Tot Tuesday

[picksthemusic]

Good Morning Seattle Moms!

Since it's been so slow over here, I'm going to start a thread and see what happens.

A lot has been happening in the Picks household lately (as you've probably read on the main board), but we've also had some fun lately. Somehow being out of work is good for my husband - he now has real fingernails instead of stubs. He's getting the taxes done, and getting some organizing done. He'll be looking for jobs soon, but for now he's enjoying the rest of his recovery (lifting restrictions end next week on Thursday).

Easter happened! Here are my babies all dressed up!




M has lost both front teeth due to that injury she had at daycare about a year ago. One was from her brother whacking his head against her mouth (it flew out), and the other I pulled because she'd been playing with it and it was so wiggly I was worried she'd swallow it. So, I have a 4 year old without her two front teeth. Cool.

She is doing really well, though. She's in Montessori preschool and is really blossoming there. She's making friends and learning, so it's all good.

B is my big bulldozer baby. He is talking up a storm, learning new words every day, new signs, and loves to read books. He can identify animals by sound, name, and picture, and is starting to try to count (we're working on numbers/simple math with M). He's so smart and doing things at a much faster rate than M did, it's weird. He's such a love, too. He loves to snuggle and give kisses and hugs.

I'm trying to tell myself that I don't need another baby - we'll see.

How are all of our moms and kids doing? 

[picksthemusic]

madDawg228, you're hanging out here an awful lot. I'm going to be nosy and ask if you're thinking of hopping on the TTC Train any time soon?

[madDawg228]

Apr 5, 2016 10:41:45 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

madDawg228 , you're hanging out here an awful lot. I'm going to be nosy and ask if you're thinking of hopping on the TTC Train any time soon?

I really want to, but the feeling isn't 100% mutual in the MD household  I'm hoping by my 32nd b-day, next Feb.

[dana86]

picksthemusic, I can say that going from 2 kids to 3 was the biggest household change. Way more so than even going from none to one.


Besides that kids are doing well and growing. M is 5 and I signed her up for kindergarten last week. She starts in Sep and I'm an anxiety ball about it already. She is also doing swim lessons which has been good for our weekday mornings and her attitude. J is now 2 and doing well. She is making good strides in her therapy and starting to make better word sounds. We figure she is just storing all the info and words as we try to teach them to her and soon she will just explode with all the info and start talking.

Then AJ is 9 months yesterday. And he is just the cutest. He just started pulling up on things which i'm assuming means he will be walking soon by how he seems to take things on. He has a couple words already and has 3 teeth with I believe 2 more working on coming in.

I am so sad my babies are growing up. I always figured I'd have that solidified feeling of being done at 3 but I don't.

[picksthemusic]

Apr 5, 2016 13:55:45 GMT -5 dana86 said:

picksthemusic , I can say that going from 2 kids to 3 was the biggest household change. Way more so than even going from none to one.


Besides that kids are doing well and growing. M is 5 and I signed her up for kindergarten last week. She starts in Sep and I'm an anxiety ball about it already. She is also doing swim lessons which has been good for our weekday mornings and her attitude. J is now 2 and doing well. She is making good strides in her therapy and starting to make better word sounds. We figure she is just storing all the info and words as we try to teach them to her and soon she will just explode with all the info and start talking.

Then AJ is 9 months yesterday. And he is just the cutest. He just started pulling up on things which i'm assuming means he will be walking soon by how he seems to take things on. He has a couple words already and has 3 teeth with I believe 2 more working on coming in.

I am so sad my babies are growing up. I always figured I'd have that solidified feeling of being done at 3 but I don't.

I think my heart can take more babies - but my body and our budget can't. I'm trying to be realistic. I can't be a SAHM, I don't want to recover from another c/s - I mean, I could try for a VBA2C, but that seems unlikely in my case unless my body decided to cooperate with labor/dilation for once. And then there's the newborn stage, which I both love and hate. We have the room in our house, but I am really happy with what we have, and the kids are so great, and I'm ready for Big Kid stuff, family vacations, all of that. I'm done with diapers, I'm done with diaper bags, I'm ready to move on to the other stuff.

My SIL (the sane one) can have all the babies and I'll just hold/snuggle and give them back, haha.

[madDawg228]

Question: I remember people posting and raving about a fertility book that everyone should read. Is it Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler?

[karebear219]

Apr 5, 2016 15:54:07 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

Question: I remember people posting and raving about a fertility book that everyone should read. Is it Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler?

Pretty sure that's the one.

[karebear219]

So bkb is 4 and half. We had her tested for early kindergarten entry and she didn't pass. Their requirements are really high (for public school). She had to test in the 75th percentage in two categories and 95 percentage in the other two... for a five year old. I'm not sure how many kindergartners this year could pass that. Any way... she did pass in all categories, except one. She missed it by seven points. I am at peace with it. She'll be ahead in her class this way. At least now we know too, instead of not testing. We've talked with her preschool about how to keep her challenged next year. Her grandma promises to work on it too. I feel bad for her though because I know she's ready.

