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Baby Handsome

Strawberry Picking with Little Buddy

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It’s strawberry season in Middle Tennessee! We went picking this week and were overjoyed to find dozens of rows of beautifully large berries. We missed last year but ended up purchasing a flat from an Amish farm, so this was Little Buddy’s first experience. It was quite entertaining for us, and he absolutely loved it. He went through several “phases” during the two hours that we spent at the farm.

Phase 1: Calmly playing with the plants while Mommy and Daddy pick strawberries.

Phase 2: Realizes he can pull strawberries off the plants. Enjoys throwing them on the ground.

Phase 3. Discovers how fun it is to squish the strawberries between his fingers. Squishing the berries takes all his might and causes his little body to shake from the energy exertion. Has a big smile on his face.

Phase 4: Discovers that strawberries are edible, and boy is he happy!

Phase 5: Begins trying to eat all the strawberries in sight, including the rotten ones on the ground and the green ones. Don’t worry, Little Buddy did not successfully consume any rotten strawberries.

Phase 6: Does not understand the concept of removing the stem before shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Mommy repeatedly pulls strawberries out of his mouth to break them into smaller pieces and remove the stems. Still consuming green berries and seeming to enjoy them, although he is beginning to slow slight preference to the red berries.

Phase 7: This is when the sugar high kicks in. Looks around and realizes that there are endless acres of sugary berries. Starts consuming at a very rapid rate. 

Phase 8: Extraction from the berry field by Daddy. The two of them play in a nearby field while Mommy finishes picking.

In total, Little Buddy only consumed 10-15 small berries and had an absolute blast. We paid the farmer for the green berries that he pulled off the plants, so no need to worry about that. We picked 30 pounds, so it was certainly a successful trip. Time to make jelly!

Little Buddy Turns 1 Year Old

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Little Buddy is officially one year old! It’s incredible to look back at pictures from a year ago and think about how much he has changed. Just before Christmas, he took his first unassisted step, and he proceeded to pick up walking very quickly. He now toddles around with ease, falling only when he tries to perform crazy stunts, like drinking from his bottle while on the move. 

He enjoys finding little tasks to do around the house. His favorites include removing all the shoes from the shoe rack and pulling every article out of the laundry basket, one by one, while sitting in the basket. His favorite sound is ba-ba, and he will say ma-ma, too. Da-da it’s harder for him, but we’re working on it. 

Wake-up time is around 6:00am, although on rare occasion he will sleep until closer to 7. When that happens, it feels like I’m on vacation!

He’s very much a people person, and while he will play on his own a little bit, he prefers to be on my hip doing everything I do. He’s not a cuddle bug, though. Even when he was sick with the stomach flu, he didn’t really want to sit still. He likes to be held, and then he will rock his body back-and-forth, which means that he wants you to walk around and show him interesting things. 

We didn’t go all out for Little Buddy’s first birthday party (I guess you can call me a lazy mom), but I did make him a sugar-free cupcake, sweetened with applesauce and banana, with applesauce frosting. He loved it!

3 Strollers? Our Thoughts on Baby Items

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Listening to my husband explain the use of each of our three strollers makes me so proud. It took him several months to experience situations where each one is necessary, but now he understands why I need all three.

In all seriousness though, I tend to be more of a minimalist, and I have actually gone without some baby items that might be considered necessities. (For example, we never purchased an ExerSaucer (although I am seriously considering buying one for the next child…just don’t tell Mr. Handsome). Before I buy something, I always make sure to ask myself if I need it. And if the answer is yes, I ask myself if I really need it. Then I consider the price and whether we have a place to store it. I rarely purchase something for Little Buddy that is more than $30, and more often than not, the price is under $5.

Hear our thoughts on baby items in the video below, and then feel free to respond in the comments section.

A Formal Complaint from Lena

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cave tour

This post was written by Mr. Handsome’s youngest sister, Lena.

I would like to file an official complaint about inconsiderate people with children. I recently went on a tour of a cave, and there was a couple with a
young child who completely ruined the experience for me.

The first sign that things would be a problem happened when they were in line to buy tickets. Their son looked to be about one year old and was the squirmiest little thing I had ever seen. He kept flailing about
and going crazy and wanting to be put down and then picked back up…over and over.

“Now be a good boy in the cave, Little Buddy” the mom told her son, as if he could understand. Something told me that Little Buddy had no intention of being a good little boy. And who calls their son Little Buddy, anyway?

The kid started warming up his vocal chords before we even made it inside the cave. He quickly realized that the enclosed space really amplified the volume and added a nice echo. Little Buddy promptly began an audio display of his entire vocabulary, which consisted of various howls and screeches. I was actually quite impressed with the piercing high notes he could hit.

The tour guide asked the couple if they wanted to turn around and leave the cave. The wife, who was apparently named Ellie, told the guide that Little Buddy was just working out some energy and would be fine once we got a bit further into the cave.

Not surprisingly, that didn’t happen. The child saved up his energy until we were in the deepest bowels of the cave–about thirty minutes into the tour–to really show us the power of his vocal tubes. At the climax of the tour, the guide had the bright idea (no pun intended) of turning off the lights to show us true and complete darkness.

As soon as the lights went out, the little guy started screaming at the top of his lungs. His mom quickly turned on her phone light to console him, which completely ruined the effect and did absolutely nothing–Little Buddy continued howling for the next fifteen minutes, long after the lights
had been restored.

I was elated when two security personnel finally escorted the young couple and their son out of the cave. We all cheered as they were hauled away and left the rest of the tour in peace. As they were leaving, the wife leaned over to her husband and said, “Mr. Handsome, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to take Little Buddy on a tour of a cave.” Who calls their husband Mr. Handsome, anyway?

