Parenting Check-In

Jazibel

Good Morning Everyone,

Sorry for posting the check in so late today.  (I have a million little excuses, but I'll post about all that later)  ;-)

How was your weekend?  How our the LO(s), any new challenges, accomplishments, celebrations? 

QOTD:  How many photos do you take of your LO(s), a day, week, etc?  What are some of your favorite things to photograph?  Share a pic or two if you'd like.


I'm enclosing the roster below. If you'd like to add or change anything please let me know.

@KH826 – Will born 6/4/14

 

@ATXmommas – Sebastian (“Ash”) born 11/21/13, other Momma is Z

 

@Wallace323 – J and L born 8/8/13, surviving triplets born at 31 weeks

 

@Trisholio – Proud foster parents to M born 2/6/12 and K born 8/22/13; and pregnant expecting a third daughter in September 2014.

 

@JGY – Gabe born 3/24/13, other Mama is S.

 

@Stringy813 – M born May 2013

 

@Filmfanatic82 – Charley born 3/15/14

 

@Mamosry – R born 2/25/14

 

@2brides – G & C born 5/18/06, other Mom is L

 

@Jrtmom – Henry born 8/15/13, other mama is L

 

@Sarahtrpt – C born February 2014

 

@CageyMack – W born 3/16/13

 

@Themommymonster – C (DS) born 2/18/09

 

@Clairmeij – Alarico born 6/28/13, other mama is V

 

@Mystjava – Little Bear (LB) born 3/31/10, other Mummum is Shawn

 

@winstan1 – J (DS) born 9/10 (currently 3.5 years old)

 

@newmompeanut – N (DD) born 2/12/13, other Momma is B

 

@herbabymam – C (DD) born 12/10/13, other Mama is K

 

@AmandaG47 – Twin girls born 2/22/14, other Mommy is J

 

@mwagner25 – Oliver born 11/27/13, other parent is L

 

@jazibel – Kaden born 7/13/12 and Owen born 5/2/14, other parent (Aya) is EV

JGY

Thanks @Jazibel, for putting all of this together.

I'm sure I'm not alone in having dampened spirits (to say the least) after seeing the devestating news from Healz and Manada.  I'm glad that our little corner of the internet world can pull together to do something, anything, to let them know how much we all care.

Gabe will be 15 months this week.  I seriously can't even stand it.  And I'm just feeling so lucky to have him.

Let's see, this weekend ... well we went to a house-warming pot luck for some friends that moved into the neighborhood.  That was really fun, and also hilarious.  It was confirmed for me, yet again, that my kid is pretty much off-the-charts active.  There were two other kids there that are within a few weeks of G's age.  They both sweetly sat by their parents, or wandered around at a normal clip.  They played nicely.  Meanwhile Gabe and I are doing 250,072 laps from one side of the yard to the other (they have a double lot), stopping only to climb the steps EVERY TIME, and then run over to the half-filled kiddie pool that I didn't want him in.  One of my friends very gently asked "So, are you just literally EXHAUSTED all the time?"  Yes, dear, I am.  All.the.time.  And I love it.

QOTD: I typically take pictures of everything.  Except I only use the camera on my phone, and the storage has been ful forever.  And I don't want to remove the photos from my phone because I like being able to look at them whenever, but that means that I can't take more photos, which is a real problem.  And I'm techno-idiot and can't figure out how to use the cloud.  Again, THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM!!

If anyone wants to give me lessons, I won't say no.

Have a good week, everyone!

2brides

Camp is going well. This is the first week of REAL camp (the local public school just got out so there have been far less kids and the age groups were much broader.) The kids were ecstatic that their BFF from camp last year was there today and the counselors made a big deal that they were moving to the next age group (8 and 9 year olds.)

QOTD: I wish that there had been cell phones with good cameras when the kids were little. Hard to believe that 8y ago virtually no one had smart phones and those that did had crummy cameras. I was decent about taking pictures with a regular camera, but would have had a lot more had I not had to carry a phone and a camera.   Now, I take pics sporadically. I ebb and flow with my picture taking and pretty much only take pictures with my phone now. I have had my phone for 7 months and have 500 pics on it. I do have an SLR, but don't know how to really use it and I don't carry it around.

