I’m participating in a blog carnival from Kelly’s Korner blog today.  For this carnival women are sharing what their favorite baby items.  Mommy tested.  Child tested. Mother approved.  So. here are my favs.  The first is my newest favorite that I didn’t even discover until child #3!!  What’s your favs? I’m sure I’m forgetting something…

Sleepy Wrap

Unfortunately I didn’t know of the Sleep Wrap with my first two.  I’m not sure if I would have appreciated it with my first, but with my colicky & refluxing 2nd it would have been wonderful!  It’s been a Godsend with my newest baby.  Basically it’s a long piece of knit fabric that when tied on a certain way holds a tiny baby up to a toddler in several different positions.  It’s super comfortable and not nearly as hard to put on as you might imagine.  No buckles, snaps, straps to adjust or move.   And most importantly it frees my hands to help my other 2 kiddos.  I owe my friend Audra my first born for loaning me this!!

Cup Labels

These are great labels from Inch Bug!  Much like the rubber bracelets people wear for different causes these labels have the child’s name “carved” into it, totally indestructible and can be thrown in the dishwasher.  Great for labeling bottles, sippy cups and even drinks for lunch bags, water bottles for sporting events, etc.

*Side note…pictured is my fav sippy cup.  I do daycare and have experienced A LOT of different sippies….playtex is by far the closest to holding true to being “spill proof”.

Graco Swing *Plug In* Swing

I borrowed a Fisher Price aquarium swing with my first, bought my own for my second (and occasional use by a daycare child) and it pooped out.  So, with another daycare kiddo and my third I invested in the Graco Sweetpeace Soothing Center.  It plugs in *yeah*, very comfy, the seat can be removed and double as a lounging chair for baby and best yet a Graco carseat can snap in so baby can transition from car to moving swing…ahhh….uninterrupted sleep!

Saucer

Simply a lifesaver and time “giver”.  From about 4 months on my kids have all loved their saucer.  I’m especially excited to use mine with Isaac.  He will not be walking quite yet come spring/summer so drag this puppy outside and he’ll be happy. (Hopefully…)  Easy to clean/hose down if necessary and this one is great b/c it functions as a play mat, saucer and activity table!  Multi purpose things like this are great!

Aquaphor

With my first I’d buy and try multiple different lotions and potions for different things thus my cabinet resembled the Wal-mart baby isle.  I was told to use Aquaphor  on my son’s rashy and often times dry skin.  Works like a charm. Also totally healed up a really bad diaper rash Aidan had once.  I think initially I thought using Vaseline was “old fashion” I mean that’s what my mom was stuck using, but we have all these new and different options now.  Old works gals!  (Well…I REALLY like Dyprotex. SUPER thick ointment…like 30% zinc oxide,  but Walgreens doesn’t carry it anymore…)

Not sure how many of you were aware...and honestly I wasn't even aware until today that my children...YES my precious little Emma and Aidan have a future in working for our government. NOW, I'll attempt to eliminate political controversy by not going into my feelings about my children working for the corrupt government or how I would feel very disappointed that their moral compass was not set straight enough in their upbringing to take them to the point of such employment.

Anywhos… What job might they hold you ask? Based on today's behavior they are in line & all ready equipped with skills to be government operatives. Like CIA, FBI, those folks that have the inside information and missions that no one is supposed to know about. When Bush was needing proof of weapons of mass destruction…all he needed was my children. They can sniff out stuff that they’re not supposed to. They can scope out, seek, find and destroy anything you hope and pray they will avoid. They’re like specialty trained drug dogs, seizure dogs, earthquake dogs, whatever. They have an innate ability to smell out anything with a whiff of Lysol, lemon or Clorox clean and then cover that fresh clean scent with snack residue, urine or any other “non-clean” substance. Negotiating is another skill they possess. They might also be good to work with leaders of other stubborn countries. In their united effort they can make the strongest parent leader contemplate surrender.

