2.29.2012

happy inside-out birthday, ethan.

Today marks the day in which Ethan has been outside for as long as he was inside.

When I was pregnant, 36 weeks hardly seemed long enough. When it was time for him to be delivered, everyone was nervous and quiet. Everyone was concerned about his lung functionality but yet no one said anything at all other than the obligatory and overused it's going to be okay and it's slightly altered but just as blasé variations. The dismissive quiet and calm that had suddenly come over everyone when my doctor walked in the triage room to give me a high-five and ask if I was ready to meet my baby only made my stomach crawl higher in my throat. Yes, I wanted to meet my baby, but I wanted him to stay in there just a little longer. I was angry at the world, at myself, at my body for not being able to do the right thing like a body should naturally do, for somehow being unable to fully incubate this child in my stomach for the correct amount of time. Yet, he came out screaming and for the first time in a while, everything felt like it was finally going to be okay.

Ethan has now been here on the outside for thirty-six weeks. They have been the greatest thirty-six weeks of my life. I get to wake up and sing good morning songs and kiss his soft forehead goodnight. When there is something he needs or wants, I am able to give it to him. When he is sick, I am able to make him feel better. When he tumbles down in defeat from an attempt to crawl gone wrong, I am able to scoop him up and kiss him until his tears morph into laughter. While parenting is in no way void of stress (the opposite, in fact), I feel calmer and less anxious having him here on the outside. I never need to wonder if he will be okay or if he is in trouble because he is never not next to me. I like having him on the outside so much better.

We spent the afternoon at Monkey Joe's where I lugged his 23 pound self up wobbly inflated ladders and held him above my head until my arms were shaking as we bounced, bounced, bounced. His laughs filled the room and didn't stop until he had hiccups, which is when we got to sit down and rehydrate and recuperate. He twirled a loose piece of my hair in his fingers while he sipped water from his sippy cup and he smiled at the other children running up onto the bounce houses themselves. As the days go on, he is starting to seem more like a child than the fragile newborn that we hurriedly brought home from the hospital as soon as we got the call that it was okay to bring him home. That one day he had to stay in the hospital once we ourselves were discharged dragged on like an eternity and felt like years yet, somehow, these past thirty-six weeks had flown by as if they were being fast-forwarded.

During pregnancy, thirty-six weeks didn't seem very long at all. It still doesn't, really, when I look at how far Ethan has come and all of the milestones that he has reached over such a seemingly short period of time. Our home is filled with ubiquitous reminders that time passes all too quickly: tiny infant clothes all boxed up, baby swings and play mats moved into the garage. How quickly these thirty-six weeks have gone by, and how quickly the weeks will continue to go.

Since Ethan was born, I've always repeated a line to a Taylor Swift song to him at some point during the day as it comes to close: I had the best day with you today. And these thirty-six weeks have been filled with so many best days, better days than I could ever begin to imagine.

Happy inside-out birthday, Ethan. I look forward to having so many more of the best days with you, everyday.

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2.28.2012

product review: tripp trapp chair by stokke

When Stokke offered us the opportunity to try and review their Tripp Trapp chair, I couldn't wait! We had a high chair for Ethan, but it was your typical big, bulky, plastic highchair that always sort of exiled him from sitting at the table with the rest of us during mealtimes. Someone would always end up with Ethan on our lap just so he could sit through dinner and feel like he was part of the family. The Tripp Trapp tucks right into our dining room table like one of our dining room chairs. Because you're able to select which colors and stains you prefer, I was able to customize our Tripp Trapp to match our dining room table exactly. I selected a red Baby Set seat to match our kitchen, which is painted the same bold shade of red. Instead of a large, clunky piece of plastic taking up space in our tiny dining room, we now had a gorgeous piece of furniture that looked like it was made for our dining set. Most importantly, Ethan is finally able to join us at dinnertime and comfortably sit with us. Mealtimes have gotten much better and he looks forward to sitting in his Tripp Trapp while we eat together.

To explain a little better how it works, the Tripp Trapp is able to grow with your baby until, well, adulthood. The Baby Set is sold separately for infants small enough to need that support. The seat and footrest are able to be adjusted based on your child's size and, eventually, you're left with an actual chair that any adult can sit in. As someone who is, uh, not very tall, my favorite Tripp Trapp feature just might be how you can separately adjust the footrest and seat to custom fit it to you or your child. This guarantees that the chair stays comfortable and a perfect fit through all ages and stages of life (and no dangling feet!). Now matter your child's height or age, the chair is always a perfect, custom fit. The chair's sleek design also ensures that your child's back and feet are always properly supported. With baby's comfort, safety and well-being in mind, there is nothing Stokke didn't consider when creating the Tripp Trapp.

Another great feature is the Table Top. Instead of a clunky high chair tray, the Table Top suctions onto your table. It comes with several varieties of activity templates and games that you can insert under the tray whenever your child wants to do or play something different. Right now, Ethan is pretty into the chickens! The suctions not only provide a stable way for your child to play and learn without worrying about a tray sliding around the table, but they make for such easy clean-up. The edges of the tray are also elevated keeping any and all spills on the tray and not the table.


The Tripp Trapp has a comfortable harness that keeps Ethan feeling safe and secure without feeling restrained. Oftentimes in your typical high chair, baby can feel trapped behind that huge tray and behind restricting seatbelts. This harness is extremely lightweight and comfortable while still keeping Ethan safe in his Baby Set!


My husband insisted I put emphasis on how easy the chair was to assemble and how amazing the overall quality of the Tripp Trapp's beachwood is. I have to completely agree with how stable and sturdy this chair is. The Tripp Trapp is for life, and I look forward to ours growing up alongside Ethan right into adulthood!


Ethan is pretty thrilled with the Tripp Trapp, too. As I mentioned, he finally feels included during mealtimes and it's been great having him able to sit with the family at dinner in his own chair. Every once in a while you stumble upon an incredible product and the Tripp Trapp -- which has a 7 year warranty on wood components -- is just that. It's more than just a high chair, but a beautiful piece of furniture that will safely accommodate your child from infancy to adulthood.

TO BUY: The Tripp Trapp retails for $450.00 with the additional options of the Baby Set ($69.99), additional cushion ($44.99) and Table Top ($89.00). It is available for purchase by visiting http://shop.stokke.com.

For more Stokke fun, check out their Facebook page, too!

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2.27.2012

and then there were two. but only for a little bit.

From last Thursday evening until last night, my fifteen year old sister stayed with us while my parents went out of town. The past few days have thus been a blur of sleepovers (I'm masochistic, what can I say?), dance rehearsals, school drop-offs and pick-ups, birthday parties and the general chaos of having an eight month old at the same time. It was as if -- poof! -- overnight I suddenly had two kids: one who has incredible issues with sleeping in past three in the morning and another who doesn't like going to bed until three in the morning. I have, without a doubt, seen three in the morning more these past few days than I have in years. I'm surprised I didn't wear tracks into the tile from running up and down the hallway trying to figure out why no one in their right mind wants to sleep except for me.

It was great.

Yes, I said it. It was great. It reminded me a lot of my childhood, only in this scenario, I had become my mother. That's often said by people with flecks of horror in their voice, pleas to not let them become the woman who birthed them. Really, all I want is to become my mother. If I'm becoming my mother, I'm doing something right.

...Which isn't to stay I'm not exhausted, because I am. When a fifteen year old has to lay out her make-up the night before school or stay up until it's nearly light outside refreshing a Facebook news feed, the eight month old in the room over is going to be up, too. (And it takes a lot of renditions of I Went To The Animal Fair to get them back down again, please believe.) When a fifteen year old is rolling their eyes at you from the other side of a slammed bedroom door, the eight month old is hysterically screaming in his crib wanting you to pick him up. The fifteen year old is on some kind of strange hunger strike in which she'll only eat tacos, and the eight month old needs you to puree his food in the meantime. Properly and functioning are two words that were most certainly not in my vocabulary the past few days.


We were sad to see Aunt Megan go. Ethan has been clinging to the stuffed platypus that my sister had brought for him. The house is eerie what with how quiet it is, which isn't a way I ever thought I'd use to describe our home again since Ethan's arrival. Ethan has taken to falling asleep at random: on the couch while snuggling, on the living room rug while playing with toys, on the changing table while getting him cleaned up -- and I echo his sentiments exactly. I felt like curling up in a ball and falling asleep in the car on our way to Stroller Strides this morning. (Instead, Ethan hung out and I attempted 100 squats, push-ups and bicep curls. Whatever!)

Mothers of more than one, you are all my heroes. We get to spontaneously sleep once child number two goes to their rightful home and you -- well, I don't know how you do it!

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2.24.2012

the all-new you are the roots.

Alright, can we take a minute and bask in the absolute beauty that is the new look of You Are The Roots?!

Okay, now that you've tried to wrap your mind around the astonishment and wonder of such a make-over, let me introduce you to the artist behind the new look. Her name is Katie and she blogs over at Priceless Adventure. Katie is the genius behind Priceless Design Studio and she has totally taken my breath away with my gorgeous new blog design. I mean, I'm totally speechless...and, if you know me, that really never happens. That says something.

Not only is Katie pretty much the most talented person on the planet, she is such a nice person. I'm not exactly "tech savvy" (somewhere in an office in Fort Lauderdale, my husband is enthusiastically nodding his head in agreement) and yet that didn't stop Katie one bit. She happily, helpfully and brilliantly revamped my blog from head to toe, always stopping to make sure that I was happy with the designs she was considering. Katie really took the time to get to know my personal tastes, likes and dislikes and really put herself in my shoes when creating my design. It was such a pleasure to work with her and, you know, she sure feels like a friend at this point!

I'm so happy to announce "ta-da!" and unveil the new look here at You Are The Roots, and it's all thanks to Priceless Design Studio!

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2.23.2012

product review + giveaway: lillebaby nordic baby carrier - CLOSED


I had intended to absolutely love wearing my baby. We had three baby carriers even before my son was born, set up and ready to go. To my surprise (shock and horror), baby wearing wasn't like I thought it would be. The big wrap carriers were hard on someone as short as me and with my body type. The others hurt my back and the least painful one, well, Ethan was stuck facing me in it -- and this was not something he enjoyed doing. I was just about to disregard baby wearing as another disappointment that didn't turn out quite like I expected it to until Lillebaby sent me their Nordic carrier to try. What I loved about the Nordic carrier off the bat was that it was a six position ergonomic carrier with the capability to grow along with your child.

When I first put Ethan in the carrier, he was apprehensive about the whole endeavor. He isn't a fan of being worn due to the fact in our other carrier, he is stuck staring at my neck and being totally restricted. Once he realized he was facing outward, he immediately changed his tune. I immediately noticed a difference in the way the weight was distributed with the Nordic carrier. My back didn't hurt and despite my awkward height and body type, the carrier fit in all of the right places. Ethan was secure, snug and content facing outward and exploring the park we were walking through at the time we first tried our Nordic carrier. There was no pressure on my shoulders or back, only the feeling of the carrier fitting properly on my hips.


Like I started saying, I love that this is a six position carrier. Ethan can be worn on my chest, my back, facing forward, facing me and on my side. The hood can be lifted for privacy for a sleeping or feeding baby and there is room for the baby's feet to be tucked in as well. The fact that the carrier can do all of this while being so comfortable is pretty impressive. It really is the only carrier you'll ever need, as it is able to be altered to grow along with your baby and to fit their spine, hip and pelvis growth as they grow. Ethan was content and comfortable as he sat in a way that felt most natural and cozy to him. As he continues to grow, I like knowing that our Nordic carrier provides the option of growing with him to make being worn in it a pleasant experience for him. I'm pretty sad I wasn't able to experience the Nordic baby carrier when Ethan was a newborn, but the carrier is able to hold children up to 42 pounds which means it's with us for the long haul.

BUY IT: The Nordic carrier by lillebaby retails for $80 and can be purchased online or by locating a store near you.



Want to win a Nordic baby carrier of your own? The amazing folks at Lillebaby are offering one of my readers in the US or Canada the chance to win one! This giveaway closes on March 8th. Good luck!


MANDATORY ENTRY: Make sure your e-mail address is visible or included in your comment!
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AND THE WINNER IS...

2.22.2012

eight months.


Ethan is eight months old today. As plans for his first birthday party start to come into focus, I find myself utterly in awe and disbelief that he's this old already. Gone are the days of newborn clothes so tiny that they appear to be made for dolls and here are the days of trying to figure out how my not quite crawling child has brought a handful of clothing hangers inside his ballpit. Eight months is proving to be an age already full of unpredictability and surprises.

At eight months, Ethan is feverishly learning to pull himself up on the bars of his crib and the sides of the couch. Being in the standing position is his favorite thing to do, the smile unable to be wiped off of his face until the moment his legs quiver and he plops himself down into the sitting position. He's still trying his hardest to master crawling, something that both captivates and frustrates him and sucks up all of his attention and determination. He has mastered scooting sneakily around on his belly, figuring out how to spin himself in the direction he needs to be to grab hold of my Blackberry or whatever else he has his eye on. Eight months is the age of unstoppable determination.


He's still a big boy, fully in 12 month clothes at this point and holding strong in his size four diapers. His sleep schedule is becoming just that -- a schedule -- and it's becoming a rarity that he wakes up at all during the night. At eight months, his favorite foods are zucchini, plums and apples, greenbeans and lentils and, most recently, YoBaby organic yogurt. He enjoys trying to feed himself, though it takes a couple of tries before he successfully figures it out, and is starting to seek out more independence than he previously wanted or needed. He's filled with his own opinions, desires and wants, and it's been so incredible watching them play out as he continues to develop his own personality.


He is a busy boy, too, what with his My Gym class, swimming lessons and our Stroller Strides class along with the occasional playdate here and there, but we always make time to snuggle up together and read stories. Those fleeting moments of tranquility as we lay in bed or sit on his glider and turn the pages of our favorite storybooks are my favorite moments of every day. Ethan is also busy developing his own strange sense of humor and once he starts laughing, there's nothing that can curb that laughter. Case in point, there is a collage of photos we had taken of Ethan back when he was a month or two old. He thinks these photos are absolutely hilarious and we can't walk past the wall it hangs on without stopping to smile and laugh at the photos of Ethan "back when he was a baby." At eight months, he has totally found his voice and is constantly singing, babbling and screaming. We have some pretty awesome conversations, of course.

Just when I think it can't get any more fun or incredible, Ethan proves me wrong. I really don't know how anything could be better than this. Life with an eight month old is pretty great.



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2.20.2012

when life goes on quicker than you'd like it to


This evening, I'm tackling a chore that I've been putting off for some time. That chore? Boxing up all of Ethan's baby clothes. I'd rather be scrubbing toilets or unloading the dishwasher than facing these ubiquitous reminders that my little baby really isn't that little anymore. As I fill what feels like endless boxes with duckie pajamas and pastel animal onesies, I feel shocked and stunned upon facing the realization that Ethan is growing up so quickly. His closet is emptied of anything smaller than 12 month sizes and the toddler clothes are quickly making their way towards the front of the closet; quicker, undoubtedly, than I could ever imagine.

