PAIF - New Mommies June 2019

mbradfo2

And.....it's June!

Summer is in full swing here; it is crazy hot. I dress Anne in just a strappy onesie for bed since even with the a/c on, it can get muggy and uncomfortable inside. It's either scorching hot or pouring buckets down here.

We have no particular summer plans -- summer is a busy season for me at work (all the back to school check-ups). I got out of it last year since I was still on leave, but I'm not looking forward to juggling the massive workload and a little toddling girl! Anyone have some good summer plans?

I know we've got a new crop of mommies who just had their babies so welcome to you ladies   You WILL survive the first months. It's hard, but you'll find your groove. I've discovered that parenting is mostly getting to a place where you think you have it handled and then having something upend all of that (like starting to crawl, walking, etc). 

Ladies with older babies, what kind of language and social development are you seeing after the first birthday?  Anne's been saying 'hi' reliably and with meaning, and I think she started saying 'mama hi' this morning and 'all done' at lunch (very baby garbled) a couple times. I try to really praise her when she conveys something with meaning. She's not much of a pointer though, but she waves hi and bye, claps, and gestures to things she wants. I'm honestly not modeling pointing at all to her so I'm not surprised she doesn't point much. 

Our pediatrician gave us this lovely detailed printout of what to expect for all the different categories (social, cognitive, motor, language, etc) by month up to age 2. I may post it on Facebook since I found it really helpful when I was trying to place Anne's milestones. She (the doctor) says that babies will usually fall into a range of months -- their social might be 11 months, motor 13 months, language 12 months, etc. We have our 15 month check up at the end of the month so I hope she feels everything is going well for Anne! 

Happy Summer to all! No sunburns

wildrainbow

@mbradfo2 Remind me,  Anne was early right? I can't remember.  By 18 months,  she needs words that strangers can understand.  Ds1 needed speech therapy,  which early intervention took care of.  At 18 months he had 5 total words and only one someone else could understand.  He was speech therapy for 6 months and now,  at 3, speaks on an almost 5 yr old level.  So HUGE change.  However,  his gross motor function is at a huge deficit. Have been doing any sign language with her?  By now,  you want to see her actively expressing her wants and needs, whether by pointing or signs.  Ds1 wasn't a huge pointer, so I got him top physically show me what he wanted and always repeated what he desired.  How are her re supportive language skills? 

It's ridiculously hot here too. The humidity is so high that walking outside feels like you have a heavy blanket wrapped around you. It's awful.  I'm hoping that the reason we've gotten will help bring it to a more manageable level, so that we can spend some time outside.  H is currently OOT for about 10 days. Both boys know he's gone and they don't appreciate it.  Matthew whines when he knows H is usually home for work,  ds1 is a hot mess at bed time since H normally tucks him in.  I predict ice cream and a lot of dates with wine while he's gone. 

mtpbadger

I can’t believe it’s already June! We are going to MN and WI for 10 days in July to visit my parents and then spend a week with my sister, bro in law and 3 yr old nephew. They live on 40 acres with donkeys, chickens, a sheep and a pig so I’m excited for Abigail to experience all that. Other than that, enjoying our condos pool and my parents got her (us) a zoo pass for a year (zoo is free but parking is expensive and the pass covers parking and rides on the merry go round!) so we’ll do that a few times. 

Abigails getting braver and starting to let go and stand for a few seconds on her own but is still cautious. I know one day it’ll just click and off she’ll go! She’s been pointing at everything forever, occasionally waves, makes a “tick tock” noise with her tongue and now fake laughs. It’s the cutest thing. Verbal she’s still a little behind and not doing much but babbling. Her ped wasn’t concerned at her 1 yr since she was a preemie but said if she’s still not saying much at her 15 month she’ll prob have us get seen by early intervention for an assessment to see if Abigail qualifies. 

