The Swaddle Junkie

Since approximately 8 weeks of age, we have been swaddling Eamon based on the DUDU swaddle technique. This technique was created by the author of The Happiest Baby On The Block, pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp. It is a terrific book on infant parenting and I am not a huge fan of parenting books. I have always contended that a parent should do what is most appropriate for his or her child, regardless of what any book says. (I must add here that my two daughters never really fit the bill for any parenting book I have encountered.)

The Happiest Baby On The Block was written for Eamon. He is a by-the-book kind of baby. He does what the book says he will do if you follow the set instructions. Well, a friend gave me this book and we have followed the instructions set forth by Dr. Karp. We have swaddled that baby tightly, for every nap, as well as overnight for months. The problem is that he is now five months old and the blanket that I use to swaddle him is a bit small. Additionally, I am starting to worry that if I continue to find larger blankets to accommodate this growing baby that he will never be able to sleep unless bundled up like a burrito. I think Eamon may have to locate a roommate for college that is willing to wrap him up in his bed sheets nightly. Here is the little darling all swaddled and ready for his nap.

Outlets

This blog has provided me with an outlet for many things. The first outlet is an opportunity to talk at length about my children; a favorite pastime of all parents. Additionally, I get to show the little darlings off shamelessly. Also a favorite activity of parents who all truly believe that theirs are the most beautiful children on earth. They all are, to all of us. Of course, a good camera helps. Thanks to a little thing called "error 99" and Best Buy, I am now the proud owner of a brand new camera.

Jason and I bought an SLR last spring. We actually bought the floor model for a great price and were able to throw a zoom lens in for the price of the non-floor model. The good news is that that SLR took fabulous pictures. The great news is that the floor model consistently failed to get along with the 35mm lens that it came with and..voila! I got a brand new camera. I liked the old one, it was nice. The new one rocks my world. Here are some pics from my new baby.

Jeff Foxworthy-ish

Ok, the intention of this blog is to bridge the communication gap between our family and the family and friends who may (or may not) care about life in the DeWitt circus. I have come to realize that blogs can often take on a life of their own, often becoming an opportunity for people to rant about things. I do not want to use this blog in that way. However in my daily life, I often find myself observing people and then analyzing their behavior ( I am a student of human behavior, after all-I have 2 degrees to prove it). People just crack me up. Especially when I can see their behavior and identify with it based on my own life experience. Maybe it's a way of laughing at myself while getting a kick out of others. So here is my Jeff Foxworthy-ish tribute to first time parents:

You Know You're a First Time Parent When:

1. You dress your baby in "sleep sacks" because blankets are so dangerous.
2. Babies R Us has manipulated you into thinking that you need so much baby gear that you can no longer get through your house.
3. You have a wipes warmer. Enough said.
4. You take your Boppy to breastfeed outside the home.
5. The nursery is done ahead of due date, complete with matching bedding.
6. You have not let the baby "cry it out."
7. You sanitize everything, all the time.
8. Your child is perfectly coiffed and dressed and has matching shoes on the correct feet.
9. You plan to shield your precious child from the evils of television.
10. You take pictures of everything and plan to archive every moment in a scrapbook for posterity's sake.

Bless your hearts, first time parents. You are so sweet and caring. You take such superior care of your children. I know this because I was once in your shoes. I now have 3 children and I am lucky if I can get their hair brushed and put clean clothes on them before we leave the house, if we leave the house.

Sawyer Continues to Dominate

Sawyer continues to dominate potty training. She dominates potty training like she dominates ornery behavior. That is really saying something. We are very proud of her and relieved that we will soon have only one child in diapers. I must say a few things about potty training however, and I believe that anyone who has been through it will understand and feel my pain.

1. Why is it that Sawyer must pee so frequently? While in diapers she must have been releasing a steady stream of urine constantly. She has honestly peed 20 times today and we still have 4 hours until bedtime. The only other population that can compare to this level of frequency would be pregnant women. In Sawyer's defense, urine does come out each time.
2. Why is it that peeing/pooping in a bathroom outside of the home is so much more attractive? I think Sawyer likes to leave the house solely because she can christen foreign potties and collect their germs to bring back to our house. Oh yeah, she also gets pretty excited about washing her hands in public restrooms; apparently playing in the bubbles she creates at the Dr.'s office is a real gas (get it?). Yuck.
3. Why does Madeline deserve a potty treat when Sawyer pees? Madeline is Sawyer's biggest cheerleader when it comes to potty training. As soon as Sawyer is successful, Madeline starts begging for a reward. Seriously, I have no idea why I perpetuate this behavior. It has started to seem normal to get 2 treats from the pantry after Sawyer pees. I think Madeline tastes sugar in her mouth the minute she hears Sawyer's pee hit the talking potty, much in the way Pavlov's dogs salivate to the sound of a bell.
4. Why is it that right before Sawyer decided she would be house broken did I buy the biggest box of diapers that money could buy?

Nonetheless, Sawyer continues to astound us with her potty training prowess. It's about time Sawyer did something the easy way.

