The new "New Moms" thread!

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Becky, I think you should take the time with your DH and don't worry about the house! The house will still be there, and time with your DH is in short supply, so hang out and have fun!

DH and I went out to see our friends' son in his school play tonight. He was Mr. Collins in their production of Pride and Prejudice, and he was so funny! They did a great job for a high school performance. And best of all, Owen was a perfect angel for our other friends (E&M) who babysat him tonight! E&M are the friends we're going to Disneyland with in Feb., and their daughter G. adores Owen. They said he was really good, ate a huge dinner, laughed and played well with G., and fell asleep without any fussing when they put him in a pack&play in their bedroom. The only trouble they had was keeping him still on the changing table...which I'd forgotten to warn them about. Owen is a major wiggle worm, and seems like just when you get that diaper about off or on he suddenly flips over and you're staring at a little naked butt as he tries to dive over the side of the changing table. The trick is to give him a shoe or a book and that usually keeps him occupied long enough to change his diaper. (I know, a shoe - weird, huh? but it works!)

Anyway, it was a nice night and I'm so glad Owen was good for E&M. If our church did godparents, they would be Owen's. I'm really looking forward to our DLR trip together!

 

[beckmrk04]

Bethany- that's great that Owen did so well! You guys will have so much fun on your trip!

Well, we didn't go shopping. We stayed home and cleaned, which was actually kind of nice. It's freeeezing outside (for a little while we had a sleet/snow thing going on- nothing much, just enough to let you know that winter has arrived ).

I got my Murad order today, too- so that was exciting! I ran out about 2 weeks ago and I can't wait to start using it again, because my skin looked so much better- it's kinda yucky now.

DH just ran out for a couple of ingredients I'm missing for chili (yum). I'm also going to try out a recipe I found for Portuguese Fried Bread. Sounds good- kind of like Olga Bread (do any of you have Olga's?).

Well- I had better go finish the bathtub (my last cleaning chore of the day). Then shower, dinner, and a movie. At home. Where it's cozy and warm.

 

[Pollito916]

My favorite was when we'd get a huge snowstorm overnight and I'd wake up in the morning and I could just tell by the change in the sounds that we'd had snow - you know how all the sounds are sort of muffled? And then to get up and go out into that beautiful white world...sigh....always so lovely and peaceful and I miss it.

Bethany - what a lovely description, that is probably the ONLY part of snow I will miss - I absolutely HATE cold! I hope you have good news on your DH's job next week, seems like everyone I know has layoffs at their company right now. Too funny about the shoe keeping Owen occupied - that always worked with Alex too!

I am impressed- your DH says excuse me when he farts? Mine laughs.

I'm impressed with Bethany's husband too - my DH just smiles really proudly and looks at me waiting for me to run from the room in disgust. Now Alex has started saying "pebo" (spanish for fart is pedo) whenever he hears someone fart, or does it himself. He's so much like his father. Hope you're enjoying your long weekend! Oh, and I have never heard of Olga's - what is it?

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

Ok, DS saying the B-word is officially not cute anymore. He was saying it all day today, and without anyone saying "son of a" first. I kept telling him no, it's not nice, but I finally had to give him a time-out. I hope he gets tired of it soon.

I fly to LA early Monday morning and I am starting to get a little worried with how bad those wildfires are getting..... My house burnt down to the ground when I was 6 (we all got out ok, including the dog), but fires still set me on edge to this day.

 

[beckmrk04]

Pollito- V was saying the "s" word for poo, and ignoring it worked- she hasn't said it in weeks. SHe is really into getting reactions- she loves it. Time-out doesn't even phase her. I already feel like I'm going to be one of those sad moms who resorts to calling Supernanny because every time I tell V "no" it makes her go CRAZY with glee- she just can't wait to see if I really mean "no."

ANd Olga's is a chain (usually found in the mall) that has flatbread sandwiches and whatnot- they are famous for Olga Bread. http://www.olgaskitchen.com/index.htm (okay- just went to the website and they are only in 4 states, IL, MI, MO, and OH). So, sorry if you aren't near the delicious-ness.

