The Official New Mom Thread

[DisneyPhD]

Hi everyone, we just got back from my friends wedding about 700 miles north of our home. Who knew you could drive that far and still be in Michigan! It was very nice and the wedding was lovely. All in all the whole trip went well. Very difficult to stay dairy free while traveling though, especailly when you are doing group things and resturants. The people on Macinknaw didn't want to tell me the ingrediants of the fuge, even for allergy reasons. It really got me mad. Needless to say I did have a bit, you can't go up there and not have ANY fudge.

So my questions is, what is the story with the pictures. Is my kids pictures ok in the sig? I don't really want to take them off, if I don't need to. I clicked on the thread, but it is 13 pages long and my eyes are getting tried.

 

[Alice28]

Joats- I know what you are going through. With my first two, I worked outside the home and it was so hard leaving them. I was fortunate that I worked a split- DH stayed home with them when I Was gone two hours in the early morning; then they went to baby sitter for 4.5 hours in the afternoon. It was still so hard. You will get through it and maybe your DH will find a job with a pay increase..

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Hi everyone, we just got back from my friends wedding about 700 miles north of our home. Who knew you could drive that far and still be in Michigan! It was very nice and the wedding was lovely. All in all the whole trip went well. Very difficult to stay dairy free while traveling though, especailly when you are doing group things and resturants. The people on Macinknaw didn't want to tell me the ingrediants of the fuge, even for allergy reasons. It really got me mad. Needless to say I did have a bit, you can't go up there and not have ANY fudge.

So my questions is, what is the story with the pictures. Is my kids pictures ok in the sig? I don't really want to take them off, if I don't need to. I clicked on the thread, but it is 13 pages long and my eyes are getting tried.

I am glad there is someone else who is dairy free on this thread. I have had to cut dairy out because Eli is sensitive to it. I miss cheese and cereal the most. Can't get myself to drink rice milk. I still use some products that have milk in the ingredients, but that is not a lot. It's hard though. I actually crave it.

Had my first trip out with the kids by myself today. I was nervous because Eli doesn't like his car seat. We did good though and Avery was glad she got to show off her baby Brother at gymnastics.

Went shopping this afternoon and got the kids some fall clothes at Target and Kohl's. Target has the cutest little boy stuff.

Avery is having a hard time with the lack of attention. Eli won't sleep in his crib for long for naps so she is 'suffering'. It does break my heart. Any tricks to getting him to sleep in there? I won't do CIO. I know Avery didn't sleep in hers until later, but I just feel bad. At least she starts school soon. It will giver her something else to do.

 

[Tracey1974]

I had to cut out all dairy as well because it made Christopher extremely gassy and irritable. I have been off of cheese, eggs, milk ect for about 3 weeks and it has definitely gotten better. Milk however, is my favorite drink ever and I miss it so much. I only eat oatmeal for lunch and drink water all of the time which I guess is a good thing.

On the other hand- I have mastitis! It is killing me! Any other bf moms had it before?

 

[justhat]

Sorry to all you dairy-free moms out there. I was fortunate enough to have a baby who was okay with whatever I ate, but I can imagine how hard it is cause a lot of what I eat is dairy.

Tracy, I had mastitis on both sides when Madison was 5 days old. It was so horrible and I feel so bad for you. I remember pumping out literally 4+ ounces of milk per side every 1.5-2 hours and I was still as hard as a rock. It was terrible. I felt okay that morning (aside from a little uncomfortable cause I was so hard) and then around 1pm I started to get cold and achey, so I took a shower and I just got so much worse so quickly. It's amazing how fast it all happened. Once I was on the medication about 1.5 days though I felt much, much better so hopefully you're on the upswing already.

I had been mostly bottle feeding her pumped milk/formula at that point, and then once I got mastitis it hurt so much to nurse her that I continued pumping/bottle feeding for awhile. About 3 weeks total, but as far as the actual mastitis pain I could have gone back to nursing her in about 3 days or so. BF in general was kinda painful for me in the beginning though so that's what I kept pumping. After about 3 weeks or so, I was nursing her and rarely pumping though, and she had no trouble transitioning back and forth.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I had mastisis in one breast with DD. I just nursed her through it. It hurt, but went away pretty quickly. I don't think I had a bad case. I'm sorry you have it.

