PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[vizsla]

november - ditto! DH is definitely embarrassed by my frequent phone calls to the dr... and b/c he''s home more than i am HE has to take C in ;P and i think you are right.. once we get a hang of these day-care colds i won''t feel the need to call them so much.

i would totally recommend sanibel/captiva island. DH parents have a place on sanibel and we go at least twice a year... and were married on captiva island. it definitely feels like you are on vacation vacation. the water is super nice and calm. plus it''s very family friendly.

 

[ChinaCat]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HUNTER!!!!!!!!!

Dreamer, thanks for "sharing" him on this thread.

Baptism- We still haven''t figured this out yet ourselves, so we will definitely be doing it "late". I can''t figure out who the godparents should be and we have to find a church we like here.

Mara- Cute pic, love the green. I really wish we''d done newborn pics.

 

[MonkeyPie]

I am just browsing, but re: baptisms I always was under the impression you did it ASAP. I was two days old, my brother two weeks. I remember my mom being horrified when I told her my best friend was getting her son baptized at 6 months old. "What if he DIED?!" I honestly don''t know lol. But my husbands dad is a pastor, so he will be doing Micah''s ASAP!

Gah, Mara, that is a GREAT picture!

 

[steph72276]

Whew, we just got back from E''s photo shoot and it was so much fun! Our friends are the photographers, so we were there for hours taking pics...I bet I have well over 300 pictures! Soo so cute, can''t wait to share some of them!

Sha, I''m jealous of the good sleepers too!

Mara, awww how darling is J???? Wow, his hair is really dark...what a cutie pie!

Nov & Mandi, how funny Mandi...The Marco Island Marriott has been our beach getaway place for years! We are actually friends with the general manager so he always hooks us up with a beautiful beachfront suite...ahh, that place is heavenly! I also love Destin and Seaside.

DD, happy bday to Hunter!

 

[Mara]

steph, did E sleep and cooperate? I am sure that J will be wide awake again, no sleeping baby pics for me hehe. can''t wait to see your photos. and J''s hair is pretty dark but actually in certain lights you can see it''s a little bit lighter brown. not quite as dark as my own.

MP...i was hoping you''d look over here and see the photo since you are a photographer! i love the green contrast w/his eyes and the bed! he reminds me of a pea.

re: baptisms, i also thought that you did it early...i think my sis was like 1-2 months old? i remember the babies being tiny. i will have to ask my mom.

DD...happy birthday to Hunter! i love his name BTW!

 

[steph72276]

Mara, the first hour or so he was wide awake, then we stopped so I could feed and change him and he was out, so we got some SUPER cute pics where he was sleeping and propped up on a boppy with this hands under his chin and a little hat on...too cute! I hope J will sleep some for your next session b/c they are the cutest pics!

 

[AmberWaves]

Re: baptisms (again, ha) Paul's work (a Catholic Church in LA) said that it's just old enough to be coherent and not too old as to talk/hit/run/yell during the service. They also don't do them during Lent, so it would have to be April or May. Piper will be 5/6 months old.

ETA: Happy Belated B-Day Hunter!!

 

[gailrmv]

steph

check out tinyprints.com for awesome announcements on cardstock. can usually find 10% off coupon code if u google. oh and u r welcome for the baby book recs, glad it helped!! which did you end up getting?

Aaron also wanted to nurse AROUND THE CLOCK. Like, always be on the boob. I never could figure out if I had low supply or if he was comfort sucking but NOTHING soothed him but nursing (and I didn''t supplement). Around 6 weeks or so something clicked and he nursed a more normal amount. Not trying to make you feel guilty about supplementing at all. I didn''t have a 5 yr old to care for at the same time! Just wanted to say I hope that nursing gets easier for you too!

 

[ChinaCat]

I''m sure the custom should be to do it asap, but I think a lot of people wait nowadays. The few that I''ve been to the kids have ranged from 3 months to 6 months to 1 year. And at the service itself, there are a wide range of kids. This was at Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches, btw.

Probably depends on your upbringing and your church. Also if you''re being baptized vs christened and what the beliefs are.

My family is not super religious- in fact, my sister, brother and I were all christened on the same day. I was 7, sister was 4, brother was newborn.

