The new "New Moms" thread!

[Pollito916]

Denise - wow, that's big news! Good for you for being the bigger person and sending a gift. Do they live close enough that you could go see them?

Becky - Yay for bonuses! I agree with the others' suggestions on spending some for what you need and some for what you want. We won't find out about our bonuses (or lack of) until the end of March.

Jenny - Alex was a total beast yesterday. My sister goes over to our house to watch him for the 1-2 hours between when DH leaves for his night job and when I get home from my day job. She woke him up around 4:30 since he had been napping since 2 (DH put him down a little late), and he was hitting her and pulling her hair, then throwing himself around on the stairs yelling, "Night-night! Night-night!" And if she would go near him to try to get him to go up or down the stairs instead of laying on them, he would yell, "No! Go!" and throw things at her. He has never acted like that before, and usually loves his Tia. I don't know what is up with him, but DH said he was the same way in the morning.

DMickey - Alex is almost 23 months, and he really just started putting 2 words together, so it sounds like your Alexander is close to the same pace. You're right, as long as he keeps trying and making progress, he is on the right track! Oh, and what's up with the knives - my Alex always wants to play with knives whenever he sees one and screams bloody murder when I won't let him. I don't get the appeal.

Bethany - sorry that you won't be able to attend the funeral, but at least you had a great day with Owen!

 

[Villain-lover]

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6639&l=e2e60&id=1614252816


Hey ladies, I have uploaded some pics of the twins to facebook..check em out!

Bethany, how heartbreaking for your friend. Such a sad thing to happen.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Spencer just took his first real steps tonight!!! He has taken one or two very small steps before, but tonight he took four and then another eight!! Afterwards he just stood there and looked around. I am so proud of him!

He just turned 10 months on the 7th. His favorite thing now is a straw; here is a picture:

Off to catch up.

 

[beckmrk04]

Amber- that's great!

Pollito- we're lucky to still be getting a bonus. Actually, I work at a small community bank, and last year we took a huge hit when Freddie and Fannie were seized. But, our President and VPs all gave up their bonuses so that we could still get one. Of course, theirs would be MUCH larger than what I am going to get, but it was nice to see real leadership instead of all the corporate greed that is generally running rampant and driving this country into a big ol' mess. And it always cracks me up how much Alex and Vaylie do things alike- when V's mad she screams, "Night-night!" too!

DMickey- I vote splitting it too. I think I am going to order my new projector with part of my bonus and part of my Christmas money. I am obsessed with the idea of a backyard "drive-in." I'm finally going to get it!!

Bethany- I know what you mean about thinking about all of the things that your friends won't be able to do with little N. I keep thinking about them, and I don't even know them. But as a mom, you just feel other mom's heartaches, I think. And I hear ya about the bills- oy. I paid off the Neon today (YAY!!!) so we're back down to only one car payment. Thank goodness. It's a constant struggle for me to balance my desire to pay off debt vs. my desire to buy STUFF.

Denise- that is nice of you to send a gift!

 

[DMickey28]

Meredith - Love the pictures!! They are getting so big and independent.

Amber - Yeah for Spencer's first steps. Enjoy the next few months because soon he will refuse to hold your hand and just want to run everywhere!! Love it!

Becky - Congrats on paying off the car!! You go girl!! Things really sound like they are going well for you guys. I am so happy. It is amazing how fast things change!! YKWIM ... I don't know if that sounded right.

I still need to upload some pictures of Alexander from WDW and Christmas. Maybe tomorrow. My dog grabbed 1/2 a rack of BBQ ribs yesterday from our dinner party on Sunday and I am dealing with the results today. Not fun. My foyer rug is now outside drying after being sprayed off. Once it dries I will clean it with the steam cleaner. I figured it would be easier to just drag it outside and spray it down then trying to "mop" it up with paper towels. EWWWW ...

DH is traveling this week and it's so wierd. He hasn't traveled for more than a night or so in years. He left yesterday and won't be back until late on Thursday. Not so much a fan of this anymore. It's nice to have one or two nights every once in a while but that's all. Alexander keeps running into our bedroom calling Dada looking for him. He climbed up in the bed earlier and lifted up the blankets calling Dada. It about broke my heart. Often before bedtime he and Dada will cuddle in our bed watching football for a few minutes before I take him to bed. It looks as though DH could start traveling again more for work so I guess I'll have to get used to it again.

