PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[JGator]

BB, glad to hear Chase's surgery was a success. He's adorable as always. Love him in his cloth diapers. His cheeks are scrumptious.

Kunzite, you were right. K has pseudo strabismus, and it will look better/go away as she grows. The doctor said since my husband is Indian(Asian), this is common - something to do with the bridge of the nose and skin between the eyes. So, that is a relief. Also, she checked her vision and said it looks great and does not expect she will need glasses. She did really well even with them putting drops in her eyes. She had a melt down in her car seat (stuck in traffic) when we were almost home, but overall it was a good day for her. Love your Oliver song - we need one for our K.

MP, sorry to hear about your job. But, you should definitely talk to someone as you will not feel any better thinking/stewing about it. I made a career change 2.5 years ago and it was the best thing for me. I would not be able to be a Mom in my old job because of the work hours and travel required. It took 3 months from the time I told them I wanted a change until something concrete happened, but I felt a lot better after speaking up. I encourage you to find someone with an empathetic ear - maybe not a supervisor but someone who has been around the firm longer who could advise you on how to broach the subject with your management. That is what I did - I was told - don't say X or phrase it this way - put a positive spin on it and people will want to help you. Good luck!!

 

[Kunzite]

Kunzite, you were right. K has pseudo strabismus, and it will look better/go away as she grows. The doctor said since my husband is Indian(Asian), this is common - something to do with the bridge of the nose and skin between the eyes.

I'm so happy to hear! Our Opthamologist said the same thing about O. She kept saying, "This is so common in Asian babies, so it's not surprising since he's half Asian!" .... Even though both DH and I were standing right there and (very) clearly neither of us are Asian! I kept wanting to ask her if she thought I was the nanny or something

 

[JGator]

Too funny that your doctor decided O was 1/2 Asian! Our nanny was with us and the three of us (DH was there) are different races. So, when the doctor came in, she asked, "How are you all related to K?"

 

[monkeyprincess]

Too funny that your doctor decided O was 1/2 Asian! Our nanny was with us and the three of us (DH was there) are different races. So, when the doctor came in, she asked, "How are you all related to K?"

Oh my gosh, that's kind of funny. I suppose that is a good way to avoid offending anyone.... So glad to hear that her eyes checked out okay. Thanks for the kind words on my job situation. I actually talked to a senior partner from another department who gives me work from time to time. He is awesome and just the nicest guy in the world, and he is going to have a talk with my group leader and see about moving me over to his group. The whole situation is frustrating and embarrassing, and I just hope it gets better the less I have to work with the difficult woman in my group. She has no social skills whatsoever, and I'm just plain scared of her because she is vindictive and you never know what to expect from her. She has gone through several secretaries and paralegals, and most people pretty much hate her. I wonder if she has some sort of untreated mental illness or something.

Kunzite, I hope this doesn't sound offensive because I totally do not mean it too, but I always kind of assumed either you or your husband were Asian or part Asian. Your boys just have that gorgeous bi-racial or multi-racial look to them with their coloring and features. You guys make such beautiful babies.

BB, so glad the surgery is over and went well. I can't wait until Ev's surgery is over. I try not to think about it in the meantime. Chase is such a cutie, and he looks like he recovered well.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Here's my little shamrock from yesterday. (I was playing with the effects on my phone, so the coloring is a bit funky)

 

[Dandi]

Hi ladies! Hope everyone's having a lovely day with their beautiful bubbas. PSers make the best looking babies, I swear!!

Quick question, does anyone sleep their babies in sleeping bags? Oscar has started rolling so I'm too nervous to keep him swaddled, he unwraps himself anyway. He's in a Love to Swaddle bag over night but during the day I'm trying to get him used to an armless sleeping bag. He mostly won't have a bar of it and won't settle unless his arms, or at least one, are tucked in tight. I'm thinking he might be too young too, he's only just 14 weeks. But then again he fights the swaddle 9 times out of 10. AGH! Little monkey. He sleeps 8:30pm until 8:30am without waking to feed, so I don't want to change that of course! But I really feel his arms need to be free to move if he ends up on his belly. Any advice?

