Big receiving blankets. Some receiving blankets are too small to effectively use for a tight swaddle. The ones put out by Carter’s are 30″x40″ which is plenty wide for a tight wrap. Of course there are a lot of specialty swaddling blankets out there but I haven’t tried any of them. Also for babies born in the summer I’ve started to see these great muslin baby blankets. I think they’d make a great gift for a summer baby. I also think they’d be an easy craft project to make for a baby – if I try it, I’ll post a tutorial.

Our Baby Papasan chair. This has served us well with both boys who spent time sleeping in it. The angle seemed to soothe both of our little guys (perhaps it helped minimize any reflux). Of course, since we bought this 4 years ago there are new variations on the theme of an angled bouncer. This rock and play sleeper looks awesome and if I was going to buy another baby item, this would be it!

Lanisoh. The first few weeks of breast feeding were rough.

This formula container. So simple. It eliminates the need to buy more expensive single use packets and is reusable, cutting down on waste.

What were your go-to baby items?

Wyatt's tiny toes

Well this is old news in some ways but I had another baby! Wyatt Christopher was born via c-section on June 30 at a whopping 9lbs!

Ah the human body is an amazing thing. It makes us forget so many facts about newborns so that we keep procreating and populating the planet with little versions of ourselves. Here are some things I had forgotten about having a newborn.

• Breastfeeding sucks. Seriously. I know some people are very Mother Earth about the whole thing and it’s as natural to them as any other bodily function. For me not so much. I think it’s the best for my baby to get my breastmilk for as long as possible but the first few weeks of breastfeeding are a real trial. It’s amazing to me that so many women stick with it. We’re 6 weeks in and still going strong. Of course this far along, things have gotten easier so hopefully we’ll make it a few more months.
• You never see your spouse. I forgot about how little interaction you get to have with your spouse when you’re apart all day and then going to bed at 9pm so that you can get up for a 2am feeding. We’ll just have to keep up with each other via Facebook.
• Having a c-section hurts. I was going around telling everyone how easy my recovery was from my first c-section. Well I think I just blocked out how uncomfortable it was for the first few weeks. Luckily all is healing well.

All in all we’ve been very lucky with Wyatt. He’s an easy baby that likes to (so far) sleep through the day. Now that we’re over the hump with breast feeding this newborn thing feels much easier this time around. I’m already starting to forget what the first few weeks were like!

Luckily these are carried at my regular grocery store so I do knot have to make a special trip to the whole foods.*

First off are these great nuggets by Ian’s. As much as I thought my kid would not end up eating nuggets all the time, I was wrong. And if you’ve seen or read any of the popular books or movies on our food industry you’re probably wary of the bigger brand name nuggets out there. Bonus to these is that they are delicious!

Two other staples on our pantry are Annie’s Organic Mac and Cheese and Health Valley cereal bars. Both of these are purchased weekly partially because they are our only organic options in our grocery store. However both happen to be tasty and though slightly more expensive than their non-organic versions, reasonably priced.

Sometimes I think this extra money and effort to buy these products may be a result of effective marketing on the part of the growing organic food industry and my subconscious desire to project a certain image as a parent. But even if that is the case o think it can only do more good than harm to participate in this growing movement towards eating organic.

*I love Whole Foods but I cannot go there without leaving with some kind of organic lip balm or a yoga mat or something.

Konoko Pants

Originally uploaded by biglug

Is there anything cuter than a tiny baby? How about a tiny baby with knit pants on?

I knit these up for my friend Jaime who is due 5 weeks before me. The yarn is the same I used for the BuzzBee hat which I also knit for her – Lion Brand Cotton Ease. The yarn splits a little easily while you knit, but it is easy-care and kind of perfect for a baby item.

I highly recommend this quick pattern.  If I had to guess how long it took me, I’d say about one long weekend. The one pant leg looks a little shorter than the other, but I think that can be fixed with blocking.

I’ll hopefully get my act together in time to knit my own little one a pair of these and a cute matching hat too!

Project Raveled here.

Pattern available here.

Bye Bye Giant Computer Chair

Prepping the house for the new baby coming at the end of June is a little bit like a puzzle or a logic word problem. To move the baby into what was the nursery (currently our son’s room) we have to move our son into his new room (currently the guest room) and move everything out of the guest room into…oh right. There ISN’T ANYWHERE TO PUT THAT CRAP.

