Parenting Check in July 13

[karlamo]

Good Monday Morning Parents!  **Yawn**  I need one more weekend day this week.

How did the week go?  Anything new to share?

Parenting
foodislove
megd893
calsurb
andstilltrying
jazibel
kh826
karlamo
jgy
sherminator
mahler5
wittyandwaiting
kona
strings
mrsnorris
2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)
jennicole
amberreva

QOTW:  Got a good summer recipe to share with the class?  Drinks? Dips? Food?

[calsurb]

Hey y'all! I'm still here! Sarah will be 6 weeks tomorrow. We took a 4 hour train ride with her to a family reunion and she slept on my wife in the Boba wrap the whole time. Parenting is going well I think. I have 3 weeks left of leave and my wife has 6 more.

[jgy]

G is 2 years plus a few months

Let's see. The challenging second year continues with Mr. G. He's exhausting, but hilarious at the same time. I've been having fun this summer taking him swimming, which seems to be his absolute favorite thing in the world to do. He still pushes every boundary possible while we're there, but somehow it's more tolerable in the water and sunshine.

Potty training has been inching along slowly. This morning he deposited the tiniest of turds into the potty and we partied like it was 1999. He was so excited about it that he even forgot (momentarily) about the treat he was supposed to get for using the potty. Overall we've been really relaxed about the training, kind of letting them do the bulk of the routine "Sit on the potty every time you get a diaper change" work at daycare. We'll have to ramp it up to a much more proactive schedule at home soon, but for now we just ask every once in a while if he wants to use it and sometimes he does.

We've had a few events recently where G actually does a good job listening and following directions. A very few, but it's something. He's typically a great napper, but yesterday he snuck in an early catnap in the car and when it was time for his normal nap he just wasn't having it. He rolled around in his crib and screamed "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" so loudly he started gagging. I was elbow deep in something in the kitchen so it took me a few minutes to get up there. When I finally did, I told him that he didn't have to sleep but he had to rest. So he could sing to his stuffed animals and tell them stories, but NO MORE SCREAMING. And what do you know? He actually listened! When I went to get him about 35 minutes later I praised him for being so good and he repeated back "Sing to animals, NO SCREAMING." Heart melted.

On a weird note, he said something yesterday about there being a snake in the bathroom. He seemed a bit nervous. I kinda blew it off but again this morning he was really scared and kept telling me there was a snake in the bathroom. We've had a few (like, 5 or 6) ants in the house over the last week so I thought maybe that was the deal and I reminded him that he can brush it off if it climbs on him and say "Go away ant!" He seemed to accept that, but not totally. Then S and I were texting this morning and I told her about it and she said he'd actually told her about the snake yesterday too. Now I'm kinda freaking out. I don't think we actually have a snake in the house (in the city in Minnesota for the love ...), but what could he have seen? Maybe one of those million leg bugs that comes up from the drain every once in a while??? I dunno. It's making my skin crawl.

QOTW: I'll admit that one of my favorite summer recipes is pretty much the easiest thing in the world to make, and we get everything (except the olive oil and feta) from our CSA. Tomato, cucumber, fresh oregano, all cut up to bite sized pieces and tossed with olive oil and crumbled feta (and salt and pepper). So easy. SO FLAVORFUL. So good. And it helps to use up the 3,007 tomatoes we get every week in our CSA share. I can't wait until we get our first summer veggies! Maybe this week?

[kona]

O is 11 months.

She is still a very busy little girl. She will copy anything we do and will pick up anything you show her quickly. She started snapping over the weekend. What 11 month old snaps?!?! DW and I couldn't figure out how she would have picked that up then we realized that we snap at the dog a LOT. So funny what they will pick up on. She is signing a lot more and I asked DW to get me some resources because she already knows the few signs that I know. (DW works with kids and speech therapists/occupational therapists). We still struggle with sleep. We got a window a/c unit for her room even though we have cental air and I wish I could say that she sleeps better but it's the same. Not much else new as we approach a year, it's seems crazy that she's been here for nearly a year.

[kona]

jgy the snake stories would freak me out too!

[2brides]

We are just chugging along. No big milestones this week - but I can't believe that the kids' school starts in less than 6 weeks. Sigh. We are all loving summer - relaxed nights after camp, no homework to argue about, lots of pool time, etc.

QOTD: We don't do much extravagant cooking during the summer. It is pretty basic - grilled meat and grilled veggies. L is on a really restrictive diet, plus she is a picky eater - so although I eat most anything - we do food that everyone will eat. During the summer, I love caprese salad with good tomatoes - and that is easy to do for 1.

