My natural retro baby

I have a jail broken iPhone.  I wish I could explain what that means, but I’m not really sure myself.  All I know is that every few months when it’s time to update, the phone freaks out and I have to borrow one until it recovers.

After a brief four week hiatus, my iPhone is back in business and I’m able to take Polaroid style photos with the Hipstamatic app.  Here are a few:

The beauty of working at home is that you don't have to wear a shirt at your desk.

Looks photoshopped but hasn't even been touched. Crazy!

Iggy and his Aunty Amos

Iggy wears sepia well, albeit it a bit shaky.

Iggy seems to be developing more and more into a little boy each day.  His personality is really starting to show and sometimes it’s hard to believe he’s only seven months old!

Meet my sous chef, Iggy.

Yes, I know it's a camping chair but it's the perfect size for Iggy.

Look out James Cameron, Iggy Frost and his camping/Directors chair are coming for you…..

Like a fish to water

Iggy loves the water.  Whether it’s in the bath, having a dip in his little pool or swimming lessons, he’s impossible to keep dry.

Bath time signals the end of the day and since Iggy can’t sit up by himself, it’s usually easier for one of us to have a bath with him.  A typical nighttime bath goes a little something like this:

I think if you asked him, he would say that Fran is his favorite bathtime buddy.

Wet and ready for a scrub:

He doesn't have that much hair, so it's not hard to wet it!

Soaping up with the foam hair and body wash:

The lavender and chamomile combo is meant to make him sleepy, but sometimes I think it has the opposite effect.

Lather, rinse and repeat:

Time to rinse the hair.

Time for splashing and water toys.  We never thought we’d be “those people” that have foam letters and numbers in our bathtub, but we are.  Sigh.

Most of the letters end up in his mouth.

One last rinse before it’s time to get out.

I can hear a sleepsack calling my name.....

Iggy is usually smoked and ready for a long snooze after his bath .  After we dry him off and slip him into his sleepsack he’s usually out for the night, unless he senses something exciting is happening that he wants to be part of and squeals for us to come and get him.  At almost 7 months, he already has us wrapped around his (chunky) little finger!

Will you be having the chicken or the fish, sir?

We are well into our food journey with Iggy, and so far there have been some real hits and some real misses.  Popular menu items are:

• Only Organic Mango Banana Bliss
• Only Organic Purely Pear
• Only Organic Mixed Berry Bliss
• Only Organic Apple Custard

Food that gets sent back, spat up or rejected altogether includes:

• Only Organic Pasta Bolognese
• Only Organic Butternut Pumpkin Risotto
• Only Organic Country Chicken and Vegetables

Hmmmm, I’m sensing our son already has a bit of a sweet tooth.

Do I want a nectarine? If it's sweet, I'm all about it...

Bit of a weird texture.

But worthy of consumption nonetheless.

In other news, Fran took co-sleeping to a new level this morning:

Who would have thought a 6 foot something guy could fit in a crib?

Wait a minute.... Isn't this my bed?

Iggy was stoked to share his bed with Dad, but I’m sure you can imagine the howling and screaming session that ensued after he left!

My natural water boy

Iggy is a natural when it comes to the water.  He loves bath time, and now that we have a mini pool for him in the backyard, we try to get him in there any chance we can.

Here are some shots from his first dip.

Lola honed in on her target and was about to ponce, before I stepped in and chased her away with the hose.

Iggy's all lubed up, nuded up and ready for a dip.

Easing him in sloooowwwllllyyyy.

She's back again, looking to snatch a water toy and run.

Once he became acclimated to the chilly water, everything went straight into his mouth.

The rubber duckie (thanks Christy!) is no match for those buddha baby belly rolls.

Iggy, why so so serious?

Mama gets in on the tail end of the swim and helps.

Of course Tug had to get in on the action.

Better late than never, I suppose.

Iggy’s starting swim classes next week.  He loves swimming in the nude but is going to have to don his swim dipe if he wants to hang with the big boys, or as they call them in his class, the ducklings.

A safe haven for parents

Having not had my baby while I was in the US, I was never exposed to the world of Parents Rooms while visiting the mall.  Now that I’m a new Mama, I’m a frequent visitor to the uncrowded sanctuary of the Parents Room and fully take advantage of the facilities.  I was forced to breastfeed a 5 week old Iggy on a toilet seat at an event months ago, so the Parents Room is a safe haven and place where I can relax and collect my scattered thoughts before tackling the wild world of the mall with my cumbersome stroller and (sometimes) scratchy baby.

These photos are from my fav Parents Room.  It’s HUGE!!

Changing tables line the whole right side of the wall.

The bigger kids can play in this area, and even watch DVD's on the fancy TV!

Fran getting his Iggy change on.

It’s at times like these that we’re stoked to be using cloth diapers, since the trash cans in the Parents Rooms can get pretty ripe and it’s best to steer clear of them.

Each Parents Room has a toilet for both Parents and their child:

Push the button on the left and the door slides open. Fancy!

Here are the facilities:

I'd never seen a kids toilet before visiting the Parents Room. It's on the left and a mini version of a full size one.

Each Parents Room has at least two nursing areas with big breastfeeding chairs and a curtain for privacy:

Huge chair, right?

We don't even make a dent in the chair!

After a change and feed, Iggy is ready to keep shopping:

Never shake a baby, unless you are a baby.

This is another good Parents Room:

This one is bigger than the last and has conference type rooms in it.

In no time at all, Iggy is good to go:

Over it.

Now that Christmas madness is over I haven’t been frequenting the malls as much, but you know when I do, I’ll be hitting up the Parents Room for some chill time before venturing to the food court for some sushi and a huge coffee!  Iggy in tow, of course.

Iggy’s Down Under Christmas

This was Iggy’s first Christmas so we didn’t go overboard with the presents, figuring that he would be more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual gift.  We were right:

Straight into the mouth.

Still going....

Dad has to help translate what the gift is to little Igg.

Helping out with Mom's pressie.

Not only does the box go in his mouth....

But so does the shoe.

No box is too big for this mouth.

The only things going into our mouths on Christmas morning were Mimosas and french toast:

What's Christmas without an early morning champagne?

If only we had maple syrup for these bad boys!

Next year will be a different story.  Our little man will be walking around and talking, so until then I’m OK with boxes, shoes and wrapping paper in his mouth.

Santa’s early visit

Up until a week ago, I had always assumed that Santa’s preferred mode of transport was in a sleigh behind his fleet of reindeer.  That was, until he made an appearance at to our family Christmas behind the wheels of an ATV.

Iggy's asleep in the barn behind Fran. Unfortunately for him, he slept through the whole visit.

A short victory lap while provoking Malice the dog

Again with his sidekick, Malice

Since when did Santa wear gumboots?

Since Iggy was asleep in the barn, I was summoned to collect a present on his behalf:

Do I really have to sit on Dad's, I mean Santa's knee?

OK, let's make this fast. This is Iggy's pressie?

And it's a.....

stuffed dog (about the same size as Iggy).

Passing on thanks from Iggy.

And then Santa rode his ATV off into the sunset, back to the North Pole until this time next year.  Hopefully on his next visit he won’t drink and drive, censor himself and not drop the F bomb in front of the children.

Adventures in Cloth Diapering – Part 3

After being given a Birth to Potty pack before Iggy was born, we knew we had to give cloth diapering a try.  Since his birth five months ago, Fran and I have become cloth diapering pros and try to push it onto anyone who’ll listen!

Thinking back to before Iggy was born, it would have been helpful for us to have had a step by step photo guide to reference, so I figured I’d slap something together something to show how cloth diapering works. Our brand of choice is Real Nappies and we’re stoked that they’ve finally come to the US, having traveled all the way from the fair shores of New Zealand.  Theirs is a prefold system using a 100% cotton diaper, a PUL cover and a biodegradable liner.

Step 1 – Take one baby and one diaper

Baby model may differ from the one advertised

Step 2 - Fold the bottom of the diaper to about 1/3 of the way up

Boys need a fold with more absorbency in the front.

Step 3 - Fold the right side of the diaper to the middle

It doesn't have to be exact.

Step 4 – Fold the left side of the diaper and tuck into the flap formed from right side

Make sure you tuck into the fold, otherwise it'll come undone

Here’s what the fold should look like:

If yours doesn't look like this, start your foldin' again

Now, get your cover ready

The second vital ingredient to this cloth diaper recipe

Step 5 - Put the diaper in the cover

Fits like a glove

Grab your liner (the third main ingredient)

It slices, it dices, it captures your baby's poop for easy flushing, tossing or composting

Step 6 - Put the liner on top of the cover

This liner is a KEY part to the cloth diaper equation

Here’s the up close and personal view:

Thank God this thing is doing all the hard work for you!

Step 7 - Place bubs on top of the diaper

Step 8 - Fold the velcro tabs to the middle of the diaper

We're almost there

And before you know it, your baby and his fluffy butt will have rolled over and be crawling away from you….

Wait, where are you going?

But don’t worry, he’ll be back before you know it, with a hungry belly and a full diaper

Change me, feed me

Observations from the Mama of a teething 5 month old.

It’s official, Iggy has started teething.  Six weeks ago we were sure his pearly whites had started their descent from the gum line, but it was either a false alarm or they decided to scamper back to the safety of their home and plan a better orchestrated attack.  Well they’re back, ruthless and taking no prisoners.

The first sign was the drooling:

Simultaneous drooling while sleeping. He must get that from my side of the family.

Then he started poking his tongue out his mouth 90% of the time he was awake:

The red cheeks are a dead giveaway that bubs is teething.

Same tongue, different day

Then came the thumb sucking:

Little does he know his Mom sucked her thumb until she was at least 8 years old.

So we decided to give him a rusk to chew on:

Almost......

And....Touchdown!

For those of you not fluent in babyspeak, a rusk is defined as:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Apparently this teething thing can last until bubs is 3 years old, so we’ve got a LONG way to go.  Until then, it looks as though we better arm ourselves with an arsenal of rusks, paracetamol, chew toys, drool bibs and ear plugs.

Has it really only been 5 months?

Over a period of a few short months, Iggy has gone from a conceptual being to a real life little boy coexisting in our house.  It seems like only yesterday I was about to burst:

Woah Mama, that's a big load!!

Then before I knew it, it was GO time:

Surprisingly, the epidural didn't hurt at all. The shot of pethadine must have numbed my senses.

And after 30 long hours, little Iggy was here:

The fruit of my long labor!

Before we knew it, two days in after birth care had flown by and we were heading home with the new addition:

Now what do we do?

We now have this little guy to wake up to each morning:

Iggy at (about) 10 days old

Crazy how in the space of five months, a baby can go from this:

Sleeping most of the day away.

To being actively awake, alert and engaged:

Concentrating hard.

He can now sit by himself:

Look, no hands!

Grab and hold things:

Don't even think about touching my caterpillar, lady.

And even eat real food:

Face full'o'fruit

If Iggy has made such huge progress in the short space of five months, what do the next five hold for us?