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"It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into."
-Terri Guillemets
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Flashback...
Last year at this time I was in the dreaded limbo of the two week wait. Wow. I cannot even remember how it felt to be trying and trying without succeeding for what seemed like forever.
Motherhood is everything that I had hoped and dreamed of and so, so much more than I ever expected. My floor needs mopping, I have three loads of laundry to do and I should get out into the garden and weed, not to mention my blog needs updating more often...but right now I have a tiny precious person sleeping on my bed and there is nothing more amazing and wonderful than when she opens up her eyes and smiles when she sees me.I can't seem to remember how I felt last year or how difficult the journey was, maybe that is because I can now see that it was all part of a greater plan. Waiting DID make it all the much more worth it and my Lucy was SO worth the wait. It doesn't get any better than this.
"I've got sunshine
On a cloudy day,
When it's cold outside,
When it's cold outside,
I've got the month of May.
Well, I guess you'll say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl.
Talkin' 'bout my girl.
Talkin' 'bout my girl.
I've got so much honey
The bees envy me.
I've got a sweeter song
Than the birds in the trees.
Well, I guess you'll say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. "
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. "
-The Temptations "My Girl"
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Baby Paraphernalia Reviews... (Part I)
Rating Scale:
% = Buy It! Can't Live Without It! Go Purchase Immediately for Yourself and All of Your Friends!
& = Honorable Mention, Nice to Have.
y = Meh. Not necessary, may be better alternatives out there.
# = Totally useless. Do NOT buy!
Boppy - Rating: &
Everyone and their dog has a Boppy, so it must be wonderful, right? In my opinion, the Boppy is just "ok". I used it for pretty much every feeding for the first three months, and loved having it when we were traveling, but found that as soon as Lucy was big enough for me to cradle her when she was feeding that I really didn't need it anymore. Also, I would have liked for it to be firmer, it was pretty soft and I have heard that some of the other nursing pillows out there offer more support. Sometimes we use it for tummy time but other than that I think that we've outgrown the Boppy already. I do like the fun cover choices that they have out there, and loved the softness of the Organic Boppy Cover that I had. Note: I had two covers which I found very convenient as I was a crazy milk machine in the beginning and Lucy spit up like crazy so it was always nice to have a backup when one was in the wash.
Lilypadz - Rating: #
Reusable silicon nursing pads, sounds good right? Hated these with a passion! Everyone raved about how wonderful they were, however, no one mentioned that if you are a lactating machine like I was in the beginning that these can lead to extremely embarrassing leakages. What is the most horrible about these is that I would have no idea they were filling full of milk until it was too late and milk was everywhere. I tried wearing them at night and woke up covered in milk every morning. Not pleasant! These might work after milk regulates but I hated them so much that I never tried them again after going to reusable cloth and disposable pads.
Gerber Disposable Nursing Pads- Rating: %
You mean I don't have to wake up in a puddle of milk every morning? Sign me up! Granted during the second month I literally had to fill a sports bra with three of these babies on each side every night in order to contain my insane lactation but it worked like a charm. You have no idea how uncomfortable it is to wake up with even your hair soaked in cold milk (Yes, my hair. No, I have no idea how that happened). I now use them when my reusable bamboo cloth pads are in the wash, but for a couple months they were my #1 necessity!
Binkie Bungees- Rating: %
These attach to your baby's clothes and to the pacifier to keep it from falling to the floor. Love them! I am obsessive compulsive about Lucy's stuff touching our floor (maybe because we have two cats and two dogs) so this invention works wonders for me. If we didn't have this I would be boiling the pacifier every two minutes to disinfect it! We got ours as presents but you can basically get them at any baby store or if your crafty they would be super easy to make yourself.
Bordeaux Butt Paste- Rating: &
I like the Butt Paste and have to admit I only bought it because of the name cracks me up whenever I see it. That being said, Lucy has never had diaper rash. I'm not sure if this is because of the Butt Paste but we usually use it ever couple of changes and never have had any kind of problem. However, once I'm done with it I think I would like to try a more natural/organic option because I'm crunchy like that.
