Jen here with another First Year post!  Keeping baby busy with Activity Stations also keeps baby happy!

As a work-from-home mom with an increasingly active 5 month old baby, attempting to entertain Logan while simultaneously getting some work done can be quite difficult.  For example, I recently had a two hour conference call with Me Ra and the other CONFIDENCE workshop teachers.  Jason wasn’t home, so I had to think of a way to keep a cranky Logan busy on her own in order to keep my hands free for taking notes.  Here is what I came up with: lullabies on YouTube, toys and teethers!  HA!  I was impressed that it worked for 45 minutes before she was ready for a change in activity!

Welcome to a little piece of awesomeness I like to call “stations.”  Without stations, I would never get anything done.  If you were to come to my house, you’d see several play areas set up in a couple of rooms.  The order might vary from day to day, but these play areas or “stations” are all used on a daily basis.

Today, a still sleepy Logan began the morning as she usually does: reclining in her bouncer chair with her giraffe, sucking on her blanket and fingers and playing with her toes as she watched me make and eat breakfast.  Just as I was finishing up breakfast, our conversation trailed off, and Logan began to get fidgety.  Time for the next station – the activity bouncer!

I can usually get the most mileage out of this station…the key word being “usually.”  She’s at the age now where she can turn herself around to face the various activities on the bouncer and keep herself occupied for a while.  Sometimes this means 30 minutes and sometimes this means 5.  Today, she was in a good mood, so we got about 20 minutes in before she began whining, which meant it was time for…another station!

Since it wasn’t time to eat her daily dose of veggies yet, we moved into the office so I could get some work done.  The office is where her activity gym lives.  Crank up the music on the butterfly mobile, and she enjoys spending time reaching for, grabbing, and nibbling on her animal friends.  Today was a good day, so she spent about a half hour there.  And I was able to respond to a few emails and do a little bit of writing on an upcoming blog post.

After she ate her puree green beans, traveled around the house with me as I did some chores, nursed and took a nap, the stations were in full swing again.  We read books in her rocking chair, she tackled some tummy time and sit up time using her moon-shaped pillow, hung out and twirled around in her doorway jumper, and did a little swinging.  And then since we used up all our stations…we started all over again!

Do I sound crazy, or are there other moms out there with baby stations spread all over their house?  I would love for you to share your stories of how you entertain your babies during the day.  Leave me your thoughts in the comments section below.

Meet me here next Monday when I share how a fun gift Logan received today from a good friend that took me down memory lane.  Hint: The photos of Logan with her gift contain so much cuteness, you’ll agree that cheering people up is her super power!

First Year Cheers!

Jen