five favorites - newborn baby edition

With things how they are, 'round here we've been all about that baby, 'bout that baby. You know how it is. So now that I'm three kids in, I'm getting a pretty good idea of which newborn baby products I love and which I'm kinda just "meh" about. Here are five that I love!

1. Fisher Price Newborn Rock 'n Play Sleeper

Love this thing. It's portable and lightweight, doesn't take up much space, and gives me somewhere convenient to set the baby down during the day without worrying about him accidentally rolling off a piece of furniture, or getting stepped on by the dog. Plus it looks comfy. I kind of want a grown-up sized version.

We actually have a simpler version that doesn't vibrate, which is fine with me... I don't love the battery-operated kid-stuffs, myself. AND it was given to us by a friend, so.... free! Even better!

2. Free printable newborn infant visual stimuli

Twenty free high-contrast black-and-white images to print. I laminated some and hung them by the changing table. Jackson loves looking at them... he gets all quiet and alert, and his breathing gets fast and excited, and his eyes make little darting saccades all over them.

3. MoBoleez Breastfeeding Hat

So I know nursing covers are one of those topics that tend to spark Mommy Wars... so let me start by clearing the air: I do NOT think moms should be required to cover up when nursing their babies. But I personally feel more comfortable using a cover when I nurse in public. So I do.

This nursing cover was given to me at my most recent baby shower. I'd never seen one like this (I previously used one of those apron-style ones)... and I. LOVE. IT. It's so much quicker and easier and more unobtrusive. And smaller to carry around in my bag. And reversible and machine-washable. What's not to love?

3. Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper

This is one of those sidecar (a.k.a. attaches to my bed) co-sleepers. Again, we have an older, simpler version of this. But it's great for the first few months of life for breastfed babies. You have somewhere to put them down that's Not The Adult Bed, but you don't actually have to get out of bed to grab them for middle-of-the-night feedings. (I want to have baby to have a separate sleeping space because I'm a pediatrician and, y'know, SIDS risks. Though if there's any breastfeeding mom who claims she's NEVER slept with the baby in her own bed... I don't believe her. Even pediatrician moms.)

5. Muslin Swaddle Blanket

I don't know if this is the exact one I have, because I got mine for 50 cents at a rummage sale. (Score!) But any kind of muslin blanket would do. They're great because not only are they easy to swaddle with (more give than flannel or cotton receiving blankets, but less than jersey or waffle-weave), but they're also multi-purpose. You can use them as sun shades, nursing covers, changing surfaces, etc. Especially nice in hot weather since the muslin is so light and breathable.

Head back over to the linkup at Call Her Happy and read more favorites!

playroom redux

(I don't know if "redux" is technically the appropriate term if the first mention of it was just yesterday, but I like how it sounds.)

Let's pretend this isn't the exact same picture as yesterday.

A couple of people expressed interest in seeing/reading a little bit more about our playroom... I'm happy to oblige!

Storage Bins:

I love these. They're made out of webbing (like backpack straps) woven into baskets, which I really like because they're not unattractive, but are much sturdier than wicker. (I actually use them all over the house, not just in the playroom.) Each one is labeled with the category of toys that go inside, like "dolls," "vehicles," or "Duplos," and-- more importantly-- a picture illustrating that category. That way my 3-year-old knows what goes in each bin and can get out what she wants, and, more to the point, put them away without assistance. The labels were just made in Word with pictures obtained from Google Images, printed on cardstock, "laminated" with contact paper, and safety-pinned to the bins. That way the labels are sturdy, but I can change them out as necessary. We have one unlabeled bin for miscellaneous toys that don't fit into other categories, too. (I'd give you a link to the bins, but I can't find them online. We get them at the home-improvement store on base.)

Bookshelves:

We have three sling-style bookshelves that I got on Amazon for picture books, and 4 little wall mounted shelves (actually spice racks from IKEA) for small board books. (The slings are deep enough that very small books disappear into them and are no longer visible, which cancels out the whole point-- hence the separate storage for board books.) We use these types of forward-facing shelves again for the benefit of our pre-readers, who identify books by their covers, not their spines.

