ER Visits With Baby

I'd like to start with I am hoping to be able to get you two brand new posts this week. I realize I only have 3 days to do this but I am going to try. This post is a post I honestly hoped I wouldn't have to write EVER, or at least more realistically until next year, but here I am having some wisdom to impart. At some point you are going to have to take your little darling to the emergency room. It sucks and it is so scary. You are worried about if you really need to go, how long you will be there, what you need to take and that whole time you are gathering your thing the words "Oh my GOD! Something is wrong with my BABY!!!!" and your mind instantly jumps to the worst possibilities. I know this because on Tuesday night I had to take Cutes Patoots in.
     The short story is I put her down to bed like I normally do but when I left the room she started wailing. Cutes is not a fussy baby. She very rarely cries and this particular cry knifed right through to my very core. I went back up, picked her up to calm her then tried putting her back down. The second she left my arms the wailing commenced. I tried a few other things including sending a message to Papasaururex, who was working, to ask about the behavior or more accurately to whine that our normally angelic bedtime baby was suddenly throwing down. I went back up armed with a grandma on speaker phone singing because last week I was sick and I am still coughing and so singing was completely out. I am so grateful that Grammasaurusrex was up at a ridiculous hour and willing to sing for Cutes while I took her temperature. Cutes was running a 102 degree fever. I knew she felt warm but I didn't expect it to be that high. I immediately grabbed Cutes from her crib and started running around like a chicken with my head cut off, throwing random things in my bag. Once I got to the hospital and got us checked-in I realized what a poor job I had done. I only had 3 diapers, a handful of wipes, no change of clothes if she got sick, no change for the vending machines, nothing but my phone to entertain me and the battery only had a 55% charge. I did think to grab a blanket, extra milk, and Cutes' iPhone so she had her music and games (no I did not buy her the phone, I just gave her my old one. It was cheaper than buying an mp3 player and bonus I can put games and other busy bee stuff on it.) This was a disaster. I was also only 2 hours away from my pump time and an ER visit is a minimum of 3 hours on a short trip! What was I thinking?!?! The answer is I wasn't.
     My solution to this simple you can either create an ER Trip checklist that I promise you, you will forget you have or to have a bag packed with the "you will forget" essentials. In this bag you should pack:

1. $3 in quarters or other change per person. That will cover at least one drink and one snack for everybody. obviously if baby is still just drinking milk you can leave out their allotment but if you are breastfeeding or pumping the extra might be nice for you mom.
2. An unopened bottle of water per person. This way you can save your change for a caffeine boost at 2am when you are still sitting there.
3. A baby blanket
4. A change of clothes for the baby, and a least a shirt for mom or dad. This way if anyone gets sick or medicine is spit out you aren't sitting there looking any shabbier than you already do because you couldn't be bothered with matching clothes on the way out the door. Hey if your shoes are a pair you look like a rock star in my book. ( yes there was another mom their with mis-matched shoes and a sick baby. I completely understood.)
5. Spit-up cloths
6. A book, cross-word, sudoku whatever interests you that doesn't require power so when baby manages to fall asleep you aren't bored and draining your phone battery that you will need for the influx of "how's the baby doing" calls and texts.
7. Pacifier, if your LO uses one
8. 5 diapers per diaper wearer and a full package of unopened wipes (this way no worries about them drying out).
9. A spare nursing cover if you nurse or pump.

Now when the time comes all you have to remember is to grab a bottle, extra milk, baby's favorite toy, wallet, and if you are a pumper PLEASE for the love of your boobs your pump, which probably has a battery-pack that should be kept with it WITH batteries. And seriously matching shoes over rated when it comes to the kiddo. I hope this helps someone else because my first ER visit did not go smoothly. We were only there a short time (3.5 hours) but we could have been there a lot longer and I didn't have some of the things I needed. We go home and there were no diapers left, I had 1 wipe, was famished, and my phone was nearly dead.
    Cutes by the way just has a non-specific bug of some sort, doctor speak for "I have no idea." With only a fever to go on and no other symptoms they were completely confused. She is doing better now.

Save Yourself the Explainations

Another quick blurb for you. You know, something to look forward to or commiserate if you are or have been here. Babies eat paper! For the last few weeks I swear Cutes Patoots has sought out every scrap of paper she can find to put in her mouth and rip to shreds. I am sure she has swallowed at least one piece of a print to ship tracking receipt before I wrangled it from her iron grasp.

