Weekly check-in 6-21

mindaa

Yay, I remembered to do this!

How was your week?

QOTW: What has been your favorite/most memorable vacation, and why?

NeonNoon

My week entailed DS screaming at us and us cycling through our bag of tricks to little effect. He did indeed have a growth spurt that transitioned to a cold, which was more whining, less screaming. I hope he gets through this cold quickly as I'm exhausted nursing him every 1-1.5 hrs. These growth spurts make my house look like a storm ripped through it every time.

The monster hair shedding has commenced for me. There's hair everywhere! It's in DS's diaper, in his potty, in his neck folds. There's balls of it in the living room. I'm feeling quite feral. In a way I'm glad because I'm tired of the dry, brittle rat's nest I've been waking up to.

QOTW: I've talked about our road trip to west Texas before, which is my favorite. So, I'll go with #2, which was a winter trip to the Austrian Alps with my family long before I was married. We precariously drove to a couple of ski spots. It was beautiful, lots of fun, and very cold. I really needed the break too since I was just done with grad school.

marijaa333

@NeonNoon I hear you on the frequent nursing and the storm-torn house!! Hope your kiddo gets over the cold fast.

@mindaa thanks for doing this! But what's your update?

How was your week?

Phew, so many things happened: I got mastitis, then I got antibiotics and seem to have gotten over it. I also started using a nipple shield to prevent further damage to the nipples. Usually i can take it off after the letdown (which my baby seems to think is too fast so he clamps down).

I'm trying to transition back to mostly nursing (we;ve been supplementing lots with pumped breast milk), however, we're struggling hugely with his inefficient eating. He'll have a bit on one breast, a bit on the other, then conk out, resulting in not enough milk ingested. His weight has plateaued over the last five days, so I know he's eating less than he was when we were supplementing more.  So, as of today, we're back to supplementing after each of his nursing sessions.  

Does anyone know if his nursing efficiency will improve as he ages, and if so, when?? :-/  It would be very helpful if he could eat better at the breast so we can actually get out and about (as it is, ALL i do is feed him and pump... ( ). 

Otherwise, we interviewed a few potential nannies and should have a trial day with one this week. I start going back to work gradually in July, although I'll take some vacation as well in August.

QOTW: What has been your favorite/most memorable vacation, and why?
The picture in my profile is from Montenegro - my favourite place to recharge. I highly recommend visiting, either the coast in September, or the Tara river for a rafting trip (it's the deepest canyon in Europe and best time for rafting is in April, May or early June).

mindaa

Happy Father's Day everyone! I'm excited to celebrate DH's first - and with both grandfathers in town.
Day got off to a rough start though. I wasn't able to get back to sleep after DS's night feeding. He slept about 4 hours, and I start to cry every time I think about missing out on that we have a busy day ahead and I'm running on about 3 hrs of sleep.
On a positive note, being up early means I don't have to rush around to get ready.

QOTW - Being stuck at home the past few weeks, DH and I have been reminiscing about our vacations. Especially when we took a whole summer off for a road trip around the western U.S.

Geeps2

I am getting ready for my last 3 days of work and then summer vacation till September.  I work in education and I have more than earned my time off this year.  I have been through the wringer both personally and professionally this year so I am very much looking forward to hanging out with my 2 munchkins and just enjoying not being at work.

Before meeting my husband and having the kids I traveled quite a bit.  I think my favorite spot is Ireland.  I just love it there.  My Grandmother and Grandfather were straight off the boat from Ireland and so it feels like returning to my roots.  It's just a fun, beautiful place!  

Guennie

It's been unbearably hot here so we've been hiding out inside. This heat sucks the life right out of me. I had a big to do list and I haven't accomplished much of anything.

I stopped taking the horrible birth control pills and now I have no idea where I actually am in my cycle. I finished the pack and just didn't start a new one. I thought I'd get my period but I just got two days of horrible cramps and one day of spotting. That was it. Now a week later I feel crampy again. I have my annual exam next week so I'm going to ask what I should expect. When I stopped regular birth control pills after taking them most of my life my cycle stayed pretty regular. I guess low dose is different when you stop. Who knows. I'm just happy to be done with them. They were not good to me.

My favorite vacation was a trip to London and Paris I took with my best friend. I absolutely loved it and hope I can someday go back with my daughter.

@marijaa333 I'm so sorry you got mastitis. I had it twice, it was awful. Hugs!