This is how I usually find him after a nap when swaddled.

 

[Dandi]

And I just thought I'd post this because it's cute Sitting up with a bit of help from Poppy! (my dad).

 

[JGator]

Dandi, we slowly unswaddled K - I can't remember her exact age - we probably started around 12-13 weeks. She's 20 weeks now. We took out 1 arm for several weeks, and then we took out both arms and still swaddled her for a while. Now, she's in a Halo sleep sack. She has woken up more often recently, but I think it's teething and not the sleep sack. Good luck. Oscar is so cute - love those blue eyes.

MP, I am so happy you found someone supportive to talk to and also who is trying to get you moved to his group. That's great! I really hope it works out. Love your little shamrock.

 

[lulu66]

jgator so happy to hear that the ophthalmologist had good news for K!

mp I hope you are able to move groups at work...so happy you found someone supportive to voice your concerns to. Ev looks so tall & skinny what a cutie

dandi we are struggling with the unswaddling too. Ellie's 14w today & this week I've started swaddling with one arm out. I think we're going to do what jgator mentioned: one arm out, two arms out, sleep sack. I'm also trying to move her to her crib in her room but having less resolve about that; mostly because she's still has one motn feeding & it's so easy with her in the bassinet right next to me. Oscar looks so proud of himself sitting up--love it!!

AFU, we survived our first day at work. It was a short 4 hour day but Ellie did great! (Although it did take me 2 hours to get the 2 of us ready to work 4 hours. LOL) We have a few more short days this month to get us in the groove, then next month we start my normal part time schedule. I think it's going to work though so thankful!
I think I'm going to get an exersaucer/jumperoo for the office; does anyone have any recs?

 

[Puppmom]

Ladies, I need to vent here for a minute. The alternative is screaming at my husband. He's generally very engaged and helpful but the whole sleep (or lack of) is his area of weakness. The baby was up every 2 hours for 30 minutes each time overnight. I did not wake DH for help. I FINALLY got him back to sleep for the last time at 4:40am. DH's alarm goes off at 5 and doesn't wake baby but DH is SO TIRED that he snoozes it. By the third alarm at 5:10, guess what? Baby is up! Baby woke up N so now I'm up for the day on 3 hours sleep. Thank you!

 

[JGator]

Lulu, glad you had a good first day at work. I think you will get a routine going and it won't take you 2 hours to get ready to go every day! It does take a lot longer to get out of the house now with a baby, doesn't it?

Puppmom, you need to say something to your DH. Not cool on the snooze. Give him a whack on the head from me. Sorry the baby was up so many times for you last night. Hang in there! My DH hits snooze a lot too -I usually just say - I'll wake you up at a certain time if you just tell me when you want to wake up rather than having to listen to the alarm keep going off!

 

[monkeyprincess]

Pupp, I would be so frustrated too, so feel free to vent away! I hope you are able to have a good conversation with him to help him see how inconsiderate that was after the night you had. I hope you are able to get some rest today. Do you ever pump and give the baby bottles? Maybe you could have your DH do an early morning feed before he gets ready for the day? Hang in there.

Lulu, Ev is definitely tall and skinny. He keeps growing up rather than out! He is wearing 9 month clothing because he needs the length, but he is still in size 1 diapers because he has such a tiny little waist. Too funny. So glad that work went well for you! That's great. Isn't it crazy how much longer it takes to get ready in the morning with a baby? Oh, and these are the exersaucer and jumperoo we got as gifts from my in-laws for Ev:

http://www.amazon.com/Evenflo-ExerSaucer-Triple-Fun-Jungle/dp/B001H0GF10
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-K6070-Rainforest-Jumperoo/dp/B000I2UJ0Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby products&ie=UTF8&qid=1363701863&sr=1-1&keywords=jumparoo

Dandi, Oscar is getting cuter and cuter! Love his blond hair and blue eyes We're still putting Ev in a woombie at night because he still has a crazy startle reflex and wakes himself up if his arms are out, and he also has a bad habit of scratching the heck out of his face when he gets tired and frustrated. We watch him on a video monitor, and he sometimes rolls to his side, but never over on his stomach, so we haven't felt a need to let his arms out of the woombie yet.

