Summer Sensations! (due May/June 2013)

[raelynn]

Christie - Sorry you had such a tough time at the photo place. That is exactly what I have been worried about so I think I'm going to attempt our pictures at home first and see if we can get any good ones.

Miss A - Alex is darling! She looks like a cute little baby doll in that picture.

No Doubt - Haylee is the same way with trying to stick everything and anything in her mouth. I have big buttons on my shirt today and she keeps trying to attack me with her mouth to get the buttons. They're so funny.

Two - Haylee is trying to crawl too but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. She sticks her little butt up in the air but doesn't grasp that she needs to try and push herself forward. She pretty much just wiggles around for now. But it is really funny to watch.

Haylee isn't teething yet. She still loves to chew on her hand and her toys but no teeth are poking anywhere yet and her doctor said it is just a developmental thing when they realize they can put things in their mouth.

I think we're going to attempt to make salt dough handprints to give to her grandparents for Christmas. Hopefully it'll work out!

 

[No Doubt]

They are so cute...Virtue is inching along, it usually starts with his head digging into whatever it's on, the carpet or mattress, and then his butt going up in the air. So when I say inching along, I mean inching. Tonight in a teething fit Virtue enjoyed the teething ring until it wasn't frozen anymore then started getting fussy and threw his hand back and knocked the other half of my Klondike bar out of my hand onto the floor. Guess I didn't need those calories...I was really enjoying that... But apparently that made his night cause he laughed and settled into the jumper...for 5 minutes before throwing another fit. I looked tonight and the bottom right front tooth is trying to cut through so it won't be long now before it all starts full speed. Luckily he still doesn't seem to phased by it as long as he's occupied. If you're in his face he's not paying it any mind, so looks like there's a lot of play time in everyone's immediate future.

Two, I don't think Jasper's head will be an issue. My mom said when I was a baby I had what they literally called a "watermelon head"...so embarrassing, can't believe I just told you all that, lol...but anyway, I had to have my head measured every couple of weeks. Obviously I was fine and I walked at 8 months. So I think sitting will be fine for Jasper.

 

[GettingBroody]

Rae - love Haylee's mouse outfit! She is such a cutie!! Love the t-shirt she's wearing in the second photo - that would be perfect for Fia, everyone says she's the image of her daddy That's a great idea about the handprints as presents! I think I hear pinterest calling me...!!

MissA - How's things?! Alex is looking fab! I her hat! Did you make it? I'm in the middle of crocheting an owl one for Fia. Hope it turns out as nice as it is in the pattern picture!!

Two - good luck with the photos! Looking forward to seeing them

Christie - sorry the photo experience wasn't a success Hope Nick's molars don't cause him too much pain, poor thing!

NoDoubt - lol! Your secret is safe with us!

No crawling here yet either... She's done the head crawl for a few moments once or twice but mostly she tries to go forward and ends up shuffling backwards and then she gets so cross cos what she was trying to reach is now farther away, lol! I'm not really in a hurry for her to be crawling though - we'll all be exhausted from chasing after them once that stage starts!!! Right now I quite like the fact that she stays where I put her (more or less!)

No sign of any teeth either but I keep expecting to find one because she's chewing like crazy. And those gums hurt when she bites hard on your finger!!!

Off to pinterest I go now to while away a few hours looking up baby's first Christmas ideas! So exciting! Talk to you all later!

 

[raelynn]

Broody - I found the handprint idea on Pinterest. They have lots of cute ideas on what you can make them into by painting them. I'm going to attempt using permanent markers instead of paint though so we'll see how that goes.

We went out today and did a little Christmas shopping. The cashiers fussed all over Haylee - they told her she was going to be a little heart breaker I found a bunch of Christmas and board books at the dollar store that I'm going to wrap up to count down to Christmas (another Pinterest idea). I have a bunch of other holiday ideas for when she's older and can get a bit more involved. I can't wait!

 

[GettingBroody]

I saw that idea about the books! Also love the idea of a Christmas Eve box when she's older Iwas thinking of maybe turning the handprint into a decoration for the tree... Better make lots of dough - I'm sure I'll ruin a few in the process!

 

[raelynn]

I like the idea of the Christmas Eve boxes too! I also want to do the ticket on the pillow after they get ready for bed to take them out driving to see Christmas lights. We also just got an elf on the shelf to have fun with that when she's older.

I'm making her handprint into a couple different things since it is for her grandparents and great-grandma - probably santa, a tree, and snowmen. Maybe also a reindeer. I've seen that done with the footprint too.

 

[TwoRdue]

Had lots of fun doing the Christmas picture, when we first gave Jasper to Santa he was all smiles until I walked away and he had a real good look at who was holding him lol. Sorry I had to put in the family one as its my fave with Jaspers big grin.

No doubt lol Jasper is the same as you, he also has to have his head measured every two weeks. My sister has told me that all three of her girls were born with big head and they all look good now. I should have expected it when I was told at one of my scans that his head was 2 weeks a head of the rest of him lol.

