an umma's new considerations : by amy

There are some obvious changes that one expects after having kids: sleep habits, travel plans (lack thereof), quality and quantity of TV time, strong language around kids, etc.  But there are a some things that aren't so obvious-- things that I've just started noticing that I do/consider.

1. Parking jobs

Especially now that I have 2 kids in the backseat, I choose my parking spots extra carefully to ensure that I can open both backseat doors freely.  Logan is a little easier since I can slip him out of a tight door opening, but Charlie's infant car seat is obviously much wider, so a tight spot on the left side just won't do.  But this is a warning to non-parents!  Please park properly or else you will risk not only getting your car door damaged from the banging of another car door trying to open, but you might also end up getting this special unwanted gift if your parking job REALLY sucks (it's a poopy diaper too): 

2. Disguising innocent words

Obviously, one does not want to curse in front of their children (although I've seen/heard plenty of parents still do it, accidental or not).  They're going to learn these words one day anyway, but we still don't want to encourage using that kind of language, particularly at such a young age.  During our conversations, he husband and I will often disguise or change words so instead of "that's stupid," we'll say "that's silly."  But sometimes, we'll be talking about something totally innocent and not want Logan to hear it just yet because he'll lose focus on what he's currently doing-- like if Logan's eating his dinner, and I'll ask the husband "do we have any BA's left?"  ("BA" is code for banana).  If I say the word "banana," Logan will instantly stop eating his dinner, push it away, and start screaming "NANA-NANA!!!"  If you're ever at my house, don't say the following words in front of Logan while he is eating his main meal: banana ("BA"), raisin ("RAI"), orange ("ORA"), Sesame Street ("SS"), Charlie Brown ("Peanuts").  You can use the appropriate codes or speak of such things after he's completed eating his main course :).

3. Germs!

I was never a germaphobe before having kids, however my husband is a clean-freak.  But we are both in the camp of exposing our kids to some germs to help toughen their immune systems.  If Logan dropped a cracker on the ground, I'd give it a little blow and give it right back to him-- no biggie.  Now, if it fell on the floor of the NYC subway, then I'd throw it right in the trash!  (you realize how disgusting the city is after you have kids).  A few weeks ago, Logan contracted some virus from school and after just 1 sneeze on baby Charlie, the poor baby got bronchiolitis at only 2.5 months.  Since then, I've been a little more germaphobic around the baby.  The only thing babies put in their mouths at this age are their hands, so I am typically careful not to touch his hands unless I need to or if I know my hands have just been washed.  It made me realize my friends must've cringed whenever I touched their babies' hands!  To be safe (and respectful), always wash your hands before touching a baby and avoid touching babies' hands unless you know your hands are clean.

4. My wardrobe

I'm in that in-between stage where neither pregnancy nor pre-pregnancy clothes fit me.  I've been living in stretchy leggings and Uniqlo jeggings-- hopefully far from being "frumpy!"  Many people make the wrong assumption that moms don't think or care about their wardrobe after they have kids.  But you know what?  Maybe it's quite the opposite-- some moms DO think about their wardrobe much more than you think.  For example, in this colder weather, I want to throw on my thick sweaters that have been unworn for the past 8 months but I always have to stop and ask myself: 1) When was the last time I washed this?  2) Was it with the Free & Clear detergent?  3) Is this material going to irritate Charlie's skin?  4) Does it cover my fat ass?  (Most of my sweaters fail the 4th question).  I have a few trendy faux fur vests that I've been wanting to don, but alas, they are not baby-friendly.  Necklaces are often a no-go given my baby will likely rub his face on them too.  Even my shoes are affected!   How I long to wear cute pumps again!  But have you tried carrying an (extremely heavy) infant car seat and baby bag while walking in heels?  While your legs may look skinny and sexy, it's neither safe nor comfortable.  And shoes that require straps or buckles?  What mother has time for that??  Baby is crying, toddler is running away-- it is GO-time!  So, I've been sticking with anything that I can slip-on easily: flats and my Sorel boots for extra-cold weather.  So next time you see me dressed in boring-not-so-fashionable-cotton outfits please know that I did take a lot of time thinking about my outfit!

Korea again! : by jean

Hello from Korea!  Check out our last trip to Korea here .

Since we made the trip last year, I already knew what to expect.  The jet lag will suck while we are there and then once we get back.  The biggest concern this year is that Miles is now too big for the bassinet.  Miles is still under 2 so legally I don't have to purchase a seat for him which is a huge plus but also a huge concern.  We were banking on the possibility that the plane wouldn't be full so that we could have an extra seat between us for Miles...and luckily we DID get an extra seat!  Miles did pretty well for the most part.  He didn't enjoy the kids' meal but rather liked the bibimbap that was for the adults. (He's a true Korean...loves rice!)

Our flight was at 1pm which is around his nap time.  Because he was so fascinated by the plane he was fine past his nap time and went down around 3pm and slept for about 2 hours.  He comfortably laid down in between us while we made room for him to stretch and sat awkwardly.  He went down to sleep for the night a little after his usual time and was able to sleep for about 6 hours, leaving only about an hour left once he woke up.  All in all, he slept well, but we (husband and I) were SO uncomfortable and pretty much pulled an all nighter! :(

The one major item that helped us through the flight was the iPad.  I used to judge parents (sorry being honest here) who used to give kids their phones/iPads during dinner to keep them occupied.  I TOTALLY get it now!!  Anytime he started to melt down, an episode of Sesame Street or Barney helped us.  Did you know that Asiana Airlines now has USB and power plugs at your seats?! Amazing!

We are now dealing with day one of jet lag.  Hopefully we will adjust soon!

being a working-stay-at-home-mom (WSAHM) : by amy

I'm taking 5 months of maternity leave-- did the same with Logan, but I'm enjoying my leave much more the second time around.  Logan is going to day care full-time, so that leaves me with just one child at home to look after for most of the day which is a total luxury!  Logan gets to be engaged with music, books, outdoors play and socialize all day, and I get to take a productive "break" during the day when Charlie is napping.  ("break"= shower, eating, tidying up the house, laundry, cooking) This is a totally different stay-at-home experience than I had with Logan.  But there is one thing I learned about myself this time around: I am a very expensive stay-at-home-mom.

What do I mean exactly?  Learning from my first maternity leave, I know I can't stay in the house all day.  I need to go out at least once a day.  Fortunately for me, I live in the most convenient location of arguably one of the most convenient towns in New Jersey.  I live <10 minutes from every major retailer, Wegmans and Korean grocery shopping and restaurants; 5 minutes from a decent mall, 15 minutes from a nicer mall, and 25 minutes from a "baller" mall.  Oh, and Uniqlo just opened up in 2 of those malls.  Now that I'm somewhat nap-training Charlie, I make a field trip during his 2nd nap.  Today, I went to HomeGoods.  Yesterday, I went to Target.  Friday, I went to Nordstroms and learned that it was their half-yearly women's and kids sale.  Gap keeps giving me 40% off everything.  I double-stacked coupon codes at Piperlime and got $260 worth of stuff for only $60.  My co-worker gave me the Friends and Family coupon for PB Kids.  Restoration Hardware and Bloomingdales just had their Friends and Family sales.  Oh, and did I mention that Uniqlo opened up in 2 locations near me?

