Parenting Check-In (12/15)

Jazibel · December 2014

Happy Monday Everyone!

How was your weekend?

Any new milestones, challenges or successes to report?

QOTD: Share your “holiday letter” (highlights of the past year).

Parenting Roster:

(Please let me know if you would like to be added)

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

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

@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

@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

@shameless370087‌ - Anthony and Sati, born 3/9/2014, Other mom is S

@Filmfanatic82 – Charley born 3/15/14

@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

2brides · December 2014

it was a good, but busy weekend. Picture taken with Santa (probably the last one.

), gifts mailed, holiday cards addressed, holiday party attended, and ended with a sick kid and wife.

QOTD:

We don't do a yearly recap for cards, but it would include: G in his first school play (Tweedle Dee in Alice in Wonderland), soccer for both kids, lot of playdates/sleepovers with their BFF, last day at their school they'd attended for the past 4y, summer camp, a week of Camp Mom and Mommy, starting 3rd grade at a new school, and soccer for G and flag football for C.

rkbo · December 2014

Hi everyone!

Amelia is growing like a weed. Our little lovebug came home on Dec 1st and we couldn't be happier. We have been closely monitored by our pediatrician for her weight since she was such a preemie. We have been going to see him twice a week so far. On Thursday at our last appt she weighed 6lbs 15.5oz. She has another appt today and should have passed the 7lb mark!

Today she is 12 weeks old. Crazy how fast those 12 weeks flew by. She spent 10 of those weeks in the NICU.

Our current struggle is feeding time. The pediatrician wants us to gradually start increasing her ml at her feeds. She is currently at 60ml and he wants us to feed her more. Its already a struggle to get 60 in, some feeds it doesn't even happen. But other times, she'll take 60ml in 10 minutes and not complain one bit. She is exclusively fed breast milk. Mostly from the bottle, and once or twice per day via breast. But since I don't know how much she is getting via breast, we still give her the bottle after. I sure can't wait till our pediatrician says we can feed on demand.

QOTD:

We don't do a holiday letter either, but gosh, a LOT has sure happened in the last year it seems. Lets see....we sold our condo, moved to a new city into an apartment, looking for our forever home to buy, bought a new car, had our 1 year wedding anniversary, got pregnant in March and had a baby in September!

ball.and.chain · December 2014

B is 5 months old.

We had a nice weekend. B was sick on Friday but mostly back to normal by Saturday (weird poop all weekend but no fever, eating normally and happy). My MIL was here and we decorated the tree, made a fire in the fireplace, and cooked lots of yummy food (lobsters! steamers! cookies! coconut buttermilk pound cake!). I got a lot of stuff done around the house and ran some errands -- it's always easier when there is one additional person to entertain the baby. Just a few holiday cards left to go -- people for whom I'm waiting for new addresses. B was a little afraid of Grandma at first but warmed up to her pretty quickly and was snuggling and smiling and giggling in no time. She is good with babies and I think she really enjoyed spending time with him. She also brought him a new toy, a bunch of cute new clothes and two Christmas ornaments -- plus a dozen bagels from NJ for those of us with teeth!

Major backslide on the sleep training. Partly it's because he wasn't feeling well last week and only wanted to sleep on us, and because he was sick and we wanted him to sleep, we allowed it. Then Grandma came on Saturday and we felt bad about letting him cry too long at night when she was trying to sleep in the next room. We're not back where we started but close! Grandma went home today and he's feeling better so we have to get him back to his big boy crib and his big boy nap schedule.

Otherwise he's doing great. Still kind of a toothpick but he is looking really long to me lately. He has started scooting around on his back (which makes diaper changes an adventure), and on Sunday he lifted his whole chest off the ground while doing tummy time as opposed to just his head and shoulders. I forgot to mention last week that I let him try a piece of apple -- just held it in his mouth and let him suck on it, and he LOVED it. We aren't doing solids yet but soon and I think he's going to be into it.

QOTD: We also don't do a holiday newsletter but I must say there would not be much to report! We spent the first half of the year preparing for B's arrival -- which everyone already knows about, thanks to FB and the grapevine -- and the second half taking care of him. No job changes, no interesting travel, no major home improvements -- all of which is fine by me given that a new baby is enough change. Obviously our lives are very different but there isn't much to say about it!

rkbo · December 2014

sarahtrpt We were given one of these books at our shower and I think it might be great for your little girl. She can chew on them all she wants!

https://www.indestructiblesinc.com/index.html

Karlamo · December 2014

Good Morning! R is 9 months old.

