Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Brothers.

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Seven Clown Circus

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Blech!

I was a little nervous to learn that Similac was recalling a mass quantity of formula as I bought some cans to have on hand in case I was out and didn't leave milk for my husband or oldest daughter to feed the baby. I almost didn't want to check, I really didn't want to know but didn't want to not know. After all I had one opened can and three other cans, I could have just thrown them out but the frugal lady in me added up the $ and I couldn't.

So after 90 minutes of trying and continually refreshing the Similac web site I found out that they were all recalled. Including the opened can that my son drank from two weeks ago. The real kicker is I'm nursing and could have pumped a bottle that day, I didn't because I was lazy and well, running late. So because of my laziness my baby ingested beetle bug parts and/or larva. How disgusting! We are supposed to be able to have full confidence in the manufacturers of products, you would think they would be even more proactive for baby products.

Similac stated that the issue was with one of their plants. We don't even know where this "plant" is that had the issue. I read all of the packaging and no where on them does it say where it is produced or packaged. The only thing I could find was the address to the Similac headquarters in Ohio.

How could this happen? I know that there are certain amounts of bugs in everything that we eat, heck we even ingest 8 bugs a year while we sleep, but this is my baby and this is something that was put into their mouth by me/us. They didn't choose to eat it, we fed it to them. I think the FDA needs to use this as an opportunity to step up and put stiffer regulations on baby formula and food in general. And Similac, come on, get it together!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Peek-a-boo!

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Seven Clown Circus

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - You make me smile.







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Seven Clown Circus

Friday, September 10, 2010

Final days.

I finally completed the last of the three speeches for my speech class. I feel good about the results. This is the last class that is needed for graduation, if I pass-which I am positive I will now that I did good on this last speech-I will graduate in FOURTEEN DAYS!

I am beyond excited! I started this process while pregnant with Kira. I had two pregnancies and two NICU babies in the process and still managed to do assignments while caring for them in the NICU. With Kira, since she was in the hospital I actually had Jake sitting in one chair watching movies while I sat and nursed Kira, juggling another laptop and school books to get my assignments in on time (thank you St. E. for providing free Wi-Fi). With Jonas, I had enough sense to keep a week ahead in my classes so I didn't have to do that or play catch up.

It has been a long bumpy road and I am glad that it is nearing the end for now. I still want to pursue my Bachelors degree, but I think I will wait a bit on that. For now I will enjoy my current degree and wear my cap and gown with pride!


New Friend Fridays

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Seven months.

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Seven Clown Circus

Dentist update.

Kira had her appointment with the dentist yesterday. After all of that worrying it was found that her cavities were not as bad as previously expected. The dentist was able to do the fillings without any type of pain medication as they were surface cavities- thank God! The plan was to wrap her up in a papoose and do the fillings as quickly as possible. I talked to Kira about getting snuggly in the blanket to get her teeth fixed and she seemed excited about it, that was until the dentist came in and snapped his glove on. I do not know what it is about her and those gloves, but she is terribly afraid of them. I can't even wear my garden gloves w/o her freaking out.

Anyway, we managed to keep her from escaping the room and wrestled her into the papoose and the dentist started the procedure. It was both nerve wracking and amazing to see how quickly he and the hygienist worked to fix my baby's teeth. During the procedure Kira had managed to free her hands from the straps that secured them to the board and was attempting-with success I might add-to wriggle out of the papoose entirely. I managed to grab her hands so she didn't break free, so what did my little budding Houdini do to try and get the drill out of her mouth? My fiestly little girl attempted to use her tongue to push the drill out of her mouth. I actually wished that I had a free hand to take a picture of it as it was just too comical and so Kira-like!

So her teeth are fixed but the white fillings do not match her teeth color so it is very visible, however, Kira never shows her teeth much when photographed or at all really. So I don't think it will be a problem. I am just glad to have that over and taken care of and hopefully that will be the last 'bad' dental visit we have for a long time!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Fisher Price EZbundle Review

Fisher Price recently introduced the EZ Bundle 4-in-1 Baby System. The bundle includes one seat that interchanges into 4 different seat bases, an infant seat, swing, high chair, and toddler seat. Being a mother of seven children, my living room home looks like a daycare with all of the baby gear scattered about. Seeing the EZ Bundle made me excited to relieve my home of some of that clutter.
Assembly:
I was a bit intimidated by the contents of the box. There was a ton of pieces and although I have put countless amounts of baby gear together, the sheer number of pieces made me think the process would take much longer than it did. After hunting down a screwdriver that my husband hid put away, I got to work. All in all it took about 20 minutes to put all of the bases together. Two things did stump me and held up the process a bit, the first was locating the swing seat base-it was set into the seat already and just had to be detached but it was something that I wasn't expecting nor was in the instructions (I looked when I couldn't find it!). The second was assembling the toddler seat/highchair base. I kept messing up and putting the back into the front and the front into the back. Seriously I am usually not this blond, but every time I twisted it around to put the piece in the right spot I grabbed the wrong part.

Infant Swing:
Once the seat is set into the base and the legs are place it is like any other swing as far as operation. The legs snapped into place smoothly but finding the proper angle to get the legs in place is a bit hard. I at first thought that only one leg fit into one slot but now know that they will go into any with the right angle. Below are the swing features:

• 6-speeds for variety
• 3-point restraint
• Comfy stain-resistant seat pad
• Approx. 0-6 Months, Maximum weight: 25 lbs.
• Use Swing from birth until child becomes active and attempts to climb out of the product.

High Chair:
Perfect height for use, seems to be very sturdy. I was expecting it to be wobbly but that was NOT the case.

• 5-point restraint
• Comfy stain-resistant seat pad
• Approx. 6-24 Months, Maximum weight: 50 lbs.
• Use High Chair only with a child who has enough upper body control to sit up unassisted.

Newborn Seat
The recline was perfect for a younger baby or a sleeping baby. As you can see, Jonas was very comfortable in the reclined position.
• Great for feeding or napping!
• 3-point restraint
• Comfy stain-resistant seat pad
• Approx. 0-6 Months, Maximum weight: 25 lbs.
• Use Infant seat from birth until child is able to sit up unassisted.

Toddler seat
This is perfect for play the seat can be used with or without the tray and in a pinch can be used as a highchair from the floor.
• Holds toddlers up to 50 lbs.!
• Comfy stain-resistant seat pad
• Approx. 18 Months & up, Maximum weight: 50 lbs.
• Use Toddler seat only with a child capable of getting into and out of the product unassisted.


Recommendations: This would be perfect for anyone who does not want their home over ran by baby gear or who does not have the space for an infant seat, swing, highchair and toddler seat.

Things I would change: I would send more than one set of legs with it, yes it is easy to switch but I am seeing how that can be a hindrance on the product. If the baby is screaming wanting to eat or swing, you do not want to try and switch the legs as you have to
set the baby down to do this. I would also add a handle to allow parents to easily switch bases without having to take the baby out of the seat. I would also have the tray attach to the interchangeable seat rather than the toddler seat/highchair base. I would have loved to use the tray with the swing but there was no way to attach it. Another item to mention is, Jonas kept reaching out and grabbing the swing arms when in the swing. I was afraid that he would hurt himself by getting his arm between the swing arm and swing legs. I would have to say the swing was for younger babies and not for a child that can sit up and reach out to grab the arms. Lastly I would like to see a belt added to the toddler seat so that it can be attached to a chair and used as a highchair w/o the base.

*Thank you Fisher Price and MomSelect for giving me the Fisher Price EZ Bundle 4-in-1 baby system to review.