Baby Journal: Week 4

Hi Baby,

This week you took your first flight, well that is the first flight where I knew you were there. I've learned that I love telling strangers about you since I can't tell other people yet. The TSA woman who gave me a very detailed yet surprisingly delicate pat down (because I didn't want you to go through the regular security screening) was so sweet when I told her about you.

Your dad and I have loved talking about what it will be like when you arrive. We've decided how we will surprise your grandparents and tell them the good news...but it will be quite a few more weeks before we do that. We're hoping to have some pictures of you to show your dad's parents. I found out that when your dad left Boston (because I had to stay 2 extra days for work) he started looking up books to read about parenting and pregnancy. We both are still very surprised you'll be arriving at the end of the year.

I had no idea how difficult it would be to avoid all those foods you're supposed to avoid when you're pregnant. We all knew caffeine would be the hardest to avoid, and although a cup of coffee a day tends to be okay... we all know I can't have just one cup so I've decided on going cold turkey. Speaking of cold turkey...lunch meat. That's been the biggest struggle to avoid, who knew I ate so many sandwiches!

Symptoms: Although most places say I shouldn't be having any morning sickness yet, I'm making sure to snack often. I started feeling sick a few days this week, but we are pretty sure it was as a result of all the seafood I'd been eating in Boston before I knew you were there!

Promise: On our trip we also bought you a matching Christmas outfit with your cousin! We want to get you used to matching outfits early, just like I got to do with my sister and cousin! We promise to take photos of you that are both wonderfully pretty...and ones that you will really only appreciate when you're an adult (but are embarrassed of all throughout your childhood). Speaking of things to be embarrassed of, I promise to never let the local news video you do something embarrassing that will haunt you for your whole childhood (we will have you watch my "stranger danger" video sometime to explain).

Comments

Traveling with Kids: Setting them up for successful flight

Each flight we take with our kids, we are often overwhelmed by fellow passengers commenting on how great our children travel. I won't even pretend that it has anything to do with my parenting or my children's innate ability to be good travelers. By no means does that come without a lot of behind the scenes work, thought and preparation. Our children are not naturally good travelers...rather we do everything possible to set them up for a successful (i.e. enjoyable, quiet, and somewhat relaxing) flight.

Do you want a toddler that doesn't make a peep when you travel? How about a baby who doesn't fuss too much? Here are a few of our secrets to setting your children up for a successful flight
It starts before you even book your trip.
Schedule your flight at a time that works well with your child's sleep schedule. That means no getting in at midnight, no leaving at 5 a.m...and for us we often try to avoid nap time as much as possible (once are kids are down to 1 nap a day…

Things You Learn About The Newborn Phase The Second Time Around

Look, we've all been there. As a first time mom you are totally crazy. You need every little thing imaginable to be able to raise your baby. Your baby has more places to be set down than you have chairs for everyone else in your house...crib, saucer, bumbo, highchair, rock-n-play, play mat, swing...you get my point.
Now second time around, you might just do things a little differently! Here are a few things I learned my second time around:

My biggest secret? Your baby wakes up less at night the lower you turn down the monitor volume.
Think on that a minute...does that make me a bad mom? No! It means that I'm not waking up at every little thing! And allows Pepper learn to put herself back to sleep on her own after playing/talking a bit.

Don't even bother buying a baby book or it will be filled with "Date baby laughed 3 months?" Yep..the question mark is actually written in the baby book, because I'm not 100% sure when she laughed.

You will forget everything tha…

Omaha Performing Arts: WeBop

If you're anything like me, you want to find all kinds of activities for your kids to get involved in as a way to educate, entertain and cultivate their physical and mental growth. For little ones, sometimes that is difficult to find. We've explored swim classes, sports, gymnastics...all great things, but we really wanted to look at something else for Lorelai to experience.

Music is such an important part of a child's life. Personally I believe that my involvement in music at a young age made me more successful and well-rounded! Due to involvement in choir, musicals and band I was able to gain confidence at a young age for public speaking, since I was familiar with standing in front of an audience. I also feel that reading music is such a great skill for children to learn as they grow older, along with familiarity with instruments, and to appreciate the arts. Not only that, music can help a child learn and retain information (example...do you still sing your ABC's in y…

Kitty & Kevin

Search This Blog