PS Mommy thread with toddlers 12-36 months

[janinegirly]

I'm so far behind, probably can't catch up properly but want to say congrats to bella on adoption possibility - please keep us posted, so exciting! All the other ladies gave you great advice. My own toddler (2) is still in a crib, uses a Volvo stroller (but maybe not such a great choice for Manhattan streets as primary stroller). She also hates carriers but each one is different.

Which brings me to a question for the mommies and those who've travelled with toddler to a vacation destination that involved lots of walking - has anyone successfully used a carrier with a toddler in these cases or have suggestions? Just curious, probably won't work for us.

C is doing fanatastic, and talking like crazy and quite the diva now (must be a "2" thing). Last week I told her it was nap time and she said "I do not WANT a nap and do not NEED a nap." okkkk, haha.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Which brings me to a question for the mommies and those who've travelled with toddler to a vacation destination that involved lots of walking - has anyone successfully used a carrier with a toddler in these cases or have suggestions? Just curious, probably won't work for us.

I have not done it myself, but the only one I think would work with this age is something like the Scoota baby, which I have a like a lot for older kids. It is easy to pop them in and out of it when they want up and down, and I can carry Hunter, who is 28lbs, for ages with no pain or tension. If you scroll through the pictures here on the home page you can see examples of older kids in it: http://www.scootababy.com/index.php

 

[Bella_mezzo]

hahahaha Janine, C is such a little Diva!

My friends with toddlers (ages 2-4 ) successfully use Scootababy, Boba, and Ergo but if C doesn't like the carrier it might not work for you...

 

[Dreamer_D]

hahahaha Janine, C is such a little Diva!

My friends with toddlers (ages 2-4 ) successfully use Scootababy, Boba, and Ergo but if C doesn't like the carrier it might not work for you...

Bella did you see my response to your questions on the previous page?

 

[Bella_mezzo]

yes indeed DD-thank you so much!!!

We are adopting from Ethiopia and the children spend a lot of time in care centers (at a minimum they spend the 4-6 months from referral acceptance to when parents can bring them home there) where they get 1 on 1 attention and stimulation so they tend to not have quite the same issues as kids from more institutional care centers.

Also, we'll probably be in Ethiopia with our child for 6-10 weeks before we come back to the States, so we'll have to make do there anyway.

Obviously we have some time, but figuring out what we need is a really nice break from the nerve-wracking waiting to see if you were matched with a particular child, etc.

The room is small so we don't want to get too much furniture. We have a single bed frame from a friend which we can use later, but ultimately we want to get a low profile twin bunk bed.

We'll be getting everything (except mattresses and car seat) on craigslist, so we're keeping our eyes peeled now in case there are good deals.

I do like to jog and hike/take long walks in our hilly uneven sidewalked neighborhood so I think we'd prefer real tires if we are going to invest in a stroller. if we find a $50 Citi mini on CL, of course we won't complain

So, our current CL list is:

-volo (for subway incase they hate the carrier--since Ethiopian babies are carried until 2 or 3 this usually isn't an issue)
-jogging stroller with high weight limit (probably BOB if we can get a good deal on CL)
-Sunshine kids radian car seat (we have an old school honda civic so the radian is necessary if we ever want to fit more than 1 seat back there)
-sturdy fixed side convertible crib
-long-term we'll look for a bunk bed we like

We'll probably buy a fisher-price booster new if we need it (we may find out there that we're fine) as well as a crib mattress.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We are home! Finally. As much as I LOVE being with my family and siblings, I miss my routine. While I was gone DH surprised us by converting T's crib into a full size bed. I think she is a bit nervous about it but I am glad it is done and it will be fun to buy new bedding. T was such a trooper on vacation. She is a total ham and entertained the family. She loved all of the attention and if she got a laugh (which she loves) she would do the same behavior/say the same thing to get another. Toddlers don't really get the need for new material. Haha.

Hope everyone had a great start to 2011. I start school on Monday so I am enjoying my time until then!

 

[anchor31]

Thank you again DD! The Scootababy looks really great, I wish I had the money to buy it. I'm currently looking for work, so things are tight, and we just spent our Christmas gift money of a new vacuum since our old one was dying.

Bella - Best wishes for your adoption project! I truly admire you.

Tacori - Glad to know you had good holidays, I hope T's transition to a big girl bed is smooth.

I thought maybe you'd all like to see a pic from J's birthday... He LOVED the chocolate cupcake with chocolate cream cheese frosting my mom made. He ate it all! Seriously, these days he eats even more than I do.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

anchor, love the pic!