ATXmommas

Definitely time to count our blessings.

LO turned 7 months on Saturday. I feel like he could be hands and knees crawling any time now. He tries so hard, but can't quite get it yet, so he resorts to army crawling. Sometimes when he's on hands and knees He actually straightens his legs so that it looks like he is doing downward facing dog and I get the biggest kick out of it.

We moved him to his crib about a week ago and it has made a huge difference in his and our sleep. Rather than waking 3-4 times a night he is waking 1-2 times. I loved bed-sharing and didn't have a specific end date in mind. Like with the rest of parenting, I was just going with the flow and this is where we are. I guess we were all ready for it and he's doing great.

I posted in a separate thread that Z's adoption of Ash became final. We had several close friends come to the courthouse in support and it was just awesome.

In other news, I'm a little frustrated by day care. I don't want to move him, but may have to if I don't see improvements. Ugh.

QOTD: we take pictures several times a week - mostly with our phones, but we take out our fancy camera when the occasion calls for it. Z is really into photography and is very talented IMO, but she lacks the patience to sit and learn how edit photos. Our son and our dog are her favorite subjects, but she also likes taking pictures at races and tris.

Here's a couple from this weekend

ATXmommas

@jrtmom‌ - We didn't have any problems with the transition. We just decided to try it one night and he woke up twice. So, we tried it a second night, and he woke up once. I think the stimulation of having us right next to him was waking him up more throughout the night.

He had napped in his crib a few times and he naps in a crib at day care, so it's not a totally foreign space. I put him down when he's drowsy, and he usually turns over right away and goes to sleep. Occasionally we'll hear him fuss a little bit, but if we wait about 30 seconds he's quiet again.

There's definitely part of me that's sad he's not right beside me anymore, but I was not functioning well with him waking up so much. If I thought he wasn't ready for it, I would suck it up, but he is doing really well with it.

I hope Henry starts sleeping better soon and you don't need to worry about it yet!

redrockmama

My first parenting check-in...so exciting. Can you add me to the roster? M born 6/19/14, other mama is J.

Our weekend was pretty great. We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and didn't have any visitors which was nice, just the three of us. 

QOTW: I'm taking a million pictures, he's just too cute not to. I'm sure I'll take less as he gets older, but maybe not. I would post some but the bump isn't cooperating..definitely on Thursday

Jazibel

@redrockmama - Congrats again and welcome, I will definitely add you to the roster.  I'm looking forward to pics of your little guy.

@ATXmommas - So great that you got Ash to sleep in his crib (and wake less at night).

@jrtmom - Henry looks so cute on horseback!

@wallace323 - that's amazing growth!!  I hope your girls start napping better for you this week :-)

@JGY - I wish we could stick Kaden and Gabe in a room together to tire each other out.  It sounds like you have your hands full! ;-)

@2brides - your post made me lol - when I remember life before iPhones and internet!!  We had disposable cameras at our wedding 10 years ago, I'm not even sure they make disposable cameras anymore....  ;-)



Like many of us I am really struggling with the recent events. I have a hard time even writing about it, and I feel guilty because I am angry and it's likely not my place to be angry for someone else - but still I am. It's not fair.

Anyway...  We had a great weekend, filled with a lot of joy.  EV is on break and we finally have weekends and evenings together as a family. It makes such a difference in the quality of our life.  One more semester (Sept - Dec) and we're done!! Woohoo.  We went to the fair this weekend and loved it. Kaden had so much fun, there were a ton of free things to do for kids, as well as the usual rides, and fried foods.  We spent 7+ hours there and didn't get bored or overwhelmed. The next morning Kaden slept until 9:38am.  I am going to take him to the fair EVERY Saturday ;-)  I haven't slept that late in years. Years.... 
Owen, oh I love my little Owen.  I didn't think it would be possible to love another little bean as much as I love Kaden, but I do. My heart made room.  He weighed in at 13lbs 1 oz at his 6 week check up, and 23 inches long. He also surprised us by rolling over 4-5 times from tummy to back. I was so shocked and had to google when babies start rolling over and its typically 6 months but can be as early as 3-4 months. So our little guy is an overachiever (ok bragging over ;-) 
We co-sleep which I wasn't even intentionally aiming for, but its working out because its easier to just nurse while we're both half asleep. I feel more rested generally, but EV and I aren't cuddling as much and I miss sleeping on my tummy.  I was glad to read @ATXmommas success story because I know we'll have to transition him sooner or later.

