Baby Stuff We Love, Six Month Edition

1.  Evenflo Exersaucer.  This baby containment, entertainment, sanity-saving device was the best hundred bucks we spent all year.  Noah LOVES it.  I mean L-O-V-E-S it.  He'll happily play in it until I have decided I have given him enough "alone time" and when I take him out he reaches to go back.  That never ever happened with his swing or bouncy seat.  I think it has strengthened his leg muscles and really encouraged him to grasp and pull and push.  He adores gnawing on the toys and pressing the buttons for the music.  I know a lot of physical therapists don't agree with the exersaucer, and I think it has to do with the way the baby "sits" in it being hard on their hips if they're in there for hours, but I think it's a handy dandy way for me to get things done around the house while keeping him safe and entertained.  I mean, I won't leave him in there for HOURS so that's good, right?  

2. Baby Bjorn.  I know I spoke the merits of the mei tai earlier, and it has been wonderful for around the house and the warmer months, but the Bjorn has been fantastic for when we're in and out of the car on our errands.  It's a snap, literally, to put him in and I have the fleece cover so his legs and arms stay warm in this cold weather.  He loves riding in it at the grocery store and tends to stay calmer for longer.  I just put the harness on under my coat before we leave and the snap him in right out of the carseat.  Easy peasy.

3. Our foam puzzle playmat.  I have this in our family room in lieu of a blanket on the floor and it's great.  It's soft but not too soft that Noah can't scoot himself around and it cleans up easily with a little swiffer action.  You can make it as big or small as you want to fit your space.  

4. Flannel receiving blankets.  I have found these to be the perfect way to not have to change Noah's crib sheet everytime he drools too much or leaks through his diaper.  Since he's a tummy sleeper he tends to leave wet puddles wherever his head is and you just try to imagine how fun it is to change a sheet three-four times a day.  So I just tuck these over the top half of his crib mattress right over the sheet, and if he makes a mess, then all I have to do is switch out the blanket rather than the whole sheet.  The flannel in the blanket almost makes it "stick" to the sheet so I don't worry about him pulling it up or or getting tangled in it.  I didn't start this until he was about 5 months just in case he did get it pulled over his face somehow...now he can grab and pull so he can move the blanket if that were to happen.  So far, so good.  

5.  Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat.  Holy crap, people, is this thing great.  I hemmed and hawed over what highchair we should get for Noah for MONTHS.  Do we go with a big highchair, padded, reclining seat with all the bells and whistles or do we get a classic wood chair that is adjustable and pulls up to the table?  Either way we would be spending a lot of money on something that would be mooching space in our kitchen.  Here is how I managed to use what I had and spent next to nothing.  When I started out with solids, I fed him in his bouncy chair since he wasn't quite ready to sit up.  When he could sit up better, I moved him to his Bumbo seat placed on the kitchen counter (ALWAYS with a hand on him, never alone, don't alert DCFS) with the tray.  Then I scoured the internet for reviews on every highchair imaginable.  I was pretty sure I wanted a wood, adjustable, pull up to the table chair, until I came across a site that had what seemed like very honest recommendations from other parents.  Consistently the FP Healthy Care Booster was mentioned as a permanent alternative to the big highchair, though the booster is really touted as a great travel highchair.  So instead of spending a couple hundred on a highchair, I decided to use the booster as my ONLY highchair.  My mom picked one up for us at Target, I strapped it to our kitchen chair, and voila!  Insta-highchair AND it tucks right under the table while still attached to the kitchen chair.  It takes no additional space and is at just the right height for Noah to pull up to the table or eat with the tray on.  And it's plastic so there are no crevices for slimy food and crumbs to get caught in.  I literally wipe it down after every meal and we're done.  No muss, no fuss. I heart you FP Healthy Care Booster Seat.  I want to make out with you.  Loves.

6.  First Years Take & Toss feeding bowls.  These are just SO EASY to heat up Noah's food in and they come with lids for traveling.  They are the perfect size and will last us a long time.  Contrary to the name, these are completely dishwasher safe (top rack only!) and reusable many times.  

7. Infantino Activity Stacker toy.  Baby toys seem to be a pretty personal-choice type thing.  Noah adores this stacker and especially the green rattle one.  He is slowly getting the hang of putting the stacker back together, but he really just loves waving his arms to make it rattle and roll.  This was by far the best toy we got him, but that's not to say your kid will love it.  I recently got him this toy which is adorable, but he hates it.  Maybe he'll grow into it, maybe not.  

I am positive there are more things we love, but for now these are the tops in our house!

What's in a name?

