Scootin'

You can call him Scooter McScooterson.  My parents bought this for him for his 18 month birthday (is that even a real thing?) We can't leave the house without it.   Last night when we were coming home from a friend's house he was taking hills with serious speed and skill.  This kid is fearless.  It's quicker than letting him walk anywhere, cause when he's walking 2 blocks can take 20 min with all the distractions.

What next?  I guess a skateboard will soon follow.

Take Me To The Hospital

i scraped up my face
bounced my cheek on the floor
cause anything worth doing
is worth getting hurt for
i've made no mistakes
i'm never learning from that
i got no regrets
i wanna do it again
do it A -G- A- I- N

so you can take me to the H,
take me to the O,
want you to take me to the S,
take me to the P,
want you to take me to the I- T- A- L.
want you to take me to hospital....



- The Faint

It went like this:
Josh calls me at work and with an ever so calm voice says: "the boy fell down, split his head and may need stitches." next thing I know I'm in a cab headed home. I get home to a kid jumping off of things with a bloody head injury. This boy does not stop. One of his sitters is from Bolivia and knows to put the skin of an egg shell on an open wound to seal it up. So there he is with egg on his head smiling laughing and jumping. He stopped long enough for me to give him a hug and kiss and to tell me he fell down went "boooong!" and that it hurt. I packed the diaper bag and we were for ready for the ER. Since he was acting fine we took the subway 5 stops to the Children's ER. A call from a friend was made before we arrived so we only waited about 5 minutes before we were in the back with a doctor.
Once we were in it was quick and easy. Vitals were taken, egg washed off, wound cleaned out, assessed and super glued. Done and done. They were about to get the plastic surgeon for stitches, but since it was such a clean straight line they thought glue would be the best bet.  I have a feeling, this won't be our last glue/stitch him up visit to the ER.

MAMA, I'm so bored!

A Few things to Share

this has nothing to do with this post. just like this picture.

You probably already know how important I think natural/organic/safe products are.  Here are some quick tips I feel like sharing.


Plastics - I try to avoid buying plastics when possible, but I am not ready to live a plastic free life. If you do use plastics, pay attention to the numbers found on the bottom of the plastic item. #2, #4, and #5 are considered the safer options because they are least toxic and can be recycled easier.  Never microwave plastics and avoid storing fatty or acidic foods in plastic containers.

Food- Eat less meat and more whole grains. Obviously eat more homemade food and avoid canned food **especially canned tomato products - even organic**  they can be lined with BPA.  If you can afford to buy some organic produce, aim for celery, spinach (ALL leafy greens), ALL BERRIES, peaches, nectarines, apples, potatoes and grapes. Be careful of the fish you eat. Try to AVOID: Tuna (bigeye and Ahi), Shark, Mackerel, Orange Roughy, Tilefish and Marlin.
Look at labels!  Avoid the following ingredients: Artificial Colors - anything beginning with FD&C, Chemical Preservatives: BHA, sodium nitrate, sodium benzoate. Artificial Sweeteners: aspartame, acesulfame-k, saccharin. Added Sugars: High frustose corn syrup, dextrose, etc)

Gemetically Modified fruit and veggies are all over the place.  It is hard to avoid them these days (heck, i even read that they may be releasing GM mosquitoes in the keys soon) but here are some tips to avoid them: Buy Organic, Look for Non-GMO certified seals, Avoid at-risk ingredients including
soybeans, canola, cottonseed, corn, and sugar from sugarbeets, Get a Non-GMO shopping app on your smart phone. I have this one: Shop No GMO and The Non GMO Project.  Both are free and easy to use.

I have a lot of other tips to pass your way next week. In the meantime, watch this funny video.  I know they are a little played out, but this one - It's like they were following me. :)

I'm no Expert BUT... Part 2

Remember this post? I wrote it when Sonny was 4 months and it was very relevant then.  Well It has been 6 months since, and I have done a lot more research, purchasing, trashing and saving and this is what I have used and loved these past 6 months.

