True Italian

Mealy This is for You

My best friend from college.  I mean like person who was my meant-to-be friend, who I clicked with so well, and who I just love so much is expecting her first little man in Oct.  I am beyond excited for her and her hubby, and I am in love with their little man already.  I am so happy she jumped on the bandwagon and started a baby blog!! It is so fun to keep up with her since she lives so far away now :(.  Anywho, click here and show her some blog love.

Mealy had called me the other day to ask about my must have baby items. I started into my spill and then started laughing, because I knew it was too much to remember. I promised her I would compose a list.  So, Mealy this one is for you. 

Newborn:

• Swing
• Boppy Pillow
• Angel Care Movement Monitor (I swear by this one, best peace of mind ever!)
• Swaddle blankets
• Pack-n-play or bassinet in your room.
• Binky (MAM brand)
• Pampers Swaddlers Diapers
• Newborn clothes and Newborn diapers.  I had none of these and we needed them for a month.  Believe it or not Caleb used to be tiny!
• Baby Wise book.  Caleb was sleeping through the night by 7 weeks by implementing their practices.
• Basket with diapers/wipes/burb cloths/change of clothes for your bedroom for the middle of the night messes.
• Medela bottles and NUK bottles were my favorite if you decide to try a bottle.
• Footed pj's!!!!!
• Diaper changing pad/caddy
• Mesh bather seat

0-4 Months:

• tummy time mat. 
• Bumbo seat
• small rattles or toys with a handle so they can learn to grasp.
• Sleep sack to keep them warm when they outgrow their swaddle blanket.
• Footed pj's!!
• Jumparoo or Exersaucer.  They do not use these very long so buy thrift or use a hand me down.

5-10 Months:

• Any type of toy.  They like them all!
• Push walker
• Walker
• Safety plug covers
• Footed pj's!
• Baby spoons

My advice of other items:

• Bouncy seats: Are awesome to take to the restroom with you when you are showering, but other than that I never really used ours.
• Bedding:  The only part of the bedding that you use is the bumper, sheets, and curtains.  The bedskirt looks retarded once you lower the bed, and you never use the blanket.  Try to just buy the individual pieces you need to save money.
• You have to have a crib and at least one dresser.  The changing pad can go on top of the dresser.
•  Carseat.  Chicco has the highest weight limit. That helps in the long run.  However, register for your big boy carseat as well, because they are way more expensive.
• Look for a light weight stroller.  I have heard that the carseat/stroller sets are really really heavy. 
• Britax is the highest rated big boy carseat in terms of safety.

I hope this helps Mealy!!

I must finish the post with a pic of Caleb.  This was from music class the other day when he hung out with James and Miss Presley.

Praying for Cohen

I have been following this blog for a while now.  Basically throughout this mama's entire pregnancy.  I remember reading her post when they had their ultrasound that revealed their sweet baby had a very very serious heart condition.  The little man is here now, and has already undergone his first open heart surgery.  He is a fighter, and is pulling through well, but there are still many concerns.  It is going to be a long journey for this family, and I can not begin to imagine what they are feeling.   Please say a special prayer for baby Cohen, and hug your little ones a little extra tighter tonight. 

Caleb 10 Months

This is the first monthly post that I have been late on.  These past few weeks have been so crazy.  However, I did take the time to take his ten month pictures on time.  Caleb turned 10 months on June 4th, and it has been an eventful month so far :).

Caleb at 10 Months:

Sleeping:  Oh my sweet little baby what has happened to you? :).  You DO NOT want to self soothe anymore.  You have been self soothing yourself to sleep since you were 6 weeks, and now, you want nothing to do with it.  You will scream, pull up in your bed, throw your binky across the room, scream louder.  You just want to be rocked, but when we rock you, you will start playing instead of going to sleep.  We have tried sitting in a chair beside your bed, and laying you back down when you start to get up, sometimes is works sometimes it does not.  Daddy and I have decided to try to 10 minute self soothing intervals again, and see if it works.  It is so much harder this time around, because you can call out "MaMa" and you have those perfect puppy dog eyes that you give us.   I am hoping to get this fixed soon.  You are still sleeping through the night, it is just getting you down that is the problem.  You have been waking up around 7:30 every morning.  Nap times are all off scedule.  We are working on fixing this and cutting out a nap so you will be extra tired at bedtime.  You have stumped us little man :).  I think it is a combination of just moving, pulling up, and teething.  Hopefully by next month we will be back to normal.

Eating: You are still completely on table foods.  You have not had baby food in over a month. You have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner of table foods, and you love everything. The only thing we have found that you really don't like is pulled pork.  You always want to eat what we are eating. Sometimes I give in and give you a bite of "no no" food, such as lemon ice.  You LOVE it.  Oh well, a little sugar never hurt anyone.  You also LOVE LOVE LOVE strawberry's.  Me too.  You always give us the biggest "MMMMM" when we feed them to you.  You basically say "Mmmmm" after everything though.  You love love ICE water in your sippy.  You get so excited when you see us go to the freezer to get you ice.  We discovered over memorial day that you like  chocolate.  Daddy and I both hate chocolate, but you loved the chocolate cake that our neighbor gave you a bite of. You are still taking 4-5 bottles a day, about 25 ounces.  You get a fruit and veggie serving with every meal, and I get angry if people feed you something that I feel is "junk".  I just want you to have healthy eating habits :).

