Mical's Must Have's for Baby's First Year

Well, we've made it through a year and a couple weeks with our sweet babe, and what an adventure it has been!  I'm sure all first-time parents say that ... and probably all second-time and third-time and so on parents as well.  Kids are so, so worth it, but man, they are a lot of work!!!!  I wouldn't trade our sweet Haddie girl for the world though, and I am so looking forward to meeting Baby #2 in a few months.

I've been thinking about this post for over three months ... it all started when I was putting away my portable changing table pad and thought ... "Mical's Must Have's for Baby's First Year!  It's gonna be a blog post, yo!" ... I thought something like that. ;)  So here it is ... a list of things I'm not sure how we would've lived without in raising Haddie this year.

Portable Baby Changing Table Pad

Umm, yeah.  This is a life-saver.  Thank you, Maggie Wade!  So many times I went out with Haddie this year, and although most places have changing tables, some places do not.  And it was such a blessing to have a safe place to lay my baby.  Get one of these, and all ya do is fold it up and stick it in the side pocket of your diaper bag, and it's super easy to wipe down too!

Exersaucer/Saucer

When I first bought this for $20 ... thank you very much! ... When I first bought this saucer, I thought, "What on earth is this thing?"  I bought it because I heard they were super nifty for helping your baby play by herself, but to look at these things, you might think, "Huh?"  But babies love them!  At least mine did.  It was so fun to watch Haddie learn how to play with the toys attached to this round, roly seat.  And on top of that, it's a safe place for her to play when I need to get some things done around the house.  Pair it with Baby Einstein, and you can call yourself one blessed AND spoiled mama!  Holla-lujah!  Haddie played in this while I cooked dinner and interacted with her.  She played in it (and slept in it) while watching Baby Einstein.  It's great for teaching independent play and for sustaining mama's sanity.  They can be pretty pricey, but if you can find one at a yard sale or on some local baby pages (I'll talk about those later), then do it!  You won't regret it! :)

Baby Einstein Videos

Our friends, Jared and Maggie, gave us a few Baby Einstein videos to try out when Haddie was pretty little.  I took them gladly and gave 'em a try.  The first 2-3 months, Haddie was just too small for these videos, but she started liking them more and more as she got older.  By 6 or 7 months, she was hooked and so was mama!  Haha!  Haddie got the whole collection for Christmas from my mom, and we use them every single day.  I'll admit that Haddie watches them too much, but ya know ... I don't feel guilty about that one bit.  I play with my baby, feed her, love her, read to her, keep her safe, teach her independent play, pray for her, rock her to sleep, call the doctor for her and take her to all her appointments, encourage her, comfort her, and make sacrifices for her everyday.  So a little Baby Einstein isn't gonna kill her ... and to be honest, it gives ME LIFE! :)  Haddie is a fabulous independent player; she is social; she is happy; she is smart; she is an explorer; she is learning from these videos.  And when she watches these videos, she allows me to get all kinds of stuff done.  These videos (along with her saucer and pack 'n play) have allowed me to spend extra time in prayer and Bible-reading, get the dishes done, put laundry in the washer/dryer, read a book, BREATHE, work at The Porch to provide extra needed money for our family without sending Haddie to daycare, write blog posts, take showers, have a few minutes to myself, and BREATHE some more.  I'm incredibly thankful for the creators of these videos and for Jared and Mags who gave us a few to try out!

Pack 'n Play

We have used our pack 'n play for pretty much all of Haddie's life.  This is the pack 'n play that we keep at my mom's cafe', but the one we have used at home this year has two levels built in ... one that zips up high in the pack 'n play for when Haddie was very tiny (under 15 pounds) ... she had lots of tummy time in here.  As she got older, we took the upper level out and just let her play on the "floor" level ... she STILL plays in the pack 'n play at The Porch on a daily basis.  It's a safe, contained space so that I can do office work or prep food at my mom's store.  I've also taken the pack 'n play with me to do house-cleaning jobs as well.  Couple it with some Baby Einstein, and you've got a safe and entertaining place for baby for as long as she'll stand it.

Baby Swing

We only used our swing for the first few months ... I think Haddie started enjoying it for short lengths of time around 6 or 7 weeks old ... all the way up until probably around 4 months old.  It was like a saucer for really tiny babies ... it was great for interacting with Haddie while I cooked dinner or got the dishes done.

Bumbo

Wow!  Again ... what a blessing this little guy has been.  We used this as Haddie's high chair until she was almost 8 months old.  Heck, she STILL uses it at The Porch everyday!  Our specific Bumbo has a tray that you snap on to create the high chair effect ... or you can just push it right up to the table.  And even at 25 pounds and over a year old, Haddie can still use it on a daily basis, so we keep the Bumbo at The Porch and the portable high chair at home.  It's a safe place for Haddie to sit and eat or play with toys while I eat or do housework in the same room with her.  I remember when Haddie was younger than 7 months, I would put her in the Bumbo up on the table top so that she could play with toys and stay occupied while I worked in the kitchen ... she liked being able to see everything I was doing.  A great alternative to a high chair ... or heck, use it AS your high chair for as long as possible!

Portable High Chair

This baby is an awesome upgrade from our Bumbo seat.  Sadly, we haven't thought to actually take it with us when we could've used it while out and about.  Imagine that ... taking a PORTABLE high chair out to a friend's house for dinner or on a weekend trip out of town ... ha ha!  Yeah, we never remember.  But!  If we were to remember, this high chair would be perfect! ;)  Haddie got this for Christmas from Darrell's parents and grandparents, and it has been a huge blessing.  She can sit in it for decent chunks of time, eating, drinking a bottle, playing, or watching Baby Einstein.

Little People (Or toy of your baby's choice)

If you can, find a toy (or toys) that your baby really likes.  We started collecting the Little People princesses and superheroes long before we even thought of having a baby just 'cause we think they're cool.  And when she was 6 or 7 months old, she started playing with these all the time and loved 'em.  We think she liked 'em so much because they were the perfect size for her hand ... yet big enough that we weren't afraid she'd choke on 'em (bonus!).  She carried them with her everywhere and played with them in her car seat.  Although she has started playing with toys that make noise or music or talk much more often, she still enjoys playing with her growing collection of Little People even now.

Pacifier

I think I've heard a bit of controversy about pacifiers.  I know we heard some while we were going to breastfeeding classes shortly before Haddie was born.  If you breastfeed your baby, I bet what they had to say about staying away from pacifiers made a lot of sense.  But since we chose not to breastfeed (and it was the best decision we could have made for EVERYONE, by the way ... again, an opinion under much controversy! ;)), pacifiers have been a must have for us.  When Haddie was really little she had no use for them, but once she started teething (and continues to do so!), pacifiers became one of her best friends.  I say read your kid's needs and be open to trying something out that may save you and your baby a lot of unnecessary tears and anguish.  Although we don't want her using a pacifier well past the age of 2, pacifiers have been a friend to our family over the past few months. :)

Local Baby Pages on Facebook

I saved my favorite for last!  Oh. My. Word!  I'm assuming that there are Facebook Baby/Mommy Pages anywhere you live ... at least I hope so!  These Facebook groups have been the greatest blessing to us as parents this past year.  We figured out pretty early on that Gerber Soothe worked best for Haddie, and once our Target gift cards ran out, we were able to save so much money by using these groups to buy and sell formula (along with other baby items).  Thank you, Justine Basye, for hooking me up with these pages!  You communicate with other moms in your area to buy, sell, and trade all kinds of baby stuff.  I wish I had thought to keep track of how much I saved on formula this past year because I was buying Gerber Soothe from other moms for 35 to 50/60% off what I could find in stores.  Formula is expensive, y'all!  So what a huge, huge blessing!

Any first-time moms out there reading my blog???  What are YOUR must haves for baby?  I'd love to know ... I've got another one on the way! ;)

Haddie's Favorite Books

Well, I've tried to post this blog post at least three times in the past couple of weeks.  Our daggone internet is horrible, and half the time it literally won't even bring up my blog home page.  Sometimes, I almost cry because I wanna be a "real blogger" so bad, and I've been making the time for it but can't get on.  And call me old-fashioned, but I just can't post too many posts from my phone ... the screen is just too small, and everything is more time-consuming.  Ha!  Anyways ... I think I can finally post this, so I'm so excited!

Over the past few months, Haddie has been developing a love for books.  At this stage, she mostly likes to eat them.  Haha!  But she does like to look at books with us, point at the pictures, hear the words and/or sounds. ... My friend, Emily, over at The Thought Spot shared a post like this with her daughter's favorite books a few months back, and I loved it.  So I am fully admitting that this blog post idea is totally stolen.  I don't think Emily will mind. ;)

My First Word Book is probably Haddie's absolute favorite.  It is full of colorful pictures with a single word describing several of the pictures on each page.  It teaches littles what specific objects, foods, animals, and so on are called.  Haddie especially likes the farm page because we make the animal noises ... she just laughs and laughs.

Haddie received this Peek-a-Boo book at her 9-month doctor's appointment, and she has loved it ever since.  It is such a cute, little book with baby faces and a few phrases.  The phrases correspond with the face each baby is making.  Haddie loves to interact with other babies and kids, so she giggles or yells with delight every time we open this book for her.  We keep this book in the car to help occupy her during car rides. ... She especially likes the little boy who is yawning ... haha!  So cute!

Haddie received this book, That's Not My Snowman, for Christmas from Gma (Darrell's grandma).  I am a huge fan of snowmen, so I think this book is a keeper.  It is a touch-and-feel book.  Haddie enjoys touching the different textures on each page, but I think the reason she likes this book so much is because she sees a cute, smiling snowman on each page.  We keep this one in her crib, along with other toys, so that she can play for awhile each morning before waking mommy up.  I recently found a chunk chewed out of the binding.  Nice, kid.  A little digested cardboard never hurt anyone, right? ;)

It's a good thing I'm not a real blogger because I can't figure out how to crop this picture to make the book sit upright.  Oh, well. ... This Fisher-Price Colors book is one that Haddie will hand to me to read over and over again in one sitting.  She loves pointing to the animals, food, and objects and hearing the names of each.  One side of each page is a color; the other side of the page has a picture of an animal, food, or object that is the same color.  Super simple.  Super great for teaching littles their colors.  This is one, as you can see, that Haddie has eaten the binding off of; it is literally falling apart.  Haha!

Yeah.  Same story.  How do I crop this thing? ... This Fisher-Price counting book is so cute.  Littles only learn how to count to five, but hey, they aren't anywhere close to preschool yet, so I say, that's awesome!  Each page has cute, little animals (the number of which corresponds to the number being learned ... imagine that!) and a rhyming question asking how many animals are found on each page.  Haddie likes both the animals and the rhyming.  She also likes the fact that we make up silly stories for each page a lot the time instead of reading the actually text.

I can't wait for her next set of favorite books ... heck, I can't wait for the day when she stops EATING her books!  Haha! ... Which books do your kids like?  Let's cultivate reading minds in our children, shall we?  It can only help, right? :)

Lessons in Bottle Feeding

I've been meaning to write a short blurb about a lesson I've learned in feeding my daughter.  Almost every time Haddie starts to get hungry, she starts gnawing on her hand.  When she's really hungry, she will stuff half her fist in her mouth, gag herself, make grunting and sucking noises, and just plain gnaw the life outta that little hand of hers.  Ha!  I love it!  She's so funny.  If mama takes too long to get the bottle in her mouth, she'll start crying and get red in the face. ... We've chosen to formula feed, and if you use formula, you know how quick and easy it is.  It literally takes 30 seconds or so to measure out some water, scoop out the formula, and shake it.  It's wonderful stuff.  But in that little bit of time, Haddie can get so worked up.  Most of the time, she does alright ... she's a pretty laid back and happy baby.  But there are times when she freaks out a bit when she doesn't get her bottle right when she wants it.  But I get it to her as soon as I can, and many times, I find myself saying something to her like, "There ya go ... see, Haddie, mama's takin' care of you.  You're alright."

One time, a handful of weeks ago, I was saying something like this to her, and it made me think of the way we are with God.  He knows exactly what we need when we need it.  He always provides for us.  He is so faithful.  He always has been; He always will be.  We get so bent out of shape over things here on this earth.  We want what we want now, and if we don't get it, we're gonna throw a fit about it.  We worry and get upset, but in the end, God takes care of us.  Can't you hear Him now?  He's saying, "There ya go ... see, (fill in your name), Daddy's gotcha taken care of.  I'm right here.  I've got it.  Just trust Me."

So just know ... that whatever you're facing today ... God's got it.  So don't let your face get too red about it, okay? ;)

Well, she's awake again!  See you guys later!