Whoops... ignore the outlet... looks like mama needs to do some more baby-proofing.

Shelves:

These are just those generic wire industrial shelves you can get anywhere. I think we got ours at Target. I like them because they're super sturdy (notice a theme?), they're deep enough for the storage bins, they're adjustable, they go high enough that I can put "with permission only" toys (like Play-doh or bubbles) out of reach, and I can clip stuff to the wire shelves (I use clothespins to hang painted masterpieces to dry and briefly display).

Furniture:

We have two low tables from IKEA which are reasonably attractive, a good height for my littles, and lightweight enough for them to move around.

We also have two little yellow ottomans for seating-- which Faith climbs on to reach mid-height shelves-- and one small storage ottoman from Target, which holds our collection of wooden blocks (you can see the edge of it in the above picture, under the table-- it appears that they don't sell it anymore, but it's similar to this one only with no pocket).

If we had more room, I'd love to have a comfy couch in there, but they're little enough that they still prefer standing or sitting on the floor when they play... and the living room isn't far away, so we can sit in there and still be generally supervising them. I also have a separate shelf for my own craft supplies and a small desk for my sewing machine on one side of the playroom. (Josie's hanging out by one of the little yellow ottomans, below. They really are little.)

Decor:

Most of the framed prints are freebies off the internet, or old embroidery projects of mine. The astronomy ones up near the ceiling used to be an old calendar. The rug and curtains are from IKEA. (The generic wall color, tile floor, ceiling fan, and terrible lighting are courtesy of the US Navy. Thanks, taxpayers!)

Toys:

Jack tells me that I'm kind of a toy snob. I guess that's sort of true-- not that I go for the most expensive toys, or insist on "organic, natural materials only," but I do try to keep our toys within the following guidelines:

- They are open-ended and stimulate the imagination.

- Ideally they're appropriate for a wide age-range.

- They're reasonably well-made and will last a decently long time.

- I don't hate looking at them (or listening to them).

- There aren't a gajillion-billion of them.

These guidelines generally eliminate most battery-operated toys-- at least those of the flashing-and-beeping variety-- and drastically limit cheapy plastic toys. (I don't have anything against plastic toys as a category, except that most of them are ugly and/or not well-made.) They also tend to minimize the number of licensed-character toys, partly because they tend not to be the best quality (Manufacturer: "Who cares if it's a stupid toy? It has Dora on it; it'll fly off the shelves!") and partly due to my personal taste. And I'm fairly ruthless about purging toys that don't fit my guidelines! 

Types of toys we love include:

- Building toys, like wood blocks and Duplos-- I'd like to get them one of those wood railway sets too (maybe Christmas this year), and others as they get older. There are so many great, classic building toys out there. Legos, Lincoln logs, marble runs, tinker toys, all kinds of good ones. And other stuff too-- look how cool these are! Clics, Magna-Tiles, Gears Gears Gears, Tubation... I kind of want all of them! Building toys are great for fine-motor skills, planning skills, practical physics (really!), cooperation, imagination, etc. And they're one toy that you might actually enjoy playing with too!

- Make-believe toys, like dolls (but the open-ended kind, not the stupid dolls that pee or talk or what-have-you), stuffed animals, cars, dress-up clothes, playsilks (which can be used for dress-up, fort-building, doll-wrapping, scene-setting, and all kinds of stuff). We also have a dollhouse, which lives in Faith's room, and a play kitchen too. Pretending is how kids learn and process things, and is actually super important. 

- Art supplies, like crayons, markers, play-doh, safety scissors, glue, construction paper, and paint. We have an oilcloth tablecloth that I spread out for messy crafts, which is so easy to wipe off that it blows my mind.

- Learning/thinking toys, like ABC magnets, fine-motor activities (lacing beads, shape-sorters, etc), musical instruments, and puzzles.

