tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25042103575620691942024-03-13T06:59:11.610-04:00Carolina Bellethoughts on food, beauty, and lifeCarolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.comBlogger775125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-27464287587264891642016-05-10T22:24:00.001-04:002016-05-10T22:28:56.743-04:00Mother's Day 2016 and Little Bear's Dedication...My husband fully executed my best Mother's Day ever :-) this year<br />
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Last year Ava Rose had colic and mostly screamed at me on Mother's Day so anything would have been a vast improvement, but he went above and beyond to make it special for me. My day started off with a sleeping in (until 8 am), a hot shower, and a morning mimosa.<br />
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Oh and Ava surprised me with a locket that I've been wanting from a local jewelry artisan - it's a vintage locket with pearls set along a gold chain.<br />
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We surprised baby girl with a new set of earrings, little pearls with screw backs in honor of her dedication.<br />
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Our moms and R's sister met us at church for Nugget's dedication, it was such a sweet ceremony. We committed her to God and the Pastor prayed over the babies. The babies receive a certificate and personalized bible and the moms were given a bud vase with a red rose.<br />
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We took some family photos:<br />
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Afterward had brunch back at our house - R made a breakfast casserole and created a donut tower. My sister in law made fruit salad and blueberry muffins and my mom brought mini ham and turkey sandwiches. Gramma and Grammy spoiled our girl with affection and gifts for her special day.<br />
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We totally skipped dinner and had chips and salsa leftover from our Derby party and leftover sandwiches. Of course for dessert R made brownies because they are our collective favorite goodie.<br />
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Oh and we got a full night's sleep without having to get up with Ava, which is still a rarity in our house. Chalk this one up in the record books as one of my favorite days!Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-58058120834013517172016-05-08T20:57:00.000-04:002016-05-08T20:57:40.799-04:00Strawberry Picking...We love our strawberries here at the Johnson household and we love strawberry patch season - so we had to plan an afternoon of berry picking at our favorite nursery. Ava Rose had a blast! We have enjoyed getting out this Spring and letting Ava Bear take advantage of the weather before it gets Hades hot. We plopped her down between two rows and let her "go to town" on those plants, she picked berries like a pro and sampled all the merchandise.<br />
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This was after a wardrobe malfunction, her hair is so fine we lose our bows on the regular.<br />
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And because we had so many delicious berries we made little baskets to give our moms for Mother's Day - with a new photo of Miss Rose of course.<br />
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I made smaller versions for Ava's teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week - berries picked by baby girl and a gift card to Panera Bread.<br />
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I have a strong feeling we are going to need to get another bucket soon!<br />
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<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-56683847371307144502016-05-07T23:49:00.004-04:002016-05-07T23:49:52.409-04:00Ava Rose's 1 year photoshoot...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Ava nailed this photoshoot, the last in her 1st year baby series. We had to reschedule it twice but third time was a charm. She was happy and *mostly* cooperative. She also loved her cake - homemade french vanilla with nutella icing. My girl loved that chocolate!</div>
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<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-90051502314445407042016-05-01T23:05:00.000-04:002016-05-01T23:05:10.772-04:00Ava Rose at 12 months...<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>Well, it happened and we survived it. Our tiny nugget is has entered toddlerhood...</i></div>
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Twelve month facts:</div>
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<li>Four teeth, 4!</li>
<li>She loves the cat and gets crazy excited when she sees her.</li>
<li>Loves to talk and is very good at making friends and holding "conversations".</li>
<li>She's biting...everything. This has been very challenging because she has a bit of a tantrum every time we tell her "no". </li>
<li>Still loves to nurse and still prefers a bottle to a sippy cup, another thing we have to work on. She loves to drink out of a water bottle though.</li>
<li>Finds every bit of paper, lint, etc on the floor. Thankfully she usually offers it to one of us rather than put it straight in her mouth now.</li>
<li>Doesn't care to bed fed any longer, she fights for independence now. Only wants finger foods and will let us assist her with a pouch.</li>
<li>Cruises, crawls, and stands assisted. She's strong and fast.</li>
<li>She has ringworm, I'm not sure where she got it but we have to put medication on it three times a day. It's the size of a quarter and I'll be glad when it's gone for good.</li>
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Nicknames: Nugget and Nuggie mostly. But boogie, pook, bub, and bear have been popular this month.</div>
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Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz</div>
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Length: 30 inches - we made our first mark on the height chart this month!</div>
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Eyes: She's my brown eyed girl</div>
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Clothes: We just moved to 12 month clothes, size 3 shoes. We have several 18 month summer outfits so hopefully we can mix and match all summer.</div>
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Diapers: Size 3, we will be in them for a while.</div>
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Sleeping: Down around 8 pm and up anywhere between 5:30 am and 7 am. She usually wakes around 2 am and can be patted back to sleep and is up again around 4ish and wants to eat. We nurse and she usually goes back to sleep after about a half hour. I hate night pumping so this works for me.</div>
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Likes: her teachers and friends at school, playdates, errands especially when it includes going out to eat, baby massages, cheerios, bathtime, being tickled, pulling all the wipes out of the container.</div>
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Dislikes: Getting her diaper changed, being laid down on her back, getting her nose cleaned / wiped, taking medication, the word "No", her baby gate, some food consistencies (one day she will eat a food and the next day she pulls it out of her mouth)</div>
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Feedings: This isn't easy to write since she eats everything and in no specific quantity. She nurses around 4am, 6 am, and at bedtime. She takes 3 bottles at daycare mixed with breastmilk and organic cows milk - we aim for 16 ounces a day. She takes a water cup several times a day and gets cheerios for a snack at least once per day. They offer her two snacks at daycare (usually fruit, a smoothie, fig newtons, or yogurt) - one is a "breakfast" type snack and the other is a traditional afternoon snack. And she gets lunch and dinner - whatever we are eating or is being served at the daycare menu. The only one I have kept from her is the Turkey corn dog...because, yuck. She loves Moes, like really loves it. She also loves any form of breakfast food and Panera rocks her socks too. We use Happy Tot pouches a few times a week to fill in any gaps or for mini meals on the go.</div>
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Ava's Favorites: Bubble Guppies, Cherrios (all the time), her OXO tot snack cup, Nuk training cups, Little People (all the time), Marbles museum</div>
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Milestones: Gah! Too many to keep up with. Big things - she eats everything we eat deconstructed. She eats the same food the kids eat at daycare now AND she eats in the cafeteria instead of in the infant room. </div>
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What a difference a year makes...</div>
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Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-69185060492843411092016-04-30T21:54:00.000-04:002016-04-30T21:54:07.127-04:00Baby Favorites - Part 3 Travel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Of course I'd start writing about our family's favorite baby items over the last year and get two posts in before a rather long pause. I love reading about other bloggers favorites and wanted to put in my penny cents worth.<br />
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Ava bear is not the best traveler, day trips are okay, short trips are okay, but she thrives on routine and familiarity. We have a few trips planned this year and I'm hoping that she will do much better now that she's a little older but as for the first year these were our necessities. <br />
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1. <a href="http://www.coveredgoods.com/" target="_blank">Covered Goods nursing wrap</a>. If you are going to nurse then you need this scarf / carseat wrap / nursing cover / high chair cover. I love the stripe one but they offer a variety of basic and seasonal styles. The fabric is super soft and easy to wash.<br />
