***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[Beanonorder]

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you have all had good holidays.
Amber cut her second tooth on new years eve and it seems to be bothering her a lot more than the first one. She's been very restless. Plus she has a cough and stuffed nose again which is keeping her awake. Needless to say I'm not getting a lot of sleep lately! I was truly never sleep deprived while she was a newborn but I seem to be paying for it now!!

Honey.bee its nice to hear from you again. Ava is looking very cute!

I sent dh away for a few days just before new year. He's really been struggling with being a stay at home dad. It really doesn't suit his personality. Unfortunately there's not much we can do about it at the moment but I think the break did him good. Amber and I also had some good bonding time.

Not much else to report!

 

[Chloe597]

Honey, Ava looks so much like you! Such a cutie! good to hear from you

Bean, i'm glad DH's time away did both of you some good! I think its hard for anyone to be a stay at home parent. I stayed home with gabby by myself for a couple days while DH worked during the holiday and while I loved the time with her, it really drains you! I really feel the best balance is a part time job. If only my current job was suitable for part time work!

Scooby, congrats on DH's promotion and your upcoming move! And good luck!!

Kelly, I hope Carter's surgery went well! Keep us posted!

I hope everyone who celebrates had a good christmas! Gabby got better at unwrapping things, so she had fun. and all of the family had fun watching her play with her presents, so all in all it was a great time for us! I took 9 days off of work tho, and today is my first day back. Wow is it hard to come back after so many days off!

 

[scoobydrlp]

Chloe, I also took some time off for the holidays and don't go back until Monday. It will be difficult for sure after being of for nearly two weeks.

So we've decided to try and see how things go with me being a sham after we move. Money will be a little tight, but I feel like it's now or never. If we get used to having a whole lot of disposable income then there will be no going back. As is with both of us working right now, I am having trouble getting everything done around the house and just feel so overwhelmed trying to balance everything. Hopefully it will be a good change. We found a townhouse to rent that we really like, and DH will be moving on Monday.Wish me luck with varying for a 16 year old and a one year old by myself for the next 1-2 months!

 

[ttc_lolly]

Kelly, I hope Carter's surgery went well? Keep us updated

Honey.Bee, there you are!! So good to hear from you and Ava is looking as beautiful as ever, she really does look like you no suggestions on helping to wean from bf'ing I'm afraid. We really did push Millie into using bottles so OH could feed her ebm when I wasn't around, and she just really took to them well. She dropped her feeds herself and when we were only doing the 1 bf a day she started becoming disinterested in it so we cut it out altogether. A very sad day for me! Good luck hun, let us know how you get on x

 

[Chloe597]

Oh yeah, about the BF weaning, I just cut out afternoon feeds and replaced with bottle/sippy. Still BF in morning and before bed, so when I get away from those, I plan to have DH give her a sippy of milk in the morning and take that feed away first, and then at night hopefully the same thing. I would like to be totally weaned around 18 months. now that G has top teeth, I do get bitten on occasion, which is unpleasant! She doesnt do it on purpose, I tink she is just readjusting her latch, or the nipple slips from her mouth and she bites down to catch it. OUCH!

I need some advice from homes with 2 working parents. How do you keep your sanity??? How can you keep the house cleaned, get enough hours of sleep each night, make healthy meals, go grocery shopping, do general house maintenance, spend time with your LO, and have a reasonable sex life with DH?? I'm having a heck of a time finding a good work/life balance right now.

 

[scoobydrlp]

I need some advice from homes with 2 working parents. How do you keep your sanity??? How can you keep the house cleaned, get enough hours of sleep each night, make healthy meals, go grocery shopping, do general house maintenance, spend time with your LO, and have a reasonable sex life with DH?? I'm having a heck of a time finding a good work/life balance right now.

I have no advice, as I'm failing miserably. Doing great with work and spending time with LO, not so great at all the other parts. Which is exactly why I'm so excited about not having a job once we move! Good luck, I don't know how anybody can do it all well.

 

[Beanonorder]

Scooby, good luck with your move and the time before it happens! I'm so glad you are going to get the chance to be a SAHM!

Chloe I'm sorry I don't have much advice either! To be honest I'm struggling with most of those things even with dh staying at home!! Is there anyway you can get someone in to clean your house even once or twice a week? When both of us were working we were lucky enough to have someone come in for three or four hours a day during the week. She cleaned the house and also helped out with Amber when we needed it. Another thing I found really helpful was making large quantities of food and freezing it. I would take a Sunday every so often and cook and freeze. It was a pain to do but SO worth it. The only other thing I can say is remember that this is just a season of your life and not forever!