mbradfo2

@wildrainbow
Anne was 5 weeks early so she's 13 months adjusted right now. She's very good at conveying her meaning through gestures and I've been noticing more and more attempts at words. I come from a family of late talkers and she's also in a multilingual environment so I'm taking it day by day, but I talked to her pediatrician last Wednesday and she didn't seem concerned at all.  And the 'hi' is definitely understandable by strangers - they love it! Anne is a big babbler; she's rarely quiet during the day but I'm starting to notice more and more regular use of particular sounds for certain meanings which will hopefully become precursors to words. She's definitely picked up 'all done' now though and says it when she's full at meals or wants to move on to the next part of her meal (I always start with veggies first before the stuff I know she'll eat happily). 

Language acquisition was one of my areas of focus during grad school so I probably know TOO MUCH! 

Abigail will start walking and then you'll be chasing her everywhere! I have to rush to get ahead of Anne now to close off gates or stop her from going places she's not supposed to (like daddy's office). The farm sounds like so much fun! We haven't gone to do a zoo yet; there was a small butterfly park that opened nearby but my sister went with her girls while I was at work one day and said it wasn't that great. 

persnickity

I was told that by the 15th month appointment, DD should have 10 "words". That they just needed to be a sound that was used every time to indicate the same thing, not necessarily our real word. Like DD called yogurt "yummy" until recently. But she always asked for yummy and that counted.

She surpassed that and talks up a storm! But there are a lot of kids in her daycare class that are about the same age (2 months older or so) who have a lot less words. Our pediatrician said there's a lot of variablity.

[Deleted User]

Hey guys!  Omg I am so excited to welcome all the new mommies!!!  :D  I know in the beginning a lot of the older baby talk was a bit intimidating for me, but just please know you are welcome to share/ vent / ask questions about whatever stage you are in! ❤


AFM,
We are crawling!  Still amazing just to see her sitting up and hanging out/ playing like it's nbd.

Our solids are going really well, too.  I broke down today and bought some mum mums, (SIL had something similar at her house she finally tried over the weekend), puffs, and yogurt / fruit+veggie melts, just to make it easier to send / add snacks to her routine.  It's been fun meal planning for her week to week tho!  Doing a combo of BLW and purees, so like this week 8am breakfast is homemade oat+flaxmeal with strawberries, 12pm is steamed carrot sticks and pureed peas, 4pm dinner can vary - mostly based on whatever we're having  Lol like today she had pork chops, zucchini spears and applesauce, which she loved!!!  Next few nights will be red sauce (like a beef bolognese) with either thick cut zoodles or mashed cauliflower, then her snacks at 10 and 2 are blueberries and a biscuit (mum mum).  Sending all that's taken the pressure off me at home in the evenings if I just offer another snack at 6:30, bc I already know she's had her three MEALS, and we can just relax, and wind down for bed.

The evenings with her feel all too short. :/  but she's sleeping better through the night.  That, plus no longer pumping I think just may start to add up to me feeling more rested, I hope.

Oh, and they are talking about moving her up to the bigger baby room at school at the beginning of July.  ***cue tears***  I know it'll be good for her, and she's ready, I just can't believe where the time goes, and how big she's gotten.  Each stage has been great tho, seeing more ofher personality come out.  She is such a happy girl!!!  And she started doing this thing where she will cock her head to the side, get in your face, and smile REALLY BIG like, HELLO!  CUTE BABY HERE!  PAY ATTENTION TO ME NOW! :D  she did it to me once when I was playing on my phone and I felt horrible, but then she did it to me again while I was holding her and busy cleaning the sink, and I'm like omg you're too funny!  :D

persnickity

@BusinessWife that's quite the food schedule and variety! We're so boring here. It's basically the same thing every night for breakfast and dinner. And lunch when first starting solids was leftover parts of dinner too. Don't feel bad about giving puffs! 

persnickity

Need some help with potty training. We introduced the idea a few months ago and explained the basics. We didn't force anything, just let her know what a toilet was and sat her on it. She decided to start asking to use the bathroom off and on. At this point, she pees every night before bed and occasionally asks on weekends to go. The last week or two, Mackenzie decided to start taking off her dirty diapers at home and now at daycare. She folds them up and hands them to us. We're switching to pull ups to help.

