Molly made Santas NICE list!

Dear Santa,

     Molly has been a very GOOD girl this year. Christmas Day will be special because Molly turns 19 months old! Here is a list of things Molly likes. I hope this list of affordable ideas will help you and other parents in the search for the perfect gifts this holiday season ;)

On the top of Molly's list is...

Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Songs Palace

Currently $21 off this great toy! Which claims : Introduce children to classic Disney Princesses with the Little People Includes 7 palace play areas Place any princess on the magical palace dance floor to hear her name, phrases, and a song Includes Cinderella and Snow White Toddler appropriate play features and adorable Little People styling

OR Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable

 Toddlers imaginations will grow with the Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable Includes Rapunzel and Maximus Girls will love watching Rapunzel and Maximus as they move down the ramp and around the corners all on their own Features two royal destinations - the Tower and the Stable Classic Disney Princess styling with Little People charm. Molly already has a few of these little princesses and you can use any of them for both of these sets. You also can by them in sets of 2 for$7. I think its a great way to start a Disney collection for your little one. 

As fun as it is to buy the toys kids really want,for me it is important to mix it some educational toys. Lately Molly has been interested in puzzles. So this next toy by Melissa & Doug (a favorite brand of ours) is great and is only $10! Not only is it something she is interested in, but it will help me with teaching her colors and shapes! I know shes a bit young to tell the time but it's never a bad thing to try and learn something new!

Another great option for only $10 is this finger paint set by Crayola-- PS. it says NO MESS-- that's a plus for parents! haha! I love doing tons of crafts and activities with molly, shes showing a lot of interest in coloring, so I am excited to introduce this finger paint set.



 The last gift on my list is the Little Helper Broom Set. This set was listed on "Amazon's Mom Picks 2014"-- and YES Momma knows best! Molly loves sweeping with our broom and even takes out the dust pan to help mommy. She will now have her own broom and can sweep along side me. I like this set for all kids because it helps with teaching them responsibility and light house hold chores. We have started getting Molly into a habit of cleaning up after herself. She throws away her own diaper and if she spills something she knows to clean or try to clean it up. This set is also just $10.

I hope you liked my picks and will share yours with me ;)  I'd love to know what your little ones are asking Santa for.  If you like any of my picks just click the picture and it will link you right to the page

Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and an even better NEW YEAR!

My toddler does my makeup!!!!

Mommy Scenario Tag

Breast Feeding Mommy Must Haves

Molly learning to sit with the help of her boppy!

I didn't have a lot of support in the beginning of my Breast feeding journey. There were a lot of things I had to figure out on my own. I didn't have anyone to turn to other then lactation specialist, google, and my husband. Lactation specialists can be your best friends. At least it feels that way in the beginning, you will be on the phone with them more then your actual BFF! Google can be your enemy! Googling things is great until you come across all of other peoples horror stories and worst case scenarios! Your one stop shop for all the best and most accurate info is kellymom.com even my doctor and lactation specialist told me about that site. It will help put your mind at ease. Husbands can be great to turn to, but they are helpless!! They don't mean to be but they really can't help you. They don't have milk squirting out of their chests after all! haha My husband was great at supporting my choices and trying his best to help me when I was frustrated and exhausted. He would run out and get me anything I needed.

 Here is a list of the items that worked best for me:

Medela Manual Pump- While I was waiting for my insurance to send me my pump I used a manual pump. When my milk came in I started to become so engorged that Molly couldn't latch properly. I used to hand pump to help relieve the pressure. Once I pumped some out Molly was able to latch better.

Medela Pump in Style- My insurance offered 3 brands of pumps. I chose this one simply based on my research and reccomendations from lactation consultants. I really loved it. It's very gentle and it gets the job done! It comes with everything you need including 4 ice packs to help keep your milk fresh when you are on the go. 

Medela Tender Care Lanolin- I did a review on this a few months back check it out here

Medela Disposable Breast Pads- you will definatly want some kind of breast pad!! Especially in the beginning, you will notice a lot of leaking. Breast pads are a must to avoid wet and stained shirts. Once I forgot my pads and went out to a huge family function and I leaked SOOO much I had no way to hide it. I am sure any brand will work, I have only used this brand but if you like another one let me know and I'll try it out.

