The new "New Moms" thread!

[Villain-lover]

Both Sam & Zoe love Elmo! We watch Sesame Street when we can. They like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse too. Sam is also obsessed with the Progressive Car Insurance Lady ...everything stops when one of those comercials comes on..... Of course as an infant we swear he liked Rachel Ray's voice....so maybe he just has athing for kooky women?

 

[jennyL]

Noah loves Handy Manny. Our go to song in the car is the Hot Dgo Song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Since he was about 5 months if he gets really cranky in the car I turn that on (repeat of course) and he quiets down. We've tried other songs but thats the only one that does the trick.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Owen also likes to watch Good Eats (hosted by Alton Brown) on the food network with DH. We love Alton Brown, and even named one of our cats after him, but we didn't expect Owen to like the show, but DH had it on one evening and Owen just snuggled right up with him and was completely enthralled with the show from start to finish. Dh loves it and likes to put Good Eats on to get snuggles from Owen now!

 

[DMickey28]

Alexander is a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Curious George. Otherwise he can really take or leave most shows. We tend to have the TV on way tooo much in the first place. This morning we didn't even have it on at all!!

We also have completed the transition to the dinning room table in a booster chair!! He ate his own yogurt with his own spoon all by himself for lunch today!! I was so proud of him. I gave him a napkin and when he missed his mouth he wiped his face and put it back down! I was so proud I teared up. How sad is that? He probably ate 98% of the yogurt by himself and got 95% of it in his mouth!!

 

[7beasley]

Yay Alex - what a big boy - how is the booster working out - does he seem to like it better than the high chair?

I have to get Izzy more into Mickey Mouse Club. She loves Curious George and Sid the Science Kid - but we need to do more Mickey.

Right now though her world is all about five very specific things:
1. The muppets;

2. Dancing (every morning while getting ready she dances to the
new Britney Spears CD [womanizer and circus];

3. Coloring - seriously - I should buy stock in crayola crayons!

4. Our dog (the poor dog gets chased all over the house with her
yelling "Hi Puppy")

5. And eating -- big fan of trader joe's cat cookies (chocolate and
ginger!)

I should try Blues Clues too!!

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Nicole, congrats to Izzy!!!

Bethany, I hope Owen feels better.

DMickey, that is so great! I would have teared up too.


Spencer's favorite shows are My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Handy Manny. He starts "dancing" as soon as they come on.
His favorite thing though is video games. He gets SO excited if DH puts one on; he will cheer and bounce around.

He got a few of those "touch and feel" books (the ones that have fur on the horse, etc). He grabs my finger and makes me feel each thing.

 

[7beasley]

Amber - that is SO cute. I like those touch and feel books!

I was kind of taking a mental inventory today of all of our kiddos -- and I really can't believe how old everyone is! They are really growing up!

Who is the youngest - -Caleb? Noah? Spencer?

And I was also noticing that this is kind of a "boys club" - most of you have little boys -- I think the only girls are Izzy, Vaylie and Zoe!

Don't you stop with amazement some times that you have been doing this parenting/mom thing for a year - 2 years - in some cases 3 years!! Seriously, remember being pregnant and knowing nothing and feeling like you weren't sure if you could handle it and then bam....fast forward 1-2 years and we are all pros!

Just wanted to tell you guys that its nice to have our little group here and I have enjoyed "talking" to you guys over the last 16 months!!

-Nicole

 

[DMickey28]

Nicole - I am very embarassed to admit this but I will. We actually went away from the high chair a long time ago. I am not sure why actually and had thought about taking it back out but ... Anyway, and this is SOOOO BAD but DS was using the Booster on the floor in the living room. He had been using that for months now and I really needed to get him back to the dinning room table and away from the TV!!! The transition was very easy and he loves it. We can home from the store and he climbed up into the booster and buckled himself in. He did great!! He also drank from a cup without spilling it!

**
I love our group here. I was/am part of the April 2007 group on babycenter but never connected with them like I have here. It's nice to have a place to go especially because we move so much that I don't get close to mom's in my area. I can't believe it's been almost 2 years. It has gone by so fast ... I don't want my baby to grow up but I am excited to move to the next step in our life and have another baby. I can't wait to see the interaction between the two.

