Jan
Sing to Baby, even if your tune deaf…
If there’s one thing that keeps Kahlan happy while I pack her around the house doing chores, it’s singing. I can sing song nonsense all day and she smiles, laughs and squeals in delight. However, for the sake of sanity and maintaining my grown up vocabulary skills, I decided I needed more material. You can only sing “You are my Sunshine” so many times…
My google hunt brought me this little depository of every kiddie song I could ever want to learn, Bus Songs is a parents vocal chord dream! Not only is it FREE, a huge plus for me, but it’s easy to navigate. The site is easy on the eyes as well as a breeze to surf. There are even video clips for those of us rhyme deaf parents that need examples.
If your singing yourself dry with the same old kiddie tunes, check it out!
Tags: baby, nursery rhymes, sing, song
Jan
Boon Highchair Giveaway on Natural Mommie!
Hey out there fellow Geek Chic Mamas! Natural Mommie is giving away an uber modern designer Boon Highchair over on her blog… Go check it out!
Oh, and a big shout out to Boon for making awesome BPA free baby gear!
Tags: boon, giveaway, natural mommie
Jan
Little Bear Goes to the Zoo
The day in pictures…
Tags: baby wearing, bear, carrier, zoo
Jan
My Glass Featured at Salty Teacup!
I don’t normaly mix my parenting blog with my DKGraham blog, but this is too good not to share:
My 100% Handmade Bullseye Glass Pendants will be featured in an upcoming designers collective at The Salty Teacup in February.
Pop over to the DKGraham main blog for details and don’t be late for this very important date!
Tags: Bullseye Glass, glass, handmade, pendant
Jan
Power to the BOOBS!
As a professional Graphic Designer and new breastfeeding mommy, I must say, THIS is a striking example of effective design. Use that white space like you mean it! Oh Yeah Babe!
It’s day three of baby in daycare and having spent the last three months successfully breastfeeding I’m sore and beat down on this whole pump at work thing. I’m tired, miserable and missing the crap out of my munchkin. All that wonderful, peaceful boob time and the bonding we shared over her meals seems a bittersweet memory now that I’m at work for eight extremely long hours attaching myself regularly to a lifeless plastic milk sucker. Literally, this SUCKS!
What a nice moment to smile over a well designed ad supporting breastfeeding, which I found while reading one of my new favorite blogs over on PHD in Parenting, and reminding me why I chose to subject my tender and sore breasts to this awful pumping routine. My number one parenting resolution, after achieving my 100% natural birth, was to continue with 100% natural feeding and avoid any and all formulas. Especially after learning the #2 ingredient in many commercial formulas is High Fructose Corn Syrup, there was no way my bundle was getting anything but mommy’s best boob for dinner. FYI, they have pretty much proved what the corn industry has been denying, HFCS is ruining our bodies and our kids health, so if you do use formula PLEASE read the labels and opt for the HFCS free brands.
I just realized the “e” is also a nipple in the ad… BRILLIANT!
Dec
Making the Most of a Penny Pincher Holiday
Until our government gets off it’s A@@ and fixes our ridiculous lack of maternity and paternity support (we are one of the ONLY industrialized nations with no federally mandated family leave coverage) many new parents may be in the same penny pinching mode we are at the moment:
BROKE
Just in time for the holidays, the most expensive time of year, we are living on the tightest budget we ever have. So how do you make the best holiday joyous on little to no money?
EASY
1. Remember the old days when people just enjoyed each others company? Embrace the spirit of Christmas past and agree to get together… Without presents.
2. If “no presents” is too cold turkey for you consider organizing a present exchange so everyone only needs to get one gift for someone. Secret Santa, or even a White Elephant Exchange, can be just as fun and easier on everyone’s wallet!
3. Make gifts! Even if your not super crafty, a thoughtful gift that took your time and hands to create is always more meaningful than a commercially bought knick-knack. Bake cookies, make cards, write a poem and frame it, the possibilities are endless. Who wouldn’t love a made up gift certificate for a foot rub or “Get out of chores” day!
4. Find cheap thrills. There are plenty of spendy Nutcrackers and Christmas Carols to see, but there are just as many freebies out there if you take the time to look. Try searching your local paper or parent groups. They are sure to be listing some free attractions. For those in the Portland area, here are a few:
Peacock Lane Lights
http://www.peacocklane.net/
Holiday Ships & Bonfire
http://www.cityofmilwaukie.org/departments/comservices/wintersolstice/solstice.html
I could go on, but you get the idea. The moral of the post is, remember WHY the holidays are special and resist the urge to be sucked into debt keeping up with the holiday “Joneses”. Get a smaller tree, make your own cocoa and snuggle up with those you love in front of a toasty fire.
Happy Holidays!
Dec
Getting “Squirely” With It
Squir • el • y (skwer • el • lee) noun
1. The state of the infant in which all movement is rapid, unpredictable and otherwise crafty in it’s attempt at escape.
2. Any difficult to anticipate movement rendered quickly and inclusive of mischief.
Kahlan is officialy eleven weeks old and with all the Holiday crazies next week, the three month mark is fast approaching. It daily astounds me how rapidly infants change. One minute she’s Jell-O baby, the next she’s super wiggle worm attempting her first daring escape from the swing, my arms or whatever else is keeping her immobile. Luckily I’ve thus far been able to thwart her evil plans, but she’s getting SQUIRELY!
