Baby's Shopping List - Part 1

With a baby niece on the way and a great-nephew coming to their first time mom's, I have been recalling my first experiences as a mother. I had blankets, clothes, a crib, TWO whole bags of diapers (that I thought would last a MONTH!), bassinet and all the basic essentials (I thought). Looking over my little Winnie the Pooh nursery, it looked ready... Imagine my surprise when baby came and I realized how ill prepared I was to bring home this young one.

For example: my goal was to nurse. My mother in law nursed her four children and my sister in law who was pregnant at the time also was hoping to nurse. I wanted to nurse my baby as well. I just thought that everything was going to go smoothly. I didn't even buy bottles or formula. No one told me I would need nursing pads and I never thought I would need a breast pump my first week on the job. I REALLY didn't know what to expect when it came to nursing. Looking back, I was CLUELESS. This discouraged me to the point of wanting to quit my first couple days into to process. Danelle wasn't nursing well and I had no bottles to give her. All I had for formula were my free samples from the hospital and they didn't last more than a day.

Now - I didn't have breast pads either. Sorry if this is too much info but when my milk came in - it went BIZZERKO. I wasn't prepared or aware that I would "leak." I didn't wear a tight fitting bra and my poor, swollen, sore, and engorged 'girls' were leaking everywhere. I finally had to cut maxi pads in half to use as temporary padding.

I was depressed. I felt like I was a bad mom from the start (which of course was mainly thanks to hormones and some postpartum depression I developed over the next six months). Not having everything I needed nor the money to buy it all at once with made it WORSE.  Preparation before hand would have been best.

This blog is dedicated to NEW MOM'S who are wondering what to buy and maybe some tips on brands and what to watch for - so hopefully you can avoid the mistakes I had learn the hard way.

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EVERY NURSING MOM'S SHOPPING LIST! (I will make a list for all mom's also.)

#1. Breast Pads.  These are next to bottles in the baby aisles.  NOT ALL BREAST PADS ARE CREATED EQUAL and CHEAPER ISN'T BETTER in most cases.  When you are nursing a baby, like I mentioned you will leak... more often then you think.  It will happen when you are thinking of your baby, hearing it cry, watching someone hold your baby, talking about your baby, and sometimes just to be annoying.  Wearing a properly fitting bra and the right breast pad however, you will feel more confident about yourself when this happens.

MY FAVORITE:  They are slightly more expensive then other brands but the coverage is great and they are very discreet.  Let's face it, when choosing a nursing pad, you don't want to world to KNOW you are because of the thick pad shaping through your shirt.  These were very thin and easy to hide.  They held it "all in"  even during my worst leaks or overnights! I never second guessed myself with them.  

 

MY LEAST FAVORITE: While these are CHEAPEST - they are not good... I had to double them up and they STILL leaked.  I used three times as many in a day with these too.  Overall bad choice.  Might be best suited for an extremely light leaker.  

ANOTHER THOUGHT: Lily Pads!  I love Lily Pads.  These wonderful pads are reusable and waterproof - - - that's right - - - you can swim in them.  They are also great if you decide to go bra-less because they stick on without needing help.  They are also great if you run out of regular pads. A couple tips about Lily Pads though; they collect milk in them. The wetness from the milk can lead to yeast infections on your breast which will give your baby thrush. If you wear them regularly make sure that your 'girls' have time to dry too, and wash your Lily Pad every time. Also, in my experience do not sleep in Lily Pads unless you KNOW you will be up to nurse your baby shortly.  Lily Pads are not good overnight pads and are unforgiving if they leak.  You will have milk all over you...  and your bed. :-/ Not cool - especially at five in the morning.

Oh and a word to the wise; WASHABLE nursing pads... are just as bad a wearing a thin washcloth.  It will not protect your clothes from moisture any better than your clothes will.  Sorry to say.

#2. A Boppy or Nursing Pillow.   These help SO MUCH when you are trying to get your baby in the right position for nursing.  Even if you don't plan to nurse, a Boppy is a wonderful thing and holds baby in just the right place for bottle feeding.  They are also fun to lay the baby on, and have tummy time with when they are old enough. Every mom expecting or not would benefit from one. ***Bring this to the hospital when you go into labor - trust me, you will thank me!***

#3. Nursing cover.  I recommend having one in your diaper bag and one for regular use.  Bring one to the hospital; with the amount of in's and out's the nurses, doctors, and visitors make it's nice to be covered rather than exposed.

