0-3 month favorites

Favorite Baby Things: 3 Months with Emmy

1. Nap Nanny - Emmy doesn't even sleep in this thing much but it sits on our coffee table in the living room and serves as her lounge chair. She loves it, it's designed to help her keep her milk down and best of all, to keep her content so I can get some things done. 

2. Burp Cloths - These were originally made for diapering but they make perfect burp cloths. They are durable, inexpensive and get the job done. Don't waste money on fancy burp cloths. Babies spit up on them, that's it. 

3. Dr. Brown's Bottles -  I can't say how these compare to other bottles but I don't need to know because these are great. Emmy rarely gets bad gas and even though these are a pain to wash with all the parts, they really do help to keep the air out and they rarely leak! (They are made in a wide-mouth option which I actually prefer but they are harder to find).

4. Sound Machine - I picked this up after Emmy was a few weeks old. It wasn't just for her, it was for my sanity as well. I found myself staying awake, listening for every breath as she slept in her crib next to my bed. If I was able to fall asleep, I would wake up every time she made a sound. We bought this to help us and it turns out it helps her too. She goes to bed before us and wakes up after us, with our banging around and the dog and cat chasing each other down the hall... it's good to know she is in her own little happy world with this guy on. Sad part was that Joe and I missed it in our room after she moved to her nursery. Solution? Keep video monitor on all night, we get the sound machine too.

5. Video Monitor - Joe's dad picked this up at Sams I think. It's perfect. The night vision is great, the B&W screen is large enough to capture the whole crib but still keep enough detail to see if her eyes are open. We keep it charged and running all night, it allows us to watch movies and eat dinner with music playing without straining to hear her and we can always peek at her to see if she's really waking up or just wiggling. I can't wait till she gets a little older and we can spy on her playing when she's supposed to be sleeping!

6. Carseat Toys - These are easy to find at target, amazon and walmart and are great to keep her entertained while shopping. It was also really fun to see her face the first time she realized it was there, it had been hanging above her for weeks and suddenly she saw it and lit up, just staring wide-eyed at her new friend.

7. MAM pacifier - We almost ended up going with the gumdrop/soothie but received this one as a gift and liked the shape better and luckily Emmy took it. They have been great for helping her fall asleep at night or to hold her off when we are trying to get her next bottle ready. 

8. Booginhead pacifier clip - The BEST and only clip you need. It fits all pacifiers (and I mean all - I haven't found one this thing can't fit) and is well made. The price is excellent so I can't emphasize this enough: buy it.


These might seem like really obvious, really basic needs. They are. Babies are so basic. The most entertaining things for her right now are her hands, our faces and the tv. She is happy if we talk to her and let her entertain herself. I will do another Top 5 post for my favorite travel items. I move around with lil' bit a lot and have figured out what I really need and what I can dump because my back is killing me, my hands are always full, and I can't carry one more damn thing.

minute with emmy: 3 month update

(2 minutes long cuz, hey, we've been busy!)

on being pregnant...

I think my body was made to make babies.

My husband will agree, I'm good at it and I'm nice about it too. I was nicer to my husband while I was pregnant than I ever was before. The hormones that make some women nauseous made me love my husband. It wasn't perfect, of course. The first trimester I was exhausted. I was so tired I'd just stare at my computer at work and the act of answering my phone was just too much to ask from me. Didn't these people know I was busy making a human, A HUMAN!? Oh, right, they didn't.


The first trimester is the WORST. Yes, it is exciting, you just found out you are having a baby! But for those of us who weren't planning a baby, the first time you realize you haven't had your monthly gift... your eyes pop wide open and the first thing you feel is fear. Then, you accept the idea of having a baby, you embrace your little gift and then you start fearing that anything/everything you do might cause a miscarriage. And you have to keep this a secret!? These first 12 weeks took FOREVER.


The second trimester gets better. You've told your friends, your boss (maybe) and everyone is happy for you. They will constantly ask you: "How are you feeling?" "When are you due?" "Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" and they will tell you all about their pregnancy and motherhood. Enjoy this. You get a lot of attention, yes it can get annoying but embrace it because once your baby arrives no one will ask about you anymore. And it's okay, you won't care about you either. Oh, and you think your baby bump is completely obvious and you stick out your belly with pride. It's cute and your regular shirts are just starting to get too short. Don't rush into your maternity clothes. You will have time for them.

Sometime during the 2nd trimester, you start to feel your baby move. This is the best feeling in the world (second to holding your baby against your body from the outside). Your baby's movements are the beginnings of the bond between you and your babe. I would walk up to the copy machine at work and feel her kick and squirm and laugh at my little secret. I called her my "polly pocket" because I used to keep my Polly in my backpack at school and pretend to be getting out a pencil when I checked on her in my bag. I liked the idea that I had a friend no one else knew about. That's how I felt about keeping Emmy to myself, Even the meetings at work were so much more enjoyable knowing I had my little girl with me.
Enter: third trimester. Now, every woman is different so understand this is just my take: 3rd trimester was awesome until about 3 weeks before Emmy's due date. It's January but I am HOT. HOT all the time. My whole body swelled. I couldn't wear any of my shoes, I had to keep my feet elevated and at night I slept in almost nothing and kept the air at 65. I would pray for freezing temperatures outside so I wouldn't have to run the A/C in the middle of winter. Two weeks before Emmy came, I had zero stretch marks. I was still just carrying a basketball. The next 2 weeks, I got huge. My face got fat, my fingers and toes looked huge and then the stretch marks came. I was upset, I had oiled and lotioned for months to no avail.

Lucky for me, Emmy came exactly one week early so I avoided further stretch marks. She was small, only 6 lbs 9 ounces so I have a new appreciation for those mothers who take their pregnancies on to a week or more after their due dates. It's just not fair to your body! For a first time mom, pregnancy was magic. I never knew what my body could do, how it could make a little human who is perfect, so beautiful and sweet.

My hormones changed after pregnancy, I'll go into that in a later post. But when I look back at the last 9 months, I feel so grateful for the experience. I am SO not ready to do it again but one day, when I do - don't worry - I'll probably get sick as a dog like the rest of you.