Missing Blankets, TV Bob, Excersaucers, and more!

So much happens in a day, it's hard to keep up much less post a blog about everything.  I think that's why I'm a photographer.  A photo can say so much more than words ... plus I'm no good at spelling.


Before I tell you what we got yesterday at Wear It Once, Wear It Twice (because I know you all are anxiously waiting to hear what we got ... some of you probably lost sleep over it) we had a funny experience today.  Stacey was getting her nails did and Zoe and I were chillin' outside.  When we went to the car I didn't notice that Zoe Toe's blanket had fallen off her car seat.  Stacey noticed when we got to Trader Joe's a couple blocks away,  so we went back to the nail place and in search.  Now this wasn't just a normal blanket, it's a very special one.  Stacey's dad, Stan The Man, brought it back from Italy when she was Z's age.  So we were determined to find this blanket, and find we did.  Only it was under the tire of a Green Lexus SUV with the license plate "TV BOB".  So for the next 15 minutes I went into every shop on the strip in search of TV Bob.  A little bit later he came out with a pizza and a coke oblivious to the situation.  I kindly told him why I was standing around his sweet ride, he moved his car, and the blanket was retrieved!  Now to the washing mashing it goes...


So what did we get yesterday!?  Well, Zoe got a lot of cute clothes that you will see later in photos, I'm sure.  She's getting bigger, which means she needs bigger clothes.  Crazy, huh?  Daddy got a Baby BJorn to get the sensation of what it feels like to be pregnant. :)  It's cool, and much better than Stacey's purple sling.  Zoe also got an Excersaucer!  For the longest time I thought it was called an Excersiser and Stacey's Texan accent was prohibiting her from saying it correctly.  But nope - it is an excer saucer.  Yesterday was one of the best shopping experience I've ever had.  Again, we highly recommend Wear It Once, Wear It Twice in Burbank.


We hope you enjoy the little video we took of her first time in the Exersaucer!



Like I said, a lot happens when you have a 4 month old.  In a couple hours or a couple days your entire perception and life can change.  This whole "E.A.S.Y" process is brilliant.  And we think it's working.  The past two nights Zoe has only woken up twice.  We've been feeding the little monster rice cereal before her bedtime routine, which is bath time, massage and lotion, a book and then the crib!  I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Hope you're having a great Sunday!

Peace,
-marc

The Tough Stuff

My friend Kayla suggested I write about the tough stuff when it comes to parenting.  She said my wife and I made it seem so easy that she wanted something like 5,234,342 kids or something.  Obviously she doesn't have children presently.

So you wanna know what's hard about being a parent?  It's not all smiles, photos, kisses and cute clothes.  There are several issues that could be considered tough in my opinion ... I mean, I was still trying to figure out how to take care of myself - now I have to take care of another human.  But that's another story.  Aside from the dirty diapers, the spit ups and occasional crying the hardest part of being a parent is trying to get your baby to sleep through the night.

Apparently this is a big issue with new parents.  There have been books written about it, philosophies debated and lots of techniques thrown into the mix.  Stacey and I of course thought we knew everything about raising a child before Zoe was born so we skipped the notion that she would wake up every other hour during the night.  Now...4 months in, we haven't gotten a single full nights rest and we're tired.  We just want her to sleep like a normal person so we all can get a full nights rest.

Last night Stacey showed me this blog post from her friend Laura.  It's an entire post dedicated to how she gets her baby girl to sleep.  She even posted it 6 days before Zoe was born.  WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN IT TIL NOW?!?  Well I'm glad I saw it when I did because it's not too late to try something new.  I guess there's a book, but what LaLa wrote is about is a philosophy called "E.A.S.Y".  "Eat, Activity, Sleep, You."  The you stands for sleep!!! :)  So we're tryin' it out.  We've been letting Zoe Toes go to sleep after eating, during eating and just whenever.  Not any more.  We're in the army now and on a schedule.  She'll get to eat every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and then we'll play until she's tired.  Once she's sleeping, it's "You" time and that can mean work, sleep or whatever. 

We may not have the whole parenting thing figured out completely.  We'll probably get it perfect when she moves out of the house.  But until then we're trying our best to make sure that our little baby girl is healthy, well rested and happy.  And that means Daddy and Mommy gotta be healthy, happy and for now, most importantly, well rested.  Here's to the adventure before us!

How do you, or how have you, gotten your baby to sleep through the night?  Tell us your secrets!