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@Grace: Yeah, I go back to work two days after her actual birthday so part of me is like, why make it more difficult on myself to purposely delay the party a week so I'm hosting it after what will likely be a week of serious adjusting, rather than the last thing I do after a year of being off. And part of me doesn't even want DH's parents here that weekend at all, since as much as they want to "have her all to themselves", it's also my last days with her too, so maybe I want to hog my own kid too.
@Ocean girl: DD throws her food on the ground too. But hers is more of a swipe at the entire tray as I set stuff down for her. I think it just takes her a minute to decide whether it's food or a wonderful play thing that's so entertaining to see and hear drop on the floor. Terrible mom here, just picks it up and puts it back on her tray most of the time. Sometimes I blow on it for her to clean it.
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@Grace: @redsmarties: @delight: @MrsB2012: @.twist.: I don't know where this flexibility is coming from! Certainly not from myself or DH
. I just assumed all babies did things like this.@delight: (on the fixing things up for the next buyers): I like to believe in karma, and that someone would do something similar for us one day. Inspection is on Monday and since it's FHA, we want to make sure things are as perfect as they can be. But mostly, I want them to feel good about their choice. I want them to love the house as much as I do. I'm still really struggling with leaving this area, even if it's only thirty minutes away. There are so many great things we won't have as easy access to after the move.
There's just nothing better than the grin that spreads across their faces when they see you enter the room
@MrsB2012: wow, I never ever would have though to take her to a chiro! What a great idea!
@.twist.: I'm not sure what temp her room is, but it feels warmer than our bedroom. She tends to run warm. We're such stellar parents that we often put her down to sleep in nothing but a dipe :P.
@Mrs D: K has the best smile! I have lost zero weight. BF'ing did nothing for me either. I'm praying that some miracle happens and something begins to drop after I wean.
[gotta run, will respond to rest later!]
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@Mrs D: We just got our invites in the mail today, and I adore them :). I was originally shooting for a lemonade theme, but it has slowly inched towards strawberry theme. We're going to have a big gathering in our backyard if the weather is nice, and I plan to have sloppy joes on slider buns and hot dogs as the main food, along with a big beverage display (thinking strawberry lemonade, regular lemonade, maybe some sort of iced tea, water, beer, and mike's hard lemonade). I'd like to do sliced fruit with waffle cones to carry them around in, a big veggie tray with cups for holding ranch dip, and all sorts of desserts.
I'm really impressed with the crepe paper streamer selection at target. I picked up two pinks and a teal/aqua color. I'm planning on finding all the outfits we took her monthly photos in and pinning each monthly photo to the outfit she wore. A friend is letting me borrow her mini bounce house (intended for toddlers she said), and I'm going to set up E's water table and picnic table for the littles. Possibly a small inflatable pool.
@Ocean girl: So adorable! does she have green eyes?
E is way too concerned with shoveling food into her mouth to purposefully throw it on the floor ;). Some does end up there, but that's because she's a messy eater.
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@StrawberryBee: your birthday party sounds so cute! Where did you order your invites from? I'm trying to find some for B
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@MrsB2012: I found a design I liked on Pinterest, recreated/altered it in photoshop with a high print quality resolution, and had it printed at mpix.com. I wish I could post it here, but since I basically stole someone's design I don't feel comfortable putting it on a public forum
. Mpix did a fabulous job though!
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@StrawberryBee: the birthday party you are planning sounds fantastic!! I love the monthly photo outfit display! H's eyes are greenish grey. They haven't seemed to settle on a colour yet... They are definitely not blue or brown, and I wouldn't call them hazel either.
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@Ocean girl: thanks! I have zero experience throwing parties, so hopefully it turns out ok in real life (and not just in my head lol).
Not sure what well do if it's bad weather. Somehow get the basement cleared out, painted and refloored before August!
How cool! We're waiting to see what E's eyes settle on as well. So far they're still blue
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@Ocean girl: H is a doll! Glad you found good care for her in September. We are doing a home day care too starting then. I hope your transition back to work goes well, but for now just enjoy your last couple of months! Oh and L loves blueberries, I think they are her fav!!