The question is, do we start to push potty training and ask her/put her on the toilet regularly? Or just stick with what we've been doing?

Hopeful_mom

Hi ladies! Can’t believe June is here and I. Have a one year old it’s so crazy!! She really is such a joy and gets into everything!!! She’s so cute walking and being cautious but wanting to go everywhere.  It’s hikarious at the park she thinks she can run with the bigger kids and go down the slide all on her own, she has no fear it’s crazy!!!

@businesswife u are amazing with this menu for ur girl sounds like she’s doing great!! Sounds like she’s already off purées? How much do you think your giving at each meal.  Feeding takes forever these days so I feel like she just has bigger meals less frequently.  She’s high on the charts so she’s certainly fine in that set Isn’t not pumping the best! I still bf but gave up the pumping it was so much work for nothing already! So happy to be done with that part!! 

@mbradfo2 Anne really sounds like she is all over the place which is wonderful! You got me nervous thinking about the speech over here.  I swear she says hi especially when the phone rings it’s hilarious! She always thinks it’s for her and she wants it, we have big meltdowns about when she doesn’t get her way! We have big conversions and she talks with her hands like her mama it’s hilarious!!!  But no actual words so it’ll be interesting to see how she progresses.  Besides reading anything else you did to help it along? 
And anne feeds herself? How long? My girl is still really all about the purées.  She’ll eat banana on her own but the probably is she shoves everything in at once.  No matter how cut it up....obviously I don’t want her choking so meal time seems like it just takes forever!!! And she’s that baby that is never full and just wants more...so I’m kind of at a loss with that.  I think she would eat a loaf of bread if I gave it to her  granted half of it ends up as crumbs all over my floor but still! 

@mtpbadger your trip to the farm sounds like it’s going to be amazing! That’s like a lifetime movie for me right there would love to get out of the city and do that....minus all the bugs!! 

@persnickity curious to hear about potty train as my girl HATES BEING CHANGED!!! OMG the crying that goes on does it ever stop? I literally have to find a new game, song, toy anything to distract her to change her which is just exhausting!!! 

@wildrainbow sounds like I have ur hands full with the mr away hoping ur doing ok!

Hopeful_mom

Since it is the summer what does everyone do for bug protection? For our walks as a newborn I used the netting but now she’ll just pull at it when I try to use it while she’s up! That’s the one thing I do hate about this season is all the extra crappy careers that come out to play! 

Hopeful_mom

One more question with feeding dies eberyone give bottles with meals? I guess I need to start the sippy cup process soon...means my baby is really growing up 

mbradfo2

@Hopeful_mom

Finger food eating can take -forever- I know! I usually will start her on her food and then make mine, sit down with her and eat with her. We started with soft things that were very safe to eat and as she's become more experienced, I've added in a larger variety, including things she has to chew. She's even learning to take bites of a larger item like a fruit bar. It's just practice and time


I wouldn't worry too much about language stuff as long as you are talking to her, reading books, etc. You can't force development, that's what my dad keeps telling me. 

Bugs -- there are baby safe bug sprays you can try but often the best protection is just covering up and avoiding bug-favored zones (evening near water, etc). We live in Florida and deal with bugs year round and I don't use any spray, just cover up if we're going to be outside during a high bug period, etc. 

As far as food goes, we offer sippy cups of milk (about 6 -9 oz depending on the cup) at each meal now. I gradually started introducing the sippy cup (first as something containing water at her solids meals, then with milk in place of a bottle) and reducing the number of bottles around 11 months. The last bottle we stopped was the first am one since I love snuggling with her (now I have to figure out other ways to get my independent girl to snuggle!). If she finishes up the sippy cup, I'll refill it. We try to keep to water at her snacks but if she's not been drinking much milk, I'll sometimes offer milk along with the snacks.

