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Bath Time Favorites – Our Must Have Items for Bath Time

baby bath

Bathing a baby can be intimidating. How do you keep them safe and create a relaxing way for you both to end the day together? Since Katie was a month old, the evening bath has become a part of our evening routine and is one of our favorite parts of the day. In fact, some days Bo and I both join in the fun since neither of us want to miss the giggles and laughter that come with the bath.

Last night I realized that many of the items we are using each night were either registry items or items that we’ve been loving for months, meaning they’d be perfect to give to others or recommend to someone who needs more registry items.

Before I get into the details of what we use each night, let me share some background to our bath routine.

  1. Since Katie has loved taking a bath and spending time in water since she was young, we have always bathed her nightly. In fact, in her 20 months of life I think we’ve skipped a bath 5 times total and a few of those had to do with travel or her being over tired.
  2. Since we bathe her nightly and don’t want to dry out her skin, we only wash her hair 3-4 times per week and we use a very gentle body wash.
  3. Bath is the beginning of our bedtime routine and it seems to calm her down and get any lady wiggles out. Most nights, bath time is from 6:45-7ish.
  4. Please realize this routine is what works for our daughter and every child is different.

Okay, so here are the products we use each night as well as one product that we used when Katie was younger.

  1. Bath mat – This incredible bath mat is easy to lift up when I’m cleaning the tub but the rest of the time, it stays in place and helps ensure that Katie doesn’t slip. It also seems to be far more mold-resistant than any bath mat we’ve had previously.
  2. Bath Spout Cover – This helps ensure that Katie doesn’t burn herself on the water spout while also providing a fun thing for her to point at each night!
  3. Bath toy bag – This bag looked ridiculous when we first mounted it but now I can’t imagine not having it. Katie unzips it each night to let her toys “free” into the water and then she puts her toys back in the bag before we get out. Nearly two years later the bag is starting to show some wear and tear so I just ordered a replacement this week.
  4. Bath tub stopper – In keeping with the blue whale theme, this handy stopper keeps the water in the tub and stays clean by going in our dishwasher every other week.
  5. Bath toys & buckets – We replace these bath toys 3-4 times per year due to the icky mold that grows inside but she loves them and it is a great way to learn animals and colors. The buckets are dishwasher safe so we have never had to replace these! These days, Katie loves filling the buckets and dumping water EVERYWHERE.
  6. Bubbles – Katie now asks for bubbles each night while we’re walking up the stairs. She loves bubble baths and spends most of the time trying to blow the bubbles or put them in her hair!
  7. Bath Soap – We’ve tried a number of different baby shampoo and body wash over the past year and this has been our favorite as it is gentle and doesn’t make her eyes tear nor dry out her skin.
  8. Baby Bath Robe and Toddler Bath Robe – We initially had the Pottery Barn kids bath robe but Katie outgrew it a few months ago. When I searched for a replacement this one came highly rated and recommended on Amazon. It is super soft and Katie seems to love it! After the bath we wrap her up in it and tie the robe before she brushes her teeth and runs into our bedroom!
  9. Baby bath tub (We used this for the first few months.)
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A Gift That Kids Won’t Outgrow

I can’t believe that Christmas is in just 59 days. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Katie’s first birthday and sweltering in New York’s long, hot summer. Now we’rebraving a nor’easter and wearing coats.

Earlier today, my sister-in-law sent me a text sharing that with a huge sigh of relief she’d just finished wrapping the last of her Christmas gifts. Come again? With 59 days left until Christmas, Becca has already purchased and wrapped all her gifts. This not only made me feel 100% behind, but also made me realize that Bo and I have to sit down and finalize Katie’s wish list. Making a Christmas list for Katie is especially hard since we live in New York City. Our family of three lives in a 1,500 square foot apartment. Up until recently, our place felt spacious. But, recently, it’s feels more like a tornado of chaos than a spacious, Brooklyn brownstone apartment.

In fact, as soon as Katie goes down for a nap or to sleep at night, Bo and I both take five minutes to put away all of her toys and restore order. At sixteen months of age, Katie loves nothing more than dragging her favorite toy of the hour into every room or dumping her blocks all over. Needless to say, while we’ve started to introduce the concept of putting our toys away, she definitely hasn’t mastered cleaning up after herself.

