July 2017 – Graceful Mommy

The Ultimate Pregnancy Gift

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Graceful Mommy

25
Jul

Ah, I can’t wait to share this awesome company with you! Im 18 weeks pregnant, and just got my first BUMP BOX in the mail. This company sends a box full of pregnancy goodies right to your door. It’s amazing.

You can choose the type of subscription you want. There are a few options: month by month, 3 months, 6 months (most popular) or 9 months. What I love is that you indicate your due date so they can curate the perfect box for you! You can even get boxes all the way up until baby’s first birthday!

I got amazing products in my box. These are samples, but rather FULL sized products. I LOVE that!

How adorable is this Momosas book?! Can’t wait to try some recipes from here.

These wipes smell amazing!

It’s right about that time that my belly is growing. Time to slather this belly butter all over!

This tastes DELICIOUS. So creative to put a protein drink in the box!

This eye make says “napping for two”. I’m so using this!

I’ve always been a fan of Bella B products! I have never tried their facewash, so I’m so excited!

How did Bump Boxes know that I am incredibly tired and my eyes look like crap? LOL! Can’t wait to try these!

You can purchase and review products that you get in your box, and you earn points for doing this! Those points can be put towards your next order.

Another awesome feature of Bump Boxes is that if you don’t love something in your box, you can return any product for store credit. And they offer free shipping back! I’m sure you will not want to return anything, LOL!

Another great idea for Bump Boxes is to give them as a gift. How amazing would this be as a shower gift or when you find out your friend is pregnant!

Monthly Updates

A Giant Pregnancy Decision

Posted on July 23, 2017July 24, 2017 by Graceful Mommy

23
Jul

This post is sponsored by CBR®

I am 18 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and SO excited! This pregnancy has been a lot different than Gracie’s. When I was pregnant with Gracie I was OBSESSED with every step of pregnancy. I had 5 different apps that told me the different sizes she was- a pea, a grape, a plum. I read blog posts after blog posts from other moms pregnant with their babies at the same time. I was obsessed LOL. With baby #2, it’s different. I honestly do not have the time or energy to look at those apps.

Don’t get me wrong, I am SO excited for baby #2. WAY EXCITED. I just find myself dreaming about the future, rather than focusing on the day-to-day of the pregnancy. This pregnancy is flying by. I’m more excited about when baby comes, than what fruit baby is. Ya know? Anyways, what I have been thinking about is labor with this baby. With Gracie, I had an all natural labor- which was awesome. I find myself thinking about my birth plan this time around. Will I try it all natural again (I think so!), will baby #2 come faster?! (Gracie came fast!), will I have back pain like I did with Gracie? All these things are what I like to think about.

And one thing that keeps coming up is cord blood banking. When I had Gracie, I only heard about cord blood banking one time- at the doctors. This pregnancy, I’m hearing about it all over the place and it’s really made me sit down and consider it! It’s actually Cord Blood Awareness month so I thought I’d share a bit about what I’m learning in my research!

So what is cord blood banking?

When a baby is born, they have a small amount of blood leftover in their umbilical cord. This blood + tissue contains very powerful stem cells. These stem cells are currently used to transplant medicine to regenerate deathly blood + immune systems. These stem cels can actually be used to help treat 80 known diseases + disorders including various cancers, and blood, immune, and metabolic disorders

It’s like a body’s personal repair kit.

One crazy thing I’ve learned in my research is that while baby’s cord blood cells are a perfect match for baby, it can actually be used to help other member of the family like siblings or parents! That’s super neat.

Every parent wants to make the world a better place for their children and CBR is here to help make that happen. CBR is dedicated to advancing the real life clinical applications of newborn stem cells. CBR’s commitment to parents and their babies is to provide the best service and quality in the collection, processing, and storage of newborn stem cells, so that families are confident entrusting their precious cells to our care. CBR represents a window into the future, through which families can see the amazing potential of these cells to promote healthier lives.

July is Cord Blood Awareness Month + after reading and seeing things about cord blood banking over + over, I am really considering this for baby #2. This is such an important decision, not one to be taken lightly. If you did Cord Blood Banking with your newborn, I’d love to hear about it!

If you are pregnant and want to register online – go with CBR at cordblood.com. A collection kit will be sent to you or in some cases, can be picked up from your doctor’s office.

My Reviews

Hatch Baby Rest Review

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Graceful Mommy

19
Jul

This is one of those things I wish I had when Gracie was born. Now, she’s 2 years old and we finally found the perfect nighttime solution- the Hatch Baby Rest! Since birth, we’ve done white noise for Gracie. We never had a white noise machine, but instead used my iPhone with a white noise app on it. This was fine when Gracie slept in the same room as us, but when she moved to her own room we were stuck. She loves sleeping with white noise, but I’m not about to leave my phone in her room all night LOL.

The Hatch Baby Rest is perfect. First of all it’s super modern looking – which is exactly our style. But what I love most about it is the insane amount of features. Obviously my favorite feature is the sound machine- because that solved our nighttime problem. The Rest has TONS of different sounds including seashore – Gracie’s favorite. It also has 3 different music sounds which are SO fun to put on a low volume while we read stories. Gracie loves this.

Not only does it function as a sound machine, but also a night light! There are lots of different colors to choose from (you can actually choose any color from the color wheel). And you can adjust the brightness, too! Gracie always wants to choose her color before bed, it’s so cute. She picks a few colors before eventually choosing rainbow (it cycles through all the colors). I swear this helps her sleep. She gets so relaxed watching the lights change colors – and I slowly lower the brightness until it’s off.

Which reminds me of the most important feature! Did you know you can control EVERYTHING from your phone??? NO more waking up baby to adjust their sound machine. I can stand outside her door and turn down the brightness or sound from my phone. It’s the best.

The Hatch Baby Rest also has some programs you can set up. You can program an OK-to-wake time. Which basically turns the Rest on when it’s okay for your child to get up + leave the room. I’ve heard INCREDIBLE things about this type of program. I haven’t tried this with Gracie yet.

We use our Hatch Baby Rest every night + every nap! It’s the best. I’m also planning on getting another one for when the new baby comes because this is the PERFECT breastfeeding nightlight. You also don’t have to use your phone to turn it off, you can hold the silver ring and it’ll turn off. There are also buttons on the bottom!

Buy the Hatch Baby Rest here.