Goals for 2018

Every New Year, there's an inspiring urge to finally accomplish all that you've been meaning to do.  As someone who tends to get caught up in the everyday, I love this motivation to see the big picture and write down what I'd like to accomplish the coming year.  

First, lets look back at all the great things that 2017 brought! 

The biggest blessing of 2017 was definitely adding to our family with the birth of our second daughter at the end of the summer.  The pregnancy and new baby stage kept me pretty busy throughout the whole year, and so Birch Landing Home took a bit of a backseat for 2017.  Nevertheless, highlights for BLH this year have included being quoted in Parenting New Hampshire Magazine and adding another wholesale account to our roster.  I also got the opportunity to work with some of my favorite international brands including L.L. Bean, Nûby, and Safety 1st as well as many wonderful New England-based companies including Hills & Trails, Woodboogah, and Cobalt Sky Studio.  

Goals for 2018

I have a lot of professional and personal things I'd like to accomplish or improve for 2018 - here are some of them:  

Grow Birch Landing Home More

This past year, Birch Landing Home was put on the back burner while I focused on family.  Family always comes first, but this year I want to get back into the working groove and grow BLH more.  I have some great ideas for new products to add to the Etsy Shop and DIY projects to share on the blog.  I'd also love to do more work with both international brands and New England-based buisnesses. 
(I also have an incredibly exciting collaboration lined up for the spring that I can't wait to share with you all!)  

Get Back into Running

While I ran throughout my first pregnancy, this time around I just couldn't so I stopped running and haven't gotten back into it since.  I don't know if another Half is on the books for this year with the new baby, but I'd love to at least get back into a regular running routine and do a few fun 5Ks.  

Clean House

Going through the house and systematically purging everything in the beginning of the year is something I really look forward to.  It's so refreshing to go through everything and donate or sell whatever you haven't been using for the past year.  Now that we have two kids the amount of "stuff" has exploded and I'm looking forward to getting it under control.  

Make More Time for Family and Friends

We've been so busy with work and our own family we haven't had the chance to visit enough with family and close friends this past year.  We're way overdue to visit some great friends and you can never spend enough time with your family.  This is an important priority for us in the new year.  

Get Up Early

Getting up early before the rest of the house really helps me get a jump on my day.  This was something that had been part of my routine but has fallen by the wayside over the last few months.  There's just something so motivating about getting up before everyone else, enjoying a cup of coffee in the peace and quiet, planning out your day, and getting a jump start on your to-do list.  Days when I get up early are so much more productive and let me focus more on the kids and other important tasks the rest of the day.  

Get Outside More

I'm really looking forward to more hiking and camping trips with family and friends this year.  There have been a couple of hikes that have been on our "to-do list" forever and it's high time we finally do them!  There's nothing better than getting outside to recharge. 

Explore New England! 

One of our favorite things to do as a family is day trips and weekend trips around New England to explore all the great things this area has to offer.  Usually we do a couple trips every year and this year I'd love to do even more if we can - especially in Maine and Vermont.  I'd also like to share our knowledge and put together more New England Travel Guides for the blog.  

What are some of your goals for the New Year? 

Photo from Free Nature Stock

New England Humidifier

I shared this photo on my Instagram Stories earlier and got so many comments I figured it was worth explaining!  Here in New England during winter, things get sooo dry indoors with the freezing cold temps outside and heat cranking inside - as a result your skin and throat really suffer, feeling constantly dry and scratchy.  | This post contains affiliate links |

One solution is to get a humidifier to put some moisture back into the dry air. In fact we do have a cool mist humidifier upstairs that we run at night when it's particularly dry or we're sick, but otherwise you can't beat the price and efficiency of an old fashioned "New England Humidifier" - a.k.a. a pot of water on the wood stove or radiator.

It works by simply adding moisture into the air by letting the water evaporate.  It's most efficient when you put the pot of water on the heat source so it evaporates a bit quicker, but if you don't have a stove or radiator you can also leave the pot by a heating vent or just in the room with you.  If you do leave the pot on your stove or radiator, just make sure it doesn't go dry (you want to take it off when you leave the house too) otherwise you might end up with a scorched pot!  

Disclaimer:  Use this tip at your own risk.  

