PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[monkeyprincess]

jfo, thank goodness she stayed healthy and the surgery is over! It's so hard waiting while they have surgery isn't it? But I hear that tubes are a godsend for kiddos who get ear infections frequently. Happy almost first birthday to your little girl. I hope you all have a fun party! Our closing went well, thanks for asking, and we are all moved into the new house. Unpacking and getting organized will take some time. I'm sure you can relate to our mile-long to-do list. I can't wait to be all settled in and for it to feel like home. See you in the other thread!

Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

[jfo]

Thanks, MP! I am so relieved it is over and, yes, it was very hard waiting while she was in surgery, but it was over much quicker than I even thought. I'm looking forward to a much healthier and happier little girl! Although, I will say that she woke up at 2am last night and wouldn't go back to sleep until 4am. Argh...

Yay, I'm glad that your closing went well and you are all moved in! Congratulations! I definitely can relate to the mile long to do list. Hope Ev is settling in to his new digs well.

See you in the other thread very soon!

 

[JGator]

Jfo, great to hear from you. I'm so happy L's surgery was a success. I hope you see the results with reduced colds and ear infections soon. That's great that she's standing for a minute independently. K usually just needs to be put down from her sitting position and patted back to sleep - I haven't had the 2 or 3 hour wake up sessions in the middle of the night, but she has a habit of waking up every hour for 3 hours in a row which is so tiring! Does L sit up when she wakes up in the crib too?

Dandi, thanks for the sympathy on the sleep. Hope Oscar is back to sleeping through the night for you.

AFU, K is still cruising with help getting up to a standing position. She also will point when we ask her where her lion, doggy, and monkey are, but she won't point when we ask where is Mommy/Mama? She says Mama, Dada, and Uh Oh. Other words do not make sense to me at all. She has been a little more fussy about eating too. I think she prefers to feed herself now. I have shared my yogurt with her several times and she likes that. And, she has tried string cheese (even though the doctor said no cheese till she's 1, I figure it's close enough).

 

[jfo]

JGator, thanks so much! We are definitely looking forward to the reduced ear infections. That, and the fact that if she does indeed get a future ear infection, all we need to use are ear drops that the ENT doctor already gave us a prescription for so we don't even have to go to the pediatrician.

I can see how the wake-up every hour for 3 hours in a row can be exhausting! It's great the K will usually just go back to sleep after being patted though. L will either sit right up or pull up to stand and cry when she wakes up in the crib. When I put her back down and try to pat her like you do, she just gets right back up again. I usually give in and pick her up, but I realize that's probably not ideal. Especially because it doesn't really help to put her back to sleep. The good thing is that last night, I heard her wake up and cry around 4:45am and I let her cry for maybe 5 minutes and then she put herself back to sleep. Whew. I hope that she can continue to put herself back to sleep.

That is so cute that K will point when you ask her where the animals are! L has sort of gotten out of the habit of pointing recently. She'll just look to whatever it is you're asking (i.e. where is the light? where is the lion? where is daddy?). Do you feel like K will do something consistently for a few days and then just sort of stop for a while? I don't know why, but I feel like L will be really into doing something for a few days and then she stops and I either won't see her do it again for a while. The pointing is just one example. She also used to say "ba bye" when she waved goodbye, but she doesn't say anything at all anymore and just waves.

 

[JGator]

Hi, Jfo, I think they move on to new skills and leave the old ones behind and hopefully pick them up again later. K was saying Yeah for a while and has stopped that. She also will look sometimes without pointing when we ask her where something is. K pulled up on furniture today to a standing position on her own when the nanny was in the next room. She apparently won't do it when she knows we are watching though...if she sees us she'll whine until we help her up. Are you having L's birthday party this weekend? I just ordered some favors from Amazon today for K's goodie bags. I think we are having ages 10, 9, 7, 4, 3, and twin 22 month olds. I think the stuff I got was probably okay for the 2-4 year olds and the older kids might not be too impressed! Oh well. I went with a theme which actually made it easier - her plates and napkins have animals on them so I picked zoo/safari themed items for the gift bags.

 

[that_someone_special]

I haven't posted since I was in the hospital (5 day stay with a blood transfusion etc etc ended up with a horrible infection... felt like I was dying). I have lurked A LOT (cute babies and reading all of the advice ).

