Amy's Favorite Things

Since I put together the list of Kaitlyn's favorite things, I started to think about what my own list would look like. Turns out that it's really pretty short. But in the spirit of the holiday and gift giving season, I thought I'd share just a few things that I love and make my life easier as a parent.


1. Canon S95 digital camera: I like to always carry a camera with me to capture those moments, but it can be a pain dragging the dSLR around. I love this camera because it has the ease of a point and shoot, but also lets you control aperture, speed, and exposure as you would with a dSLR. Compared to other point and shoots, it has a fast lens and takes great pictures in low light settings. This camera is super easy to use and takes amazing photos.

2. Eye-Fi Wireless memory card: This is probably my number one favorite thing right now. I hate always having to pull out the cable whenever I want to upload photos from my camera to computer. This memory card saves all the hassle by sending all the photos to my laptop wirelessly. It's just one less step I need to worry about. Without this it would probably be months before I shared photos on this blog!

3. Amazon Prime: Unlimited two-day shipping - what a convenience! As full-time working parents we just don't have time to go shopping during the week. And we do all of our research online anyway before making big purchases. We have ordered so much through Amazon - including Kaitlyn's highchair, stroller, car seat, toys and books - that the $79 annual fee has more than paid for itself. As an Amazon Mom subscriber, you can also get two months of Prime for free for every subscription order (up to one year), in addition to a great discount on diapers and wipes!

4. Tyler Florence Start Fresh cookbook: We're big fans of Tyler Florence and love both his restaurant and his TV show. With three kids of his own, he now also has a line of baby food and came out with a family cookbook earlier this year. Start Fresh has delicious, wholesome recipes that can be made for the entire family. Most of the recipes involve one-pan roasts that can then be blended or chopped to the desired consistency for babies or toddlers. I made many of his purees when Kaitlyn was starting solids and we also like the salmon with pea risotto and the one-pot lasagna.

5. Kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame: This was actually our Christmas gift to both sets of grandparents last year. There are so many digital frames out there - I like this one because it is wireless. I can upload photos directly to the frames through the Kodak Pulse website and they will automatically appear on the frames, wherever they are located. We take so many pictures of Kaitlyn and this is a great way to share all of her pictures with our families remotely.

It's a short list but these few things have made a big difference!

K's Favorite Things

The holidays are just around the corner and inspired by the recent unveiling of Oprah's Favorite Things, I thought I'd create a list of some of Kaitlyn's current favorite things.

Board books: 

Kaitlyn has a ton of board books and she loves sitting in our laps and having us read to her. We've been reading the Sandra Boynton books since she was three months old, and they are still her favorite bedtime stories. In recent weeks she has been obsessed with flap books, particularly Dear Zoo and Open the Barn Door.

Toys:

Our living room is starting to overflow with toys. Some were other friends' favorites and received as gifts, while others were spontaneous purchases. These are the toys that get the most use at home. 

Top: Sensory balls, Fisher Price Stride-to-Ride Dino, Leapfrog Cook and Play Potsy

Middle: Leapfrog Fridge Farm Magnetic Set, Playskool Busy Ball Popper,  IKEA walker/wagon

Bottom: Wooden shape sorter, Stuffed doggy

The talking pot is especially fun since Kaitlyn likes collecting things in containers. She'll throw the food pieces in and out of the pot and then open and close the lid repeatedly. Prentice and I are just amused at the things it says ("Oh! The nutrients!").  The fridge farm also keeps her busy, mostly because she likes to collect the magnets and hide them in her designated drawer in the kitchen. Kaitlyn has been playing with most of these toys since she was less than twelve months old, so they've definitely gotten a lot of mileage. 

She also loved playing with her water table, but since it's gotten too cold outside, I've had to put it away until next summer.

Other Favorites:

Grandma bought Kaitlyn this PB Kids Anywhere Chair for her first birthday and as soon as we unpacked it, she knew it was just for her. It fits her perfectly and she enjoys sitting in it to read and to watch Mr. Rogers. She also likes to climb up and down on it over and over.









All toddlers seem to love tupperware, and Kaitlyn is no exception. When they're not strewn all over the kitchen floor, she is organizing them in her tupperware drawer, along with her fridge farm magnets. I like the little 1/2 cup sizes - they're perfect for holding yogurt for day care or for packing snacks when we go out.

I gave Kaitlyn one of my older deactivated iPhones but no, she always insists on playing with mine. Some fun apps that I installed just for her include PhonyPhone, Baby Faces, and Talking Tom Cat.









Finally, Kaitlyn spends almost every day at day care where she is surrounded by a ton of toys. She has a few favorites there, and if she could make a wish list for things to have at home, I'm pretty sure these would be on it.

Rocking horse, Play kitchen, Shopping cart, Kid coupe

Maybe if she's an extra good girl, she will receive one of these for Christmas!

Product Reviews: Solids Edition

Kaitlyn has been on solids for three months now. She loves to eat, and there are so many products out there just to help transition babies to eating their first solid foods. Here's a list of products that we have found useful.


A friend loaned us these two books, Super Baby Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees. They've been a great resource for us in figuring out what foods Kaitlyn could eat and when we should introduce them.

I've been making and freezing all of Kaitlyn's baby food, and these Fresh Baby freezer trays with lids are great for freezing and storing. After everything is frozen, I just pop out the cubes and store in a Ziploc freezer bag.

I also got these Baby Cubes food storage containers. I use them to pack her meals for day care, and they're convenient for packing a meal if we're on the go. They're easy to snap open and closed, and since the tops are attached to the container, I never have to keep track of or hunt for matching lids. 

