Baby Corner

[TracyTN 237]

Last night wasn't too bad at all! She kept me up off and on until about 3am and then she slept till 7:30. When Luis got home from work at 8am, he took her for 2 hours for me while he ate and watched the Peru news with her. I guess comparing this to twins makes it seem so much easier. She was having a hard time with latching on at first because she was becoming so used to the bottles they gave her in the NICU with my pumped breastmilk, and it's so much easier to get milk out of those bottles. She was fine nursing all night though, she got frustrated and cried a few times but then she eventually latched on. I always have a bottle of pumped milk in the fridge/freezer just in case.

Oh good!! I hope she settles into a routine quickly for you. Nice that she could watch the Peru news with daddy too.

[chnst 6]

My two cents:

No lap babies for you and your baby's own sanity. The seat is worth every penny. Bring the car seat, if possible. Bring favorite books and toys. Look for places for the kid to walk/crawl around when stuck in the airport. Bring a large light blanket, if possible. Maybe the kid might be interested in the in-flight entertainment. Worth a shot.

Be prepared for things to go wrong. Like getting stuck in an airport for 12 hours with your 12 month old. Good times there. If you are a formula feeder, bring more than you think you will need.

12 month olds can't really 'behave' themselves. You can only hope that they are good enough to sleep the vast majority of the flight and that you can distract them well enough when they are unfortunately awake.

Though there have been plenty of opportunities for my daughter to have been jet-lagged, it is only on the last flight we took that she seems to have been so. Sorry I have no advice. YMMV.

Amen to that. The only thing I'd like to add- make sure they let you gate-check a stroller, even if it is the tiniest umbrella stroller, you will need it for Baby, bags, pillows, diaper bags etc. especially if you end up having a long layover.

If you are flying together with your husband during domestic flights you may not necessarily need to pay for an extra seat. We just took Ben to Myrtle Beach and he wanted to sit on our laps anyway. We ended up with a 3-seat row all to ourselves on the way home. But having an extra seat on long distance may be worth the money.

[Vi Mazzella 4]

Amen to that. The only thing I'd like to add- make sure they let you gate-check a stroller, even if it is the tiniest umbrella stroller, you will need it for Baby, bags, pillows, diaper bags etc. especially if you end up having a long layover.

If you are flying together with your husband during domestic flights you may not necessarily need to pay for an extra seat. We just took Ben to Myrtle Beach and he wanted to sit on our laps anyway. We ended up with a 3-seat row all to ourselves on the way home. But having an extra seat on long distance may be worth the money.

I went to Peru in January with my baby girl, 8 hr flight and she was sitting on my lap, it wasn't so bad but the next time I'll definitely purchase a seat for her. I'm breastfeeding so I'll recommend your wife to wear something comfortable for it. I carried a backpack with me full of snacks and some toys, diapers, baby wipes,clothes, you know,the basics.

[Nessa 23]

bump!

[Susita 175]

Anna has gained 6 oz in 3 days

Little chubster. And breastfeeding has gotten so much easier. She just gets the hiccups a lot. Doc says its normal.

[Nessa 23]

lol little chubster, that means she's growing good. I like the our family signature, so cute.

[chnst 6]

awesome Suzy, so glad she is doing well and bf works good in spite of NICU treatment. You're lucky and you can be very proud, that is quite an achievement. so cute the boys and Anna. aww.

Zaid: party like a rockstar buddy, I hope the party is going to be a hit despite the weather!! Unbelievable we are celebrating 2nd birthdays here already...

I asked Ben what he wants for his birthday, he said "Marsha" (Marshmallows) haha.

He had a fire drill at his school the other day and it scared him to death (the siren and the emergency lights) he is now totally afraid of hearing any fire alarms no matter how distant or fire trucks or even the garbage truck. I hope that will pass soon! He is even having nightmares about it, he wakes up and cries and says "fire truck too loud" I guess he is not going to be a fireman when he grows up.

[Susita 175]

awesome Suzy, so glad she is doing well and bf works good in spite of NICU treatment. You're lucky and you can be very proud, that is quite an achievement. so cute the boys and Anna. aww.

I think it also helped that I went up to the hospital for like 3 feedings per day so she had some idea of how to nurse. She used to scream like a crazy baby though but I still tried. All the nurses said I was very patient, that most moms didn't know what to do and got so frustrated because they never wanted their baby to cry. I guess I'm used to crying babies, I had 2 at once it doesn't rattle me. Of course, I hate when they cry but what can you do?

The boys love their sister. I had a rough first few days with Joseph though... he was like "why does she have to live with us?" He is totally desperate for attention and I give him as much as I can, even more than before Anna was born, I guess it's just going to take a while. He helped with her today and yesterday though... when she started crying he gave her her binky and a kiss. We're making progress.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Thanks Stef. We did have a great birthday. Sooo many people, soo much food, and soooo many presents. Zaid ran around like a crazy person all day and had a blast. Since it wasnt his official birthday I think I may just bake a small cake for Thursday.

