Daycare Day 2

Yaay! We completed transition day 2 which consisted of James being present for 2 hours and us being there for 1 hour. I say us because daddy came along today. So we arrived at 9am and got James settled, at around 9:30 the teachers got him ready for a walk so I stuck around to make sure he was dressed properly and then we left. James was getting dressed by his favorite teacher so he did not put up a fuss. She even held him and they waved bye-bye to us. Adit and I left, but stuck around to see how he'd react in the stroller. I tip-toed to where he was and saw that he was ok. He was so bundled that he just looked like a marshmallow and all I could see is his little face sticking out which looked happy. I beckoned Adit over to take a look then we went for a walk. James goes for walks daily so I knew he'd be happy being outside. 

We returned after and hour which was also the duration of the walk. James takes 2 naps a day and the walk was around the time of his 1st nap. As I suspected, he had fallen asleep about 5 mins before they returned to the center. So when we got to the classroom they advised that they undressed him and placed him in the crib. We checked and he had his arms up over his head and was in a deep sleep. Adit and I stuck around for a while but there was no sign of James waking up so we went out to grab lunch. While we were on our way the daycare called us because he woke up. Although we were supposed to leave at 11, we ended up leaving around noon. Once James saw me he started crying because he wanted us. They didn't have an opportunity to give him milk so tomorrow will be the moment of truth because he will be there until noon without mommy. 

All in all I feel good about the center and James seems happy too. He really likes one teacher in particular and when I was holding his fingers to help him walk around he hustled to go to her when she called him. That's a great sign! :)

Well I'm off to get James' things ready and head to bed!

Happy reading!


Rachel

PS: Here's James in the stroller!

Daycare Day 1

James finished his first transition day at daycare today and I feel relieved. I was such a nervous wreck last night. I was crying and felt like I was going to vomit. Who knew I'd become so emotional. I see daycare as a positive experience: there is structure, it fosters socialization, and it builds independence. Although there are all these positives I am sad that James is going there. I remember when I used to talk about James having separation anxiety, but now I have it! I am going to miss him so much. 

What makes me feel better is that he likes his teachers and he was even playing with some of the kids. Mind you we only had a two hour visit, so we'll see what the rest of the week brings. I am still stressed out about him not drinking milk, but one of the teachers suggested that they give him some cereal mixed with milk if he's not drinking it. Plus they say that it happens to nursing kids and that he will drink it when he is thirsty. I hope that's the case because I did try withholding nursing before and he didn't even notice. 

After daycare we walked home and I made some lunch since Da-da was coming home to leave me the car. I made some trout, corn, spinach and rice. As Adit took his food and started eating, James raced over to him to see what he had. He was holding Adit's knees with his mouth open so he fed him. James loved it, we could tell because he kept jumping around and dancing. It was his first time having fish as I've mostly stuck to beef, chicken, and turkey. So I prepared a bowl of food for James and he ate it all! It makes me so happy when he's eating. Funny how these things make me happy now. Lol! It must be a mom thing. :)

Well I am pooped right now because after we dropped Adit back to work James and I went shopping at Dufferin Mall for 3 hours. James missed his morning nap and when he did nap it was only for 40 minutes. By the time we got home he was exhausted and hungry ts we quickly gave him a bath, fed him, and prepared him to sleep. Nursing didn't work so I called for reinforcement and Adit was able to rock him to sleep.

Now I'm mentally preparing for tomorrow because he'll be at daycare for 2 hours again and I'll only be there for 1 hour. I wasn't aware that each day there is a separate parent time. It makes sense since it's part of transitioning, but I do worry. Luckily there is a Timmies across the street so I will be waiting there staring at my phone in case I get a call to see my Baba! That's going to be the longest hour. Has anyone else transitioned their kids into daycare? Please share your story in the comments section of the blog!

Happy reading!

Rachel

Weekend Update!

Hope your weekend is going well so far! Ours is going great, except I was disappointed on Friday because we were supposed to have a huge snowstorm and instead it rained all day. I was hoping that I could get James out so he could feel snow for the first time. Unless March is cold, it seems like he'll have to wait until next year. I spent the rest of Friday focusing on sippy cup feedings, but it was to no avail. James would take one sip then push the cup away. Here's hoping that the day care teachers are baby whisperers and can convince James to accept something other than nursing! :) He starts day care on Monday! I can't believe my maternity leave is almost over. I would be more depressed right now but I think I'm on a sugar high from eating the candy stick from a "Fun Dip". 

