Valentines Babies, 2013!

[helena]

Haha - I feel your pain Sierra. Except Kiara's kisses can easily become head butts!...

Am now making a birthday cake I thought he birthday was on Saturday - DH corrected me and its tomorrow! Eeeek! Daft mummy forgetting what date i am on...

This time last year I had mopped the floor and done a big supermarket shop and was about to have a busy night!...

 

[wamommy]

Happy Birthday to Kiara!! I hope tomorrow is a wonderful day, Helena. I simply can't believe it's been a year. I can't wait to hear all about how it went.

We try kisses here, but Max just stays still and makes the "kissy sound." It's cute how he freezes and waits for the incoming kiss!

Max is chunking up again! He leaned out there for a while, but it looks like solid food agrees with him. DH also wants to cut his hair, but I just don't know! I like his crazy 'do.

 

[DragonflyWing]

Happy birthday Kiara! I hope she has a fun day!

Lily gives kisses, but only to me and her favorite toys . She refuses to kiss anyone else. Gunnar won't stay still long enough to even let anyone kiss him! He's always on the go. They both give hugs occasionally. Yesterday, I was holding them both when I got home from work (they were so excited to see me that they tried to climb my clothes haha), and I got hugs from both at the same time. Nothing better than baby hugs!

 

[SierraJourney]

Wow! Happy birthday Kiara! Can't believe it's a year already!!

Is anyone having a big birthday bash for their first one? I may have asked this before (mommy brain, I swear!). . .but we are getting pressure from both of our families to throw this huge party with like 15 people who "SHOULD" be invited. But we kind of just want it to be the 3 of us. . .and quite honestly, I don't have the energy to plan a party... Again, sorry if I mentioned this before. . I'm really losing it lately!

The clingyness continues here... working from home has been a challenge and I'm exhausted from trying to do it all. . . Camden cries if Im not holidng him, so working is just impossible. .. I have deadlines to meet and am working extra hours. . .I'm so stressed. . .but he comes first in my life. .. so here I sit, holding him, trying to type. . .

My sister had her baby on Tuesday---a boy 9 lbs 6 oz! Her first was 9lbs 2 oz. . .she has crazy large kids! Poor girl. . ..

 

[wamommy]

Congrats to your sister, Sierra! Kudos to her for carrying and giving birth to such big babies!! Ouch, but exciting!

We are having my Mom, godmother and niece over to celebrate Max's birthday. My birthday is February 7, my godmother's is January 28th, and Max's is February 4th, so we're doing a super casual joint birthday. I'll make a cake for Max to smash and one for the adults to eat, and we'll probably have a cheese plate and vegetable plate out. I really don't want to plan anything fancy. I already feel stressed that I have to clean the whole house before they come!

Oh, and Sierra.... I don't know how you get anything done with Camden AND work at home. I can barely pee on my own without someone screaming!! If DH wasn't here I don't think I'd ever shower or clean. I simply can't imagine how tough it is. It sounds like you have your priorities straight, though!!

 

[Kellen]

Happy Almost-Birthday, Kiara! That is so exciting. I can't believe how close we are all getting to celebrating our LO's 1st birthdays. I think we will be in Texas for Teagen's birthday, if not the day of then the day after or so. I will be taking the ingredients with me to make her a special cake that doesn't have too much sugar or other nasty things in it.

Sleep is improving here. We have had horrible stagnant air for the past two weeks and it is just now clearing. I have had terrible earaches and I think that was probably what was keeping Teagen awake too. Last night she only woke up at midnight, 2:30 and 6:30. I can deal with that! I have also been letting her fuss herself to sleep a little bit more often. After we get back from Texas I am going to work on getting her to nap all by herself in her crib. We'll see how that goes...

Our play date yesterday was a roaring success. Teagen's Little Friend (LF) was a bit shy at first and not quite sure what to make of my Amazonian daughter (LF is 14 months and about 2 inches shorter and 6lb lighter than Teagen). But by the end of the two hours Teagen was grabbing a hold of her, hugging her, stroking her hair and giving her kisses. LF wasn't terribly thrilled by all the physical affection Teagen was showing, but she put up with it and did smile a couple of times. It was good to have another mommy to talk to as well. Next week we are at their house, which Teagen loves because: DOGS!

