Our favorites (0-3 months) Part II

Ok before I start I just have to say I cannot believe my baby is six months old today! Tonight we ate/played with some avocado and I just kept picturing us assist-feeding him with a syringe when he was just a few days old. It was so stressful, and at the time I was impressed when he would finish an ounce! I'll post more about our first solid experience when I upload my pictures...


I've already talked about a few of Luca's early favorites, and because I love posts like this I'll continue with a few of the smaller (but just as loved) toys and accessories we use a lot. We do still use some of them, but they were really useful in the first few months.
Black and White by Tana Hoban

Luca loved loved this book and still does during tummy time. We talk about the different pictures, and he actually follows with me from picture to picture. This link on BabyCenter talks about baby's developing eyesight month by month, and it gives great suggestions on how to stimulate each stage of vision development. This book does a great job of keeping baby's attention, even when they may not love tummy time (like a certain baby I know).

Sassy Crib and Floor Mirror

My friend Lindsey gave us this mirror (and the black and white book!) because her baby loved it too! Luca loves his reflection and he's started to recognize his movements in the mirror. The first few months, we really couldn't do tummy time without something stimulating, so this mirror and the black and white book were favorites.

Puj Tub

(obviously not Luca, but here's the tub)

The debate is out there for many moms I know: do you really need an infant tub? My answer (obviously) is yes, although I do understand why others think they are not necessary. When Luca first came home from the hospital, all we had was the huge Primo tub, and there was not a chance I was going to lean over that enormous tub to bathe my tiny little peanut.  Because Luca was a month early, he was tiny and really didn't need a huge tub. So for a few weeks, we actually used the pink bin they give you in the hospital and it worked just fine. But as Luca grew he really needed a better wash and his neck folds needed desperately to be cleaned every day, and it was hard without a place for him to recline while I washed. I do think that if you have a second person around every time you're bathing your little one, co-showering can work. But for us, it just didn't make sense so I took the recommendation from my friend That Wife and purchased the Puj tub. Here's the disclaimer about this tub: it doesn't fit into all sinks, and it only works if your baby likes it! But if it works, it's a huge life and back saver during the first few months. Luckily it fit perfectly in our sink, and we put a towel at the foot end of the sink when Luca started to kick a little. But when he really started to kick, we moved to the much bigger Primo tub, which I hated at first but now love.
Nosefrida snot sucker

If you told me a year ago I would be sucking my baby's boogers instead of using a regular aspirator, I would call you crazy. I had read the raving reviews when I was researching for our registry, but I never felt it was going to be a necessary item. But when we got home and tried the regular aspirator I knew there had to be a better option. I still use this ALL the time. Not only does it get out a ton more than the others, I can see what comes out- color and amount. I guess it's the control freak in me that loves this:) There's another huge plus to this item, though- you can actually clean it unlike the traditional nasal aspirators. Seriously, if you're going to have a baby or you have an infant this is a must have.

When I was looking for the link for the nosefrida, I came across the only other product made by Fridababy- it's called the Windi, and I'm sort of speechless... (and no, this is not one of our favorites!)

Here's the basic description: The Windi is a single-use catheter that helps babies get rid of excess gas. It's too bad Luca isn't a gassy baby- The cover makes me seriously laugh, and part of me wants to try it because of that:) But if you have a gassy baby, this might be worth a shot!

And the award for totally unnecessary item, but  something we love goes to the Prince Lionheart Wipe warmer. I really have no practical reason to love this other than I like the way it looks in our nursery and it keeps the wipes warm and moist (which I find funny because the reviews online sometimes say it dries out wipes- definitely not our experience). It also provides a little light, and is now the only night light in Luca's nursery. It's definitely not a must-have, but if you are gifted it and you don't love the look of a wipe container in your nursery, this will do the trick.

So that's it for the 0-3 month favorites (if you missed part one, click here). I actually have a bunch more, but it's time to move onto the next stage..
Any 6+ month favorites you would like to suggest? Did I mention I can't believe my baby is 6 months old today?!

Luca's first time to the beach!

Every summer we spend a few weekends and a week in August up in Maine. I wasn't sure if we would make the trek this year for Memorial day weekend because things were sort of hectic around here, and we hadn't really traveled at all with Luca. But Saturday morning I woke up, and I just felt like it wouldn't feel like summer if we didn't go at least for a day. So.. we packed up and hit the road

 Max lovvves the beach and Memorial day is the last weekend he can hang out during the day- the rest of the summer has a time restriction for dogs on the beach. Notice the little shaved arm? Yeah, that's another story. Max had to have FOUR teeth pulled last week! I feel so bad for him, but he didn't seem to mind being a little loopy on pain pills while hanging with us.

Luca's not quite 6 months yet, so we weren't able to put sunscreen on him. Luckily my SIL had a sun tent, and we shed our layers a little, which made this little man very happy!

 Love his Daddy and loves to be naked!

 We didn't get in the water this time, but next trip to the beach we're going all out.

 The next morning we took a walk on the beach before breakfast. I love the crisp air and the calm sound of the waves. Luca loved it too.

Ah this face..

So summer is officially here- bring on the white pants (actually skirts for me, I don't love wearing pants in the summer) and short sleeves!

Any recommendations for a good sun tent? We need one asap- Luca is loving this weather.

