Dear Readers - Meet Practice Baby.

A few months back, a package arrived from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Inside was  the Infant CPR Anytime kit which including a CPR practice baby whose chest actually rises and falls when you give mouth to mouth correctly,  a step by step DVD, and lots of visual aids on how to administer CPR and other life saving techniques on an infant. Of all the baby items that arrive at our house for review, this one made Brent the most excited, as he was a emergency first responder back in high school and has a strong interest in the medical field.

We watched the video and practiced on the doll and honestly, it’s got me feeling a whole lot more confident in myself when it comes to handling emergency situations with a newborn. But what we didn’t anticipate was the usefulness of “Practice Baby”, as we’ve now taken to calling the doll.

Practice baby has been buckled and unbuckled into our new car seat. Practice baby has honed our cloth diapering skills. Practice baby has been swaddled and unswaddled more times than we can count. This week we also watched “The Happiest Baby on The Block” - and learned some really interesting techniques for calming a crying baby. (In the photo of Brent above- we were goofing off with Practice baby and trying out some of the techniques including swaddling and sushing)

We love the Infant CPR Anytime Kit because it makes us feel more prepared as new parents - and we REALLY love Practice Baby for letting us try out all of our newly acquired parenting skills.

Love,

M