web analytics

Not all strollers are created equal

When I first found out I was pregnant, I really started looking at all the strollers, car seats, and bassinets online. Aside from things being “cute”, finding something with the right features was going to be the most important. I actually was sent a set from Safety 1st that I really did like, but after comparing them to the new Maxi-Cosi ones I have, the difference between the two are astounding.

Had I both sets at the same time I would have realized the profound difference in material, how things opened and closed, the ease of putting them together and more.

Maxi-Cosi Piazzo collection

Lets start with what the line consists of:

  • Travel System – Cosi35 Infant car seat & Lightweight Stroller
  • Play Yard – Includes bassinet, parent storage, toy mobile, travel tote and soothing music unit featuring nightlight and vibration
  • High Chair – Grows with your child with 3 recline positions, 4 footrest positions, and 7 height positions for every stage of feeding

Assembly of stroller and car seat (Travel set):

First off, this is the set I let my husband have for his car and now am ultra mega super jealous that this is the carseat in his car. I feel that Phoenyx is actually safer, or at the very least happier, in this car seat and stroller.  It was incredibly easy to put together and taking it out of the box and removing the plastic took longer than the wheel and tray assembly did.

In fact, it was so easy that I don’t have much to tell you about.

Step 1: pull out of box

Step 2: add on wheels

Step 3: Put in baby

Step 4: throw box away

And that is how I like my baby assembly!

We went for a walk with this stroller this week (now that we had a baby to add to the stroller) and its perfect on the drive and has super soft material. Phoenyx felt right at home. Our only complaint regarding the stroller is that its not overly easy to fold down.  I find this with most strollers but the squeeze on the handle can get sticky and require some pressure to get there.

Features we really like on this travel set

  • Handles extend automatically for someone that is taller
  • The stroller stands up once you fold down. Meaning that you do not have to lay it flat on the ground in order to store it. If you are in a restaurant laying down your stroller can be inconvenient, so its nice that this one folds and stands. In my house, that means one less cat is going to crawl on it

Our Walk:

Also, I wanted to note that this stroller is most likely average for all strollers, but it did take up the entire trunk in our car:

Carseat

The carseat has some nice features like the soft padding that goes over the shoulder area which keeps the belts from cutting into the neck or shoulder area and the ball that lets you know if the carseat is set at the right angle for the weight of your child.

[Read more...]

I finally bought a diaper bag!

This morning  I was reminded that I am indeed pregnant. Not that the baby and the belly don’t do that on a daily basis, but things started to get a little, lets just say… “gross ” and I was like…”oh, I think I may actually end up at the hospital at some point”.

If you have ever been pregnant or a participatory member of a party whom is pregnant, you know there tends to be moments at the end of a pregnancy that the thought is the baby is NEVER coming out and the pregnant woman will be the bearer of a hibernating 18 year old.

Anyhoo, today Charlotte and I, after a fun filled morning of 150 tokens at Chuck E Cheese and possibly the best manager ever, ran over to Babies R Us for some last minute essentials.

Mainly, I still needed a serious diaper bag. I have lots of bags, cute bags, little bags, heck, I even have a bag from when Charlotte was little floating around here somewhere, but I needed something with stroller hooks, changing pad, and an ipad holder.

Ok, I left that part out. But you know what I mean. I need a bag with pockets for lots of “stuff”.

Luckily for me, BRU was having a 20% off sale on diaper bags and my fashionista daughter Charlotte helped me pick out this JJ Cole System 180 Design in Green Damask. While the original price is higher than I normally would pay for a bag (about $70), it came with all sorts of extras and was approx. $19 off when the coupons were said and done. You can also get it for free shipping on amazon prime if you don’t want to leave your house.

I call that a deal.

So.

Cute.

I am almost looking forward to using it. I mean, I would rather not be sleep deprived and in surgery recovery, but it does make the blow a little softer.

~Trisha

Want to know about some other great shopping? See my Kohls “Pay it Forward” charity campaign for Christmas!

Countdown continues…

With 5 weeks left till the baby makes an appearance, I am gearing up for my baby shower on Saturday, slightly stressing that my body comes back within the year, and wondering how I am going to balance being a single mom, work, and two kids.