We do three meals a day and then 2 snacks -- a snack between breakfast and lunch, and another between lunch and dinner. The snacks are usually things like yogurt and fruit, applesauce, graham crackers, cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts, etc. I bought little divided plates for her meals and I fill each one with a different item -- a breakfast this morning, for example, one part had strawberry and banana greek yogurt, another cut strawberries with whipped cream, and the largest part had a pancake torn up into pieces. I've also started to offer a spoon or spork with food and let her decide if she wants to give it a go. She figured out this morning that it was easier to use the spoon to eat the yogurt than sticking her hands in it (thankfully). 

[Deleted User]

@Hopeful_mom oh, she still takes <i>lots</i> of purees!  I have mostly been using that kind of as my formula that if it's a meal, it's puree (or oatmeal) + fingerfood, but <i>fingerfood only</i> is a snack.  🤷‍♀️  Like if you look below, I wasn't happy with tomorrow's plan here really ...till I added the yogurt at breakfast.  That way I feel more confident something is getting in her tum, (even if the rest mostly ends up on the floor.)

8am Breakfast: waffles + strawberry <i>+ yogurt</i>
10/2 Snacks: blueberries + mummum 
12pm Lunch: squash/pear puree (plum organics) with Gerber sweet potato puffs <i>+ any remaining yogurt</i>
4pm Dinner: tiny carrot, corn, chicken nibbles (pea sized pieces) with pureed yams 

Purees are about an ounce each feeding for now, but lots of times she finishes it all, so we may have to bump that up a bit.  Nibblings maybe approx the same, but she almost never finishes all her nibbles. I just don't get discouraged either way, and keep consistently offering something similar all week because it could just be what she's in the mood for that day or whatever.

She gets a sippy of water at mealtime, and offered a bottle after eating.  Not super strict about the times if she's napping or whatever.  And I'll maybe try offering the 360 at home this week and see what happens.

This is also us just dipping our toes into some of the, "convenience foods," so I feel some kind of way about calling pouch + puffs a "meal," TBH, but whatever.  I have some more veggies I'll get to steaming for her tomorrow or Tuesday.  I'm just too tired right now after a long day.  And if there's more yogurt from breakfast, I'll ask them to re-offer it at lunchtime.  But cut up melon + puffs on her tray sounds like a recipe for disaster!!!  so I'm not going to go there.

TBH, school makes it so much easier, tho. Sundays when we are all home / church / visiting etc it makes it hard.  Like today she had a good meal of oats and squash/pear puree in the car after church about 12, and another good meal while visiting that included waffle, strawberry, grapes, peaches, watermelon, honeydew and taylor ham!  :D  plus sippy water.  Once she was pretty much over it, we offered a bottle, but an awful lot of it ends up on the floor still, so please don't feel bad! 

I think we may start to make the transition more in earnest this week to the floorbed, too.  Now that she's crawling and pulling up, I'd much rather she wake up and just explore her room, than climb out of her sidecar and fall off the bed. :/ so that's also crazy.  She'll be 9m on Thursday. :blush:

Hopeful_mom

Thanks for the info and suggestions...ur just trying to get it all right!  I just feel like she’s that baby that doesn’t smack it away and say no.  She tosses the empty bowls and wants more.  I’m wondering if offering the bottle//sippy right away will help...stay tuned 

persnickity

We jumped straight into finger foods and skipped purees. Everything she are, she fed to herself. Not every meal was a success and some she only ate a tiny bit, but overall it balances out. She didn't start eating a lot of food regularly until a little after a year

cashewchicken

Hi Ladies! I was swamped at work the first half of June, but now I have some time to comment on TB... Thanks for sharing your meal plans and your schedules. It really helps to know what other moms are doing and what I can do to make things easier.

