Need a Teether?

Check out what we got for Jovie:

The company name is Vulli. It’s a French company and this thing is suppose to be safe for babies. No BPA, Poly-whatever, etc. This thing squeeks. In a way it’s like a baby doggy toy. It’s soft and rubbery (you can smell it too). Jovie loves it. The loves chewing on that top loop. If you Google Vulli you’ll get all sorts of stores selling this. We got ours from Diapers.com.

Now, reading the reviews some people got turned off by the squeeker. Makes it JUST like a doggy toy. But ya know babies love noises and so far she’s too little to really get into squeeking. If it get too annoying we’ll tell her to stop but the dogs squeek too so another squeeker for us will be ok.

Compare to the other teether this is a lot chewier and it’s probably why Jovie loves it. Now this is suppose to be a Christmas present but I’ve been letting her knaw on it — what do they know, right? {::SMILES}

Food and Diapers

I don’t know if it’s cause Jovie’s our 2nd child or if it’s all the sickness in the household or us being occupied with moving or just plain forgot but I forgot to make a 6 months well baby appointment for Jovie. We do have one now but it’ll be a 7 months appointment instead. Oh well, better late than never, right?

It’s 6.5 months now and Jovie’s been eating tons of food: veggies, fruits, and rice/oatmeal, that I make (although the oatmeal I buy because the commercial ones has extra iron). I still go by the book, Super Baby Food, I had when our first was first eating and the Wholesome Baby Food website. She loves each one and just like her sister not so into sweets. Last month Jovie had pretty bad constipation and since then I’ve been regularly giving her fruits mixed with her rice/oatmeal + veggies. So far so good! In a little bit we’re going to do chicken liver. We love liver and so it’s not something terrible but I know a lot are turned off by things like that. We love to eat and we eat anything and so liver’s no big deal. Liver has a nice iron content which babies need more of starting at 6-7 months of age.

Which oatmeal have I been using? I’ve been using Gerber’s, Earth’s Best, and Happy Baby. Taste… Gerber and Earth’s on its own is just ok. Mixed with veggies + fruits and sometimes rice the taste gets better. Happy Baby is yummy by itself and yummier with the different mix. Container… Gerber is the worst, the spout doesn’t close well. The Earth’s Best hubby hates because oatmeal flakes would go everywhere. Happy Baby seems to be the cleanest and easiest to store. There’s no chance of bugs getting into the container because it has a lid top. Our favorite? Happy Baby because not only does it taste good and the container is better than the rest Happy Baby is the only one that has probiotic and DHA in it. Yes it’s a bit more compare to the other two but if you can you’d give your baby the best, right?

Diapering… We’re still using Nature’s Baby and gDiapers but we’ve moved it up a notch in terms of green living. We… or I should say I cause hubby wants nothing to do with it… have added cloth inserts to our diapering system. gDiaper now offers cloth inserts and I’m also using BumGenius’s inserts and they work very well with the gDiaper outers. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle the BMs but so far they haven’t been bad. Jovie’s #2 are not like they were when she was just months old. They’re more solid and with the help of some liners, cleaning have been a breeze. Since I only cloth diaper part-time (Jovie goes to daycare) I only bought 6 gDiaper outers and 12 inserts (6 gCloth and 6 BumGenius). The outer part doesn’t get dirty and so I’ll use it a few times a day. The plastic insert I’ll rinse off after every change and they dry so quickly (you can buy extra from the gDiaper site) and we haven’t done any extra load either. I’ll just rinse, wring, and air dry and it’ll go into the regular laundry. We do a load every other day anyways and I’ll throw the diapers in with whatever color and they still look nice.

Overall we love our diapering choices and so far our average monthly diaper expenses have been around $50. I know cause we buy all our stuff from Diapers.com: 3 Nature’s Baby diapers #2 and Earth’s Best wipes.

I Actually Had a Baby :)

Yes yes, Jovia Therese came right on her due date. I have two due date babies!!! My midwife said that only 6% or something like that babies come right on their due dates. She was amazed that I have two of them!!!

Well, Jovie’s doing AWESOME and today I want to share what has made our 3-months oh so nice.

