It seems like all of the NEW things I have in my life right now are baby things, so the majority of my favorite things today are probably going to fall into that category.  Hip Hip Hooray!

 

O N E

Harper is formula fed.  When my other kids were babies we would fix up bottles every night with water and then have those little plastic compartment things where you put the formula to make individual bottles.  It was just our nightly ritual before bed.  Well now I have a new nightly ritual.  I grab my Dr. Brown’s Formula Mixing Pitcher, fill it up with water, add the formula, and MIX.  So easy. (We don’t fill it up all the way, we only make as much as we can use before the window to keep made up formula runs out) I put it in the fridge, and then I can just pour the pre-mixed formula in to the bottle, warm it up a teeny bit, and we are good to go.  The pitcher mixes the formula up super smooth.  When I was shaking the bottles I was creating a lot of air and the formula wasn’t mixing very well.  When she’s done with her bottle, we wash it and set it on the drying mat for next time.  Mixing bottles individually isn’t hard by any means, but this is something we’ve really enjoyed having and we use everyday.

 

T W O

I am a nervous momma.  I can’t help it, I really try to not be so anxious about everything.  It drives people who know me crazy, but.. oh well.  My motto, I’d rather be safe than sorry.  Again, back to when my other kids were babies, I would have the hardest time falling asleep at night because I wanted to watch them to make sure they were breathing.  I was always touching them to make sure their chest was rising and falling (I actually still do this with Tristan and Kate, I guess old habits die hard).  I had seen some advertisements for something called an Owlet Monitor and I did lots of research on those while I was pregnant with Harper.  The price was really steep, and some of the reviews made me doubt my decision on wanting one of those, so I looked for something else.  A friend of mine mentioned a Snuza Movement Monitor that clips on to Harper’s diaper.  The price was a lot less and it had really good reviews, so I got that instead.

I am in love with this monitor.  It flashes every time she takes a breath, so I can just look over at her and see the light and know she’s breathing.  I don’t have to turn on my light, get out of bed, and go look at her or put my hand on her chest.  You can even have it make a little sound with each breath as well, if you’re in to that.  If she were to stop breathing, the monitor will vibrate and make a sound to sort of startle her to get her breathing again.  I think sometimes babies just forget to breathe, and this gets them back on track.  Once that happens, if she still doesn’t start breathing, the monitor will set off an alarm.  We’ve had it vibrate twice, and we’ve had the alarm go off once.  To say I’m thankful for this little clip on monitor is an understatement.  It’s so valuable to me, especially now. (I usually button her clothes over top of it, but left it out so I could take a picture – I didn’t want you to think that it had to be on the outside like that!)

T H R E E

Tristan had a little puppy named “Scout” when he was a baby.  You could personalize it to say his name, talk about his favorite food and colors, and play games with him.  One of our favorite features on Scout was his night time music.  This really became a blessing to us when we moved to Hawaii from Florida.  Tristan’s schedule was allllll kinds of messed up.  Scout was something he knew and was used to, and that night time music was our saving grace during that time.  When Kate was born, some friends of ours got her the girl version called “Violet”.  LIFESAVER.  We still have Tristan’s Scout and Kate’s Violet stored away with other things I refuse to throw away.

When we found out we were pregnant, one of the first things on our shopping list was a Violet for Harper.  When we played the songs and things it brought back so many memories of when T & K were younger.  It felt comfortable to listen to, like an old friend..haha.  I think if we had 10 babies, each one would have their own Scout or Violet.

F O U R 

I am obsessed with swaddle blankets. O B S E S S E D. They come in the cutest designs imaginable.  And they’re so soft, and so BIG.  I feel like we use them for so many things.  We really didn’t swaddle much with Harper.  She’s a great sleeper on her own, and she likes to have her feet free.  (I’ve noticed) BUT, we still use her swaddle blankets everyday.  A friend of mine had a baby girl 1 month before Harper was born and she sent us the SOFTEST mermaid swaddle blankets I’ve ever seen.  There’s just so much to love about them.  Some of my favorite places to get swaddle blankets are Little Unicorn, Clementine Kids, and Spearmint Love.  I usually give swaddles for baby shower gifts.  Some of Harper’s favorites are below!

cat swaddle  /  lemon swaddle  /  clementine swaddle  /  Christmas swaddles

 

F I V E 

I saved the best for last today.  Tristan and Kate have been the best helpers to me since Harper has been born.  They are so attentive to her, and it’s really nice having two extra sets of hands sometimes.  How did I manage before? haha.  It may be a weird way to think of it, but I’m so happy I was able to give Tristan and Kate this experience.  They are thrilled to death to have a baby sister and I’m so happy they’re at an age where they can really remember what life was like with Baby Harper, and how much they loved having her around.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we have finally reached Shelby’s last semester at Mississippi State.  What a full 4 years this has been.  Sometimes it feels like this has lasted for forever, but it also feels like we just got here.  Where did that time go?!  We’ve made some of the best friends and some of the best memories here.  Tristan started Kindergarten right after we moved here, and Kate was only 2 years old.  They’ve both grown up so much since we’ve been here.  And now we have Harper, our little Mississippi girl.

It hasn’t always been easy .. Shelby’s had some hard classes and we’ve endured some long internships.  But even with all of that, I’m so thankful we came here and he went this route towards his PGA.  He’s learned a lot and he’s been given so many amazing opportunities since we’ve been here.  I feel like this is where he was meant to be.  This last semester may be the hardest class wise, but I’m hoping that it can be an enjoyable time for him as he finishes things up on this chapter of his life.

Our future looks bright.  Shelby has been given yet another wonderful opportunity.  We are feeling so thankful for that as well.  I cannot wait to see where life leads us next, and I’m excited for the adventures our little family will get in to as time goes on.  We’ve learned some lessons these past several weeks, and I feel like we’ve come out on the other side as a strong family unit, ready to move forward with what’s best for us.

Here’s to one last fall semester in Mississippi! Congratulations, Shelby – you’ve almost made it!

 

Our sweet little nugget is already one month old.  We have soaked up as much of her newborn stage as we could, and I can already tell she’s starting to transition out of that newborn stage and in to the “baby” stage.

She doesn’t express much of her personality yet, but she’s given us little sneak peeks of that lately with some smiles.  Sometimes she gives us what we call her “happy face”.  It’s not a full blown smile, but almost a quarter smile and her eyes just light up.  She’s starting to be able to make out our faces more, and probably recognize our voices, and she’s giving us a little bit of sparkle when we speak to her.

Starting out we had trouble finding a formula that was working for her.  She was having lots of gas and spitting up SO VERY MUCH and was really fussy and uncomfortable.  We have since found Gerber Soothe and it’s been a total game changer for us.  She still passes gas but she never cries like it hurts her.  She seems much happier and we haven’t had her cry from being in pain or uncomfortable since we started her on this formula.  She still spits up, and I know babies spit up normally, but we were having what seemed like excessive spit ups and they’d happen up to 2 hours after she’d eaten sometimes.  We are dealing with that little bit, but are working towards helping that out in other ways.  All in all, she’s a MUCH happier baby and I’m so thankful found this formula for her!

Another game changer for us has been using Mustela Cleansing Water for clearing up her “baby acne” and for keeping her clean between feedings.  She held out as long as she could with great complexion, but it’s just unavoidable I think.  I had read about this cleansing water that was supposed to work great on cleaning up their skin, and also work really well for just cleaning them daily with spit ups or daily life, etc.  We got it and gave it a shot and it’s amazing.  I had gone a couple days without using it, and her face broke out pretty bad.  I went back to using it and the next day her skin was as clear as could be.  It smells SO GOOD, too.  I usually wash her face and around her neck every time we change her diaper.  I use a baby wash cloth and put the cleansing water on that and wipe off all around her face and her neck and chest.  It’s just a good time for me to remember to do it all at once.  We loved this product so much that we ended up ordering her the Mustela brand for her shampoo, body wash, and lotion too.

We weighed her this week to see where she’s at, and she’s up to 11 pounds.  I’m anxious to see what percentile she is at her next appointment.  I can tell she’s really plumping up and looking chunky, and I love it.  Tristan was always low on the percentile chart and Kate was always high, I wonder if we’ll have another tall girl!

Speaking of Tristan and Kate, they’ve been the best helpers.  They just love her so much.  They always tell me when I pick them up from school that they’ve missed her and thought about her all day.  haha.  Kate is more of a hands on helper than Tristan is.  Tristan was afraid to pick her up in the beginning.  I think he was afraid he was going to hurt her.  As time has passed he’s becoming more confident, but he’s still not 100% comfortable picking her up.  Kate on the other hand has zero reservations whatsoever about picking her up, carrying her around, bouncing her up and down, feeding her and burping her, etc.  She’s almost not careful enough sometimes.  I think when Harper gets older and is more steady that Kate will put her on her hip and just take off with her.

Patches has just started warming up to her.  He will sit beside us on the couch when she’s with us, but he really has nothing to do with her.  In my mind I thought he was going to be all about her, and sit next to her or lay next to her all the time, etc.  He doesn’t even give her the time of day most days.  Lately though, he’s really coming around and it’s so sweet.  He’s been laying BESIDE me on the bed at night (because her bed is close to me), and will also lay up next to me when I’m feeing her.  This week Shelby was holding her on the couch and he got up and snuggled his way in-between Shelby and I and rested his head on Harpers foot.  It was so sweet.  He’s been laying next to her things and even laying on her blanket when we picked her up this past week.  Hopefully this is the start of something good! I’d love to see them be best buddies.

We sure are happy she’s here with us.  There was a time during my pregnancy that I wasn’t even sure that she’d be here at all.  I feel like I kept her at a distance my whole pregnancy, not letting myself get too attached to her because I was afraid something was going to happen to her.  Now I am able to really let the fact that she’s here soak in and just enjoy all the moments.  I’m so very thankful for that.  I’ve wanted three kids for as long as I can remember, and I didn’t know that I’d get three.  Sometimes I have to pinch myself that my little dream came true!