Favorite Things of 2010

After reading my friend Meredith's post, I started thinking about what my "top 10 list" for 2010 would be. These are not in order, but these are all items that made my year much better/smoother--especially with the addition of a new baby! (I made sure that all of the items were not baby related!) Sorry there isn't a picture for every item, but frankly it takes too long to upload pictures, and none of these are obscure items!

1. Itzbeen Timer-from the first days in the hospital after having Emily, until she was was about 5 1/2 months old, I used this thing EVERY single day to keep track of how long it had been since I last fed Emily, changed her diaper, or when she last went down for a nap. It was also helpful if Matt was going to take over her care-he easily knew when feed or change her, and I didn't have to write out instructions. I would say this is MUST have with a new baby!

2. Baby Jogger Citi Mini Stroller (with car seat attachment)-the lightweight design and easy fold of this stroller is what intially drew me to this stroller, and I have not been disappointed. It fits SO easily into my small trunk, and it is easy to maneuver and is very smooth. The car seat attachment was purchased separately for our specific car seat, and is very convenient.

3. Boppy pillow (with slip cover)-I use this pillow every time I feed Emily. So it has gotten TONS of use, and will be used for quite a while longer. Now that Emily is sitting up, we put the pillow around her, so if she does tip backwards, she has a nice soft cushion to fall onto.

4. Diaper Champ-though this hasn't been as "necessary" as the first three items, it has worked great to contain diaper odors, and is very easy to use. I love that I don't have to buy any special trash bags for it, but I can just use regular kitchen trash bags.

5. Denver Mattress Doctor's Choice Pillowtop King-Matt and I decided to purchase a king sized mattress on January 1st, and we are both so happy with it! It was great during the last few months of pregnancy (when it was starting to get hot outside) that I could toss and turn to my heart's content (and get up to use the bathroom countless times), and I didn't have to worry about disturbing Matt. He doesn't wake up now when I get up to feed Emily in the middle of the night. It's super comfy, and we both love the extra space!

6. Blackberry-though I've had my phone for 2 years, I didn't really use the extra features until after I had Emily. In the first few lonely months of adjusting to a new baby and being a stay-at-home-mom, I was able to e-mail/text/Facebook/look things up on Google with one hand, while holding/nursing Emily, and I felt much more connected to the outside world.

7. Old Navy "The Dreamer" bootcut jeans-These jeans are comfortable, very reasonably priced and fit like they were made for me. I usually have a pretty difficult time finding jeans that fit well, and after having a baby, I was NOT looking forward to jeans shopping. I was SO happy to find these. I just got a 2nd pair of a darker wash for Christmas.

8. Loreal Go Clean 360 facewash-I am not very loyal when it comes to face/body/hair products. I buy what is on sale or what catches my attention in a commercial. However, after I bought this facewash the first time, I think I'll stick with it for a while. It doesn't dry my skin out and has kept my skin clear for the past year. I don't use the little scrubby thing every day, but I use it a few times a week for exfoliation, and my skin always feels smooth, soft and clean!

9. Folger's 1/2 Caffeine coffee-I discovered this when I was pregnant and have kept drinking it since I'm nursing. It's nice to be able to drink a cup (or two) of coffee in the mornings and not have to stress about drinking too much caffeine. It tastes great, and I can still get a little pick me up in the mornings without passing on coffee jitters to Emily!

10. Panasonic HDC-TM60 Video Camera -Matt bought this a few days after the birth of Emily, and I'm SO glad we had it from her early days. It's very easy to use, and I've tried to record little clips of Emily fairly frequently. It's already pretty amazing to compare what she looked and sounded like when she was one week old vs. 6 months old! Plus, it's fun to post videos to Facebook so friends and family who live far away can see what she's up to.

So what are your favorite things from this past year?

Six Months and Beyond

Emily in her Christmas p.j.s from Nonna


Emily napping!

Doing a push-up

Christmas Baby!

It is pretty difficult to believe that Emily has passed the half-year mark! She is changing and learning new skills very rapidly these days, and I know this will continue for quite some time! Below are her stats from her 6 month checkup:

Weight-16 lbs, 7 oz (59%)

Height-24.75 in (17%)

Head-17 in (70%)

She grew in all three areas-especially the head circumference! Her doctor actually said she was going to remeasure her head because she said she didn't think it was accurate for it to have grown that much so quickly, but she didn't get around to it. Emily had 4 shots at her appointment plus the oral Rotavirus vaccine. She did NOT like the oral one this time around, and wasn't too fond of the actual shots either. I'm glad her 9 month appointment will only be a finger prick for an anemia test.

In order to keep this post a somewhat decent length, I thought I would just list out the new things she is doing these days as well as things that I just love about this stage of her life!

*rolling over back to front

*sitting unsupported (yay!)

*starting to eat solids (she has had rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes and pears. she isn't too fond of cereal, but really seems to like the pears and potatoes)

*laughing when I tickle her or make funny high pitched noises

*laughing when I dance around (like a crazy person)

*her two bottem teeth made their appearance on December 28th

*naps have finally gotten a bit better when I started putting her on her tummy in our bed. her short naps are now 40 minutes (instead of 15), and she will take up to 2 hour naps sometimes!

*she still loves taking walks, and now sits in the main stroller part, instead of in her carseat attached to the stroller

*Emily LOVES the cat and wants to touch her whenever she sees her. This includes grabbing and squeezing her skin/fur, hitting her body, getting a handful of whiskers, etc. So far, the cat has been fairly tolerant. Matt and I are pretty sure the cat will be the motivation for Emily to crawl.

*shaking anything that rattles is SO exciting

*night time sleep is usually about 11-12 hours (7:30pm-7ish am) with one nighttime feeding around 3-4am

*socks will never stay on for very long, so I'm constantly pulling them back on, or searching around the house to find the missing sock

*Emily LOVES to drink water out of our cups. We bought her a sippy cup, but she pretty much just chews on it.

*Emily reaches and grabs EVERYTHING she can. She will work and work to get things that are just out of her grasp, and seems pretty proud of herself when she gets the item!

*She likes to look in the mirror and she immediately smiles at her reflection and reaches out to touch it.

*When she gets excited, she makes a squeaking noise...kind of a mix between a mouse and a pteradactyl.

*Matt and I dedicated Emily to God on December 5th. Along with this is our committment to raise Emily in a Christ-centered home and to teach her about God's love and faithfulness.

Ok...that is all for now, I'm sure I'll think of some other really cute things later! Matt and I are having so much fun with Emily. We are always finding new ways to make her laugh (and we usually laugh at ourselves as well!). Our first Christmas with her was really fun and special, and we're looking forward to see what new skills she will learn next!