Tonight my dad was following Teagen around. As she meandered into the kitchen he said, "T that isn't your cupboard." She started signing "Tree" and has been for the past few days. I think she thinks that "T" is the same as "tree" so when she signs "tree" she is actually referring to herself. So also can say and sign "book" with remarkable clarity.

 

[helena]

Cake! https://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv218/helena1977/th_image-1.jpg

 

[DragonflyWing]

Great photo! What a nice cake, did you make that?

Kellen, that's really cool that Teagen is trying to sign her own name! I wish I had taught the twins some signs...do you think it's too late? Lily's doing pretty well with words, but Gunnar seems reluctant to talk (although he knows most of the same words as Lily). I wonder if he'd have the attention span to learn a few basic signs.

Favorite words/phrases this week: pick up, what's that?, hi, stinky

 

[SierraJourney]

Love that picture helena! What a great cake---fabulous job!!

Dragon--so jealous of the words, and Kellen I'm jealous of Teagen's signing too! I haven't even been able to teach Camden to point to what he wants. He knows "mamama" and "dadada" but still not in context most of the time. . . he says "nananana", which I'm assuming is "no no no!". . .but he still only communicates through whining and fussing.

 

[wamommy]

What a sweet picture, Helena!! Kiara is getting so big and so beautiful! It looks like she's getting some hair! You look great, too, very happy and healthy.

Kellen, I'm glad to hear sleep is improving! Hopefully it will get better and better.

We're doing pretty well with language here. I think my girls were both slightly ahead of Max at this age, but meh... He says "Mama" and "Dada" a lot, and then most other words are hit and miss. (cup, no-no, that, duck) Trying to make him say a word never works. He looks at me like I'm insane when I point over and over at my cat and say, "kitty!" A couple of days later he will see the cat walk by and yell out, "Kee!!" Haha. I figure he'll get it when he's ready. My favorite thing he says right now is when I don't respond to him right away when he's yelling for me, and he says, "Dat Mama!!" like we don't understand which one he wants...

Teagen sounds like a real character. I'm glad the play date went well! Max has yet to meet another baby his age, and I'm SO curious what would happen. He would probably get really shy. Who knows, though. Hopefully I'll find a group in the near future, but I don't see it happening with the new baby coming. He'll just have to settle for 2 crazy big sisters for now!

 

[SierraJourney]

Camden hasn't met a new baby his age either. . .I think he'd really benefit from a friend, though. . . but it's just hard with my working full time. .. argh. .. he loves his cousins, though (ages 2 and 4).

wamommy---how's the pregnancy going? How are you feeling?

 

[wamommy]

Thank you for asking, Sierra! I feel like no one is interested because this is baby #4, DH never asks about the baby or wants to talk about it... He actually changes the subject if I bring it up. It's too weird. My family also hasn't asked about it since we told them. I feel like I'm carrying ALL of the weight of this pregnancy and new baby on my own. Sigh...

But to answer your question and not just whine...lol... I'm doing alright. I'm feeling HUGE and the aches and pains are starting. I'm trying really hard to alternate pilates days and treadmill days to keep from getting so stiff and sore. So far it's been working, but as I go into 3rd trimester I know it will get harder and harder to maintain. Can you believe I'm only 12 weeks from delivery?? (Assuming I have this baby at 38 weeks like the other 3 ) Must... not... panic.

 

[SierraJourney]

Oh wamommy, I'm so sorry to hear that no one seems interested. . . That's got to be hard. . .because it's so very real to you because I'm sure you think about it all of the time---especially with the aches and pains!

Good for you for doing pilates and treadmill! By this stage in my pregnancy I was sitting on my butt most of the time!

Your DH needs to be more sensitive. . .period. (I hope you don't mind my saying that). . .but come on. . your wife is PREGNANT---at least TALK about it! grrrr. . . .

Well if you ever want to talk about it (or whine!)--you can talk about it here! We're all very interested in your #4! So excited!

 

[DragonflyWing]

"Dat Mama!" That's so cute!

