Product Reviews

I have mentioned a few products in prior posts and thought I would share an update on how they have been working for me.

First, Baby Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit. This thing was instrumental in transitioning Ashton out of his swaddle. I really do give it credit. However, once we received our ScratchMeNots, we decided to let him go arms free - his hands were covered so he couldn't do his face or head any damage with his little nails, so we put him in a sleepsack and hoped for the best. Results? Ashton sleeps in the exact same position as he did in his Magic Sleep Suit (on his back, arms at a 90 degree angle out to the sides, legs straight). Oh well. If he wanted to roll over on his tummy, he could, and if he has a little itch, he can safely scratch it, so we are in a good place with all of that. 

Second, the Merry Muscles jumper. Turns out, Ashton's muscles aren't really that merry.  This thing doesn't make them the least bit happy. What I thought would be the MOST pivotal piece of baby gear ever is a dud. He doesn't even jump :( He's much more content in his Baby Einstein. Dismayed, I re-read the instructions on the Merry Muscles wondering if they had any tips. This is an actual quote from the section marked "Words to the Parent": "Do not be upset if your baby does not bounce very much. Some babies enjoy sitting up, leaning back, relaxing, and watching what is going on. The mental stimulation is just as important as physical exercise." 

Well. Thanks, but I have a different $100 baby item that covers Ashton's "sitting up, leaning back, relaxing, and watching what is going on". THIS one is supposed to make him want to bounce!! Sadly, the company is way up in British Columbia and, given how long it took the product to get here in the first place, probably operates with soup-can phones and smoke signals. I'd have to send any complaints I have via pigeon and therefore won't bother. "Do not be upset if your baby does not bounce very much." Sheesh. They must have had enough unhappy parents to include that tidbit? And to name their product "Merry Muscles" of all things, what is that?? Sigh.

The good news is that I love my extremely overpriced Beaba Babycook baby food maker (which came from Williams-Sonoma, you expect that kind of thing from them). I steam and puree all kinds of yummy stuff that Ashton doesn't so much eat as smear everywhere. This was today's sweet potato/butternut squash mix:

I'm going to be pulling orange boogers out of his nose for two days. But no matter, I like making him his fruits and veggies :) It really is an ingenious little machine, cooking and pureeing all in one. I love it. (I should mention, today was one for the books: Jason went to Home Depot and brought home a microwave. We have never had one, and it's still in the box, but I'm pretty sure it will change our lives once we get it set up. It's finally time.)

Next, a few photos that I took this afternoon, just because. Here comes the token tagline of all parents: Don't I have the cutest baby in the WORLD? ;)

Speaking of parents: Jason took Ashton to his first little Shrimps swim class last Saturday! I'm going to totally put him on the spot to blog about his experience. I know he didn't get any good photos or videos but hopefully after this week's session he will have some cute stuff to put up. 

Speaking of parents again: here are a couple of us with our boys ...

I should have mentioned by now that Tate's return has been totally inconsequential on Ashton's allergies! He doesn't have the itchy, watery eyes that he used to and seems to be perfectly content playing on a floor that they share. I really think the air filter is helping a lot. The next step will be Tate's tolerance for Ashton's little fists - man, those things are like mini vice grips. They grab and pull at anything nearby and they don't let go. Poor Tate...his ears and tail... :-/ He and Ashton haven't been the best of friends so far. In fact, Ashton being born was probably the worst day of Tate's life.

That's all for today's adventures. I have a big event I am planning in NYC for my old employer on March 14th, so if the blog posts are a little scant in the next few weeks, I apologize in advance. Love to you all! :) xoxo

p.s. oh one more thing. That convenient mash and serve bowl? The one that was only $4.99 but whose shipping costs were about 30% higher than the cost of the product itself? Ummm, I really haven't used it :-/  (Don't tell Jason.)

Fun on a Sunday afternoon

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What big everything you have!

