My Big, Expensive Bouncer...

Hey guys...it's me, Jax! I thought I'd break in to Mom's blog for a minute and say "Hey!" or "ba ba ma bbbblah!" (which means Hey in baby-speak).

Actually, I wanted to share with you all my cool bouncer.  It's got everything on it.  Music, lights, toys that rattle and shake, some of those ring things that hang down in my face, a spinning frog and a mirror.  A lilttle guy like me couldn't really ask for more.  Good thing that someone loves my parents enough to get this for them...because I've started spending a LOT of time in here...see how happy I am?


Yeah, I like it.  But I haven't shared with you the BEST part of this toy with you yet.  I'm going to, don't worry.  Ijust need to watch and see what Mickey and Goofy are up to on Playhouse Clubhouse for a second...pause for literally two seconds that the TV actually keeps his attention...and I'm back.  OK.  So we've talked about the cool stuff on the exersaucer/bouncer thing.  It's got tons of good stuff...but the best, the absolute BEST feature ever is...


What's that?  You can't see what I'm playing with?  Here...let's try this picture...


Now can you see?!?  Yep, you got it.  The best part of my expensive bouncer is THE TAG that hangs on one of the straps.  A lot of parents mess up and actually cut this awesome toy off of their bouncer before giving it to their little boys and girls...but not my Mom.  She's pretty smart.  She knew that this little hanging tag would give me endless entertainment (or at least an extra 5 minutes) so that I enjoy my bouncer even more. 

Isn't she great? 

And to top it all off, she spends that extra time doing great things for me like washing my bottles, mixing up more bottles, getting my food ready or folding all of my clothes.  Oh, and she takes out the trash that smells from my stinky diapers...she's really great. You should get one just like her! 

OK - I'm getting bored with this blogging stuff...is it time for me eat yet?!?! 

The Night That Sleep Almost Wasn’t

Does your little one have a special item? You know, a cuddly blanket, snuggly stuffed animal or bedraggled teether blankie that he/she won’t go anywhere without? Especially when the going is to bed? Let me introduce you to mine…

source

I apologize for the stock picture instead of a shot of my very own Swaddle Me blanket…but Brent left it at day care yesterday, so it wasn't available for the photo shoot. You might be thinking to yourself that it’s not a big deal to leave something like that at day care. If you ARE thinking that, then you obviously answered “No” to the question posed above regarding “special items.”

Because if you do have a little one that has a special item, then you’ll understand why I went into immediate Freak Out mode at 8:17pm CST last night. I mean, our household got deathly quiet when I asked “Hey, hon? Where’s his swaddle blanket? You know, the blue one…”

Later on, after the meltdown that occurred shortly after I realized that we didn’t have the special item for the night, Brent compared hearing that question with getting a speeding ticket. You know how it is: you’re speeding, you pass the cop, he hits his brakes and the bottom falls out of your stomach. Sort of a deer-in-the-headlights type of feeling. When you KNOW that you messed up. And messed up BIG.


Jax has the swaddle blanket (color: blue, size: small, fabric: micro-fleece) and I swear to you that the makers of the Swaddle Me blanket/wrap puts baby crack somewhere in my blanket. It honestly has special, magical powers for my son. He can be fussy, whiny, cranky, and/or tired and you wrap him up in that blanket and the world slowly falls away and ceases to exist for him. In a matter of seconds, he’s quiet, content and usually asleep. I don’t know what it is about the blanket, but we call it “magic” in our house!

You see, my little man is a wiggly worm. He likes to be bundled up tight, but everyone needs to watch out if he manages to get loose. For a few weeks, the big hospital blankets that they “donated” to us worked great, but then he got strong enough to work his arms out of them. The Swaddle Me blanket is perfect because with the Velcro keeping it closed, he’s not going anywhere! And he sleeps SO much better when he’s all bundled up and his energy is being contained…so therefore, he sleeps in the swaddle blanket each and every single night.


And apparently it’s just that ONE Swaddle Me blanket…I mistakenly thought that all Swaddle Me blankets were one and the same, but on no – they’re not. Don’t make my mistake and think that you can go to Babies R Us to buy a “back up” swaddle blanket…it won’t work. I bought two. I thought that Jax was growing out of the one that we had, and that it would be nice for day care to have their own to keep there and then we would keep one at home. So I bought two – in the larger size and the cotton material, thinking that he would be more comfortable with more room and a more breathable fabric.

