Baby Handsome

Share Your Baby-Proofing Tips

June 22, 2019 by 28 Comments

It’s time to baby-proof! Little Buddy is five-and-a-half months old, and he is on the verge of being mobile. He still can’t quite crawl, but he can wiggle his arms and legs enough to spin around and even move forward a little bit. He is also strong enough to reach for something with one arm while still holding his head up with the other.

This week, I learned that he is drawn to cords and outlets like a magnet. You can see the excitement in his eyes when he spies one and tries to go for it, and he has already succeeded in pulling a big cord out of the wall. It’s really quite amazing how strong his arms are and how strong his drive to yank cords is.

Our house is now equipped with little plastic outlet covers, and I ordered a few plastic boxes that fix to the outlet and allow cords to be plugged in but prevent babies from pulling them out or accessing the outlet.

I spent a few hours scouring the internet for baby-proofing ideas and searching for supplies, but I was shocked (no pun intended) to find out that there is very little useful information available, and there are only a few options when it comes to baby-proofing paraphernalia. This is the 21st century. We have self-driving cars and watches with internet access, but we can’t design a few more gadgets to protect babies from electric shock. There’s something wrong with our world.

A while ago, I purchased a sliding outlet cover to try. You slide it open to plug something in, and then when the cord is pulled it, it automatically slides closed. There are several companies that make them, and I chose the one with the best reviews. We’re talking over a thousand really good reviews. But when I read a few reviews on another company’s sliding outlet covers that mentioned the phrase “fire hazard,” that was enough for me to question the safety of the entire concept. The concern is that the sliding mechanism might make the prongs come loose from the plug (but not fall out completely) and cause the plastic on the outlet cover to melt. In a very rare case, it could result in a fire. So there goes that idea.

I am familiar with the tamper resistant outlets that are required in all new houses, and we are considering installing them in our home. But I’m still not sure that I trust them enough to install them and do nothing else to baby-proof our outlets And of course, that still wouldn’t solve the problem of Little Buddy pulling cords out of the wall and chewing on them.

If any of you seasoned parents have baby-proofing tips (both electrical and non-electrical) to share, go ahead and leave them here. I know that other readers would appreciate them, as well.

The Woes of Breastfeeding

June 8, 2019 by 62 Comments

One of the many things that I have learned since having a baby is how much work it takes to breastfeed. Before I became a mother, I got the impression that it was a fairly simple process that didn’t take much time or thought. Sure, it was common for ladies to have challenges at the beginning, but those issues didn’t last past the first several weeks, right? Wrong. Now that I have experienced it for myself, I am realizing that my perception of breastfeeding could not have been more wrong.

According to the CDC, approximately 83% of children are breastfed as newborns, but when babies reach three months old, that statistic drops to just under 50%. By one year of age, only 35% of babies are breastfed.

All I can say in response to those numbers is this: I get it. Breastfeeding is hard. Even for those who have a fairly smooth experience, it still takes a ton of time and energy. Even in the moments when you aren’t physically nursing, it still has to be on your mind. Is what you are putting into your mouth safe for your child? Are you getting enough vitamins and nutrients? Are you drinking enough water?

For me, one of the most difficult aspects of breastfeeding has been simply getting enough food. Gone are the days when I can eat lunch and not have to think about food until dinnertime. If I leave the house for more than an hour without a bottle of water and a sack of healthy snacks, my milk supply takes a direct hit…as does my ability to stay energized and alert.

Little Buddy has struggled with breastfeeding from day one. Our hospital provided wonderful lactation consultants free of charge when we delivered, and they still do, which is amazing. I could bore you with the details, but they have basically determined that he has a mind of his own. Sometimes he breastfeeds, and other times he doesn’t. It took many hours of tears (both his and mine) to figure out out, but we have finally settled into a good routine that includes a combination of nursing and pumping/bottle feeding.

And while it took a while to accept the fact that my baby wasn’t ever going to “nurse like a pro,” I have come to really enjoy the flexibility that comes with being able to pump. It lets me take advantage of my increased supply in the morning hours without feeling the burden of a lower supply in the evening. It allows …

Baby’s 1st Beach Trip

May 21, 2019 by 30 Comments

In celebration of Mother’s Day, we took Little Buddy on his first vacation, down to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. It required more work than our pre-baby trips, but we really enjoyed watching him experience the ocean for the first time. And I know I would have missed him terribly if we hadn’t taken him along. The Florida Panhandle is a great place for a family vacation.