Cataloging Past Family Christmas Cards

Creating our family's Christmas card each year is a tradition I greatly look forward to.  I especially love looking back at past years to see how much everyone has grown.  I used to tuck these old cards away in a drawer but I've found it much more accessible and enjoyable to put them within reach, displayed in a special photo album.  | This post contains affiliate links |

Luckily, we've always done 5x7 inch photo cards which fit perfectly inside a festive perfectly-sized photo album I found on Amazon. If you've done different sized or odd-sized cards through the years, it might make the most sense to use a big scrapbook to chronicle them. Just make sure to order an extra card to add to the album each year and cherish the memories!

Safety 1st Premium Baby Care Kit

Having a newborn means there's a lot of little essentials you're going to need - and even though this is our second baby, things like new combs, thermometer, and teether are always needed.  Safety 1st was kind enough to send us their Precious Memories Premium Baby Care Set for our newest addition to the family and I wanted to share with you all the wonderful things that are included. 
| This post contains an honest review of products provided to us from Safety 1st.  This post also contains affiliate links. | 

First of all I just wanted to point out what a great value the Premium Baby Care Kit is! It includes all the items seen below - including a fox wash mitt, booger sucker, cradle cap brush, thermometer, toothbrush, comb, brush, teether, nail clippers, and photo cards. Whew. And it's all boxed up neatly in a sturdy wooden box that can easily be reused as handy storage in the nursery. All-in-all it's a $75 value but retails for less than half of that on Amazon! This would make the perfect affordable and easy baby shower gift for a friend or coworker (or for yourself!).

The kit also comes with these really sweetly illustrated "First Cards" by Milestone Baby.  These are perfect for documenting those special firsts with your baby.  I also love that there's a little spot to record the date as well so the cards can be kept and tucked away in your memory box after.  

We've been using these items for a few weeks now and our favorites so far have definitely been the cute fox washing mitt (which our four-year-old has claimed as hers) as well as the cradle cap brush which we use religiously with each bath for our baby.  I just love how the brush really scrubs off the the flaky skin without being too tough on your baby's sensitive scalp!  It really does a wonderful job.  

- I received this item for review from Safety 1st/Milestone Baby but all opinions expressed are my own.  Please read our full Disclosure Policy for more information - 

Safety 1st's Premium Baby Care Kit can be found at various retailers including Amazon and Babies 'R Us.
Don't forget to follow @Safety_1st and @Milestonebaby on Instagram to see their latest products!

Dealing with Extreme Food Intolerances in our Baby

Sometimes babies have a hard time processing breastmilk because of food mom eats - this isn't that uncommon.  In fact our first baby had MSPI (Milk-Soy Protein Intolerance), and I had to avoid dairy and soy while breastfeeding until she outgrew it around 15 months.  What is uncommon is a baby that is so sensitive that she can react to EVERYTHING mom eats.  Unfortunately, that seems to be where we're at now with our second baby and why I've been so MIA from the blog and Etsy shop these last two months.  | DISCLAIMER:  I am not a medical professional and am not suggesting medical advice - I am just sharing our experiences.  Please always consult your own doctors and specialists before trying anything. |
This post contains affiliate links.  

Going on a TED

Our baby's poops were "off" from birth... at first they were blamed on the medications I got during my c-section (she was breech), then on dairy/soy which I quickly cut out of my diet, but then she started having blood in her stool. After a particularly scary (bloody) diaper I immediately went on a Total Elimination Diet (TED). A TED is when you cut your diet down to just a handful of low allergenic foods in order to get your baby to "baseline" (baseline being no more bad symptoms, whatever that may be for your situation), then adding one pure food in a time to make sure your baby still does well with it in your diet. With the okay from our baby's GI specialist I started my TED of turkey, sweet potatoes, quinoa, and clean olive oil (a lot of olive oils are cut with soy or corn oil, and there are only a few brands that are truly "clean"). I also cut out all my vitamins and supplements in case those were affecting her.

Over the next few weeks things slowly improved (less blood and mucus, better color), but we couldn't quite get to baseline. I then started infant probiotics and epsom salt baths for her and a digestive enzyme-probiotic combo for me, with every new thing or change in dosage acting as a new trial... giving every little change a week to see if and how it affected her. Vaccines at her well-child checkup were treated the same as well.. each one done separately at least a week apart (and vaccines did cause her lower GI issues to flare up unfortunately.. so after each vaccine we'd have to give her a bit more time to settle back down). Everything I ate was recorded in a log with times and every poop she did was also recorded with times, descriptions, and even photos. It was a very, very tedious process and the results constantly felt like two steps forward, one step back.

