Baby E is GROWING UP! - Pulling Out ALL The Safety Stops

Well, over the past few weeks Baby E has COMPLETELY found the cabinet doors. She doesn't pull anything out, but she does LOVE to open and close them.

So, after I fixed the door (I seriously couldn't stand looking at a crooked door any longer)... I pulled my husband in to help me put the safety latches on. I marked where they were to go and he drilled.

It took us about an hour. Mostly because we were also entertaining a 10 month old at the same time with silly dances. We couldn't resist.

Here's the beginning with the sticky tape holding it up.

Here's the end result. 

I will say that these things are awesome! Baby E doesn't play with the cabinets as much since she can't fully open them. However, it does pull out a few dammit moments. I FORGET EVERY TIME!!! Seriously, I go to open the door and it automatically shuts. Great for babies, horrible for adults ;). 

Baby Bottle Funk and Gunk

Okay, so after time and most of us know it; things that are seemingly clean end up having a funky smell. Although Baby E's bottles seemed beyond clean they would some how start having a weird smell and sometimes we would still see grime left from her formula. Now, this after the bottle's been washed umpteen times with a scrub brush, checked, and then washed in the dishwasher. Sometimes, I even wonder if my eye sight is getting worse because I don't see it until I pull them out of the dishwasher. Then it's like "eww gross" and back to the hand wash again.

Now, this starts to get a frustrating especially when you have a little one screaming their head off. Cause they want that bottle, like now and your not moving fast enough.

So, one day while I was washing dishes and I saw the bottle of vinegar sitting next to the sink. Once, again light bulb.

Vinegar has become one of my favorite things to clean with. Especially when you add baking soda into the mix.

So, I'd sit each bottle on the counter and add a little bit of baking soda to each. Then. I would grab the bottle of vinegar and add it. Of course, you know, you get this awesome chemical reaction... that brings you back to being a kid.

Once, the chemical reaction was finished... I would swirl it around and then dump. Then I'd add a little bit more water and a smidgen of soap and scrub. Just in case. Popping it into the dishwasher when I was finished.

Let me tell you, Baby E's bottles never looked better. They almost looked brand new and smelled even more amazing.

This has become my new regimen and the bottles look awesome. I don't have to worry about that funky smell and then finding gunky formula residue after washing.

Have you guys found an easy way to wash the gunk and funk out of your baby's bottles?

Oh Baby, We're Scrub a Dubbing Our Pool!

Every day this summer, I've tried to get Baby E into the pool. It's something I've always enjoyed every summer and since she loves the water... I figured she would enjoy it.

We haven't been in the pool though lately because the rain has been never ending and then someday's it's just to hot for her. Overtime, even after wiping the pool down every couple of days. We seemed to gather a little gunk in the crevices. Plus, it didn't help that with the past few rains/winds... the tarp keeps getting blown off random crap has been falling off the trees and into the pool. Oh and let's not forget our little buggy friends.

<- Grandaddy Long Leg

Some ->
Random Caterpillar






The lovely grime with tree particles

Since, the weather gurus have forecasted rain for the next umpteen days. I figured now would be a great time to clean the pool.

So, since vinegar and baking soda are my favorite things. I started with that. It got quite a bit of grime up, but there was still quite a bit left. I added more water to it, rinsed it, dumped it, and added water again. This time I took the dish soap and scrubbed. This helped even more. Got a lot of the gunk off. However, there was just still quite a bit left.. plain ol' stubborn gunk.

As a last resort, I grabbed the bleach and poured it into the pool diluting it with a crap load of water. I then scrubbed the pool again. Of course, the bleach seemed to melt the gunk off. It even seemed like I had a completely brand new sparkly pool.

~*~ I didn't really want to use bleach cause of Baby E,

 but also because it breaks my hands out like nothing before... even with gloves. ~*~

I dumped that water, added more water, rinsed, and dumped again. Then hung it up to dry. Oh yeah, I hung my pool up to dry.

Now, all we need is for the rain to stop so we can get back into that sparkly pool. I'm beyond ready and I know Baby E is!

