Jasper’s daycare actually has a little “library” where you can sign in and out some of their older books and I picked up a few there based on recommendations the last time we talked about books.  But by FAR his favorite at the moment is McDuff and the Baby which Stephanie mentioned.  I have to read it at least twice each night, but I don’t mind at all because I LOVE the illustrations which depict the gorgeous 40’s fashion, seriously I covet Lucy’s shoes (why don’t they make shoes like that anymore??)

Another one that I simply LOVE is “The Brave Cowboy” which is three different little stories about a boy who dresses up as a cowboy. The beauty of the stories lie in Joan Walsch Anglund’s pen and ink illustrations that depict the reality of the little boy on his cowboy adventures in black and white and the parts of the scene that are in the boy’s  imagination in color. They are clever and gorgeous at the same time, and it doesn’t hurt that one of the stories is about a boy and his imaginary friend which is a large bear.  Bears go over very well with Jasper!

Of a more classic variety, I picked up this Curious George Treasury, a collection of 5 stories and Jasper is loving it! He calls him “Ka George” and I think his fascination is based in no small part due to the fact that George is basically a toddler in a monkey’s body.. always trying to be good but failing miserably by getting into trouble at every turn!  Anyway, I thought for the price (under $10 for a hardcover including 5 stories) it was a great value. The only downside is that it’s a bit heavy and Jasper likes to carry it around with him – I worry he’ll drop it on his little feet!

Now that our book collection has expanded both in quality and quantity, it’s time for a proper bookshelf!  Until now I’ve been stacking the books on a chair next to the glider, but book landslides have become a common occurance. If anyone has found a nice inexpensive small bookshelf for their toddler’s room/nursery I’d love to hear about it!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

but what really caught my eye was their adorable Bato bath which they kindly offered to send me to review:

I was actually gushing about this bath to Nanny Amy recently and her response was “He’s still in a baby tub?”  Um… yeah.. weird I know. But I just find it SO much easier to fill up a baby tub in the shower stall than deal with bathing him in either a gigantic tub that I would actually have to get IN to wash or the one at becoming-home that has sliding glass door panels and has bit of a drainage issue.. nothing major, but it does make prone to getting scummy more often than not.

So Jasper has been bathing in his Primo Eurobath since he was born and I do highly recommend that as an amazing tub that will take you effortlessly from newborn to toddler.  (The Bato doesn’t have the young baby soft sloped side so I see the Bato as a tub you would upgrade to as baby gets older.)

The Bato is deeper than the Euro tub, which is nice for keeping a toddler warmer and I read that there is something about the way it’s constructed that actually keeps the bath water warmer longer.  Also, it has differently sloped lips on each end to facilitate head rinsing over the edge.  My ONLY criticism on the more practical side is that the little drain cap isn’t tethered to the tub, a small detail on the Eurotub that I really appreciate.

So as a mom, I think this tub is adorable and functional, but the photographer in me was even more excited about it’s potential as a photography prop! I love the color pop it provides compared to the standard baby in tub pictures:

So I’m very excited about my new tub/photo prop and you should be too, because Hoppop has agreed to let me host a giveaway for the Bato in your choice of color!

All you need to do is go to the Hoppop website, click on “products” from the top menu and then “hoppop care” from the bottom bar and then click on “Bato” on the right side where the products appear and come back here and leave a comment saying which color you would like if you win!

Entries will be accepted until Friday April 2nd, Winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced on Monday April 5th.

If you just can’t wait until then to get your hands on one, they are available on amazon or from select retailers listed on their website.

Good luck!

I was ready to splurge on these puppies at full price ($34.99) but then asked the sales associate at BRU if I could return them if they don’t have a box. She went to the customer service people and they said they were actually supposed to be $19.99, and then they were on sale for 30% off of that, and then I get 10% off because Jeff works at TRU and basically they cost me $10!

I have no idea if they were really supposed to be $19.99 or maybe that’s the price they gave me because there was no box? But anyway, Jasper was looking mighty stylin’ at daycare today :)

Here are the 10 things I couldn’t have live without those first few months. (The ones with a * are ones I am STILL using even now.)

#1) A Graco Snugride. Yes, there are other models that you may get more mileage out of, but the Snugride wins hands down not just for it’s high safety rating, but also because it is the lightest car seat on the market. This may not matter when your babe is just a wee peanut on his/her way home from the hospital for the first time, but fast forward 6 months and 10lbs later and you will thank me. Or your shoulders will anyway!

#2) Somewhat related to #1, any stroller that the Snugride can attach to. This can either be a cheap snap ‘n go in addition to your “main” stroller for later, or you can do like we did and get a stroller like the UppaBaby Vista that you can snap the snugride onto with a simple attachment. You can read the reasons why I chose the Uppababy here if you are interested.

