We go to dentist, eye doctor and pharmacist downtown, and the dentist is great with the kids.  Our pediatrician, Chuck Schubert, is in Over the Rhine, but my wife's doctor is a specialist up the hill in Clifton.  Every kind of specialist imaginable is up on the hill, very close to downtown. 

 

There is a midwives birthing center in Northside but Good Sam, Christ and University all have good places for hospital birth.  We went to University Hosp because of a high-risk pregnancy, but fortunately, it all went natural...

 

I don't think there is a solution to the sex offenders.  They are everywhere and not always registered.  Even if they are registered, that is just the place where they sleep, not where they work or drive.

 

No restaurant is really child friendly to kids under 3 years old.  Older than that, you need to teach them to sit still and color until the food is ready.  We definitely could use a sit-down pizza place like Dewy's downtown. 

 

I'm pretty excited about the renovations to Washington Park, mostly because they are creating a soccer-field sized lawn which we will be using often for pickup sports.  Pools are pretty important for kids in the summer, and for toddlers, the one in Mt Adams is good, as it is shallow and laid-back.

 

As for schools, I really wish Guilford was still open on Fourth Street.  That would have been so cool to still have a school in the central business district.  As it is, downtowners first have to choose private vs public, and if public, then the best are SCPA, Fairview or Sands Montessori.  If going private, then most downtown kids seem to choose Mercy Montessori, but there are several others too.

We do everything Downtown ... this is from us moving back to Cincinnati and into the Shillito Lofts on 7th.

 

Our dentist, eye doctor, MD, solon, banks, etc. are all Downtown. Everything else is in Uptown. No problems, plus this allows you to take care of things quickly without fighting traffic - stress free!

Now if only there could be some sort of fixed in place transit option from downtown to uptown...maybe a streetcar?

 

I'm not a parent but this is a really interesting thread for those of us who want to raise a family in an urban neighborhood.

Getting around with kids and bikes and strollers would be much better with a Portland type streetcar.  Escpecially with the prepaid tickets and all.  For example, bike riding is pretty difficult in the city with kids.  It would be excellent to roll onto a streetcar that takes us to the riverfront and from there take the bike trail or the purple people bridge.  It would expand all of our options and makes it more livable here.

Last week I had my 20-week ultrasound done, and everything looks great!  We did not find out the gender.  We are waiting until birth.

That's great news!  Did you do your glucose test yet?  I can't believe you're not finding out the gender, you have more willpower than me, that's for sure!

^Not yet.  I take the glucose test in about a month.

People make such a big deal out of it but I thought it was a piece of cake.  The drink is a really small container, I just gulped it down like I was chugging a beer.  Easy peasy.

I think people are probably more concerned about the results of the test than they are of the test itself.  I'm glad to hear that the  drink is small.  I was picturing some big container with a disgusting liquid.

It's not tasty, but if you down it really quick it's no big deal.  It's like a thick, syrupy, concentrated gatorade.

My wife loved her orange flavored drink for her glucose test...i mean, she said she was tempted to ask for another!

Last week I had my 20-week ultrasound done, and everything looks great! We did not find out the gender. We are waiting until birth.

 

We waited until they were born to find out on all of our kids.  It truely does make it really exciting in those seconds right before they come out.  Our doctor always holds the baby up in the air, and lets me say what it is.  The one time, I had to do a double take, b/c I couldn't tell at first.  It was a boy, but some "stuff" was kid of hiding at the time.  I guess I can use that as a funny joke some day when he starts dating. 

I don't know how you would plan the nursery and everything though. I guess just use neutral colors for everything? I mean, I know it's a little traditional to think pink=girls and blue=boys, but we would have bought a completely different travel system if we had a girl than a boy purely bc of colors, not to mention how we decorated the nursery. I think part of the fun for me was shopping for things specifically for a boy, and being able to start thinking about how to raise a boy and daydream about the kinds of things I'd want for him.  I felt lucky we live in a day and age where you could find out and plan accordingly.  I was certain I would just "know" without the test, but until the 20 wk u/s, I thought I was having a girl!  I was glad to find out differently so that I could plan appropriately, but then again, I'm a planner.

