S'mores Life

I still wear my almost 4 and a half year old in a baby carrier, and here's why...along with some questions I've been asked about that choice. Why do you still wear your 4 year old in a baby carrier? For a lot of reasons...sometimes, it's because I skip zumba or barre to go to target/sleep/clean/go to target/spend time with my kids/go to target/etc. and I want to feel less guilty about that choice so I decide to burn some extra calories that way. Or because I take my kids out for pizza and gelato and I don't want to spend the whole meal hating myself for eating it (like pretty much every other American woman I know, working on that one in therapy, thank you very much.) It's an excellent work out, child-wearing, and she told multiple people at my workplace "it's not too hard for mommy, it just makes her very sweaty." Other times it's because I need to get some work done, either around the house or at work, that involves lots of running around ...

Title is pretty self-explanatory, right? ;) Here is a link to the first part of this "series" - The First Six Months: Baby Gear I Could Not Have Lived Without . I am not doing to do a "gear I COULD have live without" for 6-12 months, because I think parents are a lot more likely to buy gear they may not use the first six months (at least I was.) The Ergo Carrier - Yes, again. This is so carrier is so fabulous that it makes both lists. It's good for newborns (needs a newborn insert or do the cheap solution I wish I had done, roll up a blanket until they are big enough to go without it) and older babies. It's good for hiking. Traveling. Chores around the house. Comfortable  for the adult and safe and comfortable  for the baby, unlike a lot of the crotch danglers you see around. I have the ergo sport because I am really athletic, if you haven't already gotten that vibe from my blog. Jokes, I have the ergo sport because it's made of a lighter weight...

This is how I looked after 12 hours of traveling - including at 4:00 a.m. wake up, an hour drive, two flights totaling over eight hours and taking care of an almost toddler: What you can't really see in the picture are two additional bags - a duffel and a diaper bag. We don't travel light (anymore). But you know what? Despite how attractive I look in the picture, ;) it honestly wasn't that bad. This wasn't Clara's first time on a plane. We flew to Pensacola, Fl about two months prior. That was that bad. But there were a few things that contributed to that... 1) We made it a weekend trip. This is my first piece of advice - the second that baby comes outta ya, there are no more weekend trips. Weekend trips are for hip, young, childless couples who are able to be spontaneous and cool and what not. We weren't even like that before we had a baby, so how we thought we could make it work after a baby is beyond me. By the time we had recovered from our flights...

I recently discovered the Play-at-Home-Mom's blog , and I am in luuuurvvve. There are so many great ideas on that site and I'm excited to try some more as Clara gets older. Alaskan Water Bed This one is inspired by the Redneck Water Bed , since it uses so much duct tape but I am partial to the name Alaskan Water Bed...I believe Alaskans are rednecks at heart (and I say this with love!) and will use duct tape to fix anything. This is actually the smaller version that I was inspired to try. Maybe I can't call myself a true redneck or Alaskan (gasp! never), but I think I was a little too conservative with the duct tape. It broke in a matter of minutes. The fear of that happening is why I didn't add food coloring or a ton of water for this "test run". When it gets hotter out (you know, 95 instead of 80) I will try the larger version in our yard and see how Clara likes it. Sensory Board This project was a much bigger success. And I'm prou...

My first review! I was so excited when Bee All Natural , an organic family skin care company, selected me to review their all natural baby powder . I became a facebook fan of Bee All Natural  when I was entering a giveaway for cloth diapers, but I stayed  a fan because I was very interested in their products. As most of you know, I've basically crossed over from somewhat of a granola to a full-blown hippie since having Clara, and have put more of an effort into trying to use all natural products on her skin. I am not incredibly strict about it, we still have Johnson & Johnson's baby lotion (gifts from baby showers) on our shelves, but if I have an affordable option to buy something else I certainly do. That's what I like about Bee All Natural's products; all of their products contain natural ingredients (that I can actually read and pronounce!) and are 100% USDA certified organic. They are handmade by a Michigan Mom, which is great because I love supporting ...

I recently wrote about the baby gear that saved my life when Clara was an itty bitty baby, and in that post I said I'd follow up with what we could have lived without. Here goes: The Bumpo : Don't get me wrong, it was nice to have, especially since it was a gift. We used it. But for how much it costs, we certainly could have lived without it if we weren't given it. I've heard of moms buying them for $10 on craigslist and then sterilizing them, it might be worth it then. But there's such a short time period that you can use this. When she's small enough, the bouncy seat could work fine. Now her chunky thighs won't go into it. Just not worth the money for us. Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper : As I mentioned in the other post, Clara slept in the Fisher Price Rock n' Play sleeper next to our bed for the first few months of her life. So in my pre-baby mind, this item was perfect because it'd serve as her bassinet right next to me in bed and it converte...

During my pregnancy I talked to other moms and researched the heck out of baby gear while I created my registry and made purchase after purchase. Ian still tells the story to everyone "Every day I came home from work, there was another package at our door!" In reality most of those packages were diapers or household supplies purchased from amazon.com with the free 2-day shipping I had throughout most of my pregnancy, but he likes to think that I bought every baby item out there. ;) I did buy a lot, and I registered for a lot and thanks to our generous family and friends received a great deal of those items off our registry. I'm hoping this list of what helped us survive (and thrive and enjoy, of course!) Clara's first six months might help another mom out there who is wondering why there are seven varieties of a single bouncy chair. ;) In another follow-up post I'll blog about what we purchased that we could have gone without. And of course, every baby is differen...

How is my baby seven months old (today!!) and I had made it this long without going to Once Upon A Child? I frequented the Anchorage one as a child with my mom and also a few times since with friends who had babies and for a long time just assumed that it was local to Anchorage. It wasn't until after moving to Maryland that I realized it was a national chain. We were lucky in that we were gifted a lot of new items and given some hand-me-downs as well. There were a few things we wanted to buy brand new (for various reasons, whether it be for safety or because we want it to be able to last through a few kids) but I am definitely not against used baby gear! I bought the boppy and bouncy chair used at our church garage sale. Some family friends who have three children gave us an exersaucer, some clothes, and some diapers. Besides all the new clothes Clara has been given, I have a friend whose daughter is five months older than Clara who sent us a lot of her old clothes and a cousin w...