Parenting Check In (2/9)

ball.and.chain

I've been AWOL lately so I thought I'd try to jump back in this week with the parenting check-in.

How is your LO?  How was your weekend?

QOTW: Where do you see yourself and your family in 5 years?

Parenting Roster:

(Please let me know if you would like to be added or have your information changed)

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

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

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

@Trisholio and @trisholiosboi – Proud foster parents to M born 2/6/12 and K born 8/22/13; baby Adalyn born 8/29/14

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

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

@CageyMack – W born 3/16/13; A born 1/13/15

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

@Stringy813 – M born May 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

@Sarahtrpt – C born February 2014

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

@Mamosey‌ & @Karlamo‌ – R born 2/25/14

@roundhere3‌ - Anthony and Sati, born 3/9/2014, Other mom is S

@Filmfanatic82 – Charley born 3/15/14

@YBNormal85 -- Lennon born 4/21/14

@2momsinCA‌ - B & O born 5/27/14

@KH826 – Will born 6/4/14

@redrockmama – M born 6/19/14, other Mama is J

@ball.and.chain – B born 6/28/14

@Flygirl1228 – Twins 7/25/14

@KLeigh1‌ - S born 7/25/14

@shelly2314 - Elise and Olivia, born 8/19/14, wife is M

@2MamazInSeattle‌ - S born 8/21/14

@rkbo‌ - Amelia born 9/22/14

@pauljl - Callie born 11/5/14

@doodah1013 & @firstcomeslove2013 – Hayden born 12/20/2014

@RobertJane33 – Twins born 12/24/14

@Andstilltrying – Mathew and Andrew born 12/26/14

2brides

It was a busy weekend: Lots of stuff around the house, took G to urgent care for a weird rash on his arms/legs/torso (no idea what it was), soccer practice, skipped Parents Night Out because L was still wasn't feeling great (but took the kids out for a nice late lunch), church and Sunday School potluck, re-doing a school project, and some outside playtime.

QOTD: Kids will be 13y...almost 14y. *gulp* They will be in 8th grade and will be in the same school they are now (goes through 8th grade.) We will be figuring out where they are going to high school (move to a different district? will they open a charter high school?) I will probably be at the same job. No idea where L will be working.  We will about to celebrate out 20y anniversary.

ball.and.chain

B is 7.5 m old.

We are going through a bit of a rough patch with him.  He's been fussier than usual, and went through several days of not sleeping as well as usual, although he seems to have rebounded from that a bit.  He's been weird about food (more on that in a bit).  And he sounds a bit hoarse when he cries, but no other cold symptoms and no fever.  Last week we thought he might be teething, and that's possible, but nothing has come through yet.  It also seems possible that he's in a Wonder Week (anyone have a copy? Ours is on my wife's Kindle, which I can't find) -- if I counted correctly, he's 32w and change.  He's also very close to crawling and someone told me that there is a sleep regression and other fussiness right before that happens.  So who knows.  This is the thing with babies, right?  Whenever they are off, it could be about five different things.  And I don't feel like I can call it teething until I actually SEE a tooth.  Or at least feel one.

I've mentioned the food issues to some of you in regard to daycare, where they are basically unable to feed him purees (though they have been able to do it once or twice).  We are also having problems at home -- basically, he cries whenever we feed him purees.  My first assumption was that he didn't want to eat them, in which case I would be happy to stop and try again in a week or so.  But he seems to WANT to eat them -- if I put a spoonful in front of his mouth, he opens up and willingly eats the food off the spoon, then is quiet while he tastes and swallows.  If I let him put his hand on the spoon, he will reach for it and then pull it to his mouth and eat what's on it.  He cries when he doesn't have the spoon in his mouth, so I've tried feeding him faster, but that doesn't really work (and seems crazy).  He seems to like the taste of almost everything we've given him to try and hasn't had any significant digestive issues.  I thought he might hate the plasticky bibs, so we switched to A+A burpy bibs (and have also tried the bibs we were using for bottle-feeding), but he still cries.  And it's possible he hates the high chair -- I'm planning to try in his hook-on chair and see if we get the same reaction.  My other thought is that he is just independent and wants to feed himself, in which case the logical thing would probably be to switch to all-out BLW.  I'm not sure how well that will work with daycare though, I think the gagging will freak my wife out, and we don't get to share a lot of meals with him due to our schedules.

