The new "New Moms" thread!

[DMickey28]

I am so jealous of all of you with Minivans! I want one!! I have a Chrysler Pacifica which I love but I see it's usefulness being outgrown once we have another baby. It has all the bells and whistles so there isn't much I want for in it, I just want a minivan!!!

 

[mrs.explorer1977]

We're about an hour away from Toronto, in Guelph, so MUCH MUCH further south than all of those places that you listed (and I'll be honest, I only recognized a couple!!).

For us, it's nearly as long to get to Thunder Bay, which isn't even the northern most point of Ontario, as it is to get to Florida...So, as you can imagine, Ontario is pretty darn big!


I'm home today cleaning, which is nice...of course, as you can tell, I'm currently NOT cleaning!! I had to do daycare drop off this morning, which I don't normally do, and it nearly broke my heart! I'm sooooo glad I don't do it every morning! I get to pick up, which I love, because he comes running over yelling "Mommmmyyyyyy!" and I get a huge leg hug!!

 

[clgwli]

I'm on facebook too. I think a few of you might have to find me via others since I won't give out real names here (or via PM).

I admit I will be zero help with minivans. I avoid them like the plague and even didn't want a full sized SUV. So we settled on the Honda CR-V. We'd sooner do a DVD via laptops (with adapters there) so we didn't feel the need to get that built in. I just wanted built in GPS and rearview camera. I hate driving big vehicles so this was our compromise.

I do know that those of those with Dodge minivans are much happier with the Pontiacs. Only one friend actually liked hte pontiac, but that's all they'll ever buy anyway. We're Honda people though so I can't speak beyond them.

I just got a flan in the oven for Easter. It's amazing that I got my carmelized sugar right on the first time with the little guy shoving me around. He wanted to play and didn't understand why I couldn't leave the sugar at all ;D

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Mel - My cousin lives in Guelph. We went to visit a few years ago - WAY bigger than the town I'm from


I haven't gotten a minivan yet, but we got the next closest thing - a crossover. In other words, a minivan for those who can't admit they need a minivan

Jen -sounds like your Brycen and my Christopher have a lot in common. The only reason to not be moving is to sleep. He's just discovered that he can climb higher if he moves things around to climb onto. Today's project was to move the kitchen stool next to the flour bucket. If he went from the floor to the stool, he could then get on the bucket. From the bucket, he can get onto the countertop. Then he freaked out because he couldn't figure out how to get back down.


Christopher had his endocrinologist appointment the other day. He's now 36" and 31 lbs. He's finally starting to gain some weight back. And his A1c (average of how his blood sugars have been over 3 months), was a little high, but the doctor said it was fairly normal for someone his age to run a bit high. So they were happy.

As far as speech, most everyone here's kids have more words than he does. Right now, he says mama, dada, ackack (JackJack, our dog), bubbles, more, up, down, open, and byebye. He's echoing everything we say, but really only says the vowels. He's trying, though, so I'm happy.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Hi everyone! Any fun plans for the weekend, ladies?

I haven't gotten a minivan yet, but we got the next closest thing - a crossover. In other words, a minivan for those who can't admit they need a minivan

That's us, too! We have our Mazda5 because DH refuses to get a minivan. Since it's just the 3 of us (and likely will stay that way), it works fine for us. We like the extra cargo room and it's nice having the option for 6 passengers if we need it.


Owen is being a demanding little rhino this afternoon. He wants 100% of my attention 100% of the time. So I've spent 45 minutes reading to him and another 20 minutes playing on the floor with him, but he was still fussy and clingy. Then 10 minutes ago I put on a bollywood CD and all of a sudden he's perfectly happy to play with only part-time mommy participation, which is more like his usual self.

Of course, he was demanding that I "read" Birnbaum's Disneyland guide and our photobook from our Disneyland trip , so how can I discourage such a deep passion for Disney? He loves to look through Birnbaum's for all the characters and carefully searches each page until he finds one. And he sways side to side and sings when he sees the pictures of IASW. So I "read" that 5 or 6 times in a row. And he has to look through the photobook 5-10 times a day, pointing to each picture and commenting on it.

 

[Pollito916]

Kelly - Love the video of Brady dancing to Flo Rida!

Bethany - LOL at Owen the rhino! Yay that he is walking! And how cute that he loves his monkey harness - Alex loves his too!

Kara - how's Caleb doing with Rusty? Is Rusty behaving any better? I think Christina had to give away a dog recently because he was getting too rough around her family. That's great that Caleb slept through the night - I reacted the same way as you when Alex did it for the first time!

