Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving in Wisconsin



Soren had a fab time in Wisconsin. His Aunt and Grandmother spoiled him silly and he was enamored with his Uncle Rich, and he got to hang out with dogs for the first time. While Patterson ignored him (only after trying to get Soren to play ball and then trying to sit in Soren's lap, both attempts obviously ending in failure) and Josie was scared of him, they were all good and there was no growling, snapping, or toy stealing (well, minimal toy stealing). Riley actually seemed to think Soren WAS a toy, licking him and wagging his tail whenever he went by.



Somehow Soren ended up with more toys than necessary, a new wardrobe, and other various items such as Babe (the best movie ever), so I had to borrow a third suitcase for the flight home. He was a total trooper, receiving lots of compliments from people on both legs of the trip who thought he was an "excellent traveler!" and a "very happy baby!" Whew.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Red-letter day



Soren took his first airplane ride AND sprouted his two top teeth all within a few hours yesterday. He is only mildly bothered by the teeth from what I can tell, and he LOVED the trip, specifically the landing because he was plastered to the window watching the buildings get closer and closer. In fact, it cracked him up for some reason. Unfortunately, his mom left the camera in the car when she removed it from the diaper bag for a last minute backseat change in the airport garage, so we don't have a photo of him on his plane trip. Luckily he has to fly home, so we'll pretend it's the first flight. When Rich gets home tomorrow we'll use his nice camera to take some photos of the teeth, as well. Now Soren has four of those, so he's ready to do some serious eating...

This is closest I got to documenting the baby on his first flight:

Friday, November 21, 2008

The Babycook makes incredible baby food



I didn't think the baby cook would purée vegetables any finer than the food processor, but I was 100% wrong. It makes fluffy, smooth, velvety baby food! It is an impressive machine, for sure, and it contains the mess to a single bowl which is awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone with a baby. Register for this!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Target is mean to little babies and doesn't want them to be safe

Soren and his family are boycotting Target.

This Monday we ordered two "Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seats" in "Granite" from the Target.com website for $42.99 each - the price advertised on their site (and there was more than one model heavily discounted on Target.com - another Britax was priced at $60). We received an email confirming our order immediately, indicating a two-to-six week delivery time. Yesterday, however, we received a follow-up email from Target.com stating that the item had been mistakenly incorrectly priced and that they would not fulfill the order. If we still wanted the two items we would have to pay an additional $474!



This is truly poor management/customer service/promise fulfillment on Target's part. If it WAS a mistake, then why did no one fix the error online for an entire day, allowing the seats to sell out at the sale price? The price was also $42.99 in the stores; if I had purchased those car seats from my local Target at $42.99 each, would they have contacted me to instruct me to return them, or retroactively charged my card the full price?

Target's failure to correctly price the item is not our fault, and the sale should be honored. It is unacceptable for a company get away with "pricing errors" AFTER the sale has been made...any respectable retail store worth its salt in customer service would respect a mistaken posted price. Is there no longer any pride in the world in being an honorable company that keeps its promises?

At the very least, Target should send each purchaser the first Britax car seat from their order at the advertised price, even if they don't fulfill orders for 5 or 10 seats (which lots of people bought so that they could resell them on Ebay).

So don't shop at Target until they send all the moms of the world their super-safe car seats! Better yet, email them and tell them they should fulfill order #602-6933450-5233026!

Details (from Target.com)


Order Number: 602-6933450-5233026
Shipping Details: order will arrive in one shipment
Shipping Preference: Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Shipping Method: Standard Shipping (3-5 business days)

Shipping Address:
Keri Larson
283 XXXXXXXXXXX CT.
XXXXXX, GA XXXXX
United States

Shipping estimate for these items: December 15, 2008
Estimated Delivery: December 18, 2008 - January 6, 2009
Qty.: 2
Item: Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat - Granite" Baby Product;
Price: $42.99

Subtotal of Items: $85.98
Shipping & Handling: $32.08
Shipping Savings: -$32.08
-----------
Total before tax: $85.98
Estimated Tax: $6.02
-----------
Total for this Order: $92.00

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Soren and Julian are best buds!



Here are some photos that Nanny Kathleen took of her son Julian teaching Soren how to make the most of the toys. Julian really likes to snag any toy that Soren brings with him and hide it in his room. Kathleen usually finds them a few days later. Today he decided to share his toys with the baby. They look pretty cute together! Soren has a big kid to look up to and teach him mischief.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Co-sleeping

We committed before the baby was born to co-sleeping. It is supposed to foster a more confident, secure child, and maybe even prevent SIDS. Not to mention, it's WAY easier to go three inches to feed the baby or change him, than all the way into the next room. However, mister prince now commands whatever space in the bed he wants (he prefers perpendicular, with his head touching his dad and his feet touching me--it's like a human version of the ruler at prom!); more than once a night it seems WE wake HIM up.

So I have decided that he would likely be happier in his own bed because his mom and dad wouldn't bother him so much at night. That is easier said than done, however. We got him a bed with sides so he won't roll out (which became a worry once we moved his bed to the center of his room), but I haven't discovered a peaceful way of depositing the sleeping baby, remaining asleep, into his own bed. It makes so much more sense to put him in the center of a giant king size bed where he can entertain himself to sleep without our attendance, or I can feed him, or we can pat him back to sleep if he wakes slightly.

Anyhow, here's his cute bed. We assembled it without the base/legs, which we will add when he's taller. He really enjoys it for playtime.

This is obviously a stock photo; I don't know whose kid this is.



And here it is without the legs (and with our own kid):