What is happening to me, Mommy?

There is nothing more pitiful than a sick baby. Honestly, looking at Eamon just breaks my heart. As if it's not bad enough that infants can't do one thing for themselves, then they go and get sick. This is really the first time Eamon has been sick. It is foreign material for him. He has no idea how to react. His cough sounds like a damn seal barking and his cries are just pathetic attempts at communication. Poor, poor baby boy (I mean Eamon; see previous post). His little body cannot handle this cold. Every feature on his face is oozing some kind of nastiness. His little eyes are full of tears and eye boogers and are ringed with redness. His nose is running; drool is pouring from his mouth. This is not to forget the things his body is doing in other places but, I digress. The kid is just pitiful. However, as sick as the kid is, he has not missed a meal. He cannot breath out of his nose but is apparently willing to risk death to continue his love of a good meal. I took him (and his two sisters; a total nightmare) to the pediatrician and Eamon will be taking some steroids to speed up his recovery to the bouncing bald belly baby boy he once was. Godspeed sweetie baby.

Madeline the great

Today, I had a rant that ended in my disposing of all junk food from our house. My kids are hooked on junk food and would hold out on eating until they can somehow find a way to score something sweet. We have a lot of drama in this house becuase of junk food; crying, fits, tantrums, arguments. Sawyer cannot handle sugar and despite research in various studies that has debunked the relationship between sugar and hyperactivity....researcher: you have not met my child. She does not do well on sugar. Of couse, I take full responsibility for having allowed the crap in my home and into the bodies of my children. Well, I am done. I have purged my pantry and we are making junk food very much a "sometimes" thing. Recently, it has not been so. It is now a new chapter in the DeWitt home. The kids will eat when they get hungry. I don't like crappy food and often pass on it. Why would I allow my children to eat the stuff? Well, because it appeases them. Again....done.

As I tossed the last of the M&M's along with random Christmas and Halloween candy, Madeline headed to the refrigerator and started doing her own junk hunt. She brought me left over icing (3 containers...ouch) among other things. She deemed them junk and threw them in the garbage( as I cringed, they were recyclable but I didn't want to ruin the moment). She then opened the pantry to check my work. I was very thorough. When I served her her lunch of bagel with cream cheese and cut up apples, she stated, " I know that cinnamon sugar is junk, and I don't want to rot my teeth." That's my girl. After lunch, she headed back to the refrigerator, this time to check her health and nutrition chart (school project). That again, is my girl. Hopefully she will continue to be my partner as I battle the junk food war in this house. It will not be an easy battle to win.

Sawyer: The Potty Master

Sawyer is trying our patience in various ways. She has not eaten meal in more than a week. She gets out of her bed 10 (literally 10) times before she finally stays put and goes to sleep at bedtime. She cries, yells, screams and wants to eat junk food at every turn. She is just so terrible two. We are challenged by our little angel and look forward to a brighter tomorrow. The fact is, Sawyer is able to save herself from being returned to the hospital from which she came in a few ways:

1. She's cute. She looks cute and has an adorable voice. For example, on the verge of going to the toddler exchange (imaginary place where you can trade your kid in for a more manageable model) she asks to be picked up. She then kisses me on the cheek and says, "you're so cute!" Saved.


2. She can entertain herself. Sawyer loves figurines and loves to act out various scenarios that always include babies, mommies and daddies who all love and kiss eachother and call eachother cute. So sweet. Saved.


3. She is the potty master. Bow down all you 2-year olds in the throes of potty training, your guru has arrived. Girlfriend rocks it out. She now (10 days into potty training) takes it upon herself to use the toilet. She then lets us know of her success. She has not once peed on the floor or in her panties and frequently lets us know, unsolicited that she will not pee in her panties. Saved, saved, saved.

I just love her.

An Eamon by any other name....still as sweet.

Poor Eamon. He has no idea what his name is. The Baby Whisperer (popular parenting book) says that babies deserve our respect and that we should not refer to them as "baby" but by their given names. Jason and I love our son's name. We love that it is unique and strong. We love that it fits him so well. We are proud of his name. I have held onto that name since I was 14 years old, the time I first heard it . The problem is, we never, ever call our son Eamon. I call him "baby boy." Jason calls him "Jimmy" and sometimes even "Jimmy John." His bald head has lead us to call him various other things including: Joe the Plumber (political reference), baldy balderson and bald baby boy. He can now roll over. Therefore, I feel the need to call him bouncing baby belly boy. Ridiculous. Why can we just not call him Eamon? Honestly, when asked last week what her baby brother's name was, Sawyer could not produce an answer other than "baby boy." Later in the week she pointed at "baby boy" and called him "baby Sammy." Sam is my friend Katy's son.

Dear Eamon,

Mommy promises to start calling you by your name. You are developing a personality and an identity and I believe it is my responsibility to help you in that endeavor. I promise to stop making you a generic prototype of a baby and call you by your beautiful, thoughtfully chosen name. It is just so hard because the fact is, you are just mama's big 5 month old baby boy. Goodness I just love ya.

