Our Favorites // Feeding

I have shared some of these items on our previous must have lists, but I wanted to do a full roundup of our favorite feeding items. We have retired most of these items since we have moved out of the baby stage, but they will still go down as some of our favorites.

Thankfully we didn’t have to do a lot of shopping around for bottles since both of the kids took to Tommee Tippie bottles immediately. They were very easy to clean and there were no issues with the kids going from breast to bottle and vice versa. The Tommee Tippie sippy cups were good, however, not as easy to clean. They did the job for Kenley, but for Crosby, I was introduced to the Nuby No-Spill Sprout sippy cups and they were by far the best. They were easy to clean, didn’t leak, and Crosby really liked them. Once the kids transitioned to straw cups, we found the Thermos Foogo insulated straw cups and then the slightly larger Thermos Funtainer straw bottles. I cannot stand when cups sweat, so these have been my favorite so far. Since they are both insulated, they keep the water and ice cold for much longer. Another bonus is that they don’t leak! I foresee us using the Thermos brand for a while.

When Kenley was born, there was only the Boon Grass drying rack which was perfect. Later, the larger Boon Lawn came out and once we added another child, we added another drying rack. I love the modern, nontraditional look to these drying racks. They are cute, as well as functional. There are also cute accessories such as the Boon Twig that are great for hanging pacifiers and bottle nipples to dry. We now only use the lawn and it is great for both the kids’ cups, as well as wine glasses. The only bottle brush we’ve used is the OXO Tot Bottle Brush and it is great. Again, still useful for cups and wine glasses even though we haven’t used baby bottles in quite a while.

Feeding Favorites

We registered for the Fisher-Price Spacesaver High Chair due to the lack of space in our kitchen area of our first house. The high chair sat directly on one of our chairs at the kitchen table and it did just that, saved space. We had the option to slide the chair around the kitchen as needed, but most of the time we all sat at the kitchen table for meals. It worked out perfectly. You can also buy different covers, so it it was nice to have a back up when one was in the wash. Once the kids grew out of the high chair, they moved into the OXO Tot Perch booster seat. Both of the kids have their own now and I love them because they aren’t bulky and they are easy to move.

When we first started solid food, the Munckin soft-tip spoons were by far the best. They are cheap, soft, and easy to clean. For plates, we loved using the OXO Tot Plate and Divided Plate. These are really good quality and the rubber bottoms were great for the younger years. We have since transitioned into the Re-play Recycled set, including the flat plates, divided plates, bowls, sippy cups, tumblers, utensils, and snack stacks. I could go on and on about how much we love this brand. They are very durable and there are so many fun colors. This is the only brand we use for meal time.

At school and on the go, there are a few items that we couldn’t live without. The OXO Tot large and small bowls have been in the rotation for years. They are great for sending snacks to school, such as fruit. They are also very durable as we’ve had our current set for well over three years now. Another item that we didn’t learn about until Crosby was born was the Dr. Brown’s Snack-A-Pillar cups. These were so useful when we were sending smaller snacks to school in the infant room because we could just stack them all together. We still use them, but they are pretty small now that the kids are bigger. Finally, we use the Bentgo lunch boxes for the kids. They are perfect for packing bento style lunches with a lot of variety. We use it every single day and they do not leak! They are well worth the money if you pack lunches regularly.

There you have it! Our feeding time favorites!

*this post contains affiliate links.

Our Favorites // Nine Months

I’m slowly catching up on posts so I want to share our nine month favorites! You can catch up on the three and six month favorites.

Dr. Brown’s Snack-A-Pillar Cups

These were recommended to us by a friend when Crosby was starting solids. They are wonderful for sending food and snacks to school. The cups can be used individually since each color has its own lid, or you can send them together stacked. We also love them for travel and airplane rides! They are perfect for offering a variety of snack options. We also use the OXO Tot Bowl Set to send food to school and we love these bowls. I found several of them at TJ Maxx when Kenley was little but not so much recently. You can also get them at Buy Buy Baby with a coupon.

Fisher-Price Workbench

The workbench, as well as the kitchen, is a great interactive learning toy that is good for all ages. It’s small so it can go from room to room, and has different settings for learning. However, it is not sturdy, so when he was starting to pull himself up on things, he took a lot of spills on the workbench and the kitchen because they toppled right over with them. Regardless, these two toys get played with a lot in our household.

