The Official New Mom Thread

[justhat]

Robin that's a great story! I remember your posts about her in the past and I have to say it's a fitting 'punishment' (as much of a punishment as having a child can be). I think I said I have a friend who could be her twin and I have to say that is just furthered now with this nonsense. My friend has a 10 month old son (and is now the world's parenting expert) and was telling me she wants to have a baby in August so it will be born on her birthday like she was born on her mom's (cause clearly that's something you can plan). Well, she literally cannot handle her 1 child now-she's always leaving DC to go stay at her mom's house in NJ cause she needs help with her son. Well if you can't handle 1 kid, how are you gonna do 2 kids who will be 20 months apart? That's if we even entertain this notion of having the baby born on August 26th. Then she says the reason she needs this baby in August is that she needs a daughter-I already have one so I wouldn't understand. So I said "What if it's another boy?" The look on her face was priceless and her response was "OMG I hadn't thought of that! What if I have 3 more kids and they're all boys!?!" Insanity, absolute insanity.

All those photos of costumed (and uncostumed) babies are so adorable! I love Halloween just because you get to see cute little babies dressed up (of course they all probably hate the costume they're stuck in). I finally uploaded our photos of Madison in her costume so I'll post some. Oh, and she loved that photo you posted Robin-she's got a thing for Buzz Lightyear and she saw your son and totally freaked out! There was a Buzz at the Halloween party we went to and she followed him around all night saying 'Buzzy'.

Tykes, that is great that Tyler's rash is improving. That would be great if it's the formula-well, I mean at least then you'd know what was causing it.

Joats, it's great the Jace is over his croupe, but it's too bad he's getting a cold now too. Madison has literally gotten a cold every week since she started preschool 2 months ago so I can sympathize with you there. Consequently I have gotten a cold every week too, and I can assure you that is not fun at all. I feel so bad for Madison when she's sick, but then when I'm sick too it's worse cause I feel like I don't have the energy I need to really care for her. You'd think after working with elementary school kids for 4 years and then teaching preschool for 2 years I'd have caught every childhood illness that exists, but nope, I still get sick everytime Madison does!

 

[justhat]

Okay, here are our halloween photos.

This is a picture of our friends kids-they were frog princes and won the 'most creative' prize.

That's Madison in the costume parade.

Madison and her frog prince (incidentally, this little boy was born 4 months after Madison, and his name is Henry Joseph, which is the same name we told them would be Madison's name if she were a boy-after my dad and FIL/GFIL/DH-not that I mind others having the same name, but really, could they have not thought of anything else )

Madison was not happy that we took her away from the trunk or treating here.

This was actually trick or treating on Halloween. I'm so mad about the socks-I brought pink ones for her (we have to drive to another neighborhood to trick or treat cause ours is all offices and hotels) and I left them in the car. My mom and husband said "you can't even see her socks, who cares" so I left the orange socks on her and now you can see them in all the photos .

 

[justhat]

Oh yeah, Robin, your thing about the candles and giving them out as teacher gifts reminded me of the new people on my list this year. So since you've been doing this awhile, what sorta price range and type of gift is expected? Madison's teacher is my age (25) and single so I can't really figure out what to get her that's not cheesy. She's got 2 assistant teachers too so I guess I have to get them something too. One's got 2 little boys so that's easier for me, but the other one is another young 20s, single woman. You'd think being their age would help me, but I feel like I've crossed into this totally different world now that I have a kid. I remember getting things from kids in my preschool class that were so 'old' to me at the time, but somehow they don't seem so bad anymore. One mom got me this wooden snowman pin that I considered giving to my mom at the time. Well I found it yesterday and thought "hey, this is kinda cute!" Ugh, scary.

 

[zalansky]

Alice28 - I gotta admit, I love the cattiness!! I know people like this too so I can relate, I think we probably all do. What will she ever do with a boy? Poor thing!

justthat - I can also relate to your name story. Now, your boy name is very unique and for them to have chosen the identical name is more than coincidental. I have a friend from work who had a baby girl 3 weeks after I did and she named her daughter Lauren. Now I realize that is a very popular name, but it just happens to be the name we were going to use as an alternate to Cameryn. She is one of those people who doesn't tell people the name they choose for the baby until it is born, so when I heard they named her Lauren, of course I thought to myself, hmmmm, very coincidental! Oh well, I am done having babies so I don't care.... The pictures of Madison are adorable, she is such a pretty little girl. She looks to have long long eyelashes.