 

[JGator]

Lulu, sorry I forgot to answer your question. We have this jumperoo - http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-T3635-Ocean-Wonders-Jumperoo/dp/B005OOKOK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363704775&sr=8-1&keywords=ocean+wonders+exersaucer

K is not tall enough yet though so we have a pillow under it so she can bounce. She likes it a lot. She's 24.5 inches now at 20 weeks.

 

[lulu66]

Ladies, I need to vent here for a minute. The alternative is screaming at my husband. He's generally very engaged and helpful but the whole sleep (or lack of) is his area of weakness. The baby was up every 2 hours for 30 minutes each time overnight. I did not wake DH for help. I FINALLY got him back to sleep for the last time at 4:40am. DH's alarm goes off at 5 and doesn't wake baby but DH is SO TIRED that he snoozes it. By the third alarm at 5:10, guess what? Baby is up! Baby woke up N so now I'm up for the day on 3 hours sleep. Thank you!

Pupp, I've been there. My dh sleeps like a rock and once he went back to work, I stopped waking him for motn feedings. And I often hear about how tired he is! Once we were in the car & he says to me after sleeping for 8+ hours, "That felt so good; I really needed that sleep." (He consistently gets 8 hours uninterrupted .) I turned to him and said, "You've got to be f'ing kidding me?! You're going to say that to me right now when I cannot remember the last time I slept for 8 hours straight, really?? Really?!" Mine is also known for not hitting the alarm. One night he was in the guest room ( in order to get good sleep) and in the morning I just laid in bed while the alarm went off FOR AN HOUR!! Finally I went in & woke him up. Its infuriating! Wishing you a chance to catch a nap today or at least a more solid block of sleep tonight!

 

[Puppmom]

Thanks for commiserating guys. I needed that! DD ended up coming to the rescue. She's off from school today but got up at 6:30 and watched N1 until 8:15! It was so nice of her and she offered! ...such a good girl!

I'm glad to hear other DHs have sleep issues. DH is an amazing dad but this MOTN business is tough. He literally cannot function. He doesn't think straight. This weekend he even had the nerve to wake me up when N1 got up to see of I could get up with him so he could sleep in. I told him to buzz off! later that day when he could think straight he realized how ridiculous that was.

I think I like your idea, Jgator. For now I'll be in charge of the alarm. I have a quick draw so it won't go off for 30 seconds at least.

N2 has had a few high maintenance days. He's definitely waking up. I took him for his one month check up today and he's already 9lbs11oz! So he gained over 2lbs on two weeks!

Time for baby to eat so I'll be back with full update later.

 

[lliang_chi]

Pupp, my DH did that too, snooze for... HOURS! I literally pulled his alarm clock out of the wall and threw it out of the bedroom. I was mad enough to smash it against the wall, but instead I threw it on the couch. That evening DH asked, "So, do you want me to stop using this clock?" Answer: if he's going to snooze it, No. If he's going to get up when it goes off, then he can keep it.

 

[JGator]

Pupp, how is N2 sleeping? Has your husband reformed his snoozing ways?

AFM, K has been waking up all week every 3 hours to eat! Total sleep regression. I remember when she used to sleep from 11pm to 7am every day! It is so hard when my DH is away during the week. He comes home tonight so I'm sure she will sleep better now that I have someone else to get up with her! I think I could bear it if it was every other night, but multiple nights in a row are so exhausting.

 

[monkeyprincess]

JGator, I'm glad your DH will be back tonight to give you a little relief. K will get back to STTN again soon I'm sure. Ev is pretty inconsistent these days. He'll go a few nights sleeping 8-10 hours, and then he'll have a several nights in a row of waking up once or twice and wanting to be fed at random times. It's a little frustrating not knowing what to expect each night, but I'm glad that he is at least capable of STTN once in awhile.

