How to entertain baby from new born to 6 months

So for some mom's cuddling and cooing with your newborn baby might be entertaining, but what's entertaining for your baby? if you read the books and online article's they all say It's important to stimulate babies, to prevent an unhappy,fussy baby but the question is how do you do this?There are lots of places and groups to join which are great, I'm all for them don't get me wrong. I love taking my little one to them, but they do burn a hole in the budget and like myself I'm sure most families out there are. So here's what i did to keep myself sane and my little one busy....and oh is she a busy busy bee : )

I focus most of my time spent with my little one with regards to development games. I would only do one or two other wise she gets to grumpy as they wear her out. So just remember in the beginning to focus on not over stimulating your little one. 

·        Toys you can just let her play with 

     Newborn :  I did lots of  tummy and back time on my baby gym that i bought, how ever i also sewed on so that i could alternate them to prevent her from getting board. And made a playlist of music that went from stimulating busy songs to classical.                                                                                            

      2 - 6 months old : 

                               * Still did gym time twice a day    

                               * Tracking - a took a pencil and tired different colour ribbon on it  which while baby 

                                                    lying , sitting you move slowly so that at eye level so that they follow it.

                               *  Dangling toys - so that they reach to grab them. I used a bouncer chair that i got 

                                                         it had a bar to hang things on and baby could rock herself  

      As soon as they can sit propped up :

 

*  Slinky

*  Blocks: stack them and let your little on push them over

*  Tablet - Fisher price game and nonster app

*  Wooden spoon and hair rollers

Put rollers on the stick and show her how to remove them. Than let her try. Then show them how to put it on, let them try 

      * Ribbon container

Show her how to pull ribbon. Try to let her pull the ribbon in different directions

     * Scarf in tin

Show her how to pull scarf out. Try to let her do it

*   Peek a boo teddy

Take the teddy and show her it and then hide the teddy under a scarf. And ask her to find it. 

*  Let them crawl after a tin 

Have fun and get creative : ) Not all toys have to cost a lot.

    

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The memory keeper

Do you keep your babies memories and milestones ?  I do and let me tell you why i do and give some tips on what to keep.

The end game is all about keeping what you want and love so you can enjoy those items now and in the future. And share memories with your kids when they are older.

So today I want to chat about the items and memories recorded that you are saving for your kids. There are many many ways to preserver your kid's memories from online documents , to time capsules to photo books to memory box the ideas are endless. However try to keep in mind where are all these memories going to go ? 

I recently read an article  which had a good point , does your kid really want 18 boxes of childhood memories when they are an adult?  And suggested using three rules when saving kids memories :   What do they want ? , what do you want and when do they want it ? Of course you are going to save things let’s just figure out what, for whom and how. (Yip this is a hard one for most of us including me as i love the keep sake stuff)

So these are my solutions to help you and myself not clutter up our storage and later our kid's storage with memories, without feeling guilty that they just might wont that one. 

First off i'll tackle :

1. memory/ scrap book files or folders : This is one of my favorites as  i love going down memory lane with my own kid hood folders.  So yip i'm guilty i keep two folders i have a memory keepsake book that i purchased that i update with memories as well as i'm creating a "My family book " for my kid. The thought behind it is to create a file/book of memories from new born till she leaves school. I've kept it simple and pretty user friendly. For My first year of your memory file/book click here.  The idea behind this is to keep memorable but only the first. The rest you can scan or store online this way not cluttering your storage or passing on items that are not wanted later on in life. One could either do it through a blog or keepy    or canvsly. (Depending on what your need are to which one you'll want to use.)

2. Photo books - Family year book and or kids art work : I love the idea of photo books for a year book however they can get quite costly, but it is a great way to save and share memories. Special since we all take photo's with digital cameras or cellphones these days , which most get uploaded to as pc and left. To make a photo book is easy now days as most photo book companies have an online free software which you can design your book. Some of the companies that i've used and have been happy with are - Blurpix , studio22 and rapidstudio. I personaly feel that adding your kids art into the family year book is great and decrease the amount of books you have. However some parent prefer to create an kids art work book which is also a nice keepsake. 

Ps: if your anything like me , i have a hard drive to save my photo's and clips on as i take stacks - in the first year i arranged them by month and there after by year.

3. Journal : When my journey  of motherhood started, i must say i thought this was a great idea and is, if you have the time to write daily or weekly. But as i found out my life was far to busy for this and my journal started off strong for the first two days and then it fell flat and next i new it it was months on non entries. I do however keep a journal for special memories and moments that i like to record. I call it my memory journal which i've added to the end of each of "My family book/file" ,as mentioned above. I've add it as a heading under my chapters. Click here for my basic journal pages

4. Make blanket or teddy from kids old cloths : I love both these ideas. They both have there advantages. The teddy only takes a few item anything from one - ten so it easier to part or cut up, however the blanket could be an on going memory in which you could add photo's printed on material to. I personally like the blanket concept which i haven't started yet, only because i feel guilty cutting up and wasting good cloths. So i'll leave them in my sewing to do box a little longer . 

5. Memory box : Another great idea, but with this one you have to be careful as you can get carried away. Just the other day my folks gave me some of my favorite toys that were in good condition for my little one to play with. It was a great trip down memory lane and even a great feeling have my little one super chuffed to play with the items. 

Other general ideas i found along my way :

•  Imprint a damaged teddy before throwing it away , by applying a light coat of paint to the front of your kid’s teddy and pressing it against craft paper.
• Turn your kids drawing into a key ring or soft toy 
•  Shadow frame - box frame that you put some of the baby's items in and hang on the wall.

Oh and then remember what you do with the one kid you should do for the rest. Happy memory keeping : )

Be safe and prepared .... Mommy first aid kits

I have a very bad ,some say good obsession with first aid kits. It the first thing that I pack no matter were we go, and now with baby it the first two things I pack... Yip O.C.D about first aid kits.

First aid kit for babies are very different from a normal first aid kit so I thought I'd share what I have in my first aid kit. It started small as new born's are allowed to use very little and as we bumped our head and stumbled along its grown. There are a few kids first aid kit on the market however they don't seem to be freely available.

• One would have any prescription medication if your child is allergic to bee stings, peanuts, or shellfish or has some other type of life threatening allergy or medication they need.

New born baby kit:

• Thermometer for infants and kids
• Tweezers to help remove splinters or stings
• Scissors
• Infants and kids ibuprofen
• Topical calamine lotion for insect bites and stings
• Rubbing alcohol swabs to clean thermometers, tweezers, and scissors
• Petroleum jelly to use as lubricate or for cracked lips 
• Saline nose drops to clear stuffy noses
• Child safe sunscreen
• Child safe insect repellent
• Nasal aspirator bulb
• Cotton wool
• Medicine syringe ,spoon or dummy
• asthma inhaler 
• Baby earbuds 
• Safety pins
• Plasters 
• Rehi drat satchers 
• Colic drops
• Brown surgar for constipation
• Decongestant inhalation drops for pillows
• Teething powder or gels
• Smecta 
• Empanel suppositories
• Tissues
• Mozi spray
• Microwave bean bag for cramps or gas
• Nasal spray 
• Rescue drops
• Grip water
• Vapor rub for kids
• Zinc based nappy cream
• Cough mixture

Toddlers to kids :

•  Antibiotic ointment for cuts and scrapes
• Aloe gel for burns
• An assortment of adhesive bandage strips in various size and shapes
• Arnica gel for kids 
• Moisturizing nasal gel
• Gauze pads
• Adhesive tape 
• Non latex gloves

There might be some extra bits and bobs that are missing but I'm sure I'll find out along my journey. 

Along with my first aid kit I have a summary of what certain medications are for so that if I have granny ,Aunty or anyone look after my little treasure they know what to use for what. For my brief summary outline click here. I also have a baby manual that travels with my little treasure and have a medical / first aid section in it for this click here. 

Safe keeping and hope this helps. 

New mom ... Oh my so many gimmicks!

Being a mom in today's age is quite a challenge when you shopping around to see what's on the market, specially if your a gadget freak like me.

So here's my thoughts on what I thought was a must and would get in a heart bet..I haven't listed them in order.

* Maternity pillow- not only was it the best thing I got when pregnant but I used it till my little on was sitting. ( I used it as a barrier pillow to stop her from rolling off things as well as I used it as a cushion for her to lie on and a seat support for the being stages of sitting)

* Nursing pillow - is a life saver if you have had a c-section, not only does it help support baby but helps put less strain on you c section wound. As well as you can use it to help baby enjoy tummy time more thus helping to build baby muscles and strengh. I also used it to help baby sit slightly up.

* Baby gym - great tool to make tummy time easier and more enjoyable for baby as well as entertains them while they can't do much.

* Nappy bin - is a great asset to a babies room as one can toss thous smelly nappies straight way and just do a clean out every week to every few days with little to no smell.

* Baby monitor - yes it's an expensive gimmick but it's worth it not only do you have peace of mind by knowing you can hear you baby if they need you but it stops you from sneaking in every 5min to see if they are okay. Please the benefit of taking it to friends house when visiting them.

* Baby bouncers - is great for keeping baby in a sitting position and rocking then to sleep as well as kept my little on entertained for hours as it has swing money's that she would spend hours swing and trying to grab.

* Bottle warmer - is a great thing to have as those early morning wake up calls I could think of nothing worse than a cry baby and your half asleep try to heat a bottle.. When you can just get up mix formula or just pop the already warmed expressed milk into babies mouth.

Oh yes my microwave steriallizer , even though they aren't most pedi's favorite they do help when you are running out of bottles and your having one of those days. They are also great for when you go away.

There are many more items that help but these are the ones I found most useful for me.

And so it beings

After months of procastanation and a year in the world of mother hood I have finally decided to take the plunge and start my blog.

Getting your groove in motherhood is not as easy and simple as most think. It's not all about the cuteness ,cuddles and baby giggles. Most expect moms are aware that there world is going to change and that we are in for a fair amount of work, however there's nothing that quite can prepare you for what is to come.

Between the new work load and routines it can get quite daunting, and most moms don't talk about the things that shack up your world. I'm not sure if it's because we are scared of what people will think of us or if society makes us feel like we shouldn't share it.

Well as I said I'm a year into motherhood and have forgotten most of the daunting things that have happened , (yip it's true you do forget the scary and remember more of the giggles and cuteness) even though yes I'm one of those lucky moms that has had a fairly easy going little one.

My main focus on my "mommy blog" is to share my thoughts and experiences on keeping little ones busy ,as well as things that I found usefull.

The best advice I received when becoming a mom was "to listen to everyone's advices and just take what I think is right". This is a very true statement as every kid and parents differ. So happy reading and hopefully I can shead some insight into motherhhood and to at lest help one or two mommies along the way.