Hey everyone. Sorry I've been gone for a while. I have a new topic.
Traveling! With the great weather and the summer time here I thought I would open a discussion on traveling with kids.
Routine: I'm a "try to stay on the routine even when traveling" kind of person. With in reason, I like to keep approximate nap and bed times. Same for you? Or do you just "fly by the seat of your pants?"
Car travel: I like to do most of our travel starting in the early am to get to our destination in the early pm, play and then go to bed. My last travel however we started at 11am and got to our destination around 11pm. It seemed to work ok, we just through the kids in a bed and went to sleep ourselves. I think the middle of the trip was the hardest, b/c that was useually play time. I think I only like this way if I was to be going home not to a new place.
Along with car travel, I'm a huge fan of the portable DVD player. Our rule is that its never on if the trip is under an hour. For our long drives, it seems to do well. I did learn though, that I shouldn't let my oldest hold it b/c it made him car sick! AHH! However, putting it between the 2 front seats allows both boys to watch. My youngest isn't really into it yet, but he watches some times.
I love some of the toys/activities we bring too; an aquadoodle is always fun, of course crayons and coloring books. Lots of fun cardboard books.
I would love to know what you use on your long car rides!!
Flying: I have flown LOTS with my boys. Now that we have 2 its not happening so much. when we did, during take off and landing I would nurse/bottle feed my baby. When he got older I would make him take sips of some water. This helps to alleviate pressure in their ears.
I would totally love to learn more of your trip tips, we're going to Cali in a few weeks!
Happy Travels!!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
What I was doing incorrectly....
So, I didn't want to say wrong, because I think there are few things you can really do wrong as being a mother. But incorrectly can be used a lot more freely, at least in my case. What I learned:
Its kind of hard to remember exactly what you do from one kid to the next, I wish I had written a little journal of the routine I had for my first kid. He was so easy to have sleep and most everything else. I will be writing more things down for my next kids sake too! At this moment, this is what I learned. I was putting my baby down too drowsy. I think there is a fine-ish line between asleep and just drowsy and tired. I was too much toward the mostly asleep than tired/drowsy.
The old routine went as follows:
Show for older brother
Nurse baby while rocking and sing song.
when he was done nursing he would be mostly asleep and I'd put him in his crib.
He would never fuss or anything so it was nice.
New routine:
Nurse baby while watching a show with big brother.
Baby watches 2-5min of show
we go into his darkened room, where we rock while reading a book
I sing him 1 song and before the end of the song he's laying in his bed. I make sure he has is blankie touching his face and then I kiss good night and leave the room.
He hasn't made a peep since. This is the 2nd night with this new routine.
Now I have to tell you what happened at 5:20am.
Baby woke up, fussed for a few minutes. It was starting to escalate a little, but not screaming. I snuck in (without him seeing me, pulled his blankie up to him, and left the room. with in 2 minutes he was back a sleep. He made a noise or 2 but went right back to sleep.
He woke up at 6:50am and I nursed him and we were up for the day!!!!!
Now I hope this with continue to get better, and no more 5am wake ups!
Glad I can record this for my sake as well as anyone who needs it!
Its kind of hard to remember exactly what you do from one kid to the next, I wish I had written a little journal of the routine I had for my first kid. He was so easy to have sleep and most everything else. I will be writing more things down for my next kids sake too! At this moment, this is what I learned. I was putting my baby down too drowsy. I think there is a fine-ish line between asleep and just drowsy and tired. I was too much toward the mostly asleep than tired/drowsy.
The old routine went as follows:
Show for older brother
Nurse baby while rocking and sing song.
when he was done nursing he would be mostly asleep and I'd put him in his crib.
He would never fuss or anything so it was nice.
New routine:
Nurse baby while watching a show with big brother.
Baby watches 2-5min of show
we go into his darkened room, where we rock while reading a book
I sing him 1 song and before the end of the song he's laying in his bed. I make sure he has is blankie touching his face and then I kiss good night and leave the room.
He hasn't made a peep since. This is the 2nd night with this new routine.
Now I have to tell you what happened at 5:20am.
Baby woke up, fussed for a few minutes. It was starting to escalate a little, but not screaming. I snuck in (without him seeing me, pulled his blankie up to him, and left the room. with in 2 minutes he was back a sleep. He made a noise or 2 but went right back to sleep.
He woke up at 6:50am and I nursed him and we were up for the day!!!!!
Now I hope this with continue to get better, and no more 5am wake ups!
Glad I can record this for my sake as well as anyone who needs it!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Teething
So, for some reason I'm not being able to post on the comments! Not cool. Things were getting a lot better, with sleeping and nursing. Thanks everyone!
