The Official New Mom Thread

[DisKim]

It's looking good for another snow day on Friday!

Oh, I just get so jealous of your snow days. Every time the weatherman talks about precipitation, it's always "rain along the coast". I'm moving "north and west of NYC". They always get snow. Can you tell I've had it with school? I seriously want to quit lately. The administration will be choosing math and english teachers next week to teach an emergency course for students who are "at risk" of failing the 11th grade standardized test. So, they are giving several of us 6th teaching period assignments. I already told DH that if they even come near me with the idea of it, I'm gone. There is no way I can put any more pressure on myself. On top of that, my freshmen are just awful. They don't do any work. They are all failing. I flipped today on two of them because they had the nerve to talk while I was trying to explain a passage from The Odyssey. Of course, these are the same kids that complain that they "don't understand". I swear, none of them listen to me. If I don't start my Christmas break soon I'm going to break. Vent...vent...vent....ok, I'm better. Sorry

Justhat - Good luck with the interviews. I hope everything turns out the way you want.

I think I have to go back and look for the picture of this Cowboy's tree

I'll have to try to catch up with everyone later. I have to go grade a bunch of essays that I have absolutely no desire to read.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Hillbeans - Love the Santa photo!

Vald - Hope your chin feels better soon.

Alice28 - I hope Molly starts napping for you. It's so hard to get anything done around the holidays as it is.

justhat - Good luck to your DH on the rest of his interviews. I hope he gets what he wants.

Bellacam - Interesting tree. If DH could have a Bucs tree, he would. We have nowhere to put it and that's the excuse I'm sticking to!

llij - Hope Katie's bump heals quickly and she doesn't have a concussion. O/T, but I have a cousin named Meagan. Do you pronounce it "Meg-in" or "May-gin" or another way? Hers is "May-gin" (hard 'g'). Just curious since I don't see that spelling very often.

2sweetangels - so sorry about your grandmother. This time of year is so hard when you're missing a loved one.

tkyes - I never had cinnamon roasted almonds. They sound delicious.

Thanks for everyone's comments on the car seats. Lucas's 6 month checkup is Tuesday so we'll see what the ped recommends we do.

I'm extremely frustrated with DH today. Lucas has been going through a fussy period lately and it seems like all he wants is to be held when I'm home with him all day. DH comes home and he's perfectly happy being put in the exersaucer when DH is on "baby duty". THEN DH wants to go to Best Buy to look at some stuff for his satellite radio but since I don't want Lucas out in the cold at night, I'm stuck home. He gets back from the store and I find out he forgot to pick up a gift certificate for his sister's fiance's Christmas gift. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

 

[zalansky]

Just checking in to say hello!

About the carseats - like justthat we have 2 Britax seats as well, Roundabout and Marathon....and we love them, I think they were worth every penny we spent. We had bought an Eddie Bauer (forget who makes it)seat for about $85 too, before the Britax, and it was a terrible seat!
I got lucky with our Marathon too, I ordered it online for $199 and got free shipping. But then Britax stopped allowing online retailers to sell them for less then the suggested retail and there went that great price.

Other than that not much else is new. Love the new pics ladies!

The board moved too fast again so I won't even try and respond to much but I do want to say to 2sweetangels that the first holiday without a loved one is very hard but they do get easier. I wanted to send you this - - I lost my Mom 7 years ago and she never got to see me get married or have children. Try and cherish the times you had with your grandma.

Hope everyone is having a good evening!

 

[tkyes]

2sweetangels - {{{hugs}}} I'm so sorry.

SL - I think you can get roasted almonds in MGM. At least you could a couple of years ago! lol

llij - I just used the peanut brittle recipe from Martha Stewart.com. Pretty easy.

Gotta run - I really need to get our bathroom cleaned.

Tamie

 

[2sweetangels]

Hello all, I want to thank all of you for the wonderful thoughts. Merry christmas to all of you

 

[llij]

Hello Ladies!

Well, we got a snow day here today. It is actually snowing right now and I need to run out to get food for my MIL who is coming in tomorrow. Yikes! It is supposed to change over to ice soon so I better hurry up and get out of here.

