Attached to my baby wisdom

Attachment parenting vs the Baby-wise philosophy. The degree of conflict between these two extreme parenting styles is enough to drive a brand new parent running voluntarily into the pit of despair. (See movie: Princess Bride). For me, reading everything I can get my hands on is as much a good thing as it is a very, very bad idea. After reading all about one philosophy, to be fair, you can’t help but to read all there is about the other.

If you subscribe to one wholly and completely and you read any conflicting ideas from the other, as a new parent you really begin to second-guess yourself. They are both very good at selling what they’re about and believe to be right. Then you find yourself wondering… am I holding him too much? Do I not hold him enough? I keep telling myself that there’s not that much you can DO with an infant that can hardly hold his head up. Still, at the end of the day sometimes I wonder if there’s something else I could be doing. On those days, I just love him an extra lot, just to be sure…

I can’t really subscribe to either philosophy entirely. I have to use your common sense to help wade thru and navigate all the information. I’ve concluded that at least in my experience, being a parent involves you being able to take what you believe in your heart and mind to be right. It also is driven by what you saw in your own family, you either want to repeat it or in many cases, avoid doing the same things with your child. It also has so much to do with your personality and the dynamic between you, your husband and your baby. The main thing I believe, regardless of any philosophy, is that the best thing he can have is happy parents: Individually happy as well as happy with each other.

Neither philosophy is necessarily wrong, or completely right. For example, I definitely love carrying my baby in my arms and in a sling… Half the time he hates being in a sling and prefers to be in his swing than being held by anybody. Talk about feeling like shit when your baby doesn’t even WANT you to hold him. He’d rather stare at that damn bird mobile than my face. (Fine, Logan. I’ll remember that…)

And on the other side of that same coin, I also like -and Logan seems to do better with- some sort of routine and consistency. You can have both, folks. You can have bonding in the presence of order. Yes, you can. You can “wear your baby” and then put him down for his naps in his OWN crib when it's time for a nap.

Is It just me, or does somebody else find nothing wrong with that?

I agree with a lot of the ideas from both sides. Therefore, I hereby declare my own style of parenting: The Attached Common Sense of Baby Wisdom. I should write a book about it. I sure could use the royalties.

Let's BUMBO!

The next in line of the age-appropriate toys and gadgets that I got to break out was none other than the BUMBO.

This was during one of our first attempts. The smile didn't last long.

He gets a few more minutes in the Bumbo each day... he's becoming more ok with the idea...

Hey! Is this MY toe? I've got my feet. Now what?
I wonder when Mama is gonna get me out of this thing. I'm getting bored. Plus, it's nap time...

Peer pressure

Peer pressure can start at an early age...

Logan and I finally got a chance to go visit with Erica and Brad and meet baby Jackson.

Aren't they just incredibly adorable? Even if I do say so myself...Jackson is such a happy little boy and Logan was super calm and happy around him. I'm sure he kept wishing he could scoot around a bit more after Jackson (who is 3 months older). But soon enough... we will be chasing after them. Mamas and their babes. Erica and I with Jackson and Logan :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Will YOU be my VALENTINE?

Swimventures

We started Logan in swim lessons at two and a half months, right around the time when he stopped hating the bath. Now three weeks into it, he's totally relaxed in the water and actually loves it!
(he's waaaay too relaxed in this picture)

Logan and I in our "Mommy and Me" swim class :)

Working on his breath-holding reflex

Totally relaxes into the back floats...

Singing silly songs...

CAT-astrophe

And so the Cat abuse begins

I don't know why Miko decided to lay right under Logan's feet, but he just stayed there while Logan tap danced on his head.

The funniest thing is that Logan still seems completely unaware that the cats exist. So far, he still looks right thru them and remains totally uninterested in them. I'm sure that will change soon enough, though.

Mama and Me

Dan sat us down for a little bit of a Mama and Me photoshoot. He was a real sport about it.

Logan: 3 Months

UnBEARably... cute :)

Who is 3 months old? I'M three months old? Here it is. The 12-week mark. And just like that, the fourth trimester comes to an end. I have now been hormonally altered by pregancy, birth and breastfeeding for a total of one year. (Hard to believe, huh?) Not only the hormonal alterations, but we have been in a time warp since Logan came home. The whole day gets away from you and even though you've been SO busy all day, you have nothing to really show for it. You have NO proof that you existed. Half the time I've been looking at my life like it's a scene from Total Recall.

Of course, we've made a conscious effort to maintain some sort of "us-ness" in our life, because I firmly believe it's one of the most important things you can do. I need to be me, Dan needs to be him, we need to be "us" just with a baby. So there have been major adjustments, like, if we want to ride or work out, we can, we just need to split up to do it. And minor adjustments, like instead of carrying a cute purse AND a diaper bag, now I just carry a diaper bag with my wallet in it. Even though I'm still not sure why I even carry a wallet at all. There's never any cash in it anymore.

Of course, our little man has changed quite a bit in the past month. He seems to like hanging out in his room...

This past month there was also a lot of action for Logan. He had his first swim lesson. I almost didn't make it to that first lesson because I was floored by how cute he looked in his board shorts that I kept taking pictures and made us late. :)

There's not a whole lot you can DO with a 2-3 month old. I mean, you can THROW the ball, but he just sits there. Doesn't even try to catch it. So you are limited to tummy time, side time, back time, and showing him colors and shapes and noises and sounds.

What do you think, TOO much stimulation?
He did finally find himself in the mirror... And he seems to enjoy it!
He also found his thumb. Which is nice for me, because that cuts the amount of times I have to replace his pacifier in at least, half.
He loves his Leo the lion :)
We didn't get much stroller time due to the rain. But we tried going once last weekend and he decided to have a little meltdown so I took him out to check out the baseball field

I am happy to report that little Logan has been sleeping thru the night in his own crib and is working on not refusing all his daytime naps. Yay!

This is a huge accomplishment, considering how hard the past few months have been. And I must say, I don't know how our parents raised our generation withOUT all the gadgets and commodities we have now that make life if not easier, more manageable.

Even my mom laughs at me (not in a mean way) and asks the same. Well, I guess they suffered longer than they had to. And for those of you who are expecting or planning on becoming mothers, just so you know, in my experience, all the baby classes are a waste of time. They talk to you about the ideals, not the realities of life with a newborn. What you need, are the things that ease the blow. Instead of a booklet on "How to care for your newborn" that outlines how to change a diaper, clean their nostrils and burp them, you need a pamphlet with the few things that make your life a whole lot better in the first few months. It's great if you don't need them, but if you did, it's nice to know they exist. I wish someone had told ME about them. But after much trial and error, these are the things I could not live without:

The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD (watch this before your baby is born)

The Miracle Blanket (Unless you think you'll have the energy to do a swaddle with and will be able to find, a perfectly square blanket)

The Sleepy Wrap (You can use it way before you can put the baby in a Bjorn and you get all that nice skin to skin contact. Plus, your hands are free!)

Colic Calm suspension (If you have a colicky baby, you know that there is no worse hell. This is the only thing that worked for us. Available online only)

Nap Nanny (Again, not everyone needs one, but if you do, it's a life-saver. Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked Dan if we could get a Nanny, but, "she" does help Logan sleep!)

Breast Friend (Saves your back in ways I cannot describe but am forever grateful for)

A good swing (Preferably with vibrating mode and lots of noise/sound features. And lots of batteries!)

So that's it for now.

I'm totally ready for and can't wait for the next milestones coming up in the fifth trimester!

Beautiful Baby Search: I found one!

Last week I saw an ad in Parenting magazine for entering your baby into the Regis and Kelly Beautiful Baby contest here: http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/regisandkelly/contests/beautifulbaby10/index.html

Of course, every mother has the most beautiful baby. I guess they announce the winners on March 1st and there is some voting involved, etc. I just had fun playing with their free faux cover here. I think he looks like he belongs on it... :) I figured there was nothing to lose by submitting a photo. I submitted this one below. It's the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

It's hard to believe that THIS face will one day be rolling eyes at me because of something I've just said that was "lame" or uncool. Or whatever the teen-age word for uncool will be next decade...