Two & Three Month Must Haves

Months two & three flew right on by... I don't know how many times I will say "where has the time gone," but seriously WHERE has the time gone!? It's a crazy thing, when your little baby first arrives, you want them to stay a tiny little, snuggly, bundle forever. But as they start to grow and interact with you, you become obsessed with every little milestone. It is SO much fun watching her eyes light up when she sees new things, seeing her smile so big in the morning when we appear in front of her when she wakes up or hear her babble and coo to us when we talk to her. Pure joy & entertainment!

So here you have it folks, our two & three month must haves!

California Baby Lavender Shampoo & Body Wash - As I mentioned before, my friend Whitney (who is such an AMAZING mom!!) came to visit and told us how important it is to give her a bath before bed each night. She said they started doing it with their son (Harper's future husband) and it wore him out and helped him sleep!! So we started giving her baths each night, and we just LOVE this body wash. It smells amazing, is super sudsy and works like a charm. Plus it is all natural, organic, yadda yadda :) That entire brand rocks.

California Baby Shampoo & Body Wash

Medela Pump & Store Milk Freezer Bags - Your worst nightmare when pumping & breastfeeding is to ever throw milk away. I would rather put it on my cereal than throw away breastmilk (gross.. but you get the point). Rather than having a few containers here and there in your fridge and risking it going bad, it is so handy to have these freezer bags on hand. They are so easy to use & you can store up to 5oz in each.

Medela Pump & Save Breastmilk Storage Bags

Baby Magic Lotion - Again, another amazing recommendation from my friend Whitney. I felt like all the lotions I tried would wear off very quickly - not this one. Your baby will smell like PURE BABY until their next bath ...and it gets rid of dry skin like a charm!! I absolutely love, love, love this lotion.

Jacques the Peacock - We hang this on Harper's bouncer seat and she will actually SMILE at it. It is hands down her new favorite toy. I think this is a must for all babies!

Jacques the Peacock Take Along Toy

BUMBO - At 9 weeks I put her in it for the first time. She sat right up in it and totally blew my mind. I had no idea! We only put her in it for a few minutes at a time, maybe twice a day, and of course only on the floor while im sitting right in front of her (I don't want to hear about all the controversy & recalls...) I think the bumbo rocks and I will continue to use it! Babies LOVE being propped up to look around once they can hold their head up! So fun to see her eyes light up when we put her in it.  Plus, it is a perfect photo prop! :)

Nap Nanny - I've said it a million times, but this is officially the biggest lifesaver of all. The first night we put her in this, swaddled & buckled in, she slept 7 straight hours. Enough said. Again, be smart, read the warnings & proper ways to use it, but I vote YES to this all day long. We have some amazing friends in Georgia, my husband's boss and his wife, that gave us this when we had Harper - I will be eternally grateful to them for having a baby that sleeps through the night!!

Nap Nanny

Carters White Onesies - Don't stretch out, lose their shape or shrink like the Gerber ones. I love these under all of her short sleeved onesies for the cooler months.

Triple Paste - Harper had diaper rash once... it totally broke my heart. From a recommendation from another mama, We started using this any time we saw her bottom start to get red.. works like a charm.

Sassy Ring Links - These are awesome to hang other toys from & easy for babies to grip. This was one of the first things I bought for Harper and she loves to look at them! We hang them from her play mat, car seat, bouncer, etc. I always laugh when I see her sleeping with them in both of her hands. Not to mention, they are adorable!

Hope this is all helpful! Again, this is all just my opinion and what works for us. I rarely buy things these days unless I have gotten a recommendation from another mama. If you have any other products that are must-haves or that you & your little one love, feel free to post them in the comments - especially for the upcoming months so I can scoop them up in advance!

One last thing - After many requests to pin things again - I have enabled pinning from my blog! Please just respect the little babe and do not pin pictures of her, but feel free to snag anything else you'd like!! :) Thank you in advance!

Gnome Sweet Gnome - Pictures of our New House!

 Welcome to our new house! I got to take all of these pictures during our inspection last week.. so so so excited to move in! Here is my favorite room of the house, the two story family room with stunning views of the green back yard! We are unsure about the tile floor.. while I would love to run the same wood floors throughout.. it seems like a shame to get rid of these. We are debating as to whether to just get a large rug or ditch them all together.

 

White cabinets + Brick = LOVE!

Faux Greenery.. not so much.

 

Excited for breakfast nook possibilities!