Boppy Bare Naked Pillow- I love this pillow! It really helped me when trying to position Molly for feedings. I also used it for tummy time and to help catch her when she was learning to sit up. I had the cutest slip covers for it too. My favorite one was a lady bug design. It was just comfy and even being washed so many times it never faded or frayed. All the boppy products seem to be such great quality.

Nursing Bras- You will need a few options for accessible tops but a good bra is an absolute must! Its good to get a few different styles and colors.  I have at least 5 nursing bras, but my favorite is a racer back one my husband picked up for me. It's motherhood maternity and he got it in white. It doesn't go with everything because of the racer back style, but it is so comfortable and really makes me feel secure. It is also a little thicker material so if I ever forget my breast pads again it will hide the leaks!

I hope you found this helpful! I've linked you to all of these items below :)

I would love to hear from other mommas! Tell me what products are on your "must have" list.

  

August is Breast Feeding Awareness Month NOT Bash Other Mothers Month!

Some of you may or may not know that August is the month for Breast Feeding Awareness. I have been seeing some really great posts out there and some really horrible and mean ones! It is really sad to say that as women we can't just support one another. We are all on this journey of motherhood, and it's a hard journey! I am late to posting anything about Breastfeeding awareness month because of all of the negative I have been seeing. Not only has there been negative posts from non-breast feeders but some breast feeding mommas out there are completely rude and hurtful! How can we expect people to understand us and to normalize breast feeding when you're shoving it down their throat? To me it is completely unacceptable to treat anyone like they are beneath you. How dare we as mothers mock and judge someone for NOT breastfeeding? I am saddened by the number of comments I have read bashing bottle feeding and formula feeding mommas. Ladies, I am sorry to tell you that it just doesn't work that way. We need to support one another, as mothers. You can not demand respect if you are not going to give it.

I 100% support breast feeding and I feel that breast is best, but I refuse to make someone feel bad or less of a mother because they couldn't do it. Go back to the beginning of your breast feeding journey, remember how hard it was? Remember every time you have been judged? How did that feel? Not good! So please think before you put out something so hurtful!!!!

Breast may be best but it may not be for everyone, and that's OK! There are many reasons as to why someone may not breastfeed. We should support other peoples choices and not scare people away. Don't get me wrong I want to normalize breastfeeding just as much as most of you, but I also am a big supporter of supporting other mommas no matter how they choose to feed their child! 

With all that being said bottle/formula feeding mommas: I support you, all I ask in return is that you support me. I will not judge you so please do not judge me!  There is no greater love then that of a mother. There is no law that says a child is loved less by the way they are fed. As mothers and as women we need to stand together. I can only wish that the hate and judgement will stop.

Happy, healthy, and loved.

Tips for soothing Hand Foot Mouth

What the heck is Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease??!! My exact reaction a few months ago when hearing about friends kids contracting it!! Basically it is a viral infection that is WICKED contagious, and according to Molly's pedi they have been seeing an extraordinarily high number of kids with it this summer. It is mostly a summer condition, and targets children. It effects the little ones the most but adults can get it too!

The signs: Fever and blisters on hands, feet,and in and around the mouth. You may also see them in other places includin, inner thighs, bum, knees and nose.


Treatment: There really isnt anything that can be done for this other then trying your best to keep your baby as comfortable as possible because it is painful. The blisters in the mouth are the worst because it effects their eating habits. It is painful to swallow so often times they become dehydrated.

Here are the items that worked best for me: Aveeno Baby Soothing Bath Treatment-- I gave Molly an oatmeal bath 3 times a day and let her stay in just a diaper. It really helped when she was screaming in pain. She also had a hard time sleeping and after each bath she would be relaxed enough to fall asleep even if it was for a short while.
Motrin Infant Drops-- It helps with the fever and some of the discomfort. I noticed a change in her after a few minutes of taking her dosage. I used the 8 hr long lasting drops, but I did notice it starting to wear off around the 6 1/2 hour mark. I also switched to the dye-free because sometimes little ones like to spit! haha and its less messy!!!
Desitin Cream--Molly got some of the blisters on her bum, my usual diaper cream wasn't working. Our friend recommended desitin, so we picked some up and it works amazingly well.
Pedialyte-- It's always a good idea to keep this in stock when you have little ones. The painful blisters make it hard for them to suck a bottle and in molly's case breast. You do not want them to become dehydrated and end up in the ER!  My tip was to keep it extra cold and even freeze some. It's cold and soothing against the pain of the blisters. I also suggest keeping foods soft and cold. Molly did well with things like Sugar free jello, pudding, and ice creams. I also froze some of her yogurts and she loved it!

I highly recommend you keep these items on hand in your medicin cabinet at all times--not just for this but for any sickness that may go around. All of these items are multi-purpose and are just good to keep around. I hope this helps anyone else who gets hit with this nasty infection and don't forget the hand sanitizer!


You can find more info on hand, foot, mouth here

Review: Honest Company Diapers and Wipes

Okay! Here is my HONEST review of the Honest Company diapers and wipes.  I have always been very interesed in these diapers based on other reviews by Judy Travis (itsjudytime) and AprilAthena (apriljustintv). When it comes to mommy things they usually know whats up! So I finally decided to try it out. They offer a free trial on their products which is great, you just have to pay the shipping. The trial comes with 7 diapers and a trial pack of 10 wipes.

First of all, the diapers come in the most adorable designs for boys and girls and the trial came with an assortment. They let you pick the designs you like best if you decide to go with their bundles. Another plus is they claim to be "premium eco-friendly diapers" and we all could do a little more to help the environment right?

I took the diapers on a weekend trip to see how they would compare to my usual go to brand of PAMPERS.  I have to say, the absorbency is amazing! I found it to be a little bit more absorbent then the pampers swaddles, but non comparable to the pampers baby dry.  So far, I was loving them. Once it was time to change Molly's diaper I checked her skin for any reactions, and there was none. I took out the trial of wipes, and I wasn't too impressed. They were thinner, dryer, and a little rough compared to Pampers sensitive wipes. They were fine for number 1 but when it came to number 2,I found myself using more then i normally would, and they ran out quickly.

After changing Molly into the 2nd diaper, my enthusiasm for this brand started to dwindle. They kept falling off! No, they were not to big, but the Velcro tabs kept coming undone. A baby wearing a summer dress with her diaper just falling out the bottom was embarrassing. I put it back on and it just kept coming undone. I thought maybe that one was defective, so i changed her into another one. That one kept coming undone too! I was getting frustrated trying to figure out why that was happening, so I changed her again being super careful of how I put it on and sure enough that one kept coming undone too! Why are all these diapers not staying on? The first one didn't seem to have any issues. LIGHT BULB! I realized that while wearing the first one she was in her car seat for a long drive, for the others she was running around and wiggling and doing all things toddlers do. For me that just isn't going to work for me. I need something that will stay on and be able to move with her. I figure a lot of new time moms love them because newborns don't move like a 14 month old. I did a little more research and talked to some other moms and found i wasn't the only one having that issue.  So for now I will stick to my Pampers!

I had to call up Honest and cancel, because if you don't they will bill you and send you a bundle and your card will be charged $79. I explained my situation and the girl said that wasn't suppose to happen and there must have been some kind of defect. She did kindly offer to send me another trial which i declined. At this time I find it more effective and affordable to stay with Pampers.If I do decide to give the diapers another try TARGET carries them now, so I would just grab a pack from there. I am not completely opposed to trying other Honest products, in fact I have been hearing good things about their cleaning supplies. We are also in the very early stages of potty training, so maybe Honest training pants will also be an option for us.

Id love to hear other moms views on these brands. Did they work for you? Let me know below!

If you are interested in checking it out for yourself check out The Honest Company and get a free trial!
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