Do you guys have any great tips on cleaning a baby pool?

Carter's Product Recall

I just wanted to give everyone a head's up that I got an e-mail today that there are several outfits that are being recalled from Carters. They're being recalled because the zipper could detach from the slider and pose a choking hazard.

Below are the items that are being recalled. If you own one of these items take them out of your little ones closet and return them to Carters to receive a full refund.

You can also contact the Carter's company at 1-888-282-4674 from 8 a.m to 4:30 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.

Just One You:

White with green stripes and an elephant and duck on the left chest. Sold as 2-pack with: White with a gray elephant, gray bear, green frog and yellow duck print.

White with green stripes and an elephant and duck on the left chest. Sold as 2-pack with: White with a gray elephant, gray bear, green frog and yellow duck print.

Just One You -

White with a pink cupcake print. Sold as 2-pack with: Pink with small polka dots and a bunny ballerina on the left chest.

White with a pink cupcake print. Sold as 2-pack with: Pink with small polka dots and a bunny ballerina on the left chest.

Just One You -

White background with navy stripes and green neck  binding. Sold as a 2-pack with:

Just One You - 

White background with navy stripes and green neck  binding. Sold as a 2-pack with: 

Light blue with a nautical and green crabs print and “Captain Cutie” on the left chest

Child of Mine

Baseball-style, white with blue stripes, yellow accents and  “Little Brother” printed on the chest

Child of Mine

Baseball-style, white with blue stripes, yellow accents and  “Little Brother” printed on the chest

Baby B’gosh

-

Yellow with white quarter moons and gray and white stars print.

Baby B’gosh

 - 

Yellow with white quarter moons and gray and white stars print.

A Lifesaver For Us and Our Sick Baby ~ The Graco Nasal Aspirator

~*~ 

Let me just start off with the fact that I am not endorsed of affiliated with this company in any way, shape, or form. I'm just a real mama sharing what's worked for us and our baby girl.

~*~

So, after we found out that we had mold in our blue hospital nasal aspirator (and yes, we cleaned them constantly); I ended up freaking out and literally crying about it. It was the whole new mama thing and hoping that my baby girl was still okay. Anyways, I looked on-line for some other options and found the Graco Bebesounds Nasal Aspirator. We chose this aspirator not only because it was electric and would give us a better suction, but it was easy to clean and it had a musical option to soothe baby. Now, we did have to buy the extra replacement tips to the longer tip. However, it was a reasonable price; under $2.00, then I got it for about nothing with some babies r us coupons I had from my purchases. 

In the end, this has been the biggest life saver for us! Right in the middle of a nasty winter storm our baby started to get worse. She sounded horribly, coughing, sneezing, congested, a low grade fever, and a runny nose light a faucet. She had already had a rough night and so that we could be at ease and know she was at ease we packed up our stuff and headed out at the height of the storm. We drove down to our pediatrician to find out they were closed so we headed out to the pediatric ER. After hours of sitting there, we found out that she had an upper respiratory infection. We told to just monitor her and suck out the snot. 

As you can see below this thing has seriously worked! This has just been the past couple times today during her diaper changes so far. A LOT OF SNOT!

Now, I usually wash them out with warm soapy water after every 2-3 diaper changes and then a full clean in the dishwasher every 2 days when we wash her bottles. 

Here are a few places that you can buy them:

Walgreens ~ $19.97 (they don't sell the replacement tips)

WalMart ~ $19.87 (I haven't seen the replacement tips there)

Target ~ $19.89 (they don't sell the replacement tips)

Amazon ~ $19.87 (the replacement tips vary from $9.39-$17.00)

CVS ~ $19.99 (the replacement tips are $2.99)

Babies R Us ~ $29.99 (the replacement tips are $1.99)

The only thing I would say that I am disappointed in is the fact that it does say that it includes 2 tips (it only includes one) and has a carrying case (which there was none in the package). Otherwise despite those two downfalls it's been an absolutely amazing product and has seriously helped us with the baby E's snot faucet. She sounds so much better after each suction :).