The Official New Mom Thread

[gwcollins71]

Thanks everyone, for the well wishes.

Did anyone else receive their package today? I'm getting antsy---I sent it priority Tuesday, but I guess with the holiday, it could get backed up til Monday.

Thank you Alice!! The gift came yesterday. I was in our door when we got back from my neices. Lily's gifts are awesome. The sleeper is getting washed today and I love the romper. She has so few 12 mos things so I know we'll get a lot of use out of it. I loved the rompers when she was just born.

Mike ummm, read her the picture book to her last night. He was like, "how am I supposed to read it. It has no words." DUH!! SOmetimes my hubby is obtuse. I love the illustrations. The peek a boo blocks were a hit. We got her a toy with the balls last month and hubby has been looking at the hippo that eats the blocks. We're gonna get it now.

Thanks so much! It was our first holiday gift.

Gretchen

P.S. We'll be sending our gift out this week. We still have one more thing we need to get.

 

[Alice28]

Thank you Alice!! The gift came yesterday. I was in our door when we got back from my neices. Lily's gifts are awesome. The sleeper is getting washed today and I love the romper. She has so few 12 mos things so I know we'll get a lot of use out of it. I loved the rompers when she was just born.

Mike ummm, read her the picture book to her last night. He was like, "how am I supposed to read it. It has no words." DUH!! SOmetimes my hubby is obtuse. I love the illustrations. The peek a boo blocks were a hit. We got her a toy with the balls last month and hubby has been looking at the hippo that eats the blocks. We're gonna get it now.

Thanks so much! It was our first holiday gift.

Gretchen

P.S. We'll be sending our gift out this week. We still have one more thing we need to get.

WooHoo! I'm always nervous when I mail packages, esp to addresses I haven't sent to before- I don't know why, just am afraid it won't turn up or something.

I'm glad you like the items & that the clothes items were the appropriate size. I love love love all the peek a blocks and roll arounds- you would be surprised at how long I stood there debating which set to get Lily. I held up the final two I was choosing between to Molly to see which she reached for first. I know, I am a dork.

Sounds like you got a lot done this weekend Lissawynn. Glad to see you back.

 

[gwcollins71]

Hi everyone,

Right now I'm procrastinating while I do more work on my thesis. I swear, I would have dropped out of the program when we moved had I not been so far along. I have onemore class (clinic) after this and my thesis presentation. Then I am done.

I told hubby then I want to quit my job and stay home. Between work, school and the new baby I'm dying. I don't know how people do it? Our house is a stye. I told hubby I want Merry Maids for Christmas. The really bad part is instead of doing work or homework, I have been spending like 6-10 hours a week on my scrapbook. Loving it completely. I get so absorbed. It reminds me of how I was in art school when I'd be working on a piece. I'd lose all track of time. On a good note, I won best layout award at the Archiver's crop on Friday night. I came home so proud and told hubby and he said, "everyone else's must have been pretty bad." I was like, Gee, thanks a lot. Then he tried to talk his way out of it.

Lisawynn -- Our Thanksgiving was similar. We were told to be there at noon but didn't eat 'till almost 4. We skipped out on dessert because we needed to get home so hubby could get up for work. He works for Fed Ex and this is their busiest time of the year. I won't be seeing much of him for a while.

Robin -- Tell Miss Molly she done good. She has excellent taste in peek a boo blocks.

DisPhD -- I love the photos of the girls in the leaves and the one of you and the girls. Its so nice to see what everyone looks like. Fall pictures are the best. Like I tell hubby. At least in the fall and winter I look bulky like everyone else wearing sweaters and jackets. In the spring and summer I just look fat.

Ok, I guess I'm done rambling right now. Can you tell I don't want to get to work. Off to the the thesis I go.

Happy Sunday,
Gretchen

 

[Alice28]

On a good note, I won best layout award at the Archiver's crop on Friday night. I came home so proud and told hubby and he said, "everyone else's must have been pretty bad." I was like, Gee, thanks a lot. Then he tried to talk his way out of it.

What a butt head! I would have been so irritated by that comment!

Reminds me of my DH a couple days after my college graduation (We were engaged). I was driving him to the airport (he lived in Portland at that time and me still in San Jose), and I said, "I can't believe I'm finally done! And I did it in 4 years! (most of our friends, incl him, were taking 5-6 years to get their BA/BS). He said, "Yeah, but your major was Child Development- not exactly a difficult major."



