5 weeks and growing

Baby A went to the doctor today and scored in the 75th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height! Mommy's milk: it does a body good.

Kidcentric day

Most days are pretty kidcentric these days, but in light of the rainy weather, Z and I tried a couple of new activities.

First thing in the morning I wrapped Baby A in the Hug-a-bub and we took a walk through the neighborhood. Z monologued the whole time, observing everything and creating an exhaustive running commentary: "That car looks just like our car, right Mommy? Is that a toy someone lost on the ground, Mommy? Who lost that toy squirrel, Mommy? Was it a little boy or a little girl lost that wet squirrel? It was a child and not a grown-up lost that squirrel. Did they drop it and lose it, Mommy? Why? Why weren't they being careful and they dropped they's squirrel? Is now that squirrel is crying, crying for its Mommy. Right, Mom? Mommy? Why's that tree have red leaves? We're going for a walk around the block. Children always hold hands when they cross the street. Right Mommy? To be safe. We always hold hands. We don't run into the street!"

At 10am we attended Miss Tracey's Storytime at the Brown Cow with Gloria and her daughters (also 2 1/2 and brand new). It is a very popular event, and it soon became apparent why. Miss Tracey had all the kids completely entranced. She didn't read from books, as I expected. Rather, she engaged the under 4 crowd with silly antics and lots of audience participation.

This afternoon we headed south to Berwyn's Toy Trains and Models, an old-fashioned toy store with a heavy emphasis on trains (from Brio and Thomas to the big-deal, super-realistic model trains hobbyists go nuts over). Z spent about 5 minutes at a wooden train table before discovering the dolls (so much for gender neutrality). I was delighted to find an aisle dedicated to Playmobil and Ravensburger toys, both fabulous German toy brands I remember from my childhood in Berlin. We bought Z a little Playmobil set (a nursery with mommy, baby, a changing table, crib, and a few teeny, tiny accessories). I had as much fun assembling and setting it up as Z did playing with it.

What me, worry?

I am not the worrying type, so it's unusual for me to find stuff to fret about. But I've got my eyebrows knitted and my panties in a twist today.

First of all, while none of the toys in our house were on Mattel's list of 19 million recalled toys, I'm starting to freak out a little bit about the whole BPA in baby bottles issue. I pump breastmilk into clear plastic bottles and all of the bottles I saved from Z's babyhood are Avent--one of many brands that may cause everything from early puberty and developmental problems to cancer. I may just bite the bullet and buy glass or Born Free bottles. There aren't a lot of safe options out there.

My other big worry? We were the victims of a home burglary Thursday afternoon and it took us two days to figure out we'd been robbed. After spending parts of Friday and Saturday trying to figure out how both our digital camera and my Blackberry could have disappeared from their designated spots, it occurred to me that the Blackberry charger was missing too (it had been plugged in). When we realized some DVDs had vanished and I reminded Josh that the back door had been unlocked when we returned from some errands on Thursday, we decided to call the Oak Park police.

The cops pointed out some signed of forced entry on the back door, further demonstrating that our belongings probably hadn't just up and walked away. It's unnerving knowing someone was in my house. And now they've got a camera full of pictures of my kids and full access to my email (although I just changed the password on my personal account). And naturally Josh is working tonight so I'm alone in the house with one sleeping kid and one hiccupping, spit-upping baby.

There are other, smaller worries eating at me too, but they all involve issues of time management and balance--something that I can control, I hope. I need to figure out how to juggle two children, household responsibilities, volunteer duties and family obligations with my own needs and wants (a flatter tummy and more time to surf the internet would be nice). And I need to figure it out before throwing a 40+ hour work week in the mix.

Take your baby to work day

One of the great pleasures of maternity leave is the pilgrimage to the office to show off the baby. Josh and I took Baby A to the Green City Market this morning, and on the way there it occurred to me that while in the city I should stop by work to say hello. Never mind that my face was bare and I hadn't bothered to put my newborn in anything fancier than an old white onesie.

It was great seeing so many familiar, friendly faces. I'm lucky to work with really wonderful people, all of whom were delighted to squeeze baby cheeks and ooh and ahh over her tiny size.

And how often do we get to breeze into work at 10:30, socialize for an hour or so, and breeze right back out the door without so much as flipping on our desktop machines? (I couldn't anyway, IT seems to have taken my computer away!)

