21 Months, 2 Weeks

Henry does seem to be feeling better, but his lower GI difficulties are hanging around. Unfortunately we had just gotten over the last bout when this stomach ailment came around so i'm expecting another 3 weeks of gross diapers. Boy, will we be happy for spring!

We had Henry's final surgery follow-up visit today and it took about 1 minute-- long enough for the Doctor to say that everything looked great. Yeah, one less Doctor to be seeing! I'm just hoping that this concludes the portion of Henry's life where he needs surgery. And, here's to a surgery-free Silas-- i'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed.

Henry and I have swim class again today. Hopefully they've got the water heater cranked up because it's super cold here this week. I talked to Henry about going swimming when i picked him up and he seemed to remember what i was talking about and be excited about it. He had therapy tomorrow morning and hopefully it will be a good session and not one horrendous hour of crying.

Today's picture is of one of Henry's newest accomplishments. If toys fall under the couch, we use a closet rod or "stick" as Henry says to fish them out. Henry now opens the armoire, grabs the stick and attempts to get the toys out on his own. He's very excited about this and as long as the stick is on the ground it's usually all good. Once he stands up with that thing though you immediately have to intervene or anything within a 3 foot diameter gets wacked!

21 Months, 1 Week, 6 Days

Yuck-- that pretty much sums up our weekend. I'm referring her to the stomach bug that Henry came down with on Saturday night. After a brief spice-shopping expedition we headed to apho restaurant that we've lately discovered that's actually quite good (we've been searching for good Pho in Chicago since we moved here). While there Henry had two bouts of acute diarrhea. Unfortunately-- no changing table in the restroom. We did our best, ate as quickly as possible and headed home.

He had a few more bouts before bed and after a quick bath went to sleep by
about 8. Later that night the real fun started around 11:30 with morediarrhea and then waves of vomiting from about 1:30 to 3:00. I'm not sure whether it was a good thing or not but the only thing he had eaten for dinner was a strawberry smoothie. Things weredayglo but i'm sure it could have been worse.

He finally fell asleep with JT in the guestroom around 3:00 and slept until 8. I got up with him then and he acted like everything was fine. The diarrhea kept up and was just plain severe all day but no temperature and his temperament was pretty normal. He took a standard 2 hour nap butseemed pretty exhausted by bedtime and went to sleep early. We were waiting to see how last night went before we made a decision about daycare today. He slept through the night and didn't seem to have any more gross
diapers.

We waited to talk to the nurse this morning at the Peds office and she said as long as he didn't have a temperature that he was okay to go to daycare-- but to remind them about the importance ofhandwashing since he's contagious only through actually touching the gross diapers.

I took him to Brenda's and gave them a full explanation and told her to just call if anything changed and/or she needed me to come get him. Hopefully this spate of gross diapers won't last as long as the last one!

21 Months, 1 Week, 1 Day

Yesterday was swim class day and Henry is making some real strides. He's still not the baby splashing around and squealing (that would be Ellie who we're getting to know), but yesterday he was excited about swim class when i asked him about it, and his body was completely relaxed the whole class. He was comfortable enough that he'd float with his legs out behind him rather while i supported him under his arms, rather than his normal pose of legs wrapped tightly around me. He even put his arms over a floatydumbbell and let me just hold his hands while he floated out in front of me. All of these are things that have caused him some real distress in the past, but yesterday he took it all in stride.

I'm hoping that by the end of the class he'll be more comfortable and really looking forward to swimming this summer (which hopefully we'll be able to manage once Silas is here).

I'm hoping that JT will be able to come to the class next week and take some pictures, because i can't exactly photograph him while i'm supporting him and immersed in the water.

Speaking of pictures, i've run dry, but i can share my new "signature" that i'm using on my message board-- thanks Tammy!

21 Months, 6 Days

You may notice that the last several posts have been copies of the "baby roundtable" missives i've been sending to a group of new and experienced parents. I posted them
all to my blog and then created permanent links to these posts so that they will be a resource to other parents that aren't participating in the "live" version of the roundtable. You can find the links by looking in the sidebar on the right.

Henry will have quite a treat when i pick him up from Ms. Brenda's today. My mom spent Sunday with us and then headed out to the suburbs where she's been attending a conference. The conference wrapped up this afternoon so she's on her way out to stay with us tonight. Henry has added "Nonna" to the list of people that he asks about so i know he'll be exited to see her. It's funny though because he has a tounge twist when he says "Nonna"-- literally. I can't do the pronunciation justice in writing but it's pretty fun to watch.

Roundtable- Baby Gear- Baby Lounging/ Entertainment

During this time your baby isn’t going to need much in the way of entertainment, but it is nice to have a place that you can put the baby when you need your hands-free, and it’s a bonus if the baby actually enjoys being there.

