UniVoxBox Influenster Review and Unboxing!

The UniVoxBox Arrived yesterday! Obviously, I was excited to crack that sucker open! Check out the unboxing, the second unboxing I’ve done, and take a look at some of the products inside! On a side note… man I need to get a better webcam… for realsies…

6 benefits to baby-wearing, as per a Second-Time Mommy

My poor little sicky... our visit to the ER.

Well, the last few days have been… scary, to be honest. My 3 week old caught a virus from a family member, and she went from a sniffly nose to a full blown chest infection. Apparently, her sniffles turned into RSV. She’s needed a lot of cuddles, and I’ve still needed my hands… so I decided to wear her around the house more than usual. And let me tell you, she’s so much calmer and happier when I wear her. Thinking about this, I decided to think about the benefits of baby wearing, some of which I had noticed, some that I hadn’t until I thought about it.

**NOTE: These are MY benefits to baby-wearing. I’m sure others have other benefits, and some may not even agree with these benefits. And this is in NO way saying you have to baby-wear your child. It’s helpful and beneficial for ME, but it won’t be for everyone. **

Hands Free! – In all honesty, I genuinely need both hands a LOT. I’m a SAHM to two girls, one of whom currently is sick (my poor newb…) and I still need to keep the house clean and get homework done. And when my baby won’t have anything to do with her swing or her carseat, or needs to be held up more to help her clear her chest,  I pop her in the baby carrier and off we go to clean together, and man, it’s been a lifesaver. I wear her for about 2 hours a day, and I get so much done with her in the carrier that it’s crazy.

Great Exercise! –Yeah not even kidding, I’ve lost all my baby weight from my second child, and I swear it’s because I wear her wherever I take her and around the house. I don’t push her in a stroller, she is on me, and you feel the burn after a while of carrying around a 10lb infant child with you all the time. My back hurts, but I feel the ache of a good workout in my legs and thighs after kneeling, walking, lifting, and more with her on me. And I’m not even joking, all of the baby weight is gone. I’m back down to where I was before I got pregnant.

Good for Bonding! -I’ve gotten so close to this kiddo by wearing her, I can tell some of what’s wrong before she even gets mad, and I wasn’t able to do that with my oldest. I bonded with her, don’t get me wrong, but I also had way more time to devote to just being with her all day. Now, I have a limited timeframe to do this all day. But this gives us both the closeness we desire, without chomping into the day. (Yes, she is worth every minute she would take up, but now I don’t have to lose that time.)

Relaxing for Baby! –My newbie is sick, as I said before, and she has wanted me to hold her all the time. But, I can’t, I literally have homework and other things to get done during the day. I pop her in the carrier, and she’s content. She relaxes, she sleeps more soundly, and if I sit in front of our humidifier and let the air hit her, she breathes better. She relaxes a lot more when she’s not sick and in her carrier, too, but when she’s sick, I want to be able to keep her relaxed, while getting the things I have to get done, done.

No need for a Stroller! –You know how many times I’ve used a stroller since she’s been born? None. I’ve yet to need it. I wear her any time I have to go to the store, or want to go to the mall for exercise. And it has been nice not needing to lug out that huge monstrosity of a stroller that we had for our firstborn… I hated that thing with a burning passion. Now the oldest can hold my hand, and the newb can sleep on me, and I have a hand free to carry the small diaper bag. So many problems solved.  

Keeps the crazies from touching as much! –This is a BIG one for me. I cannot stand a lot of unnecessary touching of my kid. I can tolerate a little, but with my oldest, people literally came up to her stroller and seat, and tried to touch her face and her hands… NO people. No. Do not touch her without my permission! Well, now they have a LOT harder time touching her with her being attached to me. Get your grubby germs on her now… See if you get close enough!

What benefits do you see to baby-wearing? Do  you baby-wear? 

Update: Adjusting to life with a Newborn & a Toddler

You know, newborns are funny creatures. Think about it, the average newborn comes out looking something like a cross between a potato and Gollum half the time. They’re covered in hair in weird places, like their earlobes and their backs and their foreheads. Sometimes they sleep ALL the time, except for the time you want them to sleep. They cry , eat, cry more, pee, and poop things that don’t look like human poop.

