Mom Achievement Unlocked

Mom Achievement Unlocked: official potty catcher! last week the BabyBjorn potty arrived and the kushies waterpoof mats. today i officially started EC (elimination communication).  as suggested, i had been monitoring his routines and looking for cues when he's actually going.  it takes practice and is very hit or miss. before getting into this morning's events lets adore the cuteness of the potty together, shall we? ok, how cute is that little potty? seriously. they come in several different colours too.  the high splash guard keeps pee from going everywhere.   the whole white piece comes out for easy flushing i decided today was the day to start.  after his morning bottle i burped him like normal, waited a few minutes and then set him on the potty.  i have it set up near where i normally do diaper changes. i had showed him the potty when we first got it and set him on it once, still in his diaper, as a sort of introduction. this...

Mom Achievement Unlocked: acquired a foam play mat these foam mats are ubiquitous in any family home.  we got ours yesterday so we can officially say we are parents now, i mean, if you don't have one what even are you? a gloried baby sitter? and so another step down the road of interior design ridiculousness has been taken.  my one act of rebellion was choosing a mat in non-primary colours...ok, it was also the least expensive, but still. it's pirate themed & i love that you can raise the edges like a little fence.  he's got those cars that you back up and are self propelled so this keeps them from rolling out of grabbing distance.  during tummy time he loves watching the cars go back and forth. ahoy tiny matey!  i like that it's so easy to clean, if he spits up i can wipe it down instead of having to wash and dry a blanket.  it's also more padding under his little head.  i had 3 layers of blankets on the floor before and his little infant...

Mom Achievement Unlocked: satisfying my inner hippie peeps, i think i'm kinda a hippie at heart.  my first clue was realizing i wanted a med-free birth...then it kinda grew to wanting a home birth (ok, maybe i'm just an introvert who hates hospitals. i did have a hospital birth & i don't regret it at all)  & then i got into baby wearing - no joke, NTH is over 4 months old and he's never been in a stroller! the other night on pinterest i discovered a new hippie-esque thing: Elimination Communication, often referred to as EC.  it's basically super early potty training. via GIPHY you learn baby's cues for needing to 'go' and offer them a toilet so they don't have to sit in wet and dirty diapers.  you still use diapers as a back up (and, i'm not doing cloth, i'm only "kinda" a hippie, remember?).  the theory is it lets baby recognize when they have to go, regular diapers wick away so much moisture that eventually babies...

Mom Acheivement Unlocked: making peace with all the baby accoutrements NTHs come with a lot of crap stuff and my house is already on the cluttery side so accommodating everything has had its challenges. you should see our upstairs...scratch that, no one will ever be allowed up there again.  downstairs clean = upstairs disaster zone  according to the  MomMath TM  law "that stuff has to go somewhere"      but, i digress... one obvious design question that i'm sure everyone has dealt with is, of course, where does one put the nearly life-size Gandalf cardboard cutout? i know. For the moment Gandalf is in the corner, because, well, nobody puts baby in the corner so it's all his.  via GIPHY Also, turns out his real name is Gandalf the Great Babysitter  update: we've added more crap another fun thing! a jolly jumper.  he loves it. like, truly. and i do too because 15 min in that thing twice a day and he naps longer and sle...

Mom Achievement Unlocked: the nap babies are tricky.  sometimes figuring out the formula to napping seems as elusive as drinking coffee while it's still hot, as in, is it even possible? NTH   is almost 4 months old (i know! how is that true?!) and i have decoded some of his napping clues...creating a nap equation or, NapMath TM if you will, a MomMath TM specificity. 1. slight fussing and a general "enh, enh, enh" sound denotes that he's tired and a nap possibility is near. think Anne from Little Brittain.  this comparison cracks my husband and i up.  if you don't know what i'm talking about check out a tiny clip here: 2. create optimal conditions.at this point i do a diaper change &/or fresh bib &/or onesie if needed 3. insert soother. sometimes he likes this one & sometimes i have to go find the other one . there is absolutely rhyme nor reason to this ever alternating preference as far as i can tell. 4. movement. usually if i hol...