Parenting Check-in May 2

[karlamo]

Howdy Parents!

What's new in your neck of the woods?

 

Is it really MAY??? 

[2brides]

6.5 more weeks of school.  I think we can...I think we can...I think we can...

I am hoping for only 4 more weeks of homework (one week they have testing and if they give home the last week, I will scream!) And there better not be any big projects sprung on us between now and then!

I think we all are ready for summer - slower pace of life in the AM (get get to leave 30m later for camp than we do school), no homework/more outside time when they get home, vacation, more relaxing weekends...

..and then we will have kids in their last year of elementary school.

[cetcar]

M is around 3.5 months now. She's still a pretty happy baby. This morning after stroller strides she got to meet some other babies. She was sitting up (I was helping to balance her) and she was reaching out to her friends. It was pretty cute.

As I said last week, she is liking mom and baby yoga. She loved when she could touch my face yesterday. She thought it was pretty funny.

She still isn't rolling over much (just tummy to back). She used to do it more but think it doesn't help that we've been doing a lot of her tummy time on the boppy. When she's on her back, her legs are so active. She scoots herself around and changes position. Once she can move, things will certainly be different. She's loving laying on the floor on her activity mat and playing with Freddie Firefly (http://www.amazon.com/Lamaze-Clip-Go-Firefly-Freddie/dp/B000I2Q0F4). I think it's her most played with toy. She loves him.

We are getting some more laughs and it's great. She almost has to warm up to it- like it will start just with a breath and if you keep doing what she thinks is funny she laughs more and more. Her voice is getting a little less soft and sweet sounding and is much louder than it used to be. She's experimenting with making all different kinds of sounds.

Nights have been hit or miss. Some nights we will go until 4 before eating and others we will wake up at 1, eat at 2:20, and eat again at 5. I don't know if anything is different during the day and that influences her sleep or if it's just her stage.

[kh826]

William will be 23 months tomorrow, and Lucie is 3 months old!

These kids are nuts, but it is awesome.
Lu LOVES William. She stares at him and smiles for seriously long lengths of time. I think she thinks he is hysterical. Their relationship is really developing and it is super cool to watch.

William has had more challenging toddler behaviors, but that is mostly to be expected. Some days he is a total sweetie pie, and other days he is more defiant and acts like he is on speed. He has taken to running laps around the kitchen table singing twinkle, twinkle little star (or some other song) at the top of his lungs. Last week it was jingle bells. No clue where that came from.

Conversations with William are my favorite. Yesterday he told me he was going to have a kitty cat at the new house. WHAT?!?! No, kid. You are not!

Lu is doing well in the harness. She has slept through the night the last 4 nights, which is totally awesome. She tends to go through a stretch of almost a week where she sleeps through and then will go through another stretch where she is up once in the night to eat. I don't want this stretch to end, but we shall see if it does. Either way, we are super lucky with how she sleeps. Especially considering the harness.

William has been eating us out of house and home, and he has gotten SO tall. I can't wait to see how tall he is at the pedi next month. I feel like he is a giant for his age.

That's all I've got at the moment. Life is busy. Packing, planning our move, keeping our 2 little ones alive, fed and happy ... that's enough, right? Oh, and laundry. So much laundry.

[karlamo]

May 3, 2016 12:51:38 GMT -5 2brides said:

6.5 more weeks of school.  I think we can...I think we can...I think we can...

I am hoping for only 4 more weeks of homework (one week they have testing and if they give home the last week, I will scream!) And there better not be any big projects sprung on us between now and then!

I think we all are ready for summer - slower pace of life in the AM (get get to leave 30m later for camp than we do school), no homework/more outside time when they get home, vacation, more relaxing weekends...

..and then we will have kids in their last year of elementary school.

[br

OMG I was getting a Y membership on Sunday and there were two parents there registering for summer camp. Holy hell, the matrix required to figure out which camp fits into their summer schedule..... " Well, baseball starts at 5 and camp ends at 4, I guess we could make it across town for 5...." My head hurt as this poor mother was trying to plan her kids life.

I saw my future......and it involved a lot of driving in my car..... eating take out.

[mahler5]

C is 2 and some change.