#4. Lanolin Cream.  Nursing is painful after the first couple days. To make it more bearable, have your cream ready even at the hospital.  Lanolin is safe for the baby and can be applied after every nursing.  It's soothing and prevents your nipples from drying out or bleeding. 

MY FAVORITE:  This stuff lasts a long time and doesn't have a funny smell like some of the others out there. 

#6. Breast Pump.  I would suggest starting with a manual pump, and buying an electric pump if you decide you definitely want to keep nursing or especially if you plan to pump milk if you go back to work.

Here are the benefits of a breast pump (tips a lactation specialist told me):

A. If you don't have enough milk pump for 1-2 minutes AFTER your milk STOPS to encourage your body to make more milk. This is a natural way of telling your body, "hey, baby needs more milk" and your body will take the hint. Just don't go overboard - TRUST ME - I would stop encouraging more milk when you can pump 4oz each side... :-/ It can get pretty uncomfortable with too much milk production unless you can keep up with it.

B. Storing milk.  I am not the type that likes to sit around a nurse all day.  I like the idea of pumping and letting my husband or other family and friends bottle feed the baby too (which of course is probably not the best idea if you are worried about your baby rejecting your breast).  Pumps are also great for those nights when baby decides to sleep soundly through the night but your 'ladies' won't let you sleep until you pump off some milk.

C.  On the go.   If you are ever apart from baby, your milk production will not stop just because baby is with the sitter.  You will need to pump out the milk as you go to avoid painful and engorged breasts and avoid MASTITIS! Mastitis is a infection of your breast.  It it unpleasant, painful, and in a lot of ways makes you sick like the flu and you need an antibiotic to cure it.  My lactation expert suggested to never go longer than five hours between pumping or nursing to avoid this... 

MY FAVORITE MANUAL BREAST PUMP: I LOVED the Avent Isis manual breast pump.  It was comfortable, quiet, discreet, and QUICKLY got the milk out.  It gently massaged out the milk and was effortless in many ways.  I loved it so much, I bought two: one for on the go, and one I kept in my bedroom to pump in the middle of the night if needed.   I loved that it was quiet enough to go to a public restroom if needed and quickly take care of business. I brought it with me in a small case to family dinners and even used it a couple times in the car on long road trips (with a cover  and in the back seat of course) to make things more comfortable.

MY FAVORITE ELECTRIC PUMP:  This is the Bailey Nurture III.   It started out as a rental item, but then I decided to buy one for my own.  This pump may look complicated, but it really does the job and for a fair price as well.  It can be used as a double or single pump.  This is for serious "pumpers" and is considered a hospital grade pump.  I built an impressive freezer storage with its help.  I liked that it came with a carrying bag, instruction video and everything I needed to get started.  The only downfall is that is is a little loud :-/ so it's not your best choice if you want to discreetly pump your milk out.  I am sure there are quiet double electric pumps out there - but this is what I could afford and used with my two girls. 

http://www.1cascade.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=3236

 #7.  (OPTIONAL)  A bottle warmer/cooler.   Whenever I have a baby, my husband and I plan out a "shift" that we take the baby at night.  We both need our sleep, and at first our babies eat every 2-3 hours.  Shayne usually takes half of the night, and I take the other half.  When it's the middle of the night, the worst thing to interrupt your sleeping is to get out of bed, go downstairs, get a bottle out of the fridge, warm it up, feed baby and go back to bed.  Wouldn't it be easier if the bottle cooler, and warmer were right there by you???  We thought so.  It was nice also because if I pumped any milk in the middle of the night, I could store it back in the cooler for the morning.  No need to get up at all. We all got more sleep with this addition to the family.

This is the First Years Night and Day Bottle Warmer System.

TIP (added January 14, 2013): Breast milk needs to be refrigerated within 4-6 hours after pumping.  If you travel a lot or plan to, and do not like nursing in public, I just found out there are TRAVEL bottle warmers.  I loved my car bottle warmer (with adapter), but they make them cordless as well.  Pictured above (small) is a BambinOZ Instant Bottle Warmer sold at Wal-Mart.

