Parenting Check In July 25

[kona]

Good Monday morning parents! How are all the LOs doing this week?

QOTW: Is your family complete with the kiddos you currently have? Do you plan to have more? Have you changed your mind on how many kids you would like since becoming a parent?

[2brides]

Swim is over which is both making us happy (getting home before 7something every night? Yes, please) but also sad because we made some really nice friends that we enjoyed hanging out with every evening. C has been been a more than a bit trying recently and I lost my patience with him Friday night, for which I had to apologize. Evidently he is the victim for every.single.thing. Drives me nuts. I can't believe that school starts 4 weeks from today.

QOTW: SOOOOOO complete. We said before TTC that we wanted 2. Got a 2 for 1 deal and never looked back. 2 always felt like the right number for us. I didn't want an only (I am an only and while there were aspects of it that I really liked, I wanted our kid to have a sibling) and 2 felt manageable financially and logistically. We've never wavered.

[2brides]

Jul 25, 2016 7:55:33 GMT -5 Kristykristyleelee said:

Also, I know I need to just chill the hell out about worrying about this. She won't let herself starve.

This made me chuckle because people often don't think G eats enough. He has very specific things he will eat/not eat (only Papa Johns pizza - but is willing to try a wider variety of food than C) - but when he is out and about he doesn't eat much and people get worried (his teacher sent us an email when they went on their overnight trip with school that he wasn't eating much and we got a panicky text when he went to a sleepover that he didn't eat dinner.) But then there are times he will EAT. This weekend he ate 2 sausage biscuits, 4 waffles, and an apple for breakfast.

[mahler5]

C is 2 1/2. E is 7 weeks.

E is sometimes sleeping from 9 to 2 but sometimes it's more like 9 to 12:30. Then she gets up again around 4 or 5. Then c gets us up at 6:30. I feel like we are playing musical beds. I mostly sleep in E's room but slept in the guest room next door with baby monitor the other night. I fel like a million bucks the next day even though I was feeding just as often. L sleeps there sometimes though so C can just walk over and wake her up when she gets up. The master bedroom is downstairs and we have the stairs closed off at night. I actually slept much better in the guest room. Only problem is then I definitely have to get up when C gets up. But I wasn't waking at every little noise e makes. I feel guilty not sleeping in the room with her. Even with ear plugs all her little noises wake me up. I also feel guilty not sleeping in same bed as my wife most the time but then her breathing machine wakes me up too. I do think I need to make getting sleep a priority though. I get way more forgetful. I even forgot to buckle e in her car seat and felt horrible! When things like that happen I feel like I need to start bottle feeding her so L can get up with her more and go back on my add meds. Now I have post its up reminding me to double check!


Anyway, I digress. E is great. She's getting chunky and more head support. And she is smiling more.

C is great too! She still wants to act like a baby. This morning after getting mad at me for turning off the tv she asked for her baby rattle (e's now but used to be hers!).

Yesterday we picked up chipotle and Chloe was singing a song to L about quesadillas while I got the food. We were trying to get her to sing it for me on way home but she was mad we wouldn't let her eat it in the car. She said, "No! I want my quesidilla right now! Then I'll sing a song."

She is definitely learning her negotiation skills from us because to get her to do stuff she doesn't want to we basically say she can do "a" after she does "b". Sadly, I think she is already a better negotiator than I am. I know she won't cave and she is definitely more adamant and assertive than I am!

She really has been doing well overall. Only other thing is she has been not taking an afternoon nap at times. Then she is super tired and clumsy in the evenings!

QOTW-- I really want another. I have been thinking that still as strongly since e was born. L does some of the time. I am not sure it is completely responsible to do so though since I feel like we can barely handle 2 right now. So, if we do I want to wait a while and we are both in our late 30s. I may do an ER in the next year and then wait a little longer to do an ET. But I don't want to wait too long either if we do it. And the er might not work at all.

So, we will see. I'm just grateful for our two daughters! I also want to lose weight before an ER or et and so far postpartum that isn't happening at all!

[bexincanada]

Is is two months old today!! (8.5 weeks). We got our first awake-laugh yesterday. She's laughed in her sleep a handful of times. This week we have vaccinations and another physio appointment for her jaw, last week's physio assessment went well. Is was not a fan, but now she's turning her head to the left more and after having her jaw worked on she spends more time breastfeeding (though still on the bottle as well). She still clenches when she breastfeeds but since we're massaging her jaw she's able to sustain this longer. I'm confident that as she grows/becomes stronger things will sort themselves out.

