PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[mtjoya]

mara-gilt.com is having a mclaren buggy sale! I got J the Techno XT!I got it for 189 plus 18 for ship, It wont ship til Sept.23! WTF! but its a kewl sale! J is such a cutie!!!!

 

[Mara]

yay MTJ..!! did you compare that to the Volo, I can't remember? if so you liked the McLaren better? I am into paying like under $100 ideally! I already did my 'big' stroller purchase.

Last nite J didn't even cry before sleeping-- our routine took a little longer since he was taking a while to finish his bottle so I sang to him. Afterward he was pretty mellow, binked him and he rolled over and that was it! And only a wake at 6am, and then again at 7:45 so we got to sleep in yay. Fingers crossed it continues in a similar vein.

It's my Moms' bday so tonite we are taking her out, I am really excited about this new restaurant which is French inspired Catalan cooking. It should be really tasty. My girlfriend is coming to stay with J, he will be asleep so hopefully she won't have to do anything. This afternoon we are heading to SF for a friend's BBQ--busy day.

happy Saturday all!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Hi Mara, Just a quick link--if you want a Volo (which is also made by McClaren) there's one for sale for $99 on diapers.com:http://www.diapers.com/product/productdetail.aspx?productid=48071

All these babies are so cute and getting so big

 

[PrettyBlues]

Puffy, congrats!

Happy belated birthday Charger! Champagne and cake sounds divine. Nico is adorable.

Lulu, great shot of Nora, she is so cute.

MP, Dad and Micah - love it. I find we have a lot more photos of Miles and D then then we do of Miles and I, I guess because I am the photographer in the family? And whenever I see a cute, funny, or special moment between them I want to capture it.

Mara, glad to hear the sleeping is going well. I can't believe how big J is getting! And, almost crawling?

re: separation anxiety, Miles is pretty good most of the time and will happily go see whoever. But he definitely watches me, and to some extent D as he moves around. And about two weeks ago he had his first real case of "I need Mom!" when we went to a family birthday (surprise surprise!!!!) and when we pulled up in the stroller about 8 people crowded around the bassinet and started talking and making noises at him. All of a sudden I heard crying, and I had to pick him up and he curled into me. Even though I don't like to see him sad, I was still feeling a little bit because it was only me that could comfort him.

re: diapers, as I mentioned before we use cloth most of the time. But when we use sposies, we also use the Huggies pure and natural. I like them, for us they are good as far as leaking and blowouts are concerned.

re: nose suckers, we have a manual but I find it doesn't work all that well so I have only used it once. He has been pretty stuffy though, so maybe I should look into the electric ones.

AFM, Miles had his very first night in his crib. Is it pathetic that I cried when we put him down? I just can't believe how quickly the time is going, and how big my baby is getting! I was worried that it would be a big transition, but he actually slept from 8pm-6am without waking So maybe it is good for him to be in his own room.

And, just maaaaybe, he will start STTN like this on a regular basis? One can only hope.

Here is a belated BPF - Miles has recently discovered Sophie and he quite likes her.

 

[jcrow]

pretty blues - funny, em is just starting to like sophie too.

nose sucker - this is the one we have. http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Nasal-Clear ... B001PBFWMO

target brand - we love their wipes too. we get the sensitive ones. great thickness + wetness.

so, em and i need to really work on her sleep. she use to go 6-9 hours for the first stretch, then 5, 4, 3, 2 hours until she wakes. then before she turned four months she was waking every 1.5 hours after her first long stretch of the night and eating every 1-1.5 during the day. it was slowing getting better. but last night and the night before, she'd only go 1 hour [!!] for her first stretch and waking every 3-2 hours to eat. i'm not sure how to get her back to where she was. every time she wakes i feed her and she goes back down. i think she's hungry each time? maybe not? she's rolling now but doesn't get frustrated. so i don't think that's what's waking her up. lots of times when we put her on her back she'll roll over and fall asleep. we have yet to experience sttn. or maybe we did once. just once. maybe. anywho, i'm hoping things get better because mama needs her sleep! oh, and a couple of nights, like last night, she wakes up after feeding and starts saying all her little sounds and is ready to play. but it's like 3 or 4 am though!

