Happy 1st Birthday Ethan

Ethan Loves Himself

Ethan at Gymboree

You Are The Big House

A few weeks ago Tom and I went to the famous Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood for our date night. It was a Saturday night and we heard some of the best comedians I've ever heard. They were so good it could have been an HBO special.

The funniest were, of course, the ones I could relate to. Being a new mom I must say I am completely shocked at how expensive it is. Ever since we brought Ethan home I have felt like a walking credit card. He's almost 11 months old now and he is so easily bored we just keep buying him new toys. Today at Gymboree I bought him more toys yet again - they had a sale I couldn't resist.

One of the comedians has a three year old son and he just bought a house. He paid 700k for a small house (that's at least what a small house costs on the Westside of Los Angeles). His house is the smallest house on his street and his son comes home one day and asks him "when are we going to get our big house" to which he replies "son, you are the big house." So when I'm feeling financially overwhelmed I just smile and think "Ethan you are my big house."

Ethan & I At Adverture City in Anahiem / Petting Zoo Part

Touching Real Fur At the Museum of Natural History LA

So Fun

Happy Baby

Ethan at the Long Beach Aquarium

My Mommy Gave Me Some Fries

Parking on the Westside

First a little disclaimer, I'm not complaining I'm just reporting.

I just calculated that we have spent over $20 in the last two weeks alone on parking not including any change I have put in the meters.

Here's the breakdown:

$6 Venice Beach Parking

$4 Gymboree parking

$7 Long Beach Aquarium parking

$4 Seaside Lagoon parking

$2 valet tip at playdate

Missing My Dad

My dad passed away a little over two years ago. Now that I'm a mom I remember and appreciate the day to day details of growing up with my dad.

My dad would make whatever anybody wanted for breakfast. I can recall him making cheesy eggs, pancakes, and french toast all at once like it was no big deal.

I made pancakes for Ethan this morning and it reminded of my dad and his seemingly effortless love for his family.

Baby Silk Sunscreen Towelettes

Yesterday on the way back from the Seaside Lagoon (which is sort of a salt water lake next to the ocean) I decided to squeeze in an errand and stopped at the Right Start store. As I rushed through the store with Ethan hanging off me like a monkey in the Ergo I came across these special wipes with sunscreen. Ethan hates it when I put sunscreen on him so I was like "great at last a solution to the daily sunscreen meltdown." Keep in mind too that my little monkey was trying to grab things and fly off me while I was shopping - so I wasn't paying too close attention to the shopping part.

So, this morning I was packing up for our daily activities and I was going to bring my fancy new wipes for our pool adventure, however, I realized that 1 single wipe is about $2 . $2 for a 1 wipe - this is not a typo (the pack of 15 wipes costs $25.99/ with tax aprox. $30). I could go through 2 or 3 wipes with just my 1 kid and what if one of his friends needs some sunscreen? Then you are looking at $6 to $10 in just sunscreen wipes.

So, I can't tell you how great they are because I couldn't bring myself to use them.

New Toys = Break for Mommy

I'm finding that when your kid gets new toys, it's a little like how teachers feel when it's spring break (i.e. they look forward to it just like the students).

Last week we had a relative in town for business. Earlier that day we had discussed whether or not to get a babysitter or make dinner and decided to make dinner.

Sometime after this decision, I went to run a few errands and went to Toys "R" Us. Like any new stay at home mom I had seen the toys many times but had been too frugal to buy them. However, on this day something inside me snapped and I broke down and bought all of the toys I had been thinking about.

So I got home and took out one of the new toys and assembled it. Ethan was so excited to play with his new toy I was able to clean and prepare. When our guest arrived we were able to talk and little Ethan just nicely sat on the floor playing with his toy. His new toy was my present.

Finger Foods

Ever since we started giving him real he discovered whatever we are eating is infinitely better than what he was eating. So now I need to create family dinners. Luckily for Ethan, mom is a very healthy eater.

I took two things I make for us and modified them slightly for Ethan.