 

[Tracey1974]

Justhat- I did the same thing! Bf was excruciating for me in the beginning but I just didn't want to do formula and with the samples from the hospital in the house, it was very tempting those first 3 days! I pumped for the first 2 weeks and he was still always hungry. One day he was fussing so much that I just put him on me and I was shocked that it didn't hurt so now I am bf him exclusively. He has put on more weight now and is more content after feedings so I am happy about that. I have to go back to work in October so I have to start giving him bottles during the day next month and bf him at night. The thought is killing me! That soy formula is so gross and he is not going to be happy with it!

Thanks for the pix of Madison- I had Christopher in the Bjorn like that at the beach last week but I think I need just a bigger blanket now because he is getting so long!

 

[justhat]

No problem! Madison was 24 inches at the time of that photo, if that's any help to you.

 

[katerkat]

I had a friend who got mastis five times in 3 months. She said once she got the antibiotics it got better quickly.

I had to cut out chocolate for Russ but nothing else. It would be so hard for me to cut out dairy!

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Hi, everyone!
I have a question. I finally started my period yesterday. I had to take 2 preg. tests at my clinic (I knew I wasn't preg. but they wanted to make sure just in case as a precaution) over the past month or 2 and then I went back on the bc pills when they were sure I wasn't preg. to try to reg. my period. Well, it worked. I was due to start this week and did. Well, yesterday everything was normal. My period was like it always has been in the past. Same with today until about an hour ago. I went to the bathroom and passed a HUGE blood clot! I am sure this must be normal and that it is just my body's way of getting back to normal after nearly 13 months without having periods. But I was wondering if any of you other mommies had experienced this during your 1st period after having a baby. I know huge blood clots are common right after giving birth but I never had any so I want to make sure this isn't something I should be concerned about. Other than that everything is just as it should be. What do you think?

I have been putting Kylie to bed at 8:30 for the past 9 nights now and the first 5 she cried some but for shorter durations each night. Well, the past 4 nights I have layed her down and she has gone straight to sleep without any crying at all! It has been wonderful. I will definitely be doing this with any future children too! She seems to like being on a schedule and it has sure made things easier on Dh and me, not to mention giving us some alone time together for the first time in nearly 4 months.

Well, we have decided we are not going to WDW next year afterall. There is so much we want to do that we won't have the money for if we go next year. For instance, I really want to stay at the Poly for atleast 1 night but that's so darned expensive! So we decided to save our money and go in 2007 (hopefully!) so we can do what we really want to do without worrying about money. Kylie will be 2 and will probably enjoy it more too I think, plus she'll be off the bottle, potty trained (hopefully!), and sleeping in a bed so we won't have to worry about packing bottles, diapers, or getting a crib, etc. It just makes more sense to us on many levels. The only thing that would keep us from going is if we decide to have another baby before then. Right now we don't plan to but who knows what will happen in the next couple years? Oh, and dh really wants to go on a Disney cruise now so nothing is set in stone at this point. We will probably just go to the beach for vacation next year which is fine with me.

justhat~ I love, love, LOVE the new pic of Madison! That's my favorite out of all that I have seen you post. The ponytails are too cute and she looks so much older than her previous pictures but that might be b/c of the ponytails, I don't know.

Hope you are all doing well. I haven't read the past several pages so I am sorry if I am missing something important!

 

[justhat]

T&S, I think the period thing is normal, but maybe if you have lots of clots ask your dr? Gosh, it's been awhile since I first got mine back, but I think I remember it being pretty light. But, Madison was only 3 months old and I was still exclusively breastfeeding every 2 hours so that is probably why. It was also pretty irregular for awhile, the 1st 2 were 6 or 7 weeks apart, then they progressively got closer together and they're pretty much back to every 28 days now. Yea.

I think it will work out well for you guys to wait another year to go to WDW then, and hey, if your husband really wants to do a Disney cruise maybe you could spend a few days doing each. The nice thing about the cruise is that they have a nursery for kids under age 3, unlike Disney, so you can go to the adults only restaurant 1 night if you want to and eat a kid-free meal. We did that when we went last June, but Madison was only 15 weeks and it was really hard on us to leave her, so we left her like 30 minutes the 1st night as a trial for our dinner on the last night. She was okay the 1st night, but she cried probably the whole 2 hours the 2nd night and they did NOT page us like we told them to if she cried. Now that she's older I wouldn't hesitate to leave her there for a couple of hours cause she'd actually enjoy herself playing with toys and other kids.