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2. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Diono-Rainier-Convertible-Adjustable-Houndstooth/dp/B00ISS2QIK" target="_blank">Diono Ranier</a>, we chose to convert Ava out of an infant seat at 9 months. We owned the Britax B ready travel system and the infant seat served it's purpose. It was light weight, easy to use, and has good ratings. But this convertible seat is super durable, super heavy, definitely a bigger learning curve but I trust it.<br />
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3. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196GCQ50/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00A87NBOW&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=19ZSN4Q091SSDTZ7KKJS" target="_blank">Britax B agile</a> stroller. Again we have the travel system but I love the stroller, turns on a time, lightweight, and easy to fold and unfold. I love that the back is padded and she looks comfortable in it. We have a bumbleride and a McLaren but I still like this one the most. I think as she gets bigger, the McLaren will probably be favored for it's more compact size but she is too small for it to be comfortable now.<br />
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4. <a href="https://www.diapers.com/p/jj-cole-changing-clutch-stone-arbor-764666" target="_blank">JJ Cole changing clutch</a>. Once it's full it will take up the bulk of the space in your diaper bag but I love that it's the only thing I need for diaper changing AND it can be used one handed. I keep about 4 diapers in mine with one of the Huggies portable plastic zippered wipes packets and some Wet Ones. I keep handsanitizer and diaper bags hanging off the handle...so convenient. Oh and it's big, big enough to cover those Kangaroo stations from side to side.<br />
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5. <a href="http://www.tulababycarriers.com/collections" target="_blank">Tula Baby Carrier</a>. My print has been discontinued but I adore the design. Worth every penny. It's comfortable for me and for Ava.<br />
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6. <a href="http://www.wetones.com/" target="_blank">Wet Ones</a>. Buy them in bulk.<br />
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As for diaper bags, you won't find them under my favorites. I own two...<a href="http://luxury.zappos.com/kate-spade-new-york-classic-nylon-stevie-baby-bag-black" target="_blank">this one</a> (in a discontinued Poppy print) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Skip-Hop-Special-Diaper-French/dp/B00B7XUVLW" target="_blank">this one</a>. I carry both and they serve a function. I also carry a variety of totes and it all works the same. I think a SAHM may get more use out of an actual diaper bag though, unless you plan to use it as a daycare bag as well which I find very inconvenient. For daycare they can only have certain things in it, anything labeled "keep out of reach of children" can't stay in the bag - so, no first aid kit, benedryl, tylenol, teething tabs, hand cream, etc. Also any rash cream, snacks, etc are kept in the kiddo's cubbie. I like to keep my bag packed at all times with these items, extra food, extra snacks, etc so editing it daily would be a pain. I like to keep a packed bag in my car or close to the door to grab when we go on errands and she has a separate tote just for daycare that only includes a couple of outfits, seasonal items such as a jacket and hat, and anything she needs to refill her cubbie. Since most of our days are work, daycare and home we just don't use the diaper bag as much as I thought we would - but the two I have are very nice and I could give my recommendations.<br />
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That's it, now to learn all about travel needs with a toddler... and I promise I'll try to get all our baby favorites posted before her 2nd birthday (Ha!)<br />
<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-88344284796831591442016-04-16T23:20:00.002-04:002016-04-17T21:39:14.698-04:00Happy First Birthday Ava Rose!I planned a cute get together with family and friends for Ava Bear's first birthday...nothing elaborate but I had an actual "plan" for how it would go. And then we had awful weather. It poured rain all morning and we weren't able to set up the party until 10 minutes before start time. Several guests and family had already arrived and helped us get everything in the yard just as the sun came out. It wasn't perfect but it was a fun afternoon and thanks to my sister in law I have a lot of pictures for Ava's baby book.<br />
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I used this book as my inspiration for the party colors. Ava loves balloons! <br />
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She also loves bubbles so of course we had to get a <a href="http://www.toysrus.com/buy/bubbles/gazillion-bubble-hurricane-32417-2264918" target="_blank"><span style="color: magenta;">bubble blower</span></a> which would have been much more effective if it hadn't been so windy.<br />
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I lucked out on the perfect invitation from <a href="http://www.tinyprints.com/" target="_blank">Tiny Prints</a>, here is the sample from their blog:<br />
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And i can't forget to mention the best embroidered shirt and tutu set from TwoLittleDovesBoutiq on Etsy.</div>
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The actual party was on April 2, the day after her birthday. We had three flavors of cupcakes, Chick fil a nuggets, my aunt's amazing pimento cheese and a big fruit salad. </div>
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"Vintage" birthday month beanie baby bear...anyone else have one of these?<br />
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The ribbon garland is the only real "pinterest" addition to the party, some of it was actual scrap that I had in my collection and it took about 20 minutes to make. <br />
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This was Ava's second time having icing and she didn't like it. I think it was her third attempt at cake and she didn't care for it either. She was however, mesmerized by the sprinkles and kept picking them up and handing them to me. She tried a little ice cream and LOVED it.<br />
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Ava got a lot of "favorite" gifts...I think she has enjoyed playing with her new dollies and her little people most. She received a fancy all terrain wagon and loves being pulled around the cart path in the afternoons.<br />
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Our best girl had a great time at her party and made out with some great swag to boot! Happy birthday my beauty, I'm so glad I get to share it with you (and we celebrate the whole month long)!Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-30341729872164425902016-04-01T20:57:00.000-04:002016-04-30T21:56:48.203-04:00My Birthday Girl...<div style="text-align: center;">
Happy Birthday to my little beauty...</div>
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my little pook pook, rootie toot toot, tiny sweet dream, my everything</div>
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It's been a wild ride of a year and I can't wait for a lifetime of first times and best times with you.<br />
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Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-78340026091898658562016-03-30T21:32:00.001-04:002016-03-30T21:38:52.204-04:00Recap of our Easter...I wanted to share a bit more about our holiday and a few of the 500+ pictures I've taken over the last few days.<br />
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Last week was filled with egg hunts, our church rescheduled our egg hunt for Wednesday evening after youth activities and fellowship meal and nugget had her class egg hunt on Thursday evening.<br />
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Our daycare was closed Good Friday and Easter Monday so I had an extra long weekend with Ava, we had such a great time together, I realized how much I miss thoughout the day. I still think daycare is the best option for us - she loves to play with her friends all day and her teachers are great...but I enjoyed this treat of four full days to hang out with my nugget.<br />
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Easter morning she woke up to a surprise...<br />
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Then we got dressed in our Sunday Best for church. Gramma came over and gave Ava her Easter gifts including a little yellow bunny embroidered with her name.<br />
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Followed by lunch at R's grandmother's house. R's mom made everyone extra large peanut butter eggs as a take home Easter treat.<br />
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And a cousin egg hunt, it was awful weather - dreary with a side of rain so the eggs were hidden inside.<br />
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After such a busy day our little family crashed, we were going to do our traditional Easter dinner but we just didn't have the energy so we had leftovers and went to bed early instead. Ava was so exhausted she gave us almost nine hours of sleep with only 1 night feed...unheard of these days!Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-89464945666360329282016-03-29T22:09:00.001-04:002016-03-29T22:09:10.205-04:00Ava Rose at 11 months...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Our little bear turned 11 months on March 1st - of course I had to have a picture of her Easter ensemble! I'm so late getting this posted, it recaps the full month of February.</i></div>
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Eleven month facts:</div>
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<li>Two bottom teeth and toward the end of the month a top one made an appearance.</li>
