Cannot Be Contained

Maia is on the move! She cannot be contained! We are now in the market for some device to help with this problem, but we don't have a lot of doorways which would fit a baby gate. As such, we've narrowed our options down to the following two products. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? Any other suggestions??

SOS! Save Our (Counter) Space!

We live in a small condo. This makes clutter a MAJOR issue in our house. Baby = clutter. Especially now that daycare has started and bottles and pumping paraphernalia have become daily necessities. I was not prepared for this clutter and it began to accumulate nightly on our counter top. Dirty bottles here. Clean bottles there. Bottles to be sterilized over here. Pump flanges over there. Pumping collection bottles up here. I know you know the drill too.

Then, we went to dinner over at a couple's home who has a baby the same exact age as Maia. His mom had just gone back to work too. She was dealing with the same exact clutter - only better. And then I saw why - the answer was so simple... I give you, the $6 drying rack from Munchkin:



This little beaut is available at Target, of course. I used to think things like this would just add to the clutter of my life. Not so. Highly recommend this for those of you struggling with clutter like me.

Important note: Any other clutter reducing tips will be highly appreciated!

Good Idea or Afluenza Out of Control

Jason and I are always teasing each other about suffering from afluenza when we realize we would like to add some small new luxury to our life which we couldn't afford a few years back when we were paycheck to paycheck in LA. Our newest desire is to change all of our household cleaning products to baby safe and/or natural and/or "green" items. There are obviously many reasons to make this switch and, especially as Maia becomes more mobile, I realize now would be a good time to do it. Right now, we just use Formula 409 to clean our kitchen counters and the Clorox version of the Swiffer Wetjet to clean our floors.

So, do you guys think its worth making this change or am I just being silly because it's hip to be green these days. And if it is worth it - can anyone recommend some good natural based alternatives to the mainstream cleaners? Especially for kitchen counters and/or bathrooms. That is my first target for making this change...

Looking for Musical Inspiration...

Help! I always thought I would be the mom who is constantly singing to her kids - play songs, lullabies, holiday tunes, etc. So now that little Franklin is here, my mind has suddenly gone blank! It's a good thing he loves the ABC song, because I am seriously lacking some musical inspiration!! Can anyone help? What are your favorite songs to sing to your kids? I'm particularly interested in any night-time lullabies that do not involve babies falling from trees.... Thanks!

Books

Here are three of our favorite parenting books so far:
1) Baby Bargains Book -- our go-to book for any baby purchase
2) Good Night, Sleep Tight -- we just finished this sleep program for our 17 month old after a rough month of waking up (and staying awake) in the middle of the night. We tried so many different ways to get her to sleep and none of them worked (even things that had worked for us in the past). This system worked and we are starting to feel normal again!
3) Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay -- absolutely hilarious collection of essays on being a new parent that helped keep me sane for the first six weeks of Maddie's life

Pump on the Go

Did you know Medela makes a power adapter for your car to power your pump? Very handy in traffic when traveling from Orange County to LA. Need I elaborate? Probably not. Let me know if you need tips on pumping on the go - I think I mastered it this afternoon.

Bathing Beauty

We have reached the age where Maia no longer fits in her baby tub (the one that goes in the sink). We used this neato travel sponge bath thingie (see photo exhibit A below) for a few days, but then Maia discovered she could start rolling in the tub. Uh-oh! Then we switched to this bath ring which was a hand-me-down (see photo exhibit B below). This seems to work for about 3 minutes but it's difficult to get her in and out. Also, it just doesn't seem that safe to me; in fact, I looked it up on-line and it does have a few warnings against using it, so I'd like to move away from it. So what are we to do? We even tried the mommy and me bath, which was the most successful, but not sure I want to climb into the tub every night. Am I missing something in the world of baby bathing? How does everyone else deal with this?

Exhibit A - Sponge Thingie

Exhibit B - Not-the-safest Bath Ring

A Travel Must have!

I have travelled quite a bit with just me and the babe.. no hubby! So I have been constantly trying to find ways that I can entertain Ben, make the plane trip as pleasant for me and the strangers sitting beside me and not have to feel like I have packed Ben's whole room in my carry-on. I had been struggling because Ben is quite good if he can sit and watch a baby einstein, however using a portable dvd player was more of a hassle then it was a help. Ben would just constantly press the buttons grab the screen..it was extremely frustrating. But for our last trip my husband suggested I put some baby einstein videos on his old ipod. And then I found this!!! This case for the ipod.. makes it easy for Ben to hold, protects the ipod and the screen from spills or sticky fingers and BEST OF ALL.. it is WAY smaller then a dvd player and you don't have to take it out of your bag for security! Its enough taking the baby out of the stroller, shoes off, liquids out.. so one less thing to do! Anyways its been a lifesaver for me and my travel.. and I am sure with all the new ipod technology if your like my husband you have an old one sitting around or are waiting to upgrade!
To Check out all the fun colors and stickers to customize it for your little one CLICK HERE

Make Your Own Food

Maia will be starting with some solid foods in the next few weeks. I'm leaning towards making our own baby food and I recently received a recommendation to use the Happy Baby Food Grinder.



