The Virus Who (Nearly) Stole Christmas

This is how we feel at the moment.

We had a wonderful Christmas but Shelby came down with a bug the next day and she is still recovering. It's been pretty bad for all of us and I think she passed the bug on to me. We went to the doctor twice this week to rule out RSV, ear infection or pneumonia and she got a clean bill of health from the major stuff. She just has feverish, congested, coughy runny nose gunk that won't go away easily. It's been pretty pitiful to see her struggle with breast feeding or listen to her stuffy breathing when she tries to sleep. A decent stretch of sleep (for any of us) or a good nap has been rare. We've spent a lot of time this week driving around aimlessly while she catches a snooze propped comfortably upright in her car seat. I am ready for us to be better again... it's a horrible feeling to see your sweet baby unhappy! And did I mention the decent stretch of sleep? Yeah, dying over here. I'm exhausted.

I'm Dreaming Of A...

... White Christmas!

Christmas Pictures

Christmas pictures are here.

What We've Been Up To

This month has been so busy! Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to lately...

Meeting new friends! Our good friends welcomed baby Luke into the world in November and we headed to Athens to meet him a few weeks later. As you can see, Shelby is very impressed with his willingness to play with her.

Getting into the Christmas spirit! Shelby loves the tree and all of the sparkly bows and gifts underneath. The temptation to chomp on bows has almost inspired her to crawl, but not quite. She's very close though.

Preschool Christmas program! Babies + singing = mass chaos! The program was adorable! Toddlers attempting to sing, do basic hand choreography and play simple instruments is just about the cutest thing ever. And don't even get me started on the Nativity reenactment. Pure cuteness.

Riding the Pink Pig at Macy's! We took Shelby to this Atlanta tradition last weekend and I think she was sort of confused, and so was I. Fortunately, the modern Pink Pig is just a train ride. We read that the original Pink Pig was a miniature suspended monorail ride that went above the old downtown Rich's toy department and was later moved to the roof top of the building. They had the old Pink Pig on display and it was a rather terrifying looking amusement park car with metal cage bars on the windows! Fortunately the modern Pink Pig looked a little safer.

Meeting even more new friends! Some old high school friends stayed with us for a few days and Shelby had a wonderful time playing with her new friend Sasha. The babies did all sorts of cute things together and it was fun to let them hang out, as much as babies can hang out. They sort of just sat on a blanket together and stared at each other. Even though Shelby is three months other than Sasha, they weighed about the same, although Shelby was longer. Don't they look cute in their festive pajamas?

Merry Christmas!

Nine Months Old

A few things about Shelby at nine months:

• She is using her hands a lot more now. She will push you away if you're doing something she doesn't want you to do, like wiping her nose.
• She will repeat sounds, usually "daaaaa" but I don't think she knows "da da" yet. We are trying to teach her to associate the "daaaa" sound with her bathtub duck and I think she is starting to get it.
• She is pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth. She will crawl backwards, but not forwards.
• She consistently takes two naps a day, one around 10 and the other around 2. Each one usually lasts at least an hour but usually no longer than two hours. She goes to bed at 7 p.m. and wakes up around 7 a.m. On the weekends we just get her out of her crib and then lay down in our bed with her for an hour or so while we wake up. She's very sweet and cute in the mornings.
• She does not have a "lovey" yet but she loves to suck her thumb. Sometimes, when she is tired or overstimulated, she will switch back and forth between each thumb every few seconds like she can't decide which one is best. It's very funny. However, her hands are totally chapped and gross right now because of the dry winter air. We have to be vigilant about coating them in Aquaphor.
• I think I am going to work on teaching her some baby sign language, starting with just a few words like milk, more, done, mama and daddy.
• She is very interested on self feeding and loves to eat a few cereal puffs after dinner each night. I can tell she is getting impatient with being spoon fed.
• She can hold toys in each hand and clap them together. She does not clap her hands yet.
• We think she is starting to express boredom at simple baby toys like rattles and is more interested in more interactive baby toys like stacking toys or nesting blocks. She loves board books.
• She is getting really good at playing peek a boo when you put her towel or a burp cloth on her face. It's really cute. She is really CUTE! Of course we think so!