Turkey Taco's:
Gave him pieces of onion and spicing turkey, sprinkled shredded cheese on his tray, and gave him a whole wheat tortilla that I had heated on the stove. He loved the spicy turkey pieces.

Chicken Noodle Soup:
I boiled the bullion cubes to make broth per directions. To save time I bought already cut up celery, onion, and carrots from Trader Joes ( these were small pieces and were the perfect size for him). Then I cut up organic chicken breasts into small pieces and then added whole wheat spaghetti noodles. I froze a bunch of this soup for future meals. Ethan gets really excited when he sees that I'm preparing the soup for him.

A friend of mine told me about some great recipes on Wholesomebabyfood.com. Here are some of the ones that I have tried so far.

• The number one recipe is the sweet potato fries. Tom, Ethan, and I love these fries. I made a huge tray and we gobbled them up.
• I highly recommend the broccoli nuggets. It's a great food to bring on outings because he can munch on a nugget like a piece of bread but he's getting some veggies (from the broccoli) and some protein (from the cheese).
• I also like the Apple Turkey loaf. We eat that last night together as a family. I love that you can use some of your pureed baby food. Unfortunately, my husband didn't like it as much as Ethan and I.

He also loves the teething biscuits, puffs, organic O's, and bananas halves.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

With Ethan being at the age where he wants to put everything in his mouth the sandbox is extremely stressful for me, but soo fun for him. I'm having to take him on walks and to the park earlier now because it's so hot. Just after I took this picture he crawled up out of the sandbox and it was so hot on the surface that he almost got burned. Luckily mom was right there to scoop him up.

4th of July

For the 4th of July we went to a Parade near our house in Westchester. This parade is a yearly event that we never knew existed. It's amazing how parenthood opens your whole world.

We ran into a few friends. Some old friends and some new friends from the MOMs Club.

This picture is Ethan intently watching the Parade.

Flying With Baby

The weekend before the 4th of July, Tom, Ethan and I flew to from LA to Minneapolis. We had a great time. Since Ethan doesn't like the car so much I decided we would stay downtown and utilize the public transportation system they call the "Light Rail" (in LA we call we call it the "Metrolink").

We could only bring what we could carry so I managed to pack of our clothes, toys, etc. into one suitcase. I bought those space pack bags and put all of our clothes in separate bags. This not only saved space but it also kept things really organized. You can even space savor pack diapers.

Now that Ethan can eat real food, traveling is much easier and much more fun. Just trying new foods is entertaining. The hotel had free buffet breakfast every morning. In the morning he eat a boiled egg yolk, a waffle, and a little banana. At lunch and dinner we would give him some bread and noodles. I would try and feed him some baby food vegetables from a jar. However, he quickly discovered that our food was much tastier than his jarred baby food.

Our Mia Moda Cielo stroller worked great. It folds into a little bag and can be stored in the overhead comparment on the plane. It's very lightweight (only 9 pounds) and you can snap it open with one hand. They don't seem to sell the exact one that we have anymore but here's a link to one that's very similar:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3121415

I also used the Ergo baby. I highly recommend the Ergo for anyone like myself who has had back problems. Ethan is now about 22 or 23 pounds and I was even able to carry him around for a couple of hours in the Ergo.

We kept Ethan on the same sleeping schedule. Since Minnesota time is 2 hours ahead, we simply put him to bed at 9:30 (which would be 7:30 California time). He did have a harder time falling asleep and I'm not sure if he was just testing us to see if the same rules applied on vacation or if he had a harder time falling asleep in a new environment.

I decided to buy premixed formula for the trip and I highly recommend this. It can be a pain finding bottled water and I'm not sure if you can even bring it through airport security. Plus, the bottled water in our room was $4 a bottle and at that price it's much more economical to spend $2.5o for a premixed can of formula. They even have one that you simply attach a nipple to, however, Ethan is already using the sippy cup so I decided to go with the cans.