Hey mamas! Not much new here. Were have been snowed/iced in so today is the first day of school for us. T was less than thrilled (which surprised me). Feels great to get about into a routine. Operation "big girl bed" is not going well. She yells for one of us around 3-4am every morning. She says she is scared of bugs (her bed is now closer to the window). Not sure how this will be resolved. Seems like every age has an obstacle.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

3 nights of no middle of the night screams!!!! Seems T is FINALLY adjusting! She also started ballet and LOVES it. She looks adorable in her little dance outfit. Life is finally getting into a routine. I have classes the next three days and finally made myself go to the gym today. I am unhappy with my appearance so finally moved into the action stage of change. My goal is to go twice a week (Tue & Thur). 60 min of cardio has left my body TIRED! Luckily I ran into a friend there. So much easier to work out with a buddy! Hope all my toddler mamas are well!

 

[fieryred33143]

Tacori-so exciting about ballet!! Can she follow the directions easily? I would like to enroll S but not sure what age would be appropriate. We were thinking 3 so that's great that Tess loves it!

 

[qtiekiki]

The dance classes around my area are all mommy-and-me classes from 6 mos to 3 yo. So you might have to wait until 3 anyways.

 

[Sha]

3 nights of no middle of the night screams!!!! Seems T is FINALLY adjusting! She also started ballet and LOVES it. She looks adorable in her little dance outfit. Life is finally getting into a routine. I have classes the next three days and finally made myself go to the gym today. I am unhappy with my appearance so finally moved into the action stage of change. My goal is to go twice a week (Tue & Thur). 60 min of cardio has left my body TIRED! Luckily I ran into a friend there. So much easier to work out with a buddy! Hope all my toddler mamas are well!

That's great about starting a work-out plan too, Tacori. And it's wonderful that you have a work-out buddy too. I started the gym recently myself, after a few months of feeling a bit too 'jiggly' than I wanted to. I'm starting to see results already. My goal is to get back to pre-preg weight (10 lbs from where I am now) as soon as possible. Let's motivate each other! Are you looking to lose weight or just tone up?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Fiery, parents are not allowed in the studio and there is no audio on the TV. I asked her to show me what she learned and she started prancing on her toes with her arms (flower arms she called them) in the air. For one 30 min class that's pretty good. She wasn't on her tip toes like normal. Her toes were actually bent over. Not sure if that is what they taught her. I'll have to ask her teacher.

Q, this class is for 2 1/2-3 1/2 girls.

Sha, I need to lose weight. I have gained 10 lbs (give or take) since May. I blame grad school. So, I have to lose it. I would like to tone too! You are close to your goal! Keep it up!!! Meanwhile my body HURTS today. Not sure if I will be able to move tomorrow.

 

[qtiekiki]

Tacori - I wish there was a 2.5 - 3.5 yo class here. I bet it's cute to see Tessa ballet dance. Sometimes Meena will put her arms up and hands toward each other over her head while on her tippy-toes, and spin or take quick steps. She learned it from watching Little Einsteins baby booby bird ballet episode. It's so funny.

 

[Pandora II]

Here the dance schools take them from 2, so I need to get moving and find a good class for Daisy - can't decide whether to go for ballet or something a bit more modern to start with. She loves dancing - even TV advert music gets her up on her feet - so I think it would be good to get her a bit more independent.

Still having major health issues with her. The latest set of blood tests has come back and they're worse than before. I'm seeing the GP tomorrow to start the Vitamin B12 shots and hopefully get a referral to a paediatric gastroenterologist. They're wondering if there may be something like a malabsorbtion issue, or even something like celiac disease...

There's also an issue with her waking up every night about an hour after she goes to bed screaming in pain. I'll nurse her back to sleep and 20 minutes later it starts again. It can be 6+ times a night and she's definitely in pain as half the time she isn't even awake. The only nights she doesn't are when I have taken her off all solids - she was vomiting a couple of weeks ago and so the next day I took her off everything except breast-milk - and then she STTN. The more she eats for supper the worse the pain seems to be, so there's also the chance that she is making a food = pain association in her mind... although why she then likes mainly curry gawd only knows!

Last night she went to bed at 8.30pm and at 10pm woke up screaming and didn't stop for over an hour. I even ran a hot bath and got in with her, she went nuts everytime I tried to touch her tummy and when I tried bending her knees up she flipped and after that she went to the other end of the bath away from me and just stood there crying and screaming. I felt so awful.

I rang my dad at 11pm for some advice and we ended up giving her a calcium carbonate indigestion tablet - thankfully she thought it was nice and ate it. I then got her calmed down and she sat and did some drawing till we all went to bed. She STTN for the first time in over a week! With any luck this may give the doctors a possible hint as to what might be going on.

