Busy Week

Little Man is feverish off and on. and by feverish, I mean 99.2 degrees to maybe 99.8. His cheeks get flushed and he looks so unhappy. And he's floppy and needy and clingy like how.

Growing teeth is hard work. Any good teething hints?

Too make matters worse is the diaper rash. C tells me that it can be a result of the saliva in his mouth changing and how that effects his whole system. After a lot of experimentation (Boudreaux's Butt Paste, Desitin, Aveno Diaper Cream, Aquaphor) we found a product that seems to work. We've been using 'ilex paste which is a barrier cream that is an awful lot like surgical rubber cement. But man, does it work. If you have need of such stuff, find a small neighborhood pharmacy and ask them if they have it. It might be behind the counter, or they can order it same day if you call early enough.

For Sale

I'm in the process of getting stuff ready for the March LA Kids Consignment sale. I'm a fan of consignment shopping because I actually don't have lots of money and I'm cheap, but I do like to buy stuff. In LA there is a sale every 6 months.

I was wondering if other places had seasonal sales and I found Kids Consignment Sales which lists sales. There may be one near you! Check the list because I have found the seasonal sales to be better than the consignment stores I go to.

Anyhow, I'm going through the process of sorting, labeling, hanging and tagging stuff. I'm selling two breasts pumps (one portable, one hospital grade), a changing table, lots of clothes (usually bundled as sets or outfits, none for more than a couple of bucks each), some carriers. It's an odd relief to prep it in anticipation of this stuff actually leaving my house.

A fun rainy day activity.

I can admit it

Last night I gave Little Man a bath. Thinking about some of the comments from fellow moms, I thought, "I totally should try the baby bath tub." So I filled that in the big tub instead and it was great. Not because I used less water (I fear I used more with the rinsing!) but because his ears were water free. It'll work when I bathe him alone. Otherwise, I think we'll continue to use the insert, or more likely, carry him into the shower.

I guess what I was reminded is sometimes it's nice to have the right tool for the job, but often it's not that necessary.

Classical Music Makes Me Fall Asleep Too

Little Man and Boo both have Tiny Love's Farm Animal Mobile at their respective cribs. Both love to watch the motion of the mobile, which I will say is oddly hypnotic.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard it cycle through Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. Each time at some point both babies fall asleep.


Some kids in primary grades fall asleep at story time at school. The sound of someone reading aloud is so deeply ingrained as part of their bedtime routine, that it triggers a sleep response. So, here's what I think. I'm training them to fall asleep when they hear classical music. Don't know if that's a bad thing or a typical thing.

Don't Want to Live Without

There are so many things I could list as stuff that make early child rearing easier. It's hard to winnow a list down to the bare essentials and so much of what we love is ineffable. Also, some of the biggest essentials we have found are things like affordable child care and good friends.

But, if a new mom asked me, though, this is what I'd tell her she wants:

1. Bottle rack (ours is from Munchkin and we love it) plus a bottle brush. We wash bottles at least a gabrillion times a day. It helps keep the clutter not so cluttery. And you don't need a fancy pretty one that costs a lot. the Munchkin one we bought at Target. It folds. We've traveled with it. LOVE IT.

2. Digital Camera. Seriously? If you don't have one, you need one because you turn around and suddenly Junior has a pack of cigs rolled in his shirt sleeve. Record everything. It's all deletable.

3. If you do have a digital camera, upload to Flickr and get a pro account. With a pro account you can sort things into albums and collections. And you can print to a nearby target. It's fabulous.

4. Bulb aspirator is a must have. Babies hate the snot sucker, but they totally work. Our hospital sent us home with one.... and hospital grade snot suckers are perfect.

5. An Ergo carrier. It's the most comfortable of carriers we have tried (and we currently have a Bjorn, Two Sherpanis and two slings). You can wear the baby on front or back, both are extremely comfortable.

6. A foam tub insert. The actual baby bath set isn't necessary, but a foam insert lets the baby float and kick. Little Man adores bath time.

7. Hand sanitizer. We keep ours at the changing table and where we keep bottles.

8. BTW, speaking of changing tables: we don't use ours except to store stuff like unfolded laundry. We do use our Graco Play Pen for changing, storing, and for nap time. In hindsight, I might have foregone a crib and changing table and just gotten this!

