Blog - Page 4 of 4 - Real Maine Mom

October 6, 2019 by Lisa

5 Reasons to Try Walmart Grocery Pickup

Nothing beats an easy grocery pick up option for busy moms and dads.

Let’s face it. Going to the grocery store with our kids can be a bit of a nightmare. This is especially true anytime after your child outgrows their infant car seat. Even with well-behaved, adorable children like mine and yours, it is just a hassle getting them in and out of the car, making sure they are not too close to nap or meal time, etc.

This post may contain some affiliate links which means I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase something after clicking my link.

The time that my daughter outgrew her Keyfit/Caddy combination (learn more in my infant car seat post) was exactly when I started to take online grocery options pretty seriously. Why would I put myself through a grocery store adventure if I don’t have to? In my area there are a handful of options available.

Walmart Grocery Pickup certainly stands out from the crowd. Take my word for it and save $10 on your first order now OR settle in here and at least allow me to share with you why I am a big fan of this service:

1.) It’s free! Yup, no catch here. We ALL love free.

2.) Selection: There is a great selection – so much better than I expected. I didn’t do my groceries at Walmart before this. I actually don’t enjoy shopping at Walmart in general. I chose to try this service primarily for the convenience and I am thankful the quality and selection have been great and it really does save me from having to to any other big grocery shopping trips. Admittedly I do still have regular stops by the local market for a lot of the local meats and produce that we enjoy but those are doable and somewhat enjoyable because the pressure is off and it literally takes me 5 minutes.

3.) Substitutions: Its annoying when the item you order is not available and you then have to go into the store to pick up a substitution. Walmart allows you to decide when placing your order if you would like to receive substitutes or not. You can do this item by item, or apply it to the whole order. If you choose to allow substitutions for a particular item with Walmart and they are out of stick of the item that you ordered, they will replace it with the most similar item or an upgraded item. If the item they substitute for you is an upgraded item you will receive that item at the regular item’s price. For example, we ordered 18 eggs, and they were out so they gave us 2 cartons of 12 eggs for the same price. Another example: I ordered a rechargeable toothbrush and when I arrived they had substituted it for an upgraded model, but I only had to pay for the cheaper model. It was like Christmas! Last example, I got a huge jar of the pasta sauce I ordered for the price of the smaller jar that I had asked for. It was the same sauce, so I was happy. Afraid of leaving it up to them? When you arrive, they will review any substitutions with you. You can either approve of the changes or refuse substitutions that you don’t want.

4.) The app works well and has the features you will be looking for. Save your favorite items for next time. Multiple devices can be logged on at once, etc. Mom and dad can both use it and add to same shopping cart seamlessly and it won’t matter who shows up to pick up the groceries either. As you notice you are running out of milk, add it to your cart and return later to add the eggs and cheese. It will all wait for you in your cart until you are ready to check out.

5.) It’s easy. Choose an available hour long window of time to pick up your order when you check out and then just open the app before you leave your house and click a button to tell them you are on your way. If you allow it to, GPS mapping will tell them how many minutes away you are. Follow the signs to Grocery Pickup when you arrive and they will walk out momentarily with your groceries. No calls to make. No confusion.

Ready to give it a try? Use this link to save $10 off your first order!

September 30, 2019 by Lisa

How I Finally Lost the Baby Weight

After having my baby, the first 10 pounds or so came off on their own just as they said they would. The last 20 or so pounds, not so much.

I was told an added bonus of breastfeeding would be that the weight would literally fall off of me, but it didn’t.

Then I was told wait until she starts crawling, climbing and running around; just chasing after her will take the weight off. Guess what, the weight didn’t budge. I didn’t do anything about it for almost a year because while I would have loved feeling more comfortable with my body, losing weight was not my priority, she was.

The Keto Diet

About a year after having my baby, my husband was talking about some friends who were successful with the Keto Diet and thought he would like to try it. I had honestly never even heard of it, but he explained that it would be low carb (like Atkins and South Beach) and high fat. I’m not going to review the whole diet plan for you here, but I can assure you that you will have no problem finding tons of information online.

Getting Started

My husband and I know from experience that diets in our home are not successful unless we do them together, so I agreed to participate.

This would be my most “lazy” attempt at starting at a diet so far. My poor husband had to do all of the legwork. He led the effort in cleaning out the pantry, shopping for new foods, and patiently educating me on the diet as a whole. He could have just told me to look it up, but instead he was an incredible resource. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have had a successful start because I simply was not motivated enough in the beginning to do the work.