Designermomma

Hi everyone. I've been gone a while. My baby has been sick forever and it finally turned into pneumonia and he was hospitalized for a week. He was released a day shy of our non-refundable vacation so I went to Legoland Florida with our 6yr old and the hubby met us there a day later. Me and DS1 ended up getting a virus while on the trip and popping Advil all day and throwing up a few days (side note: both Legoland and Magic Kingdom employees were the nicest helpful people with our mess) but we still managed to go to Disney and the beach to and enjoyed the trip. I haven't been home in 2 weeks between the hospital and vacation and after all the illnesses I've decided to become a full time SAHM so I don't have to go through this crap again anytime soon. My germaphobia has been kicked up a notch and I'm staying very busy with 2 crazy boys at home. But we are staying healthy! This is the first week back to reality. Wish me luck.

NeonNoon

Sorry about the mastitis @marijaa333

Glad your family has recovered @Designermomma. Good luck with SAH-Mothering FT. Were you thinking about it for a while?

Designermomma

@neonnoon Thanks! No I wasn't thinking about it very long. I had a new boss at work and was hating the job in general more and more. The thing keeping me from quitting the most was health insurance (the hubby is self employed). We got independent marketplace insurance and I quit back in February and intended on studying to change careers. Then the never ending illnesses began and I never got to study so I gave up. I'll give it a year. Keep everyone healthy, then maybe put them back in daycare a few days so I can study. My husband really makes enough to support us but we aren't saving for retirement and don't afford as many luxuries unless I work too. A year or 2 off won't hurt too bad in the long run.

mandyreads

@NeonNoon‌ I am still shedding too. I have come to terms it will never end.

@marijaa333 sorry about the mastitis

@Designermomma sorry ya'll got sick but glad everyone is better. I also am a stay at home mom. Nearly 15yrs now lol I never made enough to matter and it probably wouldn't have covered daycare. So it has worked out over the years anyhow.

@Guennie the heat is beyond miserable here as well. I am so over it already.

Besides a sinus infection with me I had a great week. Just got home from my book convention where my 5mth old DD4 was very popular. All my author friends recognized her before they did me bc of all the facebook pics. Hubs was told numerous times how awesome he was for man handling the baby and all my books.

I think our favorite vaca was last Oct. To Gulf Shores. I was pregnant but the weather was perfect and hardly anyone was there. The girls had a blast. Hope to go back soon.

supersarah77

First check-in, woot woot. Last week was a good week. We were busy with something every day but I felt proud of myself that I managed with two kids! I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and feeling more confident. Things are ever changing, but, I'm relaxing into the role of mother of two. DD has been folding DS into her life instead of pretending he doesn't exist and she is mostly sweet with him. She likes having jobs to help like bringing diaper supplies when I change him. She also tries to comfort him when he cries by bringing him a stuffed animal to hug or patting him or singing to him. He's mostly a passive recipient at this point but it warms my heart so so so much to see them interact. 

This week is off to a rocky start because I came down with a wicked cold, so bad DH stayed home today to watch DD while I stay in bed with DS. I'm taking Tylenol which seems to help a little with the sinus pressure pain. It's a mystery where I got it, and thankfully DS is likely getting antibodies through breast milk, but I'm worried for DD. Hopefully really taking care of myself today will pay off in a speedy recovery.

My favorite trip was probably to Panama in my 20s. I traveled alone to some remote islands off the coast and met some really interesting people and spent time on some really amazing beaches. Panama City was also really interesting, especially the colonial section and the history of the panama canal.

@NeonNoon - ugh, nursing every 1-1.5 hours is rough. no wonder you can't do anything else right now.

@marijaa333 - I'm so sorry about your mastitis! That really sucks and it's totally miserable.

@Mindaa - I totally relate to not being able to sleep when you have that precious long stretch of opportunity. Let it go, let it go.

@designermomma - pneumonia?? That's so sad!  And then followed quickly by a stomach virus. My gosh your family has been through the illnesses lately. 

@mandyreads - a sinus infection! So many sick mamas on the board this past week. Sounds like your DD4 is quite famous.

mattandlora

Work is back in full swing and both kids are going to daycare. LO will be 12 weeks tomorrow. Everythig is like Bill Murray in Groundhog's day. Breakfast. Daycare drop. Work. Daycare pickup. Dinner. Bedtime. Cleanup. Pack bags for tomorrow. Watch Netflix with DH. Bed. BUT... I'm not complaining. Last time DH and I thought life was boring, we ended up getting pulled into a big extended family blow-up mess which took a year to calm down and is still sometimes a problem. So now I think my excitement will be sneaking in gym trips over lunch. Much tamer

QOTW: DH and I both love to travel, so picking one trip is hard. I went to Peru in undergrad, saw Inca ruins, spent a week in the rain forest. That was a life-changing trip for many reasons. In my 20s, my best friend and I went to a surfing boot camp in Mexico near Puerta Vallarta. That was just plain fun. Then DH and I took a Hawaiian cruise for our honeymoon. It went by too quickly and I want to go back and spend a week on every island! We also took an impromptu, last-minute babymoon to the Virgin Islands. Again, wish we had more time to spend there and really explore instead of a long weekend. But it was great.

