Baby items we can't live without!

Since I know so many people that have either just had a baby or they are about to, I thought I would post our favorite baby items that we could not live without.

1. Pacifiers or as we call them at our house, pappys.
All of my kids have taken pacifiers and I honestly don't know what people do when their babies won't take one! My kids have all had strong sucking urges from day one. I even tried to wait to give Huck and Finley one because for some babies it can cause nipple confusion and I didn't want them interfering with breastfeeding, but they always knew the difference. We have used Mams for all the kids. They just seem to really like them and they have different sizes so as your baby grows you can buy bigger sizes if they want. 

 

 

2. Mobywrap
I have said since the first time I used it that it was the best $35 I ever spent! There are several different wraps that you can do, but when they are newborns and you can wrap them really close to you it calms them down almost instantly. Somedays it was the only way Huck would sleep. He is not one of those babies that will just ride in his car seat either, so anytime I was out I would wrap him and he would perfectly happy and usually fall asleep! I really wish I would have had one for Finley. Maybe she wouldn't have cried so much! Huck thinks he is too big for the Moby now and we have moved onto the ERGO carrier which I love too.

3. White noise machine
I know that babies sleep better when there is some noise in the background because it is so noisy in the womb, but for some reason I always just made sure it was quite when my babies were asleep. I bought a machine when I was pregnant with Huck and thought I would try it out. I have no idea if it helps him sleep better, but it is VERY loud at my house so it blocks out most of the noise. I have it on the rain setting and it is up as loud as it will go. This thing has been a life saver because without it I know he would probably be woken up everyday from the random screams and crashes that happen.

I got this one at Target for around $25 and it was most definitely worth it. Again, I wish I would have had it with Finley!

4. Baby swing
Finley did not like her swing and it was broken during one of our moves so I bought this one for Huck and he does a lot of his sleeping in it! The only thing I don't like about it is that it takes 4 D batteries and we go through them pretty quickly. I always make sure we have backups because somedays this is the only place he will sleep.  I'm worried about what we will do when he is to big for his swing!

I ordered this one form Wal-mart and it was $99.98.

I should probably write about things I wasted money on because I have several of those too!

Lately

Tyler has visited his orthodontist a few times. First he had to get and expander put into the roof of his mouth. This past week he got brackets put on 6 of his top teeth. Just looking at his mouth you would never think he needed so much work, but he does. He has a long way to go, but I'm sure his teeth will look great when they are done.

Bella was in Jason's step-sisters wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and reception and they had the cutest flower girl ever!

We registered Tyler and Bella for school. Tyler will be a freshman at Gardendale High School and Bella will be a 3rd grader at Gardendale Elementary School. Tyler being in high school is just blowing my mind. I'm nervous and excited for him, but I know he will do great.

We also signed up for soccer and practice starts next week.

I'm looking forward to school and soccer starting, but not looking forward to homework and all the rushing around that comes with school being back in session. I can't wait for fall and cooler weather! This heat and humidity is miserable. Living in northern California last summer spoiled me and I really miss it. The weather there is perfect. 

Huck turned 4 months old on the 7th. Everyday he is doing something new and sometimes it seems like I can see him growing. He weighed 14 lbs and 9 ozs and was 24 3/4 inches long. He has lost all of his dark hair except for his little patch in the back. He has huge blue eyes and all his new hair is blonde. Last night he was giving me kisses. Well, either that or he was trying to eat my face, but I'm calling it kisses. He is rolling over now. He still loves to eat his hands, but he also has several toys and his feet that are fun to eat too. He is still a terrible sleeper, but one day he will figure it out.

We have loved watching the Olympics and I'm not sure what we are going to do when they go off. I think I have watched a little bit of every event that they have. It is so crazy to think that during the last Olympics Jason and I were in Arizona looking for a house and getting ready to move. So much has happened over the last 4 years. We moved 4 times and added 2 more children to our family.

 I can't even imagine how much trouble these two are going to get into!

New house

I didn't mean to take a 2 month break from blogging, but we have been so busy that it just kind of happened. Hopefully I can start doing it a couple of times a week again.

We finally closed on our house June 19th. We had the movers at our house at 8:30 on June 20th! We had several kinks that had to be worked out the first couple of weeks, but everything seems to be working properly now and we are pretty settled. There are so many things I need to buy but I will get to them when I get a chance. Here are some pictures of the new house. I took these before we moved in because I knew it would never again look this good or be this clean!

 

Front view of the house

 

backyard

 

Back of the house

                                                                    Master bath

                                                                   Master bedroom

                                                              Dining room and stairs

                                                                         Living room

                                                        Living room and kitchen

                                                               Screened porch

                                                                          Deck

 

                                          Finley's room, Bella's room looks the exact same

                                                              Kids den downstairs