Race Recap: Half Marathon #10

4.29.2016

In my six years of running races, I have never been so under trained for a race. That said, I also feel like given the circumstances, the time I had available to run, and my energy levels between work and taking care of my baby, I have no regrets at all and feel like I did the best that I could with what I had.

The farthest long run I did prior to the half on Sunday was 9 miles. Nothing to scoff at, for sure, but still not as much as I had wanted. People always want to know why I pay money to run when I can run for free, but the truth is that having a race on my calendar is motivation. I do enjoy running, but I’m not the kind of person who heads out for 6 or 8 miles on a weekday just for the heck of it.

I knew getting back to running after having a baby would be difficult, but I really enjoy running with the jogging stroller, and I’ve been doing good getting out for 3-4 miles at a time. What I did not anticipate (but should have expected) was just how hard it would be to carve out time for hour plus long runs, especially while breastfeeding. I finally figured out that my best option was to do my long runs on Friday nights after putting R to bed. That way I could sleep in (ish) on Saturday and not have to worry about taking up a precious chunk of time I could be spending hanging out with my girl.

When I initially wrote about signing up for this half marathon, I said my time goal was 2 hours or under (as a reference, before getting pregnant I was training for under 1:50). After one 9-mile run and the rest 6 or under, I pushed that back as a best-case goal. I really would just be happy to finish. But of course I’m too competitive with myself to not set some kind of time goal in the back of my mind. My A goal was of course 2 hours or under. My B goal was to beat my very first half time of 2:08. My C goal was under 2:15.
My dad was running the half marathon too, his second. I wanted to run with him for the first part of the race and then just see how I felt. We ended up running together until Mile 4. At Mile 6 I had to stop and use a Port-o-Potty, because apparently I just can’t hold it at all anymore. Labor problems.

After I left my dad at Mile 4, I was feeling good until Mile 8. That’s when my lack of training came back to bite me. I saw the sign for 8 and thought it said 9, and then when it said 8 I was like, oh snap. Miles 7-10 were a struggle because those three miles were straight into the wind. I got in a stride around Mile 11 and found a girl in a hot pink tank top who looked about my age. I stayed right next to her for a half mile or so before pulling away, and I kept finding girls to pass as I moved toward the finish.

I love the end of this race. The race is a memorial for the 168 people who died in the Oklahoma City bombing, and every year they hang giant banners on the light posts, each with the name of a victim. It definitely makes you feel thankful to be out there and have the opportunity to run.

On a fun side note, during the entire last mile I may or may not have slowly pooped my pants.

MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE.

I don’t want to talk about it.
Jordan and my mom met me at the finish with R, who may have definitely pooped her pants. While we had striped her down and were changing her in the seat of a golf car, Jordan looks at me and says, “Looks like I’m the only Bumgarner who didn’t poop his pants today."

I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.

Somehow we found my dad in the crowd, and we all made our way back to the cars. I may or may not have sat on one of R’s diapers for the ride home.

May or may not have.

My final finishing time was 2:07, which I am super proud of!* My dad finished in 2:19! (That's him at the finish below!)
It’s Friday, which means my knees and quads feel almost back to normal again, thank goodness. I can tell I wasn't trained enough because I hurt worse and for longer than usual. BUT I have a fancy medal and finisher’s t-shirt (!!!) that I’ve been wearing all week (the shirt, not the medal). The Oklahoma City race is one of my favorites, and I’m so thankful to have gotten the opportunity to run it again this year! 

Half #10 is complete, and I’m in double digits now, people.

This recap wouldn't be complete without a shoutout to our ever loyal cheering squad plus one cute baby this year. 

*Fun fact for runner nerds: In 2012 I ran this race (my 3rd half) and finished in 2:07:20, so this race was a course record by 15 seconds!

National Infertility Awareness Week

4.27.2016


Today I want to talk about National Infertility Awareness Week, which is happening this week, April 24-30. 

If you are new to this blog, you may not know that Jordan and I visited with an infertility doctor and went through a round of ovulation medicine before getting pregnant with R. Not one single day goes by that I don’t thank God for the gift of our precious baby and the fact that we were able to get pregnant so quickly once on the medication.

There are so many couples who desperately want to have a baby and have been struggling with infertility for months and even years. I will not claim to know the pain that comes from that kind of waiting, but I experienced just a taste of it myself, and my heart has remained sensitive toward the women who continue to pray for their miracle babies.

