35+ TTC 1st Graduates!!! Come on Over!

[pablo797]

Hello all! It's late Sunday night and typing from my phone, but wanted to check in...

Chris, did u get test results?? I am happy to hear i'm not the only one with daycare woes. Good news... We found one!! Hope all is well with you, hugs and thinking of you!!

Steph, it's so good to hear from you and we all know how busy you must be. So happy to hear all is going so well and home. LOL on the BFing and loosing weight! That's exactly what I thought!!! I was like, wait why don't I weigh 100lbs already!!?? I was expecting big boobs and tiny body, soooooo didn't happen.

All is well here. We have settled on a new daycare and while I worry about her adjusting to a new class and teachers, I feel good about the school and confident in their abilities. They can take her 2 out of the 3 days we need covered, and we'll probably get into the third day soon as other kids move up. It's a HUGE load off to know she will be well cared for. On a personnel note and in a continual effort to keep the weight beast at bay I've registered for an Olympic distance triathlon in May. I'm determined to not turn this into my traing woes blog, so I'll just mention it now and promise not to dwell on it. Hope it will make me find "me" time.

Hugs to all! Beth and Skye, thinking of you both and hope you are doing and feeling well.

Anna

 

[svetayasofiya]

Happy Monday everyone! Yay for finding a new daycare Anna! how come you only need three days???
Steph, as for the BF and losing weight... I think it helps you initially. It contracts your uterus back and of course you burn a few extra calories because of the milk production. I found while I was on mat leave I lost most of my weight within the first four weeks. Then I kind of held on to those last 10-15lbs until I went to work and became more accountable of what I was putting into my mouth. I was nice and skinny last Christmas!! lol Then once I stopped BF I am sorry to say but I totally gained back 5 lbs and had to really start watching what I was eating. Before then I could pretty much do what I wanted to. So BF really does help.

Where is everyone else???? Hope your pregnancy is going well Beth. I see you FB a lot, Jules too... come back and say hi!

 

[svetayasofiya]

I forgot to mention I got the results back from my genetic screening! 1 in 11,000 chance of any of the 3 trisomy's and a 1 in 5,400 chance of Spina bifida.
(With Sophie I was 1 in 19,000, and 1 in 5,300). Good results for someone pushing 40 I was so nervous all day and after they called I burst into tears.............

 

[pablo797]

Chris, yeh for good test results!!!! So happy for you!!

We need only three days because my parents will continue to take her Wednesdays and I have Fridays off. I'll have her Saturdays as well and DH will take her Sundays. So she will be at daycare Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. When I spoke to them this morning they thought a spot for Mondays would open in December. So we'll find a sitter or dad will step up for a few weeks.

Last week at old job and having trouble feeling
Motivated...
Happy Monday!
Anna

 

[pablo797]

... One more thing... Chris you mentioned Sophie got a new bed. Did you get her a toddler bed? We were at IKEA over the weekend and Jo fell in love with an adjustable toddler bed. I was going to just put a twin mattress on the floor, but the bed is so cute and she just loved it. Also do you have problems with her coming into your bed now? That's my real fear of getting rid of the crib, that Jo will be in our bed all the time. Advice???

 

[svetayasofiya]