James and I just got back from my friend Sharon's Baby Shower. It was an evening affair for both her and her husband Mike. James and I had a lot of fun, good food, games, friends, and playing! Sharon looks amazing and she has the perfect little belly! Although it was so nice catching up with the old gang, seeing them made reality set in that I'll be back at work soon. Wait... who am I kidding, looking at James is my reality. So are those emails from Baby Center saying your child at "11 months, week 2", etc. At first I enjoyed getting these emails when he was under 6 months, now I feel like he's growing up too quickly and these emails keep reconfirming that! Lol!

We had a late night out past James' bedtime, but he was a trooper. Since I had James' sleeper in his baby bag I changed his diaper, dressed him for bed, and nursed him prior to leaving. It was so windy that I had to put his snowsuit on for our short walk to the car. After a few minutes of driving, James was asleep. Then I enjoyed the 20 minute drive home. Once home I was able to prepare his crib which consisted of changing the pillowcase to the makeshift pillow I made for him out of soft blankets. Since James will be a year old soon, I think it's time for a pillow. Surprisingly not many companies make crib pillows, probably because of the liability issues (Hey, I did some underwriting! Lol). However IKEA makes one that I would like to buy tomorrow, it's called the LEN. Has anyone else tried this one or is there a better pillow out there? What do you use for your Baba?

Anyway, after preparing the crib came the hard parts: getting James out of the seat belt harness, removing his one piece snowsuit, and placing him in bed. Miraculously I passed all three tasks with flying colors, hence I am here writing to you! It was tricky getting his arms out of the snowsuit but I managed. I think the key to removing the snowsuit was that I gently rocked the car seat while doing it, this helped keep him asleep since babies love movement.  If you have any other tips that can help prepare baby for bed after returning home from a night out please share it with the rest of us by replying to this post below on the blog!

Happy reading!

Rachel


PS: Here's the little guy at the Baby Shower earlier this evening!

Feeding Woes! (James 2 - Mommy 0)

Sorry I was MIA yesterday, James and I had a quiet day at home since it was raining. Ok, we were at home, but I'm joking about the quiet day. I spend the entire day running after the little daredevil who climbs on everything and sometimes forgets to hold on resulting in some face plants! :( I do have some cushions strategically placed, but they can only do so much. 

So I'm trying to prepare James for day care, which means get him used to drinking from a bottle. Yesterday I tried formula in a bottle. It was around nap time so he agreed to drink a few sips, then he started crying and screaming! I tried again and no luck, he sealed him lips closed and tensed his entire body kinda like planking. Lol! I felt bad so I had to nurse him and put him to sleep. I wondered if perhaps he didn't like the formula and it wasn't the bottle? My next course of action was to pump, so I put some in a bottle and tried to feed him again before his second nap and he just threw a fit. I kept telling him that it's mommy's milk, but that didn't matter. He just fought and fought. So now I am completely stressed and consulted my good friend Google! 

There were many accounts of my son didn't accept the bottle for 2 weeks, or my daughter took to it right away. I didn't find anything useful. The whole time I was kicking myself on why I haven't tried this sooner. James starts transitioning on Monday so it doesn't leave me much time at all. Looks like I'll be there nursing him or pumping milk for the teachers to try feeding him. I hope they have some advice for me too since they are the pros. 

I also got some advice from a few friends and family suggesting that I try a sippy cup / straw cup. James drinks his water from a sippy cup, but he doesn't know how to hold it on his own or tilt it so I don't like this option. We do have a straw cup at home, but he doesn't know how to use it or so I thought. I gave him the cup and he started chewing on it, but not sucking, so I tried pulling it away from him and he began to draw water! It was great, now he can drink from one! At least I can use this cup as a last resort now.

As for today I had similar luck, if we dare call it luck. I gave James my milk and he again refused throwing himself down and crying. Adit was working from home so he even gave it a try. I had read online that he can still smell me so he could refuse because of that. That may be true, but he didn't smell anything on a Adit and refused him too. Lol! Since it was my pumped milk of which supply is difficult to come by these days I kinda force fed James the ounce I pumped. He was crying so him mouth was open and in between tears I could hear a gulp. We got the ounce down which is an improvement, but it was not pleasant. I hope it doesn't come to this in day care. Luckily they have a webcam so I can watch James the whole time!