 

[mtjoya]

mara-Hey! I got the Tech XT becuz it looked more comfy and looks like it will last in the long run and plus it came in my fave color/shade...black! I really really like the Volo. I like it because the shade is bigger than the other ones. J has 3 strollers now. The Chicco one, a pink First Year one (my mom can bang and damage this one all she wants!) and the black Mclaren. I will post pics when I get it sometime in Sept or Oct.

 

[phoenixgirl]

jcrow, how old is em? Growth spurt maybe? Maybe if you try comforting her before you try feeding, you can find out if she really needs to eat or is just using that to get back to sleep? I'll admit I am not the sleep guru, but I hope you figure out a way to get more sleep for all of you!

Staying home ~~ it's going to feel weird soon as my former coworkers will be going back in a week. When I think that that could be I (yes, that's correct grammar, have to make use of my degree somehow now!), I have no regrets. All I think is, wow, the summer has gone by so fast and I feel like I've accomplished so little. It always takes me a while to unwind and catch up on my rest over the summer, and obviously I went into this summer a lot more tired than usual and I have a lot more to do during the day too, but I can't help but feel like I should have done more structured activities with Claire. Could've, should've, would've . . . I think it's just Mommy Guilt.

I'm also still trying to figure out this keeping house business. I've deep-cleaned each part of the house once since I quit work. So on one hand, there is less vacuuming and mopping going on than when the Merry Maids used to come (sigh), but I know that when I do the kitchen or the bathroom, I actually clean it a lot more thoroughly than they do. There was this Terro gunk left-over on the bathroom floor from my attempt to rid our bathroom of ants 2 or 3 years ago, and I figured that since it hadn't come off in 3 years it must be some kind of haz-mat waste that would require Goo Gone, but it came right up with some Mr. Clean and a scrub brush. Um, thanks for never doing that, maids.

I'm also realizing that I need to change my attitude about stuff around the house. DH keeps leaving his dishes and bike clothes for me to put away, and when I was working his stuff = him putting it away. It had been irritating me, but I think maybe I should do it as a matter of course as keeping the house nice really is one of my jobs. I really do have a lot of down time right now with a single, two naps a day baby. I had been chalking my butt-sitting during nap time up to me needing a break, but as the summer comes to a close I realize that maybe two months of taking it easy is enough. I'm going to resume my Rosetta Stone French lessons from last summer now instead of surfing the web when I'm "on break."

 

[Mara]

lol PG i love reading your posts--it almost reads like a blog of 'new housewife' ... like... oh should i be picking up after my husband now that i'm a SAHM? you should start a blog. btw my vote on picking up after hub is always NO regardless of SAHM or not. hee. prob why i would suck at it.

mtj oh glad to hear you liked the volo. we need to get a small umbrella and that's it... my mom has a hand me down stroller a friend gave us that she hates but it works when she needs it!! pls do post pics!

has anyone else moved their LO to their convertible seat yet? steph? i imagine J has maybe one more month MAX in his infant..he looks like a giant jungle child in it now and can actually yank the shade almost completely off. we have our convertible from the FAO sale but it has just sat in the garage, i haven't even opened the box. i hope it fits in our car, yikes. if not it'll be going on craig's list so i can buy a marathon HA!

also random Q and maybe i should ask this in the 12-36mo thread but wondering when moms seem to 'on average' move their kid to forward facing... weight wise. the blvd goes to 35lbs rf, i am hoping J can make it to 1.5 years rf, but not sure what the indicators are for knowing when that is supposed to happen, i read folded legs are ok but when do you know you absolutely have to move them to ff--do you just wait til 35lbs regardless? he is about 18lbs now and almost 7mo old.

i asked one of my friends who has a 2 year old who kind of mirrored J's growth and she said she moved him at 11mo to ff and said she wanted to keep him rf longer but that he was just so uncomfortable like that. i didn't ask what she meant (maybe folded legs?) because i know 11mo is REALLY early so i didn't want to keep talking about it and inadvertently say something.

so yesterday we went to our friend's bbq in SF. and for the first time ever, when we handed J to someone he FREAKED OUT. as in 20 seconds went by and then he started just screaming. inconsolable. even the fact that we were standing there rubbing his back etc didn't help. we had to take him back from our friend and then he was all hurt looking like 'why??'. we tried again later and same thing. and this guy he went to has a kid and is really friendly so it's not like he didn't know how to hold the kid or what. then later that evening our friend came over to watch J and i let her hold him before putting him down and he did the same thing! he calmed down with her after about a minute because she has held him before and maybe he eventually recognized that but he was still kind of pouty. i'm a little worried now about the new nannies this week...but hopefully he is ok with it. and i'm kind of sad he is getting like that with strangers though i hope it's just a phase.

