Top Ten

Here are 10 of my favorite baby products. I don't like clutter and "stuff", and even if I did, we don't have room for it. We tried to get away with as little as possible. We never bought a baby swing because they take out so much space. We also never had an infant car seat, just a convertible.

In the first months, we did without a pack and play, baby monitor and stroller. Because of his hip dysplasia, we eventually bought both. My dad also bought me a monitor when he came to visit. The pack and play is now stored again. I also now have a stroller I LOVE. Anyway, here are my top ten, in no specific order.

                      

1. Smartphone: I can not imagine surviving the long nights and breastfeeding without one. Also, having an easy way to take a picture and share it online right away. Now that I track how much Andrew eats, poops, meds, etc. Baby ESP is a great app. 2. SwaddleMe: Andrew liked being swaddled, he slept better. These worked out great even when he was in the spica cast and the rhino hip brace, we only swaddled his upper body then. 3. Bumgenius Cloth Diapers: My favorite type of cloth diaper so far. 4. Boppy Pillow: great for breastfeeding. He also liked sleeping in it, with a blanket over it when he was in the spica cast. 5. Baby ComfyNose: The concept may seem gross to some, but you will quickly get over it once you see how great it works. I use it a lot! So worth it. 6. Ergo Performance: I couldn't decide which carrier to choose because I'm really loving the Boba now too. It took a while for Andrew to like the Ergo, but now he is totally fine in both. Super must have!

7. Marpac White Noise Generator: I wish we would have gotten this sooner. At first we were using a cell phone app, but I noticed the sound loop, which was super annoying. While the Marpac is not visually pretty,  it works very well. Combine with #2 and bam! Hopefully these 2 little gadgets will help your baby sleep better. 8. Fisher Price Rocker: I thought this was a good alternative to a baby swing. This is another thing Andrew slept in when he had his surgeries. It's lightweight, so it can be easily moved from one room to another. We keep this in the kitchen. I put him in this when I need to take a shower, I just bring it to where I can see him. 9. Activity Gym: This is the only "big" toy we had, it was a gift. He really enjoyed it. I recently packed it away. He fell asleep while playing in it many times. 10. Bumbo: Because of Andrew's special needs, this was the only thing I could use to get him in a sitting position (when he wasn't in the cast or brace). We keep this in our car now, to use when we eat out, since he can't really sit in their high chairs. 

Others items that I also like and didn't make it to the top ten are: Boon Grass Drying rack, waterproof crib pads, baby monitor and night lights. I hope this is useful to someone :)

Love, Andrew

Our appointment at the hospital for his upper gi is tomorrow. Wish us luck! Lily had an a vet visit yesterday and she is doing great! She is getting her teeth cleaned though. Also, prints are now in the shop, I'm not done listing all of them though, so check back soon :)

Let's Catch up!

We had a quiet Christmas just the three of us, grandma was sick. Here's a cute picture since I haven't update my blog since then. It felt like Andrew's first Christmas to us :)

Andrew is sitting for longer periods of time now, but he still doesn't catch himself when he falls. We are working on it. The helmet is off! He outgrew it. I don't really see a big difference, which is disappointing. He is just developing very slowly, so he didn't progress much.

We had a few months of bad spitting up and vomiting. His GI put him on Zantac for now and it has really helped. No more vomiting. He's having an upper gi done next week, so we can see if there is anything going on. We also went to a really nice ENT. I'm trying a nasal spray for the congestion he always has. He also has fluid in his ears, we might look into getting tubes.

His surgery for the pin removal from his hip is scheduled for March 9th. I'm nervous and anxious. I hope the recovery is easy and that he isn't in too much pain. I'm mostly afraid of the news they might give us on how his hips are doing. I'm praying for good news.

His first tooth finally broke through this week! At almost 15 months old. Also, thanks to GetPumped, I have enough breastmilk to give Andrew for a few weeks. He also eats a bit of oatmeal in the mornings with pureed fruits and veggies. I also started giving him PediaSmart. He is still not interested in real food.

Mike moved to a cool new office. They have a whole building to themselves. They also grill almost everyday for lunch, so lucky! The bad thing about the new office is having just one car. I drop him off in the morning if I need the car that day. He is also very much into video games lately...oh and politics :S

I finally have more mommy friends and regular playdates, which makes me very happy! I've been having a few Etsy sales lately. I want to introduce prints of my paintings soon. I've also been making flower felt hair clips, but haven't had time to add them to my shop. I recently cut my hair the shortest I've ever had it. I had to buy an iron, because I don't like the way my curls are behaving. 

I will try to update more often so my posts aren't super long. I also need to take more pictures with my "big" camera. Speaking of photos, there are A LOT of mommy photographers around. I would like to take photos of events or parties. I took some of our babywearing anniversary playdate and everyone loved them. Hopefully I'll have the chance to do it more often, maybe for a small fee? 

First Family Portraits

Here's a few of my favorite shots. Taken by Brianna Forster. These were taken in Winter Park on Andrew's birthday, November 13th, 2011.

One of my new year resolutions is to save money, which I'm always doing for one thing or another. I want to have at least one professional shoot done with my little family each year.

November works great because it's around Andrew's birthday and I can use those pictures to send out Christmas cards! Which is what I did last year with these photos :)

I found great (and free!) Christmas card templates on Pinterest. Check them out here: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/freestuff/

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Special thanks to everyone that shared our special day with us!