Gift Guide: For Baby

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family and friends, full bellies and full hearts. Our little Fallon certainly didn't mind being the center of attention and chowing down on some sweet potatoes! We usually head out to the mall on Black Friday, but not really for the deals. I like to be part of the hustle and bustle without the pressure of snagging a specific item or having a list to go down. All the decorations and shoppers and Christmas displays just get me into the Christmas spirit. 

If you follow along on Instagram you already know that Fallon turned our Black Friday into Brown Friday when she decided to have a blow out as soon as we got to the mall. She pooped right through her festive pants and since it was so crowded I had to change her on her mat on the floor by the candy machines. Oh yes we did. Of course I had forgotten to pack an extra outfit but we couldn't let that ruin our fun. I just left her in her hoodie, diaper and furry booties and she rocked it like nobody's business. 

Even though I didn't shop at the stores, I did get some great deals online shopping after baby girl went to bed. I'm not quite finished and have my eye on a few things we will probably purchase during the Monday deals. I have noticed that tons of the sales started Thursday or Friday and are just continuing through Monday so hopefully everyone gets what they want with those discounts! 

I love the idea of something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. Mommy and Daddy are sticking to that with 4 gifts under the tree from us. But who knows what Santa will bring if Fallon is a really good girl. Here are a few items on her list that your babes might enjoy too. 

Alphabet Tee / Hoodie Jumper / Interactive Puppy / Penguin Doll / Activity Cube / Radio Flyer Push Wagon / Plates / BabyLit Book / Polka Dot Dress / Bow Onesie

The Non Joys Of Parenthood

I want to go ahead and preface this by saying I am so thankful I have a daughter. I appreciate that she is one hell of a gift and do not take the fact that she is healthy and thriving for granted for a single second. BUT I can't honestly say that I enjoy every moment of parenthood. Does anyone? I don't think it makes us ungrateful, just human. 

As much as I love seeing all the beautiful captures of motherhood in those moments of glory, we all know they don't tell most of the story. The parts that make us want to rip our hair out, run for the hills, pour the wine at 10AM, scream, cry or beat up a pillow. The frustration, the mental exhaustion, the sleep depravation. So, real talk people, here are 5 joys of parenthood I don't really find so joyous. 

Blowouts 

Dear God, how can so much crap come out of such a tiny body? I lost count of how many times we've had to wash the car seat padding and refill the bottle of stain remover. Little girlfriend is all go big or go home when it comes to shitting her pants.

Spit Up

My kid seems to think no outfit is complete without some regurgitated milk. She waits until I dress her and then BAM pukes on herself and usually me. It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't smell. 

Fussing

I get that babies communicate via crying when they need something before they can use words. But fussing aka whining grates on my last nerve. Probably what irritates me the most is my kid does it because she's bored and refusing to entertain herself. Heaven forbid I should leave the room to relieve my bladder.

Infant Car Seat

I know these things are made the way they are made to keep my baby safe and that rocks. But they are a bitch to use. They are awkward and heavy to carry and strapping in a screaming baby is sometimes the most challenging thing I do all day. It's like wrangling a tiny bronco. 

Naps

Or really lack there of. If these are so necessary why is it so hard to get them to happen? I'm lucky if my kid takes more than one nap a day, if one at all ,and 40 minutes is pretty solid for her. Multiple naps totaling 3-4 hours per day all the websites speak of are laughable to me. You're tired, I'm giving you the opportunity to sleep. Sleep. OMG JUST SLEEP. You mamas who get several hours worth of nap time hustle or relaxation, count your blessings. I'll just be over here attempting to accomplish all the things in 40 minutes or less, doing them with a 14+ lb baby attached to me or doing none of them because I'm pushing the stroller or driving the car. 

I love my baby so freaking much I can't even put it into words. And I fully accept that motherhood is mostly messy and chaotic and so far from a series of perfect little squares. I can take the bad with the good, roll with the punches and laugh about it later. Being a mom is an amazing job but I'm just never going to love poop. 

4 Month Fussies

I won't even pretend that I have really any part of motherhood all figured out, but there for a minute I kind of thought I had found my groove. And then Fallon turned 4 months old. I swear it was like someone supercharged her overnight and she woke up pissed off. The past few weeks we've been losing our minds desperately trying to figure out why she's been upset 75% of the time and doing all kinds of ridiculous things to keep her from having constant meltdowns. 

4 month sleep regression? Transition to the crib? Growth spurt? Teething? Developmental? Gas? Boredom? Some combination of any or all of the above? Or dear God is this just her true personality emerging and she's going to be like this FOREVER? 

We introduced solids, gave her gas relief drops & Tylenol, took long walks, car rides, sang songs and played with all the toys. But the fussiness just kept up. I was wondering how I was going to do this everyday without beating my head against the wall in frustration. Other mamas could empathize, but mostly it was I honestly don't remember if mine went through that. Probably because we block out these times as way to preserve sanity and keep the human race going. 

And then just as quickly as this salty attitude came on, it left the building. I'm not saying we suddenly have a happy baby all the time. I mean, is that even a real thing? But the last few days we've had more smiles than tears, more giggles than fussing and more fun than frustration. I feel like I finally found my way out of the rabbit hole and we're back in the game. We will never know what this little phase was all about. But it really doesn't matter. One thing is for sure, we aren't one bit sad to see those 4 month fussies hit the road! 

Friday I'm In Love

All around me the Christmas season has begun but I just can't get into it until after Thanksgiving. I mean, I'm super excited for Fallon's first Christmas but we are still in fall mode for another week around here. There will be no tree, no Christmas music, no cookies and no decorating until next weekend. I could say there will be no shopping but who am I kidding? It's just not Christmas shopping yet. Don't worry, as soon as black Friday hits there will definitely not be a shortage of holiday cheer in this house. In the meantime, one last favorites roundup until it's all Christmas Vacation, NSYNC & Mariah Carey on repeat, twinkle lights and toy stores. 

I'm pretty sure half of my closet is made up of Target finds. I also go for something else and come out with something new in my wardrobe. I just snagged this cardigan and it is the softest, coziest thing ever!

I love my booties this time of year but running around with Fallon all the time requires comfy shoes. It's pretty awesome that there are tons of cute and stylish sneaks out right now. I just got these and they literally feel like slippers, the perfect compliment to any momiform. 

If Fallon falls asleep while we are out and about the last thing I need is strangers getting too close. I love MilkSnob car seat covers and this new one for fall/winter is the cutest.

My friend sent me this article about what SAHMs really do all day. Even if you're working mama, this is a good one. I was literally laughing out loud.

This website has the coolest mom tees. I could make a case for this one, this one, or this one. Maybe all 3!

My mom hosts Thanksgiving dinner and didn't ask me to bring anything but I might show up with a plate of these anyway. 

There are countless sweet and cuddly stuffed dolls for kids out there but Cuddle + Kind dolls are extra special. Not only are they handmade, each doll purchase provides 10 meals to kids who only dream of Thanksgiving dinner. I melted seeing Fallon grab her doll's little hand. 

The Bedtime Routine

I'm up past my bedtime tonight to talk about Fallon's bedtime routine. Before we left the NICU and brought our baby girl home we got to give her the first bath. The nurse was telling us that babies do not need baths every day but sometimes it can be helpful to relax them before bed. I had heard from many people that creating a bedtime routine was so, so helpful for both parents and babes so Chris and I decided to jump on the wagon. 

Fallon's umbilical cord took a few weeks to come off so we just bathed her with a wet rag a handful of times during that period. And she hated every second of it. The first night we were finally able to give her a sink bath with her baby tub we figured she would hate that too. We were wrong. She actually LOVED it. She was so happy and really enjoyed being in the water. But we quickly discovered she did not like being taken out of the water. She screamed like the air was on fire. It was all kinds of fun trying to get her lotion and pjs on while having our eardrums blown. And then one night she decided it was actually kind of nice to be wrapped up in a cozy towel and have lotion rubbed on her. So now we all look forward to the bedtime routine. 

Around 7PM we kick things off with a bath. If it's been a super crappy day and Fallon is just all kinds of fussy at 6:30, we start then, but I try to hold her off until 7. Typically Chris is sleeping upstairs so we've just made it part of the routine to use the first floor bathroom. This tub fits perfectly in the sink and Fallon loves to just relax in the warm water for a while. She usually sticks her hands under the faucet at some point and sprays water everywhere. I give her 10-15 minutes and then wash her with Tubby Todd soap. I've learned to take her out of the tub before I turn off the water or she totally loses her shit. Yea, we've got a diva on a hands. I wrap her up and bring her out to the living room and lay her on the couch. I have everything I need set out and ready to go so we move right to the next step of covering her in lotion. She usually babbles while I do this and it's pretty damn cute. 

I slip this little guy on her foot then put her in her pjs and we go onto the next step, the boob. I used let her nurse right to sleep and then put her to bed but now that she's a little older, I don't want her to need to nurse to bed. So now she nurses and then we snuggle. After a rough transition to her crib, we went with the recommendation for this swaddle blanket and it's worked like a charm. I swaddle her up and either cuddle on the couch or head upstairs to her room to rock in the rocker. By 8 I lay her down sleepy in her crib and she usually drifts right off to dream land. 

Having this routine keeps Chris and I on schedule and has helped Fallon understand when it is time to sleep for the night as she has gotten older. We try to stick to this sequence of events of every night but we also believe in teaching flexibility so now that she is used to sleeping in her own room, we will start mixing things up a bit here and there. So far our bedtime routine has been working out extremely well and I'm really glad we started it from the beginning. 

Do you have a bedtime routine for your kiddos?

Beanie Babes

Most days I try to get out of the house with Fallon, even if it's just to run through the Starbucks drive thru. She's a high stimulation kid so staying home all day bores her. Now that it seems the fall weather is here to stay, I'm loving all the beanie hats for mama and baby. I run cold, always, and wearing a coat while running errands is kind of a pain, especially now with a munchkin in tow. There isn't really much room in the cart anymore and I need both hands when I'm out and about. Fallon can't wear a coat in her carseat so really, throwing hats on both of us is the easiest thing to do, plus they are basically another way to accessorize! I've linked some of my favorites currently out there for you and your mini in case you wanna be beanie babes too. Can you tell we like pompoms? 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8


Happy Friday!

4 Months Of Fallon

Here we are again, another month has gone by. Fallon's 4 month check up was Monday and she's cruising along with her development and growing away. 13 lbs 14 oz, 25 inches of perfect baby girl. She was so brave getting her shots and only cried for about a second. We did learn that her knees are a little tight from her position in utero aka those long legs crunched up and her spending the last few weeks on her side. Luckily my sister is a PT so she's gong to show us some exercises to get those babies loosened up and we will be good to go. 

I think one of the best parts of motherhood is watching Fallon's personality come out a little more every day. I love finding the things that make her laugh so I can do them over and over and over again. Her gummy smile won't be all gummy for much longer because she's working on popping a tooth through. We transitioned from bedside cradle to crib this month and this swaddle has been our saving grace for making her feel comfortable in her own space. Naps are still spotty but I'll take them whenever and wherever they happen at this point. 

We started solids this week and oh man is it funny. Rice cereal was up first and she barely hesitated with the first bite then gobbled down the rest like she'd been doing it her whole life. I guess we're out of the running for parents of the year because we totally forgot to get baby spoons and ended up using a plastic one. Oops. We are now onto oatmeal and little miss piggy loves it. She's eating in her bumbo seat right now but we will have a shiny new high chair by this weekend for her to test drive. I can't even believe what a big girl she is already. I'm honestly not sad, just excited for all the fun things in store as she grows. 

In the beginning tummy time was no problem and Fallon actually seemed to enjoy it. And then one day she decided she hates it. It's been a struggle for a while but finally last week she was happy about it again and I caught her rolling over on camera! I figured out that if I put her down on her belly right by the dogs she will tolerate it much longer since she is focused on them and what they are doing. I'm pretty sure they will be her biggest motivation to crawl since she has become more and more interested in them lately. I just love watching their interactions and seeing Fallon reach out for them and giggle when they lick her face as she grabs their fur. 

Next month's update is going to feel like tomorrow!