I know. This is a touchy subject. I have friends and family members that are pretty passionate about both of these. To a new mom, this decision is challenging. I read the books-Babywise & Attachment Parenting-which represent the opposite ends of the pendulum. I found both books helpful, but didn’t wholeheartedly agree with either. In my circle of mothers, there is this unspoken pressure to be BabyWise. When I really asked friends about their parenting style, I was somewhat surprised to hear that most (not all) loosely followed babywise, and the key word here is LOOSELY. My biggest beef about babywise is that it kept saying, “your baby will…” All I could think, is “my baby hasn’t read this book, so my baby may not…”
As I’m watching the news tonight, ABC had an interesting piece on this very issue, you can read it here.
Yet again, more “experts” weighing in on the subject. My cousin, Jenni, and I came up with what we feel has worked best for us so far—somewhere in the middle, parenting without the extremes. I’m no expert of course, my little one is 6 months old and isn’t technically “sleeping through the night”. There is a part of me that feels the need to justify that, but I won’t. I don’t need to. I’m doing what I think is best for me and my baby-and that needs no explanation or justification.
Years ago I was at a dear friend’s house for a visit. She is one of those friends that somehow can throw together a last-minute gourmet recipe and make it look effortless. I was watching her in her well-stocked kitchen, and she reaches for the butter-it’s on the counter! On the counter? I keep my butter in the fridge, and when I take it out it’s always too hard to spread. She begins spreading the butter-it’s soft and creamy. I inquire, what is this little thing that allows you to keep your butter on the counter, ready to be spread at a moment’s notice? At the time, she didn’t have a name for it, she just knew her mother-in-law got it overseas, and she loved it. I wanted one, but didn’t have an inkling as to where to find it. Fast forward years later, while looking for the perfect birthday gift, what do I find? a butter pot! It was pure joy to find this little contraption. I was not going to leave the store without one. I’ll let you know how it works, but so far-it’s a little dream come true!
I know this question shouldn’t be hard, but somehow it is for me. Today however, my father-in-law said to me, “I’m on a mission…I need you to pick out something that you wouldn’t normally get for yourself, but something that you want.”
Hmmm….what would that be? I’ve been so wrapped up in Savannah, and necessities for the house, I haven’t really been thinking about stuff like that. There wasn’t a time limit, but in some ways there was, because I had a sleeping baby that would wake up at some point and wonder where her food was (remember she’s not taking a bottle anymore!) This semi-deadline was good for me. When given money I tend to hold onto it for a while until I find something that I just have to have. When shopping for something specifically, I tend to go through the whole mall and find them all, then make my decision. The criterion for this shopping excursion allowed me to focus, yet didn’t give me a lot of room to wonder if there was something somewhere else that I would prefer to have. I decided to start with my favorite stores and work my way down the list…Restoration Hardware-love the stuff, but there wasn’t anything that I really wanted, Pottery Barn-great ideas, but can’t I find this style of stuff cheaper? Williams-Sonoma–BINGO!
And the winner is: a Cuisinart bread machine
Reading a fellow blogger’s post about baking bread using her machine recently inspired me! She uses this same one, and likes it. I used to have an old bread machine, but it was on its last legs before we moved, so it found a new home. Now that I’m at home more, and I’m absolutely loving my kitchen, why not bake some bread? Not to mention, my favorite bread sold at a local bakery just went up in price to $4.59 a loaf! YIKES! Now I will be able to make my own bread-and add all that healthy stuff. There really isn’t anything better than the smell of freshly baked bread, other than the taste of it! Thanks to my mother-in-law and my father-in-law! And Kyle thanks you too!
So we are entering the next phase, the one where you can no longer put your baby in one place and know that when you walk away for a moment she will still be there when you get back. She loves her Einstein playmat, so this morning I placed her under the arches of toys. Within just moments, I hear her cry, and look to find that she had rolled, rolled, rolled, all the way to the entertainment center and rolled right into it-oops! So lesson learned, I’m looking to buy one of those playzones- a few of my friends have them and LOVED them, any other ideas out there that have helped keep baby safe? Thanks for sharing!
Hi! My name is Kristy and this is my outlet to share thoughts on motherhood, infertility and life as I know it. To give you some insight into me, I've been married for over eight years to 
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