Day 2 of cio for naps is not going great. Yesterday he cried for half hour just to nap for half hour. Im not sure how long you are supposed to let them cry for naps, since the nap itself is not that long? It seems silly to allow him to cry longer than the nap would be, but he is EXHAUSTED and needs the nap. I hate this.

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Krissy

Rebecca, my guys eat usually eat the most at breakfast, too. Lunch is hit or miss, dinner is virtually nothing. I think it is just this age. Just make breakfast count the most, and as long as he is healthy, I'm sure he is okay.

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Krissy- Ferber says 30min, I think.

I have nothing cool to say. Feeling a bit blah, I guess.

Bina- #3? Go girl!

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Claire--does ferber say what to do with them if it goes past half hour? After half hour of crying and no nap, I cant really just take him out and expect him to be normal. He bangs his head on things when he is tired and cries; after a half hour of cio, he is just going to be really upset if I take him out with no sleep. Not sure to do?

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Krissy

Krissy-the healthy sleep habits book says, to let them cry for an hour (which I could never do, but luckily never had to), and then after that to take them out, play with them, and try again a little while later. But when they are that tired it must be rough.

Y'all make me sound crazy for comptemplating a third, lol. But I guess now that Avery is 3 and is getting so independent I realize that they are only babies for such a short time. I don't think i could handle less than a 2yr age gap, but like everyone said it was hard for that first month or so and now it is actually easier because they entertain each other.

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Bina, I obviously dont think you are crazy for wanting another If you are crazy then lock me in a straight jacket! Really though it is true that with your first it seems like they will depend on you for everything for the rest of the milenium but then one day all the sudden you realize that they do things on there own, and then not only are they doing it on there own but they are helping you with your stuff too.
Plus, and I know not all families are like this, but my girls want more siblings. When we told them we were having this baby you would have thought we told them we were buying them Bentleys. Molly cried forever saying "Thank you for this gift"

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Bina- I don't think you're crazy at all! I think it's great. Personally, I don't think I have it together enough to handle 3-no matter how much I might want to. I'll be lucky if we try for #2. DH has actually relaxed his ONLY ONE policy.......but only if our financial situation improves. Which I can't argue with!

Krissy- I think it says to get them up and try again later. I KWYM about them not being functional without a nap. I usually try again in maybe and hour-but sometimes we'll just skip that nap altogether. But I'm no expert at all! I'm just flubbing my way through it all. Donovan is currently going through some really weird sleep cycles-I think he might be dropping a nap-so everyday is a new adventure on the nap front.

I hope this year gets better QUICK. Things just suck. DH is going to test for the police dept on thurs. The application says to come dressed for an interview but also bring workout clothes. Well, we are such hicks- to us, interview clothes is clean and pressed jeans and button-down shirts. When I interview and employee, I'm just happy if he isn't wearing a wife-beater or a huge potleaf.

Well, the recruiter says "oh the attire is no big deal, suit and tie" SUIT AND TIE!?!?! WTH do we buy THAT? It was suggested that we go to ross, but DH is 6'3" and a big ole boy, so I figured they wouldn't have his size. We went to Men's Warehouse and $560.00 later, we have his first suit and tie. I have never been SO humiliated in my whole life. It's embarrassing to have those salespeople talking to you like you know how to buy a suit and I just felt inferior somehow. I dunno. I can't believe this whole thing is getting to me like this. It's comical, really and I'm sure one day I'll laugh-but for now I just feel stupid.

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Claire-sorry you are stressing. You shouldn't feel inferior. No matter how someone acts they put there pants on (whether the are suit pants or blue jeans) the same as you one leg at a time! Being the Chief of the local fire department and Dh as a member I am a little less nervous about the job unless George is out on a fire and I'm not there.
Bina- I don't think you are crazy either. I just don't have the patience to have anymore But if I did I would love to have a whole house full. Of course I would need a bigger house! Plus with them so close together sharing a bedroom is easier. With Hannah and Bella 6 yrs apart sharing a bedroom would be difficult right now.
Okay like Krissy I have some CIO questions. Is turning on music or mobile thing cheating? With that ask I have a sleeping problem..Isabella will go to sleep with this aquarium mobile thing playing but every time it stops she wakes up. So I end up getting up every 15 min to go turn it back on. I thought about putting a cd player in there so it will play all night but i am afraid she will get addicted to that.

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Bina~ I think you should go for it! Three would be a wonderful number. I am sure we will not ever have any more babies, but I certainly love the idea of it. I know I am nuts, with 6 week old twins, but I have thought about what it would be like.

Today is my first full day by myself with the babies. I have been so scared to be alone with them... ridiculous, I know, but I just worry that I won't do something right, or that I won't know what to do to calm them when they cry. DH is going out of town Thursday, so I will be by myself for 2 nights with them! I am very worried about doing the night feedings and everything on my own.

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Lauren-I remember freaking out when Dh left me to go to Walmart when Avery first came home, so I can imagine being worried about overnights etc. but you will do fine! It's amazing how mommy instinct will kick in!

Rhea-so sorry about the stress you are under, you need a break! The only time Dh has ever bought a new suit is right before a job interview so I have a feeling that it is probably more common than you think.