Pupp, how sweet of your daughter to let you sleep in. I'm very lucky that my DH has always been ones of those people who can get by on little sleep. He does sleep a lot harder than I do though. But he feels no worse for the wear if he only gets 4-5 hours, so he has been amazing about doing his fair share of getting up with the baby. There was a study that just came out in the past couple weeks about how women are generally more adversely affected by lack of sleep than men. I'll have to see if I can find a link, so you can show it to your DH! Of course, it can't be equal if you are exclusively breastfeeding though. Hope things get better.

Here's the link:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/women-wake-grumpier-men-study-article-1.1288487?localLinksEnabled=false

 

[monarch64]

Hi ladies! I'm following along here, as usual, but can't seem to find time to post personal responses!

Here are some pics of Alex from this week. She has two new teeth (once again, she gave us no warning!) The kid must have my high tolerance for pain when it comes to dentistry stuff, I'll accept that, and hope it lasts. You can't get a finger in her mouth to feel around for anything, though, which is discouraging.

 

[Dandi]

Thanks for the advice re. swaddling ladies! The one arm swaddling is going ok so far, so we'll stick with that for a bit.

monarch, Alex is just scrumptious!! What a doll!!

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Love checking in and seeing photos of your darling babes... They're all so cute! Dandi, your little guy reminds me of my Eloise. A total tow-head with blue, blue eyes

BB- So glad C is okay! Hope the teething is improving and he's in better spirits!

Pupp- I don't know how you do it! Superwoman. You have every right to be frustrated.... Just make sure your DH knows just how nice you're being by letting him sleep Your DD sounds like a sweetie for helping out.

JGator- Glad you had good news from the appointment. K is such a pretty girl- what color are her eyes, exactly?

We're doing well. Eloise's sleep has improved- we seem to be down to one waking around 4 am. I'll take it! Still not crawling, though I thought we'd be there by now. She's saying "Ba-ba-ba-ba" and clapping like it's going out of style. No teeth, but loving food. She's such a happy girl- I'm falling more in love each day! Re: nicknames, we call her Ellie-Boo, Ellie-Bellie, Smelly-Ellie (sorry, baby!), and Ellie-Jo (middle name is Josephine). I actually sing her a song that goes, "Oh my name's Eloise, call me Ellie-Jo. I'm a baby,don'tcha know? I love my mama and I love my dad, and I love my Zoey-Puppy, even when she's bad!"

 

[monarch64]

Thank you, Dandi!!! Hope the swaddling continues to go well. PPM, omg what a gorgeous baby Eloise is! Alex crawled before she clapped, and we were kind of worried about her not clapping...you just never know what they're going to do, I guess! Anyway, E is magnificent, seriously. Hair, eyes, skin, expression...oh my! Just a lovely lady you have there.

 

[JGator]

MP, DH took care of the early AM wake-ups the last few nights. He's back out of town so it's my turn again! Really hoping she starts sleeping longer stretches like she used to again soon. I hope you had some good sleep stretches with Ev.

PPM, K's eyes look blue to me. They look grey to my DH. And, the doctor says they are a unique green which she thinks will stay that way. So, we're not sure! I guess it's the mix of Caucasian and Indian. Eloise is adorable Can't wait till K can eat pickles. I'm a huge fan of dill pickles. How old is Eloise?

Monnie, love your latest pictures of A. Love the one with her doggie!

AFU, K had a lot of wake ups this weekend and she has started making raspberry noises. I am not sure how she learned to do that - we didn't teach her. She's practicing rolling from back to side...not all the way over yet. She has been moving around a lot in her crib even in the sleep sack - she will move 90 degrees a few times in the night. I went to story time for babies (11 months old and younger) today with K and the nanny during the day. It was fun and she was pretty engaged.

 

[monkeyprincess]

JGator, I think blowing raspberries is just one of those developmental things babies do because they asked if Ev was doing that at his last appointment. It's funny isn't it? Ev always gets this serious look on his face like he has a very important task to do that takes all his concentration. Glad you both had fun at story time!

