Baby/Toddler Favorites

Happy Saturday! I sure hope my Clemson Tigers can pull out a win today! It's starting to be a bit of a depressing season!

I get asked a lot about my "favorites" whether it's baby gear, clothing stores or TV shows. As you may know, I'm quite an opinionated person so I know what I like...and what I don't! Here's a list of some of my favorite baby/toddler stuff should you for any reason be interested. :)

Kid show: I have 2. Chuggington and the always trusty Curious George. Chugginton teaches life lessons like morals, time management and friendship. The stories are super cute and I always like the lesson. I like Curious George because Parker likes Curious George. He's too young to get anything educational out of it but he watches it and it gives me 15 mins or so to wake up in the morning. That's reason enough to make it #1 on my list.

Clothing: Gymboree. They've got it all. jeans, lounge clothes, dress clothes, PJs and swimwear. I don't buy PJs or swimwear from anywhere else now. Beware... they do run big! They constantly have new clothes in the store (which means they always have the "old" stuff on sale" and the quality is great. I can get just about any stain out of them as opposed to places like Target where you get a drop of spaghetti on it and it's in the trash. My other FAVORITE place to get custom clothes is Izzy Puddin'! You may recognize the model on the website ;) Nikki at Izzy Puddin' is A-MAZ-ING! She made Parker these adorable Jon Jons as well as a small wardrobe of monogram long and short sleeve shirts. Her stitching is impeccable, prices are awesome and she's so easy to work with! If you don't see an applique you like on her website, she has access to like infinity more. Whatever you can imagine!
Here are some of the items she's made for Parker:

Shoes: Nike Shox for tennis shoes. (I got Parker's at the Nike Factory Outlet). He walks amazing in them and they're so easy to put on with the "fake" laces that are really elastic. Stride Rite Leather sandals for summer dress shoes. Crocs (preferably the croc bands) for park/get dirty shoes. You can hose them off and they're clean again. Easy Breezy.


Snacks: Buddy Fruits (or GoGo Squeeze... they're the same concept). It's real fruit smashed up and in a pouch that the kids suck out of. It's completely mess free and they don't need to be refrigerated so they're perfect for the car or diaper bag. If it says "apples and strawberries" that's exactly what's in it and nothing else.

Toys: I love most things Fisher Price or Little Tikes. They're made better than most other toys and they're easy to find at consignment stores. Lets be honest. Kids outgrow toys so why not find some gently used ones at a nice consignment sale? Lysol wipe them and they're good to go! We love our cozy coupe, wagon, basketball goal, music table and ball sorting dragon. Some are new, some are used but they're are Little Tikes or Fisher Price and loved by Parker.

Strollers: Tough Question. I'll break it down by needs.
Lightweight: Maclaran Volo. It's light, nicely made, adorable at $99 and made with a mesh seat so it's cool in the summer. It folds to almost non-existent.
Jogging Stroller: No questions about it... BOB. I like the revolution because the front wheel can lock OR swivel so it can also be an everyday stroller or an excellent walking stroller.
Everyday Stroller: You could use the BOB revolution for this but I recommend the Uppa Baby Vista. It can be a snap n go when the child is an infant. It also comes with a pram (so cute) and a toddler seat that can face forwards or backwards. I love this feature. If a 2nd is on the way, you can buy a rumbler seat that attaches easily. I wouldn't use this as an everyday double because the rumbler seat is tiny but it would be perfect for short trips. The Uppa Baby also comes in cute colors... oh so important! (Honorable Mention: Baby Jogger City Mini)
Double Stroller: I've recently become an expert here! Hands down the Baby Jogger City Select. It's a single stroller that adds a 2nd seat to the frame to make it a double. The seats can be configured 1 different ways! It's insane. The infant seat snaps into it. You can also purchase a pram. Check out these options!

Sippy Cups: Parker can only do ones with straws so we like the Playtex insulated straw cups. They don't make his hands cold so that's a plus and they rarely leak. The downside for a boy is that they come in a whopping 4 stereotypical designs.... cars, dinosaurs, sports balls and construction equipment.

Infant Carrier: Baby Bjorn Spirit. It's the original baby Bjorn but in cute, bright colors (red, lime green, pink, orange, blue, etc). We had the black one with Parker but I think I may splurge on a new, pretty one for #2. Parker spit on his so many times that I feel bad putting a 2nd kid in it.

