by Heather
Is that an expression? Well, if button up is… I figured I could use it.
Anyway, when Holden was a few days old, Alec tried to give him is first manicure. This innocent ritual ended with snipping off the end of his little thumb and us putting mittens on him for the next three weeks.
Five good reasons for baby mittens:
- Babies won’t scratch their little faces unwittingly
- You can avoid trimming those razor-sharp talons or avoid looking at where you snipped your precious baby’s finger already (for a little while only)
- You could be seriously entertained by your choice of handwear
- Cootie-laden strangers won’t grab your babies hands
- Warmth
Holden wore some mittens that made him look like a court jester. You can go that route or the uber-cool, hipster, tattoo-hands route. Buy some plain ones and experiment with your own style.
[Link and image via BloggingBaby]
by Whitney
Sometimes young babies make annoyingly weird faces when you’re trying to take a picture to prove to the world how cute they really are.
In the first couple months, I found that Julian was actually a very good model while he slept. He didn’t cry or cross his eyes or make a rooting face. He was peaceful and pleasant and I’m glad I captured it on film. I ended up using a sleeping photo for our holiday card.
How to do it:
- Locate a well lit corner of your house
- Place unswaddled baby on solid colored piece of fabric, such as sheet, blanket or pillow case
- Stand above baby looking down to shoot picture
- For best results, do not use zoom or flash– move camera or lighting instead
by Heather
Whitney passed along this mama tip to me and now I’m telling you; if your baby is starting to skip that 10pm feeding and you want to stretch those sleeping hours to ones that are more convenient, try the dream feed. She says it didn’t work for them, but we used the dream feed technique for several months.
Pssst, the Baby Whisperer also recommends it if her word is worth more to you.
Now, it takes a very steady hand and I never tried it myself because I had the lucky job of pumping during feeding time (consequently, Alec is the pro in our house) but here’s the deal:
- Warm the bottle
- Feed the baby while he sleeps — you don’t even have to rouse him from the crib
- Now, you go to bed and enjoy the extra ZZZZ’s
Basically, the sucking reflex is so strong that Holden could down a 4 oz bottle (and later almost 6 oz!) while still sleeping. I think Alec played video games on his phone with his free hand.
I hear that some people are able to do a full-on nursing session without waking the baby this way.
by Heather
Rookie mom, Emily, suggested hitting the drive-in movie as a great baby-on-board date night.
The last time I went to a drive-in I was driving cross-country with my pal, Rachel, and we actually watched the movie Twister (in which a drive-in theater is decimated by a tornado). I only wish the drive-ins near Berkeley were still operating!
Emily tells us about taking her two-month old to the movies:
This is perfect for my baby - she falls asleep on the drive there, sleeps through most of the movie, and when she wakes up (and cries), no one can hear her, and I can breastfeed discreetly in the car.
When she is fussy, my husband and I take turns bouncing her on our laps, just trading off every 20 minutes or so. This has allowed us to see all the first-run adult movies.
Oh yeah, and since the sound comes in through our car stereo, we don’t have to worry about loud movies.
For Peninsula moms, there is one in San Jose off Capitol Expressway). Check out DriveinMovie.com to see if the drive-in movie is still alive and well where you live.
We agree with Emily that having a baby DOES NOT mean the end of loving movies.
Related activity: Go to the theater where crying is allowed.