Board Books

The Going to Bed Book

Crosby loves books. He is all about them at school and at home. Some of our early favorites include most of the Sandra Boynton books, including The Going to Bed Book and Moo Baa La La La. We also recently started collecting the Good Night series books.

VTech Sit-to-Stand Alphabet Train

This is one of the many push toys we have at the house and both kids love it. It was great for Crosby to push around when he wasn’t walking yet, but wanted to get from place to place. He also loved to put the alphabet blocks into the train and have them shoot out the back. It was fun for Greg and I to watch his hand/eye coordination develop. Another good thing about the train is that it is educational! Win/win for everyone.

Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer

 

We didn’t have a bottle warmer when Kenley was a baby, but I saw this bottle warmer at TJ Maxx for $17 and I couldn’t pass it up. I had hoped I would be breastfeeding, so I figured that Crosby wouldn’t be having many bottles at home, but when he did the bottle warmer was great! Around ten and a half months, Crosby decided he was done breastfeeding and he took a bottle morning, noon, and night. This bottle warmer was clutch! We used it every day until we transitioned fully to the sippy cup.

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What are some of your favorites at the nine month mark?

One Year Old

Crosby Martin is one year old!

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I am not quite sure how this is possible, but we now have two toddlers! Wow. Crosby is typically very happy and very go with the flow. He rarely gets upset, aside from those bumps and bruises, then he is quickly over it. He makes it easy to tell when he’s not feeling well because he’s very chill at all other times. He likes to cuddle more than Kenley did and he gives great big bear hugs around your neck.

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There haven’t been many changes from last month. He follows a very good schedule that works for him. He’s drinking about 15 ounces of breast milk throughout the day from a sippy cup for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at bed time. He eats three meals a day and has one or two snacks. The boy loves food! The only thing he doesn’t care for still is bananas. He could leave the green veggies behind, but when they are mixed with other foods, he will eat them. We figured we wouldn’t get lucky twice since Kenley has always loved her green veggies. Crosby is eating “adult” food just like the rest of us for dinner rather than having his own meal made for him, which helps out immensely. We are at the point now where there really isn’t much that is off limits, though we will probably hold off on peanuts for a little while longer.

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Crosby is definitely down to one nap a day from 12pm – 2pm (or 1pm at home… figures). He goes to bed around 7:15-7:30pm and is up around 6:15am. He usually is good with just one nap, unless he’s not feeling well or we’re riding in the car, then he decides he could go for a cat nap (I don’t blame him). He will begin sleeping on a cot at school now that he’s one, so no more crib during the day! He will be in the crib as long as possible at home though.

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He is quite the explorer. His teacher jokes that it’s not a day until Crosby is in something, under something, or has gotten hurt. He goes from one thing to the next and when he’s done with it, he usually throws it. Now that he’s walking, he is literally into everything. He goes from room to room, then back again once he’s had enough. You always have to keep one eye on him to make sure he’s not eating cords or trying to pull things down. He also will get going fast and not have time to catch himself, so he goes head first into everything. In two days, he got a nice goose egg on his forehead from the wall, then a cut on his eye from a trash can.

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He and Kenley have a ball playing on the Anywhere Chair and the couch. It’s turned into somewhat of an obstacle course in our living room and Crosby has been known to do a somersault over the side. I am frequently reminding them (Kenley) to be careful, stop jumping on the couch, no pushing, etc. I don’t think this will be ending any time soon. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt (usually Crosby).

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Twelve month notes:

Weight – 22 pounds 4 ounces
Height – 29 1/2 inches
Head – 18.23 inches
Hair – Brown, thick, and a little bit curly in the back
Teeth – Seven and working on some more
Eyes – Brown
Clothes – 12-18 months, size 4 shoes
Diapers – Cloth by day and disposables at night, we just finished size 3 and are now into size 4.
Likes – Walking, almost running, climbing on furniture, cabinets, bath, push toys, trying to keep up with his big sister
Dislikes – Laying on the changing table, getting his clothes changed, getting his diaper changed, being forced to sit still

Happy birthday sweet boy. It’s been one fun year, that’s for sure.