The drive was just over seven hours. I had kept Little Buddy awake most of the day so he would take a long nap in the car, which he did. He had a two-hour fussy period, but I suppose that is to be expected. Mr. Handsome and I were listening to an audio book, but multiple times we had to pause it to play nursery rhymes to keep the little man happy.

We arrived at our tiny condo late at night. We had only booked it about a month earlier, after our first one fell through. It was a huge blessing from the Lord because it was within walking distance of the beach and was well stocked, and it was significantly cheaper than the other condos we had seen listed online. It even had a beach cart to haul our supplies down to the ocean.

We ventured out to the beach late the next morning. Getting ready for the beach is always a production, so adding a baby on top of it didn’t feel that different. He giggled when I rubbed him down with all-natural baby sunscreen. Then we put him in the stroller and let him watch us gather our beach supplies. Unfortunately, by the time we were actually ready to go, he had reached the end of his happy period.

By the time we arrived at the beach five minutes later, Little Buddy had fallen asleep, so we put a towel over the stroller and set up our beach umbrella. Mr. Handsome and I took turns swimming in the ocean, which was a blast. The water was surprisingly warm, and although someone told us that they had been stung by a jellyfish, we never saw any.

When Little Buddy woke up from his nap, we took the opportunity to take him to the edge of the water. He enjoyed it for a few moments…until a tiny wave came by and splashed a sprinkle of water on his face. But he loved just sitting in the sand under our umbrella, although we had to be vigilant to make sure he didn’t put any in his mouth, which he attempted to do quite a few times.

Just before leaving that afternoon, we tried dipping his feet in the water again, and he wailed. Later that evening, as the sun was setting, we returned to the beach for a walk, and lo and behold, he was the happiest we had ever seen him! Mr. Handsome wore him in the baby carrier, and he cooed the entire time. His favorite tracks on the sound machine that we use to put him to sleep every night are the water sounds, so listening to the waves must have been extremely relaxing for him. He kicked his legs as we walked along.

Our vacation was only three days long, but it was a lovely time. We drove over to Destin and spent a few hours fishing from Okaloosa Island Pier, where we saw dolphins and massive sea turtles. One guy caught a two-foot shark! While it would have made for an interesting story, I was relieved that Mr. Handsome didn’t catch one.

We Have a Roller!

April 20, 2019 by 39 Comments

Just after he hit his three-month milestone, our Little Buddy made a very exciting accomplishment. He rolled over from his back to his stomach! He has always enjoyed lying on his back and kicking at the toys hanging from his activity gym. He showed no interest in rolling over, until one day he randomly started trying. He would hoist himself up on his side and then fall back down. After a day of attempting (he is a very persistent little boy, like his daddy) he finally made it happen.

Mr. Handsome wasn’t home when Little Buddy flipped for the first time, but when he returned home, we put him on the carpet on his back so he could show Daddy his new trick. We were cheering him on like he was an Olympic athlete. (Life sure changes when you’re a parent–who would have thought that rolling over would be so exciting?) It took him another day to figure out how to pull his arms up and prop himself up. At one point, he rolled from his front to back, but he has only done that once.

Now, when we put him down, all he wants to do is flip. A few days ago, he rolled several times in a row, but he usually just flips to his stomach and then gets upset and starts crying.

The downside of having a roller on our hands is that I can no longer place him on the couch or in the middle of our bed while I run and grab something. Our living room is hardwood, so I’ll need to purchase a rug or mat of some kind so he has a safe place to play. And it’s time to buy a baby gate for the top of our stairs!

Baby’s 1st Zoo Trip

April 12, 2019 by 40 Comments

Spring has arrived, and the weather has finally warmed up! The three of us took a family trip to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere in honor of my birthday. Of course, Little Buddy’s vision is still developing, so he definitely couldn’t see the animals, but it was still an exciting milestone. Soon after we arrived, he decided that he needed to eat, but thankfully I had thought ahead and brought a bottle so we didn’t have to find a place to nurse. Mr. Handsome carried him and fed him while we walked.

By the time we reached the rhinos, he had finished eating and immediately fallen asleep.

He completely missed the kangaroo exhibit, which is my favorite. It’s pretty much a kangaroo petting zoo. You walk into an enclosure that contains about a dozen kangaroos, and if they walk up to you or are near the path, you are allowed to reach out and pet them. Most of them were sleeping, but we were able to take a picture with one that was awake (see top photo). He was standing beside the path near the exit, almost as if he wanted his picture taken. And lo and behold, everyone stopped on their way out to take advantage of the photo op.

We thoroughly enjoyed our family trip to the zoo. It had been two-and-a-half years since Mr. Handsome and I had been (remember my post from October 2016?) My mother-in-law bought us a one-year membership for my birthday, so we look forward to many more trips. As the year progresses, I am looking forward to watching Little Buddy begin to recognize the animals. Maybe by this time next year he will be naming them!

Bringing Home Baby

March 29, 2019 by 36 Comments

In January, I posted my birth story in a series of three posts. In case you haven’t had a chance to read it, I’ll include the links at the bottom of this post. At the end of part three, I was in a wheelchair on my way to the room where we would be for the remainder of our hospital stay. By that point, Little Buddy was two hours old, and I had been in the hospital for over 24 hours.

I spent the rest of that day (day two of our hospital stay) taking short naps, while Mr. Handsome slept on the couch and Little Buddy slept in his bassinet. From the get-go, our baby had a difficult time nursing. The hospital had wonderful lactation consultants available around the clock, which was a huge help. When Little Buddy was too fussy to breastfeed, they helped me pump and feed him with a plastic syringe. I was shocked to learn that when babies are born, they can only drink a few milliliters of milk, but their stomach capacity grows each day.

My mother-in-law was around for the five days and four nights that we were in the hospital. She spent the nights on my brother-in-law’s couch and the days with us. I was exhausted, but I didn’t really know it because I was on such an adrenaline high. The maternity ward nurses were all so kind and down-to-Earth, and they all wore hot pink scrubs, which made the whole experience of having a baby feel even more “feminine” than it already was….

Our Nursery

March 8, 2019 by 64 Comments

When we moved into our house, one of the bedrooms was already painted blue and gray, which turned out to be perfect when we found out we were expecting a boy. And if our next child is a girl, the colors are still gender-neutral enough that the two kids could share a room for a while. Mr. H Jr will be in our room until about six months of age, but I still wanted to have the nursery ready before he arrived, just to check it off my list.

We don’t have decorations yet. I’m waiting for Mr. Handsome to paint some pictures, either ships or animals, and we might need better lighting at some point, but other than that, the room is ready.

The crib was a gift from Mr. Handsome’s grandparents, and the dresser was mine as a child. The “floating” desk was there when we moved in, and rather than take it out and risk damaging the wall, we decided to use it to store stuffed animals and books. The changing pad is on there for now, but we hardly use it because we have one attached to the Pack ‘n Play that Mr. H Jr sleeps in. It won’t be long before he starts rolling over, and then the changing pad will have to move to the floor for safety.

Little Buddy has been blessed with tons of books (gifts from my showers), stuffed animals (some gifts, some from my childhood), and homemade blankets (gifts). I laid him in his crib (for the second time ever) while I snapped these pictures (see top photo), and he fell right asleep. He must like it! The teddy bear in the crib was given to him by Daddy on Valentine’s Day.

(For those who may be concerned, I never let him sleep unattended with blankets or stuffed animals. The blankets will be removed from the crib when he starts using it, and the teddy bear was only there for the photo op.)

Baby’s 1st Day Out

February 26, 2019 by 46 Comments

Another blog post from Mr. Handsome…

Little Buddy just crossed the six-week mark, so his immune system is strong enough to where we feel comfortable taking him out in public. What better place to begin than church? You know, train up a child in the way he should go sort of thing? What could go wrong?

Well for starters, Ellie and I suffer from a chronic condition that is scientifically known as Interval Arrival Malposition Syndrome.” Basically the interval of time at which we arrive at church tends to be about 10-15 minutes later than the interval of time everyone else arrives at church and starts the service.

