Car seat

Baby is going to outgrow his bucket seat very soon so I just ordered a convertible car seat from amazon... shown below:

I think it's a good deal.. it's like the #2 bestselling convertible carseat, after graco nautilus. I didn't check it out in store as I was planning to do but I'm not sure where it's available (babiesrus only sells it online).. so I just decided to trust the reviews. I hope it will fit in our ford fusion.

Vacation!

We are preparing for our first out-of-the-country (not counting US) vacation. This is also our first time to fly with a baby. We are going to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. Part of the island is under Netherlands Antilles (where we're staying) and part of the island is under France.

We were originally looking at itravel2000.com for booking our vacation. I think their website is the best in terms of interface and search options. We also tried calling their number, the agent I talked to was okay, not extra helpful but knowledgeable enough. We've decided to go to the Dominican Republic since Cuba (visa issues) and Mexico (H1N1) were out of our choices. Last minute, we talked to the pedia and found out that baby needed to take anti-malaria medication for DR. I got scared so we decided to look at a vacation in Turks and Caicos. We went to a Flight Centre shop and the agent suggested St. Maarten, which was a bit cheaper than TC. We researched online and it seemed like a nice place... so our vacation, after a month of indecisiveness is finally booked!

Now the planning starts.. We need to buy some stuff for baby --> sunscreen, sandals, maybe a hat, diapers for swimming, umbrella stroller, a travel highchair, summer clothes.... and what will I do with his potty training? Lately, he has been regressing. The days that he doesn't poop in his potty, he poops every 3 hours in small amounts. Not good. Maybe I can make him poop in the real toilet? Anyway, what else do we need for the trip and the beach??

I'm hoping baby food isn't too expensive on the island (I'm still waiting to hear back from the resort on this) so I don't have to bring 25 jars of baby food.

Moms out there: any tips and suggestions for our travel?

Movies for Mommies

Yesterday, hubby and I tried watching a movie in a Movies for Mommies theatre. Iron Man 2 was showing so it was good motivation to go. We went to the one at Promenade Mall -- Mondays at 1pm is the schedule.

So we got there, we bought our tickets at their booth right outside the theatre, they gave us a lot of fliers/coupons (which I haven't really browsed through yet). I also signed up for the mailing list and a raffle for mommy friendly shoes. The brand is NAOT I think.. (I used the flier earlier to wrap baby's poopy diaper so I won't be able to read it anymore LOL) They also gave us a jar of baby food.

When we got inside, it's just a normal theatre but there's a change table at the back with wipes and diapers. The strollers are parked in front. There were about 7 babies with moms.. about 3 dads with the moms (including my hubby), and a grandma. Before the movie, they called my name because I won a baby book! (someone else won the shoes)

Good thing there was a change table because about 30 minutes into the movie, baby pooped. The lights were dimmed but not completely out so it was okay. The sound was also softer than in a normal theatre so baby was able to sleep the last 30 minutes.

It was a good experience, I highly recommend it! :)

Sitting up

I've been really delinquent in updating this blog lately.. we're in vacation mode since hubby is between work and school right now.

Anyway, so I left baby in crib this afternoon.. I placed him on his back and when I looked again after a couple of minutes, he was sitting up! This is the first time he has ever sat up by himself (without me putting him in that position). yey! He did it again several times after.

Quick Update!

So for about a week now, baby hasn't needed a bottle in the middle of the night. He still wakes up at around 2-3am but we just put his pacifier and he goes back to sleep. (now the pacifier is another thing I'm afraid to get out of his system, but I eventually have to do it, i'm way past my 6 month deadline)

In other news, we bought our first family car. We've been using my in-laws spare car for the past year but we finally decided to take the plunge and buy our own car. It's the 2010 Ford Fusion in sterling grey:

It's handsome as hell :)

New Toys!

I bought baby 2 new toys today. I haven't let him use it yet, maybe tomorrow.. but here they are.. (I'm using the amazon ad style thing because I am too lazy to upload pics)

He has a lot of toys but none that are as educationally interactive as these ones. Well, it's really because these toys are rated 6 months + and he turned 6 months just a few weeks ago. I was reading my 'your baby at ___ age' email and these are the toys they recommend for this age. We'll see how it goes.

We're almost crawling!

/*edit/ apparently, according to my doctor parents, this is already considered crawling -- commando crawling, i think it's called. so yey! we're crawling!!

