Claire's 1st Birthday Party (+Annie's 3rd)

I’m way behind on my post for Claire’s first birthday party!  We ended up celebrating the day after her actual birthday.  We had close family and some close friends over to celebrate on a late Saturday morning.  If you recall, I also planned to have Annie’s 3^rd birthday to coincide with this celebration which worked out well.  We are at the age where I feel like I can get away with combined birthdays.  Next year we will probably put the focus on Annie’s birthday and tuck Claire’s celebration into Annie’s day.  It won’t be long before they will each want their own and not a shared celebration so taking advantage of it while it doesn’t matter in their little worlds.

We were able to get Claire down for a short nap before the birthday party which worked out well to have a happy rather than cranky 1 year old.  Everyone enjoyed seeing her walk for the first time and take note to how much she has grown.  

Annie was full of energy and running around with her cousin Elijah and friend Alaina.  At this age, their little personalities can take a turn at any given moment so I wanted to keep the party festivities moving along quickly so that we had them out of the way and we could all just socialize.  So we started right away with singing Annie Happy Birthday and she ended up with purple frosted cupcakes for the party.  She is obsessed with the color purple nowadays.  And sugar.  So win-win. 

Annie is so funny.  I know how much she LOVES being celebrated.  But when the birthday song is being sung to her, she takes it so seriously and the look on her face seems so business.  Check out the video to see what I mean…

After this, we got right to gift opening.  My least favorite part because the kids are just nuts and the chaos always sends my anxiety sky high.  I really need to figure out how to make this better in the future.  Annie was in my face asking to open more and more gifts and she was ripping thru them so fast and I was trying to focus on helping Claire open hers and I felt like it just becomes a whirlwind and then I am not 100% sure what came from who in the end.  I think next year we will have one kid open at a time for my sanity and keep the other kid contained on someone’s lap.  I can only handle one kid going gift opening nuts at a time.  The girls received all sorts of fun stuff that they are loving to play with.

After gift opening, we got Claire ready for her smash cake.  Just like Annie 1^st birthday, she had zero interest in the cake; a few tastes and she was done.  I was okay with it because I really didn’t care for the mess and we had already gotten good pictures the weekend before during her 1 year old shoot.  So the cake smash was uneventful.

After this, the kids played and when everyone left, the girls napped so well.  I like to be cleaning up while I’m visiting.  It’s probably not the best thing to do but then when everyone leaves, it’s peace and quiet time for me too so that afternoon was the perfect down time for all.

For Annie’s 1^st birthday I had hand-made most of her decorations and went to a lot more work than I did for Claire’s.  I thought about reusing them but Claire gets so many hand-me downs in life that I decided she needed her own party décor.  I ended up buying most all of our decorations on Amazon and it was definitely the route to go. 

All in all we had a great 1^st birthday celebration for our sweet Claire McKenna.  Everyone was able to make it and we got some good pictures of everyone with her for her baby book.  Speaking of baby book, I worked furiously to get it filled out leading up to her party.  I had actually done a pretty good job of keeping up with it until around 10 months and she had a lot of firsts in those few missed months but I was able to get both the girl’s baby books updated for the year.  It feels good to have that done. 

Mother's Day 2017

On this Mother’s Day, I want to jot down today’s memories.  Every day moments that are occurring now in this current phase of mommyhood that I can look back on and read someday down the road…

When Annie gives me a hug, she a lot of times will say ‘My Mommy.”  Oh how I love her declare me as her mommy and how she says it with such pride and possession.  And then I go “My Annie” and we start to banter back and forth “My Mommy”/“My Annie!”

Claire blew me a kiss the other day for the first time.  Once she starts, she gives multiple ones in the row.  So precious.

 In the mornings, Annie will sit on the bathroom counter and watch me put on my makeup.  After I apply each item, she will say “Do me Mommy.”  So after I put on my mascara, I will put the lid back on and pretend I’m putting it on her.  She really believes she is wearing makeup and sits so still as I rub the closed mascara tube across her lashes.

Claire loves to carry this little toy purse around.  I’ll turn around to see her walking around with it in the nook of her arm all the time.   I’m sure she learned it from her sister, 2 girly girls that’s for sure!

The girls love to play chase in our bedroom.  I’ll start by getting on all 4s and start marching towards Claire who will laughs so hard and her walk turns into a run turns into falling over.  Then I’ll turn around and start chasing after Annie on the other side of the bed.  When I go back to chasing Claire, Annie is always yelling “Get me Mommy, Get me!”  Once I ‘get’ Annie, she’ll yell “Get Claire!” That game of chase around the bed is always full of little girl giggles.  

Annie is always a handful at bedtime but lately when I tuck her in for the 100^th time, she’ll say “Lay with me Mommy.”  I have a hard time denying that so I’ll lay next to her and snuggle for a minute or two.  She won’t want to snuggle with me forever so I try to take that minute or two to soak up those last squeezes of the day.  

Annie has learned her bedtime prayers pretty well.  Although she will speed thru it, get half way thru and then end with an Amen.  And she still hasn’t differentiated that dinner prayer is not the same as bedtime prayers.  So we usually let her say the bedtime prayer at dinner, then Aaron and I say the actual mealtime prayer out loud.   She’ll get it one of these days.