We're staying at the Poly for the 1st time this December, courtesy of the great AP rate we got, so I know what you mean about wanting to stay there and the price being crazy. The savings on the room more than paid for the AP so when you guys go, look into that if you still want to stay at the Poly.


Oh, and thanks for the compliments about Madison's photo! I think she looks a lot older with her hair like that too. It took forever for it to grow long enough to be able to do anything with it, though really it's still so fine that the bows and stuff fall out so much.

 

[lissawynn]

Hi all moms! Today was my first day back at school. We had in-service today and again tomorrow. My room is all ready, but I still have some planning to do. I know what I have to accomplish, but I need some dates as to when this stuff will occur. Monday is the first day of school with the kids, and I know I'll be exhausted next week. DH has been a big help w/Jimmy and, I'm counting on him next week.

To all of you bf moms, I wish you the best. I don't know what you're going through, but I can only imagine what deal with on a day to day basis.

 

[Alice28]

Lisawynn----that pic of Jimmy with the pirate hat is to die for! So cute!

Yikes on the mastitis---haven't had that problem, but you have my sympathies- ouch!

Tasha- I must say from experience that I would MUCH rather take a 1 year old to Disney World than a 2 year old. I am not encouraging you to spend money you don't have, but trying to walk thru Disney World with a 2 year old, is like trying to walk a cat most of the time. And if she's exactly 2, she will most likely still be in diapers. (Mine were in diapers WELL beyond 3---I don't have any friends whose kids were trained in the early to mid 2 range). 1 year olds still like their stroller, still can sleep just about anywhere, etc. Just my ever humble opinion.

I would love to stay at the Poly someday too....but dangit, even when we have the money that seems like SO MUCH for one night! $200 is over 1/5 of our monthly mortgage! And it's usually more like $280 a night. Yowza. I think because we have the option of staying at Shades of Green ($95 a night for a big room) that price kills us more. I REALLY want to stay at the WL again, and I told DH, "We have to do that while Molly is still little cause those rooms don't sleep 5- only 4 + a crib!" LOL. Always plotting how to get another trip in. I told him we need to go again before fall 07 so Sam can still get in on the child's rate (he turns 10 in Nov of 07) and Molly will still be under 3 and get in free everywhere. Scheming, scheming, scheming.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Alice~ The funny thing is I told my mom I might not even begin pottytraining until Kylie is 2 and she about jumped down my throat! I was pottytrained by 18 months and my 2 brothers and 2 half-sisters were all pottytrained by 2. I told my mom that I would see if she was ready earlier but that if she isn't I don't plan to rush her. That's why I said she will hopefully be pottytrained. I know there is a good chance she won't be but it would be nice if she would follow the pattern. And do you know my brother (who is 22, still lives at home, has no kids, and has never even had a girlfriend!) had the nerve to tell me that my child should be pottytrained before she is 2. He also told me that I shouldn't let her use a pacifier b/c it's bad for her teeth. Never mind that she doesn't have teeth but even when she gets some they will eventually fall out to make way for her permanent teeth. I just love it when someone without kids criticizes every parenting decision actual parents make. My brother is great at doing this. We have a close relationship so he just says whatever he is thinking to me.

As far as the Poly, yes, it is VERY expensive and we may not stay there at all. I really want to but I'm like you. It's outrageous to pay so much. We thought about just staying at something cheaper and going to the Poly for the luau and see how much we like it while we are there to see if we really would want to shell out that much cash just for a night on a future trip.

And then on top of all that, dh tells me tonight that he might rather have our kids 2 years apart instead of 3. I think he wants them closer in age. My brother and I were only a little over 2 years apart and extremely close growing up and still are and I think dh is hoping that our kids will be like that too. I know they will be close if they are 3 years apart too but that's what dh seems to have his heart set on. I want to wait and see how Kylie is next year before we make any major decisions about it though. But anyway, now I am wondering if we should just go ahead and go next year even if it means not staying at the Poly b/c if we do decide to only have 2 years between them I doubt we will want to go in 2007 afterall due to a new baby. Ugh! I wish we'd make up our minds. I'm afraid if we don't go next year we may not get to go for another 3 years or so. I don't know. I guess we'll have to see closer to time. I agree that it would be easier in some ways to bring a 1 year old. I just can't decide and apparently neither can Dh. I'll keep you updated though. And please let me know what you think of POFQ when you get back b/c I am really interested in staying there if we go next year. We will probably end up splitting our trip between there and POP though to save money.

