Baby

AlternaTickers - Cool, free Web tickers

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - Brains...

... It's what's for dinner. ;)


Nom nom nom

Monday, August 22, 2011

These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things

I've been meaning to write this post for.ev.er. I started it months ago, but I never finish. So I'm freaking finishing it now, geeze.

* Graco Pack N Play
When Cailin was a newborn, she REFUSED to sleep in the bassinet someone gifted me. After 8 weeks of sleeping in my arms, I had Husband bring the PNP in our room. It was set up in the living room, and she would nap just fine in it (sometimes), so one night he brought her in, and laid her down in it, and she slept a few hours before she wanted me to hold her. Then the next night, after a feeding, a few more hours, then a few more the next night. Finally she was sleeping in there every night, all night, until she went to her crib at 4 months old. Should've done it sooner, but I won't lie, I liked bed sharing. It comforted me as well. My back, however, wasn't too happy with it. Now we have just the play pin set up in our living room as a "baby jail". Meaning she's too damn mobile, and can't be left alone for 2 seconds, so we sit her in there with some toys while I brush my teeth or get dressed.

* The Moby Wrap - This is my #1 favorite! I don't use it too much now, at least for long periods of time because she's so heavy, and it is a little hot in the summer, but I 100% recommend this to any mom. I wear used to wear my baby pretty much every where we went. Grocery shopping, a day out, walks, mall, etc etc. Sure, it definitely does take some practice at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. I will say the hardest part to learn are the holds. Keep those directions in your diaper bag until you get the hang of it.

 We use the outward facing Hug Hold the most. She will get pissed if I try to put her facing me. She wants to face outwards and look around. Now that she's bigger, I'll do the hip hold, that way it doesn't kill my back.



* Fisher Price Seahorse 
This was great when she was a  newborn. It helped soothe her to sleep. Of course, I wish it played longer. I did have to go in and restart it 3 times on average, but other than that it's great.


* Fisher Price Little Lamb Swing
She lived in this for a couple months. Worked wonders putting her to sleep. She's grown out of it, and it's been put away for a couple months now, but I would call this a necessity!

* Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair
Awesome. Fits perfectly on our dining room table, and we plan on taking it with us camping in a couple weeks.

* Eddie Bauer Shopping Cart Cover
Love this thing. It has little hooks to attach toys to, as well as a pocket w/a zipper to hide your grocery list and coupons so your baby won't eat them put your keys in. I also love the harness. It was great at holding her up before she was fully sitting up on her own.

* Fisher Price Monkey Toy
Move over, Sophie! This monkey is the star of this household! I saw this toy at her head doctor appointment when she was 2 months old. It's what they used to distract her/keep her still while taking pictures. She loved it. So when I saw it at Target, I had to swoop it up. It's her favorite toy. We don't leave home without him. He has a teething toy, the leave crackles, his tail is a rattle, and his nose plays songs and makes nature sounds. Although I'm still wondering why he ribbits like a frog...  I even bought my friend one for her new baby. I hope he enjoys it as much as Cailin has.

Other Must Haves:
Bouncy Chair. I don't really think it matters what brand. We have a Fisher Price one and it's awesome. A bouncy chair (preferrably one that vibrates) is definitely a must have baby item.
Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo - Fun! Tons of toys and lights and music. Bounces great. She loves it! She also loves the Evenflo jumperoo at my sister in law's.
Boppy Pillow

Fail:
Infantino carrier - not comfortable for either of us. I can't remember which one it is, but I didn't really have high expectations for it. I got it at TJ Maxx on clearance.
Bumbo- She hated it. I tried and tried and tried, and every time she would scream. I really wanted her to like it. I have the tray as well, which is a pain to get on by the way. I've given up on the Bumbo.

Just Okay
:
Sophie the Giraffe - She likes her okay, but she's not a star in our household. Probably could've saved myself that $20.
My Travel System - I will be honest, while pregnant baby stuff overwhelmed me. I wasn't sure what exactly I was looking for, so I just went with a design I liked. I ended up getting the Graco Snugride carseat and matching stroller. The car seat is one of the cheaper models, and while there's nothing wrong with that, I don't like how the straps are so extremely hard to adjust. It doesn't have that loosening part in the front, so it was extremely difficult to get the tightness just right. You don't have the option to loosen it to get her in and out, so it was a pain in thte ass to get her arms in and out, or if she was wearing bulkier clothing, then you had to loosen it from the back, which was extremely difficult. The stroller is too big and bulky. It barely fits in my trunk. I'm thinking about finding a better lightweight stroller. Nothing against Graco. I do like their products, just wish I went for a different model. It did it's job though, so I won't give this a complete fail. Just look for a better model, like the Snugride 32 or 35.

8 Months!


My has she grown this month! I feel like she's learned so many new things this month. She's 19lbs 7oz.I know that because of her last head manipulation appointment this past Thursday. I need to write a post about that.

She's sitting completely now. No falling over. In fact, she's learned how to get herself in the crawling position down so she can go after whatever it is she has her eye on (Gizmo's tail for example). She's getting strong too. She can catch herself if she starts to fall. Really exercising her core! She can also look up at you, or turn her head around w/out falling over as well. She's got sitting down to a T!

Still army crawling, but boy is she fast! She gets up on all fours, but then it's like she gets impatient and just plops down and army crawls to her destination. We really need to get on that baby proofing thing. The only thing we've done is put the little plug thingies in.

She can stand while holding onto something sturdy. She doesn't pull herself up, but she can hold herself up.

She signs "milk"!! I've been teaching her baby signs for the past two months. Milk is probably what I do most, mainly because for a while there she was laughing and making the funniest face when I made that sign, so I would do it over and over again, just to get her silly "milk face". But now, she's understanding. When she's eating solids and she's over it, she starting whining and signing "milk" until we get her the bottle. I'm so proud of her!

 See? Silly milk face right there.

Speaking of solids, she's up to 3 meals a day now. What new things have we tried this month? Chicken. I pureed some chicken with carrots and she actually really seems to love it. I think it makes her a little gassy though. Hmm... what else have we tried lately? Peas, Acorn squash (which she likes better than butternut squash), little bits of mango and plum raw, not pureed as well as little bits of cooked chicken (shredded and cut small). That's really the only new things she's had. She LOVES to feed herself. I'll give her small pieces of avacado or banana (or a mix or with the other things listed above) with some puffs. She goes to town. She seriously loves it! She's really good at it too, I would say more than half ends up in her mouth rather than in her lap or on the floor. AND she's drinking out of a straw now. I realized she could actually do this the other day while sharing some water with her while we were out, and so I went out and got her a straw sippy. My big girl!
Mmmmm!


She's waving as well. She won't really do it on command (she doesn't really do anything on command), but if you sit her infont of a mirror she'll sit there and wave to herself. Super cuteness!

She's finally starting to mimick people. For example, while teaching her how to wave, I swear she said "bye bye" a couple times. I was waving to her saying, "ba-bye", and she said "bye bye". And then I was like, "what? did you just say bye bye?" So I said it to her again, and she said, "bye bye". So yeah, I'm pretty sure she said bye bye. She's also clicking her tounge now. I've been doing this to her for months, but usually she just laughs, now she does it back.

Still in 12 month clothing and still in size 3 diapers.

I finally got her a big girl car seat (and yes, she's still rear facing, I'm not stupid). We ended up getting the Safety 1st Onside Air Covertible in Adeline. I had such a hard time making a decision. This was on sale and had good ratings, so I went with it. It's comfortable and works well.


That's about all I can think of. Here are some more pics for you to enjoy. :)


She is awfully hard to take pictures of these days. She does.not.stay.still.