*Joey's 1st Father's Day*

 Happy very 1st Father's Day to my wonderful husband, our little girl's Daddy.
Winter & I love you so much Joey!

This morning I had to get up at 5am in order to get Joey his breakfast in bed before he had to leave. We are shipping cows all this week and he will be staying tonight in the semi, so I wanted to get his morning started off right :) He got spoiled with the most amazing chocolate croissant from Crumb Brothers Artisan Bread, free-range organic scrambled eggs w/ fresh thyme, and organic sliced pineapple (I love to watch him eat scrambled eggs, it's like he inhales them, seriously, there is no chewing involved haha).

Words can not express how wonderful of a father Joey already has turned out to be! I had a good idea of how good of a dad he would be and he is 100x that! And ladies, he changes diapers like a champ, rocks Win to sleep with ease, can fix a bottle while still basically asleep, his rough hands turn to silk when he touches her and every time he looks at her his eyes melt... Sorry, he's taken by his 2 ladies. I love that my man is now a daddy. There's is nothing sexier ;)

*The Joys of Babydom*

Hey everyone! As many of you know, we adopted our BEAUTIFUL daughter Winter Jo who was born February 21, 2013 (birth and adoption story coming soon)! She is the our little slice of heaven and we are so blessed to have her! I, personally, am SO in love with this little angel and I have been busy playing mom and learning the ins and outs of parenting while Joey has been busy with the usual this time of year (shipping cows). He is the most wonderful father (we are looking forward to spoiling him on sunday for is 1st Father's Day). He isn't home very much right now but when he is he's all about Ms. Winter.

I will write more about my loves later, but, for this post I wanted to share 10 MUST HAVES for all of my future and expecting parents to be. These are the things Joey & I have found we can't live without and some of the tricks we've learned so far where having a little wiggly one is concerned! Take notes.

10

Burberry Baby Lotion. One word: Scrumptious!!! We got this as a gift and oh my heavens, it smells delish, and it smells 100x better via baby skin! You won't be able to quit kissing every inch of them. And best part... the smell lasts forever. Johnson's is classic and yummy but the smell doesn't last. 

Lotions to stay away from: Johnson's Naturals. I was so excited to find a natural baby lotion and so we tried it and it's nasty. It's oily and stinky and just gross. So not worth the price.

9

Playtex Diaper Genie. If you are debating this, get it! It's worth it I promise. It's a decent price and is so much better than throwing a dirty diaper into a freshly changed trash and then having a rancid smell every time you open the lid. We finally got one after Joey almost hurled while throwing something away. And I don't care what people say, formula/breast milk diapers DO stink! Bonus, look on Etsy.com, they have adorable diaper genie covers or on Pinterest.com they have tutorials on how to make covers yourself. Us? We just have it hidden in the corner, white and all, no cover needed.

Speaking of diapers: LUVS all the way! They are awesome. Flexible, great price, and they have a "no leak" guarantee, so if they do leak, take 'em back! We tried Wal-Mart & Target brands, all kinds of Huggies & Pampers and didn't like any of them. Love the Luvs.

8

Bumbo Seat. Winter started sitting in hers at 2 months old (you can start sitting them in it as soon as they can hold their heads up). It's great support for their back and it helps their posture. They come with a seat belt and you can buy a tray for when they are eating solids. It's so handy when I'm cooking, I just plop her down on the counter next to me and she's entertained by watching me and I'm hands free to get meals ready or do the dishes. Again, you can buy or make cute covers for them!

(Hers is blue because we found a really good deal on a used one. But you can get green, pink or purple as well) 

7

Ergo Baby Carrier. LOVE ours! We tried the Moby wrap, it was alright. It was just a pain to throw on in a hurry and Winter didn't really dig it. So I did some research and got loads of opinions and Ergo seemed the way to go. A little pricey, but so worth it. It is supposed to be best for baby and mommy's back. Comes in all kinds of cute colors and types. We went with the red sports carrier. It has extra breathing openings and let me tell you, it's pretty darn comfortable.

6

Parenting Magazine Subscription. By far my favorite parenting magazine out there. Such great tips, ideas, recipes, and reassuring articles (lets me know I really am not a bad parent haha). Start reading now, even if you don't have children yet!

5

Hand mitts. Everyone always asked me if I just refused to trim Winter's nails and if that was why she always had hand mitts on. The answer is no, but even when I was trimming her nails almost daily she still would manage to scratch her face. Especially when she was in the NICU and she would latch onto her oxygen tube or scratch herself with her IV. It was just a nice piece of mind to know that she wouldn't end up scarring her face because of her hand mitts. I found the cutest all natural/handmade mitts that velcroed and actually stayed on. Also, lots of newborn onsies and pajamas had built in mitts, we loved those.

4

Boppy Pillow. This was heaven sent those 1st couple of months while feeding Winter. It doesn't matter if you bottle or breast feed. It supports your arms and your little one. AND, it's also a nice pillow for baby to take a nap in. And AGAIN you can buy or make cute cute covers for it.

3

Baby Einstein DVDs. Winter isn't even 4 months old yet and she loves these shows. They are full of interesting colors, shapes and movements. They are great for educating baby too. So far we have a shapes, first words, colors, animals and languages DVDs. You can put them on repeat. She will sit in her Bumbo or lay on her play mat and just watch them for hours. There's different DVDs for different ages as your kid grows. They can get kind of annoying for the grown ups so make sure you aren't watching them a 3rd or 4th time like your baby does, you might have to turn it off haha.

2

WubbaNub Pacifers. These are awesome. Winter didn't start using hers until just a couple of weeks ago (when she started playing with toys). The stuffed animal helps keep the binkie from shooting out of their mouth and it's also fun to play with when they aren't in the binkie sucking mood. Winter likes to hold onto hers while she sucks and puts herself to sleep. They come with all kinds of cute stuffed animals attached. We, of course, got her the Long-Horned Bull :)

1

Dr. Brown's Bottles. If you ever have to get a bottle for your baby these are 100% the way to go! 1st off, the nipples are most similar to the ones they use in the hospital. 2nd they are incredible acid reducers! Win was having really bad gas and with these bottles (along with some over the counter gas drops) she is a new little girl. They are slightly more expensive and with their 4 separate pieces they are sometimes tedious to clean... BUT totally worth it 100 times over!

These are just a few essentials(for us at least) that I could think of that aren't on all of the "baby shopping lists" out there. Go ahead and try them! And just remember that every child is different and the best way to find out what your baby likes the most is through trial and error!