makeup for mommy

Mommies have no time for dressing up and looking nice, but some times it's important to at least try for your own self worth even if you know your baby loves you what ever you look like. Before I became a mom I loved dressing up. I was a girly girl and still am, but now it's about efficiency. 

I seem to have two mommy uniforms. One, sweater and jeans and two, a dress. Everything goes with jeans and dresses, well they go with my personality. With these two types of uniforms getting clothes on my back takes just a minute. It's really the time putting on makeup that I really needed to cut down. 

My cosmetics routine before becoming pregnant was 15 minutes, not lengthy by any means, but I needed to cut down to 5 (10 minutes less of trying to keep my baby from eating the makeup). What do I use? - mineral foundation, a multi-tasking stick for cheeks and lips, and an eye-liner- 5 minutes tops. 

I started using mineral foundation from before pregnancy so I've tried a few brands including the original i.d. bare minerals, fresh minerals, and super market brand l'oreal. By far the best, in my experience, is bare minerals. Unlike what they advertise I don't think these types of powder foundation look more natural than a good expensive liquid foundation, but what I really love about bare minerals is that it has helped the condition of my skin. As I wrote in a previous blog about baby creams, I sometimes have eczema. After I used bare mineral foundation for about two weeks my skin stopped being so irritated. But more importantly I love the mineral foundation because they go on super-fast so I can keep my hands clean for the baby (it's always when you have your hands dirty that you suddenly need to fish something out of your baby's mouth). 

Best products for baby's (and mommy's) skin

It's really hard to know what products you should buy for your baby, especially when he / she hasn't come out yet. Most people stock some diaper rash cream, baby lotion, and baby wash before baby's arrival, which one is the best one for your baby?

We, like a lot of people, got Johnson's and Johnson's products. These were good enough for us when we were young and they also use them at hospitals. In the end though the diaper rash cream didn't work, the lotion too fragrant, and the wash too dry for my baby's sensitive skin. We searched high and low for what's best and here it is. Aveeno, aveeno, aveeno! Aveeno for everything, except Dr. Smith's diaper rash cream is the fastest healing there is. The aveeno lotion, cream, and wash got rid of our baby's eczema and cradle cap. 

I also have some eczema on my face, and my baby's aveeno cream / lotion got rid of that too. Now I can't go back to using my own grown up face cream any more (move over Elizabeth Arden)! Too bad they don't make anti-wrinkle ones.

traveling with baby: Miami

We went to Miami in Jan 2009 when our baby was 15 months old. We flew there from NYC (see flying with baby blog). We decided to go to Miami because we suspect that we'd be going on kiddy vacations like to disneyland soon enough. On this trip we did made a few arrangements to suit our budget and our baby. 

In Miami we rented a condo on Ocean Drive. It's the only way to have a kitchen without breaking the bank, and boy did we need a kitchen! Our baby was going through a big growth spurt at the time and was eating crazy portions every two hours. With the kitchen we could prepare nutritious meals and snacks without spending too much. There were no nearby supermarkets as such but mini-markets could be found a couple of blocks away from Ocean Dr on Washington. These mini-markets had pretty much everything we needed - fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, pasta, sauces, wine (not for baby obviously but an essential nevertheless, lol). I think they also had diapers and and baby food but we brought them with us so we didn't look. 

To stay at a rental on Ocean Drive was magnificent, mostly because we could walk to the majority of touristic places and great restaurants. A block from us, right in front of Ocean Drive there's also a kids playground and of course the beach. There are a few kid-friendly theme parks in Miami like the Seaquarium and Parrot Island. I think they're a lot of fun especially for older kids, but personally I think their prices are extortionate. We also went to the metro zoo, it's a 45 minute drive from South Beach, but it was worth the trip. Firstly the entrance fee wasn't so steep and it's huge. It's so huge that we couldn't cover it by foot (I'm sure we could but it would be so long that our baby would be asleep most of the time). For getting around the zoo we rented a safari cycle, which provided at least half the fun. We saw animals that our baby recognized like elephants, tigers, and giraffes, it was great. Neither me nor my husband had been to the zoo since we were small so we were really pleasantly surprised at how well the animals looked and how much space they had. The only complaint we had as parents was that the cafeteria food was not very healthy, but I don't think that bothered our baby much!