****
I am trying to get all my pictures off my old laptop and onto my new computer. It is not very easy ... right now I am trying to set up the Belkin Easy Transfer Cable ... Easy Transfer my BUTT!! It's not easy ... or my compture is ********!! I just need all the newborn pictures off the laptop before it crashes ...

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I'd love for Owen to get more into coloring, but he's still too fascinated with the taste of crayons to care about what they do on paper!

DH is really getting concerned that Owen isn't walking yet. He does cruise around holding onto furniture and will take bigger and bigger risks to get from thing to another, but he doesn't even like holding our hands and taking steps. I think he just likes getting where he wants to go as quickly as he can, and since that's crawling, that's what he does. I'm not worried - I know normal for starting to walk is anywhere from 10-18m, and Owen has always been towards the older end of the curve for gross motor development. He did a funny inch-worm like crawl for months and didn't crawl on his hands and knees until just before he turned one, so I figure he'll start walking when he's ready. But DH is worried, and I think he's going to ask for an assesment at Owen's 15m appointment. I suspect our Dr. will tell him to wait until Owen is 18m, so we'll see where Dh goes with that.

 

[7beasley]

Christina (DMickey) -- nothing to be embarrased about - I don't think its a big deal he was eating in his booster seat on the floor in the living room! But it is super great that he is now eating at the table with you and DH and excited about doing it - that's a big step! Great about drinking from a cup without spilling too - we aren't there yet -- she drinks from a cup but there is a lot of spilling!

I hear you about being excited for the next phase with another baby - me too! I wonder alot about how Izzy will do interacting with a new baby and it overwhelms me sometimes to think I've gone from just me - to a husband - to a daughter and soon (god willing) 2 kids!

Good luck getting baby pix off the computer -- you could upload them to a photo sharing site like Kodak or Snapfish too to try to save them!

********

Bethany -- as far as Owen walking - don't worry too much about that. Izzy was a really late crawler - you may remember we took her to Children's Hospital to get checked out and also had an Early Intervention appt about it -- everyone told us kids crawl and walk when they are ready and not to worry about it. She did not crawl till after 1 year old and then out of the blue around 14 months old she started walking - kind of unsteady at first and then within no time she was walking great - even running and now she can walk on uneven terrain outside (grass, pavement, a little hill) with no problems -- when it happens - it happens FAST -- it is literally 0 to 60 in 3 seconds.

That said, I would certainly mention it to the Ped at the 15 month appointment - but chances are all is fine and he will start walking soon. For us - the trick was getting Izzy to stand on her own - she was furniture walking but not standing on her own without holding onto anything. What we did was give her magnets to play with on the fridge -- she would put the magnets on and off and move them around and whenever she put one on/took one off we would clap -- which would cause her to clap (she claps when you clap...) and anyway when she would clap she would just be standing there not holding on -- that made her see she could do that and so she started trying it elsewhere and within a few days -- walking!

Since Owen is furniture walking though - you know his strength/balance is good -- so really I am sure he will start soon. Have you and DH sat/kneeled on the floor with him and tried to get him to take a couple of steps to you while the other one holds him? That might help/work too!

************
Boy -- sorry for my chattiness today -- I *really* don't feel like working - so I have been dissing much of the day away!

-Nicole

 

[Villain-lover]

Nicole, I never thought about just three girls here....wow!

Sam & Zoe seem to hit Gross Motor milestones first..they are working on jumping now! Neither have quite got it but they try! Language is going to be the last thing to come..they have a few words but thats it. Sam is getting good on body parts, and Zoe is working on Animal sounds. Niether one has seemed interested on signing at all, and we have been practicing some for a long time now!

Art activites are the hot thing now. They love it all..crayons, chalk, paint, and play-doh!

We still struggle with eating...not overly picky, but just don't seem to eat very much, and for some reason it's hard to get them eating bread/grain things. Zoe could care less even about anything sweet. She likes oyster crackers, cheese, and raisins,,she seldom refuses those things, and she likes most meats...Sam likes sweet things and loves fruit. For both of them, everything else is touch and go.