1)  Dining. My friend Corinne had this for her daughter, the Boon Catch Bowl. Whenever we would meet up for dinner or lunch she would stick it to the table and eat as though a baby wasn't at our table.  I bought one, and it is fantastic.  It makes eating so much cleaner.  Most of the time.  I used to put his food on the tray of his high chair and  hope he didn't fling it everywhere.  Now with this bowl, it is... contained.  That is nice.  We take it everywhere.  Restaurants, just stick it ot the table, throw some food in there and you get about 5 minutes of peace.  Which is 5 minutes more than what you get with out it.  Bibs.  Eh. You don't need bibs. I bought a variety of bibs, from organic cotton to silicon and we don't use any of them.   What works great is an old t-shirt.  It is long enough that it catches dropped food and easy to wash.  Whenever I tried to put a bib on the babe, he would freak out and try ripping it off, this solves that problem.  My Mom also suggested an old towel with a whole for the head cut out in the middle. This keeps their arms free and their front totally covered.

2)  Food. There are a lot of different organic baby foods out there.  Which do I think is the best?  Jar baby food? uh-uh. Frozen homemade pureed food?  Nope (takes too long). After searching shelves and websites it is obvious that the way to go is pouches.  Oh and once you learn that, then you have to learn about all the different brands!  I first tried Ella's Kitchen.  I liked it.  Pro's: A large variety of flavor, taste good, good story, available at Target and online. Con's: Consistency.  It isn't smooth.  Don't get me wrong, I like chunks but there is something off about this brand that I don't love.  Sonny will eat it, but it is not his favorite.  Then I tried Happy Baby. This is my least favorite.  Yes, Dr. Sears is involved with this brand so it sells and it is popular, but it is not good.  Pro's:  Least expensive of the "good" pouches, available everywhere, variety of flavors and options -- if you can't find the other brands in a store, chances are you will see this one.  Cons: Gross.  I bought a bunch of these at Whole Foods when we were traveling once and had to return them.  I did not care for the taste and neither did Sonny.  We gave them a chance, sampled different ones and we were not satisfied.  Call me a baby food snob, it's ok, I don't care.  I recently tried Earth's Best.  I just don't love this brand for anything. Maybe it's the logo or how they have saturated the market of organic goods, I don't know.  I just don't love them.  Pro's:  Well known brand, lot's of options, good price point.  Con's: Too many extra ingredients, too commercial (maybe?).  So what does that leave?  My favorite and my TOP pick for baby food: Plum Organics! I love these.  Pro's: Flavors!  Taste! Consistency! Branding! Con's: Price.  I guess you get what you pay for.  These are by far the smoothest, tastiest food pouches out there.  I can eat these all day long and when I need to give Sonny a little snack or meal on the go, he loves these too.  Mango Pear?!  Yummy.  Even the veggie mixed with fruit combos are good.  I've shopped around for the best price and Ecomom seems to be the best.  Sometimes Babies r Us will have then 10 for $10 and that is great.  Otherwise,  Ecomom is the way to go. You can also buy a variety pack so you aren't stuck with a bunch of one flavor your little one doesn't like.


Now, the paragraph above also goes for snacks and intro foods.  Plum wins hands down.  Their puffs are far supierior to other leading brands.  Their meal pouches are also pretty good. 

3)  Teething.  You all have seen Sonny's necklace.  Yes, it makes people assume he is a girl BUT I think it works.  Josh likes to say, "if nothing else, at least it looks cute."  It does look cute and my experiments show its success.  During a rough few days of teething, I took the necklace off and to me he was visibly worse.  More irritable, more restless and less him.  It could have been that it was just a bad day OR it could be that the necklace really does help soothe and regulate balance, pain and irritabilty. I am going with the latter.  I bought ours from Inspired by Finn.  What I learned after and am passing on to you- is that the lighter the color the more powerful the healing.
Our fail-proof go-to remedy are the Boiron Camilia Drops.  These things are great. I can't even tell you how many boxes we have gone through.  True Story - It was Sonny's first day with a new sitter and he was in teething in a bad way.  We told her about the drops and that they were in his diaper bag should he need them.  When I picked him up after work, she said he was really upset and fussy and she gave him a drop and within a minute he was a completely different baby.  Happy and smiling and back to normal.  It's true, I see that transition every time we use them. The other product I like are the Humphrey's Teething Pellets #3.  We use these at bedtime during bouts of restlessnes and fusiness caused by the teething.  They work.  Yes, I am aware that they have Belladonna and some people aren't OK giving it to their babies.  From what I learned about it and the amount in the pellets, I am fine with using them. Like I said it works.  Three pellets right before bed = sleep, which =  :) Me.