Bellacam - Aiden's 3 month pic came out great! He is such a handsome little dude. I also love the Halloween outfit with the hat, very cute.

All the costumes are adorable. So are all the kids on this thread!!!

joats - happy to hear Jace is on the mend. I hope your new schedule works better for you too.

tykes - Our ped put Connor on Nutramigen when he was about a month old. They deemed him colicky (which I don't think he was) but also he had sensitive skin. He kept breaking out with dry skin patches mostly on his legs - and the ped said it was eczema. I didn't buy that, all the internet reading I did on eczema didn't match up....but anyway, the Nutramigen did appear to help clear that up as well. It was very expensive, but worth it. I always called it the Mercedes of formulas.

Anyway everyone have a great day! Hillbeans - you out there? How is Liam doing? Is EASY working?

 

[justhat]

Loretta this woman was the same way! She didn't tell anyone what they were naming their son (they knew it was a boy before he was born). Since we were pregnant at the same time we'd talk about baby names, which is how she knew what Madison's name would have been if she were a boy (and I was convinced she was a boy till we had that ultrasound!). But really it was more her asking me what my names were and her never really saying. Last I heard she liked the name Thomas. Then he was born and we find out he's Henry Joseph (he was born 2 weeks early when they were visiting family in Utah so they sent an e-mail announcement, so it's not like they ever had to 'introduce' him to us). The bad thing is now my husband feels like once we name our son that (hopefully we'll have one!) then everyone will think we 'stole' their son's name. I said I don't care cause this was our name forever and has significance to us so we're still using it (my dad died when I was 17 so it is very important to me to use his name, and I want to add in FIL too). If they just did the Henry or the Joseph that would have been one thing, but the whole name!?!

And thanks for the compliments about Madison. She does have very long eyelashes. She got them from my husband (though hers are even longer) and I wish mine were as long as hers. I always tell my husband his eyelashes are wasted on him. When Madison was first born she had meconium so they took her right away and were suctioning and stuff and I couldn't see her for about 30 minutes cause she was surrounded by pediatricians so my L&D nurse went to look at her and came back and said "Your baby has the longest eyelashes I've ever seen!"

 

[tkyes]

bellacam - I love your little monkey! His 3 month picture is so great. What gorgeous eyes and smile. Where did you get that cute little sweater?

Justthat - Madison looks so cute! LOL about the orange socks. She does have beautiful eyes.

Robin - I LOVE your neighbor story! I can totally relate. I just love when people are so addament (sp?) about things. Be catty all you want. It's hilarious. Wait until she gets pee'd on by her new baby boy!

oh - thanks for the Costco tips. I might have to go check out that candle thing. One person on my list wants candles, that sounds like a great deal.

joats - sorry to hear that Jace is sick. poor guy! I'm glad you are getting a little more cuddle time.

My SIL is due any day now and they won't tell anyone the names they are thinking of either. They say they haven't thought about them yet yeah right. It's because they love the attention of everyone asking and bugging them about their name!

I'm thrilled that Tyler's rash seems to be getting better, but he is still itching so much! Plus the past couple of nights he's woken up screaming. He usually sleeps through the night. Last night I gave him some benadryl at 2 am and that seemed to help.

I'm so excited! I'm getting a massage tomorrow. My mom is taking me out to celebrate my birthday and we are going to the spa. I can't wait!!!

Have a great day everyone.

tamie

 

[Alice28]

Justhat- Madison is a very pretty Piglet! Didn't even notice the orange socks! And HIGHLY irritating about the name thing- yeah, coincidence my butt.

Teacher gifts- I don't spend a fortune- I think that gets a bit pretentious. And I try to buy something they may enjoy vs just a little trinket thing. Like a candle, or an ornament for their tree (and not just a teachery one), or I've often thought of getting a small gift card either for Target or for maybe a fast food place like Baja Fresh. Depends how many people you have to buy for, you know? But I've often read teacher's would appreciate even a $5 g.c. to a place like Target so they can buy little classroom supplies there and not have to spend their own $$.

