STM+ check-in 8/9

cait5413 · August 2017

How far along are you? Boy/Girl/ Team Green?

How old are your other kids?

Current challenges/concerns about being a STM or questions about things your children are going through now?

Current joys/successes/or happy thoughts about being a STM :

Rants/Raves/Randoms/Questions/

GTKY: Back-to-school! Elementary schools here start this week, colleges start in 2 weeks--tell us something about back-to-school. If you're a teacher or student, are you ready? If your kids are school age, are they ready? Or share a back to school memory!

cait5413 · August 2017

How far along are you? Boy/Girl/ Team Green? 21 weeks. It is flying by! Team surprise, like @mrsorigami

How old are your other kids? 1 year

Current challenges/concerns about being a STM or questions about things your children are going through now? DD has started crying when being dropped off at daycare. I am not sure if it is her adjusting to her new classroom or if she is just going through a clingy phase. This morning I stayed a few minutes until morning snack was served (she loves to eat, so I knew it would cheer her up) and then popped out, but I forgot my keys in her diaper bag and had to go back in and started her crying all over again. SIGH. Then I almost started crying myself. I think she does have a good time--that's what they tell me, anyway, but I hate leaving her when she is crying

Current joys/successes/or happy thoughts about being a STM : One of my friends is a photographer and has started doing birth shoots. She offered to come up and take photos of ours. Since we are having a c-section, I am excited about it (I don't think I would want anyone there but DH for a vaginal delivery; I didn't want anyone but him for DD), but I still need to find out if our hospital will allow it. She took our engagement photos, shot photos at our rehearsal dinner, took a few maternity shots for me when pregnant with DD, and took some photos at DD's 1st birthday, and they are all great, so these would be really special if we can swing it. And I'd love for her to get some shots of DD meeting the baby!

Rants/Raves/Randoms/Questions/ Anyone have advice for transitioning to whole milk? DD will drink water out of a sippy or straw cup, or even an open cup if we help her hold it, just fine, so I figured she would drink milk out of a cup, too. Not so much. She will sometimes, but particularly in the morning she will only drink it from a bottle. We're still mixing it with a little warm formula to get her used to the taste and the temp, and I always offer it to her in a cup first, but then I'll give it to her in a bottle if she won't drink it. At school, she gets it in a cup and water out of a water bottle, so I just hope she's drinking enough fluids during the day. Anything else I could be doing?

GTKY: Back-to-school! Elementary schools here start this week, colleges start in 2 weeks--tell us something about back-to-school. If you're a teacher or student, are you ready? If your kids are school age, are they ready? Or share a back to school memory!

I'm a college professor and I am NOT READY! I am doing a new class this year and I do not have it completely prepped, and I have a ton of things to finish before the students descend on us.

kaylawing · August 2017

How far along are you? Boy/Girl/ Team Green? 20 weeks- Pink!!

How old are your other kids? 15 months on Monday

Current challenges/concerns about being a STM or questions about things your children are going through now? My dd is suddenly waking up during the night after sleeping well for months. Monday night she was up 12-3:30, crying fussing, wanting to be held. We gave Tylenol and she eventually fell asleep. Last night we made it until 4:40 but she was inconsolable then and the only thing that worked was more Tylenol. I am assuming she's getting teeth, but I hate giving Tylenol when I'm not sure.

Current joys/successes/or happy thoughts about being a STM : dd is at such a fun age! She loves books and spends most of her day bringing them to me and then plopping down in my lap. She's also such a sponge right now- learning so much so quickly!

Rants/Raves/Randoms/Questions/ See above. Is there a 15 month sleep "regression"? Am I starting "bad habits" by giving milk in the middle of the night when she's super fussy?

GTKY: Back-to-school! After 8 years of teaching, this is the first year I am not getting ready to set up my room and start a new school year. I'm taking this school year off to be with dd and the baby and it feels so strange to not be shopping for school supplies and getting things ready.

@cait5413 I could have written your same post about the milk in the cup issue. We found that offering a soft spouted sippy cup with slightly warmed milk helped. She still prefers the soft cup but will now take it out of a hard spout cup about half the time. It's a work in process. She will drink water out of a straw or any cup, but milk has proven to be more challenging.