DisKim - I'm sorry that school is so rough! Christmas break will be here soon. God bless all of you guys who teach middle and high school. Elementary school is all I can handle!

SL - I never thought about how we pronounced Meagan, but I think it is more along the lines of may-gin. I've always loved the name Meagan and when I was pregnant I lost both my aunt and my grandfather whom I dearly loved. My grandpa's last name was Eagan and my aunt's name was Marguerite. I took the "M" from Marguerite and my grandpa's last name and came up with Meagan. She is named after them. I love her name, but she sometimes complains that she has a hard time finding her spelling among the "Megan" personlized things.

Zalansky - I just wanted to say that I love the picture of your daughter in her bumbo seat! Someone gave me a bumbo seat as a gift for John Paul and I can't wait to use it.

Tamie - I will definitely go look for that recipe! Thanks for the heads up.

Katie's head is a lot better today. The knot on her head is gone and she just has a scratch. I woke her up last night just to check on her and she doesn't remember me waking her. Funny thing was that I was holding John and he was screaming! Guess I don't have to worry about the baby waking up the girls at night. They snooze right through it!

Everyone have a great day! I'm off to the grocery store.

 

[DisneyPhD]

llij, I just have to say that I LOVE your new picture. You little stanta is to die for! The girls look great too.

Glad to hear Katie's head is better. Just so everyone knows, that is it. No more head bumps, Lily, Madison and Katie is enough for our group right (travels in groups of 3 right?)

Snow here, a few inches, a few (like 5) more expected today. Just what we needed. (NOT) anyway Anna's Christmas program is tonight, I hope it does't get snowed out. She goes to a Catholic school so we actually get to have a real Christmas program.

 

[lissawynn]

I feel like the walking dead. I swear, as soon as I start to feel better, some little itch of a student blows his/her nose right next to my desk, and I'm sick again. I took some cold medicine a little while ago, and I'm starting to feel loopy.

Alice - I hear you about not getting any sleep. Jimmy has been an absolute terror at night. He sleeps for about an hour or so, then screams until one of us breaks down and gets him. Then, he kicks us all night. What do I do? I am so tired it's not even funny.

DisKim - The storm may just throw some snow and freezing rain my way, so we might be here tomorrow (maybe a 2 hr. delay). I don't even care. I know how you feel about your students, so vent away. I collected essays on Monday and won't even look at them. I think I'n going to do them bit by bit over vacation. Otherwise, I'm rushing to get them done before the end of the marking period.

I'm sorry if I missed some of you. I have to go observe my inductee.

 

[Alice28]

Ack! This thread moves so darn fast!

Val!!! Man, I hope your neck and jaw are feeling better today- OUCH!

Tamie- Glad your peanut brittle came out- yummy!

DisKim- Hang in there---here's some pixie dust that the next few days go quickly and your classes cooperate!

2sweetangels- I'm so sorry about you missing your Gramma. I miss mine too and it's been 14 years since she died. I named Molly partially after her- Grammas are so special.

lissawynn- sometimes, I don't know what to say about babies and sleeping. With all three of mine, they go for a spell of sleeping great, and then something throws them out of whack and it's horrible for a week or two (my older two are fine now, but that first year or two is what I mean). Just do whatever you need to do to keep your sanity- sleep with Jimmy....or have him cry it out....get a sitter....make your DH listen to him cry so you can go nap....with the boys I would go run an errand or something while DH dealt with the screaming for 45 minutes. I'd come back and they'd be asleep!

justhat- I hope everything works out for your DH and where you will end up living! How frustrating though to have things so up in the air like that. At least it would be for me!

jill- i'm so glad your daughter is OK! And yes, it is amazing what kids will sleep through! There have been nights where Molly is SCREAMING her head off and I'm practically crying myself and my boys just snooze right on through it! Hope you get what you need before the weather gets really yucky.

Hillbeans- I LOVE the pic of the boys and Santa! I said, "Awwww" out loud when I saw it.

Hmmmm...you all have me thinking more and more about a Britax. Esp for when Molly falls asleep in the car- she just kind of slumps over right now and it doesn't look comfy, or safe should something happen....I'm just using one we only used a little bit for Joshua (it was in DH's car and he hardly used it). It's nothing special. But right now every penny counts for us (notice how I've hardly mentioned Gymboree??? ) and I just can't go out and spend $250 on a carseat until DH comes home and we evaluate our finances. A lot is up in the air about that- and I'm kind of in the dark about most of it and it's hard. I guess I can share somewhat anonymously here---both my MIL and my parents have alluded to helping us out financially when DH comes home as a welcome home gift. My parents sold their house for a LOT of money in CA and my mom told me last summer my dad wants to give us some of it. And my MIL told DH she would help us get a bigger car/van/suv when he comes home. But we don't know how much help, etc., and I still owe quite a large sum on two credit cards and those need to be paid off too. It's hard not knowing what's going to happen. I'm trying to be patient, but haven't been very good at it lately.

Anyway, we had a FREE dinner at good ole' Chuck E Cheese last night- they sponsored a military pizza party! Free large pizza, tokens, drinks. It was really nice and I want to write a thank you note. The kids loved it and I met up with a few other of the wives. One of the guys was even back cause he had hurt his neck somehow and I didn't realize who he was- he came up to me and said, "Mrs. *****----your husband says to say hello to you!" It was a little startling to say the least!

This guy is kind of a weirdo- DH has told me a lot about him and his wife and as I'm sitting there talking to them it was strange thinking about all I know about them (none of it pleasant). Whatever- it was nice to talk to someone who has seen DH more than I have these last months and months.

 

[lissawynn]

We're getting out of school early today! In just a few short minutes, I get to leave and go get Jimmy. Afternoon nap, here I come!

 

[DisKim]

Lissawynn - I'm going to come teach in your school. So far, we've only had one delayed opening. I shouldn't complain. We have no snow days built into our calendar, so anything we miss gets tacked on to the end of the year.

Thanks for trying to cheer me up everyone. Today was better. I reevaluated my teaching and came up with a student-centered lesson so they had to take the responsibility for reading and interpreting the text. I circulated the room and was able to figure out which students just fool around and which students really need help with the text.

Aidan is sick today. This is his first cold. I took him to the doctor who said it was just a little cold and not contagious. He is so congested. He starts to cough really badly from it. This morning he started to cough as I took him out of his carseat at the babysitter's house. The next thing I knew, he was projectile vomiting all over me, himself and the car. All this in 16 degree weather at 6:45 am. Sometimes I realize how badly my life sucks. Sorry, I'm a big complainer lately.

SL - I know how you feel. DH has been frustrating me lately but I can't write about it because he reads the DIS sometimes

I'm sorry I couldn't respond to everyone. I have to go type up a quiz and pick up my paycheck . I'll try to get back on later!

 

[nucpharm29]

Diskim--I know how you feel. Matthew still hasn't gotten over his stuffiness, and it's beginning to wear on me. He won't sleep anywhere but with me. Make getting anything done next to impossible. But I just keep telling myself it will get better, right? It has to. It's just been one of those weeks. First the furnace, then the car, then apparently I booked a hotel room for the wrong day and since we didn't show up we were charged for the room, and then the vacuum broke yesterday! I just can't win

 

[vald1977]

Hi all,
My jaw and neck feel a lot better. My ears still feel like they need to pop or something but that I can live with . I had a really nice visit with my friend and her family last night. She got me the fill and bake cake pan that I have wanted forever so now I can't wait to try it out. Hopefully it will come out better than my tree cake.

The big news of the day is Katie finally rolled over by herself ! I am so proud of her . My DS came home from school saying he has a sore throat so I hope we don't all catch something now just in time for Christmas. Of course, after I dosed him with Tylenol he is tearing through the house like nothing is wrong so maybe I'll luck out.

We are supposed to have bad weather tonight into tomorrow morning so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a snow day. A three day weekend sounds good to me.


