Helpful hints for new moms

When I was pregnant with Reed I got a lot of advice from moms, which I was SO grateful for! It is really overwhelming and scary having a newborn, so every little bit helped. My little guy isn't a newborn anymore, which is sad and exciting at the same time, but here are a few pointers that helped me along the way.

1. Buy a small lingerie bag for baby's small things, like socks and mittens. Every time I threw socks in to be washed I said a little prayer that I would find both of them on the other end. There were a few close calls, so to alleviate the stress I bought a small laundry bag. I used a command hook and hangar to put the bag on the side of the changing table right next to the laundry basket. No excuse for daddy to not do it!

2. Baby Log App: If you are anywhere as organized as me, you will want this -no- NEED this. This simple app will help you log baby's feeding, diapers, sleeping, etc so you don't have to remember. After you have a baby you won't be able to remember anything anyway, so invest the $5 and enjoy life. The best ones I have found are Baby Connect, Baby Log, and Total Baby. Find one that graphs the activities, too. The visual was so helpful for me.

3. Formula Clubs: I nurse Reed, but I signed up for all the formula "groups" or "clubs" I could, just in case nursing didn't work out. I'm a planner, if you can't tell. They'll send you formula, yes, but they'll also send you coupons. At first I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I have been able to bless people who DO use formula by sending them my coupons. I suggest signing up if you're going to nurse and passing those coupons along if you don't use them. You will make someone VERY happy.

4. Diaper secret codes: No matter what side of the fence you are one, you will probably have a disposable diaper on your baby at least once. I had no idea there are secret codes inside the packages! I may be the only ignorant one out there, but when I found them it was like I found treasure! The more codes you enter, the more points you get, and you can get free stuff! They also come on wipes, so if you're serious, stick with one brand of diapers. Hopefully your kiddo isn't allergic. But you could bless someone else by passing those codes/diapers on.

5. Destination Maternity: You may be lucky to inherit lots of maternity clothes from friends/relatives, but I was not. Every time I bought something from Destination Maternity (Motherhood/A Pea in the Pod) I got tons of coupons. TONS! And stuff I'd actually use, too, like diaper coupons! Their stuff may be a tad pricey, but just know you'll get lots of coupons, even if you buy online. They like to do a lot of sales and specials, too.

6. Hand-me-downs: Don't be afraid of second-hand clothes. I can count on one hand the amount of stuff I bought for Reed. YAY! Thanks friends!

7. Hospital Bag: Pack flip-flops. I didn't think of this until my hair stylist said something (thanks Mikala), but you'll have to shower there, and do you really want to put your bare feet on the grotty floor? Also, our sweet Reed would not sleep alone unless someone was holding him or he was swaddled really tightly in one of those swaddleme blankets. Invest in one (just in case) and bring it to the hospital. If we had done that, I may have gotten some sleep that first night.

8. Photos! Lets be honest, you're going to take like a zillion pictures because your baby is the cutest thing in the world. I had a hard time figuring out how to share these photos with just the people I wanted, and not the whole world. Facebook is great, but come on. All my photos are on Shutterfly anyway, and they offer a free share site you can password protect! Problem solved! The other major sites offer this too, I just happened to have a shutterfly account.

9. Vaseline: A must for us. Prevents diaper rash. Just constantly goo them up when you change a diaper.

10. Label the baby room: This helps dad put away clothes (he cant say "but I don't know where anything goes!")

11. Constantly go through stored up clothes: I was so paranoid I would miss some clothes that I went/go through Reed's clothes once every week. And you can forget about the number sizes. Just compare them by length. And make sure you wash clothes before. I almost missed out on some outfits because they looked too bug, but when washed were perfect.

12. Keep snacks at your bedside table or wherever you feed the baby. You will get hungry at 3 in the morning.

13. If you have an idea or need to do something, write it down. You will forget. I had a great memory.

Key word 'had.'

