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Our boys are almost sitting up on their own now, I was pretty impressed, David's making more and more sensible noises too, speaking very soon we think, developmentally they should be at 7 months though chronologically they're 9 months.
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Jul 1, 2014 08:16
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My 4-year-old this week: Can I help? Can I help? Can I help? Sure, why don't you go pick up the shoes in the living room? Why are you so mean!?
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Jul 2, 2014 01:34
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Yeah. That's about right. Eventually they might actually help if you keep it up though. Not that the helping is actually helpful.
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Jul 2, 2014 01:41
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Our daughter is a Big Sister now, and really wants to help with the new baby. The problem is that she is two, and doesn't understand that newborns are fragile. She's also in a phase where if she wants to do something, and we do it instead, she'll throw a tantrum and scream "baby do it!" You do the math on how this one is playing out. That said, she's actually doing great so far as a big sister. Plenty of kisses, no malice. She just doesn't understand why jumping into mommy isn't always OK anymore.
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Jul 2, 2014 03:57
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Letting them help is paying it forward. It takes longer in the short-term, but it's awesome when they do something new for themselves.
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Jul 2, 2014 16:21
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Ynglaur posted:Letting them help is paying it forward. It takes longer in the short-term, but it's awesome when they do something new for themselves. I'm fine with her helping, and glad to let her. Except for when she wants to do something dangerous or counterproductive. No, sweetheart, you can't strap the baby into the car seat all by yourself. Yes, daddy does need to help. Yes, even if you tantrum. Etc.
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Jul 2, 2014 17:16
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My middle kid (18-months) was fascinated with our newborn and within a week of him being home she was trying to hand him toys to play with him. It was all fine and adorable until she started laying on him to give him kisses and yanking on him to get out of her old swing. Now that he's older (almost 4-months) and can interact with her more, she seems to be losing interest. My oldest (3 1/2) is in the wonderful phase of "I wanted to do it!" after something has happened. Even if he had every chance to do whatever the thing is and still didn't respond.
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Jul 2, 2014 18:20
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Enjoy the niceness while you can... My two ( 4 and 2 1/2) are at the stage where they just fight like cats and dogs. The typical I can terrorize my brother/sister but no one else can be mean to them stage. To be fair my daughter (4) is super sensitive, and the son (2 1/2) love, love, loves to stir poo poo up with her. 100% instigator. HE TOUCHED MY TOY <cue 15 minute emotional breakdown> WHY DOES HE HAVE JUICE AND I HAVE MILK? I WANT JUICE! <crocodile tears>
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Jul 2, 2014 18:38
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We have a 19 month old now and we decided to stop using all birth control this summer and see what happens. I hope I'm not making a mistake! I'm not super looking forward to being pregnant again, but we'd like at least one more kid. If I can get knocked up between now and September, I'll have the kid during Summer break so my husband and I would both be off of work. Has anyone else really not been super excited to be pregnant again? I feel sort of bad not being as giddy the second time. Don't get me wrong. I WANT another kid, I just sort of wish I could get a 3 month old magically in front of me. We would never be able to afford an adoption at this time though. If it doesn't happen by the end of September, we'll put it on hold until next year to try to get a summer birth.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:41
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Alterian posted:We have a 19 month old now and we decided to stop using all birth control this summer and see what happens. I hope I'm not making a mistake! I'm not super looking forward to being pregnant again, but we'd like at least one more kid. If I can get knocked up between now and September, I'll have the kid during Summer break so my husband and I would both be off of work. Has anyone else really not been super excited to be pregnant again? I feel sort of bad not being as giddy the second time. Don't get me wrong. I WANT another kid, I just sort of wish I could get a 3 month old magically in front of me. We would never be able to afford an adoption at this time though. If it doesn't happen by the end of September, we'll put it on hold until next year to try to get a summer birth. I hated being pregnant, if storks were an option I would have gone with that in a heartbeat. The idea of actually liking being pregnant is completely alien to me although I know some women do enjoy it rather than just seeing it as a necessary evil if you want to have a kid. I do like the first three months though - it's probably my favourite stage. But that could be down to how much I hate being pregnant, for the first few weeks I feel like I'm walking on air even with having a newborn to look after.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:52
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The first 3 months were the hardest for us, but I had a lot of issues breast feeding, and then my husband going back to work and working evening classes, and me going back to work working from 6am - noon, but that's sort of circumstantial. I think one of the reasons we've decided another kid wouldn't be too bad is we're having a blast with our 19 month old.