I also found UFO Big Squeeze Summer Shandy beer. OMG. It is so good. It is a wheat beer with grapefruit juice in it. I am not a grapefruit fan, but it makes it really refreshing and light. Perfect for summer. Typically, after 2 beers I am full..but with this I have to stop myself since it isn't filling.

[Stringy]

jgy, could it be something from day care? A story? Another kid talking about it? An actual plumber using a snake in the bathroom?

I showed M a worm the other day and she kept asking for the "baby snake" later and I was all "crazytoddlerspeak" until I figured out what she meant.

[mahler5]

C is 16 months

She is still adjusting to day care but overall is better with it. We also moved her crib into our spare room because a weird smell has been coming from her closet. It smells kind of like chemicals. Our landlord is finally coming over today to check it out. So, I think getting used to sleeping in the other room hasn't been bad except a lot more light comes in that room so she tends to get up early. Poor thing. She fell asleep on the way to daycare and I'm letting her continue to sleep in the car for another 10 minutes before I bring her in.

I'm trying to decide if I want to work one shift on the weekend from 3-11:30 and quit daycare, or if I want to try and work 3 day shifts during the week and continue with daycare. I would make just slightly more working the 3 shifts. I was so tired when I worked until 11:30 the other night. I probably didn't get to bed until 12:30 and was so exhausted the next day. So part of me is leaning towards sticking to day shifts and continuing daycare. But part of me feels bad having her in daycare. I think in some ways it's good for her but I would rather her have more time with us. So I don't know. I guess I'll figure it out.

She is still talking up a storm. She has been having increase in separation anxiety and tantrums. It has been trying lately. And she totally ignores me when I say no. I have to forcefully remove her or her hand from the situation. And I hate that.

Otherwise things are good.

[karlamo]

jgy, Are you up in the MOTN peeing? I would be turning on ALL. THE. LIGHTS!

Sometimes R says hi and hello and no one is there and it freaks me out!

[andstilltrying]

Our twin boys are 6 months old. D is SUCH a good baby. It's a good thing because M demands a lot of attention, but is silly and sweet. D will put himself to sleep for nap time. M wants to snuggle, with blanky and paci. All I do with D is lay him in crib with his light up aquarium. He watches his fish swim and then is out. Never cries more than 5 min and it's not a full cry but more of a fuss. I thank God for giving me 2 DIFFERENT babies.

Milestone: M learned to blow raspberries and it's alllll he does! Lol

Both boys have learned the art of synchronized pooping too. So weird, funny but convenient!

Qotw: grilled ribeye steak (or fav cut) drizzle olive oil and run across steak, sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic salt and parsley and then rub it in on both sides! Let sit a few minutes and grill! Yum!!! We love this more than any steakhouse!

Malibu bay breeze- coconut rum, pineapple juice, cranberry juice! Yum yum yum! Can also add to a blender with some mango! Also very good!

[jgy]

karlamo, Stringy, I honestly have no idea with the snake thing. I'll admit I am a bit apprehensive every time I go into that bathroom. G's not huge on imaginary play yet. Last night and this morning he said "No snake, ANT!" But I don't know if that's because he thinks that is what we want him to say or what? I'm counting on the fact that our cat and/or dog (depending on who gets there first) will take care of anything larger than an ant.

On the topic of worms, we have inch worms in our backyard and G LOVES them. Also, "Inch worm" is one of my favorite things that he says. So cute.

MOTN peeing? I might as well sleep in the bathroom. Seriously. I didn't have this with my first pregnancy, and I'm finding it really irritating.

[karlamo]

jgy, borrow one of G's overnight diapers. Problem solved.

[andstilltrying]

Those of you with more than 1 kid, how much age difference between your kids? I'll be 31 in Aug. have started to go to our fertility doc to start initial testing and get my period on track. S seems a little more eager than I to start trying. She says dec. when boys will be 1. I just can't picture 3 babies under 3! At same time I want to have the baby at the best time for me physically.