I love rocking Claire to sleep at night.  It’s our moment of solitude in the near darkness with her still in my arms. She is still in a sleep sack and taking a bottle at bedtime and I feel like these nights of doing just that are fleeting.  My rocking baby days are coming to an end but I’m going to rock her as long as she’ll let me. 

The days truly are long but the years are short. I don't want to wish these days away. These are the sweet memories I want to always remember this Mother’s Day 2017.  

Mommy+Daddy Letters to Our Daughter Claire

My Sweet Claire McKenna,

I can hardly believe that today you are 1 year old. This year has gone by too quickly; I remember when the nurse placed you in my arms and how tiny you were. You fit just perfectly in my arms and I knew that you were always meant to be mine.

For the last year, I have watched you learn and grow every day. At 1 year old, you are still my little Claire Bear. You're just a tiny little thing; I wish I could keep you little forever.  I love how you sit so snuggly in my lap and how you like to observe every little thing going on around you. 

You are so loving and sweet. You flash the biggest smiles at mommy and daddy that truly melt my heart.  We give you about ten million kisses a day, I love how your hair is perfectly baby soft and I can’t help but kiss the top of your head over and over. You adore your big sister Annie and she adores you right back. It’s so special watching you both bond with each other.  At just 1 year old, you've learned so much, it has been fun watching all your firsts in life. You get so excited every time you do something new; I love how joyful you are when you discover something new in life.

We love how you are a little more laid back than your sister but yet you stand your ground and have your own little opinions too and make them known. You are the perfect yin and yang to our family. You love nothing more than to sit on our laps, which I’m treasuring as much as I can as I’m sure it won’t be long before you’ll want to be more independent. 

I am so thankful to be your Mommy. I am truly blessed beyond words. God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave you to me. He knew our family needed you. I love you, my sweet 1 year old. Grow up strong knowing that I will always be here for you. Let God direct your paths, and you'll really go far.

Thank you, my sweet Claire, for every smile, every giggle, and every sparkle in your eye.

Love always,

Your Mommy

To my Beautiful Claire Bear,

As I type this and look out the window at this cold rainy day, one year ago today you were born, you were the sunshine on that cold & dreary day. It’s hard to put into words what you mean to me. The last year has been a whirlwind. Many say the days are slow but years fly by. This is true but I have made every effort I can to slow down and appreciate every moment of being with you.

Prior to your birth your mother and I worried and prayed so much that you would be in good health. We knew that regardless of what happened it was God’s plan. When you born happy and healthy we were ecstatic.

I had no idea what to expect as I was becoming a Dad for the second time to another little girl. It is an amazing blessing. It’s been fun seeing your little personality develop as you have grown. I’m glad that your only one. Sometimes as a Parent when you deal with the day-to-day challenges it’s easy to wish away time to an older aged child. As challenging as life is I want to appreciate all your growth and triumphs. I will be your cheerleader, friend but most importantly your Dad.

I love holding you and your sister close and squeezing you tight. Watching you learn and experiencing life is amazing. I love your little baby giggles. I love your little baby gaze when you’re learning. I love how you respond to me with little baby grunts. 

You’ve taught me to appreciate the little things and to not take time or people for granted.

Now you’re almost one. It makes me smile just thinking about it. Life will bring you victories and challenges, good days and bad ones. I will always be your Dad and always be here for you, loving you and cheering you on.

Love,

Dad

Claire's 1st Steps on 3/20/17

I'm way late on this... but the day after Annie's birthday weekend, Claire took her first true steps.  It's almost like Claire couldn't handle Annie's 3 day birthday celebration and was like she was saying "I'll show them... I'll just start walking, that'll get the attention back on me!"  HA.

It was funny because actually just the day prior, a friend commented to us that they think she will be walking soon and I was like no way, not even close.  She was still more focused on crawling and really couldn't keep her balance for too long so I really was very surprised when she started walking that very next day.

And of course, once she did it, we basically spent a good hour of her walking back and forth between Aaron and I while I took a million videos of it.  If I would've known she was going to put on a performance that night, I wouldn't have chosen her Christmas pajamas for the big event.  Nothing like a little Christmas spirit still lingering into Spring.

Now that she is walking, I'm having some issues finding her shoes with grip on the bottom.  She has the tiniest feet and really can't fit into Annie's old shoes and really Annie is hard on her shoes and there won't be much for hand-me downs in this area.  Claire is still in 0-6 month Robeez shoes and they are really getting tight.  But 6-12 months is too huge on her so we need some in-between like 6-9 months but they are hard to find that size or even find a good shoe that will have grip to them on a hard surface.  Plus we will be getting outside soon so I'm on the hunt for some hard soles that she won't trip on.  So many soles are bulky.  In the meantime, barefoot and grippy socks are getting us by.

It's also very cute how she gets very excited when she walks, she knows exactly what she is doing and she has a huge grin and gets really excited right before she takes that first step forward.  It never gets old!  That initial excitement doesn't last long, so we are loving it while it's still there!

And leave it to Annie to be screaming and crying in the background of these videos, you aren't even getting the half of her tantrums she was having...

Annie is 3 Years Old!

