FTW: Cascade Falls Trail

We never would have thought that having a baby would inspire us to go hiking this much. Maybe it's because if we were to stay at home we'd be at each other's throats, and this seems to be the best post-baby hormone balancer, for the both of us.

Spectacular view of Cascade Lake and Lake Tahoe. 

This last hike was hands down one of the best I've ever been on. The view was incredible and the trail actually felt like a trail vs a paved, fake hike for city people

An example of the path terrain. 

My Girl Likes to Potty all the Time

Since Yaelle was 1 week old, Shobab and I had been associating a loud "Ssssssss" sound in her ear every time she went in her diaper. Finally, this past week (now a little over 9 weeks old), I got around to the next step in her potty training, which is to actually put her on the pot. I was surprised and really excited to find that she immediately began grunting and pushing when I made the "Ssssssss" sound. Within 5 minutes she did both her duties! Majorly proud mommy moment.

Hovering Yaelle over infant potty insert until she's big enough to sit on the potty herself (seen in background).

Infant potty training, otherwise known as Elimination Communication (EC), is a practice that uses timing and cues to address the infant's need to eliminate waste. While it seems almost baby-genius status to us in the western world, it's actually standard practice in non-industrialized countries. My sister practiced it with her boys, which is where I witnessed the success and learned of it myself.

It doesn't take a special baby, or a special mother. All it takes is a little effort on the parent end and the pay back is SO worth it. Yaelle was blowing out a diaper at least 3x a week...which is not fun on the cleanup end. Now, we're taking steps to eliminate that problem. So far, she's only soiled her diaper twice in the past 3 days. The limitation is not on her end, but my job as a mother to anticipate her timing, pay attention to her signals and take her to the potty. 

I felt like it was a huge milestone in our mother-daughter relationship. I also felt like she had been ready for a while, and it was my own laziness and skepticism that kept me from starting this with her sooner. Now, every time she successfully goes in her potty, she gives me huge smiles and coos as a sign of happiness. It's pretty amazing how much awareness infants have than they're given credit for. Eventually, she'll even wait until I take her to the potty, instead of me having to rush her there at the first sign of some action.

I encourage every new mother, and father, to try this with their infant (you may want to google more in-depth how-to's), you'll be surprised how quickly you see results. Although the best time to introduce the practice is in the first 4 months, it's also never too late to start. I'll be going back to work in less than 2 weeks, which will make the consistency of EC challenging, but between mine and Shobab's flexible work schedules, and our hands-on mothers, I think we'll be able to keep up the good work :)

Lastly, below is my nephew at 4 months (now 5 y.o.) demonstrating how much fun potty time can be, in music video form:

Poop Detective

I never thought I would be googling pictures of baby poop...but here I am, comparing photos of poopy diapers to my baby girl's poop. Is the color right? Why is it stringy? Is that normal??

I feel like I've been playing detective for most of this little girls life, analyzing whatever fluids that come out of her little body, making sure it's "normal". And if not, figuring out the remedy without having to deal with a doctor. 

So far, it's seems as though sleep, breastmilk and coconut oil are a cure all for everything. (eg. Breast milk in her eyes (and mine) clears things right up!) 

I can only imagine the things I'll end up googling in the future as she gets bigger...and then if we have a boy?? Probably even more gross ;)