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First, thanks for all the advice from my puking baby post. I stopped giving her soy and got a milk-based formula and have given her more solids and some whole milk occasionally and she hasn't spit up or vomited at all! Yay!

Now I have a couple questions about loveys.

My son carries blankets with him and freaks out if people mess with them. His sister(11m) always takes them and runs away laughing so my son(28m) screams and/or hits her. The obvious solution to me is to stop her first, but it's not always possible. Of course I don't just sit around and let him hit her either. Anyway we've had discussions on whether or not she knows what she's doing and is doing it to upset him. Laughing and running away makes it seem so, but she could also think she's playing with him. I don't know. What do you think, internet?

Second, you know when kid1 hits kid2 with a toy, you take the toy away? Well, what about if he hits her with the blanket? I'll either take it away for a minute then give it back or hold on to it so he can't whip it around. Either way he freaks out and screams for his blankie. On one hand it should be the same as anything, hitting gets it taken away, but it seems like it could have different rules since it's his lovey. I don't want him to think he's allowed to whip people just because his blanket is special, you know?

Third, what about time-outs? If your child has a lovey are they allowed to take it with them to time-outs? I had a blankie myself as a kid and it getting taken away felt like the most horrible thing ever, so I tend to think about that and let him take it to time-out.

Do any of you 20-something moms remember a show from childhood that was like the doodlebops? The pink one had a beak like nose?

HELP?

Parenting related swear.

Ok, I know I'm gonna get a ton of "P101 ain't your personal journal" remarks but I'm a first-time mom and I have no mom friends and I just need some other parents to commiserate with me.

( yes, yes it's another sleeping thing )
tl;dr:
My 7-month old used to sleep through the night. Now he doesn't. Wah wah wah words.

Spit up. My 5 week old spits up after nearly every feeding. It's' not extreme and I know it's pretty much expected. She doesn't seem to be uncomfortable. But what I'm worried about is that she seems to be choking a lot. Like she can't breathe in and coughs. I've tried different head elevations while feeding, burp during and feeding. It never lasts long, it just worries me.

She also seems to be developing a type of rash (i know you're not doctors). Little red dots around her cheeks, neck and upper chest. We think it's from having a moist towel/burp cloth around her neck while eating - it gets wet from feeding dribble and spit up and we change cloths with every feeding. She doesn't seem bothered by this rash thing. I've put her in loose onesies and I've wiped her face in hopes that her skin will dry and not be irritated.

Any tips?

I don't know if this has been floated around or not, but this is a tour of an old Russian Typhoon class submarine in mothballs. Pretty incredible, they are the largest submarine ever built, and to see some of the things in it is amazing. They had full machine facilities, exercise rooms, and even a small swimming pool!

http://englishrussia.com/?p=2525

(This is my first post here, if I did something wrong, please feel free to delete/move it or whatever needs to be done)

Has anyone used baby oragel on their teething toddlers? What was your experience? I got some for Christmas, and the babies ARE teething miserably. Is there any reason why I shouldn't slap some on their poor gums?

On the Night Before Christmas recording book: This morning it started going off by itself! So I woke to my in-laws seemingly haunting my house! Oh, and yesterday I meant to say that my son was holding an xbox controller just like his father....but I'm sure that wouldn't have made the snark any less lame!

Also, why does my children's poop smell like old ladies? It's distinct...it can be argued that old ladies smell like that because of death...but what does that say about my kids????

dunno if any of you ladies know about this, but sweet potato + milk = instant relief of constipation for your little one!!

my little girl has been suffering from really bad constipation for months (4-7 days without a BM :( ). then my hubby suggested an old remedy his mom taught him: eating sweet potato while drinking milk. we've been trying it out for the past month and it works like a charm! you just cook the sweet potato (baked, boiled, steamed, etc.), feed it to your little one while giving them some milk (this might not work if your LO can't have cows milk), wait an hour or two and your LO is guaranteed to wanna poop. note: make sure to stay home after you feed this to them, because it really empties them out :P

i am just soo happy that i don't have to resort to suppositories or meds to get her to go. just taking the trip to the peds to let them check her out is a pain because they always say the same thing (give them more fiber and fluids, blah blah blah). now, i'm soooo relieved and i can also use this to make her a bit more regular :D hope this helps anyone who's been through the anguish of a constipated little toddler like i have! :D

A friend of mine has requested some crocheted cotton dishcloths for her birthday. Now, I looked at the one she had and it was a pretty basic pattern. My question, though, is what kind of yarn to use. It looked like her dishcloth was made out of the same yarn you would use to make doilies, which I have in truckloads. But I'm wondering if that is the best kind of yarn to use or if there is something more heavy duty that would work better.

