Back again with 7QT in hopes of following through with my goal to earn all.the.entries. for Kelly's Link-toberfest! And, (as if it weren't totally obvious by the title), this is officially the thirteenth time I link-up for 7QT with all the fabulous ladies out there! Can't promise this will be an exciting one, but it's here, so that counts right???
To follow up from last week on Olya's 5 Favorite Recipes You Should Try this Fall, I made the Pumpkin Crumble Mini Breads...twice. Ok, so the first time was kind of a disaster. First, I guess the tins I purchased were not actually of the "mini" variety so the recipe yielded two loaves instead of four. Bummer because I scrambled to make them for my friend Dawn's short visit with plans to send her home with two of them. Well...not only was I down half my (expected) yield, but one loaf actually fell out of the pan when I tried to take it out the oven, flipping upside down and nearly catching on fire inside the oven. And then there was one.
The bread itself was delicious, but it took a lot more time than I planned for and definitely didn't yield what I expected (again, probably user error). SO, I tried again this week because I still had half a can of pumpkin left and didn't want it to go bad. Can't report on how the second batch went because we haven't cut into them yet, but at least I did get two full loaves out of the deal this time. Ya win some, ya lose some, ay? ;)
This week has been on the busy side, but mostly manageable. Last night, over 20 teenagers attended our monthly 4-H Jr. Leader Meeting, which is an out-of-school community club for 7th-12th graders in the parish. This was a record number for us, and I came home SUPER stoked about the potential for something awesome with a club this size. ...Then, this morning, my balloon burst when I had a frustrating experience having to reschedule a school meeting for the second time this week (meaning three visits and counting, depending on if the next meeting happens as planned). It seems for every step forward in this effort, I find myself pushed two steps backwards. It's really a frustrating experience to have day in and day out...
But on the bright side, it is National 4-H Week, so HOLLA if you were in 4-H as a child, or have some interesting connection to the program! I want to hear from you!
Some people are raving about this long weekend, but no such thing on my end. I've never been off of work or school for Columbus Day so I tend to even forget it's a federal holiday. Alex is headed to Tulsa with the football team, but I won't be all alone because THE WOMEN are coming!! Haha..."The Women" is my nickname for my mom, grandmother, and usually, great aunt, who tend to travel as a pack of three, lol. This time, just my mom and Nanna are headed to visit, but it's still a visit from THE WOMEN in my book. I have a pair of maternity (!) pants to be hemmed and requested Nanna's cookin' so I hope I'll be sitting pretty enjoying their visit and not overwhelmed by the loud they tend to bring along with them.
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If you don't live under a rock, you've heard about all the flooding in South Carolina over the last week or so. LSU was scheduled to play USC in Columbia, SC, but the game got moved to Baton Rouge at the last minute. LSU has really rolled out the red carpet for this team and I'm super impressed about it all. The university is giving all proceeds (less cost of hosting) to USC and they are going so far as to host free tailgate events for all fans, the band has learned the USC fight song and other traditional tunes, and everyone is really coming together to make this as much of a home game as possible for these folks dealing with devastation back home. Honestly, I have always thought of LSU as being pretty pompous and conceited about their football, but this story is softening my heart a bit.
Didn't have anything to pack for lunch today, and I have 3 club meetings this afternoon, so I need to jet. Alex gave me a coupon for free lunch from McDonald's, so go ahead and place bets on whether I'll order the salad or something with french fries.......... Your guess is as good as mine! ;)
Have a great Friday!
-Lauren
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8 comments:
Baby necessities:
Pack of newborn disposable diapers (even if you plan to cloth diaper, third first few days of meconium poops are not to be missed with)
A few outfits
A few hats
Undershirts (the ones that snap all the way open are way better than the ones that pull over their head when they are tiny)
A half dozen receiving blankets ( the bigger swaddling muslin ones are lovely)
A car seat
Baby washcloths
Diaper cream
Non necessary (but nice)
Nursing pillow
Bouncy chair
Pack n play or bassinet
Carrier or baby wrap
Not necessary (at least at first, get one later maybe if you want one)
Stroller
Crib
Change table
Play mat/bumbo/highchair
Autocorrect butchered that. Hope you can figure out what I mean 😕
Once again, I agree with Amy! And man, how's that for Southern hospitality? I'm really impressed with LSU! (So glad to see you blogging more too) :)
I'm basing my shopping list largely on the Finnish baby box:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415
For the most part it seems like a good list of essentials!
Amy is a smart woman! My list would go something like this...
Necessary: onesies, diapers & wipes, swaddle blankets (either steal from the hospital or Aden & Anais), sleepers that are zip up (I absolutely HATED the few we had with snaps, zippers all the way!), car seat, bassinet or pack n' play for your room when baby is nursing or getting up a lot at night.
Really really liked: crib (I had Kate sleeping in her crib for naps from about 1 month on which was helpful for the transition to sleeping in it at night), Boppy/nursing pillow (or two! they get spit up on a lot), insert blanket for car seat (the kind with the holes in it so you don't have to worry about taking it out), rocking chair or glider for nursing.
Strollers, play mat, diaper genie, changing table (we just used the top of her dresser), & sound machine are a few things we got after she was born & knew a bit better what we liked. And we do love all of those items, they're just not necessary for the first few months!
Alright, here's my 2 cents . . .
Skip the newborn clothes and go straight to 0-3 month size. Onesies are good, but in the early days, babies (or at least John Paul) hate being changed. So stock up on some 0-3 month sized zip up footed jammies, or something similar that doesn’t require much effort when putting on. I think newborn size only fits up to 8 lb, so we got approx. 1 week out of them. Not worth it.
If you're planning on breastfeeding, get a boppy or something similar. I still use mine every day, every feeding (when I'm home). I bought 2 covers for mine AND a water-resistant liner.
And if you’re really committed to breastfeeding, line up a lactation consultant beforehand. She will be worth her weight in gold! TRUST! Plan to see her within the first week home and again and again and again if needed. Even if nothing is going wrong, the support is awesome. And she can point you in the direction of all the various tools you’ll need if pumping becomes necessary.
Ohhhh, you’ll want nursing bras too, for easy access to the food supply. ;) Bring one to the hospital with you and have several on back up for when you get home. I really love bravado nursing bras, especially as a large-chested woman. But if you’re more of an average size, Target’s nursing bras seem to be well-liked.
Something for swaddling. In the early days, we liked SwaddleMe swaddlers. You can also use Aden and Anais swaddle blankets, but we found SwaddleMe to be way easier because it was all velcro-y.
Though, the Aden and Anais swaddle blankets you'll want too, because they're awesome for everything! We wipe up all sorts of baby liquids (vomit, poo, drool) with them, and you can change your baby on them in a pinch, and they're a great burp cloth, AND they can keep baby warm AND they also happen to be John Paul’s favorite toy now. We have about 15 of them. And go through at least 2 a day. BULK UP! The cheaper ones made specifically for Target are actually my favorite of all the ones they make.
I second the notion to get something baby can sleep in in your room. Pack n' play, co-sleeper bassinet (that pulls up to the side of the bed), whatevs. But I would advise against anything that doesn't have baby lying flat on their back. We used the Fisher Price Rock n' Play for John Paul's first 6 weeks and as a result, he has a flat head. It's because sleeping in rockers or bouncy seats prevent baby from being able to move their head around much at all, so they just lie on one spot and that spot can become FLAT. Eek! Aim for a flat sleeping surface so baby can move their head around more. :D You can read more about that here.
You probably won't need a crib for the first few months, just depending on how long you want baby in your room with you. OR you could get a crib and start it out in your room, then move crib to baby's room. That would eliminate the need for an alternative sleeping device in your room.
Read up on the 5 S’s and get yourself a sound machine, both of which will help immensely with sleep! Some babies are good sleepers. Some are NOT at all. John Paul was NOT. I wish we would have read a little more before he was born because we were clueless for several weeks and it made that time way harder than it had to be. Even if your babe is a champion sleeper, it doesn’t hurt to have some tools in your back pocket for when he/she fights sleep every once in a while.
We LOVED our Moby wrap and our swaddle shirt. Either would be great, especially for those first few months. Baby wearing is the bees knees! You won't need a sturdier baby wearing thing (like the ergo, tula, baby bjorn) until baby is a little bigger, but they're great too.
Get a tub for washing baby in. You *could* just wash your baby in your sink, but I liked the added support of a tub. The one we have has an insert for 0-3 month olds. I think my friend got it at Target for us. Highly recommend! Oh, and I really like the cheapy wash towels from Target. They're thin which makes them good for lathering all that baby soap. Baby can only have wipe baths ‘til the umbilical stump falls off, though . . . just FYI. :) Hooded towels are great too!
If you’re not getting a changing table (something we regret NOT getting at this point), get some sort of changing mat you can put on beds or couches to change baby on. We just use a travel changing mat with a washable liner. Our pack n play has a changing table component, which we used when John Paul was really little. So there’s always that too.
Obviously diapers, wipes, car seat, a large bag that you can carry all your mommy stuff in whenever you're out and about, and a subscription to Amazon Prime so you can get all the other goodies you’ll need once your little one gets a little bigger. :)
Happy shopping/registering!
PS – If you want to go the cloth diaper route, let me know. I have oodles to tell you about that too!
Sorry, had to split it into two comments because I wrote too dang much! Did you know there was a character limit for comments? :-O
Also, that was way more than 2 cents. ;)
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