Tamie- Happy Birthday! Have a great time at the spa----sounds HEAVENLY. Hope Tyler gets better soon- no more middle of the night screaming!

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Tkyes - Happy Birthday! Have fun at the spa! I hope Tyler starts to feel better.

bellacam - Aidan's pictures are great.

Alice28 - I'm a big believer in karma. Sounds like your neighbor got hers!

Justhat - Madison makes an adorable Piglet.

Joats - Poor Jace. It's just one thing after another.

I'm beginning to think I have the most boring family on this board. I have no news to report. As soon as we run out of rice cereal, we're going to try oatmeal. I guess that's something.

 

[Alice28]

SL- Boring is a GOOD thing- I can't wait for DH to come home, settle in and for my life to be "boring" again, trust me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DisKim]

Alice 28 - I remember you talking about that neighbor. You made me think of my three closest friends. We have all had babies withing the past 18 months. I had the only boy in the group. All three of my friends already had a boy and they were all so hell bent on having girls it made me sick. They acted like they would be disappointed if they had boys. Luckily, all three had girls so they are all happy. I figure Aidan will have his choice of girlfriends in the future . I just don't understand how people can have a preference. They are children for goodness sake!

Justhat - I can't believe your friend would use the exact name you considered. Did she even think that you might possibly have a boy in the future? I was going to name Aidan Grace if he was a girl. Once we knew he was a boy and my friend was having a girl, she started considering the name Grace. It really upset me even though I'm not going to have the opportunity to use it. There are millions of names out there for goodness sake! That same friend works with me. I saw her today and she was wearing the same exact sweater set I had bought and was wearing last week. I know she went shopping in JC Penny two days ago and she must have bought the same one in the same color. I feel like a dork now! We teach in the same school. The kids notice these things!

I got some unfortunate news yesterday. I had a student a couple of years ago that smelled. He literally smelled so bad that I started to heave one day and other students noticed me gagging. Well, he left school without graduating and works in an arcade. I found out that he has a 4 month old baby girl now. It depresses me. How can a person take care of a baby when he can't even clean himself?! We have so many pregnant students / students having babies lately. It makes me realize how lucky my kids are to have a good home.

I have one more thing then I have to go do some work. I have 3 kids right now and it depresses me that Aidan is my last child. Do any of you have trouble dealing with this? I sometimes fantasize about having one more. Then I smack myself in the head! I'm working for goodness sake and could never afford college for 4. Do I have some sort of problem like an addiction to having children or something?! Why do I want another one!? I wish Aidan would be bad so he would make it easier for me to stop. There is no way I can have any more children.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

bellacam~ I love Aidan's pictures! His 3 month pictures turned out great! He is one adorable, photogenic boy!

joats~ I hope Jace feels better soon!

Alice~ I remember your past posts about your neighbor. She sounds like a piece of work. Hopefully having a boy will really give her the wake up call she needs! She sounds a lot like my SIL, the one who was determined she was going to have a girl this time. She told her 4 year old BEFORE she even got preg. that he was going to have a sister. 2 bad things there: 1. She might have had trouble conceiving since it took her nearly 2 years to conceive her ds. 2. She might not have a girl and she isn't! She found out on the 21st she is having another boy. Her ds told my dh to come look at their new house right after Kylie was born. He showed him all the rooms and said, "This is going to be my sister's room someday!" Oh, boy! I told SIL she might not even have a girl. She tells me she will b/c she is doing everything in her power to make sure she will. This is after she was already preg. btw! WTH? How do you make sure you have a girl after you are preg.? Do you eat extra vegetables or something? Anyway, I couldn't help but feel a little catty and giddy when she said they were having a boy! Me, personally, I love my girl and would be okay with another girl someday but I'd be just as happy with a boy. They are human babies and all of them take no effort to love IMO.

justhat~ Madison looks so cute in her Piglet costume! And I would have never even noticed the orange socks if you hadn't said something. I think they look okay with the costume. Henry Joseph is really not the most common name anymore so I am pretty sure that was not a coincidence. Honestly that would have really pissed me off! That's one of the reasons I am always skeptical to tell those that are still planning to have kids or have more kids my name choices...except online b/c I don't honestly care who on here uses my choices since we all live in different areas anyway, lol!