My Review of Jenny 3-in-1 Convertible Crib with Toddler Rail in Cappuccino

Originally submitted at All Childrens Furniture

Features:

• 3-in-1 Convertible Crib
• Color: Cappuccino
• JPMA Certified
• Solid wood material
• Non drop side construction
• Converts easily to a toddler or day bed
• Toddler conversion rail included
• Complete with all tools for easy assembly
• It takes a standard size crib mattress, sold separately
• New five position mattress support has several different height options

Great Crib for the Price

By May from Toronto, ON on 4/9/2010

4out of 5

Pros: Sturdy, Beautiful Craftsmanship, Easy to Assemble
Best Uses: Toddlers, Newborn, Infants
Describe Yourself: First Time Parent

For the price, it is a pretty good crib. I was worried about stability with these more affordable cribs but it is stable enough. This crib (with its basic design) is perfect for our small space. It's a great color too. My only problem is that the mattress is not a snug fit to the crib but I'm not sure if it's the mattress or the crib that's at fault.

(legalese)

----------------
(below is not part of the official review for the crib)

I know that the fit of the mattress is like the first thing I should check.. we bought our mattress at walmart and we chose the most expensive there (but it's still way cheap compared to others). I'm not happy at all about the mattress. The brand is Simmons Maxipedic Extra Firm Support. Apparently, Maxipedic is their cheap line and it really feels and looks like a cheap mattress. When you test the firmness of the mattress at the edges, it's okay (that's why we bought it).. but when you try putting a weight down the middle of the mattress, it goes way down that I'm wondering if they know the meaning of extra firm. I would have returned it but my hubby already broke down the huge mattress box into tiny pieces that would fit our condo trash chute. Anyway, all this rant is supposed to explain why I'm more inclined to think that the wrong fit is because of the mattress and not the crib.

Potty Training

Yesterday morning was the first time I tried putting baby on the potty chair for real. (I put him there when I got the potty chair but that doesn't count because he cried and didn't like it) Anyway, he pooped! I was so surprised that he did it the first time. This morning I tried it again. I make the uh-uh pushing sound every time he poops so that's his signal.. I didn't see him make a poop face so after like 5 minutes, I just gave up and lifted him up... what do you know, there was poop! So his second try was a success too!

My problem now is, he has been pooping during the rest of the day too. Maybe I didn't put him in the potty long enough? Before he would poop only once a day but now, I have like 2 more diapers with poop. Hmm..

Kirkland vs Huggies

So I went to Costco today to buy baby's diapers. Kirkland diapers were supposedly on sale so I didn't wanna miss the opportunity. Well, it turns out I needed to print the $5 off coupon, I assumed that it was an automatic sale. Darn. We had less than half a jumbo pack left of diapers so I had no choice but to go ahead and buy a box.

I got a Kirkland box thinking it was cheaper than Huggies. I was WRONG! It was a good thing I decided to double check the prices. For size 1-2, Kirkland is cheaper but with bigger sizes, Huggies is actually cheaper! It was easy to be misled because for size 3, Costco lists the per diaper price for Huggies but not for Kirkland. I had to bring out my trusty cellphone calculator to compute the per piece price.. 19 cents vs 20 cents per piece. So store brand does not mean cheaper. Hmph.

So for those who need the printable coupon, it's here. It's valid from April 1-7, 2010. $5 off Kirkland Signature Diapers, All sizes.

Finally Bought a Crib

We got our tax refund yesterday so we decided to just go ahead and buy the crib already.  Baby is already 6 months and we've waited long enough. The good thing about this crib is that it comes with a toddler rail so there's no added expense to convert it to a toddler bed, and it can be used for a few more years. This is the crib we got:

It's one of the most basic cribs out there but for our space, basic is best. I bought it online so I haven't seen it in person. Plus, I couldn't find any reviews online.. But I'm trusting the website when they say that it is of very good quality. They have this rating system and other cribs in this price range are 2 levels of quality below this crib so I think it's a really good deal. I should probably write a review of this crib when I get it to help other online buyers who are more cautious than me. Just something that irked me though-- they gave me a total of $176.86 before checking out (it's the crib price + international fees) but after I checked out, they billed me an additional $8.84 for tax. I thought the taxes were all included in international fees.. If they bill me added tax when it gets here, I would be really pissed off. I think they charged GST but not PST.

I bought a lot of baby's stuff online: his pack n play (a good purchase but not a good deal), travel system (a really bad purchase but we were on a budget), sheets, accessories, toys... you get the idea. His pack n play was a good purchase because it's a really good product.. the price however sucked because I bought it from toysrus.ca (I chose but my sisters paid). Granted, it was a good price in Canada but I always compare prices to the US so I never get a good deal when buying here. It's actually more expensive than the crib. The travel system that I bought sucked bigtime. I bought it from costco (I chose, godmother paid) because it was the cheapest here. What do you know, our stroller got recalled.. it's a cheap recall too because they just sent us something to cover the dangerous part. Actually, as a new mom, I didn't know what features to look for in a travel system so even if I wasn't buying online, I still wouldn't know what to get.. I usually go for the cheapest but I found that it's not a good strategy. The differences actually are worth the price, I learned now.. like our carseat is probably the cheapest Graco carseat, it's safe and all but an important feature is missing: front adjustment of the belt. It's a lot of hassle (esp during winter when baby's clothes are of different thickness so I have to adjust the belt everytime)..

