floor under the kids' chairs or anything else is left out. Oh, and yes, she does pant, although she seems to have moved on...that was last month. Her favorite thing (and has been since about 10 weeks) is to raspberry. THAT she does ALL the time.

But, since she's moving so fast through everything and seems to need me so little (except to eat and sleep!), I WANT ANOTHER BABY. Seriously, I've never had the baby blues this early before...

Anyone else?


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Just1More* 
But, since she's moving so fast through everything and seems to need me so little (except to eat and sleep!), I WANT ANOTHER BABY. Seriously, I've never had the baby blues this early before...

Anyone else?

Me!

It came on REALLY suddenly, too. I kept telling my husband "no babies for a few more years" and then the other day... I just got this STRONG feeling that I wanted to have another baby. Maybe we'll start TTC this summer :]


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Oh my goodness, we are SO DONE with the babies! No more baby fever here!!! I am really enjoying having Eliza be my last.









My almost-three-year-old son was so funny yesterday-- he got this sad, pensive little look on his face and said "I hoped we would have a brown baby." (He has a pretty sophisticated grasp of sentence structure!)

I said, "well, I like Eliza. Don't you think we got a nice baby?"

"No, I wanted a brown baby." (For the record, he is actually very fond of his sister.)

"Well, when you grow up, YOU can have a brown baby."

"Nooooo!!! I want YOU to have a brown baby!"

"Mommy's all done having babies. No more babies for me!"

"Noooo!!! I want brown babies in my familyyyyy!!!!"










We actually may consider doing adoption later, but no way would we adopt babies-- only much older kids or teens, once our bio kids are teens also.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

This is the first time in my life I can honestly say I do NOT want a baby. I am loving this little one for now and that is all. Not to say there won't be more in the future, there most certainly will be... just not right now. I'd probably cry if I found out I was pregnant, and they wouldn't be happy tears.

A very good friend of mine is expecting her first in May and I am just as excited for her baby as I was for my own!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I'm so looking forward to having more but I don't want to rob my baby of our special time together or make my life hell by having them too close to together. So we are at least waiting until she turns one and more likely a few months beyond that to start TTC. I can't believe she is going to be 1 in only 4 more months!! I just found out my SIL is pregnant with her second. Her little girl is exactly 9 months older than DD. So we joke that to keep up the streak I'll have to get pregnant when she is due in April. That sounds about right to me. I'd be ok with them 23 months apart. I don't want to go much less than 2 yrs apart. It's definitely on my mind all the time though!

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Hello all!

I love reading all the updates! Royce is 8 months old now and I can't believe it. Where is the time going?? How did I end up with an 8 month old??

He is starting to do more and more things now. If I stand him up against the couch he will hold on and stand there for quite a while. He only falls because he will let go and try and reach for something. He is starting to try and crawl, but he only goes backwards, and then gets frustrated. He will rock if he gets up on his knees.

Still no talking, but he does make a lot of 'mama' type sounds, especially when he's upset.

I tried giving Royce a bottle of pumped milk today. Other than the first few weeks of his life when we had to finger feed, he has always only had milk from the breast. Anyway, he wouldn't take the bottle, he just wanted to play with it. I'll try again later. Anyone else introducing a bottle this late in the game?

I definitely want to have more kids, but not right now. Royce has not been an easy baby and there are times I don't know if I can do it again. But I really want a big family (4 kids). I think I could see us starting to try next summer.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Not me! (perhaps because my kid is not nearly so precocious







)
He might end up being an only, actually. Both my husband and I are on board with the idea that if we both feel a strong desire for another baby at some point (like we did with this one), we'll have one. If not, we'll stick with what we've got.

Isn't it funny how "mama" is an upset sound? My guy doesn't know what it means either, but he does it when he's pissed. I suspect that's why "mama" sounds similar in so many languages. Babies make the sound when they want something. What they want is usually their mother - voila - a word.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

nak
we really want more! we aren't really ttc but we aren't trying not to either. I don't think we can get pregnant on our own (did clomid and IUI o get dd) but it would be a pleasant surprise if we could! The "plan" is to wait till Fiona is 2 to start clomid again. Its said to dry up your milk and I want to nurse her till then at least. We'll see! I really want a big family... DH is overwhelmed with one!


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*I would in a heartbeat.*









*Not so says my dh.*


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
I'm so looking forward to having more but I don't want to rob my baby of our special time together or make my life hell by having them too close to together. So we are at least waiting until she turns one and more likely a few months beyond that to start TTC.

I feel the same way. I love our time with just us. Weekend mornings are the best--we all lay in bed together and Aubrey just goes back and forth, playing with one of us while the other dozes. Its wonderful being able to focus just on her. We're not TTC now but also not avoiding it. AF hasn't returned so I'm not really concerned, but if I were to get pregnant now that would be fine too.

Aubrey doesn't seem to be talking much, so we're trying to be more consistent with signing to her. She may have said "Hi" the other day, but I'm not sure. I was saying it to her and she was making these little one-syllable noises back:
Me: "Hi!"
Aubrey: "Eh!"
Me: "Hi!"
Aubrey: "Eh!"

But that's pretty much it. Oh, and the raspberries, like someone else mentioned! Raspberries everywhere. Snot raspberries sometimes, too! Hooray for motherhood!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 

I tried giving Royce a bottle of pumped milk today. Other than the first few weeks of his life when we had to finger feed, he has always only had milk from the breast. Anyway, he wouldn't take the bottle, he just wanted to play with it. I'll try again later. Anyone else introducing a bottle this late in the game?


We didn't do bottles, but we did introduce a sippy cup and open cup over the last month or so. Open cup for at home and sippy for on the go ... is there a reason you want to do a bottle?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

As for baby fever ... we're *****, so baby fever takes a lot of planning. Furthermore, Esmé was a blessing ... we 'adopted' her when she was an embryo. We have 4 more embryos, but we're very happy as a family of three. I worry that I wouldn't love another child the same way ... and we both worry that because Esmé has been so easygoing, that we'd jinx ourselves if we try for another one. Right now, we look forward to being a family of three. If we do have another one, we'd likely wait until Esmé is four and I've had a few years back at work. But by then, my partner will be 42 and I'll be 38 ... which might not be ideal.
I was never supposed to be able to carry a child in the first place, so Esmé is extra very special to us.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
We didn't do bottles, but we did introduce a sippy cup and open cup over the last month or so. Open cup for at home and sippy for on the go ... is there a reason you want to do a bottle?

I hadn't even thought of that - thank you! The only reason we were trying a bottle is because the pump I bought came with one. But if I'm going to go out and buy something I will definitely try a sippy first. I guess he's old enough now to not need the milk to be in a bottle - and that thought makes me tear up a bit.

And we do sometimes let him try drinking water from an open cup. I wouldn't want to do that with my breastmilk as it's such a pain to pump and I don't want to see it dumped on the floor


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce has his first tooth!!! I'm so excited, it was very unexpected! I honestly had no idea he was teething! In hindsight I can see some signs: he was waking up crying at night (usually he wakes up and just stirs a bit until I nurse him, but lately he was actually crying), and he's been a bit fussier than usual. But I had a cold last week and then he got it, so I figured the crying and fussiness was just the cold (it was his first cold







). I guess it's probably a bit of both. Anyway, this morning he went to chew on my finger and I felt the little tooth poking through









I also wanted to add that I started a new discussion on facebook in case anyone's interested. Our discussions have slowed down so I thought I'd try and revive it a little. I'm going to be mysterious and make you look on fb to find out what the discussion is


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LionTigerBear* 
Oh my goodness, we are SO DONE with the babies! No more baby fever here!!! I am really enjoying having Eliza be my last.









me too. I love knowing that this is it. When I go do things with the kids it can be really hard to get in and do the activities with the older two (especially at these free events that have booths with crafts and stuff, or at museums) I find myself feeling a bit resentful in one way and looking forward to being able to truly DO it when Junes gets a bit older. I had this same feeling when Josephine was a baby, but at the time i knew I wanted another kid.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

Isn't it funny how "mama" is an upset sound? My guy doesn't know what it means either, but he does it when he's pissed. I suspect that's why "mama" sounds similar in so many languages. Babies make the sound when they want something. What they want is usually their mother - voila - a word.

I think this is so true. AS my friend told my sisters, when Juniper says "mama" she wants nursies or comfort, and it was the same for her son. Mama was comfort and dada was play

Quote:


Originally Posted by *newmothermary* 
*I would in a heartbeat.*









*Not so says my dh.*

for us it is the opposite, three girls leaves him wanting to have another in the hopes of a boy. (although in his defense he had always wanted three girls, i think he has just ammnded it to 3 girls and a boy. LOL. too bad I don't want anymore.)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
I worry that I wouldn't love another child the same way ... and we both worry that because Esmé has been so easygoing, that we'd jinx ourselves if we try for another one.

i was worried about this before i had my second, and in one way you are right you won't love her like your first, your love will be different because the child is a different person, but it will be just as strong....that said enjoy your family of three, it's awesome being three.

I just happened in to life with a babe to see if there was a thread for our group, to find it at the number two spot! glad to read about what everyone is up to, i look forward to keeping up with you all and getting to know you better.

Juniper is growing beautifully and I am loving my family of five even when it is hectic and hard to keep up. Yesterday i took all three girls to the playground and Junipe crawled up a slide. It was super cute, although when she tried to sit on the slide half way up it later I had to scoop her up before disaster struck. lol


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Still stuck on the crawling front here - though he now goes forward a little bit (and backwards most of the time). I think our slippery floors are not helping.

Does anyone else's baby show no interest in talking or signing? I can tell that Katmai understands more words than he used to, but he's quite happy to communicate by panting, laughing, smiling, croaking, huuh-ing, fussing, and crying. He can babble "ma" and "ba", but doesn't do it all that much. If I make sounds at him, he prefers to watch and laugh than to try to imitate.

Katmai's getting pretty good at turning the pages in his board books now, and seems to really enjoy that.

I know it's probably all normal, but I can't help but worry a little bit that I don't see much progress in either mobility or language lately... But he's a very sweet happy baby, and plays happily by himself for fairly long periods of time - so I guess I'm pretty lucky.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
Still stuck on the crawling front here - though he now goes forward a little bit (and backwards most of the time). I think our slippery floors are not helping.

Does anyone else's baby show no interest in talking or signing? I can tell that Katmai understands more words than he used to, but he's quite happy to communicate by panting, laughing, smiling, croaking, huuh-ing, fussing, and crying. He can babble "ma" and "ba", but doesn't do it all that much. If I make sounds at him, he prefers to watch and laugh than to try to imitate.

Katmai's getting pretty good at turning the pages in his board books now, and seems to really enjoy that.

I know it's probably all normal, but I can't help but worry a little bit that I don't see much progress in either mobility or language lately... But he's a very sweet happy baby, and plays happily by himself for fairly long periods of time - so I guess I'm pretty lucky.

Owyn is almost 7 months and is pretty vocal and getting really good at practicing words. But I babysit a little one almost 8 months old. She has no interest in talking. She makes noises and yells a lot, but nothing that sounds like anything.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

it is hard not to worry sometimes, but it all sounds perfectly normal. Plus he IS communicating, you understand him and he knows that. Good job mama. my Juniper has said two words, maybe three, but not often. mostly she screeches when she's happy.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé is eight months and not crawling, no teeth, and no purposeful words although she is all about babbling. I'm not worried. She makes herself very clear, and is quite happy hanging out on a blanket with a pile of toys, and noshing on her teething rings. All in good time.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fiona will be 8 months next week. She was saying Mama but quit! Now she's saying Papa instead. Cute but not as cute as Mama was, lol!







Other then that she just babbles all the time... bababababa, yayayaya, dadadada. She really WANTS to crawl but only skoots backwards and in a circle. She can sit if I put her into a sitting position but doesn't put herself into a sitting position. She still falls over too so I always have some pillows on the floor behind her. She does sign milk... doing it with two hands means more I think because she does that in her highchair a lot while we are eating. (I think banging her hand on the tray also means more! more like more NOW!







) She makes a kissing sound a lot which is so cute. It must be due to the millions of kisses I smother her with everyday!

She's taken 3 20 minute naps today. Good grief days like these are hard. I'm hoping that this is all related to teething (I blame everything on teething, lol!) and will get better soon. One of her top teeth just broke through today with another right on its way. She's going on 4 top teeth and two bottom teeth now. We'd really love a teething break around here!!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Can I just say, our babies have the best names. Owyn, Juniper, Esme, and on and on, I love it. Very cool names.

Carry on!









P.S. how do you get the little mark over the "e" in Esme?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*AKislandgirl*... Esmé was saying 'mama' all the time and then quit too! What's that about? I was so into it, and now she's all 'bababababa' 'nananan' and so on.










*LionTigerBear* About the accent on the é in Esmé's name ... on a mac you hit 'alt' and then the 'e' key. I'd have to ask my mom how to do it on a PC ... some combo of numbers on the number key pad to the right of the keyboard. And I agree ... this board is full of beautifully-named babies!!!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

it is very common for kids to get thiongs down and then just drop it completely while they move on to new challenges. every single one of my girls has.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LionTigerBear* 
P.S. how do you get the little mark over the "e" in Esme?

On a PC, hold down ALT and then press "0233" on the number pad to get "é".

Maia says "Mamamama" but that's pretty much the only consonant sound she's making right now.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna says dadadada but no mama yet. That will be awesome!

Still scooting backwards and in circles and finally ocassionally getting her tummy off the floor. No teeth here. She's shaking her head a lot and someone said her daughter got teeth right after doing that so who knows. Could have been coincidental timing for my friend. Also still not really eating solids. She's eaten maybe 5 bites of purees in the past week and is playing with solids but not much is even making it to her mouth let alone being cosumed. C'est la vie.

Makenna has yet to really start rolling back to tummy (she does got tummy to back)! I've seen her do it a few times and she constantly rolls onto her side or twists almost all the way but usually her head stays where it is. I guess that will happen when she starts crawling and wants to get going on her own.

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai loves his solid foods - the only thing he wouldn't touch was a slimy banana. If I'm eating, I have to share. He especially seems to like yogurt and salmon. I'm not sure if that's because he likes the flavor, or because both attract the cat to within petting range!

When he tries to crawl, he gets up on hands and knees, brings one knee forward, then lifts the other one up in the air and back over his back - looks like some kind of funny yoga pose. Cute, but ineffective.
I think babies roll only to the way they want to be. Katmai rolled tummy to back a few times at 2.5-3 months old, and hasn't done it since. I know he can, but he wants to be on his tummy, and rolls that way all the time.

Do your babies have favorite books? Katmai has this dog book where some of the pictures move, and you can pet the dog's ears, etc... It's his favorite thing ever at this point.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:

Do your babies have favorite books?
We have a book with pictures of babies, and Anthony loves to hold the book up and kiss them. He also likes to chew on the cover, so I guess he really likes that book.









Anthony does the army crawl. He also goes a couple of "steps" on all fours, moving his arms and all, tummy off the floor, but then flops down and goes back to the army crawl.

No words here, but babbling a lot. And screeching! Oh, the screeching.







He cracks himself up with the screams. Glad he's amused; feel like I have to check for eardrum intactness afterwards sometimes, they're so loud and so high.

Can someone post a link to the fb page? And is there a way to make it stick on my page so that I can find it quickly?


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Re Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gr...9389603&ref=mf
If you click the little 'group' button at the bottom left of your page you will get a page with a list of all the groups you are in and can then click on our ddc group. I'm not sure if there's any quicker way than that.

Re favourite books: any book he can tear the pages out of and eat. He especially loves magazines because I will actually let him rip them as opposed to books which get taken away. Board books I will let him play with but he can't tear those so it's not as much fun









Re crawling: he is so so close to it. He goes backwards and in circles, and today I noticed he can now get himself onto his hands and knees and will rock. If he's on the hardwod he will do some butt scooting.

Re solids: he will eat or try to eat anything that comes within arms reach. Yesterday we were out for dinner and when the waitress cleared the table she had to hold everything off to the side because he was leaning out of his highchair trying to get it







It was pretty funny.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Just had to add - has anyone noticed that we are on our 16th page?!?! I love that our group is so active!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Gillian: Maia loves tearing newspapers/magazines apart too! I have to keep books out of her reach, but to distract her while I read the newspaper I usually give her the ads I don't care to look at, because she has a BLAST ripping them apart.

Maia's taken a step on her own without falling down a few times now. She lets go of what she's holding on to, steps forward, pauses, then lunges/falls towards whatever it is she wants to grab. It's a little bit scary sometimes, but I'm still pretty tickled by watching her learn and grow.

We discovered today that she LOVES LOVES roasted butternut squash. The only other thing I've seen her eat with such gusto is watermelon!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

We're doing a lot of purees here and offer solids frequently as well. She loves carrots, butternut squash, and any fruit I give her. Those seem to be her favorites so far. She will not tolerate peas or anything with peas in it. Which is strange, I love peas and so does DH. Maybe she'll acquire a taste for them eventually.

Crawling is just around the corner. For over a week now, she's been getting on her hands and knees and rocking. It's more and more developed by the day. Now, she is occasionally scooting her knees forward but can't figure out the hands. She knows if she rocks hard enough her knees will scoot forward. So, she does that, then belly flops on the floor. It's definitely coming along!

I have to agree that we have some beautiful names in this group! How exactly is Katmai pronounced. I love how that looks when it is written. My friend is expecting and really hoping for a boy, I may have to mention that name to her if I knew how to say it. Lol.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai is pronounced like "cat" and then "my". It's the name of a volcano and a national park in Alaska (from a native Alaskan language).

And he sometimes does the scoot knees under and bellyflop thing too. Don't be too impatient for the crawling, though. I swear he's been doing this type of thing for well over a month now without figuring it out!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

I used to let Junes chew on paper and magazines and such but she has choked so many times that i stopped letting her.

she is wanting to walk. she stands for extended periods of time without holding on to anything and sort of does that thing were she start to lift a foot, but then changes her mind

as for food she seemed interested but it has waned. I guess she just wanted to know what it was, and decided breast milk is better.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We just got back from a trip to Edmonton where I had to do a couple of author appearances (I'm a YA writer ...) and I left Esmé with DP for the longest time in her whole life and they did great! It was only four hours, but it seemed like four DAYS to me. They had a great time! Phew. I'm so relieved. I trust DP entirely, but I wasn't sure if Esmé would go to sleep for her. She did! In the carrier, which works great for me too.
She's pulling herself up now, which is exciting. I actually think she might be one of those babies who skip crawling, or spend about two minutes at it before deciding to walk. Her best little bud who is only three days older has been crawling for months ... it'll be cute to see the two of them in action once Esmé can crawl. Her little buddy is called Dash, and has truly lived up to his name ... super mobile!
Esmé was great on the plane, and with all of our running around. She's a mellow kid, just happy to be included. We even took her glow-in-the-dark golfing! I put her in a back carry in the Ergo and she loved watching DP's neon yellow ball streaking through the dark.
As for solids, she'll still eat anything! She ate Indian, Greek and Thai while we were away ... a kid after my own heart.
Still no teeth, but she had some super red cheeks lately. That's a sign, right? She's chomping my boob more than usual too. Don't know what that's about.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm an author too, and about to go on a book tour for my first book! I'm a little worried how Katmai will handle all the new places/faces/crowds. I'll be able to leave him with either my husband or relatives for the events (we're only going to cities/towns where we know folks already), but it'll be a lot of traveling.

What do people mean by "pulling up"? In certain situations (sitting in a box), Katmai's been pulling up to stand for months, but he can't do it on a smooth table leg yet (we don't have a couch, so who knows about that).

Lately he's been getting onto hands and feet a lot - like he's trying to do a baby "downward dog" yoga pose. I don't know quite what his plan is for mobility, but he keeps experimenting!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AVeryGoodYear* 
On a PC, hold down ALT and then press "0233" on the number pad to get "é".

Thanks!









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Re Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gr...9389603&ref=mf
If you click the little 'group' button at the bottom left of your page you will get a page with a list of all the groups you are in and can then click on our ddc group. I'm not sure if there's any quicker way than that.

I tried to join. [thanks!]

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
I used to let Junes chew on paper and magazines and such but she has choked so many times that i stopped letting her.

We were there, too. No more paper!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Still no teeth, but she had some super red cheeks lately. That's a sign, right? She's chomping my boob more than usual too. Don't know what that's about.

Yup, sounds like she's teething big time! Be aware though, that red cheeks can be an allergic sign, too. Throwing in some children's probiotics certainly can't hurt.

Eliza doesn't really seem interested in walking yet, which is fine with me.







She's very mobile just with crawling and pulling up and standing and a little bit of cruising. I love watching her just explore everything.

In about a week we will be off to Disneyworld, so I am looking forward to that! We took our oldest son when he was a year old, and then we went again when the boys were 3 and 1, so this will be our third time as a family-- Lizzy's first! DH and I have been there twice before kids, too.







I have a feeling that the Ergo will be our best friend this time.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

the red cheeks made me think allergy before teething.

so there is a contest to win a larger car seat, it is actually one we desperately need because my middlest NEEDS another car seat she is this far away from outgrowing the one in her dad's car. I really really want to win, but you have to have people "like" your comment on the company's facebook page about how to keep the kids busy in the car. I think it is a pretty good comment so I am hoping and hoping. the contest ends oct 10th. I have rallied my friends on facebook to go vote for me. so if anyone on facebook....

in baby news, can someone tell me when our babies stopped being tiny babies? because i swear yesterday i looked at Juniper and can hardly even remember those days.

ALSO who's up for picture sharing? i so desperately want to see all of the other feb babies.

oh and mty washing machien is broken right now and I am hating sposies!!!!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

I know, I was just telling DH it seems like, overnight she turned into a little toddler!!! Not that she's really walking yet, but still-- it's crazy how big she is!

I have some pictures of Eliza in my profile album: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...php?albumid=77 but none that are very recent. I have to get a new camera!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

Lately he's been getting onto hands and feet a lot - like he's trying to do a baby "downward dog" yoga pose. I don't know quite what his plan is for mobility, but he keeps experimenting!

Royce did that last night for the first time!! And then he couldn't figure out how to get out of it and started crying. He seems to be doing something new everyday making his way towards being mobile!

LTB - I think I added you, there have been a few new requests this week, I have added everyone that has requested. Let me know if you still can't get on.

Lots of us are travelling right now! It sounds like it's going well for everyone which is good. We have a big trip planned for December. We will be driving through the night with the hope that Royce will just sleep. I'm a little worried about it.

Here's a pic of Royce on his potty. I actually really suck at EC, but once in a while I try and potty him, and he looks so cute so I needed a pic of it







And I think you can scan through some other photos from that link.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Gillian-- thanks for the FB group add-- Royce is adorable!!! Those CHEEKS! Lol!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i see where royce gets those cheeks from. He is such a cutie, totally want to squish his face.

eliza is super cute, you are as well LTB.

here's one of Juniper when we were visiting Colorado, her cheeks are all pink and chapped due to the extreme dryness. Nothing a day and a half back in Florida didn't fix. LOL


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Such cute babies! I need to load some recent pics onto the computer and I'll try to get around to posting some of Owyn. She is looking more like her daddy everyday!

Is anyone else's baby not sitting up yet? Owyn loves to roll around on the floor and is just not the kind of kid who is still for a moment. So, she's just never caught on the the whole sitting up on her own thing. She won't sit long enough!

I set her down on the floor on her bottom and as long as she doesn't move, she'll stay that way. But it's not long before she topples over. She is pushing up on her hands and knees, trying like crazy to crawl and has always been able to get at whatever she's after. She is 7 months old now so I just thought she'd be sitting unassisted by now.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Here are a few pictures of Fiona... She's 8 months old today! I'm not sure how that happened so fast!

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1662.jpg
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1689.jpg
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1671.jpg
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1678.jpg


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Oh my gosh I *LOVE* the photo updates!! Our babies are sooo freakin' cute







More please









And thank you for the compliments on my Royce, I'm pretty crazy about him









I had Royce weighed today, he is up to 21lb 10oz and is just over 28". He's starting to stretch out and lose the super chubby look.

For those of you with pets, how are they handling your little one now that mobility and grabbing are improving? I have one cat which will lay there and take anything Royce does to it (see my photo link for proof), my dog is pretty good but has growled at Royce, and my other cat does not like Royce and has swatted him (didn't use his claws just smacked him with his paw, but we are very careful with that cat now).


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

We have 2 cats. 1 keeps his distance and the other has to be rubbed up right against the baby. The baby pulls her fur and ears and the cat just sits and purs. She loves her so much. She meows in pain sometimes but doesn't move a muscle. She did however scratch her face by accident when she jumped up on the changing table th other day while I was changing a diaper...just nicked her a bit by accident. Enough to freak me out though!

Here are a few pics of Makenna.  I love all the updates! Everyone is getting so big!
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2.../BigSur033.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...Makenna047.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...Makenna017.jpg

Cindy


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*Since we're sharing. Heeeeere's Miles.








He is 7 mos. and is starting to sit unassisted.







He still MUCH prefers to stand but will tolerate sitting now if sufficient interest is in front of him. He's a very good stander!









http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...4&l=b5ee0ef415

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...4&l=960ee738f2

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...b&id=691579264

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...4&l=7edbb758c5*


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

I love all the baby pictures!







It's amazing how different each one is! I know that probably sounds kind of obvious, but they're just SO different, it's really cool to see their little individual personalities coming out!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Oh my gosh. So many adorable babies!

Juniper looks like she's getting ready to leap right out of there and go find some mischief.
I love Fiona's big blonde curl in the front! She is so pretty.
The pic of Makenna in the bib with food all over her mouth, smiling, made me smile too. It always amazes me how much our little ones enjoy the simple things in life.
Miles is very handsome. You can see so much personality and happiness in him!

Here's Maia: standing up, and being a monster. She cracks me up!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Double post. Someday I'll figure out how to delete a post on this forum system!


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Great pictures!! Everyone looks so big! I'll get some pics up soon too.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Forget how great our babies names are... these babies are just darn cute! Its so fun to see pictures. I can't get over how big some of these babies look... standing, what?!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Everyone's babes are so gorgeous. I can't believe how much they are all doing.
For those of you doing baby led weaning what are some non messy foods you are giving?
Delia's still not crawling, she's been doing hands and knees for 1.5 months now and rocking. She just can't get going forward. She can pull up if there's something right in front to grab onto but isn't all that interested in it.
I'm just now realizing that my baby is high needs. I read that dr. sears article with the 12 attributes and she has ALL of them. I'm feeling a little drained and it doesn't help that my dh is completely overwhelmed and overworked at work. I'm trying so hard not to dwell on the negatives and to focus on what is fabulous about her but I'm hitting a danger zone I think. I'm going to work tonight so hopefully that will give me a break. I just keep telling myself I just need to get through this year. We originally planned on 3 kiddos but she's making me seriously consider stopping at 2. I don't think I could handle another one like her. I've also been considering going back to work early for a break but we want to go away for xmas and if I'm working that won't happen. Sigh







this too shall pass......


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

So cute! I can't believe how much hair all the other babies have! And standing so well - they look so much older than mine! I have to share Katmai as well:
http://www.katmaimckittrick.net/phot...002015-500.jpg
http://www.katmaimckittrick.net/phot...XX0041-500.jpg
http://www.katmaimckittrick.net/phot...00478-1000.jpg
Actually, I'm such a geek that my baby has his own blog (http://www.katmaimckittrick.net/blog/), though I haven't updated it in awhile (working on that soon - grandparents are complaining!)

Nillarilla - Katmai's been doing the hands and knees (and now hands and feet) forever too! He finally just figured out that he could pull himself forward on his belly, but will only do that if he really wants something that's within a few feet of him. Otherwise he just does hands and knees and downward dog and doesn't go much of anywhere.

Our non-messy foods are toast, and some veggies, I guess. But we don't worry too much about mess. The cat has decided it's his job to clean up after the baby. Sometimes the cat will be licking one of his hands as he's eating with the other one!

Katmai's a pretty quiet baby - prefers to communicate with wiggles, smiles, and panting to doing much on the babbling front. I think he's in no hurry to talk.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

the pets issue- we have a cat, a dog, tons of fish, and four chickens.

the dog is great with her. Junes crawls over her and the dog just sits there. she likes to lick her face sometimes and occasionally has knocked Juniper down in her excitment. The dog has nipped at my three year old in the way a momma dog would when the pup is getting out of line, but nothing to actually hurt her. In the past we had a dog however (we had to get rid of her because of this) who bit my oldest in the face leaving teeth marks in her cheek and right below her eye. the dog had never down anything like that before, had always been a first rate awesome dog. When Jewel (my oldest) was a babe she was protective of her. Pepper (that dog) would come get us when Jewel cried and not leave until we had clamed the baby down. she stood near when peopel she didn't know came to see the baby. I firmly believe no matter how long you have had a dog, how sweet and protective a dog can be towards your child their can always be danger.

nillarilla, I am sorry things are tough with your baby. I have never looked into high needs, but I hope things calm down and become easier.

nonmessy foods? I don't know if there are any. Junes even gets teething bisquits all over her. Last night she had lasagna and her she is with her favorite food, yogurt and that got even messier.

also i snapped one of her standing up at the playground

and just one more b/c it's funny


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

katmei is soooo cute!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

We're doing BLW just bc Makenna won't eat purees. I've yet to find anything that doesn't make a mess except those puff things they sell that disolve in their mouth...so maybe cheerio type things or puffed grain cereal. I did tofu last night and it got crumbles everywhere...still cleaner than some things though. And oh man teething biscuits are the worst!! She loves them but they make a huge mess that is so hard to scrub off of her.

Makenna is *finally* rolling from her back to her tummy. Now she's all over the place!

Cindy


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Oh man, Nillarilla, I know how the high-needs baby-nurturing can be! I had one and a half! My first son was REALLY high-needs, colicky, VERY fussy, everything. He turned out to have Asperger's, FWIW. My second son was not AS high-needs, meaning he was pretty happy and laid-back as long as he was with mama, and he actually slept sometimes. I think a lot of people would have considered him high-needs but he seemed like a dream after the first one! (By the way, my oldest is such an "easy" child now that he's older!)

anyway, I feel very grateful that DD is such an "easy" baby. She actually lets me put her down to play. I don't have to carry her everywhere, all the time. She sleeps in her swing like a normal baby. It's nice. Each one of my babies was perfect, of course, but having things a little bit easier now that I have two other children to care for as well-- I appreciate it!

BTW, I have a theory for why first-borns tend to be more high-needs-- I read some research about how the older children get more toxins from their mother's body than do younger children. In fact, a study showed that older sisters are more likely to get breast cancer than younger sisters, and that the instance of developing breast cancer went down with each birth place within the sibling group. (So the youngest out of four sisters is pretty much risk-free, whereas the firstborn daughter has the highest likelihood of developing breast cancer.) Interesting!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We just moved so I haven't had a chance to put up very recent ones ... but here's a video of her rockin' in her exerscaucer ...


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé went down for a nap, so I was able to upload some more recent ones ...
here she is in all her glory!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Esmé went down for a nap, so I was able to upload some more recent ones ...
here she is in all her glory!

Oh she's beautiful!! And I recognize the ring toy from Ikea in the first pic, Royce has that! He spends lots of time chewing on the centre bar


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## Bluebird9 (Aug 5, 2008)

v


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm not positive but I think this link will let you view my most recent album of Owyn's pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=fe88625bfe


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

worked great Mal85! She's adorable!!








I've been back on the sauce since shortly after Fiona was born! Thank god it doesn't affect her because I love coffee! One of my favorite parts of the day is in the early morning. Fiona still snoozing, no daycare kids yet, and I can just sit with my coffee and check out my emails and mothering posts! Love it!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I finally decided, Owyn is going to be Holly Hobbie for Halloween.

http://www.amazon.com/Zoogster-Costu...4928574&sr=8-3

Ordered it last night. She will look so adorable! And it's pants, long sleeves and a hat, so hopefully she'll be warm too.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm glad Katmai doesn't mind coffee! I couldn't tolerate it at all in late pregnancy, and was so happy to go back.

Katmai gets outside a lot, usually in the wrap. It's not uncommon for us to go on 1 to 3 hour hikes, maybe every other day. Getting rainy here though, so it takes a little more motivation to get out.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping baby happy with someone other than mom and dad for an hour or so? We just tried leaving him with his aunt (who he's known for a few days), and he cried off and on the entire time. I feel bad for both him and his caretakers, but we're going to have to do more of that in the upcoming month, and I'd love to make it easier!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Aleric is getting huge! Last time we were at the doctor he was almost 20 lbs, where did my little newborn go? He tried to take his first steps the other day, he had used the treadmill to stand up and when his dad walked around the corner he let go and took a step towards his, and fell, but it was so heartwarming and cute







He is never really around other babies much (well ever for that matter) and the other day I met a lady with a 14 month old and he was so scared of Aleric and all he wanted to do was play, I wish I could find some like minded friends with kids for him to be around but where I live that's just probably not going to happen. But the lady I met does breastfeed so I was really excited to find that out and shes still breastfeeding her 14 month old! She did not know about the immunities she was giving him she said she did it because it just "felt right" So I gave her some Camilla and hylands teething tablets because she thought all there was was Tylenol so I was happy to show her there are other options. Oh and we decided hes going to be a mummy for Halloween, we will be doing 2 days of Halloween though because my inlaws live a few hundred miles away so we will be going there on the 25th and then to my parents house on the 31st. Some people have been asking me if I will let him have candy yet, do people really give 8 month olds candy? Is anyone here letting their baby have candy yet? And all the babies are so adorable! How do I link to my pictures?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai's still not hands-and-knees crawling yet, but has developed a new method of moving around. He pushes up on his hands and toes (belly off floor), lunges forward, flops back onto his belly, and repeats. He can get across the room pretty fast. Only seems motivated if he's crawling for me, though!

He's got stranger anxiety big time. Definitely in a "glom on mom" phase. On the plus side, he's nearly always happy to be worn.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn crawled yesterday! I almost missed it. I walked into the room just in time to see her take off after a toy she wanted! She went about 3 feet. The rest of the day she would go a couple feet, then army crawl the rest of the way there. Up until now, she has only gone in circles and backwards so this is huge! Now she gets made because she can't go as fast as she wants to. I fear I'll be in for it when she does figure out how to go fast.

She's getting over a bad cold right now. We had a couple of sleepless nights because she couldn't breathe through her nose. I was afraid croup was coming on, had a baby in daycare out with that earlier this week. But she only had a barky sounding cough one night and it's cleared up now. We just have a nose that runs like a faucet at this point.

I really am so lucky. Even when she doesn't feel well she is such a good natured kid. Still smiling during the day and actually sleeping pretty good considering how bad she felt.

I hosted a book club meeting on Thursday night. Owyn went to stay at her grandparents during. That was the first time she ever had a melt down being away from me. They called DH and he went over there. She was happy once he got there. I think it was just because she wasn't feeling well. Thursday night seemed to be the worst of her cold.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fi learned to crawl this week too! She army crawls at a pretty good clip! It's like suddenly it clicked and she was heading forward instead of backwards. She is loving it. One of my daycare kids has learned what her new found mobility means too... "uh uh baby Fiona my blocks, uh uh!" Oh the fun has just begun!

yesterday was a pretty rotten day. I had to call a dad to come pick up his kids because the 4 year old was having an all out kicking screaming tantrum for over an hour and a half... because I asked her to pick up 3 books! She's prone to these meltdowns so I have to have the talk with her parents about wether she gets to keep coming because it really freaks Fiona out. I can't keep having that. It's a difficult conversation to have with a friend.

On top of that we were in the midst of a huge storm... over 7 inches of rain yesterday and our garage/mudroom flooded. At one point I had Fiona on my back in the ergo using the wet vac while DH tried to dig a trench to divert the water. It just kept coming in so we gave up until today. DH is working on it now. I hate to think about how much water is in our crawls space and the mold potential. I don't know what we are going to do.

AND Fiona has a cold... ok too much complaining. i got it out of my system. Now that its the weekend things are looking better. We are doing an art walk this afternoon and tomorrow I'm hosting a stitch and bitch at my house. Fiona and I will be here knitting while DH heads to a friends house to make venison sausage. So things are looking up!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé has discovered forward action too! Mostly still army crawl ... but she's getting there. And standing! She's standing on her own for a few seconds at a time. She really wants to stand. She'd like to skip crawling, I think.
It's Canadian Thanksgiving, so we're heading to our UU church for the Thanksgiving service. We've got so much to be thankful for this year!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Thanksgiving!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Happy thanksgiving. we celebrated canadain thanksgiving one year with a friend. It was fun.

stitch and bitch sounds liek so much fun, i would love to get a little crafty/sewing party thing going on. I have one friend who invited me to her place to sew. I can't wait until Juniper is better so I can go. We were going tosew our halloween costumes together. Poor Juniper is in the sick club too. Her fever is gone, but the other night it was 101.6. she has been coughing crazy, these wet coughs that almost sound like they are goign to choke her. It is so sad.

Yesterday we took the kids to seaworld for Halloween spooktacular. It is the one thing we did over Fallcation (a one week fall break from school, they go to a private school and the schedule is different then most schools. they have a week break every season, then a two week winter break and summer vacation) We promised them seaworld, and were going to do it over the week, but the spooktacular was only on the weekend. I felt horrible bringing Juni since she didn't feel well and it was so f-ing hot. She was dressed as a hula dancer and we had to take off her grass skirt. when we watched the shamu show it rained a bit and then was not so hot (like not 95). they all ended up having fun and it left Chris and I wondering what they will remember when they grow up (as the wtwo of us spent time talking about the different things we remember from when we were kids).

Josie and Junes

and my hilarious Jewel making a face to amuse me. She is not mad. Just funny.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm so jealous of your hot weather. We already have the furnace turned on! It is getting down in the 30s overnight and if we're lucky it hits 50s during the day. We aren't getting an autumn here, just going straight into winter. Owyn hates getting all bundled up when we have to leave. The first time I put her hat on her, she thought it was neat and kinda funny. Now, she knows she has to wear it and she hates it.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

We have our woodstove on much of the time these days... So far Katmai hasn't gone for it, but we're keeping an eye on him (hoping to delay any painful "that's hot" lesson at least until he's old enough to understand). As an Alaska baby, we can have fleece suit weather any time of year, so he's used to the bundling. Actually, I think he associates it with outside walks, which he likes.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Well, Maia's learned how to splash in the bathtub, so now bath time is even more fun!

She takes 3-4 steps at a time to move between objects or reach me, but seems to have no interest in doing it more regularly than that. I'm okay with it, because once she's walking... omg! no more baby!

I have returned to work part-time, so I see other babies and ask how old they are all the time. Whenever the baby is younger than Maia, all I can think of is "wow, Maia seemed so much older at that age"! She just seems so grown-up to me, ya know? And yet I bet these babies have just as much personality and spark as she did at those ages. It's just weird to think of how much a baby other people must see her as!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is crawling. Last I posted, she had just started and is now all. over. the. place. Oh how I miss the days when I could put her down and know she would stay there. She is crawling and climbing all the time. She is starting to pull up to things when she wants something badly enough. I have a feeling the path to walking will be marked with many bumps and bruises.

DH and I were talking about when we would be ready for #2. I still think of Owyn as a baby and I think I'll be ready for another when I no longer view her that way. Maybe when she's walking I'll think of her more as a toddler. I can see the toddler come out in her every now and then, especially with her newfound mobility.

I have other concerns to consider when having another baby, though. I have to think about all the other kiddos I care for and how a newborn would fit into the mix. My SIL is having a baby this winter and he will be in my care. I kind of want to enjoy some time of no babies before I have another of my own... of course I may feel differently once I hold and love on that new baby. We'll see.

I'm so excited for Christmas! Anyone else?


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Aleric is standing all the time now, even in the bath he wont sit down all he wants to do is stand, and with standing comes falling. We just got him his first pair of shoes also, he was scared of them at first. When we first put them on him he wouldn't stand at all, now its just like he was barefoot.

As for Christmas, yep im excited, more exited than anything to be able to take him out and look at all the lights. We are going to go to the parade of lights with him, and electri-critters at out local zoo. And we are buying a new Christmas tree to start with "our family" the tree I have right now was bought when my 26 year old brother was born so... its time for a new one. I am wondering about what to get him for Christmas though. What are all of you getting for your little ones?

As for another one, yes I want one, but I do want to wait a few years, I want to try for a home vbac. But my dh doesn't want another one so im hoping in a few years he will.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Christmas! Oh my goodness ... it can't be that time already.
We haven't given any gifts for the last few years as our circle of family and friends work toward a more simplified holiday season. We have a big meal and a tree ... but I'm betting the baby will attract some prezzies. We've asked people to resist giving her gifts and instead make a donation in her name. I don't know how that will go. As for presents from us, I found a Melissa and Doug wooden puzzle still in the package at the thrift store for $2.50! Woohoo! And we put aside a stuffed mole someone gave her when she was born. I think that'll do. I did tell my parents that we'd love a small wooden kitchen because they do want to get her something. And my mom is knitting her a lamb puppet.
Nevermind Christmas ... how about Halloween? We've had a couple mamas on here telling us about the costumes. I think we're going to make Esmé up as a fairy. She's got little leggings with stars, and we'll make her wings and a wand (a felt star tucked over a wooden spoon) ... and a little sparkly tutu her auntie is making her. We're going to stay in and hand out goodies, so she doesn't have to be super warm.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is dressing up as Holly Hobbie. We're going out to the town's trick or treating festival. They close down all the businesses downtown and the owners hand out candy or other prizes. We'll probably hit the grandparents and aunts and uncles too. I'm glad it's on a Saturday. We can get started early and be done before dark.

I have Owyn's Christmas list made up. We start saving super early, so we had to start thinking about it a while back. I tried to condense it as much as possible, but I'm a person that loves to give gifts so when it comes to my own daughter I'll probably over-do-it. Her daddy is making her a wooden toy chest. "Santa" is bringing her a Radio Flyer Scoot About (this will begin her Radio Flyer saga, to be continued in years to come with a wagon and tricycle). We're getting her some Christmas PJ's to be opened on Christmas Eve and worn that night. A dress. A Keepsake ornament. One toy... I picked out a Melissa and Doug pull-along cart w/alphabet blocks in it. And two books... a Christmas one and a bedtime one.

A lot of that is carrying on traditions from my own childhood that have always been meaningful to me. DH has a soft spot for Radio Flyer paraphenalia, so that's him. And he will probably always make her something for Christmas. Woodworking is his favorite hobby, so that's all him as well.

We'll also be going out together to cut down our tree, another family tradition and probably the most important one. Between her and the kiddos I baby sit I'm wondering how in the world I'm going put a tree up! This could be quite an adventure. Oh, I love Christmas! Can't wait to start listening to the music!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Oh yeah, I'm so excited we just ordered Owyn's new convertible car seat! She's still been in the bucket seat and has hated every moment of it, so we finally ordered her one.

This is the one we got:
http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Tr...5983771&sr=8-1

Can't wait for it to get here, it looks soooo comfy!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fiona is going as a pirate for halloween. We'll be staying home to pass out candy. She has red and white striped pants and a friend (she's a very talented 9th grader!) helped me to applique a skull and crossbones on a tshirt. It turned out great. We will all have to post pictures after Halloween!

We are big fans of Christmas around here. We always go for a hike to find a tree to cut down. I love the smell of a tree in the house. As for gifts I'm really striving to keep things simple. We'll do new pj's on winter solstice (from the solstice ferry!) and probably a wooden stacking toy and a puzzle or something similar on Christmas. I like to knit so I'm thinking of putting a new hat in her stocking. I'm going to suggest that the grandparents (my folks) do a walker toy... a doll buggy or wagon of some type. Books are always good too!

As for her other grandparents... they go out of control on Christmas. I was honestly appalled the first Christmas I spent with them. They gave the grandkids like 10-15 toys! Mostly plastic crap that makes noise. I really had to work hard to not show how horrified I was over the whole scene. We aren't really sure how to handle that situation. Luckily (is that bad to say!) we won't see them for Christmas and their gifts will have to be mailed. I'll just pick out one thing from the pile if I have to. I think I'm going to tell them no plastics and here are a few things that she might like... please pick one. I don't know how well that will work though. Hmm...

The day after Christmas Fiona and I are flying to Washington to my folks house. My sis lives next door and her baby is due Christmas day. I'm going to help her out with her other kiddos... this is baby number 8! I can't wait! I'm glad that it will still be Christmassy while I'm there. DH can't get away which is why we are heading out the day after Christmas. I hope I can still be there for the birth but I doubt baby #8 will be late!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

walking does bring on a lot of bumbs and bruises. when i had my first (who started walking at 8 months) i thought people would think i was abusing her. Luckily noone did, and by #2 i knew what to expect. Junes hasn't started walking yet and we are already past the bumbs and bruises from learning to crawl and stand.

We have very mildly begun thinking about christmas. I picked up some books on sale at wla greens and want to get back there to continue taking advantages of the changing sales. I will make them each something, and hopefully my husband will have time to make them each something.

so i am feeling kind of sad and wondering what is wrong with me that people don't really include me in their kid get togethers. I just found out the group of moms who all have babies about Junes age from LLL all go ttogether for a little halloween costume playdate and I wasn't invited, which makes me think of when josie had a group of kids her age at LLL that always got together and I wasn't invited, which brings me to Jewel and the group of kids and parents at school that get together and do things and I am not invited. I don't think it has to do with my kids, but to do with me. I must be doing something wrong and i don't knwo what. MY dh was no help.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Christmas? It's not even November. Right now I'm working on getting through 6 weeks or so of traveling (book tour) with baby, and have not thought one day beyond it...

Katmai's still doing his "seal flop" crawl. I'm not sure if he'll move on to standard crawling at some point, or if he's decided that he can get where he's going fast enough this way. He's getting a lot better at pulling up to stand lately (could do it for a long time, but can do it on more different objects), and faster at moving around and getting into things. Just when I'm carting him around to all sorts of new places with intriguing objects he shouldn't destroy! I'm sure he knows by now we don't like him to grab electrical cords - which makes them his favorite toy.

I got to see Katmai with other babies his age the other day for the first time (his group of friends at home are all a few months younger). Interesting to see the differences! I had never thought of him as "contemplative" before, but compared to the other two, he was.

Thursday: About the play groups. Are you sure that part of the problem isn't just because you have two older kids? I know that in my town, I tend to get together more with the other moms of first/only babies than with the babies the same age that have older siblings. Not because I don't like the other moms! Just because the first timers seem to feel more need to reach out for eachother (less experience), and because some of what we do (hikes with babies, etc) would be harder with 2 and 4 year olds.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
walking does bring on a lot of bumbs and bruises. when i had my first (who started walking at 8 months) i thought people would think i was abusing her. Luckily noone did, and by #2 i knew what to expect. Junes hasn't started walking yet and we are already past the bumbs and bruises from learning to crawl and stand.

We have very mildly begun thinking about christmas. I picked up some books on sale at wla greens and want to get back there to continue taking advantages of the changing sales. I will make them each something, and hopefully my husband will have time to make them each something.

so i am feeling kind of sad and wondering what is wrong with me that people don't really include me in their kid get togethers. I just found out the group of moms who all have babies about Junes age from LLL all go ttogether for a little halloween costume playdate and I wasn't invited, which makes me think of when josie had a group of kids her age at LLL that always got together and I wasn't invited, which brings me to Jewel and the group of kids and parents at school that get together and do things and I am not invited. I don't think it has to do with my kids, but to do with me. I must be doing something wrong and i don't knwo what. MY dh was no help.

I don't have any luck with meeting people who have kids at all. My son has seen probably 1 baby his whole life and that kid wanted NOTHING to do with him , he was so sad. But from what you say, do you really want to be friends with people like that? The way I read it they are those snobby type moms and I would want to stay away from people like that, but its still can hurt my feelings when I see them all getting together for a play date knowing that my son wasn't included. Sometimes I think maybe my son is missing out on something, but then I just try to so something fun for him. I hope it gets better for you mama, and never think its something wrong with you, its probably something wrong with them.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 

so i am feeling kind of sad and wondering what is wrong with me that people don't really include me in their kid get togethers. I just found out the group of moms who all have babies about Junes age from LLL all go ttogether for a little halloween costume playdate and I wasn't invited, which makes me think of when josie had a group of kids her age at LLL that always got together and I wasn't invited, which brings me to Jewel and the group of kids and parents at school that get together and do things and I am not invited. I don't think it has to do with my kids, but to do with me. I must be doing something wrong and i don't knwo what. MY dh was no help.

People really do suck sometimes, don't they? I've always felt a little like the odd one out in social groups, so I understand what you're talking about. FWIW, the little bit I've talked to you on here and seen you through our DDC, I've always thought you seemed like a very cool person who makes gorgeous little girls. If you were in my neck of the woods, I would totally invite you out for a playdate.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

you would think if it was them it wouldn't happen so often.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Thursday - like mckittre said, it may be because you have older kids. I tend to socialize more with other first time moms. Or other mdc moms - they are hard to find though!

Re Halloween - Royce will be going as a little golfer, and I'll definitely post pics afterwards! We will trick-or-treat at family and friends houses, just to show him off in his outfit









Re Christmas - I love Christmas and am so excited about planning Royce's first. When I was a kid my family always made a day of going to get the tree, there was a place where you took a wagon ride out to the tree field, cut down your tree, then got hot chocolate. I want to start that tradition with Royce. And I'm still in the process of deciding on what to get him. His birthday is just a few weeks after Christmas, so he'll probably get overloaded with presents. I wish I could get my family to buy wooden toys, but that probably won't happen. The 2 big items I'm thinking of are both from Ikea - they have a really cute little wooden slide, and also they have a little kitchen and all the accessories for that. I want to create a playroom for him and I think both of these would be a great start.

As for us, Royce is doing really well. He is standing all the time (holding on to things), and has started walking alongside whatever he's holding onto. He still isn't really crawling, he does it a little bit (maybe 1-2 feet) and only once in a while. I think he may end up skipping crawling.
And as for me, my pp af arrived







Royce is still up every few hours through the night so I'm a bit annoyed with this. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with af until I had a baby sleeping through the night. Ugh...


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

oh that sucks about af Gillian. It works differently for everyone.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I feel for you Gillian. My AF arrived at 4 months PP. I had two right on schedule and haven't had one for a month and a half now... absolutely no chance I'd be pregnant, so I guess I'm just still irregular from BF. She still nurses overnight as well. Although we're having more and more nights when she'll either only nurse once, or she won't nurse at all until around 6 in the morning. It's pretty wonderful even if we do still get the occasional night when she nurses up to 4 times.

I still miss being pregnant. Anyone else? I so don't want another baby yet, but I wouldn't mind being pregnant and giving birth... all that comes after that, I can totally wait on a little longer.


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Hi Ladies -- it has been a while so I tried to catch up on the posts. So much change with the babes lately! I can't believe how squirmy my little girl is these days. She's crawling (low-crawling) like crazy these days and while I'm excited, I also find it exhausting to keep up with her. No PP AF for me yet but I look forward to it returning -- I'd like to get a sense of my cycles so I can get ready in advance of trying for the next babe.

I'm not ready to be prego again yet but it will be sometime (God willing) next year.

Ladies, how are your moods lately? I find that I have 2-3 days a week where I feel pretty funky -- not quite down but more cynical and harsher than usual. Don't know what it is but I'm not used to it. Trying to "will" myself to be extra positive on those days but it's tough. I can't tell whether it's just general sleep deprivation either.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

I miss our DDC! It's so good hearing how all of the little ones are doing. I'm sitting at my computer, pumping, just thinking that a year ago I never could have anticipated what was coming.

*Thursday Girl*, I'm in the same boat. I try to be social but I'm really shy I guess, and I think people take me as stand-off-ish. Since the move I haven't made any friends, really, even though we have neighbors with kids. I think what I'm going to have to do is join something for DD, like swiming lessons or Girl Scounts (eventually) so that others will want me around to help. That's just my situation...but you're not alone.

*heinz28*, I'm thinking about another baby too--more now that Aubrey is growing so quickly. I'm hoping to join a summer/fall 2011 DDC.









We aren't planning much for halloween or chirstmas. Halloween plans are just to sit outside and hand out candy and watch the kids. It should be nice enough to be outside. We did get a pumpkin, and might carve it. Aubrey likes to observe so this should be enough for her this year. As for Christmas, I know the gparents will send gifts, so we'll probably not do a lot.

Aubrey is not really crawling, but doing a side-winder sort of thing that gets her around pretty well. Honestly I wish she could stay this age forever!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Yay, Katmai went on his first big airplane trip (just 3 hours, but first time on a big jet) today, and was totally fine! No fussing, nursed to sleep for takeoff and landing - as easy as I might have wished. And he's getting over his fear of new people and was happy to go to his grandma (who we're visiting) nearly right away.









We're going to a "pie party" for Halloween. I love to bake pie. No idea if we'll do costumes or not.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I just weighed Makenna today and she has only gained 6 ounces in 6 weeks or so! She's been about to outgrow her 3-6 month clothes for a few weeks now...hasn't been growing really. I left a message for me pediatrician and she got my voicemail and said she is falling off her growth curve. She is such a picky eater! She won't eat any purees and she won't eat many fruits or veggies I give as finger foods. She likes starches - puffs, cheerios, bread, etc. I try not to give too much of that. Also lately she hasn't been drinking much supplement. I breast feed then supplement and this week she has been refusing it or only drinking half of her normal amount...and I know she isn't getting all she needs from me. Not sure what to make of it. She did have a stuffy nose for 5 days or so so maybe that is why she drank less and maybe she lost some weight? She looks happy and rolly polly so I'm not overly concerned. We have our 9 month visit in a week and a half. The doc said in her message I might want to bring her in next week to get a weight check and talk about diet but I don't think she knew I was coming in the following week...and I don't want to pay our $25 copay to have her weighed.

Anyone have any thoughts? Or ideas on how to get her to eat something pureed or non starchy??

Makenna's playgroup halloween party is tomorrow. Should be adorable!

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

*Cindy* How much does she weigh? My niece just turned a year old and weighs 16.6 lbs. She's 27 inches long. She looks like she's about 6 or 7 months old. She has always been a tiny girl. I asked my SIL last night if she was even on the charts and she said no. She hovered at the 3rd percentile for a while, but now is not even on the chart anymore. She said she is still on her curve, so the pediatrician wasn't concerned. You little one may just be tiny like my niece is.

Owyn has been particularly clingy the last couple of days. I'm hoping it's because her other tooth is coming through. She wants to climb on everything and everyone! But everytime she climbs, she ends up falling and hurting herself. It's a little heartbreaking to watch, but she'll fuss for a minute until she starts towards her next obstacle.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Mal: She is 16 lbs 7 ounces and 26 inches or so. I'm not concerned so much about her being small (she was only 5 lbs 12 ounces at birth so has always been on the smaller side) but about the fact that she hasn't gained more than 6 ounces in about 6 or so weeks whereas she was steadily gaining 1 lb/month before that. I don't know if weight gain is supposed to slow down more now? She is definitely more active scooting and rolling but she's not even really crawling yet...just pushing herself backwards. So it's not like she's burning a ton of calories being all over the place.

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

*Cindy:* Fiona is also little. I'll get an official weight on her at her 9 month visit on Nov 2nd, but according to my home scale she is just at 16 pounds. She had been gaining about 1 pound a month but appears to be slowing down now as well. I'm not really worried about it. I would guess that Makenna's lack of appetite is due to not feeling well. My family Dr stresses to me every time not to worry about solids... if she wants them great, if not no big deal. Hopefully as Makenna starts to feel better she'll be back to her normal intake of breastfeeding/supplement.

We went to the fairgrounds to the 4-H pumpkin sale today which was fun. It was a whirlwind of kids and Fiona just quietly took it all in. She's crashed out sleeping now!

We've been having lots of fun with books lately. She loves to turn the pages for me. Her favorite is an animal sounds book. She likes to imitate the animal sounds after we do. She does mmmmm for moo, aaaaagh (very loudly every time!) for baa and maa (sheep and goat), and doodoodoo for cock-a-doodle-doo! Its so cute! Of course all attempts at video taping have failed!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I don't think a happy baby who is otherwise healthy will starve herself! You're offering her plenty of good calories, I think she'll be fine. And I think weight gain does slow down as they get older anyway.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

weight gain does slow down with age bd with new milestones like moving around (crawling/walking). I would continue to watch her diapers, her activity, and how she seems over all. I have heard of plenty of doctors reccomeding diets of extra fat and chcoolate milk and such to get kids to gain wieghtm, but personnaly feel adding unhealthy weight isn't going to fix it. (PLUS the hugest are the things i mentioned looking for)

I don't track Junipers weight. we don't do well baby visits either so I never know how much she weighs or anything like that. It was the same with Josephine.

we went to a somewhat local farm for a pumpkin festival and they had a free circus. mostly human acts. Junes was enthralled.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Courtney is your sister having a baby? I saw she joined--and it's in your sig too, obviously. I loved that pic of you pregnant and "unpregnant" using your sis.

Cindy, have you tried sweet potatoes? Boiled soft, and mashed with chunks is a hit here. I know it's starchy but could be worse.... I would probably take her in for the 9mo. WBC, given the history of it. Doesn't hurt, but it is probably because she had a stuffy nose. Aubrey eats less when she's not feeling well, then makes up for it the following week(s).

The little monkey is slowly becoming human! She's working on her first three teeth all at once, so it should be interesting to see how she manages them when they're through. She's experimenting with chomping my nipples with the little nubs, but so far it's not as bad as I thought it would be.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Yeah we're going in for the 9 month visit a week from Thursday so we can talk about it then and see what she weighs by then. She seems happy and energetic and is changing and doing new things and still has chub on her thighs. I asked at playgroup yesteray and most moms said their babes only gained a lb from their last visit. So I won't worry too much. I think she is between growth spurts.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I saw my niece today, the one I was saying is on the small side like your LO, Cindy. I did notice that her mom had given her chocolate milk today. And they aren't the type to just give their one year old chocolate milk, they don't give many sweets out to kids. So, I had to wonder if they are trying to put some weight on her... I didn't get a chance to ask SIL about it though. Just food for thought.

Can we talk about teeth grinding? Owyn has been grinding her teeth ever since one of her top teeth came through a couple of weeks ago. It drives me crazy. I get the willies everytime I hear her do it. Any advice or is it hopeless getting her to stop? So far, I've been sticking my finger in her mouth every time I hear her doing it. Seems unsanitary though, and she thinks I'm just playing a game when I do that. So, I'm afraid she associate the teeth grinding with a fun game and I'll get undesired results... But it stops it for the moment.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

kate- my sister isn't pregnant. She has been reading threads off and on for a couple of years now and i finally convinced her to just join. She does want kids eventually and I think mothering is a good learning experience for her. When i had my first she was all about epidurals and would tell me that I should pump my milk and feed it to Jewel in a bottle when we were out. She told me that once she could ask for it (nursies) she was too big. NOW after reading through mothering, seeing me parent the 3 girls, and meeting some of my crunchy mom friends she is planning on having a homebirth, breastfeeding, not circ'ing, and cloth diapering. Honestly I wish i had had someone I knew who did these things. The idea of homebirthing from the start makes me jealous. Cloth diapering the first one? I wish.

as for teeth if she bites at you , just pop her off. I learned the hard way that it is best to nip behavior in the bud that won't be comfortable later on. things like biting, walking around while nursing. ( i mean the standing up and sort of dancing with the back half) Things like jumping and climbing on furniture. Yeah the baby can't really do any damage, but she will be used to doing it when she gets bigged when she can. LOL.

Junes is sick again. my throat hurts. I am so annoyed between the kids and I someone had been sick almost every day for over a month. we will have a day or two without sickness, we go out, and then someone gets sick again. (usually the baby and I) This REALLY sucks.

mal i know when my husband grinds his teeth in his sleep i just sort of use my hand to hold his jaw(you know thumb on one side, fingers on the other) and i gently "loosen" his jaw. It tends to get him to stop. But that like the finger in the mouth could turn into a game I suppose, but it's all I've got.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

OMG you guys. Fiona is on some kind of crazy no sleep streak. Well, She goes to sleep and wakes up ready to party in the middle of the night. Then she's up anywhere from 2-3 hours! The other night I just gave in and sat in front of late night tv and let her chew on a toy until she finally gave in and fell asleep. She has always been a great night sleeper... she fights going down but when she's down she's down and barely wakes to latch on and nurse. Now this rolling around, crawling around the bed, gabbering away. Any advise? I may post on the main board too... We need our sleep! DH is not much help in the night either.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

AKislandgirl: I hope it's not a streak, but Katmai did just the same thing yesterday. Hardly napped all day, yet was crawling all over me at midnight. I tried to be boring and pretend to be asleep, but then he kept crawling up to my face and trying to eat my nose!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Ahhh ... what is happening to our good little sleepers???
Esmé has decided that she wants to practice all her new skills at various times in the dead of the night. Rock on!
We're struggling with sleep too, all of a sudden. She used to sleep all the way through except to latch onto a boob every couple of hours. Now she's partying while I mourn my lost sleep.