I agree with Nicole..this is an awesome group! (now Nicole go sign up for facebook!)

 

[DMickey28]

Yeah Nicole - go to facebook!!

Bethany - I wouldn't worry too much about Owen not walking yet. Alexander was always on the early stages of the Gross Motor Skills but is still behind in the talking part. He is just starting to babbling A LOT, mostly in toddlerease, but at least he is trying!!

****
This pictures stuff is driving me nuts!! Our laptop is starting to die and has too much stuff on it so it moves super slow. I have over 10GB of pictures from when he was little to move over so I can't up load them, it would take forever. My last try is to copy them to DVD's and if that does't work I am going to take it to Geek Squad and just have them do it. I hate paying someone $$$$ to do it but I just can't seem to have the patience to do it. It's not worth losing the pictures. We will see how moving them to the DVD's work.
****
Dinner smells so good. I have a pot roast cooking and while I don't feel like it, it does smell good. Is there anything else I can make with the pot roast meat?

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Owen's been early with language development but late with gross motor, so I figure it all evens out in the end. Nicole, I like the magnets suggestion - I'll have to see if that works with Owen!

so in addition to Owen's runny nose/congestion and the related hoarse cough when he's laying down, he has a little red patch on his cheek near his nose and mouth. Does anyone know if that's a symptom of something I should be concerned about, or is it most likely something unrelated to being sick and just a coincidence that it showed up at the same time? I can't find any information on it from my usual sources. It's just a flat, red spot that looks a little shinier than the surrounding skin. It seems like it might bother him a little when I wipe his face, but he's not scratching it or anything like that. It has just shown up at exactly the same time as his cold symptoms, so that's why I'm wondering about it. He doesn't have a fever and is acting like his usual self other than having a little trouble sleeping (I'm guessing because of congestion/post nasal drip stuff).


And I agree - I love this group!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

DMickey, have you tried a flash drive for getting the pictures off the old computer? I ended up doing that. I transfered as many pictures as I could onto a flash drive, moved them to the new computer, then deleted them off the fd and loaded it up with more pictures. A little time consuming - I think it took me 10 times going back and forth to get them all off, but it was faster than the "easy transfer cable" - I agree, that darn thing is anything but easy!

 

[DMickey28]

Bethany - Thanks for the idea. I do have a 4GB Flash Drive but I can't get the lap top to recognize it. I also have an external HD that I was going to just move everything to but I can't get the laptop to recognize that either. Right now I am copying them to a CD because I didn't realize that my laptop does not have a recordable DVD drive ... Luckily I bought an open package of 10 for $5.99 so not too much money lost for now. I might have to go out and get some mroe CD's tomorrow because at least now they are copying to that ...

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Bethany - Thanks for the idea. I do have a 4GB Flash Drive but I can't get the lap top to recognize it. I also have an external HD that I was going to just move everything to but I can't get the laptop to recognize that either. Right now I am copying them to a CD because I didn't realize that my laptop does not have a recordable DVD drive ... Luckily I bought an open package of 10 for $5.99 so not too much money lost for now. I might have to go out and get some mroe CD's tomorrow because at least now they are copying to that ...

Ugh - I hate it when computers don't recognize perfectly normal stuff! I still have a bunch of files on my old laptop that I haven't been able to get off to my new one for similar reasons.

I once had a computer and printer that would "fail to communicate" with each other from time to time. I'd get messages like "the computer does not recognize x printer" or "the printer has failed to communicate with the computer" or "the printer (or computer) is not responding". So I named the computer Merlin and the printer Archemedes from Disney's "The Sword in the Stone". They just reminded me of when Archemedes (the owl) would get mad at Merlin and go in his little house, and Merlin would poke at him with his staff and Archimedes would refuse to come out. That's what my computer and printer were like...very annoying, so I had to find a way to laugh at it.

 

[Pollito916]

DMickey - Alexander's tantrums sound so funny! Good luck with the time change adjustment and the transferring pictures - technology can be so frustrating some times! I can't believe how grown up all of our kids are getting, and I sometimes tear up when I realize how independent Alex is becoming.

