"This isn't my first child."

I've found myself saying that a lot lately. Mostly when I use my mouth to clean a dropped binkie, rather than rushing to sterilize it with boiling water. Or, when I'm letting Lady Bug chew on something that, while unusual, is perfectly safe, but is making other people look at me, scandalized. Or when she's scooted more than five feet away from me in church, and I continue to talk to a friend, instead of rushing to get her.

The other day, I had Lady Bug in my lap (10 months old) not holding on to her, just letting her sit, balanced. Another mother came over and sat next to me and commented on how "relaxed" I was, and wasn't I worried she would fall off? Not really; I can feel the shift in weight and balance before it happens and grab her before she falls all the way. Plus, we were on grass, so if she did fall, it would be a soft gravity lesson.

I wasn't like this with my first baby. With him, I tried so hard never to make any mistakes. I followed all the advice, and was excruciatingly careful. I put him in a crib right from the beginning, to spare him the "trauma" of having to transition to it later. I kept to the food introduction ages right on target; no exceptions. I made sure I won every tantrum that I (mistakenly, I know now), saw as a power struggle. I left the house during the "cry it out" training (with my husband in charge) so I couldn't hear it. I was determined he was going to be raised the "right" way. By the book.

Lady Bug is Eleven Months Old!

No, you didn't miss last month's. Circumstances happened, and the pictures didn't. I put off these because Lady Bug fell on her nose and scraped it up and I wanted it to heal before taking the pictures. Plus, I'm in complete denial about the fact that we are less than one month away from her first birthday. WHERE did this year go?!

Lady Bug has grown a ridiculous amount, it seems. I look at her, and I just don't see a baby anymore. In the past six weeks she's gone from receiving a therapy assessment referral because she wasn't doing any pre-crawling actions whatsoever to crawling about and pulling herself up on stuff. And by stuff I mean mostly me.

Her eyes are no longer just gray but have a greenish brown ring around the center. So I'm going to stop predicting what color they're going to be. Her hair definitely has a reddish tinge and is getting a tiny bit of curl, though much less than her brothers had at this age.

Her eating is doing very well, and she can feed herself baby snacks and end up with more in her mouth than her lap. Her favorite food always seems to be what everyone else is eating, even if she's got the same stuff or better. Oh, and she's cut through a third tooth! It's on the top, and to the side.

We've had a follow up hearing appointment (follow up recommended because she was born early,) and there was an inconsistent result. There may be a problem with the hearing in her right ear. So, if you're inclined to pray, we would appreciate it. She is meeting milestones in her own time, and I have no other concerns.

Lady Bug now waves a different way too wave "hi," and she also greatly enjoys nodding "yes." She jabbers away sometimes, says "da-da" (but not when you ask her to,) and "ma-ma" a few times.

The nine month sleeper doesn't fit comfortably anymore. I'm dressing her in 12 month clothes and even 18 month clothes when the laundry is low and she's messed through several outfits.

Her favorite toys right now are anything that makes a noise when she shakes it. I find it cute that she shakes both hands at the same time, so she waves and shakes a rattle at the same time.

Her hair is getting longer, and she has two cowlicks up front. I enjoy putting bows in her hair. I hope she gets the curls her brothers had.

What does $4 worth of Easter eggs look like to a baby?

Bliss. It looks like bliss. I couldn't find ball pit balls by themselves at Walmart when I went looking in April, but I did find Easter eggs at the time, which are almost as good. And, because of their smaller size and shape, they're probably easier to pick up than ball pit balls. Lady Bug sure has fun with them!

Warning! Cheap plastic eggs can break easily. Do not leave baby unattended with the eggs.

Lady Bug is Nine Months Old!

I'm a week late in posting this, but that hasn't stopped Lady Bug from growing! She is nine months old now, and today her second tooth broke through the gum line.

I'm not sure how much she weighs, but she feels huge. These past three months have passed much faster than the first months did. But Lady Bug is not listening to me when I tell her she's the perfect travel size.

We are slowly and carefully working on overcoming her aversion to being on her stomach or downward facing. No rolling back to front or crawling yet, but she's finally showing interest in moving herself toward something; if she wants it enough. It's funny watching her squeal at something, commanding it to come towards her.

We have begun working on the baby sign for "more." I accept clapping or any form of bringing hands together at this stage.

