I have no idea where to begin on buying shoes for Jonathan. He doesn’t need them anytime in the near future. However, I am an online window shopper and have found there are so many choices out there!
What are your favorite brands and why?
I’m sure he’ll have a pair of Sperry’s at some point! (image via Stride Rite)
Location: K’aanipali Beach Club, Maui
Setting: Evening time on the beach. Off in the distance the sun was setting between the islands of Molokai and Lanai
What happened? My very best friend asked me to marry him!
I will never forget that day! We spent the entire day, just the two of us. We explored around the island a little, did a little shopping, and then went to dinner. I will never forget feeling like we were going to drive off the side of a cliff as we were looking for the blow hole. The road was barely one lane, winding up the side of a mountain…with two way traffic! We were in an SUV, not a small car. I had my head between my legs, trying not to throw up! We decided to ask the man selling smoothies out of an old school bus for directions!
Then there were the goobers who stood OVER the blowhole! We headed back, but did a little shopping before going to dinner. Apparently Joe thought he would throw up during dinner because of the nerves.
Afterwards, he took me out onto the beach. The sun was setting off in the distance, between the islands of Lanai and Molokai. He got down on one knee, said some really sweet things to me, and asked me to be his wife!
And of course I said YES!
I’m glad we decided to take the plunge into marriage instead of the plunge off the cliff!
Love you Joe!
Last Friday I had the opportunity to go to one of the many consignment sales the Raleigh area has each year. Consignment shopping is the way to go for at least a portion of Jonathan’s wardrobe! 
On the left, a sweater vest and pair of pants with heringbone pattern from Baby Gap. I’m not 100% sold on the vest, but love the pants. On the right, an outfit from Janie and Jack.
Brand new outfits with the original tags still attached! Left, an outfit for next year from Baby Gap. The right is a lightweight Disney sweater jacket that will work perfectly for those breezy Autumn days & evenings.
Left: Madras jacket for next spring, The Children’s Place. Right: Janie & Jack khakis, Baby Gap & Tommy Hilfiger long sleeve dress shirts and Polo Ralph Lauren short sleeve dress shirt.
Left: OshKosh shoes that are practically brand new. Right: Puzzle of the United States of America, with the capital under each piece. I think this will be helpful in teaching Jonathan some geography early on!
3 outfits, 2 coats, 3 dress shirts, 1 pair of pants, pair of shoes, and a puzzle for $57. Its more than I anticipated spending, but I think I got some really high quality clothing items for fairly good deals!
There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to cloth diaper once Jonathan was born. Since I’d be a stay at home mom and we’d be losing one income, I wanted to do everything I could to help save money. That was my first reasoning. As I did more reading and searching, I realized there were more benefits to cloth diapering than just saving money. One of those was that cloth diapered babies tend to potty train faster. A great plus in my opinion! They’re also REALLY cute!
Sure, cleaning poopy diapers isn’t fun. In fact I recently had a huge blowout in one that got ALL over the carpet and rugs. But, I would rather scrub floors than use disposables all the time.
There are times that I don’t cloth diaper- when Jonathan is staying with others, when we’re going to be out for extended periods of time, and when we’re out-of-town. Plus, you don’t want to use cloth when you’re treating diaper rash with zinc oxide or when your baby is on antibiotics.
Here are a few of my favorite things for cloth diapering (and additional things not pictured):
1. BumGenius diapers- I love these, but I’ve not tried other brands. Almost everyone I know that cloth diapers uses these. I prefer the snaps over velcro, but that’s just my like. My only wish is that BG would start making these in dressy colors like navy, black, and brown.
2. Swaddlebees cloth wipes - If you’re going to cloth diaper, you may as well go ahead and use cloth wipes. I love the softness of these wipes and the wide variety of color options you can get them in. They are absorbent and do the job well. Grab a spray bottle for your water while you’re at it! You’ll need it to help clean!
3. Planet Wise Pail liners- Grab at least two pail liners, one in the pail while the other is in the wash.
4. Pail or Trash can- Go for one with a step/pop-up lid! I keep mine in the bathroom, so often I have a wet diaper in one hand and baby in the other arm. The pop-up lid is helpful for times like this! This can fits the Planet Wise pail liner perfectly!
5. Cotton Babies- Best cloth diaper company I have found. I cannot tell you how many times I called them to ask questions. They were super polite and took the time to answer each of my questions. When part of my order was going to be one day later than they planned (even though it still fell in the time frame my shipment was promised to me), they called to make sure I was ok with it.
6. Diaper sprayer- I say it’s a must for cleaning off dirty diapers, but numerous people I know just dunk them in the toilet to clean them off. Its pretty easy to install too (as long as your toilet is normal, unlike ours. But a quick trip to Lowes and a couple of dollars was all it took to get ours fixed)
7. Diaper detergent- Most cloth diapers cannot be washed with regular detergent because of the enzymes regular detergent contains. I’ve found the bumGenuis detergent to work really well.
8. Wet bag- If you cloth diaper on the go, you’ll want a wet bag to put the dirty diaper in. The small size is good for one diaper and a few wipes.
Other things you may want if you cloth diaper:
-Pail fresheners such as these (what we currently use) or these
Do you have any other gear you’d like to share for new moms who are interested in cloth diapering? If so, feel free to leave a comment!
Lets face it, the baby industry can’t be too far behind the wedding industry in that there are billions of dollars spent each year. It can be tricky to navigate what you want versus what you need. I’ve found that with Jonathan, less can sometimes be much better. Over the next few weeks, I hope to post some of the things that I/we have found to be great buys & things to have on hand for when you bring a baby home. Granted, what works for us may not be what works best for you. I’m just sharing some of the things that I’ve found really great and/or really useful!
First up, nursing gear!
1. Medela Pump in Style- I don’t spend a ton of time pumping, but I really have enjoyed my Medela. Its super simple and gets the job done really quickly. It was recommended to me by at least 10 different people when I was searching for pumps. There were honestly no other brands that anyone else suggested.
2. Bamboobies Nursing pads- Holy cow do I love these things! They are amazing! I don’t know what words can be used to describe them best: super soft especially on sore nipples, worth the money, durable, great because you don’t have to invest in the disposable ones that don’t work nearly as well as these do, the daytime ones are super cute hearts, the night-time ones are super absorbable and soft.
3. Nursing tanks- I love nursing tanks better than bras, even though I do have a nursing bra. Nursing tanks are much more comfy! I bought my tank from Breakout Bras (carry all sizes) and my bra from Bravado Designs. Ladies who are larger than a C cup, who want good quality tanks and bras, these two websites are your go to places! Believe me!
4. My Brestfriend Nursing pillow- Those first few weeks, or even first two months, can be really challenging for breast-feeding. I really regret not buying one of these to have on hand for that time period. We’ve had the opportunity to use them on the many occasions we visited the lactation consultant to get feeding issues worked out, or when I’ve visited Joe at his office and needed to feed Jonathan while there. The My Brestfriend pillows are GREAT! I hated our Boppy so I switched over to a sturdy pillow, which we’re accustomed to at this point.
5. Praise Baby station on Pandora (I use it on my iPhone)- I’m going to be really honest here. Nursing was incredibly tough those first two months. Nursing a baby who hated to sleep made things even more difficult. There were so many days, but most especially nights, that I cried sobbed. I was SO tired. My body could barely function, I didn’t think I could take care of myself, let alone a newborn who needed 100 % of my attention while he was awake. I felt God had abandoned me and wasn’t listening to any of my prayers. I was TIRED, I was feisty, I felt alone. One of the best things I did was to find the Praise Baby station on Pandora. I would turn it on while nursing many nights/mornings/days and by the end of the feeding session, I would feel a little more refreshed. Besides good praise music for mama, it was also good, clean music that I felt safe for Jonathan to listen to. (Beware though, there were a few times Jonathan was just falling asleep, and a Veggie Tales song came on. Veggie Tales are great, but not exactly soothing!)
Some other great things to have on hand:
- Neosporin (or just polysporin) withOUT pain relief. If you end up with cracked nipples, you’re going to want this!
-MotherLove More Milk Plus vitamins! These bad boys ROCK. I take them a few times a day to help keep my milk supply steady. I’m not one that has an over abundance issue. If your supply tends to run at just enough to low, get these things! Whole Foods carry them, but they’re almost half the price on Amazon.
- Frozen peas, bendable ice pack, something that will ease the burning pain for when you’re engorged or have insanely sore nipples. It will most likely happen!
If you have other great gear for breast feeding that you’d like to suggest, feel free to comment and let everyone know!
I love getting good deals. I hate shopping at the Goodwill stores nearby because their baby areas are really quite horrible. They have big table bins and everything is just thrown in there. For someone who likes order, this is FAR from it.
I had some time last Friday while my friend Rebekah watched Jonathan (and I cannot thank her enough for her willingness to do so each week), so I dropped in to see if I could find anything worthy of a Pinterest project. While there, I decided to at least look in the baby bins. I rummaged for all of 4.5 seconds before getting annoyed and walking off. As I was getting ready to leave the store, I happened to walk past the coats rack and what did my eyes spy hanging on the end of the rack? This beauty:
A brand new dress coat for Jonathan for next year. The store tags were off, but the huge ”cut this tag off before wearing” tag was still inside, and the back flap was still sewn together. If it’s ever been worn, I doubt its been worn but one or two times. I’m sure this coat ran close to $50 but I got it for a whopping $2.26 after tax.
Later this week I will tackle the racks at a local consignment sale. I refuse to pay full price for Jonathan’s entire wardrobe, considering every few months we’ll be going up a size.
Another place I’ve recently found good deals on quality children’s clothes is ThredUp. They’re an online consignment store with a pretty good selection of gently worn children’s clothes. Plus, for signing up, you get $10 towards your first purchase.
A few days ago I posted some of the recipes I’ve tried from Pinterest recently. One of them was a two (or three) ingredient recipe for Dr. Pepper cookies. I had scored a Dr. Pepper for $0.20 and had a Devils food cake mix in my pantry, so why not give it a whirl. Instead of cookie success, it turned out to be spongy piles of cookie that more resembled piles of poo (which we didn’t think about until AFTER we tasted them). They quickly ended up in the trash.
I refused to let a two ingredient cookie defeat me. I picked up another cake mix, this time regular chocolate, while I was at Target. Determined to make it work, I set about baking while Joe entertained Jonathan/got him to sleep.
This time the victory was mine!
The cookies turned out great. However, the icing recipe doesn’t work with the ratios she has listed. I decided to only start out with one cup of confectioners sugar instead of two. I ended up using almost three tablespoons of Dr. Pepper to achieve an icing like consistency. But in all honesty, skip the icing. Its not that great and I think the cookies stand better alone.
I would have snapped a picture, but we put icing on almost all of the cookies and decided we didn’t like it, so they ended up in the trash…again.
Who wants to buy these for Jonathan?
I’ve not posted much recently because of timing. Jonathan has been sleeping better at night, praise the Lord. However, we’re still dealing with nap time issues. I’m beginning to work on getting Jonathan to nap in his crib, which I’m guessing will end up being a nightmare since he hates napping to begin with. But I will persevere. I have his 3 month post sitting in my queue, waiting for me to publish. It’s all about getting the pictures off my camera. No worries, I’m only 17 days late 
Pinterest has consumed my soul. During what few breaks I get, I’ve tried to accomplish a few projects. I’ll post more later of the DIY projects I’ve completed. The recipes, which I failed to take pictures of, have had some successes while others have flopped.
Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak was a huge hit and we ended up eating it two nights in a row. The only downfall was that it has a little bit of milk in it (1/16 of a cup, per serving). Jonathan paid for it for two days and then I ended kicking myself because I didn’t think about it.
Baked Italian Chicken- this was a good, easy recipe to throw together. Joe thought it needed more seasoning, so next time I may use two seasoning packets instead of one.
Strawberry Cookies- Super simple, and they were tasty. Only thing I would change would be to cook them about 12 minutes instead of 10
Dr. Pepper cookies- I made these because I scored a 2 liter Dr. Pepper for $0.20 last week and wanted to make these. I used Devils food cake mix (the recipe says any chocolate cake mix, and thats what I had on hand). Not to be gross, but these turned out like little piles of poo. I am going to attempt again with another, regular chocolate cake mix.
Jonathan,
I can’t believe you’re three months old today! Its crazy to think how fast time has passed (though some days nights time crept by). Your personality has developed so much over the last few weeks. You laugh and talk to us a lot! One night daddy had you laughing so hard for so long that you threw up! We have discovered that if we lie you on your changing pad, no matter what your mood is before, you’ll be happy within a minute.
You’re getting bigger by the day. You weigh about 13lbs now and we’ve discovered that you can sit up in your Bumbo seat without any help. You still hate tummy time, but you’re getting better about holding your head up for more than 0.05 seconds!
You also like to drool…A LOT. You’re starting to grab ahold of things now, and you like bringing anything, and everything to your mouth.
Just the other day you decided to give us a break and sleep for longer than 3 hours at night. We were so thankful for that! We’ll get the hang of this sleep thing before long!
We love you little one!