<li>She loves to use sign language and understands Kitty and doggy - she can even do the finger snap.</li>
<li>Loves to sing, hum, blow raspberries, and talk...she is most vocal right before she goes to sleep. She can converse and answer you when you talk.</li>
<li>Sleeping 4-5 hours straight most nights sometimes more, sometimes less. We usually wake at least twice and now that she can crawl and sit up in bed, it can make it even harder to get her back to sleep.</li>
<li>Prefers smooth textured foods, sometimes when she tries something new she will reach in her mouth and pull the food back out just to squish it with her fingers.</li>
<li>Mostly eats what we eat but if it isn't suitable then she loves eggs, yogurt, and fruit so it's an easy "go to".</li>
<li>Favorite meal is probably cheesy grits and eggs - you can't feed it to her fast enough.</li>
<li>Can pull to stand and "cruise" along furniture, all month she got better and better at it.</li>
<li>Will walk with her new walker but it also scares her a bit.</li>
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Nicknames - all the same as last month, maybe with the addition of "boogie"</div>
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Weight: unknown, we go to the doctor in April</div>
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Length: We will find out soon</div>
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Eyes: Same as they were at birth</div>
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Clothes: 6-9 month, her 12 month summer clothes are washed though since the weather will be warming up soon. I put away everything that wasn't 9 month and shed a few tears. We are moving to 12 month jammies this month. </div>
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Diapers: size 3, they fit better than size 2 for sure. We love pampers most but Luvs fit nicely as well.</div>
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Sleeping: In her crib until the 4am feeding then she usually stays in bed with me. But she is sleeping at least 4 hours at night and we but her down between 7:30 and 8pm.</div>
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Likes: nursery at church, her "grandma" day every week, being read to, a back and feet massage, getting her hair brushed, bananas, a warm bed (we use a heating pad before we lay her in it to warm the sheets), playing in the bath.</div>
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Dislikes: peas, being ignored, being alone, waking up at night, getting her nails clipped, the "witching" hour after 8pm, and she hasn't cared for yogurt melts in the past several weeks</div>
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Feeding: Everything. She still takes 3 bottles a day, unlimited water from a sippy, 2 snacks at daycare with at least one of them being fruit, usually a jar of food at school and another big meal at home when we eat dinner. Unlimited nursing and she likes teething wafers, I think it helps her to chew something since her gums have been so swollen.</div>
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Ava's Favorites: Happy Tot pouches, vtech walker, Bubble Guppies, Nuk sippy cups, Little People, Highlights Hello magazine</div>
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Milestones: First stomach flu - she was sick quite a bit between a stomach bug and colds, first Valentines Day, pulled up by herself the first time and can walk along furniture while holding on, and went to the church nursery for the first time. We had our first incident report at school where she fell and received an "ouchy" on her upper lip - the teacher assured us it would be the first of many. Oh it was Ava's second time seeing snow but her first time "playing" in it.</div>
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Extras from our little photo session, because I had a difficult time picking a favorite-</div>
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Postpartum - back to my pre-pregnancy weight and back in my regular clothes - woo hoo! Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-21986741778371794962016-03-28T22:26:00.003-04:002016-03-28T22:26:56.489-04:00Easter basket 2016Woo Hoo! My first Easter basket hop...<br />
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I've already posted some of the goodies that are in the basket but here is the finished product that Ava Rose woke up to yesterday morning. Some of the items I didn't previously mention include a Childrens' Bible, <a href="http://www.target.com/" target="_blank">Target</a> dollar spot bubbles, stamps, felt eggs, and bunny ears, <a href="http://www.crayola.com/" target="_blank">Crayola</a> my first crayons, <a href="http://www.sweetnswag.com/" target="_blank">Sweet N Swag</a> Moccs, and a bathing suit with rash guard from <a href="http://www.ruffledbutts.com/" target="_blank">Ruffled Butts</a>. She loved the ears and that set of Tomy Hide N Squeak eggs most.</div>
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And a look at our baskets:</div>
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R and I make baskets for each other every years filled with our favorite seasonal treats - I like peanut butter eggs and he loves the Butterfingers eggs (not seen but they are in the bottom of his basket). He also got a set of weight lifting gloves that aren't easily seen in the picture. I loved my new journaling bible and travel coffee mug.<br />
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I'm linking this one up, can't wait to see what everyone else came up with for our 2016 baskets!<br />
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Just for fun, here is a flashback to Easter 2015 and a very small 4 day old nugget.<br />
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I just love her!</div>
Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-48854876482880725992016-03-15T22:20:00.003-04:002016-03-15T22:20:45.200-04:00Preparing for Easter 2016...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I may have had more fun planning Ava's Easter basket than I did planning Christmas. I put a basket together last year before her birth just in case she came out in time and she received it at four days old, of course this year she will be more involved and I can't wait!<br />
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Ava's basket is from Michaels but the liner is this sweet bunny applique from <a href="http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/chambray-applique-bunny-easter-basket-liners/" target="_blank">PBKids</a>, it doesn't show well on the screen but is very pretty in person. She's getting some new <a href="http://sweetnswag.com/product/sgt-swag/" target="_blank">Sweet N Swag</a> moccs one size up from the rose gold pair she received at Christmas. I picked up this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Are-You-Mommy-Joyce-Wan/dp/054554047X" target="_blank">board book</a> during the fall scholastic book fair at her school and saved it specifically for Easter. The <a href="http://www.target.com/" target="_blank">lamb sippy cup</a> was a random Target purchase but is so cute that I may have to go back and get her the bunny too. She's been using <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-52-4016-16ct-Triangular-Crayons/dp/B001VXNFD4" target="_blank">crayons</a> at school so I bought a set for her to play with at home (supervised of course). The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/TOMY-E1581-Hide-Squeak-Eggs/dp/B00068Q7LC" target="_blank">egg set</a> and the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jellycat-Tutu-Lulu-Cream-Bunny/dp/B00DP5B2QS" target="_blank">ballet bunny</a> were bought on Amazon along with a new <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Toy-Stella-Tiptoe-Clothing/dp/B00BMAJ8FU" target="_blank">outfit </a>for her baby Stella. She has some plastic eggs that I will fill with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Freeze-Dried-Yogurt-1-Ounce-Pouches/dp/B0030VBSBG" target="_blank">melts</a>, puffs, and a few small toys. Best of all, Ava Rose is getting a <a href="http://www.candykirbydesigns.com/products/the-genevieve-ballerina-doll" target="_blank">Genevieve doll</a> and I'm so excited to give it to her - they are coveted and frequently out of stock. I think she is going to love that puffy tulle skirt.<br />
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FYI - I bought the cutest set of finger puppets from the Easter section of Target but they must be available in store only because I can't find them online. Each set has a blue and a pink bunny, lamb, chick, and turtle. I bought several sets and used them to fill eggs for her class egg hunt, but I saved a bunny and a chick for Ava's basket. Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-91258003583103012752016-03-06T23:19:00.004-05:002016-03-06T23:19:51.395-05:00Gifts ideas for our almost birthday girl...So my beautiful baby will soon be a beautiful toddler? What? Where has the past year gone? I have been in full party planning mode for a few weeks; invitations have been sent out, RSVPs are rolling in, cake and trays have been ordered, and festivities have been planned - but it hasn't actually sunk in that my daughter will be a year old. She blossomed since Christmas - she can move and groove and has personality to boot. I'm starting to see her lean towards certain toys and I update my personal Amazon list with ideas for future gift giving occasions. With all the toy and book options out there, I think it makes perfect sense to pair down to items that will grow years with your child instead of months. However we didn't go all out on her presents this year - I found her a beautiful doll along with some 12 month clothing because she needed them, and of course we are throwing her a fete! Plus, it's a week after Easter and she's getting all the goodies from the Easter Bunny. But I'm sure these items will make it into our house eventually.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MYL7L9G/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00CPHX6YI&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=03FRBD2S5WY1X0D20PQG" target="_blank">Melissa and Doug Stir and Serve</a>. Because she loves banging our utensils around and we like to remind her that she has her own play kitchen.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/White-Seven-Dwarfs-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B01711CIF0" target="_blank">Snow White</a> - fresh out of the Disney vault for 2016.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-8-Piece-Stainless-Steel/dp/B00CPHX6YI" target="_blank">Melissa and Doug Pots and Pans.</a> Mama has drank that wholesome M&D kool-aid, I just love their toy line and these pots and pans look just like ours.<br />