Even though today during a fun play date with friends, Katie played with multiple toys that she doesn’t have, it’s hard for us to imagine adding more things to our space. While we will of course ask for a few gifts, we are hoping to put more gifts towards something she won’t outgrow – a NY-529. Thanks to Momtrends and Vanguard, I had the opportunity to learn more about the NY 529 plan. Since we’ve only discovered 529 plans recently, I figured this was something you guys would appreciate as well.

NY 529 facts

Here are a few facts about 529 plans, so you can figure out whether this is something you need or if you want to ask family members to donate money to it in lieu of gifts this holiday season.

  • What the heck is a 529 plan? 
    • A 529 is an investment account that people can use for higher-education savings. They are often sponsored by states and some, like New York, provide tax benefits. Your earnings grow federally tax-deferred and qualified withdrawals are tax-free*.  The money in the 529 can be used for multiple types of higher education including college, graduate school, vocational school and anything that is school related, beyond tuition.  In New York the tax is deferred and New York State taxpayers benefit from a tax deduction.
  • How do people contribute to a 529? 
    • You can either directly deposit their checks or cash to the 529 or you can give them a gift code. There some websites and companies that provide gift coupons or links that help people easily donate or gift contributions during the holiday season.
  • What is the minimum amount of money needed to open a 529? 
    • Unlike certain savings accounts, you only need $1 to open a 529. In addition, there are no monthly or yearly contribution requirements. In fact, you can contribute as little or, nearly, as much as you’d like over the lifetime of the 529.  In fact, in New York, the contribution limit, in aggregate to one person’s 529 account is $520,000.
  • Can my child have more than one? 
    • Yup, your child can have countless 529 accounts if that’s what you want. They just need to be registered under his or her legal name.

NY 529 Facts

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Compensation was provided by NY529 via Momtrends.  As always, all words and opinions are my own. 

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Katie’s Fifteen Month Update

I say it every time I sit down to reflect, but I can’t believe that Katie has grown so quickly. The fifteen months we’ve enjoyed with Katie have been such a joy! She is a curious, happy, spunky fifteen-month old and we are in awe at how quickly she’s growing in front of our eyes.  It’s hard to believe that this time last year, she was just starting to evolve out of the fourth trimester phase. Now, at fifteen months, the only time she is still is when she’s sleeping.  Last week, when I asked for post requests, multiple people requested more detailed monthly updates. So, here is my attempt at delivering on that and, I, like you, hope to share these on a more consistent basis.

Katie is wearing 18-month clothes and even has two jackets that are 2T, since they didn’t come in a smaller size. Most days, she wears basics from Carters and then we have a few other items from L.L. Bean, Patagonia and Vineyard Vines. Over the past year we’ve had a hard time finding clothing that can beat the quality we get from Carters for the very inexpensive price point. I will say, that we only purchase things at their outlet or during their online sales, which seem to happen once a month. If you have a child, I recommend subscribing to the Carter’s mailing list.  The two changes that we made this month in regards to her attire were shoes and hair accessories. Since she’s constantly on the go, we bought another pair of See Kai Run shoes. A few people recommended ordering favorite shoes in a few sizes when you find one that works well for your child. Therefore, we currently have this style in a few different colors and sizes in her closet. I was able to find them on sale during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale!  While Bo nor I are quite ready to take Katie for her first haircut, we knew that we had to find a way to keep her hair out of her face. It has grown so quickly and overnight it went from being cute to being a moppy mess, almost covering her eyes. After Julia raved about these tiny rubber bands, we ordered a pack and have been thrilled with how well they stay in Katie’s fine hair. The good news is that she seems to have less interest in pulling them out than the bows we were trying to use previously.

As Katie is now eating a lot more, we changed a few things in our diaper bag and changing table. After every change, we use A+D ointment as this has helped her stay comfortable and rash free. If she ever gets diaper rash, we swear by Triple Paste. It is more expensive but works very quickly on even though most painful diaper rash. We are still loving Pampers diapers and she is wearing size 4 in both Swaddlers and Swaddlers Overnight. The overnight diapers have worked very well for us as she is able to make it through the night without having a wet or dirty diaper wake her.

