DIY Headband Holder
Melody has a TON of headbands. When we first find out we were having a girl, all I could think about was how I wanted cute headbands. I bought quite a few myself, but my cousin gave me a bunch of hand-me-downs too from her little girl. So I needed a way to store all these cute headbands. Check out what I did below!
Melody's Three Month (Transitional) Schedule
So for about 2 or 3 weeks, we decided to slowly get rid of one of Melody's bottles. She was taking six bottles on her two month schedule, but one of those bottles, she barely would take an ounce or two (11 a.m.). We took this as a sign that she needed to be reduced down to five bottles. We did this by increasing the amounts of those new five bottles. We call this a transitional schedule because when she was 3.5 months old, we went down to four bottles! I will write about that later though!
Traveling with a Baby
So I did not want to make this post a "tips" post because what works for Brad and me will not necessarily work for everyone else. However, we have found a few things that does work for us when we travel with Melody. We have only taken three 'big' trips: two to Memphis (approximately 3.5 hours away) and one to Gulf Shores (approximately 6 hours away). Each trip seems to go easier than the last. I am sure as she continues to get older, we will have to tweak things.
Pixelmator Tips
I use Pixelmator for all of my "main images" on my blog as well as other images I create. For instance, I created my website logo using it, my husband's blog logo, and numerous iron-ons for some DIY shirts (Birthday Shirt and Disney Shirt). We spent approximately $15-$20 2 years ago on it. I would say we have definitely gotten our money's worth. I also have the iPad/iPhone versions as well. I believe that cost around $10. Since my husband and I have family iCloud on our devices, we were able to also share the use of Pixelmator on ALL of our devices (including our Macs).
Spicy Lemon Baked Chicken
I rarely just come up with a recipe all on my own, but one day last week I decided to do just that. We had two chicken breasts, and our original intent was to grill them. However, I decided I really wanted some form of baked chicken. Below is the recipe and instruction. Brad said this chicken has a kick to it, especially after a minute or two after eating it. You can see for yourself however!
0-4 Month Toys
So I find 0-4 months to be a boring age for toys. I struggle to find fun things that Melody also enjoys. I also hate to buy a bunch of toys that we will never use. With that said, I decided to create a list of Melody's favorite toys right now. Granted she is only 3.5 months old, these are still toys she has enjoyed since she was a mere few weeks old.
DIY Birthday Shirt
So for Brad's birthday, I wanted Melody to wear some sort of "Happy Birthday" shirt for her daddy. However, with babies (and kids in general), they grow SO fast. I knew that even if I bought her a generic "Happy Birthday!" onesie, it would be unlikely that she could wear it for my birthday...5 months later. It really wasn't worth the $20 that it would cost to buy one from someone online. I decided to make my own.
Baby Shower Napkin Rings
For my best friend's baby shower, I wanted to do something with the utensils and napkins to make it easier for guests when they are getting their plates. I decide to make napkin rings so that everything was easy to pick up all at once. Check it out below!
Melody's First Beach Trip
We took Melody on her first beach trip back in August.
She handled the drive down to Gulf Shores just fine!
Melody's Three Month Pictures
Melody was three months old August 25th! Here are some informal pics we took. We are getting professional ones made this week. I will upload those when I get them too!
Baby Items I Didn't Realize I Needed
After we had Melody, there were a few items we didn't have that we really wished we did. Check out a few of them below!
Happy (Late) Birthday Brad!
Brad's birthday was Tuesday, August 30th! He took off work and spent the day with Melody and me.
Melody's Two Month Schedule
When Melody was around two month's old, we decided to let her attempt sleeping through the night. My best friend had just started attempting it with her two month old, and we were basically having to wake Melody up for her 2 a.m. feeding. Her schedule did not change at all from her one month schedule except we removed the 2 a.m. feeding. When we first started this transition, Melody would start stirring between 2 and 3 a.m. I would give her her pacifier and see if that would put her back to sleep. If it did, I would also go back to sleep. If it did not work, I would get up and give her a bottle. It took about a week or two, but eventually she started just sleeping through that time frame altogether. Now she will not start stirring until around 4:30 at earliest. Below is the schedule:
Diaper Stork Bundle
For my best friend's baby shower, I wanted to make more than just a diaper cake and mini diaper cake. I decided to also make diaper stork bundles. I thought these would be a cute addition to the baby shower.
What I Want to Do in NYC Next
Brad and I went to New York City back in November of 2015. I did a write up about my planning and our actual trip experience. There is still so much I want to do that we did not have the chance to do while there. Below are just a few of those things!
Formula Bottle Prep
When we transitioned Melody from breast milk to formula, I had to find a way to better prep bottles so that I was not making one bottle at a time. I tried a couple of methods, but in the end, I found a solution that works great for us right now. Currently Melody is taking 5 ounce bottles 6 times a day. As her bottles get bigger, my method may not be the most efficient, but it works great now.
Travel Baby Formula
Brad and I travel a lot. We decided while I was pregnant that we would not let a baby slow us down. We are really trying to stick to that goal after having Melody. Of course some trips are not realistic and traveling is definitely not as easy as before, but we are doing pretty good. We have a baby that loves the car, so that definitely makes traveling easier. One thing we faced on our first big travel (it was 3 1/2 hour trip to Brad's parents' house) was making Melody's bottles. We now usually make all of her bottles for the day in advance, but that has not and will not always be the case. I decided to make use of some of our breast pump supplies and create my own travel baby formula containers. Check it out below!
Tealight Candle Favors
For my best friend's baby shower, I decided to make the favors simple but cute. I wanted something that people might would actually use at some point. A lot of times you go to showers and weddings and end up with favors that you just throw away. I did some research and decided to use candles somehow. I mean people can always find a purpose for candles. Using washi tape, I was able to make some cute and decorative tea light candles for everyone to take home. Check it out below!