Bouncer
Personally I think a bouncer is pretty universally appreciated item of baby gear. This is a little baby seat that is a bit springy so as they get more active they can actually bounce themselves by kicking, or you can bounce them by using your foot. Even really basic ones now have vibration or some music built in which your baby may or may not appreciate (ours didn’t). When they’re really little they can sleep in the bouncer and also hang out and play there. A lot of bouncers now have all kinds of souped-up toys built in, either in a toy-bar that goes across the seat, or on a mini-mobile. At least a basic bar is kind of nice because then you have a place to clip your own toys on as the baby’s interests change. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy the most expensive bouncer though because really they just need a comfortable place to hang out that’s mildly entertaining. We also had a variation on the bouncer which was called the “baby papasan” by fisher price. It didn’t bounce but was just a really soft and cushy little angled seat for babies. Henry loved this thing and spent a lot of time in it, especially at the beginning. He had reflux and had to sleep at a 45 degree angle which the papasan chair provided. We just put him in the chair and put it in his crib at night. If you have two floors, it’s nice to have at least one place on each floor to put the baby, so you might think about two bouncers, or a bouncer and a papasan-type chair.

Swing
Lots of people swear by a swing for babies and tell you they would have been lost without them. Most babies are lulled asleep by the rocking motion. I believe almost all (if not all) swings that are sold today are battery operated (maybe some with ac power) so you don’t have that annoying feature our parents had of having to re-wind the swing up manually just as the baby is about to fall asleep. I will say that not ALL babies love the swing and ours was one of them. He tolerated it kinda. The main thing I would suggest is buying a swing marketed as a “travel” swing. These are usually low to the ground and fold up. I can’t imagine actually traveling with it, but it takes up a helluva lot less room than a full-size swing, especially if you don’t know if your baby is really going to love it. They make fancier swings that are almost like a cradle—they go from side to side and back and forth. If you’ve got room for a full-size swing and fall in love with it—go for it, but if none of those apply just get the most basic one you can find. One thing to consider—it’s nice to have a swing that is either open on top, or that has a bar overhead that flips out of the way so that you can get the baby in and out of the swing without having to contort you or the baby so their head doesn’t get bumped.

Playmat/Mini-gym
Another crucial baby lounger/entertainer in my book is the baby gym. This is generally a square playmate with bars that criss-cross over the mat which hold a few toys that dangle down. The more basic models are really designed for the baby to lay on their back and have stuff to look-at/reach for. I’ve seen a lot of the newer/fancier ones that have more activities built-in that would apply if that baby was on their stomach as well. I think this is a feature worth considering because the babies need to be on their stomachs a good deal, and the more entertainment they have while they’re hanging out in that position the better. I have noticed they sell separate “tummy time” mats, but this way you wrap two up with one.

Toys
For the first 3 months, babies don’t need a whole lot in the way of “toys” because they’re enamored with each new thing they can actually focus on and see. They’ll love your face, looking at the light, watching things held close to them etc. It’s nice to have a few rattles and some babies really dig the little wrist and ankle rattles that babies can wear. They also make socks with rattles built in called “rattle toes” which are cute. A mirror made to stand up that baby can look into when they’re on their stomach is often a winner and some babies like really soft little stuffed animals this early as well. Most of the toys marketed at this age are soft and they make some kind of little noise- a crinkle or a squeak. There’s lot of cute stuff so I would register for some and just see what you get. You’ll always be able to fill your collection in once your baby is here and you learn what they really like.

Roundtable- Baby Gear- Clothing

Gowns
Gowns are the one-piece outfits that are open on the bottom, although they’re gathered with elastic. They make diaper changing really easy at night (you’re not fumbling with snaps, zippers, or god forbid, buttons). Many gowns have built-in mittens which you fold over a newborn’s hands to keep them from scratching themselves (especially in that 2 week period before you cut their nails).
We actually dressed Henry exclusively in gowns for about the first 2 weeks because we didn’t feel ready to “graduate” to putting on other clothes. I do really recommend them for nighttime, but they tend to ride up a lot when you’re holding them during the day so don’t be afraid to branch out into sleep-n-plays. If the gowns sound like something you’d be interested in using I’d try to register for 6-8. I believe they often come in 2-3 packs.

Sleep-n-Plays/Creepers
I’m not sure this is the real name of these, but they are the one-piece outfits, with or without feet, that zip or snap all the way up. They’re usually really soft cotton or terry. These are great for during the day because they’re very soft and comfortable and generally don’t having any doodads or scratchy things to get annoying or make the baby uncomfortable. They’re basically pajamas, but they’re acknowledged as “clothes” so if you have a thing about your baby being “dressed” during the day these are a great compromise—the baby is dressed but comfortable. Again I would recommend 6-8 of these.

