January 2013 chat thread

[kmm123]

Ashley - yup I got a 2012 Highlander. I love it! It is incredibly comfortable and rides so well. It is smaller than some of the other midsized SUVs but seems perfectly big enough for us. I think if I were looking right now it would come between the 2013 Pathfinder and the Highlander. The 2013 Pathfinder is no longer on the truck frame and from commercials it looks like you can access the 3rd row even with carseats installed. You can't in the Highlander. It's not a big deal to me, if we have a 3rd we will probably go 3 across and use the 3rd row only if we had someone coming with us and they could get in via the back. My mom rode back there once and didn't have any complaints. It's a small row but I think most of them are, even in the newest Pathfinder it's not like a van's 3rd row or a big SUV like the sequoia. I got a 2012 fully loaded and got 0% financing, we bought it. I really do love it. I get about 21 mpg which is ok. Handles well the few times I've had it out in the snow. If/when we have 3 we'll see if it feels cramped but I'm thinking we will likely do 3 across for a while then if/when Evan is big enough to do it himself he can sit in the 3rd row if he wants. It's roomy enough I shouldn't struggle to get them all in one row with Radian seats and 2 forward facing.

Virginia - GL

Mary - I will definitely be the same when we're done! Part of the reason I'm not really freaking about waiting is I know it's my last time so I'm feeling like I can wait a bit

Jen - YAY for healthy family! We are healthy here too at least for the moment!

[pico83]

congrats on your boy, Ashley!

AFM: DH wants to wait a little longer and see if things work out. I left a message for my MW about the change in AF. We'll see if she has anything to say about it.

ETA: she says it sounds normal and they wouldn't recommend doing anything unless I have another m/c. Yippee. I guess it's good that it might be normal, though.

[marymoonu]

Ashley - Congrats on another BOY!!

Katie - I'm anxious to see how we're going to do with 3 car seats in our van, LOL. It's certainly big enough, but we can't do 3 across in the middle row. There is a seat there, but it doesn't have the latches or whatever. Ours is a 2010, and I guess they introduced that in 2011. We should have waited a year, I guess! I think we'll put Sean in the back and have the other two in the middle row.

Virginia - KUP on what the mw says. I hope she can offer some optimism.

AFM - Ugh, as soon as we found out that Sean had tested negative for his milk allergy, Calvin has started showing signs of egg allergy. What is it about age 2 in this house? It's around the same time that Sean started having symptoms. We already avoid egg in the kids, BUT... I came home from work last night and ate a salad with ranch dressing. I sat the bowl by my seat and zoned out for a second, then I caught Calvin licking my bowl! He was being so cute about it that I just sorta let him go for a minute. But then, of course, he had hives crop up on his face within minutes. I'm just assuming it was the egg in the dressing that he reacted to, since that's probably the most allergenic component and we already have Sean who is egg-allergic. I'm not going to bother having him tested right now. I'll just continue to avoid eggs and nuts in both children for now. I'll have him tested later, if/when he appears to react to other foods. If Sean ever outgrows the egg allergy (hopeful!), I might have Calvin tested at that time to see if he tests allergic to eggs.

[akpufa]

Virginia: sorry that she won't see you yet but at least she thinks it doesn't sound too crazy. Hoping you won't need an appt with her at all.

Katie: thanks for the info. I'd LOOOVE a 2013 Pathfinder but both DH & I have cars we bought brand new and have both said next time we'll buy used so we don't take the off the lot depreciation hit. So I'm looking for lower miles a few years old. I'm thinking of driving a Highlander, Mazda CX-9, and Subaru Tribeca to see how I feel about those three. I'll have to take car seats and see what fits us the best. I can always buy Radians or something that fit more narrow but at least I'll have an idea of what has the most space. I'm fine putting DD in the 3rd row when she is able to buckle her own seat, but isn't quite there yet, probably at least a year away if not more. Her Nautilus is so dang hard to buckle. Anyway...I'm jealous of your Highlander though

Mary:it's probably just easiest to avoid it for now. Hopefully Calvin is just sensitive to it and not allergic and will grow out of it too if it is a problem. You have enough to deal with as far as food allergies.