- Gross motor toys-- if we had more room, we'd have more of these! Great for improving coordination and burning off energy. All we've got right now are a noisemaking push/pull toy (Faith uses it as her vacuum cleaner), a sit-and-spin, a wooden ride-on for Josie, and a balance bike for Faith (they have a slide and a water table, but they live outside). There are all kinds of fun options, like mini-trampolines (the kind with a handle), these "hop-around steps," this awesome-looking thing called a Bilibo... I've even seen mini indoor climbing walls on Pinterest! How cool would that be?

Some specifics below:

Art Supplies:

I used to store them in one of the blue bins, but it was too hard to find things in there. Now I use one of those hanging shoe-racks with the pockets for most stuff, and it works much better. Play-doh still gets its own bin, and I have a bin for larger supplies that won't fit in the pockets, like drawing pads or our big box of crayons. I also use a magazine file for our coloring/activity books (used to use a bin for those too, but it didn't work well).

Note: paint is, happily, well out of reach of tiny hands.

Magnet Board:

We've got a big oil drip tray nailed to the wall which works great as a large magnet board! We use little magnetic bins (like the ones for lockers) to keep the different magnets moderately slightly organized. 

"Organized." With air-quotes.

(PEDIATRICIAN ASIDE: if you use magnets with your littles, make sure they can't swallow them. One magnet swallowed is usually no big deal-- like swallowing a penny-- but two magnets swallowed can stick together inside the body if they're strong enough, across intestinal walls, leading to tissue necrosis and bowel perforation and BADNESS. Click here for more info. End PSA.)

Wood puzzles:

We like this Melissa and Doug puzzle rack to keep puzzles corralled while still being easily accessible.

Dress-Up:

Right now their dress-up clothes hang on one of those accordion-folding peg racks. It works okay, but stuff tends to slide off it-- I think hooks that tilt upward (like these) would work much better. Dress-up accessories live in a nearby plastic bucket, and there's a mirror hung at preschooler-height.

Play Kitchen:

Our wooden play kitchen is older than I am (it first belonged to my big sisters when they were little) and it is awesome. My parents fixed it up last year and gave it to the girls for Christmas (I added the blue paint and shelf paper). Faith is constantly "making dinner" for us, and Josie has recently gotten super-interested in it too.

Wow, I didn't realize I had so much to say about our playroom. Do I overthink things, or what? So anyway, there you have it! Playroom extraordinaire... or something. Did I miss anything? Want any more info on something I mentioned? Feel free to say so!

seven quick takes - ed. 13

1. My thirteenth Seven Quick Takes! I love 13.  I was born on a Friday the 13th, so I joked all through my childhood that traditionally "unlucky" superstitions were lucky for me. And I always feel as if Friday the 13ths (no matter the month) are sort of an honorary birthday for me.

2. With the big 3-0 rapidly looming (!!!), I recently decided it was time to start wearing Grown-Up-Lady makeup.  Because, I mean, wearing only concealer + cherry Chapstick may have worked in college, but that was (gulp) ten years ago.

So here's me with my Grown-Up Lady face. 

I made a conscious decision to go with actual red lipstick (well, this is my newly-dubbed Work Lipstick so it's sort of peachy-red), which is against my every instinct. But I realized that whenever I see a woman wearing red lipstick I think "I LOVE IT SHE LOOKS GREAT."  And after the shock of seeing it on my own face has worn off, I do love it.

3. Faith has been copying EVERYTHING we say lately. We've been trying to teach her not to interrupt by saying, "Faith, I'm talking to Daddy right now. It'll be your turn in a minute." Recently she began tossing that right back at us. "No, Daddy, I talkin' to Mama!" Or, more hilariously, when she's talking aloud to herself while she's playing, "Mama, shh! I talkin' to Faify!"

4. Short but sweet article that my pediatrician self can't help sharing:  Fever in Children: 5 Facts You Must Know.  I wish this could be required reading for parents of young kids.