[Stringy]

If I had twins I'd probably wait another year. But twins is your normal so who knows. We started trying when M was about 16 months hoping for a baby soon after she turned two. Well about a year later I'm still not pregnant -so they will be about 3 years at least now. It has it's pros and cons. Other things to ponder: I'm sorry I can't remember your exact situation but did you have any fertility issues ttgp before? Or did you partner carry? Will the same person do it again? I'm guessing since you mentioned being 31 it'll be you. On a good note 31 is young. I'm 34 ( though clearly it hasn't worked) but my wife was 34 when she got pregnant and it worked the first time. It's really a personal decision :-)

[kona]

andstilltrying O will be 18 months when we start trying again, my wife carried O and will carry the second as well. We had hoped to try around 12 months but it doesn't seem quite right just yet. We are thinking we will have 3 and I will carry the last and we plan to start trying much sooner for the last.

After having said all that I think it's personal choice. We are both older and don't want to wait much longer.

[jgy]

andstilltrying, so many factors to consider here. I was 38 with my first and I'm 41 now with my second due next month. Conceiving G took about a year, and included a surgery. Overall it was 4 IUIs. Conceiving #2 happened on the first try (thank god because at 41 I really don't have a lot of time). So you never know what the fertility god/esses will be throwing your way. Not that considering that should encourage you to start trying before you're ready, but if you have a range in which your comfortable, I would definitely start on the early side of that range.

When it comes to age between kids, that's so tricky. To be honest, we really hit a sweet spot when we decided to TTC again. G was about 20-21 months, and while challenging it was still "Manageable." We had just hit our stride with sleep and nursing was winding down. I could honestly say "Yeah, we can do this." S and I were just chatting the other day about how if we had waited any longer, or had hit major snags with TTC, we might have decided against it. Life is 100% different now than it was last fall. And that's how it goes with kids.

I guess my major piece of advice would be that in order to get a real taste of what it might be like with 3 under 3, I'd recommend waiting at least until the twins are both totally mobile. I can't remember where they're at right now, but if both aren't confidently walking yet I would hold off. I think you really need to get the flavor of what life looks like with that kind of activity before deciding what you think you'll be able to handle.

The lucky part is that you are still young (31 is a chicken in my mind), so you have plenty of time to hit that perfect sweet spot!

[Stringy]

Holy shit jgy, you are due next month? How did time move that fast!?! Do you know the sex? Names? All the info? lol.

[karlamo]

My kids will be 18 months apart so I'll be setting up shop in the 2U2 camp. We wanted our kids close in age and we're both 35 so waiting isn't what we wanted to do. Plus I'd rather get the sleep deprivation, diapers stages done all at once.
My wife carried R and it took FOREVER to get her pregnant. I wanted to carry out second and having never tried to get KU before I had no idea what to expect other than it could take almost 2 years like my wife. We already had frozen embryos leftover from our cycle with R so it was much easier to try this time around. I had an FET done in Dec when R was 10 months and it worked on the first try. We feel very blessed it did cause we know what the alternative looks like.

I say you just can't predict how long it'll take for you. Only you two can decide if you can/want to handle 3 kids under 3, both emotionally and financially. We knew what we could/couldn't handle which is why we only transferred 1 embryo. The thought of 3 under 2 made me cry.

[jgy]

Stringy, hahahahahaha, I forget how much info gets passed along in the stage-specific threads (TTC, Pregnancy, Parenting).

We will be having our second boy, which we are thrilled about. I'm due 8/21, and while my crunchy VBAC-supporting MW's are working with me on avoiding induction, my age will play a role in how long I go. Time has simultaneously flown and crept by with this pregnancy. I feel really good, but I did acquire a primary CMV infection pre-20 weeks so there has been a lot of stress associated with that. All looks good with the baby that they can see, but there are a ton of potential affects that would not be visible prenatally. So we're crossing our fingers and asking for good things from the universe and generally being thankful for what we have.

Our current name list is 30+ and we're struggling. We have a few that we both really like, but none where neither of us has any sort of reservation. It's hard. We'll see what happens. We definitely need to lay eyes on this little guy before we decide.

Thanks for asking! Sorry everyone else, this could have been a PM instead of a post but it's here now.

[Stringy]

I think I did know it was a boy, now that you say it. But I can't always keep up. I'll send some positive vibes out that everything stays healthy - and I can't wait to know ALL the names, plus the one chosen. I love names.

[andstilltrying]

Thanks everybody! Sarah carried our twins and it took 18 months to get her to a viable pregnancy. I really like the advice of waiting until they are both walking to see what life is really like. Our boys are only 6.5 months now. And they were born 2 months early so we are in the "attempting" to crawl stage and sit up totally alone stage with 1, and the other has no interest in crawling because he hates being on his tummy! He is going to just walk I think. Loves loves loves to stand!

I was thinking starting when they are 3, but I gotta get Sarah on same page! She's ready now!