Parenting Checking in April 4

[karlamo]

Welcome wittyandwaiting 's new baby girl!

How was everyone's week?

QOTW:  I feel like my QOTW are so boring.  How can we spice them up?

[karlamo]

OMG! Last week had to have been one of the most challenging week's I've had in a real long time. We never made it to Maine for Easter because L got an ear infection the Friday we were to leave. So we stayed home and then on Easter Sunday R was wheezing and having trouble breathing so after a call to our Pedi's office we were off to the ER for him. They gave us a inhaler and said it's a bad virus. Last Monday I went to work and my wife stayed home with both kids since they had fevers and were miserable. By 3pm she was back at the Dr's office because both kids were still lousy.

They tested negative for RSV and the Flu. Well, add another ER trip to the week and a third Dr's apt yesterday and we find out R has pneumonia and L's ear are still infected. At least both kids are fever free and happy. We are heading back to the office at 8:30 tomorrow to do re-checks on them both.

Meanwhile, I got mastitis last week and was so sick I couldn't get out of bed. I'm doing better now, except I caught the virus my kids have:(

Despite all this sick drama we had some fun too. On Saturday we took R to Sesame Street Live. We got awesome center, aisle up close seats which I will make sure to always do from here on out. The characters came down the aisle and R was able to get up and dance in the aisle too. It took him awhile to warm up to being there, then he loved it! L stayed home with my sister so it was extra special for R to have both mommies to himself.

L is ready to crawl at any moment. He is so mad that he can't move yet. It's cute seeing him so determined to move around. He only wants to be standing or moving in his walker. R started army crawling around this time and then finally crawled on all fours at 10 months, thank god. I hope L crawls on all fours soon, because the kid really needs to strengthen his core. He's still "floppy" to me.

Let's hope this week is better all around at karlamo's house.

[kh826]

karlamo - I am SOOO sorry you have had such a rough week! Man, when it rains it pours. You have had more than your share. I hope you and the kiddos are on the mend and better for good and hopefully your wife doesn't get it!

William is 22 months today, and Lucie will be 10 weeks tomorrow.

Today is my first day back at work.
I miss them A LOT, but it is good to be back.

Lu has been sleeping through the night periodically, but not every night. Last night, she must have known that Mama was going back to work, because she slept for 9 hours!!! Can I get an Amen?!?!

William has been coming out with new phrases and sentences on a daily basis and it is hysterical and adorable.
Saturday at the grocery store I got him out of the car and said "Ready, Buddy?" and he responded with "Let's Roll Mama!" HAHA... no idea where he got that one.

I feel like I haven't mentioned things here because maternity leave was a blur and I felt like I never had time to post a check-in and I was always rushing. I think I mentioned that we had Lu evaluated by early intervention for a mild head tilt and possible torticollis. She didn't qualify for services since it is so mild, and they just gave us exercises to do with her at home. We saw the pedi last week for her 2 month appointment and he wasn't concerned.
This girl HATES tummy time, and she still struggles with head control. We have been working on it a lot, and we will keep a close eye on it for progress. I think part of it is that she is pretty top heavy. She has a large head (just like William), but unlike William she doesn't have the large body to support it. She has this dainty little long and lean build at the moment, and so I think it is harder for her to get the strength she needs to pull and hold her head up for long periods of time. I also think that we have unreasonable expectations because William practically came out with awesome head control. So comparatively, she is struggling, but I have to remember that I can't compare them like that. Anyway, that's been on my mind a decent amount...

William has been displaying full blown 2s behavior. Plenty of acting out and not listening. He is such a sweetheart though, and he also knows how to play us pretty well (HAHA), so we struggle a little with discipline. We have not yet done a time out, but I feel like we might have to at some point soon...

There is so much more parenting stuff I want to post about, but I can't even remember half of it, and I don't have a ton of time at that moment. I am going to try to be way more active here now that I am back at work!

[karlamo]

kh826, Are you staring at the clock waiting till 5 so you can squeeze your babies?

R had mild torticollis too, he didn't qualify for services under medical need but EI brought him in under clinical judgment. I think they only did that because I insisted, lol. If you need help with ideas for exercises, let me know.

[mahler5]

karlamo -- hope your babies are feeling better! And btw I love your QOtW. Not sure how to spice it up really.

This will be short as I should drive back to the old house and pack some more things but instead I'm enjoying lying on our new king bed at the new house which barely has anything in it, so completely clutter free!!

We are moving all the big stuff on Wednesday (well movers are. We (especially me) isn't lifting a damn thing.

I'm nervous the move is going to be hard on C. She likes the new house but hasn't spent much time over here yet. And I'm really worried about her sleeping in a new room.


Things are generally good though. Our new neighbors just brought us fresh baked challah bread. C is generally doing well. I've been disciplining her more. So has L but we are still working on being consistent. U fortunately I am also bribing her some to do things when it Works well or is near impossible to get her to do it without threatening a time out (which won't work most the time anyway).I've been reading love and logic parenting book. It's helpful and I generally agree with most of it but I'm annoyed at how simple they make it sound. I'm just not as creative as these people of finding the perfect solution in all instances. They need more examples.

[2brides]

karlamo, - good grief. That is a week from hell. Glad everyone is getting back on track!

kh826, G had toritcollis too. He qualified for PT for a couple of months, but it most worked itself out. Like Lucie, he had a HUGE head and TINY body.


Science fair projects are done and turned in!! Despite being 90% done, L and the kids spent 6 hrs on Saturday finishing them up (that is what you get for having a parent who teaches you how to do it vs doing it themselves or allowing it be half a$$ed. )

Kids had their first soccer game of the season and they were killed. G has some good hustle, but C is just like me and while he wants to play, doesn't want to exert the effort and has no hustle. I don't care (at all) if he isn't a star athlete, but he needs to actively participate if he is on a team. Hopefully, that will improve as the season goes on. He says he wants to play and offered unsolicited that he had a good time at the game and practices....

The kids have been playing outside so much recently. I love it. I am even letting them have a slightly later bedtime (by 30m or so) in exchange for playing outside with the neighborhood kids. Seems like 'cops and robbers' has made a 2016 comeback. But seriously, they run around like crazy and come home happy, sweaty, and exhausted. This was the balance I was looking for this winter when they played too much PS4. I am bummed it is going to be cold, windy, and rainy again.

I need to find meals that I can have in the freezer for when the neighborhood kids spontaneously come for dinner. It happened last night and thankfully, I had enough to make tacos for everyone. I wish my kids liked lasagne or the like.

11 more weeks of school We can do it! Then we are going to have 5th graders!!?!!?!?!?

[sdfonz619]

Wow, karlamo , you have a lot going on. I hope you and your little ones are back to feeling better asap!

Mila is fastly approaching 7 months and not a day goes by where I'm not mind blown at how quickly time is passing. We have started giving her food in whole form which she seems to prefer to purees, and green beans seem to be a favorite! Honeydew is also a close contender. Developmentally, she is working on this whole crawling thing but hasn't quite grasped how to make that happen. We have a friend with a baby about two months older who is crawling and when she does Mila fixates on what's she is doing. She is also protesting when we leave the room or walk away, no matter if one of us is holding her or not. The main area of our house is an open layout, but even still, she prefers being close and doesn't hesitate to let us know when we've wandered too far. We are going to start taking her to a music class next week which we are really excited about. She has responded to music since birth and so we cannot wait to see how she will do in a class with other children.

Afm, MW and I are slowly but surely purging in preparation to move to Texas and are just putting together a moving plan. While we are going to miss Cali, it will be a nice change in scenery for us which is exciting.

ETA: The QOTW's I've participated in haven't been boring IMO. To spice them up I would suggest just changing the subject matter and seeing what everyone is comfortable sharing.

[wittyandwaiting]

I'm here!!!

