10 Months Old

Shay is 10 months old today!  She's so much fun and learning so fast!  I cannot believe that in just 2 short months she'll officially enter into Toddler World and leave Baby Land (although she can be 30 years old and she'll still always be my baby)!

Let's see...what has changed since my last post? 

She's standing a lot on her own now.  She still won't take any steps but we think it's just a short matter of time before she starts walking.  According to Jeff's mom, he had only one speed when he was young and that was RUN!  If she's anything like her daddy, we'll be in for it! 

She has also declared war on eating anything green.  By "war" I mean making dramatic gagging sounds and promptly spitting up the entire contents of her stomach.  So far, no luck with peas, green beans or, the most recent attempt, pureed broccoli (which translates into a cheesy broccoli dip for mommy & daddy so not a total loss or waste of time spent steaming and pureeing the broccoli).  I am so excited to get the book The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet that I just ordered.  It got great reviews on Amazon and I love some of the Google preview recipes like combining apples and cabbage...something I never would have put together on my own.  I'll get green in this kid one way or another!

She's continuing to sprout more teeth too! 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. Just adding to the cuteness factor when she smiles. She's using them too...she thinks it's pretty funny to clamp down on her spoon and not let go. She just sits in her high chair booster seat with the spoon clamped firmly in her mouth and gives us a look of impish glee. She's a regular comedian!

Let's see, what else?

Shay's "15 minutes of fame" have extended to the Duluth News Tribune, the newspaper out of Duluth, Minnesota where several of my relatives live.  My grandma sent a picture of Shay in to the paper and it made the "Grandma's Brag Book" section.  Love this photo!

She should be waking up from her afternoon nap any moment now so it's time to sign off.  Hope 2011 is off to a great start for you!

Shay's 1st Christmas

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was 6+ months pregnant and we had not met Little Miss Shay yet. And this December 25th found her crawling around amidst a huge pile of presents at Jeff's parents' place for her first Christmas. She is one much-loved baby!
 

A happy Shay Bug by Papa & Mimi's Christmas tree

My mom and her boyfriend, Ron, flew in from Minnesota to spend Shay's first Christmas with us. The trip was Ron's gift to my mom (thank you Ron!). We all piled into "Nadia" to drive to New River Fellowship for a candlelight Christmas Eve Service (Yes, we name our cars. Our other one is named "Dominique." Bonus points to whoever can figure out the last names of the people we named them after). I'm not sure if it was the loud music, the dim lights or the crowd of people, but Shay sort of freaked out when we brought her into the main auditorium. So I headed right back out to the lobby with her and proceeded to give her Cheerios (we arrived right around the time she was due for dinner). She muched preferred Cheerios over church! After awhile, we were able to go back into the service where she was wiggly as could be in Daddy's arms but was content to quietly eat her Cheerios and puffs, only flinging them into the aisle once, LOL! When we got home, she was ready for bed so we put her down and then ordered Chinese food, a relatively new Christmas Eve tradition for Jeff & me, and we all watched "Meet the Parents." Not your typical Christmas Eve but fun nonetheless.

2 cars, a ton of gifts and baby gear later, we all arrived at Jeff's parent's house in the afternoon on Christmas Day. We had a beautiful white Christmas in Nashville, the first in 17 years, and the view of his parent's backyard was so pretty. Minnesota friends...trust me, a white Christmas in Tennessee is a big deal!

Jeff & me on Larry & Kay's deck

Shay took a long nap while we ate dinner and woke up in time to "open" her gifts. She was none too impressed and was more interested in crawling all over and exploring. Must have been total sensory overload for her. Dinner and gift opening were topped off by a visit from Santa (Larry) and the Grinch (Jeff) which totally freaked poor Shay out! Maybe next year they'll be more welcome.

Not at all happy about the Grinch honing in on Christmas

 

Santa "Larry" and the Grinch "Jeff" with an unhappy Buggy

 

I can't believe how many toys, clothes & books Shay got! And, since she's a Shay Bug, many were bug-themed. Jeff's Nana got her a set of 4 bug hand puppets. I think Jeff & I have had more fun with them than Shay!  Thank you to everyone for loving on our little girl this Christmas and all throughout the year!

Shay checking out her Christmas bear from Aunt Julie & Uncle Bob

Christmas bow baby!

Also, congratulations go out to our friends Burke & Sarah Snyder on the arrival of their baby girl, Aubrey Caroline, who was born on December 23rd!  She's beautiful!

