Fun Activities for Los Angeles Babies

It was a busy week, hence the Saturday post!  Owen kept busy with fun play dates and activities everyday.  Here are some fun things we did - and that you can do too with your little ones if you're in LA!

• Tuesday we spent the afternoon at LACMA, taking in a bit of art and a bit of blanket time in the park with new baby friend, Adelaide.

• Wednesday we headed to Toddler Storytime at the West Hollywood Library.  I read to tots last weekend for BookPALS and loved the space so much I knew I had to bring Owen back to check it out (he missed when I read last Saturday because of nap time).  It's a popular storytime! O loved looking at all the fellow small people and especially enjoyed when they sang Wheels on the Bus.

There is also a little play area in the children's books section, so he made friends there as well...but mostly chewed on the blocks.

• Thursday morning we headed to the Farmer's Market to look around...and maybe eat a donut.  Highly recommend a Bob's Donut if you haven't tried one yet!

And then it was time for our usual Thursday afternoon at Mommy and Me Yoga.  He did really great playing on his own and/or actually letting me hold him in some poses, which means I got in an actual workout.  Usually he's such a wiggle monster and doesn't want to be held or snuggled...he wants to be on the move!  And then instead of getting my yoga on, I get my cardio on chasing him around the room. 

After class was over he made his way to our teacher to say thank you.

Also after class, we stuck around to have lunch with our fellow yoga buddies, Jes & Parson and Heather & Andi.  Can I just say how grateful and refreshed I felt after that lunch?  We talked about life postpartum - the challenges and the rewards - and I left feeling a little less alone.  It can get isolating spending day in and day out with a little guy who can't talk to me yet.  And all the changes that have and are taking place can sometimes get overwhelming.  Thank goodness for mommy friends, especially those with babies the same age because we're all experiencing very similar things...and haven't had the blessing of time to forget about it all yet!

• And then Friday the same motley crew headed to the Magic Forest for the first time.  It is such a cute space in Culver City where there are "open play" areas with wooden toys (which harbor less bacteria), a little play house and coffee & treats for the adults.  We'll definitely be back!

There is so much to do with the babes around town that we've barely even begun to check it all out. Speaking of, pumpkin patches are starting to open up at farms just outside of LA and we can't wait to check those out soon!  Pumpkins and petting zoos and wagon rides, oh my!

Los Angeles Mamas:  What else should we partake in??

This day is why our family exists...

Today, nine years ago, I was working at an Outback Steakhouse in New York City.  It was a Saturday night, I was bartending and this hot guy walked in.  I told my fellow bartender, "I got this."  After he ordered his Chicken-on-the-Barbie and iced tea, he told me he was new to town, had only been here for two weeks and asked for suggestions on what to do.  I made him a list of things to check out, he said I should go with him and I added my number to the list.  Eight and a half years later, this little guy made us parents.

I am so glad I was working on that sleepy Saturday night and that the new-guy-in-town had a craving for some Outback!  Love my husband, love our baby, love our life.  

Thanks for indulging my super sappy moment, readers.  Suddenly I really want a blooming onion.

It's Friday Already!

This week has flown by.  Just us?  Or did it feel quick to you too?

Here's a few thoughts as we wrap up the week!

Car Seats

• Owen is growing like a weed.  He's off the charts in height for his age (28 3/4" at 6 months) and I swear he's 29" now (he'll be 7 months on Monday).  His infant car seat is safe up to a 30" height and it's clear that he's almost outgrown it.   It's hard to believe he used to be this little in it:

Now his head reaches near the top of the seat, which makes me nervous.  Even though he technically has another inch to go, I think it's time to get a new seat - sooner than later.  But what kind??  I'm at a total loss of where to go from here.  Fortunately, Lucie's List just sent out an email about starting solids (more on that in a minute) and I was like, I bet she has some sort of guide!  And she does.  So I'm starting there with her guide to the Top 5 Best Convertible Car Seats.  Any suggestions from you moms-in-the-know??  Would love to hear them!!