Oh gosh.... my experience may not be yours so don't let this scare you, LOL

Let's start off with saying that Sophie had started to give us trouble at bedtime mid-September. And by trouble I mean, not falling asleep right away like she did for the most part of her life up until then Little things like calling us in for this and that... Kind of like the story of the little boy who cried wolf? Anyway, it was frustrating but no big deal, because she was safe in her crib. Until the night she fell out and gave me a heart attack Two days later we took the side off her crib for the toddler conversion. It was never our intent to go toddler bed than big kid bed. We had a bed already so were going to go straight to big kid bed, but we had yet to buy the mattress. Anyway.......... it went oK. The first night she got out a couple times and we had to go back and coax her back in. (Our big threatening tool is to close her door). That first night I had to actually lay on her floor for her to fall asleep. The next night was much of the same... by the third night (we had put up a guard rail, because she had fallen out) she stayed put but continued with the calling for us every ten minutes or so. This continued for weeks. Bed time remained the same, lights out by 7:50pm-8:00pm... but instead of falling asleep by 8:30pm-8:45pm she was staying awake until 9:00-9:30pm!! Some nights even later! I was losing my mind! (Being pregnant doesn't help). My doctor says she no longer needs her naps, but she goes to daycare and it's mandatory so if she sleeps during quiet time, she sleeps! Nothing I can do about it. Anyway, somewhere around the end of October it stopped and she started going to bed amazingly well. (So much for the nap theory). Again, lights out by 7:50-8:00pm and asleep by 8:30pm most nights with NO calling for mommy and daddy. She'd just lay in bed and sing and play. Perfect. As for coming into mommy and daddy’s room… for the first week or so, we actually put a baby gate at her door when we went to bed. It was more for me, so I didn’t have to worry about her wandering the house at night, but she never did. However, she did start to wake early, like 4-5am and demand to come into our bed. Of course I obliged, because you’re desperate to go back to sleep. It stressed me out and I asked around and from a lot of parents I know, there is not much you can do about it, so once I stopped stressing, I started to just enjoy it and get some sleep. Then voilà, it only lasted a week or so.

Then comes the big girl bed… After ten days of relatively blissful, drama free bedtime routine, last week like the dumb a-holes we are, we changed her bed to a twin/single bed. Why did we do this? My child is massive. 35lbs and like 3' tall. She was outgrowing her crib and the mattress was terrible. I thought, why delay the inevitable any longer and give her what she needed. We had told her about it everyday leading up to the big change Sunday and she was sooooo excited! Well... we're back at square one, except now it's even worse. I am sure it didn’t help that around the same time both her and I developed a bad chest cold with cough. The first night was a struggle. She was too excited to settle and she kept getting out of bed. I think she fell asleep by 9:45pm. The next night was better (8:50pm?) but around midnight she comes into my room crying that she was all wet. She had insisted on wearing pull-ups to bed and I just knew it was going to end in disaster (which it did), so after cleaning her up and putting on new PJ's in bed with me she came. Then the next night (Wed.) she would NOT settle. By 10pm I had had it! She was crying by then and insisting on coming to bed with mommy, so DH and I agreed that it was ok only this once because she was not feeling well. (Never mind mommy doesn’t sleep so well sharing a bed with a toddler who coughed in her face all night). Thursday night after much coaxing she did fall asleep in her bed and took forever once again to go to sleep (lost track, 9:30-10pm???) and slept through until 4am? And came to my bed for some reason. Friday my SIL came over so we didn’t even try to put her to bed early. I think lights out was finally 9:30pm and she went to sleep with little to no fuss. But so damn late!! However, it was the first time in three nights she slept in her bed straight through! Hallelujah! Saturday was divorce city, LOL It was 10:15pm before she finally fell asleep after many trips to her room. Some yelling and door closes in between. DH and I got in a huge fight in the middle of it all. Pregnancy hormones and all. Last night Sunday… not much better. You get the picture? It’s exhausting and I am losing my patience but I know she’ll get back on track again. I have to believe it. Lol At least she’s staying put all night.

SOOOOOOOOO the moral of my story??? Unless you have a small kid that will fit in a toddler bed for at least one year plus, don’t waste your time, energy or $$$ on a toddler bed and go straight to the inevitable (with a guard rail). As you can see we have just increased our suffering and doubled it by starting with the toddler and changing it up later.


But once again… this is simply my story. All children are different. Your experience could be better or…. Worse


Good luck!!!!!

 

[skye2010]

Wooohooo Anna, great news on the job offer )) And consindering the temptation for bopping about in cartwheels you've got a great girls weekend...

Girls 've been lurking but never had a time to write. And now Shirin's got up from her 2 hour sleep and yelling at me to go and pick her up. Love to all. Will update soon xx

 

[skye2010]

) She went back to sleep so I can continuee ))
Wowsy Anna. I;m really impressed with the triathlon. That's serious hard work ) Hope you have the time. When are you starting with the new job?