I posted in MOTN about our sleep woes last night. Today there haven't been a ton of naps, but I've been able to get her to sleep before she gets overtired so I'm hoping that tonight we get a better chunk of sleep.

We also got our baby book in the mail the other day (thanks for the recommendation wittyandwaiting), so filling that out and writing thank you cards is on the agenda for this week. I want to get both up to date... it will make me feel accomplished. Today I got dressed - that was my accomplishment. (c; We only have groceries on the agenda for tomorrow, so if there are naps I should be able to plow through.

[karlamo]

L is 11 months tomorrow. My baby is all grownsup Where did the year go? I remember drowning when we first brought him home and I wondered if we'd ever make it through the day let alone a whole year. He is walking all over the place, eating way better than R ever did. I need to make an apt for his cake smash. He's going to love it! I am hoping not to lose sight of his birthday with our big move coming up. We should be settled enough by the end of August to have his party at the new house.

R is doing great. He started saying "Be careful" when doing things. I obviously say this phrase way to much to him. He of course is saying this when he is walking along the outer ledge of our two story entrance way or when he's jumping off the coffee table. At least he knows the appropriate use of it. I have been putting 1-2-3 Magic into practice with him and it is going good enough to continue using it. I rarely get to 3 which is a surprise since I thought we'd be setting up shop on the walls of our house. I am looking forward to taking him to new parks in our new town.

QOTW: I think we're set at 2. We are open to changing our minds but I think the further we get from the newborn phase the least likely we will be to a 3rd. We're in our mid-30's...gulp. So by the time we are ready for 3 I'd be pushing 40 and I have no desire to do this at 40! Two kids fits our lifestyle and our budget:)

[mahler5]

karlamo-- what is 1, 2, 3 Magic?

Is it really magic? I need some magic right now.

[wittyandwaiting]

Things have been going really well!

O is 16 weeks tomorrow and DS is 14 years old.

Tomorrow the baby has her shots and C will definitely cry. I forget if I mentioned this last week but she is rolling over from her back to her tell me but can't roll from her tummy to her back so when she gets onto her tummy she just kind of why is there like a turtle that's been turned on its back waiting for someone to flip her over. I have probably said "can you please flip your sister?" a million times in the last week! She's also discovered her feet and loves to hold onto them and put them in her mouth. Oh! And the laughs.....she laughs and laughs and laughs and laughs!! She had started laughing a few weeks ago but now she really laughs.

DS is really coming into his own, I feel like summer when you're 14 going on 15 is a pretty awesome time of your life, it's what coming-of-age stories are made of.

QOTW: Our family is definitely complete. I never actually imagined myself having more than one child but eventually I realized that having a child was something that I really wanted to do with the C right from the beginning.

Also, has anybody used wonder weeks either the app or the book and found it useful?

[karlamo]

Jul 25, 2016 17:35:14 GMT -5 mahler5 said:

karlamo-- what is 1, 2, 3 Magic?

Is it really magic? I need some magic right now.

It's a child discipline book. When I get a min. I'll give you the low down do you don't have to buy it.

[wittyandwaiting]

2brides I forget how old your boys are again but DS went through a thing around age 11 where he was a victim of everything and everything was a tragedy and the whole world was happening to him and he couldn't be accountable for anything. Thankfully it was pretty short-lived (A few months) and never went back to that again but it was right before he started puberty and I've heard from few other moms who found the same thing.

Kristykristyleelee it's so hard not to be concerned when they're not eating. Years ago I got great advice from our paediatrician who said if your child is happy, peeing, pooping and generally healthy they won't let themselves starve and that it was more important to keep the table a happy place. I did find that when I stop worrying about it it seemed to be less of a problem.

mahler5 I'm a forgetful, miserable wreck without good sleep. I feel like for the first year, at least it's totally acceptable to do whatever it takes to get the best possible sleep, guilt free. You'll have many more years of sleeping in bed with your wife.

bexincanada yay! I'm happy that the recommendation worked out. Also, I love having more participants on the MOTN thread, it makes me feel like I'm not the only person in the world who's awake.