Here is my advice if you are in school do all of your homework on the computer and print it the day it's to be turned in. That way you are less likely to have to hand in a mangled taped together scrap of paper missing 2 corners with a mysterious hole in the middle. Thankfully all my schooling is online and I have not had to do this. Though I did recently have to mail in a form that was missing a corner. Seriously keep all paper on a surface at least double the hieght of your baby. They have Go-Go Gadget arms and will find it. Once they learn to open boxes even a box isn't safe. We have lost at least three perfectly unused but thoroughly chewed and mangled diapers in the least week to a clever box opening Cutes.

Quick Painting Idea

So anyone who crafts or paints knows you need something to squeeze paint on to. We have all used various things; sheet of paper, paper plate...a dinner plate. Hey you may have even bought yourself a fancy paint pallet. I recently came up with a great idea. My daughter was napping and I wanted to paint some clay hand prints for a project I will share at a later date. The trouble was I knew she'd wake up before I was done. So I grabbed a spare travel wipes case I had laying around. Now not only did I have somewhere to put my paint but if Cutes Patoots found my pallet she couldn't just get her hand, foot, or tongue on my paint. We all have several of these cases laying around because it seems like every box of wipes comes with one.

So there it is my Mommypotamus craft tip!

Google, Pregnancy, and Babies

     The obsession starts the moment you decide to become pregnant or if it's an unplanned pregnancy the moment you get the little plus sign. You start Googling every. Little. Thing. From "am I really pregnant" to "is green poop normal."  What about "Is a wheezing sound normal." Sounds reasonable to look that up until you realize your baby learned they can make sound by inhaling. (Yeah I went there because yes I did it.) Maybe you even look up "how reliable is Internet information," though not many do. (I'd bet you right now there are ten things posted on your Facebook page that seem legit but if you researched them are fake.) My point is when you find out you are going to be a parent Google seems like your very best friend. In fact I bet you are Googling right now, otherwise how did you end up here?

     As a new or even a second or third time parent Google can be a very useful resource. For instance you can look up product reviews, recalls, and recommendations. You can also find out what the latest safety guidelines are for newborn care, foods, milk storage, car seats, etc. But you have to be careful and make sure the information you are reading is accurate. We all know that but few of us bother to fact check or consider the source we are getting our information from. Where it gets really hinky is when we start Googling things like "infant wheezing" "lower abdominal pain pregnant" "newborn congestion and cough." We start looking up medical issues trying to determine if we should go  to the doctor. What we end up doing is freaking ourselves out, calming ourselves down, freaking out again, worrying constantly, and then running to the emergency room or urgent care clinic because we are convinced our baby is going to die of some rare complication because it doesn't happen often but "oh my god it happened to all these people on the Internet!!!" We go to Google or Bing or whatever search engine we prefer to try and calm our already over active imagination down and end up feeding fuel to the raging inferno. I am not saying to not look things up. It is a pregnant and parental compulsion, but when reading information steer clear of reading discussion boards. One, chances are most of the "answers" to the question will be other parents going "mine too, what is this" or two, it will be a story of someone who had a bad experience. Chances are pretty good that cough is a cold and not something worse. A healthy dose of caution is a good thing, but the internet is likely to take that caution and turn it into nearly paralyzing fear.
     "But Mommypotamus I have so many questions I need answers to?" you say.Go ahead and Google away, but make sure to check your facts and consider your source. Even What to Expect When You're Expecting has segments written by people that are not experts. If it is a medical issue your best bet is to talk to you doctor or pediatrician. They are the only one who is going to give you true peace of mind. And believe me during pregnancy and especially through that first year they have probably been asked before and they EXPECT you to have a million questions. Don't be afraid to call and ask if hey think you should come in. I actually called to ask how many days could pass before I should be concerned if Cutes Patoots didn't have a bowel movement. (The answer is about a 5 days in a 2 month old, and the nurse had me give her diluted prune juice. We did end up seeing the pediatrician at day 6 and she had us give her 1/2 a glycerin suppository. You get them at the pharmacy. Just in case you need to know....Don't do it in the kitchen....Yes you are likely to get poop on you.)
     My final thoughts on Google, pregnancy, and babies is this: for every "answer" you run across that gives you some measure of peace you will read about 10 that will just freak you out, possibly running to the emergency room. So when you are reading horror stories or even just guidelines try to remember to consider the source, avoid getting "facts" from discussion boards, and ask your pediatrician. There is no way someone on the internet who can not see you or your baby can give you a completely accurate evaluation of your situation. Learn to sort through what you find, and this applies to pretty much anything. Jackie Chan has died in a stunt accident more times than I can count thanks to the internet adn last I check he was still alive and kicking.

