The SDMB Mommy's Group (Daddies Welcome!)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Well, the party was a joy, with Sophie having a blast. The amount of stuff that she got was impressive, from Play-Doh to DVD’s to money for clothes. We invited all the kids in the street (3), her cousins (2), and a friend that Sophie knows from work (1), so we had 7 kids, four years-old or less, in our house getting wired on sugar, needy from watching one kid take center stage in a Rite of Acquiring Possessions, and cranky from approaching nap-times. In addition to them, we also had even more adults crowding themselves into our little home.

Sophie also got some cute clothes, and we got some wonderful pictures and video. She blew out all the candles on her cake (on the 14th try), which was mostly gone by the end of the party.

It was odd… it was like our little girl flipped a switch and “grew up” quite a bit that day. After Sunday, her diction became better, a lot more concepts began to be expressed (a dawning awareness of a sense of time is just one of them: “today”, “tomorrow”, and other like words are being used), and her ability to sustain a conversation increased. We also told her stuff like “Sophie, when your birthday comes, you’ll no longer be a baby, you’ll be a big girl!” and she is making the distinction between Sophie the baby and Sophie, now.

Today, we had a good day. We went to a favorite restaurant and had some delicious pizza, and then, after a trip to Wal-Mart, we went to go vote. Sophie went into the booth with me, and holding her, I pointed out which selections to make, and she pressed the buttons, culminating in her pressing the big green button that made our selections final. This left such an impression on her that she was speaking about it when she woke up from her nap, five hours later:

“I pressed the green button, mommy! I voted!”
“Yes you did, Sophie. We’re so proud of our voting girl! Did you like voting?”
“Yeah!”

and etc, and etc.

As a reward for voting, Sophie was treated to TCBY, getting some yogurt, where we met a kindergartner named… something a little uncommon, beginning with “G” - like Gaylord. Sophie played with him and his cards, with Gaylord’s father giving Sophie one of the packs (the man owns a nice bath and spa next to the where we voted, and is either loaded or in hock - probably a bit of both).

We then went to the library, where Sophie ran around, read a number of books, and got ssshhhh’d a number of times (did I mention that she is loud?) She was wearing a new pair of khaki’s and a grey sweatshirt and looked absolutely adorable.

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Wow, we should all have such enjoyable birthdays—for ourselves, too, not just for the kids.
My little girl got her first haircut yesterday. Yes, I know 2 years old is kind of late for that. She was pretty hair-challenged for a long time. I didn’t trust my own skills at this (she has very curly hair, plus I have the memories of some really awful home haircuts, courtesy of Mom), so we went to one of those kid cut places. The idea was that my daughter would sit on my lap during the process, but she was kind of scared, so she ended up sitting (OK, really squirming) on my lap while facing me, with her arms thrown around my neck. Because she’s not typically a big cuddler (even booboos really only require the most cursory of cuddles before she is off and running again), I selfishly enjoyed those few moments. Not that I was glad she was frightened. I was just glad to be the one to help her handle it.
The new guy is 10 days old today. It’s funny, his ister has always been on the small side (10th percentile for height/weight), but she seems ginormous next to him. The other day, it struck me as ridiculous that we even start out this small—how can someone be 10 days old? Especially someone for whom I am responsible?! Anyhow, the girl has adjusted well to having him here. Our biggest problem is getting her to be gentle when she hugs and kisses him.
Well, look at the time. According to my little human alarm here, it’s time to nurse again.

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lorene, those first couple of months are, I think, some of the hardest, and some of the best. It’s such a grab-bag of emotions and feelings! Well, treasure the good, and know that the bad will pass (or at least morph into a different kind of bad :rolleyes: ).

I hosted my first dopefest last night (not the first I’ve ever been to, just the first I’ve ever hosted), and my 17-year-old, who cannot bear to not be the focus of attention just wigged out. Crying because neither her father nor I would drive her to an AA meeting (neither of us convinced she ever really had a drinking problem, but that’s a whole 'nother post) when she never even tried to find a ride from anyone else (not to mention that it’s within easy walking distance); having a temper fit because I wouldn’t give her money for bubblegum; telling me she felt like cutting herself (I told her to call her therapist; she refused. I told her to call her therapist; she refused. I told her to call her therapist, she finally did and then came whining to me about how he hadn’t been sympathetic enough). She is such a drama queen! But we managed to have a good time, anyway. Anita Vacation, danceswithcats, RTFirefly, and Two Trouts came. It was great!

I let Mariah stay up way past her bedtime because of the “party” (Dopefest is not a term I use around her, as I wouldn’t be pleased to have her telling her teacher about it :wink: ), and when I finally put her down to bed, she fell asleep before I was even done reading to her!

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I spent most of yesterday squished into a tiny Honda with my parents and little sister (leaving dad to cope with the younguns alone, hahahah). We went to see the new baby in the family! She is so adorable, and we mainly sat around and admired her for several hours before shoehorning ourselves back into the car for a long, rainy drive home. This is my youngest brother’s daughter, and his wife’s mom is staying with them for a month to help out. She speaks not a word of English, is a great cook, and gave us all presents which was very embarrassing because we didn’t think of bringing presents for her! We had a good time.

Today is general clean-up day, so I should be vacuuming, not posting, and we have kung-fu for 4-yo’s later in the day. DangerBaby is running around like a pro, and coming out with new words every day. She has finally started to say her big sister’s name, and likes to point things out more than ever–“Ook! Moon! Ook! Books! Ook! Toes!” (That means “look!”)

Now that the cool weather is finally here–it hit the low 90’s just last week–I can make winter dinners. I’m much better at those. :slight_smile:

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Does anyone have any experience with either infant reflux or allergy/sensitivity to milk proteins?
New Baby has been screaming bloody murder about 30 minutes after nursing, every time. Last about 30 minutes to an hour. neither Mylicon drops nor Gripe Water help. Won’t tolerate being put on his back, unless he is at an angle.
Saw pediatrician today. She told me to first try eliminating all dairy and beef from my diet. Gave a script for Prilosec if that doesn’t help. The no dairy thing is a little daunting, the websites I have looked at for infant reflux even more so. Infant relux seems like a VERY serious disorder. I don’t know if we are truly at that level—or maybe I just don’t want to be.
I don’t know if I even have much of a question here. Just looking for advice and experiences.

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lorene, I know reflux babies from another message board, and it seems very serious. I also know women who’ve eliminated all dairy from their diets with great difficulty. Either way, I wish you guys the best. I don’t have any tips myself, except to mention that I love the kellymom site for all things nursing – I’m sure there’s good info there if you haven’t been there yet.

I’m also seeking advice on two fronts.

  1. We’re looking to visit the b-i-l/s-i-l for Thanksgiving. It’s a 6-hour drive each way (without Thanksgiving traffic!). What do I need to know for traveling with a 9 month old?

  2. I’m considering this picture for a Christmas card. It’s so hard to get a good pic of my daughter and “her” doggy (they are inseparable already). Please be honest – what do you think? I am of course highly biased.

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lorene, unfortunately, I have no experience with these particular problems, but I sure hope you get things straightened out soon!

Lily, I drove to Florida with my kids when my youngest was just under a year; here are some things that helped: easy-to-hold-onto toys (if she has toys that need batteries, make sure you take spares); safe, not-too-messy snacks; favorite blanky, etc. plenty of bottles of milk, juice, water. Plenty of rest-stops. It would be particularly good if you could manage to stop somewhere about halfway that offers an opportunity for her to get down and on the floor (a large, indoor visitors center would do the trick). I’m assuming you’ll be staying overnight at family’s house?

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loreneHere’s a link to another message board where they’re discussing reflux during breastfeeding. I didn’t happen to have that problem, but I’ve seen postings from a lot of other women who have - seems like medication works for many of them. Hope the info helps!

LilyThat picture is absolutely adorable! We’ll be traveling with our twins shortly & are planning to stop and let them stretch after a couple of hours. I was thinking a McDonald’s playland might help, although my germ phobia may keep me from trying. They’re pretty good car sleepers - usually - but of course every month things change.

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These have helped us enormously!! I just wasn’t sure if Lily’s little one was old enough to appreciate them. The Chick-Fil-A’s that have play areas often have a special section designed just for babies and very young kids, but these are often not an option.

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I think I may have a bit of expertise in this area. When my son was 10 months old, we drove from South Carolina to Florida with him (8 hours), then flew from Florida to Australia. The trip from FL to Aus was 36 hours, door to airport.

First, it probably won’t be as bad as you think. I was terrified of the experience, but he did really well and it wasn’t as horrific as I thought it was going to be.

