The owners of Icecreamists in Covent Garden (London) have come up with a new flavor. The new ice cream is Madagascar Vanilla and lemon zest all served up in a martini glass with a side of breast milk in a baby bottle along with liquid nitrogen and a syringe. The idea is that you add the “breast milk cocktail” to the ice cream and it solidifies with the liquid nitrogen to create the dessert they’re calling “Baby Gaga”. (more…)
Archive for February, 2011
Baby Gaga
February 26, 2011Babysitting Swap – the update
February 19, 2011He came, he saw he conquered.
It started out looking like it wasn’t going to be good. They didn’t want him over until after the baby had gone to sleep, which to us meant if the baby woke up he would be a tad freaked out by this stranger greeting him in the middle of the night. They have NEVER left the baby with a babysitter. The baby tends to wake up around 11pm to be put to sleep in their bed…AND they had opened a bottle of wine for Brent, and said, “Drink up”. Oh, and they have no TV – which for us isn’t a huge deal, we don’t have cable (just four channels), but we do watch movies a lot. However, it is one more reason that we’re getting the raw end of the deal. Brent probably welcomed this, I imagine – a chance to catch up on emails, peruse the internet, and maybe even read a book, assuming of course he got the chance.
Normally, a bottle of wine would have been a VERY nice jester, but in our house if one of is drinking, certainly the other one is not. We don’t ever let babysitters drink even a sip of alcohol, and those rules would apply to any swapping that might go on as well. Anyhow, they left around 8:30pm to a bar around the corner, and they were back two hours later. Not a peep from the baby, and the bottle of wine was still where they left it in its’ original state. They were disappointed by this, and Brent nicely explained how we feel about drinking with a baby.
All and all, it was good experiment, but I’ll be honest it doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable about them coming over here. I suppose eventually you have to trust people, and just take a chance. We know they are good people, or at least so far they are, so we’ll see. I’ll let you know when it’s our turn to have them over here.
Sleep Part IV: Months 12 – 18 (today! Happy birthday August)
February 16, 2011It’s pouring down rain here, and even hailing I think, and August is sleeping through it all. It’s wonderful really, and I swear every day I’m in awe that he does sleep through this stuff – I mean, I don’t, so I find it amazing when each night comes and he doesn’t wake up. I think the reason I’m still able to appreciate it all and be grateful is for two reasons: 1) I know how many there are of you out there, still waking up every night with your child, and if you wish this weren’t the case, then I feel for you – I really do (by the way, if you’re happy with the way your child is sleeping, then that’s great, seriously, I mean it, I just can’t take not sleeping - I really do LOVE sleep too much to give it up) 2)because everything else around sleep and August is completely unpredictable. Well, not completely – that’s an exaggeration. Here’s what we NEVER know…how long August will sleep for during nap time (45 minutes – 2 hours) and what time he will wake up in the morning (5:45am-7:15am). He keeps us on our toes. (more…)
Babysitting swap
February 16, 2011Anyone tried this before – your friends have a baby/toddler approximately the same age as yours, so you decide to make a swap – you’ll babysit their baby if they’ll babysit yours? Sounds good, free babysitter, and a guilt free night out. We haven’t tried this yet, but Brent’s been pushing for it. I really do like the idea, but it makes me nervous. I’m assuming that no two set of parents are the same, no baby is the same, and therefore the experiences would seem to be vastly different. Let me give you an example…. (more…)
Sleep Part III: Months 6-12
February 15, 2011We were flying high! I was back to work full-time (yuck!), Brent was at home taking care of August every day, AND we were all sleeping through the night! We couldn’t believe it, how good are we? We’re geniuses, seriously, we must be the best parents ever – our baby was sleeping through the night, in the hallway closet no less, as of 6 months old. It was fantastic…until new sleep related problems arose.
Starting somewhere around 9 months, August started getting really upset when we would lay him down to sleep at 7pm every night. It would take him sometimes up to an hour to fall asleep – once he did, he stayed asleep, but it was terrible having to listen to him struggle so every night. Then that struggle moved on to nap time – it would take him awhile to fall asleep at nap time as well. We didn’t understand it, for three months we had had no problems putting him to sleep or staying asleep. (more…)
Sleep! Part II: Months 4-6
February 12, 2011The Sleep Doula had told us that whenever we are trying something new related to sleep, always start with the morning nap, then transition that to night time, then lastly afternoon nap. Apparently, babies are most susceptible to accepting change related to sleep at the morning nap. Brent and I had decided that we were going to do what I’ll call “Ferber Light”. I had read ALL about the Ferber method, and it sounded absolutely horrible to me. How can you just let your child sit there and cry, while you’re in the other room, doing what? Reading a magazine? Watching TV, what? It seemed impossible. But we were about to do just that – the difference was I was sitting in the other room, “leaking” (that’s what happens when you breastfeed and you feel for your baby – you leak milk). (more…)
Sleep! Part 1: Months 1 – 4
February 11, 2011I admit I’ve been avoiding this topic a little. It’s a tough one, and fairly controversal as to the best practice for getting your child to sleep. I can’t avoid it anymore, it’s a rich and VERY important topic for every parent’s sanity. What I describe below is merely our experience, everyone has their own, every child is different, and we all have the right to approach parenting in our own way without judgement. If there is one thing I’ve learned through this process, it’s that no one should tell any other parent how to raise their child – it’s hard, and we all have earned the right to figure it out on our own. (more…)
Road Trip – the dénouement
February 11, 2011Let me start by saying, it really wasn’t that bad! The best part is that August’s talking has REALLY taken off. Here is our beginning list of words he can say as of Tuesday in no particular order(I swear he’s learning like 3-5 words a day now, so it’s gotten impossible to keep up with): (more…)
Road Trip – part one
February 4, 2011For those of you who don’t know me, I should begin by telling you that I live in San Francisco, and my husband and I sold our only car 4 years ago (maybe more at this point), and we’ve been using Zipcar ever since. When August, our almost 18 month old son, was six weeks old, Brent (my husband) and I went on a road trip down to LA to visit some friends and family and to introduce them to August. The trip from San Francisco to LA is about 6-8 hours depending on route and traffic. We decided we would spend the night half way, and then continue on from there. It was a nice trip, and I don’t really remember any road blocks (pardon the pun), so it must have been fairly successful.
Now, it’s 16 months later and we’re only just now taking our second road trip. With August being quite a bit older, we have no idea what to expect. This time we’re not stopping overnight; we’re going to go straight through to LA and take pit stops as needed. Here’s my strategy…we’re going to pack the below list for the car and on top of these distractions Brent and I will trade-off entertaining him in the back seat in between naps (please god, let there be one nap at least). I should also add that we’re not allowing August to watch any TV or DVDs until at least two years old – so that won’t be one of our tactics. Feel free to add your suggestions!
For the Car
1. Books
2. Breakfast, lunch and snacks
3. Water and milk
4. Music – specifically Lyle Lovett “If I had a Boat” – when all else fails this usually calms him down
Tune in to find out how it actually goes – both the way down and the way back….