5. Recently an old friend of mine was debating which attachment to put on a Swiss Army knife she was ordering-- a Phillip's head screwdriver or a corkscrew. (You can already tell she's way cooler than I am, because the knife is for her. She's also an architect and lives in NYC. See what I mean?)  Her reasoning was that theoretically the Phillip's head would be more practical in a pinch... but then again, you could probably use the flathead screwdriver attachment in a Phillip's head screw if necessary, but if you want to open a bottle of wine and don't have a corkscrew, you're SOL.

OR ARE YOU?!

I so need to try this.

6. Josie has been getting super grabby and pinchy... especially when she's nursing.  When I wear a tank top it looks like I've got sun freckles on my chest, but they're actually tiny bruises from tiny baby fingers.  Ouch.  So I channelled my inner crunchy-granola mama and ordered a couple of nursing necklaces from this Etsy seller.  Hopefully it helps! Anyone have any experience with this type of baby-distraction?  

7. Apparently there's an ongoing measles epidemic in the Philippines, with over 1500 people infected and 21 dead over the course of 2013.  With the Philippines being the closest major land mass to Guam, and with an impressive 25% of Guam's population being Filipino, there's a lot of travel between here and there. As a result, the local public health department is asking all physicians on the island to keep their eyes out for any possible cases.  This is pretty crazy.  I've never seen a case of measles in my life-- it was declared to be eliminated in the US back in 2000 thanks to widespread vaccination.  (Note that, in epidemiology, "eliminated" doesn't mean "gone completely;" rather it means that measles is no longer present continuously, but only in discrete outbreaks-- thanks to those who don't vaccinate.)  I hope to go my whole career without having to diagnose it... but we'll see.

On that lighthearted note... go see Jen at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

seven quick takes friday - ed. 10

1. We got our Christmas tree on Wednesday!

I didn't realize when I bought it that it had a crooked top like that.  I've decided I'm not going to be annoyed by it, but will instead think of it as our tree having SASS.  Like it's going, "Uh-UH, no you di'n't!"

2. It was actually a HUMONGOUS hassle to get.  We went to the Home Center (the hardware/garden store on base) on Sunday, but pretty much all their trees were gone, except for a few sad little leftovers that were losing their needles.  They had them delivered BEFORE THANKSGIVING, so they had run out by early December.  Wtf?!?  So the guy suggested we go to Home Depot, as he'd heard they had just gotten a shipment.  (Yes, there's only one Home Depot on the island.)  So on Monday I dropped by with the girls, and it turned out that yes, they had gotten a shipment, but it needed to be fumigated, so it wouldn't be ready until Wednesday.

Now, Home Depot is a good 15 miles from our house, but it's less than half a mile from my work.  So it was decided that after work on Wednesday, I would pick up a tree with the girls and then Jack and I would unload it when we got home.

When I got to Home Depot, the tree lot was a CRAZYTOWN PLACE.  Here's how it was set up:
There was a fenced-in area in the parking lot, maybe 30 feet by 50 feet.  One side was open (the entrance).  Two other sides were lined with trees stacked up, leaning against each other in piles, and every few minutes someone let out a subdued shriek as they accidentally knock a tree over.  The last side had employees sawing and wrapping/tying the trees.  And the whole thing was CRAWLING with people.  So how it worked, was you pick a tree, grab it yourself, BRING it to the guys with the saws, go inside and pay for it, then come back out and get it loaded.  So I've got Josie on my hip, Faith wandering around super cranky and almost getting run over by people & trees, trying to drag a fricking full grown tree through a crowd.  And then after we paid, I pulled the car up to the gate and stepped out to get our tree (like 10 feet away, so I left the girls in their car seats), but they couldn't find the tree of the person in front of me, so I'm waiting and waiting and the babies are SCREAMING in the car and OMG IT WAS NIGHTMARISH YOU GUYS.

And it turned out that I had to bring it in the house myself too once we got home, because Jack was stuck at the hospital waiting for a baby to be born.  Feel sorry for me.  I know I do.

(And I think I can be excused for not noticing the crooked top.)

