Summer Sensations! (due May/June 2013)

[lilbabywalker]

Hi, all! Life is going well here. I can't believe Sebastian is seven months! No teeth or crawling yet (though he can wiggle backwards a tiny bit, and he can definitely roll his way across a room or 180 degrees in his crib)! We moved him out of our room at six months and he's been sleeping well in the nursery! Up once or twice a night.

As far as food, while breastfeeding is still his main source of food, we experiment with different tastes sometimes. I make my own food for him and freeze a bunch, and it's been surprisingly easy! So far he's had sweet potato, avocado, red lentils, carrots, kale, brown rice, oatmeal, banana, and prunes. He's loved it all!

He's fighting through his first cold right now cry but he's a little trooper. Here's some pictures for y'all!

 

[raelynn]

MissA - Haylee had those same red pajamas for Christmas! They're adorable.

All the babies are so cute! We had a doctor's appointment today and poor little Haylee screamed her head off for the shots. She cheered right up after we left though. She's a tiny baby. She's 10% for weight and 20% for height. 14lbs and 25 in. I was a little baby too though so she's taking after mommy.

Its nice to hear that making your own food hasn't been to tough for those of you who do it. We're thinking about starting to make our own. Do you just blend up the fruit/veggie whole or do you add any water or strain it? I haven't looked into it too much yet but we want the option of a larger range of foods for her to try.

 

[MissAnnabelle]

Lily - sounds like you guys are doing great! I'm still feeding during the night on demand. Maybe 2-3 times for us. How do you prepare the kale for him? We usually have it on hand for juicing and soup. Hope he feels better soon. I just love the pictures! He looks like such a happy little guy

Oh yeah - two bottom teeth came through about a week ago. Sharp little things!

 

[MissAnnabelle]

Rae - I'm sure everyone does things a little differently, but I use this mash and serve bowl that I bought on amazon for like $7 for a lot of things. I usually take some of whatever vegetable we have for dinner and mash some up for her to try. You can add breast milk, formula or some water to thin it. I just use milk, I will put a few blueberries or blackberries in and microwave for 10 secs with a little milk then mash them up, then swirl in some yogurt. She likes to feed herself some things too like orange segments that I peel the membrane off of. I think that you can buy that mash and serve bowl for like $5 more and it comes with a little recipe book. Anyways, that's just what we've been doing I would love to hear some other baby food recipes

 

[No Doubt]

I use the baby bullet and pretty much whatever we eat Virtue eats. It came with different recipes for baby food and some say to mix in veggie brother or chix broth to thin it a bit, but I'm sure water would be fine. It's so easy...a few secs in the baby bullet and then into the separate little storage/freezer cups. It even has recipes for little fruit/veggie popsicles.

 

[Christie2011]

Love the pics. MissA, that is one cute kitty you got there! Walker, I love baby in boxes pics! When I put my boys in boxes they LOVE to be pushed around the house in them.

Leo came down with the nastiest of diaper rashes this past weekend. I think it had to do with the night time diapers I was trying out (Pampers brand). Nick hasn't been affected by them, but the first time I used them on Leo, he also had diarrea all night (3 poopy diapers), then all day every diaper was poopy. It looked like almost a burn to me and covered the length of his bum. Desitin didn't help, I have some left over prescription medication that I've been using on it, but it's been the diaper free time that has really helped. He was so sore that first day and night, it was even bleeding a bit. I'll never put him in those diapers again.

As for food, I haven't been too good at introducing him to new foods. He mostly just get bm. I do boil up some bit sized frozen veggies so they are soft enough to gum and give him a tablespoon scoop to snack on when I'm feeding Nicholas though. He loves to try to feed himself peas, carrots, corn and greenbeans. Most of it ends up in his lap. He also does pretty decent with cheerios.

I'm sure the doctor is going to tell us to start more regularly offering solids at his apt next week. he didn't get a 6 month apt because the doctor tries to set up the boys apt together so we go in between when they are both due.

