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{the photos in this post were taken at 3 months}
So if you read this post, you know that we started cloth diapering Alexis in the beginning and then decided for multiple reasons to switch to disposables for a bit and revisit cloth diapers a few months later.

Well, I am starting to think those few months later is now. As expected, I REALLY missed cloth diapering. At first, the ease of disposables and their lack of bulk was refreshing. But soon I would be catching myself almost wishing Andrew would put her in a cute cloth diaper (Andrew is who changes her 90% of the time). However, I wanted her to grow just a bit so that  the bulk of the diaper wasn’t too much for her frame, as well as be in the right frame of mind for cloth diapering and make sure Andrew was fully on board as well.

I think one of the reasons why cloth diapering became too much for us was because we didn’t have a set of one brand. I thought it was a great idea to buy different brands of cloth diapers and use those to see which ones worked best. However, that worked to our detriment because there was a constant struggle of matching up the inserts with the diapers as well as not wanting to use the less favorite ones when the preferred diapers got dirty. And a big  thing that made us go “Ah! Screw it for now” was the fact that at that point we needed to decide which diaper brand we liked most and buy a whole set or two of it, but we STILL didn’t have clear favorites. Couple that with a newborn, that’s just not something we wanted to think about at that moment. It was just all a bit too overwhelming.

So fast forward to now, I feel I am ready to jump back on the cloth diapering wagon. I keep seeing babies in cloth diapers and it’s just so cute and I can’t help but think about how much better cloth diapers are for her, especially if we decide to go with organic ones. I talked it over with hubby and he seems on board too ( and bit less excited than me), but with one condition of buying ALL THE SAME cloth diapers. Which means we now have to decide which ones. But at least there isn’t a factor of a demanding baby anymore. Alexis is demanding of our attention but she’s a lot more easy going now than she was 2 months ago.

In addition to that, she has grown quite a bit and the cloth diapers that I do occasionally use on her  fit her really well and don’t overwhelm her body.

Taking some time off of cloth diapering was important. I actually think it was crucial to being able to come back and start using them again. Sort of a reset button. I feel like had I pushed on for whatever reason and didn’t stop using them, we’d continue growing resentful of them, until we’d decide to never use them EVER again. Instead, we stopped cloth diapering at the point where the minuses for our family just outweighed the pluses, but I still liked the idea of cloth diapering. For the same reasons I wanted to cloth diaper in the first place. So that left a door open to come back to it again.

In the meantime, we tried Honest diapers. While the patterns are cute and the fit is pretty good too, I just wasn’t convinced it was the best thing for her. So during these two months we went back and forth between chlorine free WF diapers and Honest diapers with occasional cloth in the between.

{Sidenote: the absolute weirdest thing was that I sort of *missed* doing diaper laundry. Having an extra load of diapers never bothered me or Andrew, probably because we have used cloth wipes exclusively since the day she was born, so we had to do that separate load anyways. But there was just something wrong about throwing in a load of wipes ONLY, when we didn’t cloth diaper. It kind of bothered me. lol}

So my first step in getting back to cloth is this:

I want to find a good organic diaper first, and if none of them work for us, then try to figure out which of the remaining cloth diapers work the best and order 2 sets of those. I received an Organic Kushies diaper from Amazon a few days ago (the toddler ones are just a bit too big for right now) and will look into other options { if you have suggestions for organic diapers, please leave them in comments. I’d appreciate that.}.

I am a little bit excited about going back since I was never really happy about not using cloth.

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{I really meant to do this post a month or two ago, but the way life with a baby is, what we want isn’t always possible. However, better late than never. I will attempt to do the 3-9 months one on time by starting it early}

As a first time mom, I had NO idea what I was going to need, aside from the basics, and more importantly what Alexis was going to like. So I held off buying most things until Alexis was here. With our daughter having such a determined personality and having a strong opinion about things she did or did not like, I literally went through hundreds of products and items in search of something that would work for her.

I am glad I did, because when I found that perfect product, there was nothing else needed. It helped that I had the opportunity to review many items and figure out which ones work best for Lexi without having to spend a ton of money.

Well, now that we have figured it out, I present to you:

Some of the items are subjective things, like books or seating or things that didn’t work out for us, but others are truly the best I found on the market. I hope this list helps first time parents discover things they would have otherwise never known about. These are my (and my husband’s) opinions, not a review of any sort, and they have nothing to do with whether I originally got the item for a review, as a hand me down or bought it myself. This is all about what worked BEST for Alexis.

Please note: This is 0-3 Months only. Some things have changed after 3 months, others stayed as favorites.

Best developmental toy: Whimmer Ferguson Black and White Board & Mobile

I’ve been gushing over this board since day one. Alexis has always been a VERY visual child and she loved and still loves it. It’s a fairly large board with black and white pictures on it and a kid-safe but undistorted mirror on the back. The pictures on the board are really captivating to the little ones. Since she was 2 days old, she’s been staring at the little baby and the fish and the snowflake. Each time a new image would grab her attention and she’d spend minutes (which is hours in newborn terms) observing it. We placed the board onto the changing table and she would look at it EACH TIME. We would also move it into the crib during the day and take with us to the car and place it in front of her for the rides. We often talked about buying a second board so that we could have one at home and one in the car, but never got around to ordering it. Now that she’s a big girl (5 months), we flipped the board in the car to the mirror side and as long as she wasn’t tired, our short car sides are full of laughter (at herself) and quiet times (when she’s trying to figure out who’s that girl chewing on a teether). She is still very interested in the black and white pictures, but the mirror side is a novelty for her. I figure that we’ll keep flipping it back and forth, keeping it new and interesting.

The mobile has the same types of pictures, but unlike most other mobiles, those pictures face down, so the baby can look at them better. The images are interchangeable, so once you no longer need black and white, you can pop in other coloful or red and black pictures in there.

Best book: Cat in the hat

I have to admit I’m not a fan of all the traditional baby books like Good Night Moon, etc.  I like books like have a different type of rhyme like Dr Suess’ rhyme and Alexis seems to enjoy a long story flow rather than short baby books. We pulled out The cat in the Hat because it was one of the only books that seems to have fewer colors, and mostly red, black and white, which is good for little babies. And since it was the first book introduced to her, she is very attached to it and loves listening to the story over and over again.

Best cloth book: Circus Mcgurkus or Lamaze Peekaboo books

We love cloth books here! Partially because they are usually very interactive, partially because you can put them in your mouth. Alexis gets such a kick out of peekaboo type books like Peekaboo Forest or their new Peekaboo Doggy book. She actually laughed the first time I read it to her. Circus Mcgurcus is her favorite because it’s short and bright with a lot of sounds. Now that she is older she loves touching all the features and opening the flaps.

Best tummy time positioner: Infantino

While I did read that tummy time positioners aren’t that great because they “help” babies focus on the visual aspect of tummy time ( looking around and seeing more) rather than working on their skills, I find it cruel to just use tummy time as a “drill”. Tummy time in the first month has to also be a time for enjoyment, time for something new, a family activity. What’s wrong with helping babies enjoy a somewhat unpleasant acitivity done from birth? We used Infantino until she was able to pick herself up more comfortably. It’s basically a wedge that gets them up and looking around so they don’t hate tummy time so much. I think it even plays music, but we never used that feature. The mirror and the toys are nice too, but again Alexis was more interested in seeing what was beyond the toys. Alexis never had problems with tummy time, she was a trouper. I am not sure whether the positioner helped her enjoy it more from the beginning and that’s why it’s always been her favorite activity, or it’s just a coincidence but I really like this one a lot more than soft positioners like Boppy or others.