Mr. Handsome smirked and replied, “Well at least we should get a good blog post out of the experience.”

I later learned that this troublesome couple was removed from the premises and not given a refund for their tickets. Thank goodness–that is exactly what inconsiderate people with misbehaved children deserve. I am certainly glad I have never met or have no relation to Mr. Handsome, Ellie, and Little Buddy.

Baby’s 1st Plane Ride

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We just returned home from New York City. Little Buddy did great. As expected, the plane ride was the most difficult part–the poor thing was restless and wanted to crawl. Thankfully, each flight was less than two hours, although on the way home, we sat on the runway for an hour before it was our turn to take off. That was rough.

When we disembarked in the Big Apple, I told Mr. Handsome that although Little Buddy was squirmy, it could have a whole lot worse–Little Buddy didn’t scream, which was a huge blessing.

On both flights, we had our own row of three seats, which was wonderful. We flew Southwest, an airline with no assigned seats, and were able to board after the frequent flyers but before the majority of the passengers. The flights weren’t quite full, and no one sat down next to us. I’m pretty sure they would have rather had any other seat on the plane than the window seat next to us. They probably would have rather sat in the bathroom than next to a young couple with a squirmy baby. And we were completely fine to have everyone avoid us. The extra room made the flight much more enjoyable for us and Little Buddy.

On the way home, we tried to get him to sleep but were unsuccessful, even though he was very tired.

When we were about to land, I put him in the baby carrier to keep him safe in the event of a crash landing. And you know what? The minute we hit the ground, he was out. Everyone around us laughed when they saw him, his head cocked to the side and fast asleep.

Do you have any funny travel stories to share?

8.5 Months and Very Active

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Little Buddy is 8-and-a-half months old, and life with him is very busy. He loves to be active and move around, but he’s also very inquisitive and enjoys playing with his toys and other things that he finds around the house. Sometimes things like boxes and cabinet handles provide more excitement than baby toys, though.

For the past few months, he’s been mobile but has only been doing the army crawl. Just this week he has started trying to crawling on his knees. It’s fun to watch him master new skills.  He is becoming more and more stable on his feet when he pulls up on things. Unfortunately, he has also learned how to climb onto the hearth, so my project this week has been to find a screen to keep him out of the fireplace.

As far as food goes, Little Buddy still has no teeth, so we do mostly baby food, in addition to breast milk. For protein, I’ve started giving him tiny pieces of cheese or mixing moist scrambled eggs into baby purée. To help him learn how to chew, I give him gluten-free veggie baby puffs. He still loves avocado, and I’ve started feeding him small amounts of plain yogurt. 

I haven’t yet allowed Little Buddy to feed himself finger food because I think that would be confusing to him, to give him small pieces of food on his highchair and tell them to eat them but to tell him not to put choking hazards in his mouth that he finds on the floor. So to avoid that confusion, for now I just feed him everything with a spoon or my clean hands. He has good fine motor skills, so he’s not missing out on any development. 

We really can’t believe that the one-year mark is coming up in just over three months. Parenthood is challenging–I think it’s one of the greatest challenges a person can face in life. It requires so much mental and physical energy. But it’s also incredibly rewarding. Watching Little Buddy’s baby milestones has been incredible. I can’t even begin imagine what it will be like to watch him learn to read, write, and ride a bike. 

Our Little Stair Climber

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Our Little Buddy is almost eight months old, and we are getting so much joy out of watching him reach new milestones. It’s funny because he much prefers playing with toys on his stomach over playing in a seated position, and although he can get up on his hands and knees and even all fours, he prefers to army crawl. (He can move very quickly!)

Little Buddy still has a peculiar fascination with electrical cords, which we don’t allow him to touch, of course. But when we plug one in for even just a second, he can spy it from across the room and makes a beeline. Recently, our little mover has started grabbing onto chairs and other objects and using them to pull himself up to his knees and even into a standing position. And when he does, he’s so proud of himself! The challenge that comes along with that is that he is by no means stable yet, so we have to watch him very closely.

His most recent accomplishment was climbing an entire staircase, which he did yesterday for the first time. I had my hand on his back because he isn’t stable enough to do it by himself, but he did all the climbing. I was stunned.

On another note, his fussiness is slowly improving–emphasis on the slowly. We think he used to fuss because he wanted to be on the move and hadn’t learned to crawl. Now. we think he fusses because he wants to walk but can’t without assistance. Oh how difficult it is to be a baby! We were laughing last weekend because we had some friends in town and had four adults and three children staying with us. Our son was the youngest and the only one not walking, but he sure pulled his own weight.

If one of the kids was playing with a toy that he wanted, he would crawl right up to them or rush over in his walker, pull the toy out of their hand, and then be on his merry way. It was really hard not to laugh because I had never seen such a young baby do that, but we tried to hide our chuckles. And although he doesn’t have any concept of sharing at such a young age, we would gently return the toy to the other child and find something else for Little Buddy to play with. And sometimes that prompted quite the dramatic response from Little Buddy! It sure is rough to learn that you can’t always have your way, but it’s an essential life skill.

We have been doing a ton of baby proofing, and I plan to write an extensive post with photos because there are very few baby proofing guides out there. I’m signing off now, as it is 9:30pm, and I need a few minutes of relaxation before bed. Hope you enjoyed the update.

Share Your Baby-Proofing Tips

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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

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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 …

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Baby’s 1st Beach Trip

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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.