 

[Christie2011]

Leo is still in the upper percentiles for weight and height, all though his height seemed to tapper off. I've never been sure they've measured his height correctly though. They have him at 21 pounds and 28 inches. Nicholas is 22 pounds 31 inches. Leo's head is bigger than Nicks though by an inch.

Though Leo prefers finger foods, doctor told us to do both spoon and finger foods so he is getting practice with different muscles.

I also found out about the Infant See program (at least in US). I have a concern about Nicholas squinting and found there is a free infant/baby screening program that I can get his eyesight checked out.

 

[No Doubt]

Christie, good they have a free screen for his eyes. It does seem like Leo is slowing down cause Virtue is a little over 20lbs and he is 28in too. Him and Leo used to have some distance between them in both areas.

Not a lot going on here. I think Virtue is trying to wean himself off of the bottle. Lately it's become a toy to him that he yanks at and shakes all over the place. And sometimes when I try to give it to him he turns his head, or he'll take a few sucks then do whatever else interest him. Tomorrow I'm gonna get him a sippy cup and see how he likes that. He'll even be hungry and reach for the bottle, but when I give it to him he shoves it in his mouth then lets it go and fusses. I'm not opposed to a sippy cup though. I'd rather have it this way than me trying to force him off the bottle.

 

[raelynn]

No Doubt - The doctor told us we could start introducing a sippy cup at our last visit. Haylee already uses one. I set it in front of her when she's eating solid foods and she'll reach for it when she wants a drink. She doesn't quite understand that you have to tip it up to get anything out of it so I still have to help but she picks it up and puts it in her mouth and starts sucking. They have spill proof and free flow kinds so you'll have to see which one Virtue prefers. Haylee will take both but the free flow kind she gets way too much in her mouth and drools it all over the place.

I think I'm going to end up weaning down one feeding since with the food plus the sippy cup, she is not really interested in anything else. Actually, at all feedings, she seems to be less and less interested in breastfeeding and more interested in everything else that is going on around her - except at the night feeding which she falls asleep about 4 min into lately.

 

[TwoRdue]

Hi ladies, Thought I would see how everyone is getting on? Hope you are all doing well xx

 

[No Doubt]

I was just thinking about posting in here. How are you Two...how's your little guy? Hope everyone is doing well.

We're doing great! Virtue is pulling himself along right now...I still think he has no interest in crawling. He just does the military crawl...like when they crawl under the low wires, but he's efficient and always gets to his goal quickly, lol. He is however very interested in standing and will take wobbly steps when holding him. So we're going with that. When we try to sit him down, he just pushes back up so he can stand. He's 8 months, and me and hubs started walking at 8 months, so we'll see. You can tell he wants to cruise so we're encouraging that, but as always he's being lazily driven if that makes sense, lol. He wants to do it, but acts like he can't until you leave him to it alone and he's all over it, lol. I swear he gets that from hubbs.

Still the greediest thing in the world and I thin he's going through a growth spurt. The doc said formula til at least a year but I really don't know if he'll make it. He just wants to eat, lol.

Tooth #3 just broke through and #4 and #5 are right behind. We're having Vday pics done and I can't wait. Got him the cutest outfit and hat!

Pretty got his entire summer and winter wardrobe for this year...just a few pieces left, so I'm very pleased about that.

We placed him the play pen the other day and he picked up a toy, then looked at us and whined a bit cause we weren't right in there with him playing. I told hubbs he needs a playmate. He obviously has them at daycare but not at home...at least not all the time like at daycare. Not to mention I'm getting that itch, and we're rearranging finances, so we're planning for #2!

If the universe decides to be kind to me then hopefully #2 will be in my tum right around the time Virtue is 1!

 

[Christie2011]

Leo is still only doing the low crawl, he's taken a few up on all fours crawl steps but prefers to just get around via low crawl. Nicholas likes to get Leo chasing him. He'll take a toy (especially one Leo has been playing with) and start dragging it in front of Leo and Leo will chase him.

Leo now has 5 teeth. He got the two on the outside of his top middle teeth before the middle teeth. He looks like a little vampire Nicholas cut his first molar, and as I've read somewhere, it came with a little blood. He wasn't bleeding from the mouth or anything but when you look at his tooth you can see a little blood in gum around where the tooth cut through.

Leo is very interested in food too. He usually gets a few bites of whatever Nick or I am having. I try to keep him mostly on breastmilk, but he seems very bored with that. He still gets up every 2-3 hours at night.

Leo sits very well, he has gotten over the pushing back phase. He has been pulling himself into a standing position when he can find something the right height and steadiness. I'm also encouraging his walking. He'll walk if you hold his hands and I've started showing him how to use the walking toy, but he's more interested in leaning over the top to push the buttons than pushing it to walk.

The live in nanny I had hired has not worked out. She wasn't mature and never cleaned up after herself and had no respect for my property. I've hired a live out nanny who starts next week. She has more experience and has long term experience with a single family, so I'm hoping for better care.

I think finances are going to make me wait at least another year before I can try for another one. I want to pay off all of the debt from these two and buy a bigger vehicle first. Good luck with #2 NoDoubt. I think there was another one of us who wanted to try for #2 around birthday #1.

Two how's Jasper doing?

 

[No Doubt]

Glad to hear things are going well for Leo and Nicholas. I keep telling Virtue to walk cause he's such a porker, lol. He's so heavy it feels like to me, probably cause I'm carrying him around a lot more often, cause other's say they don't think he's heavy. Virtue likes the walker too. It's funny cause if he gets stuck on the corner of something he starts fussing...immediately, lol. He learned pretty quickly to back himself up though, it's the turning around that he hasn't latched onto yet. So he ends up running right back into it and getting stuck again.

 

[TwoRdue]

Hi Ladies,

Its great to see that your little ones are doing so great.

Jasper is also doing the commando crawl but is also trying hard to get up and crawl, when I vacuum he loves to follow me through the house and it help because not only can I get house work done but it keeps him entertained lol.

His bottom teeth finally broke through two weeks ago and now teething the top ones, I am glad they are all popping through at the same time as it gets it all out of the way.

He still don't eat and drink much most days but will have the odd day where he will eat plenty so he still sees a dietitian regularly. His height is in 97 percentile and weight in the 46th percentile, some of his pants are still 0 to 3 months. Very tall and skinny yet looks healthy.
He still had his respiratory issues and the pediatrician ran some test when I showed him a photo of how much mucus he brings up and found he has a suppressed immune system and will be the reason to why he sleeps so much. They are going to run blood test again after 6 weeks and compare. He is hoping to see a increase in the immune system and maybe something that will improve with age. Here is hoping.

The pic is of Jasper's first day in his own room and he looks very happy with the move. We moved him yesterday and I spent pretty much the whole night sleeping next to him. The move has been harder on me than on him lol

Will love to see some pic of you little ones

 

[No Doubt]

Jasper looks plenty happy in his new room! Hope the tests show some positive results. Hopefully this is just something that he will grow out of.

I changed my avatar pic to Virtue's Valentine's day pic from this morning, so you can see his pic there.

 

[raelynn]

So glad that everyone and the little ones are doing well! Haylee isn't much interested in crawling either. She will roll all over the place though and she also does a bit of the army crawl. She's just started trying to pull herself up on things so that will be coming soon I suppose.

She absolutely loves food. I'm also trying to make it to the one year mark with breastfeeding but she'd rather have food. She does a ton of table food now and loves feeding herself. We're also starting to think about number 2. We plan on heading back to the fertility clinic around Haylee's first birthday to get started again.

 

[Christie2011]

Here is Leo modeling his first 18 month outfits. Leo has a long torso, but short legs at the moment. Which means 18 month tops fit him well and so do onsies, but pants are a little long. The second pic his leg is up in the air so it's making him look even shorter.

 

[No Doubt]

So cute Christie! And look at those cheeks!

