***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[ImSoTired]

Amber is a beauty bean! So cute!

The past two nights have been wonderful with Cait putting herself to sleep and sleeping 8 hrs the night before last and 10 hrs last night. She began crying at about 3 am but I reached over and rubbed her stomach and she went right back.I think I've figured it out and I hope she keeps doing it. I have an idea about a loose schedule but I have to continue to implement it and hope she keeps sleeping like she has.

I hope everyone is doing well

 

[Kelly M]

Wow, everyone's babies are so adorable! I love seeing all the pics.

I'm so exhausted as Carter is still up often and rolls onto his tummy in the night waking himself up. I'm getting sick and he's been ill too so we are having a rough weekend but hoping it gets better by Monday as I have no help during the week.

Well, just a quick update sorry to read and run.

 

[bbygurl719]

Just wanted to say Hi. I'm on vacation camping so when I get back imma add pics of my like princess.

 

[sigh]

Tooth - Joseph is so handsome! What a wonderful smile

Honey - Love her cheeks and the hat is adorable!

Babybell - So adorable! He looks so grown with the sippy cup!

Bean - Beautiful!! very very cute

IST - yay for sleep! Did you change anything to get her to do that? What is your routine?

KellyM - Hope things get better soon! I put large black bath towels on the windows in her room and i think it's helping her sleep longer in the morning and during naps. I only partially cover the windows for naps and she seems to be napping longer and completely cover them at night and instead of waking 4-5 AM she has been waking 6-8 AM I nailed them to the wall at the top and duct tape the sides to keep light out... I need to find an easier solution so I can remove them when they aren't in use.


We are in a yoyo pattern right now. She had a good night on Thursday (Only got up 4 times and ate twice) followed by a horrible night on Friday (woke every 45 mins or less) and then last night she slept from 9:30 to 3:20, then 4:20 to 7:15! She woke up a few times and cried but was able to settle herself back to sleep. We shot the wedding yesterday and I think I pretty much sucked... My mom called me midway and told me that Ellie was crying hysterically and she was thinking considering going to the ER because they couldn't calm her and her face was turning red from crying, so I was distracted and upset. I felt very guilty for leaving her. On the positive side, she had fun when she wasn't crying and drank from the bottle!! She drank 16+ ounces over a 8 hr period from the bottle! My mom had to give her the first bottle with a syringe because she wasn't interested in the bottle but then took it after that. I'm glad we didn't book any more weddings until October so I won't have to do this again for a while.

 

[cookielucylou]

Hi ladies. Not been on for a while so I'm sure I've missed loads! Been really busy here, we moved into our own home 4weeks ago which is brilliant but hard work with 2small children. Last week we went on a family holiday which had been planned for ages but was quite bad timing in the end! We come back home saturday to a busy house too as my dad came over to help decorate so I think the boys are feeling rather fed up and out of routine now.
Hayden is only a few days short of 6 months now and after helping himself to my ice cream the other day and demolishing it we have decided to begin weaning him.

 

[cococobain]

Aww so many pictures I don't even know where to start! I loved seeing your bubbies, so adorable! Everyone looks so cute in their highchairs smeared in food

Also, I love the bunny ears hat and the picture with the baby and her big sister Oh and the custom decorated doc band, how clever! Sorry I couldn't specify names, just skimming through haha.

Yay IST with Cait falling into a sleep schedule. Those hours of uninterrupted sleep make all the difference don't they? I always feel like a zombie if Mia wakes up earlier than usual, I don't know how most mummies do it.

Yay sigh for her taking milk from the bottle! I'm still having issues there. Yesterday she drank a measly half ounce from the bottle (my mum gave it while I hid outside the room watching) and she was crying so much it broke my heart. I think she tired herself out from all the frustration as after I came in and offered the boob she fell asleep mid feed.

I've heard of people going straight from breastfeeding to the sippy cup, I wonder if this would be a good alternative to the bottle?

 

[Beanonorder]

Amber cried for the second time when I tried the rice cereal so I've decided to hold off for a couple of weeks. Shes gaining weight just fine.

 

[ImSoTired]

Sigh, we are also in a 'yoyo' pattern. We are getting more good nights than bad though, so I can't complain. I've realized that we need to implement some sort of schedule and I've been trying to do the 2-3-4 nap schedule like the other moms here suggested. It works pretty well most of the time except some days Cait just won't sleep longer than 30 min for her naps so I am constantly putting her down hoping to get at least 2 hrs worth of naps out of her a day. My goal is always 4 hrs, but 2 is my minimum. When it's nice out I make sure she gets a lot of fresh air and some sun, she sleeps so much sounder on those days. If I keep her very active during the day but napping regularly and eating every 3-4 hours she does great. I also feed her more in the evenings about every 2 hours whatever she will take. Now that she has one cereal and one puree a day I aim to give her at least 24oz of formula a day. I find on days when she has enough naps, food, and stimulation, even if it isn't on a perfect schedule, I'll put her in her bassinet (yes she's still in our bedroom ) at 10pm and she will put herself to sleep and sleep until about 730-930. 10pm sounds late, i know, but Cait always went down very late. As a newborn she mixed up her days and nights so getting her to go to sleep was torture and she often went down between 1 and 3am! 10-11pm is a huge improvement! So we are working on it and doing pretty well!