Mommy.

Pee pee on the potty!

When Madeline was potty training, we made up a little ditty to sing to her during and after her visits to the potty. The lyrics went something like this:

Pee pee on the potty

Wearin' big girl panties

Poo poo on the potty

I'm a big girl now!

The tune was not anything recognizable or even good. Nonetheless, she responded positively, learned the words herself, and another classic DeWitt kid song was born. As Sawyer potty trains, the song has resurfaced and we are singing it again. It is so damn annoying. I annoy myself when I sing it. I cannot carry a tune to save my life. However, if it makes that kid pee and poo on the potty so that I no longer have to change her nasty diapers, so be it. I will sing the damn song at the top of my lungs and play an instrument if need be. Whatever it takes..I will do it.

Having 2 children in diapers sucks. They always poop immediately after I take out the garbage. Diapers are expensive and they smell. Diapers leak and they ruin clothes. If you toss even a peed-in diaper in your bathroom garbage and leave it for an hour, the whole damn cabinet stinks. Gross. The whole fallacy that breastfed babies' diapers are not stinky is total crap. They stink too. Jason thinks Eamon's diapers smell like hot-buttered-popcorn. I couldn't agree more except that I need to add that they smell like rotten hot-buttered-popcorn. Yuck. Not to mention that they are bright goldish yellow and stain the poor kid's bottom. Disgusting.

Nonetheless, Sawyer has pottied, multiple times each day, on the potty for 6 days straight. Holy moly does she respond to bribery. She should wear a sign that says, "will work for junk food." Thank you, Sawyer. You are mommy's current hero.

Sawyer saves the weekend

This was a rough weekend. Jason and I stayed up late with friends on Friday night and we were just never able to fully recover. That is, until Sawyer single-handedly saved the DeWitt weekend from the brink of disaster at 7pm on Sunday night.

It happend like this: Katie is cleaning up messes in every room in the house while Jason tries to bathe the girls. Sawyer begins screaming that she needs a diaper while in the bath because she has to pee. Jason refuses to give Sawyer a diaper and attempts to wrestle her onto the singing potty. (Meanwhile, other DeWitt children are acting crazy) Sawyer decides to follow mommy around (once she frees herself from Daddy) repeating (we know that Sawyer is in a class by herself when it comes to repeating) "I need diaper, I need diaper" while mommy vacuums and yells at other family members. Finally, mommy remembers that she is taking a new approach with Sawyer, and that ignoring her only escalates the situation and does what any mother would do. I ran downstairs to grab an unopened bag of mini-marshmallows to bribe my 2-year old into peeing on the potty.

I literally laid a trail of mini-marshmallows to the potty and Sawyer fell for it; hook, line and sinker. She sat and ate marshmallows while the bathroom water ran and, SHE PEED! She has not peed on the potty in more than four months. If you know us well enough, you will also know that Sawyer became a big sister four months ago and has regressed in many areas. She has since peed on the potty for three additional days. We are rejoicing. Super Sawyer-to the weekend rescue!

Note: the accompanying pic is from last June, when Sawyer was a regular on the singing potty.

Sawyer Does Not Dig The Snow Day

Poor Sawyer. She never gets to do anything. She usually goes through 2 pairs of pajamas in a day: daytime jammies and nighttime jammies. We are trying so hard to keep Sawyer from becoming the consumate middle child. It is difficult. She doesn't get attention, like her older sister, for going to school and being a smartie. She doesn't get attention, like her baby brother, for being cute and sweet. She generally gets attention for doing naughty things like poking Eamon in the eye or pulling Madeline's hair. We try to shower her with praise for every little positive thing she does. We try to get her up and moving. I tried, on our exciting snow day to get her dressed in her warm clothes and to get her outside in the snow. She kinda liked it for about 10 minutes. She then began to repeat, (and Sawyer can repeat things like nobody's business) "I'm done, Mommy." At least she got a bit of fresh air and was able to play with Ainsley for few minutes (see pic.). Maybe next year she will more fully appreciate the fleeting wonder of the snow day....

Snow Day!!

Last week, we had a snow day. I love snow days. I do not go to school however, I was up at the crack of dawn (well, before that) watching NBC in hopes that my daughter would have a snow day. I just feel like I'm getting away with something, even when my kid doesn't have to go to school. It hit me all at once that I am the adult when my daughter decided that she wanted to head to a friend's house in the neighborhood rather than hang out with me and "get away with stuff." Of course, 14 kids from our little neighborhood headed over to the Davis' and if I were a kid, I would rather go there than hang around with my mom while she quiets screaming kids. She did not, in any way ruin my snow day by ditching me for sleds and hot chocolate down the street. It still felt good, getting her dressed "like a tick about to pop (Christmas Story reference)" to the point where she, like Randy (again, Christmas Story) could not put her arms down. I lived vicariously through her and it was wonderful. Hooray for snow days! Now let's hurry up and get to spring.