Ellie has been asking some questions to try to understand the reason for this arrival malposition, which I think you will all agree are completely unhelpful. For example, a question she may ask is, “Mr. Handsome, why are you just now starting to cook a 4 course breakfast when we need to be leaving for church in 20 minutes?” Or “Mr. Handsome, why didn’t you move the wash that contains all your church clothes to the dryer last night?” Or “Mr. Handsome was it completely necessary to run the car out of gas last night?” I am sure you all see that these questions are completely unrelated and unhelpful for the diagnosis and treatment of Interval Arrival Malposition Syndrome.

I’m sure it will be a shock to you all, but having a child in no way helps cure Interval Arrival Malposition Syndrome, and in fact it can make it quite a bit worse. We’ll just say there were several dirty diapers, spitup on the new bed, lack of sleep from the night before, and a hungry baby to blame. Of course soiling a perfectly good outfit didn’t help matters either, but I suppose young men are known to make a mess. I mean how, can I be blamed for spilling maple syrup all over my shirt when the pancake was really at fault for not absorbing it well enough? Well anyway, long story short, our church starts service at 9:30am, and we arrived promptly at 11:15.

Thankfully, Sunday school starts at 11, so we jumped full throttle into the discussion. When I say we, I mean Little Buddy, who added various burps, belches, and crying sounds to help illustrate the depravity of man without Jesus. After a few minutes, Little Buddy was so moved by the lesson and became so overcome with emotion that I had to take him out into the hallway so he wouldn’t distract others with his crying. Crying soon led to screeching, and I discovered that the cause was in fact a dirty diaper. I thought, ‘Okay, no big deal, Daddy can take care of this,’ and I went into the men’s restroom to find a changing table. …

How to Calm a Crying Baby

February 23, 2019 by 45 Comments

white noise machine cures fussy baby One of our friends, who also has an infant son, is the oldest of 12 children, and her youngest sibling is still a toddler. This friend was visiting her family over the holidays, and her infant started crying inconsolably in the middle of the night. Not wanting to wake up the entire house, she decided to try giving him a bath to calm him down, but as soon as she turned on the water in the tub, the baby instantly stopped crying. Now, whenever their child cries, this couple pulls up a YouTube soundtrack of “rushing water,” and he calms right down.

Mr. H Jr. was a very easy baby for the first couple weeks of his life, but then he became more fussy, so we decided to try the water method. It worked, and we were overjoyed! Rather than waste all my iPhone’s battery life and data, I found a white noise machine on Amazon that has several different sounds, including rain and waves. The brand is Pictek, and it cost under $30. Mr. H Jr prefers the rain sound.

Now I will say that if he is being fussy because his diaper needs changing or he is hungry, the noise machine only buys us a couple minutes of quiet before he starts wailing again, but if he’s crying because he’s tired, it helps calm him and allows him to drift off to sleep. The machine has a 30 and 60-minute timer, so it turns off automatically after the baby is in a deep sleep.

If you’re a parent who has a fussy baby, or if you’re looking for a baby shower gift for a friend or relative, I highly recommend a noise machine. There are a quite a few on the market, but this one has worked well for us. I like that it has a variety of different sounds, rather than just the traditional “white noise” sound. If you’re desperate, you can also try bringing the baby in the bathroom and turning on the bath, shower, or fan. Those methods seem to work for Mr. H Jr, as well.

Introducing Mr. H Jr!

February 6, 2019 by 71 Comments

Nashville Wife baby update Mr. H Jr is already one month old, and we can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. The other day when I realized that the newborn days are officially behind us, I admittedly became a bit emotional. Little Buddy’s cry has already changed from that helpless little yelp that brought tears to my eyes when I saw his face for the first time to a loud wail that makes it sound like the world is ending. He still has his infant startle reflex, something I had never noticed in any other baby I had been around, but it’s not as strong as it was during those first two weeks.

Parenthood has been a big adjustment, and it still doesn’t feel real to hold the baby in my arms that I carried inside for so many months, but we are in love with our little guy. Even on the difficult days, I remind myself to savor every moment. The days are long, but the years are short.

Meet Mr. H Jr in the video blow, and be sure to check out my new Instagram page (@NashvilleWife).