Christie-Avery started her tantrums a long time ago too. There are time when I have to call Dh to help me for diaper changes, dressed after her bath etc. because she just wants to do things HER way. It is exhausting, I know.

Rebekah-good to see you, I was wondering where you were.


Amy-good luck for tomorrow! Is this the school you had to fill out all those applications for?

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christie - i do the same thing as rebekah. We tell everything bye bye that might have a tantrum to follow it. it works WONDERS. to be honest...once abby hit 2, her's have pretty much stopped. she's in a super shy phase right now...

karen - i am pming you!

amy - good luck dropping nate off tomorrow. you'll do good mama, and he'll have fun

ran a couple of errands today. crazy 8 opened in my mall and i had a coupon so ab's and i ran up there (I have to try her clothes on at the store...i'm sick of guessing between 18-24 or 2T for winter). then i dropped her off at home w/ rob and ran a couple of errands and then had a lazy day. (more like comfy clothes and did some things around the house..but still lazy to me).

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Lauren- So how do you like Crazy8's stuff? I know it is by Gymbo, but what did you think in terms of quality? I have never seen anything in person, just online, so I can't tell.

Karen- Yay to a fun, exhausting weekend. I agree, you've got such great energy. I feel like I'm always dragging.

I had a fun weekend myself. Yesterday the boys had swimming in the morning. The instructor missed the first class due to sickness (her replacement was great), so this was our first time w/ her. She's AWFUL. You can tell she has no idea what to do, so she basically is just having us hang out. We sat in the wading pool for 15 minutes so the kids could "play".... these are all non-walkers, how much are they really going to play? The poor kids were freezing, but finally we went to the (much warmer) pool. It was fun, but I think I'm going to contact the gym and let them know that she probably needs some guidance. She's only a senior in high school, so I'm sure she's never really done this and inexperienced. Our last class was so much better, but the instructor had been teaching it for over 20 years so she actually knew what to do. I'm sure this one will learn as time goes on, but they really need to help her out a bit! Doesn't really matter to the boys, though. They both love being in the water, so as long as we're there, they're happy.
We were going to go to a local town's Fall Fest afterward, but we've had major rainstorms, so that was a no go. Apparently south of where we live got it really bad, and some towns have declared a state of emergency due to the flooding. Not up by me, thankfully. Here, it's just really wet!
In the evening, I went out w/ girlfriends as a baby celebration. (The poor gal did infertility treatments for her 1st pregnancy, then 3 months after giving birth found out she was pregnant again. Needless to say, it's been a long pregnancy for her.) Anyway, we went to Cheesecake Factory- YUM!! And I had a lovely fruity cocktail, since I'm no longer bf'ing!! It was great to get out and see everyone w/o bringing the kids.

I'm praying it doesn't rain next Saturday. We are doing a family photo shoot w/ the boys, and I think we are going to do it at an apple orchard! I'm so excited. The place sounds really cool... besides the orchard, there is a pumpkin patch, a petting farm, a carousel, an old train, and a play area. So there will be lots of potentially great backdrops. I HATE getting my picture taken, but we have no pics of us w/ the boys, so we need to do it (I figure this'll be what we do after their bday every year.) So now I need to start planning outfits for all of us, get my haircut, and all that good stuff.

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Christie, YES we have the tantrums here too. DH and I have a theory that the terrible 2's really mean that whenever it starts it last for 2 years Mia seems to have a hard time with transitions, like going in the house but doesnt get telling stuff bye bye quite yet ( I think within the next couple of months she will) so now when she does it I just walk away. It does get better and since she is my third I think I am finding it humerous most of the time.
The thing we are not finding humerous is that she has started pinching Morgan. She knows it is wrong, because as soon as I walk twords her she hugs Morgan and pats her and says "its okay" I have no idea how to stop that, neither one of the others were ever aggresive

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OH thank you all SO MUCH. I feel SO much better.

Lisa- That is EXACTLY how it is with Charlie. Transitions do not go well and he is not quite to the level of understanding yet for bye bye although I think that will work great later. Charlie hates when people scream and make really loud noises so when he would pinch or bite us we would scream and he didn't like it so he stopped. I am not sure what to tell you there except I know some people swear by pinching them back but I don't think Charlie would understand that yet.

Karen- Our seats are okay for the view but awesome for the amenities LOL We sit in an endzone so we have an excellent view of one half the field and can see the other end great on the jumbotron BUT we have the new concession stands and bigger bathrooms and shady/breezy walk around area behind us as well as shade by 1:45 for afternoon games. The rest of the stadium NEVER gets shade so this is great while we have small children. Later on we will try to move closer to the 50.

Bina- Thanks!

Amy- Let us know how it goes today!

Rebekah- Glad to "see" you. We have missed you!! How is the weaning going?

