Friday, August 3, 2012

Eating Adventure!

We decided today was as good a day as any to introduce baby oatmeal cereal to Julia!

I legitimately don't think even a portion of an ounce went in.  It was hilarious though, high quality Saturday night entertainment

Mike was ready to give up after 2 spoonfuls, and I see some extremely messy afternoons in my future!

New toy?
Faking us out like she's going to swallow
Being vocal about this new development
I'm the boss, spoon!
Not so bad
The aftermath

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Sometimes...

Ya just gotta let loose!

I made the executive decision today to really enjoy the last time I'd be with 2 of my 3 siblings until who knows when... We are a family that definitely goes with the flow, so I rounded up (read: texted) the troops and we met in the middle for a dinner of fun and drinks!

They made fun of my thoroughly suburban self when I suggested we have after dinner drinks at... Whole Foods.  Who stop serving booze from their (in grocery store!) bar at 8:30pm.  Despite the mommy-friendly last call time, I stand by my tipsy statement that WF is my personal "Disneyland".

And I purchased beer to go and milk from said bar.

Love it!

Fine Dining
Plus, coming home to a husband who volunteered to babysit folding the laundry and a sink magically free of dirty dishes was the Mickey Mouse eats hat on top of my faux Disneyland sundae
Besties just hangin out!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Baby Registry 101 - Sleeping

Organizing baby gifts was basically heaven for a control freak like me!
Since a few of you other mommies to be and gift-givers asked for some of my bebe recommendations, I thought I'd devote a few posts to what I think are the best products or items to register for and buy.

I tried to logically divide it up into Sleeping, Playtime / Baby Containment, Eating, Bathing & Diapering, Miscellaneous, and Extra Bits, basically.  Dude, these little guys and gals need* a lot of stuff!

All links are to Amazon, since they have EVERYTHING, but there are endless places to find most of these items.

So without further ado, here are my top pics for sleeping:






1. A crib, obviously.  Some people put the babies straight into the crib as soon as they get home from the hospital.  As someone who is just now transitioning Julia into her crib after sleeping in our room for her first almost 4 months, I can't say that this is a bad plan!  I was/am basically really lazy and was anticipating the all-hours breastfeeding when I decided to keep Julia in our room. 

A crib is pretty fool-proof, but I just like the extra feature on many now that allow the beds to grow with your little one.  These are called convertible cribs and often go from baby crib to toddler bed to a headboard and footboard for a double bed with big mattress. 

We got a DaVinci one, a popular brand that's available many places.  I have no complaints! 



2. We actually have this play yard in our room and started Julia in this.  In my opinion the attached changing table is the best part!  We personally didn't use the fancy attachments like vibrating, music, nightlight, etc., all that much, so you could definitely get a simpler model. 



3. This Rock n' Play was a lifesaver and a crutch.  I would say get it FOR SURE but be careful about training the baby to sleep in it.  Julia hated to be swaddled so this was great for us as it contained her just enough without her trying to hulk out like she did when swaddled and flat on her back.  Plus nothing could be more portable - she used this on a recent roadtrip and it was great!  But now she has to get used to sleeping flat again, so she's only sleeping about 7 hours as opposed to the 9 we were getting.



4. Assuming you didn't birth a houdini like me, you'll want swaddle blankets.  These are great and take the guess work out of folding with the velcro.  If it's chilly in your house the fleece ones are a nice option too.

And, um, take a minute to read how the swaddle works... 
We legitimately thought this was correct for a couple days (not even close):




5. Entertaining the baby while in the crib is great because they can learn to self-soothe and you can get a few more precious minutes.  Our niece is obsessed with this mobile and Julia likes it too!  For white noise we actually use the Sleep Sheep, which works really well.  I swear it puts me to sleep now though.



6.  Obviously, you'll want to creepily watch all of this sleeping.  I think a video monitor is absolutely the way to go!  We've really liked this one



7-9.  A mattress, which should be of a "breathable" filling - I think the mid-priced ones are great, a mattress protector for messes - we are fans of this organic one, and finally bedding (!) the most fun part, in my opinion.  Pottery Barn Kids has the cutest out there and it's worth the investment to really make the room.  I will say though that the quilt they always upsell with bedding is nice to look at but totally impractical - no loose blankets in the crib! And they're too pretty to put on the floor.

Hope this is helpful!

* Clearly babies today have more stuff than ever before.  These are products that have certainly made life easier, but the only thing you need is a crib and a monitor (which you really only need if the baby's room is out of hearing distance! Apartment dwellers, you can skip even this!)