To Buy or Not To Buy: Part 1

In honor of holiday shopping season, I decided to make my "must have" and "must not have" lists in attempt to help you spend or save your money wisely. I worked with my husband on this and we had a great time thinking back to the olden days of summer 2010 when Carter was an itty bitty thing. It is amazing how fast they grow and how quickly their favorite things become obsolete.

There are so many different aspects of a baby's life that require purchased items, so this "series" will have multiple parts separated into categories.

Now obviously all babies are different, so this comes directly from my personal experience and might be all wrong for you. I can only write what I know!

Today's list: Brand New Baby!!

MUST HAVE:

1.) Bassinet! That is if you plan on your little one sleeping in your room. We had a pack-n-play with the "bassinet" attachment (not the new fancy one with an infant sleeper, just the kind that raised the floor up to the top so baby wasn't on the ground)... Epic fail. He was not having that!! He needing something smaller and more cozy.

2.) Swaddle blankets... BIG ONES!! It's much easier to swaddle with the larger size. I read something that made me laugh which is very true, "When in the hospital, watch the nurses swaddle your baby very closely, and when you get home remember that you'll never be able to do it as well as they did." So true!! The bigger blankets help though, plus they grow with them so you aren't having to replace them a month later when they're too big for the little receiving blankets.

3.) Sleep positioning incline - Some people disagree with me on this which is totally fine, every baby is different. Carter had bad acid reflux so sleeping on an incline helped tremendously. This worked like magic for us.

4.) MAM pacifiers... AND CLIPS!! If you have an oral baby (which is a seriously stupid phrase if you ask me), pacifiers are a must and I'm personally in love with this brand.

5.) Boppy Pillow - This is more for the men strangely enough. My husband loved holding our baby man with Boppy assistance. I used it for nursing quite a bit as well.

6.) Vibrating Chair - The only place Carter would lay other than on someone. This device allowed me to shower, for which I (and everyone else) was very thankful.

7.) IPod/CD/Normal Person Stereo - All of the baby sound machines last about 20 minutes. We downloaded an ocean sounding track, burned it to a CD, put it on repeat, and used that. Constant calming noise = happy baby without a fancy gadget.

MUST NOT HAVES:

1.) Arm and Hammer Diaper Pail!!!!! You probably need a pail of some sort, but not this one. At 3 months I would have sworn by it, now it's worthless. It broke about a year ago and doesn't close easily, the door isn't tight so smells escape, and I can't find those special garbage bags anywhere.

2.) Swing - Now I'm not saying your baby won't like a swing, some adore it! For me, it was a decoration. My advice if possible is to borrow one or buy a cheap used one first to see if your baby takes to it. They aren't cheap, so why waste the money if you have a vibrating chair baby. If your little one likes it then it's certainly a worthy investment. My nephew lived in his!

3.) Bottle Warmer - Maybe others like these, mine was sold in a garage sale in its original packaging.

4.) Crib Entertainment Things (ie aquariums, music makers...) These did more harm than good. Since they only last 20 minutes or so, the lack of sound and light woke Carter back up. Sure some have remotes so you can restart them from outside the door, but doing that every 20 minutes all night makes for one grumpy mommy!!

5.) 74 Bibs - Do you need bibs? Absolutely! I received 74 at my showers... You don't need 74.

6.) Newborn clothes - Do you need these? Well, obviously, but if you have a baby shower, chances are you will get all you need. They grow out of these SOOOOOOO FAST!!! We had so many cute outfits that were passed down to my nephew with tags because there simply wasn't enough time to wear them all, so I'd say that you yourself shouldn't have to purchase many, if any at all.

This is a short list, I have much more to come!! I'd love to hear you itty bitty baby needs and not-so-needs as well.

Moms are Weird

I made this discovery the other day with the help of my husband... Moms are weird. I know I didn't have to group other moms into this phrase but I also know that I'm not alone in this, so why isolate myself?

You see, at the end of a day, we are exhausted, right? We want a break and a little time to reboot. At least I do. I love staying home with my little guy, but it is tiring! So you'd think we would be thrilled at the thought of an EXTENDED break, right? Like an entire day or over night even? Maybe some moms are, but I know a lot of us aren't, because it's too hard to leave our babies for that long. I'm not saying I never do it, I certainly do. I think it's healthy, but it's hard! Case in point, moms are weird:-) We are confused beings who long for breaks and hate having to take them.

The past few weeks have been long at times because my husband has a strange work schedule. There will be weeks that he's gone most evenings and weeks where is home more often than not, day and night. I love the 2nd option, and the first is a bit harder, especially when it's teething and "I have a cold" time, which has been lately. Going along with this, I have been crazy busy lately and have had to leave Carter 5 times last week, and will have to three 3 times this week before Thursday. You'd think this would even out and I'd be thankful for the breaks, but no... I hate them. So here is my confession: I am a weird mom.

Recipe Day!

Since I started this blog I have been wanting to incorporate recipes into some of my posts. Since my son is sick today and doesn't want me to do anything but hold him, I figured today was as good of a day as any!!