4) Brands.  One of my go-to baby brands is ZoLi.  They are a smaller company and of their 10 products (not counting variety of each product) I have 5.  Their Teething sticks are the best.  They come in a pack of two.  They are used so often and lost so often in our house that we have had to reorder them 3 times.  Josh was worried at first that Sonny would poke himself in the eye with it, but he never did.  We gave it to him when he was 4 or 5 months.  The Sumo Stack is also used daily in our house.  I love it because it really keeps all his snacks seperate.  In one simple container we can have: dry snacks, fresh fruit and veggies. Or a grain or whatever else you want to take with you.  Lastly, the sippy cup.  I thought I was mad at it for leaking once, but it turned out I just didn't close it properly that time.  I really like this.  I like the weighted straw, the handles and it's size.  It fits perfectly in Sonny's hands.
H&M. I have found the best, stylish, plain, not overly boy clothes and accessories at Baby H&M.  The prices are good and if on sale they are great.  I will warn you though that the sizes run very big. I'm still dressing Sonny in 4-6 month clothes.  Added bonus:  a lot of their staple items come in Organic cotton.

5)  Skin/Sun Care. This is a hard one.  It took me a while to find sunblock that I felt good about using regularly on the baby this summer.  One of my favorite blogs Growing a Green Family dedicated a couple posts to sun safety.  If you are interested in learning about the chemicals and free radicals that enter our bodies via ordinary sun block, that is a good place to start.  As always when buying ANY skin care item I strongly suggest you check it on Skin Deep first.  We used two sunscreens this year. For long exposure and to cover the baby head to toe, I like Loving Naturals.  It has a 1 rating on Skin Deep and their ingredient list is friendly.  When we were just out and about walking around we used the Badger Face Stick. This also has a 1 rating.
The other major summer skincare item for us is mosquito repellent. If you know me, then you know I am a magnet for any type of bug that can bite.  It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have an allergic reaction to any bite. They last forever, and bruise my skin.  Anyway, I wanted to get some products that I would be comfortable using for myself and Sonny.  Again, I found two I like. One for a good head to toe and the other for out and about last minute application.  For all-over spray on protection I opted for Alpenglow Insect Repellent.  It rated 0 on Skin Deep! All their products are hand made in Alaska and are wonderful.  I am really really happy with this spray.  For the last minute application, Badger won again, we use the Badger Anti-Bug Balm Stick. This also has a 0 rating.

6)  Shoes.  There are always two or more sides to every theory when it comes to raising and caring for kids.  When it comes to shoes, I am on the side of soft soled shoes are best for new feet.   There are plenty of articles online to read about the development of the bones in babies feet. I think this article gives a nice simple break down of baby feet development.  Long story short: baby feet bones are super soft and constintally changing and fusing together. We need to let their feet be free to grow and develop naturally without hard conforming shoes.  Ok, there are a ton of soft soled shoes on the market. I have reached out to mom groups, pediatricians and friends and I've learned which are the best and why.  My favorite (I ordered a pair- haven't received them yet, so they are just my favorite in theory- so far) are Soft Star Shoes.  These are hand made in Oregon with formaldehyde free leather and lined with sheepskin.  They are a little more expensive than other brands, but I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for.  When Sonny was just cruising and taking a few steps we used Robeez.  They are tried and true and probably your most common soft soled shoe.  I like that you can get them for a good price on Amazon, they come in all sorts of colors and styles, they are easy to get on and off and they stay on.  However, I don't think their leather is chemical free.  Some other brands you might want to consider are: See Kai Run, Pre-Schoolians, Bobux (these are made with eco-leather and are a safer alternative to Robeez),  Pedipeds and Nowali.  That will give you a good place to start.  I will say on our next kid, I will skip Robeez and do Bobux.


