[jenedens6102]

Ok sorry if I miss something, I am swamped at work and don't have time to catch up but did want to post.

Nala, sorry to hear Joshua isn't sleeping well through the night. Ethan has been sleeping through the night since the end of May. He goes down around 8 and wakes up between 5-6 or 4:30 like he did this morning. He has had just a little banana but that's in his mixed grain oatmeal in the morning (comes with the banana flavoring). He LOVES to eat, he was definitely ready. He hasn't had any issues with it, opens his mouth wide and has yet to gag (except with his first taste of sweet potatoes but he got over that quickly). Have you tried adding more water or not adding so much? I know that sometimes if it's too thick it can pose a problem. Maybe they need it thinner. Also you can mix it with either formula or water, some even say juice but I've not done that. For now he's on vegetables as his pediatrician recommended. She said those that are started on fruits tend to push aside the vegetables because they are pretty bland. Makes sense to me but I've known plenty who started on fruits and their kids still eat everything.

Anna, Ethan's skin is better. He did have a few spots yesterday when he got home but he was burning up too. I checked for a fever he was so hot but it was normal. He's just hot like his daddy. So I stripped him down to his diaper and let him play around on the bed while I folded laundry. As for his skin sensitivity it's just something I'm going to have to feel out as DH has always had the same problem. It just makes it difficult on me to try and figure out what he's sensitive too that's causing the irritation. UGH!

[Laci]

Jen - I am so sorry about Ethan's skin irritation. I am sure that you are very frustrated.

Laurie - I love the pics of the girls in their skirts. They are precious!!

Nala - Joshua and Michelle are adorable. I just want to touch those sweet little cheeks and play with that pretty hair!

Anna - Congrats on getting more sleep!

Once again I took Karson to the doctor today. He has a runny nose and was not eating well. The doctor said he has some type of virus, and that his throat might be a little tender. He started some meds today, so hopefully he will be feeling better by tomorrow. Other than that all is well. He weighed 15 lbs 8 oz today, and just smiles and laughs more all the time. I have been so busy trying to balance my worlds of wife, mom, and work. It has been crazy lately, and next week DH (who teaches 4th grade) goes back to school. He works occasionally doing odd jobs during the summer, so has been able to stay home with Karson most of the time. When he is not available his mom keeps him. It is going to be hectic with us both having to get out the door early, and because his mom can only watch Karson 2-3 days a week he will start with his sitter next week. She used to teach with my husband, but had a baby in May and is now staying home. She will just have the two of them, so I hope it goes well. I am a little nervous because he has only been with family at this point, but I am sure he will be fine.

[Nala]

Hello Mommies!!!

Laci, Im glad you like the pics... I can't stop kissing and grabbing those cheeks!!! Im sorry to hear that Karson is not feeling well, hopefully the medicine will help him and he will feel better in no time.

Jenn, my DH also has very sensitive skin and apparently Michelle has his skin so I guess Im just going to have to be really careful and protect it as much as I can...

So today I took the babies to visit our fertility clinic for the first time, all the nurses and doctors where going crazy with them and the babies where smiling to everyone all the time... At one point one Dr. (the one that did our ET) said: "This is the happiest part of my day, it is why I do what we do"... It was just very special for everyone to see the babies and spend some time with them... At one point I had to change Michelle's diaper, so I went to the back to one of their rooms, well it was the same room and the same bed where one year ago I laid there after the ET to wait until I could go home... I was now there in the same place with my daughter, I just wanted to cry from happiness...
I hope everyone is having a great day!

[adwalker]

Nala, it is so good to see you. Your babes are precious!!! I was going to take Madison back to the clinic but our doctor is gone.

Laurie, I saw your other thread. Gook Luck with the scrapbooking. I just got a bunch of my old pics out and am going to at least get them put in books for now.

Jen, I hope you can figure out Ethan's sensitive skin. My nephew has that problem and it seems like a lot of trial and error.

Laci, I hope your little one starts to feel better soon. It can be so frustrating to see them suffer.

Anna, how's the transition of DH's job going? Change can be trying, but hopefully it works out in the end.