Onesies
Onesies come in short and long-sleeve. You’ll probably want some of both depending on when your baby is due and what the weather is generally doing at that time of year. Onesies are great because babies can wear them alone when it’s warm enough, or as a layer underneath outfits, or with a pair of pants when it’s a bit cooler. Onesies are more practical than shirts when the babies are tiny because the onesies stay put and don’t continually bunch up. These usually come in packs of threes and again I would get 6-8 to start.

Side-snap Shirts
Although in general I preferred onsies to t-shirts, it was nice to have some side-snap shirts—especially at the beginning when the umbilical cord is still on. Side-snap shirts are also nice to use at first because you don’t have to pull anything over the baby’s head which can take a little getting used to. That said, they’re not always easy to find. I’d buy 1-2 packs to try and see if you like them.

Pants/Shorts
If it’s still going to be cool when your baby is born I would get a couple pair of pants (2-3) in basic colors. Paired with a onesie this can be a really comfortable, easy outfit that’s easy to layer more onto if it’s really cold. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy shorts if your baby is going to be born during the warmer months. They come as part of the zillion cute outfits you’re likely to receive as gifts.

Socks/Hats/Bibs
You’ll need some socks and a few hats—but you’ll probably get both for gifts as well, especially hats. Depending on what you decide to dress your baby in, a lot of their clothes will be footed at the beginning so you won’t need a zillion pairs of socks. That said baby socks are notoriously easy to lose. I would say 8-10 pair would probably be plenty. Eventually you’ll need some of the small “drool” bibs for when babies start to drool all the time around 3-4 months, or if your baby spits up a lot from the beginning. I’m not sure on amount—probably somewhere in the area of 6 to start with. Then you can see if you need to expand your holdings depending on your baby’s needs.

Homecoming Outfit
A homecoming outfit is something special you pick out to dress your baby in for their first trip home from the hospital. If you’re the kind of person that really enjoys “prepping” for special occasions than have a ball trying to find the perfect outfit. I would suggest buying a preemie and newborn sized outfit. If you have a small baby (somewhere around 7.5 lbs or less) they’ll be swimming in the newborn stuff at first, but the preemie clothes will fit great and they’ll look super-cute for pictures. If the list of everything you have to “get” before this baby arrives has already stressed you out, please give yourself permission to skip this item. I fell into the first camp, I’m a planner and organizer by nature and I really enjoyed gathering everything together for the baby. That said, on the day I came home from the hospital I could have cared less what Henry was wearing. We did dress him in the outfit I brought and he did look mighty cute but I just cared about being able to get into the car and up the steps to our condo and into BED. So don’t sweat this one—it won’t be the most important thing by a mile you’ll do or not do for your baby.

Sizes
I mentioned preemie and newborn sizes in the section above. Unless you’re expecting to have your baby really early (medical reason for a scheduled c-section), I wouldn’t buy more than one or two outfits in the preemie size because even small (full-term) babies will grow out of these very quickly. The standard size you’ll receive for gifts is “newborn” or 0-3 months. Depending on your baby, how big they are at birth, and how quickly they grow, this size will fit them for a few months, or they’ll outgrow them before you even get the tags off. If you have the opportunity I would ask people to buy some things in 3-6 month size and if you’re compelled to buy some “cute” outfits for your baby, I would start-off buying 3-6 month sizes.

Baby Hangers
Maybe you have a dresser that you plan to use to store most of your baby’s clothes. We have a small dresser in our son’s room and use it to store all the blankets, sheets, changing table covers, socks, hats, etc. but we hang all of his actual clothes. If you plan to hang anything, you’ll want to buy some baby hangers because your normal adult-size ones will just be too big for all those tiny clothes. We use medium sized binder clips to hang pants from the hangers and they work like a charm.

Roundtable- Baby Gear- Bathing/Grooming/Health

Bathtub
The main item to buy related to bathing is a baby bathtub. The main reason to have/use a baby bathtub is that it can be convenient to bathe a tiny infant in a smaller tub you can have next to the sink or on the floor or just about any other surface you want to put the tub on. That said, tubs aren’t the most expensive thing you’ll buy and most of them aren’t exactly water-tight. Plus they’re pretty heavy and difficult to carry without sloshing water all over once they’re filled. So, you’re most likely going to use the tub a) IN your sink b) next to your sink or c) on the floor near your sink or bathtub. You can also put the tub inside your big tub but until your baby gets a little older or unless you have super long arms, that will kill your back to lean over.
There are basically three kinds of baby bathtubs—plastic ones, mesh sling-type chairs and blow-up mini baby pool types. The plastic ones are the most common and probably the easiest to find. The thing is the bath is something your baby may take to right away or may hate for a very long time. We ultimately abandoned our baby bathtub after the screaming fits weren’t getting any better during bath time. We started taking baths with Henry and while he didn’t become a bath convert right away he was much more comfortable being held rather than feeling adrift in the open water.
I think it’s possible the sling chair or blow-up baby baths would provide a more secure feeling. Their drawbacks as I see them are that the chair is designed to sit in your sink or bathtub and you fill up the normal sink bowl or bathtub with water. You still have the issue of having to lean over the bathtub if that’s where you’re bathing and you have to use a lot of water to fill the tub up enough that the baby isn’t just sitting out there freezing. The blow-up thing would be fine but I wasn’t really that excited about having a blow-up pool stuffed somewhere in my house for several months. You wouldn’t really be able to blow it up and deflate it every time you wanted to give a bath (at least I wouldn’t have!) so you’d have to find a place to store it which is a real concern for us.
Rather than not buy a tub at all this time, we decided to register for another plastic tub but one that comes with an “infant mesh sling.” This is a little mesh hammock that lays in the tub and is used when the baby is itty bitty. I think it might help with feeling more cradled, without having to take a bath WITH Silas every time he needs to get clean.

