I love the Internet, seriously I do. I spend more time on the Internet that I do watching the television, movies or even reading a good book. I can remember when we first had Internet hooked up and I was introduced to Google and oddly enough I could not fathom why anybody would need to or want to look up stuff, I mean really, we have books for that sort of thing. Ha Ha Ha. I think I "google something" everyday. It's great because I am in information junkie and I love to learn about people, our environment and this little planet we call home.

I love that we have so much information at out fingertips and hopefully this information will lead to better choices. As an example I've done a bit of research into why organic cotton is better, why Eco-friendly cleaners are the best choice and now that I have a child I want to make environmentally friendly choices for the products we choose for him to eat, wear, sleep and play with. As with any parent, I don't always make the right choices but we are trying to shop with an informed voice. I love to support companies who choose to make a difference and I love when companies make decisions that are good for the planet and not just the bottom line.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good deal as well but is it possible to be Eco-friendly and reasonably priced?

Books We Love

As a new parent there are so many resources; sometimes you know where to look, sometimes you go searching and sometimes it falls in your lap. We were given The Baby Book by William Sears and Martha Sears the day after our darling dude arrived in the hospital and it's been a life saver for us. I've learned so many things from this book and I would highly, highly recommend it. The things we like are the easy to follow chapters and everything is subdivided so that you can read from cover to cover or you can just pick it up and read the section you need when you need it. As anyone who reads this blog knows, we are big fans of attachment parenting....in a nut shell,  "The essence of Attachment Parenting is about forming and nurturing strong connections between parents and their children" as taken from the attachment parenting website. (www.attachmentparenting.org)
 
As a family we believe in extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering (most of the time), we co-slept for many months and we use a variety of slings and support baby wearing. I like this book because it supports many of our principles as mentioned above but gives a mostly balanced picture of raising a baby and some of the issues one may face. I say mostly balanced because the authors do support extended breastfeeding, baby wearing etc so if that's part of your parenting plan, this book would be great be for you. Even if you don't do all those things, this is still a great book for you. We've referred to this book at least once a week; there are baby care basics, common concerns the early weeks, an extensive section on breastfeeding and bottle feeding, feeding the toddler, parenting the colicky baby and a really great section of how to play with baby, stages of development from infants to toddlers and lastly keeping baby safe and healthy. We've only read The Baby Book, however, Dr. Sears has several books to choose from and I am hoping Daddy picks up a copy of the The Family Nutrition Book as a surprise for mommy. To get your copy, you can click on the links and go to Amazon or pick one up at your local bookstore. Well worth every cent. It's on the BuzzWorthy List.

One Down...

These days the mail comes in with little excitement, it's rare I receive anything other than bills or crap from local politicians who want my vote. Yesterday was an exception, we received something worth framing! A letter from students loans saying "congratulations your student loan is paid in full" Hooray....as this was addressed to my husband we have one down and one to go!

Baby Blue...Love this

I am honestly overwhelmed by the amount of nursery room decor there is available...I've tried to get dude's room organized but it just seemed so...well, overwhelming. We moved when he was a few weeks old, he slept with us for months so we are finally getting around to having his room painted and I am looking for decor. For some reason owls are my thing these days and I love them, not sure exactly why, I think they remind me of my own childhood but owls are my thing of late.
So it was love at first sight when I saw the owl wall decals at yourlittlesweetpea.com. How cute are these? I am borrowing the image as it was just too cute not to post the photo and I don't have any of my own to post so if you are the photographer/website owner, send me a message and I'll remove the image if you wish. I just had to post these, isn't this just the cutest decal?

I've painted his room a soft baby blue and will be adding some art work, bins, growth chart and a lamp or some sort of lighting in the coming weeks. I'll be bookmarking yourlittlesweetpea as one of my favorite websites as they have an amazing assortment of nursery and other room decor.I am not sure why I feel he needs "the perfect room"but I am always in search of some original things for the room. It's a work in progress and I'll post some of my own pics as I complete the room.

Where the girls are...

Life can be full of mockery...more often than not it's my debit card that laughs at me, on occasion it's the scale but yesterday it was something completely unexpected. A bra... huh? I am still nursing my 13 month old and I am back to my pre-baby weight and am wearing most of my clothes so I thought...hmm, I'm at work for most of the day so I figured I might as well start wearing my regular bras again. All I have to say is Ha, Ha, Ha and then some. I'll say it again...ha! I am not going to be fitting "the girls" in there for some time. I was shocked and quite frankly disappointed. As much as I love my amazing nursing bras...one from Thyme and one from Bella Materna, I really had quite the collection of under garments pre-baby. It doesn't look as though they'll be an option for a while. I guess I need to go and get some nice new ones. Hi ho, hi ho...it's off to shop I go.

Things I didn't know...

As I read more and more mommy blogs I find I learn so many new things. One thing I discovered that I hadn't heard before was "Tandem Nursing"...so I was curious and googled it.