I do have other "favorites" BUT right now I've gotta get ready for my favorite time of the day.... Parker's nap time! :) YAY for getting stuff done!

Middle School Yearbook Wisdom

Recently, in the process of cleaning out the guest room to make Parker's big boy room, I ran across some "treasures." How these items made it into the house is beyond me but I think Daniel may have sneaked them in while I was sleeping! Guess how many trench coats he has? 3. Guess how many he's worn in the 3 years we've been married? 0. They have been relocated.... to the homeless shelter. So, if you see a homeless man wearing a shiny silver stretch cotton t-shirt with a black trench coat and Marine issue combat boots... my husband unknowingly donated those items.

In the midst of 40+ computer text books (all now outdated... ps- who doesn't sell those back at the end of the semester?) I found my husband's yearbooks! All the awkward years.... MIDDLE SCHOOL (plus high school but he was kinda hot then)! My hubby and I spent the whole night going through them and laughing at the tidbits of middle school wisdom! Some were too good not to share!

1994 (Daniel's 7th grade year) - "Practice safe sex as much as you can because you can't catch AIDS in the palm of your hand." - Chris R. (I'm going to spare the last names)
* Seriously... 7th grade. Can we say inappropriate?! My mom would have flipped if a kid wrote that in my yearbook. I'd be banned from ever speaking to him again! ha ha On the other hand.... quite wise of a 7th grader. Someone was listening in sex ed.

1994 (7th grade) - "Live long and prosper. PS- I hope you fail." - Josh W.
* What a sweet friend, right? Boys... a girl would have never written that!

1994 (7th grade) - "Daniel, You are so sorry. Hope to have you in my class next year so I can whoop your butt in anything and everything. You misspelled awesome in my annual last year. See ya Mr. UnWise!" - Lance C.
* I'm assuming with a name like "Lance" he feels the need to assert himself with aggression. I wonder how many times Parker is going to have to be called "UnWise" from silly kids? Oh well... it hasn't seemed to scar my husband!

1994 (7th grade) - "Daniel, sorry if I spelled your name wrong. I don't know you at all. (she didn't scratch it out too well.) I hope you have a grate summer, and see you in 8th grade. KIT (her number) and maybe I'll get to know you." Heidi R.
* Bless her heart. Maybe in 8th grade she'll learn to spell "great."  I wonder if my husband ever called her. ha ha

1994 (7th grade) - "Kurt Cobain LIVES!" - Eddie V.
* I didn't even know who Kurt Cobain was in the 7th grade!

1994 (7th grade) - "I. I did. I did this. I did this to. I did this to take. I did this to take up. I did this to take up more. I did this to take up more space." - Hammtrall S.
* Now THIS is how I remember the 7th grade going down! If you looked at my 7th grade yearbook it's full of dorky notes like this!

1994 (7th grade)- "R.H.A.S.L, Have a good life and never ever listen to your parents." William C.
* I have NO CLUE what that abbreviation stands for! Apparently William never planned to see Daniel again but if I could contact him, I would tell him that Daniel, is indeed, having a good life! ;) I'm also assuming William has a slight issue with authority, Hopefully, he's worked that out. ha ha

1998 (11th grade) - " Wise, stay off the roids. You know they make your nuts shrink don't you? Knock some heads off in football and win some games. Your friend, Scott B"
* Well Scott, I'm pleased to announce that Daniel's "nuts" are in excellent working condition which I can only attribute to your sound advice of steering clear of roids!

1998 (11th grade) - "Daniel, you're a small, weak, (alternative word for a small feline). Just jokin'! Kick Ass, Zorro!" -Eric K.
* I'm loving all of the positive affirmations from boys! Jeeze!

1999 (12th grade) - "Lets try to do cok next year." - Kevin W.
*Kevin... this is TERRIBLE advice and I'm glad this never occurred... but it did make for a nice laugh 11 years later. Hopefully, you never took your own advice!