As for food, my son loves chicken and meatballs. One of the first meat dish he loved was a roast chicken so we used to buy a rotisserie chicken every week and feed it to him. He loves the dark meat but not so much the white meat, so I would eat the white meat but I got sick of it after a couple of months. Now we just get chicken thigh and cook it at home. He also loves meatballs so I make a batch of meatballs on weekends. My son is pretty good about eating meat these days, he eats a whole thigh for dinner! What we need to work on is getting him to eat more veggies. We steam veggies and we give them to him. He loves carrots, but other veggies he won't eat nearly as much. Nibbles here and there, but that's about it. Fruits, he loves. I don't think he's ever met a fruit he didn't like. DH and I are guilty of relying on veggie/fruit purée pouches. My son gets that for his 5pm snacks as well as supplementing his meals on days he refuses to eat veggies. His daycare provides his breakfast and 3pm snack, so all we need to do is provide his lunch and 5pm snack, so that's been easy. Trying to get him to eat dinner and going to bed at a reasonable time on the other hand has been difficult.

Ladies, did any of you have any difficulty getting your baby to drink milk? My son doesn't seem to care too much for (cow's) milk. He drinks at most 4, 6 ounces a day. That was one of the reasons I ended up nursing for so long because I wanted to make sure that he got more milk. It'll make me feel so much better if he'd drink a lot more, though according to my pediatrician, if he's not into it, don't force it.

As for language development, I'm a bit worried. He is almost 15 months and he doesn't really have any words that anyone can understand, that he uses consistently. He says "dah!" to mean yes, but then I've also heard him use "dah" to mean "done", so I don't know. He's not much of a pointer either, though yesterday when I facetimed my MIL, he pointed at her as he watched her face on the screen. He does seem to understand more of what we say though. Like @mbradfo2 mentioned, him growing up in a multilingual household (other than English, there are at least four languages being spoken at home and/or by family members) has something to do with it? He makes plenty of eye contacts and smiles all the time and is the happiest baby. He also babbles all day, and according to his teachers, he is a chatterbox.

The summer plans? We have none. I still feel exhausted from the overseas trip we took in March! I think we are going to take it easy, maybe go to a park or a zoo. Going to the state fair next month. That's about it.

My plan is to completely wean him off by the end of the month! Last weekend we cut down the feeding down to one feeding, at night before going to bed. Stopping 12 and 3 am feedings is so wonderful... he now reliably sleeps from 9pm until 5am. I thought stopping the morning feed would be easy, but we're beginning to wonder the 5am feed is not just for comfort, that he is hungry! He only stays asleep for half an hour longer or so before he wakes up again wanting to be fed. This morning we woke up at 5:45am to give him milk and puffs. Yawn.

mtpbadger

@cashewchicken that’s my goal to be DONE by the end of the month! I pump once in the morning and then nurse when we get home from daycare and Abigail becomes a she-devil if she doesn’t get to boobs right away. When we’re out and about it’s not so bad bc she’s distracted so I may have to start doing activities right from daycare. She gets breakfast, lunch and a snack at daycare most days. We still have to get her tested for oat allergy so on days that’s in one of the meals we bring something. Nothing wrong with pouches either! Honestly, some days Abigails snack is goldfish and yogurt melts. 

@hopeful_mom abigail is a food stuffer. We only put a few pieces on her tray at a time and it seems really counter intuitive but try giving her bigger pieces so she has to learn to take bites. That’s helped with Abigail and while she will still occasionally stuff her cheeks full, it’s gotten MUCH better

For those of you on instagram, there’s two accounts that I follow that have been helping with feeding...@snackswithJax and @feedinglittles   I’ve gotten some good ideas from there and they have a ton of good information 

persnickity

@mtpbadger I'll second the giving slightly larger chunks. It helped so much learning to take bites. 