Back-I think with hardcore CIO you are not supposed to go in to turn on music because they are not learning to self-soothe. I used to always go in and put Avery's paci back in her mouth until she was old enough to do it herself. I really hate CIO!

Lisa-so sweet about your girls and the "gift". I am the oldest of 4, and do believe that my siblings are a gift especially as I get older. I think it is so true about how with the first you can't imagine that there will be a day that they aren't so dependent on you for everything.

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Claire-My DH doesn't even own a suit. I think for his last interview he wore khakis and a button up shirt. (He's a mechanic)
I must do the whole CIO thing wrong When Ben was little we used the mobile and when he out grew that I started using a CD. I would initially run in and turn it off after he was asleep but figured it made no difference to play the whole thing. Today we still play his CD for naps and bedtime. It works fine for us. It is a clasical lullaby CD. He does rely on it and when we travel I have to bring it with. It really helps him fall asleep.

Tricia--I see absolutely no problem with using a cd. Anything that makes it easier on them; as far as Im concerned, I dont really care if he needs something extra to help. We used the aquarium when we first did cio at night, and also a lullaby cd. We still use the lullaby cd, and use it at naps also.

Today he cried for 15 minutes, napped for 25 minutes, and then when I picked him up he fell back asleep on my shoulder so I layed down with him. We woke up an hour later If only I could nap with him everytime, he would be a great sleeper!

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Krissy

Tricia- God bless you! If your DH is a mechanic and doesn't own a suit, then you know what I mean! I don't think you are doing CIO "wrong" I think every baby is different

Amy- Like Bina said, the whole point of CIO is that they learn to "self" soothe. So everytime you put them down, you want to do it in the same environment they will find themselves in should they wake in the middle of the night. That is why we took Donovan's binkie away- he was waking up everyhour looking for it because it fell out. Now, that being said, just because I understand CIO doesn't mean I always implement it correctly. We've been doing it for 4 months and there are still times he has to CIO. Usually only for nap time, though. I've gotten to where I'll use a music toy at naps but not at bedtime.

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Hello ladies!

Not much to say today...so hope everyones year is starting off well.

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Ok...so I DID have something to talk about, ask, etc.

So I am thinking about my baby girls first birthday party...

Do any of you ladies have any theme suggestions? I would like to start planning (I know its early) her birthday party and I guess the first thing I need to figure out is what theme we are going to go with.

I AM ALL EYES (since I am on the comp)!

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K--My sister did a cupcake theme for her little girls first b-day and it was adorable. We did lions, because his party was on Halloween and he was going as a lion. The best thing we did for his party was to have it at a hotel pool--we invited quite a few little ones, and everyone really liked being able to take them in the pool. We had a super big turnout for a babies party, and it was all really easy on me because we just ordered pizza by the pool and decorated there, and I made lion cupcakes. Everyone really liked it, and I was glad that I got to actually enjoy it instead of stressing out (my sister did hers at her house and really didnt get to enjoy it as much as she would have liked) I can't believe her birthday is already getting close! When is it?

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Krissy

Krissy - I like the cupcake theme...What I DONT want is all the character type of stuff like Pooh, Sesame Street...thats too cliche for what I am going for...I may make my own theme...just get creative on the computer or something...we will see...

She will be 1 on May 28. I still have close to 5 months to go but time FLIES!

Have you been seeing her pictures and updates? I just sent something out a few days ago for month 7...

I am wondering how many people actually take the time to read the updates and look at the pictures...

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Tricia - we went through the same thing too - Dh works for New York State and wears causal attire but when interviewing needed a suit. We went to Macy's and the man there told us everything we needed to know and selected a suit/shirt and tie for us. I just figured that was his job and Dh did look good!

Krissy/Back - I probably will need to do CIO with Madalena...we are still co-sleeping, although she is now taking her naps w/o me. With Matt, we always used a fan. I can't sleep without one and he slept in our room until he was 7 mos. We got a turbo fan for his room and it serves 2 purposes - lulls him to sleep and also drowns out noises so he doesn't wake up. Krissy - I will be asking you for CIO advice soon enough! GL and just do whatever works best for you both!

Sarah - thanks! Amazing how they survive on so little! I give Matt V8 fusion juice so he at least is getting some veggies!!

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Claire - My dh didn't own a suit either. We had some fancy schmancy dinner thing to go to several years ago with my MIL and he borrowed a suit from a friend.

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http://rchiprean.abmp.com/index.html

If we knew anyone even close to his size we'd have borrowed something BELIEVE me. Poor DH. I don't know much about suit sizing, DH turned out to be like a 54 (I think, I know it was 50 somthing) and there was this one little bitty rack with his size. Well, if you get the suit set as opposed to the separates, the pants come in only the size they think it should be. Well, the pants that match the jacket are a size 46. DH wears a 38! So weird.

I will say, he DOES look pretty hot in a suit. Who knew? And I've been comforting myself by repeating that cop uniforms are pretty sexy, too.


So, Donovan has started a scream/screach that is truly painful on the ears. As far as I can tell, he's not hurt, bored or mad when he does it. It's driving me a little insane. Ok, ALOT insane. Especially because my days at work, we are both stuck in the same little room. Any suggestions?

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