A few weeks ago we realized that Noah was not responding to his name but rather to Tim's nickname for him: Bubba. I would say his name, Noah, and nothing. No head turn, no acknowledgment, nada. But when one of us would say Bubba, he would look up and smile. Now, Bubba is an adorable nickname, or even a great name for a boat, say a shrimping boat down in Alabama with the surname Gump, but not a good name for our baby to go by. There would be no way to escape teasing once he hit first grade as a Bubba.

So the nickname was outlawed. And Noah would only be called Noah. At least until he figured out that was his actual name. It's taken some practice and many days, but I think we have finally got it all straightened out. Except he also now responds to punk...weird.

Snot-nosed kid

Noah's sick again. This is why I HATE going to the pediatrician's office. He always comes back with a bad cold and then I get it and then Tim gets it and waaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Unless something interesting happens in the next few days, it will be quiet around here while we hunker down and fight off the invading germs.

There is going to be a lot less of this:



And a lot more of this:



See you on the flip side.

The littlest supporter

Such a good day to be an American...no matter what size you are.

Six Months

Dear Noah,

I am just shocked, shocked!, that you're already six months old.  A whole half of a year has flown by us in a blur.   I am starting to forget small moments from your first few weeks and am grasping at all the memories that I have, trying to store them forever in the depths of my brain.  You're growing so fast that I can hardly keep up!  And I don't want to forget anything, not a single moment we have.  

This past month has been a whirlwind of milestones and laughter.  You've mastered rolling over, BOTH ways, and you're sitting up all by yourself!   You adore grabbing at your toes and trying as hard as you can to get them in your mouth.  Anything that's not nailed down is fair game when it comes to grabbing and putting in your mouth.  Your daddy even gave you a spare remote control (batteries removed of course) for you to slobber all over since you seemed intent on grabbing the one that does work and making it yours.  Our house is swimming in drool due to your teething...those two bottom teeth are sharp little suckers and when Mommy says not to bite, she means it.  

You love to pound your hands on the kitchen table and make as much noise as you can.  I know it's only a matter of time before you realize you're the one making the noise and then this house will no longer be quiet.  And I can't wait.  Watching you concentrate on a toy and try to figure out how to grasp it or throw it or push it over is amazing.  It's almost as if I can see your brain working and growing.  Your laughter is contagious and you adore Pop! Goes the Weasel and any game of peekaboo.   It's true what they say: I'll do anything to make you laugh, just so I can hear that laugh and savor it over and over.  

When you wake from your naps you roll over and grab your toes and I love to watch you wake up on the monitor.  Your coos and giggles alert me to come get you...you rarely wake up crying.  And then the big smile I get when you see me, it's addictive.  This isn't all to say it's good times at our house all the time.  No, we definitely have our bad days but they're few and far between and your laughs can snap me out of any funk.  You especially dislike it when your daddy and I "discuss" things and tend to chime in with your own, very loud, opinion.  That sure brings on a case of the smiles all around and quickly makes us forget what we were "discussing".  

I want you to stay this small forever.  I want you to keep growing and discovering.  It's a battle everyday within myself.  I know you're going to keep growing and learning and I am so lucky that I get to be right there with you.  You amaze me everyday.  

Love,

Mama

High as a kite

I honestly thought the hormonal roller coaster that started with pregnancy ENDED when the baby was born.  Surprise!  It so doesn't.  Apparently this whole breastfeeding thing keeps your hormones locked and loaded which would explain why I am STILL sobbing at the Sarah McLachlan save the animals ASPCA commercial.  You know the one, the sad puppy eyes staring at you through the cages, the little kitty faces all pathetically looking at the camera, her melancholy angel song running through the background.  Bah on you Sarah McLachlan, bah on you!  

Oh!  And let's not forget ANY television show that deals with a child being injured, ill, or, god forbid, DYING.  I'm looking at YOU Private Practice and Dr. Addison Montgomery (that is such a soap opera name, no?).  And it seems that late at night, I end up reading blogs and posts about parents who have lost a child or a child that has lost a parent and AHHHHHHH!  How I find these, and why only in the darkest hours of the day, I cannot explain.  That's when Tim has to hold me back from scooping up my sleeping baby and promising him I will keep him safe forever and ever, amen.  End result is waking the baby and causing myself more tears and it seems I have a problem with wanting to snuggle my child WHEN HE IS SLEEPING.  I hope he doesn't mind if I do that when he's a teenager.  

I hope I get better and soon.  This up and down, in and out is driving me insane.  Literally.

No words

Sigh.  I just love him so much.

That is all.  Carry on.