infant

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for WaterWipes. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

My sister-in-law is pregnant with her first baby, so although my youngest baby is turning 3 soon my focus has been back on baby products again. I’ve told her all about products we used and loved, and when I learn about new products I think she’ll love, I definitely pass them her way. One of those products is WaterWipes.

When I first had my babies, I could see how it’d be easy to get overwhelmed with how many different things there were to worry about. Childproofing and which baby food to use and oh my word there were chemicals in everything. 

With all of our kids we dealt with diaper rashes – it’s a very common problem for parents to encounter with their children, and I know some kids deal with chronic diaper rash that can sometimes get pretty severe! Our kids’ never got too bad, thankfully, but when they did have diaper rashes I always worried that the chemicals in the wipes we used would irritate their even more sensitive skin. If only I’d had WaterWipes available then!

WaterWipes are a solution for any mom worried about chemicals in baby wipes. They are chemical free baby wipes that contain only two ingredients! They are 99.9% pure Irish water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract. I love this, that there are durable, effective wipes available to use on the sensitive skin of newborns. WaterWipes provide a safer, more natural option for babies, and that makes me as a mom feel great.

Continue Reading…

After having two kids, it’s easy to feel like you’ve seen all the products that are out there. I was completely surprised and intrigued when I discovered the Blooming Bath, a soft insert that parents can use in the sink to easily bathe their babies. It was created by four dads who all noticed how hard it can be to safely bathe slippery, squirming infants.

The Blooming Bath is a good size – I didn’t realize how large it would be, but it really is substantial which provides plenty of cushioning for your little one. Here’s a shot of it spread out on our table – isn’t it cute?

The center is a brown minky fabric that’s really soft for babies to sit on:

Here you can see a shot of the fabric from the front of the petals and then the backing too:

And on the back of the Blooming Bath there’s a tag that also doubles as a loop for hanging it up:

I tried putting ours in the sink to see how it would fit, and it seems like it will be a great setup for our baby to sit in and lean against for bathing:

The Blooming Bath is machine washable, but if it doesn’t get dirty you can just toss it in the dryer after you use it – simple! I mentioned that this is pretty large when you lay it out, but since it’s soft and foamy it’s easy to fold it up into a compact size that makes this a travel-friendly option, too. And wouldn’t this make a great shower gift? It’s adorable and practical, and will make a great impression on the recipient.

One lucky reader will win a Blooming Bath in their color choice (turquoise, pink, or yellow, ARV $40.00)!  This contest is open to all U.S. residents aged 18+. Entries will be accepted until the end of the day (midnight Central) Saturday, July 28. By entering this giveaway you agree to the Official Rules.

Note: I received a Blooming Bath to facilitate this post, one is being provided for this giveaway. I was not compensated monetarily for this post. All opinions in this post are honest and are my own.

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I have mentioned before that Brian and I have two (adorable!) boys – J, who is 2 1/2, and C, who will be ONE YEAR OLD (I’m still in denial!) in a little over two weeks.

When J was born, we were the typical first-time parents: worrying over fussiness, sleeping too much, not sleeping enough… you get the idea. Health-wise, though, J never gave us a scare. He rarely got sick, and when he did it was always something pretty mild.

C came along 20 months later, and by then we felt pretty seasoned, at least with the newborn stage. We were expert swaddlers, we could change diapers without getting sprayed (definitely something we didn’t know how to do the first time around), and we could calm fussiness like the experts we were.

Then, when C was about one month old he started having episodes that scared us half to death, and taught us pretty quickly that there were still things we hadn’t dealt with before as parents. Continue Reading…

Our city has a twice-a-year consignment sale for infants’ and kids’ clothing, toys, books, and all that other stuff you need when raising kiddos.  It’s something I look forward to each time for two reasons – first, we sell a lot of clothes the kids have outgrown or toys they’re not interested in anymore, and we make a lot more than we would at a garage sale; second, I find a lot of bargains!

This year I spent $187 and got a TON, including my favorite item of the night…

A Chicco twin stroller! Almost brand new, and only $40. Chicco is an Italian brand, so I had a hard time finding out the value of the stroller brand new. Finally I found it available several places for $189. So, I feel like I got a steal with this stroller.

We’d been looking for a side-by-side stroller for a while. Now that C is older I think he’d like to be able to look around, which is harder for him to do when we use the Graco DuoGlider. Plus, the DuoGlider takes up a TON of space in the back of either of our cars, so if we’re traveling we usually have to leave the stroller behind if we want any room for, you know, clothes and things of that nature. This Chicco stroller folds up a lot more compactly, is less heavy, and is really easy to maneuver. It fits through doorways just fine, which is one concern I had with a side-by-side stroller. And I loooove the bright red with the gray.  I’m looking forward to taking it on a test-drive soon!

Another find I was pretty happy with is the My First LeapPad with four cartridges, and ABC game, and a game built in to the system. I bought the set for $10. This system isn’t available new anymore, but I found a similar listing on ebay going for $25, so I’m pretty stoked about it. J really likes it, and it’s meant for ages 3-5 so hopefully we’ll get a lot of use out of it.

I also found this slide at the sale, for $6!

Again, in great condition – and it’s small enough and lightweight enough that I’m fine with keeping it inside. J’s had a lot of fun with it so far, and I think this will be a hit with both boys for a long time to come. I looked this up on Amazon and found it for $34.95. Not too shabby!

I got three pairs of shoes – two for C and one for J. The total for all three pairs was $12, and again, they’re in good condition. They’re Target and Payless brands, but I still feel like that’s a better price than I’d find in-store.

I got three stuffed “animals” for J – Barney, Thomas, and Clifford; and a wooden Thomas bridge – the total for toys was $16. I don’t have photos of the toys, but I found some links. The Thomas bridge goes for $59.99 on Amazon; the plush Thomas is $19.99 new. I couldn’t find links for the particular Barney or Clifford toy I bought, but even just knowing the price of two of the toys lets me know I got a good deal.

The rest of what I bought consisted of clothes – I didn’t keep track of prices on each individual item, but I spent $103 total on clothes.

Here are the clothes I bought for J (if you can’t tell, we’ve got a pretty big Thomas fan in the house):

And here’s what I got for C (not as much, because I still have a lot of J’s clothes that I’ve saved for C to wear too):

That’s 33 items of clothing (some items are sets), so that averages out to $3.12/item. I got a lot of name brand clothing, and all in really good condition. One thing I love about this sale is that they’re extremely picky about quality of items they accept. I can buy things without having to worry about finding a stain or tear.

So, there’s my consignment sale report… for now!  I’ll actually be going back later this week for the half-price sale! Not all items go to half-price; it’s up to each individual consignor. And of course you never know what’ll be left – sometimes there’s a great selection and sometimes things have been really picked over. The hunt is half of the fun, though! Wish me luck.