Craftastic Mommypotamus

So I have been a'crafting this week. First I tried to make edible flubber...that was a bust technically speaking. The flubber never got to the correct consistency. However, Cutes Patoots had a great time. At the end of it the child was a sticky, icky mess and completely thrilled with herself. So even though my experiment didn't quite work the way I planned I am still calling it a success.

See? Happy baby.

    It took me an hour to get her clean and let's just say there is still some dried purple goo on the high chair. But the gooey baby was the bigger priority. It was fun to watch her play with it and after all babies are washable. 

Edible Goo

1 can (14oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

6 tbls Corn Starch

Food Coloring

Directions:

1) Heat sweetened condensed milk in a pan over low heat.

2) Add corn starch 1 tablespoon at a time until well blended.

3) Once the mixture starts to thicken remove from heat and add food coloring until you reach the desired color.

4) Let cool to about room temperature.

     After you have played with your goo, simply soak baby in a bath to remove the goo. Soaking in water works in other surfaces too. Warning: There are some jobs even a baby wipe can't handle. This is one of them.

     My next project was for me, a homemade sugar scrub! Seriously never buying a scrub again! Bonus if you bought cute jars it can be given as a gift!!!!

Vanilla and Coffe Sugar Scrub

1 1/2 cup Ground Coffee

2 1/3 cups Sugar in the Raw

3/4 cup White Sugar

1 tbls Kosher Salt

4 tbls Vanilla Extract

1 tbls Olive Oil

6-8 tbls Coconut Oil

Directions

1) In a large bowl mix the dry coffee grounds, raw sugar, white sugar, and salt until well blended.

2) Add extract and oils. Mix with your hand until every thing is evenly coated. It won't seem very moist but it is just enough to moisturize while not leaving that oily feel on your skin.

     Choose your coffee wisely though because your whole shower will smell like it. I'd put a pot on to brew before getting in the shower. Besides you could probably use the caffeine to chase the little one anyway.

   My final project is my favorite and is it ever a doozy! I like to window shop on Zulily.com. Every now and then these AMAZING bow holders come up for sale that look like tutu dresses. I showed them to Papasaurusrex, who was fairly unimpressed with them. He told me I could make one. I doubted him and his wisdom, but agreed to try. I am so glad I did. I think mine came out prettier than the ones I saw for sale, and it is certainly more our colors and style.

      I started with a piece of cardboard from a box and drew out the shape of the bodice. I made about 3inches of cardboard "hip" to glue the tulle on to. I then used spray adhesive to glue 2 layers of quilting batting to the cardboard that I trimmed with scissors to fit. I had the zebra fabric for another project I never got around to doing, which I cut about 2 inches wider than my board on each side. I wrapped the fabric around my padded board and made cuts in the material so it fit closely to the form, and glued it in place with Loctite Crafters Adhesive. I had about 25 yards of tulle in my crafting goodies cut into about 17" strips left over from a tutu project that I hot glued to the bottom of the bodice. I found layering 3 pieces of tulle together and then pinching the top before gluing to give me the best effect. (Side note: Be prepared to burn your fingers. I am pretty sure that is just what happens when you work with hot glue.) Then I cut my ribbon. I used 4 different ribbons: a 3in teal and green polka dot for the waistband, a 3in wired zebra ribbon, a 1in black and pink striped, and a 1in hot pink on hot pink glitter polka dot for the skirt ribbons. I also used the pink polka dot to wrap the bodice. I glued the 3 pieces of zebra print on top of the tulle and the black and pink stripe ribbon on top of that. I then added the hot pink ribbon streamers in-between, and wrapped the bodice, gluing it down in the center of the bodice and wherever it overlapped with a drop of hot glue and the edges on the back. After that I glued the wide teal ribbon over the "messy" edges of the ribbon and tulle and hot glued my embellishments. To cover up the back I am going to use a piece of poster board and Crafter's Adhesive.
     I wish I could give you exact measurements on the length of the ribbons for your craft shopping list, but I don't know. I bought spools from Wal-mart and just cut them to the length of the tulle. The pink polka dot ribbon used the entire spool. The others I had plenty left over. If buying by the yard I would get 1 yard of the waist band ribbon, and 3 yards of the 3" skirt ribbon, 3 yards of the 1" skirt ribbon,  and a spool of the bodice ribbon. I made my hanger out of a left over strip of tulle but you could also use ribbon. I used probably a little over 25 yards of tulle for the skirt. You can use less but I wanted the skirt to be really full as well as long.
     The great part about this project is it is only limited by your creativity. You can cut the bodice to any shape you like. It could be a boat neck, sweetheart neckline, "strapless", or heart shaped. ANY neckline you want. You could even do asymmetrical or get really fancy with extra fabric and some Modge Podge and build a drape or cowl neck. As for embellishments you can use fake jewels, buttons, or even real pieces of jewelry. You can make bows if you want. Though if you are anything like me, you have enough hair bows to put on it you won't feel the need to decorate it with bows. I even thought about having a lace edge under the teal ribbon, but decided it was fussy enough on its own it didn't need more help. 

