The new "New Moms" thread!

[beckmrk04]

Denise- that sounds like fun! Mo has the same birthday as my nephew!

 

[DMickey28]

OK- Update on my nephew. Apparently he has inflamation in his hip and they *thought* it might be septic! Luckily, that is not the case. They aren't sure why he has inflamation, but he just has to take motrin and go back to the doc in a couple of days. WHEW!! I am so relieved. I was just worrying about the worst case scenarios.

Bethany- I like bags, but I could do with one or two. A dressy and a casual. And I tend to always buy black. I'm trying to branch out though. I would like to have one really nice designer bag. But, oh well. My heart won't break if I never get one. And the strollers- I got my BOB and love it (so does DH!!). But, now I need something a little smaller for everyday sort of trips. I had a Graco and I sold it- I hated it.

Michelle- for you!

Buffalo Chicken Wontons- you can prepare them and freeze them uncooked. Then take them out of the freezer and deep fry them.

Now, I kind of made this recipe up (partly based on an appetizer they used to have at Ruby Tuesdays and partly based on a Buffalo Chicken dip recipe I liked), so bear with me- I don't measure things, I just toss it all in until it looks right and tastes good.


Cook and shred 2-3 large chicken breasts (I boil them- it's easy). Mix them with 2 packages softened cream cheese and either your favorite hot wing sauce OR- I make my own with butter and Frank's Red Hot sauce. You will probably need about 1 1/2 cups of sauce (sorry- I just add it until it looks right).

Mix all of that and refigerate it for about 1/2 an hour. Drop small spoonfulls onto wonton wrappers. Moisten the edges with water, then press out the air and seal them. You can freeze them at this point or go ahead and fry them until golden brown. I serve them with ranch, blue cheese dressing, and more hot wing sauce for dipping. I have made them for a few different functions and people always love them and beg me to make them again.

I am glad that your DN is ok. That must have been scary. I don't have a ton of bags but I used to be a real bag lady!!

I make a recipe very similar to that based off of the Buffalo Chicken Eggroles at the Cheesecake Factory or Grand Lux, can't remember which one. Pretty much the same exact thing. I searched the internet for a recipe but there aren't any I could find.

I am sorry that V is a monster today. Alexander came down with a cold yesterday and was up until MIDNIGHT last night and didn't nap yesterday at all. I am trying to get him down for a nap right now but it's not working. I don't want to let him cry too much because of all the mucus. He just has a runny nose and little cough but is eating fine and playing, just not sleeping or napping well. Any suggestions? We have the Vicks in his room with a warm mist humidifier and I gave him a little Tylenol but can't seem to get him to sleep.

Happy Birthday Zoe and Sam!!!!

I don't collect strollers or bags. I'm too poor. We have one chicco umbrella stroller and I have the black vera bradley diaper bag that I wrestled a woman for at the outlet sale when I was pregnant and an old corduroy purse from somwhere like 1998. I can vaguely remember when I used to have bags and shoes... back before the layoffs, downsizing, and all of the other crap we've had to go through in the past couple of years. Seems like we also used to eat more than one meal a day too... Speaking of which why am I not skinny yet?

Becky- glad that your nephew is o.k.!

I made the coolest video slideshow for Ellery's birthday that I finished yesterday. It starts out with the positive pregnancy test and ultrasounds photos and my growing belly and goes through now. I wish I could put it on my blog or something but the file is friggin huge.

Ash ... I hope everything is ok. I also hope you are eating more than one meal a day!! That video slideshow sounds cool. I wanted to do that for Alexander but couldn't seem to figure it out and pull it together.

****
This cold is driving me nuts. I need a nap but he isn't going down. I ended up driving him around at 11:30pm last night because I couldn't get him to stop crying .. he was really worked up over something. He didn't fall asleep but he calmed down enough that I was able to put him in his crib when we got home. Argh ... He needs a nap but he's still crying ... it's been about 5 minutes and he seems to be calming down. Should I keep him in there for a little while? I feel like I have a 4 month old again!