Sarah- Good luck with the pics. Our swimming class was like that the whole time. DH said "I didn't pay money to sing songs in the pool."

Lauren- What did you think of Crazy8?

Well the economy is finally catching up with my household. My DH is a recruiter and the business is just down! So sad. So time to cut back and be more fiscally responsible!

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Hi guys. I'm fine. We left Thursday, went to my BILs house, and rode it out there. We came home yesterday. We lost a gutter, lots of branches off our trees, have some roof damage, and the back fence is gone. But all in all, this is not too bad. We are very lucky. We have seen people with no roofs at all, and entire 30 ft trees ripped out, so we really made it through just fine.

Thanks for thinking of us.

Mere- I'm so glad to hear you are okay!! I was really worried, and trying to figure out how we could get in touch w/ you to check.

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quick question for you girls. i was reading on the internet (dumb me!!) about how exercising during an ivf cycle can decrease your chances at becoming pregnant. Do any of you know why that is?? Sarah did you dr tell you anything like while doing your ivf cycle. my dr didnt and i continued to workout up until my er. after my et i did not workout and actually did start again until after my 6 week psotpartum check. i am still working out like i did before but do you guys think i should cut back and just walk on the treadmill or should i stop all together?? sometimes i love the internet and sometimes i hate it!!!!

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lisad -

my doctor never said anything about exercise but I did limit myself to walking on the treadmill. I made sure not to over do it. And i did not do any exercising from the day of er to 4 days after et. Then i just slowly walked until my 6 week u/s.

where are you at in the process? I would do another ivf cycle in a heartbeat - but our insurance won't cover it.

kristen

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kristen i should have directed the question to you as well but i forget that you are back!!! bad me!!! my er should be mon!!!

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lisad -

oh that is wonderful!! Best of Luck!!!

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Mere I am so glad you are okay and you didn't have too much damage to your house. I have been watching the news and it looks horrible down there.

Lisa, I don't know what kind of excercise you are doing but as long as it isn't too strenuous I would think it would be okay as long as your body is used to it and you aren't starting anything new. Wow, I can't believe your transfer is so close already!!! Did any of you (Lisa, Kristen and Sarah) end up with frozen embryos?

Christie, no advice on the fits. Luckily Jack isn't doing that yet but he is in to everything. I tell him NO and he gives me this heartbreaking smile that is really hard to keep a straight face.

Hi to everyone else

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Sorry I have been MIA again...we have had some trying times in the last 2 weeks....first off when we got home form TN, then ext day i went downto get some venison from the freeezer, and there was a river of water flowing out of it! Our 22 Cu. Ft. upright had died while we were gone! We were lucky, though, it must've died close to when we got home, cause most stuff was still mostly frozen (poor thing was 40+ years old and had been moved 4+ times, it was a hand me down from my grandma to mom to me). We are very lucky too to have a great friend, who happened to have a small chest freezer sitting unused in his garage, and was able to come out the night and bring it to us, we gave him all the venison brats and polish sausage we had in thanks!

Then we had a cold snap the week after that - low 40s at night, and Dane went down to start the pilot light on the boiler (circa 1960 ish), and it wouldn't stay lit! luckily again, we called my dad and he had an idea what it might be and described the part to Dane on the phone, and we got a new one and Dane installed it himself, but broke another part in the process, took 2 more days to replace that part, and then we got it up and running again, PHEW!!!

After that, it rained all week, and CJ and I were gettin cabin fever being stuck inside all day! I had my 15 w appointment, and wvwrything was gret I was measuring 16 cm on my fundal height, and the HB was 155!!! I am already feeling movements, too, and have been for a few weeks, that is so reassuring! I also had my triple marker test this past Thur, at 16 w, and everything came back normal, they told me today!