So, for those of you with older babies, I'm starting to wonder at what point I should expect Ev to be more stable when he is sitting up in the bumbo and his jumperoo and when he should be rolling over. He is nowhere near sitting up on his own yet, and he still seems pretty shakey when he is sitting up assisted. He is closer with the rolling and can sometimes roll from his tummy to his back (but he forgets that he needs to keep his arm forward rather than at his side), and he can roll from his back to his side and almost all the way over. He is pretty strong otherwise and can scoot himself in circles or to reach on object. I'm thinking he just needs a little time to catch up because he was a little slow to gain head control and to lift his head when he was on his tummy. He doesn't have head leg when we pull him up from lying on his back, which is something I know doctors check. Just hoping we're still within the normal range for these things. He's about 5.5 months old now, and I see a lot of babies his age that are sitting up more steady and rolling.

 

[Kunzite]

mp, not offended at all! And speaking of color... This really belongs in the toddler thread but oh well... O has turned yellow! The pedi says it's because he eats too many orange foods We're supposed to limit him to only one orange food a week but I have no idea how we're going to do that, it's mainly what he eats for veggies!

I wouldn't worry about E sitting at all. M has been pretty slow about things too and the pedi isn't worried. He just started sitting well in the last few weeks. Before that I always had a boppy or pillow behind him because he had a knack for falling over! If these two have taught me anything it's that all babies are different. It's one thing to know that in theory and a completely other thing to see it develop in front of you! At this point the only thing E and M have in common is their eye color. Otherwise, they are complete opposites!

Hi to everyone All of the little ones are so cuuuuute! I wish I could keep up in here.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Kunzite, too funny about O turning yellow. Of all the things you have to worry about! E and M are SO cute! That's so ccute that they have such different personalities. It must be so fun to see them interact. Thanks for your thoughts on the sitting up thing. I'm thinking I don't have too much to worry about, because he is doing pretty much everything else he is expected to do at this point. He has good hand eye coordination and is interactive and "verbal" (to the extent a baby can be), so I don't think we are dealing with a wider spread porblem. He has an appointment in a few weeks, so I'll wait to see if the doctor has any concerns about his gross motor skills. I'm guessing part of the problem was that he pretty much insisted on being held all the time his first 2-3 months, so I wasn't able to get him on the floor to practice those skills as much as I would've liked. The one thing that has really helped recently is that he is really paying attention to our cats. Whenever they come near or walk by, he tries to roll and scoot himself in their direction to watch everything they do. They're not quite sure what to make of him these days. They didn't mind sharing my lap with him in the beginning, but now he is a bit more threatening I think, so they like to stay out of arms (and legs) reach.

 

[Kunzite]

Funny about the cats! M started army crawling this week and I think it was because he finally got tired of E and O running off and playing without him! He was always getting left behind

And just for fun, here is a picture of O in the same outfit that E is wearing. They're starting to look so much more alike!

 

[lliang_chi]

Kunzite, don't you have a pic of O wearing the same outfit that E is wearing in that picture too?

 

[megumic]

Hi ladies...coming out of lurkdom for a quick carseat question. Even though I don't post often, I do follow along daily and love reading everyone's updates.

We've just moved C to a convertible, rear-facing. Both the car seat manufacturer and our vehicle permit center position rear-facing installation with LATCH. The car seat also allows tether in this position. For a center seat install, do you Swedish tether to either seat leg, even though it is off-center? I can adjust the straps so it works and is taught, but wanted to see what others do. Or do we skip the tether in this position?

 

[Kunzite]

meg, yes either side as long as it's not more than 20° off-center.

LC, of course I do! There was a solid month when all of his pictures were in that outfit somehow! I don't know how it was in good enough shape to even pass down he wore it so much

There was one a few pages back showing of his crazy eyes, but this one is my favorite

 

[monkeyprincess]

Kunzite, they really do look alike! I actually think O kind of looks like a blend of E and M. So cute! Love their clothes too. Poor Ev is not a very styling baby and spends the majority of his time in pajamas. I always feel like it is a waste to put on his cute clothes because he spits up so much, but that means he never ends up wearing them.