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Jul 2, 2014 20:33
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Alterian posted:We have a 19 month old now and we decided to stop using all birth control this summer and see what happens. I hope I'm not making a mistake! I'm not super looking forward to being pregnant again, but we'd like at least one more kid. If I can get knocked up between now and September, I'll have the kid during Summer break so my husband and I would both be off of work. Has anyone else really not been super excited to be pregnant again? I feel sort of bad not being as giddy the second time. Don't get me wrong. I WANT another kid, I just sort of wish I could get a 3 month old magically in front of me. We would never be able to afford an adoption at this time though. If it doesn't happen by the end of September, we'll put it on hold until next year to try to get a summer birth. We have a surprise baby due in October. I had two miscarriages, one before and one after my now six year old. We had become content with one but hey guess what, sometimes unprotected sex leads to a baby, even after a year of trying and then giving up. It was a shock at first and this pregnancy has been a bitch, but it is very very exciting to know that we will have two little people to love. I will say being pregnant at 35 (and working outdoors in Texas summer heat) is not near as easy as being pregnant with a spring baby at 29.
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Jul 3, 2014 20:59
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oxsnard posted:Cheap rear end diapers ahoy! I've tried two targets, Babies R Us, and two Wal Marts and nobody will give me boxes, only the bags of 25. It's not worth it for bags
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Jul 3, 2014 23:04
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I need some potty training advice. 3 year old. We've got him wearing pull ups and he will take them off when he's dirty, but trying to get him to sit on the potty is a fight every time. I've tried rewards, a schedule, letting him run around in big boy underwear, nothing. When he poops, I take him to the potty and wipe him there, but I've had zero potty successes so far. Help?
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Jul 4, 2014 00:12
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Some kids are like that. My daughter was super hard, we did all that and it wasn't working. We bought her a little potty all her own and she changed over night. She was just afraid of the toilet.
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Jul 4, 2014 00:29
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My wife used the same technique for all three kids, which worked well for us. The moment they showed any interest she stayed home for a week and had them run around in a long t-shirt. They don't like the feel of pee on the legs. It was a messy week, but then it was over. YMMV, of course, but it worked well for our kids.
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Jul 4, 2014 01:12
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Ynglaur posted:My wife used the same technique for all three kids, which worked well for us. The moment they showed any interest she stayed home for a week and had them run around in a long t-shirt. They don't like the feel of pee on the legs. It was a messy week, but then it was over. YMMV, of course, but it worked well for our kids. We did something very similar but with undies on. Our guy was peeing in the toilet after 2 days if wet bums. Modern diapers can interfere with kids' desire to use the toilet because they're so good at keeping them dry.
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Jul 4, 2014 03:22
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Alterian posted:Has anyone else really not been super excited to be pregnant again? We'll have another baby because we'd like to have two children, and I'm already dreading it despite the fact that we're at least a year away from trying for one. I look at being pregnant again and having another newborn and infant as something I basically just have to hunker down and plow through to get to the proper little kid-stage again. It feels like going back to square one with the constant neediness and maintenance of what is basically a very cute and incredibly demanding meatloaf. My daughter turned one year old a couple of days ago, and I LOVE watching her learn new things, start to talk... She's walking now and pointing and developing into a proper little person, and I don't miss the tiny baby stage at all, and I'm sure I won't miss this stage when she's even older. In short, yes. Not super excited at all.