Today perhaps could have been a conspiracy between Aidan and Emma, as Aidan was home throughout the day to witness my works…hmm. Ah, yes focus…in an attempt to perhaps look productive after basically a month of doing much of nothing I decided to appear the task master I once considered myself. What grand plans did I have to accomplish that today? Hold on to your seat! I used Clorox wipes to scour the filth in from my hall bath AND picked up the boy’s room clearing off the changing table, putting away some clean clothes and even making Aidan’s bed. Simply tiding up. Wow! You’re impressed aren’t you!?!? Well that was all looking good and in place to begin the “impress Matt with my ambitious Martha Stewart abilities” mission UNTIL my precious angels from God united forces to conspire against my plan.

Emma gets home from school. All is well, catch up on the day, have a snack, and then they decide to “P.L.A.Y”. How in the WHOLE W-I-D-E W.O.R.L.D did they magically decide to play in the 2 rooms I had attempted to clean??? And I don’t just mean play, like with a few toys. I mean- Emma “washed” her hands after snack in the hall bath totally eliminating the appearance of cleanliness and that was right before Aidan walks into the bathroom and pees on the floor. Shooing them on to take care of the pee they head off to the boys’ room. Emma instantly decides to “help” mommy and make Aidan’s bed. (Um..it’s already made, but TRYING to remain a calm mother who ultimately cares much more about her children and their thoughts and feelings of belongingness to the family WAY over the cleanliness of her home I yield let her “help”) Losing track of Aidan I didn’t realize he had gotten back into the bathroom and covered his hands with hand soap. Now, he’s too little to reach the faucet/water to actually wash the soap off. So, lifting him to assist (wait no I’d never do that…I’m not supposed to physically be lifting him!) in washing it all off before it ends up in his eyes. He and I return to boys’ room to find Emma “reorganizing” the clothes in the closet. Wow, well that would only be the clothes I had hung and sorted earlier today. Ugh! Again shooing them from the closet they land over by the book shelf. You guessed it. The one I had just loaded with all the books strewn around the room/hallway earlier. Ok. That is it. I fold. Yield. Surrender.

Off to the basement. There’s always laundry to be done. Emma & Aidan were helpers earlier and took all the dirty laundry down so now all I have to do is sort and load while they read books. Enter laundry room. Find- Aidan’s urine soaked clothing on top of my basket of CLEAN laundry needing fluffed or ironed. AHHHH!

White flag is waving. This war is not mine to fight. I’m out numbered. Matt will be home in minutes and BTW…where is child #3…the new one…. Isaac during all this?

So, like a good wife when I call Matt and let him know it was “his” night to bring dinner. I also fill him in on my lack of accomplishments around the house and Emma and Aidan’s future helping the security and defense of our country.

UPDATE: The dog is in on it too. I’ve waited all day for our darn icemaker to make enough ice for a nice big glass of ice water or ice tea. All my little future government workers in bed I sit down to compute with my glass of ice water and big bowl of cookies & cream ice cream. My fowl mouth (and I mean FOWL you’d rather kiss his “other end”) dog first drinks from my glass and then knocks over the glass spilling my precious ice cubes and water…right down the air conditioner vent. It’s time to call it a night.

Not finding out the gender of a baby can drive others more crazy than my obsessive planner self.

It can be 7 weeks out from due date before you realize that you haven't even thought about a coming home outfit!!
Each and every pregnancy can be totally different in every way. I therefore assume this child will also be totally different than the other two. Where's the predictability or comfort in feeling like you know what you're doing the 3rd time around? Why can't on the 3rd I get to choose what characteristics or behaviors this one will have...ie- good infant like Emma, happy toddler like Aidan, sleep like Emma as an infant, like Aidan as a toddler, clear skin like Emma, normal foot size like Emma, cuddler like Aidan, appreciative like Aidan, etc, etc...

Even as an obsessive planner it is possible to be 7 weeks six weeks 4 1/2 weeks out from delivery and NOT have a name chosen. Seriously...I NEVER would have guessed. If someone had told me in December that it would be the middle of June first of July and still have no name I would have laughed!!! I'm not laughing now...

OB appointments can almost become a bore if it weren't for getting to hear the precious heartbeat each time. I feel like there should be a home test for the urine sample you have to provide each time. Can just skip the "how are things going?" question. Same ole, Same old. She doesn't really want me to say..."my back hurts, stomach is stretching and I don't think there's room, I can't eat much, or sleep, my feet are swelling, etc, etc". Isn't that what she probably hears all day. I try to keep it light hearted and conversational....except for the occasional concern about my hernia or varicostities.

