Category Archives: baby

Balancing Technology & Kids

Try as we might not to fall into the technology trap, it’s hard not to at times with so many handy gadgets. Since the time Enzo was a baby he’s been infatuated with our cell phones, but we held off on letting him use ours for a long time. When we did give in, I had a phone that he couldn’t really access anything on easily, so he’d just talk on it and that was it. Then he realized our phones did so much more and he wanted to be able to watch videos of himself non-stop, so he’d commandeer our cell phones and not want to give them up. We figured it wouldn’t hurt to just give him my old phone and remove pretty much everything except for the gallery of photos and videos. Our little narcissist could spend hours watching videos of himself. Ha ha.

More recently I decided to put an app on his phone that teaches the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors. It’s really simple to use and he loves it. I figure since its educational there isn’t that much harm in it. I am aware of the articles out there that warn against the dangers of too much screen time (mostly TV) for young kids, but we do try and keep it to a minimum. We don’t have cable and for a long time even if Enzo wanted to watch a show he would only watch about 5 minutes and then run around – we realized he just liked the noise in the background.

Times are changing, though, and he’s paying more attention to what he watches, which means we also need to be more aware of how often the TV is on. We also discovered that while Enzo never really noticed the TV as a baby, Phoebe is very aware and easily distracted by the magical screen when it’s on. Some mornings we bribe Enzo with Bob the Builder or Thomas when he doesn’t want to get dressed and Phoebe will roll over and look up at the TV or if I position her facing away from it, she’ll look at it upside down or try to scoot so she can see what’s on. It’s pretty funny, but it makes me realize we’ll need to be much more aware this time around so that Phoebe isn’t overexposed.

One thing Josh and I have definitely agreed on is that neither kiddo will have their own TVs in their rooms until they’re much older and tablets and other technology will be something we monitor closely and won’t allow them to use on a regular basis. We appreciate that in this day and age it’s beneficial that they know how to use these items, but it doesn’t mean we want them attached to a screen all the time either. Just another reason that Josh and I have decided we need to put our own phones down in the evenings until after the kids go to bed (minus a quick photo snap here and there). 😉

Adjusting

Depending on who you are, you either take big life changes in stride or you aren’t a fan of change, and acceptance is more gradual. Personally, I love my routines and while I can and do adapt as needed, I much prefer to keep things the same. My day will feel off if I wake up late and my routine has to suddenly change. I become generally more clumsy and scatterbrained, forgetting a myriad of things and bumbling about.

After 4 months I think the cats have finally adapted to our newest addition and the changes that come with a new baby. I just realized the other day that Ziggy hasn’t pooed on the floor in at least a month or two, (maybe even more!) which is cause for great celebration. We’ve been letting the cats sleep with us a few nights a week, and I think that’s really made the most difference in Ziggy. She doesn’t come upstairs unless Enzo is asleep and that meant we rarely saw her and she wasn’t getting a lot of attention. Sure, we don’t always get the most restful sleep with the cats, but at least they carefully step around Phoebe… well, mostly. Ziggy has never been the most graceful of cats and is more likely to waddle over the baby.

I’ve actually enjoyed having the cats upstairs again when they aren’t meowing (Uzi) and waking up the kids or pawing at Enzo’s door (Ziggy) in the middle of the night. They’ve finally figured out that just because I’m up at 2 am getting Phoebe a bottle does not mean it’s breakfast time, and instead Uzi will curl up in bed with Josh while Ziggy comes and flops next to me feet while I feed Toots. It’s really the most peaceful time of my day and I don’t mind it all that much… unless I’m super tired, in which case it’s Josh’s turn. 😉

And we were rollin’

I love watching the determination of babies. When she was just a couple weeks old, Phoebe was handling tummy time like a pro, and in general she’s very strong which you wouldn’t necessarily think considering how petite she’s always been. For weeks we watched her wiggle and squirm and almost roll over, but eventually she’d grow tired and give up. Suddenly something must have clicked the other night, though. I put her on her stomach and then went to give Enzo some water (and then clean up spilled water, which he poured onto the floor) and when I turned around she was on her back. So, I grabbed my camera because I didn’t want to miss it again. I put her back on her stomach and she rolled over and then even more surprisingly she rolled from her back to front. It took her a couple times to get it really well, but was so exciting to see.

