Elias' Favorite Books - 21 months

I wrote a post recently about the books Elias loved from birth to 20 months. Recently, I am learning from his day care providers K&J that he is able to sit through longer and longer books. This has opened a HUGE door for us, expanding our library significantly. We have a lot of books, and recently I purchased almost 45 new books! Yes, that sounds absolutely crazy. I want my kids to love to read and I don't mind spending money to develop good habits and provide some good parent-child time. And perhaps I am also compensating (or overcompensating) for the fact that my parents didn't read to me at all because they didn't know how to read in English (and they didn't have access to Polish children's books).

When K&J told me he's sitting through longer books, that day I ordered 15 Berenstain Bears and Franklin the Turtle books on Amazon. I used my Amazon credit card points for most of the purchase, but still paid $30. Not terrible, especially since I got over half the books the NEXT DAY! Yay for Amazon Prime!

A few days later I told K&J about my purchase and K sorta laughed asking why I didn't just go to the Friends of the Library bookstore?

I really had no good answer. Ummm... first time mom over here! Got a little too excited about lots of new books ... And Amazon Prime is just so easy. The books were new. I got to read reviews. I did this all from my phone without going any where.

And then the guilt hit me. What had I done?! I've been trying to be thrifty lately (combination of trying to save money for a new car and trying principles from the FIRE movement), and I hadn't even given this purchase a second thought. I thought it was a good thing to buy books. They're for my kids after all!

And so on Tuesday I HAD TO CHECK OUT the Friends of the Library bookstore. I ended up spending another $50 there getting almost 30 books! Crazy, yes. But lots of books for reading were gained. I walked these books back a whole mile to my office too. It felt like I did a book binge during my lunch break, sneaking out of the office at 11:30am like some sort of addict. I got Curious George books, more Berenstain Bears, more Franklin, a few Eric Carle books especially this anthology, a Sesame Street Anthology, and 4 Madeline books for Zoe. I felt so accomplished and in love with all the reading we'll be doing.

So, here's to expanding our library and to many many story times.

Our Minimalist Diaper Bag- Simple JanSport Backpack

Meet our diaper bag! We use and LOVE my old JanSport Backpack as our diaper bag for two kids under two. We didn't start with this, but after one year of messy pockets and losing items in traditional diaper bags, we decided this is the diaper bag that works for us. We are not minimalists, and I love how this diaper bag encourages us to cut down on the stuff that accumulates in a diaper bag.

Shopping for a diaper bag was quite a challenge when I was pregnant. I decided to go practical with my choice of a grey backpack with two main compartments, a changing pad, bottle holders, wipe holder, insulated pockets, lots of other pockets, stroller straps and more! It was highly reviewed on Amazon and after much debate I thought this backpack had it all, so I added it to my registry.

And boy do I regret it. What a waste of $50 (yes, a gift, but still!) for the HapTim Multi-function Large Baby Diaper Bag Backpack.

The backpack is HUGE, even with nothing in it. It's shape feels like I am carrying a box on my back. And all the pockets I thought I'd love were hellish -- I couldn't find a thing because things get trapped in the pockets. Even recently when I was re-cleaning out the backpack I found wipes, burp clothes, extra diapers and other randoms things in the pockets! Not to mention all the pockets look similar so it is hard to remember what goes where, and it makes it difficult to share this backpack with another caretaker (like my husband).

Thankfully, I had bought another backpack at a consignment sale at 3 months after baby #1. I got the J.J. Cole Caprice Diaper Bag, Large Capacity Tote (similar pattern). At first I LOVED this diaper bag. It had four pockets on the inside, bottle pockets on the two outside sides, and a smaller wallet like pocket on the outside. I used it mainly as a tote and my husband used the messenger bag strap. It met our needs fine, but the more I used it, the more the inside was just one large mess. Things would get lost in the four interior pockets so easily. Each time this happened, the pocket contents were dumped out in order to locate the needed item. It was hard to put things back in the pockets because these pockets were in such similar positions that it was hard to remember what belonged in which pocket.This lead to one large mess in the main section of the bag, and it drove me NUTS organizing this tote daily.