Good luck!

cait5413 · August 2017

Thanks, @kaylawing! I just ordered some new cups to see if a different cup would help, and one like that should be in the box. I'll let you know how it goes!

anewadventure · August 2017

@cait5413 i bet the transition to the new room is sparking DD's crying at dropoff. i hope you guys adjust soon, i know it can be sad to have to leave her like that. as for the milk, because the volume of cow's milk that is needed for a healthy diet is so very much less than the volume of formula / breastmilk she was having before 12 months, you only have to be concerned about her intake if she is on a low weight curve and your pediatrician expresses concern to you. otherwise, water out of a cup and an increased focus on table foods should be fine, even if she only has a little milk. i know that can be weird, since for 12 months it's all milk all the time. if you want her to have a certain amount, i think giving up the bedtime bottle last is usually the best approach. you can offer the milk in a cup only the rest of the day, with another cup of water near it, and make sure to ask her teachers to see if she is getting enough liquid throughout the day. i know that's not much of a helpful answer but i don't want you to feel pressured that you need to give in and give her a bottle just to get her to drink a certain amount of cow's milk.

anewadventure · August 2017

How far along are you? Boy/Girl/ Team Green? 23w 2d Boy

How old are your other kids? DS will be three next month

Current challenges/concerns about being a STM or questions about things your children are going through now? Well, the miralax has really been helping our constipation / holding it issues in that my son is now pooping every day again. That's a relief. He still only wants to go in his diaper but I'm taking this one step at a time and am not in a hurry about it.

Current joys/successes/or happy thoughts about being a STM :

Rants/Raves/Randoms/Questions/
Lots of questions for you ladies - please let me pick your brains.

Toddler clocks - anyone have specific rec's for a clock for DS's room, we are moving him to a new room and a twin bed in about a month. He only has an old-fashioned clock in his current room. We want to get him a digital one (at a minimum, so it's easier to understand) or one of those ones that like, changes colors at a preset time to indicate when you can get up.

Double strollers - for real, any specific rec's, including ones you DON'T like, would be helpful, especially keeping in mind that there will be just over a 3-year age gap between these two kiddos. I need to get cracking on this decision.

Video monitor - we need one of these asap (we really want to get one installed with a camera in the nursery and one in my son's new room before we move him next month). Again - any specific rec's OR ones you DON'T recommend? We only have an audio monitor right now.

GTKY: Back-to-school! Elementary schools here start this week, colleges start in 2 weeks--tell us something about back-to-school. If you're a teacher or student, are you ready? If your kids are school age, are they ready? Or share a back to school memory!
No school for us for a while yet. I always remember being so concerned about my outfit for the first day!

failuretofly · August 2017

@cait5413 here's my thoughts on milk in a bottle. I know the APA and whoever else you ask is against it... but the basis behind it is it's replace breastmilk, right? In theory anyway. And if you were breastfeeding her still, no one would expect you to pump and put it in a cup just because she has arbitrarily lived to 365 days... so I say let it be, give it in a bottle, and she'll grow out of it eventually. Worst case she has a bottle until she's 2 when milk isn't so much of a concern anymore. Those are just my personal thoughts. DS is 18m and still has his milk in a bottle, though it's only once per day in the morning. The rest of the day he gets food and water.

@anewadventure we have the Motorola video monitor and it's great! It can have multiple cameras and cycles through them every 12 seconds when set to. No complaints over the last 18 months we've had it!

How far along are you? Boy/Girl/ Team Green?
22 weeks - pink

How old are your other kids?
DS is 18 months

Current challenges/concerns about being a STM or questions about things your children are going through now?
Still with the 6am wake up calls... tried giving him a bottle again last night... nope. No dice.

Current joys/successes/or happy thoughts about being a STM :
Babe is measuring 4 days ahead! Probably be tall just like her brother. I may just get my hockey team after all haha

Rants/Raves/Randoms/Questions/
DH finally let me discuss names last night... so I told him my options and he literally did not reply... but he's not a talker so that doesn't necessarily mean he dislikes them... but is just unhelpful lol

Question: for those of you that used sound machines with older kids, when did you stop? We still use one with DS and hadn't really thought about stopping because it's just part of the routine but theoretically he doesn't really need it anymore. Any advice?

