British Bun in the Oven

[DiZZyLoX 114]

I have a lot more to write but for now...it's a boy!! Will be back later to run my mouth some more in a bit!

[TracyTN 237]

I have a lot more to write but for now...it's a boy!! Will be back later to run my mouth some more in a bit!

OMG!! How exciting!! Dying to hear more from you when you have some time.

That's great that the new job is going well! Are you still in touch w/ people at the old place? I bet they miss you! Idiots, ay?

How many teeth does Em have now?

I'm sorry to hear about the (possible) ulcers! Will you see a doctor?

Mad-Ag is getting over a cold (would you believe) and hasn't slept through the night for nearly a month now. She was sleeping great, 10+ hours at a time, until we left for the UK. She never quite adjusted to UK time and didn't get a full night's sleep the whole time we were there...noise, daylight, MIL who basically doesn't believe in jet lag (we had to intervene to keep her from waking Madeleine up in the morning, after she'd gone to bed at 4 a.m.). This made the readjustment to AZ time easier, but she keeps waking up screaming and random times. Last night she went down at 9:30 (her normal bedtime is 8:30-9) and woke up at midnight, 2, and 6:30. We don't know if it's teething--I think canines are getting ready to come in, but she hasn't really been drooling all that much or chewing on things--her cold, separation anxiety, or what. Consequently, we don't know how to handle it. We really didn't need to do sleep training when she was younger. Although she wasn't sleeping through the night reliably until about 8 months, she was always pretty good at settling herself down, and when she did wake up, it was usually because she was hungry, uncomfortable, sick, etc. Now, at nearly 15 months, we have no idea what the problem is! We've been back for nearly two weeks. Could it still be travel readjustment?

That's my kvetch for the day.

I hope everyone's doing OK! Rachel, how's the nausea?

Dizzy, we used cloth diapers (Gro-Via) for about six months. We stopped using them when Madeleine entered full-time daycare because we'd only use 2 or 3 a day (night, really), which we decided wasn't worth it because we were doing very small diaper loads. Madeleine's preschool would have allowed us to use cloth diapers if we'd really pushed it, but then I thought about the reality of toting home poopy diapers every night and realized I wasn't that into it. The advantages are that they're bulkier and you have fewer blowouts, they're super-cute and soft, and, of course, they save you money over the long term. The main disadvantage is the extra work and lots of laundry. Madeleine required frequent diaper changes because she has very sensitive skin and also peed a ton, and it seemed like I was doing laundry constantly. Also, properly laundering cloth diapers is a several-step process. Each step is pretty short, but it does add up, and when you're trying to do a lot of things while wiped out and sleep deprived...to be honest, if I had another baby (very unlikely!), I wouldn't cloth diaper again. I know disposables are terribly wasteful. If we could compost, I'd consider Gro-Via's disposable biodiaper, which is excellent--and compostable. I was able to sell 11 Gro-Via shells and a bunch of used soakers (the absorbent insert) on eBay for $125. So that was a bonus. I have noticed that a lot of people who cloth diaper are really into it, and there's lots of good information. And, of course, Tracy is a stellar source! I hope this doesn't sound discouraging, I just wanted to share my experience.

I actually had lunch with some of the girls from my old job last week. Seems like nothing has changed so I definitely made the right choice! My hours are picking up here but only for the next month or so. Then it's back to 40 being the norm (what a concept!).

Emily still only has 6 teeth, but we can see the 7th sticking through on the bottom next to the other two. As drooly as she's been, we suspect more to come. Its taken her long enough! LOL!!

I went to my doctor back in November when I first started worrying about my stomach. They put me on a medicine that is supposed to help heal your stomach lining. I think it has helped some but all this 'new job' anxiety has kicked things into high gear. I'll give it maybe a week more before I go back again. Trying to give myself time to level everything out.

