Favorite Sippy Cups for Toddlers

Let me tell you...we've been through our share of sippy cups as I'm sure most first time moms go through in order to find the perfect one.  By no means have we found perfection but here are a list of some of our favorites!

Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup: I think all moms own this cup!  This is the first cup we gave to our son with water and he loved it and still drinks from it often.

NUK Learner Cup: This one worked well for us to start giving him milk out of a sippy.  It's small enough that he could hold and get used to the new "cup".  Initially, during the day he would drink 4oz of milk at a time so this smaller cup worked well for us.  The little handles come off so that's a nice option.  We usually took the handles off so it would feel more like his normal Dr. Brown's bottle.  IMPORTANT NOTE: I cut the holes to be bigger so the milk would flow faster! Let me know if you want a tutorial but it's pretty easy.  My son would get so distracted so the quicker the milk flow, the happier we all are!

NUK Active 10 ounce Cup: Once he started dropping milk sessions throughout the day, he was drinking larger amounts at a time (especially first thing in the morning) so these larger NUK cups worked better for us.  I love the clear one because it shows the ounce amount but it's definitely more expensive so we ended up buying more of the blue/turtle one.  Cheap mom, sorry!  Again, I cut the holes to be much bigger so the milk would flow faster.

Munchkin Click Lock Weighted Straw Cup: I think this is his all time favorite cup for milk and water. I don't know how but he learned around 7ish months how to drink from a straw.  I quickly purchased this cup and served him water so he could keep practicing.  He's a pro now and loves this cup.

Contego Kids Gizmo Water Bottle: Since he did so well with the weighted straw cup above and drank so much water throughout the day, I decided to give these bottles a try. He absolutely loves drinking his water from these bottles.  I add ice and he loves it even more! 

15 month old | Daily Schedule

Since the 9 month old daily schedule post was such a hit that I decided to come back and do an update.  Of course, this schedule isn't for everyone or the "right" way to do things but it's what's working for us so I thought I would share.


At around 12 months, we decided to start gradually taking away the bottle and transitioning to whole milk (please note, this was not by advice of our doctor, just a decision we made ourselves).  We lucked out and our son isn't very sensitive to change so this transition happened without any issues.  I decided to first transition him over to whole milk.  I started mixing the whole milk with his formula so he would get used to the flavor.  I also kept serving it to him at room(ish) temperature since that's what he's used to.  Around 13 months he was completely on whole milk and mostly bottles.  Around this time, we started introducing the milk into his sippy cup (I'll do a whole separate post of his favorite sippy cups for milk and water...we've been through a LOT!).  I started transitioning to to sippy cup with his morning bottle. Since he wakes up starving, I figure he would drink his milk out of anything!!  That trick worked perfectly!  I just started gradually giving him more and more of the sippy cup.  Before we reached 14 months, he was 100% drinking whole milk from a sippy cup.

Here's our typical routine -

7:30am - wake up + 8 oz milk (whole milk in sippy cup)

8:30am - breakfast with water

9:00-10:30am - Nap #1

11:00am - snack (usually yogurt) with water

12:00pm - lunch with water

1:00-3:30pm - Nap #2

4:00pm - snack with milk (whole milk in sippy cup)

5:30/6:00pm - dinner with water

6:30pm - bath

7:00pm - bed

Day in the Life | 9 Month Old

I always love reading about a day-in-the-life of other mommas in the world.  I guess it's my little way of checking, "Am I doing this whole thing right?!".  A relative was over last night and asked if I'm still pumping/nursing and if the doctors tell me when to stop.  I explained how it's all a personal decision and while it's nice that no one tells you what to do, it's almost hard at the same time as a first time mom.

So I hope this is helpful for at least one person out there!

For some background - I'm a full-time working mom while my son enjoys the day at a local in-home daycare.  I exclusively pumped for 8+ months but just started supplementing one bottle of formula a day.  I'll do a future post about introducing formula + the brand I use (he loves it!).  Our son started purees/solids at 6 months and is now eating 3 meals a day.  He's a little guy and doesn't eat/drink much.  We offer him milk all the time but he clearly tells us when he's had enough!


Day in the Life of a Working Mom
9 Month old Breastfed + formula supplement Baby



6:00am - Mom + Dad wake up!  Shower, eat breakfast (eggs or cereal), makeup, hair...

7/7:30am - Son wakes up.  Some mornings I have to wake him up and some mornings he wakes himself up.  Either way, I make sure he's awake by 7:30am.

7:30am - Change his diaper and feed him 5-7oz formula (I offer 8oz but he usually stops around 5-6oz unless he's going through a growth spurt).  I pump for 20 minutes while he's eating and playing (...and by "playing", I mean distracting him from grabbing my pump tubes!).

8:00am - Wash pump parts, bottles, and quickly get us both dressed for the day.  Dad leave for work.

8:15am - Drop son off at daycare.  Fortunately, he loves it there!  I don't know what I would do if he cried when I was leaving.  He just immediately smiles when I hand him to the sitters and starts playing with all his friends.  Thank goodness!! :)

8:30am - Son eats breakfast at daycare.  Breakfast is usually oatmeal + fruit puree.

8:45/9:00am - Mom arrives to work.  Work, work, work...

9:00-10:30am - Son naps at daycare.

9:30am - Mom enjoys snack.  Usually oatmeal, nuts, or yogurt + granola.

11:00am - Son drinks 4-5oz pumped milk.

12:00pm - Lunch for Mom.  Usually a salad with grilled chicken or leftovers from dinner the night before.