@Mrs D: oh she is a ham! Glad you are getting into table foods. I'm still terrified of choking, but I'm getting less anxious by the day.
@.twist.: what a cute pre-flight photo! L is so sweet! Hope you had a great trip!Hope everyone had a great Father's Day! Here's a photo from our picnic today and swimming in her turtle pool!
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@StrawberryBee: Cute party ideas...may have to steal some of those!
@delight: Do you have that lil pool on your deck? I have been thinking of putting K in her pnp on the deck but maybe that would work better?! Trying to contain her somewhat!
@Ocean girl: K is obsessed with blueberries...she hasn't had the real kind yet...but she sure loves anything with blueberries in it!
Who all are you guys planning to invite to the birthday party? I was trying to decide this weekend if I would invite some of the kids from daycare (they are her lil friends, and I think only 3 or 4 would have to be invited). Also, I thought of inviting her teachers (4) - I mean in reality they have had a huge part in raising her so far. Also debating a few of my friends (not super close) who have kids around the same age. I'd love to have a big ol mess of 1 year olds playing but dont want these parents to feel obligated to bring a gift, ya know? Thoughts?
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@Mrs D: for H's bday we are going to invite our parents/siblings (all live out of province and would have to travel, so I'm doubtful many will come), and then a small group of friends that had babies around the same time as we did. Our house isn't huge so we were thinking about meeting in a local park and having a few snacks/activities planned. Super low key.
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@delight: So cute, love the pool! E had blueberry pancakes for breakfast yesterday
@Mrs D: I'm inviting anyone who will come lol. We don't do daycare, so we won't have many little ones around. I have a few friends who have young kids. I'm very close to all my coworkers (they've come to my bridal shower, wedding, and baby shower) so they're invited. I know what you mean about not wanting people to feel like they have to bring a present. Lord knows the child wants for nothing. I just want people to celebrate her day with food and fun and see some people I haven't seen in a while :).
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Ahh I'm so far behind!! Please forgive me.
@MrsB2012: Congrats on your pregnancy!!! Can't believe an August baby is going to have a sibling!
@StrawberryBee: I ordered our strawberry invites from mpix, too! They arrived on Saturday and are so cute...can't wait to send them out! I got our design from Etsy (I did not recreate it because I'm a little incompetent when it comes to computers). I'd love to see yours...maybe you could Gold post it to my wall
@delight: What a cutie! M sits in her pool and just chews on the toys, too! LOL
@Mrs D: We're planning to just invite friends and family. I'm inviting a few co-workers, but I consider them friends. There will probably be 3-4 other kids at the party (most of them are a year old). There are a couple of other babies in M's class that are right around her age (one born the day after her), but I never see their parents so I feel weird inviting them. Plus the party will be at our house (and definitely not outside as it will be way too hot), so our house can only hold so many people. I think it's really nice that you want to invite her daycare friends and teachers, though!
M's doing well. She didn't sleep well last night...story of my life. But she naps well and she goes down great at bedtime so I guess I can't complain too much. We're also having issues in the food department. She has a really sensitive gag reflex so she gags and/or spits up anytime we give her anything other than purees. I'm ready to start moving onto table foods but I definitely don't think she's ready. The pediatrician isn't worried and says this is really common, but it's frustrating. And she's still a total boob monster...I want to at least wean from the pump after her first birthday but I am worried she's going to want to BF til she's 5!
Hope everyone is doing well and had a nice Father's Day weekend!
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@Sapphiresun: I agree family drama/logistics is never fun, but how flipping rude for them to say it’s a waste of a weekend or that your LO isn’t worthy of a long weekend because some other festivities are more important! I agree with everyone else in that you plan your party whenever you want and everyone will just have to deal with it. It’s not like you didn’t seek out input from family. Sorry momma!
I totally pick up food from the ground and give it back to DS at home! Unless it actually hit something gross. Ha!
