Inquiring Mondays – Overnight Stay at Grandma’s

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Baby girl is about to experience a couple of nights not in her own bed, nor in her own house. Also, we will not be with her, she will be at Grandma’s house. I’m not sure how I’ll do since this will be the first couple of nights I have not put her to bed or been there when she wakes up. Grandma will have to send me tons of pictures and maybe there will be some time on Skype or FaceTime! Aside from all the emotions, I need to figure out what all I need to ensure baby girl has everything he needs. Grandma has a pack n play, stroller, diapers, wipes, formula, bibs, burp cloths and spoons, so I don’t need to pack that, so here is what I’m thinking:

Car seat and base
Baby food (puréed foods & oatmeal)
Clothes for the day & night
Bottles
Bottle brushes & drying rack
Pacifiers
Toys
Gas drops
Infant Ibuprofen
Diaper rash cream
Sound machine
Teething items
Rick n play with toy bar – this is just in case the pack n play does not work for sleeping
Schedule of feedings and when she normally naps

So, did I forget anything moms?

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Deals!

Posted on May 6, 2012 by

This past week I found some great deals. The first deal was for a hotel in Kansas City, MO. The husband and I are headed up there to see a comedy show soon and we wanted to get a hotel around where the show will be. While on the various travel sites, all the hotels for that area were in the range of $150 a night, so I decided to try Priceline.com to see if I could get a good deal. Since I like to stay in nice hotels, I went for the four star and up range and decided to go with $75 a night. I figured that two nights at $75 would be the same cost as one night at the regular price which sounded like a good deal. Well, I guess I should have tried lower because they took the offer! I then headed to hotels.com to see what their price per night was for the hotel I got a reservation for. Their price per night was $159, so an even better deal!

The second deal I came across was with diapers. I went onto amazon.com and was able o get our Pampers Cruisers for $0.21 per diaper. Normally we get our diapers at Sam’s Club where they are $0.27 per diaper, plus I got 50 more diapers! To get this deal, I’m an Amazon.com mom, signed up for subscribe and save, plus there was coupon on Amazon.com.

Did you find any deals this week that you would like to share?

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Inquiring Mondays – Teething

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

The past couple of nights have been hard on baby girl and I. I’m thinking and hoping that she’s has some teething trying to cut through. Around midnight both nights, she wakes up crying and it’s not the sleepy crying…I can hear the pain in her cries. I manage to console her & rock her back to a deep sleep that allows me to get her back in her crib without waking her. About 2:30, I can hearing those same painful cries. The first night I fell asleep with her in the chair and we slept to nearly 7:00 when I woke up my husband to feed her while I tried to get an hour of sleep in a bed. Last night, I gave her some teething tabs that were given to from an experienced mom. Baby girl managed to sleep for a couple of more hours until about 5:30 when she started crying again. I got up, scooped up my baby girl and rocked with her in the chair. We both fell asleep again and finally woke up around 8:00. Does this experience sound similar to you? Was it teething or something else? What recommendations do you have for dealing with an infant that’s teething?

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Inquiring Mondays – Car Seat Storage

Posted on April 9, 2012 by

During the first week of our daughter’s life, it seemed like everyday we were leaving the house for some sort of appointment.  At first, we started to leave the car seat in her room.  That quickly became a nuisance as we were constantly moving it around in her room.  Since my purse along with the husband’s keys and wallet get placed on the table in our entryway, I figured that’s where the car seat and diaper bag should go as well.  This has worked great for us since this is the area we are in when preparing to leave the house.  Here’s a nice little photo showing the car seat under the table in our entry way:

Now that she is older and bigger, we are starting to just leave the car seat attached to the base in the car and carry her.  The hot summer days are upon us and my concern will be having to put her into a hot car seat.  Should I get a white towel or blanket to drape over the car seat to reflect the heat?

Where do you store your car seat when it’s not in the car and when did you start leaving it attached to the base in the car?  If you leave your car seat in the car during the summer months, how do you keep it from getting so hot when you have to put your little one in?

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Inquiring Mondays – What do or will your child call their grandparents?