My DH and I went away for our anniversary. We always go to Lake Erie. It was great. We had to take the baby (still BFing) and she was just wonderful. I felt guilty leaving the other kids and taking the baby, but thankfully they are all old enough to understand that no one else can feed her. When we got back from that, I took the kids and we met my mom in Indianapolis. It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Madison did great in the car for all the trips until the ride home from Indiana. She would cry until I stopped and got her out, then she would be fine...put her back in, get back on the road...she would cry again. She was just tired of being in the car and she is used to being in bed at 9p...and it was 9p. Finally I rolled down the windows a little and the road noise did wonders. She has just now started to giggle. On the 27th to be exact. We are having a lot of fun with it. We are trying to get her to take a bottle still...She cried for a straight hour the other night, I couldn't have done it without DH there. But she finally took the bottle and went to sleep. We are going to try this every night...It will be torturous, but needed.

Maddie calls...

[jenedens6102]

Hey chica, I'm about 45 miles north east of Indy - that's some trip you did. I'm glad though that you got out for your anniversary and spent some time with your mom.

[Laci]

Thanks Adrienne. He is better today, and slept last night. Now I will stop worrying if he will just get his appetite back. I am glad your trip went well. Just taking Karson to the grocery store wears me out sometimes, so kudos to you!!

[lauriej79]

Hey girls! Just wanted to say hello to everyone. I have not been on much since the beach....I have been trying to do house things and baby things. I did start another thread about scrapbooking because I am really trying hard to do something with all of these pictures!!

Nala- You asked about Elizabeth and Evita, I was wondering about Kelly as well......
Thanks for the response about the books. I am trying to decide between traditional scrapbooking or digital scrapbooking.

Laci- I am glad Karson is doing better. Avery has not been the happiest camper around here herself. I am going to try to get a picture but she can put both fists in her mouth. Doctor says shes not teething though and there are no white buds that I can see.

Anna- How was the 15th trip to the zoo?? jk!!!! Have you taken any pictures yet!?!?! Have the people been to your house to evaluate the girls yet? If you have already posted that I must not have seen it.

Jen - I know how it is to be swamped at work. With working until only 12 everyday it is very easy for me to get behind as well.

Adrienne- I am glad you got to go somewhere. We are talking about going to Tybee Island/Savannah for my birthday. My b-day is the 13th but we wouldn't go until that Friday afternoon and come back on Sunday morning. I am still thinking about it though. I would LOVE to go but I just don't know if I can leave them.

Well, here are a couple of pictures from the beach. These girls are doing some serious laughing now. Hope all you girls have a good day!

[jenedens6102]

Laurie - LOVE the new pictures! I'm so glad they are enjoying some nice hearty laughs now. Don't they just get you going too? We love to listen to Ethan laugh but once we start laughing back his get louder and longer.

I'm definitely finding it a bit overwhelming (and I only have one!) between working full time and trying to get as much time in with Ethan as I can plus be a wife who needs to make dinner and clean. Needless to say I'm not keeping up as much as I'd like but I am managing.
I was off yesterday because Ethan's sitter is off for the rest of the week and I wanted one of those days to be with me. Today I come in to what looks like a hurricane went through my office. It's 3:30 and I'm just now caught up. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

[Laci]

I love the new pics Laurie!! They are beautiful girls, and their smiles are so sweet. I understand your hesitation about leaving them for your birthday. DH wants to go away for a weekend as well because our 9th anniversary was right after Karson was born, and we did not get to do anything. I keep telling myself that I can do this, and I know he will be fine. I think once we are able to leave him once it will be easier in the future, but that first time is going to be hard.

Jen - I completely understand about returning to find your desk piled high. If I am just out for half a day I come back to a pile of messages, new files, and endless other things that I have to get caught up on. What I have learned is that work will always be here, and if people do not like my schedule they can hire a different attorney. Karson will not always be little, and I want to take whatever time I can to be with him. With that said, I am taking tomorrow off!!

[amfandrmf]

Jen, sorry you've been so busy at work. It really must be hard. I don't know how you have the energy. I'm glad Ethan's skin is better. Hopefully, it stays that way.

Laci, I hope Karson feels better soon. And enjoy your 3 day weekend! I actually have to work tomorrow, but I look forward to it since everything is still so new.

Nala, that must have been so exciting going back to the fertility clinic. I know how it felt when I went back and I plan on visiting at least once a year or at least keep sending them pics.

Adrienne, the transition is going pretty well. It's nice because I'm able to sleep in more in the morning, but having to put the girls to bed myself and doing most of the feedings gets tiring. You're braver than me with the trips. I am very nervous driving even an hour with the girls, even though they always seem to fall asleep in the car.