Why he MAY have a had a slight point, I still had to take umpteen tests and write a ton of term papers with the best of 'em. The topic may have been children vs. molecular biology but I can't say that cognitive development was an easy one to digest.

Besides his major was history- not exactly a challenge either.

He backtracked for quite sometime on THAT comment.

 

[gwcollins71]

What a butt head! I would have been so irritated by that comment!

Reminds me of my DH a couple days after my college graduation (We were engaged). I was driving him to the airport (he lived in Portland at that time and me still in San Jose), and I said, "I can't believe I'm finally done! And I did it in 4 years! (most of our friends, incl him, were taking 5-6 years to get their BA/BS). He said, "Yeah, but your major was Child Development- not exactly a difficult major."



Why he MAY have a had a slight point, I still had to take umpteen tests and write a ton of term papers with the best of 'em. The topic may have been children vs. molecular biology but I can't say that cognitive development was an easy one to digest.

Besides his major was history- not exactly a challenge either.

He backtracked for quite sometime on THAT comment.

Robin --
Hubby tries to tell me how easy my job (teacher) is but I have to constantly remind him that he too was an education major. He quit after student teaching. He hated it. He was doing secondary ed - math and got placed in a junior high which is torture for most people. However, he took many of the same child development classes that I did. He can "Piaget" with the best of them. His comment is my 6 hour work day and my 10 month work year with every random 5th Monday off. Then in the next breath he'll complain about how I spend all summer preparing themes and units for the next year.

I guess all in all, he can be a butt-head, so I shouldn't defend him right now.

SIDENOTE: Can you tell I'm really not into this paper? UGH!! My thesis rough draft is due in like two weeks and I'm on the boards.

Anyway, God bless you for going into child development. I don't think I could ever handle little ones like that. Right now, I'm not a big fan of middle schools either though. December and June are miserable times for a teacher. The little ones scare me. I'm always afraid they're going to start crying or pee on themselves. Give me 8 and up any time.

Gretchen

 

[lissawynn]

Gretchen - Has your DH managed to pull his foot out of his mouth yet? My hubby NEVER even tries to tell me how easy being a teacher is, especially after the first couple of weeks of this year. My class load has increased by about 40 students since last year. Top it off with coming home every night to a house that needs some kind of cleaning and a son and husband to care for. He knows I'd kill him if he ever said anything like that to me. I finished my MS almost two years ago and am going to begin taking classes this summer for my principal's cert. That should be so much fun!

I got the majority of my Christmas gifts wrapped this afternoon. I still have a few things to buy, but since I did so well Friday and yesterday, I thought why not get the wrapping done. This will be so much easier than doing it on Christmas Eve.

I have no ambition to bring the decorations up from the basement. I don't decorate much b/c our house is small, but I have a few things I like to put in our living room. I also have to figure out what I'm going to do with our tree. I have many old glass balls, so I'm thinking they're going to go on the top and back of the tree (where tiny hands can't get them).

DH starts his new job tomorrow. Keep a good thought for him, would you all? He's kind of nervous after leaving the job he had for 18 years. He really things this is a good move for him (and ultimately us, too). I'm hoping he really like what he's going to be doing.

 

[Alice28]

Oh, I never worked with little ones either- they scare me too. ;-) I majored in Child Dev with an emphasis on K-8 age. The program I did branched in two directions ECE or elementary ed. I did the elementary ed and got accepted to the teaching program (to get my cert) but decided to get married instead and move out of state. Wrong move for the time. I should have waited to get married another 6 months and just got my certification...it's been a PITA to try and get it here in Oregon. Still haven't done it, almost 12 years later. Plus, if I had done it then, my parents would have paid for it!

I'm slowly getting a little better each day. Can bend my knee a bit more. Put a little more weight on it.

Lissawynn, keep us posted on how DH does tomorrow.

Gretchen- I'm crackin the whip- go to thy thesis and get it done! Like I'm one to talk...I'm bummed cause I brought all my scrap stuff down to my parents and just left it there when I came home yesterday- we had enough other crap to worry about. Now I feel like trying to crop.

Don't know much else. Sent DH pics of the boys last night at DS's party and he got very sad- realized how much he is missing and just wants to be home NOW. 40 more days ladies until he leaves the sandbox. I need to redo my ticker.