Oh, and I used to teach preschool. I got some really nice gifts from my kids. Some gave me ornaments and candles which I liked. And one little girl gave me a really cute purple ceramic glass with Tigger on it. That was several years ago and I still love that glass! But I agree with Alice, a gift card would have been nice too b/c I usually ended up buying most of my class's supplies which could be a real PITA financially sometimes.

Tamie~ Glad Tyler's rash is starting to finally clear up! And have fun at the spa...that sounds soooo nice! Is tomorrow your actual b-day or is it this weekend? My brother's b-day is tomorrow too. I also am not planning to tell anyone our name choices with our next child (which we already have a girl's name narrowed down to 2 choices, but no idea about a boy's name) simply b/c our families gave us so much grief over Kylie's name. And my brother really irritated me. For years I wanted to name a little girl Kristian. My grandfather's name was Christian and I liked the idea of naming her after him and I really liked it as a girl's name. My WHOLE family knew that and was okay with it. Well after we found out we were having a girl my brother tells me I can't use it b/c he wants to use it someday if he has kids. He feels he has "rights" to it since it's his middle name. Okay, but this is coming from the brother who said he was okay with it and who has never had a girlfriend or even been on a date, who doesn't work, lives at home with my mom, and never leaves the house. I am not forseeing him having kids anytime soon. (This is not the same brother who is deaf or having a b-day tomorrow though, btw!) You don't know how tempted I was to name Kylie Kristian just to spite him. Luckily for him Scott and I liked Kylie better. I don't see him ever using the name Christian honestly. Besides his wife would have to agree with him and I think we all know how hard it was to find a name that we and our spouses actually agreed on! This is the same brother that said he didn't like the name Kylie Noel b/c it was hard to say. He refused to say her name until about 2 weeks ago. He just called her "little bitty" until then. He also said I should name her Vienna...do any of you remember me posting about that on the moms to be thread? So anyway, not telling anyone in my family our name choices next time. Too much stress involved there. They had promised not to criticize too but that is all they did and until recently my mother even gave me a hard time for giving Kylie the middle name Noel since she was born in May. That was the name Scott loved which is why we used it and I think her entire name is pretty and flows nicely together and I got pretty angry that she would criticize her name AFTER she was already born. Isn't there some kind of unwritten rule that says you can't criticize anymore after the child has arrived and been named?! She wanted me to name our kid after her but I don't like my mom's name (Myra) sorry! Ugh, I better quit typing about it. The whole thing is starting to make my blood boil all over again. But you can see why the name will be a secret!

SL~ Yes, boring=good!

DisKim~ So sad about that boy who has the baby. Too many teenage pregnancies nowadays. But when I graduated there were 4 girls in my class who were preg. and ALL of them came from the more well-off families in our area. I thought that was interesting.

I have received PMs from everyone that said they are interested in participating in a baby exchange now. There are 8 of us so far so it should be fun! But I am taking sign-ups until the 14th. If anyone else is interested just PM me and I will PM you back with the info. I need!

Well, Kylie is getting her 6 month/Christmas pictures made on Sat. Then the following Saturday I am leaving Kylie with dh for the entire day and am going to my mom's to help her w/a yardsale. (Other than the name thing and a few past issues we get along, lol!) I have a lot of baby things that I know I will not use for the next baby and I plan to sell them. I didn't know as much about what I would like with Kylie but now that I do I am going to buy a few different things for our next kid. This will be the first time I have been separated from Kylie for more than 30 min. and as much as I love her I like the idea of some adult interaction without a baby. Yeah, I'm a rebel! The following Saturday, the 19th, hunting season begins so I will not see dh a lot on the weekends until around Feb. He lives for deer season. It's going to be a busy month!

Have a great day everyone!

 

[bellacam]

Alice - My uncles wife was just like your neighbor! She was so adamant that she could not have a little girl it made me sick. She did end up "getting her boy" but at the time we were having fertility issues and I would have gladly had any baby I could have. This is the same woman who called MEDCU the first time puke came out of her babys nose! (I kid you not)

Tami - Happy Birthday and have fun!

Justthat - I know how you feel. We had three couples name their baby Aidan after we did. two we knew socially and one was in our birthing class. They decided to name their son Aidan after we told the class our name.

