L's sign language

Awhile ago, I posted a video of L showing her sign language.  (Click here for that post.)  When we are out and about and people see her sign, everyone's first question is "how did she learn it?"  And, after yesterday's post, I got a couple emails asking the same thing.

I am sure there are tons of ways for a child to learn sign language, so please do not take my suggestion as the best one for every child.  I think it has worked beautifully for L.  We have the following DVD's (you can click on the links to order them if you'd like, or to look at other possibilities).

Baby Signing Time Volume 1 DVD

Baby Signing Time Volume 2: Here I Go DVD

Baby Signing Time 3

Baby Signing Time 4

We invested in these DVD's one by one.  L and I sit and watch them together.  The signs are incorporated into songs.  I think they work so well for L because she is SO music oriented.  She loves, loves, loves songs and hand movements that go with those songs.  I think it helps her remember the signs.  Watching it with her allows me to learn the signs as well, and then I try as much as possible to use the signs that we have learned whenever I say the corresponding word.  I work it into our everyday speech.  Also, when she points to an item that we know the sign for, I reinforce the sign by saying and signing whatever she is pointing to.

I want to note that if your child is not doing the sign exactly right, that's okay!  L's hands are not perfect in demonstrating her signs, but she is consistent so we know exactly what she is saying.  And as her fine motor skills have gotten better with age, she has been fine-tuning those signs as she goes.  It will come - the best thing to do is to keep encouraging!

If you are new to this, I would recommend buying one of the DVD's, or renting one of them and giving it a try with your child for a few weeks.  If your child seems to be picking it up well and it works for you too, then go ahead and invest in the other DVD's.

I hope this helps.  Obviously, do what works for you and your child.  There are so many options out there - notecards, books, youtube videos, DVD's.  Explore your options!  And if you end up trying these, I would love to know how they work for you!

Note - this post is not sponsored by anyone!  This is just my way of sharing what has worked for L and our family.

My first Etsy purchase

I found these adorable notecards that you can customize.

I ordered them immediately after I picked out the pregnant mom figure, dad, and buddy the dog.  They are even more adorable in person.  Click here to see for yourself just how you can customize them for your family.  *Photo is taken from seller's etsy page.

Udder Covers Promotion

For all you pregnant ladies (or soon to be pregnant ladies) - Just got an email letting me know that Uddercovers.com is having a promotion - enter "Thanks" in the promotion code section, and get $32 off whatever you put in your cart.

Bottle Choice

I have a friend who has become very environmentally friendly and reads a lot about environmental issues (actually I have a few friends who are into this).  She emailed me with some websites to give us some information, especially with a baby on the way.

I've read a bit into things and have become a little nervous by how many plastics are around us and in products we use.  Because of this, I checked out The Soft Landing which sells all kinds of better-for-you products that do not contain dangerous toxins.  I'm sure most of us have heard of BPA free which is better for us.  But I'm just starting to learn that there are other things that plastics are made with that can be harmful.

I checked out the products on this website and found lots of baby safe products.  It got me thinking about all the products we needed to register for, and whether they too would be safe.  The one thing I am most concerned about are the bottles our baby will be drinking from and that we'll be heating up.  I found some of the same bottles on that website at BuyBuyBaby so we could register for them. 

We decided to go with Avent bottles made of PES.  We had already heard that Avent's bottles work well so I was inclined to go with that brand anyways.  But the bottles we selected, which are made of PES, are BPA, PVC, and phthalate free.  You can tell them apart from Avent's regular BPA free bottles because these are more honey-colored and most of the boxes say "natural" in the title.


I am planning on breast-feeding, but I know that I will need to pump to store up enough milk for going back to school just 5 short weeks after my due date.  If I was not going to breast feed the majority of the time, these would be pretty costly - but since we'll only be using them part of the time, it makes sense for us to get these.  Baby girl will be drinking from these bottles when she isn't near me and I'm really happy with our decision to go with safer bottles.  I'll let you know how we like them once she's here and we can try them out!

Mix-Ups All Around: Furniture and Registry

THE FURNITURE!

Yesterday, I anxiously awaited the delivery of baby girl's furniture.  They were supposed to be delivering it between 2-6.  I vaccuumed it (again), dusted it (again) and opened up the drapes to let the sun shine in.  Then, I waited.  I literally sat myself next to the window and waited impatiently for what seemed like forever - but in reality they showed up at 2:30.

