lists – Humbled by the Honor

Rethinking the Baby Gear

If you read my baby registry blog post, you may have noticed a lack of typical baby gear. A few years ago I came across a blog by an OT mama who was sharing about infant development and how baby gear can affect that. My youngest at the time had some muscle tightness and head shape issues that we had worked through with our chiropractor. I could instantly see though, how the gear he used and where he spent his time, affected him. I was shocked that nowhere else had I encountered such important information! He was out of the baby gear stage, but I decided that I would do things differently with the next baby.

Because of the issues we had with Colin, I decided to go ahead and get rid of some of our gear and look for alternatives. I got rid of our Rock N Play, swing, doorway jumper, jumperoo, and a few other things. On the plus side, this helped me clear out some bulky things taking up space in my attic. On the other hand, I sure hoped our next baby would be ok with this new plan!

We’ve worked hard at keeping Annette on flat surfaces and being conscious of where and how she spends her time. She is currently eight months old and I’m really happy with her development. She never had any head shape issues, did really well on her tummy, and is crawling and standing up already. You can read a day-in-the-life post I did here, detailing how it was all going. (will post that tomorrow)

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, go check out CanDoKiddo.com. Read her blog posts and books, take her email courses, follow her Facebook page, and so on! The great thing about Rachel from CanDoKiddo is that she’s a mom too so she’s very understanding of the need to use baby gear. She has a balanced approach to things and doesn’t even tell you to get rid of your gear, but to limit baby’s time in it. I highly suggest checking out some of her posts on the topic though for more info.

Baby Gear

This is what we decided to use and really liked for baby:

DockATot – I loved this for helping baby sleep on her back from about 0-5 months. Worth the price tag for sure because she slept so well!
bouncy seat – This is just a safe place to put baby. We limited her time here.
Tiny Love Rocker Napper – I have one that lays completely flat, apparently not all of them do? This was our downstairs daytime napping place. I would also bring it in the kitchen and put her in this while I cooked or did dishes.
Solly Baby Wrap – Sooo much better than other wraps because the fabric is lightweight and it folds up small!
infant car seat – This stays in the car. I use a wrap to carry baby while inside places.
Ikea baby gym – We love this! It is still out at 8 months for diaper changes and sitting up play. She can even pull herself up to standing and it doesn’t tip over.
soft blanket on the floor – Pottery Barn crib quilts are nice and thick. I did use a Boppy pillow a few times to help with tummy time play too.
Babyhawk mei tai – We graduate to this from the Solly Wrap.
Ergo baby carrier – I use this after the Babyhawk, once baby has good head control. It usually stays in the van and is used in stores, church, etc.
walker (no wheels, its just kind of a baby stander-upper) – Limited time in this, it kinda replaces the bouncy seat as a quick place to put baby as she gets bigger.
Pack N Play – We co-sleep at night, but naps are in the Pack N Play so that she doesn’t roll off my bed.
Floppy Seat – Once baby can sit up well this is great, we keep it in the van.
Ikea Antilop high chair – My favorite high chair. We prop towels around baby at first because she’s so tiny, even though she does sit up well.

Notes: This might look like a lot, but it is literally everything that Annette has spent time in for her first year. I don’t even have all of this gear out at once either. The top row all gets put away by about 6-7 months (stored in the attic for future babies). The car seat, baby carriers, and the Floppy seat all stay in the van. The bottom row doesn’t get used until about 6 months on. We do own a double stroller, but with it being winter here, I’ve only put Annette in it once for a short walk. She didn’t like it and I ended up carrying her anyway.

Not pictured: mama’s arms, big sisters’ arms, and lots of time spent interacting with siblings! 🙂

Curriculum Fall 2018

I love looking at curriculum. I also love making my choices and having things planned out way ahead of time so that I can forget about it all when summer hits. 🙂 It is also nice having my curriculum plans on my blog so that I can look back through the years to see what we have done. Here is what I am thinking for the 2018/2019 school year… Oh and one more reason that I am planning ahead is that we’re about to hit high school with Lucy and I want to be sure I have a good plan for where we are headed!

Lucy (8th grade) –

Heart of Dakota Resurrection to Reformation (I am using all of their recommendations including Apologia Astronomy for science, an IEW writing book, Rod and Staff English 5, and Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. This is all scheduled in Heart of Dakota.)