We're up on a snowmobiling trip so basically the kids and I hang out in the hotel all day. Not my favorite vacation but it is DH's fave so I deal with it for him. 6 hour drive to sit in a hotel and freeze to death outside isn't my idea of a fabulous trip though, not to mention Dane is slowly tearing the hotel room apart from boredom. Awwww well. Kids were up way too late and are grumpy so I'm hoping for long naps today and I can catch up on a book

[pico83]

sorry about the crummy vacation, Ashley. why not send your DH on his own?

Katie - GL waiting. My money is still on you getting pregnant before I do.

Mary - GL with the food allergies.

Oh, I just talked with my regular MW, not the specialist. It sounds like the plan is keep trying. One of the following will happen
1. I get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy (please!)
2. I get pregnant and m/c again. Then I get a bunch of bloodwork done. If it's normal they'll refer me to a RE
3. I fail to get pregnant this whole year, at which point I'll qualify as infertile and they'll probably do all the bloodwork, etc.
well... or I guess 4. I get fed up and make an appointment with the specialist on my own.

I feel pretty relieved. I know that in a year I'll either have a newborn, be pregnant, or be getting help.

[JDBabyHopes]

Katie - Can you fit 3 car seats across in one row?! That is a big thing for us - #3 will mean a new car. We have a 2010 CRV (and DH's old Corolla he just runs to work and back), and I suppose you COULD get 3 seats across, but I don't know how! I'm crossing my fingers for an Odyssey. I threw a big hissy fit when we bought the CRV when I was pregnant with Owen (he wanted a minivan, I REFUSED to be "one of THOSE women"), and now I wish I had the van! Gawd, the automatic opening doors... aahhh, I hope. Haha, yessssss I am SO wanting to be a minivan mom now! I must be old.

Virginia - I'm glad you have a plan! I hope #1 plays out for you, instead of the others!

Ash - Congrats on your BOY!! How exciting! Did the kids end up napping for you? Owen played in his room until 10pm last night, and then got up at 6 this morning! Ugh. I think Sam woke him up talking and yelling, though, haha. Does your hotel have a spa? Maybe a prenatal massage is in order after sitting around with the kids all day!

Mary - Oh no, hope Calvin is okay! That's funny you say that about ranch dressing, though, because Owen breaks out in hives with ranch, too! All over his mouth wherever it touches his skin. They aren't raised, they're just bright red blotches all over. The weird thing is, though? It only happens with name brand ranch (Hidden Valley, Kraft, etc.). If I buy our local store brand, he's totally fine. So bizarre, right? I assumed it was just some ingredient that didn't agree with his skin. So glad Sean got the okay for cheese!

AFM - Sam had his follow up u/s on his kidneys on Wednesday morning, then we met with the specialist again afterwards. His right kidney is totally fine (yay!) and the left one is only mildly dilated, so that is good! I'm hoping he's outgrowing it sooner than later. Our plan of action stayed the same - we'll just follow up with another u/s in 6 months to track his progress. She couldn't give me a definitive age on WHEN he should outgrow it, but she said the more mild the case, the less time (obviously). So I hope by his next u/s it's completely gone.

Also, had Owen's speech eval with the preschool program (at age 3, they go into a different program from the infant/toddler program he's in now, which sucks because I love our speech therapist). It was AWFUL. Actually, it went just as I expected with a two year old. He refused to do any gross motor skills (walking on tiptoes, balancing on one foot, "walking the line"). Then he wouldn't answer her questions (how old are you, what's your last name, etc.), all of which he knew, but just kept saying, "No!" to her. So, because he didn't demonstrate the skills/knowledge, he FAILED his cognitive test! It's so frustrating because he knew everything she asked of him, yet he refused. So, she has to automatically mark it as fail. So yeah, it bothers the crap out of me that on his report it says that he failed his cognitive test. I feel like that puts a big red "STUPID" mark on him. I know that's not true, but it's how I feel! Anyhow, even though he failed, he's not getting therapy for that, they just want to retest him in 6 months after he's adjusted with the new therapist. Still. Makes me so frustrated.

He qualified for speech, which I knew he would, so we'll be moving on to the preschool program the week after he turns 3. It sucks because right now the therapist comes to our home for an hour once a week. In the new program, I have to take him somewhere for 30 mins. once a week with a new therapist. I was hoping he'd be done with speech by now, but oh well. His speech has taken off (he's gone from 1-2 word sentences in September, to 4-6 word sentences in just 3 months), and his vocabulary has exploded, he just needs work in articulation. His vowels are all over the place, which is why he's so hard to understand! Hopefully the lightbulb will go off for him soon.

