No Teeth Yet

My baby will be 9 months this week and still there is no sign of baby teeth. Compared to my little girls, who got their teeth at about 6 to 7 months, this little guy is late. The doctor assured me that baby teeth teeth can come between 6 months to a year. I will keep waiting.

Non-stop Crawler

Exactly two weeks ago my baby finally learned how to crawl forward. He is now unstoppable. He loves following us all around the house. It is so exciting for him to be mobile. He feels more independent and only wants to be on the floor exploring.

Since my house is too big, I have to be extra careful with him. I have closed off parts of the house for him by using a plastic divider. This way he can only be in an enclosed and safe area close to us.

Crawling Backwards

My baby is sitting up on his own and also trying to crawl. Although he hasn't mastered this yet, it's cute to see him getting on all fours and crawling backwards, not forward yet. He runs into the sofa and other furniture pieces. When he wants to go somewhere, he simply rolls and goes backwards. Can't wait to see if he's going to be a crawler. Some babies just don't master the skill of crawling. So, I'll just have to wait and see.

First Word

The most exciting thing happened today. My baby actually waved bye bye as he said 'aba'. He did this many times so it wasn't a coincidence. I had been teaching him to wave bye bye for a few weeks now and he was able to do it. Today, he surprised us with the actual word. What a great feeling!

Six Months Old

My baby just got his six-months vaccinations. Everything went well at his check up. He is finally able to sit up on his own. He turns on his back and is able to travel across the room by turning on either side. He's also eating solids twice a day.

It's amazing how active he has become. He grabs everything in sight and inevitably ends up in his mouth. I am enjoying every minute I spend with him. Time seems to be flying by.

Baby Play Mat

Today I made a baby-play-mat all by myself. Now that baby can roll over and is beginning to move around more, I thought he needed more room than his tiny, store-bought play mat. So I went to the fabric store and purchased 2 yards of a cute quilted fabric with puppies on it. The other two yards was a simple green color. I also purchased some padding for the middle.

It was simple to make. I just sewed up three sides of the two pieces of fabric with the right side up facing each other. Then I turned the fabric right side up and inserted the padding. Finally I stitched up the last of the sides. And that's it. It is beautiful, comfortable and the baby loves turning over to touch the puppy.

Sign with your Baby

My baby is almost six months old and is very, very active. He can now roll over, and also wants to sit up but is still not able to do it on his own. I have to hold him up or prop him up using a boppy pillow.

He's also beginning to wave bye-bye by closing and opening his hand. He understands when we say 'bye-bye' and tries to wave. It's amazing how much he retains.

I am trying to teach him sign language using the 'Sign with your Baby' program by Dr. Joseph Garcia. A friend of mine let me borrow the DVD and book. The purpose of this is to teach your baby to communicate before he is able to speak. This way it is easier to know what he wants and there are less temper tantrums. Dr. Garcia suggests to start using sign language as early as 6 months, even though they might not be able to act out the hand signs until about 9 months.

I will be posting the outcome of this as time goes by.

Sassy Baby Safe Feeder

This week I started introducing fresh fruit to my baby. I found a safe feeder that makes the whole feeding very safe. It is the Sassy Baby Safe Feeder. I peel pieces of fruit and place one inside the mesh bag of the feeder. Then I lock the feeder handle. The baby holds on the handle and starts sucking on the juices of the fruit. That's it. It eliminates the fear of choking on big pieces. My baby loves it. He has a good time trying out new flavors and I am worry-free about any choking. It is such a great idea.

Boon Squirt - Baby Food Dispensing Spoon

This week I found the most amazing invention ever. It's called the Boon Squirt-Baby Food Dispensing Spoon. Squirt is a baby food dispensing spoon that allows for convenient feeding, one bite at a time. No more messy feedings. The easy-to-fill container holds up to 3 ounces of baby food and attaches firmly to the spoon end. I squeeze the container to dispense just the right amount of food. It is so easy for those of us who travel a lot. We don't need to pack a bowl and a spoon anymore. All you have to do is insert the baby food in the container and attach the spoon. That is it. When baby is ready to eat, just remove the orange spoon cover and start feeding. What a great idea!

My Favorite Baby Quotes

• A new baby is like the beginning of all things, hope, a dream of possibilities. ~ Anonymous

• It is the nature of babies to be in bliss. ~ Deepak Chopra

• What feeling is so nice as a child's hand in yours? So small, so soft and warm, like a kitten huddling in the shelter of your clasp.~ Marjorie Holmes

• A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it. ~ Frank A. Clark

• Every baby born into the world is a finer one of the last. ~ Charles Dickens

• There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings. ~ Hodding Carter, Jr.

• Of all the joys that lighten suffering earth, what joy is welcomed like a newborn child? ~ Dorothy Nolte

• A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for. ~ Anonymous

• A baby changes your dinner party conversation from politics to poops. ~ Maurice Johnston

• People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. ~ Leo J. Burke

• There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~ Chinese Proverb

• Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry. ~ Bill Cosby

• Babies are such a nice way to start people. ~ Don Herold

John Rosemond: A family is not meant to be a democracy

John Rosemond: A family is not meant to be a democracy

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My Baby is More Vocal

This week my baby is 21 weeks old. He is very active and I have noticed that he is more vocal. I have heard sounds like ' ña ña,' or 'a ba.' Of course I am dying for him to say mama, but I'll just have to wait.

I've been reading up on the subject and have learned that girls actually acquire language earlier than boys. So I have to be patient. Also, the fact that my baby is being raised in a bilingual home makes the language acquisition a bit more difficult. On a lighter note, bilingual children understand written language earlier than monolingual children. So I'll just have to see how this goes.

Bumbo Seat

I just bought the greatest invention for babies. It is called the Bumbo Seat. It's a soft chair for babies who are not sitting up on their own yet. The material is extremely soft. The seat is not flat. It is round for the baby's bottom to fit in snug. My baby loves to sit in it, especially when I am feeding him cereal.

Eating Solids

It is official, my baby is now eating solids. After I took him in for round two of vaccinations, my doctor said I could start him on baby cereal. He said some babies are ready to eat solids when they are between 4 and 6 months old. Usually you can tell they are ready when they see you eating and they start drooling.

I started with rice cereal. I mixed baby formula to the cereal. The first spoonfuls were a little weird to him but then he started loving it. He didn't want the spoon to leave his mouth as I got more. Four days later I fed him banana puree. This is all I have fed him to this day. The doctor suggested I try one different food every 3 to 4 days to make sure he doesn't get an allergic reaction.

I am so excited to be feeding my baby solid foods. He seems to love it.

Today my baby turned 4 months so how do we celebrate it? Well, we go to the doctor and have his nurse poke him several times as he gives him his 4 months shots. Poor baby! He was so happy as the doctor examined his little body. He smiled and grabbed his finger. And then the nurse came in the room ready to administer the vaccines.

He cried for 5 minutes. There was nothing I could do to soothe him. He was in pain. He finally calmed down and went to sleep. He was cranky the whole day and got a little feverish. All I kept thinking was that it was for his own good, even if it broke my heart to see him suffer. Vaccinations are very important and necessary. They protect against serious diseases such as mumps and polio.

Laundry

Laundry, a never ending chore. I feel like that's all I do lately, particularly baby laundry. Since my baby is only 17 weeks old, he still soils lots of clothes due to vomiting formula. Sometimes I change him 3 times a day. And you'd think that because the clothes are so tiny, the chore would be easier. Wrong! Folding tiny baby clothes is time consuming because of its size, not to mention the little socks.

The only good thing about this chore is that the clothes smell like my baby. I use Dreft High Efficiency Liquid Detergent which makes the clothes smell so fresh and like a baby. That's one good thing about doing the laundry.

Take Along Swing

I am so glad I received a baby swing for my baby shower. My 16 week old baby loves it. It is the Take Along Swing from Fisher-Price. It doesn't have any music but it's small and easy to fold so I can take it on the go or move it to another room very easily. I hang 'link-its' from the top handle and the baby spends up to 25 minutes playing with them. Sometimes he even falls asleep in it. What joy!

Baby Feet

I am a sucker for baby's feet. They are tiny and fat and just so adorable. I love to kiss them and look at them. Apparently, my baby admires his tiny feet as well. He loves to kick and put his feet up so he can see them. There's nothing cuter to me than a baby without socks.

Professional Baby Photos

The business of photography, especially for babies, is very profitable. Studios take advantage of the fact that parents want to capture the cutest pictures of their little ones. And even if parents are constantly taking pictures with their own cameras, they usually end up paying an arm and a leg for professional photos. Why is that? Or does it only happen to me?

Well this happened to me last month. I went to the mall and in the spur of the moment I stopped at a studio. The baby cooperated and the photographer was able to take some good pictures, even smiling pictures. But when it came down to choosing the best ones, it was hard to choose. And if I wanted to purchase the CD I either had to pay an exuberant amount for it or buy a very expensive package to get the CD for only $9 dollars. So as you can imagine, being his first studio photos, I ended up paying lots of money.

Drooling

My three and a half month old baby has started drooling like crazy. I read somewhere that babies can actually start teething months before their teeth come out. And drooling is a big part of it. Poor baby.
The only thing I can do is clean up his face and not worry so much.

Safety First High Definition Digital Video Monitor Review

This one is a scary one. I opened the baby monitor I got for my baby shower. It was the Summer Infant Day and Night Video Monitor. I plugged it in and turned it on. It seemed to work OK at first. Then I realized that what I was looking at was NOT my baby's crib. It was someone else's crib. There was no baby but I thought it was sort of spooky. If I was able to see other people's cribs, then that meant they could see mine too. How scary!

