gear – Baby KERF

Welcome To The Family

No, we’re not expecting again Smile Just welcoming a few new products into the family of “things we love during baby’s first year.”

First, this truck and car. Mazen LOVES them and my mom bought from a store and from Amazon. {Here is the car and here is the truck.} He absolutely loves them because they’re so easy for him to hold and drive around. Froggie loves them too! The back of the truck flips up – little things are so cute.

Second, I found this awesome Slli Squeeze at our local consignment store called Kid To Kid. It’s kind of like the reusable pouches but made of silicone and with features like a connected cap and a more drinkable spout. So far it’s been great for smoothies and applesauce and is easier to clean than the Little Green Pouch, but I think it’s also a tiny bit harder for M to suck out. He has to squeeze more instead of just sucking.

These Tommee Tippee bibs have been great. We were using these Green Spouts brand ones for the longest time and they wouldn’t really stay open to catch the food, plus they were harder to clean. I’ve been so much happier with the Tommee Tippee bibs. They roll up neatly for the diaper bag too. I hear this OXO Tot one is really good as well.

Lastly on the food front, Lunchskins sent me two of their reusable pouches to try. So far I love them. Just as convenient and easy to use as a Ziploc bag without the trash at the end. The Velcro is very strong, so I didn’t worry about them opening up in my bag. They are dishwasher safe and quick drying. So many cute colors and designs too! I am partial to the bike one : ) I just bought 4 more!

This book is awesome! My mom brought it to us at her last visit and M loves it.

Lift the flaps for the win

And last but not least, these Osocozy cloth diaper liners have made cloth diapering an older baby so easy. I was not about to dunk my hand in a toilet, and the thought of a sprayer had me thinking about what would spray back out at me. The liners have been a fabulous compromise. A tip from a friend let me know that they are actually washing machine friendly, so if you just have a #1 diaper you can send them through the laundry. We re-use them until they are thrown in the diaper pail with the #2s (they are marketed as flushable, but I’ve been warned against that for the love of our pipes). So soft too! {These Bummis liners I did not like nearly as much, and they did not survive the laundry}

That’s all for now!

High In A Chair

We’re nearly a year in and have gone through lots of gear. I’m sure I’ve been disappointed in a few items (although now I can’t think of any off the top of my head..) but overall, most things have been great. Love our BOB. Love our new Clef Foonf car seat (should that be another post?). We love our crib and our our video monitor. Our OXO wipes container and cloth diapers. We have changed very little about our nursery.

This post, however, is about our high chair – the OXO Tot Sprout chair.

The Sprout chair is definitely not on the cheap end of the spectrum, but knowing it would have prime real estate in my kitchen/dining room for years, I wanted something that would be pretty to look at and functional. Plus it matches our dining room light shade!!

We have been super happy with both the high chair’s look and function! Luckily it was a gift from my parents. It sat in a box in the attic for about 8 months until one day we decided it was time to get Mazen used to sitting in it at mealtime before he was ready to join us for solid foods. We brought it down and it was assembled in no time.

One of the best parts is that it’s really easy to clean. If you haven’t heard, babies make HUGE messes while eating. Food in hair. Food on floor. Food in every crack you could imagine. Thus, I have to give the high chair a good cleaning after every.single.meal. Luckily, this chair has made that easier for me.

The material is fabulous for wiping down. We used a cloth-seat chair while at the beach and I was shocked that such a chair existed. The cloth was impossible to clean without putting it in the washing machine. The Sprout chair wipes clean so easily, but the cushions also velcro off and are easy to run under the sink. The straps could be easier to clean, but I wipe them down and they are fine. Caitlin showed me how her Chicco high chair had the worst grooves for collecting crumbs. Luckily there are very few grooves on this chair, so crumbs don’t get stuck.

I love that the tray is small enough to fit entirely in our wide one-basin sink. HUGE plus. The high chair at the beach had a reallllly big tray, which I guess is a plus if your baby likes to push food around, but it was much harder to clean. I haven’t had any staining at all with the tray either, berries galore included.

I do have two minor complaints: 1) The sides could be deeper to help keep food on the tray when hands start fingerpainting and swiping food off the edges and 2) On occasion water gets inside from the front lever, but I have learned how to avoid this problem.

I added a hook to the back so I had a place to hang M’s bib to drip dry. So handy! I keep the chair tucked away in the corner of our dining room when not in use. I love that it’s on the petite side.