We brought a whole bag full of toys he’d never seen before…little things, like a new ball, little bath toys, a book, etc. If he started getting a little fidgety, we’d pull a new one out.

Bring plenty of Cheerios. I think we went through a whole Giant-sized box on that trip.

A trick that my brother uses (father of 4 boys, ranging in ages 2-14), is to travel at night or in the evening. That way, the baby dozes off and sleeps the whole way. Maybe you could leave at about 5 or 6, your bub could have a snack in the car, then sleep.

We just took a car trip from north of Sydney to Brisbane a few weeks ago (12 hours each way). I’ll second the McDonalds playlands for older kids. We stopped at a couple. It might still work for your baby to at least be able to stretch and see a whole bunch of kids running around. It might grab her interest and be a good break for her. I don’t know why more restaurants along the highways don’t have kiddie play areas - that was the only thing pulling our business to McD’s.

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Thanks so much! I ahd found another baord with a more confusing format—that one looks really good. Baby did much better with just one day of me off dairy, probably 1/3 less screaming than the day before, so I’m hopeful. I read lots of stuff about elimination diets, and as difficult as cutting out dairy (and all its hidden sources) is, it looks a lot less complicated than a “true” elimination diet, where you cut out just about everything but rice products and then add them back in one at a time.

Lily , I really love that photo, too! What gorgeous, big eyes on that one! Good luck with the trip, too. We haven’t done any extended travel since my daughter was 6 weeks old, but like others have said, it was as hard as we had anticipated.

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That’s good news, lorene! Hopefully the trend will continue! Those first months are so tough.

I have a question for you more experienced moms - how do I approach self-feeding? Frankly I’ve been a big weenie so far, all I’m doing is giving them wagon wheels (puffed cereal for babies) and biter biscuits. They seem to like them okay, not especially enthusiastic. I guess at 9 months it’s time for them to start feeding themselves, but the thought of all that mess is daunting! What’s worse, our “dining” area is over carpet! I bought a couple of those floor mats, but I’m still dreading it. And I’m terrified they’ll both start choking at once! Any tips?

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Heh, I was a big weenie about the self-feeding, too, when my girl was little. She really liked the wagon wheels, not so much the biter biscuits. Other things I tried: Cheerios (of course. I think my Mommy License would have been revoked otherwise!), veggie booty, small pasta shells, thawed green peas, and tiny dices of chicken. I cut everything up really small so that my choking fears would be alleviated. Cme to think of it, I still cut everything up pretty small. Better safe than sorry, right?
The floor mats really do help, although things will tend to be flung hither and yon anyhow. At least you can have the illusion of control, though, right? Also, try giving very small portions. It’s always easier to give more if they need it than to clean a huge mess. Also, I find that a large pile of stuff encourages some babies to just start cramming it all in their mouths, thus increasing your choking risks. And we didn’t do big-time self-feeding until she had very good control—i.e., still spoon fed her the other food. I always worried that she would really be late on this, but she is just fine.

In other news, today is the first day that my husband has gone to work since the new baby. I’m willing to bet he is pretty glad to be in an environment where he can both start and finish a task without interruption. My older child is at daycare today (hey, we have to pay for the slot whether she goes or not. Might as well stick to her routine), so I just had to get both kids out of the house to bring her there. I managed to get them all bundled up and car-seated and the house locked up, etc. Got in my car and the damn thing wouldn’t start. Had to repeat the whole procedure but in hubby’s car.
This was the first time the daycare provider had met the new baby. I was a little chagrined that she instantly made such a big fuss over him, leaving my poor daughter kind of standing off to the side. I think perhaps I am oversensitive to this stuff—always looking to make sure her tiny feelings aren’t being hurt. All told, though, she was glad to get in with her peers and start playing. Now it’s just me and baby for a few hours. Hopefully some of those hours will include more sleep!

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fessie, about self-feeding: our dining room is carpeted, too; I think folks who carpet dining rooms should be taken out and shot. :smack: But if you’re trying to keep from messing up your carpeting by delaying self-feeding, you’re delusional :wink: . Kids are messy. Twins are twice as messy! If you don’t want your caarpet messed up, you’ll have to be feeding the twins until they’re about 12! Are you really prepared for that? :smiley: Here are some good things to give your babies as finger foods: very ripe pear cubes (skin removed); little cubes of ham; (okay, typing “little cubes” again and again is going to become tiresome, as will reading it repeatedly; unless otherwise noted, assume everything should be in little cubes); throughly cooked chicken; frozen ravioli, boiled, no sauce; canned green beans, carrots, peas (the no-salt-added kind is best); canned fruit packed in juice; strips of buttered toast; strips of buttered waffles or pancakes. Start with these things (well, some of them), and branch out from there.

