How we do it: Science Time

Tink has Learning Time after Independent Play almost every day (usually not on weekends or if we have errands to run at that time).  It ends up happening around 10/10:15 and lasts until she gets tired of it.  I will go over Learning Time in a different post.  After Learning Time we have what I call a "Learning Activity".  This is basically just some sort of fun activity for her to do.  It can be painting, coloring, crafts of some sort, and often it's Science Time.  Tink loves Science Time!  It's really simple and easy to do.  All I do is get a bunch of containers from around the house (tupperwear, old yogurt containers, anything really) and put them out on her play table on the patio in the backyard (it can be messy!).  Then I add a varitey of substances to the containers and give her utensiles to mix with.  Some of the substances that we use are baby rice powder, powdered sugar, oatmeal, sand, water, water with food coloring, something we call "goop" which is Xanthan Gum blended with water, etc.  (Side note:  I discovered the "goop" while I was trying to find a way to thicken Lulu's bottles and some moms suggested Xanthan gum.  It did not work for Lulu's bottles but was very fun to play with so I gave the "goop" to Tink to play with and we've been using it ever since)
This is a pic of the Science Time set up that I put out for her to play with.  These are the containers of fun stuff.  There is one with water, one with bubbles, one with powdered sugar, and one with flour.  I limit the amount of mixing ingredients to 4 because I find that it's a good amount to experiment with but not overwhelming. 

Here is the whole set up:

I give her a variety of tools to mix with and just leave her to explore.  She focuses really well and basically zones out the world.  She mixes, pours, scoops, etc to her hearts content.  Then, when she's done, she just tells me and we move on to something else.  I do make sure to clean up Science Time because the mixtures can get pretty gross and attract insects.  I just pour everything down the drain or pour into the trash and put everything into the dishwasher.  Super easy!

How we do it: Compounding Zegerid

Lulu has reflux and after trying several meds, we have found success with a Zegerid/Omeprazole mixture.  Actually, Zegerid is Omeprazole just with sodium bicarbonate added as a buffer to make it immediate release but anyway...
I am going to go over how I compound (mix) her meds.  The items that I use are:
     -Medicine bottle
     -Tums 1000- I use berry flavor but any flavor is fine
     -Omepraloze tablets- I have tried using the capsules but I have found that getting the super tiny beads into the bottle is far more difficult that crushing the tablets and pouring it in.
     -Zegerid capsules
     -A pill crusher (bought at Walmart)
     -A funnel (not pictured)- I have Hubby make me one out of paper.

I start by putting 95mL of water into a medicine bottle.  I like the medicine bottles from Target best.  I just go up to the pharmacy and ask for a few empty medicine bottles with the plugy top thingy and a few syringes.  The ones from Target have a plug that goes into the top once you are done making it and this feature  makes it much easier to administer the meds.  I have found that it's easiest to get the 95 mL by filling the medicine bottle to 100 mL and then removing 5 mL with a syringe. 

I add 5 1000 strength Tums to the water.  I break each Tums into 4 pieces and plop them right in.

Once they are all added to the water, I shake, shake, shake!  I then place the bottle into the fridge and leave it over night so that the Tums can dissolve.  Every time I open the fridge, I shake the bottle to speed up the dissolving process.

The next morning...

I get out 5 20mg Omeprazole tablets and crush each one individually in the pill crusher.  I have found that crushing them individually is far more effective than trying to crush all 5 pills at once in the pill crusher (actually, trying to crush all 5 at once did not work).

 This is a pic of the pill crusher.  You put the tablet in and turn the top until the tablet crumbles.

 They break apart into powder and chunks.  I just tilt the pill crusher to the side and tap it until all the material is gathered on one side.  Then I place the very awesome and scientific funnel (made of a small piece of paper :) into the top of the medicine bottle.

 Our funnel

 I then pour the Omeprazole powder/chunks into the water/Tums mixture and shake.

 Next, I get out 5 Zegerid capsules. 

 I use these little scissors (also purchased at Walmart) to poke a hole into the Zegerid.  I think they are actually cuticle scissors or something.  I found them in the nail polish section.

 I poke a small hole into one side of the Zegerid capsule.

 I squeeze the Zegerid powder into the bottle until it's all out.

 This is the size of the hole and what the empty capsule looks like.

