A New Name

I've decided the blog needs a new name. I kind of like the idea of using "pitter patter", or a nursery rhyme, or a play on our names. Any suggestions?

Vitamins (My Mom Is So Smart!)

I wanted to share a tip from my super smart mom with all of you mom's out there. I've struggled since Lily was tiny with giving her vitamins. Her pediatrician said it was a good idea to give her Vitamin D since it's the one thing she needs that's not in breast milk. I tried a few times when she was really little, but she just spit them out and they made a huge disgusting mess and ruined her clothes. I talked to the pediatrician about it and she said not to stress, but to give them when I can. I have to admit that I haven't really tried again.

The other day I was discussing this with my mom. She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You should give them to her in the bath tub". Duh. Why did I never think of that? I can give them to her when she is in the tub and there is no risk of mess if she spits them out.

P.S. Today is Lily's half birthday! It seems to be flying by!

Lily's Sick! :(

I know I posted a few weeks ago about Lily's first cold, but I think I was wrong. I don't think that was a cold at all. NOW Lily really does have a cold, and so do I. It is no fun for either of us, but I honestly think it's good that I have it at the same time because I can understand and sympathize with how she feels.

I was thinking this morning how disconcerting that sore throat, achy head, stuffy nose feeling must be when you've never had it before. When you don't understand what is going on. When you can't blow your nose to get some relief. When you feel like your parents are torturing you to boot with nasal bulbs and thermometers. When you don't know if it will ever go away. My poor baby!

Bedtime Blues and Bedtime Bliss

Bedtime has become an interesting struggle at our house. I'm not sure if Lily is starting to have some separation anxiety, is learning to manipulate us, or is legitimately upset for some reason, but for over a week she has been fighting going to sleep. We would lay her down in the crib at night or for naps and she would scream. Sometimes it would only last five minutes and sometimes it would require multiple trips into the room to soothe her. It didn't matter if I rocked her or nursed her until she was asleep (which I don't love getting in the habit of), as soon as her head hit the mattress the screaming would begin. It didn't even matter if I tried to lay her in the bed beside me (which I also don't want to become a habit, but is nice for a nap), as soon as she was out of my arms she would scream.

She even did it last night in the middle of the night, which was one of the first times ever she hasn't just gone right back to bed after nursing during the night (I know...I know...parents everywhere are groaning and saying in their best "lucky" in their best Napolean Dynamite voices). I finally just laid her down and let her "cry it out" at which point she preceded to dose between fits of crying for about a half hour before she finally fell asleep and slept the rest of the night. It was rough, though. I hate hearing her cry, especially at 1:30am. It is in those instances that I really wish she could tell me what was going on. I had no way to know if she was legitimately hungry, not feeling well, or just overly tired.

Tonight, however, I just put her to bed and after feeding her, and she didn't fuss at all. She smiled as I put her in the crib and played about five minutes before falling asleep. It was blissful, but I have no idea what was different from last night's bedtime battle. I think one of the hardest things about parenting for me is realizing that it's not an exact science. I can do the exact same thing tomorrow and get a different result! That is hard. I want to find the formula for blissful bedtimes and repeat it!

Nursingwear

One of my friends who is expecting her second baby asked me about nursingwear today. She struggled with what to sleep in during the time she was nursing her first little one and wondered what I did to prevent the inevitable nighttime leakage. I thought I would take this opportunity to share what I think is a great find...Gillian O'Malley nursing bras and tanks from Target!

I got one tank to take to the hospital and wore it the entire five days we were there (gross I know, but desperate times...). I then went to Target and bought one in every available color. They are only $17, much less than at maternity specialty stores, and I love them! I sleep in them at night and even wear them under clothes many days. I'm not in need of a ton of support, but find they fit tightly enough to prevent any unsightly bouncing or leaking even when it's been a while since I've nursed or pumped. They are also nice to wear under another shirt because I can lift that shirt up to feed her and still have my midsection covered by the tank which has easy to open shoulder snaps for quick one handed access. Perfect!