I am also looking at doing hand and foot prints as its such a great christmas present for the grandparents..

Christmas tree is now up and Jaspers presents are under it I also have two angels to put on the tree for the twins.
I dont think I have ever been this excited to see Christmas

 

[raelynn]

Two - So cute! I can't wait! We're going to see santa Friday and then out to see Christmas lights at a park on Saturday.

I made up the salt dough and it is a little trickier than I thought to get good handprints. We did a practice round yesterday but they didn't turn out great plus Haylee was a little fussy so I smooshed them all back up and we'll try again tomorrow. Haylee also tried sweet potatoes this week and loves them! I'm trying to introduce some Thanksgiving foods so she can have a bit at dinner.

 

[No Doubt]

So cute two! Wish I was still wearing clothing like that bits all pants and sweaters for a while for us.

My mil posted the handprint thing on FB and I was gonna try it two. I'm really excited about Christmas, especially with my family coming on top of it being Virtues first Christmas! I invited everyone last year, lol.

Virtue lived the sweet potatoes too, he also liked pears a lot. So maybe I'll make caramelized pears instead of carmelized apples this year.

Also his first tooth has finally broken through! Honestly he wasn't too bad while it was coming in so thank heavens for that!

 

[TwoRdue]

Sweet potato is a good choice and Jasper is a big fan to, he has had almost all fruit and vege as well as avocardo, when I do his next lot for the freezer I am going to try him with egg.

No doubt it is so hot over here and there is still two weeks till summer, at the moment its 95F..

What are you both doing your hand prints with?

 

[No Doubt]

OMG...no I don't want it that hot, but I don't want 27 either. Are you sure you want to try egg? That's suppose to be a common allergy. The info we got from the pediatrician said that about egg so that it was better to start it later. The handprint one I saw was a dough type mix as well. It was cute cause the mothers hand was pressed down first, then the babies hand over top of hers. Then it was painted and had something like mommy and me painted at the bottom. I have to go back and find the ingredients for them but I remember it was pretty simple, maybe three ingredients.

Ok, so am I wrong for this...my mil shares every photo of Virtue that I put on FB. I honestly wish she wouldn't. She doesn't even ask me first. So all of her friends can see the pic I've put on there. It rubs me the wrong way because first like I said she doesn't ask, and second I don't know those people and I know she doesn't have the best taste in friends...they just don't all seem to be completely there...you know? I keep trying to figure out how to block her from doing that without completely blocking her and it would be nice if I could somehow have those pics come down from her page too. Call it me being paranoid, but I don't want everyone to know what my kid looks like. She doesn't even call me anymore since me and the hubbs got into a bit of tif but wants to share all my pics. The only reason I haven't deleted her completely is cause I'm married to her son.

 

[Christie2011]

No doubt - I feel you about someone sharing pictures of your baby. I'm actually FB friends with Nicholas' biological mom, but I had to restrict her from seeing any posts because she would share them, and then her biological family would make comments about Nicholas being their nephew and I didn't like that people I didn't know were making such comments and knowing what Nicholas looked like. So I'm still FB friends with her, but she can't see anything I post, unless I specifically give her access to it. On the other hand, she did request 1 year old pictures of him and after reading about others who had open adoptions I did decide to send her pics, knowing she was going to share them with people she knew, but I asked her that she at least restrict who could see them and she did.

Two - Leo's head measured the same size as Nicholas' head at his 4 month apt (Nick's 1 year apt). Leo has always had a big head, even before he was born it measured big. He doesn't seem to have any balance issues. He sits really well unassisted (though he still throws himself backwards, so I'm always right there with him). He has been sitting unassisted since he was 4 months old.

Leo has surpassed the inchworm stage and is on to army crawling. He'll pull himself toward where he wants to go with his arms and when he gets up on to his hands and knees it usually ends up with him moving backwards. He's not crawling on all fours yet, but he does get places with army crawling. Especially if I'm on the floor, he'll crawl over to me and put his hand on me and ask to be picked up, it's so cute.

No teeth yet here, I thought they were going to come through last weekend, but they are taking their time.

I was also thinking about the dough handprints. Some for me, some for the grandparents, yep lots of dough to be made! Nick did really good with Santa pics last year. I'm not sure how it's going to go this year. My niece who was 5 last year refused to take a pic with Santa. She doesn't mind the Easter Bunny, but will not go see Santa.

Leo is starting to figure out how to put himself back to sleep, but we are still having some rough nights. We did have a couple of good nights though where I was only up 2-3 times. Yes, that's a good night for me. And the boys let me sleep in til 8 this past Sunday! I haven't slept in that late in over a year.

This is Nick's pic from last year. Two, I love the one where Jasper is looking at Santa trying to figure out who the heck is hold him.

 

[raelynn]

No Doubt - Haylee is the same with food. So far she has loved sweet potatoes and pears. She's eaten everything she's tried so far but sweet potatoes have been the winner so far.

