Baby’s First Birthday Party – Baby’s First Luau

In Hawaii a baby’s first birthday is a monumental event.  It’s not unheard of for people to spend thousands of dollars on the celebration.  In ancient Hawaiian times, Babies didn’t usually make it to their first birthday so this is an event worth celebrating!

Waikiki Beach

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We just had our son’s Baby’s First Luau.  For us it was also signifigant because we had a miscarriage just before I got pregnant with him, and we know how fortunate we are to be celebrating this first birthday.  We are not living in Hawaii at the moment, so we planned his birth to be at the end of Spring so that his Luau could be during great weather.  We also wanted to have a newborn that we didn’t have to schlep to doctor appointments in the cold.  It was a win win situation.  We had also just returned from taking our boy on his first trip home to Hawaii three days prior.  Our celebration was almost two weeks long.  Or should I say two weeks short?

Every Prince Needs a Crown!

The preparations began with custom invitations with a photo of the Birthday Boy  to let everyone know this wasn’t an ordinary birthday party but a Luau with lots of Aloha.   I’m a die hard vegetarian, but my husband loves the Hawaiian Barbeque so we compromised on the menu.

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Luau Menu

• Vegetarian Enchilada’s with all the fixings, green onions, cilantro, sour cream, avocado’s, my DH home made Salsa and radishes for garnish.
• Barbequed Spare Ribs
• White Rice
• Hot Dogs
• Macaroni Salad
• Tossed Salad with Red Leaf Lettuce
• Tortilla Chips and more of that home made Salsa

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Decorations

• Tiki Torches
• Lei’s given to guests upon arrival with a big Aloha
• Raffia Table Skirts
• Hawaii Decorations
• Ukulele’s
• Tiki Totem’s
• Hula Girls

At one point, the party got really out of hand.

The Big Kids on the Trampoline

Fun for all ages!

Games/Prizes

• Basketball Hoop
• Giant Legos
• Tiki Pinata
• Ballons
• Bubbles
• Sliding Board
• Ball Pit
• Grab Bags with prizes completely filling a baby pool
• Trampoline

I think the biggest hit was between the Pinata, the Trampoline and the Ball Pit.  The kids loved it.

The small but mighty ball pit.

Tiki Pinata

Cake

We went with an Ice Cream Cake.  Those are always my favorite.  The baby had his own little cake with the number 1 on it.  The large sheet cake, (Which I can’t believe it but I didn’t get a picture of it!) said Hau`Oli La Hanau in rainbow colors which means Happy Birthday in Hawaiian.

Note to Mommy, "I don't like ice cream cake".

If you are looking for a theme for your Baby’s first Birthday, a Luau is a fun theme.  It has significant meaning and is steeped in tradition.  Be sure and take lots of pictures.  I think it would have been a better idea to have had a photographer to take pictures.  My husband and I were just grabbing the camera randomly, and that didn’t work out as well as I would have liked.   We didn’t get photo’s of all of the decorations or the games, or even of all of the guests.  I think disposable cameras on each table would have been a nice way to document the day.

Air Travel Tips When Traveling With Infants and Toddlers

Traveling with an infant and or toddler can be difficult.  There is just so much gear to take compared to when you were footloose and fancy free without a baby.  It’s a different type of vacation once you have a baby, but still totally worth it.   The more prepared you are, the more the family will enjoy the flight.

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Pack a lunch box specifically for baby liquids. Air travel is not the way it used to be, and with all the bans on liquids you would think it would be impossible to take what you need for the baby.  Not so, TSA is much more lenient on what you can take for your baby.  As long as it is in one place, you can still take a bottle, cool packs, baby food, and medicine.

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If it is a long flight, make sure you buy the extra seat. It’s not so bad having a lap child (children under 2 years of age are allowed to travel on the parents lap) when it’s a short flight, but when the flight is long no one is happy.  The best configuration is three seats in a row with an adult on each side and baby in car seat in the middle.   The car seat is also the safest place for a child to ride.

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Be sure your car seat is FAA approved. If it is, you will see a label on the side of the car seat marked that the car seat is approved for aircraft.

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Nurse or give the baby a bottle to drink during take off and landing. This will help the baby’s ears to equalize and pop with the change in altitude.  If you are unable to do either of these, at the very least make sure the child is eating something.  The chewing and swallowing will help the child’s ears to pop.  Older children can chew gum to achieve the same effect.

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Dress the baby comfortably and bring a change of clothes. Pajama’s are the best for a long flight.  Flying is uncomfortable for children so their clothes shouldn’t be.  Be prepared for the aircraft to be hot and or cold.  Layer the baby and bring a blanket because you never know what the cabin temperature will be.  You will probably be racing through security and the airport and become extremely hot until you board the plane.  You can always add layers once you get on the plane.