Jill,
Sorry to hear about your dd's fall. I'm glad she was okay but that must have been a scary phone call. I agree with Disney Phd that our group has had our share of head injuries for awhile.

2sweetangels,
I am sorry you are missing your Grandma . I was a little weepy myself last night since we lost DH's grandma this July and I was just thinking about how much she would have enjoyed some of the things we have done this season. I also feel sad that she missed out on seeing Katrina because she would have loved her so much. I am hoping that with time the memories won't sting quite so much and it will be easier to look back on them with fondness.

Diskim and Lisawynn,
I hope you get your snow days tomorrow. Sounds like you would enjoy a nice three day weekend .

Robin,
That's neat about the Chuck E. Cheese party. My ds would have been in heaven.

Hi to anyone I missed. Have a good night all!

 

[DisKim]

Valerie - I'm glad you are feeling better. Yay for Katie rolling over ! What a big girl!

I am so torn about what to do tomorrow. Aidan is sick, but not terribly sick. Like I said before, he is really congested which is making him vomit. He is cranky and only wants his mommy. I decided not to send him to the baby sitter tomorrow. He doesn't have fever but I didn't want to chance him getting the other kids sick anyway. I ran back to school after picking Aidan up and left lesson plans, but I feel guilty to take tomorrow off. I just took Monday off as a personal day. I have 11 days total to last for the rest of the year which I know sounds like a lot, but I really want to build my days back up (our sick days carry over into the following years). My MIL said she would come babysit, but Aidan hardly ever sees her. He doesn't recognize her when he sees her and I feel terrible leaving him sick with her. I think he's even better off with the babysitter because he knows and loves her. What should I do ? I hope some of you are around to give me some advice tonight. If I take tomorrow off, I can also wrap presents tonight .

 

[DisKim]

Alice28 - Chuck E Cheese? Free? That sounds like an oxymoron. I alwyas spend so much there. It is so nice that they did that for military families. I'm sure your boys enjoyed it. My DS5 just loves that place. My DD10 is outgrowing it. It's so sad .

2sweetangels - I'm sorry about your grandmother. I am so close with mine. I can only imagine how terrible it must feel around the holidays. I am literally tearing up right now.

Jill - I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's fall. I'm glad she's doing better. I love the picture in your signature. John Paul looks so cute in his santa outfit. I wish they made those for huge babies like Aidan. He's 22 pounds now, but it's still his first Christmas and a santa suit would be so cute. Oh well!

 

[zalansky]

Alice28 - I just wanted to put the link up to where I got our Britax Marathon online, they do have one on sale in black & gray for $219.99 with no tax or shipping charges: http://www.specialtybaby.com/br20macocars8.html
Keep an eye out, somebody on these boards told me that sooner or later the websites will start selling them discounted again.

Hillbeans & llij - I meant to tell you I love your new sig pics!!!

I hope you ladies and babies who are feeling sick start feeling better real soon.

Nite all...

 

[joats]

Sorry to hear so many sick mommies and little ones. Hope you are all on the mend soon.

SL: thanks for posting the car seat question. I was wondering the same thing as we can barely fasten Jace in anymore. I'm leaning towards Britax.

Jace had his 6mos check up yesterday. He's doing well. He's 17.5 pounds. He really has slowed the growth pace/percentiles down ever since I stopped nursing. He was a brave boy and got 4 shots. He is so funny about them. He turns bright red, screams and then as soon as I pick him up he's all smiley again and flirting with the nurses. Dr. wants Jace to start trying out a sippy cup. Picked a couple up tonight on my 2nd Target run this week.

Dr. also gave us the write up/script to go get Jace tested at the hospital to see if he has my heredity blood disorder. He has a 50/50 shot of getting it. I think I'll wait to go until after the holidays are over. But I'm starting to get nervous about it. Not to bore you all with the medical ins and outs of the blood disorder, but basically the way to deal with the issue is to take the spleen out. But they don't like to do that until around age 5. I think I got mine taken out around 3 years old, but I had some pretty tough problems with it prior to the removal. I had blood transfusions, etc as a kid. In this day in age, I don't want Jace to go thru blood transfusions. I'm hoping he got DH's healthy genes instead of mine!