Best changing pad: Naturepedic

Changing pad and mattress being organic has always been a priority for us, because of the amount of time babies spend on them. We bought a Naturepedic mattress for the crib, but Alexis hasn’t been sleeping there, so I can’t say much about it, except that it gives me the peace of mind that she isn’t bombarded by carcinogenic fire retardants when she does lie there (I really want to do a separate post about BFR) . But the changing pad has been used A LOT. Somehow I thought we’d have a little changing station downstairs and also change her in her nursery. Well, reality kicked in and the most comfortable place to change her is on the changing table in our bedroom. So I moved the Naturepedic changing pad there and I like knowing that the polyeurathane foam (what standard changing pads are made of) and fireretardants that the foam is usually sprayed with aren’t being inhaled by Alexis 6-10 times a day. We also have a cheap $25 organic changing pad but the quality just can’t be compared. I know the Naturepedic pad will last us until Alexis is no longer diapered.

Best blanket: Shi Shu

Both my husband and I can’t stop singing praises to this blanket. It’s a name heard a lot in our household (“Get me Shi Shu, please! Did you wash Shi Shu? Can you grab Shi Shu?”) We had a lavender Shi Shu before Alexis was born but didn’t really go crazy over it until our girl arrived. There’s something about Shi Shu that is missing in other blankets. It’s thick but breathable, it’s heavy but not too much, it’s pretty, it’s well made, it’s large, it’s warm but not hot and it’s so soft. After the initial Shi Shu we bought 2 more in pink and oatmeal on a MYHABIT sale for $26 and I sent one to my sister who’s expecting in a package labeled “Baby must haves”. It’s a perfect blanket to take to the pedi with you to cover your baby while she’s naked, to cover her while she’s sleeping, to keep on her while in an air conditioned car, to prop on her side during naps and a million other uses.

Best body wash: Lavanila The Healthy Baby Wash

Again, if you’re a long time reader, you know all about Lavanila, since I’ve written about it. But I am still very impressed with the company and their products. Since I discovered them through a PR agency I work with, I have been a die hard fan. I’ve used nothing but Lavanila wash for bathing Alexis and the one time I ran out of it before I was able to order more, we had to use a different body wash (won’t point fingers). Well, a tiny bit of soap diluted with water got into Alexis eyes and our poor baby was shaking and crying so hard! We had never had to deal with being afraid to get soap or water in her eyes until now and neither did she. After that episode, my husband sternly told me to get my butt over to my computer and order as many Lavanila Washes as I can so that we’d never run out. Besides, being a truly “no tears” wash, it smells heavenly, foams perfectly and cleans so well without irritating. Oh and of course, unlike most conventional brands it has ONLY the healthy ingredients and nothing questionable.

Best carrier: Nordic

I’ve tried 3 hard carriers, a sling and two wraps and while I love most of them for different reasons, if I had to name one carrier I keep going back to, it’s Nordic by Lille Baby. I love its structure and its feel, it had an infant head support that wasn’t a down comforter (like in Ergo) and my favorite feature is the configuration that allows your to carry your baby with legs out as an infant (facing in), not in a frog leg position like other carrier. Lexi hated the frog leg position in everything but the Boba carrier, but her favorite is definitely legs out, facing in, and then later legs out, facing out. Nordic makes facing out safe(-r) than, let’s say, Baby Bjorn, because the seat is still pretty wide and she gets to maintain that hips spread position that is  so important for proper hip development.

Best organic clothing brand: Finn&Emma

I’ve written about Finn&Emma before and out of many many organic brands that I love, I have to say that their styles and quality appeal to me the most. Because they are pretty expensive and rarely go on sale, once Alexis is older and doesn’t grow out of her clothes so fast, I’d like to buy a few more Finn&Emma clothes.

Best organic non-muslin swaddle: ModSwad

This has been our savior. You can read a full review here, but ModSwad swaddles are one of the pieces in the puzzle that I’ve been putting together since Lexi was born, the puzzle named:”SLEEP“. Her naps became so much better after I bought my first Modswad. She slepts for 2 hours, the first time in her life. I won’t go on. If you’re interested, read the details here.

Best muslin swaddle: Bambino Land organic

The only muslin swaddle Alexis wouldn’t break out of. It’s a bit less stretchy than A&A swaddles, which allows for a tighter fit when swaddling. I also love their Hawaiian designs.

Best diaper cream: Lavanila

The absolute best!!!! It took me 4 different diaper creams to find the perfect one. I needed one that had zinc oxide, so that healing could occur, but without all the nasties like mineral oil or parabens. This was it! A little goes a long way, it’s not expensive and cleared up Lexi’s diaper rash in a day or two. Read more here

Best organic toys: Apple Park

Again, like with everything, I bought or received several different organic and non-organic but PVC/Pthalates/BPA/plastic-free toys to see what we/she  liked. We have Haba toys which are great for a slightly older baby, Miyim toys that I attach to the gym and stroller, but our absolute winners are Apple park toys. I’m in love with the critter collection and totally getting the picnic pal blanket edit: got a picnic pal blanket and then another and another. The best toys for little ones, that for sure. I’ll be writing more about toys that we’ve been going through.

Best teether: Lifefactory

I cannot TELL YOU how awesome this thing is. This was the first teether she was able to hold on her own and she’s still in love with it. Everyone who followed my advice and bought it loves it just as much. It’s a simple silicone ring that is very easy to grasp with two hands (especially for young babies) and shove into their mouths. It’s perfectly soft and chewy with great surface for itching gums.  You don’t have to do the guesswork and/or research to find out if it has any bpa, pvc and other nasties. We lost our original pink one and I didn’t hesitate to order two more. Recently (during her 0-3m period) we had to drive 54 minutes out of town and I was dreading it, considering how she gets so bored and tired in the car. The teether and the mirror are what saved my butt. She spent the whole time obsessively chewing on her ring and watching herself in the mirror. Almost every other teether we’ve tried quickly falls down and needs to be placed back into her mouth, but this one just stays in and is easy for her to pick up and chew on it even if she does drop it.

Best seating: Kicking Coaster

We went through 4 or 5 baby seats and bouncers until we tried the Kicking Coaster. You can read the review in detail here, but here’s what made this seat work for us: SOMETHING TO KICK :) haha. Babies love to kick and Lexi would get really bored in most seats. Here she has leg support, she can kick and hear music while she does it, the seat slides back and forth so it makes it even more fun for her and the biggest thing is it’s STURDY. I cannot see how it’s possible for a baby to tip this thing over, which is somewhat a concern in other bouncy seats. And as she grows, it grows with her, since you can adjust the length of it. It doesn’t have toys hanging over, which is my only complaint, but it’s easy enough to fix with a toy arch, like this one from Tiny Love. Now that Lexi is 5 months, its the only seat she’ll sit in and let me cook for a few minutes, because she has too much fun gliding herself back and forth while kicking the pad.

Best bottle warmer: Kiinde

See full review here. I don’t use bottles anymore. I sort of gave up on the whole prospect of leaving her with someone and a bottle, but for the short period that we did use frozen breastmilk and in case I change my mind or if I were still pumping and feeding her from a bottle, this is BY FAR the best bottle warmer to have. When I was pregnant, I searched high and low for the perfect bottle warmer that wouldn’t lose nutrients and antibodies in the heating process and will not break milk proteins down, as well as create hot spots and other issues most bottle warmers have. This is IT!

