Baby Sleep is Unpredictable

Last night was brutal. My little man was up every couple of hours. Screaming for no apparent reason. It was tough. But, what made it even tougher was the fact that he had just turned a corner with his sleep habits, and had started sleeping through the night for like 5 days in a row. He is 13 months old. Unfortunately, a baby’s sleep is never predictable. I remember my daughter having episodes like that too. And, she was my best sleeper. My middle child was the worst, not sleeping through the night until he was 18 months old. And, … Continue reading →

One Year Came and Went

Sometimes I think the first birthday comes in the blink of an eye. Other times, I think it takes forever to get there. That’s what having a baby is all about. Time is either dragging slowly or speeding by so fast you want to cry. When my baby turned 1 last month, I felt like crying. I think it’s because he has been such a little love. So sweet. And, he is my last baby. My last baby is one. That breaks my heart. But, at the same time, it makes me so happy. I look forward to all the … Continue reading →

When Your Baby Has Food Allergies

Recently, I decided to get my baby tested for food allergies. With the history that my two boys have had, I just wanted to make sure that there were no lingering issues as we moved forward with food trialing. I had been suspicious that eggs were causing a problem with my little one when I was breastfeeding. It was one of the foods I had cut out of my diet when he was having all of his tummy issues. But, none of my children have ever been diagnosed with your typical IgE food allergies. IgE stands for Immunoglobulin E which is … Continue reading →

Signing Part III

Signing with our son was really a new experience for everyone involved (my husband, my son, and I along with a few family members, coworkers, students, and friends). From my perspective it was a wonderfully enlightening endeavour that helped everyone involved communicate better while being a valuable learning opportunity (it seems that most people do not know much if any sign language). That being said, I felt confident and excited when we started introducing sign language to our daughter when she was five or so months old. Knowing from experience that it takes awhile to see the fruits of one’s … Continue reading →

Signing Part II

As parents my husband and I wanted to help our infant son to communicate with us what he needed and wanted. Wanting to avoid at least some of the frustrations that come with trying to communicate with an infant (sometimes trying to interpret crying fits is futile), we started using sign language with our son when he was five months old. After five months of signing with him, he finally started signing himself. The first word he signed was “milk,” and lots of words followed. He started to sign “fan” and “up” and “more” and “all done” and “yogurt” and … Continue reading →

Signing Part I

I first came across the concept and practice of signing with infants when I was doing my pre pregnancy research on how to best achieve a better and healthier birth. Once we were pregnant with our first child, a son, I came across the information again and even watched a few videos of a mother signing with her fifteen month old daughter. The idea is that parents start using sign language with their infants for basic words e.g. “milk,” “all done,” “diaper,” so that the infant can communicate basic needs and wants before he or she is verbal. This not … Continue reading →

My Cupcake Kid

You might think that a kid with a sweet tooth is, while normal, not exactly ideal. We want our children to eat their veggies, have balanced diets, and to the extent it is possible avoid over-eating in categories that we know to be harmful to them in one way or another. Sweets are characteristically in this latter category, as they are rumored to cause hyperactive children and definitively rot teeth according to dentists and tooth-oriented businesses everywhere. So you’d be forgiven for thinking that my own little cupcake kid is for some reason a bad thing. You’d be forgiven for … Continue reading →

Eleven Months Old

As I contemplate the fact that my daughter is now eleven months old, I cannot help having mixed feelings about how quickly my baby girl is growing up! I feel like a made more effort with my daughter (than I was able to with my son) to cherish every stage of her infancy. Knowing from experience the second time around, I did not want to take the short lived precious moments with my infant for granted. Even with this mindset and the clear effort to enjoy my little one, I feel like her babyhood as gone by far too fast. … Continue reading →

My Little Talker

My baby has become a full-fledged talker. I’m not sure when he started figuring out that he could communicate, but we love it. And, are constantly surprised by his ability to talk to us now. It is hard to get his undivided attention these days because he is so busy. But, usually, when I am changing his diaper, I can take his being confined to the changing table as a moment to talk to him and have him talk back. I have noticed that in these moments, he is really watching my mouth move and how I form the words. … Continue reading →

A Playdate for the Girls

While I was pregnant with my daughter, I wrote a blog about the pregnant women in my family and extended family. The short version of those blogs is that my sister, my husband’s sister-in-law, and I were all pregnant within eight weeks of each other with girls. We had made attempts to get the girls together in the midst of our diverse and busy schedules, but our efforts were thwarted by naps or illness … until today. This playdate was not planned weeks in advance but happened more by happenstance than anything else. My sister needed me to watch her … Continue reading →