 Once I've done this with all 5 Zegerid pills, I put the pluggy thing in the top.

 Then I put the lid on and shake, shake, shake.  The compound is then placed in the fridge, usually for another 24 hours before I use it.  Just be sure everything's dissolved before administering. 

 When the compound (mixture) has settled in the fridge, it looks like this and has distinct layers.  That is normal and is why you must shake it very well before dosing.

Once it's time to give medicine, I just insert the syringe and pull out the appropriate dose.

The first time that I made it, I was a bit intimidated but have found that it's actually very easy and since the Omeprazole is mixed with the Zegerid it can be given any time (no timing around meals!).  This is very important and is one of the main reasons I switched Lulu to Zegerid.  She pretty much eats all day and never has a long period of time in which she has an empty stomach- especially since starting solids.

How we do it: Making baby food

I made all of Tinks baby food and I plan to do the same for Lulu.  I love making them their baby food and I feel like it's so much more nutritious than store bought.  Many moms that I have talked to would like to make baby food but often feel intimidated.  It is actually much easier than it seems.  Here are my step-by-step directions for making baby food:

1.  Buy the ingredients.  For Lulu this means buying a few sweet potatoes and pears.  These are the two foods other than rice and oatmeal cereal that she has eaten.  I will be adding squash, apples, banana, and avocado in the next few weeks.   I will show pictures of making sweet potatoes and pears.

2.  Peel the veggie/fruit.

3.  Cut it up.  For the pears, I use an apple slicer and for the potatoes, I cut it into small cubes.

4.  Put into Babycook.  I have a Beaba Babycook that I got from Wiliams-Sonoma and I love it!  It is wonderful because it does everything and I only have to use one appliance to cook and blend the food.

5.  Add water to the Babycook and turn to steam.
6.  Once the food is steamed, remove the steam basket from the steamer.  Pour the water into a different container.

7.  Pour the steamed food back into the blender.

8.  Try blending the food.  If it's too thick, then add in some water.  The pears need little to no water added but the sweet potatoes need a lot of water to achieve the desired consistency.  I add the water that I poured out previously.  This water contains nutrients and is superior to simply adding plain water.

9.  Blend until desired consistency is achieved.

10.  Once I am happy with the consistency, I get out the cleaned ice trays.  I have ice trays that have lids which I highly recommend because it makes it easier to store them in the freezer.  I then pour/scoop the baby food into the ice cube trays and then place into the freezer.

11.  Place into freezer.

12.  Get baby food ice cubes for the next day out and put into fridge the night before feeding.  I have a few containers with lids that hold the ice cubes.  I plan a few cubes per meal.

13.  Warm the baby food.  I warm it in the microwave for a few seconds and test it to be sure of the temp.  If it's too think, I add breast milk to thin it.  If I need more food or forgot to get it out the night before, then I just heat the frozen cubes until they are slightly warm.

14.  Feed to baby!

Ok, so it looks like a lot of steps, but really it's so easy!  Plus, Lulu loves it and I know exactly what is in her food.  I store the cubes in plastic bags in the freezer and I will explain storage of frozen baby food in another post.

How we do it: Daily Schedule

Our daily schedule is very important to our family and our parenting.  It sets up the girls for success as well as gives me a much needed sense of accomplishment.  Tinks behavior is drastically better when I follow the schedule and she knows exactly what is next in our day.  It's pretty much the same every day.  The main thing that changes is that on weekends or days in which we have to get out of the house for whatever reason, we go during Tinks learning time which is usually a time in which both girls are awake.  I try my very best to preserve both girls' sleep needs and be respectful to their needs for a successful sleep environment.  Below is our general daily schedule:

Time	Me	Tinker Bell	Lulu
	Up, laundry, empty dishwasher
6	Pump, have all learning time materials ready, “swoosh and swipe” bathrooms, etc.
	Shower, get ready, heat Lulu's bottle
7	Get Lulu while Hubby gets Tink	Hubby gets her out of bed; dressed; hair, etc.	Out of bed; bottle
	Make breakfast; meds for Lulu	Play, help with breakfast	Play; take meds
8	Feed girls (solids for Lulu) and eat; clean up	Eat	Eat
	Walk	Walk	Walk
9	Put Tink in ip and Lulu to nap; offer Lulu another bottle before nap	IP	Nap
	Run around and clean like a crazy lady; pump	IP	Nap
10	Get Tink from ip	Clean up IP; diaper	Nap
	Tink learning time	Learning time	Nap
11	Lulu up and feed bottle; Start lunch	Learning activity	Bottle
	Feed girls (solids for Lulu) and eat; clean up	Eat	Eat
12	Play with girls	Play	Play
	Nap time for Tink	Nap	Hang out and do stuff with mommy
1	Nap time for Lulu; offer her another bottle	Nap	Hang out and do stuff with mommy; nap
	Organize stuff; go on computer; whatever needs to be done	Nap	Nap
2	Pump	Nap	Nap
		Nap	Nap
3	Get Tink up; diaper; hair	Get up and ready	Nap
	Make snack and juice for Tink	Snack and drink	Up and bottle
4	Stories	Stories	Stories/Play
	Stories	Stories	Stories/Play
5	Hubby home	Play with Daddy	Play with Daddy
	Start dinner	Free play or family walk	Free play or family walk
6	Eat; Pump	Eat	Hang out while we eat- eventually she’ll also eat dinner
	Clean up; start bedtime routine	Play with Daddy	Play with Daddy
7	Bedtime routine	Bath and bedtime	Bath and bedtime
8:45	Pump

We also have a hanging poster thing that has our daily schedule on it that I go over every morning with the girls.  I change it so that it meets our day and Tink can have a visual of where we are in the day and what she will be doing that day.  She does best when she's informed and has time to process.  This greatly decreases tantrum behavior as well as makes our day flow more smoothly.  Here is a picture of the daily schedule that we have hanging on the wall.

 I also have a calendar hanging next to the daily schedule.

We go over the days of the week and months of the year as well as take about our plans.  She has a semi-structured learning time after independent play every day.  I will go over learning time in another post.

How we do it: Organizing clothes

Baby clothes takes so much work to constantly organize!  Once you get all the adorable little outfits that are the baby's size washed and organized into the drawers only a few short months later you have to switch them all out and start over.  Since the girls grow so fast, I feel like I'm constantly rotating out clothes for bigger sizes.  Plus, storing baby clothes isn't easy.  It's small and difficult to keep folded nicely.  So, we use labeled bins to store the clothes that we are not currently using making it easier to rotate through.  I literally take all the clothes out of the drawers and pile them on the floor.  Then I put them in piles according to size, fold them, and then put them into the appropriate box.  I have been working on only keeping things that we love and use so I got rid of a lot of things.  I now need to do this with Tinks clothes and then re-do it all in a few months.

Products we love: Gelmix

   I have found that thickening breast milk is very, very difficult and there is only one product that works for us- Gelmix.  When we discovered that Lulu was aspirating and needed thickened bottles, I was determined to continue feeding her breast milk.  We had to find a way to make it so she could drink my milk.  We started by trying powdered rice cereal as was suggested my the doctor.  This was not a good option because when rice powder is added to breast milk, it turns into a goop-like substance and Lulu could not get it out of the bottle.  She actually had trouble gaining weight when we first started thickening because she could not get enough milk.  The bottle nipple continually clogged and we had to find a better option.  I became a mommy on a mission!  I did a lot of research and talking with other moms on-line and I found Gelmix.  It is marketed to thicken breast milk and formula.  This is the only thing that is made for breast milk, so I ordered it.  It was our last chance at continuing to give her breast milk.  If this did not work, I was planning to switch her to pre-thickened formula.
     I was immediately impressed from the very first try.  I added it to the heated bottle (must be heated to dissolve) and waited the 5 minutes that it needs to thicken appropriately.  After allowing it to thicken, I tested it to make sure it could come through the nipple of the bottle and it flowed right out.  Then came the real test- feeding it to Lulu.  She drank it wonderfully. I was so relieved and excited to continue feeding her breast milk.
     I can honestly say that I love this product.  It works great, flows well, does not alter the nutrition of the milk, does not alter taste, is very easy to use, produces a consistent thickness, and keeps Lulu happy and healthy!  The only negative about this thickener is that it has to sit for 5 minutes to achieve desired thickness.  This can be very difficult to accomplish when there is an upset hungry baby waiting!  Since she's on a feeding schedule, this is much easier to do and I know when to heat the bottles so that they are ready at the correct time.   This wonderful product has saved my ability to feed Lulu breast milk and I am so grateful!