Baby Products You Love

Thank you so much for letting me know what baby products you love! I thought I'd share everyone's suggestions in case others are desperate for their babies to be the coolest cats on the block.

1. The Bumbo--the baby seat with the ridiculous name is a product most of you can't live without.

2. Boppy--this nursing pillow was suggested by many of you, although Katy and Kim showed more love for . . .

3. the Brest Friend Pillow. Kim claims it's a zillion times better than the Boppy. She nursed twins for a long time, so I won't argue with that.

4. Baby Bjorn--My sisters all say this is a lifesaver. And Jen suggested Katy return hers. I don't believe this man has ever seen a baby before.

5. A Vibrating Bouncy Seat--We didn't have a fancy-shmancy vibrating seat, but my kids liked their bouncy seat. And the baby swing.

6. A Nursing Cover, a.k.a. Hooter Hider, a.k.a. Knocker Blocker--Look how happy this woman is to be nursing in the park.

7. A bed sheet that zips out of the crib--I've never seen one, Angie says they're wonderful.

8. Robeez shoes--Angie and I agree that these are the perfect shoes for toddlers. My kids always got the Target brand, though.

9. A pack'n play with a bassinet--I just bought one the other day. How did we have two kids and no pack 'n play?

10. Toddler Tub Seat--I had to look this one up, but I think Ashley's got the right idea. That would have been SO helpful. (Especially with two kids in the tub.)

11. Bundle Me Carseat cover--Kikka suggested this and I think we may need one for winter, or I can take a moment to shamelessly plug Nicole's Car Seat Blankets. Custom made and so adorable!

12. Bejeweled pacifiers with matching bracelets--If I were having a girl, these would, indeed be neccessities. As would Baby Leggs.

13. Leather bib--Angie says she likes to be able to just wipe this off and have it be clean. We had these with Harrison and they were good, but with Chloe I just got a million cloth bibs and found I preferred throwing the bib in the laundry. (Probably because Jeff does the laundry.)

14. A Tiny Love Mobile--Susan suggested this. I don't know what makes it special, but I'm a fan of any mobile.

15. Wooden Rattles--Angie's a fan.

16. Video monitor--Angie's a fan of this, too. (Angie likes baby stuff.) We've never had a monitor of any kind, so this sounds like something you would want if you had several floors and lots of square footage in your home.

17. Momma's Milk Baby Sling--Cara suggested this and I'm so excited because my friend Helen "crafted" me one that looks just like it. And I'm going to look just like these ladies when I wear it.

18. Divided container for formula--I agree with Annie that this is a must. We used it for cheerios and such, too.

19. Lingerie bag for baby socks--Secretly this is my brilliant suggestion. I hate trying to find baby socks in a stack of laundry.

20. (My favorite suggestion of all) Annie suggested she can't live without a Free Babysitter!

Mayoral Election Heats Up

This year's election for Mayor of Crazytown is shaping up to be a real fight to the finish. It began as most of these races do with the usual acts of craziness. Such as: candidates refusing to eat any food lovingly prepared for them (especially if it's presented in the "wrong" colored bowl), candidates staying up until all hours of the night because they're "just not tired," and the usual name calling and crying fits. However, this week the race finally got interesting.

Mayoral candidate H.R. Maxwell sent his church primary room into hysterics when he suggested that if you're happy and you know it, you ought to "shoot your bum." Though the music leader misunderstood and all the children proceeded to shake their bums, H.R. was pleased with the result.

Upon hearing of H.R.'s stunt, rookie candidate Chloe B. decided to act fast. She spent an entire day in her pajamas and while using the toilet "forgot" to take her underpants off. "Well played," responded H.R.

Later in the week, H.R. asked his stylist to fashion a Mohawk in his hair for school. It seemed he could do no wrong in this race . . . until Tuesday afternoon when Chloe B. staged a tantrum of epic proportions at a church meeting. H.R. called the performance "childish" and "bush league." (Chloe B. and her representatives declined to comment for this article.)