 

[beckmrk04]

Becky - Congrats on paying off the car!! You go girl!! Things really sound like they are going well for you guys. I am so happy. It is amazing how fast things change!! YKWIM ... I don't know if that sounded right.

Thanks! Things ARE going good right now. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I am working HARD on changing my perspective and being positive. It's a struggle for me- I'm prone to depression/anxiety issues, but I am absolutely commited to figuring out how to overcome it.

It also helped that I moved to a job close to my house- we're saving lots of money (~$300/month) just on gas!

It's a work in progress. Neither DH nor I have ever been "savers" so we're having to learn how to save money, resist impulse purchases, etc. I'm still trying to figure out the whole bill-paying thing. I tend to stress about it and ignore it until it's a big problem. I wouldn't reccommend my approach.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Denise - wow, that's big news! Good for you for being the bigger person and sending a gift. Do they live close enough that you could go see them?

Nope. I'm here in NW FL panhandle and they are 8 hours away in Columbia SC.

 

[7beasley]

Morning ladies!

Glad to see everyone is doing well.

Bec - good news about the car and the bonus -- a backyard movie theater sounds awesome -- are you getting one of the blow up screens that are like a big air balloon?

Denise -- congrats on the new grand-niece and nice of you to send a gift. Your sister must be freaking out to be a grandmother at 36 -- I will be 36 this year and I am a mother of a 1.5 year old!!

DMickey -- you are a saint to not have killed your dog for stealing a 1/2 rack of ribs...what a mess!

Disneygirl -- love Spencer and his straw -- he looks much older to me than 10 months.

Meredith -- can't believe the twins are 14 months already -- time flies!! You sound super happy!

Kelly - happy belated birthday -- sorry the mexican fiesta had a damper on it due to the snow. I am so sick of all this snow -- will it ever stop?

Jen -- I hope Christopher is doing okay now -- I know this will be a big lifestyle change for you all but it will be okay and you will get the hang of it super quick.

Michelle -- Hi -- glad to hear Will is doing so great.

Pollitto --- I am so happy to hear DH got a job -- sorry you guys are going through this stress. By the way -- I loved the pix of Alex's room -- the monkey theme is adorable.

Bethany -- sorry to hear about that little boy - so sad. I see nothing wrong with "bribing" Owen for some extra cuddle time -- I am sure after hearing about that little boy you are in need of some extra cuddle time right now!!

Jenny -- could he be teething - that could be making him fussy!

***********************************

Lots going on here with me and Izzy. She is walking like crazy now -- so cute. And she is talking alot now too --- she says a bunch of words and when she sees the dog she starts shrieking "hi puppy - hi puppy". No doubt she will be chatty like her mommy.

My crazy husband and BIL are going winter camping this weekend -- its supposed to be in negative numbers with the wind chill in New England this weekend and they are going winter camping -- crazy!! And at the end of hte month DH is travelling again for a week - dreading that.

We are going to start the process of house hunting soon and putting our house on the market. With the mortgage rates what they are and with using my end of the year bonus to help with a bigger down payment plus what we think we could get for our house -- the time is right for us to try to find a bigger place. Our house is about 1400 sq - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and we are hoping to find a place that is about 2400 sq - 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with a garage -- we don't have a garage now which I hate!! So the serious house hunting is going to be starting now -- I am dreading putting our house on the market because it will be a huge pain with showings and Izzy...

Have a great day ladies!!

-Nicole

 

[DznyLvr2005]

HI everyone!
My daughter just turned 6 months and she still can't sit up by herself. I think it's normal... ???
She tries so hard to get up from a laying down position, but she doesn't use her hands, she lifts her head up real high, i sware, she's going to have abs of steel!!! She does babble alot too and she loves her sweet potatoes!!! When she's on her tummy, she moves her legs and arms, but doesn't crawl.. yet...
I'm just waiting for a big milestone, ya know!?