DH was raised Catholic, I was sort of raised Presbyterian. So we have to 1) decide on which religion; 2) decide which church and join; and 3) pick godparents.

Godparents- My BFF is a Christian but her husband is not, plus they live literally on the other side of the world so she can''t be there. All of our other back ups live in another state, but I want to do one here for family.

See, my head hurts and this is why we haven''t done anything about it yet.

 

[Mara]

CC... I am a not-really-practicing Catholic but I have always done all the 'ceremony' stuff. But we're not really religious. However I think my Mom would have a fit if I didn't want to baptize J. Along the same lines as MP wrote.

steph...I forgot to write to you re the announcements. Actually a lot of the Etsy ones I was looking at, you basically are just paying them for the image, so you email them tell them you like XYZ option of theirs, they create it for you, customize it etc. Then they send you the file. Then you can print it however you'd like. I'd probably just get cardstock and print them at home myself or have them done at a Kinkos or something, unless I wanted to go the photo route then I'd use Snapfish. But anyway the announcements I was looking at were like $15 for the image so it's not expensive at all and then you use it however you want. I will have to get going on this actually, what a lag I am!!

oh and i def hope J sleeps on Friday for some cute bebe photos. this gal had some super cute little wraps and woven stuff that he would be so cute in. she took a few images of him in this teal wrap but she said most of them look like he's just fighting to get out...that's my little man! hahaa.

re: breastfeeding... and nursing--new moms. My friend sent me this link today, and I found it really interesting!

http://www.pamf.org/children/newborns/feeding/understanding.html

Based on what it says basically the way J likes to eat, aka gets on the boob and starts passing out, I wonder if my flow is too slow for him. And that might be why he always seems perpetually hungry? I know I am making a good supply but potentially he's not accessing it correctly. He IS gaining weight but I think based on how often the kid is eating/feeding, I would have imagined he'd gain more. Anyway today I will try to keep more of an eye on it and do more of the massage and see if it makes a diff. The article says they should swallow almost every time they suck and that is never the case for us, maybe 3-4 sucks = swallow UNLESS I am really full and then he starts getting a lot of milk really quickly.

Anyway I also started the Mothers Milk tea today so we'll see if it does anything. It smells like a herb garden hehe.

J is sleeping right now (after passing out on the boob after only 20 min, so I know he wasn't full!) cozied up next to me in his boppy propped in a curling position with blankets, and his body keeps shaking like he is laughing and he is smiling at the same time. SO FRIGGIN CUTE. I wish I could video him and youtube him but I don't even know how to work the video yet on my camera. haha.

ETA... Steph this is like one of the ones I was talking about:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40810602

 

[NovemberBride]

Mandi, Steph and Viz - Thansk for the vacay recs. I''ve actually been to both Marco Island and Captiva, but it has been years. They both definitely have what we are looking for, so I am going to look at some rates tonight. They are predicting another snowstorm here later this week so I need a warm vacation to look forward to. Steph and Mandi - did you rent a car on Marco Island? I am hoping not to have to drive too much, and I think I recall that you can walk to some shops from the Marriott. We''ll need a way to get to and from the airport, but if we don''t need a car while on the island we might just get a car service to go to and from the airport.

Baptisms - for Catholics the tradition was that you did not leave the hosue with baby until they were baptised, so that''s why it was done so quickly. Nowadays I think people wait a lot longer. Mara, like you I am a pretty lax Catholic, but grandparents and great-grandparents would flip out if we don''t baptize Olivia.

I second the rec of Tinyprints for announcements, we used them and I was thrilled with the quality.

If anyone is looking for an umbrella stroller, we just got the UppaBaby G-Luxe and it is awesome. It''s about $150, so cheaper than the MacLarens. It''s only 11 lbs and has a full recline, so can be used from 3 months. I think it''s the lightest stroller with a full recline. It also is taller than a lot of umbrella strollers, which is great for DH who is 6''4", but not uncomfortable at all for me at 5''2".

 

[Pandora II]

DD - HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY HUNTER!

China - those photos are adorable!