I ordered everything I needed for the trip from Diapers.com. The prices are much better on the diapers and formula than anywhere else I shop. According to friends Costco has the best prices, however, I end up buying a bunch extra stuff that I didn't know I needed - so I don't shop there. We do not have a Walmart in LA. I shop at Toys "R" Us or Target.

Ethan was really excited about the window shade on the plane. The shade entertained him for about an 1 hour throughout the trip, which is about 1/3 of the flight. So, make sure you get a window seat when flying.

I'll probably edit and add to this post but I just wanted to go ahead and publish it because I have a lot more things to post and write about.

I love my boys :)

Another Picture

Trip to Palm Springs - Ideas for Easy Fun Travel

Okay so everyone knows my son does not like the car. We live in LA so it's about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive to Palm Springs and thanks to some ideas from other mommies and some I came up with we had a great vacation with very few meltdowns. The picture on the right is Ethan playing with his friend Enza (our friend's daughter) at the Marriott Villas in Palm Desert.

Here are the 10 things that helped make it a great vacation:

1. I bought Ethan new toys he had never seen before so that he was entertained on the way there.

2. I left right before it was his nap time so that he spent some of the car ride sleeping.

3. Ethan is only 9 months old and only has 2 teeth so I put yummy frozen fruit pieces (mangos and grapes) in these little meshy things so that he had something to safe chew and snack on. Plus, he likes trying new food. Tip: buy the colored meshy things the white ones get stained.

4. I also played his CDs (some of the time).

5. We got a 1 bedroom so that when we put him to bed at 7:30 we weren't stuck - unable to watch TV and hang out. Ideally I would like to have a 2 bedroom because he woke up early every day and wouldn't go back to sleep because we were sharing a room. Also, it's not as romantic.

6. I brought disposable bibs and take & toss spoons. It was nice to do minimal cleaning on the trip.

7. Since we drove I was able to bring his little chair for feedings.

8. The hotel provided a pack & play so we didn't need to bring one or worry about him jumping off the bed. My son I would never leave him laying on a bed.

9. Earth's Best makes these canned meals like "Apple Yogurt and Oatmeal" for breakfast and "Chicken and Sweet Potatoes" for dinner. I brought a bunch of those so I didn't have to wash bowls.

10. While out to dinner I would give him cloth napkins and menus to play with. I also would give him a little bread or roll which was really fun for him.

Please post any ideas for easy travel you have! It takes a village!

Great Article "Top 7 baby costs, and how to save"

Most of the things on here I'm already doing but I love the way it breaks down the costs:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-babycenter-7-top-baby-costs-and-how-to-save_1744464.bc?scid=momsbaby_20090407:2&pe=2Uwh05N

I have gotten a few hand me downs and they were great - I used everything. I breastfeed and we are now using the cloth diapers. I love them. They are totally stylish and comfy.

One suggestion I won't take away from this article is making your own food. I was going to make my own baby food, however, after reading the "Super Baby Food" book I became overwhelmed with all of the cleaning and food safety stuff. So, when the organic baby food goes on sale at 50 cents a jar I stock up. I also bought some organic baby food on Diapers.com. I got 12 jars for $7.99 (so much less than $1 per jar as mentioned in the article). At this point Ethan is only eating 1 to 2 jars of food per day, which is only $20 per month.

P.S. Ethan is 7 months old today :)

Ethan is Crawling (this video is from earlier today)

Battling Bacteria

Now that Ethan is eating solid foods my battle with bacteria just became a lot more complicated.

I'm reading this great book by Ruth Yaron called "Super Baby Food" and here are some of her great ideas for keeping your baby and kitchen bacteria free:

• Terry Cloths: Buy a whole bunch of cheap terry cloths (like the kind used to clean cars). Buy a few different colors and use a separate color for wiping your babies face and hands.


• Clean Your Sponge: When you run the dishwasher throw in your sponge.


• Clean Baby Food Jars: Clean the outside of your baby food jars before opening them.


