Bella “reading”…
Here she is, reading us a bedtime story.
(I don’t usually coach her that much; the camera was distracting.)
Edited: April 16th, 2009
AAP Extends rear-facing seat requirements
News from the AAP:
New research indicates that toddlers are more than five times safer riding rear-facing in a car safety seat up to their second birthday.
Bella hated the car from birth; I used to laugh when my in-laws would talk about driving the boys (my husband and his brother) to sleep when they were babies. Of course, they were holding the babies in their arms back then, so it was a completely different thing. I spent more days sobbing at the side of the road because she would shriek every time I’d try to drive, than I can even tell you. It was absolutely brutal.
When she was about four months old, I switched her into a Britax Marathon convertible seat, also rear-facing, hoping that sitting up higher would help her be more mellow. It did, a little. So did the DVD player (as yet another of my mommy-ideals fell by the wayside in the face of a shrieking baby), a little. So did singing, a little. Nothing helped 100%, ever, not to this day, she still hates the car!
I had to turn her when she was 15 months as she reached the weight limit of her seat; 33 lbs for rear-facing! If she weren’t such a chunk she’d still be riding backwards. Honestly it didn’t make that big a difference in her hatred of being in the seat. She just hates being restrained and away from me, period!
Here’s a youtube video discussing this issue with some incredibly dramatic footage of crash-test dummies, illustrating the difference between forward-facing and rear-facing in a crash.
Edited: April 3rd, 2009
Coats and Car Seats
Here’s a really helpful video to explain why wearing coats in a car seat is not a good idea for your little one, and what you can do to keep them warm instead.
Edited: November 23rd, 2008
Insomnia Be Gone!
I have made a huge breakthrough. I have found the cure for insomnia! You see, I suffered from insomnia for many years. Some nights I would literally be in tears, so exhausted but unable to sleep. Really, insomnia is awful. So, the answer?
Have a baby!
But not just any baby… you need to get your hands on a baby who hates to sleep!
And then you will find yourself, like me, suddenly falling asleep whenever you get within shouting distance of a bed. I used to be quite persnickety about sleep; light, what I was wearing, the pillows, everything had to be *just so.* Now, I fall asleep with no pillows, no blankets, in jeans, with keys in my pocket, hair in ponytails… seriously, it doesn’t matter. I have come very close to falling asleep while getting my eyebrows waxed; and that HURTS.
Now if only I could cure my baby’s lack of sleeping…
Edited: May 22nd, 2008
Freeze!
I had a really, really rough day a few days ago. Way too many “bad mama” moments. One of them happened when my sweet, angelic daughter cast a devilish glance over her shoulder and *ran* away from me towards the street. I wanted to spank her so, so badly. The entire time I was getting her under control, I had a little rant going in my head: “You will not hit your daughter, do not hit your child, do not hit your child.”
Edited: May 14th, 2008
Whatcha reading?
Bella *adores* books. I do love watching her with books, and how excited she is about books, and I love to read to her and with her. So we have a pretty big line-up of books we read before bedtime every night. (Well, most nights; lately her routine has been, erhhmmm, completely out of kilter, so we haven’t read as much.) Here’s our current stash.
I love Sandra Boynton! What are you reading to your little ones at night?
I can’t wait until Bella is old enough to get chapters, and I can read her all of my childhood favorites; Harriet the Spy, A Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Terabithia (nope, I did not see the movie), James and the Giant Peach, oh so many wonderful books!
Edited: May 8th, 2008
Sour milk…
I’m just back from a trip to Vegas. We had a great time, but I had an experience at the airport that I have to write about.
I had lugged my Pump in Style with me, and pumped at every available opportunity while we were there. I wanted to have plenty of breastmilk to carry with me on the plane for the trip back. Breastmilk is easier, because it keeps for longer at room temperature. (Up to 10 hours) So when we left for the airport, I took 11 ounces of breastmilk with me, plus a 4 ounce packet of formula, and figured that should be plenty for the 8 hours or so until we got home.
