Some of our Favorites!

Okay, so I don’t claim to know much about babies or baby gear, but I thought I’d write a post about some of our favorite {and not so favorite} baby items.  I am in no way being compensated for writing about any of the following products; they are merely my opinion =)  These are items we either received as gifts or bought on our own.  Enjoy!

HEATING PAD

Yes, I said heating pad…you know, the kind you use for all those pesky aches and pains; especially those 3^rd trimester aches =)  But, we found another great use for the good ole heating pad.  We use it to warm up Dafney’s crib mattress (or at least the part that it actually covers) at night.  We put it in her crib before she feeds and then when we’re ready to put her down, her mattress is nice and toasty.  It makes for a happy {warm} baby and VERY happy parents!  So, all you “parents-to-be”, I suggest getting a heating pad if you don’t have one already…it’s darn near magical!!

SUMMER INFANT DIGITAL TEMPERATURE TESTER

Bath time…oh boy it was rough for the first few baths we gave Dafney.  She would SCREAM (and I mean so loud the neighbors probably wondered what the heck we were doing to our child) when we put her in the water.  We registered for the white hot duck which was supposed to tell us if the water was too hot.  

We would fill up the sink with water and put the duck in, only to have it tell us that the water was “HOT”, so we would add more cold water.  I kept thinking it felt too cold, but the duck said differently.  Well, some friends of ours told us about this turtle thermometer they found at Babies R Us (can be found at other places, too).  They told us it worked much better than the duck.  So, we picked one up and LOVED it!  

Basically it tells you the temperature of the water and it shows a green light if the water is “just right”, a red light if it’s too hot and a yellow light if it’s too cold.  The ideal water temperature is between 93 and 97 degrees. ..let me tell you, the water felt great and Dafney didn’t cry; in fact, I think she may have enjoyed her bath.  I swear, the water that the duck claimed was too hot, was probably in the mid 80’s…BURR, poor kid!  Bottom line, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the turtle!

What I don't recommend....

What I DO recommend... 



MUNCHKIN® SHAMPOO RINSER

While we’re talking about bath time, I wanted to mention this great shampoo rinser.  We wouldn’t have thought of this (at least not this specific item) for bath time, but it works great!  It’s soft and flexible so when you put it against baby’s head, it conforms to their head and doesn’t hurt them.  I really love this item and am thankful that we received this for a shower gift.  And, this will make a great bath toy someday!

LANSINOH® DISPOSABLE NURSING PADS

Like many women, it was important to me to breast feed our child.  With that, you need nursing pads…trust me, it’s not fun to leak everywhere.  As one of our shower gifts, I received Lansinoh disposable nursing pads.  Let me say, I loved them!  They stayed in place and were really absorbent, so when I ran out, I grabbed another brand of nursing pads – BIG MISTAKE!  {I thought nursing pads where nursing pads}  The brand I picked up didn’t stay in place well and they weren’t as absorbent.  I know there are tons of other kinds of nursing pads, but I highly recommend the Lansinoh brand!

BABY CLOTHES

It’s inevitable…babies NEED clothes!  I mean, who could not absolutely love the cute little outfits they make for kids?!  Not me – just ask my Husband =)  I’ve found that though all brands of clothes are CUTE, the sizing of all the brands differ…drastically!  So, here’s what I’ve noticed in the short 7 weeks we’ve had a child (again, I’m no expert).   

Carter’s brand seems to be the most “true to size”.  Their newborn clothes (that’s as far as we’ve gotten in regards to clothes for our baby) seem to fit Dafney the best.   

Gerber clothes seem to run really small.  Dafney was a very tiny baby, but she could only fit in the Newborn clothes for a short time.    

Circo brand seems to run pretty big.  We have a Newborn sleep-n-play for Dafney and it’s still too big for her.   It’s okay, because she’ll eventually grow into them, but if you have a small baby, don’t count on them fitting into Circo brand clothes right away.   

Cherokee brand also runs pretty big.  I bought a Newborn Christmas outfit for Dafney (just in case she made an early appearance…and she did) and it will probably fit her in 6 months.  Again, these are just my observations…so, take them as you will! 

