Lilypie Premature Baby tickers

Sunday, February 28, 2010

a new hat, a sippy cup and a fat cat


i went to a thrift store today and found the cutest hannah anderson hat and mitten set for devin! i paid a whopping $1.01 for this very well made and like new set! i have been looking for a very warm, full coverage hat all winter for him and had no luck. i searched high and low, the children's place, baby gap, babies r us, target. for some reason there were always a million girls accessories but apparently baby boys are supposed to have heads of steel that need no protection from the cold during winter. of course i find these in almost march, but oh well, we'll get some use out of them :) oh, and i always feel weird about putting up a million pictures, but i decided im going to anyway, even if only i can see that some of them are actually different! i love looking at other peopes babies and i hope you all do too, because yeah, im not holding back!










i figured out the other day that devin really loves cups. i was on the phone about a bill the other day desperatley trying to appease devin and still go through the annoying auomated message system. he was in his sroller and i was just strolling him around the house (a new favorite activity of his). he was starting to get angry and loud and i just handed him an empty plastic cup. he loved it. he was quiet for the rest of the call. since then he has learned to grab with both hands at the same time and its so persistent and cute! he gets this determined look at reaches out like a professional  grabber of all things. soooo we decide to introduce him to a sippy cup.  he LOVES that too! its like hes been waiting all this time just for a sippy cup. he knows exactly what to do with it and actually gets juice! its so cute! we put way diluted apple juice in it.







our cat fraggle is really fat and i think he was trying to let us know that he needs an intervention. i swear we feed him a normal amount of healthy cat food twice a day and he still tips the baby scale at a bigger than devin weight of 20 lbs.


Friday, February 26, 2010

review: carter's dribblehappy bibs


overview and what i love about the product:
these are the best bibs in my opinion! i love them and think they are the shiznit :) we have lots of bibs and have always been bib users. i know some people dont really use them for they're babies and exclusivley breastfed newborns typically dont get much use out of bibs unless they spit up. but let me warn anyone with a younger baby right now, you will NEED these bibs when your baby starts the inevitable sir drools alot teething stage. i cannot tell you how many outfits devin would go through in a day before we had more than one of these bibs! i would change him and before i knew it, he was soaked in drool down to his armpits.

these bibs are waterproof, but have soft, absorbent fabric on both sides instead of fabric on the front and white plastic on the back. we have some other bibs like that and they are crap! they're so loud and crinkly, and the front isnt absorbent at all, so you cant wipe away milk after a feeding and the drool just kinda wicks off of it. dribblehappy bibs are just soft and lovely. you can't even tell they're waterproof because there's just a thin, quiet piece of plastic on the inside. what i also like about them is they close at the side of the neck instead of behind. this allows for easy removal and theres no hard lump of velcro at the base of baby's neck during feeding time.



cons:
these bibs would be pretty big on a newborn/small baby but are great for "middle aged" babies! :) probably best for 6 months+.

price/where to find cheap:
carter's dribble happy bibs sell for about $10 for 3. they're $10.99 for 3 at babies r us and the carter store/outlet. i would NOT pay this much for bibs! they're worth it but i just wouldnt. i've found them at t.j. maxx, marshall's and ross for $5.99 (3 pack), which is much more reasonable.

rating (0-5 stars):
5 stars!

what makes devin smile?


me!
daddy
grandma
fraggle
tonka
zia
when we yell boo!
when something drops on the ground and makes a loud noise
stroller rides
baby einstein dvds
his jumperoo
books, especially baby beluga
his toy octopus
plastic cups
waking up from a nap
singing
when we blow rasberries on his belly
when i make a buzzing noise and then say boop! really loud
any stuffed animal we show him
pictures of other babies (cant wait till he sees the real thing!)
mango


i just wanted to make a list so i'll be able to remember the silly things that make him happy. i'll probably add to this list as time goes by :)

we feed devin solids a couple times a week and hes only had one slightly successful feeding (applesauce a few weeks back). i dont really feel a need to "teach" him to eat, hes still only 5 months adjusted and new research suggests starting solids at 6 months. we started trying with devin at 4 months and really only offer it if he seems to not be satisfied after a bottle feeding. we did this last night with some really delicious mango i made for him with the baby cook (i plan to review this soon!). HE LOVES MANGO!!!!!!!!!!! he actually made a dent in the bowl i had filled for him and you would not believe the look on his face while he was eating! my memory card had just run out of space so no pics. sorry :( but he looked like he was on something! something goooood! he was laughing, smiling and almost shaking, he could barely contain his excitment. he did this little shake/wiggle/exhale/laugh/cutest, happiest thing in the world after a few bites and was seriously hyper so i stopped feeding him because i felt like he was overdosing on sugar! i actually got worried and please dont make fun of me, but i googled 1)can babies eat mango? and 2) can a baby be overly happy? i felt like he was going to have a happy attack or something! the answers were 1)yes and 2)no.
                                                               after mango effects