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<a href="http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/62856?feat=pprv" target="_blank">LL Bean Original backpack</a>, monogrammed of course. As soon as our little crawler becomes a little walker she can bring one of these to use at school. My favorite color packs are the Dahlia purple shown or the Brilliant Blue - how to decide? I really think Ava leans toward the blue, it's a pretty aqua similar to her lunchbox.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Toy-Stella-Raincoat-Clothing/dp/B0036B2UYO/ref=pd_sim_21_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=41lUV9z-VRL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR129%2C160_&refRID=1W2RVWJ9S8M6RPX7WXGQ" target="_blank">Baby Stella clothing</a>. Yes Manhattan Toy has several outfits available but I'm loving <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/118976432/little-reversible-dress-in-pink-daisy?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=twinflower%20designs&ref=sr_gallery_3" target="_blank">Twinflower Designs on Etsy</a>, she makes a lot of doll clothes that fit Stella. Btw, in our house "Stella" is actually called "Dolly".<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Little-People-Princess-Cinderellas/dp/B009VKM5BC/ref=pd_sim_21_10?ie=UTF8&dpID=41ceq4bjchL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0XAX0GJVV7AN26419F9Q" target="_blank">Little People </a>anything. Ava loves little people and she likes to crawl around the house carrying at least one of them with her. We have the doll house with the three piece family and it's been loved the past three months, I think she would love to have anything from the princess line.<br />
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A <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-Tikes-Spiralin-Waterpark-Table/dp/B004INDQWY" target="_blank">water table</a>, these are a hit at daycare and our child loves playing in the bath so I think water play is a given favorite. We definitely want her to have one of these for some outdoor activity.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hape-Basics-Bucket-Sifter-Shovel/dp/B0076N1ZXK" target="_blank">Sand play</a>? Ava is going to the beach in a couple of months and I thought we would try it, most babies her age either love or hate sand with a passion. This brand, Hape, is such a great toy company for safe eco friendly materials.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/VTech-Stand-Learning-Frustration-Packaging/dp/B0053X62GK" target="_blank">VTech walking toy</a>. We have the fisher price elephant and she loves it - like really loves it for standing and bouncing. But her friend has this one and when we visit she enjoys playing with the activity table, I really like that it comes apart so it's like two toys in one. I honestly didn't think she needed two walkers but this one has a lot of features.<br />
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Our girl is far too little to be picky and we want her to be grateful of any gift, especially with friends and family coming in just to have cake with her. But I like having a few ideas when I get the inevitable - "what does she want?" question. This time next year she will be able to answer that question for herself.Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-7804695836945931742016-02-28T21:53:00.001-05:002016-02-28T21:53:19.755-05:0010 months later...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A little nostalgia right here. </div>
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10 months in......10 months out.</div>
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The girl on the left had no clue how much her life was going to change, just 3 days after that picture was taken. There aren't any words to explain it. And the girl on the right is the happiest she has ever been. I had no idea how to be a mommy and thankfully that sweet baby is giving me an education and we're learning together.</div>
Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-23081174046630517052016-02-21T20:30:00.000-05:002016-02-21T20:31:04.064-05:00Ava Rose at 10 months...<div style="text-align: center;">
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Looking more and more like her daddy...</div>
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Ten month facts:</div>
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<li>What a ham, she loves to wave at strangers, play with little people, and be out and about.</li>
<li>Waving, clapping, and some sign language. She knows, "milk" and "more" and understands "eat".</li>
<li>Plays peekaboo, loves to "sing" and "talk" during a conversation.</li>
<li>Errrrything goes into that mouth, she really loves keys. Remote controls. And phones - yuck, I try to steer her away from those.</li>
<li>Oh baby, we can crawl. And we are starting to pull up on furniture.</li>
<li>Loves her crib, we will need to lower it this week since she is pulling up.</li>
<li>We have a tooth! And then we got another tooth!</li>
<li>Loves to blow raspberries, coo, and laugh. </li>
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Nicknames: Nuggie, nugget, bunny, little bear, pook pook, oh my we have a lot of nicknames</div>
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Weight: no doctor appointment this month so we haven't checked</div>
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Length: We haven't checked but by looking at her pant legs she has definitely grown since her last checkup.</div>
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Eyes: Dark when I met her and staying that way.</div>
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Clothes: 6-9 month. Depending on the brand she is able to wear 12 month pants for length. She is starting to get a bit long for her footie pjs so we will have to move up to 12 month soon. We still wear a sleepsack at night but they max out at a 9 month size so our days are number in them as well.</div>
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Diapers: size 2 but we wear size 3 at night only because we have several packs thanks to my mother in law. They fit great. We had purchased size 2 and we have them at daycare.</div>
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Sleeping: Much, much better, we can get 3-4 hour increments at least. We had a few bad nights where she woke every 1.5 hours due to teething but most nights we put her down at 8 and she sleeps until 4 am at least. I can nurse her to sleep until 6-7 am. Sometimes she wakes up around 10pm or midnight but she can either put herself back to sleep after a few whimpers or we can pat her back and she settles down again.</div>
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Likes: Our happy nugget likes pretty much everything. Food obviously, sippy cups, eating at the table, exploring on her own, her teachers and classmates.</div>
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Dislikes: She hates being put down or being alone. She really doesn't care for being up past 8 pm. </div>
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Feeding: Stage 3 foods, arrowroot cookies, teething wafers, yogurt melts, and puffs are stocked around here. She mostly eats from our plate at home and gets some "treats" when we are out and about. She gets 3 bottles, a jar of food, and a snack at daycare. In a few weeks we will start letting her eat some of the foods the toddlers get at school. We nurse on demand at home.</div>
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Ava's Favorites: Amber teething necklace, Happy Baby teething wafers, my first toothbrush, bandana bibs, saline spray, baby aquaphor, Ruby Love baby book, Little People Doll House.</div>
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Milestones: We have two teeth! She started crawling and pulling up (more like attempting to pull up on furniture), first taste of cake, sleeping through the night regularly, first snow, first New Years celebration, and we joined a church as a family.<br />
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Postpartum: Nothing new to report, other than I'm getting really tired of dragging this pump, parts, and bottles around all the time. I love nursing so I put up with the pumping side...but I'm not going to miss the latter. Also not all clothes are flattering over a pumping bra :-/<br />
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Want to watch her grow?<br />
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Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-60041479875394417892016-02-10T22:03:00.003-05:002016-02-10T22:03:41.340-05:00Baby Favorites - Part 2 Bath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As promised I'm trying to continue with my favorite baby products months 4-10, truthfully though, we haven't changed our bath items much at all since she was born - unless you count that short time where she took sink baths. Ava Rose loves the bath! It's quality daddy time and she gets some playtime in the water before getting scrubbed down, our first favorite is a pretty standard item but it gets a lot of use.</div>
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We purchased the <a href="http://www.toysrus.com/buy/bath-tubs-more/eurobath-kit-in-white-340w-2404856" target="_blank">Primo Baby Bath Tub</a> and we love it, this was the one tub that could take us from 0-24 months fit nicely into our bathtub. It gives infant support and grows with the baby, when baby is sitting you just face them in the opposite direction and they have more room for playing.<br />