This is the view from the family room looking down the hall to the entryway and formal living room.

 

Here is the master. Husband and I are currently fighting over ceiling fan vs. chandelier. I'll let you guess who wants which.  

 

Looking into the formal dining room, which is connected to the formal living room. What on EARTH do you even put in a formal living room? This should be fun.

 

Looking into the family room from the kitchen. Yay for those built ins!! Although, they have lizard knobs on the bottom two cabinets. Any takers? :)

 The entry looking out the two-doors-are-better-than-one. This might be my most favorite thing ever. Can't wait to hang a chandelier in here too!!

AND here is the room that will become my office & Harper's playroom. Big plans for this room. Again, that boring light fixture has got to go.

 

Hope you've enjoyed the tour! Excited to share more of our journey when we move in two weeks!!

Hospital Bag

 First things first, I have to wish a Happy 3 Month Birthday to my sweet little babe... time flies much to quickly!! Here she is at one, two & three months. It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital & now she has an adorable smile and personality that melt my heart every day. Plus, I am sure she is the most adorable baby I have ever seen. Yes, I may be biased... but you have to admit, she is pretty cute, right? :) I am so looking forward to all of her milestones.. our ped said she can have rice cereal at four months and I am SO excited to see her face when she first tastes it. Seems silly.. but I think about it all the time!

I have had a lot of requests for a post about what I packed in my hospital bag...and three months later... here you go! Since I knew that I was going to have a c-section, I did a little research on whether or not I should bring anything specific, but it seemed like the lists really remained the same. This is the exact contents of my hospital bag.

Bathrobe - I know many sources say you wouldn't want to wear/ruin anything of your own, but I felt so good changing into my own bathrobe instead of the hospital gown and it did not get ruined a bit!
Slippers - Originally bought some cute Ugg mocassins. Turns out all of the fluids made me swell to infinite proportions ....

.....and I was only able to wear Comfy Socks with Grips on the Bottom which turned out to be the best purchase ever for the hospital stay.
Dry Shampoo - In case you aren't able to shower on your own, this would be a lifesaver. I also brought shampoo & conditioner, which I used instead because I was able to shower at about 24 hours after surgery.
Chapstick, Face Wash & Moisturizer
Boppy - for breastfeeding, snuggling & propping up baby. Can't say enough good things about these!
Camera, Phone & Chargers for both - for sharing the news & capturing all of the first precious moments!
Hand Sanitizer - For you & your guests, threw this in the bag last minute and we went through an entire bottle in three days. Babyganics Hand Sanitizer is the BEST!
Pillows & extra blanket - for the hubs window seat/bed :)
Snacks - Our hospital food rocked, but we also had jello, pudding and all of the stuff to make sandwiches while we were there. Of course hubs had to make a Chipotle run on day three as well.
Nursing Bra & Soothies
Baby Hats! - Was so exciting changing her out of the hospital hat and into her adorable hats I brought, and we got sooo many compliments from the hospital staff on how cute she looked
Going Home Outfit for Baby - something comfy & warm. Also, that is the only outfit she wore during the stay, the rest of the time she was in onesies from the hospital or just a diaper. No need to bring multiple changes of clothes.
Going Home Outfit for You - I recommend anything loose, five times larger than regular size, etc. As I mentioned, I was sooooo swollen from the fluids (not just my belly) and could hardly squeeze into the clothes I brought. I recommend Dance Pants from the Gap (I have so many pair, which I wore for weeks after Harper was born) and a stretchy nursing top... or if it is summer, definitely rock a maxi dress!!

Things that I thought we'd need but ended up getting/using from the hospital included the breast pump, lanolin, bottles, pacifiers, swaddle blankets, onesies, diapers, any feminine products, water cups & towels. No need to pack any of those things.. the hospital should be very accomodating!

And the one last thing I would recommend that we did not bring but it would have been a lifesaver... a plug in night light! All of the hospital room lights are soo bright. At bed time, you still need to be able to see your little one or be able to see to get around, but it is impossible to sleep with the awful room lights on.. or even the bathroom light. So I would bring a small plug in one, you'll be glad you did! :)

Just a shout out too to the wonderful nursing staff at the hospital we were at - they know who they are because they read my blog!! I had a few nurses come in to meet Little Baby Garvin.. they had been following the chalkboards from the very beginning! Maybe they were all just extra nice because we brought Valentine's Day cupcakes for the whole staff.. but either way, I loved them all!!!