***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[ImSoTired]

Honey, yes. Cait has about a dozen toys on the floor at any given time and I try to switch them out so she doesn't get bored but she still goes for the electrical cords, the stack of cds DH has yet to put away and has stacked on a low shelf, and my plants (I researched my plants when she began crawling and found that one was actually poisonous to people when eaten so I quickly moved it far from her reach. Now she can only reach plants that aren't poisonous and I move her away from them every time she goes near). Babies just love playing with things they aren't supposed to have.

Kelly we are totally ready to burn the harness, lol. Cait seems to sleep a bit better without it. It must have been uncomfortable especially since she is mobile.

Coco, Cait didn't really sit until after she began crawling. I think that's how it is for a lot of babies. And I also know babies that are 2 months older than ours that aren't crawling yet, and I also know babies 2 months younger that are bigger than Cait, lol. Everybody is different and I don't think I'd worry. Cait isn't great with her fine motor skills and she's showing now interest in clapping or talking yet. As for the tv interview I'm such a chicken and I haven't decided what to do yet, so I'm not sure.

I hope you're all well

 

[scoobydrlp]

Hi all! Camden had her 6 month doctors visit yesterday (late, I know), and she weighed in at 17 pounds 4.5 ounces. I was predicting 17 pounds, so I was pretty close! Height is 27 inches. Her pediatrician did say that we should still be giving Vit D drops (which I haven't given since she was like 3 months old), so I guess I'll go back to doing it. We also went to PT today (we go once a month), and her therapist is very happy with how she's doing with her torticollis. There's still a tiny bit of a head tilt but nobody notices unless they know to look for it.

Coco- I understand how you feel when other babies LOs age are doing things that LO isn't yet. One of the doctors I work with has a baby 2 weeks older than Camden, and she's been crawling for month already and is pulling up on things and standing. Camden has no forward movent and doesn't even get up on her knees to attempt to crawl, and she's nowhere near pulling up to stand. I'm chosing to not worry about it and be thankful I dont' have to chase her around yet! I do think Camden excels in other ways. She has great fine motor skills, has the pincer grasp down pat.

Random comment...can I just mention how freakin disgusting poopy diapers are now that LO is eating solid food? SOOOO gross!

 

[sigh]

scooby - omg yes. They smell SOOO bad and we gave her prunes the other day and its so gross looking ugh. I miss breastmilk poo!

Ellie was so distracted today that I tried everything to get her to eat. I finally got her to eat by laying her on the ground and dangling the milk above her while on all fours like a cow. very very weird feeding but atleast she ate. If anyone has any tips on how to get a distracted baby to focus, I'm all ears!! She's also been rhythmically punching/hitting herself in the head during her night feedings. Really really weird.

And onto the big story here for today... my baby finally rolled back to front! I think she's the last one on here to do it so yayy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBB3IMGCfRs

also, here is her booty shake lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dBTCGg8-Tw

 

[Kelly M]

Lol my dh woke me up yelling "oh disgusting! Gross!" At 6:30 am whilst changing a poop as he hadn't done so in awhile and was shocked at the texture n smell since C eats solids now.

Sigh so cute! She rolled over n was like "what is the big deal? I rolled." Hee hee! C can't stand that well at all. He falls instantly but.... big news today...

Carter pulled himself up to a stand! He can't stay there long but he he did it all day! It was a total shock as he's never even tried before n has only been crawling a couple weeks or so. Now life just got waaaay harder. He hurt himself so many times today and I can't keep up! So tired!

 

[bbygurl719]

Stopping in with a quick update angel officially crawls. But not hands n knees crawl the army crawl.

 

[scoobydrlp]

Such cute videos of Ellie! Good job on rolling! Also good job to Carter and Angel, everyone is developing so quickly!

Camden ate ravioli today for dinner, and she loved it! This is the first real food I've given her that's not a plain fruit or veggie. I am really glad we decided to do BLW, although it sure is a huge mess! Loving our Bibetta bib!

Enjoying ravioli

https://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o725/scoobydrlp/null_zps62e815c8.jpg

Wearing ravioli

https://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o725/scoobydrlp/null_zps4f29aad8.jpg

Random cute picture of Camden and her best friend Macy

https://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o725/scoobydrlp/null_zpsa2baf109.jpg

 

[expatttc]

Aaaaaand BONK there goes Rosa again. It doesn't seem to matter how many pillows I put around her or the two duvets under the big foam mat she sits on, she is able to crawlish-pull-scoot-to the edge and today bounced her head off the tile floor. She had a cry, I had a cry, and then I assembled the travel cot and plunked her in it. From now on, that's where she sits when I'm not with her -- when she's out on her mat, I'm her permanent seatbelt. Can't WAIT to move so we can buy those foam floors thingies that she can crawl on, or at least have a carpet. The only one we have is an antique from Afghanistan and not so baby friendly...anyone else finding baby spaces a bit rough at the moment??