*Cindy* - Esmé has slowed down on her weight gain too, and if it werent for the fact that I'm a low supply mama, I don't think I'd worry ... but you and I have been through the wringer when it comes to supply, weight and food and supplements and all that jazz. Apparently, a plateau right about now is to be expected. Our pedi expects Emsé to double her weight by one year ... hopefully we're on track with that. I now it's worrisome, but I'm sure if our little one's are otherwise doing great, there's no cause for concern. Esmé is about 17.5 lbs now, at nearly nine months.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

So did everyone get that bug that was going around? We did, including my poor little Eliza. She was vomiting.







We're mostly well, now, though.

So Eliza got her first two teeth on our Disney World vacation this month! Hehe, that was fun-- teething away from home. She had fun on vacation, though. She was good on the plane. She got to wear her first ever swimsuit and splash in the kiddie pool at the resort. And everyone made such a fuss over her everywhere we went, it was unreal!!! I have never experienced anything like it-- not with the boys. I think she is just a natural little entertainer. Almost everyone she meets, she is so flirty and sweet with, that the new friend is just enchanted! And then she shows off all of her latest moves-- wave "hi" and "bye bye" and high-five and nodding yes and "dancing" (wiggling) and just chatting up a storm-- NONE of my boys liked to perform at all so it's all new to me! And to think I thought she might have a shy personality! Ha! I often just walked her around while the boys did rides with DH. It was fun. She was quite the center of attention.

She has been close to walking for a while but doesn't really seem too motivated to make that "first step" without holding on. That's fine-- I need to hold onto what babiness I can before it's all gone!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Hey everyone!

I had Royce weighed yesterday and he is up to 22lb 4oz. His weight gain is slowing a bit, he was 21lb 10oz a month ago. I haven't checked his height in a while, I should do that. He has 3 teeth now, almost 4 - the 2 bottom centre and the 2 top centre. And he has been grinding them which is awful!! Right now he always wants to be on his feet. He stands holding onto the couch or coffee table and can walk around holding on to it. Still not really crawling, he has at times gone a foot or so, but usually he just flops onto his belly and cries. He has never been a 'good' sleeper and that hasn't changed. We have a lot of chaos in our life right now, but we're surviving.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Hey everyone. This mobility thing was fun for a while, but can we go back to being still for just a little bit please?? Owyn wants to climb on EVERYTHING. She climbs into the bouncy seat and tries to stand in it. She climbs up to the couch and the coffee table. She climbs through the bottom part of the exersaucer, she climbs over the little sit'n'scoot I have out for my nephew. She climbs into the toy box. She's a freaking monkey!

Of course all this climbing comes with falls and tears. I was honestly afraid she had a concussion the other night. She pulled up to the couch and toppled backwards. She hit the back of her head on the very corner of the coffee table so hard I could see her head bounce off of it as she went down. She then smacked her face into the side of the bouncy seat as she went down. It was awful. She's never cried so hard in her life. It was the kind of crying that's just silent at first, like she can't even get the sound out. Then she screamed and screamed.

I didn't know what to do first, soothe her or check on where she hit her head. She got a nice goose-egg immediately. DH checked her pupils and we kept an eye on her behavior for the rest of the evening. She seemed okay once she calmed down. It was near bedtime though when it happened, so I really couldn't tell if it was the fall that made her sleepy or the fact that she was getting sleepy already before the fall. I kept her up for a while, and once she went to sleep, checked on her frequently just to make sure she was okay.

I wish we could either go back to when she was just rolling around or skip ahead to when she's walking confidently.

ETA: Has anyone else noticed an increase in clinginess with the mobility? Owyn won't let me leave the room without having a meltdown. I have to sneak out when she's distracted by a toy. She's fine as long as she doesn't see me leave, but it's not cool if I walk out of the room without her.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Oh Mal, that sounds scary. Glad to know she's ok.

Fiona can army crawl but really only goes a short ways. She's pretty content to stay in one little area and has no interest in standing unless its on our laps. Still, I get glimpses of her as a "big baby" more and more.

Sleep... what the heck happened to my good sleeper. She's been up to party or is waking to nurse on the hour and I'm exhausted. I just got the No Cry Sleep Solution from the library. I'm ready to give it a try. Fiona will share our bed for a long time I'm sure but I'm ready to help her sleep with out a boob in her mouth at all times. She used to wake to nurse 2 times a night. I'm hoping to get back to that. That I can do! I long to sleep on my back again! Side sleeping hurts my back.

We are getting professional photos done in a couple of weeks. I have a cute Hanna dress for her to wear but am at a loss for some kind of booties. I need some kind of "dress bootie" if that makes sense. I was thinking of white because she's getting baptized right after Christmas and can wear them then too. Any ideas?! I need to order pronto for them to get here in time for her pictures. I don't go for the real shoe thing.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai's still seal-flopping his way across the room, but he's also very into climbing and standing now. Only he hasn't figured out cruising well yet, or sitting down - so he'll stand up and get stuck! Every time I turn my back I find a wobbly little baby standing up holding onto my legs, and have to bend down to gently detach him before I can move (which gets kind of awkward when I'm trying to cook or something).

He seems to be getting over his separation anxiety, which is great. He'll let a grandma take him for an hour with minimal fussing, and he's a total flirt with strangers (when I'm around). He flashes his big dimpled grin at everyone. I think he's enjoying all the new people and sights in his first big city! (we're visiting Seattle right now).

Still only two teeth, but getting better at using them - he can grate pieces off raw apples and carrots pretty well with those now.

And most excitingly, he started signing to me! He's got his own little version of the "milk" sign, where he opens and closes his hand in front of his mouth. But he definitely means nursing!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

AKisland girl: I can commiserate with you on the side sleeping. DD will only sleep next to me w/a boob in her mouth. Thankfully we only cosleep for naps and the last few hours of the morning or I'd never get good sleep.

Makenna has an awful cold right now! Having a hard time breathing to nurse and hasn't had much apetite..I didn't pump right away and I think it hurt my milk supply. Now I am pumping after feeds to get it back up though I think she is nursing a little better. Thanks to her cold and not being able to breath through her nose she actually did just sleep next to me this morning...after being up for over an hour and fussing...so tired she managed to just fall asleep. That was nice!

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

junes started choking today. i thought it was on her own phlegm. she turned blue. it was terrifying. after the incident we went to the hospital to have her checked out. a chest x-ray revealed she had swallowed some type of coin. (I am horribly calling her "coin purse", now that I am not scared of recovering from the scare) I had not seen anything on the floor at all. she was playing in the tupperware drawer and I was making chili.

since getting back from the hospital and the older girls halloween party I recleaned the girls room. I found an amazing amount of chokables that we had no idea where there. It is so different with two older sisters, the amount of chokables in the house, hidden away in little spots is amazing. After the halloween party we are attending tonight I plan on going over the whole house with a new vengence. Especially since every time i turn around she has somethign else in her mouth.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Courtney- That is so scary! I'm glad she is okay and it wasn't worse than what it was. My niece, at around this age, swallowed my sister's wedding band and it got caught in her throat. The doctors at the ER told them to feel darn lucky she swallowed something with an open center. It gave her a small hole to breathe through while they were en route to the hospital.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

*SHIVER* You guys are scaring me with the choking stories!!! I will have to take a closer look in my boys' room for chokables. I'm glad Juniper was okay!

Cindy, I hope Makenna feels better soon, too. We definitely have been there recently with the cold thing.







I wouldn't worry about the weight thing too much-- both of my boys leveled off a bit at 8 months-- but it's good to check it out just in case, because as unlikely as it is, it can be a sign of lead poisoning, allergies, or other random things.

Mal, I'm glad that Owyn is okay! How scary!!! These kiddos sure do keep us on our toes these days, don't they? When Eliza was first pulling up and standing she kept getting bruises on her face from falling into the coffee table. I felt awful!!!

For the portrait booties-- I found some cute fleece ones on Etsy, but I guess it's probably too late for an Etsy order now. But I ordered a really cute set for Eliza from the June Bride, with a little matching hat, in ivory. The bottoms are a very soft suede. She sells the pattern, too, for mamas who are crafty.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

sorry about the colds, we are suffering too. it has been going on way to long.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Halloween! Lets share some pictures! Fiona is dressed as a pirate!

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1840.jpg

*Thursday Girl*, I'm so glad that Juniper is ok. How scary!


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## newmothermary (Jan 9, 2007)

*Here's the link to our Halloween outing. We are dressed up this year.









http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...4&l=12295d1ca1*

*Mary*


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We're hanging out at home tonight handing out candy. My mom made the hat, another grandma gave us the bib, and yet a third grandma gave us the pumpkin outfit. Just imagine next year our little ones will be toddling!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Too cute!!! I love the baby costumes!!!

Here is Eliza as a witch-- but you have to by my Facebook friend to see it.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Fiona makes the cutest pirate ever!

had to call my husband in to see the star wars costumes, he loved them and then commented on how it must be cold. (we were sweating last night, it is unseasonably hot even for florida)

what a cute little withc Eliza makes, Juniper liked it.

and a sweet pumpkin baby you have.

my pictures are uploading now.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

the clown, the hot chocolate, adn the native american are mine

i totally forgot to get a picture of my three by themselves, and Junes was sadly under photographed. Probably b/c she was usually in my arms and I had the camera. LOL


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

No costumes here, but Aubrey was still the star of the evening.

Aubrey with her pumpkin

We sat out front and handed out candy.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

My husband and I took a Child CPR/AED course with the Canadian Red Cross a few months ago and so my fear of Maia choking and hurting herself is far lessened. I don't ever want to have to use the skills I've learned, and thinking of her turning blue terrifies me -- I'm so happy to hear that Junes is alright!

Maia walks between objects, but still doesn't like to take more than 5 or 6 steps at a time. Sometimes she'll walk back and forth between my husband and I for awhile -- we make it a game -- and then eventually she gets tired/bored and starts to crawl









We're pretty much past her super clingy anxiety separation phase, which is great because it lasted for MONTHS and I wanted to pull my hair out. She still gets upset if I walk away when she wants my attention, but since we've babyproofed way more of the house now (instead of just the living room) she can follow me around, and that seems to make her happier.

My MIL is coming up tonight from Florida and we'll be seeing her tomorrow. She hasn't seen Maia since May and I'm pretty sure she's going to FREAK OUT at how much more interactive, playful, and fun "the baby" has become! She's kicking my husband and I out of the house for a night, so we're going to rent a hotel somewhere either in Toronto or the Niagara region and have a date night. I'm kind of excited, and kind of worried that somehow it'll happen that in 9 months I'll be having another baby


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i wish i had taken a course, and I think I might yet. knowing that i wasn't exactly sure what i was doing during the incident was quite scary. On top of it being a scary situation.

have fn in niagra!

aubrey is so cute with her pumpkin


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## Phridae (Sep 24, 2009)

I'm just going to jump in here, if you all don't mine. New to these particular forums. =)
I'm Michelle, momma to Noah who will be 9 months on the 4th.








I'm a firefighter/emt in Wisconsin. (anyone else in Wisconsin?







)

Noah choked at Ikea 2 weeks ago. On a paper from a map that the people behind use in line gave him while I was paying for our items. I turned around and his face was bright red, and the people were just standing there. I quickly dropped everything in my hands and did a finger-swipe in his mouth, pulling out a piece of paper the size of a quarter out of his throat.








He didn't even cry. I picked him up, shot the people behind us a dirty look and held him the rest of the time.









So yeah. Thats my opening story.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Choking stories ... so very scary. I'm glad all the babies are fine!
I highly suggest that everyone who has children (of any age) do a First Aid course ... actually, I highly recommend a First Aid course for EVERYONE.
As a paramedic, I've been to lots of calls where the information/skills would've made a huge difference, sometimes life-and-death difference. Especially when it comes to choking or drowning.









And Welcome Phridae!


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...loween/014.jpg

Lucius, the little devil.

Still no teeth, no crawling, but he's 21 lbs!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Phridae* 
I'm just going to jump in here, if you all don't mine. New to these particular forums. =)
I'm Michelle, momma to Noah who will be 9 months on the 4th.








I'm a firefighter/emt in Wisconsin. (anyone else in Wisconsin?







)

Noah choked at Ikea 2 weeks ago. On a paper from a map that the people behind use in line gave him while I was paying for our items. I turned around and his face was bright red, and the people were just standing there. I quickly dropped everything in my hands and did a finger-swipe in his mouth, pulling out a piece of paper the size of a quarter out of his throat.








He didn't even cry. I picked him up, shot the people behind us a dirty look and held him the rest of the time.









So yeah. Thats my opening story.









Hi Michelle and welcome!!! What a scary story! Yikes!!!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Choking stories ... so very scary. I'm glad all the babies are fine!
I highly suggest that everyone who has children (of any age) do a First Aid course ... actually, I highly recommend a First Aid course for EVERYONE.
As a paramedic, I've been to lots of calls where the information/skills would've made a huge difference, sometimes life-and-death difference. Especially when it comes to choking or drowning.









I took a CPR course when I was 15 . . .







. . . of course that was over 10 years ago . . . I would like to brush up and modernize my skills but haven't had a convenient opportunity yet.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

We had a good Halloween, we trick-or-treated at the grandparents houses, and we also went out with our nephews for a bit (we just walked along the sidewalk - we didn't actually take Royce up to every door). Royce seemed very interested in all the kids running around all dressed up. He was taking everything in.
All those choking stories are very scary! I haven't taken any first aid/cpr. I really should... Royce has had a couple of scary gagging situations from eating, but has never literally 'choked' on anything and he has never turned blue.

We just moved into an apartment so things have been a bit hectic. I'm feeling a bit worried about my neighbours. Royce is a very loud boy, he whines a lot (which is very annoying, I don't know why he is so whiny) and also he 'talks' a lot and is very loud. This is the first time we've lived in an apartment with him. I hope we don't get any complaints. One exciting thing about the apartment is that the carpeted floors here have really helped his crawling, he was all over the place last night, it was pretty crazy!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

The choking doesn't scare me quite as much as the falling. I'm so afraid she's going to seriously hurt herself the way she's climbing on everything. She's awfully brave, but not very steady. My ILs have a brick fireplace she loves pulling up to. That one is scary.

I was a lifeguard for 8 years, so I've had a lot of training when it comes to first aid and CPR. My last certification was last year when I was working in daycare. That actually just expired last month... I should really find out when my town will be holding a class, they usually do occasionally. I like to keep up with it.

We've had to finger swipe quite a few times when it comes to eating. My girl has the most sensitive gag reflex. If I catch it early enough, it's fine. If I don't, she ends up vomiting all over herself. She can chew things up pretty well, but sometimes it'll get to the back of her mouth and she can't help it.

BTW, Owyn turned 8 months old yesterday. I can't believe how far we've come! It seems like just yesterday we were all anxiously awaiting their arrivals and now their babyhood is turning into toddlerhood!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

it does go quick, doesn't it?

royce looks so cute as a little golfer. I LOVE it.
gillian I sent you a friend request on facebook.

lucius is a cute little devil as well. What were the other kids?

Hi michelle, welcome.
I don't understand why people hand things to other peoeple's kids wihtout checking first.

here is a little video of Junes, I hope the link works.

I should be sewing an olive for my kids school's auction, but I am enjoying the sleeping babe in my arm too much.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
BTW, Owyn turned 8 months old yesterday. I can't believe how far we've come! It seems like just yesterday we were all anxiously awaiting their arrivals and now their babyhood is turning into toddlerhood!

I know! Eliza's actually started to skinny out already-- grow taller and just a little less fat. It's surreal for me, especially since the pregnancy/baby thing has been my total universe for 6 years and this is our last time through it. It is exciting but also bittersweet!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Welcome Phridae!

Fiona turned 9 months old yesterday! We just had our 9 month well baby visit. Fiona is still such a little thing! 15.1 pounds and 26 inches. Our Dr is great! She said she's perfect (we knew that though!







) and that its totally normal to slow down on weight gain. She asked if we wanted to do anymore vaccines. I told her no, she said Ok and that was that! Its nice not to have the pressure. She did recommend we switch to a vitamin with fluoride in it. I'll have to research that some.

I love that video of Juniper! I can't believe some of these babies are on the verge of walking. Fiona is soo not interested! She's pretty content to do a little army crawling a few feet here or there. I think its pretty neat to see how differently these babies are developing.

Happy November!


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## Phridae (Sep 24, 2009)

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

I'm suffering for a serious case of the Mondays over here. Just can't seem to get in the groove.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Well I'm feeling a bit better about Makenna's not growing. I thought she was still in th 3-6 month sized clothes bc some of her sleepers still fit her. I went through and swapped out her clothes for the 6-9 month ones and now that I am putting those on her I'm finding they totally fit and aren't even big on her. So maybe I was just stuffing her into clothes that were too small. Her 9 month visit is on Thursday so I'll get the official weight and height then.

Love all the baby pics! What a cute video of Juniper. So crazy to see a baby Makenna's size walking. She is pulling up to her knees but hasn't figured out how to get to her feet yet. So close to crawling but still mostly scooting backwards. She just started sitting up from being on her tummy. And she finally slept a night on her tummy...and slept from 7 to 4 that night. Don't know if it's bc her nose was feeling better or bc she was comfy on her belly.

I hope Makenna adjusts to the time change soon! She was wide awake at 4:30 this morning and up at 6 yesterday. We managed to keep her up until her normal bedtime tonight so hopefully she'll sleep later tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Welcome Phridae!

That is a cute video of Juniper.








Katmai loves pulling up to stand, but he's nowhere near the point of independent balance yet. He does the seal-flop sort of belly crawl as his go-to to get across the room quickly, but is just starting to do hands and knees crawl for a few feet (especially on less-slick surfaces).

I haven't weighed him for awhile, but I think he's 18 pounds something - probably average ish. I envy those of you with littler ones though - they're lighter to carry around!

Katmai is absolutely obsessed with object that roll and spin. Especially ones that spin. Each time he sees a new toy or object, he'll bat at it with a funny sort of sweeping motion to see if he can make it spin. Which is especially amusing when he tries it with a wooden block, or that sort of thing.

What are your babies' current obsessions?


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Cindy,
hope you got to sleep a little bit more this morning.

katmai's spinning thing sounds so cute.

Junes one obsessin is putting things in her mouth, despite the choking and almost DYINMG incident. AWESOME! (totaly sarcastic)


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce is obsessed with anything I don't want him to have (the laptop, my cellphone, his potty, etc...)







. And anything edible. We ordered pizza the other day and because we just moved in we were sitting on the floor eating. I gave him a breadstick, but because we were eating the pizza that's what he wanted too, so he crawled over and grabbed himself some pizza right out of the box. The look on his face was priceless, he was pretty proud of himself


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Aleric loves paper, him and one of my cats will both try to play with the same piece of paper on the floor, the cat wants to sit on it, and Aleric wants to eat it. And my blackberry, he tries so hard to try to get his hands on it whenever he can.

I am wondering though, those of you with pets and babies, how do you stop the babies from trying to get into the dogs food and water?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna crawled tonight! She only made it a little ways before flopping and then dragging herself on her tummy to the toy we were bribing her with but she did it a few times. I guess I need to watch out now! BTW the toy was a cat ball...she's obsessed with it!

Makenna just started getting into the cat food when I set her on the floor in the kitchen. My picky eater who won't touch veggies or fruit tried to immediately shove some in her mouth but thankfully I got to her in time. I think this weekend we'll be finishing our baby proofing which includes a gate into the kitchen so she won't have free access to the cat dishes. I feel bad for the cats bc I've had the put up their favorite mice toys bc they are a choking hazard...and the cat likes to bring it to the baby as a present.

Cindy


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## Phridae (Sep 24, 2009)

Cindy, we have some cat toys that Noah likes too. Like poof balls that are sparkly. Its funny to watch though, because he goes to put it in his mouth but it tickles, so he switches hands and tries with the other hand thinking maybe it'll be better from this hand. And the mice with the feather tails, the faces he makes!
Congrats on crawling! Noah just started last week, so thankfully he's not that quick yet.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

these things your baby's are doing sound sooo cute.

we put our cat food outside and the dog food in the laundry wgere she can't get it.

junes it turns out loves raisin carrot bran muffins.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

well heard back from Juniper's doctor, we are headed back to the ER to get another X-ray. it's been 5 days, no quarter and not nearly enough poops for her average.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn loves things that spin too! She has been obsessed with them since she was about 4 months old, from the very first time I put her in the exersaucer and she found the spinny toy on it. She looks for something to spin on everything and once she finds it she'll squeal with delight and spin it over and over again. I'm glad she can entertain herself!

She has started letting go of whatever she is standing up to. But I don't think she realizes she's standing. She likes to stand up to the coffee table and smack at it with both hands. She'll raise both her hands above her head and stay there for a few seconds, then start smacking at it again. She also loves to pull up to the front door and look outside. She'll lean against the wall beside it and just stand there, not holding onto anything.

We had a new TV delivered yesterday. One we can hang on the wall. We were borrowing one from my ILs, the old school big screen that takes up half the room. Now that it's out, we have so much space in our living room. I rearranged all of Owyn's toys and she loves her new play space! Everything isn't just jammed into a corner anymore, there's room to spread it out without it looking so cluttered.

We are dealing with some yeast issues. It's starting to clear since we finally caved and got her a prescription cream. Should I bleach her diapers to make sure there isn't any in them? If so, how much bleach should I use?


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Mal, I have read various things in the diapering forum about yeast. You may want to post over there. I think that you do need to do something about the yeast in the diapers. There may be other options besides yeast though... maybe tea tree oil or grape seed extract. I don't really know all of the logistics there.

So fun to read the new tricks these kiddos have! Fiona decided last night to pull out all the stops! She started to rock on hands and knees (still using the army crawl to go forward though), put herself into sitting (she's been sitting for a while but i have to put her into a sitting position), and pull herself up on furniture! It all happened so fast. We were playing on the floor together before dinner and she did all of those new things in a span of about 30 minutes. This would probably explain her restless sleep and non stop night nursing lately! Watch out world, here she comes!

We moved our dog food and water to the garage. They just stand by the door to the garage to let us know they want water now.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

that's awesome that Fiona did all that.

Mal i second the diaper forums for that question. i just bleached mine when we had yeast but i think you can use more natural stuff.

got back from the hospital. the quarter is still in her stomach and we have an appt. with a gastroenterologist at 4 today. (it's been 5 days)


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Courtney, I'm sending good thoughts your way and praying that the quarter comes out easily! Let us know how it goes!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh my - sending happy thoughts your way Thursday Girl!! Keep us posted!

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

so they scheduled an endoscopy for Monday, hopefully the quarter comes out first so we can cancel it. they would have to put her under for the procedure. I would really like to not do that.

so who else thinks it is super cute and funny when they miss your nipple while nursing and peak around like chickens?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
so they scheduled an endoscopy for Monday, hopefully the quarter comes out first so we can cancel it. they would have to put her under for the procedure. I would really like to not do that.

so who else thinks it is super cute and funny when they miss your nipple while nursing and peak around like chickens?

I'll be praying for her to pass it on her own so she doesn't have to go through that. Poor little girl!

I also think the chicken thing is hilarious. She'll sometimes find my arm and go to town for a second until she realizes it's not the boob.

My good friend is having a sonogram tomorrow. She's either 13 weeks or 17 weeks along. She's hoping further along so they can find out the gender. I'm super excited for her!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

oh that is exciting. I hope my two friends who are trying get pregnant soon.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I just found out yesterday that my friend who has been trying since we first got pregnant is expecting twins!! I'm thrilled and sooo excited for her! I can't imagine twins!

I'm always amused at Makenna's zeal for the boob these days. 

Cindy


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## Phridae (Sep 24, 2009)

Great news Cindy!

I hope the quarter passes without any issues Courtney. You had me laughing at the chicken reference!

Mal, you could try some vinegar in the rise cycle of your wash and hot water. Depending on the weather where you are, the sun will help too. Heat kills the yeasties.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna's 9 month visit was yesterday. 16 lbs 15 ounces and 26.75 inches. Gained 14 ounces in 2 months. 25% for height and weight..which she had always been except last time she was 25% height and 40% weight. Dr wasn't concerned that her weight % dropped but said she would get concerned if it kept dropping...it's normal right now.

My pediatrician had the H1N1 vaccine and we ended up getting it. We had gone to playgroup the day before and after the babies had been playing and sharing toys one of the moms said that her baby had played with a boy who came down with the swine flu 6 days before...it has a 7 day incubation period and you are contagious the day before you get sick! Hopefully my friend and her baby are safe from it but I thought it was REALLY irresponsible to bring a potentially contagious baby around a bunch of other babies! It really freaked me out how easily Makenna could catch it and I'm not willing to hide out in the house all winter. And the baby who did get it had to go to he emergency room his fever got so high...I don't want to see my baby go through that. I was super glad the dr had it so we didn't have to wait in a long line at a clinic. My sister waited 5 hours with her kids!

Makenna learned to clap today! So so cute! 

Happy weekend everyone!

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Glad you got some reassuring news about Makenna, Cindy. I've been trying not to worry about H1N1 virus. I know the media hypes it up, and I'm not easily fooled usually. I just don't like when she's sick and it's going around our town really bad right now. I haven't been sheltering her anymore than usual, but keeping an eye out for symptoms. I doubt we'll get the vaccine. I just don't trust brand new vaccinations...

Owyn's yeast problem seems to be going away. I didn't take her out of cloth right away and I noticed the cream would help overnight, then it would actually get worse again during the day. So, she's in sposies for now. We're missing quite a few diapers, I tend to leave them places and forget about them when I use them as burp cloths. So, we're trying to scrounge them all together before bleaching them, to make sure we get them all at once. She's so skinny with these sposies on, this girl has absolutely not butt to speak of. It's so funny!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

I think you can actually get the H1N1 flu from the vaccine. There was a Navy ship in which every single member had been vaccinated and yet 70% of the sailors got the H1N1 flu and the whole ship was quarantined at sea. Oh, plus the fact that CBS found that the CDC has been lying about how many H1N1 cases there have been, actually, most people had some other strain of the flu. Very, very few people have actually had the H1N1 flu, and those that have had it, it was less dangerous than the usual flus that go around. Then there is the concern that the risks of the toxins in the shot are potentially far more dangerous than the flu. We've been sick for about three weeks out of this fall, so far, and probably with the flu-- we are zinc deficient and so we have weaker immune systems. It's not that big of a deal though-- just the flu.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fiona has started to say bye bye! Its so darn cute! She first said it when the daycare kids were leaving. I wasn't sure at first but she said it again clear as day! I was amazed that she said it without prompting. We don't give babies enough credit for their intelligence! Now she is saying it pretty much every time someone leaves the house. I love it!

Her signing is taking off too. She has been signing milk for a while but used it for everything. She's starting to just use it for nursing now and has signed "more" off and on while we are eating as well. Her newest is dog. She pats her leg and says p-p-p-p. (we always call our dogs her puppy dogs) This is so exciting!!!

*Thursday Girl:* How is Juniper doing? I've been thinking about you guys. Is the quarter out?! You should save it for her baby book! Seriously though, I'm hoping that everything went well and she is feeling ok. Let us know!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Oh, Eliza has started putting words together-- kind of. Like, she'll say, "bed bed bed bed bed da da da da da" when she wants Daddy to come to bed with us. It is sooo cute!!! Especially hearing her say "bed".







She LOVES cuddling in bed. It's probably her favorite activity besides exploring the house on her knees. She asks for "bed bed bed" all the time.









Also, she absolutely adores the boys' bedroom. It's completely babyproofed (still, from their toddler days, and I don't allow any tiny chokable toys in their reach.) So I can let her crawl around in their by herself-- their bed is on the floor and she loves cuddling up with their stuffed animals and playing with their toys. It is so sweet. She also scrounges for the boys' crumbs like a starving child, greedily stuffing them in her mouth saying "mmmm num num num num num". She is such a little toddler now! Not quite walking, though, still just cruising. She's wearing size 12 or 18 months, depending. I'm still reeling at the cost of sizing up her wardrobe again. Ugh.

But I just love this age!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

oh sorry i should have updated. while we were waiting to get the x-ray she pooped and in her diaper was a dime! we got the x-ray anywyas to make sure she hadn't swallowed another coin and went and waited at the surgery place, but that was it. Just a dime. It is indeed in the baby book. Jewel thought i should put it in with the poop and was dissappointed that i washed it first.

junes has said a few words but she doesn't say anything besides "mama" or "dada" consistently. She waves bye, and has been for awhile but i guess i forgot to tell my sister b/c she went ape when juniper waved bye.
She has been takign one or two steps, but last night she took 7-8 steps.

she is sick and oh so fussy. the whole house is snotty, coughy and generally down. need to see what I can do.

one of Jewely's friends has the flu (and they told us it was swine flu, but i thought the test had to be sent away, have they come up with a one day test?) I've heard from people who just went to the doctors with the flu and they didn't even test for the swine flu, which tells me that the swine flu isn't as bad as they are making it out to be. I had the flu of some sort or another. the headache the fever, my whole body was literally achey and in pain. it sucked and then it sort of got better. we are still coughing and snotty but we don't feel bad at all. well i don't. the kids do. they never had fevers though


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Wonderful news about the dime! That's great!
Esmé is waving, cruising, and chatting. No real sense to the words yet, but she goes on and on, having long discussions with herself and her toys and her dog and her cat and her parents and the strangers on the bus and anyone else who will listen. She does say "mama" and "baba."
Still no teeth! Are we the only ones? She eats EVERYTHING that we eat, but without teeth. Last night it was turkey meatloaf with spinach, asparagus and roasted squash. She noshed down happily on all of it ... she is the master gummer!
And she won't let us even attempt to feed her ... she HAS to do it herself. So anything 'soupy' I have to add rice cereal to it to make it mash so she can feed herself. It's an adventure in messiness every time!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Glad the dime came through!

Katmai was sick for the first time ever last weekend. Just a fever though, and he got better in a couple days.

Cruising on furniture here as well, and starting to mix up the seal flop scoch with a bit of standard crawling. He can say mama and sign for milk, but nothing else has meaning. He's a pretty quiet guy actually.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Hi Starling: Still no teeth here either and no signs that they will be here soon. She's not really interested in her teething toys. Makenna has to feed herself too and I offer all sorts of things but she's fairy picky and sticks mostly to grains. Hrmph. Does Esme feed herself with a spoon or with her fingers? I so wish Makenna could eat some spoonable foods! I'm going to try giving her blobs of yogurt to eat by hand (a friend does that with her babe) but I'm guessing the texture will turn her off.

Makenna is full on crawling now and pulling up...which is making nap time a nightmare! Can't wait for the pulling up instead of sleeping phase to pass. She just started making the mama sound and started clapping and copying some baby signs. And finally yesteday figured out how to jump in her jumperoo. I feel like she does something new every day now. It's so fun to watch!

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

We are doing well! Royce is crawling like crazy, pulling to standing and walking along things, he seems very close to just letting go and walking on his own. He says mama and dada, but not very clearly. The mama is usually just when he's upset.

I have been trying a bit harder with the EC. I can pretty much always catch the poops (his signs are clear for that!). But I don't do well with the pees. Although last night he went all night in the same diaper. This morning when we woke up I realized it was still dry, and so I quickly took it off and gave him the potty. He had a big pee, I took him off and sat him on the floor and went to dump the potty, when I came back he had had another big pee on the floor - oh well!

He absolutely loves food too. Especially bread, which I don't really know if he should be eating, but it's hard because that's his favourite. We have also been in the process of moving so our meals have been a bit crappy lately (lots of fast food







). I've got to get the kitchen organized so I can start cooking healthy things.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Does Esme feed herself with a spoon or with her fingers? I so wish Makenna could eat some spoonable foods! I'm going to try giving her blobs of yogurt to eat by hand (a friend does that with her babe) but I'm guessing the texture will turn her off.


Hi Cindy!
Nope, no spoon here. It's all about her hands. For spoonable foods, I mix in something dry, like rice cereal or squash or what have you so she can grab it off her tray as a mash. Mealtime is messy ... but she enjoys herself. We do lots of finger foods in spear shapes; broccoli, meatloaf, squash, bananas. I let her go to town with yogurt with her hands, although she sometimes will let me feed her yogurt with a spoon.


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

I want to join, I don't think I have joined yet!

I'm Jennifer, Olivia was born 2/12 and sees the ped tomorrow for her height/weight check. We don't vax but I still like seeing our ped, she's nice.







She's tiny, around 16# and 27". It'll be nice if she's doubled her birthweight tomorrow though, that would be 16#4oz. Today she started climbing up our stairs so I had to put the baby gate up, ugh. She also keeps eating ladybugs, lol. Can barely tolerate solids but will eat bugs! She just got her first tooth and another soon to follow. Dada is her only real word. She has lots of food allergies and is ebf. So, that's us in a nut shell.









You cannot get H1N1 from the shot. The spray is a live virus though like the regular seasonal flu spray and it has the possibility of shedding to others and causing the illness. We think Evan had H1N1 a few wks ago, thankfully it was mild and he was o.k. in about 4 days. He just got sick again last night w/ another stomach something but is o.k. now. Poor guy. He worked hard to gain 2# this past year and we'll be lucky if he still has one of those left.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Hi Jennifer, welcome aboard. Hope your little one gets over his bug quickly.

junes uses a spoon but i have to refill it for her. I just hand her the full spoon and she eats with it or eats the back end of it. LOL>

she isn't really into finger foods.

uggh older girls calling for me


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Hmmm. Apparently the full fat yogurt I bought wasn't thick enough bc she basically just finger painted with it. That was a disaster! I'll try mixxing it with baby oatmeal and see what happens tomorrow. I'm guessing more mess.

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

oh always a mess evry feeding requires a full body wipe down. a lot of times I just take all of her clothes off before she eats so clean up is easier. sometimes i just need to plop her in the bath afterwords. i have gotten more relaxed and have no problem taking her out with food in her hair. I mean i try to wipe it out, but i can't be giving her a bath 2-3 times a day.

we got a new kitty, and by got I mean the girls and I took a walk and it started following us. She was a very skinny slightly dehydrated kitten. She isn't really cute but is sort of ugly. her front left paw is cute b/c she has three tan toes and it is the very nicest tan i have ever seen. one toe on her right paw is that tan. hewr back is pumkin colored and the rest of her is mottled with black. Jewel said "oh look a halloween cat" and I said "a little goblin"

so her name is Halloween Goblin, but the girls ahve taken to calling her Gabby. She stuck around all night, so I think she has chosen us. Junes squels everytime she sees her. post a picture later, but suddenly i am very dizzy.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Halloween Goblin aka Goblin aka Gabby


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Cindy* ... check this out. This was a couple of months ago with the yogurt. Excuse the radio blathering in the background.

ETA: That's ten percent balkan yogurt, so the thickest I could find.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
Halloween Goblin aka Goblin aka Gabby

She's a beautiful kitty! I have one that looks very similar to her, same patterned coat.

We've had an uneventful week here. Most of my daycare kids have been out either with illness or out of town. I have one today and Owyn is over the moon to have a playmate. She was getting pretty bored with just me.

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, so DH was off work. I was supposed to have one kid, but at the last minute, he got sick. So we had a nice family day off on a Wednesday! DH took us out to lunch. Owyn loves going out to eat now that she can sit in a high chair and I just share my food with her, which is great fun for her. She's such a people watcher, she doesn't interact with us at all while we're out. She has to see what the other people are doing.

I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for the weekend. Owyn is staying home with Daddy. So far, I'm not too nervous. I just hope she sleeps okay. She's been pretty restless this week and nursing more often than usual... not really sure why. Hopefully, all will be okay for DH and they'll be able to sleep. I'm actually looking forward to the break and spending the weekend with the women in my family. I thought it would be really hard to leave, but the trip is tomorrow and I think I'm really ready to go. I'll be so glad to come home to her on Sunday though!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Oh, she's a beautiful kitty!!!







We had a kitten like that when I was a girl. She turned out to be fully grown, just with stunted growth, and pregnant! You'd never have guessed it because she looked so scrawny. Most of her kittens died, sadly, due to her previous malnutrition.







But she was the sweetest kitty and a good mama to her babies, too.









My DH is not a fan of cats







but I really want to get a dog. Someday! the kids would LOVE it.

Welcome, Jennifer! I remember you from our pregnant days.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Courtney, I agree, you should have left the poop on it. But I'm really relieved to hear it's out!

So much good news from everyone, it's good to hear. I'm a little jealous of you mamas with talking babies--Aubrey doesn't say anything but "bah!" But she wants to communicate so badly. I think her speech might be a little delayed because she's been having trouble with fluid in her ears. The ENT wants to put tubes in, but I think we're going to see a homeopath first...

We've been having some rough nights lately with the teeth finally coming in. She's got six coming at once, and none of them are "in" yet. Poor baby is just itching to use them, too...she chomps me pretty good at least once or twice a day.

Jennifer, a big







to the DDC to you!

As far as H1N1, I'm not really worried about it. Here in TX (we moved in July) it seems like everyone's kids have had it. My co-worker's 3 year old had it about two weeks ago, and he said it was less severe than the "regular" flu, which she had last year. That was reassuring, as we've stopped all vaxes until we get her ears straightened out....

Gillian, I know what you mean about the bread. Aubrey LOVES to chew a pizza crust. Mmm. I understand. I can't deprive her of that.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

that video of esme is so cute, i watched a couple others as well, she is such a sweety.

Mal yeah for a family day. I love when we get unexpected ones. there is just nothing like being wiht HUbby and the girls. even if we sit around doing nothing. it's just so comfortable.

I am SO not a dog person. they are just too needy. I love the way cats only want you to feed them and pet them sometimes. dogs always make me feel guilty, they look at you with those big sad eyes and you feel like you HAVE to pet them. cats come right up and say pet me or they leave you alone...and they don't need to be pet as much and you don't have to play with them. I admit her face is kind of cute, it's when you see her whole body that she looks sort of ugly. Not as ugly as the kitten we had who i named U-G-L-Y. but he was so ugly it was lovable. (now i have fishbone stuck in my head)

went to the thrift store today, the one I usually find gobs of stuff at. but i didn't find much of anyting this time.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

The house is a mess, the daycare kids just left, and the baby is finally asleep. I should clean up but I'm not going to. I'm going to use the entire nap time to tool around on the internet and work on my knitting project (a pair of longies for my soon to be here niece!) I'll probably even put TV on. Call me crazy but sometimes you just have to do it!

So I'm wondering what kind of activities you guys do with your babes. I'm thinking I'd like to start taking Fiona to the pool and I may start doing a Music group with her. We'll have to see how the days work out and how many extra kiddos I have but I think it would be nice to get out a bit. I wish that I could join some kind of playgroup but we don't really have anything here in my town. I may have to start something. I wish we lived near each other and we could all have one!

I love that cute little ugly kitten! DH is so not a cat person. I told him that will last until his little girl looks at him with her big eyes and says, "Papa I want a kitty!" Then we can get one!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Thanks Starling! Super cute video!! Looks thicker than what I tried. But also Makenna didn't even try to taste it. She's so picky! Won't eat a lot of what I give her in her high chair but was attacking me for me food while we were out today.

Cindy


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

SO I am a bit freaked out over here. I have not taken a test yet...I think I'm preggers again







. I have an IUD so I am a bit dismayed as to how this happened (well I know _how_). Anyway...I am seriously afraid to get a test. And even more afraid of DP's reaction. He is badly wanting to quit his job and make something else work..I am a sahm with a 9mo! A 9mo and a 9yo. Seee how far apart we spread the first 2!!
My hope is that dd's recent growth spurt (very frequent nursing) has messed with my cycle. I am a week, give or take a day or two, late. UGGH!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

mamamillet - Oh wow! How exciting! I know you're not sure if you're excited about it, but it is still exciting. I would say though that a nursing spurt could definitely affect your cycles. When did af first return? Because it can be pretty sporadic while breastfeeding. I am in a sort of similar boat, although I highly doubt I'm pregnant. DH and I have been having a lot of marital issues, but about 2 weeks ago we dtd for the first time in months, and it would have been right around ovulation. I doubt I'm pregnant though because 1) that would be assuming my ovulation is regular which it wasn't before I got pregnant, and 2) we used withdrawal and seeing as it took us a year to conceive DS I doubt this situation would conceive a baby. It would be very bad timing though just because of the issues we are having. Anyway, sorry to ramble on about myself there. You should take a test - and then of course let us all know







I hope everything works out for the best for you


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

mamamillet, i think it is very likely it is the nursing. here's crossing my fingers this turns out how it should. let us know.


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## motherbirth (May 9, 2008)

Hi everyone! I figured I'd take some time reading the forums since Siggi has not napped all day and has now decided he will only nap while he nurses this afternoon. Every single time he has fallen asleep today, something has woken him up.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
He absolutely loves food too. Especially bread, which I don't really know if he should be eating, but it's hard because that's his favourite. We have also been in the process of moving so our meals have been a bit crappy lately (lots of fast food







). I've got to get the kitchen organized so I can start cooking healthy things.

Siggi loves food too. He doesn't much care for purees (baby food or homemade). He wants to have what we are having. Maybe it's because he has 7 1/2 teeth. We let him try some beef stew and he loved it, especially the turnips and the beef. He also really liked Icelandic meatballs and cabbage. And he loves rye crispbread (I won't give him wheat since I had/have an issue with wheat).

I can't believe some of your babes are talking! I thought he might have said his brother's name this morning but I think it was a fluke. He babbles a lot. Maybe it takes longer to say a first word when you are being raised bilingual?

mamamillet, good luck! It seems so alien to me to be thinking about missed periods; mine haven't even thought about returning yet.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

I took a test and it was negative. BUT, I will feel better after taking another in the morning. I also told DP this am and he reacted how I thought he would







. All in all I am not very happy with him today--he is at work though so I am not having to be around him.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamamillet* 
I took a test and it was negative. BUT, I will feel better after taking another in the morning. I also told DP this am and he reacted how I thought he would







. All in all I am not very happy with him today--he is at work though so I am not having to be around him.









I'm sorry your DP was negative. That is so unfair. Let us know how your morning test goes. Thinking of you!!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

My cycles have been wonky with breastfeeding. AF returned at 5 months PP, had one the next month right on time which was a rarity before I got pregnant. Then I went 2 months without one and unexpectedly had one last week. So, I wouldn't count on your cycles while you're breastfeeding...

I got back from my weekend shopping trip today. Owyn not even seem to miss me in the slightest. She never fussed for me the whole weekend. DH says she really stuck to her normal way of life for him. She was happy all weekend, slept the way she normally does, ate great, happily took the bottle, all of it.

I should be really glad she's so well-rounded and has a secure attachment to me. But I'm honestly a little bummed she didn't miss me at least a little bit. She didn't even act excited when I got home. I mean, she was happy to see me, but not any happier than she normally is when I come back into the room.

Well, I missed her. I had a good time and got a good portion of my Christmas shopping done. But I couldn't sleep well without her. I probably got a total of 7 hours of sleep the whole weekend. We stayed up late and I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours, I woke up frequently. It was just weird being without her.

So, it was a successful weekend but a difficult one as well. And I'm beat, so it's going to be an early night for me!


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

We doubled our birthweight, yay! Right at 16#4oz, lol, and she was 27.25". Evan tripled his birthweight by 2 so maybe we can shoot for that, but that's still a lot of weight gain in the next 15 mos.









justKate, all my kids have tubes if you have any questions. W/ family hx, reflux, and food allergies, they were basically destined to get them. Olivia got them at 4 mos, but I wonder if we could've avoided them had I done more diet changes earlier. She has lots of food allergies that were causing her reflux which in turn caused EIs.

I'm so glad I don't have to worry about af yet and probably won't for a while. DH and I aren't sure what we're going to do to prevent more babies so the longer I can go w/out worry the better.


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Hey All!

I've been trying to read our thread but it's harder these days now that DD is mobile.

Peach80: congrats on doubling birth weight! isn't that such wonderful news when you hear your babe is growing?!

We just came from our 9 months appt and DD is maintaining her steady growth- Yay! She's just under 18 pounds and 27.5" long. I'm always worried about her weight so that was great to hear.

I'm also excited to hear that so many babes are talking! No words here yet, just a lot of babbling-- and gumming. I think she's trying to add more teeth these last few days because the drool is back with a vengeance.

She isn't too interested in food still but we're trying to maintain a somewhat regular routine with feeding solids.

As for cycles -- mine isn't back. I think it's coming though because she isn't feeding at night any longer and I've noticed an uptake in 'fluids.' Hoping to get pregnant in the first half of next year so fingers crossed that I can get a sense of my cycle before that. My only hesitation is that I'm still looking for a job and I'd like to have one before I get pregnant --- obviously, something flexible so we'll see. . .

I'm so impressed by all the food your babes are eating. I'm still hesitant with giving her a lot of food because I'm so darn afraid of choking. Any tips? or, any books you recommend for feeding the babe?

Thursday: SO glad to hear the nickel came out!

And, I loved all the costumes!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Well the morning test was negative as well and then of course af showed up this afternoon







I was really really stressed about having two that close together. The toll it would take on me and on my baby to have to share me with another babe. And, dp apologized for his reaction when he came home last night.
DD and I enjoyed another 70 degree day here in East TN by having a picnic and going for a hike with a friend and her ds. I think she may have gotten a bit too much sun though.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

mamamillet i ams o happy to hear your news!

yeah for doubling birth weight, we have past that milestone as well!

heading out of town today to attend a class for prospective students of Florida school of traditional midwifery, I am super excited and pysched my dad is goign to watch the baby while I take the class. He works around the corner from the school and lives about 40 minutes from the school. so While I am going to the school I can crash at his place, since it is 2 hours from my house. My dad is so awesome.

now off to get things arounf the house wrapped up before I leave.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

*mamamillet*, that's a relief. Better to not have to deal with it now, even though it would be a blessing. No AF here yet, although I had some twinges the other evening I thought might be something coming on. I'm taking the mini-pill now (although not very consistently), and with no AF and _constant_ BFing at night, I don't think my inconsistent taking of the pill will matter. And if I did turn up pg, that would be okay too.

Quote:

I'm so impressed by all the food your babes are eating. I'm still hesitant with giving her a lot of food because I'm so darn afraid of choking. Any tips? or, any books you recommend for feeding the babe?
Ha ha. I'm afraid too! Now that she has teeth (sort of) Aubrey wants to bite off big chunks and it terrifies me. No choking yet but sometimes she gags on funny textures. I guess just check out a YouTube video on infant heimlich (sp?) maneuver and pay close attention....







You basically hold them face-down on your forearm and smack them on the back with the hard part of your palm. Sort of.

Courtney, the class sounds great. It'll be nice to spend some time with some like-minded mamas.

Jennifer, I might bug you about the tubes. We have a family hx of them, plus Aubrey's taking meds for reflux. I hoping that we can keep the infections away/fluid down long enough for her to grow some, but I hate to think that she might be uncomfortable or in pain.... I'm still not sure what to do and can't quite tell whether cutting out dairy is helping yet. For now, we're waiting.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

mamamillet - I'm glad things worked out for you, I'm sure you are relieved







My af still hasn't showed up, but it's only been a month and I'm probably not regular anyway. I did take a test and got a BFN. I'm not too worried, I really doubt I'm actually pregnant. Part of me thinks it would be so exciting, but the rational part of me realizes that now is just not the time.

Courtney - that sounds really awesome! I have a small dream of someday studying to become a midwife, not sure if it will ever become reality, but we'll see!

We took Royce to the mall today because they had a free photo with Santa for new babies. He wouldn't smile for the photo, but that's okay, it was free anyway. He was just intently studying Santa's beard and trying to grab it







(and as a disclaimer, please know that I had no intention of getting the photo if Royce was upset in any way)

I think it's crazy how differently our babies grow. Royce had doubled his birth weight before he was even 3 months, and he tripled it by 9 months. The most recent height measurement I have is from the end of September and he was 28" (he was about 19" at birth). Maybe I will take another height measurement today. I also was thinking the other day about much of a difference there is between ages in the first year, yet in a couple of years all of them will be considered the same age. There are babies that aren't even born yet that will be in the same grade as our babies!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
There are babies that aren't even born yet that will be in the same grade as our babies!

THAT is crazy. I'm kind of glad our littles will be slightly older when they start kindergarten. It's good for them to have that extra time.

All this talk about being preggers is getting my brain going. We have to plan to have another one (two mamas). We have 4 embryos left after the IVF cycle that took. I've been trying to stay rational and tell myself that we'd want more space between kids, IF we have another one. I'll just have to write that on the back of my hand so I can look at it when I get baby/pregnancy twinges.

*heinz28* Taking a First Aid course might help with the worry. But really, just jump in! The other thing you could do is see if your local Health Unit has a nutritionist on staff. One came to our baby/parent play group the other day and brought food for the babies to try, for those mamas who'd been reticent. It really helped ease the nerves of those mamas to see other babies eating broccoli trees and carrot spears and pear slices and such (all steamed). You could maybe do a one-on-one visit.
Honestly, there is nothing Esmé won't eat. And we've had a couple of gags to show for it. But then, I'm a paramedic, and not to worried about dealing with a choking episode of the food variety (I give her small pieces, well cooked, of pretty much anything). I'm far more worried about an airway obstruction of the toy/coin/rock kind!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
THAT is crazy. I'm kind of glad our littles will be slightly older when they start kindergarten. It's good for them to have that extra time.


I agree! Although we may end up doing homeschool for the early years it is something I think about. I know a lot of parents that seem eager to start their kids early. You only get one childhood... why rush it?!

I still haven't gotten AF yet. I don't know how much of it is the nonstop nursing or just my body. I was VERY irregular before getting pregnant so I'm not at all surprised. We'll see. I really want to get pregnant again though! I've been thinking a lot about spacing of kids lately.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

We're decided on when we'd like to start trying for another. End of next summer. I really want a May/June baby. My birthday is right after Christmas, and I always wanted a birthday right in the middle of the year. So, it just seems like a perfect time to have a baby. We're going on a week long vacation (my family's reunion) at the end of next July. That's what I'm using to keep me from wanting another baby right now. I do NOT want to be pregnant while we're on vacation. So, we'll start trying after that.

Owyn used to gag on solids pretty frequently. Nothing too scary (or maybe I just don't scare easy), but we did finger sweep a few times when she couldn't get it herself. She just has a really bad gag reflex and when food gets to the back of her tongue, she gags on it. However, recently she's become quite the little pro when it comes to eating. She loves any kind of pasta I make. And she has always hated pureed peas, but went to town on the regular old peas I made the other day. She has a hard time with meats, but pretty much everything else goes down pretty easily now!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

For some of us AF return is not related to how much we are nursing. DD never has had a bottle. She did not have any solids until 6.5 mo yet I got AF back at about 10 weeks. 10 weeks! She also nurses like a champ...she doubled her birth weight by 5 months--this after a month in the nicu and only getting bm the last two weeks there. AF returned at 4 months with ds--same story...great nurser...no bottles...Some of us are just lucky I guess


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yeah, Royce still nurses a ton, including every few hours through the night, and I got mine back. I did make it 9 months though so I guess I can't really complain.

So, I'm seriously getting a bit worried about the whole 'might be pregnant' thing. I don't know whether I'm just thinking about it all the time so I'm noticing things that I normally wouldn't notice. I don't have any tests left (I'd been using ones leftover from ttc Royce). I think I will give it another week. I don't want to spend the money on a test just to have af show up. Oh well... I'm probably not...

Anyway...

Royce is 10 months old today!!







Where is the time going?!?! He has been starting to sleep a lot better (except tonight, he's still awake babbling away as I type this). But lately he has been going to sleep fairly easily and sleeping solid 3 hour chunks. And he's been going down easily for his naps (usually 1-2 hours). I think he's getting tired now though, so I may try again to get him to sleep


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## ArcticRose (May 13, 2009)

Hi all, I hope you don't mind if I join you here... my DD was born 12/31/08, obviously not in February! BUT.. she was due 02/22/09, so she is about the same place developmentally as the babies born in February. She is doing wonderfully thus far and is the absolute light of my life!

However... I do have a question. We co-sleep and practice our version of attachment parenting, all of which is great. But...there doesn't seem to be a place or time in any of this for sex.

DD won't sleep for long if I put her down, so she naps in my arms and goes to bed when I do. She does play on the floor on her own some, but always with supervision.

We live far from family and are new to our area so there isn't anyone who can take her for an hour or two now and then. (and I can't imagine having someone sit just so hubby and I can have sex, lol)

Soooo... my question is when an where are DH and I supposed to do the Deed?? We've managed a few times after I took her to bed and then got back up after she was out.. but that rarely works.

Sorry if this is tmi or the wrong place to bring this up, but I figured that those with babies at the same stage would know what I'm talking about. We aren't ttc or anything.. just missing a little somethin.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Artic Rose: We don't cosleep anymore but even when DD was sleeping in the pack and play in our room we had a similar issue (and she did until 6 months). We put the couch to good use! But at least we were able to get her to go down alone.

Anyone doing baby signs? Makenna just started using a few..it's so cool! Makes me really excited to teach her as many as I can remember. She does milk, more, all done, dog and today she copied me doing bird - but not at a real bird yet. She's also clapping and waving and turning pages of books. I guess she finally figured out how to control her hands all the sudden. 

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Gillian- the dollar store has $1 pregnancy tests. they have them behind the counter. They work great.

artic rose- we co-sleep, just go to the other side of the bed if the baby is asleep and be quiet.

Juniper is still sick, as is Josephine. I want to be able to do somethign to get this sickness out of the house it just gets passed around from one person to another. any suggestions? I made a thread about it in health I am not sure if anyone has responded yet. Off to check.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Just wondering about napping and sleeping? Are your los still taking 2 naps a day? Do they have any kind of schedule? My dd wakes about 6:30 and goes down for her 1st nap about 9:30 and sleeps about 1.5-2 hours. She has started taking a lat afternoon nap...about 4 for another hour or so. Sometimes she skips the 2nd nap. Bedtime is about 7:30 give or take about 30 minutes. How well (or poorly) she sleeps at night changes daily!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I think Makenna still needs 2 naps but she is often only getting 1 now. She wakes around 7 or 7:30 and goes down 2 hours later for 1.5-2 hours (I cosleep for this nap so she goes down no problem and sleeps great). She typically gets tired again around 2:30 and if we are in the car or someplace that helps her sleep she will definitely fall asleep right away. Problem is trying to put her down in her crib...now that she pulls to standing it has become impossible! So we have been trying but ending up with no nap. I'm not willing to take a 2nd nap with her! I have tried to get her to fall asleep on my lap and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't bc she wants to go play. She does get cranky but not nearly as cranky as she used to if she missed her afternoon nap. Bedtime is 7 but we start the routine at 6:15 or 6:30 to get ready. BTW if she does take an afternoon nap it's usually only 20-30 minutes. I'm pondering trying to make the morning nap later?

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

ArticRose: I also second the couch or spare room. Its always a worry that she will wake up as she is a light sleeper. This too shall pass...

We're signing here! It is so much fun. Fiona does milk, all done, and puppy. Sometimes she does more but not consistently. She watches me for signs as we read and go about our day so I think she'll be adding more. She has done duck and ball a few times.

She is talking more and more! Along with Mama and Papa she says bye bye, hi, ball, and pupu for puppy. She also loves to do animal sounds. If I ask her what does a sheep say she'll baa... she also does cow, goat, and a funny little noise for pig. What's cool is that she'll do it weather we are reading, looking at a puzzle or whatever. It is not just her response to one thing. I need to get this on video!

Aggh Sleep! Well Fiona wakes up between 7:30 and 8 most mornings. She'll take a morning nap around 10-10:30 but these are only lasting around 45 minutes. She often skips this nap. Her afternoon nap is at about 1:30 or 2:00 for about 2 hours. She goes to bed at 9:00. She stirs a lot in her sleep to nurse but I usually just wake up for her to latch on and fall back asleep.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Hmm...naps.

Aubrey is in daycare so they nap her for about 2-3 hours total, 2 or 3 times a day. She goes to sleep at the first sign of sleepiness after 7:00 p.m. (so sometimes it's 8:00 but _never_ 6:50) and wakes herself up at 6:30 a.m. Obviously lots of nursing through the night. Going to sleep earlier has made a world of difference for us. She still hates going to sleep but those 1hr + screaming sessions (with me, at the boob, with Huz, you name it) are mostly gone now that she's going to bed earlier. I'm really grateful for that. I'm also trying the NCSS...not sure if it's working but it makes me feel more sane to have a strategy.

Still no words or signs here, but here's hoping!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*ArcticRose* - We've used the couch, the bed when she's in the spare room where there's a mattress on the floor, said mattress on the floor when she's in the main bed (platform, low to the ground as we co-sleep as well), and a few other choice locations. My worry is that we'll be 'close' and she'll wake up and cry. Hasn't happened yet. We're acing the 'quickie.'

*Sleep and naps* - I've been wondering about this too. Right now, Esmé wakes around 0800, then naps from 1100-1200, then again from about 1500-1600 and then goes down for the night about 2100. I think we could maybe go down to one nap ... soon. Not quite yet though. The couple of days that she's had one consolidated nap or no afternoon nap she's melted down after dinner and been too over-tired to settle. I think it's coming though. She's been very restless at night lately (teething?) and so is needing a little more sleep during the night.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Well, Maia's finally officially walking. She is all over the place! It's hilarious, and I'm so proud of her, but it's also kind of heart breaking to see her being so independent.


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## ArcticRose (May 13, 2009)

Thanks for the replies!

I guess our problem is that she never sleeps away from me. She is either in my arms or next to me in bed. She is such a light sleeper that it is very rare that I can get out of bed without waking her. Those rare occasions are the few times we have had sex. And during a few of those times she woke, crying.. kind of a mood killer, lol.

We can't do anything in bed while she is sleeping there, she barely sleeps through hubby getting into bed!

I guess I just need to be patient, she will eventually sleep without me... right?? I'd rather miss out on sex than have her not sleep!

Should I be concerned that she doesn't talk yet? She babbles, but hasn't said anything recognizable yet. She has been working really hard on learning to stand and shuffle around things, maybe talking will come after she gets walking down.

She is such a happy baby! She cracks me up all the time... I had no idea I would love being a mother so much!


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Good question about the naps! Camryn was taking 2 naps a day (with a 3rd sometimes) up until recently. (She was born on V-Day) Lately, she's taking her morning nap much later -- as in 11-ish and stays down for around 2 hours.

The problem with the later a.m. nap is that she then took her 2nd nap later -- 4:00. Then, the problem with the 4:00 nap is that it's too late and it makes her stay up later and get overtired for bedtime. So, I have been keeping her active through that 4:00 time period and putting her to bed around 6:30. This seems to solve it (so far) and she's back to sleeping soundly.

Do your babes like it when you read to them? Camryn still doesn't seem that interested and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. She just wants to grab the book and chew on it.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Heinz: Makenna only recently started sitting and looking while I read. She gets super excited though - talking and flailing her arms. Her big thing now is turning the pages when it's time (and sometimes before). Books are her favorite toys right now. She is constantly sitting and looking through them.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn will not sit still when I try to read to her, but loves to sit and look when I'm reading a magazine. I still read to her though, but most of the time it's while she plays and I just read aloud.

As for naps, these are getting interesting lately. She usually wakes between 7-7:30. She goes down for her a.m. nap around 9:30-10 and that lasts anywhere from 45 min-1.5 hours. More often it's been 45 min lately. Then, she's up until 1:30-2. She takes an afternoon nap, usually for 1.5 hours, sometimes 2 hours. And she stays up until bedtime, around 8:00.

There are a lot of days when she'll only nap once, an earlier afternoon nap. If that's her only nap, she'll sleep at least 2 hours. I think naps will actually get easier once she completely does away with her morning nap. She seems to need it less and less, and sleeps much better at night when she's only had one nap during the day. But some days, she's just a bear if she goes all morning without a nap. My rule of thumb, especially on the weekends when we get out a lot, is that she must have one good nap a day. The other nap isn't nearly as important as long as she's entertained in some way.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
Gillian- the dollar store has $1 pregnancy tests. they have them behind the counter. They work great.

Oh thanks - I forgot about that! I am in Canada though, so we may not up here, but I'm going to the Dollarama today to check. I took an opt yesterday and it was negative (you are supposed to be able to use those as hpts). It has been 33 days since my last af (which was my first pp af), my breasts have definitely been very full feeling and tender, but maybe that's just pms. I have had an increase in cm, and I think I can feel my uterus firming up (but this one may just be in my head).

As for your question, I have no idea about the sickness passing around. I didn't think you could catch the same cold twice. Is it just that your family isn't getting a chance for your immune system to build up after one cold and therefore you are more susceptable to the next one? Maybe just some immune building stuff would help? I don't know though, I'm not very knowledgable on this sort of stuff.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamamillet* 
Just wondering about napping and sleeping? Are your los still taking 2 naps a day? Do they have any kind of schedule?

