What Goes In Must Come Out

It's just a shame that it doesn't come out a little quicker.  I feel like the only thing that I've wanted to blog about is baby poop lately, but it's surprising how baby poop impacts your life.  My poor baby has taken to going #2 every few days.  So, I spend a lot of time thinking about baby poop...did it happen at the babysitter, when is it coming, is all that grunting healthy, etc. 

She probably loses a pound when she goes, because when it comes out, boy, it comes out.  We've had 3 poop explosions in the past few weeks.  You may have seen the picture in a previous post-that wasn't even the worst of them either.  I'm wondering if the volcano eruption in Iceland inspired her to try to recreate it in Kansas.  I am really thankful that I got the diaper sprayer before all this fun started.  I plan to post a review of our sprayer soon.  However, this will be the basic premise: I can't imagine having to scrape or dunk that stuff, I'd get one if I were you. 


Instead of talking about food on the way out, let's talk about food on the way in.  Here's Baby A's first time in the high chair!  She's getting big so fast, I just can't believe it!

Here's the best part of my night though!  Look what my baby can do!

I am so proud!  I took manual dexterity for granted until I realized that it takes time to learn how to do this.  I've never seen her pick up a puff between her thumb and index finger before tonight.  She could grab several in her hand, but they ended up in her palm.  Then, they got stuck there and she couldn't get them into her mouth.  Maybe she just needed a high chair, because those little puffs made it into her mouth without any help from me!  YAY!!!  I'm such a proud mama!  Way to go!

Get to Know Baby in a Fishbowl!

I've really enjoyed using Theresa's products and I wanted to get to know her a little better. I asked Theresa a few questions about motherhood and her shop.

1. What led you to babywearing?
I hated strange people touching my all baby the time, I would be anywhere and strange people would want to kiss her and pick her up. I wanted to keep her as close to me as I could, so I turned to babywearing and fell in love with it.

2. What inspired you to open an Etsy shop?
Actually I believe my step sister turned me towards etsy. I was amazed that I had never heard of it before.  Although I have had a slow go on etsy, I enjoy the less stress buyer/seller relationship. As everything is handmade, people here seem to understand the time it takes to create an item and have a family too.

3. What is your favorite item in the shop?
My favorite item, right now, is my wrap skirt. I just started selling these. I actually spend more time making myself skirts than making them to sell - heehee.

I do use everything I sell, from bibs, burps, blankets, pouch sling, ring sling, aprons, skirts, etc.  I have made other items for myself, but never duplicated them, since I didn't use a pattern.  My diaper bag is one example. I enjoy not using a pattern, but I sometimes fail to ever re-create the same thing over again. :)

I also love the Silk Ring slings! I think they are so pretty to wear, and great to feel. I only have 3 left, and am not sure I will stock anymore, but I look forward to finding homes for them. 
Adds Angie:  I love the silk ring slings too!  I 100% endorse them:)

4. What has been your best/favorite/funny adventure of the mom kind?
There has been so much in the past 7 yrs since I became a mom. I never thought I wanted to be a mom. I hated to babysit when I was a kid, because kids just didnt like me.
I guess my best adventure was finding the Mom in Me, and discoving how much I LOVE being a Mom!

5.  How did you get the name Baby in a Fishbowl??
How we came up with "Baby in a Fishbowl"- Well...While pregnant and trying to explain to how a baby grows in mommies belly, I told my oldest daughter(then 2.5y old), that the baby is in my belly swimming around like a little "fish" and the baby will stay there until it is ready to come out.  

Fast forward about another 1.5 yrs... while pregnant with number 3, my daughter was talking about the baby in my belly being a little fish.  Her brother was in the sling at the time and she came to the conclusion that being in the sling was like being in my belly again, just like the new baby.  I said "Yes, sort of like a fishbowl".   She said he was a "baby in a fishbowl"!  Now you know the story!

Theresa has a lot of great items in her shop (more than just baby gear too!) and it's all mom-friendly!.  Please visit her shop and check out what items might look good on you!  Also, become her fan on Facebook to hear about specials or enter into her giveaways!
Don't forget to enter a giveaway of $25 toward any item in her shop!  Click here to go there.  

The Best Baby Shoes...Period

Well, I call them slippers...they're soft soled baby shoes, so they seem like slippers to me.  I wish I would have bought a pair much earlier!  Socks never stay on Baby A's feet and I can't figure out why.  She does have a little bit of a case of the cankles, but it is not so bad that I would expect socks not to work.  However, I won these WONDERFUL shoes about a month ago and she has been wearing them almost everyday since then.  

The shoes are elasticized, but they aren't tight.  They are very soft, made of natural materials, and come in many cute prints.  She is 5 months old and still has plenty of room to grow in them.  But, the main reason I love them is that I'm not always looking for where they fell off (which happens all the time when she wears socks)!   