 

[jennyL]

We are going to start the process of house hunting soon and putting our house on the market. With the mortgage rates what they are and with using my end of the year bonus to help with a bigger down payment plus what we think we could get for our house -- the time is right for us to try to find a bigger place. Our house is about 1400 sq - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and we are hoping to find a place that is about 2400 sq - 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with a garage -- we don't have a garage now which I hate!! So the serious house hunting is going to be starting now -- I am dreading putting our house on the market because it will be a huge pain with showings and Izzy...

Too bad you don't live down here near me. The people across the street got trasnferred and have now moved so they've really lowered the price on this house trying to get rid of it. I'm not sure if a relocation company has taken over or if its still the owners but I'm letting all my friends know since its such a great deal. I don't like that they are saling so low for my comps years down the road when I might want to sale but I'd love to help my friends get a good deal.

 

[k_reile]

Thanks Kelly. He understand EVERYTHING we saw to him. It's only the language coming out of his mouth that is concerning to us, nothing else. It's amazing what they pick up. Last night I was giving him his bath and was using the ped egg thingy on my foot while watching him ... this AM he went into the bathroom got the ped egg thingy and was trying to do it on his foot!!! Funny ... He also will not talk on command! He will babble from here to next week in some odd language but as soon as you try to "show" someone what he can say he clams up!

My 2 yr old newphew would babble like that for a long time. It always sounded the same. My mom would tell him...you've told me that story before...tell grandma a new story and then just one day he was talking more. We thought it was going to be a while for him to really talk but now he talks all the time.

 

[k_reile]

I have been having wierd dreams about Caleb. In one dream he was rolling back and forth all over the floor and stood up. In the other he was taking steps. He will be 4 mos on the 25th and he is rolling over to his right side but when he gets on his stomach he gets mad. Does not like being on his stomach...must be because of the acid reflux problems he had.

Speaking of his acid reflux. The specialist Pediatric GI doctor said he no longer has to be milk free...even though we are still supplementing with a soy formula since that is what we started with. And we no longer have to go to the specialist since he is much happier baby. He still spits up but nothing like he used to...also do not have to take the prevacid anymore.

He also started waking up hungry during the night since Sat evening. He has been sleeping through the night since Dec 1st, so this is real hard on mommy and daddy who got spoiled and used to him sleeping. He doesn;t have his 4 mos check-up until the 26th...so I called today to ask about him getting cereal. They said to give him 2 tsp before bed.

Do you think I should put it in his bottle or manually feed it to him?? Is there really a difference. I want him to be full enough so he will sleep through the night.

DH and I are too really bad about saving and splurging. I still have some big savings bonds that we got when my great grandma died that I am thinking about cashing in to payoff the credit cards (which were paid off until Caleb came around and all of his stuff we needed) and what I spend on cc pymts normally and comletely saving my income, then we should have a nice savings. We want to be able to build a house in the next couple of years but I want more money put down so I can have a bigger house at a smaller pymt. We have a nice pymt on our mtg now so I guess I am spoiled and do not want to pay more than I have too. If I have to save for a few more years then I will do it...cause if we ever got in a pickle we would know that our house would be to be paid.

 

[kellyf2626]

Wow - it's been pretty busy around here!

DMickey - For some reason I thought you lived up here in the Northeast! Wow...NH is quite a change from southern Florida! Hope your dog feels better soon! That's no fun!! And too cute about Alexander looking for his daddy.

Bethany - I have been bribing Brady for snuggle time lately too. He has been really into the Polar Express this past month, so I know when I put it on, he will come snuggle with me on the couch. He was never a snuggly baby, so I LOVE it (even if it takes tv to get it! ) Sorry to hear that you aren't able to go to the funeral.

Amber - Spencer is so cute!! That's great that he is already taking his first steps!!! I don't Brady did that until 11 1/2 months!

Becky - Glad to hear things are going well for you! And saving $300 a month on gas - how great is that?!

Nicole - That's GREAT that Izzy is already putting 2 words together!! More than Brady is doing! He is picking up more and more words, but still says "uh" for a lot of stuff. It drives me BATTY....especially as a speech-language pathologist, since I figure he is getting, oh, about a million free "speech" sessions a week when I play with him! House hunting sounds like so much fun!!! Keep us posted! Hopefully you will sell your house quickly so you can get into something nice while the rates are low!

