Breaking the Rules

Hello internet friends (and real friends). I've been really bad. Bad about blogging, bad about buying…Yes, we broke the rules. Intentionally, and well thought out. 

As the weather slowly (way too slowly) warms up, we are finding ourselves outside more and more. The kids have lots of balls, and bikes, but nothing to keep them entertained for very long.

The husband and I thought about it, and decided to break our rule and buy some outdoor toys. So, I present our newest back yard additions:

I highlighted the zip line in purple, so you can see it better. We don't have a huge slope, but enough to make it a fun ride for toddlers.

Can you see the joy on his face?! We got this zip line.

Slack lining is super fun as well. We got this one

Maybe I'll make a post about installing them. It was fairly easy, and I installed them both myself within an hour.

I don't feel too guilty, since the purchase didn't bring any stuff into the house. I also like that it made us think so long and hard about a purchase. I hope you're all having a warmer spring than we are!

**The links in this post are Amazon affiliate links and if you buy either of these cool things I get a fraction of some cents. haha

Thank Goodness for Diapers

I'm so very thankful that I'm still able to buy my favorite package to open… our diapers! I'm all done buying diapers for my son, so this box was all girl prints (with the cute new Valentine's Day diapers)!

They've also recently released the cutest sheep-themed overnight diapers… seriously, too cute. I don't get paid to endorse the Honest Company, I'm just a raving fan. If you want to give them a try, click here (gives me a credit if you buy something).

Not buying non-essentials gives me a greater appreciation for the things I do get to buy. I've never been so thankful my kids aren't both potty trained! 

Week 4 and going strong! For the rundown on my year of not buying 'things' see the original post.

Shopping Smarter

I like to consider myself a smart shopper.  I tend to know when something is a 'good deal' or when it's not worth the price.  However, I do love coupons.  I get flack sometimes from the hubs for buying things just because I have a coupon.  This clipping basically speaks to me:

Well, I had a 20% off coupon burning a hole in my coupon wallet (I organize by expiration month - no crazy binders for this gal).  So, I snatched these up at our local BabiesRus.  I mean, $8 for TWO, and 20% off - that's around $6.40! 

Then I went to Target, and saw these:

**FACEPALM**

To add insult to injury, we have a Target DEBIT Red Card, which gives us 5% cash back.  So these would have been around $4.27.  That's $2.40 less.  **SIGH**

What 'deals' have you regretted springing for?

Happy Accidents

Last week the babe and I were having breakfast in bed.  I bring him a few finger-foods in a bowl, and I eat my morning Noosa yoghurt (AMAZE-balls) find at Target that has tons of protein and natural ingredients - but I digress.

I gave the little one my lid to play with, and this happened:

OHMYGOSH!!!

Yes, Noosa yoghurt lids fit our Oxo bowls **Snoopy dance** It's a good, airtight fit.  

Yes, they came with lids (that barely stuck on), but who knows where those have run off to... 

 The bowls are 12oz Oxo Tot that we got in our 4-piece set and the bowl set in the 'related items' side image:

What happy accidents have you discovered?  Noosa info here - I love the honey and strawberry rhubarb flavors best.

Amber Teething Beads

Teething bites. haha! I can't even imagine how it must feel to have teeth erupt from your mouth. It's wonderful that babies can't remember this stage, because I imagine it would be traumatic.  What's even more traumatic? The doom-and-gloom fear about teething medicines! Our pediatrician said to avoid gum cream because, "extended use can numb the back of the throat and a baby can choke without noticing." EEK! Not to mention, the FDA doesn't recommend using benzocaine on any children under 2 years old.  What is benzocaine in, you ask? Uhm... EVERYTHING!!!! There's a long list under the FDA link.

So... now what?! We have enough teething toys to sink a small vessel.  Cold ones, rubber ones, noisy ones... guess which ones the babe likes? That's right - he could care less about any of them... 

forgive the iPhone pic

Unfortunately, the little guy was still in pain. Enter amber teething beads:

The theory behind amber teething beads is this:

• baltic amber has a high concentration of succinic acid 
• amber is a resin, not a stone, so body heat warms up the beads and releases this acid
• succinic acid is produced commercially and is FDA approved
• in ancient Egypt/Rome/Greece there is documented use of amber in medicine for healing/pain relief
• the beads ARE NOT CHEWED

Sounded good to me! But wait... are you putting a NECKLACE on a BABY!!! Yes. The beads are individually tied off, so if the necklace breaks, you're risking ingesting a single bead. The beads are non-toxic, and the bead will eventually pass. 

I will note that the babe doesn't sleep in his necklace. We take that off at night.  However, he does keep the anklet on 24/7.  It's usually under a sock, so he doesn't even realize it is there. He has yet to tug at the necklace, but if he were to start pulling on it we may stick to the bracelet only.

We get the occasional strange look - like, 'hey the 90s called and boys don't wear necklaces anymore.' I can't speak to how effective they are, but we do have close to 5 teeth in and he hasn't woken up at night in pain.  The way I see it, "Why Not?!" 

Look how cute he looks in his amber and 'tux'!!

again...iPhone pic

What 'alternative' treatments have you used on your kiddos? Have they worked?

Baby Clothes

Can you imagine having to rotate out your ENTIRE wardrobe every few months?! I have things in my closet from a decade ago!!!  The shopper in me loves getting to replace the babe's clothes, but the miser in me cringes when we walk into a store.

The good thing, people LOVE to buy baby clothes as shower gifts.  The bad thing? Babies grow... quickly!! I think the babe never wore 0-3 months clothes, and wore 3-6 months clothes until around 4 months.  One thing that was frustrating is that different brands have drastically different sizing.  I would like to start a revolution and relabel all child clothes to weights instead of ages. Nothing will be 100% accurate, but how can you have a 0-3 months size when you have babies born 5lbs and babies born 10lbs?! Crazy.

And who decided to make baby clothes so darn cute?! Jerks. One of the benefits of not knowing the gender of the babe was being able to resist on impulse purchases of clothes.  I don't know that I ever thought, "OH. MY. GOODNESS. Look at that super cute gender-neutral outfit!!" It also helped because we have options to pass down to future babes no matter their gender.

Some tips I've learned for baby shopping:

1) Discount shopping sites:

Zulily is my favorite - they have a great app and have had deals on cloth diapers!
Rue la la has great deals on home/adult clothes and has started featuring more baby stuff.
Totsy isn't much to write home about - they have some cute things, but don't have an app... so it's obnoxious to keep checking their website.

The down side to these sites/apps is that they often have a no returns policy...difficult because of that whole 'some size 3-6 months could fit a toddler and others wouldn't fit a preemie' thing.  You can find great deals on nursery things though (rugs/art/lamps/etc.)

2) Clearance racks:

GAP has some of the cutest baby clothes around - even neutral ones! But GEESH... I'm not willing to pay on average $25/$35 for a single outfit that'll be useful for maybe 2-3 months.  They always have a sale rack in the back of stores, and often have 40% off that sale rack... HOORAY!!!  We hoarded our GAP gift cards and had a party - paying attention to buy larger sizes for the babe to grow into (keeping seasons in mind). 

Carter's also has a great clearance section and always has coupons circulating.  Their store is split in half boys/girls though, so not many gender neutral options.

3) Old Navy:
Their clothes are fairly cheap quality - which works when you don't plan to keep them long anyway. You can find great deals and really quirky outfits.

Some of our scores:

In case you can't read the prices in the picture, the long-sleeve body suits were $3.99 at GAP and $1.99 at Carter's.  The right is a two-piece set at $5.99 at Carter's (That's $3 each!) - they're much too big for the babe now, but come summer, they will fit perfectly! We try to stay under $5 per outfit. 

What are some of your favorite sites/stores to score great deals on baby/kids clothes?

A Woman of the Cloth

... cloth diapers that is!  Your reaction is probably one of the following: 

• WHAT?!?! isn't that something they did in the 'old days' 
• EWWW!! Gross! 
• **Eye roll** 
• Cool/Awesome!

We made the decision to cloth diaper for a variety of reasons:

• 1) Chemical avoidance - There are so many chemicals in modern disposable diapers. With my sensitive skin, I wanted to be cautious. Yes they're convenient, but I don't know that I want my baby to be wearing something that can absorb POUNDS of liquid.
• 2) Cost savings - Because of #1, we were going to buy sensitive/hypoallergenic diapers that average around .30 per diaper.  When you do the math, a $17 cloth diaper is roughly the equivalent of 56 diapers. The rough average for babies in the first few months is 8-10 diapers a day... so you see how that quickly adds up.  
• 3) Environmental Stewardship - Did you know it takes 500 years for a plastic diaper to dispose? Every year diapers account for just over 2% of the trash sent to landfills.  Certainly laundering does take energy, but it feels good to not throw out a big bag of plastic/chemical diapers all the time. They now offer more 'eco-friendly' disposables, which is a nice option.
• 4) Convenience - I know, it seems counterintuitive.  I like the fact that I don't have to run to the store if I run out of diapers!

There are so many options out there for cloth diapers.  You aren't restricted to the old fashioned single sheet of cloth origami that has to be pinned.  I had heard good things about FuzziBunz diapers, but wanted to get a few others to see if a particular brand fit the babe best. We had a local store that allowed full refunds after 60 days, so I got 12 FuzziBunz, a GroVia, Rumbarooz, BumGenius & Go Green.  I also picked up some unscented RockingGreen detergent (normal detergent can leave residue that snells when it mixes with the ammonia in the urine). The BumGenius is the most prevalent brand - they're sold in major chains.  The others are usually found online or through local retailers.  We also got 8 lil joey's (OMG...just saw their new madras print... OBsessed... wish they had these when I got mine... may buy them just because... I digress) - they're a line of Rumparooz (get the kangaroo reference?) but for newborns.  They specifically snap down at the umbilical chord and only fit babies up to 12 pounds.  Here's our stash:

the babe rocking his lil Joey's:

and another one (I can't believe he was ever this small!):

 The first time you wash the diapers you have to go through multiple soak rounds to make sure any production chemicals are gone.  We don't have an outdoor space, so we hung them from pant hangars in the door way:

Into the FuzziBunz at 2 months old (he was over 12 pounds at a month old).  He was 8lbs at birth, so other babies may be able to use the Joey's for longer. *forgive the iPhone photo!

We like one size diapers.  They are resized from the inside to adjust the diaper to fit from baby to potty-trained toddler.  You can buy 'sized' diapers, but you would have to buy new sets of diapers as the baby grows (cutting into the cost savings).  The FuzziBunz have 4 places to size: 1 for each leg and 1 on each side of the waist.  There are buttons that are moved along elastic that has helpful numbers to make sure you've got both leg holes even (and get your whole collection to the same size).  A side note, the diaper below has been in our rotation for over 7 months now - still white as can be!!

 We prefer this type of sizing to the external snaps of other diaper brands.  Plus, it keeps the front of the diaper looking sleek. Some disposable diapers have velcro waists, but I didn't like them because velcro doesn't always wash clean, it sticks to everything in the wash, and it's not as strong of a hold as snaps.

A rainbow of drying diapers:

It's easy to get dressed when all you need is a shirt!

We not only plan to use the diapers until the babe is potty trained, but to also use our set for future babies - cha ching$$$$.  The two brands we would recommend are FuzziBunz and Charlie Banana - they both have the internal sizing (as opposed to the rows of external buttons).  The CB use a 'bra-strap' sizing instead of a button/hole.  Think of how you adjust your bra to make the strap shorter/longer - that's how you adjust the legs/waist of the diaper (again, hidden inside like the FB ones).  They're both now available at Target - yeah!!! 

Unfortunately, our daycare doesn't allow cloth (many don't, but some do) so we still buy a box of Pampers Sensitive Swaddlers every other month. We are still enjoying the cost savings of using cloth at home.

Some people do cloth wipes as well, we use unscented/hypoallergenic ones from Sam's Club (bulk, baby!). We also use flushable liners to get rid of the solids so we're only washing minimal 'gross stuff' and mostly urine.

So far we've really enjoyed it, but realize it's not for everyone! Are you using cloth? Do you have a favorite brand/associated product?

SAVINGS DEAL: Use code 10OFFBUNZ on the FuzziBunz site for 10% off!!!

Boppy Cover

We were given a Boppy nursing pillow at our shower, and I wanted to cover it with fabric that matched our nursery.  I found some beautiful upholstery bamboo fabric in a black/white/gray houndstooth fabric.  If you haven't felt bamboo fabric - you should... it's amazing!! 

I looked online for an easy template for a Boppy cover, but was unable to find one - so I decided to wing it.  Turns out, it wasn't too hard!

Here are some shots of how it all came together:

I put a 4 inch fold in the center of the back fabric (2 inches when overlapped).  Then, I traced the pillow on the 'wrong' side of the fabric - then I dashed a line about 2 inches outside where I would sew.

I unfolded the overlap piece and cut about an inch outside of my dashed sew line:

I ran a straight stitch along the center edge I cut (where it had been folded), then I folded it over about an inch and sewed a hem.  I did this on either side of the cut piece:

I traced the pillow on the front fabric (no fold over on this one - it stays a single piece). I put the two together (overlapping in the back) and sewed on my black sew line.

The back has a nice overlap (from the fold) that helps get the Boppy in and out of the cover:

Tadaa!!!

We now have a beautiful Boppy cover that matches our future nursery!!

Baby Must Have List

One of the most fun parts of nesting was being exposed to the vast world of baby gear.  I found lots of 'must have' lists online, but they all seemed so lengthy.  I've put together my own TOP TEN list of must have basics.

#1 Wipe Warmer:
This is something we thought was just silly; a marketing ploy for parents.  When we brought the baby home, the second a cold wipe touched his butt he LOST IT!!!  It took us a whopping 6 hours to give up and make a run to the store.  We have this one that has a built in light, but any kind would do the trick.

#2 Kimono Tops:
The hospital used this style of tops and we LOVED the fact that you don't have to pull it over the head (which is nerve-racking until they have good neck control).  It also gives some room for the umbilical cord.  We asked for some extras to take home and they happily obliged.  You can also buy some here if your hospital isn't as awesome as ours was.  Our love for the side-snap/kimono style continued as the babe grew and we were obsessed with the cute Zutano onesies that have the side snap.

#4 Mamaroo:

Although pricey, this gadget doubles as a bouncer, a swing, a bassinet, a sound machine and so much more!  For the first few months, we would turn on the white noise, crank up the kangaroo setting, and enjoy the hour of peace it would give us!  We got ours from here as a gift off of our registry. We liked the small footprint as well as the modern look.  We were sad to pack it up and move it to storage when the babe got too big (around 7 month at about 22lbs). 

#5 Aden & Anais:

I love this brand in general.  They sell them EVERYWHERE including Target, buybuyBaby, specialty stores, and here.  Their muslin is super soft and the designs are adorable.  Their bamboo line is even softer and has different patterns.  I love how many gender neutral options they have - these things will last multiple babies!  We have 3 burpy bibs (they cover much more area on a baby, and wrap around when you put it on your shoulder), 8 swaddles (that double as stroller blankets and emergency burp clothes), 3 sleep bags, and a washcloth set. I remember seeing a recommendation of 8-10 blankets on one checklist and the hubs and I looked at each other and thought, 'why do you need so many blankets?'.  I still to this day can't answer that, but you do go through more blankets than you would think!

#6 Angelcare monitor:

There are soooo many options of baby monitors.  I did some research, and even from my own mother I heard stories of, "I got worried and had to go in and check on you because you were TOO quiet!" I decided against a video monitor because I would watch 'baby channel' all night long.  The goal is to get the baby to sleep for a long time, but then you wake up worried that you haven't heard the baby!  Enter the BEST PIECE OF MIND EVER!!  It is a motion sensor that goes under your mattress pad and will trigger an alarm if no movement is detected in a 20 second period.  We laughed at first that it would go off all the time - 20 seconds?! but babies are wiggle bugs.  We've only had it go off once, and that was when he learned to move and crawled into the far corner of his crib and the sensor was not centered. It's fire-alarm loud, so we heard it (and immediately panicked)!! You can find the kind I use here. It's also nice to have the temperature in the nursery - so we can be sure he's comfortable. 

#7 A NICE Chair:

This is one place you don't want to skimp.  You're going to be in this chair lots - rocking the baby, feeding the baby, reading to the baby, etc., etc...  We wanted something that could grow into a bigger kid room (or move into our main living areas) - nothing too 'baby'. Some chairs have ottomans, which take up space, but could be used as another seat.  Little Castle has so many options - we went with the 360° swivel with full recline.  We got ours from a local specialty store, but they sell them all over. Our nursery was grey/black/white because we wanted a neutral nursery.  That's even a custom houndstooth Boppy cover (tutorial coming soon)!

#8 A good stroller:

Again, lots of options, but not something to go cheap on.  The best thing to do post-baby is to get out and walk.  It helps you recover, but also gets the baby exposed to the big new world!  Ever since I lived in London I knew I wanted a Bugaboo.  I was always keen on the Chameleon, but then they released the Donkey and I was in heaven!!  When making a big purchase, it's important that the item is multi-purposed.  This stroller can lock the front wheels and act as a jogger (the hubs has gone on 5+ mile runs with the babe), it has a built in 'shopping cart' bag, and it converts to a 2 or 3 child stroller!!  My logic added up the cost of a middle-range stroller, a jogging stroller, and a dual stroller in the future and decided the cost of the Bugaboo was worth it.  WE LOVE OUR STROLLER!!!! We got the Maxi Cosi car seat and adapter so we went in/out of the car with the infant seat without waking up the babe. We went with black to stay neutral, but they have super cute colors available (and even customized fabrics).

#9 A diaper bag:

This one has the most options.  Some people go with backpacks, some go with cross-body options.  The important thing is POCKETS!!! You want to be able to find things quickly, and pockets help prevent having to dig around in a large abyss! Outside pockets are great to have for those 'most needed' items. There are really popular cute ones, but we went with one that was *drumroll please* neutral! haha  It also encourages the hubs to help out if they don't have to take a pink floral bag into the bathroom to change the babe in public.  The hubs got me the black Burberry one I was lusting after for Christmas. I have yet to use the cross-body strap, but it'll probably come in hand when I have a little one running around in addition to a baby. I also like that I can take out the large baby 'stuff' and it looks like a big purse. 

#10 Leachco Podster:
I know the Boppy is the 'popular kid' when it comes to pillows (we have one) but the favorite was the podster.  We found it online after seeing it at daycare - and got ours here. Once the babe got a little bigger, he wasn't able to sleep comfortably with the Boppy assist.  He kept slipping out the bottom and waking up.  The Podster resizes slightly to be more tight around the baby - and is GREAT for side sleepers. We used it in combination with the Boppy when he was closer to being able to sit so he could see the world around him. I'm not bashing the Boppy by any means - I use it as a feeding pillow all the time (but it wasn't as multi-purpose as we expected).

 

That's the list of MUST HAVES for the 0-6month age.  This certainly isn't a comprehensive list, but it is a list of what was used/enjoyed the most in our house. As he got older we had some new 'favorites' but that's for another post!

What were some of your unexpected 'go to' items when your little one was little?