Recall: Tiny Love Wind Chimes

A nice bonus to buying stuff on Amazon are the notices that they send out when an item that you purchased is recalled.

Case in point, I received a notice about a Tiny Love recall. It's just as well because despite having bought the toy 3 or 4 years ago, we still have it.

Recall: Tiny Love Wind Chimes

If you'd like a reliable method of keeping up to speed on recalls, consider signing up for email notices from the CPSC. You never know when you'll be affected.

Refunds on Your Baby Einstein Collection

Did you feel cheated when you found out that your collection of Baby Einstein DVDs weren't educational in the least, even though they were marketed as such? Ya, it's payback time. Literally. Per the NY Times, "the Walt Disney Company is now offering refunds for all those “Baby Einstein” videos that did not make children into geniuses."

If you'd like to take advantage, here's the link:

The Baby Einstein™ DVD Upgrade / Moneyback Guarantee

Around the Internet

Are We Farmers Market Failures - Hey, out there! Vote for your favorite farmers' market here. Show how much you love your farmers. And if you live in the Los Angeles area, definitely do this. We're not in the top 20, but we have some spectacular markets! The Santa Monica market on Wednesdays, anyone? Perhaps we're taking for granted how our wonderful weather allows us to have strawberries, tomatoes, avocados, and so many other foods for so many months of the year. But think about how lucky we are, and vote! Now, I'm off to slice up some sweet, juicy watermelon and tuck into some green, yellow, and red tomatoes...mmm...

Starbucks tests new names for stores - A sign of the times: Starbucks is experimenting with avoiding the use of their name in new stores. I never thought I'd see the day...

How to Take Better Baby Photos - Tips on taking better pictures of babies and kids. Some of this is over my head, but I think I still learned something.

Coolio: The Next Julia Child? - LOL...no. Do you even remember Coolio? Well, back when, he got all into food and starred in an online cooking show on My Damn Channel.

Risk of mad cow disease from farmed fish? - There is now concern that eating farmed fish who are fed byproducts rendered from cows might be at risk. So now, who's going to be protecting consumers from this? Because the USDA and the FDA can't handle what they have on their plates so far. And I think we all know how unlikely it is that any corporation or industry will self-regulate.

Heels for Babies? Seriously?!?

In case you're baby is too happy and comfortable, here's a product sure counteract that. Heelarious Shoes...

"Your little one will look fabulous in these soft crib shoes designed to look like high heels! Each pair of heelarious heels is packaged in a darling purse-shaped gift box, complete with a rhinestone closure. Red satin heel with leopard satin lining for infants size 0-6 months."

Blegh!!

Congratulations, MamaGeek!

My blogging buddy, MamaGeek, has done it now. Twins!!

The way I figure it, with twin infants (twinfants?) and an almost three year old boy, I'll probably never hear from her again. But if I do, it should be good.

Wishing her and Sam scads of luck, joy, and sleep.

UV Index Forecast

I was listening to the radio, and someone mentioned that the UV Index forecast for the Los Angeles area will be 10 tomorrow. What does that mean? That means that a fair skinned person who isn't wearing sunscreen can get burned in 4 minutes.

Let me say that again.

FOUR MINUTES!!

It takes me about that much time to get the mail.

Whatever about me, it's the kids I worry about. Sun damage as a child carries through for the rest of your life. Besides which the worst damage is experienced as a child. I've heard before age 6 is crucial, and I've heard before age 20. Either way, best to be careful with delicate skin, especially early on.

MetaBoy is fair, but his skin leans towards mine, so we both tan instead of burning (to a point, of course). Obviously, he still wears sunscreen, but I don't think I'm as paranoid as I could be. MetaGirl, however, is like a sheet of paper. She practically glows in the dark. Her porcelain skin would not tolerate any sun, I'm sure of it. Much like MetaDaddy, I'm sure she will burn, not tan. I always keep her covered, be it in her stroller or under a hat, but she'll only tolerate that for so much longer. Then, the sunscreen fight will begin.

Sigh.

Check out the UV Index Forecast for your area. And keep your sunscreen handy.

Note to self: Buy more sunscreen.

Photostory Friday: Dining Express

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

So, with MetaGirl rolling everywhere, putting everything in her mouth, and generally taking all sorts of liberties with MetaBoy's toys, MetaBoy's trains are often banned from the living room. I feel bad, but those little magnets are like some tasty little treats to her...how do you say no to a tempted infant? You don't. Eliminate the temptation.

Poor MetaBoy :-(

But he found the fix. The trains, tracks, and all related paraphernalia, are now dining room accessories.

Oh bother.

Feeding to the Music

We've started feeding MetaGirl solid food, and much like with MetaBoy, it's taking a while. A while and a lot of patience...laundry...paper towels, all with limited success since she's not interested in consuming anything other than breastmilk. The toughest part is getting her to open her mouth. Sometimes, if I smile, giggle, and dance, she opens her mouth and I sneak in the smallest bit of food.

