Enjoy the First Year Because They Grow Up Fast!

It is amazing how fast babies grow, especially in the first year. Within the first year a newborn infant will triple in weight and increase in length by 50 percent (kidshealth.org, 2012). It seems that new parents are frequently looking forward to the next milestone wondering when their infant will sit up, talk, crawl, stand and walk. Instead, they should be enjoying the moment and time with they have with their infant.

My mom had this poem called “Song for the Fifth Child” and I remember reading it as a child. Even though I did not thoroughly understand the poem at the time, I did like the end where it stated that she is rocking her baby. It is special to me because as an infant my mom would rock me in her rocking chair all of the time. I am the youngest of three and there is a four year gap between me and my brother, therefore, she was able to spend a lot of one on one time with me.  Babies are so sweet and one needs to enjoy the time that they have with their infant. I have added the poem below to read.

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Luckily, we have pictures and videos that make it easy for us to remember them during their first year. A fun way to see how fast your infant grows is to take a picture each month with them next to the same stuffed animal. You will be surprised how much they grow throughout the year. Here is a video that shows an example of my nephew throughout his first year. 

-Laura 

http://youtu.be/wsfFgCfO8sU   

 

kidshealth.org (2012). Growth and your newborn. Retrieved from  http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/ growth/grownewborn.html

More Fun Than Wiping Someone’s Tushy?

When I was trying to find out what types of blogs are available to new parents, I came across a blog called rookie moms. I love the tagline that they have under the title “more fun than wiping someone’s tushy.”  And after looking over the blog I do find it that is a fun blog. 

This blog is created from two friends, Heather and Whitney, who had babies around the same time. They found out that they were bored during the day while they were home taking care of their new babies (understandable). Therefore, they decided to create a blog to share their inspiration and adventures with other moms. Today they have over 5,500 followers. One of the features that I like about this blog is they have different age categories for their posts. When you arrive at their blog, you are able to access information from 1-3 months, 4-6 months, 7-9 months, 10-12 months, toddler, and even preschool.

 I clicked on 1-3 months and the information they provide varies. They provide fun tips and easy to do projects. They also provide their personal experiences that they have had with each of their babies. I liked this blog because they discussed serious concerns and provided help. They also provide fun activity ideas. One idea that I thought sounded fun would be to have an ugly baby clothes contest. I have heard of an ugly tie or ugly sweater contest but never an ugly baby clothes contest. For this idea they say to invite others who have babies to join the contest. Give out funny or fun prizes to the winners. This would be something fun that one could do to break up the day and it would not cost a lot of money. They have made their activity ideas into a book titled The Rookie Mom’s Handbook: 250 Activities to Do with (or without) Your Baby. They also have a book called Stuff Every Mom Should Know,that offers advice on things from swaddling an infant to throwing birthday parties. In addition, they had fun things for new parents to do, to make sure that they keep “sane.” This blog is merely a fun blog; even though it has some, it is not one that has a lot of researched educational information. However, they do have a lot of fun ideas and I feel that it is necessary to be able to find fun things to do with your infant. I think that this blog is one to help stay at home moms (or dads), especially if they are looking for new things to do. 

-Laura