Aside from the food shopping, all of this "window shopping" and sales alerts have got me spending more than I did when I was actually going to work.  I don't actually shop every time there's a sale, but I definitely am tempted to buy more stuff just because it's on sale!  I used to be a bit of a sale-aholic before having kids, but once I had kids, I somewhat lost interest in shopping unless it was for food or for the kids (my mom calls it "maturity").  And it doesn't help (or perhaps it does) that I'm still getting a full-time paycheck.  But now that I'm at home, I feel like retailers are coming at me!  Hey, welcome to the SAHM world!  We have a sale so come spend your money here!  After all, you deserve a little retail therapy!  Even though I've been spending a bit more than usual, I feel like it's mostly been constructive spending.  Perhaps it feels like I'm shopping more since I actually have the time to get things that I've always been meaning to get,  like flannel sheets and a nightstand for Logan's room, picture frames for new family photos, fall and winter sweaters for Logan, a bigger diaper bag, a new hutch for the dining room, black ankle socks and stretchy transitional pieces for me as I slowly start to lose the baby weight, more Heat-tech shirts for Charles (the last 3 things were all from Uniqlo).  These purchases don't sound too bad, right?  When I was working, I typically did all of this discretionary shopping online if I had a lucky few minutes during mental breaks...or I just didn't buy them at all.  Is this what all SAHMs do?  I doubt it.  Since I'm a WSAHM (meaning, I'm a temporary SAHM), I'm not making any effort to join any mommy groups to make new local friends or sign up for baby classes at my local Gymboree.  I'd rather have a relationship with my American Express card.  Just kidding, sort of.

I actually had a conversation with my father-in-law about me being an expensive WSAHM.  He laughed and told me I was truly living the life as "Mrs. Chang" (my mother-in-law has always been an expensive SAHM).  The husband and I (and my father-in-law!) agreed that it's better for our bank account and my social life if I return to work in February when my leave ends.  From now on, I'm focusing more of my energy on reorganizing rooms and cleaning out stuff in our house.  It's therapeutic, something I likely will never do once I return to work, and way cheaper.  Too bad I don't get Amex points for it though.

Tangent: Uniqlo has been my savior during these post-baby days.

 This Heat Tech lounge dress is like wearing a toasty cloud.  Winter must-have for only $30.

 Post-pregnancy magic pants.  Stretchy denim leggings that come in S/M/L with an ahjumah-style elastic waist band (which I shamelessly love).  The best part?  Only $20.

milk or night light? : by jean

(It's been a while since my last post as well.  Sorry! Life's just been busy. :p)

Miles has relapsed again.  He SCREAMS when we put him to bed now.  Not just a whiny "I don't want to go to bed" type of thing, but a painful scream that is exhausting to listen to...and I'm sure exhausting for him.  We let him cry it out a few times.  Each time it lasted about 20 minutes.

Then the other day I thought, could he be screaming because it's so dark in there?  Normally there's still some day light when we put Miles down but now that the days are getting shorter, it's dark by the time it's Miles' bedtime.

My roommie thinks it's because we haven't been giving him milk after dinner.  When he doesn't ask for it, I haven't been giving it to him.  He normally eats very well for dinner so he definitely doesn't NEED milk before bed.

So we tested Miles.  We gave him milk AND had a little night light for him.  He whined for 30 seconds and then was off to bed.  I think it was the night light, but roommie thinks it was the milk.  The next couple of nights we alternated giving him milk and not giving him milk while the night light stayed on at all times.  Unfortunately, after he whined for 30 seconds, he then continued to cry/scream for about 20 minutes.  Last night was 6 minutes.  Tonight it was 3 minutes!

The next couple of nights was up and down.  At one point, I thought maybe Miles was more upset about being stuck in the crib so we tried letting him sleep on the floor.  FAIL.  I was so close to converting his crib into a toddler bed which means he can get out whenever he wants...but the roommie and I decided it wasn't time yet and that he must just need another review on how to sleep.

The moral of the story is that there's absolutely no rhyme or reason as to WHY they relapse.  Does it ever end?  Please tell me it does before they turn 18 and are out of the house. :p

Update: now we are dealing with daylight savings.  With the time changes, Miles is exhausted by the time its his bedtime and doesn't even really fight with us anymore.  Maybe a whine but that's about it. However, he's now waking us up at 5:45am! Grrrrreeat!  Anyone else hate daylight savings??

they are cute until they wake you up at 5:45am!!

the big change / baby brother : by amy

I know it's been over 7 weeks since I lasted blogged.  When I'm not feeding the baby or cleaning around the house, I had to make the decision if I should sleep, eat or blog during my "free" time-- sleep was typically my first choice :P.

I know my next "big change" post was supposed to be about transitioning to the twin size bed, but turns out, the transition was pretty anti-climatic and not really blog-post-worthy on its own.  In a nutshell, we purchased his bed right before his sleep regression incident, so decided to hold off on transitioning until maybe a couple of months after the baby brother arrived.  But one Saturday night in July, I went out to a birthday dinner in the city, and Logan decided he wanted OUT of the crib!  This wasn't completely surprising to us because a few weeks before this, he decided he didn't want to sleep in the crib at grandma's house either.  She made a bed for him on the floor with a bunch of comforters/thick blankets, and that's where he prefers to sleep now.  Anyway, after 2 hours of crying (and what we dreaded was yet another sleep regression cycle...), Logan dragged dad into his new room where his new bed awaited for months.  He and dad hopped in and both fell asleep in the bed.  There was no turning back after that-- every night, we did our same bedtime routine, but let him climb into his new bed which was filled with "friends" and plenty of books.  He never comes out of the bed at night, nor does he come out in the morning when he wakes up-- he just "reads" in bed and waits for one of us to come in.  Seems like an easy transition, right?  Yeah, I thought so too.  I'll take it.

So what other big changes happened in Logan's/my life?  I had another baby!  Charlie's arrival to the world was 5 days early.  The experience was far less painful and more pleasant than my labor with Logan, which was induced and drawn out.  I was 4 cm dilated by the time I arrived at the hospital, and I probably could've had the baby within the next 3 hours after arriving, but my epidural slowed things down, which was fine with me since I got to sleep for 2-3 hours before pushing and changing my life again forever.