SL - We are very boring here too. Boring is good.

Tykes - Aidan sweater vest came from baby GAP


Not much going on here. I took my DH to Aidan's story time playgroup with me today. I was thinking that if I could'nt make it one day he'd be able to go in my place. After 45 mins of singinging and stories (and mommy talk about BF, BM, and "female issues") he informed me I was on crack if I thought he was ever going to go there alone! It was too funny!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Hi mommies. There seems to be a lot going on with everyone.

About preschool teacher gifts. I did it for many years and I still get them out and remember who each one is. I often wonder how the kids are. I always make sure to bring ones for my kids teachers now.

I think the sliver jewlery club has some great things for 6$ that makes great gifts. There is a big thread going one, check it out. Here is the site address.
http://www.silverjewelryclub.com/ For more info check out the thread on the budget board.

Lily had her much dreaded allergist appt today for her MMR shot. Everything went so well, If my dentist appt for a root cannel goes half as well next week I will be amazed.

Lily is now 17 lbs 12 oz. She gained 10 oz in 2 months. Consider before that she gained 3 oz in 6 months she is doing great now that we got the dairy and eggs out. My allergist said I could start reintrocuing small amounts of cooked eggs (or mayo) in my diet. and see how it goes.

We will see. We went out to eat tonight and it was such a mess. There was NOTHING on the menu I could have. All the food had eggs or dairy in it. I went for a salad with rasberry vingitte dressing and grilled chicken. Sounds safe right? There was this big chunck of blue cheese on it (said nothing about that on the describtion.) I made the waitress take it off. On top of it the dressing was very creamy looking. I am almost 100% postive there was milk in it (if not soy and most places don't do that, only specaility.) It was so busy and the waitress was so unhelpful I ate it anyway, but make DH eat most of it off the top. So we will see how Lily does tmw. The allergist gave us a epi pen to, but thought we will never need it. Better safe then sorry. The allergist did confrim that not all the dairy proteins you eat make it through. It does get delulted.

She can't have a flu shot this year though. Not worth the risk.

Are the other babies getting one (if they are old enough?) Last year we all got one instead of her. This year so far her big sister got hers. We will see if we can get one each (it is ok for me to.)

Anyway Lily had no reaction to the shot (they kept us in observation for an hour just in case and she was so good.) She looked at me after the shot and signed "finish!" I told her yes it was done. She then waved and said bye bye. I told her we couldn't leave just yet, but she cuddled and feel alseep on my lap. The nursed and Dr.'s just loved her.
She is siging "more" "mama" "Finish" and the sign for cousin with an A for her cousin Alissa. It is so cute! (she talks some too, but the signs seem so much more consistant and communicative.)

 

[Alice28]

DisKim- Sometimes I get sad too at no more babies. But our house is already so small and we strive to keep on budget with just DH's income. I just couldn't do another baby. Mostly because I feel like I deserve a little "me time" finally. I'm savoring Molly, knowing she's my last. But I know what you mean.

I'm very tired this evening! Too much running around during the day.

No flu shots for us this year. I hope your salad didn't have anything in it that will make Lily react tomorrow.

Night all!

 

[aprild]

moved to mom to be thread

 

[DisneyPhD]

moved to mom to be thread

Oh you will be here soon enough! Good luck!

 

[tkyes]

Thanks ladies. Actually my birthday is on Tuesday. It's a big one and I'm sort of dreading it!

Tyler woke up again last night. My wonderful sleeper hasn't been so wonderful this week. I don't know if he's waking up from teething, from itching or he's hungry. I don't want to get in the habit of feeding him in the middle of the night again. I have heard that the nutramigen digests so much more easily that babies can get hungry more quickly. He's supposed to stay at my moms on Sat. night, but I don't want her to have to deal with him getting up.

Does anyone else deal with their babies getting their arms and legs caught in between the slats on their crib? We took Tyler's bumper out when we were trying to figure out what his rash was from. Now he gets his arms and legs in between the slats and some times can't get them out by himself.

I hope your night went well DisneyPhd!!

tamie

 

[katerkat]

My perfect sleeper is waking up too! Two nights in a row so far - last night I was so tired that I let him snuggle in bed with us. (I sleep with him a lot more when DH is deployed, but it's not so fun when there's three of us!)

