Socialize Till You Drop

Baby A is a socialite.  There is no denying it.

When I finally pried her out of bed at 8:30 this morning, she went almost non-stop until bedtime (19:30).

There were a couple of 5 minute naps in the car, maybe 2 minutes more at auntie L's, and say 30 minutes more at home.

In between these naps?  We jogged with miss L and little O.  We met up with some mommy's for a 2hr-ish play-date.  We hung out with auntie L, uncle D, and cousins X and M.  We cleaned up a little around the house, ate dinner, had some mommy-and-me time, and took our night-night bath.

I'm exhausted. (granted this is a few hours later---my 'me' time)

I honestly don't know how she lasted so long.

I tried to help her sleep a couple times.  And she usually naps in the jogging stroller.

No more naps around friends.

Friends are interesting.

Friends are fun to play with.  Grab at.  Blow bubbles at.  Giggle and coo at.

I think maybe tomorrow I may need a nap though, then maybe we can play the game of 'see who can sleep the longest'.

Gloating

I don't normally like to gloat.  However, having a baby has made me proud on numerous occasions.

Today, a lady told me that baby A seemed very alert.  She actually thought that baby A was 9 or 10 months old.  She's only 6 months.  :-)

That's my social butterfly, baby A.

gDiapers

So I had my first cloth diapering meet up.

:-D

I heart gDiapers!

My dear friend M and her little baby A (same name as my baby A! just spelled differently, and about 4 months younger) have decided to give cloth diapering a go.

Now, I'm no expert in cloth diapering.  I'm learning as we're going.  And every day is a new learning experience.  :-)

BUT, so far, I love it.

Every family has diapers that work best for them (and it could possibly be disposables!).  I am under the firm belief that cloth diapers work best when you have the style that fits your family best.  GDiapers fit our family amazingly.  (I believe I've raved about them before, so I won't go on.  But if you ever have any questions, feel free to ask!)

Dear M was very curious about cloth diapers in general and more specifically in gDiapers (when I showed baby A's to her).  I sent her home with our entire stash of small gDiapers as well as a couple other styles baby A has grown out of (always best to experiment!).

Here's to dear M and family finding what works best for them!

My camera still doesn't work, so this isn't my baby A-but still a cute pic!

4 Month Check-up

Baby A had her check-up today, and man was she a trooper!

Well...even with the initial crying with the immunizations, she got over it and was her smiling self in no time.  :-)

She's always a total hit with the nurses, kind of like those baby boys that everyone says will break women's hearts. LOL

At least she knows how to charm people into smiling.  :-D

Man, and she's a big one.  Only 4 months, and she's 26 inches long.  She's not fat by any means, but mommy's milk is definitely acting like steroids.  :-D

I'm not a bragger...but today, I'll be proud.  :-)

Girl Stewie

Besides calling her the Demon Child (because she's so incredibly sweet!), my man has also labeled baby A as the girl version of Stewie.  Really, though, she is.  Well, it seems, sometimes....

Reason for claim to fame?  She literally scratched out part of my eye.  She was sick, granted.  We had just tried snuffing saline drops up her nose and suctioning the residue, true.  Anyone would hate that.  She swung her arms violently.  A mad woman!  My eyelids did not react fast enough, and then one of her fingernails took out, what the optometrist said was, the largest chunk of eye he'd ever seen.

In reality, there are something like four or five layers to your eye (I am not an eye expert).  Baby A sunk through the 1st layer, stopped when she hit the 2nd layer (which is incredibly tough, like teflon or something), and scooped across.  From the picture he took, it looked like the entire bottom-nose corner of my eye was missing.  Fortunately, the iris was spared.

I should have asked for the picture of my eye.  It was really cool!

(I was that little girl who liked to dig in dirt and collect worms with the boys.)

It's taken a week or so for the soreness and inflammation to fully go away, but it barely took three days to heal enough so they could take the contact bandage off.  Go eye!  

The optometrist also said that they see people all the time for scratches from babies and dogs...and sometimes cats and mascara wands.  :-)

I shouldn't laugh...

...I learned my lesson.

More Change

Wow, I have not kept up with my posts very well.

