When to change the nursery?

I absolutely LOVE Collins' nursery. Its seriously my favorite room in the house. I remember going through maybe a million different nurserys on pinterest and project nursery and having the hardest time trying to figure out what I wanted to incorporate into our nursery. After blowing up Justins phone with way to many a lot of pictures I finally picked what I actually wanted to use, and fell in love with the end result.

 

This was honestly the hardest part... who knes wall decals were such a pain in the ass?

 

 

This is from the day we got all of the furniture in... the shelves are full of books and crap now :)

We also had the changing pad on the top of the dresser (under the hutch part) and have now taken it off since we dont use it to change her anymore.  So as much as I love the nursery Im trying to decide at what point we change it? I know we wont convert her crib into a toddler bed for another year or so but I still feel like we should change some parts of it into more of a "big girl" toddler room.  Ok so maybe I am mainly pushing for this because i HATE the dresser in her room and am trying to convince Justin we need one with more drawers/ storage becuse the one we have just isnt working!  Im thinking something like this would work

but if we do that (and get rid of the hutch) we will obviosly need somewhere for books and other "display" items we have out now. 
Im thinking...
#1

 or #2

However I cant decide if we should go ahead and do all this (before converting her bed) or if it will be a waste and Ill want to change things one we convert her bed again?!  Either way it going to take a lot of begging convincing since we still cant get her to sleep in the crib in her room an entire night. 

It hurts! (And other things you never hear before baby is born)

I got this text from one of my pregnant friends this morning....

So I figured I'd make a post for all my first time momma to be's! I get that it should be common sense that giving birth hurts, I mean your pushing a human out of you but for some reason you never hear anyone talk about it, or about any of the other sucky parts. What You do hear is "once you see your baby you forget all the pain" and shit like that. Now I'm not saying seeing Collins for the first time wasn't the best minute of my life but that minute didn't make it any easier trying to pee, sit down, or walk for the next month.  The truth is it HURTS.. bad.  I luckily had benadryl during my entire 18 hour labor due to uncontrollable itching so I was kind of sleepy once I was actually pushing.  I do however remember my nurse kept telling me "Only 2 more pushes" (multiple times to which I finally responded-- Just stop saying that shit. you have said 2 more pushed 10 **** times) and what REALLY pissed me off was her saying "Your doing good pushing but push down here"  (I finally responded "I can only push one way stop telling me to ******** push somewhere different!")  So yes the actual birth part hurts but honestly in my opinion the next few weeks hurt worse.  I cried everytime I had to pee for at least 2 weeks after giving birth, went through at least 5 packs of pads, and will never understand how in the hell people get pregnant 6 weeks after giving birth (or 6months honestly).   Here are some things that the new momma needs when she gets home to help make things a LITTLE easier.

1. They give you this spray for after the baby and it REALLY helps! It's the same stuff you use for sunburns. I would go ahead and have a few bottles at your house before you go to the hospital... running out of the bottle from the hospital when you get home and sending your hubs to get some is the longest grocery/ drug store run of your life. 

2.  This spray bottle or whatever its called.. is AMAZINGGGGGG.  All you do is fill it with warm water and use it when your peeing or anything and it makes everything feel a million times better.

3. Yes maxi pads.  I know you figured your would never use one of these again after 8th grade but SUPRISE. your going to bleed.. a lot.. for a long while.  They told me clots were fine as long as they are smaller than an egg.  Yep an egg... an egg size clot is HUGE however so is something half the size of an egg. I went through what felt like 20 packs of maxi pads but just know it will stop.

4. Belly band- this is great for getting your belly back down! I wish I would have known this before Collins was born! I had to order mine a week or two after she was born so I recommend having it In your bag for the hospital!

These are just things I wish I would have at least been prepared for so hopefully I've helped prepare all my prego friends!

Preparing for March

I can not believe my little girl is 11 months old today.  Im officially depressed that this is the last "monthly" birthday. Time needs to slow the hell down! Collins has started to have such her own little personality now and is so much fun to be with.  Shes walking to get to where she wants to go now more than crawling, loves to shaker her head no, and still has her own screwy sleep schedule.  Justin and I were so pumped when Collins was a newborn and an AMAZING sleeper.  However fastforward to 7 months and I dont know what happened but the girl can not make up her mind about where, when, or how long to sleep.  The only constant in her sleep schedule is she will NOT ever, EVER sleep past 645.  Not happening.  and if she makes it to 645 were lucky.  Its a good thing I dont require much sleep either!

March is going to be such a busy month for us! We have My cousing baby shower for baby Hayden, then Alissas baby shower in Nashville for miss Emmeline, St. Patricks day, BABY GIRLS 1st BIRTHDAY, and then Easter.  Not to mention working so Im trying to go ahead and get started on things so im not running around last minute stressed out (which I am sure will happen anyways).  This morning I went ahead and ordered a lot of her Easter stuff since I have a feeling that will be what sneaks up on me since Ill be busy with everything else. Valentines snuck up on me and I ended up at buybuybaby at 9pm on the 13th.   So im trying to go ahead and have Easter in the works.  There is so much cute stuff.. and then all the cute My First Easter stuff makes me want to cry because it will be the 1st not her 1st holiday (if that makes since).  Since her bithday is the week before Im not buying many toys for easter becuase Im sure our house will be full of them!

1. Bashful Bunny- Grey

2.Basket (same as last year)

3.Easter Socks

4.Snow Rabbit Spring Rabbit

5. Mud Pie outfit for our Easter pics with Meredith Rowlen

6.Aden+Anis hooded bath towel- baby girl needs a new bigger towel!

7.Dress & Cardigan

8.straw sippy cup- really why not try another? Its cute spring colors too

9.Tiny Toms- These are my favorite baby shoes! so dang cute!

Ready for spring...

The weather here has completly sucked the past few days.  Non stop cold rain, or just being cold is no kind of weather for an extremly grumpy/ active almost 1 year old  10 month old. (Im not ready to say 1 year old yet)  With all the rainy weather we have pretty much been staying inside and doing more hard core 1st birthday party planning, crafting, or going shopping. 

Have I mentioned that I have a HORRIBLE addiction to baby gap, zulily, and (the worst) swim suits for Collins.  When I say my swim suit addiction is bad...I bought 3 the day we found out we were having a girl.  So since about september of last year have been starting this seasons swim suit collection for Collins.  Heres what I have so far.

Most are from baby gap and the others are target, oldnavy, and zulily.

Yes 10 and its only Febuary.. I guess I understand why justin rolls his eyes everytime I show him a new one I have just bought.  Oh well..the girl needs her summer style!

The birthday planning is going good...except for one thing.  Im honestly not sure if pinterest is such a good idea.  There are just SO many fun/cute ideas thats its really hard to decide which ones to use.  I had this same problem when I was plannins our nursery.  So many cute ones to choose from with so many different colors schemes, decor, and ideas that it is way overwhelming!  As much as I love pinterest thank God it wasnt around when I was planning our wedding! Im not sure if I could have ever decided on anything!!  So back to the birthday, I have printed the invitations...

How cute?! I actually bought these blank at michaels (in the clearance isle!!) and printed them myself.  I tried to explain to Justin that I had just saved us 50-75$ but he didnt seem too immpressed.  I think its because he doesnt consider it "saving us money" when its not something I really had to spend money on, such a mans way of thinking.  I got the idea for the invites from spearmintbaby and fell in love with her invites! beyond the invited I am just trying to decide what else I want to do for the party. I do know I am in search of an old wooden high chair! If anyone has one please let me know.  I have seen some on CL but they are all 70$ and up and I honestly see no point in throwing away that money. 

 

We also celebrated Collins' first valentines day this year and had amazing valentines pictures taken by Meredith Rowlen.  We have used her for all of our pictures of Collins and I honestly done think you can find a more amazing photographer.  She is amazing with newborns and can also snap good pics of little ones that are impossible to make sit down ( like Collins).  Here are a few pics from our photo shoot...

adorable.. I know ;) 

Collins is now walking EVERYWHERE, non stop. Its so fun watching her grow and how her personality has changed! I got so sad right before valentines day because now St. Patrick’s Day will be her last 1st holiday..! The good new is we will be in Nashville that day to celebrate my best friend Alissa's baby that is Due in June! Alissa is having a girl also so I cant wait for them to grow up together!

Well I just got home from a long day of work so Im going to hit the bead and get ready to do it all over again tomorrow.  

What I Now Know About Carseats

One thing that is a huge impact on my thought & opinions is I am a nurse in a trauma & burn ICU and a pediatric emergency dept. With that said I’m sure it wont come to a surprise that I am not a fan of dirt bikes, motorcycles, guns, trains, or any other motorized injury mechanism. I have seen more than most people could even imagine happening and I’ve seen it in the worst ways. As crazy over protective as I am it really surprised me how uneducated I was on car seat safety. The lack of education given to parents is absolutely insane to me in regards to car seat safety. I consider myself a good mom who read the books and did things right through my pregnancy. I look at the safety of products for Collins, bought her a helmet at 6months in case of Alabama tornado weather, and still don’t put her on her stomach to sleep. (she rolls onto it now her self but I still obey the rules.. "Back to sleep") With that said after being in a face book group Car Seats For The Littles with Child Passenger Safety Techs (CTST) I have realized how scarily unsafe I have been and had NO knowledge of it.

I will say before I go into my PERSONAL opinions/ recommendations they are just that.. MY opinions & recommendations (I am in no way an expert) and YOU should always research your car, your car seat, and both owners manuals YOUR SELF. These are general guidelines and some great advice that I have learned through stalking the face book group and researching my self.

The first seat we started with was an infant seat. These are the car seats that you can take out of the base and pop into your stroller when you still have a tiny baby. I recommend one of these in the beginning because when Collins was asleep in the car on the way to shop or whatever I would have hated having to actually un buckle her and wake her up to put her in her stroller instead of just popping the car seat onto the stroller. Most of the infant car seats will go up to 35lbs or around 32". Notice that is 15lbs OVER what most people think is when you should turn your baby forward!! (most people think 1years old OR 20lbs). The AAP's latest recommendations for rear facing are minimum 2 year. The key word of that is MINIMUM. You don’t want to do the minimum for your child in any other aspects why do the minimum when it comes to safety? That is the last place where I would be wanting to do the least. We used the Safety 1st onboard air 35 and loved it. I liked the gender neutral black so we can reuse it if we have another baby (and it is not expired!) We also only got one infant car seat. I saw no point in buying 2 when I knew we would need two convertibles in a year or so. We bought 1 seat and 2 bases and would just pop it in/ out!

Some convertible car seats can also be used when you have a newborn however, you will not be able to pop the seat out of the base and into a stroller. Although our infant car seat goes to 35 lbs we transitioned to a convertible around 9 months because Collins was not a fan of the "bucket" position the infant car seats have. A convertible car seat can be used rear facing ( most to around 40 lbs.. some more some less) and then can be swapped to forward facing. I am not even going to begin to get into all of the different convertible car seats and their high/ low points because that would be a blog on its own (if you do have any questions email me or leave a comment and Ill let you know what I have learned). You can also join that face book group I posted earlier.. they are FANSASTIC, or you can always go here to find a tech in your area that can help! We bought the Safety 1st complete air 35 for our convertible seat and LOVE it! When picking out a convertible one just make sure you consider if your child has been on the taller/ heavier side to try to find the options that have higher weight/ height maximums.

Here are some important points you may not know:

1. NOTHING should be in your car that your would not throw at your babies head at 30mph. Scary huh? But if you are in a crash objects in your car become "projectile" and can really harm your child if they hit them. That includes strapping your babies sippy cup to your seat.

2. Do not attach anything to your seat. This includes the cute strap covers you see everywhere, the bars/ toys sold to go on the car seats, and the cute bundle me blankets.

3. DO NOT use the seat belt & LATCH system when your install your car seat. I feel horrible knowing Justin and I did this for the first 5 months of Collins' life. Yes it seems safer but in reality it is NOT!! This is in EVERY manual however if your husband installed your seat without either of you reading the manual I would go check :)

4. Nothing under the car seat. Including the seat covers/ protectors you will see sold everywhere. These make your car seat less effective. You can put a thin receiving blanket or something like that under the seat if you are really worried about it but your car seat is not going to ruin your car.

Now I know how long people keep their kids rear facing is always an argument, just like breast feeding or not, day care or not, vaccines or not and so forth. However all you have to do is watch a few videos showing you the impact/ injuries caused by both and I am pretty sure you will wanna put them rear facing.

 

What we love...Months 1-3

Beyond what you register for and get at showers you will realize really quick you need more stuff (ok in my case its want most of the time).  Here are some things we found helpful for  months 1-3.

1. wubbanub-  I CAN NOT believe I forgot this in my registry list because this has been by our side since the day Collins was born!  I know they say not to use a paccifire if you plan on breastfeeding but we did and she was still able to breast feed.  It depends on your little one I guess.  We LOVE LOVE LOVE our wubbanub- so much he has a name.  Meet George (we got sick of saying Wheres the wubbanub so now we can just ask about George).  These come in so many cute animals-- we now also have an elephant, duck, and dog.  These help so much when the pacci wont stay in their mouths becuase the animals help and
then when they get to where they can actually try putting the paci in its a lot easier to find.

2. Serenity Star- this was also on my registry post but it is great.  I didnt get it until after I had quit breastfeeding but it would have been so nice having this to use for remembering what side you last fed on.

3.MamaRoo

4. Medela Pump in style

5.Activity/tummy time mat- You wont use the "activity" part really this young but if you go ahead and get this kind that also comes with the tummy time pillow or whatever. 

**Keep in mind if your child HATES tummy time and only screams the only time they will still end up rolling over and crawling.  We still tried tummy time just bc all the books say to but Collins hated it and wouldnt last longer than 1 minute.**

6.Boppy Lounger

7.Summer Infant By Your Side Sleeper- This is great for breastfeeding those early days because you dont have to get up for feedings you can just pick up your pumpkin right beside you but it has the metal surounding it so you wont be too scared you will roll over on them.

8.Swaddle blankets- Initally we used the blankets from the hospital because the aden + anis ones are kind of big but after about a month the aden and anis ones were my favorite becuase they get super tight. 

**Also when your little one gets a little older and starts being able to kick their arms and feet out of the swaddle check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaB63OMf-sU it is an AMAZING way to keep swaddleing a little longer (aka keeps sleeping a little better longer)**

9.Bumbo

10.My Breast Friend

11.Chicco Fun Travel Activity Nest- I forgot this on the registry list but this was our life saver for Collins' first summer.  We could bring this by the pool and she would sleep in it or play with the toys.  She loved it and it kept her out of the sun! We also brought it with us to the beach when she was around 5 months and it also worked great. 12. 4moms faucet cover- this comes in the 4moms bath I mentioned earlier but INCASE you chose to get a different bath this faucet cover is a life saver for telling you the temp of the bath water!! It's scary hot hot water is that doesn't feel too hot!!
It also works as a teething toy in our house?! Whatever works right?