We're not getting flu shots - well, except for DH who has no choice.

Russ started babbling again! He got "ma" and "ba" down a couple months ago, but then stopped and went back to only vowel sounds. But yesterday he started chattering up a storm with consonants again!

 

[Alice28]

I'll join the crew of mom's of babies who are being poopers about sleeping.

The last few weeks Molly has just been a BEAR to get to sleep. Since she was an infant until about 5-6 months, I could practically just lay her down, awake or asleep and she'd be so content and suck her pacifier to get back to sleep. What an angel....

No more. Now she gets so MAD when I lay her down for a nap, or even just in her crib so I can run the vacuum or whatever. I'm fearing I'm creating a monster....She always naps in her crib, but lately I have to nurse her or rock her to get her to sleep- she's not sick, she's not hungry, she doesn't have a soiled diaper- she's just getting spoiled.

I know some of us moms don't believe in the crying it out, but we did it with the boys and I have had friends who HATED hearing their child cry, and didn't do the crying it out....only to have their children have some sleeping problems at ages 2 and 3 (because they STILL had to be rocked by mommy/daddy, STILL had to sleep in their beds, STILL needed a paci to get to sleep, COULD NOT sleep anywhere else buy with mommy--you know like taking a nap in the playpen at church, etc). Right now Molly is SCREAMING bloody murder in her crib, cause she's so tired, but she's mad I put her in there. It's so hard to do this without DH sitting her telling me, "you're doing the right thing- she's fine- nothing is wrong with her except she is a little strong willed!" With the boys DH would sit her and listen to them scream the first few rounds we had to do it, and I would take a shower, or run an errand, etc. Then after a few days, they would usually settle in, and fall asleep without the 30 minute tantrum.

I need some reassurance mommies! I'm not a horrible mom, right? My oldest said to me, while we were listening to her SCREAM and YELL last night, "Mom, it's like you don't even care about her..." Yeah, that really helped me out.

ETA- part of my big guilt trip is that I'm still having her sleep with me at night cause I don't feel like getting up in the middle of the night if she wakes up. I'm lazy and it's easy to do this with DH gone. But I know for Molly's own sleep development/patterns and DH's sanity when he comes home, I have GOT to have her falling asleep in her own crib at night. The last few nights she falls asleep in my arms, I put her in her crib and within an hour she's up screaming. It's like she knows it's nighttime and wants to be with me; vs. during the day she will nap 2-3 hours in her crib. UGH.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

OMG, I think right now I must be the worst mommy who ever lived! Dh was supposed to get paid today and he did but it seemed like less than it should've been which kept me up from 4:15 this morning stressing about it. Turns out it is probably b/c they took insurance money out of his check this week even though we were told it wouldn't start coming out of his check until next payday. If that's the case then his check was decent. I am still waiting on a paycheck stub (he has direct deposit) to verify that is in fact why his check seemed lower than usual and that he didn't just get cheated again. I am sooo sick of worrying over this stupid new company. If they ripped him off then dh says he is going to start looking for a new job, but we are hoping they didn't rip him off again this time.

The point to this is that the stress of this kept me awake half the night and I was really tired this afternoon. Kylie is spoiled and sleeps in the bed w/me during naps (although not at night). Usually everything is fine and I wake up easily...you see where this is going?

Anyway, Kylie woke up and swatted me to let me know to get up. She always does that which is pretty cute. But anyway, I tried getting her back to sleep but she didn't want to go back to sleep. She rolled onto her stomach and started playing. I must have dozed off b/c the next thing I know I am awakened by a thud! I jumped up and scooped her up so fast she had not even started crying yet. Yep, she rolled off the bed. Luckily I had pillows on the floor just in case. Unfortunately she did bump the side of her eye against the bed and has a nice purple bruise there now. She is fine but you have no idea how terrible I feel right now! We have a king size bed so she must have rolled several times to end up off the bed. I can assure you this won't happen again! I can't stand the guilt! Oh, and we were supposed to have her pictures done tomorrow so I guess we will have to reschedule! My poor angel. I am glad she won't remember this!

We are not getting flu shots this year. On a side note, the weather is still in the 80s here and will be until next week sometime. It is starting to get cool in the evenings now though.