The Hyde's: July 2016

Monday, July 25, 2016

My 2nd Baby Wish List

So you are having a second baby, it’s the same gender and all first baby’s oodles of outgrown clothes will match up well for seasons and you own about every baby gadget that is necessary so what to do when family and friends ask for gift ideas? Well this is exactly what happened to me when we were expecting another girl. It didn’t make a lot of sense to buy brand new when we had so much that was in perfect condition for Claire so I spent a lot of time thinking about gift ideas to pass along because let’s face it, even if you tell family that baby doesn’t need anything… they are still going to buy something so might as well have a few good ideas ready.

1) My favorite item Claire received was a personalized swaddling blanket. I found coming up with gift ideas that were a little more personal and felt special to her were perfect 2^nd child gifts. This blanket on Etsy is made from a really soft material, far better quality than most swaddling blankets and I’ve used it a ton, whether it’s a backdrop for a picture or to use on the go in the stroller, it’s perfect!

{WHAT…hold up! As I was looking up this link I see they have personalized headbands that are made out the same material. You better believe Claire will be getting one of those! Christmas list started!}

There are tons of personalized baby blanket styles on Etsy; so, so many options!

2) Idea number 2 was a special hospital hat. Sure you will get a freebie newborn hat at the hospital and they work perfectly well but I wanted something a little more special so gift idea #2 was the coordinating hat in the above picture with the blanket. You can also find these that match the blanket that are personalized; this one here is pretty adorbs too.

3) For Claire’s baptism I had full intentions on reusing Annie’s dress, ain’t nobody got time to shop for a Baptism dress weeks after birth but decided to re-accessorize the dress for Claire. This cross headband and matching cross sandals were the added touch to make Claire’s Baptism attire a little different than Annie’s and doubled as a gift idea. Again, Etsy item.

Note, this is not my baby, picture from Etsy

Now who wore it better? Annie or Claire? Just kidding, both rocked that dress.

Claire

Annie

Unfortunately in the picture the headband and sandals don't show up well but trust me, they were the perfect touch and keepsake for Claire.

4) Personalized Birth Frame. Why not? Doubles as perfect nursery decoration! The Personalization Mall website has tons of cute designs.

5) Bath towels, wash cloths and bath toys. We actually had the right amount for bath towels and wash cloths for Annie but with another baby to bathe, we needed a few more. Both kids take a bath 3 times a week so that is 6 towels and 6 wash cloths, not to mention a wash cloth every day to clean their face/hands so we go thru a lot of wash cloths especially. Bath toys are always on our list, no matter how much I try to squeeze and siphon the water out of each toy at the end of a bath, they still harbor mold and get slimy and gross with time. Teething babies always want to put toys in their mouths so although Claire isn’t ready to use her bath toys she has gotten for gifts, I have them set aside for when she is ready for them. It’s always good to cycle out those bath toys and imagine bath toys will continue to be on their gift lists for awhile to come.

6) Fun Burp Clothes. When I was pregnant with Annie, we had a few cute burp cloths but for the most part we had just standard white ones. Receiving cute patterned ones wasn’t really on my list for baby #2 but when a friend gifted me a set of them, I realized I really enjoyed just having something fun and new and it seems practical since I do use them each and every day.

Boutique Baby Burp Cloths- Aqua Chevron, Houndstooth, Quatrefoil, Damask, Dots - Universal Burp Cloth, baby burp rags, Pricing starts for 2

These aren't the ones I have but just an example of cute designs that are out there to purchase on Etsy

7) Triangle bibs. When I was pregnant with Annie, these bibs weren’t in style at the time, now that they are; I am looking forward to Claire wearing some cute designs. When they start drooling, bibs are a 24/7 necessity so why not make them a fashion statement?!

Geo Tribal Baby Bib, Modern Triangles, Ivory Lilac Metallic Gold, Bandanna Bib Scarf, Baby Girl Teething, Flowers, Pale Pink

8) Books. We don’t have necessarily a shortage of books but most of the books we own were gifts to Annie. Although yes Annie can share her books with Claire and eventually Annie will outgrow these books anyways, it’s nice for Claire to have some that are just hers as well. We have a book shelf in Claire’s room that is pretty bare right now. A friend of mine sent Annie a book every month her first year and I’m excited that Claire has gotten the same gift and now gets a book every month in the mail as well to start adding to her collection. And this Mama appreciates reading something different for a change! I definitely feel like some books I can read with my eyes shut we’ve read them so many times over. Any moms out there just start making up their own stories to each page? I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve reinvented some books, heck Annie isn’t even close to reading so she doesn’t know any different when I’m telling a story that differs from the words in the book. I’ve made up some pretty good storylines too.