I'll bet you anything the travel messed up Mad-Ag's sleep. I'm not sure what you can do, either, other than let her try and put herself back to sleep if you can. Of course if you can tell her cries are distressful (or hungry, etc) then you sort of have to intervene. But sticking w/ what our doctor told us at 4 months (letting her learn to soothe herself to sleep) has saved us SO much grief. Even if she wakes, we tend not to go in unless she sounds distressed - and nine times out of ten, she falls back to sleep on her own.

I agree about the benefits of cloth; also, less diaper rash (at least when they're younger). Emily didn't have the first hint of it until she was 5 months old. Friends I have who use disposies seemed to battle it almost from the get go.

I have to disagree a bit about cloth being more work, though. I just don't find an extra load of laundry every other day (or even every day when she was really small, and depending on how many diapers you have) to be that much of a burden. Chances are I'm washing thrown up or peed on clothes anyway. Once you get your routine down (didn't take us more than a week), you don't even think about it. Plus I just find the idea of putting my baby's poop in the garbage disgusting. LOL. I never thought I would but it seems so - wrong.

I can see, though, where it might be an issue if your daycare flat out wasn't going to do it. I would push if they were at all 'pushable' towards doing it, though - but that's me.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Hi Ladies,

A little late to this gathering. I just read back through some of the early posts and wished I'd seen the thread sooner. I gave birth to a little girl in June 2010 and was going though many of the same things at the same time.

I'm the UKC - currently living in Virginia.

Weirdly ten of my friends back home all had babies in the same year as me and I've really missed having the chance to see them all and do the 'baby' stuff with them. I haven't really found a 'Mom's group' here that I feel comfortable with yet.

Hope it's okay if I pop in here from time to time.

We're going through a bad sleep pattern now after a month in the UK in Nov - and we're about to fly back for three weeks in March so I almost can't be bothered to get back on track, only for it to all be disrupted again.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

OMG!! How exciting!! Dying to hear more from you when you have some time.

I actually had lunch with some of the girls from my old job last week. Seems like nothing has changed so I definitely made the right choice! My hours are picking up here but only for the next month or so. Then it's back to 40 being the norm (what a concept!).

Emily still only has 6 teeth, but we can see the 7th sticking through on the bottom next to the other two. As drooly as she's been, we suspect more to come. Its taken her long enough! LOL!!

I went to my doctor back in November when I first started worrying about my stomach. They put me on a medicine that is supposed to help heal your stomach lining. I think it has helped some but all this 'new job' anxiety has kicked things into high gear. I'll give it maybe a week more before I go back again. Trying to give myself time to level everything out.

I'll bet you anything the travel messed up Mad-Ag's sleep. I'm not sure what you can do, either, other than let her try and put herself back to sleep if you can. Of course if you can tell her cries are distressful (or hungry, etc) then you sort of have to intervene. But sticking w/ what our doctor told us at 4 months (letting her learn to soothe herself to sleep) has saved us SO much grief. Even if she wakes, we tend not to go in unless she sounds distressed - and nine times out of ten, she falls back to sleep on her own.

I agree about the benefits of cloth; also, less diaper rash (at least when they're younger). Emily didn't have the first hint of it until she was 5 months old. Friends I have who use disposies seemed to battle it almost from the get go.

I have to disagree a bit about cloth being more work, though. I just don't find an extra load of laundry every other day (or even every day when she was really small, and depending on how many diapers you have) to be that much of a burden. Chances are I'm washing thrown up or peed on clothes anyway. Once you get your routine down (didn't take us more than a week), you don't even think about it. Plus I just find the idea of putting my baby's poop in the garbage disgusting. LOL. I never thought I would but it seems so - wrong.

I can see, though, where it might be an issue if your daycare flat out wasn't going to do it. I would push if they were at all 'pushable' towards doing it, though - but that's me.

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your stomach. I can definitely relate to stress-related maladies of all kinds. Mine tend toward heartburn (and other digestive fun) and itchy skin breakouts. Which I had following our UK "vacation." But I'm glad that overall, the new job is good. It definitely sounds like you made the right decision! Have you tried yoga for the stress? I've been meaning to get into it for about 15 years.

