PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Hudson_Hawk]

Mara-no it wasn't a good package, it's only 3 weeks. His job isn't being cut, there are still others with the same job, it's just pettiness. When it comes to FMLA the mother and father's rights are the same. It's leave to care and bond with an infant.

 

[Mara]

Mara-no it wasn't a good package, it's only 3 weeks. His job isn't being cut, there are still others with the same job, it's just pettiness. When it comes to FMLA the mother and father's rights are the same. It's leave to care and bond with an infant.

Gee that's pretty ballsy of them!! Ugh.

 

[meresal]

I miss being pregnant.

A few nights ago, we were at dinner with a friend that is due in a few weeks, and I literally could not remove my hand from her belly (after she told me to feel him moving).The minute I felt that first roll, I was almost brought to tears. It is just such an incredible thing to me, and I loved every minute of it.

I haven't felt like this since the few weeks after C was born, but is it normal to long for something so much, just by touching someone else's belly?

Anytime I talk to people about this, I get the weirdest looks. Am I the only one in the history of pregnancy to have actaully liked it? All of it.

ETA: For the record, we are not looking to have another child anytime soon.

 

[lovelylulu]

mer - I think that everyone has a different experience with their pregnancy and personally don't think that it's weird that you loved yours so much/want to be again. There were a lot of parts that I could have done without. a lot. but, there are some things I miss - the movements for sure. so special!

HH - again, I hope that you and your husband can get a good resolution from his former employer. amazing

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

AFM, Nora was 4 months this week.

it's a good thing N is cute because she was up at 10:00, 2:30, 5:30 last night. Normally, she's down by around 7-7:30 and then has a feeding somewhere between 2-4 am and that's it. same thing (multiple wakings) the night before.

I think that part of it may be due to her waking up on her belly. while she's not scared of it anymore, i think that she has trouble falling back asleep in that position and hence the crying.

i've been feeding her at each waking and she's been happy to eat, but I'm thinking about trying to put her back to sleep w/o a feed after I'm sure this isn't a growth spurt.

does anyone do that?

Also, we did go to the pumpkin patch last week and it was so great. I wasn't sure how much the wee babe would enjoy the outing, but the weather was perfect and our girl is totally into watching/observing everything around her, so it was perfect. we enjoyed it to. highly recommend!

her favorite position is standing right now. and yesterday, she started to scoot up on her knees, but not push up on her upper body at all. it is so cute to see her little diapered bum in the air, but if this is leading to crawling, I can only hope that it takes about 3 more months for her to put it all together

n's BPF -

 

[KimberlyH]

Mere, I loved being pregnant (and I had a rough pregnancy between bleeding, gestational diabetes, low fluid, and growth restriction) and really miss it. I look forward to being pregnant again.

LL, Jane's wake ups are all over the place, at 5 m I stopped feeding her every time. Tried other things first to see if they worked, then fed as a last resort.

 

[KimberlyH]

Mere, I loved being pregnant (and I had a rough pregnancy between bleeding, gestational diabetes, low fluid, and growth restriction) and really miss it. I look forward to being pregnant again.

LL, Jane's wake ups are all over the place, at 5 m I stopped feeding her every time. Tried other things first to see if they worked, then fed as a last resort.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Just popping in with a quick photography question for Lulu:

Lulu, I love all of your pictures. I don't know exactly what to call it, but your photos have a filtered sort of softness to them. How do you do it? Is it a special lens or filter? I have a Nikon DSLR (D60, I think?) I know nothing about photography, but I'm hoping I can achieve the same effect with my camera. Thank you!

 

[Puppmom]

Mere, I'm no going to say I loved being pregnant but I do miss it. My girlfriend found out she was pregnant right after N was born and it's so exciting for me. Whenever I see her, I keep staring to see if a belly is emerging. She's high risk because of a blood antigen and I call her after every doctor's appointment. I'm probably so irritating but I can't help it!

Lovelylulu, what a cute pic! I love reading your posts and the others who have kiddos a month or so ahead of us. It gets me all excited about what we have to look forward to!

AFM, we met with MIL last night. It went well but part of me thinks she's just humoring us because she knows we're nervous. We asked her if she was worried and if she had any questions. She said no but DH thought it might be a good idea to revisit the "equipment" and where everything is in the house. She agreed and took notes. She and DH put N to bed so it was a great opportunity for him to reinforce that N needs quiet. She just kept saying how hard it is to not talk to him if he's looking at her. She also commented on why we put him to bed when he's so lively and awake - the kid was literally passing out. His head was like a bobble head and he was staring off into space. Hopefully, she'll pick up on his signals soon enough. I'm still freaking out to be honest but that has less to do with MIL and more to do with me. I think before I go back I'm just going to let her know how apprehensive I am and maybe just reinforce how important it is to me that she stick with our napping and soothing techniques as best she can. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. I just don't want my little man to be crying while I'm at work if she can't soothe him. Can you tell I'm freaking out? As the days tick by, my nerves get worse and worse!