*sigh*
We went to lunch, then returned the rental car, then went to the airport, went through security, etc etc etc. Finally we are at the gate and sitting there, and I decide to combine the two bottles of breastmilk (I know you shouldn’t typically do this). I had a half-ounce left in one bottle that I poured into the bigger bottle which had about 7.5 ounces in it. When I opened it up to pour, I noticed that the milk looked… weird. Frothy. Foamy. Like an inch of foam, sticking to the sides of the bottle. Huh, I thought to myself… that is so weird! It couldn’t have gone bad, could it?
COULD IT?
I put a tiny bit of milk on the tip of my finger and tasted.
Ugh.
UGH.
OH NO.
My milk went sour!!!!!!
It had only been a few hours; the milk had been cold from the refrigerator and kept in an insulated bag. I know it is the desert, but damn… the milk was with me the whole time, I never left it in the car or anything like that. How could it go sour so fast!??!?!
But sour it was. Very sour. Ugh, the taste in my mouth was so awful. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
I started to panic. How the hell am I supposed to get through a four hour flight plus assorted travel time, with only 4 ounces of formula? My baby would starve! She would be freaking out! OMG! OMG! OMG!!!!
I did not know what to do. I was so at a loss, and so horrified, and so dismayed, and all of this brought to head all my feelings of inadequacy related to being unable to fully breastfeed. All I could think was that if I were a NORMAL breastfeeding mama, none of this would be an issue. I’d be able to just, you know, FEED MY BABY.
I burst into tears in the middle of the airport. All the options I could think of were horrible. Just go, and do my best to nurse her and try to tide her over with the few ounces I could provide, on top of the four ounces of formula. There was no later flight available, so go get a hotel room for another night? Our luggage would still be on this flight and then we’d have to go through the whole hellaciousness of security and airport rigamarole again. What to do? I just sat there crying my eyes out.
Some well-meaning woman behind me asked, “Is everything ok?” I know she meant well, but lady… I’m in the airport bawling, clearly everything is not ok!
Finally my husband suggested we find someone else with a baby and see if we could beg or buy some formula from them. I hated this idea, but ok, ok, you have to do what you have to do.
I stopped the first woman I saw pushing a stroller, her baby actually looked to be similar in age. I asked if she had any formula she could spare, and this kind angel said “Oh my gosh, I have totally been where you are right now! Have you been crying?” (At which, of course I burst into tears again.) “Here, I have a can of enfamil you can have. Please don’t worry, we have plenty!”
Angel. Blessings to you. I’m crying even typing this. I thanked her profusely. Seriously, this woman saved the day.
I went into the bathroom at the airport and dumped my breastmilk into the sink, 4 days worth of pumping and pumping literally down the drain. I scrubbed out the bottle so I could make some formula and tried to stop crying.
So we wound up being able to get home with no problems. But you can bet that from now on I will have tons and tons of extra formula with me wherever I go! Hopefully I can someday return the favor this woman paid me, to some other mama and baby in need.
And I still have not figured out why my milk went sour!
Edited: August 7th, 2007
Look out world, she’s mobile!
Bella has been experimenting with rolling for the past week or so… but hadn’t *quite* gotten it yet. She would roll over, be unable to get her arm out from under her, then seem to forget the whole thing for a little while. Then she’d try it again. So I *knew* this was coming.
We’ve been a little lax I guess about leaving her on the couch. (You know what’s coming, don’t you?) But we put her on there with her head facing the cushions… that way she can roll either way and still be ON the couch. I’m always right there with her, either on the couch next to her or bouncing on the exercise ball right in front of her, watching her. Occasionally I’ll dash 8 feet into the next room (connected, no walls) to get a diaper, but we don’t leave her there.
Today I left her there for probably 20 seconds, while I put her baby gym down in the next room. I came back in and there she was, rolling off, my mind watching it in slow motion as I started to run and yell noooooooooo…
Flat on the floor. FLAT!
(Thank all the powers that be in the universe that she did not hit the coffee table. Thank you. Really. THANK YOU.)
I scooped her up, heart pounding, and latched her right on, while I checked her over. Not even a bump. Not a faint red mark, no scratch, no bruise, no nothing. She was just scared, and me shrieking “NO” while I ran in probably did not help! But see? This is why it’s worth it to fight for breastfeeding! INSTANT comfort!
So… she is mobile. There is no turning back now! 
I’m tickled, now that my heart has stopped pounding!!!!
Edited: May 9th, 2007
April slideshow…
Edited: April 29th, 2007