I wonder why God allowed me to have a healthy pregnancy when there are women around the world who would be wonderful mothers and haven’t been able to conceive yet. I pray for them by name when I hear of them. I pray for healing. I pray for peace and comfort. I pray for joy in the waiting.

One thing you may not know about infertility treatments is that currently only 15 out of 50 US states provide insurance coverage. We paid out of pocket to consult with the infertility doctor, get blood tests and ultrasounds, and buy the ovulation medicine. These things are not cheap, and that’s not even close to what the people who go through rounds of treatment for months and years have to pay out of pocket.

My insurance denied anything marked “I” because infertility treatments are considered an “elective” procedure, akin to a nose job or something. It’s hurtful and insulting, not to mention incredibly stressful. I actually had to fight my insurance on two different bills each over $400 for blood work that was taken after I got pregnant. The office mistakenly marked it with the wrong code, and my insurance denied it because it was marked infertility.

Babies are everywhere you go, on practically everything you see. Every time you see a pregnancy announcement, you feel equal parts happiness for your friend but also jealousy and even bitterness that you are still waiting.

I hate that anyone has to feel like that.

National Infertility Awareness Week is timed to occur just before Mother’s Day. It’s a reminder that before the day when we celebrate moms and all they do, we should to remember those who aren’t moms yet but so desperately want to be.

I want them to know that they aren’t forgotten and they aren’t alone, and they are beautiful, wonderful women.

Being a mother doesn’t make you better; it doesn’t make you more important. What it should make you is thankful for the precious children you were given to raise. 

And it should make you more sensitive toward those who are still waiting for theirs.

*You can go here to find out more about NIAW. Use the hashtag #StartAsking on social media to learn more too!

Magnolia Market + Girls' Weekend in Waco

4.25.2016

Two weekends ago, R and I took a trip to Texas for a fun girls' weekend with my mom, sister, and two sisters-in-law. We rented an Air B'n'B house in Waco, Texas, and spent all day Saturday visiting all the hot spots around Waco. One of those included Magnolia Market, home of Chip and Joanna's shop from the show Fixer Upper. We had such a fun weekend together!
R and I drove to my parents' house on Friday night, and we all celebrated my sister's 19th birthday. On Saturday morning, all the girls left to drive the 2.5 hours to Waco. Our first stop was lunch at Health Camp for burgers! Mine was so, so good.
After lunch we drive to Magnolia Market and the famous silos. Chip and Joanna's show has become popular over the past few years and has made Waco a tourist destination spot, so we were prepared for it to be busy. There were a lot of people there, and inside the shop itself it felt crowded, but there is a ton of room outside where they have a big play area, a line of food trucks, and a big stage to have performances. There is also a garden and bakery coming soon! It was fun to experience it. I didn't end up buying anything because I didn't see anything I absolutely needed, but I didn't think the prices were too terribly high, and there was a lot of cute stuff!
Something I thought was fun at the store was that Joanna had put little signs near different items to suggest ways to use various things in your home. And there were a lot of flowers everywhere, which made it look so pretty!
^^^Outside the shop. I love how this picture makes it look like there was no one even there! Also, isn't my sister the cutest?
After walking around for a while, we went to Common Grounds for coffee. Amy and I didn't get anything there, because we had heard about a food truck that sold ice cream sandwiches, and we wanted to spend our money (and calories) on that instead. The coffee shop is on the Baylor University Campus and was a really fun place to hang out and talk. It made me miss my college days!
THEN.

We stalked social media to find out where the ice cream sandwiches were going to be. Spoiler alert: we found them. Come to mama.
^^^ All day, my mom kept telling us to "look casual." I'd say we nailed it.

^^^ My sister and I with R!

After coffee and ice cream, we went back to our Air B'n'B house to let R take a nap and just relax for a bit. She took a while to go down and kept screaming, which was not fun, but eventually she gave in, and we all sat in the living room and talked while she slept. After R woke up, we headed out to dinner at Ninfa's, a Mexican restaurant. It was prom weekend, and so there were a ton of high schoolers all dressed up. Fun fact: I never went to prom!

There was a half-hour wait, so we fed R a fruit pouch while we sat outside. Please note below. R is completely freaking out while I search the backpack for the food.
The food was good at the restaurant, but our waiter was lacking some serious customer service skills, so that was kind of a bust. They also tried to give us a booster seat for R instead of a highchair, which definitely would not have worked. She would have slid right out of that thing!