Baby girl is almost 8 months old. Wow. How did that happen? The first 6.5 months were bad. Really bad. She took reflux to a new level.. and then with myself trying to recover and get better... I barely had enough energy for anything.

But, she can finally sleep flat and can hold her meals down most days. I just wanted to share this picture of my future (currant?) diamond lover She is so funny. The last year and a half have been H E L L ... but I would do it again for her.

 

[Dandi]

Oh bean she is stunning!! I'm so sorry to hear you've had such a tough time. You are doing an amazing job mama, because she looks the picture of health and happiness!!

JGator, thankfully yes he is, thank you!

 

[dani13]

Hi girls,

How's everyone? Things have been so busy here, I feel like I've been away for awhile. Hope you are all well.

JFo, hope little L is feeling better! How the house coming along?
JG, how's K? How's sleeping?
Hi MP and Dandi, and hi Bean!!! Your LO is gorgeous!!! Hi everyone else!!

AFU, we ended up having a small but really wonderful first birthday for L. It was really nice. For those of you that remember the drama with my brother in law and sister in law, we left it where my bro in law was going to come with my niece bc my nephew had a soccer game and another kids bday party to go to and my sister in law was going to take him ( the fact that they werent going to come really upset me). However, at 10 pm the nite before the party, my BIL emails MH and I saying he's "sorry," but that him and my niece "would not be able to attend L's party bc it just would be too nuts." Girls, I Just cracked! I don't know, something in my head just snapped, and BIL and I totally had it out over the Facebook messenger! MH addressed it with him the next day, but I have not talked to them since. It's a really crappy situation that I know we have to resolve, but I think all of us are just avoiding it right now. Ugh ugh ugh!!!!

L is doing great. He has been walking for the last 8 wks and is building quite a little vocabulary. We had pro pics taken of him last Friday and did the cake smash too and it was hysterical. As soon as I get the disk I will post some pics for you to see. He is adorable and is the sunshine of our lives!
Have a great week everyone!!!

 

[JGator]

Bean, your baby girl is beautiful and I love her fascination with bling!!!

Dani, K's sleep is horrible. We had the worst night in forever last night - she woke up every hour till 230 am and then was up from 530-640am crying. I think it was teething related crying. I'm glad you had a nice party for L and I'm so sorry to hear about the drama with your inlaws. I am glad you said something though. Can't wait to see the pro pics.

AFU, we took K to our neighborhoood Halloween party yesterday. She liked looking at the other kids. I was on the pinata committe so I had to hold the pinata up on a string for the kids of different ages to swing at. Those 4-5 year olds are strong and the 6-8 year olds were scary. I was afraid of getting hit with the bat!!! K has been very happy and easy going during the day, but horrible at night. I need a nap! She turns 1 tomorrow. Hopefully she will give us a gift tonight and sleep better! DH wants me to let her cry, but I really think she's teething so I feel like I can't just leave her alone. Struggles!

 

[CurlySue]

Hi, Mamas! It's been forever since I posted, but I have lurked on and off whenever I've had a spare moment (which hasn't been often). It seems like we have some moms moving on to the toddler thread either now or very soon, and I noticed a few ladies moved over from the pregnancy thread to this one. So I thought I'd pop in for a post with hopes I can be more regular about it.

Em is a little more than 5 1/2 months now. She's rolling, grabbing, drooling, laughing, starting to sit up independently, still breastfeeding, babbling... doing all sort of cool things. Except sleeping. Ha. More on that in a bit... but she is seriously awesome. She LOVES people and is so well-behaved out in public that we regularly get asked whether she ever cries or fusses. She's very silly and chatty with DH and me, and at daycare, but with other people she is very quiet and serious. I feel like she just soaks up her environment and studies people. This makes me so curious to see how her personality will evolve.

Things with DH have been 90% great, which (in my opinion) is awesome. We work well as a team, and he is a very hands-on dad. I took my first work trip without her a few weeks ago, so he had to run the show. It was AWESOME for him! He said he felt even more bonded to her after that, which I thought was great. We've had some less than awesome weeks as a couple, but those have typically been when sleep is rare and/or one of us has had work stress, which I think is pretty typical. As long as we keep talking and cutting each other some slack, I feel like we will be just fine.

After feeling very stressed and sad about going back to work, I have to say that things are going really well on the work front. I have a new boss, which I was nervous about, but that's been a huge positive! It is a bit stressful to fit in pumping and still get out the door on time to pick Em up at the end of the day, but I just do what I have to do to make things work. I'm blessed to have some flexibility in my job, to have found a daycare I feel so good about, and (again) to have a DH who is as hands-on as he is.