Happy Birthday Sam and Zoe ... I can't believe it's been a year. I told myself that Alexander wasn't a toddler until he was 2 years old but he started to look like one pretty quickly after 1.

 

[Villain-lover]

Well, our birthday wagon ride was a success, and we played out in the yard a bit too! We went to Wal-Mart, and they both have new shoes and a new hoodie for the colder weather. They are now running around the house in their new shoes. Okay, "running" is probably not the correct term...how bout stumbling....

Denise, the Zoo sounds like fun. We are having the twins party this weekend.."bugs and Butterflies". We are cooking out, and for the cakes, DH's mom is making the smash cakes, I am making a dirt cake, and My mom is making cupcakes (green icing with bugs and butterflies on them).

 

[beckmrk04]

Dmickey- V was doing the same thing today. She is finally asleep. Thank goodness.

She would cry, "Night night, night night." I said, ok, let's go night night. Her response, "NOOO, NOOO!" I'd put her in her bed and she'd say, "Out! Out!" So, I got her out of her crib and she'd start crying and try to climb back in, yelling "Night night"- but when I put her in she'd scream "No! Out!"

Vaylie: "Eat! Eat!"
Me: "Ok, let's get in your high chair."
V: "Noooo!"
Me: "Do you want to eat?"
V: "Okay. No!"



She is making no sense. She is into EVERYTHING. Thankfully she's napping right now. I am going to go take a loooooong hot shower.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Becky, sorry you're having a rotton day today. It's no fun being in a bad mood and having a bad-mood-kid around just makes it a million times worse. Hope Vaylie perks up and starts cooperating soon.


Denise, that sounds like a great birthday plan! I'm bummed that our little zoo is closed for renovations this year, but maybe I'll use your idea for Owen's 2nd birthday party!


Ash, I hope things are okay for you guys. Money stuff just sucks.

You are so creative - how cool that you did that video for Ellery! I hear you on the big file sizes - I've got some video of Owen that I want to post for my family and friends in MN/WI to see, but the files are so huge I can't find any way to do it. There's got to be a way somehow...