MIL is sick again today so we sent bkb to a friends house that is a SAH mom with a four month old. It should be interesting to hear how today goes with them.

I am doing good. Just working on staying healthy and growing a tiny human. I am dreading telling my boss. I might have to early since she is looking at sending me to a conference in November one month before I am due. I hope she drags her feet at enrolling me. I really want to go too . It seems like such a bad time for me to take time off work. I want to be promoted sooo bad, but if I keep waiting for a promotion to have another kid it may never happen. What ever is meant to be will happen. I have faith in that. I am already secretly getting ready to be on maturity leave at work to make things easier later. My VP has four kids, the smallest is four and my boss was one and done. Her's is 11. I got hints that she may have regretted never having #2. So I am sure they will be really supportive. Being a women sucks. Guys never have to worry about this career stuff.

[picksthemusic]

Apr 5, 2016 15:54:07 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

Question: I remember people posting and raving about a fertility book that everyone should read. Is it Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler?

Yes!

[picksthemusic]

Apr 5, 2016 16:41:57 GMT -5 karebear219 said:

So bkb is 4 and half. We had her tested for early kindergarten entry and she didn't pass. Their requirements are really high (for public school). She had to test in the 75th percentage in two categories and 95 percentage in the other two... for a five year old. I'm not sure how many kindergartners this year could pass that. Any way... she did pass in all categories, except one. She missed it by seven points. I am at peace with it. She'll be ahead in her class this way. At least now we know too, instead of not testing. We've talked with her preschool about how to keep her challenged next year. Her grandma promises to work on it too. I feel bad for her though because I know she's ready.

MIL is sick again today so we sent bkb to a friends house that is a SAH mom with a four month old. It should be interesting to hear how today goes with them.

I am doing good. Just working on staying healthy and growing a tiny human. I am dreading telling my boss. I might have to early since she is looking at sending me to a conference in November one month before I am due. I hope she drags her feet at enrolling me. I really want to go too . It seems like such a bad time for me to take time off work. I want to be promoted sooo bad, but if I keep waiting for a promotion to have another kid it may never happen. What ever is meant to be will happen. I have faith in that. I am already secretly getting ready to be on maturity leave at work to make things easier later. My VP has four kids, the smallest is four and my boss was one and done. Her's is 11. I got hints that she may have regretted never having #2. So I am sure they will be really supportive. Being a women sucks. Guys never have to worry about this career stuff.

We're not having M tested until August. Our Montessori school has a Kindergarten program, so that's where she will most likely go if she tests into it. But, if she doesn't they'll just keep working with her and progress her if she gets there during the year. However, we don't think she'll be ready for public school until she's 6 because of social-emotional issues. She's MUCH better than she was even 6 months ago, but not where I'd like her to be for public school. This big kid stuff is hard!

I'm sorry you're having a rough time at work. I hope it all works out the way it should. I'm sure it will!

[madDawg228]

Apr 5, 2016 18:15:04 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

Apr 5, 2016 15:54:07 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

Question: I remember people posting and raving about a fertility book that everyone should read. Is it Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler?

Yes!

Thank you!  I will add that to my next Amazon order

[jennlin]

Things are going okay here.. My daughter is a little over 4 and I cut her cold turkey breastfeeding (finally!!). We relapsed at about 4y1w..and then she had some allergic reaction as 4y2w and I nursed her back to calm and back to sleep.. That was the last time. We are also working on having her sleep in her own room.. Which she's doing fine........ Except that dad sleeps in the princess bed with her every night. Baby steps.

My son is 2.5 and is also working on weaning. He only nurses MOTN now and does not need to nurse to sleep.. But be still wakes up 1-2xs a night and needs to nurse. Also.. Baby steps.

I have a lot of emotions about weaning that I did not know I would have and finally made an appointment for very-late-postpartum depression. My appointment is this week and it's one of the first things I've been excited about in a while.

I'm looking for a new job since the depression has actually affected my work performance. I'm being known as a crier, and it's just not something I want to deal with, even when I get better... So if you guys have any ideas!

[dana86]

jennlin, big hugs.

[karebear219]

Big hugs jennlin

[ilovebed]

picksthemusic,I'm with you about #3! I can picture our family with three but my head says no! H is all about it. For now. We'll see how he feels after #2 arrives.
karebear219, you're right. It's so unfair that men don't have to make the kinds of sacrifices (career or family) that women do. Our culture is certainly not as supportive of working moms as many other advanced countries. I hope you have a great pregnancy and that things work out just the way their supposed to at your office.
jennlin, I'm sorry that you're suffering. I hope that the therapist can help you work through some of these feelings. You are such an amazing person.
madDawg228, what's your H's hang up? Did he wants kids before but now he's changed his mind? I hope you're able to sway him. It's so hard to ignore the urge to get pregnant. It's almost painful when you really want it!