Now, regarding our sleep hell... Em was a champ and slept in her crib extremely well, typically through the night, until about 4 months. If we were putting her down for the night or if I was putting her back down after a feeding, she'd go right back to sleep without any problems. Whether it was the 4-month sleep regression I've heard about in relation to the Wonder Weeks or the fact that we travelled a lot and took her out of her routine, I don't know, but things have pretty much gotten progressively worse on the sleep front since then. She will no longer sleep in her crib. We try putting her down awake, drowsy-but-awake, asleep, with white noise, in total silence, with a nightlight, totally dark, with me sleeping on the floor in her room, with me totally uninvolved with bedtime routine... doesn't matter. Within 30 minutes to an hour, she is in full-on hysterics. Last week, neither DH nor I got more than 4 hours of sleep per night. NOT GOOD! This weekend, we got desperate, and I bed-shared with her in our guest bedroom. We all got caught up (and I will be honest - I loved the snuggling!!), but that's just not practical for our lifestyle. So while I have been trying to avoid it, I am coming to grips with the fact that we very likely will have to do some form of CIO. This week, we are going to try putting her down on her tummy (I know, I know - it's a no-no... but she has great head control and we use an Angelcare monitor which gives me peace of mind) to see if that helps at all. Anyway... if anyone out there reading has any other suggestions (or positive CIO stories), I am very open to hearing them!!

We'll be starting solids in a couple weeks. I'm thinking of starting with purees but will probably do a little bit of BLW to see how she reacts. If anyone has any tips on BLW, would love to hear those, too (though I will probably go back and search old posts, too).

Here's a semi-recent picture of our little stinker. I hope everyone posts Halloween pictures!!

 

[jfo]

JGator, Happy 1 year old Birthday to K! Did you have her party this weekend? How did it go? Any photos of K in her strawberry outfit from the Halloween party? I bet the 6-8 year olds are ruthless when it comes to getting some candy. Glad you didn't get hit!! That's wonderful that K pulled up on her own. Has she done it again? I'm sorry that K's sleep has been rotten again. Let me tell you--I am there with you. L's sleep has not gotten any better since the last time I posted. Now it's more often than not that she's waking up and crying. One night, it was every hour for the first few hours and then I just gave up and brought her to my bed. My 17 month old niece and sister-in-law were staying with us this weekend to help celebrate L's birthday, and I think all the excitement may have contributed to the wake-ups because she slept through last night for the first time in forever, but I don't know if it'll last. She's had a cold (again), and it's at the coughing stage, so she keeps waking up coughing for her daytime naps now. Blah.

Bean, glad to see you posting! Your daughter is SO adorable! I'm sorry that things were so rough at the beginning, but that's great that her reflux is improving. Those series of photos of her admiring your bling is super cute!

Hi Dani! L is overall much better (despite her current cold) and I'm just glad to know that this is not going to lead to a high fever and misery. The house is coming along slooowly, but we're pretty settled in now and are just working on what we can. There's just an endless list of things to do, which anyone with a house can relate to! I just found out that our central humidifier doesn't have a water panel and probably hasn't been used in many years. Ugh, another thing I need to look into. Ah well! On the fun side of things, we just ordered new couches that should be here in 4-6 weeks. I can't wit because the ones we have now are... well, IMHO, gross. They are going to go to the basement!

I'm so sorry to hear that your BIL and your niece didn't make it to L's b-day party after all. That really is a bummer. I'm glad that it was still a really great time though and that L is doing so well! Wow, he's been walking for a while now! What a big boy. Would love to see photos when you get the chance.

CurlySue, glad to hear from you too! Em is super cute! That's fantastic that she is such a good baby outside of the sleeping situation. I wish I had some advice on CIO, but I haven't really done that yet. L's been a good sleeper at night except for the past week and a half, and I haven't put my foot down yet. I'll let her cry and fuss in her crib for 5 minutes or so and she'll usually go back to sleep on her own at night. However, if she goes on longer than that, and starts to really get upset, then I typically cave and pick her up and hold her, etc. For daytime naps, I'm more "strict" because I'm not trying to sleep too, I guess. I'll let her fuss around in her crib for 30-45 minutes if need be and I know she's tired, because she will eventually go to sleep. However, if she had a longer nap in the morning (i.e. 1 1/2 - 2 hours), she will rigorously resist the afternoon nap and I may decide it's not worth it and she'll skip the nap and go to bed a little bit earlier.

