The paci – a love story come to an end.

Before I had children and even while I was pregnant with Isabella, I never wanted to give my child a pacifier.  I always heard from other people how difficult of a habit it was to break and I never really wanted to start that if I could avoid it.  However, when Isabella came into the world, it seemed everyone was interested in her having one as a soother and so it came to be.  And she loved it.  She took to it almost immediately and was in love with it for over 18 months.    

Once I gave her the pacifier, I never really had an issue with it.  If she wanted it, I gave it to her because I figured that she was only a baby for such a short time and eventually she would break the habit.  We actually decided to break that habit sooner than I thought because she started to use it as a teether and not so much a soother anymore and bit the end off of one of them.  We gave her another and she did the same thing shortly after that.  At that time we decided that she was done.  We were not going to keep buying pacifiers so she could destroy them.  We decided that we would cut that one and just see what happened.  My husband cut the tip off of one of them because we didn’t want her to choke if she kept biting that hanging piece of it off and we gave it to her like it was normal.  She hated it, but she still held onto it.  She would stick her pointer finger through the end of it and still suck on it.  I am not going to lie but at that point I had a lot of anxiety that we were creating a ‘finger sucker’ child in this process.  For over a week she still slept with it but she always had it on one of her fingers for the entire night.  Then after a week, one night while she was sleeping it fell under the bed and she didn’t realize.  The next morning we put it in her dresser and it has been there ever since.  I can’t bring myself to get rid of it and will probably have it as a keepsake.  It’s one of the last real reminders that I have of her as a baby and not as the ‘big girl’ that she is now. 

Unfortunately, my son is now in this same boat.  Isabella was never a bad teether.  We really didn’t even know when she was cutting teeth ever.  She didn’t really cry more or have any outward signs at all.  He, on the other hand, is an awful teether and has been since his first tooth.  He chews on everything, slobbers buckets before he cuts a tooth, runs a fever with each one and is just miserable.  As of late, that chewing has been on his paci, and last night he chewed a hole in his second paci.  In an effort to be fair and realize that he is a big boy now (he is 18 months now) we have decided that we will treat him like Isabella when it comes to the paci and my husband cut the tip off and gave it back to him.  He was heartbroken.  He cried.  Like, for real crying.  And because he was crying like that I started crying.  My husband justified it that he doesn’t use it at night normally and really only wants it when he wakes up so it shouldn’t impact his sleeping.  I am hoping that this will be as easy of an ordeal as it was for Isabella but he is usually more of a fighter so I am not going to hold my breath.

I will keep everyone posted on his progress to becoming a big boy. 

-Sara   

Favorite Baby Products

When I first got pregnant with Isabella I was overwhelmed by all of the baby items on the market. There were swings, and bouncers, jungle gyms and floor mats. How did you know which one to buy? Which opinion do you listen to – the woman who says her kids never used anything and it wasn’t worth the money or the woman who said her kid cried day and night unless they were in a swing? There are more options and research out there than you know what to do with.

I was personally overwhelmed because I didn’t want to waste money and I knew that, at that time, baby products as a whole didn’t have a high resale value. I didn’t want to buy an item for $100 and only get $10 with it when I sold it even if my child did not use it. I knew that we needed some items like a crib, a stroller and a car seat but the rest was up in the air.

Luckily Corry and I are not picky parents at all when it comes to some of the baby gear. I didn’t care if all of our items matched or were even gender specific. I knew that we were going to have another child after Isabella and so I didn’t want to have to repurchase a whole new set of items if the second baby ended up being male. We are also very lucky that we live in a rather large metropolis that participates very heavily in the consignment sale scene. We bought a lot of different items, including clothing at consignment sales.

Below is a list of my favorite baby products, where we bought them and some general ideas about each one of them. I am definitely not saying that this is an end all be all list of the items that you need for a baby – this is just a list of items that worked well for us and our opinions on each one. I will touch on baby toys, nursery furniture, and baby fashion in separate blogs.

Moby wrap
Ahh the Moby wrap. There is nothing else like the feeling that you first get when you open up the fabric pouch for the Moby and like 9 million feet of fabric rolls out onto the floor. For me, it was sheer panic. How am I ever going to figure this thing out? What if I can’t figure out how to tie this wrap correctly? Luckily with the help of thousands of videos on YouTube I was able to get it tied on correctly.

Our kids loved the Moby wrap. Well, Isabella loved it. Silas tolerated it for a few months but didn’t care for it nearly as much as Isabella. She would sleep in it our entire shopping trips in the store. I started wearing her in the wrap after the ‘stranger putting her finger in Isabella’s mouth thing’ see post HERE. She got more attention when I wore her than she ever got in her car seat but I had total control over how much access people had. I quickly realized that people were a lot less likely to touch your baby if you were wearing them than if they were just hanging out in a car seat. Silas was a much larger baby and so I wasn’t able to carry him in it for as long and he has always been headstrong so carrying him in a wrap has always been a battle of wills. He prefers the Ergo. Well, now he prefers to walk, but he used to prefer the Ergo.

Swing
Our sister bought us our swing for Isabella. We put her in it for the first time when she was about a month or so old and she seemed kind of ‘eh’ about it. She didn’t particularly hate it or love it. She would sleep in it sometimes but it definitely wasn’t guaranteed to make her go to sleep like some babies. She learned to love it a lot more once Silas got here. She was WAY too big for it at that point and I think that she just wanted in it because there was a new baby in it. She did the same thing with the bouncer and the Moses basket.

We used the same swing for Silas and Addison but they much preferred the swings that moved side to side instead of just front to back. They would sleep for hours in the swings everyday and for awhile that was the only way that we could get Silas to sleep at night was to put him in the swing.

I would definitely recommend a good swing that you can plug into the wall because constantly having to load batteries into a swing gets annoying. I wish that we could just go back to the old school crank style swings, but the newer ones are nice that have music. Isabella liked the music to calm her down but Silas hated it. To each his own, I suppose.

Mobile
Mobiles are expensive for what they are. I mean, realistically it’s a music box with a plastic arm with a few small stuffed toys attached to it. We bought one from either a consignment sale or craigslist; I can’t recall. Isabella never cared for the moving parts, but she has LOVED the music box part and still uses it everyday to put herself to sleep. Silas and Addison absolutely loved the moving parts especially during diaper changes when it was difficult to keep them entertained. It didn’t really matter which model it was; this was definitely a good buy, as long as you can get one used.

Car Seat
We have used several car seats since Isabella was born. When we were pregnant with her we decided to use the Chicco stroller and car seat travel system. It had a nice material that wiped off easily and wasn’t particularly heavy without an infant inside. The stroller folded down easily and had lots of space for accessories, purses, diaper bags, etc. It was heavily used by us and has been heavily used by sister for Addison since she was born and still is in very good condition. The convertible car seat that we got after we stopped using the infant carrier was good for the time. It wasn’t my favorite because it had such high sides and was difficult to get Isabella in and out of it without banging either her head or her legs on either the seat or the top of the car. We were in a minor car accident when Isabella was a few months old, so we got a new seat. We decided to go with the Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL. We absolutely adore this seat. I will touch on our car seat requirements in another video, but I will say that a higher rear facing weight was definitely one of our top requirements. The Sunshine Kids car seat can rear face up to 45lbs. It has a seat cover that easily comes off and cleans nicely. It also allows for three car seats to fit in a standard car backseat. We loved it so much that we bought another one for Silas. Now the brand is Diono but it’s the same basic seat. It is expensive but there are deals to be found out there and when it comes down to it, this is one thing that is totally worth spending the money on. What is more important that your child’s safety?

Stroller
Corry made it clear from the beginning that he wasn’t a fan of double strollers. Either they were too wide to be able to fit through most doors or aisles, or they were so long it was like driving a limo. I first heard about the Britax B-Ready on YouTube and thought that it looked neat. I figured that I could never get Corry to go for it for two reasons: 1) because it is a bit expensive ($499.00 for just the stroller without any accessories and without the second seat, and 2) because of the odd look to the stroller itself.

I took him by BuyBuyBaby one day when we were pregnant with Silas and he fell in love with it. He didn’t care for the cost but we found out that Britax runs a semi-annual sale that allows you to buy a stroller and get a second item for free. We knew that we would need a new infant seat so we decided to go for it.

We absolutely love this stroller. We get comments and compliments on our stroller every time we go out in public. It folds down the same size as our singleton stroller. It is heavy with both seats, but that is expected with a double stroller. A lot of people think that the lower seat is disadvantaged because they wouldn’t be able to see, but we find it to be totally the opposite. Isabella loves being in the bottom seat because she can easily get in and out of it with little help and she can still interact with her environment.

Muslin Blankets
When I first saw these blankets, I thought that it was just a gimmick. They are marketed as having the ability to better regulate baby’s temperature because there is breathability with the fabric. My husband flipped out because of the cost of the blankets. They are about $30-$40 for four blankets which seems crazy but they are awesome. It is easy to swaddle your babies with these blankets and they are super soft which is helpful with young babies. Silas still sleeps with one of these blankets as a ‘blankie’ every day. He would carry it around like Linus everywhere if we would allow him.


This is our basic list of our favorite baby items. We love all of these items and still use some of them even today. What are your favorite baby items?

-Sara

My kids are turning me into a mental patient

Today has been a hard day and I just need to vent. 

After having my first child, I came to the conclusion that I am not the ideal parent for a newborn.  The lack of sleep, the inability to communicate, the feeling like you are going to break something on them when you hold them because they are so tiny, all turn me into this anxious, emotional wreck that is less than ideal.  I had this general idea when I was still pregnant that I was going to have instant amazing relationships with my newborns and that they would sleep forever and I would have plenty of time to enjoy my time off with my children. 

Contrary to that my children didn't sleep as newborns.  Isabella didn't really nap a lot and probably only slept 10 hours per day total and most of those were, luckily, at night when she was sleeping in our bed.  Until he fell out of my parent's camper (separate story), Silas slept a total of about 7-8 hours per day.  He didn't really nap for very long and he was awake 4-5 times every night. 

And a little gem that wasn't fully disclosed before I had kids: newborns cry a lot.  Those women who say their newborn doesn't cry a lot are either extremely lucky or lying.  My vote is for the later.  This is a topic for a later post but I want to say it now and get it out of the way - when you become a parent, you develop this organic need to brag about your children all the time.  Your average baby suddenly becomes a baby genius because she looked at an elephant when you said gray.  So don't be surprised when you run into that.  Back on topic...

As much as I am not the ideal newborn mother, I absolutely LOVE the age once your children start showing their personalities.  Once they develop out of that "I am a crying sloth" stage and can move, communicate with you, move their limbs with purpose, etc - that's where the real fun begins.  My love and my excitement to see my children learn new things and explore the world grows every day.  My recent days within the past few months have been amazing and ridiculously enjoyable now that both are walking and interacting with each other.   

However, the last two days my children are trying to turn me into a mental patient.  Isabella is 29 months old and Silas is 14 months old.  Both are walking.  Silas says about 8 words and Isabella says about 2,000 including sentences and phrases.  She spends 99.9% of the time that she is awake talking.  I love this though because she learns so much every day.  You can tell from day to day that she is learning. 

Since Isabella is in that '2 year old' age range, she is headstrong, stubborn, and very smart.  Headstrong and stubborn are key words that any person who has ever had a two year old should recognize as 'terrible twos'.  She doesn't listen, she pushes Silas down, and she is having more tantrum than I thought possible.  This has been going on for awhile but has really just come to a head over the last few days and it makes me feel like I'm going insane. 

Silas has long been a difficult child.  He screams at the top of his lungs and cries at the drop of a hat.  He has thrown tantrums since he was about a month old if he doesn't get everything that he wants.  He is the polar opposite of Isabella as far as behavior - he pinches, he shoves, he snatches things that he wants.  He is also super headstrong - where are they getting this from?  I'm voting Corry.   

I hate to complain like this because she will have a few off days and then she will be fantastic for like a week and you wonder where this angel child came from.  And even on days like today when she is absolutely being crazy she is still amazing and fun and incredibly intelligent.   I learn so much from my children each and every day.  I love being able to see the world from a child's eyes.  They are so amused by simple things that adults take for granted.  I love them more than life itself and I wouldn't trade who they are for the world. 

Now it's time for bed to hopefully prep for a better day.  I'm getting my hair done tomorrow for the first time since I was pregnant with Isabella, I think, so that's something to look forward to even if they still act like crazies. 

-Sara  

Our cloth diaper journey: Our Beginning

One interesting tidbit of information about our family: we cloth diaper...one of our children. 

In early 2010, we found out that we were pregnant with our daughter, Isabella.  Corry and I had spoken before we got pregnant about how we would be interested in cloth diapering our children.  He had been interested in it when his older kids were babies but had never convinced his previous wife to go along with it.  I was game so off we went into the black hole of the Internet.

Got a spare 19,000 hours? Try googling cloth diapers.  It is straight up the most overwhelming thing that I have ever researched online.  What is a Fuzzi Bunz?  Who or what makes a Snappi?  Do you still need plastic pants over the diapers?  Am I going to stab my daughter with one of those over sized safety pins?  Warning: brain overload approaching... 

Lucky for us and millions of other parents, these are not the diaper's from your grandmother's day.  Cloth diapering has changed a lot in the last 20 years and is now working it's way into mainstream culture.  Gone are the days of the only options being the folded Gerber diapers with HUGE safety pins.  Let me stop and say that those pins being called *safe*ty pins is comical because I have used them before and stabbed myself with one.  Unsafety pins is definitely more like it.   