Hi readers,
I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats after the way I ended my last post - what a cliffhanger! Would he or would he not SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT? Well, he would not. You can allllll let your breaths out now. I'm thinking Ashton will be waking up for a middle-of-the-night feeding well into his forties at this point. I've given up, or at least until the next time I'm so exhausted I start all over again and vow THIS time will be it. He's been throwing me a few bones lately (sorry Tate) and getting up once between 3 and 4 am, eating for 10 minutes and then going back to sleep until around 7:15 am. Heaven. Everything else is going so well though - at 6.5 months there are so many fun changes happening with him. He can sit up on his own, somewhat shakily, and I have to be careful he doesn't teeter over and hit his head, but he loves all his toys and basically anything within his reach is fair game. He thinks it is all his for the taking which is pretty funny. And he just finds everything so damn interesting - to be honest, I'm a little jealous! I'd love to be entertained for 20 minutes by a spoon or be totally fascinated, like "I can't take my eyes off this" fascinated, by a wallet. Things like that. I am starting to understand why children really can teach adults a thing or two about how to see the world.

And he is just getting so big! Is it weird that that makes me proud? I work so hard to feed him, make sure he has a bottle for when I am not with him, steam and puree his fruits and veggies, etc. that I feel like every little roll and crease on his body belongs to me. Even his little manboobs, on full display when he is in the tub :)


What else? He is also becoming more aware of other babies and this morning he was super into himself in the mirror (that comes from his dad, by the way).


I mentioned he eats all kinds of purees but the messiest thing going (thanks Grandma) is what Jason has nicknamed Ashton's "chum bag". For those unfamiliar with this phrase, it's a fishing term for a mesh pouch into which one puts "a living substance, such as minnows or mollusks, chopped or ground into pieces or a mash; or processed food such as dog food or cat food, which is distributed in the water to attract gamefish to the angler's bait." Ashton doesn't exactly get a living substance in his, he gets a banana, but it's pretty gross. The piece of banana pops into the mesh bag and then Ashton sucks on it through all the little holes and in the end, ends up eating it. But not without getting sticky banana paste in, on or between everything, including but not limited to: his bumbo tray, the side of his bumbo seat, his hair, MY hair, his nostrils, his fingers, his chin, his bib, his cheeks, the counter, the bottom of his feet and the dog. A complete mess. But he loves it so what am I going to do?


Pretty soon he will also be holding his own bottle (note: sleeves are still rolled up from the effort to save them from the banana chum bag. These are one of the few things that survived.)


This weekend, Jason will be taking Ashton to the Cambridge Y to start his baby swim class, otherwise known as "Shrimps". Officially, I thought this would be a good father-son activity while I am working at the bridal shop for the next several Saturdays. Unofficially, Ashton needs to learn how to blow his bubbles and I certainly have no intention of putting on a bathing suit in the foreseeable future. It's February people, and I gave birth 6 months ago. All around, not pretty. So Jason gets to take him. They've already started golf lessons too.



Life has otherwise been pretty routine here at 346 Trapelo Road. We are attempting to sell our condo again (for the third time) starting around May 1. We are out of space, and living on the third floor is becoming increasingly difficult: Ashton's carseat is only getting heavier and Tate is getting progressively lazier. I'd love our own yard where they can both run around. Crazy thought! Ashton up on two feet. Yikes. Maybe the chum bag isn't so bad after all.

Ashton becomes a Catholic

On Sunday, 2/12/12, our little boy was christened as one of the newest (and cutest) members of the Catholic Church. We had a wonderful weekend, filled with family and love and I was again reminded how blessed I am to be so fortunate in so many ways. Ashton is incredibly loved and I couldn't ask for anything more. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

And with godparents Uncle Chris and Aunt Lizzie (28 weeks pregnant with Ashton's first cousin :) )

I like the idea of starting to actually attend mass. When we first were looking into Ashton's baptism, I simply contacted the closest Catholic Church. The Pastoral Associate asked us to come in for an interview and we had a nice conversation about the role of the faith in both mine and Jason's lives up until this point. She said she was pleased to meet us but apologized as she didn't recognize our faces. I cheerfully chirped, "Oh, that's because we've never been here!" If there had been a table, Jason would have kicked me under it. But I mean, LIKE I would lie in the presence of God! Sheesh. Anyway, I continued and I was honest and told her I more or less fell off the wagon after I was confirmed. How many college co-eds wake up on a Sunday morning for church? Not many. And then I moved to Boston and well, I guess I have been busy. She said it is a familiar story and that often times, marriage and especially children bring people back to church. We left feeling good and promising she would see us at mass (which, in retrospect, might turn out to be a lie. Oh dear.). I blame Jason's work schedule if it does.