Your uterus stretches quicker and is thinner the 3rd time around. Movements therefore are even more alien like and you seriously feel like the baby is JUST under your skin!

Worries about the baby's health are more frequent than with my first or even second pregnancy. Maybe hearing about other's stories, too much reading or time spent in a peds office makes you more aware of all that is out there. I'm very, very ready to see (God willing) my healthy baby. It's almost like the magnitude of the miracle that conception, pregnancy and birth are make me feel like we can't (ok...God can't) repeat that a 3rd time. Ok...I know He can and pray He will!

Labor is not a fear. It's a challenge I almost feel excited about. I do have worries. Hope the baby's position is such that it will allow for a natural delivery. No C-section the 3rd time around please!! The pregnancy was different, the baby will be...but labor...come on. I kinda think I know what I'm doing now!

I'm super excited to see if it works out to have my OB there. She was present for the other 2 births...3rd times a charm!

Kids have the wildest ideas of what the belly button is when pregnant. It's ranged from the baby's nose to the baby pointing with it's finger.

You can not swell one pregnancy, swell like the Michelin man on the 2nd and then not swell on the third. Was my 2nd my body's attempt at rejecting all the male hormones...we'll find out in Aug!!

You can have a list of names with your first...use one and none of them will carry over to #2. Then you can have a list with #2 and none of those names carry over when expecting #3. Weird?

I was really dreading comments like "You have one of each, why a 3rd?", but must admit I didn't receive as many (to my face) as I thought I would. Not to say I haven't had tons say "Are you done with this one?" :)

You think the first one's first year goes so quickly. Then you think your second pregnancy goes by fast. The third is a blur. I have lots of notebooks/calendars in place to help track the milestones for this third one anticipating time to speed up even more!

This body is 6 years older than when it carried #1 and boy can I tel! Sometimes I think I'll go from seeing an OB to a geriatric Dr.! :)

I'm sure there's much more I'll be learning even in these final weeks...

~A last minute trip Friday evening to the In-laws for swimming can be met with lots of excitement all to find the water was COLD and us girls chickened out. Aidan and Matt had a great shiverrrring time. It was a nice visit though!

~That last minute trip to swim produced little to no good pictures b/c of my stoneage camera (5 1/2 years old!!) Many were blurry...

~Aidan and mommy had a "Mother-Son Bonding" shopping trip together. He was...thrilled. He would have rather been with sissy and Daddy helping at Special Olympics...at least that was what I gathered from the 30-45min. crying fit after we dropped them off. Something like...whaaaa-whaaaa, Sissy, help Daddy, WHAAA! I, on the other hand, had a great time on our mother-son bonding trip. What's not to love? We got donuts, shoe shopped, camera shopping and any "man's" fav- jewelry shopping!

~It is possible that one purchase of ONE pair of shoes for a FAT footed little boy's summer sandals can quickly exceed the value of his mommy's entire summer shoes collection. Geez! I thought all the $$ was spent on girl's shoes!

~Being lazy on a Saturday afternoon/evening can make one feel relaxed, yet when the pregnancy nesting kicks in can make you feel like you wasted valuable time!

~Going to church with my fam is some of the best time spent. AND I actually got to sit through 1/2 of service WITH my husband. Lunch following with the In-laws was yummy, but this preggers woman can NOT finish the platter sized salad I was served.

~You can waste an entire Sunday afternoon researching a new camera, the correct/best memory stick and accessories to go with it. It is possible to get so stressed and overwhelmed you simply give up. The good news is if you wait until Monday AM the camera can go on sale..AND by Monday afternoon can be back ordered!!

~Perhaps the biggest...no hugest...GINORMOUS lesson I learned this weekend...Don't EVER and I MEAN EVER promise your kids that when they wake from nap you'll take them to the Y to swim...UNLESS- do you hear me??? UNLESS you first check the pool schedule and hours to ensure they are open- check this info BEFORE you feed, suit them up and load them into the car seats. If you were not to follow these simple rules you might end up prying your children out of their car seats with neighbors watching on in horror AND your children might scream for close to an hour that they didn't get to swim. Fun...real good times....trust me!