AFU, L turned 1 on Sunday. We had a small party for her on SAturday with friends and their kids and then went out to lunch and had a get together for her on Sunday with family. Both turned out wonderfully, so we're thrilled. L was a bit overwhelmed by all the people on Saturday and she skipped her afternoon nap, so by the time we sang to her and have her dig into her cupcake, she was pretty exhausted, dipped her fingertips into the cupcake frosting, and then just started wailing. It was actually pretty funny, poor thing. We gave her another cupcake on Sunday, and she was a lot more alert and comfortable at that point, so she ended up eating the whole thing (I did scrape some of the frosting off ! I was worried about having things for the bigger kids to do on Saturday (6-8 year olds), but they brought their own things to play with, they played with the baby toys with the babies and then ended up playing on the Wii, so it all worked out.

Otherwise, developmentally, L is doing well. She's standing on her own for short periods of time still and today, she took 2 small steps towards my mom.

I guess we'll be moving on to the toddler thread... I'll be checking back here periodically to see how everyone is doing though! Hope everyone is doing well!!

Oh and here are a couple photos from Saturday:

 

[JGator]

CurlySue, Em is adorable. I want to squeeze her cheeks. My advice on sleep is address it now before she's sitting or standing up in the crib. We did not try BLW so I can't help you there.

Jfo, K's party is this Saturday. I don't have a great photo of K in her costume, but I'll attach one that is cute of her face. I will try to take some more tomorrow night. She didn't like the hood so that didn't stay on long. So sorry to hear L has a cold.

AFU, K turned 1 yesterday! We had a low key evening. My mom flew in from Florida. I made K a smash cake which had Cheerios on the icing and she got her hands into the icing and made a mess and then proceeded to hug me and get the yellow frosting on my clothes. She didn't want to try the cake though. So, I'm not going to bother with another smash cake for her party on Saturday.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Jfo and JGator, happy, happy birthday to your beautiful little girls!!!

 

[CurlySue]

Awww! Happy Birthday, L & K! I am loving the cake/cupcake photos. They are both beautiful girls!

 

[jfo]

Thanks, mp and curlysue!

JGator, I love the smashcake you made for K! I thought about doing the same thing, but ultimately decided it may not be worth the effort (eek, I hope that's not bad) for the available time that I had before the party. Gosh, K is gorgeous. I love her eyes--what color are they?

I have a feeling that L is not going to be a fan of her costume/the hood either. She has become more vocal about her disdain for having to put on clothes--especially coats/hoods/hats since it's been colder out. As soon as I have a cute photo of L in her costume, I will share!

 

[JGator]

Jfo, I didn't put all the rows of Cheerios on that I was supposed to so the cake from the recipe looks much better than mine, and I was supposed to cut it down to 6", but I left it at 9" to save time. My original plan was to make this one as a test on her birthday and then make a more advanced one with a lion face for the party - http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/first-birthday-lion-cake/0bef1420-f3e0-4612-8918-7f7713cc3ca7 I scratched that idea because she wasn't that into it, and I am making a ton of food so I don't want the stress of something else to make. K's eyes - very good question. I think they are a hazel green and blue combo. Some people say they are grey or blue. The pediatrician said green. My dad and my grandfathers all had blue eyes, and my DH's dad has grey eyes which is pretty unique for someone from India. DH and I both have brown eyes. Can't wait to see the picture of L in her costume!

Thanks for the birthday wishes for K - Curly and MP!

 

[jfo]

JGator, the cake still looked wonderful. I read in the other thread that you are having about 30 people come over. That's a big party! I'm sure it will be great. It sounds like her eyes will be the kind that will take on the hue of whatever she might be wearing, which can be fun for dress up purposes

 

[CurlySue]

Hope everyone and their little ones enjoyed Halloween!

Here's a picture of our little owl. I was surprised at how well she tolerated the costume, hood and all. She actually seemed pretty pleased with herself when I held her up to see in the mirror.

 

[jfo]

Curlysue, your daughter looks absolutely adorable!!! Love her owl custome

 

[Dandi]

Oh CurlySue!! Cuteness overload!!!

