Babies and Clothes

My favourite clothes to put my daughter in is either a sleeper or a diaper shirt (also known as a “Onesie”).  Both items of clothing are simple and comfortable for my girl, and easy for me.  Its like hanging out in your Pyjama’s or sweat suit for the day, comfortable to lounge and play in. 

Like most families, I got outfits as gifts and lots of hand-me downs.  I found that my daughter was growing at fast rate, I’ve been referring to her growth rate as a baby’s rate.  She’s within average and as a lot of my friends have pointed out, and now I have witnessed, time flies very fast for babies in regards to how fast they grow. 

At the rate my daughter was growing she’d have grown out of every outfit she got by the time we got around to putting them on.  I wanted to get pictures of all the cute outfits and I knew that my girl wouldn’t allow me to try everything on all at once.  I ended up having to make a point to put on an outfit at least two to 3 times a week (she received lots of hand-me downs).  For me, this worked well I was able to get pictures of her in the outfits before she grew out of them. 

My aunt gave me the idea to try on her clothes at least once a week, because before you know it they’ve grown to the next clothing size.  I’m glad I listened to her a lot of gifts would’ve gone untouched, and also my daughter looked very adorable in each one!

I’ve slowed down in putting on the different outfits to once a week, mainly because she had more outfits at the three month size than at anything older.  What did you do to get the outfits on before your little one grew out them? did you have a strategy? or did most of your little ones outfits get packed away unworn? 

Bedtime

Bedtime has been a rollercoaster of a battle some days.  My daughter is now five (5) and a half months and she seems to be changing her patterns again.  I’m thinking another growth spurt, so her six (6) month growth spurt could be rounding the corner… 

Recently, she has been sleeping really well (usually about 12 hours throughout the night) and I count my blessings that she is such a good sleeper.  Getting her to bed is a completely different story, some days are really good and will take us no more than 15 to 30 minutes to get her to bed with minimal cuddling.  Most days take around an hour to get her to bed.  It’s not that she’s not tired, she starts getting tired around 6 P.M. and will fight her sleepiness.  I continue with a bedtime routine, every other day is bath time and in between is the same just minus the bath. 

I’ve gotten a few suggestions to get her to bed.  One being the cry-it-out method… I do agree with this method because it does help to teach themselves to self-sooth.  This does not work for us and our little one at bedtime.  Although, for the odd occasion it does work sometimes when she wakes up at 3 or so in the morning and, of course, when it doesn’t she needs a bottle. 

Another suggestion was just cuddling her to sleep, this is the only way we can get her to bed.  The cuddling method is what takes on some days more than an hour.  She will fall asleep in our arms but the second we start to lay her down in her crib she wakes up and will either start to kick and squirm or scream and cry.  I love cuddling my darling daughter but I would like her to learn to just go to sleep when she’s tired.  She has been doing the same thing with naptime but that’s another story! 

My feeling is that she is hoping that we will give into her so she can sleep in our bed every night.  This may be very well true, in my opinion, babies are really smart and know what they want and will try to do what they can to get it.  Leaving mommy and daddy frustrated, tired, exhausted and so on, will sometimes lead to us caving into her wants; to sleep in our bed. 

I have been working with her to try to settle in her own room and bed.  This bedtime ritual takes longer than I always hope it does but if the extra cuddling is what she needs to sleep, I’ll take it… the cuddles won’t last that much longer and I do want to cherish what I can now.  I’m still in hopes of finding another method that works for us.  I have read “The Baby Whisperer” and she has some ideas that I will be looking back on when I find the opportunity – if I find something that works I will update this post!

What did you do with your baby at bedtime?  Do you feel that sleep training helps?  What method works best for your family?

My Product Review

I wanted to put forward some of the things that I used with my daughter; some I loved and others not so much.  I have found that baby products are hit and miss with parents and these are just some of the things that adds to the trial and errors of parenting.  One thing that I have found with a few things that they worked great for me and not for others and vice versa, again this is just a part of the trail and errors.  Here are my personal product reviews on a few items, I do plan to add more product reviews as they come up and of course they will!

Baby Monitors seem to have come a long way but some of them on the market are still full of too much static.  I have found this monitor works well for us, of course its not perfect and there would be some features  that i would want for it; if I knew what I knew now!  We purchased Digital 1st Audio Monitor, the sound is clear and I can be anywhere in the house our outside with no audio problems.  A small list of some of the cons to this particular monitor that we found. 

• The only low battery indicator is a flashing light; we were sleeping and just happened to wake up because we heard a very faint cry through the walls (our daughters room is next door).  I would’ve liked an audio sound but we just plug it in every night to avoid a dead battery.
• I would’ve loved if there was a battery meter, would help to avoid a dead battery again
• I found that the child unit needs to be fairly close to my daughter otherwise the noise can be too faint to pick up, but like I mentioned the sound is quiet clear on the other end.

I love our Diaper Genie!  The new bag dispenser is easy to install and the bags aren’t pre-cut so you can fill them until you can’t get anymore in!  Before we got this, I didn’t understand how the disposal bags would work.  The ends tie off and there is a cutter on the inside to cut the bags when they’re full! Right now I can’t think of anything that I don’t like about this item except that I have to empty it, haha! But overall this is a great item! 

The bag refills aren't too expensive, we purchase our refills at Costco (it’s the cheapest place to purchase the refills).  The refills aren’t too bad, it takes me about a month to get through one (1) refill package.  A small price to pay, in my opinion, to help keep the smell out of the room and I did notice a difference pre-Diaper Genie.

The Baby Cubes are small food storage containers that are the perfect size right now, they hold a little more than two (2) ounces of food.  I feel they are perfect if you plan to do homemade food for your little one, they come with a nice tray to hold each container so they don’t end up all over the fridge or freezer.  Also they are great with portioning out the food for your little one, keeps all the food separated so you can just pull it out of the fridge and warm up!  These containers are freezer, dishwasher and microwave safe and BPA or Phthalates free!

Avent bottles seem to be really on the low rated list of most parents.  I’ve read tons of reviews on the bottles and I would say about 95% of the reviewing parents hate them and find they leak all the time no matter what they do with them.  I on the other hand am one of the other 5% of parents that love them.  I do not find that they leak, I feel that they are my favourite bottles and my daughter seems to like them too (but she also seems to like any kind of bottle that she can get feeding from with the exception of sippy cups).  The only time these bottles did leak was because I didn’t screw the lid on… and I mean at all, it was a blank parenting moment on my behalf.  These bottles are a little pricier than other bottles and the only reason why I ever tried them was because they were given to me.  Worked great for us because we like them.  You can also purchase the sippy cup handles and Non Spill Soft Spouts for them when your little one reaches the age, I did pick them up but my daughter doesn’t like it. 

I've been feeding my daughter formula and when I'm on the go it was a pain to pack her food for her.  I found this Nuby Milk Powder Dispenser so I can pre-measure her formula for an outting or if we leave her with my parents so we can have an outting.  This container has three (3) sections inside for enough formula powder for up to 3 feedings.  It helps to make for easy formula preparation for either my parents or when we're out with our daughter.  I also found that this dispenser is great for snacks on the go for our girl (of course when she's old enough), great for small snacks like Cheerios or other small snacks while your out.

Have you used these products? What did you think of them? Please feel free to leave a comment and give us a short review on a product that you used!

Simply Homemade

I love cooking and maybe that is one of the many reasons I have chosen to make my daughters baby food.  I’ve heard of so many friends that making baby food is a long and hard process also that jarred baby food is quick.  One thing they got right is that its quick – you open the jar and heat.  Homemade baby food is almost just as simple… ALMOST. 

Like I said I do enjoy cooking, which could help to factor in why I feel homemade baby food isn’t a long and hard process.  I did buy some of the baby cereals and mainly because of they are iron-fortified, have a doctors appointment for my daughter for her six (6) month and will ask the paediatrician about homemade cereals and if I will need to add an iron supplement to it. 

Sweet potato was very simple, wrap in aluminum foil bake at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit until you can poke a fork through with ease.  Blend with a blender, baby food processor or whatever you have… I have a Braun Hand Blender and a Magic Bullet at home and love them both for these purposes to puree her food.  Puree until soft with no lumps and add a little bit of water or breastmilk/formula to make for a more liquid consistency (this is baby dependant).  Separate the food into small containers or ice cube trays and either freeze or keep in the fridge if you plan to use it up within about three (3) days. 

Pureed Pears was very easy, I chopped up the pear (cored and peeled, you can also peel after cooking) to make for a faster cook time.  In a small sauce pan, I added a little bit of water to cover the bottom and added the pears, cooked on a medium/high heat until soft throughout.  Puree with the same methods as the sweet potato. 

I suppose if your not much of a cook making homemade baby food would be a chore, but I do suggest to try it out and see how it goes.  You just never know you may find it easy and its always nice to know what exactly is going into your baby’s food, plus to boot you’ll save some money in the long run.  Check out this site Wholesome Baby Food for a Cost Break Down, gives you an idea of costs if you care to know.  Also, its a great site for other information re: homemade baby food. 

From my experience, I won’t be buying store bought jarred baby food, of course there are some exceptions – traveling with no access to a kitchen to just name one.  But so far I’m enjoying it, and there may be a few that I would like to try because maybe a fruit isn’t in season or something…  I was looking at some of the jarred food today at the store and I felt that there was a lot of limitations in regards to what is available.  The possibilities are endless when it comes to making your own food for your baby.  I will continue to update this topic as this is just the beginning for me!  I look forward to sharing more.

Did you try to make your own baby food? If you did what did you think? Would you go to buying store bought? Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

Gift Cards

I love getting gift cards, they allow me to get what I feel I need at the time.  Don’t get me wrong the other gifts that I received for my daughter have been wonderful and I have been able to find ways to incorporate them into her playtime or whatever.  Also, some things I never thought would’ve come in handy until I used it, or all the cute outfits that my wonderful friends took the time to pick out for her.  The outfits will definitely come in handy and they’re fun to dress her up in but, of course, only when she allows me!

I did receive a few gift cards and the wonderful thing about them, well here anyways, is that there is no expiration on them (there was a law passed here about gift cards so they can’t expire which is great for the consumer when you put the card away and forget about it a year or so later).  So I don’t have to use them right away and was able to put them away until I found things that I needed.  So just because they were a gift doesn’t mean you have to go spending it right away. 

My thing with the gift cards is that I knew there was going to be “bigger ticket” items that I would need later down the road.  Some of those things were around four (4) to 5 months when I started to consider starting her on solids, I was in need of a booster or high chair.  My girl has been able to sit up with support for a while now and started sitting on her own a little after four (4) months.  Since I had the gift card I found one on sale that I liked and picked it up.  I did put her in it while we ate dinner or while I’m in the kitchen cooking.  Its just nice now to have her with us during meals and what not.  Also, further down the road come about 12 months of age I will have to upgrade the infant car seat to an actually child’s car seat.  These are not cheap and since she will need it down the road I’ve set aside the other gift cards that I received to put towards it.  It will take a nice chunk out of the ticket price. 

I did use some of them for small fun things that I happened to see in the stores and thought my girl would like it – also for a learning tool as I’ve previously explained in my “Baby Toys or Learning Tools” post.  Overall, the gift cards have come in handy for some of the “big ticket” items but also some of the smaller things. 

What did you do with your gift cards?