Re: cloth diapers, I fully admit that I'm lazy, which I'm sure is a contributing factor! I'm not sure if it's specific to the type we used, but they took about 1 1/2 hours to dry in the dryer (a new dryer, I might add), and that's after halfway drying them outside to bleach out stains. Mad-Ag would get an occasional rash from either type, too. I did discover a couple of great products as a result of cloth diapering, tho: the Gro-Via magic stick and their cloth wipes, which are great facecloths and for general messy baby wiping (food mess, snot). But eventually I decided that chucking the diaper in the pail rather than dealing with the whole spray/soak/wash/lay out/dry (and dry and dry) process every other day was just easier. I always did a separate diaper load rather than wash along w/ her clothes, so it meant so much laundry! I know what you mean about the poopy, tho...sorry, this is kinda gross, but if the solid output is really solid, I'll dump it in the toilet rather than have it sit in the pail. Perhaps a holdover from my cloth diapering days? But yeah...I think the explanation is that I'm just a lazybones, and dammit, I like convenience!

About the sleep, it has become clear that Madeleine has become kinda needy as a result of the trip. She basically hasn't had to settle herself down for a month. We just figured her crying had to do w/ being disoriented, and of course, we wanted to comfort her. We're now implementing self-soothing (CIO, essentially), which is hard, but I think it's the only way to handle it. She actually settled herself back down early this morning after screaming bloody murder, so that's a good sign. We never really had to do this before. She just gradually slept for longer and longer periods until she was sleeping 10+ hours. Fingers crossed it doesn't turn into a project!

Welcome, LSMA! I hear you about the messed up sleep! I only have one "mum friend" here, and her daughter is a year older than Madeleine. It would have been great to have friends with babies close in age, especially the first year. I felt really isolated those first few months, when I was basically housebound and dealing with a fussy baby w/ tummy issues. I'm so grateful for the InterWeb! This thread is fabulous, if I do say so myself, and the Baby Corner in Off Topic has some very nice and knowledgeable ladies too.

I have a lot more to write but for now...it's a boy!! Will be back later to run my mouth some more in a bit!

Yay! How exciting!

[Alex & Rachel 78]

My problem lately is I think I'm developing ulcers. :(

Oh no! Hopefully the medicine continues to improve things for you.

I hope everyone's doing OK! Rachel, how's the nausea?

Pretty much entirely gone! I'm making the most of this stage of the pregnancy while I can.

It does sound like travel adjustment for Mad-Ag to me; is she any more settled now?

I have a lot more to write but for now...it's a boy!! Will be back later to run my mouth some more in a bit!

Congratulations! Can't wait to hear more!

Hi Ladies,

A little late to this gathering. I just read back through some of the early posts and wished I'd seen the thread sooner. I gave birth to a little girl in June 2010 and was going though many of the same things at the same time.

I'm the UKC - currently living in Virginia.

Weirdly ten of my friends back home all had babies in the same year as me and I've really missed having the chance to see them all and do the 'baby' stuff with them. I haven't really found a 'Mom's group' here that I feel comfortable with yet.

Hope it's okay if I pop in here from time to time.

We're going through a bad sleep pattern now after a month in the UK in Nov - and we're about to fly back for three weeks in March so I almost can't be bothered to get back on track, only for it to all be disrupted again.

Welcome to the thread!

I don't know anyone in San Jose planning to have a baby - my boss and coworker and Alex's relatives are all just a few years older and their children are just beginning school; not a huge gap, I suppose, but enough of one that I won't have anyone to socialise with my daughter. I do all of my baby-talk online! So I sympathise with you there.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Thanks for the welcome.

End of a severely sleep deprived week. First date night in over six months this weekend though - so yay!(Still debating whether I'd rather just catch up on sleep though)

[DiZZyLoX 114]

That depends on who is looking after your baby - I know many day-cares require disposable diapers only.

Other than that I'm sure Tracy can help you, I believe she uses cloth diapers! I know many these days are just as easy to use as disposables - no more hulking great sheets and safety pins!

