The new "New Moms" thread!

[beckmrk04]

Facebook is the devil!!!! I have actually considered cancelling my account this week. I can' stay off of it. I get on it subconsciously and the next thing I know I'm taking some quiz like "what kind of fungus are you" or some crap that is complete nonsense anyway... or tending my virtual fields or planning virtual soriority parties....

There needs to be a 12 step program for facebook. Serious.

We had a 12 step for politics... Or was it 7 steps. Hm. But I really wanted to give up politics. Facebook- I love that addiction!

 

[beckmrk04]

Ash- I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!!

Bethany- I laughed out loud reading about Owen asking for his pee-pee. I had the brilliant idea of teaching Vaylie the anatomically correct terms, and it's like they can sense the power in the words and want to say them all the time. SHe calls her lady bits her "china" as in, "Washing my china." It's hysterical. And she asks to see Mommy's "ipples." Or tells everyone that Mommy has "bweasts."

Vaylie's self-love started around New Year's Day, when I took her pacis away. Apparently she then developed other self-soothing behaviors which include her china. I actually had to ask the pediatrician about it because I was clueless- when we are in the car and she's in the carseat, she sort of "rides" the buckle between her legs, if you catch my drift. At first DH was like, "WTH is she doing? SHe looks like she's in pain!" I saw her, and was like, "Nope...... Don't think she's in pain.... " OMG!!! My ped laughed and said it was pretty common and gave me a handout on toddler self-"love" and I am not kidding, this handout said that this behavior often will coincide with the loss of a lovey or BINKY!!!! I knew I should have let her keep the darn paci!

Moral of the story- let your kids have their pacis or break them before they can figure out another, ahem, behavior.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Becky, I am sorry, but I am at Vaylie!

 

[Pollito916]

OMG Becky, I am dying! V is hysterical washing her "china"!

It sounds like almost everyone's kids is loving themselves!

I am never taking away Alex's lovey or his thumb!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We know Michelle is - lucky!

Alex has insisted on looking at our WDW pics every night before bed now and says he wants to go to "dizzy world" and see "mickey mouse cwubhouse." How can I deny the boy what he wants? I just wish we had the money to go back sometime soon.

Whenever Alex gets upset because DH or I have to go to work, we tell him we have to go make money so we can go see Mickey. And now he tells everyone that "Daddy go work make mucho money so Alex go see Mickey!"

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Oh Becky, that is too funny with Vaylie! Heaven help me, I don't know what we'll do about Owen's Binky attachment now!!

I've been trying to teach Owen the correct names for all his parts, but of course he ends up making up his own words, just like he's been making up his own signs instead of using the ASL ones I've been teaching him. Now he's developed a fascination with my chest, and keeps trying to look down my shirt or pull my shirt up/down so he can check things out. DH thinks it's hysterical, especially when Owen manages to find a "button" as he's now saying. I've been telling Owen that he forfited his rights to that area once he decided to stop nursing.


Dh said he'll watch Owen for a while today so I can go get a pedicure for mother's day, but now he's (DH) in a crabby mood so we'll see if that ends up happening. He's trying to fix our showerhead and it's not going well, so I don't blame him for being irritated. We'll see...maybe Owen will be in a good mood all day and make it easier to sneak away.

 

[Villain-lover]

Well ladies, we are off tomorrow to Atlanta for the week! It will be our first long trip with the twins! I have taken them away for the weekend two hours away to Raleigh before but not a trip like this. We are staying with my aunt and m mom is already down there waiting on us! We are going to the Zoo, the Aquarium, hangin by the pool, and Robert and I are goning to a Braves game Friday! Wish us luck!

Michelle, hope you are having fun on your cruise!

Ash, hope your interview went well and you hear something good soon!

I am sure I will be around here during the week some...

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Meredith, I hope you have a fantastic time this week!

Bethany, were you able to get away for your pedicure?


We spent the day at Epcot. It was REALLY hot though (about 95). We did have a good time though. They were giving all the moms flowers as we walked in, so that was nice. Spencer loved running around Germany. We let him down to look at the train, but he favorite thing was watching the boats go around the water. Universe of Energy broke down right after the Big Bang, so we had to get off. That stunk because Spencer had just fallen asleep. We didn't ride much, but just had a good time looking around.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope you all had a lovely day!

I didn't get my pedicure, but it's been a nice day anyway. We stopped on the way home from church and picked up Vietnamese sandwiches and then came home and had lunch on the back patio, which was relaxing. And then Owen played in the yard while we sat in our adirondack chairs and read. I think that would have lasted longer, but Owen discovered some rotting lemons under the lemon tree and we had to remove that entertainment and clean up the mucky boy.

