Diapers leaking, diaper blowout, diaper rash... we've all been there! It's frustrating, it's expensive, and it's downright disgusting!! What to do?? You ask your friends, your family, and of course Google! What answers have I found? Let's see:

Diapers are leaking? 1st of all, make sure you pull those damn ruffles out around the legs. I found this out the hard way after a few days home with my newborn baby! Still leaking? Well, maybe they're too small - go up a size!! Or maybe they're too big, go down a size! OMG seriously?? You know what I found? Sometimes it's not the size but the actual cut. Huggies, for example, did not fit my newborn son at all! The legs were gaping on him, so of course he leaked poo out like there was no tomorrow. But I had friends who found Huggies worked great, and it was Pampers that leaked terribly. If only there were one perfect fit diaper for all babies, but of course that would be too easy. Definitely worth checking out Miny Moe diaper samplers - each sample pack includes 6 brands (Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, Earth's Best, Walmart Parent's Choice, Target Up & Up) so you can try them all - bish bash bosh!!

Diaper blowout, now there is a fun one. Make sure those diapers are on snug, I mean SUPER snug, like cinched in at the waist to the point of looking uncomfortable (but make sure it's not actually uncomfortable - hmmm that should be easy right?). The first few months, especially in exclusively breast fed babies, those poos are completely liquid and ridiculously explosive. Even the best of diapers will be bested once or twice. I found that my little one blew out in certain positions more than others. Most often it was when he was sitting on my lap, perhaps the pressure of my knee of whatever it was when the poo shot out forced it all to go straight up the back, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay up the back, like up to his neck! Yikes. You can always give the Blowout Blocker a try. If nothing else, it's a freaking awesome name for a product!! I would have tried it but didn't discover it until my little one's blowouts seemed to have subsided.

Diaper Rash? It could be the diaper itself causing this - either the make up of the diaper or it's not absorbing and whisking away moistness as well as it should, in which case you should switch to another brand (try Miny Moe's diaper sampler!). Some people swear by smearing on Desitin after every diaper change, but I'm wary of the chemicals in there. I make sure to change my little one's diaper as soon as I notice he's gone poo, though I have to give him a few minutes or else I'm likely to get a little surprise of more poo in the middle of changing him. Every once in a while he'll get a little bit pink down there, and then I let it air dry a few minutes after each change and then smear on a bit of Burt's Bees Diaper Ointment or Pure Hazelwood Zinc Ointment. The pinkness is usually gone the next day.

So mamas and papas out there in the Internets... what diaper dramas and solutions have you come across!! Please share your wisdom, and your hilarious stories!! ^_^

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The nabe was buzzing for weeks leading up to the Mother's Day Weekend grand opening. A boutique hawking the best in gear for babies and mothers? Here, in Bay Ridge?? We don't have to journey on the subway all the way to Park Slope or Manhattan or, gasp, Williamsburg? We don't have to blindly order goods online anymore? HOOOOOORAH!! Ladies and Gentlemen, Baby/Mama has set up shop, and babies and mamas (and papas) could not be more thrilled!

So, what exactly can you find at Baby/Mama? You name it! They've got you covered with everything from sunblock and Baby Legs to nursing pillows and hospital grade rental pumps to teethers and Bumbo chairs! The owners, Matt and Abbie, who could not be nicer by the way, are trained Babywearing Consultants through the Center for Babywearing Studies and are happy to advise you on the ins and outs of slings, wraps, and carriers. And of course you're welcome to give any of the carriers they sell a test run. They also recently got approved to be an Honest Company retailer and will be stocking the shelves with those products soon.

Yes, they sell great stuff and yes, the owners are super awesome, but here is what makes Baby/Mama really stand out. They have a private nursing room (with a rocking chair, no less!), they have a lovely bathroom with a proper changing table and products to sample for free such as wipes, diapers, and butt paste, and they have a great space in the back for special events. Some of the classes you can register for are yoga, birth instruction, infant massage, mom support in the 4th trimester, drop-in lactation consultation, and baby sign language!! They're planning to open it up for free-play in the winter, and have a story time in the works as well! You can also rent this room for your own event, and there's a back entrance so you can even use it after-hours.