Steph - have you thought of putting Andrew in a sling and feeding him there? I often feed Daisy while she's in one if we are out or I'm busy, it's a bit tricky the first time but after that it gets super-easy - and so far NO-ONE has ever noticed me doing it (and I do it most days that I'm out).

Mara - beautiful photo!


Tonight I had to go to another political meeting to set the local tax for the area for next year. The Chief Whip asked if I'd bring Daisy along to liven things up, so I did. It was very funny - she was good as gold, but she's more vocal now than she was at 7 weeks. There was a point where a vote was being taken after a fairly heated debate - as the opposition voted all you could hear was silence and the "Ah baa da da daaaaaaaaaaa ba da" extremely loudly from our benches!

I'd taken a load of toys for her and she was sitting under the bench at my feet playing with them at one point, then she decided to set off across the Chamber. OMG, no-one could keep a straight face - she kept going up to people and laughing at them, and then sitting down and clapping her hands. I had a lot of babysitting offers

- and I've been asked to bring her to the next one. Not sure if I will as this one was 3.5 hours, but they can be 7 hours plus which is very tiring without looking after a small person at the same time!

Tried to take her passport photo this morning - DH and I are thinking of going to Normandy in France for the first week in May. (is it odd that I'm sad we won't be in the UK for the General Election - I LOVE election night and seeing all the results come in and this will be the first one I have missed since 1983!) Here's the results!

 

[AmberWaves]

Is it a roll if Piper is on her back on the ground (on a blanket, with a layer of crappy commercial carpeting beneath her), and she rolls onto her side, then gets angry and tips back onto her back?

 

[taovandel]

wow! This thread is moving way too fast for me.

I have nothing to add to the breast-feeding convos that are happening...good luck to everyone.


We took E out on a walk the other day--he cried for half of it and we had to carry him and he was fine. He never cries but we take him out on a nice day in the stroller and he flips out.

He stopped sleeping through the night---he now gets up around 4:30 and then will go back down quickly but will be back up ready to go around 6:00 instead of 7:00. This must stop!

4 month visit is coming up. We weighed him the other day on our scale and it looks like he is right around 13 lbs.

 

[fieryred33143]

Pandora-Daisy looks like a little girl in that picture!! She''s so adorable!

Amber-I consider that a roll lol. I have a hilarious video of FI And I getting really excited over her doing the half roll and another video of her rolling on to her belly and then screaming. Every time I think about that video, it cracks me up.

 

[phoenixgirl]

OK, 4 month stats:

Claire is 12 lb. 4 oz. and 25 inches long. So she''s still around 25th percentile for weight and 75th for height. The pedi said not to start solids until six months because we are EBF. Of course, I know different people say different things, but that''s fine with me. Less hassle and less to worry about right now.

Claire was on track or ahead with all her developmental milestones. The pedi said she thought Claire might teethe a little earlier than average based on feeling her gums and our report that she drools/chomps all the time.

DH asked the pedi about how much to give Claire in her daycare bottles, and she suggested trying 5.5 ounces instead of 5 to see how it goes. Well, do babies ever reject extra milk? She''s a baby, not a goose being overfed to be turned into fois gras . . . So anyway, I just don''t think I can pump any more than the 5 ounce bottles (which I don''t really manage to do anyway . . . I need a head start from the weekend, extra pumpings at night, and for Claire to skip a third bottle here and there to even break even). So I reject the idea, especially based on the new knowledge that those stats for calculating ounces are based on formula, not breast milk.

Baptisms -- we''re agnostic but formerly religious, and DH''s family either doesn''t know or pretends not to know that we''re not really religious anymore (I don''t think his dad would care, but his crazy mom would -- she just can''t judge what with her breaking all the tenets of her religion and all). I feel this vague guilt that we''re not baptizing Claire. My sister is a minister (but the funny thing is that we have basically the same world view and this never comes between us), but she can''t baptize Claire unless we are members of a church, and I went to all the trouble to renege my church membership when the church bulletin said an intellectual seekers discussion was just for men (but women were welcome to join the scrapbooking club), so we''re stuck. My sister said she''d do an unofficial baptism, but I don''t know. If I''m doing this just for the in-laws, that sort of seems to defeat the purpose. As far as age goes, my niece is being baptized at 6 months.

 

[Mandarine]

Baptisms

Yes, the custom used to do to do them ASAP...but that has really changed...specially because I believe the church said that all babies DO go to Heaven (whether they had been baptized or not)...before they would say the non-baptized babies stayed in limbo..or something!.

China I think you are the one talking about God parents....anyway, only ONE Godparent needs to be Catholic (is what my church told me)...the other one can be any Christian religion. Also, if the Godparent can''t be present at the service, you can have a "stand in" or proxy...so don''t let that stop you!



I ran 3.6miles today and almost died!.....it was tough! It''s crazy how one week of not working out can make me feel so sluggish!!!

Ok, dinner is ready!

 

[mela lu]

Happy Birthay Hunter!!! Cannot believe it''s been a year already Kudos to you Dreamer for raising such a great and handsome boy! Many happy years to come.

 

[Allison D.]

Hi, everyone:

Kt hasn''t had time to get back in with pics of Jake, but she gave the OK for me to share some pictures I took of him when I visited last week. Mama and Jake are doing really well and he''s already stolen her heart!

 

[sunkist]

oh! Congratulations KT!! babies are so amazing, he''s precious!!

 

[Sha]

KT/Allison-
Soooo gorgeous!

What big, bright eyes he has for a newborn! Love his lips too!

 

[Mandarine]

wow!!! COngrats KT!!!!!!!!!!! What a GORGEOUS baby! WOW! Just beautiful!!!!!


****

GIRLS........at the risk of jinxing myself, I just have to share:

BOTH ALEX AND LUCAS SLEPT UNTIL 6:15am!!!!!!! (from 7pm!)

Of course I was up a few times after 2am wondering when they were going to wake up!!!

They did it! They are capable of this!!!!!

 

[Sha]

Quick question: I know there was a discussion on Flat Head syndrome a few pages back. Has anyone tried any head/neck supports, like the Boppy Noggin Nest Head support to help prevent it?

I''m noticing a bit of flat head on Dalila, so am looking to order something.

Here''s the link on Amazon:

Boppy Noggin

Sha

"Be kind! Everyone you meet is fighting a difficult battle".

 

[Sha]

Date: 2/24/2010 7:28:34 AM
Author: Mandarine
wow!!! COngrats KT!!!!!!!!!!! What a GORGEOUS baby! WOW! Just beautiful!!!!!


****

GIRLS........at the risk of jinxing myself, I just have to share:

BOTH ALEX AND LUCAS SLEPT UNTIL 6:15am!!!!!!! (from 7pm!)

Of course I was up a few times after 2am wondering when they were going to wake up!!!

They did it! They are capable of this!!!!!

Yayyy for sleeping through!!!

I'm sure it's just a matter of time until they settle into that pattern.

 

[Mandarine]

Date: 2/24/2010 7:36:51 AM
Author: Sha

Quick question: I know there was a discussion on Flat Head syndrome a few pages back. Has anyone tried any head/neck supports, like the Boppy Noggin Nest Head support to help prevent it?

I''m noticing a bit of flat head on Dalila, so am looking to order something.

Here''s the link on Amazon:


Boppy Noggin

Sha

''Be kind! Everyone you meet is fighting a difficult battle''.

Hi Sha!
I bought them and I''m using them mostly on their car seats. I''ve also increased tummy time, etc and I think all of it combined is making a difference!.
I really like them and wish I would have used that with their car seats always...I''m tempted to get a couple more to use in the bouncy seats (so I don''t have to take the ones from their car seats) but more and more they''re spending less time there...
Don''t get me wrong, they still have a touch of flat head...but I think it hasn''t gotten worse and I think I see improvement!

And I hope you are right and they settle into this new sleeping pattern!!!!!
M~

 

[vizsla]

hooray mandy!!! since your boys are about 3 weeks ahead of C (and seemingly have the same patterns) i always look to you to see what i''m in store for so i''m SUPER DUPERY excited that they slept thru the night for you (and me

) do you feel like a new woman?
now, the question is... swaddled or unswadddled? i kept one arm out last night and it *seemed* to go OK. however, C is still battling a nasty cold and ear infection - (side note: OMG can i talk about how his antibiotic makes him POO ALL OF THE TIME.. yesterday he pooped 7 times!) anyhoodles, i hope to get another arm out in a week. right now he naps unswaddled (if held) and i think he''s just about ready to roll from back to front and i really want him to roll over and sleep on his tummy - i''m thinking this is going to help a lot of our STTN issues. anyhoo, as i tend to ramble, let this be no exception... congrats!

daisy - how cute is she!

mara - love love love the pic of j - can''t wait to see more!

