One of Nonna's blogger friends surprised Leo with this personalized sweatshirt. It's a size 3-6 months and he almost fits into it already! Here he is modeling it on Saturday after a bath and before the 3 of us went out for an Ethiopian dinner.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Leo!
One of Nonna's blogger friends surprised Leo with this personalized sweatshirt. It's a size 3-6 months and he almost fits into it already! Here he is modeling it on Saturday after a bath and before the 3 of us went out for an Ethiopian dinner.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Today Leo and I went to our first Highlands Mommies playgroup for children born in the second half of 2008. Leo was the youngest. I've also joined the first half of 2009 group, but haven't attended anything with those women yet.
I didn't get any photos of playgroup, but here are some of Leo enjoying tummy time before we left.
Playgroup was great! Leo loves to just watch other babies, and it was nice to sit and chat with other mamas in the neighborhood.
I didn't get any photos of playgroup, but here are some of Leo enjoying tummy time before we left.
Playgroup was great! Leo loves to just watch other babies, and it was nice to sit and chat with other mamas in the neighborhood.
Baby Center says...
How your baby's growing:
If your baby is sleeping through the night (five or six hours at a stretch), you're one of the lucky few. Most 10-week-old babies still wake up in the wee hours. But even babies who aren't sleeping through the night at this stage should be sleeping and staying awake for longer intervals rather than cycling back and forth so much. Your baby will probably have two to four long sleep periods and as many as ten hours of awake time in 24 hours.
An interesting note: Whether your baby is a night owl or a morning lark, a long sleeper or short sleeper, that pattern will probably stay the same throughout childhood.
Guess this means Leo is a morning lark who likes to take one long nap and stay up the rest of the day until his early bedtime!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Woo hoo! Nothing beats 60 degree weather in the middle of February! We took advantage of Vinny's day off and had a Subway picnic at Sloan's Lake Park.
After the picnic, Leo got comfy in the Moby and we walked the 3 miles around the lake.
I have to admit, when we walk by someone and they say how cute we are, I always wonder, "Leo, Mauri, or the whole enchilada?"
After the picnic, Leo got comfy in the Moby and we walked the 3 miles around the lake.
I have to admit, when we walk by someone and they say how cute we are, I always wonder, "Leo, Mauri, or the whole enchilada?"
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Valentine's Day
Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. I think ours was perfect.
Vinny gave me a red rose and Leo gave me a peach one, and Leo and I hung out together while Vin made me dinner. The menu: Bleu Cheese, Walnut & Pear Salad, Steak, Cuban Scallops, and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes. Yummmm! We ate it by candlelight with Leo sitting with us in his stroller.
Then we put Leo to bed (his bedtime is now 7:00 or 7:30) and had chocolate (only 3 Hershey's Kisses - no blowing the diet!) and wine and watched a movie.
Here's Leo modeling his "My Heart Belongs to Mommy" V-Day outfit that Grandma got him.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Well, I think all 3 of us had a great time celebrating Vin's 30th! Friday night we went to Joe's Crab Shack and enjoyed DELICIOUS steam pots. Leo sat next to us laughing and smiling the whole time. On Saturday, our friends Rene and Bill took care of Leo while Vinny and I got a couples massage and enjoyed another fantabulous dinner at Rioja.
Leo's new discovery in the past few days is his hands. He can't get enough!
Here are some Baby Center highlights:
Your baby can tell the difference between familiar voices and other sounds, and he's becoming a better listener. He can also show you that he's in tune with his environment. Notice how he looks to see where certain noises are coming from.
An ongoing conversation (although seemingly one-sided) can help your baby develop his sense of place. He may even watch your mouth as you talk, fascinated by how it all works. You'll be amazed by his ability to communicate with a growing repertory of coos (musical, vowel-like sounds), smiles, and unique cries to express his different needs.
Leo's new discovery in the past few days is his hands. He can't get enough!
Here are some Baby Center highlights:
Your 2-month-old: Week 1
How your baby's growing:
Your baby can tell the difference between familiar voices and other sounds, and he's becoming a better listener. He can also show you that he's in tune with his environment. Notice how he looks to see where certain noises are coming from.
An ongoing conversation (although seemingly one-sided) can help your baby develop his sense of place. He may even watch your mouth as you talk, fascinated by how it all works. You'll be amazed by his ability to communicate with a growing repertory of coos (musical, vowel-like sounds), smiles, and unique cries to express his different needs.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Since Leo's birth, I have mostly eschewed parenting books. This is because, on the precipice of 30, I know myself well enough to know that if I decide I subscribe to any one parenting theory, I'll create arbitrary rules for myself, and when I somehow break one of said rules, I will feel deficient as a mom. Dramatic, yes, but at least I know how to avoid this, right?
However. For the first few days of life, when every time Leo cried it was a giant guessing game, I was a little bewildered at how we could spend 10 months reading about every detail of pregnancy, but barely any time researching parenting or babies!