Circo Washcloths- Rating: %
Love these tiny soft washcloths from Target. I use one set for washing her face every morning and then I have several other sets that we use as wet wipes for her diaper changes. It's so nice not to have to buy wipes every week and I feel like these are so much healthier for her little booty. I put them in a water/baby shampoo mixture and then roll them up and pop them in her Prince Lionheart Cloth Wipe Warmer (see next review). It's cheap, healthy, green and works great!
Prince Lionheart Wipe Warmer- Rating: %
Love this! It's a wipe warmer for cloth wipes that comes with bamboo wipes (which are expensive to buy additional ones, so we just go with the Circo ones). You simply get the wipes wet with the water/shampoo solution and roll them up into the warmer and they stay damp and warm. It works great except for one very strange thing, it seems to really attract ants! Weirdly enough we're having an ant problem on the second story of our house and only in Lucy's room. Apparently they love dying a horrible, warm, wet death in the wipe warmer. We've since sprayed around the house and now it seems that they're pretty much gone, but it still struck me as very weird!
Gerber Organic Onesies- Rating: %
Get some of these in ever size you can find. We use them as undershirts for Lucy because they keep her warm under her "cute" outfits and since they are organic cotton they are super soft. They are a little bit more expensive than the regular Gerber onsies and they don't make them in the long sleeve kind yet, but they are wonderful!
Baby Socks- Rating: %
You know those baby mittens with elastic around the wrists in all sorts of cute prints? Totally useless! The elastic breaks within a week and our flailing Lucy would fling those babies off in a millisecond, after which she would promptly scratch her sweet face. We remedied this by using tiny, fuzzy, soft baby socks on her hands. Works like a charm and look like fuzzy mittens. They stay on particularly well when you secure them under long sleeves. We bought like 5 pairs of these to use exclusively on her hands.
JJ Cole Changing Pad- Rating: %
This was one of my best buys. It is a plastic covered, fold-up changing pad that we have used for every changing at home and on the go. It works so much better than those ridiculously little ones that come with a diaper bag. Lucy already doesn't fit on the diaper bag ones, so when I'm in a public restroom do I let her precious head touch the counter or her adorable butt? Ew, neither! This one I bought at Marshalls for $7 and it is wonderful. In the early days we would simply flip this out on our bed and change Lucy on it or bring it downstairs with us during the day. To this day we still use it to change her in her crib and I bring it with my in my diaper bag so that not one part of my delicious, cuddly baby is touching some scummy public restroom counter top. No leaking through or anything and it cleans off with just a quick wipe.
More to come soon!
% = Buy It! Can't Live Without It! Go Purchase Immediately for Yourself and All of Your Friends!
& = Honorable Mention, Nice to Have.
y = Meh. Not necessary, may be better alternatives out there.
# = Totally useless. Do NOT buy!
Boppy - Rating: &
Everyone and their dog has a Boppy, so it must be wonderful, right? In my opinion, the Boppy is just "ok". I used it for pretty much every feeding for the first three months, and loved having it when we were traveling, but found that as soon as Lucy was big enough for me to cradle her when she was feeding that I really didn't need it anymore. Also, I would have liked for it to be firmer, it was pretty soft and I have heard that some of the other nursing pillows out there offer more support. Sometimes we use it for tummy time but other than that I think that we've outgrown the Boppy already. I do like the fun cover choices that they have out there, and loved the softness of the Organic Boppy Cover that I had. Note: I had two covers which I found very convenient as I was a crazy milk machine in the beginning and Lucy spit up like crazy so it was always nice to have a backup when one was in the wash.
Lilypadz - Rating: #
Reusable silicon nursing pads, sounds good right? Hated these with a passion! Everyone raved about how wonderful they were, however, no one mentioned that if you are a lactating machine like I was in the beginning that these can lead to extremely embarrassing leakages. What is the most horrible about these is that I would have no idea they were filling full of milk until it was too late and milk was everywhere. I tried wearing them at night and woke up covered in milk every morning. Not pleasant! These might work after milk regulates but I hated them so much that I never tried them again after going to reusable cloth and disposable pads.
