Weekly Thread (July 25th - 31st)

[NellieOleson]

Let's try this thing out!

[crimsonandclover]

Whoa... new concept. I need time to adjust.


I have an awful headache today. It started last night and I kept waking up from it, which just perpetuated the cycle. It's probably related to stress about our upcoming travels. We got out the suitcases yesterday, so it's getting real.

What I should really do right now is stop writing and get to proofreading. I *might* even be able to finish my first round of proofreading today and send it off to my colleague who will proofread a second time.

[NellieOleson]

crimsonandclover - I hope your head feels better by now!

AFM, I was woken up last night by the smell of skunk VERY intensely present in my bedroom. I had a window open, and I guess a skunk happened to spray right outside it? I got up and closed the window, but I can still smell it
in here. Yummy.

[Lsquared]

Got an email that one of my packages shipped! I opened it to see its just a baby north face. So disappointing. Why couldn't it be the shoes???!!!

[14joa31]

NellieOleson - three cheers for the weekly thread revolution - I love it!

I got back from my work trip late Friday night, and have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off ever since. My desk is a hot mess - I don't even know where to begin. Time to strap on my ninja head band and dig in!!

[dizzycooks]

Dh took the day off today and we sent the big's to daycare. So far we have cleared the patio and play set to power wash and test driven a Sienna. Big adult things happening today!

[tinydancer]

I like the weekly thread already.

crimsonandclover I hope your feel better.
NellieOleson ugh! I don't think I've ever encountered a skunk in the wild. Which seems weird as I type it.
Lsquared that's the worst.
14joa31 welcome back!
dizzycooks have fun adulting. Do you just do drop in day care?

[14joa31]

dizzycooks - DH and I have only taken the day off and sent the LOs to daycare one time - but we LOVED it! Hope you can sneak in some "romantic" time too

[tinydancer]

We went to the pool for the first time yesterday and it was a great way to beat the heat. I think LO like it. He didn't hate it at least. It's funny how things change - a year ago there's no way I would have sat in a public kiddie pool but yesterday I was excited to do it.

[scorpioscuba]

Welcome back, 14joa31! I need to find me a ninja headband. My motivation for accomplishing anything has been missing for quite some time.

I hope your headache is better crimsonandclover! I'm glad you are making so much progress on your work though. Hoping for as work-free a vacation for you as possible!!

DNW skunk smell in my room, NellieOleson. The worst! I hope it dissipates quickly.

Funny how things change with kids, right tinydancer? All kinds of things you never would have dreamed of doing before now become fun, just to see your LO experience it. DD loves the water too!

[scorpioscuba]

I'm just looking to survive the week. I can't wait till Friday. I'm off and DD turns 6 months (WTF!?), has her 6 mo appointment and then I'm taking DS shopping for school clothes!! He starts Kinder in a little over 2 weeks. I'm SO excited for him. He is so excited. We have a countdown on his white board. Also, he really needs the mental stimulation. Summer has been so boring for him. This is the first year he hasn't at least spent a few days a week at his preschool (trying to save money to afford the nanny) so now I get all those parents who just can't wait for school to start. He has so much energy and it's admittedly driving me a bit insane!!

[silverspoon]

I miss a few days and it's a whole new world in here.


Not much is going on over here. Still completely unmotivated at work watching things pile up and generally not caring. Eh, I can't slack too much longer. Everything has to be done by the end of the month. Then I can begin another month of not caring.

Still slacking on the solids with J. He's much more enthusiastic about it, but we still are only doing oatmeal in the morning and a veggie at night. We've only introduced 3 veggies so far.

[scorpioscuba]

Thanks silverspoon, now I can't get that f'ing song out of my head!

[scorpioscuba]

Jul 25, 2016 11:44:34 GMT -5 kelltothekell said:

Hola!! Sitting here with a sleeping baby on me. we had a long night last night. We traveled yesterday and she napped a bunch.... Wondering if that caused all the nighttime awake times.

Planning a vacay to Seattle/ Vancouver. Would love any recommendations! I would like to go to Seattle, San Juan island, Olympic national park, Vancouver, my whistler.... I'm sure this is WAY too much to do in a week with a kiddo so trying to pare it down.