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For an infant, inquire about a bassinet when buying your tickets. Some aircrafts are equipped with bassinets that attach to the wall of the aircraft.  It’s really nice for a baby to be able to lie flat to sleep.  The area with the bassinets are also usually on the bulkhead which has the most leg room.

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Bring lots of snacks! Don’t ever rely on airplane food for yourself or the kids.  If the airline you are flying serves food, think of it as a bonus not a meal.

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Offer the child lots of fluids, before, during and after the flight. Flying causes dehydration.  It’s important to keep your baby or toddler hydrated as much as possible.

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Pack wisely. Do not bring all kinds of things you may or may not need.  After you finish packing go back through your bags and remove as much as possible.  Keep your bags light, the baby and all of his gear is heavy enough.  As a general rule, I try to remove one third of what I packed.  You can always buy what you need when you reach your destination.

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Bring toys, but don’t go overboard. Bring some small toys and a comfort item for the child, but don’t bring big noisy toys they will annoy the other passengers and take up too much space.

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Take the red-eye. If you fly at night, your child can sleep the entire flight, hopefully you can too.

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Don’t sweat it if your baby cries. Most airlines do provide in inflight entertainment, passengers have the option to wear head phones.  Flying can be difficult for a child and you will need to just go with the flow.

Happy Mothers Day!

I really like Mothers Day.  It’s a good day to feel like Queen for the day.  I think I’m the frugal queen though.  Here is our plan for the day:

• My husband and I are taking the baby swimming at the YMCA.  It’s his first time ever!
• I got a coupon for a free panty at Victoria’s Secret so I’m going to cash in on that.
• This weekend is free HBO and Cinemax weekend at DirecTV, so while baby naps hubby and I are going to laze around and watch movies.  I DVR’d a few too, so we should have a pretty good assortment to choose from.

How are you going to spend your Mothers Day?

Gerber’s I Pledge Promotion

Lately Gerber has really been stepping up and adding more ways to keep our babies healthy.  They now have a campaign called “I Pledge”.   Two of the thing that impressed me about this is the 24/7 access to feeding and nutrition experts, and how they promise to continually improve the nutrition of their products.

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When you register and sign up to make a pledge for your own child you will receive a $5 Nestle Good Start Formula Coupon and a $3 coupon for Gerber baby foods and graduates.

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It’s actually a really nice thing to do even if they didn’t offer the coupons.  You can upload up to five photo’s of your child along with your pledge.  You then design an online book and slide show highlighting your pledges.  My first pledge was “To always keep your tummy full and your diapers clean.”

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If you would like to make a pledge and receive some nice money saving coupons you can check out “I Pledge” HERE.

Hypo Allergenic, Chlorine and Latex Free Diapers, Really!

Who does not want the piece of mind you get from a cloth diaper but the ease of a disposable diaper? I believe I found the solution in the eco friendly Company Seventh Generation.  Their motto “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” – From The Great Law Of The Iroquois Confederacy

Back when my son was two months old, (way back when eight months ago) I noticed his diapers always had a strong perfumy odor. They would also be very hot even after they were sitting around for awhile waiting to be disposed of. I couldn’t understand why they stayed so hot, and then I realized it was all of the chemicals in the diapers.

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One day we were out running around, and it wasn’t convienent to change him right away, that day he developed a yeast infection. It’s not like I left him in a dirty diaper all day, I didn’t.  It was just pretty wet.  I decided at that moment that I would try and find a more natural diaper.  Cloth diapers are not for me I tried them with my daughter and with our lifestyle it was just too difficult.

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With Seventh Generation Diapers my son’s dirty diapers smell like urine and not perfume. I really don’t mind that at all but rather prefer it to tell you the truth.  Baby urine is not that strong of an odor anyway.  In my opinion they hold about as much as any other diaper.  They remind me of almost a cloth diaper because they are more like paper than plastic, something that I know is much better for my baby’s skin.  Ever since we tried these chlorine free diapers my son has never had another issue with a yeast infection.  These diapers are also hypo allergenic and latex free which are two more reasons to use them.

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Everything comes at a price. These are not the cheapest diapers in the world I will tell you that but there are ways around it.  I was buying the diapers at the grocery store for $13.99 for a pack of 35 diapers.  He’s a size three…  Being the money saving person that I am I started doing some research.  I found that Babies R Us carries them at the cheapest price of $11.99 not only that, but they always have some sort of sale going on for the Seventh Generation Products.  Right now the sale is $5 off $25 of Seventh Generation Products.  The Seventh Generation Website also has coupons available for their products where you can save additonal money.  I have a coupon right now for $2 off so I will be buying three packs of diapers @ $11.99 each = $35.97 – $7 = $28.97  I saved about $13 that way instead of buying them at the grocery store.

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.Now I am saving money, using environmentally friendly diapers that are not harming my child but yet I still have the ease of a disposable diaper.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Booty Caller – Modern Ovulation Predictor

BabyCenter will send alerts directly to your phone when you are ovulating.  How’s that for bringing technology into the bedroom?  You can get up to three messages per menstrual cycle.  It may also be a way to tell when to be extra careful to not get pregnant.  This is a free service you can try it out HERE!  Standard text messaging rates may apply.

