Transitioning into the bigger car seat...

"In bringing up children, spend on them half as much money and twice as much time." ~Author Unknown

Raychel is 20lbs and 27 inches! Our current car seat is a max of 22 lbs and we are waiting until she hits the max weight & height before installing the "big girl seat". I know we could technically do it now b/c she could use the other one since it starts at 5 lbs (guess we're trying to get the most bang for our buck) but it's doesn't go with our current travel set (yay Graco!).

Prior to having Raychel, I didn't know anything about car seat safety. Growing up, I took the bus or subway often and my memory of using a car seat during my early schooldays is blank. I don't recall if there were a lot of restrictions about car seats - or may be my family didn't see it as an issue (not trying to say they're unfit parents, who really knows why)?. So when I was doing my baby registry, we decided on two different sized car seats simply b-c we noticed a pattern that a lot of travel stroller sets didn't have car seats passed 22lbs so we would need another one for when she is bigger.

So where are we now? Preparing ourselves for the next car seat phase.

While I was pregnant, we learned in our pre-natal classes about the importance of having a car seat made in Canada since it's against the law to have any other car seat installed in your car b/c of our safety standards and laws. This fact was good to know b/c I have family in New Jersey and they could have easily bought us a car seat as a shower gift and we would sadly have to decline their thoughtful gesture. The instructor even said that we should have our car seat installed by a pro at either a police station or car seat clinic a few weeks before the due date to help us be prepared for the baby's arrival and departure from the hospital. Ray just told me that he paid $40 to have it installed at a clinic and we needed to book an appointment (no walk-ins at this location).

So where am I going with this blog entry? Well, I don't need to reiterate the importance of car seat safety and ensuring that your car seat is properly installed. I know (and hope) that it's engrained in your mind just like your own seat belt safety. Raychel is my precious cargo and we have been very fortunate to have a good properly installed rear-facing car seat all this time. Switching to a bigger seat b/c she has outgrown the max height and weight requires an acknowledgement that she's growing up (yikes) and that we have to take the same precautions to install the next one as we did before she was born.

Welcome to the Choking Phase

"Babies are curious little people. Cats are curious too. Curiosity killed the cat - but I don't want this fate for babies" - By Rian T Johnson (me)

At my last visit with Dr.Wong, he warned me of Raychel potentially choking on small items that she will find anywhere and put into her mouth. Even before he warned me of this, I already knew she liked to put anything she would find on the living room floor into her mouth. She would crawl so quickly to a camouflaged piece of dirt, plastic, coin or whatever else the vacuum didn't pick up and would sit still for more than a few seconds quietly looking around for me while sucking on the item (because she's trying to figure out how long this will last until I snatch it from her mouth). How do I prevent this from happening? Well, it means we're constantly tidying up which isn't a bad thing, but it means even more supervision while she's playing which at times, can be challenging especially if you need to go to the washroom. I hate to admit that I've developed a habit of leaving the washroom door open widely so I can take a peek every 15-30 secs on her while I'm washing my hands or brushing my teeth.

This morning, I came across an article in my September issue of Today's Parent with advice/tips on how to cope with babies and choking. I was surprised to see that according to Safe Kids Canada, roughly 291 Canadian kids under 14 are hospitalized and 39 die from choking and suffocation-related injuries! Even more shocking, almost 80% of these recorded incidents occurred to children under 5 years old. I really don't want Raychel to be a statistic so I'm going to do my best and take on some of the precautionary actions the article says.

• Supervise eating time
• Hold off on high-risk foods (hot dogs sliced into small "discs" and whole/half grapes and small candy)
• Reiterate these rules to Dad and other caregivers/babysitters
• Put away hazardous items
• Inspect play area
• Revise my choking first aid skills

Raychel's teeth

As promised, enclosed is a picture of her new teeth. Poor thing :)

Please, Thank You and other magic words

I love singing and bouncing with Raychel; if I could bottle these moments of joy into a genie bottle, I would rub it in 5-10-15 years from now and just re-live in that moment. When we play, we sing silly nonsense and other times we sing songs with meanings such as our manners, alphabets, vowels, french songs, and body parts. Also, certain shows like Wiggles or Yo Gabba Gabba I'll sing to her some of their songs too and she gets very excited. I'm amazed how these shows make up these creative silly songs and children just love hearing them and can immediately recognize the tune.

When I really want to get her body moving, I will sing to her "I like to Move It" from Real2Real/Madagascar and she claps and moves her baby hips. Maybe it's the sound of my voice she likes or she can really comprehend what I'm saying b-c she really does "move it".

9 months and loves to dance and smile like her Mommy :)

A book all parents need to have on hand: "Sleep"

"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething"
Mark Twain

Since there's no secret ingredient for a successful teething experience, I decided to re-visit some of my baby literature I have on hand and get a "refresher" on some tips. This morning, I opened the paperback, "Sleep. The easiest way to peaceful nights" by Beatrice Hollyer & Lucy Smith (thank you Tania) and landed ironically on Chapter 8, Good Nights, Bad Nights. In this chapter, they discuss a little bit about teething and how it affects baby's sleep. We've been quite fortunate that Raychel is a good sleeper and we got to train her early on to sleep through the night but occasionally, she wakes up in the night and you can tell by her cry and facial expressions that it's from her teeth. I'm happy to say that I'll be bookmarking this chapter and showing it to Ray since we're living through this right now.

One thing this section of the book mentions is a homeopathic remedy called Chamomilla granules that has a soothing effect on their inflamed gums. I have a naturopath doctor so I'm going to contact them this week about this remedy b-c I'm quite curious about it. And of course, find out other homeopathic teething tips too.

BTW: Raychel officially has her first tooth and her 2 top ones are already starting to cut through the gums. Stay tuned for photos!

Teething Baby - Why I love Boiron products!

Teething is never any fun, especially for a baby. Raychel is over 8 months now and her first tooth finally broke through her gum. I can see a little white sliver of the tooth and it's just waiting to grow into a big noticeable tooth. I can see how frustrated and uncomfortable she becomes when she experiences teething pain and I feel like I want to cry alongside her.

Back at the baby show in April, I got free Boiron samples for colds, coughs and teething. The teething product is called Camilia and it assists with painful gums, restlessness and irritability (I wonder if they make an irritability medicine for parents when they need to be there during teething? Oh wait, it's called wine!). I really need to purchase more of this product b-c this is working for her. I will be making a trip to Shopper's Drug Mart today to stock up on this product and of course, collect points too!

If you have children under the age of 6, I would do some research and look into purchasing Boiron products for children medication.

New York Court Defends Rights of Same-Sex Parents

New York Court Defends Rights of Same-Sex Parents