Eating is going well. I've been making different combinations of foods for her, and she likes lots of healthy foods. She also is working on holding things to gnaw on and putting small things in her mouth. Maybe with the emerging teeth she'll be able to start to chew soon.

I've been "shopping" among the stored baby toys from the boys. Lady Bug now enjoys playing by herself for a time. Apparently, her older brothers also like playing with her baby toys; so she rarely plays alone for long.

Baby in a Box

This past week we all got very, very sick. Everyone, except for Lady Bug (thank you, Lord!) She was wonderful, happy, and non demanding. The best baby in the whole wide world. (Or at least in MY world.) But, she is also still a baby. I wasn't up to much playing, and spent most of my time (when not taking care of puking boys) in bed. I brought a box to the bed and put Lady Bug in it and she had a BLAST. How is it I always forget how much fun kids have with boxes?

So if you've forgotten, too, here's your reminder: stick your baby in a box! They'll love it.

Warning! (For the kind of internet proficient people that still need to be told not to iron clothes that they are wearing.) Don't put your baby in a closed box, and don't leave them unattended.

Slow and Steady: Week 35

For Age 0, Week 35 of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready the activity is to introduce your baby to bubbles!

I love the idea of blowing bubbles for my baby. But what if it's too cold or windy outside? Slow and Steady has a great idea: do it in the bathtub! I loved this idea, and when outside proved to be too windy for the bubbles to stick around, we moved to the bathroom. Unfortunately, Lady Bug did not care for these strange things flying around her.

I tried catching one to show her, but the bubble solution I was using was too easily popped. Also, I think she was cold and unhappy just sitting in the bath tub in a diaper.

So I gave her a break from the bubbles and set up some warm water to splash in the bath tub. Once she was warm and happy again, I had to figure out what to do about the bubbles.

Since we were in the bathroom, the solution presented itself: baby shampoo! J&J Head to Toe Body Wash to be exact. I poured some out in a dish, tried it, and it made excellent bubbles! It was easier to make only one or two at a time with, so she wasn't overwhelmed by too many. And they stuck to her instead of popping right away. That way, Lady Bug was able to see what happens when you touch a bubble and practice intentionally popping instead of it happening on it's own.

I'd say the second attempt was a success! And very little soap was wasted, because we used it for a bath once we were done making bubbles.

I like that in the bath tub the wind can't blow the bubbles away, so baby can have more contact with bubbles. But I'm sure she'll like bubbles flying away from her, too, now that she's had this experience.


















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 Slow and Steady Get Me Ready has a preview available at Google Books. It can also be purchased at Amazon.com (the picture of the book is an affiliate link.)

I don't get paid for reviews; all opinions are my own.

Slow and Steady: Week 34

For Age 0, Week 34 of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready the activity is to introduce sizes with mixing bowls and measuring cups.

The idea is to line them up, (their) left to right, smallest to biggest. Use the words "small," "middle," and "large," to identify, and put them inside of each other. If you do this often enough, eventually baby will start doing it themselves. Or, if they're teething, like they probably are at this age, then they'll probably just put them in their mouths.

Ether way, it's starting to build understanding vocabulary, encourages observations, and free new toys! (Assuming you don't actually need them for baking.)

At this age I like to place object just a little bit out of baby's reach, so they have to stretch to get it. Once they're comfortable with reaching a little bit, I put it a little bit further. This is intended to encourage movement and eventually crawling.

We'll keep doing this for a week and see if she starts putting them in each other. And I'll enlist the boys to show her, too. They love helping teach "baby school."
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 Slow and Steady Get Me Ready has a preview available at Google Books. It can also be purchased at Amazon.com (the picture of the book is an affiliate link.)

I don't get paid for reviews; all opinions are my own.

Lady Bug is Eight Months Old!

Wait a minute, eight months old? That can't be right! This past month seems like it barely started, and now we're at another new one. Lady Bug has done what seems like a lot of growing this month. She is sitting up all by herself very well now. She hates being on her stomach, so we don't do as much tummy time as we probably should. Which means very little rolling over. Since she's my third child, I'm not worrying about it too much. I know I'm babying her a bit, seeing as she's going to be my last, but I'm challenging her a little bit at times, too.

