Better late than never

I started this blog thinking I was going to have more time while Shawn was home in between jobs at the moment. However, this really hasn't been the case. I have been able to change the layout a little bit more to my liking, but it's not exactly what I want or envisioned. However, I just don't have the time anymore to be searching or editing again... it has already taken up my time away from posting on more than a few occasions.

We are still trying to figure out what is going on but Ryan has been very fussy the past week or so. I have stopped breastfeeding all together now, which is a little difficult for me to be ok with at the moment, and I think she developed acid reflux. It really doesn't feel good not knowing why your baby is crying, and not knowing what you can do to help her at the moment. We weren't sure at first, and thought she was just going through a little phase or growth spurt. However, I think I may make an appointment for her to see the doctor soon, even though right now she has no insurance so we will have to pay out of pocket. But, if that's what my baby needs, that's what she needs. Even though I have no clue how it's so easy for adults now to get Obamacare in a second, yet it's taking my insurance forever to give her her own insurance (and after a month she was cut off from being under mine). Let's just hope this goes away soon.

The rare time she actual slept for more than 10 minutes, of course
it was while Shawn was holding her, but we had no choice at that point.

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Spotify Albums for Baby Sleep Time

If you have an infant, or even older child, most likely your baby likes music. Whether it's during the day, or during the night time, it's in our blood to like music. Ryan, our daughter, is no exception. She is like both her father and mother, with an eclectic taste in music at the moment (or, well, she is a baby so she just doesn't care). She enjoys listening to dance/house music with me during the day on occasion, but she really seems to calm down with soothing soft sounds at night.

Firstly, if you do not have spotify, you're missing out! It's a great music application for both your phone, ipad and computer that all syncs together with an account (you can even link it to your facebook if you please). The music is free! The only downside with free is that you have to listen to ads every once in a while. If you're on the computer you can select whatever song you want, and skip how many times you want. However, with the free app you are limited in song skips and can only play "shuffle". Though the good part about all of that is you still get to find and pick what album you want to listen to, so it's nothing like pandora (which I got rid of years ago once I found spotify!). You can even make your own playlists with whatever songs you want to, so that you can always listen to them later on your iphone/ipad on shuffle; it's like making a bunch of mix tapes and having them wherever you go.

Now, with having just boosted Spotify like I work there (I am not affiliated with them, or anyone else for that matter, by the way!) let me give you some albums Ryan has been calming down to, since she got over her "Blue Christmas" constantly on phase.

Hush Little Baby

This is your typical baby lullaby album, pure instrumental classics such as "Rock-a-Bye Baby" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Ryan certainly seem to enjoy it and it definitely helped her close her eyes and drift off to sleep (most nights) like they're meant to do.

Rock Piano Baby Lullaby

I found this album when looking for something other than the typical lullabies, as I was getting pretty tired of hearing the same ones over and over again (I mean, they are also on every single toy for babies). Ryan loves it as well, she has fallen asleep with this on plenty of times. It's very calming with typical rock (and not so rock) such as "Stairway to Heaven" and "Sweet Child of Mine". This isn't much of a lullaby type of album, but more of an acoustic sound with no words.

20 Rock Lullabies

This rendition of rock songs (such "Free Fallin'" or "I Want You to Want Me") is much more of a baby musical album. It's still pretty nice, and good for us adults who want something different than the usual lullabies all the time.

Lullabies for Deep Meditation (Sleep Music with Relaxing Sounds of Nature)

This is an album I found when I was desperate one night looking for some kind of meditation music to sooth her back to sleep. The lullabies weren't really working at the time, and this album helped calm her down with "Relax and Sleep". Honestly, while having this on repeat and rocking her to sleep beside my bed I felt relaxed a little more myself. So on those days you just feel stressed and need some relaxing music for both mom and baby, give this one a try and let me know how you felt.

Evening Acoustic

This has been a new favorite, I guess more so for me than Ryan since she can't speak just yet. After a while I learned that she seemed to like music more with words (she was hooked on Elvis for a good week,and I swear it was his voice that soothed her, and kept her relaxed throughout the night), so I looked in the Browse section and found this lovely album with acoustic music that even adults can fall in love with (depending on your taste I guess).

If none of these work for your baby you can always search on Spotify for new albums to try, and don't forget to save them / follow them for later use (it's much easier to find them that way). Also, if you like typical songs with a more mellow sound go to Spotify Browse > Sleep, they have tons of suggestions for you as well! Lastly, don't forget to let me know if any of these worked for your baby, or if you have found any one's you enjoyed.

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Apps for New Moms

After I had Ryan Shawn & I were looking all over for apps we could use for our new parenthood. We downloaded app after app trying to find something we both liked, and something we could use together (or that we could sync with my iPad Shawn got me that is saving my sanity most days now). The later was more difficult to find. I don't have many apps at this very moment for Ryan, as she is still just an infant. However, I want to help all those new moms out there looking for apps they can download without wasting their time trying to find ones they liked, like we did.

