Look at this cool rocket!
Showing posts with label Gadgets for Wee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gadgets for Wee. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2012
Toys!
I have been eying these French toys from Janod forever. This might be the year to jump at them!
Look at this cool rocket!
or how 'bout this plane?
and I really love this bakery. They have something there similar as a vegetable stand too!
Look at this cool rocket!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Favorite Items
Hi friends!
I'd promised to do a post about some of my favorite baby products we've used...the things we've found to be essential in the care of our little ones. Because it's just me here all day, I don't have a chance to gather photos of each thing...I'm sorry for that. But, I figure a list is better than nothing!
1. Some sort of stroller:
With Little P we used an Orbit stroller and car seat combo. We loved it!! But, the bucket seat is EXTREMELY heavy. Nonetheless, we loved it and it even glided through the sand at the beach no problem.
Now, we are using a Joovy Caboose...it's a "stroller and a half" where it fits Noah's bucket seat (a borrowed Graco EasyRide) and has a place for Paige to stand in back. She may also choose to use the little seat it has. It seems uncomfortable for her, but she always likes to sit and doesn't seem to mind. I like that Paige has the option to ride as well, but the stroller isn't as large as a double stroller. It's so easy to open and close too. But, I've found it doesn't glide through the sand at our local beach/pond as easily. Can't have it all!
2. Baby Carrier: I LOVE the Ergo baby carrier. You can choose to hold baby to the front, hip, or back. The down side is that it really is more convenient when the baby is 5 months old and up...so his hips can go to either side of the carrier. There's a way for him to ride inside at a younger age if you use an infant insert. This option has worked out fine, but I prefer to use the Baby Bjorn for these early months. It's just easier to get him in and out at this size. So, we'll use this until he gets much bigger, then it will be the Ergo.
3. Crib: Neither kiddo used a bassinet or anything else. The first night was all about the crib and learning that this is where sleep happens. It's worked out great!
4. Baby Monitor: If you have a larger house and feel the need, we love our Sony 900 MHz BabyCall Nursery Monitor with Receivers. It's not a video monitor (I don't need more to obsess over) and the sound is crystal clear. It's never had any problem with reception and is never "fuzzy sounding." We keep one receiver downstairs so we can listen in the evenings, and one stays in our bedroom.
5. Sound Machine: We live within decent earshot of a freight train that has a different daily schedule. Day or night, I don't need it waking up the kiddos. So, they each sleep with white noise. We LOVE the Brookstone Tranquil Moments Sound Machine for Baby. The quality is absolute and the sound options are great (there's even a "mother's heartbeat" and a "car" option!)
6. Miracle Blanket. I didn't use one with Paige until her 6 week fussies set in. It made all the difference and saved our lives. We used them with Noah from the start and he's never had problems with night-time fussiness and he is sleeping through the night now at under 3 months old. He naps well too. I would say that having 3 is a good number...one to wash and a backup in case of spit ups or blow-outs. Never want to be caught without!
7. Bouncy seat with vibration: You need a place to lay the baby, and perhaps a place that has little toys when the baby is older and more interested. I like the soothing vibration option from time to time...some babies love it, some don't. They even make small swings that also vibrate and act as a bouncy seat in a small footprint! Great for having all the options when you aren't sure what baby will prefer.
8. A place for tummy time:
We use a Fisher Price rainforest theme playmat/Gym. Paige LOVED it and still does at almost 3! She fights Noah for it. LOL! Noah likes to lay there and do his tummy time and flip over to look at the toys. It's a nice place for entertaining.
9. Bottles: We use the Dr. Brown brand. Less gas, more parts to clean, but overall we've loved them.
10.High Chair: We love the Graco Blossom 4-in-1 High Chair. It serves you from the infant months all the way through to the young child years. It even comes apart to be a travel chair! Paige is currently using the booster portion, but we can still rig up the high chair portion for Noah when he's ready. Great if you have a roomy kitchen and plans for more than one child. If not, we like the Phil & Ted clip on chair. It's easy to use, you can take it with you everywhere (love it at restaurants!) and you can throw it in the wash. Part of me is considering just using this option for Noah, but we'll see what happens.
So, these have been our essentials. Don't forget to add a crap-load of bibs and kitchen-towel sized burp cloths (or larger! we like to use those little receiving blankets) and you're good to go!
I'll do my next post about my favorite "baby care" books. I've read a ton and have it narrowed down to my favorites that I still look at again and again and would recommend to every new parent or expecting parent.
I'd promised to do a post about some of my favorite baby products we've used...the things we've found to be essential in the care of our little ones. Because it's just me here all day, I don't have a chance to gather photos of each thing...I'm sorry for that. But, I figure a list is better than nothing!