ACK!

Its funny when you start thinking about a nursery, you really concentrate on diapers and onesies and the big stuff like cribs and gliders, but in the end, its the little stuff that really gets you. The nose sucker, the nail clipper, the gas drops, and of course, the batteries.

Batteries are used all around a nursery, have you ever noticed?

From baby monitors to night time crib music players, the one thing you dont want to be doing is heading up to the store at midnight to sooth a crying infant. In my home, Rayovac powers my life and that also means my childrens lives. From having a flashlight available for middle of the night power outages:


to batteries that will keep the baby rocking in the swing:



and of course keeping the baby soothed and calm at night…..


its imperative to not forget the “little things” that will keep your “little one” from making YOU lose your sanity.

So while you are getting ready to put paint on the walls and crib bedding in, remember at the end of the day, to power your nursery as well.

Join over 240K fans on Facebook to receive coupons, discounts, product information, and sweepstakes.

~Trisha

*rayovac sponsored blogger

Nursery Makeover….a soft place for the baby to sleep

You would think that doing a nursery would be fun, exciting even. But wow! It has been hard to have one theme in your head to have ten more show up.

I had originally planned a beach theme, a beach theme that included soft sands, and soft walls, and white furniture, and I am still going that way. But I keep finding adorable items that end up more on the “tiki” or “surf theme” and while they both include water, they totally clash.

Lets start with the crib.

We finally got that crib up. Happily, the crib was the easiest thing I had to do! Even though I went with a white crib which can traditionally be thought of for a girl, I love how the lines on it are all straight across which give it more of a masculine feel. My daughters crib was all fancy and curvy, and also white, but they are so different that it still works for me and this theme.

This crib is in Vanilla and you can see that I have laid in my starfish bedding and organic cotton sheets. My only disappointment was that as much as I liked the crib, and liked the bedding, they dont seem to go together. You cant see the lovely ruffles on the bottom of the bedding set, but they seem to make a great hiding place for the cats!

Also, my daughter Charlotte has started to get into the game and surprised me with a few additions of her own on the walls, including this seahorse I found taped in the room today.

I do believe I will frame it for his room from his big sister.

Now with the walls, going from that dark purple mural to blue was quite a treat. It made my daughter cringe a bit since this was her playroom, but ultimately I do believe I achieved a beautiful wall color that is pleasant to the eye, not too soft, but also dark enough to feel like the ocean.

My thoughts from here were to put wainscoting on the walls and really give it a finished look, but would you know after buying $200 in wainscoting and chair rail, driving it home w/ the hatch up on my truck, and dragging it up the stairs, and I thought it was far too stark next to the white furniture.

So of course down the stairs, back to the truck, back to the store.

And back to square one. My new thoughts now are to perhaps get a mural. I just emailed them today to find out how long it would take to ship, but I do believe it might really finish the room behind the crib.

Right now I am considering this “Florida Skies” mural, which I believe may compliment the color and theme of the room and also give the baby something soft to look at when he wakes up:

If for some reason that would take a few months and I cant get it in time (can you believe the baby will be here in 12 weeks? EEK!), my back up plan is paint a stripe around the room to separate the top and bottom, so thats also still a possibility.

I have looked at a ton of “wave” rub ons and even sayings like this one I found, but overall making a commitment has been so hard!

One commitment I have made that I do love however is my glider. I didn’t get that with Charlotte, so I wanted to make sure I had a place to rock the baby for the middle of the night feedings.  I absolutely fell in love with this Glider in this soft cream and matching ottoman, where I can rock or kick my feet up. It just feels so lush and when I sit on it I can almost imagine looking out over the Ocean.

Come to think of it, that reminds me, I totally have to find some ocean sounds to play!

From this point forward, what I have to do is decide between a mural or stripes, or even leaving those blue walls the way they are. I have to get in some of my left over furniture like Charlotte’s old nursery dresser and start fixing up some shelves. I also need to clean out the excess toys from the closet and figure out some real storage.

In short…I have to do everything still!