#8.  Tight Fitting Nursing Bra's.  I say tight (not TOO tight, but comfortable tight), because it will keep your milk "in" better. When your nursing, your bra is like your best friend... you will even need to sleep in it so make sure you get some comfortable sleeping bra's too.

#9 and #10.  Bottles and Formula.  Just because you are nursing, does not mean you will not need these items.   There are many bottles designed out there to help your baby with "nipple confusion" so the baby will not reject your breast.  They are even making bottles where the baby has to nurse the bottle just as they would on you.  I don't know the names of these bottles (I have just now seen them at baby stores), but they seem like a helpful idea.  I personally used Playtex Nurser bottles with the drop in liners.  I found my babies were less gassy after I could squeeze out the air and feed the baby.

Formula.  I have tried many as a nursing mom to try to find the right formula closest to my breast milk.  This may be different for each mom and baby, but I found Enflamil Gentlease to be the easiest on my babies tummies. 

TIP (January 14, 2013): There is a new formula I am curious about trying.  Gerber Soothe...


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I have plenty more helpful tips and things I suggest considering buying before bringing home baby but I am going to have to stop for now... Next up - - - the practical list for any new mom.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole

I have had a lot of requests for my "Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole" I have posted about on Christmas and Easter. As mentioned in my last blog, one way for me to ruin a wonderful holiday is to fuss over breakfast. This involves bringing out all my skillet pans and large electric skillet pan for pancakes and cooking over them for almost an hour until it's breakfast time. Then you get the fun of cleaning up your fifty dishes, and half of the morning is over already. You need to rest before your day has even begun. Long story short, I am not a big breakfast person but on certain occasions (like Christmas, Easter, or having company over) you want something better than cold cereal or oatmeal. This is why I LOVE this recipe!!!


The mess is out of the way the night before, and you wake up to a delicious meal ready and waiting for you and your family to enjoy. If you are like me, perhaps consider having the table set the night before also so nothing (not even setting the table) interferes with your wonderful smooth running day. To make clean up a breeze use ***Reynolds SLOW COOKER LINERS*** before you bake it and save yourself a lot of scrubbing! I always have the dishwasher ready to be loaded so without fuss or hardly breaking a sweat, our big breakfast is over and I can enjoy my family and day better. The leftovers make DELICIOUS breakfast burritos also! Just throw the warmed up leftovers in a tortilla, put on some salsa and VIOLA!!! Yum. Enjoy! :)


Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 dozen eggs
1 cup milk
1 package (32 oz.) of frozen hash brown potatoes.
1 lb of bacon - cooked, drained and cut into pieces.
1 lb of sausage, browned and drained
1/2 cup green onions - diced
1 green pepper - diced
3/4 pound cheddar cheese - shredded
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard (only I always skip this and it tastes great!)
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Layer potatoes, bacon, onions, green pepper and cheese in the crockpot in two or three layers.

2. Add cheese.

3. Beat the eggs, milk and mustard, salt & pepper together.

4. Pour over the whole mixture.

5. Cook with slow cooker on low for ten to twelve hours or until eggs are set and thoroughly cooked.

http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/crockpot-breakfast-casseroles.html

April

It's been so long since I have sat on the computer, my laptop is literally collecting dust. I have been so busy with my little daycare, running errands, caring for my own kids, cooking, laundry, and everything else I haven't had much time for the extra's. Not a lot has changed over the past couple months but for the record books, we better mention Easter and couple other happenings.

I have learned through test and trial that one way for me to ruin a perfectly good holiday is to fuss over a "big traditional breakfast." I am not much of a 'big breakfast' person anyway and I resent the cleanup once it's all said and done. I seldom have bacon and sausage in the house for this reason. I find that when I cook breakfast I usually use more dishes and pans than I would cooking dinner on an average day. This is why I am thrilled when I can whip up a slow cooker breakfast casserole the night before and wake up to a tasty almost mess free breakfast! It was the perfect way to start the day and is quickly becoming a favorite tradition.

