Nursery #2

I thought I had a list of projects I wanted to do prior to ever hearing the word “Pinterest.” Now, thanks to this addictive website/mobile app, I have more projects than I can ever dream of actually completing. Jeff and I are definitely not talented in the area of DIY home improvement/repair so when I saw the picture below on Pinterest, I was excited because it looked like something I could actually do:

Photo credit: Doodle Bug Designs via Pinterest link

Our former guest room turned Baby #2’s nursery is a medium-dark blue color (“Bleached Denim” to be exact – gotta love paint color names). We don’t know if we’ll be adopting a boy or a girl but I didn’t want the typical gender neutral color scheme with greens or yellows. Okay, so maybe I also just didn’t want to have to buy new paint and repaint the whole room either. So, if we end up adopting a baby girl, we’re bucking tradition and giving her a blue room. I figured I can hang the blue nylon butterflies around the perimeter, add some ruffles & feminine touches and she will have a cute, girly, blue nursery. Jury’s still out on a decoration theme for a boy.

I decided that I wanted to paint a wider horizontal stripe all the way around the room in the same light blue color we have in our living room (“Cumberland Fog” – so very appropriate since Jeff lived in Cumberland, MD for a while) with thinner white stripes above and below. Then it was figuring out the logistics of how to get not just one but three straight lines all the way around the room.  That is, after I got my paint cans away from Shay who declared that they were "drums" and proceeded to "make music" with them!

Enter the magic of Amazon.com and a handy little suction wall mounted laser level gadget from Black & Decker! It was cheap and arrived the day after I ordered it. This project would not have gone nearly as well without it. Here’s my little laser level in action:

Now, I’ve been disheartened by painter’s tape before. The paint almost always bled through a little resulting in all kinds of messed up lines. Turns out, I was just using the wrong tape! This time I went with the higher priced Frog brand tape and it made a world of difference. Clean, straight lines! I’m pretty happy with the results:

Baby Bargains

We’ve been busy going through the paces of our adoption agency’s requirements and the home study process that it feels like the thought of actually having our baby at home seems so far away. However, we’re nearing the end of the process so it’s getting to feel more real now. We just have our individual interviews on Wednesday followed by a service plan meeting and we hope to have an approval by the end of the year!

Mentally, I am still preparing for a long wait (at least a year) but I also have to be prepared for a fast placement should we be chosen quickly. So, I’ve decided to put some time into finding good deals and couponing here and there to get stocked up for baby little by little. Thankfully, we have the big ticket baby gear items already (crib & mattress, changing table & pad, pack ‘n’ play, car seats, stroller and swing) as well as some smaller items (cloth diapers, diaper genie, cloth diaper bags, toys, blankets, bottles, etc.). However, we will still need some more supplies, especially if it’s a boy…mostly formula, disposable diapers (for the first few weeks and on-the-go), wipes, newborn-12 month clothes, sleep sacks, etc.

I scored some great deals over the past week that I’m pretty excited about:

Plum District had a $40 voucher to Ecomom.com for $20 on top of Ecomom’s Black Friday $40 off of $100 purchase and free shipping. I also received a free reusable tote and another $15 voucher for being one of the first 300 people to buy on Black Friday week. That’s $120 worth of eco-friendly, organic baby supplies for only $40! Here are some of the favorite items I got:

Lifefactory Wee Go Glass Baby Bottle 4 ounce

Boon Grass Countertop Drying Rack

Boon Stem Grass and Lawn Drying Rack Accessory - White and Yellow

 

Episencial Playful Wash

Episencial Snuggly Lotion

I also got a great deal at Target on 2 Graco Highback Booster Seats (one for each our our cars) for $30 ea. plus received a $10 gift card back! Lastly, I got the Toys-R-Us/Babies-R-Us Groupon the other day ($20 worth of products for $10) to pair with my Babies-R-Us reward dollars. I see a snuggly soft changing pad cover and new crib sheets on the horizon.

(Sidenote: I discovered that 6am is the time to go out on Black Friday. You miss the crazy midnight crowd and the folks who plan to shop later that day are still in their turkey comas. Target was a ghost town with no lines!)

Sounds like I spend a lot of time lost in cyberspace looking for great deals but I don’t thanks to Southern Savers, a coupon and deal site that I follow. It is how I knew about all of these savings offers without having to spend time on the lookout for them myself. If you are looking to save some money without investing a lot of time, I’d highly recommend checking out the site. Happy saving!

Things No One Tells You Before Becoming a Parent - Vaseline

Back in the day of setting up our baby gift registries, when we had no clue as to what we actually needed, we saw a big 'ol tub of Vaseline labeled for babies.  I'm sure it's just regular Vaseline, but the pink & blue baby label drew in these naive parents-to-be.  It just seemed at the time that it was something we should add to the registry.  It was in the baby section after all!

Fast forward two years and said big 'ol tub of Vaseline has hardly ever been used.  Until 3 days ago when Shay decided to take the lid off and scoop out gobs of it, smearing it all over her arms, legs, clothes, hair, our guest bedroom comforter and her daddy as he tried to grab her.  Bath #1 resulted in getting the goo off of her skin but did absolutely nothing for her hair.  Strike one.  A friend of mine Googled the How To's of how to get Vaseline out of hair.  We tried one of the suggestions of rubbing with baby oil (supposedly to get the Vaseline out) followed by a shampoo (supposedly to get the baby oil out).  Strike two.  We put Shay to bed and she looked like a grease monkey the next morning.  The third attempt involved Dawn dish soap followed by shampoo.  Success!  In fact, quite amazing success (thank you Google, Kristen & Jennifer)!

Moral of the story...don't keep Vaseline within a toddler's reach.  If this fails (which it or something like it will inevitably do), keep a bottle of Dawn handy.

Things No One Tells You Before Becoming a Parent - Toddlers Can Rupture Eardrums

I'm compiling a list of things that no one prepares you for when becoming a parent, the most recent being that loud, shrill screams from your baby can have the power to perforate an eardrum.  That's right folks, Shay literally shrieked a hole right into her Daddy's ear.  My sweet little Seraphina has turned into a banshee!

Goodnight Moon!

We're on our second hard copy of the book Goodnight Moon. The first one got worn out from so much use and ultimately met its demise in a toilet bowl (thanks to a precocious toddler who will remain nameless)!  The current copy has definitely seen better days.  Thanks to Grandma Pam for both copies.  Since Grandma should not be an eternal source of Goodnight Moon books, we found an alternative...YouTube to the rescue!  This animation brings the book to life and we all love it.  It's part of Shay's bedtime routine to watch this along with a few other favorite videos linked below.  Enjoy!

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Gorilla

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Shay's absolute favorite video. Ever!)



10 Months Old

Shay is 10 months old today!  She's so much fun and learning so fast!  I cannot believe that in just 2 short months she'll officially enter into Toddler World and leave Baby Land (although she can be 30 years old and she'll still always be my baby)!

Let's see...what has changed since my last post? 

She's standing a lot on her own now.  She still won't take any steps but we think it's just a short matter of time before she starts walking.  According to Jeff's mom, he had only one speed when he was young and that was RUN!  If she's anything like her daddy, we'll be in for it! 

She has also declared war on eating anything green.  By "war" I mean making dramatic gagging sounds and promptly spitting up the entire contents of her stomach.  So far, no luck with peas, green beans or, the most recent attempt, pureed broccoli (which translates into a cheesy broccoli dip for mommy & daddy so not a total loss or waste of time spent steaming and pureeing the broccoli).  I am so excited to get the book The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet that I just ordered.  It got great reviews on Amazon and I love some of the Google preview recipes like combining apples and cabbage...something I never would have put together on my own.  I'll get green in this kid one way or another!

She's continuing to sprout more teeth too! 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. Just adding to the cuteness factor when she smiles. She's using them too...she thinks it's pretty funny to clamp down on her spoon and not let go. She just sits in her high chair booster seat with the spoon clamped firmly in her mouth and gives us a look of impish glee. She's a regular comedian!

Let's see, what else?

Shay's "15 minutes of fame" have extended to the Duluth News Tribune, the newspaper out of Duluth, Minnesota where several of my relatives live.  My grandma sent a picture of Shay in to the paper and it made the "Grandma's Brag Book" section.  Love this photo!

She should be waking up from her afternoon nap any moment now so it's time to sign off.  Hope 2011 is off to a great start for you!

Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash Review

Saying that there are a LOT of products out there for babies is like saying water is wet. It can be mind boggling for new parents. Eight months ago, I was pretty much clueless about most of the vast number of baby products on the market. Now, while certainly not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I have learned a lot and continue to be on the lookout for healthier, safer, all around better products. This time, the hunt was on for new shampoo/body wash for Shay Bug.

After much researching, I decided to go ahead and order Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash.  Ever since having her, I've gotten on a more natural kick and am slowly adding to our expanding list of natural products. We still have a mix of traditional consumer products but I just don't want to put unnecessary parabens, sulfates, and a laundry list of other ingredients that I don't recognize, can't pronounce and that can be potentially harmful to any degree. Especially now that Shay is starting to get into things and crawl everywhere, I don't want to use harsh chemicals that can get onto her hands and therefore, into her mouth.

This product comes in a special dispenser that foams the soap. Why would this be necessary? It helps keep the soap from getting into baby's eyes. I opted for this even though it specifically says it's not formulated as a tear-free wash. This is due to the fact that it uses all natural ingredients (listed below) and is free of anesthetizers typically put into tear-free products.

Organic coconut oil, Organic olive oil, Organic aloe leaf juice, Organic vanilla bean extract, Organic orange oil, Kosher vegetable glycerin, Potassium citrate, Organic shea butter, Organic calendula extract

Angel Baby® Shampoo & Body Wash contains no petrochemical, synthetic surfactants, foaming agents or toxins of any kind. That means no sodium laureth sulfate, cocoamidylpropyl betaine, Quaternium-15, 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde or phthalates.

• USDA Certified Made With Organic Ingredients
• No 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, or phthalates
• No sodium lauryl sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine or other synthetic surfactants
• No artificial preservatives (parabens, phenoxyethanol, etc)

Also, we use cloth wipes paired with Thirsties Booty Luster but I thought this video on how to make homemade baby wipes was interesting.

The verdict? I deferred to my husband on this since he's the one who bathes our Shay Bug the most. So far, so good. The foaming dispenser is nice because it is easy to put on your hand and then apply to baby without it running everywhere. It smells good and seems to work well with no adverse skin reactions. The only small complaint was that the foam disappears quickly when applied with a washcloth so it's not as easy to see the soap application...a small price to pay for the benefits of the ingredients. Overall, a good product!

Next on the Mommy agenda is to try out some of the organic baby products from babybaby.

(Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us in the hopes that it helps anyone thinking about purchasing these products.)

Good Eats

Okay so I stole the title from Food Network's Alton Brown. Appropriate I would say because the show is all about teaching about every kind of food possible. I'd definitely say we're on quite the learning curve being first-time parents of a baby who is starting down the road to eating solids.

We're slowly expanding Shay's culinary palette. So far, her faves include pureed sweet potatoes and butternut squash. While I make her fresh, homemade baby food, I wanted to test out some jarred baby food just to see if she'd go for the flavor of different veggies & fruits. She did try 2 small jars of organic baby food I purchased at Whole Foods, one sweet peas and the other pears. The verdict? Loved the pears and tolerated the peas. So I figured I'd try to steam up some sweet peas and puree them. I think this picture sums up how the homemade peas went over:

Peas = Fail!

As with all things baby, I've had to really research the world of introducing solids, what kinds of foods to give at what age, how to prepare & store it, etc. I found a great website, Wholesome Baby Food that has a wealth of information and has some great recipes and answers to FAQ's. Love it! I'll definitely be referring to this site often. I've found that I steaming is my favorite way of preparing her food. It retains a lot of nutrients and I use a little of the water I used to steam the veggies to thin out the puree a little bit. I tried baking but I don't like how it tends to dry out the produce.

It is amazing how individual humans are even from a young age. We were sure that Shay would love banana since it's sweet and she absolutely refuses it! Then Jeff thought she'd hate sweet potatoes (because he does) but she adores them and gobbles them all up. It'll be interesting to see how her tastes change as she gets older.

Shay's pediatrician said that she can start with proteins now. I'll have to research that some more. Typically, a lot of the books and websites say to introduce protein between 7-8 months which Shay will be in a few weeks. I think we'll go with chicken slow cooked in our crock pot to make sure it's well cooked and very tender so we can mash it up for her...this should be an adventure! Wish us luck!