Royce takes 2 naps a day for the most part. We wake up about 8am, he goes down for a nap at 10 or so (usually for an hour), then another nap in the afternoon, usually for 2 hours. He doesn't have a very strict schedule though, this is just an average. And it depends on our activities for the day too. Bedtime is just whenever he gets tired, could be as early as 7 or as late as 10, and also depends on whether we're out visiting or at home.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *heinz28* 
Do your babes like it when you read to them? Camryn still doesn't seem that interested and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. She just wants to grab the book and chew on it.

Yeah, Royce just wants to grab the book and chew it. Sometimes I'll give him a book to play with and then read to him from another one. And it helps if I sit on a chair and he's on the floor with his book.

Arctic Rose - we had this problem for a long time too. Just recently we got a double mattress for Royce which is in his own room. He goes down for his naps there, and gets put to bed there. This frees up our bedroom for the evening. And then I bring him to our bed when he wakes to nurse at some point through the night. It's made a huge difference. But obviously, he is sleeping up to 3 hours on his own, this wouldn't work if we couldn't actually leave him on his own mattress.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

heinz28 they say it's good to let them chew on the books. let them dictate story time. if they want to tur pages and you read in a weird order thats fine. I second the give them a book to chew on while you read from another.

naps- Junes take 1-2 naps a day. if it's one nap it tends to be a longer nap about one and a half hours. if it is two naps it tends to be more like half an hour each. she goes to bed around 8:30. wakes up around 7:30 and latches on a couple of times in the night.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Wow catching up here. I haven't checked in since b4 Halloween. It just seems so surreal that your babes are talking already. My son didn't talk or attempt to talk until 20 mos. Delia started to crawl a couple of weeks ago and now just go go goes. She needs to be held frequently and then squirms to get down and do it again. I have 76 days left until I go back to work so I am soaking them up. We were having major sleep issues since she decided to pop through 8 teeth in 2 months 2 at a time with only a slight break between. Seems like we are on another of those slight breaks thank goodness.
Courteny: How much Vit D is your family taking? You can really ramp it up when there is a current infection along with the Vit. C. Try burning some essential oils to cleanse the air and wiping down all surfaces with a vinegar, baking soda and tea tree oil combo. The other thing that worked for us was raw garlic and lots of it. I made hummus, garlic bread, caesar salad. Whatever I could put it in I did. We are sickness free.
We are dealing with allergies here to. My son is allergic to soy and silly me never realized there is soy in chocolate







. So after Halloween he really reacted. D has been having constipation issues so I am took out the rice puffs and bananas and gave her some lentils and peaches and pears. Seems to be helping although I think all her straining hurt her poor bum. She still whines a lot when she poops even though it's soft again. I was beginning to suspect wheat but she had french toast yesterday and no red bum yet. Fingers crossed since I have another carb loving baby. I've been switching it up for buckwheat and rye though. I make all my own bread because of ds's allergy.
D stood up at the stairs yesterday. This made me think oh crap I'm so not ready for her to pull up yet that means babyproofing on another level.
With my 3.5yr old there are lots of chokables around although he is getting very good at taking them from D even though she screams at him. She loves paper too. It's so much harder to babyproof with an older one around. We had 2 choking episodes, one on a cooked carrot and one on a bagel. My SIL was present both times and totally freaked out. I'm an RN so I just flipped her over and it came out. Dh though didn't even move so I'm hoping that he will react if he is in a situation by himself. He has CPR but no first aid so maybe I will make him take that.
Loved all the pics of the little ones so cute!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

We have to scale back on the solid food, Eliza has started reacting to something.







She has some scaly dry spots on her skin and a diaper rash and her chin is all red and she isn't sleeping as well as she always has. The teething is part of it, but she's never reacted to teething like that before. She's NEVER had a diaper rash before. Soooo . . . hmmm. I'll figure out the culprit.









You know what is so cute, is how attached she is to her daddy! She gets so excited when he gets home from work, she just wiggles and jumps for joy and makes a beeline for him to give him a BIIIGGG baby hug! Soooo sweet!









She was 9 pounds at birth and she doubled her weight at like 5 months or something. I am kind of curious how much she weighs now. She is growing very tall but kind of skinnying-out a little. She hasn't been weighed in a couple months-- she was 21 pounds then. Our scale broke this summer and I haven't replaced it yet. She is in between 12 month clothing and 18 month clothing-- sometimes the 12 months is too small, and sometimes the the 18 months is too big. I have to bring her with me to shop for her, now, otherwise I won't know if it will fit or not!

Sex-- we pounce on each other when Eliza goes down for a nap now. Otherwise it would never happen (she sometimes isn't down for the night till 10 or 11.) We usually pounce on each other on the couch.









Naps-- she takes about 3 a day. I LOVE that.







Now if only she'd go to bed at an earlier hour!!!









Eliza likes reading but she wants to eat the pages, too.









ETA: oh, and AF has not come back yet! Yay!!!


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## ArcticRose (May 13, 2009)

How did ya'll get your wee ones to nap somewhere other than in your arms? DD normally takes two or three naps a day, ranging from 45 min to 2 hours, but only if I hold her. _If_ I try to put her down she wakes up. If I can get her to sleep on the couch or bed, I _may_ be able to slip away, but she _always_ wakes within ten minutes.

I had resigned myself to being a nap mattress, but seeing as so many of you are able to put yours down for their naps, I thought I would ask if there is some trick to it that I'm missing.

The good news is that she is finally starting to play on her own for extended periods. Until a week ago or so she would only play on her own for about ten minutes, then she needed mommy on the floor with her or to be in the carrier. Lately she has been good on her own for an hour or two at a time (as long as I'm in sight most of the time) I am getting so much done! Yay!!!

Bad news is that I think I have another milk blockage and I HURT!

DD has loved books since she was very tiny. It's only when she is teething that she tries to eat them.. which is all the time lately.

She has only had one diaper rash, last month, and I think it was due to a change in brands of disposables. We use cloth about 80% of the time (and do some EC) but we had been traveling, so she was in them 100% for a week. After she broke out I tried everything to clear it up (cloth, coconut oil, corn starch, Butt Paste) it wouldn't go away! I finally did a couple of days with NO diapers at all (oye! she pees five times night!) and it cleared up and hasn't been back, even when we took another trip.

I can't believe how completely infatuated I am with her. Iknew I would love her, but I didn't know it would be like this. I might not have waited til I was 36 to have her if I'd known how it would be!

I'm so glad I found a place to prattle on about my favorite subject.


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## motherbirth (May 9, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ArcticRose* 
How did ya'll get your wee ones to nap somewhere other than in your arms? DD normally takes two or three naps a day, ranging from 45 min to 2 hours, but only if I hold her. _If_ I try to put her down she wakes up. If I can get her to sleep on the couch or bed, I _may_ be able to slip away, but she _always_ wakes within ten minutes.

We have the same problem. I still haven't figured out the cues entirely. Sometimes I try putting Siggi down once he falls asleep, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Usually my rule for trying is either do I really need to get up (say I have to do something) or is he not overtired (if he has had 2 messed up naps already, I won't want to mess with him). Then I try to figure out if he is deeply asleep (limp limbs and so on). My husband has a trick of starting to put him down and picking him right up again if he starts to wake, but for some reason for me I am not fast enough and if he starts to wake, he is up.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Wow, lots of updates! Fun to see what everyone's doing! Averygoodyear-look at her go!!

Anthony is crawling everywhere and pulling himself up. He lets go of whatever he pulled up on and stands by himself for up to a minute or so. He went from one piece of furnature to another yesterday, so I think walking is coming soon! I hope he doesn't do it over Thanksgiving-the kids and I are going to see my parents and DH would be sad to miss his first steps I think.

Re: naps, I think it is largely personality as to whether they'll nap alone. DD (now 8) never wanted to sleep away from me. She still insists that someone lay with her until she falls asleep. DS1 has always slept better on his own-in the crib or his own bed. He would toddle off and dissapear and I'd find him curled up asleep somewhere.







Anthony is a mix of the 2. He nurses to sleep and I can put him down in the crib for naps, but won't stay asleep there at night-has to be in bed with us.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ArcticRose* 
How did ya'll get your wee ones to nap somewhere other than in your arms?

It has been a gradual process. And I still can't put him down if he falls asleep in my arms. I nurse him to sleep lying down with him, and then quietly roll away and then get up and leave. But I have to do it very very carefully, otherwise he wakes up. He is getting better though (in that I don't have to be quite as careful as I used to be). The first thing I started doing was unlatching him when his nursing slowed (like the Pantly Pull Off), so that he wasn't nursing into a deep sleep. He is usually sort of asleep when I remove my boob, but not completely conked out. And obviously if he wakes and cries he gets the boob again and we try again. After I mastered this, I would just start rolling away when he was done nursing, and I would stay next to him for a while (or the whole nap at first), but just not actually cuddled next to him. Finally I started quietly sitting up and then leaving the bed. It helps if you have a quiet mattress and a quiet floor







. I have tried to do this at a friends house who has very squeaky old wood floors, and he almost always wakes up. It has been getting better and better over time. And now he will sleep up to 3 hours on his own, and will go back to sleep even if he wakes and notices I'm not there (I've heard him stir, but then when I peak in he's sleeping again - although if he sees me peek in, then he will cry and I have to help him back to sleep).
Anyway, I hope some of this info helps you. But it could very well just be her personality.







to you though, it's so hard to not get some free time.

As for me, I'm happy to report that I am not pregnant! (Well, mostly happy, maybe a little disappointed







). I took a test this morning and got a Big Fat Negative. It's better this way, and I know that, but there was still a tiny part of me that was excited at the idea of being pregnant. *sigh* oh well...


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

haha gillian that is how i get away too. although sometimes i can lay her down if she falls alseep in my arms but mostly not.

sorry your not pregnant.

baby bbl.


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## Amandala (Jan 8, 2009)

Ok here are some status check up questions for you peoples:

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

My Nigel is just starting to get really upset when you leave the room, or when he thinks you're about to pick him up or you don't, and demanding physical contact all the time, and wanting a specific person. I've heard this is about the time for separation anxiety to kick in, but he still loves to be held by anyone, regardless of whether he's ever met them before.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

If so, please tell me how on Earth they do this, so I can help Nigel practice!

*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

Nigel started with M and D and now has B, N, and G. In the process of randomly babbling, he has recently said "Am-an-da" (just WEIRD to hear your 9 month old baby say your name, even by accident) and "Obama". (No no, I told him, say Ron Paul.)

*4. Crawling?*

My little dude is alternately dragging himself on forearms and scooting forward with his legs with face still touching the ground. And only if you put him down on his stomach and put a really enticing toy just out of arm's reach in front of him. It's a start. Sometimes he cheats and spends 15 minutes rolling over and back, scooching forward two inches each time.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

Before September, Nigel was a great sleeper! But he didn't sleep for more than 45 minutes for the past 2.5 months, always waking up hard to console. We tried various things, but finally some friends said to try giving him some Lactaid in water before each nursing, and I did. Lo! It's been three days since then, and three glorious nights of sound sleep! He's so much happier!

So I'm wondering if anyone else went through that, or is going through that, and has anyone else had a patch of lactose/milk trouble, and if so, was anyone's temporary? They tell me it can be temporary and NO ONE in my or my husband's family is lactose intolerant, so here's hoping. I've heard 20,000 different suggestions and I'm wondering what's working for people how, or if anyone's baby is eating dairy without trouble at this age.

And, for extra credit...
*6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?*

I mean, seriously.
:yawning


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?
*Makenna got stranger anxiety around 5-6 months and is over now - thank goodness! At 6 months old it took 3 days before my mom could hold her and she would only last 5 minutes at the Y childcare. Now I can hand her to anyone and she is fine at childcare for the whole time I work out. Yay!

2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?

*Makenna can sit up but usually she backs up into sitting from her tummy or crawling rather than actually doing a sit up. She tries to do that from nursing, etc and can't quite get it.

3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?
*No consonants here other than the mama, dada, baba. I think she tries to say kitty and cat but not positive.

4. Crawling?
*Makenna started crawling right at 9 months. She's quite fast now after 2 weeks!

My child is letting me feed her more foods now!! Hooray! I feel like she is just getting really interested in food and needing to have it when she sees us eating in the past couple weeks. Late bloomer. So happy when I get non starchy foods into her!

Cindy


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

_1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?_

She's definitely more clingy when someone new is around. If it's just us (me and/or hubby), she just wants one of us within sight. If someone else is around, she seems to demand to be held and face out, as if she can assess the new person. _

2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?_

If you mean laying flat and getting herself into a sitting position, yes, she does this constantly by twisting to her side and pushing up. Is that what you mean? It makes changing diapers very difficult these days.
_
3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?_

Still nothing here. She doesn't even really say da-da or ma-ma yet. Just ahhh and oohhh and ewww.
_
4. Crawling?
_
Yes, she's crawling like crazy and now I understand why everyone always said "be careful what you wish for." She started out with the army crawl and just in the last week or so has moved to full torso-lifted coordinated crawl. She still reverts to the low-crawl when the wood floor gets too slippery and she can't hold herself up on her knees.
_
5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?_

That's really interesting about the lactaid. Glad you figured that out! sleeping for 45 minutes at a time?!!!--- that would be the end of me. My daughter still isn't into food but we still offer it every day.

_And, for extra credit...
6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?_

That's how I feel about her crawling now. I will turn around for a second, or go to the bathroom (while still looking out) and I feel like she vanishes at times. Makes my heart stop. The good news is that we have a lot of hard wood floors so I can generally hear her crawling still. The bad news is that her mobility has quickly revealed all the baby proofing weaknesses in my house. Yes, that's when the sleep deprivation kicks in and I resort to blocking the 'danger' area with a box.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

Not really. If he's tired, or the situation is really overwhelming/scary, then yes he will cling. But just in general, no. He's always been very social.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

Yes, from crawling, he will pull his knees under and then push back onto his butt. I'm not sure if you can teach a baby to do that though









*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

Well, he just babbles. He will say 'mama' but only when he's upset/crying and then it comes out. He also babbles dadada, bababa, papapa, etc.

*4. Crawling?*

He really took off with 'real' crawling (hands and knees) at about 9.5 months. He first went forward at about 8.5 months, but something really clicked the one day and he just took off and can now move anywhere he wants - including on hardwood. He is also really into pulling up to standing on anything (including just a smooth wall), and then walking along while holding on. He does that like a pro!

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

We haven't had this issue, although we don't eat a lot of dairy.

And, for extra credit...
*6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?*








I completely understand! I try and keep things put away if he can't have them - remove the temptation! And I keep thinking about how much worse it'll be when he's walking! Yikes!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?
We have the typical stranger stuff but overall not too bad.

2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?

Yes very mibile baby here!

3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?

Lots of babbling--b, d, m and k sounds

4. Crawling?

Yes for a while now

5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?

No

And, for extra credit...
6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?

LOts and lots of energy. DD has knocked over many glasses while I am holding her. Also has pulled out electrical cords--while I am holding her. Not to mention just grabbing on to something so that it jerks her arm as I keep walking







.


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

A Very Good Year: I just watched the video of Maia walking!! Congrats! That's SO cool. She's so young too! Adorable. You must be so proud.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

Fi is pretty social. Sometimes if there are a lot of people around she gets a bit clingy but she's always flirting with people is seems. I often take her out to people watch if she's fussy at home. Coffee shops are a favorite! She does not necessarily want other people to hold her. This depends on her mood.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

She sort of backs up into sitting. I'd say this just happened in the last couple of weeks.

*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

Yes! She's a talker. She constantly babbles and already has several words. She says Mama, Papa, bye bye and ball. She has a certain sound she makes for duck which does start with a d and she says the p sound for puppy while signing dog. Lately she's been practicing s and t sounds a lot too.

*4. Crawling?*

Not so much. She does an army crawl a few feet here or there but is not that into it. She gets herself on hands and knees a lot but doesn't move around that way. She'd rather practice standing. She's still pretty wobbly and will fall if we aren't there to help but she practices pulling up all the time now.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

We have noticed that she gets a bit gassy with cheese. She is fine with yogurt though and hasn't had any trouble with my milk (and I eat a lot of dairy!).

*And, for extra credit...
6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?*

Yes, Yes, and Yes! I have daycare kids too and its tough. I just pretty much try to baby proof as much as possible so that she can have whatever is in reach. She still tries to grab our coffee or beer bottle all the time though!


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## motherbirth (May 9, 2008)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

He has always been kind of clingy. He is being more independent (he likes to play on the floor while I am working or doing housework), but he is very clingy with DH when I am not home. If I am home, he is often happy to play near me.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

Not really, although he pulls himself up on the basket that we keep his toys in. (He also is trying to eat the basket that I keep his toys in, so I am starting to second guess the cool basket idea).

*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

He's had hard consonants for a while, although the M sound is new (yay!) My husband is convinced that "ga" means food. We heard him say something that sounded like "ekki" (no in Icelandic) to his cousin, but we are sure that was a coincidence.

*4. Crawling?*

He does the "army guy moving on his belly with a gun" kind of crawling, not hands and knees crawling, but he is getting very fast at it. He likes to go for the guitar in the living room and bang on it and strum the strings; now we have hidden it in the corner.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

I am not sure what that means. Does he react to you eating dairy? I'm not sure if it would be a problem, because I personally have had trouble with dairy since I was pregnant, so the only dairy I have is goat's milk. We aren't going to introduce cow's milk dairy to Siggi until he is 2 because of this.

And, for extra credit...
*6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?*

My biggest thing lately is finding strange things in Siggi's mouth. The floor looks spotless, but then I find him chewing something so I check and it's a rock or a wood chip or something. (At my mother-in-law's last month, I caught him chomping on a candy that my niece left on the table). And it's hard to go to a store where things are close by and try to pay while he is grabbing for the gum or lip balm or whatever. So I feel your pain.


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

I keep forgetting about this thread. Hi everyone!



motherbirth said:


> *1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*
> 
> She is very independent. My first two were SO clingy...this one doesn't care where I am most of the time.
> 
> ...


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Just1more: That is hilarious!! LOL! 20 lbs you don't want to lose any time soon. 

Anyone find their little one is harder to wear or be out with for long period bc they want to be down crawling instead of being confined? We went to the shopping area of town today and I felt so bad for DD being in the carseat for 1/2 hour then either worn or held for hours. We ended up in a Crate and Barrell and let her crawl and wiggle on one of their display beds. It was so great and made her refreshed and happy again! So look for a bed in a department store or a furniture store if you are at a mall so you don't have to let them crawl on the icky floor. 

Cindy


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

Yes, about the wanting to be down. She almost always wants down. But, as long as I'm moving and there's more to see, she's happy to be worn for long periods of time, too. She has been my easiest baby. They say that the first ones are needy/clingy, the second ones are demanding and hard, and the third you hardly notice. That has definately been my experience. My first two took every waking minute...dc3 demands almost NO attention from me. In fact, I have to make an effort to carve out time each day for just her...she almost never fusses.


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *heinz28* 
A Very Good Year: I just watched the video of Maia walking!! Congrats! That's SO cool. She's so young too! Adorable. You must be so proud.

Thank you







I am proud of her, but it's very bittersweet in a way. She's so independent and I have trouble thinking about her as a "baby" now. She's growing up so fast!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

She's never been real clingy. Only when she's tired or overwhelmed. She's actually very social and loves meeting new people and being the center of attention in a big group.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

Oh yeah. It was slow coming, but once she figured out the crawling, all this followed. I couldn't keep her down if I wanted to anymore.

*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

M was her first, soon followed by Mama. She does B, D, L (occasionally), G (as in grow), sometimes K.

*4. Crawling?*

She never stops! When her knees get a little rug burn, she'll crawl on her hands and feet. She tried running like that last week and did a face plant into the floor. She thought it was pretty funny but hasn't tried that again.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

So far, no adverse reactions to anything in my diet.

*And, for extra credit...
6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?*

She grabs at everything and picks up everything off the floor. It all immediately goes into her mouth. Over the weekend, we were out of town visiting friends and she somehow got a piece of tape and had it in her mouth. She gagged on it and puked all over their rug. We thought that was that and I went to nurse her a few minutes later and realized she still had it just as she puked all over me. She has a bad gag reflex, so I really have to look out for the things she puts in her mouth. She won't just swallow it, she'll gag and vomit.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

*is your feb baby fussy or clingy?* she was when she was sick. when people say hi, she will kind of burrow into me, peak out shyly and wave, but she's not clingy.

*baby go from laying down to sitting up?* yes.

*consants* 'um not really

*crawling* super speedy crawler. she can walk but it takes time and concentration, whenever she starts walkking she always ends up falling into a crawl b/c it's faster. the most steps shehas doneis 8.

*Dairy* i think maybe but it might have been that she was getting sick.. we have just layed ff of it for her consumption but i still consume it

*energy* i try to keep everything at her level okay for her to grab. when i am holding her or we are out yeah it can be tiring.

so Junes has a new develpment. she has been able to crawl up stair, but at the park she climbed up really steep stairs that are about 5 feet tall (it was totally hte 5-12 year old playground) and then yesterday she climbed the ladder to the girls bunk bed. it now gets put up during the day.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

No, mostly. Katmai's a total flirt, loves smiling at new people, doesn't mind crowds at all. But he's iffy about strangers picking him up. And he hates it when he's playing on the floor and someone leaves the room (mom, dad, or even a friend), regardless of who's still there. He did have a big clingy phase a few months ago.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?
*

Yes

*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

Mostly M, B, D, here, along with a variety of aw waw waw sounds, croaking, bubble blowing, etc...

*4. Crawling?*

Yes. Katmai started with scooching at around 7.5 months, and has slowly picked up more and more standard crawling. Though he still does a lot of scooching on slippery floors, and crawling on rugs. Pulling up to stand on everything as well.

*
5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

He has never reacted to any food, mine or his.

And, for extra credit...
*6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?
*

This is why I wear him on my back in a wrap (where he can't reach much beyond my hair) if I need to carry him for long.







He'll want down if I'm standing in one place for too long, but loves watching over my shoulder for walks, shopping, errands, etc... And it's good for clingy moods.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

So I am hung up on sleep issues these days. DD will usually sleep better the first half of the night than the second and all in all she is "sleeping" about10-11 hours at night with about 2-3 hours of naps during the day. Is this too much? My issue is that at about 2-3 am when she wakes she is really hard to get back to sleep. As in she will wake not really want to nurse and be very restless as I try to pat, cuddle and rock her back to sleep. Often she wakes every 45 minutes or so until she gets up!! I am severly sleep deprived here. I "think" it might be teeth cause she does better with Motrin







(at least that first half of the night) but she already has 8 teeth. I have also lost my ability to nap this week. Really. I lay down completely exhausted and CAN NOT FALL ASLEEP.


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## Phridae (Sep 24, 2009)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

He wasnt, but I have noticed Noah climbing into my lap more often.

*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

He rolls to his belly, the gets on all 4's, then sits up. Does it in bed all the time.








*
3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

He got "lalalala" down pat. Working on mama and dada.

*4. Crawling?*

Yep! All over the place. I'm tempted to corral him sometimes.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

He hasnt' had much dairy yet, just some baby yogurt. No ice cream/cheese before 12months for us. Just noticed some extra stinky poo's.









*6. How much energy does it take to throw your attention out in 42,000 directions a minute as your LO tirelessly tries to grab every single thing within three feet of you as you're holding him? And how often does she succeed in grabbing something disastrously? And how often is that because you're addled by sleeplessness and on a 10-second delay?*

...what?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?*

She used to be way more clingy ... she's more interested in the world now. When we go to play group she actually crawls away to get a toy or meet another kid. She used to cling to me like a baby monkey. I kind of miss it!
*2. Is anyone's baby able to get from lying down to sitting up by himself?*

Yep. She rolls to one side and pushes up with her arms to get some leverage and then pulls her legs up under her. She can stand from sitting now too ...
*
3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?*

We've got: mama, dadadada, baba, gah, doit, wow, dog, cha (I think is 'Charlie,' our puppy), dit (I think this is 'cat'), and neh-neh (when she wants to nurse)
*4. Crawling?*
She waited until 8.5 months and then started all of a sudden and with a vengeance. She's got speed too! She's a super crawler now. Just took a while.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?*

No troubles here. She eats what we eat, including a taste of ice cream and milk now and then.

And as for sleep ... we're having a good patch right now, so I don't want to say anything to jinx it.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

So I'm going to visit some friends of mine this weekend, sort of a girls weekend plus Royce (none of them have kids). And actually I had planned on bringing DH along so he could take care of Royce the one night and I could go out. But I realized this won't work. First of all, pumping is just not going well. It's uncomfortable and I never get much. And Royce won't drink it anyway - from bottle or sippy. That and DH just doesn't do well with Royce. I mean he plays with him well, but if he needs comforting at all it has to be me. So I realized that me being out at night just won't work. Anyway I told my friends today. I am going to wait and go up Saturday so that they can go out Friday night instead. And then Saturday night we are all going to stay in, rent a movie or something. I'm a bit bummed about it. I was really looking forward to going out. But I guess this is just something I can't do right now, with Royce.

Mal - I was thinking of your weekend away - how on earth did you do it? I can't even figure out how to go out for one night, and you managed a whole weekend. I'm jealous







Although in reality I guess all it would take for me is an ability to pump, a baby who would drink what I pumped, and a husband who could manage without me. None of which I have


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Sorry Gillian! I've only had a few evenings out. Thankfully since I've always had to supplement, DD take a bottle just fine and DH does pretty well. But I still don't really ever make it out. I'm so out of touch with my non mom friends now and my mom friends and I only have playdates. You've got to start somewhere though...perhaps if you try it sometime it will go better than you are expecting? If not, it's just a few hours.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating!

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I agree with Cindy, I was really worried the first time I left Owyn at home with DH for the evening. I truly thought it would be a disaster, but I knew DH needed the experience. It went really well, I was shocked. I only went out for a few hours the first time. DH surprised me with how much he could manage on his own, and if he needed me I was only a phone call away.

As far as the bottle goes, Owyn refused to take one from me or even if I was in the vicinity. But she got hungry and took it for DH. Now, she's gotten better. I was able to give her a bottle in the car when we had a long drive last weekend.

Pumping to prepare is a total PITA, I'll agree with you there. I don't pump often, so when I was trying to build a stash for my weekend away, I got really frustrated. But the more I did it, the more milk I was able to get. And while I was gone, it was much easier to pump because she wasn't nursing. Keep at it daily and your body should eventually respond to it.

You just have to make the decision to do it one evening, maybe closer to home. Tell your DH to call you're really needed. If he doesn't do well, you can always go home. But you have to give a chance sometime.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

My husband's great with Katmai, but I've still never been away more than 4 hours or so. He's never had a bottle, and I've never tried to pump. Hasn't really bugged me though - we just take the baby everywhere!


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Aurora took her first step today!!

I know I don't post here often, but I just had to share that. It was so cute She did one step to me...then did it again a moment later. She was very pleased with herself, babbling on high pitched about it!


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

A question for you all. What's your plan for Christmas gifts for your Feb. babe?

I bought her a little organic yellow stuffed frog at Marshall's for $5 and am thinking about getting her a hair brush from atoygarden.com and possibly a nice soft babydoll, but am not finding the perfect one. Any thoughts on them?


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

*Past_VNE:* Yeah for a walking babe! That is pretty exciting. I am amazed that some of these babes are walking already!

Fiona is now ten months old! I can't believe it. She is really at such a fun age and cracks us up daily! She seems like such a big baby to me now. I'm just really loving being her mom these days!

As for Christmas gifts. This is what we have or are getting:

some new board books (3-4)
the rainbow glockenspiel (from Nova Naturals)
a jingle bracelet (also from Nova Naturals)
Haba wagon walker
She'll get a new pair of Hanna PJ's on solstice.

Have you looked on etsy for baby dolls, Past_VNE?


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

AKIslandGirl, funny you mention that. I'm all over etsy. I'm finding lots too! None have "spoken to me" yet, but I still have several tabs of dolls open, considering them.

I forgot, I found a board book that has a great story about a lost mitten. A little long for her now, but maybe a birthday gift instead? She's always listening to all of DS's stories/books, so maybe it's not too long.

I really like all the things you have listed! A very nice bunch of gifts!!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yay for first steps!! Royce seems like he could let go and take a step at any moment, but hasn't yet. Whenever something is just out of reach, he drops down and crawls









As for Christmas, this is what I've got so far:

a little wooden car ramp, a putumayo CD, some wooden musical instruments, a little boy doll, and an okiedog trike. I also got him some PJs for Christmas eve, and will get some new books to go with them.

I want to go to Ikea and get a couple of toys from there - I love their toys







I also have been looking into getting him a play kitchen. But I haven't decided. It seems to be such a popular gift for a 1 year old. I may make it his birthday gift (which is only a few weeks after Christmas!)

Oh and I also want to get him a Twilight Turtle, because I think those are really cool







And since he still sleeps in our bed I'll get to enjoy it









And I have to go shopping for a Baby's First Christmas ornament. I'm going to buy 2 of them - 1 for me and 1 for Royce - I want to start that tradition of buying him an ornament every year for when he goes off on his own. I just read about it on mdc a couple weeks ago and I love it. I'm going to buy the same one for myself as well every year so that we have both have a matching set









I am so excited about celebrating Royce's first holiday season - I love this time of year







We are going to get our tree tomorrow


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I like the idea of checking out Ikea for toys. I think we are just going to pick out 1 toy (not sure what yet)...since others will be getting her gifts..and really it's all lost on her at this point anyway. Right now I'm leaning towards a stacking ring toy - Haba makes some cute ones. Or a nesting/stacking box thing from Djeco that is really colorful. I also like the shape sorter boxes but those are meant for older babes.

My playgroup is doing a toy swap at our holiday party. I like it bc you bring an old toy that your baby is sick of and end up with something new and exciting.

10 months is such a fun age! I swear I keep saying that about every age. But she just gets so much more fun with each day. Her little personality is really coming through (and boy is she stubborn and decisive...but she's also very social and little goofball). I keep thinking I hear her repeat things I say - so cool! 

Cindy


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

I ordered 5 handmade puppets from this Etsy shop. Looks like she's closed for now to catch up on orders, but I promise you, everything was adorable! I also grabbed some legwarmers from Nifty Knees that are _technically_ a Christmas gift but she's already wearing them









Maia's new trick is clapping. She'll do it on her own when music comes on, or if we say "clap clap clap"! Hilarious. She's walking all over the house these days (she's been walking for about two or three weeks now) and is really steady on her feet and has great balance. Unfortunately now she's REALLY fast and whenever we open the front door, she makes a run for it!

We're having some sleep issues -- she wakes up every time we put her in her crib (which is side-carred to the bed), even when she is COMPLETELY asleep in our arms when we lay her down. If I put her down and walk out of the room, she'll wail once, then I'll hear her self-soothe with her fingers, and within a minute she's asleep, but I REALLY wish she would not wake up and cry at all because it is just heart-breaking







It's like she is so, so sad not to be with me anymore, you know? But I'm not going to bed at 7:30pm!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Finally back home after over a month of traveling! I'm happy to be back, but now I need to teach the ever-more-mobile Katmai not to touch the woodstove in the center of our yurt. Hopefully I can manage the lesson without a burn.

I don't know that we'll buy him any Christmas presents. He's bound to get a couple from grandparents and is too young to know the difference. We might see if we can steal the wheel from a junker bicycle we have though, and set it up on some kind of stand for Katmai to spin it. He still loves spinny things (a cheap little pinwheel is the best airplane toy ever).

Crawling and cruising all over the place here. Occasionally he'll let go for a fraction of a second, but I don't think he's close to walking. And he doesn't seem all that inclined to go beyond mum-mum as far as speech goes.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

We're getting her something to play with- a wooden pull wagon with blocks in it.
Something to wear- a new dress.
Something to read- a Christmas book and a bedtime book.
Something to keep- a keepsake ornament, not baby's first Christmas because my mom is getting her one.
Something her daddy makes- a toy chest.
Something from Santa- a wooden push toy.
Something for Christmas Eve- Christmas pj's.

I'm so excited for our first Christmas as a family! I can't wait to start our own family traditions. Even DH is excited about it and he's usually a scrooge!

I think Owyn may be working on walking. I can't tell for sure, she won't stay still long enough to do anything majoy, she's such a wiggly child! But she's literally been running circles around the coffee table and sleep crawling, trying to pull up to the bed rail in her sleep. She's so funny to watch. I love getting to know her personality more and more and seeing what a silly little girl I have!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

gillian, i feel you. with my middle daughter josephine i couldn't go out. she refused a bottle with an almighty vengence. AND she was 90% breastfed up to two years. UGGH. if you want to keep trying you might hand express it doesn't feel as weird as a pump. as for DH he might step up. if i am around dh always hands the baby to me for comfort but he does handle it if i am not there to fall back on. i DO remind him that even if she is crying and he can't figure out why he still needs to comfort her. an article you can show him on the harms of crying it out could be good. mothering has some. also ones on how sometimes babies just neeed to cry BUT they need to be held, again mothering has some. i can't remember where though. finally as for not taking bottles Juniper will not take one if i am around, and will resist until she gets hungry and then will take just enough to satiate herself. plus as my LLL leaders say, if you are going out for 4 hours or so, they can make it without eating. probably even more then that. good luck, i know how it can get a bit resentful being in this position, know it doesn't last forever even though sometimes it feels like it.

Junes has started saying consanets and she said her first sentence "I love dad". she still isn't walking even though she can take steps, she just prefers the speed of crawling. she is now officially my latest walker.

past-VNE i have a dolly crush on the sweetheart toddler dolls from magic cabin. and yeah on walking!

christmas- i bought junes a wood toy at target that has four wooden balls that you put in one of the holes at the top and it goes down the little track. i wil be getting her some hair bows, some socks, and maybe i can talk chris into a diaper for her stocking. plus maybe one little toy for the stocking.

SPEAKING of diapers, I think all of mine are ruined. i left them in the diaper pail for 2-3 weeks and now ALL OF THEM don't seem to be waterproof anymore. It might make me cry.

and one last thing. hormones, who's are going crazy? mine seem to be insane. at times it makes me think i could be pregnant because i am so quick to cry, anger, and hurt. ARRGGHH. annoying. (I can tell by the incredible lengths of time i can hold my pee in that i am not pregnant though, b/c being pregnant would be a very bad thing for me)


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I have been feeling really hormonal too! I've been wondering if its a sign that AF will soon return but I don't know. Who else still hasn't gotten AF back? What is average?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi everyone!
We're pretty low key when it comes to Christmas. When DD was born someone gave her a cute stuffed mole, so I set that aside for Christmas. And someone gave us a wooden shape fitter, so we set that aside too.
That's about it! I like the ornament idea though, and will do that. My best friend's mom did that and so she has a whole set of sentimental ornaments, one from each year. And her mom always picked on that had some significance, like a santa-on-a-bicycle for when she got her first bike, a puppy the year they got a dog, a house when she bought her first home (yes, the tradition continues ...).
Esmé is full-on cruising, and trying to walk, but not quite yet.
She's finally teething for the FIRST time, and with a vengeance. She's very uncomfortable, poor wee sausage.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

For Christmas we're going to do the old

Something you want
Something you need
Something to wear
Something to read

So for Eliza, probably a toy, something practical (hmmm-- not sure what yet), an outfit, and a board book.

We'll also do stockings, although ours aren't the huge stockings, just modest-sized.

So we had Thanksgiving in Northern California with my family. My Nana lives in Sacramento and my dad lives in Oakland. I forgot how much I LOVE Oakland. If DH can find a job there, I'm pretty sure we'll move there. But that's a big if. Anyway, my dad and my grandma LOVED Eliza and my dad was holding her pretty much the whole time he was with us! I had to practically pry her from his fingers, lol! I loved it, though; it was very validating and satisfying, especially since my mom could hardly care less about my kids when I was in contact with her. My dad was so good with Eliza, they had a great little bond. In fact, when DH and I went on a date one night, he was able to get her down to sleep with no crying, just by walking her and singing to her. She loved his singing-- she usually cries in the car, but when my dad sings to her she is quiet! (She doesn't like my singing as much, I've tried it!) So anyway, it was a great trip. I posted photos on my Facebook, but you have to friend me to see them.









P.S. My Nana is such a good cook, and I gained SO MUCH WEIGHT! It's appalling. I think I went up a whole size!!!! Oh well. Time to go back to sensible eating . . . .


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanksgiving was great here too. We stayed in town since all our family is here. We were at my parents on Thanksgiving day and it was great. Owyn was in a great mood, loved playing with the kids, and even went down for a loooong nap just before dinner, allowed DH and I to eat without chasing after her the whole time.

We had friends over to fry a turkey the day after and that was great too. I put a little of everything on the high chair try for Owyn and she laid her head down on the tray and literally shoved the food into her mouth! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Needless to say, she loooooves Thanksgiving food!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Liontigerbear: I live in Berkeley - Oakland's neighbor. Let me know if you end up moving - our babes could play together! 

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

my parents did the one ornament a year fro each of us and we continue the tradition. of course my mom made the mistake of giving me the ornaments when i moved out at 17, i was in no way responsible enough and they are all lost now except 2, it is sort of sad for me.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Liontigerbear: I live in Berkeley - Oakland's neighbor. Let me know if you end up moving - our babes could play together! 

Cindy

You got it! Sounds fun!









ETA: Eliza took her first two steps to me!!! It may have been more of an accident, it was hard to tell. Like, she was standing, wobbling, and was going to fall, so she took two steps instead. I don't expect her to do it again anytime soon, but who knows? She's 9.5 months old. My middle child started walking right when he turned 9 months old. He was/is much more driven, though.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

"Junes has started saying consanets and she said her first sentence "I love dad". she still isn't walking even though she can take steps, she just prefers the speed of crawling. she is now officially my latest walker. "

OMG that is crazy!! Most children are closer to 3 yo before they grasp the pronoun thing! You have one advanced talker!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn took some steps! See, she's a mover, constantly. If I try to stand her up, her feet never stop moving. So, I thought she'll probably never stand unassisted until she starts walking, just because she won't be still long enough to do it. But I was trying to get her to stand up on Friday and her feet were just a-going as usual, and when I let go, she took steps towards me! I thought it must have been just perfect timing when I let go, but she did it 3 or 4 times in a row! Just 2-3 steps at a time. Of course, she hasn't done it since then, but I'm still counting it!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

exciting mallory!

lately junes had been making grunting sounds when she latches on. she used to do it but then she stopped. it is so cute so i am glad it is happening again.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Mallory, that is so exciting! I can't believe that our babies are starting to walk!!!

mamamillet, Eliza isn't saying sentences with pronouns like that, yet, but she is making her own kind of baby sentences, stringing words and sounds and signs together into "sentences" to express herself. She definitely says "I love mama/dada/etc" in her own funny little way and I love it! She is also repeating lots of words that I tell her, like "up", "all done", etc, and saying them really clearly, too, but then she doesn't add them to her usual vocabulary. Her standby of basics gets her through her day well enough, I guess. Oh, one funny thing is that she's been making this shrieking noise when she wants more food, and I'm trying to teach her to say "more" instead. Lol. Not working so far, but I got her to say "da da na" when she wanted more banana, instead of shrieking. It was really cute hearing her say "da da na". So many words that she can say correctly, you'd think "banana" would be one of the easy ones!

Her signs are cute, too, especially since I never taught her signs-- she just invented her own. She has one that means "no", "no more" and "all done", and another that means "come here" "I want that" "hi" AND "I love you". They are multipurpose! She also nods and shakes her head for yes and no. So sweet!

So, I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I went ahead and bought her a birthday dress . . . lol.

P.S. My oldest son learned to say "I love you" as an infant, FWIW. I'm not sure if he understood the pronoun as being a separate word, or if it was all just one big word to him.







Anyway, it was cute!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LionTigerBear* 
Oh, one funny thing is that she's been making this shrieking noise when she wants more food, and I'm trying to teach her to say "more" instead.

We're dealing with the same thing here ... working on the 'more' sign. It's not happening so far.
We're also learning about boundaries ... the cat, the gas fireplace, the cupboards that are off limits, being gentle with the puppy. She's doing better with those. I think we're going to put up the tree this week ... we'll see how that goes!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Lately, I'm so frustrated with nursing. She doesn't like to nurse during the day at all. She is such a busy girl. She'll only nurse a couple of minutes and she's off doing something else. I have to make her stop to nurse and it really pisses her off. She just has absolutely no interest in it anymore. She will nurse to go to bed at night and nurse a couple of times during the night just fine. But during the day, it is near impossible. She loves food and would much rather eat food than nurse. What do I do about this? I baby sit during the day and always try to get some of the others laid down before I nurse her, so it is quiet and not nearly as distracting while she nurses. She still isn't interested.

I just worry she's not nursing enough. As it is, she is only nursing before each nap, which is two times a day. And then she'll nurse before bed. So, really only 3 nursing sessions during the day and usually one or two overnight. The only time it seems like she's nursing long enough to get anything substantial is at bedtime and overnight though. And there are some nights when she sleeps all night, so is only getting one substantial nursing session in. Anyone else having these frustrations??


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Willa also isn't a big daytime nurser--especially if we are out and about! SHe does nurse a lot throught the night though so I don't worry. She also eats lots of solids and a great variety at that. I do trust that babies know what they need so I wouldn't worry about it!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna is a short nurser too. Plus I have low milk supply and she is refusing most of her supplement now. I used to supp 10-15 ounces/day and now I'm lucky if I can get 5 ounces in in 24 hours - mostly it's only 2-3 ounces. My husband and I are on edge about her getting dehydrated but we're trying to trust that she would drink if she were hungry/thirsty. I was looking through "what to expect: the first year" last night and the chapter on 10 months said babies' apetite decreased about now as their growth rate drops off...so perhaps our little ones really just don't need as much milk on top of all the food they are eating.

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce also doesn't nurse much through the day, he will have very short little nursing sessions, unless he's going down for a nap. He still nurses quite a bit through the night though. I've also noticed that he is eating a lot more (there is less food on the floor after mealtime, and also his poops are getting more and more solid). So that is probably affecting it as well.

There are some seriously advanced babies in our ddc!! I can't believe so many are walking and talking!

Royce isn't doing either







I guess he communicates in his own way, but he doesn't use words/specific sounds or hand signals. I can just tell what he wants - like he will bite me when he wants to nurse (great sign, eh?







), when he wants something he will go all stiff (he straightens his legs and arms and extends his neck, it's weird, I know) and squeal/grunt while glaring at what he wants, he also does this if he's excited about something except instead of the glare he throws his head back and laughs very dramatically (again, very weird, I know







), and if he doesn't want something he will push it away... or throw it.

One cool thing he can do is play catch! We roll him the ball, he grabs it and throws it back. His aim is surprisingly good. If he throws it the wrong way he will usually go get it to try again, and when he throws it the right way he gets soooo excited. It's pretty darn cute. He also dances if a song he likes comes on, it has to have a good beat though, otherwise, no dancing!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

It's good to hear we're not the only ones nursing so infrequently during the day. I guess I always knew she would gradually nurse less and less as she started taking in more solids. Sometimes it's easy for me to forget she's not a newborn anymore, she's actually turning into a toddler. So, it's alright if she starts getting nutrition from her food, I guess.

It makes me wonder, though, how young will she wean? She's never nursed for comfort, never goes for it when she's hurt or upset. It's always strictly been food to her. And now she is eating more solids and nursing less. During the day anyway, I can see already night weaning will be a whole different ball park for us. She depends on it for nighttime. But, during daytime, she already seems to be pulling away from as far as nursing goes... It's a little sad, but I can't say I miss nursing her every 2-3 hours. That was a lot of work!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i've read a lot of kids go on nursing strikes around this age, and if you just keep plugging away they generally pick it back up.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Mallory my ds was like that and he didn't self wean until 17mos. He kept one nursing session in the morning upon waking for the longest time.
My dd likes her nursies but she also loves her food. I have to make sure that I nurse her when she wakes from her naps before meals because she gets constipated otherwise. Sadly she's wheat intolerant and gets a major bum rash and constipation from it. She loves bread and pasta and pancakes so it's hard because since we did baby led weaning she recognizes all of her favorites and screams for them. I bought some rice pasta the other day though and I'm going to make her some quinoa buns. I'm also going to make some buckwheat pancakes and freeze them so when we have pancakes she can too.
She's standing up and she's signing for more (not the sign I taught her but her own). She also signs for up and bites my shoulder for nursies (tried teaching her the milk sign she still bites).
She loves the coat room which is always dirty or wet on the floor and has the main floor bathroom attached to it. We keep the door closed to that area so she can't get in but my son occassionally forgets to close the door. If she sees it's open she monkey crawls as fast as she can to get there and screams if we close it before she can get in. She loves to eat shoes bleck!
I bought her Christmas dress the other day. She's going to be so pretty but I've got to find some black tights since white don't really go with the dress.
Oh and she's a climber, I have hardwood and I'm not exactly sure how to keep her safe until she's stable. She's had so many headbonks since she learned to stand. Maybe a helmet?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

If I can get her to 17 months, that would be great. I'm just not really sure what to expect by the way of nursing as she gets older, I guess. I feel like I'm forcing those two daytime nursing sessions. I just wonder how long I should keep making her nurse during those times. Until she's a year old maybe?? I think the bedtime and overnight nursing will stick around for a while, they're the sessions she depends on. We're hoping to start trying for number two when she's about 18 months old, so if she self weans before then, it wouldn't be a big deal.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I was thinking about this thread today as I nursed Royce and I got a bit sad thinking about him weaning (even though I know it will be a while yet). He still nurses during the day to go down for his naps (still has 2 naps), and will also nurse every so often during the day (but these nursing sessions last maybe a few minutes). He's not even a year old and already I feel like he's growing up so quickly! Ugh! I just can't believe it. When I look at pictures of him from the summer or even earlier this fall, it's like he's a different baby. What happened?? I need things to slow down!!

I was also wondering, at what age do babies become toddlers. Is it when they turn 1? I'm thinking mostly of when we will have to move our massive discussion thread to the toddler section. I think we have the most active 'life with a babe' ddc


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
I was thinking about this thread today as I nursed Royce and I got a bit sad thinking about him weaning (even though I know it will be a while yet). He still nurses during the day to go down for his naps (still has 2 naps), and will also nurse every so often during the day (but these nursing sessions last maybe a few minutes). He's not even a year old and already I feel like he's growing up so quickly! Ugh! I just can't believe it. When I look at pictures of him from the summer or even earlier this fall, it's like he's a different baby. What happened?? I need things to slow down!!

I was also wondering, at what age do babies become toddlers. Is it when they turn 1? I'm thinking mostly of when we will have to move our massive discussion thread to the toddler section. I think we have the most active 'life with a babe' ddc









I'd still call them babies at a year. 18 months probably toddler? There's a big difference between a one year old and an 18 month old. I'm always saying, though, that Owyn is reminding me more and more of a toddler. They're getting there, certainly not newborns anymore. Which is great and a little sad at the same time.

Oh and Owyn's first steps were not an accident, she did it several more times over the weekend! Once from a recliner to the end table, 3 or 4 steps!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
I was thinking about this thread today as I nursed Royce and I got a bit sad thinking about him weaning (even though I know it will be a while yet). He still nurses during the day to go down for his naps (still has 2 naps), and will also nurse every so often during the day (but these nursing sessions last maybe a few minutes). He's not even a year old and already I feel like he's growing up so quickly! Ugh! I just can't believe it. When I look at pictures of him from the summer or even earlier this fall, it's like he's a different baby. What happened?? I need things to slow down!!

I was also wondering, at what age do babies become toddlers. Is it when they turn 1? I'm thinking mostly of when we will have to move our massive discussion thread to the toddler section. I think we have the most active 'life with a babe' ddc









Stop! I'm gonna cry. I miss my itty bitty baby! Aubrey will be 10 months next week and while I just love her more every day, I miss the sweetness of her being teeny tiny. She's about 19 lbs. and LONG (tall?).

I'm a little behind, but nevertheless:
*1. Is your Feb. 09 baby getting clingy now? Or not yet? Or was he/she already?* No clingy baby here, unless she's sick. Mama is for food and sleep; Daddy is for fun! Daycare is waaaay cooler than Mama or Daddy.

*3. Hard consonants! Who's got consonants?* Not really. Aubrey seems to have persistent fluid in her ears, even when they're not infected, so I don't think she's hearing 100% = I expect her to be a slow talker. We're working on the fluid and hoping to avoid tubes in the ears... So far we have "Baa" (Dad), "Bah" (Ma), and "Boo" (Boobies). Aubrey is also waving and clapping, which is fun. I think its her way of communicating since she's not real verbal.

*4. Crawling?*Aubrey crawls normally about half of the time and then crawls on one knee and one foot the other half--like a crab moving sideways. Not sure where she got that but it seems to work for her. She's pulling up but not walking or standing "free" of support yet.

*5. Anyone had a patch of trouble with dairy? Did you come out of it, and if so, how?* We've eliminated dairy, but now I think she's reacting to soy.







Cutting that out too as of today. Aubrey is really in to nursing--she is just not that interested in food. Which is good, because I'm pumping at work and need her to keep my supply up.









BTW, I have a breastpump listed on the Trading Post that I need to get rid of. It isn't mine but I'm having no luck getting rid of it, so if someone here wants it, PM me and I'll send it to you just for shipping. I've listed it all over the place and no one seems to want it...not sure why! It works fine (I tried it with my tubes/parts). The only problem is it's not as quiet as the PISA. Which really isn't a problem, YKWIM?

I've been pretty frustrated with sleep issues lately--I ordered the NCSS and am hoping for results with that. Nursing has also become increasingly violent, to the point where I just put Aubrey in her crib the other afternoon and let her play there alone--something I've never done before. I was SO frustrated with the biting, hitting, scratching, pinching, kicking, etc. Fortunately she thought alone time in the crib was great fun.







I'm hoping to let her self-wean, but at this rate, who knows. But I am grateful I got her nursing--after the first 3 weeks in the NICU I wasn't sure it was going to happen!

*starling&diesel*, I would love to be able to teach some boundaries, but Bree just doesn't seem TO GET IT. Maybe I'm underestimating her? How are you doing it?

*Gillian28*,







to you. My Huz and I have been having some issues that have parralled yours.

I also wanted to say how much I miss you girls! Almost wish we could all be in a DDC together again....
Anyone see that old episode of Bones where the high school girls had the pregnancy pact?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Wow, all these advanced babies! Katmai has stood alone for a second or two a few times, but otherwise is only cruising.

Any other babies show no interest in talking yet?
Katmai will sometimes say mum-mum for mama, but will sometimes say it just babbling too, so it's hard to tell. He definitely doesn't do any other words, and not really any signs either, though he does understand words. He certainly won't repeat words I say. I wonder if I don't talk to him enough? He's a fairly quiet guy, and happy to play by himself a lot, and it's easy to forget to talk when I'm wearing him... Hearing about babies his age saying "I love dad!" has me getting worried!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 
*starling&diesel*, I would love to be able to teach some boundaries, but Bree just doesn't seem TO GET IT. Maybe I'm underestimating her? How are you doing it?

I growl at her ...








Sort of a low, growly hum, accompanied by furrowed brows, frown and a shake of my head. If she's crawling towards the dog dish or the fireplace and I growl at her, she sits back on her bum and looks at me with a concerned sort of pout. I offer a distraction at this point ... a favourite toy, my boob, what have you. It usually works. Sometimes it takes one or two tries. When she's heading away from the danger, I bring my tone up and welcome her in a sing-song voice and a great big smile and open arms.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna's FIRST tooth popped through the gums today! I was beginning to think she'd be toothless forever. LOL. 

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

We went to see Father Christmas and Babushka this weekend! Fiona wouldn't sit on either lap but we got pictures of her on my lap sitting between them. These are the Russian version of Santa and Mrs. Claus. They looked great, all clad in furs. Fiona loved petting the fur mukluks! She was wearing her sweet little red Hanna Christmas dress. So cute!

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1959.jpg

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_1963.jpg

She's working on teeth right now and has been a bit fussy this week. These are teeth 7 and 8 for her. I also noticed that her gums in back are swollen too so I think she has molars coming in too! I didn't think that would happen this early! Poor thing!

She's really stronger on her legs now and is pulling up constantly and just at the beginning stages of cruising. I don't see walking anytime soon but I guess you never really know with these things. DH is worried she'll start walking when we are on vacation next month and he'll miss it. I hope not! She has become a total wiggle worm at diaper changes so I've been changing her on the floor instead of the changing table. Her new favorite game is to crawl away from me as fast as she can before I can put a new diaper on her! She is totally cracking up as she does this. I love that speedy little naked baby!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
Wow, all these advanced babies! Katmai has stood alone for a second or two a few times, but otherwise is only cruising.

Any other babies show no interest in talking yet?
Katmai will sometimes say mum-mum for mama, but will sometimes say it just babbling too, so it's hard to tell. He definitely doesn't do any other words, and not really any signs either, though he does understand words. He certainly won't repeat words I say. I wonder if I don't talk to him enough? He's a fairly quiet guy, and happy to play by himself a lot, and it's easy to forget to talk when I'm wearing him... Hearing about babies his age saying "I love dad!" has me getting worried!

I would really encourage you not to worry about it AT ALL. In my experience, all babies have really different intelligences and talents.

We were just playing today with a little 4-year-old boy who can barely talk (what he tries to say is unintelligible) but boy, is he ever a whiz on the computer! I was blown away by his computer literacy and ease! He is also the kind of little kid who can take apart a clock and put it back together again. I mean, that kid is _sharp_. But, he would be considered "behind" verbally.

Every kid is different. My first son is an amazing climber. I mean, better than the "big kids". He is five and he literally teaches the elementary-school kids he meets how to climb like he does. My second son is not such a great climber but he has a knack with balls and sports. And so on and so forth.

So, all this to say, don't sweat it. Your son has amazing talents of his own which may or may not be apparent now, but have the potential to be just as much a gift to the world and useful as anything else.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

AKislandgirl - love the photos! She is such a beautiful girl







That's interesting that you are switching to the floor for diaper changes. I'm having the same issue with Royce, and was actually considering buying a change table (we've never had one), because I thought that would make it easier. Maybe not though...

Cindy - Yay for first teeth! Royce got his first 2 around 8 months, then 2 more shortly after that, and then nothing. He's just had those same 4 teeth for about 2 months now!

starling&diesel - that's so funny! I'm going to try that! Royce loves getting into the recycling and the garbage







Seriously, I give him pretty much free range of the apartment, and he goes right for the smelly dirty stuff!

mckittre - not talking here either! I get 'mama' but its really more 'mamamama' when he's upset.

justKate - thank you for the hugs, it has been difficult for me lately, but I'm surviving. And I also love our ddc, the idea of being in a different one with the next pregnancy seems so weird! I wish we could all hang out in real life


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
I wish we could all hang out in real life









Wouldn't that be cool?

Mostly reading here, seems like the only time I have to read is when nakking, and it's too slow to type with one hand. Sounds like he knows I got a minute to type two-handed; fussing downstairs with daddy.....


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Such cute pics, AKisland girl. Here's our holiday babe ... in a fabulous hat knit by my mom. It's so hard to get her to sit still for pics lately!

*Cindy* Still no teeth here! She's been teething ferociously all week and I can see little white nubs there, but still nothing. I keep having this dream where I wake up to find that she's sprouted a whole mouth of teeth during the night.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Starling: That hat is precious! So is the babe! ;-) I have had that same dream. In fact I had it last night too since I have teeth on the brain.

Does anyone know how long it takes a tooth to fully come in once it pokes through? I suppose it varies just like everything else.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Starling: That hat is precious! So is the babe! ;-) I have had that same dream. In fact I had it last night too since I have teeth on the brain.

Does anyone know how long it takes a tooth to fully come in once it pokes through? I suppose it varies just like everything else.

Cindy

Once I can feel the tooth, I consider it in. It takes a while for the tooth to come all the way up, for Owyn anyway. She got three on top within the last month and half and they're still coming down little by little.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

It takes a couple of weeks for Fiona's teeth to come all the way in. I would say with in a couple of days of popping through though they don't seem to bother her.

LOVE the santa hat! Esme is adorable! Can't wait to see more pictures Mamas (hint, hint!)

I keep having dreams that I lose Fiona. They are terrible. Its like I'm at a store and she just crawls or runs away and I can't find her. I hate them!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Here's our holiday babe ... in a fabulous hat knit by my mom. It's so hard to get her to sit still for pics lately!

ohh, so sweet. Does your mom sell that hat on Etsy? Cause she should!

Here's the only holiday picture I've gotten of Maia: wearing reindeer antlers. Hehee!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

That santa hat pic-- oh my goodness is Esmé CUTE!!!







I am loving seeing everyone's photos!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Here's a couple of recent pics of Royce:

Santa hat (this is the one I used for our holiday cards)

Santa hat

No more santa hat 

I love seeing the pics! Keep them coming everyone!!


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## AVeryGoodYear (Mar 31, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Here's a couple of recent pics of Royce:

Santa hat (this is the one I used for our holiday cards)

look at those dimples! so cute. great xmas card pic


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i ove that face maia is making.

and father christmas and babushka seems o neat. esme is adorable and royce's face, well gosh what a cute face.

I wish we had a board seperate from mdc. one were we could have seperate threads like we did in our ddc before it was closed. my 05 ddc has one but i don't know how to get them or make them or anything. it is really neat though, plus the pictures actually appear IN the post, not just a link.

i feel bad i haven't been visiting much. we have been having a pretty rough time. things financially are really tough and with everything else (desicons about school, mild dissappointments in life) i am just feeling pretty down overall.

Junes is doing great though, and her sisters as well. i have been managing to have great days with them, although today I just can't seem to motivate myself. we made pancakes this morning and i want to make cookies. I just need some time to myself (hence here on the computer)

i have read through everything, it was so much at once i forgot what i was planning on sayingt o each thing. sorry. uggh baby needs me , sure hope my dh gets home soon.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

to you Thursday Girl

NAK
It would be cool to have something similar to our ddc. i guess the fb page is sort of like that but i always forget to check there.

we put up our tree yesterday. i love christmas! Fi loves the tree, First thing when she got up this AM and saw it all lit up in the dark house was "pretty". I am waiting for her to try to pull up on it but so far so good. We got her an ornament of her own to start a collection and a stocking. I really love this time of year.

She has been such a restless sleeper these past few nights. Her new thing is to crawl up on my chest and fall back to sleep there. She used to sleep like that as a newborn. Hoping to get back to some good sleeping soon. I've noticed these restless nights come in waves...lets hope its a short wave


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Thursday - I'm sorry you're having a tough time, big hugs







And we do have the fb group, but nobody ever seems to post there!

AK - we are supposed to be getting our tree tonight, I can't wait! Hopefully Royce won't pull on it!

Royce has been having his worst cold yet. He's had 2 other colds, but they consisted of only a runny nose and maybe some fussiness. But this one has a pretty bad cough with it. He has been sleeping horribly because of it. Both because of his nose being so plugged and now because of the cough. I hope he gets better soon.

I'm also having a pretty crappy time right now. My husband and I have separated, he moved out on Friday. I'm trying to stay hopeful that we will figure things out, but he isn't sure what he wants right now. Ugh... Anyway, I could right a novel about the whole thing, but I don't want to drag down the thread.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Hugs to those of you having a hard time! Gillian, I'm so sorry to hear you are having troubles with your husband. I really hope you two can work things out!!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Hugs to you, Gillian!

Things are going well here - I'm so happy to be home, and enjoying taking Katmai snowshoeing (riding with me, obviously). I've tried putting him down on the snow once or twice, but he doesn't know what to do with it - too cold to crawl on without mittens, and he hates mittens! We haven't gotten around to cutting a Christmas tree yet, and we're nowhere near organized enough to do Christmas cards.

In the past week or so, Katmai has started standing alone without support for a few seconds at a time. Oddly enough, he never seems to fall - just sits down gently when he's done. I don't know how long it'll be until walking, but I hope not too soon. Getting everything out of range of a crawler-cruiser is hard enough.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Gillian* and *Courtney* ...








What a hard time of year to be going through your struggles. I'm so sorry to hear that things are rough. It's a trying season at the best of times, and to have the added pressure of strife just royally sucks. I'm sending prayerful thoughts your way.

As for us, we put up our tree in a corner Esmé isn't allowed near normally (dog dish, gas fireplace) and so far she's been good at admiring it from afar.
She's discovered books with a vengeance, much to my delight (I'm a writer...).
She won't tolerate mittens either, and so we've come home with some pretty cold hands.
Let's see, what else ... she's walking with help and standing very proudly.

We went to church today and I took her there in the stroller because I injured myself on a hike with the Ergo ... it was a public transit nightmare! Trying to fit on busy busses, having to let busses go by because there wasn't room. Geez, Louise, it sucked. I think I'm going to suck it up and wear her, despite the pain. The bus just is NOT built for strollers. And ours isn't even a big one!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

So sorry to you who are going through a rough time. I really do hope things get better for you.

We got our tree on Saturday. We went to a tree farm and cut ours down. Owyn loves it, but is doing a wonderful job not messing with it. She played with empty boxes and garland while I decorate it. I held her up to it to see if she'd want to touch it and she pulled her hands away from it. I guess that's a good thing, she just wants to look!