#3) The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. Better yet, get it in the gift pack WITH the miracle blanket (see #4) Dr. Karp’s methods for soothing baby are nothing short of miraculous and you won’t understand it until you SEE him work his magic on the DVD. It’s almost comical how the babies go from screaming to SILENCE in one second flat once he uses his techniques. Also noteworthy is his fourth trimester theory, it makes so much sense and is an invaluable reference for how to structure your newborn’s environment for the first three months.

#4) The Miracle Blanket. This worked so well for us that we swaddled Jasper in his miracle blankets until 6 months! We tried the others (Swaddle Mee etc) but our little Houdini found his way out of all of them except the MB. Worth every penny.

#5) A Yoga/Bouncy Ball. You can use it during labor as a prop to lean on like they show you in birthing class, but it’s true value is for sitting and bouncing baby on! I nearly lost my mind the first 4 months of Jasper’s life, but I would have ACTUALLY lost it if it weren’t for the bouncy ball as it was the only thing that seemed to soothe him at all. Make absolutely sure you get the ball that is the appropriate size for your height. My parents have one that is a tiny bit bigger than ours and I had a hard time staying on it (falling off the ball with baby counteracts it’s soothing powers!) Better yet, buy one like this that has a stabilizing base included and a cute baby design, or just this plain one with base that is a better bargain. (You can also find the yoga balls alone for like $13 at TJMaxx, Marshalls etc.)

#6) A video monitor* Yes, people who have never had one will say they aren’t necessary, but you know what? I did’t think a cell phone was necessary before I had one either! Some things you just can’t live without once you’ve lived WITH them and this is one of those things. Jasper used to – no joke – cry in his sleep. Not like a little whine, but a full out cry. The video monitor let me know whether he was just sleep crying or if I really needed to rescue him. Even now he will cry and with a quick look I can tell if it’s a “my head is down and I’m going back to sleep soon” cry vs. an “I’m standing in the corner of my crib and never going to sleep again” cry. Worth it’s weight in gold.

#7) The Primo EuroBath* I never understood the fuss when my girlfriends raved about it.. I mean it’s a bath… a huge bulky plastic bath. But I have since seen the light. It is the only bath your baby will ever need until they are bathing in a regular tub. Trust me on this one!

#8) The Homedics Lullaby Sounds Spa Sound Machine* (aka “baby crack machine”).  Its a sound machine with baby friendly sounds – heartbeat, rain, ocean – and for when baby is older it projects cute little moving scenes on the ceiling. Yes, the projection motor will break, but for $16 at Bed Bath & Beyond (when you use a 20% coupon) you can just buy a new one. Or just use it like a nightlight like we do. Jasper likes the “rain” setting!

#9) A glider*, or at the very least a very comfy chair in the nursery. They are pricey, but check this site for children’s consigment sales and find one for a fraction of the price.  I must confess that I didn’t realize the TRUE value of  my glider until Jasper started sleeping in his own room and waking only once during the night. Before that he was in a bassinet in our room so the glider didn’t get much action after the first few weeks postpartum (when it was the only chair that was comfortable enough to sit on for any length of time while my nether regions were recovering.)   But now, that chair makes my daily 4am stumble into Jasper’s nursery for his nighttime feeding totally bearable. In fact, I even enjoy our early morning snuggle time together.

#10) An ORGANIC crib mattress. Yes, these are expensive, but once I read that in countries like New Zealand where they “wrap” the mattresses to prevent off gassing of materials SIDS is virtually non existent I was adamant about going organic for this item.  Please note that I am not suggesting that you are a bad parent if you buy a regular mattress, I am just telling you why I chose the mattress that I did. Plus I think that this information needs to get out there more, it’s pretty compelling and is totally underreported in the USA.

There are so many other products I absolutely love/d, so I will be writing a “Registry Redo” post soon (all the things I would have registered for then knowing what i know now) and that’s where you come in.. what am I forgetting or never knew about? What were YOUR must haves as a new mom or even now?  Orly, JB and other pregnant readers present and future can surely benefit from your experience!

After reading your recommendations on play yards and doing some research, I decided I wanted to get the L’il Playzone, mostly because it doesn’t look like a dog kennel.  Not so much for us, but so that Jasper would hopefully be fooled by the primary colors into thinking it was more toy and less jail cell!

The amazon reviews were very positive, but nearly everyone said to order two to make the area larger. Ouch, 2 would equal $200!  So off to craigslist I went.. and I found a nice couple only 20 minutes away selling their playzone plus 8 extensions for $110.. the extensions run $30 each, basically it was like getting two for one so I jumped all over it.

I was just about to leave to go pick it up when  Jasper started crying HYSTERICALLY in his room about 45 minutes after he’d gone down for the night.