Ash - how is Ellery's rash, did the Zyrtec help?

Nicole - sorry to hear about the family problems, but I think you're right that it's best to work with a local realtor that is not family. It is not your fault that the IL's are having financial problems. It sounds like they need more help than your sale would give them.

Hi hotveggy! I think a lot of babies have trouble sleeping in the beginning, but 8.5 hours is great at that age! Swaddling with the velcro blankets also helped us.

Jenny - Too funny on Noah and the cookie jar - Alex used to do the same thing with one of his shape sorters - watch out for those little boys with tempers! It's cute when they're little, but not for long!

Hi ShootingStarMom - nice to "meet" you! I think there are some kids around your son's age here. It sounds like Brycen is doing just fine for his age!

Mel - how is Colin's diaper rash, getting any better? I've heard that some really bad diaper rashes are actually yeast infections, not sure if he's been checked by a doctor recently...

Jen - Christopher is getting so big! It's good that his diabetes is under control.

Pollito- Vaylie is SUPER into farting and burp jokes. The other night she farted and said "No pooped. Just fawted." Good to know, kid. And then she kept farting and I called her a sicko, and from then forward, every time she poots she does this crazy little dance and sings, "Silly silly SICK-O"

Love Vaylie's song and dance! Alex says, "No poo-poo, just peebos!" or "muchos peebos - like Daddy!" (said with pride)

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

We don't have a minivan, and DH & I just aren't ready for it yet. We have a Santa Fe (small SUV), but that's all we can handle for now. I also don't want another car payment any time soon since we have 1 year left on the civic and 2 years on the santa fe.

No big Easter plans for us, DH will be working all day and night.

I think I am going to try to let Alex decorate some eggs, but I will probably hide the plastic ones for him since he is so rough with stuff still. Then we are going to my cousin's for Easter dinner and maybe some swimming, depending on the weather.

 

[k_reile]

ah I wish I could go swimming for easter!! I am soo ready for summer and nicer weather.

I haven't really forced the dog and caleb together lately. I want to give the dog some space. Last night we were sitting on the couch with caleb in my lap and the dog laying beside me and rusty was giving me kisses and even gave a couple on calebs hands...but I am not going to force Caleb on him. I guess we'll just have to wait and see and make sure they are supervised all the time.
THe whole situation just threw me off bc he is such a loving dog but I think he was feeling threatened even though Caleb was petting him nicely. And he was soo good with my niece and newphew when they were younger but they were at least 5 and 3 then so they were a little older.

 

[kellyf2626]

Mel - What dates will you be down in September? We are going Aug. 31st - Sept. 13th. We actually just added three days to the beginning...we tend to do that a lot...book a trip, and then start adding-on days. The beauty of points, right? We will be down there for 13 nights - I can't wait!!! The first 3 nights we are currently booked at the new Bay Lake Tower with a MK view. Then we switch to SSR (using developer points) for the remainder of our stay. I want to switch to BCV for those first three nights...really only because I think Brady would enjoy SAB with the sand, and I prefer to be closer to Epcot. But, we will see. Being able to watch Wishes from the balcony does sound nice too. Can't beat free-dining. I'm always bummed we can't get that as DVC members!

Jen/shootingstar - Brycen (love the name!) sounds like such a cutie!! That is exciting that you are almost at your due date! Did you have Brycen near or around when he was due?

Jen - Glad to hear that Christopher's appointment went well. That is reassuring!!

Bethany - Ya, those days of 100% mommy are so tough. I find Simba helps a lot on those days, for at least a little while! Funny that Owen likes Bollywood!!! What a great idea about breaking-out the Birnbaum book...Brady would love "finding" all the characters!

Pollito - Ahhhhh....swimming sounds like a fantastic thing to do on Easter. I am jealous!!

 

[ShootingStarMom2]

Swimming for Easter? How lucky. Is anyone dying eggs? I love doing it, but I'm worried about Bry having rainbow hands for the rest of the weekend. Maybe I'll just let him color some with markers.

DH has tomorrow off and I'm so happy. I think we might go to the petting zoo or the city zoo depending on the weather.

Jen NH Brycen has been doing the same thing with some of his words. A lot of them start the same or he just makes a sound to imitate. But our ped told us as long as he's trying to make the words or tries to imitate us we shouldn't worry too much. Brycen has also learned how to reach more by standing on the see-n-say or the box of puzzle pieces.

