Mommy Raves

It's been awhile since I've posted a Mommy Rave. This is partly due to the fact that while I have a lot of baby/toddler things that I like, I don't feel like I love them, and that therefore they are not worthy of the Mommy Rave title, since those are things I love.

Well, I've found another thing I love. It's not a baby product, but it could be. Or it should be. Take your pick.

Without further ado, Mommy Rave #5 is:


Dove Body Silk lotion.

A few months ago, Lane started to develop some dry skin on her back. I didn't think anything about it since it was the first dry skin she'd ever had. But gradually it spread to her front, and then to her arms, and then to her legs. We started putting lotion on her, just Johnson's pink baby lotion, and cut some things out of her diet to see if she was allergic to any of them. After three weeks of no wheat or eggs, we determined that she wasn't allergic to those things, so I started lotioning her like crazy. Morning and evening, every day for a month, I put Johnson's lotion on her. And at the end of the month her skin was starting to kind of feel a bit like normal. Kind of.

Enter Dove Body Silk. Last month I bought Shannon and myself some of this lotion because we've had really dry skin. I started occasionally putting it on some dry patches on Lane's legs as well. I noticed a slight improvement. Last week I bought a new tub of this lotion and started putting it on Lane every morning and evening. And today her skin is completely like normal for the first time since early November. One week of regular application of this and the dry patches on her legs disappeared. I love it.

I also feel like I should mention that my legs also are usually quite dry but I don't put lotion on them, because when I shave my legs it makes my skin super sensitive and all lotions just irritate my skin. But not this stuff...this stuff is great. I have soft legs for the first time in years. And Lane's skin is soft. It's not cheap lotion, but it's worth it. Our Johnson's pink baby lotion will not be being used any longer in favor of Dove Body Silk.

So, if you have a difficult time with your baby's dry skin or eczema, or if you have dry skin yourself, try Dove Body Silk out. It's fantastic.

***I feel that it is necessary to make it known that I am not receiving any monetary compensation for these reviews: I'm simply doing them for my fellow moms and moms-to-be out there.***

Mommy Raves

When we lived in the States, Lane didn't have a high chair. She was just over 5 months old when we moved to Istanbul, and the only "solid" food she ever had in the States was a little bit of rice cereal, and we just strapped her into her rocker chair or held her on our laps while we fed her. We had planned on just buying a high chair here, but once we started looking around we realized that the cheapest high chair you can find here is approximately $180! Since we're not planning on staying in Istanbul more than a year or so, we really didn't want to spend that kind of money on something we couldn't even take with us when we move, so I started looking online. This is what we decided on, and it definitely makes the Mommy Raves list.


The Inglesina Fast Chair

We purchased it online, and someone who was coming over to spend a semester studying brought it over. We picked it up from them one night, carried it home, and immediately hooked that baby up to our table. It's fantastic for people like us who don't want or need a large high chair cluttering up floor space. This chair:

1) Collapses flat.
2) Has a built in storage bag.
3) Only weighs 4 pounds.
4) Is machine washable.
5) Only requires about 3-4 inches of under-the-table room for the support bar to attach to.
6) Has a pocket on the back (we store bibs there).
7) Lets you take off the fabric part for washing without un-attaching the whole frame from the table.
8) Lets baby sit right up at the table with you.
9) Has a belt with a buckle so you can secure baby.
10) Will hold a baby or toddler up to 33 pounds.

Well, there's of course more, but to keep the list at an even 10, I'll stop there. This chair runs about $49 on Amazon or other sites. It is not meant for pedestal-type tables (you need a table with 4 legs, or a countertop) or tables with tablecloths on them. And yes, baby will make a mess all over the table and you will have to do a thorough scrubbing after each meal. Baby will also get food all over the floor (we unfold a towel under Lane while feeding her...then we can brush the food off after mealtimes and fold up the towel until it needs washing: no unsightly plastic floor mats needed!). But both of these things you would have to do with a regular high chair (clean the tray and clean the floor), so I don't feel like we have extra work because of this chair.


Lane likes to put her feet on the support bars sometimes.