I've already written about the SunflowerRadiantLove Etsy Shop and this is another awesome product from Saskia.  They sell for $10.95 and I think they are well worth it!  This is definitely a product that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

 

Want to Win This Hat?

Do you want to win the hat pictured here??? 

I've been thinking about making another hat just like this one and giving it away for several days.  I recently won a giveaway for a cloth diaper and it made my day.  I want to pay it forward. 

The winner will receive a hat made by yours truly to fit the circumference of your child's head.  Since it will be custom made, it will take 10-14 days to receive. 

In order to win this hat, you must complete the following mandatory entry:
Follow my blog AND comment on this post about your favorite Etsy.com shop or other handmade/homemade goods website.  Please leave your email in the comment.

For Extra Entries, you can do any/all of the following:
1.  Become a fan of my Facebook Page (leave a comment)
2.  Add to the discussion about GroBaby diapers on my facebook page (leave a comment for each facebook comment)  FYI-there is a longest chain contest going on and if this ends up to be one of the 4 longest, we all win a 15% off coupon for the next Gro Baby purchase:)
3. Read and comment on any of my Reviews (leave a comment for each)
4.  Blog about this giveaway (leave a comment and post url)

Please leave your email in all comments.

 The contest ends March 1st at 7pm Central Time.  The winner will be selected by random.org and have 48 hours to respond to my email.

Good Luck!

A Product I Love-Comfort Silkie

Comfort Silkie
I was given this blanket as a gift. Since I’m a blanket person myself (slept with my blankie all the way through college), I was super excited for Adelaide to have one of her own. What I like about this blanket is that it is tiny (14 in x 18 in), perfectly sized for a baby. I’m not concerned about leaving it with her either, because it’s fabrics are breathable.

I basically wanted to find her a “lovie,” so that she’d have something to take with her to the babysitter’s house. This was probably more for my comfort than hers at this point.  Our Parents As Teachers Educator told me that research has shown children who have a lovie, handle new situations and transitions better. I’ve looked for the actual research or citation in regards to this, but I haven’t found it. However, I trust our PAT educator, I don’t think she’d make stuff up.

My daughter is only 4 months old, so this won’t be like Linus’s blanket yet. But, I did want it to at least smell like home. I snuggle with it while she nurses, so that it picks up my scent. I also buckle it in with her in the car seat since she’s not a fan of confinement. The truth is that I do not know if it provides comfort since she is only four months old, but using it makes me feel better. As she grows, I hope this will be something that she can snuggle with when she needs some reassurance.

This blanket comes in many colors. It is made of flannel on one side and satin on the other. If you order from the company, you can have it embroidered too. I think this is a great baby gift for someone.

With the Comfort Silkie on her way to the Babysitter's house for the first time.

Disclosure:  I was not compensated for this post.  This item was purchased by a friend and given to me as a gift.

Cloth Wipes-I Love Them

I had really never realized cloth wipes existed until I starting doing a lot of cloth diaper research while I was pregnant.  At first, I was a little surprised that such a thing existed, because I guess that's a little like reusable toilet paper.  But the more I thought about it, the more they made sense.  And, they made even more sense once we started using cloth diapers and were still using the disposable wipes that we were given as shower presents.  I personally think that it's a big hassle to use a cloth diaper, but then have to find a place to throw away a dirty wipe.  It's not like you can wad them up in the diaper like you do if you have a disposable diaper.  Really, what difference does it make to you to use a cloth wipe?  You're already doing the extra laundry and you're already putting poop in your washing machine, so it's not a big deal. 

My husband was pretty much on board with cloth diapering from the beginning, but I had a little harder time convincing him to use cloth wipes.  In fact, I just had to start using them to get him to do it.  Once we started using them, we loved them.  It only takes one wipe to clean up the mess (unless it's a blowout).  They're soft, durable, and it's another thing that we can do to help save the earth.  We just wet them in the tap and use to wipe her bottom.  I know that some people use a solution of water and baby soap or water and tea tree oil and lavender, but we've used only water thus far.  In our stash, we have 24 wipes and we've never run out of wipes by doing laundry every other day.  We have two types and I like both.

The first type, I bought while I was pregnant.  Unfortunately, I'm not really even sure what brand they are, because they don't have tags on them and my pregnant brain didn't pay attention!  Once we decided to switch to cloth wipes, I went back to the cloth diaper store where I purchased them and they weren't there anymore!! When I asked about the wipes, the clerk told me that she thinks that they are GoodMama brand.  The two sides of this wipe are distinctly different, one side is almost like velour and the other side is more fuzzy.  They are super soft and before we used them as wipes, they made great spit cloths.  These came in a pack of 12, but I honestly can't remember the price.  I remember that I bought them because I thought the price was reasonable.