Size:  We have not had you weighed or checked for length this month.  However, you seem to be getting longer, and thining out a little.  You are wearing mostly 9 month and 12 month clothing now.  You wear a size 3 shoe, and you are actually keeping them on your feet.  I guess you are probably still right around 21 lbs. You are still wearing a size 4 diaper.

Exciting New Things: There are so many.  The past few weeks you have changed so much, and it is causing me to have a melt down.  You are turning more and more into a little boy every day. 

• You are CRAWLING everywhere.  You started crawling on May 28th.  I just looked down and there you went.  You crawl all over the house now.  If I am moving into another room, you follow behind me as fast as you can.
• You are PULLING UP and CRUISING on everything.  This goes against all my maternal instincts.
  You have already given yourself three bruises and it breaks my heart every time. However, you just pull right back up and keep on going.
• You WALK BEHIND YOUR PUSH WALKER. You have taken as many as ten steps so far.
• You move eveywhere in your walker, and you love to go in a circle.
• Your new favorite thing to do is pull up on the back of my legs, and stick you head between my knees and say "MAMA".  You so this a lot when I am trying to cook, or do dishes.
• You love to pull up on the tub when I am taking a shower and stick you head in the bath and get sprayed.  You laugh and say "MaMa".  It is so cute.  You are usually soaked afterward.
• You love to play in your pool outside.  I always just put you in it naked because swim diapers are so expensive.  The other day you started peeing and you were grabbing your pee with you hands.  It was soo funny. 
• You love to pick grass and try to eat it. 
• You still HATE to have your diaper changed, or have your clothes changed.  You still scream like I am beating you, and try to roll away. 
• You crawl around naked with your towel on your head after a bath, and it is just the cutest little thing ever. 
• You squeal and make your "rapter" sound all the time.
• You always want what you can't have, and you know the meaning of "NO". 
• I really think you understand what "Mama" and "dada" mean. 
• You are living in your first new house.
• You love to give Bella kisses.  This would gross some people out, but I think it is adorable.  You will kiss her, and then laugh.  It is so cute.  She gets more kisses than anyone else.
• You are always trying to stand up in the highchair, or bath.  You are quickly learning the meaning of the word "SIT". 
• You are getting your very first TWO teeth.  We can see the very tips of them on your bottom gums, and so far you are handling teething pretty well .
• You have been very snuggly this month, and I have to admit I LOVE that. 

You are changing so much this month little man, and it is so bittersweet.  I Love you so much, and I see you changing more and more into a little boy everyday.  You are the sweetest little man ever, and I am so excited to continue this wonderful journey of being your mama. 

Miss Us?

We are BACK bloggy friends.  I can not tell you how much I have missed blogging these past few weeks, and I feel as though I have missed so much in the lives of all of you.  We have been moving moving moving these past two weeks, and unfortunately we are still in the process.  There are still boxes to be unpacked, stuff to be moved, furniture to put together, decorations to be hung etc etc etc.  Have I told you how much I HATE moving?  However, I do love living at the new home.  There is so much more room, and Sydney has a backyard to run in.  Our yard has the perfect trees for a baby swing, and that is a MUST HAVE purchase to be made in the near future.  I will be sure to post pics of the new home when I get everything decorated the way I want. Do not hold your breath, because it may take a while!

I have so much to remember from the last fews weeks, and I do not know where to begin.  Hmmm...lets start with Sydney. Sydney has become an escape artist since we moved in the new home.  She in fact has gotten out prolly 10 times now.  Hubster bought a shock collar to train her, and we think we have all the places fixed where she was getting out.  We thought for sure she was dead or gone one day last week. She was NO WHERE to be found in our neighborhood, and we were sure someone had picked her up, and that we would never see her again.  Fortunately the pound had picked her up, and she was there safe and sound.  She had run down a very busy road to the point of dehydration and had laid down infront of a library.  Poor girl.  She could have been killed so easy.  We had to PAY to get her out of the pound, which was funny to me. I mean it is our dog! At least however, she was safe, and is now staying in the yard (knock on wood).

Caleb....so much has changed with him.  You can read all about it on his ten month post, that I will be posting next.  (Yes two posts in one day ). 

Memorial Day weekend we traveled to my hometown for my cousins graduation.  We basically swam and hung out at my uncles the entire weekend.  It was so fun, and they had the perfect float that they use for Matt.  After Matt got out of the pool Caleb and I took it over. It is a round intertube with a seat, mesh on the bottom and a cup holder. I floated around with Caleb beside me drinking a Smirnoff while he drank some ice water.  It was so relaxing.  The next day we had Will's graduation.  Nick had Caleb duty during that, and he spent most of the graduation in the truck with Caleb.  Afterward they had a graduation party for Will, and we had so much fun seeing everyone.

My grandmother has spent the past two weeks with us.  She has kept Caleb entertained while we moved.  Thanks Grammy.