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Jul 4, 2014 11:26
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It's great to have two children, it's all done with after it's done once for us
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Jul 4, 2014 12:17
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I didn't "enjoy" either pregnancy. I had the rather odd experience of completely detaching the pregnancy from my actual kids. Like, the pregnancy and the baby that came out weren't related at all. You can totally love your kids, and want more, without being excited for being pregnant. Sockmuppet posted:She's walking now and pointing and developing into a proper little person, and I don't miss the tiny baby stage at all, and I'm sure I won't miss this stage when she's even older. This made me smile. She's just now one, and still a baby yet. As the years start rolling by, you may be surprised what you miss.  I would love to nuzzle a tiny, fuzzy, red head again; just for a minute.
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Jul 4, 2014 15:12
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I actually enjoyed my pregnancy after I got over the morning sickness at around 16 weeks, but I had a really easy pregnancy after that and no other kids to look after. We want more kids, but I'm worried about being pregnant again. I developed some G.I. problems after I had my son that are manageable now, but I'm afraid pregnancy will make them worse plus I'll have a little kid to look after.
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Jul 4, 2014 20:29
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Ynglaur posted:My wife used the same technique for all three kids, which worked well for us. The moment they showed any interest she stayed home for a week and had them run around in a long t-shirt. They don't like the feel of pee on the legs. It was a messy week, but then it was over. YMMV, of course, but it worked well for our kids. Was poop different than pee in this respect? Because Sydney gives no fucks about popping a squat and making GBS threads on the carpet if given the opportunity.
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Jul 4, 2014 20:33
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I don't know why everyone says that having a 2 year gap is the most ideal gap. I thought it would be, and I'm sure it is for the kids, but it's driving me insane. Having a newborn keeping you up ALL night and then waking up to a toddler who is ready to play and needs to be fed and changed when your husband is working 10+ hr days and your family lives in another country does not feel ideal at all. With that said, what has been everyone's experience with using formula while breastfeeding? I was dead set against it, but like I said before I haven't been getting any sleep at all (I'm talking 2-3hrs at day) and it would be nice to have my husband feed her while I get some sleep every now and then. Plus my mom has been really pressuring me into doing so with all sorts of arguments (over and over and over, it's all she talks about, even after asking her to butt out) and I'm about to crack. I'm too sleep deprived, hormonal, and emotional to fight. Is it too bad to use formula for night feedings every now and then and continue to breast feed? I'm more than happy to stop it once she actually sleeps 4 hrs or so at night. I've tried expressing, but I can't even get 10ml in a 30 minute section and it's really frustrating =(
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Jul 5, 2014 02:13
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How old is your daughter? Generally, if you want to continue to breastfeed for the long term, it is best to get every feeding you can at the breast. The demand stimulates the supply, so not doing a night feeding on a regular basis is going to drop your supply. I think prolactin levels are highest between midnight and 5 am or something like that, so feeding during that time frame is really important in signaling to your body to keep making milk (unless your baby doesn't wake up at that time! Don't feel you need to wake a sleeping baby unless you have a medical concern!). This is more and more important the younger the baby-- if the baby is older (3+ months) doing one night feeding with formula every once in a while probably won't matter much in terms of supply. If you don't care in the long term about going to mixed formula and breastfeeding, then by all means have someone else take an overnight feeding as often as you'd like
sheri fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Jul 5, 2014 |
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Jul 5, 2014 02:28
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Kitiara posted:I don't know why everyone says that having a 2 year gap is the most ideal gap. I thought it would be, and I'm sure it is for the kids, but it's driving me insane. Having a newborn keeping you up ALL night and then waking up to a toddler who is ready to play and needs to be fed and changed when your husband is working 10+ hr days and your family lives in another country does not feel ideal at all. If she's healthy and it would allow you to get some much needed sleep then do it. When she grows up she's not going to come to you and say, "You know those few weeks after I was born and had formula, I really would have preferred breast milk."
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Jul 5, 2014 02:29
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You could also pump mid-morning and then have your husband give a bottle of breast milk at night (typically the first feeding) so you can get a good stretch of sleep. Are you waking the newborn to eat every two to three hours during the day to make sure s/he isn't doing all of the eating at night?