The rest of our evening was good, I took James out into the hallway with his walker which he enjoyed. That was a great idea from our friend Deepa! The only downfall of letting him walk so much is the pain it causes my back since I am hunched over with my hands on both sides ready to catch him when he falls or decides he's done. James is sleeping soundly now, I just hope he continues to and maybe wakes mom up 3 times tonight instead of the usual 4-5. I know this is insane and I agree, but one battle at a time since I need to focus on bottle/cup feeding him!

Tomorrow I'm attempting to toughen up and only nurse in the morning and evening. I just hope that he'll try to cooperate with me. If anyone has any advice that can help, please share it with us on the blog. 

Happy reading!

Rachel

Happy Family Day!

Family Day weekend is over and I hope everyone enjoyed it. We had a busy yet fun-filled weekend spending time with friends and family! All week I was thinking about starting some sort of Family day tradition, but I came up empty. That could be because my brain isn't always on or more so because every day is Family Day to me! I am fortunate enough to be living in Canada where I get to collect unemployment for one year while taking care of my son. I know all the Americans are jealous right now, but I admire all of you for the strength to return to work after 6 weeks or 3 months!

James is just over 11 months now and I am dreading returning to work next month. I can't believe that he'll be one in a few weeks and that our year together will come to an end. Luckily, by some miracle, we got into our daycare of choice when we were twelfth on the wait list. What's insane is that I had James on the wait list at 6 daycares, some even while I was pregnant and I only just got confirmation of our spot a few weeks ago. James will be starting soon so I'm attempting two difficult tasks: 1) Get him to drink some formula (since he's been exclusively nursing) 2) Get him bottle trained! I'll keep you all posted on how that goes! Lol!

As for our day we took James for a nice walk, did a little baby clothes shopping, visited our friend Paul, and did a lot of cleaning. Everything was great, except for the cleaning! It's nonstop once you have a baby. I am writing this so late because I just spent over an hour washing toys. Also there are two loads of baby laundry to fold, but I think I'll do that later! Speaking of cleaning, I'm in the market for a steam mop, and am checking out the Shark Lift-Away Steam Mop. Has anyone tried it or something similar? Please share your advice with us by commenting on the blog below!

Happy reading!

Rachel

My First Boo Boo :(

James has become quite the risk-taker these days, crawling everywhere then trying to climb up on everything. His favorite place is the ottoman coffee table that we have. It has 4 cushions that flip to become trays, so we have 2 flipped with his toys and books in them. This is where he does his morning mission of emptying everything onto the floor! Lol! When James isn't there he's climbing on the couches, scaling the walls somehow, climbing on the dining room chairs and table legs, basically anything he can find. 

It's amazing how much he's changed in such a short period of time. About 2 months ago I used to be able to leave him to self play and he'd be in the same area when I looked back. Now he's so fast that I end up running to catch him half the time before he falls down or gets into something dangerous. 

Besides crawling and climbing, James' hands-down favorite past-time is walking. Just give him your hands and he starts running! Sometimes he's so eager that he leans his upper body forward and starts falling, lol! We have two walkers, one is made by Melissa & Doug I think this is his favorite one because as it moves the alligator's mouth moves up and down. We like it because there is rubber around the wooden wheels so it doesn't slip on our laminate floors. The other is called the 3-in-1 Learning Zebra Scooter by Vtech. This one is a walker, ride-on, and scooter. 

The reason I mention the walkers is because the wooden one was the one that drew blood today. :( James was trying to move it on his own and he had one hand on the handle and one on the floor behind it. Then he pulled it back and it crushed his little hand. I felt so bad for him because he cried so much! I quickly ran to him, picked him up, and kissed his little fingers. After some tight hugs and rocking the crying stopped until I got the antiseptic. Luckily it only last a second because once I put the band-aid on he completely forgot about everything else and was curious about this thing on his finger. It was so funny watching him wave his hand back and forth trying to get the band-aid off. After that didn't work he thought it was a snack and tried to eat it. I kept removing his hand from his mouth until he got very upset which produced the pictures below! Hope you find them as funny as I did because he was just being dramatic for not getting his way. Also please don't put band-aids on babies, that was a bad idea and I removed it before he ate it. lol! 


Has your baby had their first Boo Boo yet? If so tell us about it by leaving a comment below!

Happy Reading!

