My brief adventure into vlogging

Hey guys, sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I had a busy weekend followed by a buy week at work and it all just kinda left me tired and lazy. I'm back now and you can look forward to a Mommy Monday blog post! Here is a little video explaining my exploration into vlogging, inspired by Vlogger Fair! You can read about my experience at Vlogger Fair here and you can read about what my obsession with YouTube and vlogs here

 

Vlog as defined on Urban Dictionary:

A video log. A journalistic video documentation on the web of a person's life, thoughts, opinions, and interests. A vlog can be topical and timeless, instructional and entertaining. The main thread is trying to communicate on a personal level with your audience.

 

 

The video is kinda long, you could probably stop watching at the 5 minute mark!

Let me know if you think I should try out vlogging more cause I'm just not sure about it.

Mommy Monday: My changing world view

Welcome to another Mommy Monday! It's amazing how my outlook on the world has changed. I remember all the things I said I wouldn't do before having a child. Also I remember how annoying parents and their children were before I had a child and how I said I would never be like them. I have quickly realized that being a parent is a lot about survival and a lot of the things you said you wouldn't do suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

I was at Walgreen's the other night and a little girl was hanging out over by the door leaning and banging on the theft detector. Her father was a little ways away in line. He tried to get her to come back over by him but she was enthralled by whatever was by the door. I though the whole time that the child was adorable and just trying to explore the world. My friend who was with me however thought the child was out of line and that the parent should have controlled the little girl more. My friend said the little girl was banging and leaning on the theft detector so hard she could have broken it. This is when I realized how my views have changed since having a baby. I understand the parents side so much more. If the dad had tried to get the daughter away from the door it most likely would have resulted in a fit, which as parents you try and avoid as much as you can.

Now don't get me wrong I don't think you should ignore teaching your child manners and the correct way to behave but there are some times when you should just let your child have a little freedom to explore while you also get to keep your sanity. Children learn from trial and error, even if it is doing something annoying in public.

I'm also not saying that I think parents should allow there children to run around stores and do whatever they want, I think I just get less annoyed by it now. Especially at work, I remember always thinking people were so horrible if they had their baby cry and they didn't do anything to sooth it. I have learned from my very vocal baby that sometimes they just cry. Well Sloane usually cries when she is tired and the best thing to do for her while in public is to let her cry covered in her car seat otherwise she'd get over stimulated and never fall asleep.

I don't want to cause some debate on the importance of parenting with anyone but I just thought I'd share how my thoughts about the world around me have changed.

If you have kids, did you have changes in your thoughts like this? Also if you don't have kids how do you view parents and kids in public and what would you wish you saw more of? IE: disciplining, containing to carts, leashes?

Mommy Monday: Why do I make parenting a compitision?

I don't know what it is about being a mom that brings out my competative side but I swear I am always looking for my daughter to win. Now, I don't actually mean she wins, but I want her to be ahead of the curve or at least not behind it.

I have two friends that have had daughters within a month of me and I keep finding myself comparing Sloane to their daughters. Do all mom's do this? I even compare her to older babies that are in mommy groups I am a part of on facebook.

Maybe it all has to do with the stress I feel about if I'm doing things right. I swear I second guess everything I do. When should I make sure she is sleeping in her crib? Am I giving her enough tummy time? Am I putting her into her bumbo seat too soon? And my most recent debate in parenting when should I start giving Sloane cereal?

I know that the experts say is to wait till 6 months. My mom on the other hand insists that Sloane seems hungry and would be much happier with a little bit of cereal. (She, however, thinks me breast feeding is totally weird) Another well respected mom figure to me suggests putting a bit in her bottle and she will sleep through the night. Sloane is almost 3 months old and I am leaning toward trying it out. First try feeding her with a spoon just to see how she reacts then I think put some in a bottle of breast milk for Mat to feed her before bed (I only breast feed her when I'm home) Another question that comes with that however is how do I know how much cereal I add to the bottle? Then I start second guessing myself and comparing to my friends with babies. How will Sloane turn out differently if we feed her cereals too soon? Ug! I wish parenting was a little more cut and dry cause I want the absolute best for my baby, but who can say what is the best?

Do you guys have these same struggles? Any advice you can give? I love knowing all the options to help make decisions.

Mommy Monday: Baby socks

One of the biggest headaches of being a parent is baby socks. They are constantly falling off and getting miss placed, because of this you quickly become an expert in socks. We have socks littered all over our house, in all baby beds, in between couch cushions, under the couch and in our bed. Luckily since it is winter and we always have a blanket on Sloane when we go outside we have yet to lose any socks.