I hope everyone is well! Happy belated memorial day to all US ladies, hope you had a good weekend and got lots of sleep!

 

[Kelly M]

IST, glad you are having more good days than bad. We seem to be in a yo-yo pattern too. I've haven't been able to tie it to anything I am doing or not doing but I'm just hoping we will start to see less and less of the bad nights and more good ones.

Carter is moving ALL OVER! I'm so not ready for the mobility he's gained. House is not at all baby proofed and he's into everything. I can't leave him for a second anymore. He rolls around and is starting to get up on his knees for a brief second and scoot backwards. It's so funny! He wants a toy out of reach and ends up going away from it instead of to it like he wants to. lol

 

[scoobydrlp]

Bean, Amber is adorable!

To whoever was asking about going straight from breast to sippy cup and skipping the bottle, I don't see why that wouldn't work!

Hooray for those who are seeing sleep improvement!

Camden and I rode up to Ohio with my parents over the holiday weekend (10-11 hours each way), and she was such a good girl! I couldn't have asked for her to do any better. Here's my favorite picture of her with her Great Grandma who has been in treatment for stage 4 lung cancer for 4.5 years. We are soooo blessed to still have her with us, and I'm so happy Camden got to spend some time with her (twice so far since she was born).

https://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o725/scoobydrlp/0f7e59f0-552e-4788-bda8-93454cdf43a6_zps93bd0787.jpg

 

[Baby Bell]

Scooby that's a beautiful pic!

We went straight to sippy cup, because Lewis refused the bottle.........it's messy but he loves to hold it and drink himself!

Lewis has a cold at present, poor wee lamb is all bunged up and coughing all the time. He was waking every 20 mins during the night. He's also very clingy, would rather cuddle than play. just not like himself at all, hopefully it won't last that Long. We went swimming on Monday I think he picked it up there.

 

[ttc_lolly]

Bean, Amber is such a little darling gorgeous pics!

Scooby, what a precious photo I'm glad Camden got to meet her great-great(?) gran

Bell, you're back! You've been missed! Poor Lewis I hope he shakes off the cold soon. It's horrible seeing them unwell isn't it?

Millie refuses a bottle but does drink water fine from her sippy cup. I'll be bf'ing until at least 1yr so I don't expect her to ever use a bottle now. I stopped using bottles with Amber at around 1yrs so won't try Millie on them after then.

Millie was 6 months old on monday. My baby is getting too big too quick this growth spurt is hitting us hard though she's extra clingy and extra grumpy, she's gone back to crying a lot through the day unless she's being held by me so I'm wearing her lots and night time are horrific she's not feeding loads through the night but she's half waking and wanting to be held, have her dummy put back in... I'm exhausted. I think she might be teething a little too, so I'm just riding it out and hoping this doesn't go on for too much longer

 

[bbygurl719]

here are some pics of m lil princess...

 

[bbygurl719]

and a pic of me with both my babies

 

[toothfairy29]

Scooby what a lovely photo! I wish Joseph had met his great gran! She would have adored him!!

Bbygurl how gorgeous! Your girls are so like you aren't they??!

Lolly... Sorry you're having a tough time. Joseph's also grumpy at the moment. The house is a mess and I have piles of washing and dirty dishes everywhere as he won't be left un entertained for a second!! He whinges every time I look away from him!! Even had to take him to the loo with me and the flush noise made him cry!! I can't win!!

Not having any success weaning. Keep trying him with rice or porridge every 4-5 days and he just screws his face up like I'm feeding him sour lemons and spits it out! I'm too nervous to try finger foods yet.

He must be increasing his milk intake as the last 3 nights he's woken between 3-4am soaked through his nappy to his grobag. I don't normally change him til he wakes 5-6am as he's quite awake then and this has always been fine with the pampers dry nappies. I think I'm going to have to disturb him to change him now in the middle of the night??

 

[bbygurl719]

Ty. Yes thereally both like me. Ella has my Tom boy side in here and angel has my girlie side in her. But Ella looks like her daddy n angel looks like me.

 

[Baby Bell]

Thanks Lolly, iv missed the snowflakes....I just couldn't keep up lol

Bbygurl two peas in a pod you've got there........gorgeous girlies xx

Toothfairy Lewis has been wetting through his nappy a lot recently too iv had to start doing a change during the night again,which is annoying because he used to be fine until morning. I never thought about it, but maybe it is an increase of intake that's dong it. I dunno if you've started to wean yet.....we started the other day maybe as their solids intake increases this fluid intake ill decrease again!

 

[daydream]

We've been having the same night leaking problem! I keep trying to change around his cloth with the # of inserts and the size of diaper but haven't found the magic spot yet. Such a bummer because I'm tired of having to do so much laundry again.

 

[scoobydrlp]

Gorgeous pictures bbgurl!!

For those with leaking diapers overnight, Camden started doing the same a few weeks back. We bought Huggies Overnight diapers and haven't had any problems since. They're super thick and hold it all in. I used to change her if she woke at night, but now I'm comfortable waiting until morning.

 

[toothfairy29]

They just stopped selling huggies in the uk!!!