What a Mom Wants

First Birthday!

So mostly, I thought we would do a mellow first birthday party for our daughter because really, is she going to remember any of it? But then I realized that the first birthday party is less of a birthday party and more of a coming out party for the parents. Namely, us! I mean, I would say that a party is in order if we are showering AND brushing our teeth on a regular basis and even on the same day sometimes. Also, I was able to score a haircut and even shaved my legs. Now if that doesn't deserve a party, I don't know what does.

So where to start? Well, I picked a theme first and I decided to go with Breakfast at Tiffany's. My daughter loves Truman Capote. (Ok, I am kidding. My daughter's name is Audrey so I thought it would be fun.) Also, it's a super great movie and book; and incorporates elegance, love, booze, NYC, lit and diamonds. Pretty tricky, but it works. I also decided to make it a champagne brunch - again, it's a party for mommy and daddy - and limit it to 3 hours at an off-site location close to home.

I was able to find a lot of great favors from Oriental Trading Company like old wayfarer knock offs that resembled the ones that Audrey Hepburn wears in the movie, sparkly rings, white feather boas and white satin gloves. These were great because some of the older kids and adults took them home as little souvenirs. Very cute!

I also found boxes in the Tiffany color (sometimes called Robin's Egg) and filled them with truffles and had them placed around the party space and of course, gave them out upon each guest's exit. Along with the truffles, I also gave out wallet-sized photos of my daughter enclosed in a silver-sparkly envelope that I found here. I also ordered some posters from the movie at allposters.com to bring the movie theme to the party. There are some great Martha Stewart products from Michael's for invitations, decor and embellishments, too. 

One of the best things I did was set up a play area for the kids. This kept them out of their parents hair and entertained them while we all mingled. I tried to have things that didn't have a lot of pieces that would get lost. We bought this fun Learning Home for Audrey for Christmas and that was a big hit with the kiddos - and it was great for a wide range of ages.

For food, I did the standard brunch faire - croissants, pastries, fruit, smoked salmon, bagels - and then had egg souffles as something a little special (and savory). I also had some kiddie snacks like goldfish and cookies. For drinks, I had mini-sizes of most everything - water, juice boxes, colas, ginger ale. And for sparkling options, I did Prosecco, an affordable (and tasty) alternative to Cook's (blech!), sparkling juices and orange juice.

I struggled with what we were going to do for cake. Was I going to pay $200 for a cake that fed 50 people (hellloooo-more people than were at our wedding) and looked like a Tiffany box or was I going to order cupcakes from Sprinkles for about the same price? First of all, cake sucks because you have to cut it, it usually tastes like crap and it's annoying. Cupcakes are super awesome, but then it's like $3 a cupcake if you order them from a bakery. That makes me want to scream! So I decided that it was easier and more cost effective to make them myself. I had some help frosting them the night before and we were able to transport them quite easily with the use of cookie sheets that have the lip around the perimeter. I was able to use food coloring to match the Tiffany color for the frosting. Details, ladies!

I ordered her birthday dress from Etsy which was completely adorable and I received sooooo many compliments on it. I have to admit, it was freaking cute. Etsy is great for all things special and I think a first birthday dress falls into that category for sure.

I also tried to control (somewhat) the gifts we received. I asked that if anyone wanted to bring a gift, that they bring a book for her growing library. There were some people that asked if they could buy clothes and that was perfectly fine with me, and we received a couple of toys, too - anyway, it was perfect. What I didn't want was a bunch of toys that we would be tripping over the minute we got home. Also, we didn't open gifts during the festivities, but did so after post-party naptime. That was great, too. No one wants to watch a one year old open gifts for two hours. Boooooooooooo-ring! 

Overall, I think it came off very well and it was great to get everyone together, family and friends, to celebrate the first year of our daughter's life. When it was all over, I am glad we went BIG and made it special. Our daughter and this past year's events have been very important to us - and we all deserved some time to catch up, b r e a t h e and have some fun together.   

- Kim

She Gets By With A Little Help From Her Friends

Last Friday, my daughter took her first steps. It was as if we were watching the super bowl and our fave team scored the winning touchdown. There was screaming, clapping, tackling of the poor girl and many, many kisses.

We have noticed that whenever our little bee hangs out with older babies, she picks up something. I am not talking about a cold, a stray toy or a stale goldfish cracker either. I am talking about skills to pay the bills, like eating with her hands, crawling and now, walking.