Steph I'm really struggling with Shirin's sleep too. She never learned to sleep on her own. Always slept if I lie down with her. So she sleeps at 8.30-9 in our bed, we put her into her cot. Than wakes up in the middle of the night and wants me back again. So I climb into the spare bed with her and finish the night in her room. Never a decent sleep. Givves me imsomnia but not sure how to break the cycle. Today a friend of mine advised me to make a daily chart and get some star stickers. Than explain to her that she needs to fall asleep herself cause she is a big girl and she gets a sticker everyday of falling asleep herself in her bed. At the end of 4 stickers she gets a present. Than tackle the midnight wake... But we agreed that she was a little too young to understand the stickers and present concept. Which leaves me to let her cry strategy which I just hate.. Sophie is a little older. She might respond better to that (reward) kind of encouragement. BTW she looked so cute in Halloween ) I'm glad your results came out great ) Luckily I'm a low risk too And also very picky on food. Can't handle meet, chicken, fish or eggs well. Just munching a lot. So I started taking some nuts which gives me the pounds in no time... Sighhh.. R u gonna learn the sex soon or r u waiting for the 24 week scan??? xxx

Hey Beth, So glad the baby is well. How many weeks are you now? The twelve week sacn should be soon? Any morning sickness? Poppy's Halloween outfit was really cool. Hahaha little viking. Can't beleive you made it yourself . How did you make the horns??

Steph how's it going? Did you start having some sort of normalness and a schedule with both Katelyn and Madlyn? Or is it crazy? It must be easier this time around right? As for bfeeding and weight. I lostthe bulk of it really gradually while breeding. Cause I used to eat a lot more. So I would lose a bit stall a bit and stall etc... Than as I weaned her off I lost a few more kilos after a little diet. But still kept a few more kgs untill my second pregnancy. Lost those due to morning sickness but I'm sure they will come back. Took me a year and a half but I had gained more than 20 kilos of weight so it's not too bad I suppose... Hopefully this pregnancy I'm a little less heavier at the moment... How much excess do you have? I'm sure you can shed most of it with bf...

Angela xxxxxx

AFM We ended up with the most unreasonable and neurotic buyer who is driving us mad. The offer is gonnna be pulled out if she can't take a decision tomorrow to exchange and than we would be back to square one. This flat sale is Sigh sighhh bloomin fed up..... Can't concentrate on anything else at the moment... Anyways Hugs and kisses to all xxx

 

[pablo797]

Morning girls!!

Chris, LOL on the sleep story and thanks for telling me the saga. I will look at the bed and make sure it's adjustable. Jo is about the same size as Sophie so she would grow out of it as well. As for the sleep thing . . . We've struggled with it from the age of 6mo. We've gone through stages of crying it out which breaks my heart, but mama's a sleeper and when push comes to shove sleep wins out. Lately Jo goes to bed around 8:30. A little late, but she's a 10hour sleeper, so at that bed time she'll sleep until 6:30/7:00. Although this morning she got up around 5 and never went back down. Typically she gets up around 5:00/5:30 and we put her in our bed and she goes back to sleep. So we're not perfect either. Always a struggle. I appreciate the advice. Sorry you and DH got in a fight over it. It's hard to raise a child especially when each parent has a difference of opinion over things. That's what happens in our house anyway. Hope you are feeling better today and huge hugs that the sleep thing gets better!!!

Skye! Sooooo good to hear from you!! Great news on the test results!! As for house stress, ugh! That stinks that your buyer is being such a twit! We had the worst buying experience last year. In the end it was worth it, but during the process I almost pulled out of the the deal about a hundred times. Sounds like you too struggle with the sleep thing. I think in the end it's natural for kids to sleep with their parents. Think cave man. Probably kids slept in the same bed as their parents or a sibling until fairly recently (last 100 years or so). Point is I think as humans we're programmed to want to sleep with someone, weather it be for warmth, protection within the tribe, etc... And that kind of biological programming takes some time to adjust. Not much help for modern mommies who need some decent sleep, but my guess is that's where it comes from. I've read a few sleep books and sleep studies, they all seem convinced a child will adjust to a sleep schedule of sleeping on their own, but my mommy sixth sense says there's more to the story.
....maybe I missed my calling, maybe I should quit Coach and retail and become a child sleep researcher . ..

