I love a good maxi dress, and Pink Blush takes the cake for some of the most beautiful and versatile maxi styles. While I was pregnant I wore a ton of Pink Blush’s Maternity line, but now that I’m not pregnant (is it weird that I miss my baby bump sometimes??) I’ve become just as obsessed with their non-maternity section! Continue reading
This is short and sweet, but here are the non-clothing items I brought to the hospital that I couldn’t have done without! (Note: none of this is sponsored and I have not been given or paid anything to talk about these brands and products. This is solely written from my honest opinion.)
1. Earth Mama Angel Baby products. Their bottom balm, which I’ve already shared, has seriously helped my healing so much. Can’t recommend it enough. The nipple butter is just as amazing! And you don’t have to wipe it off before feeding the baby, because it’s all natural and organic. It’s gentle and super helpful in these first days and weeks.
2. Labor Pain Relief. I wanted to labor and deliver naturally, so I brought some small things to help. Some lavender essential oil, an EO rollerball for stress relief made by Essentially Hood, our diffuser, and a rollerball for back-labor and pain relief around the body. Basq makes this awesome cooling gel that you could also use in any area to bring some relief.
3. Basic makeup, toiletries, and a hair dryer. I brought just the basics to clean myself up, mostly because we had planned on doing a Fresh 48 session in the hospital. That didn’t end up happening. But I suggest bringing your own shower stuff too because what they give you doesn’t feel or smell all that great. Just bring something gentle and not perfumey though.
4. Some good socks! My sister in law gave these to me and I love them.
5. A nursing cover. My favorite is by Milk Snob because it’s so versatile in use. My friend Anna gave one to me and I brought it to the hospital also. I’m usually not shy at all about whipping a boob out to feed my baby in public or in front of people…but not ALL the time and not in front of everyone…like my brother and dad? No. My baby is also extremely curious and the cover helps him not be so distracted while nursing. (Our nursing journey has been hard so far but more on that later.)
5. A birth plan. My advice: keep it short and simple. There are so many things you cannot predict or control about labor and delivery, and having a multiple-page plan is not only impractical, but it sets you up for a lot of disappointment. Also your hospital staff usually does not have time to read a huge lengthy document. We chose to include the most important/non-negotiable things to us. We kept ours at 1 page, and we held it all loosely. As you fight for what’s important to you, just keep an open mind about it, and give yourself the freedom and grace to change your mind when you get into the process. 🙂 It can be really hard to have to give up some of the things you wanted for you birth if medical need necessitates it, but just remember that “healthy mom, healthy baby” comes above all else.
6. A little something-something for the nurses/doctors at the hospital. So when I was in labor, my contractions were so all over the place and varying in length that I didn’t really know if it was time to go to the hospital yet. So I baked cookies while I did squats in the kitchen haha! Brought all the cookies with us and it made for some VERY sweet, helpful, and extra-attentive nurses 😉 They loved them and I love our nurses so much that I wanted them to feel appreciated! I’m glad I did it.
7. Chargers!! We forgot our phone charger this time! Such NOOBS.
And that’s pretty much it! I hope this was helpful!
Xo. Ansley
We live in an apartment, so it’s always challenging to make a space “home” when it doesn’t belong to you. Obviously painting walls isn’t an option, and keeping the amount of nails/screws in the walls to a minimum is ideal. We have lost security deposits before over these things….oops. Haha. We are wanting to buy a home to call our own soon, but timing just isn’t right still! Nonetheless, we are SO thankful for a roof over our heads and for the ability to give our sweet babies rooms of their very own. That’s a huge blessing that we don’t take for granted! Especially right now when so many don’t have that luxury.
I am NOT a great designer and decorator, and I tend to rearrange things about a million times even after they are “put together” ha! I’m definitely not that blogger who has the magazine-looking house, and that’s fine with me 😉 But here are a few shots of the nursery we put together for baby Owen. We kept things simple and went with navy, grey, brown, and some yellow/orange here and there.
Hope you like! I’d love to see your babes’ rooms too! All details are listed at the end of the post if you want to know where anything came from. Xo.
Getting messy doesn’t come easy to me. Letting her get down in the dirt, the mud, and bug infested nature…definitely doesn’t come easy to me and my type A personality.
But she lights up when she gets free outside. She thrives in a wet playground sandbox with no shoes on. She bolts like lightning to giant brown puddles to splash in, and wants to get every inch of herself into anything hands-on and muddy that she can explore. So she goes for it, and I grin and whisper “please God don’t let this cesspool contain ringworm or diseases or west nile”
Why is it so hard for me to just let her make a huge mess and get all up in it?? She’s a kid. She’s meant to make mud pies and to learn how not only to make a mess, but how to clean it up when she’s done too. It takes so much patience and relinquishing of my instinct to control to let things just be crazy sometimes. I don’t know why my personality has always wanted to strive for being all tidy and put together. But something I have LOVED about becoming a mom is how the Lord has used it to break down my need to control and have everything be “put together.” I love that through my daughter and her wild personality, I am learning how to let life be messy and unbridled.
Her childhood is meant for times like this! So for any other mamas who struggle with letting go and letting it just happen sometimes…I so get you. I’m challenging myself to jump in with her, and challenging you guys to do the same. The memories will last longer than the mess. Here’s to letting them get messy.
Soooo since we didn’t bring our first baby home until she was 2.5 months old, we didn’t get to experience newborn life. It has been awesome to do that this time around, even if it did come a week late! I’m grateful! UMMM but it has also been EXHAUSTING! I had no idea how difficult a newborn was to manage as far as their sleeping and feeding habits haha. It’s been precious and special to me, and I’m already emotional that he’s our last baby. But y’all, I am so tired it’s not even funny LOL and I’m laughing LOL which tells you how psychotic I am right now.