After only 15 minutes of pushing, little Charlie made his way into the world, weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces and 19 inches long-- significantly smaller than his big brother who was 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 inches long!  I was pretty strict with my diet after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so that affected Charlie's size, but I've been plumping him up pretty quickly!  Let me tell you-- it is FAR easier to push out a 6-7 pound baby than an 8 pound baby!  Your vagina and body will thank you if you control your diet during pregnancy!  I'm sure it was also easier this time around since it was my second, but I definitely learned about the consequences of a good diet during pregnancy.

We tried to prepare Logan for his baby brother's arrival as best as we could-- we would talk about the baby, he would hug and kiss "baby" (my stomach), and he got a book about being a big brother.  When Logan visited the hospital for the first time, he was interested in the baby for about 10 seconds and then decided the hospital room's furniture was more interesting to play on.  Our entire family made sure to shower Logan with extra love and attention during these past 7 weeks. He does get bouts of jealousy which manifest themselves through silence and avoiding eye contact with whoever is holding the baby.  And until just recently, he would whine and get upset if dad held Charlie, but these days, he's been more mellow.  But generally, I think our approach and Logan's reaction has been pretty good.  We encourage Logan to help during diaper changes and feedings so he can feel involved.  Logan is very affectionate with Charlie and gets concerned (shows his sad face) when he hears Charlie crying ("baby cry-in. [finds baby monitor] "baby!?").

Learning to be gentle with baby Charlie

Logan loves to give kisses to baby Charlie

I also don't immediately drop everything to attend to Charlie when he starts crying, especially if I'm spending time with Logan.  I do this for three reasons - 1) Charlie just has to deal with the fact that I cannot always come to him immediately-- sorry, 2nd born!  2) I also give him the opportunity to calm himself down if I don't think he's crying out of hunger.  3) During these early transitional times, I don't want Logan to think that Charlie is always stealing me away from him whenever he cries.  So if Charlie starts crying, Logan first acknowledges it ("baby cry-in."), and I will calmly say Yes, Charlie's crying, but it's OK-- umma will go get him soon.  I'll wait a minute or so (also based on timing, like if it was a really short nap, I'll wait to see if Charlie can calm himself down), and then give Logan the head's up that I'll be right back.

Speaking of crying, I have definitely been letting Charlie cry more than I did with Logan.  And I came to a recent epiphany: I think a reason why Logan was such a terrible napper during his pre-sleep-training days was because I never gave him a chance to learn how to settle himself, i.e. let him cry longer.  Whenever he woke up from his 10-15 minute naps, I would immediately pick him up and think that was the end of his nap.  I guess a first-time-mom rookie mistake?  But with Charlie, often because I have no choice since I'm attending to Logan, I'll let him cry, and maybe after 10 minutes, he'll be able to go back to sleep.  Charlie is also less sensitive to the sounds of our old creaky house (as I had complained about in this post), probably because he had to sleep through Logan's shenanigans during the first month when we had him sleeping/napping downstairs in our office next to the dining room.  And, one of the best differences (which I hope doesn't change) is that unlike Logan during this age, Charlie can fall and stay asleep on his own without me having to hold him all the time.  I've been very conscientious about this-- I hold/rock Charlie until he gets very drowsy/falling asleep, and then I put him down, even if he's sort of awake.  He will sometimes cry when I put him down, but I won't pick him back up (cruel, I know) because I know he is tired.  After 10-15 minutes of crying, he will go to sleep.  Thus far, Charlie has been a much better napper than Logan.  He's OK at night-- doing 4-5 hour stretches right now at 7 weeks.  Logan was doing 8-9 hour stretches at this time, but that's probably because he napped horribly during the day!  Anyway, I'm hoping that when I truly sleep-train Charlie (if I need to), it will be a less painful process since I'm already having him get used to these certain circumstances.

Charlie at 7 weeks

The super-exhausting days are now turning into just regular exhausting days now that I weaned and Charlie is sleeping for 4-hour stretches at night, so hopefully I can blog a bit more regularly.  In the mean time... sweet dreams!

Babies and social media: by jean

I came across this article last week, "Media Elite Making Twitter Accounts for Children."

I'm not gonna lie. I thought it was rather ridiculous-- people tweeting on behalf of their kids.  Sure it can be funny and cute here and there...but come on!

But then I started realizing maybe it wasn't too crazy after all.  Soon after Miles was born, we heard people say they made gmail accounts for their babies so that they can get the name they wanted for their account.  At first I thought, "why would we do that?" but then I realized there could there be more Miles Lees in this world taking over his email address.  So, Miles now has his own gmail account.  (Remember the days when gmail was so new you had to be invited to make an account?!)

I still think tweeting on behalf of your own child is a bit much, but perhaps making an email account or a facebook page isn't too crazy.  I've seen friends who made FB accounts for their babies so that only friends and family will get updates and pictures in their newsfeeds.  I've also had moms tell me that they started writing to their kids' email addresses-- letters to them about what they are going through so they can read them when they get older.

Google had the same thought and made a commercial.

Dear Sophie Google Commercial

Made you tear, right?  Or was that only me? :p

Have you made an email address for your kids?  Or are you already tweeting on behalf of them?

birthday blunder? : by amy

Logan turned two a few weeks ago, but we had a family birthday party for him much earlier since the husband was going to be out of town on Logan's actual birthday (boo!).  I made a big 'ol cake, made some bo-ssam (Korean-style boiled pork lettuce wraps), and had all of our family members over to shower Logan with birthday love. 

Magnolia's vanilla cake recipe with rainbow chip icing

the happy 2 year old! 

family!

Logan loved the attention, blowing out the candles, licking off the frosting of the cake, and REALLY loved his birthday gift from Aunt Jean-- the buckle backpack!

He got some other fun gifts, like play doh, "non-messy" finger paint (Crayola is really amazing), a wooden choo-choo train, $100 (...which dad borrowed for his Chicago trip...), but none of these gifts could surpass the awesomeness of the buckle backpack! 

providing toddlers with focused, buckling fun!

So, at school (day care), kids have small birthday parties even for two-year olds.  The teacher told me not to bring in cupcakes because they're too big-- she said munchkins or veggie stix go over pretty well.  Some kids' parents prepare goodie bags too (usually with junk that goes straight into the garbage).  Some memorable ones that Logan received included cereal bars, (or some other type of parent-approved treat), a small pack of crayons, and a Thomas the Train whistle (which he loves blowing).  These are all very usable and practical "goodies" for two-year olds.  So, I wanted to prepare something small to celebrate Logan's birthday too, but something simple and practical.  I made little goodie bags that included small cups filled with animal cookies (from Wegmans, of course...and organic).

I also brought in a box of munchkins that the kids could have during their afternoon snack.  Simple, right?  I mean, the kid is turning two and probably isn't worried about peer pressure or having "cool stuff" for his birthday just yet.  I also didn't plan on being there to distribute the afternoon snack because...I just didn't think he would care if I came or not.  I'm not even sure if he would understand what the munchkins were for (it was his first time having a munchkin).  And we had a huge birthday party for him at home which obviously was more significant than this afternoon-snack party at school.  I don't think other full-time working moms come to their two-year old's afternoon-snack birthday parties...or do they?