Best rocker: Mutsy Babysitter

This rocker was our savior for quite a few months while Alexis had an issue with reflux. Basically, the babysitter is just a frame that the Mutsy stroller’s seat pops into. The frame rocks ( as in goes back and forth, but also rocks, as in “rules, is awesome, dope, etc”), so I’d spend hours sitting on my chair working on my computer while Alexis is all nice and snug in the babysitter, with my foot constantly rocking it. It doesn’t have a “stop” like the RNP, so if your baby needs more than a light rock, the babysitter will deliver. What also helped is that the seat has multiple recline positions, so depending on how she was feeling that day with reflux, I’d either keep it somewhat upright or recline it a bit.

Best sunblock: Lavanila

I took my time researching sunblock and while I haven’t tried other safe alternatives, I did compare Lavanila sunblock to most grocery store baby brands and there’s no comparison. I don’t think people should knowgly be using most of the traditional brands of sunblock on their babies, they are FULL of chemicals. We used Lavanila sunblock just a few days ago for the boat trip and it went on smoothly and easily and protected Lexi as much as her UPF50+ swimsuit did

Best swing: Fisher Price Snugabunny

While struggling with reflux and Alexis waking up every 10 minutes because of it, we were grasping at straws for things that would make her sleep longer. At one point we ordered 3 swings from Amazon just to see if either one of them would work. We already had the Fisher Price Papasan swing that was a hand-me-down, and it wasn’t doing anything for her. I had read good things about the SnugaBunny and decided to try it out. She did take to it much more than the Papasan. The seat seemed more cosy and she did spend a month or so ocassionally sleeping in it for naps. Eventually, though, the sleeping stopped, but we still use it on the rare day that she just won’t go to sleep to calm her down and get her prepped for bed.

Best non-jogging stroller: Mutsy 4Rider

I spent days researching strollers when I was pregnant. Honestly, I was completely lost. I looked at US, as well as European, manufacturers (btw, did you know that the british term for a stroller is a “pushchair“. Sounds so funny and so cool. “Let’s go for a walk in a pushchair!” *said with a british accent), read about features, looked at prices and in the end just couldn’t decide anything. Stroller shopping just sucks. And it sucks even more for a first time mom because you literally have no clue what you’ll need. Now that I have Alexis who is also very opinionated about things she likes and doesn’t, I have a better handle on what’s really necessary in a stroller. As a general all-in-one stroller, Mutsy 4 Rider is the best, hands down. The seat is adjustable to any recline, it becomes rear facing in 30 seconds, it has a bassinet that you can attach to it. Plus a million other features I’ll be showing yo,u guys, in a video in the coming months. It is basically THE only stroller one needs. Ever. The only trade-off  is it’s heavy and isn’t compact.

Best bath: Cleanwater Tub

This is one of our most favorite items of all time. It’s an awesome tub that cycles water through constantly and keeps the baby from sitting in dirty bath water. You don’t need to rinse the baby off, you don’t need to worry about the temperature since there’s a built in electronic temperature gauge. Some people might say it’s not necessary, but from the day we started using it, both my husband and I always comment on how pleasant our experience with bathing is BECAUSE of the cleanwater tub is. We usually end Lexi’s bath with a mutual “oh, what would we do without our Cleanwater tub!” Silly, but we do enjoy it a lot.

Best swimsuits: Lourdes

I CANNOT, for the life of me, find these swimsuits ANYWHERE. I bought two on Zulily and by the time they arrived they were already too small even though I got a 6m and a 9m size. They are my absolute favorite but I cannot find Lourdes Mini anywhere. Zulily needs to run another sale.

Best wrap: K’tan

As much as I love Moby for its stretchiness and the big size and versatility, most of the time when I am doing things around the house, I just simply DO NOT have time to mess with the wraping. I just grab K’tan, which is a “wrapped” version of Moby and put it on. Much easier. It has its pluses and minuses, just like Moby, and you can read all about the wrap in a review in a few weeks, but when it comes to throwing something on very quickly, I always go to K’tan.

Best baby body lotion: Lavanila

Lavanila just rocks. It smells amazing, the lotion is light and spreads well, it’s completely non-toxic and safe. There’s just not much more to it. It’s the best 100% healthy  baby care brand.

Best clothing item: Estella NYC bamboo romper

If you’re concerned about chemicals in conventional clothing, I’d read up on bamboo and how it’s manufactured before you use it, but if organic clothing isn’t your cup of tea, then this romper will be THE SOFTEST COMFIEST piece of baby goodness you can put on your child. I used to LOVE hugging and carrying Alexis when she had the romper on. You know how squishy and soft and fun naked babies are? Well, the fabric of the romper enhances it. And if it feels that good to me, I can’t imagine how comfortable Alexis must be.

Biggest losers:

Again, these are somewhat subjective opinions. Some things just didn’t work for her, others are less subjective and have to do with safety and chemicals. So I’d suggest to not completely discount some of these items solely because Alexis didn’t like them. Basically, use your discretion and common sense, as always.

Fisher Price Rock’N'Play

I have to be the only person on the planet who resisted buying the rock’n'play for their baby. There were talks of plagiocephaly, I am not crazy about Fisher Price as a brand (nothing in particular, just too big of a company, which is never good, since they tend to cut corners). After struggling with Lexi, who wouldn’t sleep for longer than 30 minutes during the day and had a bit of reflux, I gave in and ordered one. My first disappointment was IT REEKED of chemicals. I mean, out of ALL the products that I’ve bought, received & tried out, I didn’t have a single piece smell like this. And that was the item that my baby was supposed to sleep in? After washing it repeatedly, we layered it with a blanket and gave it about 2 weeks to see if it works. Well, it didn’t. The incline was too much, so as soon as we lowered Alexis down, the change in the incline woke her up completely. When she was sleeping deeply enough that we were able to put her in it without waking her up, she slept the same 30 minutes as anywhere else and no amount of rocking would keep her asleep. And it didn’t help her reflux. I found that our Mutsy Babysitter did a better job rocking her back to sleep. Now I know, RNP worked for many babies, but Alexis was definitely not one of them.

Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper

That was a huge disappointment. I was so excited to have this “perfect” sleeping arrangement before my baby arrived. We wouldn’t bed share, we’d co-sleep. It’s safe and she’s right there. Well, what I didn’t count on was Alexis being very picky about what she liked and didn’t and she wanted ONLY the best, which was sleeping RIGHT NEXT to mama. Co-sleeping went out the window, and luckily, we  transitioned to bedsharing which is what worked ( and still works) fabulously. But that’s not the co-sleeper’s fault, right? Right!
I was planning on using it once Alexis was a bit older and doesn’t have the reflux ( which was made better when she slept with me, because my presence would put her back to sleep when her reflux would wake her up). That was until I read about the well-known study that was done on frequently used baby products to see what kind of harmful chemicals ( BFRs, lead, etc) were in/on them. Well, our wonderful Arm’s Reach was COVERED with fire retardants.  I understand the HYPOTHETICAL need to protect baby’s beds from fire, BUT it has to be done SAFELY. The risk of a bedroom/nursery fire in a non-smoking family is far lower than the risk of cancer, hormone and thyroid disorders and even SIDS from Bromine-covered baby products that our little ones sleep on, chew and breathe.

Because I put all my hopes into a co-sleeper, I completely neglected other sleeping arrangements, like a rocking moses basket or a bassinet, which is something i’ll try next time since it’s small and gives babies sense of security.