And Vaylie announces every time she passes gas and LAUGHS like it's the funniest thing she's ever done. She says, "Poot." Or she yells "poot." One night we were at the store with my ILs and FIL was pushing V in the cart, and she farted, and starts yelling, "Poot! Poot! Peeee-yew, peeee-yew, Stinky poot!" My FIL was so embarrassed.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Don't be too impressed with DH - he often does a little dance and wiggles his butt, ending with a nice loud toot, laughs, and then looks at me and says "excuse me". So he does say excuse me, but doesn't necessarily mean it.

I fly to LA early Monday morning and I am starting to get a little worried with how bad those wildfires are getting..... My house burnt down to the ground when I was 6 (we all got out ok, including the dog), but fires still set me on edge to this day.

Funny you should mention fires...

We had far too much excitement at our house tonight, but thank God we're all fine. A cable supporting a power line to our house snapped, and when the cable fell it sent up a shower of sparks onto the roof, and some dead leaves on the roof caught on fire. At first it looked like our roof was on fire!! So we called 911, got us and the cats out, and had 4 fire trucks out front within 10 minutes. The fire was out in a minute, and other than some sooty leaves tracked into the house and some damage in the closet where a fireman had to get to the attic access panel, the house is fine. One of the fire trucks stayed until PG&E arrived to fix the power line, and then we had no power for an hour or so, but they really got it done quickly. The neighbors came out in force to offer their support and/or gawk, and our friends E&M were quick to come over and help with Owen.

The cats were really ticked off at being stuffed in their carriers and hauled outside for 30-40 minutes, but after some treats they're fine. Owen did great - he just stared and stared at all the fire trucks and all the activity, played at E&M's house with me while we waited for the power to come back on, and then conked out as soon as we got home.

So we're back in our house after 2 hours of craziness, and slowly calming down. We were scolded for having a cluttered closet and not having enough smoke detectors in our house, so DH will be installing more smoke detectors tomorrow. We're also going to try and move the attic access into the kitchen...although that means hiring a contractor and all kinds of $$, just when job stuff is nutso. Although DH did find out that he won't get laid off next week, because they need him to work over Thanksgiving to supervise people in Belgium and Hong Kong during a merger. Good that he has a job...bad that he's going to have to work over thanksgiving. Oh well. In this economy we can't be too picky. And after tonight's scare, we're a lot more thankful for what we do have!

So everyone check your smoke detectors...the fireman said that Owen's room would have caught first if we hadn't spotted the fire when we did...and I was just about to put our little guy to bed when the fire started!

 

[DMickey28]

Bethany - sorry to hear about your DH's schedule - it sounds like a lot of us are "single parents" at times. Does anyone really have a "normal" life - I always find myself a little jealous of that, but it probably doesn't really even exist.

My best friends husband works within 3 minutes of their house, leaves for work at 8:55am, comes home for lunch at 1pm until 1:55pm then home again at 5:05pm. I am so jealous but he pays for that schedule with a lack of decent salary.

Bethany - Scary night last night ... I am glad everyone is ok.
Becky - I am glad that you are doing better. I have never had a fever that high, that's scary.
Denise - Great about Mo's b-day party. Sounds like a blast.

As for the farting husbands ... I have to say that I am fairly lucky, DH does not do that (outloud anyway) and I assume always leaves the room to do so because I never get attacked!! The dog and DS on the other hand, not so much. DS laughs when he does.

I got my new computer on Friday and LOVE IT. It's so fast. I am working on getting all of my pictures off of my laptop and onto the new external HD. I set up a new desk from Ikea that matches the rest of our furniture perfectly.

