reading
The Family Fang: A Novel is a strange yet engrossing story about the grown-up children of performance artists (sorry, JB, it’s not a vampire tale!) that I discovered via Karey Mackin’s Instagram feed. I could totally see this book translated to the big screen under the direction of Wes Anderson or Sofia Coppola.
listening to
I recently heard the very catchy “Recovery” by Frank Turner and now I’m anxious to learn more about the British singer-songwriter. I love discovering new-to-me artists (my iTunes playlists are terribly stale).
wanting
I’m tired all the time, a state of existence I attribute to being the mom of a toddler and to not sleeping well at night. Although I typically get what any medical professional would consider a full night’s sleep, I’m sure my quality of sleep is the pits. I’m prone to vivid action-packed dreams — plus, I’m sure I have one ear glued to the baby monitor, even while I’m asleep. Curious to learn more about my sleeping habits, I want to get a Jawbone UP, a wristband and app that tracks your movement and sleep (among other things). My friend Ari and his wife both have one; click here to read a review of the Jawbone UP on Ari’s blog.
watching
The always-adorable Emily Henderson explaining how to design a kid’s room. I love her eclectic style and appreciate her “rules” on decorating (i.e. don’t mix more than 3 prints in a bedroom). Oh, and she was super nice to me when I met her at Alt.
wondering
When do I swap Levi’s sleep sacks for a crib blanket (and pillow)? He’s nearly outgrown his large HALO SleepSack and has figured out how to unzip it from the bottom! Do I go ahead and get him the extra-large anyway, or is it time to transition to a lightweight blanket?
We just moved away from sleep sacks at 18 months. We wanted to a long time ago, but my daughter couldn’t sleep without one. They’d gotten so small that I think it was like she was swaddled again. The Carters ones, not the Halo, which were so roomy that she also couldn’t sleep in them. When it started getting warmer, she got a bit of heat rash and I decided it was time. We’ve also been using a blanket since 12 months, but she doesn’t know how to use it yet, so it gets balled up in a corner.
That’s interesting… I wonder if I should check out the Carter’s ones so that Levi has more room. Although roominess is not really the issue; I could just buy him an extra-large sleepsack. It’s that he knows what the zipper does!
Maybe I should give him both a blanket and a sleepsack one night and just see what happens!
No, I mean the Halo ones are roomier. She liked the restrictiveness of the Carters ones. They only go up to 9 months, so it was super small by the time she was in 18 month clothes.
Jessica
Gavin decided one night that he hated the sleep sacks, so we’ve gone with pjs only since then… we just make sure they are footed if it’s cold. I have a blanket in there that I’ll put over him, but it never stays. I do think it makes me feel better though?
In the warmer months, I doubt Levi would need a blanket to keep warm, but I know that I sleep better when I bundled underneath the covers…so I just assume that he would, too! Although at his age, he wiggles around so much that a blanket probably wouldn’t stay on him either.
Does Gavin have a pillow?
Shelley
At what age do you start using sleep sacks?
Around 3 months…when he consistently broke out of his swaddles.
Jill
I gave my son a toddler sized blanket at 12 months, but like everyone else it was always balled up in the corner in the morning. I used footed Pajama’s for warmth. We didn’t give him a pillow until he moved to his big boy bed (around 28 months) and slowly transitioned him to using covers. Now he’s a pro!
emily -- a denver home companion
we’ve just always put ramona in a footed onesie bc i wanted to make sure her feet stayed warm if the blanket i put on her got kicked off. we’ve been doing a blanket for a while (probably around a year — or a little after when the weather turned cooler) and it seems to be staying on her more and more. i haven’t noticed her pull it properly over herself but it gets kicked off less and less. we also put a mini pillow in there (think an arm pillow from a sofa) and sometimes she sleeps on it and other times she doesn’t. by 18 months pillows and blankets didn’t seem like so much of a dangerous situation as it did when she was littler so i figured it couldn’t hurt to just start putting them in there and let her naturally get used to them. hope that perspective helps!
alovelystateofmind
we did away with the sleep sacks around 18 months too, and she’s taken to her blankets ever since – no pillow yet though – i tried and she had no clue what to do with it and threw it out the crib! and within an hour of bedtime the blankets are bunched and the corner, which is why we put her in footed jammies. they grow so fast!