I noticed my posts about R focus on his sleep issues and not enough on what an amazing kid I have! His 9 month appt stats are 22lbs 15 oz and 30.5 inches long!

R has really taken off on all fours. He is so adorable crawling on all fours. It seems that this will be his new mode of transportation. He also is getting his 2 front teeth in for Christmas! He waves goodbye if you're leaving the room. At bedtime when the other mom leaves the room, he will wave goodbye. It is so sweet.

For parents who have given their kids meat: We have tried meat twice with R. The first time it was pieces of turkey which he played with and didn't eat. I told our pedi at our 9 month appt and he said the reason he wouldn't eat it was the consistency and to puree it. Purreed meat makes me gag. It's disgusting and I wanted to avoid doing it but last night I pureed some chicken and he still didn't eat it. Do I have a vegatarian on my hands?? My gut says it's something he needs to get used to. Knowing R if I mixed it with bm he would take it

QOTW: We sent out Thanksgiving day cards instead of holiday cards this year. I didn't want to send 2 back to back cards. Even though I'm obessed with my baby, I realize others might not be. Our Thanksgiving Day cards said "Give thanks for the little things in life" and it had our birth annoucement and our we moved, all in one. I wanted to give people our new address for their own holiday cards but so far I've only received 1 Christmas card in the mail

Karlamo · December 2014

stringy813 said:

I *think* we have finally beat the sick. Back to pedi's for the 3rd time in a week on Thurs when she started a fever and they discovered a UTI. So on to antibiotics. Once we figured out the best bribery method to get it in her she has been feeling better. Sleep has been extra terrible of course - I think the poor kid was waking up screaming every time she pees and we had no clue.

Plus our sleep consultant plan hasn't been touched yet because of the sick, and then with next week's travel will suck, and then our month with her will expire. So i'm kind of annoyed by that.

QOTD: Holiday letter? We barely got cards in the mail! It would probably highlight M's birthday, two weeklong local beach vacations, no sleep, and lots of toddler antics.

This is where we are at too. I went ahead and emailed her these 2 scenarios because they will come up over and over again and I want to know how to deal with them. This was one of the reasons why we were hesitant to do the Feber Method; because I heard that every time they get sick or travel outside of their routine you have to have them CIO all over again.

We'll see what she suggests.

I say if both of our plans fail to see results that you and I switch kids for 1 week and train the other ones!

KH826 · December 2014

Hi Everyone! I haven't had time to read anyone's update yet, but I want to add mine before the day gets away from me anymore than it has already...

Will is 6 months old!

He had his pedi visit last Thursday. He is 19 lbs 10 oz and 27 inches long. 83rd %tile for weight and 65th %tile for height.

He had 3 shots (1 of which was part 1 of his flu shot). The flu shot really hurt him, I think. He had a bruise on his thigh near the injection site for several days, and he was fussier than normal for about 36ish hours following the shot. He also has been having some more acute teething going on... it feels like his top two teeth are going to break through soon, and he has moments where you can tell him gums are really bothering him. We have been giving him teething tablets when needed, and we gave him Tylenol once (he had an ever so slight fever the day after his shots). He has seemed more like himself the last 2 days though. Last week was rough between teething and the shots.

So, sleep suddenly became an issue last Monday night. Our worst night was Friday night, but the last two nights has been back on the STTN train. We took him out of his mini crib and put him back in his lounger after a few nights of restless sleep, and that seems to have made a difference. It is obviously not a long term solution, so we will have to deal with this again. His largest problem seems to be now that he wakes up and realizes we aren't holding him anymore, and gets upset. He currently refuses to be put down awake, which is what we used to do. He has worked really hard to self soothe though, and the last two nights he has woken a bit when put down and will whimper and fuss off and on for 5-10 minutes and then will go to sleep. Last night he cried out at 2am and we gave it a minute to see if he would self soothe and he did after about 3 mins, so we never got up with him and he went back to sleep on his own.

We have been having fun with solids! So far he has had banana a few times, pear once, and few different purees that are a mix of vegetable and fruit. We seem to have stumbled into a bit of a hybrid of BLW and purees. We didn't initially plan on doing purees, but he really likes them (and loves the spoon!), and we are combining it with offering him food via the BLW method, so I think we will keep it up for a while doing both and see what happens.