jcrow... have you read up on any sleep training books? the funny thing about training is that i think it's mostly training the parents on how to help the kid and a lot of the books give the 'same idea' but just diff methods.

pb... M is soo cute!! J also was not interested at all in sophie for the first few months and then suddenly around month 4 he started loving her. now he just rubs the legs all over his gums and chews on her head. i admit i had my reservations about it but now he loves her.

our dinner last nite was fabulous. it was great to get out and have some adult time with my mom and sis and greg. today we are going to my mom's for a small luncheon for my grandma's bday. busy wkd..!!

 

[puffy]

hi mommies....

super quick, mara, we moved N to the convertible seat awhile ago. he loves it. he gets super happy every time i open the car door and put him in it.
as far as FF, yes it is always better to keep then RF as long as possible. BUT, with B, he was a nightmare RF! he would kick, scream, fight every single time he saw the car seat. so at 13 months, i moved him FF and he did SO much better. he learned to climb in and out himself soon after that. and he also got to watch shows so he never fussed after we moved him FF. i know a few of the other toddler mommies had the same issue where the kids were just fighting it. but i think tgal left her girl RF for awhile and she did fine. so it just depends on the child. the very MINIMUM for FF is 12 months AND at least 20 lbs.

oh and we also have a maclaren techno and LOVE it. but if all you need is a simple umbrella stroller, the volo is great.

is it weird that we have 7 strollers for 2 kids???

hope everyone is having a great sunday!!

ETA: love all the pics....too cute!

 

[Mara]

thanks puffy! yeah i guess we'll just see how J does...so far he seems ok with RF but i guess as his awareness of things around him grows he may not be happy that way. i would think though unless he is freaking out each and every time we are driving and just making absolutely everyone miserable, that we would otherwise leave him RF as long as possible. i didn't watch that YouTube that TG posted (a year ago?) but i remember the reactions to it and get the jist.

someone has been trying to boycott naps lately... i am lucky to get a one+ hour out of him if there is activity going on with the 2nd one being a huge fight. he just started his 2nd one right now after crying and rolling around for like 10 min and it will prob only last like 45min. jeez kid! sleep is great. learn it!! though he slept til 9am this morning (after binking him at 6am and 7:15am) so i can't complain.

and our neighbors gave us the world's largest zucchini which i am going to try to turn into puree for J. it should make like 20oz of it...i am not kidding.

 

[jcrow]

phoenixgirl - em will be 5 months on sept 7. extra comforting, gotcha. i'll try that.

mara - nope, haven't read any of those books. i was hoping not to need to :]

funny, i should give her more credit. she put herself to sleep tonight. after feeding she usually goes into the crib and sleeps. tonight, however, she wasn't sleepy like usual after nursing. we put her in anyway and after shushing, she seemed wide awake. we closed the door and said we'll see what happens. a few minutes later + a flip over on her part and she was fast asleep. yipee!

she did that once before last weekend when we went on a road trip to visit family. she was sleeping when we arrived at the hotel but woke up when got into the room. super wide awake. lots of cooing and smiling and totally wanting to play. we turned off the lights and after a bit she was out. no crying. no fussing.

anywho. maybe things are looking up?

 

[mtjoya]

puffy-hehe no it's not weird! what kinds do you guys have? I can't help but check out what strollers other ppl have. Today, we went to Santa Monica pier and saw the following: Many BOB's, Maclarens, 1 stokke, chicco, bugaboos. hehe!

Mara- Wow! 20 oz!

Love all the bebe pics!

Lulu-What a cute mama! Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful! I love her cap thingy! I love the color!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Ah, sad, the weekend is over. Ladies, all the babies? AWESOME AND CUTE. I keep saying this but I like Fridays.

So the last three nights Micah has spent at least half of the night in bed with me. Daddy isn't using his side, so baby has! And he has slept WAY better. He had been waking up every 4-5 hours still so I tried the big bed, and suddenly he was sleeping 7 hour stretches at the very least. Arg. I think he really hates how hard his crib mattress is. So I asked his pedi last Friday about doing something to make it softer. She said as long as I feel comfortable with it and it isn't so soft he would disappear in it, that we can pad it a bit. So we plan to get one of those egg crate foam pads to put under the sheet and see if he does better. I'm also going to start putting him to bed with one of my pajama shirts to see if it's just my mommy smell that makes him sleep better. We will see.