A December to Remember

Christmas portrait

The Christmas tree is NOT going up this year. If the tree went up, Shay would figure out a way to bring it down. Likely right on top of herself! So, even though the tree won't be up, this will definitely be a December to remember. At this point, all of our Christmas shopping and wrapping is done! Looking forward to my Mom and her boyfriend coming to visit the 24th-26th and going over to Jeff's folk's place on Christmas Day. I can't wait to see Shay amidst all of the gift wrap and bows.

Baby Land continues to be THE best place to be! Shay Bug is learning and growing so fast! She's getting stronger and more coordinated by the hour it seems. She crawls at super speed and is pulling up and cruising around everything she can. We've caught her standing by herself on occasion but only when she's not aware she's doing it on her own (i.e. while busy passing a toy from hand to hand). If we try to get her to stand on her own and she knows it, she'll immediately drop down on the floor.

Squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears & oatmeal continue to be among her favorite foods, but she also likes her YoBaby yogart, bread, Cheerios, yogart melts (aka "baby crack") and, most recently, chicken. We make roasted chicken and give her very small pieces of it. She really seems to like it and will sit and happily munch away. We call her a little "Chicken Chomper." She's also busy trying to learn how to feed herself finger foods. She has her pincer grasp down and has made the connection that she needs to bring her hand up to her mouth. However, she hasn't quite mastered the art of releasing the food into her mouth. She gets it in about 50% of the time (although, she did manage to snatch one of her organic apple puffs off of the floor and eat it before we could grab it!). It's so fascinating watching her and realizing just how hard some things actually are. We take so much for granted as able-bodied adults.

Trying her hand at eating toast

She also has 6 teeth now! Those little pearly whites just keep popping out. We've been blessed that teething isn't the ordeal for us that we've heard it can be for others. She'll get a little fussy a day or two before a tooth breaks the surface, but that's really it. She doesn't run a fever or anything like that and continues to sleep like a champ (about 11 1/2 hrs. straight at night!

Oh, and remember those baby showers I blogged about?  "Big" Shay had her baby on Dec. 3rd!  A beautiful baby boy named Liam Gabriel.  Congrats to the proud new parents!  Comje on Burke & Sarah...Baby S. needds to join the December fun!

"Big Shay" and newborn baby Liam!

We don't really get white Christmases in Tennessee, but we did get some snow the other day.  I had to take some pictures of Shay's first time out in the snow!

 Daddy & Shay

Little Snow Angel

7 Years, 8 Months and 15 Minutes of "Fame"

Monday November 15th marked Shay Bug's 8 month birthday and Tuesday the 16th was Jeff's and my 7 year anniversary. To celebrate, I took Monday off of work and we enjoyed a wonderful long weekend together as a family kick started by a great time hanging out with our friends Tony & Greg on Saturday followed by a fun time with my friend Jen (another friend from Belmont...I love reconnecting with my college friends as of late) and her beautiful family!

Monday also marked the first day the Opryland Hotel re-opened its doors over 6 months after the big flood hit Nashville. We love the hotel. It's absolutely beautiful with all of its amazing tropical garden atriums, especially when its all decked out for Christmas. Whenever friends and family from out of state come to visit, the hotel is one of our favorite places to take them. When the flood devastated the area, it was really sad to see the hotel close, needing 200 million+ for repairs.

So we figured, what better way to celebrate our anniversary but to head over to the hotel. I had told my mom that we planned to do that about a week before and she so thoughtfully arranged to have a gift certificate waiting for us in the newly renovated Cascades Lobby (thank you Mom!). We enjoyed a great lunch together at the Cascades Cafe and a leisurely stroll around the gardens with our Shay Bug. What a beautiful day! Here are some pics of us and a happy Buggy:

 Mmmm...applesauce

 Buggy & me

 A happy Jeff with his favorite guy...Sam Adams!

 Peek-a-boo is funny!

 LOVE this little mug!

 My world (well, and a giant teddy bear)

New blown glass art piece in the Cascades Lobby

As we were heading out, we asked a lady if she would take a family snapshot of all of us in front of this beautiful new blown glass art piece showcased in the middle of the Cascades Lobby. While we was taking the picture, we noticed another guy also taking a photo with a really nice camera. At first I thought it was a little creepy that some stranger was taking my family's picture but then he came up and introduced himself as a photographer for the Associated Press who was doing a story on the hotel's re-opening.

The next day, I found the photo on the Associated Press' image site. Then I typed in "Opryland Hotel Jeff and Jamie Burton" into a Google search articles from news sources all across the country popped up with our picture! Everything from ABC and Yahoo News to the LA Times to a rinky dink newspaper in Idaho. So there you have it...our 15 minutes seconds of fame, LOL!

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Best. Anniversary. Yet.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash Review

Saying that there are a LOT of products out there for babies is like saying water is wet. It can be mind boggling for new parents. Eight months ago, I was pretty much clueless about most of the vast number of baby products on the market. Now, while certainly not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I have learned a lot and continue to be on the lookout for healthier, safer, all around better products. This time, the hunt was on for new shampoo/body wash for Shay Bug.

After much researching, I decided to go ahead and order Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash.  Ever since having her, I've gotten on a more natural kick and am slowly adding to our expanding list of natural products. We still have a mix of traditional consumer products but I just don't want to put unnecessary parabens, sulfates, and a laundry list of other ingredients that I don't recognize, can't pronounce and that can be potentially harmful to any degree. Especially now that Shay is starting to get into things and crawl everywhere, I don't want to use harsh chemicals that can get onto her hands and therefore, into her mouth.

This product comes in a special dispenser that foams the soap. Why would this be necessary? It helps keep the soap from getting into baby's eyes. I opted for this even though it specifically says it's not formulated as a tear-free wash. This is due to the fact that it uses all natural ingredients (listed below) and is free of anesthetizers typically put into tear-free products.

Organic coconut oil, Organic olive oil, Organic aloe leaf juice, Organic vanilla bean extract, Organic orange oil, Kosher vegetable glycerin, Potassium citrate, Organic shea butter, Organic calendula extract

Angel Baby® Shampoo & Body Wash contains no petrochemical, synthetic surfactants, foaming agents or toxins of any kind. That means no sodium laureth sulfate, cocoamidylpropyl betaine, Quaternium-15, 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde or phthalates.

• USDA Certified Made With Organic Ingredients
• No 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, or phthalates
• No sodium lauryl sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine or other synthetic surfactants
• No artificial preservatives (parabens, phenoxyethanol, etc)

Also, we use cloth wipes paired with Thirsties Booty Luster but I thought this video on how to make homemade baby wipes was interesting.

The verdict? I deferred to my husband on this since he's the one who bathes our Shay Bug the most. So far, so good. The foaming dispenser is nice because it is easy to put on your hand and then apply to baby without it running everywhere. It smells good and seems to work well with no adverse skin reactions. The only small complaint was that the foam disappears quickly when applied with a washcloth so it's not as easy to see the soap application...a small price to pay for the benefits of the ingredients. Overall, a good product!

Next on the Mommy agenda is to try out some of the organic baby products from babybaby.

(Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us in the hopes that it helps anyone thinking about purchasing these products.)

Staircase Mountain

Where in the world did October go?! Been so busy living out life that I haven't been updating this blog. Shay changes so much in the span of a week, it's hard to keep up with all of the advances in Baby Land but I'll give some highlights:

* Sometime in the last couple of weeks, Shay reached the summit of Staircase Mountain (aka: figured out how to climb up the stairs). She'd been trying for awhile but just didn't have the "oomph" to get her leg up and pull herself up to the next step. Not a problem now! We've had to move Aslan's (our dog's) water and food dishes from the kitchen to the stair landing to our bathroom so Shay doesn't get into them. She doesn't try to eat the dog kibble, but plays with it and splashes around in the water.

Little stair climber

* We've expanded her culinary horizons and, in addition to oatmeal, sweet potatoes & butternut squash, Shay also likes apples, carrots, pears & cantaloupe. She's decided that rice cereal, bananas, sweet peas & avocados are her nemesis. I tried mashing a little bit of banana in with her oatmeal thinking I'd outsmart her. She took one bite and looked at my like I was crazy. Next big step will be getting her to use a sippy cup and self feed. She has her pincer grasp but hasn't figured out how to move food from her fingers to her mouth. Instead she sits and holds it in one clenched fist while opening her mouth really wide and giving us the, "Why aren't you putting food in my mouth?" look.

