Black Raspberry Twinkle

Black Raspberry Twinkle Cone - my Tasty Freeze favorite from when I was little - STILL what I order when I stop by today! :) Yum!

Spiderwort

Quote to Live By

“If I had my child to raise all over again, I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later. I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less. I would do less correcting and more connecting. I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I’d take more hikes and fly more kites. I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play. I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars. I’d do more hugging and less tugging.“ 

- Diane Loomans

Wrap Review: Jelly Bean

Our little one loves to be carried! For the first couple of weeks/months of her life she practically lived in her bjorn - forward facing on our chest. We tried the Moby - no such luck - too complicated to get one and once you got it on she hated it. I think it was a little too constricting for her to tucked into so many folds - and with on piece of fabric kind of going across her head. Not to mention that is practically one length of at least (what seems like) 52 feet of fabric that you have to crazy ninja fold on yourself. I watched SO many videos and tutorials about different ways to tie it and how to put it on - but it never did click. Sigh.

So that was a good $50 - oh well. I tried a friend's ring/sling but at the time it just felt to big and loose for Delaney.

Flash forward to 8-9 months and now our little mobilesta is not having the confining restraints of the bjorn. Instead of feeling awesome in it - oh she would quiet down so well in that thing - she now grimaces and kicks. I am holding her a lot on my hip now - which is a tad straining on the arms while trying to weed, do dishes, laundry, get the mail etc. So I have been eying different slings and wraps for a while now.

Then I happened to be browsing through Target - imagine that! - and saw a partially opened package for a $20 one piece sling that came in various sizes Small, Medium and Large I think. So I opened the package - it was a repackage/return, and tried it on right there in the aisle - even put the baby in it and walked around! I am sure that the staff were starting to eyeball me in their security cameras, but I wanted to try it out first. That was the biggest thing with all the slings, carriers, baby stuff in general. You don't know if you'll like it or not till you get home and try it yourself and then realize that it is either A. awesome or B. totally not going to work for you.

I carefully folded it up and put it back and picked out a color I liked and bought one! We tried it out on our first family road trip and I used it in the yard and around the house before then. Now, I wouldn't leave the house without it (we actually did on accident once - and wish we had it!). Such a life-saver in those moments where she wants to be close but you need both arms.

I like the size, I like how snug she is in it and how her arms are free. I like how I can adjust the position to be on one hip or other really easily. She can even shift to be right in front of me - helps my back. There is a way to have her on your back too but I haven't tried that yet. I like look - it is reversible and how it doubles as a nursing blanket. I love how easy it is to put on and how easy it is to take her in and out of it.

And best of all - it has Delaney's approval! :)

Web Finds Wednesday

World Health Organization recommends nursing for at least 2 years and then for as long as the mom and child want after that

Should breast pumps be hidden at work?

Related to above: NY Times Article: Offended by the Office Pump


Mom Who Refused to Wean Wins Her Battle But Injustice Remains

Police Officer Mom Forced to Choose Between Breastfeeding and Work

Breastfeeding Mom Harassed for Nursing her Two-Week Old on Bus - Detroit

Love Bites: Breastfeeding and Teeth
"there is NO reason to wean your baby just because they have teeth"

Breastfeeding Critics

Happy Birthday, Great Grandpa!

Happy 76th Birthday Great Grandpa Gene!

On This Farm We Have A...

This summer has been so fun and full of so many firsts for our little one! Visiting family, meeting goats, petting chickens! She is our brave little toaster and shows no fear in getting up close and personal with the unfamiliar! :)

Evening Primrose

Jellies

My hubby wowed me - he took reign of the camera while I held a sleepy, squirmy little one as we walked through the special Jellies exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium. Love all his awesome shots! Had to share! Be jealous - my hubby can handle the camera. :)

Shedd Aquarium with a Tiny Tot in Tow

For our first family road trip - we traveled over the course of two days up to Chicago. Breaking up the trip to visit family in between because our little one has a history of not so-much enjoying car rides. She completely blew us away though! Did so well! But, we have gotten a little smarter and have figured out her nap times and traveled during those times only. Helped a ton!



One stop included the Shedd Aquarium - which I remember doing once or twice at least growing up myself. Funny how things are a little different when you go back as an adult. Everything seems so much smaller - I kept looking for these huge tanks where I swear you could see whales...lol. Must be the childhood memories making everything gigantic.

It was a fabulous time, though a little rough with a little one who isn't walking yet but who WANT to get down and crawl on her own (though we saw a few couples there with babies only a few weeks/months old (no other kiddos with them). We brought both the stroller and my new Munchkin wrap. There wasn't much space for her to just move about on her own. The one place zone was awashed in crazy older kiddos practically climbing the walls - definitely not the safest place for a crawling wee one. So we had a grumpy gus partway throughout the visit...she finally conked out but was awoken a lot by yelling adults and loud kids. Sigh. No quiet area anywhere to be found. We resorted to just going outside a few times - to nurse in relative and to just let her get down and crawl for a little bit without the throngs of people and strollers etc.

 (notice us sitting by the elevators on the floor - trying to give her a chance to be active while out of the way - oy! by this point she didn't in the stroller at all or carried at all - she wanted DOWN)

I think we are a little (ok - a lot) accustomed to all the small-child friendly facilities at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Complete with a large, comfortable, clean and quiet family room where you can nurse or nap in a fair amount of peace. And their age supervised play zones for little ones 2 and under - they monitor how many people go in at a time - limiting it so that the little ones are not overwhelmed. LOVE IT! Not to mention that almost every exhibit is pretty baby (crawling and learning to walk) friendly. Each one has interactive areas that are low to the ground that a baby can crawl over or touch etc. Very nice.

She did love taking it all in though - the kid watching at the huge tanks where she could get up close and see right her face - big fish etc! So cool on that aspect. Will definitely have to go back when she is older!

Ode to the Hospital Blanket

We no longer swaddle our little on each night like we did for the first 6+ weeks, but we still keep these around for diaper changes and a soft place to sit. Do you have some of these in your baby's dresser drawers or closet?

NPR is doing a story about the iconic blue and pink hospital blanket and wants photos of babies wrapped up in them! Click here for more on that...

I went digging through my archives and here are *some* (not all) of the pics we have with our little in her hospital blankies!

Web Finds Wednesday

Why All Kids Need to Play In the Mud

Recycle Force - New Indianapolis recycling initiative

Felt Food Patterns

Spare Medela Parts

Aha! Parenting

Google to Rebrand Blogger and Picasa

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Pineapple Mint

Web Finds Wednesday

Fruit & Veggie Dip Recipes to Try (from Brown Paper Packages)

10 Uses for Ripe Bananas

Hair Romance - love

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

U Pick Blueberry Farm - Lafayette, IN (on my "to-do" list for the summer)

The Milk Truck

Tiny & Cute

Adorable onesie from Target! Definitely going to be a summer favorite!

Bubbles My Bubbles

Ah, another Nemo quote! :)

Laney Lou trying to catch bubbles in the pool! :)

Smores with Friends

Nothing beats an evening with good friends. Dinner and smores to finish off the day while our babies play in the grass. :) Ah, this is the life!

P.S. That is a FOUR marshmallow smore - yum yum! Though I was a little impatient with my marshmallow toasting as you can see from my poor burnt edges.

Muah ha ha ha!

How baby takes over the world. With cute!