Also, are there any patterns for these more fine cotton dishcloths? I have a ton of patterns for the thicker, more colorful dishcloths, but not for this kind.

Thanks!

So. Much. Unpacking.

It feels like it will never end! Realistically, however, it will be done late tomorrow or Tuesday - I can't tell just yet. I am so very much looking forward to calling the moving company and asking them to come back and pick up all their boxes and packing material! (I'll have space in my garage again - whee!)

My dining room is just gorgeous and huge. I still cannot get over all the space in there. That, to me, is the most drastic difference between our old house and this one. I love the fact that it's not situated off the main garage entrance into the house, and it's not near a television of any sorts. It's awesome, truly.

The plan tomorrow is for Philip and I to move/unpack all the stuff in the garage. See, the movers unloaded all our shed and garage items directly into the garage, so we've got to unpack everything and get it moved into its proper place in the storage room in the back. Philip already took apart our shed, and we'll put the pieces in our "renovation space." (When they renovated this house, they built on an extra room along the basement wall, and they entered through there, bringing all their equipment with them. Once they finished, they closed off the room and left a large access flap. We can easily open it via the flap, and it's an 8x10' space, at least.) While we're doing that, the boys will be playing hard in the snow. Once we're done, we'll have all our space back in the garage, and we'll move all the boxes and packing material to the breezeway until pick-up. Trash Day is also on Tuesday, and it'll be great to have all that gone, too. (Gosh, but moving creates a lot of excess trash!)

Depending on how long we're out in the garage tomorrow, we'll work on the office afterwards. It's the only room left, and that's because I considered it the lowest priority of all the rooms. I mean, *I* love this room, and I practically live in it sometimes... but everything I really need (computer, bills, filing cabinet, etc.), I can already reach, and we brought with us ahead of time. What needs to be unpacked are the bookshelves and lots of Philip's military memorabilia and knick-knacks. He heads back to work on Tuesday, and I can finish this room by myself, if needed.

As a reward once ALL of the unpacking is done, we plan to go see Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. The boys are dying to see it, and I think it looks pretty cute, too. I thought the first one was good, and I'm sure this one will be about the same. The boys are also anxious to spend some of their Christmas cash at the mall, too. *wink*

Speaking of movies, we all went to see New Moon last Friday. It was the boys' first time seeing it, Philip' second time, and my seventh time. I probably won't see it again in the theatre, but it was just as good this time again. A quick rundown of the showings I've been to:

1st - with Marissa as my 'date' to Amy's midnight premiere party (11/20)
2nd - with Marissa again on Sunday afternoon (11/22)
3rd - with Liz on Sunday night (11/22)
4th - with Philip the following Tuesday (11/24)
5th - with Cheyenne on Thanksgiving night (11/26)
6th - with Aimée on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (11/28)
7th - with the family (12/21)

We also recently saw The Princess and the Frog (on opening day!), and we all loved it. I cried a little near the end, but it was wonderful to see the old-style animation again. And - I was so surprised when the first song began! I'd almost forgotten how the older Disney movies always had original songs - how sad is that?! I thought the characters were very charming, and I really hope the movie does well enough that Disney will do another one in this style again soon.

We saw Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D, too. I found it to be much darker than I'd imagined, but the effects were amazing. Honestly, though, there were parts of it that unsettled even me, and I don't think I'd let younger children see it yet (though the Disney Channel promotes it constantly). We were late to the game on this one, having been planning on seeing it ever since we rode the official movie train back in August (what a neat experience, too!). After seeing the movie, we bought my favorite as a young girl: Mickey's Christmas Carol. I didn't have the movie growing up, but I had a record of it, and I played that over and over all year long. I still have most of it memorized. :-)

I'm hoping to have mail tomorrow, but I'm not terribly optimistic. There was, of course, no mail yesterday in the face of this major blizzard, and then today was Sunday. Philip and I did watch some lady trudge through all the snow with her key, falling down in the deep drifts and then crawling on her knees atop them to get to the box, only to open it and find it empty, of course. We learned long ago (in both Alaska and Nebraska, actually) that even though the post office's motto is, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," that isn't always the case. We've had numerous times with no mail delivery due to inclement weather, and on a day where no travel is advised, I'm surprised that anyone would think there would be mail.

