Last night Graham and I had a great time playing with Nate. It is starting to feel like he isn’t going to be a baby forever…he seems more and more each day like a kid, especially when we get him laughing.

Graham was tickling him and it’s hard to explain, but he does this, “NUMNUMNUMNUM” thing with his mouth and scruffy face on Nate’s tummy and he squeals and laughs like it is the most hilarious thing that has ever happened in the entire history of the world, which, I suppose in his case, is true.

At one point Graham flipped Nate up, end over end and he was upside-down for a brief moment.

“Ohhh, I don’t like it when he’s upside-down like that,” I said.

“Why not?” Graham asked.

“I don’t know…he’s still too little.”

“Well, he spent nine months upside-down inside of you,” he replied.

I paused.

“You’ve got a solid point, there,” I answered.

And on that note, Happy Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful mothers, old and young, new and seasoned, that I know. I am so proud to have joined your ranks!

Nate is still teething. The drooling has reached epic proportions, really. Most days he doesn’t seem too bothered, but he’s nearly always got a couple of fingers or his whole hand in his mouth or jamming his blanket or bib in there to gnaw on. I had bought him a few little teethers to keep in the fridge, but it’s kind of a pain to keep putting them in the fridge to cool, and they were kind of small for Nate to grab onto, anyway. So when I was approached by BornFree to see if Nate would like to try out one of their silicone teethers, I was all for it.

The teether we got to try was pink, but as I told BornFree, Nate is totally confident in his masculinity and so pink would be fine.

I like the teether because it’s big enough for Nate’s little hands to grab onto easily. And it doesn’t matter where exactly he grabs it, because there are either ridges, bumps or a gum brush on all parts of the teether.

Nom, nom, nom.

We also got to try out one of BornFree’s plastic bottles. We normally use Avent bottles and nipples for feeding, so I wasn’t sure how Nate would take to a different bottle. The nipple, fortunately, was very similar in shape to the Avent nipples, so he took it right away, without any trouble. The bottle comes with a few extra parts that make up an anti-colic vent. It seemed like Nate spit up a little less after using the BornFree bottle, which may have had something to do with this vent. I wasn’t looking forward to having these extra parts to clean, but if it means that we will have fewer spit-ups, I think it might be worth the extra work.

All of BornFree’s products are BPA-free. If you don’t know about BPA,

Bisphenol- A (BPA) is a chemical compound that is a key ingredient in the creation of polycarbonate plastic, a hard, clear plastic used widely in consumer products, including baby bottles and food containers. … Research also suggests that BPA may act as an endocrine disruptor, a substance which mimics natural human hormones and could cause developmental and neurological problems in children such as early puberty, and attention disorder syndromes.

In Canada, it is legislated that all baby bottles and food containers imported or sold are to be BPA-free. For those of you in other countries, getting your bottles and feeding containers from BornFree means all of yours will be, too!

I’m giving away a twin-pack of Born-Free 9 oz. bottles. To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post over the weekend, providing a tip for teething babies (and us moms of teething babies). I will randomly select a winner and announce it on Monday!

(Also, BornFree is having a Mother’s Day Baby Shower Contest…the prize is $150 worth of BornFree products. Details about how to enter can be found here.)

The weather here today is gorgeous. Graham got me a rechargeable battery for one of the baby monitors so I could take it outside and do some gardening while Nate naps, so I did just that. Then he woke up and I thought, “Why do we have to stay inside now?” We don’t. We didn’t.

I brought the exersaucer and a blanket and some toys out into the yard and set them up near the swing set under our big red maple.

There’s a lot to look at outside in the yard…trees, grass, birds, flowers…or just the sky.

You can still practice crawling on a blanket on the lawn.

Swing, swing, swing.

This is going to be a fun summer.

The last few times we’ve gone grocery shopping I’ve started thinking about how nice it will be when Nate can sit up front in the cart instead of having to lug the car seat into the store. The little dude is getting heavy. I won’t try it until he can sit up on his own, of course.

Since becoming a mom, I’ve become much more aware of “germs”, an outdated term for what the cleaning industry now refers to as bacteria. I wash Nate’s bottles in a plastic basin instead of the kitchen sink. I wipe down surfaces with a green multi-purpose cleanser. I’m eyeballing my floors and dreading the amount of vacuuming and cleaning that is sure to come my way once he becomes mobile. And those shopping cart handles. They’ve got to be pretty gross, right?

Somebody came up with an invention in the time since I was a kid…shopping cart covers. I managed to survive beyond toddlerhood in spite of being placed in a shopping cart without some sort of protective barrier between my skin and the cart. What was my mother thinking?!