We have a Cuisinart, and I previously assumed I would just use that for preparation. However, the clean up is daunting and this new alternative is intriguing. Has anyone else used one of these or a similar device and would they recommend it?

Sunblock Survey

For anyone that has seen Maia in person, you can attest to the fact that she seems to have inherited my fair skin. In fact, she's almost translucent. That being said, I am counting down the days until she turns the magical age of six months so she can begin wearing sunblock.

Despite my excitement growing as this day approaches, I haven't done much research on the topic. What sunblocks do you guys use? Any recommendations or ones to avoid?

Tie-Chair

As the mom of an 18 month old I found it so hard when I went to functions that no high chairs were available, such as restaurants, grandparent's houses or friends houses who do not have kids yet. It was so hard to be social-able let alone eat a meal holding a toddler that just wants to go-go on my lap. Luckily I have an amazingly smart sister-in-law who thought of the TIE-CHAIR. It converts any chair into a highchair.. so you can tie your on the-go toddler up and eat your meal in peace. It folds up tiny and fits easily into your diaper bag or purse. I don't leave home without mine anymore! She has picked out some really great fabrics for it, suitable for boys and girls! Check out the website www.tiechair.com

Eh - Not My Favorite Accessory

Since we recently got a second baby-friendly car, we went head and bought an extra infant seat base. We had do to some minor switch-a-roo and take the old base out of my car. Old base was black, the new one is silver and matches my interior better, so obviously we have to make the change, right? Anywho, while doing this switch-a-roo, we decided to finally install our car seat protector which we received as a shower gift.
Here's my thoughts - don't like it. It doesn't work in my CR-V. The problem is this - my car actually has latch hooks for a center seat installation, which is grrrreat. However, the seat is mildly off-center. With this super-wide seat protector, it covers up the other two passenger seat belt attachments. Grrrr. We had to un-install. I tried it in Jason's new little Subaru and it worked better... probably because the seat is installed on the side and we won't really have backseat passengers in that car. Maybe it will work better with a big girl car seat though - we're still using an infant seat for Maia.

Note: I had heard you are technically not supposed to use one of these seat protector things, at least according to the California State Highway Patrol. They supposedly allow the car seat to slide around more than it should. Well, here's a little tip - the patrolman who inspected our car seat prior to Maia's arrival has four kids and said he'd always used one. Though, he did have a great recommendation, which we used and now are still using in the CR-V. His recommendation was to just use that non-slip drawer liner underneath the seat. Turns out it's cheaper, safer and, as I now know, works better for me.

Bravo Bravado!

I am the first one to admit that it was the list of celebrity clientele which first attracted me to this brand... well, that and a hearty recommendation from Baby Bargains, which goes a long way to me! Regardless of how I found them - I love me some Bravado! Nursing bras. I didn't start wearing them until I started nursing, but, I swear, had I known about them while pregnant, I would have worn them the whole darn time!

I particularly love their original nursing bra and pretty much wear it 24/7. It does have an odd design and high back, so you should probably locate a dealer near you and try it on to make sure you like it before taking the plunge. That being said, a couple friends of mine have other versions of these bras and also love them. I found mine at a boutique based on their retailer search on their website, but Baby Center also sells them online (and sometimes has great sales!).

Now, as I look to returning to work, I'm just going to have to figure out the best work clothes for pumping during the day. Suggestions welcome!

Don't Leave Home Without It

Now that Maddie is 16 months old, it's gotten a lot easier to travel with her. We've taken several long car trips with her this summer and she's been a champ. However, one of our challenges on those long trips was taking milk with us and keeping it fresh for her in a sippy cup.

We were delighted when we found this Thermos brand sippy cup called Foogo:



This awesome sippy cup keeps cool beverages cold for up to 6 hours. Hooray! And, because it's not plastic, there's no worry about the harmful chemical, BPA.

So when you're little peanut is drinking milk from a sippy cup, we recommend that you hit the road with one of these!

YAY for Sleep 'n Play!

This inaugural post includes a little sharing and a little asking.

First, the sharing: I love Carter's Sleep 'n Play suits! I received this little wonders as a gift from Sara when Maia was born; she mentioned they were some of her favorites. I didn't appreciate how great they were until it warmed up a little this summer and I couldn't figure out what Maia should sleep in. Fleece sleepers were too warm, onesies were not warm enough. But these little cotton suits are perfect! Now, Maia is starting to outgrow the ones Sara originally sent me, so I recently shopped for some new ones. I saw Gerber and Circo also make similar suits (with the tab at the top of the zipper covering the closure).

Now, my question... as it cools off at night, I know we'll need to do more to keep Maia warm. My dilemma is this - she has taken to pulling any sort of blanket type object over her face. Should I be worried about this when she sleeps? I'm afraid she'll break out of a swaddle and then pull it over her face while she's in the crib. Also, I bought a sleep sack but she even managed to pull the extra fabric over her face once. Any thoughts??

The Idea

I know there are already a bunch of resources out there, but everytime I search for answers on the internet, I question whose advice I'm taking. So I ultimately find myself polling all of my mommy friends. I thought it might be nice to create a public space for my mommy friends where we can share what works for each of us, plus ask questions when we need a little advice or help.

Please share this with your mommy friends!! Also, please let me know if you'd like to be a blog author who can leave posts here as well.