Update on prenatal questions part deux
So here is the second part of the prenatal questions we answered at about 24 weeks and where we aret today!!
1. Do you plan to use cloth or disposable diapers?
This is a struggle for me mainly because I am a total cheapskate. I was just at target today on the phone with my mom and I buy the store brand of EVERYTHING - toilet paper, paper towel, sandwich baggies, face soap - you name it - up and up is my jam. So…that being said I would love to use cloth diapers if I thought I could save some dough because honestly the price of diapers scares the crap out of me! But for now we plan to use disposable (and let's be honest, probably the target brand unless I can find deals on others) and we will see how it works. I would love to save the environment and use cloth but just not sure it's for us. That being said - if any of you momma's out there have experience with cloth diapers please send your advice my way!
We didn't even attempt cloth diapers - no way no how! Even as a stay at home mom I have enough laundry and can't be bothered with the cloth diapers! Surprisingly we did use the target brand for a while but Ceej just kept peeing out of them so we are a Huggies family all the way over here! I just find them on sale and always use coupons. I stock up when Target is having the baby sale!!
2. How do you plan to discipline your kids?
I feel like this is such a touchy subject. I am not sure that I know any parents these days that spank their children. I was spanked as was Chris - and I think that I turned out ok. My parents never used time outs - maybe it was just a different time back then - but it's just not something they did. I was of course grounded from time to time but maybe I was just too mischievous for a time out. That being said - we really haven't talked about this much and I'm not sure what we will do. The one thing that I am hoping I never do is lose my temper and scream at my kids - I see that from time to time out in public and it just breaks my heart.
So CJ is an angel and we won't ever need to worry about this one...just kidding! In all seriousness obviously he's too young to be disciplined right now so we will have to revisit this one at a later time. I will tell you I have no problem telling him no when pulls hair, pinches or goes after things he shouldn't :)
3. Do you plan to co-sleep?
This is also an up in the air subject for us. Most of you may know but we bought a king bed mainly for our dog. Yes I said it - it's out there now. In our bed, every single night, is our 9- pound golden retriever, our 2 10 pound cats, and the two of us. It's a crowded situation to say the least even with a king bed. And this may sound crazy to some - but these animals are our babies. We've had ZZ for 10 years, Moe Moe for probably 7 and Wrigley for almost 6. Their lives are about ready to be turned upside down and we want to minimize the stress and disruption to them, so that they grow to want to love and protect their brother or sister. Because of that, we feel like we can't kick them out of the bed and because of that we don't feel it's safe to co sleep with our baby - particularly because both cats like to lay right on our face/pillows. So initially we wanted a bassinet but then realized that Wrigley could knock it over since most don't see all that sturdy. So right now we are thinking maybe an arms reach co sleeper that stands along beside the bed. Or honestly, just using the crib from night one. So again - any advice is greatly appreciated for us newbies! :)
Oh if we only knew then what we know now. So as you all know we had a terrible sleeper who would only sleep first being held, then in the rock n play, then in the magic merlin in our bed and now finally in his crib - yay! That being said there was a period of desperation against all our better judgement we did co sleep and we did lock all the animals out of the bedroom at night. I never slept well with Ceej in our bed - I was always scared so I am very very happy he is in his bed where he belongs and I think with #2 we will start them in the crib right away!
4. Have you decided on a schedule - particularly for nighttime feedings/etc?
Chris would LOVE for me to say yes to this - he's such a schedule type of guy but I just feel like right now we can't determine this. We don't know if we are going to have a baby that's a good sleeper, a fussy baby, how much I will pump (God willing I'm able to breastfeed) - all of it. So we plan to use that first week to determine what works best for us and the baby. Then we will figure out a schedule that seems to make most sense. I am hoping that I can be supermom while I'm on maternity leave and take the brunt of the nighttime feedings while Chris is working and I'm not - but we'll see how that goes!!
So I did all the night feedings up until Ceej was about 5.5 months - every single one. Even when he was waking up every 90 minutes and then one morning - I was exhausted from being up half the night, he was awake at 3am, he peed all over the bed and I lost it - just started sobbing uncontrollably and from then on Chris took the first feeding of the night at 10:30 or so so that i could get a solid 4 or so hours of sleep and it was glorious! Now Ceej sleeps from 6-6 or or 7 so no worries there but definitely learned my lesson to ask for help before the breaking point!
