British Bun in the Oven

[Jewel-8 21]

I just felt the need to try something new, heh

I heard of a delicious drink involving ameretto... wish I could try it now I have 69 more work days until my due date. Woohoo.

[Fandango 1,440]

I heard of a delicious drink involving ameretto... wish I could try it now I have 69 more work days until my due date. Woohoo.

w00t! Not long left!

amaretto drink - do share!

Nick is properly crawling - well, one knee, and one foot on the ground, then a little hop. It's so cute! He's also standing up!!!

So teeth count is now 4, and I swear he's cutting a 5th, though I can't see where. He does this thing when he's cutting a tooth - he sticks his tongue out, and blows raspberries. It's so cute, lol. He started doing it again the other day, and I'm like 'huh???'

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Aw...that's great Lisa (and I love your new screen name...for some reason it makes me want a drink?!). It's so exciting when they start doing stuff for the first time. I always gasp (such as when Limita started rolling over), as if whatever I'm witnessing is the craziest thing that ever happened.

We survived the British Invasion (Jon's family visit). All in all, it was a good visit, but exhausting. Madeleine enjoyed meeting her new cousin Max, who is two months younger. Jon's friend made them onesies:

So, Mad-Ag is 6 months! She had her checkup and shots on Tuesday. She did great for the shots but was fussy and a bit feverish Tuesday night. Poor thing. She's also getting over cold number five (and we can't even blame this one on daycare because she was home all last week for the family visit). She's still a big baby: 16.5 pounds and 26 3/4 inches (75% percentile). Also, she has started rocking on all fours for a few seconds at a time and can do the downward dog yoga pose. She's not quite sitting up on her own yet. The doctor said she'll likely crawl a little earlier than average based on her current moving-around patterns. I'm not sure how I feel about this. The playpen is ready to go as soon as she can sit up. She continues to tour the crib nightly.

How is everyone?

[Jewel-8 21]

Those kids are so cute together! Maybe next time you'll get twins!!

I had the "OMG, it's third trimester and I have nothing ready" anxiety hit me, but luckily I've already blown too much this month on birthing classes and a 3D ultrasound. The classes start in another week or two and the 3D ultrasound is the very last weekend of the month.

I have a cousin offering me her playpen, and I found a consignment sale and stocked up on yellow onesies. Besides diapers and things we will survive the first couple of weeks. But still, OMG! There's so much I *can* get to feel prepared, but I know as a frugal person(married to a Scot - no less) that it's not all necessary. We are having a party after the baby is born to welcome him or her, so if I buy everything that will leave nothing for anyone else to get the baby besides cute clothes. Not that I expect anything, but I know my mom and sister will want to shop.

Did anyone else survive on less until the baby was a bit bigger? I'm sure it's the way forward for now since we will be wanting a bigger place within 6 months.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Jewel-8

[Fandango 1,440]

Hehehe, thanks Julie...I figured since I-need-a-cocktail, it was the most logical screen name, lol.

Ag looks amazing! The onesies are so cute!!! You're right, it IS so exciting when they start doing stuff. I got a kick outta Nick when he was rocking back and forth on all fours. You're all WOO HOO! Then it hits you - BAM! holy #######, walking soon *looks around house*...uh oh!

Jewel - yay, you're in the home stretch now! There wasn't much I 'prepared' for before the birth. We actually moved into our house 3 weeks before I delivered, so Nick's room wasn't even set up. But we had a cradle in our room which was all ready. I had tons of diapers, tons of clothes (I really didn't need all the clothes I had), blankets (swaddling ones too), and a whole bunch of other stuff that I didn't even use. The changing table was all ready, but as it was in the nursery on the other side of the house, and his cradle was in our room, we just put the pad on our bed to change him. We had a little metal rack thing set up on the other side of our room - washcloths, diapers, wipes, petroleum jelly, diaper stuff, etc.

Nick was born all spotty, lol...and the nurses at the hospital told me to wash him with either brown Dial soap, or Ivory. The ivory worked very well, leaves his skin softer than when we use baby soap...but we used baby soap on his face and hair because Ivory still can sting.

Oh, get a baby tub.

My bff Shele (tmma on here) splashed out and got us the Starlight Papasan Swing from FP. He didn't use that the first few weeks cos it freaked him out, but after that, it was a Godsend. I'd put him in it after his morning feed, and he'd fall asleep in it for hours. Sadly, he is outgrowing it now

My doc highly recommended petroleum jelly instead of diaper rash stuff, and that's what I've been using since he was born, and he's never once had a diaper rash. I got petroleum jelly with shea butter at BRU and it is awesome. I actually also put some on my elbows every time I change Nick, and my elbows have never been softer!

