Happy, beautiful Monday!
Today will be a little crazy in this house but I have a few fun new projects for the office and nursery to share with you as soon as I get those photos sorted. Until then, a sneak peek from Taylor’s newborn photoshoot. Can’t wait to post on that too – sweet, box-it-up-forever adorableness.
Back again with another round-up of Momma Musings from three wonderful bloggers who are sharing their favorite (and most unexpected) parts of mommyhood, as well as the one baby or nursery item that they can’t or couldn’t live without (part 1 here and part 2 here.) Thank you to these talented ladies as they give us a little insight into their lives as mommas, and help me with guest posts as I adjust to our change from one little chick to two. Be sure to check out their blogs, and I hope you enjoy! Happy, happy weekend!
You all know Reichel from Copy Cat Chic (and if you don’t, get on that!) and she is mom to one adorable little Arden as well as one on the way. Love her answer about the unofficial ‘Mom’s Club’ – so true, so very very true.
1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? I love being a Mom, I never imagined just how much I could love this new little person in my life. But I’d have to say one of my most unexpected and favorite parts of mommyhood is actually not related to my child! I guess that’s what makes it so unexpected. Once I gave birth, I, all of a sudden belonged to the unofficial “Mom’s” club. It’s funny how once you cross the threshold of Mommyhood, you develop friendships with people you never really had that much in common with before. All of a sudden a whole new world of camaraderie and support is opened up to you. It’s been great bonding and meeting new mommy-friends.
2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? We love our Stokke Tripp Trapp. Arden has been using it since she learned to sit on her own until now. We love how it pulls up to the dining table and how she can climb up into it on her own. We bought a second one for our new little one on the way!
One of my very favorite rooms in Dana’s home is her daughter’s nursery and it makes me so happy that she mentions it here in answer to question #2 so that I get to share a little sneak peek (her entire home is just as delicious). Dana blogs over at House*Tweaking and is mom to two boys and a sweet Maybrey (is that not the cutest girl’s name?).
1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? My absolute favorite part of mommyhood is the way it has forced me to slow down, lighten up and let unimportant things go. I wasn’t so good at that pre-kids and was a bit of a perfectionist. Now, I expect and embrace imperfection!
2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? In a house with a baby + two older (i.e. LOUDER) kids, we cannot live without a sound machine in the nursery. I don’t have to worry about my rowdy boys waking my sleeping babygirl. And we all know that a sleeping baby is the best gift any momma could ask for ;)
Leslie and I have become blogging friends over the years and I so appreciate her blogging voice and her sweet comments. She blogs at Pampers, Playdates & Parties and has two little girls. I have to agree 100% with Leslie’s answer to question #2 – our Angelcare Monitor made all of the difference in my state of mind when Liv moved to her separate nursery, and we’ll use it again when Taylor makes the switch!
1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? One word: Giggles.
I can’t get enough of baby giggles. I’m one of those people who will search for YouTube videos of babies laughing if I need a pick-me-up. The first time your baby giggles at you? Pure heaven. And each time they giggle after that is just another little slice.
The three year old still has some moments of those amazing giggles…but I am starting to hear a more affected laugh come in from time to time. Sometimes I’ll start a tickle fight or start blowing raspberries on her belly just so I can hear that genuine laughter come through.
My not-so-little Baby girl has a very different laugh. Real giggles are reserved for the funniest of moments…and are VERY difficult to get. Most of the time, she sounds exactly like Ernie from Sesame Street, but sometimes we get a really good giggle out of her!
2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? It’s amazing how a question can seem so simple, yet be so hard to answer. My husband swears up and down that the swing was the most useful baby item, but I would have to say that we’ve gotten most use-and peace of mind-from our Angelcare Monitor. T was born 5 weeks premature, and spent 3 weeks in the NICU due to consistent bradycardia episodes (her heart rate would dip far below recommended levels). One of my most frightening moments as a mother was when I was nursing her in the hospital, and suddenly her heart rate dipped to 50 beats per minute and the alarms started to sound.
