If All Else Fails...

Try a book!

 I've been having some troubles with the Little Man letting me change his diapers. I get them off, I get him wiped up, and then when I go to put the new diaper on the little stinker decides he's sat still long enough and he tries to take off on me. (If he's on the changing table he likes to try and crawl or stand up) And half the time he either doesn't let me get him all cleaned up before he's uninterested with getting clean or won't even let me attempt to take off his dirty diaper. I've tried giving him toys, letting him play with my bracelet (while it's still on my arm so I'm one handed while changing him) singing songs, giving him the baby wipes to hold, reasoning with him... If you try and keep him there by holding him in place it just makes it worse because then there's fits and flailing. The one and only thing I can get him to sit still for is a book. (though even then I've gotta be quick)

"W" loves books! His favorite thing is to hold them and examine them himself, but as he likes to eat them and is of course rough with the pages he is only allowed board books at the moment. He also likes when Momma reads to him, but doesn't like to spend too much time on one page so often I retell the story in my own words if it is long. I've caught him often times talking while having books open, not quite sure if that's him trying to "read out loud," but I find it awfully cute. Sometimes when I have my own book he will let me read that to him out loud while he sits in my lap, but many times it's when he's getting too tired to put up a fight or he has something else occupying his attention and I'm just background noise. Both my husband and I are big readers, I could shut myself up in my room for days if I had a good enough book, I've also been known to finish books in a day or two (the Harry Potter and Twilight books are among those). Though I don't have that kind of time now that I have "W". Now the books I read can be finished in mere minutes (as is requested) and many tend to rhyme. But that doesn't matter to me, because it makes my son happy to see the pictures and hear the words. I just hope his love of books continues on through it life......Might just make school a little easier in the future....

*Then again reading books and doing schoolwork are two completely different things... I should know I hated the latter.*

Cars, Colors, and Exploring the Yard

Today W (my Cubbie) and I went outside for a little bit. It was a bit hot so we didn't stay out long, but it was still nice and not raining (which it's been doing a lot of lately) so I figured we could handle a half hour or so of some fresh air, and Vitamin D. While we live in a very very small town (it takes you about 5min to walk from one side of town to another) we live on a busy road, and one of W's favorite things to do outside is sit and watch the cars drive by our house. So this afternoon we took a blanket outside and sat in the shade of our trees and watched as all the different cars drove by, but we don't just watch the cars we say what color they are and what kind of car. This way I can turn a simple activity into learning.

Black Truck

Red Semi

Silver Car

For an almost 9 month old baby even his favorite activity can only last so long before something else grabs his attention (could also be that he has inherited his Momma's ADHD lol). After a little while of naming off vehicles and colors W decided to explore the yard. He's been in grass a few times before but the first time he starts crawling in it he's always unsure about it so he started out on his hands and feet instead of his knees.

He had suddenly noticed a bush in the yard and decided he wanted to check out what it was. He touched the leaves for a while and then decided it wasn't interesting enough so his next conquest was the closest tree. The texture of the tree was something he was fascinated with so I let him figure that out for a little bit before I decided it was hot enough out that we should head back into our nice cool air conditioned home.

My Lil' Man is very curious and having been stuck cooped up inside all winter I think this summer is going to be full of all kinds of explorations and new discoveries. I can't wait to get his sandbox cleaned out and full of new sand and see what he thinks about all that. Though knowing W he'll just try and eat the sand. I know this summer is going to be so much fun!

Half Baby Half Beaver

My little Cubbie has been teething since he was 4 months old. He has been getting his teeth in order, bottom front, top front, and the two on the side of the top front so far. Now we are waiting for the two on the bottom next to the front two, which should be anytime now. While he's been pretty good about not letting his mouth upset him too much, he hasn't been sick with a cold because of it, and he doesn't really cry too much about it what he has done is chew on everything! Now I know that every baby teethes and a lot of babies bite when they are teething, but my son seems to have taken it to a new level. 

It's common for babies to use their crib as a chew toy, as it tends to be at just the right height when they wake up or when they sleep for them to pull up to when they are ready to stand. What I don't think is common (as I have yet to come across someone who isn't as shocked as I was when I saw it) is taking bits of wood out of the crib railing. Many mom's were suggesting the crib railing protectors that you can get at Babies-R-Us, but the plastic ones only cover the top of the rail (he was also chewing on the underside of the rails) and the sides of his crib are a bit thicker and not straight across so I'd need something that could curve. The fleece ones are nice, and they tend to wrap around the railings and you can attach toys to them but they are around $25 (did find one for $20 but it was only a long one) a piece (one piece is either one large one for the front of the crib, or 2 small pieces for each of the sides). While they are nice, I don't have $50 to protect a hand-me-down crib that only cost me that much, at the same time it's a very nice cherry wood 3-in-1 crib that can grow with him so I would like it to stay nice. So that comes to my less expensive solution and how I cam about it.

