Mommy and Me Workout

For the last few weeks I have been doing a Baby Boot camp workout class at our local gym. Basically you wear your little while working out. We LOVE it. Although with Addison being 21.5lbs it is a lot of work. We also do a few things without them on. I though I would share some of the things we do. So strap on your carrier! This is the one I use for the class.

-We start by taking a few laps around the track.

-Butt kicks and knee ups for warming up

-Jumping jacks

-Lunges

-Squats

-Pelvic Tilts

- Different dumbell lifts

- Wall Sits

- Push ups and rowing on TRX bands

(otherwise take baby off for pushups)

Those are just a few of the exercises we do. Most things can be done at home. We do more but I don't really know how to describe how to do them. Working out with your baby is a fun way to involve them and to fit in that workout when they only want to be held. Plus baby wearing has many benefits for both mom and baby. Also don't forget to stretch!

Warning: If you just recently had you baby, please remember that you still have high levels of the hormone relaxin in your system. This hormone relaxes your muscle and joints in the body and make them stretch more. If you are new to working out take it slow as not to pull a muscle.

Warning: If you are less than 6 weeks postpartum, please consult your doctor.

Month 7 Favorites

I still can't believe our daughter is 7 months old already! Wow does time fly! Here are some of our favorite products from last month.

1. Plum Organic Super Puffs

Addison LOVES these. I also love the mango sweet potato ones :) haha.

2. Coconut oil and Honest Healing Balm

Addison got her first diaper rash. I tried desitin and A&D and they did not work well. I started alternating these 2 products and it cleared right up!! I highly recommend these!

3. Strawberries

These are Addison's favorite food. 

4. NUK sippy cup

The is Addison's favorite sippy cup. I like that the spout is the same material as a bottle nipple and it is bigger so it was easier for her to get the idea to suck on it. I suggest this one. It is also leak proof and the handles are removable.

7 Month Update

Wow! I can't believe it has already been 7 months. Where does the time go? Addison is becoming so independent lately. I love watching her learn new things. And she has loved every food I have given her.

- 20 lbs, 27 inches

-Size 9m-12m clothes

- 6.5oz bottles

- Size 4 diapers

- Favorite Food: Strawberries and Raspberries

- Favorite Show: Bubble Guppies

- Loves Baths

- Can clap and high 5

- Knows mama, baba, and dada

 - Can roll and scoot to get to wherever she wants to go.

Here she is getting excited for Halloween in her new skeleton jammies from Carter's. She still doesn't sleep through the night. She wakes up for 1 bottle and a few times just to play or for her pacifier. Her bedtime is between 8 and 9 but lately she's been going to bed at 730! She wakes up between 6 and 8. Usually around 6 or 7. If she sleeps til 8 that is considered sleeping in!

Halloween Vibes

Who else is ready for Halloween? The weather has cooled off to such a perfect fall temp and the mornings are a crisp 40-50 degrees here. Bring on the pumpkin spice lattes, or pumpkin everything for that matter! Here at the Puskar household we love pumpkin. We found this recipe on the side of our Leinenkugel's beer. We can't wait to try it out.

What is your favorite part of Halloween and the fall season? Evan and I are looking forward to taking Addison to the pumpkin patch and for our date night to the haunted house. We already have our Halloween decorations up as well. I put them up about a week ago. Here is the little center piece I put together for our table. All items are from Gordman's.

I was a pumpkin for my first Halloween so I decided it would be perfect for Addison to be one as well. I found this perfect pumpkin costume at Pottery Barn Kids. I ordered it yesterday, can't wait to get it.

Pumpkin Costume

What better than to post a few throwbacks of when I was a kid, and Addison's "first" Halloween picture I sent out to my family last year.

I was the witch in the last picture. Happy Halloween everyone!

 

Our Favorite Natural Products + Our Week

 All 3 of us have been sick all week! Not a fun household, which sucks since it is daddies days off. But at least it makes for a lot of family cuddles. Daddy has bronchitis while Addison and I have a cold. Yuck! But it did not stop us from watching some football last Sunday.

Addison learned how to clap during the Viking's game! Now she won't stop doing it. She loves it. I can't believe how much she is learning. I also taught her how to high-5.

 Addison also sported her Steeler's gear for the game last night. She was in bed before the game started haha.

Addison learned "dada" as well! So now my super smart 6.5 month old knows 3 words. I'm so proud of her.

Here are 2 more pics I must add. She fell asleep like this in her stroller! And I just had to post a pic of her cute feet and chunky legs.

Natural Products

I've always been a fan of natural products and since having a little around I've been even more inclined to use them. Not only are they better for our environment but they are so much better for our health. The Environmental Working Group has an awesome website that I like to use. It rates your common household products and skin care/baby care items. I love looking up both natural and non-natural products to find what is going to work best for our family and the environment.

It seems to me that natural products are becoming increasingly popular (Yay!) but many people aren't sure what to use or their effectiveness. When I first started I too was weary about their strength. I was surprised to find their strength was the same and some products I liked even better! I'll let you know a few of my favorites that you can give out a try and hopefully you wont be disappointed.

1. Dish Soap 

If I use dawn with bottles I notice that no matter how well I rinse them that you can still smell the dish soap. GROSS! But with the natural ones there is no scent or residue.

I love Honest dish soap. It comes in 3 amazing scents and is very sudsy. Since I don't subscribe to the essentials bundle I usually don't use this one since it is $5.95. So what I usually buy is Seventh Generation. It is only $3.19 at target and the bottle is HUGE!

I also use Seventh Generation for the dishwasher in both the gel and the pods. I think I like the pods better, even though I've always been a gel fan. This is the only natural dishwasher detergent that I've used.

2. Laundry 

For our laundry I use a few different products. The ones I love are the dryer sheets from Honest and the fabric softener from Seventh Generation. The dryer sheets are reusable, each sheet lasts 2 loads! They are awesome for when I dry Addison's stuff so there isn't so much static (since regular dryer sheets are not recommended for baby clothes). I also love the Honest detergent.

3. Cleaners 

Currently the natural cleaners I have in my house are Honest multi surface cleaner, Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes, which are perfect to wipe down the bathroom, and Seventh Generation toilet bowl cleaner. I also use seventh generation hand soap but I like honest better. Although honest hand soap is often too expensive since I don't bundle it and I am constantly washing my hands from changing diapers. We currently use swiffer wet wipes to mop the floor since it is so much more convenient than a bucket and water. I can't find any natural wipes to fit on the swiffer. Since Addison will soon be crawling I am going to be changing that. I have an idea of what I'm going to do next and so if I find it just as convenient I will post about it, otherwise I might just switch to a bucket of vinegar and water or a natural floor cleaner.

4. Baby Products 

There are way to many natural baby products that I have tried and loved so I'm just going to name what I have in my house right now.

-Burt's Bee's baby bee shampoo & wash in regular and lavender

-California Baby calendula lotion in lavender

-Honest healing balm (which I hardly use but Evan likes it on his tattoo's in place of aquaphor)

-California Baby sunscreen

-Burt's Bee's baby bee hand and face wipes

-Honest hand and face lotion

-Honest diapers & wipes

-Seventh Generation wipes

-Babyganics wipes

Our Week

Sorry we have been M.I.A. this week.  Daddy came home! So we have been trying to spend as much family time together as possible. Yesterday we went to the farmer's market. My favorite part about Saturday mornings. I wish it didn't end this month. Addison ate her first meal this week. Usually I just give her the fruit and vegtables from our dinner but she got to have lasagana and L O V E D it. I think most of it just ended up on her face thought ;)

Yesterday I put Addison down in her swing for a nap like normal and went to the bathroom. When I came back out she was in her swing this this! 

So I guess its time to start making sure she is strapped in! She sure was having fun like that though. Addison has been having so much fun with daddy home. She loves him so much. He is the best at making her laugh. So much better at it than I am.

Today is the first day of Sunday football! Let's go Vikings! We will be going over to our friends house to watch the game. Addison is very excited to watch her first football game. Have a happy Sunday!

