Summer Sensations! (due May/June 2013)

[Christie2011]

Well I'm back in search of a nanny. I'm not happy with the day care they are in now. I wish I knew what questions to ask before I decided to go with her. I assumed too much. I could write a book on all the questions I'd like to remember to ask.

I found out she's been driving around with Leo this week. Nick has been sick, so he has been going to my sister's. One day I showed up early to pick up Leo and no one was home. I thought maybe she took the kids for a walk to go get her kids from school (something she hasn't told me she does, but from context I gather she does). Instead she pulls up in her car with Leo. He has his car seat, but still she had never asked or received permission from me to drive around with my babies. It also makes me nervous about what she is doing with Nicholas during these times. Nick doesn't get left with a car seat and I've checked her car, she only has one car seat (for her daughter) and it's not rear facing. I have a suspicion that she leaves Nick with her sister, who I've seen a bunch of times at her house. Again, she has not received or asked for my permission to do this. I just hope she is not putting him in the car with out a car seat or even in the forward facing seat.

I need a new care giver and ASAP. I'm so nervous now leaving them with her. I've even had to tell her to take Leo's hoodie off so she doesn't put him down for a nap with it on. And to not put blankets in the cribs and to take their bibs off.

 

[No Doubt]

Christie I hope you find one soon. I can't believe you have to tell her those basic things. And to leave your child with someone else...that's just unacceptable. I know it's not the best bit have you thought about angies list? Or even the better business bureau?

 

[Christie2011]

I will report her to the Maryland Office of Child Care, once I can find another day care provider. I do feel a little better after Friday since I arrived early to pick up my babies without warning and found that she was just getting Nick up from his nap. She wouldn't have had time to get Leo up also, and get them both in a car to go where ever. And no one else was there. So I hope it was just a one time (actually it was at least twice) outting with Leo. As long as they are both there I don't think she'll take them anywhere (in the car at least).

I'm still hoping to find a nanny though. Being a single parent makes it hard when one (or both) kids are sick. I don't have that much vacation time from work I can use. And though my sister is happy to help, she lives 35-40 mins away and keeping the same hours at day care means I'm still needing to take 1.5 hours of vacation time from work days I drop one off at my sister's house.

 

[No Doubt]

Yeah, I'm sure that's not easy hun. There's two of us and even though hubs goes to work as late as possible to drop Virtue off and I get off as early as possible to pick him up, we are still cutting it pretty close. Hopefully a nanny will come through for you soon. But in the mean time just be honest with her and tell her your expectations and dos and don'ts.

 

[daddiesgift]

Im due May 28th!

I am 27
I live in America
This is our third
This was our first month off birth control, well I was off and on after #2. #1 took 23 cycles ttc to conceive, #2 was two cycles of NTNP and this baby was after only 1! I guess we are getting luckier
Symptoms so far are extreme sleepiness and food being BLEH. Im also extremely thirsty!

 

[GettingBroody]

Hi!!! Congrats on your bfp! We actually had our babies in May/June of this year so maybe you stumbled into the wrong group?! You are very welcome to stay but just wanted to let you know!!!

 

[No Doubt]

WSS but congrats hun! A happy and healthy 9 months to you!

So Virtue has spit up yellow a couple of times. Of course I became Dr. Mom and googled it. It says it could be a sign of acid reflux and that it is common in first born males where the parent had it. And guess who started suffering from it last year...that's right me. He's been a touch more fussy when he's sleepy, but other than that he's his usually self. I'm sure the crankiness is sue to him being sleepy so I don't think it's contributed to the spit up. He's obviously not sleeping as much through the day as he gets older and I think by the end of the day he's just worn out like you and me. I will phone his doc today though must to be sure. He's eating and pooing fine. In fact his pooper was very healthy yesterday, lol.

I'm getting excited to try him on soft foods. The doc said in between 4-6 months. He has an appt on the fourth so I will talk to him about it then and as long as we get the ok then we'll give it a go. We'll probably start him off on applesauce so he won't get backed up and then add in other foods over time.

He's started sitting up on his own when he's in our lap. He acts like he can't but when you stick a bottle in front of him he has no problem doing it, lol. So we are working with him sitting on his own. He'll do it for a few seconds and eventually fall over, but when he's leaning forward kind of tripod he can go for longer. Really excited about all his milestones. I can't remember if I said or not but he laughed for the first time last week. He hasn't done it since so I guess it will be like smiling, slow at first and then all the time. But he's become extremely talkative lately, lol.