3. On the plus side, we have our tree now.  We'll put on ornaments on Gaudete Sunday!  And all the Christmas cards are signed, stuffed, stamped, and sealed!  (And addressed, but that doesn't start with S and I didn't want to ruin the alliteration.)

4. Just got 12 baby outfits for under $50 at thredUP.  Awesome.  (It turns out that, even though my kids have 5 older girl cousins with accompanying hand-me-downs, our bin of 6-12mo size was mostly long-sleeved.) But remember that Stitch Fix site that I linked to before?  Turns out they don't ship to Guam.  Sadness.

5. Go see A Ten-Month-Old's Letter to Santa.  Hilarious.

6.  This is a great video -- showing double standards that women face.  Not sure why it's an ad by Pantene, but it's a great video nonetheless.  This article gives a little background.

7.  Lately Faith has been bizarrely fearful of... ceiling fans.  She claims they're monsters.  (Or sometimes lions.)  Yesterday we talked about it a LOT, that they're just fans, they make our house cool, they're nice, you can turn them on and off.... we practiced turning them on and off, I lifted her up so she could touch them, etc.... but she's still scared.  Now instead of saying "Scared of the monster!" she says "Scared of the fan!"  I don't know what to do with that.

Go to Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

seven quick takes friday - ed. 9

1. Happy St. Nicholas day!  Faith left her shoes by the door last night and St. Nicholas left her this book:

Such sweet pictures. Such a cute book (and Faith loves counting).

He left some chocolate coins too, but unfortunately Ollie ate most of them before Faith woke up. There were still a few left, and she didn't know the difference, but I was annoyed (both at Ollie, and at myself for not realizing I needed to put them out of his reach).

2. Our Christmas newsletters are super adorable this year. I ordered custom "infographic style" letters from the Little Miss Mrs Etsy shop. I was very impressed both with the newsletter and the service! I'm excited to send them out!

3. Josie is pleased with herself for learning how to say "da da da."

(Faithy's going in for a kiss at the end there, not attacking. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.)

4. I'm going to be covering a couple other pediatricians' offices for a few days early next month. They're solo practitioners who are traveling off-island for the holidays, and they want to have appointments available for their patients for at least a couple of those days.  I don't LOVE the thought of working extra days, but it'll be good to experience other practices to see how they work.  (And, y'know, get extra money.)  A little nerve-wracking, though.

5. The sun rises freakishly early here (like 6am year round) which means Faith has been rising freakishly early too. In an attempt to remedy this, we just got this clock:

It can be set to glow yellow when it's time to sleep, then change to green at whatever time you decide is appropriate for your child to get up. This morning was our first time trying it, and though Faith cried when she realized she wasn't allowed to get up at 6, she did accept the reasoning that "the clock isn't green yet!" and reluctantly agreed to wait quietly in her room until 7.  I have high hopes!

(You can also use it as a regular alarm clock for older kids. And you can set it to speak the time out loud for kids who are learning to tell time.)

6. Sshhhhh... [looks around surreptitiously] Josie has slept through the night for the past 3 nights. Don't say it out loud or you'll jinx it.

7. I don't really believe in jinxes. At least not intellectually. But... I kind of do.  Medical professionals are some of the most superstitious people you'll ever meet. Residents never want to be on call with the "black cloud" (the one who always had bad nights) because you know it'll be crazy busy. If you casually comment, "Wow, it's pretty quiet" in the ER, everyone will immediately glare at you, panic-stricken, and shush you ferociously. It's hard to be a TOTAL skeptic, you know!

Go to Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

seven quick takes friday - ed. 7

Whoops.  Written on Friday, posted on Saturday.  Days-Of-The-Week Fail.

1.  Finished with my board exam, thank goodness!  Jack and I spent the 2 hours afterward going back and forth with "Did you have the question about..." and "What did you put for..." like big nerds.  Also: can anyone explain to me why a computerized exam, which everyone nationwide takes over a single 3-day period, should take 3 months to grade?  Alas.  Anyway, now that I don't have to study every spare minute, I have time to waste on the internet!  Thus the rest of the quick takes are all fun internet-y things I've checked out this week.

