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30 Months!

Posted on November 15, 2016 by annettelharvey

Our boy is 2.5 years old today! Wow how time flies. He is officially our little man and no longer a baby. It’s hard to believe how fast the time goes. Jude weights 29lb and is 36in tall. He wears 2T and 3T tops and bottoms (depending on the brand) – Carters he is mainly wearing 3T – pants are still a little long and Gap he is wearing 2T pants and both sizes in tops.

He is full on boy and loves to run and jump and climb. Lots of climbing and jumping! Bounce houses and climbing walls are some of his favorite things. He loves using his “skateboard” (kitchen step stool) to help make pb&j or pizza for dinner. He still loves his paci but only gets it at night time. He likes to talk about the potty a lot and knows he gets candy if he goes but he is still holding strong to those diapers and usually says “its broken” whenever we sit him on the potty to try. 🙂

He loves balls and trucks and so many of his toys. His favorite color is currently purple and his favorite shirt is Superman and favorite pjs are Christmas or spiderman with a cape! He is super sweet and hugs his sisters when he sees them in the hallway at school and always wants to know why they are crying or upset. He is a big helper and will bring them toys as long as they don’t want one of his!

Halloween was a big hit and we are still watching Toy Story’s and Mickey’s Halloween shows on repeat. Hoping we can transition to Thanksgiving and Christmas over the next couple of weeks.

I love our happy and growing boy!

11 Months!

Posted on September 3, 2016 by annettelharvey

Happy 11 months Sloane and Maisie!

Sloane keeps us on our toes. She was originally the “laid back one” but has since successfully eaten Toby’s dog food, most things on the floor and outside including dirt, and even attempted to eat one of my earrings. She loves to follow around her big brother and is the master at stealing toys and pacis (and anything else she can get her hands on.) Her first word was “mama,” but I’m not sure she knows what it means yet 🙂

Maisie is the sweetest. She absolutely loves standing and gets so excited every time she does. She is super patient, even when Sloane steals her paci (most of the time) and loves being around everyone else. My guess is that her first word will be “Dada” – she is so close!

Sloane is our squealer and Maisie is our belly laugher. They are both awesome eaters and sleepers and crawling around non stop. Their new favorite trick is clapping when you say yay! And they are always ready to wave bye-bye in unison. My favorite thing at this stage is when I sit on the floor and they immediately crawl over and get in my lap. Pure sweetness with these two! Love them!

They are currently outgrowing all of their 9 month clothes and moving into 12 month clothes. Only exception is pjs- 12 month are getting too short already and so soon we will be on to 18 month.

Here is their current feeding and nap schedules:

6:30AM – Wake and eat 8 oz bottle
7:00AM- Eat oatmeal (about 4 oz) and cheerios or cut fruit
10:00AM- Nap
11:00AM/11:30AM- Eat 6 oz bottle
11:30AM- Eat yogurt (4 oz) and pouch (4 oz) each
2:00 PM – Nap
3:00/3:30PM – Eat 6 oz bottle
3:30PM- Eat pureed baby food (4 oz combo of veggie and fruit) and finger foods
5:30PM – Eat pureed baby food (4oz – 6 oz) combo of veggie and fruit
6:00PM – Bath
6:30PM- Bed for the night

Toys for 1-2 Year Olds

Posted on June 11, 2016 by annettelharvey

Over the last couple of months I’ve notice a transition as Jude has stopped playing with some toys and become more attached to others. Below is a list of some of our favorite toys for ages 1-2 (and still favorites for growing 2 year old). In no particular order…

Tupperware!

OK so I realize this isn’t a toy but seriously anytime I unlock the “Tupperware cabinet” and let this little boy dive in and pull everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, out he LOVES it! It honestly captures his attention for a good solid 20-30 minutes (which is a long time in baby/toddler world!)

Kid Trax Toddler Quad

We got this on sale at Babies R Us right before Christmas. As you can see Jude LOVED his Christmas morning ride. This is a motorized ride on specifically for 18 month olds. It goes slow enough for this age group but is also an introduction to a motorized car which is a lot of fun.

Sidewalk Chalk and Play Doh

When I need some “me” time 🙂 or time to get some stuff done chalk and play doh are some all time favorites. They are perfect for toddlers because it keeps them busy and they can do it on their own. When it comes to playdoh I usually put Jude in his highchair and he will play for a good 20-30 minutes. These are great toys that don’t take up a lot of space and are a “must have” for your toddlers.