Solids

• We started solids a few weeks ago and so far Owen is taking to them well!  We're sticking with vegetables for now.  He started with green beans and has now tried carrots, squash and peas.  He loves the carrots.  I had grandiose plans of making his food for him but...those fell apart.  I don't have the right equipment (like a food processor or a Magic Bullet) and when I tried to use the blender on some carrots it was a bit of a wah-wah moment.  Let's just say, he gagged on the food I made him.  So I went over to Whole Foods, got some jars of Earth's Best and while I feel twinges of guilt for not pureeing his food myself, he LOVES the store bought stuff.  And it's so easy.  And organic.  And better than anything I can make.

Holidays

• Halloween!  I'm about to order Owen's costume and I'm kind of obsessed with the holiday outfits that are out right now.  I already ordered some themed PJs with a skeleton and Superman on them and I think I might go bankrupt just by looking at all the cute Thanksgiving and Christmas onesies and outfits that are out.  It's his first holiday season so I'm allowed to get a little excited, right?  This doesn't get any less exciting though, does it? (shakes fist at sky)

Reading

• Super excited to be reading as a BookPAL tomorrow at our local library!  I hear it's usually mostly toddlers that attend so if you're in the area and have a little one, there will be two of us volunteers reading from 11-12 at the Weho Library.  Come play!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Review: Pop Beauty Lip Stain

Whaaaa is this?  A beauty product review on a mommy blog?  This seems...out of place.

Not to me though!  Now that I'm a mom, everything seems to relate back to Owen, including my makeup choices.  I used to do product reviews all the time when I wrote for a beauty blog a few years back so this feels like slipping back into a pair of jeans that fit again.  Ok. Maybe not that good.  But fun nonetheless. Onward!

I've been on the hunt for a lip stain because a.) I love to smother Owen with kisses and b.) I feel a tired face can look a little less so with the right lip color.  And I'm tired a lot lately.  Therefore, I needed to find a stain that wouldn't be too drying like I've experienced with other stains and one that would stay put, like a stain should, and not leave a trail of kiss marks all over my son's face.

So when I went to Ulta last week to restock on my Bare Minerals products, I asked the very helpful sales rep if she had a stain she could recommend.  She made a beeline to Pop Beauty Lip Stain, before I could even list my requirements.  Once I started listing, she still wasn't swayed.  I said, "I don't want it to be too drying."  She said, "This contains no alcohol, like other stains do." And I said, "I want the color to be like I just ate a cherry popsicle."  She handed me Poppy Kiss.  And I said, "Sold."

This is me at 7AM, Noon, and 7PM:

The lighting is a little different because of the time of day but I found that the lip color really held up! After the picture at noon was taken, I reapplied.  I put a little vaseline over the color throughout the day to freshen it up and keep my lips moist.  And twelve hours later, my lips still had some color to them. Not like a freshly applied color but a slight tint that may make you think that my lips are just naturally flush (and if you think that then fooled ya!).

I've been using the stain for a week now and haven't seen any adverse drying affects.  Other stains I've used have made my lips flake and crack after extended use.  The sales lady at Ulta told me that Pop Beauty's products are vegan but I didn't see that advertised on their site and that seems like something they would tout.  Either way, I think I've found a winner.

Kisses!  (from my stained, natural looking lips)

First VLOG!

Recorded a quick vlog this morning...first of many?  We'll see!  I'll need to keep better notes of what I want to talk about.  For example, wanted to say to my fellow Breaking Bad watchers: OHMYGOODNESSGRACIOUSLASTNIGHTSEPISODEWASCRAZY. I feel like I need therapy to process it all.  Also, this Monday is a little quieter than last week's so while it sounds like we are only doing one, fun thing all day there will also be plenty of chores (like laundry & cleaning) done around the house.  Very glamourous.  Also, speaking of glamourous, wanted to mention that my friend Krishna's cousin won Miss America last night! And my other friend Chelsey was there helping produce the show.  And a web series I auditioned for (and know the producers) of won an Emmy.  In fact, I knew several people at the Creative Arts Emmys yesterday.  I, however, spent my afternoon cleaning the patio for the first time since Owen was born.