Love the wooden legs. When M is hungry he crawls over to the chair, pulls up on it and looks back at me as if to say “Please can I get in!?”

Pros: Easy to clean. Pretty. Small-ish.

Cons: Price. Low tray sides.

Mazen gives us two thumbs up too!

Anyone else have a high chair they highly recommend?

Battle Of The Sippy Cups

We started giving Mazen water when he was about 7 months old and we went to Arizona for vacation. It was hot and in the dry heat he seemed to be thirsty beyond his breast milk intake. As his solid food consumption has increased over the past 4 months, he now drinks water with his meals and I offer it to him on walks and throughout the day as well.

When we first started offering water we used a bottle because he was familiar with how to drink out of it. That way we could gauge exactly how much water he really wanted rather than using an unfamiliar cup. We have gradually transitioned to a sippy cup, but it’s been a long road finding the best one. For the longest time M couldn’t drink out of it by himself – we had to hold it up to his mouth for him.

Then we discovered THE STRAW. What a genius invention. I can’t remember exactly how M learned to use a straw, but I would let him practice on my adult straws and he seemed to get that pretty quickly. Learning the baby cup straws just clicked for him one day (after lots of straw chewing first!)

Here are the sippys we have tried and their pros and cons in order of preference:

Babies R Us brand sippy $4.99

Love: Nothing

Cons: No handles so it’s hard to hold, sippy mouth is hard to sip, leaks from top

Babies R Us Purely Simple Training Cup $5.99

Love: Baby-friendly top, good handles

Cons: A bit leaky, M couldn’t figure out how to tip it up, not the cheapest

Munchkin Click + Lock Sippy $3.75

Love: price, the click + lock feature is awesome, big handles

Negative: M doesn’t drink out of it well

OXO Tot Straw Cup $6.99

Love: straw, awesome locking lid tucks straw away, chic colors

Cons: straw is high flow so it spills out easily but would be good for thicker smoothies and things, price, no handles so hard to hold

Munchkin Click Lock Flip Straw Cup $4

Love: straw, price, click lock is great, no leaking

Cons: no handles so hard to hold

Zoli BOT Sippy Cup $12

Love: this was our favorite for a long time. Handles are great, straw is great once M learned to use it, love the straw flip for upside down drinking, if necessary, spill proof, lid is nice

Cons: surprise puddles started leaking from the rim during our Williamsburg trip. A huge negative with fancy cameras and cell phones in the diaper bag! Price is high. Straw is hard to clean (I wouldn’t serve smoothie in this)

Nubby 2 Handle Flip n Sip Straw Cup $6

Loves: Our current favorite because it has handles, flip straw, no leak and low price

Cons: None so far

So the Nubby wins – for now. I’m sure our preferences will change, and I’m keeping all of these in case Mazen learns to sip the spouts in time.

Every baby is different, so what’s your #1 sippy?

The BOB Revolution

When I was pregnant and listening to the Pregtastic podcasts, I remember hearing the women call themselves “BOB snobs” whenever the stroller topic came up. Now that I am a BOB owner myself, I understand what the hype is about. Admittedly I haven’t pushed that many other kinds of stroller, but I can tell you that as an active mama the BOB is one incredible set of wheels.

We decided to buy the BOB Revolution CE. There are several models of the BOB to choose from: the CE has the smallest wheels and therefore folds up the smallest. It’s for “city” use (hence the C). The SE is just like the CE but with bigger wheels, which makes running a bit easier but transport a bit more difficult. I believe on both the SE and the CE the front wheel can swivel for walking or lock for running, making the strollers great for either. The last model we considered was the Ironman, but with big wheels and a front wheel that doesn’t unlock, I ruled that one out pretty quickly. I knew I’d be doing loads of downtown walking, a fair amount of running and some traveling, so since the BOB was going to be our primary stroller we went with the CE. Thanks to Papa and Mimi for the wonderful baby gift!!

When Mazen was young we did a lot of walking with the car seat adapter, especially when it was very cold outside. We had a cozy shower-cap-style cover to go on the car seat that kept him snug as a bug. When spring arrived we got the clear from our doctor to begin running with him in the main seat and haven’t used the car seat since.

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The 5-point harness is super easy to use (unlike a car seat harness which is much harder to get around the arms). Mazen always seems very comfortable.

He seems to love our walks and runs and rarely complains. If he does, it usually means something else is wrong like he is ready to nap. I give him toys to play with, but most of the time he likes to pick one toy to hold onto tightly and goes into a relaxed state taking in the world.

The BOB’s features are great – the sun shade is huge and has multiple positions for cloudy and very sunny days. Everything but his little toes can be shaded, and I keep sunscreen in the back pocket to put on his legs on sunny days.

Peeking in:

There are multiple pockets for parent and baby storage – one on the back for gloves, sunscreen, etc. and some on the inside for baby things. Mazen likes to store his cell phone in there : )

I bought this awesome Diono console for $10 on Amazon and love it. I often put my phone on the left, keys and sunglasses in the middle and water bottle on the right. The Garmin lives in my stroller now too : )

The basket underneath could definitely be bigger. Just another inch or two would make getting the diaper bag in and out SO much easier. But I suppose the stroller is made for running more than it is shopping, so I can’t blame them. A lot of times I just end up clipping my diaper bag to the handlebars, and if fits well there even with the console.

The brake is big and very sturdy (especially compared to other strollers I’ve handled), although it’s hard to do when you’re wearing flip flops.

Folding the BOB up for car transport or storage is easy, although I wouldn’t say it’s one-handed easy. But it’s easy to figure out. I’d say the size of the stroller is its only downfall – considering we want to bring it on vacations it takes up more of our trunk than I’d like. In our Highlander it’s easy to get in and out, but in our Accord we couldn’t fit much else in with it because the front wheel was so tricky to tuck away.

As for running with the stroller, it’s great!! It’s much easier than I though it would be thanks to physics. Objects in motion stay in motion. Of course physics comes in to play on hills too, so to be honest I usually walk up most of our steep hills in town. Running with the wheel locked had a bit of a learning curve, especially if there are turns in your run, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to. The shocks on the BOB are amazing – I can go over bumps and sidewalk cracks and with a slight downward press on the handlebars barely interrupt the ride. And it did fabulously on the beach at low tide!

My favorite part of stroller running is that I can take so much gear with me. I don’t have to carry my water bottle, I can take my fleece off after I warm up and store it below, and I can carry my phone, some fuel, sunglasses, a raincoat and more – all ready if I need them. I actually prefer stroller running for this reason alone now!

I am not affiliated with BOB – just love my stroller and wanted to share why.

Multitaskers + MVPs

There is so much gear to consider with a baby that it’s great when items can multitask or simply impress. The following items are my most used and MVP baby items over the past 9 months.

Multitasker: Motherlove Nipple Cream

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Mother Love Nipple Cream worked wonders for its original purpose but has also been fabulous for chapped baby lips, little patches of dry skin and cheeks. Way better than lotion and works overnight!

Multitasker: Aden + Anais Blankets

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Originally used for swaddling, we have gotten SO much use out of these aden & anais blankets. They are great as burp clothes, nose wipes, cold weather wraps, shade when the sun pops out, nursing covers, blankets to sit on, fabric to suck on, play ghosts, peek-a-boo fun and more. We have gotten so many compliments on our animal series too!

MVP: The Bob

The mac daddy of strollers. SO smooth to push. Great shocks. Huge sun shield. Much easier to run with than expected. Very comfortable for Mazen. Used every.single.day. A must have for exercising mamas.

Multitasker: Boppy Pillow

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First it was used for sitting when I couldn’t sit on anything else. Then it was for breastfeeding. Then it served as Mazen’s lounger and finally a sitting training pillow. Multipurpose and so useful.

MVP: Video Monitor

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One of the best investments we made was our video monitor. I know women did not have these 100 years ago and their kids were fine, but this has been so amazingly helpful to me that the cost was 100% worth it. There is so much the eye can see that the ear can’t hear. [I just asked Matt what his vote for top MVP was and he said the monitor too!] We also use this every.single.day.

Multitasker: Baby Bathtub

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I considered getting one of those moldable-to-the-sink bathtubs but when a friend gave us this one we decided to use it instead. It’s been a fantastic baby tub (starting in the sink and now used in the big tub) and also has served as a play station for containing Mazen as well. I hear it makes an excellent water play area too!

MVP: The BumGenius Freetime Diapers

Our Freetimes were another item that was an investment (I spent about $200 on our collection including getting a few used and in sets for a freebie) but I use them every day and love them. We’ve had no problems to date with stink, leaks or wear and tear. Love using the liners with them for #2s. To be honest diapers got a lot easier when we started solids! Less mess overall. I’d recommend the Freetimes to anyone looking to cloth diaper.

And the latest gear added to our collection – a big boy car seat – the Clek Foonf!! Excited to try it out. He seems to love it thus far!

Strollin’

As you might have seen in this post, I was on the hunt for an umbrella stroller to use for our recent trip to Arizona. I ended up buying the Uppababy G-Lite. I have no affiliation with Uppababy – just want to share my purchase with you guys!

We decided on the G-Lite because:

1) The price was moderate

2) I found a 2012 model on sale

3) My mom convinced me to spend a little more in hopes that it lasts through more children

4) I have a thing for Uppababy strollers and if we didn’t already love our BOB so much I would want an Uppababy Vista (it’s my stroller crush)!

5) It had all the features on my list (UV sunshade, bigger basket, super lightweight, one-handed operation)

6) The G-luxe looked great, but I didn’t think the recline was worth the extra cost since we have a car seat/snap-n-go that we’d use for any future infants. So the less expensive G-lite it was.

Having taken the stroller on a cross-country flight and used it for 5 days walking back and forth and back and forth around the resort and gone on a light hike with it, I have nothing but good things to say. Of course I don’t have experience with another stroller to compare it to, but based on a few weeks of use, I’m very happy with the purchase.

First the sun shade is awesome. Totally awesome. In the Arizona sun I was so happy to have Mazen be able to sit in the shade.

I love that it rotates down creating a pod for him and covering up his whole body (I often put a light blanket and sunscreen on his legs). I loved being able to see him from above.

The handlebars are also really high and while I’m sure that’s a huge plus for someone 6’+, as a 5’2” gal I found the height to be very comfortable too.

The basket was about as big as I would expect for this size stroller, but what I found to be fantastic about it was that our diaper bag fit VERTICALLY between the seat and the metal back. This was so, so convenient! And we still had room for toys underneath the bag.

M loved riding in the stroller, and the straps and seat were very comfortable for him. The wheels rolled just fine and even lock if you want them to for more comfortable long distance walking.

I bought another of these consoles to put on top. I have one on my BOB and loved the addition here too for my phone, water bottle and more. It’s the best console out there! You can’t beat the price on this thing – it’s under $10 and goes on sale for $6 at times!

Lastly, the stroller was super easy to fold up at the airport gates. I could do it with one hand, and loved the attached strap for lifting it back up and carrying it from the car. The G-lite is 8.8 pounds and I had no trouble lifting it with one arm. It also stands upright by itself, which was very helpful getting it in and out of the car.

I have ONE negative with the stroller. This flap is great to keep the sun from peeking in the back, but sometimes the sun was right overhead and I wanted to look down into the stroller to keep an eye on M but there was no way to tuck the flap up and it often just falls back down. However, it has velcro on the corners and I’m thinking if I attached some stick-on velcro on the sunshade I could stick it up when I wanted to.

We’re hoping to use this stroller as our car/travel stroller for a long time. It goes up to 55 pounds, so we hope to have many years of use left!

Best Gifts For A Baby Shower

This post is sponsored by Boudreaux’s Butt Paste®, the effective diaper rash cream that treats and prevents diaper rash with every change. Let’s kick some rash!

We have enjoyed so many of the gifts we received at our baby showers. From the items on my registry to the handmade and heartfelt surprises, every gift has been put to such good use. Now that I’ve been a mother for a few months, these are some of the items we have found especially useful that I hope to give to other moms-to-be at future baby showers I attend.

-Homemade burp cloths (you can never have enough!)

We received a TON of homemade burp cloths and guess what – we use them all! A burp cloth isn’t something you really want to use over and over again if you can help it, and having a large stash has been super helpful. I put some in all corners of the house so we never have to look hard to locate one. The colors and designs are so pretty too! The chevron ones are from Etsy and the others were homemade by both friends and family.

-Wash cloths/bath set

A friend gave us a bath-themed gift of wash cloths, duckies and soap and we received a few baby towels. We use them all! For some reason I feel like bath accessories are overlooked on registries because most people assume you can just use adult gear. And while you totally can just use a regular towel, when Mazen was little it was nice to have a towel perfect for his size. And of course the triangle of head warmth!