I'm getting very exhausted with the constantly disrupted sleep!

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In other news, my gemmology classes start again tomorrow - yay! I've also got to do a major project by Easter as part of the exam. Mine is a report on a specific moonstone mine in Sri Lanka and also on the technical stuff on moonstone and it's inclusions. I visited the place on our honeymoon and have a load of photos of each stage in the mine so I should be able to turn in something I'm pleased with! Just got to get the time away from madam!

I've also managed to get DH to go on a diet after 3 years + of him moaning about his weight. His family also have heart-disease so I want to keep his cholestrol levels good too. I've always lost loads of weight on low-carb diets so he's on a low carb/high protein/high fat - basically a modified Atkins. He's really been good about it, went to the GP and got base-line blood tests done, his weight and BMI done and so far he hasn't cheated at all. GP also gave him the little POAS things that tell you when your body is in ketosis and burning your fat supplies.

He says that 10 days on, his appetite has decreased, cravings have decreased, he's not feeling bloated or tired, his IBS has totally cleared up and he's had to do his belt up on a notch tighter. Starting weight was 205 lbs (he's 5ft 11") and on Friday he was down to 194 lbs, so going in the right direction. He gets the blood tests repeated in a few weeks so we'll see how they are.

I'm merrily eating roast potatoes and treacle tart now that he's not craving them... oh and his really good xmas chocolates that I gave him... mmmmm

Youngest sister has had her baby - 3 hour labour, 9lb 8oz little boy called Finn. I'm hoping to see him in a couple of weeks. My parents say that she seems pretty happy with him so that's great. The father has been to see him and I think they will work out what will happen with that situation. My sister made a big scrapbook about their relationship with loads of photos etc so that the baby will have something to show his parents relationship in 'happier' times when he is older. I thought it was very mature of her to do that.

Other sister is 41 weeks today and fed up!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

PSA ladies
http://babies411.com/recall/car-seats-and-strollers/philateds-jogging-strollers-recalled-due-to-amputation-and-laceration-hazards.html

 

[Lorelei]

Hi Ladies,

Sorry for the interruption, I am trying to page Pandora in the hope that she might know of some appraisers in the London area as requested in this thread.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/valuation-required-in-london-area.155238/#post-2832519']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/valuation-required-in-london-area.155238/#post-2832519[/URL]

Thanks!

 

[Pandora II]

Quick update...

Saw the GP who has prescribed Infant Gaviscon. Tried it last night - nightmare to get it into her, but worked like a dream. Tonight I was out so DH had to give it to her and said she took it no problem. Grrr, I had to hold her down with much screaming and major guilt trip for me!

Anyway, haven't heard a peep so far so fingers crossed that this might do the trick!

 

[anchor31]

Pandora, when I have to give J meds (every morning... ) I put it in a small amount of milk. Can you do that with Daisy and put it in something she drinks or eats? Giving them meds suck, I sympathize.

Congrats to your DH for the weightloss! Good job to you, it's not always easy to help our hubbys get healthier.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Pandora, I found chocolate pudding is the BEST to hide medicine in. Two adults holding her down can FORCE the medicine in *but* we cannot make her swallow. Messy.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Pandora we put his medicine in a "big boy cup" and he drank it right up, then we clapped and cheered and all that. Since he likes big boy things, it seemed to work.

 

[Pandora II]

The only thing that I can hide things in is tomato ketchup...

Anchor - she doesn't drink formula or cows milk and won't take breast-milk in a bottle now so sadly that one didn't work! It's such a PITA getting meds into them so I really sympathise with you!

Unfortunately it's 15ml that has to be got in - so 3 teaspoons/syringes full. As she doesn't eat much it's really hard to hide. I'm happy if she has 3 teaspoons of yoghurt! You have to be sure that they will eat/drink the full dose each time as well.

Tacori, that sadly rules out the chocolate pudding - although I will try that for the Sytron iron supplement that is only 2.5ml at a time. The syringe isn't bad as it puts the medicine at the back of the mouth away from the taste-buds and they pretty much have to swallow - it's the holding down to get syringe in the mouth that is the tricky part!

Dreamer - tried that one, but she already has adult cups so there was no 'treat' involved from her view point! Bribes - even chocolate which normally works - haven't yet succeeded. I have a feeling if I mixed it with whisky or absinthe or something like that she would drink it no problem as she has to be watched like a hawk near booze - she is rather partial... strange child!

Oh, complete success again last night - not a squeak!