I just had to post this picture of Oscar I took in the car yesterday. How do babies sleep in such weird positions?! Babies and cats.

 

[jfo]

dandi, Oscar is so cute in his footed outfit, but, yes, what an awkward position to sleep in!

 

[Dandi]

jfo I just love onesies, they are so easy to dress O in! Now that he is getting a bit bigger though, I feel like I'm taking him out and about in his pyjamas!

 

[Dandi]

My goodness it's quiet here, we have had a mass exodus onto the toddler thread! We are busy planning O's first birthday party in 3 weeks, I just can't believe it's here already. Mr O thinks he's all that, now that he is standing! I think we will have a walker by Christmas, EEK! He is trying to feed himself with the spoon at mealtimes which is frustrating at times, but very cute. And messy. Blah! I just give him his own spoon and shovel mouthfuls in when he's distracted

Hope everyone else and their bubbas are well!

 

[JGator]

Oscar is so handsome and adorable! That's great that he wants to feed himself with a spoon and that he standing. You will have a walker in no time. See you on the other thread soon.

 

[mlk]

Dandi I'm still here reading along just never seem to find the time for a proper post. We too are busy planning for Lucas' first birthday party which is in 2 weeks! Can't believe where that year has gone! We are having 70 people in our small backyard, i think i am going to be pulling my hair out over the next week or so trying to get organised! O is just a cutie, what a cheeky little man you have!

L is doing pretty good, still on purees. He just seems to play with and suck on finger foods but doesn't really consume much. Weight gain has been slow, he still isn't 8 kg yet but seems to be getting taller every week. He is a wiz at momma do crawling and pulling up to stand but no real cruising along the furniture yet. I think he has been putting all his effort into being active as his speech has been quite slow, only saying dadada the last couple of weeks and no sign of mama yet. Sleep has been terrible, I think due to teething so far 6 have popped through but every night he ends up in bed with me as he is wide awake and standing up in his cot screaming. Problem is it now takes an hour to get him back to sleep as all he wants o do is play. Anyone else have that problem?

Here are a couple of pics from today.

Hope everyone else is well and happy birthday to our recent graduates. See you on the toddler thread in a opulent of weeks!

 

[Dandi]

Thanks JGator! He just crakcs us up every day. I look forward to crossing over to the big kid thread to catch up with you guys, I hope you are well! I miss chatting to you. Yep, I'm betting we will have a walker very soon!

mlk, long time no 'see'! Your little guy is just ridiculously adorable I'm really sorry to hear that L's sleep is a bit up the putt. Teething does such dreadful things to our babies. Then comforting them during the night seems to be a game for them, in their eyes. Little monkeys! Oscar doesn't say mama yet either... lots of dada, lala, baba... no mama. I'm dying for him to say it, and I'm tipping once he DOES say it, I'll regret wishing for it, because I will probably get a constant stream of mumumumumumumum aaallll the time!

 

[mlk]

I know what you mean Dandi about mumumum, L has just started with nahnahnah and it is driving me crazy mainly cos he does it when he is being whingey! What are you planning for O's party?

 

[jfo]

Awww, I missed the latest posts! Love the new photos of L and O, ladies, and I'm looking forward to seeing you join the toddler thread because your guys are almost there! Dandi, that's fantastic that O is trying to use a spoon. L will sometimes show interest in feeding herself with a spoon--I should probably encourage her more to do that. mlk, I think it's pretty common that once the little ones reach some of the major development milestones like pulling up to stand, etc. they want to start practicing those skills... even if it's at night! Hopefully he will quickly realize that there's plenty of time to practice and play during the day and nighttime is for sleeping!

 

[Dandi]

mlk, I've been getting yayaya today, a welcome change We are having a BBQ lunch at home and have invited about 50 family, friends and kids, just for a couple of hours. Fairly low key. How about you?

jfo, you are so right abou the sleep/milestone thing! Their little brains just won't shut down! I really had to wear Oscar out during the day when he learned to sit and stand, and minimise his time in the carseat or pram, to give him plenty of practice so he could sleep through again.

 

[mlk]

Hi ladies. Well Lucas was 1 on the 4th so I guess it's time to move onto the next thread. Can't believe where the time has gone and how far my little boy has come. From 1.4kg to 8kg! We had a big party for 70 in our backyard and have no idea how we survived. dH has now said no more parties! Here are a couple of pics from the day. See you all on the next thread!