@cashewchicken From what I've seen and heard, boys tend to develop words later than girls. If you're concerned, talk to your pediatrician about early intervention in terms of some speech therapy. Most of the boys in DD's daycare class aren't saying much. For milk, DD tends to drink more milk at daycare than at home. As long as he's getting calcium and other nutrients from cheese and yogurt, don't worry too much. Does he just prefer water?

mbradfo2

@cashewchicken
Boys do often develop language a little later than girls (and often aren't as verbal). Unclear why this is exactly -- if it's nurture or nature since there are studies pointing in both directions. Probably a little combo of both, I'd guess. -- Interesting area of research, if you're at all curious!  My dad told me not to worry about language development yet and to stop reading about development by month, lol. He pointed out that you can't force neurological development and even if you do use speech therapy, it's sometimes just tincture of time rather than the therapy that produces results. Just keep on talking and reading to him! You're doing all you need to do

As for milk, I actually asked my dad about this and he said not to worry about milk intake if baby is eating solids well and also getting yogurt and cheese. So some days she'll be super milk happy and drink alot of milk and then other days she might have a couple oz's and that's it. But then eat a bunch of yogurt or cheese. Yogurt is a favorite snack in our house anyway -- and it's something that's quick and easy! My nieces LOOOOOVE the little yogurts that have the Disney characters on the packaging so we usually have those around but Anne also likes greek yogurt with the fruit on the bottom. I also got some gogurts for on the go yogurt snacks. 

Speaking of Disney, I'm slightly thankful that Anne will be just a bit too young for Frozen 2 since I know it's going to suck in my nieces. They already have their Anna and Elsa costumes ready to go XD

cashewchicken

@mtpbadger Congrats on being almost done with nursing! My son also doesn't demand milk when he is distracted. I need to come up with strategies to keep him occupied when we finally cut him off.

Thanks for the instagram sites. They are really helpful.

@mbradfo2 and @persnickity I've also heard from others that boys tend to develop language later than girls. Definitely the girls in his daycare class (He's in the 1 year old toddler class) are more chatty. Many of them are also older though. I am planning on bringing this up at the 15-month appointment, and if the doctor recommends an early intervention, then we will definitely take part in it. Not going to lie, I'm a bit worried about this aspect of his development, but I'm not going crazy over it. I just want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help him grow and adjust. We do read him books at night, in English and in my native language.

My son definitely prefers water over milk. We do let him carry a bottle and sip water throughout the day. Since he doesn't drink milk much, he does get yogurt everyday (often twice a day) and sometimes cheese. Do you recommend any cheeses? He likes string cheese but boy are they salty! Thinking about getting mozzarella sticks instead.

Oh Disney. My best friend has a two year-old and I tease him about when he is going to introduce his daughter to Disney. He is dead against it. He hates Disney princess clothes. LOL. My son hasn't been introduced to Disney either. He loves Sesame Street though, but hey, Sesame Street isn't coming out with a movie (not to my knowledge...) or has theme parks!

[Deleted User]

TFAS question:

Ladies, talk to me about modified natural cycle FET.  I am flabbergasted, but that'swhat my doctor is recommending!  I have pretty normal cycles, so she says take advantage of that.  This study published March 2018 says there's no significant difference in outcomes:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5894530/#!po=3.19149

I'm excited, just still trying to wrap my head around it, since our previous two cycles were fully medicated, and we weren't given the option before.  Thoughts?

mbradfo2

@BusinessWife
Did you guys have any dx other than MFI? There is some research showing that natural cycles might be better for women who have the proper hormone balance normally. 

cashewchicken

@BusinessWife My one on only FET was fully medicated, so I can't speak from my experience. But I remember one of the ladies on TB had a successful natural cycle FET. She had terrible side effects from estrogen patches, I think, so she ended up doing the natural cycle transfer. Based on my limited knowledge, the natural cycle FET seems to be more work for the REs as they need to monitor their patients carefully for ovulation, etc. The impression I got was the medicated cycles were more convenient for REs as they are able to schedule the date of transfer ahead of time with fewer scans required.

halfanewt

Jumping back in here. I’ve been following here and on FB and not doing a good job of keeping up on either! 