I feel like this past year has gone by fast and before we knew it, Annie’s birthday was here and just like that she’s now 3.  We’ve now moved pasted the ‘terrible twos’ to the ‘threenager’ stage.   Last year really was no different than the ones honestly, she has been our little handful since she’s been born so I wouldn’t say age 2 was any harder as she keeps us on our toes every single day. 

What’s new with her?  Talking up a storm! Her pronunciation gets better every month but there are times where I have no idea what she is saying.  And then there are times where I’m like, wait what did you say and how do you know that?  She’s a pretty smart cookie.  She still starts her sentences usually with about 10 ‘mommies’ in a row before she actually gets to what she wants to tell me “Mommymommymommymommymommy that’s yucky!”  Well how do you know it’s yucky, you haven’t even tried it #pickiesteaterever.

I’d say her favorite thing to do is puzzles.  She is knocking out 46 piece puzzles all on her own.  We actually can’t keep up with her before she outgrows and gets bored with a puzzle and needs a more advanced one.  And when she completes one, she is very proud of it but is ready to tear it apart and do it all over again. 

She also loves Playdoh.  It’s the one thing that can keep her entertained on a Saturday morning for a good chunk of time.  Mixing colors gives me a little anxiety but I’ve learned to get over it because she is the Queen Bee of mixing all the tubs of colors together.   

Potty training has plateaued at the moment.  #1 no problem, but sometimes we have to force her to do it meaning no TV or attention until you go sit on the potty.  #2 still in the pull-ups, and she totally knows what she needs to do, she just has yet to do it.  It’s like we are so close but until she has done it once, we just won’t get there.  I’ve tried every means of persuasion and it doesn’t move the needle so at this point we are just waiting for her to do it on her own.

She is still very opinionated about most everything but especially when it comes to what she wears.  The more the better in her world.  Layer on cardigans over dresses with multiple necklaces, headbands and bows.  I’m learning to compromise on her crazy outfit choices but I’m also getting smarter on this front.  I recently bought some Minnie Mouse socks for example where I can get her to wear what she may consider a ‘not so fun’ outfit (insert solids colors and patterns) because she is excited to have Minnie on her socks.  And her favorite all time color is purple so anything with purple on it is a win.  I sure hope Claire likes purple too because her hand-me downs are starting to look more and more purpley.

Purple on purple

Who dresses like this? Seriously. 

Annie was incredibly anxious for her 3^rd birthday this year.  It was cute but also challenging.  Every kid in her daycare class have birthdays it seems in Jan and February so each week she was celebrating someone else’s birthday and she asked me nearly every morning “Is it my burfbay yet mommy?”  And I’d have to tell her no, it’s not your ‘burfbay’ 😊.  So when a birthday card came in the mail in advance of her day, I gave it to her and told her it was a birthday card for her, I so wish I had on video her reaction.  She stuttered a bunch and got very serious going ‘What? What? What? It’s my, It’s my, It’s my BURFBAY?!!”  I then realized what I’ve done and had to explain to her it’s ALMOST her birthday but not quite.  She was on cloud 9 when that card arrived and carried it around with her for DAYS. 

Given that Claire’s having her big 1 year birthday this year, we decided not to have a formal party for Annie but just celebrate hers at the same time we do Claire’s.  I feel like we only have a few years in these early years to get away with combined parties so taking advantage of it while we can.

Rather, we decided to celebrate Annie’s birthday by doing fun things all that weekend.  I took the day off from work and went into her daycare and brought a big cookie cake and watched all the kids sing HBD to her and played with her and her friends that morning.  She loved having me there.  One kid even said, “My mom didn’t come in when it was my birthday.”  Ya well, take that up with your mom kid.

Love this video from daycare, it's like the look on her face as she is looking around is like "I've been waiting for this moment for a LONG time": 

Saturday morning, we took her to Build-A-Bear and even though she isn’t big on stuff animals, I thought it would just be a fun experience.  She did love it and although the bear just sits in the corner of the room now, she hung onto it for a good day.  And we got lucky as there was a purple bear that was just perfect in the clearance bin, win for our wallet/win for Annie.

Later that afternoon, we took Annie and one of her good friend’s Alaina over to the nail salon for their first pedicures.  Of course, Annie wanted purple and insisted that Alaina couldn’t have purple but could have pink.  Which luckily all worked out well as Alaina didn’t want purple.   Annie actually sat very well thru it, I was a little unsure how it would go but was happy to see she loved every minute of it.  It’s gives me some good insight of the fun girly stuff we can do together more often.   She wanted her finger nails done and I told her no way, stop sucking your thumb and I’ll let you.  She also has been wanting her ears pierced and I’ve told her not yet to that too.  I know, I’m such a mean Mom, aren’t I?! #hardly.

I’d say our biggest struggle is keeping her in her bed after lights go out.  Once she’s asleep, she actually has been staying her in bed at night pretty well with a few rare nights here and there.  Which I think is probably pretty normal for most parents.  It’s the whole, I have to go potty, need to brush my teeth (again), hunger pangs kick in, the thirst is unquenchable, she lost her lovey (BTW, we’ve watched her on the monitor purposely shove it between the bed and the wall and then come running out saying her lovey is lost).  Her delaying tactics is an exhausting process that I’m looking forward to her outgrowing. 

She also lately likes to argue with me in the car.  “It’s green mom, GO!”  (as she kicks the back of my seat).  Child, I can’t move this vehicle until the car in front of me goes.  And if I turn right on red, total pandemonium breaks out in the backseat.  Then I have to justify to my 3 year-old that I CAN turn right on red.  I have a true back seat driver now.  OH Annie, this is just one of the many examples of everyday life with you!

And that’s a wrap, we got a threenager ruling our world now in the sweetest, cutest, most exhausting ways.  We love every bit of you, Annie ‘Bonanie’!   

Hyde Happenings

I feel like life has been crazy lately but nothing really out of the usual is going on for us.  It’s just been busy ordinary days lately and blogging has been on the back burner if you haven’t noticed.  So how about some random Hyde Happenings?

·       I recently have gotten into essential oils.  So much so that I looked into purchasing vs. getting the kit and becoming a wholesale distributer.  I got the kit!  It’s the only thing that doesn’t make me feel nauseous to diffuse.  I’ve completely given up on candles, it used to be certain ones that make me sick but the last year, all candles have made me sick.  Diffusing essential oils is so much healthier!  I’ve done enough research and trying out of some that I’ve landed on the Young Living oils and so far it’s been great.

·       Speaking of scents making me sick… I was at my hairdresser a few weeks ago and she was mixing my hair color and she dropped the whole bowl of color on the floor!  I seriously thought this couldn’t happen to anyone but me with my sensitivities to smells.  I seriously thought I was going to faint or throw up from the fumes but I managed thru it.

·       Claire did so much during her 9^th month it’s crazy how quick she is growing up!  She crawls all over, stands on her own for a few seconds at a time, says ‘Dada’, waves and claps her hands.  That’s a lot for one month!  And I just noticed the other day for the 1^st time she had a little separation anxiety when I let someone else hold her and she was looking at me getting fussy and wanted me.  That was a first!  Normally she’d be fine being passed from stranger to stranger.

·       My social calendar is full!  I seriously can’t take on anymore social activities this Spring.  And it’s all due to hanging out with our neighbors, which is awesome.  Our monthly Bunco nights are turning into quite the party night.  We’ve made meals together, gone to birthday parties, dinner/drink dates, and gotten pedicures while the kids nap.  And now they are talking about going to Napa Valley.  It’s nice having people who live right in our neighborhood that we get along so well with and our kids are all the same age too which is a huge plus!

·       Poor Annie.  Oh her birthday can’t get her soon enough!  There are 15 kids in her daycare room and I swear they all have birthdays in January and February and every day she wakes up and asks if it’s her birthday.  She is so incredibly anxious for her day to come.  I’m actually happy that her birthday comes before Claire’s as our plan is to celebrate with her the weekend of with just us and then come Claire’s birthday we will have an official birthday party for both.  So she kinda gets celebrated twice, which I’m sure she will love!  In the meantime, she’s being an amazing sport with everyone else’s birthdays that seem to happen bi-weekly around her.

·       I’m done cleaning.  Just done!  When I’m not working at my full-time job our weekends are busy.  The girls are very needy of every second of our free time.  I have zero time for deep cleaning.  So things are changing at Casa De Hyde.  We hired a house cleaner (whose been cleaning for the last 3 hours as I type) and we bought a Roomba.  We already know someone who can mow our yard this summer.  Our time is so limited lately, and I’m already happy to have a few less things on our to-do list going forward even if it does cost us.

·       I did the HyVee meal prep with my neighbors recently and it was awesome!  We choose 7 recipes (a recipe per participant) and we showed up on a Sunday at 1 pm and they had all the meat for the meals cooked and prepped, all the ingredients for each of our 7 meals laying out on individual tables with all the ingredients right there ready to go.  All we did was combine the ingredients into freezer safe containers.  For instance, I made 7 chicken tamale casseroles and each of us took one home and someone else made 7 of another recipe and so forth.  And then HyVee did all the clean-up of our mess.  Amazing experience!   Each meal is supposed to yield 4 servings but I’ve already gotten 6 servings out of the meals we’ve ate.  And the whole thing cost $97.  Not bad at all!  There is no way I can make 7 very different meals in 1.5 hours, very time effective, which nowadays I’m all about my time!  It’s nice having meals all planned out and ready to just throw in the oven or crockpot.  

·       We are getting rid of our cable.  It’s been a long time thinking about this but we don’t watch TV hardly at all.  I watch the Bachelor on Mondays, otherwise I watch maybe an hour of tv in total thru the rest of the week. Every night we come home, make dinner, do baths and play with the girls in their bedroom until bedtime.  And then I usually read a book while Aaron pulls out his computer and works.  Our TV just never turns on anymore and when it does it’s for cartoons.  So we decided we still can’t live without TV really so we tried out the Playstation Vue’s free trial and that’s what we are switching over to.  And really it’s pretty comparable to our cable, we still will get HGTV, Food Network, Bravo and the locals for me and Aaron still gets all his sports channels and it is going to cost us 75% less per month!  Huge! Peace out Direct TV.  This is also how I justified to Aaron to get a house cleaner, just a little repurposing of funds!

That’s all I can’t think of!  Also, Aaron and I have been depending on our babysitter a lot more making a point to have date nights several times a month.  We have a date night tonight actually, JohnnySwim concert for the win!     

9 Months Old: Claire McKenna

Claire turned 9 months old a few weekends ago (on 1/28).  It has hit me now {a little hard too} that we are on the downhill slide of her 1^st year, it’s seriously flying by!  Between 6 and 9 months we’ve had lots of changes.  First off, she is crawling.  She just started this the day before her 9^th month and is still slow moving but she’s certainly on the move.  Before she figured crawling out, she went from pushing up onto knees to barrel roll to get to where she wanted to go so it’s not like it’s a totally new thing to have her on the move but officially crawling is exciting and we all sit around coaxing her to do it daily.

She’s also figured out how to pull herself up onto furniture, toys and in her crib.  Which is something she definitely likes to do more than crawling right now.  One thing she has figured out better than I recall Annie doing was managing to find her way back down.  When Annie first started pulling herself up in her crib, we’d have to go back and lay her back down.  Claire has figured out how to set back down from standing but we’ve still had a few nap battles since she can now stand and refuse to nap a little easier than before. 

Which brings me to napping – she actually is pretty easy to put down but she isn’t one to nap on the go.  We can’t put her in the car or stroller and anticipate her to doze off, it just doesn’t happen.  I’ve heard other moms say their 9-month old’s don’t nap much at all during the day but my kids have always needed their naps and they are totally different kids without them so Claire has tied us down to being home a lot more so we ensure she naps, but that’s just fine, it’s cold out and we don’t all need to be out at once most of the time anyways.

She’s also eating real table food and loving it!  In fact, baby food was even more short lived than it was with Annie, she refuses to eat it and will turn her head and scream if we even try to come at her with a spoon.  I’m all onboard too because that means we can eat our own dinner with a small bit of peace and sorta quiet while the 2 kiddos feed themselves.  We don’t all sit at the table together often but when we have, it just feels like we are pivoting to a new stage, having dinner all together and having instances where I cook ONE meal for everyone to eat is…well…awesome!

We are pretty sure she is saying ‘dadda’!  When we concentrate on her saying it, she’ll say ‘dadda’ back to us.  No ‘Ms’ in site so not looking like mama will be coming out anytime soon but that’s okay because the 2.5 yr old has the non-stop-Mama-calling down pretty good so it’s being made up for.

She loves to play peek-a-boo, playing with hand puppets, playing in her ‘baby fort’, taking baths, watching/playing with her sister, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, loves her Puffs, being held, and tearing every single book off her bookshelf {every.single.night}.  She’s still a very happy baby.  Although she does have some incredibly fussy moments but it’s usually when she isn’t feeling well or is overtired, which are understandable and it makes it easy to tell when something isn’t right with her.

The 'baby fort,' Annie has one that is much bigger so Claire got her own fort for Christmas

Aaron usually puts Claire down at night as Annie is particular about mommy time before bed but every now and then I get to sneak in and switch with Aaron and put her down at night.  In which the last time, I was rocking her in her dark room in my arms and she was so still, just drifting asleep and I realized how these still times with her in my arms are fleeting.  I don’t rock Annie to sleep in my arms at all anymore and haven’t for what feels like a while so I’m trying to soak in the time that I can still rock Claire.  It’s both sad and happy feelings.  Sad that my baby is growing so quickly and happy because I’m excited to see what she’ll be like at Annie’s age as a talking toddler and knowing all the fun and new things I get to watch her experience yet ahead.  6 months was my favorite baby age with Annie, 9 months is hands down my favorite with Claire.  She’s everything you think of when you think of the word ‘baby’ right now, it’s a really fun stage to be in.  

Sisters

Formula: Similac Vs. Enfamil

I’m here to discuss the Similac vs. Enfamil debate (maybe it’s not even a debate, I don’t know!  But it was for me at one point).  They are both brand name formulas and I’ve used both with each of my kids and here are my unbiased thoughts/opinions on the two.  

For starters, I want to be clear that I am blogging solely on the Similiac Sensitives vs. Enfamil Gentlease, which both are formulized to be easier on the tummy and help with fussiness, crying and gas; which are areas my babies know too well (maybe it’s naturally inherited girl drama, as neither formula seems to fix those issues that great).

                

With Annie, I had her on Similac Sensitives.  She was a pretty extreme case of a colicky child and her ‘spit up’ was not really what you think of as spit up.  She literally vomited her entire bottles for the longest time where a burp cloth did nothing for clean-up, we had to use our bathroom towels to clean it up.  So she has an extremely touchy stomach.  I don’t think the Similac Sensitive formula helped to reduce it much, but given it was easier on the tummy than the other formulas, I choose to stick with it and she did like it, I never had troubles with her not liking the taste.  Why did I choose Similac for her?  Because I thought it was the superior brand at the time.  First baby’s get the best of everything, right?  As a new mom, I only wanted top notch for my baby girl.  Which ended up being totally the wrong mentality.

Claire was not a colicky baby nor did she even spit up hardly.  I tried her on Simliac and she just didn’t seem to like it.  At all.  I ended up having to throw away this formula because she absolutely hated it and really seemed take to the Enfamil.  And we’ve been on Enfamil Gentlease ever since and I have loved it 100 times over compared to the Similac and here’s my whys.

