Hellobee Boards

@SleepyMonkey: You are on week 2 of 5 of solo parenting! That must be tough. *big hugs* I might be bad but I would totally keep the older one in for a day or two if it will help with the little one's napping, just to get some sleep.

@Happygal: That is where I got the blueberry recipe! It is hard to find decent puree recipes. I know with DD1 we only did them for maybe 2-3 months, though.

@SleepyMonkey: Oh man, that is an intense amount of solo parenting. DD1 was not receptive to CIO and it really only got longer and madder each night. I still don't know what the solution for her should have been.

Way behind over here, guys! Work is crazy (I got a promotion yesterday--yay!) for me AND my husband, and so we're basically busy from the minute we get up until we fall into bed.

We had a little bump in the sleep road last week--she was up for hours screaming three nights in a row--but I hope she's back to normal now. YIKES. Nursing/pumping is going well, although pumping is a huge pain in the you-know-what. But, I'm so glad to be able to provide BM for her even for this long, so I'll keep going until I just can't take it anymore. We nurse in the mornings and evenings on weekdays (she gets a bottle before bed, though--helps her sleep longer!) and all day on the weekends, and I pump 4x per day on weekdays. It's crazy, but it's worth it!

When I told DH about my promotion yesterday, he thought I was going to say I was pregnant. @oliviaoblivia: it made me think of you! I know I've said this on other posts already, but so happy for you!

@Happygal: CIO never would have worked for us until she started sucking her fingers to soothe. Until then, she was just like J--escalating quickly with no end in sight! Good luck, mama.

@Sleepymonkey: I hope the sleep situation is looking up for you soon! When E was up last week for multiple nights in a row, I. WAS. DYING. How is it that we get reconditioned from that so quickly?!

@Radish: @Happygal: Definitely gonna look at that site. We're doing prepackaged purees for now, but I'd love to make some too!

@mfa_lady: congrats! I hope you celebrated in style. That website is inspiring and the food looks good enough for me to want to eat some as well.

@SleepyMonkey: thanks for sharing that--I feel like it's seen as the biggest no-no, but it would feel crazy to wake her up once she's asleep. I always thought lack of sleep just came with parenthood, but then I read about these babies sleeping for long stretches.

@Radish: have you tried any other of their recipes? I kind of want to buy the cookbook to support them.

@Raindrop: how are you feeling these days? I saw you started a thread about traumatic birth experiences. Are things getting better?

Six month appointment stats!
Weight 07/23/15 7.995 kg (17 lb 10 oz) (52.29 %*)
Height 07/23/15 0.686 m (27") (66.80 %*)
Head 07/23/15 44.5 cm (17.52") (82.69 %*)

I guess my kid has a big head? Does that mean he will be smart? *crosses fingers* Hehe.

@Happygal: Thanks for asking! I'm doing better. Still going to a therapy group once a week. I'm really trying to change my life for the better. I don't know what it is but I feel I need to make a change... a big one. I think it will have to do with my work life. With that I recently requested to go to part time for work, and it was accepted!!! So I'll be starting part time the first week in August. It's less money but I think it will be great to stress out less about work. I'm only allowed to go to part time for a year, hopefully that is enough time to really get things in order and to figure out what the heck am I doing with life!

I'm really glad I started that thread. It's really nice to know I am not alone.

@Raindrop: That is awesome about going part time. I so wish I could find part time work - I'm certainly not ready to commit to a full time job.

@mfa_lady: It's awesome you have pumped so well thus far. Congrats on the promotion!

Another random question that I can't remember if I've asked before..

Who has AF back? Not me, yet. For a while I figured it was because of the minipill, but then I went off it because it was making me crazy. I'm surprised I haven't gotten it, because even though I'm nursing and pumping, we (knock on all the wood) sleep well most nights.

@SleepyMonkey: Thanks for the info! Good to know. We are being careful still, but some times more than others, if you know what I mean. So I am mostly curious if I'm ovulating to know if I should take a pregnancy test for the hell of it every now and then. Ha!

As for bedtime, around our house it's usually 730/8 until 630/7. I try REALLY hard not to go in and get her before 7!

@mfa_lady: no period. I want it back!

We're going back to the RE in August to discuss when we can safely get pregnant again. Part of me would love to experience the surprise of getting pregnant on our own. Another part of me wants to do what we know works.

Baby J's head is in the 95th percentile. Huge. I seriously think it's why she's not sitting up on her own yet. Top heavy.

Bed time here is usually 7, earlier if she skips afternoon nap. She's still sleeping now, so it will be later tonight! Wake up time doesn't seem affected by bedtime.

@mfa_lady: not here yet but since it's been awhile since I last got to sleep through the night (she usually sleeps 6:30/7pm to 4:30am so not too bad) I am not expecting it before she starts dropping daytime feeds. Last time around it was 8 months PP. We're not really doing solids yet (we're waiting until we're back from vacation in 2 weeks) so we'll see how long it'll take.

@Raindrop: yeah for part time! I currently work 16h a week during mat leave. I love it and will probably go back to 30h when mat leave is over in January. We'll see...

@SleepyMonkey: she usually sleeps to 8/8:30 am. Sometimes she'll spend some time partying in her crib after her 4:30 feed though. Since she can replace her pacifier now she'll just go back to sleep once she feels like it.

On another note: we got a spot at our preferred daycare starting in November. So we'll have lots of time easing into it before I have to work more.

@mfa_lady: I stopped pumping with my first at 3 months and AF came back around 5 months. I still haven't gotten AF back this time around yet.

@oliviaoblivia: Oh that's a bummer! I'm a little worried about that too... that I'll just being doing as much as I am doing full time and trying to squeeze it in part time hours. We will see.

@Happygal: LOL we are worried about not sitting up on his own also! Hopefully our kids will do it soon.

@Pumuckl: I can do a minimum of 20 hours but my manager says I can always do more. I'm thinking of doing 24 hours a week to see how that works out for me. Basically they took my salary and made it hourly wage and how ever many hours I do... is what I get paid. It's very interesting. My manager did tell me he's a little worried because only one other women did this before me and she loved it... when they told her she had to end it... she just quit!

@namaste: Thanks! I actually went back to work full time 2 months ago, but it's been kind of stressful to juggle two kids, breastfeeding, house work, chores, errands and all my tasks along with putting 40+ hours in a week. I'm surprised they are letting me do part time, it will mostly mean less tasks and just making sure I do 20 hours or more a week instead of the 40+.

@namaste: I think my little lady will love it since she seems to really enjoy company. She's going to be the youngest in her group but then she's used to an older brother so I'm not all to worried. My first born did really, really well at daycare and still does.

@Raindrop: That's an interesting setup as well! Love how flexible it is! Glad your enjoying it! Since I work from home mainly it is sometimes hard to get the work done. I'll sometimes end up having to work in the evening once the kids are in bed.

@mfa_lady: It's good to hear you really love your work. I remember you starting around this time last year

@mfa_lady: no period yet. Not gonna lie, that's one of the reasons I'm still pumping

@SleepyMonkey: bedtime is usually 8pm, give or take 30 min. If she sttn, she wakes up anywhere from 5:30 - 7. If she wakes up an eats (usually around 3am), she'll sleep till 7:30 or 8.

@Raindrop: Good for you on going part time! I can't even imagine working full time outside of the house, don't know how any of you do it!

We're looking into putting A in daycare part time (2-3 days a week) so that I can work more. Now that she's mobile, I can really only work while she's napping, and the one day that my mom watches her. It's just a catch 22, since we can't really afford daycare unless I'm working/making more, but I can't work more until A is in daycare

@Happygal: C is crazy with solids. She out eats our toddler regularly. She still nurses five or six times a day so I know she's still getting some breastmilk. This pregnancy is by far my easiest. I have no symptoms at all and often forget about it until I go to put on too small pants. My bump has really popped the past couple weeks. It's strange pushing around a six (almost seven waaaaaahhhhh ) month old with a big old bump.

Do you think there's anything behind her night fights. We had miserable sleep last week with C and five days into it three teeth popped out and now she's sleeping so much better.

@oliviaoblivia: She's the perfect baby to have a sibling so close in age to her. She has already done so many big baby girl things on her own and seems to have an independent streak. She doesn't seem like a baby who will be fazed when a little brother/sister comes along (when will you find out?!) and take the place as the youngest family member!

Man, I wish I knew what was up with baby J last night! More teeth could be a possibility, as could a growth spurt. A desire to be back in the womb? Things going haywire b/c crawling is on the horizon? Who knows. She calmed down pretty quickly after my husband picked her up, so I think whatever initially was causing the wake-ups became secondary--she needed some reassurance, but if I picked her up, she figured she may as well go in for a nursing session.

@SleepyMonkey: glad you had a better night. They always seem to give you a break just around the time you've had enough!

@Happygal: C was rough when she was learning to crawl. Both my girls have unsettled nights around motor milestones.

And thanks, I think she will make a good big sister. One of my first fears was her not walking when 3 arrives, it's looking like she'll be an early walker so I'm less worried about that. We should find out the sex an a week or so. We did the harmony test this time.

@Happygal: I just got a shot at A's 6 month wellness lol it's supposed to help. I also have to wear a brace for 3 weeks.

@mfa_lady: just going nuts waiting. It's supposed to be 7-10 days. Today is 11 and a holiday up here. hopefully tomorrow!

@mfa_lady: they're supposed to call. The longer I wait the more worried I am that something is wrong and they're going to call me in to tell me. I hate waiting!

@oliviaoblivia: I would call them at this point. I messaged my doctor and they got back to me later that day when I was waiting for my results. DO IT BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW!