Our Favorite Baby Gear

*Life is beautiful:  Every once in a while I'm on a run and I smell something familiar.  Once I remember smelling  a sweet plastic-y smell that reminded me of the Cupcake Dolls we had growing up.  A few weeks ago I smelled something in the air that reminded me of being in Ghana.  Today something in the air reminded me of hiking with my family in Utah.   With our sense of sight and hearing, (and the ability to taste ice cream.  I mean really.), smell is often ignored.  But I love its power to pull us back into memories.

When I was pregnant with Kennedy it was so hard to know what to buy.  I heard people say "you need to buy this!" or "this isn't helpful at all!" and sometimes messages were really conflicting.  For us, here are some of the purchases we have made (or gifts we received--thank you!!) that we LOVE.

1.  Baby Carrier:  Affectionately called the "baby backpack" at our house. The one we bought (we found it at Target) can be worn four ways.  Kennedy can be on our front or back, and she can face in or out.  We love this style because it looks good on both moms and dads.  Derek loves carrying Kennedy in it.

2.  Car mirror:  I hadn't really heard of these until a friend at work told me about them.  So I registered for it thinking I might as well.  Oh my heavens.  We LOVE it!  (And if we're ever in a car without it, we feel like something is missing.  Even my mom got pretty attached to it when she helped me out the first several days.)  This mirror allows us to see Kennedy's face while we drive.  It's a little thing, but it makes a huge difference to be able to glance back to check on her.  (and it makes helping her at red lights a whole lot easier.

3.  Jogging stroller:  This obviously isn't a must for everyone, but since I like to run I wanted something that I was excited to use every day.  And this stroller has been awesome.  I love how easy it is to fold up and then open, the storage space, cup holders, a place for my phone and pepper spray (don't judge.  I just...like being prepared.).  This stroller holds Kennedy in her carseat now but converts to a big-kid seat once she's out of a rear facing seat.  It has shocks to protect against bumps in the road and the steering is amazing!  I love my stroller!

4.  Saline drops:  We don't use these a lot lately, but when Kennedy was first born she was so congested!!  (haha, so was I.  I was blowing my nose on the operating table during the c-section.)  These drops were so helpful to moisten things up--sorry for the use of that word, mom ;)--so we could use our suction from the hospital easily.

5.  Pacifier wipes--The older and older Kennedy gets the less germaphobic I have become.  But early on, and even now, I love having these pacifier wipes available.  I just keep them in the diaper bag and if our pacifier falls onto the parking lot or ground anywhere, I can easily clean it off.

6.  Baby bath:  This is something I wasn't planning on buying because kitchen sinks work great.  But a friend at work (I LOVED MY FRIENDS AT UV PEDS!) gave me one her kids had used.  I'm so grateful because I love this tub and so does Kennedy.  (also she completely sobbed during the two tub baths we gave her, and doesn't ever cry here)  I've used it on the floor and also set it in the bathtub once more splashing happened.

I can't believe she was this tiny!!  Our sweet 7 lb baby has already doubled in weight!

7.  Bouncer:  this is a new toy and oh it makes us so happy :)  She's still getting the hang of it, but it's been awesome so far.  It switches easily from one door to the next so depending on the work I'm doing I can put her in there right by me.  Usually Kennedy's only in for about ten minutes at a time, but that's been a great way for me to shower and not worry about her crying.

a little jumping.  mostly singing though.

lately she just likes chilling in there.  hopefully soon she remembers how fun it is to bounce

Art walk and Christmas Store

*Life is Beautiful: Some days I get caught up in the need-to-do's, and the wish-I-could-do's and find myself frustrated that things that used to be so simple become so much more of an affair with a baby.  But I had a thought the other day that has stuck with me.  There's a scene in Hook where Peter is feeling pretty low and can't find a single happy thought.  But then he remembers...He is a dad!  He is living the ultimate dream.  And that's so true!  I'm a wife to an amazing husband and I have the most beautiful baby in the world. There's nothing I want more than this.   I just want to remember this is what I have dreamed of my whole life and to soak it all up with gratitude. 

Derek and I had a really fun date last month  The friend I go walking with told me about Fairhope Art Walk and I knew I wanted to try it.  There wasn't a lot of information online, so Derek and I didn't really know what to expect.

But it was so cute.

When we got to downtown Fairhope we knew that we must be in the right place.  Every single block was filled with cars and everywhere we looked we saw people walking around.  As we wandered, we discovered that downtown is absolutely filled with all sorts of little boutique stores. And during the first Friday of the month the stores stay open into the evenings, there are live performers throughout the streets, and most of the shops offered free wine tasting  (We declined.)

I wandered around feeling like I was in Disneyland.  The pictures I took really don't do justice.  Like at all. But here are some pictures I took through the night.

We went into a homemade soap store. The woman who owns it studied chemistry and decided to make soaps for a living.  So she runs a cute little soap shop.  They all smelled amazing.

We decided to buy this manly soap for Derek.  It's the most yummy smelling thing.  We decided it smelled like a mix between woods and lemon.  Mmmm.

someday I'll get a better picture of this alley.  It was absolutely magical.

We left the art walk just in time to watch the US national team. play.  (Best of both worlds, right?) And we got Zaxbys!!  If you go, get a combo so you can get the fries, and  GET THE PEACH LEMONADE.  Derek and I cannot recommend the lemonade more highly. 

On another day we visited a  couple places in Mobile we wanted to visit.  The first place we went was the state's biggest flea market.    I was so excited, even giddy when we arrived.  Buuut, it was not our favorite thing.  It was pretty dirty and all you could smell was cigarette smoke.  We still got some fun pictures though.

We left the flea market then headed over to a store called Everything Christmas.  

 It's a huge Christmas store, open all year round, and we knew we had to see what it was like.  It was so cute!  We walked around the store, loving the decorations, trees, nativities.  We had a fun time teaching Kennedy why we celebrate Christmas.