If you want to drop in (and you should!), look no further than your handy dandy Mommy Nearest app. Or if you want to do it the old fashioned way, Baby/Mama is located at 9002 3rd Avenue, a few blocks from the R Train's 86th Street Station. Closed Mondays, 11am-8pm Tuesday through Saturday, 11am-7pm Sundays.

Me and my Bay Ridge Baby Mamas strollering the mean streets of Brooklyn. Are we ready for a rumble or what?? ^_^

You've heard of "Throw Mama from the Train"? Well, today it was "Throw Sofie from the Stroller". I was hustling home from the grocery store cuz they sky was looking ominous. All of a sudden a lady coming the opposite direction on the sidewalk said "Look out, over there dear". Huh?? I looked where she was pointing. Light years away on the other side of the sidewalk was our little Giraffe Sofie. I looked down at Kenzo in the stroller who was innocently manhandling his little toes in an upside down rolly polly position. Had he seriously just hurled his little Sofie 5 feet away? And without me even noticing?? Wow! Time for this guy to be signed up for little league!!

So, he's got a great arm. In other bodily news - his bottom teeth are seriously about to sprout! And the halo sleep sack success was a fluke... today no such luck. He started flipping in it, and once he realized he could do that, it was all over. Last 2 naps were a no go - wouldn't stop crying and every few minutes when I'd pop in to calm him down he was on his tummy, stuck, ughhhhhhhhhhhh.... I give up on figuring it out and I'll just call it teething...

As a Mommy Nearest (MN) "Expert Mom" I'll be writing weekly posts for their blog about my experience using the app, my favorite spots in Brooklyn, etc!

I'm one of 6 "Expert Moms" in Brooklyn. You can check out our intros here: "Introducing our 2.0 Expert Moms: Brooklyn Mamas who Rock".

And you can find my first blog post for MN located here: "Babies and Books and Brooklyn, Oh My!"

Enjoy ^_^

Remember my baby's sleep strike? He's been screaming when being put down for a nap for about 2 weeks now, since we went to my parent's house in North Carolina. Sometimes he will just skip a nap altogether - being completely soothed and calm when I'm in the room and hysterically screaming the second I leave, eventually I give up and wait a couple of hours to try again. Sometimes he'd wake up several times a night, doing acrobatics in his crib, kicking the rail, etc. Was driving me crazy!! He was exhausted and cranky and I felt so bad for him, and myself! Everyone said, "Oh yes, he's teething!". But he doesn't show any kind of pain when he's awake. Sure he has his hands in his mouth 24/7 and leaves a trail of drool wherever he goes, but didn't really seem to be having any sort of discomfort. Just didn't want to go to sleep!

So, I started racking my brain... What happened around the time that we went to North Carolina???

The answer??? The weather turned warmer and we did away with his Halo Sleep Sack! Could that be it???

Let's see! It got cooler and I decided to put him down for his nap in the sleep sack (swaddled with arms out as we'd been doing since he was 4 months). You know what? It was lights out without a peep and he slept for a good hour and a half without moving an inch. WHAT?!?! This has to be a coincidence!! So, I used the sleep sack for the rest of his naps, and bed time, and the next day's naps and bedtime.... sweet sweet glorious calm baby is back.

Do we have sleep-crutch on our hands? Quite possibly. Do I care?? HELL NO!!! If this helps my little one get the sound sleep he so desperately (and I so desperately) needs, so be it!! Bring on the sleep sack!!!

If anyone recommends a light weight one that still swaddles but is a very thin breathable material - I'm all ears!! I don't think the one we're using will work when the sweltering heat comes back...

