2u3 Check-in (7/28)

[megaroo64]

Good afternoon!


How old is your LO?

How are you ladies all doing this week?

What is your win of the week?

What is your struggle of the week?
QOTW - We could all use a pick me up.... What is the best compliment you have ever received?

[megaroo64]

HIghlights from 7/21
@coffeeismylyfe - I hope the insurance is all worked out now! That is crazy that it has been such an ordeal.
madlizmom - way to go on potty training! I am in denial….
chewbaccarock - I am so sorry about the rocky patch in your marriage. Hope things are looking up this week.
pkp2 - I had to laugh a little about P eating dog food! N bee lines for the cat food all the time. Gross.
everydayimshuffling - Yay on being happy going back to work! Hope sleep is looking up (thought I remembered from spam that it is? Or was that someone else?).
{And this is where I just re-read my check in from last week… HOLY TYPOS BATMAN!! I must have been exhausted or drunk or both}
daffy2k - How is M doing? ER trips sound like no fun at all!

[daffy2k]

How old is your LO? M is 2, N is 5 weeks

How are you ladies all doing this week? Just hoping for a better week than last...

What is your win of the week? Seriously, survival. That's all I've got this week.

What is your struggle of the week? M's cold and subsequent ER visit, all the clinginess between both kids and then DH. He's a whole other story. We are really struggling right now. He's depressed and so checked out, but his temper is out of control as a result. Any time the slightest thing goes wrong he explodes and it is just too much. My mom is watching the kids tonight so that he and I can talk without interruption and hopefully come up with a solution. He needs therapy but I don't know if he'll agree to it. I've seen some suggest in spam that the non-depressed spouse also see a therapist and I think I'm going to. I need some tools to help both of us get through this because what we are doing is not working at all.
QOTW - We could all use a pick me up.... What is the best compliment you have ever received? Probably the calls I received shortly after my dad decided to retire and sell out of his business. Since I didn't want to take over I was out of a job. Two different managers of companies that we did business with (in a totally different fields) called me up to offer me a position. Both felt that in getting to know me through my work for my dad I had exactly the skill set they were looking for in the person they wanted to eventually take over their position when they retired. It makes a girl feel good to be so wanted

[madlizmom]

How old is your LO?
E is 8 months, M is 2

How are you ladies all doing this week?
I'm pretty sure my ears are bleeding from all the whining that has been going on in this house. I can't take it anymore!

What is your win of the week?
I had vendor events both Saturday and Sunday, so even though I was "working" I had some time with no kids and it felt great. I love my girls but mama needs some time alone once in a while!

What is your struggle of the week?
As mentioned, the whining. I think E is teething so she's just a mess. I have no idea why M is so whiny, but that's all she does anymore. Piece of hair on her hand? It's the end of the world. A crumb on her placement? She must be dying. A toy doesn't do what she wants? You might want to just leave the house till she works it out. I'm kind of over it.

QOTW - We could all use a pick me up.... What is the best compliment you have ever received?
My hubby tells me all the time how great I look. Even though I never lost all the baby weight and my clothes are ginormous compared to what I wore when I met him. He insists that I'm beautiful and that he loves me just the way I am.

[megaroo64]

Good evening!

N will be 10 months; B is two.

We are doing relatively well over here.

Win of the week- kids took naps at the same one every day last week. It was awesome. I got to unwind for like 2 hours everyday. It was absolutely heavenly.

Struggle- both kids are cutting molars. So that's about as good as you might expect.

QOTW- I have an older brother who very rarely gave me the time of day when we were growing up. One day he called me out of he blue to tell me that he really admired me and was so proud of how I handled any problems in my life. Coming from him, it just really meant so much.

[madlizmom]

Jul 28, 2015 19:17:19 GMT -5 megaroo64 said:

Good evening!

N will be 10 months; B is two.

We are doing relatively well over here.

Win of the week- kids took naps at the same one every day last week. It was awesome. I got to unwind for like 2 hours everyday. It was absolutely heavenly.

Struggle- both kids are cutting molars. So that's about as good as you might expect.