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Our baby has eczema so we switched all her bath products to help her skin to retain moisture, this thick lotion does the trick on her skin.</div>
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Aquaphor is the bees knees for taking care of baby skin...we use it on her bottom every night and above her top lip to help with irritated skin caused by constantly wiping her nose. When she went through her baby acne phase after she was first born, I liked to use it to help reduce the redness in her face. I keep a smaller size in my purse and the jar at our diaper changing area.<br />
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Our favorite <a href="http://www.toysrus.com/buy/lotions-moisturizers-sanitizers-oils/aveeno-baby-soothing-relief-creamy-wash-12-oz.-102394-3956073" target="_blank">body wash</a>...doesn't dry out her skin. We also use it to wash her hair.<br />
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We have so many bath toys - a couple of rubber duckies, bath books, and squirters but her very favorite is her <a href="http://www.diapers.com/p/boon-water-bugs-floating-bath-toys-with-net-169934" target="_blank">Boon Water Bugs</a> set.<br />
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And I can't forget about those new teef, we have the <a href="http://www.buybuybaby.com/store/product/baby-buddy-reg-baby-39-s-first-toothbrush/112692" target="_blank">Baby Buddy first toothbrush</a> and it's been great. She loves to chew it and the little nubs massage her itchy gums.<br />
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This is probably the easiest of the series, because she is pretty low maintenance at this stage.<br />
<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-88731004023408257452016-02-08T22:05:00.001-05:002016-02-08T22:05:06.497-05:00Baby Favorites - Part 1 Sleep<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So I meant to post my favorite baby items along the way but I took an unscripted, unplanned blogging hiatus since becoming a mom. And really, this blog is something I enjoy but as far as priorities go, it's not at the top of the list. I kept track of all the things we loved though, and I knew I'd eventually want to show favoritism to the goodies that helped us get through the rough months. Sleep. Not something we had much of from the time bunny was around 3 weeks old...then we found our groove around 4 months...then totally rocked again until about 7 months...then another regression...around 9 months we started getting some sleep after we cut our first tooth. Our baby is not one to need hours of uninterrupted sleep and she still wakes a few times a night, but at least she can put herself down again. We spent quite a bit of money on trickery that promised a decent night's rest, here are the things that we loved most.</div>
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First off...routine is key. We eat, bathe, book/nurse/pray, and bed every night. It works for us, she knows what to expect and will start to fuss if we deviate from the routine. <br />
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A good humidifer for her room, we bought this Crane ultrasonic version from Diapers.com when they had a 30% off sale. We love it so much that we may buy another for our bedroom. Cleaning it is a bit of a chore, it needs to bed emptied daily and cleaned with a water/white vinegar solution daily.<br />
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At night we like to play Pandora for our girl, we like the lullaby station but she sleeps better when the music doesn't have words - our favorite is the Piano Guys station. We also like Baby Mozart.<br />
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This bedtime book is adorable, it's called Really Woolly Bedtime Prayers and can be purchased on Amazon, though I'm not sure where our copy came from since it was a gift. Another religious favorite is 365 days of bible bedtime stories - my copy is second hand and we read several pages a night so we are already through it. We have too many favorite bedtime books to count, I try to pick things that have more words than pictures so she will listen while she nurses.<br />
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Cloud B Sleep Sheep, ours was purchased through Pottery Barn Kids. It's nice, there are five different sounds and you can choose how loud you want it. She likes the ocean sound best. We used this more when she was still in the bassinet in our room.<br />
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Halo Sleep Sack. We got a lot of use out of these - Ava had two small and two medium ones - we started swaddling arms up the first month she was born and arms down at two months. We weaned her away from them at 6 months when she outgrew them. Swaddle weaning was the absolute devil...it made for two miserable weeks of sleeplessness. Three of our four Halo's were purchased at Target, the fourth on Amazon. Since we used these mostly through warm months we either dressed her in a diaper or a onesie underneath.<br />
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The Miracle Blanket, if R and I have another we will likely go this route. A friend let us borrow hers so I'm not sure where she got it but I know you can buy them at BabiesRUs. Ava learned how to break out of her Halo around 5 months but you can't break out of the Miracle Blanket. We were able to use this longer because you can still swaddle the arms down and lay the baby down on top of the flap where a smaller baby's feet would go. We stopped using all swaddle sacks when she showed good head, neck and back support and when she could roll easily. Now she wears a regular fleece sleep sack for warmth but will outgrow them soon.<br />
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Ava is sleeping in her crib in her bedroom now but for 9 months she either co-slept with us or slept in a bassinet in our room. We liked our Graco to Go...I'm glad it's down now because we have more space in our room but it was convenient having her close by. We picked ours up at Buy Buy Baby using a 20% coupon for the best price. Pack N Play sheets can be hard to find, I picked up a two pack from Circo at Target.com and didn't even get to pick the colors. I can't say she ever cared for the toy bar but the little pouch on the end was nice for keeping her lotions and diapers for after bath time.<br />
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Our Levana Oma Snuza. I have a love hate relationship with this thing. I feel more confident at night when she wears it, especially since I know someone who had a SIDS scare but when it goes off in false alarm it scares me to death. If you don't fit it just right on the diaper you may get several false alarms and have to reposition it. I bought ours off Amazon. At ten months we are still using this.<br />
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The last bedtime favorite is this Summer Infant 5" wide digital color monitor - we purchased ours at Target. I definitely think this is a necessity but there are so many to choose from we had difficulty picking a monitor. A friend that has twins suggested this one and it has worked out well for us; it travels well and I like the big screen. It picks up even slight noises and I have no problem hearing her alarm or cries, I keep it on the lowest setting on my bedside table and I usually keep the screen zoomed in on her.<br />
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This post is one in a series, over the next couple of weeks....as long as she sleeps at night....I'll be able to complete our baby favorites.<br />
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<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-7478829772938368242016-02-07T20:17:00.001-05:002016-02-07T20:17:26.018-05:00Super Bowl SupperWatching a little football and a whole lot of commercials tonight; of course I'm excited that my team is in the Super Bowl! I even dug out my old Panthers jersey...old only because Julius Peppers's name is across the back. Nugget and I had such a great time today which allowed hubs to get in the kitchen and make some delicious snacks for tonight's festivities. I loved them so much I decided to post the recipes here.<br />
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<a href="http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/buffalo-chicken-dip" target="_blank">Buffalo Chicken Dip</a> (my favorite go to game day dip)<br />
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<a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/233603/bacon-wrapped-jalapeno-poppers/" target="_blank">Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers</a> (R's favorite appetizer)<br />
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<a href="http://fox13now.com/2016/02/03/how-to-make-cheesy-pull-apart-sliders-in-minutes/" target="_blank">Cheesy Pull Apart Sliders</a> (because this has been trending on my Facebook feed all week)<br />
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The first two are standbys but the sliders needed some extra mustard in my opinion, otherwise I'd definitely make them again. Who's ready for halftime?<br />
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#KeepPounding #PanthersCarolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-57291959332016508832016-02-06T21:38:00.001-05:002016-02-06T21:38:24.792-05:00Valentine's Day Planning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Oh I love a holiday, any holiday, and the more corny - the better. This is our little bunny's first Valentine's Day and who better to spend a day of love with than the two I love most! R and I don't usually go "all out" on V-Day and we choose to celebrate at home instead of out on the town. I bought a cute new top (big deal since I really haven't bought many clothes postpartum) to wear for my hot date and of course we had to purchase a few goodies for our tiniest Valentine.</div>