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Jul 5, 2014 03:26
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My understanding is that the 2-year gap only helps when the kids are older, so they can play with each other when their friends aren't around. They are more likely to have shared interests, activities, etc. I asked a LOT of people about this when we were talking about having our second kid, and most people with siblings closer in age are simply closer emotionally and are more likely to be friends with their siblings. The larger the gap, the less likely they had much shared interests as kids and only really got to know each other after adolescence. But, this is all based on anecdotal evidence - I am an only child. I am currently in the middle of raising two toddlers (3 1/2 and 18-months) and fostering a newborn (4-months), and already I see the benefit of my toddlers being close in age and occupying themselves while I take care of the newborn. It has also made potty training the oldest nearly impossible, as I can't imagine rushing him to a public toilet while juggling a newborn and younger toddler. It's already a pain-in-the-rear end to navigate the world with this group, but the x-factor of a toddler's bowels might make us leaving the house a much less appealing idea. This is the biggest issue we are currently facing, and it just seems easier all around to postpone potty training until we are sure our oldest will be able to tell us when he has to go. Right now, he tells us while he is pooping, but never before. I don't really want to punish him for his bowel movements, but I'm trying to strongly urge him to let us know when he has to go and we can put him on a potty. I doubt he'll be in diapers much longer, he has really strong verbal skills and understands he can't go to pre-school until he's out of diapers, so we're not really pushing the issue. Are we setting ourselves up for trouble? Regarding formula, I am raising our foster child on formula and he's as happy, healthy and developmentally on-track as my two bio kids who were breastfed. My middle child was actually formula fed from 5-months on, and she's as healthy as my oldest who was breastfed for 13-months. 
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Jul 5, 2014 03:27
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I would totally supplement with formula in that situation. That sounds really hard and it would be awesome for your husband to help with night feedings.
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Jul 5, 2014 03:27
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Kitiara posted:I don't know why everyone says that having a 2 year gap is the most ideal gap. I thought it would be, and I'm sure it is for the kids, but it's driving me insane. Having a newborn keeping you up ALL night and then waking up to a toddler who is ready to play and needs to be fed and changed when your husband is working 10+ hr days and your family lives in another country does not feel ideal at all. My kids are 20 months apart and it only just started paying off at around 11 months old. Thankfully my oldest is a pretty good listener, although he went through a phase of waiting till I sat down to breastfeed before getting into all the things I don't want him to. Also my youngest still wakes up a couple times at night, I've just gotten used to operating at a level of exhaustion that would fell most people.
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Jul 5, 2014 03:49
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VorpalBunny posted:The larger the gap, the less likely they had much shared interests as kids and only really got to know each other after adolescence. But, this is all based on anecdotal evidence - I am an only child. This is dependent on the individual kid's personality and parenting styles though. I'm nine years older than my brother and we aren't close at all and I have no desire to be because he's a spoiled little poo poo.
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Jul 5, 2014 04:09
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As a parent with both big age gaps and small ones I much prefer the big age gap - having a 3 year old and a one year old is a lot harder than the previous times when there was a 6 year gap so I didn't have to worry about potty training and the general chaos that a young kid brings when dealing with a newborn. In my family growing up there were big age gaps and when I was a kid I was closest to the one closest in age but now as adults the age gaps don't matter so much and I'm closest to my sister who is the most similar to me. Regarding formula, I wouldn't have any problem giving my kid a bottle of milk once in a while, when mine were younger they'd have a bottle occasionally and it didn't disrupt breastfeeding (though all babies are different). In fact I wish I had kept it up with my youngest so now she wouldn't go crazy if you try and give her one and insist on breastfeeding every two hours during the night. At 15 months I'd quite like to stop breastfeeding completely but haven't got the energy to fight her in the middle of the night.
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Jul 5, 2014 10:03
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AlistairCookie posted:She's just now one, and still a baby yet. As the years start rolling by, you may be surprised what you miss. Oh, I'm sure there are quite a few parts of this stage that I'll miss, just not enough to want another one year old in the house for any significant length of time The only thing I miss about the newborn stage is that if I put her down somewhere, she'd stay there. There's way more I enjoy about having a one year old!
