Monthly Archives: October 2013

Child proofing your space

My little guy happens to be a very fit baby.. He is exclusively breastfed and very active toddler. He was only 2 months when he started the tummy crawl. In time, he rolled over and crawls better. Then suddenly, he cruises and just becomes very mobile and curious. As a mom, with these developments, I began to see the accident-prone areas in our home.

First on my list is securing Joshua from the hard floor. I had to pad the floor in Joshua’s room with rubber tiles. This way it cushions him from falls or painful rolls.
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Next, I had to address the furniture in the room. Joshua learned to get support from drawers and cabinets for him to stand up. To prevent finger accidents, I had to find several household preventive tools.

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You can buy these from the hardware store and they are stick-on locks that stops drawers and cabinets from opening.

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My son is very observant. He sees how many times in a day I plug my gadgets in electric sockets. Obviously, he would come near the sockets and tries to put his fingers to inspect it. Haaaaah! I stop him from one socket then he crawls to the next! To solve it, there are these wonderful plastic covers that can be inserted in sockets. These are just great to have!
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Another innovative invention of a mom is this screen cover for electric fans. I got this from a mom bazaar in manila. This is brilliant! It stops fingers from getting through and I super love this!

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Safety is really key with a toddler. Child-proofing your space just relieves you from worrying about the next accident. It is always better to be on the side of prevention rather than being sorry.
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A Love for dogs….passed on.

We love dogs. In fact, before Joshua came into our lives, our pets were like children to us. We have 3 wonderful big (slightly overweight) dogs and they bring us so much joy.

Blue and Scotch, our American Staffordshire Terrier (from pitbull line) grew up sleeping with us in our bed..They are lovable, playful, and for years took the place of a missing child in our marriage. Well, it was until the day, God granted our desire.

When I was pregnant, I was advised to start weaning my dogs off me, so they won’t get jealous when our baby arrives. I admit it was hard to do. So our dogs slept with us in the room (not on our bed) even till my 8th month. I felt the dogs knew I was pregnant because Blue was always surrounding me like a protector especially on my last trimester. I wondered,
“how will they react when I leave for the hospital and I come home with a new baby and not pay much attention to them?”

I was told that when I give birth, the father has to come home with baby wraps and make the dogs smell it, so they can be familiar of the new one that will be coming home soon. I’m not sure if my hubby did that. But when I arrived home from the hospital, our 3 dogs were excited to see me, and they wanted to see and smell the baby. Unfortunately, we were advised for the safety of the baby from allergies and asthma, it would be best to keep them apart first.

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However, when I would get early sun for Joshua, they would follow wherever he was like guard dogs! As the months passed, Joshua would take morning strolls and they would fetch him from the door. We are family, it is impossible not to care for each other.
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Joshua at 8 months has become interested with the dogs. He likes to touch them, follow them, and pull their tails! He is not afraid and he enjoys them.
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Our love for dogs is something that Joshua sees and he too now is a little dog lover like us!

Smartphones are for ME-TIME!

As a newbie mommy, I did not realize that me-time will be one scarce luxury. All the more if you are committed to breastfeeding, you feel like a milk machine that needs to function every 2-3 hours. In short, with the demands of child care, a mommy has very slim chance to do things she would normally do. So shopping, visiting salons, eating out or hanging out with friends are very limited or even impossible.

Thank goodness for technology and the smartphone. Internet browsing, and social media give moms the ME-TIME at the convenience of their available time when babies are sleeping or nursing. The internet enabled gadgets like the tablets, smartphone, has allowed moms to be connected with the world even if reality is they are stuck at home. It allows us to slip out of reality momentarily and like and comment on facebook posts and instagram photos. Also without having to go through a bulky laptop, I can easily research my queries about my worries, my issues, and the encouragement needed about my child care issues.

When nursing my baby for 15 to 45 mins, I find it most helpful to getaway from the boring stare-on-the-wall to reading blogs, news and checking on friends and family instead. I have found myself and another mom actively liking and commenting on facebook at 3am! Obviously we were awake because we were feeding our babies. The smart gadgets help us stay awake while we are nursing our babes… And because the smartphone is small, easy to hold with the hand, and light, it makes it the most easy gadget to have near the bed.

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Whats great is also the loads of application available for download on your smart gadget. One of the applications I enjoy the most is the bible and you can download it from http://www.youversion.com. This allows me to have quiet time despite the hectic and demanding schedule of a mom. Indeed, I consider this such a pleasure to have this smart gadgets that allows me to have ME-TIME. It really is a blessing and such a great time to be a mom with all this technology!

Those pearly whites!

I remember getting a bit worried when Joshua was 6 months old that his teeth has not come out yet. I hear stories of kids getting their teeth earlier. I must confess I felt slightly worried that I did not have enough calcium thats why his teeth was not here yet.

Of course the expectant MOMMY-me was looking at Josh’s every drool, providing his teether for his hardening gums, and letting him cut biscuits with his toothless jaw. I guess you can say as a first time mom you want to see the results according to the books!

So yes, not on the 6 month did his two lower teeth come out, but rather almost 9 months! Joshua and I were on a plane to Manila when his tantrum was unconsolable. Not even breastfeeding or breastmilk can appease. I was pretty stressed and tired on that ride because my son would not stop crying. This tantrum lasted beyond the air plane ride, to occassional crying between meals and play time. Worst, was at night he would awake fully crying and I started to suspect that it could be his teeth coming out.

True to that premise, Josh was in pain. He would feel relief from ice-cold candies as a pacifier. But I think one of the best discovery is the Xylogel. Recommended by my pediatrician, you apply this gel type paste on affected gum and it would somehow give an anesthetic numbing from the pain. When Joshua awoke the 2nd night in tears, I applied it over his gums and he slept well!

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I never thought it would be this way because my twin sister’s kids never had problems with their first tooth coming out. But since our experience was different it is good to know we have options to address the painful entry of those pearly whites!

Now as an exclusive breastfeeding mom, I am amazed at the resiliency of our physical anatomy to adapt having those new teeth around as I continue nursing my baby. Its not a horror story as I expected.

The great thing with this new development of Joshua’s new pair of teeth, is Josh’s new food adventures. His pearly whites help him cut through cheese, fruit, and other solids. This indeed is a blessing and great fun to watch!

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