I don't love Red Lobster, but I do love their cheddar biscuits. I could eat a dozen of them and still want more. This recipe is AMAZING! Exactly like the restaurant. The only thing I do differently is I also brush the biscuits with the melted butter mixture once they come out of the oven. Don't over cook them!!!!!!

ENJOY!:-)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1 cup Cheddar cheese finely grated
3/4 cup Whole milk
2 tablespoons Butter
1/8 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Dried parsley flakes
1 dash Salt

Preparation:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cheddar cheese, milk, 2 tablespoons of butter that has been melted in the microwave, and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a medium bowl. Mix until well-combined.

3. Drop approximately 1/4-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Combine 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt. Brush this mixture over the tops of each unbaked biscuit.

5. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. Serve warm.

Truth Behind the Silence

Do you have those days where you desperately need your little one to give you time to take care of things without interruption? Whether it be work, laundry, or even just a little time to relax? Well I do. Lately it has been because I'm actually very busy with work right now and nap-time isn't long enough to accomplish what needs accomplishing.  In my "About Me"section it states that I am a stay at home mom, and that is correct, 90% of the time.  I do, however, have a job.  I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to only work a few times a year, and this time of year is the busiest! It's very random, but I'm a choreographer for competitive cheerleading squads, show choirs, and dance teams, and since Illinois starts their cheer competition season soon, November is my heavy month. Creating these routines requires more than 3 minutes here and 3 minutes there, because I then forget what I was doing and have to start over, which is counter productive. (Seriously? Cheerleading isn't a word according to spell check? I feel like I just jumped back in time a few decades...)

Carter has been nice enough these last few days to give me some brief pauses during his play time to allow me to brainstorm and create.  The problem is that I know when he's quiet, he's being mischievous!! I'm always scared to look to see what he's doing because I don't want him to stop and want mommy time when I'm being productive, but I know deep down that this "brief pause" will cause more work after the fact. 

Example number 1: On Sunday night, Carter and I were hanging out in the church nursery during youth group. My husband is the Youth Director at our church so that ministry is something I've always been heavily involved in, until recently when Carter decided I'm not allowed to leave him (see 11.11.11 EPIC WISH post). ANYWAY I had a routine to teach the next day which I of course had not started.  Carter walked to the other side of the room to a table which was conveniently hidden by a tall dry erase board. He was over there the entire service, which was AWESOME! I knew I should check on him, but I let it be, only to find that this table, which at one point shelved about 20 wooden puzzles, was now bare, and the puzzles were in a giant pile on the floor... and not in one piece.  I won't lie, it was kind of funny... and even more embarrassing, it was kind of fun putting them all back together! (THANKS MICHELLE!)

Example number 2: Today I'm just exhausted.  I have a ton to do, but the thought of doing it makes me even more tired, so I want to rest. Carter went into his room for a bit, and though he was mysteriously quiet, I once again let it be. Later, this is what I found... Every diaper out of the hanging rack thing in piles across the room.  This is one of 3, but he magically managed to separate them all by corners so I couldn't get more than one in a picture. He did help me clean up though... by putting them in the hamper,  the trash can, the crib... Love my helpful little man!

Oh the orneriness of little boys!!!

p.s. Ornery, when pronounced correctly (which I never do), might be the ugliest word in the English language. Dang you Carter for making me use it so often! :)

My Best Friend is ORANGE!

If you are a parent, you know that there are moments when your little one will do something so darn cute that it makes your heart swell. Being the "I cry at anything" type person that I am, it makes me tear up. I've had a couple of those moments in recent days.

Carter has chosen a buddy. Growing up I had my blankie that I called Nigh Night. Nice name, right? I had issues naming things... I also had a white cat named Purple Terreda. Anyway, I loved that thing and could not sleep without it. My husband had a special pal as well, Ernie. We have both been hoping that our little guy would latch on to a best friend because we both have fond memories of ours... And like I said, he did! Ernie! Like father like son I guess. It's so cute!!! He carries him around, sleeps with him, tries to share his pacifier with his giant, "I cannot close" mouth, which never works, and when he's tired of carrying him everywhere he sits him up in a chair to rest.

My favorite though is that he hugs him and says "Awwww!" It's so stinking cute! He has inflection in his voice as well, which makes it even funnier. He almost sings it! It's so fun watching him play with his new found, somewhat creepy looking, orange friend.

The picture is of my tear up moment. He put his two buddies up in the chair, climbed in, put them both in his lap, and sat their hugging them while of course saying "Awwwww!"

Maybe Ernie will help him learn to share, because he has certainly not mastered that skill yet!!

Do your little ones have a favorite toy or blankie?

11.11.11 @ 11:11 - EPIC WISH

I do a lot of work with teenagers, and I have heard many of them say that today is the day to make the most epic wish of your life… 11/11/11 at 11:11. So here it is, my epic wish:

I wish that my son would stop having separation anxiety issues! Yes, I’m going to waste the most epic wish of my life on this because it would be worth it should it come true!  Carter had never had any issues with me leaving him with others until a few weeks ago. He had spent time in the church nursery, had baby sitters, we had even left town for 2-3 nights at a time without him and he was totally fine. It’s like the screaming child monster flipped a switch in my happy little boy.

To clarify, Little Dude didn’t all of a sudden become an angry baby, as long as he can see me he’s perfectly happy! Handy, right? He plays, laughs, watches TV… he’s perfectly content until I walk out of the room.  I’ve heard moms say to just let them cry it out… fail. One night I ran out of options and just left only to come back an hour later to him STILL screaming and standing by the door!!! Poor babysitter!!!

Everything I read says to just allow it, that it’s a phase that they will get through. I know it is. I know he’s not going to be 12 and scream when I leave (unless it’s a celebration), but that doesn’t make now any easier. 

I also read to leave him with familiar people. That works! He is totally fine staying with grandparents! Yay? No… one set is an hour away and the other is 5 hours away, so though it works, it’s not very practical most of the time.

I know it will pass. Most of the time I can let myself relish in the fact that he has such a strong bond to me, which I love. Soon I’ll be the one crying when he leaves, but in the mean time… any other advice? Or even just a hint at what age he might outgrow this?

Once upon a time...

When I was pregnant, I always loved to read other’s birth stories. Strangely, it made me even more excited, not scared. I always thought that once I had Carter I would write mine and post it on the message board I frequented, because I just knew other moms would want to read it.  Well, I never did. So today, I’m going to write mine. It’s a strange thing to do considering my audience is primarily MOMS not MOMS-TO-BE, but we all like reliving those days every once in a while, right? So here it is, my birth story (actually, Carter’s birth story… my end of pregnancy story): ß That is an end parenthesis, colon, not a sad face.

Carter was predicted to join us on May 18, but I was really hoping I would have him on the 14^th since that’s my birthday and our anniversary, so when I woke up with contractions on the 14^th I was SO EXCITED!!!! They were very light and about 15 minutes apart or longer, so nothing serious yet. Then to my disappointment, they stopped. Later that day, hoping to hurry him along, we went out to a Mexican restaurant (my fav)… didn’t do anything; I think the whole spicy food thing is a fib. We then went to see a movie… something manly that I didn’t like too much, but that was ok because I was too busy waiting on contractions to pay attention anyway.

I don’t remember much about the rest of the day.  I know someone from the church had made us dinner that was waiting for us at the house when we got home, which was very nice. We finally gave in and went to bed. I got to sleep for a whole 30 minutes (little did I know that 30 minutes was going to have to carry me through labor and a boat load a visitors the next day!) before waking up again with contractions.  This was about 11:30 pm. I woke Ben up to tell him, but insisted he stay asleep because they were so far apart.  He got up and got me a drink and put a movie on for me before I made him lay back down. I woke him up again around 1:30 am when it was obvious things were getting serious. We worked through it together until about 3:30, which is when things sped from getting serious to “I’m going to skip the next 6 hours worth of progress and jump to I want to come out now.” My contractions went from 10 minutes apart to about 4, but not consistently, which is when we called the doctor.  She said since it wasn’t consistent we could wait for an hour or go now. We chose option 2, and it’s a good thing we did.

When we got to the hospital I was “getting sick” out in the parking lot and could barely walk, so my husband ran to get a nurse who met me outside the doors with a wheel chair. When we got to the room, we found out that I was 8.5 cm dilated. The nurses were running around like mad.  I had one desperately trying to find a vein for my IV quite unsuccessfully (turns out I was extremely dehydrated and my body absorbed 4 bags of fluid instantly... so I blew up like a balloon... attractive) while another was asking me questions for paperwork and another was getting things set up in the room. I said yes to the epidural even though it was pretty much too late already. TERRIFYING!!! I hate needles so the tube in my spine thing freaked me out quite a bit. Also, no one warns you about the strange and scary nerve sensation that you feel when it’s done… I thought I was paralyzed. 

The epidural allowed me to rest for about 15 minutes before it got temperamental and decided it only wanted to help my right side, so they rolled me over to attempt to share the love, which is when it decided to get moody and be too stubborn to help at all. They tried to increase the dosage, which made me nearly pass out, not an exaggeration, so that was the end of my drugs.

Another thing I didn’t remember from my birthing class was the warning of trembling.  I trembled the entire time I was at the hospital. Not painful, but certainly annoying!

The nurse told me we were going to start pushing at about 6:30. Actually, she did a few pushes with me then said she was going to go get the doctor.  She left the room and said, “You know what to do!” Ummm…. NO! I’m not going to push with no one here crazy lady!

Once everyone was ready to deliver Carter, I got a strange fear of waking everyone in the hospital, so I asked if they would be able to hear me scream. The nurse said “No, but if you scream I’m going to tell you to stop because that means you aren’t putting all of your energy into pushing.” On we went… and eventually came a scream, to which everyone promptly replied, “STOP!” so I did… I stopped screaming. They meant stop pushing so they could “clean” Carter off and hold onto him. They should have been clearer. Let’s just say our doctor had to turn into a catcher! OOPS!

J I’m still working on catching up on my sleep…