Once “we” purged all of the foods that were not part of the diet, “we” began only purchasing foods that were keto-friendly. I struggled with the transition for a couple days getting started because not only did I not have any skin in the game, so to speak, but I was experiencing a snack-attack just before I was in ketosis. I was tearing through the cabinets for snacks and kept coming up short. This was when I officially realized how I could be helpful. I began researching keto recipes.

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Keto Recipe Ingredients

I was amazed with all the options that were out there. Not surprisingly, I found that I would need some new staples in our pantry to be able to make most of these recipes:

Almond Flour- Almond Flour can easily be found at the grocery store, but I added it to my Amazon cart since I would be waiting on some other ingredients anyway. In my experience it doesn’t really matter which one you choose, just a blanched almond flour, and some have less net carbs. I have been selecting the Blue Diamond brand, since I had heard of it prior to the diet and the net carbs were low.

Swerve sweetener– You can easily get wrapped up into thinking you will need several types of sweeteners on this diet, but I have been doing just fine using swerve for everything. I do purchase and use both the granular and the confectioners and I buy these online because they are not available at my supermarket.

Lily’s Chocolate Chips– Great news! There are such thing as keto-friendly chocolate chips!These are also not available at my supermarket.

As I dug deeper into recipes I found there were a number of other new ingredients that I wanted to add to my pantry as well, all of which I had never heard of. These included items like: Psyllium Husk Powder (to make keto doughs and breads), Xanthan Gum (for consistency purposes doughs and breads) , Whey Protein Isolate Unflavored (to reduce carb counts as a substitution for some almond flour in keto bagels and more) and Banana Extract (we use in banana muffins and also add to our pancakes and cheesecakes to change things up). You will see these ingredients pop up again in my favorite keto recipe posts.

In Ketosis

I had a new reason to be motivated after about a week when I confirmed that I was actually in ketosis. Yay! Now I would start losing weight. We used these test strips to monitor our ketone levels. I used them a lot more in the beginning than I do now. Now I am able to tell if I am in Ketosis simply by the way I feel.

I began to lose 1 to 2 pounds each week, on average. Aside from chasing my toddler around and walking the dog, I didn’t add on any additional exercise (until very recently).

I began to notice that once I was in Ketosis, that I was no longer feeling so hungry at each mealtime and I was no longer rummaging through the cabinets for a snack. I hit a plateau after losing 12 pounds and while I kept with the diet, it came off much more slowly after that. Normally, a long plateau would mean that I would take a break from a diet, but I chose to keep with it because for me, this diet is actually pretty easy to maintain.

Less Regretful Eating, More Feeling Better

Sad to say, but my life and plans have always revolved around food. The best thing that happened to me with this diet was that once the carbs were out of my system, I was not craving them any longer! Keto made me FEEL BETTER overall. I was no longer binge eating my favorite foods. I was experiencing less headaches, less belly aches, and no longer had indigestion. I had been popping tums like candy at bedtime before this diet. had more energy to put towards my day. I guess I had not realized how troubled I was before the diet. All in all, I feel so much better now.

I spent the entire summer on the keto diet (with the exception of one cheat weekend) and as of September 2019 I have officially lost 20 pounds from the diet, with what I feel to be little effort or sacrifice. (Update: November 2nd and I have lost 22 lbs +) I am just a few pounds away from my wedding weight now (which I worked much harder than this to achieve) and people are beginning to notice and comment on the weight that I have lost. They always noticed my husband’s weight loss immediately, sigh…

As with anytime you lose weight, you have the annoyance of having to buy new clothes, and I had to replace my favorite bra, etc., so I was forced to focus on myself in those respects, and I have to admit, it was good for me to focus on me! AND when I feel good, it is certainly good for my daughter. She does have to deal with me 24/7 after all. A mom with more energy is a better mom.

Adding Exercise

My next step, which is long overdue, is to finally implement an exercise regimen. My husband is busy carving out a location for a home gym in our basement… I will report back soon with more details on how this goes for us so stay tuned.

If you are thinking about getting started* with Keto, stay tuned because I will be sharing more of my favorite keto recipes that I have tried as well as a list of my go-to Keto products. I have so much keto related information to share!

*As with any weight loss regimen, check with your doctor before trying. I am not an expert on weight loss or the keto diet, and I can only share with you my experience. Please do the due diligence before trying Keto to ensure it is right for you.

September 29, 2019 by Lisa

Flying with a Toddler: Buy a Seat? We Say “YES”!

Children under age 2 can fly for free in a parents lap, but that doesn’t mean it is always a good idea. You will read a lot of articles that weigh the pros and cons of purchasing a seat for your child, but we say, if at all possible, do it.