* Pulling up to standing has become the activity of choice these days. She pulls up on just about anything she can get her hands on which means more baby proofing for Mommy & Daddy. She also likes to "cruise" around our couch and the inside of her crib. A lot of times in the morning I wake up to see her in the video monitor standing up and letting the world know she's awake.

 Cruising around the couch

* Just in the past couple of days, she's said the word "Mama" several times. It's definitely more baby babble and not intentionally directed at me, but, as her mommy, it's still exciting!

Two of my friends from college, Sarah and Shay, are pregnant and expecting their first babies just days apart from each other. Sarah was my roommate freshman year at Belmont Univ. and was also a bridesmaid in Jeff's and my wedding. Shay (aka "Big Shay") was in the dorm room next door to us and is who we named our baby girl after. Sarah, Kristin (another Hail Hall dormmate), Shaybug and I all went to Big Shay's shower which was in town. A couple of weeks later, Big Shay, Kristin & I all piled in my car and drove up to Indianapolis for Sarah's shower. Good times! 

Shay & Sarah - both beautiful & 30 weeks pregnant with new friends for Bug

Buggy & me at Big Shay's baby shower

I'll leave you with a picture I took the other day when Jeff brought Shay to visit me at work for lunch. 

Econobum Diaper Cover | Prefold & Happy Heinys Pocket Diaper Review

I just love the funny names for cloth diapers, Econobum and Happy Heinys being the latest I've tried out after scoring major clearance deals. While my Thirsties are working just fine (especially the Duo Diapers), I figured I'd like to try out some other options since I'll need to get some bigger sizes in the not-too-distant future.

Econobum

Reasons for Purchasing: This is a one-size waterproof cover with all sorts of adjustable snaps so it can be adjusted to fit as your baby grows. It also came with a one-size cotton prefold (something else I wanted to try out). The prefold is rectangular and can be tri-folded the long way or the short way depending on how big your baby is. Plus, I loved the price...I got this on clearance brand new for $5.95 (that's the cover AND the flat) plus free shipping from Cotton Babies!

The Verdict: The cover works great paired with our birdseye weave cotton flats, much like our Thirsties wraps. I like that you can adjust the size to fit. However, I am definitely a velcro girl. When trying to get a flat and cover on a very mobile, very wiggly baby, velcro is my friend. I've heard people who prefer snaps say that they like them because babies can't get them off as easily and they don't stick to anything in the wash. We don't have a problem with Shay taking her diaper off once we put her clothes over them and most cloth diapers with velcro these days come with laundry tabs that you stick the velcro to so they don't stick to anything in the wash. They've worked great for us! I haven't actually tried the prefold paired with the cover. Instead I used it to stuff the Happy Heinys pocket diapers in addition to the insert we got with each diaper since they didn't seem thick enough to hold up overnight...worked great! While I like the convenience of the prefold, I think it was too wide or too long depending on which way you folded it. I much prefer using our flats because I can fold them to custom fit Shay's cute little baby bottom and they're not as bulky. Plus it just seems to me that prefolds are more of a pain to launder since they require a longer dry cycle.

Happy Heinys

Reasons for Purchasing: The one complaint I have about the Thirsties wraps I have is that they leave red marks around Shay's legs. They don't seem to bother her and disappear fairly quickly after they're off but I wanted to see if there was something else out there that wouldn't leave those marks. These Happy Heinys have custom milled fleece around the legs instead of gussets with elastic bands directly touching baby's legs and claim to not leave red marks. Like our Thirsties Duo Diapers, they also have a very soft fleece lining in the inside of the pocket. Also, can't beat the price on these either...$8.96 each (that's the pocket diaper AND an insert) PLUS 5% off with a coupon code PLUS free shipping from Abby's Lane!

The Verdict: Well, jury's still kind of out on this. I love the colors I got (hot pink & lavendar). The velcro seems good and they're pretty simple to stuff and get on baby. The problem is that I ordered them in size medium which are too big for Shay at the moment. I did put her in one overnight as an experiment and prepared for a wet mess in the morning. However, I was pleasantly surprised that, while too big, it did not leak. And she didn't have any red marks. The thing I wasn't so crazy about is that the diaper is so wide. She was practically doing a straddle after I got her in the diaper. Luckily she didn't seem to mind and slept, well, like a baby all night. For now, they're great back ups for overnight diapers in case we get behind in laundry (we have 4 Duo Diapers for overnight at the moment). It'll be interesting to try them out when Shaybug gets a little bigger.

Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us.