So, I've got the school video streaming on my desktop while at work to watch them celebrate Logan's birthday.  I remembered it was another girl's birthday too-- same day as Logan's.  And the teachers told me her mom was bringing fruit and some type of small cake.  Well, the kid's ENTIRE FAMILY came to the classroom for the afternoon-snack-birthday party!  The mom walked in with a ginormous craft-bin filled with what turned out to be goodie bags filled with...stuff that's going straight into my garbage (I'm not being mean-- I'm being real.  See items below).

What does a 2-year old do with "mouska-bucks"?  I don't give my toddler Tootsie roll pops, gummy snacks or chocolate gold coins.  And he's not skilled enough to play with a mini maze and will probably eat the rubber blue ball.

Then she whipped out this huge roll cake with candles.  The dad was taking pictures like the papparazzi.  Suddenly, Logan's simple munchkin party was overshadowed by this hoopla of a birthday party.  A part of me was like "um...was I supposed to do this too??"  Was I supposed to drop everything and come to my son's 2-year old birthday "party" at day care with all the bells and whistles?  I mean, I can understand turning 3 and older-- kids are much more aware of what birthday parties are, but my kid just learned how to say "birthday" a week ago, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't really understand what a birthday is.  But, I shouldn't hate.  It was sweet that her family took the time off to celebrate the occasion.  Next year, I will go to his school for his 3rd birthday party and will bring in the works!  (but my goodie bag is still going to be simple and practical!)

Logan ended up having three birthday parties anyway.  One with the entire family, one at school, and another mini-party with my in-laws and me while the husband was out of town on Logan's actual birthday.  Here's footage from the third party:

still talking about sleep! : by jean

Yes, more on sleep.  My last posts were on sleep (here and here) and we need to talk more about it.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided we couldn't do this any longer.  Ever since Miles started his sleep regression, the only way to get him to sleep was for one of us to stay in the room with him so he sees that we are RIGHT by him.  From my research, it said that these sleep regressions go on from 2-6 weeks.  It's been a month and it hasn't been getting much better.  So we decided to start the dreaded CIO session again.  I blame my mom for his sleep regression.  She visited and stayed with us for almost 3 weeks and during that time she would give me the evil eye whenever I would let Miles cry when I put him down to sleep.  I think Miles also felt the "grandma vibe" because I swear he started this regression on the first night she was home.  She denies giving me ANY looks but is glad she isn't here for the CIO sessions.  Remember, DON'T fall into grandma pressure!

If you read my post from way back on our original sleep training, CIO was hard but it worked well.  I had Miles sleeping from 7:30-7:30 almost every night.  We would do our bedtime routine, put him down in his crib and walk out.  Sometimes he would whine, cry, fuss here and there but nothing more than 5 minutes.  Now, it was time to re-sleep train.

Day 1:
Sunday night, we had gotten home a bit later than we had liked so Miles was already dozing off a bit in the car.  I didn't want to move him after he fell asleep so I kept him awake.  We did the same bedtime routine, put him in his crib and walked out.  He laid down for a good 30 seconds and then the crying/screaming started.  It lasted for 22 minutes.  My stomach was in knots.  Something about this time around was harder than before.  Perhaps because he was more aware of what was going on, and I was I worried I was traumatizing him.

Day 2:
13 minutes.
I couldn't stay to hear him cry again, so I took a shower while the roommate monitored him.

Day 3:
22 minutes

I went to the supermarket during that time and got some ice cream (ice cream is a great way to comfort yourself during CIO sessions).

Day 4:
Started crying even before I left the room. 4 mins of crying and then sat in his crib for about 15 minutes as if he was pondering what he should do next...and then finally, he laid down.

Day 5:
3 mins of crying standing up and then settled down for a bit, sitting down and sucking on his fingers, but then started crying again 30 seconds later.  He cried for about 2 more minutes and then just stayed seated in the corner of the crib right by the door.  By minute 15, he was finally laying down.  Not too bad. He only really cried for about 4-5 mins total!

Day 6:
10 mins of crying and then sitting down by the corner and down to sleep.

Day 7:
1 min of crying and then another minute of sitting by the corner and then laid down!!

Day 8:
4 mins of crying and then laid down.  But then sat up and cried for almost 30 minutes. UGH.  I thought we were on the right track...

Day 9:
30 seconds of crying and then laid down.  HOORAY!

Day 10:

Less than a minute of crying and then sleep position.

Day 11:

10 seconds of crying and then sleep position.

Day 12:
10 seconds of crying, then in sleep position.  randomly started crying again about 15 mins later, cried for another 10 seconds or less, sat down for a sec and back down in sleep position.

I think we are finally onto something.  He cries but stops after a few seconds and gets right into his sleeping position.  Re-training took almost 2 weeks!  I really thought he was just going to remember to go back to sleep on his own again like they say with sleep regressions, but I think he needed a little more push.

Miles also had a couple of episodes where he woke up in the middle of the night or would wake up around 4am and wouldn't go back to sleep.  Cranky baby + cranky parents isn't a good combo. Thankfully, now that he is somewhat back to his normal sleeping habits, waking up in the middle of night or waking up WAY too early is no long occurring.  YAY!

Turns out, Logan had a stint of sleep regression just recently too! (He is approaching 24 months).  We (Jean and Amy) literally texted each other every night when the kids were going to bed to update each other on the progress.  It's so great having friends who are going through what you are going through. :)   Here is Amy's experience:

Day 1:
Saturday night, we put him down after our normal bedtime routine, and he started crying after we closed the door.  Hmm, that's strange...maybe he pooped?  So I went in to check on him, but no poopie diaper.  I put him back in the crib and walked out.  More crying.  I let it go for 15 minutes.  Maybe he just wasn't tired?  But it was already past 8pm.  So I went back in and held him/soothed him.  I put him back in the crib and rocked in the rocking chair in his room.  He cried and fussed but eventually calmed down.  He looked at me often-- I pretended to be sleeping in the chair so not to re-engage with him.  After 45 minutes and a lot of yawning and eye-rubbing, I was pretty sure he was laying down and getting ready to fall asleep, so I tried to slip away...BIG MISTAKE!  He immediately got up and started screaming bloody murder again!  What happened to my sleep-trained child!?  It was now past 9pm, and I knew Logan needed to go to bed.  I remembered what a friend said once: when they regress, nip it in the bud early before you start letting things slip and build bad habits.  So, we let him cry it out.  I sat at the bottom of the staircase listening to every excruciating cry to see if he would vomit.  After about an hour of crying, Logan had finally gone to bed.  No vomitting, phew!