This is the quickness of life that we hear about as we grow up. "Don't wish your life away," my mother would shout at me during my teenage years through slammed doors and my constant pleas for more freedom, to be older, to want something more than childhood. I understood her point in recent years, when Ethan was born and during all of his milestones so far. One day he will not need me in the way he does now and I wish for time to all but stop, to slow down, to extend his childhood as much as I possibly can. Yet it's a whole new feeling of shock and amazement as I pack up clothing that holds so many memories, that once held my newborn little boy, and place them into boxes because they are no longer needed anymore. Clothing that I picked up after ultrasounds, on the way home from prenatal appointments, online when I could not sleep because Ethan was having a dance party on my bladder at two in the morning. These clothes are no longer relevant, no longer anything but memories and an example of how quickly time can pass by no matter how badly you don't want it to.


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2.18.2012

green sprouts disposable bibs review and giveaway - CLOSED


It's pretty much no secret that i play and green sprouts are pretty much my favorites so it's been an absolute honor to work with them. Talk about a company who really values their products and the little ones who benefit from them!


My pack of bibs came in the mail just a few minutes before Ethan and I were setting off to meet some friends at the park. I was so excited to try them! Green Sprouts sent me a pack of 10 of their stage 2 (3+ months) bibs to review. I was really excited for these for a few reasons. For starters, these bibs are petroleum free and made from plants. Knowing they're both disposable and good for the planet is a huge plus. With Ethan being big into solids now and requiring a snack once in a while that isn't in bottle form, I've gotten used to packing bibs with me. Maybe it's just me, but when I'm out at the beach or the park with a yogurt-covered bib soaked in sand or dirt, it seems easier to just toss it than carry the filthy rag home in my bag and get into the wash. I've lost count of how many times the soiled bibs cause more of a mess inside my diaper bag that I'm left scrubbing out begrudgingly. These disposable bibs are just so convenient -- and so earth friendly!

Another feature I love is that they have the option of a flip pocket! The flip pocket was perfect to catch crumbs from Baby Mum-Mums without getting them all mushed onto Ethan's pants or legs. I love that these are waterproof and so totally absorbent, as they worked wonders in soaking up the spilled water from Ethan's sippy cup during our walks. They're even antibacterial!


Perfect for the park!


Great for impromptu trips to grandma's house!


We love these bibs and think you will, too! Through February 29th, i play & green sprouts are running a 20% off sale on their winter wear and their disposable products! To take advantage of this sale, visit www.iplaybabywear.com and enter code IPFB12 upon check-out!




Want to win a package of green sprouts' disposable bibs? Here's your chance! The giveaway closes on March 3rd and is open to US/CAN residents!


MANDATORY ENTRY: Make sure your e-mail address is visible or included in your comment!
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AND THE WINNER IS...


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2.16.2012

got a bird that whistles, got a bird that sings

It's extremely rare that I look on our calendar and see a blindingly empty square staring back at me. My immediate reaction is that I've simply forgotten to write down our plans for the morning but, to my surprise, there simply weren't any. I decided that a relaxing day was in order and naturally that meant Ethan and I would end up at Butterfly World.

This is something we used to do all of the time when he was a tiny infant, the fluttering butterflies hovering over him in the stroller helping lull him to sleep. We'd sit on the glider in the rose garden and listen to the sound of waterfalls off in the neighboring gardens, the sounds of birds chirping in the aviary. What a difference a couple of months makes, as when I sat with him on the glider in the rose garden today, he fought his hardest to get down, sit on his own and rock on his hands while staring excitedly at the lorikeets the next exhibit over.

Back "when he was a baby," he was terrified by the very sound of the lorikeets. Today? Today he laughed so very hard each time they squawked that he had hiccups by the time we left the exhibit. Luckily, the lorikeets are very patient little birds and didn't seem to mind Ethan's incessant reaching for them and trying to smother them in slobbery baby kisses. They're a little bit quicker to react than our cats at home, luckily for them.


Ethan has long since been asleep and the house is quiet, but I still hear his crazy belly-deep laughter in my ears. It was a wonderful morning spent exploring nature, taking in the colors of the magnificent little creatures in this world. It warms my heart, really, the respect that he has for nature and animals already. It is one of my greatest hopes for him that this continues on as he grows and he will forever be able to see the beauty in all living things.




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