I have really been missing the bump! I was mainly a lurker but I have been missing you ladies! I am going to try and post more!
I don't know about the rest of you but there have definitely been some "in-law hiccups" around our place since we brought DD home.
Need to vent? Let's do it!
Re: In-law Frustrations!
She has since apologized and told me she would work on it but honestly I'm still a little scared from the whole thing. I try and not talk to my husband because that's his mom and I don't ever want him to feel torn and I do really love her. So frustrating!
My situation is the total opposite.
LO has been to my MIL's home dozens of times and spent the night last weekend while my husband and I were out of town on business. He loves being there because his cousins are over all the time; he gets to interact with other kids.
My parents' interactions with LO have been minimal recently. He's only been with my father once when we went over to his home for a few hours last month. He's never been to my mother's house...and probably never will. Haven't heard from her since May.
Family issues can be frustrating. But, at the end of the day, my outlook is that I am creating my own "little family"...who ever would like to be a part should definitely feel free to visit us/make plans with us. I'm not going to chase down family members because honestly...I feel like that's not my place to do so.
If your MIL wants to be more involved, let her lead the way as far as planning an outing/dinner, etc. If someone's reaching out, try to accommodate them as best as you can (baby is not sick, schedule is free, etc.) I would suggest having your husband there though for that first event to support you if grandma gets out of line.
My SIL married to my brother won't ever put my LO down when she's around. I think it's funny. She's had second baby fever for several months now and they will be TTC in August.
My brother however is the annoying on. My little guy was at his "witching hour" during a family dinner at my moms. My brother kept saying, "Parents always think it's so cute when their baby is crying, but it's terrible for everyone else." Eliot has been cutting a tooth, fighting naps and going through a wonder week for the past week or so... If my brother thinks he can get him to stop, do!!! Please! I'm going deaf in one ear and am exhausted from all the crying!
It's the full spectrum of annoyances, from constantly telling me what my son MUST be feeling like "oh he's hungry" when I know he just ate, to larger things like telling me what religion to raise him ("oh don't Baptise him Catholic, Catholicism ruined my childhood!") and what actitivies he should get into when he's a little older ("I forbid you to send him to sleep away camp" and "he can't play basketball, he needs to be in soccer or like lacrosse"). They overflow with love for him, and I try to remember that... But if they could keep quiet, I would love that.
My step grandfather was really pushing me to use formula at the begining because he didn't think breast milk was good enough. Now he keep telling me out guy is too big and we need to back him off the breast.
She he then proceeds to come over, brings an outfit for DD, has DH change her, takes 50 pictures and then takes the outfit home.... Ugh ok I feel better now
Last Wednesday when I'm picking him up from a short visit while I was at the dentist, my SIL says "oh but grandma over here tried to feed him... Never mind she didn't try to feed him anything".
Uhh, I made my feelings clear. Now I have to worry that they may sneak him solids behind my back? WTF?!
both my mother and my mother in law live on the opposite side of the country which I think has helped them not be invasive, but I do wish they were around for some free babysitting every once in a while! I think I'm lucky that they both seem to be aware that a) we are very smart and capable parents and b) that a lot of parenting rules have changed a lot since the last time they were parents!
One thing I'm interested to see play out is Christmas this year. My MIL is really into quantity over quality of gifts and I'm terrified that she's just going to vomit gifts in our house for DS1. She already buys useless things for him on a regular basis. We stopped for gas while visiting them once and she had to buy the gas station t-shirts for our son...in sizes he won't fit into for another 5 years or so... I'm already trying to make a list of items we might actually need for him by then to attempt to reign in the crazy purchases to something a little more useful...
Im still having issues with visits. For example this weekend: dh wont get home till super late Friday night, then has a game on saturday (coaching) and wont get home till late saturday afternoon. LO goes to bed at 7 and usually its a battle to get him down. So I dont want people over Saturday night. MIL wants to get together this weekend and she is bringing 2 other people with her to visit (ppl we dont know well). I work midnights and my Monday starts at 11p Sunday night, so I have to take a nap on Sunday afternoon. Which is likely when she wants to come over. I wish dh would just tell her sorry but this is not a good weekend for a visit.
It could just be because she did something similar for my wedding. DH and I only wanted babies breath for the center pieces. We got married in a garden that didn't need extravagant arrangements, and we were trying to keep it simple and cost effective. She decided that wasn't enough and tried to talk me into massive (expensive) arrangements. I politely declined multiple times, but two weeks before my wedding, she texted me saying she had just ordered flowers for my wedding. After an argument with me and a call from DH, she finally cancelled it. I guess I just feel like, once again, she isn't respecting our wishes and is just doing whatever she wants.
She also decided that LO has a dairy allergy, because he was really gassy when he was a newborn. She has a dairy allergy. LO does not.
Also, MIL/Dad/SIL and everyone else who has had a baby more than, say, 10 years ago suggests I put cereal in baby's bottle to "help her sleep" and/or "put some meat on her bones"....she doesn't have a problem sleeping and she is just a skinny baby, thanks.
When my son was about 2 months I dropped him off with MIL, told her he had just been fed, and gave her the next approximate times for his feedings. I gave her two bottles, 8 oz each. I told her verbally and ALSO text her that she was to give him HALF per feeding. I told her the second bottle was just for an emergency, like the first spilled or for some reason I was very delayed.
Well I was gone for about 5 hours (one, MAYBE two feedings if he was asking for it). In this time she managed to feed my 2-month-old 16 ounces.
"He was hungry. He kept crying. So I would burp him and just give him some more and he would stop, but then a little while later he was hungry again so I would feed him more!"
I could have killed her. He cried all night, and did not eat for a full day after that. It was like baby PTSD when he would see the bottle, he remembered how much pain he was in! His stomach was enormous and tight. I mean, I understand not wanting him to "go hungry" and having the best intentions and so forth, but where is the LOGIC? 4 oz to 16 is a jump of quadruple what I told her and she just thought nothing of it.
There's been several other issues with things I've told her related to his care, that have resulted in him coming back to me completely miserable. Now she wonders why she lives around the corner, but I don't drop him off.
Frankly, I'm also at the point where I'm like, it doesn't matter what you think of my instructions, if I leave you a note that says "he enjoys watching The Sound of Music every day at noon" then you better be ready with some Do Re Mi at 11:59 for my little man.
**** Formerly Snoflakes4eva****
If you're just swimming in clothing and returning or donating, I'm not sure why it would be horrible to post a polite note on FB to the effect of "Thank you everybody for your generosity, my little angel has enough to wear from now until college and Mommy has enough laundry too! If you would like to get little ___ a gift from here on out, we would love a great book to read and think of you!"
It's all in how you phrase it. If you told them "shove your clothes up your..." Then maybe not so much.