Nursery Set Up

There are a million websites and people who will tell you what you "need" for your nursery. They'll tell you to set it up and decorate and have everything baby proofed and blah blah blah. Well, in case you haven't gotten it yet, I'm a "do it as you go" kinda girl, and nursery prep was no different. I knew my newborn was going to sleep in a pack n' play next to our bed in our room. I didn't experience "nesting instincts" because we moved, to a different state, a month before I was due. I was too busy trying to get myself comfortable to worry about getting a baby, who hasn't arrived yet, ready. My method would freak some (type A) women out. Some people need to feel prepared in order to feel "ready". I don't. I was ready for the baby as soon as I had a box of newborn and size 1 diapers (never know how big the cutie is gonna be), wipes, a bed (pack n play), baby wash, a washcloth, swaddle cloths and a few onesies. Seriously, that's all I needed. Thanks to my baby showers I had more things but I open all those things much later. I didn't even go in the nursery until Nico was 3 months old. That's only to set up the crib, I still didn't use the nursery until he learned to sit up on his own.

Now that he's 7 months old here is how I have things set up. It's all an evolving process but this is what currently works:

CRIB:

The style of crib doesn't matter just buy whatever you like. I  prefer to have one with an adjustable mattress height. As soon as Nico learned to sit up I moved him from the bassinet in the pack n play and into the top level of the crib. It's too difficult for me to put Nico in the lowered pack n play while he's asleep. I still haven't been able to do it and keep him asleep. The crib transition was pretty easy. I started doing naps in the crib when I saw that he was close to sitting up so by the time he reached that milestone I was ready to put him in the crib for the night. I did sleep in the nursery for the first 3 weeks, simply because I was too lazy to walk across the house to feed him in the middle of the night.

A few weeks after moving him into the crib, he learned to pull himself up to standing using the crib railing so we had to drop the mattress to the middle height. Super easy. A week after that he started chewing on the railing so we bought a Gummi Railing Guard. I only put it on the front railing. It seems to be the only one that he chews on. It's clear, you can barely see it in the  picture.

I also have a mesh "bumper" to keep lil legs and arms from getting caught in the slats. Nico loves the scratchy sound it makes when he runs his fingers across it so bonus. I tied the top ties to the top railing to keep it from sliding down. (*this apparently is a safetly hazard because babies can use it as a step to climb out of the crib but I'll deal with that when I get to that point.) For now, it's more important for it to stay up and keep his parts from slipping through than a safety hazard. He can't even lift his foot yet.

NURSERY FURNITURE:

This is the rest of my nursery. Long story but yes we have an extra king size mattress. I'm terrified of letting my baby play on the floor because it's hard tile and I worry about him hitting is head. We play on the mattress 90% of the time. I used old diaper boxes to store toys and as a "diaper caddy" (which are crazy expensive but so necessary). I don't have a changing table. I personally believe they're a waste of money because after a month or two your baby will be too wiggly to change on the table safely. I always prefer changing baby on the floor, or in my case, the bed. I keep stuffed animals and pillows to keep Nico from rolling/crawling/falling off the edge. ***I never leave him on the bed unattended*** I can't believe I have to add stuff like this but I know someone out there will think it's cool to leave baby to play on a bed alone. It's not. 

The only other thing I have in the nursery is my rocker/glider. I love it and it's necessary. I always nurse Nico in the glider. So I get a lot of use out of it. It's right next to the crib (you can see the top of it in the crib picture). Shorter distance to walk after he's fallen asleep.

DIAPER CADDY:

Diaper caddy's are like $35, even on Amazon! It's a portable changing station. For those who are lucky enough to have carpet or brave enough to let baby play on the hard floor, this is a life saver. You can bring all your supplies to baby instead of having to corral and contain them. *Side note: give baby an extra diaper to play with while you change them. It should hold their interest long enough for you to get them fresh and clean. Although you gotta take diaper back when you're done so it stays interesting for next time.

As i've said in previous posts, Nico has never gotten diaper rash and I rarely use any products on him. So in my caddy I only have diapers, wipes, tylonol, burp cloth and A&D. Everything I need in one place!

GOOD LUCK!!

Homemade Baby Food

I know, I know, I don't strike you as the granola mom who eats everything organic and sews her own baby clothes but I had to try making my own baby food. It seems crazy to pay $1.32 for every jar of baby food when it's just mushed up fruit. Right? Seems easy enough.

First of lets get some facts out there.
Wait, first let me say who knows if this is the "right" way to do this but this is what I did. ok, now facts:

• Try to buy organic. Or uncooked frozen veggies (you can refreeze if they are uncooked when you buy them, then cook them, then freeze them)
• You can do large batches and have a month worth of baby food. It's the most economical way to do it but do a small batch first to make sure your baby will eat it before you go crazy.
• I used the ice cube tray, I think each cube is 1 oz.
• STORAGE
•  up to 3 months in the freezer
• 48 hours in fridge for fruits and veggies
• 24 hours in fridge for meat/eggs/fish (although idk who would do this)
• SUPPLIES - I'm lazy and cheap so I used what I had on hand
• Blender
• Ice cube tray
• Plastic Bags (freezer kind)
• Plastic Wrap
• Pot
• Water

Attempt #1 (yes, i had to try it more than once)
  I started with carrots. They were on sale BOGO at Publix and I figured why not. I know Nico likes carrots. I bought baby carrots (not the organic ones but oh well). I used half a small bag.

• Cut the carrots into small pieces (baby carrots I cut in quarters)
• Boil the crap out of them. I can't tell you how long but it took forever! Until they're tender.
• Poured the whole thing, carrots and water (about quarter cup of water was left) straight into the blender.
• I hit "liquefy" until it got the consistency of baby food. No chunks but not a liquid. 
• Poured it into an ice cube tray
• Let it cool
• Cover it with plastic wrap
• Stick it in the freezer
• Next day I poped them out and put them all in a freezer bag.
• I took 2 cubes out, stuck them in the freezer for 15 seconds, stirred, another 10 seconds, tested it and served.

Nico DID NOT eat it! I was devastated. I felt like my own baby rejected my cooking :( Boo hoo hoo

After I thought about it and talked with a friend. I decided it was because even though it looked the same as the stuff in the jar, the consistency was probably different.

Attempt #2 (I didn't have the patience to boil the carrots again so I switch to banana)

• Bought organic bananas. Yea!
• Cut them and threw them in the blender with a little water.
• Liquefied those bad boys! This time I held the button down until it looked like a liquid.
• Poured in ice cube tray
• Covered with plastic wrap
• Froze

This time it worked! Nico ate it. I was so excited! I tried carrots again, liquefied them completely this time and then he ate them.  

Trial and error with the amount of water and such. If it's too thick in the blender just add water. If it's too think when you're about to serve it just add water then. My banana was too thin so I just added a little oatmeal to thicken it. Trial and error baby!