 

[daddiesgift]

Ohhh thanks!

 

[Christie2011]

Leo hasn't been sleeping well at night. You'd never know it from how happy he is in the morning though. The last few nights he's been up almost every two hours. Not sure if this is another growspurt, or if it's because he has a bit of a stuffy nose, or both.

Leo's favorite thing is to laugh. He just loves life right now. When I left him in the porta crib this morning after changing his diaper so I could maybe get an extra 10-20 mins of sleep (like that much would help?), he decided he wasn't tired and just started giggling and squealing. I guess a baby giggle is better than an alarm to wake up to

Leo is also a supported sitter now too. I have an activity seat that I put him in this weekend and he did pretty good. He is still a little frustrated with his arms/hands not doing exactly what he wants, but he eventually gets the toy he's after. He has also started to crawl. I guess if you can call it that. He inches himself along. He doesn't get very far and he's not fast at all, but he does get places. He'll put his head down to the floor and scrunch his legs up under him and then attempt to push himself forward. He'll move a little bit forward but mostly he ends up just kicking his legs back out from under him. He has the right idea though and will be moving along soon enough.

I also let him hang out in the jumper. He doesn't jump yet, but he is getting the idea of putting weight on his legs, which is good for strengthening them. He can now put weight on his legs for a goo few seconds when I hold him. Which is a feat considering there is a lot of Leo on those legs

 

[No Doubt]

Aww...a lot of Leo on those legs, lol. We have a jumper but were waiting until 4mths to give it a shot. He loves to jump in our laps and is good at standing with us. He gets frustrated when we hold him and he wants to stand or jump. He starts kicking us in the hopes of us getting the picture I guess. Maybe we'll try the jumper out tonight and see how it goes. I'm curious to see how quickly he will progress. Me and my hubbs were both walking at 8mths. My mom says I never crawled. She said one day I got up and just started walking and that was that. So I wonder if in 4 or 5 months we'll be chasing Virtue around the house. Exciting times ahead I guess!

 

[Christie2011]

Leo actually started to jump in the jumper yesterday. He's so cute I can't stand it! When he gets going some times he ends up a little off balance and immediately stops and throws himself into starfish mode to regain balance. I laugh every time because he gets this look of WHOA on his face.

 

[No Doubt]

Lol...I love starfish poses. I put Virtue in the jumper the other night, but his feet couldn't reach. I think I had the setting too high from when I put it together so I need to change it. But I didn't bother with it cause he was having fun with all the little gidgets and gadgets. He didn't even really so much play with them ad he was reaching for them and just fascinated with it all. But I'll readjust before I put him in again. I was surprised be didn't reach the bottom considering he's so long, so we'll see how the next setting goes.

 

[Dgavilan07]

Hello ladies!

My name is Diana, I am 25
I'm due June 4th, 2014
This is my second pregnancy (so far the scariest)
Bleeding / spotting.

 

[GettingBroody]

Hi Diana!! We've actually had our babies in May/June of this year! You're very welcome to hang around but I don't think we're the bump buddies you were looking for!! Congrats on your bfp - hope the spotting eases up soon and you have a h&h 9 months! Spotting around now is quite normal (I had some) but if you're worried maybe try and get in for an early scan? Good luck!

 

[Christie2011]

Two - how is Jasper doing?

The boys had a dr apt last week (Nicholas' 1 year and Leo's 4 months). Leo's head measured the same size and Nicks. Leo is 98th percentile in weight (weighed only a pound less than Nicholas) and 91st in height. Doctor says he's advanced in every way and joked that we are just going to pretend he's older (he sits as well as a 6 month old). She says to hold off on solids since he's doing so well. Leo can also stand for a short period of time holding on to something now and is getting better at inchworming his way to toys. I've started working with him to get up on all fours. Right now, on his own, he'll either get up on his knees and push out with his legs to move forward, or will get up on his hands, but doesn't do all four at the same time.

They boys finally have their nanny! I feel much more at ease with her than the day care they were in. She's a live in and in the agreement we sit down monthly to set goals for her to work on with the boys and she keeps a daily journal of their daily activities. I like having more control and involvement in their day, even if I'm not there.