I think it was Day 7 or so when I sent Vinny to Babies R Us in search of the book The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp. We became Karpites immediately. Basically, Karp's premise is that in their first three or four months of life, before they have any self-soothing mechanisims, babies are in the "Fourth Trimester" - they are, in effect, fetuses outside of the womb.
He says if you master the "5 S's," which are meant to mimic the womb, and perform them in the correct order, you can soothe most any baby. Guess what? He's right.
His 5 S's are:
-Swaddling
-Shhh-ing
-Side/Stomach
-Sucking
-Swinging
After reading this, I immediately sent Vinny back to Babies R Us to get one of the few items from our registry we hadn't received: the Graco Sweetpeace Newborn Soothing Center, AKA The Swing to End All Swings. This puppy has 3 of the S's built right in - a swaddler, a button that plays several different types of white noise, and duh, swinging. It is definitely in my top 5 baby things to have!
So. This brings us to the past week. Leo has been sleeping very restlessly - grunting, stretching, fussing. And since he's in his little sidecar bassinet in our room, if he's sleeping restlessly, we aren't sleeping at all.
After analysis and reanalysis, we decided one of the reasons he was waking up so often was not, thankfully, hunger, but the fact that he was performing his Baby Houdini acts and getting out of his swaddling. In both is 2D and his 3D ultrasound, his hands were always by his face, and regular swaddlers pin his arms to his body. Basically, we think he was fighting the swaddlers all night to get his hands up near his face where he's more comfortable. I researched different swaddlers for Baby Houdinis, and finally found....ta da!.... the Woombie!
Yesterday I traveled to Old Town Littleton to pick one up, and we zipped him into it last night with bated breath.
He slept from 9 until 1:30! He woke up to nurse at 1:30, and went right back to sleep. He woke up at 4:45 to nurse, but when I put him back down, he was fidgety and grunty again. Vin figured out that in these wee hours of the morning, he wants even more freedom of movement, so we removed the Woombie and swaddled him in the fabulous, gigantic Swaddle Designs blanket his Grandma gave him, and he slept again soundly until 8:00!
Our teamwork and powers of deduction may have - at last - gotten us some nice, solid sleep!
His cosleeper is now jerry rigged with books underneath the head of the bed to create an incline for comfort from his reflux, a burp cloth under his head for spit-up mishaps, a sleep positioner to make him feel extra snuggly, a rolled up towel so he doesn't slide down to the bottom due to the reflux incline, and - duh- a blanket. And I think we may have finally created a perfect sleeping haven for him!
We've been trying to push his bedtime back from 7 or so until 9 or 10 - maybe I'll even shoot for 11 - so that he does that nice long 4 or 5 hour stretch while we, too, are sleeping. He is great at falling asleep on his own. He knows that once he's swaddled and the room smells like lavender oil, and the little sound machine/light projector his Nonna gave him is turned on, it's lights out!
Here's what he looked like last night 5 minutes into putting him down:
And here's what I woke up to, in his Swaddle Designs blankie:
Pretty comfy, huh? Here's hoping for more uninterrupted sleep for all of us. Stay tuned!
However. For the first few days of life, when every time Leo cried it was a giant guessing game, I was a little bewildered at how we could spend 10 months reading about every detail of pregnancy, but barely any time researching parenting or babies!
I think it was Day 7 or so when I sent Vinny to Babies R Us in search of the book The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp. We became Karpites immediately. Basically, Karp's premise is that in their first three or four months of life, before they have any self-soothing mechanisims, babies are in the "Fourth Trimester" - they are, in effect, fetuses outside of the womb.
He says if you master the "5 S's," which are meant to mimic the womb, and perform them in the correct order, you can soothe most any baby. Guess what? He's right.
His 5 S's are:
-Swaddling
-Shhh-ing
-Side/Stomach
-Sucking
-Swinging
After reading this, I immediately sent Vinny back to Babies R Us to get one of the few items from our registry we hadn't received: the Graco Sweetpeace Newborn Soothing Center, AKA The Swing to End All Swings. This puppy has 3 of the S's built right in - a swaddler, a button that plays several different types of white noise, and duh, swinging. It is definitely in my top 5 baby things to have!
So. This brings us to the past week. Leo has been sleeping very restlessly - grunting, stretching, fussing. And since he's in his little sidecar bassinet in our room, if he's sleeping restlessly, we aren't sleeping at all.
After analysis and reanalysis, we decided one of the reasons he was waking up so often was not, thankfully, hunger, but the fact that he was performing his Baby Houdini acts and getting out of his swaddling. In both is 2D and his 3D ultrasound, his hands were always by his face, and regular swaddlers pin his arms to his body. Basically, we think he was fighting the swaddlers all night to get his hands up near his face where he's more comfortable. I researched different swaddlers for Baby Houdinis, and finally found....ta da!.... the Woombie!
Yesterday I traveled to Old Town Littleton to pick one up, and we zipped him into it last night with bated breath.
He slept from 9 until 1:30! He woke up to nurse at 1:30, and went right back to sleep. He woke up at 4:45 to nurse, but when I put him back down, he was fidgety and grunty again. Vin figured out that in these wee hours of the morning, he wants even more freedom of movement, so we removed the Woombie and swaddled him in the fabulous, gigantic Swaddle Designs blanket his Grandma gave him, and he slept again soundly until 8:00!
Our teamwork and powers of deduction may have - at last - gotten us some nice, solid sleep!
His cosleeper is now jerry rigged with books underneath the head of the bed to create an incline for comfort from his reflux, a burp cloth under his head for spit-up mishaps, a sleep positioner to make him feel extra snuggly, a rolled up towel so he doesn't slide down to the bottom due to the reflux incline, and - duh- a blanket. And I think we may have finally created a perfect sleeping haven for him!
We've been trying to push his bedtime back from 7 or so until 9 or 10 - maybe I'll even shoot for 11 - so that he does that nice long 4 or 5 hour stretch while we, too, are sleeping. He is great at falling asleep on his own. He knows that once he's swaddled and the room smells like lavender oil, and the little sound machine/light projector his Nonna gave him is turned on, it's lights out!
Here's what he looked like last night 5 minutes into putting him down:
And here's what I woke up to, in his Swaddle Designs blankie:
Pretty comfy, huh? Here's hoping for more uninterrupted sleep for all of us. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Jalapeno Poppers
We had these for Superbowl Sunday and they were delish! They are 1 pt each.
Ingredients
2 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray, divided
2 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
8 small jalapeno pepper(s)
1/4 cup(s) fat-free egg substitute
3/4 cup(s) cornflake crumbs
Instructions
* Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
* In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese and mayonnaise; mix well and set aside. Halve jalapenos lengthwise and remove seeds. (Oil and seeds from the peppers can be irritating — wear gloves or put plastic bags over your hands. And don’t rub your eyes.) Stuff jalapeno halves with cream cheese mixture.
* Place egg substitute in a shallow dish. Place cornflake crumbs in a separate shallow dish. Dip stuffed jalapeno halves into egg substitute and then roll in cornflake crumbs to coat.
* Transfer jalapenos to prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.
* Bake until filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve hot. Yields 2 poppers per serving.
Notes
* You can prepare the poppers a day in advance and place them on a covered baking sheet in the fridge. Cook as directed when ready to eat. Or, cook the poppers in advance and then reheat in the microwave.
Ingredients
2 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray, divided
2 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
8 small jalapeno pepper(s)
1/4 cup(s) fat-free egg substitute
3/4 cup(s) cornflake crumbs
Instructions
* Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
* In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese and mayonnaise; mix well and set aside. Halve jalapenos lengthwise and remove seeds. (Oil and seeds from the peppers can be irritating — wear gloves or put plastic bags over your hands. And don’t rub your eyes.) Stuff jalapeno halves with cream cheese mixture.
* Place egg substitute in a shallow dish. Place cornflake crumbs in a separate shallow dish. Dip stuffed jalapeno halves into egg substitute and then roll in cornflake crumbs to coat.
* Transfer jalapenos to prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.
* Bake until filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve hot. Yields 2 poppers per serving.
Notes
* You can prepare the poppers a day in advance and place them on a covered baking sheet in the fridge. Cook as directed when ready to eat. Or, cook the poppers in advance and then reheat in the microwave.
He's a growing boy!
I took Leo to the doctor today because he has a little bit of reflux. We got him a prescription for Zantac and he also got a couple of his shots. (I currently am following Dr. Sears' alternative vaccination schedule, but I have to research it a little more before I know if we'll stick with it.)
The most exciting part of his appointment was finding out his growth!
At his last appt, 12/29, here is where he was:
Weight - 8 lbs. 1.5 oz - 26% percentile
Length - 21" - 81%
As of today:
Weight - 11 lbs. 5.7 oz - 58% percentile
Length - 22.5" - 51% percentile (Though he was squirmy when she did it, he might have another half inch. When we did it at home he was 23, and that was a week or so ago!)
The most exciting part of his appointment was finding out his growth!
At his last appt, 12/29, here is where he was:
Weight - 8 lbs. 1.5 oz - 26% percentile
Length - 21" - 81%
As of today:
Weight - 11 lbs. 5.7 oz - 58% percentile
Length - 22.5" - 51% percentile (Though he was squirmy when she did it, he might have another half inch. When we did it at home he was 23, and that was a week or so ago!)
Sunday, February 1, 2009
GQ Baby
Here is Leo modeling the handknit outfit with baseball buttons his Great Aunt Sheila made for him! Thank you, Aunt Sheila!
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