Teaching Textbooks pre-Algebra

Duolingo Spanish

Piano and ballet lessons

Julia (6th grade) –

Teaching Textbooks 6

Duolingo Spanish

Piano lessons and possibly ballet

Esther (3rd grade) –

Beautiful Feet Around the World with Picture Books

Usborne Beginners Animal books and 100 Science Experiments

Reading – Sonlight reading 3 vocabulary and comprehension questions

Math Mammoth 3

Rod and Staff phonics 2

Rod and Staff Spelling 3

Cheerful Cursive

Piano lessons

Isaac (1st grade) –

Beautiful Feet Around the World with Picture Books

Usborne Beginners Animal books and 100 Science Experiments

Math Mammoth 1

Rod and Staff phonics 2

Heart of Dakota’s Emerging Readers Set

A Reason for Handwriting A

Colin (4yrs old) –

A Year of Playing Skillfully – we’re already using this lightly and love it

a math or a Rod and Staff workbook if he is interested

listening in to our Around the World studies

Annette (1 yr old) –

She will do lots of “being cute and disrupting things” I’m sure!

Much of what I am using for Esther and Isaac I have used before and am confident in (Math Mammoth, Rod and Staff, etc). I’m excited about the Around the World studies, this is new to us and looks fabulous! We have a couple of friends planning to use this also.

Lucy and Julia are continuing on with some things that have already been working well for them (Teaching Textbooks, Rod and Staff English). Heart of Dakota Resurrection to Reformation looks like a really great next step for them and I feel like it will prepare them well for high school. More focused writing assignments and history notebooking will be a good challenge for them. I am hoping Heart of Dakota will be a good fit that they can continue on with through high school. We’ve used some HOD in the past and for many years I have added HOD reading selections to whatever curriculum we used. I’m looking forward to using their full curriculum.

This past week I have been working on a spreadsheet of all the curriculum we’ve used over the years for each child. You can see across the top I have a page for each child: along the left side are the subjects, and at the top are the years, beside the year is the grade that particular child was in. I haven’t finished filling these in, but its been extremely helpful. I can quickly look and see for example that Isaac was only two when we did our human body study, so we’ll do that again with him. It also helps when planning for my younger kids future school years. We’ve been homeschooling for so long and with a variety of things; I don’t want to forget about any of these fun resources when it comes time for the younger ones!

My No Nonsense Yet Very Thorough Baby Registry

I enjoy looking at Baby Registries, shopping for all things baby, reading reviews of baby products, and making my own lists of baby things I love. As a mom of seven, I’ve used lots of baby gear over the years. For most of that time, we lived in a very small two bedroom house. While I love baby gear, I have had to be selective about what I choose. In addition, I have no tolerance for low quality, redundant, or potentially toxic things. My choices reflect hours of research into current recommendations, reading real parent reviews, and much care in finding the most non-toxic products available. I am not working with a large budget, so if something is pricey its because it has proven its value. I tend to choose high quality, functional items that will serve our family for many years.

Of course you may make different choices than I have, but that’s the beauty of reading things like this. Every situation is different. Hopefully I can help you be informed and make the best choices possible for your family and precious little ones. Let’s get started!

Breastfeeding:

Bravado Bodysilk Seamless nursing bra, 4-5 in various colors – my all time favorite nursing bra
2 sleep bras – mine are from Motherhood Maternity
4+ Undercover Mama nursing tanks in several colors – I wear these all the time, instantly turns anything into a nursing top.
lots of washable nursing pads with PUL backing – much more comfy than disposable
nursing clothes – I have a few tops and dresses from Latched Mama and Momzelle.
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book
Gia nursing pillow – worked much better than Boppy for me
Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter – softer than lanolin, works amazingly well
nursing cover with boning across the top – need to be able to see baby in the beginning days
Covered Goods nursing cover – better all around coverage, I use this all the time.
a couple of nursing necklaces – keeps baby from getting distracted or pinching mom! Try MommyNecklaces.com or PaxOrganicsforBaby.com
SmartyPants prenatal vitamins – tastes great, contains methylfolate, keep taking these even after baby is born
Tip: Get some OsoCozy prefolds and sew a strip of cute flannel down the middle. You will have super absorbent, super cute burp cloths!

Starting Solid Foods:

Ikea Antilop highchair – love the price point, also love that it doesn’t have potentially toxic padding with nooks and crannies that catch all kinds of crumbs
mesh feeder – great for teething babies or beginners to solid foods
ChooMee pouch toppers – protect baby’s gums from hard plastic pouches, also allows baby to hold the pouch himself because it won’t spill out, love these!
BEABA first stage silicone spoons – others were too small, too big, too bumpy, these are just right
Olababy silicone spoons – great first spoon for baby to hold
Ikea Fabler kid size silverware – great price, we have an entire drawer full
RePlay divided plates – just deep enough that you can serve applesauce, yogurt, etc in the sections. Also, the deep sides help babies who are learning to feed themselves. Made of recycled non-toxic plastic.

Sleeping:

4-8 aden + anais muslin swaddling blankets – multi-purpose must have! The Aden ones from Target are cheaper but smaller and rougher. Splurge for the nicer ones if you can.
aden + anais dream blanket – thicker than the swaddles, I love the cotton as opposed to most synthetic polyester blankets that aren’t breathable. Works in a toddler bed also.
aden + anais sleep sack – comes in a thin and a thicker, warmer style too.
flat place for baby to sleep – We are using a DockATot with Annette. So far she seems to sleep well in it and it keeps her close to me, but away from blankets and pillows in our bed. An Arm’s Reach Cosleeper or a crib pushed up next to the bed are other options we’ve used in the past.
Pack N Play – for naps downstairs (bedrooms are upstairs), traveling, a safe place to play, etc
Dream On Me pack n play mattress – so much more comfy than the standard pack n play bottom. One of my kiddos slept in a pack n play for several years on this mattress
2-3 American Baby Company organic sheet, pack n play size – soft, great quality
American Baby Company waterproof mattress pad, pack n play size – soft, great quality
video baby monitor – We didn’t need this in our tiny house but I use one now.
white noise machine
Twilight Turtle – My kids love these; we own at least four of them.
nightlight or clip on reading light – for night time nursing and diaper changes

Diapering:

Seventh Generation wipes
a few packages of Huggies or Seventh Generation Newborn and size 1 – for the first weeks, overnight, and when out and about
Cloth diapers – Some of our favorites are Blueberry Newborn Simplex, Green Mountain Diapers prefolds and workhorse fitteds, and then BumGenius one size pockets with snaps once baby is bigger.
kitchen trash can with flip top lid and 2 pail liners – for cloth diapers
diaper bag – my current one is Vera Bradley
diaper rash cream – look for a cloth diaper safe one if you’re using cloth, Grandma El’s is working well for us.
wet bag – for soiled diapers or wet clothes, etc

Bathing:

Earth Mama Angel Baby shampoo and body wash
Skip Hop Dunks bath toy – Skip the toxic rubber ducky and go with these BPA free, Phthalate free, PVC free dunks. They are great for pouring water over baby when washing hair and rinsing.
baby bathtub – we have The First Years brand
one pack of baby washcloths – nice for getting tiny baby wrinkles clean. I skip the baby towel and use a regular one.

Health and Safety:

Baby ComfyNose nasal aspirator – yep, gross, but it works amazingly well
Exergen temporal artery thermometer – so easy to use
Cleanwell natural hand sanitizer spray – keep in the diaper bag and use often
baby scale – We usually have a rough start with nursing so I like being able to see that baby is gaining weight well.
baby hairbrush and comb
tiny nail clippers
outlet covers
amber or hazelwood necklace – these are adorable and we’ve seen some good results with these, especially the hazelwood for Annette.

Gear:

Babyhawk Mei Tai
Solly Baby Wrap – lightweight wrap, so nice for the newborn days
Ergo
Floppy Seat shopping cart cover- possibly my most used piece of baby gear. This one is padded and covers the whole seat, also works on restaurant highchairs. Keep it in the car!
bouncy seat – limit use of this in favor of floor time though
infant car seat
stroller – loved my Graco single stroller, we use a Graco sit n stand type double now
dresser/ changing table, changing pad and 2-3 covers – our current set-up is a dresser/ changing table combo. We’ve also done without a changing table in the past and just stored baby’s clothes and diapers in a few available drawers in my dresser.
rocking chair or glider
exercise ball – some of my kids hated rocking but my bouncing on the ball while holding them was soothing
Note: I don’t recommend a Rock N Play, swing, jumperoo, doorway jumper, or exersaucer based on OT recommendations for infant development. Also, they’re expensive and huge.