Rachel

Travelling with Baby... Tips & Tricks to Keep Baby Happy and You Sane!

My husband and I have the vacation bug so we travel as often as we can. Since James is under two we are trying to take advantage of not paying full-fare for him. So far we have flown with James to Halifax, NY, San Juan(cruise), Bangkok, Phuket, Bali, and Singapore! I know, he's very well traveled for being under a year! Too bad he won't remember the trips but we have lots of pictures to show him later!

Here is some basic info and my tips for travel with baby:

Airfare cost for children under 2:

• In Canada: free
• To the US: nominal fee, I believe around $25.
• International: 10% of adult fare.

When is the best time to travel?:

This is a trick question because it depends on your child and whether or not you are taking a short, medium, or long haul flight.

Short Haul Flight (under 3 hrs): I think it's best to travel in the daytime or plan it so that you land around bedtime. This is a relatively quick flight so the child can stay awake with you and play etc, perhaps taking a nap. The second suggestion was that you choose to land around bedtime so that once you arrive there is a quick transition of putting the child to sleep. If this is the case, it's easier to dress your little one if their PJ's for the flight. If you do travel during bedtime, you'll interrupt their sleep which will probably make for a long night ahead for everyone. Lol!

Medium Haul Flight (3-6 hrs): Ok, this one could go either way. If you are doing 3-4 hrs follow the advice for short haul. If you are doing 4-6 hrs follow the advice for long haul.

Long Haul Flight (6+ hrs): I think the best time to travel is bedtime or maybe a few hours before bedtime. This way the baby will sleep through the duration of the flight. If you can still get a bassinet, then you are in luck. The gentle vibration of the plane will keep them asleep when not in your arms. We weren't lucky enough to get one on all our flights. Also before putting your baby in the bassinet please check the weight restraints as age isn't enough. As an additional safety precaution don't sleep while the child is in the bassinet just in case they wake up and try to escape. If you do happen to travel during the day be prepared to entertain your child during most of the flight which is exhausting for the parent and sometimes frustrating. having done both option on flights over 12 hrs each I highly recommend to travel during bedtime.

What to bring on the plane:

• Milk: If it's formula pack water, numerous bottles, and ample formula. I would suggest bringing double what you'd normally use. I nursed James so I just made sure I kept drinking and eating.
• Baby Food: Same as above, travel with double what you think you'd need. James sometimes wanted 1 bite and I'd have to throw an entire jar away. We went through this exercise about 4 times on one flight!
• Water & Snacks: Baby Mum Mums, Gerber Graduates Puffs, Cheerios, Fairlee cereal cookies, grapes, etc. Whatever your child likes that won't go bad on the flight.
• Toys, toys, toys: Favorite toys are a must and some new ones if you have any. James loves his slinky so we didn't want to forget that! And remember the longer the flight the more toys & books needed.
• Blanket: You never know what temp it'll be on the flight. I bring a receiving blanket and a fleece one.
• Wipes: You'll need these to clean the tray table, arm rests, remote, or basically anything baby can get their hands on. It's better to take precaution before your little one catches a cold or virus before your vacation even starts.
• Medicine: I traveled with infant tylenol, pedialyte, colic relief, teething relief, prescription diarrhea medicine, and prescription vomit medicine. These were part of the "just in case" kit I made with a few other things, ie thermometer, baby vicks. Sadly I could go on. Lol! I know you might not need all these during flight, but if you are travelling with some of these anyway just keep them handy in the baby bag.

How to keep you and baby comfy:

• Nurse/Bottle Feed/Pacifier:  As my friend Jennifer reminded me, use one of these during ascent and descent as this is when the pressure is greatest on your little one's ears.
• Neck pillow: This is  good  for mom to relax, but better for when baby is sleeping. After James was asleep I carefully switched the pillow in the place of my arm. This way your arm won't fall asleep and you'll have time to eat, relax, etc!
• Extra legroom seats: This tip may cost you. Sometimes the airline will reserve bassinet seating which are the seats with more legroom for free, but if they don't I think you should consider it. Airplane seats are cramped and this results in your little one kicking the seat in front of you, wanting to stand when there is no room etc. Even better would be to get Business or First Class seats, then you will have ample space!
• Go for a walk: If your baby is getting fussy sometimes it helps to change scenery. We would take James for walks around the plane, I called it "doing laps". We'd stop and talk to the flight attendants, look out the windows, etc. I think he enjoyed them.
• Baby Carrier: Although I didn't personally use one, I did have one with me. I had a cloth wrap that I intended on using as a sling to help with nursing and to support James while sleeping. I went on YouTube and looked at videos on how to do so. Perhaps you can also explore other ways to use your carrier to benefit you on your flight. 

