PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[somethingshiny]

turtle~ crawling (or almost)!!! So cute!!

Noel~ I never did get a bumbo. I didn't know if Lily would fit! S looks unsure but at least she's not crying. Let us know how it goes!

MP~ I can't believe M is almost 1!!! What is the theme for the partay?!

HOUie~ I love the tongue smile pic!

Allie~ I'm thinking of 1 more myself!! lol

HH~ A swing does in fact work when you're huge preggo!! Balance is an issue though. lol

Miscka~ Congrats and WELCOME!!! Please post any questions or vents you have. These girls are amazing!!




Lily is still not even trying to crawl. She wants to stand all the time so maybe she'll just skip crawling. We've hit the 9 month screaming phase. Both of my kids have had it now. I think it's because they want to do so much but their bodies can't keep up with it. side effect of being immobile.

I was seriously going to get on the Mirena. But, DH and I have been talking and talking and talking and we've decided to cancel the appt. Not saying we're trying. But we're not preventing. Odds are we won't get preggo since it took years with JT and Lily, but I don't want to be in my late 30's and regretting BC. Financially it would be very hard. But, I don't know anyone who ever thought they had enough money anyway!

JT and I had the reproduction discussion a few days ago. He saw a baby calf right after he'd been born. He already knew about menstruation. The kid follows me everywhere! Anyway, we had pictures and questions and it went well. I didn't say the man puts this here. More the scientific concept. Now he wants to discuss it with his friends!! I'm trying to get him to just hold the conversation to our house for now. lol Some parents may not appreciate JT dissertation with pictures!

 

[noelwr]

haha, I think S just wanted Mommy to hurry up and take the picture so she'd get out of the way of the TV. as you can see from her other pics today, she can be a silly little girl. don't worry, I won't share anymore as I know I tend to overshare.

 

[MonkeyPie]

MP~ I can't believe M is almost 1!!! What is the theme for the partay?!

Lily is still not even trying to crawl. She wants to stand all the time so maybe she'll just skip crawling. We've hit the 9 month screaming phase. Both of my kids have had it now. I think it's because they want to do so much but their bodies can't keep up with it. side effect of being immobile.

I totally thought Micah was going to go straight to walking, but then he discovered crawling on carpet was easier than on hardwood and suddenly he could do it lol. Maybe Lily will just skip crawling, too!

As for the theme, there really isn't one. We aren't making a big production of it, just getting family and a couple friends over for a BBQ and a chance to watch Micah go crazy with his smash cake. Though his cake is going to be In The Night Garden themed! I have a friend making it and it's going to be SO cute. I can hardly wait.

 

[noelwr]

MonkeyPie - 1st Birthday yay, exciting!

HH - oh, I didn't think about S not taking to it. how did you know? did A cry every time you put him in it?

Miscka - yes, sorry, but it's normal. we had a week where S would barf up a whole bottle at least once a day. at that point I started to make sure she stayed up right for 15 min after finishing drinking, and it seemed to help or was pure coincidence, I don't know. but same as HH said, if it's happening regularly and you don't think he's keeping enough down, go see a dr.

shiny - I can just imagine JT giving a powerpoint presentation to his friends. out of interest, what did you tell him about why he can't discuss it outside the home? need to start making a list of these things as "Because I said so" isn't going to last me very long.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Noel, put him in what? I can't remember what I said!

 

[Kunzite]

I swear I'm going to catch up properly one of these days!! In the meantime... happy Friday!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

GAH! I want to give him a smooch on his little nose!

 

[AllieLuv83]

Holy guacamole...we can not get well. His ear infection cleared it's way into a cough and terribly runny nose. Poor guy coughed all night long. I love seeing all the little ones on Friday. I will post a picture when I get home

 

[HOUMedGal]

Allie, so sorry your little man is still not feeling well!! I hope everything clears up pronto! Would love to see a pic, runny nose and all...