Also great for on the go are these fruit pouches and twist-on dispensing spoon. I've been trying to avoid buying any processed baby food since most of them tend to have added preservatives/artificial flavors. But according to the ingredient lists on these pouches, the only ingredients are the fruit itself. I like both the Plum Organics Baby and Happy Baby brands. These pouches are especially useful on weekends when we're out and about and don't want to worry about refrigerating/reheating foods.

Kaitlyn eats a serving of Earth's Best organic whole grain oatmeal everyday. She seems to love it, especially when mixed with mashed bananas or other fruit.

I was originally using the classic Gerber soft bite infant spoons, but Kaitlyn kept grabbing the spoons and waving them around, and I was worried that she would poke herself in the eye with the other end. So I switched to these Munchkin silicone spoons. When she's done eating I let her play with the spoons as much as she wants.

I bought these Munchkin fresh food feeders to help with teething and have been putting frozen mangoes inside. Kaitlyn still needs to figure out how it works though, because she always chews on the wrong end. Hopefully she'll start eating peaches and pears with these soon.

We have yet to buy Kaitlyn a high chair, since she just started sitting up on her own a few weeks ago. So we've just been using her Bumbo with the tray attachment. Now that she's getting bigger, I plan to buy this Keekaroo wooden high chair. What I love about it is that it's all wood (easy to clean), matches our furniture, can be adjusted as Kaitlyn grows, and with the infant insert, looks a bit more comfortable than the ever-popular Stokke Tripp Trapp, which we were also considering.

It's amazing how much stuff is out there to feed a baby. And she doesn't even have teeth yet!

Hot and Not

One month into 2011 and like any food/music/fashion/toy savvy gal, Kaitlyn has started to gain interest in some things and lose interest in others. Here are some of the things that K deems hot and not:

Woo-hoo!

Jeggings
Hoodies

Waffle onesies

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Carrots

Oatmeal

Raffi Baby Songs CD

Maroon 5

Bruce Hornsby

Creedence Clearwater Revival

The Beatles

Jack Johnson

Aretha Franklin (go figure)

Sophie the giraffe

Winkel

Jumperoo

Ollie the owl

Boourns!

Avocados
Rice cereal

Slow flow bottles

Baby Mozart cd's

3 long naps a day

The Swing (although it's been making a comeback)

Bouncy Seat

Owls

I've had such an obsession with owls lately. I never gave them a second thought when I was decorating Kaitlyn's room. Then again, I was obsessed with sheep at the time. Anyway, lately I've noticed so many cute toys and nursery items that center around owls. With big round expressive eyes and bold patterned feathers, I can see how babies would be fascinated by them too. If I had to decorate all over again, I would definitely consider going with an owl theme (as a plus, it's gender-neutral too).

Someone had given us one of these owl blankies as a gift. Maybe it will become Kaitlyn's lovey.

Here are some other items I love:

Skip Hop Treetop Friends Hug and Hide Owl Activity Toy

Treetop Friends Activity Mat

PB Kids Penny & Joy Owl Plush

PB Kids Owl Bookends

From Dwell Studio - this would be an awesome gift

Grrrrr....

This whole time, I thought Kaitlyn hated the swing. All our friends with babies used to tell us, "Oh, I just put ____ in the swing and they nap for hours." And I would wonder what the heck is wrong with our baby that she can't even nap in a swing like any other baby and always needs to be held? Well this past weekend we went over to a friend's house. They had the Fisher Price Papasan Swing for their 1 month old and we put Kaitlyn in it to demonstrate how much she hated the swing. What do you know, she fell asleep!! WTH!

The thought had never occurred to me that maybe it wasn't the swing Kaitlyn hated, it was the particular brand/type of swing that we owned (or maybe the thought did occur to me but I was in denial). Originally we had the Carter's Cuddle Me Swing from Babies R' Us. I had registered for it while I was pregnant and chosen it based solely on the looks/design, totally ignoring the fact that it was only rated 2 stars on the BRS website. I should had known when I put Kaitlyn in it and she looked so uncomfortable, like her back was hunched over and her chin was practically touching her chest. The seat also had no support, so it was like a hammock.

The Fisher Price swing, on the other hand, had a hard-back support and was angled comfortably so it felt like an actual seat. As soon as we got home we disassembled the Carter's swing and bought the Fisher Price swing the same week.

And Kaitlyn has gone from this:

To this:

I'm kicking myself now because if I had realized this sooner, like say 3 months ago, I may have gotten hours and hours of my life back not having to hold Kaitlyn during naps and actually getting things done instead. *Sigh*

The Bjorn Ultimatum

"You can either sit in the Bjorn or you can lay on the bouncy seat and cry...your choice"

Those were my words to Katie-bear, who for the better part of an hour, decided to huff, puff and fuss her way into frustration. Too alert to calm down, too tired to relax, there was just no way around it.

And so it was there, this mix of mesh, foam, fabric and plastic. Resembling a pistol holster or a rock climbing harness, who knew that this contraption could solve a problem of magnitudes equaling world peace or hunger? Yes, the cry of a baby, the shrill noise continuing into perpetuity, often with no cause or no cure.

So despite her protests (more screaming, crying, head shaking, and stiff arming), I slipped her into the harness and buckled her in. After a couple of short bounces and hops, she looked me with soulful eyes if to say "why are you doing this to me?" A few minutes later, the look was more "ok, I'm not sure what this is, but its not so bad." Before we knew it, it was 45 minutes later, she was still awake and alert, but she was just in amazement.

Since then? 5 minutes after strapping her in, she's fast asleep. You can't escape the powers of the Bjorn.

-dad