Moving on, not related to anything in particular, two cute pictures of Ashton's bath before the big day:

We tried to tell him that the baptism was going to wash away any sin he might have on him, but he insisted on being clean for the big event.

Okay I think I'm going to bed early. Last night was night #2 of sleep training (round 2). We made true progress though: I kissed him goodnight and shut the door at 6:30 pm, and did not go in again until 6 am this morning. That certainly doesn't mean he slept that whole time. Oh, no no no my friends. He was up at least 4 or 5 times, but I did not go in. He had to re-settle himself and for the most part, he did. Only one big crying spell and that was for an hour at around 1:30 am. So, we'll see what tonight holds. Honestly, I go to bed every night wondering when I will be up. I've been exhausted for 6 months so I know it's time to really stick to my guns. They say by night 3 or 4 that babies get it and they don't bother crying out anymore. Stay tuned...

Scratchmenots, Magic Merlins, Merry Muscles and more!

I'll tell you what, the baby gear available today is unreal. Someone, somewhere, has thought of everything. And guess who buys it? ME! On any given day, an average of 1 to 3 packages from Amazon and/or Babies R Us is en route to our house. I don't even tell Jason about my purchases anymore because he can't appreciate that I'm just trying to make our lives simpler and our baby happy! For example, the other day I am conveniently mashing avocado in our convenient mash-and-serve bowl that came conveniently from Babies R Us:

Isn't it cute? It was $4.99! Plus $7.95 to ship but I don't count that. And I can easily and conveniently mash things up now, like bananas, and avocado, and anything else that needs mashing. Jason was like, Where did we get THAT? I told him that it was only $5 and quite frankly, I ordered it because we really needed it. When he gave me a look that said "don't we have other bowls and forks and utensils to mash things?" I rolled my eyes like it was so obvious: yes, of course we do, but this one is especially for babies, which makes it an absolute necessity. Duh Jason.

I have also bought, in the past few weeks, a fancy Beaba Babycook machine for making Ashton's baby food (despite the fact that, besides the avocado (conveniently mashed), I haven't actually made anything with it. I find the pre-packaged Gerber stuff from the grocery much easier - I mean, who wants to puree prunes? Too sticky.).

I also bought all the accessories for the Beaba machine - you have to! How else will you utilize it to its fullest potential? Anyway I better use it before Jason starts to give me a hard time.

And then two weeks ago I ordered this contraption:

While it looks like it is for catapulting your baby into oblivion, it's actually for bouncing. I know Ashton is DYING to bounce. This product is from Canada I guess and it has taken TWO weeks for it to get here. Like, an eternity. When I got the shipping notice it said, "Estimated delivery: Monday February 6 - Thursday February 9". Well, Thursday February 9 is today and you better believe I called the shipper (CanPar?) and told them that the tracking number I was given did not work on their site and where was my Merry Muscles Jumper? He said, technically it is scheduled to be delivered today, and they were still in the delivery window I was advised of.  I apologized for my impatience and told him I thought two weeks was a long time to wait in this day and age, especially when I paid almost $17 for shipping and I had a baby that couldn't wait to bounce! "Just give it a little while longer," he said. Humpf. That conversation was at approximately 3 pm and right now it's almost 10 pm, I wonder if it's outside on the deck by now? I should go look.
While I admit the above items are, shall we say, "optional", there have been a few products that Ashton has really needed and we can't imagine life without. One is the miracle blanket, which is a swaddler but has inside flaps especially for keeping little arms wrapped tight so they can't wriggle free:

In case that isn't detailed enough for you:

Leave it to our generation to completely overcomplicate everything.

The second product is Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit. This is an outfit that makes Ashton look like the Michelin Man - it is for use in transitioning out of the swaddle but before you are ready to just put your baby to sleep in his pj's, arms free. We would have done this by now but considering Ashton scratches at his head and face, we have always had to put him to bed making sure he can't hurt himself. The suit looks like this:

It's designed so babies can have their legs and arms "free" but the suit restricts their movements. Babies have startle reflexes that wake them up and this suit hinders those reflexes. In Ashton's case, he is no longer bound tight but can't reach his hands to his face or head to scratch. This is an actual picture of Ashton from his monitor displaying how he sleeps now haha:

I can tell he is a lot more comfortable out of the tight swaddle but does still wake up when his skin is bothering him. When he can't give himself any relief by scratching, he starts to cry and get worked up. There must be another solution. I took to the internet AGAIN and found Scratchmenots, essentially tube socks for the arms that are connected over the back of the shoulders:

This purchase has not yet arrived but I'm hoping the Merlin suit will be out and the Scratchmenots will be in. Ashton can rub his skin enough to make the itch go away but not enough to break the skin and leave scratch marks. And at the same time, learn to sleep without any special blanket or suit. Reviews on this will be forthcoming but I'm hoping it works. Ashton wakes up 1-3 times a night still and I can't ignore his crying when I know it's for a reason. I'm exhausted, from the wakeups and from all this shopping!! ;)

Big weekend coming up, Ashton's baptism is on Sunday! Lots of family coming to town and the best part, Ashton is wearing Jason's christening outfit from when HE was a baby! The next time I blog, my son will have been officially initiated into the Catholic Church. One of the most significant events in his little life so far (besides the Giants winning the Superbowl last weekend of course!). Stay tuned!

6 months old!!

Our baby boy is 6 months old today! Reflecting on our time since August 3, 2011, I honestly can't decide if it has gone by in a blink or in slow motion - a little of both! When I think of how much Ashton has changed since the first pictures on this blog, it's been a blink. When I consider that I haven't had a full night's sleep in 6 months, sloooowwwww mooooooooooooooooooootion. So where are we at? As of this morning's pediatrician appointment:

Height: 27 inches (69th percentile)
Weight: 18 pounds 3 oz* (65th percentile - asterisk needed because he hasn't pooped in 4 days, actual weight might be an ounce or two less! Apparently this is normal when you introduce solids, the pedi said this morning babies can sometimes go 9 or 10 days and be totally fine. I wanted to say, sure the babies are fine, but what happens to the parents when 9 or 10 days of poop finally comes out? Baths for everyone!!)
Head circumference: 16.75 in (somewhere in the 30th percentile, he has always had a somewhat small noggin)
Diapers: Size 3
Clothing size: true to his age, 6 months mostly
Foods so far: rice cereal, avocado, squash, peas. Shockingly, he ate the peas. His father hates them so we were somewhat prepared for him to spit them out. Just this afternoon I tried to give him prune juice to "help things along" (see asterisk above), but he wouldn't drink it. Damn.
Rolling over: yes, both ways, but infrequently.
Sitting up: alllllllllllllllllllmost! Another day or two
Sleeping through the night: Um, absolutely not. Although last night, he must have felt the need to give me a 6 month present because he slept from 6:45 pm - 4:45 am, and then again from 5 am -7:30 am. Unheard of. Usually he's up twice between 2 and 5 and then up for the day around 6:30 am. But naps are pretty good.
Nicknames: Ash, Abomb
Favorite book: "Jamberry" and "This farm is a mess!"
Favorite toy: green rattle (and his fingers and toes)
Favorite song: Itsy Bitsy Spider (he will drop whatever he is doing and stare intently at whoever starts singing this to him)
Favorite pastime: playing in his baby Einstein or taking walks in the baby bjorn
Favorite dream: bouncing in his new Merry Muscles jumper that will be here next week!

Let's see what else. Since we went back to Children's Hospital a few days ago, Ashton got put back on his steroid cream to manage his eczema flareup and he is a different baby. His skin is glowing, totally clear, and we can tell he is so much more comfortable. He has been so peaceful and happy the last couple of days, next to no fussing, taking good naps, etc. It makes ME so happy and I finally feel relaxed for the first time in awhile. There's nothing worse than knowing your baby is hurting and not being able to help. I'm thankful they were able to get us in and get us the cream that we needed because this flareup wasn't going away on its own. He still gets a little annoyed in the mornings and at night when we grease him up like a butterball turkey but it's for his own good :) I always think to myself how crazy different all babies are - I mean, it makes sense because all people are different, but who would have thought our baby would be so sensitive, have such bad allergies, etc.? Just things you don't expect, you know? But in spite of that stuff, he has the biggest blue eyes,  blond spiky hair and the funniest, happiest little spirit about him. Writing about him like this (he's napping right now) brings tears to my eyes, I love him so much. For all the tough times so far, they don't even compare to the good stuff, and there's more of the good stuff than I know what to do with.

Happy 6 month birthday baby (nice squash on your shirt ;) )

What's so funny?

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