Kellyf we love his name too. We changed the spelling a ton of times but just combined Bryan and Bryce. I had him a week early according to the dr but the conception dial/wheel said he would be born on the 19th and sure enough, there he was. Also, a side funny note - the perpetual calendar we have was missing the 19 card when I made Oct. So I just put it up anyway with a blank there. Brycen was born that day and I never changed it! I'm afraid to see which June card is missing. lol

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Jen

 

[hotveggy]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Yes, we have been using a velcro swaddle blanket which seems to work well. I gave up with the upstairs pack n play for during the week since DH needs his sleep for work. We will resume again tonight and see what happens.

I definitely got spoiled by that 8.5 hrs of sleep (she did between 6-8 hrs a few times). Lately, I have only been getting 3-4 hours out of her at night... i guess i shouldn't complain because i know a lot of babies at this age are up every 2 hours. the doctor said she would probably have a growth spurt around 4 weeks and would need to eat more. she seems hungry when she wakes up, so maybe that is it.

thanks for all the advice- I'll let you know how the weekend goes.

By the way... Has anyone ever read the book 'Baby Wise'? One of our friends swear by it for sleeping through the night and scheduling- I just started it so I don't have too much to say about it right now...

 

[7beasley]

Hi Ladies!

Happy Good Friday!

Bethany: I'm so glad to hear that Owen's PT appointment went well! That is so cool that you did a solo peformance! Good job. And Yeah for Owen walking!!!

Pollito: good luck with the back yard project. Super funny about Alex making fart jokes! Hope he is feeling better! Did he do ok with the egg decorating?

Christina: Yeah about moving back to Boston!! NH will be a nice place to live. Central Mass (like Worcester/Framingham area) is nice too. How are you doing/feeling - hope you are ok!

Jen: Good luck with Christopher's EI appointment!! Glad to hear his doctor appt went well and he is gaining some of his weight back.

Starwatcher: Emily is beautiful - what a precious picture. Welcome to the group.

Clgwil: Hi - hope you are doing well! Your Easter Flan sounds very good!

Kara: Sorry to hear that your dog Rusty is being a little wiry and growling at the baby. How are things going with the dog now? And yeah for Caleb sleeping through the night.

Kelly: That is the funniest thing ever that Brady loves to dance to Flo Rida -- how did you even discover that -- you should send a video of that to Ellen Degeneres - she might put it on the show.

Ash: I know what you mean about kids being fine at the doctor and then crying hysterically - they are at that age now when they remember that its the place where they get the shots!! How is Ellery feeling now with the rash and all?

Hotveggy: Welcome!! This is a great group of girls here!

Jenny: It sounds like Noah is doing great-- its magical when you "see" their brains working and learning everyday!!

Shootingstarmom: Welcome!! Congrats on the 17 month old - I have a 17 month old little girl too. And what great news about the new baby - Cameron! Are you having a smooth pregnancy?

Amber: Hi-- how are you and Spencer doing?

Bec: Hi -- is Vaylie getting excited for the Easter bunny.

Mel: Leg hugging is so cute!!

Denise: Happy Passover!!

Michelle: Hello -- sounds like you and Will are doing great - when is your podcast cruise - its coming up soon right?

*************
Frist off -- thanks to you guys for all your nice words and advice re my SIL/realtor/family drama. I think things will be okay. My husband filled my dad in on what's going on with my brother so they are going to get some help now from the parents - which is good! And we have found a new (stranger) realtor and we had my SIL refer us to her so SIL gets about a $1000 referral fee - so thats good!

You guys are funny with all your mini van talk. DH has been wanting one -- we plan to get one at the end of 2010. We are leaning towards the Nissan Quest.

So -- BIG news -- I had my appointment today with the Reproductive Endocrinologist to discuss our Frozen Embroyo Transfer -- my blood work was good - I am on the hormones now in preparation -- I have to have a uterine sounding next month - we planned out the calendar for meds -- and they confirmed that my 4 frozen embroyos are all in good shape. Moreover, they told us that the IVF odds with the frozen embroys are about 50-50 whether we will get pregnant -- those are pretty good odds. I tried to talk to the doctor about our options if these don't work and he pretty much dismissed us and said not to go there yet since the odds were overwhelmingly good that this would work and we'd be walking out of there next year with a baby!!!! And since we only want 2 kids total - he was basically saying - relax, be patient - odds are this will work and be the end of the road for us!! God I hope so!!!!!