So I'm going to get some of those samples that Tracy sent over. We'll see how it works!! I found a Large In-Home Daycare in my neighborhood that I'm going to talk to about child care when I'm back at work. I have a feeling she'll have a waiting list so I'm trying to start looking early. She would be so damn convenient and we love her.

[DiZZyLoX 114]

Dizzy, we used cloth diapers (Gro-Via) for about six months. We stopped using them when Madeleine entered full-time daycare because we'd only use 2 or 3 a day (night, really), which we decided wasn't worth it because we were doing very small diaper loads. Madeleine's preschool would have allowed us to use cloth diapers if we'd really pushed it, but then I thought about the reality of toting home poopy diapers every night and realized I wasn't that into it. The advantages are that they're bulkier and you have fewer blowouts, they're super-cute and soft, and, of course, they save you money over the long term. The main disadvantage is the extra work and lots of laundry. Madeleine required frequent diaper changes because she has very sensitive skin and also peed a ton, and it seemed like I was doing laundry constantly. Also, properly laundering cloth diapers is a several-step process. Each step is pretty short, but it does add up, and when you're trying to do a lot of things while wiped out and sleep deprived...to be honest, if I had another baby (very unlikely!), I wouldn't cloth diaper again. I know disposables are terribly wasteful. If we could compost, I'd consider Gro-Via's disposable biodiaper, which is excellent--and compostable. I was able to sell 11 Gro-Via shells and a bunch of used soakers (the absorbent insert) on eBay for $125. So that was a bonus. I have noticed that a lot of people who cloth diaper are really into it, and there's lots of good information. And, of course, Tracy is a stellar source! I hope this doesn't sound discouraging, I just wanted to share my experience.

Ok so I'm totally worried about that because I, too, am uberlazy. I can't imagine doing even more laundry...at the same time I can't wait til I go on Mat leave because my husband will wash 1 sock. It drives me crazy. And when he cooks he cooks like he's making food for 25 people. We can't even finish the leftovers. I can't wait to take over, omg. Even if he were a SAHD I wouldn't be able to handle it! lol

[DiZZyLoX 114]

As far as the little boy...

Am I the first AmeriBrit boy to be born on the tread? You all had/are having girls, right? Craziness! My mom came along with my hubby to the sonogram. As soon as they put the wand on my stomach there it was in all its glory, even if we didn't want to know there was no mistaking that thang. Helloooooooo NURSE. He's doing really well. I'm 17w6d and he was 8oz (estimated) already. The feet on that kid! WOW. He's got huge feet. and a big tummy too. I gotta cut back on the eggs and grits (I'm a southern girl...). One thing, tho...my kid's always sleeping. He only moves if I lean over, or squish him momentarily when i'm switching from sleeping on one side to the other. His movements are totally all about getting comfy to go back to sleep. I hope he's that sleepy when he comes into the world, but we will see.

I'm soooooo damn excited to get my blue on! I'm ready to paint and everything! Prob is I'm set back like $1k because of AOS so we are paycheck to paycheck at the moment. I'll catch my break after taxes though. At the moment, we're just letting the grandparents do the spoiling...i.e. buying.

[TracyTN 237]

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your stomach. I can definitely relate to stress-related maladies of all kinds. Mine tend toward heartburn (and other digestive fun) and itchy skin breakouts. Which I had following our UK "vacation." But I'm glad that overall, the new job is good. It definitely sounds like you made the right decision! Have you tried yoga for the stress? I've been meaning to get into it for about 15 years.

Re: cloth diapers, I fully admit that I'm lazy, which I'm sure is a contributing factor! I'm not sure if it's specific to the type we used, but they took about 1 1/2 hours to dry in the dryer (a new dryer, I might add), and that's after halfway drying them outside to bleach out stains. Mad-Ag would get an occasional rash from either type, too. I did discover a couple of great products as a result of cloth diapering, tho: the Gro-Via magic stick and their cloth wipes, which are great facecloths and for general messy baby wiping (food mess, snot). But eventually I decided that chucking the diaper in the pail rather than dealing with the whole spray/soak/wash/lay out/dry (and dry and dry) process every other day was just easier. I always did a separate diaper load rather than wash along w/ her clothes, so it meant so much laundry! I know what you mean about the poopy, tho...sorry, this is kinda gross, but if the solid output is really solid, I'll dump it in the toilet rather than have it sit in the pail. Perhaps a holdover from my cloth diapering days? But yeah...I think the explanation is that I'm just a lazybones, and dammit, I like convenience!