 

[curiousaboutdiamonds]

This thread has been moving so fast, I haven't had a chance to read it all.

HH - Sorry to hear about your DH's job. I'm not a labor attorney but it seems like it's illegal to terminate you while you're on leave under the FMLA!? I hope you guys have some recourse.

Mere - I know what you mean about missing being pregnant. I had the easiest, uncomplicated pregnancy and an easy birth, but I didn't want to go through it again. But when I look back at the ultrasound pictures and pictures of my preggo belly, I actually miss the little movements inside me. Somehow I'm forgetting the evil crotch pain, the restless and awkward sleep, the diet limitation, and so on...

Lulu - Love your picture, as always! Love the babylegs. I just ordered some from babysteals yesterday. Can't wait to get them!

re: solids - sounds like you have a great plan on when to start. We were given the green light at 5 months to start rice cereal and then solids at 6 months. I was planning on waiting until 6 months to start anything, but caved at 5.5 months because A was constantly watching us eat and smacking her lips. At 6 months, we started with green veggies, then orange veggies, and just started fruits. We also followed the 4 day rule before we introduced new foods, so it's taking awhile to cycle through all the allowed foods.

Pupp - You sound like you have a great situation with your MIL. She seems to be taking your instructions and suggestions well. Hope she follows through on them. N will be in great hands.

Don't have much time to go back, so to everyone else!

AFM - A turns 7 months next week and she's just a big ball of fun. She's now actively crawling everywhere and pulling herself up on everything. Getting back down is another story. She's been sitting in her walker and going backwards, but now she's learned to walk forward. Still need to get a gate. Anyone have any suggestions?

After months and months of pumping an insane amount of BM, I have a deep freezer stash of 5 months' worth, so I'm now starting to wean from the pump. My plan is to decrease the amount of time at each pump session (currently 3x a day) and then cut out the middle pump and eventually pump every other day, then every 3-4 days, and then stop. I just don't want to get any clogged ducts. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear it. TIA!

 

[lovelylulu]

pupp - I think that once your MIL is spending longer stretches with N, hopefully she'll be able to sort out his signals. I know that for me, when I was watching my brother's son, it was a lot harder to know exactly what he needed because I wasn't living his routine day in and day out, despite spending lots of time with him . . .

and yes, you have lots of great things to look forward to in the coming months

I am absolutely in love with the four month age (minus the wakeful period. ha!)

kim - thanks for your sharing your experience with J. I will give it another few days and see what happens. if the wakings don't diminish, i'll try something other than an automatic feeding.

vintage - thanks for the compliment i use a canon xti, so your camera (I believe) is quite comperable. Now, I'm no expert and haven't taken any classes or had any training, so it's only amateur advice, but, i would play around with your camera and get to know the features. I shoot in the manual setting, so i had to read the actual manual to learn about how the aperature, speed, etc works. Personally, I love a wide aperture lens which means that in the picture above, nora's in sharp focus, but the background is much more blurred and soft. It also means that you don't need to use a flash except in very dark situations and that's great for shooting little ones. I use a 50mm 1.8, but there are lots of options.

I would also love to learn how to use photoshop and really want to carve out some time to take a class. for now, I use a very simple (and free) progam available on the web call picasa to do things like crop and adjust the exposure and sometimes tweak the coloring.

good luck and I'm sure your photos will be fabulous!

 

[turtledazzle]

Mer -- I loved being pregnant and even delivery ...but I am sooooo not ready to relive the first six weeks of newborn life (but DS is only 8 wks so it's still way too fresh in my mind right now).

We just went on a tour of the daycare facility and met his main teacher. Loved it! All of the little ones were outside in this beautiful weather playing. Thanks for all the feedback re: going back to work early. I'm going to look over the paperwork this weekend to figure everything out.

I posted this over in the swaddling thread, but thought I might get more response here. I am thinking of getting a Woombie soon. He is outgrowing the Kiddopotamus swaddles that we use for naps, and I think the Woombie might make a good transition from the Miracle blanket that we use at night in the process of deswaddling.