Bumbo

Alexis loved to sit up supported since she was able to hold her head relatively well, so I was very excited about getting her a bumbo chair. She really kind of hated it. The look on her face was like “Why did you put me in this thing- I want to move!”. I think she might have felt less mobile in it than she did when we sat her up in our lap. I don’t know, but the bumbo seat got packed away within a week

Portable changing mat

I thought it was a good idea to have a changing mat downstairs, so that we could change her without going all the way up, but it was one of those ideas that seems good before you try them. We both felt that we wanted  everything conveniently located  in one place and when we were out, we’d always use my diaper bag, or Andrew’s Diaper Dude bag. So we never ended up using this cute travel changing mat, which is a shame.

Momma Awards

Best Nursing Bras: Bella Materna

I received a Bella Materna bra to try out back when I was pregnant. Since then I’ve bought Motherhood Maternity Nursing bra and Lamaze Nursing bra, and Bella Materna is still my favorite. First of all, the quality surpasses anything else. This bra will last you forever. Secondly, it looks so much classier and sexier and more luxurious than other bras. It doesn’t bend or gets ruined in the wash ( I know, I am really bad –  I don’t hand wash my bras and I tumble dry them).

Best Sleeping Bras (for breastfeeding): Lamaze

This was my favorite sleeping bra since the beginning of pregnancy and I truly haven’t found anything better since. I use it 24/7: to wear at home, to go for walks, to sleep in and even sometimes to go places in. It’s incredibly easy to breastfeed in. Just pull it aside and voila. It’s VERY comfortable, cotton, easy to wash and  looks decent for home wear. I probably have about 10-15 of these at this point and change them out frequently.

Best Nursing clothes: Boob Design

See here, here, here and here. Utter LOVE. No further comment.

Best down-there lotion: Zeta West

I wrote about it in the postpartum post, but this is a GREAT lotion for recovery. It has tea tree oil so it’s antibacterial and antifungal and helps you heal much faster while providing relief.

Best Diaper bag: Diaper Dude

The best diaper bag is the one your husband carries. To both our surprise, out of 2 diaper bags that I have and 1 diaper messenger that Andrew has, we have mostly used his diaper bag. We bought a Diaper Dude for him thinking that MAYBE he’ll use it when he goes places with Alexis. What we didn’t anticipate is that whenever we go places together ( which is most of the time), I end up carrying Lexi and he carries the diaper bag. Well, my husband has always HATED holding my purses for me ( it’s his thing), so having his own manly looking messenger bag has been great!

In about a month i should post a 3-6 months Issue of Lexi Awards and there have been so many cool new things I’ve discovered!

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Around 2.5 months, when life with Lexi started getting easier and she could tolerate being out for a short periods of time, we started taking the time out of our day to go to the pool. These trips were mostly for me, to be honest. I needed to get out of the house and the closest thing, without getting Lexi into a car seat, was our community clubhouse and pool. Alexis has never been the kind of baby that would just tag along wherever I go. So at first I kept it short. We’d leave right after she woke up and spend no more than an hour, at most. I wouldn’t be able to even get in the water. It was just to go somewhere, to get out of the house. One of these outings, my mom stayed with Alexis in the shade and Andrew and I went swimming, just the two of us. It was AMAZING! It was the first time we did something as a couple again, and we had so much fun for that half an hour we played around in water. We laughed till our bellies hurt, and splashed and jumped and just hugged and talked. We won’t get another chance to do that until my mom comes back in January.

Alexis LOVED looking at the water. We didn’t have her get in the pool, since it’s not recommended till 6 months of age, but we would sit on the edge of the pool for a few minutes when the sun goes behind the clouds and look at the water in awe. I cannot wait for my water baby to be old enough to splash around.

{FYI: There are two reasons that I know of why little babies shouldn’t swim in public pools, chlorinated pools or natural bodies of water (like ocean or lake). One is that their skin is VERY absorbent for the first 6 months of life. Much more absorbent than an adult’s skin. Which means any chemicals (chlorine) will be readily absorbed into their bloodstream ( that is the only the reason for why we went with organic clothing for the first 6 months of her life). The second reason applies to public pools and oceans/lakes- there’re a ton of e.coli bacteria found each season in oceans, and lakes can be even worse with all kind of flesh eating bacteria and Naegleria Fowleri ( that sci-fi sounding bug that lives in lakes and enters through your nose and eats your brain- I KNOW RIGHT?)
Now, granted, the flesh eating bacteria and the brain bug can harm an adult just as easily, but infants are more susceptible to e.coli and other more benign every day bacteria that an adult might fight off. In addition to that, there’s always the issue of overheating and sun exposure. Most sunblocks also state that they should be used starting at 6 months of age ( most likely for the first reason I outlined above). So it just makes sense to keep the little ones out of the water and in the shade for half a year, before they get stronger.

Additional Info from Megan from The Memoirs of Megan: Babies before 6 months of age have a harder time regulating their body temperature. To place them even in “warm pools” of 88-90 degrees (which most public pools are kept between 82-86 unless states that it is a warm water “therapy pool”) is lowering their core body temperature by over 8 degrees. That’s huge for an infant! Around 6 months of age is when scientifically, infants can control their own body temperature better.
Also, they have proper head control. Yes, my daughter was able to hold her head up unassisted at 2 months, however, some babies cannot, so 6 months is the typical age that the ARC and YMCA wait until.
But like E said, the biggest reason is that public pools are DIRTY (wanna know what’s worse? Hot tubs) Public pools use chlorine (bleach) to “Clean” the water, and muriatic acid to keep the pH (acidity level) in check. Even salt water pools must use muriatic acid. With your infant’s skin being so absorbent, it’s just not recommended. e coli and cripto can kill an adult, why risk it with a newborn? }

Now that Alexis is nearing her 6 months birthday, I am getting more and more excited about introducing her to the cool water of the pool and warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She grew out of all of her swimsuits pretty much before I was able to try them on her, so I am shopping for new ones, but I cannot find anything as cute as these adorable Lourdes one pieces. There are some cute bikinis, but I think at this age, I might as well just have her wear a swim diaper. Once she can walk, we’ll see if we can find some cute bikinis.

Now mama (that’s me) herself is completely out of bikinis that fit her chest unless she wants to look like a pornstar ( which she doesn’t). I just ordered 4 new bikinis (FINALLY!) and cannot wait for the them to come some time next week. I am excited and scared at the same time, because in the past I could rely on everything fitting me exactly like the model on the pictures, now it’s a bit different (hopefully not for long) with me having to try and picture what it’s going to look like on me. We’ll see, we’ll see….

I have more pool photos coming up from our recent pool playdate and Father’s Day.

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When I was a naive pregnant girl, I dreamed of the time when I would put my newborn in a sling and go to events in a beautiful dress with my baby peacefully sleeping next to my chest and only waking up to breastfeed {what? celebrities do it!}  In the back of my mind, I knew that chances were  good that I wouldn’t get the kind of baby that just sleeps anywhere you take her, but I was dreaming of the best case scenario- what else did I have to do? When Alexis came along, of course, she was the compelete opposite of a baby who would EVER fall asleep or do anything except on her own terms. And that is fine, I like me a strong baby. However, that meant that we had to learn, adjust, figure out ways of how to lead our life while “bowing down to the princess” and most importantly just WAIT for her to grow a little bit.

I am sure some of you have been in this situation: a great evening adult event (kids are allowed) that you really really really want to go to, a 3-6 months old baby that goes to sleep at 7-8pm, no babysitter or not willing or don’t want to use a babysitter yet. What are the parents to do? Skip it? Go and hope the best?

Well, after a successful 4th of July party with Alexis (along with a few other events none of which were late night ones), I feel more confident in her ability to handle outings and parties. But at the same time, there is a lot of things we, as parents need to do, to ensure a smooth event.

Andrew and I are of the mind that there is no need to deprive a baby of anything, or make it uncomfortable for her/him if you can avoid it. So all our outings are mostly focused on making sure Alexis is good and happy and trying to prevent any meltdowns. I also don’t believe in segregating baby-less friends and friends with babies, nor in getting a non-family babysitter until Alexis can walk. So that leaves us attending parties (even late night ones) with Lexi in tow. And the first such party, after Alexis became more manageable outside of home, happened to be the 4th of July party. It was a great opportunity for us to experience what it is like, as well as see if it’s even feasible to bring Lexi along to social events. It was a true success! We kept her out a bit longer than I was comfortable with, but our friends wouldn’t let us go since we hadn’t seen them much in the last year. So we ended up leaving the house at 7pm for the party and getting back home at 12 am. I will write all about the amazing event with lots of colorful beautiful photos in a few days, but for now I’d like to address the act of taking a baby to such events.

{Our second adult outing happened last weekend, when we took Alexis on a boat. She was up from 7:30am till 12pm, when she fell asleep in her carseat. It was also a success and I am now getting more and more confident and her ability to handle being out and about}

We’ve only done this a few times and we still have a lot to learn and thing, as usual, will be changing at the speed of light (hopefully for the better), but here are a few things I learned from our first LATE night “party” with Alexis. (most of these will probably be obvious to everyone with older kids}

• Make sure your baby naps well and long all throughout the day. {If that means rocking him/her multiple times back to sleep to get that magic 1.5-2 hours nap, then do it. While I believe having a baby nap well doesn’t ensure that they can stay up better or longer towards the end of the day, it will at least ensure that they are not LACKING day time sleep and are too fussy because of that.}
• Pack everything you’ll need hours before you have to leave. {It’s better to pack the night before or that morning, so that you could just grab the baby and go right as she wakes up.}
• Plan a nap 1-1.5 hrs before you have to leave and attempt to make it last 1-1.5hrs. {A baby’s sleep cycle lasts about 40 minutes, but according to E. Pantley, in order for them to truly rest and receive ALL the benefits of a nap, it has to last somewhere around 1.5 hours.}
• Try to be ready to run out of the door the second your baby is up. {Easier said than done, I know! In fact, in our case, even though we tried SO HARD to follow this rule, we still only managed to get out of the house an hour after she woke up.}

The reason for the few last ones is because later at night babies are on a short fuse and get tired faster. If you can concentrate on not wasting that valuable awake time on running around the house packing things or getting ready,you’ll have more luck. If your baby falls asleep easily in the car and everywhere else, then you don’t even need to read this, since your outings probably resemble this: out and awake, tired and asleep- rinse and repeat}

• I am a big believer in being prepared. I don’t always know WHAT to be prepared for or with and learn by mistakes, but if there is a chance I will need something, I go for it. So for me it’s essential to bring any favorite toy or item imaginable with us when it comes to late night outings because I NEVER know when Alexis is going to have a problem and/or what will cheer her up. So my advice is bring everything you can think of, at least for the first few outings while you’re just trying to figure out what works for your baby. For any other trip that happens during the day, it’s a bit more manageable without a multitute of things, but for the first late night trips, you just don’t know how the baby will react to being up past their bedtime.
• Try to recreate your bedtime routine when you are away. I brought her naptime books. A few times that we were out, it really helped to read her (back then from memory) naptime books before putting her to sleep. Again, that’s for babies who resist napping/sleeping outside of home.
• If a baby is interested and stimulated (not OVER stimulated), she can go for many more hours being awake and happy than she would at home in a boring familiar environment. I can now rely on Alexis being ok for about 3-4 hours when we are out, without a meltdown. She would be tired, but if she’s seeing things she’s interested in and people she is interested in, she will stay awake without so much as a peep. That being said all babies are different and other babies might get too overwhelmed by the stimulation when they are tired. Do test your baby’s temperament when opportunity presents, so that way you’ll know your baby’s threshold.
• Speaking of thresholds,they are constantly changing. Remember the failed Easter trip 2 months ago? Alexis would react very differently to it now.
• Do plan where you’ll be changing the baby and if there is a quiet place for you two to retreat to, if need be.
• BRING A CARRIER. While Alexis enjoys being in our arms more, being in a carrier once she was really tired, kept people away from her and not overstimulating.
• Don’t wait for her to cry to get a clue. Once she starts getting fussy despite the attention and new sights and sounds, it’s time to go or to put her to sleep there. She won’t fuss if she’s interested in what’s going on, despite of tiredness. Fussiness is probably a sign that she’s beyond the point of no return {or bored}. Retreat!
• Make sure that she is comfortable otherwise. That she is not too hot, not too cold, that her clothes aren’t irritating, feed her on demand (OBVIOUSLY!). This is the time to make sure your baby is completely comfortable, because if she is bothered by anything ( a scratchy tag, temperature, hunger) she will also be more likely to break down.
• Finally, and I consider this probably one of the most important points: invest in a comfortable cool car seat. I cannot tell you the difference it made having her in a better carseat. The fact that she WILL fall asleep in it, if the car is running and she is sufficiently tired means that we can go to a party and leave for home expecting her to sleep in the car. I realize most people don’t have the same problem of babies not sleeping in their carseat, but it was a real thing for us before we switched to a cool roomy convertible one. She would have horrible meltdowns in her old carseat if she was tired.  At the end of  4th of July party she wouldn’t fall asleep no matter what I did: rocked her in a rocking chair in a quiet dark room, nursed her, sang to her. But when we were ready to go home, I got her drowsy with some nursing and rocking and then put her into the car seat and she was out the whole ride back. Marvelous!

Another tip that I will be using next time:

If your baby is wearing an extra special outfit, buy two and pack the other one to go. If she doesn’t end up needing it, you can always return it, but if the first one is ruined, you at least have a backup that is just as nice.

We are going to test this out once again when we go to Orlando for my MIL’s wedding reception which starts at 6pm and I am hoping for a similarly successful event.

What do/did you do to make your evening trips and events with a small baby successful?