I also purchased two of the nursing sleep bras. They are also only $17 and really nice.I find that I can wear these, not only at night, but also during the day time for many of the same reasons mentioned above about the tank. They are comfortable, provide good support, and make it easy to nurse. I actually have two expensive nursing bras from another store, but do not like them or wear it them much as the ones from Target. One of them has hook and eye shoulder clasps which are impossible to open with one hand making it quite frustrating when trying to feed and hold a hungry squirming baby. The other has a double layer design with a little padding sewn between that is always getting bunched up and needs to be smoothed out. The only thing I don't like about the Target on is that it comes up pretty high and isn't what you would call "sexy".

In an effort to have a nursing bra that was also a "sexy" bra, I did purchase one of the Gillian O'Malley soft cup nursing bras. Which sounds comfortable, but I've only worn it once, and it was not. Of course that may be because I got the wrong size. I think I was thinking of my size before nursing and bought it without trying it on. It could also be that I've gotten used to wearing the sleep bras and tanks and any normal bra would feel uncomfortable. I took the tags off and washed it before wearing it, so now I'm stuck with it. I may try to get another one in a better size and see how that goes. I do get a bit tired of only wearing full coverage sporty bras all the time!

Another great nursing find: Johnson and Johnson nursing pads. For someone like me without a huge chest they are perfect. I started out saying I was only going to use the fabric washable kind to eliminate waste and cost, but I found that early on they were rough and stayed damp and irritated where I was already irritated. They also don't have adhesive and managed to migrate to around my navel during the night! I found that the Lanisol ones were too big and bunch up under my bra leaving visable lines through my clothes. The others brands didn't have adhesive, see above comment. The Johnson and Johnson's are soft, a good size, and stay put! I only use one pair a day, and I do sometimes use the fabric ones now when I'm home during the day to ease my consience. :)

New Car Seat Guidelines

This morning on the Today show, a representative from the American Academy of Pediatrics went over the new car seat guidelines and I have to admit I was surprised. This is very different than what I have been told previously. Check it out!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sage Advice

On Thursday night I received some of the best advice about child rearing I've received to date! It was from a friend who adopted her son from Korea when he was six months old. While decorating cupcakes, we were talking about babies and sleep. I knew that sleep was initially a struggle for them, but that her son is now a pretty good sleeper. She started out saying that she couldn't really offer me much advice about bedtimes and such for Lily because she hasn't ever had a five month old baby, but then pointed out that even though she had absolutely no input into her son's first six months, he is now a healthy and well adjusted four year old. She extrapolated to the fact that you really can't screw them up too bad in those first six months. As someone who has struggled with the fear that I'm making wrong choices that will impact Lily in the future, I found that quite reassuring and encouraging! I will admit that those fears are quickly diminishing as time goes on and I've come to learn that everything with babies changes daily and that what is the "right" choice today might not be tomorrow. I do wish that she had given me that advice months ago! :)

A Confession

I have a confession to make. I went shopping tonight for a friend's baby shower this weekend. After much shopping, I left the store without purchasing the gift for them, but with $40 in new clothes for Lily! Here's the problem. My friends are not finding out the gender of their baby. The particular store we were in had exactly three things that were gender neutral, but they had a ton of adorable girl things! And Lily needed some things! ;)

She needed some pants (and these also roll up into capris).

They have her favorite kind of jammies on sale (yes, her is in italics because they are really my favorite jammies).

She needed an Easter dress. Ok...maybe she already has a dress that could be her Easter dress, but I may save it to be her dedication dress and then she would need an Easter dress!

Her grandparents got her some cute dress shoes, so she has to have some cute ruffle socks to go with them!

I'll admit that the Easter onsie was a bit of a splurge since she already has an Easter outfit, but it was too cute to resist and only $5! I actually originally was going to buy it for my friend, but I am not a hundred percent sure her baby will arrive before Easter.