Buying our toddler a seat is money well spent in our opinion, because we know that our daughter will not only be more safe in her own seat (with a car seat), but also more comfortable and more likely to be successfully entertained by us, and more likely to sleep. All of this leads to a happier child, happier parents, and last but not least, happier neighbors on your flight.

When flying with small children, there are so many variables that you will not have control over such as flight delays, missed connections, etc. This, however, is something that you do have control over.

The only situation were I would possibly consider not purchasing a seat for my child would be for a very short flight. If you have a flight that is only an hour long, sure, go ahead and try to save some money if you want. We actually still purchase a seat for short flights, because we feel that it is overall a better situation for all of us in terms of safety and comfort. Our toddler is also not much of a lap-child.

Some will suggest that you try not purchasing a seat, and wait see if you can get one for free when you get to the gate. This is certainly a worthy exercise if you didnt purchase a seat for your child in the first place, because having a seat is a really good idea. This is not, however, a good reason, in my opinion, not to purchase a seat for your child. I could go on and on, but if you think you and your child (and an airplane full of neighbors) would benefit from them having their own seat, plan accordingly and buy one.

In our experience, airlines are not nearly as accommodating as the stories that you read online. We have personal only seen this work for people when there was an open seat in their row, allowing them to spread out. Airlines giving seats away is the exception to the rule, as they want to make sure that next time you fly that you purchase a seat. In fact, we have watched airlines go out of their way to ensure that only children under 2 who have purchased a seat get a seat, even on flights that were clearly not full. Oh, and we also get heckled as we approach the gate with our carseat about whether or not we have purchased a seat for our toddler, which of course, we always do.

Plan to Bring a Car Seat

Ok, so you know my thoughts on having a seat for your toddler and you saw me mention something about bringing a car seat. You are probably thinking, “How do I juggle a car seat, a toddler and my luggage?” Is it really worth all the hassle?

For reasons of safety, comfort and restricting your child from moving around, I say yes, it is well worth it. And this comes from parents of a pretty easy kid too, regardless, toddlers are busy and have a ton of energy they need to burn through. If they have the option to get up, climb and jump around, they will.

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I have to share my experience on just how to do this with you because there are a number of options out there and none of them are 100% ideal. Here are the top 2 scenarios that I considered:

Bring your child’s existing convertible car seat with you. (We almost did this)

This is an option, but since most convertible car seats are quite heavy, it can be difficult. Our Britax Marathon, (which we LOVE!) for example, weighs about 20 pounds. No biggie, I guess, if you didn’t have a child, luggage and everything else to maneuver around the airport as well. You can choose to tow it to the gate (with your child in it) with this cart (pretty pricey), or strap it to your suitcase with this gadget.

Pros: A nice, comfy car seat (I’m guessing your’s is too) that your child is already comfortable using. It probably has a bunch of features and extras that you would like to have available to you.

Cons: even if you buy the cart or other gadget to get it through the airport, you still will have to carry the heavy car seat onto the airplane and to your seat. Even if TSA approved, it may be too large to fit down the tight aisle space and also might be too large to fit in the airplane seat, causing you to drag it off of the plane and gate check it (an incredible waste of time). Also, if you are dragging around the car seat, you may not have enough hands to also get your stroller to the gate. Your stroller is less likely to get damaged if you gate check it as opposed to checking it when you arrive.

Purchase a different car seat for traveling (We did!)

I know how this is going to sound, I am asking you to throw more money around, right? Wrong! The car seat I am about to recommend that you purchase is actually cheaper than the travel cart option that I showed you above.

Purchase another convertible car seat, one that is smaller, lightweight, and affordable. The Cosco Scenera Next is what I chose to buy. While it’s not my top pick for everyday use, it works perfectly for traveling. Weighing under 7 pounds, carry options are limitless, I can literally carry it with one finger. It obviously is still awkward to carry, but we usually just clip it to our stroller with a stroller hook like this. There are also tons of stroller hacks out there for this carseat if you google “Cosco Scenera Stroller Hacks” and you may find a way to place the seat in your stroller with your kid in the seat. Do that at your own risk of course.

Pros: You have a lightweight car seat, so it’s much easier to carry. It’s also narrow so if any convertible car seat will fit in your particular airplane seat, this one will. (It is one of few options that fit 3 wide in vehicle.) It meets all safety standards and has side impact protection. Justify your purchase even more and use it as a backup car seat for grandma or a babysitter when you are not traveling. I found it to be quick and easy to install.

Cons: It may not be quite as comfortable as your everyday car seat (my daughter was very happy and comfortable in it) and it may lack some other features that your more expensive car seat has.