 

[GettingBroody]

Hey Christie!! Sounds like the boys are doing great!! How does the live-in nanny work when you're off? Are ye both around the house in the evening? Is it strange sharing your house with someone? I can't believe how big Leo is! What weight is he now?

Fia is getting on great! We had apts with the physio and the eye specialist last week and they were very happy with her. We're back to the neonatal consultant again next week so we're busy busy! She's almost sitting independently now and inches around when she's doing tummy time. She often ends up coming completely off the mat with all her wriggles! No standing here yet under drs orders - it's to do with her prematurity, because she missed out on 3rd tri she missed lots of curled up time so early standing could be bad for her flexibility (or something like that!!) She's dying to stand though! We're starting baby massage next week with 2 friends who are also on mat leave so that should be fun!

Everyone else - how are ye?! And how are the babbas?!

Two - how's Jasper? Is he still in and out of hospital?

 

[Christie2011]

Did I forget his weight? I weighed him last night at 20.8 pounds! He's a BIG boy!

 

[Christie2011]

It's like having a roommate when she's off duty. She mostly keeps to herself in her room when off duty, but I invite her out to run errands since she doesn't have a car yet.

The hardest part (for her I think) is to be off duty. I think she really likes being around Leo, she loves babies (who doesn't) so she'll often be drawn to him when she's not in her room or we are out running errands. But she's also told me she doesn't want to crowd me so she tries to keep a separate life when off duty. Though it's hard when we live in the same house. It's only been 2 weeks and she's only officially begun nannying full time this week. Last week she spent more of her off time with us so the boys could get comfortable with her. I think that worked out well.

 

[No Doubt]

Christie I would love to do a live in nanny, but hubbs wasn't too keen on that idea. We could totally turn the basement into a little apartment area with no trouble at all, but he said no. Glad things are working out with the nanny though. Leo is a big boy! But it sounds like he's just big in general, not overweight or anything like that. Healthy bubba!

Broody, glad things are going so well with Fia! What a journey that was and now she's getting along great! That's interesting about her not being able to stand. I never would have thought about it like that. I honestly never really thought there was any reason why a baby is all curled up in there other than that's just the way it is and they run out of room.

Virtue is doing well! He eats soft foods and though the spoon wasn't his favorite thing in the beginning he does really well with it now and even welcomes it. It's funny to see him eat a bite and then open his mouth and lean forward for the next bite...greedy butt! He's doing well with sitting up on his own. He still gets lazy, especially at the end of the day or when he wants food or just to be held, but he can do it. He's just picky. He still tries to act like he can't roll over when he wants attention, but other times he just rolls and rolls and rolls, lol. Daddy caters to him so I think that's why he plays those games. I don't though so he tries with me then gives it up once I ignore his attempts at trying to get attention that way. He still loves the jumper, I'll have to adjust the height soon. He's a little over 16lbs now...greedy boy. He's laughing which I love to hear and so vocal...ALL DAY LONG! Lol, I love talking to him, but when I need a minute to hear on the phone or if I'm trying to watch tv or something and he wants to talk it gets a little frustrating, but then I just laugh cause he doesn't know what's going on. He likes to have conversations though and I love that when I talk he listens and then actually "responds". Virtue will stand when he's in the jumper, like actually stand for so many seconds, but I've never thought about letting him cruise yet. Can't believe he's almost 5 months already!

 

[TwoRdue]

It's so great to see that everyone is getting on so well...

Christie your boys sound like they are doing great and Leo is really shooting up.

Getting you must be so happy with How fia is doing.. when will she be allowed te stand?

I can believe virtue is sitting up, Jasper has only started rolling in last couple of days.

Jasper has been doing so much better and has even stayed out of hospital for two weeks, as he is getting bigger he is able to handle the breathing issues better but still gets sick at least once a week and could continue till he is about one. He is increasing his feeds and even had his first full 180ml bottle yesterday since he was six weeks old. I brought him a tummy time Matt and is doing well as he hasn't had much of a chance with it. He is 14.5pounds and almost out of all off his 0 to 3 months cloths (he is very long and very skinny). He also does very well with his solids and is becoming a little guts.

Will be great to see a pic of all your little ones.