Sorry, anyway lots of hugs and hope the house thing sorts itself out without driving you crazy.

AFM, second to last day at old job. Continuing to tie up loose ends and leave the store in best possible shape, but motivation is hard. The reality of starting a new job in just few days is starting to set in, and terrify me. But all will be ok. It's snowing today and as I made my 30 min drive to work on an icy highway with Jo in the car, I became so thankful we will no longer have to make this drive again. Skye, you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the time to train for the race. I found a good training schedule on line...for someone who either doesn't work, or doesn't have kids! Three days a week there are two workouts, one in he morning, and one at night! Who has that kind of time.. So I'm still searching, or will have to modify. New job gives me an hour break for lunch, and I'm two seconds from the gym, so I could squeeze one short workout in at lunch. That may be my saving grace. Other than that, all is well. Jo is great and so darn fricking cute!!! I don't know how it's possible to love her more each day, but somehow I do.

Hugs to everyone else!!!!

Anna

 

[MissMuffet08]

Morning ladies!!! Sorry I've been MIA. A lot going on over here and getting ready for turkey day. I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving as we all have so much to be thankful for. Everyone be safe and a wonderful holiday!!!

 

[rottpaw]

Hi girls!

Whew! I had a couple minutes during naptime, and was trying to read back to catch up, but now I see Reece is already awake and jumping around (seriously??? This kid TOTALLY skipped his morning nap, and wants to take only 1.5 hours this afternoon? ooooohhhh boy!!! I will have to catch up a bit later but wanted to at least stop in and say hi. I MISS you girls! We are relatively well here; a bad cold recently that is lingering for all four of us. Mother in law drama (that I did NOT need) over the thanksgiving holiday, and sinus surgery for me (that I do NOT want to do but really have no other options) in two weeks. If I can get through all that I feel like I will sail through Christmas, LOL! Okay, more soon from me. Love you girls! Hope all our preggos are doing well and everyone else is enjoying the holiday with the littles!!

A

 

[svetayasofiya]

Nice to hear from you Angela!

 

[pablo797]

So sorry I have been MIA too. Adjusting to new job and getting through Thanksgiving. New job doesn't give me as much time to be on my computer or phone, so I'm not able to check in regularly. But it's a snowy day here, 8" of snow this morning and Jo has been up since 5am. Seriously this kid never sleeps!! Anyway new job going well, very different from mom and pop business to corporate, but good.

How is everyone else? Skye and Beth how goes the house drama?? How are the pregos?

Chris, how are you feeling?? Hope all is well with you!!

Angela, so sorry to hear about all the drama. I know you've been stressed about being sick, awesome MIL added to it. Huge hugs!!

I'll try and be better about posting, but if I'm MIA for a while know I'm thinking of you all!!!

Has anyone gotten their Christmas cards out yet?? I feel like a slacker, but honestly they may not happen this year.

Lots of love!!
Anna

 

[rottpaw]

Thanks Chris!

And Anna HECK NO I haven't gotten cards out yet lol!!! It feels to me like it was just Halloween. EVery thing is just zooming by so quickly I can't keep up lol! I plants do cards, but not sure when. They may be waaaay late this year but I'm okay w tht lol! They can be New Years greetings!!

So glad the new job is going well so far!

 

[svetayasofiya]

Are you enjoying the ne job Anna???

I ordered my cards through Shutterfly. Once they come I don't even have to sign or write anything on them! Already done! YAY Cost me a small fortune but they're super cute!!!

Check it out:

 

[MissMuffet08]

Chris those are super cute!!!

 

[MissMuffet08]

Hi All

Anna glad te new job is going well. How is Jo's new daycare? And I think we are all stretched a bit thin so we will understand if you are MIA for a bit.