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Last two weeks on Instagram and cell phone photos

1. Idiot parents
2. New car seat and first time asleep in the car without a meltdown. WIN!
3.  Peace out
4. A little outing to get some food
5. Same as above
6. Hanging out at whole foods waiting for daddy to come out because it was too cold inside
7. Pretty in pink on Instagram Elena-edition
8. Pretty in pink Lexi-edition
9. Pretty ladies handing out at home in our Moby wrap

1. sitting up like a big girl
2. chewing on tiny love
3. playing on her own while mommy cooks ( a first!)
4. trying on newly received bikinis from VS
5. trying on newly received swimsuit for Lexi, which was just not big enough for her to grow into. Adorable nonetheless
6. CRAWLING!!!!! No, not completely, just trying…
7. Playing with feet in the morning
8. Taking 30 minutes to myself to relax and read a book
9. break interrupted by this cutie. It’s ok, I didn’t want to rest anyways

1. Playing on her mat again
2. Hanging out on the front porch swing- she loves doing that
3. Blowing bubbles on the front porch
4. Attempting to crawl
5. Trying out our new parasol for Mutsy ( love it!)
6. Completely dehydrated as evidenced by my strangely flat belly
7. No bake cake (YUMMY)
8. Helping daddy build the new Finn&Emma gym
9. Playing with the gym

1. She prefers playing sitting up rather than on her back
2. trying to catch the wooden teether
3. in-camera snapshots of Lexi’s first playground trip
4. Morning walks, hurrying home since it was really really hot
5. All dressed up and pretty
6. Big freaking boobs – still can’t get used to them
7. Going over to a friend’s house and shopping, looking like someone died
8. Being beyond adorable in her carseat
9. Lexi’s reaction to me singing “the Mermaid” song

4th of July spoilers:

1. What was supposed to be Lexi’s outfit
2. Getting read and running late
3. In the car, hair is already falling
4. left: her 4th of july outfit, right: what she ended up wearing after a diaper blowout
5. Taking a break from the party and trying to nurse Lexi to sleep
6. same as above
7. No luck, she’s too hyped
8. My two loveys
9. Late night party girls- we got home at 12am, thankfully she fell asleep in the car (thank you, new carseat!)

Also I want to let you guys know about this awesome service I found recently that takes your Instagram photos and turns them adorable mementos with just a click of a button. With so little time to do picture books and baby books (which I’m still planning on doing), this is a great way to just take 1 minute to turn some of your best Instargram photos into posters, picture books, mini books and stickers. I am absolutely IN LOVE with all that they offer. It’s super easy to do and the best part is it’s CHEAP!

You simply connect it with you account and pick which pics you want to include or hit select all and two weeks later you will have a mini book, strickers or a poster in your mailbox.

Check mine out.

This is a minibook. Each has 50 photos and you get 2 books in one order for $12

I have one for myself and gave on to my mom to remember the first months of Alexis’ life.

The stickers are so much fun and I can imagine can be used with kids as a reward system. What kid doesn’t love looking at their own pictures?

I  put half of them on my laptop and that way each day I get to see my little baby on my wrist pad.

And finally my favorite product is the poster. I totally meant to give it to my mom to take with her to Russia, but we both completely forgot, so now I am trying to decide where to hang it. {any ideas?}

You can enter this quick and simple giveaway for a chance to win 1 poster, a minibook and stickers.

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Disclosure: I was NOT compensated for this post. Printstagr.am let me create the products to try. All opinions are my own.

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Swaddling and the three of us have a love-hate relationship.

Rewind to Alexis birth:

I was so happy that our girl seemed completely content in a swaddle at first. I loved being able to make a perfect burrito baby and enjoyed using the organic muslin swaddles from Bambino Land.

A few weeks later, she got strong and would start breaking out of her swaddles. Even Bambino Land that has less give than A&A swaddles would eventually give in under the determination of a baby who suddenly decided she hates being swaddled. It was the perfect time to try the Miracle Blanket we had laying around, waiting to be used.   I know when I was pregnant I read about this swaddle on a million blogs I was reading so it was obvious to me that I should try it. It’s not called Miracle Blanket for nothing. It swaddles tightly and is super hard to break out of. I actually don’t remember a single occassion where she was able to even pull her arm out of it.

It’s really one of those things that you buy and use until you’re done swaddling. There are no sizes, no confusion- just one swaddle.

It came even more handy when nights got chilly, because it’s made out of warm thicker cotton. It’s not organic, unfortunately, and they don’t offer one, so we always made sure that she had clothes on under it.

The concept of this swaddle is pretty easy. It has two little wings that get wrapped around your baby’s arms to keep them down. Then the shorter outer wing gets wrapped around one side, and then the longer wings goes around and under the baby. This was the easiest most unintrusive way to swaddle for us at that point. Alexis would hate being swaddle when she is awake, so we had to be super stealth about it and only swaddle her once she was deeply asleep and hope and pray that we wouldn’t wake her up. You can read about the blanket  in detail here.

She slept like that for a while until one day she just wouldn’t have it. Swaddling was for babies and Alexis CLEARLY was old enough to sleep with her arms splayed across the bed. So we went with it. And it lasted a few weeks with her sleeping better than while swaddled.

Then all of a sudden, amidst the 4 months wakeful period sleep struggles that showed their ugly head a month too early, her Moro reflex ( or something else that makes her twitch and wake herself up) came back and she started waking herself up by throwing her arms in the air. So came back the trusty Miracle Blanket and we were back to loving being swaddled.

I am telling you: sometimes I feel that babies change their preferences just to send us, their parents, for a loop.

Now at 5 months, we moved onto something else when it comes to our precious baby girl’s sleep, but that’s another story for another day. And for now, the Miracle Blanket sits neatly in the drawer marked “For Future Baby”, because I know we’ll need it if that time comes.

BUY IT:

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Amazon.com $32

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Disclosure: I was NOT compensated for this post. Miracle Blanket provided me with a product sample to try out. All opinions are 100% my own.

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I am an iPhone fanatic. As in “can’t go anywhere without it” or “can’t do anything without it” or “have withdrawals when I am without it”. You get the idea.

My life is too dependent on all the apps, the instant email checking, twitter, facebook, instagram, the texting to my friends, buying things off of Amazon, researching a question that just popped into my head. So needless to say, it has been a trusty tool in the first 3 months after having a baby. If you don’t have an iphone yet ( or a similar platform phone), you’re truly missing out. Because while it can be a HUGE distraction (and that’s something we all have to fight and have the self-control to work on), it can also be brilliantly helpful during certain times.

So I’ve compiled a list of 9 10 apps that have proven themselves helpful to me as a new mom.

Baby Connect

Lifesaver in the first 3 months. I am serious. If you’re expecting a baby or have an under 3 months old, just stop reading and go and buy it ( Ok, don’t stop reading, but do go buy it once you’re done). It’s a baby tracking app. There are a ton of them out there, but this one is user-friendly, has a nice looking interface, good customization options and does EXACTLY what you need. I don’t know how I would have survived if I didn’t use it in the first few months. Before you’re able to decipher your baby’s cries ( and even after you do, it’s not always clear what they want), this app will let you know when your precious one last slept, last ate, when you pumped and how long she/he was doing all these things. There are milestones to record, medical info, pedi visits, play, photos, activities, moods, etc etc.
In the beginning when Lexi would start crying I’d refer to the app to see what it is she most likely wants based on the time, or which boob to offer her at each feeding.

Great Tool!

Wunderlist

Besides the awesome German sounding name ( who doesn’t like that?), this TO-DO List app is everything you need. And you can trust me because in conjunction with hubby we have gone through over 2 DOZENS To-do apps in search of that perfect one (our attempts at being productive). With a new baby, things can slip your mind so easily and even if you have an outstanding memory, when you have a newborn you can’t always jump on things you just thought of. Which means you need to either try and juggle the million things you need to do in your head until your brains explode or find a good to-do list system that preferably doesn’t consist of pen&paper. Don’t get me wrong: I am as much of a fan of the traditional to-do list keeper (with all those cross outs and neatly handwritten things-mmm so satisfactory), but a piece of paper won’t last long in your newly crazy pee/poop/spitup soaked household. So Wunderlist WILL save you. It can be used among all the tech you have (laptop, ipad,desktop,ipod, iphone), as it is Internet based and synchs with all your gadgets. You can have the app downloaded on both your and your hubby’s phone, that way when he’s out grocery shopping while you’re home with your babe, you can quickly add a shopping list from the comfort of your rocker while your baby is sleeping and voila, your hubby refreshes his app and he’s all set with the things he needs to buy.