QOTW- I have an older brother who very rarely gave me the time of day when we were growing up. One day he called me out of he blue to tell me that he really admired me and was so proud of how I handled any problems in my life. Coming from him, it just really meant so much.

Naps at the same time are awesome! I make that my goal every day so I can have some peace and quiet

[madlizmom]

Jul 29, 2015 10:44:57 GMT -5 @coffeeismylyfe said:

Road trip question: I am brinnging Ts kindle with some pbs kids episodes downloaded, snacks and his reusable sticker books. Any "must haves" I'm overlooking for car entertainment?

M was so excited to watch movies in the car during our trip, that's all we needed! We had Despicable Me, Madagascar and The Lorax.

[vitafelix]

Jul 29, 2015 10:44:57 GMT -5 @coffeeismylyfe said:

Road trip question: I am brinnging Ts kindle with some pbs kids episodes downloaded, snacks and his reusable sticker books. Any "must haves" I'm overlooking for car entertainment?

Magnadoodle!

[megaroo64]

Jul 29, 2015 10:44:57 GMT -5 @coffeeismylyfe said:

Road trip question: I am brinnging Ts kindle with some pbs kids episodes downloaded, snacks and his reusable sticker books. Any "must haves" I'm overlooking for car entertainment?

We haven't tested it out for a long trip but b just got the Melissa and Doug water wow notebook. It's like a reusable paint with water notebook and you fill this little paint brush with water- so even if it was just spilled it would only be a tablespoon or so. Right now- B loves it. And when it dries they can just paint it again.

[vitafelix]

Jul 29, 2015 12:07:07 GMT -5 megaroo64 said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:44:57 GMT -5 @coffeeismylyfe said:

Road trip question: I am brinnging Ts kindle with some pbs kids episodes downloaded, snacks and his reusable sticker books. Any "must haves" I'm overlooking for car entertainment?

We haven't tested it out for a long trip but b just got the Melissa and Doug water wow notebook. It's like a reusable paint with water notebook and you fill this little paint brush with water- so even if it was just spilled it would only be a tablespoon or so. Right now- B loves it. And when it dries they can just paint it again.

We have these too! He paints for about 5 mins before he unscrews it though. He loves it.

[vitafelix]

Jul 29, 2015 13:28:33 GMT -5 violet said:

How old is your LO? 3 weeks 2 days

How are you ladies all doing this week? Tired. Just so tired. And I can't seem to shut off during the day to rest.

What is your win of the week? I got out yesterday by myself to return something at the gap. And I've been cooking dinner most nights which is an accomplishment for me.

What is your struggle of the week? Honestly my biggest struggle is with J. He's a real handful and he is testing all my limits. He's straight up mean to me sometimes and I've cried privately a few times about it. I feel like I'm not giving him as much attention as I should. I haven't given up the babysitter yet and she's over today. I tried going down for a few hours to play with him, have lunch, etc, and he just tantrums and yells at me. I have no energy to discipline him appropriately and I ended up just going upstairs and sitting in bed for a few minutes. I hope I get in a decent routine soon. I feel like every mom out there can handle two kids and here I am complaining when all I have to do is take care of a newborn who sleeps all day.


QOTW - We could all use a pick me up.... What is the best compliment you have ever received?
Oy. I don't even know. I like compliments about my personality best, like I've been told over the years I have a good heart and am a giving person - which means a lot to me because sometimes I have a little bit of a hard exterior.

I've gotten a ton of compliments at work but they are not as meaningful.

I felt that way, too. And to some extent, I still do. I felt like thatblondie and mcbush were totally killing it, but I was sending my big kid to daycare and still struggling. Babies, man. It's a big adjustment, and it mega-ultra-uber sucks when you have a gassy, screamy, up constantly in the motn baby. It doesn't do anyone any good for them to sleep all day no advice, just commiseration.

[vitafelix]

Jul 29, 2015 13:59:56 GMT -5 mcbush said:

Jul 29, 2015 13:38:39 GMT -5 vitafelix said:

I felt that way, too. And to some extent, I still do. I felt like thatblondie and mcbush were totally killing it, but I was sending my big kid to daycare and still struggling. Babies, man. It's a big adjustment, and it mega-ultra-uber sucks when you have a gassy, screamy, up constantly in the motn baby. It doesn't do anyone any good for them to sleep all day no advice, just commiseration.