Now, a few days ago we started into another round of teething! Ahh!! this set seems to be especially bad for some reason. My favorite thing is Hyland's teething tablets, but since they are discountinued, I can't find them. I was doing baby oragel, some motrin but they didn't help so much. He munched on a bunch of frozen blueberries which temporarily helped. My new thing I found was BabyOragel Naturals. Its from clove extract, I don't think he really likes the taste, but it seems to work better.
Anyone have any other secret remedies??
Now, a few days ago we started into another round of teething! Ahh!! this set seems to be especially bad for some reason. My favorite thing is Hyland's teething tablets, but since they are discountinued, I can't find them. I was doing baby oragel, some motrin but they didn't help so much. He munched on a bunch of frozen blueberries which temporarily helped. My new thing I found was BabyOragel Naturals. Its from clove extract, I don't think he really likes the taste, but it seems to work better.
Anyone have any other secret remedies??
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Potty Training
Ok, so I thought I would do a topic for the little bit older kids. I'm super excited by all the people that have joined to help us all raise happy kids!!
SO, potty training. I had no idea or expectations on this subject. I was flying totally blind by the whole things. This last summer, my oldest was almost 2 and he had a friend with a little potty. He was totally into it, so we got him is own. The first day, he went poopy in it! We were totally excited! A couple days later some pee pee and that was about it. The only advice I got about potty training was "once he gets it, it'll just happen." well, that didn't exactly happen for us! I wish I had been more educated and more helpful with potty training. So, by the time it was to move again, nothing. We tried a little bit the next place, but with 2 more moves before we knew we were settled a while, we decided to wait.
About the beginning of November I did some research and found a site called "the Potty Trainer" and liked what I was reading. Her method was to set a timer for ever 30 min and when it when off, you get super excited about it being "POTTY TIME!" do a little dance on over to the potty, and see if anything happens. My boy went on most trips, but no poopy. We did this for 3 days and he was really getting the hang of it.
We still were having accidents with poopy, but he would get to the potty just fine for pee. I've never done pull-ups during nap, he never had a problem. Once we started hard core, we did pull-ups at night and that was it. One philosophy with the "Potty Trainer" is that pull-ups are glorified diapers, it smells, feels and looks like one, so there for the kid is probably just going to think its a different kind of diaper. He was in pull-ups for maybe 2 weeks, but he was almost always dry so we just let him be in his undies.
My boy was pretty regular with his poopy-ness, so we just got him to sit on the pot around that time. Once he realized it wasn't scary, he did just fine. And that was pretty much it. It was true that once he got it, he just did it, but it took a little more encouragement than I thought.
Also, we are big on positive reinforcement, so after he would go pee we would be super happy and give him 3 M&Ms, and for poopy he would get a small scoop of ice cream. It worked for him!! Once he started to go by himself, we stopped the treats. All together it was about 2 1/2 weeks until he did it by himself. Now, this is just us, but I would love to hear your tips. Like Angela said on Night Sleeping, "every kid is different, what works for one doesn't work for another."
One last thought, sometime they have a relapse on being potty trained! Mine did one morning, about 2 months after he was potty trained. He had 2 accidents one right after the other. So we set the timer and did the routine twice and he was back on track. Also, I never really kept liquids from him. I wouldn't let him chug a whole sippy cup, but if he wanted a drink I wouldn't deny it.
Ok, that's a lot!!!!!!!!!! Hope this helps someone!
SO, potty training. I had no idea or expectations on this subject. I was flying totally blind by the whole things. This last summer, my oldest was almost 2 and he had a friend with a little potty. He was totally into it, so we got him is own. The first day, he went poopy in it! We were totally excited! A couple days later some pee pee and that was about it. The only advice I got about potty training was "once he gets it, it'll just happen." well, that didn't exactly happen for us! I wish I had been more educated and more helpful with potty training. So, by the time it was to move again, nothing. We tried a little bit the next place, but with 2 more moves before we knew we were settled a while, we decided to wait.
About the beginning of November I did some research and found a site called "the Potty Trainer" and liked what I was reading. Her method was to set a timer for ever 30 min and when it when off, you get super excited about it being "POTTY TIME!" do a little dance on over to the potty, and see if anything happens. My boy went on most trips, but no poopy. We did this for 3 days and he was really getting the hang of it.
We still were having accidents with poopy, but he would get to the potty just fine for pee. I've never done pull-ups during nap, he never had a problem. Once we started hard core, we did pull-ups at night and that was it. One philosophy with the "Potty Trainer" is that pull-ups are glorified diapers, it smells, feels and looks like one, so there for the kid is probably just going to think its a different kind of diaper. He was in pull-ups for maybe 2 weeks, but he was almost always dry so we just let him be in his undies.