These are just my pointers from personal experience. I hope this helps you when planning your next trip. Have you flown with your baby, please share your experience and any tips you might have with us by leaving a comment below!

Happy reading!

Rachel

Here's James sleeping on the neck pillow on his first flight when he was 3.5 months:

This Must Be Love!

Thanks to everyone who asked about James, he is feeling much better now and his appetite is slowly coming back. He had a few bites of cereal this morning, avocado as a snack, then some sweet potato & chicken for lunch, some of mommy's chicken and rice, and a few bites of cereal for dinner. I am pleased with his progress so far. :) Plus throughout the day he's been munching on Gerber Graduate Puffs (the strawberry apple ones are delicious, I even like them) and Cheerios.


While I was tidying up in the kitchen earlier this afternoon, James was playing on the living room floor like he normally does. He was chatting away, then I heard him do his usual strain so it was time to poop. Once he was done I went to change him. I touched his but to see how heavy it was, but didn't really feel anything, but I knew there was poop since there was a strong smell. Once I took off his pants I saw the explosion all over his shirt and legs. Uh-oh was what I was thinking. I quickly started wiping hoping that James wouldn't get to the poop before I did, but there was so much I couldn't get it all. This resulted in him grabbing the poop with his hands and smearing it everywhere. The whole time James was screaming/crying at the top of his lungs. I knew I was in a losing situation and with this type of explosion there is only one way to clean him... bath time!


So I picked him up, poop and all and proceeded to get the tub. Luckily I had cleared the dishes from the sink so I just needed to set the water. As I was doing that I felt warm water on my belly then my leg and feet. Before I could sit him in the tub he had peed all over me! I looked down and could see the poop on my shirt and wet spots covering the rest of me. You'd think I'd be disgusted or hysterical at this point, but I wasn't. James was doing what he's supposed to do and who could get mad at him for that! So before I put him in the tub I held him close and kissed him. Only a mother could still kiss her baby after all that! 


As a side note: I was debating taking a picture of my clothes for the blog, but I think it would have been too gross. Instead I threw them in the wash which was the right decision! Right?!?! Lol!


Mommies have you experienced this too? Please tell me I'm not alone by sharing your story with us! Just leave a comment below with the details!


Happy reading!


Rachel

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the first Valentine's Day where I am proud to have two Valentines: my hubby and son! Boy has life changed, normally we would have had a nice dinner planned or something special, now it's still all about James. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining and this isn't a bad thing. Our lives have simply changed. 

So this is how my Valentine's Day transpired:

James and I woke up late today, 10:00am. Now before you other mom's get jealous, James kept me up until midnight! He hasn't been himself the last few days, he's on a food strike, has a cold, and 4 teeth are coming in at once. This boy is having a rough week, plus he might still be jet-lagged from our recent trip. 

We had our typical day until around 1:30 when daddy came home. He came with Valentine's Day cupcakes from himself and James. How sweet huh! I have a terrible sweet tooth, so I've already demolished 3 of them! Lol! Daddy came to give us the car because we had James' 11 month checkup. I was really excited for this one before he caught his cold because I was sure he gained some good weight on the trip. However I was wrong when he hit the scales, he actually lost weight. :( He's been nursing, but not eating properly, I've basically had to trick him to eat food. Just when I thought the appointment couldn't get any worse we discovered he has a ear infection. Poor little guy, he's not having a good first Valentine's Day. Anyway, now he's on some meds and should feel better soon. In fact, he's been sleeping for over an hour straight which is a good sign. And as I'm writing this I expect him to wake up any second now for me jinxing myself. Lol!

Well I did get to enjoy my dinner with hubby while watching some tv shows that we needed to catch up on, ie Gossip Girl and Shameless! Now that the shows are done I decided to write you all instead of heading straight to bed. 

Besides James being sick I'll call this a great Valentine's Day! My family is safe and happy and we all appreciate each other today. 

I hope you were able to share love today with those around you too!

Well I would stay and write some more but I better head to bed now before James wakes up and I get no sleep!

Happy reading!