-Handmade blankets

We love our smaller, thinner swaddle blankets, but you don’t think about needing thicker blankets and quilts for playtime on the floor and bundling during colder months. Several of our family friends made us blankets and they all have gotten good use in various places – from beds to car seats to strollers. This quilt was made by Matt’s cousin Elizabeth and lives on M’s bed now. It’s so special that each blanket is unique to our home and little guy.

-Clothing accessories

We loved receiving all kinds of clothes (as they are the most necessary, after all) but we also loved some of the accessories we received that I had not thought to buy – hats, mittens, socks and the like. You don’t often think about needing these smaller pieces until the day you need them, and they can be surprisingly hard to find (the mittens were at least). And in the summer: sunglasses, sun hats and bathing suits are all things a mom might not think to register for or buy in advance.

-Baby care products

One gift I now love to give is a bundle of some of our favorite baby care products. Not only useful but also tested and endorsed! These are some of our favorites – Lavnila baby wash, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste (for overnight), Noodle & Boo lotion, Boogie Wipes, Motherlove cream, Avent pacis, Booginhead holders and a Nose Frida!

-Toys/books for the months to come

When you’re pregnant, all you can think about is “newborn, newborn, newborn.” But we have really enjoyed unwrapping some of the older baby toys and books as Mazen has grown. I loved that some of my mom friends gave me their own baby’s favorite toys – again, tested and endorsed! Mazen has loved so many of them too, particularly these rings. And as my mom says, you can never have too many books! My Cville friends gave us a collection of food-focused books, and we love reading them.

36 Weeks: The Final Items

After my shower in Hillsborough, I returned home with a good idea of what we still needed to buy to prepare for the baby. I had been excited for this for a long time – I couldn’t wait for the relief to have everything we need in our house! That day has come, and we are all set. Here are the final items I bought to complete the nursery!

Diapers and wipes – for the first few weeks/month until we transition into cloth. I have 6 packs of diapers and about 4 big packs of wipes. The good news is if I need more they are easily found. I think these will get us through the toughest time no problem.

Two wet bags for our diaper bag and the basement

A handy OXO wipes container that takes both disposable and then cloth when we are ready

It opens with one hand and has a weigh to make pulling wipes out easier. Also keeps them moist with a tight seal.

The aden & anais blankets I have been drooling over all summer! I mostly just wanted the bees for Buzz : )

A second Halo Newborn Sleep Sack – I wanted a few kinds to test out

3 SummerMe Swaddlers – I hear these are great!

Could not resist these on sale when I was at Babies R Us – they look so American Apparel!

Lanolin and a handful of fleece waterproof pads. I had a mom friend recommend these to me. I had never heard of them, but they are great to put down during diaper changes both on your pretty changing pad or on the floor/couch/wherever you are. Cheap too! Can be also used under crib sheets or as burp clothes. They have tons of sizes.

Butt paste and 2 kinds of pacifiers

A large wet bag that now hangs on the side of our changing dresser

An inexpensive sound machine

Which is next to our monitor on this little yellow IKEA table. It never occurred to me that there would be CORDS running from the motion sensor on the Angelcare so I’d have to have the monitor close to the crib. Luckily this table has been floating around our house for months without a permanent position and it now has a purpose. Close by to turn both electronics off after a nap.

And here is dad-to-be securing the changing pad to the dresser and the dresser to the wall!

I’ll be doing a final nursery tour when we have the last 2 items in. I am waiting for 1 to arrive and 1 to be made!

PREVIOUS 36 WEEK POSTS

PREVIOUS WEEKS

30 Weeks: Swingin’ Through The Weeks

We are now the proud owners of a Fisher Price Zen baby swing! I bought it used from my friend Holly for $80.

I chose this one because of its green + brown colors, its ability to swing 2 directions, the AC adaptor and the fact that the base comes off to carry baby around.

The swing is one of the pieces of baby “equipment” I was somewhat dreading bringing into the home (along with vibrating seats, jumpers, and big plastic things) but babies seem to love them and moms swear by them, so I would like to have one in the event that mine does too. Also, mom’s got to put the baby down sometimes!

I’m sure this is not the location where our swing will reside permanently, but I’m letting it sit there for a few days to get used to it. I actually think it blends in quite well!