Chris, Skye, Beth how is the pregnancy going? How many weeks is everyone?

Angela glad everyone is starting to feel better. I truly understand about the colds going round and round. I think we are round 4 since September. Sorry you had holiday drama with your MIL. I know the two of you usually get along great with her. Hope everything gets worked out.

AFM I can't believe how quickly the time is going. I will be back to work in a few weeks. . My house is 90% decorated for Christmas. It has been hard to get everything done in one sitting. I'm hoping to get it finished tomorrow. Saturday I have friends coming over with their kids for Christmas craft day. The kids will make ornaments. I learned from thanksgiving and ordered stuff from Oriental Trading Co. All the kids have to so is glue. Still a little hard for two year olds but it should be fun.

Well that is all that is happening with me. Hope everyone is well. Miss you all

Best,
Steph

 

[svetayasofiya]

I can't believe you have to go to work in a couple weeks already! How is the little darling? Sorry you guys have been struck with illness. I am not even going to comment on our status for fear of jinxing me

I haven't started the decorations yet. Hopefully I'll have the energy and time to do so tomorrow. We are going to take Sophie to see Santa. I am sure that will end in disaster but it must be done! I want to get her a pretty party dress for the holidays so I guess I'll walk up to Winners on my lunch hour. There is absolutely no where else downtown to buy children's clothes it's so frustrating. Well, I lie... there is Baby Mexx (holy expensive!) and Baby Gap (holy expensive and no dresses). Plus Old Navy which I love! But no dresses, and the Gap and Old Navy are waaaaaaay too far a walk for me now. 18 1/2 weeks! I am totally stressing on my weight gain. I am about a pound and a half heavier at this stage than I was with Sophie, but I did start out this pregnancy 2lbs lighter... so I guess it balances out. I have gained 16lbs and at 20 weeks with Sophie I had gained 15lbs. I was just really hoping to gain less this time round. We'll see. My bump is also ridiculously huge for 18 1/2 weeks. I think I looked like this at 24 weeks last time I'll try to post some pics to compare.

Dying to hear from all you girls! I saw Beth announced her pregnancy on FB this week and she has a fab bump!!! Congrats sweety! Skye- how are you feeling? I can't remember how close we are... I am due May 5th.
Angela I can NOT believe Reece is one year old already. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw your post on FB.
I see Jules all the time on FB but I don't think she's popped around here in forever. Missing all the MIA gals.

Well TGIF. I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the holiday season. Sophie is in aw of all the lights. On the drive home from daycare she has to point out to all the "twinkle twinkle" and let me know what colours they are Oh!! On an exciting toddler front... looks like we have mastered potty training for #1!!! It's been about a week now she pees consistently in the potty and not in her diaper. Even at night if you can believe! She wakes up dry!!! Now if we could just get her to do #2 in the potty I'd switch her to underwear. I think I'll try that when I'm home for a week at Christmas. I figure maybe it'll take a couple messy poos in her underwear to get the hint. Any suggestions???

 

[svetayasofiya]

Ok time to look at how fat I am

18 weeks NOW

22 Week Sophie!!

 

[MissMuffet08]

Chris you are all belly!! The rest of you thin!! I think you look fantastic. Don't worry about the weight. If your dr hasn't said anything then you are fine. I was much bigger with Madelyn than I was with katelyn.



Oh Chris yay on Sophie potty training. Katelyn is hit or miss with pooping in the potty. She will start to poop in her diaper sometimes and then run to the bathroom. When I see her have that look like she is gonna poop I ask her if she needs to go o the potty most of the time she will say yes and then run there. Other than that I don't have any advice sorry.

Trying to have a craft day with a few friends of mine who have kids katelyns age but it rained today so no one wanted to leave the house. We are gonna try for tomorrow. There is also a Christmas parade on the next street over from my house tomorrow so hopefully the weather will be ok and we can watch.

Ok gotta put baby doll to bed. Hugs to everyone!!

Best,
Steph