I had her Christmas pictures taken yesterday. When I got some time, I'll post a few here. She looks adorable in them!

I'm bumming a little right now. I was looking into a building where I could expand my daycare business. I have a friend who is working on her Waldorf certification and is going to be my preschool director. We were very excited about it and the guy I would have rented from decided he didn't like the idea of renovating his building, so that brought things to a halt for the moment. So, it's back to square one trying to find a place...


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Gillian and Courtney.

I keep forgetting about the facebook page too. One of these days, I'll put some recent pics of the baby on fb.

I'm so happy to be done with school for the semester! Not sure what I'll do with myself till the spring semester starts jan 19. (cuz I have nothing else going on with 3 kids, xmas, knitting, a dog that loves mud, laundry..... lol )


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Starling....I feel your pain. Literally. I have two damaged rotator cuffs and they flare up all too frequently...roughhousing with a five year old and living farm life will do it, I suppose. Anyway, I wore DD in the Ergo the other day while shopping. I had promised DS would could go to the mall playground and had to rescind.







I hurt so bad, I needed to leave. And, everyone tells me I'm stoic as heck, so I suppose it was pretty bad. Anyway, next time I went out, I took our stroller. It was the worst freaking pain in the butt. I used that stroller for DS, on two occasions that I can recall. Both ended in DS back in a sling and me pushing an empty stroller due to us both hating it. DD actually likes the stroller, as long as it's moving. But, I can not stand having to fight my way through doors, bump over everything, excuse myself constantly, etc. I can't WAIT until my shoulders are feeling better, but like you, I'm just going to grin and bear it. The stroller is too much hassle.

That said, I did just buy a Mountain Buggy Urban on craigslist for CHEAP. It's a seriously nice thing to maneuver, if all those above-mentioned issues didn't exist. I bought it to get exercise back walking/jogging when DH is out of town. It's not exactly a jogger, but some smooth development roads nearby, I think it will work.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

We bought a decently nice stroller (BOB Revolution). It handles awesome but DD hates it and usually melts down and I just enjoy wearing her. So it hardly gets used. I did recently become obsessed with buying a rear facing stroller and came really close to getting an Uppababy Vista bc it can be converted into a double stroller. Thankfully I didn't get it though bc DH got into a car accident last week and now we need to buy a new car and will likely need to add money to what the insurance co gives us since we decided to buy me a bigger car to fit two car seats sometime in the next yr or two. I did end up buying an umbrella stroller to keep in the trunk and DD seems happy in that. It won't get used a ton but I do like to have a stroller when I'm out to lunch, etc and out for a long time so I don't have to wear her and carry the diaper bag without having a place to put things down. I'd been using a snap and go for that until now...but we're finally about to retire the infant car seat and switch to the big Britax one.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn actually likes the stroller. She prefers it to being worn, unless she's sleepy. She's never fallen asleep in the stroller, only on my back. She is a people watcher though, and I think she can see others better from the stroller.

My SIL had a baby last week. I baby sit for her daily. She has a 16 month old son I've had since he was 8 months old. She doesn't have any maternity leave, so is using her 2 weeks of vacation as maternity leave. So, next week I start watching an itty-bitty tiny baby. I'm excited to have a little one to snuggle. I just hope the others handle it okay. I imagine he will be worn a lot of the time and I'm moving the bassinet out to the main play area so I have a place to set him down. She's bringing both the boys over for a half day later this week, wish me luck!!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

two replies of mine are gone for different reasons. i had replied to every single person who has posted. grrr. not doing it again.

gillian i am so sorry.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Gillian, I am so sorry you are going through that.







How hard.

Courtney, we are having financial tightness right now, too. It is hard at this time of year. Christmas will be okay, although shopping is a pain in the butt when you wish you could do more, but the main thing is that I've been looking forward to buying a minivan for MONTHS and it keeps being put off and now it looks like we may not be able to afford it after all. So we are down to one car because we already sold the other car and so DH takes it to work most days because it's a pain in the butt to get three kids ready every morning just to drop him off at work. There are no errands to run anyway (which I enjoy doing, to a point) because there is little to no money. And the temps have been in the low 30s or the 20s, so I don't like going outside with the kids. Plus I've been so low energy-- probably a side effect of the depression, though.

Oh, and probably the biggest thing-- it's DH's busy time of year at work and he's been working really long hours. Just to spend some time together we've been staying up until like 12 or 1 in the morning. And sometimes on weekend days too-- he either works or is doing homework every weekend day. So I stay up late, then I oversleep a little and feel exhausted and guilty the next day. I feel overwhelmed looking at the stupid boring chores I have to do again (like the sink full of dishes) and I am just so freaking bored. And DH has been more irritable than usual lately, due to working so much and not getting enough sleep either. We have been having the STUPIDEST little arguments, just over dumb stuff.









So yeah, I feel pretty down lately. I try to remember how blessed I am to have so much love in my life. But blah.

Sorry about that vent.









Eliza is seriously my sunshine, though! She is so awesome! She is so playful and humorous! She loves playing monster and tickle games, and she makes the monster noises and does the tickling, too! Lol! She also LOVES food!

Oh, but she won't sleep in the evening, which has me exhausted. Last night I finally went to bed at 1, after bouncing her to sleep in the sling (again, we'd been through this several times already), and thinking she would lie down with me. She did, and nursed for a bit, and then woke up and wanted to play! Again! But at, like, 1:30 am or something! It's what she'd been doing all night! I could pull my hair out! I was SOOOO tired that I just ignored her (baby-proofed room) and let her climb on and off the bed and do her own thing until she was finally ready to lay down and sleep. It was so annoying, though. Sometimes even when I try to go to sleep with her she still keeps waking up. It's so frustrating, I don't know why she does it. This is only happening since we got back from CA.

I just try to remember that none of this will last. It's just fleeting. We'll have DH back again and at least a little more money in February. Eliza will get through this stage. It will be Eliza's birthday in Feb., too!







I just have to get through the next 6 to 8 weeks.

Sorry that was so long!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the hugs, I needed them.

And big







s to everyone else having a rough time.

I am also having issues with Royce sleeping in the evening. If it isn't a nap, he won't let me 'slip away'. So he ends up staying up until finally I just decide to go to bed. Which is usually around 9pm, although by the time Royce settles down and will actually fall asleep it's closer to 10. But the good thing about it is that he will sleep in! We usually sleep in until 8:30-9:00.

Re strollers - Royce likes his stroller. We have a Phil and Ted Sport and I love it. It handles so well, I can push it around with one hand. And it's fairly narrow so I can fit it most places. The only complaint I have about it is that if I have it reclined b/c Royce is sleeping but then he wakes up, I have to actually take him out of it to adjust it up to sitting. I'm not sure if other strollers are different or not, but I find this a big pita! But we also do a lot of baby wearing, especially outside now that there is snow and ice on the sidewalkes, and because its so cold out! I just bought a Suse Kinder Coat, which is awesome. Royce loves walking around all snuggled up in the coat


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Ugh we are also dealing with a nasty cold/cough that has turned into an ear infection. I tried some home remedies for two days and then filled the RX for the antibiotic last night. She seems better today! This is our first real sickness so not too bad.
Money is very tight here too! I was supposed to go back to me job part time at 4 months pp but the state denied it so I quit. I don't regreet at all but money is really tight.
Gillian- I am sorry about your realtionship struggles. having a baby is very hard on most relationships. I continue to be very emotional and hormonal. Last night I was flustered that nobody-, 9 yo ds or dp, noticed that the garbage needed to go out. I went off on this rant about how I am the ONLY one that ever notices things like that. I got overly upset and told dp to levae me alone...ds thought I told dp to leave and came to tell me he did not want his dad leaving...







. Its really hard and I hope you guys can work things out!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Sounds like everyone could use some hugs around here!

Katmai's been difficult to get to sleep lately too. He keeps taking evening naps (starting somewhere between 6-9PM), but if we let him do it, then he's wide awake and wanting to play at midnight! Even if I keep him up a little later, he's still been having an hour or so of crazy playing before he'll be convinced to nurse to sleep. He doesn't like sleeping in bed alone, so will often only give me 15 min or so if I'm not in bed with him (even if dad is there). Which means he doesn't get nearly long enough nights - he ends up sleeping on my lap in the morning after I get up - which makes it hard to get breakfast and feed the fire!

We're not big Christmas people in my family, which takes a lot of the holiday stress out. We'll go cut a tree and do a few things, but no one's really expecting us to buy them any presents. We don't have much money, but live an extremely cheap lifestyle, so it mostly works out OK.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce turned 11 months old yesterday! His last 'month' birthday







I can't believe it!

He also has his 5th tooth poking through now. Still handling teething so well.

Royce has a weird rash/patchy red dry skin spots on his belly, a bit on his arm, and a small spot on his lip. The lip one I was really worried was a cold sore, but I have never had one before so I don't know what they look like/how they start. It is just a red dry skin (chapped-looking) spot. Plus the other spots. I don't know if I should be making a doctor appt over this. His cheeks and chin have also been flushed-looking and very dry. I put some of his diaper cream on his face today just to try and moisturize the area. I think this second issue could just be because of the cold dry weather.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Gillian, that skin thing could be a food reaction-- a digestive reaction. My kids get it too, usually in reaction to dairy and wheat. I think for some people it can be in response to eggs too. We are soon going to go dairy/wheat free again. Sigh.

Also, it can be a sign of zinc deficiency, which is actually pretty common and can be inherited. If he is still breastfeeding and you take a zinc supplement, that should make a difference for him, too.

Anyway . . . Eliza turned 10 months old today!!!







Yayyy!!! It was so fun shopping for her for Christmas-- her first Christmas!







I just wish I could have got her more stuff, though. I basically only got a few little things for her stocking and that was it-- no big toy or anything. Other than her stocking she'll get presents from relatives. Next year we're going to have a much better Christmas, though. Next year I want to get her one of those wooden toy kitchens!!!!







Lol . . . it's not vicarious at all







. . . actually, I wanted to get one for each of the boys, too, but we never had enough money-- next year we finally will!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I'm having big crying jags whenever it really hits me that Esmé is almost one ... some of that is just sadness that her infancy is ending, but mostly it's that I'm so sad to be going back to work in a few weeks. I can't imagine being away from her! My shifts are 12 hours, plus mandatory overtime if we get a call close to the end of the shift (I'm a paramedic) and my station is 45 minutes away from home. I could be gone 16 hours!

What will happen to my boobs? I can't pump while at work. I could hand express ... that should help a bit. But will my supply dry up? She mostly nurses at night and I'm not going to be doing any night shifts for a while.

Esmé still doesn't have any teeth. Should I be worried?

She's been sick for over a week with a gross, croupy cough. She's been sleeping on my chest with me propped up on pillows. Not pleasant.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I wouldn't worry about the teeth. I know a little boy who didn't get his first tooth until he was 18 months old! He seems to be just fine.

Owyn now has 6 teeth and is taking steps more frequently. If she has a bad fall, she'll stop trying to walk for a while, so that slows her down.

We're having Christmas at my parents' house tomorrow. I'm excited because it's like my *real* Christmas since it's at my childhood home. My mom is BIG on Christmas and has the whole day filled with Christmas fun. I'm excited to see Owyn open her presents. I know she won't actually do it herself, but she'll play in the paper and boxes which is just so cute! This being her first Christmas means everyone gets her a gift, so I can't even imagine the loot we'll be bringing home with us.

I got most of my wrapping done today and was actually a little bummed when I saw how few gifts we got her. When I made a list, it seemed like a lot of stuff, but I wrapped some things together in one box, so she'll really only be opening 3 gifts and get her Santa gift.

Oh, and my best friend is pregnant!! My two closest girlfriends are now pregnant, one is due in May and this one will probably be due in September. I'm so excited!! She's been trying for several months now and was starting to get worried not having any results. They just bought a house about a month ago and as soon as they got all settled in, she found out they're expecting! I can't wait to snuggle with all these new babies!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

LTB - Yeah, I thought about it being a possible food sensitivity, but he hasn't had anything new recently. He does eat wheat (probably too much







) and a bit of dairy. But that's not new. I'm going to have to have to think about what he's been eating lately and maybe eliminate something. As for the zinc, I guess it could be that. I try and take a multivitamin but I forget quite often.

Starling - that will definitely be a big adjustment. I doubt your supply will dry up though. You will still be able to nurse her at night which will keep it up. And at this age I think most babies are starting to limit day time nursing anyway.







I hope the transition goes smoothly for both of you

Mal - I got all my wrapping done today too! Royce will have 4 wrapped gifts under the tree, plus his 'Santa' gift, which is a mini play kitchen (very mini, but it has an oven door that opens and closes and I got a little toy pot and pan set which I'm sure he will love taking out and putting back in...and making noise with







), then he also has a few things in his stocking. I unpackaged and assembled everything before I wrapped, so all he has to do is tear off the paper and he's ready to play! And hopefully he will play with the gift, and not the paper









I was thinking that because Royce will be getting all sorts of toys for Christmas, that his birthday gift will probably just be toy storage! So that's my plan!

Oh, and I actually came to post a funny story from last night. So, in the middle of the night I heard the sound of velcro ripping (velcro diaper!), but in my half asleep state I thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. Well, fast forward a couple of hours and all of a sudden I awake to a naked baby and pee soaked bed







Thankfully, Royce has a double size mattress in his room, so we just went there and I left the clean up for the morning. Anyway, that'll teach me for ignoring weird sounds in the night







And as of tonight we are using a snap diaper at night!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 

What will happen to my boobs? I can't pump while at work. I could hand express ... that should help a bit. But will my supply dry up? She mostly nurses at night and I'm not going to be doing any night shifts for a while.

.

I think your spply should be good (and holy crap at a year leave!) our bodies are amazing things and can sort of regulate milk production for when they are most needed. So if she is already nursing at night mostly then it is sor tof already started. when i worked (my first was 11 months when i went to work) my milk production slowed down during the day while i was away from her, but picked back up when i go thome.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm hoping to get my wrapping done today! I'm really excited about the haba walker wagon we got Fiona! DH put it together last night! It's so cute! I think that will just get a bow and put under the tree but I want to wrap the rest of the stuff. I'm going to make some Christmas cookies to give to friends here in town this week too! I love Christmas.

Tomorrow is Solstice though! We are going to go to a Solstice party to celebrate the longer days! It's a big deal in Alaska. Fiona will be getting a new pair of PJ's from the solstice fairy. (an idea I read about in Mothering a while back)

I hope all these sick babies start feeling better soon!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
I think your spply should be good (and holy crap at a year leave!) our bodies are amazing things and can sort of regulate milk production for when they are most needed. So if she is already nursing at night mostly then it is sor tof already started. when i worked (my first was 11 months when i went to work) my milk production slowed down during the day while i was away from her, but picked back up when i go thome.

Thanks for the reassurance! It's very comforting ...
As for the year leave, yes it's awesome. I feel awful for the mamas that have to go back after just a few weeks. Hopefully that's next on Obama's agenda! Up here in Canada we can also extend our leave past a year without pay for another long while ... either another six months or a year, I'm not sure. But we all get one year with a percentage of our wages. I am very thankful for it.

The Solstice Fairy!







I love it ... and will be stealing the idea. So glad that the days will be getting longer!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
I wouldn't worry about the teeth. I know a little boy who didn't get his first tooth until he was 18 months old! He seems to be just fine.

Geez, I'm hoping they'll come sooner than that! She has been teething, and I can see bumps, but then nothing comes of it. I did meet a little 15 month old the other day with no teeth, and I have to admit that I thought he looked like a wizened old man who'd misplaced his false teeth. Ah well, all in good time.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

LOL Starling! You cracked me up with the old man comment! 2 of my sister's girls didn't get their first tooth until a year old. And oddly enough, her 3rd got her 1st at 3 months - so two extremes. Makenna just has the teensiest bit of 1 tooth poking through. Don't worry - she'll get her teeth when she's ready. 

My mom was here for a visit and Makenna opened her gifts already. She got a wooden shape sorter and a wooden stacker toy and a book. Those were the 2 toys I've been eyeing. DH and I really don't feel like she needs more toys right now - especially since she still has gifts coming from other people. I feel sort of bad but she does't know the difference and already has so many toys.

Cindy


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Oh I like solstice fairy idea too! We have a "jammie fairy" who comes and leaves pj's for the kids on xmas eve every year.

I was laughing while looking at all the "baby's first christmas" onsies and outfits the other day. Anthony is in 18-24mos clothes, so none of the outfits would fit him! Funny and a bit teary at the same time. He wasn't able to wear the "baby's first halloween" outfit the other two wore either. sniff.

Oh look. He found a bottle of fabric paint. such a good finder.....


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

We just got back from our first Christmas celebration. Owyn always amazes me how well she handles these all day outings. My mom is crazy about Christmas, so we were doing things non-stop all day long. Owyn received several outfits, a play nativity set, some books, blankets, and an adorable little Waldorf doll. What I really love is watching my Godchildren open their gifts from me. They LOVED their gifts this year. I love seeing that excitement on their faces!

One Christmas celebration down, two or three to go. We'll go to Mass on Christmas Eve, then the ILs are coming over early Christmas morning to watch her open her gifts. Then we're going to the ILs for lunch and gifts, then home for a nap and then to my aunt's house in the evening for dinner and more gifts. That will probably be the craziest day of all. Today is so weird because I still have to work tomorrow. It's unusual since normally I've just finished school for the semester and am off for a month. I only work 3 days this week and 2 the next, so it won't be too bad... just weird to think I have to get up early after all the celebration today.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *monkaha* 
I was laughing while looking at all the "baby's first christmas" onsies and outfits the other day. Anthony is in 18-24mos clothes, so none of the outfits would fit him! Funny and a bit teary at the same time. He wasn't able to wear the "baby's first halloween" outfit the other two wore either. sniff.

The Carter's First Birthday outfits go up to 24 mo. at least. We got Eliza's in size 18 mo.


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Here's an awesome idea I saw on a blog somewhere, oddly, it was a thickly christian one. Anyway, here it is:

_Solstice Fairy Cakes:
We ice half a batch of fairy cakes with white chocolate & half with milk chocolate: white representing the (returning) light and milk symbolizing the (retreating) dark._

I'm hoping to make either a layer cake (half butter cake, half chocolate) or cupcakes or something similar to do this. We'll see if I get it done. BIL comes to town for a few days today, so maybe no time.

DD started walking more than two steps at a time today. She got to about 8 steps, I think.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

He took steps last night! He has been taking one step and then sitting/falling down, but last night, he did several in a row. More than once! And then felt the need to practice that at 1am, so I am EXHAUSTED now. Perfect for an afternoon when my big kids are on crazy sugar highs from school holiday parties. blah.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

That is so exciting!!!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn has been doing 4-5 very wobbly steps where she really just leans into where she's going. But today, she took like 9 steps like a pro!! She even started to fall over and kind of side stepped to catch herself and kept going! I'm so impressed!!

This must be why she didn't sleep well last night at all, very fitful sleeping, kicking me in the back and crawling around the bed all night. And I had my 16 month old daycare kid return today along with his new 2 week old brother. I am TIRED!

ETA: DH and I just sat on the floor with her for the last 15 minutes or so and she just kept taking turns walking back and forth between us! So exciting!! It's like she's a big girl overnight! I tried to get some video of it to put on my FB, but she just wanted to play with the camera so that didn't work so well.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Eliza still hasn't moved beyond more than two steps at a time (without holding on to something.)


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce has yet to let go at all, even just to stand! It's funny because I thought he would be one of those babies to skip crawling and just walk. But then one day the crawling just clicked in his head and now he crawls everywhere. He used to walk along while holding onto his little walker wagon, but now he won't (he just drops down and crawls). He still will walk along the walls and furniture, while holding on. I can't wait to see him try it for the first time. I hope he's with me when he does it, that would really suck to miss it.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Hey, I'm getting the fitful sleep without the walking! Not fair!







Katmai is very interested in standing by himself without holding on, and practices that all the time - but he has apparently no desire to walk other than along furniture.

We set up our Christmas tree yesterday, hanging non-breakable ornaments on the lower branches. He immediately discovered which of those could be pulled apart into chokable-sized pieces of course, but I think we've caught them all now.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé took her first independent steps last night too! Once she discovered that she could, she did the back and forth dance between my partner and I. So exciting!







And she's also mastered the walking while only holding one of our hands. She's getting so big! All of our babies are getting so big!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Willa also moved past the one or two steps today. It is really exciting! She is also using more signs lately-but not words really. I hope she gets over the gunk she has so she can feel better for her first x-mas!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce said his first word







(Well... besides 'mama' which I get when he's upset). Anyway, he said "dog"!!! He has a book called 'Dog' which has photos of different dogs, and the word 'dog' is repeated a lot. Anyway, earlier today he started going 'daw daw daw' while flipping through the book, I repeated the word 'dog' to him, and he said 'dawww-g'







My husband came over later and I brought the book out, and he did it again!! So exciting! I can't wait to teach him more words!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Exciting!

I get the "mama" or "mum-mum" when Katmai's upset too, but nothing else so far. I keep hoping that one of these signs or words will stick with him one of these days, but I guess I just have to be patient. Why would he want to communicate anyway, when life generally already goes his way?


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Gillian, that's so fun and exciting!







Eliza doesn't say words very often anymore-- sometimes, though. But more often now, she does little babbles that sound like sentences, with the right intonations and so forth, but she's just mimicking the general sound of speaking.







It's funny. Like, when I'm tucking the boys into bed, and holding Eliza, I wave and say "Goodnight sweethearts" to the boys, she waves and babbles in a similar way to what I said.







It's so cute!!! She also mimics me in other ways. If one of the boys gets hurt she's learned to pat them with a very concerned expression on her face, just like Mama does, and she says "aaawwww".





















I tell her she's such a good little mama! She's definitely more nurturing and cuddly than either of my boys were at that age. It's very interesting to see their little individual personalities come out! She's also very bossy and assertive, too, though!







It's a riot! It kind of scares me, though, because of my two boys, my three-year-old one was the assertive baby (DS1 not so much!) and the three-year-old has been the HARDEST toddler to raise! Hopefully she will possess a healthy dose of flexibility with her assertiveness!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh, the mimic phase is so cute! We're in it too. She carries on long,unintelligible conversations with us, complete with intonation and sentence-like lilt. So cute!

Esmé started walking in earnest last night ... an early Christmas present for us! She also learned -- by herself -- to back off the couch safely. So to celebrate, we went out for gluten-free pizza!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

All these little walkers! Yeah! Loved the video Starling!

Fiona is definitely more into her verbal skills then gross motor. She is just now beginning to cruise the furniture. But she is saying and signing several words. I notice that she'll work on one for a while and drop it to move on to another before going back to it. It's interesting how their little brains work! Along with Mama and Papa she says hi, bye, pretty, kitty, ball, bear, and baby. She signs puppy, all done, more, hat, and every once in a while ball and gentle. She signed Papa once! Babbling conversations are non stop in our house. I love them!







My mom often calls not to talk to me but to listen to Fiona talk in the background!

We are very excited for Christmas here! We'll have dinner with out neighbors tonight. Tomorrow we'll go to mass and have friends over in the late afternoon for "Appetizer Extravaganza!" The next morning Fiona and I fly to Seattle to visit my family. My sister is due with her 8th baby on Christmas! We are hoping to make the birth but we'll just have to see. At any rate I'll be there to hold a tiny newborn!









Merry Christmas Everybody! I hope you have a lovely, peaceful celebration! Even though we don't know each other in real life, I do consider you my friends and I'm grateful for all of you! Peace!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Starling, we have been playing the same back and forth game all week! I love it. We call it pass the baby. Owyn is so proud of herself when she walks. I think because I always cheer for her when she does it, now she'll walk to the couch or what have you and look up at me with a big grin waiting for me to cheer for her. It's adorable!

We don't have a lot of talking going on. I have noticed a few things she says for the same things all the time, so I think she's starting to have her own words for things. She says something that sounds like "What's that" (more like "Wa dat!) when I give her something or if she finds something on the floor. I just noticed the last few days that it's pretty consistent. She says Mama and Dada. But really she just growls a lot. That's her favorite noise to make. She's also a very bossy baby in her gestures and intonations! And she'll point at whatever she's bossing around, it's very entertaining. My niece used to do the same thing when she was a baby, so it's fun to reminisce!

So, Owyn is almost 10 months and has always required swaddling if I want her to sleep for any length of time by herself. In bed with us at night, she isn't swaddled. And just lately has become a belly sleeper (with her butt in the air, haha!) at night. And now she's not napping as long, wakes up crying and I go in there and she's rolled over and is stuck in the swaddle. So, with the long weekend we are going to do away with the swaddle and see if it helps. We've tried in the past and she won't sleep by herself without being swaddled, she'll start crying within a few minutes. So, we'll see how it goes.

Tonight is Christmas Eve Mass and two family Christmases tomorrow. We're also supposed to be getting a pretty significant snow storm by morning, so looks like it'll be a white Christmas for us! Yay!! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays everyone!!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

So how did Christmas go?? Did everyone's LO enjoy their first Christmas? What were the hits/misses for gifts?

We had a good day. My husband came over in the morning for Royce to open his presents. The major favourites were the little toy kitchen which I also bought some cooking utensils and pots and pans for. He *loves* pulling things out of the oven and putting them back in. He also got a little car ramp that he immediately figured out how to put the car at the top and watch it go down then repeat. That's really all he is playing with now, but I'm sure the other stuff will get played with eventually (he also got some musical instruments/shakers, a little truck, a soft doll, and a bead coaster). Then (after a nap) Royce and I went for a walk and visited my dad and then a friend. My husband was supposed to join us again for dinner but wasn't feeling well, so we enjoyed our veggie chili just the 2 of us.

Does anyone know, at what point should you worry if a baby doesn't seem to be doing as much as others of the same age? Some of the things your babies are doing seem so much more advanced then Royce is (and Royce is the oldest here!) And even the January born babies I know irl seem to do more or just seem 'older' in how the play/interact. I'm sure it's all fine, but I do worry sometimes


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Christmas was really very lovely here. We had a winter storm blow in on Christmas Eve night. It was sleeting a freezing rain and we were awaiting a big snowstorm (that's still going on right now). Sounds bad but it was really great. We went to mass and our organist couldn't make it because of the weather. So we sang the carols a capelle and our priest told a story about how Silent Night was first sung because a church's organ broke and that carol was written to sing without an organ. Then of course we ssang Silent Night. When we woke Christmas morning, the sleet had turned to snow and we had a beautiful white Christmas. It really is a beautiful memory I'll share with Owyn about her first Christmas.

Her favorite gift was her "Santa" gift, a push walker toy. She loves that it will take her wherever she wants to go! We had a nice time visiting family and braving the snowstorm. I also received a great new phone which I am posting from right now! I love it!

The celebrating is really just beginning at our house. My birthdat is Monday so we'll be celebrating that, we're celebrating new year's eve as a family at my aunt's house we'll see how Owyn handles that! And we have friends coming in from out of town next weekend so we'll celebrate the holiday again with them.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve we went to the candlelight service at our UU church and visited friends ... a lovely mellow evening.

On Christmas morning, my sister came over and I made gluten-free scones, and we had those with devonshire cream and preserves. Then we all went for a walk with the dogs. It was a gorgeous day! My parents also came over in the afternoon and we opened Esmé's presents then. The rest of us didn't exchange presents, so her's were the only ones under the tree. She got a bucket and shovel, a couple of books, a soft doll, a pair of slippers, a wooden truck, blocks, and a set of dominoes. As expected, she was far more interested in the wrapping paper and cloth bags!

We had our turkey dinner later, with a few more guests added. I think we were ten in all, with Esmé at the head of the table with her chair, having a fabulous time. My partner is a chef, so we are very spoiled when it comes to family dinners. She made this incredible gluten-free torte; shortbread crust, ganache, macadamia nuts, caramel, and more chocolate drizzled on top, served with a quenelle of homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum!

*Gillian* ... we are all such worriers, aren't we? I am positive that wee Royce is trucking along just fine. I hope you're hanging in there, mama.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Surprisingly to me, Katmai could care less about the wrapping paper, or the gift opening. He liked the toys though. Things to bang with and on were the big hits (a xylophone type toy, a couple hammers, and a toy to pound wooden balls through holes).

We went on a couple hours snowshoe for Christmas, visiting friends and bringing pie, cookies, and jam to the neighbors - getting back just as it got dark in time for a neighbor's Christmas party.

Gillian - Don't worry! I think people just post more online when their babies learn new tricks!







Katmai isn't walking or talking either, and I'm pretty sure AVERAGE walking age is closer to a year anyway. I once read a good article reminding parents that everything within the normal range for developmental milestones is completely equivalent - e.g. babies who are "slower" at figuring out walking or talking won't be less athletic or less verbal as older children - there's no statistical difference between kids within that normal range.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

gillian i wouldn't worry about royce, when i was reading what you said he did with his christmas presnets I was thinking "Junes isn't doing those things, am i doing somethign wrong?" also reading what some of the other babies are doing. I think if he is progressing, happy, and healthy thats all good. walking and talking that stuff comes at different times for all babies, everythign does.

how exciting all the new things our babies are doing!

our christmas was the best ever. everythign was just perfect. Every single present given and recieved was a hit, the people i got to spend the day with were spot on....and now we have zoo passes. Juniper REALLY like the blue macaw. we will be back soon.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Hi, I've been lurking in this thread for a while and was wondering if I could join you guys. My baby is a Feb. baby and I was in the Feb ddc under a different name. I couldn't keep up with the thread towards the end of my pregnancy because I was so tired







. Anyway I loved reading how all your babies are developing. I remember yesterday just how I was a few weeks pregnant with my baby and now he's almost one. Time flies.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Welcome BRMama! Jump right in!

Owyn is making huge strides with this walking thing. She has started letting go of the furniture and taking off. Everyday there is significant improvement in her skills! She is so proud of herself, as am I. She will stop and just grin so big like wow look at what I'm doing! And she sleeping much more soundly now that she got it figured out, which is a blessing because she was crawling all over the bed in her sleep! I can't belive my little baby is turning into a toddler!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Thank you everyone for your reassurance. It's hard not to worry sometimes, but I'm trying to not be a crazy first time mom







And actually I read an article the other day about 'late bloomers' and it said that babies aren't considered 'late walkers' until after 15 months, and 'late talkers' until after 16 months. So I guess I've got some time. And another thing is, I think Royce 'looks' a lot younger than other babies because he's still bald, the hair really makes some babies look older to me. Anyway, I'm done being crazy now!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the holidays! Royce and I have been sick for a few days which is really crappy. We've both had a bad cough, although mine seems to be dragging on longer than his. We are leaving today to go stay with a friend for New Years! Should be fun!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I heard the sweetest song for babies. I had to come share. It's by Kimya Dawson (who did a lot of the songs for the movie, Juno). It's called I Love You Sweet Baby. There are actually quite a few references in it to AP, such as co-sleeping, breastfeeding, etc. It's kind of a silly song, but everytime it comes on, Owyn and I dance to it.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

We had a good christmas. Makenna hasn't played with all her toys yet bc I didn't want to open the things that have to be shipped back from Indiana since they wouldn't fit in our bags. She loves the wood stacker and shape sorter my mom got her that she got early. She seemed very taken with some of her new books as well.

Makenna came down with he croup on our last night in indiana!! So scary! We spend a lot of time in the steamed up bathroom and then DH and I took turns letting her sleep on us while we sat in a chair next to vaporizer. We took her to urgent care in the morning and she got a steroid shot to help her breathing...then we had to fly that afternoon. We ended up missing our connection and having to stay over night in chicago. Thankfuly Makenna was doing much better and she seemed to have fun in the hotel room. She's still not 100% but so much better!

Oh Makenna also got her 2nd tooth on Christmas. Perhaps that has something to do with her getting sick? We've definitely had some not so great nights and I am so so happy to be home and sleeping in our own beds again. She slept with us the past 7 nights so I didn't get much sleep but last night she slept until 4am in her crib. Yay for the first decent night sleep in a week!

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh, *Cindy* ... what an adventure! I hope she's feeling better.

*Mal85* ... Esmé has started taking off on us too. She gets about 15 steps away and then gets scared. We bought her her first pair of shoes, and my partner and I both cried. Where is our little, tiny baby? We're both getting baby fever, even though we're pretty sure that Esmé will be our one and only.

*BRmama* ... Welcome back! Fill us in on how your little one is doing!

*Gillian*... We've all been sick over the last three weeks. First Esmé, then my partner, then me. And mine is sticking around! It's in my lungs too, which I hope won't develop into a nasty infection. It's been a bad season for coughs and colds around here!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Thank you everyone for the welcomes. Just a little background. Towards the end of my pregnancy I started feeling really tired and I ended up having an emergency c-section. Turns out I had placenta abruptia. So fast forward after researching what that meant I felt so blessed this Christmas for having my son Landon here with me. He's such a healthy happy little boy.

Right now he's babbling a lot and says little words like da da mum mum and some words that I have no idea where they came from. We're a bilingual family and at home we speak in our native language. Out of our home we speak English. He crawls everywhere and is just now starting to stand up by himself but he doesn't know how to support himself yet so he falls back down. He's very smart. He started mimmicking me when I say no to something he shouldn't do. For example he knows not to pull out the Christmas tree ornaments and he'll do it. Then I'll say noo and turn my head back and forth. So he lets go of the ornament turns his head back and forth and then claps lol. He's also teething right now. He's got six so far. So sleep around here is something we try to do as often as possible.

Anyway our Christmas was a great one. I got him a little farm with animals so I can teach him the animals names in my native language (it's really hard finding learning tools in my native language), and a wooden train blocks set, and mil gave him a big yellow truck that he loves. He loves anything that has wheels lol. So despite the fact that we had fun night time has been really hard around here recently.

Mal85, I'll have to check that song out. Landon loves music.

Starling&diesel, I hope you feel better


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Sorry to everyone who's sick! Katmai caught a small cold and then passed it to me, but we're basically over it. It's been too warm here lately (rain melting the snow!), but I think we're going to get back to snowshoeing weather soon. I hope so, since we have a plan to snowshoe in and go winter camping with some friends of ours (they have a 6 month old), before the holidays are over.

Katmai's favorite toys are the balls that go in his ball ramp. He seems to have given up pounding them through from the top, because putting them in through the side is easier. Somehow, even in a one room house, we keep losing the balls! The mallets that pound on on the xylophone are a bit hit too - sometimes used on the xylophone, but more often on everything else.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Have any of you been trying baby signing? I've been trying a few signs with Katmai for quite a number of months now, and he's not doing any of them. I hear these stories of 6 month old babies signing with their parents and wonder if I'm doing something wrong? Or if I should just keep going and it'll be useful later?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna uses some signs. It's all about how often you use them and really she is just limited by my not knowing very many. She does milk, more, all done, dog and bird. I need to learn some more! It's pretty cool. She uses the sign for dog most often.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I've been using signs for months now, but Esmé isn't signing back much. She'll sign "more," sort of. I'd really like her to learn "please," "help," and "up," especially. And the nursing sign too. She'll say "num num" when she wants to nurse, but that took some hard practice after several days of her yanking on my shirt and getting frustrated. She has a couple of other words as well, but I'd love for her to pick up the few signs that would make our life a lot easier.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I started a thread in "working parents" about my worries about going back to work. If any of you who have BTDT want to drop in and leave some sage advice, I'd appreciate it!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I try to use the handful of signs we've been trying consistently, and certainly he's seen them lots and lots of times by now. Sometimes I think he does dog, but I'm not ever sure of it. Oh well. I suppose the only people who write comments on those baby signing websites are the ones whose babies picked it up really fast! I guess one would expect a natural variation in speed of language acquisition with signs just as with spoken words.

Katmai has decided that he can request whatever he needs by crawling over to me, pulling up on my legs, and growling - switching to excited panting when I mention the thing he wants.









How long can your babies play by themselves? I was having a conversation with someone about this the other day. I think Katmai does great playing by himself, while my friend thought his baby wouldn't do it for long - then we realized neither of us had any clue what average was.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
How long can your babies play by themselves?

Esmé is good for twenty minute stretches at a time when she's doing something she's engrossed in. She'll entertain herself for that long with her big box of books, or in her chair at the table playing with a pile of yogurt or a puddle of water on her tray, or "sorting" laundry in and out of the basket.
None of this works when she's feeling clingy though.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

I lurk here more than I post, but I was wondering today what everyone was going to do for their little ones birthdays, they are coming quick I swear it was just yesterday that he was being born! All we have planned so far is to go get his pictures done in the morning, and we will have a small little party but I have no clue about the theme or a cake or anything. So what are you guys all going to be doing?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai will play by himself for half an hour at a time easily, and often longer (with brief breaks to wander over to mom or dad and say hi, then back to playing). As long as he doesn't need to nurse or sleep, he's mostly content to explore. Though I frequently look over his way and talk for a minute or two, sometimes I think I don't play with him enough!

A first birthday party is more for the adults, really. I'll probably do what I always do for parties - have a bunch of folks over for a potluck, make some sort of pie... Though since Katmai's birthday is Valentine's day, I might end making some heart-shaped cookies or something along those lines.

I don't know if it's appropriate to post this, but there was an article on my family in the paper the other day, and the photographer took better pics of Katmai than I could!







http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...how_index.html


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
Katmai will play by himself for half an hour at a time easily, and often longer (with brief breaks to wander over to mom or dad and say hi, then back to playing). As long as he doesn't need to nurse or sleep, he's mostly content to explore. Though I frequently look over his way and talk for a minute or two, sometimes I think I don't play with him enough!

A first birthday party is more for the adults, really. I'll probably do what I always do for parties - have a bunch of folks over for a potluck, make some sort of pie... Though since Katmai's birthday is Valentine's day, I might end making some heart-shaped cookies or something along those lines.

I don't know if it's appropriate to post this, but there was an article on my family in the paper the other day, and the photographer took better pics of Katmai than I could!







http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...how_index.html

First I would like to say that the pictures and story are awesome!! You are my hero, me and my husband want so badly to move to the wilderness and live off the land!

And yeah its going to be a small party with just my in laws and grandmother in law, my parents and my brother. Everyone I know who has had kids or just wants to give me their un-asked for opinion says we have to do a smash cake and that he should get to eat a bunch of sugar and soda and I was really in shock. I was planning on giving him a cupcake probably carrot cake or something like that with a thin oh so very thin layer of icing on it. I don't think I need to waste a entire cake on him and I still don't let him have sugar if I can help it.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

McKittre: Fascinating! You are living the life that so many people only talk or dream about!!! Great pics. And thanks for letting us in on your home. 

Makenna used to be able to play for long stretches alone too. Now all the sudden she can be without me for 2 seconds or she's standing at the gate of the living room crying. This is just the past week or so. She did have croup and now I think maybe a tummy bug so I'm hoping that is why and that this isn't a new phase! I'm sick and she has been crying most of the time that DH watched her so I could sleep. It's rough being sick and being a breast feeding mom!

Cindy


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

McKittre-- very cool! I loved that slideshow/article! It's so interesting to peek into other's lives!

As far as solo play, I am kind of cracking up, because I honestly do not know how long Eliza could play alone. The moment she wakes up the poor child is swooped down upon by her doting siblings and parents and she is almost always playing with someone. And of course I "wear" her a lot. When she's not being held or actively playing with someone she's usually following the boys around, watching them and just hanging out with them. I love it. Now that all of my kids are getting a little older things are starting to get a little easier and really very FUN. In fact, "fun" is Eliza's newest word! Lol!


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## PNCTink (Jan 12, 2009)

Hello!

May I join in here? My DS was born February 1st, 2009.







He's our 2nd child. I am also over on The Babywearer quite often. I mostly lurk here.







I haven't read through the whole thread either, just the last two pages.

McKittre, I saw the link for the NYT article on TBW the other day with your picture with Inka.









Anyway, DS is not quite talking yet, but he does say dada and babbles. His sister doesn't give him a real chance to talk!







He's creeping along furniture, but hasn't taken any steps yet. DD didn't walk until 13 months, so it's ok. He's just starting to eat "real" food. I am so paranoid about choking.


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## bedheadmaestro (Jul 22, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

I don't know if it's appropriate to post this, but there was an article on my family in the paper the other day, and the photographer took better pics of Katmai than I could!







http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...how_index.html

I always lurk and never post in here (DD born 15 Feb) but I was moved to respond about your amazing lifestyle. Really inspiring. The first thing I'm inspired to do is rotate the compost for the first time in months.......


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Mckittre: DH and I were wondering how you manage to use the outhouse in subzero weather? Ouchie!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

mckittre - SO cool! Thank you for sharing. I love being able to peak into interesting lives. I'm afraid my life would bore all of you









As for playing alone - Royce can sometimes get 'lost' in an activity for a good chunk of time. I don't really know though, maybe 20 minutes? Maybe more. It depends on his mood.

Royce will be 1 in less than 2 weeks! Crazy! His party will be on the 17th, we will have some family and a couple of close friends, pretty small. I'm not having a theme, other than 'Royce's 1st Birthday'. I'm going to decorate with '1st Birthday' party decorations, we will have finger foods, and just visit. I think I'm going to have his photo album out for people to look at, and I want to have something for everyone to write a message for Royce on. That's all I've thought of so far. Oh and I'm going to get a cake for everyone and then bake Royce his own little 'healthy' cake (I'm such a party pooper!). I would bake the whole cake for everyone, but that's too much pressure as I'm not a good baker!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

mckittre- Thank you for sharing your life with us. Very inspiring and your son is really cute!

Landon plays really good by himself. Unless he's hungry or tired then he can play with his toys for a long time. He's amazed at anything that has wheels. Today he was following me around as I vacummed. I try to play with him as much as I can but right now he's into wandering all over the place hehe.

I'm glad somebody brought up the birthday issue. I've been thinking about it for a while. It's hard here because I wanted to do something outdoors but it's still way cold outside. I thought about doing a small theme nothing fancy. We don't watch tv much but he looooves the "Wiggles" so I thought for his party I'd do that theme just so I'll have something special to remember when he grows up hehe. I'll just get some balloons with those colors and some wiggles figurines. Gillian you posted a great idea, I hope you don't mind me stealing it







. Since we limit sugar here as much as we can I'll make a little healthy cake for him and get a cake for everyone else along with some appetizers.

PNCTink Welcome!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I love the idea of people writing messages, *Gillian*. Can I steal that? As for us, I think we'll go to the aquarium for her birthday. Friends & family can come. We'll probably do a healthy cake too. No prezzies ...


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Have any of your babies become ultra clingy again??? Makenna can't even be happy being held by daddy right now. If I am 2 feet away on the other side of the baby gate eating lunch she will stand there and cry. I basically have to be in site and or holding her at all times. I'm hoping this is bc she is under the weather but really I think she is almost all better now. Ack!!! She was fine last week!!

No b-day plans yet. My birth class is doing a group birthday party which should be fun but we'll do something on our own too. Small. I wish we could be outside at a park but even in CA it's too chilly. Our house is tiny so we won't be having many people over. And unfortunately, most of our family is out of town. That is who I'd really like to celebrate with. I also plan to bake a small cake for her and perhaps get a big one for the adults. I wonder if she'll even eat it, she's so picky. LOL. Then again she always wants junk (even though she doesn't get it).

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé is super clingy lately too. That just started. Amd here I thought we'd skipped that part. Ha ha!
*Mckittre*...that was an awesome piece in the NY Times. What a lovely way to capture a moment in time for your beautiful family.
Here's the latest video of Esmé on the move. As she gets older I think we'll make our youtube channel private, so this might be one of the last links.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Oh I am glad to hear we're not the only ones. Owyn has recently become super clingy too. She used to do great with DH and almost anyone else, she's usually very social. But not lately. I'm hoping it's temporary. We were all over the place with the holidays the last couple weeks so hopefull she's just readjusting. It's really hard on me with my daycare kids here when she won't let me take care of anyone else without crying.

No set plans yet for her birthday. We have a while, march 1st. I want to do something the weekend before her birthday since it's on a Monday. I haven't decided if it will be just family or friends as well. My family is incredibly large so if we do more than that we'll probably have to rent a place to do it. Our house is too small.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

My son is very clingy also, but he always has been. It has been worse the last week though because he is getting his molars in. None of his other teeth bothered him this much. Its so sad to watch him go through this







. I am hoping that when they are fully in he will go back to his old self.


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## rachandlily (Jul 15, 2008)

Would anyone be willing to post their "healthy" cake recipe? DD hasn't had ANY sugar yet...so I definitely think it would be a bad idea to give her real cake all of a sudden on her birthday.
Thanks!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks for the notes everyone! (and as far as the outhouse, it's not often as cold as zero here. When it is, we go quickly.)

With no sugar and special healthy cakes, you are all much more rigorous than I've been! I try not to give Katmai sugar, but I add a bit of maple syrup to my plain yogurt (my homemade is often more sour than store-bought) or oatmeal, or put homemade jam on my toast, and I just share those things with him like every other food. Once or twice, when he's come over and yelled at me while I'm eating a christmas cookie, I've even given him a small piece.
I like to bake pies and probably won't be able to resist for Katmai's party. I just won't give him any.







He won't know the difference, and the adults will enjoy the pie.

Molars already Pogo? Wow! Katmai's just working on getting his 3rd tooth!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

He has so many teeth! When his molars are in completely he will have 10 teeth. He got his first tooth 2 days after he turned 6 months old.

I would also like cake recipes! He has had small amounts of sugar, but not much. I remember my cousins first birthday party (I was like 10) she had mountain dew and a entire sheet cake to herself, and they wondered why she was sick and vomiting after the party!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipFirstBDay.htm

I plan on making one of these. Not sure yet. Maybe carrot?

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

This is the cake that I am doing: http://www.simplyhomemade.ca/recipes...nd-Banana-Cake

Except that I will use real brown sugar, and I am not going to put the chocolate chips in. Oh and I want to put icing on it, I think I will use one of the recipes from the link Cindy posted (thanks Cindy!), maybe the banana glaze? I haven't decided yet.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

You ladies have motivated me to start thinking about birthday. Owyn's is a while away, she just turned 10 months old on New Year's Day. But I like to plan ahead.

We are actually doing three separate parties, which seems utterly ridiculous, but we'll survive. My family is LARGE. 18 kids, 14 adults... and that's just my parents, siblings, so on. We'll also have my closest cousins who are like my sisters, and their kids and my grandparents and aunt and uncle. So, that is one party by itself. DH's family is small and overwhelmed by my family, so we're going to do a small dinner with them the next day. And our friends are like family, but also overwhelmed by my family, so we'll be having a bbq with them on her actual birthday.

We're doing the whole themed party with my family. Her theme is garden fairies, has been her theme since before she was born. I found a cute tutu for her to wear and am hunting for some wings small enough for her. I'm going to get a cake made for the family (I'm a bad, bad baker). But I am going to attempt to make an applesauce spice cake for her to dig into.

Shortly after her birthday, we're taking the train to visit our out of town friends. I'm excited to take her on the train with us, I think she'll like it way better than traveling in the car. We'll probably do something with them for her birthday too, but nothing major since it'll just be the 5 of us.

We are very very sleepy this week. Owyn has been really restless in bed with us for a while now, so we decided to start transitioning her to sleep in the crib. It's not going well so far. I promised DH I'd give it a full week and hope for improvement. If there isn't at least improvement by then, we have to reassess. I'm exhausted. She will fall asleep without any crying if I stand next to her bed and can make it quite a while initially. When she wakes in the middle of the night though, it's nearly impossible to get her back to sleep. She won't cry and her eyes get very heavy, but she just won't give in and go to sleep. And she freaks out if I even move away from her bed before she falls asleep. So, I've stood next to the crib for. ever. waiting for her to fall asleep. Have any of you made this transition from co-sleeping? Any advice?? :yawning


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
We are very very sleepy this week. Owyn has been really restless in bed with us for a while now, so we decided to start transitioning her to sleep in the crib. It's not going well so far. I promised DH I'd give it a full week and hope for improvement. If there isn't at least improvement by then, we have to reassess. I'm exhausted. She will fall asleep without any crying if I stand next to her bed and can make it quite a while initially. When she wakes in the middle of the night though, it's nearly impossible to get her back to sleep. She won't cry and her eyes get very heavy, but she just won't give in and go to sleep. And she freaks out if I even move away from her bed before she falls asleep. So, I've stood next to the crib for. ever. waiting for her to fall asleep. Have any of you made this transition from co-sleeping? Any advice?? :yawning

I am right there with you... we tried the no cry sleep solution for almost 2 weeks with no improvement at all, so I sleep most the night on a mattress on the floor with my son and the rest of the night in bed with my husband because my son crawls around in his sleep so he cant co-sleep in bed with us anymore. I am planning on trying the no cry sleep solution again within the next month or so. I think it failed this time because he is getting his molars in. So really I have no advice for you but lots and lots of sympathy.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I"m having fun catching up with all the posts! We had a wonderful Christmas here and then Fiona and I headed down south to see my family the day after Christmas. It was a great trip but she was clingy for the first time ever. No one else could hold her the entire trip except for a few minutes here and there. She was happy...as long as she was in my arms. It was exhausting!

Still an incredible trip. Fiona attended her first birth! We were lucky enough to be there for the birth of my niece Clara. She was born on New Years eve at 1:52am in my sisters cabin. It was beautiful. The Christmas tree all lit up and hardly any other lights. I was amazed that Fiona didn't fuss since it was the middle of the night and she got scooped out of bed for the birth. Somehow she sensed that something special was happening and she was full of smiles and quiet as could be. Clara was 9 pounds, 5 ounces at birth! I really want a home birth next time! It was amazing to be a part of it.

A few days later, Fiona and Clara were baptized together at my parents and sisters church. My mom loved that. Fiona wore the baptism gown that was made for my grandmother and all of her siblings. Its over 120 years old and nearly all of my family has worn it.

Flying home went well until we got stuck in Anchorage. After hours of delays they finally canceled our flight so I had to hall all of our luggage and car seat and baby to a hotel by myself and back to the airport at 4:30 this morning. I am so glad to be home!!!! Fiona is exploring the house and crawling on her dogs and checking out her old toys. I think she feels glad to be home too... she's been busy exploring for an hour! This is huge since for the last 10 days I haven't had more then 10 minutes without her in my arms unless she was sleeping. Yeah for home!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:

He has so many teeth! When his molars are in completely he will have 10 teeth. He got his first tooth 2 days after he turned 6 months old.
Wow, and I thought Landon had a lot. He's got six and one on the way. He was clingy before but with the two that just came in he was way more clingy than normal. It was really hard seeing him suffer like that too. Now he's back to his old self exploring. So there's hope. He's a little more independent when he can see me but if I go to use the restroom or to the kitchen then he goes beserk.

Thanks you guys for the link. I love the wholesome baby food website.

Mal85 That's such a cute theme, and wow that's awesome you have a big family. I can sympathize with you on the sleepless nights. We're right there too trying to transition him to a crib. He'll sleep for a long stretch at night in it but once he's awake it's really hard to get him to go back to sleep.

What's the no cry sleep solution? Is it an alternative to cio? I guess I should go find a thread on it


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BRmama* 
What's the no cry sleep solution? Is it an alternative to cio? I guess I should go find a thread on it









Its a book I heard about on the nighttime parenting thread, they are like $10 on ebay.... GREAT BOOK! It has a lot of great ideas and so much good information it just did not work out the first time for us. I hope it will work better when I try it again I really want to sleep in bed for at least most the night. And yep its a alternative to CIO. My mom told me last week that she did cio with me and im just fine, so he will be fine if I do it to him. I didn't even know what to say back to her.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I just had a chance to look at some of those cake links. Its fun to think about the 1st Birthdays coming up. We're doing a banana cake with a raspberry jam filling between layers. We brought a jar of Grandpa's jam home with us just for this cake!

I think that we will have some friends over for a potluck. (must be an Alaskan thing mckittre!) It will likely be a combo of friends with kids and without. I don't really intend to do anything especially kiddy but we'll see. This may change.

I do know that I'm going to get her a new pair of natural blue cloud longies for her birthday! Fun Fun!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Haven't really had a chance to catch up on the going-ons but wanted to say Hi to everyone. We're managing sleeping issues now--Aubrey has crawled out of our not-baby-friendly bed twice now, so it's crib for her until mama goes to sleep. I just move her over once she's asleep...VERY asleep. The crib is 3 feet from the bed, but it's an intense 3 feet.

We are a NCSS failure here, so I'm looking at a "modified" version of Dr. Jay Gordon's nightweaning. The Aubster is a little young yet, but the constant night nursing (which always involves pinching) is making me lose my mind....

Can you believe how old they are?! I miss my sweet little baby. Sometimes I barely recognize this big girl sleeping next to me in the bed.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 
Haven't really had a chance to catch up on the going-ons but wanted to say Hi to everyone. We're managing sleeping issues now--Aubrey has crawled out of our not-baby-friendly bed twice now, so it's crib for her until mama goes to sleep. I just move her over once she's asleep...VERY asleep. The crib is 3 feet from the bed, but it's an intense 3 feet.

We are a NCSS failure here, so I'm looking at a "modified" version of Dr. Jay Gordon's nightweaning. The Aubster is a little young yet, but the constant night nursing (which always involves pinching) is making me lose my mind....

Can you believe how old they are?! I miss my sweet little baby. Sometimes I barely recognize this big girl sleeping next to me in the bed.

We have also had owyn beginning the night in her crib. She is in a separate room so I usually just go to bed and when she wakes DH will get her and bring her into bed with us. She wil nurse back to sleep. She has started crawling in her sleep though and has hit the head board several times which wakes her up. Everytime she wakes, I have to nurse her back to sleep. As she gets older, I see the nighttime nursing becoming more frequent just to keep her asleep. It makes for one tired mama.

These are the reasons we're making the transition. We initially decided to go for it all at once, transition and night wean. But she's not dealing with it well, so tonight I'm going to go back to nursig when she wakes, but making the effort to put her back in her bed. I'm thinking we'll get her used to sleeping there and waking there in the morning. I could be making all of this up. I'm not really going by any book or method, just seeing how she does and playing off of what she needs.

By the way, Owyn is officially walking more than she crawls! I have a little toddler living in my house now, it's crazy!


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Why do they pinch us when nursing?? Aleric's crib is in the bedroom next to ours so most of the time we try to get him to go to sleep in there and then after he wakes up (usually about 40 minutes later) he comes back to our room. He does nurse a lot at night though, and he barely nurses in the day, he will latch on for like 2 minutes then he wants to go something else. So he gets most of his nursing in at night.


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

Anyone else expecting again? I'm due with #6 in August.


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital* 
Anyone else expecting again? I'm due with #6 in August.

Congrats DiD!!!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital* 
Anyone else expecting again? I'm due with #6 in August.

OMG! Congratulations! What fun news!!!


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## triscuitsmom (Jan 11, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital* 
Anyone else expecting again? I'm due with #6 in August.

I'm expecting again too







I'm due early Sept.

I'm hoping this one sticks after a miscarriage in August (would have been due in April) but so far everything looks good. hCG is higher than average (but with my sticky babies that is usual for me)


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital* 
Anyone else expecting again? I'm due with #6 in August.

Yay! Congratulations!!









Quote:


Originally Posted by *triscuitsmom* 
I'm expecting again too







I'm due early Sept.

I'm hoping this one sticks after a miscarriage in August (would have been due in April) but so far everything looks good. hCG is higher than average (but with my sticky babies that is usual for me)









And Congratulations to you too (even though I already knew







) But, I didn't know about your bloodwork results and I'm so happy that they came back good!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Yay how exciting! Congratulations to you both!! 

Makenna has a high fever. Poor baby can't sem to get well. At least I know the clinginess is likely bc she has been sick this whole time. Almost 2 weeks! We're finally off to the dr tomorrow.

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

I don't know if it's appropriate to post this, but there was an article on my family in the paper the other day, and the photographer took better pics of Katmai than I could!








http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...how_index.html

I heard a story about your family on Alaska News Nightly tonight! So fun! I told my husband, "hey, I know her! Well I know her online!" The pictures were great too. I remember hearing about your trek too. Now its all coming together! Let me know if you ever make it out to Kodiak!


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

Hey, what's it like in Kodiak? Dh is eyeing the coast guard base there, and keeps joking about "better stock up on warm clothes...". Once he decides something, it's usually just a matter of time until it's a go.

Mckittre-my dh would quit his job and be where you are in about 15 minutes if he could find a way to swing it. His first immediate question was "What does he do for a living?". And mine was, "How big is that yurt, do you think?" You don't have to answer either, just know we were really impressed.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I'll PM you but overall its great!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Just1More* 
Hey, what's it like in Kodiak? Dh is eyeing the coast guard base there, and keeps joking about "better stock up on warm clothes...". Once he decides something, it's usually just a matter of time until it's a go.

Mckittre-my dh would quit his job and be where you are in about 15 minutes if he could find a way to swing it. His first immediate question was "What does he do for a living?". And mine was, "How big is that yurt, do you think?" You don't have to answer either, just know we were really impressed.









*Just1More*, is your Huz CG? Mine is too--since we've been together we've been assigned to Headquarters in DC, Recruiting Command in VA, New London, Key West, and now we're in Austin, TX (he's going to school).

*DiD* and *triscuitsmom*, CONGRATULATIONS!!!







New life is such a blessing.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

DiD and triscuitsmom - Congratulations!

Quote:

I heard a story about your family on Alaska News Nightly tonight! So fun! I told my husband, "hey, I know her! Well I know her online!" The pictures were great too. I remember hearing about your trek too. Now its all coming together! Let me know if you ever make it out to Kodiak!
I'd love to get out to Kodiak sometime, maybe for a book event? - I'll let you know!

Quote:

Mckittre-my dh would quit his job and be where you are in about 15 minutes if he could find a way to swing it. His first immediate question was "What does he do for a living?". And mine was, "How big is that yurt, do you think?" You don't have to answer either, just know we were really impressed.
I don't mind answering.







The yurt is 24 feet in diameter - about 450 square feet. Larger (30 feet diameter) and smaller (20, 16) also exist. What we "do for a living" takes about a paragraph to explain! We both do contract work for an environmental consulting firm in town - Nuka Research (technical writing, analysis of environmental impact statements, graphics, etc...). Pays well, though we don't do it many hours. I also wrote a book on our 4,000 mile journey (A Long Trek Home), which is doing well enough so far that we're making a little money on it! We also get some money through a jewelry crafting business we started with some friends, though we don't really do much work for that. My husband is a geologist and does some geology contract work - also pays well but doesn't take much of his time. Time wise, most of our "work" is through our environmental non-profit: Ground Truth Trekking, though we tend not to pay ourselves for it (using our grant money to pay others and expenses). And of course, we just don't need much money in our lifestyle, which is really the big key. I am very grateful for the fact that Alaska has a good childrens' health insurance program for low-income kids.
There are a few other folks here who do computer-based work, though things like fishing, tourism, local services (school, post office), and construction are much more common.

Katmai does some of the same crawling in bed as others have mentioned here. But since nursing and walking are the only ways he's ever fallen asleep (and we don't have a crib!), I haven't even contemplated trying to change that. All I want now is to get him on a schedule where he's not crazy awake at midnight! And I'd like to get him able to sleep with his daddy. I can slip away at night if he falls asleep before I do, but I can't slip away in the morning - so I either have a cranky sleepy baby as I'm trying to start the fire and get breakfast, or I end up sleeping in late! (more often).


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

Thanks McKittre! That's so cool. That exactly the sort of way dh would like to live. Just live, doing his own thing, yet a lot be for the greater good. I'm glad to have met you (online







) and wish you all the best!

Justkate-dh is a Marine, actually. He's strongly considering switching to the CG to finish his 20, though. He's agreed to do 3 more with the Marines, but in that time, he's hoping to make the switch. How do deployments and training work out? Is your dh gone much? Mine is hoping for more home time; he has been gone more than half of the last 5 years. Also, he joined because of 9/11, and he feels like he's done what he came to do, but yet, he still feels called to public service. So, he'd like to do search and rescue, or law enforcement with the CG.

And congrats to the expecting Mama's!


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

Oh, I'll share a little bit about baby dd. Lately, I've started swaddling her again, and she loves it. She smiles and gets giggly when I start to do it. She goes right to sleep. Isn't that strange? I tried it because I knew she was really tired one day, and I could tell she just couldn't make herself stop long enough to go to sleep.

A funny thing she does, too, is if I'm trying to nurse her to sleep, she'll nurse for a few minutes (she's always been really fast), she leans back and says, "all yun." I'll say, "It's time for ni-night", and she'll reply, "All YUN. Down." In a whiney voice. This goes back and forth several times, and then she'll nurse again for a few minutes. And then we repeat. After about 3 or 4 times, she stops asking and just goes to sleep. It's hilarious to me to be arguing with a 10month old...with no teeth.


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## heinz28 (Jun 3, 2008)

Oh my gosh -- just trying to catch up here!

First -- CONGRATS to the expectant mommas!!

