Diaper Review, size 1-2

We used 204 size 1-2 diapers, a gentle step between size 1 and size 2. Size 1-2 diapers are between size 1 and size 2 diapers, and are rated for 8-18 pounds. The folded height on a Pampers Swaddlers diaper size 1-2 is half an inch shorter than the size 2, but otherwise the same. We used them when he was 12 and 13 pounds, using the last one the day before he turned 3 months old.

Overall, in diapers, we've had the best luck with Huggies and with Pampers. The most effective diapers are soft, so that they curve into baby shape easily. My favorite diaper is the Pampers Swaddler because it's soft, because the stretch waist helps hold it on despite lack of booty, and finally because they support Sesame Street (I like Disney, but Sesame Street rates higher, possibly because I grew up on it).

Since size 2 diapers also run up to 18 pounds and we probably won't see that until around 32 weeks, I can buy size 2 diapers in bulk now. (It's risky in the smaller sizes. I met a 20-week-old baby already in size 3 diapers, and his mom had to exchange size 1 diapers from her shower for size 2 in the first month!) Then again, I've been happier when he's not at the high end of the weight range for his diapers, so I might step up by 16 pounds which should be around 26 weeks of age. Or, if he keeps nursing at this rate, assuming I hold together, maybe next week. He seems quite intent on growing right now at 15 weeks!

Stationary Activity Center

Sunday we went shopping for a stationary activity center (a walker that doesn't move around the room, which would be dangerous with our stairs, and frustrating on our carpet). Mainly we looked at the Intelli-tainer and the ExerSaucer Mega. I know that you're not supposed to use these until after the baby is 4 months old, and that walking is developmentally delayed presumably because the baby can't see his feet. I was trying not to want one of these! However, when I saw such a happy baby face after a store test, I knew we would bring one home.

The questions to answer before buying one (other than, Does he like it when you set him in there?) are:

• What are the maximum ratings for child height and weight?
• Are the toys and batteries (if applicable) replacable? Both replacements combat child boredom.
• For the noise toys, is there a volume switch as well as an off switch? This will save your sanity.
• Is the height adjustable so it can "grow" with the child?
• How well does it pack for travel to Granma's?

We got the Intelli-tainer. It doesn't collapse for travel like the ExerSaucer Mega, and the height doesn't adjust as easily (if you call that an adjustment!) either, but there's a better chance of seeing feet so we got it. Now that we've got it, the report is that the seat moving parts don't glide as well as the store demo, as well as we would like. To deal with the height adjustment simply, I placed a short box under his feet.

The report is that he loved "standing on his own" so I too had 20 minutes to stand on my own (happy back!) in a room with him awake! That's saying something!

Reformat Memory Card

Problem: The Compact Flash memory card (Type II, 2.2 Gig, named MAGICSTOR) in my camera refused to work in my camera or to mount under Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4 or Windows XP one day, so I wanted to reformat it, to start over with a clean slate. (I only lost one picture, one that will be easy to shoot again.) Of course this happened when I was rushing to pack. How did my camera know I was leaving town? However, reformatting a drive that won't mount isn't easy. (DOS didn't do it.) Here's how I reformatted it anyway.

Warning: Be sure you know what you're doing before you run any of these Terminal commands yourself! You can guess that eraseDisk is dangerous, but newfs for a new file system isn't innocuous either.

Solution: First I opened Console (on my G4 MDD running 10.3.9), to read the error messages. This is a good place to start in general! From Console, I saw an error message about mounting disk3, which is all I needed to know to proceed! I ran this command in Terminal:

diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS MAGICSTOR disk3

I could have named it anything up to 11 characters, not just MAGICSTOR. Again, it was disk3 in my case, but you'd need to be sure before trying this yourself!

After that, I was eager to see if this drive would work in my camera again. My camera offered to format it, so I did that. Otherwise I would have tried this next:

newfs_msdos -v MAGICSTOR -F 16 /dev/rdisk3s1

To write a new file system, you must use the rdisk ("real disk") instead of the interpreted disk. Since I made one partition, everything was on s1 ("slice 1"). The -F 16 formats it as a FAT16 partition, which is what I think digital cameras want.

Mail.app and server mailboxes

I keep trying to like Apple's Mail.app (because it is well-integrated and simple) but it keeps showing "features" that annoy me. Mostly I don't like the "one big happy INBOX" view of my three IMAP accounts. I have different accounts for good reasons, and if I wanted them mixed together, I would forward all mail into one account! I can deal with selecting the different INBOXes, though. I like most of the UI of Mulberry, but I wanted junk mail filtering with the least input from me. I tried Thunderbird and liked the adaptive junk mail filtering, but it doesn't bounce messages and it doesn't feel nimble on OS X.

Software: Mail.app 2.0.3

Problem: The latest Mail.app "feature" was showing all files in one of my Unix accounts as mailboxes when they're not; my mail is in ~/mail.

Solution: I went to Mail's Preferences, and clicked on this account. Under the Advanced tab, there's a message to "check with your system administrator before changing any of the advanced options below" so I ignored those options on the first pass. However, the fix was in there! I added ~/mail to IMAP Path Prefix, and then it looked a whole lot better! So now we'll see if I can stick to Mail.app this time (I've never even made it a whole day before).

UPDATE: No, I didn't make it a full 24 hours this time either. I'm back to Thunderbird for the adaptive junk mail filter, with some forays to Mulberry for the extended feature set with messages.

Third Month

The third month is about the same as the second month. I miss the simplicity of the first month!

Development

The best play this month is eye contact! For that, you get big smiles and silent laughs! He also enjoys nose-to-nose rubbing and belly tickling. Holding him upright also delights him, but that could be a reflux thing.

We could start translating his cries this month so some days were easier than the second month.

Layette

He's finally filling out his 0-3 months clothing, but no real changes.

Nursing

A button-down shirt works, but to look nicer in public yet nurse more discretely, a nursing top is better.

I used my breast pump, to practice for going back to work, and to relieve pressure on the rare (maybe two) days he didn't nurse as much as usual. He really doesn't like the bottle (NO nipple confusion!), and he completely rejects the pacifier.

Sleeping

Still no sleeping improvements. We had to give up on the SwaddleMe now that he's bigger and stronger. The Amazing Miracle Blanket works a little better than the blanket because it usually captures his arms. He always gets one leg out, and he always wakes himself up if he get an arm out.

When he's really fussy at night, the only thing that works is bringing him in bed with me. He loves the a la carte dining with the skin contact, while I love getting back to sleep. Yes, I know this is discouraged, but I reached a point where it seems reasonable to do if we're both happy and we're both getting something we want.

The larger swaddle that fits him is essential to longer periods of sleep between feedings. Also, two other things sometimes help him sleep longer at night. First, if I "fill his tank" just before bed, he might sleep longer. Sometimes. And secondly, I have to make sure he doesn't spend too much time (over 5 hours) napping during the day.

Furniture

The bouncer chair is handy, so he can watch us eat (so we can eat without holding him), but he still doesn't care for the vibration or for the toys. We carry him from room to room in it. The rocking motion of the swing sometimes soothes him when he's over-tired but not too fussy yet, but since that's a small window, it's usually used to hold clothes.

The Tiny Love mobile on his crib is responsible for letting me take several showers: he loves to watch it and listen to the music! We have the one with animals that I think is the cutest (although the bird looks deranged).

Travel

I got a travel bad and an inflatable My Breast Friend nursing pillow for a business trip at three months. The travel bed is very handy, but he'll clearly outgrow it soon, so judge accordingly. The inflatable nursing pillow was perfect for airplane travel! I like the lumbar support. I use Boppy when I sit in a chair with lumbar support, and I use My Breast Friend when I sit in a chair (or on our couch) without lumbar support.

Mom

I noticed my hair falling out this month, after getting even thicker than normal (but softer) while pregnant. My hair is also much darker than before because incidental sun exposure has more effect on my hair color than I knew. I've been inside much more than ever this summer. My baby is related to me, and I've gotten sunburns in 5 to 10 minutes before. Really! And I'm not a redhead, and not really a blonde anymore either. I don't want him to have his first sunburn at this age.

Total weight loss: down 9 pounds. I haven't had time for exercise this month, and I know that will catch up with me soon in the form of increased weight, decreased energy, and increased aches and pains.