Through it all, the Chase Slate card has been keeping my purchases straight and I can track them on Blueprint anytime I need to which gives me peace of mind and the ability to control my budget each month. Of course having the Chase card with Blueprint makes it easy with all those upcoming purchases as well. I can easily find out what categories my money is being spent in, set up payment plans to make it easy to pay my debt down or off, and its one less thing on my mind with all these nursery designs and plans.

Signing in has been so easy. Finding out my balance, knowing what the upcoming bill will be based on how I want to pay, and using all the budgeting tools has made this project extremely low key as far as stress is concerned for me.

Don’t forget, this is a challenge! The Blueprint Baby Challenge! The Blueprint Baby Challenge is where three bloggers, including myself, are competing to redesign a room in our house into a nursery to win up to $3000 with our amazing designs. Chase has given us $2000 in order to complete this makeover task as well. So not only do I have to make this nursery perfect for my little one, goodness knows he will be the last, but I have to edge those other mommies beautiful designs out to win.

The Pressure! The Pressure!

I cant wait to share the finished product…when it’s finished that is!

~Trisha

*disclosure: This post is a part of the Chase Blueprint Baby Challenge where I am in competition against 3 other bloggers showcased on Parents.com for a nursery makeover.  This is a compensated and sponsored post. To learn more about Chase, please go here. To read more about the other bloggers, go here. To read my first post in this challenge, visit Chase Blueprint Baby Challenge: Homage to my Gulf Coast Roots.

Bayá Diaper Bags and Day I don’t know what.

I guess its time to start getting back to baby, huh? I need to do the countdown later, but I’m pretty sure its like day 72 or something scary like that. Its time to pick a diaper bag. Honestly, I dont even carry a purse, so carting a diaper bag makes me ultra frustrated. That being said, its not like its a choice scenario, am I right?

I originally saw these diaper bags over on Zulily so I had to go over and check out the site.

Baya Diaper Bags

About Baya:

Bayá was created to give hip women chic yet functional accessories. The founder says she started the company because, “Trying to lug my older son’s soccer gear and my newborn’s necessities, while trying to be stylish, was a bit difficult.” The company develops travel bags and nursery necessities that are ideal for busy moms who love a one-stop-shop for everything.

 

 

Gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

As a mom of a soon to be son (or technically he already is a son and I’m a mom…hmm, this is getting a little philosophical), I am looking for something inspiring, but not too girly, but definitely stylish.

I found the bags on this site to be completely adorable and look tough. Now, I haven’t tried one, so don’t confuse this with an endorsement, but I haven’t ruled out yet that this will be THE bag for me.

Beautiful color, lines, and lots of accessories!

Help a girl out….what is your favorite diaper bag line?

~Trisha

 

Baby Countdown…Day 78

When we left off I was on my way on vacation, which meant I had to come back and do….EVERYTHING. Seriously, I am so behind. This baby will be here in about 2.5 months and I am still staring at the walls wondering what the heck I am going to do to spruce this place up.

One thing I was able to do quite quickly thanks to my friends over at Goores, was get the crib going. I know white isn’t a traditional feel for a boys room, but since I feel like so many colors can be gender neutral (check out Rheas son in pink), I didn’t want that to hold me back. Plus espresso seems so dark for a beach theme and as much as I love darker furniture (after all, my own bedroom is Expresso), nothing had as beautiful of a beachy feel as this.

But I thought to myself…is white a BOY color. I am already decorating the room in a theme that isn’t traditionally planes, trains, and automobiles. In fact, Charlotte had a white sleigh crib. It just matches pink oh so well. But I am shoving those thoughts aside. I painted the walls blue. That has to count for something. Right!?

Now I had absolutely full intentions on giving you a total run down on the step by step process of putting this Babys Dream crib together, but in all honesty the hardest part was unloading the boxes and carrying the crib upstairs. The actual assembly process took under a half hour, making this the easiest piece of furniture in the house to EVER have been put together.

Which is how it should be when you are prepping for a newborn.

