anything that makes nursing easier is a good thing

I've been assembling my Most-Used Baby Items. Breastfeeding needed it's own category.

Most of my memories of this past year revolve around nursing in some way, so these items were crucial. And, apparently, August 1st-7th is World Breastfeeding Week - perfect timing!

1. Of course you must get a Boppy. 8-12 times a day you'll be assuming the same position for roughly half an hour. Invest in a nursing pillow. Your arms and your back will thank you. Have fun with all of the cool covers they have, and get something that will make you smile every time you see it. The Boppy is for you, so who cares if it matches your baby's room.

2. If you're pumping regularly not having a pumping bustier is NOT an option. I thought my month-long horrible back pain was birth related, but as soon as I switched to hands-free pumping it melted away. And it turned a chore into "Mommy's 15 minutes of alone magazine time." Awesome.

3. These are my nursing pad pick. They're nearly the least expensive, and they don't leave weird crinkle marks through your shirt.

4. Yoga pants are more of a post-partum item than a nursing necessity, but they're very important, so here they are. You will wear these every day, especially if you had a c-section. Kohls are my favorite; they don't stretch out at the knees.

5. I switched a hairband back and forth on my wrists to remember which boob started last. It was simple, and it worked for me.

6. I didn't invest in a lot of actual nursing wear, but I might do so next time. This shirt (in black) from Motherhood was great for days when I would need to nurse in public. I felt great in it, and with the two layers it provided so much coverage I almost didn't need a nursing cover. I would recommend this drape neck style nursing top much more than the cross-over. The cross-overs tend to pull awkwardly across your belly which is NOT a look that any postpartum woman is after.

7. The Nursing Mother's Companion was very helpful, and I consulted it many, many times. I really liked that it just got right down to business and didn't spend a lot of time talking about all of the reasons one should breastfeed. I always knew I would, so I just needed a clear, concise manual. This was it. (If you're planning on pumping long term check out their section on pumps first. She reviews nearly every pump available which would be really helpful before making such a big purchase.)

8. Finally, go out right now and buy 10 of these nursing bra tanks. This link is for Motherhood's version, but nearly any department store carries them.


You might notice that I have no recommendations for nursing bras or nursing covers. That's cause I wasn't 100% satisfied with the ones I had. I made my nursing cover from this tutorial by Little Birdie Secrets, and it turned out really cute. But I'm just not sure how I feel about the covers with the neck strap. It just feels like you're wearing a giant bib. Next time I might try to make one of these from Coterie.

I'm still on the look out for a comfortable nursing bra. Maybe they just don't exist. : /

Stay tuned for my favorite baby Pinterest projects! And my rules for postpartum wear were pretty cool too. ; )

advice from the vast experience of a one-year mom

Baby girl is thiiiiis close to walking on her own. The baby stage is nearly over! We've had so much fun getting to know this feisty little toddler. Here's a look back at some of my most-used baby items. Hope this helps all you future mamas and papas out there!

1. We are HUGE fans of the Gerber Graduates Rest Easy Spoons. They're shaped more like spatulas, and they have a nice, flat edge, perfect for wiping food off your baby's face. Zach calls it "shaving". ; ) Plus, they have a built in spoon rest so the mouth end doesn't sit on the counter if you have to lay it down for a sec.

2. Our very, very best purchase (well, registry choice) was the Munchkin Nursery Projector & Sound System. She never took a pacifier and never got attached to a blankie or stuffed animal, so this is her comfort item. Anywhere the sound machine is can be home to her. It's crazy, even now, when I'm putting her to bed we'll close the door, turn off the lights, and as soon as I turn on her sound machine she immediately relaxes and lays her head on my shoulder. It's Pavlov's dog at this point, and I am totally okay with that. I am starting to turn the volume down so we can eventually wean her off of it. I don't want her to be the wierdo who shows up to college with her sound machine. ; )

3. She loved to be swaddled, and these little SwaddleMe pods were great. Next time I'll get a few more since she pooped through these on a nightly basis at the beginning. I was not very happy with this kind which were supposed to be for newborns. You couldn't make it any tighter, and she would always wiggle her hands out the top.

4. Bourdreaux's Butt Paste. The hype is real. This stuff is magic.

5. Saline nose drops. She only got two little half-colds all year, but each time these drops worked really well for her. It's scary putting your little one to bed in their own room when their nose is all stuffy. A combination of saline drops, a good humidifier, and a bulb syringe helped clear her out and keep her breathing comfortably all night.

6. I highly recommend having some sort of jumper. We borrowed this Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo, and Jaina loved it. I liked that it functioned as both a jumper and an exersaucer, so we didn't need both. Baby toys are such an assault on the eyes, so I vowed to only ever have one out at a time. Remember this video of Jaina jumping her heart out? She was a big fan.

7. One of my biggest pieces of advice is to put down that frilly dress (or that little man vest) and buy a bunch of sleepers instead. Babies don't go to work or school. Chances are, if you're a stay-at-home-mom, you're not going much of anywhere. There is no need to dress your baby in real clothes every day. I ended up just changing her into a different sleeper every 24 hours. They're cute and cuddly, and you don't have to worry about keeping socks on in the winter. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of fun dressing her up when it's time to go out. I'm just saying you'll get a lot more use out of your sleepers.

8. Ikea's Antilop Highchair = the cheapest highchair in the world! At just $25 with the tray it's a no-brainer. It's not an assault on the eyes, and it's easy to wipe down a bajillion times a day. Also, the legs click off pretty easily so it's not bad to take on vacation and such.

9. The play gym. I was so positive that this was a superfluous item that I refused to register for it. I was gonna set out my grandma's quilt, give her some toys, and she was gonna be just fine. Well, within a few months I was wishing for something, anything, to dangle toys right in her reach so I could wash a dish or put some clothes in the dryer. Zach even set a chair over top of our daughter with some toys hooked to the crossbars for a while (do NOT try this in a home full of other kiddos!). We finally gave in and got one very similar to this Infantino Twist and Fold Activity Gym. It folds up small to take to grandma's, and if you throw a towel over it it's great for shade outside.

10. Bumbos are cute cause you can make your three-month-old sit up in them, but it actually saved us a lot of money cause we were able to use it as her feeding chair for quite a while (instead of an expensive highchair). Again, it wipes down easily and transports well.

11. Finally, SAVE THE BULB SYRINGE FROM THE HOSPITAL. They're the best.

I have a whole separate list of my favorite nursing gear AND a list of my most-used baby Pinterest projects. Tune in next week for those.

None of these companies are sponsoring me in in any way. This is just me dishin' to my girls.

texas and the approximately three pictures i took while there

Last weekend I went on a girls' trip to Dallas. We visited some dear friends, got to stay in their cool house, went shopping, went flea marketing, and stayed up late every night. And I decided to bring an 11-month-old.

It wasn't one of my better decisions, but since she's still nursing it was either stay home or take her along. She did so well, but when you travel with a baby everything is about her. You can't talk to people while you eat, while you're driving around, or while you're walking places. Every bit of your mind space is occupied by naps and mealtimes.

I had intended to do a big Texas Trip Recap complete with full itinerary and lots of pictures, but the whole taking pictures whilst making sure your baby doesn't pass out from heat exhaustion thing didn't quite work out. The few that I did get turned out really cute, though, so enjoy!

 Three out of four flights she fell sound asleep during takeoff. 

And I even managed to have my Kindle within arms reach. Score!

We got a whole row of seats to ourselves. Woohoo!

Always say yes to the pack of peanuts, even if you don't want them. They make the best baby toys.

First Monday Flea Market in Canton, TX. It got HOT. 

Her look says it all.

 Someone learned how to say "dog" on this trip. Though it sounds more like "dah, dah."

Finally fitting into the cute strawberry suit from Miss Kari!

First time going swimming! Just what we needed after a hot day.

Best nachos of my life from Fuzzy's Taco Shop, with a delicious cactus pear margarita on the side!

Thanks, "Uncle Larry", for staying with Jaina that night and the next. I actually remember those meals!

Can't believe this is the ONLY picture I got from our Dallas by Chocolate tour!

I bought these beautiful French macarons from Rush Patisserie. They were pistachio, raspberry, and lavender flavored. I always thought macarons were cookies with cream, but they're actually like little meringues. Very light. Here are the other stops from our tour:

Two Corks and Bottle: a wine bar where he gave us a sort of wine/food pairing 101

CocoAndre Chocolatier: a traditional chocolate shop with lots of cool chocolate molds

Some other place I forget, probably cause it wasn't that great

Dude, Sweet Chocolate: sort of an avant garde chocolate shop. You've gotta check out some of the flavors on their site. Some of them are totally out there, like chocolate with bleu cheese and sea salt. Sounds awful, but it's all so good. I brought home some chocolate fudge with Peruvian coffee which sounds boring, but it's probably the best chocolate of my life. I'm trying to savor it.

Thanks, so much, Larry and Tamaron for hosting us! And thanks, ladies, for putting up with me when I was grumpy about taking care of a baby. I guess I'm still a rookie mom. I definitely learned a lot, and am excited to go back when I don't have a little one in tow!

the icing on the lamp

Over a year ago I shared one of my most labor-intensive projects. I took one of those cheapy college lamps with the bowl on top and wrap-wrap-wrapped it in jute (or hemp, maybe?) string. You can read about it here.

 Just say no to bowl lamps.

It took forever, and I was really happy with what it did for the body of the lamp. But in the end I was stuck with a lovingly hand-wrapped lamp.... with a yucky plastic bowl on top.

Well, that. has. been. rectified.

 Laaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

Ka-blaam!!!!

Booyah!!!

Hello!!!!

I found this beautiful Ikat shade online at Target a while ago. Check out how much it looks like this shade I've been oogling on Etsy for forever. (The Etsy shade is no longer available, but it was by a seller named StudioJOTA. I'm pretty sure it was around $70!)

 Crazy, right?

Before I could order it, the site said it was no longer available online, only in stores. I went to go get it, and it wasn't there. So bummed! I would check the lamp section every time we were in Target, and they only had the tan version. (It was pretty, but not with our tan walls.)

Then, one time I cruised through the rest of the home section, and there it was with some stools and picture frames! Yippee! Now all my hard work on that lamp is worth it. It looks pretty snazzy. Now we just need some equally snazzy artwork for above the TV.

At home, snug in the corner. We need as much light as we can get in this cave of a living room!

Featured in Thrifty Decor Chick's Little Thing's Link-Up.  

family shopping day and my husband: the ikea champ

Whew! Back after nearly two weeks. Zach's schedule gave him a lot of daytime hours at home last week, and we were enjoying some great family time. We also went to our favorite store, Ikea!

 

We're becoming pros at the Ikea cafeteria. I used a tiered tray cart for hands-free food selection, we got Zach free coffee with our Ikea Family Pass, and we snagged our free jar of baby food. I saw on the way out that there were paper bibs that said Ikea on them. Next time.

This girl loves her daddy so much.

Ikea Swedish Meatballs

Whatever, haters. They're delicious.

Ikea shopping is fun cause Zach genuinely likes it. Ladies, you know how it is to shop with a guy who is not enjoying himself, even if he's trying really hard. We had so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures. I need to get better at that. You can't be a blogger and not take pictures during shopping trips. ; )

I sat right down in the outdoor furniture and fed Jaina while Zach went to hunt and gather our loot. 

After checking out and sharing a frozen yoghurt, Zach went out to get the van. He came back with a really serious face, and I freaked out cause I thought he locked in the keys.

"We brought the car."

"Yeah?.... I don't get it."

"We brought.... the car."

We brought our our little Pontiac to pick up two six-foot-high shelving units. (My former retail coworkers are rolling their eyes at me, I'm sure.) But my MacGyver husband came through for us, and within a few minutes we were loaded up and on our way.

Impressive, no?

Thanks hubby, for driving us, fitting everything in, for putting the furniture together, and for being on board with what I wanted to do in the living room. Baby, you're the greatest.

Update on our shopping finds soon. I'm so stoked about all of it!