too young to hear about the C-R-O-S-S? : by amy

There's a 3-year old boy at Logan's home day-care who recently heard the story of Jesus.  Apparently, somebody told him about a man named Jesus who died on a cross.  I'm not sure if this person explained why Jesus died on the cross or anything else, but the mother said that her son was "freaked out" by the story and was asking a lot of questions.  The mother was clearly NOT pleased that someone told her young son about Jesus.  The conversation went like this:

Mom: So, just wanted to let you know that yesterday, someone told M about Jesus and the C-R-O-S-S.
Babysitter: Oh.  Okay...
Me: Oh really?
Mom:  Yeah! (in disbelief)  *sigh* So M will probably want to talk about it.  He was a little freaked out about the C-R-O-S-S.
Me:  Ohh.  Okay. (now realizing M's mom is not pleased with this) Who told him?
Mom:  Just somebody.  Can you believe it?  Who would say such a thing to a young child??  The nerve of some people...
Me:  ...Right.  Yeah...so what did you say to him when he asked about it?
Mom:  I just told him 'Oh, I heard of him.  I heard he did a lot of good things.'  and that was it.
Me:  Ah, I see.

So, that was kind of awkward.  Mostly because I am a Christian, and I didn't really think is such a horrible thing for a young child to hear of Jesus.  Although, I can see how the whole cross thing could freak a young kid out.  I'm not sure how it was told, but it seems that perhaps it wasn't done in the most sensitive manner. 

I had a lot of questions during this conversation that I didn't really have time (nor the comfort) to ask this mother since it was during the morning drop-off.  What part of this incident angered her the most?  Was it because someone may have tried to shove religion down her young son's throat?  Or that someone brought up the cross (a criminal's method of prosecution-- and a rather brutal one) to her very young son?  I can understand the latter-- there's no easy way to describe the function of the cross to a 3-year-old.  But would it bother me if someone told my son about Muhammad?  or Buddha?  To be honest, no, I don't think it would bother me. It's not like he won't ever hear about them in his lifetime.  I would probably have a similar response as M's mom:  Oh yeah, I heard of them.  They did good things. 

And I'd probably add, Jesus loved them too.

pampers vs huggies: nikon vs canon? : by jean

When it comes to cameras, there's usually a strong divide between Nikon and Canon users.  Both are great cameras but in the end, it comes down to preference.

There seems to be a big divide with diapers as well. The two main brands are Pampers and Huggies.  Many of our friends who had kids before us (and had boys) insisted that Pampers were the way to go especially for boys, because it prevents leaks.  (right?)  I, being lazy, took their advice and haven't tried anything else besides Pampers Swaddlers since Miles was born.  It was soft and had a wetness indicator which was nice.  Did we ever have leakage?  Of course!  You can't avoid those explosive poops no matter what kind of diaper you have, but for the most part, he was leak-free.

Miles was now going into a new territory, size 4.  Swaddlers is only available through size 4.  Now that he's been crawling around everywhere, we decided to check out Pampers Cruisers.  I noticed right away it wasn't as "quilted, blanket-like" soft as the Swaddlers, but it did the job, until I checked his diaper in the morning.  Many mornings, Miles's pjs would be wet around the waistline, something that never happened with Swaddlers.  So, I started to do my research for night-time diapers.  And by research, I mean asking Amy.  Logan had switched over to Huggies once he was around size 5, mainly because that's what they had at Costcos.  (BJ's carries most diaper brands including both Pampers and Huggies, Costco only carries Huggies and their Kirkland brand.)

Amy had tried both the Huggies Little Movers as well as Huggies Snug & Dry and found both to work well for her.  She also uses Huggies Overnites.  The reason why I hadn't naturally gotten the Pampers Extra Protection overnights is because there were such mixed reviews on amazon.  Some loved it, some said the diaper would fall apart and the dry max beads would spill out causing burns on the babies skin.  SCARY! Huggies Overnites also had some mixed reviews on amazon as well but mainly about people not liking the new design (it's just diapers, who cares?!) and some leaks.  I don't think you can avoid leaks completely but gel beads?  Yikes.

Huggies Overnites have now been ordered, and I will try it out this week and report back.  Has anyone tried Luv's?  My cousin-in-law told me she was just as happy with them as she was with Pampers but it's much much cheaper.  AND I just figured out, its by the same company Proctor & Gamble, who own like EVERYTHING.

I wish there was a way to sample all of these diapers.  I would hate to buy a big box and then it not work out.  At least with cameras you can try it out and play with it.  Not like we can do that with diapers!

1st trimester and a toddler : by amy

I went to the nail salon on my 30th birthday.  The lady doing my nails told me that her first born was exactly 2 years older when the second one came along, and that time was the most difficult time of her life. (Logan will be 2 years and 1 month older than number 2).  She also said she had morning sickness for FIVE MONTHS.  Her husband really wanted a daughter so suggested going for number 3.  She pretty much told him to suck it.  I don't blame her.  Morning sickness is awful.  Gosh, I forgot how awful it was.  I had it for a few weeks with Logan, but this time around has been much, much worse.  My sickness has actually been terrible at night starting at around 6:30pm or so.  Consequently, there have been many evenings where I've literally just plopped on the couch, unmoved, with no TV on, eyes closed, spitting up saliva and mucus and desperately praying that the dry heaving would stop.  I tried ginger, lemons, etc. but nothing really worked every time other than sleeping.  In the meantime, my husband has been my servant and slave, doing all of the house chores, feeding Logan, cleaning Logan and playing with Logan while I am completely useless, just silently making a baby in my uterus.