One favorite? Singing her this song.



Maybe I need to start investing in other boppy beats like...ABBA? Oh, parenthood.

Toddler Lunches Lead to...

I've been on the hunt for preschools for MetaBoy. Ugh!! More on that later.

In my search, I've discovered that I will likely have to send him off to school with a lunch. And while that prospect of getting everyone up and out by 8:30 is daunting, the threat of having to do that while providing him with a nutritious yet yummy lunch is...GASP!!

So, I've been looking around for hints and ideas. And it struck me. I didn't think I'd be doing this so early. I didn't think I'd have to be making him a lunch to have away from me until he was at least 5, possibly later. He's not even 3 yet, and here I am debating pasta salads. We're getting ready to send him off to have a daily meal away from me. I thought I'd have had more time to enjoy all of his meals :-o

Then, it occurred to me that in the not too distant future, I'll be sending MetaGirl off to her little classes with her little lunches.

It's all just to much to bear. We're practically empty nesters!!

At which point MetaDaddy pulled me back into reality by reminding me that we've only really had one hour of quiet away from the two. We couldn't be anything farther from empty nesters.

Touche.

But still.

*Sigh*

The Right Start and Babystyle

A sign of the times?

I occasionally shop at Babystyle, but I certainly can't be accused of keeping them in business since I prefer them during sale season. They have cute, soft baby clothes, baby toys, and a nice selection of maternity clothes.

Back in July of 2008, The Right Start bought Babystyle and Blue Lava Group (owns the Tiny Ride Website). I'm guessing that didn't go well.



That led me to check out Tiny Ride, which is just as grim.



The Right Start's website seems to be up and running. It leads me to wonder what happened. I guess rumors have been floating around for a few days, but what's the deal? I stopped by my local Babystyle, and other than a small statement in the window regarding their having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, you wouldn't know anything was amiss. Haven't checked out my local Right Start, but it's on the list.

Right Start Acquires Two Brands

How Tired Was I?

I woke up to MetaGirl's crying...again. She pretty much didn't nap that afternoon, and I was exhausted from the night before. So I dozed off while nursing.

Since she had eaten, and was obviously disinterested in sleep, I figured I'd check to see if she had a dirty diaper. I didn't want to turn the light on so as to avoid fully waking her. So I rummaged through the drawer looking for the flashlight that I hoped MetaBoy had put back from his game earlier. Nope. Then, I found a highlighter. And I thought "ah hah!" Somehow, I thought this highlighter would help me see in the dark. Eventually, my underlying suspicions won out and I realized that the highlighter was in fact an instrument to highlight text, not to light text. That was a sad realization.

Nap time was over.

Teething: Sophie the Giraffe

MetaGirl has been teething for a bit now, but nothing yet. She's drooling like a faucet and putting everything in her mouth, including toys, fingers, other people's fingers (ew, MetaGirl...ew).

So I walked into a toy store looking for Christmas gifts last month, and the sales associate asked me if I knew about Sophie? I thought "that's odd that she's asking about my friends." Well, she meant Sophie the giraffe. That is, the little rubber giraffe that teething babies love, love, love to chew on. It's soft, easy to handle (that long neck is superb), it squeaks, and it's made of all natural, non-toxic ingredients. MetaBoy loves Sophie, too. A bit too much sometimes. "Please give Sophie back to your sister!"

It's a great gift idea if you know anyone with a teething baby.

Note: I was reminded of Sophie when I saw this ridiculous thing today. Who would buy this?!? And at that price?!? Holy moly.

How Do You Keep Your Hands Warm?

My hands are so cold these days. I'd hardly care, and occasionally it's fun to shock MetaBoy or MetaDaddy our of their skins. But when I have to touch MetaGirl's warm, tender skin, I feel soooooooooooooo guilty!!

Gloves have never worked for me. I've tried warming up my hands with hot water, but it feels wasteful to let the water run until it's warm. Besides, it doesn't work very well. So I've taken to leaving my hair dryer handy so I can quickly give them a blast of warm air. That's the most use this dryer has ever gotten. It's having loads of fun ;-)

How do you keep your hands warm?

Lashing Out

Oh, to be a girl. So many things to worry about. How does my hair look? Are my tights straight? Does this diaper make my tushie look big?


Well, we think she's darling. This outfit certainly helps bring out the precious qualities. That little vest? MetaNana's handiwork. Impressive, let me tell you. It seems I can hardly dress her. Making actual clothes would be highly improbable.

As I've mentioned before, she really resembles MetaBoy. One of the big difference is in the eyes color. MetaDaddy isn't as obsessive about the eye color as I am. Born and raised in Ireland, blue eyes were the everyday norm. He claims to really like my brown eyes. Then again, that's only the smart thing to say, n'est pas?