A rainy Monday

We had a nice little rainy Monday around here after I picked up Luca. We played in our bouncer.. 

Sometimes we get very serious about play. This is our Baby Einstein bouncer, and I love how I can literally see Luca processing all that is around him. It's so cute.

We're getting bigger, but still not touching the ground with both feet! We'll get there:)

Luca's started to teeth, and we rotate between a few teething rings. He's getting better at grasping the ring and bringing it to his mouth, but the majority of the time he ends up licking the thing.

Most nights Luca will help me make dinner, and by help I mean sit in his bouncer or high chair and chew on something. Tonight, it's his favorite toy for Luca and turkey with sundried tomato for mommy and daddy.

And after dinner is prepared, it's bed time! No pictures of that, but it was pretty routine tonight- bath, story, nurse, in crib drowsy but awake. He has been rolling around a bit before he settles, and sleep is rough lately after his long early stretch. I don't want to jinx what little sleep we've been getting, so I'll move on...

After Luca was down, I looked out to my gardens and thought it might be a good chance to take some pictures of the hard work hubs did this spring. We still have huge plans for our gardens and yard, but things are looking ok so far.

Hubs picked up a few of these solar powered spotlights for our gardens this year. They don't put off a ton of light, but it's enough and I think they're cute.

And now? It's dinner, and some couch time before bed.

I don't mind rainy Mondays so much when I wake up to this little face!

(18 weeks old)

Five Months!

Get ready for photo overload.. I swear this isn't the intention I had for my blog, but I've turned into "that mom". You know, the one who always has a picture that you have to see. But seriously, you have to see these- my kid is the cutest.

Dear Luca,
I'm not sure I can even list the ways you've changed this month. You're so happy, your smile ignites a spark in my soul, and I miss you even when you're just sleeping in your room next door. You've discovered that you love the copy cat game- we stick out our tongue.. and so do you!

You've also discovered that you LOVE your feet! You're no longer in the swaddle, so we put you in a sleep sack at night. It's actually more like a baby sleeping bag- the DeeDee Sleep Nest, recommended by our friend Finn's Mom at oh!apostrophe. You love it, but you've started to try to grab your toes while you're sleeping and now Mommy has to make sure your toenails are really short, or you poke little holes into your sleep sack! You're very silly, little man.

Speaking of mommy.. I'm your number one fan! I love to kiss you and tell you you're the light of my life. You know the song "you are my sunshine"? Whoever wrote that song wasn't kidding, you're seriously my sunshine!

Five months!

You're growing SO FAST. I'm not sure what you weigh because we still have another month until your doctor's appointment, and Mommy has made a promise not to get obsessed with your weight. I actually weighed you for a while, but it fluctuated so much that I drove myself crazy and it wasn't worth it. So now my thoughts are that if you're growing and happy, I'm happy.

This month you started rolling over, and I caught your first time on camera! It was really special, and since then you've been practicing a lot!

I've been learning how to use my new camera, and I'm getting better at capturing your little spark on film. The weekends are your special time with Daddy, and you two are hysterical together- it's like you were meant for each other. You look more like him every day, and that makes me so happy.

It's getting warm out, so we spend a lot of our time outside because you love the fresh air. Sometimes we go for walks, and sometimes we just hang out on the grass. You love watching your doggy Max do tricks and roll in the grass.

We're getting ready for you to start eating solids, as you've really started to show an interest in our food when we eat around you. We're planning on embracing the baby led weaning concept, and it should be fun watching you explore different foods. But I have to be honest- Mommy is nervous and so intimidated by introducing solids!  Can't we just nurse forever?! kidding sort of :)

We love you little man, and can't believe you're almost half a year old! Let the warm weather come, because we're ready for our first summer with you!

The Mamarazzi strikes again!

This week while taking Luca's weekly photo, I caught a first on camera! Luca is 23 weeks....

AND HE CAN ROLL OVER!

Is that not the cutest thing? I'm SO excited I had my camera out, and my SIL swears that he hasn't done this before, so I really feel like I witnessed an important first- something I was concerned I would miss as a working mom. The icing on the cake? I was on the phone with Luca's Daddy! So he got to hear it happening, and I hope he felt like he was a part of it all.
Even Max enjoyed the show!

Working moms- how do you deal with the guilt of feeling like you're going to miss important milestones while you're away?

These days, we're loving...

..our stroller (and sitting like a big boy)!

We researched and researched and ultimately, our all terrain stroller was between the Bumbleride Indie and the Bob Revolution. We chose the Bumbleride because when we tried both of them, I just felt like the Indie handled better and fit our needs more. Either one would have been fine, but we really really love our choice :)

Last weekend we had a little family get together, and Luca was loving his transition from the car seat in the stroller to sitting up like a big boy. We still sometimes take him in the car seat if he's already sleeping in it or we're going somewhere we might need to take him out of the stroller, but generally our walks these days look like this...

We also love the Bumbleride because it can fully recline, so if Luca needs a nap and we're hanging out outside, we can easily just put him down. Luca's not a great napper anyway, so I'll try anything for a few extra minutes of sleep- night or day!

He's also discovered that he loves to put his feet up on the bar. On our walks I'll look down and see feet and I know he's having a good time.

We take walks every day, and I'm loving our stroller and watching Luca actually enjoy our walks!

Oh, and we're also loving our new pants:) I'm pretty sure seersucker is the new black.