My dream vacation is a LONG Mediterranean cruise which stops in spain, France, italy, greece, turkey, israel, egypt, and morrocco. First, none exists. Second, even if it did, I'd have to save for 30 years to go on it. Ha.

xuxachi

My kids are raising hell this week. I took all 3 to the library to prove to myself that I could do it, and DS and DD decided to run opposite directions in parking lot and had to push DS2 into grassy median to chase after them. Then once in car and driving 3yo decided the baby's head was a good spot for his muddy foot - baby screaming, fl of dirt, but thankfully not injured.

xuxachi

Hum...half of my last post didn't show. I'll try again.

I got to travel a lot before I got married, so lots of favorite trips. Top 3: Travelled to India by myself which was amazing...enjoyed the month I spent traveling around New Zealand...and DH and I honeymooned in Cuba and that was a great trip.

mdogan29

Wow!! Seems like almost everyone is going through something right now!! I'm sorry I've been away so much, but with my mom in and out of hospital and me trying to get out of the house more, I haven't visited TB lately (and I don't from my phone).

@NeonNoon I HATE the shedding, it is driving me nuts!!!!!!!!! My hair is very straight and fine, so it tickles everywhere when it's falling and drives me nuts, I also find it everywhere. I've resorted to carrying a lint roller around with me and collecting it every hour or so from where I think it might be. I don't know how I have any hair left!! Dr. said it's supposed to stop around 6 months after birth. I'm getting a haircut this weekend, it'll still fall out, but at least they'll be shorter hairs!

@marijaa333 sorry I don't have any advice for you about the BF, I ended up just going to the bottle full time, fighting to get him to BF from the breast with the nipple shield and the SNS w/ formula and supplementing with formula when there was nothing left to pump (and endless tears and frustration/stress), I ended up giving up all together and now we're just doing formula. I'm not happy about it, but I've decided this is not something I'm going to stress about anymore.

@Designermomma so sorry to hear about the sickness - glad to hear everyone is doing bettter!

@Guennie its been WAY too hot here too, we had several days of 100, just too much!

All we've had time to think about is my mom with her liver disease, she was in rehab and maybe coming home in just a few days, but back in the hospital again. Now we won't be able to visit again (don't want to bring Sebastian to hospital). Other than that, we've been doing well and trying to figure out why he's crying about this or that and then other days he doesn't cry at all. I feel like he's learning things quickly, he's obsessed with both sitting and standing up (with help) and doesn't want to lay down at all except when he's sleeping. And he's sleeping well, 6-7 hours most nights, things are good! I'm so happy to be a mom. Although, I think he may be teething, he has weird cries sometimes and drools in long strands and tries to eat his whole fist (he's almost choked himself a few times), he doesn't seem to like any of the teethers, he just makes a face and starts crying when I try to get him to use them - he still prefers to just suck/gnaw on my finger.

All we've ever really done besides Disney and one really cheap Carnival cruise to the Bahamas is Vegas. We've been about 10 times over the past 7 years (well, until 2013) and became so good at the bargain hunting using the casino's loyalty rewards (free rooms/free food/free shows), we started going more than once a year. We haven't been anywhere since 2013 and I'm itching for a vacation, but DH isn't interested in traveling with a LO, so I guess we're saving for Disney in 5 years... we'll see!

marijaa333

@mdogan29 Sorry to hear about your breastfeeding challenge! I've done a ton of research on formula, and the best study (in terms of methodology) finds very little difference. See here: https://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/sibbreast.htm  There is absolutely no need to feel good about your choice!

I can't believe Sebastian is still (almost) standing already! That was a great update.

mdogan29

Thank you @marijaa333 for sharing that article! I was very hard on myself for weeks and felt like a complete failure after having to be knocked out for the delivery (not deliver naturally), I thought this was something I could do right and was crying about everything. At least I got a few good weeks in there and he got the colostrum and hopefully what he needed early on. He seems to be a (big) healthy boy! So, I've gotten over it for the most part!

I hope you get everything worked out with BF and your decisions moving forward for what works best! I know how much more stressful everything is in the first few weeks and on little sleep, I thought I was going crazy, now I think we're in a groove and things are going well. I think the fact we worry/stress so much to get everything right shows we are good moms!