The fluffy socks that seem to be the most warm are also the one's that cause the most headache. They typically need to be stretched onto the babies foot to fit properly but due to their soft texture they quickly slip off. It doesn't help that a baby is constantly kicking their feet and rubbing them together. I really don't even understand why they make baby socks like these. The only thing I can think of is that the socks get lost so often that people have to buy more and that's how the manufactures makes money.

Thin ankle socks seem to be a bit better cause they aren't as fluffy and easy to slip off. You don't typically need to stretch them as much to have them fit properly so that is helpful but the fact that they are so short give them little to hang on with when the baby is kicking and rubbing her feet against everything.

We found some socks that are a bit thick but come up to be knee high and have a good amount of tightness that when worn as knee socks they stay on for a good amount of time. We were given these as a baby gift. They are from baby gap and they are pretty adorable but come in bright colors so they don't match many outfits as I would like.

My favorite socks that I have found is are the thin socks that fold. They fit babies foot just perfectly without having to be stretched out. The cuff of the sock hold them in place and I have found that they will stay on all day even when taking her pants off and on for diaper changes. I know the Circo makes these socks but I'm sure there are many other brands of these socks as well.

We also have some socks that look like shoes. These are a favorite of mine because they are just too adorable and I have found that they seem to stay on quite nicely also. They are also thin socks. I really think that makes a difference. The Nike Jordan socks we have fit in a completely unique way. They are loose on the foot but get a bit tighter at the ankle to hold them on. They still don't stay on that long but I have hope they will fit better when she gets bigger.

We rarely put the thick socks on Sloane anymore, unfortunately we have quite a few pairs and I don't want to waste them. I'm thankful that we got so many socks as a gifts that we were able to experiment with which socks we liked without having to go out and buy them.

Finally how do you fold your babies socks? I fold them together like I would my socks but I find that it makes the one sock on the outside stretched out and that is what makes one sock fall off all day while the other happily stays in place. What are your thoughts on baby socks? Am I just completely over analyzing this?

**please forgive me for not listing many brands of the socks, I was given all our socks as gifts and the only way I know who has made the socks is if it says on the bottom as a grip**

 

Mommy Monday

Well I'm in the middle of day two back to work. (I'm lucky to be able to sneak in blogging at work) First day was quite a struggle.

First of all I forgot my nipple shields for my breast pump so by the end of my 8 hr shift a was a leaky mess. (I attempted to hand express but that takes way too long to make any difference. Secondly Sloane was still struggled to take a bottle which added to my stress of leaving her. Mat said she cried for nearly 2 hrs straight then fell asleep. Luckily mat attempted to feed her right as she woke up and she finally took the bottle. She was fine after that.

I'm so thankful for modern technology that allows mat to communicate with me. He was able to send a picture to me of her sleeping and once she has happy and fed he sent me a video of her sitting in her bumpo. The video nearly made me cry knowing that they had made it through an were happy.

Day two it seemed that she ate a bit easier but was still a bit fussy. Do you think she is stressed because I'm not home with her? I'm happy that Mat has this time to bond with her cause I just know she is a daddies girl in the making! I also successfully pumped at work. I think by the end of the week we should have routines down and we will all be less stressed.

The night before returning to work

Well it is the night before I return to work and man am I a bundle of emotions! We are trying to get Sloane to take a bottle from daddy so that I feel confident about him feeding her tomorrow while I'm at work for 8 hours. So far it has been almost two hours of her screaming, falling asleep, taking the bottle for two seconds then screaming again. I want to know that she will eventually take the bottle so we are holding off nursing her for as long as we can stand it. I've been told that she will eventually eat.

Right now daddy is in Sloane's room with the door closed trying to feed her while I am out in the living room trying not to cry my eyes out! I read that if i'm where i can be seen or heard she could refuse the bottle. Writing this blog is my distration, before this I picked out pictures for the new frames we got for the living room.

I am going to leave mat with a dropper, a spoon and a sippy cup tomorrow cause I've read those are other ways to feed a baby that refuses a bottle. If going back to work when Sloane is only 9 weeks old isn't stressful enough, her refusing a bottle is just adding to my anxiety!


** Later that night we gave up, gave her a bath and put her in her bumpo seat for the first time. She watched an entire episode (25 minutes) of Blues Clues, eyes glued to it while sitting happily in her bumpo!**

Parenthood can be hard but all the fun things make it 1000x worth it!

 

What kind of struggles have you faced and how did you ge through them?