 

[anchor31]

Congrats on your success, but wow it does seem pretty complicated. J is a big eater, so even if he doesn't finish his milk, I put the rest in his cereal, and voilà. They really hate the seringes...

 

[Sha]

That's great the Gaviscon worked, Pandora. Yayy for some progress! I'm glad things seem ok with your sister so far, too. Her situation seemed so stressfull when I read about it. Hopefully motherhood is rewarding for her, although I'm sure it'll be difficult, too. it's great that she has good family support.

AFM - nothing new, really, except that Dalila has finally gotten the hang of walking, at almost 14 months. She's taking about 12 steps in succession now, whereas before she used to take only 3-4 and then crawl. It's exciting to watch her toddle around.

I also dreamt last night that I was 5 months pregnant. I think that dream came because I've been thinking a bit more about TTC again - maybe in the next few months or so, God willing. A month ago I was like, "I am definitely not ready for another baby anytime soon!". But something just clicked into place this week that made me want to try again - it's weird.

Anyone else thinking about TTC again soon?

 

[fieryred33143]

That's great the Gaviscon worked, Pandora. Yayy for some progress! I'm glad things seem ok with your sister so far, too. Her situation seemed so stressfull when I read about it. Hopefully motherhood is rewarding for her, although I'm sure it'll be difficult, too. it's great that she has good family support.

AFM - nothing new, really, except that Dalila has finally gotten the hang of walking, at almost 14 months. She's taking about 12 steps in succession now, whereas before she used to take only 3-4 and then crawl. It's exciting to watch her toddle around.

I also dreamt last night that I was 5 months pregnant. I think that dream came because I've been thinking a bit more about TTC again - maybe in the next few months or so, God willing. A month ago I was like, "I am definitely not ready for another baby anytime soon!". But something just clicked into place this week that made me want to try again - it's weird.

Anyone else thinking about TTC again soon?

Go D!! Sophia didn't walk until 15 months. Girls like to take their sweet time

 

[Sabine]

Sha I don't know if I posted over here yet or not, but I'm currently 7 weeks pregnant. Jackson is 18 months, so I think a few months ago was when the wanting to ttc bug started hitting me hard. Yay for walking!

Pandora, that's awesome that the Gaviscon is working! Hope it continues! My poor Jacks is so used to taking medicine since he's been on Prilosec and 2 allergy meds since only a few months old that all I have to do is tell him it's medicine time and he stands still and lets me squirt it in his mouth (and the one allergy med tastes like soap, I swear). Oh, and if he's teething and I'm giving him tylenol, he actually claps and gets excited.

I wish I knew how to sew or lived near someone who could do my sewing for me. Jacks has recently gotten super attached to the blankie and wants to drag it around. It's a big blankie, so he trips on it a lot. And now I've been trying to find another one to have a backup. I wish I could just cut it into 4 pieces and finish the edges.

 

[puffy]

sabine, congrats!!! wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy!

 

[Sha]

Thanks guys. Sabine - CONGRATULATIONS!!! How exciting!

So puffy and all other #2/#3 mamas, how's the pregnancy going this time around? Is it any different from the 1st pregnancy?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Thanks guys. Sabine - CONGRATULATIONS!!! How exciting!

So puffy and all other #2/#3 mamas, how's the pregnancy going this time around? Is it any different from the 1st pregnancy?

So far it is identical to my first! Same mild nausea until about 10-12 weeks, feel great in the second trimester. I did not have any heartburn this time around in the first trimester, I guess that is one difference. I have gained almost exactly the same amount of weight so far, unfortunatly, since I would like to gain less, but que sera.

Sabine Congrats! I knew you had the baby bug but didn't know you listened to it

 

[Dreamer_D]

That's great the Gaviscon worked, Pandora. Yayy for some progress! I'm glad things seem ok with your sister so far, too. Her situation seemed so stressfull when I read about it. Hopefully motherhood is rewarding for her, although I'm sure it'll be difficult, too. it's great that she has good family support.

AFM - nothing new, really, except that Dalila has finally gotten the hang of walking, at almost 14 months. She's taking about 12 steps in succession now, whereas before she used to take only 3-4 and then crawl. It's exciting to watch her toddle around.

I also dreamt last night that I was 5 months pregnant. I think that dream came because I've been thinking a bit more about TTC again - maybe in the next few months or so, God willing. A month ago I was like, "I am definitely not ready for another baby anytime soon!". But something just clicked into place this week that made me want to try again - it's weird.

Anyone else thinking about TTC again soon?

Go D!! Sophia didn't walk until 15 months. Girls like to take their sweet time

Hunter was 13 months, so not all that much sooner

ETA: I notice fiery carefully avoided the question about TTC again