Day 2: It's Sunday night, which means work for us and school for Logan the next day, which means-- baby needs to sleep!!  But he ate a very late dinner, and I was afraid he would vomit in bed during CIO, so I laid on the floor next to his crib until he fell completely asleep, which was around 8:30pm. 

Day 3: OK, time to be strong.  We're going to CIO tonight.  Husband and I knew what to expect.  It lasted 66 minutes.  I will admit it's easier to sit through it when you're resolute on not going back up.  We also re-set our monitor so we were able to watch for any vomitting.

Day 4: 63 minutes!  And no vomit.

Day 5: 27 minutes!!  Progress!

Day 6: No tears!  I didn't bother watching him on the monitor.  I don't care what he's doing in the crib as long as he's not crying.  I also put a new book in his crib, which perhaps helped distract him.

Day 7: No tears again!  We put Elmo in his bed too, so he had a new sleep buddy to entertain him.

Fortunately, our re-sleep training took only a week.  He's been sleeping through the night every night with the exception of one (seemed like he had a bad dream).

In the end,  CIO isn't easy.  Not only do you have to make sure your child is ready for it, YOU have to be ready for it AND you and your partner have to be on the same page.  If one of you can't bear to listen, go take a long shower, or go out for a walk.  It was really torture for me to sit at home and listen him cry in our tiny apt.

Thankfully, both Logan and Miles are back to sleeping normally again.

the big change / day care : by amy

2013 is a year of big changes for Logan.  This will be the first of three in "the big change" series.  First up: change in care providers!

Since Logan was 5 months old, he had been going to a home care provider sponsored by Monday Morning.  We had a wonderful experience.  He was one of five kids in the house (ages newborn - 3 years old) and lovingly cared for by a woman named Bina.  She gave him his own room to sleep in, cooked all of his meals (once he was off BM/formula/purees) and received a lot of personal attention.  He was comfortable being around babies and older kids.  The older kids helped out a lot and "cared" for the babies (sort of Montessori-like).  But this comfy atmosphere ended last week when we put him in commercial day care.  My primary reason for changing care providers was to prepare for my maternity leave.  Bina's house is close to my office, which is 45 min. from my house, and there was no way I was going to shuttle him back and forth that distance while on maternity leave, so I needed to find something closer to home.  My second reason for changing it up was because I thought he was ready for a more social/structured type of experience.

Preparing for his first day was like preparing for a first day of school-- a ton of forms, labelling EVERYTHING, contemplating what to make for his snacks/lunch, and loads of anxiety!  (parental anxiety, not Logan).  The night before his first day, my husband and I checked on Logan as he slept like we always do.  As I watched him sleep so peacefully, I thought to myself Logan, rest well, my love!  Tomorrow's a big day of change...  Then, we prayed for him...and I cried.  Yup, tears of anxiety and apprehension.  He'll be OK, right?? I asked my husband.  Of course, he will be!  It'll just take some time...he will have to get used to change.  This wasn't even real school yet, and I was already crying!  I was just so anxious on his behalf.  We did a few visits to the school so he could familiarize himself with the rooms and teachers, but he really had no idea what was going to happen.

The morning drop-off was...quick.  He was eating his breakfast at the table when I left, and there were no tears...for the first 2 minutes.  I was doing security finger-printing at the front desk when I heard him WAILING from down the hall.  My heart sank, but I knew I couldn't go back.  I SPED to work so I could register and log-on to the day care's streaming camera system, and this is what I saw:

That's Logan on the right in the yellow shirt.  He wasn't wearing a yellow shirt when I dropped him off; he was wearing a blue one.  Turns out, he cried so hard that he threw up. :(  (and that's why they ask you to bring 3 changes of clothes!).  This was him during lunch time:

Don't worry-- he didn't throw up again.  The Ladybug class wears giant red t-shirts before they eat, so they can get as dirty as they want and then throw those shirts in the washing machine, which is nice so Logan is pretty clean when the day is over.  Anyway, aside from the morning throw-up, his first day went OK.

Fortunately, Logan is adjusting really well to day care.  He still cries when I drop him off, but according to my husband (who is already logged in and watching the cameras as I'm dropping him off), he only cries for a minute or so and then is happy for the rest of the day.  We can see him having fun, participating in circle-time, listening to the teacher read, and even napping in his cot (which is completely foreign to all of us).  It also helps that our neighbor is the school nurse, so she pops in a few times a day to check on him, and he can see a familiar face.

While things are going well at school, his behavior at home changed dramatically during the first week.  Some of it was probably related to him getting a fever (I actually don't think he got it from day care b/c it came too soon-- pretty sure he got it during the weekend), but he became extra clingy, temperamental/demanding and started to hate baths.  The bath aversion really puzzled me.  Turns out that it's a very common thing for 2-year olds and is just phase.  So far this week, the temperamental/demanding behavior has cooled off a bit, but he's still been clingy and hating bath time.  So, I decided to deck out the bath tub:

(Thanks, Yoonha for the heads up on bath crayons!)  He was still pretty whiney during bath time, but the new toys definitely helped.  I'm just hoping this phase passes quickly!

So, the whole family survived the first 2 weeks of day care...onto the next big change: the big boy bed!  I'm hoping it won't be too bad of a transition since he's already now sleeping on a cot in day care... we shall see!

Sleep Regression : by jean

In my last post, I vented about how my sleep champion had turned into a sleep nightmare: he started waking up in the middle of the night and all of a sudden forgot how to sleep on his own.  Read more about it here.

I don't do well when I don't get my beauty sleep.  But I was very encouraged when my friend called me as soon as I published my last post and told me about this 18-19 month sleep regression.

So I did some research, and it's a real thing!  We don't necessarily have to blame it on teething all the time, although that's not completely out of the picture.  Sleep regression is sort of a developmental stage.  They are becoming more aware of what's going on and often have separation anxiety.  They are also becoming more independent and opinionated which often results in not wanting to go to sleep when you (the parent) want them to.

I remember one night, I was doing my normal bedtime ritual with Miles: brush his teeth, find his hippo (thanks Mira!), let him turn off the light, pray, say goodnight, and put him down in his crib.  As soon as we turned off the light and got ready to pray, he screamed, "No, No!" and started shaking his head and got very upset.  He KNEW what was going to happen next...and didn't want it to happen.

The good news is that this is all temporary.  We didn't do anything wrong, and it will eventually pass (at least that's what my research tells me).  It can take 2-6 weeks for babies to get past this.  AND, you don't have to re-sleep train them-- they already know the drill but are just going through a phase. They say to make efforts to comfort them more during this phase to help them get through it.

Before Miles started his sleep regression phase, we would put Miles down after our bedtime ritual and just walk out of the room.  He would usually lay down and go to sleep pretty easily with maybe a couple cries here and there.  These days, we've been staying in the room with him until he's almost completely asleep.  He'll occasionally look up to make sure one of us is still there.  That's been helping a bit, allowing him to fall asleep at a decent time, and he hasn't been waking up in the middle of the night.  It's been about 3 weeks of the sleep regression phase so far.  Let's hope he passes this phase REAL soon.