At his last appointment, my chunky monkey was 27 inches long and a whopping 15 pounds! No wonder his big butt was getting so heavy in his carseat. Methinks he won't make it to 6 months in that thing. I can barely carry him now. I'm so short and he is just SO heavy in it. My tiny baby is gone

 

[curiousaboutdiamonds]

Thanks everyone for chiming in re: separation anxiety. It seems like every baby goes through some level of it. Luckily, she hasn't cried really hard or screamed for me when someone else is holding her.

So we finally had to deswaddle Friday night (I don't remember why we decided to so), and A slept at 9, fussed at 10 and 11, and slept until 7:30 - NO 3/4 am bottle She repeated it on Saturday and Sunday, a little fuss but slept straight through from 9-7, no bottle and deswaddled. We have been swaddling 1 arm for 2.5 weeks, and decreasing her 3/4am bottle from 4oz to 2oz. I hope she keeps it up.

Mara- Sounds like you had a great weekend! The food sounds delicious.

PB- M is so cute with Sophie!

Jcrow- Hope Em is sleeping better. She could be going through a 4 month growth spurt. A went through something similar, waking up more often and wanting to eat more.

PG- I agree with Mara, even if you're a SAHM, that doesn't mean you should have to pick up after your DH. As I see it, taking care of C is also a full-time job. But I know how you feel, sometimes it's just easier to pick up after him than to wait for him to do it himself.

MP- M is a tall baby! He certainly doesn't look chunky in his picture, just a little cutie pie!

I had a question to ask, but can't remember now. Oh, mommy brain.

Here is Miss A happily playing with her toy. She's 5 months today.

 

[puffy]

mtj, we have a single BOB, a double BOB, techno maclaren, lacoste maclaren, twin maclaren, bugaboo cameleon, and SNG. as you can probably guess, we have a BIG garage!

ally, happy 5 months to your little girl!! and YAY for no wake ups!!

hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

MTJ- too cool that you were able to score a maclaren on Gilt! I wanted a triumph, but they were all sold of the color combos I liked, and I got there only 15 mins after the sale started. That's Gilt for ya... I think they still had a Volo left (which i would've been OK with), but it was some funky bright lime green color. oh well, i still have plenty of time until my wee peanut will be in an umbrella

PB- YAY for 1st nite in crib, and for STTN in it!

PG- I'm on mat leave until the end of October, and sometimes i have an internal struggle over fitting housework into my day. DH hasn't complained or anything, it's more my issue than anything!

Mara- I hope that this week goes smoothly!

JCrow- Here's to Em putting herself to sleep.

MP- I'll be interested to hear if making M's crib more soft/comfy makes a difference.

Ally- It sounds like deswaddling and no bottle is working for A. What a darling pic!

Puffy- WOW, you've got quite the lineup of strollers!

We had a quiet weekend- hung out at home and had dinner with my family last night. We were supposed to go to concerts in the park yesterday, but it was too flippin' hot here, and it's only supposed to get worse this week. I hear we're in for 100+ temps. UGH. At least we're going to the movies this morning! One of the big theatre chains has a couple of locations that screen MOMMY MATINEES- a movie at 11a on Mondays where they leave the lights 1/2 up so that mommies can attend to their LO's. I'm stoked to set foot inside a movie theatre, even if it's for Jennifer Anniston's THE SWITCH.

I'll be back later to report how N does at his first movie

 

[KimberlyH]

Just lost long post...

Jcrow, it sounds like Em is doing great, so if you're good with things as they are I'd just keep doing what you are.

Puffy, holy strollers!

Ally, hooray for a deswaddled baby. My kid is going to be begging me to swaddle her when she's 20, we'll have sheets sewn together to do the trick.

****

J slept in her crib all night. HOORAY!

A friend came over and helped me sew curtains for baby's room, then her husband and son came over and we all walked to dinner, a great day!

 

[jcrow]

oh, i've been meaning to ask... what's your favorite thing to bath your baby in? we have the puj which we love, but she's quickly outgrowing it!

 

[MonkeyPie]

oh, i've been meaning to ask... what's your favorite thing to bath your baby in? we have the puj which we love, but she's quickly outgrowing it!