Did others transition from miracle blanket to woombie or is the one arm out at a time approach better?

Has anyone tried the convertible Woombie? http://www.thewoombie.com/convertiblewoombie.html
If it works it seems like a good idea. After you've deswaddled, you can still use it as sleep sack (albeit it a snug one).

 

[Loves Vintage]

Lulu - Thanks for the advice! You could totally pass as a pro, by the way!! I do have a detailed instruction book that DH got me quite a while back. I've never even opened it!! I shall do so this weekend. I will start taking pics of the pets and hopefully I'll be ready to take some nice photos of Sammy when she arrives! And, I still want my pro photos with all the cute props!! Cannot wait!! Almost 28 weeks! Can't wait to join you ladies!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Turtle, we HATE the woombie with a passion. It's a cool concept, but it does nothing to keep LO's hands down away from his face. WE discovered that Aidan could still chew on his hands in it and it was a b*tch to try and give him a bottle at night with his hands up around his face. Also, the neck is really tight and the zipper goes all the way up.I always felt like it was going to choke him.

 

[Sha]

Just jumping to say quickly -

HH- sorry about your DH's job loss. I hope he finds something else soon...

Meresal I totally loved being pregnant too! I even loved L&D...and I had a natural labour, with some pitocin as well to add to the fun. I would love to be pregnant again soon.

 

[meresal]

Thanks for the reassurance ladies!

Lulu, we are hoping to get C to a pumpkin patch sometime in the next 2 weeks. He turns 6 months on Monday, so I'd like to do a photo with the "Fall" theme to send the family!

Pupp- Your MIL sounds great for being such a sponge. She seems to really listen to everything you have to say!

Ally, I'm so excited to read how much you are enjoying your little one. C turns 6 months on Monday, and I am just loving hoiw much he is changing. I cannot wait for him to start crawling. He's doing the pumping motion right now that is just so adorable, but I love seeing him conquer new activities.
Congrats on the stash! That is incredible!

Turtle, the first 2 months, IMO, are the worst. I was so glad to see that stage pass. I am not ready to have another baby, just liek teh pregnancy part! lol

Sha, we are alike. The day I gave birth, I was so over the moon, I even mentioned being ready to do it all again! Ha! I loved all of it. (minus the weight gain, but that was my own issue, not the pregnancy) The nurse tried to tell me that I could do it natural, but I didn't want to take the chance. Eventhough I made it to 7cm without the epi, and wasn't in any real serious pain. You are a star in my book!! I wasn't sure it would still be enjoyable, but I am happy to hear your story.

Well, I guess I am going to be the first to post for BPF! We just got home from Boo at the Zoo. Took an adorable picture:

 

[Puppmom]

Love C in front of that huge candy corn!

Thanks guys! Going back to work is going to require taking a big girl pill for sure. We are lucky to have MIL. We knew we (and she) wanted her to watch our child. It's going to be an adjustment to have her so involved in our lives but I think it'll be well worth it. It's the next best thing to one of us staying home.

 

[mtjoya]

Hello everyone! Happy Friday!

Here is Diva J on her saucer! yay! Love tha bebe pics so far! Yipeee!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Happy Friday, ladies!

HH, I hope you can get some serious recourse for your DH. Honestly. That makes me so angry for you! And I saw your comment about the Woombie - I wonder if it will work better for you when A is bigger? He's a little peanut right now, maybe he needs to grow into it.

mtjoya, what a cutie! She looks so stoked with that toy.

pupp, I still have to remind my mom and dad about things they really should not be doing with Micah - like feeding him french fries At least he will know your MIL and won't be as likely to cry for her as he would with a daycare. I will be thinking about you! When do you go back to work?

Mere, that picture still cracks me up! He's so little next to that humongous candy corn. And I absolutely loved being pregnant, too, until the last few weeks - then I was just huge and my waddling was horrible. Plus I had this weird tendon pain in my left inner thigh that made walking sort of uncomfortable. I don't miss that at all, but I do sometimes wish I could feel little kicks. I can hardly wait for our next mini-monkey!

I think I missed something I was going to respond to but I can't think of what it was lol.

Anyway, AFM, here is Micah's BPF. We took him on a Walmart run for formula and diapers (we finally got the Overnights Huggies, I hope they work because he is leaking at least once a day/night and it's killing us, even though the diapers are the right size for him!), and DH found this hat. It's meant for tween-age girls but it fit him so cute we got it. It was only a dollar, and he didn't have any problem with it being on. He was too busy chewing on his cart cover toy.

 

[Mara]

MP is that the CP fish stretchie? I was just going to buy it online hehe.

turtle... yay for the daycare!
pupp..ditto the other ladies on more time for your MIL with the baby will only help her understand him and his signals more. i think it comes with time, esp for the g'parents.

re: being pregnant, I definitely do not miss it at all. My pregnancy was uncomplicated, but I hated the loss of control over my body and feeling like much of what happened was not up to me. After 35 years in my body it was hard to give control up. One of my friends and I feel exactly the same about it, and we both totally agree that people who loved being pregnant are flat out crazy. But I still love ya'll!! Hehe.

Love the BPF's!!

So we have a tooth peeking through! It makes me wonder if part of J's fever and issues the last few days aren't teething related..even though the pedi nurse told me that teething fevers are usually under 100. Anyhow, I am just so excited a tooth is coming out. But poor baby--he's definitely restless tonite. It's just one corner out so the rest has to come, ugh.

re: woombie, I don't think it would have worked for J...he prob would have tried to smother himself with it at night. He was just too crazy for any type of freedom for the first few months. BUT we did consider it to help with deswaddling but I didn't feel like getting another product so we just did straight deswaddle.

as for the stage J is in at almost 9mo, I just love it. He's sooo cute right now. And so fun, so interactive.

 

[drk]

Love all the cute baby photos!

HH - sorry to hear about the job. So unfair.

So we emailed my mom about the criticism, mood swings, and feeling like she thinks we're bad parents. She seems willing to try to change, but now is saying she won't do anything but what we tell her to do, and won't give any advice. We'll see how it all plays out during our next visit.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Yup, Mara, it's the fishies! I love it, it fits so perfect. That's a 12 month one How is J doing with his tooth today?

Micah had a HORRIBLE night. He went down at 6:30 after being totally happy all day, despite shots. At 10:30 he woke up and was super grunty and clingy, and then his fever started. Our cheapo thermometor didn't seem reliable but what we got the highest was 101.3. He felt like he was on fire! And he cried and cried all night after that. He's fine now, and just took a nap, but it was scary. The nurse on duty at the hospital told us the flu vaccine was causing that with lots of babies but unless it reached 103 we were ok. No one slept much last night!

 

[Mara]

aww MP sorry to hear M was struck with the fever last nite. so for his shots did he get the flu vaccine? also J is wearing 12mo in the CP footies too!

i wonder if they will want to give J his at his 9mo appt. ugh..! i don't want to go through another fever.

J's only reached 102 which seems so high but apparently it's not really worrisome at his age. they said if it reached 105 that is when we should bring him in immediately. otherwise just let his body fight the fever and if he still has fever 72 hours later then we should bring him in. that would have been today at 2pm so glad when he woke this morning it was gone.

and it is hard not to worry when their little bodies seem SO hot...i felt like his legs and arms were burning my skin where they touched. poor things.

this morning the tooth is slightly out more and he's been fussy intermittently but mostly when trying to eat his solids. i dosed him with tylenol and put him to nap. he is def more needy and fussy lately, wants to be held more but i am chalking it up to not feeling well. he's usually SO independent that it's even harder to see him be really needy. not that i secretly don't love him wanting me to rock him while he cuddles.

drk love that pic of K in the leaves.

we are going to hit up a pumpkin patch tomorrow. funny how now that we have J all this stuff takes on new meanings.

 

[Puppmom]

For those of you who use pacis, how do you know when to change the size? N still uses a newborn soothie. Do you just go by the age on the package? Do you have to switch?

 

[Puppmom]

MIL just sent me and email. She drafted an "Owner's Manual" for N's care. It was so sweet of her. I know she can tell I'm having a hard time with going back to work (in less than a week )

She asked for changes in red. ...and even mentioned that we shouldn't worry that something is too nit-picky or small to note. We're so lucky.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Aw, pupp, your MIL is being awesome. How sweet of her to make a list! She will do great

Mara, that's hilarious - Micah is what, 2.5 months younger than J? My monkey is a big beast.

And yes, he got the flu vaccine. He has to get it one more time in a month and then he will be done, but next time should not get a fever since his body will be used to it. He's been sad and listless all day and ran a touch of fever earlier - God, he just feels like he has flames under his skin! - but I gave him a lukewarm bath and it went away. He is finally napping now. He took a tiny nap this morning but he really needed more after all the sleep he lost last night. My poor baby.

I went and bought the stuff to make paci clips today because he needs some more to swap out while I wash and dry the others, but I couldn't find any suspender clips! Ugh! I'll have to find some tonight at Michael's and make them tomorrow.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

MP, you're so crafty!

So DH and I took Aidan up to NH today to have his newborn pictures taken (even though he's 5 weeks!). OMG it was a nightmare! He was fussy on the car ride, then passed out for an hour so when we got to the photog's he was awake and ready to party. She wanted him asleep. So we had to give him a bottle and snuggle him to sleep, but he never really passed out, just sort of stayed in that almost asleep cranky phase. So it was a looooooong 3 hours and I don't think we got a ton of great pictures I do know we got one good one where he's smiling though. Oh, and he peed/pooped on me while I was holding him on my lap. Then on the way home he cried and cried and we hit traffic going through Boston which made it worse. DHand I were just about homicidal by the time we got home. I love my husband and he's usually a huge help with Aidan, but he was NO help today. Seriously, he sat there and watched the photog and I try and get a handle on his crabbyness and he did NOTHING and then bitched all the way home about how we have such a difficult bad baby. Um..I have a good baby, whose behavior, while inconvenient and not fun, is totally normal and to be expected. Seriously, why can't they just suck it up and deal with it? You can't rationalize with or "out stubborn" a baby so why bother trying? You're just going to make yourself BSC!

 

[blushingbride]

Turtle, take this with a grain of salt as I have wacko bb's (nursing has been a challenge!). N has slept through the night for 2-3 weeks, and I've been getting up at 3a to pump so I don't miss out on that BM. I yield 3ozs from that session alone (which is a LOT for me). During the day I get anywhere from 1.5-2ozs- I've found that out via the LC consults where they weigh him, I nurse, then they weigh again.

So for me, it's imperative that I pump at 3a. But you seem to have a healthy supply, so perhaps it isn't as necessary? if anything, it may just be uncomfortable to go that long for you?

Blushing- as I noted above, I've had supply issues. I'm currently taking Fenugreek, Goat's Rue and Domperidone. Yep, the Dom is hard to come by. Docs here in the states won't write you a script so you have to get it via a compounding pharmacy. I got it through In House Pharmacy- they're based in Canada, but ship from Vanatu (South Seas). Their site is easy to navigate and the process was a breeze- just took about 2 weeks for the med to arrive.

ChargerGrrl - I tried going to In House Pharmacy's website, but it seems like it doesn't exist. Am I going to the right place? www.inhousepharmacy.com correct? Very weird!

Ladies - the pics of your little ones are so precious!!!

HH - we are going to do our "newborn" photos as well in the next week or so. I'm nervous about that day, that's for sure! Every baby goes through their moods so, we'll have to prepare for that. Congrats on making it through today and I'm sure you got some great pictures despite the crankiness!

 

[Mara]

re: newborn pics... it can be hit or miss, we were lucky to have our photog offer to come back for us after J would just not sleep at all when she was here the first time. the second time i fed and fed and fed him --he finally passed out and we got some great pics. thank goodness. blushing, you can ask the photo what they prefer and how to help make it happen (even better if they are a parent!) like how to get them to fall asleep and if they have any tips for you. also ours had a white noise machine and a little space heater and everything.

i think it's hard for new moms to know what to expect and even to know how to get their kid to fall asleep--but our photog says she sends a 'to do' list now for parents before she gets there because otherwise she says she just waits for the babe to fall asleep and it can take a while. but i think that's part of the deal unfortunately. babies are unpredictable!

oh and G was totally not involved at all with the pics...but i figured that would be the case--it was totally more my thing anyway. he's not that into commemorating the moment stuff. whenever i am taking pics of things he says he would prefer to 'remember it' instead.

pupp...that is so cute of your MIL. i switched J's pacis when he was sucking so hard on the little paci part that it left a mark on his snout/mouth. that is when i realized the little nipple was too short now.

i entered J in the gap casting call but their site is soooo slow right now that i can't even get to his page to share it with my friends. such a pain. i saw on FB they are totally getting a ton of complaints because no one can access their pages and vote for anyone... they keep making server upgrades but it doesn't seem to be better. anyhoo, i entered my pic (though it uploaded all grainy, boo) so i guess i'm done! here's the pic--late BPF!

 

[ljmorgan]

Blushing... their site moved for US customers... its inhousepharmacy.biz now. Good luck.

 

[Dreamer_D]

lulu Just wanted to chime in that babies do not need solids until like 12 months, technically, anything before that is really just practice. And the WHO and other health organizations say 6mo to introduce solids, so really, if you don't feel like it, don't bother. We gave Hunter solids at 6mo.