While I can't imagine returning to work before my baby's a little older, my stomach's a little flatter and everyone's sleeping a little better, I got a taste for the good stuff I'm missing when I stopped into a new business pitch meeting. I love the challenge of solving marketing problems in creative new ways, and the product being pitched was one that interests me. But for now I'll have to exercise my creative muscles by coming up with new and inventive ways to make a delicious, nutritious dinner while nursing a baby and entertaining a wound-up 2 year old.

Happy blogiversary to me

I've been blogging for one year today.

A lot has changed since I wrote my first post. I was on Oprah, I bought a new car, got pregnant, celebrated Z's second birthday and had a second baby. For the first time since we've owned our house, I had the windows washed and the yard landscaped. I traveled to Portland, Omaha, Mexico, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. At the office, I achieved resident expert status on the subjects of word-of-mouth marketing and blogging. And I attended the BlogHer conference and learned how much I still don't know.

I've used my blog to brag about the trials and joys of pregnancy and parenting, but I'd like to think I'm more than "just a mommyblogger." I write about consumer marketing, customer service, and them products and services I love. And I try to do it from my dual perspective as a marketing creative and as a consumer. Because I'm a mom. The consumer with whom brands big and small want to connect.

As a blogger and a mom, I've been given fabulous opportunities, attending the Chicago Auto Show as a guest of GM and reviewing books, DVDs and other products for Parent Bloggers. I even scored a spot on the Chicago Moms Blog!

Most importantly, blogging has connected me with some really wonderful people, mostly women. I've shared the challenges and joys of balancing a career and home life with other working mothers and I've learned a lot from marketing blogs like Seth Godin's.

I love blogging so much I've convinced my best friend and sister to start blogs of their own, and as a result I've benefited from regular peeks inside their lives (and plenty of photos of their kids).

Anyone care to guess what the next year will bring?

Another Mattel recall

Apparently Mattel is set to recall even more Chinese-made toys later today. Stay tuned and keep an eye on your kids' toy boxes.

Her first face

Z drew a picture of her baby sister today, the first drawing she's made that's recognizable as a person. And the one she did after this one was even better!

Pretending she's backsliding

We've been warned that older siblings are likely to backslide on potty training and resent the new baby, but so far Z's reactions, all of which have happened as we cuddle before bed, have been all talk...and remarkably inconsistent.

Z: Who did we give my diapers to?
Me: Mari and Leo.
Z: And Vi-Vi too?
Me: I guess so.
Z: I want them back. Let's get my diapers back.
Me: But you're potty trained. And you're going to go to school. Besides, I'm sure they've been used by now.
Z: I don't want to be potty trained and go to school. Let's ask Daddy to buy me some diapers at the store.
Me: I don't think so.
Z: I need to go pee-pee. In the potty.


Z: I don't want a baby sister anymore.
Me: Baby A is here to stay. We love both our girls.
Z: I don't want her to be here.
Me: What do you want her to go?
Z: I want to throw her away.
Me: But just minutes ago you were giving her hugs and kisses.
Z: Let's go give her night-night kisses!

CPGs pretty up for sales

I've always been a sucker for great packaging (Method cleaners, I how I love thee), and now consumer packaged goods companies are taking their product packaging seriously in an attempt to drive sales. Check out this article in the NY Times.

She's a keeper

I'm almost afraid to write this for fear of jinxing myself, but Baby A slept all night last night. And not just the five hours that some baby care manuals define as "sleeping through the night." No, she slept straight through from 10pm until 5:45am. In her crib. In her room.

Bliss, baby, bliss.

Could it be the perfect baby carrier?

I have a love-hate affair with both my baby carriers. The Over the Shoulder Baby Holder padded sling is cute but my back hurts after wearing it for more than 30 minutes. Franny loaned me her Baby Bjorn Active, which is an improvement over the classic Bjorn but not entirely perfect.

Enter the Hug-a-Bub. I'd seen my friend and ubermom Deb wear her daughter in it for hours, so I dropped her an email asking if could give it a try. Later this afternoon it was sitting on my front porch. I put A down for a nap in her crib and popped in the instructional DVD. Low and behold, just as the movie gets to the part about putting in the baby, A cries out (I guess she wanted in). I placed her in the carrier and she's been sleeping peacefully in it ever since.

More importantly, I'm comfortable wearing her. Perhaps this will be our sanity tonight. Last night an overtired, distraught A fussed and refused to fall asleep until close to 11pm.

Just a garden variety malapropism

Said Z this morning, "Can I bring my swimsuit that's a zucchini to Adriana's house? My zucchini is kind of like underpants."