Aside: I tried the stroller hack and it worked with my Chicco Bravo Mini Stroller. The Cosco Scenera Car Seat fit in it pretty securely. I personally would have secured it with an additional luggage strap at the airport for my child’s safety. I ultimately decided this was not necessary, and that I wanted to bring my jogger, but do this at your own risk if you choose!

September 29, 2019 by Lisa

How to Transition Smoothly From Bottle to Cup

A new cup for your baby needs to, first and foremost, work well for your baby. To allow for smooth transitions you will want to try to avoid making a transition that is too abrupt for your child.

For example, you wouldn’t necessarily want to go directly from a bottle with a nipple (slow) to a cup with a straw (fast). Just think about it from your baby’s perspective; with the bottle, your baby knows to tip it back and they don’t realize (of course) that the flow is regulated. This would lead them to assume that anytime they tip a drink back that the flow will be as it is with a bottle: slow… so with a straw cup, not only will your baby get too much to drink in one sip, but they will also need to learn a new sucking method. They would also not find much success in tipping the cup back. This experience would be overwhelming and frustrating for your baby and they will understandably want their bottle back. Oh, and if the goal is to teach your baby not to suck when drinking, a straw will not accomplish that. This is so confusing, right?! So if you are like me you are now thinking, “then just tell me exactly what I need to do, I have 5 minutes until this baby wakes up from his/her nap”.

Well, if you see this post soon enough you can try doing what I did and see if it works for you. Perhaps you will want to do some more research, but either way follow someone’s advice. You would be surprised how fast you can end up with a graveyard of cups, and too many cup introductions might lead to a suspicious and confused little one who could end up becoming resistant to trying new cups, among other things. Oh, and cups are kind of expensive too, so don’t waste your money on the ones that aren’t the right stage for your child or those that leak!

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If you have been following me you know that I recommend starting your baby off with the Dr. Brown’s Options standard neck bottles. This is based not only off my own experiences, but the experiences of my closest mom friends. Consider us your mom friends an read more about why here.

If you already use these bottles, your first transition from nipple to spout can be pretty easy. You can try purchasing the Dr. Brown’s Spouts. I didn’t know about these when we made our transition, but I hear that it has helped some moms with babies who don’t want to give up their bottles.

Nuby No-Spill Super Spout Grip N’ Sip Cup

The Nuby Cup is a good first sippy cup to offer because it has a soft spout, which is what they are used to and easier to transition to as well as handles which are a convenient and fun addition. We transitioned to the Nuby directly from the bottle. It really doesn’t leak much. The no-spill spout works well, especially at first, but expect that your child will gnaw on it and depending on how many teeth they have, the spout will split and leak a tiny bit when held upside down. Even with that, I do believe it is an excellent transition cup from a bottle. When the spouts leak, it may be a fair signal to move on to the next phase cup.

Munchkin Miracle 360 Cup Trainer Cup

The Miracle 360 cup is pretty neat. It teaches your baby/toddler the method for drinking out of a real cup; only when pressure is applied to the lid is the drink released. It pretty much has all the benefits and feels of drinking out of a real cup, except that leaks are prevented with the miracle lid. The only exception is when your child drops this cup on the ground, there is generally a splatter of the liquid that is built up into the lip of the lid. As a result of using this cup, your child continues to tip their drink back, but learns that “sucking” is not necessary to take a drink. They essentially understand what it feels like to drink out of a real cup, but they don’t realize that holding it over their head would get them wet if they were actually using a real cup. This will be clear when they grab one of your cups off the coffee table and throw it back. It is a great cup that doesn’t get ruined over time and can be continued to be used for quite some time, especially when you are in the car and you want to prevent leaks. I later discovered that Munchkin also offers a stainless steel option that is not cheap for a toddler cup, but is great for keeping milk cold on the go (or just in the morning from wake-up until nap time). I use this similarly for my daughter as I use my own Yeti Rambler Tumbler cup.

In my opinion, the last transition that you really need to make is to a regular straw cup. There are 2 great options, and you may want one or both of these depending on your needs.

Contigo Kids Tumbler

Contigo Kids Tumbler with Straw– My daughter loves this “big girl” cup because I think it reminds her of the cups she gets at a restaurant. I love that the has the independence of a big kids cup, but in reality it is suitable for her to operate on her own. Word of advice, use it seated if you can. Like any straw cup, the hard straw will not be fun when paired with a fall.

Thermos Funtainer

Thermos Funtainer– This is a great straw option for on the go, but you may choose to use it for all purposes. It is great for keeping a drink cold. Straw can be replaced if your child chews it. Sometimes they do leak over time, but hey, they all do!

September 29, 2019 by Lisa

Create a Safe Playspace for Babies on the Move

It’s finally happening! Your baby is becoming mobile! This is exciting, but are you ready? I wasn’t, but I did a ton of research and I recovered quickly. And once I had her all set up with a safe and fun environment, I got a lot of positive feedback from other moms. This type of set-up is great if you don’t have a dedicated playroom space, and may be great even if you do. It is also great as an alternative playspace to a playroom, perhaps in a different area of the house. Our play area was set up visible from the kitchen allowing our daughter to play independently while we prepared meals.

I started off by noticing there was a need for a play mat. I tend to overthink purchases that I make, and this was no exception (but I am glad I did):

It had to be big. Big enough for her to be able to roll and not roll off every time. Big enough for her to be able to play.
It had to be thick enough so to cushion her head if she fell.
It had to be leak resistant and easy to clean. I didn’t want to have to get the puzzle piece mats if I didn’t have to because I had read stories of drinks leaking between the crack and hardwood floors like mine being ruined. I also heard from moms I know that they are a pain to keep sanitized.
Not ugly.

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Skip Hop Reversible Waterproof Foam Baby Play Mat

This Skip Hop Activity Mat was the only one that really fit the bill, and more. One large mat that you can roll up, but still thick enough to protect her head during a fall. The size would be perfect for rollers, crawlers and walkers. Oh and it’s cute! It had a decorative side that fit right into our home decor, and a fun side! Relatively easy to clean (does take some elbow grease), and waterproof! It is also an excellent option to use in the nursery instead of a rug and would certainly help to break the fall of a crib-diver.

It didn’t take me long to realize my crawler wouldn’t stay on the mat unless there were some barriers in place. I wanted something that:

Had a nice large play area.
Something versatile that we could arrange multiple different ways.
Something strong enough that my baby could pull herself up.
It needed to be fun looking and not feel or look like a jail.
It needed walls tall enough to keep her in, and the dog out.

I finally found this baby play pen on Amazon that actually met my requirements. I was hesitant by its no-name style of marketing (you will see what I mean), but after reading a bunch of reviews and comparing it to the competition, I gave it a try. Thank goodness it worked out and I can now say it was worth the money. It worked great, and was able to stand up nice and stable on our hardwood floors. It also had some non-skid feet that worked well. I bought 2 extra panels to make the space that much bigger.

Initially we set the playpen up around the play mat. We were able to create a large playspace in rooms that were otherwise not suitable to be used as playrooms (fireplace, winerack, etc). We have since used the fencing to block a step up in our living room. We have broken it up into smaller sections that we use to block our TV console table shelving, a wine rack, and we have used it to prevent our toddler from running through the screens on our screen porch. I hope if you choose to buy it that you will get as much bang for your buck as we did.

September 28, 2019 by Lisa

This Mama “Needs” a Housecleaner

Do you remember your reaction the first time you heard that someone you knew had a “cleaning lady”. I remember thinking, “I guess that is how the other half lives” (eye-roll). Well, now I am here to tell you from my experience, it is more common and attainable than I once thought… and it is so worth it and helpful for us moms!

Don’t get me wrong, I know that having a housecleaner is a bit of a luxury, an extra. You may be able to work it into your budget, or maybe you cannot. If you do find that you have some wiggle room in your budget, allow me to explain why I think this could help other mom’s to.

House Cleaning: Want vs. Need

In my opinion, having a housecleaner is a “need”, not just a “want”. This is because, as much as we try, we cannot do it all and we deserve to have clean houses.

Having a housecleaner will give you one of 2 things: hours of your life back OR the clean house you never have. For us, we reclaimed hours of our life when we hired a housecleaner. Weekend hours we could spend with our daughter, doing family things and giving her all of the time and attention that we can.

In our case, we have spent some of the best weekends during our best years cleaning our home. I talking about the dusting, washing all the floors and all other surfaces, cleaning the bathrooms, the toilets, scrubbing down the kitchen,disinfecting the microwave, etc. These are so hard to keep on top of but we tried, and mostly succeeded, however for 10 of the 13 years that my husband and I have been together, we missed a lot of beautiful weekend days that we will never get back. It was a vicious cycle, and it took us years and years to discover that we didn’t have to bicker over the house cleaning anymore. We could prioritize getting some help.

As you know, there are also no shortage of regular household duties to keep up on, and we still handle these duties everyday. We still have to keep on top of the laundry, the dishes, organizing the clutter. These are the household duties that a house cleaner generally does not touch. As it is, I struggle balancing all of these household duties while being a good (present) mom and working too.