Rachel


PS: How was your Valentine's Day? Please share the details with us by leaving a comment below!

Liquids, Solids, and Gas = Poop!

Since I've had James I've had a fascination with his poop. I always want to see it, check the color, texture, smell (well I don't always have a choice on this one), just to make sure that it's normal. 

Here's a timeline of what his pooped looked like:

0-6 months:

I pretty much exclusively nursed James, therefore his poop was mostly yellow. Texture was runny, hence we had a lot of blowouts! Not an offensive smell.

4-5 months:

At one point he had green poop, this meant that he was not getting enough hind milk. That's the milk that is at the end which contains more fat and nutrients than the more water-like initial milk. I had such a large supply that I didn't think it mattered where he got the milk, but it does. After we corrected this issue his poop was back to normal.

6 - 7 months:

Ok here's where it gets interesting, we started solid food. James started with cereals, ie Oatmeal, Rice, Barley, and Wheat. I suggest you try Wheat much later as it's more difficult to digest. A great brand that we love is Healthy Times Organic Cereal. The flakes are larger than PC (note there is a recall on this brand), Heinz, etc hence less processing. To start we would mix about 4 tablespoons to 2 ounces of water. You want it to be more watery so it is easier for the babies to swallow and digest. Babies have a strong gag reflex so you don't want to test it. :) Here his poop become more solid and didn't smell very good.

7 months+:

Now the fun part, trying baby food. Intro foods are: sweet potato, squash, avocado, bananas, carrots, etc. For a more comprehensive list visit Wholesome Baby Food. My friend Deepa referred this site to me and it has been a great resource when it comes to deciphering what we can feed our babies and when. This is the stage where the poop has an offensive odor! I think the smelliest are meats and the most visually interesting ones where banana and carrots! I won't spoil the surprise, so you either know what I'm referring to, or if you are a new mom just wait and see! At this point the texture of poop is more adult like which is surprisingly cute. Lol! (Yes, I'm nuts!) 

Funny Story: My niece likes to share how many "lumps" she had when she pooped, so now when my husband and I change James we tell each other how many lumps he had as a joke!

Constipation Alert: Upon trying new foods your baby is likely to be constipated, especially from bananas, rice cereal, and apples. Remember that babies don't necessarily poop everyday and as long as their poop is soft they aren't constipated. If your baby does go past 3 days, I would say it's time to give them prunes or mango. That'll help resolve this issue. You can also try baby massage, you can gently pump their legs into their bellies, give them water, and massage their tummy as though you were writing "I", "L", and "U" which stands for I Love You. :) (I Love You was a great tip from Deepa!)

Where to get food:

Homemade: If you are making it, kudos to you! Just try to use organic as much as possible!

Store Brands: If you aren't making all your foods (I make and also purchase) here are some brands that we love: Note all these brands are organic!

PC Organics: Great starter purees, prunes, pears, etc.

Baby Gourmet: This is my favorite brand because they have so much selection and convenient pouches that won't break like glass jars. I recently discovered that they also have new "Protein Purees" like Chicken Minestrone, Beef with Barley, Turkey with Vegetables, Dahl, etc. I highly recommend you trying these, they can be found at Walmart! James loves them all except the Dahl one. 

Sweet Pea Baby Food: I tried this food at the Toronto Baby Show and loved it. They make homemade baby food that is frozen in one ounce cubes. They are very easy to pop out, heat, and serve. It's so yummy that I would  finish whatever is leftover from James' meal. I suggest the Chicken and Beef ones. They are expensive so I wouldn't recommend getting the fruit when you can get a pureed version instead. 

Mother Hen: This company makes the best Mango sorbet, please get some if you live in Canada! As for baby food, they make homemade purees of mango, peaches, mixed vegetables, lamb, chicken, beef, etc. They have many choices and all are great! They are pricey so I try to limit how much of this we use and substitute my own food when possible. 

Heinz Organics: Here I buy the typical pears, apples, prunes, etc. These are great for travel since they come in a resealable plastic container. Therefore less baggage weight or chance of breakage!

Happy reading!

Rachel


PS: We want to know food made the smelliest poop for your child and what food brands are your favorites! Leave a comment below to share with everyone!

Oh Baby! UppaBaby Accessories!

