On Tummy Time, and other happenings..

As a new parent, tummy time is a hard thing for me to figure out. For starters, Auggie HATES it. He screams and wails every time I lay him down on his stomach. And yet, it's something the pediatrician says we have to do. (On a side note, I always think of her as the vet since I'm so used to having to take Stella to the vet..) Makes sense - how else will kids learn how to crawl? I've heard that some kids are skipping crawling and going straight to walking because they're never on their stomachs. Back when kids used to sleep on their stomachs this wasn't a problem, but ever since the Back to Sleep program started, it seems to happen here and there. (Not to bash Back to Sleep, it did reduce SIDS by 40%..)

Back to Auggie (haha), my mom told me that she used to put interesting toys in front of us when we were on our stomachs. Here's us trying that (btw, Lise - he loves the soft blocks!):
And yet, shortly after I took this picture he started WAILING. Full-scale protest.

So, this may have been obvious to some, but it took me a while to figure out: Try a pillow! I consider it modified tummy time, but Auggie can get a lot more in when he's slightly propped up. Hopefully this counts, and hopefully he'll eventually crawl, too. Here he is having tummy time and smiling all in the same picture:

...

Last night I bought a wicked-cool new breast pump from craigslist. And I got a wicked-cool deal on it - half-off. I know, kind of random to bring up on my blog, but I was elated to both find such a great pump on craigslist and to find it at such a great price. I bought the Medela Freestyle.

The pump I'd been using thus far I bought used at a consignment sale in town. It's pretty small and wasn't necessarily intended for everyday use. And after going to the Carle Breastfeeding Clinic I found that Medela no longer makes that specific pump because it would actually reduce a woman's supply to virtually nothing. Yikes! Part of me is kind of pissed that someone would try to resell such a bad pump, but it has gotten us through the first three months, so I can't be that mad. However, I think my afternoon supply was actually starting to disappear because of it, hence the need for a new pump.

In other news, my little brother is going to culinary school out in Arizona! I am SOOO excited for him! It's fabulous news! He's a great cook, and I think he could really go far with this. This also means that we'll have to trade cars with him again. He's been gracious enough to let us borrow his Jeep this winter in order to fit both the dog and the baby in the car comfortably at the same time. Going back to a smaller sedan might be a little bit cramped again, but I think we'll survive. Auggie and Stella are buds now, so I think they'll manage in the back seat.

Stella is so funny. She loves to stick her nose in Aug's face, lick him, lick his ear, lick his hand, sniff him.. Anything really.. But the minute I reach his hand out to pet her (Auggie's been digging the touch-and-feel books, so why not pet a live dog?), she backs away with this how-dare-you look in her eye. Talk about no sense of equity, dog! Stella is such a diva. We'll have to work on this with her. :)