ETA: Dh just informed me that he would rather go next year instead of the following year so I guess we are still going next year afterall if it all works out.

 

[justhat]

T&S, we stayed at Pop last May and I loved it. We've always wanted to stay at POFQ but the one time we had a room booked there they moved us to AKL cause of a rehab. We thought about it for our Christmas trip too, but we figured that it would be so crowded while we're there that it will be nice to be able to take the monorail rather than always being on a bus. It's costing us twice as much at POFQ though so hopefully it will be worth it. In May our rate at Pop was $55/night std. view with the AP rate. So I guess I'd see how long you're staying and how much it would save you to see if it's worth getting one or not. If not, try AAA rates, we've gotten some decent discounts with them in the past.

There's hope that Kylie will be trained by 2, but I agree with Alice28 that it's probably pretty young. I was trained at 23 months and I hope that Madison is trained soon too, but she's just about 18 months now and has absolutely no interest in the potty at all. I'm not trying to train her yet, but we do have a potty for her in the bathroom and she sits on it every morning and has done stuff in it a few times, but she has also gotten off of the potty and peed on the floor many, many times.

I guess it depends on when you'd take Kylie when she's 2 (like just 2 or 2.5) cause I thought taking Madison at 13/14 months was very challenging in some ways that being older makes easier. Last May we went with my niece, who was 2.75 at the time and I thought she was really easy to have in Disney (and she's not really an easy kid in general, we just spent 3 days with her here in DC and it was torturous, all she did was whine and cry all weekend, and she's 4 now!). With Madison, she was only walking for about 2-3 months at the time of our trip, but wanted to walk everywhere which was tough cause she was obviously slow, but also would trip, lose her balance, fall, etc. She wanted to tell us a lot of things, but since she only had a 2 word vocab at the time it was hard and she'd get very frustrated. Character meals worked well for her cause she loved them and they kept her seated, but regular meals were a challenge to keep her in the chair-she kept looking around for characters!

My niece, OTOH, easily stayed in the stroller they rented cause walking is no longer a thrill to her. She'd walk with us, but when she got tired she had no problem jumping in the stroller. She was potty trained by then (she was completely trained at 2 yr.4 months) so no diaper changing (though she has a bladder of steel so they rarely made potty breaks either). She also knew she had to sit in a chair while we ate, and she stayed there and actually ate her food (unlike Madison who was way too excited). When we go in December, Madison will turn 22 months the 2nd day of the trip so we'll see if it's any easier for us than 13 months was.

Now, we took Madison at 9 months and that was a great trip! She wasn't walking yet so no fighting about the stroller, she'd sleep anywhere, I could carry her in the Bjorn with her legs kicking my knees (problem at 13 months), etc. So if you're lucky and Kylie is not walking at 1, I would think you'd have a much easier time. But of course you can't plan that out!

 

[floridafam]

Alice28,

I have a Gymboree question and I figured you were the one to ask.

Do you know if you can use the Gymbucks you receive online in the stores?



How is everyone today? Kona is up and talking. She discovered her voice last month and hasn't stopped talking since. It's more of a happy scream. The neighbors are going to think we're hurting her.

 

[SeeDisney]

May I join in this club thread?


I have a new baby to add -- Tyler Jordan born July 28, my fourth baby. Eldest is 9 and second is 7 1/3, third is 3. I love having four kids.

Baby Tyler is a very easy going and content baby -- just WONDERFUL!


Jenn Lynn -- I too for my very severe milk allergy first child, way back when, I had to eliminate all diary products. Try Rice Dream original flavor (enriched), my 9 year old still drinks this product. Rice Dream tastes so good. Another good one is Nature's Promise (make sure you buy enriched).

 

[DisneyPhD]

I spent many years teaching pre-school, summer day camps and the like. I saw many a child be pushed into potty training too early and struggle with it for years. When my oldest was 2 so was not ready. She wasn't interested and it would of stressed her out. When she was 3 I thought she should be ready, she wasn't.I started anyway and she fought me on it. A few months later we worked on and just took the pull up and dipears away. She had 2 accidents (one of each kind so to speak) and over night she was fully potty trained (over nights too.) That was it, she was done. One accident when I came home from the hospital with the baby, but that was it. She has friends that were potty trained since 2 years old that still has accidents a few times a week.