Although Claire doesn’t spit up much, there is a HUGE difference in the 2 formulas and how they stain.  Similac stained yellow on clothes and Enfamil cleans up much easier, have had no stains with this one brand.

Similac smelled a lot worse than the Enfamil does (in all arenas… spit up, on baby’s breath, poops…or else my mommy nose can withstand more nowadays. One of the two!)

They mix about the same but maybe I would say that Enfamil mixes a little bit better?  I feel like it clumps just a little bit less.

The price difference is huge!  I could buy Similac at Costco for $31 for 964 grams of powdered formula (the big size!).   I can buy Enfamil 913 grams of powered formula for $36 at Target, bundle it with a $15 Target gift card bonus (when I buy 2 so essentially getting $7.50 back on each of my $36 and they run this gift card bonus pretty often).  AND use a $5 Enfamil manufacturer coupon on top of that per each one I buy.  So I really end up spending about $23.50 per each one which is a big savings considering we go thru this amount about every 7-10 days. 

Enfamil does a much better job of handing out free samples.  I still get free samples mailed to me on occasion and it is for the Gentlease we use.  I had gotten Similac samples in the past but they’ve been stingier on their freebies.

I have yet to purchase Enfamil without a coupon.  They mail us so many $5 off coupons that I sort them by expiration and always stock up when needed and couple them with the Target gift card specials that I have yet to ever pay full price for formula since Claire has been born (she’s been 100% on formula since being 6 weeks old).  Similac coupons are much harder to come by as well as Costco doesn’t even accept coupons anyways and that is where I could find that brand at the lowest price, anywhere else it was much more expensive to purchase.

I have no idea why I thought Enfamil was so ‘lower tiered’ brand but you guys… it’s not.  I personally think it’s superior to Similac in my experiences with both and it would be the one I recommend between the 2. 

Claire turns 9 months in a few days.  Can I just say I CANNOT wait to be done with bottles for good!?  They are so much work!  I think we were done with bottles with Annie right after her 1^st birthday so I’m on the downhill slide with the bottles and can’t wait for the day I’m done with them.  I feel like I’ll get 20ish minutes back in my life every day! 

NYC: What to Pack, Sample Agenda & Tips/Tricks when Visiting

While the visit is still fresh in my mind, I wanted to pass along some tips if you are visiting New York City.  I find that being prepared and researching in advance always make for a more enjoyable trip.  Although sometimes doing so, also makes for a very busy trip as I come across more and more sites to see and do that I cram into our agenda.  I’m going to break down this post in 3 sections: what to bring, our agenda, and tips/tricks we learned while in NYC.

What To Bring:

Fleece lined leggings.  I only packed a couple pairs of leggings and one pair of jeans.  If you don’t have a pair of fleece lined leggings, I highly suggest getting some.  We actually had great weather while in NYC but it still was December and we still had to dress for the winter weather.  Fleece lined leggings aren’t bulky and they have that added layer of warmth.  Plus they are just plain comfortable and cute with lots of tops.  I got mine at a local boutique Dry Goods for $16 for the win but you can find these at a lot of retail stores.

Comfortable, warm shoes.  I searched high and low trying to find a trendy boot that was comfortable and warm.  The Linford UGG boot was just that.   They have a full zipper side, a more durable outer suede that is water resistant and the wool lining that isn’t too thick but provide that extra warmth.  And the biggest key is the rubber sole, which I think is why my feet never hurt.  It took me a few weeks to choke down if I wanted to spend the $220 on them but in the end, I was due for some new UGGs and these were hands down the best purchase I made and look how cute they are!  I wear them seriously all the time.

Chestnut Linford UGG, Zappos

The Neat Pack Versatile Canvas Sling Bag / Travel Backpack |Wear Over Shoulder or Crossbody.  This bag is a steal at $29 compared to it’s competitors such as Patagonia.  I didn’t want to carry a purse in NYC but rather a small easy to access bag but large enough to carry my DSL camera.  This bag is a total winner.  It was a little bit of a pain to get on and off with my coat hood but otherwise it was great.  I also liked how I could change out the strap to wear on one side one day and change to the other side the next day so one shoulder never gets too sore.  It also has a lot of privacy pockets to stash cash in so it can’t be stolen.  I carried everything we needed for the day while out in NYC with ease.  I also loved the handy cell phone pocket that is on the strap, it fit my Samsung S7 perfectly.

Neat Pack Backpack, get yours on Amazon for $29

Before we left for NYC, I wanted to find a new winter coat that was longer than my current North Face one that hits at my waist.  Something a little longer, less bulky, and that had a hood.  I really wanted it to be another North Face but none met my criteria.  I came across Columbia Carson Pass II jacket in black.  It’s not very bulky but has a omni-heat thermal reflective lining on the inside, it looks foil-like and it reflects your body heat to keep the heat in and not out of the coat, hence why it doesn’t need to be bulky.  It was the perfect length on me and although the fur hood did get a little annoying (in my eyes a lot when I used it), the fur piece of the hood comes off so you can still have the hood without the fur if you want. 

Columbia Carson Pass II, got mine at Scheels, $179

Lastly, a good hat and gloves.  I personally liked these UnderArmour versions, the gloves are fleece lined and the mitten flip back which I used that feature a lot on this trip.  Kept my hands warm without the hassle of taking them off all the time and kept from possibly losing them. And for some reason the image isn't working for these so here is the link. 

And that is basically what I wore each day and it worked out well.  I was warm and comfortable.

And here we are in my coat, boots, fleece lined leggings, backpack, & mittens

Our Agenda:

Here is what we did in the short time we were there.  We arrived at 10 am Thursday and I left Sunday morning so we had basically 2.5 days in the city.  I liked our agenda, although it wasn’t perfect, my timing overall was pretty good, I’ll tell you what worked and what didn’t with this agenda.

Thursday:	Time:
Arrive, check into hotel	10:35 - 12 pm
Lunch @ John's Pizzeria	12 - 1:30 pm
NBC Tour	2- 3:30 pm
Snack at Magnolia Bakery
Radio City Rockettes Show	5 - 6:30 PM (90 min running time)
Del Frisco's Grill, reservations set for 7:15 pm	7:15 PM
Rockefellar Tree / Times Square Walk Thru
Morell Wine Bar

We had a direct flight into NYC so I felt pretty confident that we would arrive on time or close to that I was okay with pre-purchasing tickets this day to a few agenda items.  We actually landed in NYC at 10 am, so a little ahead of schedule.  I chose John’s pizza as it was close to the hotel.  This agenda worked out really well.  We stopped briefly in Times Square after lunch, got a few good pictures at Rockefeller before heading into the NBC Tour. 

The only agenda item we didn’t do was Morell Wine Bar, mainly because I was really tired.  I was very happy I had tickets to the 5 pm Rockette’s show or else I don’t think I would have been able to stay awake thru it, not because it wasn’t a great show, I was just exhausted from little sleep and an early morning flight that day.

Friday:	Time:
Breakfast
**Take Subway to Wall Street
Wall Street Tour	10 am - noon
Lunch: Adrienne's Pizza Bar	12 - 1:30 pm
9/11 Museum & Memorial	reservations @ 2 (to 4 pm)
**Take Subway to Times Square
Becco	5:30 pm reservations
The Ride Experience	7:15 -- 8:30 pm
Madamme Tussauds
Junior's Cheesecake

We ended up taking a cab to the Financial District and eating breakfast at Cosi Café.  The cab ride was fine but the breakfast wasn’t all that great.  The Wall Street tour was amazing, I highly recommend Wall Street Experience Tour.   We ended up not eating at Adrienne’s Pizza Bar as our tour finished up a good distance from here although we did walk past it and it is in the heart of the Financial District on a really cute cobblestone alley.  I still think it would make a great lunch choice for a future visit. 

The 9/11 Memorial – I would say maybe allow 15-20 minutes.  We probably stopped for only 10 minutes.  The 9/11 Museum took us about 1.5 hours but it could have taken a lot longer if we stopped to read every artifact.  The website suggests 2 hours to visit, I would agree with that allotment.  I also highly recommend reservations, the line was very long but our reservations got us right in.

We didn’t end up going to Madamme Tussauds at all while in NYC.  And we ended up going to Junior’s the following day. Overall, I felt like this day’s agenda was planned well where we were not rushed at all and left lots of time for transportation. 

Saturday:	Time:
Breakfast
Hop on Off Bus full tour (HOHO bus)	3 hours /buses start @ 8 am
Lunch at Heartland Brewery at the Empire State Bldg.
Ferry Tour	1.5 hours
The Tour	4-5:30 pm (90 min running time)
Rock Center Café	7 pm dinner reservations

Saturday was our least planned day and it showed.  The HOHO bus is a disaster, do not take it!  We went with Grayline Sightseeing as it was part of our NYC Pass.  The lines were long, nobody hops off and the buses get stuck in traffic.  If you do the HOHO bus, I would suggest getting on the first bus of the day and not getting off until you’ve made the full loop.  We didn’t do that but I would think that is the best way to do this attraction.  We ended up hopping off at Macy’s, spent a considerable amount of time there and did eat lunch at the Empire State Building.  There are several different Heartland Brewery’s in NYC and we thought the food was terrific.  

We did not get to do the ferry which was a big bummer for me.  By the time we got to the ferry, it was 2 pm.  We were told it takes 1.5 hours and it wasn’t leaving until 3.  I had tickets to the Tour at 4, so we wasted a lot of time that afternoon sitting in traffic on the bus just to get to the ferry and realize we didn’t have time for it so we walked to the subway and ended up back at Times Square having cheesecake at Juniors.   Rock Center Café was great, I would eat there again every single time I visit it was so good and the views of the tree are unbeatable while dining.

So there you have it, our agenda for 2.5 days in the city.  I’m terrified of heights (which is ironic as I travel in airplanes) but I cannot go to the top of any buildings so that knocks off quite a few popular attractions for us.  I wish we would have had time to visit Central Park and do more shopping.  I’ve seen a show on Broadway in my previous visit but now since we’ve seen the Rockette’s, I think a Broadway show would be good too in a future trip.  I had no interest in going back to the Statue of Liberty but afterwards, I wish we had.  Aaron didn’t show a great desire to go to Ellis Island either when planning our trip. I think I’d rather do that in the future than do the HOHO ferry ride. 