@Ocean girl: Once C starts throwing things off his high chair (cup, food, anything!), it’s a never ending game of pick up and toss, but faster and faster after each occurrence. After 3 pickups, we don’t give it back to him. He isn’t a happy camper about it, but oh well. Hope it’s just a phase…
@StrawberryBee: Go you for mailing out invites already!! I need to do that stat because DS’s party is in a month. Eek! As for the décor and menu, yum!!! Sounds like so much fun!
@delight: So cute! Look like she really enjoys being in her turtle pool! I’m still debating if I want to get C a lil kiddie pool or not…
@Mrs D: our invite list is pretty much all family and close friends, which still equates to almost 70-80 people?! Oof. 15 of which are lil kids ages 1 to 12? But we’re realistically expecting hopefully no more than 40. We aren’t inviting any daycare friends since he prefers to play with the older kids; and I’m not sure who all he really “plays” with. As for no gifts, maybe state that on the invites?
@Lawbee11: DH’s cousin’s kids have a really sensitive gag reflex also. Even if they’re seat belt accidentally touches their throat while being snapped in or a bib is just a bit too snug, they cough and throw up. I remember eating out with them when they were younger, and they’d eat just fine with us, but all of sudden *barf*. Poor kids! They’re currently 5 and 3 now, and are much better, but sometimes, it’s “there”. Purees is still food, and they go up to stage 3 so no worries!
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@lawbee11: sent :). But goodness, HB compresses horribly! Hurts my graphic design soul ;).
We had a rough night last night as well. She missed her afternoon nap because we were at the inlaws' house, and DH forgot her bottles. So I nursed her in the back room, but it's so awkward there (super messy, tiny rocking chair with high arms that hit her in the head, etc). She couldn't fall asleep because she was at an awkward angle, so she just cried. Then she couldn't fall asleep when we got home because she was overtired. Sigh.
@Alivoo01: So many things to try and stay on top of!
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@Mrs D: yes it's on our deck! She loves the pool. It's actually a sandbox but works perfectly as a pool now and has a lid to keep it clean overnight. We also put her outside I'm the sands in her exercauser which she really likes. She won't stand for it inside anymore but seems happy when it's brought outdoors.
@Alivoo01: seriously get a kiddie pool. Best purchase so far! She cries when we take her out, she loves it so much.
@lawbee11: sorry you are dealing with a sensitive gag reflex. That's no fun at all. Have you tried any solid foods like puffs or baby cookies? Maybe using something that dissolves easily will help ease her in? Or if you have a meat grinder attachment you can grind up a bunch of food together so it's not quite purée but still easy to swallow? That's how we started transitioning from purees. I'd keep introducing though so she gets used to new texture.
As for her birthday, we are just doing a simple dinner with family. We will be at the cottage for her actual birthday so it'll be the week before.
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@Ocean girl: Mine only throws the food if she's done. It's like her code. And yes, loves blueberries!
@MrsB2012: thanks! We had a great flight. LO was great. She got a little scared of the load noise when we took off, but she had a great time. And waved at everyone. It was fun. She got lots of compliments on her well-behavedness. And on the flight home we were next to a New Brunswicker with a heavy French accent. LO was fascinated.
@Sapphiresun: I still say that you should do what you want, but if you are in a pleasing mood, could you have the party the weekend before her birthday, so that it's not so close to when you go back to work?
@StrawberryBee: Very cute party plans!!
@delight: Oh the pics are so cute! She's so big!
@Mrs D: I thought about inviting everyone we know, but I think we've decided against it. It would just be way too many people and too much work. It will probably just be her grandparents and aunts and uncles (about 7 people total). She's not in daycare yet, so she doesn't have any best buddies yet.
@lawbee11: Oh, the gagging would be frustrating! Does it happen with chunkier purees too? Or mashed bananas?
P is graduating to the big-girl carseat today! I'm so tired of lugging the baby seat around but we wanted to wait until after the trip because we'd be taking the little one. It was a PITA to install. Took me forever to figure out how to install the tether and I'm still not sure, so we're going to visit the fire department.