• Cutting Boards: Use separate cutting boards for your meat.

Here are three of my own best ideas:

1. Disinfectant Wipes: I love the Target disinfectant wipes. They are cheap and easy. I use them to clean off toys, his high chair, the counter tops, and the baby food jars.


2. Sterilization Bags: I also recommend sterilization bags for when you first get bottles or pacifiers. You microwave items for 90 seconds and they are 99% germ free. You can get these at target also, I've tried two brands Medela and Munchkin and they were both great and easy.


3. Keeps Things Separate: I have separate tools to clean Ethan's things. I never use our sponge to clean Ethan's dishes.

The Park & March in LA

One of the great things about living in LA is the weather. Today was a perfect day and Ethan & I met up with a bunch of other moms at the park.

He loved the swing and was smiling and laughing hysterically as I pushed him. He also loved seeing the other kids.

Sunscreen is a must and every mom (including myself) was using the same stuff "Coppertone Water Babies" spf 50 in the pink bottle. I also have a sample size for travel which was perfect for the small totebag I brought.

Gymboree

Ethan & I take a music class at Gymboree and he has an unbelievably great time.

Here's a picture of him having a great time drumming on the large communal drum at the beginning of class. He's only 6 months and he's a great drummer.

Blog Updates

Hi,

I just wanted to respond and update you on past blogs.

First, the Ferber method is a cry it out method and I don't think that this is the way to go for everyone. This is simply something that worked great for me and I just want to share my experience.

Ethan was very colicky and as a result picked up some very poor sleep habits and dependencies. He basically always needed to be held and if I would put him down in his crib after he fell asleep most of the time he would wake up and start crying. Just before I did sleep training he slept only about eight hours during a 24 hour period. This is not enough sleep (based on everything I've ever heard or read) for proper brain development.

The key with the Ferber method is to look for cues that they are tired before you put them to bed. In the daytime I wait for a yawn and then do a mini bedtime routine. I also wake him up if his last nap is too long so that I'm not putting him to bed at night when he's not tired. I try and give him 2 1/2 to 3 hours between the last nap and bedtime so that he goes down with little or no protest.

Before Ferber, Ethan would get overtired and have total screaming meltdowns. He cried a lot less when we did sleep training then he cried before we did this.

Cloth diapers. I'm on the verge of buying the Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers. However, they are very expensive upfront. It's about $150 for the starter kit so in three months they will pay for themselves but it's a lot of money upfront so Ethan has to like them. Wish me luck.

I'm trying to create dinners that are around $10 each (and about 3 to 4 portions) so please feel free to post any great inexpensive recipes.

Love, Stephanie

Econ-o-Mom

Hi Everyone,

So I have a few friends and family that I greatly admire that have found some great ways to to live fabulous and save money.

I want to share a few of the great ideas they have passed along to me:

1. Buy meat on sale and freeze for future meals.

2. Shop for Kids clothes at thrift stores - buy only brand new clothes and brand name clothes. Also, buy a few sizes ahead so you're not stuck buying expensive new clothes when your little one grows into the next size.

3. Live on just your husband's income before you quit your job to see if you can make it.

4. (This one is mine) Some restaurants are offering 50% off the entire menu on certain nights. We are going to a celeb hot spot this week and the savings will more than make up for the cost of our baby sitter.

5. Get books at the library. Not only does this save you money but when you get sick of a book you just take it back instead of cluttering up your house (this idea is mine too). Also, you can renew your books online to eliminate late fees and to keep the books that you like for a long time.

Please feel free to post some great money saving ideas that you have.

Healthcare and the Stay At Home Mom

Healthcare costs have become insane. When I was a single working women I never really paid attention because my employer covered most of the cost and I simply paid about $80 a month (tax free) out of my check. I never missed it. Once you have a family, as every mom knows, things change.

For example, for us to insure all three of us under my husband's HMO plan it's $701 per month. For just my husband and son it's $371 per month. Therefore, to add me would be an additional $330. However, my husband's plan does not cover chiropratic care so I would have to pay cash for that, which would be $120 per visit. I need to go at least once a month. So, that would add up to $491 per month minimum.