About the sleep, it has become clear that Madeleine has become kinda needy as a result of the trip. She basically hasn't had to settle herself down for a month. We just figured her crying had to do w/ being disoriented, and of course, we wanted to comfort her. We're now implementing self-soothing (CIO, essentially), which is hard, but I think it's the only way to handle it. She actually settled herself back down early this morning after screaming bloody murder, so that's a good sign. We never really had to do this before. She just gradually slept for longer and longer periods until she was sleeping 10+ hours. Fingers crossed it doesn't turn into a project!

Welcome, LSMA! I hear you about the messed up sleep! I only have one "mum friend" here, and her daughter is a year older than Madeleine. It would have been great to have friends with babies close in age, especially the first year. I felt really isolated those first few months, when I was basically housebound and dealing with a fussy baby w/ tummy issues. I'm so grateful for the InterWeb! This thread is fabulous, if I do say so myself, and the Baby Corner in Off Topic has some very nice and knowledgeable ladies too.

I would try yoga if I didn't have f'ed up knees. I can't hardly get on the floor and get back up without putting one out of socket, so no thanks. LOL.

Wow - an hour and a half to dry in the dryer? The Fuzzi Bunz shells dry in just under an hour - a little longer if there are more in there. We dry the inserts separately on high heat and those can take over an hour. I don't wash them with her clothes, either - my point was just that if I was in the laundry room anyway, it wasn't an extra hardship on me to put the diapers on to wash. We just found that once it was our 'normal', we didn't feel somehow burdened by doing the wash. Esp. when you consider how freaking much $$ we would have spent on disposables. I shudder to think. So to me, a little extra 'effort' was worth that extra savings. But to each his own.

I'm sure Mad Ag will get back to normal eventually but I'm sure this is hard on you anyway!!

I second the welcome to you, LSMA!! I know Lisa on this thread has a boy but he's full American. And now DizzyLox will be a boy mama too.

As far as the little boy...

Am I the first AmeriBrit boy to be born on the tread? You all had/are having girls, right? Craziness! My mom came along with my hubby to the sonogram. As soon as they put the wand on my stomach there it was in all its glory, even if we didn't want to know there was no mistaking that thang. Helloooooooo NURSE. He's doing really well. I'm 17w6d and he was 8oz (estimated) already. The feet on that kid! WOW. He's got huge feet. and a big tummy too. I gotta cut back on the eggs and grits (I'm a southern girl...). One thing, tho...my kid's always sleeping. He only moves if I lean over, or squish him momentarily when i'm switching from sleeping on one side to the other. His movements are totally all about getting comfy to go back to sleep. I hope he's that sleepy when he comes into the world, but we will see.

I'm soooooo damn excited to get my blue on! I'm ready to paint and everything! Prob is I'm set back like $1k because of AOS so we are paycheck to paycheck at the moment. I'll catch my break after taxes though. At the moment, we're just letting the grandparents do the spoiling...i.e. buying.

See my reply above. Of course I could be forgetting someone. I have mommy/overworked brain half the time. LOL I'm cracking up at how obvious it was he was a boy! That's hysterical. Sounds like he'll be a strapping young lad at that!!

Emily was a good sleeper in utero too. Though I could always feel when she had the hiccups, and could predict her 'active' times of the day by about month 6.

You KNOW those grandparents are all over the spoiling!! :D Love it!!

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Changed my screen name from LSMA.

Anyone else on Pinterest? I think I'm slightly addicted. It's a good place to stick all those things you want to buy or do though. This one is stuff I think I might do with my little girl when she's older.

http://pinterest.com/lynnesusanne/georgie-s-board/

[DiZZyLoX 114]

Changed my screen name from LSMA.