Thankfully it all turned out to be related to GERD, but I was beyond paranoid when we brought her home. Having the little “tick-tick-tick” from the Angelcare monitor was a huge comfort. The best part is that we’re still using that same monitor for L. Nearly four years later both parent units are still going strong after only one battery change….which brings me to another item that I just can’t ignore: Eneloop batteries. We’ve used these batteries for everything from toys to baby swings, and even as the replacement batteries for the Angelcare. Rechargeable batteries are a must, and these are the workhorse of all rechargeables.
Thank you wonderful mommas for sharing your thoughts today. More Momma Musings from guest bloggers Stefanie (Brooklyn Limestone), Sherry (Young House Love) and Emily (Jones Design Company) in part 1 here, and from Katie (Bower Power), Emily (Emily A. Clark) and Jenna (A Mama Collective) in part 2 here!
This mini series is open to all bloggers! If you’d like to participate, please feel free to send over your answers to the two above questions to: morgan at pepperdesignblog dot com. Your answers are always welcome.
A couple of weeks ago I posted on making rosemary tea bath soaks. It began to occur to me that these little muscle healers might actually be useful for a little post partum healing (if you know what I mean), and I began to research ingredients to aid in wound and bruise wellness. New mommas are bathing often anyway, right? (You know, between the feedings and diapers and general life/baby stuff…) Might as well fill that soothing end-of-the-day bath with relaxing aromas and natural healing agents.
Besides post partum, these new tea bath soaks would be great for just about anyone who has had some sort of surgery or bad injury, I’m thinking that a pack would make a great get well package?
The mixture can either be steeped in hot water directly (think adding a scoop to a sitz bath), steeped in a kettle and strained (to add to a bath), or prepackaged in large tea filters to just plunk into the bath whenever you’re ready (I like to throw multiple soaks in at one time).
The secret to these guys is a mixture of salts and herbs that all aid in natural healing in some way. Kind of like the way a soothing cup helps relieve a tough cold? Same with a soothing bath tea soak for sore and inflamed muscles and skin.
The four ingredients in my tea soaks include: epsom salt, sea salt, dried calendula flowers and dried rosemary.
Epson salt is known to relax tense and sore muscles built up from stress and body fatigue (hellooo labor). Sea salt has been proven to promote cell health and reduce joint pain, it also replenishes your body of necessary trace minerals. Calendula flowers aide in preventing infection and soothing inflammation (a go-to medicinal herb for thousands of years), and rosemary has been found to have anti-bacterial and anti-oxident functions. Yep, it’s all really good stuff.
Most of the ingredients can be found at your local pharmacy (such as the salts), but I ordered my calendula off of Amazon (and still have a half a bag if anyone in SD is in need of some!). The rosemary came from our garden and was washed and dried the night before.
To assemble, into a large mixing bowl went all of my ingredients (the rosemary was stripped from its stems prior). Then I scooped and filled until each of my tea filter pouches were 3/4 of the way full.
I found large white tea filters perfect for the occasion. These guys are big enough, and are more commonly used, to steep an entire pitcher of sun tea for example.
To heat seal your bath tea bags, fold over top flap and press down with a hot iron for about 10 seconds.
Then wrap up and gift! Or perfectly sized for using a single pouch in one sitz bath for all of you mommas out there.
I also made little labels explaining the ingredients and purpose of the pouches for gifting. You can download them here.
If you’re feeling like you don’t really want to make a bunch of pouches, fill little jars or vases for use in a sitz bath and scoop in as needed. These would be cute as a new momma gift in a jar as well.
Pregnancy and post partum healing is tough! We mommas have to help each other out. Hope you enjoy!
PS You can find other pregnancy-related posts here. And since we’re on the subject, my favorite magic belly stretch cream recipe here.