Of course Easter Bunny left out some eggs for the girls to find, small ones for Danelle and larger more obvious eggs for Kaitlyn. The girls also had fun finding their baskets filled with a rabbit, colored outdoor bubbles, and a bunch of yummy treats. Danelle and I enjoyed egg salad sandwiches for lunch as part of our family tradition. After church, my mom invited us over for some Easter dinner. Poor Shayne had to work the day before and the day of which meant for a lot of sleeping Easter day, and him leaving again that night but we had a wonderful time anyway.

April was an eventful month. The week after Easter was Ellie's spring break. I planned and hoped to do several fun things with her, but the week went by fast and during which my Dad had a major heart attack. As far as heart attacks are concerned, he was a very lucky man to have everything fall into place just as if it were planned. Even when he went to the hospital, the heart surgeon was preparing for a surgery, and the operating room was already prepped. When Dad came in, they took him right in to put in stints. Dad had two stints put in that day and even though it was a major heart attack, he was back up on his feet and out of the intensive care unit the next day.

His heart attack couldn't have come on a better day that week for me too. I was not scheduled to babysit, Ellie had just been picked up to go mini golfing with her friend, I had dinner cooking in the crock pot, and Shayne wasn't scheduled to work until later that night. It was nice to be where I needed to be. I am happy to say he is doing well now and with some lifestyle changes, he can go on better than before even. We are grateful for this.

I think we redeemed Ellie's uneventful spring break when Ashley (Patrick's fiance') and I took Danelle to her first ballet. Ballet West II was performing THE LITTLE MERMAID, and Ashley was so cute and insisted on taking us for our birthdays. I loved the idea, so Saturday April 14th we went to the show. I didn't know what to expect, and it was different than the Disney version by a long shot, but it was magical and breathtaking all the same. We loved the show and it was a great ending to the week.

April is also a special month for our family because Danelle turned seven. We are having a family party on May 6th to celebrate with our family, but Shayne and I wanted to make the weekend special for her as well. Shayne and I go on date night every Friday and my mom is such a sweetie to babysit for us. This week, we surprised Danelle by telling her that we wanted her to come with us. At first, I think she wanted to stay at home and play with her friends but she soon gave in and we were on our way.

We let Danelle pick anywhere she wanted to eat for her birthday. No surprise, she chose Brick Oven. It has become somewhat of a tradition for her to go to Brick Oven on our near her birthday. We didn't talk about any grown up things, just things we knew Ellie might be interested in. Later on, we went to the party store and played around there, and finally Walmart to pick up her gift.

Danelle, Kaitlyn, and I go on bike rides often. Lately we have been going on a trail close to home but I noticed Danelle falling behind for a lot of it. She needed a new bike... something with bigger wheels so she wouldn't have to pedal twice as fast and still stay behind us. On our birthday date, we let her pick one out and bring it home. She was shocked and happy. She got a pretty 20 inch wheels blue bike. She handles it awesome and I know it will help her out a ton. Danelle really loved her individualized time with us and we enjoyed spoiling her.

This morning, her actual birthday, I made her a little special breakfast, lunch, and Nana and Popo came over with a cake and sang her Happy Birthday. I can't believe she is seven years old already. We can't wait to celebrate her birthday again in a week with our family in our joint party for Ellie, Kaitlyn, and Shayne.

St. Paddy's

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, I tell my girls the story about how the leprechaun visited me in my second grade classroom. My class and I went to the library and came back to a wonderful surprise! There was a window open and little green paper footprints all around the room. Glitter and treats were on our desks! It was magical! A leprechaun visited our class! I was filled with happy excitement and will never forget that day. This is why every year on St. Patrick's Day, a leprechaun comes to visit my girls leaving them with treats and goodies. He knows me from my second grade class.

I usually start this special day with green eggs and ham for breakfast. Some years I get more creative and cook green hash-browns, pancakes, and milk but I will admit I got a tad lazy this year and just cooked green scrambled eggs with bits of ham lunch meat in it. The girls loved it anyway of course.