12:30pm - Son enjoys lunch.  I have to be honest here.  I used to make all his meals but then he started turning his nose up at my meals and devouring the organic pouches from the store.  So I just feed him those pouches.  Today he's enjoying Ella's Kitchen Organic Spaghetti and Meatballs!

1:00pm - This bottle is hit/miss.  Sometimes he needs 4oz pumped milk at this time.  Sometimes he doesn't.

1:00-3:30pm - Son naps at daycare.  We are so lucky...he's a good napper!

1:00/2:00pm - Mom takes 20 minute pump break at work.

3:30pm - Son drinks 4-5oz pumped milk.

4:00pm - Mom leaves work and picks son up from daycare!  He's just recently started crawling from the opposite side of the room to me once he hears my voice.  He crawls right up to me and gives me lots of hugs and love.  It's honestly the BEST part of my day!!           
 
4:30-5:30pm - Get home, walk the dog (needy dog won't use backyard....annoying!), unpack bags, boil/sterilize daycare bottles, get dinner ready, play with son...this hour is kinda crazy hour in our house!

5:00pm - Son usually "snacks" on milk and has anywhere between 2-4oz.  I always offer 4oz.

5:30pm - Dad gets home from work.

6:00pm - We all eat dinner.  Son eats another pouch + puffs.  We're working on his chewing.  He still kinda chokes, which is so scary.  We also give him his sippy cup and he loves drinking filtered water from it!  If we have our dinner ready at this time, we'll eat.  Otherwise, we just wait until after we put him to sleep.  I would say we all eat together about 75% of the time.

6:30pm - Bedtime routine = bath, PJs, bottle (6-7oz pumped milk), book, story time with Dad.  This story time with Dad just started last week and we love it!  It's pretty much the only time of day that they can just bond 1:1 together.  We were struggling with the 9 month sleep regression (son would cry when we put him down in his crib.  Once he fell asleep, he was fine.) and Momma was feeling stressed about everything that still had to get done.  So this changed seemed to work for all of us!

7:00pm - Son asleep.  We are so blessed and have one AMAZING sleeper!  Since day 1, he knew day from night and started sleeping through the night around 12 weeks or so.  I'm sure if we ever have a Baby #2, we won't be so lucky!  He usually sleeps 12 hours straight (7pm-7am).

7:00/9:00pm - Mom and Dad spend time together, get things done around the house (clean, trash, random projects...), check work emails, Mom gets daycare bottles + food ready for the next day.

9:00pm - Mom pumps 20 minutes.

9:30-10:00pm - Read personal emails, scroll through Instagram (I need to be better at FaceBook...), Google random things, such as, "How to survive the 9 month sleep regression", "How many ounces of milk should my 9 month old be drinking per day?"....

10:00pm - Lights out for this momma :)

_________________________________

I hope this helps someone out there!  My day is not perfect and my son probably doesn't drink enough milk (20-24oz) throughout the day compared to his peers but you know what?  We're surviving, enjoying as much time together as possible, and we have 6+ wet diapers/day so I consider it to be a win!  My question for you - what do you do from 4:30-6:30pm to keep the house from getting so chaotic? 

PV Body

I wanted to try something new to motivate me to workout.  I don't know about you, but new clothes is definitely one way to do it!  Plus, I realized I am slacking on the cold weather running gear.  So, PV Body, here I come!

I'm not going to lie, it was difficult signing up because their website wasn't working correctly on Black Friday.  I reached out to customer service but didn't hear a response.  However, I was determined and tried again on Cyber Monday.  Again, I was having issues with the website, but after a few minutes...success!

Here is my first PV Body delivery.  I love it!

A cute tank by Nux - great fabric! And the pants are perfect for running in the cold.

After washing (hung to dry), I took these new babies out for a run.  I love the pants so much - they kept me perfectly warm (35 degrees outside) and I didn't have to tug at the waist to keep them up throughout the run.

And I must say, I am very "neutral" in every aspect of my life except workout clothes.  So, I've updated my style profile to include bold colors. 

I am loving my new monthly subscription to PV Body!  I can't wait to see what comes to my door next month!

UPDATE: PV Body (now Ellie) is horrible!  Sarah Fit explains everything perfectly here in her post.  After trying to talk myself into sticking with the company, I've decided it's best we go our separate ways!  No longer a PV Body (ellie.com) member! 

Week 1 TIU Bikini Challenge!

I am so excited for the 2012 ToneItUp Bikini Challenge!  I found K&K in Self Magazine last year during the 2011 Bikini Challenge and I've been hooked ever since!  It could not have come at a more perfect time - I promised myself I am truly sticking with every single challenge and sticking to the nutrition plan for 8 weeks. You can do anything for 8 weeks! I cannot wait to see the progress.....hard work truly does pay off!

Sunday: Week 1 Measurements

 

Monday's Challenge: Create a "Vision Board" - this is my motivation!

Tuesday's challenge was the Under the Sea Workout - did that and walked to Whole Foods :)

Wednesday's Challenge: HIIT Treadmill workout - total 3.4 miles

Thursday's Challenge: 2011 Bikini Strap Workout & HYDRATE!

Friday: completed BCWO before work (5 days in a row!)

Saturday: Ran 6 miles on Rock Creek Trail

This week felt great!  The weather was nice which motivated me to stay active after work.  I took measurements and weighed myself and I'm so happy with week one results!  Lost 5 pounds and several inches already!

Live Once!

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough" - Mae West




Change Your Story

"If you want to a different ending to your story, then write a different ending.

Even if it's scary. Even if it's hard. Even if it seems impossible.

Do it. It will be so worth it" - Brianna