When Sy was little she seemed to actually enjoy playing in her Gymini activity “gym” by Tiny Love. It’s not like she could tell me in so many words, but she was happy batting at toys and looking at all the stripes. Usually for about ten minutes, and then we had to move on, but ten minutes of free arm time is golden with a four month old.
You know, a play mat is sort of a silly thing and it seems excessive, but we used it all the time. If your cleaning habits don’t resemble Martha Stewart’s, it’s nice to know you have a clean spot for them to play at any time (the mat is easily unsnapped and washed). Yes, you can throw your kid on a blanket and call it a day, but Sy really liked playing with all the little dangly things and scratching at the circus scene on the mat. I’ve kept mine handy as my pals have had second kids, it’s nice to be able to bring it out when they stop by for a play date and my carpet is looking a little less than tidy (shocking, isn’t it?).
It’s also pretty portable if you are going to a relatives for the day. The “bars” unsnap easily and can be rolled up in the mat.
I’m making the (thankfully small) list of gear that we still need for the next babe. Ohdeedoh’s conversation about bumpers reminded me that I want to try out a mesh bumper like this one from Breathable Baby.
Has anyone used one before?
Omigoodness, I just got the cutest socks in the mail for Offspring, Version 2.0. I had no idea Karen Neuburger even had an infant line. My favorite chenille wear-around-the-house-at-night socks are from KN and I LOVE them. I honestly wear them every night. I’ve had them since before Christmas and they are just starting to show signs of wear. I will definitely replace them.
Jenny was taking her girls for a walk the other day and and passed by another couple taking their baby out for a stroll with the grandparents. Only they were pulling the stroller backwards to keep the sun out of the babe’s eyes. Clearly, they needed a Kiddopotamus Rayshade.
Here’s what I like about my Rayshade: You can easily pull it over the top of your sun canopy (have to have one to make it work), and attach it with the hook and loop velcro straps. Insta-shade. The thing is HUGE to give your kid all the shade they need, so it takes a few spins around the block to figure out how much shade they need and how to achieve that and still allow them some sort of view out of the stroller. The first time I used it, as usual, I did not read the directions so I had a hard time figuring out how to attach it. It has four straps and as long as you have the front curve of the hoop facing out, you’re golden.
I’ve been sorting through Sy’s old stuff getting ready for the next offspring, version 2.0. Poor kid is going to be dressed in stained hand-me-downs from the get go. I do want to get a few new things, I just can’t help it.
Enter the New For Baby clothing line. How cute is that one piece outfit? It feels slightly reminiscent of Star Trek, which is probably why I am so drawn to it. New For Baby has a great line of clothing for the wee ones. You won’t find any trucks, ducks or taglines here. Just rich, vibrant colors in hip, sleek designs. Sounds good to me.
Welcome to Day 2 of the GHM Mother’s Day Giveaways featuring an Ultimate Burpie from Bawl Baby.
Congratulations to winner Katrina!
Ed. Note: You know how much I love Mom-Powered projects, so I was stoked to review the Rookie Moms’ new handbook. In honor of their book launch, I invited Whitney and Heather, the Rookie Moms themselves, to be the GHM Guest Reviewers today. I’m not sure when they had time to review something for me, in that they are both Moms, run a wicked cool site and just finished their book, The Rookie Mom’s Handbook! They probably even brushed their teeth today, too.
—
When we heard that Gearhead Mom was expecting baby #2, we felt it was critical to begin our campaign of convincing her that she must use the Amazing Miracle Blanket. There are simply no substitutions.
A rock solid swaddle is the key to good sleep for a newborn, hence the postpartum nurses wrap an hours-old baby as tightly as a San Francisco-style burrito, but rarely can an inexperienced (or out-of-practice) parent do the same. Add a few weeks of consistent sleep deprivation, and even the most coordinated parent can only produce a flimsy swaddle with a regular receiving blanket.
Ed. Note: Thanks to my pal Ashli, mother to her fabulous one year old, for writing her first GHM review today!
—
I received “Baby 411” as a gift from a friend of my mothers. “It’s written by a local doctor,” she told me, and visions of would-be-Dr. Spocks danced in my head. I took one look at the cover (the version I have is a bit tacky) and thought, I don’t need another baby book. But eventually I cracked it open and like a frog turning into a prince, this has become my favorite book for that first year.
Written by Dr. Ari Brown and Denise Fields, the book offers a mixture of good practical daily baby rearing advice and medical knowledge. It tackles all those questions that no one else really seems to know the answers to (it was the only book I found that broke down - by ounce - how much formula or breast milk a baby takes in each month).
Here’s another gift my cousin got at her shower the other day. We had the exact same exersaucer when Sy was little, I felt it was the least offensive on the eyes. My friend Emily called it the Distract-o-Matic and that pretty much sums it up. You only need it for a few months - from when the kiddo is able to sit upright unassisted and unable to walk to a crawling maniac who won’t sit still in their control center. But when you need it, boy are you happy to hand over the floor space.