Later on I noticed that Danelle's bedroom window was left open! I asked Danelle why she opened her window, and she said she didn't. I told her to go investigate and sure enough that sneaky leprechaun left Danelle and Kaitlyn mugs of prizes and green bubbles! They were so excited to try on their green wigs and glasses and see what candy they got. We got another leprechaun visit at our door with green sandwich cookies too. :)

Danelle wanted to go leprechaun hunting for her date that afternoon, but we settled on seeing WE BOUGHT A ZOO because it was raining. Still wanting to celebrate, we picked up a Little Caesars Hot and Ready Pizza and bread sticks and came home to party. The Little Caesars was so friendly, the girls each got a balloon with a Little Caesars logo to make our party complete. Later that night when Shayne and Danelle were teasing each other, Danelle's top front right tooth came out!!! It was a wonderful day.

Cooking Happy

Ok, I give... I like cooking. I mean, I am starting to LIKE cooking. I have been cooking new recipes all year. We've had some sensational dishes, and some NOT SO GREAT. It's been a worthwhile adventure for me, and I feel so appreciated by my family for making the extra effort. It also passes the time when I need it. Plus, there is just something about having restaurant quality food from home sometimes. I feel like I should be on my own cooking show :)

Here are a few I cooked last week, all from my trusty CAMPBELL'S RECIPE COLLECTION cookbook.

Hearty Chicken and Noodle Casserole.
My family wasn't too excited about this dinner. I guess it didn't sound like anything special, but this meal SURPRISED us all! It was the perfect all in one meal. Danelle had two helpings and even Kaitlyn ate this meal well. Don't underestimate your noodle casseroles!!! They might surprise you.

Rosemary Chicken an Roasted Vegetables.
I wanted to make something tasty, pretty, and impressive for my company Friday night. Danny and Uurtsaikh (my brother and sister in law) were coming over for dinner. I had never roasted a chicken before, but I think it turned out as everything I hoped it would. It had a very nice subtle flavor to the chicken, and the veggies (red potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots) cooked well. This was also a very healthy meal so I didn't feel as guilty taking second helpings. ;)

Tonight - Roast Pork with Green Apples and Golden Squash. I have been trying to cook more with chicken and pork (the other white meat) lately to stay on a healthier diet. This recipe appealed to me because I have never cooked a dinner with apples before, and I am a squash lover. I had some trouble finding whole pork tenderloins though, so I settled for pork tenderloin steaks - luckily they worked. My favorite part of this meal had to have been the apples. They were very sweet, and reminded me of the fried apples they serve at Cracker Barrel.

This week I am thinking about letting Shayne help me with grilling Barbecued Pork Spareribs. I also think I will try the Savory Pot Roast and Tuna Noodle Casserole (since my last noodle casserole turned out so well). Look at me... Liking cooking :) How about that?

Brighter Tomorrow

Danelle was mad at me the other day. In her mind, she was fully justified wanting whatever it was from the store at the time so when I told her (like always), "Danelle, we don't have money for that right now," she had enough! She finally asked, "well, when will we not be poor?"

"Danelle," I answered, "Money isn't everything." I explained all the things we do have compared to others and how lucky we really are. We have so much to be thankful for! We have everything we NEED. We have enough money to meet our needs, clothes on our back, a nice home with heat and water, and a bright future ahead of us - especially now that Shayne is about to graduate college.

It seems like forever ago that Shayne decided to go back to school. We had been through a lot of rough patches financially to finally make that decision. Shayne had been working as a salesman with unstable paychecks, and we had just lost our home in Cedar Hills (not my proudest admission). Life was harder than ever at that point. We wanted another baby so badly but ran into infertility probelms, and it seemed like NOTHING was going our way. I was upset with where our life was going. Our marriage and faith was being tested and I was starting to lose hope of anything changing.

Then Shayne started to talk about going back to school. All the sudden, we were caught in a long dark tunnel with a light at the end! I urged him to take the plunge and KNEW that although it would be hard, we would be SO BLESSED for him going to school.

Shayne started in fall 2008 at Steven's-Henager College in Provo going into Health Care Administration with an emphasis in biotechnology. In 2009, reality of the importance of his degree hit when his job at the time closed it's doors leaving former workers unemployed. The economy had taken a dive and employers had now hundreds of applicants wanting the same job. If you didn't have a bachelors degree you were among the first to be weeded out. We realized even if he didn't want to go into his field, just having a bachelors degree in anything put him ahead of the game. We looked forward to job security.