@BusinessWife our RE said they’re both good options if you have regular cycles. I asked about success rates, too, and she said it’s a bit of selection bias since the fully medicated cycles often (but not always) have something else going on. 

halfanewt

Little guy is almost 9 months and a ball of energy! He’s recently figured out how to get to sitting on his own and lives to bounce! He’ll eat pretty much anything we put in front of him, BLW and purées, and has decided he’s not a fan of the bottle. He still nurses just fine, but my MIL, who is our childcare for another two weeks, is having a hard time getting him to drink milk during the day. How early is too early to transition to a cup? 

mtpbadger

@halfanewt I don't think 9 months is too early to transition to a cup - if he's ready, follow his lead! 

Hopeful_mom

@mtpbadger thanks for the tips!! I’m laughing about giving her a bigger piece as she likes to shove the whole banana in her face! I broke it up into pieces and she still shoveled a few pieces at once in, dear lord help me!!

i had her one year old app and she didn’t think to introduce a sippy cup and wait till later.  Is the time frame important? 

have no insight on Natural a FET I only know from medicated. 

Hopeful_mom

Vaccinations questions, not whether you’re for it or against them just curious the amounts you get at a time. 

mbradfo2

@Hopeful_mom
We just do whatever the recommended schedule is. At our office, we have some parents who want to split up the shots or give only one at a time - and while we are happy to oblige them (at least they're getting them), it does turn the doctor's office into "that place where you get shots" each time they come in and I've noticed more distress about appointments in those kiddos. It's been about 3 pokes per visit on the standard schedule - except for Anne at 6 months when she got the flu shot too (4 pokes that time). 

Note about the 1 year old shots if you're getting them soon --- the MMR and Varicella shots tend to have delayed reactions so don't be surprised if she suddenly gets a fever or a small rash at the injection site 1 to 2 weeks later. 

mbradfo2

Also, you ladies should consider getting the hep A shot again if you haven't already --- there have been some outbreaks and it's likely you need a booster to protect yourself.  Not sure about those who are preggo -- don't know if the shot is recommended in that instance.

cashewchicken

@Hopeful_mom We follow the vaccination schedule recommended by the pediatrician’s office and they follow the CDC recommendation, I think. The only one we didn’t follow the schedule was MMR but that’s because my son got it at 11.5 weeks just prior to our Japan trip. @mbradfo2 Oh really? I got my first ever Hep A shot around 2007 and a booster a month later. Wonder if I need a booster again. Speaking of booster, I was shocked to find that I had no immunity to measles when I had titers checked for MMR 5 months ago. Got a booster then and wondering if I need to check for the titer again...

mbradfo2

Not a bad idea since you have a little one who could catch if from you (even though he'll get the first dose of protection at 1 year or has already). But yeah, that's what my parents were telling me so we're going in to get hep a boosters. I was vaccinated for it when I was little so I doubt I have any immunity left.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for weighing in guys, yes, my cycles are fairly normal, if a bit *wonkier now PP, but mostly 26-29 days. (Last month was a random 22 day tho :/ I never had an official dx )  so far my recent labs all came back normal - p4 was a bit high probably because AF had really only just barely started, so nobody is concerned...  I would definitely be excited about the cost savings if we decide to have me stay home for the subsequent babes.  It remains to be seen if H will want the stress of staying self employed, vs. Get a job, ideally with decent benefits to replace mine.  Time will tell, but of course lots of otherwise good insurance plans don't cover much for IF, so that's potentially a huge savings, especially since we hope / plan to eventually bring them all home, one way or another.  Not to mention just easier and not feeling so clinical, I hope.  Monitoring, trigger, vaginal progesterone, done!  Makes it sound so easy! Lol  :s

mtpbadger

I need some in-law advice. My mother in law keeps using Abby for Abigail. DH has told her several times please call her Abigail and she replies with “we had nicknames for you and your brothers”. I totally understand Abigail will likely have a nickname at school but I want her to be able to choose if she goes by anything other than Abigail. It really bothers me that even after being asked multiple times she still does it. I don’t have the best relationship with my MIL so I don’t know if I’m just being very nit picky bc of the history or if I’m within my bounds to be annoyed and make it very clear with her to please use her given name? 