How is that for justifying my confession! I'll admit that Lily probably doesn't need all of those clothes. I was probably the one who was seeking some retail therapy, and, since her clothes are much cuter, cheaper, and easier to find a correct fit than mine, I now buy for her instead of me. I'll go back tomorrow and get a gift for my friend. Who knows...I may even return something, I'll have to double check the budget!

The Results are In

Last week I ran a little poll about bedtime and babies. I really enjoy seeing the results of these polls and finding out what other families do. As it turns out 7pm is the most common bedtime among my readers with 8pm a close second. Lately we've been shooting for 7:30, but winding up closer to 8. I wish I had asked how many of you were strict about bedtime at this age. To that end, I've decided to add a follow up poll. Please vote to the right!

In terms of bedtime stories there was a tie between sometimes and every night. Two people responded never. I'm not sure if that means that some people didn't read to their child at all, that they didn't read at bedtime, or that they didn't read stories. The English teacher in me feels the need to remind you that reading to your kids even at this very young age is important! When I ask my students their favorite story from their childhood it us undoubtedly the ones that don't have one that struggle to read in my class. It doesn't have to be bedtime or even children's stores, but read your kid the newspaper, or Harry Potter, or whatever you are reading!

In terms of bath time almost everyone bathes their baby at bedtime. No one said morning or mid day, but I did have two people respond "other". Josh asked me what other meant and I told him it was probably people like us who bathe the baby when they notice she is dirty! :) Again, I wish I had asked the bath frequency, so please vote in the follow up poll to the right. I'm sort of ashamed of how rarely we bathe her, usually twice a week, but she really doesn't get that dirty and I'd hate to dry out her skin. She always gets a bath after a big dirty diaper!

Let me know if you, like me, enjoy these polls and I'll keep one going. Also let me know if you have a question you'd like to ask.

Let's go for a Hike!

Whenever my backpacking loving father comes to visit, we must go to REI. Today was no different, except it was the annual Garage Sale. Unbeknownst to us, this yearly event, where they open up their back room and sell off all of the returned merchandise, is a pretty big deal. Apparently there was a line starting early this morning to get a number to get in, but, by the time we were there at 4pm, it was fairly cleaned out.

My dad still managed to find a pair of gently used Vasque hiking boots (which are supposedly pretty good) for $10. But the most amazing find of all was a Sherpani backpack child carrier for $35! These things usually retail for $150-$200, and the only reason it was returned is because the previous user thought it was uncomfortable. It looks like it was hardly used! It was posted at $70, but they agreed to give it to us for half price since the day was drawing to a close and apprently this was its second garage sale. We couldn't say no.

Josh and Dad have been trying for a while to convince me to go backpacking, but I have to admit I was less than interested. I would not have dreamed of paying full price for one of these packs and didn't really think we'd ever use one. After putting Lily in the pack and toting her around the store to her delight, however, I'm ready to go for a hike!

11 Hours!

I know...I know...we are crazy lucky, and I hate to gloat, but Lily has slept a glorious eleven hours the past two nights! Another new mom asked me today what our secret is and I honestly have absolutely no idea. It's funny because my last post and the accompanying polls were part of my attempt to discover the secret to baby sleep.

As previously posted, Lily had been waking up around 5:30am for a while. I then started putting her to bed earlier (around 7:30) and she was waking up around 3am. Then, Wednesday night, I went to an Ash Wednesday service and left her with Josh. He put her to bed around 7:30 and she slept until 6:30 the next morning. It was marvelous (despite the fact that I had trouble sleeping from 4am on thanks to the fact my body was used to nursing at 3). I joked that he was in charge of putting her to bed from now on!

Then last night I put her to bed around 8:30pm. She did wake up briefly and abnormally around 9:30pm (perhaps from a bad dream or gas?) and I had to briefly soothe her back to sleep, but after that she slept and I had to wake her up after 7:15 this morning to feed her before I left for work. I actually slept until my alarm clock went off. It was fantastic.