 

[bellacam]

Hi to all the mommies! It is good to finally be able to be back home and have my own computer! I'm glad everyone had good Thanksgivings for the most part. We had a wonderful day. We did dinner with dh family and then dessert with mine. It worked out great. DH had to be back at work, so after having our pictures done first thing Friday morning, he went home. I just got back today from being at my familys. They live two hours away and since dh worked all weekend, I stayed there a few extra days. I started my Christmas shopping and got my swap gift together. I am going to get it out in the mail tomorrow! Like I said, we had picutres done so I thought I'd share! I am so happy with these pictures. We have had really good luck at the Picture People.

DH, Aidan and I

 

[Alice28]

Bridget- what great pictures! You all look so great! Aidan is a cutie!

 

[joats]

Wow! I love all the new pictures! What a great looking bunch! I hope to be able to put some new one's up soon too (maybe I can get DH to do it tonight).

Tykes: Hope you don't mind, but I'm copying your black and white photo idea. Yours came out amazing. I'm just hoping for good. I had hoped to do that this weekend, but my SIL came over today for a bit and we didn't do them. Hopefully next weekend.
Lissawyn: Good luck to your DH. Sending positive thoughts his way.

I love hearing about everyone's swap packages. I wish I could have participated, but I didn't want to flake out on anyone as things are nuts around here and time flies by and the weekends go buy too fast. I am enjoying hearing the reports in. Sounds like you all did an amazing job picking out stuff for one another.

Well, I finally have a cold. I haven't been sick since a year ago October. I, luckily made it thru pregnancy without any colds, flu etc. Today my whole body is hurting and my head is stuffy. I hope it just remains a cold. It's so very hard to remember not to kiss all over Jace (since I'm sick). He gets enough germs at daycare, he doesn't need my sicknesses too.

I'm off to bed. The alarm clock will be ringing all too soon.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[DisKim]

Lissawynn - I wish your DH good luck tomorrow! My DH just started a new job too. He's still in the same school district though.

Bridget - I love your pictures. Aidan's outfit is just adorable.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was hectic. I cooked for over 20 people. I was so exhausted the next morning that I literally fell out of bed and started dry heaving. I had to go back to bed. Of course, I got up and went out shopping anyway. I still wasn't feeling too great but I couldn't miss out on Black Friday. It's a tradition with me and my mom. I'm sending out my package tomorrow. I'm so excited for my DISbaby to get it!! Well, I gotta go. Desperate Housewives is on. Some things are more important than the DIS .

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Alice28 - Glad your knee is feeling better

Bellacam - Love your pictures! That is such a cute hat Aidan's wearing.

DisneyPhD - Love your pics too, especially the turkey leg one!

Joats - Hope you feel better soon.

Lissawynn - Good luck to your DH! Hope the new job works out for him.

We got our tree and decorations up this weekend. I bought a new tree - pre lit this time. I absolutely love it. Lucas has been really bad with the hand-chewing this weekend but I still don't see any signs of a tooth. I have to go pack Lucas's diaper bag for Grandma "daycare" tomorrow but I just wanted to check in. Take care everyone!

 

[lissawynn]

The new baby pics are so cute! I took a few pics of Jimmy in his "Thanksgiving" outfit, but I left my camera at my mom's. I think I'm going to pick it up this afternoon and I'll try to post them tonight or tomorrow.

Today is my last day of vacation . It's back to school tomorrow. I did, however, sit for about an hour last night and get my stuff together for the next few days. My kids are going to be working on a writing assignment, so that means free time for me while they're working. The part that stinks is when the writing assignments need to be checked.

I am off to Wal-Mart today for some storage containers and a few things for my exchange. I'll post if it gets mailed today.

Have a great day!

 

[vald1977]

Hi everyone,
I have so much catching up to do .

Robin,
So sorry to hear about your knee. Thank Goodness your mom was around to help you but it is still such a bummer. I hope the 40 days fly by for you and your DH.

DisneyPhd,
I love the new pics. The turkey leg is too cute !

Gretchen, Bridget, and Joats,
I love all your new pics also! They are gorgeous .

Lisawynn,
I'm glad you Thanksgiving worked out well despite the timing problems. I'm sending good thoughts your Dh's way for his new job .

Things here have been crazy. Thanksgiving ended up really nice at Mil's. We had a great time. That morning my mom called but I didn't answer the phone. The next day DH woke up in severe pain from his vas. . The affected area was about 4 sizes bigger than it should be and there was a large mass inside. He didn't tell me all this until later in the day because he didn't want me to cancel plans to see my grandparents .

We visited my grandparents and that went really well. Then we got home and DH told me about the situation with the vas. . I couldn't believe how bad it looked! We called the on-call doc as the office wasn't open and he just said to put heat on it instead of the ice DH had been using. Well, after the heat it looked even more horrible so we called back and I really thought he should go to the emergency room. In between all this my mother called again and I just decided to talk to her as I didn't have the time to be petty when I worried about DH. She apoligized which is the first time in 28 years I have heard those words come out of her mouth. She also cofessed that she hasn't been taking her anti-depressant meds because she ran out. So I will be cordial to her since it really is easier for everyone that way. We were never super close anyway.

Anyway, when the doctor called back he basically just told DH to stay in bed until Monday and come in then. So that is where we are now. Staying in bed hasn't helped it at all. Dh has had to miss three unpaid days of work so far. This whole vasectomy thing is turning into a complete nightmare. I will say I have so much respect for you, Robin for handling things this long without your DH. This weekend was so hard for me with Dh out of commission. Our satellite is broken too so we have been without tv since Wed. which doesn't help the situation . It's supposed to be fixed today. I have started the Christmas decorating but it is such a pain the tush to carry all the boxes up from the basement by myself (we have at least 20 boxes of Christmas stuff)! Dh goes to the dr. today at 11 and I really hope we get some answers as to what is going on. He really needs to return to work.

Sorry such a long update but as you can tell, it's been nuts around here. I wanted to also share my Christmas card pic. I copied Tamie's idea of doing black and white:

Sorry so big!

Here is the professional one from Jc Penney:

 

[T16GEM]

Hey everyone, I haven't had a chance to catch up - our internet has been broken since Friday but I don't know why as we have wireless and our connection was reading 100% so I don't know what was going on with that!

I hope everyone is well and that you all had a good Thanksgiving. I'm trying to do the rest of my Christmas shopping at the moment - buying for the men in my family is a nightmare! How are you guys getting on with your gift shopping?

 

[vald1977]

okay, now my pic above is itty-bitty ?? I am the worst at posting pics. Sorry! I'll try again:

 

[Hillbeans]

Hi Everyone - Just reading through this thread trying to catch up on how everyone is doing - it moves so quickly.

I love all the new pictures btw....we all have the most beautiful children, right????

Here's one of my little guy from about 10 minutes ago.....he just really started smiling this past weekend, and he's gotten so big so fast. I'll find out how much he weighs on Wednesday at his 2 mo. appt:

I'm also boxing up my exchange and getting it to the Post Office no later than tomorrow.

Vald - Glad Thanksgiving ended up being so nice with your MIL. Hope DH feels better soon.

DisneyPhD - Love the pic with the Turkey Leg!
Gretchen - Good luck with your Thesis - hang in there!

Hi to everyone else!

 

[Alice28]

OK! I made it downstairs without my mom here! Yay for me. Sam carried Molly down for me & then I Was able to use 1 crutch & carry her about 25 feet. Makes me feel a bit more competent.

Val- Feeling SO badly for your DH right now....yowza. It sounds like maybe it's some sort of infection? Your kids are such little cutie-pies. We DO have a great looking bunch of babies here! I'm also glad you were able to clear the air with your mother.

Lissawynn- enjoy your day off- hope you get some organizing done!

DisKim! How did you manage BF after dryheaving! Eek! I am hoping to be able enough to drive to freaking Target by the end of the week- their Sunday ad was a goodie and I want some stuff in it. This whole gimp thing without DH here sucks so bad I cannot even hardly put it into words. But then I watched Extreme Home Makeover last night with a woman not too much older than me (I would guess no older than 40) dealing with stage 4 cancer. Broke my heart watching her husband and two kids rally around her (and all their friends, neighbors and ABC people)...Good Lord...enough feeling sorry for myself...my dumb knee will heal, you know?

Hillbeans- your little guy is so cute too! I love that teeny little smile- so sweet.

Joats- hope you feel better soon! Colds are the pits.

I keep thinking about a prelit tree, but oh, how I love my fresh tree! The problem is we have a pretty small house, but very high ceilings and I've been eyeing those 7.5/8 ft pre-lit skinny trees. By the time we get a tree that's the appropriate height, it's WAY too bushy and wide for the room. I'll have to talk with DH. He will think I'm a blasphemer.