Another option is for me to go on Cobra under my former employer's plan - this costs $415 per month. However, under this plan my chiropractic visits are covered. So my total cost per month would be $415 versus $491 on my husband's plan.

So to insure 3 healthy people for one year is costing us $9,672. Plus, in addition to this we pay copays.

I really worry about all of the people who are now unemployed - how are they able to pay for Cobra? Do we need universal healthcare or what?

Happy Baby

Today was the 30th day on sleep training and I'm happy to report that Ethan is the happiest baby ever.

This video I took today of Ethan waking up he is so good he almost always sleeps through the night now and most of the time he goes down for naps without even any whimpering!

Sleep Training

Goods News!!!! .....Ethan is now sleeping 11 to 12 hours at night and he takes 3 naps a day for a total of 15 hours of sleep!!!!!



How did we do it? We did the Ferber Method and it works great!

Bond Mommy Bond: Music

After 4 months of being a mom I just discovered the power of music. Other moms tried to clue me in. I received a CD at my baby shower and a friend of mine brought over a large bag of hand me downs but I completely thought the CDs we for later ...not NOW. My husband has been asking me about music for Ethan... but still, somehow in the chaos new motherhood I didn't get out those CDs until this week.

This last Thursday, I was home alone with Ethan while my husband was working. Since his new favorite past time is now rolling, I rearranged the furniture so he would have plenty of rug room. I then searched his room for his baby CDs and selected Beatles for Baby which boosted special instrumentals for baby. When I turned it on magic filled our house and Ethan was mesmerized. I couldn't believe it!

You always here people talk about how babies love the car and I've heard many stories of parents driving around to sooth their fussy baby. My baby hates the car. I only go to places within 10 minutes of my house. I only take Ethan in the car once a day because that's all of the screaming and crying I can handle. Lately, not only does he cry he also arches his back and refuses to physically cooperate going into the car seat. Yesterday I had a breakthrough, after shoving him into car seat I put on the baby Beatles CD and not only did he not cry he actually fell asleep! Thank you John! Thank you Paul!

Rolling Over

At 4 months and 7 days old Ethan is now a master at rolling over. Yesterday I even found him in his crib sleeping on his stomach. He rolled over for the first time a few weeks ago (...well with the help of the couch cushions).

Here's a picture of Ethan right after one of his world class roll overs ... the video will be coming soon.

Laker Fan

Hi Everyone, Tom got Ethan this outfit at the Laker game a few weeks ago.

That Face

Trumpette Socks I'm Obsessed!!!

I'm obsessed with Ethan's socks!! The very first baby item that my husband and I bought for Ethan was a box of sneaker socks.

Just a few weeks ago he noticed he had toes for the first time because I always have him in socks. Now he's constantly grabbing them in his bath.

Here is one of my favorite "sock" photos - these socks have little dogs on them.

Ethan pretty much only wears my favorite brand of socks the Trumpette socks. He has dog socks, sneaker socks, and my fav the argyle golf socks. They stay on really well so if you're struggling with keeping the socks on I would definately recommend this brand. One thing to note about these socks though is that they outgrow them very quickly the 0 -12 size is really more like 0 -6 and for 6 months and on they really need the toddler size. Since Ethan is already 17 pounds I had to order some toddler sized Trumpette socks.

Introduction

Now that I'm a stay at home mom I thought I would write a blog for other moms and to keep friends and family up to date. Please feel free to comment.


Here's a little bit about me. I'm 33 years old. I've been married a little over 2 1/2 years to the love of my life Tom and we have a son Ethan who is now 4months old (that's him in this picture outside of our house after our walk).

This week I quit my job of almost 4 years to stay at home with Ethan. Although motherhood can be very challenging, I'm the happiest I've ever been and I can't wait to see Ethan's smiling face every morning (after I've had my coffee that is).