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday. This has been a long week. I'm starting to freak out about how close Christmas is and about how much I have to do to prepare as we are hosting....EEK!!

Have a great night!

 

[Alice28]

I'm pooped! Mom & I baked cookies from 0930- 330pm. I got tired from standing. And all that standing reminded me to keep doing Kegel exercises! Yikes!

We got our first delivery of gifts today from one of the two families that 'adopted' us. Geez....I feel like such a dork sometimes accepting all this stuff from people. My kids are already so spoiled. But this woman was SO happy to meet us and gave us big hugs and dropped off it looks like 2 gifts for each child and a card for Dh and I and I peeked & it's a nice sized gift card to a store that's like a Super Target here called Fred Meyer. It has a full grocery store, and then clothes, hardware, toys, shoes, stuff for the house like kitchenware/bedding. I am just putting it aside for DH to buy clothes with cause he will badly need some.

Thanks for the link to the Britax. I really want to order it, but I think to myself, "I have a carseat that works and is OK....do I REALLY need this right now..." Like I said, I think I will wait until DH comes home, we get the second car, and gauge how much he will need a carseat anyway. I have a feeling that if I get the new car I want (a 7 seat Subaru) or a minivan, we will never go anywhere as a family in the Outback anymore, so why would he need a carseat? Cross that bridge later....

DisKim- Gosh....it's so hard to leave your baby when he's sick. I know what you mean about the sick day thing; after I took maternity with my two, it took a long time to build back up (our school district did the same rollover thing). But then to be worrying about baby all day is so nerve wracking. You already dropped off your lesson plans, and it sounds like you just really need to recharge; I would just stay home. Maybe once school starts back up in January, you will find yourself and the kids healthy and not worry about using the sick days for awhile.

Val- WOO HOO Katie for rolling over! Atta girl! I'm glad your neck is feeling better today!

Joats- gosh, I sure hope Jace doesn't have your blood disorder too! That is scary. My dad has a blood disorder too where his body makes and stores too much iron. I had to get a genetic screening and I was in the clear, so I don't have to worry about the kids. That kind of thing is so scary....here's hoping Jace doesn't have it!

LOL about free Chuck E Cheese being an oxymoron. Tell me about it! Last time I was there was for DS's 7th birthday about this time last year and man....it seemed like I was JUST there! This one really isn't that horrible; I purposely did NOT sit in the big banquet room where Chuck and his friends put on the show- that is nails on the chalkboard annoying. I didn't even give the kids an extra buck for more tokens. I'm a tightwad. I did spend $5 so I could do the salad bar- it was pretty fresh and tasty too!

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Alice28 - Glad you had fun at Chuck E Cheese. I haven't been to one in years.

Valerie - Congrats to Katie rolling over!

Joats - Good luck to Jace on his blood test.

DisKim - Hope Aidan is feeling better and you worked out your daycare/MIL situation.

nucpharm - Sounds like you had a tough week. Hope things turn around for you!

Last night was DH's company Christmas party. We had a good time except for a problem we had with the photos they took. We got there early and had our picture taken right away so we could avoid the lines and they were supposed to print them out 10-15 minutes later so we could pick them up. Well, they never printed and since there were so many people, they couldn't find them either. We weren't the only ones this happened to so there were a lot of angry people. Personally, I think it didn't come out because they had us in front of a green screen and would insert the background of our choice and DH was wearing a green tie so it probably looked like he had a tie-shaped hole in his body. Needless to say, we were out late and I had to drive to work in an ice storm this morning so I'm exhausted today.

Tonight I have to decorate the cookies I made earlier this week. My mother is having "Christmas" dinner tomorrow night.

 

[lissawynn]

No snow day for me. We do have a 2 hour delay, but I was a bad teacher and didn't grade my students' 5x each. They are taking their spelling tests today, and I always return their lists before the tests. I have to hop to it and get them done before they get to class.

I will get back on later to check on everyone! Have a good day!