I will say make sure that whatever your little bundle is sleeping in (crib or cradle)....that you get at least a few sets of sheets and mattress protectors. It will save you from having to wash them before being able to put him/her back in.

And I've said it a zillion times here, but I still highly recommend the Angel Care Monitor. Once we got it, it was the first time I had a full night's sleep (once he was sleeping through the night). It's that movement monitor that monitors breathing too. Despite some members' concerns, it does NOT have your baby sleeping on a live electrical current.

YAY! SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!

______

Btw, Nick is doing well! He's pulling himself up every second of the day. Crawling like a maniac.

I'm working a lot - a lot of times, Nick comes with me to the office. He charms all my colleagues, lol. Everything is wonderful here, thank God. I'm also getting off this baby weight, trying to also go to the gym regularly, take vitamins, drink lots of water, etc...because I'm getting myself baby ready for round #2 starting in Sept.

We're even talking about buying a minivan, LOL. Never ever ever thought I'd have *that* conversation.

[Fandango 1,440]

Oh, Julie...one more thing. Concerning gifts:

I am not a fan of registries. I think they're gauche. It's like 'hey buy me this'. But every one of my friends/ extended family kept asking me where we were registered. So we broke down and registered at BRU. What we also did, though, was find a coupon in the paper (or online, I can't rememeber which) that gave us a $25 gift card for registering. And we also got the registry 'gift' too. It's worth even registering just for the gift and gift card, lolz.

I know Target also sometimes gives out gift cards for creating a registry. A few hours in either store would also be beneficial to you to familiarize yourselves with all the stuff available.

And one more piece of unsolicited advice: concerning bottles.

I initially solely breast fed, but even doing that, you need bottles. So we looked around and did a lot of research, and we chose 'Tommy Tippee' bottles. They reckon they are 'closest to nature' concerning the shape of the nipple. Says that it'll lessen 'nipple confusion'. And it made a lot of sense to us. So we signed up for the big bottle set and the microwavable steamer. It cost close to $100.

Flash forward to Nick having stomach problems, lots of silent reflux. My mom did some research online, and then wound up buying us the Dr Brown's bottles. Once we gave him DR B's, his stomach problems subsided!

Bye bye Tommy Tippee!

And then we found microwavable sterilizing bags for the bottles, instead of buying the hard plastic set. $5 and they don't take up a crapload of room in the kitchen, either.

Ok, so that's two more things, lol.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Anita Cocktail

[TracyTN 237]

First - Happy Mother's Day to ALL of you - yes, that includes you, Jewel! Put your feet up and have a relaxing day!!

w00t! Not long left!

amaretto drink - do share!

Nick is properly crawling - well, one knee, and one foot on the ground, then a little hop. It's so cute! He's also standing up!!!

So teeth count is now 4, and I swear he's cutting a 5th, though I can't see where. He does this thing when he's cutting a tooth - he sticks his tongue out, and blows raspberries. It's so cute, lol. He started doing it again the other day, and I'm like 'huh???'

We call that the 'army crawl', Lis. Feel free to use that term going forward. HA!! I found the blowing raspberries stage quite funny as well.

Empress:

I ADORE those onesies, esp. given the hilarious 80s movies connotation. I am so glad that the visit went well. And yes, get ready to be busier than a one armed paper hanger once she starts moving about...! Is she sleeping better now?

I have to second Lisa's emotions about the registry. We took great pains in putting ours together (on Amazon). We researched every product to a T and had maybe 3 people total (outside close friends and family) buy stuff off of it. People will go rogue because they have their ideas on what you should want, and what is cute to them. Plus I think people enjoy shopping for adorable baby clothes (can't say I blame them!). It was particularly frustrating for us as we cloth diaper yet still had people buy us disposables. (We just took them to Walmart and got a refund.)

As for the swing - we have the same one Lisa has. It now sits in my office, unused, and has for probably 2 months. Great gadget at first but once they start sitting up and being more aware (6 months-ish), it seems like a waste of $125. I'd find one used if I were you. Or hell, I might sell you mine! LOL

The elder states-woman of the thread, Miss Emily, is doing just fine. FINALLY cutting teeth - noticed her first one last weekend, and even it is not completely through yet. She has been more tired than normal but no fever or excessive drooling or anything. Maybe that will come as more teeth come in, dunno.

We found this picture particularly cute, though she doesn't always look this chipmunk cheeked (maybe from the straight on angle of the photo)?

[Fandango 1,440]

Tracy, she is effing gorgeous!

[TracyTN 237]

Aww thanks.

I still have this sick fantasy that she and Nick will meet one day and run off to de casbah...

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Aw, Tracy, she's beauteeful!

