Shopping Tips for Baby Shower Gifts

Here are a few things that I've compiled as a list of helpful hints when shopping for a baby shower or the parents to be.  I know, I'm only expecting baby number two and some of these things should seem to be common sense, but I thought I'd type them up anyway!

• Always start with the registry (this goes for wedding gifts too), even if there isn't a store location convenient to you!  Odds are that you can still purchase something off of their registry (just from a different store or using online shopping).  As a person who read many reviews when registering (both for wedding & baby registries), it is always good to assume that the parent(s)-to-be have a reason for choosing X product or brand.  Never assume you know better than those who registered, remember new products come out all of the time so they may have newer information.
• If the new parents left items off of their registry that you enjoy purchasing for new babies or you feel are a "must-have", then feel free to purchase it!  Always include a gift receipt (this goes for all gifts) in case the parents have already purchased or received something similar (hence why it wasn't on their registry).
• Avoid the urge to go crazy over newborn or 0-3 month sized clothing (its okay to get one outfit because they're so cute & tiny) because everyone gets sucked into the teeny tiny clothes.  A great option are onsies the 12 month to 18 month range because they can be layered up or left alone depending on the season.  Believe me, parents will be grateful to have some 12-18 month size onsies once they realize baby has completely outgrown the 9-12 month clothes!  Maybe I just randomly shrank onsies, but I know Jack seemed to fit fine in something one day & the next couldn't squeeze him into it!
• Find out if the parents have chosen to use cloth or disposable diapers and get them some that they can use!
• Maybe go a little more unique and give the gift of memories.  My good friend Brooke (owner of Cherished Moments Photography) offers gift packages for either maternity shots or newborn sessions!  Her newborn sessions are done in the home in the first week (or two) of baby's life outside of the womb and are a beautiful way to capture those early days of baby being a part of your life!  Feel free to check out her website linked above or her business' Facebook page.

Now onto my most recent newborn purchase, and it wasn't for our baby number 2!  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I purchased a baby shower gift for a good friend of mine.  Well, Jack and I went to Texas last weekend for her shower and now I can spill the beans about what we got for Baby E!  (I failed as a blogger and didn't take a picture of the actual purchased items, but I've linked them.)

• Two wet bags; because she & her husband registered at Babies R Us and I knew they were planning on using cloth diapers I asked her if there was anything cloth diapering related that she couldn't register for and this is what she mentioned.  I got her a large Planet Wise hanging wet bag for everyday storage of dirty diapers (it even has a dry storage for clean diapers) and a smaller Bummis wet bag for packing in the diaper bag!
• Two newborn all-in-one diapers; she already has built herself a great stash of newborn prefolds and diaper covers because she's so economical!  I wanted to get her some newborn diapers because a) they're so cute and b) I wanted to splurge on her a little.  I choose two GroVia Newborn All-in-Ones, in "Ice" (a light blue) and the "Nature" print.  Selfishly, I can't wait to hear how they work for her to see if I should purchase some for our baby #2.
• Flushable diaper liners or as my husband calls them "crap catchers"!  This was Matt's idea for the baby shower gift.  Newborn poop isn't a big deal (especially breastfed poop) for cloth diapers, but as soon as baby starts solids its a whole other ball game.  These will hopefully be helpful at least for their diaper bag in the future!

I hope you've enjoyed this post!  I love buying baby gifts and have a number of other baby showers to go to in the coming months for which I can't wait to purchase baby gifts!

Building our Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash

We're looking forward to welcoming baby #2 to our family this fall.  I have been obsessing over what cloth diapers to buy for the itty-bitty baby we'll be cloth diapering.  Because we've been having issues with our wash routine, having diapers that wash easily is my number 1 priority.  I had posted before about that we ordered a Happy Heiny Mini-OS and two Rumparooz Lil' Joey.  The recommendations out there say 20-24 cloth diapers for the newborn phase.  Here are things that I'm planning on (or wishing) adding to the stash:

• Sustainablebabyish (Sloomb) Organic Fleece Fitted: a fitted diaper with snaps (XS); these need a cover.  (I got a great deal over Memorial Day Weekend and used a buy 4 get 1 free coupon!)
• Goodmama Newborn Diapers: These get rave reviews over at All About Cloth Diapers so I'm very excited to try them.  I've ordered two and they're pretty expensive for newborn diapers, so I don't know if I'll order any more.  They are made in the US by stay at home moms, so I could justify the expense for a couple of diapers!
• Newborn prefolds (at least a half dozen, but likely at least dozen): either traditional cotton, hemp, or terry 
• Bummis Super Lite Diaper Cover (6)
• Best Bottoms with small inserts (1-2 covers with 4-6 inserts): I've heard their gussets are excellent for keeping newborn breastfed poop contained.
• Some knit or fleece diaper covers; I ordered two Sloomb covers, one knit wool cover and one pair of knit "longies" (essentially pants that work as a diaper cover).

I have never used wool, but I know the brand I purchased has great resale value so if I don't like them I can get rid of them easily in the future!  People swear by using wool for breathable and preventing diaper rash, so it can't hurt to try.  The "longies" can be used as regular pants too if I don't like them as a cover.

The totals up there will add up to approximately 24 diapers.  Anyone have any other suggestions or reviews?

Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  A special thank you to all of those serving in our armed forces.  My cousin and his wife are both in the military as well as a number of family friends who serve our country.  Thank you for all that you do for us!

We've had a fun, very full, long weekend!  I'm so thankful my company [usually] gives us an early release before a big holiday weekend. 

Friday I got off work at 2... okay didn't leave until 2:30 pm, but that's still way earlier than 5!  We had my little brother's high school graduation Baccalaureate Mass that evening, so instead of wrestling him throughout Mass, he went to our friend's house to hang with them and their little girls.  Mass was really nice for all of the graduates!  That evening we didn't get home until after 10... Jack luckily fell asleep on the way home, so it was straight into bed for him!  (See previous post on his new fight to go to sleep at night)

Saturday was a little more low key, but relatively productive!  We got some family time in that morning and, when Jack went down for a nap, I got to run a few errands while my amazing husband mowed grass and did some laundry!  I got to get a birthday gift for a party later that day, and had fun picking out items for my friend's baby shower gift!  Jack & I are going down in a week & a half to visit and attend her baby shower... she's planning on cloth diapering her little guy so it was a LOT of fun to buy for a new baby!  (That will have to be another post on what I chose to get her.)  Saturday evening, we attended the birthday party for the first of our "baby crew" who turned two!  (Baby crew = there are 4 of our friends' kids all born within 3-4 weeks of each other; 3 boys and 1 girl) It was a blast of course!  Jack had a cupcake and even "jumped" on their full-sized trampoline!

Jumping doesn't quite involve both feet off the ground at the same time, but it still got lots of giggles!

My son eating a cupcake... not only did he get icing on his face, but he smeared it up by his eyes using his hands.  Hence, why I had to take over holding the cupcake!

Sunday was my baby brother's high school graduation!  He's the 4th, and final, of all of us to have graduated from a Catholic high school!  I was the only one who attended public school during my K-12 education, simply because there wasn't a Catholic school in one town in which we lived.  A big thanks to my mom & dad for putting us all through Catholic schools... Matt and I hope to be able to share that experience with our children when they reach school age, because we both loved our Catholic school experiences!  It was really neat at the graduation to hear of the family who had their 11 or 12th (and youngest) child graduating Catholic school, for a grand total of 30 years of Catholic education amongst their kids!  Amazing!  But anyway, congrats to my baby brother on his high school graduation and good luck in college!  We all know you'll do great!  We went out to lunch to celebrate, and of course Jack wouldn't sit down at the table for more than 5 minutes, and even begged Daddy to do a few laps outside Olive Garden.  But he did ask the waitress for milk very politely by saying "malk peese"... who can resist that?

You can tell it was a hot couple of laps around Olive Garden... sucked about half of that milk down without taking his mouth off the straw!

Mommy got some snuggles with her baby boy that evening!  Is it just me or does my belly look huge in this picture?  Only about 18 & a half weeks along...

Today has been very full, and we did it by our choosing!  We went to the zoo for about an hour & a half this morning.  Yup, only an hour & a half, but we have passes and it was HOT.  This pregnant mama and her toddler got really hot, pretty quickly!  Oh well, that is why we'll always get passes to the zoo... no need to fit everything in during one visit!  After Jack's afternoon nap, we made an appearance at Matt's boss' annual Memorial Day cookout.  Jack and I went swimming... and he LOVED it!

