Raise the Barn

Bought some simple plastic lenses for my Nikon DLSR. Yeah – seems counter-productive but going retro can be fun. The lenses are actual called Diana F+ lenses – made of plastic, and I got an adapter so it connects directly to the f-mount on the Nikon. Very simple. Whole thing was maybe $40. So simple that you have to put the camera in full manual for it to even snap shots as it doesn’t recognize that a lens is attached.

Great thing about using a DSLR is that since it’s all manual, you don’t know what settings you’ll need so you can just keep trying and no film wasted.  You have to test different ISO/shutter combinations. And to focus – there are only 3 settings on this little plastic lens, 1-2M, 2-4M and infinity.

Why? Cause I can. And a few of the pics have a fun color effect.

Check out the rest on flickr. I’m still figuring out the settings so these are all learning pics.

So I get this random email from Huggies – okay, it’s not random – I’m always trolling for diaper coupons.  Anyway, I get this email and it’s an article they’ve passed along from Americanbaby.com about having your baby play smart. Well, who’s going to choose to play dumb – so I read along.

I browse the 0-3 month and 3-6 month (my baby’s extra smart) and they push unbreakable mirrors, colorful contrasting items that encourage kicking, wriggling, grabbing and soft toys. Well – our son loves one item in particular that gets points for all those things. This baby play mat we picked up on Amazon that has animals hanging from it and it lights up and plays music.

Tiny Love Gymini Super Deluxe – Lights & Music

All we know is that our son loves it so much he’s going to wear away the hair on the back of his head and develop a flat spot. Ben gets all four legs going, punching a giraffe with one while grabbing the elephant with another as he yells at the parrot on a third bar all while kickboxing with a monkey – it’s awesome.

Push on certain areas and the flowers light up and play music. There’s a crinkly elephant ear and all the hanging animals can be moved around. He is so vocal when he’s on it, talks forever.

The mirror is great – but safety mirrors distort so much I hope he doesn’t scare himself.  Oh – nice feature – it’s spring loaded so it folds in half and snaps shut to be flat. (who has enough storage space for all the kid stuff you “have to have”) so it’s a nice extra. He’s bopping on it right now as I type this. He likes to have conversations with the giraffe and parrot.

Check out the mat on Amazon

I’m going out of order from when I “found” things that work with Ben but this one is pretty simple yet effective.

We’ve swaddled Ben when he gets crazy while trying to sleep (arms spazzing around waking him up) and have used the Halo sleep sack – great product. That is, great product until your baby turns into a mini Houdini. A couple times we woke to find him out of the sleep sack or with it up around his shoulders and his arms out from underneath.

Paranoid about him finding some way to position it over his face – sleep sack out – new product intervention – the Woombie.

Ben in his Woombie

Yeah – funny name and funny looking with him in it but it works and seems so much safer. He looks like a bug when he’s in it but it lets him move around in a stretch fabric cocoon without smacking himself in the face.

Pluses: He can stretch his legs or hold them up in the froggie position for better hip development.  Lightweight fabric so he doesn’t overheat. (sleepsack overlaps multiple layers) It lets him move his arms as well so they can be by his side or up on his chest where he likes them. Easy in and out with 1 zipper. (newer version will zip down versus up for easier diaper changes) And best of all – he’s sleeping from 10 p.m. to 4-5 a.m. HUGE!!!

Minuses: not much choice in design/color, only zips up (which is no longer the case for 1 of their models)

Overall it’s a great product. I’d get a couple since they’re reasonably priced at $20-$30 so you have a backup. We’re using the newborn size at 2 months with the larger one the zips bottom to top on order.