And now, the vlog!

Friday Reflections: Weekly Round-Up

I feel like I need to keep a notebook on my person at all times. The problem is, when I have the urge to write, I'm usually walking...which isn't necessarily conducive to jotting things down. (Also, yes, notebook.  I'm an old-school-pencil-to-paper kind of gal.)

***

Owen and I have been going on daily morning walks.  They give him a change of scenery and they give me a chance to meander in my thoughts.  I write posts in my head on these walks. And then an entire week goes by and I haven't posted. Even though I've been writing in my head. And my "back-to-school" mentality of being more dedicated to this blog has already hit a snag. Wah-wah.

My view on our walks.

This week was a little busier than normal.  It started on Sunday when I got to participate in a read-through of an original play written by my friend Lynn.  She's been working on it, off and on, for three years now and I've been with her from the beginning - doing read-throughs, giving feedback, and loving being a part of her process.  And it's finally ready to go into production!  She's looking to put it up in November and I'll definitely keep you posted as it gets on it's feet.  It's a beautiful, emotional, uplifting piece about celebrating our todays.  Here's a behind the scenes look at Sunday's read-through:

Photo credit: Lynn Downey Braswell

Then Monday came and I had a commercial audition.  Tuesday morning came and Dan left for a business trip. Tuesday afternoon came and we went to mommy and me yoga and then had lunch with an old friend.

Baby on the loose.

Tuesday night came and I had a casting workshop to attend with the casting director of one of my favorite sitcoms (shout out to my friend John who babysat Owen while I went to that). Wednesday came and I had a callback from the audition I had on Monday (shout out to my friend Reid for watching Owen while I did that.  I have some pretty great friends). Speaking of, then I had lunch plans with Lynn for her birthday.

Birthday girl/Playwright

Thursday came and it was baby yoga time again, this time with a few other mommy friends, then my sister came over to hang out, then Dan's flight got delayed SIX HOURS and he didn't get back until the middle of the night and now it's Friday morning. And I most definitely won't finish writing this post until the afternoon and hopefully will get to publish it before the evening*.

And that was the week!  With Dan out of town, I thought I would use the evenings by myself to write and maybe even do a little painting...but instead I was exhausted.  The days were full, Owen is a handful crawling around and pulling up on everything without having any concept of falling, so I'm constantly spotting him, and when he went to bed I'd finally get to shower and then just...SIT.  That is all I wanted to do.  Sit and veg out and go to bed early. 

Forget writing.  Forget being creative. Resting is all I wanted to do.  That's the balance I'm struggling to find these days.  Taking time to refuel is something I'd like to do but hasn't been my priority.  And I think that's probably a mistake.  But I'll get there...right?  I guess that's the perpetual struggle we face, whether we are moms or not.  Finding that balance between the to-dos and the want-tos.

(*And now it's evening.  And the house is quiet.  And I still need to shower.  But I'm posting this first.  So take that, to-dos.  Personal hygiene can wait just a minute!)

Six Months Old: Products We Love

A few essentials that are getting us through the half year mark...

PLAY

Owen is one busy little guy.  A few short weeks ago he was leapfrogging his way along and then, all of a sudden, he turned six months old and decided to crawl. And he is into everything.  We're in the process of baby proofing and rearranging and hiding dangerous objects from him but until that all gets done, my main job during the day is employing the mighty power of redirection.  We've been going through a massive heat wave in LA this past week and my usual strategy of, "Let's go for a walk!" or "Let's go play in the yard!" is being replaced by "Let's stay inside in the air-conditioning so we don't die of heat stroke!"  So here are a few toys we're loving and using all the livelong day:

• Building Blocks

We tried his wooden letter blocks first but they must be delicious because he chewed them so hard that the paint started to come off.  That seemed like a bad thing so we switched over to these Tower of Babble Stacking Blocks from Land of Nod.  There are ten of them, all sides are brightly illustrated and they stack inside of each other.  Owen loves them because they are light and he can push them around the floor, giving himself a great game of chase and because they are hollow.  He'll sit and bang them on the ground, listening to the noise they make, for extended amounts of time and I love it.  Yes, he tries to chew on these too but not for long. They're more fun to chase.