After dinner, we went back to the house so I could put R to bed. Cheaper by the Dozen was on TV, and the five of us (minus R) ended up laying on the guest bed watching that until we decided it was time for bed. Another spoiler alert: I caved first. I know, shocker.

I'm so glad we found a weekend to do this girls' trip. It was fun to spend more time getting to know my sisters-in-law better, and of course it's always fun to spend time with my sister and mom! Everyone loved having R around, and for the most part she did great. She really is a great baby to travel with! We hope to do an annual girls' weekend, and this was a great trip to start with. We even talked about going back to Waco again. There are a lot of fun things to do there!

Have you been to Magnolia Market?
What's your favorite thing to do for a girls' weekend?

On Traveling with a Baby: Everything You Need to Know

4.21.2016


Before we left for our family vacation to Virginia, I started getting pretty nervous thinking about traveling with an almost eight-month-old. I was having flashes of scenes from movies where the baby scream for three hours straight while everyone around them makes faces.

Due to layovers and whatnot, I have now successfully traveled with a baby on five flights ranging in length from 45 minutes to over two hours. We have also stayed overnight in a cabin for three days, taken museum tours, and road-tripped up to six hours in the car in one day. Basically I know everything there is to know about traveling with a baby.

Okay not really! 

But I do have more knowledge about it than I did a month ago. Now, obviously this is just my experience with one particular baby. All situations and babies are unique, so what worked for me may not work for you, but hopefully this will be interesting and helpful to some of you! I will break it up by category to make this easier to digest. Also note: on this particular vacation I'm talking about, we flew United going there and American coming home and had similar experiences, so I would assume most airlines follow the same guidelines for babies.

The Demise of the Hair Bow: A Photo Essay

4.18.2016

Note: the following series of photos were taken during her eight-month photoshoot.


And that is why I have a box of adorable hair bows sitting in R's closet that she is no longer allowed to wear. RIP, bows, it was fun while it lasted. On the positive side, my budget is happier, and so is Jordan. My mailman might be out of job, though.

My First Postpartum Race: Red Bud Classic 10k

4.15.2016


It’s been over a year since I last wrote a race recap.

It used to be a pretty regular feature on this blog, but then, you know, pregnancy and baby and adulating got in the way of training for races. It seems only fitting that April be the month of my return to racing and blogging race recaps. 

Six years ago, in April 2010, I started training for my first half marathon. I was scared to death and thought 13.1 miles sounded like the most insane number of miles to run. You might as well have told me 100 miles. I trained all through the summer and finished my first half marathon in October 2010 with a time of 2:08. 

I kept running and did some more races over the next few years, and in 2013 I signed up for my first full marathon (recap here). At some point during that 18-week training cycle, a switch was flipped, and running became something I truly enjoyed. I always enjoyed running while I was doing it, but I usually had to talk myself into lacing up my shoes. During that training, I looked forward to my runs and never procrastinated heading out the door. The rest, as they say, is history. I ran two half marathons while pregnant with R, one at 10 weeks and one at 18 weeks. I had signed up for them well before I knew I was pregnant, which is really the only reason I did them at all, but it was nice to have an excuse to keep running.

Last weekend, I ran my first race post baby. (You might also like Postpartum Running: An Update.) The Red Bud Classic is a 5k and 10k running event, and this was my third time to run the 10k (2012, 2014, and now 2016). Since coming back to running after having a baby, I have found myself caring less about my pace and time than I ever have. I’m just so excited to be running again that I don’t focus so much on being faster.

I also have been so tired with working full time and being a new mom that I want to give myself grace to ease back into it. I have less time to run than I used to, and I take what I can get. Some days all I have time for is a quick 2 miles. Some days I don’t have time to fit in a run at all unless I want to get up at 4:30 in the morning, which I don’t! I am really proud of myself for how far I’ve come in the past 8 months, and it was a wonderful feeling to pin on my bib and lace up my running shoes again.

This race was special for me not only because it was my first since having a baby but because I brought R with me! I pushed her in the running stroller for all 6.2 miles, and we finished together. (Well, technically since I was pushing her in front of me, I guess you could say she beat me. Ha!)

I was really nervous about bringing her for a few reasons, the main one being that I had no idea how she would do. There was an equal chance that she would be fine or that she would start crying a mile into the race and I would have to call Jordan to come rescue us. The farthest I had pushed the stroller was 5 miles, so I honestly didn't know if she would be okay just sitting in the stroller for an hour. My worry ended up being for nothing, because she did absolutely fantastic! She fell asleep for a little bit, but mostly she just sat and played and talked a bit too.

It has honestly surprised me how much I enjoy running with the stroller. It is hard work for sure, but I feel like R and I are really bonding when we are out there. I know she doesn't have any idea what is happening, but I like spending time with her doing something I enjoy, and I'm glad I can set a good example for her in terms of fitness and health.

Running a 10k with a few thousand participants was very difficult. I started in the back of the race because I obviously wanted to let all the fast runners go first, and so I had to maneuver around the slower runners and walkers pushing the stroller, which was tricky. I didn't want to run over anyone's legs with the front wheel! The good part of starting at the back was that I kept passing people the entire time, and I don't think I was passed much at all except maybe in the last few miles.

The run was at 2:00 in the afternoon, and so another problem was that it was EIGHT-EIGHT DEGREES.

I. was. DYING.
Thankfully, R was never in the sun very long at all. I kept obsessively checking on her, and there were only a few points on the course where her legs were in the sun, and then it was only for a block or two. I got sunburnt, but whatever. She was wearing just a plain white, short-sleeved onesie and seemed perfectly content to just sit and watch people from her seat. This girl just loves being outside!

I did not at all care about my finish time, but I figured if I ended up around an hour, maybe a little over, that would awesome. My official time was 1:00:49, which is amazing! I didn't have my watch during the race (I forgot it at home), and so I had no idea what my pace was or how fast I was running. I tried to take it slow to start off and then gradually get faster as I went on.

Run pace: 9:48 min/mile -- I can't believe I ran in the 9s for 6 miles pushing R!
23/94 in my age group and 90th out of 533 females.

The last few miles were pure torture, but the feeling of crossing a finish line never gets old. 
More than my time or pace, more than pushing R in the stroller, more than running hills in the blazing heat, I am just so stinking proud of myself for making it happen. Finding time and energy to run when I'm working a full-time job, being a full-time mom and wife, trying to do housework and stay connected with friends and blog and do my Bible studies... it's exhausting and overwhelming and hard. Really hard. But it's all worth it because these are things that are important to me.

And I mean look at that smile. I might have a future runner on my hands! Wouldn't that be fun?

Month Eight

4.12.2016


Wearing: Size 2 diapers // 3-6 months clothes (just in the last week I have started switching in the 6-9 month sizes)

This month’s highlights include rolling, stranger anxiety, and being sick.
 
R rolled over a dozen or so times last month for the first time, but now she’s rolling, rolling all over the place. She likes sleeping on her side or stomach now, and it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.

She pretty much doesn’t need any support while sitting, and she’s really strong standing on her legs. She hasn’t shown much interest in crawling yet. We can tell she wants to move, but she doesn’t actually care enough to try it. She will stretch out on her stomach and reach as far as she can for a toy, but eventually she moves on to something else. Silly girl.
This month R has started showing a bit of stranger anxiety just toward certain people. She will actually lean forward and reach her arms out for me, and it melts me, you guys. I love it.
On Easter morning, we took her to the 24-hour medical center. Her neck was swollen and she wouldn’t turn her head or even her eyes to look at us. She wasn’t talking or moving at all, and it freaked us out. She had been acting sick the day before, so I called our pediatrician, but on Sunday we just went ahead and took her to the doctor. 

Turns out, she had strep! She also had thrush, and both can cause your throat to swell and hurt, which is why she wasn’t moving her head. It was the saddest thing. She also had a terrible diaper rash from the trush (which can cause a yeast infection), so we were using three different creams on her bottom plus alternating giving her medicine for the strep and the thrush. On top of that she has horribly congested and we kept having to suck her snot out. Needless to say, we did not have a good few days. Having a sick baby is the absolute worst

 Thankfully she is better now, and we all dressed up for Easter the next week. R was clearly very excited about Jesus raising from the dead.
She is either nursing or taking a bottle 5x a day. I cut her down from 6 to 5 feedings around the beginning of the month because I felt like she needed to, and it’s been going well! Approximate eating times: 6:30/9:30/12:30/3:30/7:00.