B.O.B. Stroller

 One of my favorite purchases!  Yes, this stroller is a bit spendy {goodbye college fund...just kidding}, but totally worth every penny!  It strolls so smoothly, has plenty of storage space, is good looking and folds down really nicely.  Though we’ve only had a chance to use the stroller a handful of times, I can already tell it’s going to be awesome!  We love to walk around the neighborhood, so we will get plenty of use out of this stroller.  A definite MUST HAVE!

There is so much you can buy when having a baby and it can be a bit overwhelming, but these have been a few of our favorite items.  Perhaps I’ll do a second edition to this post as Dafney grows up and uses more and more new items!

Well, I'm off to snuggle with my baby girl ♥

Growing Like a (cute) Weed!

It's been a while since my last post and a lot has happened in the past few weeks {one not being new blog posts, though}.  Things are going so well with Dafney.  She is such an amazing little girl and we're loving watching her grow and change daily!  

She's finally fitting perfectly into her newborn clothes (actually her newborn pants are still too big).  She's starting to make more noises, she holds her head up really well and is sleeping pretty good through the night (getting up 1-2 times per night).  She's probably close to 9lbs now...which feels "heavy" compared to the mere 5.8 lbs she was when we brought her home from the Hospital.  We couldn't be happier and we are loving every single second with her (yes, even her fussy moments)! 

Here are some pictures to show how she's changed through the weeks:

I can't believe how fast she's grown.  It's so much fun to see her change & grow up!  I always tell her she'll always be my BABY though =)

2011 Re-Cap

I can hardly believe that 2011 is over and we're already 5 days in to 2012!  Last year was completely amazing and I'm certain that 2012 will blow 2011 out of the water!  I am excited to watch my baby girl grow up :)

Here's a re-cap of 2011:

January:

Kyle and I rung in the New Year just the 2 of us.  It was very laid back and relaxing and completely perfect! 

February:

Not much happened in February for us.  However, I feel like we spent most of our time outside shoveling the copious amounts of snow.  Seriously, I think we had to shovel every freakin' day....not fun!!

March:

In March, 2 of our best friends welcomed their daughter into the world.  It was so much fun meeting the newest addition to their family and it's been fun watching her grow up over the past 9 months. 

April:

One of the most memorable times of my life...we found out we were PREGNANT!  It was an amazing time in our lives; I can remember it like it was yesterday!  It was the beginning of an amazing journey in our lives! 

May:

Each year we participate in a bowling fundraiser to help support ASPS Cancer.  Our friends always put on an amazing event and raise so much money for this cause. 

This was also the month that we told our parents we were expecting!  Just one of the many great memories of our pregnancy journey!

June:

My husband started a new job at Target.  It was a total career change, but I knew he would do an amazing job with this new adventure!

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary!!  Unfortunately, I was still in that feeling "icky" stage of pregnancy so we just went out for breakfast (it was the only meal I could usually "handle") and out for a movie that evening.  Very low-key, but I was with Kyle and that was all that mattered to me! 

July:

The month started off with a nice trip to Hawaii for my brother-in-laws wedding.  It was a fabulous get-away and probably our last big get-away for a while!

Towards the end of the month I was finally starting to feel better and could eat most foods again and didn't feel like sleeping 20 hours out of the day!  

August:

Another big moment on our pregnancy journey...we found out we were having a GIRL!  It was so awesome to see our baby girl on the Ultrasound and to find out we would be having a girl.  It made the whole pregnancy seem that much more real! 

September:

We took a trip to my parents camper up in Mora, MN.  It was a very relaxing weekend and so much fun to get away for the weekend. 

We also did our baby registering and painting the baby's room.  It was a bit overwhelming to register, but we had fun, too!  Painting her room was fun and we really liked the way it turned out!

October:

Kyle had to have knee surgery to repair his ACL.  Thankfully everything went really well and he's on the mend now!  I'm so thankful that he had the surgery when he did...post-baby would have been ROUGH!

November:

The month of baby showers!  I (we) had a shower that my girlfriends threw and one that our families threw for us.  Both were absolutely amazing and we were reminded how blessed we truly are.  We have the very best friends and family!

December:

She's here!  This was the best month of the whole year...our daughter was born on the 13th!  It was the best day of my life...and I'm already amazed at how big she's getting and how much she's changed (tears).  We are loving EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND. with her!  We are totally in love!!

I can't believe how amazing this past year was!  Looking forward to all the amazing memories that are coming this year!!

HAPPY 2012!