• Walker

Have I mentioned that he likes to move? Well, he also likes to stand.  And this walker from Babies R Us, when on the rug, doesn't move.  It's just a great little play center for him when I need a break from chasing him.  He also likes scooting around in it on the wood floor.  He's gotten a little too tall and grabby to let him scoot for too long though.  He likes to grab anything within reach and a lot more is within reach when he's in this.  Like his stroller.  And the TV.  No bueno.  So 'free scoot' time is limited.  What is bueno though is that he figured out how to pull himself up to standing when the walker was sitting on the rug.  He was laying next to it on his belly the other day and all of a sudden he was standing.  Of course, he doesn't understand the concept of falling and will completely free fall backwards if I don't spot him, so there's that.  But it's fun watching him learn to stand!

• Bumpy Ball

Got this ball from the toy section in Target with the intention of it helping Owen learn how to sit.  My friend suggested it because her daughter would sit with it between her legs, it helped stabilize her because she could lean forward on it and then, ta-da!  Sitting.  Owen doesn't cooperate though. He immediately bats it away and takes off chasing it.  Which frustrated me at first - you're supposed to be sitting, Owen - but now I love it.  The bumps make it a cool ball because it doesn't just roll.  It zigs and zags and rolls away and rolls back, whichever way the bumps take it.  He's like a dang puppy with this thing.

• Taggies

I try not to leave the house without his Taggies blanket.  He's crazy about tags these days. Hand him a stuffed toy, he'll play with it's tag.  So this little thing is genius.  He'll turn it round and round, examining it, tugging at the tags, sucking on them and then tug some more.  It's the best way to keep him occupied in the car and on long walks.

EAT

Owen's never been a big eater.  He's strong as an ox and has more energy than I know what to do with so this hasn't ever been a big concern.  But it was enough of a concern to his pediatrician when I asked if I could start him on solids at his four month check-up.  She was worried that if he started eating solids he would get full and not drink enough formula, which means he wouldn't be getting all the nutrition that he needs, so she suggested we wait until six months to start feeding him.  This made sense to me so we held off.  As his six month birthday approached I called the doctor's office to talk about starting solids before our next check up (which isn't until this Friday when he'll be six and a half months old) and they asked that we only do rice cereal until our appointment.  Le sigh.  But, again, makes sense because he does have a bit of eczema that can get worse as foods are introduced so we'll wait until our appointment to learn more. Until then, we've been having fun with rice cereal and these are the tools we've been using...

• Spoon

This adorable silicone train spoon by Ooga came in one of our Citrus Lane boxes and even though we have other baby spoons, this is the only one I use.  He can get off all of the food easily, he enjoys chewing on it and the choo-choo noises I make while feeding him make way more sense.

• High chair

We live in an apartment, which means we don't have tons of square footage and this space-saver high chair does exactly that...saves space.  You attach it to one of your dining chairs and you have an instant spot for baby at the table.  I love it and it means one less bulky baby item in the house.

• Formula dispenser

Um...this formula dispenser is way easier way to make a bottle on the move than my baggie method I employed early on in Owen's life.  My cousin had one of these when we were in the Keys and I was like, "Huh. Yep. Duh."  Got ours at Target, use it nearly every time we leave the house.

• Bottle Nipples

Did you know that as your baby gets older you can get them bottle nipples with more holes in them and they can drink more efficiently?  Because I did not.  My mother-in-law was visiting and said, "I wonder if Owen would be a better eater if he could get the food more quickly?  We used to sterilize a needle and poke more holes in the bottle nipples as our babies could eat more. " Well color me embarrassed. That seemed like a no-brainer. Instead of poking more holes, I checked the Avent bottles we use and found that they sell nipples for six-month-olds WITH FOUR HOLES.  Here he was, five and a half months at the time, drinking out of one measly hole!  I made the switch and prepared myself to feel like a terrible mother if all of a sudden he was eating larger quantities.  His appetite didn't increase but he did start eating more quickly.  And that's good for everyone. 

