The Same, The Difference

When you have a second child, you will do somethings the same as you did with your first and somethings you will do differently.   This post is all about the things we kept, dropped and added with our second child (so far).

Same/What We Kept

• Travel Lite Crib by Graco

We enjoyed using this.  When Evelyn was three months old, we took a trip to Arkansas to visit Tom's grandparents.  We drove and took this with us.  Slept at an aunt's house and used this happily!   It was also the first time Evelyn slept through the night!

• Prince Lionheart wipes warmer

We had to buy a new one because our first one burned out after two years.  We wanted this one from the start but the two stores in our small town were out and the cold wipes were having Raven screaming at the top of her lungs at every wipe of her bum, so we settled for the Munchkin wipes warmer.  It did not kept the wipes warm.  As soon as the wipes came out they became cold again, instantly.  Returned that one for this one.  Happy again.  The wipes warmer, with both our kids, has only been needed for the first months after being born.  I believe it's because newborns are so susceptible to cold.

• Use of newborn Mary Jane socks instead of newborn shoes

LOVE THESE!!!  When Evelyn was born, she was the only girl born at church at the time, there were three boys and her.  These were awesome for church and most people thought they were shoes!  We happily are using them again for Raven.

• Boppy nursing pillow (though we bought a new cover, the one below)

We bought a new cover and we are using the same pillow we used with Evelyn.  The cover we used with Evelyn I set aside to be used in a quilt for her later.  

• Reusable breast pads

I bought these at Wal-Mart the week I went into the hospital.  These were a nice surprise.  Softer than the Avent I bought later, thicker, which can show up more through the bra, but I haven't noticed a problem with my Lamaze lace nursing bras. 

• Bumbo

I bought our Bumbo at a local shop downtown.  I paid at most and extra $10 and many would say, "Why would you ever over spend on baby things?!"  I have seen that cute pale pink Bumbo sitting in that store for a long time and I thought it needed a nice home used by a sweet little baby girl.  Trust me, I tried to get everything else cheaper.

• No pacifiers

This wasn't something we did 100% no matter what.  With our first, Evelyn, I planned on breast feeding and I didn't want to risk nipple confusion.  We still did try out the pacifier on Evelyn but she hated that it didn't give her food.  It was obvious that was the reason.  With Raven, well...it was a little different reaction.  She took to it okay, well, a bit less than okay at the start.  At six months I showed her a pacifier type teether at she screamed at it.  In horror.  Really.  So far in our family our kids have not liked pacifiers and we didn't, don't, intend to try to get them to.

• Puff Snacks

These pictured here are HEB brand.  Cheaper than name brand but still just as good.  The puffed hearts are a little bit smaller than Gerber but they dissolve just as easy.  I know this because I test all foods before I give them to my kids except for baby meats.  I tried one and I will never try it again.  Our kids have loved these so far and even Evelyn tries to eat them still.

Different/What's New

• Graco Pack n' Play

We bought this in January because Raven was getting to big to play in the travel size.  I bought it at Once Upon a Child, a used children's clothing and etc store.  It didn't come with the arch mobile or the mesh part the raises it to the bassinet level but that didn't matter to us since Raven can pull herself up and also started to crawl in January.

• Teether

Evelyn didn't care for a teether so we didn't have more than two and we didn't even use those.  Raven on the other hand loves chewing on things.  The Bright Star pink elephant is her first love!  We received a Walmart gift card a bit after she was born from a friend at church and so I used part of it to buy her a much needed teether.  I showed her different kinds and she didn't react.  To note, Raven was about two months old.  I showed her this elephant and a yellow duck (the gender neutral/male version of this one) and again, no reaction.  I pulled away the duck, still nothing.  I pulled away the elephant and she screamed.  I pulled the elephant back to her and she cooed.  I even made a little song about it.  "Ellie the elephant dancing down the street.  Ellie the elephant has a tasty treat.  Ellie the elephant dancing all around.  Ellie the elephant, my best friend around."

• Bumbo Tray

Now, we had the Bumbo with Evelyn but we never ended up getting the tray.  We made sure to get the tray with Raven.  Do I like it?  Eh...it is hard to get off.  You are supposed to get the tray off before you get the baby out but I have to almost tilt her over to do that.  I like to use it because Raven can have her toys on it and hit the tray, I don't like how hard it is to get the tray off.

• Sleepers for everyday wear

(This specific sleeper was one that Raven received from Dippy, our family's elf.  I'll talk about that another time.)

Evelyn of course had sleepers but we used them only for that, sleeping.  Raven started crawling at six months in the middle of December.  We also are in a different home with hard wood floors instead of carpeted floors.  Since Raven started earlier than Evelyn did with crawling, she's been crawling longer than Evelyn did.  Evelyn didn't crawl for very long.  Which leads into our next one.

• Baby leggings

Raven has been petite since birth so we had to wait until she was about six months old to use the baby leggings but it was perfect timing since that was when she started to crawl.  These are some that she has that are from BabyLeggings.com.

• Sleeper Sacks

We didn't use sleeper sack with Evelyn, she really didn't like being wrapped up or even covered by a blanket most of the time.  Raven obviously sleeps better with the extra coziness.  The one above is the one we have used the most on her.

• Swing

Fisher Price Power Plus SpaceSaver Cradle 'n Swing.  We got this so that Raven could relax and be rocked while I would be busy with Evelyn or dishes.  We didn't get to use it that long because it's only meant for babies.  Raven out grew it after about seven months but that is still good time used.  She didn't always like it but it really helped me when it was just me and the girls at home.

• Pacifier holder

We ended up using this for holding teether toys which Raven is a big fan of.  We also have a matching sippy cup holder from when we had Evelyn.

What We Dropped All Together

There isn't much that we dropped all together.  Many of the things we did with Evelyn were things that I planned on doing for many years as a parent.  Most of my life, since before middle school, I spent much of my time thinking about how I would raise my children and that helped me to know what kind of man I wanted to marry.  There were somethings that I got caught up into, some of what are below, that I just thought were completely unnecessary once we had them.  Some of the things below are just things that didn't work for our family.

• Matching Bedding

This time all we did was buy new sheets.  Matching bedding is not necessary.  Really.

• Baby Rockers

I really liked the idea of these but I didn't use these since they meant I had to stay beside them to continue rocking and the reason I wanted something like this was to keep the baby calm while I would go to the bathroom or cook.

• Rocking Chair

(This is a picture I found through Google but it looks just like the old hospital rocking chair we borrowed from my mother in law for Evelyn)

I tried to use this with Evelyn but it made no difference.  I didn't calm her down more or help her fall asleep.  Raven started to sleep through the night at six weeks.  I know many would be appalled by me  allowing my newborn to sleep through the night but I find I function much better with sleep and I am a better mother and wife when I have done so.

• Cloth Diapers

Okay, this ended very quickly.  We didn't do cloth diapers with Evelyn because we lived in an apartment with no washer/dryer hook ups.  We tried cloth diapers with Raven but she immediately got horribly red with them.  We stopped, switched back to disposable and the redness vanished in a day.  I really wish that I could've used these for more than just diaper covers but it didn't work out that way.


I'm sure there are more things that go into each category but these are the ones that stick out the most in our lives.  I may add more as the girls get older but this post seems pretty complete to me...at least for quite a while.