One note I must make about traveling to Miami if you are going to take a taxi cab, bring the car seat. It's illegal for a baby /child to ride a taxi in Miami without a car seat unlike many other cities in the US. Apparently some taxis will take you without the car seat but they would hike up the price because if they get caught they'd have to pay a hefty fine. Personally I think they should make it the law in all cities. It's not convenient but it's the safest way.

Sleep disturbance -Teething

Just as I recently wrote a blog about getting our baby to sleep in her own bed, we get sleepless nights, typical! I think it's mostly due to teething pains, so it's fair enough that our baby should feel the need for having us near her at night when pain is apparently worse.

Teething is one of those things that take some guess work from parents, at least for us. Months before her first tooth came, she was extremely congested. As she was only three months old, we took her to the doctors because we thought she had a cold. At first her doctor thought the same, but the symptoms never cleared and never worsened. So after several weeks her doctor simply declared that she just might be teething. We looked for signs like swollen and red gums, but they were rarely there (three nights in seven months).  The only thing that was constant throughout the teething process is sleep disturbance. 

I am not sure if it's the pain wakes the baby up, but I think it's more likely that it makes it harder to fall back asleep during sleep transitions. On top of that there's the congestion that goes with teething. If it's hard for us adults to sleep when we have a cold, imagine doing it when a pacifier in your mouth ... the only place were you can breathe.

So what did we do to help our baby? Sometimes we gave her infant tylenol (acetaminophen / paracetamol) but most of the time we didn't want to if we were not a 100% sure that it was teething pains. Sometimes, if she's already really awake we'd give her teething toys. Most of the time, we just endured it and tried to think good thoughts! Now our baby almost has a mouthful we know it probably won't be long until the good nights are coming again.

An expat life: having a baby in the USA

With all the negative press about the US and it's reputation in the last decade or so one would expect the US to be a terrible place to bring up your children. What we found out is that the US is fantastic for families. We are having a much more positive experience since our baby's arrival than it was just the two of us here. 

Of course there are cons of living here as there would be in any other country in the world. The most obvious is the maternity leave, or near lack-of. I think it may vary from state to state but here in Connecticut you legally get six weeks off, but some companies may extend it to a couple of months. Compared to the UK where you get nine months leave (where we moved from) and Sweden where you get 18 months paid leave (where my husband is from), it is a real shame on the US government. Having said that the American culture is extremely family driven and many parents I know (moms and dads) are able to negotiate to work from home two days a week. In addition, it's relatively inexpensive to live here compared to other developed countries. We certainly would never survive on one person's wages any where else.

Maternity leave aside, our experience here in the US has almost always been wonderful when it comes to our baby. In connecticut where we are people are kind, friendly, and tolerant when it comes to babies and children. Our baby is mixed-race and I feel like people make much less of an issue about it than when we visit Europe. Another thing I really like is that it's almost always obvious that other parents are trying to bring their children up to be the best people they could be, most people are more polite and mindful of others around their children than when alone. I am sure this is true for all parents but it isn't always obvious when you see a parents cussing and smacking a child on the head, which I have never seen here (but have countless times in the UK).

Because many moms in the US chose to stay at home, there are a variety of moms groups and other social groups for babies and young children. Libraries run free story time, mother-goose, arts, and music programs. Libraries also have safe play areas and toys that can be borrowed as well as books. Playgrounds are aplenty in doors and outdoors, especially compared to Europe. It's also true that Americans are talkative, which is great when you are alone with your baby all the time. All in all, we love it here. Our baby is having a great time and when it's time to move away we'll be taking some great memories with us.

traveling with baby: Cape Cod

In June 2008, we went to Cape Cod with our baby. She was  seven months old at the time and we wanted to vacation in a place where we could drive to. We live near NYC, so Cape Cod was perfect. It took us about six hours of driving and breaks to the very tip of the Cape, Provincetown. With a lot of luck and organization, our vacation was really wonderful. This is how we did it.

The car trip: 

We knew that our baby couldn't possibly be asleep for the whole time (she was sleeping two naps a day at the time) so we brought lots of toys, books, and kid's CDs. We took turns driving and entertaining the baby (it takes a lot of enthusiasm from us as she obviously couldn't get out of her seat). For when she was awake we tried to vary the type of entertainment. We had a toy session, reading session, and singing session, making faces session, and of course a session when we took breaks and went to a shop and a restaurant. Luckily I was still nursing her so we had no milk / food issue. We did bring some baby jar food with us for lunch at the restaurant, but otherwise I nursed her in the car before her naps.

We woke her up at the normal time, had breakfast,nursed her and left. After one and a half hours (when I've used up all our entertainment tricks) we stopped for a rest at a motor-side shop. Then I drove and my husband took a turn at entertaining her for another 45 minutes before we stopped for lunch. We lunched for about an hour, I nursed her in the car and soon she was asleep for two and a half hours. That was when we tried to do most of our fast driving. If you've been to the Cape you'll know that it's impossible to drive very fast in the Cape with one lane roads and low speed limits. It was like a race against time but we got lucky and she woke up just half an hour before we arrived.

The accommodation:

We booked an apartment rental for a week. It was our first time not staying in a hotel, but we thought we'd save money by having a kitchen and also we'd be able to make her the pureed food. Of course by the time we went we found out that she preferred the supermarket jar variety to my home-made purees but we're glad we booked the apartment as it was really beneficial to our baby. When we first got there she didn't like the place, she wanted to go home. This changed as soon as we started to do routine things like taking a shower and cooking. She then understood that it was a home from home. 

The area:

We stayed in the middle of Provincetown ... very busy, but it was great. It was a little loud at night but we put the A/C on fan only and that drowned out the noise and we could all sleep through the night every night. Provincetown has an active gay community so there aren't many locals with kids. Having said that it's a really child-friendly town and there were a lot of families about. Everyone was friendly to us and sweet to our baby. There were an incredible amount of dogs, much to our baby's joy and fascination. It was a relaxing place to be. We strolled the streets, look at art galleries (all are baby-friendly), ate out (certainly baby-friendly but I'm not sure if they have kids' food), and of course went to the beaches! We drove to a nearly vineyard and had a tasting (also baby-friendly). We had a day trip to plymouth and visited the Plimoth plantation. 

All in all it was a fantastic trip, we would recommend it to anyone with a baby!

flying with baby

We flew with our baby a couple of times. Twice to Sweden / Denmark from New York when she was 10 and 14 months old, and once to Florida from New York at 15 months old. We didn't buy our baby a seat for any of the trips (we were trying to be economical), but four out of six flights we could put her in her car seat in an empty seat next to us. Having the baby in the car seat was so incredibly helpful, it made the trips so much easier not to mention that it's also much safer for the baby. Having the car seat there helped her to sleep, which made the trip much more relaxing.

Before we bought our first flight, we were how likely our baby would get a seat without a ticket. Then we talked to an a continental airlines employee and were suggested to call up 24 hours before departure or go check in really early and explain your situation to the staff. If the plane is not completely full, the will most likely make sure that you have an empty seat next to you for your child. Regulations for airlines in the US states that car seats can only be installed on window seats so we made sure that we booked a window seat when we bought our own tickets. Sometimes when we got to the airport the staff was not sure how full the flight would get, but we asked to bring along our car seat to the gate anyway. It's a bit annoying to have to carry the car seat all the way through the airport and then have it gate-checked if there's no empty seat for you baby but I think it's worth a try (obviously my husband is the one lugging the car seat). 

When we traveled to Sweden we found out that some countries outside the US doesn't allow gate-checking for the purpose of safety (in Scandinavia they said it was because in winter it gets so icy and slippery). Luckily we had the baby carrier with us!