Posted on March 26, 2012 by

This is a question that my parents have asked me multiple times and I honestly have no clue how to answer this question.  I’m not even sure where the names for my grandparents came from.  I noticed in the card my parents sent to baby girl for Valentine’s Day that they signed it Pop and Granny, and during our recent Skype dates, I’ve heard my dad refer to himself as Pop, so maybe they have decided to start their own nicknames?!  So I ask you, those who are reading this post, do you already have names in mind for your child’s grandparents?  Are you or have you left this to your child to decide?  Did your parents and in-laws come up with their name?  What names have been chosen by you, your child or parents/in-laws?

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Inquiring Mondays – Monitors

Posted on March 19, 2012 by

When we created our various registries for when baby girl would be born, we had a great video monitor onto our Amazon registry because that was the one Dan found was the best and was not available at the other locations we registered at.  Since we received multiple Walmart gift cards, we ended up just getting the Angel Care monitor.  I do love the peace of mind I get from know that there is a sensor pad that will alarm us when there is no movement for a certain amount of time, but I want to be able to take a peek without distrubing her while she sleeps.  Soon after we got the Angel Care, I saw that they had released their new version with video and also, Tommee Tippee released a monitor that had the sensor pad and video.  I still have the desire to have a video monitor in her room and I know that it will be used beyond her first birthday.  Now the options of what to do since we do have the one monitor and now would like to add the video capability.  Would be great if the Angel Care video was compatible with the original we have, but it’s not. 

I would like to hear from other moms and dads out there on what type of monitor or monitors do you use.  What video monitors do you like the best?  Do you use just one or do you have 2 different kinds?

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First Easter Prep

Posted on March 14, 2012 by

With Easter right around the corner, just 3 1/2 weeks away, I am already starting to feel behind on planning for baby girl’s first Easter. I feel like I need to order an Easter Basket by the end of the week to allow plenty of time for it to arrive and for me to pack it full of goodies. Here are the ones that I have my eye on:

Pottery Barn Kids:

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Etsy:

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Since baby girl will be a day away from being 7 months, there will be no candy in her basket, so I am trying to come up with things to put in her basket. I had this same issue with her stocking for Christmas. My thoughts right now are: Sophie the Giraffe Teether, Lollacup Infant & Toddler Straw Cup in green, Wubbanub Cutsie Caterpiller, Alex Jr. First Snaps Building Toy, Jellycat Plush Bashful Chocolate Bunny, Emmit Buddy Blanket, and a book or two.

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As far as her Easter dress, we received some great dresses from people, so I might use one of those, or make one since I seem to be inspried to sew these days.  Be on the lookout for baby girl’s St Patty’s day outfit I am trying to complete!

Looks like I have some decisions to make and some shopping to do!

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Inquiring Mondays – Living in the Moment vs. Living Behind the Camera

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

With my baby girl continuing to grow and accomplish some more “firsts” on the milestone checklist, I have the desire to capture it all on camera. If you have ever met me in person, you know that I can’t live without my iPhone, so it’s always near me and I can typically capture a quick photo of her being cute while playing. This weekend, I took a break from Twitter and decided that I would focus my attention on my family and my to-do list. Saturday night, I had a super sleepy baby girl on my hands. After her last feeding for the day, she immediately fell asleep in my arms and I just soaked that moment up. I was tempted to capture a photo of her sweet adorable self just snuggled in my arms, but I decided to just embrace the moment and not risk waking her up as I tried to get my phone and take a picture. On Sunday, I had her playing on the floor, doing some back playtime and some tummy time. She is getting better with the tummy time and was starting to raise herself up for a bit and I just know that she’ll roll herself over any day now. That is when I really started thinking about getting that moment captured. My husband was in another room cleaning and I began thinking he might miss the big moment! So I began to think, do I start playing with my child and watch through the lens of my phone so that I capture that moment? What if it happens at daycare and they don’t tell me and I actually witness the 2nd time she’s rolled over? Even the small milestones of pulling her pulling on a toy to make it move instead of the husband or I doing it didn’t get captured on film, but I was there and nearly cried my eyes out of that sweet little milestone she accomplished on a snow day while I was working at home!
So how do you go about capturing your baby’s milestones? Do you end up getting a picture or video of your baby accomplishing the milestone the 2nd or 3rd time? Just curious to know how everyone else captures these moments. This is a thought that I am struggling with and would like to hear input from others.

