Easter Basket for Infants

So obviously the best part of an Easter basket is the candy. Especially a big delicious hollow chocolate Easter Bunny. We're not quite ready to give Preston a sugar rush yet but I had a great time coming up with toys and non-candy treats for a 10 month old!

Here's a look inside the basket that the Easter Bunny will be bringing Preston this weekend:

Melissa and Doug Fish Bowl Knob Puzzle - Good starter puzzle for little hands and it's big enough that he can get the puzzle pieces in.

Melissa and Doug grasping fish toy - He already has the dinosaur version of this toy and loves it and I thought the colorful fish were super fun.

Melissa and Doug Peek a Boo Panda - Pres loves playing peek a boo, so this toy should be a hit.

Duck and Goose Here comes the Easter Bunny board book - Preston is obsessed with most books right now, so I'm sure he will love this board book.

Jellycat Monogrammed Bunny - I ordered this darling bunny from Peekawhoo and it's completely adorable. Every basket needs a stuffed bunny and the monogram on the ear makes this even more special.

Other little things - Bunny Sippy Cup from Target, a soft sided soccer ball, an Easter themed rubber ducky, plastic eggs shaped like carrots that I will fill with Cheerios and yogurt melts and a cute wooden pinwheel. I may put a few of his favorite fruit squeeze pouches in at the last minute as well.

I can't wait until he sees it! It's been hiding in my closet for about 2 weeks and I've been so tempted to let him play with it but I have resisted! Ha!

I got his basket from Michael's and I ended up ordering his monogrammed basket liner from Etsy after being disappointed in the selection at PB Kids. I love the aqua with the navy and the ribbon ties.

Happy Easter!

Baby Essentials 6-9 months

Thought I would share the products we're using and loving that have gotten us through the last few months. Here's our newborn list, 0-3 months and 3-6 months if you are interested.

Baby Bjorn Soft Bib

Licking the bib clean!

This bib is fantastic. I love that it catches all the food P drops and then he can reach in to pick it back up. It's helped so much with keeping him somewhat clean during meal time because it catches so much.

Cheeseball face

 Don't get me wrong, he's still covered in food at the end of a meal, but this bib does help a lot. I love that it's super easy to clean as well - just rinse and hang it up!

Fisher Price Activity Walker

Preston's Nana and Pop got him this walker for Christmas and it's been a huge hit in our house ever since. He now basically runs with it and has recently started learning how to walk backwards with it, as well as turn and steer.

It folds flat so it's pretty portable - we take it when we're spending the day at the grandparents' house. Preston makes the cutest excited squeal when he's walking with it and usually grins from ear to ear as he's pushing it around the house.

Cheerios

This has quickly become Preston's favorite snack. We usually give him a small cup of Cheerios at the start of breakfast and lunch because the second he's in his highchair, he's ready to EAT.

Sharing Cheerios with the dog

They have helped so much with his pincher grasp. Plus they are cheap and we can buy them in bulk at Sam's Club!

Walmart Faded Glory White Socks (I cannot find these online)

Yes, my son is playing with a duck call. I swear we are not hillbillies. FOCUS ON THE SOCKS!

These are the only socks that stay on. A 10 pack is like $6. They are basic and go with everything. It's also super easy to match them when folding laundry. Preston wears these every day to daycare and saves his "fancy/cute" socks for weekends when we are out. And all those fancy/cute socks fall off after 5 minutes. When they start to look dingy, I just bleach them back to white and they are as good as new.

Britax Marathon Classic Convertible Carseat

We got this on super clearance from Target on Black Friday and moved Preston up right around 6 months. I love this carseat.

Ignore the face - he does love the carseat!

It's highly safety rated and he seems very comfortable. The clip is easy to do with one hand and it's easy to adjust and make the straps tighter.

Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine

We've been using this little sound machine since Preston was born, but I've really come to love it in the past few months. We typically turn it on as we're starting our bedtime routine and I think Preston has started associating the music with sleep. We use the little recorded lullabies that it plays, but it also plays white noise, heart beat, nature sounds, etc. You can also plug in your iPod/iPhone, which I do when we're playing in his room. Super easy to use and small so it doesn't take up a ton of room on his nightstand.

Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Chair

This is a great portable highchair - we are still loving our Oxo Tot Sprout highchair for home - but we take this foldable chair with us on trips, grandparent's house, etc. It folds down and has a carrying strap, plus it's really lightweight so we can throw it in the car easily. It's also really easy to clean

And here's a list of toys/books that Preston is obsessed with right now:

Where is my Baby?  (we read this ALL.DAY.LONG. I think he likes the bright colors and the flaps)

Belly Button Book (Sandra Boynton books are a huge hit in our house for the parents and the baby!)

