Blogiversary and GIVEAWAY!

Hello, friends.  Happy Thursday!  It's almost Friday, and that is exciting.  AND.  Ya know what I realized?  This week (Saturday, to be precise) marks my three year blogiversary.  I know, it's hard to believe that three years ago I started this blog with the news that Lillian Grace Baum was cookin' in mama's oven.  Time flies when you're having fun, right?  In honor of the Baum Squad's birthday, I thought it would be the perfect time for another review and giveaway.  Y'all don't mind, right?  :-)

Friends, let's talk about one of my favorite Etsy shops: The Posh Plum.  The Posh Plum sells baby and toddler accessories.  The two we've tried are the hair bow:

and the hat:

Bow ties are also sold in the shop, which I have yet to try but am dying to.  Accessories for a certain upcoming "6 months old" photo shoot, anyone?!

ANYWAY, down to serious business.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much we love our Posh Plum accessories.  Not only are they adorable, but the quality is fantastic - they are so durable.  As you can see by the series of bow photos above, Lills is not normally easy on her accessories but these have stood the test of time.  The bows are the perfect size - not too big and not too small. And the HATS, y'all.  SO. CUTE.  I can't even talk about it.  So well-made, and reversible.  I thought I was going to have to bribe fight Lillian and force her to wear a hat all summer, but we are now the proud owners of two Posh Plum hats and Lills loves them both so much that most of the time she refuses to go outside without them.  In fact, when the pink one came in the mail, we had one of our largest 2-year-old tantrums to date when I wouldn't wear Lilly wear her new hat to bed.  Fine by me that she's obsessed, because aside from being functional and protecting L's sweet little fair-skinned face from the sun, they are also adorable beyond words.

The icing on the cake?  Bridgett, who is the woman behind all things Posh Plum, is quite possibly the sweetest person you will ever work with (and seriously adorable).  She takes customer service to a whole new level!  Not only does she turn these hats around pretty quickly, but she is very responsive and so easy to work with.  You'll definitely want to follow The Posh Plum on Instagram, too, because she has flash sales that are amazing!

Because Bridgett is the sweetest, she has agreed to give one of my lucky readers a $20 shop credit.  She's added some new hats recently that are to die for, and it has taken every ounce of willpower in my body not to buy yet another one (I can just see my husband rolling his eyes!).  So, hop on down to the rafflecopter below and enter today!  Contest closes in one week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

That's all for tonight - thanks to Bridgett for her generosity with this giveaway!  Regardless of whether or not you win, do yourself a favor and be sure to check out The Posh Plum.  You can thank me later!

GoCrib Product Review

When we were creating our registry, there were only two things Dan cared anything about: the stroller and the pack & play.  I understood why he took such an interest in the stroller - they are expensive and he is...how do I put this nicely?  He is frugal.  :-)  However, why he gave two craps about our pack & play I could NOT figure out.


He was INSISTENT upon the Guava Family GoCrib.  I took one look at it and decided that it wasn't for me - why is it that all of the pictures of the thing are of people camping?  And clearly I am not a camper.  I fought and fought him - I was convinced that we needed a pack & play with a bassinet - but in the end, I gave in.  After all, he was pretty agreeable and let me choose everything else for once, so what do I care?


Let me preface this by saying that I think the pack & play with the bassinet, etc. is a good idea for use as a second changing table, which is how a lot of my girlfriends use it with their babies.  However, we are fortunate in that we have two changing tables already - one upstairs and one downstairs - so we didn't need all of the extra "stuff" that came along with the traditional pack & plays.  


When it was all said and done, Dan made me sit down and watch several videos on the GoCrib.  These two are my favorite:

The second video above is probably more worth watching than the first - it's the one that sold Dan on it, mainly because it's pretty cool.


Both of our parents have a crib for Lilly to sleep in, so we hadn't had a chance to use our GoCrib yet other than when we received it as a gift before Lilly was born and Dan immediately opened it and inflated it in the living room so he could play with it.  As much as we travel, I know it will get a ton of use in the coming years.  I used it over the weekend for the first time when we went to the beach for Katy's bachelorette party, and I am here to tell you that it is one of the best things we have (thanks to the Aunts & Granny for the awesome gift!).  It is lightweight and takes up almost no room in the car.  Even if I weren't the over packer of the century, babies have a lot of stuff, so every spare inch of room you can save helps, especially since neither of us drive an SUV.  The GoCrib folds right up into a backpack, and since it's inflatable, it's very squishy and can be compacted even smaller.  Even though it's inflatable, it's durable, easy to assemble, and even easy to move from room to room if need be.  The pad that goes in it is inflatable as well so it adds a little extra cushion, and the mattress pad and sheet add even more cushion.  Lilly was perfectly comfortable and slept wonderfully in it.