My boy was pretty regular with his poopy-ness, so we just got him to sit on the pot around that time. Once he realized it wasn't scary, he did just fine. And that was pretty much it. It was true that once he got it, he just did it, but it took a little more encouragement than I thought.
Also, we are big on positive reinforcement, so after he would go pee we would be super happy and give him 3 M&Ms, and for poopy he would get a small scoop of ice cream. It worked for him!! Once he started to go by himself, we stopped the treats. All together it was about 2 1/2 weeks until he did it by himself. Now, this is just us, but I would love to hear your tips. Like Angela said on Night Sleeping, "every kid is different, what works for one doesn't work for another."
One last thought, sometime they have a relapse on being potty trained! Mine did one morning, about 2 months after he was potty trained. He had 2 accidents one right after the other. So we set the timer and did the routine twice and he was back on track. Also, I never really kept liquids from him. I wouldn't let him chug a whole sippy cup, but if he wanted a drink I wouldn't deny it.
Ok, that's a lot!!!!!!!!!! Hope this helps someone!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sleeping through the night
Ok, here's a big one!! I know many of you have lots of opinions so I would love to hear them.
With my first I was able to get him to sleep through the night at 6 months. He cried for little bit for 2 nights and that was it. He was the big sleeper, loved naps and always sleeps good at night.
Now, with my second, he is a totally different story! He loves to sleep, but it has always been a struggle since he was 2 weeks old. We've moved 4 times since he was born, so I know that hasn't helped with him sleeping well. We've tried to get him to cry it out a couple nights, two different times now. It just doesn't seem to stick. For some reason too, his cry affects be differently then my first kid too. I seem to be weaker, in letting him cry. This lead me to do some research about helping kids sleep. I discovered the "no cry sleep method" and while I do think it could work, I'm not going to nurse my kid for the next several months. I would like to be done in 2 months, which means I need to start the weaning process now. I can't just rub his back or talk to him, it makes it worse. I either have to ignore him, or pick him up. Sometimes he will cuddle and go back to sleep, other times I have to nurse him to go back to sleep.
So, this is my dilemma and thoughts. Yours?
With my first I was able to get him to sleep through the night at 6 months. He cried for little bit for 2 nights and that was it. He was the big sleeper, loved naps and always sleeps good at night.
Now, with my second, he is a totally different story! He loves to sleep, but it has always been a struggle since he was 2 weeks old. We've moved 4 times since he was born, so I know that hasn't helped with him sleeping well. We've tried to get him to cry it out a couple nights, two different times now. It just doesn't seem to stick. For some reason too, his cry affects be differently then my first kid too. I seem to be weaker, in letting him cry. This lead me to do some research about helping kids sleep. I discovered the "no cry sleep method" and while I do think it could work, I'm not going to nurse my kid for the next several months. I would like to be done in 2 months, which means I need to start the weaning process now. I can't just rub his back or talk to him, it makes it worse. I either have to ignore him, or pick him up. Sometimes he will cuddle and go back to sleep, other times I have to nurse him to go back to sleep.
So, this is my dilemma and thoughts. Yours?
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Weaning
Ok, so I really don't have any knowledge in this area. I wasn't able to nurse my oldest very long. However, my baby is 10 months and I would like to be finished around his 1st b-day! He loves to nurse, and I generally nurse before naps/bed and early morning/mid night time. So like 3-4 times a day. Any knowledge you have about this is welcome!!!
My goal here
Ok moms! I want to know what you think. I wanted to create a blog where I could start my thoughts/discussions and get some feed back. You all have more knowledge then I alone, and together we can help make great happy kids (and moms too)!
One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever gotten was to, "listen to everything and then take what you want out of it." I live by this everyday, whenever some grandma tells me how to do this or some one rants about that. Some things may not work for me or you, but if one mom gets something that makes their life better, then my goal is accomplished!
I really would love you to help pass this blog along, the mom input we have the better!
Disclaimer: anything said here should not be put above the sound advice of a physician.
Ready, Set, GO!!!!
One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever gotten was to, "listen to everything and then take what you want out of it." I live by this everyday, whenever some grandma tells me how to do this or some one rants about that. Some things may not work for me or you, but if one mom gets something that makes their life better, then my goal is accomplished!
I really would love you to help pass this blog along, the mom input we have the better!
Disclaimer: anything said here should not be put above the sound advice of a physician.
Ready, Set, GO!!!!
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