My Favorite Baby Products

Ive seen this post done a million times. But, it never gets old and to be honest, I read tons of these when expecting Jude & they were so helpful!

So, here is my list of favorite baby items :) in no particular order...

Baby Swing-- any kind will do, just have one! Let the picture do the talking...

Cloth Diapers-- my favorite are BumGenius 4.0's. We've only been CDing for a couple of months but my-oh-my how I wish we had done it from the beginning! Oh the money we are saving and it is so easy to wash them. I mean, I do so much laundry as it is I don't even notice more-- haha! They are more comfy for Jude (not to mention the toxins we are avoiding on his skin!), better for the environment, and we have fewer leaks! Oh and clothes are optional ;)

Maya Wrap Ring Sling-- wish I used this more. It is so easy to plop him in it and go. Takes a lot of the weight off while your carrying them. Real men wear babies ;)

Fisher Price Rock-n-Play-- when Jude was a newborn he slept in this at night by our bed when he wouldn't sleep- such a lifesaver! & at about $45 you can't beat that! Also, it folds up so its great for travel!

Ikea High Chair- Small/ Compact/ Easy to clean... no cloth pieces to put through the washer/ Came from Ikea... need I say more? We went through 3 highchairs.. this was our favorite.

Sound Machine-- any kind will do. Judes bedroom butts up to the kitchen & guess what we needed to do at night after he went to bed? Clean the kitchen.

SIDS Baby Monitor-- If you aren't cosleeping your chances of SIDS are higher. Jude started sleeping in his own bed through the night at 6 months. This little device gave me so much peace of mind!
& Breathable Bumpers from Toys R Us

Jumparoo-- Put baby in it... do housework, the end. :)

Outdoor Baby Swing-- Just for fun :) blurry but you see the fun he's having ;) he's even almost fell asleep in this thing before.

Rocker- We practice attachment parenting in our home and for us part of that means rocking our baby to sleep.. every time. This was a necessity for us. & lets admit it, its a great excuse to get away just you and baby for some cuddle time! Our next investment will be a rocking recliner for the living room-- ooolala

Baby gate that has pieces-- I don't know what this thing is called. You can make a fence out of it to put baby in. We used our pieces around the house, right here in front of our fireplace is one example. Has many uses!

CD Player (doesn't have to be a baby one) Baby Praise & Worship CD's-- sometimes babies are overstimulated. When this happens with Jude and its nap time we play his worship CD and it is so soothing to him.

Snap-n-Go Stroller-- This was great when Jude was in his carrier car seat. If he was asleep we could snap the carseat in it and roll him in. Its also a lot smaller and more compact than the stoller/carseat combos

Medela Manual Breast Pump-- Once my supply was regulated this little $40 piece of gold was magnificent! Its small, compact (I kept it in a lunch box!) and the best part, it was more efficient at getting the milk out than my $300 double electric pump! Go figure!
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/9361474152736135977?q=medela+manual+breast+pump&client=safari&rls=en&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49478099,d.eWU,pv.xjs.s.en_US.c75bKy5EQ0A.O&biw=1280&bih=680&tch=1&ech=1&psi=hlvoUcPTDpP69gT92IGwCw.1374182279211.3&sa=X&ei=jlvoUcGxMIrW9QTfz4HYDQ&ved=0CFsQ8wIwAA

Gown Sleepers-- I have boys, but you know what? WE LOVED Jude in a gown when he was a newborn! I remember when I first brought home some gowns Drew making fun of me and saying "our son is not wearing a dress" but Im sure he would tell you, those things make life so much easier with a newborn! No snaps, no zipper, easy access to diaper, keep baby warm. & the best part, they look all cute with their little newborn legs all bundled up inside!

Jude's Ear Infection(s) Remedy-- Its in the Milk

So I got on to post about something totally different and realized I never let you guys know how we solved Jude's ear infection problem!
In my last post I said how I was thinking it may be allergy related and about my "guilt" over losing our nursing relationship. Well, turns out it was a little of both!
Drew has a milk allergy, not lactose intolerant but it just makes him feel yuck and his sinuses will get congested.. this can lead to ear infections!! WHY DIDN'T I PUT 2 & 2 TOGETHER?
I digress...
A friend suggested milk as maybe being the culprit for Jude and suggested I google it. So I did. A month straight & 4 antibiotics later of ear infections & doctors talking about tubes I was willing to try anything!
Turns out a lot of babies have a milk allergy that leads to ear infections. The milk we drink today is so processed and the cows are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics its no wonder milk takes a toll on our bodies. While reading the articles I started thinking of how Drew doesn't handle milk well. It was worth a try to see if this was the culprit, afterall, Jude had just started whole milk a month ago when I had to give up nursing-- when the ear infections started! Coincidence?
So, we stopped all things dairy for a few days and guess what... his sinuses were clear and his ear infections were gone!! Hallelujah!
We have since reintroduced other forms of dairy like cheese and yogurt and those don't seem to bother him. For milk we substitute with Almond milk. Which we already had in our house because of Drew's allergy! It has been an easy transition! Jude isn't as crazy about the taste of the almond milk as he was mommas milk and whole milk but all is now well in the Barnwell home! We also started taking him to the chiropractor for adjustments just to make sure any fluid in his ears drains properly as an extra precaution. Our chiropractor also counsels us on proper nutrition-- which that is for another post :)
Its been 4 months now since his last ear infection (wow I didn't realize it had been that long!!). We recently saw our regular pediatrician for his 15 month checkup and he was astonished at how well Jude's ears looked! His response when we were leaving- "keep the milk away and keep going to the chiropractor!". Neither of these things were the doctors recommendation so it made me feel good that we had helped our baby on our own and that the doctor was so impressed with his recovery. I am so thankful for my FB friend Jessica for recommending I look into the milk culprit and my friend Jennie for suggesting we see a chiropractor! :) Yay for a healthy baby!

Now, a cute pic for your entertainment :) Post about our disney trip coming soon!

Life lately... Jude growing | Ear infections | Nursing | Cloth Diapers

So I haven't been bloggin much. Honestly, when I think of something I want to write about Im never in a position/ have the time/ to blog about it. So, I thought Id just share some recent happenings around the Barnwell house. Very random these will be. :)

Jude is growing so fast!

Shorty is finally getting tall enough to reach the door knobs. o.0

He's eating with a spoon and out of bowls and plates and drinking stricktly from straw cups!

Weve had an ear infection (our first one) for about 3 weeks now. I think for 2 reasons 1. our nursing relationship ended because my milk dried up with pregnancy so he's been drinking tons through a bottle and 2. i think he has allergies

We are on our 3rd round of antibiotics :( and had to toss all the bottles.

Also,  Ive started hand expressing some milk (my body has started making for baby #2) to give to Jude on occasion, in the hopes that it will help his immune system. 

I find myself spending a lot of time sad about losing our nursing relationship. I should have fought harder for it to last. I don't feel "guilty" so to speak, I just miss it. The WHO recommends bfeeding to atleast 2 years of age (and beyond) and we didn't make it but 10 months so I know there are many more health benefits he could have had. Im not beating myself up about it. Just writing that on here to hopefully help anyone else going through the same thing!

I plan to pump for him and putting it in a cup when Liam arrives. I don't want to pump while pregnant just because I don't want to cause any premature labor (would be different if I was already pumping and my body was use to it). But hand expressing some on occasion I don't think will be a big deal.

Cloth Diapers!

We have decided that with 2 babies about to be in diapers we should try our hand at cloth diapering! I mean, the worst part about it (besides increased laundry loads), is poop & lets be honest, the boy already gets poop on his clothes and we have to wash that! why not was diapers too! Ive been doing lots of research on cloth diapers over the past week or so. You would not believe how many options there are! Its quite overwhelming!

Some cool things about it:

Its good for the environment

Its better on babes bum

It promotes early potty training! :D

It saves $$$$

and the list goes on!

I ordered several different samples to try out to see which we like before I order a lot of one kind. These are bumgenius and sunbaby. Ive also got an alva on the way. Ive chosen to go with pockets & inserts just because it seemed the easiest in my mind.

Oh and we bought some Charlie soap to wash them in! Thanks to those who recommended it! :)

Wish us luck in this endeavor! ;)

Liam Jackson | Its a boy! | Nursery | Pregnancy today

We found out the baby is a BOY! :D (Can't believe I haven't posted this yet!)

LIAM JACKSON BARNWELL!!!!!!! {due around October 15, 2013}

Jude got to announce the news to everyone :)

I must say, initially I hoped for a girl since we already had a boy, but the moment I saw that ultrasound and heard "it's another boy!" I no longer cared! I am just so beyond thrilled! Just as thrilled as I was to hear Jude was a boy. Thinking about 2 little babies lovin' on their momma like Jude does now just melts my heart! And I can't wait to see him and Jude playing together. It is going to be the sweetest thing my eyes have seen.

So, the fun part. Getting ready for Liam :)

We went to Ikea this past Saturday. Yes, Drew & I had a DATE by ourselves! :D That was perhaps the best part... spending a full day hanging out together (although we did miss jude by that evening). It was such a special time.

Anywho, the reason we went was to finish getting the things we need for Liams nursery. We are doing a similar (using some of the same peices) but totally different look to Judes. We are doing grey walls, white crib, greyish brown dresser, brown glider that is in Judes room, white bookshelf with greyish brown baskets, and the same sheets jude has since he has several of them. We figured why buy new? Also, we are taking the bedskirt from Judes room and putting it on Liams crib because with the way judes crib is made you literally can't even see the skirt on it. So basically we are doing light grey/white/brown nursery with baby blue accents and I want to add simple zoo animals in neutral colors too. We got him a grey pillow with elephants on it and I want to get him a girrafe of some kind for the room.