Back in December, my daughter was hanging out with her good friend Sawyer and he was eating part of his mom's carrot cake muffin (so YUM!) and my daughter was sort of eyeing him the whole time (I was eyeing him, too- I had finished mine). When we got home, she started picking up her cheerios like a champ! I know she was eagle-eyeing him to figure it out. And figure it out, she did.

And then in January, we were hanging out with Tess and her family and she was watching the boy crawl all over the darn place, pulling himself up, holding onto furniture and shaking what his mommy gave him. Well, we got home from our weekend visit and bam! Cruising! And a few weeks later, crawling. Now I am not sure that I can attribute the crawling to Tess' boy completely, but I will give him partial credit. The other portion of the credit goes to my husband because when he saw that our girl was cruising before walking, he was determined to have her crawling before walking, so every evening, he would get on his hands and knees and show her exactly what to do.

And then on Friday, we were hanging out with Sawyer again and that same evening, she took her first steps. Coincidence? I don't think so!

Now, I am not saying that you need to get your kids hitting the milestones A.S.A.P. or anything. I think kids will do what they need to do at their own pace and they are gonna be just fine, but I can't discount the influence of other babies (specifically, ahem, these young men ) in her age group. For some reason, she learns from them and I like that. Its good for her to see them do stuff and I think it builds her confidence in trying to attempt some of these very big-girl things. 

Anyway, I know they say that kids don't really interact or enjoy playing with other kids until the 18-month mark (tell that to my daughter who has been trying to tackle these two boys for the past 4 months), but I think it's a good thing. It's influenced her and honestly, we moms need to get together and commune over snacks and drinks from time to time anyway.

So what's next for this girl? Boys, you tell me!

- Kim 

Say Gouda!

My daughter is almost one year old. I honestly do not know where the time has gone. And then on the other hand it feels like our little family of three has always been skipping down the lane together. Well, a lot has happened in a year. She's rocking four teeth, size 4 diapers, self-feeding and just started cruising around the house. She is growing so fast and we find ourselves looking at each other wanting to put the brakes on.

We know we can't stop time, but we can try to capture as much of these moments as possible. We take a lot of pictures and short videos. But we don't want to go overboard either. So sometimes we just try to be in the moment and enjoy it for what it is.

We use the Canon PowerShot SD900, Digital Elph . It's small, but has a large viewing screen which helps us delete redundant photos before we download them. We definitely don't want to download 20 consecutive shots of our daughter eating her first Cheerio.

Eventually we will spring for a photo printer, but for now, I use Kodak Gallery (www.kodakgallery.com)  for printing and storage. I also use Kodak Gallery to make photo books once a year which include all of our best pictures of family and friends instead of using a traditional photo album. I plan on using it for our daughter's Baby Book, too. There is plenty of room for text and pictures and it's completely reprintable should anything ever happen to it.

I think more important than what technology you buy is your philosophy on taking pictures and video.

When taking pictures there are some simple rules, but here are the one's that peeve me the most. Don't cut people's heads off when taking group photos. Look at the frame of the photo for a split second and check for the annoying partial decapitation. Adjust flash for lighting. Just because it's nighttime, doesn't automatically mean you need the flash. And please, take the bib off!

If you are taking video, make it viewable. In my opinion, videos should be short and purposeful. I recently was subject to some home video watching and it was so shaky and sweeping, it was unwatchable. If you are going to pan from one area to another, do so s l o w l y. And don't try to make something happen because you are taking a video. If you do, you will have a video of your baby staring at you while you say, "Eat the cheerio. Come on, eat the che-e-e-e-erio. You just ate 10 cheerios, e-a-t the ch-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-erio!" With your child, you may want to try to be more candid. My daughter knows what the camera is and so sometimes, we have to sneak a video because if she sees us coming with the camera, she stops what she is doing, smiles and strikes a pose. She also wants to see whatever video or picture we've taken. It's pretty cute. Oh yeah, and pretty annoying when she won't give the camera back.

So have fun! Edit, edit, edit! And don't forget to share your pictures and videos with family and friends! This time isn't going by too quickly only for you - they want to make it last, too.

- Kim

Where was I?

Okay so the Kim and Tess team are back in effect ya'll!

It's been so long I'm not sure where to begin. Christmas came and went and we had a great time. It was just the relaxed cozy type of Christmas I was hoping for, where we all ate too much, went for walks and played with the boy. Who is now a year old! We had a big bash, Elvis theme since he was born on Elvis birthday and also because Elvis is super cool. And, in case you were wondering red velvet cake makes for interesting photos. The boy looked like he had been chopping up bodies with splotches of red cake all over him!

Also, I got a sewing machine for Christmas! I ordered all kinds of fun fabric and I keep checking the front door to see if my cute fabric has arrived yet. I'm feeling all kinds of inspired just thinking of all the cute little appliqué things I can but on my boy's plain shirts. A car! A truck! An Apple! Or hey a Shark!   Then I see shirts like this and this and I think of my friends with their cute little girls and how I must make them some  shirts too. Oh man hurry up and get here already fabric! The only catch is trying to figure out how to sew. That should be interesting, I don't have a lot of patience with following exact instructions and measuring and pinning and whew man I just want to make stuff! So to be continued with my sewing adventures.

And then Kim and her family came to visit where her little girl fell in love with this bad boy. I do have to admit it's pretty awesome. It kind of has a doctor office feel but man do the kids love it. So yeah back to the visit, it was all kid all the time. But we did manage to head out to an art and wine fair and feel like adults.

We are settling in nicely in our house and I'm feeling inspired to start decorating too. I have a list that is miles long on all the things I want to paint, change and buy. I think we need to start with the boy's room but it's going to be a big job. It's a dark color so its going to take coats and coats of paint just to get it back to white. So I keep putting it off. But looking at sites like this  inspire me to get crackin! I kind of love the idea of brightly colored vintage furniture and pictures with white walls but then there are these babies how could we not get those? And then I click over to Dwell and love the colors (click on for baby) and the look and man, I just need one idea not forty. I love the internet I really do but sometimes the cuteness can kill a girl!

Grateful, Warm, Lucky and Loved.

Tonight my little girl was getting kind of fussy (as she does from time to time) and when this happens, she usually starts yapping at us. We hear, "Wah! Wah! Wah!" But what she is actually saying is, "Buy me more plastic crap! I am bored with everything up in here."

So, I put her in the laundry basket and started pushing her around the house. She was quiet at first and then she started to really get into it. First came concern. She gets that from me. Is this safe? Is this laundry basket ISO 2009 certified? Then, her smile starts to creep at the corners of her mouth erupting into full belly laughs.

Yes, my husband was trying to fold the clothes (and I did not want to discourage this) - and this was definitely hindering progress, but she was having a good time. Laundry can wait, right? I can wear the same jeans and t-shirt that I have been wearing since the day she was born. Why should today be any different?

So, after a couple of rounds around the apartment, my legs were tired and I was kind of winded. Lame, for sure. Whose body is this anyway? And so I straightened up and I put my arms out and said, "Up?" This is the part where she will put her hands out for me to pick her up.

But no hands. She was still holding on, white-knuckles and all. She starts rocking back and forth. She wanted me to push her around again!

So I did - at the risk of pulling my hamstring and being on the DL for the next Gymboree class.

By the end of Round 3, I was hitting the inhaler and my husband was throwing in the towel from my corner.

And so she had a little fun before bed for the cost of the depreciation on our laundry basket.

And it made me realize, yet again, how little she needs to be happy. She loves her fun, brightly-colored, shiny plastic crap. She does. But she spends far more of her time playing with the basting brush and the whisk on the floor of the kitchen. Or her daddy's watch. Or this laptop (missing Alt-key and all).

It made me think of my parents and the things they "made do" with.  That's good stuff. No one has stories about how they got everything they ever wanted and how great it was. The best stories are the ones where you had to get creative, or when you didn't get what you wanted so you tried to make one out of PVC pipe (you don't want to know).

I want to give my little girl everything. An imagination, a value system and a have-to-have-it item here and there.  But most of all, I want to give her stories about her childhood that make her feel like I do now. Grateful, warm, lucky and loved.

- Kim

The Bus, the Baby and the MBA

So I was in New York City on business last week and I brought my husband and daughter with me. While I was stuck in meetings, seminars, classes and a girls bathroom line the size of Hands Across America, my husband took care of our daughter.

He toted her around town and she did great. She is urban-city-girl-extraordinaire and New Yorkers loved her. Yes, big scary New Yorkers. New Yorkers are kind, friendly people. Just don't expect them to blow sunshine up your bum. And I mean that in the kindest, uber-Californian, everyone-gets-a-trophy-for-participating kind of way.

Towards the end of the trip, we were happy with the way everything had turned out; but we were both burned out - on a lot of things. For example, I was burned out on optical people (my biz) and hotel food. My husband was burned out on diaper changes and teething shenanigans. We were ready to get home.

So as we sat on the bus that hauls all 800 of my company plus one husband plus one 9-month old baby girl to the airport, I see my Senior Vice President making his way down the aisle. Now this is a man who has a Harvard M.B.A. and intimidates the hell out of me. And it's not him. He is the most down-to-earth, kind person I've met. I just happen to say the most idiotic things when I am around him. He always disagrees with me. I feel like a complete idiot in his presence most of the time. So you can imagine my dilemma as he sits down in the seat across from me.

Will I say the most intelligent thing ever said by a project manager ever? Or will I say something that will only confirm his opinion that I am the most ridiculous employee-of-an-employee-that-reports-to-him in the world?

I introduce him to my husband and daughter. We chit chat. Marketing-blah-percentage-blah-sports-blah-blah. He sits back to read his paper. I attend to my daughter. Crisis averted. We are at status quo.

And then.

My daughter starts screaming. And there is an echo in the back of my head that is my husband about 15 minutes earlier asking me if we shouldn't make her a bottle to take on the bus. My husband looks at me and says, "She's hungry. Do you want me to give you your cover-up?"

"NO! I am not whipping my boob out in front of the man that holds my career in his hands! Hello! Promotion-killer!"

More screaming.

Now people are wondering where the baby comes from. Isn't this a business meeting? Who brought the ankle-biter?

Beads of sweat are building on my forehead. I think to myself, OK, I can be the mom with the scream-y kid, or the mom who nurses her baby 2-feet from the VP.

Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock.

"Give me the cover up!"

I get her under there, whip out the momma-love and baby is quiet and asleep in minutes.

And that's when the voices start.

Oh my god! You are not doing this. You are doing this. OMG! Every time he thinks of me, he is going to think of momma-Kim, not kicking-ass-and-taking-names-Kim. This is not good for the career! OK, how bad could this be? He has 3 kids...he seems progressive. Oh my god!

Well, anyway. It was over after what felt like several hours, but lasted about 10 minutes.

The moral of the story is triple-fold.

1. When your husband suggests a bottle, don't blow him off like he's new to this.

2. A Harvard MBA VP is no match for a hungry baby.

3. Life is humbling - never forget it.

I saw my Harvard MBA VP today at work. It's been a week since the "Boob Incident" as it has now been named. He asked me if I could get my hands on some information from my underground network (the group of people that actually get things done in my company) and I was able to do so - 20 minutes flat.

I'd say I'm now just a smidge above status quo. :)

- Kim

To Co-sleep or Not to Co-sleep

There is a lot of information out there about co-sleeping and how great it is. Co-sleep can mean a couple of different things. It can mean your baby sleeping in bed with you until she is 35 or it can mean your baby sleeping in your room until you feel just adequate enough a mother to take back your bedroom and send her off to her own room.

I am going to talk about the co-sleeper product that is essentially a bassinet that can be attached to your bed so that you don't have to get out of bed to feed your baby. Doesn't that sound luxurious? Your brand new baby starts crying and you just roll over, pull her into bed with you and when she's done, scoot her on back into her little co-sleeper and then back to la la land you go. We read so many reviews about how absolutely wonderful the co-sleeper was, it practically cured cancer.

Well, unfortunately, that's not how it works. There are a couple of things that get in the way of that fairy tale scenario. Well, there were a couple of things that got in the way for me, anyway.

First of all, if you have a vaginal delivery and you have any kind of tearing, the last thing you will want to do is scoot in and out of bed. Because remember, the bassinet will be blocking your exit. It can be pretty painful and no good for the stitches. I had the most desirable tearing (if you are going to tear at all, that is) and I thought it was excruciating.

Second of all, if you are nursing you will be nursing an hour at a time. Though you may be able to nurse your little one laying down, it's pretty difficult in the beginning. Your baby is so small and you have to be in the most optimal position to get her latched on (and save your nipples - bad latch means sore nipples) so in the beginning, it's a lot more comfortable and precise to nurse in the cradle position. You could bring the My Brest Friend into bed with you and even though it has great back support, it's not enough to do you for an hour. Also, you will want to watch TV or occupy your time so you aren't watching the clock.

You might also consider the sleeping person next to you.

Also, the co-sleeper uses a pack 'n' play type mattress which is not very comfortable. The mattress we bought for our baby's crib is outstanding. I noticed a considerable difference in my daughter's quality of sleep when we moved her to her own bed. I believe that a large part of it was the comfort of the mattress.

I also think that you have a tendency to keep each other awake. Whenever your baby stirs (about every hour), she doesn't necessarily need your assistance so you may react and try to feed her or comfort her when she doesn't need it, or if you don't get up to attend to her, it will wake you from your precious sleep without cause.

We had our daughter in her own room by 2 months. I would suggest that you move your baby to her room when you (1) feel comfortable with her being in her own room and (2) before she really is aware of her surroundings which is between 2 and 3 months. Whichever comes first.

I'm not saying that the co-sleeper is not going to work for you. It might be the best thing ever, but consider all of the possibilities before getting on the co-sleeper bandwagon. We wish we had. We ended up turning it around and putting it against the wall and didn't enjoy any of the touted benefits.

- Kim

New Mom Undergarments

Holy Smokes, I don’t know why it’s been so long. The last month has been a blur in work, itchy baby (eczema might be the death of me, I’m not sure.) , and trying to buy a new house! Annnywayyys, where was I?

I wanted to write about nursing bras and what helped during those oh so very hard infant weeks.

The reason why this is important is because I kid you not, you will be wearing a bra for at least 6 weeks straight. That includes going to bed, and you will wish you are wearing one when you take a shower. Seriously, your na na’s will be on fire and it will feel good to have a bra on at all times. I got a few bras, but in the begining I mainly wore these. They don’t have an underwire and are great during engorgement since the sizing is very forgiving. They are even comfortable enough to wear at night. Although at night most of the time I slept in nursing tank tops. There are all different kinds around but I liked the ones I got at Target best.

I also used the heck out of these gel pads, I had them on all the time. They are expensive but worth it, you can reuse them and are way better than the gooey gel ones. I know this because I ran out of soothies and had to use the Playtex/Gerber (oh yes I tried both, I was desparate!) kind. Those things were not even close to being the same. I recommend getting two packs.

So that’s what I used in the begining. By eight weeks you and your little bundle will be pros. It’s a rocky path to get there every Mom has their horror stories. Surround yourself with supporting friends and family and know that each day gets better.

- Tess

A Tale of Two Snacks

There is nothing better than a story about finding a hot dog.

Well, except for a story about a dinosaur who bakes cookies.

Think about it. You are a pigeon with an extremely large eye and an appetite. You are walking down the street, minding your own business and - kapow! - a perfectly yummy, steaming hot dog for the taking. You look left. You look right. No one is around. The hot dog is yours! But then you are ambushed by a little duckling who is trying to get a piece and well, that's where the fun starts. It's a classic struggle. Like Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker. Like Rocky vs. Mr T. Like my jeans vs. my thighs. Epic. Titillating. Requiring mustard.

Or.

You live in a small town where a dinosaur named Edwina (snazzy name and an equally snazzy pill box hat thankyouverymuch!) helps people in your community cross busy intersections, change light bulbs in those very-tall street lamps and bakes chocolate chip cookies to boot! I have no idea why dinosaurs are extinct. You would think the karma alone from the baking of cookies for others would secure dinosaurs a place in the food chain for about a million gazillion years and then some. But a boy with a very long name and a whole lot of attitude is determined to convince everyone that Edwina is in fact, extinct. Poor Edwina! Too bad she dies in the end.

Just kidding.

This is a children's book and I am not a spoiler!

Mo Willems' books The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog and Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct are clever, well-illustrated and fun. Oh! and they also have a moral at the end. Nice!

Mostly my four-month old chews on the pages and then closes the book, but I know that when she is a little older and wants me to read the same books to her over and over and over again, we will be reading something we both like and enjoy. And even better, I won't have to explain to her why I don't give a damn what a Brown Bear sees.

There are so many children's books out there. Doesn't it make a whole lot of sense to find something the entire family can enjoy? Young AND old? Well, not old...early thirties-ish? Mo Willems' books definitely have a place in our home, our hearts and most importantly, our funny bones!

- Kim

Lipase and Breast Milk

I am shaking my fist at the mom gods right now...

I had to throw away about 50 bags of my precious breast milk gold this weekend because of some craziness with an enzyme that I produce too much of that makes my breast milk taste like Palmolive after a stint in the freezer.

Sounds like I made that up, doesn't it?

When I was researching breast milk storage, I had no idea that this could happen. I never came across anything that talked about my little problem - but I can tell you, if I would have known about the possibility, I would have tested my milk before pumping 50 bags. Serious, I can never get that time back. And at about 10 minutes per bag, that's 500 minutes divided by 60. OK, now I am really pissed off.

Well, this is what happened. My caregiver was giving my daughter bottles since I went back to work, but since we were having trouble with her taking the bottle (that's another story for another post), we used formula so it would be as different from breastfeeding as possible. As the bottle-taking improved, we decided to switch to the breast milk. For about a week, we gave her the most recently pumped milk, but then on Thursday of last week, we tried the frozen stuff - no dice!

When I got home, she had only drank 3 ounces for the entire day - very unusual. My girl likes to eat! And as a near 4-month old, she should be throwing back 30-40 ounces per day. So I decided to taste the milk and it was gross. Not sour, but kind of metallic and soapy. Anyway, I did some research and it turns out that some women produce too much of the enzyme Lipase and this speeds the breakdown of the fat in your breast milk - the fat, of course makes it taste good. As a result, you can only store your milk for short periods of time (it differs for all women with this problem) or you have to heat the milk until almost boiling, also known as scalding, (to kill the enzyme) and then store it. As long as your baby is getting some of the good stuff (i.e. directly from you) integrated with whatever you have heat-treated and stored, then they will be getting all of the nutrients they need. And by the way, there is nothing wrong with the breast milk if you have excess Lipase in your system - it's not harmful - it just tastes yucky and your baby will most likely give you the thumbs down if you try to feed it to her. Like mine did.

Wow, doesn't that sound fun? So now I get to lug my pump to work AND pump AND clean all the effing attachments AND heat the milk AND then get it into the bag AND freeze it? Wow, I was wondering what I was going to do with ALL my free time now that I'm a mom!

So, how do you know if you have this lovely enzyme problem? Here is how you can find out. Pump some milk and split it into two. Heat one portion until it is hot to the touch (scalded) either on the stove top or in the microwave. I know they say not to microwave it, but you have to heat the milk in order to kill this enzyme. Yes, it kills some of the good stuff, too. Put a portion each (of the unheated and heated) into the refrigerator. After 24 hours, test each of the portions. If the unheated tastes yucky or funky, but the heated portions taste fine, then you probably have the Lipase issue. If they both taste the same, wait a couple of days. Taste again. If the unheated one is skunked, hello Lipase!

I know that the last thing you want to do is have a breast milk tasting in your kitchen, but ah! The joys of motherhood. Believe me, you will be doing way grosser stuff as your child grows and matures.

Even if you don't have the Lipase problem, there are some things you should know about storage. There are 2 main brands of storage bags: Medela and Lansinoh. The Medela are great if you want to pump directly into the bag. The Lansinoh are great because you can store more milk per bag and there is a pour spout that works pretty well. Decide what's more important to you and then pick.

When you go to seal the bag, you want to squeeze out all of the excess air and place the bags in another Ziploc freezer bag in the center of the freezer. Newer refrigerators go through a defrost cycle in the freezer section and if your milk is butted up against the walls it will partially defrost and freeze again through each of the cycles. No good for your gold.

As far as storage times, check the bags for guidelines. They are all around the same duration, but as the bags differ in construction, you should go with whatever the bag you choose says. Usually, the storage times amount to a few days in the fridge, a few weeks in a freezer that does not have a separate door and a couple of months for a freezer with a separate door. Subzero freezers allow you to freeze for about 6 months.

To defrost, you can put your storage bag in a cup of warm water or run it under warm water. You can then throw into your bottle of choice and heat it to baby temp. Never try to heat the bag in the warmer or in a microwave. Bags are for storage only.

If you have the Lipase problem, like most things baby-related, you will need to do what's best for your family. Discover your personal storage times and stick by them, scald the milk if you need to for longer storage or supplement with formula. Figure out what works best for you and consider this Lipase-thing one more obstacle on the long road to the kids leaving for college.

- Kim