DznyLvr - Those milestones will come quickly! And then you'll be like...what was it like before she moved around (and secretly missing those days sometimes! )

K_reile - I would feed the cereal separately. I was always told not to put the cereal in the bottle. We started cereal with Brady at about 3 1/2 months old and he loved it! Honestly, I would bet that Caleb isn't waking up because he is hungry....especially if he has been sleeping through the night since early December. Babies get on funky routines that once they start doing something, they will continue to do it (especially if it gets reinforced with food!!). I would try the cereal, and maybe try rocking him or just giving him a small bottle and decrease it each night to get back to sleeping through the night.

******************************************************

Tomorrow morning I am driving Brady down to my parent's house, going to test a student at the local middle school, and then I have the afternoon FREE!!! What to do, what to do?!?!? Part of me is tempted to just go home, put my pj's on and relax! DH and I are going out for my "birthday dinner" since my parent's will have Brady - even though my birthday isn't technically until the 20th. We haven't been out to dinner in a while, so that will be nice!

 

[Pollito916]

Busy board!

Villainlover - cute new pics of Sam & Zoe!

Amber - Yay on Spencer walking - now the fun really starts!

Becky - Too funny that Vaylie also yells "night-night" when she is mad!
How nice of your VPs to give up their bonuses, our VPs just changed the bonus program, which used to be 15-20% of your salary for everyone, but now clerical employees are around 10%, professional are 12-20%, and management is 20-35%. Seems fair doesn't it - they already make more money and VPs also have Company cars, now they get more bonus too! And we know they're the people that really need it most.

DMickey - Yuck on the dog mess! I feel your pain with DH traveling now with my DH working nights. When he first started Alex would always look for Daddy, but now he just says, "Daddy work?" And I say, yes, then he is ok and goes to sleep. Most of the time anyway. I have to travel again for work the week after next, and that is so hard sometimes.

Nicole - Your hubby is crazy for going camping right now - how do they not freeze to death outside? Good luck selling your house and house hunting!

Dznylvr - I think all kids hit milestones at different times, but I think anywhere between 4 and 9 months is normal for sitting up. It sounds like she is trying to move, so that's good.

K reile - You must be so relieved to have the acid reflux behind you. DS started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, but would wake up occasionally in the middle of the night whenever he hit a growth spurt. I don't think it ever lasted more than 2-3 nights. I would also manually feed the cereal, my ped said not to put it in the bottle.

Kelly - enjoy your afternoon off, they're so rare! And Happy Birthday!

 

[k_reile]

Well we fed Caleb the cereal last night. I did it manually because I figured he needed to get used to eating with a spoon. Of course since he was hungry he kept on wanting his fingers in his mouth...so I had to work at keeping them down and in the process he made a mess out of the cereal (still got plenty) and Daddy had to give him a bath afterwards. Then he got his bottle and almost instantly went to sleep (where we were having the battle of the wills before) and slept til 7:30am this morning when I had to wake him up so we could get him going so we could get out the door.
So cereal must be the best thing invented so far (well for me right now since I got a full nights sleep

 

[kellyf2626]

Well we fed Caleb the cereal last night. I did it manually because I figured he needed to get used to eating with a spoon. Of course since he was hungry he kept on wanting his fingers in his mouth...so I had to work at keeping them down and in the process he made a mess out of the cereal (still got plenty) and Daddy had to give him a bath afterwards. Then he got his bottle and almost instantly went to sleep (where we were having the battle of the wills before) and slept til 7:30am this morning when I had to wake him up so we could get him going so we could get out the door.
So cereal must be the best thing invented so far (well for me right now since I got a full nights sleep

That's GREAT! Hope you get a repeat tonight!

 

[beckmrk04]

I can't sleep. For the last hour and a half I have been trying to unclog my ear (I can barely hear out of it). Ugh. It isn't working, so now I probably have to go to the Dr. and have it cleaned out.