It seemed that both camps were done for the night until 10pm when Chloe B. created a fantastic commotion during her bedtime. When her handlers finally calmed her down it was revealed that her behavior was due to the fact that her stuffed panda, Coco Pup, told Chloe B. that she was no longer welcome in her own bed. In one evening the underdog became a front-runner.

Current incumbent and three-term Mayor of Crazytown Melissa "Mommy" Maxwell had much to say on the matter. "The candidates are strong this year and they're playing by their own set of rules. I've never seen a race like this. I was hoping that being very pregnant and hormonal would be enough to give me an edge in the campaign, but it's clear I'm up against some pretty crazy stuff. But I think when May roles around and Crazytown gets a newborn and moves to a new house, we'll find out who the real Crazies are."

Best Day of My Life, What Do You THINK?!

On Tuesday Jeff's program had their annual ski day up at Snowbird Ski Resort. This is a day we've been looking forward to for about a year. (Since it's kind of the perk of the program.) Those of us who weren't skiing went to the resort spa and were treated to a massage. Having never had so much as a manicure before, I was a little apprehensive about getting a massage. I was worried they might reject me for being too gross. When the Howie Mandel look-a-like massage therapist came into the waiting room it occurred to me that maybe I didn't want a stranger touching me. Luckily, he called someone else's name and my therapist turned out to be a very non-threatening type of lady. Massages are good. That is all.

(This picture is funky because the background didn't show up, but if you look closely you can see the snow falling.)

Jeff really enjoyed skiing. He skis. He's a skier. He was too sore to go back out to the slopes after lunch, so we spent the day together enjoying the view and taking a nap.

Thanks, Mom, for taking care of the kids so we could have the best day, ever!

Lucky Number Seven

Jeff and I were married seven years ago today.

We're so meant for each other. We have so much in common. Like, we both really like asparagus and we both think that puppies are super cute. We can talk or not talk for hours and still find things to not talk about. And he's constantly surprising me. Like, the other day he brought home some pink milk. I was all, "Who's pink milk is this?" And he was like, "It's mine." He said he actually likes pink milk more than chocolate milk. Whoah! Just when you have a guy pegged as a chocolate milk man, he throws you a curve ball. Here's to many more years of surprises!

Baby Love

After I had Harrison and Chloe I discovered a lot of cool baby stuff I wished I'd had when they were tiny tots. It's been three years since we've had a baby in the house and I can't remember what any of those cool baby gadgets were. Also, we got rid of everything baby when we moved because it was all falling apart. SO, I'm wondering what baby accessories you love or can't live without. What is it and where can I get it? Please share!

The Devil's Tag

Nicole tagged me on her blog and, as she pointed out, it's not 25 Random Things About Me. Therefore, I'm doing it. Here are the rules:

1. Go to my documents/pictures.

2. Go to my 6th file folder.

3. Go to my 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

(See why Jeff called it "The Devil's Tag.")

It just so happened to be one of my all time favorite pictures. This is my oldest sister, Jen, with two of her sons, Weston and Ethan. In March of 2003, Jeff and I traveled to Vermont to visit Jen's family and attend the baptism of her oldest son, Taylor. While we were there, we all went on a sleighride. I love how sweet everyone looks in this picture. That sleighride is a very fond memory for me.

I tag: Jen, Jess, Chelsea, Uno Kidney, K.Q., and Liz P.

How Can I Resist You?

I recently introduced Chloe to ABBA. (Not as performed by Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, because . . . eww.)

I plan to expand her repertoire to include The Bee Gees and Neil Diamond. I'm gradually going to turn her into a child of the '70's. Our attempts to assimilate Harrison into the '80's is going well. At this time, his favorite song is "Born in the U.S.A." and his favorite movie is Star Wars.

I still haven't decided which way to go with little Butch Cassidy Maxwell. The Roaring '20's sounded fun, but the '90's had parachute pants. This is hard!