Toddler O is 15 months old!

I can't believe how fast time is flying these days.  Miss O is officially 15 months old!  There's been so many changes since the 1 year mark.  Let me see what I can recall...

Gross motor wise, I never thought I'd have a kid who played on a playground like this.  Miss O is walking and even running occasionally.  She climbs the stairs at the playground and loves to go down the slide backwards.  We have to really encourage her to go down forwards, but that makes sense to me, since she's been going down backwards off the bed and down stairs for months now.  She imitates movements like bouncing and dancing too.  She's just figuring out that she can march in place.  Legs aren't just for transportation... she can use them to do cool stuff!

Fine motor is beginning to teach us things about baby proofing as well.  Miss O, of course, has been feeding herself for a while.  She holds her own straw cup and can even push the little button that raises/lowers the lid.  She LOVES to use a fork to spear and bring food to her mouth.  And her little picky fingers can find the ONE piece of dirt on the whole sidewalk.  No problems with this girl's vision either. :-)

We're essentially weaned from a bottle completely, using straw cup for water only.  Miss O still nurses in the morning before I go to work and over night, but she is using real adult food for her primary nutrition!  Her weight gain has been good and she's stablized out at the 25th%ile.  Looks like she has more "small" genes from mama than "tall" genes from daddy and mama's grandparents.  Her favorite foods are still the basics - cheese and yogurt.  No way this girl could go full time Paleo or vegan.  But she's actually tried some new stuff recently too... things that I'm really proud of like raw baby spinach and oven roasted brussel sprouts.  She doesn't eat those EVERY day, but it's certainly more often than not that she's happy as a clam eating whatever we're eating.  She also eats scrambled egg with spinach almost every morning. And much to her mama's liking, the new pediatrician we saw at 15 months said only the following about her iron intake, "She eats meat?  She's fine.  She goes like the energizer bunny."

Oh! And I almost forgot to talk about talking!  Way to go, SLP mama... :-)  Miss O is gradually building her vocabulary.  First word was "uh-oh" if you count it as a word.  Next came "ga" consistently used for CAT both pointing at our cat and at a kitty in a magazine.  Now she also says mama and dadda (though not consistently), hi & bye (though they often sound the same) and is beginning to imitate a few other words inconsistently.  In sign, she says "all done," "more," and "help" with cute little approximations.  She also waves bye and blows kisses.  We're trying to add a sign for "water" to the vocab, though since she's headed off to day care soon, I don't know how well it will carryover...

More on the pediatrician later.  It's been quite the ordeal between the 9, 12, and 15 month visits at Children's Hospital Boston. For now, the pics.  Someone reminded me a long time ago now not JUST to save the happy, smiling pictures.  Some day, I'll be thrilled that I remembered these adorably sad moments too...

First Year Essentials

Hello mamas out there!  I have SEVERAL friends who are getting pregnant or trying to get pregnant.  So I've been asked more than once in the last month, "what is YOUR list of essentials for the first year?"  I'm so glad you asked!  I think that the baby industry is second only to the wedding industry these days in convincing people to buy things they don't need at prices twice as high as they should pay.  Ick.  I hate it.  I did a lot of research before Miss O was born, but even still, I ended up owning some things that I didn't need.  Thus, more than a year in, I think I've finally fine tuned my "essentials" list for year one.  


Transporting Baby- we chose to get a car seat and a "snap and go" stroller (aka a frame stroller) for that car seat.  It was small, compact, traveled well on the T and via our small car, didn't take up too much space.  We used it for 1 year until O outgrew the bucket car seat and needed to size up.  We never felt we needed a "larger" or different stroller, except for a couple weeks where I daydreamed about having a "jogging" stroller so I could work out... then I went back to work, and didn't have time to work out with baby anyway... glad I didn't waste the money.  Now that we're on to larger kiddo, we have a larger/sturdier "umbrella stroller" and a convertible car seat.  Again, I don't feel the need for anything more/larger.  This fits all our needs.  We were gifted this Tricycle for O's first birthday and daddy loves to take her out in it.  But I always wish that we had the stroller instead.

Receiving Blankets- we LOVED swaddling Ms. O when she was tiny.  Despite that, we really only needed 5-7 max (had 10-12 and some never got used).  The normal cotton ones you can get at any baby store were fine, but we really loved the slightly larger, slightly stretchier ones that were available.  One brand example is aden and anais.  The larger size meant we could use it longer and the stretchier fabric felt more cozy and made swaddling easier.  Much to my surprise, I did NOT use any of the "pre folded" swaddling contraptions with velcro straps and stuff.  They collected dust and I re-sold them quickly.