Things Will currently loves include: ripping wrapping paper (we have been opening a Christmas book every night); hamming it up for the camera for his nightly Christmas photos; Sitting up on the couch like a big boy; Rolling and scooting all over the place; still loving bath time; Screeching and giggling; pulling on Momma's jewelry (I need to get some chew beads!); patting the dog (we are working on gentle hands!)

I feel like there are things I am forgetting... I will try to come back later to read everyone else's posts!

redrockmama · December 2014

M will be 6 months on Friday. Time is going so fast. I can't believe he has been with us for half of a year already.

We got his Santa pictures taken on Saturday and they turned out so great! Definitely worth every penny. The rest of the weekend was fun and very busy.

M is doing great. More fussy with the teething, but not too bad. We are offering solids most of the time when we eat, but he's not too into it yet. He wants to play with the food, but doesn't care much about putting it in his mouth.

For other BLWers, how did you decide to approach solids with caregivers? I am thinking we'll wait until he is actually eating to have the nanny give him food. But am curious what others have done.

M is sitting up great on his own, but still hates being on his tummy. Every now and again he will hang out on his tummy, but 99% of the time he just rolls immediately to his back. He is jumping in his jumper and talking and singing more every day.

Oh one really funny thing happened, we took him to a party last week and everyone just loved having him there. Right before we left this man said hi to him and he just busted up laughing. The guy had a pretty deep voice. M was cracking up everytime he said something. When we got home, I started talking to him in a really deep voice and he laughed and laughed. J took a video of it We figured it must be because he doesn't hear deep man voices very often.

QOTW: We finally made Christmas cards, no newsletter though. Ours would include losing my stepmom, me being pregnant, painting M's mural, M being born and adjusting and loving life with our little love.

ball.and.chain · December 2014

@redrockmama‌, I havent BTDT yet but daycare is one of the reasons we are planning on doing a combo of BLW and purées. I don't want to worry about them watching him closely enough with other kids competing for attention, and also my daycare providers are kind of old-school so I think it would be weird for them. But IIRC you have a nanny, so that might be easier.

jennicole85 · December 2014

D is 17 months.

He's become such a happy toddler but I'm almost positive his eye teeth are starting to come in. He's waking every couple of hours at night screaming in pain. I'm always bewildered because when he wakes for the day he's all smiley and full of laughs but at night he's like a different (extremely difficult) kid. Ugh, pass the caffeine please!

I think he's going through a growth spurt too. He's eating like crazy and I finally switched his clothes to 18 months. It's funny because he's so skinny that most of his 18 month pants fall off but fit in length (thank god for adjustable waists) and his 12 months are serious floods but fit better in the waist. He's my long and lean little boy.

He's also starting to talk, finally! He was diagnosed as speech delayed at his 12 month appointment but they can't fit us in to therapy until the end of January. Sigh. We've been working really hard on his speech and it's finally paying off! He went from saying only one word to about six in just a week! Yay!

I was able to send out our Christmas cards this weekend after putting them off forever. Oops! We don't do Christmas letters either. If we did for the past year it would be D's milestones and house updates. That's pretty much consuming all of our time!

JGY · December 2014

I had been so excited about the weekend, because we had so many fun things planned. Also S had the entire weekend off of work, which hasn't happened in MONTHS.

So, of course, I got a call from daycare Friday afternoon letting me know G had a fever. He seemed to feel okay, so we dosed him up with some Ibuprofin and went about our plans. We had a babysitter that night (a trusted and close friend) and she reported everything went fine.

Well, at midnight he woke with a very high fever (104) and we spent the next few hours trying to get it back down. It was scary and we talked about going to the ER, but instead called the nurse line and they talked us down. We took him to Urgent Care the next day and he tested positive for influenza.

PSA - there is a Tamiflu shortage in the Twin Cities right now (we spent a good portion of the afternoon calling every pharmacy under the sun, trying to track down this time-sensitive medication)

Anyway, once we started meds for the flu and ANOTHER ear infection, he perked right up. I, of course, still felt sick. But oh well. We ended up being able to do just about everything we had planned for the weekend, so actually things turned out quite well. The only thing we skipped was a visit to Santa, and we'll try to squeeze that in next weekend.

G has a lot to say these days, it's pretty hilarious. My current favorite is "How 'bout this?" He also sings the rouser for the local university (where S works). He has become super friendly with everyone, and offers kisses all around. I really have so much love for him, it's a bit overwhelming.