I have no idea what is making the difference. We are feeding her cereal now at least once a day, but we have done that for more than a week. We have also been reading her stories at night, but I don't really see how that could make her sleep longer. It might most possibly have something to do with swaddling. The last two nights we have left arms out when we swaddle her, but I'm not sure about the swaddle choice since it allows her to roll around more (last night while falling asleep, she did a full 360 degree rotation in her crib) and potentially, although it hasn't happened yet, roll over. I think that could be bad since she tends to get fussy when she rolls to her stomach. Josh noted, however, that it allows her to suck her thumb (another new habit which she even tries to do when nursing) and sooth herself when she wakes up or to play rather than to fuss, which is nice.

I'm sorry I don't have some magic formula to offer other moms. Heck, I wish I knew what made it happen so I can make sure we keep doing it. But, as I'm learning is true with many baby related things, there is no rhyme or reason. Whatever the reason, I am grateful for it and pray it continues!

Bed Time

I'm conducting a little bedtime research. Please give me your feedback in the polls on the right or leave a comment below. For all of the questions, imagine a six month old baby. Thanks!

Lily's Friends

There were a surprising number of babies born within a few months of Lily. Lily and I have been hanging out quite a bit with other moms with babies around Lily's age. It's is fun for all! Lily loves to grab her friends, although I'm not sure how much they love it, and I enjoy hanging out with other people who get peed on and constantly have spit up somewhere on their clothing! :)

One of my favorite things about hanging out with other moms is the affirmation that we offer each other. You can read about what to do in books. Your husband can even offer his two cents. But there is just something about another mom with a happy baby who affirms that it is ok to only wash bottles in hot soapy water and not sanitize them, or to only bathe your baby every third day.

Of course all of our babies are different. Some babies poop every day while others blow out diapers every three days. Some love being on their tummies, others their backs. Some nurse for fifteen minutes, some for thirty. At one point, this would all have concerned me and I would wonder why my baby isn't like theirs, but I'm slowly learning that it is what makes each baby unique and special, not a sign that anything is wrong with any baby.

I can't wait to watch all of these little ones grow up and develop into their own little people. Lily is a lucky girl to have so many friends!

*Pictures are of Lily and Elorie Minter and Noah & Abby Stephens respectfully. Laurel and Christine...send me pics of Hud and Autumn with Lily and I'll add them!

Super Baby Food - Super Annoying

Ok...I know some of you loved this book, but I am really struggling to read it. Don't get me wrong. It has some really good ideas and I agree with the basic premise (That store bought baby food is unnecessary and it's easy to make nutritious food for your baby at home), but I'm only five chapters in, and I have some two big issues with this book.

The first is the way it is organized, or I should say, the way it is disorganized. I don't know who the editor was for this book, but they did not do their job. On almost every page of the book, there are references to other pages. For example, on page 13 alone it says " see page 142", "see page 207", "see page 69", and "see page 427". As a reader, I have no idea if I need to go to those pages now to understand or if I should just keep reading until I get there. I also feels like the author repeats things a lot and even contradicts herself.

At one point she mentions letting a baby teeth on a carrot while on another page it is listed as a choking hazard, on another as something that shouldn't be a first food because of nitrites, and on another as not recommended because of pesticides. I actually laughed out loud when, at the end of a section on meat in the food safety section, which doesn't even mention safe meat handling, the note says not to eat rhubarb leaves. I just feel like this author needed to put in more time refining her ideas and organizing those ideas into logical sections.

The second thing that really bothers me about this book is the alarmist perspective that this author takes. Almost every page has two to three WARNING sections (yes, she uses bold all caps!). Often these contradict what she has just written. For example she does mention banana as a good first food she also says "some experts caution that the sweet taste of bananas may give your baby a "sweet tooth" and "some experts recommend against feeding a young baby bananas because of fungicides...banana skins are porous, allowing fungicides to be absorbed into the flesh."