Hehe, the kitchen sink. My mom used to do that until he got too big - now she uses one of those big clear storage containers would a couple inches of water and a towel in the bottom. And he kicks like mad and splashes it all over the kitchen! But she doesn't have a bathtub. I don't either, so I have one of those whale baby tubs and put it in the bottom of our shower stall, and spray him with the removable shower head. He looooves it.

 

[Mara]

we started in the kitchen sink in an infant tub.

now we have the inflatable duck tub that everyone seems to have at Target. J loves it. we put it in our clawfoot tub in the bathroom.

after he grows out of that (maybe another 6mo?), it'll be just the tub itself.

i need to get some recos on good tub toys. right now we have a rich frog, a temperature duck, and the johnsons bath hippo. that's it!!

 

[taovandel]

We still shower with Evan. Or I should say my husband showers with the baby....He holds him and I bathe him. He loves the shower.

 

[Burk]

Hey mommies! Another quick one from me. K has had a rough week. He just doesn't seem to do well with shots and then caught a virus on top of that (pedi says that's very common???) and has barely slept lately.....which equals total fuss pants.

In other news, Kade decided to nix the army crawl last week and is officially crawling properly. And, pulling up. And, he can get from crawling to properly sitting up finally. Big week between crab sessions! I can't believe my baby is 6 months already. Seriously. I've decided I can't imagine NOT doing this again so I think we'll be talking about number 3 eventually (like in a year). Enough about me. Here's one of his 6 months pics my friend took this weekend.

I'm gonna try and catch up a bit, but I need to get some sleep. Last night was rough. Hope everyone is doing great!

 

[Burk]

LOVE the baby pics Mara, MP, Charger, Ally and I'm sure there's someone else I'm forgetting. Such cute babies!!

Ally~YAY for deswaddling!!

Kimberly~Yay for crib sleep!

JCrow~Hope Em continues to put herself to sleep for you!

I wish I could read the past posts while posting like in old PS. It's too much of a PITA to scroll left and right. I'm sorry for everything I'm forgetting. Now I know how Viz felt without sleep!

 

[Mara]

Burk--try using FireFox to view and post in PS. I don't even use IE anymore, FF does not have the same issues thankfully!!!

K is soo cutie. Love his shirt. And those of you who have or want multiples, I salute you (and secretly think you are a little crazy!!) because J is so tiring on top of a job I think...how do parents with 2-3 kids do it?? Even spaced out. I just don't feel like there is enough of me to go around as it is??

So last nite J only woke at 6am and then slept til 8am--even when I was up and about in the house. Today he ate a lot apparently as well. We feel like he's growing--his head seems giant suddenly and his ribcage seems bigger but his belly is still small.

Tonite we did bedtime routine and then I left him to his own devices in his room, he fussed for a few min and I heard one or two cries and that was it. So far the last week or so we have been doing this has been great--we went from 20min the first night to a few 4-6 min nights and then the last few nights it has been either light fuss or no fuss at all, though last nite he cried for just about 2-3 min. Fingers crossed.

Naps are a diff story...he uses the time in his crib to test pre-crawling and play. He will lay in there for 20-30 min just playing, creeping, rolling. He doesn't cry a lot of the time so it's not like we can force him to sleep and even if he does cry, he doesn't get tired like at night and fall asleep. He just has so much energy. Any suggestions from older kid moms?? We might go in after 10 min and try to help soothe him to sleep a little but it's like he just isnt all that tired or else he'd fall asleep.

So as a result his naps are still like a total of 1-2 hours per day most days. But then he sleeps 12-13 hours at night. Go figure. I can't really fault him because that is what he will be doing as he gets older (aka no naps) but he usually is a superfuss by 6pm, an hour before bed, but putting him to bed earlier will not really work. He just flat out has to go down between 7-7:30 for the most part. Funny.

And no teeth yet. But I am fine with it because I will seriously miss that huge gummy smile baby when it does happen.

Oh and he grabbed and tossed the monitor out of the crib today. Time to try to mount it on the wall or something more creative I guess.. Oh and one of the new nannies came by today for a few hours to hang with J and my sis. Apparently he was a total angel and seemed to like her. He's reeling her in...

