playing with a 2 month old

It is so hard to play with Haley. I imagined myself as the mom who played her baby classical music, and read to he all the time; who played educational and developmentally appropriate games and lavished her baby with attention. I thought I would be wearing her constantly (instead of leaving her in a bouncy seat) doing infant massage and making sure she has adequate tummy time. For that matter I also though she would not be sleeping in the bed with me, but so much for that idea I love my little snuggle to be close, and it's just easier for her to fall asleep in my arms when she east at 4 in the morning, but I digress.

Most of my time spent with Haley during the day I am doing all I can to get her to stop crying... the shameful part is that my motivation is often completely selfish. I want to keep exploring things online, reading other blogs or webpages for new moms. I want to finish watching my TV show, I want to sleep, or I simply want to sit down. But the exciting thing is that Haley has finally started becoming more responsive when she's awake. She isn't cooing or saying ahhh yet (which several babies her age on you tube videos do) but she is smiling at me more often and staring at me for longer. Sometimes I can't help but play with her.

So how do we play?

Tummy Time: Usually we're laying together on her quilt, me trying to coax Haley to lift or turn her head. This never lasts very long, in fact if she makes it 3 minutes I fee like we're doing well. She has a spin and see tummy time mat that she likes a bit better than just resting on her face. I think I need to rest her on her boppy more. She can turn her head on her flat tummy, she just gets mad quickly, and can't lift her head well.

Massage Time: This usually does not last very long either, and only happens about once a week. She wears a diaper during it so I avoid being pooped and peed on. I don't use edible olive oil as suggested, if I use anything it's Johnson's baby oil or bedtime lotion.(I just try to avoid using it on her hands) I massage her face, than her tummy, her arms and fingers, her legs and toes, and if she's not screaming at me yet her back.

Baby Boxer: She holds my hands and I turn her into the million dollar baby. She jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts to my sound effects. POW!

Airplane: Now that she can hold her head up a bit more she likes to fly. She loves peering over the shower bar to see daddy when he gets home from work. I also do "baby push ups" where I lift her up, then bring her down for kisses 10 times. She will also lay on her tummy on my calves and I can do 1/2 leg lifts with her as my weight.

Finger and Toe Games: We sing "10 Little Indians" and play "This Little Piggy". We say and act out "clap your hands, stomp your feet, clap your feet, stomp your hands."

Body Parts: We sing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" while I show her the right body part. We play "I'm gonna get you" and I get her nose or toes etc. We play "How big is baby?" "So Big!" and I spread her arms as wide as the go.

Kisses: I say " Eskimo kisses (and we rub noses) butterfly kisses (batting eyelashes together) and Haley kisses (then I cover her with kisses all over)

Movement song: I recently stole this one from the huggies website. I move her legs in the appropriate motion for "walking, walking, walking, walking, hop hop hop, hop hop hop, running, running, running; running, running, running, now we stop! Now we stop!" (to the tune of frere Jacques)

Follow the bunny: I turn my fingers into a bunny while she's laying on her back and watch her follow them from side to side. This works with her toys or any visually interesting object too.

Sit-ups: When she's on her back she holds my hands and I guide her through sit ups, (but she has to lift her head as we go or I set her back down. This works best if she's starting on a slight incline)

Others: We dance, I sing, We go on long walks (usually in the snuggli or the moby wrap)We play peek-a-boo. I read to her, usually while she eats or while she isn't being fussy, but sometimes I read through her screams just for the sake of my sanity. I copy her sounds. (even though right now it's usually her screams and cries that I mimic) We have tickle time and make funny faces at each other,

Things to try (these are some new ideas I have gotten from a little research): Take her exploring in my closet to feel the various textures and see all the colors. Let her smell various spices up close. Blow bubbles. follow the light.

screaming mandrake and other Haley look-a-likes

Over the past 2 months Zach and I as well as several family members and friends have been discovering several things that Haley looks like or acts like, here is a list of a few. 

She makes silly faces like this guy.

She has the same favorite spot as the baby gorilla.

She's the size of a Wallaby (9-22 lbs.)

Her sweet startle reflex makes her look like this monkey... or a rapper. 

She yawns like a lion.

She has cute little frog lefgs when she gets all scrunched and snuggled. And when I put her in her wrap a lot of times one leg is tucked up, and the other is hanging out. 

Zach says she looks like a baby ewok.

Justin and Anna said she looks like a mandrake. When she's screaming and her face is all scrunched she really does. 

When we pass her off and her shoulders are high I think she looks at you like baby Simba, or baby Kiara, being presented by Rafiki.

She rolls around on her back like this polar bear.

Finally, right before she spits up on you she looks at you with bright eyes like this cute alien baby from men in black. 

The Diapering Dillema

In a perfect world this sweet girl would get to roam around bare bottomed. However we have seen the effects of that style of parenting and it's not always pretty. (i.e. poop and pee all over the floor, couch, bed, etc.) So while it may be great for some people, it's not ideal for us. I'm sure our landlords would agree. So I am on a quest (thanks to my mom, sister, and all the other people who got us diapers as shower gifts... we still haven't had to buy any... just wipes) to find the best, cheapest, most practical diapering system around.

The Disposables

The hospital started us off with papers sensitives. They were great because they have the umbilical cord cut out. But even better, they have a strip that changes from yellow to blue to let you know if the baby is wet, much better than the smell test or reaching your hand in and seeing what you find. Also pampers have sure sesame street characters. I think so far Elmo is Haley's favorite.

We have also tried loves. They are incredibly absorbent, but definitely feel like paper.

now for my favorite. Huggies, ands down. Featuring Winnie the Pooh (how appropriate) These diapers also come with the yellow color changing strip, but they just seem to fit beter and be more comfortable. This shout out also goes to the huggies wipes which seem to keep baby'b bottom much more clean.