1. Some sort of stroller:
With Little P we used an Orbit stroller and car seat combo. We loved it!! But, the bucket seat is EXTREMELY heavy. Nonetheless, we loved it and it even glided through the sand at the beach no problem.
Now, we are using a Joovy Caboose...it's a "stroller and a half" where it fits Noah's bucket seat (a borrowed Graco EasyRide) and has a place for Paige to stand in back. She may also choose to use the little seat it has. It seems uncomfortable for her, but she always likes to sit and doesn't seem to mind. I like that Paige has the option to ride as well, but the stroller isn't as large as a double stroller. It's so easy to open and close too. But, I've found it doesn't glide through the sand at our local beach/pond as easily. Can't have it all!
2. Baby Carrier: I LOVE the Ergo baby carrier. You can choose to hold baby to the front, hip, or back. The down side is that it really is more convenient when the baby is 5 months old and up...so his hips can go to either side of the carrier. There's a way for him to ride inside at a younger age if you use an infant insert. This option has worked out fine, but I prefer to use the Baby Bjorn for these early months. It's just easier to get him in and out at this size. So, we'll use this until he gets much bigger, then it will be the Ergo.
3. Crib: Neither kiddo used a bassinet or anything else. The first night was all about the crib and learning that this is where sleep happens. It's worked out great!
4. Baby Monitor: If you have a larger house and feel the need, we love our Sony 900 MHz BabyCall Nursery Monitor with Receivers. It's not a video monitor (I don't need more to obsess over) and the sound is crystal clear. It's never had any problem with reception and is never "fuzzy sounding." We keep one receiver downstairs so we can listen in the evenings, and one stays in our bedroom.
5. Sound Machine: We live within decent earshot of a freight train that has a different daily schedule. Day or night, I don't need it waking up the kiddos. So, they each sleep with white noise. We LOVE the Brookstone Tranquil Moments Sound Machine for Baby. The quality is absolute and the sound options are great (there's even a "mother's heartbeat" and a "car" option!)
6. Miracle Blanket. I didn't use one with Paige until her 6 week fussies set in. It made all the difference and saved our lives. We used them with Noah from the start and he's never had problems with night-time fussiness and he is sleeping through the night now at under 3 months old. He naps well too. I would say that having 3 is a good number...one to wash and a backup in case of spit ups or blow-outs. Never want to be caught without!
7. Bouncy seat with vibration: You need a place to lay the baby, and perhaps a place that has little toys when the baby is older and more interested. I like the soothing vibration option from time to time...some babies love it, some don't. They even make small swings that also vibrate and act as a bouncy seat in a small footprint! Great for having all the options when you aren't sure what baby will prefer.
8. A place for tummy time:
We use a Fisher Price rainforest theme playmat/Gym. Paige LOVED it and still does at almost 3! She fights Noah for it. LOL! Noah likes to lay there and do his tummy time and flip over to look at the toys. It's a nice place for entertaining.
9. Bottles: We use the Dr. Brown brand. Less gas, more parts to clean, but overall we've loved them.
10.High Chair: We love the Graco Blossom 4-in-1 High Chair. It serves you from the infant months all the way through to the young child years. It even comes apart to be a travel chair! Paige is currently using the booster portion, but we can still rig up the high chair portion for Noah when he's ready. Great if you have a roomy kitchen and plans for more than one child. If not, we like the Phil & Ted clip on chair. It's easy to use, you can take it with you everywhere (love it at restaurants!) and you can throw it in the wash. Part of me is considering just using this option for Noah, but we'll see what happens.
So, these have been our essentials. Don't forget to add a crap-load of bibs and kitchen-towel sized burp cloths (or larger! we like to use those little receiving blankets) and you're good to go!
I'll do my next post about my favorite "baby care" books. I've read a ton and have it narrowed down to my favorites that I still look at again and again and would recommend to every new parent or expecting parent.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Dollie
Hi!
Meet Dollie...
She is Paige's much loved special toy that she takes with her to bed and everywhere else. We have 2 Dollies...one for upstairs and one for down (the downstairs one also tends to go in the diaper bag with us). They often cross paths, to Paige's delight. Sometimes both of them go to bed with her. It's great that one can go into the wash while the other one gets to hang out; they can get AWFULLY stinky and gross. I'm already wishing we had a third. I just wanted to document her favorite toy for the sake of posterity. Thanks for taking the time to meet her!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Play Kitchen
Here is her new play apron made from vintage 50's fabric. I got it from Etsy seller Gagie Pagie Pudding Pie (appropriately named I think!!). You can see it on her in the photo below the text in this post.
I thought I'd take this chance to show you the new play kitchen that Paige's grandparents gifted her for Christmas. Most of her gifts from us were kitchen-related. She's a little young yet to fully do the whole "pretend" thing, but she's starting. I figure she will keep growing into it. For now, she likes to lift the sink out and throw toys down underneath to hide them. She also will stir her imagined soup in the pot. She keeps pushing the burner buttons on and off while also pouring with her little metal tea kettle. This particular play kitchen is from Ikea and seemed to be the most affordable option out there and I also happened to aesthetically like it the best. It has everything I thought a play kitchen should...including little burners that light up. There's plenty of storage and the simple design matches many decors. Another cool thing is that the legs adjust and it can raise up even higher when she is older. Yay! As you can see, I added hooks to the sides to store cleaning implements and her apron/kitchen cloth. I wanted to install actual metal fixtures for this, but it felt like overkill when the time came to set it up. The simple hooks are functional and easy and are also removable since they are that sticky pull-off material. As my bloggie friend Lor mentioned in the comments in an earlier post, the magnets that hold the cabinets shut are VERY strong. Paige has a hard time opening them; so a few layers of masking tape over them allows for the magnets to work much more gently. When she's older I can just remove the tape. Easy-peasy! So, that's the play kitchen "review." We love it!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Paper fun
Hey there!
We added another fun activity to our day: playing in paper! I have taken all the tissue paper hanging around from gifts, etc. and have crinkled it up loosely and put it on the floor in a pile for Paige to play in. I've yet to take a photo of it.
I've also found interesting bags made of different kinds of crinkly-sounding plastics...I cut them up into pieces (so they aren't bags anymore) and added them to the pile. She loves to crawl/slither through it and feel the different sensations in her hands. She sits in the pile and just looks all around. Much like playing in the fall leaves! And when she's done, I just gather them all up and store them in a bag. Save your papers from holiday time; it will be all the more fun for the little ones to rip and crinkle with well after the season. And, as always, I doubt it is ever safe to leave a child unattended with these materials, so be sure to keep your watchful eye on alert!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Activities
Hey there!
Hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was splendid as we spent most of it babysitting our 20-month old niece. She was such a sweetie and a bundle of energy! It was amazing to realize Paige will be doing all those things in another year. We even managed to get an impromptu picture of Paige with Santa Claus while getting some shopping done yesterday. There was no line to see Santa and we thought: What the heck? So, we have a great cliche photo of Paige staring at the camera with the classic "deer in the headlights" expression as Santa smiles away. She happened to have on her red and cream deer/winter sweater on so she looked very "holiday." It's her first Christmas, so I felt the need to indulge in the Santa experience; especially when there was no line to suffer in!
I was thinking about all the activities I do to keep Paige occupied during the day ...or the fact that I need to think of more (I wrote about this in an earlier post) for when we don't have Mommy group or errands and I came up with new ideas to add to my arsenal! The activities I've done with my 6-month old have been: looking at books and reading them aloud, playing WITH Paige and her toys, allowing her to play with her toys alone, letting Paige slither all around the living room rug (her version of crawling so far), jumping and playing with the toys on her Jumperoo, going for walks, singing songs/nursery rhymes like Itsy Bitsy Spider and others where I make up arm movements to keep her interested, Baby Einstein DVD watching, time for standing while I hold her waist, time for sitting up while I guard her from falling (LOTS of time doing this lately), time in front of the mirror where I make funny faces and entertain her, trying new foods, going around the house as I point out and name things, and today I've added "Dance Party" where I play Jack Johnson music or other fun music that I dance all around the room while holding her. I swing her left and right and we fly in a circle and I dip her ballroom dance style. It's a great workout for me and fun for her. So, we do that for a bunch of songs.
And I found this fabulous website called KneeBouncers that offers a whole bunch of games for infants to play...they just involve baby sitting in your lap and they hit any old button on the keyboard to make things happen on the screen. There are lots of different "games" that are basically cause and effect since something fun happens when baby hits a key. When I've done all other options, I do this with Paige and she really enjoys seeing the bright colors and cute animations/sounds. Find the website here. Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A Miracle!
Hi friends!