Good luck!

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I was about to suggest most of the things that have just been suggested for self-feeding, so I guess I won’t repeat. We started with canned veggies too, and little slivers of chicken. Toast/waffle spread with applesauce and cut into squares makes the bread nicely mushy. (I didn’t give either girl Cheerios for a long time; when I first tried with DangerGirl, she instantly choked. She was very very good at choking.)

Well, we are coldy today, which isn’t actually terrible news, I guess. I was supposed to host ‘school’ today, and now we can relax all morning and read stories instead, which I think we all kind of need. Yesterday was very busy indeed, and I still have errands to run, but they can wait. I’ve realized that DangerGirl is just about ready to learn to read(!), so I made little cards last night to practice 3-letter words.

The baby’s latest thing is to go around saying “ooooohhhh nooooo!” every time anything gets dropped. I am looking forward to this fad ending soon, but it’s bizarrely cute, too.

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Thanks for the advice, you guys are funny! Guess I’ll have to hold my breath & give it a try. It is a nice thought to imagine fixing ONE meal that we can all eat (sort of). Thanks for the detailed lists!

lorene Good for you, getting out of the house! Second attempt and all :stuck_out_tongue: . I’m betting your daughter loves being with her friends for a little while. Sometimes people pay more attention to my baby girl than baby boy - and does he ever look hurt! I can really relate to your dilemma.

norinew you crack me up. Pancakes? Well, sounds mushy. Butter? I can give them butter? You would think I’d never read a book on the subject, I swear I have, but I guess my mommy-brain didn’t take it in. Actually little specks of “real” food have been slipping in here and there - I gave them each a dab of Dairy Queen, oh they made funny faces w/that one!

dangermom That’s so exciting, learning to read! Yay! And I don’t see why they have to lose these cute mannerisms so quickly - really bums me out! I don’t even get them videotaped and they’ve moved on to another habit.

Back to the fray…

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m’kay, reporting back…

(oh, and I should clarify - the concern for my carpets wasn’t b/c I’m a neatnik. Oh no. I’m a slob. That’s the problem - it’s taking all my domesticity & then some just to keep ahead of the mess I’ve got already!)

Alright, back to the food.

No ravioli in the cupboards (I was gonna rinse the sauce off, I swear), but poised on the shelf in my fridge I did find…a pear!

Not ripe enough, so I ate it.

Digging around some more what did I find but…a kiwi! Nice and mushy. So I cut some small, thick slivers off of the green part (I’m way too disorganized to manage “cubes”) and put them on the trays once I’d cleaned them sufficiently.

And what did my babies do?

Nothing! They just poked at them a bit. Why is it they will stick everything else they can find into their mouths (including our junk mail, that seems to be a particular favorite)?

I managed to insert a few slices between their lips, which they did eat. Of course my daughter starts coughing at one point, causing my blood pressure to spike, but it was just a false alarm.

Thanks for the advice!

Gotta go pull one of them off the other…

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I just gave my kids little bowls of whatever we were eating.

Spaghetti with sauce, dry cereal, tiny pieces of chicken with corn or carrots or peas (peas are great fun for kids,) frech fries, crumbled hamburger, slices of american cheese, peanutbutter sandwiches pulled apart into tiny pieces (complete with crusts,) waffles…

shrug

They did their share of coughing stuff up. When my daughter fed her brother granola bar we had to tip him upside down to dislodge the granola. he was quite upset at us and kept trying to snag more granola as we were cleaning up the mess…

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For my money, I found the pasta shapes easier than actual “spaghetti”; when I had little tiny kids, pasta elbows, bowties, carburetors, etc. were better choices insofar as they are easier to pick up; also, you can put just a dab of sauce on the noodles for the babies, and mix it around real good. Just my two cents.

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My daughter will only eat actual spaghetti. Anything of another shape is verboten at casa tanookie unless it is covered with cheese sauce and then it has to be elbow macaroni. The whims of toddlers. :rolleyes: