oct/nov babies

[EYCI]

HI All -

A huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Brady and Tyler! Loved the pics on photobucket.

No traveling plans for us until Feb and then we will be on a 4 hour flight to Mexico. You will all have to give me tips on how you survived. It must be wonderful taking your little ones to different places.

We are having Hendricks's birthday party tomorrow. So I am taking a little break right now from cooking, cleaning, and decorating. There will be 22 of us, including 3 great-grandparents. I am trying to keep it simple, but secretly I hope it turns into utter chaos with 6 kids under 10 running around high on birthday cake sugar.

Hendricks has amazed me this week... He started clapping, crawling (up on all 4's instead of army crawling), signing, singing when I play the piano... oh and he got another tooth. Seriously, it's like he said "hey, I'm going to be one, so I better start acting like it." It has been so neat knowing that all of your little ones have been doing this for awhile, but it is just awesome when your own pulls out all of these new tricks.

As for the job... I've been told unofficially that I am not going to be laid off. What a relief! But the official word won't be until the end of October, so I've got another month to wonder.

Hope you are all well! Will post some pics of the party soon.

--Julie

[bella-s]

julie - what great news about your job!!!!

happy birthday to brady and tyler and hendricks.

kristi - the photo looks fabulous.

bella.

[Cla]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY & TYLER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENDRICKS

WOW - 1ST BIRTHDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to hear your parties went well. Sounds like huge fun!!!! Can't wait for ours in a few weeks!

Sorry am rushing out the door. Will log on again later!

Cla
xx


Brady & Tyler (Kristi) - 30th September
Hendricks (Julie/EYCI) - 4th October
Charlie (Cla) - 13th October
Colin (Madiva) 20 October
Jessica (sue) - 23rd October
Isabella (Tracii/Traci) - 17 November
Lucy (Bella) 3 Dec

[kristiA]

Julie, how did the b-day party go?? Did you do anything yesterday on Hendricks' actual b-day as well? Happy, Happy Birthday to Hendricks!! Can you believe he is 1??? Isn't that crazy? I can hardly believe it.

Good news about your job too! You must be very relieved!

[EYCI]

Hi All -

Thanks for the birthday wishes for Hendricks. His party was a lot of fun. All was going well until he pinched out the flame on the candle. Poor little thing!!! He got pretty whiney after that... but all in all did really well considering how many people were there. Yes, Kristi, it IS hard to believe that he is one. Where has the year gone???

Happy Birthday to Charlie! Cla, let us know how the party goes.

I hope you all are doing well! I will try to post a couple pics of the birthday party. I keep forgetting when I get home, and I can't do it here from work.

--Julie

[EYCI]

Hi again,

I forgot to mention that at H's one year check up, the doctor said it was time to end the bottle... cold turkey! So we have switched full time to a big boy cup.

It has actually gone ok. The naps haven't been too difficult, but night time has been a little bit more of a challenge. I feel like I am being so mean, because he has always gone to bed really well, and now when I lay him down he starts crying and not wanting to go into the crib. At that point, I let him cry for a couple of minutes (feels like forever!!!) and if he is not starting to settle, I go back and pick him up and rock with him til he settles. Then I can lay him back down and he is ok.

I've been worried about him getting enough fluids. Going from three 8oz bottles to just an ounce or 2 from the cup would seem like a big switch. But the doc said that he gets lots of liquid from fruits and veggies so as longs as he has wet diapers to not worry.

Oh... at the check up he is measuring 24.5 pounds and 31.5 inches. He is now officially more than half of my height. He has only gained 4 pounds since his 6 month check up, and his clothes actually fit better than they did at 8-9 months since he has slimmed out. We laugh about his svelte little body, even though he still has lots of rolls!

--Julie

[kristiA]

Julie, cold turkey, huh? My doc gave me 3 more months...said to quit bottles by 15 months. I dropped the afternoon nap bottle a few weeks ago and am only doing the before bed bottle/BF. I had the same concern about drinking so much from a bottle, yet they don't drink much from the cup. Glad you explained what your doc said about that.

Here's our stats from our 1 yr check. Brady is 18 lbs and 28 inches. Tyler is 18 lbs, 14 oz and 27 inches. Little guys are still only wearing 9 months clothes!

Glad to hear the Hendrick's b-day party was fun!

Cla, I will be out of town so I wanted to wish Charlie an early Happy Birthday. It's just a few days away! Let us know how it goes!

I'm off to Las Vegas for a 4 day mini-vacation. My boys are staying home with DH. I can't wait for the break!!!

[bella-s]

Julie/Kristi...Help!!!!
How do you cope with changing to a cup??? I thought I would try Lulu for her morning bottle, just to get a headstart, and it's a nightmare. I think I started a bad habit with her - I give her a bottle in her room before I put her down to sleep. She sucks the bottle, and gets drowsy, and then goes to sleep soon after I put her in the cot. With the cup, she looks at it funny, and then wont settle. I end up giving in.... Any tips???

Bella.

