Our daughter had very high billirubin levels and was in the NICU for several days, as well. She was also on anti-biotics due to an infection my wife got during labor. Seeing her little foot with an IV in it which was almost as big as her foot was for sucks. Glad everything worked out for you and the little ones. My wife and I didn't buy into getting them as we purposely purchased a shorter dresser and used it as the changing table and the dining room table worked just fine for the donwstairs changing. Now with her being 11 months old and liking to do the "fish out of water flop" not to mention grabbing the dirty diaper and using it as a frisbee, we try to stay away from furniture when changing her. We did however drop some dough on a nice crib, one that will essentially stay with her until she leaves the house. It goes from crib to day bed to twin sized bed. The thing that gets us is the "development furniture" like the swing (great from birth to about 6 months) Now useless. The Bouncing chair (great from about 4 months onnow useless) and the excersaucer, again great for helping her get used to standing while keeping her occupied, but now useless. I want to give them to friends who are about to have children but the wife has instructed me to hang on to them "just in case we have another child"..... ANOTHER CHILD!!!!
Gosh, we just used the good old floor as a changing table in our house. Most stable surface I can imagine and plenty of space to lay stuff out. People actually use other stuff?
We went with the floor option as well - in no small measure because we automatically stack things on any flat, open surface, making the floor the logical alternative. What went away for the second child was a diaper bag. We carried a diaper or two and some wipes wherever we went in whatever else we were carrying (purse, book bag, day pack) and called it good. My back was happy - and we never missed all of the things we thought we needed in the overstuffed diaper bag.
i have to say it's amazing ... my son doesn't mess his diaper in public. he must hold it in until we get home. in over two years I've changed two diapers while we've been out. sometimes I'm not even sure where a diaper bag is ....
I prefer a backpack, as it leaves my arms open and available. I carry a backpack around most times anyway. And no it is not a MAN PURSE! Our car seat is proabbly the best laxative we have. Rarely a drive goes by where the carseat doesn't induce a poopy mess. I'm thinking it is going to eventually assist in getting her potty trained. I just have to figure out how to get a 5 point harness onto the training seat.
what are you trying to say? 8 year olds SHOULDN'T be in diapers? you're crazy! CRAZY! nah, he just turned two and can pinch it in like a champ.
I have a lot of cousins and friends that are pregnant right now and I really have to make an effort to keep my mouth shut and not give them advice. I was annoyed when everyone told me something different so I don't want to do the same thing. Every pregnancy is different, every baby is different.
My wife's best friends, grandmother is a very old lady living in Gloucester, basically a fishing town in MA. She told us we should have one more child than we really wanted because "one will probably die anyway" hmmmm.
good god! how old is she? does she expect the pox to take a child or does she think the Indians will steal the baby while the rest of the family is out working in the field?
Worst advice I heard was "Try the rhthym method. It works!" This was from a buddy of mine in high school. He been married three times, has four kids (two of them out-of-wedlock.)
Consumer Reporter: Alright. Fine. Fine. Well, we'd like to show you another one of Mr. Mainway's products. It retails for $1.98, and it's called Bag O' Glass. [ holds up bag of glass ] Mr. Mainway, this is simply a bag of jagged, dangerous, glass bits. Irwin Mainway: Yeah, right, it's you know, it's glass, it's broken glass, you know? It sells very well, as a matter of fact, you know? It's just broken glass, you know? Consumer Reporter: [ laughs ] I don't understand. I mean, children could seriously cut themselves on any one of these pieces! Irwin Mainway: Yeah, well, look - you know, the average kid, he picks up, you know, broken glass anywhere, you know? The beach, the street, garbage cans, parking lots, all over the place in any big city. We're just packaging what the kids want! I mean, it's a creative toy, you know? If you hold this up, you know, you see colors, every color of the rainbow! I mean, it teaches him about light refraction, you know? Prisms, and that stuff! You know what I mean? Consumer Reporter: So, you don't feel that this product is dangerous? Irwin Mainway: No! Look, we put a label on every bag that says, "Kid! Be careful - broken glass!" I mean, we sell a lot of products in the "Bag O'" line.. like Bag O' Glass, Bag O' Nails, Bag O' Bugs, Bag O' Vipers, Bag O' Sulfuric Acid. They're decent toys, you know what I mean?
Yep to all of this. I despise the "dog lovers" who insists that they love their dog just like it was a child. Right.
In my parents case, it's true. I've yet to see them show me different. I know this is worst advice ever thread, but I've got two good ones: pack-and-play and super-saucer. Both godsends. There should be a "things your parents would get jailed for if they were raising you now" thread.
My mom was telling me last night about how fun it was back before seat belts were enforced and they'd let us all stand up and play in the back of the station wagon. That can go into that thread eventually.
No kidding. On a trip when our oldest (now 11) had just turned 3, we were about to go insane from listening to Big Bird Sings for the umpteenth time when my wife commented in frustration that her parents had never played kid music in the car. True, I replied, but since we were layingonn the back window ledge, literally bouncing up and down, or hidden in the bucket behind the seat, we had our own distractions. Our daughter strapped into the car seat for the tenth consecutive hour really needed "Everyone makes mistakes" and "AB-C-def-Ghi" as many times as possible (though we are still scarred from the experience . . . )
I'll agree that the comparison is generally idiotic, but we went from having a dog to having a dog + a baby, and there are certainly ways in which dog ownership acclimates you to some of the smaller responsibilities and tasks of parenthood.
The biggest and most noticeable is how much it ********s up your smooth transition from work to happy hour at the bar.