I want to order him this print from Etsy as well: 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/127298282/sale-abc-giraffe-typography-8x10-gray?ref=usr_faveitems

& some other similar things! So cute!

I promise to have pics as soon as we get to work putting it all in his room! It will make much more sense then! haha! 

Here is where I got lots of my inspiration:

http://pinterest.com/pin/54746951692843935/

Things I look forward to about having a newborn baby again:

-going into labor (didn't get to do this on my own last time)

-nursing agian (so miss jude doing this!)

-baby wearing/ snuggling/ cosleeping

-teaching Jude gentleness

-cloth diapering them both (hopefully! we just started trying this out. will do another post about that!)

-bringing another blessing into our home!

Current Pregnancy Symptoms (Im 19 weeks)

-increased amount of freckles on my arms.. didn't have this symptom with Jude

-LOTS of kicks! Liam's placenta is posterior (in the back) so I can feel him a whole lot more than I could Jude (his placenta was anterior, in the front)

-that's pretty much it right now! oh how I love the second trimester!!!

Jude's First Year Recap

Newborn & 3 Months

6 Months & 9 Months

1 Year!!

Jude is 1! Pics by mommy!

I cannot believe this was a year ago!!!

& look at him now!!!!!!

Jude's 1st Birthday PARTY!!!!

Since mommy was feeling quite under the weather the weeks leading up to your birthday party, it was quite the throw down I had planned it to be. I spent all this time pinning ideas to pinterest for months. Then your baby bro or sis decided that he/she needed to do lots of growing and I could hardly get off the couch to take care of you, much less be crafty! Next time mommy will order everything off the internet ;)

You didn't know though. You still enjoyed your party and thats all that matters. We got to celebrate YOU! We are so thankful that God brought you here to us. You are such a blessing to our family! Happy 1st birthday sweet boy!!!!

Birth Book | Week 12 (late posting... working on week 16 now) :)

Better late than never posting right? ;)

Ive got to make my personal blog more of a priority! Afterall, Im doing it for the kids when they get older! They are going to think their mommy was a lazy blogger or their life was boring! :P

16week page coming up as soon as I decide a picture for it!

Baby #2 Pregnancy Book

I saw this idea on Pinterest and just had to do it this go around! Its not a weekly, biweekly, or even monthly thing. You do it as often as you want. So, the pressure is off. And as a mom of a 1 year old I don't need any more things that I "have to do" at a certain time! Hopefully this one will be for fun! :)

Sick Weekend...

We had our first (and last) Children's ER visit this weekend. Last week Jude was really congested, and had an extreme runny nose. Well, he's also teething so we chalked it up to that. On Saturday morning he woke up with a 104.3 degree temp (I knew something was up when he slept all night... A few whimpers here and there). So we started rotated Tylenol & Motrin every 4.
I went to work and left him with dada thinking fever virus. He continued to run the fever all day and refused to eat any solid food. On Sunday morning he woke up, still high fever and we couldn't get it down at all with meds. At 8:45 his temp was 103 so we gave him more Motrin, he was breathing really fast with purple hands and feet so we decided ER was a must. When we got there he started having diahrrea. At 10:30 (an hour and 45 mins after Motrin) his fever had gone up to 103.7. So they gave him tylenol which only brought it down to 102. More diahrrea. The doctors at children's did absolutely no bloodwork, no flu test. The only test they did on him was a straight cath to check for a UTI. Even tho he had no symptoms except high fever of a UTI. Then after telling us babies "just get sick" sent us home with a baby still high fever and severe diahrrea and told us to check with our primary doctor the next day to make sure he was getting better. Today he woke up with fever 102, and lots of diahrrea so we called dr McCown first thing who told us to come on in. They did bloodwork on him and determined his viral cells and symptoms were signs of he flu but they couldn't do anything because it had been over 48hrs since symptoms presented. Thank you children's ER for doing nothing for my baby. If you had done your job and not blown us off we could've gotten treatment. Now my baby has to ride it out. Dr M sent us home with probiotics and orders to nurse as much as possible. So that's what we are doing. I am so sad for my baby that he's had such a hard weekend. And I'm so disappointed in the care we got at children's. I know they see lots of people who are just using "the system" and are not really sick but clearly my baby was sick. I hate being disappointed in hospitals and healthcare. Our experience during Jude's birth and Nicu stay at St Vincents was not up to par either. I'm not sure what to make of it all. I mean, are we just hard patients? Or do people think we are lying? Anyways, we will be finding a new local hospital to take our baby to next time and demanding more tests! It's sad that they have to be demanded!