QOTD: I'm so impressed with everyone that's been able to get cards out. We haven't. I'd love to. Maybe we'll send them for New Year's? Our "Letter" would likely talk about my new role at my company, along with the crazy schedule that S has had this year. We'd talk about the wonderful growth we've seen in G, and about how our pets continue to complete our family. We'd talk about our trips to CT and IN this summer, and my family's visit to MN for Thanksgiving. It's been a full year of living, even without many major events.

Jazibel · December 2014

Kaden is almost 2 1/2 years old, Owen is 7 months old

With EV home over the last week it's felt like the weekend all the time :-) That said we had a great weekend. I worked an event on Saturday and EV watched the kids. The event was over an hour away so it made for a long and exhausting day for her. She's been so amazing though -it's not easy to step in when the kids and I have old routines. I think she has mixed feelings about it ;-) and part of her wants to go back to work. She said "I can't do what you do!" the other day.

Owen's bottom teeth are really poking through. The teething part has been rough, and tonight he fought sleep so much I almost resorted to Tylenol. I almost kicked myself for not thinking of it earlier - but he had finally fallen asleep in his swing.

We have an ant invasion. Cooking, taking care of toddlers and an infant learning to eat with ants is soooooo gross. Hopefully my traps will kill them off. I bought the "big guns" from Amazon with overnight shipping if the store bought stuff doesn't cut it. I need my kitchen back. Speaking of Amazon it's 12:22am and EV and I just finished Christmas shopping for the boys. I'm doing store pick up for some stuff and Amazon. This year I've failed to get cards out. No holiday photo of the boys yet. Our lights aren't up, and we don't have a tree yet.... Sigh. And another sigh. We ventured out to a tree farm and saw a ton of cute little trees but not the 6-8 foot tree EV wanted. Alas! Anyway we decided tonight to get a smaller 4' tree to put in our winebarrel. That way its out of the way and Kaden can't pull all the ornaments off (like last year). Oooops. We had a blast at the farm though riding a train, watching a puppet show and exploring the woods. Hopefully we can get our tree up tomorrow and hang lights.

Owen is now pulling himself into a kneeling position, or just kneeling back from crawling. He's starting to reach up on things! It's super intimidating to think he might walk soon (even if "soon" is a few months from now). Where has the time gone??!!!

Kaden is still struggling with some typical two year old behavior. It's tough, and we've started doing more processing, and problem solving. Today we met up with EV's grandparents and aunt in San Francisco at an indoor playground. I noticed Kaden trying to hit an older pre-school age girl and intercepted. I led him to a different play space and told him if he hit anyone again that we'd have to leave. I saw him raise his hand to someone else and he stopped himself mid "swing". He didn't hit the rest of our stay (about 1.5 hours). Anyway he wouldn't go back into the fancy 3-story play structure until I went with him. And when I was in there I observed that the other kids (mostly a little older 3 - 6 years old) were playing elaborate games and chasing one another. They were also very verbal and "bossy" with their rules. Such as "this is my bedroom you can't come in here", or "only one person at a time down the stairs" Kaden became overwhelmed and flustered during these interactions and I realized the he didn't understand the "imaginary rules, or games" and couldn't communicate in return. Very likely his hitting was an inappropriate attempt at expressing his frustration. Anyway it was a big clue into what the triggers might be for his "bad behavior". I would really like to support him, and help him move past this stage.

QOTD: We didn't do a holiday letter either, maybe next year. I always like getting them. This year we'd include the birth of Owen, our move, a few of Kaden's milestones like starting preschool and become an adept balance bike rider. Our personal life has become rather mundane so I'm sure I'd chalk it full of kid stuff, oh and the catering business.

JGY · December 2014

@winstan1 - OMG good luck!!! I'm sending tons of good thoughts your way for this interview. Yay! I really wasn't ever sure if nights were what worked for you, and it was preferable. Or, if you were biding your time and waiting for a day shift to open up.

C'mon, hiring manager. See how awesome Winstan is????

KH826 · December 2014

@winstan1 - sending you lots of good thoughts for your interview!!! You will do a smashing job! Keep us posted

redrockmama · December 2014

Good luck @winstan1!!! My sister works nights and it is really hard. We never get to see her or her kiddos, but she is changing to days next month! I hope you get to as well.

ATXmommas · December 2014

Ash is creeping up on 13 months!