So anyway, let's see how the crib is when it arrives.. now I have to buy other stuff: a mattress, some sheets, a sheet protector would be nice too since baby leaks a lot, a mattress protector just in case the sheet protector didn't catch all the leaks.. oh no... more spending.

Sleeping Through the Night

The standard definition of sleeping through the night is if babies sleep for at least 5 hours straight. Baby has been doing that for a couple months already. However, my definition of sleeping through the night is when baby wakes up when I'm ready to. =D So he's not quite there yet but last night was a definite step towards that goal. Ever since we fed baby solids, he has been sleeping longer and longer. A lot of people say that eating solids doesn't have anything to do with babies sleeping through the night but I don't agree (for my baby anyway). I think they only say that so you don't start with solids early.

Anyway, baby slept from 8pm to 4:30am! (I gave him a bottle and he went back to sleep until 7am) If he was in a different room, I would not even have known because he didn't cry. He was just lying in his bed, awake, sort of moving around. I wake up at the tiniest noise so I woke up but I didn't go to him yet, he didn't seem to need me after all. After a couple minutes, I felt thirsty so I stood up to get water. That's when he knew someone was there so he gave a small cry. I checked up on him and saw that the whole left side of his clothes is wet (+ the sheets). This has been happening for quite a while now ever since he slept for longer periods of time. I actually bought Huggies overnights diapers (but they're still in the states) so I hope those work. I tried using a size larger at night but that doesn't work.

When baby was a newborn and woke every 3-4 hours, I was sleepy and tired every single day. A lot of people say it gets better during the baby's 3rd month. So that's what kept me going, the thought that he will turn 3 months soon. Also, I was getting used to the rhythm of waking up, feeding, then easily going back to sleep. He was really getting better sleepwise before 3 months, he can sleep 5 hours straight then wake up 2-3 hours after, then every hour until I finally decide to get us both out of bed. Three months came, we went on a week-long vacation to the states and then started sleeping hell. He woke up every 2-4 hours. Sometimes he would wake up at 3am and wouldn't go back to sleep until 5am. I was cranky and irritable every single day due to sleep deprivation. I wasn't good company at all. I started to read a sleep help book. The pedia even suggested to just let him cry it out. I just couldn't do it.

When he was 5-months old, we went on another vacation to the states. This time it was for 2 weeks. Since we were in the country and malls were like 1 hr away, I had no choice but to stay at home. This was actually a good thing. I was able to monitor baby and developed a schedule for him. We also became consistent with a nighttime routine: bath, book, bottle. When we came home from the states, he didn't relapse. He was still easy to put down for the night. By 8pm, he was asleep compared to 10-11pm before. Hubby and I were able to spend some quality time together - have dinner together, watch tv, etc. Baby would still wake up around 12-1am then again at 4-6am. But it was definitely better. When we started him on solids (at the 6-month mark), that was when things really began to look up. Now there's the new problem of leaking. But that's probably a better problem than sleep deprivation. The fact that baby's getting enough sleep is also good to know. He naps a lot better too: 1-2 hours twice a day and another shorter nap.

The past 2 days, I was even able to put him down for a nap without rocking him to sleep. He's definitely growing up. Some people choose to let a baby cry it out.. I was going to do it too because I was afraid if I didn't do it, baby would never learn to sleep on his own. But I learned baby has his own time. The times we tried letting him cry out (I only lasted 20 minutes of intermittent crying, when he started to cry like he was being abandoned, I gave up), I couldn't take it.. he probably wasn't ready yet. So I abandoned that method (for now I said).. I was thinking of trying it out again once he was older and he had his own room (which meant we had to move first hehe). But I guess I don't have to do that anymore (Thank God!). I only considered it because we weren't a happy family anymore because of all the sleep deprivation -- Dr. Weissbluth said a well-rested family is the ultimate goal and I agree with that. If I'm sleep deprived, I can't be a good mommy. But now, I'm getting enough rest, I don't even need a daytime nap.

6 months is definitely a good age =)

**Disclaimer to people who want to have a baby, every baby is different. My baby seems to be really difficult sleepwise but a lot of other babies sleep easily :)

**Before writing this blog entry, I put baby down for his nap. By the end of the post, he was asleep.

An update on solids

So far, baby has tried:
- rice cereal
- barley cereal
- oatmeal cereal
- peas

He seems to really like oatmeal cereal among the cereals. Next on the menu: green beans. carrots, sweet potato, apple sauce, pears, bananas. Then we move on to stage 2 meals! :)

"My Family" Book

A family friend gave me a great idea for baby: make my own book with pictures of the family, one person per page with label. I got a cheap 4x6 photo album from the dollar store (cost me $2 actually). Right now, I have 4 pages:
1. Title page with our family picture with the label "My Family"
2. Baby with his name
3. My picture labeled Mommy
4. Hubby's picture labeled Daddy

It's good because I can also put pictures of my parents with labels: Lolo (grandfather) and Lola (grandmother). That way, he will still get to know my parent's faces and won't be afraid of them when he meets them next (my parents live in the Philippines).