This contraption has legs that adjust for three different heights to grow with your daddy long legs. It rocks, it sways, it sits still if you want and the seat can swivel 360 degrees for maximum dizziness. Sy looked like Captain Kirk in there swiveling around. It has 9 interactive toys to help develop sensory and motor skills, as well as introducing bi-lingual language. The bi-lingual language stuff I can always skip because I feel like that’s just Baby Einstein shoving unnecessary early learning down your throat. As my friend Ashli’s favorite kid book title (but not book) reminds us, Einstein Never Used Flashcards.
Oh my goodness, how striking is that orange kimono? Makes me almost wish I had a newborn to dress up in such bright, joyful colors. Almost.
Check out the gorgeously designed goods over at West Coast Baby, another Mom-powered company. Co-founders Amanda Moat and Nicole Vaslo found it hard to find modern and comfortable gowns to replace the hospital provided options for their newborns. Inspired by the ease of the hospital gear and a kimono brought home from Japan, Amanda and Nicole designed their New Beginnings Layette line. The infant kimono wraps are made from cotton jersey (95% cotton, 5% spandex) and have an open bottom and just two easy ties on the top. How nice for middle of the night diaper changing!
Hey, look what my friend Micky found online yesterday! Robeez is finally coming out with an outdoor shoe called Robeez Tredz. They’ll be available as of February 4th. Too bad Sy’s outgrown them because they have some great designs.
Some friends of mine are pregnant with their first babies and I’ve been thinking about what I want to give them for a shower present (hope they aren’t reading this today!). I love to give the diaper bag they’ve registered for (unless of course it’s a Petunia Picklebottom, my pockets aren’t that deep) crammed full of all kinds of random things we never knew about as expectant parents.
One thing I always shove in a pocket is iLEX. We always have a tube of iLEX skin protectant paste at Sy’s changing table. It has been the best diaper rash problem solver out there. It is definitely in the Top Ten Things That Saved My Sanity as a new mom.
Our cousins just had a baby a few weeks ago. They were brave enough to haul him along to the family Christmas party. He was sleeping while we ate (brilliant child, letting his parents eat). They had the monitor with them, but they also had this totally nifty little device called Itzbeen. I can’t give this thing a proper review it since I’ve never used it, but I must say, we all thought it was one neat gadget!
The Itzbeen has four timers with little icon buttons: one for diapering, one for feeding, one for sleeping (or lack thereof) and one for miscellaneous (like administering medicine). It even has a little button on the bottom to remind you which side you fed your baby on last! My cousin set the timer for the last time she’d fed, diapered and gotten her new babe to sleep and got herself to the dinner table. The alarm went off when she needed to feed him again and off she went. It even has a soft light so you can see it in the dark. I wish I’d had one of these when Sy was wee! For $24.99, I think it’s a perfect shower gift.
Ahem. I was checking the price for this item on Amazon and looked at their “Better Together” section, you know, where they add an item that would make your purchase even MORE FABULOUS! Anyway, can you figure out what item with which they paired this? You guessed it: Breast Milk Alcohol Test 3 Pack. So, are they inferring that if you need a timer to remember when you last fed your kid, it’s because you’ve just downed an entire bottle of red wine while watching reruns of Oprah?
We’ve gotten some requests to review diapers, so here are some of our oh-so-humble opinions.
I think we’ve tried every brand of diaper out there. When Sy was little, we used the Huggies Preemie (red package), then onto the Huggies newborn. The newborn diapers have a little portion cut out of the front to enable the umbilical cord stump to dry off and heal more easily. Once Sy put on some weight and her umbilical cord scab fell off (eeyuw), we switched to a combo of Fuzzi Bunz fleece pocket diapers and Seventh Generation no bleach disposables for day, along with Huggies Overnites for night. Pampers never fit Sy right, they seemed too boxy for her small person. Since babies come in all shapes and sizes, you may want to try these, too. I like that the Seventh Generation diapers are not as processed and have no characters on them. The ink on printed diapers smells so weird, it always sort of grosses me out. Like Huggies and Pampers, Seventh Generation diapers also have the absorbent gel in them, so they hold about as much liquid as their counterparts. I have found that I have to move up a size earlier than the stated size range on the SG diapers.
My friend Andie has used Fuzzi Bunz from the get go, her review after the jump.
If you hit the malls today, I hope you got all your door busters at 6:00 AM and generally went bonkers at the nearest mall. If you are like me, you are still in a tryptophan-induced turkey coma and wanted nothing to do with the sheer mass of humanity on the streets. So as an end of the day cute product alert, check out this sweet line called Island Baby Boutique that I saw in a store last week. Makes me sort of wish Sy still spit up so I could put her in one of these cute bibs. Sort of.
If you came home empty handed today, remember to check out the Gift Box section for ideas!
OK, back to my food coma and another round of Pictionary with my family. We’ll be back on Monday with a ton of great gift ideas and reviews for the next month of chaos.