All this change keeps throwing me off, not to mention being sick for about a week and then having part of my eye scratched out by my loving daughter :-D  (more about that later)

Today my man left on his new voyage--training in Germany.

We're hoping to join him soon (more change!).

One day we'll settle down....

....one day :-)

Diaper Bag!

I was given the idea this week to go through my diaper bag and spill the contents--so I can report to other mothers/mothers-to-be what I carry--to exchange ideas.

(I am on another computer without my pictures...when I can get my computer back online, I will try to post the pictures of my bags.)

So, here is my diaper bag.

Well, the two of them.

Currently, I'm using a small day-backpacking backpack.  The larger messenger-style bag does get carried on occasion, but I found I fill it up too much.  It can get really heavy, and I have lost many things in its vast depths.

So, I'll start with the backpack.

Inside the main pocket, I carry two smaller pockets; one for extra clothing (two onesies, one pair of pants, two pairs of socks), one for emergency needs (alcohol swabs, nail clippers, etc.).  I also stuff my nursing cover and any extra items in this pocket.

In the open pocket I stack a travel changing pad (with wipes and extra gdiaper plastic pockets/disposable diapers), a larger pocket with cloth diaper inserts, and a wet bag.  Sometimes, I also put my personal nail file and extra disposable diapers/swimmers in this pocket.

In the smaller front pocket, I carry baby-safe hand lotion, baby bum lotion, an extra set of keys, two extra gdiapers, and extra items as I see fit.

In the small outer pocket on the front, I carry a pair of socks (these usually get worn as gloves if it's cold, or if baby A starts scratching herself).  I also stuff the car keys and/or cell in this pocket when out.

In the water pack compartment on the back (using an actual water pack might be nice...) I stick extra cloth diaper inserts.

In the cinches along the sides, I roll up a blanket and a sling (baby carrier), and put one on each side.  If the wet bag gets too big (or if I have to use a plastic walmart bag), I'll tie it to one of the cinches.

In the elastic straps on the main straps, I pull a burp rag through at least one.

If you can't tell, I'm an organization freak...

The larger diaper bag tends to get very disorganized--although I have more individual pockets for the many random items now, that going back to it may be easier.  The one nice thing about the larger diaper bag, is there is a computer sleeve, which I use for papers picked up at the pediatricians office.  It also has more pockets, which I use for things like hand sanitizer and and small first aid kit (with band-aids, etc.).

Et, la.

I hope this has given you a few ideas.  If you have any ideas of your own, please feel free to share!

1st Museum Tour

Yay! for free first Sundays at the Hunter Museum!

Mom and I took baby A there for her first introduction to the world of art.

Oh believe you me, there will be many more :-)

Already a people watcher, she was in heaven (as long as we kept moving).

Not to mention all the 'pictures' to look at (she tended to like the more colorful ones, of course).

She just chilled in the swing, gnawing on either one of her hands or the swing (slobber everywhere!).

She was so content that one of the curators was fascinated by her, saying she was the most well-behaved baby she'd ever seen.

I'd like to invite her to my house around nap time--or anywhere around nap time.

Need of sleep can make a child not-so-content.

But, yes, I was so super proud of how well she did in a museum setting.

I'd like to hope that that behavior will stick.

:-D

Squeals

Baby A found her vocal cords several weeks ago--which is really cool.
Until this past week or so when she's been discovering how high her vocal cords can go.
Our ears hurt.
lol
Oh man, this gets better, right????

Toys With Batteries...

...can be really annoying to fix.

I am well aware of the safety features of screwing batteries in hard to reach places.

But ........... they make me want to say not-so-nice things sometimes.

Baby A's walker has a sound toy that needs its sound to work.

I've been putting it off for ages...because I have to go find the screwdriver, take part of the tray apart, and then put it back together after switching batteries (not to mention we were out of batteries-but not much of an incentive to hurry and buy them).

It's finally done, though not without getting battery shavings in my eye from having to lie on my back under the walker and dig the batteries out with the screwdriver (at a very awkward angle).

(I should think that would be a safety hazard to the parent...)

Oye vay