Anyway, having been born and raised in Los Angeles, blue eyes are much more rare. My mother's green eyes just tauned me...oh to be different. MetaBoy was born with very dark blue eyes which then became a dark brown like mine. MetaGirl's started off a much lighter blue than his, but have slowly gotten darker. I guess blue just isn't in the cards here. Ah well.

Hair is another of the differences they were born expressing. He was born with a perfectly coiffed head of dark hair. His eyebrows and eyelashes were well defined, and they've only become more pronounced over time. We've actually had strangers, specifically women, say "those eyelashes are wasted on him." I know what they're trying to say, even if they're not doing a good job at expressing themselves. A guy just doesn't appreciate the gorgeous lashes he's bestowed with as much as a girl does. I have long lashes, and I spent my childhood shielding myself from adult women ogling them. I've been taught to appreciate them.

But my little MetaGirl has much more fair, fine hair. And up until recently, she looked like she had quite the receding hairline. Precious for a newborn. I'm sure she'll grow out of it before the preciousness wears off ;-)

As for the lashes, when she's old enough to appreciate them, she might very well not appreciate her brother. At two months, you can't really see her eyebrows or lashes. Let's call them dainty. In any event, to prevent any fights, I'm hoping hers get thicker and darker...cuz she won't be using makeup on them for a long, long, long time.

Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat

When MetaGirl was on the way, we decided to reserve MetaBoy's car seat for her and upgrade him to a new one. After much research and help from a little birdie with much experience on the topic, we chose the Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat.

• Britax is a great brand that seems to consistently work on improving the safety of their car seats. We trust the brand.
  
  
• The seat has a five-point harness seat and can be used until he's 80 pounds, or up to 100 pounds as a booster seat.
  
  
• MetaBoy can easily climb into and out of the chair, which was impossible in his old car seat (Britax Decathlon Convertible Car Seat).
  
  
• It's so much easier to buckle than the Decathlon. I wish we had gotten it so much sooner.
  
  
• It has cup holders, though he doesn't use them. They seem to be a bit awkward at his age, though he might appreciate them when he's older.
  
  
• On the down side, I've read some people's comments that the seat is quite hard to install. MetaDaddy installed it and said it wasn't too hard at all. Maybe he just knew the trick, engineer that he is. Me? Well, there's a reason I didn't install it. And there's a reason that when the printer stops working, my reaction is "help, help, help!!"

Overall, we're quite happy with the seat. We currently have both seats in my car, which means that if we're each taking a kid, only MetaDaddy or I can go out. We've decided to get a second seat for MetaBoy to put in MetaDaddy's car. It's important to me because if he and MetaBoy go out, for example, I'd like to know that MetaGirl and I can go out too in the event of an emergency (e.g., we're out of chocolate). Besides, some day she can move into that seat, so it's a preemptive purchase.

On that note, I saw that BabyCenter has a sale on Britax car seats. I was going to buy it there, but at MetaDaddy's suggestion I decided to check Amazon's prices. It turns out that they have the same discount. And while my experience in purchasing and returning items with BabyCenter has been pleasant, as Amazon Prime members, we get free two-day shipping via UPS. BabyCenter ships via FedEx Ground, which is terrible when it comes to home deliveries and customer service (not to mention this). I avoid them at all costs.

If I had the wherewithal, I'd consider buying from Hip Monkey. They have a price match guarantee (they say to email them a link to the lower price and they'll match it), free shipping, no sales tax, and 100% of the net proceeds go to The Kyle David Miller Foundation to help purchase car seats for children in need.

Feeding a Toddler: Subterfuge

It occurred to me today. I've mentioned here that MetaBoy is a good eater. He's always curious to taste new things, especially food he sees us eating. The other day, I heard myself saying "no, you have to finish your pasta first. Then you can have some fish." He definitely didn't get this adventurous streak from me. I can't wait until he learns to cook!

But I digress. The reason for this post is to say that regardless of how well he eats on average, he's not always game for eating a meal. If he's tired, for example, getting him to eat a meal comprised of his favorite foods is nearly impossible. He insists on holding the spoon, but in his tired state, food ends up everywhere except in his mouth. He might start to pick up food with his fingers, or even better, toss said food with his fingers. Once the tossing begins, everything tends to find its way to the floor. Food, his cup, his place mat, his bib, my sanity, my dignity...and so on.

Short of ending the meal, there's little that can remedy such situations. I stumbled upon one thing to help the derailed meal back on track: distractions. I start doing something simple to engage him. Singing a favorite song like "row, row, row your boat" is something he can follow along to and add in a few words here or there (e.g., boat, dream). Or I start asking him questions that he has to think about like "where's your nose?" This tends to help him forget about how awful he feels, he starts to smile, and responds. Once he's smiling, it's almost like he forgets how disinterested he was in eating, so I'll sneak in a spoonful here or there. In a few minutes, dinner's gone.

