Cleaning and caring for your baby's bottles is important because bacteria and mold can easily form inside and around your bottle. Since your baby is still young, their immune system is still developing so the risks of getting sick can be higher. It's crucial that you wash and care for your bottles as soon as you can to lessen their risks of being sick.

​I've heard a lot of moms rave about bottle warmers and bottle sterilizers but wasn't sure if we should get another "thing" to take up space on our counters. There's a ton out there and all have mixed reviews. So how were we to figure out which one to get? My husband and I opted out of registering or purchasing a sterilizer for while because we figured we would just wash Calvin's bottles right away or boil it to sterilize. This was great until we actually used a sterilizer. In my opinion they're definitely worth it! We have a big sterilizer by Pabalic that we sterilize our big 8 oz bottles, toys and bigger items. But we use our Nuby one-touch electric warmer and sterilizer every day and sterilize just about every other day. 

I love this warmer and sterilizer by Nuby! It heats up your milk or formula evenly and super quick! It even comes with measuring cup on the side. Simply measure your water, dump it in and push down on the button! It only takes a few minutes to evenly warm up.

Inside of the warmer/sterilizer is a small tray. For small items such as bink binks (pacifiers) and nipples, toss it inside of the tray, attach the lid and push the button down to sterilize. 

I love that it has that inner tray. It helps prevent your bottle or small items to touch the heating plate. I also love that it's small and compact so it's not taking much counter space. It's small and easy to store in a cupboard if you're not using it everyday. 

This one-touch electric warmer and sterilizer is available at Amazon, Walmart and most retailers. 

Once cleaned, I usually try to sterilize all of the items about every 2-3 days in either our big sterilizer or one-touch warmer/sterilizer. 

I had no idea that babies could start teething so early! Calvin is just about to be 5 months next week and he's been teething for about 2-3 weeks now. My pretty happy and chill baby became fussy, uncomfortable and agitated for hours on end. He was averaging 6-8 hours of sleep a night to waking up every 2 hours. I was pretty much in denial because he was so young. But as I did some research and checked his gums, I realized he was in fact teething! 

Nuby is one of our favorite brands because they're available at common retailers and are so affordable and long lasting! They have a wide range of colors, patterns and textured items!
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Bannor Toys is one of our favorites to support because they're a small business. The Bannor family started their company as a small project because they had a passion for creating authentic wooden pieces that would last for years to come. They are a little pricey compared to your normal retailer store items but it's because they create it for you and you can basically customize almost any of their items. Check out their Instagram stories because they're always showing you what's being created and how it's made! 

I love that Hux N Harper gives back to their community or charitable organizations! Their designs are always cute and sustainable! 

Teething can be rough for both you and baby! You might've gotten into a routine of things and then your baby started teething. It's like you took one step forward and ten steps backwards! But don't worry! It'll get easier for you and baby once you learn how to soothe their pain and figure out what products work. 

​You got this, mama!

There's so many umbrella strollers on the market that it can be overwhelming! If you're on a hunt for one then I recommend mapping out 2-4 key features you're needing for an umbrella stroller and going from there. Ours was how easy it was to fold/unfold and how far the seat reclines since Calvin is just about 5 months but with very strong neck support. I wanted something that we would be able to use now and this definitely worked out for our family. You can obviously tell he loves it from the picture above!

My anxiety has been getting to the worse of me the last few weeks. It tends to worsen when I've been home for an extended amount of time or when our house gets cluttered and unorganized. I'll be fine one moment and completely overwhelmed the next. It'll happen in a split second and I honestly just panic and feel the need to clean everything all while freaking out. My poor husband will drop what he's doing and help clean with me just so I can calm down. 

I realized that I'm a pretty visual learner and need structures and routines. I mean that's why I became a teacher to begin with. I remembered how successful I was at creating charts, graphs, to-do lists when I was teaching so I decided to create something I would need to stick with at home. 

​My husband and I had no idea what we needed for baby boy when I was pregnant. We'd spend countless days going in and out of baby stores to add things to our registry or get hand-me-downs. We also got a lot of stuff from our Facebook Buy Nothing groups! The baby market is HUGE and there's just soo much out there. What in the world do we need? I was also leaving my job and becoming a stay at home mama for a year so we knew we had to budget our money soon. 

So here's some of our must haves or go to items for the first few months. I didn't add any diapers, wipes or clothes since we don't really have any big preferences. I also didn't want to add strollers or swings because he transitioned through so many and was so picky. I'll talk about that at the end. ​

I was lucky enough to have a pretty easy time breastfeeding. Calvin had a great latch from the beginning.. maybe too good! He would latch so hard I would sometimes cry! We introduced him to a bottle the same week after coming home from the hospital because I needed a break from him sucking so hard. He didn't have any nipple confusion or issues transitioning from the nipple to bottle or vice versa. 

Sleep was the hardest part in the beginning because we weren't getting any! At the beginning he would only sleep on our chest or in our arms. He hated the Snuggle Me and Dockatot co-sleepers. It took us weeks to finally get him to sleep in his bassinet. It took lots of time trying and being persistent but eventually we got to a nighttime routine. He's 4 months now and it's a breeze to get him down to bed and he sleeps about 6-8 hours on average before waking up to be fed and getting put back down for another few hours. 

I remember I was so scared being out on my own because of my incision and I was just anxious about not knowing what to expect. My diaper bag was full of things at the beginning but now we don't carry too much. It's usually bulky because of a carrier but that's about it. 

Our bath time is pretty quick and easy. There are a few brands we like such as Tubby Todd and Hello Bello because they're hypoallergenic and plant based. I also really enjoy using an Otteroo bath floatie in the bathtub for fun! I would highly recommend it because they get to swim and relax. We used it at least once a week since he was about 8lbs. 

Since having my son, I've tried out SOO many baby wraps and baby carriers but none of them worked. As mentioned in previous posts, I'm very petite. I'm about 5'1'' and 108 lbs. ​I enjoyed baby wraps but couldn't use them for an extended amount of time or often because the weight of my son would sit on my shoulders. They're also too long for me and takes me a long time to wrap and get him inside. So I gave up on the thought of using baby wraps! 
Baby carriers never worked out for me for so many reasons. I've tried just about every brand on the market and wanted to cry every time! The shoulder straps are usually really thick and too bulky for me. They would dig into my sides or armpit awkwardly. The piece that buckles around your waist was usually very thick and I usually wouldn't be able to buckle and fasten the waistline snug enough. 

I've been testing out our new baby carrier by Colugo for about two weeks now and I can't say anything bad about it! 

If you're a petite mama like me then you'll love this carrier! Unlike most carriers that I've tried, it's really easy to use. The buckles are easy to get on and off and I love that you buckle the waist and back together and it's on you. There's a mesh liner that is between you and baby and then you move the front portion to the magnetic clip​s. This way the carrier is fully on you and it's super easy to get baby into the carrier. It's also great because it's breathable! 

Whether you're a petite mama like me or just looking on the market for a new carrier, you should try Colugo's Baby Carrier a try. They're great because you can try it for up to 100 days! If you're not satisfied for any reason during that 100 days then you can return it!

Every January I hear everyone's New Year's resolutions but I don't generally participate. These goals are often pushed to the back burner and people generally give up on them after a few weeks or months. Rather than putting the burden upon yourself and creating such specific goals, try something smaller. I recently read an article that said to focus on intentions rather than resolutions. Rather than focusing on what you don't have, you start channeling your focus on what you want to achieve and think about what you can do to achieve those goals.