I'm sorry I made you feel that way I promise you I am not killing it. For every victory I post, I have lost about 100 battles with my toddler. She eats cheese and crackers for breakfast half the time, watches TV for an hour in the morning while I pump and do dishes and drink coffee (but mostly drink coffee and probe), and then occasionally we make it outside. Trust me, I'm not killing it at all, especially right now. Toddlers are the worst. I'm really lucky, N is a pretty easy going baby, but L was so difficult, I feel like the universe is giving me a break after the year 2013 sucked donkey ass.

I hope it gets better for you both soon!

I didn't mean for that to make you feel bad! You are killing it, though . You won the easier baby lottery. And really, it gives me a little hope that some day M won't wake up eleventy billion times.

[vitafelix]

mcbush hugs. That is a rough doctor trip. Our allergy testing appointment was similar . You're doing a good job. I think asshole ranks pretty low on the list of inappropriate toddler vocabulary. I still intend to be envious of anyone who has slept for more than 3 consecutive hours in the past eight months.

[everydayimshuffling]

Hey Ladies!

O is almost 5 months, K is 2.

This week is better than last week and we are slowly starting to get a bit of sleep in the shuffling house. I don't trust it yet though and realize that it could be taken away again at any moment, but I will take what I can get. My H is on vacation and trying to do a million projects around the house this week so he is stressed and cranky (somehow I don't think that's the point of vacation... But that's another post).

Win? Starting to sleep train O. Every night is a little different and I'm still trying to figure out the best timing for naps and bed time, but my kid is sleeping in a crib (travel crib, but a crib nonetheless), unswaddled. This is huge. Tonight the travel crib is in his room, so this is the first night there isn't a baby in my room! And he tends to sleep 10-2 and 3:30-6:30 so I am getting some decent chunks of sleep. Naps are virtually non existent right now and mostly angry screaming but we are working on them.

Struggle? My marriage has suffered the past few months and it's really time to pay attention to it. It's going to take some serious work to get back to a good place. My eating habits and step count are also hurting big time and I need to make it more of a priority.

QOTW? It always means a lot to me when people trust me with their children at work. I have a fair number of families that will only see me and when I came back our receptionists told me that they had a lot of patients that wouldn't book until I was back It feels good to know that people trust me to take great care of them

violet Please know that this two kid business is straight up hard and don't beat yourself up at all. I found it quite a struggle and adjustment when O was just new like your LO (who is absolutely gorgeous by the way)! The newborn schedule is so different than a toddler schedule and so much more unpredictable that it's very hard to do both together. Once your LO gets a bit older and more predictable it gets a bit easier. I found K really tested me at first until I found some one on one time to spend with her without O around, maybe that would help J? Also sleep. This shit is so hard without sleep. Sending you all of the sleepy vibes.... And if those don't work, sending all of the coffee.

[megaroo64]

Jul 29, 2015 21:22:24 GMT -5 mcbush said:

I'm taking back my best compliment... I'm going with "that time 42butterflies said I resembled Kate Middleton" much more shallow than previous best compliment, but I really needed the boost today.

Lol- I was wondering if you would switch when I saw that!!

[pkp2]

I'm so late to this...

4 months!!

We're doing well. I can't believe C is 4 months already!! He is such a doll and the best baby ever. He rolled over this week and just slept from 9-7! What?! He is still in the R&P though.
Pierce is finally getting to where he's okay with hourly care. He has his moments, but is doing so much better as far as not crying. I've been consistently booking him MWF. Yesterday he was there through nap time and he did well!

The speech therapist came for his evaluation and said he was so smart and right where he needed to be, if not ahead. I had to apologize to her and told her in the month since the referral he has really picked up more words and talking on his own and added some two word sentences in the mix. She said she had fun playing with him. Lol she did give some tips for me. One I thought was interesting, was to get rid of any bottles or sippy cups and for him to stop sucking his fingers. She said it keeps the suck/swallow reflex and that can hinder the pronunciation of sounds like 'd' 'n' 't' and such where the tongue starts at the roof of the mouth.