As others have mentioned, at 7-8 months he doesn't need the food for nutrition, so it's not as if it's a health issue for him to be not eating anything but formula.  I just want to try to figure this out so we can move ahead rather than backwards with solids -- at some point in the not-so-distance future he WILL need to be eating more than formula, and we're never going to get to that point if every meal is a tantrum.  If anyone has any thoughts I will be glad to hear them!

QOTW: This is still up in the air as we figure our whether we want to stop at 1 or not.  But I do like the idea of us parenting a Kindergartner in 5 years and not also meandering through toddlerhood with a 2yo.  We could be diaper free by then!  It's a nice thought.

JGY

G is 22 months old.

We had an incredibly busy, but pretty great weekend.  I had a ton of commitments Saturday/Sunday, and of course S had to work a bunch.  But Saturday morning G and I went to tumbling class and then managed to make it through a Costco trip.  When we got home, he turned into a tantrum puddle.  But we got through it.  He napped well, and then I scooted him over to the babysitter so that I could go sing in my choral concert.  He was a dream for the babysitter, S picked him up, and apparently he was a bundle of joy for her in the evening and went to bed like a champ.

Sunday, he ate all.day.long.  Seriously, breakfast lasted over an hour.  He ate 2 bowls of oatmeal with applesauce, half a slice of peanut butter toast, and then was hungry 1 hour later.  He also was pretty tired yesterday.  Woke up late, napped like a champ, and went to bed early without protest.  He MUST be going through a growth spurt.  Yesterday the babysitter was at our house and when it was time for me to leave he just gave me a kiss and said "Bye-bye Mommy!"

By the time I got home yesterday we were all exhausted.  I put G to bed, came back downstairs, ordered pizza and watched a little bit of the Grammy's, then went to bed.  Done.

QOTW:  In 5 years, G will be almost 7 and Ricki the Sticky will be 4 1/2.  We will be 6 months away from being done with daycare bills and, if we haven't moved yet, will probably be taking the opportunity to house hunt.  I truly hope that S will be in a new job/new career path and that we will have much more family time than we have now.  I hope that our weekends will be our own, free from too many work obligations, and I also truly hope that my kids will enjoy playing together and will spend TONS of time outside.  Even in the winter.  Lastly I hope that my dog, who will be almost 10 by then, will be finally sleeping through the night and will have slowed down a tad bit.  I guess most importantly, I hope he'll still be with us.

 

jennicole85

DS is 19 months old.

We had a very low key weekend. We pretty much just lounged around the house until last night.

J's cousin had a small birthday get together so we went over for cake, ice cream and socializing. DS loves going over to their house because she has a 3 year old that he adores (or drives crazy lol). They also have 3 dogs that are great with kids and DS loves, loves, loves to play fetch with them and cuddle them. Our dog runs at the sight of him. Poor DS is just barely tolerated.

After that, J and I watched most of the Grammys and then went to bed. Such a relaxing weekend.

QOTD:
In 5 years DS will be in kindergarten or first grade (he has one of those questionable summer birthdays) and hopefully we'll have another LO. J will probably be with the same company (hopefully higher up the ladder) and I have no idea what I'll be doing. If J is still with her company as a higher up, I'll probably still be a SAHM. Other than that, I hope we will have most of our debt paid off. We're not far from finishing her student loans and I hope we will have made at least a dent in mine (I owe an insane amount).

singingmua

I had asked to be added to the roster in a previous check-in, but I think it got lost in the shuffle.