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@delight: @Grace: We've tried mum mums, cutting puffs in half, mashed potatoes, mashed avocado, and mashed banana all with no luck
The ped says it's really common and to just keep offering, but she almost always spits up in the process so it's a pain and really makes me hesitant to offer...it's like I'm just waiting for everything to come back up! Hopefully she'll grow out of it soon. I just ordered a couple of mesh feeders from Amazon because I heard those are a good way to help transition from purees to table food. Fingers crossed!
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@Grace: I can just imagine her waving to everyone! so cute
I also couldn't figure out the tether, so we gave it up. I couldn't get the plastic piece off of the driver seat track to thread the belt through. I was surprised at how poor the instructions were for the Britax. Did you read that there's actually two methods of tethering (to the ceiling or to the floor)? Floor made more sense for us...in theory.
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@lawbee11: Well, maybe this will just be good practise in patience. Like when she wants to put on her shoes by herself and it takes 10000 years. Plus, it's not like purees are bad. You can sneak a lot of veggies that way.
@StrawberryBee: I didn't see that you could tether to the ceiling. Not sure how that would work actually. I tried to tether to the front passenger seat, but then I couldn't move the seat to where I wanted it. So I tethered it to the track under the rear seats. Firemen said it was A-ok. And I couldn't give up. My Britax manual basically said that P would die in an accident without it.
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@Grace: I put B in her big girl carseat about a week ago
I got a Clek Foonf on sale so I was pretty happy with the price. I really like it, it was a cinch to put in ( basically clips into the metal bars that our base for the other carseat clipped into. ) B loves it because she sits so high in it she can see out the window. I think we're going to get another one to bounce around with all her babysitters when I go back to work. It will be super annoying to move it around to all the cars as it weighs like 30 pounds 
@lawbee11: B loved the mesh things. We got ours at Target. It took me a looonnnnggg time to stop using them as I was so afraid of her choking. Hopefully M has a better time with them
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@Grace: for some reason tethering is required in Canada for britax. Something about rebound limitations? It's not a bad idea, we just haven't swung back around to it again. There's two methods: Swedish and Australian. Swedish is to floor; Australian is to the back of the vehicle; in my case, in the ceiling, but apparently it makes it difficult to put your child in the seat (it's in the way). I think most people choose Swedish?
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Okay, tether now installed :). Had to pop off a plastic piece from my car floor.
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@StrawberryBee: Oh gosh, we tried the Australian method. It was the stupidest thing ever. You have to weasle the child under the tether and into the seat. I only have a vague understanding of what the tether is supposed to do. But it's in now!
@MrsB2012: My dumb car doesn't have LATCH for the middle position, so I couldn't use the easy clips. May I ask, what's the deal with the Foonf? All of a sudden it seemed like it was the seat to get. Why?
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@Grace: I think because the foonf has a high rear facing limit, a good footprint, and solid construction. I'm tempted between it and the diono for our main seat.
@lawbee11: how cute are these?? And so easy! http://kareninthekitchen.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/strawberry-shortcake-skewers/
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@StrawberryBee: Those are so cute and look delicious. We're doing a strawberry shortcake-ish type cake for her birthday cake, though. But I'm definitely bookmarking it for next time we have people over!
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@lawbee11: I saw a strawberry flavored cake at BJs yesterday and thought, 'ooh!'. It won't be for E, but I'm planning on doing various cakes for our guests, so if it's still available when it's time for her party it's on the list :). I also like the idea of their deli sandwich rings. Probably will have way too much food, but oh well!
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@StrawberryBee: I'm planning to make this as a non-alcoholic option
http://www.copykat.com/2009/10/04/red-robin-freckled-lemonade/
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@lawbee11: yum! are you doing alcohol at all?
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@StrawberryBee: Yes! Beer and strawberry margaritas.
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@StrawberryBee: For beer I'm planning to have Bud Light and this:
http://abita.com/brews/our_brews/strawberry -
@lawbee11: Ahh, that beer is so cool! How are you planning on serving the margaritas? I'm concerned about keeping those sorts of things away from the kids.
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@Grace: We got it because I have a small back seat ( mazda 3 ) and you can fit 3 in a row if needed. We will need 2 next year so that was a big factor. The other factor was the extended rear facing, you can keep them rear facing up to 45 pounds I think it is. As well, they don't expire for 9 years so maybe we can get some extra use with it with #2 or #3.
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@StrawberryBee: We won't have too many kids at ours--just my stepkids and maybe a few one-year olds. We're planning to serve them in plastic margarita glasses.
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I know our kids are about to turn 1, but big kid car seats already??
Our babies..... DS is still in his infant seat, and I haven't decided on when to switch him out. He's still content in it so I'll let him be for now. I've already purchased him a convertible car seat so it's just a matter of when.
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@MrsB2012: Oh, that makes sense.
@Alivoo01: Yeah, I'm a wimp. I don't want to lug 16 lbs of carseat + 18 lbs of baby anymore.
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@Grace: Could you leave the carseat in the car and just removed your LO? That's what I do. He's too dang heavy for me to carry plus his car seat. No way jose!
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@Alivoo01: I find it a PITA to put her in and tighten her buckles properly when it's in the car. So since I already have the convertible carseat, why not use it?
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@Grace: That's true about how difficult it is to put them in the bucket seat. I always have to "fold up" DS before entering the car in order to get him in there since he's getting longer.
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@lawbee11: @MrsB2012: Can we talk about these mesh things? What are they and what do you put in them? I am TERRIFIED of K choking...like completely irrationally terrified...so these may be good for me?!
@lawbee11: @StrawberryBee: Love these ideas. Love those strawberry shortcake skewers and strawberry beer!
I found my inspiration for K's party. The menu will be: Beer, wine, fruit punch, lemon/lime water, veggies, fruit, chips/snackies, subs, potato salad, baked beans, rainbow cupcakes, M&M sugar cookies and fruity pebbles crispies.
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@StrawberryBee: we are trying to decide between the foonf and diono too! Hard decision! We are waiting for one to go on sale, but we'd like to get one soon for cottage trips this summer. I hate lugging the infant seat. I pretty much always just carry her to and from the car and just leave the bucket in.
@MrsB2012: glad you guys like your foonf so much. I love how high babies sit in it!
@Mrs D: love that rainbow inspiration! Looks perfect!
@lawbee11: I hope the mesh feeder works out well! I always recommend them when I work with infants with trouble eating or sensory issues. I hope it helps M with her transition to solids!
I'm officially done work for the summer! Wahoo! I only had to go back for 14 weeks but I found my commute and pumping quite tiring. I'm happy to retire my pump now. I've got enough frozen milk to get me through any date nights and golf games this summer and hoping she'll keep BF til August. Then we shall see what happens!
For those of you still BF, how often are LOs nursing? On the days I was working, she is still nursing 7 times a day! Yikes. I think I could probably skip the before naps nursing cause she only eats for a minute and never nurses to sleep. However, I've continued to do it to keep my supply up while back to work. I don't think I need to be doing it so much anymore though.
@Mrs D: oh just saw your question about mesh feeders. I'll post a picture! You just put in fruits or veggies, soft ones, and the baby sucks and chews and basically gets all the juicy bits. Reduces the risk of choking cause none of the solid parts can get through the mesh. They can get messy though and hard to clean but if you are diligent about cleaning right away then it's no problem. You can get them pretty much anywhere.
. I just assumed all babies did things like this.
. Mpix did a fabulous job though!
The ped says it's really common and to just keep offering, but she almost always spits up in the process so it's a pain and really makes me hesitant to offer...it's like I'm just waiting for everything to come back up! Hopefully she'll grow out of it soon. I just ordered a couple of mesh feeders from Amazon because I heard those are a good way to help transition from purees to table food. Fingers crossed!
Our babies..... DS is still in his infant seat, and I haven't decided on when to switch him out. He's still content in it so I'll let him be for now. I've already purchased him a convertible car seat so it's just a matter of when.
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