Oy, kids can be repetetive, can't they? All I hear these days is "pitup pitup pitup" (pick up) and "wuz dat?" (what's that). Lily constantly wants to be picked up and carried around so she can point at every single thing in the world and ask us to name it. It's ridiculously adorable...for a while. I admit, after naming 97 different objects in 5 minutes, I have resorted to saying "things...stuff...the world..."

As soon as she wakes up in the morning it starts. She barely picks her head up off the mattress before she sticks her little finger out and blearily asks "wuz dat?"

 

[Kellen]

Helena - That is an adorable picture of you and Miss Kiara. She looks so very grown up with her cake!

Wamommy - We want to know all about #4 and we don't mind if you whine to us at all! Besides, if it wasn't for Dragon you would have been EXTRA surprised. We kind of owe it to you to listen and sympathize. I feel like I really need to make a trip up to see my sister so I can knock some sense into your DH. It took two to make the baby so he should at least pretend to be interested in his own child. Grrr...

Sierra and Dragon - I don't think it is too late to start signing with your LO's. Kids pick up on sign language really fast! I think, for Camden, if he was to repetitively see a video with signing and other kids doing it and then mommy and daddy doing it he might start mimicking it. The same goes for Gunnar. Teagen isn't super verbal (although she has started to since her playdate with a verbal 14 month old), but signs very well.

We have a "one finger rule" in our house since there are lots of pretty breakable things that my grandmother refuses to put out of Teagen's reach. So I go around the house not only explaining what each item is, but frequently saying "One finger. One finger only. Yes, good... No! That is a whole hand, not just a finger."

Today was the first pretty day we have had since December! We ended up spending 3 hours in the barn (2 in the morning and 1 this afternoon). Teagen was absolutely filthy and it was awesome. She is currently wearing a pair of my cowboy boots from when I was about 2 years old. She is actually able to walk better in the boots than normal shoes thanks to the ankle support. So she was able to roll in the dirt, chew in a large rock, cuddle a chicken, pet her sheep, "help" sweep and lots of other things. She took a loooong afternoon nap and then crashed 45 minutes early tonight. I think she'll sleep well.

It is official. We are going to Texas for a week and we leave in 11 days. AHAHAHAH! However, we will not be celebrating Teagen's birthday on her birthday because "no one can make it in the middle of the week." So we are suspending it until Sunday to have a joint party with her cousin who is turning 5. I am looking forward to this trip, but dreading it at the same time because it is going to mess up my beautiful sleep schedule that Teagen is finally following. Yesterday she slept from 7:30pm til 2:00am with nary a peep and then until 5:30 and 6:30 after that. Co-sleeping and then transitioning back to her crib isn't going to be very much fun.

 

[wamommy]

Thank you guys so much for your support!! It means the world to me. I am so thankful for this group and for each of you. It's so nice to have a place where I feel like I'm heard, and where I can get to know other women and how they view the world and raising babies.

I'm off to go pretty the kids up for church and then pick up some nursing bras that a woman is GIVING me! I can't believe it. I'm going to give this breast feeding thing one more strong go, and I really don't have a properly fitting bra. It's SO hard to find one in my weird size. Anyhow, I saw a woman's add online for 3 bras, a cami and a pumping bra and sent her an offer. She emailed back that I could just have them! What a wonderful surprise. What is wrong with me that I'm so excited over bras??

 

[DragonflyWing]

Nothing's wrong with you, that is super exciting! I would LOVE if someone just gave me bras! Sorry to hear you've been getting achey, I hope it doesn't get any worse

Kellen- sounds like Teagen had a great time in the barn! We're having -40 degree windchills today, so I'm a little jealous of your nice weather

I need some advice! Lately, the twins have started screeching at the top of their lungs nonstop. When they're happy, frustrated, bored, no reason at all, they start yelling and screaming. Not crying, just blood-curdling screams. We've tried asking them to be quiet, reasoning with them, distraction, redirection, ignoring, time-outs...nothing works, and we're about at our wit's end!

It doesn't bother me TOO much, but to DH it's like an ice-pick in the eye every time they scream. He gets headaches triggered by high noise levels, and he has zero patience with them when they start to yell. Since he's with them all day when I'm at work, it's becoming a real problem. DH has had bad headaches every day for the last week, and his stress level is through the roof. I'm not really sure what else to try to get them to stop. Any suggestions?