Baby Bear

Ew.

Shelby has been a bit under the weather for the past few days. She's getting over a cold and threw up a couple of times yesterday, including one gigantic projectile vomit all over me right before bedtime. It was seriously shocking that that much stuff could come out of one small baby. She seemed to feel OK after that and even slept through the night and slept in this morning until the very late hour of 7:30. Here's to hoping she's feeling better!

Mattress Question

Before Shelby was born, we bought the Colgate Classica mattress, which is what all of the baby books recommended. However, it's as hard as a rock, much harder than any other crib mattress I've seen. I think now that she's older and sleeping on her stomach more, she might be more comfortable on a slightly softer mattress. It seems like she can't settle down and get comfortable on the mattress we have now.

What kind of crib mattress do you have for your baby?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Peekaboo!

The other night, without any prompting from us, Shelby figured out how to play peekaboo by pulling her bath towel over her head. It was so cute! She thought she was being hilarious. Obviously.

Writer's Block

Confession: It's somewhat difficult for me to write for this blog. I have a lot of thoughts floating around in my head and things that I would like to say, but I rarely feel like typing them out and hitting the publish button. I write a lot of posts in my head but never sort them out on paper.

I know exactly why writing for/about myself is so hard. I have a journalism degree and write for a living. I was taught to write concise, factual news stories, to write without inserting your own voice and was told that embellishing too much usually got you sued. It's hard for me to write in the first person. It's hard for me to not think about leads, column inches, the five W's and the inverted pyramid, even though I haven't written for a newspaper in years and there are no column inches on the internet.

This blog was also only started as a way to keep a few family members and friends updated on baby stuff. Cute pictures. Cute videos. What Shelby is doing at this moment. Just the facts. Do I really want a 1,000-word essay with my deep thoughts on motherhood floating around on the internet? Does Shelby, when she's older? Do I want to spend time proofreading? Or get labeled a "mommy blogger?" Cringe.

Perhaps, in the new year, I will challenge myself to find my writing voice and write more often. But for now, here's a another cute picture.

Month Nine Photos

Want even more pictures? Of course you do! I started a photo gallery for month nine. Look on the right side of the page or click here.

Shelby at Eight Months

Here's a video of Shelby at eight months, playing and being cute.

Thankful

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and birthday week! Scott and I both had the entire week off of work and got to spend so much time with our sweet girl. It was great to be home all day with her and just relax.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Scott's dad's house and Shelby napped through her entire first Thanksgiving dinner! Then, on Saturday, I got treated to a special day of birthday pampering. In the morning I got a haircut and we spent the afternoon out and about while I was treated to a professional house cleaning! As a busy new mom, there is nothing better! I also got to play around with my other present - a new digital SLR camera! Click here for a photo gallery of some practice pictures.

It was a lot of fun to get back into photography and I am looking forward to shooting my favorite subject - Shelby - although shooting Sadie the whippet in action was pretty fun, too. Shelby might be the "world's most photographed baby" (as Scott's dad likes to say) but Sadie is a pretty photogenic subject as well!

(Click on the pictures to enlarge.)

Eight Months Old

This Thanksgiving, we give thanks for eight things at eight months. We are thankful for Shelby's ....

1. Laugh. She loves to laugh and it's so cute.
2. Sunny disposition. She is such a happy baby and smiles at everyone she sees.
3. Bathtime. No matter what happens during the day or how sleepy she is, bathtime always makes her happy.
4. Health. Besides a few sniffles here and there, she has been healthy.
5. Milestones. She is SO close to crawling. She spins, pushes up, scoots backwards and is very close to figuring it out.
6. Smiles. She can go from not smiling to giant grin in two seconds and it's really cute.
7. Voice. She is finding her voice more and more each day and will repeat some of the sounds you make, especially da da (although I don't think she knows what da da means yet).
8. Sleep. Despite a little unpredictability, Shelby is mostly a good sleeper. Knock on wood.

But mostly we're thankful that she's ours. We love our sweet baby girl!

Shelby at the Park

Shelby Eats a Mum Mum

Shelby is still figuring out the mechanics of getting a cereal puff out of her hand and into her mouth, and I recently discovered Mum Mums are great for self feeding. They're sort of like a giant cereal puff that doesn't get stuck to her hand or lost in her palm. The cereal puffs are great because they dissolve quickly, but they also turn to mush in her hand if they don't make it in her mouth on the first try. And as cute as it is to watch her try to eat her hand, she seems a little frustrated because her "pincer grasp" isn't fully developed yet!

I thought she would not be able to handle the Mum Mum yet, but they are easy to hold, dissolve quickly and she figured out right away how to chew them. She really enjoys being able to feed herself and it's getting more and more difficult to get her to sit still and agree to be fed purees! I don't think she's ready for chunks of food yet... Maybe I should get some of those mesh spoon feeders? When did you know your baby was read for self feeding?

Pumpkin Two Ways

Tonight, while Scott watched football and coached Shelby in the art of rolling over, I baked some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I had some leftover pumpkin when I was done, so I looked online for a recipe that would not only use up the rest, but could also be made with ingredients I had on hand. I found a pumpkin muffin recipe and made what turned out to basically be a muffin version of the cookie. Both were delicious so I thought I would share. Happy fall baking!

Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups flour

1 cup oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Cream butter and gradually add sugars beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on racks.

Pumpkin Muffins

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• (I added about 3/4 a cup of oatmeal I had from the cookie recipe and it gave these muffins a nice texture.)
• Preheat the oven to 400. Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Toys

Can you spot the favorite Guinness paperweight "toy" in the picture?

With Christmas coming up, I have been thinking about baby toys lately. Shelby really doesn't have that many toys and sometimes I think she might be getting bored with the ones she has. Her toys are mostly infant toys and they don't "do" very much, mostly because I abhor plasticky, battery-operated toys that make annoying electronic noises. That severely limits her toy choices because, well, almost ALL toys are plasticky, battery-operated toys that make annoying electronic noises! Most wooden toys are geared toward older babies and nearly everything I see in the 6-12 month age range is plastic, lights up and requires batteries.

Here are her current favorite (ie only) toys:

• The Guinness paperweight non-toy
• Sophie the Giraffe and Chan Pie Gnon squeaky toys
• Manhattan Toy Brian the Lion
• Manhattan Toy Whoozit and mirror
• Little Tikes tap-a-tune piano
• Various Sassy rattles, links and teethers
• Infantino elephant mirror
• Various board books
• Playskool busy tumble top
• Evenflo ExerSaucer
• Various stuffed animals
• Melissa & Doug alphabet nesting blocks

I don't want to overbuy toys and I don't want to buy toys that she won't play with or aren't stimulating to her. So readers (all ten of you) .... What are your baby's favorite toys? Leave a comment and take the poll on the right side of the page and share your feelings on baby toys.

The Pink Gnome

The pink gnome bundled up for an evening walk.

7 1/2 Month Update

Some random facts about Shelby at 7 1/2 months. I am afraid if I don't write these things down, I will forget them!

• She has been giving us some huge smiles lately and absolutely lights up whenever she sees the cat. If she is on the bed or in her high chair, she will look around on the floor for him and smiles and laughs if he is anywhere near her.
• She figured out how to push the button on her press-n-spin top and get the balls inside to bounce around. It might not seem like much, but learning cause and effect is a big milestone.
• She displays preferences for certain toys. She will dig around in her basket of toys until she finds the one she is looking for. Her current favorite toy is not a baby toy at all. It's a clear acrylic paperweight with a drop of Guinness beer encased inside that her grandparents brought us from the Guinness Brewery in Ireland. She loves to chew on it.
• She's getting better with tummy time and rolling, but still prefers sitting up. She will allllmost roll all the way over and just gets stuck on her shoulder until we give her a push. We call it the "99% unassisted roll." However, she will roll all the way over in her crib. Weird.
• She will hold a sippy cup and put the spout in her mouth but doesn't know how to tip it up and get water out. If I tip it up for her, she lets go of the handles.
• We gave her cereal puffs for the first time this week, just to see what she would do with them. She has not quite perfected her "pincer grasp" yet but she will pick them up and get them into her mouth with some effort. She picks them up with her index and middle fingers like chopsticks or - as Scott says - E.T.
• We introduced pears and apples and she hasn't been too crazy about them. Her favorite foods are still butternut squash and sweet potatoes. She also likes peas but I think the latest batch I made was too chunky and she didn't like them as much.
• She woke up a lot at night this weekend and I think it was because it was so dry in the house. My nose and throat was even feeling parched and I can only imagine she was bothered as well. We are running the humidifier and turning the heat down so it doesn't come on as much. She was probably feeling dried out and thirsty! It's natural to think you have to keep the house warm for a baby (since they can't snuggle under down comforters and such) but I read you only need to keep it around 68-70 degrees. I think we were keeping her room too hot, at around 75 degrees. We have a thermometer in there to check.
• The end of Daylight Savings time killed us. She was up extra early. I read online about some things you can do to help babies adjust and will try implementing them this week. You basically have to stretch their nap times and bed times a little later to their normal "clock time" bedtime so they adjust their wake time later. I hope this works and she's not going to be a permanent 5:30 a.m. riser because that's just brutal.
• Knock on wood, do a happy dance and cross your fingers, but she hasn't been sick in almost a month.
• Her two bottom teeth just don't want to pop through. We think we can see two tiny white dots right where they should be but they haven't sprouted yet.

I feel like the next few months are going to be big for milestones - teeth, crawling and pulling up just to name a few. Physically, it seems like she hasn't done much new lately, but you can tell there's lots going on mentally. Scott says you can see the hamster wheel turning when she's concentrating on something like eating a cereal puff or knocking over a stack of blocks. But crawling just in time to get to the Christmas tree... oh dear!

Shelby's First Halloween

If you guessed that Shelby would be a penguin and we would be her arctic explorers, congratulations you were right! Oh who am I kidding, who would ever guess that! Our costumes were a bit random for Halloween, but that penguin costume was just too adorable to pass up. I bought a white plastic table cloth and some snowflake Christmas decorations from the dollar store and decorated her stroller like an iceberg, and we spent a fun afternoon at our neighborhood block party. Holidays take on a whole new meaning when you have a little one. They're FUN!

Mama, I am not amused.

The penguin in her chariot. I mean "iceberg."

Ski clothes + furry trapper hats = arctic explorer. Obviously.

An unseasonably warm Halloween = our arctic costumes did not last long. We had to take Shelby out of her penguin suit for a while because it was so warm outside!

The party animal is pooped. Shelby fell asleep on the way home from the block party and was so tired during her dinner and bath. We thought she'd sleep hard and we'd have the evening free to greet trick or treaters. We were wrong. She had a lot of trouble falling asleep and eventually had a little meltdown, which is very unlike her. She usually eats, falls asleep and stays asleep without any crying or fussiness. I think she was having some teething pain. Or maybe she snuck some candy.

Boo! Happy Halloween! More pictures are in the new month eight gallery. Look on the top of the page or click here.

Design Dummy

Would anyone like to design a blog for me? Because I am design dummy.

Halloween Hint

On Saturday I have to put the finishing touches on our coordinating Halloween costumes. Any guesses as to what our little trio might be? (if you already know, don't say!)

Babies!

We watched an utterly charming documentary called Babies this week and I highly recommend it, whether you have a baby or not. An hour and a half of ridiculously squishably cute babies being ridiculously squishably cute... what's a better mood lifter than that? The filmmakers followed the families of four different babies from birth to walking. There no narration and barely any dialogue at all in this film. As the title suggests, it's just... babies. The babies are from vastly different places - United States, Japan, Namibia and Mongolia - but are remarkably similar in their development, behavior and mannerisms. Scenes of happy Mongolian babies playing and bathing amongst livestock and nekkid Namibian babies teething on roots and rocks will make you smile and laugh at yourself (and the American and Japanese parents) for attending baby music classes, sanitizing everything in sight and owning three strollers. Ahem.

Stroller Breakdown

I realized on my previous stroller post that it might sound nuts to some people that we have three strollers. Here is my breakdown and review of each of the stroller we have, as well as why we have them. Just in case any of my readers (all ten of you) are in the market for a stroller, here is what I have and why I like each one.

Maclaren Easy Traveller

Retail price: $80

I paid: $30

This was our first stroller and the one we used the most when Shelby was a newborn. It's a stroller frame that fits an infant car seat. It sort of outgrew its usefulness once Shelby was old enough to sit up on her own and will be obsolete once she outgrows her infant car seat, but I bought it cheap on Craigslist and we will definitely get our money's worth during its limited lifespan. Even though we use our Quest more now, we still keep this in our car for quick trips.

Pros

• Easy, compact umbrella-style fold
• Lightweight
• Smooth steering and maneuverability
• High handlebars - good for a guy or taller person
• Huge basket

Cons

• The $80 price tag might be a turn off for some, but when you consider the lower end brands like Snap N Go and Graco are $60 it's really not that much more to pay for the famous Maclaren quality and maneuverability. That's really what you're paying for and to me, it's worth it. Maclarens steer smoothly and handle beautifully. I'm not that much of a brand snob, but there is a reason this brand is so popular and you really do get what you pay for.

Maclaren Quest

Retail price: $300

I paid: $150

I realize a $300 umbrella stroller is stupid expensive and even a $150 umbrella stroller might be only slightly less stupid expensive, but I looooove this stroller. It was one of the first things I bought when I found out I was pregnant and it just came to be one of those special, symbolic baby purchases that you get, put in your house, and look at every day because it gives you the warm fuzzies and reminds you that your baby is going to ride around in it one day.

Pros

• Easy, compact umbrella-style fold
• Lightweight - in fact, it is so lightweight that it can tip over if you hang a bag on the handle without the child in the seat to counterbalance
• Smooth steering and maneuverability
• High handlebars
• Reclining seat and extendable footrest
• Rain cover included
• Nicely padded seat
• I loooove the fabric pattern!

Cons

• Small sunshade
• Small basket

Joovy Zoom 360

Retail price: $250

I paid: $170

Jogging strollers can be expensive and I think anything in the sub-$200 range is a good deal. I thought we could just get by with an umbrella stroller, but we walk outside a lot and the umbrella stroller just isn't cut out for long walks or jogs on uneven surfaces. I think for most families in suburban environments, two strollers make life a lot easier. We're in and out of our cars running errands a lot, but we also spend a lot of time outside on walks, going to the pool and playground, etc.

Pros

• Good quality and style without the huge price tag
• Smooth steering
• Front wheel can swivel or lock into place for jogging
• Huge sunshade - a big plus for us
• Reclining seat
• Huge storage basket
• Security wrist strap for jogging
• Includes extras like a rain cover, tire pump and parent console
• Back tires come off for storage or transport

Cons

• Size - This thing weights nearly 30 pounds. You would not want to drag this thing around in your trunk as your quick errand stroller.

How many strollers do you own?

Homemade Baby Food: Part 2

This weekend, I whipped up four more baby food varieties for Shelby. Most of it was quite easy and I can't wait to introduce these new foods to her. We introduced peas this weekend and she loved them! Here's what I made. I bought the following produce at Super Target and took note of the prices so I could compare it to the cost of jarred food:

• Medium acorn squash - $1.16 - made 12 oz.
• Large butternut squash - $3.27 - made about 24 oz.
• 3 organic gala apples - $2.93 - made about 10 oz.
• 1 1-lb. bag of frozen peas - $1.64 - made 16 oz. Birds Eye brand was the only brand I could find that did not have added salt.

The acorn squash and the butternut squash were by far the most difficult to make, just because they were really hard to chop! The peas were the easiest and I think I will definitely be making them again and again, especially since Shelby seemed to like them so much. I have made almost all the foods in the 6 month section of the Fresh Baby book (still have to make pears) and I am almost ready to move on to the 6-8 month section of the book! Exciting! Making food has been surprisingly fun and rewarding, especially since I can give Shelby such a variety of foods. It seems like the options in most grocery stores are extremely limited. The Fresh Baby kit comes with two ice cube trays with lids that you can use to freeze your portions and then pop them out and store the cubes in a Ziploc bag but I also bought these freezer containers so I could easily freeze portions to send to school with Shelby. Next on the menu: apples!

Seven Months Old

Well, time continues to move along at warp speed for us. Shelby is an absolutely delightful baby. We feel so lucky. Here's what she's doing nowadays:

• Shelby is getting better about tolerating tummy time. She is not really into being on her tummy, playing on her tummy or sleeping on her tummy. She went from fussing immediately during tummy time to putting up with it, but only if you distract her with a toy or book. She is great at sitting up but not really into being on her stomach or rolling. She rolled for a while but then it was like she got bored with it and stopped once she figured out how to sit up. Is this normal?
• I think she is almost crawling. Sort of. She sort of wiggles her butt around like she's thinking about propelling herself forward but she hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of it yet. I think she's close. Or not. Who knows.
• Shelby still does not have any teeth but I think she is starting to teethe. She was fussy last night and felt slightly warm. She also hasn't felt much like eating solids at dinner for the past couple of nights. She has also expressed a new interest in chewing on straps or anything fabric-like. Perhaps I should give her some chilled washcloths.
• She is obsessed with the cat. Whenever he comes into the room or passes by her field of vision she's instantly fixated on him and will stare intently at him. He has even tolerated her petting him a time or two.
• Shelby is making lots of fun new noises and sounds and is really starting to babble now. The sounds bla, da, ba and la are her favorites. But what about ma?!
• It's really entertaining to plop her down next to a small container with a bunch of her toys in it. She will carefully remove each toy one at a time, inspect it, toss it aside and move on to the next toy. If a toy is particularly interesting it might get a chomp or chew. The look on her face of total concentration during this game is absolutely precious.
• She expresses happiness and excitement when you pick her up. She wiggles all of her limbs up and down in this coordinated happy dance we like to call "Happy Baby Starfish."
• Shelby is becoming more skilled in eating solid foods and actually keeping the food in her mouth. When you hold the spoon in front of her she will open her mouth for a bite. We call this "Happy Baby Bird Mouth." We are weird.
• As for the poos that come with solids... Oh. Oh my. We shall not speak of them. Every time we change a diaper, we quote Anchorman. "It's quite pungent. Stings the nostrils."

New Stroller!

I captured Shelby mid-chew and looking guilty. Lately, she loves to chew on straps and any fabric type thingy she can get her hands on. I think she's teething.

I know it's super dorky to be excited about things like strollers, BUT. I'm super excited about the new jogging stroller we just got! We took it out on a walk tonight and it was awesome! Despite it's giant size and nearly 30-pound weight, it was actually much easier to push than our lightweight umbrella stroller. Hooray for air inflated tires.

After a lot of research, I settled on the Joovy Zoom 360. I wanted a good quality all terrain stroller but thought it was foolish to spend $400 on the popular BOB jogging stroller. After checking out a BOB floor model in person and testing out our new Joovy, I think it's comparable in quality and performance. I bought our Joovy from Diapers.com and used a 15% off coupon code, which brought the price down to just $170. Double hooray for free 2-day shipping and no tax.

We can't wait to use our new stroller as much as possible before it gets dark early and the temperatures start to drop. Ever since Shelby was a teeny tiny baby, we've loved to go on walks. She was born in the perfect time of year and I spent many a day (sometimes 2-3 times a day!) on walks during my maternity leave. We live in a hilly neighborhood that is perfect for walking and we get outside any chance we get.

Hopefully this stroller will complete our collection and this will be the end of our stroller purchases. The other strollers in our ever expanding lineup include a Maclaren snap n go type stroller frame and an umbrella stroller. We used these for outdoor walking and although they were OK, they didn't offer much in the way of shade or shocks. If the sun was shining in our faces, we'd sometimes have to turn the stroller around and pull Shelby backwards or one of us would strategically walk in front of her to make a shadow! The Maclarens also made for a bumpy ride. As an indoor/mall/lightweight stroller, they are hands down the best, but not so great for uneven outdoor surfaces.

I think strollers are a category of baby gear that people can go really nuts over and it's sort of like car buying in terms of the variety of brands, models, quality, style, resale value (Really.), and status symbols (Yes. Really.) As with our beloved Hyundais, I feel like our strollers match our car buying philosophy: the best quality at the best price!

Shelby Goes Viral

Who would have thought that our jokey Luke Perry picture would end up all over the internet? Hilarious. I can't wait to embarrass Shelby with this when she's older. Or wait... maybe she should feel embarrassed for me? Either way, we got a good chuckle out of the whole thing.

Good Idea: Sock Keeper

Good idea: keep a mesh bag in your laundry basket. Wash and dry baby socks in the bag so you don't have to constantly fish itty bitty socks out of your washer and dryer. And can I just express my love for those adorable little shoe socks? Shelby has quite a collection going and I will be a little bit sad when she finally gets old enough to wear real shoes.

Homemade Baby Food

This weekend I took a stab at making my own baby food. I am not a very crunchy person and did not think I would enjoy making baby food, but it was actually very easy and sort of fun! For Shelby's first food besides cereal, I made sweet potatoes. Two organic sweet potatoes cost a grand total of $1.61 and I got more than 24 1 oz. servings out them. A friend recommended the Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food Kit to me and it really took any guess work out of making your own baby food. I mean... not that there is that much guess work to begin with! You basically chop, steam and puree everything.

The book is helpful because it gives some guidance on the order in which you should introduce food and offers some suggestions on combining foods or adding spices down the road. This is helpful for a person like me who doesn't really like to cook (Bake, yes. Cook, no.) and had no idea that you could give a baby things like butternut squash, acorn squash or cinnamon (after 8 months). The book also has spaces where you can write down the date you introduced the food, if the baby liked it, etc.

Shelby the food critic gave my homemade sweet potato baby food two thumbs up! She gobbled it up and was hungry for more! I am looking forward to introducing some more veggies in the coming weeks. Next on the menu: maybe some peas and butternut squash? I've read that you are supposed to introduce veggies first and fruits second so the baby doesn't develop a preference for sweet foods. I don't know if this is true or not, but I am starting out with veggies just to be safe and make sure Shelby doesn't end up with a huge sweet tooth like her mother. I loooove sweets.

I also bought some jarred organic sweet potatoes before I made my own and did my own taste test. Verdict? I liked mine better. Even though they were the same thing with the exact same ingredients (sweet potatoes and water) my version tasted different and was an entirely different color and texture. The jarred kind was more orange and soupy, while mine was a bit thicker. However, I fed Shelby both at one meal and she gobbled down each version with equal enthusiasm.

Have you made your own baby food? What foods did you introduce first?