He got more of the scoop of his coming home situation. He will leave on the 10th & go to Ft. Lewis, WA and get a 4-5 day leave pass right off the bat. So I guess I will drive up there (about a 2 hour drive if that) with the kidlets and bring him HOME for 4-5 days. Then they have about a week of outprocessing to do. Then they come home but have to do some junk in Salem, OR (about 45 minutes south of us) for another few days-week, then they get put on 'terminal' leave and can use up all the paid leave time they earned on active duty before it's time to go back to his civilian job.

Today is my oldest child's 8th birthday. I hope DH can call him. I sent him pictures of Sammy's party on Saturday and he wrote back and he sounded all teary----he misses the boys SO MUCH it sounds like it's hurting him physically....I just want to put him on a plane now and bring him home. He's missed so much you know? I can't even wrap my brain around it sometimes- I often shrug off all the people saying how much we've sacrificed, because right now I am just "doing" it...I don't think about it, I use my energy to get through the days. But when I do think about it, I can't even put into words what we've sacrificed. I'm not looking for sympathy, but just trying to verbalize what I'm thinking right now, you know?


Anyway, long enough- I need to eat something. TTFN!

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Hillbeans - Liam is SO handsome! What a great little face he has. So expressive.

Vald - I love the pics of your two. The black and white looks great. Your DS is so cute with his front two teeth missing. Hope DH is feeling better.

Joats - I really like Jace's new pictures too! I just love those cheeks of his.

Alice28 - Your family must be so excited about your DH coming home. I hope he has a safe trip.

I'm picking up Lucas's pictures from Target on Thursday and they're supposed to be online sometime next weekend. I have no idea why it takes so long to put them online - I'll have the actual pics before they're even up. How backwards is that? I think we're also going to take him to see Santa at the mall.

We decided to get him an exersaucer for Christmas and I think I'll just give it to him as soon as I buy it. It's not like he can understand about "waiting until Christmas"! This way I'll have somewhere safe to put him while I'm making dinner or something. He doesn't like the swing or bouncy chair anymore unless he's napping in them and he rolls over too much for the playmat to be safe without me or DH right there. He also can only tolerate the booster chair for short periods and I'd rather put him there when we eat dinner.

My friend who was married in May has decided to TTC their first but she found out she had some precancerous cells. She had a procedure done to remove them (I'm fuzzy on the details) and can't resume TTC until January. If you can spare them, please send some P&PD or good vibes or anything else her way!

 

[llij]

Hi Everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Alice28 - Glad to hear that your knee is doing better! I'm sorry that it has been so tough for your DH to be away from the kids. Let him know that we all appreciate the sacrifice that you all make for our country. Also, Happy Birthday to your son!

Hillbeans - Liam is such a cutie! Gosh, it seems like yesterday that you had him. I love the picture.

Val - I hope that your DH feels better soon. Ouch! Glad to hear that your Thanksgiving ended up ok and your mom apologized to you. Your picture of your kids turned out great too! What cuties. I just love seeing all the pictures. If I get a chance, I will have to post some of mine from Thanksgiving.

Lisawynn - I am in awe that you are almost done shopping and your gifts are wrapped. Also, good luck to your DH on his new job today!

DisKim - I hope that you are feeling better after your busy Thanksgiving weekend!

Joats - Sending warm wishes that your cold goes away soon. Colds always have me feeling very rotten!

Bellacam - I love your pictures!

SL - I'm sending prayers your way for your friend. I hope that it all works out for her.

DisneyPhD - Your Thanksgiving pictures are great. I love the turkey leg picture! Your girls are so adorable!

Gretchen - I hope that you got your thesis work done. I am in school myself working on my M.Ed in elementary education. Thankfully, they let me take this semester off as I don't know how I could have done it with having John Paul. I have to go back in January and am dreading all the work and having to balance my family life. Good luck to you!

Well, I will be offline for a few days b/c tomorrow I am leaving for Orlando. Last year, my parents set up a big Disney trip for the entire family. When I found out I was pregnant, my DH and I backed out but we were going to send the kids with my parents. My dad held out hope that I would be able to go, but I kept telling him "no" b/c John Paul was due last week. He kept predicting that I would have John early and that I would be able to go. Well, John and I are doing extremely well (John is almost 7 lbs. now!) so we decided to go. I won't go on an airplane with a 5 week old so my dad generously offered to drive us. My mom, DH, dd's, and sister's family will all fly down on Wednesday and my dd and I leave tomorrow morning. I think I am officially insane for going. I'll hang out at the resort with baby and take it easy. This is our last hurrah at Disney for many many years.

Everyone have a great week and I will check in next week!