Luckily, my sister offered to go exchange it for me. She got me the Safety First High Definition Digital Video Monitor. Although it is a bit more expensive, the signal is clear, it is reliable, and easy to use. You don't have to switch channels to see the baby. You turn it on and that's it. The best part is that the monitor is the size of a cell phone and I can carry it in my pocket.
I love my baby monitor!

Hands vs. Pacifiers

My baby, who is now three months old, has started to suck on both of his small hands. He has more control over them. He can also bring his blanket or burpie up to his mouth. He seems to enjoy it.
Ever since he was born, I have given him a pacifier to calm him down or when I put him down to sleep. I have read that pacifiers are also good to prevent SIDS. However, he doesn't seem to want it as much lately. He would much rather suck on his hands. Should I be worried that he'll be one of those thumb suckers? Or is this a phase?

Diapers

I went to the store yesterday because I needed diapers. I was thinking of buying the new Huggies Pure and Natural which I had already tried thanks to a gift in the mail. It turns out the stores don't carry them yet. I want to know when I can buy these. I really like them.
Oh well, I'll keep waiting. Meanwhile I purchased the same brand, which I also like....... Pampers Swaddlers.

Baby Formula

Believe it or not, I had trouble with baby formula too. I started out with the formula the hospital gave me which was Similac Advance. And that worked out well when I was also giving the baby my breast milk. When I stopped the breast milk, the formula made the baby constipated all the time and was always getting gas. He would cry constantly.

People gave me all types of advice. Some suggested I switch to a liquid formula claiming the liquid would be better for the baby's tummy. So I did, but it didn't work. My sister told me to try the Enfamil specifically for gassy babies. That didn't work either.
I asked the doctor about which type of formula I should be giving the baby. He only said that any formula would be OK as long as it had 1.8 mg of iron.
So I checked the labels on all the formulas. Then I decided to try Enfamil Lipil. What a difference! The baby seemed to tolerate it better. The formula looked whiter and it didn't stain his clothes. The baby was in heaven, and so was I.
If you're having problems with the baby formula, I suggest you talk to your doctor.

Hard to Run Errands

Today I had to run a million errands. Before I left I made sure the baby was fed, diaper was changed and baby was happy. Once I am out, I know I only have about 2 hours before the baby gets tired and cranky. One of my errands today took longer than expected and of course the baby woke up and started crying. I immediately headed for the comfort of home thinking the car ride would soothe him and lull him to sleep like always. I was wrong. He cried all the way home. Luckily it wasn't far.

When I got home I took him out of his car seat and he felt better. I guess he just got tired of being strapped in it. My errands will have to wait until tomorrow when I'll try the adventure again.

Baby Bottles

When my baby was born I tried to breastfeed but the baby wouldn't latch on correctly. So I decided to pump my milk and also supplement with baby formula. That meant that I had to use baby bottles. This was a crazy adventure. Some brands of newborn bottle nipples had enormous holes that made the baby drink too fast and get gas. Others had very small holes that made the baby suck and suck and no milk came out. And this made the baby tired, cranky and even more hungry.

I ended up spending lots of money trying many different types of bottles and nipples. I tried the cheap ones, the expensive ones, the mid-priced ones. I read tons of reviews online to see what people were using. Some raved about the complicated ones like Dr. Brown's. I tried those too and the baby didn't like them. I bought the glass ones but the nipples had huge holes. I even bought a funny looking one that only had two pieces. That didn't work either.

In conclusion, I ended up with Playtex Bottles with the disposable liners. They are easy to use and can be recycled. But the most important thing is that the baby likes them. So I guess it's up to the baby to decide which type of bottle he wants.

Sleeping Through The Night

Last night my husband fed the baby around 7:30 pm. The baby was happy and smiling at us after his belly was full. It was a normal evening. A little later I bathed the baby and put him in his crib like usual. He was still awake when I put him in his crib. He spent a good 15 minutes mesmerized with his animal mobile and the music it plays. And of course, a pacifier in his mouth. Then slowly but surely, he fell asleep. This is about the only ME time I get. The time when I can take a shower, or do anything just for me.
I ended up going to sleep around 10:30 pm knowing in the back of my mind that I would be awaken around 1:00 or 2:00 am for a feeding. I woke up around midnight to check on him. He was sleeping. So I went back to sleep. Then before I knew it, 5:00 am came. Wow! I got to sleep. To me, if I sleep more than three hours in a row, I consider myself lucky. He woke up hungry and I felt so happy to feed him because I had some sleep. I hope tonight it's the same for us. I haven't had a normal sleep night in months.

Gifts in the mail

My baby is 12 weeks this week. He seems to grow by the hour. Everyday is a new adventure and I'm loving it. I also love the free gifts in the mail that are just for the baby. Today I received a package of some nice diapers. They are the new Huggies pure and natural. I tried them on the baby and absolutely love them. I think I'm going to do some research on these and maybe buy some the next time I go shopping.