It's now 2012. It's been a LONG road, but I could always take whatever difficulty we came across KNOWING that one day it would be better! Well, that day is coming fast because Shayne just got his graduation date and time. June 21st at 6:00 p.m. I will be watching my husband graduate! I have never been more proud of any of his accomplishments. We have stuck it out and are better and more in love than ever knowing we did it as a team.

I am so grateful to him for the sacrifices I know he made to go back to school. I love him dearly and can't wait for the day the girls and I will be his cheerleaders when he walks on that stage. It's going to be HUGE and he deserves it.

WAY TO GO SHAYNE! :) Almost there.

February

I have one amazing baby. Today I went in her room to wake her up for the day. She has been severely off schedule lately, so I didn't want her to sleep in late. When I peeked in her room, I was surprised at the sight! Kaitlyn was naked from head to toe, fast asleep in her bed! Sure enough, she had taken off her pj's and thrown them out of the crib, and to make matters more interesting took off her diaper and left it at the end of the bed.

Two things shocked and surprised me. The first is that the pj's were still zipped up, and snapped shut. She had to have carefully climbed out the NECK hole! Second, I could not believe it but HER BED WAS DRY! She hadn't even wet the bed! I really hope she doesn't pull anymore shenanigans, but I guess no harm was done so I let this one pass.

Danelle is an amazing kid too. One thing about Danelle is that she LOVES to talk. Whenever she is home, she is following us around talk talk talking away. She always has something on her mind. You can almost see the thoughts reeling through her head.

The other day, she was watching me exercise on our new/used treadmill we found on KSL. She was pretty excited to see me "get sweaty." I put the TV screen right in front of the treadmill for entertainment when I run or walk, but this day Danelle was talking away, asking questions, and actually making me more tired and out of breath answering her. Finally, I said in a nice way, "wow you like to talk a lot!"

Danelle laughed harder than I expected. She said, "well - I have a lot to say!" I couldn't help but smile and I realized I love her talking. She is so smart and always thinking and feeling something. I love that she can talk to me about anything. She can talk talk talk all she wants.

Life has been changing lately. Shayne is in his last few months of school. This means he has to go on campus and is gone an extra four nights out of the week.

It's been a BIG adjustment to our lives. Now that Shayne has school in the evenings, I am now fully responsible not only for the girls mornings, but bedtimes too. Bedtimes have never been my favorite. I am proud to say though that amazingly enough, we have developed some wonderful new routines and everything is going much more smoothly.

I have to tell you too, I am feeling so GREAT lately. Winter always depresses me. I miss the sun, I miss warm, and the usual yearly expected weight gain depresses me too. Well, like I mentioned earlier, we got a treadmill. It is doing WONDERS for me physically and emotionally.

I started a Jillian Michaels FROM COUCH TO 5K program, and am following it strictly (only adding extra walking time). It might not sound like much but after a week and a half, I can run four minutes straight now. I add another minute tomorrow and will be up to six by the end of the week. The hope is to be able to run 30 minutes straight by the end of the program which is 10 weeks long. I am so excited and proud to be getting more healthy.

My family is benefiting from the treadmill as well. Danelle walks 15 minutes four days a week, and Shayne is also doing the couch to 5k program. I am already noticing him losing weight. It's inspired us to eat better too. I love it. I am so proud of my family.

Kaitlyn is getting healthy too in her own way. We have been trying to get her to a healthy weight. She is small for her height, only being at 2% in her weight... yikes! Her doctor suggested we power pack her food with extra calories and start giving her Carnation Instant Breakfast with her milk for nutrients. She might not be eating more, but she is taking extra calories with every bite and every milk she drinks. I have been giving her V8 Fusion as well for vegetables and extra nutrients. One of these days, I should get a juicer and make my kids homemade healthy drinks.

So there you have it; an update on our family. I am so happy to have February out of the way. January and February are my most difficult months of the year so once they are over I like to celebrate. "Birthday season" is fast approaching and then another fun packed summer. I am still so excited about 2012. :)