Needless to say, I’ve done it about a million times AND I am so smart that I also have a HONEY-DO LIST on it (my husband IS smarter though, since he pretends that he can’t see it).

I have a million lists in mine: home, work, baby to buy ( I always think of things we need when I can’t just jump on amazon and buy them, so i enter them into my phone), blog to do, posts to write ( same thing here: I think of an awesome post topic, so I enter it before I get distracted and forget), things to clean, shopping list, honey-do, etc etc. There are 17 lists total that I have in this app and that’s how I keep organized and my brain from exploding from everything I want/need to get done. When I enter an item into it, I mentally remove that thought from my head, otherwise I go crazy.

Baby Shusher

A recent find and a pretty cool one. Alexis is not one to go to sleep on her own. Ok, who are we kidding, she has NEVER ONCE in her short little life fell asleep without what they call “parental help”. And most of the time (ok, who are we kidding? ALL THE TIME!), she needs a lot of said help. There’s rocking and shushing and jiggling and swaddling, and singing and talking and more vigorous rocking and louder shushing…. Whew! I’m just tired thinking of it. Sometimes when my little Lexi would cry and squirm and I would rock her and shush really loudly, I’d run out of breath, my throat would go dry and I’d start coughing and choking (sorta). Not fun, but you do what you gotta do to help your baby fall asleep. Well, with time and a light routine Alexis has gotten better at falling asleep but shushing has always been a part of her going to sleep. This app is brilliant. Some dude recorded himself shushing really loudly and made an app out of it. You can set it to run for as long as you want, it’s this nice rhythmic shush sound and it can even adjust the volume automatically depending on how loudly the baby is screaming (though who leaves a screaming baby alone that it needs the app to adjust it?) AND… the kicker is you can record your own shushing sound! Currently it plays my own rendition of Twinkle Twinkle on a loop.

Ambiance

White noise at its best. That’s another app that helped us and is helping still. The best one out there in terms of noise quality. And you can make your custom noises like white noise+heartbeat+bubbles.

NOOK

Oh what would I do without my trusted nook app. It’s a B&N e-book reader. Nice and simple. I found Barnes & Noble has the best selection of e-books out there. I made a mistake of buying 2 paper baby books and I haven’t been able to read them at all. My nook books are quite the opposite. I keep reading one after another. That’s one of the more productive things I can do while rocking sweet Alexis. I’ve read about 10-15 baby/parenting/brain/sleep books in this time. Btw all the books listed in the BOOK page are available in eformat.

FLIPBOARD

My new discovery. It lets you read all your sources in a super cute and convenient format of a photo flip book. Add your twitter feed, Facebook feed and friends, google reader, and a million other blogs/magazines, newspapers, fashion, news, politics, tech, advice-all presented in a photo format. I’m a HIGHLY visual person, I need eye candy along with my reading (hence the million trillion photos on this blog). And as you flip if you see something you want to read later, it also works with your Pocket app. Again it’s a life saver when I have to rock/pump, etc

I’ve gotten some great ideas about streamlining my life from the Lifehack and Lifehacker boards. So be sure to add those.

POCKET

Have you ever been reading something and got interrupted but by the time you were free again, forgot what you were reading or lost the link? How about seeing an article that interests you but you can’t read at that moment so you pass on it? Or while reading a post you click on a link you were curious about then followed another link and another and completely lost the original source? Or finally you come upon an article written with such an annoying or small font you have trouble focusing on it?

Well with a baby I am sure you have.

You can thank me for introducing you to POCKET. I’m in love with the app and it’s so simple. It’s a reader, a bookmarker and formatter.

Here’s how it works: every time you bump into an article you’d like to read but don’t have time for, you hit read later and it instantly adds it to your pocket. The functionality is built in with most apps and if it’s not you simply copy the link into pocket or email it to your account. You can also install a bookmarklet on your desktop/laptop browser.
Once you find yourself looking for something to read, you go into your pocket app and it displays all your pocketed articles in a nice easy to read format (much more pleasant than the design of some articles/blogs out there). You’re done reading, hit check mark. Want to save for later, favorite it. See a link you want to follow but you’re not done reading the article, hold it and hit read later. Brilliant!

I use it in conjunction with Flipboard and it’s so easy. I have a ton of articles there that sounded like something I might want to read when I get a chance, and they sit patiently waiting for me to get time to read.

Mobile RSS

This is for blog readers. If you use a google reader to read blogs (and if you don’t, you should), this is an app for you. It’s basically a Google Reader in an app- all your lists, folders in a nice and easy to read format, with an option to add posts to “Pocket” (see above). FREE

DIPTIC

Ok, so we all take a bazillion photos of our kids on our cell phone. I am not going to list the reasons why I don’t think cell phone photos are good enough, but the truth of the matter is we don’t always have our cameras on us when the precious one smiles or rolls over for the first time. So we do what we have to do and snap photos on our cell phone. I am not sure if most of you do the same, but I take 5-6 photos of the same subject in hopes of getting a better angle/light in it. So I end up with a trillion pictures of essentially the same thing.
If you’re the same way, please don’t tell me you post them all on Facebook. “But my baby’s face is funny here and cute here and goofy here. Which one do I choose?” The answer is ALL but in one photo. So instead of posting 3 essentially same poor quality cell phone shots to your FB account, you combine them into a really nice collage in Diptic (Or Framemagic is another app). It improves all the photos and gives your facebook friends something attractive to look at. Plus you can do a diptic of seemingly unrelated items to give you photo a feel.

Project 365

I haven’t used this app for a while, but it is a great tool for a new mom. The concept is to take 1 photo a day for a year ( and it’ll probably be of your kid). It formats it in a nice calendar view and later you can go back to see what you or your baby was up to on the same day last year

What are some of your favorite apps that you’d like to share?

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Lexi has been full on laughing for over a month and a half now but I had not been able to catch it on video, because the laughs were always spur of the moment and it would just ruin it to go run for the camera. This time, we were in the bathroom and just happened to have the camera and hubby nearby.

The quality sucks, because Andrew isn’t so good at focusing the camera well while shooting, so the first part is out of focus. I had just gotten out of the shower and was brushing my hair when the Muppets song came on, so I started singing it to Lexi. For some strange reason the words “Mannah Mannah” caused her laugh hard and long and we were able to get it on video.
{Don’t mind her glossy cheeks covered with petroleum jelly to prevent the drool rash, my wet hair, bra top, and legs in the frame}

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{Written on 5/25/2012}

If you hate getting up a few times a night to soothe/feed your baby, take heart in this: someone has it worse (and also the obvious: your baby NEEDS YOU). The night log below is surely going to make you count your lucky stars. And this post will serve me as a reminder to keep things in perspective!

{Play suit by Polarn O Pyret}

Just when I thought we were doing better with night sleep, the 4 months wakeful hit. I remember saying that we had hit the wakeful period at 2.5 months because she went from 1-2 wakings to 4-5 and someone commented “Just wait till 4 months, it’ll be like having a newborn” They were right. She soon started waking up EVERY HOUR. But it was nothing we weren’t used to. So I managed that just fine.