I tried to take a nap when Owen laid down this afternoon, but the cats were "head dancing" as we call it (pacing back and forth on the pillows) and then Owen woke up after just 45min. So I took Owen for a walk over to Japantown (the next neighborhood over from ours) and we shared a Hawaiian shaved ice (mango and passion fruit...yum!) at a fun cafe there. Unfortunately, my tired boy had a melt-down on the walk home, so I plopped him back in his crib and he fell asleep right away. He's napping now, but we'll have to wake him up by 6 so he'll go to sleep tonight.

And DH is going to make me bratwurst for dinner tonight - one of my favorite summer meals - so it will be another international food day: French Vietnamese for lunch, Hawaiian-Japanese for snack, and German-American for dinner!

 

[DMickey28]

Ash- I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!!

Bethany- I laughed out loud reading about Owen asking for his pee-pee. I had the brilliant idea of teaching Vaylie the anatomically correct terms, and it's like they can sense the power in the words and want to say them all the time. SHe calls her lady bits her "china" as in, "Washing my china." It's hysterical. And she asks to see Mommy's "ipples." Or tells everyone that Mommy has "bweasts."

Vaylie's self-love started around New Year's Day, when I took her pacis away. Apparently she then developed other self-soothing behaviors which include her china. I actually had to ask the pediatrician about it because I was clueless- when we are in the car and she's in the carseat, she sort of "rides" the buckle between her legs, if you catch my drift. At first DH was like, "WTH is she doing? SHe looks like she's in pain!" I saw her, and was like, "Nope...... Don't think she's in pain.... " OMG!!! My ped laughed and said it was pretty common and gave me a handout on toddler self-"love" and I am not kidding, this handout said that this behavior often will coincide with the loss of a lovey or BINKY!!!! I knew I should have let her keep the darn paci!

Moral of the story- let your kids have their pacis or break them before they can figure out another, ahem, behavior.

OMG Becky - I was laughing until I had tears in my eyes. Luckily Alex only finds the goods in the tub. Then he pulls as far as he can while laughing and looking at me. Can't figure that feels good!! I am with Pollito, I am never taking his thumb away.

Happy Mother's Day everyone.

Meredith - Have fun in Atlanta.

We spent the day in the pool. Literally ... I think we spent over 4 hours in the pool today. I got Alex a Nemo swimmy float thing. It's a shirt that has the tube around the bottom. Once he got the hang of it he was swimming across the pool by himself and jumping in with me holding his hand. Awwww... It was cool!!

DH and I are going to WDW tomorrow for the night. My MIL is here and will stay with Alex. We figured since we are moving home we won't have a chance to go for such a quick trip ever again and since DH isn't working this next week as well ... why not. We are going to go into MK with my friends passes but DH probably won't be able to walk around much. We are totally splurging though ... Guess where we are staying?????? Grand Floridian!!! That way I can go to the park while he rests ...

 

[beckmrk04]

Glad I could entertain everyone. Don't you know someday Vaylie will be able to look up everything I have ever typed on the internet and will FREAK about me sharing that story. Ha! *sigh* I just thought I had longer before I had to deal with that stuff.

Pollito- how cute! Vaylie is telling everyone about the trip too. I'm still scared to fly with her, especially since we're doing St. Louis --> Dallas/FW, DFW--> SNA, and we have to switch planes!

But, my SIL is letting me borrow her Peg stroller for the trip, which means that I don't need to buy a new stroller or try to take the BOB. She just said that if I have the Peg she might have to borrow the BOB for the week. Fair enough.

Bethany- I am in awe of your culinary adventures.

Meredith- have fun on your trip!

Amber- I love Epcot! Love it. Wish I could just pop in on occassion. But, the FL heat pretty much garauntees I'll never move there- it is SO flipping hot! I'm too fat to be that hot. It's gross and kinda dangerous.

DMickey- the GF!!! How cool! It will be nice to have a little get-away. I hope you have a great time!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a nice day- we went to the zoo. DH had to work, so that was a bummer, but we got to do our thing yesterday- went down to historic St. Charles, MO- it's cute; on Main St. they have a ton of little shops and boutiques on a brick paved road right by the Missouri River. It was a gorgeous day. The zoo was pretty busy today, but it was nice.

And, we leave on our trip 2 weeks from tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! I feel like there is still so much to do and buy to get ready, but I'm working on lists and budgeting (I really don't want to go overboard!), and figuring out this whole "flying-with-a-toddler" thing.

But, I am PUMPED!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Man Becky, I hear you on flying with a toddler being totally intimidating! We leave 2 weeks from yesterday for a trip to Banff, Alberta to visit DH's dad & step-mom, and my dad & step-mom are driving up from MN to meet us there. Just trying to figure out what to check through, what I need to bring on the plane, how to keep him happy on the plane, etc. etc. is just stressful!