She is also eating purees 2-3x a day, always at daycare for breakfast and at home for dinner, and sometimes she will eat a snack at daycare. We do also give her food off our plates sometimes.
I’m still breastfeeding/pumping exclusively, and I am on the struggle bus with pumping. Nearly every day I tell Jordan I’m not sure how much longer I can make it. But that’s another post for another day. For now I’ll keep doing my best! I am thankful to have made it eight months so far!

Minus the week she was sick, sleeping has been so much better this month! She will typically go to bed around 7:30 and sleep until the morning, anywhere from 5:00 to 6:30. Sometimes she will wake up during the night crying, but we try to give her a minute or two and see if she will go back to sleep on her own before running in there, and for the most part she’s good about self-soothing. Sometimes we go pop her paci back in, and she’s out. And I usually wake up a few times just to go check on her. I don’t set an alarm or anything, but it’s not uncommon for me to have a dream that involves her falling or crying or something, and I will wake up at that point and go check in the nursery. Mom problems.
Finally, something truly terrible happened this month: she learned to pull her hair bows off her head and eat them. This is not a first-world problem this is a serious problem! Okay, it's a first-world problem but still. Excuse me while I go wipe my tears. I'm not bitter or anything. Promise.

But even though she eats her expensive bows, we still love her to pieces. R is so cute and so fun, and I love spending time with her. I thank God every single day for her life and feel so blessed and so thankful that he gave her to us.

Food Budgeting: An Experiment in Spending Less [ Month 2 Results]

4.11.2016



I'm back to share another month of grocery expenses! I've decided I won't do this every single month in 2016... that's a bit much. But I will continue to track expenses and share an update post every few months. In case you missed the beginning, I suggest you read this post on How We Budget For Food and this post, which talks about what we spent in February and shares 4 tips for keeping your grocery budget costs down.

I told you that our average spending in 2015 was $277 on grocery and $80 on lunch and that I wanted to see if I could cut that average down in 2016.

January 2016: $278 on grocery / $83 on lunch
February 2016: $185 on grocery / $44 on lunch
Here's how we did in March: $277 on grocery / $87 on lunch

I don't consider that number a fail or a success. I didn't spend more than our regular average, but obviously I didn't spend less either. I find it too funny that when I don't intentionally focus on spending less, I spend almost exactly the same amount every month. I guess that means we have our food system down to an art. Admittedly, I was busy last month and didn't focus on following my 4 grocery store tips as much as I did in February. I also had used up all of our food in February and had a few large trips to stock back up. And there may have been, ahem, a few last-minute purchases off the list for ice cream and such. This month I want to do better!

Since last month's update I have become crazy app lady with THREE rebate apps. Every little bit adds up, people. I hope those of you who downloaded the Ibotta app are enjoying it! If you haven't yet, I really think you will love it. 

If you sign up for Ibotta here using the code vkyogbc, you get $10 just for claiming your first rebate! (I get a few dollars too, so thanks in advance for using my code, friends!)

You can get rebates on cleaning supplies, diapers, and alcohol too, so don't think it's just for food. I also have the MobiSave app and, thanks to a few recommendations on my last post, I downloaded Checkout51. Here's how much I got back in rebates from each app:

$16 Ibotta
$3.80 Mobisave
$3.50 Checkout51
Total rebate app savings: $23.30

So even though I spent almost the same as my average, I ended up in the positive because of the rebates I got, which is exciting! This month I am trying to get our overall number down again, and I will check back in a few months with a report.

//

How are you doing on your grocery spending this year?
Do you use any rebate/coupon apps I should try out?

Confession Session [vol 2]

4.08.2016



I confess...

...that I have a note saved on my phone that is simply titled "Ridiculous Stories." There may or may not be five stories on that list, and four of them have to do with poop or pee. And not all of them are about R. Ahem.

...that sometimes I wonder what happened to some of the people who used to read my blog and comment regularly. Did I scare them off when I had a baby? Maybe, except I don't only blog about R, so that can't be it. Did I stop being interesting? Funny? A good writer? Who knows. (Note: this is not me fishing for compliments or asking people to comment. This is just a confession that sometimes I ponder this.)

...that I will never understand why people apologize for posting a picture of themselves where they are not wearing makeup. Here is what I think: either a) don't post the picture if you feel like you need to apologize for it or b) put on some makeup if you really think you look that bad or c) get over yourself; you look fine, and I didn't even notice you weren't wearing makeup except for the fact that you pointed it out.