Point to the (grizzly?) bear!  I love how close he can get to the animals at our zoo!

Enjoying the pool... the water was the perfect temperature for me!

Playing some pool basketball!  Much to Jack's disappointment, I could only life 30 pounds above my head a handful of times so he could put the ball through the hoop.

The conclusion after this weekend: it is going to be one fun summer!

Friday Fill-Ins

1. This week I had my mid-year review with my boss, and it went well (phew).

2. I am hoping this weekend is when the sun returns.
3. It's all about family this weekend.

4. It is important to me to keep my son safe in the sun.
5. I demand too much of myself sometimes, but I'm working on it.

6. I know I want to follow God's path, it's filled with so many good things in my future, I can feel it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my brother's Baccalaureate [graduation] Mass, tomorrow my plans include going to the first of many 2 year old birthday parties and Sunday, I want to enjoy my baby brother's high school graduation and lunch with family!

 

Where'd Our Good Sleeper Run Off To?!

We've been blessed with such an easy going little boy!  He's always been a happy boy only getting upset when he was hurt or sick and maybe a little bit when tired.  Lately, it has been a whole different story!  I don't know where our good sleep has run off to, and who this not so good sleeper might be. 

Luckily, he's still taking good naps, but sometimes I wonder if he's too good at napping.  His bedtimes have been so drawn out lately (consistently for 2+ weeks), that we've even asked my mom to limit his nap and wake him up at 4 p.m... I know, I know "never wake a sleeping baby" but he simply isn't sleeping like he has in the past and I'm not really sure where else to go with making bedtime easier.

I think he needs to be going to bed around 8:30-9 p.m. (which is probably later than most kids his age), especially if he's sleeping during his afternoon nap until 4 p.m.  Not to mention with all of this rain, we can't seem to get him outside to burn off all of his energy.  We've tried a few different things with a bedtime routine... we haven't done a bath every night before bed because a) his skin gets so dried out from baths and b) with Matt often working until 8, trying to give a 2 year old a bath while pregnant is not an easy feat... I just don't necessarily feel that safe doing it.  Heaven forbid we both slip and fall because of me trying to get him out of a bath with wet floors. 

We need to figure out something soon because we want to switch him into his big boy bed (soon after the bunk beds arrive) and the scientist in me thinks it would be best to only change one variable at a time.  Anyone have a similar experience with toddler sleep regression?  Any suggestions on bedtime routines or other things we can try to get him to wind down in advance of bedtime?

Mother's Day Reflections on my Children

My son is all boy.... This is what he choose to do after saying good bye to Grandma when Mommy got home from work.

No feeling one way or another if we're having a boy or a girl with this next one, but he or she will likely be a strong personality.  Today when Jack and I were laying on the couch trying to snuggle his little brother or sister started trying to kick him.  I don't know if they were just as frustrated as me that he wouldn't lay still to settle down for a nap or if they were just trying to point out that that he or shee will give him a run for for his money! 

Feeling baby #2 kick on Mother's day while snuggling my oldest is a wonderful feeling!  I am just so blessed!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope every mom and expectant mother out there are having a wonderful Mother's Day!  Being a mom is what I have always known I wanted to do with my life and it is the most important role I have.

Mother's Day is a time to be thankful for the moms in our life.  I am very grateful (and a bit spoiled) to have my mom and mother-in-law in the same town as us.  My mom watches Jack during the day when Matt and I are at work.  Trust me, I know how lucky I am... we are all quite spoiled by this and wouldn't trade it for the world!  My MIL is always willing to watch Jack whenever we need or want a night out and Jack loves his Bapie!

Fun facts about Mother's Day in my life:

• Twenty-six years ago on Mother's Day, my mom welcomed her oldest child into the world (yours truly)
• I have had my birthday on Mother's Day 3 times since I was born, which will happy the 4th time in 2013

My little family on the day I welcomed my oldest child out into the world!

And its hard to believe that next year, for Mother's Day 2012, I will have two little blessings to celebrate the honor of being their mom!