Laurie, I love the one of them laughing! It really brightens your day when you hear that sound. Once we get that laugh, we just keep trying to hard to get them to do it again. Good luck with the scrapbooking. I use to do scrapbooking, but I just don't have the time anymore. I think it would really be great if I could do one each for the girls, but I just don't know if I'll ever get around to it. Right now, I just have a really large photo book with all their pics. Oh, yeah, and we're going to the zoo again this weekend...he, he! You know we must be enjoying it if this is where we spend our free time. We did have our first meeting with the birth to 3 program. She just asked us a ton of questions about the girl. Next week they will be evaluated to see if we qualify for the program. I think Mila is fine, but Maddie may need some help. If they are 25% behind the curve on ability then they will have a specialist come out about once a week and work with the girls.

Oh, Maddie laughed for the first time this morning! She was just so adorable. I just love, love, love hearing them laugh. It just makes my day!

[amfandrmf]

Oh, quick question:

When you start the veggies, do you still continue with the oatmeal? Do you feed once or twice a day? Will be trying the veggies in about a week, so any advice would be appreciated. Jen, how do you do it?

[wannabemom]

Originally Posted by jenedens6102

Dylan and Ethan do the same thing then. If Ethan doesn't push the bottle away and takes it then he throws up. But usually he does a lot of arching his back and pushing the bottle away so we know he's done. He's pretty good about that already so it gives me hope for later. Keep us posted on how Dylan's four month appointment goes on Monday!

Hi everyone,

Dylan had his 4th month check up this past Monday. Everything is well. Here are his stats:
weight: 15.6lbs
height: 25.5lbs
head: 17cm
He's in the 75th percentile

And he's not teething afterall. Peds recommends no solid until he is 6 months, no need to hurry. But if I want, we can start him on rice cereal when he's 5 months.

Dylan is now sleeping around 9:30pm-10pm and wakes up around 4:30-5:00pm for feeding and goes back to sleep until 9:30am.

Question: do you think it's safe to let him sleep in the pack 'n' play overnight? We have a crib but it's in his room. We are not ready to let him sleep alone in his room yet.

[jenedens6102]

Good report on Mr. Dylan!

Anna, I do still feed Ethan his oatmeal still. Every pediatrician is different just as every baby is different. For the first two weeks he was on oatmeal only, once a day in the evenings. About two tablespoons (dry). Then when we added the veggies we started with sweet potatoes and I'd still give him the same amount of oatmeal and anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 a jar of sweet potatoes depending on what he wanted and when he had last had a bottle. Then it was recommended to give him oatmeal in the morning as well. So he gets mixed grain oatmeal with bananas in the morning (again 2 tbsp) and then his single grain oatmeal plus his veggies in the evening. He just started sweet peas this week and LOVES them. Most pediatricians recommend giving them the same food for 2-3 days but I actually went a little more then a full week. What I did was purchase five jars and fed it to him until they were gone. So even if he took half a day it would last him 10 days. With him being as big as he is he does need a little more but can't take more formula without making himself sick.

[jenedens6102]

Here are a few pictures we took of Ethan this weekend. We love the one of the personal ad and I told DH I'd post it here with all the girls!

It says: "Handsome future doctor, seeks attractive female with wealthy father. Must enjoy peanut butter, toy trucks and frogs."

[amfandrmf]

Jen, adorable pics of Ethan! I love the t-shirt. I was trying to read it before I saw it in your post...duh. He must be in the 6-9 month clothes now, huh? Also, thanks for letting me know how you feed Ethan. We called their doc just to be on the safe side. He recommended oatmeal for morning meal and veggies for afternoon meal and to start with orange veggies. Whoops! I had already started with green beans. I'll just go to orange after they finish their week of green beans. Mila loves, loves her green beans. I think if I would have let her, she would have finished the entire container yesterday. Maddie on the other hand doesn't seem to be a big fan. She's eating it, but could take it or leave it.

Well, last night was rough. I think Maddie's teething was really bothering her. It took forever to get her to bed. Then, she woke up around 11 p.m. and didn't want to fall back asleep until 2 a.m. At that point we gave them both bottles and gave in to the baby tylenol which put her right to sleep. She is still sleeping now and I'm up with my early riser, Mila. DH is so cranky! I don't even want to talk to him today. It just irritates me how he always seems to take it out on me. I don't know if you gals are experiencing this, but DH has become mean since the girls have been born. He says things now that just cut you. I've talked to him about this and he's bothered by it, but it doesn't seem to change. He blames it on the lack of sleep, but its his fault that he's not going to bed when he should. He gets home from work at 11:30 p.m. and doesn't go to bed until 2 a.m.! And he wonders why he's so tired... Sorry girls, I'm just irritated this morning and need to vent.