My house and I are the opposite of this.  Clearly.

2. "My Parents Brainwashed Me" - a teenaged boy at a "poetry slam" competition talks about how he responded when a classmate told him he was brainwashed by his parents.

3. #overlyhonestmethods is apparently a hashtag used for Twitter confessions about how scientific papers and research projects are not always as science-y as they seem.  Here's a collection of some of the more hilarious ones.  I'm not a bench scientist, but I've had enough experience to know how true these are!

4. Look!  If you give your Starbucks barista these instructions, he or she can make you a Butterbeer Frappuccino!  How yummy does that look?  Too bad there's no Starbucks on Guam.  Sad face.

5. My sweet husband has not only forgiven me my Twice obsession, but he sent me a link to this site on Facebook.  It looks pretty fun -- you give them your size, proportions, price range, and style preferences, and they send you a package of clothes and accessories to try.  You only keep (and thus only pay for) what you like, and send the rest back.  I'll have to try it and report back with the results!

6. Here's a cute video showing the reaction of a bunch of kids after attending an orchestra performance.  This is why kids are great.  They just take things as they see them, without any pretentiousness or trying to impress others.

7. This is a great informative blog about the Catholic teachings on sex, marriage, and contraception which Simcha Fisher linked to a few weeks back, but which I've only just gotten around to checking it out.

That's it! Go to Conversion Diary Clan Donaldson to see more quick takes!

seven quick takes friday - ed. 6

1. I've been going crazy with posting educational health/safety flyers in my exam rooms at work.  I've found them all with my fave Google Image Search... it's kind of addicting, finding good ones.

Some of my favorites:

Any patient in my office will at least have plenty of reading material while they wait for me!

2. I am semi-obsessed with Twice.  The only way I can control myself is just to avoid going to the site at all.  I should tell my husband to blame Dwija.

3.  You guys, studying for the boards is making me crazy.  And I'm not even doing as much studying as I should! You know when you have a big thing that you're preparing for, that you've known about for months and months and months, and you know intellectually that it's coming up (in ONE WEEK!!), but you just can't make yourself be, like, emotionally worried?  I know that point is coming, but it hasn't hit me yet.  I'm all like, "Wow, two weeks... I should get busy," but I'm not at the point where I FEEL the NEED to really crack down on myself.  Of course, it's been so long since I was actually in a school-type setting, that I don't know if I even remember how.  

Yes, I've been studying.  I think I'll be fine.  I just should be studying more.  

The inner nerdy perfectionist grade-grubber in me is always good about making me feel guilty like that.  Basically, I am Hermione Granger.

4. Josie has also been making us KERAAAAZY 'round here with her lack of desire to go to sleep.  Twice in the past week she has been up until past midnight until I finally give in and nurse her to sleep -- which we're ideally trying to avoid, since our goal is to get her to realize that she doesn't, in fact, physically need to be nursing in order to bring about the onset of sleep.  I know we're part of the problem, because she's 4 months old and we're still letting her nap like a newborn -- whenever, wherever -- and we haven't even attempted to institute a bedtime routine.  We're working on that.

5. I've just about finished this book, and I liked it a lot.  It's an easy-to-read nonfiction book about the assumptions we have about child-rearing and how evidence suggests that maybe those assumptions are not so accurate. 

Various topics it addresses include:

-  how constantly praising our kids might have the opposite effect from what we intend

- how to talk to kids about race

- why some siblings get along and others don't

- how to tell (or not) which kids are "gifted" and when

- AND MUCH MORE!!!

Super interesting.  I recommend it!

6. Anyone here any kind of music nerd?  This is pretty cute.

7. Typhoon Francisco meant that my office was closed yesterday (Friday) so I'm working for half a day today (Saturday), so I consider it legit to post Seven Quick Takes this morning.

Go see more at Conversion Diary!