Oh my god oh my god oh my god what is UP with my child recently?!?!?!?! This dude will just not sleep. He's obviously tired: rubbing his red-rimmed eyes, yawning, fussy. But the second I put him down in his crib it's hysterical crying and screaming. I give him a minute to find his thumb and sooth himself (or a few minutes if I've lost it and need some time to deal with my frustration - as we were directed to do by the nurse who made us sign a waiver saying she told us about "shaken baby syndrome" before being discharged with him after his birth). But it's like all of a sudden he forgot about his thumb, which he used to love and it would calm him down in all of 2 seconds!! My sweet little baby who used to go down for a nap all smiley is now a ferocious best determined to NEVER SLEEP AGAIN!!!

It started when we went down to visit my family in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, but has been getting progressively worse. And recently the sleep strike has extended into the night. Last night he woke me up 3 times because he had flipped to his tummy and couldn't flip back, twice because he had gotten his feet stuck between the rails of the crib, and another 2-3 times because he was kicking the side of the crib so hard I was scared he might bust the rail off and fall onto the floor (is this one of those unwarranted mom worries, or can it really happen??)!! Finally I couldn't take it and just brought him into bed with me. Daddy is out of town, so there was plenty of space thank goodness.

Aghhhh this has got to be some sort of phase he's transitioning through, right? Teething perhaps? But he doesn't seem to be in pain - it seems to be completely emotional. I guess he's getting to that magical point around 6 months where he's developing object permanence and self-awareness and... MANIPULATION!!! I don't want to create a habit where I break down and nurse him back to sleep every time. But I don't want to cause him (and me) undue trauma by just letting him scream his little head off. Meanwhile, I just can't get the title of that one hilariously inappropriate children's book read by Samuel L. Jackson out of my head: "Go the F*K to Sleep!!!"

Advice? Support?? Valium???

I read something a few weeks ago about various ways to comfort your child while getting shots. It had never occurred to me that I could hold my little one while someone is jabbing a needle into his thigh! The doctor always just said to put the baby on the table and who am I to question them (I'm chuckling as I write this cuz if you know me, I question just about everything, haha!).

Kenzo had his slightly delayed 5 month checkup today since we were out of town when he really should have gone. But that's beside the point. I wanted to avoid the negativity that arose from our last visit with she-who-shall-not-be-named so I went ahead and requested a specific doctor rather than saying "Oh, whoever is available". I'm not saying she's a bad doctor whatsoever, and she's a lovely person, we're just not exactly on the same page regarding my baby, and you should really really be on the same page with your pediatrician!! So, we saw Dr. Raptis this time as we've seen him once before and liked him, and a lot of our friends recommended him as well. When he asked me if I'd started Kenzo on solids yet, I said "No" and he responded "Well, if you don't mind..." and I started cringing thinking he was going to try to get us to start solids. But he kept going "...I really prefer to wait until 6 months" and I let out a huge sigh of relief and shouted "ME TOOOO!!!!!" ^_^ And he said "Oh, good! We're on the same page then!" Oh thank goodness.

Dr. Raptis did the full exam and announced Kenzo's 75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height - way to go dude! I told him Kenzo's been rubbing his left ear, especially while nursing, but after inspection he said it looks good and that's often a sign of teething and he let me see Kenzo's lower gum with the light shone on it, and low and behold, two big lumps of teeth are working their way up.

Next was time for shots, which Doc told Kenzo are just 2 little mosquito bites - how cute! I asked if I could hold the baby and he said "Of course!!" and showed me the best position, which was him just sitting on my lap. I cuddled his arms in close to his body so he couldn't grab at the syringe. In went the shot on the right leg, just a little whimper. So I started singing one of our songs from library class we go to. In goes the shot on the left leg. He starts to cry a little, I ramp up my singing. Doc slaps on the bandaids and says we're done. I scoop Kenzo up and within 5 seconds he's completely settled down and content. O.M.G. I can't believe I never tried this cuddling thing during shots before! I feel like such a failure of a mom - letting my little one lay on the table being jabbed at, turning beat red and hysterically crying. My poor little guy!!! Anyone out there reading this - please give cuddles and singing a try at your next check-up / vaccinations!!! It makes a world of difference, for your little one and you!!