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DIY Craft of the Month – February

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

Earlier this month, I linked up with Becky for the “Our Love Story” post and happened to see that she had started this DIY Craft of the Month series. I love DIY projects and I’m excited to share with you a couple of projects I’ve been working on this month that are green!

My first DIY project is a ‘mobile’ that I created for baby girl’s room. Prior to her being born, I had two different ideas for a mobile and was planning to do both of them. Neither of them have been started and I have most, if not all of the materials necessary to complete them. Well, since I procrastinated long enough, a new idea sparkedince there really is no true “theme” for her room, this was bound to happen. So here it is….my DIY mobile for baby girl’s room:

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I purchased the green and yellow paper lanterns from Amazon.com and then got the red one at Party City. The butterflies were purchased from a store on eBay called The Bownut and then hot glued onto the paper lanterns. I started off by using glue dots from my scrapbooking supplies, and then got upset when some of the butterflies kept falling off a few days later. Well out came the hot glue gun and then all was well.

My second green DIY project this month is a pair of green pants for baby girl to wear to daycare for St. Patty’s Day! There are some fabric stores in my area, but I hardly have time to really drive and shop in person, so I got the green and white polka dot Moda fabric through a store on Etsy called Ready2QuiltShop. I don’t have a picture of the pants completed, so here is a picture of them prior to the elastic being added into the waste band and then the ruffles added to the pant legs. (I’ll update the post once I have a picture of the pants completed.)

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So those are my green DIY projects for February. I can’t want to see what Becky comes up with for March!

 

 

 

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Inquiring Mondays

Posted on February 27, 2012 by

As I continue to grow in my new role as a mother to my darling little girl, I know I will have tons of questions or even just some random thoughts that I would like to share and get other people’s opinions and/or thoughts on as well. With that in mind, here is my first post for Inquiring Mondays!

As my girl is about to turn 6 months next Friday (3/9), I’m starting to think about toys that she will need to continue her development and continue to grow with her. I don’t particularly care for toys that have a short lifespan with our child. As much as most of these toys cost, we need to get a pretty darn good ROI! So baby girl is about to be 6 months so that means the crawling, some sitting up on her own and then walking somewhere around her 1st birthday. The items that we have now are the Prince LionHeart bebePod, Evenflo Bounce and Learn Bee Exersaucer, Sassy Seat Doorway Jumper, Baby Einstein Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym and the Tiny Love Tummy Time Fun Activity Mat (Ladybug). Some of these items were purchased because of someone else recommending them or from me reading the reviews on amazon.com. Some were not. I have started looking at the toys that will be beneficial as our little girl starts crawling, sitting up more and eventually walking. Chicco has been a great brand for us. We have their car seat/stroller combo, the poly magic highchair, a few regular toys and their new crib mobile. I have been very happy with every single one of those purchases. I’ve been eyeing the following:

i-Gym Activity Center – she can play with it as she sits or lays down. It’s rated at 0+ months, so I’m thinking that will probably be boring to her soon.
Baby Jogging – this one is rated for 9+ months, so it will be a bit before she can really play with it and really only is good for walking around…no other major bells and whistles.
Baby Activity Walker – this one is also rated for 9+ months and has activities for while she’s sitting and then will allow her to walk around once she’s ready for that stage.
4-in-1 Ride on Car – also rated for 9+ months since I guess you can push your kid around on this one until they have the motor skills to push themselves with their feet. Not 100% sure on this one if it’s worth the $80.
Music ‘N Play Table – rated at 12+ months but seems like she could play with it as she was learning to sit on her own. Looks like there are tons of things to play with….even some form of large Legos!
Dance Walker – This one just has a weight limit of 26.5 lbs and I like that you can hook an iPod up to it for your own music so that you can change up what they hear and don’t listen to the same 6 tunes over and over again! There is also musical play tray that can be removed.

So….what are your kids favorite toys when they were learning to crawl, sit up and walk around?

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