They were super nice and were incredibly careful moving the furniture into our house that has extremely narrow doorways and close corners.  Once everything was in place and I shut the door when they left, I sprinted (okay not sprinted because honestly, this belly doesn't allow for that.  It was probably more like a quick waddle) up the steps and into her room with such giddiness.  I looked at the dresser - which is absolutely beautiful and then checked out the box that has the crib in it.  I noticed it said the wrong crib name.  Eek!  So I quick waddled back down the steps and out the door and flagged down the men as they were pulling away. 

He came back in and checked it, and this is where the many apologies started.  They did in fact bring the wrong crib but they were quick to remedy the situation.  They asked when I'm due - if I was due soon, they'd go ahead and have us use this until the new one can make it back up to our house.  Since I'm not due soon, they came back in and took it (which is what I wanted) and confirmed that they do have the correct crib in stock.  Their plan was to come back tonight to try to redeliver it.  Keep in mind that their location is an hour from our house - I was super impressed.  The driver said he'd call me within 2 hours.

2 hours later, I got a call saying they can't get back up to Baltimore tonight.  But they want to redeliver it tomorrow, or the next convenient time for me.  My schedule happens to be crazy the next week so it'll be delivered in less than 2 weeks.

Even though the mix-up happened, they handled it completely professionally and in a very quick fashion.  I am so happy we decided to order our furniture through Buy Buy Baby - clearly their customer service is important, and I really appreciate that in a company.

Even though the only furniture we have in there now is the dresser, I can't help but feel the need to be in that room.  I love it.  I imagine myself changing her diaper on that dresser, and getting her dressed, and imagine her giggling on it, or crying on it.  I put away most of the clothes that have been gifted to us thus far.  Becoming a mom is right around the corner, and I am thrilled.

THE REGISTRY
Last night I got on our registry to add something, and noticed when I pulled it up that a whole lot of stuff we didn't register for is on it.  As I looked further into it, I realized that a lot of stuff that has been added was purchased.  Clearly something was wrong with our registry - no shower has been planned for, and almost all of it was stuff I hadn't registered for.  I got worried though especially because the stuff we did register for is the stuff we NEED pretty much right away when baby is born - what is all this other stuff?The few things that were bought that I had registered for are such common items that wouldn't just relate to our registry.  I called BBB and got it worked out - apparently sometimes if someone goes to buy stuff at the store and the computer register is already in another registry, then those items get punched into the wrong registry as being bought.  So by tonight all of those items should be removed from our registry. 

So yeah - I think those were the two Thursday mix-ups.

This weekend I am locking myself in the office to finish my first draft of a huge paper.  Other than that, I'm sure I'll try to squeeze in some baby stuff.  I just can't help myself :)  Have a great weekend!

Diaper Bag

There are so many different styles, materials, sizes, and additions to diaper bags it's insane!  I remember reading a post long ago on Nanette's blog about her diaper bag choice.  It also happens to be the company she works for.  When we got pregnant, I went back and found that post (along with a lot of other helpful information on baby stuff - thanks Nanette!) and held onto it for when we'd be looking for diaper bags.

I couldn't decide if we wanted to spend the money on such an item.  After all, there are tons of diaper bags that are much less expensive.  But, after showing Ian the demo on Ju-Ju-Be's bags, we were completely sold.  Here are some things that stood out to us:  these bags are incredibly durable so will make it through all of our kids, they are made to fight germs which is awesome since I'm a germaphobe, they are washable (let me repeat that I am a germaphobe), and they are so well organized.  Plus, they have some super cute designs.

I thought we'd have to order it directly from their website, but while we were registering, I was super excited to find that they have it at BBB (Buy Buy Baby).  And they have the design we want!  Surprisingly, I thought the hubs would want the plain black or brown one, but he wanted some type of design.  We picked one that we can use even if we have a boy (it is a bit girly, but I figure it has to do more with mom and dad than matching baby's gender).  I'm the type of girl who LOVES getting stuff to help be organized (school supplies, stuff from the Container Store, etc.), so I can't wait to be using this!

When all is said and done, we have on our registry this one (photos from Ju-Ju-Be.com):

The Stroller

We live in a city where the streets aren't paved nicely and the sidewalks can barely be called that.  Half the time, they aren't even wheelchair accessible.  Some of the streets are even cobblestone.  I knew we couldn't go for a basic stroller.

Again, like with the furniture, there are so many options to choose from.  We turned again to our handy review book, and I read Julia's review on her blog about their decision on a stroller. 

Through the review section, we knew we needed a stroller that could handle more rugged terrain, and also have the option for Ian to run with it once baby gets older.  I read that the travel systems don't have the best car seats, so I knew we wanted to buy them separately.

We went and checked out the Bob Revolution and fell in love with it.  There's a reason they call it the SUV of strollers.  It is incredibly durable, light, easy to maneuver, and can handle the rugged terrain.  We can hike with it, take it through grass and other uneven terrains.  It will most certainly make it through all of our kids without a problem.  It's pretty expensive - but considering how much you use your stroller, it has to be dependable. 

We chose a plain, neutral color since we want this to be a stroller to make it through all our kids, girl or boy.  We also will be getting the car seat adapter so that the car seat fits right into it until baby is old enough to start riding in it. 

Here it is:

Photo from REI.com

Furniture Selection

Picking out furniture that both Ian and I liked for baby girl was pretty easy.  We walked around and pretty much agreed right away whether we liked something.  The hard part was finding furniture we like that also has a good rating for durability, safety, and quality.  We were cautious with cribs made from China as many cribs have been recalled that were made there from lead in the paint used on the crib, or parts used that weren't quite up to standards.

With most other products, I was okay going with something that wasn't top of the line, but rather was somewhere in the middle.  But with the furniture, I wasn't willing to compromise on it.

A few things we wanted:

1. Convertible crib.  This style of crib normally will convert to a toddler or twin bed, and some even go to a full bed eventually.  Our plan is for this furniture we buy to continue and last our daughter through the next 5-10 years. 
2. Dresser instead of a changing table.  While the changing tables tend to be much less expensive, we can't convert it into something else once she's not in diapers.  For us, we wanted a dresser to use as a changing table that can later be just a dresser for her room.
3. Durable.  We wanted something sturdy that didn't look like it would scratch or chip easily.  We are realistic in that kids are messy and things break easily with kids.  Let's face it, for how small they are they can cause some serious destruction.  We looked at all kinds of cribs, but ultimately felt that some of the cribs felt more flimsy than others.  And especially with us wanting this furniture to last the next 5-10 years for her, durability was super important to us.

We looked everywhere for cribs: online on dozens of websites, in person at Target, Buy Buy Baby.  We looked at reviews and recommendations from parents.  We looked at blogs.  I asked friends what kind of furniture they got.

We finally narrowed it down to two collections made by the same company: Westwood Design.  For quality and safety, it gets an "A".  The collections are expensive, but everything we read about the company is that the price is worth it for the quality and safety.  The furniture looks beautiful in person, and feels so freaking sturdy.  The safety standards this company goes by are above and beyond what they are required to do.  They randomly test the furniture to confirm that none of the finishes or any of the parts have toxins, lead, phthalates.  Also, they are JPMA certified.

One of the collections, Lily, is sold through JCPenney.  We were looking at the chocolate mist finish.  On sale, this collection ends up being about $300 less than the the other collection (listed below).  But once we looked into shipping it either to the store or to us, that $300 worth of savings went down the tube.  In fact, shipping charges were $304.  Yowsers.  Also, a downside of buying through JCPenney is that none of the stores have the furniture in store to look at.  What if we got it all here and hated that little design on the crib?  Seems like a lot of hassle.

So if you haven't guessed yet, we opted not to go with the Lily collection.  Instead, we decided to go with the Brookline collection, which we bought through Buy Buy Baby.  BBB already has the crib and dresser in stock, and will ship it to us for $65 and unpack all of it in the room. Also, since we're already registered at BBB, we can add the additional pieces we are interested in onto the registry.  This way, either we'll be so fortunate as to receive one of the pieces as a gift, can use gift cards we might get towards it, or at least get a discount on the items so that we can buy them.  We went ahead and purchased the crib and dresser and they should arrive in the next week!  Here it is:

Ian asked that they do not put together the crib so that he can do it.  So within the next week or so, Ian will be taking down everything in the guest room and we'll begin to transform it into the nursery.  I can't wait!

Registering for Baby

Considering my shopping phobia (the germs, the claustrophobia, ugh), I had mixed feelings about going to register for baby stuff.  Of course, I was excited to start prepping for her arrival!  But I knew from lots of research that it was going to be overwhelming.  I found that registering for our wedding was overwhelming - so I imagined this would probably be crazy.

Well, knowing that it was going to be overwhelming, I did lots of research ahead of time.  I posted about some resources that were helping me in my research.  The book that I really recommend is Baby Bargains.  I cannot rave enough about it.  It simplified the process for us, gave us a sample registry, grades for deciphering between brands, and lots of other useful information.  Also, I happen to have an extremely organized old work friend who gave me a spreadsheet of all of the necessary products to have for a new baby, with notes on each item about favorite brands, what worked, what she hasn't used, what she would die without, etc.  Using these two sources saved my life. I won't bore you with the list on the blog, but if you're interested in the list please send me an email to frommagerkstoidos@gmail.com.