Then my mom came down this weekend, Friday night, and everything was going great, we wer planning to go to a friends' family's reunion dinner, as we are part of their "extended family" and they expect/invite us each year....Dane goes all day to the golf outing they have too, we just join him for dinner. Well, Sat. morning, I heard Cj cry at 5:30 and went to check on her, and gave her her binky and told her to go back to sleep, and she was quiet for a little while, but she got going again at around 6 and Mom came up and got her and took her downstairs. well, about an hour later, I wake up to mom saying, "uhm, Jess, I don't want to scare you, and I hate to wake you up, btu I think you better take me to the Emerency room."Well, I am half asleep and I look up and her shirt is covered in these brown splotches, and she is holding her right hand weirdly with her left hand, and I immediately think she has cut her finger(s) terribly, so it was gushing blood or something!!!! She saw the look on my face (I don't deal well with injuries/blood/open wounds), and says, "Don't get all worked up, it was really stupid,a nd I don't think i am hurt bad, but I think you should take me to the emergency room to get checked out>" I say, "Where is CJ?" she was downstairs watching TV, and I asked "What did you do, MOM?!" The story unfolds, she had gotten Cj down, got ther to go pee on the potty, and they were watching PBS, and mom went out on the porch for a smoke, she was peeking in the windows to check on CJ every few minutes, and Cj was fine, watching TV in her Dora Chair. then mom went over to the side of our porch, there is a landing about 2.5 feet up the front stairs, and it has just a short block wall round one side, well, she looked over the side, and there were some tall weeds sticking up ( it was raining, so she figured the ground would be soft enough to pull them out) and pulled a few out, well, she grabbed one, and the top brok off, so she bent over further and pulled harder, and lost her footing, and over she went!!!!! She landed on the front right top of her head just above her hairline/forehead, and then flipped onto her back, putting her hands down in the process, and bending/dislocating her right ring finger in the process!!! (this is really bad cause she is a dental hygienist - and that is her dominant hand) She thought she had broken her finger, but had actually put it back into its right position herself!!! YIKES! And she was worried, having landed like that on top of her head, that she might've damaged her neck in some way - fracture, smashed disks, etc. I am amazed she didn't land in the thorny quince bush right next to where she flipped, or hit her head on the tile that our downspouts go into, which is right there too, I think it was lucky it was raining, soft ground, slippery, cause it mught have eased the landing some. So we all got up and scrambled around and got some breakfast in us all,tried calling Mom's insurance, to see if Kewanee or Peoria was a better choice for coverage, and they were no help, "that's a billing question, and they aren't open today." Then Mom, CJ and I went to kewanee hospital ER, in the driving rain, I dropped off her and CJ and parked the van and got drenched coming back in...luckily they were't busy, and we got right in, and they had mom turn her head both ways, and move it up and down,a nd they said she probably just "jammed her neck" and if it didn't feel beter in a week, to go in to see her own Dr., they took x-rays of her finger and siad it was just a bad sprain, and put a soft splint on it and told her to take it off when she felt like it! We were thanking God all day for the minimal injuries! we were only at the ER a little over an hour,a nd Cj and I still wet to the dinner that night, and mom was feeling a little sore the next day, but hopefully she is going to mend quickly!
Now we all seem to have a cold, Dane and I have sore throats, and Cj has a really congested runny nose, we have a vicks vaporizer going in her room tonight. I hope this sickness is short-lived.

I read, but can't remember much!

Happy 2nd B-day Mason!!!

As for the tantrums, we have been having them since little over a year, and she is still going strong, but like others said, it helps to warn of a transition a couple times a few minutes beforehand, and then saying bye bye - I have also found setting a time helps, ( "when this timer goes beep, we are going to stop playing and eat lunch") I also walk away and ignore, once they are in a safe environment throwing a fit, it not as fun without an audience.

Sorry - I am drawing a blank otherewise!
Jess

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lisa- I remember getting that information, although my dr. never really talked to me about it. I decided to not exercise, though, just b/c I thought if it increases the odds, then so be it.
I don't know how much of a difference it really makes, though. Just go w/ your gut, I'd say.

Kristy- We've got frozen ones. We have been saying we'll do a transfer w/ those, not IVF, next summer, but now are reconsidering it, since our insurance will pay for IVF. But we've got awhile to decide.

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Mere - Thanks for popping in to let us know you are OK.

Charlie - Hannah doesn't understand the warnings and saying bye-bye, so I usually just try to distract her. The teacher in me used to want to treat her like, oh well, you can't do whatever you want and you'll have to learn. Then I try to think a/b what she's thinking and realize she's still way too young to understand that, so I just try to distract her. Sometimes, though, I can't. Like she was walking to the car and didn't want to hold my hand so she threw herself down and I couldn't do anything but scoop her up crying and take her. I did have a toy in the car for her to play with when we got there, though.

It's only Monday and I'm ready for the weekend. We did just have a really good weekend though - it rained all day so we stayed home and hung out. It was just what we needed.

Maybe I'll be back on later, but I've got to go take care of some stuff and try to calm my aching back.

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Jess, Glad your mom is okay! Hope you guys are doing well.

Chrystie, I wish I could give you advice, but I'm still going through that phase with Nate every so often. First, I tell him that if he wants to cry, to go into another room. Then he can come out when he's done, but it's not really working. Most of the time, I'll ignore him.

Bina, No, this school is not the ones where I'm filling out the applications. Those are for next year! It's crazy.

Hello to everyone else!!!

Nate did so well today! As soon as the teachers opened up the door, Nate was the first one to run inside. All of the moms and/or caretakers stayed for about 10 minutes before we left. When I told Nate I was leaving, he just turned to me and said, "Bye!" I was so glad that it was an easy transition for him and that he's independent, but I sort of wanted him to want me. kwim? Oh well. I'm just happy he didn't cry or anyth