Bethany and Kelly- I do the same thing with Vaylie! I put on a fav tv show just so I can squeeze a snuggle in. She's not a snuggly kid, so I gotta do what I can! Plus, she's just getting so big. I just want to freeze time sometimes, you know? Lately I have been totally indulging her at bedtime and I read every single book she wants to read before bed (which usually is about 6 books! ). But, I draw the line and will only read each of them once. Otherwise we'd read for hours.... And she'd put off going to bed for as long as she could.

Nicole- That's great that you're looking for a new house soon! I'd love to have another bedroom! Or two! And an office! And another bathroom! But, we'll have to make do. Eventually we plan to finish the basement, and then we may add on (somewhere down the line). I like where we are at, and we have LOTS of yard to work with, which is nice.

k_reile- that's great! Isn't sleep grand? I didn't fully appreciate my sleep until I became a mom.

DznyLvr2005- totally normal! She'll have the hang of it in no time, though. She's a cutie!

Well, I guess I better try to get some sleep. Goodnight everyone!

 

[Tasmen]

HI everyone!
My daughter just turned 6 months and she still can't sit up by herself. I think it's normal... ???
She tries so hard to get up from a laying down position, but she doesn't use her hands, she lifts her head up real high, i sware, she's going to have abs of steel!!! She does babble alot too and she loves her sweet potatoes!!! When she's on her tummy, she moves her legs and arms, but doesn't crawl.. yet...
I'm just waiting for a big milestone, ya know!?

Totally normal My LO is 8 months now and she didn't really pull herself up to sit on her until she was almost 7 months. She did that around the same time she started to crawl. Now we can't keep her out of things. That little butt loves to move in a fast crawl

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Becky, I hope your ear is feeling better. Did you try hydrogen perioxide? You put a littl in, let it sit for a few minutes, and then let in drain out. It will help melt the wax.



We had a scare yesterday. Spencer saw a new doctor and one of the first things he did was comment on the shape of his head. He was concern that his forehead wasn't flat. Then, he said his soft spot was almost closed and he was concerned Spencer had craniosynostosis (the bones fuse before they are suppose to). He ordered x-rays. Thankfully, the results came back negative, but I am still worried. I did reading yesterday and to correct the problem, they remove part of the skull and replace with plates.

The doctor was happy with his growth. He now weighs 23 lbs and is 30".

 

[DMickey28]

Thanks! Things ARE going good right now. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I am working HARD on changing my perspective and being positive. It's a struggle for me- I'm prone to depression/anxiety issues, but I am absolutely commited to figuring out how to overcome it.

It also helped that I moved to a job close to my house- we're saving lots of money (~$300/month) just on gas!

It's a work in progress. Neither DH nor I have ever been "savers" so we're having to learn how to save money, resist impulse purchases, etc. I'm still trying to figure out the whole bill-paying thing. I tend to stress about it and ignore it until it's a big problem. I wouldn't reccommend my approach.

OMG ... You should exactly like me. I knew I liked you. We are very much the same way!! Impluse purchases because the money is there and there will be more coming in. We are working really hard on saving as well. The big thing we have realized is that extra money HAS to be moved from checking. DH got a BIG bonus before Christmas and we used more than we had planned to. I finally moved it to another account two weeks ago but it was less saved then we had hoped for.

Bills are another challenge for me. We want to buy a house within the next 18 months and really need to get my act together on the bill front so our credit can build a little more. It's ok now and getting better but I can do so much more to help it. I stick my head in the sand thinking everything is ok but then when something happens it feels worse than if I had dealt with it the first time around.

I also have depression and anxiety issues. Depression DX but not the anxiety. I am really trying to not dwell on the doom and gloom of the economy and rather on DH's actual job which is going well. It's hard because everyone at his company is focusing on the doom and gloom which brings him down and then he fails to see that even just the first two weeks of this year he has done GREAT already. It's annoying, I feel like I am always trying to be the Suzie Sunshine cheerleader with him ... I suppose that's why I haven't been online as much because all the talk is depressing while we are doing fine and honestly better than we have since we moved here 2.5 years ago.

Let's work on keeping each other in check when it comes to those bills and stuff. There has got to be a system that would work for us!!