Baby Book (free)

This is my #1 favorite app by far. If you and/or your partner plan on keeping track of your newborns daily needs, this is an awesome app that you both can use on separate phones with one login, or allowing your partner to have a separate account but synced together. This app helps you track your feedings by allowing you to put in if you pumped, which breast you pumped from, formula or breast milk bottle & how many ounces. When your child gets older it even let's you track solid foods at well, having a text spot to write whatever your child ate. Track diaper changes in this app, and record if it was dirty, or just a wet one. We just started recently started tracking Ryan's sleeping schedule; it will time it for you if you want to keep it running, however you can always go back and manually change the times for anything on this app. You can even add your own note, for yourself or your partner in this app.

This app let's your view reports that show your tracking in a weekly graph or daily status since the very beginning. There is even another section for your baby's length, weight and head size in which also keeps a history record all nice and neat for you as well.

This app does have ads at the top of the section, as it is free, however it has never bothered me. If you prefer no ads, however, you can always upgrade for $1.99

Wonder Weeks ($1.99)

When Ryan was going through a little "phase" I was concerned and reached out to a friend of mine, another Mom of an infant. She suggested that it may just be her going through a "leap" and told me to check out this app. Even though I rarely buy apps, I found that this app was really helpful in knowing what is going on with Ryan during her "leaps" (growth spurts) and milestones she may be reaching soon. This app will take your baby's due date (not birth date) and let you know when his/her next leap will be. The leaps are described, as pictured above, with summaries, abilities, signs and help for mother's going through this phase with their little one. 

Babys Firsts

This app does not explain what is going on with your baby, or milestones they will be reaching. However, if you're a new mom who loves to take pictures of their "firsts" this app is something you may be interested in. It has plenty of categories to look for, and you can upload pictures you have already taken in your camera roll. Not only will it take your picture, but it adds a little design/frame to go along with the category you have selected. Not only does it keep cute memories of your child, when you are done a category you can even purchase a little book with those photos in them. (I have not bought any books myself, so I can not comment on the quality)

Spotify (free)

First off, if you do not already have spotify, you are missing out. Spotify has been my life saver since Ryan started to fight her sleep, and only found comfort with us holding her constantly. For about a week Ryan was only falling asleep to "Elvis - Blue Christmas" & instead of buying the song I played it for her on Spotify every night. Even though we have since forgotten about Elvis (for now) she still likes to fall asleep to music every night so my spotify is constantly on (and I mean every night). I love that I can add songs to my own special playlists (such as "Ryan's lullabys" or "Soft Music" - that we both like) and play them on there. If you get the free version you will have to hear some ads, have only a limited amount of skips, as well as only have the ability to play shuffle (instead of selecting a specific song) but if you don't mind that... this app is awesome! (Also, you can download it to your computer and use it on there as well - which I find preferable if I want to edit my playlists or listen to specific songs when I had the free version).

You can find Ryan's favorite albums to fall asleep to here.

So, Moms, what are your favorite apps?

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Top Pregnancy Apps I Recommend

I have had my fair share of looking for apps during pregnancy. I have even paid for apps that I thought looked great but didn't compare much. I have decided to show, and explain six apps I had during my pregnancy, that I used quite often. Hopefully I can save some people the hassle of endless hours of searching!

1. Ovia Pregnancy (free)

This was my go-to app, always. Shawn & I were both connected to this app together and loved going through it pretty much every day. Even if we didn't go in it every day, we most certainly opened it just to see how big our little one's hand was during that week. As you can see in the picture above there is a pink hand within a white outlined hand. This shows how big your baby's hand is in the womb compared to the iphone, it was awesome and never got old for us. There are tons of other pros to this app: trends if you like to keep track of your weight, sleep, activity, steps, etc. Medication safety lookup, symptoms lookup, as well as general pregnancy facts. This is definitely a must have app!

2. Countdown (free - or paid)

This was the countdown app I used because it had all different kinds of cute fonts you can change your countdown to, as well as photos. I of course had the free version which was kind of limited and had ads. However, you can purchase the full version in which you can change your background into whatever you want, and put in your own text instead of the "until my baby is born" above.

3. Baby Kicks (free)

When you get to a certain point of your pregnancy you will have to count your kicks; your baby should be kicking at least 10 times in 2 hours they say. Well, I actually didn't have to use this app much since Ryan was definitely an active little lady. However, it seemed the most practical and usable app I could find for the baby kicks.

4. Full Term (free)

I used this app the whole time I was having concentrations during my labor. All you have to do is click "start" to start the timer and then "stop" when the contraction is done, everything else is done for you. You can go back and see how many contractions you had in the last hour without having to read through the history yourself, and it also gives you the average duration and frequency. I loved this app, it was extremely easy to use and see what my progress was while in labor.

5. The Bump (free)

Another app with a lot of options within it. I liked reading the weekly updates on my little one in this app.

6. Pregnancy (free - have to pay for full version to see all weeks however)

My favorite part of this app was definitely the week image viewer (above) which shows a picture of what you baby may look like in the womb during that time. Also, for those ladies who only got to see their little baby once or twice in an ultrasound the whole pregnancy, it's nice that it shows actual 2d & 3d ultrasounds of baby's at that week. This app also has weekly updates on what is going on with your little one during each week. As well as little daily blogs about all different topics of pregnancy.

What's your favorite apps during pregnancy?

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