Thank goodness we don't have to worry about bringing a pack-n-play or a booster chair/high chair at least - DFIL decided to take care of that for us on the Canadian end. But I'm just dreading getting through the airport with the stroller, carseat, diaper bag, camera bag, dh's bag, and the travel DVD player. Not to mention figuring out exactly what to bring to keep Mr. Wiggles occupied for the flight and airport time. I've got some of the color wonder stuff from Crayola that I want to bring, but DH thinks that's a recipe for disaster with the things that could be dropped and lost on the plane. I think I'll override him on this one, though. And I found a few new books that I'm keeping hidden to pull out as a treat, and I'm planning on getting some special treat foods to also keep squirmy boy busy.

Ugh. Just dreading that flight...I almost want to bring earplugs for the rest of the passengers just in case Owen melts down. He's really starting to get mad when he's frustrated or thwarted in his plans.

 

[beckmrk04]

Bethany- that's where I am in this whole travel-planning thing! I plan on buying some small toys and wrapping them like presents (Vaylie is REALLY into getting presents). I'll just buy some cheap toys and give her a new one to unwrap every once in a while. Then I'm packing some fruit-snacks to chew in case her ears pop; some M&Ms or other such coveted candy; the portable DVD player (seriously- what did people do before these?!); Hey- I just had an idea...

I was thinking about the color wonder things, and DH and I had talked about the fact that she'll drop crayons or whatever- BUT

Maybe I'll hot-glue some long pieces of yarn around the markers or crayons, then tie the other ends to a keyring- that way if they get dropped, they are still attached to strings on the keyring and we won't lose any pieces.

It might just work. I think I'll test it tonight. Hm.

And we have to do the stroller, carseat, luggage, carryons- and still trying to figure out sleeping arrangements for V when we get to my friends house! Aaaahhh!

 

[TiggerStac]

So I love Vaylie's antics with her China. Brady calls it his enis. Almost every diaper change he asks me "what's that?" and his brother told him what it is, so he has his own version.

I finally got a wii fit, just tried it out for a little bit. Got the set up in and about 15 minutes of aerobics before Brady decided he didn't want to nap...so out of bed he came. He did wake up late today, so he may not be ready, but I've been itching to try it. I didn't want to try it w/hubby or 7 year old DS around...as they'd try and steal it from me!

So far I'm down 33 lbs from highest w/this pregnancy, the plus side...I only gained 21 lbs! So I'm 11 ahead of the game and have been wearing jeans...not my favorite jeans, yet I dont dare try them and have them not fit. I figured I'd give myself another week or 2.

Does anyone have any discs for the wii fit (other than the one it came with) you can recommend?? I'm a big walker, so the aerobics bit is new for me, so I need to work up. When I went to the gym, it was walking, swimming, stair master and bike.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Stacy, congrats on the weight loss!!

Becky and Bethany, good luck flying with the kids.
We are suppose to drive north this weekend (about 14 hours) and I am really nervous about it. Spencer was ok when we moved down, but he was only 2 months old. We just bought a DVD player today, so hopefully he will be entertained by that. I am really excited to see family though!!

 

[clgwli]

Hi everyone. We are back from our trip. I have pictures up on Facebook for those of you who know me there.

It was great over all. Poor DS was teething badly on the way back home and it made for a not so good flight home until we could get him to fall asleep.

traveling in general was much easier with him this time than last time we went. It's amazing how quickly you learn to balance carriyng all the items onto a plane I did have one flight attendant who helped me out even though I had gotten used to balancing it all.

We are looking forward to our next trip to WDW though.

Oops, sounds like he's waking. I never time posting right

 

[hotveggy]

Does anyone have any discs for the wii fit (other than the one it came with) you can recommend?? I'm a big walker, so the aerobics bit is new for me, so I need to work up. When I went to the gym, it was walking, swimming, stair master and bike.

DH got me the Gold's Gym Aerobic game for Mother's Day. It is mostly kickboxing though there is some strength training stuff as well (sit ups, push ups, squats, etc.) I have only tried it twice (he gave it to me early). So far I like it actually better than the one that came with the Fit- I feel like that one is so broken up and it takes 20 minutes to do 10 minutes of exercise. There is also a new game coming out in a few weeks that is supposed to incorporate strength bands. We pre-ordered that one for our anniversary. I'll let you know how it is when we get it.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Congrats on the weightloss, Stacy! I'm back down to pre-pregnancy weight (finally!) and now I'm trying to lose the 5-10lbs I was working on getting rid of before I got pregnant. It's very satisfying to lose the weight!

