Grady Lane McGowan

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Jett Aubrey McGowan

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September 15, 2008

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Baby Edition

Before Grady-Man came to this world, I took the opportunity to share with you a few of my favorite things in regard to pregnancy and all things baby. You can view those posts here, here, and here. Having been parents now for going on three months, (I know that's pretty crazy huh?) we have seen some really cool stuff and some really lame stuff mass produced and specifically marketed to sleep deprived gift card toting delirious fresh from the throes of late night feeding parents. It's seriously a racket and every product tells you that it guarantees that, if used according to guidelines, it will have your kid sleeping through the night, talking, eating well, and 100% colic-proofed at 3 weeks of age. This is specifically why babies, baby-making, baby-caring, and baby-spoiling make up a billion $ industry. (don't quote me on the stats)



Ok enough of my rant about the extortion of nuevo parentos and on to a few of the things that have reached "favorite" status in my book because they really deliver.





A Few Of My Favorite Things - Baby Edition

#1 - The Happiest Baby on the Block - DVD





I have to say that I have been a less than avid baby book reader. Ok, so I haven't read a thing since chapter five of "What To Expect When You're Expecting". At least I tried to keep up. But then one day our good friend Ronnie told us about this book that was ingeniously turned into a DVD about methods of soothing your baby. This was around week 3 or 4 when Grady's scream was just getting to that "I think my ears are bleeding" level. We were up like every other normal parent about every three hours feeding and then trying to soothe him and coax him back into a deep sleep. About once every couple of nights though, he decided that sleep, sleeping alone, or sleeping at all did not work into his nightly agenda. Seriously, he would do so good for a few nights and then during one feeding in the middle of the night he would decide to sing out and wake the neighbors with an unconsoleable cry. After calming him down and getting him to sleep, it was about time to feed him again. Haha.
Then, at just the right time, Ronnie drops this DVD in our laps. It's covers "The Five S's", which are techniques for soothing your baby. There are two things that I love about "Happiest Baby": #1 Whattaya know? It delivered! As cheesy and awkward as the author, Dr. Karp, is on the video, we were mesmerized and couldn't wait to experiment on Grady! My favorite is the "shoosh" Oh Yeah! #2 The marketing cronies at the publishing company had a stroke of genius... They put the main content of the book on a DVD! They must've known that the last thing new parents want to, need to, or have time to do is read some crummy old book! No offense to you baby bookworms.

Here's to happy babies and happier parents everywhere!

~A

2 comments:

Ronni said...

Yay! Im glad to see HBOTH came thru for you - and to make it as #1 on your favorite things list - awesome!!

Kristen said...

Love the book! I read the book THEN found out it came on DVD. Bought the DVD for Nathan since he never would have read it. Works like a charm once they get used to the swaddling!