Driveway Painting!

I borrowed this idea from my friend Lindsey at Kindred Spirit Mommy. My kids loved it! They had fun mixing the colors and since they love painting but seem to consider themselves too grown up for sidewalk chalk, this was perfect. I loved that it was super easy, because I'm not crafty at all.

To make this easy sidewalk/driveway paint, just mix equal parts cornstarch and water. The consistency will be watery. You don't want it too goopy. Then, add food coloring to make the colors you want. We used 3 drops per section of our muffin tin.

Ignore the messy muffin tin. I'm called Shaky Mommy for a reason. It's really a wonder I got this out of the house without spilling it! LOL. Aren't the colors pretty?

It was so bright outside this morning that the paintings look pretty washed out in the pictures. But they really turned out very colorful! Our little neighbor friend saw them painting, ran home and grabbed a paintbrush, and came back to help them paint!

Jaxon's Peach

I was eating a peach & baby boy was very excited to try it...

Teaching 3 month olds to "self-soothe"?

So my in-laws were over here the other day. While they were here, my mother-in-law was sharing some things about her job. She works at The Children's Hospital. She had to do some observations at their Child Development Center. She went to observe in a class of 6-9 month olds and what she told me she saw really disturbed me.

While she was there, a baby started to cry. My mother-in-law instinctively moved to pick the baby up and was told not to. No one else picked the baby up either. My MIL was told that they teach the babies to self-soothe and that every baby in there was capable of soothing himself by age 6 months. They start working with the babies on "self-soothing" at around 3 months.

Now in this class, there are 7 babies, but there are 4 workers, so it's definitely possible for them to hold the babies during the day. That's a really good teacher/baby ratio. The teachers farther explained to my MIL that they hold every baby while they feed them and change them. Other than that, nothing. They sit on the floor with the babies and talk to them or hand them toys, but they don't touch them or hold them. It sounded like the cry it out method some people use to help their babies learn to get to sleep at night. I asked my MIL "So it's like cry it out?" and she said yes. But we're not talking nap time or bedtime, we are talking cry it out all day long!

I know at daycare that babies can't be picked up every single time they cry because the workers have other babies to take care of. But its odd to me that they never pick them up except for feeding and changing. Sometimes a baby just wants to be held, right? They don't even take the babies from his or her mother at drop off time.The mother has to put the baby on the floor and then leave. It sounds so awful!

My first two kids were in daycare when they were babies and the teacher/baby ratio was 1:4. And yet, my babies were held a lot. I never felt like they were neglected and they were never left to "self soothe." At our daycare, if a baby needed more attention than the teachers could give because she was busy dealing with the other babies, the director or assistant director would take the baby to their office for some one on one time.

Now that I'm not working, I pick Jaxon up and hold him all the time. If he cries, I come to him as soon as possible. Sometimes he has to cry while I'm dealing with the other kids or while I'm in the shower. But mostly I try to hold him if he wants it. If I need my hands free while he wants to be held, I wear him. I don't think you can spoil a little baby, and I see nothing wrong with picking him up when he is upset. I feel that if I don't pick up when he cries, he will come to think his cries don't mean anything and feel I'm unresponsive to his needs.

Hearing this story really made me sad. I felt bad for those babies. The worst part of this for me is that this daycare is recognized with some of special accreditation for being so advanced and wonderful. They There are probably moms who leave their babies there because it's supposed to be such a great place but then their poor babies are not being held and loved on during the day.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I'm weird to want to pick my baby up and respond to his cries. What do you think about this practice?



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Jaxon's First Airplane Ride

So this past weekend my husband wanted to attend a conference in New Orleans. Since my older kids were with their dad for their summer visitation, Jaxon & I decided to tag along with Jason to New Orleans. It's about a 6 1/2 hour drive from our house. We drove down on Thursday afternoon. We were almost to New Orleans when my ex decided to cause trouble and said he wasn't going to keep the kids for the weekend. Since I didn't want Jason to miss the conference he had been so excited about, we decided that I would fly home with Jaxon and Jason would drive back Saturday afternoon when the conference was over.


We had only brought one suitcase and the hanging wet bag full of clean diapers. I left the suitcase with Jason and just brought diapers and some of Jaxon's things home with me. So this was my checked baggage, lol.

There was only one flight I could take and get home in time to get the kids, so I ended up being in New Orleans for only 12 hours. Thankfully, my husband made sure I got to visit the place that was the top of my list: Cafe Du Monde. I had been to New Orleans when I was a teenager, traveling with a family to help with their children and babysit for them so they could have some couple time. That was more than 14 years ago but I still remember how amazing the beignets we ate while we were there were. So I really wanted to visit Cafe Du Monde again and I was glad we had time on the way to the airport to stop.

Jaxon and me at Cafe Du Monde

After eating beignets, it was time for the airport. I hated leaving my husband behind. We try not to spend the night away from each other, so it was hard for to me to say goodbye. I didn't have a stroller, so after I left Jason, it was just me with Jaxon in the sling, carrying my laptop bag, diaper bag, and the car seat. I am always grateful for the help fellow travelers offer while going through the airport security line. TSA agents offer no help, and since they make you take the baby out of the sling and also take the sling off, it makes it really hard to get your diaper bag and car seat, on the belt to go through the xray machine. But we made it, and after that, we just had to wait until it was time for our flight.

Chilling on his blanket at the airport

We were very lucky and the flight was not full. So I not only got to bring Jaxon's car seat onboard for him to have a seat, I also had the row to myself, which was very nice when it was time to nurse!