I ADORE the photos and videos, must add a few in...

Sigh -- I have done that twice now! Feels very primal, doesn't it!! But it works, and she latched on!! I have found that she now wants to feed in the most unusual places...on the change table, when she's at the same level as my boobs, and also in the tub instead of splashing around. Hilarious! Re focusing, the only way that I get her to focus for 'normal' (not exotic) feeds is to take her to our room, shut the drapes and turn off the lights and sit her down. Inevitably she falls asleep into nap time, but she's STILL feeding to sleep anyway.

Sleep training for us is only working on a schedule of naps during the day. If she wakes at 5, then we do a nap from 6-8, up till 10 then nap to 11, up to 2 then nap till 3, then bed by 7. If she wakes at 6, we do a nap from 8-9, up to 11 then nap to 12, up to 3 then nap to 4, then bed by 7. At night, if she wakes every 3 hours I feed her then back to sleep. If she wakes sooner than that, I pat her tummy and if she cries, pat for a few minutes then pick her up and rock her to sleep. I don't offer the breast unless it's on the 3 hour mark, and then I insist on offering both breasts, even if it means that she doesn't really take the second for more than a few minutes. That's it for now -- we're going to get more intense when we move to Colombo in August.

 

[expatttc]

Rosa at 4, 5, 6 months

 

[expatttc]

Scooby, love the pics and the Ravioli!! Soooo fun!! Quick question - if Camden falls on those mats from a sitting position, does it hurt her or is she okay?

 

[scoobydrlp]

Scooby, love the pics and the Ravioli!! Soooo fun!! Quick question - if Camden falls on those mats from a sitting position, does it hurt her or is she okay?

If she fals to either side or to the front where she has been able to slow herself with an arm or hand then it doesn't hurt, but if she falls straight back and bonks her head she cries. But it still offers way more shock absorption than just our plain rug would on the wood floor.

Also, Rosa is gorgeous!

 

[ttc_lolly]

Ahhh gorgeous videos and pics ladies our snowflakes are all such beautiful babies!

 

[Chloe597]

I love all the pics and videos! Sigh, Gabby hasn't rolled back to front yet, so Ellie is ahead of at least one snowflake on that milestone! She is such a good booty shaker!! So precious.

Scooby, raviolli face is adorable! I really need to revisit the BLW. G is so much happier grabbing at food than taking it with a spoon, but i just get too nervous. I love giving her mango slices with the skin on..that is like the only thing that doesn't scare me.

Expat, you are such a good photographer! Those pictures are gorgeous! Love how the sun is hitting in the 6 month pic

G has been trying to pull herself up to a standing position, but can't quite make it. she does it with my help, but that's it. I too am afraid of all the hardwood and tile floors we have in our house. luckily she is able to slow herself down on the rare instance where she falls, so putting her on a rug isn't so bad, but i can't put her down on the hardwood or tile without being super nervous, so i use the boppy pillow to help her in case she does tumble over.

Girls, I am starting to feel really bad about leaving her 5 days a week for work. Not sure how much longer I can keep this up. Really thinking about asking my boss to go down to a 4 day a week schedule. being a working mom really stinks sometimes!

 

[Kelly M]

OH Expat, Rosa is so gorgeous! She's a lil cutie pie and the photos are great!

Scooby, those ravioli pics are priceless. Every baby has to have a pic with spag sauce on their face. She's so adorable.

Chloe, hope you can find a better work schedule. I would die if I couldn't stay home with my baby. I can imagine how you must feel. I give major props to all the working mammas on here. I only work here and there from home mostly and I watch another baby a couple days a week for extra cash but I'm pretty much a sahm. I couldn't afford daycare even if I wanted to go back to work. I'd be working just to pay for the daycare, it's waaay expensive here.

 

[ImSoTired]

Love the videos and pics and happy everyone is doing so well!

We're all the same here. Nothing really new...