While it could happen that your DD is ready before two, don't feel you are a faiure, really it isn't about you at all. I had to give up control to my DD for her to be able to get it herself. I belive better to do it when they are ready then too early and continue the struggle. There isn't anything wrong if your DD is ready early, but more likely then not she won't be and this is not a refection of your parenting skills.


We have taken babies to WDW at 8 1/2 months, 23 months, and then twice more when she was 3 years old. (2 more times when she was 4) Her baby sister whent at both 7 months and 9 months. Her next trip she will be 17 months old. That should be the most challenging. It is easier to be at WDW in dipears then freshly potty trained. (but I must admit that it is nice to have a potty trained one, except when you are have been in line for 30 min and have 20 more to go and they insisit they need to go potty now (like my friends son did.)

SeeDisney and Baby Tylerwelcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I grew up in a family of 4 (3 brothers and me the youngest) It seems so big now a days, but it was normal back then. I miss that.
I bought the rice milk, but I haven't opened it yet. So far the soy milk isn't too bad, DD likes it.

 

[vald1977]

Hi everyone,

Welcome SeeDisney !

Tasha,
I also just started my period again on Tuesday which was six weeks to the day of dd being born. It has been extrememly heavy which is unusual for me and also very clotty (sorry tmi). I figure it is probably just cleaning the system out after the baby although I did bleed for four weeks after she was born so I don't know . Today it does seem to be more normal so hopefully this is a one time deal and next month it will be back to regular.

We took DS to Disney when he was about two and a half and he did great. He wasn't potty trained but I didn't find diapers to be a hassle to deal with at all. I'd rather do the diapers than worry about a newly potty trained child like someone else pointed out. He loved the characters and all the rides on that trip unlike our last trip when he was five and a bit apprehensive about a lot of things. I really think there is no magic perfect age. You will have different challenges on each trip. Just plan it and go with the flow .

Katrina's thrush is back again ! We are now on her third bottle of antibiotics. It goes away while she's on it but comes back as soon as she finishes the bottle. She goes to her regular doctor next week so I'll see what he thinks. So far she has seen the other dr. in the practice twice and I don't like him at all.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I am glad to see I am not crazy w/the whole pottytraining thing. I also thought that 2 seemed young and that it would happen when she's ready, but after talking to my mom I just felt stupid. I am glad I have all of you for advice! I sure don't want to rush Kylie before she's ready. My mom tends to criticize everything I say and do when it comes to dd though. She even made the comment a couple weeks ago that Noel (Kylie's middle name) was not a good choice since she wasn't born in Dec. I love my mom and all but she either really hurts my feelings b/c I think she has absolutely no faith in me as a mother or really pisses me off b/c of it. I tend to just ignore it but I guess I am going to have to say something soon or risk blowing up! FWIW, I know I am not the perfect mom as I am still learning but I think I am a pretty damn good mom for a 1st timer!

Anyway, we are definitely going to WDW in May 2006 as I think I'd rather take her at a year old myself. Esp. after reading everything you all have said. Plus, we were going to pay for my mom to go with us but she told me awhile ago she wasn't going which means we'll have extra money...although we still don't plan to stay at the Poly. I am really excited about our trip and am glad dh wants to go next year. Have any of you done Chef Mickey's character breakfast? What did you think? I think that would be fun for Kylie and good photo ops w/the characters.

justhat~ I think the AAA rate will come out cheaper since I can use the discount at other hotels/attractions besides WDW. Thanks for the info.

Val~ glad I'm not alone! What sucks this time around is the cramps. It's been 13 months since my last period so they seem worse although I know they aren't. Dh wants to start trying for baby #2 around this time next year (if all goes well w/Kylie, etc.) and it will be our last child. I will probably get my tubes tied but wish they'd do a hysterectomy so I wouldn't have any more periods, but I know they won't do that unless medically necessary.

floridafam~ Kylie loves to do the scream too. She's sitting on my lap doing it right now actually. It's cute when she's happy, but she also does it when she's mad b/c I am not putting her bottle in her mouth fast enough. That scream is demanding and can get old fast. I hope she outgrows that and doesn't do it when she's old enough to know better!