If you're a bird, I'm a bird

This is the website for On the Other Side of the Glass: A birth film for men project: http://theothersideoftheglass.com/

Our little boy is growing up and were approached about moving him up to the Infant B classroom, which has crawlers and beginning walkers. Lincoln is started to pull up on swings and being more mobile. That's a good thing, except he is the oldest in his class and it becomes a safety hazard for the younger babies in his class.  Lincoln's teacher, Ms. Tina He is currently with a teacher we LOVE- Ms. Tina. She has been with him since he was 6-weeks old. He has his picture framed in her house. She calls him, "her baby." I knew the day would come, probably over the summer when he would have to move on. Ms. Tina's daughter is the teacher in the next class up. I've had to confront a couple times about some things she did so that was another hesitation with the transition. Last week, I called a couple childcare centers about rates and we even toured a place. Little Prodogies Learning Center is an arts-based school, which means they use art, music, and dance t...

We bought Lincoln a baby float from Academy to take to the pool. It has a canopy for sun protection. So one day last week we packed up the van with Lincoln's Radio Flyer Traveler wagon and headed to a pool. We were planning on going to Bishop Park's public pool. When we drove up we saw county buses and found out that the pool is only open on the weekends to the public. So we drove across the street to the Y to see how much it would cost to use their pool being non-members. Get this! $15 per adult and $10 for children (and that includes a 9-month old)! We paid $44 a month for our membership there and it would cost us $40 to swim in their pool for an hour! They are really trying to discourage people using their pool I'd say. So we got on our phones to look for other public pools in Athens. At this time, Lincoln started getting tired so we decided to drive around so he could get a 30-minute nap in or pool time would be no fun for anyone. We decided to call and drive over to ...

We were running like a well oiled piece of machinery. We had a routine that worked well. Lincoln slept on the way home from school (a third nap), made sure he was up by 5:15, nursed him, played, started bath water when he was tired of playing, bath lasted 20-30 minutes, dressed for bed, nursed, held until asleep, in crib between 7:30-8:00. It was like clock work, predictable. It's been over two weeks now that this "schedule" isn't working anymore. He wants to play until 9:00 or later now. Cries even when held, fine when you walk out of his room. I'm getting ready to do some experimenting tonight. First, I'm waking him up when he gets home from school, which Joe should be home with him any minute. I'll nurse him and then we'll play. When he starts getting fussy/tired, I'll nurse him, bathe him, and lay him down to sleep. If after the bath he doesn't seem ready, we'll play/comfort a little longer until tired. I'm thinking that waking hi...

Thirsties fitted diaper w/ hemp insert We have been cloth diapering since Lincoln umbilical cord stump fell off. We use old-fashioned pre-folds mostly. Pre-fols are about $2-$3 each. Usually you need 18-24 of them to last a couple days. We do have a few AIO (All-in-ones) that have both the cloth and cover sewn together so it is "all in one". The OsoCozy pictured here is $17. I also bought three gently-used fitted Thirsties diapers, which is what you see in the picture to the left. It's color name is butter. It was $9.00 used. It is a size large for 18-40 pounds so hopefully he'll wear it up until potty training. It has a fleece exterior and a flannel interior. I have placed a hemp insert in it for extra absorbancy over night. It fastens with apex, also know as velcro. This diaper does need a water-proof cover to prevent leakage. We also use Thirsties covers. They cost about $12 and are called Duo wraps because you can adjust them to grow with your baby. The on...

Mothers have favorite ages. Pediatricians say 4 months is a fun age. Well, I don't like this age we are in right now. He's pulling hair, slapping, scratching, screaming, clingy, fussing, won't go to sleep at night, does the stiff-arm-and-knees-in-chest position when you try to hold him, cries when you leave the room or put him in something (ie. exersaucer, jumper, play pen, crib). Yeah, I don't carry him all day in my Moby Wrap. Here recently, he's wanted out of that too. He was such a fun and pleasant baby and now parenting just became tougher. I've had a couple moments where I questioned why I wanted to be a mom. Breastfeeding and solid meals at the table are still going well. Thank God! He started crawling over a week ago and I read an article on my Parenting app about babies not sleeping well because of their new activity. It's not about him not sleeping through the night. He's not wanting to GO to sleep at night. Naps are fine. We've had the s...

Joe and I went on an anniversary trip to The Dillard House this past weekend. We knew we were going somewhere overnight for our 3rd anniversary. It depended on how much milk I was able to store up that would decide if we stayed away one or two nights. I figured I needed enough milk for 6 bottles for one night, which equals 36-42 ounces. My goal was to pump enough for two nights, which would total 12 bottles at 72-84 ounces. We decided to go on a trip the weekend before our anniversary rather than the weekend after which gave me less time to complete this task. With a couple days before the trip I pumped the last of the milk that I would be able to store. I ended up with 11.5 bags of frozen milk so we were able to go away for two nights. We were only going to be 1.5 hours away so if I needed to deliver more milk I could. Of course, in my absence from my baby, I had to pump while we were separated. I was used to pumping three times during the weekdays while I worked, but I have never ...