Why babies are like cats

Has anyone else noticed that babies are a lot like house cats?
Here are some similarities I have observed. Both my baby and my cat...

1. love playing with paper and magazines
2. love plastic bags
3. love cardboard boxes
4. sometimes give love bites
5. are fascinated by computer keyboards
6. cry/meow
7. love to sleep on mama
8. wake you up in the wee hours of the morning
9. want love on their terms: when you want to hold them they don't want to be held and when you are incredibly busy they decide they want to be on your lap
10. sleep a lot :)

Has anybody noticed any other similarities? I am currently dogless, but would be interested to hear if dog owners notice that their babies remind them of their dogs and vice versa...

Babyproofing for the lazy parent

Babyproofing the easy way

Instructions: Take all the cleaning products and possibly toxic items and put them on top of a very tall dresser.

I am hoping this will work until my son is tall enough to reach the top of the dresser; so I have about ten years. I will eventually get those cabinet lock thingamahoochies installed, but for now this is good enough.

Now if I can just find a way to prevent my son from slamming his fingers in all the drawers in the house, sticking his hands in the toilet, and trying to eat the cat's food.

The newborn sleep saga

Baby sleep involves a lot of trial and error. For the first four months of my son's life we tried absolutely everything to get him to sleep and the only things that consistently worked were:

1. walking while carrying him until he fell asleep (easiest while babywearing)
2. breastfeeding to sleep (breastfeeding lying down)

Babywearing: sleeping peacefully in a ring sling.

Even using these tactics it was pretty common for us to spend around 20-45 minutes trying to get my son to sleep, only to have him wake up bawling after a 20 minute cat nap. For the first month of his life it was actually a little bit easier to get him to sleep than it was later on when the colic/high-needs baby tendencies became really pronounced (more on the colic vs. high-needs babies concept in a later post).

Places my baby slept in the first four months:

Sleeping happily in the bouncer

1. bouncer that vibrated (swaddled and buckled in)
2. swing (swaddled and buckled in)
3. attached to mom or dad (via sling, wrap, or other carrier)
4. in bed co-sleeping with us
5. in a rocker right next to our bed

Places my baby never slept in the first four months:

1. his beautiful new crib (not once)
2. the pack n play right next to our bed
3. in his car seat (or if he did it was only after some serious screaming)

So here's what I learned about baby sleep through my epic endless sleepless nights:

1. It will get better... eventually. If it does not get better on its own by the time your baby is four or five months old try sleep training. I know every night seems like it lasts a lifetime, but in the grand scheme of things you are only going to have to deal with this for a few months.
2. Every baby is different: If you have a baby that sleeps well be thankful and try not to brag about it to the rest of us. If you have a baby who has trouble sleeping try thinking of sleep as a war, every night is a battle and sometimes you lose the battle, but you will eventually win the war, after all how many eighteen year olds still need their parents to rock them to sleep?
3. Teamwork: if you have a partner share parenting duties at night. In our household my husband took the late night shift and I took the early morning shift. This way at least you can guarantee that you each get some uninterrupted sleep.

Bottom line: Even newborns that have the most horrific sleep schedules known to man (e.g. my son) can turn into good sleepers. After some sleep training when he was four months old my son started sleeping for 7-8 hours at a time before waking up, and napping longer during the day. Although we have rough nights when he is sick or teething I have to say he is now a much better sleeper than his mama!

Flip video camera - the perfect gift for new parents

Before my son was born we bought a Flip video camera and it is by far the best purchase we made in preparation for our baby's arrival.

If you have family who live far away and really want to see how your baby grows up then this item is the best thing you can buy. Better yet put it on your baby registry and get the parents/grandparents to buy it for you since they are going to benefit from it once you post your videos online on Picasa or Vimeo.

Compared to the old video camera I remember my family using in the 1980s which weighed twenty pounds, required tapes and made videos which were really difficult to view on the TV, new video cameras are heavenly. Of course lots of phones and digital cameras come with some video functionality, but if you want a separate video camera the Flip is an obvious choice.

Reasons why I love it:

1. tiny: just a little bigger than my phone, fits in any pocket or purse without taking up space
2. easy to use: it only takes about two seconds to turn this on and start recording
3. easy uploading: the USB connection allows you to easily connect to a computer and upload
4. great video quality: we own the HD version of the camera and it the video is very high resolution
5. storage space: we own the mino HD with 4GB and 60 minutes of video time and this is plenty

Boys are everywhere in 2009/2010. Is this a statistical fluke or a conspiracy?

Many of my friends are either currently pregnant or had a baby last year. And they almost all seem to be having boys! There were a few adorable girls born among my circle of friends but it seems like the boys way outnumber the girls, so my question is... Is this a random fluke that is just occurring in my circle of friends and acquaintances, or is this a conspiracy cooked up to prevent women from taking over the world?

At my last count of people who are either currently pregnant or recently had a baby these are the stats:
Boys: 14
Girls:   4

What was even weirder was that the childbirth class I went to right before our son was born had about 20 couples, only 2 of whom were having girls. The breastfeeding support group I went to right after my son was born was also heavily skewed toward boys, with maybe 9 boys and 3 girls on most occasions that I was there.

Am I just living in a boy-bubble?
Am I just noticing boys more now that I have a son?
Or are boys really conspiring to take over the world?

Teething? grab a spatula

My baby does have a couple "teething ring" type products. But his favorite teething object is a regular rubber spatula from my kitchen. This has become his spatula and he loves to chomp on it. So before you go buy something for your baby to chew on try rummaging around the kitchen. When he was younger he also loved chewing on wash cloths or burp cloths (wet or dry). Of course before the first teeth come in it is fine and dandy and even cute to chew on mom and dad's fingers and hands, but that is a habit you want to end after the sharp teeth arrive.

We do have a couple of official teething rings, like this Nuby teether, and a Munchkin teething ring. But I think they were a waste of money.

Someone wise once told me that babies love kitchen things. Tupperware or plastic containers with soft rubber edges also work really well for teething. My baby also loves empty plastic bottles or plastic drinking cups. Of course a lot of kitchen objects are just downright dangerous for babies. What other kitchen things can double as toys?