The guest room is actually just a room of random crap that doesn’t belong anywhere which happens to have a bed in it. The room also has our computer and printer and 2 bookshelves full of books and photos.

Our kitchen is big enough to house the computer equipment so  we went to Ikea and purchased a better desk suited for that area – enabling us to move the computer out of the guest room.

What to do with the old desk, chair, and printer table? Well we freecycled them. I love freecycle. Freecycle is a place where you post the crap you don’t want any longer and lo and behold people PICK IT UP from your PORCH without you doing anything! So awesome and so much better than throwing it out. Within 2 days our desk, chair, and small printer table were picked up and hopefully put to good use. But more importantly OUT OF OUR HOUSE!

Find your local Freecycle and start giving stuff away or getting it for free!

There seems to be a baby boom around me, with lots of friends expecting around the same time I am. This is a quick knit for my friend J who is due about 5 weeks before me.

This pattern is from the Wee Woolly Toppers collection available on Ravelry. It’s knit with Lion Brand Cotton Ease.

The hat knit up really quick and I’m looking forward to knitting more from this collection.

This is not the first time I’ve heard about this site, or the first time I was bothered by it. The author/owner of the STFU site’s “about me” starts with “You used to be fun. Now you have a baby.” Ouch.

The “You’re not a parent and too stupid to understand why this site is bad” Versus the “You are a parent and too stupid to see why this site is funny” flame war that took place in the comments to that Bust blog post was not a surprise to me.

Listen, I make fun of myself a lot. I make light of my Asian heritage, my lack of coordination, my natural nerdiness, and of course my parenting skills. But something about the concept of the STFU parents website just really can hit a raw nerve with me and obviously the commenters on that BUST post.

For me becoming a parent was surprising in so many ways.  First, I was shocked at how hard it was for me. Not because the act of parenting is inherently hard, but because I have never been more UNSURE of my ability to do something the right way in my life (besides any group sport).  I was not prepared for the insecurity that I associated with being a mom. In no other instance have I become more painfully aware of the fact that good intentions are not necessarily a road to success.

Second, I was not prepared for how having a child can drastically affect your social life and relationships with those around you.  Lack of sleep? Ok, saw that one coming. The need to revamp my definition of socializing? Not so much.

So what does this have to do with the STFU website? I am sure that some parents find the STFU website funny. In fact I know they do from reading their comments on related blog posts, but to me – I guess it just hits too close to home. I fully support the right that this website has to exist and the right for people to find it really funny and I wouldn’t be crazy enough to participate in a comments debate about it. But I just hope I don’t see any of my Facebook status posts up there any time soon.

And…I think I’ll unsubscribe from that BUST mailing list.

One part Play Doh.

A delicious lunch of whole wheat couscous and sauteed mushrooms and spinach.

A very complex train track.

Brownies with mini M&Ms made by a tiny chef.

End it with a taco night with friends that makes you think of summer.

And 22 weeks with the baby in my belleh now.

It’s so funny to be able to compare my first pregnancy to this one with pictures. This time around I’m definitely more worn out, but less nervous. Sometimes I feel like I forget I’m even pregnant! Baby boy in there due June 30!

The first step in my local eating effort was to try and buy our bread from a local bakery. (Bonus: they also sell delicious cinnamon buns). The odd thing about our bakery is I’ve only been able to get rye bread so far. Do they only bake rye? Do they not believe in wheat? I’m not sure.

Snowpacalypse

This worked for a few weeks until the tri-state area was buried in the snowpocalypse and I could only get to the grocery store.  It was great while it lasted and I do plan to go back as soon as we thaw out.

We also visited a local farm that sells meat from animals they raise. Everything we got there was really delicious and I know the money went directly back into a local community business. However I have no idea how they raise their animals – if they’re hormone free? Free range? I don’t know, but I still feel like it’s a step in the right direction.

For a few  years we belonged to a CSA until the demands of family on the weekend and during the week made it too difficult for us to make it to the farm and for us to find time to cook the abundance of veggies. This year we’ll have our own little farm in the backyard, if the snow ever stops!