[kristiA]

Bella, maybe don't give her a cup or a bottle. Maybe the cup reminds her of getting something to drink out of her bottle. When I dropped the afternoon before nap bottle I didn't replace it with a drink....I just let them calm down on my lap for a few minutes and then brought them up to bed. I give them drinks at other times of the day...and usually give them pieces of fruit for a snack around the time I usually gave that bottle. So they are getting something nourishing in their tummies, but not a bottle or a cup to drink.

Just a thought..??

[Cla]

Hi all!

Getting ready for the big day on Sat!!! am so excited! We bought Charlie a mobile phone (NO Not a real one!) A toy one so that hopefully he stops stealing mine from my handbag!!! We've actually decided to wait until he's had all his presents before getting him anything too much. Don't want to double up!!!! Things are good - he's cut another tooth! And not the one we thought he would - it's quite far back at the top!

With regards to the cup we were planning to switch to cup (and only cows milk) now he is one. He only has a bottle (of cows milk) in the morning and a bottle (of formula) at night. during the day he uses a cup which has juice in it. Am not looking forward to getting rid of the morning bottle as he tends to REALLY enjoy this! he is very grumpy unless he has this but I'm sure once he realises the cup has milk in it then he'll get over it! Good to know they don't need as much milk as they do from the bottle as he never drinks as much from a cup. will let you know how we get on.
Bella - My friend recently switched and she had terrible tantrums for about 5 days. she was very strict though and now he doesn't even murmour! Best of luck!!

Hey just thought - soon we'll be talking about potty training!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eek!

Have a great weekend (I'm not in work now till next Tue so probably won'y get to log on)

Cla
xx

[bella-s]

thanks for the advice. i think i might give it another go in about a month and really stick to it. just on the less milk thing - a midwife said to me the other day they need 500 - 600 mg of calcium a day, and they get this through food and liquid...hence they don't need as much milk. a diet of milk is not good for their nutrition, so if they fill up on too much of it, it reduces their appetite for their food.

lucy has been standing a lot by helself, and even starting taking her first steps (they are tiny steps, but she gets so pleased with herself!!!). i was so excited, but poor DH was away for work, so has missed it.

good luck for the big party this weekend, Cla. can't wait to hear all about it.

bella.

[EYCI]

Hi Girls -

Cla - How was the party? I am sure it was a huge success!
KristiA - How was your Vegas trip?
Bella - any luck with the cup?
Tracii - how's Italy?
Madiva - Where are you? Happy Birthday to Colin (the 20th)!!
Sue - How is it getting back to work? Happy Birthday to Jessica (the 23rd)!!

Well - the cold turkey bottle break has had a couple of setbacks. First, the reduction in liquid lead to some massive constipation. Poor little thing only went once in a week I ended up giving him a baby suppository, which actually was pretty easy and did the trick. The first few days of cold turkey had gone pretty well, but then the constipation kicked in. He was feeling so miserable and by bedtime he was a wreck... so I ended up giving him a bottle. Man oh man, you couldn't have pried that thing from his kung-fu grip if you tried! But, he went right to bed. So the last couple of nights I have given a bottle, but only 3 ounces instead of the usual 8-10. He screams for about 5 seconds when it is gone, but then he is ready to settle into bed with no fussing at all. I'd rather stay on this path for awhile then the inconsolable crying fits he was having.

Hope all of you are getting along well!

--Julie

[madiva]

Hello sorry for the mia. Colin has been sick for the last 2 weeks with fever and an ear infection that we can not get rid of. He is going have tubes put in on the 25th. Sunday night he had 103 and boy was I freaking. He has been fine the last couple of days with no fever. It was just crazy how he was playing so hard and good I picked him up and he felt like an oven. So much is going on. I too pretty much have off the bottle. Just at night as it seems to relax him. I can not put him in his baby bed anymore because he can get out of it. I have a moniter where you can hear him as well as see him. About 2 weeks ago I hear him so I looked at the moniter and he is half way out he bed. I was in his room in less than a second. We call him little monkey lol. Wow 1 year has gone by, I wonder where did it go. We postponed the party on the 28th so that he can get better. I realy wanted it on his birthday since it fell on a Saturday. We are still gonna do a little somthing with grandparents on saturday. Well gotta get some work done. Glad to hear all is doing well.

[madiva]

Wow! Colin is 1. I woke up this morning and could not believe it. How time flys when your having fun. I had to postpone the real party for next weekend so I had a small get together. I gave him a small cake and he tore into it. I am going to post pics as soon as I transfer onto my computer. I think they are soooo cute. Well its late will talk later. Wow hes 1.

[kristiA]

Happy Birthday to Colin!! It's pretty amazing isn't it, Madiva?! It's hard to believe a year has gone by. Although if you think about everything that has happened in the past year...all the changes they go through, etc...it seems like so much has fit into one year. I can't wait to see the pics of Colin and his cake.

I forget....has anyone said that their little ones are taking steps? I know my boys are the oldest of our group, but also were 7 weeks premature so they tend to be behind. Anyway, both of my boys started taking steps this week on their own. Neither is walking for any distance, but definately taking steps...and proud of it.