Melissa and Doug Grasping Dinosaur (he's just recently started loving twisting all the parts on this toy)

B. Toys Parum Pum Pum Drum (probably his favorite toy right now - I love the quality of these toys)

LeapFrog My Pal Scout (you can program this to say your baby's name - Preston recently realized it was saying his name and he was so excited)


So that's our 6-9 month list of baby gear. Again, I was not compensated or given any of these items - just sharing what we love!

9 Months!

So my blog has officially become just monthly baby updates. Boo. Maybe one day I will blog about something other than baby boy....

Pres is 9 months and it's been sort of a challenging month. His top two teeth are working their way out and he's been a cranky pants lately. His newest favorite thing is screaming/whining. All.The.Time. It's sort of exhausting to keep up with his mood. When we were in the middle of our horrible sleep strike of 4 months, one of my friends said "oh, just wait until 9 months - that's the most fun age!" Hmmm, I'm not totally sure I agree with her on that one and it shows you how different babies are. I'm not saying 9 months isn't fun, but it's also been a tough month with our cranky, loud and busy kiddo.

Likes: getting into anything and everything, his push walker, speed crawling, standing on his own (what!?!), blankets and pillows, Cheerios, his sippy cup, stealing toys from the other babies at daycare, screaming at the top of his lungs in response to anything, going for horsey rides on Jake's shoulders, chasing Spencer, the dishwasher

Dislikes: getting his diaper or clothes changed, being told no, his carseat, wearing hats, having his nose wiped

Milestones: The biggest thing is that Preston can now stand up on his own without using anything to pull up. He can be in the middle of the room and just stand up and stand up about 10 seconds at a time. His balance is really improving. The first time he did it, I screamed and of course, he got scared/confused and fell down.

Eating: We're down to 3 bottles of 8oz of formula, 2-3 meals and snacks a day. Still loving food of all kinds. Obsessed with Cheerios - he's over puffs at this point. Still eating a banana every morning, along with an organic frozen waffle, organic chicken sausage patty and typically peaches or mandarin oranges. He also loves drinking water out of his sippy (and actually drinks formula out of his sippy at daycare).

Schedule: We had some sleep issues this month, resulting from his ear infection last month. He had gotten used to waking up at 4:45-5:00am when he was sick and we would get him when he would wake up then. That sort of continued after he was feeling better and 4:45am is not an acceptable time to start anyone's day. We had to go back to a little bit of sleep training, but we're back on a 6:00/6:30am wake up now. He's so much happier when he gets better sleep (well, we all are!) He's taking 2 naps a day and the length varies anywhere from 30 minutes (ugh...) to 2.5 hours.





Stats: We haven't had his 9 month doctors appointment yet, but I would estimate he's about 25 pounds at this point and maybe 31" long. He's in 9-12m clothes (12m for footed jammies). Still very long and skinny, just like his dad.

Fun Stuff: We started swim lessons this month and Preston LOVES them! He loves taking a bath, so we figured he would have fun in the "big tub". He splashes like crazy and his favorite part is when they have the babies sit on the edge of the pool and then the parents (daddy - mommy watches from the little waiting area because she doesn't want to put a bathing suit on in March!) let them "jump in" to the pool and catch them. I like that he's getting exposed to being in the water because we plan to spend a lot of the summer at the pool!

He can also give high fives, which is so cute I can't stand it. Still working on waving and clapping. Continuing with sign language, but honestly, when he wants something, his main way of communicating is to scream. We are trying to work on that because I do not want that to be how he asks for something or tells us what he wants.

He's still super busy and not really interested in being cuddled. My favorite part of the day is bedtime, because he is generally pretty cuddly after his bedtime bottle, so I soak up as many cuddles as I can get. We've started with a bit of separation anxiety this month - we can't leave his line of sight without a slight freakout. I'm back to doing some baby wearing in the evenings so I can get things done - he's not the kind of baby that wants to play independently so trying to get him to play while I unload the dishwasher or fold laundry does not work for us.

While this was a challenging month, it was also extremely fun. I can't believe he will be 1 in less than 3 months. 1st birthday party planning is in full swing and I'm sure I'll be doing some posts about what we are doing (it's fishing themed!). My little boy is growing up so fast - time needs to SLOW DOWN! I love you Preston Charles!

Growing...