The Inglesina Fast Chair is very easy to operate. You screw the handle-looking part under the table. These also rotate inwards for flat storage. To wash it, the part holding the fabric comes off of the part attached to the table. You simply remove the remaining frame and the hard bottom and toss in the washing machine. It is not complicated and there are not a million snaps or buttons to figure out or remember where they attach to. And the built-in storage bag is way cool: it's under the seat part and you can let it out (it remains attached: you can't lose it!) and put the whole seat in if you want to bring the chair with you somewhere or store it away.


Can you see the peaches smooshed into the fabric by her left arm?

There are only 2 drawbacks to this chair that I've found. 1) Since baby is attached to the table, you can't face the baby in order to feed him/her. We find that since we're both right-handed it works best for Lane to be near the corner of the table and for whoever is feeding her to be at the head of the table: we're the closest to "facing each other" this way. But this really isn't a big deal at all, at least not to us. 2) Because it is made of fabric and not plastic-covered foam, you can't just "wipe" it clean. Lane's grubby hands like to grasp the sides of it, and they are therefore often covered in pumpkin, chicken, and peaches. We wipe it off as best we can after meals, but we don't wash the chair every time she gets food on it. So I guess that if you're the kind of person who can't stand things to ever look dirty (if you are, what are you doing with a kid?!) then you might not like this. It doesn't bother us that much: we just wash it about once a week and deal with the dirtiness the rest of the time. Plus, the trade off is that unlike plastic-covered foam chairs, the fabric will never crack or break like I have seen happen on other chairs before.


Chicken stew: yummy!

So, all that to say that if you a) don't have a lot of space and don't want a "regular" high chair, b) eat out a lot and want to take something with you for baby to sit in, or c) travel a lot and want something easy to take to grandma's, on vacation, or to a friend's house, this is the chair for you! We are very happy with our purchase!

***I feel that it is necessary to make it known that I am not receiving any monetary compensation for these reviews: I'm simply doing them for my fellow moms and moms-to-be out there.***

Mommy Raves

Mommy Rave #3...


ERGO Sport Carrier

We love this baby carrier. When we were trying to decide on which baby carrier to get, I told Shannon that this was the one I wanted, because I'd received so many recommendations for it. My friends Amber, Charity, and Megan all raved about theirs. ERGOs are a little more expensive than some of the other baby carriers out there, but...we love ours! It was given to us as a gift by some people that Shannon worked with. They had asked us what we wanted and I immediately replied, "The ERGO!" because it was a good thing for lots of people to contribute to.

We use the ERGO every single time that we leave the house with Lane (here in Istanbul...we didn't use it quite as often in the States since we drove places most of the time). The sidewalks here are horrible, so her stroller gets very little use (although we were so grateful to have it in the airports!), but the ERGO...we get lots of use out of it and are already talking about how we'll need to buy another one when we have another baby. Maybe we'll get a blue one, or a cranberry
one. Oh, the options available!

So, why is the ERGO so great? It:

1) is ergonomically designed to support a correct sitting position for baby's spine, hip, and pelvis growth.
2) evenly distributes the baby's weight between the adult's hips and thighs, eliminating back pain.
3) is machine washable.


Using the sleeping hood at the beach.

4) has a "sleeping hood," which you can put over baby's head while he/she sleeps to prevent their head from cocking to the side or the back.
5) allows you to wear the baby on your front, on your back, or on your side (sitting on your hip).
6) has various accessories that you can attach to it to suit your needs (an insert for babies under 4 months old, a zippered pouch, or even a backpack).


This day we were out and about for 6 hours. My back never hurt (but boy, my legs got tired!).

7) can be used until your child reaches 40 pounds!
8) isn't bulky and can easily be squished into a backpack, purse, or other "storage" facility when not in use.

In short, we love this thing. Our backs never hurt when carrying Lane in it. Granted, it's not like she's a huge baby, but still...it's comfortable and carrying her in it is not a burden. At $105, they're not cheap, but if you're going to be doing a lot of walking around, we think ERGObaby carriers are the way to go!