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Jul 5, 2014 11:07
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Whatever rear end in a top hat created children's toys without replaceable batteries needs a special place in hell. My daughters favorite toy died this morning and we had to make an emergency run to target to pick up a new one. So many tears
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Jul 5, 2014 14:20
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momtartin posted:Whatever rear end in a top hat created children's toys without replaceable batteries needs a special place in hell. My daughters favorite toy died this morning and we had to make an emergency run to target to pick up a new one. So many tears Oh, they're replaceable, it just depends on how determined you are.
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Jul 5, 2014 19:37
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Seems like you could have taught your kid a valuable lesson about loss and the lack of permanence in consumer goods 
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Jul 5, 2014 20:17
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I purposely didn't throw away the old one so I can figure out for next time. I didn't exactly have the time or patience in the morning to figure it out on the go.
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Jul 5, 2014 20:48
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momtartin posted:Whatever rear end in a top hat created children's toys without replaceable batteries needs a special place in hell. My daughters favorite toy died this morning and we had to make an emergency run to target to pick up a new one. So many tears This is my favorite thing about the Leapreader Jr - when it needs new batteries, it says, cheerfully, "Time for new batteries!" rather than the need only becoming obvious when the sound gets weird or unusually quiet or failing to turn on. (My second favorite thing is how easy it is to get the battery cover off - I can do it with a fingernail instead of needing a screwdriver.)
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Jul 5, 2014 22:18
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VorpalBunny posted:My understanding is that the 2-year gap only helps when the kids are older, so they can play with each other when their friends aren't around. They are more likely to have shared interests, activities, etc. I asked a LOT of people about this when we were talking about having our second kid, and most people with siblings closer in age are simply closer emotionally and are more likely to be friends with their siblings. The larger the gap, the less likely they had much shared interests as kids and only really got to know each other after adolescence. But, this is all based on anecdotal evidence - I am an only child. I can comment a bit on this. I come from a family of 4, and the maximum amount of time between two consecutive births was 2.5 years. Our birth timing was: Older brother - (2.5 years) - sister - (14 months) - me - (2 years) - younger brother There was some sibling camaraderie. I got along best with my oldest brother and my sister and younger brother got along. On the other hand, my sister and older brother fought constantly, my feelings towards my sister ranged from "okay" to "I hate her guts", and my younger brother was pretty neutral to both me and my older brother. We all played together when we were younger to some degree. How much we wanted to play with the other sibling(s) varied depending on the day/hour, but I'd say we usually got along. I don't remember playing much with my parents, so I guess it was mainly siblings. Things changed as we got older. Teenage years were interesting as moments where we all got along were few and far between. We all rebelled against each other to some degree, but there was also a slow letting-go of childhood hatreds. Now that we are all grown up, we are incredibly tight knit. I guess part of it is the shared experience of growing up at the same time.
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Jul 5, 2014 23:57
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My sister and I were born almost exactly 2 years apart and we were later combined with a step sister and brother who were another year then 2 years younger. None of us talk to each other now other than keeping up on Facebook with the exception of the step brother and sister with each other. My sister and I have vastly different interests and social philosophies. We were closer when we were younger but grew apart through our teens.
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Jul 6, 2014 00:01
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I have like two weeks worth of gerber baby food, but Arthur won't eat it anymore. He won't be served with a spoon, and only eats finger foods now. This is great, tonight he had some chicken sausage and some cheese tortellini with pesto and some watermelon, and he had banana and some vegetable for breakfast, and some waffle and sausage for lunch. He ate really good today and for the first time through all his meals and other snacks he didn't throw anything on the floor on purpose. I don't want this baby food to go to waste though, does anyone have any ideas on repurposing it? The gerber baby foods really seem like if you maybe mixed them with some flour and baked them you could make cookies or something. We used to mix it with oatmeal and get it pretty thick, has anyone tried using this stuff in cooking? I think we could get him to eat the rest if we got it in hand held form.
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Jul 6, 2014 00:46
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