7) Carriers.  You can carry your baby a million different ways, in a dozen or so carriers. The most common are the Ergo, Bjorn, wraps, ring slings and Mei Tai's.  I've put Sonny in everything except the Bjorn.  My favorite hands down is the Ergo. It is easy and I feel the most secure with it. However, I will say that with more confidence I would have used the wraps more and started using my ring sling earlier.  If you are interested in carriers and live in NYC then I highly HIGHLY recommend you contact Caprice at The Art of Baby Wearing. She is a baby wearing genius and can help with all questions you might have.  Once a month she does classes here in Inwood and I think she also teaches in other locations (does house calls too).  There are other places like Slings in the City which can be helpful. I'm not going to judge you if you have a Bjorn, but I will suggest that you learn more about the development of baby hips, spine and pelvis.  When your baby is in a Bjorn, their legs are not supported and they just dangle there.  That is not ideal for their hips and spine (so some experts say).  Naturally, babies (especially newborns) should have their legs up in frog position. Later, they should be in a wrap-around-you type position.   


Phew, that is a lot of information.  I sincerely hope you get something out of it.  If you have a product you use and think I will love, please tell me about it!  I am always eager to try new things.

a couple weeks ago at the Highline

Me then and now- more like a book than a blog...LONG

This is me:

I've never fit into a box. I've wanted to and tried to but could never quite fit all of me into one thing. I'm not sure many people can actually fit into one box.  On the outside it may seem they do, but internally I bet they are busting at the seems.  When I was in elementary school, I thought it was because I had brown curly hair (looking at that pic above, maybe it was because one eye is squinty).  Or that my parents weren't PTA parents (although my Dad or Mom volunteered for nearly every/any field trip we went on. Plus I clearly remember my Dad coming to volunteer to teach my class how to read).  Any time I didn't feel like I fit in, or that it was my turn to be shunned (when you go to tiny school- the group of friends you have or can have are limited) I soul searched for the reason why - as deep as I got was "it must be that I have brown curly hair".  Maybe once it crossed my mind- maybe it was because we were Jewish (grew up in a mountain town with NO other Jewish families around). But when my parents encouraged us to go to Hebrew school, I definitely didn't fit into that box either- I double dipped my apple into honey and was shunned from that time forward. You do NOT double dip your apples- VERY un-Kosher.

Although I was "popular" in elementary school, I was a good person and tried to be nice to the people that weren't in our clique, but when my family moved to Florida at the start of my freshman year in high school, everything changed.  I was now just one of 425 kids in the graduating class of '99.  Had I stayed in Colorado, I would have been one of maybe 60.  Was I popular in Florida? NO!  I was new. I didn't go to one of the three middle schools in the area that defined who you were to be and what you would do in high school.  I remember on my first day of summer school (signed up for summer PE to make friends), when I told a group of peers that I just moved from Colorado a few weeks earlier someone asked me if I knew what waffles were.  Did we have waffles in Colorado. All I could think was "are you serious? you've got to be kidding- this is now my life?"  The next question was just as bad "Did I have a fire place or had I ever seen a fireplace".  Again, I definitely did not fit into any Florida box. Nor could I think it was because I had brown curly hair (a lot of girls there did), or that I was Jewish (our area of the suburbs was nicknamed little Israel).  Here, I knew a little of why- I was not a JAP.  That first day of summer school, I wore boxers, a T-shirt and sneakers (standard gym outfit). I had no make-up on and my brown curly hair was pulled back into a pony tail.  The other girls were wearing jean shorts (Bongo's I bet), tank-tops and sandals (not your standard gym outfit), make-up and heavily ironed or sprayed hair.  Now, I liked to be different. When I turned 16, I did not get a shiny new Honda Civic or an Accord or a Ford Explorer.  My parents bought me and 1988 Volvo 240 GL. and I LOVED that car.  I even had a crank sun-roof. Soon I could not have cared less where or how I fit in. College- no one needs to fit into anywhere in college.  I feel like in college I became a lot of the person I am now and had a lot of experiences that may give my brain reasons for not fitting into where I am now in my life.   That brings me to the point of this post.  I am a working mother, a working wife, a working friend and a working daughter. I have little time to be anything but.

Most of the Mom's I know (locally) are either LDS (Latter-Day Saint) or heavy AP (Attachment Parenting).  In both of those realms; mothers typically aren't employed out of the home.  Sometimes in my brain, this causes conflict and I revert to questioning why I don't fit in a box and why I sometimes feel alienated.