Becky, I like the hot glue and string idea...I might just have to steal that for Owen's color wonder markers and finger paints! I've got a ton of ribbon sitting in a box with my craft supplies - I bet I could tie it around the stuff, hot glue it in place, and then tie the ribbon onto his wrist or his carseat strap on the airplane! You're a genius!

Darn - got to go again...this kid is just not napping well lately! Doesn't he know mommy wants some computer time?

 

[Pollito916]

Meredith - hope you're having fun in Atlanta!

Amber - sounds like a great Mother's Day, if I could pick anywhere to go for Mother's Day, Epcot would definitely be one of my top choices! It's been really hot here too - over 100 for more than a week now, with no drop below 100 in sight.

Bethany - I'm so jealous of all the food available near you - that is probably one of the things I miss most about Chicago. There are some restaurants with ethnic foods here, but most of them are pretty terrible. The Mexican is Sonoran, which is not what I'm used to, but still pretty good. The Chinese and Thai places I've tried so far have been awful - greasy and flavorless. It's sad when the closest thing to authentic asian food I've found is Pei Wei.

Christina - Hope you had a great time at WDW, I've always wanted to stay at the Floridian! That's neat that Alexander is having such a good time in the pool. Alex doesn't go as often, so he still won't let go of me even in his Cars lifevest.

Becky - I would like to reassure you that the plane ride with Vaylie will be fine, but since she is so much like Alex in so many ways, I kind of doubt it. Sorry. I really do hope it goes better for you than it did for us with our trip to WDW in December. The things that kept him occupied the best were the DVD player (remember to charge the batteries, especially on the return trip!), snacks, and cups of ice. We brought color wonder, which he likes at home, but had almost no interest in it on the plane. That's a great idea you have with the glue and string, though, and I think unwrapping the presents should keep her entertained for a while. I wish I had tried that with Alex, but he didn't really get the concept yet. Our biggest problem with Alex is that he just can't sit still that long and kept wanting to get up.

Stacy - congrats on the weight loss, that's awesome! I wish we had a Wii, my mom and sister both have the Wii Fit and I have played it at their houses. I would like to lose another 10-15 pounds or so, and started working out last week. I have worked out every day since Saturday, and gained 2 lbs so far - so frustrating!

clgwli - welcome back, I'm glad you had a good trip!

****************
Sounds like everyone had a nice Mother's Day. Mine was pretty good. My husband worked until 4, so I went to the mall with my mom & sister and Alex. Bought myself a couple of necklaces at Macy's (they were on sale - too good of a deal to pass up!) since I knew DH wouldn't have bought me anything working 2 jobs the past 4 months.

Then when DH got off work, he made us all dinner of king crab legs with corn on the cob mexican style and new potatoes. Yum! By some miracle we actually had crab left over, so the next day he made homemade crab cakes with homemade hollandaise sauce. It's no wonder I gained 2 lbs this weekend!

And the best present - DH was off during the day yesterday and today, and he cleaned the whole house. Kitchen, floors, toilets, moved the couches, everything. He even organized parts of rooms upstairs that we haven't organized since we moved in! It feels so nice to have a clean more organized house (except for this huge pile of papers on the computer desk in front of me but that's my area and he won't touch it).

 

[Pollito916]

Oh, I almost forgot to add. I'm trying to make a decision on whether to get a new script for my bcp. It runs out next Saturday. DH & I have been talking about having another baby a lot lately, but I'm just not sure I'm ready yet with him still working 2 jobs. But I really want a baby girl . Of course I would love another boy, too, but I really want a girl. Besides, DH promised last time that since we had a boy, I could have a girl the next time.

I have an appt for my annual with the obgyn next Monday, but may have to reschedule, depending on when AF shows after taking the last pill. If I have to reschedule, I will need to ask for a refill on the bcp since I don't have any left. No biggie, but I'm not sure I want to refill it since I take Seasonale, which lasts 3 months. Also not sure how much of it my new insurance will cover, since it wants to charge me $160/month for my asthma meds. I didn't refill that one, we'll see how long I can hold out with just the inhaler.

So what do you all think? Should I wait until DH finds one good job? What if that doesn't happen anytime soon? I don't want to wait too long between kids if possible, and Alex will be 3 next February.

I'm also kind of worried about finances since we've been struggling lately, but we will pay off one of the cars in less than a year, so that should help. And hopefully Alex will be potty trained by then, so we will still only be buying diapers for 1 kid. Then there's extra $ for the sitter. I'm rambling now, I'll stop and go to bed.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Pollito, I feel as though there is no right time to have kids. Something is always going to be there as a reason why not to have one. Even if you get pregnant right away, it is still going to be 9-10 months before the baby arrives, so a lot can change during that time.
If you are worried about money, then I would write out a budget and see where your money is going. You may have places you can cut, so that you aren't struggling so much.