The bees knees

My son started crawling one week ago today. This is such an exciting time for my husband and I. Our baby is growing so fast...and he can move surprisingly fast too! Admittedly, we were not very well prepared for this new phenomena. We had to rush out to the baby store, stocking up on outlet covers and cabinet door latches to keep all dangers out of his reach. One thing we were ready for was protecting his little knees from all the hard surfaces in our home. My cousin, and fellow enthusiast of all things baby, gave me Baby Legs as a shower gift. Baby legs are leg warmers, sized right for little tiny legs. They're still pretty big on my JUST turned 9-month-old, but that just means we've got lots of use ahead of us. Stretchy, breathable material ensures they fit just right and don't get too hot. My baby's Baby Legs are cream with tan stripes and adorable little bees at the top - a perfect accessory to his bumble bee themed nursery. I think, technically, they are meant just for keeping his legs warm, but they work wonderfully as buffers against the hardwood floors too. He crawls all around in total comfort thanks to these handy little items. I could really tell they made a difference because when I took them off, I cringed at the squeaky sound of his bare skin dragging across the hard floor. I think he was much more comfortable with his Baby Legs on.

A quiet gem of a toy

If you've set foot in a toy store lately, you've probably noticed that most toys are loud, obnoxious, and feature lots of blinking lights. And if you're a parent of a baby or toddler, you're probably as sick of hearing the same songs in the same nasal voice as my husband and I are. But trying to find a good toy that helps baby develop skills, encourages hands-on activity and won't give you a headache is not an easy task. It seems like all toy manufacturers insist on these overly-stimulating, seizure-inducing monstrosities. What happened to the simple toys that gave baby a chance to let his mind create the fun instead of letting a machine do it for him? A co-worker of mine gave me her (and her child's - that's important!) favorite baby toy as a shower gift. The Parents Alpha Block Sorter is a wonderful toy that gives baby hands-on play, and gives you a break from all the racket.

Designed for babies 6 months and up, we broke out these blocks when my son was 5 months old. He'll be 9 months in just a few days and he still plays with them EVERY night. They're the perfect toy to settle him down with a little quiet time before bath, book and bottle. Each of the 8 blocks are filled with a soft foam so even if he falls over on top of them he'll never get hurt. 5 of the blocks have a toy in the middle which is wonderful for working on baby's dexterity as he tries to pull out whatever he sees inside. Some are rubbery cylinders or triangles with fun textures to experience. One is a clear plastic tube with a ball that rolls around inside. But my son's favorite is the clear plastic triangle that's filled with multi-colored beads. He loves to shake it and listen to the beads rattling around. And with 6 sides to every block, that's 48 unique surfaces with brightly colored pictures to help baby learn his ABC's and 123's. My husband has fun with these blocks too. The two of them make a little game of Daddy trying to stack them all before baby knocks them all down. My son shows no sign of losing interest in these blocks any time soon. I'm sure they're going to be a part of out nightly routine for quite some time.

Little luxuries

How would you like to be shocked with a cold, wet cloth on your bare bottom in the middle of the night? It wouldn't feel good, would it? So why would you put baby through that? There's a simple solution. The Munchkin WarmGlow Wipes Warmer keeps baby wipes nice and warm so there's no discomfort to baby during a diaper change. Now, is this product really necessary? Of course not! But it sure is considerate. This warmer holds up to 100 wipes. It's super easy to refill and it gives off just enough glow that you don't have to turn on any lights in the middle of the night. No lights and no cold wet cloths. Both of these things are important when you have to consider putting your babe back to sleep. I have found that in the really dry winter months, it is necessary to add some extra water now and then or the wipes will dry out. They have stayed adequately moist the rest of the year. It's a wonderful little product that I'm sure my baby appreciates even more than me.

Nosefrida? Oh, no no no!

If it's made in Sweden, it has to be good, right? The Nosefrida...oh, where to begin? I decided to give this unique nasal aspirator a try after reading all the great reviews on various websites and blogs. Everyone was raving about how effective it was. At $17, I think it's a pretty expensive booger extractor, but, hey, everyone else seems to love it! Once it arrived, I wasn't sure I could go through with it. You see, the way the Nosefrida works is you place the cylinder just outside of
baby's nostril. Then you put that flexible tube IN YOUR MOUTH. Yes, you read that correctly. You put it in your mouth and SUCK the snot! There is a filter between the cylinder and the tube so you can be sure nothing green reaches your lips. Ewww! This was a huge leap for me considering I gag and heave over just about anything. I guess when it's your baby, you just find the courage somewhere. I waited until he had a stuffy nose, whipped out the Nosefrida, put the cylinder in place, the tube in my mouth and sucked with all my might. Then I did it again.
I sucked until I almost passed out, but I couldn't get anything out of that little stuffy nose of his. Plus, he kept trying to put the cylinder in his mouth. This thing doesn't work. I even tried Saline to loosen up the stuff first. Sucked 'til I was blue in the face and the mucus hadn't budged. So, I pulled out my trusty bulb aspirator and out it all came. Baby could breathe clear again. My advice, when it comes to nasal aspirators - save yourself the $17 and take the hospital aspirator home with you. The one they use when baby is first born - that is the best aspirator you'll ever find. They're going to charge you for it anyway (probably more than $17, though!) so you might as well keep it. No other aspirators work as well as the one the pediatrician uses on your baby in his or her first minutes of life.