QOTD: Sadly I definitely took more pics (and posted more pics on FB) of Kaden, but I still take a lot of pictures mostly with my phone. I have 5K+ pictures on my phone (since Kaden was born). That said I still take a bunch of Owen, right now I'm trying to capture his dimpled smile. He has a dimple of his right cheek. It's tooo much cuteness.

Pic is of Kaden at the Fair petting zoo.

ATXmommas

@redrockmama‌ - welcome to the check-in! Glad you had a great weekend.

@Jazibel‌ - I love your description of your heart making room to love O as much as K.

Ash met a lot of his milestones super early as well. He was rolling tummy to back very consistently at around 6 weeks, but had done it even sooner. My theory was that he was more agile because he was a little peanut and didn't have a lot of body weight to shift around, but O just blew my theory out of the water. Anyway, all this means that you may have a mobile baby on your hands sooner than later - that's been our experience. Precious pic of K as always!

Filmfanatic82

@JGY -- Let me know if you need help figuring out icloud.  I actually work in mobile apps / tech and am very familiar with it. Happy to help

@redrockmama -  Congrats and welcome!  And it's totally normal to snap a million and one photos in the first few weeks.  I think we had 500+ photos on our digital camera just by the time we got home from the hospital

@Jazibel‌  -- That's awesome about Owen rolling over at 6 weeks!  Charley is still working on it. She's got the hips down pat but unfortunately her head just seems a bit to heavy for her at the moment.  

@Jrtmom -- Congrats on getting back in the saddle.  I felt the same way about starting to play softball again after being pregnant

@ATXmommas - That pic of your LO is so adorable! 

Things here have been going pretty well for the most part. We did our first real overnight with Charley this past weekend and I have to say it went better than I thought it would.  We drove up to Mass to visit Danielle's high school friend and spent the night since it was a 4 hour car ride each way. Charley only got up every 2 to 3 hrs through the night but wasn't too hard to get back to sleep.  It was definitely a good trial run since we are heading to FL next week for a few days to visit my family.

QOTW: Danielle actually got me a really nice DSRL camera for our anniversary right before Charley was born, so I tend to go over board with the photos.  I blame it on it being our first child.  Plus, since my family lives in FL and it's the first grandchild, I get photo requests on a daily basis.  

iCloud has actually been awesome for sharing photos. I set up a shared album with all of the relatives and load photos up on a daily basis from my phone.  So no need to email or text them

KH826

Yesterday was a very fussy day at our house. Mr. Will didn't really allow me to get anything done -- including this check-in!

I echo everyone's comments about M&H ... I have said it in other places, but will also reiterate it here... My heart aches for them.

This past weekend was great. We had a lot of quality family time and took a few outings (target, kohls, panera)... Will loves riding in the car and he seems to like his stroller. Also, my wife was able to work out an arrangement with her boss for the rest of my maternity leave where she works in the office Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings, and the rest of the week she will work from home. That makes me really happy! I really crave that family time for the 3 of us right now, and it makes me feel much less overwhelmed and lonely to have her here more often

Will has been sleeping really well at night, but he has been making up for it with day time fussiness. That's ok -- I will take it!

I have so much more to say, but if I wait I will never post this!

I don't have time for shutouts, but know I am reading everyone's posts. Turns out being a new mom and keeping up with the bump is harder for me than I expected.

Here is a new pic of Will -- 3 weeks tomorrow!