To those of you who aren't in the know yet (and I wasn't until very recently!), Mommy Nearest is a recently launched FREE mobile app that allows parents to access all kinds of child-related resources throughout New York City (with other cities coming soon). Yes, there IS an app for that ^_^ With Mommy Nearest, you’ll be able to find things like the closest kid-friendly restaurants that have high chairs, the nearest parks and playgrounds, broken down by amenities and even the best places to change a diaper. In many situations, the app can be a true lifesaver. You can download it now for free by clicking here.

Being a new mom and having started the Bay Ridge Baby Mamas Facebook group a couple months ago, I thought wow, this is right up my alley! Other mamas are always asking me which restaurants won't give their screaming toddler the evil eye, where they can find a private place to nurse their little one while out shopping, where is a changing table or toilet that doesn't give you the heebee jeebies...

Without further ado, I have some exciting news!! Mommy Nearest has chosen me as an “Expert Mom”. As a Mommy Nearest Expert Mom, I will be chronicling my experiences using the app and trying out some new places. You can keep tabs on my adventure by reading this blog or by going to the Mommy Nearest blog at blog.mommynearest.com, where you'll find entries by all of the awesome Expert Moms!!

You might be wondering why I was chosen as a Mommy Nearest Expert Mom. Well, duh - I'm awesome like that! *wink wink* Anyway, I will have a lot more to share about my experiences in the coming weeks, so keep checking back. In the meantime, definitely check out the Mommy Nearest app, available for download for both iPhones and Android devices for FREE (we do love us some free stuff!!).

No, not A.C. Slater. I'm talking A.C. as in air conditioning. And no, mine's not broken. It's non-existent! Your first question might be, "ARE YOU F*ING CRAZY???" and my answer to that is "Um, yeah." But to be honest, for about 330 days out of the year we really don't need it. We are grateful to live in a pre-war brick apartment building with about 3 feet of concrete between each floor, which means it's super quiet and for some reason, it stays relatively cool in the summer. It is not cool, however, when it reaches over 85*F for a couple days in a row. Then it can get downright uncomfortable. But it still doesn't justify (in our eyes) buying a window AC unit or 2 or 3 and jacking up our expenses and contributing to global warming, yada yada yada.

Your  next question is probably, "So, how do you live without air conditioning???". So here are my tips:

1) Fans. These are essential. They don't have to be expensive or massive or installed in your ceiling (though that would definitely be great for saving space!). If you're in a tiny apartment, as we are, you don't want too many fans because they take up too much space! And what are you going to do with them in the winter? We went with 1 per person (pre-baby) which means 1 in the living room and 1 that gets moved between the bedroom and kitchen depending on what time of day it is. Now with little one napping in the bedroom during the day, I'm considering buying a 3rd fan but so far we just have the 2.

2) Dark curtains. These will help keep out the sun's harsh rays and added heat. If you want to really go for it, get the thick black-out curtains! We just have regular ones which let in a bit of light, just enough so you can get by without turning on extra lights in the house during the day, cutting down on more added heat. Curtains have the added benefit of giving you privacy because no A.C. on a hot day means no clothes. Just make sure you have something laying around that's quick to slip on when the FedEx guy comes a ringing!

3) Cold showers. These will cool you off and get rid of the yucky stick-factor! I recommend taking one when you wake up in the morning, after any outside ventures, and before you go to bed. Then take it slow after coming out of the shower - it's not fun to start sweating before you're even dried off from your shower!

4) Hydrate. Be sure to drink tons of water, ice water is especially cooling. Monitor your pee - it should be pale and often! If you are breastfeeding, as I am, drink even more water since little one is sucking tons out of you. Also be sure to monitor your baby for dehydration: sunken in soft spot, less wet diapers, wet diapers that are yellow and/or smell. If you notice any of these (or these), contact your pediatrician. I go ahead and sneak in some extra feedings if I notice my little one has been sweating (which he sometimes does while sleeping or while outside).

The past 2 summers in this apartment were really not bad, except for 1 or 2 weeks during a heat wave. But this is my first summer with baby and I'm a wee bit nervous. This week was hella hot, and so far so good...fingers crossed!!