So there you go, my week of crafting. If you try any of these let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts and see your creations!

Product Review: Ingenuity Sahara Burst Automatic Bouncer

     One night Papasuarusrex, Cutes Patoots, and I left the house to grab some takeout for dinner. (I know terrible, but I was too tired to cook and frankly needed to go grocery shopping. I know you've been there or will be soon). But upon returning home there was a package on our doorstep. I practically flew from the car because I KNEW that HAD to be my Ingenuity Sahara Burst Automatic Bouncer! I just knew. Kids II, the parent company for Ingenuity, Bright Starts, and a handful of other companies sent me an email to let me know I would be receiving it in the mail for product testing and review. I was thrilled because Cutes swing died the week before so she was refusing naps. This was going to be the answer to my prayers! Unfortunately, Papasaurusrex decided that no matter how excited I was I had to eat my dinner before I could play with my new toy. As soon as I was done though I was one the floor, screwdrivers and batteries in hand.
     This was not our first bouncer. I got rid of the first bouncer a long time ago because of flimsy construction, so I was a little wary of another one. One thing I noticed immediately was how nice the materials are. The metal pieces are a nice heavy gauge, but not so heavy as to hurt the baby if they say, grab a leg and roll away with it. The plastic pieces are high quality too. They are a thicker, higher grade plastic than I have seen on a lot of bouncers. The seat cover is made of super soft materials that the best word to describe is cuddly. So cuddly that Cutes grabbed it and rolled away to snuggle with it while I worked on putting the frame together. I was immediately impressed by just the materials. (Side note: Putting together a bouncer with a 7 month old is an interesting process. She kept stealing the instructions. Thankfully the mechanics of putting it together are fairly simple and I could do it with out the instruction book. Though what I read of them suggests they were well written with los of illustrations.)

All assembled!

     On to assembly. I expected it to take me 5, maybe 10 minutes to put together. I was wrong. It took me
closer to 40. So if your little darling is already here make sure you have someone else to help you watch them or do it during a long nap. Of course it could also have been the infant playing with the various parts while I was trying to assemble it, but some of it was that the pieces fit together very tightly. It took a lot more force and finesse than I expected to attach the legs to the seat frame work. I had to get Papasuarusrex involved at that point. This is NOT a complaint. Once the frame was assembled it was VERY sturdy. It moved only the way it was supposed to. There was no side to side twisting of the frame. It didn't sway from side to side and need the seat cover to stabilize it. I would rather it take me 40 minutes to put together a sturdy product I can continue to use than 10 minutes for something that will warp. Everything fits together very snug, even the seat cover fits tightly to the frame so the seat portion doesn't sag and leave baby unsupported.
      Cutes didn't get to try it out that night because bedtime was upon us by the time I was finished. The next day though she was all about sitting in and under her bouncer. Because it is a little taller than some of the other models on the market the Ingenuity Sahara Burst Automatic Bouncer can also be crawled under and she turned it into a fort. That day she took her first real nap in a week. She was comfy and cozy and she loved the little elephant toy bar. Cutes is an older infant now and is about 20 lbs, but she was well supported by the Ingenuity bouncer. She even liked the automatic bouncing it did. Yes you heard me right, AUTOMATIC bouncer.  No more bouncing with you foot while the seat just vibrates. This bouncer features 2 bounce modes. One is your standard up and down but the second one is the coolest. It is a heartbeat mode and simulate the thump of the human heart. I would have loved to have had this bouncer when she was a newborn for that alone. It also play music, which we both enjoyed as there 8 songs and 3 nature sounds programmed in. It also has a timer so once the little one is asleep you don't run the batteries out.
     My only complaint is that the toy bar comes off rather easily. This is so it is easy to pick baby up out of it and I understand that. But the toy bar is also positionable and can be pushed back to allow access to baby. I wish it locked in somehow. Over all though this product is a big win. Sturdy construction, high quality materials, useful features that work the way they should, and a napping baby.