Thursday, February 25, 2010

review: safety 1st bath seat


overview and what i love about the product:
i lucked out on this bath seat and found it at a yard sale a few months ago for $2! devin was nowhere near ready for it so i stuck it downstairs and we just ued it for the first time the other night. it works well and is a very good idea, but its not perfect. what i love about it is a baby who can sit well or has just mastered sitting with assistance will have a good time being independent in the bath and they are seated in a secure seat , therfore they're not going anywhere!. they can also reach for and play with floating toys. the seat part swivels so you can turn baby anyway you want and there is a parent arm rest thing that hooks to the side of the tub (connected to seat). like i said in my post about devin's first bath in the big tub, devin wasnt too sure about things while he was in here for the first time and seemed a bit worried, we'll se how he does tonight :) we do have a totally different bath seat on its way in the mail so im curious to see how the two compare. i'll definitely post a review on the new one too!
cons:
there are a few cons about this product. its very bulky. it doesnt fold or anything so you'll have to have somewhere to store it. we have a very tiny bathroom and im really not sure where to put it, so honestly, its still just sitting in there in the way. also, it does not allow easy access to some parts that are very important to clean in the bathing process if you know what i mean :) its pretty much impossible to clean those areas without lifting the baby out (which is what we did and it was pretty inconvenient).

price/where to find it cheap:
i would encourage some thrift or consignment shopping/ yard sale hunting to find this bath seat. it seems to be pretty popular and you may be able to get a great deal like i did. other wise the safety 1st tubside bathseat sells for about $30 from just a few online retailers. the cheapest price after shipping i could find is the above link (about $40 total). i also came across this warning about these seats, saying they are not compatable with certain tubs, so check it out before you buy. 

rating (0-5 stars):
i give this bath seat 3.5 stars because of the few negatives i mentioned above.

review: method, squeaky green body lotion


overview and what i love about the product:
this lotion is just as nice as the hair and body wash. the scent is rice milk and mallow... very yummy :) the bottle states it is: gentle, non irritating, 95% natural, peditrician tested and hypo-allergenic. the bottle has a pump nozzle and the lotion is light but very moisterizing. its not greasy and absorbs fast into the skin, so baby can't smear it all over! devin had some dry patches of skin on the backs of his arms and legs that i had been trying to treat with that really thick, heavy eucerin and it wasnt doing a thing for weeks! eucerin is really expensive too! well, i used the method lotion twice a day on these areas for 2 days and... no more dry skin! i even use it lightly on devin's cheeks and forehead. i really like this line of baby skin care!

cons:
no cons at all!

price/where to find it cheap:
method baby, squeaky green body lotion is about $5.50 at babies r us, target and many online shops for an 8 oz. bottle. a very good price for a high quality natural product.

rating (0-5 stars):
5 stars all the way!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

bad birth story


i wrote this a while ago on the preemie parenting forum im a part of. uugghhhh its so depressing, so im very sorry to anyone whos bored enough and decides to read my novel of a birth story and walks away feeling slightly suicidal :) (that was a joke).

to sum it up and i HATE saying this and feeling this way, but the day devin was born was the worst day of my life. i'll try to make this as short as possible and i apologize if it gets rambly. and it will!


this is my last pregnant picture before his birthday (2 days before he was born).
my water broke at 22 weeks and i was told i had less than a 10% chance of bringing my baby home alive, i would most likely deliver within 48 hours. i lasted almost 5 weeks after that on hospital bedrest with 0-2 cm. of amniotic fluid the whole time. on june 23rd i started feeling contractions and they brought me down to L and D to prep me for my c-section (he was breech the whole time) i was scheduled for 9 am. they gave me the epidural at 8 and as soon as the needle was in my back a nurse came in and said they had to push it back until 10. the epidural made me shake and feel horrible and they ended up having to give me magnesium (i think) to help stabilize my blood pressure. i was already terrified, this just added to it. when i finally got into the o.r. one of the nurses was trying to find devins heartbeat with a doppler because the monitor wasnt picking it up (because they didnt have it in the right spot even though i was telling them where to put it they didnt listen, i KNEW exactly where you could find his heart beat, it was always in the same spot). so she started freaking me out saying she couldnt find it and that made everything move 100x faster. by the time they were in the middle of cutting me open i was in full on panic mode, almost hyperventilating shaking like crazy from the epi and my husband was so scared. i could barely tell what was going on. its such a mess of horribleness in my memory i cant even put it into words. i finally saw devin being carried across the room . he didnt cry and he looked so small and wasnt moving much. i was screaming the whole time "is he breathing? is he ok? is he alive?!!!"... no answer. not once during the whole time they were working on him and i was begging my questions did one person say anything to me or my husband. the most i got (at least i think this happened) is one of the drs. working on him looked at me and gave a little wink.

oh and before they took him out, apparently the dr. said to go get the hysterectomy kit and my hubby heard that and had to sit down on the floor. i had no idea that even happened. the dr. didnt have to use it, but he thought he might at one point!

so while they were doing their stuff with devin, the anesthesiologist finally gave me something that knocked me out and i woke up 20 minutes later in the corner of the recovery room with about 5 other women holding their newly born full term babies! i was in so much pain and was so scared and still didnt even know if my baby was alive. they didnt let my hubby go to the nicu with devin and there had been no word yet as to how things were going. we had a nurse contact the nicu and finally found out that devin was doing ok, but thats pretty much all the info we got at that point. it took about 2 hours of my husband begging that nurse to let me recover in my normal hospital room because i was uncontrollably upset about where i was at that point. the last thing i wanted was to be staring at happy new families.

once i was back in my room the nurse i had, told me it was hospital policy for moms who had a csection to wait 12 hours before going to the nicu to see their baby! and we were told that a neo would be up within the hour to let us know details on our son. my husband finally got to go see him for a minute and brought back a pic for me.


ok this is getting too long, basically, it was 9 hours before we talked to a dr. and by that time i had been in sooo much pain and was bleeding pretty heavily and my nurse told me i would have to wait past the 12 hour time period. but the neo that finally came disagreed because she wanted us to be able to see devin asap, he wasnt doing very well and she wasnt sure if he would make it through the night. his blood pressure was very low and he was on the max amount of meds for it at the time. (and by the way my recovery nurse was awful and didnt believe i was in as much pain as i said) at one point while my husband was with devin and i was alone, i started having heavy bleeding and called the nurses station and said im bleeding heavily , please send someone. when she got there she yelled at me and told me never to call saying something like that "because you know what happens when you tell the nurses station youre bleeding? everyone panics and has to come running!" WHAT???? are you kidding me? I was panicking you bitch! and it took you 10 minutes to get here BY yourself!

so i was finally able to see him at about 12 am. he was born at 10:51 am. and you know what KILLS me to this day? he was breathing on his own for 1 hour when he was born! he needed cpap after that and the next day required the vent for 3 days, but why couldnt they tell me he was alive and breathing? it infuriates me!
im beyond grateful that he DID make it through that night and that hes happy and healthy today, but man was that the worst day ever! if only one aspect or moment of my sons birthday could have resembled joy, maybe i wouldnt break down and cry randomly because it traumatized me for life.

but everytime i look at my happy little baby cakes, it doesnt matter at all how he got here, just that he IS here.


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

happy 8 months devin!


today devin turned 8 months old! like i said last month, im having some trouble accepting the fact that his age is 8 months. i know hes the same beautiful, happy baby he would have been if he was born on his due date and we actually got 3 "extra " months with him on earth but it still stings that my baby who should be 5 months is actually 8 months and that much closer to his 1 year birthday. i want to call him my 5 month old! i still have'nt gotten over that aspect of being a preemie mom, maybe one day :( even with the strange emotions every time another 23rd of the month roles around, im still beyond happy and way beyond proud of my 5ish or 8ish month old baby!

we gave devin his first bath in the real tub tonight and he did'nt really know what to think. it is pretty weird seeing your toys floating in what seems like mid air, but wet mid air. it must be weird to experience that for the first time. he just kinda sat there, stunned. and he looked so hurt when his plastic book and keys kept mysteriously moving away from him.