Second -- McKittre: thanks for sharing. Always great to see different lifestyles and yours is definitely inspiring.

We're also planning dd's 1st birthday! It's Valentine's day. Great ideas all around. Going to check out the cake recipes

She's standing, pulling up and extremely mobile but no walking yet. She has her first cold right now--just a runny nose but it keeps her stuffed up. Surprisingly though, she's still sleeping through the night! More teeth now too -- 2 more came through a few days ago and there are a few top ones on the way. Drool everywhere.

The weird thing is that she still doesn't really say anything discernible. Lots of noises but no "ma ma" or "da da." We do hear a "hi" sometimes but that's about it.

I can't believe she's nearly 1! I keep squeezing her.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Just1More* 
He's agreed to do 3 more with the Marines, but in that time, he's hoping to make the switch. How do deployments and training work out? Is your dh gone much?

I STRONGLY recommend the CG. Still get to do lots of LE stuff, but don't deploy often. Huz deployed right after 9/11 to Bahrain and again to Kuwait/Iraq in '03, but not since then. CG deploys their reservists more than their active duty, unless you are in an assignment specifically doing the high-speed low-drag thing (thinking TACLET --tactical law enforcement training-- in Miami). Even then they're pretty short deployments, like 3 mos.

Huz did search and rescue in Key West, also alien-migrant interdiction. He worked at Recruiting Command for a while too, so if your Huz wanted more info I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to him. PM me if you want his email address or phone number.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:

Its a book I heard about on the nighttime parenting thread, they are like $10 on ebay.... GREAT BOOK! It has a lot of great ideas and so much good information it just did not work out the first time for us. I hope it will work better when I try it again I really want to sleep in bed for at least most the night. And yep its a alternative to CIO. My mom told me last week that she did cio with me and im just fine, so he will be fine if I do it to him. I didn't even know what to say back to her.
Hey thanks I'll have to check it out. Yeah we have the same problem here. My family only found out that we co-sleep because when we were TRAVELING ds slept in our bed as opposed to a pack n play which we didn't have. Since then I always get the whole we let you CIO and you turned out fine, and baby needs to self soothe crap. I just ignore it since they all live out of town, and in the end I'm going to do what I think is better for my son.

Congratulations to all of the expectant moms!









Uggh last week my whole family got a cold. It's Landon's first cold and I got so scared since he's never had a cold before. So far it's just lots of cough and runny nose. He seems to be getting better but he's definitely been more clingier than normal.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

How are naps going for everyone? Anyone down to just 1 nap yet? Royce will sometimes take 2 naps, but usually that means he's up late with me. If I can push back his nap until at least noon or later then he can manage with just one and go to bed at a reasonable time. He naps for about 2 hours usually.

He still wakes often through the night. I'm trying to get him to go back to sleep on his own every other waking. Well, not on his own, but without the boob







It usually works, I will put him on his side or belly and rub his back and he'll go back to sleep. My dad is often asking if he is sleeping through the night yet, and if he is still in the bed with me. I don't really get why he cares. Last night he said one of his employees has a 7 month old who goes to bed at 8pm sharp and sleeps straight through to 6am







Good for them! I don't and that's fine with me!

Also, he is getting so much braver with letting go while standing (although still only for a second). I really think he is going to start walking soon. He has also been super clingy and I was thinking maybe that's a sign that he's about to become a bit more independent









And... 6 more days until he is ONE!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

We are down to 1 nap a day here as well. Usually from about 12-2 giv or take 30 minutes. Nights are getting better, except that dd has some crazy GI stuff going on and is waking for diarrhea 1-2 times a night







. We are going to the dr today with a stool sample. All this started after she had atbx for an ear infection a month agi...ughhh. Other than the poop she only nurses 1-2 times during the night!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn is still napping twice a day. Her morning nap is much shorter than it used to be though. On the weekends she usually only gets one and seems to do just fine with it. We have a pretty strict routine during the week though and all the little ones take 2 naps a day. The 2 year old rests in the morning with books and the others sleep.

Well with her transitiong to the crib we succeeded in one thing... making her hate her crib.







she won't go to sleep in it at all and if I want to lay her down after she's sleeping I have to swaddle her again. And even then she only naps about 30 min in her crib. So her naps have been on the couch with me or in her bouncy seat because she just wakes up the little boy who naps in her room with her. She sleeps better at night, making it several hours in her crib but still ends up in bed with us at some point.

I would really like to have her sleeping in her bed completely before I get pregnant again. And we're talking about trying again in about 8 months so I feel like I'm on a time schedule. And of course I get crap from my mom all the time about how I never should have put her in bed with me and her babies all slept by themselves and all night by 8 weeks. Blah blah blah...


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Mal85, have you tried putting the crib mattress by your bed and letting her sleep on it? Might be worth a try if she knows that she's at least in the same room as you and your dh. Anyway I'm sorry about your family. I get the same crap here from my family about how I should have put him in a crib eleven months ago.

We had to stop transitioning Landon from our bed to his crib because of his cold. Also because of his cold he's been taking longer naps, but usually he still has two. On the weekends he also does fine with one. If we put him to sleep too early like eight then he gets up way too early and just wants to play, also he'd just sit there and cry and cio is not an option for us. So usually he'll start winding down around eight thirty and by nine o' clock is asleep, and wakes up once or twice for his feeding

Mamamillet







I hope the dr. visit goes well today for your lo. Have you tried giving her probiotic to replace the good bacteria she lost with the abx? Just an option.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Yes we started probiotics with the first atbx. Not sure if you guys remember but dd was born with gastroschisis--her intestines were on the outside--and she spent the first 3 weeks on major atbx cause of surgery. I think she is just going ot be more susceptible to gi stuff







.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna is still running a fever in the evenings!! This is going on forever! Poor thing! Seems happier during the days though and is actually playing by herself right now for a change.

Last night Makenna slept 3 hours in her crib then woke up screaming...finally went down then up screaming (practically hyperventillating) 10 minutes later. She ended up in our bed all night...except she laid there and babbled and played until after 2 in the morning! And then she slept until 9 this morning. Ugh!

We mostly do 1 nap bc I have a phobia of puttng her down for naps in her crib so I usually don't do a second nap. I co sleep for the first nap. Lately she has been doing two since she has been sick and just falling asleep on me while nursing or while we're out. I do think she is mostly ok with 1 long one when she isn't sick so I think I will move it later since it's usually around 9 or 10 right now. I think an 11 or 12 nap would get her through the day just fine. I also think I'd have better luck getting her down in her crib for 1 nap when she is really tired than for a 2nd nap when she has already napped for an hour and a half or 2 hours.

We just sent out the evite for M's b-day party. Just doing something small with 8-10 of our friends, all of which have babies. We don't have family in the area so this is it. I think we'd do something bigger if it were warm weather and we could be outside. I'm baking a cake for our birth class b-day party but for this one I think I'll just let her eat the real thing. It won't kill her to enjoy herself on her b-day. 

Cindy


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

My son takes 3-4 naps during the day on weekdays, one 30 min nap around 9 am on the way to work he falls asleep in his carseat, sometimes when I run around for my boss he gets a short 10-25 minute nap in the car also, then he takes a nap between 2 and 4 pm that lasts between 30-45 minutes and one nap on the way home from work at 5 pm also 30 minutes. On the weekends he only takes 1 nap that is about 1 hour long. He does not sleep very well at night and nurses every 40 minutes all night long, sometimes he wont even pop off the booby when he does go to sleep so he stays latched on for 2-3 hours at a time. We tried the No cry sleep solution and it failed us first time around but we do plan on trying it again in the near future.

As for walking and such, he will only walk while holing on to our hands but then he tries to run, he stands up on his own and sit down on his own and he can stand in place for 5 or more minutes if he wants to he just wont take a step.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Hmm ... naps and sleeping. Always a fascinating topic.
Esmé and I were at the weekly parent/tot drop in at the health unit, here in our uber crunchy neighbourhood.
There were about a dozen mamas there with babes. I was the only one who co-slept! I thought way more people did it.
Anyway, the topic of yesteday's session was "sleep styles" ... and I have to say, it was comforting to hear that even the people who 'ferberized' (







) their children had problems. Everyone had challenges.
All I keep telling myself is that this time in her life is so fleeting, and she'll never be this small again, so enjoy every waking moment of it. EVERY waking moment.
DD actually sleeps quite well most nights. Down at nine, wakes three times or so to nurse, awake at nine. As for naps, she still has two. She probably could go to one, but we want time with her in the evening when DP comes home.
She has a nap from 12-1pm most days, and then another one from 4-5pm.
I am terrified of going back to work though, and how that will affect her sleep. I think she'll not be able to settle back to sleep without the boob. And DP isn't willing to offer hers (hahahahah!!!) so it will be interesting to see how they manage.
I'll be leaving at about 445am. Hm. Should be interesting. She's a good napper though, even though I nurse her to sleep, she can go to sleep in the carrier with anyone, or the stroller, if need be.


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## nettlesoup (Feb 3, 2009)

I only just found this thread, how slow of me! I was due on the 21st February, but Hazel ended up being born on the 4th March. She's just got her first tooth and started crawling at the same time. So she's pretty grumpy at the moment.

On the positive side, she's a great sleeper and always has been. She's only having about two naps a day, and now that she's moving a don't seem to have time to do anything.

Congratulations to those of you expecting again!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Hmm ... naps and sleeping. Always a fascinating topic.
Esmé and I were at the weekly parent/tot drop in at the health unit, here in our uber crunchy neighbourhood.
There were about a dozen mamas there with babes. I was the only one who co-slept! I thought way more people did it.

That's so strange to me. I live in a super non-crunchy area and people here don't even call it co-sleeping. It doesn't even really have a name. But many, many mothers in my age range say they put their babies in bed with them. They think it's a bad thing though and say something like "Yeah, we started that bad habit of putting him/her in bed with us"... Around here, it's just the lazy way of doing things and all us younger mothers should know better. Lol!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Cindy, sorry to hear that Makenna still isn't quite better. It is really no fun to have a sick baby.

Fiona (and I) have had a few really restless nights lately. She's working on her molars which I think is part of it. She has also spent the last week doing tons of furniture cruising and free standing. She'll stand with out holding on to anything for quite a while. Sometimes she'll be clapping and bopping up and down so I feel that walking is really near. She's definitely found her balance. I think this is part of her restless sleep though.

We don't even own a crib so I haven't attempted any change in our sleeping arrangements here. I think that we will eventually put a mattress on the floor when we give her a room (this requires moving the computer/office to the dining room). I don't see it happening any time soon. Maybe when she's closer to two. I imagine we'll be doing lots of musical beds in those days!

She just woke up so I'm off...


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
We don't even own a crib so I haven't attempted any change in our sleeping arrangements here. I think that we will eventually put a mattress on the floor when we give her a room

We don't have a crib either ... and when the mamas found THAT out, there were audible gasps! Yeesh. We have a mattress on the floor in 'her' room, which is mostly used my my mother when she visits.

*Makenna* ... here are some fever-reducing prayers for you!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

We also just have a mattress on the floor in his room - no crib. And even with that set up I still put him down for naps and bedtime in my bed. Especially now that it's just the 2 of us.

mamamillet & veganP -







I hope your lo's feel better soon, it is so hard when they are sick, isn't it?

Royce hasn't been too sick (we've had a number of colds they just haven't been 'bad'). But the last couple of days he had some bad coughing and at the end of a series of coughs he would let out this sad little 'oohhh' or even start to cry this sad pitiful cry. It broke my heart!

Oh, and Royce stood on his own yesterday! I've been sort of catching him 'standing' for a second when he didn't know he was doing it, but yesterday he stood for a few seconds, so I guess that makes it official







I still don't think he did it intentionally though, because it was like all of a sudden he realized he wasn't holding on and he quickly fell forward and grabbed on tight and then looked a bit panicky


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## rachandlily (Jul 15, 2008)

Hi mamas,
I'm mostly new here...I lurk quite a bit but love hearing about how everyone else's Feb babies are doing. My Sadie was born Feb 18, 09.

I'm curious what types of activities you're all doing with your little ones. As Sadie gets close to 1 yo, I'm definitely finding that I want to structure her day a bit more....I'd love to hear some ideas about educational/learning/interactive activities that are appropriate for her age and also about how you set your day up with your babes.

Seems like it used to be fine to just go about my day with her in her carrier. We'd read some books, go for a walk, and other than that she seemed entertained to just accompany me as I went through my day. As she gets older, though, I think I want to be doing more crafts/cooking/coloring/circle time/etc. with her...but I'm not really sure what might be age appropriate...or maybe I'm just not too creative about this type of stuff.









She loves her wooden puzzles and blocks, her push cart walker, and turning the pages of books. Since she's my first though, I'm feeling like there's so much more I can/should be doing with her and I just don't know what that might be. I just took a look at some of the Little Acorn stuff, but a lot of those activities seem like they're for a bit older kiddos than mine.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamamillet* 
Yes we started probiotics with the first atbx. Not sure if you guys remember but dd was born with gastroschisis--her intestines were on the outside--and she spent the first 3 weeks on major atbx cause of surgery. I think she is just going ot be more susceptible to gi stuff







.

*mamamillet*, I remember. How is your DD doing? I thought of you when i saw this mama's post in special needs parenting. Her baby-to-be's condition sounds similar to what your daughter went through.

Aubrey has had many ear infections--they get painful and she runs a high fever, so we've tried abx a few times.... One abx type in particular caused severe diarrhea--I think the name of it started with an O? I can't remember. She was gi-miserable and ear-miserable during that bout. Awful.

ETA: Aubs also spent 3 weeks in the NICU for suspected GI issues that (fortunately) turned out to be nothing--I wonder if there is a connection?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Hope Makenna gets better soon!

Sleeping: Katmai has never had a very regular schedule, but he usually takes 2 naps - one in the late morning (usually on my lap) and one in the afternoon (usually in the wrap on my back if I'm hiking, otherwise on my lap or in our bed). Lately, we've been working hard to get him on just a little bit of a schedule, so he's not up until 1AM! He seems to want to fall asleep in early evening and then he'll pop back awake way too late, so we're trying to prevent him sleeping any earlier than 9:30PM.
We also don't have a crib (which no one seems to bat an eye at in rural alaska). He has never in his life fallen asleep without either nursing or being worn. I'm happy with cosleeping, but the transition I'd like to make is to get him happy snuggling in bed with his dad sometimes. It always has to be me, and I have no idea how to change that, or how to make bedtime associations that aren't nursing.

Katmai is getting better and better at standing on his own (can play with both hands while doing it, get up and down gracefully, and balance for quite a while). In his case I don't think he's close to walking though - he seems to have no interest in taking steps (not even holding our hands).

Structured activities? I tend to believe that babies will learn from all sorts of exploring, and will ask for what they need. So if he's happy playing by himself, I take advantage of that to work and get things done. A lot of your suggestions sound a bit advanced for my 11 month old anyway. He'd eat the pens and bang with spoons, but not really "coloring" or "cooking" yet.

Snow: Does anyone's baby like the snow? I feel like I should get him used to the outdoors, but the few times I've set him on the snow (properly dressed) he just looks confused for a minute or two, then gets mad. He loves being worn for hikes/snowshoes in the snow, but won't play on his own in it. Maybe when he can walk?


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Just kate-thanks for posting about the other mom--I responded to her thread. DD is soing OK, still having diarrhea and we are waiting on the stool culture to see what is going on. Overall she really is OK.
She is officially walking--she walks abouy 80% of the time now! She is also sooo talkative--but not really with words!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i need more time to catch up. my computer room has been COLD (from a floridians stand point i suppose after seeing mckkitre's pictures.) so i haven't been on the computer. but sooooo loking forward to reading through everything. (boy have you all been busy)

I have a cook book called the natural sweet tooths cookbook or something along those lines. i need to look through them. My mom makes all my kids cakes. I asked her to make a gingerbread type cake. i bet my little cookbook has something in it. I wish she hadn't had much sugar, i usually have a no sugar until the 1st birthday party (then sparingly) but my friend gave her candy cane and she found her sisters chcolate stash.

off to read more.''congrats on the pregnancies!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rachandlily* 

I'm curious what types of activities you're all doing with your little ones. As Sadie gets close to 1 yo, I'm definitely finding that I want to structure her day a bit more....I'd love to hear some ideas about educational/learning/interactive activities that are appropriate for her age and also about how you set your day up with your babes.

*0900-1000*
We wake up around 9am and take about an hour to have a leisurely breakfast. She feeds herself, plays with her food, tries out her utensils, interacts with the dog (aka, feeds her), drinks from a cup, and hangs out at the table, visiting with me. That's lots of education/learning/interactive goodness.
*1000-1200*
We get out of the house. Either to the local family resource centre, where she can play with other kids. Or to the pool, if it's a swim day. Or to kindergym, if we feel like it. Again, lots of education/learning/interactive goodness.
*1200-1300*
She usually falls asleep, nursing in the carrier on the way home and sleeps for about an hour.
*1300-1400*
Lunch! See breakfast. We do the same.
*1400-1600*
Usually we go out again. For a walk, or to the park or library, or to do errands. Lots of pointing things out, naming things, lots of her getting down to walk. Touching things, tasting things, getting into things. Again, more education/learning/interactive goodness.
*1600-1700*
Another nap, usually. Again, she nurses down and I usually lay down with her and read while she sleeps.
*1700-1900*
We hang out at home, waiting for her Baba to come home from work. We read, play with stuff in the kitchen cupboards, read tonnes of books, play with the dog. Still more education/learning/interactive loveliness.
*1900-2000*
Dinner at the table with her two mamas! We talk, eat, visit, hang out. She plays with her food, eats, and does all the same things as the other two meals. Even MORE education/learning/interactive awesomness.
*2000-2100*
Bathtime. With Mama. She and I hang out in there for almost an hour. I read out loud to her while she climbs all over me and nurses and plays with her bath toys. I'll say it again, heaps and heaps of education/learning/interactive wholesomeness.
*2100*
Nurses to sleep in the family bed. End of a day full of education/learning/interactive abundance.

So that's how we do our day. We didn't have a schedule until it morphed into a routine over time, and her natural sleep patterns kicked in. I think you're doing all you need to be doing, *rachandlily*. You're little one is learning all the time, and from the best teacher ... you!
Welcome to the February board, by the way. Hope to see you around!


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## rachandlily (Jul 15, 2008)

Thanks starling&diesel! I think the routine is more for my sake than hers, you know? Plus, I'm at work M-W and home with her Th-Sun, so it's been hard to establish too much of a routine when she's with different caregivers some of the time. I think getting out of the house more might be the ticket for us...and I want to start exploring other resources in our community to see if she can play with other kiddos sometimes.

Thanks for the welcome!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
I heard the sweetest song for babies. I had to come share. It's by Kimya Dawson (who did a lot of the songs for the movie, Juno). It's called I Love You Sweet Baby. There are actually quite a few references in it to AP, such as co-sleeping, breastfeeding, etc. It's kind of a silly song, but everytime it comes on, Owyn and I dance to it.

LOVE kimya dawson, I go t to see her perform once, I was very excited, then said hi to her and acted like a fool. LOL. she is actaully on MDC. One of my favorite songs of hers is the one about her pregnancy, i don't remember what it is called though.

Birthday party- we are having our smallest 1st birthday party ever. only just over 20 adults 7 babies, and 8 kids. I am borrowing a bunch od boxes rom my neighbor and taping them up so the babies can have giant building blocks. I am bringin the dress up trunk for the older kids. Plus my mom (we are having it at her house) has a soccer net and ball for the kids to play. it should be a lot of fun.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Thanks for the well wishes. I think they helped! No tylenol or motrin for 2 days now and seemingly my happy baby is returning (knock on wood!).

Makenna is super big into pointing at everything and babbling. It must be so frustrating bc she is so obviously trying to communicate something to us but we often aren't sure what she wants or what she wants to do with what she is pointing at. We are doing lots of exploring things now though that are in the vicinity of where she is pointing.

Off to a mom and baby movie today. 

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

What movie did you see, *Cindy*? I haven't gone, even though there is a theatre up the street that does it. Is it actually fun? I can't imagine being anywhere else but the aisle with Esmé. And I imagine the aisle seats are highly coveted? There's always a line up outside the door.

As for us ... I think I'll send out the email invites to Esmé's party today. We're doing a loose theme of "A Few of Her Favourite Things" ... and we'll have all her favourite foods, as it's a lunch. Blueberries, toast soldiers, apples, cheese, yam fries, avocado dip, chicken. And we're asking people to bring food for the food bank, or a donation (instead of presents), both of which we'll match. It will be smallish. Maybe about 20 people, including kidlets.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rachandlily* 
I'm curious what types of activities you're all doing with your little ones. As Sadie gets close to 1 yo, I'm definitely finding that I want to structure her day a bit more....I'd love to hear some ideas about educational/learning/interactive activities that are appropriate for her age and also about how you set your day up with your babes.

I work FT but I'm interested to see what others do, too.

Our evenings start at 4:30, when I pick Aubs up. We look at cows and donkeys on the way home, then she eats while I get dinner started. After dinner we go outside to walk/to the playground if it's light enough, if not we find something to play inside. Bed time starts at/around 7:30 with a bath with mama and books in bed.

Sat & Sun are entirely the baby's. I do not cook on these days and am lucky to have someone clean my house during the week, so we plan one baby-centered activity and one family activity. This weekend we are going to a local farm to meet goats and see about buying local meats/dairy/eggs. They sell raw goat milk which is what i'm interested in... Aubrey is afraid of the neighbor's cat so I can't wait to see what she thinks of farm animals! Not sure what the other activity will be yet.

At daycare she takes two hour-long naps and comes home exhausted. ON the weekends, she takes 2 45 min naps with one 2 hour nap in between.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Starling: I love going to the mom movie. It's free once/month. This month didn't go as well. After about an hour she got restless in my lap so I let her climb up the theater stairs about 5 times. Then that got old to both of us and she still didn't want to be held so I left a little early. I probably could have toughed it out but I wanted to run an errand in the city before traffic got bad anyway. The movie today was Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. It was cute but it was one of those movies where you know how it's going to end even if you don't stay for the end. LOL. Usually we spend much of the movie nursing so she is happy. Today 2 of my friends from birth class were there with their 1 yr olds so they sort of played together while on our laps.

Cindy


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

Add me to the "due in September" list...


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

congrats Just1More!









All this pregnancy talk has me wondering... has anyone else not gotten AF back yet? What's the normal range for BF moms on this?


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## motherbirth (May 9, 2008)

Finally had time to check in and say hi!! Congrats to the pregnant mommies!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
congrats Just1More!









All this pregnancy talk has me wondering... has anyone else not gotten AF back yet? What's the normal range for BF moms on this?

I haven't... don't know the normal range... but we didn't start solids until after 6 months and Siggi still nurses quite a lot (especially at night).

Re: naps: Siggi is best if he has 2 during the day. He is a light sleeper so it's hard to transition him to a nap place when he falls asleep. Sometimes he has mini-naps and then takes a big long nap for like 2 hours instead of 2 naps. Also, he tends to go to bed later, although the last 2 days he was really tired from not napping well and fell asleep on me in the evening and pretty much slept through.

Birthdays: is anyone getting a Waldorf birthday ring? I really like the idea of it, trying to talk DH into the fact that it's a good thing to spend money on. We don't have a lot of money right now but he doesn't need that many toys.

Cake ideas: I really like the cookbook Sweet and Natural by Meredith McCarty. It has a lot of recipes for cakes that aren't sweetened with sugar. I might make something from there. We haven't introduced wheat yet and plan to wait for a long time, so he will have his own special cake and then I will make another (or more?) for the guests. We do this for most parties anyway since I can't have wheat.

FB group: what is the info again? I never signed up for it.

I just bought a Babyhawk on sale from a baby store that is going out of business.... I LOVE it. Siggi fell asleep on me last night while I was taking care of things in the kitchen, he really needed a nap and it was perfect. It's been too hard to wear him in the sling now that he is heavier.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I would like to get a birthday ring. They can be pricey though with all the pieces. I think I will just get the ring, candles, and the number 1. I can add the numbers each birthday. I think they are a good idea and I like the idea of sharing memories of her throughout the year. When I worked at a Montessori school, they did something similar called a celebration of life. They had the parents come in with a picture of the child from each year of their life and shared a special memory from each year of life.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Just1More* 
Add me to the "due in September" list...









Congratulations!!









No AF for me yet either. The earliest we would TTC is about a year from now anyway, so I'm good with that.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 
Congratulations!!









No AF for me yet either. The earliest we would TTC is about a year from now anyway, so I'm good with that.

I got AF back at about 5 months PP. I'm jealous of all you ladies that don't have to deal with that yet. We're pretty certain we'll start trying at the end of the summer. So, like 8 more months, wow that doesn't seem long. I would really like a May or June baby... good time of year for a birthday, I think. Although, I mentioned to Owyn that maybe by next Christmas her little brother will be on the way. And DH was a little freaked out by the possibility of being pregnant by next Christmas, so we'll see if he's ready by the end of the summer, lol!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

mckittre;14926520
Snow: Does anyone's baby like the snow? I feel like I should get him used to the outdoors said:


> When I take my baby to go out in the snow I bring some toys along like plastic bowls and spoons and we fill the bowls with snow. He likes it but gets distracted very easy by other things, I suppose when he walks he'll have more interest in it.
> 
> Right now he's figured out that he can stand and stay standing holding on to something all by himself
> 
> ...


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Wow! it's taken me a while to catch up.
Gillian so sorry to hear about you and your husband.
Congrats to the expectant mamas I can't even imagine being preggo right now. I want one more but Dh and I are having a debate on that. Not a heated one we just have differing views. I don't feel done and he sort of does. It's not that he doesn't want more kids it's just that then we need a bigger car and a bigger place. Plus pregnancy tends to be difficult for me so more stuff falls on him. He says that this time he felt torn between family and work and he didn't like feeling that way. I want to go back to school and get my master's but I don't believe I could do it pregnant or with a newborn but I also don't want to put off our last babe because we want to be done by 30. If we were to start trying it wouldn't be until the summer anyways so I have a while to think about it.
Hugs to those of you with sleeping/sickness issues.
Our current sleeping arrangement is a twin bed smushed against the wall with our bed smushed against it. It's working for now. My ds has a double in his room on the floor that my dh goes up and sleeps on with him when he wakes up. I'm hoping that they will be able to cosleep when she quits nursing at night and waking so frequently.
Most of my precious time online has been researching allergies since my ds has developed an anaphylactic allergy to soy. Dd is sensitive to wheat and dairy so I spend a lot of time cooking and baking. It's an overwhelming journey to say the least.
Dh is leaving for a week on Monday so I will be on my own with the kiddos. It's so lonely when he goes away. I guess I need to make more of an effort to get out during the day but I don't know what to do in the evenings. I guess I'll spend some time catching up on movies.
Delia said banana and "annie Sara' meaning her auntie. She also says mama when upset and bye dada but it's all sporadic. I've been signing for a while but she seems to like to make up her own rather than use mine which can take a little detective work to figure out what she means.
Gillian my ds was late with talking (20m) and walking(15m) and he is very bright some might call him gifted. He is way ahead of his peers in his verbal and reasoning skills and has been since about 2.5 so I really wouldn't worry. He just had this need to do it 'properly or perfectly' so he wouldn't until he knew he could. That's just him.
I'll have to check in here more often this thing moves fast.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

motherbirth - here is a link to our fb page http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=80919389603 the group is called MDC February 2009 DDC. Nobody every goes on there anymore though









I got af back at 9 months (on the day he turned 9 months). And he is STILL nursing often and through the night. So don't think lots of nursing excludes you from af!

We have absolutely no structure/schedule to our day. Well, I guess we usually wake up around 9, and DS usually takes his nap around 12 or 1 for about 2 hours. I think I need more scheduled activities to force me to get out of the house. I have signed up for kindermusik and I'm looking into starting some swimming lessons. There is a toddler program starting at the early years centre here, but it's the same morning as kindermusik, so I won't be able to go until that ends. There's another mom's group that is also that same morning







why does everything have to be at the same time!!

Royce's party is tomorrow! I have a busy day ahead of me today. I'm going to bake the cake and get some of the other food prepped, plus do the decorating. I hope the cake turns out okay.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

gillian that is about the structure we have too. i'm okay with it. it seemed to work out okay for my first two. i am just not a structured person. the older kids have a bedtime, and they have school and girl scouts. we have babytime at the library once a week. it was crazy when i had dance and soccer on top of all that. it was just too much.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Have fun at Royce's Birthday party! I can't believe these babies are turning one! It's so exciting!

DH was out of town for most of last week and got home yesterday. I got up early and left DH and DD in bed and had an hour to myself! Such a small thing but so nice! I enjoyed my coffee, sorted through some hand me down clothes for Fiona and watched HGTV. DH got up a bit later and we turned the monitor on so we'd know when Fiona woke up. I heard her start stirring and then she called out "Papa, Papa!" So cute that she remembered that he was home and that is who she wanted.

She's been getting constipated a lot lately. I'd say off and on over the last month. I'll bring it up at her well baby visit in a couple of weeks but I'm a bit worried. She nurses a ton and eats a huge variety of fruits and veggies. She eats whole grains and beans too and almost no dairy so I'm not really sure if its diet related. I hope that its just her body getting used to eating more food. We started solids at 6 months but she's really taken off with eating a lot in the last couple of months. Someone suggested giving her diluted apple juice which is supposed to loosen things up. I'm not sure how I feel about giving her juice but maybe it would help. I've been sprinkling flax seed on her food lately too and I think that has helped a bit. Any other ideas are welcome!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Hope Royce has a happy birthday party!

One of the reasons I don't have much of a schedule is that I work at home - therefore I try and take advantage of whenever Katmai is happy to play by himself to get work done. Luckily for me, that's quite a lot of time. We do get out for a hike nearly every day.
I have been trying to get him to bed at a more consistent time though (10pm ish), since he seems to need that.

I can't believe all of these talking babies! Crazy! Most objects are still "Da" around here. He's been practicing waving and clapping at everyone he sees lately, though.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

AKislandgirl, my dd gets constipated a lot too or she used to. I took wheat and ALL dairy out of her diet and that settled it down. I also give her a sippy with water in it at her mealtimes. I often don't drink enough water myself so I know that contributes to my dd's issues.

Delia stood all by herself today!!! I think she is going through a growth spurt. She woke up screaming at 4 am last night and refused the paci totally. I haven't been nursing her at night because she wants it all night and she is fine without it. She upped her intake during the day to compensate. But today and yesterday she ate ALL DAY! She has also learned to screech when she wants something Ugh gotta find a way to stop that.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Royce turns ONE today!! Happy Birthday Royce!!









At this time last year I had been pushing for 1.5 hours and still had 1.5 hours left to go







But it was all worth it









His party went very well! The balloons were a big hit, although we had to make sure they stayed out of his mouth







I will post a few photos from the party onto our fb page in case anyone is interested









ETA - sorry for the abundant use of smilies







(and there's one more!)


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

What are you all getting your LOs for their first birthday?? We're going all out with the party and the cake, etc. I'm just not sure what to get her. I had a couple of toys in mind. But recently we're having some issues with her diapers. I need to get her a whole new stash because she's breaking out very frequently with her diapers. We were using unbleached prefolds when she was small and when I moved her up a size, I went with bleached prefolds because they were on sale. But ever since we made the switch, she keeps getting bad diaper rashes... sores on her bottom, screaming when I wipe her, the works. And when I put her in pockets overnight, she's almost completely cleared up by morning. We tried changing our washing system and detergent, even the wipes. We've narrowed it down to the diapers themselves. Diapers are just so expensive when you're buying a whole stash at once... and with her being so squirmy now, I wasn't loving the prefolds anymore, anyway.

I found these... http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_...oducts_id=2156

I like them, they're cheaper than pockets or AIOs, kind of a simplified prefold system it looks like. And I love the one size, snap covers. Would it be awful of us to get her diapers for her birthday? She'll be getting lots of loot from friends and family anyway...


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Mal: I think Owyn's bum will think that is a fantastic gift!

I think we might just do 1 small toy. I'm thinking of these really colorful nesting boxes. We just got all the x-mas toys shipped from Indiana a couple days ago and our living room is taken over. Plus I know the grandparents are each getting her something (clothes, teething necklace, first baby doll). We said no gifts for her party! She really has enough stuff for now.

We had our birth class birthday party for 6 of the 7 babies yesterday. So cute! And so fun to see how far they've all come in a year!! Loved watching them all eat cake! I did a low sugar carrot cake but for her party I'm going to let her play with a real cake that I plan to purchase. This cake was a disaster.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Happy birthday, Royce!!


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

happy b-day Royce and Gillian!!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Birthday Royce and Gillian!!









Mal: diapers are a great gift!

I ordered Fiona a stacking toy and peg toy from etsy and a little waldorf style baby doll from a toy garden.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Mal - what about just buying some extra pocket diapers and stuffing them with the prefolds you already have? I recently bought Royce some new pockets, I usually just use the pocket diapers as covers and line them with nb prefolds, but when my husband has him or when he is with other family I stuff the pockets (usually just with prefolds) so it's easier for them to change. But if that won't work then I think new diapers is a fine present!

Royce's b-day present from me is going to be some toy storage, so not too exciting! Well, also my mom gave me some money to buy him something and so I ordered him these 2 things from ape2zebra (they were donating profits to Haiti all this past weekend, plus our government was matching dollar for dollar so I thought I'd spend some money there!):

http://www.ape2zebra.com/plan-toys-m...instuments.asp

http://www.ape2zebra.com/plan-toys-w...arn-colors.asp

Cindy - I'm sorry your cake didn't turn out well







The banana cake I did tasted good, but I'm afraid my decorating skills weren't the best! And while everyone at the party liked it - Royce did not! He picked it up and put it on my dad's plate who was sitting next to him


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Happy Birthday to Royce and Happy Birth Day to his mama!









I think dipes are a great prezzie, *Mal*.

We're not getting DD anything for her actual birthday, but are saving up for a Waldorf Birthday Ring for next year and a bike trailer for the spring.

We're not doing prezzies for her party either, and have asked that people bring a non-perishable donation or a small cash donation for the local food bank, both of which we'll match. And we're doing a foodie lunch for Esmé, with all of her favourite people and all of her favourite food: baked risotto cake, pulled pork, blueberries, strawberries, minted peas, roasted squash, cheese scones, and an apple upside-down cake for her to blow out a candle on. Yum, yum!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Happy Birthday Royce!!!!!!


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## JosieAK (Sep 6, 2007)

I love that this group is still active. It's great recognizing all of the posters. : )
* * *
I'm having fun planning Clara's 1st Birthday party. I am trying to do a purple butterfly theme. I think we are going to be getting her a nice organic cloth doll that I will feel safe with her cuddling. She hasn't attached herself to any lovies yet (just me). Maybe this one:

http://www.euphoriababy.com/store/pc...l-118p1709.htm
* * *
We started combating the screetching or whining for something by teaching her to sign "Please" which is a flat hand rubbed over your heart. Clara's version looks more like "half a funky chicken" (according to her Daddy) as she does a fist and pumps her arm vigorously, but it is far nicer than whining! We are adding more signs quickly. We started after she had mastered "bye-bye" and seemed ready for signs and she is learning them quickly!
* * *
Despite EFB night and day for a very long time, co-sleeping, baby-wearing, etc. AF came back for me at 2 months, barely two weeks after PPF stopped. It wasn't very regular and I had a scare or two. Too bad. I was hoping that I could go without it at least a few months more!

We are thinking about a May or June 2011 baby too. It seems like it'd be nice to have a little baby in summer months. I am trying to think about preparing my body for pregnancy again, but it just boggles my brain.
***
One of the reasons I came here, though, was because I am mildly worried about my daughter's speech development. She doesn't say "Da-da." She says, "Mama", "Uh-oh", "Hi", "Bye-bye," "Hey!", and "Papa." She growls, imitates noises like squeaky shoes or dogs, imitates words like "diaper" or "thank you" in baby talk. She tested fine on her hearing at one day old and has never seemed to have an issue any other time. But in the many, many times we have worked with her to say "Dada" she says "gnu, gnu" kind of a gutteral, deep throated sound. Should I be worried?

Thanks, Mamas! And Happy Birthday to Royce and Gillian!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JosieAK* 

We are thinking about a May or June 2011 baby too. It seems like it'd be nice to have a little baby in summer months. I am trying to think about preparing my body for pregnancy again, but it just boggles my brain.
***
One of the reasons I came here, though, was because I am mildly worried about my daughter's speech development. She doesn't say "Da-da." She says, "Mama", "Uh-oh", "Hi", "Bye-bye," "Hey!", and "Papa." She growls, imitates noises like squeaky shoes or dogs, imitates words like "diaper" or "thank you" in baby talk. She tested fine on her hearing at one day old and has never seemed to have an issue any other time. But in the many, many times we have worked with her to say "Dada" she says "gnu, gnu" kind of a gutteral, deep throated sound. Should I be worried?

Thanks, Mamas! And Happy Birthday to Royce and Gillian!

We are hoping for a May/June 2011 baby, too. Maybe we'll be in a DDC together again!

Clara's speech sounds very comparable to Owyn's. There are just a few things she consistently says... She says "What's/Who's that" but it sounds more like "Ssss dat!" She also says "Mama" but not often. She most often says "Dada" right when DH gets home from work. She has just started saying "No no" and "Uh oh". But that's really it. She babbles all the time and screeches and generally bosses everyone around with her tone and gestures. She's pretty funny to watch!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy birthday Royce!

I wasn't intending to get Katmai anything for his birthday - he has plenty. I don't really want anyone else to go buy presents either, but I'm not sure I'll be entirely successful in that.

If you're worried about Clara's speech, then I really should be worried! Katmai doesn't really say any words yet, or any signs. He babbles and communicates by pointing and waving and clapping, and there's certainly no way to tell him to imitate a sound or word (though he likes it when we imitate his). But he recognizes words no problem, and at his checkup last week they didn't think anything was wrong with his speech. So, yeah, I don't think you should worry at all.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Josie - I agree with McKittre - if you are worried about Clara's speech then I should also REALLY be worried. Royce doesn't say any words (sometimes mama comes out when he's crying/upset, and he did say dog a few times a while back, but hasn't lately). He doesn't try and imitate me or any other sound. He doesn't sign or point. I wish I could teach him to sign, I'm not very consistent with it. But he whines/cries a lot and maybe signing would help reduce that. It is very frustrating!

Starling - have you researched bike trailers at all? I also want to get one in the spring. I originally thought I would get a bike seat, but I read an article that had a good overview of the pros/cons of each and now I'm leaning more towards bike trailer. There are so many though! I may just end up going to our local bike store and seeing what they have/recommend.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Josie- It is really very early for our babies to be saying more than a few words. The NORM is one word by the first birthday and Clara definitely has that and more. My son didn't really say anything other than jewch which mean chocolate milk and juice and mama and dada until he was 20 mos and now he is the most loquacious 3yr old around. Thanks for the tip on getting her to sign please. I will have to be more diligent about that. I remember now I taught my son please and help so he wouldn't scream in frustration.

Gillian- I have a chariot and while they are pricey they last a really long time. I got my single used and kept it for 2 yrs before my daughter was born and we bought a double. It was still in amazing shape. I sold it again for almost what I bought it for. The nice thing about the bike trailer aspect is that you can keep the handle and the front wheels on it upside down and then if you stop on a trail and want to wheel the trailer closer than the bike can go it converts very fast into a stroller. It also has so many attachments for cross country skiing and hiking and jogging. I love mine can u tell







.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 

Starling - have you researched bike trailers at all? I also want to get one in the spring. I originally thought I would get a bike seat, but I read an article that had a good overview of the pros/cons of each and now I'm leaning more towards bike trailer. There are so many though! I may just end up going to our local bike store and seeing what they have/recommend.

I was going to get one last summer when Esmé was first sitting up, but didn't because research shows it's best to have slightly older babies/toddlers in there, so here we are, looking to get one now. And how overwhelming! I, too, wanted the seat, but again, more research ... and it seems less safe, because baby falls when you fall. On the other hand, riding around in front of a low trailer behind me makes me nervous because of visibility. We'll be sticking to bike paths though, so hopefully that will be okay. We'll get one of those flags too.
My dream bike set-up is this fabulous creation., but that's a loooooooooooooong way off, unless I get a movie deal or some other big windfall of moolah.
I think we're going to go second hand if we get a trailer. Craigslist here I come!
But I am still thinking about a Wee Ride, which puts the babe in front of you. I think that would be safer.
Too many choices. Meh.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Gillian28- Happy Birthday to you and Royce!









Starling- sorry for asking, but what is a waldorf ring?









Anyway I'm not sure what I'm going to get Landon yet, and I'm going to have to do his party around March because unfortunately (well, more fortunately) we'll be moving and I don't want to add anymore stress on top of moving.

As far as speech goes, he doesn't really say "mama" everything here is dada or "nha nha" or "hmmm." I suspect that's partly because we're bilingual here. Well so far I've been told to teach him English now and wait till he is a little older to teach him my original language because I'm confusing him. I've also been told that I'm doing fine so I don't know. His wbv is in a few weeks so I guess I'll ask his dr. My guess is that he's fine because he would eventually pick up English at school anyway. I also read somewhere that bilingual babies take longer to talk for some reason. I hope that's his case.

I absolutely looove to go mountain biking. I need to find a good bike that I can take Landon in but we'll have to wait for all the snow to melt around here. We're getting snow for the rest of the week.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BRmama* 

Starling- sorry for asking, but what is a waldorf ring?










Here's an example of a birthday ring ... I can't wait to start the tradition with our family!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

*BRmama:* My nieces are bilingual as well (Danish and English). My SIL always spoke to the girls in Danish from the time they were babes and my brother in English. They really do well with both languages and picked up early on who could speak which language! (well, they liked to keep Danish secrets from Daddy! SIL can speak English as well as Danish). Yes, speech can be a little later then peers but really not by much and then they are fluent in both languages. I'm sure that you are doing great!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We're bilingual here too, or Esmé will be, that is. My partner is francophone, so speaks French to her, especially when they have time together without me. Esmé is learning both languages. She'll probably do her schooling in French, but we speak English at home as a family. My partner take her to a French early-start program at L'ecole Anne Hebert, where she'll likely go to preschool and then elementary school.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yes, the chariot trailers are very nice! I really like the sidecarrier one, but I read somewhere that it works on very few bikes. And, I cross country ski, so that would be nice, but I don't think I'm good enough to be able to tow the trailer anyway! I've got a couple of months before the snow is gone so plenty of time to figure it out.

Oh, and thank you everyone for the birthday wishes for Royce and the birth day wishes for me







I did a lot of reminiscing, actually I still am, constantly thinking about what I was doing at this time last year









Who's birthday is next??


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I found a Canadian etsy shop for the birthday ring and it was more affordable than I expected! I ordered one just now, and it should be here in time for her birthday. He's charging $60 for the whole set-up ... ring, candles, figurines!








And he was a pleasure to deal with, too. If you're in the market for one, you won't find a better price.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I think Makenna's birthday might be next. Her's is the 29th. And if I recall Esme is on the 31st?

I'm going to have to check out the birthday ring idea. Looks so cute. Not sure we can spend the money though.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

DH is great with woodworking and is going to make us a birthday ring. I'll purchase the candles and pieces for it as we go. I'm looking forward to starting this tradition too!


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Mallory, DH bought me a new scroll saw for Christmas, so I am going to be making DD some little animals and a birthday ring, too. I just have to find some totally safe paints...but I will probably just leave them natural, maybe oil them....and would LOVE to get a wood burner.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Past_VNE* 
Mallory, DH bought me a new scroll saw for Christmas, so I am going to be making DD some little animals and a birthday ring, too. I just have to find some totally safe paints...but I will probably just leave them natural, maybe oil them....and would LOVE to get a wood burner.

Did he happen to get a good deal on it? I would love to get DH a scroll saw so he could make smaller, more detailed things, like small toys. He can do the ring with what he has, but not the small pieces. Maybe his birthday this year...


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

SO I am juts coming on to vent for a moment. DP lost his job last week and has decided to go work for his parents...7.5 hours away. That leaves me at home with 2 kiddos. Not sure how often we will be able to see him. Not sure how long he will be up there. Not sure how quickly he can got on the new insurance--the kids are carried by him. I am uninsured. Not sure if he will be able to come down for dd's b-day on the 28th. Not knowing all these things and having no control is stressing me out!!! I am also exhausted form realy bad sleep as of late.

Ok I am done...carry on


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

mamamillet -







I'm sorry you are having a hard time - that sounds like a very hard and stressful situation. Is this something permanent? Will you have to relocate eventually?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*mamamillet* That sounds rough! I hope things smooth out soon.









As for me, I did a practice run at going back to work today. I did a ride-along with my old preceptor on his shift. I did nine hours while DP was home with Esmé. Esmé and DP had a GREAT day. I came home, DD glommed onto my boob, while DP told me about what a fabulous time they had. I'm thrilled it went so well for them. And I was so busy on the ambulance that I didn't have much time to be sad about it. Two heroine overdoses in as many hours! I think we'll be okay. Mind you, twelve hours is a lot longer, plus mandatory overtime, so we'll see. The winter olympics are here next month, so it's going to be crazy, especially for us paramedics.
I realize it's impossible to pump at work. No possibility. We didn't even get back to the station, so the best I could do was hand-express in the bathroom at the hospital. Not ideal. We'll see how my supply handles it.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Starling, what I did when I didn't get the opportunity to pump or the pump wasn't being efficient enough and I felt my supply drop was I pumped after or along with my ds's feedings. I'd do it for 2 days and then my supply would rebound in full force for the rest of my days off so I'd just keep the extra to send along with ds in case I couldn't pump. But at that point the rule of thumb was chuck it after 72hrs. Now you can keep it in the fridge for 8 DAYS wowza! I can pump enough on my days off for my days on and not have to freeze. This is great since dd doesn't like the taste of thawed milk. By the way so glad your test day went well. We have another one today and one next week and then the real thing on the 5th phew!!! It went so incredibly fast! I'm going to miss my babies. Makes me realize I want to go back to school and get my master's if only to get a little flexibility in my work schedule. I don't want to miss every third activity kwim?

I'm almost done solo parenting for the week. It wasn't as hard as last time at least dd is sleeping better. But I really miss my hubby. My SIL came over last night and brought dinner and helped with my ds's bedtime so that was great.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Josie - I agree with McKittre - if you are worried about Clara's speech then I should also REALLY be worried. Royce doesn't say any words (sometimes mama comes out when he's crying/upset, and he did say dog a few times a while back, but hasn't lately). He doesn't try and imitate me or any other sound. He doesn't sign or point. I wish I could teach him to sign, I'm not very consistent with it. But he whines/cries a lot and maybe signing would help reduce that. It is very frustrating!

Josie and Gilian, I hear you both. Aubrey only says "Bah bah bah" over and over, which can mean mama, daddy, food, down, gimme, and who knows what else. Sometimes she says "uh oh" and "wow" but I'm not sure if it's intentional. She does sign "eat" but I'm not consistent enough with anything else... But they'll all get there in time. I worry about her hearing because she's had issues with ear infections and persistent fluid in the ears, but we've been ear infection free for about a month and a half so I'm hesitant to do anything (doc recommends tubes). I'm trying not to worry too much! Yet.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
*BRmama:* My nieces are bilingual as well (Danish and English). My SIL always spoke to the girls in Danish from the time they were babes and my brother in English. They really do well with both languages and picked up early on who could speak which language! (well, they liked to keep Danish secrets from Daddy! SIL can speak English as well as Danish). Yes, speech can be a little later then peers but really not by much and then they are fluent in both languages. I'm sure that you are doing great!


Quote:

starling&diesel We're bilingual here too, or Esmé will be, that is. My partner is francophone, so speaks French to her, especially when they have time together without me. Esmé is learning both languages. She'll probably do her schooling in French, but we speak English at home as a family. My partner take her to a French early-start program at L'ecole Anne Hebert, where she'll likely go to preschool and then elementary school.
Thanks guys. *AKislandgirl* that's great about your nieces. That's what I hope for my son to do. Except dh also speaks my language so no keeping secrets here lol. Anyway that gives me hope that my son will be saying real words soon. *Starling* that's great I looove French, it's on my list of languages to learn. That's awesome that Esme will get to attend a pre and elementary school that speaks French. I wish there was something similar here for Landon. Anyway we're doing something similar at home here. I speak Portuguese and it's really hard to find books and learning tools in that language for kids, so here at home I speak English with dh since he's losing his Portuguese then I speak Portuguese to Landon and my dh speaks English to him. Oh and thanks for the link, I loved that tradition with the ring. Sooo cute! I can't wait to start it with Landon.

Mamamillet,







I hope you're doing better. I know it's tough, my dh travels a lot. It's tough enough taking care of one baby, I can only imagine being alone with two.


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Mallory, DH got me a Hitachi CW40. It's $160, I think and is quite highly reviewed by many, though a few have complaints that are more indepth than I plan to concern myself with. Customer service seems to be iffy, if there is a problem. I intend to use my a great deal in the next week to get a good feel for it while it's still in it's return policy. I'm not honestly concerned, but want to be on the safe side. The saw has a LOT of features for the money, including a light and a blower. It blows my old Craftsman one out of the water by a mile. It's not for REALLY talented, REALLY highly detailed work, but accurately does all basic and medium detail stuff, plus some high detail, depending on the blade you use.

He was able to get it Lowe's and it comes with its own stand.

Here are three reviews. The first one is the worst review I've seen for it, the other two are pretty glowing. I guess it depends on what you expect from it.








http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/product/634


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I think Katmai actually makes fewer sounds now that he's really into pointing. He spends half the day pointing at objects with a "da?" or "eh?" sound like he's asking me what they are. I'm actually not worried at all (at least not yet) - I can tell he understands a ton of what I'm saying, and he's communicating in his own way.

What are other babies most interesting quirks or favorite things these days?

Katmai's obsession is still spinning things - he'll find any knob he can turn in a room, as well as spin plates, cell phones, rocks, or any vaguely round object that is capable of turning (which turns out to be more things than I would have expected). As soon as his hands get big enough, I fully expect him to be opening my jars for me. He also enjoys bouncing his basketball, stacking blocks, throwing things, and putting every available object into some sort of container (with the result that his toys are lost in the wood box, or in his dad's shoes, or in some mysterious location we can't find them, along with everything else in the house).


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna likes to put things inside other things: food back in the bag, toy pieces in a bucket, etc. She also likes to pile her toys onto the entertainment center. She's into trying to hold multiple things in her 1 hand. Really into a plastic fake cell phone that came with her walker/ride on car toy. She's getting good at fitting pieces back into slots...like an interchangeable magnetic toy that you put halves of animals together in.

Anyone else's little one wanting to nurse ALL.THE.TIME? Makenna has been pulling on my shirt lately so I reminded her of the sign for nursing and she is doing it all the freaking time. And i know she means she wants to nurse bc she still pulls on my shirt too (wheras a couple months ago she did the sign sort of indiscriminately). And if we don't nurse right then she gets all upset and cries. Is it a phase? Becoming more independant and wanting to feel connected to momma? Or do I just have a boobahollic on my hands?? I don't really mind but sometimes I worry bc it is so frequent and I had thought maybe I would be nursing a lot less at 1 yr old. Not that I have a choice...she won't take a bottle or sippy so I'm stuck! I bought 2 more kinds of sippies today to add to my vast collection. I don't think she's buying it. I fear I am just going to have to withhold nursing one day to get her to take a cup - when we are ready for that - which I'm not. She would just rather nurse.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Cindy* Esmé is nursing all the time too. Yanking on my shirt and demanding "num-nums" very articulately. Growth spurt? Teething? Dunno. But yeah, all the time. I've taken to wearing her on my back instead of front, just so my boobs can have a break because she wants to yank my boob out as soon as she gets comfy in a front carry. Yeesh. I even went to a LLL meeting today because I was wondering about the constant nursing. Everyone there told me it is normal.

*mckittre* Quirks: Esmé loves playing with pieces of cloth, be it rags, facecloths, prefolds, clothing. She likes having several small cloths at hand, preferably her cloth wipes. She likes to hang them over her shoulder, pull them behind her head, tuck them under her chin, chew on them, hand them to me, set them down in a little row, bunch them up in her fist. She can spend and hour playing with her little rags.

She's really into dogs too. Our puppy and her are best buds, and now she loves all dogs. She likes to meet them all too, which is not the best thing, as not all dogs like children.

And she's officially a toddler ... walking all the time now! What happened to my little baby?


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
What are other babies most interesting quirks or favorite things these days?


Royce loves getting into the kitchen cupboards, he loves putting things into other things (he has a little toy kitchen and he puts everything in the oven, he also likes to drop things into the recycling bin or into the tub), he is starting to build with his blocks, he loves to dump the rings off his ring stacker and put them all back on - over and over. Some of the quirkier things he does are: after a meal I clean him with a wet cloth, and he will take it from me and put it over his head, then start to crawl around laughing







it is sooo funny. The other day I had some wet laundry and he pulled a shirt out of the basket and did the same thing. Apparently he likes wet things on his head! And another quirky thing is he likes to put his diapers in the diaper pail - unfortunately if I leave a clean one within his reach, it will also go in the diaper pail!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh I forgot - the laundry basket it tons of fun! Makenna can spend forever taking everything out and putting it back in. And pushing it around the room to practice walking - just started that!

Starling: Glad I'm not the only one! It must be part of the age and growing independance?? Is that what they told you at LLL?

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

lots of "nu nu" going on here too. NAK in fact! Sometimes I feel like its all night long!!! She is teething right now (molars suck by the way) and seems to be on a growth spurt as she is eating a ton of solids too. As DH says, "mama we have a growing girl, of course she needs her nu nu." I'm glad that he is sensitive to that.

We bought a twin mattress this week to put right next to ours. Essentially its one giant bed. The goal being that she'll sleep in that at night but still have closeness to Mama and Papa. For now she's just using it for naps and cozy time with books. Its a pretty snug little nest! At some point I'll have her start the night in it but we are in no rush. For now though I feel like I have more room because she can sleep closer to the edge without worrying about falling off since the other mattress is right there. That alone has given me some better sleep this week.

Fiona is big into her wagon these days. She loves to put things in it and walk around the house. Empty them over here and reload over there. Pretty fun! She's also really into music. We have music on quite a bit and she loves to dance! She plays with our instruments a lot too. I took her to a music group for kids this past week and she LOVED it! We're going to start going every week.

She's also really into shoes and socks. She's always trying to put them on wether she already has a pair on or not. Often when we take them off we say "stinky" and laugh about her sweaty feet. Now she says stinky anytime she sees shoes or socks. I think she thinks that is what they are called! LOL!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:

Vegan Princess Oh I forgot - the laundry basket it tons of fun! Makenna can spend forever taking everything out and putting it back in. And pushing it around the room to practice walking - just started that!
Same here, Landon loves to take everything out and put it back in, and practice walking with it. My mom got him a walker as a gift







, and his favorite thing to do is to push the walker from the back. I'm glad there's no stairs here. He also shakes his head as if telling me no all the time. The newest thing though is he hides behind the couch or a wall then peeks his head in at you as if playing peek-a-boo, so cute. I can't believe he's almost walking.

mckittre, he's pointing at things too and saying dah or something like that so I try to teach him the name of whatever object he points too.

Do any of your kids know any body parts like eyes or hair....Is it even early to start teaching that? The other day I pointed to his nose and said nose, then I pointed back to my nose then to his and repeated it. He then pointed back to my nose. It was such an awesome feeling.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Vegan Princess: have you tried a straw? My son wouldn't take a bottle or any of the 5 sippy cups I bought but a straw and a cup he will suck up tons of water I was amazed at how much he drinks.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

So DP left yesterday to go work for his parents. the good news is he will be back for dd's b-day on Thursday. The other good news is that the insurance will kick in on 2/1 and even I will get coverage!! That last part is huge cause I have not had insurance since last march. It will be a huge adjustment but I think we will be ok. If he is still there in summer we might move on up. We are working towrds a move to Croatia some time this next year though and I would rather not have 2 moves...but I also do not want to be apart too long!

DD is showing her temper these days! She is much more strong willed than her brother was! She is really into books and loading up her walker wagon and puching it all over. She is totally walking now as well. She loves being in big brothers room. In fact as soon as he comes home from school she is his little shadow! I try and make sure he gets some time alone too.
She continues to be a horrible sleeper...







She is working on 4 more teeth which wouldbring her total up to 12!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Cindy I second the straw idea. I can't get dd to take a sippy or a bottle but a rubbermaid container with a straw works.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I tried a straw in a restaurant and it didn't work out but I will buy some and try it at home. Maybe I need to shorten the straw. One of the new sippies I bought is a straw one...you just suck...no having to bite and suck like another we have. I do think she drank some out of it when I first brought it home but not she pushes it away. But perhaps the open cup with straw will seem more grown up? I'll try anything at this point!

Sleep is awful here too! Lots of waking and lots of being awake for long periods at night. Ugh! I seriously thought my child would be sleeping through the night by this point but right now there seems to be no end in sight to the horridness. It's so much worse than in ages. Before x-mas she was sleeping 7pm to 5am then back down for 2 hours in our bed. Now she is up 3 or so times and usually one included and hour-2 hours of wakefullness and even nursing to sleep in our bed takes an hour. Blah.

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

BRmama - I don't think it's too early to teach body parts. Katmai can correctly point to noses and mouths most of the time (mine - he won't point to himself). And they recognize tons of words even if they're not talking. My guy doesn't say anything, but in addition to body parts, he can point to pictures of dogs and kitties when asked (or the real thing), respond to simple requests ("wave at daddy," "feed mama," etc...). I'm always surprised by the amount that someone who only says "dah!" understands.

So far Katmai only likes open cups, so we just help him drink (left to his own devices he dumps the water instantly). Maybe I should try a straw.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Starling: Glad I'm not the only one! It must be part of the age and growing independance?? Is that what they told you at LLL?

Cindy

Pretty much. I didn't get into my whole sordid low supply history, which might've influenced their opinions. Who knows, eh?

As for us, we've had pretty much the worst 24 hours of Esmé's little life so far. My sister and I are at my parents for Robbie Burns. We had a big dinner last night, then went to bed. At about 330am, Esmé projectile-vomitted all over the place. Pulled off the sheets, changed her, cleaned her up, cleaned me up, remade the bed, nursed her back to sleep. And then did that whole process THREE MORE TIMES. Poor little one. Don't know what set her stomach off. She eats what we eat, so who knows? Maybe the haggis was too rich?

But today was worse. We went out for brunch with my parents, and the waitress brought my very hot decaf americano to the table and set it in front of Esmé and before I could move it away, she pulled it onto her lap. Second degree burns on one leg and the first ER trip of her life. So awful. She's got a salve and dressing on it, which we'll change tomorrow and see how it's doing. Poor wee thing.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Oh, poor Esme! Sounds like she's had a rough weekend.

We've had a rough week here too. Owyn had a stomach bug on Tuesday and spent half the day throwing up. She was so confused, she didn't know what was going on. She handled it pretty well, considering. She never cried, just laid around on me all day. She has had some diarrhea since then up until today. Friday, DH and I both came down with the same bug she had. No fun taking care of babies while feeling like crap. And all my daycare kids were here and most couldn't be picked up until later in the day. It was hard. Owyn spent most of the evening with my ILs so we could get some rest. Now, my ILs have it and so does my mom (who came over and helped with the babies in the afternoon when we were sick). I think we're all finally getting over it though.

I don't know what to do with Owyn lately at bedtime. She has started fighting sleep, HARD. She has never done this, not even when she was little. She just screams and screams, sometimes for an hour or more until she just wears herself out. My patience is wearing thin and I can't figure out what the issue is.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh no!! Poor Esme!! Hugs. I hope she is feeling ok from both the tummy bug and the burns. That's awful. I'm sure she is in great hands with a paramedic for a momma though.

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

*Starling:* Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about Esme's burn! (and being sick!) I would be so mad at that waitress for setting such hot coffee down in front of a baby! I hope that her burns heal quickly and that she's feeling better soon! Healing hugs from Alaska are being sent your way!

*mamamillet:* I hope that the time goes by quickly while DH is away. I know it can be hard to do the solo parent thing. Good luck! Great news about your insurance coverage though! What is brining you to Croatia for a move?! Sounds exciting!

I sent out invitations for Fiona's birthday party which will be next weekend. I'm making her a wool felt birthday crown and the other kids will have paper crowns to decorate. Then we'll have snacks and cake and call it a day! I think it will be fun. The next night a bluegrass band is coming to town. We're going to try to take her to it and see how it goes. I'm excited to see how she likes the live music. We'll probably not last the whole show but I think if we can do half that will be good. I'll let you know how it goes!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Starling - omg! I am so sorry - poor Esme!! I hope she heals quickly.

And I hope all the sick babies feel better. Royce is often getting little mild colds. We both had a really bad cold a couple weeks ago, I have no idea how I survived it I was SO exhausted. I've actually been limiting our socialization a bit to avoid germs - it is just too hard to be a sick parent when you are the only parent


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Starling, poor baby! Esme is very lucky to have you. I hope it feels better soon.