Ally..YAY for deswaddling!! It was hard for us but we just had to buck up and do it, when J started rolling I just did not feel comfortable with him swaddled. Speaking of, we swaddled him for fun again yest in the afternoon just to see what he would do, and he actually seemed to like it! He tolerated it well and seemed soothed. So funny --maybe bringing back memories.

Jcrow...hope E keeps putting herself to sleep for you guys.

Charger, hope the movie went well! I am curious to hear how that goes--we have one or two places like that here but they are all during the weekdays, one on the weekend would be great!

Kimi... yay for crib sleep!! Hope it continues.

Puffy and other stroller mamas...WOW. We do not have a big garage OR a big house, I guess it's a secret blessing?!?!?! lol.

 

[mtjoya]

puffy-damn girl that's baller status! a twin BOB and a maclaren! hehe! I was shopping down lake in pasadena, ca and was checkin out this trendy baby store and had BOB's and city jogger was loving everything!

Chargergirl-Yeah, I was mad cuz I really wanted the purple truimph but oh well, I saw the techno xt and was like wat the hell it looks comfy and better so I should get it! Yeah, the lime one was funky hehe!

 

[vizsla]

tee hee.. "baller status"... once we oogled over diamonds.. oh how the tides have changed.

PG - still jealous of your "housewife" status

hi everyone!

i'm just going to jump in with what i remember going on and then it's off to the grindstone.. i have a big week ahead of me

baths? we just put c in the tub. we had a little mesh chair thingy for when he was little, but ever since he started sitting up he just sits in the tub. OR he will sit on the tub floor while i shower. he LOVES holding his hand under the faucet when i'm filling up the tub - and loves to 'wash' his hands after he eats. my little OCD baby. as for toys we just use (multifunctional tupperwear and plastic spoons plus other random kitchen utensils. we've also been 'brushing' his teeth during his nightly bath now. no toothpaste just yet, but i want him to get used to a toothbrush. he's sooo funny about it and just opens up while i brush his teeth - funny baby.

we've been referred to a GI doc for his continuing bloody stools. i'm secretly glad we are finally going to get some answers (or be able to rule out GI issues all together) instead of playing the guessing game. i know that you have to eliminate the common issues first, but it's just so hard to watch my babe in obvs discomfort and not be able to help. i have noticed a slight improvement since eliminating wheat/gluten. i'm wondering if he has celiacs??
but this has made it more challenging to find food c can eat. we do a lot of fruit and veggies (and while not nutritionally awesome - canned organic veggies have been a good source of finger foods for practice) and quaker puffed rice cereal. i also found a brand of 'biscuits' called MUM-MUMS that are made of just rice, potato starch and salt. he loves them!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND - they create almost ZERO mess and dissolve super duper quick. they are a godsend in the car.

still waiting on a possible job offer. the guy i interviewed with said he wanted to finalize things by the end of the week. so we'll see.

think that's all i have right now. i had to drop C off at daycare monday and today -- and i really notice what a peanut he is compared to his classmates. my little 18lb string bean.

burk - you have to order the 'new mommy' at your local coffee shop. large coffee with 2-3 shots of espresso (depending on how bad the night was

amber - hope you are doing OK. let us know what is going on!

mara- HORRAY for you!!! see? you could do it goooooooo jjjjjjjjj!!!!

 

[PrettyBlues]

PG, I also stay at home. I know what you are saying about keeping the house clean, and I don't mind doing the *actual* cleaning, but I still think that D should be able to pick up after himself. As I say this, his socks are rolled up into a ball on his side of the sofa Sigh. Not that he doesn't pick after himself because it's not his job, he has ALWAYS been this way. And not matter what I try, it doesn't seem to get better. So maybe I should just let it go and pick up, rather than letting it irritate me. I just wish he would do it!

Puffy, funny about all the strollers! I have no idea where I would put that many, we just don't have much storage in this house. I think 2 will be my max.

Actually, speaking of strollers, I know there are a few us with with the Bumbleride Indie, and I have a question.
Right now M either strolls in his bassinet, or if we are out we put the car seat in it. When we were out of town last week we were going to try and put him right in the stroller for the first time. But the straps seemed really long and loose, and we couldn't figure out how to adjust them. Do we do it from the front or the back? How do we do it? This seems like such a stupid question, but nothing we tried worked.

Ally, cute pic of A! Glad to hear you had sleeping success.

