1. I had two moles biopsied on Monday, and I was convinced—convinced—that one of them would come back as a melanoma. (Well, first I was convinced that she was going to want to biopsy at least five.) One came back totally normal and the other slightly atypical, but no further action needed. Huge relief, but not exactly helping the I-am-not-a-hypochondriac defense I am trying to mount against my husband’s accusations.
2. He may be doing exactly what he should be doing at this age, but every time Harry busts out with a new word (today was “bye bye”), I feel like he’s just performed magic. It’s amazing to me. He speaks!
3. Baby names. They are my favorite conversation topic. Are you expecting? Let’s chat. (That’s not so much a confession as a request.)
4. Harry’s been fighting a diaper rash for about a month (off and on) and I about to give up on cloth diapers. Y’all. First it was in his groin area, and it cleared up in disposables, so I stripped in hot water and then used 1/2 c of bleach. But then he developed a new and different rash (while in disposables), so I decided to wait that out so I could use lots of cream before going full time back in cloth. We were using cloth at night, and everything seemed okay. He was in cloth all day yesterday, and the rash came back in his groin area. Ugh. What is frustrating is maybe it’s just teething? (He cut two teeth last week and is working on two more.) But it makes me want to just quiiiiiiiiiiiit. (But I won’t, because we have too much invested in CDs, and I hate disposables.) Moving on.
5. I am really horrible about responding to people. Email, voicemail. Horrible. Sometimes I’ll read an email and think about what I’m going to write back, but I want to dedicate more time to it than I have at that moment, so I just respond in my mind. And then days pass and I realize, whoops, I never actually responded. This is a flaw, and I’m sorry. But please know that I write really great responses to you in my mind. Does that count for something?
6. Sometimes I have a really satisfying day—nothing special or out of the ordinary happens especially, but I just end the day feeling just really, really content. Like I am right where I am supposed to be, doing right what I am supposed to be doing. It’s a good feeling, I have to say. Today was one of those days.
baby names. ugh. such a subject.
our last name is smithson. and the only boy first name we like is jackson. jackson smithson. too many -sons, right? we would like a ‘j’ first name for a boy – we’d like a boy to have my husband’s initials, if we can find a name we like.
our girl name is basically set – my grandma’s name and it’s a bit old fashioned so I am hesitant to share.
good thing we’ve got ~30 more weeks to figure this out, right?
Oh! and to respond to everything else. I am also a hypochondriac. good for you for taking care of the moles – glad they are ‘normal’.
I am also terrible with emails. I partially blame my iPhone – I read the email on it, but am not in a place where I feel like I can give a dedicated, thoughtful response, so I wait until I get home to do it… and then I just don’t find or make the time.
Yes! The iPhone email reading. That is totally part of the problem.
re: names. What about John and calling him Jack?
I am a Nelson and having the same issues in my head with first names that end in -son!! Frustrating! Haha
Oh, I totally panic about moles and spots. I had some removed a few yrs ago from my chin and neck that docs swore were fine but I swore were changing, and with a family history of pre-cancerous cells and atypical moles, I jumped at the offer to remove them for my peace of mind. Totally understand! And yes, they were normal, as docs knew they would be.
Baby 2 is due in 8wks, and we are pretty sure it is a boy (2 ultrasounds say so, but it still wasn’t as clear as Son #1, and I still hold a bit of “it doesn’t feel right” doubt until I see what comes out), so his name is Bennett Graham (Bennett is British to honor where Hubby and I met and courted during college, and it means “Little Blessed One.”). Just in case it is a girl, it would be either Grace Taylor (what we had decided on) or Emma Taylor (our other fave but fear its popularity. Grace was a paternal great-grandmother and Taylor is my maternal grandmother’s maiden name (Emma is part of her first name too).
As for the rash…the come and go sounds like teething to me, but have you tried coating him round-the-clock in cloth-dipe safe creams/oils? Or just letting him spend as much time naked as possible…that always worked best for our son while slathered with EVOO. Good luck!
I hadn’t thought to try EVOO! I was using coconut oil, but our use of it coincided with this rash, so part of me is afraid he is also reacting to the coconut oil. Always something!
Ooo! Baby names! We are expecting in July, and my OB is 90% sure she saw boy parts at our last appointment (full structural ultrasound in a week to get a for sure assessment) so after having a perfect girl name picked out, we’re now working on boy names. So far we like Moses and Gustavo (middle name will be Carol after my mom) and the poor kid will have a double last name that isn’t hyphenated. (I kept my last name and the kid will have both.) I love names that are easily nicknamed with old man names (Mo and Gus!)
And whoopsie, I’m Tamara, not Tamar.
Love both Mo and Gus. Adorable!
I love baby names! We just had our second four weeks ago and his name is Bennett David (great minds think alike, right Dawn?) and our 21 month old girl is Reagan Lee. I guess we just like surnames.
We’re having frustration with our toddler cloth diapers, too, but I think it’s my fault for washing too many at a time. That and toddler pee is just harsh! Our newborn cloth is doing great, though!
Kristin that’s a good point about maybe needing to switch to smaller loads. I should try that.
Could his skin be reacting to the bleach?
Possibly, but probably not, as I’ve used bleach before and I rinsed a LOT.
Our problem has been yeast. Atticus keeps getting yeast infections after he’s on an antibiotic. If I put him back in cloth too soon, he gets a chemical burn because his skin is too sensitive too all that moisture. I share your frustrations. grrrrrrrrrrr.
Gah. Yeast. I am washing as if it is yeast. What are you using on the dipes? Bleach? Aaron went to the co-op to buy GSE but at $20 for a tiny bottle, he couldn’t do it. (I’ll order it from Amazon instead.)
Yes. I took the advice from the CD store Abby’s Lane and washed them with 1/2 cup of bleach. They say to stay out of cloth for 48 hours after his rash is clear, but the chemical burn has happened TWICE when we did that, so we are going to wait longer this time. We just got tubes in his ears, so hopefully he won’t be needing as many antibiotics in the future and we can put this behind us.
Do you use the GSE on the diapers or just give it to him? I know it is supposed to help fight yeast, but I didn’t know if you could use it in the wash as well.
Yes, a couple moms on my FB page said that the put like 20 drops into the wash cycle. I haven’t ordered it yet though!
My son (11 months) has a continuing diaper rash problem, he has an eczema type rash (it’s red and dry and itch). So the only thing that cleared it up eventually is steroid cream and lots of aquaphor. I was bummed that we couldn’t go cloth all the time, but now we do a disposable at night with lots of cream and then cloth during the day, and once or twice a week we do the steroid creme and a disposable. I also had to start bleaching my diapers more often, which helped prevent the rash from reoccuring. We do these vinegar/salt baths too that our Ped recommended and they seem to help a bit too. Good luck figuring it out! I was so bummed when we had this diaper rash problem b/c I was all “but we use cloth! this isn’t supposed to happen!”
I read somewhere that Aquaphor can make it worse if it’s yeast, so just in case it is yeast, I’m scared to use it on his bum. (But it’s great for his face cheeks in this dry winter.)
How frustrating! Our pediatrician was super helpful in diagnosing and figure out what type of rash our son had, which I am grateful for, as I had no idea what to do. I hope you can figure it out soon!
If you have to leave cloth behind, as we did because we had to move and couldn’t find a new place with laundry, these diapers are the best, NATURE BABYCARE Diapers – Eco-Friendly Baby Diapers. No plastics. No chemicals. And you can buy them on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/NATURE-BABYCARE-Diapers-Eco-Friendly-16-28/dp/B00213CKAW
Hope you don’t have to give them up, but if you do, it’s nice to know there are feel-good options out there. [I wouldn't recommend their wipes though, paper towels and water or Lansinoh Wipes are great [http://www.amazon.com/Lansinoh-Clean-Condition-Cloths-Babies/dp/B000JISNSE].
Good Luck!!
Baby names have been one of my favorite topics since I was a little girl. I just love names. I used to carry around this names book and carefully plan first and middle names whenever I got new dolls–Vanessa Jean and Jocelyn Grace, for example. (Those dolls are actually sitting in my daughter’s room now.) I’m not expecting right now, but I’m always tossing around name ideas for my husband to approve or veto.
Re: Diaper Rash. Ugh. Diaper rashes are the worst aren’t they? Jack was getting rashes ALL the time. We tried cloth, disposables, everything. Eventually, we figured it out…it was apple juice. The dr. said no, it wouldnt be an allergy to apple juice, but EVERY TIME he has apple juice, he gets a horrible rash. Could Harry be reacting to some kind of food/juice? We thought for sure it would be ok to give him apple juice…no sugar added, organic. Nope. Apple juice gets him every time. Just something to consider.
Interesting! I did notice that it was worse when he’d had oranges at several meals in a row. Too acidic I think, so now we limit him to oranges just once a day. Maybe I should eliminate them entirely and see if that helps.
We’re 6 months now, gender is a surprise, and we’ve got basically nothing at all. Middle name for a girl will be Love (last name is in my email address). Everything else is wide open! Would be happy to have suggestions.
What kind of names do you like? Traditional, old fashioned, trendy? Have you been on nymbler.com? It’s my favorite baby name site. You can put in a name that you like (llke your own!) and it will give you names that go with it. Love “Love” as a middle name.
I don’t know nymbler! Thank you. I like traditional/old fashioned names, but would prefer nothing too common. Love is my middle name and my mom’s middle name, so that is set and I’m excited about it. My husband has specific likes and dislikes, but I have yet to discern a method to his madness.
Oh Nymbler is bad news for my productivity…
[...] I loved all the conversation last week’s confessions generated. Thanks for the rash tips. Guess what? HE STILL HAS IT. We have his 15-month well visit [...]
I just decided on our “next” (hypothetical) girls name after a friend recently named her daughter Reese. Love it! So next girl: Reese Meredith. Next boy: Grant Richard.
Good luck with the yeasties. I hope the GSE works well for you, it worked for us with Jack.