Now you have SO many more options.  Snaps, Velcro, AIO, AI2, fitted, prefolds, microfiber, bamboo... I could look at sites for about an hour at a time before I felt like I had just taken the SATs -my brain hurt so bad!  Every time I would google I would see different sites and different information.  Some people use different terminology for what I felt was the same item... and there was seriously an entire new language to learn.  What about wool?  What is an insert?  Do I need doublers?  How will I know if my child will be a heavy wetter?  I have never had so many questions in my entire life about anything...

This is when I started really watching 'mom vlogs' online.  I searched on YouTube for cloth diapers and was taken instantly to videos of women explaining the differences and similarities of different brands, types and styles.  They talked endlessly about the colors that they liked, brands that they hated, wash routines, and general information about diapers.  It was like getting information from your friends but about something useful and not what the neighbor was wearing yesterday while mowing his lawn.  Eureka!  This was perfect! We were finally starting to make some headway in our research of what we liked and what we felt would work best for our family.  Until we started talking to people about it...

My mom was skittishly on board.  My father actually asked if we were the only people in the world that were going to be using cloth diapers.  The rest of my family rolled their eyes and probably talked negatively about it behind our backs I'm sure, but seemed supportive to our faces.  My friends were less than helpful and some were downright disgusted.   I was sad because this was something that I actually was excited about.  I hate when people can't just be fake excited for you.  We didn't let it get us down though and we stayed the course...

Next: researching different types of diapers

Teething baby + Sick Toddler = awesome day

Silas turned 1 on December 31st.  He is my last baby.  We will cover the sadness around that subject sometime in the future.  For now, let's just say that he is enduring the worst part of baby/toddlerhood - teething.  Specifically cutting molars.  I have always told someone that if it was possible for babies to cut all of their teeth in like two days, I would much rather that happen.  Unfortunately it does not. 

We are currently on day 5ish of molars coming in.  Let's regress a second and relive our lives months ago when Silas cut his other eight teeth in like two weeks.  He gets a fever, is up ALL NIGHT, and just generally a ridiculously cranky baby for days.  Isabella was never a problem with teething.  No fighting, no crying, no whining or anything.  We always attributed it to the amber teething necklace that she wore.  I have told my husband that we should have Silas look like Mr. T with so many amber necklaces to combat his teething.  We have one on him that he has worn solid since he was about 2 months.  Please don't judge - I am the worst amber owner ever.  I don't take it off of them ever... I don't wash it... I don't sun it... he just wears it.  I am currently researching how I should go about washing it but I am kind of afraid to remove it because of how he will react.  Currently he doesn't even seem to notice it and I don't want to draw attention to it in any form or fashion. 

So, we are on about 5 days of not sleeping for Silas, me and my husband.  Needless to say our house is in an awesome mood. Because the universe sometimes likes to throw all kinds of fun at you at the same time, Isabella woke up this morning and said that her ear was hurting.  I got instantly anxious because she has had HORRIBLE double ear infections before and not said anything about pain.  After a doctor appointment for the both of them it is determined to be nothing serious except teething for cranky baby, ear infection for Isabella and totally shot day for mommy.

Today is the day before Silas's first birthday party.  I have a million and one things to do.  I am finally getting a second to breathe after making a cake from scratch, cake balls, prepped fruit salad, prepper the dip for tomorrow, cleaned the kitchen, made the banners and got as much prepped as possible for the food tomorrow.  I hope to be able to take some pictures and post them tomorrow.  For now, I am going to pass out while the second cake cooks. 

-Sara

Newborn baby musings

What is it about baby cries that are contagious? It's like a signal to all other babies within earshot to simultaneously freak out for no reason. My sister's 10 week old and my 7 week old are currently active participants in this vicious cycle of contagious crying. I love my children and my niece, I mean love them like I never even thought possible but endless crying during the day on both of their parts makes me want to smoke a cigarette.

Apparently the "newborns sleep a lot" thing is genetic and both of my kids have not had it. My son sleeps in 20 minute intervals throughout the night and that's only if swaddled up so tight he can't move, and does most of his sleeping during the day when my daughter is awake. How fun. Thank the Lord for my mother for coming over to help with them.

However, while running on no sleep, having not showered since Lord only knows when, and having not changed my contacts in a week my kids can do one cute thing and it makes everything all good again. My son likes to be awake around 3 am and spends almost 15 minutes smiling and laughing at something while I am holding him. I wouldn't miss those moments for anything. And as much as I gripe about no sleep, I love that he nurses to sleep and actually needs me and only me most of the day.

All in all, newborns are a good thing.