Possibly The Best $12.95 I Ever Spent

Of course I had no idea at the time how far my dollars would stretch or how loved and obsessed over a simple set of soft-foam ABCs and 123s would be or I would have been on it sooner.

The Bath Toys™ first made their debut on the blog here, but were already very much a bath-time staple at that point. Two months later we are still going strong, and just so you know, Bath Toys™ aren't just for baths anymore.

Requested first thing in the morning and loved until it's time for lights out – and by that I mean Seth's personal "lights out" since he's not content to go to sleep unless the container of bath toys is in his crib – they are an all day kind of toy.

Outside of the bath, they've made inadvertent appearances here and here, in similar fashion to the train toy decorations. Really, these simple foam shapes are out pretty much all day and there are definite threats of mutiny if I make any attempt to put them away.

For $12.95 I got my money's worth months ago.

The Bath Toys™ really are a pretty fun toy, especially in the bath since getting them wet makes them stick to pretty much any surface – like your tub or tiles for example. Of course, if you absolutely, positively MUST bring your Bath Toys™ back to the nursery post-bath when they are most certainly bound to still be at least a bit damp AND you also happen to have a pair of toddlers bent on finding new ways to have fun with said toys, then you pretty much end up with a scenario like this: 

In case the pictures aren't doing what just might be the BEST TOY EVER! justice, there is also a video here. I have no idea what the strange noise is that my boys are making almost the entire time, but it has something to do with the twin mind-meld* they often have. 

- L.

*The twin mind-meld? It's one of those "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it" kind of things, but I'm definitely a convert now. And yep, there's a post about that coming soon.

PS. OP trivia: the pics and video were our Christmas Eve shenanigans before bed. Forget the milk and cookies everyone (Santa is stinkeroo anyway) – Bath Toys™ is where it's at!

Speaking Of Baths...

I decided to make the OP's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies again today, except this time I served them while the chocolate was still more melt than actual chip.  

Results were interesting.

But not varied. 

Gooey chocolate, however, led to a new game. 

Stick chocolate in your brother's hair. 

Then giggle your butts off. 

Rinse and repeat. 

Until the inevitable sugar crash.

Let's just say it was a heavy shampoo night.

- L.

Splish Splash!

– We is takin' a bath. 

– Long about a Saturday night, yeah. 

– We is a-splishin' and a-splashin'. A-rollin' and a-strollin'. 

– A-reelin' with the feelin'. Movin' with the groov'n'. 

– Splish splash, yeah.

- L.

PS. Awesome photos once again courtesy of Padrin (in case that wasn't rather obvious).

Like A Bridge

– If you is weary, 

– Or feeling small,
– If tears is in your eyes,
– I will dry 'dem all.

– I's on your side everyone,
– If times is rough.
– Just look at these pics,
– Anytime.
– It will be enough. 

– Uh-oh. I is losing my train of thought here. Something to do with troubled waters maybe?

– Is OK. I find it again. Troubled waters is reminding me 'bout the bath I just had. Bath was not so fun everyone... 

– ... but my after-bath fauxhawk is the awesome!

- L.

Edited to add a link to my latest YouTube™ favorite. This song has been in my head for days – I think because it popped in there apropos of nothing and as a result I checked out Art Garfunkle singing it live on the interwebs. It's almost as awesome as Nate's after-bath fauxhawk. 

A Happier Post: All Things 9 Months

I mentioned in our last "Updates On Everything" post that the boys are really getting mobile these days – and that you should stay tuned for imminent future posts (like this one). Well, this is another one.

The days of placing Nate and Seth side by side and taking a few cute pics at my leisure really are long gone – even when I have a helper like I did here and here.

And I was on my own yesterday.

Hence a lot of shots like these where Nate was long gone by the time I had the camera in focus, and Seth was making a hasty departure too*:

I was looking for something purple for our previous post to include at this point when I spied these guys:

These cute keepsake bears were lovingly knitted by their Great-Grandma Edna. I had planned to do a whole post about the bears with Nate and Seth posing with them, but I think you can appreciate that after today I had to give up on that idea.

Still though, I thought maybe that purple scarf would distract them sufficiently to at least keep them in the same spot long enough to snap a pic. And it did. The scarf was distracting enough for exactly one photo: 

Eventually I just let them loose on the nursery figuring they might randomly end up in a shot together. And they did. This is the one shot I got with both of them in it (where they both happen to be looking at the camera that is): 

It didn't last long. Eventually Seth moved into uncharted territory and left Nate behind. 

At least he finally had a good time in the baby Spa Bath. 

•   •   •   •   •

The other part of this post is the results from our 9 month check-up with the pediatrician.

Here are the boys' latest stats:

Nate: 18.5 lbs. (8.35 kg.) | 29.25 in. (74.5 cm.)
Currently, he is in the 90th percentile for height and the 25th percentile for weight.

Seth: 17 lbs. (7.7 kg.) | 28.75 in. (73 cm.)
Currently, he is in the 75th percentile for height and the 10th percentile for weight.

Although their weight has been consistent with their individual growth curves, their height has really shot up (both were at 50% at their 6 month checkup), which means we're going back in 6 weeks for another weigh-in instead of 3 months from now. Our pediatrician seemed mildly concerned since ratio-wise they are underweight for their height.