Em will be 4 in 3 months! She just transitioned to the next age group at her school and they don't nap so that's been a really hard transition for our family....possibly the worst transition so far. She's so tired in the evenings that she's either a MESS or she has to go to bed at 7, or both. So we really don't see her very much during the week. It's painful. I hate it. We used to have 2 hours of really good quality family time in the evenings and now it's just survival mode.
She's doing great though. She's super excited about the baby and has been part of the getting ready process...helping to get organized, folding baby clothes, etc. She's been extra snuggly which I'm soaking in like crazy.
Developmentally she's doing awesome. She's starting to read 3 letter words and we recently picked up 4 numbers games and she's picking them right up. Go Fish has been really fun. I love seeing her little mind work.
I'm due on the 26th with this little girl. I'm mentally ready but actually need another full week at least at work to wind things down so I'm hoping she comes the week of the 18th...39 weeks. We have the same doula that helped us through my labor with Em. Not having pre-eclampsia this time, I'm looking forward to a "normal" labor and delivery where I get to labor at home and then *hopefully* avoid any major interventions at the hospital. My game plan is to swoop in there in super active labor and delivery shortly after arrival. We shall see how that goes!

[madDawg228]

Apr 6, 2016 10:03:02 GMT -5 ilovebed said:

madDawg228 , what's your H's hang up? Did he wants kids before but now he's changed his mind? I hope you're able to sway him. It's so hard to ignore the urge to get pregnant. It's almost painful when you really want it!

H wants to own a home before we bring a kid into the mix.  Which I understand, I don't want to raise a kid in our apartment complex either.  My baby fever is the strongest it has ever been, so it's hard to be patient.

[ilovebed]

If you're my friend on fb you've probably seen these but here they are again. I cut Em's bangs myself! Did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. That grumpy picture captures every evening between 5:30-8 now that she's not napping.

[jennlin]

in case anyone wants an update: i saw my doc yesterday, and she doesn't believe i'm hormonally/clinically/chemically depressed, she believes it is severe sleep deprivation and then the rest of the world piling on at the same time (work stress, relationship stress, weaning stress) that broke me. after my appointment with my counselor in a few weeks, they may conclude to pull me from work with short term disability and have me sleep for days on end. she is also testing me for anemia since i have heavy periods and extreme fatigue.

[dana86]

How do you feel about her diagnosis jennlin,? I'm crossing fingers for some relief for you.... and sleep. So much sleep. We've been shuffling kid rooms around and they have all been sick for a few weeks now. I have slight resentment to H who sleeps all night during the week then usual sleeps in on the weekend if I don't shake him awake.

[karebear219]

Thanks for the update jennlin. I hope things get better for you soon and you get the rest you need.

[jennlin]

Apr 8, 2016 14:34:52 GMT -5 dana86 said:

How do you feel about her diagnosis jennlin,? I'm crossing fingers for some relief for you.... and sleep. So much sleep. We've been shuffling kid rooms around and they have all been sick for a few weeks now. I have slight resentment to H who sleeps all night during the week then usual sleeps in on the weekend if I don't shake him awake.

I'm okay with it. I've been sleep deprived for so long I really don't think that's what it is.. But I'm not going to complain about time off work to sleep. I'm also at a point where I'm willing to try anything.. And being afraid to start medication, I think this is a good start. I'm glad she wanted to take it slow.

I talked to medical at work today and the arnp was ready to jump to antidepressants.. And she was clearly not listening to me.. So I'm very uncomfortable with her advice... Mid-story about my sleep patterns.. Her stomach growled loudly so I asked her if she was hungry. She kept smiling and nodding and saying "uh-huh".... So.. I will not take any medication based on her advice since she clearly was not listening at all.

[ilovebed]

It's actually refreshing that your doctor didn't immediately jump to meds and instead focused on some lifestyle stuff. You really do have a lot going on. Sleep deprivation is no joke. I have a friend here who was so sleep deprived and over caffeinated that she thought she was having a heart attack and had to go to the hospital. She started sleeping in her basement for 2 days at a time while her H stayed up at night and it completely changed her health and life.
I hope you get some relief soon.

[picksthemusic]

Apr 8, 2016 13:38:50 GMT -5 jennlin said:

in case anyone wants an update: i saw my doc yesterday, and she doesn't believe i'm hormonally/clinically/chemically depressed, she believes it is severe sleep deprivation and then the rest of the world piling on at the same time (work stress, relationship stress, weaning stress) that broke me. after my appointment with my counselor in a few weeks, they may conclude to pull me from work with short term disability and have me sleep for days on end. she is also testing me for anemia since i have heavy periods and extreme fatigue.