Transitioning Katie to solid foods has been really easy for us as she loves every food.  I still dedicate an hour or so each Sunday to prepping her food for the week so that Monday morning I’m able to send two lunch boxes of food for her to have at the nanny share. Here is an example of her meals this week:

  • Breakfast (enjoyed at home in her high chair) : fruit, scrambled eggs, avocado, homemade pumpkin spice Kodiak Cakes or 1/2 an english muffin with some peanut butter
  • Snacks: Bananas, Stonyfield Baby yogurt, apples, strawberries, Cabot cheddar cheese
  • Lunch & Dinner:
    • Spaghetti Squash/Rao’s Sauce/homemade chicken meatballs/broccoli
    • Leftover grilled chicken, corn cut off the cob, roasted green beans
    • Turkey sausage, steamed carrots, hummus
    • Banza pasta, homemade pesto, homemade chicken meatballs

Katie has access to a straw cup filled with water throughout the day and during lunch and dinner she has both water and whole milk.

During the day, Katie loves spending time at our neighborhood park. Just a month ago, our play was limited to the swings but now she is able to walk, climb and run to each of the areas in the smaller kid area, including the slide and ramp.  She is confident in her ability to play on her own, but we always have a close eye on her to ensure that she is safe around other kids. It took us a few park visits to teach her how to go down the slide on her own, but now she approaches the slide, cautiously looks around, and then sits down on her bottom before pushing herself down. It’s adorable to watch and her caution, when dealing with heights, is so similar to her parents, neither of whom love heights.  Over time we’ve become friendly with a few other local families who are often in the park at the same time, which makes it an enjoyable social time for both the kids and parents.  When she’s at home, she loves playing with her toy kitchen, “reading” books, blocks and her Little People toys. Our friend Amanda gave Katie this adorable stroller last two weeks ago and since then, she’s enjoyed pushing her puppy dogs all over the house. The stroller tends to be something she enjoys pushing around in the morning, upstairs, while we are getting dressed and ready for the day. Her other favorite past time is opening drawers and cupboards, doing her best to take everything out and then put it away again. Hopefully we can soon transfer this skill to her toy area.

Her schedule hasn’t evolved yet since she is still taking two solid naps per day.  Even though we have traveled a number of times in the past few months, we do our best to maintain this schedule, while knowing it won’t always be perfect. If we are traveling, she tends to fall asleep in her car seat if we’re in the car during her nap time, but on a plane she has yet to fall asleep in our lap at this older age.

  • 7:15 AM Wake and milk in straw cup
  • 7:30-8:00 Playtime
  • 8:00-8:15 Breakfast
  • 8:30 Nanny Share drop off
  • 9:15 -11:15 Morning Nap
  • 11:15 Morning Snack
  • 11:30 – 12:15 Playtime
  • 12:15 Lunch
  • 1:15 – 3:00 pm Nap
  • 3:-0-2:15 Playtime
  • 2:15 – 4 Afternoon Nap
  • 4:00 Afternoon snack (fruit, cheese, vegetable or carb)
  • 4:15-5:15 Playtime
  • 5:15 Dinner
  • 5:45 Pick up from nanny share
  • 5:55 – 6:30 Playtime at park or home depending on weather
  • 6:30-6:45 Calm playtime with books
  • 6:45 Bath time
  • 7:00 Milk in straw cup + reading/rocking
  • 7:15 Bed

While she still isn’t taking any stuffed animals into her crib, she sleeps with a pacifier and a few loveys. In fact, she has 3 Wubbanub pacifiers (giraffe, bear and elephant) in her crib at night as she randomly cuddled these when she was sick, more than eight months ago, and it became a habit. She seems to cuddle two of them and then use one when she is going to sleep. Most nights, according to her Nest camera, the pacifier drops out of her mouth once she falls asleep. Bo and I have talked about when we want or need to drop the pacifier but at this point, since our pediatrician said it isn’t an issue, we see no need to take it away yet.

Last but not least, we are making progress on the verbal front. We constantly talk to Katie, sharing details about our activities with her and asking her questions which she could easily answer. She surprises us with new words each day, but right now she is confidently saying 15-20 words including puppy, yes, no, mommy, up, dad, bath, hi, bye bye,  and words that sound like banana, bed, teddy, and toy.

I’m sure I forgot to mention a few things so if you have any questions, as always please feel free to email or leave a comment. In addition, if you want more frequent updates, I’m sharing lots on InstaStories and Instagram.

 

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