[kmm123]

Virginia - I'm sorry...but not shocked, my doc was kind and sympathetic but he assured me m/cs especially early ones are very normal and getting preggo right off the bat isn't normal, taking a few months is, early m/cs are and if you've had a normal pregnancy odds are you're ok. So I hope you are totally ok and get your BFP soon!

Ashley - well the 0% is why I went with new -- once you factored interest in to a year old model it was kind of a wash so I went with the 0% and highlander. Ya I would only consider the 2013 Pathfinder (older are still on a truck frame with crap mileage), actually when they released it (after I had my car) it was the only 2013 model I kind of thought I'd have traded my car for b/c you can move seats with car seats installed! All the reports I read on the Tribeca stunk which was a bummer, it was really the ONLY Subaru model that got crap scores everywhere I looked.

Jen - Radians go 3 across with no problem, they are super slender. I went back and forth between van and Highlander and I just didn't want a van plus I commute to work about 35 minutes and the Highlander is better in the snow, that was my validation Sorry about the eval, how frustrating! Toddlers! They had someone come to daycare and offered us all evals so I figured why not, what harm (it was a professional etc) and I'm rather glad I got it done in that environment b/c Evan is SO much more outgoing at school. If I brought him to someone I think he'd be just like Owen but at school he's a chatterbox who'll talk to anyone.

Mary - ugh allergies what a bummer! But at least you are already on top of it, that at least makes it easier...hopefully they both grow out of it!

Speaking of Evan being a chatterbox at daycare....he no longer likes to be home LOL Today I took a vacation day and when I told him we were staying home he asked to go to daycare and see his friends. Home is apparently boring We stayed home just the same but during bathtime he asked if he could go back to school tomorrow LOL We told him he could but he'd be the only kid there It's good that he loves it. His classroom has a lot of kids and the two teachers both have the BS in education and are working on their masters they are awesome and he loves them but I could do with out the screaming tantrums when we show up to bring him home at night. They play with bubbles at the end of the day and gawd help us ALL if we arrive before bubbles are over. We're having a tantrum phase lately when he doesn't get his way, it's getting better, but a work in progress!

[pico83]

You know, it's pretty much what I expected. It's just nice to know there's a end date at which point I will get help (if needed).

[marymoonu]

Virginia - I hope something good happens for you soon and you won't need any help, but it's nice to know the help is waiting out there if you end up needing it.

Ashley - That doesn't sound like the most enjoyable vacation, haha... I hope you at least get in some good dinners or something.

Jen - I was the EXACT same way about minivans and I'm SO glad we ended up getting the Odyssey. The power doors are freaking amazing. I'm glad Sam's kidney issue is improving. I hope Owen surprises them at his next speech appointment.

Katie - It's great that Evan likes school. I wish I would have sent Sean to preschool this year to get him used to being away from us. I definitely want him to go this Fall before starting KG next year. OMG. He starts KG next year? Holy #*@$... Insert panic attack.

ETA my AFM - This struck me so funny. On two or three occasions today, I commented to DH that it felt like the baby was scratching at my womb with his fingers. Of course it doesn't feel like "scratching" like with nails, because his nails are very soft. But it just felt like a bunch of little fingers grabbing at my insides and it was a strange sensation. Now, read the new text on my ticker.... TOO uncanny!

[kmm123]

I've been looking at cars all day LOL you all are bad influences. I think the moral of the story is SUVs and 3 kids are kind of cramped unless you go BIG and then you get crap mileage. We'll see I'll probably go 3 across but I could wind up in a van....vans and my 30 mile commute in the snow sounds crap though!

Mary - I'm glad he likes it too. Our school district has a Pre-K program so he'll do that fall 2014 too. It's only 1/2 day and no busing but my mom will handle getting him there. She has already offered, it's nice b/c it's the district she taught in for 30+ years and she LOVES the Pre-K program so she's all on board to do whatever to be sure he gets there LOL I can't believe Sean is getting so big, sigh

Virginia - I hope you don't have to do anything except start counting to 40!

Since I am NOT pregnant I'm enjoying some wine and reading a new book....wild Saturday night here