I'm just gathering some pictures of hubby's and my siblings and parents so I can add pages to the book.

Other great suggestions by this friend:
1. Buy glow-in-the-dark stars and spell out baby's name in the ceiling on top of his crib. I'm not sure I'll do this because we plan on selling our house in the next 2 years or so.
2. Make a cd (or I guess mp3) recording of mommy and daddy singing nursery rhymes so that's what he can listen to and the voices sound familiar.
3.Once baby starts crawling, put letters all over the house starting with A. Also put labels of things around the house (i.e. door, table, etc)

Free Gift from Rogers

I got a text to my mobile about a free gift from Rogers. I checked out the website and it seems to be valid, no purchase necessary. So I chose an envelope and got the consolation prize. I was given a choice among the following: free mp3 download, free magazine subscription, free mobile device skin, and some other stuff I don't remember. I chose to get the magazine Chatelaine (was choosing between that and Today's Parent but I figured I deal with parenting everyday, why not treat myself to a me-magazine). I've never seen an issue of Chatelaine so I'm curious about it.. I wonder how good Canadian magazines are.

Finally, I get something from being an overbilled Rogers customer.. We use Rogers for all our stuff: wireless, home phone, cable, and internet. We got free 3 months of service with the condo and we were supposed to cancel (and change to a smaller and cheaper provider) but we were salestalked into keeping our services for a lower rate :)

Crawling

So baby's trying his best to crawl now. Before, he would sort of grab tight on the sheet (in his crib) and pull himself forward. Earlier though, I saw him somewhat on all fours.. somewhat.. so he's getting there. Our condo has hardwood floors and I've been looking for the best foam mat so that he can play in the living room. Most of the ABC and 123 mats are rated 2 years and up but I saw this: Tadpoles 16 Piece Playmat Set. I like the blue/brown color.. I'll most probably buy it :)

An update on pooping + Potty Training

So today, baby didn't cry while pooping. He pooped twice.. first poop was pasty like the other days and the second poop was normal breastmilk poop. I'm thinking the prune juice that he drank yesterday actually worked for today. Plus, as soon as I saw he was trying to poop, I laid him down and bicycled his legs.. he was beginning to cry but when I did that, he thought it was funny or something and gave me smiles all the way.

Remember yesterday after drinking prune juice, he immediately pooped? After he pooped, I tried giving him more prune juice but he wouldn't take any because I think he thought it was the cause of his hard 'labor' LOL. Anyway.. I thought he wouldn't want to take prune juice ever again, but today he actually drank some more. Thank God for limited baby memories :) It's funny everytime he takes a sip of juice, he makes this face.. so cute. Today, I actually helped him finish his juice (I make a lot more than he is able to drink because I want the liquid to reach the top of the cup for easy drinking). After he takes a sip, I take off the cover and pour the juice on my mouth (without touching the cup).. What do you know, I make the same face as he does.. it's really sour even when diluted. We had fun taking turns drinking and watching each other's reaction as we take a sip.

I'm looking for a potty chair now. Checking out Amazon, I'm thinking of buying the top rated potty chair: BABYBJÖRN Potty Chair. The problem is, I don't want to clean the thing so I'm looking for something with a liner.. maybe something like this: Precious Ones 4-in-1 Potty? But it doesn't look comfy and it can get pretty expensive.. I might just have to suck it up and clean the poop... OR buy a potty seat: BABYBJÖRN Toilet Trainer? I know baby's only 6 months but my mom told me to buy one and start training him already. I'm not even sure if these seats on the market will be okay for such a young baby.

Some thoughts on this potty training thing... I used to think it was so weird how my mom and dad say I should start potty training baby right away. Like what they do when they help me out is when they think baby is about to go, they would open his diaper and hold up his legs. I thought it was okay for them to do this with us because we were girls. When I'm changing baby, I do it as fast as I can to not get sprayed.. So anyway, I thought that was such a weird thing, especially now that my mom is telling me to buy a potty seat. What I usually see online is that potty training is done at around age 2. So I've been doing some research lately on potty seats when I came across this article on infant potty training. Turns out, late potty training is a thing of the west and it's pretty common in other parts of the globe to do potty training early on. So as soon as I am able to buy a potty training seat (which will be in the next month or so because my sister's visiting from the US), I will start training baby to do number 2 in the seat. The plan is to race him into the seat once I see that he wants to poop. Maybe to start I can do it with diapers on? Goodluck to me.

/*edit*/ I found the potty seat I'm gonna buy!! It's perfect for a small baby.. See below:

Rice Cereal

So for 2 days now, I've been giving baby rice cereal at around 9am. I give it to him after he's had a bit of milk to drink. I don't think he has any allergic reactions to it, but he has trouble pooping. He cries the whole time he's pooping. The poop is not that hard, it's just probably more solid than he's used to (he pooped the 2 days he had cereal). Today, I gave him a bit of diluted prune juice just to help things along. Right after he had the juice, he pooped! BUT he still cried. I'm gonna check with his pedia if this is normal. It doesn't look like the poops are super hard but the fact that he's crying so much is worrying me.

It shouldn't be funny but it actually looks like he's giving birth. I'm at the foot end trying to raise his legs and cleaning the poop as a long portion comes out (sorry if TMI) and daddy is at the other end comforting him. And you can really see if he's pushing from his face, cry, and the view from my end. I hope everything gets better for him.

Recipe: Tomato Cream Sauce with Tuna

3 cloves garlic crushed
1 smll onion chopped
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
0.5 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pc chicken bouillion cube (I used 1 tsp chicken bouillion powder instead)
2 cans tuna
1 can Nestle cream (I used fresh cream instead)
1 cup water

Sauté garlic and onion. 
Add tomato sauce, water, sugar, and chicken cube. 
Stir continuously until slightly thickened. 
Add tuna, cream, salt and pepper to taste.


Goes well with 1 small box of spaghetti.
Makes 5 servings.

I made this recipe for hubby's birthday dinner (on left in picture). I doubled the amounts for everything because I was serving 9 people, there were still a lot of leftovers but it's so yummy, I didn't mind eating it the next day too.

Solids!

Okay... I said I'd wait until after his 6-month appointment but I'm just so excited. I bought Heinz Rice Cereal just now and I am giving baby his first taste of solids tomorrow! He's just been playing around with his tongue so much and making chewing actions lately; he'd also look at us intently while we eat so I think he's ready for it. PLUS, I'm meeting with his pedia next week so I can discuss problems if they arise. On a side note, I also bought prune juice just in case he gets constipated.

In other news, I am now an Avon lady. I thought I can make some extra money while taking care of baby :) I'll probably make a blogspot dedicated to Avon e-brochures so watch out for that!

Poop and Stuff

Yesterday, I had to give baby a suppository. He hasn't pooped in 4 days and since he's half-formula, half-breastfed, I started to get worried. The last time this happened, my mom (a pedia) gave him a suppository so I figured I had to try it again. Poor baby was like all red with an i-need-to-poop-now face (my hubby actually pointed at him and laughed out loud). Anyway, I always worry about giving a suppository because I don't want baby to be dependent on them.. but good news- he pooped again today. When he's already having trouble now, I hate to think what will happen when we start solids.

Baby has been able to say the syllables da-da for a while now. I'm trying to teach him how to say mama. I'm expecting it to be hard for him because he almost never closes his mouth and his tongue is always out. So to teach him how to say mama, I close his lips while saying ma-ma. Funny thing, while I close his mouth, he forcibly pushes his tongue out to keep his mouth from fully closing. So earlier today, I saw him trying to practice saying mama. It was a silent mama but you know he's really trying to close his mouth. It's pretty funny, I have it on video but I'm too lazy to transfer it from my phone to the pc.

When I was at Bayview Mall to buy baby's suppository (it was a super quick errand because I left baby with busy hubby), two people talked to me. One was a middle-aged south asian guy. He was pretty friendly, asked where Yorkdale Mall was. I was like: 401, exit Allen Rd (yes, I know my stuff LOL). He wanted to chitchat some more, he said he was new in the country and was looking for a job and heard that Yorkdale Mall had a lot of stores. Anyway, I hope I didn't sound rude when I said I had to go because my baby's waiting. I left baby on the jumperoo with an alarm for 20 minutes and told hubby to get him when the alarm sounded (I also told him to keep an eye on baby). The next conversation was with the A&W cashier, she was like: "I like your bag, where did you get it?" I said: "In the Philippines".. she commented about it being a good size, etc etc, and then she said: "They make good bags there, huh? How much was it?" I was like: "around 50 bucks (canadian)".  Funny thing is, my bag is XOXO.


When I got back to the condo, the alarm was wang-wanging and baby was in the jumperoo whining. Hubby thought the alarm sound was coming from the jumperoo. In his defense, it did sound rainforesty. Good thing I was pretty quick and the alarm had just sounded like 2 minutes before I came in.


By the way, I'm on a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon. That's why I'm not posting as much. And reminder to self: Go to LCBO to buy ingredients for hubby's birthday jell-o shots.

Online Purchases

I got 2 of my online purchases yesterday - Messeez High Chair Cover and my breastfeeding cover.