Diaper Talk

So many mom's to be and new mom's in different groups I'm in love to find out what diapers other people like best. So why not blog about it? Here are my favorite diapers.

1. Honest Company

These diapers are AMAZING! They are natural plant based diapers and come in a variety of cute patterns. If you haven't check out The Honest Company yet then you must. You can subscribe to their monthly diaper service for only $80 a month, including wipes. They also offer other household products that are natural and plant based. These diapers are super absorbent. Addison care ware them all night without leaking. They have the stretchy waist band too which I prefer in a diaper. These are currently what we use now that our diaper stock has depleted from the baby shower. You can now buy Honest at target as well, so you must give them a try!

2. Huggies Pure and Natural

These are my favorite Huggies by far. This is mostly what we used before Honest. We never had a problem with leaks or blowouts. It again has the stretchy waist band that I love. They are so soft and made with organic cotton. Subscribing to Honest is actually cheaper than buying these! These will always be my favorite store bought diapers.

3. Huggies Little Snugglers

If you don't want to spend the extra on the huggies pure and natural then I suggest these. They are again so soft and have the stretchy waist band. They are unscented too which is important to me. I don't see the point in scents on a diaper, all they do is cause diaper rashes. We never had a blow out with these and she can sleep through the night in one.

4.  Huggies Snug and Dry

Addison had a growth spurt where she was eating 3-4 times in the middle of the night. With that she was peeing more than the usual amount and her Honest diapers started to leak around 6am. So I bought a pack of these for at night. Sometimes they held a tiny bit more, but we still had a few leaks. I will also use these at night if we are getting ready to size up in Honest, she always seems ready for the next size before the weight limit. Like now we are in 3's and 4's are just barely too big so I want to wait before sizing her up. These are unscented which is why I prefer these to Pamper's Baby Dry. They also have the stretchy waist band that Pampers doesn't have. We have had a few blow outs in this diaper though.

5. Pampers Swaddlers

I really only used these when they were given to me. Every one talked about how good pampers were so I thought this would be my diaper of choice but Huggies is way better. These are soft which is nice and also unscented. We did not have leaks or blowouts with these. Dislikes: They do not have the stretchy waist band and the inside is this weird netting type thing that bothers me. It just seems less comfy.

Diapers I don't like:

1. Pampers Baby Dry- They are scented like I said above, I don't quite understand why make a diaper scented. I mean if you can smell the dirty diaper you should probably be changing it any ways.

2. Luvs- Wow are these ever scented. Wayyy more than other diapers. They worked pretty good and a lot of people say they work awesome for the cheaper price but I just can't deal with how strong they smell. Can you say diaper rash!? and unneeded chemicals absorbing into baby's skin.

What better to go along with diapers than wipes! Most wipes work pretty well but I thought I would just throw in my fav's as well.

1.Honest Company

Natural plant based wipes that work really well and are a good size. You can't go wrong with these. If they did not come in the diaper bundle I wouldn't buy them though because they are $5.00 a pack. Yikes!

2. Pampers Sensitive

I was given a ton of these at my baby shower and I also bought a ton myself. I love them! They clean so well, are thick, and a nice size. Very affordable and unscented. You can't go wrong with these.

3. Seventh Generation

At first I wasn't fond of these but now they are the ones I will buy. The reason I didn't like them was they have a weird smell to me even though they are unscented. They are kinda small too. They do clean well though. They grew on me and I got used to the smell. They are a good value for your natural wipes.

4. Babyganics

Don't let the name fool you-they aren't organic, but they are plant based. I like that you get 100 of these in a pack. They are affordable. I have these as my diaper bag wipes right now. They aren't quite as soft and the above three but they are good sized and unscented. 

5. Huggies Natural Care

 At first these were my favorite but now I've found softer wipes that I like better. They are still a good choice though and I use the wipe box to put my refills of other wipes in since it is so big and comes in cute designs.

Well there you have it! Hope this is helpful for some of you new mommies. I highly suggest trying an assortment of diapers and wipes like I did to find the ones you like best. Although if you start with Honest right off the bat you won't be disappointed.

The Summer Ends Here

With Labor Day coming up Monday, Addison and I had an amazing last week of summer! We took a trip down to Minneapolis to visit our family and go to the Minnesota State Fair. The weather was amazing! Sunny and 75. Not too hot and not too cold. I had so much food and Addison had an apple cider freezie. Let's just say she loved it.

Meanwhile my sister asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding and for Addison to be a flower girl.  Of course we said yes! She made the most beautiful message in bottle to ask us.

I realized that I had never been to Minnehaha Falls so my mom took Addison and I there. It was so beautiful. Addison was mesmerized by the waterfall.

Addison and I headed to the farmers market this morning. But first I had to stop for some coffee of course. It was a beautiful 60 degrees and sunny. We bought some corn, tomatoes, basil, and a zucchini. There was some live music so we sat down at a table and listened. Addison loved watching him play his guitar. I fed her a bottle and just enjoyed spending our time together. She loves being outside.

And that was our end to the summer. We are more than ready for fall and excited to start the Halloween decorating! My favorite season.

6 Month Update!

I'm 6 months old! Wow does time fly.

 - 18lbs 1oz + 27inches

-Has 2 teeth

-She can sit up unassisted

-Wears size 3 diapers

-Wears size 9m clothes

-Has started Baby Led Weaning

-Eats 6oz bottles

-Loves sweet potatoes

- Knows what "baba" means

-Can repeat "baba" back to you 

-Still working on "mama" + "dada"

-Has been waking up in the night to play

Month 6 Favorites

With month 6 coming to an end I thought I would share our favorite products this month. For both mommy and baby.

1. Hyland's Baby Teething Tablets

These were a life saver when Addison was getting her bottom two teeth one after another. They dissolve instantly on the tongue and are homeopathic. What more could you ask for? They really seemed to take the edge off, especially at night when her teething symptoms were worse.

2. Kind Bars

These have been my go to snack lately. My favorite are the almond coconut. Yummy!

3. Baby Mum Mum's

We just started these the last week of the month and they are by far my favorite snack to pack for Addison. They are in separate packages for easy on the go. Addison wants her own food now when we go out to eat and this is perfect for that. I love the size that makes them perfect for little hands to hold. They melt in their mouth, but not too fast which is really helping Addison with chewing. Unlike most of the food I give her these end up in her belly and not in her high chair seat.

4. Baltic Amber Teething Necklace

They really do work! Well I think so at least. We started wearing ours at 3 months and immediately I noticed way less drooling. Addison really doesn't drool at all anymore! As far as teething pain goes I also think it helps. We never teethed without it so I don't have anything to compare it to but I consider Addison a good teether compared to other babies, so this might very well be from the necklace.

Our necklace is raw butter. There are many different colors to choose from as well as raw, polished, and semi-polished. The lighter the color the better they work. Also many people say that getting raw as opposed to polished is more important than color.

5.  Move and Crawl Ball

Now that Addison is sitting up this is her favorite toy to play with. It is easy for her to press the buttons to make sounds and there are lots of lights. It moves around making it fun for her to watch and eventually learn to crawl after.

Labor and Delivery Story

I thought it would be fun to let everyone know about my labor and delivery story. So I will start it off with that I was due February 27th, 2014. Smack in the middle of Evan's hitch. Originally I wanted an all natural birth meaning unmediated and no induction. Evan was fully in support of not being induced and was ready to coach me through labor. At my 36 week appointment Evan got to come and we had been talking to the doctor about how Evan would have a 6+ hour drive home and how I was nervous he wouldn't make it. She said she is not opposed to inductions for the father to be there but that I was too early. This was fine since we didn't want one anyways.