 

Don't forget to send one of your birth announcements to the white house, you get a congratulatory card back "signed" by both Barack and Michelle Obama.  We framed ours and put it in the baby's room.  It takes a long time to get it though, so send it right away when you send your other announcements (assuming you are doing announcements).

We are sticking with neutral colors, and we would probably do the same even if we knew the gender.  If we have another kid, and it's a different gender, we want to be able to reuse everything.  After the baby is born, then we will have time to buy some cute gender-specific outfits.  There are definitely good arguments for and against finding out the gender in advance. 

Well, as you know all that really matters is a healthy baby for sure. And it will be very exciting for you guys on delivery day for sure!  This is our only baby so we did want to know and buy gender-specific things, but your logic is very good.

Speaking on preparing for the nursey, bfwissel and I went to two stores to start registries.  It is overwhelming!  There is so much stuff out there, and we're trying to keep it reasonable because we don't have a lot of space.  I think we saw at least 20 types of bottles alone. 

 

I think going to so many baby showers in the past ten years really helps, though.  I remember hearing comments from some of the current moms on the presents, such as "you can't get enough of that product" or "that is a waste of money." 

Oh!  I should have told you if I didn't already, the book Baby Bargains is ESSENTIAL if you are registering.  A lot of people buy things through word of mouth but everyone's needs and wants as a parent are different, and Baby Bargains really helps you identify which things are important to you and what you should buy in each category based on that.  For example, for us, we wanted bottles that were not only BPA free, as they all are now, but also phthalate free.  The only phthlalte free plastic bottles out there are Born Free bottles.  We have a mixture of their plastic and some glass bottles.  You know, you talk to 5 moms, some will tell you Avent bottles are the best, some will tell you they leak, some will tell you their kid hated them, some say their kid loved them.  That's just an example in ONE category, and that's why we got the book, to sort out the "word of mouth" stuff to figuring out what we really wanted and what's really safe.  There are a lot of people who just get whatever crib is out there that's popular, but that may not be the safest crib, or easiest to work with, etc.  I highly recommend the book; we started by checking it out of the library, and it proved useful enough that we bought it used on eBay.  I gave it to a PG friend or I would offer to send it to you.  The writers also wrote Baby 411 which has definitely been our go-to book for anything baby-related since he was born - I just used it this weekend in fact, to find out what to do once baby has vomited (big time vomit, not spitup) - it lays out steps of just what to do and in what order/timetable, which was very helpful.  Both books are great.

 

It really depends on how your home is set up and what you plan to do with the baby as to the usefulness of certain things.  many people find a changing table a complete waste of money because it's in a bedroom on an upper floor and they spend most of the day downstairs with the baby.  For us, it has been an essential piece of furniture that we have used for every diaper change at home. 

Also, be sure to check your registry right before your shower invitations go out - many baby things go out of 'season' regularly and some of the things you registered for now might be "out of stock" (forever) once the shower rolls around, so you would need to select different/additional items.

^Thanks for the advice!  I will check out those books.

where did you register?

As far as the bottles, really fo us, we had to wait for the kids to be born.  It took us a couple weeks to get a bottle that they actually would takie it from.  We got bottles when our first child was born, but she did not like any of the ones we got.  Our pediatrician reccommended Dr. Browns (which i believe are discontinued now) and she liked those.  None of the other kids did however. 

 

I know for our first, we used the changing table religiously.  Like it was illegal to change the kid on the floor.  We have had 3 kids since then, and that thing is stuck in a corner in the basement.  At one time, we had 3 in diapers at once, becasue it took our second kid until about a week after his third b-day to get potty trained well enough.  That makes it tough running up and down constantly.  I do think they are over-rated.  As long as you have changing matts available in a coulple rooms in the house, your fine.  In fact, with the boys, we never had a spray accident after the first week they were home.  they may sound strange, but we didn't.