...that I cried twice yesterday while I was at work because I missed R so much, and I practically sprinted down the hallway at the end of the day when I went to pick her up. This sounds horribly cliche, but it actually felt like I was missing a piece of myself until I held her again. I had no idea that was a real feeling, but in fact it is.

...that I am annoyed by the comments on a blog post I read recently where people were basically (at least it seemed like to me) saying that people who don't get an epidural are just "trying to be a hero" and why on earth would anyone want to do that when you can get medicine that numbs the pain? The blogger herself was not acting like that at all (important to note that!) but as I read the comments, I couldn't help but wonder why we can't just let people do what they want to do without bashing anyone who doesn't do it our way. Some people want to get an epidural; some people don't. Who cares? Why is this yet another ridiculous and pointless argument we like to have? 

(Related: Here is a link to R's birth story if you haven't read it yet!)

...that I spend a lot of time sitting during the day, and if I had a FitBit to keep track of my steps, I'm scared of what it would tell me.

...that there is a can of Reddi Wip in our office fridge, and I keep shaking it up and eating spoonfuls throughout the day. I tell myself this is my reward for avoiding the bowl of chocolate. Yes, I realize that's not exactly how it works.

...that I have no idea what to do for my 30th birthday coming up this July. I want to do something fun! Something different! Something memorable! And I have absolutely no ideas. What should I do?

What do you want to confess today?

5 Favorite Baby Items (you don't have on your registry)

4.06.2016


// Related: Baby Registry Favorites 0-3 Months

I kind of hate "must have" lists. People are always blogging lists of things you "must have" before doing such and such, and it's like, actually I didn't have any of those things and did just fine. (Like people who say you must have makeup in your hospital bag. HAHAHA. No. Truth: I didn't even get out my toothbrush the entire time I was in the hospital after having R.)

So here's the deal: the following are by no means baby items you must have to be successful at being a mom. However, they are things that I have found very useful over the past almost eight months of baby raising, and I wanted to share. I chose these specifically because they are things that you might not normally think you need, so they probably won't end up on too many "must have" lists out there. Feel free to add yours in the comments below!

*This post is not sponsored and there are no affiliate links because, as I've already mentioned, I don't know how to do that, and it probably wouldn't be worth the 15 cents I would get to figure it out.

1. Copper Pearl Bibs


YOU GUYS. I. love. these. bibs. I came across these for the first time on a blog (can't remember which one now!), and I had to buy some for myself because duh, they are cute. But I quickly fell in love with them because they are so absorbent for baby drool. They have a double layer of cotton on the front and polyester on the back, and R can soak them sopping wet, but they don't soak through on the back. I'm telling you. You need these in your life. 

Okay maybe you do have this on your registry, but it's one of our most useful baby purchases. You hook this to the backseat, and I love being able to see R in the rearview mirror while I'm driving. Without, you know, turning around and being really unsafe. When we are in a different car, I keep looking in the mirror to see her and am sad when I can't.

I am convinced that Sophie the Giraffe is like the cool baby toy of bloggers everywhere. But I swear that Kiki the Elephant is better. She comes in pink or gray for a gender neutral option, and her ears are the perfect size for chewing. R absolutely loves her elephant! Kiki is made out of the same material as Sophie, is the same brand, and squeaks just like Sophie does. Kiki really doesn't get enough love, in my opinion. Dare to be different.

I linked to Covered Goods only because that is the kind I have, but there are a few different shops that carry this type of stretchy nursing cover. I actually did a review on the blog of this nursing cover, and I am even more of a fan than I was initially. At that point R and I were still getting the hang of nursing, and to be honest the cover was kind of a pain. But it came in super handy on our recent vacation! I used the cover to nurse on the airplane, in the airport, in the car, as a blanket, and to shield her from the sun in the carseat. Super handy! And it's lightweight and folded up easily in our bags.


My poor baby has some serious dry skin issues, and our pediatrician recommended the Aveeno eczema therapy lotion for her. Jordan actually uses the adult version (not sure what the difference is, to be honest) on his chin when it gets super dry. This lotion is very creamy, doesn't have a strong smell, and seems to help with her eczema issues. We rub it all over after a bath and any time we noticed dry patches (like one on her forehead that's been acting up). I highly recommend picking up a tube of this lotion!
____________

So those are a few things we have loved over the last eight months. Feel free to share some of yours in the comments. Is there anything awesome I'm missing?

・ DESIGNED BY ECLAIR DESIGNS