Hope these help someone. I'm sure I'll learn more along the way.

The Turners

Handprint Hilarity

My inspiration for this project was from a friends Facebook page. It was so sweet that I just had to try it! I had seen hands done before, but I liked the idea of a print and how this one was displayed.

My first errand was to find a frame I liked. Hobby Lobby has cute "simple" frames I like, and if you go at the right time they are 50% off. My mom and I picked this one up. It had an inserted mat with 3 cut-outs, but our hands were too big for that so I had to figure out what I wanted to put the prints on. We looked at poster board and foam board and even canvas. I didn't like the idea of any of them. We found that Hobby Lobby also sells HUGE pieces of mat board for relatively cheap. I liked this idea because I could get about 3 of the right size piece from it just in case we messed up, which we did. But I'll get to that in a minute. They had lots of whites, so I picked the one I wanted. We also picked up the acrylic paint. That was the easy part.

I had Wes cut the mat board into the desired size pieces. The box cutters worked ok, but the edges would be hidden anyway, so it was fine. Next was to get Reed's hand print. Word of warning; newborns and paint do not mix. The obvious choice was to do this while he was asleep so we could paint and manipulate his hand without him fighting us. I was holding Reed while my mom had his hand. Wes painted the paint on it and then we were going to see how well it would turn out on a scrap piece of the board. The first one turned out really well. By this time, though, Reed's hand started moving. We had to do this fast, so we got the piece we wanted and went for it. Smear. Good thing I had some extra. We got another piece and SMEAR! You see, babies like to have their hands closed. As soon as we would get his hand on the board, he would try to make a fist and smear it all. Only one board to go. We had just gotten the paint on his hand when his arm slipped from my grip. Smacked himself right in the face and smeared blue paint all over it. My mom and I laughed so hard we nearly cried. Wes was not as amused. We did get him all cleaned up without him waking up, though.

I felt pretty bad after that, so we abandoned the project for the day.

We did have one good print, but it was on a small scrap. Not my vision at all. I resigned myself to use this print, cut to size, with a blue piece of tag underneath. It actually turned out pretty good and I am really happy with it. I had originally wanted to add other baby hand prints next to it for any other children God gave us, but I think I'll just make a whole new one for each child and let them keep it. I say this now, but that means I have to use paint with a baby again.....hmmmm.

The Turners

12 weeks old

Happy Friday!!
Little man is now 12 weeks old. What a little love! The news this week was Reed discovering his hands. He will stare at them for a long time and try to find different ways to put them in his mouth. He's not always successful, but he sure is cute as he tries! We are enjoying and loving every minute we get with him.

Let's do a little photo comparison.

Newborn:

12 weeks:

















Big difference! That's what almost 3 months of growing will do.

We are looking forward to Nana's visit tomorrow. She will be here for one GLORIOUS week that will go by way too fast, but we are so blessed for her to be able to come back. Reed will be like a giant to her since the last time she saw him was when he was 4 weeks old. Pump some iron, Nana, he's getting heavy!!

Enjoy your weekend! I know we will!

The Turners

The Beginning

Well, I guess I am officially a blogger. Well, The Turner Home is, anyway. I've been toying with the idea for a while, but wasn't sure it was for me. After reading lots of blogs, I had lots of questions. Is it just something SAHMs do? Was it a requiment of motherhood? What would my motivation be? How could I help people? Would anyone care to read it? These questions, along with midnight feedings and diaper changes, put my potential blogging on the back-burner. But not anymore. I'm jumping into the deep end. 

So here's what it's all about: 1) I love my family, so I'm sure there will be a fair bit on here about them; 2) I love organizing! And will devote a lot of this blog to my crazy organizational thoughts; 3) pinterest has me chomping at the bit to try things, when I have time, so I'll probably put some pinterest fails on here; 4) I love God, and while there may not be a lot of posts specifically about God, I pray that He shines here.

I guess there's not much more to say, so...Happy Blogging!