Re-sleep train?? : by Jean

It's been a week since all sleep training has gone out the door.  I don't know if it's a coincidence with my mom visiting for a few weeks, or teething, but Miles has not gone down to sleep at night without one of us laying down with him in our bed and transferring him to his crib.  Not only that, he's woken up in the middle of the night screaming, which results in us again having to bring him to our bed and then eventually transferring him back to his.

What the #%$#!???

Miles is now almost 17 months and it has never gotten this bad for this long since we first started sleep training him (read about my story here and Amy's here.) Yes, I'm tattling on Miles. 

Does he know that grandma is here and he can get away with it?  Is it the change in the weather? Growth spurt?  Teething...yet again?!  I did notice he has some molars coming in from the top-- one on each side.  Could that be it?  I've heard molars coming in is a different experience from other teeth.

Why are we the only mammals that have to deal with sleep training our babies?!

What do I do?

Re-sleep train and let him CIO until he passes out?  Let him be because it's just a phase?  Or am I doomed forever now that we've helped him fall asleep for almost a week now, on and off?

Will we EVER get decent sleep in our lifetime?

On a separate but related topic...Miles woke us up at 3 am one night and decided to "hang out" until almost 5am.  We were just too tired to deal so let him play around in our bed (thank God for king size) until he finally passed out. We were too tired to transfer him so we all passed out together.  He woke up in the morning, and I assumed it was around 6 or 7am, his usual wake up time.  But it was 9:45am!!!  It was the first time EVER he "slept in" past 7am.  Too bad we didn't feel refreshed at all since he kept us up for 2 hours.  

Do sleep patterns change once babies become toddlers?  Do they need less?  More?

Yes, a lot of questions and no answers today...feeling very frustrated and sleep deprived! 

(not) learning from mom : by amy

Being a mom has made me become a little more reflective on my relationship with my own mom.  As I mentioned in one of my first posts, my mom sacrificed a lot for me by being a full-time working mom, and I was and am extremely grateful for it.  This was the way she expressed her love for me.  She worked hard so that I could enjoy luxuries such as violin lessons, orchestra, gymnastics, ballet, Kumon (ugh) and "hakwon" (afterschool private studies, but hey, I met the love of my life there, so this was an invaluable investment!).  I was able to go on great vacations and have nice things.  Thanks, mom!

But, my relationship with my mom is far from perfect today.  In fact, I think she failed in many ways as a parent (which is probably normal).  I do not see her as a role model when it comes to parenting, but I think she's a great provider.  Some of her failures are also a result of her cultural parenting style.  She was rather Tiger-Mom-ish.  She called me "stupid" many times to try to "encourage" me to do and be better.  She was not gentle.  She occasionally told me she "hated" me in her most irrational arguments and hot tempers.  She never care about what I actually wanted to do in life.  She didn't care about the lesson over the grades.  Was it important to her that I was kind and generous to people?  If "kind and generous" meant being a doctor, then yes.  Otherwise, no.  And, she once made me cry one Christmas morning when I was in the 7th grade because she didn't like the scarf that I got for her.  WTF, mom.

These are the failures that I want to avoid when raising my own children.  I want my children to know and feel that I love them EVERY DAY of their lives, even during their biggest disappointments.  I do believe in tough love to a degree, but I don't want my kids to feel the way I did growing up-- never good enough.  I want them to know that I appreciate and acknowledge their efforts, and I want them to keep striving for excellence in all that they do.  I want to teach them and not just tell them.  I want to emphasize the means and not just the end.

I'd like my children to see me more than just a provider of their material possessions, but I know I will make my own share of mistakes.  I know the boys will one day (and I wish it would just be for one day!) "hate" me like how I "hated" my mom for pretty much all of high school...and during college breaks...and when she told me to turn Logan into a doctor (which happened last week).  But God's grace is enough.  I mean, look at me-- I think I came out OK!  (at least my husband says so!)

I was wrestling with how to end this post, so I asked my husband for some editorial suggestions.  The following was dictated by my husband:

Though my mom failed in certain aspects in raising me as her daughter, I can see her redeeming some of those past failures through her relationship with Logan.  Perhaps it's because she doesn't bear the responsibility to raise Logan, which is why she takes advantage of the grandmother-grandson relationship, but I see my mom's unbridled love and adoration in Logan.  The only way that I can find consolation in my own childhood is by seeing myself in Logan and believing that my mom is correcting her mistakes in raising me by just loving Logan.

While at this time, I cannot say that I whole-heartedly agree, I whole-heartedly hope that I can believe this.

1 year later : by Jean & Amy

umma*etc turned 1 year old yesterday!

 

Thank you all for reading and sharing umma*etc with others.  We started umma*etc just for our own sake-- to rant, remember, complain, confess and share our experiences as newbie ummas.  But we are truly blessed by all the love we've received from our readers and reminded that we are not alone in this wonderful journey called parenthood!

 

So, on to another 21,000 page views as we embark on our second year with new experiences, more conundrums and more babies (at least for Amy!).  Hopefully we won't run into our own version of the terrible two's! ;-)

a healthier mac and cheese : by amy

Logan is starting commercial daycare in a few weeks.  I'm not too cray-cray about their meal plan option, so I'm thinking of packing his lunch for his 3 days/week at daycare.  But...what to pack for my picky toddler who can't quite feed himself properly with utencils just yet?  He likes to eat bread, cheese, yogurt, broccoli/carrots/peas, all fruits (except cherries) and rice/soup.  He doesn't do many pastas, quesadillas or meat very well.  So I recently started thinking about portable, well-balanced lunch options for him that can be microwavable.  It also stinks that he doesn't eat pasta too well since pasta is just so easy to make.  His current care provider says he does eat mac and cheese.  I rarely make mac and cheese because it's so rich and heavy due to the butter-laden roux.  Actually, I made it once, and neither Logan nor my husband ate it (husband was training for a bike race at the time), so I was forced to eat the entire thing.  It didn't do my waistline and chins any good.

Anyway, since mac and cheese (or elbow pasta) seemed to be the only pasta that Logan would eat for the time being, I wanted to try to make an elbow pasta dish that Logan could eat at daycare-- preferably one that's somewhat healthy.  After doing some research, I found a way of making the cheese sauce a little more heart-healthy.  Other than the altered roux, this is an original recipe by yours truly!  You can eat it right after mixing the pasta up in the cheese sauce, or if you prefer a little more texture, you can bake it with some extra cheese and panko sprinkled on top.  The latter will result in a less-saucy mac and cheese but will have a great, crispy top texture.  See below for my recipe!

