i'm a pacifist

I really am. But I don't know how I feel about pacifiERS.
Some schools of thought for modern day child rearing feel that they are totally unnecessary tools that could lead to nipple confusion and other problems with breast feeding. I don't know what I think because I don't have any frame of reference for this particular issue.

My mom tells a story about when I was an infant and I had a favorite paci. It was the only one I liked. I would howl and cry unless I had it. She describes it as a 'hideous bulbous thing'. Nice. Anyway if the paci ever fell on the floor it was a race to get, it wash it and shove it back in my pie hole before I could start really screaming. If the god forsaken thing got misplaced a search party was formed to locate it as quickly as possible before I could notice that it was missing. Ahh I must have been a delightful baby.

So bottom line, if I do decide to use a pacifier with my baby it has to meet two requirements. It needs to be able to be attachable so that it can't get lost, and it has to stay clean. I mean we keep a clean house but trust me anything that hits our floor is sure to come up with a fine covering of pet hair. But now there is this nifty invention (thanks lady from the pregnancy forum that clued me in on it).

The KeepitKleen pacifier. A protective shield closes over the nipple if it hits the floor. Very clever... very useful:

For more info on this pacifier click here.

the boob juice chronicles

So I'm planning to exclusively breastfeed for the first 3 months of my baby's life. After that I need to go back to work so I might supplement with formula... we'll see.

But as I truly start considering this concept, the feeling of being totally overwhelmed starts welling up in my chest (haha).

Anyway, a woman's breasts are a much celebrated thing. Though frankly up until now I've not given them much consideration. They aren't particularly large or small. I don't have any weird things going on like a 3rd nipple or areolae the size of saucers. But now I'm sort of fixated on the damn things.

After I take a shower I pause and stare at them in the mirror. I keep wondering how I am going to make the transition from QA engineer with unremarkable boobs to full time milk maid. This is some scary stuff.

The nursing pads, breast pumps, special bras, cracked nips, babies with little sharp teeth.... I get a headache just thinking about it. But then something deep inside me tells me that I'll figure it out... I'll do just fine. I know that I will.

a better push chair?

So this stroller is actually alot less of a wallet buster than all the others that I've seen and it's actually really pretty sweet looking. I dig the purple color... swanky.

It's made by Britax and out of the box it can accomodate a 6 month old but with the detachable infant car seat it can be used from birth. Bonus: they sell it at Babies R Us for those of you that are going to register there. The reviews seem to be really great too.



For more info click here.

baby mcg @ 11 weeks

So we had another ultrasound today and I am so thrilled to see this little dude (or dudette) is finally looking like a baby! For reals, for true!!

So while the tech was doing the ultrasound we saw the baby move around alot... lots of arm flailing and leg kicking. The mouth opened and closed rhythmically like a person swallowing water.
At one point she had me cough and the baby shook it's head in response!

So wild.... I actually started to cry :-)



Click here to see the full set.

my belly

It's starting to pop!

Today puts me right at 12 weeks. On one hand I can't believe I'm already at 12 weeks, and on the other I can't believe that I have so many more to go. GAH! Also, maternity pants are God's gift to pregnant ladies. A small reprieve from all the suffering. I got a few pairs of cute jeans and pants from Old Navy and Gap Maternity so no more rubber band rigging and tunic length tops for me.

Anyway, here's my 10 week belly. Hasn't changed much since then:

Elimination Communication and the Diaper free baby

New frontiers in potty training are being blazed!

Did you know that you can potty train an infant?! I have been reading about Elimination Communication (EC). It's a methodology used to keep your baby diaper free (or at least minimize the need). I've only just started investigating it but I think I'm already sold. The biggest drawback that I see with this process is the tremendous amount of time you would have to spend conditioning the baby to eliminate on cue. For moms like me that need to go back to work, this could be really tough.

Anyway, check it out this page on EC basics. The whole thing is really cool and makes really good sense to me:
Diaper Free Baby

Insomniac

Hi,
I can't sleep. Like seriously I feel like the walking dead. I get up about 5 times a night to go pee and it's just really exhausting.

Anyway when you lay awake all hours of the night you start to think about things. I mean really let your mind go, you know?

I don't know what I'm going to do after this baby comes work wise. I need to work, no doubt about that but I don't see myself grepping server logs and writing bug reports while trying to juggle a crying baby and a leaky boob. The idea of this is totally overwhelming to me. I guess I never gave it much thought before but the more I think about it the more I feel like I am getting in over my head with this whole 'working from home part time' idea.

I guess I need to chew on it some more because right now I just feel unsettled. Thank God it takes us humans 9 whole months to make a baby because I really need all the prep time I can get.