I'm not concerned, although we'll go anyway. Considering they eat a whole lot, have grown a whole lot (upward at any rate) and move a whole lot, I'm really not worried about my lean guys. Also they come by it honestly – on both sides.

Before I sign off, one more pic of Nate: 

I took this picture last week and while it's not the greatest photo ever, there's something about it that I love. It's very Nate and I wanted to post it before it got lost in the shuffle (as things do when you're chasing two rather mobile babies around all day). Much like his brother, he has a way of looking at the camera that just takes my breath away.

My wee babies are turning into little boys far too quickly.

- L.

* Of course you realize this is going to have a serious impact on their infamous "conversations" if they can't manage to be in the same shot any more often than chance allows. I think it's time to consider the duct tape again. Or super-glue.

A Couple Of Characters

It's become painfully clear over the past couple of weeks that Nate and Seth have long outgrown their baby towels – and with the cooler weather here having arms and legs hanging out after a warm bath was not a good thing, so the boys finally got some new towels that came very highly recommended from Pottery Barn Kids earlier this week. There's more than enough terry to go around, they're super soft and they're cute in the bargain. 

Nate after a bath in his new dragon towel:

Seth, also post-bath, in his new duck towel (don't forget to check out his little duckie feet!): 

- L.

Sometimes A Mama Knows Best

And I'm not talking about me.

Remember the Great Bath Saga? You know, when we tried to transition from the kitchen sink to our first baby bath? You can refresh your memory here, and make sure you take time to read the comment my mom left at the end of the post – especially this part:

When I arrive I'll show you what a baby tub looks like and those poor wee bibies will have a whale of a time!

Well, sure enough after my mom arrived we bought a proper tub without haste. This is a proper tub for those who don't know:



Seth handled it pretty well for the first few seconds...



... but it didn't last, so the rest of the pics are of my "bibies" having a "whale of a time" as it were:







Ha! At the time I have to admit I snickered a little taking these pictures. Not at the babies, of course, but at my mom. I giggled. I teased.

I was smug.

But you know, in the end, mom was right. It took a few tries, but my babies are back to enjoying their baths like good little Aquarians once more. The only crying that has taken place over the last couple of weeks was once or twice when I took a baby out of the bath.

Go figure!

Well, the $50 bucket is at least useful for filling the new bath (which cost a whopping $12 by the way).

And now that Nate and Seth are enjoying bathtime again, I thought it was high time to invest in some bath toys.



I think they're going to have fun with these and I can't wait to try them out on the next bath day!

- L.

P.S. Thank you mom!

The Bath Saga

A few weeks ago it became obvious that it would soon be time to transition Nate and Seth's bath time from the kitchen sink to their baby bathtub, especially if I was going to be bathing the babies by myself. Even babies that really like their bath in the kitchen sink are surprisingly squirmy and at 12+ lbs. each it was just too much to hang on to a wet slippery baby with one hand and wash said baby with the other.

For whatever reason I decided to try the tub we purchased by myself for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like a pretty standard tub and our babies have always been pretty calm at bath time so I figured it would be no big deal. I have to tell you, even in a worst case scenario I didn't expect SO MUCH SCREAMING. They both hated it. So. Very. Much.

Like, a whole lot – and my words aren't doing this justice. I don't think Nate cried as hard when I nearly dismembered his wee toe, just to give you an idea.

Both Nate and Seth hated it so much that we went back to bathing them in the kitchen sink while I scrambled trying to find a tub they would hate less. I thought part of the problem was that the basin of the tub we had originally bought was quite shallow when filled with water and left more of the baby exposed than covered – which had not been the case with the kitchen sink.

For your reference, this is the tub we originally bought. Looks pretty standard, no?

In the end, after much research, reading of user reviews and thinking about how much I didn't want to face Round 2 with the original baby bath, I broke down and purchased this instead:



Yep. It's a bucket.

Well, a bucket meant for bathing your babies in that is. It's a spa bath. Pretty fancy, huh?

There are various models that range from $30 to $50. Which one did I get? Oh, the $50 one of course because it could be delivered and none of our local retailers carried one. La-dee-dah!

Since the babies hated the bucket less than the baby bathtub I was at least able to get a few pictures so you can gauge for yourselves how it was received.

Well, OK. I've added a little commentary. ; )



– Well, dis is new. I wonder what I think of it?



– Oh, right. I hate it!



– I'm with you brother. Dis is stinkeroo! Why mommy? Why???

My poor babies!

In the end, it wasn't as miserable as the other style, but no one liked it either. I will say that I had an easier time bathing them in the bucket though, so I'll give the new tub a few points for that at least.

*sigh*

- L.

Bath Day

It is no small thing when they who are so fresh from God love us.

– Charles Dickens

Fresh from God and the kitchen sink too because it was bath day at our house. It's no easy feat bathing babies and trying to snap pics even if you have very good babies who like a bath – although I guess they'd be pretty poor Aquarians if they didn't like the water. I hope that doesn't change.

I will be a little sad though when we have to give up bath time in the sink and graduate to the baby bath we bought, but I think we still have some room to grow before that happens – it's a bigger than average sink after all and my babies are still peanuts.

Seth was a little squirmy today so his pics are pre-bath:





Nate on the other hand was quite placid before and during:





... and I love the soapy head (even if he is a little out of focus):



And in case you didn't know, there's nothing like cuddle time with freshly scrubbed babies. We had lots. Yum! : )

- L.