9) Jewelry. Annie has her own nice bracelet and necklace. They are so, so cute for occasions and pictures. The best part is a lot of the online vendors have a ‘grow with me’ aspect to their jewelry. Each year I can send in their bracelets and have added length to them clear up until adulthood. Although I’m not one that likes to be sentimental with items, I hope maybe they will wear them in their weddings someday. Tiny Blessings and Beadiful Baby both are great online vendors with top quality baby jewelry.

10) And to hold that jewelry how about a jewelry box. Annie has her own from Beadiful Baby and Claire has one from Pottery Barn, both with their names personalized on them. So, cute and also doubles as decoration as they are nice to have sit out on their dressers.

There you have it, definitely more of ‘fun’ things list than necessity items but yet all that have use to them.

Friday, July 15, 2016

The New Digs

One thing I have not shared is much about the fact that we moved last year. I had mentioned in my previous post that we built a house last year and talked more so about why we moved and about our old house and not so much about the new house. Now, 8 months later we are settled in enough to share some highlights of our new digs.

We wanted to stay in the western suburbs of the metro. Our last house was the perfect location; we already knew going into moving that we would never have as good of a location as we had then. We decided to move further west into the suburb of Waukee. Waukee is a growing community and we picked a neighborhood that was/is still being established. In fact, we were the first house built on our street. Lots and lots of construction is going on in our neighborhood but it’s starting to fill in and we have met a few of our neighbors, which I’m excited about as many of them actually have 2-year-old girls for Annie to play with and will be in her class when she starts school. Much more kid friendly than where we were before.

Would we build again if we had it to do over? Yes, we would. Since I have a bad case of OCD and am very particular about things, I found it to be pretty stressful and so yes I would do it again but I did not find the process that enjoyable and would certainly prefer to buy a pre-existing home as my first option.

What do I love most about my house? My favorite is our floors. I spent a lot of time picking out the right flooring as I wanted hard surfaces throughout the main living area. I’m very happy with them. I also love that this house is very conducive for small children. That was one of the main reasons we moved, and I can see the girls from just about anywhere in our main living area. We also needed more space, especially storage. We doubled in square footage from our last house and the extra space has been great! It’s so nice not living on top of each other anymore. We also love our play room we added on, basically a sun room that is an extension of our living room. It’s nice to have a toy-free living room and a separate space for toys. I look forward to the day that I can claim the sun room back as an adult room and make it more my own but right now it’s perfect for Annie and Claire. And lastly, my favorite is our patio. We haven’t had a chance to use it much but I love that we aren’t confined to the parameters of a deck anymore. We specially choose a flat lot so we could put in a stamped patio, I love how it turned out and I personally think a patio is better for entertaining, where we can overflow into the lawn if needed.

What are the mistakes in our building process? My laundry room is a huge mistake. It’s too, too small! Unfortunately, we may have to get a stackable washer/dryer to gain space and I’m not a fan of front loader washers from having one previously. Another mistake would be our dining room. We did add about 2 feet onto the original plan and it’s still a bit small. We rarely eat dinner together at the table so I didn’t see the need for anything too big but I do wish I would have made it slightly larger. We also wished we would have added more natural light sources to the front of our house. We started off with a different plan that would have been a wider house and would have given us more light but we had troubles finding a flat lot wide enough to fit the plans so we had to shrink down our façade and build our house longer rather than wider. We have lots of light in the back of the house but not much coming in thru the front, our last house had tons of natural light in every room and I do miss that.

What was our favorite part? Picking out our touches. Especially enjoyed our meeting where we picked out our light fixtures, that was fun. I think a lot of people consider that a stressful part but Aaron and I like and enjoy making decisions so picking things out was easy for us to do and we have the same taste so we easily agreed on most decisions. Did we go back and change some of our selections? Yes we sure did! I’m guessing the builder may be happy to have our house finished, I’m sure they got sick of hearing from me as I called and emailed them on every little detail and I questioned everything. It’s a big deal building and spending money on a home, I didn’t want to take any chances of miscommunication or misunderstandings.

We are happy here and it feels like home. Many memories have already been created here and it’s where our family is defined, refined and grows each and every day. I thank God for providing a comfortable home for my family where we have warmth in the cold weather, a roof in the rain, food on the table and love growing in each room of this house. Home really is where the heart is.