Unfolding Dreams

Must Haves # 2: Basic Baby Clothes Long Sleeve Onesies with the mitten cuffs My third baby came out with long nails and would try very hard to scratch his face. The hospital video said to wait 3 weeks before cutting nails. The pediatrician gave me the green light when my baby was 5 days old but cautioned me to be careful because you could cut their skin by accident. I decided to wait for baby to be bigger before cutting the nails but needed a solution. I found the Gerber onesies with the mitten cuffs so helpful since mittens and socks would just fall off his hands.  *  Gerber Long Sleeve Mitten Cuff Onesies Newborn Footed Pajamas With my first child, I did the buy tons of baby clothes brand new, full price, sale or clearance based on what I thought was really cute. I could not resist all the cute dresses and perfectly pink onesies. Second child, I learned the beauty of buying at second-hand stores, continued to buy items I really liked on sale or clearance...

Must Haves # 1: Diapers & Wipes Disposable Diapers Cloth Diapers Splurges Helpful Additions

Disclaimer:    Sorry this post will be long. I do not know how to write short, LOL. You can tell I talk a lot in real life. Also, this post is about my life experiences, not a condemning post.  On that note, this is a personal experience, and I am happy to share a piece of myself with you. I really wanted a girl my first pregnancy, could not imagine the baby being anything else and we got a girl. The second baby, I would have loved another girl, but with having Endometriosis and not knowing for sure how many children we would be blessed   with if all we could have was two, I really would like a boy to have one of each. So I was kind of fine to go either way, but kind of leaned towards a boy a little more for that reason and we got a boy. I also suspected it maybe a boy, because with my girl I had to vomit until 15-16 weeks of pregnancy (I literally threw up salad leaves and water) and my boy pregnancies just nausea, but no vomiting. Now ,...

How Do You Feel About Your Ergo? I love my Ergo and to me it feels like a pretty supportive carrier.   How Long Did You Use Your Ergo? I used mine from the time my second was 4 months old until my third pregnancy when he was 21.5 months. Where Can I Buy An Ergo Baby Carrier? Target sells them. Mine came from Amazon for like $115-116 on sale.  Where Did You Wear Your Ergo? I used my Ergo a lot for outings, such as park playdates, shopping, and doctor appointments.  How Much Do They Cost? (Links included). Anywhere from $115 and up, depending on sales and what retail location you buy from. I saw on Amazon in March 2016, it has the bundle pack, newborn insert and an ergo baby for $129 on sale instead of $130,  here.   I received my Ergo as a baby gift from my mom with my second and then the infant insert as a baby gift from my mom from Target  for $25 at the store. They also have an original Ergo on Amazon  for $119,...

If you have a bigger size baby, I have heard you want to avoid... Moby Wraps   These baby carriers are said to not be ergonomically correct... Bjorn Baby Carriers Evenflo Snugli  Baby Carriers (Discontinued) From my personal experience these are not good... Infantino Comfort Sync Wrap   I honestly do not care for the Infantino Comfort Sync Wrap that is now discontinued by the manufacturer. The pocket for the newborn is very large. It doesn't feel as secure as my other carriers. I don't recommend that one. So if you see it at a consignment store, baby wearing swap group, or e-bay, pass on the Infantino Comfort Sync Wrap. Amazon has so many reviews where customers echoed that the pocket was too large for their newborns and the carrier was too difficult to use.  To read more, click the links below: Baby Wearing Buzz: Why The Baby Bjorn and Snugli Are Bad For Baby Last Edited: December 5, 2018

- Changing Table Experience - My first 3 kids never potty trained before 2.5, so I've used a changing table beyond the first year. Believe it or not, I've gone through 4 changing tables with 3 children. My first changing table was used from one of my sister in laws. So it was already a couple of years old. It broke sometime when my first was 2 years old.    Stork Craft Aspen in White & South Shore 2 Drawer Savannah In Pure White Then I bought 2 new changing tables at different times, the second one we kept in my first child's room. It had one drawer for additional storage and 2 shelves (StorkCraft Aspen in White), however, when we bought the third one that had 2 drawers and cubbies (South Shore Savannah in Pure White), we moved the second one to the master. When we moved to our new house, the third changing table  (South Shore Savannah in Pure White)  broke in the move. The second one we used until the first trimester of my third pregnancy so from th...

Why? So we decided to go team green for our third pregnancy since we had one of each sex. We waited until delivery to find out our surprise tie breaker, although we had already chosen one boy and one girl name. I have heard not knowing the sex of the baby can really add to the birth for some people and had decided when we became pregnant with our second baby, if our second was a boy and we had one of each, we should be surprised if blessed with a third. How Was It? Going Team Green was freaking hard. (Excuse my language).  Sheer determination is all that kept me from calling a local ultrasound studio for an elective ultrasound and finding out baby's sex after we passed 20 weeks. Hats off to people who do it and actually like being surprised at the end.   At one point the midwives said if I was stressed about not knowing the sex to find out, but I was already 30 something weeks and felt like I made it this long. I'm not going to have put myself throug...

Healing Wounds In Marriages by Victor B Cline  is a Latter Day Saint article published in the July 1993 Ensign. This is more or less a summary of the article based on points I felt were important. I have quoted much of the original and cited my source. We're Human Mr. Cline begins with " Marriage is designed to bring us happiness and joy", followed by the question, " But why do we sometimes find bitterness, anger, and disappointment in it?" His answer is because we are imperfect human beings. " As mortals, all of us are flawed, all have blind spots, all make mistakes in judgment at times. These deficiencies take their toll in our intimate relationships; the higher the level of stress, the greater the toll. The way we choose to react to this stress can determine the outcome of our lives." It's Not Easy Probably to the relief of many he also says, " Creating a great marriage and  family  is not easy". The fact that you may strugg...

Disclaimer: Babies don't need a lot of things. My main reason for buying baby related items or trying  a new product is mostly because I want it. A small percent is an actual need. Seriously, babies do not need a $20-30 dollar outfit they are only going to wear once or a small handful of times. I bought my first child so many clothes, I only got through most, because I changed her every time she spits up (or had a blow out diapers when we were doing disposables) to feel like I was using all those pink dresses, rompers, and onesies. Another thing, to remember is only some baby items need to be brand new, such as car seats. Some baby items like clothes can be gently used and previously owned or hand me downs from family members and previous kids. The best part of the money I spend for a product is when I get my money's worth, for me, that is when it is a product I can use for multiple children and / or use long term with a child. Intro: This is just my list of things I used...

Feelings Post Birth Home Birth Turned Hospital Transfer  I really appreciated everyone who was sorry I didn't get the birth I planned. It validates the disappointment of not having the birth I wanted. It’s been a learning experience. So you know that saying, home is where the heart is? Well, it sounds kind of cheesy, but it applies to birth too, birth is where your home birth team is. It is not the location that makes the birth, it is the supportive birth team. I got the birth I needed in the end, and it was possible, because of my home birth team. The Care I Received  It was a beautiful example of the continuity of care, from the co-care between my obstetrician and midwives to the labor and delivery nurse and midwives working together as I labored balancing the monitoring while allowing me to walk, shower, labor in a tub. My midwives and their apprentices were great advocates, the only intervention for starting labor was my water being broken, and I went from a reg...