The high chair cover is exactly what I expected. It's made of very thin raincoat-like (nylon) material but I think it will do the job of protecting the chair from messy feedings, so that means easy cleanup for me. It also fit the high chair pretty well. I got it from CyberBaby Mall (because they deliver to Canada) so it cost me USD20 + 6.50 shipping so it wasn't such a good deal (plus they really only spent USD2.53 for shipping). The Amazon price of $17 + free shipping would have been the better deal, but it's fine, I just won't think about it :)

The breastfeeding cover is the one I got for free, I just had to pay shipping (USD 9.95 but really, the postage price was just USD 2.10 -- I guess shipping and handling is the correct term). I got it from Udder Covers using the promo code Cuddly2 (but if you search online, there are A TON of promo codes that work). I don't like the pattern too much. It's my fault, I was the one who chose it. I was swayed by the pretty pretty model, darn! The material was thinner than I expected but I think it's so the baby can breathe. I like the metal thing that let's you see the baby. That's the main reason why I ordered this one. With my current cover, I have to either ask my hubby to help out or I hide my head under the cover to see what's going on. A friend of mine has a similar cover which she got for $50 but I only had to pay the 10 bucks so it's totally worth it! I'm tempted to order another one (either the black or the lilac pattern) but I don't really need it so I'll quell the urge for now.

I'm still waiting for one more purchase -- hubby's birthday gift! I got him a customized Starbucks card. He will LOVE it!! I'm also tempted to buy some Ferrero Rocher cupcakes from Sugar Baking, his birthday could be a good excuse to order =D online ordering of cupcakes, i love it!

Don, this is for you!

My brother-in-law and I were at Walmart one day looking for something to put in their diaper pail to mask the smell of poopy diapers. Well, we couldn't find baking soda packets so we tried moth balls (haha) and some tide hanging things. Don, you can get the actual diaper pail deodorizers at amazon :)

              

Multitasking at its best

Shopping for baby-safe play mats and teether bibs online

while
folding laundry

while

another load is in the washer

while 
preparing dinner


while
watching the hockey game (why did it have to go to overtime? *edit: yey! we won!*)


while
updating my blog...

The Crib Issue

So this post is actually a continuation of the crib ramblings in the previous post. It's taking me such a long time to decide because I'm still not sure what kind of crib I want to buy -- full size crib vs. mini crib. Here is the side by side comparison:

Full-size Crib - converts to toddler bed, we were planning on buying a toddler bed anyway - 4-5 mattress height positions, baby can probably be on 2nd highest for now - have to buy mattress ~$100 - more choices for beddings - huge! will fit in condo but with some space compromise

Mini-Crib - converts to twin bed but additional cost for kit, not sure if we're gonna convert it - 2-3 mattress height positions, baby might have to be in really low position (just like in playard) - these usually include very thin mattresses - hard to find beddings - space efficient, perfect for our condo

So I'm leaning towards the full crib, we just have to deal with the space issue.

Curling and Spending some time with the in-laws

I haven't really been watching the Olympics but the past two nights, we were at the in-laws and they're big sports fans, so we were able to watch the men's and women's curling finals. It's actually fun to watch (after I wikipedia'd the rules and I somewhat understood it). It was so sad about the women's loss but the Swedish team really deserved that gold. It's a good thing Canada won the men's curling though.. curling is a Canadian sport after all.

Anyway, baby has been miserable those 2 nights. Every time we cheer and scream, he would cry his pouty cry. It would take a few minutes to console him. The first night, he was almost inconsolable towards the end, it was an intense game against Sweden after all. (They tried NOT to scream but they just couldn't, curling is that intense haha). I tried to calm him down in the basement away from the noise. He was also probably sleepy, it was past his bedtime and we didn't bring his pack n play. Ever since we set him on a sleep schedule, we haven't gone out at night, but we had to make an exception this time because it was my brother-in-law's birthday. There was a time when he would just sleep every time we go out, that was so easy for us because we can go out whenever, but now that he's older, it's so hard to make him sleep/nap anywhere but at home.

Things to buy to help baby sleep at the in-laws so we can spend some evenings there:

1. a crib -- In addition to obsessing about the jumperoo (which we've already gotten by the way), I've also been super obsessing about buying a crib. Right now, he sleeps in his pack n play at home. When I was pregnant, we never even considered buying a crib because space in our condo is limited. But now that he's outgrown the bassinet part of the pack n play and we have to make him sleep in the playpen area, I'm seriously reconsidering, especially since I saw how well he slept the 2 weeks in the US when he did sleep in a crib (borrowed from his cousin). So if we got a crib, we can just keep the pack n play folded up, ready to bring anywhere, like at the in-laws'. I've found the crib I wanted online, but I'm not sure if I really want to order it without having seen it + without ANY reviews from anywhere. I'm just basing my decision on the website ranking of cribs. Cribs are terribly expensive in Canada compared to the US, it sucks. This website is in the US and I just have to pay a surcharge of $50+ for international duties and such. With that surcharge, I think it's still a good deal.