This crib is the:

Babys Dream Legendary Convertible Crib With Stationery Sides And Flat Top

The Legendary collection is a high-quality nursery collection perfect for girl or boy. The convertible flat-top Legendary crib transforms beautifully into a toddler bed and later into a full-size adult bed. The crib is a very sturdy stationary design and features substantial molding and curved channel posts. Cutouts around crib posts make tying your bedding bumper hassle-free. Coordinating pieces are value packed, offering dovetail drawer construction, oversized dimensions, and metal drawer glides. The bookcases are a great option for storing baskets, toys, and keepsakes. The Legendary collection is a classic design that can be enjoyed for many years and will grow up with your baby.

Features:

  • The Legendary crib offers a new twist on a classic style. Substantial moldings and curved channel posts evokes Old World charm and grandeur.
  • Converts to Toddler bed and to Full-size bed
  • Conversion kit sold separately
  • Mortise-and-tennon joinery
  • Solid sustainable wood construction
  • Built in the USA.
  • Manufactured to the highest safety level.
  • Rigorous safety tests and meet all regulations set by the CPSC and the JPMA.

The best part is this crib will last a lifetime. It goes all the way to an adult size and as a beautiful drop down feature so short gals like me can reach the baby.

Assembly instructions

Get all your stuff out…marvel that you are actually going to have a baby to put in here.

ZOMG!

Put someone to work putting it together…after all, you’re pregnant.

 

 

 

 

Done.

Seriously…..THAT Easy.

TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Look, the baby doesn’t have to sleep on the floor!

And just for giggles…a sneak peek at the room….totally undecorated and unfinished….

(late at night, thats why the room is so dark…and did you notice that my fan has surfboard paddles….hard to tell in this shot. Ill get another one.)

Now of course you will get to see more once I do my nursery makeover stuff for Parents Magazine and you will get to see how far I have come from this shot to now…..which really, honestly…still needs a lot more work.

I just cant find anyone to help me.

Do you know how hard it is to walk up and down the stairs 7 months PG? I’m getting winded.

So what do you think…..white for a boy or no way?

 

~Trisha

*crib provided by Goores. Need a crib, bedding, or other baby gear like strollers and more? GET FREE SHIPPING at Goores when you purchase atleast $89 worth of products…and trust me, you will!

Baby Carriers for BOYS!

Well, well, there ARE products for boys out there! I swear all I see is pink frill and ruffle, which isn’t exactly fair to the other gender. Recently I was introduced to these Snugli’s, a little carrier, that has lots of patterns and colors that help keep it so dad doesn’t get embarrassed to add on the pack.

Kwim?

They have all sorts of styles of packs and carriers, a few demonstrated here:

(Look how cute those BABIES are!)

I actually saw my sister carrying her 6 week old in a sling this weekend and she was so snuggled and comfy. I totally forgot that packs really existed, but I think it may make vacuuming, shopping, and walking around a lot easier.

Here are a few of the patterns available (there are more, these are just the ones I’m showing!)

Snugli® is Back to Give Moms a Hip, Cool Way to Hold onto Their Baby and Sense of Style

New moms are looking to transition into motherhood in style and one fashion accessory that they will keep close to heart is Snugli, the original soft baby carrier, which has re-launched with a fresh, stylish look. The new Snugli line will redefine fashion-meets-function with 16 high-impact patterns and colorful styles, and eye-catching prints including Herringbone, Fluer de Lis, Gothic Black, Love Tattoo, Mini Skulls, Union Jack, Black Camo and more. With these great styles, mom will be able to keep her style as she moves into motherhood.

The Snugli line features best-in-class technology, one-handed buckles and breathable fabrics along with self-adjusting back straps. The comfort-meets-cool line has runway looks to fit every mom’s style and will be available in May 2011 at Buy Buy Baby and buybuybaby.com from $39.99 – $79.99. As scores of moms will attest, Snugli is perfect for parents looking for comfortable solutions to carry their child hands free. It’s also ‘the hug you wear,’ promoting closeness between parent and child for extra bonding time while at home or on the go.

Jennifer DeLonge, well-known furniture and interior designer whose work has been featured in more than 200 editorial and online publications, is the inspiration behind Snugli’s makeover. This Snugli collection is the latest example of a designer focusing on stylish and functional products for babies and young children. The line establishes an upgraded level of style and sophistication – at a great price – for fashion-forward moms and dads as they embrace parenthood.

 

Did you use a carrier or sling with your child?

 

~Trisha