I only liked this because you updated - and I'm so sorry you're going through this. I know I probably bombarded you with love through text, and I'm sorry if that was too much. I just want you to know I'm here if you need anything - if you need a break from the kids, or whatever - let me know.

We're here to help!!

[shevacc]

jennlin, I'm really sorry you're struggling. Thinking of you!

[shevacc]

So glad to see some posts on here! I miss keeping up with you ladies.

G is turning four in 6 days and we're having her party the following weekend. It's crazy that a year from now we'll be thinking about kindergarten enrollment in the fall. She's full of words and ideas and loves stories, horses, and her friends. At her teacher conference they told us that she is doing great, but is always trying to get her friends to talk with her during their independent Montessori work times. I'm taking her for her first haircut this afternoon and she's a little nervous.

A is nearly 20 months and is picking up new words left and right. He can't stand being told no now that he can ask for "nana" (banana), "app" (apple), or more of whatever. He often asks for more when he still has a full serving of whatever he's eating, just in case. He's teething and hasn't slept well in the last few nights. I've been working on night weaning him for nearly 2 weeks and it's been 2 steps forward, 1 step back. He was doing better but now this teeth thing is pissing him off. I'm soooo tired but trying really hard not to just give in and let him nurse. I need him to be done at night.

DH and I are doing well. Turns out that we've already had the question of whether or not we're going for a third answered for us, oops. I'm 9 weeks today, due 11/15 with #3. We were both somewhat shocked but have gotten used to the idea and are getting excited.

[dana86]

shevacc, congrats!!! 3 is a fun adventure!

[karebear219]

Congratulations @shevaac

[picksthemusic]

Apr 12, 2016 14:51:13 GMT -5 shevacc said:

So glad to see some posts on here! I miss keeping up with you ladies.

G is turning four in 6 days and we're having her party the following weekend. It's crazy that a year from now we'll be thinking about kindergarten enrollment in the fall. She's full of words and ideas and loves stories, horses, and her friends. At her teacher conference they told us that she is doing great, but is always trying to get her friends to talk with her during their independent Montessori work times. I'm taking her for her first haircut this afternoon and she's a little nervous.

A is nearly 20 months and is picking up new words left and right. He can't stand being told no now that he can ask for "nana" (banana), "app" (apple), or more of whatever. He often asks for more when he still has a full serving of whatever he's eating, just in case. He's teething and hasn't slept well in the last few nights. I've been working on night weaning him for nearly 2 weeks and it's been 2 steps forward, 1 step back. He was doing better but now this teeth thing is pissing him off. I'm soooo tired but trying really hard not to just give in and let him nurse. I need him to be done at night.

DH and I are doing well. Turns out that we've already had the question of whether or not we're going for a third answered for us, oops. I'm 9 weeks today, due 11/15 with #3. We were both somewhat shocked but have gotten used to the idea and are getting excited.

Where does she go? I feel like we live near each other, but I can't remember. LOL M loves her Montessori school! I forgot our kiddos are so close in age - we should do a play date sometime soon!

Also, congratulations!

[shevacc]

Apr 18, 2016 13:20:29 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

Apr 12, 2016 14:51:13 GMT -5 shevacc said:

So glad to see some posts on here! I miss keeping up with you ladies.

G is turning four in 6 days and we're having her party the following weekend. It's crazy that a year from now we'll be thinking about kindergarten enrollment in the fall. She's full of words and ideas and loves stories, horses, and her friends. At her teacher conference they told us that she is doing great, but is always trying to get her friends to talk with her during their independent Montessori work times. I'm taking her for her first haircut this afternoon and she's a little nervous.

A is nearly 20 months and is picking up new words left and right. He can't stand being told no now that he can ask for "nana" (banana), "app" (apple), or more of whatever. He often asks for more when he still has a full serving of whatever he's eating, just in case. He's teething and hasn't slept well in the last few nights. I've been working on night weaning him for nearly 2 weeks and it's been 2 steps forward, 1 step back. He was doing better but now this teeth thing is pissing him off. I'm soooo tired but trying really hard not to just give in and let him nurse. I need him to be done at night.

DH and I are doing well. Turns out that we've already had the question of whether or not we're going for a third answered for us, oops. I'm 9 weeks today, due 11/15 with #3. We were both somewhat shocked but have gotten used to the idea and are getting excited.

Where does she go? I feel like we live near each other, but I can't remember. LOL M loves her Montessori school! I forgot our kiddos are so close in age - we should do a play date sometime soon!

Also, congratulations!

Thanks! We live near ilovebed (and go to the same school as her BLB). I would love to do a playdate!