It all started two days ago. A nice gray rainy Oregon day like any other. We were enjoying a bit of midafternoon tummy time on the play mat, Mommy flexing her windpipe and baby head bopping to my throaty rendition of Scarlet Begonias. Man, that kid loves her tunes!
Then, like it was always possible and nothing new, the munchkin lands one perfect arm plant sync slash head bop and “TA DA!”, her once tummy bound roundness flipped onto her back with a big fat grin and squieal of delight.
What a triumph! Her first mobile moment and again without a camera. My joy was short lived though, as I soon realized there was now a new game brewing. Like every little achievement, Kahlan latched on to this new flip maneuver like a starved babe on the boob. However, the mat was old news. Been there, done that Mommy. She quickly adapted the head swing body flip so at unpredictable opportunities she can fly back and attempt to roll, not just over, but out of just about anything including my arms.
Game on Mommy… Game on.
Dec
Newborn Holiday Guide
I always loved the holidays as a kid. The hustle, the bustle and of course anticipating Santas arrival down the chimney. Once I reached adulthood, reality came crashing down and what was once an exciting and joyful time of year, became stressful and WAY to expensive. The holidays became more about outdoing last years gifts and blowing a months income doing it, than spending time with family.
There is something magical about having a new baby. The anticipation returned, the joy rekindled and I have to at least pretend I still believe Santa comes down the chimney. We went simple this year. Being on maternity leave, six weeks of which were unpaid, we had to. The days of blowing minds and our wallets are over. Just a little “Charlie Brown” tree, a new stocking for the Munchkin, and a few “family” gifts. I’d tell you what, but then we would know what we bought ourselves and spoil the fake surprise Christmas morning!
Being on a new tighter, penny scrounging budget this year realy brought into perspective what is truly valuable and worth having. Sure it’s nice to buy DVDs every Tuesday, books nearly daily and picking up a warm frothy peppermint mocha in the mornings isn’t half bad.
I’ve found though, there is a certain satisfaction in the “freebies”. Waking up to a smiling baby, warm Hubby snuggles on a cold winter walk, making a game out of penny pinching at the grocery store, cooking new crazy dishes because leftovers are no longer disposable and getting super sleuthy about finding free admision family activities.
Getting our first tree with Kahlan was hilarious and fun, not a chore. Having to dicker down to the $10.99 special didn’t feel like a sacrifice. We just laughed and admired our baby proportional Christmas twig. We didn’t need a big tree, we don’t need a ton of “stuff” under it either. This year we got the greatest gift already, our little Kahlan. So although all that stuff is nice, just being together, with our daughter on her first Christmas, is all I want from Santa…
Tags: first christmas, newborn, stocking
Nov
Natural Cradle Cap Treatments
At about four weeks old, Kahlan started getting some tiny spots of flaky stuff on her scalp. In the beginning they were minor and small, however by six weeks the flakes covered her little scalp no matter how often we did or didn’t wash her hair.
After a bit of Google-ing and a visit to the pediatrician it was official, Kahlan had developed cradle cap. Cradle Cap is a flaky dandruff like condition of the scalp that is relatively common in infants. It doesn’t cause any harm, she didn’t even seem to notice, but hours of nursing and staring at the scaly flakes was driving me nutty.
The pediatrician recommended a product called Mustela. After checking it’s ingredients on CosmeticsDatabase.com for toxicity concerns, I found it’s high 7 out of 10 was unacceptable… So now what?
Being overly aware of environmental contaminants and the risks of all the chemicals we humans tend to put in and on our bodies, I wanted to find something both effective and more natural. Firstly, I read that rubbing a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the afflicted scalp, letting it sit for 5 minutes and then washing it out, would break up the offending flakes allowing them to be brushed out. After trying this method a few times I did find it effective in removing the scales. However, the heavy oil was difficult to wash out and left her hair greasy and smelling like an Italian restaurant.
During the last trimester of my pregnancy I had purchased a bottle of Motherlove Birth & Baby Oil to use for perineal massage. The oil is made from certified organic apricot oil and lavender. It worked great during pregnancy for a belly oil, perineal massage and any dry skin. I had even used it a few times on Kahlan for infant massage. One day, on a whim, I was reading the label and noticed it listed treating cradle cap as a suggested use.
Knowing it was already safe and natural, rating a nice “0″ on Cosmetics Database, I decided to try it out at her next bath. Following the same routine as with the olive oil, I rubbed it in, washed it out and brushed her hair dry, waiting to see the result. Being a lighter, thinner oil, it was much easier to rinse out. The apricot oil worked as well as the olive oil, leaving her scalp moisturized and flake free. Even better, she now smelled clean and sweet with hints of apricot and lavender, without looking like a greaser!
If your unhappy dealing with your infants cradle cap using the recommended cleansers too, I highly recommend trying Motherlove. If you decide it doesn’t give you the results your after, it still makes a wonderful massage oil.
Tags: cradle cap, Motherlove, Mustela, Olive Oil
Nov
My first Turkey…
I have figured out “holiday” means mommy dresses me in more complicated and/or silly themed clothes, the kitchen room smells funny (although oddly intrigueing) and Daddy is home during daytime. I think I like it, but the endless bright flashes could stop anytime now…
Tags: firsts, holiday, thanksgiving