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1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Green-Toys-5512754-Tea-Set/dp/B001543YEY" target="_blank">Green Toys tea set</a>. I think our girl will love having a "tea party" with mommy.<br />
2. What tea party could be complete without adorable tea bags and "cookies". I ordered <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/102404620/sale-play-food-pretend-food-felt-purple" target="_blank">this set</a> in pink.<br />
3. Who does love a holiday themed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Babys-Valentine-Lift-Flap/dp/1416909710" target="_blank">book</a>?<br />
4. Real <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Graduates-Arrowroot-Cookies-Pouch/dp/B00B311J8W" target="_blank">cookies </a>for our tea party.<br />
5. Mommy and Mini matching <a href="http://www.willowcrowns.com/category/mama-mini" target="_blank">Willow Crown headbands</a>. This is our first set but it won't be our last.<br />
6. <a href="http://www.dreamingtreewines.com/?method=pages.showPage&PageID=40A1FC89-D54E-DD3F-C710-0E123FEDE59C&originalMarketingURL=Wine" target="_blank">Dreaming Tree Chardonnay</a>, one of my easiest go to options.<br />
7. Antipasti, our favorite date night meal is a big spread of options. <i><a href="http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/antipasti-platter-homemade-flatbreads" target="_blank">image</a></i><br />
8. Don't we all want to get <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lindt-Lindor-Valentine-Truffles-Assorted/dp/B00D9RS1XO" target="_blank">chocolate</a> from our Valentine?<br />
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I can't wait until next weekend! Ava Rose has a holiday party at school and we made little Valentines for her classmates. R and I have a full weekend of fun planned for us as a family and a little couple time as well.Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-26495436009395509392016-01-25T20:41:00.002-05:002016-01-25T20:41:48.640-05:00Ava Rose at 9 months...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What. A. Handful.</div>
Nine month facts:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Someone is a goofy girl, super social, loves to be around other babies and children. Loves crowds.</li>
<li>Waves hello/goodbye</li>
<li>Claps her hands</li>
<li>Plays Peekaboo</li>
<li>Tries really hard to pull herself up.</li>
<li>Still not crawling but she can scoot. Doesn't seem interested in crawling but she will play on her tummy.</li>
<li>Started sleeping in her own room at the end of the month, no more bedside bassinet for this girl.</li>
<li>Sleeps in a crib for naps at daycare.</li>
<li>Attends chapel on Wednesdays and gets a snack with the big kids at the "table".</li>
<li>Still a toothless nugget.</li>
<li>Talks and babbles all the time, "sings", giggles, and blows raspberries.</li>
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Nicknames: Nugget, Nugs, Nuggie, Rootie Toot, Bunny Rose, and Bear<br />
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Weight: 16 lbs 8oz<br />
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Length: 28 inches<br />
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Eyes: Brown or Hazel, depends on the lighting<br />
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Clothes: 6-9 months for length be we still wear a few 6 month outfits. I love Gymboree, specifically their generous sizing for 6-12 months - I racked up on the end of season sale. We bought a few things at Belk for next year too. She's petite so it can be difficult to buy ahead. She still wears sleep sacks at night and they size out at 9 months so when we are finished with them it will be PJs only at night. She's in a size 2 shoe and her fleece Zutanos and Sweet N Swag Moccs fit best. She has a pair of boots and a pair of Mary Janes, but we can't seem to keep her from pulling them off.<br />
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Diapers: Size 2. It's so odd that size 2 and size 3 overlap so much, we are nervous to buy in bulk because technically we can go to a 3 but they would be big on her.<br />
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Sleeping: If she's sick (which happens every other week it seems) then we are up every 2-3 hours. The days following Christmas Eve were HORRIBLE, maybe she was too stimulated or maybe it was teething or a cold, or bad luck...who knows? What I remember from those weeks was sheer exhaustion because she didn't want to sleep for more than an hour without being held, cuddled, rocked, or nursed- R and I took shifts with her at night. We aim for at least 2 naps per day and 3 on weekends - they don't have to be long naps but she needs some sleep or she falls apart.<br />
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Likes: Lavender oil in her humidifier, Pandora Piano Guys station at night, playing in the bathtub, afternoon snack time, "circle time" in class - the teacher calls her "the star student" (insert proud mama smile), a plastic sensory bottle filled with jingle bells.<br />
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Dislikes: Playing alone, being ignored, when someone doesn't wave back at her (she doesn't understand why the dog and cat don't reciprocate), lentils, waiting for a meal, having her nose wiped or suctioned, and naptime.<br />
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Feeding: She wakes around 5 am for first feeding and usually eats twice before she leaves for school. She gets three bottles during the school day and free feeds in the afternoon and at bedtime. She gets one jar of food during the day and a snack of puffs or yogurt melts at school. Sometimes she gets a teething cracker or some pieces of banana after school. We give her another meal at dinnertime - We like Earths Best for baby food but if we are eating something suitable then we will feed her what we are eating. She is on stage 2 foods but we can break up foods that can be easily "gummed" - she likes meat, turkey, chicken, pork, beef, or fish. And she likes most vegetables and fruits, and yogurt. We haven't tried any nut butter, pasta, or cheese with her yet, but that's next.<br />
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Ava's Favorites: Baby Stella (we mimic feeding and diaper changing alot), Little People Playhouse, felt play food, Uncle Goose blocks, 3 in 1 bounce stride and ride elephant, Nuk sippy cups, bandana bips, Gerber Puffs, and Happy Baby Teether snacks.<br />
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Milestones: 1st Christmas (and all those events that I recapped in the last post), 1st New Years Eve, 1st night in her own room, first school pageant/concert, first visit with Santa, learned how to wave and understands to clap when I say "yay".<br />
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Most pictures were shared in the holiday post but here are a few extra from the month. Most of these were taken with a phone so they're blurry but I love all pictures of my girl, even the blurry ones.<br />
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Postpartum: Following a pump schedule, every 3-4 hours when I'm away from Ava Rose. Just a weird note - I discovered that my nail polish wasn't staying on my nails...fingers or toes. I gave up on my hands because I wash my hands 100x a day at work and sometimes Ava puts them in her mouth, but I like my toes to stay painted. I have deep vertical nail ridges and I've never had them before, after doing some research it seems that it is totally common in the months after having a baby from changing keratin levels. I have to give my nails a good buffing and use ridge filler now before I apply any color for it to stay on. I'm feeling good, and ready for the new year; now that Miss Rose is getting some independence I'm hoping to get in more physical activity in 2016.Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-5323000838865180812016-01-03T00:37:00.002-05:002016-01-03T00:37:37.786-05:00Our Holiday 2015 in ReviewI did a horrible job of documenting our family holiday, our calendar was full with her school, church, work, parties, weekends full of family events, and R's septoplasty. At one point we were all sick with a cold and we were all out of commission. I took this season and enjoyed living it in real time and tonight I finally had a minute to look back at the memories.<br />
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November 27- we visited our first neighborhood Christmas lights and Ava Rose rode a carousel and met Santa. We also wrapped all the gifts I bought on Black Friday and put up our tree that weekend.<br />
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yes, it's a picture of a framed picture</div>
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December 3 - Town tree lighting<br />
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We also visited Daddy at work.</div>
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December 5 - The Polar Express<br />
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uh huh, another pic of a pic</div>
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December 10- Church pageant. I'm not comfortable posting pictures of the other kiddos but imagine the cutest performance of Jingle Bells ever using 8 infants rigorously shaking plastic water bottles filled with bells along with the music. My daughter loves music and that bottle of bells? Yep, it's her favorite toy, trumps anything on her Christmas list.<br />
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December 12 - Christmas parade<br />
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December 19- Mike's Farm hayride and dinner at The Country Squire<br />
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December 20 - Family Christmas with my extended family. Oh dear Miss Rose was spoiled- books, clothes, her own Scentsy lovey and tart warmer, and toys of course. Unfortunately I left my camera at home so all the photos are on my moms camera.<br />
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December 23 - Miss Rose had her picture in the local paper for her first Christmas. We also had a holiday party at school.<br />
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December 24 - Christmas Eve! Ava and I made "Polar Express" tea cakes while daddy made his best beer bread and we prepped for Christmas dinner before church service. After church we set out a snack for Santa, hung our stocking and put our nugget to bed.<br />
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Christmas Day - We hosted dinner this year and both our moms came over along with R's sister's family. It was fantastic and nugget had a blast playing with her toys all day.<br />
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Gifts from Santa - play kitchen, Leapfrog picnic basket, and a little people dollhouse. Mama and daddy gave the rest including bath toys, books, a music mozart box, a Stella doll and a few "practical" gifts.<br />
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I regret that I didn't get more pictures when everyone got to our house, it was crazy with everyone around, especially once we were trying to get dinner on the table. Also, our house was a bit crowded but I did find an adorable one of Ava bear with her aunt Em.</div>
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Ava racked up once again with a PB anywhere chair, a ybike, towels for her bathroom, a mound of clothes, several books for our rotation and her own Dumbo plush. Yep, she got toys too. A lot of toys. We are not hurting for toys right now.</div>
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Christmas Dinner - Prime Rib, twice baked potato casserole, garlic green beans, yeast rolls, corn bread, and cranberry and pear salad with honey dressing. For dessert we had cherries in the snow, 9 layer chocolate cake, chocolate chess pie and a couple of candy treats handmade by my mother in law. She does the pie every year too, it's R's favorite.<br />
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Holiday Crafts - salt dough hand and foot print, Mistle"toes" on canvas, salt dough santa painted handprint and an construction paper ornament for the daycare tree. She helped me make two tree prints with washi tape and she signed her daycare teacher Christmas cards with ladybug thumbprints.<br />
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Special New Ornaments for 2015<br />
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My favorite on the tree because now we are a family of three and hell yes I'm proud that that rhymes.<br />
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R and I get the annual Lenox santa every year, this year he is coming down a chimney!<br />
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Both the giraffe and bear are "baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments that we received this year, the little bear was a gift.<br />
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This was a special time for our family, Christmas is always fun in anticipation of the big event but this year, with Ava, we had several big events and we treated each one of them as a memory with her. We love this nugget and enjoyed the season from beginning to end.<br />
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<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-36453784281877618502016-01-02T22:27:00.002-05:002016-01-02T22:27:36.920-05:009 month professional pictures...<div style="text-align: center;">
We planned Ava Rose's 9 month pictures a little early, mid-December, just so we could do a Christmas theme. I'm not including any family shots of us because R had surgery planned last minute the week of the shoot and, even though he is in them, he wasn't physically able to smile. Miss Rose was a fuss bucket for most of the morning so between the two of them I was willing to take any photos that didn't include a major meltdown. I'm thankful for the memory though, she was beautiful in her Christmas dress!</div>
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Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-68963159712245562132016-01-02T22:06:00.000-05:002016-01-02T22:06:24.023-05:00Ava Rose at 8 months...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This post is a month late but at least the picture was taken on time.</div>
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Eight month facts:</div>
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<li>We are all smiles, gummy, toothless, and sometimes drooly smiles.</li>
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<li>Rolling, scooting on the floor (backwards or sideways only) and sitting up by herself.</li>
<li>Loves to sing, loves to "clap", and loves to practice standing and walking.</li>
<li>Very social, loves to meet new people and playdates with other littles.</li>
<li>November was all about the color brown, turkeys, feathers, and getting ready for Christmas.</li>
<li>Recognizes some baby sign language - specifically more, eat, and kitty.</li>
<li>She think it's fun to wash her hands</li>
<li>She said "mama" for the first time, she only says it when she cries but she can say "dada" and direct it at R. She gets really excited to see our cat.</li>
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Nicknames: Nuggie, nugget, bubbles, bunny bear, bunny nose, giggles...we love our pet names</div>
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Weight: 15.13 lbs</div>
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Length: unknown, next MD appointment is in January</div>
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Eyes: brown? hazel? depends on who you ask</div>
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Clothes: we started wearing 6-9 months mid month, mostly because our seasonal winter/thanksgiving/holiday clothing was all 9 month. Wearing a size 2 shoe.</div>
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Diapers: Size 2.</div>
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Sleeping: depends on the week, we have "good" ones and "bad" ones. If we are lucky we can go 12-5 without a feeding. Usually we wake up with her at least 2-3x but it can be more or less. We have a routine but she varies quite a bit. She also had a bad cold during part of the month and struggled to breath at night.</div>
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Likes: Any social interaction, being held, exploring (with my husband or I present), she loves trying new foods and playing with her daycare friends. She really likes her sippy cup and practicing fine motor control by picking up puffs.</div>
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Dislikes: tummy time- she doesn't like trying to crawl and her scoot frustrates her. She hates being ignored and doesn't play independently for more than 5 minutes.</div>
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Feeding: 3 bottles during daycare and free feeding in the afternoon, we usually have at least 1 night feed and 1 early morning feed. I let her nurse unlimited during the weekend. She gets at least 2 jars of babyfood a day but also table food - vegetables, meat, fruit, anything that I can mush with my fingers. She loves fish, eggs, and yogurt. We have at least one "snack" per day, usually to help her learn to feed herself...we have tried puffs, mums, yogurt melts, and rice husks. She gets a sippy cup a couple times a day too and loves it.</div>
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Avas Favorites: Apple Cinnamon Puffs, Banana Yogurt Melts, MAM teether ring, and the Nuk training cup, Zutanos fleece booties, sensory bottles made at daycare, smiling at everyone.</div>
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Milestones: First Thanksgiving, first charity walk, first museum visit, second beach trip, first time eating from the table, first Wednesday chapel, decorated her first Christmas tree, began her first advent, rode in the shopping cart and sat in a highchair at a restaurant, and had her first overnight with Grandma. We tried lots of new foods, too many to count.</div>
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Postpartum - I feel great, still up 7 pounds and still eating like a hoss. I'm drinking a lot of water and eating snacks throughout the day. I'm enjoying the holidays but I can't wait for it all to be over so I can get back to consistency with my diet. </div>
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Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-15333725407425753732015-11-26T00:46:00.001-05:002015-11-26T00:46:15.897-05:00Christmas gift Ideas for baby 6 months and up...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
So we have an Amazon wish list...I know I'm not the only mom that utilizes this tool as a way of keeping track of all the goodies and gifties out there. If you don't currently use a wish list then create one! It's the easiest way for friends and family to see what you have and what you might like to have. I combed through so many lists of "best" toys for Ava Rose that would last a while through hours of play. Here are some of our top picks :-)</div>
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Manhattan Baby Stella Doll Clothes because Ava Rose's request for a Stella Doll was signed, sealed, and delivered to Santa.</div>
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Fisher Price Chatter Phone. I owned one when I was a child and played with it for years!</div>
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Lamaze Stacking Rings, it's suppose to be one of the best learning toys for babies</div>
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Melissa and Doug Palace Pals Puppets, my girl seems to love puppets so far and it is a great way for her to get creative over the next few years.</div>
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Melissa and Doug Pots and Pans.</div>
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EZPZ Happy Mat, the high chair tray mat debutes in December!</div>
