Things You Need to Know... or atleast in my opinion!

For starters, the two things that first time parents need to have handy are receiving blankets, and onsies.

Receiving blankets can be used for many things, spit up, blankies to soothe a baby, as a wind and/or sun blocker while in the car or stroller, and a drool rag.  My son had alot of receiving blankets up until he learned how to choose a favorite.  It was a baby blue blanket with dark blue paw prints.  He would hold it, and rest his head on it when he slept.  One day we washed it, and it got put away, and forgotten about.  Until one day when I found it, I was so excited to show it to him to see his reaction.  This is how I thought it would go, "Blankey!!!"  and then he would snuggle it up like a big ol' teddy bear.  Yea not exactly, it went more like, oh ok what ever, dropped it and walked away.  Hmmm that was easy, usually parents have a hard time taking things like that away.

Now onto onsies, you truly cannot have enough of those.  They get spit up on, and then you sit and think, ugh its wet, I don't want him/her to be uncomfortable... so you change it.  Then there's the wonderful, no way to avoid it, not even with the nifty diapers... poop up the back...  Most mom's know exactly what I'm talking about, the ones where you legit, sit for a minute and think to yourself, "now how the hell am I going to get this off of you with out making a bigger mess."  I think I've made my point... onsies are needed. 

Then there's the other parents who always have something to say, no matter how rude we may think it is... but keep in mind, it's their opinion and you are the parent.  You don't HAVE to listen to what they say. 

Lets see, one that happened to me was, while my son was dressed in blue, had a onsie on that said "little brother" a lady said, "aww what a cute baby...... boy or girl?"  Really lady?  Did you have to ask that question?  But of course I answered her politely.

The other is the opinion on pacifiers.  My fiance and I always said, we were not going to give our son one, but if he started to suck his thumb, it was an option because a pacy is alot easier to take away than his own thumb.  However, this was not the case.  While at the hospital, when he was born, I went to get him from the nurses station and what did he have in his mouth? A pacifier.  And yes, form all the opinions you want, but at 2 1/2 we have begun the process of taking it away.  I have heard it all before, "it should have been taken away when he was 6-9 months..."  "you need to take that thing away from him"  No crap, and I will, and I am... again, I am the parent, I will deal with it. 

Another is co-sleeping.  I never thought about it before having a child.  And my fiance kept telling me, be careful, don't hold him all the time, he's going to get used to it.  But being a first time mom, I loved snuggling my baby and I loved knowing that the sound of my heart beating could put him to sleep.  When he got to the height of having to put the crib setting all the way down, he would wake up every time I would lower him into it, and it would take forever to get him back to bed.  Which then lead to sharing our bed.  I would always make sure his head was propped up on my arm so I knew his head wouldn't end up under a pillow, or the blankets.  And then he got to the age where he could use a pillow on his own.  Anyways, fast forward to now, 2 1/2 years later and I can proudly say he spent the entire night in his own bed last night!  Here's to hoping for many more!  Because this mama misses snuggling up with daddy!  But I do not regret it one bit!  We ALL sleep through the night. 

Hope some of this was either helpful, or at least funny!  Stick around, I've got plenty more!

What Happened to TV?

When I was a child, the cartoon's that were on TV were not as educational as they are today.  I am 25, and the shows I remember watching were, Bobby's World, Dark Wing Duck, Inspector Gadget, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, The Flintstone's, The Jetson's, Punky Brewster, Full House, and Land of the Lost, just to name a few.  However, the cartoon's now-days, that my son (2 1/2) watch are more educational.  One of his favorite's is Team Umizoomi, which I, as a mom, LOVE, because he is learning to count and learning new shapes.  But there are a few cartoon's I have a problem with, for example, Peppa Pig.  What is the point of this show?  I find myself watching it with my son and wondering why, at the end of EVERY episode, they fall on their backs and laugh.  Have I become to accustomed to the learning aspect of the other shows?  Then there is the show Cailou,  why my deeaaaarrrr child, must you whiiiiineee about everything?  If I were his mother I would go insane...  and what exactly is this show supposed to be doing for my child?  hmmm  I couldn't think of anything either, which is why we don't watch that show anymore.   Ohhh and let's talk about Max and Ruby... where are these children's parent's?  I know they visit Grandma here and there...  but never have I seen an episode with their parent's or even heard the words MOM and/or DAD.  And why is it that Ruby has not caught onto the fact that Max usually has some pretty good idea's, if only she would listen.  And she can sometimes be pretty bossy... which leads me to Olivia.  Good ol' Olivia (which is, for some reason, another show my son likes) why is she sooooo bossy and why have her parent's allowed her to become so spoiled and "all about me"???     Ok enough with the random rants of why and how I don't understand the shows now-days, and back to the main topic, What happened to TV?  Have we become so dependent on electronics that there are TV channel's that play cartoon's 24/7?  Duh of course, no clue why I even asked that question.  I remember playing outside until the street light's came on.  And if we went inside, we were told to go back outside and play.  Saturday morning cartoon's were our treat... then it was time to go back outside!  Kid's and adults now-days have become so involved in video game's that they made system's that are made to help them get off their butt's and be active... wait for it.... while STILL playing video game's.  We have become so lazy, that movie night no longer involves going to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster to rent a movie and hope that you'll be able to get a snack too.... No, now it's, sit on couch, press button, browse movie's, select, and play.  Thank goodness for Red Box because I refuse to pay a boat load of money to go to a movie theater to watch a movie, that I can rent for $1.00.  Ok I think I have talked (or typed) enough for my first post... trust me, I have plenty more to talk about.