Since we Ferberized a few months ago I’ve NEVER had to go in except for his middle of the night feeding. He might wimper or even weakly cry for a minute or two, but this was totally different and after a moment or two of indecision I went in to rescue him.  My immediate thought being that it was a crazy hot night and we hadn’t installed the A/C yet, maybe he was either hot, or couldn’t fall asleep with the windows open because of the kids making noise outside.

But it was the weirdest thing, when I went in to his room it was like I wasn’t even there at all.. in fact he crawled into the side of his crib as if he didn’t see it there. My presence was of no consolation to him, he continued to cry inconsolably flailing in my arms with eyes open for another 5 minutes until he finally settled down in our bedroom while Jeff installed a window unit in his room.  When I went to put him back down I expected a fight, but he went down as if nothing had ever happened.

The whole thing was so bizarre that I brought it up to the mother of the family that I bought the playyard from. She told me how her twin boys suffered from night terrors that began around Jasper’s age. Bingo!

When I got home I immediately looked it up online and that is exactly what happened.. even down to the timing (45 minutes after falling asleep).  Even though I felt awful that my poor little guy had to go through this, I was relieved to know WHY and WHAT was happening. It was really a horrible experience that I hope doesn’t happen again, but if it does at least now I’ll know what’s going on.

I also feel awful admitting this,  but I was relieved to know it wasn’t just a “sleep protest” that I responded to thereby potentially throwing Ferber out the window. (Once you’ve successfully sleep trained, it’s hard NOT to consider the future consequences of any disruption when it might mean that you have to start from scratch again.)

If they haven’t already, I hope that none of your babies ever have a night terror – but if they do at least maybe now you’ll remember this post and know what it is. I honestly don’t think it would have occured to me if the mom hadn’t mentioned it!

So have your little ones had night terrors? If so, when did they start?

Enter the Old Navy Halloween Baby Collection to entertain me and lighten my wallet.

Check out the ridiculous cuteness of this monkey costume! How could we NOT get this for Jasper?

Obviously our little monkey must BE a little monkey, but this penguin suit is pretty darn adorable too:

They also have a really cute collection of Halloween inspired sleepwear and onesies like this one:

(It says “Mummy Loves me!”)

I must have them all!

For example, my wonderful friend Tracy got me a peanut shell baby carrier for my shower which I can’t wait to try it out. Its a sling style carrier, and I’ve read those are great for really small babies and for quick errands into the store when you don’t want to take the time to tie a moby wrap etc.

We also got a (totally rockin’) baby Bjorn carrier at our shower.

But were two styles of baby carriers enough? Of course not, I had to get one of these super cute Moby style wraps I blogged about a few weeks ago because so many nestie moms raved about them on the 0-6 month boards.

I think I have some sort of irrational fear that I’ll be home alone with baby and realize I needs something I don’t have and it will be an apocalyptic event!

Despite the fact that I may not have NEEDED it, I think I’m slightly in LOVE with my new wrap that arrived yesterday:

Moby Style Wrap from etsy seller Lovey Duds

I was a little worried how it would turn out because I picked the blue and orange paisley fabric as the accent fabric I wanted, but she only had a picture on her etsy site of it with a white wrap. I love white, but I was pretty sure that all that white fabric would get filthy within minutes. So I emailed her to ask if she had any other colors that would go well. She emailed me back a picture of the blue and orange paisley on top of another lightish blue looking material. It wasn’t the identical blue to the blue in the paisley but I thought it would probably look ok so I just ordered it.

I was so happy when it came, the blues match perfectly! I guess the seller liked the combo too because she took a picture of it and put it up on her site as one of her stock items.

She also includes an instructional DVD on how use the wrap. It’s actually quite easy to get the fabric tied the right way, the problem is she refers several times to wrapping the fabric around your “waist”. Yeah, I really dont’ have one of those these days, so it was kind of hard to get it to stay on properly.

I’m looking forward to trying it once my waist returns and I have an “outside” baby to put in there :)

Of course a plain solid color one won’t do, so I’m going to place an order with etsy seller Lovey Duds who makes the wraps in your choice of her large selection of funky fabrics like this one:

The only problem is picking just one!

If you’ve seen the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD (and if you haven’t, you need to!) Dr. Sears describes why babies are so soothed by certain sounds. If his shushing in the ear technique doesn’t work, he recommends parents run a hair dryer just for the sound!

A better more energy efficient way to get the same effect without increasing your electric bill OR wearing out the belt on your vacuum is to download some of the sounds from the album “VA Sleeping Baby” on iTunes.

It has Womb Sounds, Heartbeat, Vacuum, Running Water and more!

We have an iHome thingy in Jasper’s room plus both his bouncer seat and swing have MP3 inputs so we can play these if we find them necessary. Of course we’re hoping he’ll be an angel baby and not need any sound intervention, but I always prefer to err on the side of preparation.

Maybe you’ll find them useful too!