2. baby monitor -- I got a baby monitor as a hand me down but since I can hear baby from anywhere in our condo, I gave it to my sister instead. The in-laws' house is super huge, so I need a baby monitor if I'm to leave baby in one of the rooms. I'll probably look at Craigslist and Kijiji for that.

We've been using my ipod as his white noise machine. Maybe I should get something like this for when we travel (and get some mini speakers). It's cheaper than the apple version plus it includes a car charger too.

Turbo Broiler

My uncle from Guam sent me an Aeromatic Convection Oven (a.k.a. as turbo broiler) like the one in the pic. He found out that we couldn't find any here in Canada. Ironically, the day after I got the turbo, we saw one in Walmart selling for $120 (steep price compared to USD$60, as was written in the customs declaration form).

We have limited counter space so I had to stow away my toaster oven and give its space to my new 'turbo'. It's super convenient, I can get the effect of frying without the oily mess. (My husband loves fried food, I guess using the turbo is a great compromise since the fatty oils can just drip down from the grill.) I've used it to cook chicken, sausages, and pork. It's easy to clean too - I just put foil at the bottom to collect the oil drippings, and after cooking, I just take it out and wipe clean the glass, all I really need to wash is the grill.  Best of all, I can just leave it as it cooks, great for a new mom!

Yesterday, I needed to heat up left-over pizza. I usually use my toaster oven for this to make the crust crispy, but my toaster oven is in a cabinet and I have nowhere to put it. I considered heating it up in the microwave but I hate soggy pizza. I thought what the heck, I'll just use my turbo. What do you know, it had the same effect as the toaster oven!

I love my new turbo <3

Project: Curtain

We live in a one bedroom condo where the bedroom doesn't have windows. To let in some natural light, the bedroom has sliding frosted glass doors. It's a great idea - except when you have a baby. Baby sleeps at 7:30pm. After that, we have really low lighting in our living/dining area. So it's always a romantic low-lit dinner for me and my husband. Plus, we can't watch TV.

I got this great idea of putting up some sort of panel curtains to block the light from the living room. I was all ready to go buy my materials from IKEA, but reality set in -- no one in our house is handy. We stay away from anything that involves drilling or putting permanent things in our walls. After some research, I decided to just use basic fabric and VELCRO!

I went to Walmart, got cheap fabric and bought some uber cool velcro, the hook side is Sticky Back and the loop side is Fabric Fusion (iron on fabric). Originally, I planned to get velcro with one side sticky back and other side sew-on but I saw that they sell velcro in the particular combination suitable for my needs. As I'm not really a sewing person, the less sewing I need to do, the better.

Two weeks after that (which was today), I finally got the energy to do the sewing of the actual curtain using my mother-in-law's sewing machine. No one knows how to use it really, but I figured, as an engineering graduate (yes I am) and a mom, I can probably figure it out. A lot of messy stitches later, I was done with one panel (I had to sew my original fabric to black fabric to make it more opaque plus I had to sew the sides). I decided I was done for the day.

When we got home, I installed the curtain (with velcro and all). It did remarkably reduce the light coming in the bedroom even with just one panel. But we'll forego the TV for now, I have to sew and install the other panel first. I dare not post pictures because it looks so ugly, hubby and I laughed for a long time after we saw it set up. Anyway, the beauty of velcro is, when we have guests, we can easily take it out =D

So there you go, that's my attempt at sewing and DIY-ing.

Rough Night for Teething

It was a rough night for us. I think my baby's teething. He cried a lot yesterday and woke up A LOT last night. I thought his sleeping would actually get better because the past 2 nights, I've been able to put him down awake. It's something short of a miracle actually. I was trying out a new thing the past 2 nights. I do the normal bedtime routine: bath, book, bottle.. Previously I would give him the bottle when he was propped up in his crib (I use the word crib loosely, more on this at another post) so after finishing the bottle and he's all drowsy, I just pop his pacifier in, lay him on his side and he goes to sleep. The past 2 nights, I give him his bottle while he's in my arms. I burp him and then put him down and I turn on his projection mobile (Fisher-Price Precious Planet 2-in-1 Projection Mobile) without the mobile part (he's too old for that). The images are projected onto our ceiling. It's a pretty cool light show. Within 20 minutes (that's the auto turn-off time of the mobile), he's asleep. Sounds so easy, right? But the past 2 nights, he has been waking up a lot. He doesn't sleep through the night yet, normally I put him down at 7:30pm, then he wakes up at 1am, 3:30am, and 7-8am. But last night, he woke up at 11:30pm and every 1-2 hours after that, and he wouldn't sleep from 2-4am. There goes the theory: put them down awake and they learn to self-soothe. But I guess it's because something is wrong, his cries sound like he's in pain so I really think he's teething.

