Room2 love.

Dear Addison,

Now that you’re 1, a lot of changes are and will happen. You’re hopefully going to be off the bottle soon, you’re hopefully confidently walking soon, and most hopeful (for us) is you enjoy not being in our room and don’t ever come back until after 7am! 

We know you need the presence of someone else in the room and so does your sister so we thought we would ship you to her room. It was a piece of cake to do with the Joovy Room2 playard. A much bigger portable travel playard and so much nicer to look at. It’s nearly 10 square feet of space, mesh windows, elevated off the floor, and has a padded mattress. You can even order a waterproof fitted sheet. 

We also tried sticking your dockatot grand in there because you absolutely love drinking your milk in there and taking short naps in there, but when it’s bedtime, we take it out so you have plenty of space to move around freely which you do while snoozing. It’s like you’re dancing in your sleep. 

📷: 3 little girls all in one room. 

Flash forward to a little over a week later and I’m to the moon thrilled to say you have adjusted to your new room and love sleeping in your new Joovy room2. Surprisingly your cries don’t wake Abigail up at all, but hopefully this will stop soon as we are working on getting you off the need for a bottle during the night. We’re currently lessening the ounces you’re getting as well as giving you a “dream feed” before we go to bed. Fingers crossed. 

We have Joovy to thank for this amazing comfortable Room2 playard that will get plenty of use throughout our house when mommy needs to do her chores or needs to put you in “jail” because we’re hopeful one day you’ll make it to your own room or we’ll just get you and your sister a bunk bed! 

P.S. Joovy has tons of other products from strollers to bottles. They’re well made, stylish and modern for the everyday family. #joovy #family

📷: 3 little girls all comfortably sleeping the night away. 

Cheers for now and thanks for reading! 

It’s a “grand” life for A.

With my second little, it has been quite different in so many ways. My older little was in her own crib by 2.5 months, got pumped breastmilk along with formula, and slept through the night by 3 months. My second little, however, is still in our room, gets nursed along with formula, and still has yet to sleep through the night at 8 months! 

One thing that has made the world of a difference in helping her sleep longer as a newborn is the dockatot. While we were living in London, we got the European version (where dockatot originated from) called the sleepyhead. This was seriously a godsend with sleeping in our cozy London flat and all the travels we did. We didn’t need to buy her a crib or borrow from the hotel, because this was perfect as she didn’t roll over until about 7 months. 

We enjoyed it in all the countries we visited after she was born. 

📷 loc: Limassol, Cyprus 

📷 loc: our cozy London flat

📷 loc: Heathrow airport dockatot deluxe (fits easily on the stroller!)

📷 loc: Exeter, England

Anyhow, we decided to upgrade to the Dockatot grand since she felt so secure and cozy in the deluxe. With the grand, she loves to sprawl out in it, sit up, and rest her head on the border. Hopefully, with this transition she will learn to sleep with her head at the top of the bed unlike her sister who does flips throughout the night.  We are also hoping this will ease her into the transition to her own room by 9 months. #fingerscrossed

We also took the Dockatot Grand with us to Las Vegas since we drove and it was wonderful poolside. Many compliments on how portable and comfortable she looked in it. 

So, yes Addison has a grand life with this upgrade. Check out the difference in size below. (It’s true when they say the deluxe will last your little until 8 months). 

Cheers for now and yes dockatot has been a lifesaver. #baby #musthave

The Rollercoaster Ride of Being a Mum.

Seriously, it’s been a roller coaster ride getting this breastfeeding down. The art of supply and demand with production of milk is definitely a work in progress and it has been rough with engorged and clogged milk ducts (thankfully, no mastitis).

I didn’t give much of a try to nursing my first and opted to pump and supplement with formula as I didn’t have much milk after a month.  Now I understand why I didn’t have much – the contact with nursing seems to be play a huge factor to building your milk production.  The sounds (cries) my babe makes now even causes my boobs to tingle and milk come out! WHOA, our body is crazy on what it does. 😯

This time around I decided my goal was to nurse and pump to maintain my sanity in saving time on cleaning/sterilizing the pump and bottles (Ok, I’m being lazy but that’s like 10 minutes of extra sleep in!).  My hubs is thinking the big savings on not spending money on formula. 💲💲

Pumping 

I decided to get a new pump because I wanted it to be smaller/travel friendly.  With all the research I did, I opted for the Nuby Natural Touch Digital Electric Breast Pump based on the size and how it looked.