ALexander was listening to Christmas Carols and he loves them. he was dancing and spinning, it was so cute. I don't know what I am going to do for decorations this year. We are going to WDW on the 8th for a few days and then back home to MA on the 13th until the 31st so it doesn't make sense to drag out the tree and stuff.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Hi everyone

Bethany - glad everything worked out ok. DH and I put way too many smoke detectors in our house, but we've both been to too many calls where people didn't have one in the right place.

DMickey - Christopher has been listening to the Christmas carols too. He loves them!

I'm curious to see how the Christmas stuff will make out this year. We're going to put the tree in the living room, and just use the non-breakable ornaments. Hopefully we can keep him out of it, and if not, then there's nothing that should break

 

[beckmrk04]

Bethany- thank goodness you are all ok! Yikes!

Jen- You got me thinking... I'm going to see if there is a way we can "anchor" our tree to the wall. I'm not so worried about breakable ornaments (we don't have that many and we keep them up high), but I am thinking that we should secure the tree so if *someone* yanks on it, it won't fall over onto her... Have to go to Lowes.

DMickey- Vaylie hasn't been too into Christmas music yet, but we went to the mall today and she thinks that Christmas trees ARE "Christmas." SO, every time she saw a Christmas tree (which was often), she'd yell "Ah-mus!" (that's what Christmas sounds like in Vaylese).

I have to make an appointment for Christmas pictures to be done. Then I need to find something to wear.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Becky, you could get a screw eye and then tie a piece of rope/string to the tree and then to the screw eye.

Bethany, I'm so glad you are ok.

DMickey, congats on the new computer.


Spencer has been standing without holding onto anything for the past few days. He tried to take a step, but promptly fell down. He is more interested in bouncing then walking though.

 

[beckmrk04]

My sis just called me- she got demoted. She works at the crappiest of all giant retailers as an asst. manager, and was doing fairly well (salary wise). It's a long story I'm not going to bore you with, but it's so unfair and I feel awful for her. I worked at this same large crappy company while going through school and I HATED it, but my sis always did well there- followed the rules, busted her behind- went well above and beyond for her job- and this is what she gets. A demotion and an offer to be reconsidered for promotion in a year (never mind she has to figure out how to live on HALF of what she WAS making).

I have to go shopping this evening and I don't even want to spend my money there.

I am hoping I can convince her to go back to school- she always wanted to be a nurse and she'd be great at it! She's still kind of in shock, though, so she's considering all of her options.

*sigh*

I think I might drag up the Christmas stuff from the basement today. I need a little Christmas. Seems like everyone around me is having a rough time right now.

 

[Pollito916]

Don't be too impressed with DH - he often does a little dance and wiggles his butt, ending with a nice loud toot, laughs, and then looks at me and says "excuse me". So he does say excuse me, but doesn't necessarily mean it.

We had far too much excitement at our house tonight, but thank God we're all fine. A cable supporting a power line to our house snapped, and when the cable fell it sent up a shower of sparks onto the roof, and some dead leaves on the roof caught on fire.

Yikes, sounds like you had quite a scare this weekend, but I'm glad you're all ok and you're lucky you saw it so early! And you're right - I'm less impressed with your DH now and he sounds more like my DH.

Becky - Alex seemed to stop with the B-word, didn't say it all day Sunday, until the late afternoon when we were at Hallmark and he just said it out of nowhere. We ignored it and he didn't say it again, so we'll have to see if that works. Too funny about Vaylie yelling "pee-yew" in the store - Alex does that at home when we change his diapers. That stinks about your sister's job - I know a demotion can be so demoralizing - I'm sure everything will work out for the best!

DMickey - that's great that your new computer is working better, and I'm sure Alexander is adorable grooving to the x-mas carols

Amber - yay Spencer - walking won't be far behind!

 

[*Seanaci*]

Hi ladies. I'm a newish mom. My son is 13 months old...and going to WDW for the first time next month. Can't wait.

I do have a question for you ladies though. Has anyone made a personalized shirt for a Disney trip before? I don't know whether (or how) to do iron on's myself OR upload it and have it printed professionaly. Any tips/help/suggestions is greatly appreciated.