 



Amy's Healthier Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

- 1 box/pound of elbow pasta

- 2-3 cups of shredded cheese (I used a Kraft/Philadelphia Cream Cheese blend b/c it looked interesting.  You can use freshly shredded or whatever cheese your heart desires)

- 1 grated zucchini

- 1 diced onion

- 1 package of baby spinach, roughly chopped

- 1.5 cups of whole milk, divided (1 cup / 0.5 cup)

- 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

- salt and pepper to taste (I never measure this!)

- panko breadcrumbs

Directions:

(preheat your oven to 350 degrees if you plan on baking)

- Boil the pasta: If you choose to bake this, you want to undercook it by a 2-3 minutes since it will continue baking in the oven.   If you don't plan on baking this, boil according to the box's instructions-- don't forget to season your pasta!  Drain and set aside.

- Cook the veggies:  Saute the grated zucchini and diced onions in a pan with some olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Once the onions are softened, add in the package of chopped baby spinach.  Gently fold the sauteed veggies over the spinach to help wilt it and cook it down.  Once the spinach is cooked, set the pan aside.

- Make the cheese sauce: Warm 1 cup of milk in a pot over low-medium heat (do not let it boil!).  In the meantime, in a separate bowl/cup, mix the flour with the remaining 0.5 cup of milk.  Whisk to make a smooth paste.  Once the warmed milk is steaming, pour the paste mixure into the pot and turn the heat to low.  Continue whisking the mixture for 3-4 minutes until the roux becomes smooth and thick (do the back-of-the-spoon test).  Once thickened, add your shredded cheese (if baking, use 2.5 cups and save the remainder for the topping).  Keep stirring to make a smooth cheesey sauce and then take the pot off the heat.  Season with salt and pepper to your liking. 

- Combine and eat/bake!: Mix your sauteed veggies into the cheese sauce.  Then pour all of your elbow pasta into the cheese sauce and carefully combine.  You can serve it just like this.  Or, you can pour your mac and cheese into a baking dish, top it with leftover cheese, panko and a light drizzle of olive oil, and pop it into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. 

P.S.: Logan's daycare lunch menu will likely consist of a variation of the following:

- steamed dumplings / steamed veggies / fruit

- kimbap (Korean rice rolls) / fruit

- umma's healthier mac n' cheese / fruit

- rice/soup / steamed veggies / fruit

- cut up ravioli (or any stuffed pasta with ricotta cheese) / steamed veggies / fruit

toddler etiquette : by jean

Scenario 1:

Miles and Toddler X are playing with a toy.  Miles is not sharing and takes it away from Toddler X, leaving Toddler X crying.  Do I:

a) tell Miles that sharing is caring and try to get them to play together?
b) distract Miles and get him to play with something else because it's not worth the hassle?
c) not do anything?  Life is tough, and kids will have to learn to fend for themselves.

Scenario 2:

Miles and Toddler X are playing with a toy.  Toddler X is not sharing and takes it away from Miles, leaving Miles crying.  Do I:

a) tell Toddler X that sharing is caring and try to get them to play together?
b) distract Miles and get him to play with something else because it's not worth the hassle?
c) not do anything?  Life is tough, and kids will have to learn to fend for themselves.

Now that Miles is starting to have more opinions and is playing more with other kids, I'm not sure what the "right" way is.  With close friends, we've already established an agreement where we trust each other enough that we give each other permission to discipline each others' kids if necessary.  But if you're not very close with the other kid's parent, how do you handle these situations without it getting awkward?  (or is it just always awkward?)  And even if you are very close with the other kid's parents, could this still become a conflict?  Feel free to respond anonymously! :)

vacation's remorse : by amy

Hello from sunny South Beach!  Yes, I happen to be celebrating Mother's Day away from my baby, which wasn't exactly planned, but here we are.  It's our first vacation without Logan...and it's quite nice....now.  It didn't exactly feel this way from the start.

We dropped him off at grandma's on Saturday evening since our flight was early Sunday morning.   He's slept there many times before when we go to weddings or have late night dates, but we always slept over at grandma's together, which meant we would always take a peek at him prior to going to bed and greet him in the morning.  This time, we dropped him off knowing we wouldn't see him for another 2-3 days.  When I got home and started packing for the trip, I felt a little emptier.  I saw his stuffed penguin on the floor (which he was going to bring to grandma's, oops!), but an instant wave of nostalgia hit as I picked it up and hugged it.  We were going up and down the stairs, making all the noise we needed to, living and moving about the house freely.  Yet, the house still felt somewhat emptier.  I missed him already, and only a couple of hours had passed.  Every weekday, I spend 9 hours away from him.  I even went on a couple of business trips- one was international, but I never felt like this...almost a guilty feeling.  Is it because we were purposely going on vacation without him?  We were going to have fun in the sun without our little one?  This is good practice for us too, said my husband.  I guess so.

That night, we went to bed without checking on him.  We just passed by his empty room.  We prayed that he was resting well.  I woke up this morning still missing him and wanting to greet him in the morning.  But my husband reminded me that this was the beginning of our vacation- just for the two of us.  We were going to make each minute count...because we weren't sure when this would happen again!   I will admit that I started to feel a lot better and ironically, less guilty, as soon as we arrived at our hotel.  The balmy sun.  Friendly palm trees.  Perfect ocean-scented zephyr.  Oh yes, I deserve this... :). It also helped to hear that Logan had a blast at church with grandma and grandpa, and later with his aunt and uncle.  Grandma has also been sending us frequent fun videos which I watched on repeat while poolside.

The husband did a great job planting a few surprises in the trip to make it special, so now I'm sort of wishing we could stay for another night!  But I'm also excited to come home and spend a stay-cation with Logan for the remainder of the week.  Until then, another 36 hours left in Miami!

No, Thank You : by jean

A couple years back, before I was pregnant, I used to make fun of my friend who would say "no, thank you" to her daughter instead of just saying "no."  It totally made sense, but at the time as someone with no kids, it was funny hearing her say "no, thank you, please get down," "no, thank you, can umma have this?" etc.

Now that Miles has opinions, guess what I started to say?  "No, thank you Miles.  Please don't throw your food.  No, thank you Miles.  Please don't put your hands in the toilet.  No, thank you Miles.  You are too close to the TV."  My friend heard me say it and laughed at me.

It's really hard to stay patient as your toddler is throwing food all over the place and say "no, thank you" instead of just plain "NO!"  Once I was so fed up that I looked at him, gave him a stern look, pointed at him and said "NO, MILES,"  and he looked at me and copied me.  I couldn't help but crack up. Oye!  He's definitely constantly stretching my patience.  

He recently started going through tantrums too.  Lying down on the floor, rolling around, crying about who knows what.  At that point, I either try to hug him to calm him down, say "no, thank you Miles", or ignore him.

How do you guys deal when your babies get like that? 

I said "No, thank you Miles.  Please don't put food in your hair" but he didn't agree.