Fifty + Fifty-One Weeks

We are inching closer to the end of Crosby’s weekly photo project and I have to say that I’m not too upset about it. It’s very difficult to get a picture of this one not moving, let alone laying down. That also means that he’s almost one year old. Not possible! He has been on the move the past two weeks. While we were at the hotel, every time the door would open, he would speed crawl to try to get out. When we let him in the hall, he just walked and walked as far as his little feet could take him. He’s fully committed to walking now and crawling is a thing of the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s running in the next week. He wants to keep up with Kenley so bad.

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The next update will be a big one, just like our little guy.

Forty-Nine Weeks

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Crosby had a big week this week! He is officially walking!
He took 3-5 steps a couple times on Monday while he was at school and has gotten better and better as the week has gone on. He’s not fully walking yet, but it’s a good mix of walking and crawling. It’s going to start getting more fun around here!

His other new trick is going up and down on the anywhere chair. He will do it over and over again; along with standing on it and diving over the arms of the chair. He’s done a couple of somersaults off the side too and it doesn’t phase him in the least… he’s all boy, that’s for sure.

We’re creeping closer and closer to the end of our weekly photo project.
I’m not quite sure how that is possible?

Happy Monday!

Eleven Months

Can someone please pinch me, eleven months already?
This was a big month for Crosby, so I have lots of updates.

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The biggest change this month is that Crosby stopped nursing. He woke up on a Monday morning a couple weeks ago and wasn’t acting like himself. He had no interest in nursing and flat out refused. We decided that Greg would take him to school and he ended up taking a bottle after I left. After I came home from work that day, he was very lethargic and had a fever. He and I spent two hours at urgent care that night and once we got home he refused to nurse again, but he took a bottle. I stayed home with him the next day and the same thing happened. He took a bottle all day. It was a challenging day considering I had to take care of a sick little one, pump, and make bottles for him throughout the day. I thought it was just because he wasn’t feeling well, but part of me knew that he was done. Why would he be taking a bottle with no problem but not nursing? That Sunday night was the last time I nursed him and I had no idea. In hindsight, it probably is better so I didn’t have to make the decision about when to stop nursing, but I definitely wasn’t mentally prepared to stop. Thankfully, I have a freezer full of frozen breastmilk that I worked very hard to build up over the last ten months, so he will still be drinking breastmilk for the next several months. I have continued to pump once a day since, but I will be stopping completely in the next week or so. I am so thankful to have been able to nurse him for ten and a half months, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sad that it’s over. I was not this emotional when I decided to stop nursing Kenley because I had hoped there would be another baby in our future, but knowing that this is (more than likely) the last time I will nurse my baby, it’s definitely different. So now, Crosby is drinking milk three times a day. He has a five ounce bottle when he wakes up, one five ounce bottle during the day at school, and one five ounce bottle before bed. We are slowly transitioning off of the bottle and I sent his milk in a sippy cup the last two days. I think he could care less what he drinks out of, so I don’t anticipate this being a difficult transition off the bottle.

Eleven Months

Related, the boy loves his food. Over the past week or so, we have been feeding him whatever we are having for dinner. It’s amazing cooking only one dinner for everyone to eat. One difference from Kenley is that he loves meat. He eats chicken, beef, turkey, and ham. He will eat his veggies, but as long as there is something else to go with them. He also loves fruit, avocado, crackers, Cheerios, Mum Mums, goldfish, really any carbs. The only things he doesn’t care for are peppers and bananas. Since we are the parents of the year and all, we accidentally sent Kenley’s mixed berry applesauce in his lunch this week and he broke out in a rash the same day. I’m guessing it is because his body is just not ready to digest the berries yet (since it’s a 12 month food) but I’m hoping he doesn’t have any allergies related to that. He was perfectly fine otherwise and it cleared up the next day.

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Crosby loves to walk behind his push toys, including the shopping cart, baby stroller, train; as well as anything that will move like chairs, stools, or end tables. He also loves climbing on Kenley’s anywhere chair… good thing he’s getting one for his birthday. He is constantly on the move and his preferred method of transportation is speed crawling (usually towards something he’s not supposed to have) or walking behind something. He has officially taken his first steps and will walk if he’s holding someone’s hand (even Kenley’s), but he’s not ready to do it on his own yet. He is a man on a mission in the playroom and also the master of destruction. He will pick up a toy, inspect it, put it in his mouth, play with it, then once he’s done with it, he throws it and moves on to the next thing. The playroom is constantly a disaster because I cannot keep up.