DMickey, sorry Alexander is sick and not sleeping. I don't know what it is about not sleeping, but it's the one thing that just turns me into a raving lunatic! Does he sleep with his head consistantly at one end of the bed? I've heard that if you elevate the head of the bed/crib a little it can help little ones sleep better when they have congestion. Owen unfortunately rotates throughout the night, so we can't try that trick. You might also try giving him pineapple juice - it has a natural cough suppressant in it and can help thin out the mucus.


~~~~~~~~~~~
I found a great graphic designer on ebay who did our invites for Owen's 1st birthday party! She designs the cards for you using your photos and info you send her via email, and then once you approve of the design, she sends you a big file with it so you can have it printed off by your favorite photo developer. Just search for "Teddylovegraphics" and you should find more examples of her work. It's a great business idea, and she's really good! Here's what she did for us (I "erased" some of the identifying details and messed it up a bit, but you get the idea, I hope!).

We've been taking Owen's picture with this dragon (we named him Bywater for any Lord of the Rings geeks out there...) and she created the little Bywater graphic just for our invite, and then sent me a bonus file with the Bywater drawing she did so we can use that for our decorations. It was totally above and beyond what I was expecting, and I'm really in love with how she did the invites! Now I'm going to plan the whole party around them!

 

[DMickey28]

Becky - It's one of those days. My car battery was dead this morning too and I had to have my neighbor help me jump it since I needed to go out and get some things.

Alexander is down now too, I started telling him about 25 minutes ago that we were going to take a nap-nap in a little while. Then I told him to say bye bye to the dog so he could take a nap-nap. Then he said Baba and grabbed his blankie ... now he is quite but go figure they are doing some sort of "building" outside and about to go right outside his window.

*******
We are doing breakfast for dinner tonight. I decided I wanted to give Alexander eggs and cheese for dinner, thinking that the protein might be better to hold him over at night than mac and cheese which is the only other thing he will eat! I'll make sausuage and biscuits too ... yummy!!

 

[beckmrk04]

We've been taking Owen's picture with this dragon (we named him Bywater for any Lord of the Rings geeks out there...) and she created the little Bywater graphic just for our invite, and then sent me a bonus file with the Bywater drawing she did so we can use that for our decorations. It was totally above and beyond what I was expecting, and I'm really in love with how she did the invites! Now I'm going to plan the whole party around them!

1) I am a HUGE LOTR geek. It's too funny. My DH (then just my BF) dragged me to the theater to see Fellowship. At the end, I was like, WTH? That's it? And DH said, "No- there's 3 parts. This was just the first part." WHAT? I just sat here for 3 flippin hours and there was no resolution?! Well, I went and saw Two Towers, and then I couldn't wait a whole year to find out how it all ended, so I read all 3 books (I had read The Hobbit when I was younger). Then I saw the 3rd movie, bought all of the special editions on DVD- and watched every single minute of the special features. I became a LOTR fanatic. And now we own 2 (TWO!) LOTR Trivial Pursuits, and I kick so much butt.

(but this isn't something I spread around. I have a reputation of non-geekiness to protect).

2) Those invites are flippin' adorable! I LOVE them! She did a wonderful job.

 

[beckmrk04]

DMickey- ugh, don't I know it. I'm ready just to go back to bed.

And breakfast for dinner sounds like a good idea! I think I might do that too- sausage and biscuits and gravy and eggs. Mmmm.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

1) I am a HUGE LOTR geek. It's too funny. My DH (then just my BF) dragged me to the theater to see Fellowship. At the end, I was like, WTH? That's it? And DH said, "No- there's 3 parts. This was just the first part." WHAT? I just sat here for 3 flippin hours and there was no resolution?! Well, I went and saw Two Towers, and then I couldn't wait a whole year to find out how it all ended, so I read all 3 books (I had read The Hobbit when I was younger). Then I saw the 3rd movie, bought all of the special editions on DVD- and watched every single minute of the special features. I became a LOTR fanatic. And now we own 2 (TWO!) LOTR Trivial Pursuits, and I kick so much butt.

(but this isn't something I spread around. I have a reputation of non-geekiness to protect).

I grew up in a family of LOTR geeks, and so I rebelled by not reading the books until high school. I have to confess that I am terrible at LOTR trivia - I've only read all 4 books once, started re-reading the Hobbit and never finished it, and then re-read Fellowship before the movie came out...and that is the extent of my LOTR actual reading. (So embarassing, I know...) DH is a huge LOTR geek, though, so after my family and now DH, I can speak the language if nothing else! And now DH plays LOTR online all the time, so I'm aquiring new levels of LOTR geekiness through association. Seriously, we've had pets named Gandalf, Bilbo, Pippin, Took, and Frodo. Our friends' DD was born on Sept 22 and the first thing we thought of was "Hobbit birthday!" My family has had a huge map of Middle Earth hanging on the wall for as long as I can remember. It's LOTR geeks as far as the eye can see...