[cetcar]

M is 6 months! Can't believe it.

She smiles and laughs a ton! Totally responds to facial expressions and has been for a long time. She's so social. I joke she's more social than me (CAR). She's sitting up like a champ and jumping like it's going out of style. We got her a stacking toy and something where you move wooden beads along different metal rods that are in different shapes (that was a horrible description) but I hope you get the idea. Turns out they are a bit too old for her but she's certainly interested in them, spins the wooden beads and tries to move them. The rings from the other toy always go in her mouth (they are big so not a choking hazard).

She tried food for the first time last night. Mashed avocado and steamed sweet potato mixed with a little breast milk. As expected, she still needs to get used to it. Her expressions were so funny. And then she would do this shimmy/shudder thing afterwards. We're going to keep trying and introducing new flavors.

She's liking to read books for short periods. wittyandwaiting, What book did you recommend a few weeks ago?

Yesterday and today she's been loving sticking out her tongue. Adorable. And panting when she's excited.

QOTW- We are SO conflicted. Some days we want one, other days three, and occasionally we settle on two. We both have older half siblings but were essentially raised as an only child. As a result, we were able to have a lot of experiences that we probably wouldn't have had if had siblings. But I hear stories about siblings and see them interacting and think it's so sweet. And while I wasn't living in the same house as my sister for most of my childhood (she's 15 years older), I'm so glad I have her and love my niece and nephew. But M seems to love and enjoy all the attention she gets as an only child. How would her adjustment go? But then when we think that we'll never have a newborn again or experience pregnancy again, it makes me think that maybe another is a good idea. But M is such a good baby, what if another cries all the time? I could go on, we have a lot of thoughts about it and talk about it frequently.

[wittyandwaiting]

cetcar, it was this book:


This one is good too:

[kona]

O will be 2 yo on Saturday.

It's pretty crazy that I have a 2 yo. She has just started being a 'toddler' this week. We don't really have sweets around much but she has started demanding to have a cookie all of the time. A cookie to her is an animal cracker. She also cannot be redirected as easily and will have melt downs when she doesn't immediately get what she wants. Where did my sweet baby go?

I hope we can get some 2 yo pics done. M's friend did them last year for us and offered again.

QOTW: We started out wanting 3. M and I both have one sibling and somehow 3 felt like a good number. We really debated about having another after O. We liked being able to give her all the attention. Then I worried that she would be spoiled. Honestly we had 2 vials of sperm left from our donor and we basically left it to chance, we were going to try with those 2 and then be done. Well we got pregnant on the first try completely un medicated since M was still breastfeeding. 2 seems overwhelming now that we are getting very close to having 2. M doesn't want to carry again and I am 35 now. All of that to say we are most likely done at 2.

[wittyandwaiting]

Anybody following this account on Instagram?

SPOILER: Click to show

If not, I highly recommend it.

kona's toddler post reminded me.

[mahler5]

Jul 25, 2016 17:59:52 GMT -5 wittyandwaiting said:

cetcar, it was this book:


This one is good too:

C LOVES the family book. She also likes mommy, momma and me a lot.

She's been talking about daddies a lot lately so that's been interesting. Makes me glad I have been reading these to her for awhile.

[2brides]

Jul 25, 2016 17:47:39 GMT -5 wittyandwaiting said:

2brides I forget how old your boys are again but DS went through a thing around age 11 where he was a victim of everything and everything was a tragedy and the whole world was happening to him and he couldn't be accountable for anything. Thankfully it was pretty short-lived (A few months) and never went back to that again but it was right before he started puberty and I've heard from few other moms who found the same thing.

They are 10. He's been doing this martyr routine for awhile so I think it may just be part of his personality - though I hope not - and we are working to break it. It is so.tiring.

[bexincanada]

I forgot to answer the QOTW. We have always said we want two, though the other day H. said she might want 3 which came as a bit of a shocker. She also wants to start trying for number 2 when Is is one year... I told her about how tough two under two is but her philosophy has always been to get this stage going/over with. I'm sure she'd be pleased if the next pregnancy were twins (she's a twin and loves it), we're going to do IVF and I'll carry again but her eggs this time.

I definitely think two is more in the range of our budget/manageable given that we're 33/34 right now. I guess we will find out in the future.