Tips/Tricks in NYC:

I did a fair amount of research in addition to learning the do’s/don’ts while visiting in a short amount of time, here are a few.

We stayed at ROW NYC Hotel.  I thought it was a great location and clean.  All hotel rooms in NYC are tiny!  We upgraded to a deluxe room and it felt similar in size to a typical hotel room.  We didn’t spend much time in the hotel so I didn’t need anything fancy but I do think the upgraded space was well worth it.  I don’t remember the exact upcharge but it wasn’t more than $20 a day.  Pay attention to when you book your room if it's a shared bathroom.  I was really surprised that some hotels have shared bathrooms between rooms, I’d never heard of such a thing and these weren’t shady hotels.  I don’t know much more about this as when I saw this in the description I started shopping other hotels.  It’s just weird to me to share a bathroom with a room next to yours.  No thanks.

We flew in and out of Newark in Jersey.  We took the train into the city.  It was cheap and efficient.  I think we were at Penn Station in downtown NYC around 20-30 minutes from leaving the airport.  I would recommend this means of getting to/from the city.

Do not let the tourist traps get you.  The Disney characters on Times Square that want to take a picture with you will try to take all of your money.  If someone walks up to you trying to sell you something, I suggest ignoring them.  We had several people walk up to us trying to sell us their CDs.  Everyone on Times Square is looking for the naive tourist so they can take your cash, beware.  It’s a lot like the Vegas strip honestly but the NYC traps are more aggressive.

Carry a phone charger with you everywhere!  There were a lot of times our phones were running low on battery, I think there are a lot of cell towers that they ping off of and something seemed to drain our batteries quickly.  We had our phones on power saving mode a lot and I was still able to receive texts and phone calls, just no access to my applications, which was fine.

Figure out the subway.  The subway is the way to go.  Unless you are claustrophobic.  I did extensive research on the safety of the subway but ran out of time to look into it much further which was a mistake as we had no idea what lines go where and we weren’t very efficient with it as we could have been.  We took the subway in the middle of the day, I felt it was fairly safe.  I never felt uncomfortable other than there isn’t a whole lot of security as to who gets on and off the subway but that is typical with ground transportation I guess.  We only took the subway from the Financial District to Times Square and back.  I cannot tell you if the subway is safe further north, from what I read online, I think it can be a little more unsafe as you travel north to Queens but I cannot tell you if it is or isn’t.  Nor did we ever take it at night so I can’t weigh in on that either. 

Cabs are safe but I felt less comfortable with the cab drivers than taking the subway.  That’s just me personally.  Avoid pedicabs (bikes pulling seats), they are extremely expensive and I felt it was dangerous and they bicyclist are a little too daring in the traffic for my liking.

The traffic in NYC is crazy.  Everywhere.  Allow lots of time to get from one point to another.  We did a lot of walking but we also knew we had to take transportation so we wouldn’t completely wear ourselves out.

Have dinner reservations.  We did and it paid off, the waits were long and crowded everywhere.  Plus, it is super expensive to walk into any restaurant.  I scouted out restaurants in advance that were in our price range.  It’s very easy to walk into a pricey place in NYC.

Amazingly, there are zero street trash cans in NYC.  Walking around with a coffee?  Well you better plan on holding onto it for a long time!  Must be because they are too easy for bombs.

  

When taking the train back to the airport at Penn Station, go extra early!  I felt really turned around when taking the train back to the airport.  I'm glad I left town about 4 hours before my flight because it took well over an hour to get back.  The biggest thing I learned is that the train only comes to Penn Station once an hour.  I got very lucky and arrived 15 minutes before the train left.  It is also important to understand how the train works.  You won't know what track you are on until it actually arrives (which is kinda dumb).  So you have to be ready to watch for it as you won't know until the last minute where to be.  And once you do know the track, get right to it as it's a mess with people trying to get off and people trying to get on, it's not organized at all.  As well as once you get down to the track, pay attention further as there are 2 tracks and only one of them actually goes to Newark.  I was taking some serious notes on the way back and texted them all to Aaron so he would know exactly what to do when it was his turn to get back to the airport.  

We did the NYC Explorer Pass.  I found it was a better bang for our buck than doing the New York Pass.  I did a lot of comparison between the 2 and for the attractions we were interested in, it was the best deal for us.  I can't recommend one over the other but I suggest you compare the 2 for what your interests are, regardless of which one you pick, they both offer great cost savings and we found ours easy to use.  

Look in advance at Travelzoo, Groupon, etc for deals on attractions.  The RIDE and The TOUR were used thru our NYC Explorer Pass and came with deep discounts.  Our tickets to the Rockettes we got on the cheap thru Travelzoo.  It pays to shop around.  We also used our NYC Explorer Pass for food discounts as well, know all the benefits you can reap when you buy these deals.  I also made all of our dinner reservations on opentable.com so I had all the confirmation emails saved in my phone with their address and phone number handy.

So many tips but these are the ones that stick out in my mind.  Hope this post may be useful to someone out there.  A little research in advance goes a long way to making the most of your trip!