DH still likes to say "the only dragon in Bywater is the Green Dragon" every time he picks up Owen's Bywater dragon. Cracks me up...poor kid is going to grow up thinking his dragon's full name is "The Only Dragon in Bywater is the Green Dragon" and we just call him Bywater for short. But we have already discussed when to start reading the books outloud to Owen. DH already has - he was rereading the Hobbit and would just read outloud when Owen was in the room.

 

[DMickey28]

I admit to barely watching the first LOTR's so I can't comment on that.

However, I LOVE that invite.

*****
And it's been 40 minutes and Alexander is already up crying. So much for me getting a chance to lay down.

 

[Villain-lover]

Bethany, those invites are sooo cute! I love them!

I made my invites on the computer, nothing fancy. I just used word and put in a couple of "Bug & butterfly " pictures. At least I could just fold, staple, put a sticker on it and done.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Bethany - those invitations are incredible! That is so cute.

Becky - We've been having the same conversations (if you can call it conversations when he doesn't talk) with Christopher. And it's usually the dinner ones. He's all excited to eat, until he gets near the high chair. The idea of getting in the high chair and not chasing the kitties is NOT COOL in toddler world Once he's in, and the cats are banished to somewhere not near him, everything is back to normal. DH swears we're going to have barn cats until this is over....

Denise - Mo's party sounds like fun!

Villian-lover, the twins are so cute! Happy birthday

So I'm all excited! Christopher has managed his first two words! He's been closing doors and then saying ByeBye, and running around the house looking for Dada. I was all bummed that Mama isn't on the list yet, but my Mom pointed out an important fact. When he wakes up at night calling Dada, DH will have to get up and see what's up

 

[Villain-lover]

Yay for first words Jen!!!

Sam tries to mimic things that we say, but only has a couple of his own words. Zoe babbles and tries to sing, and she has said "Kzzssss" for kitty.

Sam has attempted one word that we certainly don't want him to say in mixed company though!!! (the "s" one) He ummm repeated Mommy! I have to admit I wanted to laugh though!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

The stories of the toddlers asking for one thing then rejecting it reminded me of this article I read:
http://www.parenting.com/article/Toddler/Behavior/Baffling-Kid-Behavior-Explained

Just thought I'd pass it on in case anyone else finds it helpful!

 

[ashjohnson80]

I found a great graphic designer on ebay who did our invites for Owen's 1st birthday party! She designs the cards for you using your photos and info you send her via email, and then once you approve of the design, she sends you a big file with it so you can have it printed off by your favorite photo developer. Just search for "Teddylovegraphics" and you should find more examples of her work. It's a great business idea, and she's really good! Here's what she did for us (I "erased" some of the identifying details and messed it up a bit, but you get the idea, I hope!).

That's a great looking invite! I've thought about designing invitations since i can't seem to sell any clothing to save my life and I had fun desigining Ellery's invitation.

 

[DMickey28]

So I'm all excited! Christopher has managed his first two words! He's been closing doors and then saying ByeBye, and running around the house looking for Dada. I was all bummed that Mama isn't on the list yet, but my Mom pointed out an important fact. When he wakes up at night calling Dada, DH will have to get up and see what's up

I still end up being the one he actually wants. We walk by the master bedroom door and he is yelling Dadadadada ... at 4am.

Bethany - That is a great article. Thanks for posting it. I think that we might have made a mistake pushing DS's bedtime back a little bit the last few weeks. It might be compounding our problem and I didn't realize it. I think that 7:30pm is perfect for him but usually it's more like 8pm and I think that might be too late. I also struggle to get his dinnertime at the same time ... I don't do a great job with the routine and structure because by the time he gets down for his nap it's over. We have the morning and lunch time down but then the nap/snack/dinner/bedtime is rougher.

What schedules do you have with your kids?

 

[Jen_in_NH]

DMickey - good luck figuring it all out. Sorry I can't help, I'm not much of a schedule person. Christopher sleeps when he's tired, and gets up when he's not. So far, that works for us (and he sleeps all night). Have you thought about having him nap earlier in the day so he's getting more tired by the end of the day?

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

That's a great looking invite! I've thought about designing invitations since i can't seem to sell any clothing to save my life and I had fun desigining Ellery's invitation.

