We're off to Florida for a week. I'll be back in time for the KU bowl game, but I won't be able to blog about the KU-Yale basketball game (something I'd dearly like to do, as my brother-in-law roots for Yale). Ah well.
We have had a nice Christmas, with plenty of snow, sledding, presents, cookies, and family. I thought I'd leave you with a picture of our tree, held hostage by our 18-month-old son. Can you tell how tall he is from this photo?
I love just about everything that Matthew Baldwin writes, but this is funny stuff. Like, so funny I had to read it out loud to my wife, driving her off to bed. Laugh out loud funny. Here you go: Matt Baldwin's Slacker's Guide to Christmas Presents (not the real title, because I'm lazy).
This was a while ago... about a month now (the end of November) but still fun. Every year (we're only getting to know the holiday events) The Shelter (a local kids and family charity) hosts the Lawrence Festival of Trees. People decorate trees and donate them, then other people (mostly businesses) bid on them at auction, and the proceeds go to The Shelter.
There is a suggested donation for the public to come and see the trees, which we did. Our baby was probably overwhelmed (if you can't keep 'em quiet, dazzle them with crowds and flashing lights), but our four-year-old thought it was pretty fun. He especially liked the upside down tree. Next year, we hope to see the gingerbread house competition across the street, too.
Some of the trees were very gaudy, and some of them were especially clever. I took photos of the ones that caught my eye, and you can see them below. One in particular, a carousel themed tree, was very cool. The movie below is of that tree.
Enjoy!
[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7739984995174485040[/googlevideo]
Our babies always had trouble sleeping. The first one didn't sleep through the night until he was six months old (though now he could sleep through an earthquake). The second one slept like a dream for three or four months and has woken up at least once every night since then.
We swaddled and breast fed and cradled and sang and walked and did everything we could to get them to sleep. Of all those things, what helped the most was swaddling. Now, swaddling is a bit of an art. You need a big blanket (like the one you stole from the hospital), and you need to be none too gentle with how tightly you fold your baby up. Invariably we wound up using a blanket that was too small, or our boys would manage to get an arm out (with which to whack myself over the head, Daddy!).
But we found something that helped. The Miracle Blanket is a blanket designed for swaddling. It has special flaps for the arms and a pocket for the feet, and it is truly miraculous. It comes in two sizes (last time we checked) and really does work. Don't be thrown off by their "As Seen on TV" style web site.
The other problem we have run into with baby sleeping is how cold it gets at night, especially when we lived North, and during winter. At some point (ask your pediatrician when) you can put a blanket in the crib with your baby, but even then it will be a while before they get the idea of snuggling under it to stay warm. Enter the SleepSack. We bought these in two sizes, too, and both our boys used them. Now with the second boy, we have just ordered some SleepSacks for toddler sized kids, which include foot holes.
These two items are a bit expensive for what you get, but we love them so.
Once you're done with the baby bathtub, you'll need a bath mat for your regular tub. We moved our boys to the regular bath when they were between six months and a year old (when they could reliably sit up and we're reliably splashing gallons of water out of their baby bathtub). The bath mats we found were all small, and we imagined our squirrely kids getting beyond it and onto the slick porcelain of our tub pretty quickly.
Which is why we got the Ulti-Mat (we got it at OneStepAhead for $20 or so). Really, bath mat tech is pretty simple. Rubbery material with suction cups, ideally with some anti-bacterial coating. But this bath mat is extra-big. It covers the entire floor of our bath tub. We've taken it on trips with us to Grandma's house, we love it so much.
There's something else out there called an Ultimat, in blue and clear, but I don't think it is the same thing. I'm not sure.
Note to readers: I'm not getting anything from listing these items. There are no affiliate links or backroom, under the table, behind the kangaroo deals here. Just our honest love for stuff that got us through babyhood. Also, I get to test a cool WordPress plugin, In Series.
The photos on Flickr