Month: October 2012


Oct
2012

A Graco Safety Party and Review of the NEW Graco SnugRide Click Connect 40 Car Seat

categories: baby, review

 Recently I had the pleasure of attending a Graco Safety preview party for a brand new car seat, The Graco SnugRide Click Connect 40.  At the party we learned a ton about car seat safety and the AAP guidelines, and about this new car seat.  I was so excited to receive one of the car seats to review for you.  The Click Connect 40 is different from our old Graco SnugRide 30 for a variety of reasons, the biggest being that it can safely hold kids up to 40 pounds and 2 years old in a rear facing position.  The SnugRide 30 only goes up to 30 pounds, and has much less leg room.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids stay rear facing until they reach age 2, and the Graco Safety campaign hopes to help parents reach that goal.  Will the Click Connect 40 really hold a big toddler comfortably?  We’ll find out.

 The Click Connect 40 has 8 different seat settings from comlete recline for newborns to sitting up for big toddlers.

 For The Bear to try it out we shifted to position 8 and put up the kickplate to protect the car.

The seat comes in 2 colors, Moonstruck and Mena.  We received a Moonstruck seat, the more gender neutral of the two.  Mena is beautiful, but has lovely pink swirls that aren’t little boy approved.  You can see a glimpse of the Mena design above, modeled by our demo doll from the Graco Safety Party.
 

 Here is the car seat set up for a newborn.  It looks so squishy and padded, even more than the newborn pad I had to by when the Bear was new.  I can’t wait to put Mini Bear in the seat in the spring!

 The newborn pad snaps out easily, and the seat quickly adjusted to fit our tall toddler.  Really, it took about 2 seconds..

 We installed it in the car using our latch system.  It seemed odd that the base hung off the edge of the seat by several inches, but that could just be our Honda Pilot.  It still seemed secure.  Please excuse my messy car.  True Life: I’m a Blogger.

 The kick plate is genius, in my opinion.  

 The major downfall of rear facing car seats is the loss of leg room in the front seat.  This is a small price to pay for our kids to be 5x safer than front facing.

Quick Facts:
Price: $219.99 at Babies”R”Us
Available: Online and in stores at Babies”R”Us
Colors: Mena™ and Moonstruck™ fashions
Features:
 4 – 40 pound weight limit— a full 2 years
 Base adjusts with 8 recline positions for most leg room of
any rear-facing car seat for baby comfort
 The Simply Safe Adjust™ harness systems allows parents to
adjust the harness and headrest with just one hand to fit
their baby’s height as their baby grows, all without having
to rethread the harness for extra convenience.
 Click Connect™ attachment which allows parents to
easily transition their babies from the car seat to the
stroller through a simple, but secure, one-step “click.”

Does the Bear fit comfortably?  Yes, he does.  At 16 months old he is weighs about 30 pounds and is about 31 inches tall (it is difficult to get an accurate measurement on a wiggly toddler).

Check out that leg room.  

Is the Graco SnugRide Click Connect 40 a good buy?  In my opinion, yes.  I love the idea of  using one seat from 0-2 that is safe and gives my babe this much leg room.  You can find the car seat exclusively at Babies R Us.  
The Graco SnugRide® Click Connect™ 40 – the first and only newborn to two-year infant car seat that actually grows with your baby from four pounds all the way up to 40 pounds. The car seat is designed for a parent on the go. The infant car seat can be easily removed from the base and used as a carrier when the infant is small, providing portability and convenience so you can easily move your infant in and out of the car without disturbing them.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently made the recommendation to keep all children in rear-facing car seats until the age of 2. Graco set out to make this product so parents can keep infants rear facing longer while still keeping them comfortable.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Graco. The opinions and text are all mine.


Oct
2012

Pregnancy 2.0 Update – Months 1 and 2

categories: baby, pregnancy
I’m almost to the end of my first trimester!  I can’t believe it has flown by so fast.  I’m so ready for the energy and lack of nausea that comes with the second trimester.  It was so fun to announce the pregnancy and start to pray and plan for Mini Bear.    
After The Bear’s birth, it took me almost a year to lose the 42 pounds I gained during his pregnancy.  It was HARD work losing that baby weight.  I was back a few pounds below my prebaby weight, but still hadn’t rid myself of the dreaded c-section tummy.  The second I found out I was pregnant again, my uterus said, “Oh yeah, I got this. ” and proceeded to pop back out.  I made a promise to myself that I would not eat everything in sight this time and gain weight at a healthy pace.  So far I’ve kept that promise.     
 Month One
I felt great and was super excited to be pregnant again.  No big cravings took hold, and I was just a bit touchy because of the hormones.  
Month Two
All hell broke loose.  I was nauseous all day every day, and dizzy as well.  I couldn’t even get it together enough to dry my hair for this picture, which is a snapshot into the crazy.  I was so hormonal and snippy, I probably need to apologize to Jed and Fisher daily for years to come.  Still no cravings to report.  I had my first OB appointment and had a sonogram, which showed a little bleeding near where the placenta was forming.  This freaked me out and she ordered me to have no strenuous activity for 2 weeks.  She also told me about the wonder treatment for pregnancy nausea, Sea Bands.  Things got a little more manageable after that.  
I’ve created a little poll in the top right corner for you to vote for Mini Bear’s gender.  What do you think Mini Bear will be?  Vote in the poll and you have a 50% chance of being right.  


Oct
2012

Our Easy Cloth Diaper Laundry Routine

categories: baby, cleaning, cloth diaper, frugal, parenting
One of the most intimidating things about cloth diapering a child is the actual washing of the diapers.  There’s a different routine for every cloth diapering family, but I’ll share the super easy routine that works for us.  We tried and tested 11 different types of cloth diapers and you can read about that by clicking the link.
Here we go.  We need a few items for our routine, besides the obligatory washing machine.  We use a plastic bucket from Ikea with a lid, bumGenius Diaper Sprayer, and Country Save detergent.
Step One: After The Bear soils a diaper, we spray it off in the toilet with the diaper sprayer.  We spray both poop and pee diapers, to help get the ammonia stink out of the cloth.  The diaper then goes into the bucket, and the lid stays on til we are ready to wash.
Step Two: We wash our cloth diapers every other day.  I turn on the washer on the heavy duty cycle with cold water, and let the water begin to fill.  I add 1/4-1/3 the amount of Country Save detergent I would use for a normal load.  I toss the diapers in, making sure the velcro tabs are closed so they don’t get crazy in the wash.  Close the lid and run that sucker.
Step Three: After the cold wash finishes, I turn the dial back to heavy duty wash, but this time in hot water, with no detergent.  Run it.
Step Four:  We pull out the diapers and hang them on the clothesline if it is nice out or from the shower curtain if it is rainy.
And we’re done.  We’ve learned a few things over this year+ of cloth diapering.  Never soak your diapers because it damages the waterproof liner.  Always double check your velcro/hook and loop.  Don’t be afraid to start using cloth diapers.  You CAN do it.
Do you use cloth diapers?  What is your cloth diaper laundry routine?