We went to Ikea today and she did pretty well. We got there after her nap and she stayed in the cart without protest the whole time. She also agreed that we should buy the baby a stuff animal too. Although when we got home tonight she was calling the baby's stuff animal "mine." So we will see if that continues. At this rate the baby will have no things of her own or C will end up getting lots of new stuff she doesn't need.

Discipline had been going better but then I read this stupid article on pBS saying time outs are almost as bad as spanking. Damn you pBS and your crazy parenting gurus. They had a follow up article with alternatives. Some seemed plausible but only for a 3-4 year old or older. I am still overall getting C to behave better more with little consequences or rewards for good behavior without doing a full on timeout but sometimes that's the only thing that works.

C is doing much better at potty training at school and with L but hasn't wanted to sit on the potty for me as much. I don't know if she is testing me or wanting to be more of a baby with me. I never push her, I don't think that is right. And probably not effective but I'm annoyed she will do It more for others.

L and I have been fighting a lot. In general we were more before and after the move but then things died down. Now it's worse again. I'm not sure what to do about It anymore. Most of the time I accept it as a normal part of marriage with ups and downs but some days like today I am so over it and so resentful I don't see how it will get better. Anyway, I'm probably over sharing. I'm definitely more irritable from the hormones too, and more forgetful, and clumsy, and just exhausted. So I'm sure I'm not that fun to be around but I wish she would try to be more understanding. I don't see this getting better with having a newborn and us both being sleep deprived.

Life in general is petty good though, so I need to focus on that and be positive. I can only change myself.

[kona]

O is 21 months.

Things are going well. I am constantly amazed at how much she changes. She is starting to become afraid of things (mostly big trucks). She is also starting to have more of an opinion on things. So far she is ok with being redirected or will process what we have said (ie. the stove is hot you need to stay back) then she repeats that phrase over and over. I am enjoying spending more time with her even though it makes my work schedule suck. The 90 minute nap today while she napped did not suck. I am afraid that once #2 comes and I am working more, I will never see my family. I really needed that 1 on 1 time after M went back to work to really bond with O. I'm sure we will figure it out, I just need to worry about it.

O sat on the potty twice today. Nothing happened but I figure it can't hurt to try if she wants. She has been holding it for sure recently. I will check her and lots of times she hasn't peed at all after 2 hours which is new. I really don't want to push potty training, especially not with a baby coming in 3 months. Is it odd that I'm also sad about her potty training because then we won't have diaper change time and I won't get to use our cute diapers. I know, I'm weird.

I wish she would sleep better. It seems really hit or miss. 2 nights ago she slept straight through, then last night she was up and wouldn't go back in the crib, so her and M ended up on the couch at 3AM.

mahler5, I'm sorry you and L have been fighting. Parenting and relationships are hard.

[mahler5]

kona-- thanks. C has become more afraid of stuff recently too. She will run to me if there is a loud noise. Or she will say "that's scary." She also loves the Daniel tiger episode about scary things and how when you check them out together they aren't so scary anymore. She wants to watch it all the time!

Sorry you are worried about not getting enough time with baby #2. Hope you can work it out to get more! When are you all due again?

[2brides]

May 3, 2016 18:08:26 GMT -5 karlamo said:

May 3, 2016 12:51:38 GMT -5 2brides said:

6.5 more weeks of school.  I think we can...I think we can...I think we can...

I am hoping for only 4 more weeks of homework (one week they have testing and if they give home the last week, I will scream!) And there better not be any big projects sprung on us between now and then!

I think we all are ready for summer - slower pace of life in the AM (get get to leave 30m later for camp than we do school), no homework/more outside time when they get home, vacation, more relaxing weekends...

..and then we will have kids in their last year of elementary school.

[br

OMG I was getting a Y membership on Sunday and there were two parents there registering for summer camp. Holy hell, the matrix required to figure out which camp fits into their summer schedule..... " Well, baseball starts at 5 and camp ends at 4, I guess we could make it across town for 5...." My head hurt as this poor mother was trying to plan her kids life.

I saw my future......and it involved a lot of driving in my car..... eating take out.