Noel, there is NO SUCH THING as oversharing here. 'Specially when your baby is as cute as Skye is!! Yeah, I did have to be in the hospital, BUT I only have three (yep, THREE!!!) more in-house call nights for the rest of my residency!! WOOOHOOOO!!!! By the end of this month, I will be done with that! Then for the rest of my residency (2 more months) I'll be working in the ER, which means 12 hour shifts, some days and some nights (not ideal, but better than 30 hrs straight away from my baby!).

Kunzite - OMG, what a perfect pic. He is soooooo cute!! I just wanna love on that fuzzy little head!!

MP - It must be so much fun planning Micah's bday party!! You have such a big boy now...and so adorable too. Love that last pic you posted!

SS - thank you! I love that one too, hehe. It is the cutest thing ever when she smiles at me from her crib...it's like "heeeeeyy, I remember you!!! you make me happy!!" hehe! Makes me feel so special!! I'm rather excited that you canceled your mirena... how fun would it be if you were blessed with another?!

Miscka, yep, as HH said, unfortunately it's fairly common. All babies reflux and spit up to a certain extent because their little esophageal sphincters just don't stay closed very well. However, again like HH said, if he seems to be getting uncomfortable with the spitting up, or is persistantly spitting up A LOT, I would definitely talk with the ped. You can do basic reflux precautions like frequent burps during feeds, keeping him upright (or at least 30 degrees above flat) during and for at least 30 minutes after feeds (the longer the better), bottles that reduce the amount of air swallowed (i.e. born free or dr browns...and breastfeeders tend to swallow less air anyway), etc. We recently discovered that Ellie has silent reflux, which means she has the uncomfortableness and was feeding poorly, but hardly ever spits up. Started her on medicine and she's a completely different baby. So don't let it go too long without at least bringing it up with your pedi. As a pediatrician myself, I believe that pathologic reflux in babies is very real, and the medicines we use for it are usually very helpful with no side effects, so it doesn't hurt to do a trial of medication if mom thinks that baby is having a hard time.

TD - aaaaah! Look at him go! Soooo cute! He looks so proud of himself!!!

 

[somethingshiny]

argh. seriously?

Huge post just eaten.

basically, beautiful babies. no such thing as over sharing. poor punkin sick babies. reproduction discussion: "other kids don't know this stuff because their moms and dads haven't told them yet. Let the parents tell the kids" ok.

LV~ missed S's pic before. Super cute dimple and hat!

Kunzite~ so big!!!

Noel~ Love S's pics!! Keep them coming!!

Hou~ #3 wouldn't be bad at all!

MP~ saw really cute 1 yr old pics of a little girl. Just a tutu and a smashing cake on a white background. Super cute. Thought you might like the idea for M. Course, I'd skip the tutu for him, but thought you could do something really neat with your photo skillz.

Sorry, can't do more tonight!! Have a great weekend!! DH's b-day is Sunday but we have no place to go. lol.

 

[AllieLuv83]

So much for my Friday night picture post, as we spent our night in the ER. Charlie had really labored breathing so we took him down. It was terrifying and I don't know how parents with children in the hospital do it day after day. They had to x-ray him and give him a neb treatment and then finally sent us home with a broncholitis diagnosis AGAIN! Last night was rather rough, he is so congested and it is hard to suction him out the boogers are so thick, but the treatments seem to be working. Hopefully he will be on the mend soon.

 

[somethingshiny]

Oh, gosh, Allie. Poor Charlie! I'm so sorry you had to take him to the ER. It's so scary being in the hospital with your baby. I hope he's feeling better very soon.

 

[AllieLuv83]

It really made me appreciate my healthy child, and think about what a blessing that is. Some parents do not have that . We spent the day in bed giving him his treatments, napping and nursing. I snapped a few of my little sickie.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Oh Allie I'm so sorry to hear C isn't feeling well again If it's any consolation, he doesn't look sick at all in those pictures. Quite the opposite actually. I hope his recovery is speedy.