 

Lastly, I would get a white noise machine lined up for the night.  Either that, or rent CD's from the library for white noise.  They will come in handy.  With our first, we didn't know what white noise was, but we knew she was quiet when the vacumm was on.  Nights were very tough with her.  2 to 3 hours sleep tops for both my wife and I.  The day I put the dustbuster in her room in the on position, we never had that problem again.  No joke.  We eventually burnt the motor out on us, but we would get at least 4 hours consecutive sleep with that sucker going. 

We registered at Babies R Us and Park + Vine (local green store in Cincy). 

 

I have heard that different babies liked different bottles, and that it can be trial and error to find the right ones.  I wonder if we should just register for a few and not go overboard. 

Anyone ever have a problem with their child holding there bowel movements in?  I know its a gross question, but we are having that problem with one of ours right now.  She will hold it for like five days.  It makes her grouchy and moody for probably 2 days before she finally can't hold it anymore.  Then the whole family has to rally around her on the potty to finally get her to do it.  It's really annoying.  She is 3. 

Dr Brown's bottles are still out there and a lot of people recommend them.

 

FYI, you do not get sprayed on by your boy if he's not circumcised.  Just throwing that out there, not giving a for or against opinion.

 

I recommend a small desk fan instead of a white machine noise.  Fans help protect against SIDS and deliver the white noise for you.  It's relatively recently that the recommendations have come out for fans, but I think it's a good one.  In the winter, we use a humidifier which has the same effect noise wise, but isn't drying.

Anyone ever have a problem with their child holding there bowel movements in? I know its a gross question, but we are having that problem with one of ours right now. She will hold it for like five days. It makes her grouchy and moody for probably 2 days before she finally can't hold it anymore. Then the whole family has to rally around her on the potty to finally get her to do it. It's really annoying. She is 3. I took her to the Cleveland Clinic to see a specialist about it, and for $450, he told me some kids just do that, gave her murilax, and sent us home.  He said it's not a health concern, and shee wil eventually go.  The murilax makes it worse though, becasue it makes it harder for her to hold it, which therefore makes her a bit more miserable those last couple days. 

gotribe, I will PM you about this.

FYI, you do not get sprayed on by your boy if he's not circumcised.  Just throwing that out there, not giving a for or against opinion.

My son is circumsised and only ever sprayed us while taking a bath.

 

I recommend a small desk fan instead of a white machine noise.  Fans help protect against SIDS and deliver the white noise for you.  It's relatively recently that the recommendations have come out for fans, but I think it's a good one.  In the winter, we use a humidifier which has the same effect noise wise, but isn't drying.

We used a ceiling fan, but same effect.

 

I know for our first, we used the changing table religiously.  Like it was illegal to change the kid on the floor.  We have had 3 kids since then, and that thing is stuck in a corner in the basement.  At one time, we had 3 in diapers at once, becasue it took our second kid until about a week after his third b-day to get potty trained well enough.  That makes it tough running up and down constantly.  I do think they are over-rated.  As long as you have changing matts available in a coulple rooms in the house, your fine.

We never had a changing table for either of ours. What we had was a short antique dresser we found at a garage sale with a changing table pad that I attached to the top. Once the munchkins got old enough that we didn't need to put them on it, I pulled the pad off and now we just have an extra dresser.

Anyone ever have a problem with their child holding there bowel movements in?  I know its a gross question, but we are having that problem with one of ours right now.  She will hold it for like five days.  It makes her grouchy and moody for probably 2 days before she finally can't hold it anymore.  Then the whole family has to rally around her on the potty to finally get her to do it.  It's really annoying.  She is 3. 

 

I did that in high school because the bathrooms were so disgusting.  Definitely made me grouchy.

Anyone ever have a problem with their child holding there bowel movements in?  I know its a gross question, but we are having that problem with one of ours right now.  She will hold it for like five days.  It makes her grouchy and moody for probably 2 days before she finally can't hold it anymore.  Then the whole family has to rally around her on the potty to finally get her to do it.  It's really annoying.  She is 3.  I took her to the Cleveland Clinic to see a specialist about it, and for $450, he told me some kids just do that, gave her murilax, and sent us home.  He said it's not a health concern, and shee wil eventually go.  The murilax makes it worse though, becasue it makes it harder for her to hold it, which therefore makes her a bit more miserable those last couple days. 

