jessica simpson

i'm going on the record right now and saying i think she's going to name her daughter abilene.

wordless wednesday

last night

last night i put julia down to sleep around 10 pm. she slept until 130, nursed for a few minutes, and then went back to sleep until 715! 130 to 715!!! this is the first time she has slept more than five hours in her life! we are very pleased this morning :)

update: she went back to sleep at 745, slept until 10, and woke up so happy! she makes it so easy to be a mama. 

just a thought ...

Birth Boutique Home Page Video from Joe Criso on Vimeo.

letters to julia: month three

dear julia,


it is hard to believe you are three months old already. you are getting so big. you have really filled out in the past month. yesterday i pulled out all your 3-6 month clothes because you need to wear them all before they don't fit you anymore (which will probably be next week). 

you have chubby cherub cheeks and rolls in your thighs. 

you are a talker. one of our favorite things to do is lay on the floor and smile at each other. you make all kinds of sweet sounds, you outwardly laugh, and you have a great big gummy grin. you stick your tongue out and kick your legs. 

you like to chew on your hands. this has just started within the past week. i know it's only a matter of time before you like to chew on everything else. 

you love "naked booty time." we take your diaper off and let you kick, kick, kick. you smile and talk and sometimes you poop.
if you catch your eye in the mirror, you smile at yourself.

you're getting better in the car. you used to cry at every red light. now you cry at maybe every other red light.

you behave very well in church. sometimes you sleep through the whole mass (this will get to be an issue if you are still sleeping through mass when you are a teenager), and other times you sit in daddy's lap and look around, but you are always happy.  people always come up to us after church and tell us how cute and how well behaved you are. we agree.

 love you so much. 


love, mama

review: kawaii pocket diapers

recently, my husband and i used some of our tax return money to purchase new diapers for our daughter. we budgeted $100 and figured we could get five or six new diapers. however, a friend told me about a line of diapers called kawaii. they average about $7 per diaper! i thought that we would "get what we paid for" so to speak, so we ordered one of each of two different kinds to test them out for a few weeks. we loved them! we purchased the heavy duty hd 2 and the heavy duty micro-fleece inner. 

at first, i liked the heavy duty hd 2 better because it fit julia better. the velcro crosses over in the front so it was able to fit her skinny body. the micro-fleece inner was loose in the waist and the legs, even though it said it was one size for 8 lbs-35 lbs. we had a few leaks. i started pulling the top of the diaper down towards her hips when i put it on her so that it would be tighter all the way around. lo and behold, it worked! no more leaks!

after testing the two, we ordered six more of each, paying a grand total of $85 for 14 diapers. so far, we love them all! 
they hold up very well and we have no leaking issues.


the diapers come with two inserts each (one for day, two for night). they are high-quality inserts, and i like the microfiber material more than i like the bumgenius inserts. we got yellow, lime green, and white with some camo. we also bought one snazzy minky urban camoflage because it's so darn cute. i like this diaper a lot, and might order some of the other prints in the future.

we will definitely be sticking with kawaii if we need or want to order more diapers in the future, and i would highly recommend them! we ordered them from the luv your baby and they have free shipping on orders over $80!

baby items you don't need

when i got pregnant, i began to think about all the little things that babies need -- the things that go on a baby registry, the things that diapers.com and babies r us tried to convince me that we needed. i have friends that use these items but you can definitely get by without them. some of them include:


wipe warmers

it's a nice idea! a nice warm wipe for the baby's tush. however, babies survived for a hundreds of years being wiped with a room temperature or slightly cold wipe. if they are used to warm wipes, what if they have a hissy fit when they are out in public and have to be wiped with a cool wipe? it also scares me that this needs to be plugged in 24/7 in the nursery. i wouldn't be comfortable with that. this is definitely not necessary.


bathrobes

 yes, it's adorable, but when are you going to put your child in this? personally, i wouldn't spend $40 on any piece of clothing for my child, let alone something she would wear for five minutes and then poop on? no thanks. 


a changing table

where do you put it? nine times out of ten, we change our baby in the living room. i'm not going to walk her upstairs just to change her. especially with newborns, walking them upstairs twelve times a day? no thanks. and there's just not room for a changing table in our living room, nor would it look nice. and in her room, we have a changing pad on her dresser. it just makes more sense.


shoes

i understand they are adorable, but babies aren't supposed to wear shoes. babies can't walk, and putting shoes on them can restrict proper growth and development in their feet. it's also easier for them to learn how to walk correctly when they are barefoot.


exersaucer

 if you're going to buy this, you might as well just get this ...

get an activity jumper helps your baby's leg muscles develop while he's playing.


and buy second-hand! these things are used for a few months and, after a good scrub down, are still perfectly capable of entertaining your child.


i bought this swing

 at a garage sale for $20 (msrp $134.99). i threw the fabric part in the washer and wiped down the plastic part with cleaner. good as new. it works perfectly and my baby loves it -- well worth the money.


i also bought a charming wooden high chair at an estate sale for $15. i have seen them retail for $80 up through close to $500. i was very passionate about having a wooden high chair -- something that actually looked like furniture. it has been sitting in our kitchen up at our table for about eight months now, and few people have even acknowledged the fact that our baby is still too young to sit in it. it just looks like it belongs! 


thanks for reading, and happy saving!

top ten reasons why i breastfeed

10. it helps cut down on the amount of time it takes to lose the baby weight. breastfeeding can burn around 500 calories per day.

9. a mother who breastfeeds at least one child for at least one year cuts her chances of breast cancer by a third.

8. it's readily available, requires little to no supplies, and it's always the right temperature.

7. breastfeeding decreases the risk of infant ear infections, while formula feeding increases it.

6. the american academy of pediatrics recommends breastfeeding.

5. formula fed babies are at a higher risk for obesity later in life.

4. it's a wonderful bond. this is something that no one else can provide for your baby.

3. it's healthy for baby. there are so many antioxidants and antibodies in breastmilk that protect them from illness and disease.

2. it's natural. it's what babies are supposed to drink and what mothers are supposed to produce. breastmilk contains the exact right amounts of healthy fats, sodium and sugars.

1. it's free!

101 Reasons to Breastfeed Your Child by Leslie Burby