Cindy, how about just sipping out of a little cup or ramekin? Or a baby food jar? Aubrey thinks that is _very_ grown up and serious. Much better than any old sippy cup!

Mal, does Owyn wiggle and move her arms and try to get up? Aubs will scream 3+ hours if we don't physically restrain her. It sounds un-gentle but she needs help keeping her body still so that she can relax enough to sleep... So I usually spoon her to sleep with my "top" forearm across her chest, with her arms tucked down by her sides.







Works for us. She still cries some, but she's just upset about being tired/going to sleep.

Activity-wise, Aubrey is super busy. She doesn't have the patience for books, videos, or anything that requires sitting still. She likes to throw things on the floor, so the tables/shelves/toy basket/laundry basket are always being emptied. We haven't figured out how to fill them or replace things yet. She does like baths and brushing her teeth, and LOVES going down the big spiral slide by herself (usually upside-down). She's a daredevil. It's funny because if I had to predict her personality before she was born, this is what I would have thought. She was constant motion from about 21 weeks pg on....

Gillian,







Make sure you don't forget to take care of yourself. You are very strong.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 

Mal, does Owyn wiggle and move her arms and try to get up? Aubs will scream 3+ hours if we don't physically restrain her. It sounds un-gentle but she needs help keeping her body still so that she can relax enough to sleep... So I usually spoon her to sleep with my "top" forearm across her chest, with her arms tucked down by her sides.







Works for us. She still cries some, but she's just upset about being tired/going to sleep.

This sounds a lot like what we're going through. She just does not want to settle. She used to nurse to sleep. Then she stopped nursing to sleep, but would get drowsy and latch off then just lay her head on my chest while I rocked her and she'd usually go to sleep with little to no struggle. Now, she just won't settle down. So, I've had to restrain her as well. She'll lay on my chest and wiggle and turn and try to sit up. So, I just hold her against me, which is a struggle for me since she's getting bigger. The fight still lasts a long time, an hour or more at times.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Starling - poor Esme that's awful!
Gillian -








Mal - I hope you guys are all on the mend

We are wanting constant nursing here too. But sometimes I know she is just simply thirsty and I give her water. Her little teeth are soooo irritating on my nipple all of a sudden and I just can't handle the constant nursing.

Delia does the put things in take things out and she loves to open doors and cupboards. Especially if it's not one she's allowed in lol. She's a bit of a drama queen already and can make herself cry when she wants something. You can tell she's doing it on purpose because it's not instantaneous like her other cries. She's also taken to screaming at her brother for the things she wants and tantruming if she doesn't get it. Seems like it's a little early for this behaviour. I'm try to work on the signs with the two of them so they can communicate. But even without them my son seems to always know what dd wants. Very awesome connection that I hope they can keep.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
BRmama - I don't think it's too early to teach body parts. Katmai can correctly point to noses and mouths most of the time (mine - he won't point to himself). And they recognize tons of words even if they're not talking. My guy doesn't say anything, but in addition to body parts, he can point to pictures of dogs and kitties when asked (or the real thing), respond to simple requests ("wave at daddy," "feed mama," etc...). I'm always surprised by the amount that someone who only says "dah!" understands.

So far Katmai only likes open cups, so we just help him drink (left to his own devices he dumps the water instantly). Maybe I should try a straw.

That's great! Landon only knows where the nose is and he can recognize his daddy. I'm working on him waving bye.

Landon normally plays with his sippy cups, hasn't really taken it seriously though so I'm going to try a cup with a straw. What a great idea.

Starling, wow, poor Esme. I hope she's doing better and yeah I'd be mad at that waitress too. Like a pp said she's lucky to have you as her mama.

Gillian, hope you guys feel better too. I know it's hard being sick and still having to take care of your lo who is also sick. That's how we were a couple weeks ago. We limited socialization around here for a bit especially because the air in my state was horrible a couple weeks ago. Fortunately we've been getting some snow and it cleared it up some.

Mal, I agree with pp about restraining you lo. For some reason sometimes we go through this too at night and Landon always cry because he tries so hard to go back to sleep and he can't. So we do a full swaddle along with lots of wearing/rocking/bouncing and within twenty to thirty minutes he'll go back to sleep. Usually though on a good night he doesn't like to be swaddled.

I think it's great that so many of you are still nursing your lo's. Unfortunately I don't bf anymore so I can't nurse him to sleep or when he's sick or just for pure joy, but I believe imensely on the benefits of extended bf and Landon will be my only kid that wasn't bf for a long time. We don't do formula though, we do goat's milk and he loves it. Sorry for the ramble, had to get it out there.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Poor Esme! I hope she feels better soon.

I'll add Katmai to the list of babies that are constantly nursing and need to be held down sometimes at night. Glad to see it's common. Katmai doesn't usually need to be restrained for more than 15 minutes though, and often not at all if I catch him early enough. It seems like if I prevent him from napping between 6PM and 9:45 or so, he's ready to go to bed at the end of it, even if often means waking him up at 6PM (which feels mean).
I think he might be teething again as well, which isn't helping the sleep either.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Mal maybe a woombie would be beneficial. They make them in a megababy size now.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Thanks everyone









Royce also sometimes needs to be held down to fall asleep. Usually I will only do it for 5-10 minutes, and if he is settling then I'll continue, if not we take a break. Sometimes he really freaks out. It's always easier when he falls asleep nursing, but he doesn't always do that! Although I guess it is nice that he can fall asleep other ways, sometimes he just rolls over and goes to sleep without a fuss (after finishing nursing).

Royce doesn't really seem to 'ask' to nurse very often. Usually I just do it because he's fussy, or it's time to go to sleep, or I'll realize he hasn't nursed in a really long time so I'll offer. Sometimes I feel like if I stopped offering he would be fine (or at least it wouldn't take much to get him used to other types of comfort). But I really don't want to do that. Is that normal - to have nursing always seem to be mom-initiated? Maybe he just doesn't ask because I offer anyway?

Starling - Any updates on Esme? How is she doing?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 

Starling - Any updates on Esme? How is she doing?

Thanks for your concern, mamas!







Much appreciated.

I changed her dressing yesterday, and it looked pretty good, all things considered. The ointment they gave us in the ER is great stuff, really minimizes scarring. I think her biggest complaint is that she can't have a bath.
I, on the other hand, got super super sick yesterday, explosive out of both ends. I'm looking forward to a break from all the drama and just get back to basics for a while. Unfortunately, we live in Vancouver, where the Olympics are being held in a couple of weeks, and there is no rest on the horizon. I am so tired.
I planned an Usborne book party for this afternoon, and handed out invites at the mom and tot drop in, so now I can expect 15 mamas and babes to descend on my house in a few hours, and I still feel like crappola. I can't really cancel, as I don't have anyone's phone number.
The woman who is the Usborne lady said she would be fine hosting it on her own so Esmé and I can hide out in the back room. Sigh.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

What a week Starling! I hope you feel better soon. Sorry you have to miss your own party!!

I took Makenna to her first sign class yesterday. It is more like a playgroup immersion thing...an hour and a half of playing and using signs for everything, led by two ASL fluent teachers. I am the one learning, not her...she just plays...but I will use more signs for her to learn now. I feel like I'm getting a lot out of it and they had tons of fun toys and even snack time and it's only $3/class. Was a nice way to break up the day too.

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

starling i am so sorry to hear about esme's burn. why on earth a waitress would put a hot cup in front of a toddler is beyond me! sorry about the sickies too. Junes was sick for a week. diarrhea and she would vomit every night...for a full week. last night was the first vomit free night! I am so glad, for her sake and because i was exhausted having to get up so many times at night.

mckittre my sister bought your book, she said she really likes it and is going to bring it to me soon.

I have been thinking about all of you and your new or soon to be 1 year olds. sorry i haven't been on much. trying to get things done around the house...not so succesfully. BUT i am digging up our garden and am really excited about that.

cindy that class sounds neat, and $3 isn't bad. are you supposed to come every week or is it okay if you miss some.

I'll keep reading!

here is a picture of junes nursing in the backyard

my girls and I when we had our cold snap

and a pirate picture of my girls before the local gasparilla pirate invasion and parade


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

So Sorry about poor Esme...and mama.
I am soooo sleep deprived. Its almost worse than the itty bit age cause I seriuosly can't nap! I lay down BUT CAN NOT SLEEP ! Willa has been waking every hour from about 1 am on untill we get up about 7. I am lucky if I can get in bed by 10:30 or so.

ugh.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

oh mamamillet that is tough. is she going through a growth spurt, new development, or new teeth? that is what has always made my kids wake up a lot at night.

I am jealous of you multi linguists. I so want my kids to know another language, unfortunately dh and I only speak English. We do have them going to a school were they get immersion Spanish, but not every day. Once they get a bit older they start adding other languages. my high school graduation they should be taking Spanish, french, German, and Latin. Right now some of the older kids from the school are actually in Costa Rica on a field trip.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Beautiful pictures Courtney! I especially love the nursing photo. I need to get DH to take more of those since this is what we spend so much time doing! Here are a few of my girl...

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_2424.jpg looking cute

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_2417.jpg bundled up

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_2411.jpg winter walk

I hope everyone starts feeling better and getting sleep soon!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Oh it is definitely teething. She has 6 coming...her molars and 2 of the cuspids (top). And right now I would like to go to bed but I just got my shower after getting her down and cleaning up the kitchen. I started a load of clothes that need to go in the dryer before I can get in bed...
cut pics


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Courtney - great pics! The class isn't drop in. I had to register for the 6 class session and pay for them all in advance. I get the impression not everyone makes it to each one though bc of illness, etc. $3 is a great deal, especially since it includes snack!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Unfortunately multiple languages isn't in the cards for Katmai - we only speak English, and there aren't any immersion programs here.

That sign language class sounds neat, Cindy. I do wish I could convince Katmai to use signs - I've been using a handful of them since he was 5 or 6 months old, and all I get in return is an occasional "dog" (which I may be imagining). Seeing as he claps and points and waves, so I'm not sure why the "official" signs are any harder?

Digging up the garden, Courtney? I'm jealous! The seed catalogs have arrived here, making me start thinking about spring. I love the snow - but it would be nice to magically have a longer growing season as well. We can still eat kale from under the snow, though - it's so nice to have something fresh in the winter, I think I'll plant twice as much next year.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Fiona is such a doll! I remember when she was born and you posted newborn pics of her and I called DH over to the computer to see the picture of that stunning baby.

So, we had taken a break from the transition to the crib, but we're back to it now with a better plan than before. So far, she has made it three nights in a row in her crib! I am getting up to nurse her, but it only takes 15-20 minutes to get her back down in the crib. Although I do have to fully wake up unlike when I nursed her in bed, I do feel more refreshed in the morning, so I must be sleeping better in between than I did with her in the bed.

Once she gets used to being in her bed and we have that routine a little more set, I think we'll start trying to nightwean. That will probably take a while, a couple of months I'm sure. I don't want to throw too much change at her at once. She's already nursing less now that she's in her bed and it's not readily available to her. I can see baby #2 on the horizon and I just really want to have my body back to myself for a little while before I start sharing it with another little one.

Next weekend, I'm attending an alternative parenting symposium at the nearest Waldorf school. Not really sure what it entails, but I'm excited about going! I'll have to let you ladies know what I learn!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

wow thats amazing, kale from UNDER the snow? so neat.

fiona is gorgoues.

6 teeth at once, oh my! i wonder if some of unes back teeth have been coming in.

speaking of junes , she loves pickles. her pickle loving daddy is pretty proud.

dh got me two new chickens today. i named one becky, for the chicken he had that he lost the first night and i am trying to decide on a name for the other. she will be a black and white and will lay bluish green eggs. At first I liek Constance, but the i decided to save that for when we get a cow. so now up for grabs are Emmaline, Amelia, Meredith (for my twin sister since today is her birthday, i thought it would be fitting), or shelley or Shelby...well b/c it has the word shell in it, as in eggshell. what do you think? do you have any chicken names? or other chickens (all girls) are Beercan (becasue someday she will be a beercan chicken on the grill), Mabel, Yellow Dot, and James Bond.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for the comments on my girl! We dig her and think she's pretty cute too!

Mal: i wish I could join you at the symposium. Sounds right up my alley. Let us know what you learn.

Here are the names we have used for chickens:
Henrietta (loved this one!), Rosie, Poppy, Meg, Pete, Emmy (my teenage niece asked me to name a chicken after her... I named our fiestiest chick after her and she ended up being a rooster!). We are down to two hens now and am looking forward to a new batch of chicks this spring. I vote for shelly! I think that we would still have kale left if I hadn't let the chickens into the garden... they have eaten what was left. Oh well...makes for yummy eggs!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
(for my twin sister since today is her birthday, i thought it would be fitting),

So, is it safe to assume that it is also YOUR birthday?







HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!









Oh, and I like Shelley, that's my vote!

I love the photo updates!! Let's see some more!

Mal - that symposium sounds awesome! I would love to go to something like that. I should look and see if Toronto has any big ap events (that's the closest big city to me), I know for sure my town would not!

mamamillet - hope you were able to get some sleep









As for me, this lady today though Royce was about 4-5 months old







He is 23lb and 30" tall. And he was standing up (with his hand on the wall) and babbling and looking at everyone when she said it. I have to assume that she just wasn't thinking at all when she said that. I've had some worries about his lack of growth lately though, and this doesn't help. His growth has REALLY slowed down, he's still 'above average' but the percentile he is in has fallen. I worry about everything it seems, I need to relax!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Gillian: That woman obviously was completely clueless about babies! I think it's just normal for growth to slow wayyyy down...otherwise we would end up giants by age 5. I am curious how big Makenna is and what percentile. She had only put on 1 lb in 2 months at her last visit and her percentile had dropped too. Her 1 yr WBV is next Thursday. I really don't think she has put on that much weight bc I had her to the dr a couple times when she was sick but they weighed her with clothes and when she wasn't eating or drinking very much so I didn't even make a point to remember the numbers. I just remember they weren't a whole lot higher than her 9 month weight. I do think she has grown in legnth though bc her pants are fitting differently.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé goes for her one year visit next week, which will be the first time that I've weighed her in a about a month. She weighed about 20 lbs then, so we'll see. She's also slowed way down, but has sped up in mobility, so I think that explains it. Royce sounds right on track to me, *Gillian*!

Esmé's burn is healing well. As has her tummy. I caught the bug after she did and spent the night exploding from both ends. The worst part was that I do the night time parenting, so my partner had to step it up in a way she's never done before. They did okay, much to my relief. She had to pace the floor with her a couple of times, in lieu of the boob, when I was too far gone to give the boob, and then when I was well enough, I nursed her back to sleep. I'm just hoping my DP doesn't get it.

I'm doing another practice day away from Esmé tomorrow. I've got an all day CPR course, and she'll be home with DP. Wish them luck! I'll post photos when I get a minute to upload some new ones. Let's see some more!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh! And I forgot to mention that Esmé's birthday ring arrived today, made by a craftsman who lives on the Sunshine Coast here. It was WAY cheaper than most of the American ones I saw, and arrived within a few days! Here's his link ... it's beautiful!
And note, that's the price with the candles and figurines! He also ships to the states, so any of you mamas who had your eye on them, go for it!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i think most people have no clue about baby ages and stages. i think they just say something/anything in order to try to make a connection. people are drawn to babies, it represents the future and for a lot of people their is just hope in that.

junes lost weight while she was sick. about a pound! she's not dehyrdrated , she's happy, and she's eating so i am not really worried about it. (oh and babies totally slow down their growth. Just wait when they get a bit older they tend to hang at the same weight and just get taller. my girls hung out at the same wieght for about a year each.

thanks for the happy birthday. i had a good one.

well dh just got back from dropping the girls at school.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yeah, obviously the lady had no idea about ages/stages. Mostly I think it's pretty crazy and funny that she even thought that, but there is also a little part of me that was offended that she would think my 1 year old is 4-5 months old. I'm not dwelling on it though!

Glad to hear Esme's burn is healing well!

I have some recent photos to share:

Royce being silly

Smiling

Cuteness

The wet-cloth-on-the-head thing I told you all about, he pulls the cloth up onto his head then starts to crawl around, and he thinks it's soooo funny, sometimes he gets it over his eyes and crawls blindly







(I wish I could show a video, but that is above and beyond my computer knowledge!)


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Gillian Royce is sooooooo cute! What kind of diaper is he in in the first photo?


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
Gillian Royce is sooooooo cute! What kind of diaper is he in in the first photo?

Thank you!!







And it is an AMP (Annie Marie Padorie) pocket diaper, I really like them, I mostly just use them as a cover unless someone is babysitting or we're going to be out and I won't be able to change him for a while.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I went into labor this night last year! I'm listening to my ipod playlist that I listened to during labor and birth. It's making me a bit wistful. 

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

happy birth day cindy!

royce is totally cute.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Hey everyone, I am waaay behind and trying to catch up! We've had colds going around here and it makes everything crazy for me.









Poor Esmé! I'm sorry she got burned that is just HORRIBLE!!!









Cindy, happy Gave Birth Day! That is so sweet . . .

I love all the photos! What cute, cute babies!!!

It is very bittersweet that our babies are a year or nearly a year old. Eliza's birthday is in two and a half weeks. She is walking more and more-- walking is now her default rather than crawling!









I am really appreciating having my life back, too-- not because of her getting older, but simply because my body and brain are finally nearly recovered from pregnancy. My weight is going down, my brain is clearer, my moods and emotions more stable, my energy is greatly increased, and I'm sleeping better. Everything is better. It was a really, really hard year postpartum, and a really tough pregnancy before that. It's so amazing to be out on the other side, to finally be well again, and to have this beautiful baby, too. I am definitely not going through it again, though, that's for sure. Our family is complete. And I can't imagine not having this sweet little princess in our family!!!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Wow, I loved looking at everyone's lo's pictures. Such cute babies!!

Starling glad to know Esme's burn is healing up and that she's recovering. I hope you get over this too. Btw loved the birthday ring, so cute.

Thursday Girl and Cindy, happy birthday!

Gillian I just ignore those comments. One time last year after I had ds, I was walking with a friend when an acquaintance thought I was pregnant. She even put her hand on my belly and said "oh congratulations." I told her I wasn't pregnant and she insisted







. Some people just don't get it.

Okay here's a dumb question. Not even sure if this is the right place, and I apologize for my lack of skills. How do you guys post pictures with words as opposed to the whole link?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi BRmama ... when you want to make a link, highlight the word or words that you want to link, then hit the icon of the globe with the chain, and it will ask you to put in the URL or web address. Does that make sense?

ps. I remember asking the same thing!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I had another practice day away from Esmé yesterday while I was at a CPR course. I was away ten hours, with travel, and she and my partner did great. But Esmé is super clingy today, and nursing non-stop, even though I think my supply is dwindling. I go back to work on Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes.

I have pictures too ... here she is wearing an awesome cowichan sweater that has been in the family for thirty years (and leggings knit by my mom).
And here she is exploring the neighbourhood.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm loving the photos! Seriously those dimples on Royce kill me!







Starling, I noticed that sweater in a video you posted. I love it! She's one well dressed chica! Tell me about her shoes...they look cute too!

Tomorrow is Fiona's birthday party...wish I could invite you all! Actually its going to be pretty mellow. We have 4 families coming over. The kids have birthday crowns to decorate (paper) and I made a felt one for Fiona. We'll have some finger foods and cake... beer for the adults. Thats it. Should be fun!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
Starling, I noticed that sweater in a video you posted. I love it! She's one well dressed chica! Tell me about her shoes...they look cute too!

Tomorrow is Fiona's birthday party...wish I could invite you all!

We'll come! Or, we'll be there in spirit, anyway, so long as you do the same for our party on Sunday.









As for the shoes, they're Stride Rites, and I got them for 50% off because no one wants laces anymore. They're great shoes. Love 'em.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Starling - OMG, those cheeks on Esme! I want to squish them







And it's so neat to see babies Royce's age walking around. I can't wait for Royce to take his first steps. He's just too cautious to let go!

Happy Birth-Day Cindy!! And Happy 1st Birthday to Makenna!!

AK - Hope the party goes well! I'll save your birthday wishes for the actual day


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

My poor baby. Today was Makenna's birthday. I was going to take her for pics and open presents from family but she was under the weather so we just chilled. By bedtime her fever hit 102+!! Her party is tomorow. We let everyone know she has a bug or is teething so hopefully not everyone is scared off! I really hope she is feeling well for the bash tomorrow!

AKIslandgirl: Have fun at your party tomorrow!

I love all the pics! I'll post some soon when I have some free time to upload new pics. Hoping to get some good ones tomorrow of her eating cake and wearing her tutu.

Cindy


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Hi BRmama ... when you want to make a link, highlight the word or words that you want to link, then hit the icon of the globe with the chain, and it will ask you to put in the URL or web address. Does that make sense?

ps. I remember asking the same thing!









Thanks Starling, and Esme is soooo cute! Love her shoes and outfit!

Quote:

I can't wait for Royce to take his first steps. He's just too cautious to let go
Same here, Landon only takes his steps when he's holding on to something. When I grab his hands and make him walk towards me the little stinker falls on the ground lol. Btw I love those dimples on Royce!

AKislandgirl thanks for the invite. We'll be there in spirit too lol. Have fun at your party, and in case I'm not here online tomorrow Happy Birthday to you and Fiona.

Vegan Princess I hope Makenna gets better soon. Sending







your way


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy Birthday Makenna, and hope she feels better soon! I can't believe all these babies are turning 1 already.

Katmai doesn't walk yet either. He's actually very good at balancing hands free and plays that way a lot, but no steps unless he's holding on or pushing something. And I have no idea how I'd make him walk even if I tried! I grab his hands and he just stubbornly sits down. I suspect that living in a one room house, his motivation is pretty small - he can get everywhere he wants by crawling (and outside is too snowy to do much crawling/walking).

You all are reminding me that I haven't taken any pictures of Katmai in quite a while. I should do that (at least to make the grandparents happy).

-Erin


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Poor Makenna ...








Here's some feel-better-baby vibes for you!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Makenna I hope she feels up to partying today!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

I am going to try and post a video from my Fb page...

http://www.facebook.com/video/video....46170992&saved

Its a bit blurry but still cute...


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Thanks for all the healing vibes! They worked! Makenna woke up at 11 last night all happy and wanting to play...and stayed up until 1. She was in a great mood today and her fever was gone. Yay! The party went well. She was a little unsure of all the people in the house at first but she had fun. She loves playing with her older cousins that are 5 and 8. In fact she walked holding the 8 yr old's hands. All over the place. She has never done that for me. She always just stayed put or sat down. She also managed to really walk behind her walker toy this morning before the party. Up until today it always got ahead of her. I think walking will be soon. I still can't imagine her walking on her own!

Makenna started doing the signs for fish and pig today on her own when seeing pictures of them. It just tickles me to see her use new signs! The one for pig isn't super simple either and she did it exactly right. 

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

It's almost Esmé's birth day! This time last year I was guzzling a labour-inducing herbal cocktail and doing low squats to bring on labour to avoid a hospital induction for pre-eclampsia. Man, that was some powerful cocktail! It worked like a charm!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Happy birthday Esme and happy birth day to you Starling! Are you feeling nostalgic for last year, like I was?

Off to bed. Or to try. It's 10:20 and Makenna has already woken up a couple times and is not going back down (dh trying now). Going to be yet another long night. No fever but I think it's teeth keeping her up now.

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Starling - Happy Birth-Day to you! And







to Esme!!

Cindy - Glad to hear Makenna is feeling all better and the party went well!

mamamillet - That is soo cute!! Royce LOVES music too, always dances, it's the cutest thing in the world!

Royce and I are both sick again, I think we spend more time sick than healthy! Yesterday he had a fever, and that was the first time I've ever noticed him having a fever. But he seems a lot better today, just has a runny nose. Me on the other hand, I would like to crawl into a dark hole, it's a sinus cold and I feel like my head is going to burst. I always seem to get the colds after Royce, and then I wonder if this is how he felt - poor baby!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

happy birth day to Cindy and Starling and Makenna and Esmé!

loved the video mamamillet... I love baby dancing!

We had a lovely party with our friends yesterday. Not too many people to where she would get overwhelmed. The kids played well together and we had a lot of fun! Even though we did her party a couple days ahead of her birthday I was actually in labor that long so I decided it counted! By this time last year I was getting ready to make my first (of 3!) trip to the hospital. Our doula was one of our party guests so it was fun to remember the birth with her.

Baby fever is hitting hard as I watch my girl get bigger and become a one year old! Our doula shared the great news that we are finally getting a midwife here as of September. Also a woman in town is donating her 2 bedroom apartment as the birth center. I'm so excited! I told DH now we can have another baby. I wish it weren't as complicated as it is (clomid, IUI...) or I'd really be trying soon. But unless some fertility miracle occurs we won't be trying until Fiona is 2 because I have to wean her before starting all of the fertility treatments again. I don't want to wean her before then...


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé is one! I can't believe it! This time last year I was pacing the floor at home, waiting to go into the hospital to deliver her on the high risk floor because of the pre-eclampsia. Here I am during a contraction about half an hour before pushing, and here she is after she was rescusitated (cord injury). I am so thrilled to be her mama. What an honour!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Another day, another BIRTHDAY!! Happy Birthday to you, AK & Fiona!!







I'm glad to hear your party went well! And I also have baby fever big time, but it'll be a long while for that unfortunately. Although the idea of having a larger spacing between babies has grown on me, 3-4 years apart sounds nice









Starling - Love the newborn photos! You've inspired me to post a newborn photo of my Royce. I find I'm often reflecting on what I was doing 'this time last year'. He would have been 2 weeks old today, I was probably nursing and napping a lot







Anyway, here's little Royce as a newborn


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Happy birthday AK & Fiona!!

Here is a pic of Makenna eating cake at her party:
Cake

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

My girl as a newborn! http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_0909.jpg

My girl as a one year old! http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/n...h/IMG_2443.jpg


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

I forgot to post a newborn pic. This was Makenna at her teeniest tiniest! She was a couple weeks early and this was after she lost weight. So small!

Newborn


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Oh Cindy! Great pictures! That newborn picture is incredible!

We've all come such a long way! Once again, I'm so grateful for the Feb DDC!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy birthday Fiona! And happy slightly late birthday Esme!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Wow, that's great so many birthdays! I can't believe our lo's are turning one already.

Happy late Birthday to AK and Fiona, and Starling and Esme, and Cindy and Makenna









Gillian







I hope you and Royce feel better

I loved seeing all the cute newborn pictures and video of your lo's. So cute, I can't believe it's been a year. Landon's birthday is this coming Sunday so we'll just do a small party with dh's family. Unfortunately I have to many things going on in February and March so my dh and I decided to do a big party for him in the beginning of April so that way my family and all of our friends can be there.

Count me in as having baby fever. We're planning on ttc sometime in July/August but we'll see how that goes...









Just wondering, are your lo's eating finger foods? Landon is so interested in our food, and every time during his snack lunch dinner etc when I offer he just wont want it. He'll play with it but won't put it in his mouth, needless to say he puts everything else in his mouth lol. Should I back off or keep trying? I don't want him to have an aversion to finger foods


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna does almost all finger foods bc she won't let me feed her much off of a spoon. Some things that come to mind are: scrambled egg, baked tofu, yogurt melts (packaged,organic), organic cheerios (trader joes brand), puffed grain cereals like puffed kamut or puffed corn, cheese, pieces of steamed veggie or soft fruit, pasta, cheddar brocoli biscuits. Basically almost anything can be broken into little pieces as long as it is soft enough no crackers). Oh I also give her rice cake hunks and she knaws off pieces. I have the pickiest eater in the world. What I've listed is about all she'll eat plus some warm cereal and sweet potato off of a spoon. The pediatrician said some babies just aren't all that into eating until even 15 months+. I've also read in various places that if a baby gets a balanced diet in a week or a month (I've read both) that they are ok. In his book Touchpoints, Dr Brazelton says if a 1 yr old gets 16 oz milk (or equivalent...1 ounce cheese = 4 ounces milk), 2 ounced of meat or egg or fortified cereal (like cheerios), 2 ounces of fruit or veg and a multi vitamin each day then he feels they are getting what they need.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Happy Birthday, Fiona!









As for food, Esmé eats e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. In fact, one of her aunties gave her the book "Foodie Babies Wear Bibs" which is a little board book about baby food enthusiasts. Cute. Seriously, there is nothing she won't eat. Her favourites being blueberries, salmon, toast soldiers, cheese, chicken, broccoli, and yams. I wouldn't push it ... he'll get there at his own speed. Lord knows that varies, being that Esmé still doesn't have teeth! To each there own timetable.

Esmé had her one year doc visit today and weighs 20 lbs. Won't be forward facing that car seat any time soon. Her burn looks great. She was hysterical after her shots, but is now napping comfortably







.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Please help!! My dear sweet baby is a screaming, whining, aggressive little girlie these days and it's only when *I* am around. With everyone else she is pleasant and sweet. But as soon as she sees me she makes a beeline for me pulls up and whines and yells and cries at me. This is a fairly new development. I haven't gone back to work yet so it's not that. Maybe she feels my tension but honestly she starts it. I try to relax and smile at her when she's coming towards me but it's getting very hard not to cringe. It's not teeth I don't think. She has been pooping up a storm so maybe it's her tummy. But if it's something wrong why does she only act like this with me?

And I think I must be absolutely nutters because even with her acting like this and my almost 4yo acting like he is suddenly deaf anytime he's told to do anything I still am longing for that last baby! I'm crazy! I have to be! We don't have room in this house for another baby. We don't have room in this car for another baby. We want to move away from this town. I want to get my master's. I never wanted 2 in diapers. These are all very good reasons to WAIT! and yet I still want one. Ugh! Talk me down ladies. Please.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

nilla, my junes wa susper upset and had diaarhea and then started pucking at night, it lasted about a week. that's all i can think of. Have you tried probiotics? i couldn't get junes to really drink it b/c the kind i had had to be mixed into water something and she doesn't drink anything really.

happy birthday to the new one year olds and happy birhting days to you mommas. Today it just hit me that in 1 week Junes will be 1. (we are also having a party sunday). I do not have baby fever. it feels nice to just be happy with what I have. it certainly wasn't that way after the other two. (so i won't be talking you down Nilla.







)

we spent this weekend (the 3 girls and I) camping with the girl scouts. it was awesome. I am so happy that that experience will be a part of my kids lives. Junes did great, my (just turned) 4 year old fit in seamlessly with the brownies, and it was so fun to see they way my almost 7 year odl interacts with her friends...plus it was super nostalgic for me.

BR mama, i would just keep offering the food and big part of eating right now is the experience! Junes won't let us feed her at all. sometimes she eats the food we give her, sometimes she just plays with it. she gets what we eat...unless it's junky.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

All we have ever done are finger foods, we skipped the purees/spoon feeding phase. His favourites include: pasta, cheese, toast, cheerios, toddler rice cakes, fruit (apples and bananas mostly), potatoes, broccoli, other veggies sometimes. For the most part I give him whatever I'm eating, just cut up into bite sizes pieces. He has been a bit picky lately though and only wants cheerios and rice cakes. I have tried to avoid giving him those with the hopes that he would eat other healthier stuff, but he still doesn't eat the other stuff, and then he is just fussy and hungry.

Nilla - I so understand. Royce is a very whiny baby. It really tests my patience. I have seen other 1 year olds at play groups and none of them cry/whine as much as he does. I feel like I must have done something wrong to make him like this. AND, whenever he is with his dad (very rarely) or my dad who babysits occasionally, they always say 'oh he was great, smiling and happy the whole time!' WTF?!?! Then I REALLY feel like it must be me. I often have to just leave the room to calm down otherwise I will go insane (which of course makes him scream and cry harder). I feel like a horrible mother most days







So no advice sorry, but I hear ya!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Makenna's list doesn't sound picky at all, Cindy. What's missing that you'd like her to eat?

Katmai pretty much eats what we eat. His favorite thing is probably cheese, and he also loves cheerios, yogurt, and bread (any type), but he'll eat other stuff like noodles, grapefruit, potatoes, salmon, apples, carrots, beans... He won't usually eat greens (like nettles or kale) unless they're chopped super small into something. We don't eat a whole lot of variety ourselves in the winter - hard to get stuff here. Katmai wishes he could share hot coffee with me, and likes lukewarm tea. He basically feeds himself, but I occasionally feed him bites. Unfortunately he also really likes throwing his food on the floor (he really likes throwing most objects these days), so we're struggling with teaching him not to.

Right now I have one baby, and no desire whatsoever for another. We're a happy family of 3 right now. Maybe that'll change someday, maybe not.

I think whiny vs. happy baby is an inborn personality thing - not anyone's fault. I certainly did nothing to make Katmai a happy baby.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Thank you all for the replies. I had the WORST migraine yesterday, lasted all night so my dh took over and it was interesting but they got along pretty good.

Cindy thanks for the info, I'll have to get a hold of that book. Anyway Landon is a picky eater too but I'm beginning to wonder about that because for a while now he likes to do things himself (if I help at all he gets mad) and I think that includes feeding but not sure.

Starling, Esme is so cute. Landon has his one year appointment next monday and yeah we're not ff anytime soon either. When he outgrew his infant carseat we got a convertible. Anyway so interesting Esme doesn't have any teeth and eats way more than Landon that has at least six but true, to each their own timetable.

Gillian Do you do blw with Royce? I'm thinking about it, I guess I should research more on it but that's great that he eats all those things.

Thursday I agree it's part of the experience, I probably should let him explore more even if that means throwing food on the floor lol.

mckittre that's great that he eats what you guys eat. Landon gets so interested in our plates and when we offer he makes a sourface and just immediately doesn't like it.

Nilla







I think that she's only like that with you because she may be trying to tell you (her mommy who she knows she can trust) that there's something bothering her. Not saying she doesn't trust anyone else but I truly believe we have a connection with our lo's. That being said I'd try probiotics too. I give Landon 1/2 tsp twice a day and it works wonders. Have you checked if she's getting any new teeth? When Landon's teeth come in unfortunately nothing ever seems to work fast enough. We do motrin for him and hold him till he's done crying. I also have a bunch of teething toys since he's been biting so much. It could also be just a phase maybe. I remember when Landon did that a little. He'd be fine playing with my dh but then when he'd come to me he'd start crying. Now he's fine.
I do want more kids so I can't talk you down but maybe if you make a list of all the reasons you posted here about why you want to wait and post it somewhere that you can see everyday it might help.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn has been extra whiny the last couple of weeks too. But we have still be making the transition to her crib and she's been sleeping in there most of the night (as long as I'm able to drag myself out of bed to put her back to sleep, some nights, I just can't do it). So, I assume the change in sleeping is causing the clinginess. I try to be patient with her, but you're right, it does wear on your patience, especially when I see her being so pleasant with other people. She gets especially whiny in the evening before bedtime. But only does this when we're at home. She's totally cool and pleasant if we're at someone else's house.

As far as food, we do a lot of purees but have always offered solids throughout the day as well. Anytime I eat a meal, she sits in her seat and shares with me. She'll eat just about anything I put in front of her. I bought some purees with the chunks in them and she just gags on those. She'll eat solid food if she's feeding it to herself, but if I'm putting it in her mouth she expects it to be a puree. We have actually cut back the last couple of weeks on the amount of purees we keep in the house and are now doing a mixture of puree and solids at meal time. I'll give her some of a jar as well as putting veggies and snacks on her tray. She eats them both pretty equally. She looooves to snack, though. She gets it honest, I'm a big snacker throughout the day.

I also want a baby pretty badly. My cycles are always weird, so I've started to chart them in hopes that I'll have a good handle on it when we're ready to start TTC. Probably July/August. I may see some of you in another DDC!

I'm so looking forward to the parenting symposium I'm going to this weekend. I feel like I'm getting dumber now that I'm not in school anymore, so I'm really excited about the learning opportunity. I got my schedule for the day yesterday:
8:30-9 Register
9-9:15 Welcome
9:15-10 Waldorf Education, Doula Panel
10-10:15 break
10:15-11 Newborn needs, Homeschooling, Diapering/EC
11-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:15 Roundtable Discussions
1:15-2 Natural childbirth panel, Simple Living, Vaccines
2-2:15 break
2:15-3 Homebirth, Herbs for Kids, Breastfeeding
3-3:45 Attachment Parenting, Homeopathy
3:45-4 break
4-4:45 Circumcision, Mothering as Politics
4:45-5 Wrap-up

All this for $35! Can't wait!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Hi all. Happy Birthday and Birth Day to us all! Aubrey's is Valentine's Day, and her gparents are coming to visit, so I'm sure she'll have a good time.

I'm feeling nostalgic today because last night it became very apparent that Aubs does not need me in the tub with her any more. Or want me there, really. We have a great big tub so I always get in with her, but last night she made it clear that I was just getting in the way of her fun.







So I guess our tub time together is coming to an end. It's sort of sad. It's also sort of sad because I probably won't be able to give this level of attention to a subsequent baby.
Maybe I'll make Huz start sharing the tub with me.









ETA: Nilla, I won't be talking you down either. We're at least a year out from TTC, but its something that I think more about as Aubrey gets older and is doing fewer "baby" things. (Remember how they smack the air when they cry and make that little eh eh sound?! Remember how they snuggle even when they're awake?)


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

justKate - Um, I think Nilla said to 'talk down' not 'talk up'







You are making ME want a newborn NOW!

A friend of mine on fb just had her baby on Sunday. She had the same due date I did. I've been enjoying following along her pregnancy, and I'm so excited that she now has her baby in her arms, but it is making me really nostalgic about last year!

Mal - I'm so jealous of you getting to go to that, it sounds like it's covering so many interesting topics! It's like an MDC symposium!

BRMama - Yes, we did blw. I'm really glad we did, it's worked out well for us. And I think it's a lot easier, for the most part. I have the book 'baby led weaning' by gill rapley (and someone else...), I've found it to be a good resource.

Royce is now getting to the point where he needs to have snacks when we are out for a few hours. I'm finding it hard now to remember to pack things though! The other day we were at a playgroup called moms time out (they have a daycare worker who watches the babes, and the moms get to sit and chat in another room), and the daycare worker came to get me b/c the other babes (all older toddlers) were having snacks and she wanted to know if I'd brought something for Royce (because he was fussing and trying to steal food), I hadn't of course and felt like an idiot. But I just kept him with me and nursed him, then sent him back.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

OK ladies, I need you to tell me not to worry...

Fiona had her well baby visit today. Her weight is only 16 #'s 7 ounces. (She has gained 1.5 #'s since her 9 month visit) That puts her just barely on the third percentile of the WHO chart. Our dr wants me to take her in for monthly weight checks. Do you think I really need to do this? Her height is in the 50th percentile (29 inches) and she has gained 3 inches since her 9 month visit. Ughh! Part of me just thinks that its her body type but I can't help but worry a bit about it. She still nurses a ton and eats lots of solids... I don't know what I could do to help her gain weight anyway?! What do you think about this? Overall she did say she looks healthy which I knew anyway.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

My niece turned one in October and she was just over 16 lbs at her one year check up. I don't remember her height. My SIL said they didn't seem too concerned with it, but she does worry. She has only gained 2 lbs since then, putting her at almost 16 months old and weighing about 18.5 lbs.

I don't know if that makes you feel better, but at least you know Fiona isn't the only one! Owyn has always hovered around the 50th percentile on weight and 75th on height. So she's skinny and people comment on how skinny she is pretty frequently.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

AK - What about some high fat foods with omega 3's and 6's? Like Avocado, pumpkin seed butter, add safflower oil to applesauce, coconut milk pudding, coconut oil for frying up her meats etc. All healthy for her but might help her pack on some weight. Does she eat eggs yet? those are a good source for fat and nutrition. Maybe sweet potato or yam fries dipped in humus. Are you taking in enough calories/hydrated enough? You could also pump a little hindmilk after feedings and mix it with her food so she gets more calories that way. Now I'm not saying you need to worry she's probably just small and will always be a small girl but if you want to try and up her weight and make sure she's getting enough of those brain building fats this is what I would do.

Thanks ladies for talking me down







Just looking at our finances and realizing that if we wait even 6 mos we will be in so much better shape makes me come down a little. Still got the baby fever but my bff is having a baby in the next month so I will have a little one to smoosh soon enough.

Mal that symposiums sounds AMAZING!

My girlie is still super emotional and clingy but she had some major diarrhea yesterday and it seems to be subsiding today so maybe by tommorow she will be back to normal? I have my fingers crossed. Also hoping for a little sleep tonight both kids were up from like 2-5







.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*AK* - Esmé spent most of her early months off the charts, and then most of her middle months just barely on the charts. At six months when she started to want to eat our food, we encouraged her, and added fat to hers. Lots of good fats, like Nillarilla mentioned. It worked well for us. She is 20 lbs now, and as our ped says, will never be the one standing at the back of the class photos. Some babies are small.
I live in an area where EBF and BLW are popular, and because of that, there is a wide diversity of baby sizes. It's not unusual to meet 16 lb 1 yr olds around here. So long as she is eating, and not fussing for food, I'd say she's right on track! (The only thing I would mention is celiacs ... if she eats gluten. I might investigate that if I were you.)

*Nillarilla* ... I'm coming to realize that what I want is another pregnancy and another infant. I'm not so sure that I want another CHILD. Like, the one that you are responsible for for the next 18 years. As a family, we like it just as the three of us. But both my partner and I are getting all goggly-eyed for another little baby.
















Finances are what hold us back and keep us sane. I'd have to work a full year in order to maximize my maternity leave benefits, plus it'd be better if I was posted into a full time position because then the ambulance service tops up the government EI to 85% of my wages. So that puts us at a year from now, at least. That's fine. I'd like more space between the children, if we end up having more than one.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Nilla - thanks for all the nutrition tips, some good ideas there! I'm not too worried, a little bit though. Royce is a good weight (23lb), but his weight has really slowed (he was 20lb by 7 months, 22lb by 9 months...) hasn't really gained weight in a couple months, and his 'percentile' has dropped. And some days he doesn't seem to want to eat much, so it's nice to have a few ideas of things that have a lot of good fat/calories with only a few bites.

AK - I understand the worry about weight gain, so I don't know if I'm really one to give advice (maybe I should listen to my own







). Anyway, my thoughts are that Fiona has always been petite, right? And somebody has to be in the 3% category! If she's eating well and meeting her milestones I think she's fine! I personally wouldn't bother with monthly weight checks (can't you just weigh her yourself?), but I haven't done any wbv's!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

MaKittre: Makenna is picky bc she eats basically no fruit and maybe 1 or 2 veggies on the rare occasion. I listed steamed veg and fruits as ideas for finger foods but my kid won't usually touch them! It sort of drives me insane. She was loving sweet potato but now she won't eat it either. Occasionally she'll munch on green beans but not lately either. I'm going to try steamed carrots tomorrow. I also wish she'd eat off of a spoon. I'd like to do yogurt or be able to mix pureed fruit or veg into yogurt, etc. She has a strange palate. Today she saw me eating leftover filling for some phyllo dough apetizers from her party - spinach, walnuts, lemon, basil, white beans and red peppers - and she wanted some. So she ate a few bites of that off of a spoon. Odd child.

We did 1 yr pics at Sears yesterday. They turned out awesome! But she looks like such a grown up standing up in the pics (holding on to a #1). It even made DH nostalgic for his tiny baby.

I had major baby fever but sleep has been so bad lately I am a bit terrified of having another and having Makenna still up all the time during preg or god forbid when the new baby arrives. We are thinking april/may at the earliest to start trying but I am in no hurry right now.

We started putting Makenna to bed awake 2 nights ago and it helped the night waking sooooo much! Yay! I hope this lasts.

C

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai has a weird palate too. He dislikes juice, loves onions (cooked), and likes black coffee! I don't normally give him coffee, but he fusses for mine every morning. I gave him a sip after it had cooled because I thought it would teach him it was icky, so he would stop asking. But he took a couple sips and just kept asking for more! He also likes tea. So I guess I'll just have to go back to telling him no every morning.

AK - 3 out of every 100 babies do have to be at the 3% level. Was she always small? Were you and her dad small? Katmai's at the 50th for height and 15th for weight, and I know I was a skinny baby. I think that taking her in every month seems a little excessive. It'd probably be simpler to buy a baby scale if you really need to know that often.

Nillarilla - just think of all the amazing cool things your 1 year old can do, and how much more interesting and engaged she is than a sleepy little newborn...









Coming up on 1 year old, Katmai is still not walking or talking, but is learning all sorts of other new tricks - like throwing/bouncing a ball back and forth, stacking blocks into towers (he got 5 the other day), and coloring with a marker. I keep waiting for the first word or first steps, so I have to keep reminding myself of all the other things he's learning!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

AK







Landon has always been on the smaller side of the scale too. On his last wbv I was told to watch and make sure he meets his milestones and is continuing to eat properly. I do omega 3 oil and whole flaxseed (the whole flaxseed helps with his constipation) but you can also do flaxseed oil. As far as weight goes you could keep track of her weight and height at home and then take that to her ped on her next visit. I've done that with Landon before.

Mal that's awesome that you get to go to your parenting symposium. You'll have to tell us how it went.

I'm so excited today. Okay I was eating a pear this morning (I love pears) and while I ate I let Landon touch it. He's always interested and in the past I've offered it several ways with no results. Anyway so today he touched it and finally when I was halfway through biting it and offered it to him again he took a bite out of it. I was sooo excited. Then when we finished he got mad. Anyway just thought I'd share, hopefully it's the beginning of more fingerfoods for him







.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for your replies. I have decided not to worry too much and just add more healthy fats to her diet. I think that she is fine since she is meeting and/or exceeding milestones. She has always been petite. We'll keep an eye on it and see how increasing the fats does for her.

It has been a tough week. The day care kids have been hard to watch this week and Fiona has been grumpy. This morning I snuck out of bed and thought she was asleep. She tried to crawl out of bed (which is a mattress and boxspring on the floor) while I was in the bathroom and fell off. She was fine but upset. DH yelled at me about not being careful... ugh, it sucked. Of course I felt bad but really didn't need his crap on top of it. As I told him, "I forgot you were perfect."









Tomorrow is a new day! I only have one extra kiddo tomorrow morning and she is my sweet one! She loves to play with Fiona so it should be a good morning. I'll have the afternoon off from daycare and will probably sleep with Fiona or watch a movie and knit while she is sleeping depending on my mood!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

AK -







It happens! (I'm about to admit something, try not to judge







) Royce has fallen off the bed 4 times. The first two times he was squirming around and wiggled his way off (he was only 4-5 months, supposed to be napping, I wasn't in the room), the second time he dove face first when I turned my back for literally a second (I should have placed him more towards the middle of the bed, I think he was about 7 months), the fourth time he crawled off when my husband was sitting on the bed with him, but not paying attention (he was about 10 months). Oh wait, he crawled off a fifth time too (yikes! this is embarrassing!), he was crawling and got too close to the edge and the entire duvet slipped off with him, he wasn't hurt though because he landed in piled up duvet. I was with him that time, that was just a few weeks ago. NOW, when he wakes up from naps he will crawl to the edge of the bed and just sit and cry/yell for me. So I guess he learned (the hard way)







He tends to be a bit more careless when I'm with him, I guess he assumes I'll protect him, poor kid!

Anyway, hope you enjoy your day today!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

My bed is super high. We don't cosleep all the time but we do for naps everyday and usually at least 2 hours of every night if not more. Lately DD has had a lot of awake time in the middle of the night and DH and I are really considering putting the mattress on the floor and baby proofing the room and letting her do her own thing when that happens. We have a guard rail on my side but she could easily pull up and fall over it. So when she is awake so are we bc we are so afraid she will fall out! We have also been tossing around the idea of getting a platform bed but I do like my bed and would be bummed to get rid of it.

DD has her 1yr visit today. I'll let you guys know her stats when we are back.

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Luckily, we haven't had any falls off the bed yet. *knock on wood* Our bed sits really high off the ground and has a ledge that would be hell to hit on her way down. So, we usually don't leave her in the bed without us nearby. I did leave her there once when I went to the bathroom and when I came back, she had crawled to the edge and was looking down like she was considering whether or not she should keep going.

She did take a tumble down the stairs. We have concrete basement stairs that are covered by a thin indoor/outdoor carpet. There are two stairs and then you turn to go the rest of the way down. She fell down the first two stairs and thank God she didn't keep going. She did get a nice goose-egg on her forehead from that, but it could have been much worse if she had kept going! We keep a barrier in the doorway to the utility room now so she can't get near the stairs.

All this baby talk we've had on here is driving me nuts! I need my period to come to reassure me too, we haven't been the most careful here lately. We'd like to wait a little while longer, but I think we're both just kind of "if it happens, oh well" right now. I don't really want to be pregnant right now, but I'll probably still be a little sad if it does come.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I just wanted to note that I don't have a super high bed, our bed just has the boxspring and the mattress. Maybe that makes it a bit better...


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Willa has also fallen off several times. My bed was pretty high up so after the first i put guard rails up...then one night i was coming in from the bathroom and in the dark I see her climb over the rail and plop! scared me to death. Then we put the box spring and mattress on the floor. She falls out at least 2 more times before she figured out how to back off the bed safely! And I have wood floors...


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We co-sleep, and once Esmé was mobile, we removed the boxpring and now just have the mattress on our low frame. Haven't had any falls yet, and now she knows to back off, but I sure do look forward to replacing the boxspring! The bed just isn't the same without it. It is only knee-high off the floor, so even if she did spill off, she'd be okay.

We are considering putting a mattress on the floor for her in our room to see if we can shift her towards sleeping on her own, but I doubt that will be very successful. Even if it were for a couple of hours a night, I'd appreciate the space and time to myself.

She has a double mattress on the floor in her room, where her grandma sleeps when she visits. We had notions to have her nap in there, but that never happens. She naps in the family bed too.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Delia's fallen off our bed 3 times







. Once crawling after her brother I assumed she would stay in bed since she always had before. We had the crib sidecarred that time. Another time I put her down awake and I guess I didn't wait quite long enough and thump down she went. Another time she woke up and didn't call out. Now she's in a twin next to ours which is just a boxspring and mattress but there is a bit of a lip because ours is higher than hers. So she sits there and yells for me. She's fallen off of a chair she quite frequently crawls up on. Her brother has pulled a blanket out from under her and she's fallen. When she was learning to sit she bonked her head several times. Did I mention we have hard wood?







Yeah it happens. She's starting to learn to back off the bed and the chair finally.

My poor girl is in pain. I trialled her on wheat/gluten again and now she has reflux, a bleeding bum and diarrhea. She didn't sleep much last night she kept waking up screaming and when I try to comfort her she arch's her back and writhes so hard I can't hold on to her. I have to go back to work tommorow and she's miserable and nursing constantly and not eating much for solids


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Back from the wbv. Makenna is 28 and 3/4 inches and 18 lbs 8 ounces. 50% height and 20% weight, down from 25% last time and 50% the time before. Dr not worried at all. I am going to start a multivit since she won't eat fruits or veggies. Also re:Makenna not drinking a sippy cup she told me if I really want her to I need to only nurse 4-5x/day and not nurse in between set times and she will get thirsty and drink. I'm not ready to do that yet though. But I do guess she will drink if I am not here and she is thirsty?

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
I have to go back to work tommorow and she's miserable and nursing constantly and not eating much for solids









Oh, poor Delia! And poor mama! I hope her tummy eases before you have to leave for work. I know how hard it is to leave your little one at the best of times, so I can only imagine how much harder it would be if she's feeling poorly. Much, much, much healing







heading her way.

I have to go back on Saturday ... first full shift away from Esmé. I keep worrying that she'll all of a sudden start to teethe while I'm at work and no one will be able to comfort her ... but I know that's not the case. Her baba and auntie can comfort her in their own way. Sigh. This is hard. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow, *Nilla*. Let us know how it goes.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 

We are considering putting a mattress on the floor for her in our room to see if we can shift her towards sleeping on her own, but I doubt that will be very successful. Even if it were for a couple of hours a night, I'd appreciate the space and time to myself.

We have this goal too. She's been napping on the twin mattress which is pushed along side our big mattress for the last couple of weeks. I think tonight I'm going to try her in it and see if I can get a few hours to myself. I'm thinking that she'll wake less this way but we'll see... I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! Like you said Starling, even a couple of hours would be great!

I'll be thinking of you Mama's heading back to work this week. I really hope Delia is feeling better.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

oh nilla i am so sorry delia is feeling so bad. i hope this gets out of her system quickly.

junes has fallen out of our bed a lot. sadly one time she was sleeping in my arms! I must have just been so tired that she rolled out of my arms onto the floor. after that i put a side rail up, but she still fell out again, this time somehow wriggling up to the head of the bed where the rail didn't cover. that time i was caught in my blankets and it took me a bit to get untangled and to her. once, before i knew she could move sha managed to face plant scoot all the way to the end of the bed and off she went. for awhile she was napping in our bed until she kept falling off (abot 3 times before i set the crib up in our living room). then just the other day she face planted the floor when she was stadnign on the bed to turn the light switch on and off. we have wood floors. it has sucked, the worst defiently being when she was so small. I felt so bad (because the night she fell out of our bed...when i didn't hold onto her) my then 3 year old fell out of her bed to. oh the momma guilt. I tried falling out of the bed to see how scary it was...it was scary, and i hurt my toe. (yes I'm a dork)

although she still knows i will keep her safe and like delia is more reckless when i am around. she will walk right off the edge of something and just know that i will catch her up. i do everytime. I don't like it though, what if i wasn't paying attnetion?

cindy, i wouldn't worry about the sippy cup, she will drink fro a cup one day. she will drink when she is thirsty.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Well Fiona started out in her own bed last night! She woke up 1.5 hours later and I just pulled her in next to me where she spent the rest of the night. She did decide to wake up and try to walk/crawl around the bed at 5:30am! She's sleeping again now at 7:30. I managed to convince her Papa that he was on duty and had to get up with her so I dozed for a bit. Tonight, I plan to crawl in next to her at the first waking and sneak back to my bed to see if I can lengthen the time she stays in her bed. In my dream world I'd love to have her in there for a 4 hour stretch in the next couple of months, working towards her just crawling in at the 4:30 wakeup. (which seems to happen like clockwork every night!) We'll see...

Its cold and snowy here this morning! Finally...it has not been much of a winter here this year. I plan to bundle all the kids up for some good snow play today!









Here is some lovely inspiration if you like me are having a bit of the winter dulldrums! I plan to post that manifesto on my fridge!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai fell out of our bed twice in a week once when he was 5 months old. He hasn't done it since, but hasn't learned to back down things yet, either. (It's pretty easy to hear him when he starts to wake in the bed - we're usually only 10 feet away or so).

Good luck to everyone going back to work! I'm forever feeling lucky I work from home.

AK, do you have any tips for introducing a crawler to the snow? Katmai just seems disturbed by it - like it's strange and scary and cold (on his hands particularly - he doesn't like mittens). I feel bad we haven't tried harder to get him used to it. It's so much easier just to wear him outside.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

I hate admitting this but Landon has also fallen out of the bed a lot. All accidents. He now knows the edge of the bed and when he wakes up will sit there and cry for us. Since we're transitioning him to his crib I was thinking about converting it to a toddler's bed. That way he wont be tempted to climb up the rails.

Also sending everyone that has to go back to work







good luck!

Nilla







I hope she's feeling better.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

AK, do you have any tips for introducing a crawler to the snow? Katmai just seems disturbed by it - like it's strange and scary and cold (on his hands particularly - he doesn't like mittens). I feel bad we haven't tried harder to get him used to it. It's so much easier just to wear him outside.

nak

Well, she mostly whined when I put her down in it. I think its just too cold and weird. She did better with me holding her and letting her play with little handfulls in my hands. But the older kids loved it...2 two year olds and a 5 year old. By next winer it should be no problem I'm thinking. Our kiddos will be able to move around on their own in it. I think its hard for our newly mobile babies to move much when they are all bundled up.

Fiona has been practicing backing out of our bed. I really think that she was backing out when she fell the other morning too and just landed wrong. I don't really know of course but she knows the right way to get down and does it that way when I'm there. We'll keep practicing and before we know it she'll be so good at it we won't have to worry at all.

Oh yeah, she's been taking a couple of steps on her own these last couple of days! Woo Hoo!


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## JosieAK (Sep 6, 2007)

Well, since everyone is talking food. I have a food question--everytime I give Clara yogurt (twice), she gets a nasty rash on her bum. I don't know whether this is a milk intolerance (she doesn't seem to have a problem with bits of cheese) or if this is yeast that flares up when I give her probiotics. Anyone have any experience with this?


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Thanks for the support ladies.
My first day back and man am I tired. 12 hrs on my feet owie! Delia's still a little 'off'. She didn't really eat any solids today and had about 8oz of milk, the diarrhea has slowed but not stopped. She glommed onto my boob when we got home. The kids are home with Dh tommorow, hopefully he survives







. I'm wishing that I had eased into it with a set of 2 days first. I am going to be exhausted by the end of this set of 4 12hr shifts.

Josie I'd say that's a milk intolerance and I would only give cheese sparingly and no yogurt as an intolerance at this age can easily be outgrown if you avoid the food but overexposure can make it worse. Delia gets a rash on her bum from dairy and from gluten.

McKittre I sit my dd in the wagon or the sleigh but not right in the snow but it still ticks her off that she can't get around. I remember it was hard with ds until he was totally stable on his feet. He was about 18 mos one winter and I remember he kept toppling over and not being able to get back up.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

We have a queen size mattress on Alerics bedroom floor and I sleep there with him most the night but I am very thankful for the times when I get to sleep for an hour in my bed. He also fell out of our bed ending our cosleeping. I think he was about 5 months old, he just woke up and crawled right off. My dh and I both thought we had killed him. Its kinda funny now but that night it was very scary.
Aleric also has now started to walk! I'm so excited for him. His birthday is on Sunday sowe are going to have a little party for him and I hope he walks that day for his grandparents. He still won't wave but my dh tought him how to shake hands its so cute. Also I was wondering how do you introduce nuts and shellfish to kids diets? I know you should wait til a year but should I be nextdoor to the hospital when I give him his first bite of peanut butter? We live 45 minutes away from a hospital so I am worried if he does have a major reaction we won't make it in time. He is allergic to bananas and gluten so far.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

DD had some nibbles of our PB&J sandwiches when she was 11 months old. She loved it! I've never really thought twice about introducing new foods. But we've been fortunate she hasn't had any allergies thus far and there are no allergies in my family. My sister's daughter (born via surrogate so not a blood relative of mine) is allergic to nuts. I think they found out when she was a couple years old. I have no idea when you're allowed to introduce shellfish? I plan on raising DD veg so I haven't paid attention to stuff regarding meat/fish.

I think DD's language is starting to explode! I swear in the last week she has said bear, ball, light and started saying "nuh-nuh" for nursies. I love it! She also added the sign for light. I can't wait to go back to my ASL playgroup on Monday. There was no playgroup this week.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Pogo* Newer research shows there's no particular benefit to withholding the traditionally taboo foods unless you have a family history of an allergic reaction, and in fact, that by withholding, we might be exacerbating the problem down the line. We've been letting Esmé eat everything since she was about six months old, as she's shown interest in it.

She's had it all: shellfish, whole eggs, strawberries, and PB (she eats that every morning!) and has had no ill effects. The ped said to still avoid honey because of the botulism.

It's not likely that your little one will have an allergic reaction the first time, as you typically need to be exposed more than once for your body to react. But having said all that, do what feels right!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 

I think DD's language is starting to explode! I swear in the last week she has said bear, ball, light and started saying "nuh-nuh" for nursies. I love it!
Cindy

Same with Esmé ... her vocabulary is exploding!
She says "num num" for nursing, and "dogdogdogdogdog woof woof" for dog, and "KIH-tee!!!!!" for cat, plus "meow" for good measure. She can also say and understand "bear," "book," "more," "hi," "Bye" and "up."
She says "Ham" for her Auntie Sam, and calls my mom "Mom" as that's how I refer to her in front of her ... guess I'll have to start calling her "grandma." And she calls us "Mama" and "Baba" (my partner.) What blows me away is how much she understands on top of all of that ... she can follow simple directions and knows what to bring us when we name it (puzzle, shoes, socks, ball ...).

The really funny one is when we flush her poops she says "Bye, bye poo!"

I'm full of anxiety about tomorrow when I go back to work. Hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep despite my worries. I think Esmé is running a fever ... hopefully just teething. She'll be with my sister tomorrow. It better be busy or I'll have to much time to miss her and worry about her. I have to sneak out at 630am. We'll see how that goes. I can barely leave the bed to go pee in the middle of the night without her wanting to roll over and latch on. *Nilla*: Glad to hear that things are going as well as can be expected and that DD is feeling a bit better. Wow! 4 shifts straight away! You must be e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d!!! I'm doing 2 a week for the first few months until the next full time posting comes along. Not too soon, I hope!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Good luck today Starling! Im sending happy thoughts up your family's way. I'm sure DD will do great with your DP. Sounds like Esme is saying a lot! How cute!! I keep trying to teach woof and meow and sometimes she tries but not usually. The funny thing is, she pants a lot of times when she sees a dog (and does the sign). No one taught her that...but it is correct.