Many of the WARNINGS are just plain common sense ("don't lean with your back on the range top or reach over the stove if you have long hair"). Others don't seem to make sense ("feeding your baby one food for too long a time may produce a sensitivity in him to that food"). There is also Chapter 5, which is an entire chapter on kitchen Safety. In this chapter she suggests that if you break a glass, after you vacuum, you should walk around bare foot to make sure you get all of the shards!

I'm not saying that all of her ideas are bad. It's just that the language she uses makes it hard for me to take her seriously. The final straw for me was this quote from the safety section:
"Do NOT keep poisonous household cleaning products in your home, grandma's home, the baby sitter's house, or any other place your child may be...see the recipes for non-toxic...cleaning products in the chapter Children are More Important than the Carpet beginning on page 474."
Seriously, I'm supposed to go to my mother-in-laws and make her get rid of her Pine Sol and Scrubbing Bubbles? It's just too extreme for me, I'm putting it down and walking away. I may come back later for some of the recipes in the back for toddler food.

Advice

I have several friends who are expecting or recently had their first baby. Last night, while feeding Lily, I began thinking about what sort of things I would want them to know. I know from personal experience, however, that a lot of people offer a lot of different advice and it should all be taken with a grain of salt. So, rather than peppering my friends with it, here is my two cents. Take it or leave it!

1. You have no idea how much you will love your baby. You might have really wanted children, like I did. You might think you love your unborn baby. You may even question how much you love her the first few days or even weeks (I did...it's normal). But a month out, or five months out, you will love her way more than you ever imagined possible.

2. Natural birth is completely possible. I think that as a laboring mother, your body knows what to do not only physically, but also mentally. I honestly do not remember much of the pain of labor at all, even despite being induced. I'm glad I did it and would do it again.

3. Stick out nursing, but formula isn't evil. I really wanted to nurse Lily. It wasn't easy, but I stuck it out, and I am super glad I did. Still, at the same time, a little formula at the beginning was just what she needed and it still makes my life easier from time to time. It has not hurt her in any way.

4. It's good to have a plan, but expect it to change. I had not planned on being induced. I had not planned on Lily being in the NICU. I had not planned on her not nursing well. I like to plan, and was very upset when things went against my plan. But, and I can say this now in hindsight, none of it was really a big deal. I have a very healthy happy baby!

5. There is no "wrong" choice to make. I would get all caught up and afraid to make a decision about what to do for Lily (especially in the bedtime realm) for fear of making the wrong decision.

6. Don't read too much. The is related to #5. I read way too many books which frequently contradicted each other. At one point I was laying in bed debating whether or not I should let Lily cry herself to sleep, and reading both La Leche League and Babywise!This left me in a state of analysis paralysis. One of the best moms I know told me her secret what that she didn't read anything, but trusted her own instincts!

7. Things will change. I think that a lot of new parent stress is caused by feeling like the way your baby is now (especially if she is now fussy, or not sleeping, or not eating) is the way she will always be. Babies change moment to moment.

8. You don't need a ton of gear, but there are a few pieces that I love. I don't really think what type of diapers (although I'd avoid Babies R Us brand) or formula (although I like organic) you use matters. You'll get clothes. You'll get toys. These items, however, I don't think I could live without!

Moby Wrap - This has been magic for Lily. When she was little and fussy, she would sleep in it when nothing else would do. Now that she doesn't love sitting in her stoller, I can take her shopping or on other outings in it and she is totally happy! I dread the day when she doesn't fit in it anymore.

Swaddleme Swaddles - Sleep magic!

Snap N Go Stroller Frame - it is so easily portable!

Bouncy Seat - it's pretty easy to move around (in the kitchen when cooking, in the bathroom when showering, etc.) and Lily loves to sit in hers.