Hello, hello blog friends! I get to follow Jamie and Brooke in telling you a bit about myself, what my life is filled with, and a few of my absolute favorite baby things that I truly couldn't do without!
You've been reading my thoughts for quite a while now, but I guess I truly have never introduced myself so; hi, I am Alyssa Liston! I am wife to Brock and mother to Penny and June. Brock and I have been married for 5.5 years. He is everything my 15-year-old self and my now 26-year-old self could have hoped for in a spouse. On almost any night of the week, after the girls are in bed, you can find us huddled under a Saranoni blanket on the couch watching Harry Potter. Penny is three and she is the sweetest and most thoughtful ball of energy I have ever known. She has a serious thing for dinosaurs, going to dance class, and has a bold stubborn streak in her that gives us a run for our money plenty often. But man, do we love her so dang much! June is our sweet and tender little five-month-old. She really is just so happy to be here, is ticklish on every inch of her body, and quite enjoys watching her sister run circles around her. I thoroughly enjoy sneaking away for late night workouts without my children, massages, a good dry shampoo, a nice big bowl of Oat Bites Cereal before bed, and a whole plethora of other things that I won't bore you with! I started working for Baby Cubby in early 2015 in the first retail store that wasn't even a year old yet. After I had Penny that December, I switched over to copy writing and here I am today! Now, let's get to what you are really here for. The baby products! I won't go as far as saying that I am an expert on all things baby, but I have been around a lot, seen a lot, and used a lot of products in the last three years, so I do definitely have favorites that I am passionate about for sure!The Owlet
The Owlet has always been on my top ten favorites list, but this last month it jumped itself right up to number one! Our little June got RSV and Coronavirus. She powered through the symptoms while she was awake, but whenever she was asleep, her oxygen levels dropped into the '70s. Our Owlet alerted us to this and kept us vigilant in making sure that she was treated so that nothing got worse! If she hadn't been wearing the Owlet, our doctor told us she likely would have continued to get worse and worse silently while she slept over the space of a few days, and then we would have been rushing her in to be seen as an emergency. I love you Owlet, I love you big time.
BIBS Pacifiers
These adorable little things have my heart because of what they are, not how they look. It's just a bonus that they are so cute! My sweet baby came into this world looking to suck on something (literally the second she was laid on me for the first time she was looking for the milk producers instantly), and she was not willing to accept that the world did not revolve around her and her constant desire to nurse for hours on end. After trying three other options, I saw a review from another mama about BIBS pacifiers curing her fussy and "always wanting to nurse" baby problems almost completely. I was sold and picked some up for us the very next day. The review was right and my boobs were saved! If you have a binky hater that you want to be a binky lover, don't give up until you have given BIBS a shot!
City Select Stroller
We have had our City Select since our first was born and I am still just as obsessed with it as I was day one. It's functional, has quick-to-click-on seats and our infant seat, can carry an insane amount in the basket, and still looks as good as the day it came out of the box! We actually had an issue with the frame about one year into it (which really never happens...guess we got a rogue one?), and I only had to send two emails before there was a brand new frame being shipped to my house to replace it! Mama definitely doesn't have time to fuss with bad customer service so A++ to Baby Jogger for their impeccable strollers and impeccable service!
Milkbarn Kids Bamboo Pajamas
Okay, let's talk baby pajamas for a second. I feel like there is a fine line between too thick and too thin when it comes to pajamas. I think it is safe to say that most all babies sleep wrapped in a swaddle or sleep sack of some sort. There have been so many nights that I pick my baby up for a night feeding and she is so dang sweaty. I have tried just putting her in a onesie under the sleep sack, but then her little legs were so cold. Basically, these Milkbarn Pajamas have solved all of those problems. They are durable (thanks to the bamboo), but they are thin and breathe so well that I never worry about her sweating while she sleeps anymore! Who knew so much could go into picking a pair of pajamas, right?
Boon Drying Rack
I nursed both my babies for a handful of months, but moved to formula feeding because my milk has an insufficient calorie content. So, we have bottles galore hanging around our kitchen sink these days and the Boon Drying Grass keeps all the little parts together and perfectly dried. There are three sizes of it, Patch, Grass, and Lawn. If you are exclusively bottle feeding, I suggest you get one of the two larger ones so you don't run out of room. And you will definitely want one of the little Twig or Poke accessories to hang the nipples and other small items on (like pacifiers!).
Thanks for being here with us! We truly love getting to share our thoughts, opinions, and so much more with you all as we do our own research and learn about this parenting life by trial and error. We love our kids, we know you love your kids, and we just want everyone to be on each other's side while we keep the love flowing through good and bad!
Written by: Alyssa Liston