Now I ask you, what is your weekend worth to you? Where does a clean house fall on your list of priorities? To us, we can more than justify paying our cleaning lady a small fee every couple of weeks for our sanity. The to-do list remains long, but the to-done list is longer than it was before. There are always ways we can all be more productive, fulfilled, happy, organized, involved, present… for me this is one of them.

Selecting a cleaning service

Don’t just hire any cleaning service. In my experience, bigger cleaning companies are not necessarily better. Fancy websites don’t make a better house cleaner. What you really want to find is a word of mouth referral to the lady who not only owns her own cleaning business but will be there each time cleaning your house.

When cleaning operations get too big, they lose accountability and the quality can suffer. Ideally you want a team of two or more people cleaning your house each time so that it doesn’t take all day. Two wonderful ladies clean our house and it takes them just under two hours. The cleaning business should also be insured, and check references.

How much does it cost?

The cost? Depending on the size of your home, the amount of clutter, and your market, it will probably cost you somewhere between $75 and $150 every two weeks to have your house cleaned if you pick a small operation cleaner, and only use the services that you need. (Yes you will see some cleaners who charge well over $200, unless you live in a mansion, keep looking) Don’t be afraid to negotiate a fair price with your house cleaner, but at the same time remember that it is hard physical work to be a house cleaner and their money is well earned.

Always “clean for the cleaning lady”

My friends laugh when I say that I am cleaning for the cleaning lady… but you really kind of have to. Let me explain:

We do our own dishes and laundry, and don’t expect that of our cleaner.
We strip the beds and leave out clean sheets (If your cleaner does the beds, not all do).
We also pick up pretty much everything from the surfaces of our home, all of the clutter so that they can clean them.

If you don’t pick up clutter, expect that they will not be able to clean those surfaces. Either that or they may want to charge you more for the extra organizing that needs to be done. They will see how cluttered you are when they come to quote out your job initially.

As a result of this post I hope, if nothing else, you now understand my perspective and see how having a house cleaner is a means to making most moms even more productive. Who knows, maybe it would work for you too!

If you are in the Portland, Maine area and are looking for a house cleaner feel free to message me and I would be happy to refer you to our wonderful cleaning lady!

September 27, 2019 by Lisa

My favorite Keto Recipe to Date: Banana Nut Keto Muffins

Admittedly, I have tried a quite a few keto recipes. After all, we have been on the diet for 5 months as of the date this post was written (read more about this on my post on how I finally lost the baby weight) and though cravings are minimal, sometimes I just miss certain things.

When the weather starts to cool off here in Maine it is like a cue for us moms to begin using the oven again and to start baking (am I right?). I didn’t want this year to be any different just because we are on a “diet”.

You know what I havent had in a long time? A banana. Honestly, I had not had a muffin either. I wanted both.

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So, you may be asking yourself the same question I did. How do you make banana keto nut muffins if you can’t eat bananas? Well, this keto recipe genius Joe Duff (The Diet Chef) helped me to discover Banana Extract. So I popped onto Amazon and 2 days later I had the secret ingredient I needed to make Banana Nut Keto Muffins.

Also, the Diet Chef suggested using this almond flour but I did substitute with Blue Diamond brand and it worked out just fine.

Now to deal with my husband who is asking me to bake up our 3rd batch of these this week… and he’s calling for a double batch. Should I give in?

The Diet Chef has tons of amazing keto-recipes. Check him out and his recently released cookbook too! I like to follow him on instagram @thejoeduff for his latest recipes.

September 26, 2019 by Lisa

7 Items You Should Add to Your Baby Registry

Are you an expecting mama trying to navigate through copious amounts of baby products on the market to decide what you will need? How are you supposed to know not only what you will need, but what will make your life easier? (Don’t miss my seperate post devoted to what you don’t need- coming soon!)

Well, you are not alone! All of us mamas have been there and we know it can be overwhelming and time-consuming! And what happens if you dont do your research??? (so much pressure)… you possibly omit some key items from your registry or shopping list that could have truly helped to make your life easier. Let me help you get prepared! This is 100% MY LIST, and my experiences, tried and true. I share this with you today with so much confidence that it can also be the foundation that can work to help other moms to be prepared for motherhood! Please remember to come back and let me know if any of this advice seemed to help you!

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Here we go:

Lightweight Pack n Play/ Bassinet Combo

We were ready to purchase one of the fancy bassinets on the market (like this one) but I ultimately decided that we could get more use out of a bassinet/pack n play combo, especially considering we knew our baby was only going to sleep in our room for the recommended 6 months. (Read my post on our baby sleeping arrangements) To complicate things, I knew from talking with other moms that I only wanted a lightweight pack n play, something compact that I could easily bring along with us. So, we chose the Fisher Price Ultra Lite Day and Night Playyard (pictured above).