Also is a 3-4 hour whale cruise with a 7mo a bad ideas? DH thinks it's a no-go but idk.

silverspoon - you're not slacking. We just do dinner veggie purées. I don't really plan to add another meal for a while.

Sounds fun! Re: the cruise. Have you checked with the tour operator? Some tour operators only allow kids of a certain age on their boats. If that all checks out then I think it depends on your kiddo. If she is generally pretty chill and happy to be carried/held for that long and will sleep on you ok, then I think you could do it. SaveSave

[tinydancer]

scorpioscuba, my baby turns 6 months tomorrow. I can't believe it. We have our appointment on Thursday.

silverspoon, we're not doing any solids yet, so you're doing better than us!

kelltothekell, I went to Seattle a couple of years ago and did the typical tourist stuff (space needle, pike place, etc.) My favorite thing was the Chihuly Garden Glass Museum. It was unexpectedly beautiful. I would probably feel ok about the whale cruise as long as you think your LO isn't likely to get seasick and can sleep on the go.

[lucanjo14]

DD turned 6 months today! Cannot believe it and cannot believe we made it to 6 months of nursing. To celebrate she was up a ton last night. So was my DS, but it turns out he has a fever today and is def not feeling good. Hoping it's short lived.
Lsquared take some pics when you run clothes and shoes do come in!

[silverspoon]

Soooo, am I the only one that hasn't taken their kid to a restaurant?

We haven't. We've only taken him to a store a handful of times. If we want to do something, we just call up grandparents or H's sister. They like to have him, and we're terrified of taking him out in public.

The one time I took him to a restaurant was at a bridal shower and the restaurant was full of people I knew so that doesn't count.

[crimsonandclover]

silverspoon, we haven't taken DD3 to a restaurant yet because we pretty much never go here. But in the US my mom goes fairly often, so she'll probably get her first restaurant experience in a few weeks. A baby in a restaurant is not so bad - the worst that can happen is they cry and you step outside while your DH eats, then he comes and takes over while you eat if the LO really cries the whole time. It gets difficult when they're toddlers and want to eat restaurant food but throw it on the ground and then want to run all over the place.

[tinydancer]

I take mine all the time but I don't really have anyone to watch him. This past weekend my in-laws were in town and that was the first time I'd been out to dinner without him since H left in May.

He does just fine, usually better than at home. And now that we have to go out before bedtime I can usually catch a happy hour special too.

Edit - holy typos.

[silverspoon]

crimsonandclover I've heard it only gets harder when they get older.

We just go out so rarely (like out to dinner once/twice a month maybe? we do get takeout much more often) that I just want to enjoy it. I don't think I would enjoy sitting there waiting for what I envision to be his little timer to go off.

I see some of you planning vacations and stuff with your babies and I just can't even imagine attempting it. He has no chill. He's either in a really good mood, or a really bad mood.

[silverspoon]

Yes, I'm afraid of a 15lb little person. I think that sums it up nicely.

[crimsonandclover]

silverspoon, yeah, I've been very clear with DH that there will be no vacations with the kiddos until they are older. I think once everyone is out of nap-age that it should be easier. We can't avoid going back to the US occasionally, but otherwise vacations take place at home with day trips.

[scorpioscuba]

DD has been out to many restaurants! It's kind of hard to avoid with another little person who has activities, play dates, etc. For the most part she does really well. If she gets fussy one of us walks around with her a bit. I get wanting to enjoy meals out but honestly I barely get to enjoy meals at home and sometimes I just don't want to cook and clean up so we go out. Or we have no time for cooking.

Anyway, as long as you adjust your expectations with respect to restaurants and vacations, I think they can be totally doable and fun! Will it the same as before? Heck no! But he might surprise you as well. Sometimes all the people and things to look at will be enough to keep him occupied enough so you can enjoy your meal!

[14joa31]

We have taken DD to restaurants - including Cracker Barrel for breakfast on Sunday. I agree with scorpioscuba - I usually do not have time to enjoy meals at home anyway. My toddler eats his entire meal in five minutes and then starts climbing up into my chair with me. So just taking the baby to a restaurant is very luxurious by comparison! LOL!