We had a bit of a developmental scare over her eating. She's eating a bottle just fine (15 lbs, over three times her birth weight!) but wasn't taking solid foods. We started trying here and there since she was five months developmentally (she was born a month early) but she wasn't taking to it. We figured she just wasn't ready and didn't push it. We tried once a month or every three weeks, but nothing stayed in and went down. It all came back out. I started becoming concerned and tried giving her just what she gets in her bottle in a spoon to see if she was capable of swallowing and she was just spitting out the applesauce (or pear, or rice cereal, or everything else I tried) because she didn't like it. That came out the front, too. I mentioned it to the pediatrician at her check up and she felt Lady Bug should be evaluated by an occupational therapist to determine if there was a problem. The doctor was concerned that if Lady Bug did not start on solids soon that she would develop a texture aversion and refuse food when she got older. We made the appointment, I attempted to feed her in front of the therapist just like I had done at home and, what do you know, she did just fine. We received instructions to try every day for two weeks and then go back. It's been a week and she's doing awesome. The little stinker.

Other than that, she has learned how to clap this month and is very proud of herself. She has also started the stranger anxiety stage, which has turned my smiles-at-everyone little girl into a hides-her-head-when-someone-smiles-at-her baby. Which is perfectly normal, and a little bit cute.

Despite seeming very small for her age, I've started putting her in 6-9, 6-12, and 9 month clothes. (Baby clothing sizes over the brands is a pain.) That 9 month white sleeper I've been taking her pictures in fits perfectly now! This was also the first photo shoot we've done that she actually played with the bear. It was so cute how she smiled at him. She's very interested in making all sorts of sounds with her mouth; raspberries, clucks, slurppy kiss sounds. Once in a while a consonant. Sticking her tongue out also happens a lot. Lots of swollen gums, but no teeth yet. Over all she is happy, healthy, and the sunshine in our lives.

Slow and Steady Week 30 (and Week 11)

For Age 0, Week 30 of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready the activity is to encourage your baby to crumple paper and, if they're interested, to then throw it into a box.

A few weeks ago when I was first looking ahead at lessons, I was not sure that this was an activity that Lady Bug would be able to do. But then I noticed that when given a napkin or a paper towel, she would crumple it all on her own. So developmentally, I'd say the book is pretty much on track.

I didn't want something quite as harsh as regular paper, so I used some softer paper that had been used to pack an order that I had saved. I had the idea this would be a fun game with tissue paper and a gift bag, but I couldn't find my tissue paper. Lady Bug had plenty of fun crinkling the packing paper.

So much fun, in fact, that her brothers decided that they wanted to crinkle paper, too. And throw it. Thankfully, I had plenty of paper. Lady Bug not only got to practice fine motor skills by crumpling up the paper, but she also practiced hand-eye coordination by reaching and trying to grab one of the papers her brothers held out for her.

Lady Bug loved this. She also liked putting the paper in her mouth, so be aware of what type of paper you give your baby. Any time you need help crinkling tissue paper for gift bags, I highly recommend a baby six months or older. Including up to age 4.9 and 7.

We also did the suggested activity from Week 11, with one adjustment. The book, recommends early on making a colorful sock ball to use in various activities. That's where I got hung up so many months ago. But I realized the exact same effect could be had with a small stuffed toy. And, it turns out, I was doing something very similar to week 11 already. I just hadn't realized it. I started the bird near her diaper and had it "hop" along her torso up to her neck, and repeated or let her grab it; whichever happened. Even though it's almost 20 weeks behind, Lady Bug still enjoys trying to catch the bird.







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 Slow and Steady Get Me Ready has a preview available at Google Books. It can also be purchased at Amazon.com (the picture of the book is an affiliate link.)

I don't get paid for reviews; all opinions are my own.

Slow and Steady: Week 29 (and Week 7)

This week's guest teacher in "Baby School" is Builder Boy! For Age 0, Week 29 of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready the activities include stacking four items and then knocking them down and saying "down." Builder Boy was the perfect helper for this lesson and did it with great enthusiasm. Lady Bug, being a people person, was more interested in looking at big brother than watching the blocks. But we'll keep doing it  for a few weeks and see if she starts to pay attention.

After the blocks, Builder Boy got one of each of the wood block shapes he has and introduced her to different shapes. He even got her to reach out and grab one. (This was his own addition to the "lesson.")