As I lay on the couch, the only thought that crosses my mind is I am never doing this again.  When mentioning this to my doctor, he appropriately rebutted with this probably isn't the right time to be contemplating that.  Fine, doc.  You're right.  Again.  But you're a MAN, so you have no idea what this feels like!  Not only would I personally hate to physically go through this again (at least the 1st trimester part), but I would hate to have to put my husband through this again but with TWO children to look after.  I know I sound terribly ungrateful.  Everytime I close my eyes, I remind myself of how blessed I am.  These nauseous times will soon pass (I hope).  But I'm still allowed to complain about my discomforts!

So, what is Logan thinking during all of this?  Does he even notice or realize that something's up?  I think he actually does.  Or maybe he just doesn't like me as much because I work too much (JUST KIDDING!  Seriously, I'm over that).  But, something did change.  I noticed that shortly after I started getting really sick in the evenings, he would really cling to my husband.  He's always been generally a little more affectionate towards my husband, but he's been even MORE clingy than usual, particularly when we step out of the house.  Maybe he sensed my energy levels had changed.  I hope he doesn't think that I purposely ignored him in the evenings.  Maybe it's just typical toddler clingyness peaking at 18 months?  We try telling him that there's a baby in my stomach-- my husband will point to my stomach and say Logan, let's say hi to the baby!  My husband will then hug my stomach and give it a kiss.  Logan will immediately  follow suit, though probably thinks he's just hugging/kissing umma.  I think he'll be a good older brother-- he's a very affectionate little fella (except when he's at the church nursery, ha), but I'm curious to observe how my toddler's behavior will change as my belly grows and as he realizes that change is on the horizon...

...to be continued.

P.S.: I purchased sea bands to treat the nausea.  I *think* it's been working.  It seems to have lessened the intensity of my nausea, but I still have random moments of kill-me-now-dry-heaving.  Definitely worth trying as they have zero side effects.

"just blame it all on teething" by jean

A couple of weeks ago, Miles woke up around 3am with a screaming cry.  He's cried in the middle of the night before, probably because he was teething.  I usually just let him be, and he falls back asleep.  This time, it was a weird screaming-cry, so I couldn't ignore it.  He also was standing in his crib looking out, very angry, wondering why we weren't coming to him.  I took him out of the crib and tried to calm him down.  I put him back down.  More screaming.  I held him out in the living room hoping he'll fall back asleep in my arms.  That wasn't happening.  I put him back down in the crib and tapped his back "umma's here, umma's RIGHT here, shhhh shhhh".  As soon as he sounded like he was asleep and I walked away, SCREAMING.  I slumped over his crib for over 30 mins and then eventually took him out again since nothing seemed to work.  Did he not eat enough today?  Is he hurting somewhere?  Teething?  By then it was 5am.  We were so exhausted, so we did what we've never done before- bring him to bed with us.

Sleep training is a sensitive topic.  Here's how Amy sleep trained Logan, and here's my story.  I was never a big advocate for having the baby sleep with me in bed.  I know there are studies out there that suggest that bed-sharing gives them a sense of security, etc.  For me, it's pretty simple, if I don't get good sleep, I'll be a cranky mom and a cranky roommate.  No one wants that!  But when it became 5am and Miles was STILL not sleeping, and I had a few more hours before having to get up for work, I brought him to bed, and we all passed out.  

Now, I was terrified.  Was Miles going expect this every night?  Am I going to have to sleep train him again?  It's crazy how we re-think all we've done because one night didn't go according to plan.  

It happened for the next 2 nights and I was a zombie by the 3rd night.  I read about nighttime terrors on baby center but they say it's mainly for kids who are a bit older, so he must be just teething...can all things just be blamed on teething at this point?

By the 3rd night, I knew nothing was wrong.  He didn't need a diaper change; he didn't need more milk; he didn't need me to help me soothe him because I knew he could, eventually.  So the cry-it-out began when he woke up at 3:30am.  We both sat still and waited to see what would happen.  7 minutes of "I'm-miserable-come-get-me-out-because-I'm-angry" cry came out of Miles and then *silence*...he was sleeping!  Hallelujah!  So what happened??  Who knows.  I blame it on teething because I have no explanation.  Isn't that what you do?

Fast forward to this week:  Miles pulled the same thing on us a few nights ago.  Why?  Who knows.  All I know is I will have to let him cry it out again and hope that it's not for too long.  

What things do you blame on teething?

BTW, daylight savings this weekend.  That's gonna mess up the sleep schedule once again. Grrrreat.
Why do we observe daylight savings again?  ugh.