Pregnancy Products

What products were the most useful during your pregnancy? What products would you recommend to a friend?

So... you have a messy eater

My daughter is a super messy eater. Her favorite food is spaghetti and she loves to eat it, squish it, wipe it, and put it on the floor. She makes a mess with this and really any food she eats. In order to help keep the floor clean and keep me sane, I needed a plan to handle this non-stop battle of messiness. What I have come up with so far is to lay down newspaper under her high chair whenever she is eating finger foods. I am able to catch most of her mess by using this technique and not have to mop the floor every time she eats. I also like to use a pocket bib whenever she is eating really messy foods. The pocket catches the food that misses her mouth. To prevent her clothes from getting stained every time she eats, I remove her clothes and let her eat in her diaper. Generally, I only do this at the dinner feeding as this is the messiest time for her. When we go to a restaurant, I take the pocket bib to use as this does catch the most and keeps her clothes from getting the fewest stains while we are out. Also, I try to bring either wipes or a cloth bib to wipe her up after she eats. I usually order water so I have some available to help clean.

I would love to hear your ideas on how you keep your house, clothes, and baby clean with a messy eater.  

Wipes Box Activity

Materials:

• Wipes Box
• Fabric scraps (as many as you have that will fit in a wipes box)

Take fabric scraps and put them inside of a wipes box for child to pull out. Make the scraps the size of wipes and fold them like wipes in order to make sure they can be easily pulled out by the baby. Another option is to sew the scraps into a really long piece so the baby has to keep pulling to get the really large piece out of the box. Older toddlers would enjoy putting the scraps inside the box as well. To enhance the fabric scrap activity, label the scraps with letters, numbers, colors, or other words and say what is on the scrap as a baby examines it. (Idea adapted from http://aspottedpony.com/fun-for-kids/turn-a-wipe-container-into-the-best-infant-and-toddler-toy/876/)

Take out two scraps and place one half way over the other scrap.

Fold bottom scrap over the top scrap, leaving half of the top scrap uncovered.

Place another scrap on top of the scraps, leaving half not touching the scraps below.

Fold bottom scrap over top scrap, leaving half of the top scrap uncovered.  Continue this process until all scraps are used.

Place scrap pile in the wipes box.  Place top scrap that is uncovered through the hole of wipes box.

Leave scrap pulled up slightly for baby to pull.  Either leave the box open or close the container, depending on whether your child can open the container or not.  

My daughter loved this activity. She always going after wipes boxes when they are within her reach so she was naturally excited about being able to play with one. I would advise to be ready to keep reloading the box as your baby removes all of the fabric scraps, otherwise your baby may become bored if he or she has not figured out how to put the scraps back into the box. I loaded the wipes box several times for my daughter before she was ready to move on to another activity.   

Pack, pack, and pack some more

Hip, hip, hooray! It is the weekend. We are getting ready to go for a bike ride. That is the fun part. Now it is time to pack. It used to be just pack the bikes and my husband and I were off to a trail where we could spend the entire day riding. Now, we have to think about all the things that we need as a family for a short bike ride. What do we need to take on a family bike ride? Well, bikes, bicycle trailer, water bottles, sippy cups, Laugh and Learn Puppy, stuffed animals, toy phone, cell phones, snacks for baby, helmets, diaper bag, tire pump, tubing for tires, and the list could keep going. Is it all really necessary? Probably not. Am I going to take it anyway? Probably. Did I forget anything? Probably. Did it take too long to pack? Yes!

I would love to simplify the process of packing for any trip. I would love to start keeping a go bag. Any suggestions on how and what to pack for short and long trips would be helpful. What do you pack?

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is recommended for all breastfed babies until they are weaned.

After the hospital non-flavored Vitamin D ran out, it was time to find a new bottle for my daughter. I thought this would be easy. Unfortunately, all the local stores only carried Vitamin D that was flavored. I went to Target and they only had flavored Vitamin D. I bought it and brought it home. I had my daughter try this and she simply refused. She absolutely hated the strong flavor! Then, I went to WalMart and they only had the same flavored version. Next, I tried several other local stores and again only flavored Vitamin D. Finally, I decided it was time to search online. I ended up finding non-flavored Vitamin D on Amazon.  If anyone else is struggling, please check out my link below:

Unflavored Vitamin D can be found here

Dance, dance, dance!

Dance, dance, dance!  This is one of the first phrases my daughter understood.  She loves to dance and dances daily!   

Muffin Pan Sorting Activity

Materials:

• Muffin Pan
• Objects that will fit in the muffin holes of pan that are baby/toddler appropriate

Before trying to do anything structured with the child, let the child explore the objects.  When your child is ready, demonstrate putting objects in and taking objects out of the pan.  Say what you are doing while demonstrating.  Let the child put objects in the holes and take the objects out of the holes after you have demonstrated.  Ask the child to put an object in or take an object out and praise the child as he or she follows your directions.  You can introduce colors, shapes, etc as your child plays.  As your child advances and understands colors, shapes, etc., you can ask the child only to sort by a certain type of color, shape, etc.  (Activity adapted from http://www.sugaraunts.com/2012/10/baby-play-aka-brain-building.html)

My review of activity:

Age of child:  11 months

My daughter was most intrigued by being able to play with the pan.  She enjoyed putting her hands as well as the objects in and out of the pans.  I told her the colors and names of the objects while she played.  She loved the noises she could make while playing with the pan and objects.  She also enjoyed flipping the pan over.  I would recommend this activity as it kept my baby occupied for about ten minutes.  She continued to play with the muffin pan as she played with other toys throughout the day. I will do this activity with my daughter again.