GTKY: Back-to-school! Elementary schools here start this week, colleges start in 2 weeks--tell us something about back-to-school. If you're a teacher or student, are you ready? If your kids are school age, are they ready? Or share a back to school memory!
I used to love back to school! I didn't see my friends much in summers because we spent most of it at the lake so I was always looking forward to catching up with them!

anewadventure · August 2017

@kvacmak thanks, do you have a particular model?
we still use the sound machine with DS, it even travels with us. we don't plan to cease any time soon, it is very helpful for us. we are just going to get a second machine for the new LO. (fwiw, we use the lectrofan and looooove it)

failuretofly · August 2017

@anewadventure
we have this one:
https://www.amazon.ca/Motorola-MBP33-Digital-Monitor-Screen/dp/B004VL2VRY/ref=pd_sim_75_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=A4AM356QMGES43R6RX8J

We just got the homemedics sound machine because it was bought during a last minute panic "how the eff can I get this damn baby to sleep" runs to the nearest home goods store haha It was $30 and has lasted this long! So i guess we got our money's worth haha

kaylawing · August 2017

@anewadventure we have a similar Motorola monitor for dd and have been happy with it. We are going to be getting a second camera for it for the baby's room.

cait5413 · August 2017

Thanks, @anewadventure ! I was only shooting for her to get about 8 oz of milk, but i really have no idea how much she is drinking at school so it is hard to tell. She's a really good eater and is 85th percentile for height and 65th for weight, so I probably have nothing to worry about. I've also been wondering about the bedtime milk, because we usually brush teeth before she drinks it. For a while she only had one tooth, but now 4 others are at various stages of coming in, so I need to be better about brushing, I think, and maybe give her the milk a little before she goes to bed so we can brush after.

So many things to worry about!

cait5413 · August 2017

Thanks, @kvacmak ! I'm contemplating moving the white noise machine into LO's room and out of DD's room when the baby arrives. She sleeps without it at daycare, so I am not sure she needs it. Plus, the new video monitor we got plays lullabies if you want and so does her new Violet dog she got for her birthday, so I figure maybe we could switch to that.

@anewadventure We got this one on sale on prime day: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GED7O5K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 I like it a lot so far. We had the VTech audio monitor and were really happy with it. I have no specific recs for you, but i would get one of the clocks that turn green for wake up time. I hear they can be really helpful, and plan to get one for DD when she gets older and/or if she starts trying to climb out of her crib. No stroller recs, either, but I always check Lucie's List for that stuff.

anewadventure · August 2017

@cait5413 we had that same issue with the bedtime bottle. since we gave that up by 15 months, we just made sure to have him take some sips of regular water to rinse the milk out of his mouth after having the bottle but before going down. it sort of ruins the relaxation of that nighttime bottle when you then insist on brushing teeth after

if you're only shooting for 8oz and are including a bedtime bottle, i wouldn't be too concerned about her intake the rest of the day. but i'm definitely in the camp of trying to destress about as many things as possible because there are just so many things you can worry about if you let yourself

cait5413 · August 2017

I should mention she usually only drinks about a 4 oz bottle, and some of that is still formula at this point. But we'll get there!

Marley629 · August 2017

How far along are you? Boy/Girl/ Team Green?
21+6

How old are your other kids? 3, turning 4 next month. So not ready for that

Current challenges/concerns about being a STM or questions about things your children are going through now?
Same things. Managing morning sickness with chasing a very active little boy - I have a week off in 2 weeks and im hoping to get some good quality time in with him

Current joys/successes/or happy thoughts about being a STM :
J now kisses "the baby". It's so cute when he says "mommy can I give the baby kisses?" I still don't thinj he truly understands what's coming his way though lol
Rants/Raves/Randoms/Questions/

GTKY: Back-to-school! Elementary schools here start this week, colleges start in 2 weeks--tell us something about back-to-school. If you're a teacher or student, are you ready? If your kids are school age, are they ready? Or share a back to school memory!

J goes to daycare year-round which is also his preschool. I totally do the chalkboard signs every "1st day" of the new school year though and make a big deal out of it for him. I also want to get a shirt that says "class of ____" in like a 2XL and take a pic of him in it every year.

Want a personalized experience?

STM+ check-in 8/9

Re: STM+ check-in 8/9

Choose Another Board

Search Boards