SLEEP

These days Owen is going to bed at around 7:30PM and waking up around 6:00AM.  Can I get an Amen?!  He's also figured out how to pull up in his crib so we need to lower it (on the to-do list for the weekend) and take down his mobile because he loves to grab it.  Had to move his monitor out of reach too because he swatted that down to the ground a few times before it found a better home.

• Mesh Bumper

We all know by now that crib bumpers are a no-no in order to reduce the risk of SIDS. But mesh bumpers, while not as cute, are breathable and help prevent Owen from breaking his limbs as he tosses and turns and kicks and stretches in the night.  He was going through a phase of lifting his legs and slamming them on the mattress, in his sleep, and he managed to kick through the slats of the crib a few times.  Imagining mangled limbs, I went out and got a mesh bumper immediately.  Seriously think it has saved us a trip to the emergency room.

• Huggies Overnight Diapers

We use Honest diapers throughout the day but since they don't make an overnight diaper yet, we have to use Huggies OverNites for bedtime.  If we don't, he wakes up at 2AM soaked in pee. Without fail.

• Footless Pajamas from Carter's

Too-Tall McGee doesn't fit into most footed pajamas so he spent the summer in footless pajamas from Carter's.  Of course, they don't seem to be selling any larger sizes of footless PJs for the winter so we are going to have to see about getting a size up of footed ones and hope he doesn't swim too much in them.  I don't know.  Solutions anyone?

Wait a second.  It's been half a year already??

Happy Post-Labor Day Season!

Also known as football, pumpkins and back-to-school season!

I was never a big football fan growing up.  My family, on the other hand, are hardcore fans.  Gators on Saturdays and Dolphins on Sundays.  I learned a lot about football by osmosis but, as my mom will tell you, I was known to fall asleep soundly while attending games...which may have been cute as a child...not when I was a teenager.

But! Something happened once I graduated from UF and moved to NY.  I found myself watching Gator games on Saturdays...and it helped alleviate my homesickness.  And now, more than a decade later (cough), I find myself actually looking forward to watching Gator games. I'm excited to see if Owen takes after the rest of his family and enjoys football as much as them...or if he'll end up being more like his mama in the beginning.  Only time will tell...

In the meantime, he'll be my little Gator buddy.  And on Sundays he'll be his daddy's Ravens buddy. Dan is from Baltimore and a big time Ravens fan, aka Super Bowl Champs!  Let the season of nachos and wings and beer begin!  Ok, so, yes. Maybe a big part of why I like football now is because of the snacks.

Another reason I'm excited for this post-summer season (even though it still is super hot here in LA) is because next month is October.  And that means...PUMPKIN PARTY!  I've been hosting a pumpkin party for the past few years and every year I get more excited. Last year I looked like I had swallowed a pumpkin whole...

...and this year I hope to look like that again but this time it will be a food-baby.  Which did you hear that "food baby" was added to the dictionary this year?  A nice random fact for you to impress your co-workers with.  You know, if they're impressed by that kind of thing.

And finally, back-to-school season!  I was the kid who loved back-to-school.  Which I'm sure doesn't surprise you now having learned about my propensity for falling asleep at football games and my love of random facts.  I loved getting school supplies, organizing my folders, picking out my first-day-of-school outfit, covering my books, filling out my planner...all of that good stuff.  And now, I'm implementing my own kind of back to school:  I'm going to be more committed to this blog!  My postings have been sporadic throughout the summer but it's back-to-school season...time to buckle down.  Expect to see more frequent postings here.  I hope you'll tune in!  If you "like" the Project Baby Mom page on Facebook you'll see links as new posts go up.  Or feel free to follow if you're on Blogger.  A big THANK YOU to all of you that "like" and follow and read whenever you can.  I know there is a plethora of blogs out there for you to read and it means a lot that you show up here. Sincerely.

A big hug to all of you parents reading that sent your babies off to school for the first time today (or in recent weeks)!  I'm only imagining right now but I imagine that when that day comes I'll need a big hug.  And also that I'll blink and that day will be here.  So, yep, hugs all around!