Not being born into the Mormon faith, but later choosing it - I luckily escaped a lot of cultural pressures some of my friends were raised with. To be a wife and mother first before anything else.  This is NOT doctrine. This is culture.  Although the widely distributed The Family: A Proclamation to the World states: "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation." The church also encourages women to get an education.  President Gordon B. Hinckley, said in a 2007 address to young women "We live in a highly competitive age, and it will only grow more so, education is the key that will unlock the door of opportunity."   In this years General Conference (semi-annual global address to all members for the church from leaders), Quentin L. Cook, one of the Apostles (our church has a living prophet and Apostles) gave a talk about LDS women.  At one point he said "First, no woman should ever feel the need to apologize or feel that her contribution is less significant because she is devoting her primary efforts to raising and nurturing children. Nothing could be more significant in our Father in Heaven’s plan. Second, we should all be careful not to be judgmental or assume that sisters are less valiant if the decision is made to work outside the home. We rarely understand or fully appreciate people’s circumstances." Although this has been touched upon by church leaders, there is still something "different" about being a full time working mother.
Let me tell you about my typical day:
6am Alarm goes off
6:05-6:25- If the babe is sleeping, I slip out of bed and pump milk. If he wakes up, I lie in bed with him while he nurses until he falls back asleep
6:30-6:45- Shower
6:45~7:15- Baby wakes up, lie back down with him nursing him back to sleep
If he doesn't go back to sleep I carry him around with me getting ready until I have to leave
7:20-7:45- Get dressed, wash pump, pack wake-up josh leave for work.
9-5- Work. Meetings, pump, work, more meetings, pump
6:30- 8-Home. Play with the baby, cuddle with baby, feed baby, bathe the baby, read to the baby, love that baby with all that I have.
8:15~9- Baby bed or nap time; his call. Bounce him, read to him, change him lie down with him until he falls asleep.
9:15-10:30- Josh and I make and eat dinner, maybe watch the news
11pm-12am- Computer/Carly time. email, blog, read, think about organizing things and making to do lists.
12:30-1- Get read for bed. Pump again. Go to sleep and do it all again in 5 hours.
Jealous?
Sounds awesome right?  It is. and I'm not even being sarcastic. I love my life. Am I tired? Hell Yeah. Am I happy? Hell Yeah. I am at a place where I even love my job. 
If now was a few years from now and I didn't need/want to work full time, would I? I don't know. I enjoy working, I enjoy working with adults,  I enjoy getting a paycheck, I enjoy spending that paycheck, I enjoy having free health insurance. I enjoy being a smart, independent, successful women. At the same time, I LOVE my son, I LOVE my husband. I enjoy baking for them and cooking for them. I wish i could keep the house clean and laundry washed and take care of them when they are sick and take the boy to the park everyday and take him to museums and play dates, and have other mom friends to go out with at night without our husbands and kids. But when I am at home, the last thing I want to do is go out without my husband and son. I want to spend every single free second with them.
I now feel balanced. Someone once told me that they say to themselves when it comes to parenting "It only has to be good enough". I don't agree.  Good enough does not cut it.  I don't want my kids to say I was "good enough". I want them to say I was everything they could have ever hoped for in a Mom. I know I have a looooooong road ahead of me, but I think I am on the right track.  When I am with my boy, I do what feels natural and they all fit into the basics of Attachment Parenting. Breastfeeding, Co-Sleeping, Baby wearing, being loving and tender.  When I happen to not be working on the third Wednesday of the month I go to API meetings.  The women there are wonderful, thoughtful, knowledgeable, "Earthy", warm...and mostly stay at home moms.   On my AP list serves, most of the posts from working mom's mention feeling guilty about working, having a hard time finding AP friendly child care providers and similar issues. I am so lucky that when I can't be with my son, he is in good great hands.  He spends the mornings with Josh (who is an AMAZING {literally} father)  when possible and the afternoon with women who love him. I am lucky and he is lucky.  Do I feel guilty about working? Sometimes.  Does the guilt last very long? No.

I might not fit into any box.  I might feel alienated from my peers sometimes, but I am OK with that. I have become confident in who I am as a women, a wife, a mother, a friend, a sister and a daughter.  I am brown curly-haired Carly. And that makes me happy.