Behind the Bellani Women

By now many of you have met Bellani’s smallest helper, Emilia. She’s an affable little girl who loves to coo, smile, laugh, and is just about ready to start rolling over.

I know this because I see her do these things all the time with mom. The problem is that when I have her and mom is not around she cries, no, screams for long periods of time. Considering this is our third child I thought that I would be adept at calming and entertaining a baby by now, …clearly I was mistaken. Last night, however, I may have finally found a solution; a Haba rattle. This one to be exact: She transformed from the crying baby that I know to the happy, giggly baby most of you are familiar with in an instant.
Now, I know you might be thinking “oh great, this guy is trying to sell us a rattle” but believe me, if I were going to use this post to try to sell something the preceding sentence would probably have read something like “No matter how hard I try, the only way I can truly feel connected to my daughter or get her to stop crying is to sit with her in the $700 Monarch Nursing Chair.”

I am very excited about my small victory last night for a couple of reasons. One is my sanity. The other, and much more important reason, is when I have all three children by myself (which isn’t often) and Emilia spends much of that time fussing I, unfortunately, am relegated to futilely attempting to calm her rather than engaging our other 2 children, Caden and Abriella. I am sure this situation will improve and as I said, maybe last night is the first step in that direction. We shall see.

Happy Birthday to my inspiring woman
Happy Birthday to my children’s Grandmama
Happy Birthday to my cheerleader
Happy Birthday to my mom

Mom Potluck Lunch on July 15th. So many moms come into the store hoping to meet other moms. We know, this is like going back to dating. Sometimes you hear us say, “you should meet…” this is your chance. Next time you are in the store sign up to bring a treat and then come and enjoy meeting others This is a lunch for moms of 0-6 month olds. and will give you an opportunity to meet other moms, and have lunch too! We hope to do this more in the future with older age groups, let’s start with those who can’t walk

“Selecta began to produce wooden toys for nursery schools over 40 years ago. Names such as Fröbel and Maria Montessori have been our role-models.

From the first idea until their realization, Selecta toys are subjected to many tests. These tests are carried out together with the assistance and advice of experienced teachers, in families, nursery schools and playgroups. The focus during the development of Selecta toys and games is placed on high value playtime. Our products have very high expectations in order to animate the children into playing independently.

There is very much, especially for babies, to learn and discover, First grasping toys promote the development of the senses.”

These amazing toys are made in Germany

They arrived today here at Bellani, someone has already made googly eyes at them!

My son is six and a half years old, and yes, he just learned how to do this. From this evening:

When I have many things to write I’m often paralyzed with the amount of it. This is me today. So I have to write the simplest of thoughts that keeps striking me. As a new mom (and a mom to two others) I eat out of containers, bowls, Star Wars plates, whatever I can find. I have a beautiful set of square-shaped stone salad plates. I never use them anymore. Last night I put my plain old sandwich on one, as silly as it may sound, the plate made my sandwich taste better. I felt more like me.

Can you believe it has been four weeks since the little one’s birth? I certainly can’t! I haven’t even finished thank you cards and she is reminding me that I need to pay attention. She began smiling on June 1st. I’m yet to locate a Baby Book for her, so I have no place to write this down. Thank you blog for fulfilling this need.

I was trying to soothe little Emilia at the grocery store late this afternoon. I kept chatting with her, asking her what was wrong, you know, saying all of those things we say to our little ones when they cry (aka scream) for no apparent reason, or just because the grocery store is not a good idea at 5 o’clock on a Thursday after working all day. Finally I said to her, “honey, don’t cry, our life is very good.” I was really struck by that. My/Our life really is great. We have so many wonderful things to be thankful for, I just need to remember that more often.

I don’t feel the desire to discuss the purchases of the celebrities that join us at Bellani Maternity. The next time Katie and Suri make it in I will be tight lipped…read about this nonsense

Monday, the New York Times published an article regarding Similac Organic Formula. It also came up in a class this evening. As I’ve been bombarded with Similac Marketing all month at home, I felt this needs to get to every family.

When many of us see the word Organic, we believe that in some way, this product is healthier for us and our children. We ultimately know that we need to read labels, and learn about products, but after staying up half the night, we just see Organic, and think, good choice. Well, what many not realize is what they are purchasing in Similac Organic Formula, they just bought sugar!

The article says Similac Organic is much sweeter than other formulas because it is the only major brand of organic formula that is sweetened with cane sugar or sucrose.

The Times stresses that no health problems in babies have been associated with Similac Organic. However pediatricians might warn of the following risks in giving babies cane sugar: Sucrose can harm tooth enamel faster than other sugars; once babies get used to its sweeter taste, they might resist less sweet formulas or solid foods; and some studies suggest that they might overeat, leading to rapid weight gain in the first year, which is often a statistical predictor of childhood obesity.