Amy talked about giving Logan his first time out session last week.  Is it too early for Miles to have time-out?

I've also heard of people putting their kids in the crib to settle down when they are acting up.  Has anyone tried that?

TIME-OUT : by amy

On Thursday, Logan faced his first time-out.  He's seen the bigger kids at day-care get time-out, so I was pretty sure he knew how it worked, but we never did it at home yet. 

It was kind of funny because just 2 weeks ago, my husband and I were talking about ways to discipline Logan.  Do we spank?  If so, when?  We thought we'd likely never have to touch him since he bursts into tears any time my husband disciplines him (and that's just with the "look" or a stern Logan, NO, in his super-deep voice).   I think he reacts that way because he sees dad as the "fun" one and not the one that's supposed to say "no."  When I discipline him, he's typically not happy but cries only occasionally.  Anyway, so during this discussion, my husband says, we're definitely not doing any of that 'time-out' nonsense.  He wasn't a believer in time-out.  Well, what else are you going to do?  Beat your 20 month old with the rice spoon?  No, I don't think so.

So Logan decided it would be fun to repeatedly jump off of the staircase (from the first step).  After the 10th time, we decided this jumping can only happen outside with our supervision.  So after repeated Logan, NO! and no jumping in the house!, even my husband was desperate to try anything to discipline the kid, so we pulled the time-out card.  Logan's reaction?  A mischievous smile, and a GO! as he jumped off the step.

"GO!"

So, we strapped him to the high chair, took him to the adjacent library (which was kind of dark), and had him face the wall for 1 minute.

Time out!

He whined the entire time, but no tears.  Did it work?  Not exactly.  He ran back to the staircase, but stopped abruptly after the husband called his name.  This was Logan's chance to learn.  He knew something was up-- he was doing something wrong.  Logan, if you jump off one more time, you are going to time-out again.  I mean it.  Logan's reaction?  [thinking about it]....GO! *jump*.  *sigh*  He failed.  So back on the high chair he went, now kicking, screaming, with his body refusing to sit up in the chair.  After finally strapping in the buckles, we had him face the wall again for another minute.  This time, he wailed, sobbed and screamed in high pitches for the entire minute.  He was a snotty, sweaty mess.  We hugged and kissed him, but the screaming didn't stop.  We tried to distract him with toys, but he still screamed.

But guess what?  The next morning, he faced that notorious step....and he STEPPED down!  We applauded, praised and thanked him for listening.  The time-out worked!!  Somehow, we felt like "successful" parents.  Aside from providing for his needs and loving him, we actually influenced how he behaved!  This probably sounds ridiculous to you, but it really was a "a-ha!" moment for us.

So, the husband is now a believer in time-out.   Logan now knows what time-out is.  Now the problem is the new day care we're thinking of taking Logan to doesn't call it "time-out"-- they call it the "thinking chair."  What a freaking euphemism.

BK Children's Museum : by jean

Brooklyn Children's Museum offers free admission every third Thursday of the month 4-7pm and the first full weekend of every month from 2-5pm. Here is a list of the remaining dates:

THURSDAYS:
April 18
May 16
June 20

WEEKENDS:
May 4 & 5
June 1 & 2

Admission is normally $9.00 per person and free for Museum members and children under 1 year of age.

The Changs and Lees took the boys there a few weekends ago, and it was fun!  We went when it was free so there were a lot of people there.  I haven't been to other children's museums, but it seemed like a good size for toddlers.

The museum had a Totally Tots section which was for kids age 5 and under.  They had a ton of stuff for toddlers from a water play area, costumes for theatre, reading area, blocks, etc etc.

section of totally tots

Miles & Logan "riding" a MTA bus

The museum had a lot of things to see.  They had an indoor reptile area, a greenhouse, make-believe stores (I would have LOVED that as a kid), sensory area, etc.  I think Miles will have lots of fun exploring once he gets older.

What are some fun places you've taken your kids to?

bigger isn't always better : by amy

The husband and I have been talking a lot about what to do with our current housing situation now that baby #2 is on the way.  We live in a small 3 bedroom house with 1.5 bathrooms.  The third bedroom is pretty tiny-- perfect for a nursery, but a little sad and unfair for the kid that gets stuck with the shoebox room.  It's our first home, and we absolutely love its charm, our neighborhood and its location/close proximity to everything.  But even after Logan, we are already starting to feel a slight pinch with space.  Thankfully, we have an attic and small semi-finished basement where we can store a lot of our junk (and Jean's junk!).  But the spaces still aren't exactly ideal for the long-term.

Aside from space, there were certain things we loved about our old house that we realized were really ANNOYING when you have a baby.  For example, original hardwood floors, like from 1929.  Yeah, they look awesome but we didn't realize how loud the creaky floors were until after we had a baby.  Everything sounds louder when you have a baby!  The creaky floors.  The toilet flush.  My husband blowing his nose.  Anyway, we look like ninjas tip-toeing across the 2nd floor!  We also have super old crystal door knobs which are vintage and beautiful, but...they don't always keep the doors closed all the way which means more sound leakage.  Consequently, when we have guests over and the baby is sleeping (day or night), they have to stay pretty quiet.

So, the husband and I vowed that our next home (whether we add-on or move) will have quieter floors, doors that close (seems like a pretty easy request, right?), a 4th bedroom, a master bathroom and a walk-in closet for yours truly.  A bonus would be a bigger fully finished basement, a bigger office that we can share with the kids (because we are instilling a no-computers-anywhere-but-the-office rule), and a bigger kitchen that would open up to a much bigger family room.  Yes, there is a trend here-- bigger.

But then we realized that bigger wasn't always better, unless you used a lot of gates (which I find to be annoying).

My in-laws have a sprawling ranch-style home and recently converted their fully finished basement into a dedicated playroom heaven for Logan.  He likes playing at grandma's because he could run around from one end of the house to the other, climb up to the finished attic and run around there, go down to the basement and play in his playroom.  The entire house is essentially his playground.  It's great...if you don't have to chase him around and watch him all the time.  Otherwise, it is EXHAUSTING!  It's very hard to get anything done since you can't always keep him in one area, or he demands that you follow him to a certain area of the house (and then a tantrum arises).

It made us think that our current situation wasn't so bad after all.  Yes, the rooms are small, but we can be anywhere on the 1st floor and not worry about where Logan is--  he will always be very close in sight.  And when baby 2 comes along, it'll be only that much easier to not have to chase a toddler around while trying to nurse a baby.  So, we'll keep saving our pennies and save the bigger space for when the kids are bigger.

In the meantime, here is how a family of four manages in a 500 square foot apartment in San Francisco!  Although, I have to admit that their living room is totally NOT kid-friendly.  They must have really obedient kids who don't knock books or anything off of tables :P.

http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2013/03/san-francisco-apartment-tour-500-square.html