1. The Miracle Blanket. This thing IS a miracle!!! Jovie never really like the blanket swaddle. She’d be so mad but she does like the swaddle concept. She’s always slept better when swaddled. My friend told me of this thing and it’s the best $30 we’ve ever spent! Once swaddled she’d take to the crib just like that and now I can even lay her down in her crib wide awake and she’d go right to sleep on her own soon after. SWEEEEEET!
2. The Boppy. This and the blanket combo makes Jovie sleep from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Talk about good night sleep at 2.5 months!!
3. The Beco carrier. Not only is it gorgeous, it’s comfy too. Jovie loves loves loves this thing. She’d sit and look around and if it’s a longer ride, she’d eventually fall asleep and stay asleep for quite some while. She loves napping inside there. I’ve also gotten a lot of compliments on how pretty it is. Hey, can’t beat functional and stylish!
4. The products I mentioned in the last post. They are AWESOME! The changing pad is so easy to clean. Nursing babies are so messy. I can’t imagine having a pad with a cloth cover on it. I’d be washing that thing every day!! The California baby butt cream, despite its price it is so worth it. You only need a tiny bit and it works like magic. Jovie had signs of a butt rash and I’d put that thing on and the next morning they’re gone. Three months later and I use it here and there and the bottle still looks like new… you really just need a tiny bit! The Mustela nipple cream. Again, it’s a bit more but two days and bye bye blisters. It was bad!! Jovie had problems latching on and I was in pain but Mustela saved me!

Well, that’s that for now. Next post… the gDiaper and Nature Babycare diaper review.

Baby Tote

No, it’s for reals and I think I’ll try one: Eurotote.

Been looking at strollers more and I think we’ll go for the Joovy. It’s a lot cheaper than the Phil & Ted and seems like people are a lot happier with it than the Phil. We’ll see though.

Baby… still nameless

In Search of THE Baby Carrier

I think it’s obvious why us humans are given (on average) 40 weeks to have a baby. It’ll take that long to decide which baby carrier to buy!! M would say, “Serious, mommy?” and I’d say, “Yes, I am very serious, for reals!!!” I thought the diapers and the strollers would be overwhelming. Get yourself into a baby carrier forum (yes, there is such a thing and this place is BUSY!) and you’d be aching for two dosage of migraine meds.

Growing up I had a piece of cloth, usually made from Batik, that I would wrap around my sister (we’re 10 years apart). That thing was a pain. One end tucks under the piece that goes around your shoulder and if you don’t do it right (some women are really good at it but the then 10-year-old me wasn’t), the wrap will come loose. You’ll never drop the baby (at least I never did), but you’d find yourself redoing the “tie” many times and going hands-free seemed impossible. On top of that, it wasn’t very comfortable. The shoulder where the “tie” is will eventually hurt and the weight wasn’t evenly distributed. If my parents intentions were to punish me while carrying my sister then missions accomplished!

When M was a baby I went through two carriers. Both were BabyBjorn-ish and both I did not like because they both hurt my back. Now, in the process of finding a replacement, I am faced with: stretchy or stiffer, knit or woven, loose or fitted, soft or scratchier, ring or ringless, solids or patterned fabric, baby’s age, and more. Choosing a baby carrier seems more confusing than buying a car!!!!!

To get the process going I eliminated all the ring ones. This is just a more clever version of the Indonesian tying system that I used. Then I got stuck withthe full blown wrapping, the little bit in between, and the structured type (just buckle ‘em in). Since I have no intention of carrying my kid around after he/she is one it doesn’t matter if the carrier will last me until he/she is 35 lbs. There is no way I’d be hauling a 20 lb-er for more than 15 minutes!!! So here are a few of my favorites (the patterns are going to make it really difficult to choose!!!):

• Storchenwiege wrap: It’s organic, woven, lovely colors, and shorter in size
• Moby/Sleepy Wrap: A wrap style and both seems quite snug for baby, seems hard tho
• Mei Tai/Eden: The only thing hubby said he’d wear and seems quicker and easier than above
• Beco/Pikkolo: It’s structured so the easiest of them all

Some Videos:

• Storchenwiege
• Moby
• Mei Tai
• Beco

I love the wrap idea but I’m a bit intimidated by it. I’m just trying to picture myself, in a parking lot, trying to put my wrap on. Picture me in the rain or terrible Missouri winter OR tripping over the wrap while running into the store with M and baby — eek! I think I am liking the Mai Tei idea since baby can also nurse (somehow) although the Beco/Pikkolo is more familiar to me. Based on the make, Storchenwiege and Beco would be my top pick. The first is made in Germany and the second is by a mom in the U.S.A. With the economy the way it is, it’d make perfect sense to purchase a Beco. For tonight (and this is the longest I’ve spent on this) this is enough thinking and researching. I’m carriered out!!!!

Let’s Talk About Strollers…

I didn’t have anything else better to do today than look at strollers. I wasn’t sure why and I am still not sure if we need one. It’s not like we’re having our first child but at the same time I do not like our baby stroller. For M we got one of those SUV strollers aka the travel system. Dumb dumb dumb!!! It was a waste of space (unless you want a huge shopping cart), really! The best part… it only lasted six months!!! Unless you get one of these puppies for free, don’t buy one!

We still have our (huge) stroller. It’s still nice. We didn’t have the Tazmanian Devil as a kid and we did ONLY use it for six months. But I am debating on getting another one… just debating. Why? Well…

1. We have a lazy ass for a first kid and don’t want to push two strollers
2. The old stroller takes up a lot of our RAV4’s trunk space
3. Just selfishly hate the old stroller

Why am I (hubby doesn’t care less… he’s a guy) having a hard time deciding?

1. We already have one
2. Our lazy ass kid should be encouraged (or forced) to walk more
3. Strollers (or nice ones) are so dang expensive
4. I can’t friggin decide on which… I am too much of a maximizer!!!

So after looking I came upon these options…

1. Phil & Ted: 2-in-1, sleep to up-right and M can be spoiled still
2. Maclaren Easy Traveller: M can use her Volo and later purchase a Triumph
3. Joovy Ultralight: Can use carseat and M can ride on it too

Some videos:

1. Phil & Ted
2. Joovy

As always I am unconsciously attracted to the most expensive piece (although I managed to say no to the Bugaboo, Micralite, and other more expensive brands although they are oooooh soooo nice!!!). But the MacLaren seems to make more sense since we’re hoping M will be a tough cookie by the time baby comes along. Right now she’d happily walk but fifteen minutes later she’d ask to be carried or ride in her stroller again. If we force her to keep walking she will but don’t expect us anytime soon.

Which oh which should we get or IF we should get one. I guess it all depends on how M is in a few months… But, dad is not looking forward to carrying her IF she decided, half way through the zoo, that she’s tired. M was carried through the Alps and she was only three and that took dad’s breath away… and mine from laughing my ass off (my husband is very entertaining when he’s not happy). It also depends on how I feel about spending the $$. Hubby said, “If it cost $.05 each time to shit you’d puke.” How sweet, huh? I am not a tightwad… just very good with managing our finances. The economy’s a bit rough right now… who knows, maybe in a few months I might not have a job or maybe only get paid half as much.

If you accidently stumble upon my post and you’re bored and have a suggestion or two or three, please feel free to comment.

The Diaper Dilemma

It was almost five years ago since we had a baby and things change. But, despite all the changes, one thing is still the same, they all poop.

My research brought me to this blog: MamaStories and her review of green diapers (which by the way, doesn’t make the decision making any easier).

So, based on our research, we’re going to try out the gDiapers and Nature Babycare. Both we can purchase locally, or close enough, and online (both can be purchased at diapers.com – read the reviews, quite a bit of them… of course with the usual likes and dislikes of each users). gDiapers inserts and starter kits are sold at Babies’R'Us and Nature Babycare can be found at a store in Lees Summit. We’re going to try the g’s in the daytime and naty’s at night. At this point I am going to close my eyes on where and how these diapers were made. I don’t want to start calculating how much CO2 and fossil fuel each diapers emitted and used in its creation and which forest it butchered. Right now I’m just going to take the manufacturer’s words, that these diapers were from sustainable forest and created with the earth and also the baby’s safety in mind. Maybe in a few months, but not now.