Amber's sleep has completely gone to pot! Last night she woke up SEVEN times! A few days before Christmas it started with twice a night. Then one night it got better then it went to once a night and now its anywhere between 3 and 7 times. Even if dh gets up for her I still wake up. I truly feel like a walking zombie. And her cough has gotten worse so I think we may be making another trip to the doctor.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

 

[Chloe597]

This baby waking up in the middle of the night thing is for the birds!! Gabby woke up at 1am and wouldn't go back to sleep until 4am. I too am a walking zombie. She wasn't crying, just screaming. I tried feeding her, rocking her, leaving her to scream it out for 30 min, but she was just not happy until she was held. That type of issue doesn't sound like pain i dont think. she took 3 short naps yesterday, so maybe she just wasn't tired come 1am?? ugh. Nights like last make me not want another!

Thanks for the advice, bean. I keep saying i should make food in advance like that and freeze it, and i've gotten a little better at making large meals so i can then eat leftovers the next day or two, but that only gets me so far. I have someone deep clean my house every 3 weeks, but no one to put away the clutter. I am strongly considering taking a 20% pay cut to spend every wednesday at home with Gabby, although I don't think i would really be able to get much done, so i dont know how it would help aside from just give me more time to spend with her, but i could at least take her shopping and errand running with me, even if i can't cook or clean the house.

Sorry, i'm just ranting in circles right now, running on sleep deprivation. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[ImSoTired]

Kelly, I hope Carter is well.

Honey bee, Ava is beautiful!

Scooby, as a SAHM who used to work, you will surely enjoy spending time at home with LO. Your house may be cleaner for a while and things might get done. I can't imagine how you, Chloe, and the other working moms have coped as I would be a wreck if I had to be at work each day. Kudos to working mamas! I struggle to keep the house as clean as it once was and I am nowhere as organised as I was pre baby. I am, however, desperate for adult conversation most days and occasionally bored. I want to chat DH's ear off when he comes home and hand him the baby so I can do whatever. He's usually pretty irritated with me when he comes home after a difficult day at work and I just want to sit and talk while he listens and chases Cait. I love being at home and wouldn't have it any other way (unless 100 percent necessary)but it has it's moments where I just wish I were at work. Though I'm sure if I were working, I'd be missing Cait and wishing I were home. Money is tight here most of the time but we will be just fine, and so will you. Congrats on the upcoming move and being a SAHM! Sorry I rambled.

Cait has had a low fever on and off and she's been very cranky. I think it's all due to the weather/ teething (2 bottom teeth are through but moving slowly). She's walking wonderfully and adding new words to her vocab everyday. Uh-Oh is still her favorite, lol. She still won't eat with a spoon or drink more than a few sips out of her sippy cup. It may be a while before she's off of the bottle . She is drinking whole milk now a few times a day and seems fine. We are scheduling a play date with my friend and her daughter next week. I can't wait!

I hope everyone is well!

 

[sigh]

Hi Ladies! :wave: SOrry for the LONGGGGG post. I've been reading quickly but haven't been able to write until now. Hope you all are doing well!! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year and most importantly - HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY to all the 1 year olds. Sorry I wasn't able to wish you all individually! Hope your LOs had a great time. ADORABLE pictures btw. DH and I are photographers on the side and we were both so frazzled that we barely took any pictures of Ellie at her party. My sister in law did but her computer crashed and she lost ALL of them before she could send it to me. Really sad about it

I'm glad I'm not the only one whos LO isn't really feeding herself. We've been trying but she flings the spoon around. She is able to feed herself some finger foods but she has a weird habit of stuffing her face, then crying because her mouth is too full. She is getting better with chewing the food but she just holds the chewed food in her mouth. She knows what swallon means but won't do it for some reason. Eventually she'll pull the food out of her mouth and smush it somewhere(Like her face/hair/clothes, highchair or on me) or slowly swallow it (and by slowly I mean 30+ mins to finish what's in her mouth). I hope this passes soon!!! It is taking forever to feed her a meal!!!

So I'm slowly going to start weaning Ellie. She nurses around 6-7 times a day (and sometimes at night if the teeth are bothering her). My plan is to eliminate 1 feeding at a time and have her weaned by 18 months. I'm also going to start my weight loss plan this month. I have about 30 lbs to lose to get to my prepreg weight ugh. Wish me luck!

Ellie is running and falling all over the place. She's like a cute little drunk person, especially when she's tired and babbling and rolling around after she falls lol. I'm so scared she is going to hurt herself, as she seems to bump her head daily. She's babbling nonsense all day with a word here and there. The other day she handed me something and said "He ya go". I of course cried lol.