 

My daughter had this problem for a little while. I used a Fleet suppository on her two times. Each time, she went about 3 minutes later, and she hated the experience so much she stopped  holding it in. If I was more of a mean daddy, I would use that as a general disciplinary threat...but I'm not that kind of daddy, am I?

We never had a changing table for either of ours. What we had was a short antique dresser we found at a garage sale with a changing table pad that I attached to the top. Once the munchkins got old enough that we didn't need to put them on it, I pulled the pad off and now we just have an extra dresser.

 

Our is also a dresser with a removable changing table top, we got it at Ikea.  This way it has more use than just the changing table. 

 

 

Just a bump to the thread, given the eerily nice spring weather, what spring events will everybody be doing with their kids/families?

 

 

We are taking little RNR for a hike and picnic tomorrow!  He has not been on a hike since he was a little tiny baby and probably doesn't remember it much.

 

I thought about taking him down to Kingwood Center (Mansfield) to see the flowers, but am not sure we can get it together to make it happen as our weekends are pretty busy.

 

We are about 1.5 months away from my favorite "first" activity of summer - the Tremont Greek festival.  Can't wait!

 

How about you?

Just a bump to the thread, given the eerily nice spring weather, what spring events will everybody be doing with their kids/families?

I do believe a walk to the park with a stop somewhere for a sandwich on the way might be in the cards for dinner tonight.

Fountain Square in Cincinnati is having an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday starting at 11am.  XUMelanie and I will be there helping hide eggs for the lil' ones.

Today would be a great day to take a walk and get some ice cream!! I have total spring fever right now.

What a cute thread!  This forced me to take a trip down memory lane when my neice and nephews lived with me.  They were so cute back then. Now they're busy teenagers.  Where does the time go?? 

 

I remember when my nephews were down around my knees, and I would put them on my shoulders as we walked around the square to run errands.  Now they're 6'2" & 5'11".    I'm all verklempt.

What a cute thread! This forced me to take a trip down memory lane when my neice and nephews lived with me. They were so cute back then. Now they're busy teenagers. Where does the time go??

 

I remember when my nephews were down around my knees, and I would put them on my shoulders as we walked around the square to run errands. Now they're 6'2" & 5'11". I'm all verklempt.

 

I could imagine the memories you have.  I was talking to my wife last night about something along these lines.  Our three year old calls me at work everytime she goes poopy.  She gets on the phone and goes, "Daddy, I went poopy".  As goofy as the phone call is, I know someday I will look back on that, and it will bring tears to my eyes.

I could imagine the memories you have.  I was talking to my wife last night about something along these lines.  Our three year old calls me at work everytime she goes poopy.  She gets on the phone and goes, "Daddy, I went poopy".  As goofy as the phone call is, I know someday I will look back on that, and it will bring tears to my eyes.

 

it will.  This picture just made me tear up.  My middle nephew somehow managed to get stuck in the snow in my parents backyard. 

 

I remember when they would run to the window and yell "el tren" to see if it was me or my brother were coming home.  They were just learning Spanish and "bennies" diaz stumped them.

Ha! Mrs AJ decided to take the kids to Lake Farm Park today. Three vs 1. From what I gathered it was the third that was the hellion. Running into restricted areas, letting the chickens eat her fingers, and the sheep eat her shoes, eating lunch with another family.

 

Precious memories.

Ha! Mrs AJ decided to take the kids to Lake Farm Park today. Three vs 1. From what I gathered it was the third that was the hellion. Running into restricted areas, letting the chickens eat her fingers, and the sheep eat her shoes, eating lunch with another family.

 

Precious memories.

 

my nephew loves that place.  Llamas and alpacas oh joy.

We went on a 1.5 picnic and hike today with the baby, it was so much fun.  But MAN was it hot carrying him in the carrier all that time.  He slept most of the way.  It was beautiful out.