And then it hit: TEETHING. For the past 3 days I’m pretty sure my little girl has been teething based on all her symptoms (pulling on ear, chewing everything in sight, grabs our knuckles and rubs them on her gums side to side, drooling like a mad woman, chin rash from drool, refuses boob until really hungry, bites, all the usuals). She’s miserable at night, she’s miserable during the day. All we can do is manage her pain/symptoms and give her as much love as possible, even in light of her new night “schedule”. But then again maybe I am wrong. I don’t see any teeth or swollen gums, but I hear it takes a while to see those. I’ll give it a few more nights to find out, but so far we’re going under the assumption it’s her gums.
Update: she seems to have calmed down a bit and doesn’t appear in pain. Nights are still iffy (4-5 wakings) but that’s normal for 4 months regression. So still exhibiting symptoms of teething but she’s not in so much discomfort. And I’m loving having this log to show her when she’s ready to have her own babies (to scare her off haha)

It was the worst night from the “number of wakings” standpoint since Lexi’s birth. And it will serve me as a reminder for when Alexis goes back to waking up a mere 2-3 times a night that I should be happy, that it could be worse, that IT WILL PASS and most importantly that what will matter years from now is HOW WELL and lovingly we handled it (because any sleep deprived parent can tell you – it’s easy to build up resentment on little sleep)

So Self, come back to this post often, every time you feel like Lexi should be sleeping, every time you get upset she isn’t.

And everyone else, feel free to bookmark/pin this if you feel it will help you keep things in perspective.

{This is written purely for entertainment purposes. I’m not looking for sleep advice. It is simply a stage we have to go through and keep Alexis as comfy as possible.
I WOULD, however, love to hear about your first teething experience- age, what helped, how it manifested, how long it lasted, how you knew she/he was teething, etc…
Teething isn’t something a lot is written about, as it’s individual so I’d appreciate any insight. }

Have fun reading the log! This is how it has been for the past 3 days give or take a few wakes.
*Crying in this case means constant whimpering. We try to never give her the need to outright cry.

{This is taken from my nighttime log as part of Pantley sleep system}

Nighttime routine:
Bath, massage, say good night to items in room, read 2 books, swing in the swing a bit, rock a bit.
7:19 Asleep in bed ( we co-sleep)
7:49 Up nursing (this is normal. She treats anything before 10pm as a nap and wakes up every 40 minutes)
7:55 Removed nipple, falling asleep…
In and out of sleep, rooting, with and without nipple
8:13 Awake, rocking.
Put down in bed
8:25 Awake, won’t nurse, rocking
8:33 Asleep
10:23 up, crying. I nurse.
10:32 asleep
Fidgety
Calmed her down a few times by putting my hand on her belly
10:45 Up crying, rocking
10:50 asleep
11:00 crying/whining, rocking
11:11 Asleep
12:00 Up crying, nursing
12:10 asleep
12:16 Up fully awake, change, rock for 29 min until asleep
12:45 put her down
12:50 awake crying, rocking
1:05 asleep
1:10 Up again, whimpering for 5 min, rocking, nursing
1:30 still rocking
1:50 down, asleep
1:55 awake crying, changed again, tried rocking, tried putting in a swing, let her chew on a chilled teether, rocking again
3:00 Finally asleep
3:30 Up crying, nursing
3:31 asleep
5:38 up crying, rocking
5:45 asleep
6:37 fully awake for the day, won’t got to sleep, won’t nurse, smile central.

Total snooze time for mommy and daddy: 4 hours 40 minutes with a million interruptions.

Now she spent all morning whimpering on and off (more on than off) unless she’s chewing on something or being bounced and thrown up in the air at which point she is as happy as a clam as long as it continues.

So what’s keeping me going even though I am running on 4 hours of sleep today and less than 6 each night for the last 2 days?

This little face! How could you not!?

{a little preview of her 3-6 months video. I know I still have to do the 0-3 months one too}

Comment: Tell me about your child’s first teething experience.

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Oh how the time flies! It seems like I took the photos for this post just a few weeks ago and while I was getting ready to write it and post it, Alexis almost turned 4 months. Oh well! A lot has changed since then. What she looks like, what she does, our routine and our days. But in general it IS all the same: it’s a life with a young baby. Nowadays, we go outside more often, visit the community pool, play with toys and enjoy lots of tummy time. And as of May 23rd, we no longer have grandma here :( That’s the saddest part. But I cannot wait till she visits again next year when Alexis is already walking ( wow! Mind blowing!).

So here we go: what our days with Lexi look(ed) like. I chose to take photos rather than write descriptions of every activity that day. It is exactly what happened and this is what we usually look like/do at home ( except for most of the time I don’t wear make up, though I should). The photos aren’t staged or posed, except for the ones where it’s obvious we’re looking at the camera. But it’s a pretty accurate account of our days at that point. Most of them were taken by me, with a remote/tripod or by my hubby or by my mom – basically whoever had free hands to snap a picture. Times are approximate. I based them off of the time stamp on the picture which could have been taken mid-acitivity. Somewhere in between all those pictures there were nursing sessions but I wasn’t able to take a picture of them except for one.

Note: It is photo heavy so I hid most of the post under the “READ MORE” link.

For some reason I am missing all the photos from the morning till her 2nd nap, so here’s the breakdown in writing.

7:00 AM- This is her usual wake up time, give or take 30 minutes. We nurse, smile, talk, kick legs on the bed and snuggle, while daddy tries to wake himself up and go down to bring us some fruit for breaskfast.

7:20 AM – Going for a walk in the neighborhood if it’s not too sunny. This is usually done together as a family or if there’s laundry to do or things to clean up one of us stays behind.

8:00AM – By then we usually come back home with some fussiness because it’s time to eat. We nurse.

8:05AM – We have breakfast while playing with Lexi on the mat (or take turns having breakfast while the other person is holding Lexi)

8:20AM – The breakfast tends to get interrupted by increasing fussiness when it becomes clear it’s nap time. I go upstairs to put her to sleep, hubby starts working.

9:00AM – Lexi wakes up from the nap ( obviously these times vary greatly, but based on the time the other photos were taken, this is what must have happened) and we have some post-nap smiles, open the blinds, play and stretch on the bed.

9:15 AM – We go downstairs to see grandma who is usually up by now and she takes Alexis and spends some quality grandma time while I finish/catch up on my breakfast while talking to hubby who comes down to eat as well

9:45AM – About this time we nurse again and go upstairs to slowly start the naptime routine.

10:30 AM- I rock her to sleep and since she is having a very fitful sleep, I am unable to put her down ( I usually try twice and if she wakes up every time, I just hold her while she sleeps), so she’s sleeping in my arms.

10:55AM – She starts waking up and I have to rock her back to sleep.

11:21 AM Alexis wakes up and I feed her half asleep. (obviously some of the first photos below are supposed to say AM not PM (oops)

Then it’s time to change and I call daddy over. We make sure that dad changes her and comes to give her kisses after every nap whenever he can, so that, even though he has to work, he still sees her and interacts her throughout the day. Same thing happens on the days that I work, but my thing is breastfeeding, obviously. I’ll write about how we split our parenting and working duties more in the future.

Once Lexi is changed, we head downstairs to say Hi to grandma. I usually put her in her bouncy chair or her new Kicking Coaster and we all talk to her.

A few minutes after, I pick her up and we walk around the house looking at pictures and talking while grandma makes some lunch.

Once lunch is ready, I leave Lexi in her bouncer to be entertained by grandma while I try to eat as fast as possible.

Then we walk over to my mom’s room and play on the Tiny Love Gym on the bed. She loves that thing and supposedly, Tiny Love doesn’t use any flame retardants on the cloth pieces, and is free of BPA, PVC and pthalates which is very different from most manufacturers

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