Gerber Disposable Nursing Pads- Rating: %
You mean I don't have to wake up in a puddle of milk every morning? Sign me up! Granted during the second month I literally had to fill a sports bra with three of these babies on each side every night in order to contain my insane lactation but it worked like a charm. You have no idea how uncomfortable it is to wake up with even your hair soaked in cold milk (Yes, my hair. No, I have no idea how that happened). I now use them when my reusable bamboo cloth pads are in the wash, but for a couple months they were my #1 necessity!
Binkie Bungees- Rating: %
These attach to your baby's clothes and to the pacifier to keep it from falling to the floor. Love them! I am obsessive compulsive about Lucy's stuff touching our floor (maybe because we have two cats and two dogs) so this invention works wonders for me. If we didn't have this I would be boiling the pacifier every two minutes to disinfect it! We got ours as presents but you can basically get them at any baby store or if your crafty they would be super easy to make yourself.
Bordeaux Butt Paste- Rating: &
I like the Butt Paste and have to admit I only bought it because of the name cracks me up whenever I see it. That being said, Lucy has never had diaper rash. I'm not sure if this is because of the Butt Paste but we usually use it ever couple of changes and never have had any kind of problem. However, once I'm done with it I think I would like to try a more natural/organic option because I'm crunchy like that.
Circo Washcloths- Rating: %
Love these tiny soft washcloths from Target. I use one set for washing her face every morning and then I have several other sets that we use as wet wipes for her diaper changes. It's so nice not to have to buy wipes every week and I feel like these are so much healthier for her little booty. I put them in a water/baby shampoo mixture and then roll them up and pop them in her Prince Lionheart Cloth Wipe Warmer (see next review). It's cheap, healthy, green and works great!
Prince Lionheart Wipe Warmer- Rating: %
Love this! It's a wipe warmer for cloth wipes that comes with bamboo wipes (which are expensive to buy additional ones, so we just go with the Circo ones). You simply get the wipes wet with the water/shampoo solution and roll them up into the warmer and they stay damp and warm. It works great except for one very strange thing, it seems to really attract ants! Weirdly enough we're having an ant problem on the second story of our house and only in Lucy's room. Apparently they love dying a horrible, warm, wet death in the wipe warmer. We've since sprayed around the house and now it seems that they're pretty much gone, but it still struck me as very weird!
Gerber Organic Onesies- Rating: %
Get some of these in ever size you can find. We use them as undershirts for Lucy because they keep her warm under her "cute" outfits and since they are organic cotton they are super soft. They are a little bit more expensive than the regular Gerber onsies and they don't make them in the long sleeve kind yet, but they are wonderful!
Baby Socks- Rating: %
You know those baby mittens with elastic around the wrists in all sorts of cute prints? Totally useless! The elastic breaks within a week and our flailing Lucy would fling those babies off in a millisecond, after which she would promptly scratch her sweet face. We remedied this by using tiny, fuzzy, soft baby socks on her hands. Works like a charm and look like fuzzy mittens. They stay on particularly well when you secure them under long sleeves. We bought like 5 pairs of these to use exclusively on her hands.
JJ Cole Changing Pad- Rating: %
This was one of my best buys. It is a plastic covered, fold-up changing pad that we have used for every changing at home and on the go. It works so much better than those ridiculously little ones that come with a diaper bag. Lucy already doesn't fit on the diaper bag ones, so when I'm in a public restroom do I let her precious head touch the counter or her adorable butt? Ew, neither! This one I bought at Marshalls for $7 and it is wonderful. In the early days we would simply flip this out on our bed and change Lucy on it or bring it downstairs with us during the day. To this day we still use it to change her in her crib and I bring it with my in my diaper bag so that not one part of my delicious, cuddly baby is touching some scummy public restroom counter top. No leaking through or anything and it cleans off with just a quick wipe.
More to come soon!
"People often ask me, "What's the difference between couple hood and baby hood?" In a word? Moisture. Everything in my life is now more moist. Between your spittle, your diapers, your spit-up and drool, you got your baby food, your wipes, your formula, your leaky bottles, sweaty baby backs, and numerous other untraceable sources--all creating an ever-present moistness in my life, which heretofore was mainly dry."
-Paul Reiser
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