Infant Check-in (1/3/2018)

[oldbaylover1024]

Age: 11 months next week. Hold me.

Milestones: He's taken a few unassisted steps recently. Hold me.

Challenges: He's into EVERYTHING SO MUCH ALL THE TIME. The stairs, his sister's hair, the spaces behind the couch... you name it, he's into it. I fee like my house is beyond babyproofed and yet not babyproofed enough.

Funny/cute stories: He 'talked' to me on speakerphone yesterday for the first time. I called MH and he put me on speakerphone with C. C just laughed and babbled to me. It was adorable.

How are you? I'm not great, honestly. I've been battling some health issues since November and I'm at a breaking point. It's really wearing on me, physically and emotionally.

Anything else? It's January, so we're into tax season. Yay(?)(!).

QOTW: C loves his 100 First Words book from his sister. His mind was blown when he started opening the pages and looking at the pictures.

I received a pair of boots I LOVE. MH did well this year LOL

[daystardreams]

Mind if I join? I didn’t see any intros on the main page so I thought maybe we do it in check ins? Anyway, I had three early miscarriages that we never found a solid reason for. I have PCOS, MTHFR, low progesterone and an arcuate uterus. None of which my doctor seemed to think would cause recurrent miscarriages but anyway, my fourth pregnancy turned into a rainbow! The only thing I did differently was have an HSG the cycle he was conceived and take progesterone supplements, prenatal with folate and baby aspirin. He was born 11/27/17 and I’ve never been more in love (and terrified!) in my life.

Age: 5 weeks!

Milestones: He just started being awake for longer than five minutes at a time! He’s being awake for sometimes a whole hour two or three times a day. I’m not really sure what to do with him so I mostly just stare at him and tell him he’s beautiful until he falls asleep again!

Challenges: He has his first cold this week. We’re on day 3 and it’s just a cough but I’m a wreck!

Funny/cute stories: I’m still in the stage where I think every thing he does is cute or funny but when I tell people they’re like “Umm...ok?”

How are you?: I’m doing good. Starting to get used to the no sleep thing. Our washing machine is somehow frozen and I’m going crazy watching the laundry build up!

QOTW: Does your little one have a favorite gift from the holidays? What about you?
He was too little for gifts really but my mom got him a book called “If Animals Kissed Good Night”. I love it! I read it to him every night as part of our bedtime routine.

H and I didn’t really do gifts but he did buy me five boxes of Christmas tree snack cakes because I was complaining about how I was going to miss them when they stop selling them!

[oldbaylover1024]

daystardreams - Welcome and congrats on your rainbow!!! You can intro on the main PAL page of you like - everyone would love to meet you

[addymac]

daystardreams welcome!! Usually it’s just me and OBL so we’d love another poster!! Ugh you’re making me so nostalgic for my little newborn bub!! I love that you just stare at him and tell him he’s beautiful til he falls asleep. That literally made me smile/cry!!

oldbaylover1024 - I’m sorry your Health is giving you issues yay for new boots!! I can’t believe he’s almost 11 months. It gives me so many feels to read about your boy growing so much 💛

[addymac]

Age:
4.5mo


Milestones:
sitting up on his own for short spurts. amazing at grabbing things.


Challenges:
sleep. our new nanny is convinced she will fix him. have at it, lady. 


Funny/cute stories:
I went back to work on Tuesday night-   and during teh day i had to swing by and drop off some paperwork. I stopped by to say hi to some coworkers, and he was hamming it up - all smiles, laughs, everyone was like omg he's such a flirt! it was cute and it makes me so happy and proud when people say he's so cute lol

oh! I just remembered a real funny story. He learned how to blow bubbles / basically spit everywhere when he's angry. like an angry raspberry kiss.. But now he does it just for fun, because idk why - he likes how it feels? So he just spits all over you all the time. he thinks its so funny. ive accepted that my clothes will be covered in spit up for the foreseeable future.  


How are you?
tired. sad. night one of me not being there and he was a disaster when it came to sleep. I feel bad for DH, but my MIL is there too, so I don't feel too badly bc they are taking shifts with him. he woke up and i guess wouldn't go back down, and then cried for like 2 hours. my heart hurts for him bc i KNOW if i were home he'd snuggle into me and go to sleep and not cry. I try not to think about it at work because it makes me so sad. I didn't cry though. Back at work tonight, and i haven't gotten a text from DH, which either means theyre still asleep (hah!) or things are going so terribly he isn't even by his phone to respond. 


Anything else?
so my MIL came to visit / to help us because of the finding a nanny fiasco. we hired one on saturday, but we are spending this week doing a "get to you know" for 3-4 hours each day with Noah so we don't throw him at her for 12+ hours on day one. however, really DH needs help at night for these two weeks that I am working nights. He is struggling on night one to take care of Noah and he has an "easy" week at work this week. next week will be hard and he will be on a difficult rotation. MIL has two return flights booked (we didn't know how long we'd need her, so we bought them using our rewards points on southwest) - the 9th and the 14th. I think DH will need her to stay til the 14th and i think he wants her to, too, but i guess she made a comment about how she doesn't want to stay here that long - like what!? you get to hang out with your grandson that you haven't seen since he was 6 weeks old, yes its cold in chicago but you dont have to go out much / at all, and your son needs your help. My parents offered to fly back from COLOMBIA to help us if we needed it, so I'm just like. what? I *KNOW* being up all night with a crying baby is NO ONE'S idea of fun or even a good time, but it just is befuddling to me that she would offer to come but then make comments about wanting to leave soon. Like, I know - and i am - just grateful that she came because my worry about my overnights these two weeks are SO much less, but like - is two weeks really *that* terrible to stay and help your son? Esp since he's still recovering from having had the flu last week. I told DH, just tell her that you need her because you are going to have a heavy week - and we can change the flight to go home on the 12th - but he's being all weird. Like, it's your mom, just talk to her???? idk man. I am so thankful she is here and came, but it's a little wtf to me to be like "Ok, but I want to go home soon please"


QOTW: Does your little one have a favorite gift from the holidays? What about you?
  well he didn't get the exersaucer for teh holidays but we put it together when my fam was here, so he loves that thing. He also enjoys the toys my parents brought from their friends, but again, just gifts, not specific to holidays. 