Clothing:

Zutano fleece booties – these actually stay on! Check your sizing, baby won’t need them in the summer, but for colder weather these are fabulous.
Robeez leather shoes – soft soled is best for baby’s foot development, we use these once baby is mobile
Baby Bling headbands for a girl – super soft stretchy bands that don’t annoy baby
Note: We use lots of footed long sleeve jammies, soft cotton dresses or one piece outfits, a sunhat or bonnet in the summer, a package of onesies… I don’t recommend registering for clothing as people will buy it for you anyway and you will quickly have too much.

Toys:

Ikea Leka baby gym – fabulous price compared to other baby gyms. I LOVE that this one isn’t overwhelming with lights and music and too many patterns. Skip Hop also makes an adorable wooded theme play gym that is nice and calm.
Jellycat stuffed animal – these are the softest most adorable stuffed animals. I choose just one for each of my babies. 🙂
Pottery Barn cotton crib quilt – I love having one of these to lay on the floor for baby. I go ahead and buy the matching crib sheet and pillowcase too so that once baby is in a toddler bed they will have a nice set.
Begin With a Blanket by Rachel Coley – written by a mama OT, best collection anywhere of unique ways to play with your baby and ensure their healthy development – I’m a huge fan of this book and her blog candokiddo.com
Soothies pacifier – the only pacifier we use. The shape of the nipple (wider at the base) helps baby to suck with lips flanged out, in a way that mimics breastfeeding. Other pacifiers allow baby to suck with lips closed down, not helpful when you are both trying to learn to breastfeed.
Wubbanub – trust me on this one! When baby spits out her paci, this little stuffed animal keeps it from flying across the room or bouncing on the floor.
books – lots of board books, Indestructibles books, Usborne books, cloth books, any and all books!
Oball – so great for babies to grasp, lightweight, stuff it with scraps of fabric for baby to pull out
a few wooden toys – Haba Kringelring, Haba Rattling Max, Haba triangles
RePlay links – safe plastic, use for play or to connect toys to the car seat or stroller
Wee Gallery black and white cards
Lamaze Freddie the Firefly – a favorite!
Winkel by Manhattan Toys – this is a favorite easy to grasp toy
Comotomo teether – perfect lightweight size for baby to grasp

Questions about anything you see (or don’t see) listed? Feel free to comment! If I think of anything else we love I will come back and add it. What are some of your favorite baby registry items?

Gift Giving

Lets talk about how I keep track of gift giving for my kids’ birthdays and Christmas. We have birthdays spread out all across the year. Add in Easter, Christmas, all the special holidays, and we are always celebrating something! We try to keep gifts to a minimum for reasons of space and not overspending, but I do enjoy shopping for my kids and selecting just the right things. How do I keep track of it all?

1) Amazon wishlists – I keep a separate running wishlist on Amazon for each person in our household. When I hear a child mention something he or she is interested in, I add it to the Amazon list in their name. When Grandma asks for gift ideas I can quickly reference the child’s list and make some suggestions. I also take a look at the lists every now and then and check for price drops. Occasionally I am able to snag something special at a lower price. Putting things on the wishlist also gives me time to knock them off the list if the child decides she is no longer interested in that item or I realize it’s something we should really do without.

2) Storage – I have medium size plastic boxes in storage with each child’s name on them. Whenever I make a purchase I immediately put it into the box for that child. This helps me easily see what I have. I also keep a running list on my phone so that I can check my purchases without going into the storage room. I keep track of what each gift costs so that I can stay within budget. The larger box in the photo contains items for giving others outside of our family whenever the need arises – new baby gifts, birthday gifts, etc. Sometimes I will put a sticky note with a name on a gift if it is for my niece or nephews.

3) Smart Shopping – I will often buy things ahead of time when I see them on sale, an Amazon price drop, or if I need to purchase a certain amount to get free shipping I will go ahead and get something I know one of the kids wants and stash it away. In March I was ordering an astronaut costume for Isaac’s birthday and saw this adorable dinosaur cape but I didn’t have any more money left to spend for him. They only had a few in stock and we needed more boy dress up stuff and it was adorable so I went ahead and bought it for Colin’s birthday (which is in October, yes I am that crazy). Other times I will maximize my spending and make a large order. For example, hosting an Usborne party, the more you buy at once the more free books you get. Buying ahead like this saves money, but thats also why I need to keep track carefully of what I already have.