Little Tikes Lawn Mower

Jude is in the stage where he wants to mimic everything we do. He still loves any toy that lights up and makes sounds and has pieces that come off and on – but he also loves being able to do exactly what we are doing when we do it. The little tikes lawn mower is super cute with lots of little features and special additions. We liked it better than a bubble mower. And before you think this is only for little boys, we also have the “Just Like Home” vacuum cleaner as well that makes sounds like a real vacuum. Jude loves to follow me around and help me vacuum and then will take his mower outside and help his dad mow. We love these toys!

Mr Potato Head

We took Jude to the store in hopes of picking out a Woody or Buzz doll for Christmas when he was 1.5. Instead we left with Mr. Potato Head. There is something special about this little guy.. it might be the addiction Jude has had to the movie Toy Story but all of his little pieces also make him very fun to play with and provide hours of entertainment. “My Head” is played with everyday and is a must have in our home!

Little Tikes Car

And saving the best for last.. Jude actually received this for his 1st birthday. It has remained a long time favorite (and still is). There are many different colors and version but the little tikes red car is an all time favorite.

Other ideas (especially for boys of this age) include duplo blocks, balls, cars, firetrucks, dump trucks, school buses, planes and trains 🙂 Seriously.. when it comes to boys you can’t go wrong with some trucks and balls to play with.

Toys for Under 1

Posted on June 11, 2016 by annettelharvey

Most of my blog posts are the result of friends asking me questions about my experience. Having 3 under 3 doesn’t make me an expert but it does mean that babies and toddlers are on the top of my mind ALL THE TIME. I love our 3 and I love talking baby. Probably because its something I can get excited about and feel like I know at least a little something about. So this post is in honor of a dear friend who has a baby boy a couple months younger than our girls and was looking for some toy recommendations for babies under 1. While we try to stay minimalists in the toy area (we try- I didn’t say we are successful) we certainly have our share of toys around the house. These stick out as some of our favorites that all of our kids have used and enjoyed.

LeapFrog Learn and Groove Musical Table

This is actually a great toy around 9 months when babies are starting to try to pull up and stand. Jude didn’t start walking until he was about 13/14 months so this toy was still great in the early 1 year old days for him to stand and play and push buttons.

Vtech Walker

Another great toy for the early stages of walking as you can adjust the wheels to have more or less resistance. The girls also sit in front of this toy and can push and play with the buttons. Jude is 2 and will still grab this occasionally and push it around.

Baby Einstein Walker

We actually got this toy for Jude when he turned 1. He liked it for about a week and then quickly realized he could move around a lot more not “constrained” in this walker. He then went to pushing it around instead of riding it which kind of defeated the purpose. Our girls are now 8 months old and one of them is in this at least once a day. They love it and they can move around in it really well pushing on the floor with their feet. It is perfect for their age and will be used a lot until they start walking.

Evenflo ExerSaucer

When one baby is in the walker, the other is in the exersaucer! This has been a family favorite for all of our kids. There is lots to look at and play with. It has lights and sounds and is great for jumping as well. You can even take it apart when they get older and change the shape to make a “table” that they can stand at and still play with. While exersaucers do take up space – having one has become a necessity.

Rattles, shakers and other miscellaneous toys

I still have no idea how we accumulated all of these little random rattles and stuffed shakers.. but we did. From soft toys that make noise to harder toys that light up to balls with shakers inside and little dolls with rubber hands and feet that act as teethers- all of these random little toys seem to mysteriously appear all over our home but at this age they are actually perfect for our girls to play with. When your baby is too small to sit up or is just learning to sit up but can’t move around yet, having some small teether toys that they can learn to hold and pass from hand to hand and chew on is actually pretty important. It helps them learn and gives them something to do at this stage. So while these toys might add to the clutter they are a helpful addition for this short time frame.

Three Months!

Posted on January 1, 2016 by annettelharvey

Happy New Year and Happy three months to these two little ladies! They weigh about 12.5 and 13 lb, eat every 4 hrs during the day and we just stopped their last (5th) feeding of the night and now they sleep 11+ hours! Thank you Moms on Call! They are wearing 3 month and 3-6 month outfits and 6 month pjs (they are too long for 3 month pjs already!

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 8.14.13 PM

They are growing and changing so much. My goal in 2016 is to finally get a pic of both of them smiling at the same time! I love these sweet girls!