After last week's check-in (in which I think I posted about Ash's viral infection), we also discovered that he developed an double ear infection. Just suddenly happened after two doctor visits in one week showed that his ears were clear. So, back on antibiotics and ear drops. Fortunately, ear infections aren't as big of deal since the tubes are functioning well and allow the fluid to drain freely. Silver lining, anyone?

We had a great weekend with him. He's so much fun and so much work all at the same time! Loads of energy and he's exploring new things all the time - a lot of which I don't want him to explore! Wires are his favorites. I don't feel like it will be long before he is scaling all the things. If his legs were a little bit longer, I feel like he would already be climbing. We do let him climb the stairs - while we supervise closely, of course. He enjoys and can expend a little energy that way.

We took him to look at Christmas lights on Saturday night - at Austin's Trail of Lights. He enjoyed it and in parts would stop to touch the lights (see above about loving wires!). I took him to the playground on Sunday afternoon. He swung a little bit, then I put him on a little slide with a me a few times. Whenever we got to the bottom of the slide, he would try to walk up the slide! Crazy cakes. I feel like he is going to be such a daredevil as he gets older. It was really weird, though. After about 20-25 minutes, he got really cranky and started crying. He was fine if I held him, so I entertained him a little bit with a soccer ball before we packed up. He passed out in the car, so maybe he was just tired (even though he had just taken a nice hour long nap).

Then last night. Oy. Z picks Ash up from day care most of the time because she can get him earlier than me. She teaches a core class every now and then, so I picked him up last night and was solo. We didn't get home until 6:15pm, which really throws us all off. He basically screamed and cried from the time we got home until bedtime, which I guess was only an hour (but it felt like a lot longer). He started off okay when I gave him dinner. He nibbled a bit, then started screaming at the top of his lungs. So, I took him out and made him a peanut butter sandwich. Not sure where my good eater went. Other kids have survived on bread and peanut butter, right? He cried anytime I tried to put him down, so I basically left all the dishes in the sink and headed to bath. He was eating his sandwich really slowly and was down to a little bite that he wasn't eating. I took it away from him so that I could put him in his bath and he screamed again. Screamed/cried all through bath, drying off, changing diaper, and putting PJs on. Finally calmed down when I nursed him. It was a really frustrating evening. He was clearly not happy, but can't communicate why, and I was at a lost. I felt like a failure because I couldn't figure out what he needed and because I just wasn't enjoying him last night. I really just wanted him to go to sleep, which is kinda sad since our time during the week is so limited.

I expect to have more solo nights with Ash, so I'm a little nervous. Z and I talked and I really encouraged her to start a serious training program (for a tri or half marathon) before we have baby #2. To be honest, she would be absolutely okay with being OAD, but I'm not. She's on board, but is very nervous about it, so I really wanted her to have the opportunity to do something that is important to her before life gets extra crazy with a second baby. We are really equal in the distribution of Ash's care, and there might be a slight shift, but I know she will pick up responsibilities in other areas. Just means more solo weekday nights, which can be a bit challenging. I can certainly handle him on my own - it just means I have to leave cleaning and chores for later. I hate leaving dishes in the sink. But, I'm sure I can suck it up.

That's about it for an update. @sarahtrpt - that's so great that C
is saying words! Ash isn't saying anything that I would clearly identify as a word yet. Lots of "talking" and sounds, but nothing that I could clearly pinpoint as a word. Sometimes I get a little nervous that he isn't saying anything yet, but the pediatrician told me that they only expect three words by 18 months, so I'm trying to not freak out and be patient. @jennicole85‌ - that's very interesting that your son was diagnosed at speech delayed at 12 months. What did they base the diagnosis on? Glad you are on the right track now!

@redrockmama‌ - we didn't start sending food to day care until 7 or 7.5 months (we usually only offered food 1x day up to that point). Surprisingly, our day care provider was totally ok with giving finger foods. They always bragged on the way he ate. Worked out well, but I did want to become comfortable with his habits before we allowed them to provide food.

@winstan1 - yay for the interview! Best of luck!

Jazibel · December 2014

@jrtmom - I never heard of Riddex!!! But OMG I can't wait to get some. I'm not fond of spiders either, or ants, or a variety of creepy crawlies - ewww.

@flygirl1228 - I have a love/hate relationship with the rain. I love that we need it and it's raining, and I even love the misty days we've had lately. BUT... I'm partial to the sun. I love being outside and I feel a bit antsy. haha no pun intended. Let's try to get together soon - maybe January? I'd love to meet Weston and Quinn (and your wife of course!). :-)

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