After about 1.5 months we were finally flirting with baseline but couldn't quite keep there.  Nevertheless, I was desperate for more food varieties... my back was starting to hurt every time I ate - my body was getting tired of digesting only the same three foods each day and even though my blood work had been coming back normal this diet was still taking it's toll.  Unfortunately, every time I tried to add a new food in our little one would seemingly fail it (more mucus in stools, blood, and/or acidic poops).. it was incredibly disheartening and depressing.  It got to the point where I felt extreme guilt and dread after sealing Christmas cards because I didn't know what the glue was made out of and if it would affect our baby.  

FPIAP, FPIES, or Histamine Issues?

We won't know exactly what's going on with our baby until she starts solids since breastfeeding essentially "filters" everything to an extent.  In general most kids with these kinds of sensitivities seem to fall into at least one of three diagnoses: 

Food Protein Induced Allergic Proctocolitis (FPIAP) - This is generally considered the "milder" version that only affects the lower GI tract (blood, mucus-y stool, etc) and most will outgrow it by around 1-year old (we pray to God she has this version).  Some also refer to this as “Chronic FPIES” or just “Allergic Colitis.”

Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) - This is typically a more severe version of FPIAP that also affects the upper GI.  The most common adverse reaction to a trigger involves severe vomiting-to-shock, that often requires a trip to the ER to get under control.  There are foods that are considered to be more "common" triggers for FPIES but literally any food could be a trigger.  Most will outgrow it by 3-4 years old.  

Histamine Issues - This includes Mast Cell issues.. these poor kids have trouble regulating histamine levels in their bodies and anything and everything can effect them.  It can be a very difficult and overwhelming life-long road to navigate.  

The Decision to Go to Formula

I wanted to continue breastfeeding SOO badly - I love breastfeeding and the peaceful bond that it brings.  However, as hard as I tried I just could not keep our baby at baseline and it was not beneficial for her gut or for me mentally or physically to continue such a restrictive diet that seemingly got us nowhere.  

If our TED had been more successful and I was able to add back foods into my diet and keep our little one's diapers clear I would have been more than happy to continue with what I was doing, but unfortunately that wasn't the case for us.  Once we hit two months on this diet I decided it was finally time to try formula.  Her GI doctor made a recommendation to try first and while those first two days of bottle and formula feeding were SO hard (I cried more than our baby did), we finally had success.  Knock on wood, she's been doing awesome since and it's such a weight off my shoulders to not have to monitor everything as strictly as before.  

Going forward we're taking vaccines very slowly and will likely delay the introduction of solids until at least 7 months.  We're closely monitoring everything with the GI and will likely get another opinion at an allergist too to get more guidance on everything going forward.  I pray to God she has the more mild version of things and outgrows it quickly, but only time will tell.  Best of luck to other mamas out there going through similar things, it can be so hard.  

UPDATE:  The doctors believe she has FPIAP (which would be the best-case scenario), and I'm really hopeful that that is the case and she will hopefully outgrow all this in the coming months.  We've very cautiously and slowly started solids at 8 months and hopefully will keep progressing.
SECOND UPDATE: Now at almost 15 months we’ve made some great progress but she’s still very sensitive to new things and even vaccinations. We take everything slowly and allow for an adjustment period with new foods and most have been passes as long as she has time to adjust and get used to them. It’s still a very slow and tedious process...  Hang in there!

DISCLAIMER:  I am NOT a medical professional and am NOT suggesting medical advice.  I am simply sharing our experiences.  Do not take any information I provided as fact or advice.  Always consult your own doctors and specialists before changing your diet, adding supplements, or going on a TED.  Always get medical approval for yourself and your baby.  

Etsy Shop Back Open!

Our Etsy shop is back open for business after my Maternity Leave! 

Quantities in the shop will be very limited this season since we're still so busy with our newest addition to the family.  Please shop early and check back often as I'll be restocking the listings as I am able.  

(And don't forget so sign up for our Newsletter for an exclusive Coupon Code!)  Thank you so much again for all your patience and support!  

Mom Hack: Creating a Nursing Nest

For those new mamas that breastfeed, it can be an exhausting and draining ordeal at the beginning.  Expectations are high but reality is that's it's often much harder than expected.  One way to make it easier on yourself is to set up a "nursing nest" to make those marathon nursing sessions at 2AM (and all other hours of the day and night) easier to handle.  | This post contains affiliate links |

First you'll need to set up somewhere convenient and quiet.  I set up my "nest" in a corner of our master bedroom since our baby will be sleeping in a co-sleeper next to us and I wouldn't have to go far to nurse in the middle of the night. 

Then outfit this area with all that you need for nursing:

• cozy rocking chair with footrest
• side table within easy reach
• nursing pillow
• blanket
• water bottle
• extra pillow
• snacks (mine are tucked away in the drawer)
• clock
• phone charger
• lanolin cream
• books, magazines, kindle
• phone (watching Netflix on my phone was sometimes the only way I could keep myself awake)

By setting yourself up to make it as easy as possible, you can help make those super-tough early weeks a bit more bearable.  Breastfeeding can be one of the most challenging - and rewarding - things you'll ever do.  Hang in there Mama - you got this!  

Log Cabin pillow c/o Hills & Trails

A Family Outing with L.L. Bean (Diaper Tote Insert Review)

Whew, this post was a long time coming!  The end of our pregnancy really knocked me for a loop as did the reality check of having a newborn again (how you forget these things!).  So the past couple of weeks really has been a whirlwind.  Thankfully L.L. Bean had been kind enough to send me their new diaper tote insert to try along with their large boat tote bag and it's been so helpful to carry around our gear as a new family of four.  
| This post contains affiliate links as well as an honest review of products provided by L.L. Bean |

Since we got home from the hospital after the birth of our little one, we've kept our outings pretty minimal - grocery store, doctor appointments, school, that sort of thing.  But now that momma is feeling better and baby has been doing well it's high time we get back outside and enjoy this beautiful weather before the snow flies.  

So much room and so easily organized!

Packing a diaper bag is always a little tricky - and even more-so when you have both a newborn and a toddler! After all, you don't want to be caught without a necessity, but you don't want to overpack either. Thankfully using the Diaper Tote Insert has made packing so much easier. In the insert I am able to pack all the necessities like a changing mat (which is included!), diapers, wipes, a change of clothes for the newborn, small first aid kit, nursing cover, bottles, etc - all in handy pockets and zippered compartments.

After the Insert is packed it's easily interchangeable between a Medium or Large Boat Tote Bag, depending on what fits your needs best. We've found that putting the insert in the Medium Tote works perfectly for grocery trips, school drop-offs, errands etc. The insert fits snuggly inside with all your necessities.

For longer outings we've really loved putting the insert in the Large Tote (with long handles), which allows for extra room along each side of the insert as well as at the bottom of the bag.  This additional room gives plenty of space for extra changes of clothes, blankets, toys, etc and the long handles make it a breeze to carry, even if you're juggling two kids.  

By using the Boat Tote Bags as diaper bags, they really pull double duty!  Their classic looks never go out of style and by going with a simple last initial monogram for the large bag, it becomes something that will grow with us and can be repurposed by anyone in our family.  By picking something classic like this you won't be stuck with a diaper-specific bag that you'll never use again, and that's so important.  

This past weekend we finally got out of the house as a family of four and headed to do something fun - and what better way to take advantage of this beautiful day than spending time down by the lake and hitting up the playground before visiting family.  

Since we were going to be out for the full day, I made sure to pack the insert in the Large Boat Tote so I could pack extra supplies for everyone - and it's a good thing I did!  Right before we left our toddler got her pants all dirty playing in the wet sand at the edge of the water so it was great to have clean clothes packed for her for the rest of the day.  

We had a lot of fun exploring around this brick boathouse from the 1900's!

Diaper Bag Must-Haves

• changing pad

• diapers

• wipes

• baggies for dirty diapers and soiled clothes

• nursing cover

• change of clothes for baby

• small first aid kit

• hand sanitizer

• wrap carrier

• pacifier (and a backup one!)

• snacks and water for mom and older siblings

• bottles

• formula

• a small receiving blanket or swaddle blanket

• small toy or book

Overall, having the versatility of this diaper tote organizer has been so helpful!  And I especially love that I can easily switch it between bags on the way out the door to best fit our needs for the day.  

Click here to Shop: L.L. Bean Diaper Tote Insert | L.L. Bean Boat Tote Bag

L.L. Bean Style

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- I received the Large Boat Tote and Diaper Tote Insert from L.L. Bean but all opinions expressed are my own.  Please see our full Disclosure Policy for more information.  Thank you to L.L. Bean for providing these items to me for review. -   

All outdoor photos by Adrian Pelletier Photography.  

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