Category Archives: baby

You Did What To Ducky?

On Saturday Hubby let me sleep in. I was delighted to have a few extra winks and I lay in bed stretching every which way, thoroughly enjoying my langerousness.
As if instinctively, Munchie sensed I had awoken and came rushing in to greet me. I, not yet fully awake, did not at first comprehend what she was trying to tell me, and smiled and nodded at her. As most two year olds, she was stuck in a loop, and felt it necessary to repeat herself.
The second time around I kind of caught the gist of what she was saying, and in only ten to twenty drowsy seconds I was able to process it.
“Daddy cut Ducky’s hair, mama.”
*blink*
You mean trimmed? Right sweetie? Trimmed?
She gave me a blank stare, smiled, and repeated herself, confirming what I had just heard with a vivacious nod.
I jumped out of bed, made a bee line for our den, and sure enough, there, in front of me, stood, or rather sat, a bald Duck.
Me: WHY??? WHY??? He had beautiful, soft golden curls!! What have you done to my beautiful baby boy!?
Hubby: I have been wanting to cut his hair for a while now. He will be cooler in summer, and it will help with hair growth.
Me: Ok, but couldn’t you have at least waited a week?
Hubby: Why?
Me: Next week is his first birthday/picture day thing… and now he has no hair… and… and… he was so beautiful!
I realize I must have just called my son beautiful at least half a dozen times within a fifteen minute span. But honestly, there was no better way to put it. He is a very beautiful baby (and this is totally an objective unbiased statement). Because unlike other moms who are totally clingy with their sons, *I* have a complete grasp on things and am capable of making observatory impartial remarks. Yeah. Totally true.
So, now my Duck looks like this:

Child Care Dilemma

This weekend the ever ripe child care dilemma once again presented itself in our house. No, I am not talking about our day care provider. We have taken all the necessary steps in finding the perfect one. I am talking about a baby sitter.
We don’t have one.
Thus far the only people who have watched our kids for the most part have been my husband’s mom along with his brother and my parents. My parents are going on their annual summer trip, and will be unavailable until the end of summer, and his mom hasn’t been feeling too well making it difficult for her to watch our little ones regularly.
We haven’t had an evening to ourselves since mid February. Some of my friends have asked why we don’t just get a baby sitter. Simple enough question. But I have no answers. Wait, no, I have a lot of answers, just no solutions.
Aside from the fact that getting a baby sitter entails leaving her in our house with all our possessions, an even more poignant problem is that we are leaving him/her with our children. Which are worth considerably more than our big screen TV. Except when they are screaming their heads off. Then I am pretty sure no one would want them. Most kidnappers would bring them right back.
But seriously, who would I leave my kids with? Granted there are several neighborhood girls who I would trust to not maliciously harm my kids or steal my stuff, I can’t account for the unintentional damage that might occur.
I mean, these are young girls, trying to earn a few bucks by watching my kids who are small and quite the handful. Even when they are not being naughty Munchie runs around, Ducky needs a lot of attention. What if something happens that could not have been prevented? What if one of them falls or gets hurt, and the young baby sitter is too scared to tell us? Ducky might fall of the changing table and have a concussion. We wouldn’t know about it, not take the appropriate precautions, and next thing you know he can die in his sleep. I know this is worst possible case scenario, but this is just an example of what goes through my head when thinking about leaving my kids with other people.
Of course the answer to this would be to leave the kids with a more mature and thus responsible individual. But that brings me right back around to who. We don’t know anyone, outside of family, who would watch our kids for money or otherwise.
Munchie is only a little over two, and Ducky can’t talk. So if anything happens the kids would not be able to tell us. Munchie can talk pretty well for her age, but in all honesty she is not the best narrator. For example, earlier today she told us Ducky ate our day care provider. This may or may not have happened, and currently there are no pending charges of cannibalism against him. So it is safe to say that in all probability her story is not altogether accurate.
I think when the kids are older and capable of better speech I will feel more comfortable hiring the neighbor girls to watch them. But until then we are just stuck in a our child care dilemma.
How do you find a sitter? How do you know who you can trust?  

Baby Clothes Gift Guide From A Onesie Fashionista

I was chatting with a friend the other day. She just went shopping for her sister-in-law’s baby shower, and she took my advice and bought some six months baby clothes for the mom to be. As she showed me the cute onesie she bought I realized that she did not think ahead.

Her sister-in law lives in Chicago. Where they actually have four seasons (unlike where we live in Southern California, and we have 1.5 seasons at best). So as adorable as that onsie is, roughly seven months from now, when the baby will be six months old, in Chicago it will be January. And cold. Not onsie weather. I told her to take it back and get something just as cute, but perhaps warmer.

Then I reminded her that babies all grow at different rates. For example, Ducky is 10 months old, wearing 24 months clothes. So all those cute jackets and sweaters my mom got him for next winter will not fit by the time we get there. Munchie is two and a half years old, wearing 18-24 months clothes. Sizes vary. Thus I advised her not to get a baby parka for the little one, but stick to something “warmish” which can be worn at any time from September to April in a colder climate. Like sweaters and pants.

She was amazed by my expertise.

“That is why you write all that stuff about kids!!”

Um.. yes. Why thank you.

I wanted to share all this with the rest of you. Because it occurred to me a lot of people don’t take weather into account when buying baby/children’s clothes for future times, so if anything, I hope I have helped some people out. You are welcome.

Any other baby clothes buying tips you want to share? Or you want my expert opinion on?