Well sometimes, but that is how I feel about it too.

    I did receive the Ingenuity Sahara Burst Automatic Bouncer from Kids II for free, but all the opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Kid II and their affiliates in no way influenced my thoughts on this product. We genuinely love this bouncer. It can be purchased from Target for $49.99 and it will be worth every penny. Cutes Patoots is more of a swing baby and she loves this bouncer. And after all baby love is the best endorsement of all.

Stop Mother-Smothering

   I am HORRIBLE about this. I will tell Papasuarusrex how she likes to play, how to comfort her, how to put her to bed, how to brush her teeth, don't do this or that, no, no, do it this way. Or worse if Cutes Patoots is upset I will intervene before he even has a chance to work it out on his own. He will call me on it too. I remember once I was making dinner and she started to cry, I stopped what I was doing to "fix" whatever it was for her and him. He called me on it, told me "I got this. Finish making dinner and stop mother-smothering!"

   He was right (it only pains me a little to say that). Recently he took some time off and for once I let go, so to speak. I let him take the night shift, morning shift, or both if he was amenable (he took almost all of them. The others I got before he heard her) so I could sleep and he got time with her by himself. And guess what? She is still alive and happy. Papasaurusrex is happy because he got some one on one with Cutes. And I got some work done AND caught up on my sleep. I think we are all better for my letting go and affording him the opportunities to do it HIS way.

Letting your partner do things their way gives baby a chance to look at the world differently. Maybe your partner likes to play a little rougher than you. That is ok. It can help baby develop in other ways. WTEWE has a great article on this. It also gives baby a chance to bond with their other parent and allows your partner to figure out what works for them (it may very well be different). Here is a prime example. If Cutes is rolling and bucking around her crib at night trying to avoid sleep I can usually just rub her back to get her to hold still and fall asleep. This does not work for Papasaurusrex because she sees him as someone to play with. He has his own method now that I have let go of the reigns and stopped interfering (most of the time.) What? It's a hard habit to break! 

   Start small if you have to. Have your partner watch baby while you take a bath (and stay in it even if you hear baby cry). I promise you if they need you to intervene they will come get you. Or maybe you make dinner, take care of the laundry you are behind on, try that craft you pinned 3 months ago. Just pick something and do it. By being in the house you'll see that they get on just fine. If you can't seem to restrain yourself (highly probable) try going on a family shopping trip and giving the diaper bag and stroller to your partner. When you get to the store go your separate ways. Go look at shoes, baby stuff, underwear (you probably could use some new pairs). But remember do NOT wander off with the diaper bag. You will get an angry text. (just trust me on that one...Oops!)
   Now you may be like me and suffer from extreme mother-smother syndrome. The most obvious symptoms are: the inability to let go, extreme exhaustion, constantly assuming you know best, and a constantly annoyed spouse. If you have any of these symptoms you need to get treatment fast or it will get worse. Your partner may even develop a case of "she'll-get-it-itis" a terrible disease affecting even the most awesome of parents. To treat extreme cases of mother-smother syndrome you have to Leave. The. House. ALONE! Even if it is just a short run to get milk. Just leave baby with your partner. Resist the urge to call or text unless you are going to take longer than expected or have a non-baby related question. Do not ask how the baby is. You may have to do this several times and for longer periods of time before you start to recover. You will most likely have frequent relapses, be aware of them. Make sure your partner feels comfortable calling you out on it when you just can not help yourself. I promise you'll thank me because letting go affords you photo ops like this.