Here is their current schedule:

6AM- Wake and Eat 7 oz
8AM – 10AM – Nap
10AM – Eat 7oz
12PM-2PM – Nap
2PM- Eat 7oz
4PM-6PM – Nap
6PM- Eat 7oz
In bed by 7:30pm*

*When we bathe them we do it after this last feeding and then “top them off” if needed to get them sleepy again and ready for bed. Ideally you would bathe before their last bottle but we can’t make it work with big brother’s schedule.

*Awake time usually involves, eating, tummy time, fun under the play gym or going for a walk outside. The most active they are during their wake time the better their naps are.

*When we put them down for the night they sleep all the way through until they wake up at 6am. They are great sleepers!

*At three months the girls were still in size 1 diapers. A week after writing this we moved them up to size 2 diapers.

Diaper Diaries for Twins

Posted on November 18, 2015 by annettelharvey

So with our first child I tracked the size and number of diapers we used each month. With the girls we are definitely flying through diapers MUCH faster! And so far staying in smaller sizes a lot longer.. Obviously size depends on the weight your little one is born. Our girls were 5 lb 5 oz and 5 lb oz when they were born. Here is my running list of our diaper diaries 🙂

Diapers by Size:
Size N (Our girls: 0-6 weeks)
Pampers Size: Up to 10 lb.
(5lb 5 oz and 5lb 1 oz – 7lb 13 oz and 7lb 12 oz)
Total: 942 newborn diapers for the first 6 weeks

Size 1 (Our girls: 6 weeks – 14 weeks)
Pampers Size: 8-14 lb.
(Roughly 8-13lb)
Total: 980 size 1 diapers

Size 2 (Our girls 14 weeks – 24 weeks)
Pampers Size: 12-18 lb
(Roughly 13-15lb)
Total: 1106 size 2 diapers

Size 3 (Our girls: 24 weeks- ?)
Pampers Size: 16-28 lb
(Roughly 15lb- ?)
Total: ?

Diapers by Month:
1st month: 657 diapers (newborn)
2nd month: 550 diapers (newborn and size 1)
3rd month: 581 diapers (size 1)
4th month: 533 diapers (size 1 and size 2)
5th month: 486 diapers (size 2)
6th month: 221 and counting… (size 2 and size 3)

18 Months!

Posted on November 15, 2015 by annettelharvey

Our boy is 18 months old! Jude loves to play outside, especially with his Little Tykes car (his favorite toy), he loves Elmo, Toy Story, throwing balls, his cars and trucks and is still a big Daddy’s boy. He is an incredible big brother to his sisters and now in addition to patting their heads he likes to give them kisses and hugs and likes for his stuffed animals to do the same.

Jude’s favorite words are “hi,” “uh oh,” and “no” and his favorite animal sounds are “roar,” “moo,” and “woof woof.”

He wears 18 month and 18-24 month clothes, and size 5 shoes. His favorite foods are fruits, especially peaches and strawberries and apple sauce. He also loves meat. He is not a big fan of veggies but we are still working on it. Here is his usual schedule:

7AM – wakeup, breakfast with milk
9:30am- snack at school
12:00pm- lunch with milk
1:30pm-3:30pm- nap
3:30pm- snack at school
5:30pm- dinner with milk
6:30pm- bath and brush teeth
7:00pm – bedtime

Newborn Feeding Schedule

Posted on October 19, 2015 by annettelharvey

I wish that I had done a better job of tracking the early days with our first as it relates to feeding schedules and how we slowly got rid of that middle of the night feeding and eventually got our son to sleep through the night (12 hours) before he was 3 months old (the actual date is hard to remember but it happened somewhere around 8-10 weeks).

When our daughters were born (just a little over 2 weeks ago!) I originally had them on a 2.5 hr feeding schedule in the hospital because I wanted to get their weights up (they were born at 5 lb 1 oz and 5 lb 5 oz and at 36 weeks). But when one of our daughters had to go to the special care nursery the nurses put her on a 3 hr feeding schedule. And so I considered it crazy to have twins on two different schedules and wanted that extra 30 minutes between feedings and so I realized every 3 hours would be just fine for both babies.