Unfortunately, this particular product has since been recalled as it shared similarities to the Fisher Price Rock n Play (also a product we loved that was recalled), but I am still covering this need here to encourage you to find a solution that can work double or triple-duty for you because there are still some excellent products currently on the market that check all of the same boxes. So, just for you, I went back to the drawing board and decided that if I had to make this purchase again in today’s market, I would choose the Graco Travel Lite Crib with Stages.

My daughter slept through the night in the bassinet on our pack n play (right beside me in our room) from 2 weeks old through 6 months (that’s right, we had 5.5 months of silent nights with it) before she moved to her crib in her nursery. You don’t need anything fancy to accomplish this, just a firm sleep surface. Then we were able to use our versatile product beyond those first 6 months as a pack n play. Pack n plays are not all created equal. Most are heavy and bulky, some are loaded with features to add to the bulk, and few are simple, lightweight and compact. This one here is one of the few that is simple and compact, which means instead of it becoming just a stationary piece in your home, it is one that can truly be used to “pack” and “play”! It packs up to something you can throw in your car and bring virtually anywhere, like trips to grandma’s house. And if it is where your baby is used to sleeping already, you know it will be familiar and comfortable. Oh, and 18 months later, we still haven’t put ours away because we use it for overnight baby/toddler guests and to keep my daughter contained to play when I work out in my home gym.

Sound Machine

But not just any sound machine, one that you can control by an app on your phone. We went with the Hatch Baby Rest sound machine and night light. This particular product has several nice features that you will use. We have set up our baby’s sleep schedule on the app and it automatically turns on/off for naps and bedtime. It also acts as a nightlight with several different color lights to choose from, of which, you can make as dim or as bright as you need. This was especially helpful to me when the baby was sleeping beside me at night. I would set the light to just bright enough that I could make out her features and check if she was breathing, without having to turn on the lights or shine my phone’s flashlight in her face. It had an ok to wake feature as well so you can train your child that when the light is green and the birds are chirping it is time to get up. You would be surprised just how well this actually works. My daughter still sleeps until 9 AM. We absolutely LOVE this gadget and couldn’t recommend it more!

Explore & More Baby’s View 3-Stage Activity Center by Skip Hop

Here is something else that has got a lot of use in our house! It is called the Explore and More 3-Stage Activity Center by Skip Hop.

Skip Hop’s Explore and More 3-Stage Activity Center

My baby started using this around 4 months old and at this stage I found it to be a tremendously helpful solution for when I needed to set her down to get something done. She remained entertained while I changed over the laundry or made dinner. It also helped her to build strength in her legs.

If all of that wasn’t amazing enough, it then grows with your baby’s height until you actually replace the seat with the floor piece to make a table that they can use as they are learning to pull themselves up to stand. As they walk around the table, they can play with all of the toys. Later, when they have outgrown the little clip on toys, remove them and it is a simple table.

Chairs can be purchased separately and are well worth it!

TIP: Purchase this set of chairs to go with it and it becomes a great spot to work on puzzles, color and draw! We still use this every single day!

Wubbanub Pacifiers

We didn’t know we were going to be pacifier people until we were in the hospital and were told that it was something we should be doing for the safety of our baby when she sleeps. The only issue with any regular pacifier was that our baby would lose them when she was sleeping and would wake up looking for it. You can correct that with a pacifier clip in the car or stroller, but not in the crib. As you can imagine it takes those little hands some training to be able to locate and maneuver a pacifier back into their mouths. I can tell you from experience that this is achieved more quickly when a stuffed animal is attached to it. It acts as something substantial enough that they can feel around for it and find it. Additionally, a wubbanub pacifier is less-likely to fall through the slats of the crib – so when your older baby is learning to self-worth and decides they would like their pacifier in the middle of the night, they can easily locate it, grab it and pop it in without really waking up. My daughter performs this exercise in her sleep like a champ.

NOTE: We have not lost even 1 of these pacifiers in 19 months. I call that a mom win!

Boppy Newborn Lounger

The Boppy Newborn Lounger was another must-have that we used from newborn through age 6 months or so (our baby was small to average in size). IMO it’s the best option for when you have to set baby down throughout the day. We would either place it on the floor, our bed, or even right between us on the couch. Every use was well supervised, of course. We would have been lost without this product and it comes highly recommended by almost every new mom I know.

