Sunday, January 28, 2018

What I’ve purchased in preparation of our 4th child


Since my pregnancy is about to come to an end I figured I’d share some of the main things that I’ve purchased so far in preparation for baby Hardy. We got rid of just about all of our baby products after Scarlett because we just didn’t have the space for it and Corey was convinced we weren’t going to have anymore babies (I knew he’d come around).

I thoroughly researched everything I bought this time around because I didn’t want to buy unnecessary things and I had a pretty good idea of what I would and wouldn’t use. The first thing that I purchased (and I knew I couldn’t live without) was the 4moms mamaroo. Unfortunately I didn’t know about this product when I had Jaiden but I had one with both Ophelia and Scarlett and they LOVED it. Scarlett had acid reflux at first so being at a more upright position seemed to help the best for her. I also had to repurchase the Newborn insert because I feel like it offers more support when they are so small.

The second on my must have list was a new car seat. This was by far my most researched item. I spent hours watching videos on each one that I was interested in and reading multiple forms of reviews from baby forums, to website reviews to even blogs because I feel like it’s one of the biggest and most important safety decisions you make for your child before they are even born. I ended up going with the Nuna Pipa in the color ‘night’ to help hide stains but the other seat that came in a very close second place was the Uppababy Mesa. I truly feel that both of these car seats are excellent and either one of them would be a great choice but I ultimately decided the Pipa is the better choice for me and my baby.

Third is the Medela Breast Pump. I had a Dr. Brown one with the girls and had zero success with it. I have a hard time keeping a steady and sufficient milk supply so I really need a good pump to help me produce more and this one has the best reviews and is hospital recommended so I feel confident it will be a good fit for me. I also purchased a couple of THESE bottles because while I plan to EBF- I haven’t had a great success in the past and don’t want to be in a situation where my baby needs a bottle and I don’t have any. They are silicone which I feel is a much better alternative to using glass bottles because they are heavy and I try to keep my family’s plastic use to a bare minimum.

I can’t forgot get about my diaper bag choice. I’m not really a purse person and never really have been so what I carry now is a Tory Burch back pack purse or just my wristlet if I don’t feel like lugging that around. So it’s a no brainer that I chose a back pack diaper bag. I ended up going with the Skip hop Greenwich diaper bag in the color ‘dusty rose’. It’s VERY spacious and has several pockets that are just the right size and actually make sense. One of the main things that made me choose this bag is the color. I mean it’s so pretty and I’m so excited to start using it. It also has latches so you can attach it to your stroller handle instead of it taking up the oh so valuable basket storage.

For a baby carrier I went with the Lillebaby 6 in 1 child carrier. I had a cheap one with Ophelia so I used it only a handful of times because it was SO uncomfortable for me. After doing research I realized that what I previously used did not offer the support for me or for baby that wasn’t needed for it to be a useful baby product. With having 3 other young kids I feel like I’m going to need this more than ever to have my hands free and I really liked the fact that there was 6 different ways to wear this including on the hip. They offer multiple different patterns and while I did want a really cute feminine one, I decided to go with the ‘mist’ color so Corey would feel comfortable using it too.


What are some of the baby products that you actually use/used? I love hearing about what other moms do to make life easier!

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Sandwich-less peanut free kids lunch

Hey y'all! In honor of school starting back I wanted to share a few of the lunches that I make for Jaiden. Sandwiches are boring and half the time he told me he didn't even eat them *insert eye roll emoji*. I like to pack his lunch instead of him purchasing the school lunch- unless it's pizza day, he loves the school pizza and really any pizza so on those days I do let him buy lunch. He can be very picky and decides he doesn't like something anymore out of the blue so I do struggle with making him lunches that I know he will love but not being repetitive either.

I pack all of his lunches in THESE instead of using snack and sandwich baggies. I plan to buy some stainless steel ones but I knew I needed several right away so I just went with the plastic ones for now. I make his lunches the night before because mornings are hectic and my husband actually takes Jaiden to school so it's easiest for everyone if everything is already ready.


Turkey Pinwheels
These are so easy to make and Jaiden loves them. These are our summer go to snack for the pool/lake and he always loves them so I knew they'd be perfect for lunch. I put turkey, muenster cheese, mayo and mustard on his.


Turkey, Cheese and Pretzels
I don't have a real name for these lol. But it's turkey rolled up and a square of cheese with a pretzel in the middle. Jaiden wasn't crazy about these but the girls loved them so I thought I'd include them anyways. These can't be made the night before though because the pretzel will become soggy.



Jaiden LOVES guacamole and nachos but with it still being in the mid 90's I wanted to still send a cold lunch so I decided to go with guacamole. The next day when I picked him up from school he couldn't stop talking about how much he loved his lunch. So this one is definitely a keeper.



Lunchables made from love
All 3 of my kids love lunchables and if I'm being 100% honest my husband and I do too haha. I had saw another mom make homemade lunchables so I wanted to give it a shot myself. Jaiden actually prefers muenster cheese over the American cheese that comes with the turkey store bought lunchables but did say he wishes these came with the piece of candy. I didn't have a cookie cutter to make the circles so I found a lid from one of the girls old dr brown bottles and it was the perfect size circle.

If any of you have sandwich-less lunch options I'd love to hear them!

xoxo