A struggle would be P in the evenings. He gets into so much! Last night he dumped a toy dump truck load of water in the kitchen, slipped and fell because he got in the kiddie pool fully clothed, stepped on a toy and hurt his foot while I was trying to clean Colin up from explosive poop. Ugh! But of course I had it all under control and dinner on the table when DH got home. Lol

I used to get told I looked like Catherine Zeta Jones. Now, I get asked if I'm part Asian. I consider that a compliment.

[pkp2]

Aaand just read everyone's posts. I didn't mean to pop in all rainbows and unicorns with 'my baby is awesome and everything is great.' I hope everyone has a better week this week!!

[daffy2k]

Jul 29, 2015 16:31:57 GMT -5 thatblondie said:

daffy2k thinking of you. I hope the talk went well.

Thank you. DH ended up dealing with an emergency situation at work on Tuesday and as a result was late, again. So we've had parts of our talk over the last couple days, but not 100% alone and focused. He is only kind of responsive to the things I'm saying (that I'm worried he's depressed, would like to find better stress management techniques for him, wanting to get more structured routines set for everyone at home, etc) but at least he's not shutting down. Hoping I planted the seed for some thoughtful reflection over the next couple days and Saturday when we attempt our date night again we can actually discuss solutions. He's having such a hard time holding it together some days that I don't want myself or the girls around him a lot of the time. His negativity is making my job 1,000,000 times harder and him flipping out (yelling and swearing) over the most ridiculous things is just not the environment I want to be raising my kids in. We've stayed at my mom's several times in the last couple weeks because he just couldn't let things go and kept flipping out over the dumbest things. There's also been an alcohol factor to all of this that has been making the whole thing that much more difficult to manage.

[vitafelix]

daffy2k, I'm glad you have a safe place to go when things get too crazy. I hope things get better for you soon.

[daffy2k]

Jul 30, 2015 17:54:25 GMT -5 vitafelix said:

daffy2k, I'm glad you have a safe place to go when things get too crazy. I hope things get better for you soon.

Thanks. It certainly isn't ever unsafe here, don't get me wrong. But it's just not a healthy environment with him right now and I struggle to keep myself in check when he gets that way. I'm a better parent alone in those situations. We spoke calmly after the fact when I left. He agreed that I did the right thing and that he never wants the girls to see that side of him either. Now I just need him to agree to get help. The words he spoke last night "maybe I am a bit depressed but I'm a strong enough person to deal with it on my own". That's the current battle, because unfortunately he is not. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[everydayimshuffling]

daffy2k I really hope you and your H make some progress, second babies are tough on marriages!!

pkp2 Don't r we feel bad for having a good week, I'm always glad to hear about the good weeks, it balances all this crud out!

[summer2times]

How old is your LO? He's 7 weeks today

How are you ladies all doing this week? Glad its Friday. Its a mental celebration when I've made it through.

What is your win of the week? Taking on the responsibility of watching my niece for 3 days. It was easier with 3 because she is 7 and kept my 2 year old occupied and wore him out. Making tacos and spaghetti wed night to prevent meat from going bad. Maybe I can meal prep.

What is your struggle of the week? Making three meals a day. House chores and two failed attempts to see friends. Both canceled on me which were both play dates. I had to reschedule outdoor activities to indoor. J2 is not an fan of the heat.
QOTW - We could all use a pick me up.... What is the best compliment you have ever received?

So far on a dragging day I was told I looked great, appeared to be well rested and dressed to have just had a baby. And yesterday I was told that I looked skinny which I'm not sure it was a compliment because I was huge preg. Lol

Jul 28, 2015 12:44:41 GMT -5 megaroo64 said:

Good afternoon!


How old is your LO?

How are you ladies all doing this week?

What is your win of the week?

What is your struggle of the week?
QOTW - We could all use a pick me up.... What is the best compliment you have ever received?