review: method, squeaky green baby hair and body wash

overview and what i love about the product:
i recently purchased this hair and body wash because i read about a law suit brought upon johnson and johnson because a very dangerous chemical was found to be in some of their baby shampoos(not surprising-i know stuff like this happens often). it really got me thinking about what products we use that can be switched out for more natural ones. we were using the lavender bedtime bath, but when i read about that, i went out looking for something natural. i was looking at the california baby products, but they were VERY expensive. i think about $11 for a small container of shampoo. the method line of products were much more reasonable so i gave the hair and body wash a quick sniff test.... I WANT TO EAT IT! the scent is rice milk and mallow, it smells soooo good! the bottle states that its 99% natural, tear free, pediatrician tested and hypoallergenic. there is also a bubble bath, baby lotion (next on my list!), and diaper cream in this scent.

what i really found that i like about this wash is not only the smell, but its very light and easy to rinse away. the water doesnt get sudsey or bubbly which i liked for some reason. i guess i felt like devin wasnt just marinating away in soap! it also has a pump nozzle which makes bathing a wee wiggly one so much easier. the cap is actually a cup to rinse baby with and it might seem like a small thing, and you night just think "i'll use my own cup, thats no big deal!" but it IS a big deal! the cup is so cool! it has a hole near the rim and water comes out of there at just the right speed and angle and it holds a good amount of water.

cons:
no cons in my opinion (or devin's)!

price/where to find it cheap:
method squeaky green baby hair and body wash runs around $5.50 for 8 fl. oz. at babies r us and target. not bad at all in my opinion!

rating (0-5 stars):
5 stars!

Monday, February 22, 2010

review: sophie the giraffe


so i decided that im going to start posting some reiews of my favorite and not so favorite baby things. i hope they can be helpful for someone, im not sure who actually reads my blog, but hopefully i can help someone out in their baby buying adventures!

i LOVE getting devin new stuff and now that hes getting older he actually appreciates certain things instead of just ignoring them. i completley acknowledge the fact that he would be just as happy a baby without most of the "things" i see and think "devin needs that! NOW! life will not go on until that plastic item is in my babys chubby little fingers!" but, reality doesnt really apply when devin is involved! im also a huge sucker for any recommended item. if someone's baby has it and loves it, or it makes that moms life just a little easier, well i must have it. many times its hard to live like this especially when you dont have much money-we DO NOT have much money. it really helps to search high and low for used items, frequent the local thrift store or log onto craigslist daily. also, ALWAYS google or search the internet for promotional/coupon codes before you buy ANYTHING online. theres usually at least a 10% code somewhere.

the first thing im going to review is sophie the giaffe.

overview and things i love about the product:
sophie is great! shes made out of natural rubber and colored with food grade paint, so very safe for baby. this toy is just perfect for babies to hold onto before they have mastered the whole grasp and bring to mouth thing. devin was about 2.5 months adjusted when we gave him sophie and he had really just started to hold onto things if we placed them into his hand. i think sophie really helped him with his grasping because he was able to bring her to his mouth very quickly and not drop her every two seconds. shes just the right shape for it to be very easy to get some part of her into a mouth longing to chew on something. she squeaks and is much like a glorified dog toy, but safe for baby! devin smiles everytime he sees her, she has not gotten old yet and hes had her for about 3 months. there is just something about this toy that babies love! sophie is the best teether we have come across so far and when devin is chewing on her it makes the funniest squeaky sneaker noise, its very cute!



                            cons:
there is a rubber smell to sophie that does not go away after washing. i thought devin would'nt like it, but he doesnt mind it at all. the smell has faded but its still there a bit. not a BAD smell, just a smell :) also the food grade paint does wear off a bit over time. some of the coloring on her head is fading because of constant chewing, but still very worth it overall!


                          price/where to find it cheap:
the average price for sophie is around $20, which is a little high for a small rubber toy, but i guarentee your baby will love it and its totally worth it. right now sophie the giraffe is $15 on amazon.

                          rating (0-5 stars)
ok, so i'll do ratings by stars i guess! sophie the giraffe gets 5 stars!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

nice day


the last couple days here have been so beautiful! the sun has been out and its been around 70 degrees so we took devin to the park today and he got to see those weird things that look kind of like me, fabian and grandma... other people! (from a distance of course). he also paid close attention to the geese. i hope the weather stays this way for the rest of the winter because it almost felt like spring and i just want spring to be here NOW!



we got devin baby sunglasses and even though i pretty much knew i was watsing my money i still had to have them. it turns out he doesnt mind wearing them at all.