Tag Archives: Babies

Gender Guessing

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They say you can tell a baby’s gender by things that happen to the mom. I don’t really believe these old wives tales to be completely true. However they are fun to help you try to guess before you find out the real answer.

They say women pregnant with girls have more breakouts because the baby girl is “stealing her mothers beauty.” Oooook. I have two boys and my face broke out horribly, like puberty style, the first three months with each. So that one wasn’t true for me.

They say if you’re pregnant with a boy you’ll get more hair on your head and body due to extra testosterone. Didn’t happen to me. My hair (everywhere) saw no change.

If you crave sweets you’re having a girl and salty a boy. I always crave sweet over salty. Even when not pregnant 😂

If your bull is high it’s a girl, low is a boy. My first baby I carried right smack in the middle. My second was high. Both are boys.

If you get morning sickness the first trimester and throughout your pregnancy, it’s a girl. No major morning sickness is a boy. I had bad morning sickness the first trimester with baby #2, and got it randomly in the second trimester. Baby was a boy not a girl.

They say if you get really bad heartburn, your baby will be born with lots of hair. This was actually true for me! I had BAD heartburn for like two months with Ryder and he was born with a full head of hair!

These old wives tales are fun to read and see if your symptoms fall within what they claim. But don’t take them to heart, because they aren’t 100% accurate. But like I said, they are fun to help you try to guess before you find out for fact if it’s a boy or girl!

When your child gets injured

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Yesterday did not exactly go as planned. We spent the afternoon in the ER getting some stitches. I never thought I’d have to bring my 18 month old in for stitches! I figured we still had a few more years before this kind of thing happened.

While the injury of a child puts a lot of stress and fear in the child themselves, it’s another world of fear for the parents. I kept myself calm and collected the entire time for Ryder’s sake. Now at 18 months he picks up on my emotions. But inside I was absolutely losing it. It’s incredibly hard to see your child in pain and not be able to make it go away.

I’ve been around broken bones and severe lacerations before. I’ve been trained in first aid and concessions. But I’m one of those people where everything just went out the window when it came to my child. I couldn’t tell if the wound was deep enough for stitches or not. I was so panicked my mind just wouldn’t process anything. I wasn’t sure if an ER visit was a must or if I was being dramatic. Now looking back at the pictures I took of the injury, I realize in my right mind, it was definitely a deep cut that required an ER visit. So even in my parent panic mode, bringing him to the ER wasn’t dramatic, it was a good choice.

I hope we will never have to go through something like this again. However, I am logical….I have a boy. It’s bound to happen again. So I’ll pray that god will give Ryder the strength he had this time to be tough through it and not be overly scared. And to give me the strength to keep my composure for Ryder and hopefully give me a clear head to think.

After that stressful day, a few minutes to myself just collecting my thoughts and trying to relax was a must! 🛁

Children and sweets

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I’m pretty particular about what my child eats. I give a little here and there. But one thing I don’t budge on is sweets. I personally believe we introduce candy and sugars into children’s diets at too early of an age. Most doctors and dieticians will recommend waiting till a child is at least 4 before introducing them to candy and sweets (longer if possible).

Hard or chewy candies are a choking hazard, and giving your child other treats like chocolate can contribute to poor eating habits as they grow up.

Candy is chock-full of empty calories, and you want to make sure your child eats more nutrient-packed foods. Because eating habits and tastes are learned early, what you offer your child now will affect them for the rest of their life.

Your child will figure out soon enough the appeal of sweets, but you can help them make smart choices. If you want to give your cold something sweet, safe and healthy options are fruit, yogurt, frozen yogurt, pudding, etc.

Help your child learn healthy habits early in!

Temper tantrums and meltdowns

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My child has hit the stage of temper tantrums and meltdowns. It’s his new thing these days. I’d say we have at least one a day right now. Does this mean he is a bad kid or is spoiled? Absolutely not!

Tantrums and meltdowns are symptoms that a child is struggling with emotions they can’t relate to. When a child is overly stimulated this can cause a meltdown. There’s so much going on that it just becomes too much for them. This can be anything like sounds, visuals, feelings, exhaustion, etc.

Currently my child only has a few words in his vocabulary. So he isn’t fully able to vocalize his wants, needs and feelings. That has got to be incredibly frustrating. You kind of can’t blame him for breaking down and losing it some days. 😂

When Ryder has one of his temper tantrums or meltdowns, I just walk away. I give him his space and I busy myself with something else. After about 30 seconds to a minute he stops. He will look around like ok I’m over this, and go find a toy. It’s like he needed to get out an emotional release. Once out, he’s back to his normal self. I know what you’re thinking…..why don’t you hug him and make him feel better. Tried that! He wants no part of it. During a temper tantrum or meltdown he does not want to be touched. Hence why I give him his space.