Anyone else on Pinterest? I think I'm slightly addicted. It's a good place to stick all those things you want to buy or do though. This one is stuff I think I might do with my little girl when she's older.

http://pinterest.com/lynnesusanne/georgie-s-board/

I am! Just followed you

[Alex & Rachel 78]

As far as the little boy...

Am I the first AmeriBrit boy to be born on the tread? You all had/are having girls, right? Craziness! My mom came along with my hubby to the sonogram. As soon as they put the wand on my stomach there it was in all its glory, even if we didn't want to know there was no mistaking that thang. Helloooooooo NURSE. He's doing really well. I'm 17w6d and he was 8oz (estimated) already. The feet on that kid! WOW. He's got huge feet. and a big tummy too. I gotta cut back on the eggs and grits (I'm a southern girl...). One thing, tho...my kid's always sleeping. He only moves if I lean over, or squish him momentarily when i'm switching from sleeping on one side to the other. His movements are totally all about getting comfy to go back to sleep. I hope he's that sleepy when he comes into the world, but we will see.

I'm soooooo damn excited to get my blue on! I'm ready to paint and everything! Prob is I'm set back like $1k because of AOS so we are paycheck to paycheck at the moment. I'll catch my break after taxes though. At the moment, we're just letting the grandparents do the spoiling...i.e. buying.

You are at the very least the first lady having a boy to be posting regularly in this thread!

Be warned... I thought my baby was sleepy, especially between weeks 22 and 24, when I barely felt her move at all. Can I say one thing? GROWTH SPURT! She suddenly became crazy around week 26 - like, overnight crazy. Now I feel her all the time.

That's one nice thing about an April baby - tax baby! Well, another nice thing for me is that I'm pregnant during the coolest months of the year, which is great for living in California!

Go go grandparents!

[*Snowdrop* 604]

You are at the very least the first lady having a boy to be posting regularly in this thread!

Be warned... I thought my baby was sleepy, especially between weeks 22 and 24, when I barely felt her move at all. Can I say one thing? GROWTH SPURT! She suddenly became crazy around week 26 - like, overnight crazy. Now I feel her all the time.

That's one nice thing about an April baby - tax baby! Well, another nice thing for me is that I'm pregnant during the coolest months of the year, which is great for living in California!

Go go grandparents!

Also I had a very chilled out baby when she was still inside - she used to sleep all the time - I had to have the 20 week scan 3 times to get her to move into the right position.

So I think she got all her sleeping done in those nine months because she is hardly ever asleep right now.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I'm sure Mad Ag will get back to normal eventually but I'm sure this is hard on you anyway!!

Knock on wood, things seem to be back to normal. We had to return to a bit of sleep training (never fun), but it seems to have paid off, and she's now sleeping 10-11 hours. She also seems in better spirits because she's finally getting adequate rest! Madeleine's UK cousin Max, who is 13 months, is still waking up at least once a night because my bro- and sis-in-law can't stand the crying and never really taught him to self-soothe. My SIL is exhausted all the time. It's weird, because when he was younger (like four months), he was a much better sleeper than Madeleine was at that time (she was six months--way older in baby time, especially where sleep is concerned--and I was so jealous!). I'm not sure what happened, but their basic routine is to put him down at 7 or so, and when he wakes up crying anywhere between 12 and 3, they take him to bed with them. This settles him down initially, but at some point he gets restless and starts crying again. I don't think any of them has had a decent night's sleep in months. They tried CIO, and the first night, he screamed for over an hour, and they gave up. I'm not sure if they've tried it since. I hope I'm not introducing a controversial subject, because I know people have different views on this. My SIL says she knows they're doing everything wrong, but she doesn't want to call the "supernanny" who helped them early on because she's afraid she'll "give her a bollocking." Which I'm sure she won't. I'm thinking, if she can help you, who cares anyway? Honestly, I'd be at my wits' end.

Anyway, Mad-Ag's sleep is good now. She's still fusses for a few minutes before settling down, but all in all, we're back in business!