My only suggestion to you would be this: if you've never used it, don't wait until the baby needs to go to bed right that second to set it up.  It's not hard to assemble by any means, but I waited until Lilly was fussy and clearly ready for bed to set it up, and y'all know how I get stressed and it wears on my nerves, so I was cursing Dan for making me get that stupid contraption until I figured out how easy it was (thanks to Leah's help!).  


Anyway, out of five stars, I would give this product ten.  I liked it that much.  I have suggested it to all of my girlfriends who are having babies.  It is a little more expensive than some of the pack & plays, I think, but I have seen it on Zulily several times for 30% off or more - in fact, that's how we got ours, because Steph saw it on sale and pointed it out to Mom.  Also, if you're into outdoorsy stuff (not it) and are by chance an REI member, I think you get discounts there as well.  My friend Carrie's son, Sam, will not sleep in a pack & play - hates it - so we're letting them borrow the GoCrib for the weekend.  I am anxious to see if they love it as much as we do.  I will report back!  I wish I'd thought to take a picture of L sleeping in it...maybe next time.  


Long story short: get the GoCrib!  It's awesome.  As I said, as much as we travel, I know that it will get plenty of use.  It is perfect for the beach, camping (if you're into that sort of thing), indoors...really however you want to use it, and the fact that it's so lightweight and portable is an added bonus.  When I find a product that I love, I like to share, because this is exactly the feedback I was looking for when I was pregnant.  This is truly a great product, and worth every penny, in our opinion.  Get it!


Happy Tuesday!


Sarah

Breast Feeding = Winning

Hey, friends!  It's been a few days again, I know.  Sorryyyyy!  We've been busy...doing exactly what, I'm not sure, but we have been!  My parents have been in town the past few days, and Dan's family is coming into town today to meet Miss Lilly and we are so excited to see them!

I wanted to do a quick (let's face it, my posts are never quick) post about breast feeding, since I've mentioned it in several previous posts.  While I think it is a very personal choice, and would never judge anyone for doing anything differently, after a lot of research as well as discussion with my doctor and Lilly's, Dan and I decided that, if it worked out (big "if"), breast feeding was the way we wanted to go.  This was the result of a lot of factors that I won't get into here in the interest of time, but the main deciding factor was that there are a lot of benefits for both Mom and baby. 

So you know how in the movies - and really in real life - it looks like the baby just knows what to do, and breast feeding is a breeze?  One of the first lessons I learned about being a mother is that breast feeding is NOT, in fact, a breeze.  It is a lot of work.  I mean a LOT.  And it is hard.  And frustrating.  And exhausting.  Even after the class we took and all of the help we've had from the nurses in the hospital, lactation consultants, Lilly's pediatrician, etc., I guess I just didn't realize that it is decidedly not one of those things that just comes naturally and easily to both Mom and baby.  I've stuck with it so far, because it's important to me to do so, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I've thought about giving up every time we feed quite a few times to date.

So, a little back story on Lilly: she is what they consider a late pre-term baby.  She was born literally the day I made it to 37 weeks gestation.  What this meant for her is that all of her basic development had occurred, but she didn't get that extra cooking time in the womb to hone important skills like breathing on her own, for example.  In fact, going into labor, the doctors prepared us for the worst by listing off all of the potential things that could occur due to slight under-development that would cause her to need some extra care.  We thank God every day that she is beautiful and healthy and didn't need it!  So, normal (full-term) babies are expected to lose up to 10% of their body weight when they leave the hospital or within the first week.  That is, 10% is the threshold - if they lose more, that's when the doctors get concerned.  For pre-term babies, the standard is different - they only like to see them lose 6-7%.  Lilly was born weighing 7 lbs 6 oz.  When we checked out of the hospital, she weighed 6 lbs 15 oz, and the next day at her first weight check she was down to 6 lbs 12 oz - basically, she was close to 9% down, which is more than her doctors were comfortable with. 

In the first 24 hours of life, babies generally are not interested in eating.  Per the doctors and nurses, this is partially due to the fact that they are used to eating whenever they want in the womb (so they may still be full), and partially due to the fact that the birthing process literally wears them out and they are too tired to do anything but sleep.  This is why it's okay that your milk doesn't come in for a few days after birth - they don't need as much at first.  In the hospital, we worked with the nurses and lactation consultants on feeding Lilly.  She latched really well, but wouldn't eat - either got too fussy and frustrated or fell asleep and wouldn't wake up.  The doctors think that it just tired her out too much.  Due to the fact that she was early and so little, the pediatrician asked us to start supplementing with either pumped breast milk or formula (15 ML per feeding) until she got back up to birth weight. 

I had been pumping anyway to try to get my milk to come in more quickly, so most of the time we would feed her what little colostrum I pumped as well as some additional formula.  At first, we let her suck on my pinky and fed her the breast milk and/or formula through a curved syringe, in an effort to not confuse her as well as to teach her she had to work for it (i.e. sucking).  My milk came in two days after she was born, and without getting too personal, let's just say I have plenty to spare.  The new problems were twofold: (a) there is so much milk that it was overwhelming for her and (b) she was too lazy at this point to want to latch correctly and eat.  We introduced a nipple shield at the suggestion of the lactation consultants and the pediatrician, and she did really well with it.

The nipple shield was a good quick fix, but created a new problem: she didn't want to eat without it.  This isn't really a problem except that I would rather her breast feed without it (feeding takes a lot longer with it, and additionally what happens if we go somewhere and I forget it and then she won't eat?).  At her third weight check last week, she was back up to birth weight and we got the OK to stop supplementing.  We also met with a lactation consultant and her pediatrician, because I wanted advice on how to wean her off of the nipple shield.  Of course when we went to our lactation appointment, she fully cooperated and breast fed like a champ.  My spirits were high and I was so excited...until we got home and she pitched a fit and went back to refusing to eat without it.  The pediatrician told me point blank that I was being too hard on both of us.  She said that Lilly is eating better than a lot of one-month-old babies that she sees, so who cares if she has to use a nipple shield?  Not to mention that she still would not technically even be here had I not been induced, so the fact that she's eating so well is a blessing in itself.  

So, I tried to be more open-minded and less frustrated.  I have been feeding her using the nipple shield, and she's been doing great.  If she's in a good mood, I've tried feeding without it until she got too fussy.  She was still not interested in the breast sans shield.  I think it may be that the nipple shield is so much bigger that it's a lot easier for her to eat, and also she's just really lazy when it comes to eating.  It is not the end of the world if I have to use this thing forever - I was just hoping not to have to.  So we were going about our feeding business as usual...until yesterday.  Yesterday, she ate three times without it!!!  I was so excited I could barely stand it.  Since then, we've had to use it because I'd rather her eat more quickly and go back to bed in the middle of the night, but the bottom line is, we're making progress.  Today, she's fed twice - once with it and once without.  We're getting there!  Proud Mama, here.

Anyway, so that's where we stand: still in the in-between.  Sometimes we use it, sometimes we don't.  And sometimes (gasp!) we even give her pumped breast milk in a bottle, because sleep is more important.  Poor thing, I'm sure part of the problem is that she's used so many different types of nipples so far that she is just confused.  But we're working on it, and we'll get there eventually.  And guess what?  If we don't, it's not the end of the world.  I know, you're probably wondering who the impostor is that is writing this blog.  I'm just trying to focus on keeping her happy and healthy, and I will do whatever it takes to maintain that.  So far, the best advice I've been given is to give it two weeks before giving up all together.  We'll see how it goes...wish us luck! 

I will say before I wrap it up that her being on the breast without the shield is slightly on the unpleasant side.  Trying to get her to latch correctly (she's regressed since the hospital, and who could blame her?) is painful to say the least.  Two products that I haven't been able to live without throughout this process are:

Johnson & Johnson nursing pads.  These were recommended by Elisabeth and I can't live without them.  I've tried a few other brands, but I've found that these are the most absorbent by far - which comes in handy with the obscene amount of milk I'm producing (I shouldn't complain, because it's a good problem to have, but literally one night I stuffed my bra with maxi pads to try to combat the leakage.  Oy!  A sight to see, for sure - Dan was highly amused.).  I've only been able to find these on Amazon and at Target.

Lickety split healing balm (nipple cream).  Plenty of people use Lanolin, and that's also what they use in most hospitals - it works fine as well.  Lickety Split was recommended to me by Michelle, and I LOVE it.  It's sold at a store in Charlotte called A Milky Way - or I think you can also get it directly from the manufacturer.  It's organic and not only feels divine but smells delicious (like lavender).  Hop on over and get some today,  Moms.  I promise it will change your life!

Hope you're all having a great weekend!  We had Lilly's newborn photo session this morning with Becca Robinson, and I can't WAIT to see how the pictures turned out.  I took a few on my cell phone to give you a sneak peak.  Obviously, the ones she took will be much better - I just took these standing behind the photographer on my iPhone - but I can't stand the cuteness:

Penguin hat courtesy of Miss Brenda

Tutu made by Aunt Meredith

Monogrammed bloomers from Auntie Meagan

Happy Saturday!

Sarah

Registry Revisited: The First Weeks

I was hoping to still be able to blog every day, but that is proving to be more difficult than I thought - hopefully once we get some kind of routine down and I am a little more well-rested we'll be able to get back to business as usual.  I may run out of things to write about - imagine that!  But for now, I still owe you a lot (example: things I learned about labor, Lilly Meets Layla, Breast Feeding, and a variety of other super fun topics), so I promise to get to all of them as soon as I can.

For today, I thought I'd do a quick post on what I've used the most with baby girl in this first week and a half.  I figure it will be helpful for any of you mommies-to-be who will be registering in the near future - I know I scoured registry checklists and did a ton of research (including hounding my girlfriends), so hopefully this will help others as well.  I may do updates to this as she grows - for now, I'll just give you the things I've used the  most in the 8 days (already?!?!?!) since we've been at home.

• Sleepers/onesies that zip instead of snap, and preferably ones that have built in no-scratch mittens (I deluded myself into thinking she would be dressed in all kinds of cute outfits, but let's be honest, we (a) can't go anywhere yet for her to be seen in her cuteness, (b) none of the outfits even fit her yet because she is so teeny, and (c) considering the amount of times she poops/pees/spits up in a day, sleepers are just easier).  For some reason I can't find a picture of exactly what I'm looking for, here is the zipper concept (snaps at the top over the zipper so it doesn't poke any of her sweet little chins):

And here is a picture of the mitten cuffs (built in no-scratch mittens - just fold the sleeve over her hands):

I know they make onesies with both zippers and mitten cuffs - we have a ton of them, and in fact have sent my parents out for more because we love them so much - I just can't seem to enter the right search terms to find them online to show you!  But I know Mom found some at Macy's.  Anyway, I like these for several reasons.  First, we change SO MANY diapers in a day - you would be amazed.  We had no concept of just how many we would change.  So for us, the sleepers that zip are far easier to deal with than having to do all of those snaps all the time.  As for the built in mitten cuffs, they are awesome.  It is basically like a little flap at the end of the sleeve that you just fold over the baby's hands.  This keeps Lilly from scratching herself and keeps Mommy from going crazy trying to keep no-scratch mittens on her.  She wiggles around so much that they are always coming off, so when they're built in it's a lot easier.
• My Brest Friend - and quite a few extra covers (we have three and I may even get one more):
  
  Moms, if you are breast feeding, this is essential.  A lot of people also like the boppy pillow.  I use this too, but just to prop her in - not for feedings.  My girlfriends told me - and I agree with them - that when babies are first born and they're still so teeny, it's hard to keep them situated comfortably for breast feeding on the boppy pillow because they fall through the cracks.  The brestfriend straps around you and you can tighten it so that it will stay where you position it.  I would suggest having two covers for this at a minimum.  That way when accidents happen (read: spit up or in Lilly's case, messy eating/excessive drooling) you can just change the cover instead of having to scramble to wash it immediately.  It took some learning and getting used to with positioning, etc. for both Lilly and myself, but now that we have the hang of it, we love it and use it for every feeding.
• Changing pad sheet savers and crib sheet savers.  Crib sheet savers have been less important than changing pad sheet savers so far (no accidents in the crib yet, knock on wood) from what I've found - even more so if your child doesn't sleep in the crib right away, which is what I think most people do.  Brand doesn't really matter for the crib sheet savers - we just registered for whatever they had at BuyBuy Baby that matched.  For the changing pad liners, Steph gave us some Boppy brand ones at our Raleigh shower and we LOVE them - we are ordering a few more sets today. You basically just lay them on the changing pad so that when your child pees everywhere, which they inevitably will (I swear to you Lilly pees on Dan EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. he changes a diaper - you'd think he would learn to leave the diaper over her lady parts when the air hits), all you have to do is change the liner and not the whole changing pad cover.  Love:

• Video Monitor - we have the Summer Infant Baby Touch Monitor, but there are obviously different ones you can get.  This thing has been instrumental for my peace of mind since we wanted to start Lilly out in her crib from day one.  It came highly recommended by several girlfriends, and I had to fight Dan on it because it is very expensive, but we both agree that it's been worth every penny.  The first night, it helped because I could see her and see that she was okay/not suffocating, etc. and I slept better.  In the days and nights since, it's been helpful because babies are noisy sleepers, so it's easy for me to be able to tell whether she's actually waking up or just being noisy in her sleep and saves me from going into her room every single time and waking her if she wasn't actually waking up to begin with.  I also like that I can control the camera from the monitor, so when she starts moving around and I want to see a different angle, I can still do so without going into her room.

• For any of you who are pumping: (at least) two (I think we may have 3 or 4 - we got duplicates and decided to keep them instead of returning, and I'm so glad we did) sets of breast pump parts.  For the first little while when we were having to supplement after Lilly was on the breast to get her weight up, I was pumping after every feeding.  It was so nice to have a clean set of pump parts to use, especially since we were feeding her every 2-3 hours.  A feeding goes from start to start, so say we fed at 10:00 a.m. and she fed for 1 hour until 11:00 a.m., then she was supposed to feed again between 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. and I also had to pump in between.  It was nice to not have to worry about immediately washing/drying the parts I just used.
• Bottle warmer.  Many breast feeding Moms may not need this until later, but because we were having to supplement, we needed it early on.  We use Dr. Brown's bottles and so we registered for the bottle warmer that goes specifically with those bottles, and it has been amazing. You're not supposed to heat anything in the microwave because it heats unevenly, and boiling water and then putting the milk in it, etc. can take forever.  This handy dandy contraption does it in 2 minutes.  So easy and fast.  The only thing is, the bottle (and nipple) get really hot, so we always run the nipple under cold water for a few seconds before giving it to Lilly.  And it goes without saying that we always double check the heat of the milk on our wrist to make sure we're not burning her little mouth.
• Swaddling Blankets.  Babies like to be swaddled when they're little, all nice and tight like a burrito - this mimics how squished up they were in the womb and is comforting to them.  We have been using the hospital blankets that we stole borrowed for the most part, but now that she's getting a little bigger we've also started using the aiden + anais blankets that we've gotten some of the time as well. They are expensive, but so soft and big enough that there's plenty of room for swaddling.  There are also swaddling blankets with velcro that you can get - we have a few of those, but so far I think Lilly might be too little for them because she always manages to wriggle an arm out and then gets mad and wakes herself up.  Luckily, Dan has managed to become a master swaddler thanks to the  Happiest Baby On the Block (and lots of practice):

One of my favorite pictures of my loves from the week.  Just missing Layla!  :-)

Obviously this list is not comprehensive - diapers, wipes, burp cloths, and a variety of other things are necessary as well - these are just the things that are maybe not as intuitive that have made my life a lot easier since we've come home. I hope you found it helpful!

Happy weekend to all of you.  My mom is leaving today, and so we are faced with our first night alone with Lilly.  I know we can do it and that everything will be fine, but I am still terrified and will likely cry a lot when she leaves.  She has just been so much help, and it's been so nice having all of the extra help from she and my mother-in-law this week.  Lilly had a long night last night - I think it is either a growth spurt or something upset her tummy - so here's to hoping that tonight goes a little smoother.  I'll report back on how it goes!  In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a low-key night in with my hubby.  We may even get a little crazy with a glass of wine and  a movie!  My, how the times have changed - so worth it, of course.  :-)

Sarah

Top 5 Pregnancy Must-Haves

Howdy, friends!  Hope you're having a happy Tuesday.  My morning was happy, because I woke up and could finally breathe through my nose.  Unfortunately, the Afrin nasal spray I used last night must have worn off sometime during the day because it didn't take long to feel horrible again.  I promise to try to stop complaining about this illness soon, I just can't seem to get rid of it!

In other news, much to my delight, since I've gotten pregnant, several of my girlfriends have as well.  I am obviously no pregnancy expert, but I thought about the things I like most about the pregnancy and baby blogs that I follow, and one of them is that they are not only entertaining but helpful.  So, with that said, I thought it would be neat-o to do a post about my top 5 must-haves throughout this pregnancy, in hopes that anyone someone may find it helpful.  This list was on the verge of being a "Top 10" because I was having trouble narrowing it down...maybe I will eventually do with a "part 2" list, but I didn't want this post to be too boring long.  Anyway, I hope you moms-to-be out there find this list helpful!

1.  The bella band.  I have blogged about this ingenious invention several times before (except I think I've previously been calling it the belly band, whoops).  This was SO helpful to me during the first part of my pregnancy, and I really was able to use it comfortably a little past halfway through:

There are times, particularly in the beginning of pregnancy, when you will really be "in between" from a clothes standpoint.  Some of your clothes will fit ok, others definitely won't, and you'll be too small for maternity clothes.  The bella band saved me money on clothes by allowing me to wear my pre-pregnancy clothes for a longer period of time.  They are such an inexpensive alternative - you can find them at places like Target, Amazon, etc. for anywhere from $10-$20.  Additionally, they come in a variety of colors, so you can pick up a few to go with every outfit.  I think I have a black, a nude and a white, and trust me I wore those suckers slap out.  I have noticed that for me, it's important to still feel pretty - especially on days when I feel like a whale - and this helped with that because I had a bigger variety of clothes to choose from until I got too huge.

2.  Tums.  I should by stock in these suckers the way I go through them.  My heartburn has been OUT of control.  Need I say more?  My favorite "blend" is the berry one because it contains all the best flavors:

Additionally, for any of you who are like me and are not milk lovers, 2 tums satisfies half of my daily calcium requirement (my doctor enlightened me on that one).  Double bonus!

3.  Stretch mark cream.  A good stretch mark cream will change your life!  It is allegedly a wives tale that stretch mark creams actually prevent stretch marks - it has more to do with how fast you grow/gain weight, etc. - but a lot of women swear by it.  Additionally, as the skin on your belly starts to tighten, it will be so itchy, so a good cream is nice to have around.  I have used mine religiously twice per day since I found out I was pregnant.  I knew in the beginning that stretch marks likely wouldn't appear until later in pregnancy, but I wanted to avoid them if at all possible.  There are three that I have used, and I like all of them: Palmer's Stretch Mark Cream, Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Balm, and Mama Mio Tummy Rub Stretch Mark Butter.  As stated above, I like all three and have used all three, but if I had to pick a favorite, I'd pick the Mama Mio:

It smells the best and is the least greasy of the three, and I like the consistency of it.  Highly recommend!

4.  A body pillow.  A lot of women find that they don't need one of these until later on in their pregnancy, but I needed mine pretty early on.  I am a stomach sleeper, you see.  You're supposed to sleep on your side - better blood flow to the baby or something of that sort - but due to the fact that I have terrible circulation, my limbs were always falling asleep, so having something to wrap around made it much easier.  There are quite a few varieties out there, but the one that was highly recommended to me by multiple girlfriends and that I ended up going with was the Boppy total body pillow:

I can't remember how much I spent on this sucker but it has been worth every dime and then some.  I loved it from the moment I got it, but it has been increasingly helpful the bigger I've gotten, because it's hard to get comfortable.  It also makes getting in and out of bed easier.  I would highly recommend something like this - sleeping as much as you can pre-baby is a must, from what I hear.  :-)

5.  A way to document your pregnancy.  This is more of a "to each their own" type of thing.  I have never been good at keeping up with a journal/diary/anything of that sort, but when I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted something to help me keep track of my pregnancy.  Those of you who have been following for a while may remember the blog about the belly book that I ordered.  I still absolutely love it, but I would be lying if I said I had been keeping up with it.  I was religious about it at first - I did weekly updates and an extra update from doctor's appointments, but I don't even think that lasted until the gender reveal, if I'm being honest.  Once I started blogging, it was easier not to write in it.  I would love to have done it the old fashioned way and continued to fill out the journal, but I got so behind and then couldn't catch up.  I've considered trying to update the book from going back through my blog posts, but that's going to take some time at this point.  Anyway, at least I've documented it somewhere, right?  AND blogger has this nifty tool where you can turn your blog into a book, so maybe I'll look into that after homegirl is born.