Scared of sirens? Sounds familiar to me! If Zaid hears an ambulance or firetruck coming down the street he freaks and says "no! i scared" Maybe its their age? Sorry to hear Ben is having nightmares hopefully they pass soon

[Fandango 1,440]

Awww Susita, it sounds like everything is coming along perfectly <3

ZM - sounds like Zaid had a blast!

[Anna C. 4]

@ Kelly: Oh that sounds fun! It must be really nice to have family around, it's great, I'd take it without any presents! We always have super small parties since my family is in Europe and DH's in San Francisco.

@ Susita: That's awesome! She's like Jona, he was born weighing 5 10 and he surpassed birth weight on day 6... Gaining a pound a week til he hit 22 pounds or so. Those little nurslings eat that pregnancy fat right off your body in no time. I was eating more than hubbie in those first months... Like a horse.

I agree on lactation help and patience, it's the two most important ingredients to successful breastfeeding. I'm still ueber grateful to our lactation consultants. We even send them Christmas cards.

Recently Jona has started to ask to go to bed for the night and naps... He takes my hand and leads me to his room, and then points to his bed. Of course he only goes with Scout (leapfrog toy that talks and sings to you). Sooo cute. In the morning he doesn't cry that often anymore to lemme know he's up, but I hear Scout singing, so I know he's up. The eating is sort of coming together too finally. He even ate my carrot soup yesterday (I must say though it's really good, those Williams Sonoma recipes always rock!). He loves being outside so we are getting a sandbox and maybe the playground this summer (not sure yet, mama is just too nervous about Jona climbing up high!) and we have a kiddie pool.... We go out for walks now and he always holds my hands and he knows where the neighborhood cats live, cause he looks around til he sees them, then he pets them (I know the people, they have tags, etc, rabies shots - so no worries here!). He wants to go out all the time. He brings me his and my shoes and holds his arms up to put his coat on. And the walks really help to make him happy, relaxed. He still goes nuts when there is rain outside, and he hates watching TV (he goes to the media center and turns it off)...

Guys, where do you buy good quality but not super expensive swimwear?For kids I mean

Edited April 25, 2010 by Anna C.

[Vi Mazzella 4]

Susita@ the pic of the boys with Anna is too cute! don't forget to let me know when you go to the city.

Last night was a rough night for us, Sofia woke up at 2.3oam and went back to sleep at 6.30am! it was a real disaster, this morning she had swimming class but I had to call and cancel, I was too tired for it plus she was slepping, I wasn't going to wake her up, no way!. Now I'm reading this book "Sleeping through the night" by Jodi A. Mindell and alot of the situations that she describes sound very familiar, she is - pro leaving the baby cry when you put her to sleep, eventually she will get tired and use to it - but my daughter is 13 motnhs we think is too late for that,what to do what to do?, It's over a year that I'm not sleeping through the night and I'm not a happy camper, she still waking up between 2-4 times during the night to bf and goes back to sleep but she has HER NIGHTS when she wants to hang out with us, it's crazy, every night I pray so she will sleep good but nothing happens. We are doing everything right, routine, 1 nap, everything mommies, and still the same old story. Going through this I definitely don't want another baby. Sorry mommies I need to vent

ZM@ Pics, pics, pics

Nessa@ Pics, pics, pics from the b-day!!!

[Nessa 23]

vi, let her cry for a bit. I was totally against at first, but now I let him cry, if it's not over 2 minutes.

some pics

Edited April 25, 2010 by Nessa

[chnst 6]

Vi: aww sorry to hear you are still having trouble. Ben is still waking up 6-200 times/night too. We have tried everything and came to the conclusion that it must be a personality thing. For now, my only piece of advice is to try to cope with the way it is. Try to tell her to go back to sleep she may understand that. And maybe you and the hubby can both switch taking care fo her during the night, so both of you will get some sleep.

The crying it out has not worked for us, it made it a lot worse. He would scream all night and totally panic/stop breathing... It was a desaster. Now we just put him in his bed and every now and then he does sleep 4-6 hour stretches (about 1x/month). Most of the night he ends up in our bed and eventually wakes up around 6:30am. I keep telling him to go back to sleep whenever he wakes up, and he really tries hard- he doesn't want to play or anything, his problem is just that he cannot stay asleep. I'm just so happy to be done with school soon, so I can catch up on sleep and don't have to wake up at 4:30am. good luck, I know it is hard I really hope that our next baby will be a sleeper.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

This was the pinata. My files are too big and im too lazy to make them smaller lol.