Yea. It is a mess. I *think* it would be easier if 1) one of us didn't work so that activities could be earlier and/or we could do homework before an activity 2) we didn't live in an area that is so spread out and traffic is such a nightmare. But neither of us can afford to quit our jobs and we aren't moving out of this area anytime soon, so we will suck it up.  We'd gotten away with no summer activities until this summer when G has decided to be on the swim team. So, 4 days/week, I will be leaving work 45m early, driving 75m to camp, getting the kids/feeding them a snack in the car, and driving 30m back to the pool so we are there by 6pm (hopefully, L will be starting a new job this summer...that will limit her flexibility - but she needs a new job!) Swim ends at 7 and then...dinner!?!?

[wittyandwaiting]

I'm soooo late to check in this week.

O is 5 weeks old and DS is 14 years old.

This week has been hectic.

C and I are pretty disconnected right now; we are like ships that pass in the night. We've had an ongoing breastfeeding conflict happening that came to a head a few days ago. Here's the long story

SPOILER: Click to show

Basically, her family is so weird about/not supportive about breastfeeding that they make it so uncomfortable. My BIL covers his face with a pillow when I breastfeed (and I'm already covered), my MIL comments about how sad she is that O can't stay there because they wouldn't be able to feed her and basically every time I go to feed her somebody comments about how she's hungry *again* and it's the same crap when they come her to visit. They are bugging me to start pumping and basically it is making me bitter, angry and resentful. I'm home with O for 12 months so I don't see any reason to start pumping ASAP and now I'm at the point where I feel like I don't even want to start pumping to build up an emergency stash because then it's going to be a thing. Point is, C and I agreed about how we are going to feed O but she needs needs to communicate that back to her family.

O is doing great, she has slept for two back to back four hour stretches the past few nights and has been eating well. She's definitely more alert and engaged lately which is fun. We went to our first mother goose music class this week and she was very smiley and bright-eyed.

DS is doing well, he's putting in some overtime at school to work on math and I'm thrilled that he's putting the effort in.

The two of them together is amazing, she is absolutely enthralled with him and he absolutely adores her. I love that he walks in the door from school, washes his hands and scoops her up to getting his daily baby snuggles. Sometimes he even wakes up a little bit early in the morning to have time to cuddle with her before he goes to school. Makes my heart feel all melty.

2brides I'm also hoping for only a few more weeks of homework!

cetcar thanks for the tip, I just bought Freddie The Firefly.

kh826 Happy to hear that Lu is doing well in the harness.

mahler5 Sorry to hear that you and L are fighting. It's exhausting. C and I are doing the sleep deprived newborn thing right now so I don't have much advice to offer.

kona Hoping she gets onto a better schedule soon! And hopefully before number two arrives!

[wittyandwaiting]

Also, please talk to me about The Wonder Weeks, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[mahler5]

wittyandwaiting-- that IL situation would really bother me. I hated pumping and rarely did with C since I was at home with her the first year. I think it is more comforting to them too. And I don't think it's w big deal if she gets a little hungry occasionally if you are not right there and leave her. Obviously, you would get back soon if she is hungry. I did occasionally leave a bottle of breast milk with my ILs when they watched her but I don't think I did until around 4 months and it was only when I was going to be gone more than a few hours. I think they would want something "just in case" when I was gone because they didn't want to feel helpless if she was hungry which was understandable. I'm glad they were generally supportive of breastfeeding. They definitely thought it was best for C. Although I don't think L's dad was comfortable with me breastfeeding in front of him so I would go in other room. I don't know why people freak out about it.

[calsurb]

DD is 11 months old.

We flew to LA over the weekend to visit a newborn nice and finally bought DD a pair of shoes while we were there. Are we the only ones who don't have shoes for their kiddos? She pitched a fit about them being on her feet, but we found a pair of Bobux ones that she couldn't pry off. She's also toothless, babbling and just starting to crawl.
This weekend, we're headed to the city on Saturday and Sunday for a meetup, a picnic, and then a mother's day brunch and garden tour on Sunday. When will this kiddo get a nap during all of this? Weekdays, she's on a fantastic napping schedule. Weekends, we're darting from here to there and she gets a nap when in transit. I remember being in my late 20s super bored and single on the weekends. Now, I'm married, have a baby to keep an eye on and social engagements coming from every direction. How did that all happen in less than a decade?
Thanks for reading my ponderings!

[cetcar]

wittyandwaiting - Awesome! Hope O likes him as much as M does! Freddie aims to please