At our one week pediatrician visit our doctor gave us the “ok” to let the girls go for 5 hours at night before we needed to wake them up for a feeding. In order to maintain the same schedule I opted for two 4.5 hour stretches instead of one 5 hr and one 4 hr. Once we go back to the pediatrician in a couple weeks I’m hoping we get the “ok” to let them completely sleep through the night.. in which case the sleep training to stretch them to an eventual 12 hour sleeping period at night will begin! Sample schedules are below :).

Newborn Schedule 1 (Started immediately in the hospital)

6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
midnight
3am

Newborn Schedule 2 (Usually ok to start once your baby reaches their birthweight or in this case since they were premies- once we got the “ok” from our doctor)

6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
1:30am

Favorite Baby Products Part 2

Posted on October 9, 2015 by annettelharvey

Last year after our son was born I wrote a blog post about all of my favorite baby products and “Registry must haves.” While I still love and agree with all of those products here are some new favorites to add to the list (in no particular order)..and stay tuned as this is a growing list!

Basq Stretch Mark Butter

I used this cream with our first and had zero stretch marks. Awesome! However what sold me on this product was being pregnant with twins and still getting zero stretch marks! I also got the pregnancy rash pups on my belly. After using this cream for a couple days it went completely away. One jar lasted my entire singleton pregnancy and then I use 1.5 for my pregnancy with the twins (i.e. bigger belly!) I love this stuff!

Ubi Diaper Pail

I originally wrote about the Arm & Hammer Diaper pail which is great however the Ubi is definitely a step up. There are no special bags you have to buy – you can use regular trash bags – or if you really prefer you can buy their bags. There is no smell and you slide open the pail to reveal a hole to drop the diaper in. Completely one handed – and you don’t have to physically push a potentially squishy diaper into the pail like you do with so many others. Just drop and go. This is definitely a new favorite! (oh and it comes in lots of different and fun colors- enjoy!)

Lollipop Labels

One of my neighbors is super talented and owns her own Etsy shop called Lollipop Labels. She makes labels that are super cute and durable! My favorite is her “back to school”
bundle which includes labels that are dishwasher & microwaves safe, iron on, laundry care labels for clothes and shoes and 2 bag tags. It is the perfect set for daycare or school. I already put in my order for labels for the girls so I can start labeling some of their things (like pacis) that I want to keep separate. You won’t be disappointed!

Wow Cups

So this isn’t something you will need right away but the amount of slippy cups options available is a bit daunting. Especially when you finally choose one or two or serval to try out and they ALL leak. It’s so frustrating. These cups are the only ones we have found that are essentially spill proof. They are awesome. So easy to use, dishwasher safe and no spills- even when our little man drops it on the floor, bangs it on the table or throws it in his toy box. Note- these are pretty expensive ($10/cup) at the baby stores but you can get them for less than $5/cup on Amazon. Enjoy! 🙂

Simple Wishes Hands Free Breastpump Bra

I wish I had found this pumping bra with my last pregnancy. I ordered about 6 of the medela hands free pumping bras with my first because the zipper kept breaking and because my size increased as my supply did. The Simple Wishes bra is SOO much better! It has a zipper front but velcro on the back so you an adjust as needed as your body grows or slims and changes. It also has more coverage in the front and can be used with or without straps. This is a must buy if you plan to pump!

15 Months!

Posted on August 15, 2015 by annettelharvey

Our sweet boy is 15 months today! He is growing and changing so much its hard to capture it all! He currently weighs 21 pounds and is about 30 inches tall. Despite his dad’s 6’3″ height our little man is hanging in right around the 25th percentile for his size. He is finally growing out of his 12 month clothes and now wears 12-18 month (Old Navy and Gap) and 18 month clothes (Carters).

Jude is running all over the place and prefers to walk into school instead of being carried. Still no definite words but the closest is when he holds a phone, remote or anything else up to his ear and says “hi!” 🙂 He can say please, more and all done in sign language and also waves bye and night night.

He still loves his paci and also enjoys playing outside with his Little Tikes car, as well as playing with balls, cars, trucks, books, Little People playsets and any boxes, bags or anything else random laying around the house.

This boy is keeping us running around and on our toys but we are loving every minute. He’s a handful and tons of fun all at the same time 🙂

His current schedule during the day is..

7AM: Wake and Breakfast with Milk
9:30AM: Snack at school
12:00PM: Lunch and Milk at school
1:30PM-3:30PM: NAP
3:30PM: Snack at school
6:00PM: Dinner and Milk
6:30PM: Bath
7:00PM: Bed