I think it was 6 days before Addison was born that I went to my weekly doctors appointment. I had done a lot of research on membrane sweeps and decided it was something that I was ok with. I was over 38 weeks and 3.5cm dilated so I decided to ask my doctor what she thought. She said she could do one! I was so excited and told Evan to keep his phone close in case it worked! Throughout that day I was losing parts of my plug. Later that night I stayed active with a walk, my yoga ball, and setting up Addison's dresser. I was having contractions that usually felt like pretty descent menstrual cramps. I got some sleep and was sad when I woke up in the morning without being in labor. Over the next few days I kept getting these contractions again and even went into L&D but I was still at 3.5cm. I started getting nervous about Evan having to drive so long since I was having these contractions (which at times were regular) and that he wouldn't make it in time. It was at that point Evan and I decided together that we would ask for an induction. I felt that Evan being there was more important to me than no pitocin.  I believe it was a Friday when I called my doctor and she said she would have me come in Saturday morning if there was rooms available.

Finally Saturday was here! I woke up at 3am not being able to sleep in excitement and watched a movie and made a pizza with Evan. I was not able to eat much which sucked cause I knew they were going to tell me no food. At 6am I called L&D and asked if they were going to get me in that day and they said YES and to be there at 7!!! We couldn't believe it, we were about to have our baby! We loaded up the car and stopped by Caribou Coffee, I didn't get anything :) When we got in at 7 they brought us to my room and started my IV with saline.

At 730am the resident doctor came in. He checked me and I was still at 3.5cm and 70% effaced. Baby was in -2 if I remember correctly. He decided to start the induction off with breaking my water. He thought that would be enough to get those contractions going since I was already so far progressed and that there would even be a possibility that I wouldn't need pitocin! Meanwhile my family was taking the longest drive from Minneapolis ever since there was an ice storm.  Well... it didn't jump start me at all. So we started pitocin at 9am. The pitocin didn't work right away and I wasn't having much for contractions, just some cramping. So after maxing out we decided to turn it off for a bit at 5pm so I could shower, and eat then we would stat again at 7pm.

Around 11pm is when the contractions started becoming bad. I was dilated to 4cm. At 1am I called my mom at her hotel and told her I wanted her with me. I kept getting on the yoga ball, it felt so good to rock my hips during contractions. I did good at relaxing in between and I was not scared for the next; I kept my mind off of them in between. Evan was right there by my side with every contraction. At 6am I was at 4.5cm. That's it?!?! Are you kidding me? I've been in active labor for 7 hours and I had only progressed 1/2 a cm? Not knowing how much longer it would take I started contemplating the epidural. I had been up for 27 hours and these contractions HURT! I broke down and started crying because I really didn't want the epi but I didn't know how much longer I could take this. The nurses were so kind and had an unbiased discussion with me. Not forcing me either way. I gave in and got it. I also had an internal contraction monitor put in so that we could go even higher on pitocin.

I slept on and off for about 2 hours and then it wore off. So I got another bolus shot. at 10am I was at a 6. The doctor said that I might not be progressing because the baby is too big and we talked about a c-section. Evan and I decided that we could get checked again in another hour or two and if I hadn't progressed then do a section. At 12pm I was at 7cm! So we decided to continue with labor and see how it went. At 8cm the epi wore off again ( for the 3rd time actually) and they said I was too far to get another bolus. The contractions were horrible! But I was also glad that I was going to get to feel labor naturally. The epi was so far worn off that I could itch my thighs and feel it just fine. Evan was the best coach ever! But I remember this one time he said "I know it hurts hunny" and so I can right back with "No you don't, you have no idea and never will!" HAHAHA so he immediately apologized and said I was right.

I kept feeling like I couldn't breathe and at 9.5cm I knew I had to push. But I still had a lip on one side of my cervix so I couldn't or I would risk tearing my cervix. Wow that was hard to hold back. I was finally given the ok to push at 2:07pm. The pushing helped the pain of the contractions but I have never done something so exhausting! OMG! I was yelling at the staff to help me and they kept saying obviously they couldn't. Her head was right there the entire time. Evan watched it come out a bit and go back in with every push for over an hour and a half! Finally they said they could use the vacuum.  Addison Rose Puskar was born at 3:47pm. 8lbs 7oz and 21.5in. at 39weeks 3days.

We immediately did skin to skin as dad cut the cord. She didn't even cry. Just stared at her mom and dad. We finally had her in our arms and couldn't have been any happier. She was perfect! 10 fingers and 10 toes ;)

Please feel free to ask any questions. Thanks for reading!