Then we did the activity from Week 7 which involved shaking a noise maker around in different areas and observing baby's reaction. Lady Bug is quite a bit older than 7 weeks so she had no problem identifying where the sound was coming from and moving her head to look towards it.
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Slow and Steady Get Me Ready has a preview available at Google Books. It can also be purchased at Amazon.com (the picture of the book is an affiliate link.)

I don't get paid for reviews; all opinions are my own.

Lady Bug is Seven Months Old!

Lady Bug is seven months old! She is close to sitting up on her own now, but not quite. She can stay sitting up on our bed long enough to take a picture, but not much longer. She is sleeping thought the night mostly, with just a little bit of fussing once in a while.Naps during the day are short but she's doing okay.

She is in 6 month or 6-9 month clothes now. She still won't eat any other food other than a bottle, but she does enjoy sucking on watermelon. She acts like she's teething but nothing has popped up so far.

She enjoys some of her toys now, and she has a standing/supported toy that she will play in for a little while; sometimes.

She has a ridiculous bit of hair on the top of her head that makes her look like a Who or Alfalfa from the Little Rascals that has gotten quite long. I think it's adorable. She's smiley and happy and quite the people person and will let almost anyone hold her.

We're having fun returning to doing Slow and Steady on a regular basis and she grabs her legs and feet a lot. She's starting to be ticklish, and she laughs sometimes but never if she can see the camera.

Slow and Steady: Week 28 (and Week 22)

I'm finally getting back to doing Slow and Steady Get Me Ready on a regular basis. I stopped doing it for a while because Lady Bug went through a phase when all she was doing was sleeping. And the few times that she wasn't, I was schooling the boys. Or cooking dinner. Or, you know, the whole "mom" thing. Also, I admit I had a bit of a hang up with Week 6. As author of the book tries to keep to stuff you can find in most households, she suggests making a sock ball that will be used for several different activities. For some reason, I got stuck on that, didn't get it done, and felt like a failure. It was 22 weeks later when I finally figured out: I could use a small stuffed animal instead! I don't have to do it exactly like it says in the book because it's not the boss of me. Now that I've finally figured that out, and now that Lady Bug is awake a lot more and is showing much more interest in things, we're back to doing the activities.

I'm going to stick to the activities we would have been doing if we had continued on from when we started. But I'm also going to do some (but not all) of the skipped activities; just not in order.

This week we was about encouraging baby to touch her feet with her hands. Lady Bug has been doing that some already, though I noticed that she doesn't do it when she is in a sleeper/covered feet outfit. So I put her in a jumper to encourage more of this.

I also did Week 22, which is doing "This Little Piggy" on baby's toes. I confess, I love baby feet. Lady Bug's get played with almost every diaper change. I am so enjoying this one last time having a baby.

Jury Duty and the Nursing Mother

Get your shit together, Nevada! Boobs have their own schedule! You are denying babies the very best by refusing to excuse nursing women from jury duty! "Allowing" them to pump when it is convenient for the court to break messes up a woman's pumping schedule and reduces demand, thereby reducing production. (This isn't for me. I'm upset for a family member.) According to the NCSL website, only 15 states excuse nursing mothers. (California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Virginia.) Pardon my....passion...but WHAT THE HELL?! That is unacceptable.

If you live in one of the other 35 states, I encourage you to be aware, spread the word, and write your state representatives. Just last October a nursing mother in Missouri was held in contempt because she couldn't get daycare and her baby won't take a bottle. Are we going to let that stand?

Lady Bug is 6 Months Old! (a little bit late)

Mommy is tired. Very, very tired. Lady Bug is teething, but her mouth is so petite teething toys do not fit in it. And she spits out the children's Advil we have or it makes her throw up. All I want to do is take a nap, and all she wants to do is smile. Little stinker....


Lady Bus is now six months old. She is very petite and 12.5 lbs. Her eyes are gray and her hair in some lights has a reddish tinge to it. She has long eyelashes like her brothers and very long fingers and toes still. Her legs are chubby and are occasionally refereed to as "drumsticks." She is out growing her 3-6 months clothes and mostly wears 6 month clothes now.


She is finally showing interest in toys and started reaching out for things like people's faces.

She really is a delight. She loves her brothers and they adore her. She's putting everything in her mouth. Including Early Bird's finger, who responded with "Hey, do not digest me!"