Tandem nursing is the art of breastfeeding two children of different ages during the same time period. Who knew? Most of the women I know who became pregnant while still breastfeeding are often encouraged to stop breastfeeding while pregnant...hmmm. Not sure if it would be for us but options are good.

Big Girls Don't Cry

It's Saturday night and my amazing child is in his own bed in his own room and I am equally thrilled and saddened. He slept in our bed for months and we would sleep almost nose to nose, we could smell each other, we would breathe in and out at the same time and have an amazing sense of each other. I would move over a bit to give myself a bit more room and his chubby little hand would reach out and pat the bed looking for me. I miss that. I love getting more sleep and stretching out but I miss him in our bed. I am at work all day and often can come see him at lunch but its not the same.
Yesterday I was thrilled to have my own bed back, today I just want to squirrel up and cuddle with him. He needs to get a good solid sleep and so does mommy but it's a hard transition. If I feel this way, does he?

Whose business is it anyways?

I love blogging, seriously I do. I can express my thoughts on a variety of topics and if someone reads the post...bonus. If somebody comments I do a small dance of joy. Who knew it could be so fun? It's like I've made new friends and I'm still in my pajamas.

I also discovered I like reading blogs. I've found a few new ones which I follow quite regularly and my new favorite is http://womanuncensored.blogspot.com/

I laugh, I've cried...there are funny posts, touching posts and a mix of interesting topics.

It's such a great way to be able to read so many perspectives on a variety of topics. So often we are influenced by the people in our immediate proximity; for better for worse. I was so happy this past evening because our 13 month old has finally slept through the evening! Hooray! I was quite happy about it and wanted to share my success but I was a bit disappointed as my success story was met with "that's great, now you can stop nursing too", "he's too big to be nursing, he's spoiled", WHAT? really...spoiled? We love those quiet times of the day when we connect and looks up at me with those big eyes and smiles, I know he's happy, he's well fed and chubby to prove it. I am going to wean gradually and when we are both ready. I am guessing he'll want to stop before I do but I think that will be the case for just about everything. Mommy doesn't want to cut any apron strings...

Our Top 5 Favorite Needs VS. Wants-Big Stuff

The thoughts of having a baby are overwhelming in many ways. We waited several years and knew we wanted to start a family but we were a bit overwhelmed financially with all the stuff we thought we needed. We made a list of what we thought the perfect nursery should have, scoured the internet and made several registries with hundreds of things we thought we needed. Fast forward one year later and we have a much better idea of what we actually use every day and what we didn't really use so I am sharing my experiences with you. Someone else may make a list and it may be totally different, this is merely our experience.

NEEDED: Crib....

We have the Sydney Crib from Bily and its amazing.
We had a lot of problems with our original stockcraft crib but that's a whole other post...needless to say, we then finally have another crib which was probably the most expensive item we purchased at $390.00 but again, well worth the money. I love it....its so beautiful, so study and well made. Definitely Buzzworthy

NEEDED: Mattress, the firmer the better. Don't go cheap on this one.

NEEDED: Stroller/Car Seat:

Our best investment was our car seat/stroller. We purchased the Euro Graco Deluxe. Retail price was around $389.00 but with a sale, a price match and a few gift cards redeemed we paid closer to $275.00. It should be one of your most thoroughly researched purchases, we use ours almost every single day and it absolutely worth the money. We used the car seat until our child was about 10 months and we still use the stroller almost daily.

NEEDED:

Sleepers...lots of them, at least a dozen and if you have a baby who spits up, maybe 2 dozen. As cute as the little outfits are, buy them in 6-12 months because most newborns are in sleepers or jogging outfits all day long.

NEEDED:

A swing, we started using ours at 6 weeks and we would have been completely lost with out it. Ours swings in two different positions and plays music and we love it.

WANTED:Rocking Chair with Ottoman:

We had to have one...we used it for a few week and now it usually holds laundry before it gets put away. Its nice, no issues with it, we just didn't really use it much.

WANTED: Designer Diaper Bag

We have a beautiful diaper bag and its so incredibly well made and very beautiful, I loved it the moment I purchased it. I do find we often use the free one from pampers because we can throw it in the bottom or the stroller and I don't worry about it getting dirty or stuff falling out of it.
The diaper bag is so nice I've taken to using it as a purse and no one can tell the difference. So, a bit of a splurge but I've used it often.


WANTED: Change Table

Never used it as a change table, its great to keep all of our child's linens and shoes and what not's but we never used as a change table. Personal preference but that's us.

WANTED: Exersaucer

We used ours for about 3 months, great to put the kids into when you need to go the washroom or are cooking supper but our child didn't really "play" in it...great if you can borrow one or pick one up second hand.

WANTED: Crib bedding

As amazing as those bedding sets can be, we decided to only buy fitted sheets for the crib. Most sets come with "bumper pads" and you are not supped to use them. So we didn't buy a set. I drooled over many and if you have the extra cash, go for it. As a mom on a bit of a budget we determined it was a want and not a need for our family.