1999 (12th grade) - Paul left a generic boring message BUT I did love the end. "KIT (phone number 1) (home), (phone number 2)(2nd home line), (phone number 3)(pager), (phone number 4)(cellular)"
* Paul must have REALLY wanted Daniel to contact him! I'm loving the "pager" number and the "cellular." Who says "cellular?!" he he

1997 (10th grade) - "Daniel, Have a great summer, stay out of trouble, try to get laid, it's been fun working with you this year. I hope you achieve your goals in life." Your manager, Brandon B.
*I'm not sure what's weirder, that Daniel's boss signed his yearbook or that he advised his 10th grade grocery store employee to "get laid." Thankfully, Daniel made the move to life guarding and did not, in fact, get laid that summer.

1997 (10th grade) - "Daniel, have a coll summer and try not to go to jail." Jeffrey J.
*Sound advice, Jeffrey. I wonder if the 11th grade taught Jeff to spell "cool?" The funny thing about this one is I know Jeff and he's really done well for himself in life! Maybe he took his own advice and stayed out of jail!

While I could go on and on.... these were my favorites. Isn't it so fun to go back and reminiscence years later!? Man, middle schoolers are cruel... all the while being super funny! :)

The not so scary monster who was scared

Parker is PETRIFIED of his Halloween costume. I mean S-C-A-R-E-D! He screams at the sight of it. I bought size 12 months because it looked big, tried it on him and we had a bit of a traumatic experience when he got semi stuck in it. Since then, I went back to the store, bought a bigger size, but the damage is done! It's the cutest little costume so I just HAD to get some precious shots for our Halloween card!

I tried to bribe him with M&Ms which are my go to bribe and his answer was "NO WAY." This was not going to be easy. I wrestled him to the ground (oh the things moms do for cute pictures!) and got the outfit on even though he got a few good kicks to my face in the process. My compromise.... his all time favorite treat. A sucker. I keep a stash of dum dums which I was unable to find in the cabinet so I settled for a blow pop, knowing he wouldn't finish it fast enough to get to the gum! Unfortunately, the silly cherry blow pop is in all of my shots (why didn't I give him sour apple? It would have matched the costume better!) BUT in the end, I got some cute shots!

Here's how our mini photoshoot started:

Heaven forbid he smile.

The miserable monster.

Wait... could this be a smile?

Then things started to turn around.

How did I get him to smile? I hid behind the garage and would jump out to scare him, snap the photo and do it again!

I look at this shot and think, "Why didn't I sweep the porch!?!"

The neighbors thought I was nuts.

We finally got some Halloween card worthy shots! I'd glad we did a Halloween trial run! Hopefully we can curb the costume meltdown with a little sucker while we cruise the street in Parker's wagon on the prowl for more candy!

Digital Camera Dump!

What to write about today.... well nothing is going to top the LAST post (we're pregnant! AHH!) sooo.... My gymboree shopping trip (love gymbucks!)? My killer deal on khaki maternity cords (brands new at a consignment shop!)? My son ruining a pile of clothes with bleach (I was spot cleaning and he dumped it out on a pile of darks! UGH!)? What about how my DVR is on hyper drive? Thursday night TV is the BEST!!!! The Office, Bones, The Vampire Diaries, Project Runway, On the Road with Austin and Santino, Private Practice, CSI! WHEW. It takes us many nights to go through it all but ALL of our shows except Dexter and Modern Family are on Thursdays!

Boring. I'm in a rut. Everything seems so frivolous after our big exciting news!

How about some cute pictures?

Here are Brooklyn and Parker at Hunter Farms kissing.

We were trying to get their attention by cheering but since they're both little mimics, they just did it right back at us!

I actually bought this outfit specifically for pumpkin picking. ha ha

 How about a random bath tub pic? Those are always winners!

Too cute... wanna see more? Yes, of course you do.

He loves bath time and I just think they are the cutest pictures! I have a whole album to embarrass him with later in life. His future wife will appreciate them one day! What's next? How about more pictures that chronicle the relationship/love between baby and Parker? We recently picked up Baby #2 as a backup. Once was supposed to stay in the crib and the other in the car but now he just has to have both of them. My husband is jealous that he gets to sleep with 2 chicks.

Kissing baby!

Hugs for his girls!

 Well, the washing machine just buzzed. Time to check the bleach damage! THANKFULLY... it was ONLY clothes! All replaceable! Have a great night!