We went on a 1.5 picnic and hike today with the baby, it was so much fun.  But MAN was it hot carrying him in the carrier all that time.  He slept most of the way.  It was beautiful out.

 

Is baby RNR standing yet? 

Not on his own.  He loves to stand and lean on things.  Bath time is much easier now for example, because I stand him up in the tub, then pick him up and stand him the same way, facing away, on the bathmat so he can hang on to the edge of the tub, then I can dry him standing up. He's at that age where he screams whenever you try to lay him down on his back, so the standing advances are quite welcome.  It's a bit of a challenge putting the diaper on while standing though.  Hilarious.

Not on his own.  He loves to stand and lean on things.  Bath time is much easier now for example, because I stand him up in the tub, then pick him up and stand him the same way, facing away, on the bathmat so he can hang on to the edge of the tub, then I can dry him standing up. He's at that age where he screams whenever you try to lay him down on his back, so the standing advances are quite welcome.  It's a bit of a challenge putting the diaper on while standing though.  Hilarious.

 

He's a few months away from being a walking paper chaser.  Nothing at his eye level will be safe!

 

Changing diapers is one thing I do not miss.  That reminds me of when my oldest nephew would wake me by bring me his soiled diaper.  He would never wake up his parents, just me and the Ex.  He would stand at the side of the bed and repeat, "mire!" over and over and over and over, in this little kid creepy whisper voice.  I would always say, "if you can take it off you should be able to use the potty" he would just laugh. I knew he was f*ckin' with me!  I dont miss that at all, although, now its funny.

It's a bit of a challenge putting the diaper on while standing though. Hilarious.

The trick is to hook up the sides of the diaper ahead of time and then pull it up like underwear. I don't know how long it took me to figure that out, and when I told the wife what I'd done she looked at me like I was stupid for not figuring it out faster.

It's a bit of a challenge putting the diaper on while standing though.  Hilarious.

The trick is to hook up the sides of the diaper ahead of time and then pull it up like underwear. I don't know how long it took me to figure that out, and when I told the wife what I'd done she looked at me like I was stupid for not figuring it out faster.

 

LMAO!

It's a bit of a challenge putting the diaper on while standing though. Hilarious.

The trick is to hook up the sides of the diaper ahead of time and then pull it up like underwear. I don't know how long it took me to figure that out, and when I told the wife what I'd done she looked at me like I was stupid for not figuring it out faster.

 

Doesn't work with cloth diapers.  You have to be pretty careful/thorough how you attach them or else you can get leaks, you kind of have to do it lying down.  I can get it mostly on with him standing, and then I only have to lay him down to adjust/make sure everything is tight around the leg gussets and maybe re-adjust the tabs.  I've found if I make loud quacking noises, or sometimes barking, he laughs his ass off for some reason, so I have to put it on with him standing and leaning on me, and then lay him down and go QUACK QUACK QUACK until I have it adjusted, while he's having hysterics.  It certainly is different having a kid.  Luckily, I was nuts to begin with.

It's a bit of a challenge putting the diaper on while standing though.  Hilarious.

The trick is to hook up the sides of the diaper ahead of time and then pull it up like underwear. I don't know how long it took me to figure that out, and when I told the wife what I'd done she looked at me like I was stupid for not figuring it out faster.

 

Doesn't work with cloth diapers.  You have to be pretty careful/thorough how you attach them or else you can get leaks, you kind of have to do it lying down.  I can get it mostly on with him standing, and then I only have to lay him down to adjust/make sure everything is tight around the leg gussets and maybe re-adjust the tabs.  I've found if I make loud quacking noises, or sometimes barking, he laughs his ass off for some reason, so I have to put it on with him standing and leaning on me, and then lay him down and go QUACK QUACK QUACK until I have it adjusted, while he's having hysterics.  It certainly is different having a kid. Luckily, I was nuts to begin with.

 

We wont dispute that!  LOL

Pot, meet kettle :)

Pot, meet kettle :)

 

Honey, isn't that a prerequisite for being an UrbanOhio member?  And, keep in mind, if you joined UO after December 31, 2006 you were required to produce offspring that's a lil nutty as well!