DH is under the weather and i *really* wanted to do some black and white family and nekkid baby pictures of c when he was 3 months. DH said he''d like to gain 10lbs before we get pictures taken (<-- things DH should not complain about to his wife who is trying to LOSE 10lbs). so it might just be a mommy and me shoot. (again with the rambling

)

re: baptisms - much like pg - DH and i are NOT religious.. despite DH attending 12 years of catholic school (or *because* he attended 12 years of catholic school anyhoo, MIL likes to corner me any chance she can and ask when her first grandson is going to be baptized. a conversation best left up to her son, however he is conveniently absent when this topic comes up. anyhoo, she always offers to have him baptized for us

. i swear, one day i''m going to come home from work and there will be some catholic paperwork or something about c being baptized... i wouldn''t put it past her. i try and tell her that our main goal is having a will drawn up, and then we will tackle how to approach not baptizing c. i wouldn''t do it just to please them that''s for sure. i plan on teaching c about religion *in general* and he can make the decision if he want to peruse it or not.

on a random work related note: i received an email yesterday from HR about what our company can do to help working mothers

. i was in total shock... this, from a churn and burn hire them young and wear them out company. strange

. the HR committee is in its infancy stage, but in the immediate future they are *finally* dedicating a space for BF mothers and creating a resource for day-cares/sitters in the area etc. i sent off a list of policy changes i''d like to see and got a ''good as can be expected from my company'' response. not that i expect things to change during my time here, but i''d love to be a part of making a change for someone else. someone explained my company as having ''golden handcuffs'' on its employees... so true, so true.

pg - i know of a baby that doesn''t take all the food offered to him

. i would LOVE if c took more than 4oz, but it''s a challenge getting *that* into him. he''s soo inconsistent with eating.. we literally try for almost an hour to get him to eat 4oz-- most of the time he only eats 2... which contributes to his waking around the clock. silly peanut.

guess that''s all the news for now.

OH, happy bday hunter!!!!!

 

[Mandarine]

Thanks Viz!!!!

Of course they were swaddled! haha...I haven''t been brave enough to try messing with their swaddles at night since we still have problems with the no-swaddling for naps!!!!. I hope they one day master naps, then I''ll try one arm swaddle nights. We''ll see.

I congratulated them so many times this morning!

 

[vizsla]

my sister was telling me just yesterday that she swaddled both my nieces at night until they were 6 months old... and actually PINNED them in their swaddle.. with a PIN! a sharp pointy PIN!

i guess this was before the miracle blanket and the velcro wraps... said she took a twin sheet and folded it in half to swaddle them when they were older b/c they didn''t make swaddles big enough.
lol lol lol.. hey want to go into business and make LARGE swaddle blankets?... it''s a million penny idea

 

[steph72276]

Hey girls...well, I had an interesting night last night. So for our photo shoot yesterday, I wanted to do a shot like Ebree's cute pic with my ering on little E's toe. Well, my wedding band just started fitting again, but I haven't been able to wear my engagement ring for months. It did slip on my finger and I was able to get it off for the photo pretty easily and I just made a note to myself to take it off when I got home. Well, the photo shoot lasted hours and then I got busy at home and forgot to take it off. Right before Adam got home from work, I looked down and my ring finger was completely swollen! So Adam comes home and I have the olive oil and baby oil out trying to get my ring off, and it is getting more and more swollen by the second and even turning blue at one point! Adam is like "let's go to the ER and have them cut it off!" and I said "NOOOO, they are not cutting my Ritani!!!" Haha, spoken like a true PSer I guess. Anyway, after he helped pull on the ring for the next 20 minutes or so, it FINALLY came off and I didn't have to get it cut off...I guess I need to put it away till I lose a little more of the weight

. Anyway, hope everyone is having a great day!