I have a feeling she’s going to reach her milestones a little faster than Enzo just because she wants to keep up with him. Not that I really pay much attention to the timetables you find listed on every baby site. I think they just cause panic and competition amongst some moms. Sure, they can be useful in determining if your child might have something wrong developmentally, but that seems to be rarely the case. Babies do their own thing at their own time and as long as she’s hitting important developmental milestones… I don’t really care when she does. Honestly, at this point part of me wants to stop her from growing entirely because I already feel like she’s growing up too fast!

3 Months

I’m a little late writing about Phoebe aka Toots turning 3 months old, but I think my excuse was valid. In the blink of an eye our little lady turned 3 months old and she is literally changing right before our eyes, and I can’t believe how big she’s getting. She still fits in most of her 3 month clothes, however we may have to move up to larger pajamas sooner than I would have thought… especially with her long feet. Still, it’s sad to already have put her tiny newborn pajamas in storage.

What to tell you about our little lady? We thought for sure that we had gotten lucky with what an easy baby Enzo was, but Phoebe might be even more easy-going than he was. This little lady is so patient, and I couldn’t be more grateful since her big brother demands a lot of attention (as most toddlers do). She is full of smiles and has really started talking, which makes us all laugh on a daily basis. I think she’s already realized that to be heard in this house, she’ll need to raise her voice. 😉

Along with loving diaper changes, she loves to lay in her crib and watch her mobile. She also loves looking at the lamp we have in the living room as well as her Himalayan salt lamp, and she enjoys music as well. She’s a big fan of bath time, and I ordered this cool bath tub insert thing from Amazon that allows both her and Enzo to fit in the tub at the same time. So for now she’s using the side that has a mesh hammock and when she’s sitting on her own you can flip it over and it’s a nice little protective tub, so big brother can’t accidentally knock her over. 😉

Overall she really doesn’t complain about much, and is such a joy in our house. I still love watching how she and Enzo are together. He has his moments where sometimes he says, “Go” to her if he wants her to move or instead he’ll pat the seat/bed/spot next to him and say, “BeeBee” to let us know he wants us to put her next to him.

I just want to squish this gal of mine. I’m so excited to watch her grow and continue to change… and buy her adorable clothing. Seriously… so many cute clothes. I always managed to find cute stuff for Enzo, but I have to admit… it’s so much more fun to pick out girl clothes. Looks like I’d better take up sewing. :p

Yearly Yuck

Without fail I come down with something that knocks me out of commission for several days or more every year. I can’t complain too much, but I do hate using the majority of my “Sick” Time at the beginning of the year since there’s that much more pressure not to get sick the rest of the year and to keep the kids as healthy as possible. This year it all started with a cold that didn’t want to leave and then an ear infection that is mostly gone, but I still have fluid and pressure in my ear(s) that is sticking around. I could deal with that just fine, but then apparently since my immune system was already working overtime taking care of a viral infection; it decided I needed something like a bacterial skin infection as well. So, I have what the doctors think is Impetigo on my face (they are questioning it because it doesn’t look like typical Impetigo). Josh is pretty sure it showed up after I was cleaning up some mold we found in a couple of windowsills – Ewww! I thought I had kept it contained, but it makes sense because I don’t know how else I could have gotten it. So… I have an awesome sore on my face and little blistery spots and I’m on my second round of antibiotics because for some reason the first round stopped working and it began to spread again. I’m going to see about finding a dermatologist, but the tricky part seems to be finding one that I can get into quickly because I really hope I won’t still have whatever this infection is a month or two from now… thanks, House. :p

Anyhoo… at least the kids are pretty healthy. If anyone has to get sick, I’d rather it be me than them. I did find out something interesting, though… apparently it takes your body 2 years after pregnancy for it to return to normal (as far as immunity goes, at least). So it makes sense that my body’s immunity is much lower than usual considering Enzo wasn’t even 1 when I got pregnant with Phoebe. The more you know!

That’s all I’ve got for now… so how about a cute baby? Right?

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures