Bringing up Bebe Book Review

On the Today show, I saw the author being interviewed (it's been a while) but I remember being very intrigued by the concept. At the time I wasn't pregnant but I still managed to keep it in the back of my mind until just recently. I was needing a break from my Sookie Stackhouse books (yes I love trashy books it's just fun to read fun books) and I didn't really want to read another parenting book that makes you feel bad or think you need to redo everything you've been doing.. so I thought I would give this one a try. LOVED IT. I wish I would have read it when I was pregnant. Pregnant ladies get it now!

The author is an American journalist who is raising her kids in Paris. She quickly learns that they do things completely different which leads their children to be well behaved, patient, independent, and great eaters. The French think we are helicopter parents (and we are) where they let their children discover and explore with boundaries. Their life "focus" or what they live by is equilibrium. Living life in a balance. Mothers don't only focus on their children but their husbands, careers, and children equally. If they parents aren't in a happy marriage then that will affect the children. They don't even have "date" nights because it is expected that they parents do things away from their children. All mothers work in France, it is very rare for women to stay home. All the children go to school, although, their daycares/preschools are much different over there. Children are expected to eat real dinners/foods, they don't even have kids meals. I could continue you on but it's a pretty long book. 

I found it fascinating! I feel like it was similar to what my parenting style is but it gave me some great ideas too. It also helped me become more confident in the approach I want to take with our children.. because most parents here do things differently. I have always been very big about Jamie and I having our time to keep our marriage healthy (I am absolutely no marriage expert and we by no means have the best relationship but it's what we strive make it better all the time). While we hate leaving Jackson, it's always refreshing to go out and just be alone like we used to. The second thing I have found is that I need to work part time for ME. To have something just for me and feel valued. I love my job so it's important that I can continue doing what I love AND spending part time at home with Jackson. I know most people do not agree with this... but I come from a long line of working mothers (my mom, grandmother, and my great grandmother, who was a teacher even went to college which was a huge deal back in the day) and I really respect them. And they are great mothers!! We can all cook, clean and are extremely nurturing. Talking to my mom this week, I realized that she is the reason why I am very goal oriented, driven, and independent. I have the best mom! But I regress... My other focus to have a well behaved, great eating (no kids meals), smart, independent kid.  I think he's doing really well on all of it except maybe that well behaved part.. it's a work in progress. He's really into tantrums if he doesn't get his way (I wonder where he got that from). 

With all of that being said, I will be starting a new job in a week! I will still be working part time but with a few more hours. And we have decided in January, Jackson will start a Mommy's Day out preschool program at our church for 1-2 mornings a week. We want him to be around other kiddos and I think he needs to start learning some structure/sharing. We are extremely concerned with his allergies but they assured us they deal with this all time. So very exciting time for all of us!! 

11 months!

This is all Jackson! 

Jackson,

       11 months?! We cannot believe that in 1 month you will be ONE! It is absolutely crazy! We have spent this past month looking at all your newborn pictures and talking about how it has flown by. Aww :( This month was really tough on the whole sleep thing. You hate sleep. Hate it. I took you to the doctor three times to figure out what was going on (you also had a fever and were not acting yourself). All we could figure was it was a virus. And now that's gone and you still won't sleep. You have woken up at 4:45 everyday for the past three weeks and only taking 1, 1 hour nap a day. But you are happier than ever! 

      You are on the go, go, go! Crawling faster than ever. I mean lightening speed. I have lost you twice in the house (panic attack city) only to find you in your room with the door shut. Don't worry readers all the doors are locked/gate up by pool/etc (and really this has happened to everyone I am sure). You use your little motorcycle walker to speed even faster around the house. You are running with it. You love opening the cabinets and rearranging everything (especially spices). I find spices all around the house. In fact you dumped curry all over the floor and Oscar practically bathed in. He acted like it was catnip. It was hilarious. You still love to cuddle with mama and pretty much mama only. Stranger danger big time. You love daddy and you love being held by him but you don't snuggle together. You have taken 4 steps on your own!!!! And are running while holding on to our hands. You are throwing and rolling the ball and also trying to dribble it... which brings us to milestones:

• Taking steps by yourself
• Saying "mama" (that's right first word), imitating "dada" saying "bubu" for bubbles
• You have a name for Stella kinda like "uha" something like that
• Signing eat, all done, more
• Pincher grasp, pointing, using fork (if I put the food on)
• Imitating stirring with the spoon, feeding animals, using the remote, texting
• Imitating everything- hanging the diapers up to dry, folding clothes, everything.
• Love: Pancakes, fruit, bell peppers, avocado, sunbutter, puffs, teething biscuits, peas
• Hate: broccoli, carrots

Health: Approved for dairy! Although I have yet to try it..but we will. Still absolutely no eggs or soy. You had a little virus but I'll be honest I think you get a little bug right before you get teeth. You are working on at least two more right now. 

Aww and next month you will be one!!!

Diaper Bag

The diaper bag. In the beginning everything was just thrown in the bag.. ok most of time it's just thrown in the bag.. but I have organized it a bit. As a first time mom, I didn't really know what exactly I needed or how to organize it at first. Ten months later this is what we have!

Diaper Bag: Pottery Barn Diaper Bag I love the look of this one and it's monogrammed. It came with a diaper changing pad and bottle holder. I don't like that you can't wash it and it gets really dirty. I also don't like the bottom part because it won't stand up on it's own. Looking on their website there are new ones that would probably be better. I'm also considering switching to the vera bradley ones because you can throw them in the washer.

I always keep: bibs, burp cloth, diapers, swim diapers, wipes (both for the booty and the hands), and toys in the bag. That's self explanatory.

Sunscreen! I leave sunscreen in the bag because you do NOT want to burn your baby.

Coupon book: I get a million baby coupons and I kept throwing them in the bag which lead to me loosing them or forgetting about them. So I bought a coupon organizer and it's a life changer! No more paper all over the diaper bag.

First Aid/Epi Pen Chases: I originally was going to buy these just to keep my diaper bag organized for all that little stuff and then we had to get the Epi Pen so it worked for both cases! They are super cute! And I have had no leaking! I got them from this shop and I am looking at all her new stuff... AWESOME. She messaged me to ask why I bought the bags and I told her what I told you.. maybe that's why she has added some diaper bag stuff?! First Aid kit: bandaids, hand sanitizer, diaper cream, lotion, tissues, and some little first aid wipes (I can't remember the name).

Not pictured:

• Aden and Anais Blanket: I always bring one for just about anything: blanket, to sit him on, changing pad if mine is buried, to wipe stuff up, it multi-functional
• Food/Snacks/Bottles: Since I make all of Jackson's food this has to go in last minute
• Extra Clothes: I usually don't put extra clothes in, mostly because I forget, but I think it's a great idea!
• Cloth diapers and wet bag: This is usually a last minute decision based off where we are going, etc.
• Shopping cart cover stays in the car at all times!

Am I missing anything?! Does anyone have a better diaper bag? I like the "tote" look and it has to be cute because this is my "purse" also. 

Cherrybrook Kitchen Pancakes (Vegan)

Hello sanity saver :) JK! Now that I have been making everything from scratch, I will admit I had a hard time letting go and using a "box". But I thought this would be great to try for those weeks when I run out of time.

Cherrybrook Kitchen fully supports people with allergies! Their website is very user friendly. I was a little hesitate to use their products at first because VEGAN does not mean it's soy free. In fact Vegan's love soy. I do think Jackson is out growing the soy allergy so far so good.

These were super easy to make and taste pretty good! Of course, if you could add butter and syrup they would taste really good. Jackson gobbled them up this morning.

I would highly recommend them to anyone and everyone. As my mom read the back of the cake box ingredients (in prep for Jackson's first birthday), she said "hey you actually know what every ingredient is in this!"

Next up: allergy free cake and frosting!

Dairy/Egg/Soy Free Bread

Really? Yep, you can make dairy/egg/soy free bread and it actually tastes good! I would eat it if it wasn't so expensive to make.

I got the recipe from here. I bought the app. Again since I had to buy the app, I'm pretty sure I can't share the recipe.

Here are the ingredients: 

Mixing the wet goods:

Dry goods:

Letting it rise:

Ready to bake

Finished product!

This was relatively easy to make, however, it does take a lot of time. I made it over the holiday weekend, so it helped having Jamie entertain the wild man. I have never made bread before but it turned out great! I ended up freezing most of it in slices.. I'll have to let you know how that goes. I also have been heating it up a little bit to make it extra soft for Jackson to eat. Overall, I would recommend it!

Clothing Diapering Updates

I hit the jack pot this month with a few good finds/solutions.

1. Charlie's Soap: I had read about it but I hadn't actually tried it... and then I did AMAZING. It takes out stains and it washes the diapers really well. I went back to my usual 2 cycle rinse and we have had no diaper rashes. Score! I love it so much I want to use it on all of our clothes. *There was nothing wrong with the bumgenius soap we were using, we just ran out so I thought I would try something new.

2. Overnight wetting. We have tried a few things for our heavy wetter: 1. Putting two inserts in the cloth diaper. This actually works really well, it's just really thick to put under PJ's. And then you have to use more inserts/less diapers for the day, etc. 2. Putting two disposable diapers on. This works up to a point. I think if we went up a size, it would probably work better but he was waking up with his jammies soaked every morning. 

Solution: One disposable and put a cloth diaper over it. Genius! It works like a charm. It doesn't make his jammies too snug and he wakes up dry. Jamie likes to say he thought of this... he did not :) 

Clothing diapering is going well. I went back to just the 2 cycle rinse with the Charlie's soap. I rarely hang them outside (because I'm lazy and the Charlie's bleaches them). We use one disposable at night and usually if we are out but that's really because we have a bunch left from vacation. 

If anyone is considering cloth diapering, feel free to talk with me! I would be glad to help... share my mistakes :)

9 Month Favorite Toys

A month or so ago I posted our "wish" list.... well I may have found a lot of coupons and bought some of them :) BUT he loves them! Really there is only one toy I went wrong with so I'm at like a 99% accuracy on buying great toys :) That one toy was a wooden teether. I . bought. because he was screaming through Target trying to teething on anything and everything. This was months ago and I was determined to make it though Target. We were sleep deprived. I just couldn't handle it at the time. So we ended up with this stupid teether that did work to get him through the shopping trip but he hasn't used it since. I'm pretty sure that was the day I was about to leave all my groceries and cart in the store and just go home. hahah it's funny to think about now. He loves going to Target! I don't even bring toys with us anymore. This just goes to show that EVERYTHING IS A PHASE.

Anyways here we go:

1. Baby Einstein Activity Table: See post here. He loves to walk around it and push all the buttons. It keeps him entertained for long periods of time! Plus it has Spanish and French which I attempt to imitate but who knows what I'm saying :)

2. Motorcycle Rider and Walker. I looked at different walkers and this one I liked because they can ride on it or walk with it. Two in one deal. And if you have a girl it comes in pink. It plays the best music- I like to move it move it, Ticket to ride, and there is another one.. but we sing and dance and zoom this around the house everyday. It's great. It's also great to scare the S*** out of the cats- Oscar will high tail it out of there when we are zooming around. It's hilarious.

3. Ball pit balls. Throw them in the pack in play! Jackson's favorite game is to throw all 150 of them out of the pack in play. He also loves to carry them around the house, roll them, throw them, etc. I bought them here. Best investment really. I even find them in my CAR. 

Add these to your registry now!! :)

And I did consider trying to find gently used toys but we planning on having 1-2 more kiddos maybe 3 (Jamie just had a heart attack) and I want all these bad boys to last for all of our kids. And they are plastic with batteries so I'm thinking the longevity of them can't be too fantastic. This also why I buy gender neutral stuff (God just laughed at me and said you know your in for all boys right?!) I do however, buy used toys for work! When/if we have more kiddos I'm totally going to Craigslist the BOB stroller which I did for Jackson but they were all PINK. Who buys a pink stroller? 

Any of other great toy ideas?