If you see a child having a meltdown or throwing a tantrum, don’t automatically assume they are a bad kid. They may just be overstimulated or not able to vocalize their needs. It’s all a learning process. They grow out of it eventually (sort of).

The next time you see a parent who’s child is having a melt down, instead of looking at them like they’re a bad parent, try taking pity on them. It’s not easy, or fun when the meltdowns happen. Each parent is just trying to do their best to get through it and help their child learn from it.

Remember tomagotchi and nano babies?

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Anyone have a tomagotchi or nano baby growing up? Yeah me too. I was obsessed with mine in JH. They had to ban them at our school because kids were playing with them during class. Little did they know a few years down the road cellphones would take over their classrooms.

Those little digital animals and babies were addicting. I took as good of care of that thing as I did my actual living dog. I swear those things are what helped prepare me for motherhood. Go ahead and laugh. But think about it. Your goal was to keep the digital pet/baby alive. That’s EXACTLY what you do with your own child. We all say we are going to focus on reading them the best books, feeding them healthy nourishing foods foods, creating the perfect routines, etc. But reality is, we are all just trying to keep them alive, unharmed and fed. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is.

Kids aren’t easy. My little nano baby was definitely a cake walk compared to my toddler. However, I love him more than anything and love every minute of my life with him. So I guess I should thank my little nano baby for giving me the determination and patience to keep his little digital self going. It’s the same determination and patience I have with Ryder every day. Ok maybe not exactly the same but my nano baby definitely was a good start to learning. Who says technology can’t teach you something! 😉

Gift idea for a new mom

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Have a friend who is having a baby, just had a baby or is adopting a baby and you need to get a gift for them? Here is a list of gifts that are must haves and greatly appreciated by new moms! 🙌🏻

🔹Electric nail filer (instead of clippers)

🔹Wipe warmer (Nothing is worse than the scream of a child from a cold wipe)

🔹Cute bibs (Some baby’s drool a lot)

🔹 Simple onesies (With diaper blowouts, you can sometimes go through 3+ onesies a day)

🔹Bottle Warmer (Safer than the microwave and stove)

🔹Diapers (You can never have too many)

🔹Baby books (My son loves to look at the pictures)

🔹 Sound machine (Drowns out surrounding noises to help baby sleep)

These were all my must haves after I had Ryder. I literally couldn’t have done without any of them! All are practical and not ridiculously expensive! 👶🏻

Everyone has an opinion

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Everyone has an opinion and everyone wants to give you advice when you have a child. Some people’s advice can be helpful and others can be confusing and strange. I personally try not to listen too much when people give me their unsolicited advice. I don’t do it because I’m trying to be rude, it’s just that I’m someone who would rather find their own way. I like to figure things out on my own. I learn better that way.

Not everything that works for one child will work the same for all. Every child is different. When I first had Ryder I took a few peoples advice and tried what they recommended. It didn’t workout well. It either upset him more or just did let have a affect. That’s when I made my decision to just ignore the advice of others and find my own way as I went. There were a few people I listened to, like my doctor and my mother, but I tried to filter out all the other random advice.

I still laugh when I remember being at an event and someone asked me if Ryder was crawling yet. I told them that he skipped crawling and went right from army crawling to cruising. She got a look or horror on her face and said “oh my gosh he’s going to be behind developmentally. You need to get him to crawl.” I have no idea what look was on my face when she said that. But I replied by telling her my doctor said crawling is no longer considered a milestone because so many kids skip over it. Her reply was “I guess times have changed.” Lord! Imagine if my doctor hadn’t told me that. I might have panicked and thought something was wrong with my child! This is exactly why you need to take peoples comments and advice with a grain of salt.

When someone gives you advice or makes a comment about what your child should be doing at a certain stage, take it as you want (unless it’s your doctor). Use it or just forget about it. It’s your child and you are free to raise them as you please. You’re their momma (or daddy) and your instincts will tell you what you should do. Go with what YOU think is best. It’s all a learning process and no one is perfect!

Never under estimate a toddler

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I used to think the infant stage was going to be the most difficult part of having a new baby. I figured because they were so little they were going to take so much time and energy.

Go ahead and laugh all you veteran moms. Yeah yeah I was SO wrong. Infants are easy! They eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom with little movement. I say little movement because they aren’t walking and depending on age, just learning to crawl. I could put Ryder in a front carrier and get so much done around the house when he was really little! He would just sit and watch or fall asleep!

