Genelle, Jeff, Heather & Edward

This is the game that Apple put out as an example code for the iPhone. Its kind of like Tetris, but the object is to line up like colored balls and eliminate them from the screen. Its pretty fun.

OK all I can say to this is don’t laugh. Consider two babies cruising around with little balance and caution….and well after a few giggles if you have a baby call me and I will tell you where I got these

Heather just loves having her picture taken.

Not so Edward - I snapped him by surprise first and from then on it was down hill. Once he realizes I am taking pictures he will do everything to avoid the dreaded flash - even though I have the flash off most of the time

A few of my coworkers are in the process of having babies and asked me for some tips. I made a list of 15 items and ideas. Here they are:

1. Baby Einstein videos. My kids love them. They sometimes are mesmerized by the kids and toys on screen. Now that they are almost 9 months old, they also work as a good way to get them calmed down for bed if they are being over active.
2. Nature’s Touch Baby Papasan Cradle Swing by Fisher Price — my daughter still likes it, my son not as much but he will sit in it while drinking a bottle.
3. If you have 2 cars that you want to put your child in, consider the Graco car seats with the bases. Makes it easy as they just snap in and out of the bases. That also allows you to easily carry your child in the car seat when you go into stores. They also make strollers that you can snap the Graco car seat in and out of.
4. Fisher-Price Soothing Motions Glider - our kids lived in these when they were new borns.
5. Consider buying 2 of some things. For example, maybe two bassinets, one for where they sleep and one for a living/room kitchen area or similar place where you spend a lot of time so you don’t have to carry things around all the time.
6. little foam head pillows and rolling stoppers – now that pediatrics recommend babies sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs to avoid SIDS, their risk of developing flat headedness is greater. These foam pillows help you position the baby so he/she can sleep comfortably
7. Boppy pillows. We never used them for nursing, but they are great for baby tummy time and make a good neck pillow for dad. Also are nice to sit the baby in when they are sitting on the floor as they sometimes fall backwards and “bop” their heads
8. Bumbo Chairs – help babies sit up right when they can hold their heads up by themselves.
9. Try out multiple brands of bottles. We tried 4 cause we had a bunch as gifts and settled on a bottle that our babies liked best and avoided all but about 2 weeks of colic. Same for pacifiers. Our babies like the Gerber ones the best.
10. Get a Thumper Massager from Sharper Image. While carrying the baby you may use muscles that have never been used before. Also during our short colic phase I propped the thumper between the twins car seats and vibrated them to sleep. (others day use the washer or drive in the car, but this worked for me)
11. Get ready to freak out when your baby finally sleeps through the night. You might be thinking, hey that will be great, cause I won’t have slept more then 2-3 hours at a time. However you’ll be awake the whole time poking them making sure they are still breathing cause you can’t believe they are sleeping still!.
12. Don’t make your house too quiet. Sure sudden noises will wake your baby but the TV, normal talking, doorbell, etc shouldn’t. Get your baby used to sleeping in non-quiet places (our babies always passed out in noisy restaurants) and you won’t be living in a “silent prison” for the next couple years.
13. Books: What to Expect When Expecting and What To Expect the First Year will save you a frantic trip or call to the doctor when you are unsure of something. Very good resources.
14. Get lots of the hand sanitizer gel in the easy to use pump dispensers. Our friends have a 2 year old that is fascinated with the babies and it wasn’t even hard to train her to disinfect her hands before she came over to touch the babies.
15. BOB Stroller – good for off road and on. Best however after your baby can sit up (~6-10 mos)

When I get more time I will link the products up at Amazon or other stores online.