So, I found out this morning that Virtue's daycare is closing...in 10 days! I've been scrambling all morning to find a daycare. I called like 9 places...two numbers were disconnected, one I had to leave a voicemail, two didn't have any room, one was way too expensive, one I had to wait cause the people are out of town due to a death in the family, and I found two. I'm suppose to go look at one tomorrow morning, but the one I'm going to look at today sounds perfect. Hopefully it looks perfect and the people are perfect too. It's cheaper than what we're are currently paying, but they also work harder with them and intentionally keep the center smaller so they have more one-on-one personalized time with each child. They start sign language at 6 months! The security sounds like exactly what I want, and It's only a couple streets further away than where he currently is now.

I'm so pissed that I got such short notice honestly, but who knows, maybe this will work out in our favor with the cost and education. They told hubbs when he dropped Virtue off this morning and he said they were afraid to tell me. Good...they should've been. I'm getting all his stuff tonight so I don't have to worry about it later. I'll leave maybe one change of clothes just in case and get that his last day. And of course they told hubbs after he handed them a check...jerks. Otherwise, he would have been home or in his new place this week. But if I can get him in this place next week, that's it...I'm done there.

I'm not mad they're closing, I'm pissed that they're only giving us 10 days, especially when first of all they require two week notice from us, and secondly infant childcare is the hardest thing to find. Not to mention, everybody is gonna be looking for childcare now, so I have to hurry and swoop in and get one. Hopefully no one else is as efficient as I am, lol. I'm leaving work in less than 2 hours to go check the place out. Wish me luck!

 

[MissAnnabelle]

Hey Guys!

It's been awhile, but I think about all of you guys often after all we have been through together.

Two - I'm glad that you guys are settled after the big move. Jasper sounds like he is doing well. I'm glad they are figuring out the immune issue and I hope that they can give him some relief from it.

Nodoubt - I love that Valentine's picture! I can't believe your day care is closing so suddenly?!

Rae - Sounds like your little one is doing great! I always nurse Allie before I feed her. I'm trying for 12 months as well. It seems like Allie has too many plans in her little head to lay around drinking milk and tries to scoot away!

Christie - Your boys are adorable! How wonderful that they will have a brother so close in age. They are going to be best buds

We are doing well! We started going to baby bookworms at our library and swim lessons at the YMCA twice a week at the beginning of January. Book worm is songs and stories in a circle, and swimming is songs in a circle and both are followed by 15-30 mins of moms and babies socializing. We really like it and it's a good way for her to see other babies that she wouldn't otherwise see.

 

[No Doubt]

Hello ladies! So this was Virtue's first week at the new daycare...half week anyway, and so far so good. I think he'll grow to really love it. The first two days as soon as I walked in the door he lunged for me. His caregiver said he was practically jumping out of her arms for me, lol. Love that feeling! Today, he kept a steady gaze on me, but didn't reach for me so I take that as a sign that he's getting acclimated.

They really work on teach at this center which I love! Everyday he's working on something...fine motor skills, gross motor skills...I have to look up the difference between the two to tell you the truth, lol. Today when I got there he was reading one of those interactive books. It's electronic so he can do things with it for the storyline. He really seemed to be enjoying himself. They said today he just laughed and talked all day.

He's pulling himself up now and likes to "stand", meaning mommy holds him up...sometimes for an hour or so, but he's so pleased with himself that his entire face scrunches up so much! So we "stand" and "walk". It funny to see him try it with the dogs, cause Kenya loves it, but Knubia and Egypt look like "what is this...?", lol.

And they feed him really good there...I mean really good! Day 1 he had beef, sweet potatoes, green beans and peaches. Today he had chicken, green beans and sweet potatoes. They keep saying how he's such a good eater and how he's a "healthy" baby...e.g. my little chunkster. But he is a very healthy eater so I'm pleased with that. He's definitely wanting less bottle and more food. I'm trying to make sure he get enough formula, but he's just not interested after he's not hungry anymore. He used to obviously drink til his heart's content, but he's fine with feeling of hunger wearing off and then he's done. He has a checkup in a couple of weeks so I'll ask about it then.