Thoughts?

mbradfo2

Personally, I think it's rather gauche to use a nickname for ANYONE without them saying, 'hey, such and such is my nickname' or something like that. Especially rude if it's a child and the parents have said 'no nicknames'. I don't think you're being nitpicky.  I get annoyed when someone spells Anne without the 'e'! I don't say anything, I just, like the fictional Anne would, add an e on when I write back to them or send the document back. Our contractors keep writing 'Ann's closet' on their plans and I keep correcting it lol. 

My sister and I had nicknames among our friends and family growing up but they were always ones we were OK with. I think it's rude to use a nickname otherwise. My cousin's girl is named Abigail and I would never dream of calling her Abby unless they said it was okay.

mtpbadger

@mbradfo2 okay, glad I’m not being overly sensitive based on my history with her. I also feel like she’s totally disrespecting DH when he’s had to say something multiple times and she blatantly ignores it. I guess momma bear will have to come out, even though I hate any type of confrontation and it won’t help our strained relationship at all. 

blackhottamales

*lurking*
@mtpbadger I also agree you are not being overly sensitive.  You picked a name you loved and have stated explicitly to use that name.  I have a niece named Lilith, our whole family uses her whole name (she's 9). I just found out that at school she goes by Lilly, but she's never told me "call me Lilly" or expressed an interest in being called anything but Lilith so I don't assume anything.  MH have a nickname picked out for our LO (both the girl and the boy name) and will be sharing the nickname in correspondence so people know.  It's all about clear expectations and you MIL is obviously not respecting your wishes.  

wabash15

@hopeful_mom with the twins we did all the vaccines but I split them up.. .it was a lot of work. Since then I have also learned that in humans we actually respond better to the vaccines if they are all given at the same time... so now I follow the CDC guidelines and get them all done at the same time...
@mbradfo2 what you mean there is some alternative/acceptable spelling to Anne (also I HATE when people pronounce Anne as annie....)
@mtpbadger nicknames don't bother me... my kids have fairly short names and so their "nicknames" are way longer than their given names.... that being said, if you have expressed a preference than it should be honored. Unfortunately some people just won't listen and all you can do is keep reminding them, and using the name you want to use... Sorry MIL is not being respectful of your wishes...

mbradfo2

@wabash15
“But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne with an 'e'.” 
― L.M. Montgomery
 ^.^

cashewchicken

@mtpbadger I agree with all others above, your MIL should respect you and your husband's desire for your daughter to be called by her given name. I have the opposite issue with the daycare teachers occasionally calling my son by his given name, rather than the nickname. They also refer to me as my son's "mommy" even though I prefer to be called "mama" instead. But in my case, the teachers don't know that (his infant class teachers did, but I don't think his toddler class teachers do), so it's not really their fault.

I just remembered that I had a teacher back in middle school who called me Maria even though my name was not Maria (similar, but NOT Maria and no documents ever listed my name as Maria to cause any confusion). I think I told him several times that my name isn't Maria, but he told me that to him, I'm Maria, so he just kept on calling me that. WTF.

persnickity

@mtpbadger my name is very commonly nicknamed, but I go by my full name. I HATE when people call me by a nickname. If you and DH both prefer not to use a nickname, then everyone else needs to respect that. When old enough to choose, Abigail can decide. If your MIL doesn't respect that, you might need to get firm.