DD slept from 7 until 4:20 last night! Problem is, she wouldn't go back to sleep after that! She was up at 5 yesterday. How do you teach a baby that it's too early to get up??? She used to always wake then and then go back to sleep until 7ish. Now I guess bc she is sleeping straight through she is getting more sound sleep and wakes up energized then.

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thinking about you today Starling...

We are doing lots of talking around here too! Its so much fun. I wrote out a list of words she says for her baby book. She uses over 20 words so far! She has about 10 signs and loves to make animal noises. I love her bear growl! Just about every morning she crawls over to her book basket and pulls books out to look at. She'll growl at the bear pictures, baa at the sheep, say kitty at the cat pictures and mix in lots of baby babble. She's reading! It seems that she can say and sign more and more each day! I think its so much fun. Last night DH said, "its time for a girl to get her pajamas on." She started doing the sign for night-night and said, nigh-nigh. Now if only she went to sleep as easily! I babysit a boy named Stuey. She calls him shh-eee but sometimes adds the t in there too so it sounds like shit-ee. LOL! I try not to let his mom know!

My smart hands is a baby signing program. They are now offering online courses for parents if you don't have a class in your area. I'm signing up for one of the classes which should be fun. I'm doing the tuesday 9:15 pm class in case anyone wants to join me! I think they have a limit of 4-5 per class and it will be done via webcam. Starts in March.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I can't believe all the talking your babies are doing! Katmai doesn't say anything yet. Or sign anything either (except dog, sometimes). I've been trying to be consistent with him with signs, since it's supposedly so useful for later talkers, but it's hard to keep motivated. Especially when all the baby signing websites are full of "my baby could tell me what she wanted for lunch at 6 months!" Maybe I do need a video or class.

I know he understands everything at least, since he'll point to objects and pictures correctly when asked. I think he's just preferring to practice throwing balls across the room and stacking his blocks. Boys are supposed to talk later anyway, right?


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

I can't believe tomorrow is Landon's Birthday. I still can't believe my baby is turning one. I remember clearly this time last year. I had a very hard labor which ended up in an emergency c-section so I feel so blessed that the result of that hard labor was my healthy and happy little boy.

For some reason I'm having problems posting pictures of him now, so I'll have to do it tomorrow.

Mckittre, as far as I know boys are supposed to talk later but it also doesn't help that we're billingual. Landon is just now starting to understand little things like he put his little block to his wooden train set on the right hole and he's just now starting to stack up his blocks. He says a lot of sounds but no real words yet. I'm excited to read that a lot of your babies are talking. How fun! I have to keep reminding myself that we'll get there eventually.


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## Pogo0685 (Nov 14, 2008)

Today is Alerics birthday!! I'm so excited, this time last year I was still in the or getting stitched back up from my c-section. Its amazing how far we can come in a year!

Happy birthday to Landon!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Happy birthday Aleric and Pogo! And happy b-day a day early to Landon and BRmama!

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yay! More birthdays!!







to Aleric and Landon and their Mama's Pogo and BRMama - hope you enjoy the day with lots of reminiscing









I can't believe the language skills of some of these babies! That's awesome. All Royce does is babble. And he still isn't pointing or waving or anything like that. I have started being more consistent with signs but he hasn't signed back anything. I got a book and I've been trying to find some videos but haven't been able to.

We went to Niagara Falls here in Canada for the day yesterday (I'm currently visiting friends who are only an hour away from there). Royce didn't seem to really care about the falls, he was mostly interested in all the people! But we also took him to a buttefly conservatory and he really seemed to like that. When we first went in he was watching all the butterflies fly around and laughing, and then as we walked through he was so quiet and studying everything and taking it all in. He really wanted to grab a butterfly, and at one point a big one landed on him, but just for a second and he didn't even notice  Anyway, it was pretty cute.

Today I'm going to visit my friend's brother and his girlfriend who just had twins 2 weeks ago. I can't wait to hold a little newborn! She carried them to 38 weeks, went into labour naturally, and gave birth vaginally - very impressive!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

It was horrible!






















The night before Esmé was up the whole night, crying. And was still up when I had to get up to get ready to go at 6am. She was hysterical! There was nothing DP could do to console her, so I got as ready as I could and sat down to nurse her while DP got my lunch and gear ready. She did fall asleep, and I managed to lay her down. So off I went, late for my first day back to work at a new station. Not cool at all.

So during the night she'd been getting increasingly stuffy, and I guess yesterday she was hacking up a storm and had a runny nose and was pretty miserable and feverish. Teething? Cold? Reaction to a recent vax? She had a pretty good day, nonetheless. My sister had her until about 4pm and then DP came home. They say she was cheerful and easily distracted when not. But the naps didn't work out very well, and so she was sleeping when I got home at 730pm, which is not her schedule at all. She was also super feverish.

Thus began another horrible night. She was up all night crying and coughing. The crying is really different and I can only hope it's because she's teething. Our thermometer is crap and doesn't give an accurate reading, but I know she has a fever. She's super hot.

Anyway, the work part was not so bad, but the nights surrounding it were awful, and therefore I was a zombie! I had to get my partner to drive because I didn't feel like I would be safe driving with the lights and sirens. Oi vey. This has GOT to get easier. Tell me sleep training is NOT the answer!!!

And thanks for all your well wishes, mamas! It helps!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Happy BIRTHDAY Landon and Aleric and mamas! Just imagine where you were this time today last year ... what a trip!!!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh hugs Starling! It WILL get easier when Esme is well again. So sorry she is sick but I'm sure that is why she was up and crying. Did you give motrin? Usually when Makenna is inconsolable we give motrin and she is able to sleep again afterwards. I don't think sleep training would do anything for a sick baby so that is def not the answer! Though I do have to admit. We started putting Makenna down awake last Monday (ie: she cried until she decided to go to sleep). Instead of waking up every hour she has been sleeping all night with only 1 waking! And now she is able to go down for naps in her crib instead of me having to lay down with her (not that I plan to totally give that up but it's so nice to have some time to myself...like right now). She did cry for a long time the first night but every night since has been maybe 5 minutes and then she's out.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy birthday Aleric and Landon! And their mamas!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Birthday Aleric and Landon and your mamas too!!!! Hope you are having a great day!!!!









Oh Starling! I'm so sorry that she is sick right now during this time of transition for your family. Poor baby and poor mamas! It must be hard on all of you. i know that it doesn't feel like it but it will get easier when she is feeling better. You guys will find a new rhythm and she'll go back to sleeping well. Big hugs to you all!









Fiona is sick too. She has a terrible cold and we were up most of the night too. She is just so stuffed up that she's having a hard time sleeping and she can't nurse well since she can't breathe well through her nose. We were in the bathroom at 4am with a hot shower running which did help open things up for her. I'm ordering the nose frida today because the bulb syringe thing sucks (pun intended!). Hoping she shakes this quickly.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Happy birthday to more babies! Owyn's is still 3 weeks away, but she's already seeming like such a big girl.

I went to my parenting symposium yesterday and it was really great! I started off the day learning more about Waldorf education, but it covered things I pretty much already knew about it. It's a nice refresher though. I met with a woman who owns a cloth diapering store nearby and got to see some new things coming out that are really neat! I met with a chiropractor who gave a presentation on vaccinations. She was a super nice person and so easy to talk to.

We had a group discussion time of moms just sharing their experiences with each other. My two pregnant friends were with me, so they got tons of advice from experienced mamas! I met with a La Leche League leader and learned things I never knew about breastfeeding that will be very helpful if my next baby has any issues with breastfeeding, and again my pregnant friends learned so much and I was able to share things with them about breastfeeding that had just never come up before. We had a talk about AP and circumcision. And a great presentation on healthy eating and involving kids in the kitchen.

I learned soooo much all day and met people that are wonderful resources to have. I was given advice on where to find a doula for my next birth and even people in my area who will do homebirths. It was just so great to be around all those likeminded people. I talk to you ladies on here and I have a few close friends, one with a child and two that are pregnant, who are planning to live an AP lifestyle in their family. But to be surrounded by all those women and feel empowered in my parenting decisions was wonderful.

Today, we are hosting a Super Bowl party and I'm making chili for the first time ever. I hope it tastes good. Go SAINTS!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé just got sicker and sicker ... and come this morning had a temp of 38.7 so we ended up at the ER. She has a viral infection and ear infection, poor thing. My next shift is Wednesday, so hopefully we've put this behind us by then. I she's still feverish by thenf not, they want to start antibiotics. Send us some of those helpful healing vibes, mamas!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Sending healing vibes to Esme!! It's just awful when your little one is sick!!

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

sorry to hear about esme's viral infection. hope she feels better soon. (junes had horrible nights until hers went away, so take heart it won't last)
Hope fiona feels better to0.

mal that symposiums sounded awesome. it would be neat to have one..although in april i am going to a tampa birth network fair type thing. I am so excited to go. all sorts of places are supposed to have booths and such.

happy birthday to aleric and landon yesterday!

This time today i was realizing the contractions i was having weren't going away and i was really going to have my baby today.







YEAH Junes is 1!!!

her daddy is going to build her a sandbox and i need to get some pictures printed and laminated. (she really likes cards, but always destroys them with her slobber. ) and we are getting together with my friend who was also her midwife.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Juniper & Thursday!! Have a wonderful day









Starling - BIG







Poor Esme! And poor Mama! I'm sure going back to work is hard enough, without the additional heartache of a sick baby







Sending lots of healing vibes to poor Esme, I hope she gets better very soon!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We're on day three of sick baby. When did Juniper get better, *Thursday*? How long did it take?

Glad she's in good shape for her birthday! Congratulations to you both!
Happy Birthday, Juniper!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

starling- hers lasted 8 days, and she lost a whole pound while she was sick.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Oh Esmé! Get better soon baby!









Happy Birthday to Juniper and Courtney!!!









So last night sucked terribly! Fiona has her cold but we had some friends over to watch the superbowl anyway. I don't know if its something he ate or just coincidence on the timing but DH got really sick at night. Terrible stomach cramps and vomiting. I've never seen him this sick. I got him settled in the spare room and managed to get Fiona down too. Then in the middle of the night my dog started vomiting! Ugh! 3 times i was up letting her out, cleaning up dog puke, etc... Then fiona was restless for most of the night because of her cold. Once again around 4am I was up letting the hot shower run so she could breathe better. Needless to say I didn't sleep and woke up with a raging headache. Fiona and DH are on the couch now watching Starwars. I don't even care that she's watching TV...whatever, I need a break!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy Birthday to Juniper and Courtney!

I hope Esme gets better soon. And Fiona and your husband AK.

I count myself lucky that so far Katmai has the good immune system of his parents.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

AK - Oh that sounds awful! I hope everyone is feeling better!

Royce was in bed early tonight







We just got back today from visiting friends and he never sleeps well there, there's always too much going on and he doesn't want to miss anything. He will happily stay up until 11pm as long as he's with the adults







My apartment looks like a tornado went through it with all the stuff to put away (babies do NOT travel lightly!), and Royce has all his toys thrown around, but whatever! I'll do it later









We got some baby signing DVDs and books and I am really working hard at it now. I can't wait for him to start signing back! And I think it will be good for him as he isn't saying any words yet so he may be a slow talker.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. Since his birthday was the same day as the superbowl it turned out to be more like a superbowl party at my bil.

Happy late Birthday to Aleric and his mom!








Happy Birthday Junes and Thursday









Starling and AK sorry to hear your babies and husband is sick. That's never fun. Sending lots and lots and lots of





















.

Landon has only been sick once and that was while his two canine teeth came in. However I'm pretty stressed out here. Monday was Landons wbv and his weight and height are fine even though he has always been on the smaller side he's still a happy baby. So anyway my dh tells the dr. that our son wakes up twice to feed and that all of our other friends babies sleep through the night. So our dr. instead of saying you shouldn't compare your child with other people's children actually tells my dh that Landon should be sleeping throught the night. Then he goes on to say that we need to put him in his crib and close the door and let him cio. Hmmmm.....let me think about that one. NO! Of course dh wants to try it so have no idea what I'm gonna do. Even if I wasn't doing ap I would never do cio. It just breaks my heart thinking about it.







Sorry had to vent. Plus when Landon wakes up to take his bottle he goes right back to sleep so personally I don't see a problem. I'm going to try to convince dh to read the no cry sleep solution book with me.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

BRmama: We did let DD cio one night to get her used to going to bed awake. But now she's asleep within a minute or two or being put in her crib. So I think that worked really well. However - she still wakes a couple times/night and we still get up and I nurse her and she usually falls asleep nursing. Or if she won't go back to sleep one of us ends up staying up. I don't think she's ready to be left all night yet. I also think a lot of babies are still waking at night at this age! The nurse at our wbv was like "and she's still waking up at night?" and gave me a look of expectation that she was.

Anyone know how to get your kid to sleep past 5 am?? DD always woke but came in bed with me and went back to sleep. Now she nurses and then pops up for the day. This morning I broke down and put her in her crib once she was done nursing with a dim light and a bunch of toys, hoping to get some more sleep. She played for about 20 minutes before she cried and I got up. I felt sort of guilty about it though.

Cindy


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Some babes are really early risers. Mine are there's nothing I can do to get them to sleep later than 6am. If I need more sleep I put both kids in ds's room and I crawl in his bed. I think there's nothing wrong with letting them play but I'm a light sleeper so if the door opened or something I would be up like a shot.

AK I hope your hubby and fiona are feeling better
Starling







I feel your pain. I was a zombie this set too. Delia didn't sleep at all Friday night. Then she was up for the day at 445, the next day it was 510 and she was awake in the middle of the night for a bit and the final day it was 5. I was sooooooooooooooooooo exhausted and sore by the end of my shifts. Is Esme feeling any better? If it's a viral infection why would they want to start antibiotics? I always up the Vit. D when my kids are sick and it seems to shorten the duration.

Happy Birthday to Landon and Aleric and their mama's!!!!

I suppose I do a version of CIO but I never leave dd alone. She does cry and she is comforted but I don't pick her up once I put her in bed. Now she doesn't cry anymore just covers her face with her blankie and rolls over.

My house looked like a war zone and my kids were exhausted and cranky and everything I baked/cooked for the set was gone. I'm hoping my next set goes a little smoother.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai signed "more" to me! He seems to be using it for every request (not just "more" of something), but hey, it's communication. I'm debating whether getting signing videos is worth it. I hate to buy stuff, and you can look up a lot of the signs online, but a lot of folks seem to think it's worth it?

I think babies have the schedule they want to have. Katmai is more of a wake up at 8 or 9AM kind of a guy (actually, he'd probably sleep later, but he can't sleep for longer than 20 min after I get up in the morning). Of course, it doesn't get light until 9ish anyway - he may be less accommodating in summer. He sleeps in bed with us (don't even have a crib). I usually nurse him to sleep at 9:30 or so, slip away for a couple hours, then join him for the rest of the night. He doesn't wake up much except for in the few hours before we get up.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
Starling







I feel your pain. I was a zombie this set too. Delia didn't sleep at all Friday night. Then she was up for the day at 445, the next day it was 510 and she was awake in the middle of the night for a bit and the final day it was 5. I was sooooooooooooooooooo exhausted and sore by the end of my shifts. Is Esme feeling any better? If it's a viral infection why would they want to start antibiotics? I always up the Vit. D when my kids are sick and it seems to shorten the duration.

Oh, you poor dear! I hope your next set goes more smoothly. Esmé is feeling a bit better. Her fever has gone. The doc wanted to keep an eye on her ear infection, and if it hadn't gotten any better by day five, to have it reassessed. That's what he wanted us to give her antibiotics for, but not unless it got worse. He was actually really cool, and talked about how research shows that abx don't do much to improve ear infections and in fact can cause them to reoccur more often. The viral infection was the cough/barf/puffy-eyed part. Thanks for reminding me about the vit D ... I'd forgotten it for a while!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
I think babies have the schedule they want to have. Katmai is more of a wake up at 8 or 9AM kind of a guy (actually, he'd probably sleep later, but he can't sleep for longer than 20 min after I get up in the morning). Of course, it doesn't get light until 9ish anyway - he may be less accommodating in summer. He sleeps in bed with us (don't even have a crib). I usually nurse him to sleep at 9:30 or so, slip away for a couple hours, then join him for the rest of the night. He doesn't wake up much except for in the few hours before we get up.

This is us, exactly. We are looking into getting a toddler bed off CL to sidecar with out bed, in hopes to move her over. She likes to flop around a lot, and we're running out of room in our queen.

*BRmama* ... our ped told us to get dd out of our bed too. I just nodded, and smiled, and then tossed that lame ol' advice out the window. Esmé will go into her own bed when she's good and ready, and into her own room when she's good and ready. I think getting DH to read NCSS is a great idea!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 

I suppose I do a version of CIO but I never leave dd alone. She does cry and she is comforted but I don't pick her up once I put her in bed. Now she doesn't cry anymore just covers her face with her blankie and rolls over.

How long did it take her to get to the point where she would just roll over? I tried for several nights just standing next to Owyn's crib until she fell asleep. And she would eventually fall asleep, but it took for. ever. Like hours. Do you still have to stay with her or is she okay by herself now?


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

No I don't need to stay with her anymore I just put her in her grobag, plunk the paci in and give her her blankie and walk out. She fussed for a bit when I was working I think she just needed more mommy time. But it took about 14 days before the roll over thing happened. I did it gradually so at first I held her until sleepy then put her down and of course screaming commenced so if I couldn't soothe her in bed I picked her up and started over. I think it took well over an hour that first couple nights then once she was ok with being set down then I moved to not holding her until sleepy just laying hands on her. Then just laying next to her , then sitting then sitting at the end of the bed. Each step caused a bit more crying that eventually settled down. Some would still consider it CIO I guess but I never left her and I always told her it was ok. Oh and I never made eye contact after the initial kiss goodnight. I also introduced a lovey blankie that I used whenever we nursed or snuggled and for all naps and bedtime. I really think that comfort item is key. I tried a stuffed animal but she never really took to it. I truly believe that we have to teach them how to go to sleep and that most babes will be angry about any kind of change. I also don't do bath's before bed as they tend to be stimulating and disrupt sleep. I also don't switch off with dh during any kind of transition it just means we have to start over. Wow this was long hope it helps.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks everyone, we are feeling better here. I canceled child care for the week so I can sleep in and nap with Fiona. I ended up getting sick too... We're on the mend though.

Except for the worse nights of her cold Fiona has been doing great with her own sleep space. we call it her nest which is a twin bed sidecarred to our mattress. We started with just naps and now she's starting her night in it. I have been sleeping in my own space until about 2am! My goal is for her to be sleeping through the night in her own bed at 18 months so I really am taking it slow. I dream of her sleeping there until early morning when she crawls in with me to nurse off and on for the last hour. Usually she nurses off and on from about 5:30 until we get up at 7:30 or 8. Even this little bit of change has me feeling more rested. I can picture her sleeping in that nest for years before we move her out of our room... we'll see of course!

*mckittre*, how exciting that Katmai started signing! Fi's first sign was milk and she used it for everything at first too. Soon he'll be adding more sigs and using them in the correct context. So cool! Anyone using videos here? I've been wondering about that too. Which ones do you like?


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

You guys and your sleepy babies are killing me. We are NCSS failures, Dr. Gordon's nightweaning failures, you name it. The Monkey nurses all night, screams when de-latched; must be physically restrained to sleep, then wakes up an hour later and screams again to nurse (even though she's right next to me). Ugh. Something HAS GOT to change or she's going to end up in the trash can one night. Which would be VERY un-AP of me.









Possibly related to not sleeping--She's finally talking and walking. Sort of. In the last three days she's said Hi, bye-bye, mama, and boo (which i think means boobies). Also taking 3-6 steps without falling. So I guess I need her to get through this before I turn her world upside down at night. Double Ugh.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I just bought a baby signing program that came with 2 'Baby Signing Time' DVDs. We've only watched bits and pieces, so I can't really review it yet







At this point they have mostly helped me. I can remember so many more signs, which makes it easier to remember to use them so that Royce can learn them! I've read a few threads here on mdc and Baby Signing Time seems to be the most popular, followed by 'My Baby Can Talk'.

We are also a NCSS failure! Although I think it's more that I failed than that the book failed. I'm just not motivated. It's just the 2 of us here and it seems kind of pointless for us to be sleeping in separate beds. I don't want to and so I have no motivation to transition him. I LOVE cosleeping, and his night wakings don't really bother me. Okay, maybe sometimes they bother me, but I have started to just pretend to be asleep and he usually settles within a few minutes, if not then I give in and nurse. I figure he'll learn to fall asleep on his own when he's ready


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Thank you everyone for the replies. I do feel calmer

Cindy, that's what we're hoping that Landon will fall asleep on his own, so we'll see

Starling, exactly! I need to take your advice and just nod and smile. I mean why get all worked up in the end it's my decision not the dr.'s yk. Oh and I second the vit. D. I give it to Landon everyday and I do extra during winter months.

Nilla thank you so much for posting all that. I'm going to try your version of cio since dh isn't budging at all. We also don't do baths at night for the same reason.

Gillian28, yeah I wouldn't stop co sleeping either if I were you. We'd continue co sleeping if it weren't for Landon's kicks and squirmness lol.

Justkate, how fun. That's awesome.

mckittre that's so exciting! I just recently started working with Landon just so he can communicate since he's not talking yet.

Anyway regarding sleep once Landon is in his crib he does really good but his crib is in our room. I feel he's ready for his crib because he now kicks and squirms a lot, but I don't think he's ready for his own bedroom yet. I'm going to continue giving him a bottle at night. I don't care that one year olds shouldn't nurse/feed at nighttime. For me giving Landon a bottle is the same as if I were nursing him (which sometimes I wish I was), plus I enjoy doing those things. He's got a schedule already. It's not much just putting on his pajamas, reading, and bottle. The main issue is we're planning on making a trip to my country for a visit in march just for two weeks (very excited) so his dr. said to start this when we get back. Well my dh however loooves to rush into things but the good thing about this is that I convinced dh to read the ncss with me. Hopefully that'll work. Sorry for venting...It's nice to know I'm not the only one going through this. On the bright side I did get some signing dvds from the library. My hope with them is that Landon can learn the basics of communicating like eating and drinking etc. since he's not talking little words yet (just babbling) and therefore minimize any frustrations from lack of communication. I'll just have to repeat the words in Portuguese instead of English. I got a couple from my baby can talk series. I heard they were good so we'll see.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

*Nilla* I'm definitely going to give your version a shot too. We were doing something like that when we first started. I would nurse her and she got drowsy, then I'd lay her down in the crib and just stand next to the crib while she fell asleep. Sometimes, I would lay my hands on her if she needed more help settling in. You reminded me from of the sleep sacks though. We were using one over the summer when it was too hot to swaddle and I always meant to order a bigger one and keep using it. But I never did. Today, I ordered a bigger one she could use now and I'm hoping it helps. Her biggest problem with laying down awake is that she stands up right away and will. not. lay back down on her own, no matter how long I wait. So, then we're stuck in a cycle of me continually laying her back down and her getting more worked up. Maybe if she has a sleep sack on, it would be more difficult for her to stand up in the crib? We'll try it and see, anyway.

Lately, Owyn is saying Hi!. She picks up her play phone, puts it to her ear, and says "Hi!". She also says it when people come in the door. So cute! Today, she also signed All done. I've only done signs here and there with her, but I almost always do all done when she's finished eating. And today she did it!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Mal85, how exciting!

Okay I'm also excited because today Landon started eating whole wheat bread. He saw me eating it and wanted some. So I gave him a piece and he ate it! Hopefully that's the beginning for more finger foods


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Mal - That's awesome!

BRmama - that's great that you got him to eat bread. Katmai really likes cornbread - might be another thing to try. And why on earth shouldn't a 1 year old eat at nighttime? Katmai nurses to sleep and we're in no hurry to change that at all.

Gillian - if what you're doing isn't a problem for you, then you aren't a failure, you simply don't need any kind of "solution"! We're happy cosleepers here too.

He may not be walking yet, but the past few days, I feel like I've got a toddler on my hands! My sweet baby has started screaming more and more when he doesn't get what he wants (like when I need to get something done other than read him his favorite book for the 50th time). His scream is pretty ear-piercing too. He's also less willing to play by himself. Anyone else going through this?

Katmai's been super into his books lately, and wants me to tell him what everything is that he points to. But a lot of the books are full of cartoon animals. Dogs and cats are easy (he has one of each), but I can just see how puzzled he gets when I try to explain why one cartoon animal is a bunny, while another one is a lion, or a bear... Same with the stuffed animals. He gets more of them right all the time, but still. How strange is it that we expect young babies to learn highly stylized representations (and the sounds) of animals they've never seen?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 

He may not be walking yet, but the past few days, I feel like I've got a toddler on my hands! My sweet baby has started screaming more and more when he doesn't get what he wants (like when I need to get something done other than read him his favorite book for the 50th time). His scream is pretty ear-piercing too. He's also less willing to play by himself. Anyone else going through this?


Oh we are right there with you. Complete with throwing herself on the floor when she's really mad at me. There isn't much I can do without a fussing little girl at my feet. I've been wearing her a lot more often lately. We had all but quit with the babywearing. She never loved it when she was tiny and would only tolerate it if we were out of the house where she could see new things or I could keep on the move. But, at this age, when all she wants is for me to hold her all the time, it's really come in handy. She's perfectly happy on my back and it's really helping me when I need to make dinner or clean up the dishes and I just can't sit down and entertain her.

I remember a while back several of you other mamas were talking about how clingy your babies were. Have they passed that phase yet? We entered it several weeks after you guys and I'm hoping there is a light at the end of the tunnel.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I am happy to report that we are all pretty much over the crud around here! Yeah!

Noisy Farm is a favorite book around here... real pictures. She also loves pictures of real babies. She super into babies right now which is so cute. She got two babies for her birthday which she kisses all the time, pushes around in her wagon, and says baby to. Then she throws them over her shoulder...lol! so much for the love!

More and more she is amazing me with how much she understands and how well she communicates. She loves to say uh-oh when she drops something. Today while she was eating breakfast she said uh-oh. I said you didn't drop anything... so, she threw her pear on the floor! lol little stinker.

We were nursing earlier and she unlatched and signed book to me. I put her down and she headed right to her book basket. Of course we read several books. I love that she is able to tell me what she wants. She's also been telling me when she's hungry just by signing more. (and often saying cracker, the girl loves her cheddar bunnies!) Keep up with the signing ladies, its such a great communication tool!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I used to be an ASL interpreter ... and so I thought I'd have THE signing baby, but it's not so. She'd far rather say things than sign. This is great, because her speech is expanding in leaps and bounds, but I'd love for her to have the option. I do use signs with her, (please, more, thank you, milk, eat, finished, book, water, diaper) but she'll say it rather than sign it. Ah well.

As for the tantrum behaviour ... it's interesting. We're not accustomed to letting Esmé cry, and didn't at all for her first entire year. But danger and life come into play now that's she walking and running, and sometimes distraction/trades/redirection doesn't work. Like heading at a run for the street, or walking in front of a swing where she's going to get kicked in the head, or needing to leave the library for another appointment. Her frustration is understandable, and I tell myself that it's not realistic that she be joyful 24 hours a day and that hard lessons are just that, HARD. Now is the time for learning, and how!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 

As for the tantrum behaviour ... it's interesting. We're not accustomed to letting Esmé cry, and didn't at all for her first entire year. But danger and life come into play now that's she walking and running, and sometimes distraction/trades/redirection doesn't work. Like heading at a run for the street, or walking in front of a swing where she's going to get kicked in the head, or needing to leave the library for another appointment. Her frustration is understandable, and I tell myself that it's not realistic that she be joyful 24 hours a day and that hard lessons are just that, HARD. Now is the time for learning, and how!

Very well said *Starling*. This is something to remember when we are in the thick of things isn't it?! Fiona has been bursting in to tears when we tell her no lately. She switches it on and off so quickly that our friends think its funny. Its hard on Mama and Papa though and obviously her too. Like you said, its all part of growing up. sigh.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Oh the tantrums! We have that issue too! When I try and put Royce down he will arch backwards and refuse to sit or stand so I have to just lie him on the ground (while he screams and cries). I have started babywearing more around the house. And snack foods can cheer him up pretty much every time. I'm probably setting him up to be an emotional eater










Royce had a rough night last night, he kept waking up crying, kicking and squirming. He would freak out if I tried to hold him, freak out if I didn't try and hold him, and really freak out when I would give up roll the other way and ignore him. I was so frustrated! And when I nursed him he would settle but then be up again in 30 minutes. I hope tonight goes better. But as I type this I'm in bed with him because he kept waking up everytime I left the room.

For those of you whose babies still wake at night, what do they do when they wake up? Royce's wakings are often full of crying and kicking, as though he is in pain or really uncomfortable, but maybe it's just tiredness and anger at being awake?. I'm wondering if this is normal?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 

For those of you whose babies still wake at night, what do they do when they wake up? Royce's wakings are often full of crying and kicking, as though he is in pain or really uncomfortable, but maybe it's just tiredness and anger at being awake?. I'm wondering if this is normal?

Owyn has been doing this too. She usually has bouts of bad sleep like this when she's getting a tooth. She got one on the bottom a couple weeks ago, so I've been on the look-out for the next one. They seem to come in twos with her. She does the same thing as Royce. She'll scream and cry and kick and smack at me. It's one of those times when I have to restrain her until she goes back to sleep. Sometimes, if I try and nurse her and it doesn't work, then I'll let her throw her fit for a little while. Then, if I try to nurse her again she'll usually go back to sleep. Second time's a charm, I guess.

Usually she only nurses twice a night. But this week, she's been nursing every 1.5-2 hours. I'm exhausted.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:

BRmama - that's great that you got him to eat bread. Katmai really likes cornbread - might be another thing to try. And why on earth shouldn't a 1 year old eat at nighttime? Katmai nurses to sleep and we're in no hurry to change that at all.
Landon's dr. said one year olds shouldn't be waking up to eat in the middle of the night







. I'm just gonna do like Starling said, nod and smile then toss that idea out the window. Thanks for the suggestion, I'm gonna make some cornbread and give it to him.

Quote:

For those of you whose babies still wake at night, what do they do when they wake up? Royce's wakings are often full of crying and kicking, as though he is in pain or really uncomfortable, but maybe it's just tiredness and anger at being awake?. I'm wondering if this is normal?
It doesn't happen often to us but last night was horrible here as well. I think the problem is that they fully wake up from their sleeping cycles and don't know how to deal with the fact that they're still tired. We forgot to turn down the temperature at my house last night so we all woke up sweating. Then Landon starts crying and screaming so I did a full swaddle and dh and I took turns rocking/walking with him. I think at this age it's normal.

Quote:

Very well said Starling. This is something to remember when we are in the thick of things isn't it?! Fiona has been bursting in to tears when we tell her no lately. She switches it on and off so quickly that our friends think its funny. Its hard on Mama and Papa though and obviously her too. Like you said, its all part of growing up. sigh.
Landon also bursts into tears when we tell him no. I wonder how they are able to switch it on and off so quickly. I think he cries because he knows he's in trouble. I guess I should be glad he doesn't scream and throws himself backwards or anything like that. Well....at least not yet lol.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

I have a tantrum queen here. She's not talking yet but she can communicate quite effectively she will follow me around signing please up and grunting it gets more insistent the longer I ignore it and if I look her in the eye and say please wait a minute she starts the lip quivering, throwing whatever she's carrying and screaming and hanging onto my leg. If I try and put her down and she doesn't want to go she does the arch, flail, kick and pinch. She absolutely loves the refrigerator so I pull her out of there daily and she always throws a fit. It's like her world is ending if I don't let her sit in there and take all the food out.
Snacks work for her too.
At night she only does the screaming arching and thrashing if she's eaten something that's upset her tummy. I can hear the tummy grumbles and farts and the next day is usually filled with poops. Last night she wanted to nurse a lot and was farting a lot. If I nurse her when I first get into bed she wants to nurse all night so I usually just replace the paci but lately she's been rejecting it so I have to let her throw a fit for a bit until she takes it. I can tell she's angry for not getting to nurse but working fulltime means that nursing all night is not an option for me. Plus if I nurse all night she doesn't eat all day and then wants to do it again the next night. I am so not into reverse cycling right now.
What did everyone get their LO's for their birthday's? I know some got babies and some got birthday rings anything else?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

I'm wondering if we're cooking up a little emotional eater too, because snacks will often work in distracting/redirecting DD. I'm trying hard to offerother things first.

Wish me luck, mamas! I'm at work and just heard from DP that DD slept until 9am! And she didn't wake up when I left, which is AWESOME!

Nillarilla, I hear you on the night nursing. I really thing we're going to try to night wean. Actually, we're going to have to night wean for when I go back full time. And on that note, I'm going to go lock myself in the station bathroom and do some hand-expressing, and not of the self-pleasuring kind!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

starling -







I'm glad going back to work is going better for you. Good luck at work today - I'm sure you're very busy with the Olympics starting!

Nillarilla - I got Royce some storage from Ikea for his toys for his birthday as well as a little drum set and a set of water blocks from Plan Toys.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
What did everyone get their LO's for their birthday's? I know some got babies and some got birthday rings anything else?

Owyn's birthday is in a couple of weeks. We are putting up a swing set in the backyard this spring. So, for her birthday, we bought the swings and accessories for it for her to open. We're getting the lumber next month and hoping to have it up in April. Can't wait for warm weather!!

Ever since I complained about her tantrums, she's been like a different kid. Just yesterday and today, but it's such a nice break. Still nursing like crazy at night (although we did get one 4 hour stretch last night!). But she has been happier during the day. Maybe it's just that I stopped fighting it so much. If she's unhappy, I throw her on my back.

Our biggest issue was the kitchen. She wants to play in there with me. So, I just blocked off the door to the bathroom and the stairs to the basement. And we filled the bottom drawers and cabinets with things she can get into (tupperware, pots and pans, unbreakable cookware). So, if she gets into those things, it's not a big deal and she loves it. Although, now she likes to hang on the door to the stove and I'm afraid she's going to pull it down on herself.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
starling -







I'm glad going back to work is going better for you. Good luck at work today - I'm sure you're very busy with the Olympics starting!

We sure are ... we had a fatality this afternoon up in Whistler. A young luge athlete from Georgia died in a crash during a practice run. Poor guy.








Thankfully not my call. I'm feeling extra sensitive since becoming a mama. All I can think about is his mother.

Today is going better. DD spent the morning with DP and then the afternoon with my sister, and reports say she's doing great! Phew ...


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Wow, off for a couple days, and I'm behind by 3 pages!

Happy birthday to all the folks that I've missed! I can't believe that it's gone so fast!

Anthony is signing cracker, more, all done, milk, water, bye bye, and up. So cute! I keep trying to get some of them on video, but of course he stops as soon as I pull out the camera. He has some words too, mostly mushy variations of da, but we can understand the difference!

We're having fits here too. I keep telling myself that one day the persistance and knowing his mind will be positive personality traits. One day.









Starting weaning here.







I have a vision in my head of nursing a 3yo, CLW and all that, but I'm really hurting. My RA/lupus are acting up and I'm afraid I'll need to go on stronger meds than I can take while nursing. My rheum originally said that I'd need to stop by a year, but seemed to understand when I said I wanted to at least get thru the winter, for the immunities and stuff. So far, I've cut out one feeding, not too hard, since it's the midmorning one that I miss 3 days a week when I'm at school anyway. Today was the first day that I was home and wouldn't nurse him then. Parenting is much harder without that tool!!

We're getting him balls, tub toys, and bubbles for his bday.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Glad to hear that Katmai's not the only one tantruming. It just started this week, and today it seemed like he was screeching all day. He has the most ear-piercing shriek too. Even when he uses his new sign "more", he accompanies it with a shriek, so it's not helping much! I'd like to discourage the screaming, but am not sure how.

Snacks don't seem to work to calm him at all. In fact, he's been eating hardly any solids lately as it's nearly impossible to give him any food without him throwing it across the room immediately. All that works is reading books over and over, or playing basketball catch all day.

Now I'm wishing I had taught him "please" or some other form of request as well as "more". He signs "more" and points (and shrieks) every time he wants something. I'd like to teach him the correct meaning of "more", but I just realized that I haven't been using any other request type of sign with him (nouns mostly). He can do "dog" and "fan" sometimes, but those aren't so helpful. Should I start "please" now, or will that just confuse him? I'd like to help his signing, but it's so new and I don't want to lose the only communication I've got.

Katmai spends huge chunks of time standing these days, even throwing balls and such while balancing, but has absolutely no desire to take any steps. So strange.

One of Katmai's grandmas is visiting for his birthday this weekend. We didn't get him anything, but others have.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

McKittre if Katmai's got a couple signs then I'd start adding in the other ones you want him to know for sure. With ds one of the most helpful combinations was "please, help" as well as "open", "thank you", "eat", "drink", "juice", "milk", "diaper". My ds was a late talker and he knew a lot of signs and this really helped tremendously. I've really got to get going with dd. She understands so much and I really would like her to "ask" for what she wants. She does sign nurse, up, please, yes, no but that's about it so far. But really I haven't introduced anymore that she needs. I think I need to teach her a version of move over so she can sign it to her brother. He is continuously getting in her way and her way of dealing with that is smacking, pushing and hair pulling







.

Back to work tommorow please send sleepy vibes my daughter's way. My ds has a cold and now dd has a stuffy nose. I really can't afford to be sick my second set back. People at my work "talk" about stuff like that.


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Nilla- sending lots of







sleepy vibes your daughter's way. Hope your kids get better soon.

Starling- So glad to hear things went well for you while you were working. And wow it must be tough hearing about that athlete. Thankfully not your call, I totally understand, since I became a mom things like that hit me really hard too. Stuff like that makes you want to go home and hug your family even more.

mckittre- That's great that he knows how to say more, and I agree I'd keep adding the ones that you want him to know for sure. Right now Landon learned to sign all done, and no. We have the same problem though, because now he does those all the time. Even when he's mad he'll sign all done lol. I guess I should introduce a sign for "angry"

Quote:

Our biggest issue was the kitchen. She wants to play in there with me. So, I just blocked off the door to the bathroom and the stairs to the basement. And we filled the bottom drawers and cabinets with things she can get into (tupperware, pots and pans, unbreakable cookware). So, if she gets into those things, it's not a big deal and she loves it. Although, now she likes to hang on the door to the stove and I'm afraid she's going to pull it down on herself.
I don't know what it is with babies and kitchen lol. Landon does the same thing and I'm also constantly cleaning the outside of our garbage can since we have a stainless steel one in the kitchen and he loooves to go up to it and kiss it. Usually he obeys when I say no, he wont do it but he'll sit there and cry. Then there are the days that I feel he's testing me when I redirect him and the tantrums start.

Landon got a lot of gifts from the grandparents for his birthday and we bought him a ball. He loves to play with it. He doesn't know the concept of passing it back and forth yet but he loves to follow it. Also okay this one is kind of crazy but since Landon is constantly kissing the garbage can, dh decided as a gift to replace his closet doors with mirror doors. It's so funny since then Landon just loooves to sit there and stare at himself and play and kiss the mirror. I know weird.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

It's Katmai's birthday today!

This time last year, I was entering the last couple hours of pushing. Much easier this year! We're having people over in a few hours for pie.

In honor of his birthday, I wrote an essay on my blog about our first year taking Katmai out hiking: First Year in the Woods


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Beautiful blog post, *Mckittre*!
Happy Birthday, Katmai!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

happy Birthday Katmai! Beautiful post on your blog Mckittre. He's such a lucky baby to have all of those wonderful outdoor adventures!


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## BRmama (Mar 18, 2008)

Happy Birthday Katmai and Mckittre!!!! I absolutely loved the post on your blog! Very sweet and the pictures are great!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Happy Birthday Katmai!!







I loved your blog post, McKittre! What an exciting first year of life Katmai has had!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks everyone! We had a good party yesterday, with some birthday pie, and a few too many toys (even though we didn't get him any)... We try to tell folks not to overdo it, but I think we'll have to send a few of the old ones to give away. His favorite is a spinning top type thing (he's been obsessed with spinning things since he was 4 months old, I think), and some new books.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

yeah hapy birthday katmai!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

wow i read the blog and checked out the pictures. amazing. Katmai is so lucky to have such an amazing childhood.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I've just been thinking that one of these days we will have to move this chat to the toddler page! When do you consider your baby a toddler?

We went to music with mar today and Fiona loved it! We've been a couple of times before but it seemed like today she knew what to expect and got into exploring more. It was fun to see her dancing and playing with the musical instruments!

Her walking is getting better and better! She prefers to not have the pressure of "come to mama!". lol. her best steps are when she thinks noone is looking. She still preffers to crawl or walk along holding on to fingers of furniture but I know one of these days she's just going to walk everywhere and my baby won't be a baby anymore!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Now that Owyn is walking all over, she is seeming more and more like a toddler. I was just telling DH the only time she seems like a baby anymore is when she's sleeping.

We're going for her first hair cut this Friday. I didn't want to cut it this early, but it's getting really shaggy and won't stay out of her eyes, so it has to be done. I think that is going to make her look even more like a little girl. Saturday we're going for her one year portraits. It's so surreal to think about what we were doing at this time last year and see how far we've come. Valentine's Day was her last first holiday, that was a little sad for me.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I think that I will officially consider Royce a toddler when he starts walking. He has yet to take a step though (he rarely even lets go just to stand). Although if he had started walking early I would have said when he turns one. I guess maybe both are needed to be a toddler!

I figure that after all our babies have had their birthdays it may be time to move on over to the toddler forum. Sad as that may be!

Mal - I know the feeling! New Years was Royce's last 'first holiday'. But there are still lots of firsts! For example, his first Olympics are happening right now









I have yet to go get professional photos done of Royce







I keep thinking of reasons to wait (until he can smile, until he can sit, until he is one, and now I'm thinking I should wait until the weather is nicer so I can do outdoor photos







) Maybe I should just go get some done already! I do take lots of photos myself though of course!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

What is crazy is that this is Esmé's SECOND Valentine's Day! How did THAT happen?

We started a tradition last year, when she was two weeks old ... we had a Red Supper. We all wore comfy red jammies, had sparkling cranberry juice, red curry and red velvet cupcakes. We had a blast! Nice and low key, considering we were entrenched in the daze of new parenthood at the time.
We had our 2nd Annual Red Supper tonight, consisting of homemade gluten-free pizza, sparking raspberry juice, and strawberries with ice cream for dessert. This year Esmé and I had matching red flannel pajama bottoms that my sister made for us ... so cute!

We celebrated Valentine's Day today as DP was working on the real V-day. So I am all smooshy and in lurve especially right now. My heart is all big and wobbly with the big l-o-v-e I have for my wee little tribe of three.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I guess I'd agree that we should move over to toddlers after we've had all the birthdays. Even though Katmai isn't "toddling" yet either. He balances perfectly while standing, but has no interest in walking, and I'm not holding my breath for those steps. I figure he'll wait to walk until he needs to run somewhere.

That "red supper" sounds cute starling. I always hated Valentine's Day, but now that it's Katmai's birthday, all that bah humbug has melted away, and I think it's great.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

gosh we will have to move soon. IN my facebook photo album of June's 1st birthday I wrote "My baby is 1, thereby ending my career as a mother of an infant." Uggh kids fighting, i'm off.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

It's Cordelia's birthday! At this time last year I was still oblivious to the fact my girl would be entering the world that day. We hadn't even gone in for our NST that started the whole process. The birth was exactly what I DIDNT want to happen but it ended up being healing for me in a lot of ways. It's amazing to think that her personality has been evident right from that very first day when I thought "Wow is she ever LOUD!"









We are celebrating saturday as I just finished my set yesterday and we don't have a present for her yet







. I need to make a gluten free, dairy free hopefully tasty birthday cake. I tried out a cupcake recipe a couple weeks ago but while it was not bad it was also not great. I would love to make some coconut milk ice cream and I think I might go get the attachment for my kitchenaid to make some strawberry coconut ice cream for dessert instead. I think I want to get her one of those waldorf rainbow puzzles but I can't find anything similar in town or anything else I like. Hmmmm maybe I could get her a little child's piano. She loves music and anything that makes music and it's something that would last a while. Could get annoying but so can anything I've learned.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Happy birthday Cordelia!









Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Happy Birthday Cordelia!!!









Royce is 13 months old today







(am I still allowed to celebrate his monthly milestones?







)


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Birthday Cordelia!









And yes you still get to celebrate Gillian!


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Happy Birthday to all the babies and mamas!

Ughhh the tantrums! Is anyone else dealing with multiple tantrums daily? Ds was NOT like this but oh my...Willa throws her body down and lately not so carefully. She has bonked her head pretty hard today. This has been the week of sickies--we all got a stomach bug...I had it yesterday and Willa just couldn't handle me not feeling well. Everytime I got the blanket and tried to lay down on the couch she would come over screaming at me! Eevn if she had been happily playing with something else. I know that she was still not feeling great and also very tired cause she sleeps horribly but really I had little to no sympathy for her yesterday...or even this morning







.
On the positive side--the part time job that I have wanted for months finally came open!! Its a breastfeeding peer counselor position with WIC at the health department. Its very family friendly and flexible!! I will interview the first week of March.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Happy Birthday, Cordelia!!!
Many happy birth day wishes comin' at you, little girl!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

That's so exciting, *mamamillet*! Sounds like a great job. Good luck with the interview. Remember to take a steadying breath and have a good think before answering any questions. And don't pepper your sentences with "like.""yeah," "uh huh," or "umm." Its sounds like a dream job.
And now I can ask the question that I've been wondering about for a while.
What does WIC stand for?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamamillet* 
Happy Birthday to all the babies and mamas!

On the positive side--the part time job that I have wanted for months finally came open!! Its a breastfeeding peer counselor position with WIC at the health department. Its very family friendly and flexible!! I will interview the first week of March.


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## mamamillet (May 21, 2004)

Women infants and children-its a progran for low income moms and their kids that provides food vouchers.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I've wondered what that stood for too! I've seen it around here on mdc several times. Now I know









That job sounds AWESOME, mamamillet!! I would love something like that! I'm a SAHM, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have something 'adult' to do once or twice a week (I guess I could accomplish that in other ways than a pt job). But I think I could only manage a few hours at a time away from Royce, it would be nice to have a job that I could bring him along to, but I guess that would defeat the purpose of adult time


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

happy birthday cordelia!!!

mamamillet that job does sound great.

I personally am so ready to go to work. I have been at home for 4.5 years now, and then i was home with my first daughter for one year before that. I want to move on to other things. I am hoping for a position at a birth center as a birt assistant until i can swing midwifery school. I kind of feel bad that i don't really want to stay home with Junes but i am just pretty burnt out on it.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy birthday Cordelia!

And good luck with the job mamamillet! I'm lucky to be able to work from home. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to try to juggle paying attention to him with getting work done, but I'm happy to have both Katmai and work in my life.

Is anyone else's baby obsessed with books? I never thought I'd say this, but I wish he liked books less! He wants me to read them over and over again and screams when I don't - but he'll turn the pages at such breakneck speed that I barely get one or two words in each time, and the stories sound something like this: "bear! (flip) mouse! (flip) look at the... (flip) now they're dancing! (flip) do you see the... (flip) now... (flip) bunny is... (flip) and they're asleep (flip) all done" Books are exhausting when you go through the same one five times per minute.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamamillet* 
Women infants and children-its a progran for low income moms and their kids that provides food vouchers.

Thank you! I've seen it all over the boards here at MDC and have always wondered. We don't have WIC in Canada.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Esmé is obsessed with books too, although she's pretty dainty about turning the pages and usually turns them in good time. I track the words with my finger, which I think has helped her to figure out that the black marks on the pages and the sounds coming out of my mouth are related. My school-teacher auntie suggested I do that, and it's worked! She loves board books as well as paper-page books, and magazines too. She has a great big basket of books and magazines beside her basket of toys in the kitchen.

We spend a lot of time at the library, and there are two bins there full of board books and she ALWAYS fishes out the one I dislike the most. The Margaret ****** baby books (photos of babies and one- or two words on the opposite page.) I cannot stand those, but there I am, dutifully reading them over and over. I bury them in the bins and she fishes them out.

And we only have two bath books, and Esmé wants me to read them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. I know them off by heart and I don't particularly want to. I've been thinking of hosting a book swap at my place, to get some new material.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna is a little reader too. She brings me books one by one until we've read like 10. I too hate when she wants to read the same book over and over and over. But I'm glad she is enjoying them. She is really starting to notice small details in the pictures (like a bird or a cat) and she always makes the sign for pig a page or 2 in advance of a picture of a pig in a certain book - so she has learned to anticipate what is coming up. I think that is pretty cool.

Does anyone else's babe still have cradle cap? Makenna's is hidden under hair but it's def. still there. I tried the oil and tooth brush method last night and now I am off to rewash her hair bc she woke up looking like a greaser. Guess I didn't get the oil out. It didn't even get the cradle cap off either! So other than picking at it while nursing, I don't know what to do about it. Will it eventually go away if it hasn't by now?

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

We have a reader here too. I can usually choose a variety but then we have our days of "just this one" over and over. Goodnight Gorilla seems to be "it" quite often. Ugh...that book! lol

Fi's working on her second pair of molars right now. Good lord, how many teeth do they get anyway!! She is just so restless at night and up to nurse every 1.5 hours or so. Thankfully she's not up and awake at least. With this latest set she'll be up to 12 teeth. I keep thinking we'll get a break in teething but nothing lasts more then a couple of weeks and then she gets more.

We are having so much fun with Fiona these days. She's into pretend play now. She has some wooden food and bowls that she stirs up and drinks and eats. The drinking ends with "aah". She always offers it to us and says 'thank you" since that is what we say to her. She also puts her head on the pillow and says "night night". too cute! She loves to offer a toy and then pull it back at the last second and crack up as she takes off down the hall with it. I love baby humor!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

AKIsland: 12 teeth? Makenna's 3rd just popped through a couple days ago!! I don't think she'll have 12 teeth until she's 2 or 3. LOL. Makenna started pretend play too. I love it! Someone got her a teapot that makes pouring sounds and two little tea cups. She pretends to pour and drink and offer to her baby dolls. Today we opened her last present and it was a grocery bag with stuffed play food. I was suprised she pretended to eat the banana since she won't eat real ones. Also there is a milk carton and I told her it was milk and she made the sign for milk. That surprised me since I thought it just meant nursing to her...so she does know that is has other meanings! 

C


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 

Does anyone else's babe still have cradle cap? Makenna's is hidden under hair but it's def. still there. I tried the oil and tooth brush method last night and now I am off to rewash her hair bc she woke up looking like a greaser. Guess I didn't get the oil out. It didn't even get the cradle cap off either! So other than picking at it while nursing, I don't know what to do about it. Will it eventually go away if it hasn't by now?

Cindy

Esmé has cradle cap under her hair too. A significant amount of it. I don't do anything for it. We don't shampoo her hair, although we're thinking of starting soon. Is there a special shampoo for it?

As for teeth ... Esmé still doesn't have ANY!!!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna just took her first steps! She was balancing next to DH and I said "I bet she's going to take a step" and she took a few. Then we had her going back and forth between us. She took up to 6 steps. Yay Makenna!!









Cindy


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

go makenna!!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Yay Makenna!

The pretend play sounds very cute.







Katmai doesn't do much of that yet beyond pretending to drink out of various containers and banging on the woodstove with our fire pokers.

AK - Katmai loves "Goodnight Gorilla" too! I usually only leave a handful of his books out at a time so I can switch them out when I get tired of his current set.
And starling - I tried pointing to the words while reading, and that worked to slow him down some. I think I got half the words on the page most of the time (as opposed to the 2 or 3 he usually lets me read). Thanks for the tip.

I just found out that Katmai loves to have his nails clipped. In the past, I've always done it when he's sleeping. Today I tried when he was awake, and he was fascinated. He sat very still staring at the nail clippers while I was cutting. And when I was done, he kept giving the nail clippers back to me and fussing until I did it more! (I found a few nails I could clip a bit shorter the second time). How strange is that?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Owyn doesn't do a whole lot of pretend play yet besides the telephone. Everything is a telephone. Which is strange because we really don't talk on the phone a whole lot, but everything she picks up goes up to her ear and she says "Hi!". Then she brings it to me and puts it up to my ear so I can talk. Too funny!

Owyn had her first hair cut yesterday. The ends were still dark from being a newborn. She never lost the hair she was born with. We just cut the scraggly pieces off and swept her bangs a little so they don't hang in her eyes anymore. She looks like such a little girl instead of a baby! No more rat tail hanging down her back. It was a little sad. I was remembering when I was pushing her out and my midwife said "You've birthed her hair!". You couldn't see her head yet, but her hair was so long, it was already out.

My best friend had her first sonogram yesterday. She's 14 wks along. They could have found out the gender, but they are choosing not to which is just torturing me, I wanna know what they're having! I so excited for her, it was so special to see the pictures of that baby inside of her. My other girl friend is due in May and we're working on planning her baby shower. If anyone has any ideas for a special baby shower, throw them at me! She's crunchy like the rest of us and is on here at MDC but doesn't get on very often.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

*Nillarilla*- Can I just say that you are a sleep genius?! We are on day 5 of what you described doing with your daughter, and wow the change is amazing! I was really starting to feel like a prisoner to bedtime, but it is going so well. I knock on wood as I say this. On the first night, I stood next to her crib and it took about 25 minutes for her to fall asleep and she only fussed for a minute when I laid her down, then rolled over and just went to sleep. She would occasionally look up to make sure I was still there, but then would just roll back over and close her eyes again.

Now, I am standing nearly at the door which is all the way across the room from her crib and it is taking her about 15 minutes to get to sleep. No crying aside from the initial fussing when I lay her down. She will usually stand up in her crib once or twice when I first lay her down. I just walk over, lay her back down and then go back to the door. Today is the first day we've tried it with naptime and it worked just the same as nighttime!

I'm just not sure she'll let me fully leave the room anytime soon. I tried to last night and that was a no-go. It's still pretty new though, so I'm not sweating it too much. Just hoping she'll eventually let me leave the room and be able to go to sleep without me there. Thanks again for that advice, it is saving our lives!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Yeah for our new walker! Go Makenna! Fiona is up to about 10 steps but still does most of her walking holding on to fingers, furniture, or walls. If she really needs to get somewhere she crawls since its faster. I do love watching those wobbly steps though!

As for cradle cap Fiona has it too. The only way I know to get rid of it is to oil up her head to soften the cradle cap and then pick it out with a fine tooth comb. I got rid of it all once and have just noticed she has a bit more in her hair again so I'll do her "treatment" one of these days. I'm not sure if she'll sit still for the combing and picking this time though! Also, from what I know it stays and gets worse and harder to get out if you just leave it. My niece is nearly four and has it really bad and won't let anyone near her head with a comb.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yay Makenna - another walker! I'm still waiting for Royce to take his first steps. I'm beginning to think it's never going to happen







He did figure out how to climb the stairs when we were at Grandma's the other day (we don't have stairs in our apartment). He loves racing up them I wish we had stairs because they can keep him entertained for sooo long!

I don't remember Royce ever having cradle cap, so no advice. It may be because he's never had hair, so the oils couldn't build up the same. I'm also beginning to think he's going to be bald forever!

As for teeth, we're still stuck at 6. It's been months since we've had a new tooth. I feel like he's been teething for a few weeks now, but nothing new has poked through!

Royce isn't too into books. Sometimes he will quietly sit and flip through one on his own. And sometimes I can get him to pay attention to me while I read or just point to animals in the book. He has never initiated book reading by bringing me a book.

Not too much role-playing either. He does have a play kitchen but he uses that more to shove things into the oven. Actually almost all of his play involves shoving things into other things.

I signed Royce up for swimming lessons today! He starts next week. It's a parent and baby group (ages 6-18 months). I hope he enjoys it









And I have to add, Royce is sitting on my lap as I type this and he is wiggling his fingers on the table copying my typing. It's too cute


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Mal I'm so glad the sleep plan worked for you! I hate being a slave to the bedtime too. Finally got it so that my almost 4 yr old will go to sleep on his own after his stories and I don't have to sit in the hall anymore!!!!







Just remember that if you have a set back like teething, a cold, a vaccination, a trip etc you will have to start over.

Yay for all the walkers. Delia's taken no steps yet either. But my ds didn't walk until almost 15mos so I'm really not concerned. She does the surfing stand without holding on which is quite funny to watch.

Anyone else have a babe who will say words ocassionally in the right context and then never do it again? I find it so strange to hear her talk but to only have her do it sporadically.

Delia enjoyed some lox and capers last night. But she's been 'firing' all her usual favorites except bananas. So now I'm having to try and get creative. Which can be difficult with the combo of allergies we have here. She likes salty things these days, olives, capers, smoked salmon, corn chips.
I made her coconut milk ice cream and she loved that!







Pretty funny to watch her eat it though. It was a shock to her each time I put the spoon in her mouth.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
Anyone else have a babe who will say words ocassionally in the right context and then never do it again? I find it so strange to hear her talk but to only have her do it sporadically.

Yes! Royce said 'dog' for a couple of days a while back everytime we read his 'Dog' book. But that was it! Hasn't said it since. He hasn't said ANY words since. The only thing I get is mamamamamama when he's upset or if I leave the room and he's crawling after me.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
My niece is nearly four and has it really bad and won't let anyone near her head with a comb.

Geez ... I had no idea it could go on that long!

We're all about the playground these days. We go to one in the morning, and then another in the afternoon. We've been having beautiful weather here, so have been spending every waking moment outside. She loves the swing, and the slide, and climbing the stairs. She's making lots of new friends and is having a great time exploring.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
Geez ... I had no idea it could go on that long!

We're all about the playground these days. We go to one in the morning, and then another in the afternoon. We've been having beautiful weather here, so have been spending every waking moment outside. She loves the swing, and the slide, and climbing the stairs. She's making lots of new friends and is having a great time exploring.

So jealous! I can't wait to get outside more! This winter has been super cold and super snowy/icy. We've been cooped up in this house for too long. We try to go outside when we can, but with my daycare kids (2 months old, 1 year and 18 months old) it's hard to get everyone outside in this kind of weather. I cannot wait for spring. We'll have Owyn's swing set up and can go outside and play!

Owyn's birthday party is this weekend. We're having a spaghetti dinner for my whole family (about 35 people). We had her 1 year portraits taken on Saturday and it did not go well. She was not in the mood. Later that day she started running a fever and has been congested really bad ever since, so I'm guessing she just didn't feel very good. I hope she's feeling better for her party this weekend.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm jealous of the outdoor play too! Katmai never plays outside. Literally never. Everything is covered in snow, and he dislikes being set down in the snow to crawl (I can understand why), so there's not really anything we can do. He gets outside all the time, but only being worn. He loves it, and I hope it's enough exposure to get him to like going out when things melt out in another couple months.

Gillian and Nillarilla: No walking here either! I'm not worried though. He seems to spend half his time playing standing up (not holding onto anything), so I know his balance is plenty good enough - he just doesn't seem interested in taking steps.

No words here, sporadic or otherwise (though he will say "mummummum!" when upset, but it's not a label). Truthfully, though I know so many of your babies are saying words, and it could happen any day, I just can't picture him talking. He does do the "learn a word then drop it" thing with signs though. He had a number of useful ones going for awhile ("more", "milk") and then decided the only sign he wants to do at the moment is "ceiling fan", which he uses for anything that spins around.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
So jealous! I can't wait to get outside more! This winter has been super cold and super snowy/icy. We've been cooped up in this house for too long. We try to go outside when we can, but with my daycare kids (2 months old, 1 year and 18 months old) it's hard to get everyone outside in this kind of weather. I cannot wait for spring. We'll have Owyn's swing set up and can go outside and play!

Owyn's birthday party is this weekend. We're having a spaghetti dinner for my whole family (about 35 people). We had her 1 year portraits taken on Saturday and it did not go well. She was not in the mood. Later that day she started running a fever and has been congested really bad ever since, so I'm guessing she just didn't feel very good. I hope she's feeling better for her party this weekend.

I'm sure we'll pay for all this warm el nino weather in the summer when there's campfire bans and water restrictions, but for now, I'm loving it!