TDM, I actually really like this one, but it's out of stock right now. I might order it directly from her site. Thanks again for giving me that website, it had tons to choose from! http://www.baby-memory-books.com/AimeeJ_Luxe_Baby_Scrapbook_Blue_p/aj-sa-lx-202.htm. Also, good to know about your little one starting to regulate his feedings a bit more around 6 weeks, I really hope that happens with E so I can get him off the formula!

Mara, that announcement you posted is super cute!

Nov, we didn't need to rent a car b/c we drove (it's only about 3 hours from our house). If you were staying at the Marriott, I don't think you would have a need for a car...they have several dining options there such as fancier places or coffee shops, pizza places, etc. There is also a brand new shopping center next to it with a beautiful marina with outdoor shops like a Starbucks, Cold Stone ice cream, and several places to eat. The only time I remember using a car was to go to the grocery store (our room had a full kitchen) and also to the movies one day when it rained.

Pandora, a sling is a good idea. I was looking at carriers, but all of them say 8-25 lbs and E is still only just under 7 so I was waiting, but I think I will look into the sling idea. Oh and Daisy is adorable!

Amber, I think that is a roll, or at least the start of one...she will be rolling over all the time soon I bet!

Tao, sorry E cried on the walk. Hope the appt. goes well.

PG, yea for a good appt.

Mandi, woohoo for your run! And yea for babies sleeping through the night...here's hoping it's the start of a trend!

Allison/KT, awww Jake is soooo adorable!!!! What beautiful eyes he has!

Viz, that's great about the email...hopefully your company will make some changes to better suit working mothers.

 

[rockpaperscissors67]

Congrats, KT! What a *beautiful* little boy! I especially love his eyes and eyelashes -- OMG, gorgeous!

Pandora, Daisy is so stinkin'' cute. I love hearing about what she''s doing because she seems like she''s a real pistol (which is a good thing, IMHO!).

DD, I hope Hunter had a very happy birthday!

Mara, I can''t believe how much hair J has. It''s so cute! His picture is really adorable.

Steph, I forgot to tell you before that I love the pic of the boys together.

Mandarine, congrats on the boys sleeping so well!!

Doesn''t it just figure that you were the one awake?


Re: Baptism, I have nothing of value to add to this because none of my kids were baptized mostly because I''m not Christian. SO is Catholic, technically speaking, because he converted during his prior marriage, but he doesn''t go to church. We really don''t discuss religion much because it doesn''t play a big part in our lives. I''ve encouraged my older kids to make their own choices when it comes to religion. This discussion reminded me of something that REALLY got me worked up when Will was little. SO''s ex is *very* into being Catholic (although I think she''s not so good at it because she certainly treats people like crap), and their kids seem to be following in her footsteps. The oldest, his 20 year old daughter, is pretty much a clone of her mom right down to the intolerant attitude. She wrote SO a letter a couple of years ago and in it, had the nerve to tell him how awful he is because he didn''t have Will baptized. I guess she thinks that Will is bound for hell because of this. I never bothered to address it with her, but I wish I had because it''s so very rude to assume that we''re failing as parents because we didn''t do what she thought we should do. It would be similar to her telling us, if she was Jewish, that we didn''t honor our convenent with God because we didn''t have the boys circumcized. So, yeah, there''s my little rant that has nothing to do with anything anyone said here.

Last night, I *thought* I was going to buy the Wii Fit Plus because the Target website showed that it was available at the store we went to. Not so much. In fact, I ended up getting a list of the other stores with the number of units each was supposed to have and there are NO Wii Fit Pluses to be had in our area. ARGH. I love the Wii, but the shortage of games that are in demand frustrates me. I''ll just wait until I can get one at the regular price because I refuse to pay $175 for it on Amazon.

Nothing else to add here -- Ben''s being his usual chill self. He''s still sleeping well at night; last night he woke at 2:30 and I just nursed him in bed, then he woke up at 5:30 and we got up. He''s a little stuffed up, poor thing, so I think I''m going to drop some breastmilk in his nose and use the sucker thing on him, which is like torture.