Diapers - for the first 3-4 months, we loved our Gdiapers.  Now we use bum genius all-in-ones.  I think the "all-in-ones" make cloth diapers a really easy decision.  All of the inserts and snaps and things on other types are stressful, STILL, when I look at them.  I think somewhere between a dozen and 2 dozen cloth diapers is a good start, dependent on how often you want to do laundry.  We use the cheapest store brand we can find on amazon when we use disposable.  I've never met a brand that wasn't "good enough."
 
Diapering Accessories - if you're going to cloth diaper, I'd recommend you get these items from the start: a diaper sprayer, a wet bag for home, and some wet bags that are smaller/zip up that can go in a diaper bag for being out of the house.  Brand doesn't matter.  Buy the cheap one.

Breast Pump - get a good one.  It's worth the money and your insurance probably covers it.  I loved the Medela Pump n' Style.  I actually owned two (got them both used), which was PERFECT for having one at home (in case I needed to pump in a crisis, or I took it with me to Hebrew Rehab) and one at work.  I had extra pump parts too, which made the back and forth to work a little easier/less stressful on my new mommy memory.
 
Places for baby to sleep - even though we co-slept from night one, we really appreciated having a couple of safe sleeping choices for those first few months when O was in the "lump on a log" phase.  We used a Summer Infant Sleeper (great for tossing in the car to go to Grammie's house.  Also good for the back yard and the living room floor).  We also used a "travel bassinet" (not this exact one, but similar).  We used it only in the bedroom.  We were handed down a pack-n-play and didn't use it much because it felt so hard to rock her to sleep and then lay her down so low to the floor with such a tall wall.  It also took up more space than we wanted it to in our little apartment.  By Christmas (8 months), my mom tried to put her in a pack'n'play at Nana's house and O absolutely hated the cage.  It lasted about 5 seconds.  After the first few weeks, though, my favorite non-bedroom sleeping apparatus was a boppy with a blanket underneath it.

Places for baby to sit/lay when you're freaking out- we were handed down a baby swing which we looked at and thought it was too huge, too plastic, and we'd never use it.  But when O was fussy and I couldn't think straight, it was our go-to.  She napped in it once a day during my maternity leave.  I gifted it away by 4-5 months when she was more mobile.  I've heard other moms talk about vibrating chairs similarly, which have the benefit of being able to drag into the bathroom while you shower.  I think every mom should have ONE device that you can strap him/her into and walk away if you need to pee or cry. :-)

Bathing- we owned one of these little baby baths, but I don't think it was a "must."  I only recall using it a couple times.  When O was little enough to sit inside, she slipped, slid, and didn't have good trunk support.  It took two of us to bath her in there, so it wasn't helpful for me alone.  When she was too little to sit independently, I actually showered with her most often (daddy could help when he was home, but I could do it alone when needed).  Once she sat up, we bathed her in the kitchen sink.  Once she could stand, we use a bigger tub that goes down inside our bathtub... it is sorta like a big tupperware bin... that way it's more easily cleaned if she poos in the tub and it also uses less water to bathe her than filling the whole bathtub.  We also have about a dozen baby wash cloths and maybe 2-3 baby towels with the hood (which are SO CUTE).  Don't get suckered into other baby bath things like robes and slippers-- useless.

Bottles- I really wanted to be earthy and use stainless steel or glass bottles.  But the truth was, the day care wanted plastic only.  So I succumbed to that and just used the medela ones that came with/attached so easily to my breast pump.  I was always sad about it, though.  Switched to Evenflo glass as soon as we were using a nanny part time.  I used Evenflo, Gerber, and Medela slow flow nipples, as they were all interchangeable.  

Other feeding: We have daddy's old fashioned high chair.  We were gifted/handed down a Bumbo, but used it about 3 times total- don't buy it.  I'm craving a smaller high chair or booster seat that would sit on top of one of our kitchen chairs or attach straight to the table, as I'm ready for the high chair to take up less space in my kitchen.  We had about a dozen cloth bibs which we didn't use at all until she started eating solid foods (between 4-6 months for small amounts of purees, 6 months + for solids).  Now that she's bigger, we use larger easy wipe bibs and only have 2-3 of them, because they don't have to be removed from the kitchen for washing, so they get reused more and we need less.  We never really used specialized "burp cloths," but instead used about a dozen pre fold diapers as burp cloths.  Once O was eating solid food in the chair, we use about a dozen baby wash cloths to wipe her face/hands/the table, rinse out, and then wash at the end of the day.  

