Movie reviews by a mallu

March 31st 2019

3/31 Watched Peranbu today, a movie that SHOULD BE WATCHED BY EVERY PARENT OR CARETAKER OF CHILDREN. Good acting Mammoootty & Sadhana, that makes you wonder whether this is a movie or whether you are peeking inside your neighbor's house.  It is the story of a father and a teenage special needs daughter.  It talks about a single father dealing with a special needs daughter , and also with her sexuality which is usually taboo in Indian movies. There is a scene where the father helps his daughter when she starts on her menstrual period for the first time, which is very emotional.

After watching this you will be so upset that you will need to watch some comedy to take off the hangover (JK, or not). Sometimes it is hard to face the harsh reality of life, that we as human beings tend to hide away from it. I did not mean to insult anyone. Sorry, if this comment went overboard.


March 28

3/28 Watched Lucifer today, first time watching a Houseful( usually there are only a handful) Malayalam movie, wow, did not even knew we had these many mallus here in Dallas, TEXAS.  I promise you will not be bored, a true entertainer. Good acting by Mohanlal , Vivek Oberoi and Manju Warrier, with a true Prithviraj class touch that makes you wonder this is a snippet from our Kerala politics and society, backed with research as usual. Violence is not an overkill in this either, which makes it a movie that you could enjoy with your family( my 6 year old son sat through the whole movie during 2nd show with eyes wide open and said that he loved it.) A mix of family dynamics, Kerala politics, and the international mafia and drugs makes it a true winner for each buck that you paid for it.

It might be a little confusing for the older generation which is why there is a rumor of needing a dictionary to watch this. The story line is not predictable and hence links logically together towards the end.

Illustrated Review: Onesie Extender: EXTENDS THE LIVES OF YOUR ONESIES

My baby is tall. He was 20 inches at birth, and it has been hard fitting him in his clothes now that he is 3 months old. Most of his clothes fit him except at the crotch because of the diapers. He is staying at home now, so I could just leave buttons at the crotch undone. But he is going to day care from next month and I don't want to end up buying lots of new clothes. 

I have been looking all over the internet for a good review about onesie extenders, and I did not find any good one. I saw lots of sites showing the process of making one. These are my reasons for not doing that: I am lazy, and I don't have the patience to stitch one,I did not have any bad onesie that I could use to make one, and I needed extenders for different brands though carters is the one I mostly have.

I found these on Amazon: 

Add a Size Baby Clothes Extender 10-Pack, Onesie Extender

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YQU6KC/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

from One Step Ahead, which was the one with the best reviews. It did have some bad reviews too, which made me confused if it worked or not. So, I decided to make this review for parents like me. This pack had 10 extenders of which at least one type which worked with all of my baby clothes.

 I labeled them (on the back so that they would not show when I snap them onto the onesie) into 4 types, each one has two extenders except for first type which has 4 which is useful because most of my baby's clothes are Cartes

1) Carters/ First Impressions(Macy's)/ Garanimals

I tried them on different Carters and Granimals onesies and it worked on them. But it worked on one type of First Impressions and a different extender worked on the other type of First Impressions.

Garanimals:

First Impression(Macy's):

Carters:

2)Baby Sprocket/ Faded Glory(Walmart)/ Children's Place(Baby Place)/ Nike/ First Impressions(Macy's)

This works with some of the first impressions while the first type works with some.

Baby Sprocket

Faded Glory(Walmart)

 Children's Place(Baby Place)

 

 Nike

First Impressions

3) Starting out/ Circo

Starting out:

Circo:

4) Old Navy/ Baby Gap

Old Navy:

Baby Gap:

P.S. The best thing is you can use either one(first picture below) or two extenders(second picture below) together to make your baby clothes last longer. Now, that winter is fast approaching, if you wear a pant with this, no one would notice the extender inside.

P.S: Check out my YouTube Channel at :

http://www.youtube.com/user/meenu876?feature=mhee

LIST OF MUST HAVES TO SURVIVE PARENTHOOD

1) Pampers Swaddlers sensitive:

or Pampers Swaddlers

Pampers Swaddlers, Size 3 (16-28 lbs.), 164 ct. - Baby Gift Card Offer (Google Affiliate Ad)

Google Affiliate Ads

Tip: Good for babies with sensitive skin

2)Huggies Soft Skin Baby Wipes

Huggies - Soft Skin Ba...
$15.34 Sam's Club
Google Affiliate Ads

Tip: Good for babies with sensitive skin

3) Aquaphor Eucerin for BABY (One for home and one for your diaper bag)

Tip: WONDERFUL for diaper rashes, nose or face scratches, dryness, redness or skin peel anywhere on baby's skin even head, especially babies with sensitive skin 

4) Graco Lauren Dressing Table

5) Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad

6) Playtex Diaper Genie Elite Diaper Disposal Pail

Breastfeeding for the first time!!!

 

After my c-section, I woke up and felt a sharp shooting pain. I remembered, where is my baby? Is he born? Is he ok? My hubby came in and told me that they are bringing the baby. When I first saw my baby, I was so happy and very excited to hold him. He looked so tiny. I felt so scared that I would hurt him by not holding him properly. He was a premie baby, 1 month earlier than the due date.

The nurse tried to hold him to my breast. He got all red and started to cry inconsolably. I felt so helpless , not knowing what to do to help him. This continued till we left the hospital. I felt so embarrassed breastfeeding with everybody looking on, and just wanted it over with. My baby did not know how to latch on or suck and he was crying so much. He got tired after a while and started sleeping after sucking a little bit. Each time, there was more than one nurse or lactation consultant to help my baby latch on and to keep him awake for the feedings.

It was not easy, it was a constant struggle at the beginning. There were millions of times that I felt like quitting and felt I would be a complete failure as a mom if I did.

Now when I look back, I have no idea how I survived that!!!

My baby was born at 7.5 lbs, and he went down to 6 by the second day. That night was my worst nightmare come true. I had nurses and lactation consultants constantly watching me, which made me feel like I was doing everything wrong. The physical pain from the surgery was overwhelming, but even more trying was the emotional side. I had so many people saying what I did wrong, no one told me what I was doing right. That whole night we repeatedly went through this same process: the nurse would check the baby's weight, then I would breastfeed him and they again checked his weight, I pumped and the nurse fed it to him and again his weight was checked. This went on forever. When I first pumped, I only got 2 oz. The second time was barely 1 oz. the nurse looked at me as if I had done something wrong and this only served to increase my guilt more.
                                       
The next day morning, my baby's pediatrician came and said that I had to give my baby formula which made me so upset. I was so mad that I did not even look at her the whole time she was explaining that to me. I heard the nurses saying that they did not let our pediatrician know about this on the first day as this would make her so upset.

Meanwhile, I had lactation consultants come in to check on how much of a failure I was. They had differing views on breast feeing. One person told me to try a nipple shield while the other one told me that would decrease milk. At the same time, I had lots of friends come in with little kids, and all these people would be standing there while I breasted the baby. I am a very private, private person and showing my boobs in front of everyone was not a comforting factor for me.

My baby was born on saturday and we had to stay at the hospital till Wednesday because I was running a fever of 106 till Tuesday and was on antibiotics till then. Though we were released from the hospital, I still had to take my baby in daily to check his weight. I was so relieved to be released from the hospital and go back home. But going back to the hospital daily again was a nightmare. After coming back home, my baby's weight started increasing steadily.
                                                   
The next one was my baby's two week pediatrician appointment. Though my baby's weight was increasing steadily, she gave us a stack of formulas. She was stressing us out, giving us an ultimatum that he had to increase by a certain amount in one week. The very next day, we switched the pediatrician and it's been the best decision ever. When the first pediatrician held my baby, he would cry a lot, while he smiled at the second one. That was a big relief for me that I made the right decision.

For the first two weeks, we gave him formula once a day. After that, we stopped because he was increasing steadily. I check my baby's weight every day to make sure it is not decreasing. I check my weight on the sighing balance and then mine with his and subtract the two to get his.
                                            
P.S. : The best help for breastfeeding is fenugreek seeds. Soak it in water overnight and drink the water and eat the seeds the next day. It triples your supply.

Baby diapers/ Pampers swaddlers sensitive

Diapers are an important part of your baby's and your life right now.  So, it is very important to choose the right diaper for your baby. You will have to try out different brands to see which one works. I have tried so many different ones. Most of them were baby shower gifts, that helped me a lot in deciding the PERFECT ONE.  This was his first diaper from the hospital. 

Pampers swaddlers sensitive are the only ones that works for my baby, and I save $10 using Amazon subscribe and save. You can have a free 3 month Amazon prime membership which saves you 20%. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q8EYR2/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

Pampers swaddlers were ok, but they did cause diaper rashes sometimes and smelled bad starting from size two. Huggies always leaked, and they cost the same.  But it is funny how their soft skin wipes were the only wipes that works for him. 

http://www.amazon.com/Huggies-Wipes-Refill-Total-184-Count/dp/B0018C81PA/ref=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1348821868&sr=1-2&keywords=huggies+wipes

I liked the target up&up for newborns, but I did not like them in bigger sizes. Luvs leaked chemicals all over my tiny one's bottoms if he peed more than once in his diaper, that scared me from ever trying any other brand.  Pampers Baby Dry were just like Luvs though it is far more expensive, and they smelled funny and leaked after baby peed twice.

One other problem was rashes or skin peeling and redness on all the non-exposed parts of his body like bottom, neck, underarms, behind ears, penis and surrounding parts. I tried so many different things like diaper rash treatments which made it worse. What worked for me was Eucerin Aquaphor Healing Oinment which I used generously after bath and some of the diaper changes. It also helps baby pass the poop easily, if applied to baby's bottom.

http://www.amazon.com/Eucerin-Aquaphor-Healing-Ointment-396/dp/B000296DVY/ref=sr_1_6?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1348822786&sr=1-6&keywords=eucerin+baby

One tip for buying diapers is look for the next size when your baby starts leaking. I have had lesser explosive poop accidents with Pampers Swaddlers sensitive.

SO, these were my perfect combinations: Pampers swaddlers sensitive diapers, Huggies soft skin wipes and  Eucerin Aquaphor Healing Oinment.
P.S.: If you have a baby boy, make sure you point his little penis downwards when putting the diaper on. This will help you from a lot of leaks.

The life journey of a first time mom and dad

We (me and my husband) are very excited as first time parents of a baby boy. His name is Ethan and he is 2 months old. As first time parents, I felt like we did not know anything about babies and what all you need to know to make your life and your baby's life comfortable. I want to help parents like us who know nothing about babies. I work as a teacher at a high school in DFW, Texas and my husband works as a QC at an oil refinery. We have been married for 2 years and we had our baby Ethan on June 30th of 2012. I have taken 12 weeks off from work to be with my baby. I have to get back by mid- November. I remember, when we first started getting ready to go to hospital, we were really confused of the LIST OF THINGS FOR THE HOSPITAL. The only thing we really used was an outfit for the baby to come home and a car seat. My baby came 1 month early, he was due on July 22. I was running a fever of 106 and my baby's temperature was high. I had been on labor for 3 days and had already dilated. So I had an emergency C-Section, the doc said that my baby could die if we waited. I was very upset, because I was hoping for a natural birthing process and what I got was the complete opposite. I was by myself(WITHOUT MY DEAREST HUBBY BY MY SIDE) in the middle of all the docs and nurses in UNIFORM. The last thing I remember when I lost consciousness was the doctor explaining the process, and my hands tied up. I was so scared about the life of my baby. I was not conscious when the whole birthing process took place. SO I WAS STILL UNCONSCIOUS WHEN MY BABY CAME INTO THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!

Check out my youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/meenu876?feature=mhee

P.S. Life gets more easier once your baby is 3 months old. Just take one day at a time till then.