I would recommend going to a breakfast place with your baby. They are happy in the morning, and parents of babies are awake before everyone else - so no waiting in those long brunch lines - we are out by 8:30-9am already!

And in terms of feeding my baby ... I am a horrible parent. I already give her everything that we are already eating. I will toss her roasted potatoes, pieces of her brother's quesadilla - whatever. She is still alive, though. Dinner is just very hectic for us - it's hard to feed myself, peel my toddler off of my body, and spoon feed her at the same time. I always start out spoon feeding her though. Then everything unravels ...

[valie]

I haven't taken DD to a restaurant either.

Remember when I thought DS was teething? (Well, I do anyway.) He has a two year molar most of the way through. Poor little man.

SIL and BIL just cancelled their visit for this eve because BIL got called into work. I've only been cleaning all day and planned an order-in dinner because we haven't seen them in a year. I wasn't expecting them to actually show, but still.

ETA: I would absolutely take DD on a few hour cruise if she was allowed. I think she'd have a ball and then pass out in her wrap.

[sjames2015]

We've gone to far too many restaurants with DD1&2. DH doesn't like to think of the time it takes to cook a meal vs going out. So when he's home we go out a lot. If DD2 gets crabby I usually can hold her while I eat. If not, one of us will stand and rock or walk with her.
We do race vacations almost every year, sadly not this year, and it's very hard when naps are involved. Even when DD1 was almost 2 we went to the ocean. It was a beautiful trip and she loved it. But having to either leave where we were to go back to the hotel for a nap or deal with a very sleepy crabby toddler was not very fun.
We had a fun weekend DD2 likes cucumbers which is a nice finger food for her to try. And I don't have to spoon feed her. We got a used swing set off a BST site. It's a cheaper model than I wanted but the price was right. It should last the kids a few years. And we saw the steam engine again. Last time this year. And DD2 is trying soo hard to crawl.

[NellieOleson]

When dd1 was tiny we took her to restaurants a lot, but we went out a ton before she was born, so I kind of felt like I had to go out to maintain my sanity. Restaurants with a little baby are a breeze -- they usually sleep the whole time. Once she was about 7 or 8 months old and wanted to see things/be entertained/eat/explore it got a lot less fun. She loves restaurants now, though, and since she turned two a few months ago has been really pleasant to eat out with.

[nikiswimr]

We take E out all the time. Brunch is usually best. These days she sits in a high chair, plays with her toys and is happy. Pretty much she goes/does anything we would normally do on the weekends. Nights aren't as easy because she likes to be down by 7-730. We also have a lot of upcoming vacations and are planning on taking her. OBX next month, Maui in January, Santa Fe for New Years. We're also bringing family along for all of those to help with her though.

[crimsonandclover]

14joa31, yeah, when we did a bit of modified BLW with DD2 I would cut up extra things for her (cucumbers, carrots, etc) when we ate. Now with DD3 I just look around the table for something that's vaguely the right shape. In the last week she's gotten pizza crust, cucumber, naan (Indian flatbread), squash and potato puree, apple slices, Subway bread (torn off the sandwich)...

I actually finished all my translation projects!! The big one is still being proofread by a colleague, so I'll have to look through it again next week, but that will take a max of 5 hours, I think. Yes! Now I'm going to have to motivate myself to clean and organize before we leave on vacation instead of just collapsing on the couch!

And in fabulous news, DD3 slept until 6:45 this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Considering her normal wake up time is between 5:15-5:45, I am thrilled, especially since DDs 1+2 actually managed to stay out of her room when they woke up at 6 (another problem we've been having), so DD3 and I actually slept until 6:45. I'm feeling rather rested.

[Lsquared]

We will take the kids out to brunch but not dinner. Everyone is in a great mood and restaurants seem less intimidating that way. Plus everyone likes a baby who brunches.

The only way I would attempt a dinner out with both kids is at 5pm at Friendly's. DNW the early bird special or Friendly's (except maybe their peanut butter cup sundae) so we just don't do it. I'm also a food snob so I can't justify wasting my delicious dinner attending to tiny tyrants.