Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Daily Peep: Baby Feet - Now, With Extra Guilt!

Two things of note in this photo:


  1. While Peeper has not quite discovered her feet yet, they seem to have discovered each other, and when she is barefoot (not often enough, darn this relapsing winter weather), they are usually playing with each other.

  2. The red marks all over said genius tootsies. From the too-small shoes that I made her wear all evening.
    Whozat: Oh my God - look at them. That's awful!

    Shrike:
    How could you know?

    Whozat:
    Maybe from the way I had to jam them onto her feet?
    (And, maybe, from the fact that the other pair the same size which just slip on (or not) and do not have an opening and velcro clearly did not fit at all?)

    Whozat: Do you think they were hurting her? No, she didn't seem like she was hurting. Did you see how she was laughing in Target? She was happy then, right?

    Shrike:
    Yeah, probably because she knew she was about to go home and take off those damn shoes.

Peekaru To-Do (And Pee-Pee Too!)

Check out this article on MomLogic.com (which I usually rather enjoy), about the Peekaru (at right is the photo used with the article), and especially the comments.

You'll note that every comment is either "I own one and I love it!" or "Oh my God, it looks funny! Ew!" - Mostly the latter.

Interestly, most of the "have it and love it" folks mentioned that they put their kid's head all the way through the hole, not just peeking out, and most wear them facing in, or on their back - as in the photos below, which I guess does look a little less "Alien-esque."
So, why did the editors of the article pick the (admittedly) freakier-looking photo, and not one of these?
The better to make fun of it?

But, primarily: What the hell is wrong with people?

Here's the comment that I posted:

I wear my baby alot, especially if we’re out and about shopping and such.

She was born (4 weeks early and weighing under 5 pounds) in late October, and we live in a cold climate, so I’m always concerned that she’s warm enough going to and from the car, but not too hot in the store.

It’s not practical to wear a coat in the wrap, or to take one on/off of her once she’s situated in it, so I need something to go over her, or both of us.

I stumbled on a “sweater wrap” that worked well enough, because I could wrap the long sides over her and still wear my own coat over it (but not over her). But, it’s not all that warm unless I held a blanket over her as well, so I rarely do more than just run to and from the car like that.

I think I would be much more likely to take her out for a walk or other, more extended outings, if I had something warmer like this.

(In fact, as I type - in early April - my partner is walking our dogs in snow flurries. If I owned a Peekaru, the baby and I would probably be out there with them, enjoying what is, otherwise, a beautiful day.)

It seems like the only criticism any of the commenters have about the Peekaru is its appearance; I don’t see one negative comment about its usefulness or practicality.

I really don’t understand that. It’s not supposed to be high fashion; it’s baby gear.

Maybe it’s just me, but if my kid and I are both warm and happy and the hell out of the house for once, I don’t care who thinks we look funny.

Also, I think the sleevelessness is a plus. Baby might need more coverage than mom, so she can be comfy without sleeves or, if she needs to, she can put her coat on as well.

On the other hand, what do I know? I went to the grocery store today with baby-pee all over my pants.

Sidebar:
We're having some diaper leakage, suddenly. DoulaK suggested it might be detergent build-up, so I've tried "stripping" them (washed repeatedly in hot water, without soap) and thought that had fixed it, but we had two leaks today.

Since it just started, maybe it's a fit issue, and we need to adjust how we're snapping them?

The leaks seem to usually be out the top, rather than the legs.

Today, I noticed that the lining was very wet at the top, so I'm wondering if we are always getting the stuffer in there good, all the way down to the front.

If she were a boy, I would think maybe it was a "tucking" issue, but how the hell does a girl pee out the top of her diaper?
So, you can probably imagine how I came to be at the grocery store in peedy-pants.

We were at Dr. T's this morning, and Peeper was lying in my lap, nursing, when suddenly, something felt very wet and warm. . . .

"Oh dear."

Another Sidebar:
Dr. T made me feel somewhat better about it with the obligatory "You think that's bad?!" story about her son (who is about 18 months old) taking off his diaper during naptime and "fingerpainting."