Nicole - sounds like Izzy is doing great on her milestones! Alex calls all the muppets Elmo! I agree that this is a great group and we are lucky to have found it. Funny thing is, I don't think any of us were the original members of the thread and it used to be more of a rotating thing until we all took over!

Bethany - Sorry about Owen being sick again. I have no ideas on the red spot. Just watch for it to get bigger or worse somehow. It sounds like you already understand that all kids start walking at different times, and Owen's just smart for knowing that he can get around faster crawling instead of wasting time trying to walk. He'll probably just start doing it on his own one day, then be running the next!

Meredith - funny that Sam & Zoe are working on different words! Is that common for twins?

 

[Villain-lover]

DMickey - Alexander's tantrums sound so funny! Good luck with the time change adjustment and the transferring pictures - technology can be so frustrating some times! I can't believe how grown up all of our kids are getting, and I sometimes tear up when I realize how independent Alex is becoming.

Nicole - sounds like Izzy is doing great on her milestones! Alex calls all the muppets Elmo! I agree that this is a great group and we are lucky to have found it. Funny thing is, I don't think any of us were the original members of the thread and it used to be more of a rotating thing until we all took over!

Bethany - Sorry about Owen being sick again. I have no ideas on the red spot. Just watch for it to get bigger or worse somehow. It sounds like you already understand that all kids start walking at different times, and Owen's just smart for knowing that he can get around faster crawling instead of wasting time trying to walk. He'll probably just start doing it on his own one day, then be running the next!

Meredith - funny that Sam & Zoe are working on different words! Is that common for twins?

I think Twins are generally later at developing expressive language skills simply because the hear each other babble in addition to adult speech. Also probably due to there being two of them....Mommy has to divide her attention between them= less time for one on one meaningful converstion!
That being said they definitely understand much much more than they can say!

They are indeed working on different things..when I Mean Sam is working on body parts..he points them out..not saying the name. He is interested in listening to animal sounds with Zoe, but she will do several of the sounds now.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Wow, this thread is flying!

Christina - we have Christopher in his booster seat at the table, but he hasn't figured out how to get in and out of it yet. Alex's tantrums sound hysterical. Christopher just looks at us in total shock when he can't have what he wants, then hurls whatever he's holding on to, and then starts crying. If we walk away, he'll come after us like "what, don't you know why I'm hollering" Most of his tantrums seem to involve wanting something to eat when he can't have something.

Nicole - I hadn't even noticed how many more boys there are on here. Maybe there will be a run on girls coming up with all of us trying for another baby. And yes, I did apply for the job. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Bethany - definitely mention Owen's walking to the ped. If you're really concerned, you can refer him to Early Intervention yourself. I did, because Christopher wasn't walking by 16 months. He didn't qualify for EI for motor skills, but he did for language and speech.

Meredith - if they learn different words, imagine the conversations they'll be having with each other...


As far as TV shows - Christopher's favorite is Wheel of Fortune We usually have HGTV or Travel on in the background, and he doesn't pay much attention to it. But, when he hears Wheel come on, he runs it, stands in front of the TV, claps like crazy, and plops down to watch it.

So lately he's been getting weird about what he eats. Normally, he'll eat any fruit or veggie we put in front of him. Now, nothing except bananas (ubless I hide it somehow) He'll still eat meat, bread, pasta, and most of his other favorites. He will not eat dinner for a darn though. He just spits everything back out. We're thinking it's because he needs to get snack before bed to keep his blood sugar up, so he knows he'll be getting something he likes soon. We talked to the endocrinologist about changing his insulin at night so he doesn't need a snack, and we start that tonight. Hopefully after a few days of no bedtime snack, he'll get back into eating dinner again.

 

[beckmrk04]

Wow- busy thread today!!!

I'll come back, but Nicole- I was cracking up because I Looooovvve my Britney CD and Vaylie and I dance to it too! Yeah- I'm a closet Britney fan.

And Vaylie is really into the Muppets right now too! Also: Monsters, Inc. and Beauty and the Beast. Those are the favorites. As far as shows, she likes Little Einsteins, Mickey's Clubhouse, Imagination Movers.... And when Handy Manny comes on, she starts saying, "No Manny! No Manny!"