I... didn't really get any gifts. My parents sent us some omaha steaks food, so that was nice bc we have frozen meat now so if we are busy we don't have to worry about running to the store. my sister made a big fuss about us exchanging gifts - and then never got me a single thing ::eyeroll:: but she did spend a ton of money on N, so aside from not saying anything bc it's rude, I am letting it go because she spent so much on him. DH gave me a gift yesterday - two massages. which is great, i love massages, but we agreed on no gifts so i legit didnt get him one, and two, i have no idea when i would find the time to go, because his work schedule suuuucks for the next month and I will have no free time from N outside of going to work to use it - and we are paying through our noses for the nanny so im not going to ask her to watch him for an extra two hours - also bc i miss him and want to snuggle him so much.


oof. i type a lot when i'm on a desktop vs my phone! COOKIES FOR YOU if you read everything!

[oldbaylover1024]

Oh, addymac, I'm sorry about all the things going on. I will say this about family help... it's complicated. When C was in the NICU everyone was so helpful with our older DD (she was almost 4 at the time). But when the baby came home, all anyone wanted to do was visit, snuggle the baby, and leave. My mom offered to stay with us for a few days after we went back to work, but no one offered extended baby help. I think folks forget how demanding a newborn can be and how emotionally and physically tasking it is to take care of a child that won't sleep. Yes, MIL offered and she loves you, but I bet she's overwhelmed, tired, and wondering, "WTF did I sign up for?!" She's probably ready to go back to her own space and quiet, despite her willingness to help out.

If you guys need the help, then I think YH needs to ask her to stay until the 14th (or 12th). How long has she been with you guys? I assume since before Saturday. If that's the case, it's almost been a week. Did she say how long she anticipated staying? IDK... maybe her expectations didn't line up with yours or something. It sounds like a communication issue.

Tl;dr - MIL's intentions sounded good, but I think she's realizing she's in over her head. She sounds overwhelmed and tired. YH needs to be straight forward if you guys want her to stay longer.




And the first Christmas is tough. Everyone focuses on the baby, which is great and very sweet. But... you still exist. I'm surprised no one got you anything That's pretty crappy, especially since it sounds like you guys planned to exchange gifts.

{{hugs}} HUGE {{hugs}}

[oldbaylover1024]

And going back to work is sooooo hard. Plus overnights... damn, lady. {{hugs}}

[addymac]

oldbaylover1024 you’re right. It is hard. I don’t discount that, it’s just weird to me to hear her say “the sooner I get back to FL the better.”... She actually just arrived on Tuesday. So she’s been here less than 48 hours.... she did one night with DH splitting it and she actually slept the whole night last night bc DH was able to handle N on his own - he only woke up once!!!

I’m salty about the gift situation w my sister but I just need to move on. I had my brat moment and will release it....

[oldbaylover1024]

addymac - Your MIL has parenting amnesia. My mom had it, too - she just expected the babies to STTN, snuggle and nap during the day, and smile/coo at her. Umm... no. I mean, they do that stuff sometimes, but that is not the norm. She sounds overwhelmed and, frankly, if she's not helping out that much anyway, then I'd send her on her merry way. The last thing you and YH need is something ELSE to stress over, IMO.

And that gift situation isn't a brat moment. If an exchange was discussed and you pulled through, then that's kind of shitty of your sister. I would release it and not worry about it, but still. That stings a bit. {{hugs}}

[daystardreams]

My sister stayed for a month to help with my baby. Even though the help was great, it’s hard having somebody around. I spent more time entertaining her than cleaning and catching stuff up. She just went home two days ago so I’m on my own for the first time!

[addymac]

Jan 4, 2018 17:23:25 GMT -6 daystardreams said:

My sister stayed for a month to help with my baby. Even though the help was great, it’s hard having somebody around. I spent more time entertaining her than cleaning and catching stuff up. She just went home two days ago so I’m on my own for the first time!

Yeah I found that most people visiting during the newborn stage we’re not particularly helpful. You can do it!

[addymac]

Jan 4, 2018 9:24:28 GMT -6 oldbaylover1024 said:

addymac - Your MIL has parenting amnesia. My mom had it, too - she just expected the babies to STTN, snuggle and nap during the day, and smile/coo at her. Umm... no. I mean, they do that stuff sometimes, but that is not the norm. She sounds overwhelmed and, frankly, if she's not helping out that much anyway, then I'd send her on her merry way. The last thing you and YH need is something ELSE to stress over, IMO.

Hah so last night we sat down to talk to her about her going home. The flights for the 11th were triple the cost from what we had reserved for the 9th or 14th but our nanny needs the 10th off, so it was ether but a really expensive flight on the 11/12 or stay til the 14th- MIL basically said she’d rather pay for the $350 flight to leave on the 11th than stay til the 14th! THREE DAYS! So fine. Flights cancelled and rebooked. Like seriously?! So she’ll be here to help for a few more days but I’m seriously SMH at her. Oh well. She’s in baby heaven now bc the last two nights he slept really well (only woke up at 2 on wed and at 230 and 6 on thurs) so she’s been STTN and Is well rested. 🤷🏻‍♀️😒