So -- we are on schedule to have the uterus test in May - call in June for prescriptions - start the other drugs in July and then 19 days after I get my July period -- its transfer time baby and then my 2WW begins!!!! I am SOOOO excited!!

In other news -- Izzy had her 18 month checkup on Wednesday --- she is clocking in at 33 inches (90th percentile for height) and 26.3 pounds (75th percentile for weight). Her walking/stair climbing was right on track and her speech skills were above average and they said we could introduce potty training any time now.

So we are great!!

HAPPY EASTER girls!!

-Nicole

 

[DMickey28]

Nicole - I grew up in Sturbridge MA. I don't know that I would want to move back ... I imagine it has changed a lot. I left in 1991, just before high school. What towns around Worcester and towards Framingham would you recommend? We are also looking in Bellingham/Franklin area.

 

[7beasley]

Hi Christina -- Southboro, Marlboro, Northboro, Shrewsbury, Natick....and then there are the towns closer to Boston which are nice but super expensive like Newton, Wellesley, Lexington...

The other side of Worcester closer to Sturbridge is places like Auburn, Paxton, Leicester and Holden.

Bellingham/Franklin area is nice...like Medway, Milton, Hopkinton...

There are so many places -- obviously, the closer you get to Boston - the more expensive they are!!

When are you moving? What town if your husband's new job in?

-Nicole

 

[DMickey28]

Happy Easter everyone!!

Nicole - DH's job is in Woburn, just between exit 37 and 38 off of 93. We love the idea of Bellingham/Milford but I think that is just going to be a touch too far. Honestly there isn't much inside of 20 miles of Woburn in MA that we like. We just can't afford $400K + for a first home in those towns. That is why we are drawn to NH but the taxes in NH override the lower house prices. Honestly ... it's crazy. We would like to keep our house price under $350K in MA and closer to $300K in NH.

I am trying to find further benefit from living in NH and working in MA. It can't be money because the taxes are so much higher up there. It has to just be the way of life that is causing people to move up there right?

 

[kellyf2626]

Happy Easter everyone!!

Nicole - DH's job is in Woburn, just between exit 37 and 38 off of 93. We love the idea of Bellingham/Milford but I think that is just going to be a touch too far. Honestly there isn't much inside of 20 miles of Woburn in MA that we like. We just can't afford $400K + for a first home in those towns. That is why we are drawn to NH but the taxes in NH override the lower house prices. Honestly ... it's crazy. We would like to keep our house price under $350K in MA and closer to $300K in NH.

I am trying to find further benefit from living in NH and working in MA. It can't be money because the taxes are so much higher up there. It has to just be the way of life that is causing people to move up there right?

LOL....we like NH (and I grew-up in MA)! I think you would be able to find a really nice house for $300K in this market up here in NH. Off to find some good ones for you...

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Brady had a long, but fun day. As one of his Easter gifts, we got him the Cozy Coupe and he LOVES it. My parents got him the Step 2 double wagon as one of his gifts too...and he loved that even more. It was easier to get in/out without the roof!

 

[ashjohnson80]

Hi, hope everyone had a Happy Easter! We had a nice day. We went to church, came home and Ellery took a nap and then we went to an Easter Egg hunt at my uncle's house and then to my parents' for a cookout. I'm tired and Ellery is still awake...

Her rash is better now that she is taking the zyrtec.

 

[DMickey28]

Nicole - I saw your FB pictures of Easter! Looks like Christmas and makes my Easter Basket look shameful! How did the Cozy Coupe work on the carpets? Alexander loves firetruck thing that his friend has that is very similar but she has tile throughout the house. I am afraid on the carpet it won't work as well!! Find any houses yet? I imagine the market everywhere up there will allow for a decent offer under the asking price to be accepted!! Can you recommend any specific towns within reasonable distance? I was thinking Londonderry, Windham ($$), Plaistow, Hampstead, Hudson, Merrimack (too far??), Pelham, Litchfield, Atkinson (but heard it's not as nice as the others along with Salem).

Ash - I am glad her rash is better! Did she really do the Easter Egg Hunt? I was going to hide some Eggs for Alex but I honestly didn't think he'd know to look for them. Our friends got him this automatic bubble maker that shoots out hundreds of bubbles at a time .. He loves it!!

 

[k_reile]

Hi all...here are a couple pictures of Caleb from this weekend. Hope you all had a great weekend. I saw some really cute pics of your kids on facebook for easter.