 

[helena]

Dragon, Kiara has suddenly got loud too.she yells to get attention, to tell me what here wants, to complain, or to get excited. It's her form of communication I guess. I would get DH a big pack of paracetamol and tell him to try and hang on - once they can talk a bit it will change. I bet its a novelty? I feel your pain though. When all three of mine get going I feel my head may burst.
Enjoy your bras wamommy. No you aren't crazy, these things are important and whatever makes you happy is good too! I am made very happy by storage boxes at the moment. Sad but true. Once I get the kids toys or my own nonsense in a clear box with a lid I feel so very content

Anyone a period expert here? I usually have cycles of 30 ish days and bleed for about 7. This month was a 23 day cycle and 2 day bleed! Ideas? No chance that I am pregnant. Zero. Unless it's an immaculate conception. Could it be...menopause!?!?

 

[Kellen]

Wamommy - New bras are awesome. I know I felt like a whole new woman when I got my new nursing bras a month ago. That is really nice that she gave them to you. I hope that they help you and I hope that BF goes nice and easy for you this time. Baby #4 be nice to your mom and help her out!

Dragon - I don't know what to say about the screaming. Every once ina while Teagen will let out a happy screech, but nothing sustained. I am sorry your DH is getting headaches. Is there a completely safe room for the babies to be in if he needs to step out for five minutes and take a breather? I understand sometimes needing a quick break from Teagen to recoop and then go back at it.

Helena - My period has been all wonky too. For three cycles it was 25 days and then this time it was 27 days. Before Teagen it was always 26 days. Now DH thinks we are pregnant every time before AF shows up. He has baby fever bad.

We finally have two more teeth on the bottom! They somehow sprouted overnight. I noticed them when Teagen was laughing and making silly faces at me. Maybe that was some of the sleeplessness last week. There also appears to be teeth numbers 8 and 9 coming down from the top. We had an issue with biting too, but now that the teeth are through she has stopped.

Since our play date last week Teagen has started to try to verbalize more. When she does something good we call her a "good girl." Yesterday when she was following her Poppy into the play room she was calling herself "Good Girl, Good Grrrrl." It is cute. And when she sees the sheep she says, "Hi, Bob! Hi, La!" (Bob and Larry and their names).

Now she has taken to feeding herself applesauce. I hold the bowl and she uses the spoon. Most of the time she does a pretty good job. This morning, however, she became distracted by her belly button and tried to feed it applesauce too. Gotta love shower time at 7:15 in the morning.

 

[wamommy]

Picturing Teagen putting applesauce in her belly button certainly made me smile this morning! Silly girl.

Dragon, Max will "yell" sometimes when the girls are fighting with each other. It's like he's trying to join in, but with all 3 of them yelling the volume keeps going up and up and up. I have to cover Max's mouth for a second and say, "NO Maxie... too loud!" That usually works, but sometimes he just wants to be loud. I can't imagine 2 babies doing it at once! Your poor DH. I agree to a safe time-out for Mommy and Daddy where you can recharge. Sometimes the constant noise and activity can be too much.

We have new teeth here, too! I was shocked yesterday when I saw TWO had sprouted over night. Now Max has 3 (almost 4) on the top and 3 on the bottom. He looks like a little lop-sided beaver...

Helena, surely it's far too early for menopause?? I'm no expert, though. Maybe stress is playing a role? You mentioned starting to run. Beginning an exercise program can sometimes mess with AF too. I've always been REALLY regular, so I can understand why is would be a bit disconcerting to suddenly change.

Max is finally mobile!! Now I remember why I wasn't in too much of a rush... It's so hard to keep up with him and get anything done! I think I'll have to put up the baby gates this weekend. We used those play yard things with the girls and put two sets together to make a HUGE "pen" as DH called it. It was a great option when I needed to use the bathroom or throw dinner on. I might dig that out and rebuild it in the family room. It's just so scary now that we have older kids, too, because there are tiny legos and sharp toys all over the house. Poor Max gets told No a million times a day!