HapTim Backpack and J.J. Cole Tote Diaper Bags

This is when I decided to streamline our diaper bag. I knew I liked the backpack option, and I knew I needed Ziploc bags to store the items I'd normally store in the pockets. Ziplocs had the advantage of being see through and could be easily categorized! I got my high school JanSport backpack out, and that became our diaper bag. It was lightweight and had two pockets, minimizing our biggest problem of things getting lost.

In the small pocket I store: sanitizing hand wipes, hand sanitizer (I'm thinking of removing this soon), tissues, a bib, lip balm, mother's milk tea, and Elias' Avi-Q Epi Pen.

In the main pocket I keep: Elias' puffy winter coat (which is not car seat safe), a Ziploc with a change of clothes (short sleeve, long sleeve and pants), a changing pad, a second Ziploc with 4 diapers in each size (Size 5 for Elias and size 2 for Zoe), and a smaller Ziploc with wipes. I generally use a separate insulated lunch bag to transport food/snacks and drinks.

Zoe Lately - 5 month update

Zoe is such a smiley and happy baby. She gives the best smiles after waking. She has so much hair and looks 100% like a girl to me, even when she's wearing her brother's old clothes. Her hair is starting to curl at the ends, and it's SO cute!

She has started holding her head up super well and can now be placed in her standing toy and Bumbo 🙏 This makes life SO much easier. Laying her on her back all the time was starting to get boring for her and with her reflux issues (which were exacerbated when she was on antibiotics over December and January) having her upright after feedings is best. Her favorite position, though, is being held facing forward.

Before getting sick (she had a cold or two, then RSV when she needed two nights in the hospital due to breathing issues) she was sleeping super well, only waking once around 3am. During December and January she was sick on and off, and this was terrible on her sleep. She woke every 2 hours, and due to her reflux, needed to be upright for 20-30 minutes after eating. Some time after she started feeling better, and her reflux was getting milder again we started to shift her from the swaddle to sleepsack (we went from the Miracle Blanket swaddle to the Halo swaddle size newborn to the Halo swaddle size small, Halo swaddle with one arm out, then Halo swaddle with two arms out, then sleepsack size small). Once she was adjusted to the sleepsack, we moved her to the crib in her room, and returned the Halo Bassinet (we LOVED it for both Elias and Zoe!) to our friends. During these adjustments, I got very little rest. Now that she's recovered, she's sleeping much better, going to bed at 6:15pm (and fully sleeping around 7:30pm) waking at midnight or so, around 4am and then is up for the day at 6am. This is very early for us. We've started switching off who gets morning duty. When it's our turn, we brew a pot of coffee. And that's how I've started drinking coffee again, a habit I broke almost two years ago!

Back to Zoe. She LOVES her brother so much. She loves to watch him play, run around, sing songs, dance and eat. Really, she likes to watch anyone eat with her eyes getting big and wide. On the days I am home with her, she definitely misses her brother while he's in day care. I know because she's pretty fussy like she wants more interaction, and on the weekends the void is filled when she can watch him all day long. He loves her too, and has recently started giving her hugs and kisses. It's the most adorable thing to watch.

Elias and Zoe last week

She loves looking in the mirror, and laughs when you make silly noises or move her back and forth. She loves her changing table and the accompanying mobile. She kicks her heels so hard into the changing pad in order to move the mobile and it works! She hates tummy time, but honestly we (I) don't make her do too much of that because she's getting good neck strength from being held all the time, and now the standing toy and Bumbo. I need to have her do more tummy time so she can practice rolling, I suppose...

She is very interested in toys, and will reach to grab most things and put them in her mouth. She can't hold onto them long though, and often prefers to have her fingers in her mouth instead. Her hands are usually cold because she sucks on them all day long. She's also a drooler, like her brother. We go through 5-10 bibs a day!

Music is also big for her. She loves Beethoven's Fur Elise, Paramore, the Eagles and Foo Fighters. She loves for you to sing "Patty Cake" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" while doing all the hand motions and giving her tiny tickles. If she is fussing, it's usually because she has to burp, or she's bored in the position/activity. She loves for you to walk her around the house.

She is eating well. We are breastfeeding every 2-3 hours and then giving her a 7oz bottle of breast milk at bed time (with a breastfeeding top-off), and a 6oz bottle of breast milk at midnight (sometimes with a breastfeeding top-off).

I kept pushing off her 4 month pictures (oops!) and finally got around to them yesterday. Better late than never!

December and January

No posts from December and January because we were all sick.

Elias' Favorite: Music Time

Elias is almost 20 months old and LOVES to sing songs and dance. At daycare, his providers J and K say he LOVES music time. Some favorites moments, songs and dances include:

• Before age 1, he loved to listen to us sing or play: Baby Beluga and Wheels on the Bus
• Today, Elias' number one request is "E-I-E-I-O" (which for the longest time he called "EEYahYo"). This request has many meanings and interpretations such as:
• Show me videos of nursery rhymes/songs on YouTube on your phone (he asks anyone he knows has a phone, especially Grandpa!)
• Play kids music (Raffi, etc)
• Play the song "Old McDonald"
• Sing "Old McDonald"
• He requests "Row Row" AKA Row, Row, Row your boat. He especially loves the second verse: "when you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream" which is when he likes to let out a scream. Though sometimes he screams after the first verse too. It varies.
• He can sing the WHOLE happy birthday song by himself and often sings it in the car or when he's falling asleep
• He can sing all of "Twinkle Twinkle" in key. He gets that from his dad! 
• He can sing the whole alphabet song!!! This was his FIRST favorite song. When he started at daycare, he loved having me or J&K point to the letters on a banner as we sang the song multiple times in a row. We immediately purchased an alphabet banner that we hung in the playroom.
• Loves to dance to "Let it Go" (with a twirl with hands above his head) from the Disney movie Frozen. He learned this from the older girls at daycare and is too young to think this is girly.
• Loves "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" but mostly touches his toes. 
• Has been requesting "Rosey, Ashes" AKA "Ring Around the Rosey" all weekend recently (did you know: this song is about the Black Plague!)
• Has specific dances for his musical toys:
• Loves to flip the "light" on his table toy to play a song "turn the light on and off, and the switch goes up and down ...." as he does a specific stomping dance
• Loves to sway dance to the alphabet song on his table toy
• Loves to play his piano and xylophone
• Loves the "Cocomelon" (ABCKidsTV) and "SuperSimpleSongs" channels on YouTube

 Elias and his piano at 15 months

Elias with his Great-Grandmother, Grammy, playing piano at 17 months

Elias' favorite books, birth to 20 months

Elias LOVES books! When he was less than one year old, he loved to carry his books around between his room and the living room, and chew the pages and spines. We gave him access to board books only because he was too rough with the pages of other books. You can tell which books were his favorites based on the wear of the pages and spine.

At around age 1, he was interested in reading only his favorite books:

• Pom Pom Panda Get the Grumps (he is still obsessed with this book a year later! He loves the page that says "GO AWAY!")
• Pout Pout Fish
• Dear Zoo
• Five Little Monkeys
• B is for Bear
• Touch and Feel Pets
• Touch and Feel Farm

Since he started daycare at age 13 months, his focus on books improved, and he was more willing to branch out to new books. Credit to story time at daycare! Then at around 18 months he started to LOVE listening to stories, especially at bedtime. It was around this time that we allowed him to read/play with some non-board books too. He still loves to play with his books, pretend read them upside down, and carry them between his room and the living room. The living room always winds up with a huge pile of books that I bring back to his room. He now begs for us to read him more books (probably because he doesn't want to go to bed). There are few books he doesn't like. His favorites include:

• all the above
• Good Night Moon (he was obsessed with this book for a while and it became a nightly staple)
• Touch and Feel Halloween (he loves the "sticky" page)
• Where is Baby's Belly Button 
• Baby Faces
• Growl Growl
• Good Morning, Good Night
• Bedtime Peekaboo
• Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings (he LOVES ducks and animals in general)
• The Little Engine that Could
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear
• The Hungry Caterpillar
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 
• Hello World! Weather
• Doggies 
• Moo Baa Lalala 
• The Busy Spider
• Animal Tales

Elias at 17 months with his favorite book

Was it a stomach bug?

Elias threw up for the first time last night. He's had a cough and no fever for the last 2 weeks. For young kids like him (almost 18 months) you are not allowed to give cough medicine, so we were just hoping and waiting for the cough to go away. But it didn't. Instead, it was getting worse because it bothered him more and more at night. So much that's he'd wake and cry, and yesterday he even had trouble falling asleep.

Instead of traditional cough syrup there is a natural children's brand called Zarbees. It's made with agave for babies under 1 and honey for children over age 1 (kids under age 1 cannot have honey because of a risk of botulism), and other herbs. We ran out for his stuff at bedtime and he only got half a serving. We didn't go to get any right away thinking we'd be fine if my husband got it during lunch the next day.

But Elias had a different plan. He couldn't fall asleep and kept coughing and stirring and crying on and off. We didn't know what to do. We went into his room and gave him warm water with honey, but he didn't want it. Then I tried mixing breastmilk with regular milk. He also didn't want it. At that point it was 10:30pm. My husband left for CVS and I cuddled with Elias in his rocking chair, the whole time thinking how are we going to manage to give him this herbal "medicine" he hates! He hates all medicine, actually, and it's quite a feat to get him to take any. I ordered a sippy cup that allows you to add medicine to a hidden compartment and squeeze packets of the Zarbees anticipating this, but those weren't set to arrive until Friday evening, two nights away!

We gave him his medicine in a huge bout of resistance where I held down his arms and legs with him on my lap and my husband holding the syringe. Then we held him down on the changing table while we worked as a team to saline and nose frida him. I went to bed just as Zoe was waking likely because of all the commotion (crying). We felt so bad. He had coughed so hard after the medicine and barely drank any of his milk or warm water.

Then things got interesting around 2am when he let out a cry and my husband discovered he had thrown up. He changed him and asked for my help cleaning up the sheets. I changed them and scrubbed the bed and surrounding floor, all the while thinking "OMG how gross..." And "should I be using bleach? Is this the stomach bug norovirus I had just read about?". I knew I needed to help, but I was worried I'd get Zoe sick because of how contagious the stomach bug is. And by that time it was too late to grab gloves so I resorted to washing my hands with all types of soap probably a million times, changed my clothes and washed my face before going back to our bedroom, not sure if any of this would even work to combat a stomach bug.

Elias was a much happier boy come the morning, and even had an appetite. He hadn't throw up since 3am. He and my husband barely slept throughout the night.

Today the doctor said it was likely a mucus throw up because the mucus had no where to go other than up and food came up with it. But of course they said it could also be a 24 hour stomach bug! So far, my husband nor I have had any symptoms. We hope it stays that way! We really don't want Zoe to get it!!

Adding to the chaos, Elias had to stay home from daycare and my husband had a crazy busy day working from home, so we had no choice but to have me and Zoe out in the main area while Elias played.

This all got me thinking, how do you manage to be so sterile with a stomach bug in your house when there are two kids to attend to, clean up after and ensure they don't breathe the smell of Clorox wipes? Ahh... We were so disorganized and I made so many mistakes not even thinking at first, just reacting. How will we deal with the real stomach bug in the future?