Feeding Baby

I want this book:

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 I bought this yesterday at Earth Fare with the hopes that our Pediatrician will tell us  it's OK to start feeding Jones rice cereal: (the boy is hungry, and not sleeping well!)

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Any thoughts or reviews of either?

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Summer Books

Warning: this post is asking a favor of you, dear reader: please comment. 

As a reader of tons of blogs, believe me, I know the drill; rarely do I comment.  But please know as a writer of a blog, it means the world when you get a comment.  Truly.

Anyway, I would love any and all comments on this post in particular because I am planning my summer reading list and have basically nothing to start from.  So, please tell me what to read!  I like anything--fiction, non-fiction, chic lit, biographies, how-to/self-improvement, even a little sci-fi is ok once in awhile. 

Here is the only book that is on  my list so far that I plan on reading this weekend while I'm at the beach:

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"The central premise of this book is that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are
in fact backfiring – because key twists in the science have been overlooked. Nothing like a parenting manual, NurtureShock gets to the core of how we grow, learn and live."
Sounds interesting, huh?  Not sure what to think of this, but I will definitely let you know my review!

So, please...give me some good book ideas for the summer?
XO, Becca

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Weekend Round-Up

This time of year there is always something going on around town--I love it!  I am planning to have a restful weekend, (if possible), as the babe has not been sleeping well lately, which means momma has not been sleeping well.  I hope there will be lots of lounging by the pool, naps, family time, and some homemade meals using veggies from our CSA.

One event I don't want to miss though is the final weekend of the Columbia Museum of Art's exhibit Who Shot Rock & Roll.   "The exhibition includes 175 works by more than 100 photographers and covers the rock and roll era from the 1950s to the present including some of the world's most iconic images." I am definitely going to try to go with the hubs and babe on Sunday. 

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I would also like to mosey (love that word) around the All Local Farmer's Market on Saturday morning and someday soon, if not this weekend, I want to visit Judy's At the Market Restaurant at the SC State Farmers Market.  It just opened this month, and the menu looks yummy.  They make everything from scratch and their motto is "fresh, healthy and local."

For all of my expectant-mother (and father) friends--don't miss the Palmetto Health Oh Baby! event  at the convention center!  It's free and there will be tons of baby vendors, pediatricians, a fashion show and more.

Here's to a lovely spring weekend--full of almost 90-degree temps here in Columbia, and hopefully some rest!  What are you up to?
XO, B

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A Word for Wednesday- (and a Plan)

 


alaise: lethargy

I heard this word spoken by a SportsSouth commentator last night while watching the USC baseball game vs.UNC Asheville.  Basically, the commentator said "there is no malaise among the USC players due to the fact that they have such a wide breadth of talent on the team; they are constantly jockeying for position."
USC won that game and are currently ranked #3 in the nation.  Here's to another World Series run :)

As for the aforementioned plans...I am going out tonight!  My sister, a friend, and I are going to eat Mexican food at our local Eric's San Jose and then go to the movies, (which I haven't done since before the baby was born), to see Something Borrowed.



Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische.

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Jones- 4 Months

Jones with his DiDi, (my mother)

 Four months of our life with this child, and as each day passes our former days without him seem more and more distant.  In a good way, I can hardly remember my life before Jones.  He is such a joy!

He is holding his head up so well now, and flirting and smiling with family and friends.  As my husband says, "the boy loves a compliment," as it always seems he knows when people are commenting on how cute he is or how sweet, and he smiles and coyly jerks his head from eye contact.

He is getting his first tooth already--it seems so early, but we can see it pushing through the gum on his bottom left.  As a result, he had a few pretty fussy days last week, but it seems to have abated for now.

James and I take him pretty much anywhere we go--he's been to countless USC baseball games, loads of local restaurants, the Rosewood Crawfish Festival, the Zoo, the Sheraton RoofTop Bar, and to visit family and friends.  He had his first overnight stay at his YiaYia's, (James' mom's), house last weekend.  And next week we'll take him to the beach for the first time--I can't wait!

We also have his 4-month check up at the pediatrician's next week, so I'll update you on his growth.  Thanks for indulging me in this monthly account of our little boy's development.

XO, B

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The Down and Dirty (literally) on Cloth Diapering

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I posted last week that James and I are loving cloth-diapering Jones, and we really are.  I mentioned that our favorite diaper is the Bum Genius 4.0 all-in-one, but I didn't give details on how we were rinsing and washing and drying the diaps, so here we go for those who have asked:

I found this Potty Pail on-line before we even had Jones and knew that this was what I wanted to use to rinse out the diapers.  My husband is pretty darn handy, so he saw the product and knew that he could make his own version cheaper, so here it is:

5 gallon bucket with hole drilled in the bottom, placed on top of the toilet

tubing with toggle that connects to water at the back of the toilet (turn on and off as needed to rinse diapers)

sprayer attached the other end of the hose

the silver hooks are simply shower hooks that we got in a package of 12--you can use them to hang up rinsed diapers while they drip-dry in the bucket or to hold the sprayer (shown above), or to hang washed diapers on a shower rod to dry

diaper pail that I inherited from my sister--she used it for disposable diapers, but I'm using it for our cloth diapers; after a diaper has been rinsed and dripped dry (mostly) in the potty pail, then I put it in this baby until I'm ready to wash

Most parts of the homemade potty pail we got at a plumbing supply store.  James just took in a photo of the parts we needed and showed it to an employee, and he gathered everything we needed--I think it came to about $30 total.  The 5 gallon bucket we already had, and it came from Lowe's, (obviously).  The silver shower curtain hooks are from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

I wash diapers about every other day and there are definitely times when Jones wears disposable diapers.  From the beginning we decided not to pressure ourselves, but to make the cloth diapering routine user-friendly for us so that we would stick with it.  

Some things we have learned along the way: 

1- I was scared to put Jones in a cloth diaper overnight at first because I was scared of leakage.  (The cloth diapers don't have quite as much absorbency as the fake fibers that wick moisture into the disposables, so they get wetter faster).  But, I was wrong.  Since we started cloth diapering him at night, Jones has had nary a leak.  We put 3 absorbent inserts in the diaper for overnight, (as opposed to 1 for day-time use), and we have had less leaks from the cloth diapers than we have the disposables.

2- I thought the cloth diapers may leak poop more readily than the disposables.  Wrong again.  Jones has had some blow-out diapers, as I assume all babies do at one time or another, and almost all of the blow-outs that were super messy were in disposable diapers.

3- We like the BumGenius 4.0 diapers with the velcro better than those with the snaps.  They are both fine to use, and we have an equal number of each because we didn't know what we would like best when we bought them, but we no know we like velcro best.

4- Use just a 1/4 of the amount of laundry detergent to wash a load of cloth diapers as you would to wash a normal load of clothes.  If you use a regular amount, the diapers will still be soapy when the wash cycle is finished.

5- There is no need to take the diaper inserts out of the dirty diapers before rinsing or before washing in the machine--they will get just as clean inside the diaper, and many times the machine agitation will pull them separate from the diapers during the cycle anyway.  You can separate them to dry.

The diapers we use can be dried in a clothes dryer, but I prefer to line dry them to save energy and also to save the life of the diapers.

If you have any other questions about our routine or anything related to our cloth diapering experience, feel free to ask!  I am by no means an expert, but I do know what has worked best for us.

XO, B

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Summer is Here!

So, I had a bit of a summer spending spree last week...but with part of a leftover J. Crew gift card, some great sales, plus some awesome online discount codes found here, the purchases were not so outrageous.  (I promise honey!)

We're headed to the beach for Memorial Day weekend with my family, so here's what we got that will come in handy for beach trips:

Stuff for Jones:

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Really cute and eco-friendly re-usable swim diapers!

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Portable activity seat for the beach.  image via here

 Stuff for Me:

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What's on your summer wish list?  Happy Monday!

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Stroller Envy

The babe is now 15 weeks old...I have no excuse for the fact that I have not gotten back into a hard and fast workout routine, except for the fact that having a child totally changes your ability to workout whenever you want!
My hubs works at times 5 nights a week, so this means we are ships passing the baby off when I get home from work most days.  I was in a pretty good running routine before I got pregnant, so I would love to get back into that now, but the stroller we have is a (much appreciated) hand-me-down and not meant for jogging.  My sister has a bangin' 2-seater jogging stroller, but to have to go to her house to borrow it every time I feel like running is a bit of a hassle.

So, this brings me to the point of this post:
we got a new jogging stroller, and so far we are loving it!  We got this InStep from Buy Buy Baby.  It was the floor model, and the last one they had in stock, so we got it on major sale for only $110!

InStep Grand Safari Swivel Wheel Stroller

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We took it for a spin last night and Jones fell right asleep in it (bonus!), and it handled beautifully.  I had previously thought that we could not afford to buy a good jogging stroller that would last, but we did the research on this baby and here's the review that really sold me:

"I had a more expensive stroller that we loved, but I accidentally bent the frame....so when shopping for a new one was sooo happy to find this one!!! It had all the features the $300+ had, for a fraction of the price...i set it up myself in 20 minutes, and we love it!!! I definitely recommend it, especially because of the price for what it is!"

In other baby gear news, we are loving using cloth diapers!  I was a little intimidated at first to get started, but now that we're in a routine with them, it's so easy.  And we're saving not only tons of money on diapers, but the Earth too!  Our favorite diaper is the BumGenius all-in-one.

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Post Office Goes Green

Don't you just love these new USPS-issued stamps depicting ways to "Go Green"!?

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My local Post Office didn't have any when I went yesterday, but I hope to get some soon.  My favorites:

Have you seen these in your Post Office yet?  Which is your favorite?
You can buy them online here.

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