For those of you who have the UppaBaby Vista, let's talk accessories. I've had the pleasure of purchasing a few and here's how they rank. For those of you who love ColdStone I'll pay homage to them and use their system: 

Like It!:

Bassinet Rain Shield: I personally think that the stroller should have come with this one, but since it didn't we bought it. We used the bassinet for 3 months out the possible 6 and maybe got caught in the rain a couple times. Did I really need this? No. Did I feel safer having it on my walks? Yes. And for that peace of mind, I suggest you get it too although it will hardly be used. (Also note rain shields also double as great wind shields)

BabyGanoosh: This accessory protects baby from the cold by providing a sort of sleeping bag for them. It is very warm, water repellent, and fits on the stroller nicely however I have a few critiques: a) It should be longer and wider as I am sure James will be too tall to use it again next winter. b) it doesn't cover all the way to the chest. (the roll up part doesn't cover the sides) c) it should be compatible with a car seat. An alternative is a JJ Cole Bundle Me which I have purchased for the car seat after learning the hard way about c). The bundler is baggier so i can add blankets, etc in there plus it zips all the way to the head for full protection. However I am glad I have both because I rather not keep attaching/reattaching this every time I need the car seat or stroller. 

Love It!:

Cup Holder: Ok, I'm sure you are thinking a Cup Holder, really you need to write about this! Well yes I do. This isn't just any cupholder, it holds beverages very well and prevents spilling. I've had the Jolly Jumper Stroller Caddy on the stroller thinking this is awesome, it holds 2 drinks and has a pouch for my wallet, phone, etc. Well this was not a perfect accessory. If the stroller is facing out and you have a drink in the cup portion it pushes the cup over causing stains on my stroller! I knew there was a better way and this is it because it does not interfere with the handle so there is no way I can spill my drink unless I go over a huge bump in which case anything would spill!

TravelBag: My family and I travel a lot and I got tired of our stroller getting beat up and dirtied by airline gate check and the elements. Therefore we purchased this travel bag. When looking at the picture it seems great and easy to put in, however it's not that easy. You have to first collapse the stroller with the seat facing out, then remove the wheels (yucky, we carry gloves for this part) and place them in a pouch, next put the stroller in the bag, remove the bar and place in the bar section and put in pouch with wheels. Next comes the tricky part, zipping up the bag. It is a snug fit so I suggest you practice a few times before trying it out at the airport. Trust me your plane will leave without you. The first time I had to use it when James and I flew by myself and that was a little difficult but I made it because I practiced at home. The best part about this bag is that it has a "TravelSafe" warranty so any damage caused to the stroller while in the bag will be covered by UppaBaby. After our last flight we noticed that one of our brakes no longer works, we called UppaBaby and they are sending us a replacement frame free of charge!

Gotta Have It!:

Infant SnugSeat: This is my all time favorite accessory! We upgraded James to the "big boy seat" (toddler seat) at 3 months. However he was too small to be held in my the harness or sit properly and balance his head well. So I MacGyver'ed the seat by adding support with 4 receiving blankets: 1 at each side of his body and head. This was a pain because my diaper bag was already overflowing from carrying 2 or 3 of everything, especially clothes from those famous blowouts! LOL! Well it was my lucky day when I spotted a baby in this cradle contraption in an UppaBaby stroller. I immediately asked the parents where they got this and purchased it right away. The best part about it is the head support for when the baby is sleeping and that it's machine washable and dryer safe! James is almost 11 months old and I only recently removed the head part of it so we'll use the seat part until 1 year. If you have this stroller and a child under 1 you must get this!

What Else!:

As James keeps growing and seasons keep changing I'll look out for new accessories. There are many more on the website, so if you've tried any others leave a comment below to let us know what you think! I'm eyeing the SnackTray next! 


Here's a picture of the stroller, just in case you aren't familiar with it!

About Us

Welcome to my blog! 

My life has wonderfully changed since becoming a mommy to James this past March. He has become the center of my husband's and my universe. I am currently on maternity leave and about to resume work at the end of March as an Underwriter. 

James is almost 11 months old and is a happy and loving baby. I'm writing this blog to share my opinions, thoughts, and experiences on mommy hood, marriage, work and life. Why now you ask when James is 11 months old, well raising a child is a learning experience that changes day by day so I figure it's never too late to start! 

As for the name of this blog, we call James Silly Baba (baby) and since I'm his Mama I became silly too! 

I hope you'll enjoy reading the blog! If you do, please become a follower and share your thoughts with us by commenting on the site!

Happy reading!

Rachel