Newborn Necessities Book Review & Giveaway! CLOSED!

Newborn Necessities by Jennifer Cigale is a book for new parents that makes life just a little bit easier!!

This book is a book of guidelines and easy to use charts to document some very important things in your newborns day- their feedings and diaper changes!! The author, Jennifer Cigale, is a mom of two who developed these easy charts when she was a new mother. She started sharing them with friends and has now created this awesome book for everyone to benefit from! 

I received this book to review and I must say I think this is genius! I remember when Noah was born the hospital gave us a sheet of paper with a chart to document feedings and diaper changes but it was only one sheet of paper that only lasted about 3 days. Which was the course of our stay in the hospital. So when we got home I didn't really have anything to keep track of his feedings and changes unless I remembered to write it down on my own sheet of paper, which when you have a newborn, memory pretty much goes down the drain. This book is compact so it can fit into the diaper bag and it's a nice bright yellow so I will always see it and remember to write down baby Isaac's feedings and diaper changes! 

Another thing I love about this book is the guidelines at the beginning! I know these are going to be super helpful when Isaac is born! The guidelines tell you the expected intake and output your baby should be having from his/her birthday till they are seven days old! So this way you can check this and if it seems like your baby is making less wet diapers than expected you can give your doctor a call to figure out what might be the problem! Great peace of mind for new parents! I know I was such a worry wart with Noah those first few days, so this will be a great help with baby Isaac! 

Buy It!

http://newbornnecessities.tateauthor.com/

Win It!

One lucky reader will win their own copy of the "Newborn Necessities" book!

Mom Blog Monday Blog Hop!

Are you a Mommy blogger?

Do you blog about your kids?

Do you blog about great things for Mommies?

Do you wanna meet other Mom Bloggers?

This blog hop is hosted by The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom,Luxury Living Frugal Style, and So Easy Being Green!

Rules to Hop?

All we ask is that you follow the co-hosts: The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom, Luxury Living Frugal Style, and So Easy Being Green... the first three blogs on the linky! Then follow Spot #4 which is the featured blog of the week! 

We would LOVE it if you'd grab our button and put it somewhere on your blog or in a blog post! This would help us spread the word. However, you aren't required to.
Be sure to leave us a comment so we can follow you back!

This week's featured blog is...

According To Jenny

Hi! My name is Jenny and I write a blog called, "According to Jenny." I'm a former Social Worker turned SAHM! I received my Masters in Social Work a few weeks before giving birth to my son, Grady. I was previously working as a Therapist for children with autism, as a Social Worker in a dialysis unit, and volunteering at a free clinic helping people apply for assistance. Very busy! Now, I'm enjoying my days with my son, who will be 15 months old, and finding my way along a natural parenting path (breastfeeding, babywearing, cosleeping, cloth diapers, etc.). On the blog, you'll find posts detailing our every day life and lots of cute pictures, with some reviews and giveaways coming soon! 

I'm such a bore these days!

I feel like if I don't have a review or giveaway to post, I'm a bore. Our life is pretty boring right now. Which is totally ok with me since I know in a few months the chaos will begin. We signed Noah up for a Mother's Morning Out program! That's about the only interesting thing going on right now! We figure it'll help me out these last few weeks of my pregnancy and especially when baby Isaac gets here. It might be a nice break to Noah too since he'll have to deal with a crying newborn a lot too!

I promise I have some fun things lined up for the blog! Lot's of reviews and giveaways! Plus the Made with Love event coming in November! That's going to be huge! And I know once baby boy gets here I'll have lots to talk about - from my sleep deprivation to life with two kiddos! So hang in there with me for now! I mean, I am 29 weeks pregnant! If I had my choice I'd be sleeping all day! hehe!

My Ideal Birth Experience {In a Perfect World}

So all the books and websites tell you to write up a birth plan of how you want things to go during your labor and delivery when your pregnant. I guess since I'm nearing the single digit countdown I've been thinking about this a lot lately. But I'm not oblivious to the fact that most  some of the time things just don't go as planned. They sure didn't with Noah and I don't expect everything to go as planned with Isaac either. So all I can do is pray that everything goes well, and that he is born healthy and without any complications.

BUT....

If I did get to decide exactly how everything went during the labor and delivery this would be my ideal birth experience..

First I need to share a little bit of my birth experience with Noah. At 37 weeks my blood pressure started to creep up higher and higher. At 38 weeks they sent me home with a jug to pee in for 24 hours to check for protein in my urine and test for preeclampsia. They told me if I got a headache that wouldn't go away with Tylenol or if I started seeing spots or feeling shaky to call them right away. And I was to take it easy and rest!  Well the very next morning I woke up with a headache and Tylenol wouldn't touch it. I also started seeing spots. So I call them and they tell me to come in to check my bp. It was sky high!! So they sent me straight to the hospital to be induced! It was a long 22 hours of labor! My epidural stopped working right when contractions were one on top of each other, and it took them nearly an hour to get another one back (they kept poking me in the wrong spot!). I was hungry, exhausted, sick to my stomach, and in a lot of pain the whole time. Not the best birth experience. But Noah was born very healthy at 6lbs 4oz!

My number one prayer this time around is that I do NOT get preeclampsia. My doctor told me I have a 5% chance of getting it again, so I'm hoping it doesn't come back to haunt me!  Ideally this time around I would love to go into labor naturally. I would love to be able to labor at home for part of the time instead of being in the hospital for who knows how long, hooked up to machines and hardly able to move. When contractions get to be 4 or 5 minutes apart of course we'd head to the hospital. I'm a huge wuss when it comes to pain, but I've also heard contractions aren't near as bad when they are natural instead of pitocin induced, so maybe/hopefully I could do it all without an epidural. Ideally (of course) the whole labor process wouldn't take 22 hours again, and I could meet my sweet boy within a few hours of getting to the hospital.Ideally, I won't tear this time and have to deal with painful stitches!  Ideally, both Isaac and I would be healthy and we could both leave within a day or two, without having to stay for 3 days after the birth to monitor my blood pressure. Ideally little man will latch right on to my breast and breast feeding will be easy breezy!

I have big dreams huh?! I know this will probably not be the way things go. But I do pray every day that pre-e stays far away and that I can at least let me body go into labor naturally without being induced. Prayer is powerful so maybe God will grant me this wish.

(Just a disclaimer: I will be perfectly fine with being induced if there is a medical reason to need to be, such as pre-e. Just hoping there isn't a medical reason to be. )

One of those Days!

I woke up this morning feeling so happy and optimistic. I was just in a super good mood and ready for the day. I needed an eye exam (because Noah broke my glasses) so I made an appointment for that and I also had a dentist appointment for a cleaning this afternoon. So Brian was ok with watching Noah at home today so I could get my appointments done child free.

Eye appointment went well, besides the fact that my eyes are getting worse! (Guess I'm getting old!) So then I call Brian to see if him and Noah want to meet me for lunch since I have a few hours before I have to go to the dentist. Well he's not in a good mood (something about a bill) and declines. So I'm like fine, I'll just go to Hobby Lobby and waste some time and look for cute things for Isaac's room. Well on my way to Hobby Lobby I got in a little fender bender! Nobody was hurt and there was  very minimal damage to our cars. But I was still pretty shaken up by it. I hate wrecks and haven't been in one since high school. And it's my fault because I was trying to switch lanes and was too close to the guy letting me over. (Boo on me). I feel like a big fat loser.

So my optimistic, happy mood is all gone now and I'm tired and irritated and just ready for the day to be over. Hubby is still in a crappy mood, but Noah's being fairly (sorta) sweet, so that's good. I just hate days like this. I should have just stayed in my pjs at home today!!

Mom Blog Monday Blog Hop!

Are you a Mommy blogger?

Do you blog about your kids?

Do you blog about great things for Mommies?

Do you wanna meet other Mom Bloggers?

This blog hop is hosted by The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom,Luxury Living Frugal Style, and So Easy Being Green!

Rules to Hop?

All we ask is that you follow the co-hosts: The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom, Luxury Living Frugal Style, and So Easy Being Green... the first three blogs on the linky! Then follow Spot #4 which is the featured blog of the week! 

We would LOVE it if you'd grab our button and put it somewhere on your blog or in a blog post! This would help us spread the word. However, you aren't required to.
Be sure to leave us a comment so we can follow you back!

This week's featured blog is...

2 Is Purrfect

My name is Jennifer and i am a stay at home mother of two wonderful children. My kids are ages 5 years and 2 years old, the 5 year old just started kindergarten last week. I have been married to my wonderful husband for almost 6 years and have no plans as far as anniversary goes, for this year yet! I enjoy being a stay at home mom but sometimes wish it were easier to get back into the job market, I have been slowly applying for jobs the last couple of years. Since i haven't worked for 5 1/2 years no one wants to hire me...i'm fine with being at home but my husband would like to pursue our goal of building a bigger house in the future. I started writing my blog to keep friends and family informed with what was going on with Tyler's health and specialists appointments. Then it turned in to a blog where i host reviews and giveaways for businesses that aren't known to most people to help them get the word out! I've slowed down recently since i've been potty training the two year old and concentrating on trying to make the transition with having a child in school full time. My life is exhausting sometimes but I definitely would not change one thing about my life or family, I love it all!

Hello Third Trimester!

I'm 28 weeks! (Well tomorrow according to my Dr) I am so glad to finally be almost there! I'm feeling pretty good for 28 weeks I think. I don't have as much energy as I did, and I get achy really easily, but that's all to be expected. I'm sure it'll only get worse as the weeks go by.

My biggest fear is developing Preeclampsia again. I developed it at 37 weeks with Noah and had to have an emergency induction at 38 weeks. My doctor says I have about a 5% chance of getting it again, so I'm praying that other 95% chance is in my favor!

We haven't done much with Isaac's room yet. The crib and changing table are up but we still need to paint and arrange things. I'm hoping we can get started on that this week!

Don't worry, I'll keep ya'll updated with lots of pictures!  And just because, here's a family shot from last week at the beach! We had a blast!