Towels and Washcloths
You need some hooded towels and some baby washcloths. These were both items I was convinced were a total waste—what’s wrong with just using a regular towel and washcloth? The problem is that at the beginning their skin is pretty delicate and they are very tiny and adult sized towels and wash cloths are just too big and rough. Having 2 towels is nice so that you have some rotation ability. Having 6 washcloths (or more) is nice because you’ll use at least 2 for each bath (one for face and body and one for the genitals). One note—I would actually try to register for towels that maybe have a closer weave than your adult towel but which actually have some noticeable “plush” to them. We got a ton of baby towels that were more like a blanket than a towel—there was no fiber to soak anything up (even though they were soft) and they just pushed the water all around.

Body Wash/Shampoo
You’ll probably get some samples of the major brands at your birthing class (if it’s through a hospital) or in a packet when you leave the hospital. This is nice because you can try different ones to see what you seem to like. The main thing is that especially at the beginning, babies need the mildest soap/shampoo you can use. They don’t have much “toxic” going on that you need to aggressively clean up and their skin is sensitive. In fact just using water is fine if your baby doesn’t spit-up much or have other messes on them. You want to wash the face first and don’t want to use any soap on the face. You can use one product for both the body and hair—if your baby has any at the beginning.

Grooming/Health
You’ll need a pair of nail clippers and/or nail scissors (although you won’t use them for at least 2 weeks after the baby is born), a nose bulb, a thermometer, and some basic medicines. It’s not a bad idea to have a pair of both baby nail clippers and the scissors so you can see which you feel (slightly) more comfortable using on your baby. You don’t cut their nails until at least 2 weeks after they’re born because they’re so soft at the beginning you’ll wind up cutting their fingers instead of the nail. I’ve never met a first time-parent that wasn’t squeamish/terrified of cutting their baby’s nails, so give yourself all the options you can.
You’ll also need a nose bulb to help suck out their mucus (they don’t learn to blow their nose for awhile—in fact, anyone know when they DO learn to blow their own nose?) There are basically two kinds—one that has a blunt end and one that has a long tapered end. They both work well but the blunt end one looks less menacing—you can be sure you won’t suck out their brains by accident with that.
Thermometers should be straight-forward but aren’t. If your baby is really sick and you have to call the Doctor—they’re going to want to know a rectal temperature. This means you need a basic digital thermometer that says something about being safe to use orally, rectally, etc. You want to buy the thermometer with the quickest “compute” time so you don’t have to hold that thing anywhere longer than you have to. You can also use the thermometer under their arm, although this is considered much less reliable. Additionally there are forehead scan thermometers, pacifier thermometers, and ones that go in the ear. We had an expensive forehead thermometer and although our Doctor’s office used one, our consumer brand gave us wildly variant readings. I’d take my temperature and it would say 93.8 then a few seconds later and I was back up to 106—we pretty much decided it was unreliable and then Henry dropped it. Now we just use an inexpensive digital one and stick it under Henry’s arm (knock on wood, he’s not been much for fevers so far.)
I think it doesn’t hurt to have a few medicines around before the baby is born so that the first time they get sick you aren’t frantic (well, you’ll probably be frantic anyway, but at least you won’t be frantically driving to the drugstore!) I would buy infant Tylenol, infant decongestant, infant benedryl and some anti-gas drops. You might also want to buy some pedialyte to have on hand.

Pacifiers
You may have strong feelings one way or the other about using babies and pacifiers. Even if you really don’t plan to use any with your baby, you might consider buying one or two to have on hand just in case things don’t work out the way you want. Some babies really need to and are very good at sucking and the pacifier can satisfy them in a way nothing else can’t. Other babies never take to a pacifier, so like everything else it’s a bit of a crap-shoot. Still if you’re having one of those nights where nothing seems to soothe the baby, having one on hand can at least let you feel like you tried everything. Pacifiers are sized, so just make sure to buy the 0-3 month ones so they aren’t way too big.