We went to our local diner this morning with my mom and brother. Aidan is just over the moon for his uncle Henry. I swear he and nana got more smiles today than DH and I have gotten in the last 6 months!

Here are a few highlights from the day.

 

[AllieLuv83]

HH he is such a ham! So so so so cute! Gah!

 

[meresal]

Ohh, cute cute pictures!! I just love these little ones!!

2 weeks and counting till the big #1! MP, when are you doing the party for Micah? We are doing the same thing as you, mainly family but also invited a of his little friends. We are doing a Mickey Mouse theme. I will post some pics once I have everything put together.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!


We went to the zoo today, as a family and I got some great pics... The one with the croc is just hilarious to me, but the other two were from a mini photo shoot that I did under this huge tree in the main part of the zoo. He was finally starting to smile since he cooled off, and I wanted to get some pics in his cute romper!

 

[HOUMedGal]

Mere - what a cute romper!! I love the zoo pics!!! He doesn't quite know what to think about that gator, does he? LOL!

HH - omg, that last pic with the cheerios?! Cuteness overload for realz!!!

Allie - C looks too good to be sick!! Seriously though, bronchiolitis blows big time. The suckiest part is there's only so much we can do about it....I'm so sorry you had to take him to the ER, but I'm really glad he was well enough to go home and not get admitted. I hope he's feeling better already and that you're managing to get at least a little rest!

SS - happy b-day to your hubs!! Hehe, my DH's b-day was March 21st, and since it was SO much easier to just stay home, we had a mini party (just the three of us), got takeout from our fave Indian restaurant, some nice wine, and watched a movie after E went to bed.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Have I mentioned how much I love Prevacid?? She's a totally different baby. So happy!!

So started my 1st pp AF yesterday....guess that means we can make another one any time now!! Noooo, not anytime soon...but we both agree that there will be at least one more in our future. Parenthood is the coolest, most fun thing I have ever done. Of course, we have our "moments", but overall, I'm totally loving it.

Question for the mommas of older babies - when did you wean the swaddle, and how did you do it?? E is 2.5 mos now, and I don't think we need to wean it yet (she LOVES her miracle blanket, sleeps soooo good with it) but even in the swaddle she manages to turn herself complete 180's in the crib. Hasn't turned over onto her tummy yet, but the day is coming...and I won't feel comfortable swaddling her if she can turn over in the swaddle!!

 

[Kunzite]

Okay, I have a few minutes because Ollie is taking a nap (in his crib!!)

LV - I just adore S. Seriously, she is so beautiful. I do have a DSLR, a Canon XSi. We have terrible light in our house and not much natural light during the winter (gray Pacific Northwest...) so I feel like most of my photos come out way too dark. I can't wait for the spring! Sorry the nanny search was so horrible but I'm happy to hear that you're comfortable with your day care decision. We think we've found the day care we're going to use and will do a tour on Friday. I can't wait! On paper they seem perfect so I hope we like the center in person too.

Allie - Sorry to hear that C is sick. That must be so hard. O hasn't been sick yet and he's hasn't started teething... I'm dreading the day! It is going to break my heart to see him hurting. Stay strong mama!!

Lanie - Look at A and those eyes! He's so stinking cute! How is he doing with his reflux? I was thinking about what you said re: taking him out so much. O is finally happy and on a schedule and I think the two are related. As soon as we were able to get him sleeping consistantly and in his bed for quality sleep he became so much happier! I'm not saying that's the case for A, but have you considered that in the evenings he may be overtired? We've seen such a dramatic shift in O's mood in the evening lately that I know now that's why he was cranky (hindsight, right?).

Pupp - N is so big! Sorry to hear that he was sick, I hope he's feeling better now.

Miscka - Welcome!! Sorry to hear about the mastitis. I had it twice in the first few months and it was awful. I also had a friend who used the nipple shield the entire time and she didn't have a problem at all. I don't know why LCs are so doom and gloom sometimes!

Hou - Look at E! She is so happy and so cute! Happy to hear you got the reflux taken care of. I feel like my first pp AF is right around the corner too. I guess that's what I get for dropping my night pump. I've been having cramps for about a week now but nothing has started. Maybe AF is just toying with me. Noel and I both have little helicopter sleepers!! I feel like O is getting really close to rolling over as well. We actually did our first try at the no swaddle last night for bed and it was an epic fail. He slept fine through his first sleep cycle, but as soon as he reached light sleep again he was wide awake and throwing his arms around. At first we thought he'd get through it, but no luck he started screaming! So out came the miracle blanket and he was back to sleep in no time. We had to start using the miracle blanket without his feet in the bottom because he's too long!! It didn't go up high enough on his arms and he could break them out. I guess we'll try again next weekend and see how he does. I dread the day....

Noel - Love the wig, it looks great on you!! You don't share too many pictures at all (and if you do then so do I, haha!!). I love seeing S, in a way I think she reminds me of Ollie. Helicopter sleeping and all!

Shiny - I hope you're feeling better too, something is going around this board! So exciting that you're thinking about #3. I still can't even get onboard with number 2!!

MP - Happy early birthday to Micah!!

HH - Cute pictures of A, he looks so happy!

Mere - I love the gator picture, so adorable. Happy early birthday to C too!

AFM - O is up to 9 hours at night (sometimes 8 ). I still can't believe it. I honestly believe it's directly related to the fact that he's getting quality sleep during the day in his crib. DH worked really hard to get his nap schedule in place during the day this week and it really paid off. I have the best DH, he did a great job!! I know we'll have regressions, but for now everything is perfect. O is "talking" constantly and smiles all the time. Sure, this perfectness might only last a week but I'll take it. I feel like it's the first time since O was born that the stars have aligned.

And since I can't resist tons of pictures... here's my monkey with his Etsy teether. He loves it.

 

[AllieLuv83]

Thank you for all the well wishes. He seems better today. I took him out and he was smiling at all the people. It is amazing what a difference a few days can make. We are continuing the treatments until he goes back to the ped in a few days. It is a terrible feeling of helplessness when you can't do anything for your child to make them better.

All of the cuteness brightened up my weekend

 

[turtledazzle]

Question for the mommas of older babies - when did you wean the swaddle, and how did you do it?? E is 2.5 mos now, and I don't think we need to wean it yet (she LOVES her miracle blanket, sleeps soooo good with it) but even in the swaddle she manages to turn herself complete 180's in the crib. Hasn't turned over onto her tummy yet, but the day is coming...and I won't feel comfortable swaddling her if she can turn over in the swaddle!!

We also used the Miracle Blanket with T. We started deswaddling around 3 months by leaving one arm out of the MB ... each night we'd alternate which arm was out. After a couple of weeks, we tried both arms out (still using MB just wrapped all around his torso instead). That first few attempts were fails (T woke up at ~4am screaming when he was previously sleeping straight through until 7am). So we went back to the one-arm and waited another couple of weeks. The next attempt he was fine, then we went into Halo Sleep Sacks. So he was fully deswaddled by 4.5 months ... I think a little earlier.


Allie - So sorry your LO is sick . His pics are precious (I just bought T those PJs!)

Noel - She's beautiful

HH - Those pics of A are great. Are those puffs on the table? I haven't introduced those yet to T. Does A feed the puffs to himself? This weekend T kind of fed himself a few small pieces of banana -- most of it ended up scrunched into his fists, but a couple of bites actually got into his mouth

meresal - Those zoo pics are fabulous. We have decided to get a zoo membership -- it will be a great place for regular weekend outings. Love the romper -- we have a lot of them for T and I cannot wait until it is consistently warm enough here for him to start wearing them.

Kunzite - He is such a gorgeous kid!

****************
AFM -- This past week T has been consistently waking up about 30-45 earlier than normal. Has anyone else experienced this? He's 7.5 months old. We can't figure out if it is the brighter morning after the time change (though his room stays pretty dark ), the birds chirping (which wake us up ), or what. When he wakes up he is "practicing" his new skills -- we watch him in the monitor and he is fond of rolling over onto his tummy and doing push ups and then sometimes scrunching his legs up under him. I think crawling is on the horizon soon

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

yep! those are the happy baby puffs, but we've also done gerber and cheerios. A has trouble getting them in his mouth, they end up stuck to his hand, so we give them to him. i put them on his tongue or lower lip and he pushes them in the rest of the way. he likes them a lot.

sorry, 1 hand typing.

 

[Lanie]

Super fast, but wanted to say how CUTEY PATOOTEY all of the pics are! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

ETA: Kunzite -- YES! I've noticed a difference since we've started him in more of a routine as well. The second he's showing his cues, we stick him down for a nap and he'll usually go right to sleep! I'm so dumb that I wasn't doing it before!

 

[AllieLuv83]

Charlie is sleeping back in his crib tonight and I won't lie I miss my guy in bed with me. I loved the cuddles at night even though I couldn't really sleep all night long. I keep watching him on the video monitor rubbing his huggybuddy all over his face. I have been in there 4 times already tonight to remove the huggy from his the top of his head.

 

[geri]

I'm so hopeless, I keep getting half way through posts and then get sidetracked and by the time I get back there are more posts. Gah. Here goes:

Miscka - Welcome and best wishes for these early weeks!

Alllie, HH and Meresal - your boys are seriously cute!

Noelwr - Skye looks like such a little personality. I'll be interested to hear how she goes in the bumbo - we haven't decided whether to get one or not yet.

Hou - Ellie is so sweet and she certainly looks long and lean. We seem to be going the other way - moving up the weight percentiles more than the height percentiles but she just devours the food so what can we do?! We have only just discovered the miracle blanket (more below) but I am also now concerned about how and when we are going to break Claudia out of it. Not looking forward to it
I also have to say I am so in awe of you, Kunzite and all the other mummies who are back at work within 10-12 weeks., pumping etc. It must be so hard with a little one who is still working out their routine.

Kunzite - Congrats on DH getting O into a sleep routine. I'm trying to get Claudia used to sleeping in her cot most of the time and DH thinks I'm a nazi but it seems to be having some effect (evidenced by the fact that things seem to go pearshaped on the weekends when DH insists on taking her out and about all the time!) although she seems to have tossed her old routine out the window this week so we will need to come up with a new one.

Turtledazzle - You have given me some hope we can break Claudia from her MB with a little patience!

Lanie - Well done on the new routine!

LV - Samantha is seriously divine! The cooing is fantastic isn't it, except of course when you are trying to put them to sleep and they start cooing and smiling at you and you realise it is going to take forever to settle them! So frustrating but so cute!

SS - Congrats on "not preventing" for number 3!

Catluver- Hope you are doing well.

As for me, I just want to say a massive thankyou to all the PS mums who recommended the miracle blanket. We have used it the last 4 nitghts and it truly is a miracle. Claudia was breaking out of her muslin wrap no matter what we did and not sleeping well because of it. A mothercraft nurse told us to just stop swaddling (at 8 weeks) but that was a disaster. Then I spied a miracle blanket on the bottom shelf at our local baby shop (they are not very common in Australia and I hadn't seen one before). Since starting it, Claudia has slept from about 7pm to between 2 and 5 am and I have actually woken her a couple of nights to feed at about 4am because I was worried she wasn't getting enough food otherwise as she was only feeding 4 times during the day. So thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! Now my biggest problem is working out her to make sure she gets enough feeds in! We have previously tried waking her for a feed around 10-11pm (before starting the MB) but this seemed to have a negative effect on her sleep so looks like we need to work on her daytime feeds. No doubt we will regress again soon as she is only 9 weeks but I am enjoying the extra sleep while I can! i know it's not Friday but here is the little miss at 9 weeks.

 

[noelwr]

Allie - ER! that must have been really scary. despite being sick, he looks perfectly healthy in his pics. what a trooper!