Lastly - teeth ugh. Ellie now has 11 teeth and #12 is breaking through. This is CRAZY to me since she had 0 teeth until about 8 months. We've pretty much been popping out teeth non stop since then. The top row bothered her more than the bottom but nothing was too bad until now. These molars are @(*#&(#*&%(#*&%(. Drool, rashes, random screaming, holding her face and crying. Tylenol is not helping, i tried gum massage and she bit me. I feel so bad and can't wait for this to be over!! She was waking screaming but knock on wood has slept the last few days. Someone once told me the first teeth are the worse... they are LIARS lol.

Honeybee- congrats on returning to work! How is the weaning going - any better?? Lovely pics - Ava is beautiful and looks really tall!!

Bean - oh man sorry the teething is going so badly. I feel your pain (went through some bad teething this month too!). Hope things get better soon! Have you tried gum massage? (beware of getting bit!)

KellyM - Gorgeous pics as usual!! He is so handsome! Hope he feels better soon!!

Scooby - congrats on the move and becoming a SAHM!

Chloe - Yay for no more pumping! I still pump at night (11 PM) DH and I both work. Our house is a mess. He cooks dinner sometimes but I work until 6 PM so our dinner is usually something quick and rushed since Ellie needs to finish eating by 6:15 in order to get her into bed by 7:30-8 (she nurses for like 45 mins before bed). It SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. I really don't know how people do this with multiple children. DH is bothering me for another one and I feel like I'll lose my marbles! I want to quit my job so badly but unfortunately we can't afford that at the moment since we are going to be moving to a bigger place soon and support his parents. I really want to start meal planning and have found some interesting slow cooker recipes that seem promising. I also have a cleaning schedule right now where I devote each day to an area and try to do atleast 1 thing a day in that area (ie. kitchen - clean off counters). Our house is still a mess but it was far worse before.

IST - HI!! Hope Cait feels better soon!

Coco- Where are you?!

Lolly and bbygurl (and anyone I forgot) - HI!!

We had some weird weather in December... 2 big snow storms and then it was 70 degrees f a few days before xmas. Very weird to be able to play in snow with 70 degree weather!! We tried to do a sunset shoot with Ellie but she took a late nap so we missed sunset... and then half of my balloons flew away... and then she was cranky so she barely smiled... but I did get this one shot of her in her bday outfit playing with the balloons! It wasn't on the day of her birthday but atleast it's something. I made her shirt!

Spoiler

 

[kellycontrary]

Hi everyone happy new year! i havent been on here since july. but thought id come on and see how everyone is doing. There is too much to catch up on so I havent read the last posts so im sorry...ill be reading from now on!!

So I noticed on the first page its all been updated with dob's and names. Connor Sean was born on the 18th Dec 2012. so there! heres a cheek pic.

all going good - cruising with confidence now and occassionally standing alone but not walking. Ive heard boys are lazier - my friends little girl has been walking for weeks & shes a month younger
He has what feels like a million teeth, the only ones we are waiting for now are the four big back ones. I guess I should be grateful they were over all at once but bloody hell that was hard work!

I have some questions for you im curious as to what your Lo's are doing. COnnor is only just waving at people bye bye, and Im yet to get a word out of him. hes said dadadad for months on end but never really in context. What other things do your babies do at this age? Its bad I know to compare to other babies but I cant help it! His friends of the same age dance to music, point, say 'mama'...im not at the stage of worrying, hes only just turned 1, but I guess Im wondering if you did things to encourage them to do these things
sorry about the long post! I hope everyones well and I look forward to hearing about all your babas! x

 

[Chloe597]

I was wondering if all the stay at home mom's could give me a rundown of what you do each day from like wakeup time until dinner time? Days I stay home with gabby i feel like we don't do enough stimulating stuff. we play with the same toys, walk around the house for a while, eat, sleep and change diapers. I am in need of some fresh ideas! Thanks!

 

[scoobydrlp]

Good question Chloe, I'm curious too. I will mention that when I'm home with Camden we read books, which is something I wish I had more time for. Also I rotate toys so that she doesn't get bored with the same stuff all the time, and there are a few toys that she only plays with supervised, mainly the ones with balls that she's supposed to put into our get out of things because if I'm not watching they roll away on the wood floors or our cat steals them. I'm thinking the big chunky wooden puzzles will be appropriate toys soon, duo that will be fun!

 

[sigh]

Hi KellyC :wave: My DD Ellie has always been a talker and I'm not sure what we did to encourage it. We read to her a lot but don't know if that has anything to do with it. I was an early talker too so maybe that had something to do with it? It's great that he says DADA though! Love the pic, he is such a handsome boy!