This is his Easter Ball that grandma got him! (please excuse the nasty bib)

This is his new watering pail that he got with a sand bucket and shovel for when we go to Canada that he can play in the sand (and hopefully not eat the sand)

He also got stage 2 baby food and gerber puffs from his other grandma and his one aunt. The easter bunny did not stop at our house...truthfully I forgot about it and figured since he was so small he won't know anyways.

For all of you moms who's kids wanted to dye eggs and then you realized you have nothing to protect their clothes...here is my newphew! My brother said the economy effected easter egg dying....LOL!! Its actually a tie dye easter kit so thats why plastic baggies were being used...not so he wouldn;t make a huge mess though it did help keep the mess down. It actually was a really wierd egg dying kit...i guess we are just used to the dip the egg into a cup of dye type. Oh well.

Not much else going on here. I got a wierd friend request on facebook. It was from a guy whose name I did not reconginze...apparently you can look at someones info when you are not friends with them and realized he was our salesman from when we bought the van. I don;t want that kind of friendship on facebook (don;t want him using it as a business contact especially if they want to try to sell me something) I told DH and he thought it was wierd too! I choose to ignore the request (which thanks to a recent segment on Rachel Ray---if you ignore someone they do not know)

 

[mrs.explorer1977]

Mel - What dates will you be down in September? We are going Aug. 31st - Sept. 13th. We actually just added three days to the beginning...we tend to do that a lot...book a trip, and then start adding-on days. The beauty of points, right? We will be down there for 13 nights - I can't wait!!! The first 3 nights we are currently booked at the new Bay Lake Tower with a MK view. Then we switch to SSR (using developer points) for the remainder of our stay. I want to switch to BCV for those first three nights...really only because I think Brady would enjoy SAB with the sand, and I prefer to be closer to Epcot. But, we will see. Being able to watch Wishes from the balcony does sound nice too. Can't beat free-dining. I'm always bummed we can't get that as DVC members!

We'll be there from the 30th to the 6th. We'll be down for our 4th anniversary. We just borrowed points to stay at VWL for the first 4 nights, and then we're doing 3 nights at POR with free dining. We've stayed at AKV the last 3 trips and even though Kidani Village is finally open, we're skipping it this time for a change of pace. We've waitlisted for a standard view at Bay Lake -- they only have water view left, and it's more points than we're willing to borrow! We blew through our '09 points staying in a 2BR in December! Haha! Where do you own again?

k_reile: So cute, silly bib and all! Hope he has fun playing with "Canadian sand"! Hahaha! Obviously, we have kinder, gentler sand up here, eh?? And, it's maple flavoured!

Ash -- the pics of E are so darn cute!! Love it! And, glad her rash is better!

7beasley -- ummm....just one word: YAY!!! We're going to start trying for #2 at the end of May...which is so close, yet so far away, so I can only imagine how you feel!!

hotveggy -- we used this thing called "The Miracle Blanket" -- and it was! Such good sleep once we started that! And, to transition out, we moved to the sleep sacs...

ImarriedGrumpy -- sounds like you're well on your way to brainwashing! We are too, and it's GREAT!

Jen in NH -- I'm not originally from Guelph, but DH is. I'm a country girl, so I still have moments of forgetting to close the blinds and walking downstairs in my underwear to the laundry room...hmmm...I think I just discovered why our neighbours on either side of us don't really talk to us!

---

Things are good up here in the North! ;-) We had a good, but very busy weekend! Colin got to follow two egg trails -- one at our house, and one at the inlaws. He did really well with it! Of course, he was on such a sugar high all afternoon from all the chocolate, but it's only Easter once a year, right? We had dinner at our house on Saturday, which amazingly went very well!

Colin's diaper rash is much much better now -- and I'm not sure if it's because of the prescription cream, or the fact that he's been drinking rice milk instead of dairy since Wednesday. But, either way, I'll take it! This the is the second time that he's had a diaper rash that went from being a yeast infection to a bacterial infection. Hopefully the rice milk, combined with the probiotics will help make things right!

I guess I should get some work done :-( Thankfully, I've only got 2 hours left! Here's hoping they go fast!!

 

[k_reile]

k_reile: So cute, silly bib and all! Hope he has fun playing with "Canadian sand"! Hahaha! Obviously, we have kinder, gentler sand up here, eh?? And, it's maple flavoured!

QUOTE]

Wouldn't it be cool if it was maple flavored??

Glad you had a great weekend!