That was mistake numero uno. Apparently all Swaddle Me blankets are NOT made the same. He’s gotten to where he’ll take it during the daytime for naps, if, and only if, we insist. This is after two washings (in an attempt to “shrink” it a bit) and many, many times of wrapping him up in it and then taking it off to replace it with the baby crack one eventually. But he will NOT take anything but the baby crack one at night to sleep in. Nothing else works.

So can you now understand my level of panic when I realized that Brent had not brought said baby crack magic blanket home from the day care, right? And maybe now you understand why Brent slept with one eye open last night…just kidding!

I held back any scathing comments that I could have made to Brent when I realized his grave mistake…that took a lot, it really did. I simply went and found one of the poor substitutes for the “magic” blanket and settled in for a long night. I tried the green one first – no, I’m not really sure why I thought the color was important. Next, I tried the blue one – it didn’t work any better than the green one, duh! Finally, in an attempt to “make things right,” Brent came in and used his “burrito baby” skills with one of the hospital blankets. He also volunteered to get up and re-burrito Jax during the middle of the night for me…since he WAS the one that left the baby crack blanket at day care…

It took three different tries with three different blankets, an hour of my time, around 1,374 rocks of the glider and a good dose of patience to get him to sleep last night. I was worn out by the end of the “battle” between the Mommy-who-wants-her-baby-to-sleep and the baby-that-isn’t-in-his-normal-comfy-cozy-cocoon. I was so tired that I brushed my teeth, pumped one last time, and crawled into bed to sleep in sleep-of-the-dead mode until he woke up to eat at 2:30am.

Lucky for me, when he wakes in the middle of the night to eat, he’s not really awake. I mean, he cries and he’s hungry and his eyes are open, but he’s still somewhat asleep all at the same time. Interpret that to read that he’s easier to put back to sleep and that he’s less picky about which blanket he’s wrapped in. The poor substitutes got their chance to shine at 3am…

Two good things came out of this…well maybe three. Jax proved his point that he’s a better baby when the baby crack blanket is around. We proved our point that he CAN and WILL sleep without the “magic” blanket, if needed. And lastly, I don’t think that Brent will EVER leave the Swaddle Me blanket at day care again!

Toys Lead to Sleep???

At least, that's what happens when I get Jax new toys!

I was at Wal-Mart yesterday doing some shopping and I remembered that I wanted to get a play mat for Jax with some of the leftover shower $$ from Wal-Mart that I hadn't spent yet. I detoured back to the baby department, I'd already been there for formula and diapers, and quickly found several options.

I went with one that had things hanging down to "hit" for both the hands and the feet as that seemed like more fun to me, and it was part of the Ocean Wonders theme so it was more non-gender specific. But what do I know, huh? Anyway, it was a 3-in-1 sort of play mat, as it can be used while they're on their backs, then for tummy time and once they're crawling, you can rearrange it to make a little tube-thingy for them to crawl through. Sounds like fun, right?

Well, we set it up last night during his normal fussy time...and it was a "No Go." He didn't want to have anything to do with it. At. All.

Since I'm known for my stubborness, and because I spent $25 on the thing, I tried again this morning when he was in a happier mood. At first, he just stared at the toys hanging down...and then up at me as I moved them around and made them jingle and jangle and do their thing. Then he "hit" one - as in, he flailed his arm out and it made contact by total accident. I would love to say that he was hooked from then on, but I'd be lying.

He wasn't unimpressed like the night before, but I think that he was more interested in all of the colors and designs on the actual mat that he could see when he rolled onto his side. He stared down those fish for a good 15 minutes in blissful contentment...which allowed me to start the dishwasher, sterilize some bottles, start a load of laundry and then fold two loads of laundry. Score!

Then I grabbed my laptop and sat down on the floor beside him to do some banking and catch up on my Reader. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that he'd gotten really still...imagine my surprise when I look over and see this:
Yep, he was SO super impressed with his new play mat that he decided it was the best place to take a nap. I could try to delude myself and say that he played so hard that he just wore himself out...but I would know that I was lying. And lying to yourself is never a good thing! LOL.

Oh well, at least he enjoyed it for a little while, right?

Tummy Time - Love/Hate?

Well, I'm hoping that this is normal for most babies...so I'll ask my other Moms out there and see what kind of response I get.

Does your infant love...or hate...tummy time?