You can't stop the beat

Gloria and I took our babies to a showing of Hairspray today. It's the first time I've taken a baby to the movies and only the second time I've taken a child (we took Z to see Ratatouille a month ago).

Relatively speaking, it was a piece of cake. I left the car seat and stroller in the car and put her in the sling for the walk to the theatre. Once inside, I loosened the sling so she was cradled in my lap. She wanted to nurse through the previews, but slept through 95 percent of the film. I missed one song-and-dance number to change a diaper, but otherwise I was able to enjoy the movie from my seat. My friend was not as lucky: her 2 month old wanted her up and moving so she spent most of the time standing in the back of the theatre.

As for the movie, it was pretty good. Cheesy as expected, but enjoyable. I really liked the art direction and costumes. And John Travolta? That man has no shame.

It's hot...

And the humidity is no picnic either. Stay cool everyone.

Postpartum fashion: What I'm wearing right now

It probably isn't a lot of fun to design clothes for the postpartum gal. We've got massive breasts, saggy stomachs and our hips and asses are wider than ever. We need quick and easy access to said breasts and with piles of soggy onesies, you better believe we're not prepared to deal with dry cleaning or ironing. And since spit-up a daily--sometimes hourly--occurrence, our clothes must be wash and wear. If they can disguise stains with ease, all the better!

And did I mention we don't want to look like whales any longer? At three weeks postpartum, I've still got 15lbs to lose, but I'm down 25lbs from my delivery date and I don't want to look at my maternity clothes any more, much less wear them. I don't want to be mistaken for knocked up, thank you very much!

So last week I packed my new addition into her stroller and walked across Oak Park to Majamas (909 S Lombard Ave., 708-524-9668), maker of cute clothes for new moms. They've expanded into maternity wear, but what really distinguishes this local gem is their nursing clothes. They make cute tank tops, shirts and dresses with built in flaps and support that make nursing bras redundant. You can breastfeed discreetly without worrying about positioning a blanket over your kid's head and, best of all, the poochy stomach stays under wraps. I wear my Majamas gear--particularly my three dresses--more than anything else these days. They're comfortable, stylish and effortless. And they're built with the new mom's body in mind.

As Baby A grows, I trust I'll continue to shrink. And perhaps then I'll have the guts to try on regular clothes in a regular store. Until then, I'll just thank my lucky stars that this cool company is headquartered in my home town.

Second time moms weigh in

I posted about my weekend as a Lollapalooza widow on the Chicago Moms Blog and solicited advice from more experienced mothers of two. Check out all the great advice from women who've BTDT.

What a mom wants

Nearly all of my mom friends had their second baby before A arrived, so they really know how to treat a new mom the second time around. Last weekend Gloria let Z spend the afternoon at her house so I could attend BlogHer and last night Julie saved my sanity by taking her to a concert in the park for an hour and a half with her daughter. During which I made dinner and jiggled a fairly fussy baby without whiny interruptions. And then, when the hot, sweaty, overstimulated girls returned, Julie held baby A while I bathed Z.

Lollapalooza is over, so the next few days should be a piece of cake.

Welcome to the witching hour

With Josh pressing the flesh at Lollapalooza all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I'm learning what it's like to take care of two kids at once--all by myself. During the day it isn't so bad, but last night's bedtime routine was a disaster. Baby A fussed continuously from 7:15 until 9:45, and I had to squeeze Z's bath, tooth-brushing, pajamas, stories and cuddles in between the screams. By the end of the evening my breasts and all stores of patience were sucked completely dry.

Another massive recall

Cheap jewelry, Thomas the Tank Engine trains and now this. Mattel is recalling nearly 1 million popular toys due to lead paint. I'll bet you can guess where the dangerous toys were manufactured.

Check this list of recalled toys and make sure none of the Dora, Elmo or Cookie Monster playthings are in your home.

Can we say enough already?

Feeding on demand

My 2 week old daughter is on a feeding schedule. Not one I've imposed, mind you. Rather, she's ready to eat when I'm...
a) Sitting down to any meal, preferably a hot one
b) About to accomplish a task with my older daughter, be it giving her a bath, reading her bedtime stories (which can be done with a nursing baby), or taking her to daycare
c) Pulling onto the highway or stuck in traffic in a sketchy neighborhood

But when I hear her grunt and fuss in the middle of the night and I turn a light on and feel my boobs start to leak as I sneak over to her bassinet? Then she's fast asleep.