Ash, I think you could do it! The invites you did for Ellery were really cute! I thought of you when I saw this woman's work. Seems like something you'd be good at.

What schedules do you have with your kids?

Owen is still on the 2 naps a day schedule, so this is what it usually looks like:
6:30am wake up
6:45am breakfast
8:45am snack/bottle
9:15am nap
11:15am wake up
11:30am lunch
2:00pm snack/bottle
2:30pm nap
4:30pm wake up
5:00pm dinner
7:00pm snack/bottle
7:30pm bedtime

All times can shift by up to 30 min either way, depending on how he's doing. I found that he just does much better if he's on a schedule, and now we can push him to stay up later from time to time, but he invariably still gets tired and wakes up at the same times no matter how we mess with the schedule. Seriously, we can try and keep him up later, but he'll still wake up like clockwork around 6:30 in the morning, even if he was up until 8:45 or 9 the night before. And sometimes he'll only sleep for 90 min instead of 2 hrs, but I always try to keep the next nap/bed time as close to his usual time as I can. The kid even poops on a regular schedule! Seriously, he almost always has a dirty diaper after his morning nap. I think the boy likes routine...

 

[Pollito916]

Becky - sorry you're having such a rough day - Alex gets like that too, and it drives me crazy! As for Christmas presents for Alex - I think we are skipping it since we are going to WDW right before x-mas, I'm sure we'll get him something there! I'm glad to hear your nephew is ok! Oh, and we have one of those monkey-leash things for Alex, but it's not as helpful as you would think. They can't really walk that far, and he pulls so hard he either falls over or drags me behind him! And when he can't go where he wants he screams!

Bethany - those invitations are so cute! Good find on the P3 - I hope Grumpy lets you keep it!

Nicole - Sounds like you are super busy with that trial and temporary single-parentness. Doesn't is seem like business trips happen at the worst times? That stinks (hopefully not anymore) about your dog peeing in the bed - so gross!

Michelle - Great pictures - poor Will being sick on his b-day! Yay on taking his first steps!

Villain-lover - Happy 1st B-day Sam & Zoe! Nice Halloween pics!

Jen - yay on Christopher's 1st words!

DMickey - we don't really keep Alex on much of a schedule anymore either, just try to keep the bedtime between 7:30 and 8:00 most nights. Everything else is flexible. Now that he's down to 1 nap, it seems to work best if he goes down between 12:30 and 1:30, then he won't get up until 3:30-4:30.

Hi anyone I missed!

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

Well, we've had a pretty crazy week here. Still trying to get everything situated at the new house, and now I have to go to LA again next week. But, on the positive side, I still have a job. There were a lot of lay-offs at my company last week, so right now I am grateful to have a job.

Last night Alex woke up at 1:30 am for the first time in I don't even remember how long. He was yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, where are you?" So I went down to his room and he was standing in the crib pointing at the floor where his lovey was sitting. So I picked it up and gave it to him and told him to go back to sleep, but he just did not want to! I stayed with him for like 5 minutes and finally put him screaming back into the crib, but he calmed down after 5 minutes. Then he started yelling again at 2:45 am! I went in again and he was standing up looking for Rupert, who was under his blanket. This time I gave it to him and told him to go back to sleep, and he layed down and said, "night, night" and closed his eyes sucking his thumb What's going on - he NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night....

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Ugh. Poor DH has to work stinking long hours every day this week - like 7:30am to 9pm, then come home and log back in until 10:30/11pm tonight, and he's supposed to pretty much do that all this week. We have a meeting we're hosting at our house tomorrow night for a volunteer group we work with, and there's a chance that DH will have to work during that meeting and I'll have to not only lead the meeting but also do the single parent thing again. Ugh!

Blech blech blech! I'm so irked that they're doing this to him - back when he was contracting they were neurotic about making sure that he only worked 40 hours a week, and now that he's salaried they have him working at least 50-60 hours a week. And the whole company is doing a shutdown over thanksgiving week, but of course they made an exception for 12 employees, and wouldn't you know it DH is one of them...so he has to work while everyone else is off. We had been planning on taking some fun family vacation time that week, and now everything is up in the air and who knows if we'll get any time together at all...even on thanksgiving day!

I keep reminding myself that at least he has a job, and with the economy so yucky we just need to suck it up and cope with the stuff they make him do for now. Eventually he'll be able to find something better.

DH misses his boy though, and Owen misses his daddy.