Little P. turned 3 weeks yesterday! Awww. :)
She celebrated by waking up Monday night at 1:30 am and didn't calm, settle, or go back to sleep that night. Nor did she nap all day yesterday. By the time my husband got home I mentioned that I was considering stabbing myself in the eye. Not really, but I said it. I'd tried everything to soothe her and she calmed, but just would NOT sleep and every time I put her down she would SCREAM herself to tears (she's now making tears and it's so sad...big fat ones...so that makes it even worse) and she could barely breathe. She's much too young to be allowed to "cry it out" so I'd pick her right back up and try something else. THANK SWEET BABY JESUS that my 2 Miracle Blankets arrived in the mail by the end of the day yesterday. I promptly washed them and last night, Chris swaddled her in one to get her ready for bed. He said she fussed for about 5 minutes and then zonked out. Well my friends, she slept from about 10:00 or so until 3:30 in the morning. Holy Crap! Since I'd gone to bed at 7:00 it meant a ton of sleep for me. HEAVEN!!! I got her up to eat and then she slept another 2 hours. She snoozed this morning, but it was fitful. After most of this morning, she was starting to get tired and fussy and she hadn't napped yet. So, I wrapped her up and she is out cold again! She's completely still and asleep as I write this. I hate to jinx it, but this blanket has been a miracle already! Let's hope the trend continues. I'd heard about it before, but didn't really think much of it until Paige got into her fussy fits. Then, I saw THIS POST on Lyndsay's blog and was immediately sold! I rushed to the Miracle Blanket website and read all the testimonials and doctors' comments and decided to buy 2 of them right then and there. After a few torturous days of waiting, those blankets were my savior yesterday! Oh Miracle Blanket, you gave me a night of rest. You gave me time to myself today during her nap. You have a special place in my heart now! I can't recommend it enough and suggest that every new mother have at least one ready to go for when her baby fusses . It's like magic! You can get one here.
This video shows the blanket in action but it's not my movie. Sorry for the "sales" post. I swear I'm not getting paid for it. I just had to sing its praises while I'm in the throes of blissful wakefulness. I'll be back soon with some photo cuteness!
Little P. turned 3 weeks yesterday! Awww. :)
She celebrated by waking up Monday night at 1:30 am and didn't calm, settle, or go back to sleep that night. Nor did she nap all day yesterday. By the time my husband got home I mentioned that I was considering stabbing myself in the eye. Not really, but I said it. I'd tried everything to soothe her and she calmed, but just would NOT sleep and every time I put her down she would SCREAM herself to tears (she's now making tears and it's so sad...big fat ones...so that makes it even worse) and she could barely breathe. She's much too young to be allowed to "cry it out" so I'd pick her right back up and try something else. THANK SWEET BABY JESUS that my 2 Miracle Blankets arrived in the mail by the end of the day yesterday. I promptly washed them and last night, Chris swaddled her in one to get her ready for bed. He said she fussed for about 5 minutes and then zonked out. Well my friends, she slept from about 10:00 or so until 3:30 in the morning. Holy Crap! Since I'd gone to bed at 7:00 it meant a ton of sleep for me. HEAVEN!!! I got her up to eat and then she slept another 2 hours. She snoozed this morning, but it was fitful. After most of this morning, she was starting to get tired and fussy and she hadn't napped yet. So, I wrapped her up and she is out cold again! She's completely still and asleep as I write this. I hate to jinx it, but this blanket has been a miracle already! Let's hope the trend continues. I'd heard about it before, but didn't really think much of it until Paige got into her fussy fits. Then, I saw THIS POST on Lyndsay's blog and was immediately sold! I rushed to the Miracle Blanket website and read all the testimonials and doctors' comments and decided to buy 2 of them right then and there. After a few torturous days of waiting, those blankets were my savior yesterday! Oh Miracle Blanket, you gave me a night of rest. You gave me time to myself today during her nap. You have a special place in my heart now! I can't recommend it enough and suggest that every new mother have at least one ready to go for when her baby fusses . It's like magic! You can get one here.
This video shows the blanket in action but it's not my movie. Sorry for the "sales" post. I swear I'm not getting paid for it. I just had to sing its praises while I'm in the throes of blissful wakefulness. I'll be back soon with some photo cuteness!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The first purchase
So...I'm going to share with you my very first baby-related purchase (as I promised yesterday). It's more for me, as I'd said, but I'm getting more brave toward the idea of getting things JUST for baby. I'm really waiting for after I know if we are having a boy or girl. Anyway, it's a diaper bag by OiOi called the "Giraffe Tote." You can find it here.Yes, it was a big splurge. But I figure it will get a ton of use and after over a year and a half of researching diaper bags (during each pregnancy) this was the only one that screamed "I'm YOURS!" to me. I wanted to truly love the look of the bag and I wanted to make sure it came with everything it needed while still being stylish. It fit the bill and is now mine. Mind you, I've NEVER owned anything with an animal print on it. But, for some reason, this reads more as a general pattern for me. I know the look is not for everyone, but I was thrilled to find it. It's made of a tough canvas material and the inner liner is waterproof. The bag comes with changing pad, insulated bottle holder, wipes case, and dirty duds pouch. It also features little straps you can attach as loops that can affix to a stroller. You can see OiOi's other diaper bags/collections and products HERE. All images were pulled from BabyCenter.com's online store. The svelte blonde model is also obviously not me. I'm sure the baby isn't hers either. :)
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