Dr. Brown’s Options Bottles

Oh, I spent so much time researching bottles. You never trly know ahead of time if you will be breastfeeding, formula feeding, combination feeding, or exclusively pumping and bottle feeding. Ultimately, you will have to see how things go for you. My suggestion in any scenario is to prepare yourself with a good set of bottles. I highly recommend starting with the Dr. Brown’s Options Gift Set.

I have learned from my research, my own experience, and from feedback from other moms that it is not worth starting out with another brand of bottles. It is unlikely that these will not work for you. It is easy to get caught up in obsessing over wide-neck vs. standard opening and glass vs plastic, but it really just isn’t worth your time. These bottles are simply the best and the components can be rinsed and placed right in the dishwasher; piece of cake. They are the best at preventing gas and colic. They did not cause any “nipple confusion”. Once you start using them I am sure you will find that you may want a couple extra in each size to put into the rotation too.

TIP: To prevent nipple confusion, introduce to a breastfeeding infant starting with a really slow nipple. A friend recommended that we also purchase preemie nipples and use those for longer than a strictly bottle-fed baby would. This worked excellent for us an allowed us to have a baby who would and could take a bottle as needed. In our case it was of pumped milk, but this would also be a great approach for combination feeders. Having a baby that will take a bottle is a wonderful thing.

Dr. Brown’s Bottle Warmer

Pair the bottles with the Dr. Brown’s Bottle Warmer. You will be happy to have this gadget in those first few months to warm pumped breastmilk that has been refrigerated or thawed. We introduced a bottle early and offered it at least once per day. It was easy to use and when I wanted to run an errand without my baby, I would set my husband up with pumped milk in the fridge and the warmer so that the baby could enjoy a perfect temperature bottle at a moments notice.

Added bonus? The components of the Medela breastpump screw right on to these bottles so you can pump directly into the bottle and place in the fridge if you so choose. There is one good reason not to bother with the “cute” wide-neck bottles!

September 26, 2019 by Lisa

Hello World! My First Blog Post

So, I have to start somewhere, right? When it comes to blogging, or any other new endeavor we take on in this life, we generally start in a place of good intention. We open ourselves up to all that the opportunity will bring. That’s where I’m at.

I have been brainstorming for some time what my career goals are/should be now that I am a mom. My place in this world, well, I certainly have found it. I know that this precious time in my child’s life is the most fulfilling time in my own. I will never again be so privileged and fulfilled as a human being…. and there has never been a topic that I have been so excited or inspired to write about.

Maybe I should also tell you that it took me a while to gain the desire to do something for myself since becoming a mom, and I think that is normal. The simple truth is that I am no longer the priority (and that is just fine with me!). When I realized that a bit of focus on “mom” and allowing myself the time to share my experiences in this way could be good for my family, I decided to give it a go.

I have an incredible amount of excitement about the possibilities that this blog can bring. More than anything, I expect the experience to be rewarding and I expect to get out of this experience what I put in. If other “mompreneurs” can find successes with blogging, then I have the opportunity to do so as well.

What do I know about blogging?

As the popular saying goes, “I don’t know what I don’t know”, but I will continue on to say that I do know that I have the confidence to find out what I don’t know, as intimidating as that might be.

All of my research on blogging tells me that the best way to get started is to dive right in and start creating content; lots and lots of content. I have done just that but I have also researched every little baby step that I have taken so far. I have tried to learn from the transparency of other bloggers that have been kind enough to share their experiences with all of us.

Slowly but surely, I have taken the plunge and published this first post (as soon as I hit go!). I can’t wait to look back on this post in the future to see how far I have come, and to be in a state of knowing some of the things then that I don’t know now… but there will always be something else to learn, and that is what will make this experience fulfilling.

Who is my intended audience?

You. Yes, you belong here. (See my about page)

It will especially be a good fit if you are a mom, or are planning to become one… and it will be an extraordinary fit if you are a mom with a Maine connection. I also intend to offer a lot of insight about my experience that may help you understand the perspective of a modern mom in your own life (be it a wife, a friend, etc). C’mon, we all know a mom. We are all quite different, but we still have so much in common.

The Future of this blog…

Eventually this blog will include local resources that will help Maine moms stay informed about local offerings and happenings. I will source information that I believe will be helpful to moms in Maine, moms thinking of moving to Maine, and moms who are planning to visit Maine.

I invite you to stay, and to follow along; watch me learn and grow from my experiences as a blogger. Obvisously there will be mistakes. Hopefully there will be successes. Regardless, I promise I will share the real experience with you. I trust that you will keep me accountable. I doubt you will be a worse critic than I will be of myself.

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