5. Do you plan to keep up date night? With or without the baby?
So we no doubt will continue to do our Friday night Mexican date night - and of course will be bringing Baby Wik! The place we go to is just amazing - the staff has become like family to us and has watched my belly and Baby Wik grow and we talk to them all the time about how we can't wait to bring him or her! They have a gorgeous patio in the summer so that will be fun and we think that the right decision for us after the first few weeks is to bring the baby out with us as much as we can so that as he or she grows they are used to being in restaurants and out. We also hope to do occasional date nights on our own every now and then!
Hahahahaha this is also hilarious!! So now that we are on a schedule and Ceej is either in bed or in the bath at 6 we honestly never go out. I can't remember the last time we went out - I believe it was about a month ago and that was before the sleep training. We also don't go out much just the two of us. A. We miss him when we are gone and b. we still are those first time parents who don't just trust anyone to watch him and we haven't gotten over feeling bad asking family for help (we always feel like it's an inconvenience) so it makes it a little tough. We've been out on our own maybe 3 -4 times since he was born but I'm hoping to do more of it soon!
6. Do you plan to use pre made baby food or make your own?
I am very adamant about making my own baby food. After our first IVF cycle failed a big change that we made was to switch to a very natural, organic and free range diet and I am convinced it made a huge difference in the success of round 2. That being said I'm a huge fan of giving the baby as few processed foods as I can. This will sound hilarious to most moms and is on the list and I am POSITIVE will be something that I will end up doing - but for now I tell myself I refuse to get my kids hooked on chicken nuggets and/or mac and cheese. So stay tuned in a few years to see if that's a successful one!
Also, Chris and I have both been heavy at points in our lives and we've struggled with weight and image issues, and I want to be sure that we give our baby the tools to know how to live a healthy life and most importantly be good role models with our habits - all while indulging occasionally on Friday and Saturday nights of course!
This makes me giggle too! I always thought I was going to be the mom who made every single thing that went into Ceej's mouth - the baby bullet was going to be my best friend. Hahahahaha - funny. I haven't made one thing. And I stay at home with him! Honestly I would rather spend my time playing with him or reading to him than making food. I fe ed him only organic, simple ingredient baby food for now and he loves it. I would love to start making some of it and giving him more of what we eat but honestly baby led weaning (giving him pieces of food to eat) scares the shit of me so we won't be doing that anytime soon unless we have a CPR certified person with us!
So much fun looking back on all these questions. Can't wait to see where we are in a few months!
XOXO
K
1. Do you plan to use cloth or disposable diapers?
This is a struggle for me mainly because I am a total cheapskate. I was just at target today on the phone with my mom and I buy the store brand of EVERYTHING - toilet paper, paper towel, sandwich baggies, face soap - you name it - up and up is my jam. So…that being said I would love to use cloth diapers if I thought I could save some dough because honestly the price of diapers scares the crap out of me! But for now we plan to use disposable (and let's be honest, probably the target brand unless I can find deals on others) and we will see how it works. I would love to save the environment and use cloth but just not sure it's for us. That being said - if any of you momma's out there have experience with cloth diapers please send your advice my way!
We didn't even attempt cloth diapers - no way no how! Even as a stay at home mom I have enough laundry and can't be bothered with the cloth diapers! Surprisingly we did use the target brand for a while but Ceej just kept peeing out of them so we are a Huggies family all the way over here! I just find them on sale and always use coupons. I stock up when Target is having the baby sale!!
2. How do you plan to discipline your kids?
I feel like this is such a touchy subject. I am not sure that I know any parents these days that spank their children. I was spanked as was Chris - and I think that I turned out ok. My parents never used time outs - maybe it was just a different time back then - but it's just not something they did. I was of course grounded from time to time but maybe I was just too mischievous for a time out. That being said - we really haven't talked about this much and I'm not sure what we will do. The one thing that I am hoping I never do is lose my temper and scream at my kids - I see that from time to time out in public and it just breaks my heart.
So CJ is an angel and we won't ever need to worry about this one...just kidding! In all seriousness obviously he's too young to be disciplined right now so we will have to revisit this one at a later time. I will tell you I have no problem telling him no when pulls hair, pinches or goes after things he shouldn't :)