This past week has been a whirlwind. O was born on Tuesday and we were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. We've had two midwife visits since then and everything is looking good. Breastfeeding is going well and we've been getting *some* sleep. I think I need to start taking a daytime nap. Do people really sleep when baby sleeps?

DS adores his little sister which melts my heart. I also feel a bit guilty because she needs more attention than he does but I've been making sure that I carve out time each day to spend with with him without O.

karlamo, what a week! I hope it's smooth sailing from here and that you and the kids feel better.

[mahler5]

Apr 4, 2016 18:56:21 GMT -5 wittyandwaiting said:

I'm here!!!

This past week has been a whirlwind. O was born on Tuesday and we were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. We've had two midwife visits since then and everything is looking good. Breastfeeding is going well and we've been getting *some* sleep. I think I need to start taking a daytime nap. Do people really sleep when baby sleeps?

DS adores his little sister which melts my heart. I also feel a bit guilty because she needs more attention than he does but I've been making sure that I carve out time each day to spend with with him without O.

karlamo, what a week! I hope it's smooth sailing from here and that you and the kids feel better.

Welcome wittyandwaiting!!

I know I tried to sleep when C slept but it was so hit or miss. It helped when she started taking longer naps I think. I can't just fall asleep like that so by time I would fall asleep she would be waking up!! Except when I was really tired. Its all a blur now.

[healz413]

wittyandwaiting At the beginning my anxiety was bad enough that I couldn't sleep when E slept because I constantly had to check her (for some reason, thankfully, I was able to get over this some at night). But a couple times we had trusted friends come and hold her for a nap so that we could go nap. But if you're able, I say definitely nap during the day. I'm so glad things are going Wel.

[kh826]

Apr 4, 2016 12:33:41 GMT -5 karlamo said:

kh826 , Are you staring at the clock waiting till 5 so you can squeeze your babies?

R had mild torticollis too, he didn't qualify for services under medical need but EI brought him in under clinical judgment. I think they only did that because I insisted, lol. If you need help with ideas for exercises, let me know.

Yesterday turned out to be a very busy work day, so I actually wasn't staring at the clock, but I was super annoyed when I was in a meeting from 4-5pm that ran late and I didn't get to leave until 5:15. By the time I got home and changed out of my work clothes it was 6 and I only had an hour with William before his bedtime. Ugh - I already can't wait for the weekend, and it is only Tuesday!

Yes, please for the exercises! I will take all the resources/help we can get.

[kh826]

Hi wittyandwaiting!!!
Glad to hear that things are going well so far.
I personally have never been able to nap during the day. I just can't seem to do it.
On the rare occasion that I was able to close my eyes and drift off from sheer exhaustion, I would never sleep for more than 20 mins.
I am just not a good sleeper in general, but sleeping during the day feels pretty impossible to me for the most part.
I envy those who can do it.
J on the other hand would happily nap for 2-3 hours every afternoon if allowed to. She has no trouble sleeping during the day, and often has trouble waking back up!

[serpentine85]

Hello. Hope everyone is happy and healthy this week.

Not much to say this end. S's virus continues but she seems more comfortable at the moment. Sleep, appetite and nappy content have all shown improvement. If she continues to get well at this rate, we will probably start taking her back to her activities from next week.

We had a negative hpt today and my sensitive little girl has been extra snuggly. I don't know if she's picking up on feelings in the room but she seems to know Mumma needs extra cuddles.

[healz413]

Ellis is 33 weeks (7.5 months) and she's doing great. Her personality is blooming and she's having a great time with life (last week she was moodier; it seems to go back and forth). She's finally taking longer naps some days which really helps I think.
She's great at sitting now and is working on figuring out crawling. She's got the rocking on all four things down but isn't moving forward yet.
She's started growling which is adorable.
Work is going well for me and so far I'm enjoying being back.

[karlamo]

YAY wittyandwaiting for checking in today! I'm the odd mom out because I like to nap if L and R are napping. I usually nap with L in my bed so he sleeps real good, snuggled up next to the Brestaraunt.