Help For Light Sleepers

I don’t know about you, but my 10 month old son is a light sleeper.  All those things people say about making noise to teach your baby to sleep through anything never worked for us!  One little noise and he is wide awake.  He likes to sleep, but he needs the perfect atmosphere.  He will sleep 12 hours through the night, and take a nice two hour nap in the morning and a nice two hour nap in the afternoon.  But, there are some things I need to do for him to “sleep like a baby”.

Blackout Curtains – These really do the trick.  They make the room completely dark.  They add a little sound proofing to the room, and they look great.  These curtains really help fight drafts from coming in the window by adding a little extra insulation.

A Sound Machine – I knew I could never get one that played the sound of the ocean or birds chirping or anything like that.  Any change in pitch and my little guy is up looking around.  This sound machine is great, it makes white noise that sort of sounds like a fan.  You have the sound of the fan without the cold air blowing or the dust.  I turn it on high, and open the vents to the max so it can make as much noise as possible.

The first few nights with the sound machine I turned it on outside his door with his door closed.  I figured he could get used to it slowly.  Then I placed it on his dresser on low.  I have found the best way to keep him sleeping the deepest and for the longest amount of time is to keep it on his dresser on high.
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For me it’s very important that my baby get the best sleep possible.  He is doing so much growing at this stage of his life.  It is also really nice to get those breaks during the day.  I’m so happy I have found these products, they have made our entire family happier.

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A Baby Monitor For Your IPhone?

So you leave your IPhone next to the baby, and when a noise is made the phone dials a pre-programed number that you pick, to allow you to hear the sound.  Interesting concept, but I don’t think I would like to be away from my phone.  What if it rings and wakes the baby?  The video isn’t the best to let you know the quality.  But for $4.99, it’s worth a try…

Dollar Store Pregnancy Tests

For any of you out there wondering if the Dollar Tree $1 Pregnancy Tests are accurate, I have a friend who is a nurse and says they are very accurate.  I was on a forum, and one poster said, “If I take one $18 test, or 18 $1 tests, I think the 18 tests will be more accurate.”

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If you are trying to conceive those tests can really add up each month why not buy them on the cheap?  You can buy a case of 72 for $72 on the website.

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I used one of these tests to test if I was pregnant with my son.  It read positive, and I was indeed pregnant.  From what I have researched, you may be able to have a false negative, but it’s not likely that you will have a false positive reading.

Help For Babies with Colic

I badly neglected this blog.  Why?  Because my son was plagued with colic.   

At six weeks he stopped taking naps, and the only way he would not cry in pain was if I took him out in the sling or baby bjorn and walked for hours around the neighborhood.  I was running on four hours of sleep per night for months.  Then I tried acidophilis and he SLEPT.  Not only did he sleep, but he slept GREAT.  He is six months old now, and I don’t need to give him as much acidopilis, but it turns out he’s a great sleeper and a happy baby.  He sleeps twelve hours straight at night, and naps three to five hours during the day.  The second biggest benefit to all of this is I feel like a human being again.  The first benefit is that my son is happy and feeling good. 

Acidophilis is also known as Lactobacillus acidophilus.  It is a probiotic that has good bacteria to help with intestinal digestion.  I use a liquid brand that is not even formulated exclusively for babies.  There is a formulation for babies, but I never used it.  My son sucks the acidophilis down and cries for more.  I just follow the instructions on the bottle and give him “the recommended amount for children under two years of age”.

When I spoke to my baby’s doctor about him not taking naps (imagine a new born sleeping a total of seven hours a day) she told me “Some babies just don’t need naps.“ . This from a pediatrician!  I was so frustrated by this explanation.  Of course he needed naps.  He was miserable and growing at an astounding rate.  How can a human being function and grow without enough sleep?  I set out to find the answer on my own.  Bedraggled and exhausted, I had no one to help me with this screaming child other than my husband when he would come home from his ten hour work day.   I was on my own with the night time feedings, I do most of my work from home so I had no one to help me there either.  I would wake up at 4:30 each morning to get my work done before the baby woke up at 6:30.  What a mess, I couldn’t even remember my name.  I’m so glad that is over now, and the payback of a sleeping baby that I have now is priceless.

Another natural remedy that I tried was Gripe Water.  The gripe water is a formulation of dill, fennel, ginger, chamomile, and others.  The Gripe Water did help, but mostly it was best for my sons gas.  He definitely got relief from the gripe water, but he would usually vomit a lot of phlegm afterward.  I still use the gripe water occasionally when he has gas and it works great, but it does not relieve him to the point where he can relax and go to sleep like the acidophilis.

Maybe I should have named this post, “Who knew I had a wonderful baby?  Thank you acidophilis.”