Jax passed his one month mark last week, actually almost a week and a half ago so we tried tummy time for a little while this past weekend. I can't really say with any degree of believability that it was a rousing success. He does SO well holding his head up off of our shoulders now that I thought that it was time to try some tummy time. But maybe I jumped the gun a bit.

Here's some pics so that you can decide...At first he's just hanging out, not really sure what's going on...

Then he's like "Hey, what a minute...something's different here."

He does manage to lift his head up and turn it a few times, just checking out the situation...

And now he's NOT that happy with this new thing!

Finally, he's back in his "normal" position on his Boppy and he's thinking "Now THIS is more like it!"

Yeah, I know that he's still cute, Mom...but I don't really think that he was all that crazy about tummy time.

Maybe that's just the way that it's supposed to be at first. You try new things and since it's a new thing, they're not sure how to respond. Maybe he'll grow to like it. And yes, we tried it both with the Boppy and without the Boppy...there wasn't much difference in how he reacted. It was all around a "what the heck are you doing NOW you crazy lady?" look on his face no matter if I used the pillow or not.

Oh well. I'm sure it won't be the last time in his life that he has THAT thought!! LOL!

So what do you think Moms...did your little one take to tummy time immediately, or did he/she grow to love it? Or would getting one of those tummy time play mats maybe help things out? I hadn't thought about that before...or maybe am I trying tummy time a bit too early?

What do you think?

Some of My Favorite Things

No, not rain drops on roses or whiskers on kittens - although those things are great too!

But I'm talking about some of my favorite baby items. Some of these are things that I bought for myself, some where things that I registered for and some where thoughtful gifts from friends/family that have become things that I couldn't live without. I know that this list will change and evolve over time as he gets older and moves into different stages, but I thought that I'd share what I have been loving the most during this first month.

Here you go!

Microwavable bottle sterilizer bags - I saw these on OMGMom's blog found here. (I'm not even going to tell you to follow her, because I can't believe that there are people out there that don't know about her! She cracks me up daily!) I took her suggestion to heart and bought some of these myself, and she was right. How convenient - they're small, taking up no space in my limited-counter-space-kitchen, fold up well for travel (although I haven't really gone anywhere) and they're cheap. I got mine at Target (the Munchkin brand, but there are other brands) for like $5 - that included 6 of the bags that can be re-used 20 times. There's even a chart on the back of the bag for you to mark the uses on so that your sleep-deprived brain doesn't actually have to try and remember when you've used it 20 times. Great for bottles and breatfeeding pump parts/accessories.

Bottle Draining Tray - this is something that was gifted to me that I did NOT register for. Had I known about such a thing, though, it totally would have been on my registry! It's been a lifesaver for me, and I can't imagine washing bottles without it. Not to mention that it's SO cute because it looks like a little patch of wheat grass! My friend (find her blog here) gifted this to me, and warned me that she normally doesn't buy gifts that aren't registered for, but that she saw this and couldn't resist. I mean, isn't it the cutest? You simply wash your bottles, then put them on the grass mat to air dry. Once they're dry, I use the sterilizer bags to sterilize and then the bottles go back on the grass mat to finish drying. Every so often, I drain the water out, and it's easy-peasy. Yes, I know that you can dry bottles in your normal dish drainer, but I like having a seperate place just for the bottles. I mean, who knows when the last time I cleaned my dish drainer was? Plus, being a more compact size, this is easier to clean. I just love it and would recommend it to any new mom!

Medela Nipple Shields - I've already written about these wonderful devices here. I won't say more, you can read about their wonderfulness over on that post.

Hospital blankets - these beauties, I stole. Yep, I'm admitting that I have a problem. Although technically, Brent stole them. But it was at my suggestion. They're the perfect weight in thickness (not too cool or too hot) and unlike other receiving blankets that you buy, they're a perfect square. Which makes them the BEST blankets EVER for swaddling. Even better than those pre-preapred snuggly things. Seriously, trust me on this one. You pay for the stuff either way, so you might as well take home two or three. Or five or six like we did! We literally use one every single day. The Boppy Pillow - this has been my new BFF. He literally spent the entire first week of his life in this pillow. Yeah, it wasn't until last week (that's three weeks old) that I finally saw the big SLEEP with a big, red "X" marked across it in reference to letting babies sleep in the Boppy pillow. I hope that I'm not castrated for doing this, but I honestly didn't see the warning. But in my defense, he can't roll over, when he's placed on his back the worst that can happen is that he can get all scrunched down in the middle - but we watch him really close for that and readjust him when needed. I promise! Either way, now that I know about the sleep warning - I still let him sleep in there during the day - he just loves it so much!