9. Other good thing to have: an address to a local consignment store. New clothes for babies are fun to buy, but it adds up. Consignment is totally the way to go since babies generally outgrow before they wear something out. In LA, we have a several from which to choose plus a twice-a-year giant consignment sale. Sometimes it does pay to be a huge metropolis.

10. (Fine. This one isn't an essential, but it sure felt like it at the time). If you are going to use cloth diapers (go cloth! choose cloth!) an essential, at least to start, is a diaper service. We had ours for 3 months and it allowed us to get used to our son and everything. else without the stress of cloth diapers. It let us get to know a little about parenthood before we had to invest tons of $$ into diapers without being sure we could do it.

These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things

I LOVE my blanket
Originally uploaded by mskat

I've spent the past two weeks trying to think of what direction I want this blog to go. I have lots of partially written posts in my head (about mommy-and-me yoga or about diapering), what I really want to write about at least in January is about what life is like with a kid or kids in the ICU.

But before we go there, I am going to do a roundup of things that our family has found to be particularly wonderful.

I don't have time tonight to elucidate on what these are. But I will post an annotated list tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this picture of Little Man who is obviously enjoying his blankey.

Let me tell you about the blankey. This blankey was originally donated to his sister on a recent stay at UCLA's PICU. We took it home to wash it and it never made it back to Boo. We took it on our recent long road trip to Idaho. And let me tell you, it was a life saver.

The blanket was made by MACC Designs.Of course if you go to that website, it's a redirect to its sister site. While they don't have this exact blanket, they have similar ones.

On one side is faux cowhide and the other is orange fake fur. The blanket, frankly, is ugly. But Little Man adores it. It's incredibly soft. The orange fur doesn't shed. At a little less than a yard on both sides, it's a good size for grippy hands.

Little Man loves to ball it up and chew on it, so the washable nature is fantastic. It was a hit. This ugly cow blanket is now his favorite. And what Little Man likes, we are all grateful for.

Honest to god

I overpack on the best of days. But, I swear, with baby in tow, it is ridiculous. In addition to clothes for Little Man, we also packed: stroller (in a cool wheeled bag that cost as much as most strollers cost and didn't actually do something that defied physics like make the stroller take up less space....but alas), car seat, a cooler of baby food, most of which needs to be refrigerated, usual diaper bag, extra diaper bag filled with our favorite Bum Genius Super Diapers, various toys and rattles including this super awesome vibrating teether, extra blankets, bag for dirty diapers, thermos with hot water for bottles, several bibs and spit clothes among other things.

It's hard to travel light. Mainly, I think it's hard because we make it hard. Since I don't breastfeed, we have a ton of eating crap for the baby. But other than the stroller, I'm not sure what we could have left at home.

Seriously? For Something Destined to Be Drooled On?

Are people insane? The Cashmere Baby Sling that costs only $349 is INSANE. Sure, I'm positive Cashmere feels great to mom and possibly to baby. But we are talking about a sling, something, that in my experience gets gnawed on, spit up on, drooled on, dropped on the floor of the car, stepped on by the dog and just generally dirty. CASHMERE?! WHAT?!

In fairness, I have several baby carrying devices that were purchased because I just wasn't sure what we would like. We have a classic Bjorn that Little Bug loved for a while but that he doesn't fit so well anymore. We also had a misbegotten Sherpani carrier, purchased on someone's rec but we don't love it. Then I bought a $30 sling at the Pasadena Flea Market. We've used it a bit, but Little Bug gets a little "Momma's Boobs Too Close and SMOOSHING ME!"

Finally we found the Ergo carrier, which I adore. It's not particularly easy to get on alone and it's a little inelegant looking. But it's made of some sort of poly canvasy type fabric and soft cotton, which is lovely because Little Bug often turns his head to gnaw on some piece of it. It gets dropped into the machine regularly.


Anyhow, I guess my greater point is that the many carriers littered throughout the house and our carrier of choice show that we are not above ridiculously expensive purchases in pursuit of the baby carrying device. But a cashmere sling just seems to be in the beyond category.

But, to buy something made of cashmere that a baby is supposed to use seems insane to me. Insane and really upper-class wealthy-woman indulgent.