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Lenox Bunny ornament, for my Easter baby!</div>
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Tomy Little Chirpers Hide and Squeak Eggs.</div>
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Boon Snack Ball, for puffs on the go!</div>
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The Polar Express, a book we need to own for our collection</div>
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A Snowman's Story, another highly recommended Winter read.</div>
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Little Blue Truck's Christmas. Ava Rose loves Little Blue, she likes the rhyming and the animal sounds in the original book.</div>
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With Black Friday inching closer and closer I think we would all like to organize our ideas, these are my top picks for a baby that needs toys to grow with them. Now to blog search ideas for my 11 year old niece...</div>
Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-31145122511715701212015-11-07T23:37:00.001-05:002015-11-07T23:37:31.468-05:00Ava Rose at 7 months...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's getting harder and harder to get her to sit still for a picture.</div>
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Seven month facts:</div>
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<li>Get in my "malph" - toes, fingers, bibs, chew beads, teethers, high chair straps, shoes, etc, etc</li>
<li>Still no sign of teeth</li>
<li>Still only rolling back to belly, standing assisted, can "walk" assisted, some "scooting" but it's more like wiggling like a worm on the floor</li>
<li>Can sit well by herself</li>
<li>Still loves books, songs, and bubbles</li>
<li>Very interactive, loves to be tickled, can give and receive kisses and hugs, and loves to play peekaboo</li>
<li>Still loves her teachers and lights up when we pick her up at daycare, recognizes and loves her little friends</li>
<li>October she learned about pumpkins, the color orange, leaves, cotton, and circles</li>
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Nicknames- Still all forms of Nugget, nuggie, nugs, nugs mcgee, and bunny rose. In the mornings we call her rootie toot toot or root'n toot'n nuggie. It's silly but nicknames just happen.</div>
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Weight - 14.25 pounds</div>
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Length: 26 inches</div>
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Eyes: Hazel, but some days you see the green more than others</div>
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Clothes - 3-6 month still fill well. Probably by next month we will be in 9 month pants and sleepers. We still wear size 2 shoes. We tried on a few 9 month outfits and we can certainly wear them so for now we are trying to get as much use out of the 3-6 month clothes before we retire them.</div>
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Diapers - size 2 and I think we will be in the size for a while. </div>
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Sleeping - We hit some sort of sleep regression and for a couple of weeks R and I were sleeping in shifts basically. She was fighting the swaddle (yes we were still swaddling because our daughter still has a Moro reflex). So for the past 4 days we have been swaddle weaning - cold turkey - I do not recommend it but each night has gotten a little better. We are trying to get her to self sooth at night and are trying to lay her down drowsy. She isn't exactly crying it out, we are there beside her comforting her, just not picking her up and I'm trying to wean her off the night feed.</div>
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Likes: Everything honestly, she is a very happy baby. She loves to be in new places, see new things. She loves riding in her carrier and being outside. She loves when someone is giving her attention.</div>
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Dislikes: Not being able to crawl, she is so frustrated that she can't quite figure it out. Dirty diapers, being overtired, monthly shots, not getting her way, any length of time between spoonfuls of food.</div>
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Feeding: We have 3 bottles during daycare and free feed at all other times. She gets a jar of baby food during the day and she also gets a meal in the evening as part of the bedtime routine. If she got a fruit during the day then we will do a vegetable at night or alternate. She also loves yogurt and oatmeal cereal. She has been loving the stage 2 "blended" style meals. We tried a taste of a Plum Organic yum yum today but she lost interest pretty quickly so we will try them again in a few days. Everything else she has eaten has been pureed but she does like to "squish" foods out of her feeder. We are also using a sippy cup a little every day, just for practice.</div>
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Ava's Favorites: Applesauce, mashed banana pieces, MAM teether ring, Nuk training cup (she prefers handles off), chew bead necklace (mine is from etsy seller MintedLane), Tula carrier, Aveeno Eczema lotion, Cloud B sleepsheep which we have been using more and more while sleep training. She still loves her Bunnies by the Bay lovey.</div>
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Milestones: Sitting by herself, 6 month pictures, trying different fruits/vegetables/yogurt/protein, first state fair, first Halloween, first class party, first church outing, first hayride, decorated her first pumpkin, and first work event with mommy. Oh yes, we had our first fever and survived weekends with mommy and daddy being sick. October was not our month.</div>
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(I shared most of our month's pictures in our fall and 6 month professional photo posts)</div>
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Postpartum- Finally I appear to have more hair growing in than what I'm losing. I'm still losing several strands when I wash and dry but it is better. I went to my 6 month postpartum visit and everything appears to be going well, the doctor ordered a BMP and CBC and my lab results are normal. I'm exhausted but I think it's from sleep training. R and I had a great date night this month and we are hoping to make it routine, it was therapeutic. We thought we had hit a parent groove and then R got very sick for a few days with a stomach virus...a few days later I had it and a week later our baby caught hand, foot, and mouth - this kicked our groove right in the butt. This is parenthood, ever changing and we've had to learn to pack it up and roll with it. Oh and I have six more pounds before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, it's a freaking miracle given what I eat in a day. Breast feeding hunger is no joke, and now that I have more output and I can go a little longer between pumps I feel like I need to snack all day. I'll have lots of changes to make when I stop nursing.</div>
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Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504210357562069194.post-91105858629373706652015-11-03T22:29:00.001-05:002015-11-03T22:29:08.544-05:00Ornament Collections and our Baby's First...My first "holiday post" and I've waited three days into November, that may be a record! It's never too early to think about holiday decorations when there are so many great coupon codes coming out this month.<br />
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Lets talk about lenox.<br />
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We are a lenox family, R and I have collected the annual Santa ever since we have been married and we have several special ones as well. My mom has given us a few from the white Santa collection without dates.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fCmocT-uwF4/Vjl4cq2ZvGI/AAAAAAAAJ2w/0gUJCNW6l28/s1600/2015-santa-s-gift-express-ornament__849256_wHR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fCmocT-uwF4/Vjl4cq2ZvGI/AAAAAAAAJ2w/0gUJCNW6l28/s200/2015-santa-s-gift-express-ornament__849256_wHR.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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I had a very difficult time selecting a Baby's first Christmas ornament but I think we finally found the one.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_P1mubXLn3s/Vjl4kGmuJRI/AAAAAAAAJ24/fthKNAn77QI/s1600/baby-s-first-girl-s-christmas-giraffe-ornament__6373294_wHR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_P1mubXLn3s/Vjl4kGmuJRI/AAAAAAAAJ24/fthKNAn77QI/s320/baby-s-first-girl-s-christmas-giraffe-ornament__6373294_wHR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is one that I'm on the fence about, I love it and my baby was an Easter baby, of course one of her nicknames is Bunny Rose so we need this right? I haven't bought it yet but gosh it's the cutest. I'm definitely keeping it in mind and trying to justify why she needs two ornaments this Christmas...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uFdOJSFG5I/Vjl4r2uFUyI/AAAAAAAAJ3A/X_tBzHKaPxQ/s1600/pink-bunny-ornament__856273_wHR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uFdOJSFG5I/Vjl4r2uFUyI/AAAAAAAAJ3A/X_tBzHKaPxQ/s200/pink-bunny-ornament__856273_wHR.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Probably my favorite collection of ornaments is the Merry Moose...how cute is this one for a kids collection? Every year Lenox comes out with a new one and its probably the most loved annual ornament for collectors. </div>
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I look forward to new tree ornaments every year and Lenox has been sending several promotion codes for email subscribers. They usually have a big promotion Black Friday weekend which makes the splurge more reasonable. These are my picks but there really is something for everyone...classics, annuals, and whimsical.</div>
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<br />Carolina Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09322212506242931052noreply@blogger.com0