A toddler, now that’s a whole different story! They get into everything! What little free moments I had before are now gone. I spend most of my day chasing him around making sure he doesn’t hurt himself. That and picking up whatever he’s torn up or pulled down. I swear the minute I get something put away, he’s already gotten in to 3 other things! By the time his bedtime hits, I’m ready for bed too!

Forget having a clean house. Those days are over. I’m just happy if we can get through a day where he doesn’t get hurt or the house is torn apart too much. I’m sure someone is shaking their head at me for saying I hope we can get through a day without injury. You’d understand if you took care of my kid for a day. Baby proofing has nothing on this kid. He will get the dog to lay down so he can stand on her to reach for something high above him. Never under estimate a one year old.

Every day is something new. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love every messy, exhausting minute of it. We have our good days too I promise! 😉

Kids and technology

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I always said I would never be one of those moms who just stuck their kid in front of the tv or let them spend hours playing a video game. I’m still not. However I will use technology to my advantage.

I grew up in a time with no cell phones and only one tv in the house. People had pagers and made calls on land lines or pay phones. People didn’t have a tv in every room of their house. You had one in the living room and that was it. In our house, tv time was only allowed if homework was done or on weekends in the mornings. After the morning tv time was up we could either play outside or in our rooms.

Going to dinner as a family we all sat together and talked or my brother and I would eat fast, find a tree on the restaurant patio and go climb it! We didn’t have phones or video games to entertain ourselves. I want Ryder to grow up not fully relying on a tv, a cell phone or a video game to entertain himself like I did. I know it’s not logical to completely avoid this. So that’s where I feel moderation comes in.

Ryder’s so little right now that he has no interest in the tv or video games. However going to a restaurant it can be a battle to keep him entertained. He’s in a throwing phase so we can’t bring toys our we spend the entire dinner picking them up off the floor. At football games he wants to run all over the place and there’s not much space for him to do that. That’s where the cell phone comes in handy! Ryder loves to watch videos of himself. He thinks it’s so funny. What’s even better is he will sit still for a good 30 minutes watching videos of himself!

I know as he gets older the battle over the tv or phones will get worse. That’s part of growing up in a tech savvy world. But I do hope we are able to be that family I see on occasion, out to eat with no cell phones in hand, just hanging out spending time together. But for now I’ll be appreciative of cell phones and their ability to entertain my child through a short meal or and event like a football game!

Must haves for a baby no one told me about

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Recently I’ve had a few new Mom friends ask me what items I put on my baby registry I couldn’t do without. Honestly everything! 😂 However there are a few items no one told me about that I recommend to people. Here are my must haves for a baby no one told me about:

1. Electric nail trimmer: It’s literally an electric nail file. SO much easier and less stressful than trying to use clippers.

2. Bandana bibs: I knew babies drooled but I didn’t realize how much! Ryder would go through 3-5 bibs a day some days. After doing some Amazon searching I found some really cute bandana bibs for him! I swear boys get jipped in the clothing department. There’s way more cute clothing options for girls than boys. But these definitely made his outfits a little cuter!

3. More than 1 diaper bag: Sounds crazy I know! But I swear it’ll save you. I have my nice one that I take to dinner, shopping, etc. Then I have a small inexpensive backpack diaper bag for daycare at the gym. The gym daycare has small cubby’s for bags so my regular diaper bag wouldn’t fit in them. Plus, I don’t need everything I put in my regular diaper bag. He’s only there two hours max so diapers, a sippy cup and a changer of clothes are all he needs. My third diaper bag is an inexpensive larger backpack. I use it for days we go to swim class. Often the floors are wet at swim class and I don’t want to set my nice diaper bag in a puddle of water. Not to mention I have to carry wet swimsuits after. So the backpack is perfect because I’m not worried about it getting ruined there. You don’t have to spend tons of money on extra bags. I used ones I got as gifts from judging cheer competitions. They’re sparkly but blue so I figure it works for now! There was one time that my husband and I were handing off Ryder so I could go somewhere and I forgot to take the diaper bag out of the car. I remembered the child! Just not the bag. 🤦🏼‍♀️ This is where a backup bag came in handy!

These might seem like simple little items but they’re all incredibly helpful, even now that Ryder is one year old! The nail trimmer saved us on so many occasions. He’s a wiggler so nail clippers just scared me to death. The bibs saved so many outfit changes. And the extra diaper bags were fitting to our busy lifestyle!

Obviously, get what you think you need for your registry. But in all honesty these are 3 things, looking back, I now know I can’t live without!