~To follow up the swimming disaster...one 2 year old CAN ruin a good nights sleep even in the quietest of ways. Aidan wouldn't go to sleep b/c the "orms" (storms) started right at bedtime. So it was 10:30 pm before he was in bed. Now this late bedtime in combo with the long "swimfit" from earlier should equate to a great nights sleep. Right?! No, he was up at 3:30 am. Requested fresh diaper, rocking, sung to, etc, etc. Then from 4-5 am he simply walked back and forth between his room and ours to make sure we were still there. He never said anything, cried, whined...nothing. You could just hear the "crunch" of his dry diaper as he waddled back and forth between rooms. He settled down at 5 am. Emma woke at 5:20....

Ahh...it's Monday!

I did something yesterday I didn’t even know was possible!! I spent about 20 minutes reading a book and answering questions that talked about my role as mother, where the “me” is in mommy. It’s a book I’m reviewing for my MOPS group. The reading itself was not the surprise task…it was that those 20 minutes in personal reflection about myself made me “think” too much! I think I work better in my survival mode that doesn’t allow time, nor the interest in reflecting on the past or looking toward the future. As with many mom’s that time of reflection can begin with beating yourself up, thinking of all the things I should do, all the things I’ve done “wrong”, etc, etc putting me in a negative mind frame.

Take that mindset on a day where nothing was going as planned anyway. Every activity with the kids lead to a fight. As the day progressed Emma got naughtier by the minute. As each parent picked up she challenged me more and more until I was spent. I was stepping up to the podium to receive my “World’s Worst Mother” award as Matt came home 2 hours earlier than expected!! God is good! Yeah! He came home ready to set more fence posts. The night before the kids “helped” him which involved me attempting to keep them out of the cement and guard the freshly set posts that were all leveled up from the hands of E & A. After how the day had went that simply didn’t sound like something I was ready to do again. It would be an evening of counting down the minutes until bedtime and probably losing my cool using angry words.

AHH…gotta have a plan!! Where’s a mother to go when she needs something her children love with an activity that is safe??? Ugh…I guess… McDonalds!!?? (I’ll spare you the rant I could go on about my mommy guilt that is in overdrive as my kids have eaten there too much the last 2 weeks…) We order a few nuggets and fries (btw they tasted really, really weird) and head to the (germ infested/stinky) play place. My goal was to gain a few minutes of peace as they played together. Little did I know what I’d learn from my dinner out:

- People will actually spank their children for not cuddling them on demand.

- Apparently 2 year olds can be issued probation type tracking ankle bracelet OR the bracelet the child was wearing was a hospital bracelet implying he was recently released from the hospital and is now playing at McDonalds. I’m certain more than ever my kids will be sick within 3 days!!

- The discipline technique of counting to a child…you know it the 1,2,3...you’d better stop…can be carried out in many, many ways. I’ve seen it done where the parent continues counting beyond 3, even had a neighbor back home that would sometimes reach 20!! I’ve seen where you slow down and add in the ½, ¾ to lengthen, or the 1 “you better stop”, 2 “I mean it”, 3 “!#&(&^%$”. But these kids had to be confused. One time they’d get to 3, other times the woman would say “1” and then go get the kid. All the while I could have been “bleeping” most of her words like on a VH1 reality show.

-An 18 month old can climb unassisted into a McDonalds highchair that is on wheels.

- An adult can fit up in the McDonald’s play place.

- Sitting in the play place separated by glass from the main eating area must be what it feels like for the caged animals in the zoo. Everyone watching, staring at the mothers and their wild “cubs”.

- 2 adults and 6 children can fit in a small 4 door sedan “safely”.

McDonalds was just what I needed. A safe…notice I did not say healthy…place for my kids to run. Downtime for my brain. I’m not here to say I have the parenting thing perfected. FAR from it, but sometimes watching others can make you appreciate your situation. What you learn from others can pull you out of your pity party. When we packed up to go we left all the stress and tension we walked in with. I had gotten my bit of time where the kids played, smiled, climbed on the equipment so excited to wave and say Hi or Bye mommy as they came and went. The kids had a dinner they LOVE and got to play without interruption from their grouchy mother.

I was then blessed with a trip to Wal-mart w/out kids (thanks Shonda!) to grab a few things…the day definitely ended on a great note!! Now for today…. :)