It's worked well enough to ensure most meals get at least close to finished. I'm not sure of what we'll do once MetaBoy catches on to my little scheme. Then again, I'm hoping I won't have to trick MetaTeenager into eating his dinner by singing "Old McDonald."

How Fast They Grow

Genetics are a funny thing. When people say MetaBoy has my eyes, but otherwise looks just like his dad, I just say "hmmm," or some variation thereof. I have a hard time seeing any of my features on him, and can only see a small few similarities to MetaDaddy. To me, I always figured MetaBoy was his own person, so he doesn't look "just like" anyone.

Then MetaGirl comes along and throws that theory out the window. She looks just like her brother. Sure, there are a few small personality differences (e.g., she startles if you whisper, which is usually hilarious), but visually...wow. The view of her when she's nursing is that much more impressive to me. I keep having flashbacks to the early days of MetaBoy. So weird.

She's growing fast, too...just like her brother. Though, hopefully she won't grow at quite the same pace. She was born at 6.5 pounds, and was 7.8 pounds at her 2 week appointment. Relatively speaking, she's nipping at her brother's heels. He was born weighing 7.11 pounds at 41 weeks. She was born at 39 weeks, and 2 weeks later, she almost matched his birth weight. He then went on to gain 2 pounds by the time he was 2 weeks old. And he doubled his weight by 2 months.

To make a short story long, she's getting big fast. I hope she stays as wee as she is for a bit longer than MetaBoy did.

Oh, and breastfed babies can grow at impressive rates. Always nice to reiterate :-D

Breastfed Babies Don't Get Constipated

Our pediatrician says breastfed babies don't get constipated. Yes, they might not poop as often as babies on formula, but it's because their bodies use breastmilk more efficiently, so there isn't the same amount of waste produced.

This is what he told us when we called frantically two years ago when MetaBoy hadn't pooped in days. Maybe it was two days, but he'd gone from pooping several times a day to nothing. He put our minds at ease, though we were still careful and suspicious.

Later that day, MetaBoy pooped. Oh boy did he poop. He pooped so much it filled and leaked out of his diaper, and ruined his onesie.

What we learned: this is how MetaBoy deals with poop.

The other day, I was nursing MetaGirl. When she finished, she nodded off and I held her for a while. She can be so ridiculously cuddly.

Suddenly, she made a pooping noise. (Note: Newborns poop really loud for such small creatures.) She hadn't pooped for a couple of days, so we knew it was coming. I was wondering whether or not I should wait for some more action (inevitable that there would be more), when I noticed she felt squishier than usual. I could feel the new squishiness through the blanket she was wrapped in. Not good.

I move her a bit to inspect the damage, and suddenly...drip, drip. Yellow, mustard-like goo on me. On my pants. Do you have any idea how few pants I have that fit me right now? I'm in a strange stage where my tummy isn't as big as when I was heavily pregnant, but I can't stand even the mildest pressure on my tummy below my belly button. I have very few bottoms with very adjustable waistlines that are high enough to wear like grandpa pants.

So, MetaDaddy helped me up and we changed her. As expected, there was poop absolutely everywhere. We had to cut her out of her onesie. It was an ugly affair, let me tell you.

A wardrobe change for her and a wardrobe change for me later, we were walking back to the living room to sit for a few minutes to wind down before getting to bed. I started feeding her again because...well, she was suddenly quite hungry. After nursing, she nodded off. Then, her diaper leaked.

Ya, she peed on me.

These are not the fun days of nursing.

Milk Supply Tip

I swear, it's become so hard to find time to post these days. You'd think I have some weird new something in my life consuming all of my mental energy.

But what?

Oh, right.

So, a lactation consultant gave me some great advice that I could really have used the first time when I was breastfeeding MetaBoy. I had so much milk, I was in severe pain every 2-3 hours due to engorgement, which eventually led to a plugged duct, mastitis, and an abscess. Ugly business, folks.

So, for those out there facing breastfeeding challenges, here's what I learned.

Increase your milk supply - start nursing on one side for a couple of minutes, then on the other side for a couple of minutes, and continue switching off. Feed frequently, even if it means waking the baby every couple of hours.

Reduce milk supply - start nursing on one side for a couple of minutes, then finish nursing on the other.

Spontaneous Sleep

Poor MetaDaddy was falling asleep on the sofa. You know how it goes when you're tired and had a long day. But falling asleep on the sofa will just leave you with a sore neck, and hardly more rested.

But now, I have the perfect solution. And she comes in a wee little onesie.

No worries, folks. MetaDaddy's cured from falling asleep on the sofa.

May all your days be as fortunate :-)

xoxo,
Bleary-eyed MetaMommy