Baby K was born on 1/8/15

Anywho, we have just made it to the one month mark over here (as of yesterday)! Please someone tell me it gets easier in terms of sleeping and such. I'm having such a hard time with the night time waking up. My wife usually ends up doing more of the feelings/changing say night which makes me feel soooo guilty. But, at the same time, I am still recovering from what a traumatic birth/emergency c-section/ICU stay, as well as having been re hospitalized last week for 5 days due to sepsis.

My wife says she's ok with me sleeping more in order to let my body heal, but I'm not ok with it. I feel so guilty and am afraid she will resent me for not doing more.

She also goes back to work in 2 weeks, so I have to get it together soon because she needs to get more rest in order to function at work.

Sigh...

QOTW- hopefully in 5 years we will be in a house of our own (we currently rent a tiny 1-br apartment). We most likely will still be in the same area (DC Metro), but we are open to moving to other parts of the country. We'll have an almost kindergartener, and I will be 42 years old... Eeeek!

Jazibel

Kadern is 2.5 years old and Owen is 9 months old

I've been scrambling today to find a sitter so I can make it to a meeting with a client tomorrow.  Ugh so stressful because my usual sitters can't make it (and I'm new to this babysitting thing).

EV's out of town for the next couple of days which leaves me solo with the boys - GULP!  So far we're doing okay - but I'll admit I'm in the living room with Curious George on so I can make phone calls and get work done.  I really need to get regular childcare....  I think that needs to be my goal this week.

Okay sorry to unload!!  :-)   

Other than that we're doing really well. Owen is cruising on furniture more and more and took one step without holding onto something the other day!  Kaden is such a big boy, I love having mini-conversations.  

Sleep is going a little better but I'm still hooked on the swing for naps and sometimes a portion of night-time sleep (i.e. Owen won't go down easily).

QOTD:  Five years.... The four or five of us will hopefully be living in our forever home near our preferred schools. Kaden would be 7.5 and Owen nearly 6 (so 2nd grade and Kindergarten I think?)  I'm actually really excited to have "older kids" they are so much fun. Can't wait :-) 

redrockmama

M is 7 (almost 8)  months old.

Things are great. I'm at work today, which is weird, but am taking off some days later this week because our nanny is going on vacation. We took him bowling (for a birthday party) yesterday and he thought everything was pretty cool and even push the ball down the ramp for a few frames then watched in awe as it rolled down and hit the pins. 

We left him for the first time, to do something other than work, while we visited our friends' new baby at the hospital yesterday. It was only for about an hour, but I missed him so much. My mom and niece watched him and he apparently had a great time. 

M is rolling around more and if I give him my hands to push off, he scoots/army crawls around until he gets pissed and wants to be picked up. He is doing better at standing up while holding onto something and seems to be maybe starting to understand that he needs to hold on in order to not fall down. I was trying to figure out when my niece started standing unassisted (she walked at 9 months) and it was right before she started walking, so I'm thinking it's pretty likely M will be an early walker as well. 

Oh and I almost forgot, M started clapping over the weekend. It's sooo cute! 

QOTD: Hmmm let's see, in 5 years....M will be 5 1/2 and hopefully we'll have another baby and who knows how many others born or on the way. I hope that J is doing awesome at her job and making what she deserves, or has another job that pays her a decent wage. She is ridiculously underpaid right now. I hope that I am in a different job, and able to be at home more with our kids. 

Twochickshavinachick

Hey. Can we be added to the roster, please? Our little girl was born on the 16th Jan.

Santana continues to feed well - the evidence being her first outgrown babygrow(!) and she's sleeping better through the night reliably waking up at three hour intervals. She's been struggling with wind during the daytime and we've been having trouble finding a solution.  We've tried different positions for both feeding and winding and massaging her tummy with warmed olive oil. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

And with baby turning a month old this week, I bit the bullet and stepped on the scales. Goddess bless bf-ing! Granted I didn't gain that much during pregnancy but I've made it back to my booking-in weight