I was really upset that these wipes were out of stock at the store, but I was in desperate need to get wipes (I basically went cold turkey on disposable wipes).  So I had to get a second kind.  I picked Thristies Fab Wipes, which came in a six pack for $10.95.  They are soft on both sides, almost like a terry cloth, but softer.  They come in cute colors and about the size of a baby wash cloth. 

Once you start using reusable things, I think that it gets a little addicting.  In fact, I love cloth wipes so much, I even briefly considered not buying anymore toilet paper and switching to cloth wipes myself.  But, that might be taking it a little too far, plus my husband immediately nixed the idea. 

The bottom line is that if you're going to cloth diaper, you might as well use cloth wipes.  You'll be doing one more thing to help the environment, you'll save money, and save yourself the hassle of having to dispose of wipes.  Cloth wipes aren't very expensive, and if you don't want to purchase them, I've seen lots of ideas for making your own on the internet.  

Baby Gear I Love

My daughter is 11 weeks old and so she is almost through the "first stage" of infancy.  I don't know if 12 weeks is really an "official" stage, but I probably consider it a milestone because I have to go back to work next week.  So, a new lifestyle will begin for us next week!

Anyway, I was thinking about the baby products we've used thus far and which ones that I would purchase again knowing what I know now!  (I'm sure we all have stuff that we wouldn't buy again because it turned out to be a waste!)  In my opinion these products do their jobs better than most, are innovative, or just plain cool.  This list does not include any of the babywearing or cloth diaper products, I'll save those for another post
Here is my list (click on each one to go to the product's website):

1.  Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe
I'm all for "Swaddlers for Idiots" as I like to call them (aka the ones with velcro).  They are just much quicker and easier for us and they never come apart like swaddling with a blanket.  The reason that I like the Kiddopatumus better than other velcro brands we've tried is that they seem to fit smaller babies much better. It seems to have the velcro in the right place and will stay tight, where the other one would come loose and she'd "escape".

We have two of this kind, one in fleece and one in knit.   I'm really glad that we were given the fleece because it has kept her warm during our artic blast winter.  On warmer nights, I prefer the knit version because she's a little heater and I don't want to make her sweat all night.  

We've only been using them for 3 months, but they are holding up well.  The velcro has laundry tabs to prevent them from sticking to all your clothes in the wash.  I learned the hard way to make sure you flip those little guys over!  

They also have access slit in the back that allows you to push a swing or car seat harness through and swaddle.  I haven't actually done this, because until recently, I thought it was a misguided attempt to allow one to check for dirty diapers!  But, now that I know what's it's for...it makes a lot more sense!  If you want to see how to do it, visit the website.  I personally am a little confused by the directions, but I'll let you know how my attempt to do it goes.
  

2.  Breathable Baby Breathable Bumper
The question of the moment when choosing baby bedding is...should I use bumper pads?? To me, the risk of SIDS was too great to put them in our little one's crib.  Bumper pads were originally designed to keep babies from slipping in between the slats of cribs.  However, new safety standards have decreased the width between slats and it's very unlikely that a baby's head will get stuck between.  But, I wanted to prevent her limbs getting stuck.  I chose to get the Breathable Bumper, which is actually mesh and allows airflow.  It will also collapse if she tried to use it as a escape mechanism.  To install, you just wrap the velcro around the slat and tuck it below the mattress, pretty simple.

3.  Boppy Pillow
I'm actually not adament that you need this breastfeeding pillow, but if you want something that makes life a little easier, get some type of breastfeeding pillow.  I find that it's much easier to get her in a good position to breastfeed with this pillow than with a regular pillows.  I've tried the My Brest Friend pillow at the pediatrician's office.  If I had to do it over again, I might try this one out at the store and decide which to purchase.  You can fasten it to your body, which I imagine is very useful.  I saw an episode of 18 Kids and Counting and that pillow is Michelle Duggar's choice.  She seems to have a fair amount of experience...
An added bonus: you can use them to pose your baby for numerous posed photographs. they love it.

4.  Fisher Price Take Along Swing 
I like this swing because it's portable and doesn't take up as much space as a normal swing.  We have a split level house and I can move it between floors easily while I am trying to get things done.  It's been perfect for mealtime, because we move her into the dining room with us while we eat, but I don't have to have a swing permanently in the dining room (it doesn't really fit with my decor).  I'm trying to purchase items from responsible companies these days and one thing that I do like about Fisher Price is their partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society.  They donated $250,000 to this organization in 2009.  I can't vouch for thier manufacturing processes or anything, but at least this is something.

5.  Rockabye Baby Lullabyes
So, these are on the list because they are just awesome.  These wonderful people have made lullabyes from our favorite rock songs--I know--freaking amazing.  I bought MP3's of whole albums and single songs from Amazon while I was pregnant and I love them.  Who doesn't want their baby falling asleep to Hell's Bells??  I like to think I'm teaching Adelaide to rock out early.