I kind of think this kind of thing really isn’t necessary. It’s another piece of baby gear that the baby gear industry wants us to believe we can’t live without. I am all for cleaning hands and wiping things down with an antibacterial wipe, and that’s as far as I plan to go.

It turns out you have all kinds of opinions on the matter!

I hopped onto Twitter and asked: “Are shopping cart covers really necessary? I can’t help but think we are overprotecting our kids from germs…what do you think?”

You answered:

@jugglananda: O, a shopping cart cover. I prefer to drive through the store window with my suv..for max germ protection!

@nicolby: I’m not using anything, maybe a wipe down or something, but really, babies need to be exposed to some germs.

@jugglananda: I use a douvet to cover myself while shopping. Nice colours, warm….better than a robe.

@kittenpie: that’s the joy of parenting – so many different opinions, so you have to go with what feel right to you.

@ErinEPeters: depends on the kid, too. I’m blessed w/very healthy kids, so didn’t take as many precautions. Some need more protection.

@jennscrzy: only time i ever used a cover is when my youngest was too big for an infant carrier but couldn’t sit up- it acted as support

@jennscrzy: i think the covers are pointless- not like our parents had them for us.

@sthrnfairytale: I never used any kind of cover and occasionally used wipes or a spray

@nicolby: we don’t have a shopping cart cover and don’t plan on getting one.

@kittenpie: yeah, I’m with you. Some exposure helps breed strong kids.

@themaggers: now, that’s not saying they aren’t dirty. What kept us from getting sick all the time back then

@thecaffeinatrix: Hundreds of ppl a week touch those handles, which are never cleaned by stores, plus leaky diapers, leaky meats etc in the seats

@phdinparenting: We never used one. I wore my babies when they were little and after that didn’t worry about it.

@themaggers: we never had that kind of stuff when I was little. No car covers no hand sanitizer no table covers. I was rarely sick

@jenlemen: I agree with u. Overkill. I attribute my travelers stomach of steel to a come what may attitude to germs.

@rotormommy: we don’t use them. I think people are being overly paranoid about germs. plus I just wear Elliot when we are out like that anyway

@beautifulwreck2: Fecal matter has been found on the seats and handles of grocery carts.

@ErinEPeters: I found the covers waaaay too much trouble to put on. Just use an antibacterial wipe on the cart handle and you’re good to go.

@solemom: I think absolutely NOT necessary. Exposure to germs is a good thing – bodies need practice to learn how to fight things off!

@MariaMelee: We used them with S because of the possibility of food more than germs. But those shopping carts are pretty nasty.

@beautifulwreck2: Absolutely we need them. Have you ever seen a show where they tested what was on the grocery cart? Gross.

Honestly, I still don’t plan to use one. I’ll pick up some antibacterial wipes to keep in the car and wipe the cart down before Nate goes in. I can’t protect him from every little germ out there…I really do think that when kids are overprotected they end up getting sick a lot more often.

Mommy! You let me put another kid’s Eeyore in my MOUTH! How COULD you!?

So what do you think?

It was last Tuesday night. Well, technically it was Wednesday morning. It was five o’clock on Wednesday morning. Nate had just been fed a bottle around 2:30. I didn’t think he could possibly be hungry again already. I had tried to comfort him in his crib, and managed to settle him for a few minutes. Until I got back into bed, of course, at which time he began to wail again.

“Did you just come from his room?” Graham asked groggily.

“Yes,” I answered. “There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just going to have to cry for a few minutes,” I went on. I was tired.

Ten minutes went by and Nate still hadn’t gone back to sleep. My patience was wearing thin.

“I’m never going to sleep longer than two hours at a time EVER AGAIN!” I stormed angrily down the stairs to the kitchen to make a bottle.

The next morning I decided it was time. It was time for Nate to try some solid food. I had been keeping track of how much he’d eaten over the last few days and he was averaging about 38 oz. of formula over a 24-hour period.

Wednesday when we got up, I asked some friends for advice about starting to add some solid foods to Nate’s cereal, and I had a few different jars on hand that a friend had passed along to us. I started with sweet potatoes. I mixed them into Nate’s oat cereal about half-and-half.

I expected him to make a face when he tried his new food, and although he definitely noticed something was different, he didn’t skip a beat. He ate it right up. He had some more that night before bed with his bottle.

That night, he slept from 11:30 until 5:30 STRAIGHT, the longest stretch of continuous sleep he’d ever had. Since then he’s been doing pretty well. Most nights he still wants to eat every three to four hours up until 1:30 or 2:00, and then he’ll sleep until 7:30 or 8:00.

He had sweet potatoes every day for four days, and then I tried green beans yesterday, which he also ate up.

I think he’s going to be a great little eater!