An unfocused post about everything I've read in the last two days

I'm not even PMS-ing, but I have spent far too much time crying between last night and this morning. Last night, I read this article from the June issue of Real Simple about Ann Lee Hussey's mission to immunize children in third-world countries from preventable diseases such as polio. Hussey's own struggles as a polio victim pulled at my heart strings, but I didn't start bawling until I read about Uma, a polio victim in Nigeria who had to crawl around on all fours to get around.

Fee-lings, nothing more than fee-eelings

The random and frequent crying spells stopped three weeks after my son was born, but as a human governed by the endocrine system, the mama feelings never stop. One thing I learned after 10 years in weekly therapy (thanks Mom!) is that they are all valid and natural, even the ones that make you feel like a horrible human being.

Here, I provide a little tour of some of the feelings I’ve experienced over the past few months (defining the term 'feelings' broadly):

Baby proofing a raised brick hearth

I can't blame all of my baby proofing challenges on having an old home (built in 1890), but some I can. For example, because of the layout of our home, which involves four doors leading to the kitchen and two stair cases (not including the basement stairs), we need SEVEN baby gates. Some of our doorknobs aren't knobs at all, but lift latches that stick out right at a toddler's eye level. One staircase doesn't have a banister for the last five steps. Oy.

But there is one baby proofing challenge that isn't isolated to an old home: a raised brick hearth. Please see giant hazard below:

For the past eight months, we have padded the hearth with my pregnancy body pillow and every throw pillow we could get our hands on, but because the living room is the baby's primary play area, we wanted a better solution. We finally decided on turning the hearth into a padded bench that would serve the purpose of cushioning any falls while also offering a cozy place for little bums to sit.

Best solution for removing vomit stains

My son doesn't throw up often, but when he does, he's inevitably eaten something colorful, like strawberries, carrots, or the worst, avocado. Avocados are delicious, creamy, and delightful going down, but if they come back up, just throw out the bib or onesie and call it a loss. It must be the combination of fat and oxidization that causes such a nasty stain.  Most recently, my son overate at dinner and vomited in his crib while he was trying to fall asleep. The sheets, his sleep sack, his PJs, and the mattress cover were covered in his dinner, which included about a third of an avocado.

After washing everything once, it still smelled, and the stains were prominent. I washed them again. The smell improved, but the stains were still there. I soaked them overnight in Oxyclean. No use. I added Borax to the wash. Nothing. After laundering four times (but never putting them through the dryer), I was hopeless that these items would be recovered. That was until I had dinner with one of my nearest and dearest mama friends, and the topic of stain removal came up. She suggested a stain removing concoction that got blood out of one of her pillows and yellow armpit stains out of her friend's husband's undershirts.

Shopping for daycare (hell)

I haven’t forgotten you. I’ve been stuck in a tornado of shopping for a day care, planning a birthday party, and baby-proofing our home. Somehow I made it out alive--probably with a little less hair than I had before. All of it has been physically and emotionally exhausting. Shopping for a new day care and coming to grips with the fact that my baby isn’t a baby anymore has called for more than one double chocolate cookie. Another time, I’ll delve into first birthday party planning and baby proofing (we got super creative). But right now, I’ll focus on the task of shopping for a new day care.

A super duper shmooper good friend of mine is a stay-at-home mom, and the moment I told her I was pregnant, she offered to take care of the baby so I could work. When my son turned three month old, he started going to her house two afternoons a week, and later, two full days. With clasped hands, we hunkered down through the tempest called nap training together. She kept my breast milk in her freezer, cleaned poop and puke, and tolerated “fussy time.” Her soon-to-be three-year-old entertained my son endlessly, and now my son lights up like a Christmas tree they are together. But alas, nothing lasts forever, and it was time to move on.

Practical projects for the crafty mama

As a crafty mama, I've been having a blast making all sorts of fun stuff for my little tyke, some of which I share below. I'm also a practical mama--everything must be useful and durable (you won't see my baby wearing a delicate, lacy bonnet or clothes he can't get dirty), so each project here meets those qualifications. Let's start with my favorite:

I got the pattern for these baby slippers from New Conceptions. They are super easy to make and only require three seams. I've made a pair of fleece slippers (left) and a pair of flannel (right). The last seam, which goes around the sole, is tricky, as you have to line up multiple layers of fabric, but the end product is so worth it. The best part? Baby has a tough time pulling these suckers off (my son is a ninja when it comes to pulling off his socks). An alternative pattern, which I haven't tried yet but is next on my list, is for adorable kimono slippers.

By hook or by Nook, get your hands on the right pregnancy book

The moment I found out I was pregnant, my first thought after “Holy shit, I’m going to have a baby--EEEK!” was “I need a book about pregnancy!” I wanted an authoritative yet not condescending companion to guide me through each stage of my pregnancy. The book should be able to answer the bulk of my questions so that I wasn’t calling my doctor every other day but not give me so much detail that I would lose sleep worrying about unlikely scenarios. My goal was to educate myself so that I didn’t worry about every little pinch and poke, and also so that I knew what to ask my physician during my appointments. As far as I could tell, there was no perfect book, so I ended up with four books, all of which supplemented each other. 



If you’re a book nerd like me and are looking for a good read while you put up your swollen feet, here are my thoughts on some good (and some mediocre) titles: