May 2010 Infant Thread

[Bawstinn]

Hello!

Maria, 40
David, 36
Madeleine, 3 (almost 4)
Christopher, 11 months (just about!)

We have a walker! Christopher discovered this weekend he doesn't have to hold on to anything when he walks. He takes about 8 steps before he topples over but his balance just keeps getting better. This is enabling him to get into anything and everything faster than he was.

He's also decided to start sleeping through the night some of the time. Some nights he sleeps 7:30 - 4:30, eats and go back to sleep. Other nights he is up at 2 to eat. Either works fine for me at this point.

Last week I was hit with the stomach flu and my milk supply took a hit. I was starting to have a hard time keeping up with him and my freezer supply has been dwindling. I've been eating and drinking more but it really isn't rebounding. :( He has enough for the week at daycare but what is going back in isn't much at all. We are sooooo close to making it the year. I was planning on starting to mix in whole milk (50-50) in 2 weeks anyway, but I still need to have enough to pump to mix it with. I upped my pumping sessions at work to 3 so we'll see if that helps.

That's all I got for the moment. I made a comment about posting pictures last month but never made it back. Here he is on Saturday morning - the 2 of us spending quality time together at 6 AM. :rolleyes:

Now that I look at the picture I remember we also went for his first haircut last month. Looks less and less like a baby everyday.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l223/Bawstinn/DSC03262.jpg

[linsleyd]

Thanks for starting us! And congratulations on having a walker! So exciting and so scary!

Me: 34
DH: 32
Amelia: 9 months Friday

Good lord I can't believe she is already nine months! Crazy! Amelia is doing great although I think we're beginning to teeth - she wants to eat all the time and chewing on things constantly. I suppose it's about time since she doesn't have any teeth!
We still have a cough and surgery scheduled for May 21st which I imagine we won't make once again. I really need to push my pediatrician into sending us to an allergist. It's getting ridiculous. Is that spelled right, it looks funny! :D

Otherwise she is sitting and crawling, but still happy if we confine her to the jumper or activity center - all around a very happy girl!

[aggie94]

Me: Eva, 36
DH: Che, 38
DD: Iris, 2 months

Holy smokes, 2 months??? Where has the time gone? We are doing pretty well, although still struggling to narrow down her food intolerances. Two+ weeks of being off of soy, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts (plus 3+ weeks of being off of dairy and 6+ weeks of being off of caffeine) have not shown any significant improvement in Iris's symptoms. But she isn't really bothered by her symptoms, so I'm not sure we are going to go to any extreme lengths (like a total elimination diet) just yet to try to figure out what's going on. If they worsen or start to bother her, then we'll revisit, but for now, I guess I'm going to continue on my restrictive diet for at least another week and see what happens.

Iris had her 2-month vaccinations yesterday (except rotavirus - I was afraid of what it would do to her already sensitive GI system), and I think it was more painful for us than her. She cried harder than I have ever heard her cry before :(, but luckily it was very short-lived. I nursed her immediately afterwards (in the doc's office), and I think that helped. She pretty much slept the rest of the day. :) Overall, she's a pretty mellow, laidback, happy baby. We're getting lots of smiles and laughs from her right now, so that's a lot of fun. Other than that, we are just working on tummy time:

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs358.snc3/29488_1439824752936_1152560242_1563497_7105097_n.j pg

Oh yeah, and I go back to work in one week. :( :( :( If I hated my job or if she were going into daycare, I would probably be dreading it, but my job is fine and she'll be home with Che, so I don't actually mind too much. And I'm doing some work from home this week to try to ease back in. Che's mom arrives the day after I go back to work, so it will be nice to have some extra help on hand for that transition.

Maria, yay for walking!! That has to be so much fun. I am so looking forward to all our "firsts." Sorry to hear about your milk supply, but hang in there - you are soooo close to one year! That is awesome. I will be thrilled if we can do the same.

Linsley, sorry to hear you will probably have to reschedule Amelia's surgery again. :( And I hope she feels better soon!

[linsleyd]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/linsleyjamie/2323232327Ffp93B33Enu3D33693E2333E5.jpg

oh my, sorry this is so big! This is Amelia at the beginning of April!

Eva, she looks so determined, too cute!

[MinEaston]

me: 39
DH: 42
DS: Nicholas, 8 months
DD: Anna, 5 yrs

First - the babies are absolutely gorgeous, adorable, handsome, and beautiful!

Seconds, personals while I remember to do them, and while there's not too many replies to keep up with :rolleyes:

Eva - I cannot believe Iris is 2 months either! She's beautiful. I'm sorry you are having so many issues with the diet. As long as it doesn't seem to bother her, and she's still gaining weight and seems healthy, I'd have to say you are doing everything right.

Linsley - It seems like just yesterday we were both lamenting being pregnant in the summer. Amelia is a cutie, and I hope you can get past that surgery milestone soon.

Maria - did Madeline's life as she knew it change when Christopher starting walking (or even earlier, in the crawling stage?)? Is she still enjoying being a big sister?

As for us, let's see. Nicholas is <this> close to crawling, but can still cover a fair amount of ground in the playroom. Teething and an ear infection may have contributed to his frequent nighttime wakings, and we seem to have gotten past that. Last night he went down around 7:30 and didn't make enough fuss to wake me up until about 5. This week on the whole he's only woken up enough to need attention once per night. I can handle that.

Nicholas is a happy, laid-back kid too. He adores his older sister and laughs crazily when she (gently) smacks his feet, stomps around, pounds on his booster seat tray, or otherwise acts like a madwoman. We've seen a bit of separation anxiety but not terrible.

Nicholas has mastered picking up a Cheerio and is doing well with other similarly shaped & sized items (most of which have been food, thank goodness). Having been uber-paranoid with Anna, and paying the price for it, I'm taking the Baby Led Weaning (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyledweaning.htm) approach to solid foods, and Nicholas seems to like it so far. We have far too hectic of a morning to do a big meal, but he will happily chow down on cheerios. I send some kind of lunch and snack item into daycare, and in the evenings we try more finger foods unless he's too exhausted. For the most part I am still keeping up with his milk demand but I have been giving him a 6 oz bottle of formula at night, and supplementing during the day if I haven't managed to pump enough. He really doesn't seem to care if it comes out of me or a can :rolleyes:!

Here's a picture from early April. I don't think I've taken any more since then, but maybe I can get a Mothers Day shot this weekend.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/sailinggal71/easter2010_NGL.jpg

[Chelle D]

Hi ladies....can I join in?

Me: Michelle, 35 (in a few hours :) )
DH: Jesper, 36
DS: Maxwell, 5 years
DD: Julia, 3 months

For those who did not see other posts of mine about Julia, we are adopting her. It's a domestic adoption and we have had her since she was released from the hospital. The termination of parental rights hearing for the birthparents is this Monday and we are (almost) 100% sure it will go smoothly.

Anyway...so we have a baby! I had pretty much given up and here I am on the newborn thread again. It feels like forever since I was here when I had Maxwell.

Things are going well. I think she is starting to think about a schedule. She takes a great nap in the morning, but the afternoons are still unpredictable. At night, she wakes up a few times, but sometimes she's not hungry and I can give her the paci and she calms down. That has been wonderful. I still feel much older this time around! It probably has something to do with the crazy preschooler I have running around this time.

Maxwell loves Julia so much though and she really has completed our family in such a beautiful way.

Here's a couple newborn photos and a photo from around Easter.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs416.snc3/25090_10150120421625705_616520704_11194930_5400260 _n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs436.snc3/25090_10150120421685705_616520704_11194936_1950650 _n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sjc1/hs420.snc3/25269_10150176319520705_616520704_11820911_4752689 _n.jpg

[tholbrook]

Just delurking to admire the beautiful babies on this thread - great pictures, moms!

Michelle, I remember your post from when Julia joined your family ... she is beautiful, and has grown so much in a few short months. Congrats again - I can tell you are really enjoying this time with her!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone this weekend - hope you have a wonderful time with your families! :)

[aggie94]

OMG, Michelle - she is GORGEOUS!

[linsleyd]

Oh, Michelle, she is so squishy and lovely! Enjoy that beauty!

Mariana, Nicholas is quite handsome as well! ;)

[Chelle D]

Thanks all!

Well...the court hearing was today and the birthparents have terminated their parental rights! This means that the probationary period for the adoption is over and there is not a chance that Julia could be taken away from us by anyone in the birth family. We were not really concerned, but it is the "big" hurdle to get oer and it has been pretty dramatic. Now, the agency social worker has to come for a home visit this week and again when Julia is 6 months old, then we file for our court date for the adoption finalization.

[MinEaston]

Thanks all!

Well...the court hearing was today and the birthparents have terminated their parental rights! This means that the probationary period for the adoption is over and there is not a chance that Julia could be taken away from us by anyone in the birth family. We were not really concerned, but it is the "big" hurdle to get oer and it has been pretty dramatic. Now, the agency social worker has to come for a home visit this week and again when Julia is 6 months old, then we file for our court date for the adoption finalization.

Congratulations! I have a coworker whose adopted daughter was born shortly before Nicholas, and she just had that final adoption finalization about 2 weeks ago, so your story is familiar.

And BTW she is absolutely precious.

[aggie94]

Mariana, Nicholas is such a cutie! Wow, almost a crawler! On the one hand, I so look forward to that stage, but I also know she will be harder to keep up with once she becomes mobile. :o We are also looking towards doing baby-led weaning once she is over 6 months, so I hope you'll still be around so I can pick your brain on that.

Michelle, congrats on the adoption hurdle! What a huge relief and joy that must be.

As for us, we've been seeing our pediatrician, our lactation consultant, and now a naturopathic doctor, and we also have an appointment with a pediatric GI next week. But we are really starting to think we have gone down the wrong path with this food allergy thing. Everything now, including some new symptoms (milk dribbling out of her nose when she nurses), points to an oversupply issue, and oversupply does explain all of her symptoms, including the rash/ring. UGH. After all the elimination diets, it kinda sucks to know it was all for naught. On the bright side, I am only 3 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. :)

So I'm back to eating real food again, although the naturopathic doc wanted me to cut out sugars, yeast, and all processed foods. So I'm really only eating all organic, all natural, all whole foods. It's how I should be eating anyway, so I can't really complain, but man, some days I really want a donut. ;) I really think things will improve once she can manage my supply better (and perhaps going back to work will help regulate my supply as well), but we will probably keep the GI appointment next week just in case there is anything else going on.

Oh, so yeah, I'm back at work. :( Yesterday was my first day back, and it really was not so bad. But I went home after work all excited to see Iris and spend some quality time with her - I missed her so much! I nursed her as soon as I got home, then she promptly fell asleep in her swing for 4 1/2 hours. :eek: She has never once slept that long in a single stretch! I was so sad not to be able to hold and cuddle her like I had planned, but DH said she hadn't napped well during the day, so I didn't want to wake her. He told me I should take it as a compliment - being nursed was so comforting to her that she slept so soundly for so long. Still, I missed my baby. So after she woke up at 10:00 last night, I got in the bath with her and played with her until we both feel asleep snuggled up together in bed. :D

MIL arrives today for a 10-day visit. I love her to death, but she wears me out a bit (we are so very different), so it's good I have work to escape to during the day. It'll be great for DH to have her around to help him out.

[PoppyJ]

The babies are soooo cute!! I love the pictures.

Me: 34
DH: 40
DD: Avery, 3
DS: Gage, 8 months

Hi ladies. Sorry I have been MIA most of the month. Avery turned 3 at the beginning of the month and it was crazy between friends and family. We had almost a week of birthday celebrations- it was crazy and exhausting.

Gage is doing really well. He went from hating solids to eating 3 meals a day and loving puffs and cheerios. It basically clicked overnight and I'm happy that he finally decided that he wanted solids.

I think he is getting ready to crawl. He is not content on justing sitting anymore and he keeps getting on his tummy and kicking his legs. In no way am I ready for him to crawl. It's going to be a whole other ball game when he is mobile. I guess I better think about going through Avery's toys and get rid of the ones that are too small. He is still not sleeping well. He is up 3-4 times a night still. We are going to work on it this weekend by trying to drop just one of the feedings.

Here is a picture of Gage at the aquarium. He is growing up so fast.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0db30b3127ccefa424ec7023800000040O02AYuWzRq1csg e3nw8/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[Chelle D]

Eva - I too have a MIL that comes for extended periods of time and there is both good and not-so-good in it. She will relish time with Iris though and, like you said, be around to help your DH during the day. I know the toughest thing for me is putting Julia down and getting anything done. I've pretty much been keeping up on the laundry and doing a "good enough" job on the kitchen and that's it. I could probably put her down more often, but it would be easier if I had someone to hold her for a bit. Julia's starting to play a little so she's getting better when I put her down, but at two months she wanted to be held all the time! That's a good job for a MIL :-) Good luck on avoiding the donuts....DS and I went to Krispy Kreme for the first time today. I had no idea they gave you a warm donut when you went in.....(I know, I'm bad!)

Poppy - What a cutie!

[kbs]

Me: Kim, 35
DH: 35
DDs: Adeline and Elinor, 6 months (!?!?!?!?!)

Where did the month go???? I can't believe it's almost half over and more importantly, that my little babies are going to be 6 months on Monday. When did this happen? How did it happen? It makes me want to cry that it's going by so quickly.

The girls are doing great. Ellie is rolling over front to back all the time. Addie doesn't have much interest though she does seem to try when she is doing tummy time. They are both really happy babies for which we are eternally grateful. Sleeping continues to go well with generally, 11-12 hours of sleep (though I think they actually do wake up around 6 or so and play for a bit, but then fall back asleep), with the exception of the past couple of nights. So I'd be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on our day with Addie yesterday.

She woke up at 5:15 crying and we couldn't get her to go back to sleep, which is unusal. I took her out of crib and changed her diaper and put her back in the crib whcih REALLY annoyed her, so she was in full throttle crying mode now. DH got up and took her downstairs at 5:45, and she just continued to wail despite his best efforts as distraction. So ended up making a bottle and then she was fine and went back to sleep after the bottle. So clearly she was hungry. The rest of the bottle schedule was actually pretty normal, though she ended up going 6 hours to her 2nd bottle at noon. Bedtime was 8:30, she went to sleep with a little bit of fussiness which is unusal, but that was only for about 7 minutes then to sleep. Then she woke up at 10:15pm crying. Again, she was unconsolable. I brought her downstairs and tried to distract her from her misery to no avail. So we gave her another bottle. So by the end of the day she had 5 8-oz bottles, which is really just crazy. Any thoughts? We have not been great about solids, though I did give her some oatmeal at 11am yesterday, which was only marginally successful in ending up in her tummy. Do you think this may be a sign that she is ready for solids? Or was this just a weird day that was hopefully an anomoly? The girl definitely does not need 40oz of formula a day, that's for sure!

Ok, that was a long story. Sorry.

Lots of really good looking babies on this thread!

Maria- how exciting that Chritopher is walking!!

Linsleyd - what beautiful eyes Amelia has! I'm sorry to hear that her surgery was delayed again.

Eva - I'm glad your transition back to work has been good. I was in a very similar situation where the girls are home with DH, which is a huge load off my mind. I can't believe the crazy roller coaster you've been on with trying to address poor Iris's tummy issues! Hopefully there's some real solutions on the horizon.

Michelle- Congratulations! How exciting to have the adoption process complete! Love the picture with Julia and your son.

Poppy - Crawling! Yikes! I'm totally dreading that.

Here's a couple recent pictures of the ladies...

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_mpq65g1yKwM/S-g0DOtV3qI/AAAAAAAAKCI/neXajIK4iTc/s512/Literally%20Naked%20Ellie-001.jpg
Ellie

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_mpq65g1yKwM/S-eDL2yly9I/AAAAAAAAJ2o/T6SGjSEd6b8/s512/Last%20Viewed%20Events-033.jpg
Addie (who suddenly becomes Cindy Brady in front of any camera)

-Kim

[ellery]

Okay, this will be a quick drive by since I think I hear Max stirring downstairs.

He's 6 weeks as of today, and DH and I are "ageless." ;)

Things are going okay here so far, which I think just means that I know what to expect, not so much that things are easy. For the most part, Max is a great baby, and is free of the reflux that his older brother had that about made me crazy for the first 6 months of his life. (Ugh, the crying, the constant crying...)

I'm trying to keep him on a sort of schedule, but you know how that goes. He sleeps a lot more than Danny did at this age, but I think that was because the reflux made Danny so miserable that he couldn't sleep. Last night (I'm afraid to say this out loud and jinx it) Max actually slept 7 hours in a row. I haven't slept 7 hours in a row since I was about 6 months pregnant, so I'm loving life right now. I didn't think breastfed babies even were capable of sleeping that long, so I'm wondering if something is wrong? Or if this is payback for the fact that he cried almost nonstop from about 6-10 pm last night. (Gotta love colic).

Eva, I'm jealous that you're almost back to your pre-preggo weight! I'm watching what I'm eating and exercising, but that darned scale won't move anymore. I lost about 20 pounds the first few weeks, and now it's stuck with about 15 to go. Grrr. I think I'm tightening up a bit, but that could just be wishful thinking since that darned scale isn't cooperating...

Uh oh. I hear my Max-ster calling...

I'll leave off with a pic to add to all the pics of the gorgeous babies. Our BB sure does produce gorgeous babies!

http://photo.wee-web.com/photo/4db89d/114100-medium.jpeg?0

[Bawstinn]

Hi everyone!

Welcome Michelle. Julia is beautiful!

Kim - a growth spurt, perhaps? Christopher went through periods where he seemed to want to nurse every 3 hours at night and eat a ton. Then he'd taper off a go back to 'normal'.

Welcome Leah - glad things are going so well. Christopher gave me a few decent stretches of sleep but for the most part he wasn't keen on missing a meal.

Mariana - Madeleine realized her brother was trouble as soon as he started moving and getting into everything. She loves being a big sister, loves her brother BUT isn't in love with the idea of sharing.

Eva - it is so hard to leave them but it does get better, although I still hate dropping Christopher off at daycare every morning. Some mornings I am happy to drop my little Drama Queen off though ;)

I have a hard time believing we are coming up on a year. She turns 4 on the 4th and he'll be 1 on the 6th. He has started weaning himself. He wants to nurse in the morning and usually once in the middle of the night but isn't really interested any other time. He's even refusing bottles at daycare or will only take 3 ounces. He'll drink from a sippy at mealtime but is more interested in using the cup to smash his food before eating it.

[MinEaston]

reported

[linsleyd]

All of you with immobile babies, ENJOY it! Amelia is the fastest crawler and we just had to put her pack n play down to the lower level and the crib is next. This kid is a daredevil!

We got into an allergist on Friday and he seems to think we've got a dairy allergy going on. So, Amelia is on soy formula and I'm not eating dairy and we'll see how she is in two weeks. Not eating dairy is much harder than I thought!

Eva, glad work wasn't too difficult and I'm glad it seems to be an oversupply issue but good lord, all that effort of eliminating things just to go back to the beginning. The things we do...:D

Kim, the twins are adorable! I am no help with the food. Amelia eats purees two - three times a day but I'm really having difficulty getting her to eat real food. She doesn't quite know what to do with it. She'll put it in her mouth but she doesn't know to chew it! And puffs, she just plays with those...

[PoppyJ]

Quick question for those moms feeding purees. How strict are you with not re-feeding from an unfinished meal? I know they say you should throw away any food the baby has not finished but sometimes Gage will take a bite or two and then decided he is just not hungry at that time. I hate throwing it away, especially since I make all of his food. If I don't use it by the next meal then I will toss it. I don't remember what I did with Avery, but I am sure I wasn't that strict with her either.

[linsleyd]

I spoon about 1/2 the jar into a bowl and feed Amelia from that. If she is still hungry, I'll get another spoon and take it out of the jar. I never feed out of the jar unless I plan on throwing the jar out.
Does that help? And I'll keep an open jar for two or three days if it doesn't get finished.

[MinEaston]

Poppy, I too make Nicholas' baby food and I just serve up a couple of tablespoons at a time from the larger container...

[Bawstinn]

Poppy, I too make Nicholas' baby food and I just serve up a couple of tablespoons at a time from the larger container...


Same here. I froze in ice cube trays and if he didn't finish it for one meal, I saved it for the next then the rest of the defrosted cube got tossed.

[kbs]

Hi!
Poppy- we haven't actually had this happen yet, but I am doing what the others have said- pitching anything that wasn't finished. I am also making the girls' food and we are spooning it into bowls and that is what gets tossed.

So along those lines we are finally having success with both girls eating solids! Ellie has been an open wide champ for awhile, but Addie just wasn't buying it. But now that we've started carrots, she's much more willing to open wide. Plus we discovered that she is very responsive to lots of cheering and encouragement. Once she gets a bite down I go crazy with clapping and cheering and then she is very willing to open wide for the next. Interestingly, this approach has not gone over well with Ellie who just kind of looks at me and her sister with a look like, "what the hell is your affliction??". She actually stopped opening wide in protest (although we give her lots of "good girl"s and good jobs when she eats) and so we've toned down our over the top encouragement of Addie since she seems to have gotten the hang of it. I guess it's the first of likely many challenges of parenting twins. I'm very concious of not saying things like "Addie is ahead of Ellie in xyz", and I'm trying to get our family (my mother in particular) to not do it as well. But the reality is that it is not always possible to treat them exactly the same- they are two different children. Is anyone out there a twin? I'd be interested to hear of any adult twin's experience. One of the things I wonder about is if one of the girls is doing something, and I say to the other one, "look at what your sister is doing! Isn't that neat!", would the twin take that as a criticism? As in, why aren't you doing that too?, or would she be excited/proud/ happy for her sister? Clearly, this is something that really concerns me.

-Kim

[PoppyJ]

I have figured out what to do with the food Gage isn't eating...give it to his big sis. She has decided that she loves his purees and eats whatever he doesn't. Great way for her to get her veggies. :D

For those who are making their own food, what are you making? I am looking for suggestions. I have a couple of cookbooks but just looking for some other inspiration. Have you done meat yet? Also what finger foods are you giving? He is addicted to puffs and cherrios. I want him to move beyond those.

[MinEaston]

I have figured out what to do with the food Gage isn't eating...give it to his big sis. She has decided that she loves his purees and eats whatever he doesn't. Great way for her to get her veggies. :D

ooooohhhh, I wish. Anna very begrudgingly tried the tiniest bit of sweet potato and immediately declared she didn't like it.

For those who are making their own food, what are you making? I am looking for suggestions. I have a couple of cookbooks but just looking for some other inspiration. Have you done meat yet? Also what finger foods are you giving? He is addicted to puffs and cherrios. I want him to move beyond those.

Nicholas likes puffs, cheerios, & kix. I have also given him sweet potato fries, Pepperidge Farms very thin whole wheat bread spread thinly with cream cheese and cut into squares, bits of cheese, soft green beans (he chewed 'em for a bit but I can't say he ingested any). Pretty much anything that's soft enough, that isn't an obvious allergen (like PB, shellfish, honey...). Hope that helps w/inspiration!

[kbs]

Hi!
Anyone have any really great tips for a long car trip with infancts? We're leaving to drive to Buaffalo (normally about 8 hours) to visit my in laws and I'm just wondering if there is anything in particular I can do to make it easier.

TIA!
Kim

[MinEaston]

Hi!
Anyone have any really great tips for a long car trip with infancts? We're leaving to drive to Buaffalo (normally about 8 hours) to visit my in laws and I'm just wondering if there is anything in particular I can do to make it easier.

TIA!
Kim

my serious suggestions:
drive as much as possible during nap time? drive at bedtime?

my tongue-in-cheek suggestions:
benadryl for the babies, bourbon for you (if you are not driving) :D

[tholbrook]

Not sure if I have any "great" suggestions, but we made a 12-hour trip when Maya was 4 months. The "driving during nap time" is the best solution, of course, but we had plenty of driving time while she was awake too. I can't remember exactly what we did, but I remember playing her lullaby CD's and letting her watch a photo slide show on my iPod. Other than that, we just did our best to entertain her (singing, playing with toys, etc.). We weren't in a hurry to arrive, and made lots of stops for diaper changes, feeding, and just to take a break from being in the car.

When she was around 6 months, I used to hang soft toys from the hanger above the door (not sure what it is called) using those little plastic links - she would play with them and I wouldn't have to worry about her dropping them out of reach. This was for normal around-town driving, but I'm sure it would work for a little while with a longer drive too, especially if you switched the toys frequently.

Good luck - hope you have a great trip!