I also have to give a shout out to the diaper genie. I don't think it's necessary but it's easy and it does keep the potty smells at bay. The blue diaper bundles are not environmentally friendly, but maybe it's better to have all of the disposables contained.

Cloth Diapers

First I tried prefolds with a fuzzi bunz as a cover (it's what I had been given) I don't like the prefolds because the entire thing is soaked through leaving baby's bottom very wet ( this could be useful for potty training but we are far from it) The snappi did however make the prefolds much easier to put on, without the danger of pins. I also didn't like that when I washed these they stained very easily, making it seem like they weren't really clean.

The fuzzi bunz made a great cover since all the real covers I have are too big, but it did make the whole thing incredibly bulky. I like how adjustable the snaps are too.

My cloth diaper winner. Bum Genius 3.0. Several people suggested these and after some research I decided to try them out. THey are great, designed for babies from 7-35 pounds, so you don't have to buy more as she grows, just adjust the snaps. I love that they velcro on like a disposable to get the perfect fit. (my friend who uses these said after a few months the velcro wore out, but it was easy to replace). This diaper comes with 2 inserts (a newborn one that can later be used as a doubler and a bigger one that has snaps to adjust to the diaper size). I love the cute colors these come in.

You can save a little money by buying in bulk, but I hope that using them often will save money in the long

run. I currently own 8. I use them at home but switch to disposables when I'm out and about and during the night. I wash them every other night. It's easy too. When they are soiled I take them off and fold down the velcro flap, then take out the inset, putting them both into an empty industrial pickle jar (my diaper pail) While she's breast feeding only there is no need to rinse them off or dump them in the toilet first. Then when she's gone through all 8 I dump them all into the washer.I run them through a cold pre-rinse cycle. Then wash them regularly with an extra rinse in warm or hot water. I have been using tide free (which research says isn't the best for cloth diapers, but not the worst either, and I can wash regular clothes and baby clothes in it. - Dreft is not suggested) Then dry them in the dryer on a normal setting put inserts back into the diapers, and set them into the basket on the changing table, ready for another use. Disclaimer: There is a slight urine scent that comes with cloth diapers, but if you keep a lid on the jar it doesn't permeate the whole nursery so at least so far I'm not to worried about it.

As I start to run out of disposable I could definitely see using these more at night and out of the house, I will just have to invest in more of them. They are a little bulky but there great. And when Haley starts moving around more she may appreciate the extra padding on her bottom.

Haley Visits the Zoo

We were in DC for a night, after Zach and Josh Torrell went to the U2 concert. We decided to spend the day at the zoo.

A few things I realized

I love the idea of a free zoo, I'm pretty sure if I lived in DC I would run through there as my exercise routine. And if I had older kids I would go all the time and visit new animals each week (since most kids can't last through the whole zoo in one day, even we couldn't.

There are some seriously high tech strollers out there. Fancy double strollers with a place for older kids to stand, and ones that can carry a weeks worth of clothes, food and diapers.

They really do have lines across the top of the zoo where the Orangutans can travel overhead (unfortunately they didn't travel on them while we were there)

The guys were dressed the same, which I thought was pretty funny. But here they are pushing Haley into the zoo for the first time. Since it's so difficult to find parking in DC, getting there was no easy task. We took the subway... which you would think was easy, but it has the longest escalator I have ever seen in my life, which just so happened to be broken at the time, and operating only as stairs. I was very thankful that Haley's uncle Tyrone helped carry her.

These are all in reverse order, but that's alright. The lion was the last animal we saw before leaving. I really like how proud he looked. He had been making some crazy noises while w were watching the Tiger, but by the time we got to him he was calming down. Unfortunately Haley was not calming down, so we knew it was time to go.

The Tiger is Josh's favorite big cat. I could see why. He was crazy eyes, and looks like he could devour me in about 2 seconds. He spent most of his time pacing back and forth on the edge of his moat. Towards the back of his habitat it definitely looked like he would have a route to escape if he wanted to. Luckily he was not in the mood.

I took Haley for a quick tour or the reptile house when she woke up, we saw poisonous frogs, which were quite beautiful, large turtles, and an anaconda

I just love Elephants

She was tired

Haley decided to sneak a peak too.

She's so sweet resting with her dad

These Elephants are great! The zoo is building them a huge new habitat.

This baby gorilla was born earlier this year. I could have watched her for hours.

Haley liked watching her too.

She likes to snuggle with her mom just like Haley does

She is definitely a little monkey, climbing all over the place.

Haley is happy after a nice meal

Our attempt at a family photo, Haley hasn't been thrilled about these so far.

Quick glimpse of the panda

Zach's watching this guy pretty intently

This beautiful guy was cleaning himself pretty contently, almost like a house cat. Only his paws are huge! his teeth too.

I really like the zebra's mohawk

This sloth bear was so cute, he was pacing back and forth never really getting any closer.

We finally found an animal that's Haley sized. A Wallaby.

The cheetah was beautiful. But was also another animal I think would have no problem escaping if it wanted to.

And this is why. It can go from the yellow line to Zach in one second. wow!

Haley is a head butting cutie who sticks out her tongue a lot. She loves to be held (and hates to not be held.) She find her thumb on occasion, and loves to stick her fist in her mouth right before she eats. It's really cute when she raises her eyebrows and purses her lips. 

Her eyes are kind of a slate color now, I hope they'll be brown like her momma. 

I love taking pictures of this little girl. I have taken probably close to 2,000 and I just can't stop.  Tomorrow she'll be a month old, it's hard to imagine that much time has gone by.