• 💟 After using it this past week – I’m in love for the following reasons: 
  • simple to use (on/off) with 5 settings for suction and speed.
  • stimulation and expression functions to get the let-down going and then express function starts automatically to get the milk in the bottle (you can continue watching that show with no interruptions)!
  • small and portable (I think you can get a battery pack for it as well)
  • EASY to clean/sterilize (so important)
  • suction for the boob is made of silicone so it’s comfortable! yay for our boobs!

Did you know?

Nûby is the UK’s No.1 teether and No.2 cup brand (source: IRI 52 w/e 16.06.15) and has won numerous prestigious awards including Mother&Baby, Practical Parenting, Prima Baby and Loved by Parents for Newborn Feeding, Drinking, Teething & Toys which are all independently tried and tested and voted for by parents themselves. Nûby provides high quality, innovative products that are inspired by nature and make the lives of babies and parents easier, simpler and more fun.

OK, so one of the bigger questions I had was when can I introduce the pacifer to the babe since I was scared she would get confused on how to latch on?  Addison didn’t have to wait too long (approx. 2 weeks old) to get a pacifier, so of course, we got an adorable clip to go with her paci.

Product LOVE: Blue Brontide

• This amazing mama run shop of organic baby accessories has handmade products in her England studio along with eco friendly sourced products. Super cute and an one stop shop to sustainable accessories. 

📷: Organic dummy/pacifier clip by Blue Brontide

And when you get one present to a little, you have to give the first little something as well.  We decided to do breakfast in bed this past Sunday with her since she told me that Addison and I were always in bed drinking milk. 😜

📷: Fruit in bed with 2 adorable products sold by Blue Brontide:

• Wooden rabbit plate 
• Bunny placement – love this, so easy to clean and keeps your sheets clean and your table! 

📷: So in love with using wood products (as you can tell!). Don’t forget – I partnered with Jord Watches to run a GIVEAWAY where one winner will receive a $75 gift card and every ENTRANT will automatically receive a $20 gift card toward any watch. 

Cheers for now and thanks for reading! xx

That’s My Sleepyhead.

Product LOVE: Sleepyhead / Dockatot

Oh wow, all the hype about the sleepyhead / dockatot rings true – I’m a believer now that it really creates a magic portable bed for my newborn to sleep soundly in.

FYI: the Sleepyhead is what it is called in Europe (and also where it originated) and Dockatot is the USA name. 

We got the Sleepyhead Deluxe and it’s perfect for our cozy little London flat as we only have 2 bedrooms. Who needs another crib when you can use this to approximately 8 months.  If you would like to see our flat/episode from House Hunters International, I finally got it posted on my website under sprinkles.  The hilarious bit now is seeing the comments that people post on there – so “kind” behind a screen, I must say. 😯

Anyhow, I want to note a couple things about the Sleepyhead and the already noticeable personality differences between the girls that make this product work for our family of four. 

• My first loved her Rock n’ Play and being patted and rocked. Addison just wants to be held and not moved so Sleepyhead is perfect for her.
• Addison was breeched until 38 weeks so I think being in this “womb” like pod is ideal as she absolutely loves being swaddled where Abigail hated it.
• We realized from our travels with Abigail that we need to get a travel cot that is compact and light and not have to create a baby bed with a now extremely active toddler. The Sleepyhead fits perfectly what we are looking for. It is mobile to be in the flat and out. It will be easy to use for bed sharing, play pod, tummy time, sleep positioner, etc. 
• With the tight quarters in our London flat, we have utilized all the space so having this has made it easier for us to move our newborn around quickly (but not with her in it!) and find a spot for her to sleep peacefully without a million kisses from her sister. 😘

Muslin swaddle blankets LOVE to small shops (pictured above photo). 

• Small Stuff – based in the UK with limited edition clothes and products for our little bears. This mama picks the cutest things.  We love our monochrome goodies from her at an affordable price.  
• The Bobbin Belle – based in Florida, USA. Handmade blankets on my favorite Muslin material. This mama customizes and has so many colors to choose from (newest is oombre). I wish she has blankets in adult size! 

Cheers for now and thanks for reading. 

If you’re toying with the idea of getting a sleepyhead / dockatot, I would say hands down, “donut” worry, you won’t regret this purchase! 

♥️ Addison