Two - I used salt dough. Its basically salt, flour, and water. It was super easy to mix up and we managed to get two decent hand prints today. I need 8 so we still have more to do. It was harder than I thought it would be since Haylee liked to just squish the dough once her hand was in it and then towards the end the dough was getting too sticky from all the handling and I couldn't pull her hand back out cleanly.

Christie - Sounds like you're going to have a lot of moving going on soon with Leo getting so close to crawling. Haylee keeps making me think she's going to do it but then she gives up and just fusses because she can't reach things. Do you still jog with the boys? I've been thinking about looking into a jogging stroller since I've been power walking every day and have done it enough now I think I could start picking up jogging again.

 

[No Doubt]

Virtue tends to scoot backwards too when he attempts to crawl, but somehow in the middle of the night he ends up at the head of the crib so he's doing something. And he gets around pretty good from rolling. I love my jogging stroller though I use it for walking...I don't run unless something is chasing me, or I'll be late for my bus, lol. But I like not putting so much wear and tear on his usual stroller. Plus it has all the secret compartments for things like keys, phone, etc. and it's easy to maneuver cause of it having one front wheel instead of two.

 

[Christie2011]

I haven't had a chance to run with them in a month or so. The weather hasn't been cooperative, too cold on the weekends, when I actually have time and energy to go running.

Leo tried sweet potato tonight and wasn't a fan. After about 4 bites, he started rubbing his mouth like he was trying to get the taste out. He also didn't like applesauce when he tried it. But it did take two tries before he decided oatmeal was good. He loves eating banana. I put a piece in those eating nets and he goes to town on that.

 

[No Doubt]

Haven't heard about eating nets...I can pretty much deduce what they are, but please elaborate.

So funny ha ha tonight...I posted on my Facebook page that "apparently #2 is on its way" meaning Virtues tooth. So my bil posted a bunch of question marks, so I said Virtues tooth, and he said oh, was thinking something way different. After going back and re-reading I decided I needed to screen my posts. He thought I was pregnant again, lol. So I clarified. Its just that everything I post these days is about Virtue, so naturally I posted about his tooth last night and I looked today and the fact that he was a touch on the fussy side, its obvious the 2nd one is coming in now, so I posted about "#2". I really have to work on that.

OAN looks like his teeth are gonna be non stop from here on out...

 

[Christie2011]

Here's a link to Babies R Us for the eating net. I guess they call it a Fresh Food Feeder:
https://www.toysrus.com/product/ind...442.4213325.2256162.2256179&parentPage=family

The only draw back with these is they are difficult to clean. I use a nipple brush to try to get all the debris out, but some times I just end up throwing it out because I can't get it clean enough. It's good training though to lean how to mash food, and it keeps baby occupied for a bit. My sister used to make mini fruit cocktails in my niece's mesh feeder.

 

[raelynn]

No Doubt - Haylee moves a ton in her crib too! I usually find her all the way at the bottom of the crib with her head facing the other direction. One time she rolled over too and I found her on her tummy just looking around.

Christie - That is too funny with the sweet potatoes. I haven't found anything Haylee doesn't like yet but I'm sure we'll get there. I'm a little afraid to try green beans and peas because of that. I forgot that we had a couple of those food net things so I'll have to figure out things to try in them. We haven't done bananas yet since she's an infrequent pooper and bananas can make that worse. Maybe I'll try watermelon or something like that.

We went to get her pictures with Santa today and she did really good. We didn't get any of her big smiles but I think she was confused at who we handed her off to. At least she wasn't screaming.

Have any of you figured out a good way to do the food for traveling? I'm thinking about getting one of those squeezy spoons you can put the food in or maybe switching to the baby food pouches. Since we're out a lot more around the holidays, I'm going to need to bring her food along. It was a lot easier when it was just my boobs I needed

 

[Christie2011]

Leo is still mostly on breastmilk. Right now I"m just trying different foods with him, I"m not replacing any bottles with a meal yet, so we don't have to worry about bringing food to travel.

I've been hearing so much bad about pouched food/drink, that I've decided my kids won't be eating out of any containers which I cannot see into. I've heard about mold and other disgusting things I won't even bother to mention. I have saved some containers from the gerber 1st and 2nd meals and have frozen homemade stuff in those. My doctor also suggested freezing portions in icecube trays since one cube equals about an ounce. I haven't tried that yet though.

 

[raelynn]

Ugh! I heard some of those gross stories too. So scary! I haven't replaced any feedings yet either but I've been consistently giving some type of puree with the lunch time feeding so I'd like to stick with that. I go out a lot with her around lunch time if we need to run errands so I'm just trying to figure out a way to transport easily I tried keeping it in the plastic gerber food container but that leeked. Luckily it was in a ziplock too.

Today I let Haylee hold a spoon while I fed her with another. She kept sticking it in her mouth so she gets the idea. She got food all over herself though so it is going to be a messy process. Good thing it is bath night