 

[scoobydrlp]

Chloe - I'm with you, I hate not being able to be home with Camden! I enjoy our time together so much, and I feel like I'm failing her by being away. Usually I work from 7-5, but today I had to work from 8-8, which turned into 8-9 and she was already in bed by the time I got home at 9:30. I didn't get to see her awake at all today except for nursing her when she woke briefly at 6. I feel horrible about it. I would be willing to give up all the extras we have (smartphones with data plans, satellite tv, eating out, shopping) if it meant I could stay home with her. But it's hard to justify that to DH and my teenage step daughter, as they would be giving up all of those things too. Why couldn't I have married rich? hahaha

I know you guys are tired of hearing about my mom and how annoyed I get with her choices when feeding Camden, but I have nobody else to vent to about it, so here I go again. She watched Camden for a few hours today while DH (who had the day off work) took care of some issues with my car. She actually didn't feed her anything against my wishes today, but she made it a point to tell me about how easily she took the food from her when my mom put it in her mouth, and how she cut it up into little tiny bite sized pieces for her. Full knowing that I am constantly telling her we are BLW and we want her to feed herself, and we don't spoon feed her or put food in her mouth for her because it defeats the whole purpose of BABY led weaning.

Anyway, rant over. Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm excited to have both saturday and sunday off with just me and the baby. DH will be working and step daughter is visiting with family at the beach.

 

[Beanonorder]

Chloe sorry about the work situation! I haven't been very happy in my job recently so have been looking around for a new one. But the ones I'm really interested in all require office hours in addition to teaching which means I'd be gone most of the day. I don't want that so I'm kind of stuck. At least with my job now I get to be home quite a bit and am never away for more than four hours at a time. I hope you are able to make a plan soon.

Expat such gorgeous pictures! Are you nervous about living in Colombo? We're debating moving to another country and I don't know if I have the energy to get used a whole new country and they way everything works - especially when it comes to Amber!

Scooby such cute eating pictures! I think we need a bib like that! I can't believe how far Amber manages to spread her food. Rant all you want about your mom - its better to get it out there. Its so frustrating when people don't respect how you're choosing to raise your child.

Sigh I love the booty dance!

I gave Amber some more finger food last night. She choked on some sweet potato which wasn't fun. But thankfully when I patted (hit sounds a bit harsh!) her back she soon spat it back out.

 

[bbygurl719]

Scabby I'm so soon @y about ur mom and not listening. Love the pics of all the babies. And I know I posted that we have a Crawler now. OMG beginning of this week she would only move a few inches. And now she makes her way to what she wants in no time. Last night I set her down in living room walked away for one min and she was in our hallway lol. We have all tile floor so she doesn't get up on her hand and knees an crawl she does the army crawl. Ella did same thing.

 

[bbygurl719]

So my birthday present from her was to start crawling. Lol (my bday was yesterday)..

 

[cococobain]

Thanks girls for the reassurance, I know it's a pretty global thing to worry about their milestones and I'm usually pretty care-free about it (OH is the bigger worrier about these things, I'm more of the "she'll do it when she's ready") but I guess I just having one of those days.

Honey.bee - About the playing with everything but baby toys, Mia is def more interested in everything else and I can't blame her... she sees the same dozen baby toys day in day out (though I try to rotate them) and the house is just FULL of so many interesting colours and textures and sounds... I give her lots of supervised play with "mummys things" like going into my closet and touching my dresses and tops...helping mummy recycle (playing with the cardboard rolls and boxes) playing with kitchen utensils like the wooden spoons and measuring cups... she loves it. To think of all the money I've blown on baby oriented toys she couldn't give too poops about...... argh!

sigh - Congrats on rolling! And wow @ her standing, love the booty shake haha! Such a clever little baby xx

expact - Rosa is soooooooo pretty! Gorgeous photos xx

scooby - Haha, wearing the ravioli Great job with sticking to BLW... I was so excited about doing this and I must admit I let myself get scared out of it by outside influences :/ Sorry about your mother. At least she didn't feed her anything "bad", just didn't want to stick with your method which is frustrating to say the least, but maybe she is just frightened she might choke her granddaughter? It might just be something she can't bring herself to do, not a jab at your parenting choices. Still, annoying!

bbygurl - happy (late) birthday and yayyy another crawler! Let the headaches begin!

 

[Kelly M]

Scooby, please vent all you want. That's what we are here for! I would be upset at your mom too. My mother does stuff like this sometimes. She gave Carter a few licks of her candy sucker when he was 6 months old at my nephew's birthday party. I kept telling her to stop and she just kept laughing and giving it to him and wanted me to take a photo of it. She wouldn't stop until I did. Uughh, moms! I hope I'm not this way with my grandkids. But, she's a great grandma other than that. lol She also keeps saying "isn't he going to choke on that?!?!" when I give C finger foods. I do purees and a little finger food too. I gave him a cucumber spear the other day and asked her to watch him for a bit while I did something and she said she wouldn't let him eat that on her watch and took it away. She said I could give it to him when I got back. Whatever! I guess I can see where she is coming from with that because she doesn't want to be the one responsible if something happened.