Perhaps she didn't check her box on Christmas Eve, then? *nods* We'll go with that. :-)

so last week we took my son in to the hospital for constipation. i know...but our ped doesnt have weekend hours and it was becoming a big problem. well after a bunch of tests and such they said yeah nothing serious and after they took his temp rectally he pooped. but now it seems that the only way he will poop is when something is put up his butt. this doesnt seem healthy to me. even more strange, he seems to enjoy it. he is mostly breast fed with some formula to suppliment. when he poops now, after getting out the dry constipated poop, his poop is normal. is my kid just so tense that he wont even open his butthole to poop without help? i have a script for glycerin things so i will get those but man, this just seems wrong.

I've been crocheting a little over 10 months now and I've recently joined this community.

I finally got back into crocheting after crazy college finals week and I made my mom some gifts for Christmas. ( Presents Inside )

So, I've been working non stop for the last few weeks to get all of my Christmas gifts done, and finally Christmas is over so I can post pictures!
The first is a blanket that I did for my niece. It's just plain granny squares, but the colors are bright and pretty so I thought I'd share :)
( Pictures )

I know this gets asked a lot but I can't find the post


1. What type of bed rails do you recommend for a twin bed?

2. Also my daughter has a convertible crib, that she doesn't use. Im debating on if I should turn it into the toddler bed or go straight to the full bed. The full bed I could lay down with her to nurse her to sleep. Any thoughts or personal stories?

ETA: These questions are about two different kids, in two different homes :)

I got a sick baby for Christmas.

I have a 6-month-old (on New Year's Day!) baby boy who is teething, has an ear infection, RSV/bronchiolitis, and chickenpox. Luckily, his fever hasn't gone above 102, but we're watching it, and the pox are not at the itching stage yet, but I think that will start tomorrow.

Is there anything I can do for him other than nurse on demand and snuggle him?

Specifically chickenpox-related... I don't remember having it when I was little (althoug I'm sure I did), so I don't remember what helped...

Snowed in, for sure.

On Christmas Eve day, the snow started falling. And blowing. And falling and blowing some more. By 4:30pm, we knew that a Christmas Eve church service wasn't possible. By 11pm, travel warnings were issued everywhere.

Christmas Day the snow fell nonstop - from midnight to midnight. It didn't stop snowing until yesterday around noon, and thankfully, the winds let up a bit then too. The accumulation wasn't nearly as crazy as the DRIFTS. Philip shoveled twice during the snowstorm, but by the time we woke yesterday morning, you couldn't tell he'd done a thing!

The TV channels turned to static in the morning, along with a message alerting us that the road conditions were RED. No travel was allowed on base at all, and everything was closed. Fine by us, as we didn't need to be anywhere, either!

He shoveled for hours and hours yesterday. We had much higher drifts than our next-door neighbor, and when he was done with his own house, he helped Philip for another hour-and-a-half, at least. I still can't much see out of my windows, but I expect that's just how it's gonna be for a while. ;-)

( The pictures. )

Last night, Philip and I glanced out the dining room window just before I was going to start dinner. A beautiful dog was leaping through the snow, looking lost. Philip went to the front door and called, and the dog ran right to him. The dog had no collar, and Philip pulled him into the mud room for warmth. He had snow on his little nose, but he was just gorgeous. Philip and the boys sat in the mud room for over half an hour and loved on the dog. Finally, the police arrived to take him back to the squadron to read for a microchip, and they let him go.

( And pictures of the doggie. )

I just recently tried two new patterns and I thought I'd share!

Recently I asked for a cupcake purse pattern and got plenty of help. I asked because a friend of mine loves cupcakes, and asked me to make her a cupcake purse, as well as some armwarmers.

I'd never attempted either of these things but I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.

( Pics under cut )