That's too bad about Owyn's portraits ... do they have a policy for unhappy babies? Can you go back when she's feeling better? Hopefully she feels better soon, poor wee sproglet.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Mckittre* ... by the looks of things, your little one will have a huge love of the outdoors! And just imagine next winter, he'll be trucking around in a big smooshy snowsuit and monster mittens and a toque tied up under his chin and clunky winter boots strapped onto his wee snowshoes, and your problem then will be how to get him out of all his gear so he can use the potty tucked all the way inside the yurt beside the woodstove!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm also jealous of those of you in warmer climates! We haven't had too much snow this winter (although we got some last night), but it's still too cold for going to the park. I can't wait until spring! And by then hopefully Royce will be walking and able to actually explore and play at the park! I'm already starting to dream about all the fun things we can do when the weather is nicer and Royce is a bit older - trips to the zoo, the beach, camping, going to the park, bike rides... It's going to be a great summer


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm in the February blues here. It has not been a good winter here. Mostly cold and rainy, hardly any snow to speak of. We do lots of walks in our stroller which has a rain fly and I wear my whole rain suit but I'm looking forward to shedding that layer. I do take Fiona to the park but not often and I always have to bring a towel to wipe the swing down. The sun came out this weekend for a few hours. This was littteraraly the first time in weeks. I put a rain suit on Fiona and set her down in the wet grass. She did not like how that felt on her hands at all! She was happy to hold hands and walk around though. I'm longing for the nicer weather ahead. On a good note... its light out till around 6:30 these days. We've been doing walks when DH gets home from work. I love that!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Wow AKIsland you are brave donning a rain suit every day for walks. It's raining today and we are snuggling up and being cozy. First rain after a little stretch of beautiful weather. But it's supposed to rain for a week straight so I do need to go out and about in it. I'm sure I'll be going stir crazy by the end of today. We actually have had a fair amount of rain here in CA but the nice weather we just had made me feel like it was spring...I so cannot wait for spring!

For those with walkers: how long between first steps and when your babe was really walking around? Makenna took those steps but she is still pretty disinterested in trying to walk other than an occasional 1-2 steps.

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi Cindy ... Esmé started walking at 10.5 months, with about 5-10 steps at a time, between destinations. Over the next few weeks, she kept adding steps and distance, until she was walking more than crawling or cruising. I'd say about a month before she stopped cruising/crawling? Now she's working on running and inclines and uneven ground.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Wow AKIsland you are brave donning a rain suit every day for walks. It's raining today and we are snuggling up and being cozy. First rain after a little stretch of beautiful weather. But it's supposed to rain for a week straight so I do need to go out and about in it. I'm sure I'll be going stir crazy by the end of today. We actually have had a fair amount of rain here in CA but the nice weather we just had made me feel like it was spring...I so cannot wait for spring!

For those with walkers: how long between first steps and when your babe was really walking around? Makenna took those steps but she is still pretty disinterested in trying to walk other than an occasional 1-2 steps.

Cindy

Owyn started taking a few steps at a time at the beginning of December. It was kind of by accident and she kept up with just a couple steps at a time for several weeks and that was only when I stood her up and urged her to do it. Right around Christmas is when it seemed to click and she realized she could go. By the new year, she was letting go of the furniture and walking a good few feet. It wasn't long after that when she started walking more than crawling.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Wow AKIsland you are brave donning a rain suit every day for walks.
Cindy

If I didn't, we'd never go out! It rains here all the time!

Walking seemed to have clicked with Fi just yesterday. We went from a couple of weeks of a few steps here and there and crawling when she fell to getting back up at every fall. She's still pretty wobbly but has figured out that she really can get around this way. All of her practice tired her out yesterday and we got a good nights sleep for the first time in weeks! Today she was walking all around the room during our music class too.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi everyone ... thread's been quiet for a couple of days, so I thought I'd breath some new life into it by soliciting birthday wishes for me! It's my birthday!
DP commissioned a beautiful necklace from one of my favourite jewelers (and a good friend!) and it looks like this one, only in an oval, and with Esmé's name carved on a scroll on the back. It's beautiful, and an instant heirloom that I look forward to passing down to her some day. It's heavy enough that Esmé can play with it while she nurses. It's simply gorgeous!
We're have a gluten-free pizza party tonight, and cake to follow. I'm 35 ... and that's just starting to sink in. 35. If we have another baby, we should start thinking about it soonish.

We're considering selling our condo and moving into a co-op across the street. Same great neighbourhood, but we'd be paying less than half what we pay now, which means I could stay home with Esmé and only work enough to maintain my license. This is sounding very appealing.
We have an interview with the co-op membership board tomorrow.

Downside is that our current place is lovely, and the co-op is a little run down, but the upside is that we'd be selling in a super high market and could maybe re-enter it when it softens after the Olympics. I hope we make the right decision. Any advice is appreciated!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Birthday Starling!









Moving decisions are hard but I would do it! When we bought our house we bought small so that I would be able to stay home with babes. I don't regret it for a minute! Even though the coop isn't as nice you can work to make it your own. As long as its comfortable and liveable you won't look back and think about the house you lived in so much as the memories you create while living there. Being home with Fiona is the best thing I can be doing right now. I know that you struggled with going back to work. I think that if making this move means you can stay home with Esmé your whole family will be happier for it! Go for it and good luck!

By the way, I just discovered diaper swappers. Holy smokes that place is addicting...especially the all things wool page. I just bought some shorties and a skirty for Fiona. Shhhh! Don't tell DH!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 

By the way, I just discovered diaper swappers. Holy smokes that place is addicting...especially the all things wool page. I just bought some shorties and a skirty for Fiona. Shhhh! Don't tell DH!









I LOVE diaper swappers. I've built a good portion of my stash from there. Right now, I've been hunting BG organics and have bought 7 from mamas there in the last month or so. Saved a ton of money! It is addicting though!!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Happy birthday Starling!! What a gorgeous necklace. I want something with Makenna's name on it but DH has yet to provide. Mostly bc we are sooo watching our pennies. I made a lot more money than DH so my deciding to stay home w/Makenna means we are living on less than half of what we had before (though we still wouldn't have as much as before if I were working bc so much would go to a nanny). Anyway, we moved to a cheaper place outside of the city and are making sacrifices for me to be home. I miss work on occasion but I am so willing to pinch pennies, etc. to be home watching all the amazing changes going on with Makenna. At first I felt like it was all for her benefit but now I just feel so lucky to be watching her learn everything! I think if you can still be in the neighborhood you chose and pay less and be home with Esme, I would go for it! You can always change your mind down the road but you won't get this time back for all the money in the world! Good luck with your decision. Let us know what you choose.

I am just amazed daily by my little girl's language. She is copying so many words now and her signing has exploded. She must use 20-30 signs. Sooo much fun to watch!

Cindy


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Happy Birthday Starling!!







Hope you are having a great day!

As for your big decision, I think that you will never in your life regret staying home with Esme. I love staying home with Royce, the time passes so quickly, and I love being able to soak up every single second of it. Staying at home with my children is something I have always wanted to be able to do, and I feel very fortunate to have that choice.

Cindy - that's so great that Makenna is using all those signs!! I'm still waiting for Royce to start signing. I'm pretty consistent with signing for nursing, eating, more, and all done. And then I have a bunch more that I use when I remember. Hopefully he'll start signing soon because it would be much nicer than the screaming that I get


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## monkaha (Jan 22, 2004)

Happy birthday Starling!!

This time last year, I was pushing.














Feeling very weepy tonight; whether it's because of the decrease in nursing messing with my hormones, the "official" transition from baby to toddler, the lack of sleep, or some combo of them, I don't know, but dang. Anyone else get a "funk" for a bday present?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Monkaha - I felt quite melancholy the night before Makenna's birthday, thinking back to where I was the year before and how powerful and exciting those experiences were. Normal, me thinks. Happy birth day!!

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm also feeling very sentimental. Today was my due date. I remember I went to class that day and one of my professors walked in and saw me there and gave me the saddest face and told me how sorry she was that I hadn't had the baby yet. I refused to go back to school after that day. 3 days later I went into labor and she came the next day.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy birthday starling! That necklace is beautiful. I think you should move. It sounds like it would be a good thing for you, and I doubt you'll spend much time thinking about how it's not quite as nice as your old one. (says the happy yurt dweller, anyway) And I bet you'll spend a lot of time enjoying Esme and feeling happy you don't have to work so much!

Cindy, that's awesome that she uses so many signs! Katmai's signing is just getting going (he did "bear" for the first time yesterday!). He has maybe 5 signs he uses frequently, and another 4 or 5 I've seen him use at least once. Though he doesn't use them all correctly, and tends to use both "milk" and "more" to mean "I want the thing I'm pointing at." Pointing is still his best communication, and I think we're a ways from spoken words yet. I'm amazed daily by how much he understands, though. I think this must be a good age for communication growth.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Thanks for the birthday wishes, mamas!









We had our interview with the co-op today and saw the apartment. It's lovely! Way better than I had hoped. It's on two levels, with the living room and kitchen up, and the bedrooms and bathroom down (we'd need to get another potty to put upstairs for PL). So way more light than where we are now, and quite cute. Give it a good coat of paint and we'll be good to go!









The downside is that there is no in-suite laundry, but if there is a way, we'll make it happen. If not, we'll be shlepping a lot of diapers to the communal laundry room. We wash every other day right now. *Do any of you other CD mamas wash every three days?* Does it make a stink difference?

We did find out that we're not the only ones they're considering ... so we may not have it. But fingers crossed ... if they offer it, we're going to take it! No more money worries! And I'd only have to work one or two days a weeks to maintain my paramedic license! Woo hoo!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*monkaha* ... does that mean it's your little one's birthday today?

If so ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Fingers crossed Starling!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Hey everyone, just checking in. I've been a bit overwhelmed by life but actually, good. Eliza is doing great, but kind of in the middle of getting her first two top teeth in, so, we keep having difficult nights-- not every night but here and there. Last night was a tricky night so my energy level is low. My boys have been cooped up inside so much that they are just like never-ending whirlwinds of mess. I feel like all I ever do is clean up after the three of them, lol!

Eliza's birthday party on Saturday was so perfect! We loved it! We only had a few people over: the grandparents, an aunt, my closest friend, and 6 little friends and cousins. We did cupcakes instead of a birthday cake and I had them arranged on one of those cupcake "trees" if you know what I'm talking about. DH carried it over to her as we sang Happy Birthday, and when we sang her name, her whole face just lit up SO HUGE it was adorable! Like, right then she realized it was all for HER! Awww, so sweet!

I love her so much. She is very assertive and confident and mischievous, but also such a girlie girl. She loves her pretty dresses. When I carry her into the closet on Sunday morning and ask her which dress she wants to wear today, she gets SO excited!!! (Most days she just wears play clothes.) She loves playing with her dollies and Barbies. (The Barbies were actually the boys', but she's kind of taken over on that.) Of course, she loves playing with the boys' train set and Transformers, too. Pretty much all o their toys are very cool to her. She loves to read and dance and sing. She is toddling and climbing everywhere and mimicking lots of new words.

She is still particularly attached to DH which I find just enchanting.







It's sweet seeing how much he loves her, too. It's so meaningful to me since I didn't get to live with my dad for most of my childhood, and we weren't very close until more recently. To be able to give my daughter that opportunity is awesome.

*yawn* I just need some sleep today!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 
The downside is that there is no in-suite laundry, but if there is a way, we'll make it happen. If not, we'll be shlepping a lot of diapers to the communal laundry room. We wash every other day right now. *Do any of you other CD mamas wash every three days?* Does it make a stink difference?

I moved into an apartment in November with no laundry. It is obviously a lot less convenient and can be a real pain. But, I'm still cloth diapering, so it hasn't detered me too much. I just have to make sure I plan ahead, because I can't be running out to do laundry at bedtime. I have noticed the urine smell to be a lot stronger, usually I will start noticing it when it's time to do laundry anyway. And loading the dirty diapers into the washer can be pretty smelly! But it's not too bad. I do miss having my own washer/dryer though!

Anyway, I hope you get accepted! It sounds like you're very excited about it









LTB - I'm glad Eliza's party went well!! I am also really enjoying seeing Royce's personality develop. I'm finding it very interesting and really love getting to know him in this new way. So far he is very silly, he loves making people laugh, he's super social, and also a real cuddle-bug, he also has little spurts of independence where he goes off exploring and is so focused on what he's doing. And he 'chatters' away A LOT, which is funny because he doesn't actually have any words yet, but he babbles constantly. I absolutley love him, I'm so excited that I get to be his Mama and know him forever









...but I do wish he would sleep


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Have all our little ones had their birthdays?
Should we move over to 'toddlers'?


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Not yet! Owyn's is Monday. I had a Feb due date and she came late by a few days.

We had her party today at my mom's house. It went so well! We had a spaghetti dinner that Owyn loved! She had lots of fun digging into her cake and thought it was pretty cool when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.

I'm already reminiscing. I remember at this time last year, I was leaving my aunt's house while a snowstorm was starting and my grandma told me that I was going to have my baby the next day. That next afternoon, my water broke and she was born the morning after.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

How about we move over mid-March, if anyone thinks of it.

Sorry I jumped the non-violent gun, *Mal*! Didn't mean too ... and will be posting wee Owyn a birthday greeting on Monday!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Katmai took his first steps yesterday! He was standing and holding a book in both hands and wanted to bring it to grandma without dropping down to crawl. The steps were really more of shuffles, and it was just a foot or two of movement, but I'm still excited.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Oh how exciting McKittre!! I'm still waiting... Is anyone else still waiting for first steps??

BUT, Royce did take a couple of steps holding onto a push toy that in no way could have been supporting his weight. This one. But I've been trying to get him to do it again and he just drops down immediately. I think when he did it the first time he didn't realize what he was doing. I'm soooo excited for him to start walking!! I hope it happens soon


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Yay Katmai!! Makenna still isn't walking much unless we set her down and tell her to walk to us but she is cruising holding on with one hand now and more supported by her own weight. She is getting a little better when we urge her to walk but she's in no hurry. But it's only been a week.

Happy birthday to Owyn a day early!

We're going to the zoo today. Can't wait to see Makenna's reactions. I hope she uses all the animal signs she's learned!

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Yeah for our new walker! Good job Katmai!

Fiona is officially walking more then crawling now. She still has those arms out in front of her for balance and is wobbly. So cute! I ended up getting her some Soft Star shoes with rubber soles so we can walk around outside with out wet feet. They are super cute!

I've been feeling burn out lately big time. Part of it is the weather I think. Mal, I often think about you and all the little kids you are taking care of. I'm ready to not have daycare anymore! I'm watching these current kids through the end of May and will have the summer off. Come fall I'm going to take only one of them back and hope that financially we can pull that off. In the mean time I'm thinking of scheduling a "spring break" and having a daycare free week. Its hard work!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 

I've been feeling burn out lately big time. Part of it is the weather I think. Mal, I often think about you and all the little kids you are taking care of. I'm ready to not have daycare anymore! I'm watching these current kids through the end of May and will have the summer off. Come fall I'm going to take only one of them back and hope that financially we can pull that off. In the mean time I'm thinking of scheduling a "spring break" and having a daycare free week. Its hard work!

I'm feeling pretty burnt out too. I don't get the summer off though! I do know that most of it is the weather and I'm just so ready for winter to be over. We've all been cooped up in this house together for too long. DH and I planned a long weekend trip coming up in 2 weeks. We're taking a train trip to visit some out-of-town friends, so I'll be off Fri-Mon. I am so looking forward to the break! Owyn got a swing set for her birthday, so I can't wait to get all the kids outside to play in the yard once it gets warm outside. I just keep reminding myself that winter is almost over!

DH and I did decide once we get pregnant with #2, I'm going to cut back to 2 daycare kids and-- like you, AKislandgirl-- hope we can afford it! I've toyed with the idea of getting a job as a part-time preschool teacher and doing the daycare thing part-time. We'll see when the time comes!

At this time last year we were leaving for the hospital. My water had been broken for about 5 hours. We spent the afternoon at my sister's house eating dinner and timing my contractions. That seems like so long ago but at the same time I feel like it was just yesterday. What a year it's been!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWYN!!!







Hope you all enjoy the day









I'm also feeling burnt out, but I don't have day care kids. It's just the weather. I am so antsy for spring. But we just got a huge dump of snow, so we have a while to wait. It's usually not really spring weather until the end of April. Hopefully I can make it that long!


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Happy birthday, Owyn!!!

I am loving Eliza's new words. She is saying "no", "okay" (do-day!!!







) and "jump" (dum) among other things I can't remember. It's so cute!!!

I'm also feeling kind of burn-out. Very excited that spring is around the corner!!!!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

At this time last year, my baby girl had been Earth side for about 4 hours. She was nursing like a champ and getting lots of cuddle time with me and DH. Can't believe she's one already!!

My fil went and picked up the swing set yesterday and she got to see it (all loaded on a trailor) last night. She already wanted to play on it! Can't wait to get it up in the yard!!

I posted some pics from her party on my Facebook, you should be able to view them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...7007338&ref=mf


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Oh my goodness, Mallory she's beautiful!! So much hair!!! Oh what a sweetie!









ETA: what a cute little cake, too!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Great pics Mal! Owyn has the prettiest blue eyes!! Enjoy the day today!

Cindy


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Happy Birthday Owyn and Mal!









I'm also loving new words. Fiona is pretty verbal and has quite a lot of them but my favorites right now are our dogs names. Our dogs are Willie and Maia. She calls them Wibby and MyMy.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Happy Birthday, Owyn!!!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Happy Birthday Owyn! Looks like you enjoyed your cake!

I'm having a hard time with going back to work. There is just soooo much more work associated with having 2 kids and a big house and 2 dogs. Not to mention I really miss my kids. I have to sleep separate from dd when I am working because she keeps me up and I need to function on my shifts. My last shift this set I didn't even get to hold her because it was the day I worked late but she got picked up early. Now to top it all off we have a mouse issue again! I feel about ready to break.....


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

, *Nilla* ...
I feel the same way, and only with one kid!
A big part of us trying to get into the coop is so I wouldn't have to work full time. It's hard being away sooo long on shifts.
I'm not even back full time and I'm burnt out. It would be a huge adjustment for DP to take over the night parenting were I to go FT. I've been up with DD all night for the last three nights, and cannot even imagine how I'd manage at work if I had to.


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## LionTigerBear (Jan 13, 2006)

Nilla and Starling . . . I can't imagine . . . that must be sooo hard.









Hey everyone, this is our 1000th post on this thread!!! Wow!!!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Happy Birthday Owyn! Cute pictures. I can't believe how much hair she has!

Hugs to all the burnt out workers! I work at home, and my trouble lately is that Katmai's getting harder to distract, so I'm not getting as much done. And my yurt is a disaster right now.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

I have catching up to do! Can you all believe there are 1000 posts on this thread?! We've got to be the rockinest postpartum DDC ever.

Anyway, my parents were in town for Aubs b-day on V-day and I've been on the internet waaay too much at work, so I've been trying to stay away. Aubrey took her first steps on Jan. 26, and yesterday we walked nearly a block down the street together. She has made it very clear that crawling is for babies, and as she is now very grown up, she will not be doing that any more. We got her first pair of "real" shoes, and I was shocked that she basically skipped all of the itty bitty sizes. Girl is small, except for her feet: diaper, size 2; shoes, size 4.5.









Still not many words, exactly, but she's definitely getting more expressive. She says mama, baba (dada), bah-oo (balloon), and boo (boobies). She signs food. I guess we can see what her priorities are.

Its so weird to think of our little babies as toddlers. Hooray for all of the walkers and talkers! I'll be back to chat more soon....


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i feel you on the baby thing. yesterday at the playground Junie was following her 7 year old sister around, climbing up the chain cargo nets and such. I kept telling her "junie you forget your 1 year old!" The other day she walked 3 .5 blocks to my sisters house, refused to be carried.

oh nilla i am so sorry, that really is super tough. and uggh on the mouses. we have a rat/mouse thing that we are fighting, such a PIA!!

wow i have missed alot. possible job changes, walkers, birthdays, talkers and all. I so need to try and get on more often. I will work on it.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Ugh, girls, I had an oops last night. I forgot to take my mini-pill Monday night then DTD Tuesday evening. Someone please tell me that there's nothing to worry about because AF hasn't returned. Please. I feel like such a (distraught) idiot.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh no Kate! I'm sure it will be fine. I'm no expert on whether or not you are ovulating right now but what's done is done. So just try to relax. Hugs!

Speaking of getting prego. I just started a 12 week body for life challenge yesterday to try and regain some of the muscle tone I've lost since getting pregnant. And then when I am done with the challenge it will be June and that is when we plan to start trying again...so then I can get out of shape again. LOL. That seems so close to now!!! Kinda scary!!

Cindy


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

kate most likely it should be okay. you could be ovulating, but the chances are pretty slim, and if you are ovulating the chances are even slimmer that you are RIGHT NOW and fertile.

Cindy that is exciting.

i have tooth pain that is kicking my butt and it is starting to make my neck kind of near the lymphnode hurt. i kind of wish i could just pass out so i wouldn't have to feel it. No such luck of course. BUT tonight I am goign to see Little house the musical with my two older girls courtesy of my sister who bought the tickets as there birthday presents.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Kate,









Thursday, hope your tooth feels better soon and have fun with your girls tonight. Sounds great!

Cindy, sounds great! I'm trying to get myself back in shape as well. I'm also considering doing rolphing to help with various aches and pains before ttc again. We are thinking this fall/winter. I need to take clomid and that often dries your milk up so we'll see how much fiona is nursing at that point. It's fun and overwhelming to think about another baby isn't it?!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Thursday do you have cloves or clove oil? Just a drop will give you relief from the tooth pain.

I called an exterminator about our mouse problem. They are coming on Monday and it's $360 for a year's coverage from all pests with a guarantee. At this point I'll pay anything to have the problem dealt with. It just freaks me right out with mouse droppings everywhere. I cleaned for 2 days straight. Haven't even touched the basement yet. That's next weeks task....

I'm back to work tommorow and I'm really not looking forward to it. I hate working the weekends because I have this awful coworker who's always in charge plus that's when my dh's off. So now we will go 2 weeks without a day off together.

Delia will walk around holding dh's hand but not mine. I know it shouldn't but it makes me sad.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We didn't get the co-op.









They put us on the wait list for a three bedroom, which we don't want as it's more expensive. I think they looked at our income and decided we 'belonged' in three bedroom.









So, we are still house poor. And I'll have to go full time. Unless we decide to throw in the towel and move to a rental. But with a little one, a dog and a cat, not so sure we'd be the preferred choice, especially us being a couple of tattooed *****.

We'd gotten our hopes up, and had started dreaming and planning about what we could do with a little extra money. Sucks.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Shoot Starling! I was really hoping it would work out for you guys. That sucks. Stupid coop people!


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Oh no! So sorry Starling!! Did you ask them to put you on the wait list for a 2 bedroom instead? I hope you can find a solution so you can stick with part time! Perhaps another coop?

Cindy


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Starling, that really does suck.

Cindy, we're planning to start trying this summer too. It is a little overwhelming to think about having another, but I know it'll be great. Everytime I'm around a little baby, I get that want for one of my own. I really can't wait to be pregnant again, I loved being pregnant! A lot of my anxiety was about my daycare situation, though. I really didn't think I could handle adding a newborn to the mix, but I hate to use that as a reason to not expand my family when we felt it was time. It helped ease my fears when I decided to just cut back on the number of kids I'm keeping once I get pregnant again.

Are any of your babies whining? Owyn has been really whiny lately. And I think whining is my biggest pet peave. She doesn't cry, she just stands at my legs and whines and fusses. But when I pick her up, she whines to get back down. I was putting her in the Babyhawk quite a bit when she would start whining, but it messed up my shoulder so I've had to take a break until it feels better.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Starling - Oh no! That's so disappointing







It doesn't really make sense that they would decide on your behalf that you need a 3 bedroom









Mal - Oh yes, Royce is a whiner! Usually it is one of two things: he's tired or he's hungry. I mentioned this before here, snacks are a cure-all for him!

Nilla -







I really feel for you mama's having to return to work. I hope it is going okay. And I hope the mouse issue gets solved quickly. What a pain!

Thursday - Ugh, tooth pain is horrible! Are you getting it checked out to see if it's a major issue?

As for all the 'next baby' talk, it will be a while for that for me! Mainly because I no longer have a husband, but I've also really decided that a larger spacing is more for me anyway. I like the idea of being able to focus on just Royce for now. And I've read a few threads around here about larger spacings and I really like a lot of the pros that come with it. But we'll see how the future goes.

As for me, I am currently recovering from the most horrific illness I have ever experienced in my life. I am seriously not exaggerating! I had a stomach flu and was extremely sick all through the night Monday, couldn't sleep and couldn't keep anything down. Yesterday I was able to keep some fluids down, and today I've been able to eat some foods. So far Royce is still in the clear and I'm desperately hoping it stays that way (I sort of figure he would have it by now, right? But I don't want to jinx that...) My milk supply has taken a hit from the dehydration. My breasts are quite noticeably smaller and Royce has been very annoyed when I try and nurse. I keep offering the breast though, I hope it comes back soon. I may go get some supplements tomorrow if things don't seem better.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Ugh, Starling, Ugh! That has got to be sooo frustrating. Lousy coop people.

Cindy and Mal, you girls are so brave.

Nilla, I hear you on work. I hate it hate it hate it right now. Honestly I've gone from being someone who was really proud of my work to just doing enough not to get fired. And I really don't care, because I just want to be with my monkey. Stupid jobs.

Gillian,







. You've been through so much. My oops is scaring me right now b/c I'm not sure my marriage could handle it. On the bright side, isn't it adoreable how the little ones get frustrated when the breasts don't act like they're supposed to? I'm sure once you get rehydrated your supply will be fine--just keep him at it!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Vegan Princess* 
Oh no! So sorry Starling!! Did you ask them to put you on the wait list for a 2 bedroom instead? I hope you can find a solution so you can stick with part time! Perhaps another coop?

Cindy

We're on waitlists for other co-ops, but were invited to apply to this one ...

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
Are any of your babies whining? Owyn has been really whiny lately. And I think whining is my biggest pet peave.

Esmé is a bit whiny ... but I don't engage with it. I ask her what she needs, and she uses a word instead. My best friend with a babe the same age is dealing with 24/7 whining, and watching her, I think I'd collapse in a heap of frustration. Esmé is getting VERY good at her words, even if it's just "up, please" or "down, please" which sound more like "Up! Peas!" or "Dow! Peas!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Starling - Oh no! That's so disappointing







It doesn't really make sense that they would decide on your behalf that you need a 3 bedroom









As for all the 'next baby' talk, it will be a while for that for me!

As for me, I am currently recovering from the most horrific illness I have ever experienced in my life.

I had the same gross sickness! Good LORD it was comin' outta BOTH ENDS AT THE SAME TIME! We all had it, so knock on wood your little guy will escape it.

And how is it going? Being a single mama? How's the separation going? I think of you often ...

And as for them deciding that we need a 3 bedroom ... sooo frustrating. We wanted the two bedroom as it was way cheaper and we don't need three bedrooms. We co-sleep and will be for a while ...

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 
Ugh, Starling, Ugh! That has got to be sooo frustrating. Lousy coop people.

Lousy coop people indeed.

And stupid jobs.

Couldn't agree more!









And on a side-note ... I just figured out how to multi-quote!


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm sorry Starling! That sucks that they wouldn't consider you for a smaller place!

Hugs Kate - I'm sure the chances are low that this particular oops will be a problem, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Good luck to those of you thinking about another baby soon. I'm definitely not ready for another baby myself. Actually, I think there's a better than even chance we'll stick with just one. We're pretty happy as a threesome.

Katmai whines some. Worse when he's tired. We're finally settling into a better nap schedule for him (one 2-2.5 hour nap in the middle of the day), which helps a lot (and helps us get work done too). I would love to have him use words, but we're not there yet - slowly picking up more signs though.

We're headed out of town in a week on book tour, and I'm kind of dreading it. I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to bring a one year old on a long road trip...


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

I wish I could just ask her what she needs, but no words here yet. Just that whiny fuss. I try not to engage her when she starts with it, but she just keeps going and going until I do something. Which I'm sure just fuels the fire.

Yesterday, DH was off work, so he took her at the end of my work day and went to visit with his parents for a little while. I had the house to myself for about an hour. I had sooo much to do, but I just took advantage and laid on the couch reading a book until they got back. I think she really needed some time out of the house and I really needed some me time. We were both in a much better mood when she got home!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 
Gillian,







. You've been through so much. My oops is scaring me right now b/c I'm not sure my marriage could handle it. On the bright side, isn't it adoreable how the little ones get frustrated when the breasts don't act like they're supposed to? I'm sure once you get rehydrated your supply will be fine--just keep him at it!









I'm sorry you and your dh are having a rough time. Royce nursed quite a bit through the nght last night and doesn't seem to be as frustrated, so I think the supply is coming back. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't nurse him!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starling&diesel* 

I had the same gross sickness! Good LORD it was comin' outta BOTH ENDS AT THE SAME TIME! We all had it, so knock on wood your little guy will escape it.

And how is it going? Being a single mama? How's the separation going? I think of you often ...

And on a side-note ... I just figured out how to multi-quote!

Yep, that's the sickness - both ends







It was so awful, I've never been sick like that before. And it's taking a while to recover my energy. I'm still feeling weak.

As for the separation, it is going to be permanent. He has changed so much, he's not the person I married, I can't even believe who he is turned into, it's very confusing. It's hard, but I suppose at least now I can try and move on, I won't be stuck in limbo anymore. As for single motherhood, I've pretty much been doing everything for Royce on my own from the start so it's not too much of a change in responsibility in that sense, the hardest thing now is having to single parent while dealing with my own emotional issues. He's a nice distraction from it all, but it can also be emotionally exhausting. But I'm managing. Thank you for thinking of me, it means a lot









And congrats on learning to multi-quote









Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
We're headed out of town in a week on book tour, and I'm kind of dreading it. I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to bring a one year old on a long road trip...

That sounds exciting! I'm sure your little world traveller will do fine







How long are you gone for? Where are you going?


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
As for the separation, it is going to be permanent.

Oh, I'm sorry that it's progressing that way ... will you stay where you are, or is there a move planned? Is he involved much?

I was raised by a single mama, and have always valued and respected how much she did for me.

And as for the recovery from that gross bug ... it took a good couple of weeks before I felt truly okay. Hang in there, hon!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mckittre* 
I'm definitely not ready for another baby myself. Actually, I think there's a better than even chance we'll stick with just one. We're pretty happy as a threesome.

I'm right there with you, Mckittre ... we do adore our little triumvirate!
And as for the book tour road trip ... I'm sure it'll be fine. Well, perhaps trying, but ultimately fine. Can you dangle-nurse (as my DP calls it )? I hang my boob over the carseat so Esmé can nurse while strapped in. She's still RF so is not a huge fan of being in the car. I hope that when we turn her she'll be a little happier. Have fun on your book tour!
I'm also an author, and I personally despise tours. I'm always paranoid that no one will show.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
I had the house to myself for about an hour. I had sooo much to do, but I just took advantage and laid on the couch reading a book until they got back.

Sounds dreamy! I went out for coffee and scrabble with my sister the other morning when DP was home to be with Esmé ... it was so refreshing!


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Starling so sorry the coop didn't work out. I totally understand the dread of going back

Gillian so sorry to hear about your illness. Sounds just awful. We have more coughs and snotty noses around here.

Justkate fingers crossed that your scare is nothing but a scare.

Hats off to those planning more babes soon. I want one but I know I couldn't possibly handle it right now and if there's any chance of a VBA2C I have to wait at least 6 more mos before trying. Not that I'm holding out much hope for that.

Exterminator comes on Monday so we'll see. I have traps EVERYWHERE but have not caught a single mouse how weird is that? I set a trap in the bottom of the stove drawer and in the morning the trap had disappeared....????

I'm writing my certification exam for my nursing specialty in April and I am having an awful time trying to study. I want to go for my master's but I don't know how to manage that and still be a good mama.

Delia is a whiner and a screecher. Drives me bonkers. I am trying to get more signs but I find she abandons them whens she's frustrated.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

starling i am sorry about the co-op, i dopn't get how they decide how much room you want. but yeah on the multiquote, i remember wheni learned that too.

mckkitre, road trips can be fun with babes. i have your book in my car and keep forgetting to take it out so i can read it.

gillian, sorry about thesickines, i have so had that before and it is TOUGH. the one thing i really hate about sah is that no matter how sick you are you are still working.

nilla thats a nice price, i wish we could just pay someone, my dh has a ******* style war going on w/ our rodents...including a bb gun. he sits in the backyard, drinks beer, and waits for the rodents. he's a dork, but i love him.

justkate, i hope things work out w/ your dh. i have to say there were a bunch of times i considered leaving mu dh, especially when our first was a baby, an then more recently at the beginning of our 7 th year of marriage. i never thought marriage would be sooo tough.

and speaking of 7 years, my oldest little girl is 7 today!!! i can hardly believe it. she's such an amazing little kid though. this morning the memories of her have been rolling through my head. i can still see her little baby fat cheek smile. i wanted to go into her school and bring cookies for her class, but the baby is sick. PLUS we don't have the money to let her pick whatever dinner she wants and it really sucks. she would probably want to go to ihop. lol.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 

nilla thats a nice price, i wish we could just pay someone, my dh has a ******* style war going on w/ our rodents...including a bb gun. he sits in the backyard, drinks beer, and waits for the rodents. he's a dork, but i love him.


I think your husband and my husband would get along nicely, lol!

I am so ready for next weekend! We're taking a 4 day trip to visit friends in St. Louis. Owyn was about 6 months old last time we went for an overnight to visit them. I'm trying to find something fun we could take her to while we're there. DH is going to go out with his buddy to shop for beer brewing stuff. When he gets back, I'm going to see a movie with our friend's girlfriend. So, I feel like we should do something just for Owyn too, especially since this trip is kind of in honor of her birthday.

Anyone know of anything good to do in St. Louis with a toddler? They have this place called The Magic House that looks neat, but our friends said there is only some stuff for younger toddlers, most is for preschool aged kids. There's a cool petting zoo, but it doesn't open until April. I'm just excited to have 4 days together as a family. DH is always working on something and I always have all the other kids here, so we don't get a whole lot of time just for us. It'll be great!

We decided to take Owyn to our music festival with us this May. I can't wait! It's a weekend-long camping festival. We skipped it last year because she was still pretty little and we were pretty poor. I can't wait for her to play in the stream and dance to the music!


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thursday Girl* 
nilla thats a nice price, i wish we could just pay someone, my dh has a ******* style war going on w/ our rodents...including a bb gun. he sits in the backyard, drinks beer, and waits for the rodents. he's a dork, but i love him.

That's my Huz too! He was talking about shooting grackles the other day because they poop all over our back porch and make the worst screeching sounds ever.... Our neighbors would call the cops so quick! And rightfully so, its a small community.

Starling, why do I suspect you are a [email protected]$$ scrabble player? I love scrabble but Huz sucks at it, and its no fun to play against someone who sucks that bad.

Lots of







to everyone who's been sick and stressed. I'm home from work today with Aubrey who's come down with a fever out of the blue. I hate that she doesn't feel well, but I love having an excuse not to go to work. Otherwise, I'm just trying to take everything day by day. Huz will be on spring break next week, so maybe that will give him time to relax a little, spend some time on himself and cheer up some.

ETA: I still don't know how to multi-quote.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

I don't know how to multi quote either! Perhaps a tutorial is in order. Also, what the heck does it mean when someone posts "subbing". Usually that is all that the post will say and I really don't get it! lol! I see it often on the diapering forum...

Gillian, I hope that you are feeling better and gaining some energy back. I often think about you an the strength that you have going about parenting solo. You are amazing to keep it together for Royce. I hope that you find support in friends and family nearby. I wish that I could pop over for a cup of tea and a hug! Or take Royce for a walk so you could have a bubble bath with a glass of wine.

How are you liking those signing videos that you got a while back? I was thinking about getting one but wondered if you think they are worth it?

Happy Birthday to your Big Girl Courtney! Seven is a fun age!

I've figured out that I need to start doing something just for me. Something to recharge myself. I always think that a bath will be sufficient but its not quite what I'm after since a little girl I know is usually knocking on the door the whole time so she can join me! I think I'm going to start going to yoga again. There is a class tonight! What do you ladies do to recharge?


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

justkate, next to the quote button is a plus sign button, just hit that on every post you want to quote, then when you reply they will all be in your post.

i play scrabble on facebook, i have about 8 games going roght now. i love it, but i am not great. dh does not liek scrabble.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Once or twice a week my husband tutors a nearby highschooler in physics and calculus, and the student's mother watches Katmai. If I'm not too swamped with work take that time of having the house all to myself to do some painting (been a hobbyist oil painter since college). It's a great recharge.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

AK: I hit a bikram yoga class every now and then to recharge. I am also going to the gym everyday now and dropping Makenna at the childwatch there. That is a nice way to start the day. Also, on occasion I leave DD w/DH and go to Barnes and Noble and get a latte and browse and sit and read books and magazines. That is my favorite indulgence...quiet me time! But really, other than the gym, I don't get a lot of that. Oh I also love bathes...I take them after DD goes to sleep so I'm not disturbed.

Gillian: I too think of you often and wonder how you manage and with such a strong attitude. I can imagine how hard it would be to do this all on my own and the thought scares the crap out of me! I wish I could come have tea with you and AKislandgirl.  You're doing awesome!

Cindy


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justKate* 

Starling, why do I suspect you are a [email protected]$$ scrabble player? I love scrabble but Huz sucks at it, and its no fun to play against someone who sucks that bad.

I am indeed!








And my DP sucks at it too, although she will indulge me on occasion, but beating someone 375 yo 164 isn't much fun. And she speaks French as her first language, so her English spelling is horrid, and her vocabulary is a little shifty (she learned English from TV).

Hopefully Aubrey feels better ... any news on the scare front, *justKate*?

As for me time ... I take a bath every night and bring a book with me, and then DD joins me after about half an hour. It's great! But she's started to figure out where I am ...


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

What's me time?? I did enjoy the time when DH took Owyn to his parents with him. He does that sort of thing every now and then. But really I have to point out to him opportunities when he could do something with his daughter. It's a little irritating. But that's another post.

I enjoy my time after Owyn goes to bed. She's pretty consistently going down around 8. I pick up the toys and household clutter right after she goes to bed, then DH and I just hang out until we go to bed at 10-10:30. Sometimes she wakes up before then, but she's getting better about that. We put a night light in her room and now I can lay her down, leave the room, and close the door behind me with no fussing or crying! Sometimes I will hear her wake in the evening, but since we put that light in her room, she will usually go right back to sleep. Seems to be helping!

She's only nursing twice during the day now. Once before her afternoon nap and once before bed. The time in the afternoon is just a short session, more like a snack. But she'll nurse on both sides, most nights, before going to bed. DH was asking about night-weaning and if I had thought about it. He'd love for her to be in her bed all night long, but as long as she's nursing at night, I bring her into bed with us when she wakes through the night.

I really think she's going to drop that afternoon feeding soon, since she really doesn't want it. Without the nighttime nursing, she'd only be nursing at bedtime. That's practically weaned! I don't think I'm ready for that. As much as I would love a full night's sleep, I really want her to still get that nutrition from me. She eats solids pretty well and enjoys foods. I do my best to give her a well-balanced diet, but I know she's getting what she needs from breastmilk and I'm not ready to change that just yet. Where do you guys stand now that our babies are a year old?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Makenna still nurses every few hours. And she is demanding about it. If she wants to nurse and doesn't get to right away she will wail! She only wakes once in the night and nurses to sleep then. I'd like to cut down the frequency of nursing but don't know how. DH had the audacity to tell me I'm not an AP bc I would like to do that and have been pondering how to wean lately. Apparently he is a big proponent of child led weaning. But with this child I'd be nursing a 5 yr old, I'm sure of it! Mind you, I am not ready to do it now, but I see how attached she is and it is on my mind alot about how in the heck it's going to go down when we are ready. I am weaning off my medicne I've been taking to make more milk and my supply is sooooo low now but since we use an at the breast supplementer she doesn't know the difference. So she won't naturally lose interest bc there isn't milk there bc there always is. She has to be fully weaned by the time another babe comes, which could be a yr from now. Low supply mommas can't tandem! Plus I'd like to have my boobies to myself for a bit while I'm prego. I'm clueless about all this. All I know is I thought DD would be nursing a lot less by now! And I never thought my husband would be so opinionated about nursing!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Gillian, I can't imagine doing this without my husband, you must be very tough indeed!

I also kind of like scrabble and never play because my husband is a terrible speller and I always win. We play other board games though.

Katmai still nurses a lot too. And I don't really mind, except for the fact that he prefers the right side so much that I'm now rather lopsided. In fact, when I've taken off for a several hour hike and forgotten to bring any snacks, I'm very glad for nursing.








On that note, we got a foot of snow last night and more all day today, and we're going winter camping tomorrow! I haven't taken Katmai overnight in winter yet, but we'll be cheating and snowshoeing in to a spot where our friends put up a wall tent with a stove, so it should be pretty easy. There'll be another baby along as well. Hope he likes it!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

We're also still nursing a lot. Many, many times a day and many, many times a night. I don't see that slowing down anytime soon, although I have started doing the "don't offer, don't refuse" thing. She still demands it anyway. That's okay with me. We fought so hard for our bf relationship that I'm not ready to let it go yet.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

yep, lots of nursing here too. My mom jokes that everytime she calls Fiona is asking for "nu nu". I think she sees me get on the phone and figures that I'm trapped. She also likes to nurse while I'm on the computer... here she comes now!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Thank you everyone







And I also wish we could all get together for tea! That would be wonderful!

Starling:
Well, I'm still trying to decide where I'm going to go. Royce and I are in our own apartment right now, so there's no rush. But I really can't see myself staying in the town I'm in. I'll probably end up going back to school. I have a lot to think about. Unfortunately, my now 'stbx' hasn't been very involved. I hope that will change for Royce's sake. It's very frustrating.

AK:
I like the signing videos, Royce isn't too into them. I'm not sure if it's his age or his personality. He's more into pushing the buttons on the dvd player and tv. Also I've never played any tv for him, so maybe he just doesn't 'get' the concept of watching it. You can most likely find signing videos at your library so you can see if Fiona likes them. Mine has them (although when I went I was told they were currently lost, but maybe you'll have better luck!)

As for recharging, I think I need to work on that one! Some things I do for a bit of 'me time' are to play some relaxing music during dinner. Then I don't feel like I have to talk/entertain Royce while he eats so I can just zone out and eat. I also love to surf the internet and read, which lately I have been doing in bed with Royce as he crawls around avoiding sleep (like right now







). That's something we need to work on with him!

Oh, and 'subbing' means someone is 'subscribing' to that thread - some people get email notifications when there is a new post on a thread they have posted on. So the person just wants to be able to get notified about that thread or be able to find it easily later.

Mal:
Wow, it sounds like you are doing really well with bedtime! I had been doing okay (he'd go to sleep for a couple hours before I'd join him), but we lost that. Our routine is constantly getting mixed up. Oh well.

As for your question, Royce is still nursing quite often, including through the night. I use it a lot for comfort/a moment of peace. For example if he is fussy and I am D.O.N.E. I will just scoop him up and we will go cuddle and nurse and have some quiet. But I could tell with how he reacted to my milk drying up after my illness that he still really likes/needs the milk part of it. So glad my milk is back again! Neither of us are ready to wean anytime soon.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

We have been sick this weekend. I felt 'off' on Saturday but I had a stressful confrontation with my dad the night before so I thought that was it because I often have a GI response to stress. Then we went to see my best friend and her newborn in the next town which is 1hr10min away and I felt exhausted. I washed up and made sure not to breathe on the baby. Then that night Delia vomited 3 times in the middle of the night. She was better the next day just didn't eat much until supper. She was fine last night but I woke at about 1230am with the shakes and body aches. My boob had been sore so I had pumped before bed but when I woke it was really hurting so I had a bath and pumped and took some tylenol and managed to sleep 5 hrs. Now I feel achey and my boob is still sore. I have some Quark cheese in the freezer I think I will defrost and apply tonight. I thought I would be well past the mastitis risk but I have been pumping on my work days and I guess my body was used to it so when I called in sick I didn't pump and I think that caused the problem.

I hope to nurse dd until she's 2 but when I had mastitis with my ds my milk supply took a major hit. I hope this time is better. Dd has a dairy allergy so it won't be easy to wean her.

Oh and snuggling a newborn makes you want another just a warning. I could practically feel my uterus swelling lol.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

nilla, i have always had luck with cabbage leaves. i try to get to it s soon as things start getting uncomfortable, so i don't have to deal with full blown case.

me time- i don't know. when i get entirely depleted, i loose it, demand time to myself. take a lot of days off to recover then feel bad b/c dh has been on. so then i get back to it parenting nonstop and then it all happens again. I am trying to start up a friday morning breakfast club with some other moms. Every week a different person would host, the kids could play and we'd get some adult company.

My oldest turned 7 on friday, and we had her party on saturday. i was so sick, intestinal stuff. I missed a lot of the party sitting in the bathroom or bent over in pain. At one point i was walking to the bathroom praying i would make it. We are going to have to go back to cracker country (A rural florida outdoor living history museum) so i can really enjoy it and watch my kids faces.

NOW the baby is sick, and i am just so sad for her. I have never had a kid so sick so often. People say it's a bad year for sickness, but still.

plus we are beyond roke right now, with like every bill due and i am feeling super stressed. Just got invited to 2 irthday parties, and a baby shower and wondering if i can go sans present. PLUS got invited to a party/reunion/benefit for haiti at the birth center and fingers crossed the site of my next job. If the kids and I went it would be $8.00, and I should be there, seeing as I am on the top of the list for the next birth assistant job that comes up, but I think it would be bad to spend $8. when we aren't even sure if we can pay bills and buy groceries. ON TOP OF THAT i was in the ER the other night, without insurance, and if i can't get back on medicaid i am going to have a pretty hefty hospital bill. I keep imagining how cool it would be to be rich. I have to remember not to say anythign to DH, he is sensitive about his ability to provide for his family. I am just crossing my fingers that the birth assistant job will open up sooner rather then later or i might hike myself to publix (the supermarket near us) and get a job there. Sorry to dump.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Thursday







I'm so sorry you are hurting and stressed right now. Thank you for reminding me of how blessed I am. I hope that doesn't sound callous because it isn't meant that way at all. Just that your post reminded me that even though we aren't rich by any means because we live in Canada and we always have medical coverage for emergencies and that in itself is something to be thankful for. Thank you for the cabbage leaves idea. I think I got it under control with Dr. Newman's potato method. Still a little sore and tender but it's not hard anymore and the redness and flulike symptoms are gone.

I think I really need a recharge. I am going to see my best friend and her new baby tommorow sans kiddos who I am sending to the sitter. Any ideas on meals to bring? What would be your ideal meal postpartum? I want to bring some treats to just not sure what yet. Any ideas ladies?
I'm also going to search the net for sleepy newborn poses and take some pics for her. I am by no means a photographer but I know she won't get a professional and I really want her to have something to remember these golden days with. So I am going to do it amateurish and hope I get at least one great one.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

nilla, i know what you mean. I try not to worry too mich b/c something will come along. more jobs for him, etc. this is temporary, i am sure of it. it's like a wave for us, we do okay and then we are hit, then we do okay, etc. I suggested we get rid of the internet, but he needs it to run his business. i told him the business should pay for it then.

one of my favorite foods i got was actualluy a large veggie tray. i just left it on the bed next to me and had a quick, healthy snack to eat through out the day. plus someone gave me some cinnamon almonds, yummy.

here is a link to a thread of postpartum recipes

and i love cathe olsons cook book the vegetarian mothers cookbook, it suggests different recipes for each stage of pregnancy. you might be able to get a copy at your library. i'm not even a vegetarian and i love it.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

Thursday, I hope this stressful time is over for you soon.








Nilla, do you bake? Fresh baked bread would be good. Veggies and hummus, twice baked potatoes, ready to bake homemade pizza, chili, chicken soup...

I like the almonds idea, a really good chocolate bar, good tea, dried cherries...








We got dumped on with snow yesterday. Its still blowing like crazy now. I'm going to bundle up the girls (daycare kiddo here today) and take them to music here in a few minutes. The forcast is for snow and wind all week and I don't want to be stuck inside the whole time. This is our one outing. I'm wishing our town had more little people stuff. Everything is geared toward 3 and up except for this music class. Maybe I should start something...any ideas? I think I'm loving that breakfast club idea Courtney!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

*Nilla* ...
Lasagna! Cut into freezerable sizes! Yum, yum ...








And a trashy mag to read while nursing.
And Lansinoh cream, if she doesn't already have it.
And fancy juice!
And mama cookies! With oatmeal, to boost her supply.
And lovely lip balm.
Oooo, and a mango. Yeah, a mango!









*Thursday* ...







Have you got any bottles to return to make the eight bucks? Have you checked in all the coat pockets for moolah? In Canada, with our 1 and 2 dollar coins, I can quite often dig up 10 buck out of last seasons jacket pockets. If not, I hear by give you full and sincere permission to dig the 8 bucks out of the household money, seeing as you need to go as a way of shmoozing for your (soon, I hope!) upcoming job. Which, by the way, sounds very cool.

As for being sick ... I have NEVER been so sick in all my life as I have been since Mé was born. It's ridiculous! Even when I worked with kids, I managed to stay healthy. But not any more. We are sick often, with colds, snotty noses ... and we've all had that nasty bug. Healing vibes to everyone dealing with the sickies ...


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

in fl you can't return bottles and cans unless you go across town, and then it is by weight so you need buttloads of metal. dh is a plumber and every once in awhile he turns in old copper. i have decided i am going to go..if it doesn't interfere w/ jewel's girl scout cookie booth and the babe is better. (102.4 fever and lethargic right now).

talked to dh, he says hold off on settleing for publix b/c he thinks an upswing is coming. his solar licsesing is coming soon, and once that's in the company (his mom is the financial backer) is going to start marketing.

i was just talking to my mom about the sickness. it seems like there is a lot more of it this year...among EVERYONE all across the country and from all walks of life.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Sorry things are so hard Thursday! I hope you can find that $8 somewhere, and I hope you all feel better soon.

Here we have snow, snow, snow, and more snow! We had a couple feet, then went camping (which was really fun - we caught the calm between the storms), and now it's been blizzarding for two days on top of it all! The power's been out since yesterday afternoon, and we can barely even take Katmai outdoors, because of the cold wind and howling snow in his face. (and we take him out in quite a bit of weather!) Luckily the woodstove keeps us warm enough. No one can get in or out of town, my mother-in-law's van is buried with just one inch of roof showing, but they still have school going here. We just now ventured out a 5 minute walk to a neighbor's with a generator to catch up on a bit of work. Probably the most impressive blizzard I've ever seen, though it doesn't really make news when this kind of thing happens in Alaska.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Courtney -







I'm so sorry you're having such a tough time right now. I also give you permission to go to the benefit party, consider it necessary job training







I hope things get better for you soon, I'll keep you in my thoughts.

Oh, and I also think the breakfast club thing is an awesome idea! I would love something like that!

Nilla - My first thoughts were of something warm and filling and comfy - like pot pie or shepherd's pie (and I would do them vegetarian







) But I also like the idea of a snack tray, or maybe a basket filled with all sorts of snacks: fruits, veggies, muffins, etc.








to those who are sick. We've also had a rough winter. But we've been doing better recently (with the exception of last weeks stomach bug - which Royce never got







) Hope everyone starts to feel better now that spring is coming









Although it sounds like it's not coming yet for you Alaskan Mamas!


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

All that snow! I am so glad it's not here, we've had enough snow this winter! Actually, we've been sitting pretty the last few days with temps in the 50s-60s. I took all the kiddos outside in the yard yesterday, first time in a while (us Missouri people aren't used to getting out in all that snow and yucky weather). It was great! The sun was out and they all had fun just running around in the yard and visiting with the neighbor's dog. I envision many days out there this spring and summer!

I'm helping plan a baby shower for a friend of mine. We're doing it next month. I'm thinking of having everyone sign up to bring them a meal in the couple weeks after the baby is born. I figure that way, they don't have to cook and we don't all bombard them with visitors at the same time. It can be more spread out with one family at a time coming over with dinner.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

Thanks for the ideas ladies.
I've baked oatmeal, banana, chocolate chip muffins and sundried tomato basil bread. I'm making chili stuffed full of goodness (chili is her fave) and a freezer ready lasagna. I'm going to get a fruit basket together. That seems to be a popular one. I even have 2 mango's on my counter so I can send one her way not sure if she likes mango but you were very emphatic about it starling







.
I'm still feeling drained from the mastitis so I think I will go lie down for 1/2hr before starting the chili.


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nillarilla* 
Thanks for the ideas ladies.
I've baked oatmeal, banana, chocolate chip muffins and sundried tomato basil bread. I'm making chili stuffed full of goodness (chili is her fave) and a freezer ready lasagna. I'm going to get a fruit basket together. That seems to be a popular one. I even have 2 mango's on my counter so I can send one her way not sure if she likes mango but you were very emphatic about it starling







.
I'm still feeling drained from the mastitis so I think I will go lie down for 1/2hr before starting the chili.

Wow, *Nilla* ... what a haul! You rock! You accomplished all that AND you're dealing with nasty-itis? I need to come tap your veins for some of your energy.

And yes, mango is essential ... a mouthful of sunshine and happiness!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mal85* 
I'm helping plan a baby shower for a friend of mine. We're doing it next month. I'm thinking of having everyone sign up to bring them a meal in the couple weeks after the baby is born. I figure that way, they don't have to cook and we don't all bombard them with visitors at the same time. It can be more spread out with one family at a time coming over with dinner.

Great idea!


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

it is a good idea mal. i did it for my friends. unfortunately the people who signed up didn't come through...and hardly anyone signed up. some just came over and brought food though. they didn't want to be put on a schedule i guess.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

*Mal:* I had friends do it for me when Fiona was born. My friend who organized it though is a bit flaky and didn't call the other people to start bringing food until she was over a month old! I thought it was weird and I felt awkward asking about it. Once it did start it was nice though. They brought food twice a week so we weren't bombarded with it but knew that dinner was covered those two nights.

I meant to tell you guys that I ended up bringing Fiona in for a weight check last week. Her weight was up 7 ounces in a month, enough that our Dr said she could just wait to see her at her 18 month appointment. She was just under 17 pounds. Adding those extra fats that you all suggested did the trick!

Oh and as for lopsided boobs... me too! My left boob is way bigger. Will it always be this way?! lol! Just loke my stretch marks will remind me of my pregnancy, my lopsided boobs will remind me of breastfeeding. I wonder what they would say if I ever went to get fitted for a bra?!


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## starling&diesel (Nov 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKislandgirl* 
Oh and as for lopsided boobs... me too! My left boob is way bigger.

I could take you out with my left boob, while you wouldn't even notice that there is a right one! Seriously, we call my left boob "Parton" (Dolly Parton) and my right one "Swank" (Hilary Swank).
DD has pretty much exclusively nursed on the left side since birth, and not for lack of me trying e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g in the book to even her/them out.


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

LOL Starling! I am a left boob girl too. Much bigger than my right. And mine were exactly the same size before nursing.

For those of you who's little ones take 1 nap/day now, what time do you put them down? I am confused as to when it should be. Makenna will go down b/w 10 and 11 but I am thinking maybe it should be later to help her last through the day better? Today playgroup got moved to a wierd time so I kept her up until 12:15. She was fine at playgroup but cranky in the car on the way home. The past 3 days she has gone down around 10:30 or 11 and woken up after 1/2 hour and wouldn't go down in her crib again...so all 3 days ended up sleeping on me for 2 hours. I'm curious if she'll sleep longer in her crib today since she was more tired when she went down?

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I guess I balance you guys out then - it's my right boob that's the big one. Glad to hear I'm not the only lopsided one.

Our blizzard has subsided some, and we dug my mother-in-law's van out of the snowdrift that had entirely buried it. The power's back on, and it was nice to get out for a little walk today after being cooped up for a few days. Though it's still off and on blowing and snowing, and Katmai doesn't really like snow blowing in his face. Nothing like near zero degrees F and blizzard weather to make it feel like spring is nearly here! Perhaps it will be a good thing after all to take a book tour road trip. I can show Katmai what ground is, and grass, and maybe even a flower or two if we're lucky...









Katmai's kind of in between one and two naps. When he does take just one, he goes down around 12 or 1 PM and sleeps for around 2.5 hours. At night he sleeps from around 9 to 9.


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## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

mine are pretty even now. somehow it has turned out that my left boob is home boob and the right one is the while we are out boob.

swank and parton, i love it.

a lot of babies drop to 1 nap around now. must get off junes is not happy i am on. (oh her fever hit 103.8 today and i caved and gave tylenol, just too high for me. it's been two days and a night now with a fever of 102 and up/.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm pretty even, my left is slightly bigger but not really noticeable.

And, Starling - I love the nicknames









Thursday - Poor Juniper, I hope she feels better soon









Cindy - Royce has only had one nap for a while, a few months I think. He usually goes down around 12 and sleeps for 2 hours. If we're out of the house it can get pushed back to 1, and if he's up earlier than normal then his nap will be earlier. He goes to bed usually around 8-9pm (but sometimes stays up late) and sleeps until around 8am, sometimes 9am. Last night he went to bed at around 7:30 and was up around 7am and still managed to last until 1pm for his nap today, but we were out at playgroup and he was definitely getting cranky around 12.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

We're working our way towards 1 nap a day. I'm trying to hold off for warmer weather so we can spend the morning playing outside, come in for lunch, then lay down for naps. I'm also trying to get the 3 month old I keep on a more regular napping schedule so I can comfortably lay him down and take the monitor outside with us in the morning.

My almost-12 year old niece is going to be coming here a couple days a week this summer to learn the ins and outs of baby sitting. She wants to start baby sitting for money and knows how to play with the kids, but needs to learn things like changing diapers, feeding bottles, rocking to sleep, etc. So, she's going to come be my little helper. And, boy do I have plans for her while she's here! It'll be great to have an extra set of hands to help out. I may not want to send her home!

Anyone thinking about Easter? I just realized how close it is. We did a basket last year with eggs, candy, and small gifts. But she was so young, DH and I shared the candy and her gifts were easy (some babylegs and an amber necklace). Not sure what to put in her basket this year... I thought about some little gardening tools since we'll be starting the garden soon, but I'm not sure if she's old enough to enjoy those yet. I imagine she could at least come dig in the dirt with them this summer. Any ideas?


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

We've been doing one nap most days for a while now. Sometimes I can get two in if I don't have other kids here. She usually naps from 12:30-3 or 3:30. We can't get her to bed before 9 most nights and sometimes later. She usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8. If she wakes up earlier (like today) she'll be cranky!

Mal, the extra help sounds awesome!

I still have to get an easter basket. I was thinking of a childs size bolga basket. I got her a few egg shakers and will also get the Spring Gerda Muller book. (she got the Winter book in her stocking). I may get a couple of schleich animals too since she has a few that she loves. We are slowly putting together a farm animal collection.

Courtney, is Juniper feeling any better today?


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Well it sounds like we will probably be slowly pushing Makenna's nap later and later. She did ok until noon yesterday but going down later didn't help her sleep any longer. She still only slept 40 minutes. I don't know what is happening. She had been sleeping well over an hour. Putting her down later will free up mornings to go to all the library story times around here that are at 10 or 11..yay!

I'm not doing a basket. It would be pretty much wasted on her and I don't need the candy around. 

We're off to the zoo today. Nice sunny day too!

I hope Junes is feeling better!

Cindy


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

Coxsackie Virus here! What is up with all this sickness?! And how did I manage to go almost 30 years without ever having it?


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Well the blizzard cleared soon enough for us to get out of town, and Katmai was a perfect traveler on the plane down to Seattle (although his sleeping schedule is all out of whack with the travel and time change). Looking forward to showing him some green plants when he wakes up.


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## AKislandgirl (Jun 2, 2008)

justKate: hope you feel better soon!

mckittre: glad the flight went well. Enjoy some nice spring weather while you are down south! I'm a little jealous!









So ladies, should we do it? Take the plunge and move on over to toddlers?!


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm ready to move to toddlers - that's where I'm lurking around these days anyway!

I'm nursing a sick baby right now







He has a horribly stuffed nose, and he coughs every now and then and then starts to cry - so maybe sore throat? He's also been very sleepy and has a fever. He's been sick before but never been so sleepy and in need of me (I can't put him down, and he just wants to lay in bed nursing). I'm a bit worried because I've never seen him react like this to an illness. My poor boy, I hope he starts to show signs of improving soon (both for his sake and to ease my worries!)

On a more positive note, I think he is going to walk solo any day now! He will now walk beside me holding my hand and he is so sturdy, I know he would be fine without my hand, but he won't walk without it. I bought him his first pair of 'real' shoes on the weekend so we are all ready to go for walks outdoors now! And in case you didn't see my thread in toddlers, I found shoe shopping to be SO stressful!!! But I'm happy with the ones I got, they make him look like such a big boy


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## Vegan Princess (Jun 20, 2007)

Awww, I hope royce is better soon! Makenna has an icky cold too. No fun.

Makenna is officially walking more than crawling now. If she falls she walks on her knees. It's so funny. She did a few laps around REI the other day. It's funny bc she walks all the time at home and in REI but at the park she freezes if I let go of her. I got her a pair of Pedipeds online and I think they are great!

Cindy


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

OK, I made a thread in toddlers! Here


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