Chloe - was wondering the same thing! I'm at home but working so like scooby, I try to alternate toys and she loves books. I went to ikea last week and bought some stacking cups, a basket of fake toy fruits and some play kitchen pots and pans... so far she seems to like them. I'm thinking about getting her a play kitchen but my sister keeps saying she's too young for it. Her way of playing involved grabbing something, putting it in her mouth, banging it on things, then tossing it. lol.

 

[scoobydrlp]

I have some questions for you im curious as to what your Lo's are doing. COnnor is only just waving at people bye bye, and Im yet to get a word out of him. hes said dadadad for months on end but never really in context. What other things do your babies do at this age? Its bad I know to compare to other babies but I cant help it! His friends of the same age dance to music, point, say 'mama'...im not at the stage of worrying, hes only just turned 1, but I guess Im wondering if you did things to encourage them to do these things
sorry about the long post! I hope everyones well and I look forward to hearing about all your babas! x

I know it's hard not to compare, but try not to worry too much! My mom is always comparing Camden to other babies implying that she should be talking more, or walking by now, drinking bigger bottles, blah blah blah. Drives me crazy! That being said, I'll tell you what Camden can do currently. She claps, waves, points, dances, cruises very well but does not stand without holding onto something and hasn't made any attempt at taking any steps on her own. She says mama, meow, woof, and juice in context. She says Dada but never in context so far. She can also pick out certain toys if I ask for them by name. Her newest game is to point to a stuffed animal, wait for me to say it's name (Elmo, big bird, Mickey mouse, etc) then pick it up and hug it and pat it on the back. We didn't really work on specificallyteaching her any of this, and I think some of it she probably learned from watching other kids at daycare. Again though, I think it's unfair to compare. Every baby is different.

 

[scoobydrlp]

Sigh I think you should go for the play kitchen! She may not use it as it's fully intended, but she would still have fun opening and closing the cabinets, putting things in and taking them out, etc. The whole point is for them to learn as they go. I would totally buy one for Camden if we had the space.

 

[sigh]

I want to make her the kitchen!! Google "DIY entertainment stand kitchen". SO many people have done this and its so fun/cute!! Who knows if I'll ever find time though.

https://www.kitchentreaty.com/diy-play-kitchen/

https://northridgepublishing.com/2010/07/diy-play-kitchen-how-to/

 

[Chloe597]

Sigh, i see crafty ideas like that and it makes me wish i had 30 hrs in a day instead of 24! It would be sooo fun to make one of those! Maybe i will start on it now, so in 6 months when she is ready for one, i can have one finished. i went to joanne fabrics the other day and started to get the crafty itch too when i saw how many cute fabrics are out there! My mom is sewing us some frog curtains for gabby's bathroom. I don't actually own a sewing machine....

I forgot, i also read gabby a TON of books. she LOVES them. Her favorites are the dr seuss board books, and anything with few words and many flaps. And she also loves small balls that she can fit one in each hand. we have so many toys, i do try to rotate them. I would just love to find something new to do. I bought crayons, and we try to color, but she doesnt have her own little table yet, and she is still at the 'eat the crayons' phase.

KellyC - Connor is so handsome! I wouldn't be too worried about milestones yet, it sounds like he is well on his way! Gabby points, waves, claps, walks, just started dancing, signs 'more' and 'all done' in her high chair, she says a few words, like kitty, dada, mama, and many other nonesense words that probably mean something but i havent figured out what yet. She also mimics us sometimes in both actions and words, but not all the time, and will give hugs often, and kisses about 10% of the time we ask her to. She only has 4 teeth, but eats pretty much everything we do. she can do patty cake up through the 'roll it' gesture, but can't do anything beyond that.

 

[kellycontrary]

Wow your lo's are all so clever, trying very hard not to be jealous! He started saying mama today - but not at me. And he claps when he feels like it! Ocassionally he will say 'ta' f we give him something. I guess the rest will come! He has started standing independently though so...yay! Thanks ladies xx

 

[Chloe597]

KellyC, don't be jealous...be happy with a non walker for now! Gabby was a very late roller, and i was always sad she was so immobile when so many other babies were rolling by 3-4 months (gabby was maybe 7 months), but then when it happened, it just made life that much more hectic! And Gabby only says mama when she is upset, so apparently that is the only time she wants me. Thanks, kid! Gabby was cruising pretty well at her 1 year birthday and then a couple weeks later really took off with the walking, out of nowhere. I found that i had limited her floor space because we have so many hard wood floors, so i wasnt giving her much space to walk, and then when we took her to a friends house that was fully carpeted, she really got to exercise her legs then and that's when she really took off. With all of his teeth, does connor eat big pieces of food or do you cut things up small for him? I can't wait until I don't have to give gabby teeny pieces of food. Come on, teeth!