HH - A in bunny ears!

meresal - great zoo pics. that's funny... here romper = onesie.

HOUie - wow, 2.5 months for AF to return. mine was at 7 weeks and the next 8 weeks after that. but then again, I don't BF and I have a whole lot of other stress happening to my body. if AF stays away, I will be happy.

HOUie & Kunzite - I wasn't planning on weaning S out of her swaddle sleeping bag any time soon. I was even thinking of ordering it in Large... she's in the Medium now. I was thinking it's going to be months before she learns to roll from her back onto her tummy and therefore can wait to wean until then. anyway, since she does that horrible rub-her-face-thing when she's tired, we are definitely not weaning until she stops that.

Kunzite - wow, O grabbing stuff to bring to his mouth! if you put something near S's face she'll bring her hands toward her as if it guide it to her mouth, but the grabbing is not happening yet. is the pointy tail of the dinosaur teether not dangerous? congrats on so many hours of sleep!

geri - Claudia looks like such a sweet little girl. I can't imagine her ever crying.

- - -

AFM, I have had two horrible ulcers right inside my lips and had problems eating and talking for 4 days (I think they took longer to heal than normal due to my immune system being down). it was hell because I so wanted to play with Skye and had to do it with my mouth closed and not talking to her. and she is so silly making loud farts and crazy sounds that it hurt every time she made me smile. today it seems I finally have relief! well, tomorrow I go for my 2nd chemo treatment. let's hope it goes as well as the last time.

 

[geri]

Noel - I know you want to be just another mum here so I don't usually say anything but I want you to know I often think of you and I really wish you the best with your treatment. I'm so inspired by your positive attitude, especially while juggling a little one. Good luck with the next round of chemo.

And don't let little miss "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" fool you, she has a set of lungs on her and she is not afraid to use them!

 

[Deelight]

JUst thought I would finally dip my toes in here and say hi considering my little miss is now just over 3wks I figure it was about time - seriously the time flies I can not believe that I have a 3wk old already yet on the otherhand I can imagine a time without her in our lives . I had posted pics and my birth story in the preggo thread a little while ago but I will post more pics when Friday come

I just also wanted to say how cute the PS babies are - I am so looking forward to posting here in the coming months

 

[Lanie]

HOU and noel -- I can't believe you guys got your periods already! HOU, are you nursing? I still haven't gotten mine, and my sister didn't get hers until 10 months pp. I hope mine stays AWAY for as long as possible!!!!

Kunzite -- I love your pictures. Oliver is SO CUTE.

HH -- I love your pics as well. He looks like such a fun baby. What kind of bouncer do you have? We just ordered one this past weekend on Amazon and I'm anxious to get it.

Deelight -- I'll have to run over and see your pictures. Can't wait to have you here permanently!

Allie -- sorry he's feeling sick and yikes about the ER! He's so cute...love his eyes. He looks like your DH in that second one.

geri -- I love the new pic! She's so sweet and beautiful! Glad she likes the MB!

mere -- I love his romper! Great pics! Are you going to get any bluebonnet ones? That's our plan for this weekend.

re: weaning from the swaddle...I tried to do one arm the other night. Epic fail! i'm like noel though since he won't roll from back to tummy for awhile yet, so I'll keep swaddling him for now.

OK, so I need to ask a question to the mommies who have been active "horizontally" with their DH's. I'm 3 months post partum, and it still hurts. Is this normal? It almost feels like I was sewn up too tight if that makes sense. I only had a minor internal and external tear, but I swear it's just weird. If it feels like this for the rest of my life, I don't know what I'm going to do. It does get better every time, but it still is not fun AT ALL. Like I hate doing it. HATE IT. Anyone else feel like this?

 

[Lanie]

P.S. my pic of Anderson with his frog pacifier!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I had a c/s and our first (and only) time PP hurt like a mother bleeper!

It's the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders bouncer. He has the jungle themed one at d/c and loves that as well.