Poo Monster strikes

**WARNING: Explicit details about feces in this post**

Last week when I was on the phone with my cousin Susan, she shrieked and had to hang up. Her 17 month old son Jacob had pulled off his diaper in the crib and there was poop everywhere! I was not envious!! I figured that wasn't all too surprising for a baby Jacob's age. I never thought it would happen to me, let alone a week later...

Lo and behold, today was the day. I've been going to bed much later than I should (if I wanted to be well-rested), so this morning I didn't want to get up when Brent got up. I had already fed Asher at 5 am and we both went back to sleep, me in my bed, he in his crib. I don't know how long Asher was awake, but he started crying when he heard Brent in the shower. I couldn't bring myself to go to him, so he cried for a good 10 minutes or so. I thought to myself that he needs a diaper change, expecting it to be quite wet from overnight, but I was waiting for Brent to assume that duty (haha, doodie). Brent gets out of the shower and when he goes into Asher's room, I hear an exclamation that alarmed me. I yelled across the house, What's wrong?! Well, you get the idea, he pulled a Jacob.

We didn't know what to do at first, Brent holding him by the armpits, Asher wearing nothing but a t-shirt and crying. I tried to wipe off his leg, but the poo was already dried to his skin, even in his toes! So my brilliant mind came up with this: Let's put him in the shower! I also got in the shower with him, still wearing my t-shirt and underwear, and washed him with soap... bottom to top, heh heh. (We obviously removed Asher's t-shirt.) He was fine after that, and I was left to clean up the crib. Luckily, we use the ultimate crib sheet (I highly recommend!), so I just had to pull that off, along with his blanket and his Bashful Lamb "lovey" (that's what Babycenter.com always calls kids' favorite stuffed animals) that Alicia had given him. After picking up any chunks and flushing the main mass wrapped in the diaper liner, all went into the washing machine. I am happy to report all items came clean, and Bashful Lamb is looking better than ever.

Big Changes

Next week I go back to school. I found a daycare for Asher, a nice Irish woman who's been running a home daycare for over 20 years. Today was his first day where I left him, for a half-day. I took the opportunity to do something for myself--I got a mani-pedi :)

Asher has been growing in leaps and bounds. He can get around like a pro, and he's "cruising"-- walking around the coffee table or along the couch while holding on. It won't be long before he's doing it hands-free, I'm sure! He's eating well, more variety of foods, and getting the hang of feeding himself finger foods (and he's not overly messy, which is a big plus). And just today, when we got back from daycare, I saw and felt that his first TOP tooth is cutting through! YAY! I've been able to see those top central teeth just under the gums for weeks already. I'm still breastfeeding, but I'm trying to get him to accept formula for the times he won't be with me. I'm still going to pump when I'm away from him, but I don't know if my output will be sufficient, hence the supplement. I did some research and decided on an organic formula called Baby's Only. It doesn't have the DHA & ARA added, but it does contain sufficient amounts of the precursor fatty acids that the body uses to produce DHA & ARA. Plus, Asher is still being breastfed, so I don't think it matters as much as for babies on formula alone. He's not a big fan of the formula, I haven't tasted it (although I DID taste some Nestle Good Start premixed liquid, and it was awful!!), but the smell is definitely different from the smell of breast milk, which doesn't have much smell at all. This will all be an adventure over the next couple of months!

This summer, Asher took a swim class at the BU FitRec gym. I will (one day) post pictures, I swear!! I haven't even touched the camera in weeks :( Next month, Asher will be in a Baby Gym class, so that should be FUN!

What else... I don't know, but I may not have much time to update as my semester gets into gear, so please don't bug me about posting ;)

Cloth Diaper Give-away!!

I found this Bum Genius give-away through Elita's Blog (Thanks, Elita!) These are the exact diapers we use and love!! We already have enough, but it can't hurt to have more or perhaps gift them around town to some of my friends, you know, to get them hooked on cloth. Make sure you enter by August 6!

How to Make a Fruit Fly Trap

Do you ever get annoying fruit flies in your house? I thought I would share this easy way to trap those pesky buggers. My friend Bonni taught me how to make this back when she worked with drosophila in a biology research lab.

Materials:

• sheet of paper
• scissors
• tape
• glass (or some sort of cylindrical container)
• pieces of bread
• red wine (I bet grape juice would work too)

Construction:

1. make a paper funnel by cutting a slit in the paper and shaping it into a cone. Tape the cone together and cut the tip off to make a SMALL hole.
2. put small pieces of bread into the bottom of the glass and pour some red wine in there. Just a little to let the bread soak it up, but don't drown the bread.
3. set the paper funnel into the mouth of the glass. It may help to tape the paper to the rim of the glass to make a seal.

The idea is that the flies will be attracted to the wine and bread, they'll find their way to it through the hole in the funnel, but then they won't know to get out back through that hole. They will try to get out at the top of the glass, so the seal is important. Hope this helps someone, I know it has helped me numerous times!

Red White and Blue

July 4th was a fun evening. First we went to Vanessa's party, where Asher was a hit, of course. Here he is trying on Vanessa's hat:



Then we went to the roof of Brent's office building to watch the Boston fireworks show. Asher didn't know what was going on at first, but then he got the idea. He was very tired though.







The next day, we visited our friends Bill & Cara, who are expecting a baby boy in November. I don't know Cara very well (this was the second time meeting her), but she is super nice and easy to talk to, so I felt very comfortable sharing my birth story with her. I realized how incredibly crazy my stories sound when told all at once! Meanwhile, Asher had his first taste of watermelon



Asher chewed a little of it but then next thing I knew, the bits of melon were on his chin. He doesn't quite have the hang of chewing solids yet, so we are still mostly on puree. Today he did have his first Cheerios! He did a decent job of getting them to his mouth and he will chew/suck on them until they disintegrate in his mouth. They will be good to have in restaurants when Mommy and Daddy want to eat their own food!

uh-oh, here he comes!

Asher crawled for real!! He's been rocking back and forth on his hands and knees for weeks, but now he's really done it. The rug in his room helps, because he doesn't manage so well on the hard wood, especially if we have him on a blanket on the wood, which just slides around. But check him out in all his glory:

another matching outfit

Daddy & Asher in matching outfits, how cute!