'til my head falls off

speaking of babywearing...

If you're in the market for a baby carrier, think about one of these:
Help Us Give Slings (H.U.G.S.)

A) they're really pretty
B) they're for a good cause

posted by steph at Friday, May 30, 2008 | 0 comment(s)

different

It's true, every baby is different. I knew this.
But I kinda thought after Noel we'd get your average, typical type baby, not little miss overachiever here. Last week, at 10.5 weeks, she rolled over from tummy to back twice in a row. I'm quite sure next week will bring walking and talking, and the week following that she'll be enrolled at Yale.
Jeez.

And on another note, I'm toying with the idea of going to the Boston conference. My options are looking like this: take Darrah with me, alone, and leave Noel with gramma to help daddy at home; or take gramma with me, along with both kiddos.
So, first of all, who's going to this shindig, and secondly, are you bringing your sprouts?
Just curious.

posted by steph at Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | 1 comment(s)

parenting tips from strangers

It's amazing to me what people will say. While we were on vacation, we got lots of comments. Mostly the remarks were sunburn related- "Oh, that baby needs sunscreen!", "Your baby's legs are burning!", "That baby needs a hat!".
I couldn't really respond to them- because they'd keep on walking after they'd toss out the helpful advice (rather than offer to help, if they thought it was so important), here's what I'd say.
1) Babies younger than 6 months really shouldn't have topical sunscreen, but we have her in this baby carrier made out of a sun protective fabric. Thanks, though.

2) No, they aren't. And by the way, did you not notice that we have this gigantor aftermarket sunshade attachment for the stroller? And we have SPF gazillion on his actual body, not that you'd know that. And also, we are from Florida, where we know a lot about sunshine and sunscreen and skin cancer and whatnot. Seriously, they preach this stuff in elementary school.

3) She has a hat, thanks. Just not wearing it right this very minute.


The really fun advice, though, related to the mei tai that I carried Darrah in. There was the "You're suffocating your baby!" tossed at me, and of course the person who said it didn't even break stride. Seriously, if you were concerned about my child's well being, wouldn't you DO something?
And the "Are you sure she's happy in there?" Heh. We'd know if she wasn't happy, trust me.

And lots of "Y'all need to do something about her ears" (because it was a music festival with 6 really loud stages). Yeah, got it covered. The first day, we forgot her earplugs, so we kept her as far away from speakers as we could, and if there was a way to put a structure in between us and a stage/ speaker tower, we did. After that, though, we used her little earpluggers, and she was fine. Promise.

And then there was the Down syndrome related stuff. Like the grandma to a little girl with Down syndrome who used the actual words 'touch of Down's'. What?
Oh, and the guy in line to buy boudin balls? Who said "Hey, they must've let you out of the hospital just in time". Should've seen his face when I said, "Oh, no, she's 9 weeks old. But I had her at home, anyway". So there, nosy guy.

Oh, and the looks I got when I was nursing her and drinking a beer at the same time... yowza.


Clearly the husband and I are the worst parents ever. Or, as we noticed, people were just a lot more rude this year.
And now I'm going to try to decide if I really want to brave an Obama rally with these two. Yeah, I'll bring the earplugs.

posted by steph at Wednesday, May 21, 2008 | 4 comment(s)

Very Bad Blogger, Indeed

So, I am very much not blogging lately, because:
A) Well, we were out of town for a week. On JazzFest vacation, so of course it was fantastic. One day soon perhaps I'll tell of all the helpful parenting advice we got from strangers. Heh. I love people...

B) our air conditioner is giving us a mild headache. The actual a/c? Working, but not on, due to the MAJOR dripping from the air handler. That lives in the attic. Above the kids' room. I found water pouring off the chain thingie that hangs off the ceiling fan- that was special. Wet ceiling, wet carpet, no air. It's great to live in Florida. Also, have I mentioned the mold possibility? Today we'll be pulling out wet insulation to see how damaged the rafters are. By 'we', I mean, not me.

C) Have I mentioned the fact that I have TWO kids? Good gravy, what on earth were we thinking? Thankfully they're both sleeping right now.

posted by steph at Monday, May 12, 2008 | 1 comment(s)