4) Minimizing – At Christmas we have been giving each child three gifts (reminiscent of the three gifts mentioned in the Bible that the wise men gave Jesus). We also do stockings and we celebrate the twelve days after Christmas with fun outings as a family, special desserts, and so on. The three gifts are not always toys. We gift books, new pajamas, religious items, etc. Grandparents also spoil the kids with plenty of gifts and toys. Last year it all seemed like too much so we may cut it down even more. Siblings draw names and have one sister or brother to shop and wrap up a gift for. (Last year I assigned names and secretly gave the children each the sibling that I felt they needed to work on loving the most!)

5) Streamline – For holidays aside from birthdays where the children are all getting gifts I make them fairly similar. For Easter they all got a nice coloring book, the girls got flip flops, and the boys got small toy boats. Last Christmas each child got some books, a Playmobil toy, and the icon of their patron saint. Their gifts are not always exactly the same but it helps me to think in categories like that and get each child one toy, one book, and so on.

When a birthday rolls around all I have to do is check the list of things I have, show Grandparents the Amazon wishlist, and then pull out my box of stored gifts and wrap them up. Phew! That seems like a lot while I am trying to explain it, but it works for me! Any other gift giving tips or tricks you would like to add?

Wooden Trains

One of our favorite gifts to get at Christmas and birthdays is a cool new piece for our wooden train set. Just adding a bridge or a stoplight makes the whole set seem new and fun all over again. I love having plenty of pieces because all the kids enjoy playing together when we get out trains. The older girls are great at making complicated track designs for the little boys to play with.

The trains and track (except for the train station and the parking garage) all fit in two under the bed plastic boxes. Most of our pieces are Brio and we find them to be high quality. Melissa and Doug track pieces work well also. The parking garage is Brio and is super sturdy. Colin and Isaac got it once as a combined Christmas gift. It connects to the train track also.

Some of our favorite pieces are: (links are just for fun, I’m not an Amazon affiliate)

Starter kit with awesome sturdy bridge

Brio suspension bridge

Brio cargo harbor set

Brio crane boat

Brio light signal

Brio magnetic bell

Brio railway crossing

Brio ascending track and stacking track supports

train tunnel

turn table

train station

Brio tow truck – fun with the parking garage cars

Brio dump truck – cargo works with the crane

We also have a local toy store that sells track by the piece. Its fun to grab a few more curves, an adaptor piece, more straight track, etc.

Do you have any train lovers at your house?

Summer Menu – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

When I finally buckle down and do it, meal planning saves me so much time! For a while I was creating a new menu each week but with the baby coming I decided to make a simple one week menu that we could just repeat for a while. This one has fairly simple meals that are family favorites and I don’t have to think too hard about making them.

I’ve planned breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an afternoon snack. Now to be quite honest, some weeks we stick to this better than others. Most mornings I just have the kids get up and make peanut butter toast for breakfast. If we have leftovers I often opt to use those up and skip cooking another meal. Of course I do things like forget to thaw the meat or avoid making dinner till the last minute, so we switch meals around if we need to. Overall though, this is what I have on hand each week.

I also created a master grocery list to go along with my menu. On the left hand side are things that we usually need (milk, butter, etc) as well as specific items needed for the meals I have planned. On the right hand side are things we usually have on hand but that I may want to double check and be sure we have. As for the Costco items, we make a big trip every three weeks or so. I shop once a week at our local grocery store for everything else.

Both of these documents are laminated. I hang the weekly menu on my refrigerator. The shopping list stays in my cookbook binder. When I am making my grocery list for the week I will refer to the laminated list and check the pantry and fridge to see what we already have and what we need. I usually don’t need to buy this whole list at once. Sometimes I’ve grabbed extra spaghetti sauce, etc on sale so we don’t need any. Other times I’ve skipped a certain meal the past week so we still have items needed for that.

Last week my husband offered to do the grocery shopping for me. I knew that we needed quite a few things so I just made a copy of the list and crossed off what we already had and added on a few random items like lightbulbs that we needed. Yay for a mostly ready made grocery list!

Now as far as the allergens, we are free of gluten, dairy, egg, sesame, cranberries, pecans, and walnuts. I do have eggs on my list becuase I make scrambled or hard boiled eggs for some of the kids. Others of us eat a lunchmeat sandwich or something else at that time. The kids eat Udi’s bread which contains egg; I eat Sami’s Millet and Flax bread (no egg, it does have a cc warning for gluten though). We use corn tortillas, Tinkyada pasta, smart balance butter, cashew milk…. Questions about anything? Feel free to ask!