Our Newborn Feeding Routine

So today I was thinking about how much I love the routine my husband and I have for when our daughter wakes up in the morning. Maybe it's because I know he works early tomorrow and I'll be getting up with her and doing the whole routine alone. Whatever it was that got me thinking about it I thought I would share our routine with you.

First I'd like you to think about this, your sleeping on a soft cloud, dreaming of candy corns and unicorns, now you flying through a beautiful blue sky with Peter Pan. Sound wonderful? Now STOP. A baby is suddenly crying in your ear and you jolt awake, are they okay, what do they want, what do they need, what do I do??? Well this soon will be you when the baby comes. How you handle it may not make or break you but here is a little way to help ease the tension and rectify the situation. When my daughter was a newborn and woke up in the middle of the night my husband would wake up with her and change her diaper, before handing her to me to be fed. Yes I totally could have done this myself and sometimes I did feel guilty for waking him up but after a few nights of initially trying to do it all, I quickly learned it was not the right choice for me and clearly not the right choice for us! For me it takes a very long time to get back to sleep, especially if I am up and moving around for a long period of time. My husband on the other hand is the type that is able to fall asleep two minuets after his head hits the pillow (oh how I envy that ability). So him getting up with the baby as well meant more rest for me and the more rest I was able to get the better it was for all three of us!

I love and totally recommend this routine to all the new parents out there It may not work for everyone but it worked great for us. Him getting up to change her diaper allowed me to use the bathroom, change my breastfeeding pads, arrange my pillows and get myself ready to feed her, which was the main reason I loved it so much. It was one extra step that I didn't have to do. I didn't have to let my baby cry longer while I did all of that stuff nor did I have to try and do all of that while holding her crying and hungry either! Believe me, when your baby wakes up ready to eat, anything you and your partner can do to get to the feeding part quicker the better.

Now I'll be honest in the beginning I had a hard time going back to sleep anyway because I was one of those people that would obsess about how many hours until she would be up again (even though it is pointless to say this, I will anyway... try NOT to obsess about that!!). I am also one of those people that would stare at the baby monitor forever watching her sleep (I don't recommend doing this either, but we all do it especially in the beginning). Eventually thanks to the help of my husband we got into this great routine and I was able to get the extra rest I needed to feed her, put her down, climb into bed and pass back out (he would be long since passed out). It was a win, win!!!

Our daughter is now one year old and to this day my husband still gets up in the morning to change her diaper, with the exception of days he works early and those extra minuets of rest still make a world of difference for me!

So if you are like me and have a hard time getting back to sleep once you have been up or even if you don't but just feel like you may get burnt out tying to do it all, all the time, I highly recommend you consider a similar routine that works for you and your partner. It may not seem like much but believe me, it helps a ton! Now some people may think it is pointless (mostly the guys) that both of us wake up with the baby, you too may be thinking why would we do that? Then both partners would be losing sleep, but if you are planning to breastfeed like I did, and even if you aren't, this routine really worked for us and made a big difference in my mood, which lets face it, everyone knows if Momma's happy, everyone's happy!

Mom Prime a Huge Time and Money Saver

Today I want to talk about how amazing Amazon Mom Prime and Subscribe and Save are. If have been living under a rock or just don't use Amazon that much then you may not be aware that Amazon has a free membership program for extra savings called "Prime".  Be it Student Prime or Mom Prime, either way you get extra discounts, which lets face it, who doesn't love extra savings?!? 

Mom Prime is a great way to get baby and mommy items at a discounted price (usually around 15%+ depending on the item). Not only that but you get coupons for extra discounts as well just for signing up and free two day shipping with no minimum order size!! It is such a simple way to save extra cash.

Subscribe and Save is another way Amazon is giving discounts. When you go to make a purchase (if it applies) there is a wondrous little place to click for subscribe and save in which you set up a recurring order at a discounted price (usually 15%- 30% off). With Subscribe and Save you set up your order to be shipped to you every one, two, three, or six months.

 What could you possibly order that you would need on a recurring basis?! Well diapers for one!! My husband and I use Mom Prime and S&S to save about 30% off diapers and the best part is they come right to my house every month!! We don't just use it for diapers but we also for baby wipes, and paper towels!! There are tons of  other things you could use it for too, but you have to sign up to save!!

If you are wondering, how can you order diapers when babies change sizes all the time?! Well the great thing about S&S is you can manage your orders and change the frequency and product whenever you want, you can also cancel an item at anytime!! Making it extremely convenient and easy!!

So if you are looking for a way to save your family some extra cash on things you buy regularly, or are just looking for some extra coupon savings here and there, then check it out Mom Prime and Subscribe and Save on Amazon today and see if it works for you!! 

Still Love Austin!

    So  I woke up today with a hop in my step. Then I looked

outside to find it is an overcast day today in the Austin, TXarea. That would explain the humidity yesterday. Well I decided to do some research and I came across this article.Ten Best Cities for the Next Decade written by the editors of Kiplinger's personal Finance magazine. This article as you can tell by it's title, outlines the top 10 best cities you will want to live in throughout the next decade. Their rankings were based on a search for places that specialized in out of the box thinking on the basis that “new ideas generate new business” as said by Kevin Stolarick. All things taken into consideration be it creativity, music culture, higher education institutions and the tight knit collaboration of all entities, where might you guess the number one, top of the charts, extraordinarily above the rest best city happens to be? Well the beautiful city of Austin of course!!
    Now I may be biased but I still am fairly new to the area being here for going on 3 years. I must say though I still love it as much now as when I first got here. As a matter of fact just about my whole family has migrated here. We are still missing the a few members who still live in Maryland, Virginia and New York. All of which have visited our great city only to leave with a nagging thought in their mind... should I move? It's affordable, has a great energy and is much warmer then the North all year round. Well they still live there but we would love to have them here with us. All that aside, we have the University of Texas Longhorns here, the live music capital of the world and despite the slogan of “Keep Austin Weird” and some of the best place to raise a family with Round Rock, Georgetown and Cedar Park all in the top 100 places to raise a family. According to CQ Press, Round Rock, where I reside is listed as the second safest city to live in out of 32 cities with population of 100,000 of more in the City Crime Rankings 2010-2011. This is the sixth year in a row we have been on this list!! I don't know about you but I am really excited about this. Especially for my daughter and all the future Baby Love Beans out there. For all of you small business owners out there making this such a great place to live, thank you and watch out I am coming your way... to find more fantastic referrals for my mommies of course!
That's it for now thanks for reading. Remember to tell everyone you know about Baby Love Bean we greatly appreciate it. Also visit us on Facebook, just search for Baby Love Bean.

~BLB

Image for this post taken by David Coleman.