Monday, February 23, 2015

MicroBlog Monday: Flying With Baby

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My cousin is getting married in British Columbia in June, and I really want to go to the wedding. Unfortunately, Keegan has a prior commitment, so it will just be Kieran and myself with any other members of my family that decide to go. The current plan is for us to drive up to St. Louis so that I can meet up with my mom and have some help during the flight (flights out of St. Louis are also $300 cheaper than flying out of Memphis!)

I have obviously never flown with a baby, so I am clueless about everything. My biggest questions are about car seats and food. I've heard some parents decide to check their car seats while some decide to buy their baby a ticket and have them sit in their car seats next to them during the flight. I've also just recently read that some car rental places rent our car seats as well, so we wouldn't have to bother bringing one on the flight.

As for food, I'm assuming security is ok with parents bringing formula and baby food as long as it's packaged and hasn't been opened, right? We would only be gone for a weekend, so I would probably purchase the pre-portioned packets of formula for convince.

Don't even get me started on the fact that we're going to have to get Kieran a passport.

The more I think about it, the more overwhelmed I get, but I rarely see my extended family, so it's important to me that I try and be there.

If anyone has any travel tips and advice for flying with a baby, I'm all ears!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Kieran 6 Months

If you'd like to see this post with pictures of Kieran, let me know and I can send you the password to our family blog. 

Height: 25.5 inches
 
Weight: 16 pounds, 1 ounce
 
Head circumference: 18 inches
 
Clothing: We have officially put away his 0-3, 3 month, and short sleeved 3-6 month clothing. He can still fit in his long sleeved 3-6 month onesies, so we've kept those out until the weather warms up, then they'll be put away too. Depending on the brand, he can fit in 3-6, 6, and 9 month clothes (mainly pants.) Kieran is long and lean, so he needs to wear pants in the next age range to fit his legs and over his fluffy bum, but they're normally too big in the waist.
 
We increased the rise in all of his diapers this month. We purchased 20 BumGenius diapers from a lady off of Craigslist, so those are what we've been using the majority of the time. We use a soaker plus a doubler for daytime, and a prefold and doubler for night time.
 
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We bought 20 BumGenius diapers, all of the inserts, about 300 liners, two wet bags, a bag of Rockin' Green detergent and some clothes pins for $180 off a lady I found on Craigslist!
 
Nicknames: Chubby Cheekers, Bubba, Bubster, Mister Man, Bubablub, Bubsy, Lovey Lou, Grumpy Gills when he’s super fussy.
 
Food: Kieran is still formula and breastfed. We've also added a "solid" food once or twice a day. He's had bananas, pears, apples, sweet potatoes and avocado. He wasn't the biggest fan of avocado, I think because it has a more slippery texture than the fruits. We will also give him small pieces of fruits and vegetables that we're eating. This next month, I want to start doing a more baby lead weaning approach and let him explore large pieces of foods, even if he doesn't digest much of them.
 
Sleep: Still have good and bad nights, but he's been sleeping through the night for the past week (around 8 pm til about 6:30 am.) We did have a few nights over the last month that I think he was teething, so we had to give him some children's pain reliever to calm him down enough that he would sleep.
 
Naps: Still on the same nap schedule. He'll fall asleep between 10 and 11, between 2 and 3, and then sometimes take a cat nap on the way home from work. Naps are difficult at home on the weekends because we have so much going on that he wants to be a part of that he doesn't want to sleep and miss out on anything.

Milestones & Tidbits:
 
- We think he has begun teething. He LOVES having anything and everything in his mouth, and he drools so much that he often has a spit bubble beard.
 
- His ability to sit up has really increased. He'll sit up for minutes at a time, but gets wobbly if he gets really excited. We always stay close, or put soft stuff around him in case he topples over.
 
-  Along with sitting up on the floor (or table...) he has also gotten steady enough to sit up in a shopping cart. We always hold onto him (or put blankets or soft shopping bags around him), but he's doing most of the work himself.
 
- He has become more interested in textures. I had a bandage on my finger one day, and he sat in my lap and played with it for at least 20 minutes
 
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-  We purchased walker for him and he LOVES it! He loves being a part of things, and it's perfect for us to put him in when we're doing things in the kitchen. He hangs out in our dining room and watches us cook.
 
- He's found his tongue recently and loves to stick it out.

- He had his first Valentine's Day!

- He loves Keegan's glasses, we think because he can see himself in them. There have been many times when Kieran will reach up and grab Keegan's glasses right off his face.

Likes: people watching, watching cars go by, flirting with ladies, eating, blowing raspberries, sticking out his tongue, being tickled
 
Dislikes: being cold, being in the car seat for long periods of time, especially if it’s not moving, tummy time
 
Favorite Pictures:

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Most of the time he crosses his legs when he nurses