 

[beckmrk04]

Hi ladies. I'm a newish mom. My son is 13 months old...and going to WDW for the first time next month. Can't wait.

I do have a question for you ladies though. Has anyone made a personalized shirt for a Disney trip before? I don't know whether (or how) to do iron on's myself OR upload it and have it printed professionaly. Any tips/help/suggestions is greatly appreciated.

I have done both.

Personally, I would use www.zazzle.com They aren't too expensive and the shirts look GREAT. (I got my husband a shirt that had Darth Vader and said "World's Greatest Dad" for the birth of our DD ). And they have TONS of Disney options.

Or, if you DIY, you can buy the iron on stuff (I think we've used Avery brand) at any craft store or even wal-mart, and print it out and iron it on. Then, my advice is follow the instructions exactly and practice on something disposable first. I messed up a couple before I had the hang of it. And- another thing, the DIY ones crack and peel really badly after washing. DH and I can't figure out how to make them not do it- we don't dry them. But, we have made a bunch of our own shirts (DH does graphic design and loves to design Star Wars shirts).

Good luck!

 

[exwdwcm]

Well still been swamped at work and so busy on the weekends. BUT, i did get in our new laptop tonight- DH ordered it online and it is huge though. a 17" screen, which is just a little large, but still nice- it's an HP. has the blue ray player in it and all. so we can watch movies when we travel now. So now i am typing from bed! yeah. I'll probably be on more now that I don't have to trek upstairs to our office. i feel like i finally am caught up a little tech wise- i was the last one in the family to get an ipod and last for a laptop. i still just have a plain jane phone though. lol

We've been so busy- Will is walking like crazy now. He is very fussy- all four top teeth coming in at the same time. He cried for 30 minutes in his crib before passing out last night. That kid can cry. He was fine, clean, fed and all that, he just was fighting sleep. We actually had our pic with Santa this weekend- the malls in Dallas get crazy crowded and I can't go during the week since i work all day. So we went early and used a coupon from shutterfly- $10 for a pic on a USB to take home, plus a $25 shutterfly gift card to use online! so awesome deal. Will did great and liked Santa a lot. I am sure next year he will freak, but this year he was fine.

Oh and I am so excited, we booked our flights for our disney podcast cruise (with the podcast folks from the boards- including Pete!). I was able to use a credit on AA i had from my old job too which helped. Now if only May would get here. I am just going with my parents and my cousin Nancy. DH and Will are staying home. We will take him next Dec anyhow.

Becky- thanks for the recipe- i like to just make up my own stuff too and don't usually measure stuff out- so that's perfect- it sounds delicious since I LOVE buffalo chicken and frank's hot sauce!

Meredith- hope the twins had a great bday!

ImarriedGrummpy- Owen's invites are just so cute- what a great job they did.

Denise- the zoo sounds fantastic for Moe's bday. I have been thinking about taking Will since it is so miserably hot here in TX in the spring/summer, so Nov/Dec is perfect weather!


Beck/Grumpy- you two are just too funny with your LOTR. i love LOTR too and read all the books, saw the movies, but i don't know it as closely as you guys do. but i do love sci fi in general. star trek, star wars, battlestar galactica (so sad it is ending!!), the list goes on and on. Anything sci-fi i love. I try to keep it 'secret' too. LOL

Pollito- hope you are getting settled in- that is so funny about him waking up suddenly at night, weird how they do that. so sweet though- saying night night and just going right back to bed with his lovey!

Ash- hang in there- i hope some of the stuff sells, hopefully with the holidays folks will be looking to shop online more.

Seanaci- welcome! i had a graphic designer friend do one for us and then we just printed it out in color and used iron on transfers- very easy to do.

 

[exwdwcm]

oh, btw- who was it the gave me the blog to print web site? I tried it, but i get an error everytime. so i finally just decided to do his first year photo book on shutterfly. it took me all day long, but i got it done. it is 100 pages though, so this thing, even with a $25 off coupon and 25% off special is going to cost me a fortune. i simply don't have time to scrapbook like i used to anymore between work and Will. i'd rather spend the little time i have available with him and not scrapbooking. it was so easy to do online though.

has anyone else managed to do the blog to print book?

 

[beckmrk04]

exwdwcm- I want to do a first year book. Although, at this point I might as well wait and do two at once. I hear ya about scrapbooking though- it looks like fun, but I just can't muster the time or energy and I would much rather just click the pictures in place and be done.

That's great that Will did good with Santa. I need to take Vaylie, but I have to find a dress first. I also need to get on the ball about making an appt. for Christmas pics. The Sears Portrait studio closest to me shut down, so I have to find somewhere else...

~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I was bummed today but my rincess: made me feel better. We spent about an hour "putting on makeup" which really involved her pilfering through my make-up drawer (I really need to install some locks) and making herself "pretty." She would take a blush and "dip" a brush into it (lid ON thank goodness) and then she'd swipe the brush all over her face and declare herself "pretty." She has no idea how gorgeous she is. I took some cute little videos- have to figure out how to upload them! But, here are some photos from today.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Becky - she is too cute! I wish Christopher was just into the makeup. Yesterday, he was "helping" sort the laundry pile, next thing I know, he's running around the house with my bra over his head He loved loading it up with Legos and carrying them everywhere....

I took him out to the outlet mall yesterday afternoon to try and find some shoes. If anyone has a Stride-Rite outlet near them, ther are some pretty good sales. I found 2 pairs of shoes for $20! And they have really tough soles on them, so I can totally hear which room he's gotten into (or which cat he's after )

 

[DisneyDiva2006]

Well, my husband and I went for our first pregnancy sono and check up. They can totally overwhelm you with all the information they have out there. It's been almost ten years since we had our first but so many advances. They have a "quad" test, a cystic fibrosis test, cord blood banking and none of which is time to test or do but I guess they just give you the information ahead of time.

Oh well, everything seemed to be good and another 4 weeks before we go back.

 

[*Seanaci*]

Thanks ladies for all the advice. I'll be pricing Zazzle and doing them on my own. I'll post pics when we have them.

 

[Pollito916]

Hi ladies. I'm a newish mom. My son is 13 months old...and going to WDW for the first time next month. Can't wait.

Welcome Seanaci!

i feel like i finally am caught up a little tech wise- i was the last one in the family to get an ipod and last for a laptop. i still just have a plain jane phone though. lol

So we went early and used a coupon from shutterfly- $10 for a pic on a USB to take home, plus a $25 shutterfly gift card to use online! so awesome deal. Will did great and liked Santa a lot. I am sure next year he will freak, but this year he was fine.

Michelle - don't feel so bad about the un-techiness - I STILL don't have an ipod and if I didn't have a laptop for work, I probably wouldn't have one of those either. Great deal on the santa pic! How did it turn out?

Such a little cutie putting on her make-up on the potty! How's the potty-training coming? I still haven't tried with Alex. Though he did the weirdest thing the other day. He was asleep in the car and we had to go in, so I carried him in asleep on my shoulder. He woke up 10 minutes later and when I put him down, he kept saying, "potty, potty" over and over. People were looking at me like, "why don't you take that kid to the potty" but he still wears a diaper and has never used a potty!

Yesterday, he was "helping" sort the laundry pile, next thing I know, he's running around the house with my bra over his head
I took him out to the outlet mall yesterday afternoon to try and find some shoes. If anyone has a Stride-Rite outlet near them, ther are some pretty good sales. I found 2 pairs of shoes for $20! And they have really tough soles on them, so I can totally hear which room he's gotten into (or which cat he's after )

Alex has done that with my bra too. And LOVE the stride-rite shoes, but only at outlet prices, sorry, but I'm not paying $50 for a pair of shoes he will outgrow in a few months. Alex loves the noise the shoes make on the floor too, and stomps around whenever he has them on!