Elle's 1st Easter!

Today we celebrated Elle's 1st Easter! We had a full day but nevertheless a fun one!

When Eleiana woke up, she hang out at Mommy & Daddy Jarbs' room where we read her Pat the Bunny book. We did not realize until later that she's wearing her bunny pajama on Easter! :-)

We had our own Jarbs family Easter brunch at Bombay Club. It is one of our favorite Indian restaurants. The last time we were here, Daddy Jarbs and I just started dating! Elle behaved really well while we were having lunch. She was happily playing with Sophie while Daddy Jarbs and I were enjoying the buffet brunch.

 

Daddy's girl :-)

 

  Mommy Jarbs with her favorite daughter :-)

Later in the day, we headed off to Grandma & Grandpa Jarbs' house for Easter dinner. 

Here she is with Godmomma/Aunt Kim and Aunt Terri.  Aunt Kim gave her books for Easter. Grandma Jarbs got her a stuffed bunny and a singing duck.

Family softball

Mommy Jarbs and Elle watching the game

Look who can sit up (unassisted) now!

Her new skill! Since she has discovered her toes, she can't get her hands and mouth off of them!

First night in her crib!

We have transitioned Elle in her room. Since we got home from the hospital, she has been sleeping in the bassinet in our room. Elle does not sleep through the night yet so Mommy Jarbs has to wake up to feed her at the middle of the night. Her room is across the hall from ours but we can see and hear her the entire time with the help of our video monitor. 

I've been reading books recommended by our pediatrician on how to help establish a bedtime routine. We've only been following it for a few days but I have to say it works for us. It has helped us establish a routine and helped understand our baby's cues better therefore avoiding crying fits :-). Since we moved Elle in the nursery and started following a routine, the Jarbs family has been sleeping a little bit better. Yay!

We got our BOB stroller!

Daddy Jarbs and I got up really early today to go to our favorite baby store, Great Beginnings. They have a Baby Bargains Celebration Event where everything in the store is 20% off including all the strollers! We had our eye out for the BOB Revolution stroller in chocolate blue. We arrived in the store at 10:30 am just as when the store opened and the parking lot was already packed! We know what we wanted so we were in and out of the store in about 30 minutes. The BOB strollers rarely go on sale so getting 20% off the retail price was definitely a steal! The BOB Rev stroller normally retails for $389 - $399 and we only got it for $311 (+tax)! I love getting good deals so I was happy to save a few $$ :-).

 

Since the event at Great Beginnings was sponsored by Baby Bargains, I had the opportunity to meet Alan Fields, the author of the THE Baby Bargains book!!! I was able to get another free book and he signed it for me :-). This book has been a great help to me in trying to figure out which baby stuff to get/register for and I highly recommend it to every mom/mom-to-be!

 

Oh baby the places you'll go...

During my baby shower, Daddy Jarbs' sister, Aunt Kim gave us a bunch of books to start off Baby Jarbs' book collection/library. One of the books she gave me is Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go: A Book to be Read in the Utero. It was written by Mrs. Seuss :-). It is a very small book and an easy read.

Last week, Daddy Jarbs and I have started reading this book to Baby Jarbs. I have to admit, the first time I read it, I couldn't help but tear up especially after reading the last page. Daddy Jarbs and I alternate reading this book to Baby Jarbs right before we go to bed. Researchers have found increased uterine activity during the reading and true enough, everytime we do, Baby Jarbs kept on moving! It's as if she can really hear us. Is it just a coincidence? Possibly, but so far, her movements have been consistent everytime we read aloud to her.

Studies show that babies start to learn language while in their mother's womb. Babies start to recognize their mom's voice and will associate this voice to feeling safe and warm as soon as they are born. I am looking forward to veryfying whether there is some truth to this study :-).

What I am reading right now..

As I enter the third trimester of my pregnancy, I got Ina May's Guide to Childbirth book to help  prepare me mentally for childbirth.

I also get subscriptions to Parenting Early Years & Fit Pregnancy magazines. I love to read but these days, I am having a hard time finding the time to read all my magazines! Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on my reading when I go to the doctor's office on Tuesday for my 3 hr glucose test. I'll be stuck there for 3-4 hrs so I am planning to take advantage and do a lot of reading!

Baby gears...

The past couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful since we did not have any baby related things to do. I took the opportunity to read and start my research on baby gears. There are TONS of baby stuff out there so I want to read up and research on them before we purchase anything. I know it is easy to fall into the trap of buying stuff for Baby Jarbs. After all, the baby stuff are just so adorable :-). However, Daddy Jarbs and I want to be smart with our purchases. We do not want to end up buying things which we won't really need or end up as unnecessary junk in our house.

I just finished reading The Gilfriends' Guide to Baby Gear. It tells you what stuff to buy/not to buy, what to borrow and what not.

I have started reading Baby Bargains. It has different reviews of different baby products which will helpfully make our decision easier in which products to choose, taking into consideration the safety ratings, cost, usefulness, etc. I am hoping to slowly start putting together a list of the basic baby things that we need so we will not feel overwhelmed when we visit the baby store.

          

Books!

I ordered a bunch of pregnancy books on Amazon today. I know I will have tons more baby related purchases so I just bought slightly used books to save $$.

I am so looking forward to getting and reading all of them!

 

 

  

  

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I was browsing online and stumbled upon this interesting article:

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) -- The sound of two languages spoken regularly during pregnancy might encourage babies to tune in to both tongues soon after birth, a new study finds.

A team of psychological scientists at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in France, watched the sucking reflexes of newborns born to either monolingual English-speaking women, or women who spoke both English and Tagalog, a language native to the Philippines.

The researchers explained that increased sucking behavior indicates newborns' interest in a particular stimulus, including spoken language.

The team found that babies born to monolingual mothers exhibited increased sucking behaviors when they heard English, but not Tagalog, while infants born to the bilingual mothers showed interest, regardless of which of the two languages was being spoken.

A separate experiment suggested that infants could tell when a speaker switched from one language to the other. That's important, the team said, because it shows that from the very start babies born to bilingual mothers do not confuse the two languages.

"Monolingual newborns' preference for their single native language directs listening attention to that language," the researchers wrote. "Bilingual newborns' interest in both languages helps ensure attention to, and hence further learning about, each of their languages."

The study findings were released online Jan. 29 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Psychological Science.

More information

There's more on early childhood development at the American Academy of Pediatrics.

I can speak both in English and Tagalog so it's great to know the baby Jarbs can recognize both languages while still in my tummy. Jeff and I have agreed a long time ago that we will encourage our child to speak in both languages. I hope I will not have a hard time teaching him/her my native language.