Kim, yay for all night crib sleeping. Don't know about you, but I love it!

re:baths, we got the "FP whale of a time" tub at our baby shower, and still use it for M right now. I think we have a bit of time left in it, and then I figured we would transition to the big tub. I know some people don't like the baby tubs, and they definitely do take up room, but it has worked really well for us so far.

Charger, would love to know what you thought of the movies. We have something like that here, but I haven't gone yet and didn't know if it would be worth it or not.

Burk, love the tie in his pic. So cute! Hope he is letting you rest more this week.

And regarding posting, I always wondered what people were talking about with the scrolling left to right thing...I didn't realise it was a Firefox thing that it is still "normal" up and down to view past posts. I thought I was just missing something.

Mara, I'm wondering if he doesn't nap much during the day *because* he sleeps so long at night? I think in the no cry sleep solution it says at 6 months between 14-15 hours a night, with 10-11 at night and 3-4 during the day. So if he is getting 12 at night + 2 during the day he is still right on track, it's just shifted differently...I don't know, just a thought.

Viz, hope you guys find an answer soon. You guys deserve a break at this point! And keep us posted on the job.

AFM, Miles has now slept 8pm-6am 4 nights in a row And he wakes up happy and chatting to himself, so I can actually take a few minutes to wake myself up, go the bathroom, and pour myself some water for when I nurse before going to get him. It's so wonderful. Now the only thing I need to do is get myself to bed earlier so I can get a proper full night's sleep.

 

[Mara]

PB yay for longer sleep and also non screaming wakeups. I remember thinking like in month 2...when do they stop waking up crying??? It is so jolting for everyone involved haha.

I think at times like that it helped me remember what I'd read re: babies only being able to cry to communicate. When they are that little their bodies can make no other sounds. Babbling, raspberries etc all come later.

and yep you are prob right re his sleep. He has kind of always been like this... he was sleeping 8-10 hours at like 6-8 weeks and so his naps have always been few and far between. And yeah I know eventually as they get older you cut more naps out so I guess it'll be nice to not have this huge nap schedule to wean him off of. But sometimes I am like really...couldn't you just nap a little more?? Hehe.

re: the Indie..you mean the arm straps? hmm i think we just adjusted them...aren't they the ones where you just pull one side and the other side gets smaller? i might have to go drag it out of the car and look. and i did notice they don't 'tighten' for really small babies...aka they have always been a little loose on J and that is ok for me because he doesn't like to be totally strapped into anything anyway. but yeah for smaller babes it makes it harder to sit them more upright since the straps are not tight tight. are you using the 5point harness or the 3--it has both--we only use the 3.

lol re: baller stroller status!

viz... fingers crossed on the job. and yeah i think we are doing it ok..! funny how once you are out of the 'woods' a little you gain more perspective. i hope they find something on C really soon, poor baby. it's wonderful he's got such a great personality given the health setbacks he's had--that is so awesome.

so it was 97 here yesterday which means our house is like 82 by evening. J's room was 80. we haven't had summer all summer so this was a shock! i've been dressing him in sleepers and fleece sleep sacks for the last 2 weeks! so last nite he wore a l/s tshirt and a one layer muslin sack and i was afraid he'd be too hot but the weirdo loved it. he only woke up with one cry at 11pm (and i blame us getting ready for bed and deciding to put a big fan in his open doorway to help air flow) where i binked him and then he was out til 6:15am. i was sure he'd be restless with the heat but i guess not. i think he really likes to be WARM. just like his momma!

and today it will be 102. omg. and i am WFH with J and the new nanny. yikes. i hope she doesn't quit due to heat stroke!!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Hey mamas. I don't know if anyone has posted this link (and hopefully it's allowed), but it's a fantastic tip for storing/freezing breast milk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4nr7hxToiY

 

[vizsla]

exactly mara!! i still don't think CIO should be a first line defense as far as sleep training is concerned (i.e. exhausting all other options to see if they work before resorting to CIO).
i think a lot of the stressfulness surrounding CIO has to do with what i imagined was going to happen. it is sooo much scarier to think about what exactly CIO entails, then the actual act of CIO.... and now that it's over .... i guess i thought it was going to be much worse than it actually was. (it's still not easy.. but not at all what i had envisioned)

that said, i also very much believe that the age and emotional/physical stage of the baby plays a large roll in the effectiveness of CIO. for us, CIO would not have been as successful at 4, 5, 6, or even 7 months.