I'm afraid everybody has one of those stories, don't they?

Anway, after the appointment, we grabbed some lunch, and then went to the grocery.

I'm hoping that the really cute baby strapped to my chest diverted peoples' attention enough that they didn't notice the big ol' wet spot on the front of my leg the whole time.

At least, when it happened, I was holding her in such a way that it didnt' look like it was MY pee!
(I hope.)

Of course, I'm guessing that the woman who looked at Peeper in her pink/white striped outfit and pink hat and asked "How old is HE?" probably wasn't observant enough to have noticed if I'd just squatted and peed right there in middle of the frozen food aisle.

(I hope.)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Daily Peep: Marine Biology

I walked past Peeper's room this morning, to hear Shrike saying, "This is Pinchy the Crab, and this is . . . Snurt the Turtle, and this is, um, Dotty the Fish. . . ."

In her defense, the fish does have dots.


Peeper thinks they are all delicious.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Daily Peep: Final Dose!

Peeper finished off the bottle of Captopril this evening, so she's all done with it now!

She'll continue taking the Lasix once a day, until her next appointment with the cardiologist (April 14) and, assuming all is still going well, he'll take her off of it then, and she'll be medication-free for the first time since she was about two weeks old.

Or have I already mentioned that?

Taking the last dose!



Celebrating the empty bottle!


Outtake: I took these photos using the timer on the camera. Just as I put the syringe in her mouth for the first squirt, she spit up! I'm not sure exactly what the camera caught me looking at here, but I'm guessing it was probably the papertowels that I was about to reach for. At any rate, you can certainly tell that I'm not so happy about it.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Daily Peep: Out and About

It's a beautiful, sunny day, so Peeper and I took a little walk in our neighborhood. It was still pretty windy and chilly, so we didn't go far, but it was nice to get out for a few minutes.


Neglectosaucer!

Look what Mommy brought home last night - they were on sale at Big Lots!

(Here are some better photos, a description, etc.)

Some assembly required.


I got started on it . . .


. . . but Peeper had other plans for me, so Shrike took over.


Fully assembled . . .


. . . and ready to test drive!



Even BigGaloot had to check it out.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Daily Peep: Run Aground

Yes, she is lying in her baby bathtub, fully clothed.


We bathed her in it once, when we thought it was necessary after her surgery.

She hated it.

We then realized that we could just shower her in our laps without a tubful of water.

The tub is still sitting in the bathroom, and I tend to stick her in it while I do things in-the-potty-like-a-big-girl.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Daily Peep: Panda Pic - 22 Weeks, 2 Days

Cover Girl?

We're planning to enter Peeper in the Babytalk / GMA Cover Contest, and I need some help deciding what photo to use.

Of course, we know it's a long shot, but on the other hand, I've seen the photos of last year's finalists, and she's way cuter than at least some of them.

(Including, in my humble opinion, the winner.)

We're only allowed to send one photo, and it should be one that was taken within the past month.
If not for that rule, I would absolutely be using this one.


Their suggestions for what makes a good photo include: show the baby's personality, show all or most of the face (so the uber-cute sunglasses photos are out), good lighting, and smile!

I've narrowed it down to a few choices, shown below.

(One of which was taken just a smidge more than a month ago, but less than a month before the contest submission period opened, so that's good enough for me. Shhh.)

There are other photos of her from the past month that I like better, but for the contest, I've ruled out the ones where she's not smiling, or her whole face isn't showing, or her "zipper" is showing (not that there's anything wrong with it, but I suppose it's not her most photogenic feature, especially in its current not-so-healed state) or there's anyone else in the photo with her.

Take a look, and let me know which one you think will get her the gig!

#1

#2

#3

#4

Potential Entries for Future Contests

DoulaK tells me that she'll let me know the next time BumGenius is running a contest, so I can enter this one. (If she were smiling and looking at the camera, I'd use it for this contest.)


If I ever run across a mother-and-child photo contest, I am totally entering this one of Shrike and Peeper.


And, I think this is a good candidate for some sort of artsy-fartsy-type contest: