Our five lifesavers

The baby/parenthood market segment is probably one of the most abused and exploited sectors in the commercial world. Entrepreneurs come up with a plethora of (often times useless) products that clutter the brains of inexperienced parents. Hubby and I (mostly I!) have both become victims of baby shopping sprees, hoping that at some point, we might hit it right.

Here are the top 5 things we've bought so far without regrets:

1. Baby Einstein: Sing and Play CD
"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt! La la la la la la...." This has proven to be our most effective "fussy-fier". I really don't know what makes this stand out from our son Zack's CD collection. He just loves listening to this so much. If we're on the road and he starts getting bored, we'll just play his favorite tracks, and he'll instantaneously change his mood. When we're home and he hears this playing on the boombox, he'll start jumping up and down and squealing in delight. Even grandpa uses this heaven-sent tool to calm him down when we're away.

2. Fisher-Price Soothe & Glow Seahorse
There are very limited choices in toys appropriate from birth. "Mr. Seahorse" is one of them. It really does what its says. It soothes and it glows! It plays some calming music mashed up with bubbly underwater sounds, making the baby's sleeping environment really relaxing. After many months of using this, it has become our mommy-baby language for "it's time for bed!"


3. Precious Moments Plush Prayer Doll
"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, that the angels watch me through the night and keep me in their blessed sight. Amen." Who wouldn't love these cute little dolls? Although these are priced at $42 at Amazon for a pair, we got "Joseph" (the boy doll), which we named after our parish church St. Joseph, for only $7 at Walgreens. Joseph had been Zack's 1st best friend. When Zack was just 2 1/2 months old, he would stare intently at Joseph as he recited the night-night prayer. As he grew up, he would talk to Joseph and would feel really sad when Joseph stopped talking back to him. They had a "brotherly-like" relationship that was really cute!

4. Fisher-Price Deluxe Auto Mirror
Parents who have not faced the "nightmares" of traveling with baby on a rear-facing carseat should consider themselves lucky. Unfortunately for us, we deal with this all the time. Zack gets bored and agitated sitting for a long time and seeing nothing but the cream colored apholstery. In our desperate attempt to make car trips bearable for everybody, we decided to give this mirror a try. It plays endlessly-looping kiddie songs and has blinking lights. The nice part is it comes with a remote control that allows the driver to turn the music and lights on & off anytime (the repeating songs can really get hypnotizing for adults at some point!)

5. Evenflo Exersaucer Smartsteps ABC
OK, so we did not really buy this. It was a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa. Still, it is one of the best baby products we've used ever. It allows us to put Zack down for a short period of time so we can attend to some chores a few, visible feet away. Sometimes, we just sit next to the exersaucer to watch his face light up as he vigorously jumps up and down, hammers the toys with his tiny palms or even chews on anything that is within reach. We've also tried other exersaucer models but so far, this particular one seems to have the smartest design. Unfortunately though, this is only good for a child up to 30", which means we will have to say bye-bye to this wonderland in a few months.

My first homemade puree

I wanted to serve the little boy with some TLC so I did some research on how to make and store home prepped food. I found these websites that really helped me: www.wholesomebaby.com and www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com.

Using our blender, I pureed some Sweet Potatoes from Trader Joe's (lightly thinned with water). Then, I poured the contents into a KidCo BPA-free freezable food tray and a recycled Earth's Best baby food bottle, then stashed everything in the freezer. It was that easy!!!
And since it's frozen, we can use it even a month or more from now. How convenient!

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

My hubby and I learned another great lesson as parents: the warning "Do not leave child unattended" was there for a purpose! Our little boy had his first fall recently. We were supposed to go out for dessert, and as we were busy preparing, our little boy slipped through our eyes. We just heard a cry and saw him lying on the floor (and no, it wasn't a carpeted area).

He was on his Bumbo (luckily on the floor) playing with his "magic mirror" when he decided he was tired of sitting on that lousy chair. He always hated that chair, but he loved his "magic mirror" so much that he'd usually be able to bear being on that chair. We think he tried to stand up but ended up taking a nose dive to the floor.

Our son's forehead looked like as if someone poked a lump of playdough with the fingertip. There was a tiny indentation, instead of an outward bump, which adults normally have. Being clueless dummies, we had no idea what to do. Hence, we called my nurse sister-in-law for advice. Hopefully, this stupidity never hits anyone but in case it does, here is what she told us. Since the baby was not crying and already calm (back to being playful actually), he probably isn't in any pain. Nonetheless, we should apply cold compress for 20 mins (not more, not less) and make sure he doesn't fall asleep in the next 30 mins. Babies heads are naturally cushy in case booboos like this happens but still we must avoid accidents like this. The thing we'd like to avoid as a result of head bumps is the baby having seizures caused by trauma to the brain. Should we call the doctor? In our son's case, thank God it wasn't necessary!

I'm still kinda upset this happened this way. I know at some point he will experience falling, but I was hoping it wouldn't be out of our extreme negligence. Oh well! Lesson definitely learned!

Welcome to Mommyhood for Dummy!

I never really had much experience with babies so when Zack came to our lives, I basically was a blank slate. I watched our tiny 4-pounder and wondered how in the world I'll manage to nurture and raise him without breaking him in half. I couldn't even keep a tiny pot of cactus alive. What more a human being! I absolutely felt like the biggest dummy to pop out a child from my tummy. Well, 6 months have passed since then, and our son is very much alive and healthy. My hubby and I must be doing something right!

Welcome to Mommyhood for Dummy, a blog chronicling my day to day adventures as a mom. Through this, I hope to be able to share information to help fellow dummies out there (or at least give some expert a laugh).