Saturday, January 14, 2012

My Favourite Things

Recently, I have discovered two AMAZING products. If you have a baby or toddler, you may want to invest in what I believe has truly saved my sanity!!

A huge thanks to my dear friend, Rachel, for introducing me to this fabulous alternative to swaddling. With both of my boys, I have tried absolutely every manoeuvre to secure them in a swaddle blanket (I even tried the blankets with velcro), but nothing could keep them securely swaddled. With one use of a woombie, I knew I'd finally found something that would work and still be safe for my little guy. I know it looks more like a straight jacket for babies but Blake honestly LOVES it and settles down as soon as I zip it up. The convertible woombie is great as I can free his arms when he is ready to transition and it can be used as a regular sleep sack later on. The two-way zipper is also handy for the middle of the night diaper changes.
Here's Blake and Rachel's son, Luc, sporting their sleepwear.
This one has legs in case you want to strap them in a swing or bouncy chair. They think of EVERYTHING!!

Zach has never been a fantastic sleeper. He's never been known to sleep in and I am thrilled if he makes it to 7am. I heard about this clock about a year ago and finally found one in August. The first night I brought it out Zach started crying and screaming "No!!! Take away!!!" I have no idea what scared him so bad, but I almost took the clock back. I ended up just storing it for a couple months and I tried it again in October (right around the daylight savings time change). He had been waking up at 5am and with the new time change I knew I was not going to be able to cope well with waking up everyday at 4am. This clock has been a lifesaver!

You can program the clock for the time that you want your child to get up in the morning and teach your toddler to stay in bed until the sun comes out. We used the included book for awhile to reinforce the message, and now every night, after the simple push of a button, we simply have Zach say goodnight to the sun and hello to the star. He knows he needs to stay in bed until the sun comes out the next morning.

I won't pretend it works all the time, but it has definitely helped him stay in bed longer and he is so excited to show us when the sun comes out. Most mornings when he calls out to us before 7am, we just remind him that he needs to stay in bed until the sun comes out and he almost always goes back to sleep ... or at least lies quietly in bed. It's not super cheap, but it was worth every penny!
We are all much happier campers now!


9 comments:

  1. those wombie's are funny.... whatever works, right?!? We Mom's need all the sleep we can get. That clock idea is great too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. holy moly! i just caught up on everything happening with you guys and what a fun month or so you had! so many fun friends and fun things to do and such a fun family christmas too! miss you guys tons and your boys are growing up so much and i can't get over how big blake is! such a cutie pie :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I didn't know you had a blog Kim! It was fun to sit down and catch up on your little family. You look great, and it looks like you had a fun Christmas! We have the Good Nite Lite, which is very similar to the Gro Clock. We bought it a year and a half ago, and we love it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay! I love reading your blog :) Your boys are getting so big and they're so cute! That little clock looks pretty nifty- maybe something my boys could use.
    And with Lucas' sleep issues- something to keep his door closed is actually the next thing I'm thinking of trying if he keeps popping out of his room at night (but he is getting better so I may not need it).

    ReplyDelete
  5. I seriously NEED to get that woombie and clock!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I need one of those clocks!!! where did you get it??

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for all the comments!
    Rhonda - I got the clock at a specialty baby shop in Edmonton, but they may sell them in Lethbridge?? You could try ordering it line, or I'd be happy to pick it up for you and bring it or send it down for you. Let me know - it's seriously been a lifesaver!

    ReplyDelete
  8. By the way- we finally ended up getting a door knob cover for Lucas' door. The first night I put it on, he came out of his room 10 minutes later and handed it to me in two pieces! But Carlos convinced me to try again the second night (I thought well what's the point, he already figured it out!), and this time he protested for a little while, gave up and went to sleep (either he was just lucky the first night and had no idea what he did to get it off, or I had put it on wrong). The third night he protested for a few seconds, and tonight he didn't even make a peep about it :) Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yay LeeAnne! I'm glad it finally worked. That's crazy that he pulled it off the first night! I can barely get Zach's off his door but there are kids out there that can pull it off without a second thought. I dread the day when Zach figures it out ...

    ReplyDelete