***I feel that it is necessary to make it known that I am not receiving any monetary compensation for these reviews: I'm simply doing them for my fellow moms and moms-to-be out there.***

Mommy Raves

And Mommy Rave # 2 is...


Angel Baby Bottom Balm

This stuff is great. Another friend of mine from college mailed it to me when she found out we'd be using cloth diapers. Honestly, I had never even thought about not being able to use regular diaper rash cream with cloth diapers, but...you can't. At least not without having to add Dawn dish soap to your load of diapers.

This stuff is clear (so it won't ruin your couch or carpet if you accidentally get some on something besides a baby bum). You don't need a lot of it. It's organic and toxin-free. It has a fantastic fresh smell. And I think it works better than Desitin. You can also use it to soothe scrapes, burns, cradle cap, and other kinds of rashes. It's a little more spendy than Desitin or the like, but you can get a 3-pack on Amazon, which is basically like getting 1 for free (definitely buy this stuff online...it's a ton cheaper!). And in Lane's 7 months of life, we haven't even gone through 1 jar yet.

Angel Baby Bottom Balm is totally worth the extra cost, at least in my opinion. I guess that maybe if you had a kid who had horrible diaper rash all the time it might get really expensive, but we haven't had that problem. Maybe because Angel Baby Bottom Balm has cleared up every diaper rash that Lane has ever had in less than 24 hours. So, for all you cloth-diapering mommas out there, I highly recommend this stuff. And for those of you who use disposables, I'd recommend you give it a try too!

Thanks, Rhonda, for introducing us to this stuff. We love it!

Earth Mama Angel Baby also has lots of other organic maternity, breastfeeding, and baby goodies. Look here to check them out!

***I feel that it is necessary to make it known that I am not receiving any monetary compensation for these reviews: I'm simply doing them for my fellow moms and moms-to-be out there.***

Mommy Raves

In light of the fact that I have several friends who are expecting babies in the next few months (not to mention a sister!), I thought I'd start a series of posts on baby products that I have loved having, can rave about, and would willingly buy again for myself or someone else. I thought about doing a "Top 10" post, but then I wouldn't feel like I could rave as much as I wanted to because of space...

So, Mommy Rave #1 is...


The itzbeen.

"The what?," I know a lot of you are thinking. I'd never heard of it either. My friend Melissa recommended it to me via link on facebook and I thought, "Yeah, right, like I need that. Just another gizmo that nobody really needs (like a diaper wipe warmer)." So I ignored her suggestion and barely even looked at the thing.

Then, a few weeks after Lane was born, guess what showed up in the mail? You guessed it, the itzbeen, from Melissa. And since that day we have used the thing nonstop. Until today. Because today Lane dropped it and it broke. I immediately thought, "Crap, what am I going to do now?" Later I'm going to take it apart and see if I can repair it, but if not...I can guarantee that we will be buying another one of these for baby #2 (when we decide that it's time for baby #2...don't get any ideas that he/she is on his/her way yet!).

So, why does the itzbeen take the first spot on my "Mommy Raves" list? It:

1) keeps track of how long it's been since you last fed the baby.
2) keeps track of how long baby has been awake or asleep.
3) has a clock so you know what the real time is too.
4) keeps track of which side you nursed on last.
5) has a flashlight that automatically turns off after 7 minutes.
6) has a backlight so you can see all the numbers in the dark.
7) has a miscellaneous timer (we'd always use this one for how long it'd been since we gave her Tylenol).
8) has a lock on it so that other children (or getting bumped around in the diaper bag) can't mess up all your times.
9) has a clip so you can clip it to your purse, belt, or whatever.
10) is battery operated, so you can take it wherever you go.

All of those are just a few of the reasons I love this thing. It's like a new brain for the sleep-deprived mom. You can pass it off to someone else and they can just look at it and know how long baby has been up or without food. You don't have to write down what time baby ate, slept, or got a diaper change. You don't have to think. It's a lifesaver for the tired mommy!

So, a big shout out and a huge THANKS! to Melissa for what was probably my most-used baby item.

***I feel that it is necessary to make it known that I am not receiving any monetary compensation for these reviews: I'm simply doing them for my fellow moms and moms-to-be out there.***