the breathable baby

Guess what? G and I are making an appearance in the April issue of FitPregnancy! Crazy, I know.

It all happened one random Sunday when G was growling through the sermon at church, drawing way too many glances our way. After the service, a very kind couple sitting in front of us approached us and asked if we had ever heard of Breathable Baby products...As it turned out, they were the creators of this baby gear and were in need of an infant to model some of their latest and greatest. Believe it or not, they thought that G was the perfect boy for the job! We happily obliged and immediately connected with them over their entrepreneurial endeavors. I have so much respect for people who are so passionate about their careers. They quit their previous jobs in order to build this little company from the ground up and really stand behind their products. Awesome.

As much as we enjoyed G's little gig as a male model, I can honestly say it cured me of selfishly plotting to enter him in the next Baby Gap casting call. It's not even worth the free trip to San Francisco at this point. Although he fared pretty well through the two photo shoots (this kid was not camera naive to begin with) it was impossible to get him to assume the safe 'back to sleep' position. First of all, trying to get him to nap through the photo shoot was totally out of the question. As a busy 9 month old, all he wanted to do was roll over, crawl to the edge of the crib, stand up, and grab the camera. Aiyaiyai. I bet I had to jump in and flip him back on his back about 1,000,000 times. Not even joking. It was exhausting. Am just so glad they had something to show for it besides baby motion blur... Who knows? You might even see our lil Breathable Beast at Babies R Us some day soon. :)

dec. daily {no. 18} : baby stocking stuffers

I'm not shedding a single bead of sweat over Christmas gifts for Graham this year. I'm fully aware that he'll have much more fun with all of the big cardboard boxes, shiny bows, and crinkly wrapping paper involved. However, I am still planning to stuff his little stocking with a few fun items:1. Wooden stacking rings from Ikea.
2. Applique onesies. (I had aspirations of making the whole alphabet, but stopped after just 2 of his initials. He didn't need 26 onesies anyway!)
3. Apple Cinnamon Puffs. The poor boy is a bit young for peppermint bon bons and fudge, so these are the next best thing. Although they are too spendy to justify buying every week, they will make a tasty Christmas treat...And the only way we can make it through church these days without growling. :)
4. Sheep in a Shop. We are expanding our literary horizons after becoming hooked on reading Sheep in a Jeep. It's a big family fav around here; it cracks me up every time. We still need to check out Sheep on a Ship and Sheep out to Eat and Sheep take a Hike. But that's another day my friends.
It's been a pretty productive week around here. We are officially all set for Christmas--the tree trimmed, the cards mailed, the shops shopped, gifts wrapped and stockings stuffed. I'd like to say that I am kicking back with a tall glass of eggnog to enjoy it all for the next week...but instead I am working four 12-hour shifts in a row before heading to my parents' house on Tuesday. Yikes! Happy weekend one and all. Will be back sometime next week with a last minute Christmas ornament tutorial. (In the mean time, check out last year's birdie ornament.)

this is the way we eat our vegetables

This week we hit a major milestone: Solids!

No spoon-feeding endless bowls of rice cereal here--instead, we're trying out the idea of Baby Led Weaning. It's all about involving babies with family meals right from the get-go. Basically, you skip purees, go directly to finger foods, and let babes learn to feed themselves on their own accord.

We simply stick G in his Bumbo chair on the counter with us while we eat, offer him simple, healthy foods that he can easily grasp, and let him explore! Right now he just gnaws or sucks on things, and is only taking in tiny bits at a time. But we can tell that he is really enjoying it! Although it's a little nontraditional and makes for a giant mess, the method makes so much sense to me and so far we're having a lot of fun!

Here's my quick+humble summary of how/why it works:

• Babies meet all of their nutritional needs through breastmilk or formula alone in the first year of life, so you need not worry whether they are getting enough.
  
  
• Evidence shows that by 6 months, babies have a much more mature digestive tract and are better able to handle the introduction of a variety of foods...Not just bland mush.
  
  
• Breastfed babies especially (like G) are already used to controlling their intake and have already been exposed to a variety of flavors via mama's milk. I don't need to micromanage his portions or exposures or worry about overfeeding him.
  
  
• BLW naturally progresses with the child's development. At this stage, infants are very oral and learn about the world through their mouths. Right now, G is super curious and has the hand-eye coordination to stick almost everything en la boca. Why not his own food? Plus, he's already learning to equate colors, textures, and shapes with different tastes. Very cool.
  
  
• We don't substitute solids for those very important-hearty milk feeds. Instead, we schedule our meals in between his feedings when he is happy and alert. Eventually, he will realize that this solid food business is satisfying his belly and he will naturally begin to drop his milk feeds during the day. And somewhere in between, he'll begin mimicking everything we do--that's when the utensils and manners come into play. :)
  
  
• I should also mention the safety aspect: We only give G foods while he is sitting upright and under our careful supervision. Of course we are mindful about choking hazards.
  
  
  
• Eating real, nutritional food from the beginning will help him learn to love a variety of foods and will (hopefully!) help prevent picky eating and mealtime battles as he grows.

We want to give G the opportunity to try everything, eat at his own pace, and learn to love nutritious, well-balanced foods that we offer him. This whole approach is so laid back and easy, I love it! No slaving to make and freeze my own purees and no wasting money on those spendy little jars. Am curious about your thoughts or opinions!?

the great cloth diaper crossover

Diapers, smelly diapers. Wow, I never ever thought I'd be addressing the blog world on this topic. This week we are taking the big smelly plunge and giving cloth diapers a whirl. Literally. I know it's a little nuts. I've been open to the idea since day 1, but those pesky trips to the laundromat and relatively high costs of diaper services got in my way. Now that we're settled in a new place that has the kind of washer and dryer that do not require quarters, I'm falling in love with the idea all over again. A big box of these cute colored dipes just showed up at my door and we're about to embark on a very messy journey.

So why so old school in a world of splendid modern conveniences like disposable dipes and garbage bags?

1. These are not your granny's diapers. There are so so many new diapers out there that are easy peasy in comparison. Just google it.
   
2. After doing a few hours of research, I decided on these because they have a separate insert that soaks up the mess...making them a whole lot easier to clean and keep dry.
3. These also have velcro in the front. No pins! The average diaper change time will be just as fast as ever.
   
4. Landfills. Carbon footprints. Enough said.
5. Cash money, in the bank. We figure that we've been spending about $20/week on diapers so far. These fancy diapers were definitely an initial investment, but compared to the cost of disposables, they will have paid for themselves in just a few months. In fact, if I really put my laundry skills to the test and keep these looking pretty, we'll be able to use this same set for all our future kiddos. Crazy.
6. Speaking of the future, these dipes also have snaps that make them one size fits all. G can wear these 'til he weighs 35 lbs or (gasp) we start potty training! We need not spend more to get the next size up.
7. I've also heard a whole lot of hype about cloth being better for baby's skin and helping (especially) boys learn to sense wet and potty train early. Whether that's true or false, I'm willing to give this a test drive and am hoping it won't drive me crazy. :)
   

What are your thoughts? Wish us luck. Poop city, here we come.