I tried to give him teething gel last night and I guess it stopped his crying for a bit. I tried it on myself too and the thing feels exactly like what they give you at the dentist's office to numb you before a big injection. The numbness didn't last for long though. I also gave him a pacifier cooled in the ref. That seemed to work too, but really, no cure lasts forever. All I can do is hold my baby and tell him everything's gonna be all right.

When we woke up at 9:45am (we needed our sleep haha), everything seems better. He didn't wake up crying and he played by himself. I hope for all our sakes that he feels better today.

Remind me to blog about how we were able to put him down for the night easier. That's a whole other story.

Starting Solids - The Gear

My baby is starting solids soon so I'm trying to buy stuff that will be useful for this momentous occasion.

1. High chair - I was spared of having to buy a high chair since a relative gave us their old Peg-Perego Prima Pappa Best High Chair. I saw this chair through my research and learned that it was one of the more high-end chairs. My husband said it was like a spaceship with its recline features and seven height positions. Although it had good reviews, it had quite a few negative reviews, mainly about how the tray was too high (indeed it was) and the seat cover was hard to clean. Since this was given to me used, I had to clean it well before letting my baby sit on it. I found out just how hard to clean it was. And food wounded up in the weirdest places. But after the major cleaning, I put baby in it and he was happy. He can sit with us while we eat lunch/dinner and he was high enough to see me do things around the house so I'm also very happy :)

2. Seat Cushion - I was told to buy a new seat cushion for the high chair since the cushion is falling apart. Researching online, I saw like to 2 people that sell these cushions that they sew themselves. Cool business since Peg Perego probably charges an arm and a leg for replacement cushions (I think about $70, didn't bother calling them since the fake ones were expensive enough $30-$50). Anyway, I found this: Messeez High Chair Cover. This solves the problem of the cushion falling apart (i just duct taped it! LOL) and it being hard to clean. It's a seat cover you put on top of the existing cushioned cover. It's also cheaper :) Anyway, I already ordered it online but I haven't gotten it yet.

3. Utensils - Someone gave me Meal Mates Colored Soft Bite Spoons as a gift. And I bought The First Years Meal Mates Toddler Suction Bowl With Lid. Will review how good these products are once we use them.

4. Splat Mat - I need something like this: Mommy's Helper No Mess Splat Mat to protect our hardwood floors but I'm thinking of just buying something similar from the dollar store.

5. Rice Cereal - The pediatrician told me to start with Rice Cereal but to wait until he's 6 months old. I'm so excited, I'll probably buy the cereal right after our 6-month appointment.

6. Bibs - I'm not yet sure what kind of bib to get. I'm looking at the waterproof ones. Is it also time for the bib with crumb-catcher? or is that later on?

7. High Chair Toy - Since baby's hanging out in the high chair but he's still not eating, I make him play with the Sassy Illumination Station. He loves it!

Jumperoo for the Baby

So for the past couple of weeks, I've been obsessing about getting a Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo for my baby. He has been jumping like crazy when you hold him up, but he still can't support himself (at 5 months) so I usually get tired before he does. I did a lot of research, and found that the Rainforest Jumperoo would be the best for him (great reviews on Amazon!).

As I just got back from a vacation to the States and know that I can order the jumperoo for ~USD$75 from Amazon, it seems unfair to me that I should pay $130 + tax to get it here in Toronto. (If only we brought a bigger car, I really would have bought the jumperoo from Amazon in the US.) Anyway, I've been monitoring Craigslist and Kijiji for about a week now. I've contacted close to 6 people and every time, I'm too late and the item is already sold, especially if they price it at $50, which was my price point. I've even contacted someone within an hour of posting and still, I was too late. I had to make the hard decision of raising my price point to $75, a hard decision for me since I can get it brand new for the same price in the US! But my arms are protesting, my baby's crying.. what's a mom to do?

I finally contacted this poster selling it at $75 half expecting that it was a futile effort; after all, the ad was placed 3 days ago. To my surprise, he emailed me back saying that the jumperoo was still available! Aha! I guess people don't buy used jumperoos at $75. I asked him if he would consider selling it at $65 and he agreed. I'm going to his place on Saturday to pick the item up. I'm hoping someone doesn't offer to buy the jumperoo for $75 before then.

As an aside, I contacted one person selling the jumperoo at $50, he emailed me back saying there was a lot of interest in it and that he upped the price to $75! I didn't bother emailing him back.

Anyway, baby's pooping on my lap, gotta go!

Welcome to my blog!

With all the things I'm doing as a mom, I thought I'd start a blog to share my experiences, online finds, and basically anything I encounter as a new mom in Toronto. I'll try to post entries often so come back from time to time. I have a huge backlog of blog ideas so bear with me as I update my blog.

In the meantime, baby's crying so bye for now!