And yet, we love them so much our hearts could burst. Despite the smells and pee on us, we feel so much love to these tiny humans we created.

So far, we’re going on 2 weeks home with the newbie, and we’ve adjusted accordingly. The first week was interesting… for 2 days, she would only sleep on me or in her swing, so I spent 2 nights on the couch camped out next to her swing while she slept. Mind you, this was a few days after my C-section, so I was miserable once I woke up… Sleeping on the couch does not make you feel great post-surgery. The first night my newb slept in her bassinet, I was praising whatever deity allowed me those few hours of sleep. I needed them so desperately, I was willing to trade anything for that time sleeping.

And she eats like a little horse! (Ok maybe more like a Shetland Pony, but you get the picture) She’s already gobbling down 3 oz per feeding every 3 hours. And since she is currently going through a growth spurt, she’s up to 3.5 to 4 oz some feedings… mind you when she eats more, she waits longer to eat again, but still! And it’s not overfeeding, the kid rarely if ever spits up.

She wears a 0-3 month or 3-6 month size clothes. My oldest was a little runt compared to this tyke… My oldest wore newb sizes for 2 months… she was born 7lb 13 oz. My newbie? Born 9lb and 12 oz., and she’s in a way bigger size. She can’t fit into newb onesies anymore, and she barely fits into her newb one-piece sleep suits.

But that’s all ok. Because she is totally worth all the adjustments and the clothes. (Thank God for Hand-Me Downs…)

My oldest is adjusting pretty well, some of the things this kid says to her sister is hilarious… I’m like, where did you HEAR that from, because we never said it! Like earlier, she said “Please, stop doing that, no more crying!” to her sister in the car on the way home from the store. We’ve never told her sister to stop crying, babies cry, it’s normal!

Or, the ever-hilarious “Please, just no, you be quiet now!”. Yes, we’re telling her that she needs to talk nice to her sister, but we can’t help but to snicker a little when she’s not looking. However, on the flip side, she sees her sister cry, and she gets worried and says, “Chloe’s frustrated? She hungry?”. She worries so much about her baby sister, it’s very cute, but she’s not as interested in holding her anymore. I think the novelty wore off to her. But she’s adjusting well, and she does help us a LOT, she helps shake bottles, and throws out diapers, she’s even helped with changing diapers by wiping her sissy’s booty for us when we let her. She knows not to pick her up without us helping, which was one of our big worries.

The hardest part has been finding the time to do my homework, to be honest! I’ve got to really buckle down this week to get that done in the timeframe that I have!!

So, as I sit here tonight with my 2 week old on my chest, I think about how the last 2 weeks have flown by and how things have changed so drastically… We’ve had a lot of life changes in a very short period of time, some of which I can’t talk about right now… suffice it to say, our life has gotten a lot harder in some ways, but in others, man I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I can’t imagine life without our Chloe anymore.

Anyhow, I just wanted to post a quick little blog update! As you can see, she’s definitely getting big fast! Planning to work on more stuff in the weeks coming up!

Do you remember when your little ones were newborns? What was the hardest part about adjusting with a newborn for you?

10 things you forget about newborns and the post-partum time period!

I’ve been AWOL on here for a while, and there’s a very good reason for that. I had my second daughter! Before I get to the blog post, let me take a minute to do the obligatory mommy bragging. She was born VIA repeat c-section at 2 days before 40 weeks, at 9:09 AM. She’s a big baby girl, but beautiful and healthy! She was born 9lbs and 12oz, and 20 inches long, which explains the misery I was in for the last month! I mean, seriously, she has a big head! Her head was wedged into my hips for a month, so I took one look at her head and BAM, my exact words were, “Well THAT explains a lot!”

My other half looked at her when she was born and laughed, and said “That’s a BIG girl!” and I swear, I was in denial. I was all “No, she’s not!” and he was grinning and told me that yeah, she really was, and darned if he was right! Big baby! Explained a lot! She looks just like her daddy though. I’m one big proud mommy.

Anywho, so today I figured, since I have a new addition in the house, I’d write about her! Well, 10 things you forget about newborns, anyways! Basically, this is the stuff that happens, and after a while, you don’t remember it because your little one outgrows it. And then you get the baby fever, and you don’t even think about these things. And, while we’re at it, let’s toss in those post-partum BLECH moments that we completely forget about too!

1- All-nighters. I can honestly say that I had forgotten about the notorious all-nighter, until the second night in the hospital where my little one would NOT sleep in her bassinet no matter what we did! We finally got her to sleep in her bassinet last night and so far, so good for tonight. *fingers crossed* But yeah, you seem to forget about the lack of sleep that comes with a newborn most of the time once you get to getting some sleep again.

2- Getting peed on. Yeah, my first really only did this once, but so far, my Roto-Rooter takes BIG pees, so when she goes, she soaks her diaper, and sometimes, us too. She got my other half the other day, and today she got me! I don’t think we’re going to be buying anymore packs of newborn diapers that’s for sure. Pretty sure we’re going to size 1. But I know I sure didn’t remember the feeling of a wet pair of pants and going ‘Huh… that’s warm… and wet… and the baby’s wet… oh…’

3- The need to feed!! Yes, I made that sound like a zombie thing on purpose! I completely forgot how my older girl had loved to chow down her food! So when this one decided to be a chow-hound too… man, I was taken aback for a bit! And I had nurses trying to tell me that she shouldn’t be eating as much as she was, but I had to remember that babies will seldom overeat, they will eat until full. And once we did a formula switch to the anti-spit up formula, she eats her 2.5 to 3 oz avery 3 hours, and we see almost no spitting up. (And yes, her pedi said her intake is perfectly normal. Some newbs apparently just need a little more, especially ones born at 40 weeks, from what she said.)

4- Clothing that suddenly won’t fit! It’s been literally 5 days and already she’s outgrown a good chunk of her newborn wardrobe. She’s gotten longer I think since she came out. When she came out, for example, she had a little blue footie pajama set that fit her perfect. Now? She can’t even straighten her legs in it, and the arms are way too short. Luckily onesies stretch some, but even the stretchiest onesies in the world can’t help some of her brand new clothes that, suddenly, won’t fit.

5- That stretching feeling! This goes with the whole outgrowing clothes thing, but MAN I don’t know if it’s just my kids or if it’s ALL babies, but in the first week this kid has sprouted taller like someone sprinkled Miracle Gro all over her head and watered her like a plant. I mean, she seems to get a little longer by the day lately! And when I thought back, my older daughter did that too!

6- Ew, bleeding. I completely forgot how gross post-partum bleeding really is… It’s nothing like a period, at least not for me. It makes me miss my period…

7- OW MY BOOBS! Seriously! Once that milk comes in, my boobs felt like bricks of HATE! I couldn’t even lay in the bed! I stuffed cabbage in my bra, for a little comfort, and then I found out that Sudafed helps with drying you up, so I’ve taken that for 2 days. (Luckily, I had a runny nose from my cold still anyhow, so I knocked out two birds with one stone.) Kudos to the women who breastfeed and have to deal with that engorged feeling, because I don’t think I could do that plus deal with my C-section incision pain.

8- Hello, hormones! Yeah, I forgot how weepy and stressed having a newborn can make you. That lovely cocktail of post-partum hormones makes every little thing seem major for a few days, and then you start to even out and feel kinda human again.

9- I want it and can’t have it… Take three guesses at what I’m talking about here. Yeah. That post-partum waiting period SUCKS. I don’t know why, but I’m still just as ‘wanting it’ as I was when I was pregnant, and now, I actually can’t HAVE it, and no lie, it’s driving me freaking BATTY! Probably a hormone thing, too, so YAY hormones I guess!

10- The stinkiest, grossest poops in the world. No lie, newborn diapers stink. And they’re all seedy, like someone filled them with little sesame seeds… And the color palette of them is just… I forgot poop came in those colors. And don’t get me started on meconium. Even more gross, poo that sticks to the kiddo like black tar… At least a bit of olive oil helps with getting THAT stuff off.

And there you have it! Off topic, I’ll probably be posting a little less while I get to know my little Roto-Rooter a little better, and we have some bonding time, me, her, sissy, and daddy, but I will be posting when I get the chance! I also have college to finish up, so you’ll probably get more out of me in May, once I finish school and graduate! (YAY GRADUATION!) As always, thanks for reading!