3. Do you plan to co-sleep?
This is also an up in the air subject for us. Most of you may know but we bought a king bed mainly for our dog. Yes I said it - it's out there now. In our bed, every single night, is our 9- pound golden retriever, our 2 10 pound cats, and the two of us. It's a crowded situation to say the least even with a king bed. And this may sound crazy to some - but these animals are our babies. We've had ZZ for 10 years, Moe Moe for probably 7 and Wrigley for almost 6. Their lives are about ready to be turned upside down and we want to minimize the stress and disruption to them, so that they grow to want to love and protect their brother or sister. Because of that, we feel like we can't kick them out of the bed and because of that we don't feel it's safe to co sleep with our baby - particularly because both cats like to lay right on our face/pillows. So initially we wanted a bassinet but then realized that Wrigley could knock it over since most don't see all that sturdy. So right now we are thinking maybe an arms reach co sleeper that stands along beside the bed. Or honestly, just using the crib from night one. So again - any advice is greatly appreciated for us newbies! :)
Oh if we only knew then what we know now. So as you all know we had a terrible sleeper who would only sleep first being held, then in the rock n play, then in the magic merlin in our bed and now finally in his crib - yay! That being said there was a period of desperation against all our better judgement we did co sleep and we did lock all the animals out of the bedroom at night. I never slept well with Ceej in our bed - I was always scared so I am very very happy he is in his bed where he belongs and I think with #2 we will start them in the crib right away!
4. Have you decided on a schedule - particularly for nighttime feedings/etc?
Chris would LOVE for me to say yes to this - he's such a schedule type of guy but I just feel like right now we can't determine this. We don't know if we are going to have a baby that's a good sleeper, a fussy baby, how much I will pump (God willing I'm able to breastfeed) - all of it. So we plan to use that first week to determine what works best for us and the baby. Then we will figure out a schedule that seems to make most sense. I am hoping that I can be supermom while I'm on maternity leave and take the brunt of the nighttime feedings while Chris is working and I'm not - but we'll see how that goes!!
So I did all the night feedings up until Ceej was about 5.5 months - every single one. Even when he was waking up every 90 minutes and then one morning - I was exhausted from being up half the night, he was awake at 3am, he peed all over the bed and I lost it - just started sobbing uncontrollably and from then on Chris took the first feeding of the night at 10:30 or so so that i could get a solid 4 or so hours of sleep and it was glorious! Now Ceej sleeps from 6-6 or or 7 so no worries there but definitely learned my lesson to ask for help before the breaking point!
5. Do you plan to keep up date night? With or without the baby?
So we no doubt will continue to do our Friday night Mexican date night - and of course will be bringing Baby Wik! The place we go to is just amazing - the staff has become like family to us and has watched my belly and Baby Wik grow and we talk to them all the time about how we can't wait to bring him or her! They have a gorgeous patio in the summer so that will be fun and we think that the right decision for us after the first few weeks is to bring the baby out with us as much as we can so that as he or she grows they are used to being in restaurants and out. We also hope to do occasional date nights on our own every now and then!
Hahahahaha this is also hilarious!! So now that we are on a schedule and Ceej is either in bed or in the bath at 6 we honestly never go out. I can't remember the last time we went out - I believe it was about a month ago and that was before the sleep training. We also don't go out much just the two of us. A. We miss him when we are gone and b. we still are those first time parents who don't just trust anyone to watch him and we haven't gotten over feeling bad asking family for help (we always feel like it's an inconvenience) so it makes it a little tough. We've been out on our own maybe 3 -4 times since he was born but I'm hoping to do more of it soon!
6. Do you plan to use pre made baby food or make your own?
I am very adamant about making my own baby food. After our first IVF cycle failed a big change that we made was to switch to a very natural, organic and free range diet and I am convinced it made a huge difference in the success of round 2. That being said I'm a huge fan of giving the baby as few processed foods as I can. This will sound hilarious to most moms and is on the list and I am POSITIVE will be something that I will end up doing - but for now I tell myself I refuse to get my kids hooked on chicken nuggets and/or mac and cheese. So stay tuned in a few years to see if that's a successful one!
Also, Chris and I have both been heavy at points in our lives and we've struggled with weight and image issues, and I want to be sure that we give our baby the tools to know how to live a healthy life and most importantly be good role models with our habits - all while indulging occasionally on Friday and Saturday nights of course!
This makes me giggle too! I always thought I was going to be the mom who made every single thing that went into Ceej's mouth - the baby bullet was going to be my best friend. Hahahahaha - funny. I haven't made one thing. And I stay at home with him! Honestly I would rather spend my time playing with him or reading to him than making food. I fe ed him only organic, simple ingredient baby food for now and he loves it. I would love to start making some of it and giving him more of what we eat but honestly baby led weaning (giving him pieces of food to eat) scares the shit of me so we won't be doing that anytime soon unless we have a CPR certified person with us!
So much fun looking back on all these questions. Can't wait to see where we are in a few months!
XOXO
K
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