A Year in Review: Baby Products

First:
Happy 11 Months to Riley!  That's right!  Riley is 11 Months Old TODAY!  I have learned alot and wasted ALOT of money on stupid products so I thought sharing stuff that actually worked and made my life easier would be helpful to all my friends/family having babies.

Having a baby means you have lots of stuff.  And as a new parent, its quite daunting to determine what to buy or register for so in light of that I wanted to share my favorite things that made our lives a bit easier and more fun.  This list is mostly stuff that she loved early on (first three or four months) but then some things that she still uses.  I know many of my friends are having babies so I thought this may help and for those who are looking for great baby gifts, I hope this helps shed some light for you.  A few years ago I was invited to my first baby shower and I had absolutely NO CLUE what to buy.  I wondered around a baby store for an hour just completely clueless of what a good gift would be.  So now that I have been almost through the first year, I have some great recommendations for products/things that I LOVE. 

1. The Ultimate: The BOB!  I have three other strollers, yes, THREE and this one is the BEST!  Parents would tell me that I must buy a Bob and I had no clue what they were talking about.  Well, now I'm in the know and I'm telling you, there is no comparison.  This stroller is smooth, sturdy and easy to fold and maneuver.  It's expensive, but its SOOOO worth it.  You can also find them on sale sometimes especially if you are in the DC area since Great Beginnings is in Gaithersburg.  That is where I got mine and I got it 20% off.  On a side note, Great Beginnings is awesome.  We bought our baby furniture there and a slew of other things...its like a Costco for baby stuff.  Check it out.

2.  SwaddleMe.  Babies love to be swaddled and they love to sleep all bundled up.  We swaddled Riley for the first three months (until she could roll around and get herself free).  This brand is the best.  Halo is the other brand but I didn't like all the velcro complicated steps.  SwaddleMe is easy and comfortable for babies.  We tried using blankets (keep as many of those receiving blankets from the hospital as possible) but they would come undone, but the SwaddleMe stays secure which makes for a very happy baby.

3.  White Noise App: This may seem silly but since we brought Riley home I have rocked her to sleep to White Noise on my iphone.  It's a free app or you can buy it and its a Godsend!  There are all kinds of stuffed animals that have this type of noise (and yes we have a few of those too) but the App is the best.  She still goes to sleep to it. 

4.  The Boppy: Early on this product is essential.  We would plop Riley on this and she would fall asleep or just hang out.  When they start rolling over its time to put this product away but it really helps for the first few months.

5. The Infant/Toddler Chair: Riley LIVED in this chair.  She loved that it vibrated and could rock and then when she first started eating Gerber foods I would feed her in it since it had a lock to it.  There are many variations out there but I have linked one similar to what we had.  This is a great baby gift too.  She still likes to rock in it so it can last for a while. 

6.  Activity Gym: These are great for babies up to about 6 months.  Riley loved to hang out on the mat and play with all the toys dangling in front of her.  We had a few variations of these too and all of them work the same.

7.  The Bumbo: This product helps them learn to sit up and is great to put them in so that you can do other things like make food, clean, etc.  Riley loved sitting in it and watching me do things plus we first started feeding her in this too. 

8.  Pottery Barn Blankets: For the first few months, we would go through 2-5 blankets a day.  Babies make messes and these all purpose blankets are the best.  They are organic, soft and bigger than other blankets so they became our quick favorites.  Also, they stretch a bit so if you need to swaddle, they work the best.  Other blankets from Carter's or even the ones that we took from the hospital didn't work as well as these. 

9.  The Swing: Now, this isn't a must purchase product but it sure was nice.  It's rather large so if you don't have room for it, its fine to do without.  But Riley loved swinging in this.  It makes nature sounds and has a mirror above her so she would look up at herself.  She fell asleep in this alot as well.  We only used it for the first 6 months.  After that she was too big but I'm sure other babies can use it up to 9 months or so.

10.  The Attachable Feeding Chair: When we started feeding Riley Gerber foods and such, putting her in the rocking chair or bumbo wasn't working too well so we bought this great contraption that attached to a table.  Since we had a big kitchen island it made sense.  She loved it too.  She could kick her feet and also feel part of the action if we were eating dinner.  We eventually got a real high chair but this worked great for a while and its even better if you don't have alot of space.  It attaches and dettaches easily to any table. 

11.  The Activity Cube:  It seemed like a standard toy at any doctor office when I was kid.  I had no clue you could actually buy them!  So Riley has a little one which she still plays with and a big one that she also plays with everyday.  These are awesome!

12.  Ipad Case: Riley just recently figured out how to press the button on the ipad and iphone to stop whatever app is playing.  Then she gets upset that the game stopped.  This ritual of me turning the App back on and her pushing the button to stop it was growing tiring so luckily Fisher Price created great products to stop this.  We just purchased the Ipad Case from Babies R Us  and downloaded the free Fisher Price Apps from the App Store and things are going much smoother now.  She loves to play on the Ipad so this is an essential product! 

That's my list so far after 11 months.   

A few other things: Find a baby consignment store!  Luckily when we lived in Chevy Chase there was a great baby consignment store right up the street called Kensington Caboose where I got many items and sold many items.  Here in San Diego there are also a few and wow, you save a TON of money! There are toys, walkers, shoes, clothes, etc and all in great condition at an even better price.  You will be surprised at how much baby stuff costs and then to see the same stuff a dramatically discounted rates you will be very happy.  For example, we bought the Baby Bjorn front carrier at Great Beginnings for $129.  When I went to Kensington Caboose for the first time, I saw the exact same one in the box for $29.  So before you go out and purchase all these fancy new and expensive products check out consignments in your area!

I would love to see comments and if anyone has any other must-have items so please share!

My Love of Healthy Cooking

On this blog I haven't written anything about cooking.  I love to cook and so I thought this blog article should be about some wonderful recipes I have found or created that I think our followers would enjoy.  This will not be the only recipe article but here are some of my faves:

I LOVE the blog: skinnytaste.  I have made many things from this website and ALL of it has been delicious.  So check it out.  One very surprising but scrumptious dessert was the Black Bean Brownies....you have to check this out.  I made them and they are somwhere between a brownie and fudge.  I put about a half a cup of chopped walnuts in mine and it made them even better.  They need to be eaten in a few days because after about five days they got a bit stale. I can't believe combining just a can of black beans and a brownie mix could be so amazing!  This is a must try!  Another great recipe from this blog is the Thai Coconut Curry Shimp.  I made it as instructed but then I added some veggies before the shrimp.  I added mushrooms, carrots and a green bellpepper to make it more sustantial.  I also made some coconut/almond rice to go with it and let me tell you...this was a HUGE hit!  For the rice, I use Jasmine rice and then add toasted shredded coconut and toasted slivered almonds once the rice is cooked.  I also add the remaining cococunt milk that I didn't use with the shrimp.  Another must try.  You will get addicted to this website. I heart it!

People think I'm a great cook but really I'm more of a Semi-Homemade cook.  I take help any way I can especially with a baby running around and climbing up my leg while I try to cook.  So here is an adapted recipe from Dashing Dish that I make from time to time: Katie's Yummy Lasagna
Ingredients:
5 Zuchinis slice lengthwise in 1/4 inche slices
Ground Chicken or Turkey Breast
Small package of mushrooms (any variety) cut up in bits
One onion chopped
1 frozen box of spinach, dethawed and squeezed dry
4 garlic cloves chopped
I jar of past sauce to your liking
Box of no back lasagna noodle sheets (you won't use it all)
16 oz container of low fat cottage cheese
1 cup of shredded parm cheese
1 egg or egg beaters
1 Cup of shredded mozzerela
Spice to your liking (oregano, rosemary, basil, salt, pepper)
Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees. 
Lay the sliced zuchini on two sheet trays and spray liberally with Pam then salt them.  Place them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or so until tender. 

While that is going, make the red sauce.  Get a big pasta pot and put some olive oil in it and then put the garlic, onion, and mushrooms in first to start cooking.  After about 5 minutes as the ground meat and spices.  Cook that until no longer pink.  Then add the jar of pasta sauce and cook on low for another 15 minutes.  While that is simmering, take out the zuchini to cool and then mix the cottage cheese, egg and parmesean in a bowl and set aside.  Now you are ready to assemble the lasagna.  Put some of the red sauce on the bottom or a 9X13 dish, then place some lasagna noodle sheets to cover the sauce.  Then place the zuchini on top of the noodles in a thin layer.  Then put a layer of the cheese mixture.  Then put a layer of the noodles, then zuchini, then red sauce, then noodles, then cheese mixture. 

You can layer them how you want depending on the dish you use.  I then put a layer of shredded mozzerela on the very top. The cover the dish with foil and put in the heated oven for 30 minutes.  Take the foil off and cook for another 10 minutes and you will have deliciousness!  I don't write recipes too often so hopefully this made sense!

I have many more unique and healthy recipes I will share later so stay tuned and happy cooking and EATING!  YUM!

And just because I can't update the Blog without a little Riley Time....here she is taking her first sip from a straw!  What a big girl!!!!

California Love

We are loving SoCal!  Baby Riley loves the beach and gets to go at least once a week. 

We have been so lucky to have friends and family visit us.  Matt's dad came for a weekend and got to spend some time with Riley while we enjoyed a wonderful date night at Flavor Del Mar.  Yum!  We also went to the Rec Center which is also on Riley's weekly activity list. About a week later Nick Schiavi was in town for work and stayed with us so we ventured out to downtown for a great meal at Neighborhood and then got in to the speakeasy hidden behind some fake kegs of the restaurant to a little bar called Noble Experiment which is so ridiculously cool.  We had some great cocktails made by true mixologists.  Then right after Nick left, Matt's parents came to visit for a week. Riley had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa.  They got to explore La Jolla and have a great time watching Riley grow.

While they were in town, Matt and I had a little getaway to Temecula, CA for a wine tasting adventure.  We stayed at South Coast Resort which is amazing!  They have these villas that are right in the middle of all the grape vines and they have an awesome restaurant and wine tasting room.  We also took a wine tour on a cable car which took us to three other wineries.  So delicious!  We loved it there and will definitely be back.  I have to say....it was on par with Napa and Sonoma.  Yum!

My coworker has a one year old boy so we thought it would be fun to meet up at this super cool place called Java Mama.  It has great coffee and has an awesome play area for kids.  It's a perfect place to take kids on a Saturday.  Riley had a blast with Maddox...until some big kid pushed her down.  But she was a trooper.  The bully (with snot balls in his nose) apologized but the damage was done so we left.  But what a super cool idea!  If I had the cash this would be a franchise I would invest in!

Happy 1st Valentine's Day to Riley!

This past weekend was so amazing!  We went to the beach with Riley which was so much fun.  She just grabs at the sand and crawls all over the place.  Hershey loves the freedom and the sun as well. 

We also went to the rec center for some swing action and then hung out on the grassy area in front of the rec center where Riley pushed a basketball to Matt. It was so cute!  And Hershey loved the grass.  She just kept rolling and rolling in it!  We had such a good time and love California!