Zipadee-Zip Review and a Giveaway

We love our Zipadee-Zip so much I reached out to Sleeping Baby and asked if I could do a review for their products. They graciously said yes and offered my readers a giveaway. You definitely want to enter this giveaway and if you don't win you can always use the code that will be available after the giveaway to buy one. I highly recommend getting one.

We first tried the Zipadee-Zip when Zander was about 4 months old. It was tough and he fought every second of it. He wasn't rolling yet so we went back to the swaddle to give him a little more time. I thought him still being snug in something would work but he wasn't ready. We tried again around 6 months and haven't looked back. I thought we would be swaddling our baby forever. When we put the Zipadee-Zip on Zander he immediately calms down and knows it is time for bed. It is his comfort blanket, he snuggles right up to you and puts his head down with his hand or bink in his mouth. The Zipadee-Zip allows him to still get to his hands but not smack himself in his face.

I'll be honest I was a little nervous for him to be in something that we would have to transition out of, but I have good news, you really don't have to ever transition out of the Zipadee-Zip. They have options all the way to 5T! Now I am sure we won't be in them that long but who knows and it is comforting knowing it is an option if we need it. I highly recommend the Zipadee-Zip as a swaddle transition for anyone struggling with transitioning out of the swaddles.

We have recently started using a blanket in the crib now that Zander is mobile but when we first started using the Zipadee-Zip we did not use blankets and I love the warmth it provided Zander at night. I didn't have to worry about his hands getting cold because he was snug as a bug in his Zipadee-Zip. Once he gets older they do offer hand and feet free options as well, the Flying Squirrel, which like I said goes up to 5T.

Did you know Sleeping Baby also offers teethers and teething necklaces? I had no idea! Zander and I are huge fans of teething necklaces so I was so excited when they offered to send us one. I LOVE that the necklaces are longer and the teething beads go all the way up the necklace. They are 100% non-toxic and BPA free. Zander has been so distracted by everything while nursing so not only has this helped to soothe his gums it also helps distract him while he is nursing so he actually nurses. A definite win win, plus who doesn't love a classy black and gray necklace that can be worn with so much. Go check out the other ones they offer plus the teethers and clips here.

Here are some videos to help give you a visual of the Zipadee-Zip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhNGmFR8TGg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEUhunLX_Hc . Though if I am being honest you don't need the videos, trust me you want this baby product! We love ours!!

Now is your chance to win a Zipadee-Zip of your choice from their website. It will be shipped directly to you! Don't forget to like Sleeping Baby on Facebook to enter their monthly giveaway! Also if you don't win there will be a coupon code for you to buy one once the giveaway ends. Good luck!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway ends February 2 at 12:00am EST. Open to Residents of the US only. Winner will be selected at random and be notified by email and announced on my Facebook page and Instagram. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. The product provided for the review was free of charge from the company. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are in no way associated with this giveaway.  I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner. Good Luck!

Weekend Vibes with Some Random Thoughts

Yay for the weekend! A few random thoughts for you on this Saturday!

1. We are getting our house cleaned by a professional cleaning company this week and I can not tell you how excited I am. It was actually a groupon we bought months ago for our townhouse and they had to reschedule and we ended up running out of time to use it. So guess what; I get to use it for our house....WOO HOO.

2. Finding new child care SUCKS! There really isn't a good way to put it. We are currently looking at getting a nanny and I am praying that it works out better than it did when Kinley was little! We are also preschool shopping again which is awful too! Kinley's school is only going to offer Monday - Friday next year and we are not ready for her to go all day every day!

3.My schedule at work will be changing in a few weeks and it is truly going to be bittersweet but I think will work out so much better for our family. I will be home for dinner and bedtime in the evenings and off on weekends. Sometimes it is really hard balancing it all and being a working mom. I am trying to embrace it but some days it just makes me sad!

4. The weather has been hit or miss the past week or so but when it is a hit we are soaking up all the fresh air possible. There is something to be said about getting some fresh air!

5. I have decided on Zander's first birthday and am SOOOOO excited for it! Now if my family could just fly out and join us!

6. Some people are so draining and will constantly be that way! Surround yourself with positive people and positive energy.

7. Why do the weekends go so fast!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We have a busy rest of the day and super busy Sunday! Happy Weekend!

Zander - 9 Months

The time is flying and he is almost 9.5 months so I better get this update up. I really don't even understand how he is 9 months and I am thinking about planning his first birthday! I am pretty excited to plan a boy birthday but really have no clue what to do. If you have some ideas send them my way! I do not know if I mentioned this last month but he is saying MAMA!! It is the sweetest sound ever!

Stats: He had a 9 month check up this month. He is 18lbs 7oz and 28.7in long. His head is on the smaller side at 41.5cm. The doctor wasn't worried and said he has more of a longer head like mine not as round. We will keep an eye on it though just in case. He is still in size 2 diapers but after this box we are moving up to size 3s! We probably could of started 3s sooner but I wanted to finish out the box we had. He wears a mix of 9 and 12 month clothes.

Sleep: It has been a really rough month! He is so close to crawling so I know that is disrupting his sleep at night. If he is at home he usually gets 2 decent naps but if he isn't home there is no telling how long or if he will nap. He goes to bed anywhere from 6-7pm depending on his last nap and gets up 6-7am. I wish I could say he has gotten more consistent with his night wakes but he is the farthest from consistent right now. It has been hard! He is up a lot and up for long periods of time in the middle of the night. It really is a good thing he is so cute!

Eat: This boy LOVES food and can not get enough. He basically eats anything you put in front of him and doesn't stop. We still do the pouches to get some extra in there and he loves them. He is so opposite his sister and loves being fed, though has started to enjoy feeding himself more this last month. I am not sure we have found anything he does not like. Some days it is hard to get his milk in him as he would rather eat solids. We still nurse on demand, though it has been a struggle lately. I am not sure if he was on a nursing strike or just to distracted by everything else going on. For a few weeks I was only able to nurse him before his sleeps or in the middle of the night. He is still struggling with being constipated with too much solids, but we have started prunes everyday and I think that is helping.

Play: He continues to love playing with his sister. He has started putting more syllables together and blabbing like crazy. Some days he is super quite but others he is so loud! He is pulling himself up on things and loves to stand. He is still trying to figure out how to crawl and gets so frustrated. It is sad! He is pretty good about playing independently if you sit him on the floor with a bunch of toys. Though if he sees something he wants he gets to it! He still loves swinging in the swing and got his first wagon ride that he thinks is pretty awesome. We are working on clapping and waving hi and bye. He loves the bath and loves to splash water all over the place. He gets so happy!

He celebrated his first Christmas and had a blast with the wrapping paper! He continues to be his happy self and brings a smile to everyone's face. Most days I am not sure what life was like without him.

I love this age so much I don't ever want him to get bigger. Though I would love some more sleep, so maybe I do want him to get a little bigger :)

Easy Snow Cream Recipe

Virginia doesn't see much snow throughout the year so when we do it is very exciting! The bad thing about us getting snow is it usually turns into ice and it super dangerous.

It snowed on Saturday and we are going on day 2 of schools being closed, day 3 tomorrow! The main roads are fine but the neighborhoods and side streets are a sheet of ice.

It was really cold, like in the 20's so the outside play time is quite limited with little kids. Kinley did get out a few times and Zander got out long enough for me to get a few pictures. It will be fun when the kids are old enough to go sledding or stay outside longer than it takes to bundle them up :).

Since we didn't get a lot of outside time and we were stuck inside for almost 3 days we had to be creative with things to do. You know Kinley loves ice cream; so we made snow cream! It was a huge hit and pretty tasty. Super easy to make!

Snow Cream Recipe

1 can of condensed milk (if you don't have condensed milk you can use sugar and milk: 1 cup milk and a 1/2 cup of sugar)

6-8 cups of snow (enough to get it to an ice cream consistency)

1 tsp of vanilla

Mix the vanilla with the condensed milk in a bowl. Once mixed together stir in snow until you get to an ice cream consistency. 

Add your favorite toppings and eat!

Enjoy!!

Year in Review - 2016

Another amazing year. We had a few bumps in the road but overall 2016 was really good to us. We had a lot of exciting things happen.

January

Kinley got a big girl bed and spent about 2 weeks in it before we gave up.

We experienced Kinley's first snow that she could actually go outside in. It wasn't much but I told her it might snow this weekend and she got on the ground and told me she wanted to make a snow angle. The things they remember is amazing! That was almost a year ago!

We found out we were having a boy and not a girl and that his heart was normal after a terrible scare!

February

February was a tough month but we made it through with some good things as well. The Broncos won the superbowl which was super exciting! We had a pretty low key Valentine's Day which I am totally ok with. Daddy and Kinley made me an awesome heart cake for Valentine's Day. It was so sweet of them.

March

March started out pretty awesome with the most amazing baby sprinkle. My friend hosted both Kinley's and Zander's shower and did a phenomial job each time!

We had a fun weekend getaway to Great Wolf Lodge. It was fun to get away for the weekend and do something special with just Kinley before her brother arrived. Little did we know we only had 2 weeks left as a family of 3.

We had a pretty low key Easter but Kinley did get some amazing Easter pictures done. I can not believe how much more grown she looks in just a year.

We ended the month with my 34th birthday and one of my favorite photo shoots yet, our maternity pictures.

April

One week in and our sweet boy made his appearance! He was two weeks early and I had no idea he was coming! Besides his birth, Kinley meeting him was one of the best moments ever. I could share so many pictures but I will save you!

My sister came to visit and the rest of the month we hung out and enjoyed lots of baby snuggles!

May

We had Zander's newborn photo shoot done. They are some of the sweetest pictures but my favorites are the ones with him and Kinley. You can see the bond they have. It melts my heart.

Zander turned a month old and it was seriously the fastest month of my life. Adjusting to life with two littles was difficult but I think we have gotten things down, though we do have our challenges.

Kinley decided she wanted to potty train and did an amazing job!! We did the three day method and she took to it like a champ. She still wears a diaper at night and nap and has been waking up dry more often than not so hopefully her diapers will be all gone soon! My best advice is to bring a potty with you where ever you go for the few few weeks! They have to pee like every 3 seconds at first!

June

Zander had his first beach trip and my youngest sister came to visit. We had a great time and I hate we are so far away.

Matt celebrated his first Father's Day as a daddy of two and I think he had a pretty fabulous day! The pictures are going to be harder and harder to do.

 July

We took our first family trip to Florida to visit my aunt and grandma. We had the best time ever and can not wait to go back. Sitting my the pool with drinks in hand was pretty fabulous!

Zander turned 3 months old and I went back to work. It was a tough adjustment for me this time. I hate leaving the both of them. It really crushes my heart though I know I am doing the right thing.

I found out I was going to be an aunt again and the kids did a police photo shoot! Boy did we do a lot of picture taking in 2016.

August

August was kind of a quiet month for us; as we all were adjusting to me being back at work and the new schedule with both kids in daycare.

My dad and step mom came to visit so we spent a few days at the beach and hanging out with them. I miss them!

September

Kinley started preschool! This was big for us! She has been going to an in home day care since she was about 16 months old. Since her birthday is late she is in the 2's class and technically did not need to start preschool this year but we wanted her to be in a more educational setting. It was a big adjustment at first but she is loving it and all the friends she has made!

My mom came to visit. We had the best time and I wish she lived here.

October

October was a really really rough month for us and I would like to put it behind us. Zander did turn 6 months and I can't believe we are closer to one than birth. Both the kids were pretty sick and that was awful because then Matt and I got it too.

Zander celebrated his first Halloween and him and Kinley were the cutest Tinkerbell and Peter Pan!

November

We went to Colorado to celebrate my sister's baby shower. It was a last minute trip but we all had a great time and the kids were fabulous!

Kinley had her first real dentist visit and she let them clean all of her teeth and no cavities! She also started swim lessons and has done great except going under the water. She will get there, she has had only a handful of lessons so far.

Zander celebrated his first Thanksgiving and had his first visit with Santa...I'd say he did well!

Kinley turned 3! How in the world is she 3?? We had an amazing ice cream social party with friends and family.

December

Kinley had her first show experience, we took her to Disney Live. She enjoyed it and the snow cone that she ate about 6 bites of. Don't worry Matt and I ate the rest!

We made Christmas Cookies and did family photos.

Zander celebrated his first Christmas and loved all the wrapping paper he got to rip up!

I celebrated becoming an auntie again and Kinley and Zander getting another cousin. We can't wait to go visit baby James.

Looking back at 2016 we had a fabulous year. We had a few bumps in the road but we made it through and we can't wait to see what 2017 brings us!