Swing - this is the swing that we have by Graco. You don't have to use the same swing that we do, but I can recommend it. It was super easy to assemble and the batteries don't run out quite as fast as I was worried that they would. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to buy me some rechargable D batteries as soon as I remember to get them the next time I go to the store! Anyway, we just assembled his swing last week and so far it seems to be a hit. The swing has 6 adjustable swing levels, as well as both music and nature sounds and the cradle part also has two vibrating speeds. Love that! Most of the time when we put him into the swing, he goes right to sleep. It's not 100% reliable as a means to stop the crying, but for the most part he loves it! Thanks Mom!

So that's it for now. Like I said earlier, I'm sure that as he grows and his needs change, my list of Favorite Things will also change, but for the first month, I don't think that I could have made it without these things! I hope this helps you out!

May I Recommend?

This little gadget...

What is that, you ask? Well, I'll tell you - it's my new Best Friend! I'm only sort of joking...

Seriously though, it's the Medela Nipple Shield, and it comes in three or four sizes, so that it fits your niple perfectly. And I think that it has seriously made breastfeeding easier on both myself and my little one.

I promise that I'm working on gathering my thoughts on breastfeeding into a post. There are some people that are pro-breast, and some that are not. I think that I might have a unique perspective on the whole subject as someone who did NOT breastfeed her first child, but is doing it this time around - and it sort of took me by surprise that I'm doing it this time.

But while I'm still working on that post, I thought that I'd share this little guy with you. You can find it sometimes at Target, but usually at Babies R Us or a Medela dealer/store, and it retails for $20 on the Medela site online, but I'm pretty sure that I paid around $10 at BRU...but I would totally pay $20 a piece...and I have three. One for upstairs, one for downstairs and one for the diaper bag.

This shield covers your nipple area (held on by suction) and protects your nipple from some of the harsher side effects of breastfeeding. Now, it says on the product that it's mainly for people with flat/inverted nipples to help the baby latch on...I don't know about that. I've never really thought about my nipples and if they're flat or not. But they gave me one of these at the hospital when Jax and I were both learning how to feed and he was having some trouble getting a good latch.

Since then, I've seen that the shield really could be a lifesaver. Cracked nipples? Little teeth? Not as much of a problem here since you have something between your nipple and the baby. I still do use nipple butter once every other day or so, just as a preventative measure against cracks and soreness, but I've seen no hint of cracks or bleeding and I think that I'm just being overly cautious.

In case you're wondering, the shield is BPA/DEHP free...just like most bottles today, so you're safe there. And my little guy? He doesn't mind it at all. In fact, I think that it maybe helps him avoid nipple confusion when he takes a bottle of breast milk at certain times - either when we're out or so someone else can feed him while I get some zzzz's.

And those zzzz's are SO precious these days!

I just thought that I'd share that product with you other moms out there. Don't hate me if you try it and it's not your cup of tea. I like it, but maybe that's just me!

Just A Little Something

So I ran out of Bath & Body Works hand-soap last night. I typically order this stuff in bulk, so when I run out of soap, it's always sort of shocking. I mean, when you get a BOX of it on your doorstep that lasts several months, it's still somehow shockig when you run out.

Luckily, we were doing a BBQ with friends and Nikki mentioned to me that Bath & Body was running a big 75% off sale. So, after resting most of the morning (after being on my feet all evening cooking my legs/back and right foot were KILLING me!) little Jenna and I took off yesterday afternoon to run some errands.

One of those errands was running into Bath & Body. Score for me - they were still running the sale and they had their hand soap on sale 6 for $20. After scooping up some new scents and old favorites, I noticed that Jenna was captivated by something else. This little guy:

Yep, that's a little rubber casing that you can loop around your purse/back pack. Or a diaper bag, maybe? Since the little bottles were also on sale (5 for $5) Jenna and I both got a holder and each picked out a few scents. For these, I went with some old favorites:

Warm Vanilla Sugar

Coconut Lime Verbena

Midnight Pomegranate

Have you seen those little things? For $.50 I thought that it would make a GREAT addition to my diaper bag, and thought that I'd pass along my "find" for all those other moms-to-be or current moms right now!