Thursday, July 30, 2009

Natural Remedies for Newborns

While Moses has overall been a much easier baby than the twins were, he did have a few issues we never encountered the first time around. Several people have asked how we treated these minor maladies, so I thought I'd share our natural remedies before I forget them.
Dr. Bronner's Organic Peppermint Soap
Baby Acne
The most effective treatment I found was washing his face and scalp with Dr. Bronner's Organic Peppermint Soap every morning. Then later in the day I'd wipe the affected areas with a Witch Hazel-soaked cotton ball.

Weleda Calendula Body Wash Cradle Cap
When he was a few weeks old, Moses developed a classic case of combination skin- his face was oily but his scalp was dry. Ever since I started washing his hair with Weleda Calendula Body Wash, he hasn't had any dry scalp issues.

PB8 Probiotics Yeasty Tongue
Moses had a yeasty white tongue as a result of being pumped full of antibiotics (that he probably didn't even need) while he was in the NICU. To get rid of it, I sprinkled PB8 Probiotics on his tongue after every feeding, or as often as I remembered to. This cleared up Moses' tongue in no time and I never got thrush!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Snowman Music

One day a couple months ago I randomly decided to play our Tschaikovsky's "Nutcracker" CD. As soon as he heard it, Caleb exclaimed, "It's snowman music!" At first I was confused as to why he called it "snowman music", but then it occurred to me that they must have heard this music on their winter-themed Baby Einstein DVD (which, by the way, they haven't viewed in well over 2 years).

When we first started listening, Caleb would ask, "deh deh?" at various times throughout the piece. (Yes, we are working on getting them to ask "what's that?" in lieu of saying "deh deh?" but it's turning out to be a long, grueling process.) He wanted to know what was making the noises at different times throughout each piece. Hearkening back to my days in the school band and orchestra, I attempted to guess which instruments were making which noises and relayed my dubious knowledge to Caleb. Our conversations sounded something like this:

Caleb: "Deh deh?"
Me: "Ummmm... I think those are violins."
Caleb: "Deh deh?"
Me: "Those are flutes."
Caleb: "Deh deh?"
Me: "Ohh, I don't know. Cellos?"
Caleb: "Deh deh?"
Me: "That's silence."
Caleb: "They're resting, Mommy."

Caleb and Joshua ask to listen to "snowman music" on almost a daily basis now. Caleb is now pretty good at identifying the intruments on his own. Whether or not they're the correct instruments is debatable, and I fully accept responsibility for any errors he makes in the identification process. The part that always seems to fascinate him the most, however, is the silence (probably since silence is such a foreign concept to our boys!) Caleb still likes to ask "deh deh?" when the music stops, and he and Joshua will proceed to discuss between themselves the fact that the lack of noise is silence and that it means that "the instruments are resting."

Friday, July 17, 2009

Moses is 5 Months Old

Moses is 5 months old today! Joe expressed my sentiments perfectly when he said, "It seems to have gone by quickly, but at the same time it feels like he's been part of the family since the start."

People keep asking me how much Moses weighs, so I took the boys to Bed Bath & Beyond this afternoon to find out (since we don't have a scale at home). Moses weighs 20 pounds, which is more than double his (substantial) birth weight. He is over the 95th percentile for weight. Today was the first time I've ever been able to get the twins to cooperate and stand on a scale, so I went ahead and got their weights, too. Caleb weighs 39 lbs and Joshua weighs 42 lbs. Caleb is just below the 90th percentile and Joshua is just over the 90th. So the consensus is that we've got some pretty big boys!

Moses is beginning to exhibit a bit of separation anxiety when he's away from me. Last night we left Moses with Mimi and Papa while Joe and I took the boys swimming, as we often do. He was asleep when we dropped him off, and when he woke up, he apparently cried a good 15 minutes straight until we came to pick him up. Mimi remarked that it was the first time she'd ever actually seen him crying hard. That's pretty impressive, considering all the crying she witnessed on a regular basis when the twins were babies! Moses behaved similarly when we were at Granny and Babo's house last weekend- he would start crying if I wasn't holding him or if he couldn't see me.

Moses isn't sitting up on his own yet (except for a few seconds, like when I placed him on the scale to weigh him) but I'm sure he will be soon. He is at the phase where he's grabbing everything in sight and becomes frustrated if he can't have the object of his desire, particularly watermelon slices which I occasionally let him taste (his only non-breastmilk food yet). He likes to flap his arms around and when he hits you, it hurts! He is still a remarkably good-natured baby, and his older brothers continue to adore him, play with him (they like to play pat-a-cake with his feet), and look out for his well-being. If I let an unfamiliar person hold Moses (for example, at church), the boys grow very concerned and say, "Want Mommy to hold Moses? Want Mommy go get Moses?" Likewise, Moses looks out for his older brothers. Moses became very concerned when he saw Joshua and Caleb "wrestling" with Babo. Eventually he realized that they were just playing, and then he started smiling and undoubtedly looks forward to being able to join in on the fun someday, too.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Elmo's Eyes

Elmo's Eyes

Most people know this character as "The Money You Could Be Saving" if you switched to Geico. Caleb and Joshua, however, see it as "Elmo's Eyes". They first met Elmo's Eyes on a billboard on Route 1 that we drive by on our way home from church. Months later, they giddily anticipate the billboard even before it appears on the horizon, and as soon as it peeks out from behind the trees, they scream, "It's Elmo's eyeeeeeees! Elmo's eyes on top of the money! Elmo's eyeeeeeeees!" at the top of their lungs and erupt into uproarious laughter.