Dishes: we have found small glass bowls and real silverware at Bed Bath and Beyond, and don't really use any plasticware very often or dedicated baby dishes at all.  Plates are just distracting, we put food straight on the tray unless it's a puree.  We love our Foogo straw cups-- have 2 of those and essentially don't drink out of anything else except for the occasional open cup.

Clothing: My advice to moms is don't buy anything yourself until after a shower, if you have one.  Clothing will be the thing you have coming out your ears.  I'd say regardless of weather where you live, your 0-3 month sized set should include about a dozen onesies, 5-7 sleepers (with feet or the little elastic bottomed/dress kind), 2-3 caps, and 2-3 pairs of little mittens that keep him/her from scratching themselves.  ALL OTHER CLOTHING IS JUST FOR STYLE, so it doesn't count as a "must have" but OMG clothing shopping for babies is so much fun, so enjoy it once you decide to do it! :-)

Pacifiers - didn't want to use 'em, but O proved me wrong.  We have about 6 that are in the rotation and couldn't survive without 'em.  Brand doesn't matter.

Monitors - our house is so small, we didn't NEED one.  Were handed down a video monitor which proved nice once in a while, so if your home is big enough, the video was a cool feature.  We gifted this away after O was big enough to a) shout loud enough for me to hear her quickly or b) climb out of her floor bed and walk into the living room to find me.

General "health" supplies: baby nail clippers, baby thermometer (rectal is the only one that's reliable), baby snot sucker - you'll probably get one at the hospital-- ask for a spare.  Also have baby tylenol on hand in case you need it in the middle of the night.

Baby Wearing Devices: my favorite was the Moby Wrap until O was walking (11-12 months).  Daddy loved the Bjorn when she was little enough for it.  As she's gotten older and bigger, we transitioned to a Beco (I think we bought it in February at 10 months???), which is just like the Ergo.  I love that I can put her on my back in it.  I also love that it has a little hood that helps keep it dark to get her to sleep.


What things did YOU think were essentials in year one???

Photoshoot with Kate McK.

Despite our "gazelle intensity" in attempting to get out of debt and our minimalist life, one thing I didn't want to pass up on was a One Year family photo shoot.  I'm blessed enough to be friends with this amazing woman, Kate mcKallagat.  She took our pregnancy photo shoot pics and was gracious enough to agree to take some pics of us and Miss O near her first birthday as well!  We returned to Lars Anderson, the site of our engagement and marriage.  It was fun to revisit places we've had other pics taken at different life phases...

Miss O turns ONE YEAR OLD!

Well, my baby is officially 1.  And while the term "toddler" often refers to a specific time period that is yet to officially start, this girl is toddling like you wouldn't believe.  After her first steps at 10.5 months, she didn't repeat the performance for weeks!  But between 11 and 12 months, she really learned to cruise!  As you can tell from the pics below, she can't and won't really sit still for the pictures any more.  I think we're going to start doing quarterly photos instead of monthly.  Along with walking, Miss O is progressing in all of her other milestones as well.  She's self-feeding nearly 100% of the time, which makes life a little more flexible for me.  We're also beginning the process of weaning, which will be the topic of a separate post, so I won't bother going through the details here.  

We're really looking forward to a whole week of activities for the birthday.  We're doing a photo shoot with Kate McKallagat.  We're also having a birthday party (with smash cake) up at Grammie and Grandpas house.  More photos to follow...

Breastfeeding while Sick? 5 things...

In February I had the inevitable happen... I got sick.  Really sick.  I spent 24 hours pukin' my brains out followed by a week or so of what my family would call "lower GI symptoms."  Ya know what I mean?    Lower G I ???  Anyway, not only did I feel like I wanted to die, and thus didn't really want to put baby's needs first, but I had a sudden drop in my breast milk supply.  I was panicked (once I finally had the energy to be) that this might be a sudden end to my nursing relationship with O, months before I'd hoped.  But in the end, we pulled through.  Here we are, several weeks later, no worse for the wear and with some advice for those of you who might go through something similar...

First, don't stop nursing!  Very few illnesses in the first world require you to stop nursing.  If you get advice from your doc to stop nursing, double check with your lactation consultant and/or midwife.  If what you have is viral, your infant has probably been exposed to the virus through your breast milk before you even have symptoms.  Besides, as you are fighting your illness, your body is creating antibodies to combat the virus... and baby gets those through the breastmilk too!  So it's a good thing to keep giving it to them.  But on a more 'systems' side-- even if your body doesn't feel like it's creating a lot of breastmilk, if you stop stimulating your breasts, you will reduce the supply.  So please please keep nursing, even if it seems futile, if baby doesn't seem satisfied afterwards, etc.

