Just the Kiddo’s

Mamafied “Camping”

Published on May 25, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

Friday we went camping! Well, more like “camping” – or Mamafied camping I’d say. We took the kiddo up to Lost Park outside of Jefferson and spent the afternoon out in the wilderness and sunshine. Daddy actually camped overnight, but J and I headed to my parents cabin nearby so that we could be a little more comfy for the night. ( I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in the back of the truck with J and the Pup and the Hubs and I.) But J did have fun hanging outside for the afternoon! He’s never really been in the dirt. Grass yes, but not just straight dry dirt. But he sure did know exactly what to do with it. Wasn’t more than a minute that he had his feet on the ground and he had a twig or a rock or some piece of dirt in his mouth…

Izzy had fun too, there were so many sticks she didn’t know what to do with herself!

We got great use out of the GoPod too, it was a little too dirty to let J just roll around in the filth like he would have liked…I know, I had to be one of those mama’s that day…I just didn’t want a filthy little one for the rest of the night! He had plenty of fun anyway.

So much fun watching him exploring the world around him, and we’re super lucky that we are able to introduce him to all these new things!

When it got a little chilly we sat in the back of the Yukon with him and let him wander around the back, which he thought was just awesome. It was like a mobile playpen. Opened the back hatch and he played peek-a-boo through the windows as Daddy ran around the truck. So fun to have time to just enjoy each other’s company and not worry about what time it was or the distraction of the computer or the TV. Outside it was just us, just family time 🙂

Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend full of family as well 🙂

Discovery

Published on May 22, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

What a fun age! At every stage of their lives, babies are constantly learning and growing. But at about 10 months they make a huge leap forward. They begin to understand what you are saying to them. They can control their own movements. They can react when you tell them “no” or when you get excited about them doing something new. There’s so many things to discover and inspect in their world. Anything and everything is a new toy, a new adventure, a new experience. So many new things!

Some good examples of this come to mind with J from the past week.

I don’t have a good way to post videos except through links…

There’s something very entertaining about watching him figure out how to get in/out or onto things…(and it’s never old to watch him snuggle the kitties or the puppy)

J Discovers In and Out

J is getting so much better at keeping himself entertained for 10-15 minutes at a time. Yesterday at work he found this empty tub and figure out how to get himself in and out of it. It was so fun to watch him studying and leaning so intently. Talking to himself and repeating actions over and over as he learned how to further control his movements. In, out, in, out. Even when he got frustrated, he kept going until he figured out how to get out of the situation.

The Daddy introduced him to the magic of sprinklers…

Water discovery

Something so very simple is so very entertaining! Afterwards daddy sprayed him in the face, which he thought was pretty fun too…you can see all the droplets on his forehead 🙂 Silly boy!

Then he decided to remove all his leggos from the box one at a time. The moved them all from one side of him to the other. Watching him it was like he was looking for something specific and each block he pulled out was the wrong one. He would grab it, look at it, then throw it behind him. He did this 2 or 3 times for each block. It was hilarious!

It’s so fun to watch him discover new things. All the things that we take for granted, all the simple pleasures in life and all of the things that become habit. J brings these things to new light and makes you see them through his eyes. Ahh, the magic of childhood 🙂 Sometimes we all need a little reminder of the magic all around us…

10 Reasons Being a parent makes you feel Old

Published on May 18, 2014 by a.simple.mama1 Comment

1. Bedtime is at 8:30pm. For you.

2. You have to eat dinner by 6pm or you’re so hungry you feel like you might pass out.

3. You discover all new aches and pains. Probably because you spent the last 4 hours of the night sleeping in a chair so your little one could sleep.

4. When you get up in the middle of the night with the little one, you have to pee.

5. You are now up by 7am every day, no matter if it’s Saturday or not. Even if the kid actually sleeps in, you can’t.

6. You get really annoyed when your neighbors are being loud past 7pm. If they wake up your kid, there’s going to be blood.

7. You are ~~tired~~ almost comatose after 1 beer.

8. Your back or arms or shoulders are always sore. (You do carry around a sack of potatoes 99% of the time).

9. You almost always have food on you, or drool, or snot…

10. You discuss bowel movements on a regular basis.

Cheers to being a parent and everything that goes with it 🙂

Baby Must-Haves

Published on May 12, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

Registering for your Baby is kinda overwhelming when it’s your first one. I remember standing in the bottle isle at Babies R Us and just staring at the seemingly hundreds of different brands, sizes, types of bottles in front of me. It was like this in pretty much every isle we went through, and the “must have” list that they give you in the store has about 99% of the store on it. How could all of that be “must have”?!?

Like most parents-to-be, the Hubs and I registered for anything and everything that looked like it might be useful. I think after all was said and done, we ended up returning the vast majority of it. Between duplicates and things that we needed to exchange for items we needed sooner, I felt like our registry could have easily just been the entire store catalog. We had no real plan when we registered, we had no idea what things were more important than others or what brands were best.

At every baby shower I’ve been to since J came along, I’ve given all or most of a handful of items that the Hubs and I found to be the most important items baby related. Truthfully, outside of some clothes and diapers, we could have gotten away with just these few items and not a whole lot more. If you have kiddo’s you know what I’m talking about…how many items went unopened, unused, or totally forgotten about? If you’re going to have kiddo’s in the future, try and remember that most of those pretty things on the shelves that look like they’ll be super useful, aren’t. For instance, why do they sell tiny clippers and emery boards for tiny baby fingers? Their fingernails are so soft no emery board will work on them anyway, and regular adult clippers are at least sharp enough to actually cut. But those pretty baby blue care packages sure make it seem like those are the only way to go…

So, for us here’s the few essentials that I can’t imagine how we’d live without for J or any future babies…in no particular order.

Baby Carrier – no brand specifically but these are a must for anything and everything. Get one that will fit both you and the Hubby, especially since once baby gets bigger you won’t be able to carry them and you’ll have to rely on Daddy for that.

accordian style baby gate – these are great for leaving attached to one side of the wall and they stretch farther than most other gates do. Just watch for pinched fingers…

Baby monitor with color screen. We found the Levana one on Woot for under $100 and it works pretty well. The battery doesn’t last super long, but no problems when it’s plugged in. Plus it was 1/3 the price of the name-brand ones in the stores.

An on-the-bed bassinet. It goes right on the bed with you so you can just roll to your side to see your little one. Fits newborns up to 3 months or until they start to roll and such. It even has a little night-light which makes those late night feedings way easy. Plus you don’t have to get up and walk over to the crib every time it’s time to eat again. Life saver for us. Probably the #1 thing I’d recommend to any new mom who is also a little paranoid.

Anglecare Bath support. I picked this one just because of the looks, but it’s worked out pretty great. You can use it over the sink when they are little, or in the tub until they can sit up on their own.

In my opinion, the BEST boobie pads out there. They are even boob shaped so you can’t tell there you’re wearing a pad at all and they’re soft too, so no additional nipple chaff-age. Plus they absorb a lot and are small enough that they don’t stick out of your bra.

Boppy! Best invention for helping Mama’s breastfeed out there! Big help in holding baby until your arms get enough muscle to not feel like they are going to fall off. Believe me, 7 lbs doesn’t seem like a lot until you have to hold it steady for 30 minutes at a time…

I found this cool gadget later on, but I still think it’s ingenious. It’s a nipple or toddler nipple that screw onto any water bottle. Perfect for traveling or on the go.

Britax car mirror. One of the few out there that don’t have that circus-carnival warped look to them. The straps keep the mirror perfectly positioned and the hard mirror stays steady while driving so you can actually SEE your baby instead of a wobbly warped vibrating mess.

The best teether/rattle ever. Got ours through Citrus Lane, but you can find them at Buy Buy Baby or Innobaby.com. Perfect for little hands to hold onto and J has loved it from the start for chewing on.

Baby Elephant Ears. Neck and head supports. I’ll have to expand on this story later, but I wish I had found this product sooner. We ended up using the head support inserts for car-seats, which did the job too.

GoPod by KidCo. Super easy to take with you since it folds up like one of those bag chairs. Protects the little one’s feet from the ground, and you can attach toys to it or use it as a highchair. We use ours in the backyard all the time and it’ll be going on camping trips this summer too.

I swear by my hand-pump. The electric pumps seem nice, but you’ll always go back to the hand pump.

Baby jumper/walker. This will save you once baby is old enough to support their head and can be in it. It’s the only way I can take a shower or cook or clean or get a few minutes to myself these days.

Mesh crib bumpers. I know, I know…yes I said bumpers. I realize that bumpers are a total NO-NO, but frankly these are the only ones out there that allow air to pass through them reducing the risks of SIDS (compared to other bumpers) and J tends to flail about all night long so it’s the only way we can keep his appendages in the crib.

Nursing bra’s from Target. For those of you who don’t want an underwire or are used to soft bras. I tried a few others before I found these and while they all do the job, a lot of the other ones’ cups get in the way once you unclasp them. These are awesome, I’m going to be really sad when I have to go back to normal bras…

Pack-n-Play. These have so many uses. We used ours as the bedside bassinet after 3 months and before J was in his own room. Then I took it to the office with me and he sleeps in it for naptime. We got the Lite version which is 25% smaller than the regular sized ones, so it’s great for small spaces or for travelling.

These are a close 2nd to the bed bassinet. When their noses are so tiny it’s hard for you to do anything for them, even sucking snot out is almost impossible without loosening it up first. This stuff works miracles.

Baby socks. For those of you who have kiddo’s who refuse to wear shoes. Also, their little feet get chilly…Even if they do kick one off almost constantly, I still feel better having something between their feet and the air, or the ground.

Travel sound machine. Costs about $10 and is small enough to take anywhere with you. I use it at the office for just enough background noise to cover up some of the other office noises while J sleeps.
spoons
These are the best spoons I’ve come across. Period.
T swaddle
Swaddles are essential for those first few months. I never got to try the SwaddlePod because I couldn’t ever find them in the stores. But I’d still recommend that one over the regular swaddles. Plus there are some other brands out there too (Woombie among many many others.) Get one with a zipper if you can, Velcro is no fun in the middle of the night…

This is a new discovery. A tad $$ but it’s a local Colorado company which is awesome and the stainless steel disk stays cool and doesn’t freeze their little hands off at the same time. J seems to like it.

Someone told me to just get a big step trashcan instead of a Diaper Genie…I wish I would have listened. Diaper Genies are great, but they fill up quick and it’s a pain to replace the bag. Just get a normal trash can, it’ll make your life so much easier.
zipper footie jammies

Zippered footie jammies. Probably the only thing your little one will wear for most of their first few months. The zippered ones are much quick to get on and off…how they expect you to snap 15 snaps is mind boggling. The zippered ones can be a little harder to find though for some reason.

strap covers

Car Seat strap covers. Wish we’d gotten some of these sooner too. Those silly straps will rub your little one’s neck raw every dang time they’re in the car seat if you don’t have them. Just sayin’…

OK, those are our essentials. If you’ve got any that your family can’t live without, please comment! I love seeing new products 🙂

My first Mother’s Day

Published on May 11, 2014 by a.simple.mama1 Comment

This is my first official Mother’s Day. Last Mother’s Day I was still preggers, so Yes I was a mother already, but it didn’t hold the same weight. After almost a year of being a Mama to little J, I can’t imagine any other way of life. I don’t remember what the Hubs and I used to do with our free time, I don’t remember how I used to go about my day without J being involved in every part of it. It’s amazing how much your life changes when you become a Mama.

Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are. – Dorothy Canfield Fisher

There are a few things I’ve learned in the last year. Being a parent changes a lot of things, but these come to mind.

Even though you mastered snaps so long ago you can’t remember, You will come to find out that those 3 snaps on the bottom of a onsie are your arch-enemy during middle of the night diaper changes and all of toddlerhood.
Velcro can be a blessing and a curse. Velcro shoes are nice and quick. But Velcro on diapers runs in the same family as snaps during diaper changes. Try getting the Velcro secured with a squirming infant. Just try.
Remember how you used to get to sleep in? Emphasis on USED TO. Like you will never get to do this again.
Get used to worrying. There’s no use trying to deny it or block it. You have a person that will continue to give you crease lines on your forehead for the rest of eternity.
You will get dirty. If you are squeamish about blood, boogers, poo, pee, vomit or drool you’ll need to get over it. Like, Now.
You will know no greater love for any single thing in this world.
Trying to teach good sleeping habits to your child will make you think you’ve forgotten that you even know what good sleeping habits are. After all, how long has it been since you got a full nights sleep?
Leaving your child with someone else for the first time will break your heart a little. But it’ll get easier
Temper tantrums will happen. And they’ll start way earlier than you think is possible. Figure out a way to diffuse them, quickly.
You’ll learn how to eat with one hand, type with one hand, shower quickly, and use the bathroom with the door open from the time they are born until they are old enough to entertain themselves….sooo 18 years?
Every time your little ones goes to sleep through the first year (and probably beyond) You’ll find yourself glued to the baby monitor to make sure they are still breathing.
When (if) your child finally sleeps through the night for the first time, you’ll probably lose more sleep than usual because you’ll be checking on them every few hours to make sure they are actually just sleeping.
Grandparents are one of the best gifts your children can have in life. Let your kids be spoiled, loved, and given everything that only a Grandparent can give.
Remember to take some time away with your hubby. It’ll be like you’re dating again. You’ll have to learn to be with just each other all over again.

I’m sure I could keep going, but I think you get the point. Being a Mother is a gift you can’t put into words.

To my own Mama,
Thanks Mums for always being there,
for teaching me so much,
for being my shoulder to cry on and my best friend.

Love you.