He loves his Sophie!

Jaxon was great during the plane ride! He nursed during takeoff and landing and played with me the rest of the time (strapped into his car seat - the pic above was taken before took off). He didn't sleep until we were landing, but I was really proud of how wonderful he did during the flight. He was so good and never cried or anything! Anyway, what started out as a negative experience turned out to be a little fun mommy/baby flight! 

My Fluff Stash!

I sort of envy people who love a particular brand of diaper so much that they fill their entire stash with it. Me? I love all kinds of diapers and my favorites seem to change from day to day. Prefolds & flats with various covers, AIO's, and even pockets, which I thought I'd hate, but which now make up a big part of my stash! I like trying new diapers, and I love having various colors, styles, and prints. I have noticed that, like so many other things in my life, I tend to have expensive taste! My preferences tend to lean towards Applecheeks, Itti Bitti, Rumparooz, and BumGenius, which are all of the higher end of the price range. 


I have a lot of different diapers of all types and styles. This is mostly due to the fact that I have won a lot of different diapers, including the diaper that started my obsession it all - the Gro-Via!


Here is a picture of my stash. I wish I had a better system for organizing, but this works for now. 

Everything in bold was free with purchase or was something I won!
Left stack, from bottom: Red Kawaii, Dreamsicle Perfect Size Fuzzibunz, Yellow Kawaii, Ribbit BumGenius, Lagoon Blue Kissaluvs Marvels AIO, Light blue Kawaii, Saturn Blue Tiny Tush
Second stack from left: BumGenius Artist Series pockets: 2 Eiffel Tower, 2 Retail Therapy, 1 Jet Setter, BumGenius Artist Series Elemental AIO in Jet Setter, Itti Bitti Bitti Tutto in Jade and in Silver. 
Second stack from right: GoGreen pocket diapers (bottom 3), Applecheeks in dark chocolate & St. Lucia, Thirsties duo wrap in Blackbird and Cool Stripes.
Far right: Rumparooz: Whale Tale, 2 Gumballs, Root Beer, and Spring.


Bottom: Cow Patties minky diaper, Blueberry minky in Blue Pop and Blue on Chocolate, Gro-Via in Sunset and Seaside, Bummis Super Brite wrap in blue. I also have a Sprout Change diaper in CherryBerry, 4 Lil' Joeys in Gumball and Root Beer (that obviously no longer fit), and 4 Econobum covers. 
On the bottom, the left hand basket holds our 12 Bummis organic prefolds in the infant size. The right hand basket holds our extra inserts, flour sack towels and 12 Osocozy flats.  


On top of the changing table, I keep a peri bottle filled with plain water, an old Huggies wipe box filled with our Bummas wipes (wet using Honey Buns drops). I also keep my dry Itti Bitti Ultimate wipes, my Thirsties Fab wipes and some wipes I got from The Little Bee there. I usually wet them as needed using water from the peri bottle. 


Our wet bags aren't shown, but I have a large hanging Planet Wise wet/dry bag and a small Planet Wise wet/dry bag. 


I know there are still so many brands out there I haven't yet tried. What should I try out next?


Now, I want to see your stash! Write a post about your stash and leave your link below or just respond and tell me what you have and what I need!

Jaxon is 4 months old!

Jaxon is 4 months old today! He is absolutely adorable and is a perfect baby. So glad we have him! I cannot believe he's been here for 4 months! Where does the time go? We stopped using the bassinet on his stroller this week and moved him to the actual seat. He loved it! I was so sad! He just looks so big!

He likes nursing, being kissed by mommy and daddy, being outside, the stroller, bath time, and listening to the fountains at the pool.

At the pool. He was not liking my sunglasses.

He doesn't like the car. He doesn't care for being passed around at church. He doesn't like it when I rub lotion all over him after his bath, or any other time really. He just doesn't like to be rubbed like that. Sometimes he doesn't like nursing on the right side. I have no idea why but he will make all kinds of mad noises and sometimes he just pulls off and then looks up at me and cries. It's so sad. It's not all the time but it is only on the right side. Maybe the milk comes out faster on that side or something? I'm not sure. Any ideas?

He is outgrowing clothes constantly! He weighs a little more than 14 lbs, according to our scales here. His 4 month checkup is on Monday, so I'll get an official number then. His body is very long, but his legs are still pretty short. He can still wear the pants from his newborn outfits but he is wearing 6-9 month sized onesies and shirts.

He loves bath time! 

He is eating often during the day. It is hot here and I think the heat makes him want to drink more. He is only pooping about once every 5-6 days. It freaks us out a little, but the doctor told me at his 2 month checkup that this could happen as he learns to process breast milk more efficiently. It means fewer dirty diapers to change, but it is weird to us.


We have not introduced solids yet. However we have had a lot of great organic produce lately and we let him gum a piece of cantaloupe, a peach, and a plum. He LOVED them all. It seemed like the peach was his favorite. I don't think he's ready for solids though because when he did get a tiny piece of peach he spit it right out. I'd love to hold off on the actual introduction of baby cereal and such til about 6 months...or longer. Some of the latest research I read shows that delaying solids til 6 months can reduce the likelihood of allergies. Since we have a family history of food allergies I want to do everything I can to prevent him from dealing with that. I have also seen a lot of articles lately stating that you don't have to start with rice cereal and can do fruits, veggies, or even meats first. So I'm looking for more information. When did you introduce solids? What food did you introduce first? How did it go?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:New Orleans, LA