Secondly, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  It's important for you to be drinking LOTS of water and/or gatorade (with electrolytes).  You lose more water than you think when you have... lower GI symptoms... AND you lose lots of water when you nurse.  Ergo, you need to be replacing a TON of water when you're sick AND nursing.

Third, hydrate your baby.  While we're on the topic of hydrating... if you feel like you can't hydrate your little one enough because of your temporarily low milk supply, it's not a bad idea to think about giving her some extra fluids too-- pick up a little pedialyte from the store (preferably the non-flavored kind... they don't need random flavorings...) and give baby a bottle of it per day.  When I was sick, little O didn't love the pedialyte at first.  But by the end of my week of illness, she sucked the pedialyte down by bottle.  And it made Ben and I feel really good when she had nice, full wet diapers.  (I know.  Sad when life progresses to the point that a full diaper is what makes you feel good.)

Fourth, consider what medications you take.  Most of the over the counter drugs we tend to take in the US while sick (e.g., tylenol, antacids, cough meds) are either 'safe' or have a 'safe formula' that you can theoretically take while nursing.  However... most of these meds simply mask or reduce symptoms, but they don't actually make you well any faster.  If what you've got is a virus, it's gonna have to run it's course.  So please look up meds online -- I'm not going to go through which ones are safe here and which aren't.  But maybe consider NOT taking something that's just supposed to make you feel better.  'Cause if you know modern science at all, you know that we can't really do randomized controlled trials on mothers and babies, so we don't REALLY know what all the effects are.  So maybe a warm washcloth to soothe your headache is better than tylenol.  Or some natural gingerale could ease your stomach pains, or a neti pot could clear your sinuses without the dayquil.  You made it through labor and delivery... you'll probably survive a couple days of feeling like crap too.

Fifth, stay calm.  Stress will only make the whole thing worse.  I know that's so hard to hear and believe when you're in the midst of it.  But the mind-body connection is something that none of us understand as well as we should.  So if you can breathe and believe that you, too, will survive this drama... it will probably come true. :-)

Olivia was 11 months old!

I at least wanted to get photos up, even though I am woefully delayed in keeping up with the blogging. The more mobile O gets, the less time I have for computer stuff. Go figure. :-)  

Anyway... at 11 months, Miss O had officially taken her first few steps!  What a smarty.  She did it while we were in Florida for Ben's work.  Ben and I were both there and happened to both look over at the right time... bam!  3 steps between a chair and a coffee table.  We of course are "convinced we saw the first steps."  But who knows.  Maybe she'd done it before when no one was looking?  Regardless, we were thrilled.  

Will have more to say with the 12 month/birthday post.  

Baby O was 10 months old!

Slightly less delayed... mama's been busy!

Miss O is doing so many more things now than she used to.  The biggest "thing" though, isn't an action, it's an INTERACTION!  O has always had a personality.  She has been a smiley, laughing baby throughout life.  But now we really watch her interact with us-- watch us, understand what we're saying, and react.  She loves to giggle and will repeat activities that make you laugh and then laugh along with you.  She also loves to cuddle and will curl up next to anyone on the couch or on the bed and push her head into yours and smile.

Motor wise, this girl is practically walking-- she holds onto your hands and then ZOOMS through the house on two feet, squealing the whole way.  She can move around the room, grabbing on to coffee tables and couches along the way.  And within the last few days, we've seen a few seconds at a time of independent standing.

Fine motor is also improving.  She definitely has a functional (if not yet perfect) pincer grasp.  She can pick up tiny items off the floor and put them in her mouth... a behavior we don't like.  And she can pick up tiny pieces of food and put them in her mouth... a behavior we DO like!  She's also gotten better at spoon feeding-- both tolerating us spoon feeding her and also attempting to spoon feed herself.  She's a total mess when she does it herself, but she's happy!

She eats just about anything you put in front of her.... cheese, scrambled eggs, chicken, pork, bacon, ground beef, yogurt, pureed fruits/veggies (from spoon or pouch), as well as hunks of fruits and veggies.  It's amazing!  If you really let her go, the food is actually GONE now a days, rather than just munched on, spit out, and pushed onto the floor.  But her all time favorite is little freeze dried yogurt drops.  They're like crack to her.  Once you feed her those, she won't eat anything else.  So they're served last. and only once a day. :-)

Enjoy the picks of my little darling.  She's amazing!