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Somewhere along the way, Crosby transitioned to one long nap (seriously, is he a toddler already?). During the week he will go down for his nap between 12-2pm at school. I have no earthly idea how they get him to stay awake until noon during the day because on weekends, he normally takes a short morning nap for us (usually in the car somewhere). Depending on the day, he may fall asleep in the car on the way home from school, but for no more than 15 minutes or so. That usually rejuvenates him until bedtime around 7:15pm. He sleeps soundly all night and wakes up anywhere between 5:30-6:30am. If he sleeps until 6am, we are happy. I’m not sure if he’s sleeping enough during the day, but he’s sleeping through the night and is happy during the day, so I’m not going to worry about it.

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Eleven month notes:

Weight – My guess would be 21-22 pounds.
Hair – He got his first haircut this week!
Teeth – Six
Eyes – Brown
Clothes – 12-18 months, size 4 shoes
Diapers – Cloth by day and disposables at night, size 3.
Likes – Push toys, dancing, chewing, throwing, balls, blocks, taking a bath, standing, cabinets, outlets
Dislikes – Laying on the changing table, getting his face wiped

One more month and we’ll have a one year old. That’s crazy talk.

Our Favorites // Six Months

I know we are well past the six month mark with Crosby, but I wanted to make sure I shared some of our favorite products for this time frame. We were still using almost everything on our three month favorites list, as well.

Fisher-Price Musical Table

Both Kenley and Crosby loved this table. It’s great because the legs come off of the table, so we used it when they both were just able to sit up. Once Crosby started pulling himself up, we put the legs on it and he was able to stand and play. This model is a couple years old and it looks like there is a new one out too, the Fisher-Price Learning Table.

City Select Car Seat Adapter

After we found our stroller on Craigslist, I started looking at the accessories that we may need. I saw the car seat adapter but kept thinking that we wouldn’t need it, not to mention I didn’t want to spend the money on it. I had this big plan to wear baby #2 as often as possible, which is good in theory, until you have a sleeping baby in the car seat. During Crosby’s first week, we made a trip to Buy Buy Baby and I picked up the adapter which turned out to be a very good decision. We got tons of use out of it since he could ride in the stroller with the infant car seat, and as an added bonus, Kenley could also ride in her seat in the stroller too.

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Stack & Roll Cups

These cups are awesome! They stack, nest, and snap together to make a balls that can roll around. These get used on a daily basis in our household. They are great for a wide range of ages as well.

Sophie the Giraffe and Rhino Toys Oball Rattle

 

We love chew toys in our house and these are two of our favorites. Crosby got a new Sophie the Giraffe, but he loves both equally the same. The Oball is also a new toy for us and it’s great for chewing, grabbing, and shaking.

Nosefrida (The Snotsucker) Nasal Aspirator

Before you skip over this one because you think it’s not for you… hear me out. We love the snotsucker. It sounds weird, I know. When we were thinking about buying this, we hadn’t heard anything about it, nor knew anyone who used it. Regardless, we decided to try it, so I am here to tell you how great it is. It’s a lot easier than using the bulb aspirators, and most importantly, its’ easy to clean! The bulb aspirator can get very moldy on the inside while the snotsucker cannot. Don’t worry, no snot even comes close to your mouth. It acts more like a vacuum and we use it all the time. If you ask Crosby, he may not be as enthusiastic about it as I am, but that’s ok because it helps him breathe. He’ll thank us later.

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What are some of your favorite items for this age?

Forty-Six Weeks

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We made our first trip to urgent care this week. Crosby was under the weather on Monday night with high fever. It turns out it was just a virus. He got better as the week went on, but you could tell he was fighting something off. Not to mention another tooth broke through over the weekend (his 5th!), so that just added fuel to the fire. The poor guy had drool and snot running down his face all weekend. Aside from feeling yucky, he’s doing very well. He took two baby steps on Friday morning, which we are for sure counting as his first steps, but he hasn’t decided to take any more. In time!

Happy Monday!