I call the baby photo "Mad Max: Beyond ThunderQuilt!" The visit had its ups and downs. The downs mostly centered on the major production of taking two babies anywhere, Max getting his first proper cold, and Jon's hyper-energetic mum wanting to do stuff with the babies all day and all night. We all went out to eat several times, babies and all. While her sleepy cousin dozed off the whole time, Mad-Ag was awake and needing attention. I was a little upset early in their visit because my MIL made two references to maternity clothes that I wore last summer during our UK visit. That is, she suggested that I wear both my maternity bathing suit ("Why not give that an airing?") and a maternity dress ("How about that lovely dress that you wore when you were in the UK last summer?") I still have something of a paunch and a few pounds to lose, and I only fit into a handful of my regular clothes, but geez, I don't think I still look pregnant! I'm sure she hasn't forgotten that I was in fact 5 months pregnant when we were in the UK last year. Normally I would have brushed off such silliness, but I had more acute than usual PMS. She's not a mean-spirited person, so I can't imagine what she was thinking, saying stuff like that.

Jewel, regarding stuff, we registered at Babies R Us and Amazon, under much pressure. My sister gave me a baby shower, and people bought plenty of stuff off the BRU registry. Fewer people bought stuff from Amazon, but it was handy for out-of-state (and indeed out of country) friends and family who wanted to get us something.

Stuff we found necessary and/or useful:

(1) Newborn clothes & diapers. Only one person bought us newborn-sized clothes. I understand why people tend to go for the larger sizes, because a big baby might go straight into 3-month stuff, but Mad-Ag was in NB stuff for a couple of months (she was an average-sized newborn, 7 pounds). We actually had to buy several NB onesies & pants. Same w/ diapers. I suggest buying NB stuff so you have it, but don't open it until the baby is home. You can always return it (or have someone else do it) if you have a big baby on your hands.

(2) "Trad" trifold cloth diapers. These make the best burp cloths and are cheap.

(3) Wipes

(4) My pediatrician recommends Cetaphil for bathing because it's really mild and rinses off easily. Also, we use Aveeno lotion.

(5) I second Vaseline to prevent diaper rash. We also have Boudreaux Butt Paste, which I use about once a week. Three people got us that, in fact. I wonder why?

(6) My brother got us a swing for Christmas, when Mad-Ag was 2 months old, and we've already largely stopped using it because she's so squirmy. I wish we'd had it sooner, though. We only used it for about 2 1/2 months. Now, we can only put her in it when she's relaxed, otherwise she gets fussy and restless. But we did use it every day, multiple times a day from the time we got it until about a month ago. I'd get a used one if you can.

(7) We use Dr. Brown's bottles too. Mad-Ag was a terrible burper, and these helped.

(8) I bought this gym thingy for Christmas. She loves it and still uses it:

She's getting pretty strong now and is practically pulling the little animals off! It's called Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym from Fisher Price.

(9) For sleeping, we bought a Graco pack 'n' play that came with a "newborn napper," and we set it up in our room. When she literally grew out of the napper at about 2 months, we moved her into a standard crib in the other room.

(10) Big changing pad like this:

People told us that a "proper" changing pad would be a waste of money because you end up changing the kid wherever, but our place isn't that big, so we always use the changing pad. This is partially because Mad-Ag is a major spitter-upper, and often she'd spit up during changes as a result of being on her back. It's a lot easier to change the pad cover than clean up the carpet/bedspread/sofa cushion, etc. Most portable changing pads I've seen don't go behind the head.

I hope this is helpful! Have things changed that much since you had your boy, or have you just forgotten?

[Empress of Groovy 373]

...of course, I just realized that you were asking for advice on the bare minimum, and I ended up listing all kindsa stuff that's not exactly necessary.

[Fandango 1,440]

Aww thanks.

I still have this sick fantasy that she and Nick will meet one day and run off to de casbah...

Well, get this...Scott's mom is a year older than his dad...I'm older than Scott...so who knows? Nick may be partial to the 'older' women

[Fandango 1,440]

...of course, I just realized that you were asking for advice on the bare minimum, and I ended up listing all kindsa stuff that's not exactly necessary.

I thought it was an awesome post. Shush.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Happy Muthuh's Day, ladies!

[TracyTN 237]

Well, get this...Scott's mom is a year older than his dad...I'm older than Scott...so who knows? Nick may be partial to the 'older' women

Emily - the cougar!

I hope you ladies had a nice Mother's day. Mine was just so-so. Got a card from Chas on Saturday and had lunch out with my family. Maybe Mom's Day isn't that huge in the UK? I dunno. I at least expected maybe an hour to have a bubble bath or something, but oh well. Takes the onus off me to come up with something big for Father's Day I guess.