Ignore the Advice of the Well-Meaning Idiots

I have to admit I heard the phrase "Ignore the Advice of the Well-Meaning Idiots" on one of my favorite shows The Real Housewives of New York City, and thought to myself how many different situations that phrase applies to! I think that this phrase is valid more in raising a child than in any other situation. How many times does someone come up to a relative stranger and give their "invaluable" advice just because you happen to have a child with you? The most recent situation in which I encountered this was when I posted a picture of Parker in a sling on Facebook - the people came out of the woodwork! I was a bit surprised at how many people messaged me or called me to ask if I had heard about the sling recall. Do I live in a hole? No, I had heard. And of course, no - our sling was not part of the recall. We were given one of the fancy hippiesh slings from my friend Whitney that have all the great sling benefits like putting your kid right to sleep when they get all snuggled in there. I completely recognize the loving and concerned thoughts of all of those people who brought the recall to my attention, but I couldn't help but smile every time I got a new message or call.

Adding to the sentiment of today's blog title was the most impressive "well-meaning idiot" advice I have received yet which came from the nice handyman from military housing who came to fix our kitchen sink. When he asked if Parker was "sleeping though the night yet" I told him we can go on 3-4 hour stretches so far. His response was: "Have you put cereal in his bottle"...well, no Mr. Handyman, first Parker doesn't take bottles and it would be hard to administer cereal via the "avenue" he currently receives food, and second he is not even 6 weeks old! When I told him how young Parker was he informed me that his kids were having cereal from just a few weeks mixed in their bottles and they slept great. Well, thanks, I will keep that in mind, but I think it might be a bit early....Well-meaning indeed...

Adventures with the swing...

So many parents had told us how "valuable" the swing is...even the Happiest Baby on the Block doctor talks about the wonderous swing. Unfortunately Parker HATED the swing! He screamed bloody murder when we put him into it!





As you can see from the first two photos, a little unsure on why he doesn't like it, but sure nonetheless. Then I think I figured out the answer - for whatever reason he doesn't like the motion!







This might change, but for now he just goes in it and we put it on vibrate and he settles...we will see what happens!

Ma Pat and Pa Lar

We were very lucky to have Parker's Ma Pat come out to stay with us for the first 3 weeks of his life. Mom was able to take some time off of work to be here with us as Ben and I adjusted to life as new parents. She helped us with "baby hand-off" because I don't think Parker was put down at all in his first 2 weeks of life, and she also helped us so much around the house so that we could really only focus on our little man.



Dad kept his original plans and came out to see Parker on the 22nd and stayed for a week. He had a lot of Grandpa time with Parker, but only "when he wasn't moving around" because Dad didn't like it when he got squirmy. So, Parker took a lot of naps with Pa Lar.






On one of their last days we took Mom and Dad to an Oklahoma classic Meers for hamburgers. It was Parker's first day off the military post in his whole life and he celebrated by sleeping the entire time. We enjoyed some tasty burgers!

We were very sad when both Pa Lar, and a few weeks later Ma Pat left, but we were so thankful for their visits!