This got longer than I anticipated as usual, hope I didn't lose anyone!  I also hope you found this list helpful.  If there's anything that my Mom friends can think of that I've left out, feel free to leave me some comment love so that my girlfriends who are expecting can see.

Almost hump day, woohoo!

Sarah

Product Review: The Boppy Full Body Pillow

I decided to try something a little different for today’s post and give you a product review.  After all, everyone likes to be informed about purchases they are making, right?  Besides, you never know when you’re going to need baby stuff.  I haven’t bought much for Baby Geronimo so far – I have been trying to exercise some restraint at least until we find out the sex, but of the few things I’ve bought, this is one of my favorites so far!

So, I have been having some trouble sleeping.  I know what you’re thinking, “Sarah you are only 13.5 weeks pregnant and also a huge drama queen, how is it possible that you already can’t sleep?  If you think 13.5 weeks is bad, wait until approximately weeks 30-40.”  To all of you haters who really did think that: at least hear me out!  Firstly, you are not supposed to sleep on your back OR on your stomach when pregnant.  Doctors (and all of the books I’ve read) recommend that you sleep on your side, preferably the left side, so as to maximize blood flow.  If you are a side sleeper to begin with, this should be a piece of cake.  I, however, am a stomach sleeper – always have been, ever since I was little and it was still okay to let babies sleep on their stomachs.  The problem with this, in addition to the fact that I’m a rule-follower and you’re not supposed to sleep on your stomach, is that due to aforementioned out-of-control-and-hurting-boobs, it is literally painful for me to sleep on my stomach these days.  The final issue that has until now been preventing me from sleeping on my side is that I have terrible circulation and my arms fall asleep!  I know, I am probably a total weirdo freak, but it does not take much for my arms to fall asleep.  For instance, when I sleep on my stomach, I cannot sleep with my arms up above  my head under my pillow like a normal person, because when I wake up I can’t move them for a good hour due to the terrible tingling.  I therefore have to sleep with them down by my side (palms up, if you want to be exact).  So hopefully at this point you’ve gotten past me being dramatic and realize that me sleeping on my side is a real problem.

Enter the best invention ever: the boppy full-body pillow.  This thing is amazing!  I had a serious internal debate on whether to buy it, because it is pretty expensive.  I mean for $50 my pillow better come with some ice cream, oreos and diamonds stuffed inside.  But after reading the product reviews and talking to several girlfriends who used it and sang its praises, I decided it couldn’t hurt.  BOY am I glad I bought this thing.  So is Dan – I’m guessing he must have been tired of hearing me totally overreact about hoping I wasn’t killing the baby by sleeping on my stomach/back whine about not sleeping comfortably, because he didn’t even blink when I told him the price and that I was ordering.  Note to self: sometimes being dramatic/a total worry wart = winning.

When I first decided to write this post, I was SO EXCITED about it, because I had the brilliant idea that I would have Dan pose with the pillow to show you all of the different positions in which you can use the body pillow (for sleeping, duh).  However, being the dream killer responsible, negative nancy clear-headed (most of the time) half of our relationship, he politely refused after informing me that you can’t delete things off of the internet.  Needless to say, I was crushed.  I’m sure that you are, too, but perhaps picturing it your head like I do will make you giggle enough to suffice.  No?  Just me?  Oh well, maybe next time!  Anyway, here’s a picture of this miraculous invention in action (although this woman is clearly not a rule follwer, as she is sleeping on her right side!):

Photo courtesy of Maternity and Baby Shopping Mart

And here’s where you can buy it.  I got mine on Amazon, and there was free shipping, wahoo!

Leave me some love in the comments section and let me know your thoughts about product reviews.  Do you love them?  Hate them?  Want to see more of them?  Not really give a crap and could care less if I ever do another one?  TELL ME!

Prince Danny is out of town for the night, so it’s a girls night for Layla and me.  Macaroni and ice cream for dinner, snuggling on the couch and catching up on reality TV?  Sounds like a dream.

Happy Hump Day!

Sarah