When I found the gnaw marks I was getting ready to put my Lil' Man to bed and as he wakes up about an hr before he cries to get let out I didn't want him chewing on the crib when he woke up. My husbands quick solution was to grab one of his shirts and wrap it around where Cubbie was chewing. The next day I knew that wouldn't hold up for too long as any smart baby would figure out he just needs to chew on a different section of the crib. So I made it my mission that day to try and find something to use. I asked for help on FB, but other than the rail guards I only recieved my mom's suggestion of using the stuff you put on fingernails to stop nailbiting or thumb sucking, and my dad's suggestion of rubbing onions on the crib. ?:s The later of which I was not about to consider trying. Then I remembered a very long piece of fabric which my mom had given me for something else and it didn't work. I thought why not just wrap the crib with it. While I still need to take it off and cut the fabric in half to make it all the way around, my quick fix of finnishing it off with recieving blankets seems to have worked. Cubbie can chew on the fabric to his hearts delight, and I can save whats left of the rails, and hope that when he's done with the teething stage I can get the crib refinished.

These two pictures are from the front railing of the crib. On this part he was mostly chewing on the top of the rail.

These two pictures are from the right side of the crib looking out. It's the side that's closest to the door so he will stand there waiting for someone to come to the door. Since the bottom is more at his mouth level at the moment he chews on the bottom of the rail here.

All four pictures are from different sections he has chewed on.

 And here is the crib after I have wrapped it (I do plan on wrapping the whole thing with the one kind of fabric just haven't gotten around to it yet) 

So if you are looking for a less expensive way to protect your crib railing I would say this is a pretty effective solution. The fabric is about 7yds long before I cut it (I believe but that's only a guess as I haven't actually measured it) but if you get about 6yds and cut it in half that should be more than plenty to get around two sides and the front of the crib. If you have a crib which is the same level all the way around I'd go with a little more like 9yds as you'll want to go all the way around and then cut it down the middle long ways. And there are plenty of different kinds of fabrics and designs I just used what I had on hand which was just printed cotton fabric. Right now it's a bit sloppy, but if you fold it nice and wrap it tight and over top of each other it can still look nice. :)

Introductions

So I guess I should tell you a bit about me (Momma Bear) and Cubbie (my 'lil man) and what our blog is all about. After all wouldn't you want to know what it is you're going to be reading about? Well to sum it up this blog is going to be about Me, my Husband and my Cubbie's adventures, misadventures, successes, and failures as we learn together about life, love, and the world we are growing up in.

I'm a 25yr old first time Momma of an almost 9 month old little boy. The three of us, which includes my husband/Cubbie's Papa Bear, live in a small town in Northern Indiana. My husband and I grew up in the same small town, went to the same small high school two years a part, but never met until we were well out of school. After a few years of tears and laughter we were blessed with the surprise of parenthood. We found out in January of 2010 that we would be expecting at the end of September, which caused us to move some plans around as we were scheduled to be married that August. With the help of our families we were able to move our wedding up to April and it was amazing.

I had a pretty easy going pregnancy, not even a moment of morning sickness, and no real weight gain till my last 2 months (not to brag as my second time around probably won't be as easy lol), with the exception of one bout of food poisoning in my second trimester. My due date was moved forward by 2 weeks in my 3rd trimester, and by the end of August the Dr told me my Lil Man could be here any day. Well I tried just about everything to get him to show up sooner rather than later as he was expected to be a bit on the larger end of the scale. Worried about my "large" baby I was induced September 17th, 2010, and gave birth to a healthy 8lb 11oz 21in long baby boy a little before 9pm. So while he was big, he wasn't the 10lb baby my Dr was expecting, and I thank God for that every day ;)

In the last year or more we as a family have been through a lot of ups and downs. Having to not only go through our first year of marriage, but with an infant can make it just a bit harder. But nothing makes it all better like peek-a-boo before falling asleep, or kisses when you wake up. I love watching my Cubbie learn and grow just as much as I love doing so myself with him. The rest of this blog will hopefully be about what we learn, how we learn it, what worked for us, and what didn't. I'm sure it will be filled with laughter and tears, but hopefully mostly joy (and probably a little bragging about my beautiful and smart baby boy).

The world around us is a wondrous thing and its so amazing to see it through new eyes.