I'll break up our decisions into a few different posts.  Not all of the decisions, but the big things like strollers, furniture, car seats, diaper bags, and any other products that stand out.

But first, where did we register?  We used to live near Buy Buy Baby and knew that we wanted to register there.  It is like the superstore of baby products, organized beautifully, has awesome customer support (you can even have a personal shopper walk through the store with you to register.  We opted not to since I had done so much research ahead of time - but honestly, it still would've helped to have this person to help navigate the options), and carries the high-end and low-end options. 

The downside of this store is that there are very few locations.  We drove the 1-hour drive specifically to register here.  So I highly recommend seeing if a store is near you, even if it is a little drive.

Since there are so few stores, we also knew we'd need to register at at least one other store to make sure that people not living in the Montgomery County, MD area had a place to go.  I checked out a couple other places, but ultimately decided to add some things at Babies R Us.  Some of the things we wanted to add were carried here, so that helped us make the decision. 

Finally, a few things we wanted we aren't getting at either of these stores.  More on this later.

While registering was overwhelming, I recommend doing research before you go to help narrow down your choices.  And honestly, I felt so knowledgeable, especially when we would walk into a certain section and I knew exactly what brand is recommended by parents, rated well for safety/durability/quality, and priced well.  I also knew what items to skip or wait on.  We saw some people picking out strollers or cribs that had been rated an F from the resources we were relying on - I was grateful not to be in that situation. 

Bottom line: Registering is fun and overwhelming and exhausting all in one (my body ached afterwards).  But doing your research ahead of time can help simplify the process and allows you to get the best products for your baby while considering your lifestyle and budget. Don't go in assuming all the products sold are safe, durable, and are made of good quality (or materials - think about where the product is made - the country probably has different safety regulations in what materials may be used than what you are comfortable with).  Cribs sold must meet certain safety standards - but this is a floor and not a ceiling, meaning they simply have to meet these standards but they can certainly be made safer after that. 

Baby Websites and Research

As I'm one of the first of my friends to go through this adventure, I have reached out to a few people to give me their opinions on baby products.  I also have been doing a lot of research myself on internets, blogs, listservs, in addition to reading a ton of books, etc.  I'm trying to find the products and research guides that moms and dads find invaluable.

Here's a list of websites that are incredibly useful. Most of these were passed onto me by a friend who is expecting baby #2 (a different friend from the people we had brunch with and I mentioned in Monday's - it's baby fever apparently). 

http://www.kidsmusicfactory/
http://www.babycatalog.com/
http://www.babycenter.com/
http://www.cpsc.gov/ - recalls
http://www.recalls.gov/ - recalls
http://www.babyuniverse.com/
http://www.crimages.com/ - creative images and nursery artwork
http://www.medela.com/ - nursing info
http://www.babybargains.com/ - (we have this book and it is AWESOME)
http://www.bhtsa.dot.gov/ - car seat information
http://www.carseatdata.org/ - car seat compatability with cars
http://www.onestepahead.com/
http://www.childsafetystore.com/
http://www.rightstart.com/

The book I mentioned, Baby Bargains, has been a TREMENDOUS book for researching baby products, cribs, strollers, etc.  It also gives a sample registry with the products that are recommended based on price, usefulness, and grade of safety!  As we find a product we like, we quickly flip to that brand in the book to make sure the safety grade is okay.  I highly recommend that any first-timers out there invest in this book.  It actually is really useful for anyone expecting.

As we research products and what we're putting on our registry, I will update you on our research for each category and why we've picked that particular brand, model, etc.  Stay tuned for our baby product picks!

Udder Covers Promotion

* I am not being paid for this whatsoever - just passing along the information.

Just came across this promotion and thought I'd share.  Udder Covers has a promotion going on - all of the gift sets are being sold for $5 (plus shipping) when you enter the promotion code "Expecting."  If you're wondering what it is, the gift sets include the udder cover (basically an apron that covers everything when you're breastfeeding), breast pads, and a little wrist band to keep track of which side you fed from last.  I'm not sure how long this promotion is running - but figured I'd let you know.  Normally the gift sets are $45. I just ordered a set (not sure if it'll be for me or a gift for someone) and the total came to $14.95.