babies Archives - Rave & Review

The magic of Corolle Dolls

I swear my heart just melted. This girl and her love for her babies has me completely smitten. The tenderness with which she cares for each of her Corolle dolls is admittedly something pretty special. Looking at all of this love, I can’t help but be sentimental. It seems like just months ago my firstborn … Read more

The tradition of a Corolle Christmas continues

I’ve been thinking a lot about traditions these days. With my kids we’ve had 8 Corolle Christmases now, and I had at least a half dozen Corolle Christmases growing up. That’s 14+ years of Corolle dolls and accessories under the tree as the present that wows, and I can’t help but feel incredibly grateful. You … Read more

The new and improved 2017 Britax B-Ready

Product for this post was provided by Britax, but the love for this stroller is all ours. As always, all opinions are 100% our own. Post may contain affiliate links to help support our travels!

Love isn't a strong enough word for how much we adore the Britax B-Ready stroller. We got the original B-Ready back in 2011 when it first came out, and it was the best choice we could have made for our family. Having gone through several strollers already with our two small children, we were ready for a quality-built stroller and had considered several double strollers, but something told us to wait for the B-Ready. The wait for the B-Ready was worth it because truly nothing compares to the performance and versatility, its luxury details and its 12 different configurations. Even now, 6 years later, I love the B-Ready stroller more every year as it has grown with our family. With the added bottom seat it proved to be the perfect double stroller for us – first as a mom of two little ones and now as a mom of three who sometimes has to cart around bigger kids as well as the baby. Since we walk everywhere with our three kiddos, we have put hundreds and hundreds {and hundreds} of miles on our beloved B-Ready stroller throughout the years, over three countries and countless cities and towns.

Parenting: when sick gets real

This post has been sponsored by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I’ve got three little kids, all of whom have independent schedules and loads of interaction with other kids. This basically means that cold and flu season is a constant struggle to stay healthy, and to minimize any illness that hits home. This year has been especially bad and there hasn’t even been one day that the kids’ classes were full or there weren’t a few last-minute playdate cancellations due to illness.

I can’t have them live in a bubble or sanitize every surface they *might* touch, so what’s a parent to do? I want to make sure they can see and play with their friends and not miss out on crucial lessons, but I definitely don’t want them bringing home every little sniffle that goes through their classes. To combat illness, we implement these basic rules for keeping healthy:
1)   Wash hands frequently, and make sure kids know how to wash properly.
2)   Staying home when we’re sick – no need to send the illness around the school, family, or playground.
3)   Keep a good routine. With healthy amounts of activity, good diets, and plenty of sleep, we manage to avoid quite a few illnesses a year.

The perfect personalized presents from Bunnies by the Bay

The first time I heard about Bunnies by the Bay was when I was pregnant with my first child. The grandparents brought her over some maryjanes made by Bunnies by the Bay that happened to be named the same first and middle name we had chosen. They had found them in their travels to Anacortes, WA and knew we just had to have them.

Since then, they have surprised all of my kids with gifts from Bunnies by the Bay for birthdays, holidays, and just because. So, when we decided bunnies were going to be our third child’s theme, it was just a given that Bunnies by the Bay would be how we filled her toy box and her special shelf in her room. Her Bunnies by the Bay obsession has only grown as she has gotten older, and now almost all of her cherished friends are from their extensive line of adorable plush toys. They really do carry some of the absolute cutest stuffed toys, lovies, blankets, accessories, clothing, and baby gifts for newborn on up. Every time she gets a box that looks like this, it's cause for celebration.

10+ tips for road trips with young kids

In the past 8 years, my children have visited 6 different countries, 3 continents, and countless towns and cities in the United States and abroad. We’ve traveled by train, plane, boat, and car, and at this point our kids can pretty objectively be referred to as seasoned travelers. Recently, we’ve been doing a lot of road tripping, and while it’s nice to not have to plan for airlines, train stations, and long waits before departures, trips in the car with young kids have their own set of challenges. Over the years I’ve learned that these challenges can be minimized by how I pack, prepare, and execute a road trip with baby, and we’ve gotten our system down to a science thanks to Huggies at Costco.

Looking for matching clothing for your family? Look no further than our ultimate guide to matching clothing for baby, toddler, siblings, and family. You will find stores to shop at, shopping tips and tricks, and the best way to maximize your matching clothing.

20+ kid-friendly activities in Olympic National Park {and 20+ tips to make the most of your stay}

Can you believe that I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest almost my entire life, yet I had never been to Olympic National Park? We travel a lot as a family, but somehow the National Park just hadn’t made it on our radar until earlier this year when our oldest got excited about rain forests and we realized how overdue we were for a trip to ONP.

For this past Father’s Day weekend, we decided to do a somewhat last-minute trip to the peninsula so we could explore the Olympic National Park as a family and finally see what we’ve been missing. It turns out we’ve been missing a lot.

For one, there are actually 4 parks in one in Olympic National Park. From glacier-covered peaks, gorgeous lakes, miles and miles of Pacific Ocean beaches, old growth forests, waterfalls, hot springs, and ancient rain forests, there truly is something for everyone.

21+ things to do with kids in Olympic National Park

Taking a baby or toddler to Disney World? You are definitely going to want to read this first! Our ultimate guide to Disney World with baby and toddler includes 100+ tips to make the most of your Disney World trip with young kids.

How to pack the perfect carry-on for baby

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SkinCareForBaby #CollectiveBias Our kids go just about everywhere with us, and that includes when our adventures take us out of state by plane, train, and automobile. This go-anywhere, do-anything lifestyle started with our first baby when she was just days old. Even back then we’d have parents come up to us incredulous that we were able to travel with baby and now that our family size has increased their curiosity has only grown.

And I always tell them that traveling with babies was one of the best things we ever did. Not only did it make them more adaptable and flexible, it also made it easier to keep our adventurous side, which makes us all happier. The kids are growing up seeing things others only dream of and we’re spending some really awesome quality time together starting from day one.

My first tip for traveling with baby is that preparation goes a long way. Before we ever set off with baby, we read a ton and played out all of our worst-case scenarios. There were a few missteps along the way but for the most part we were prepared for just about everything that has come up, and even when we weren't, we were able to approach it with a roll-with-it kind of attitude knowing that you can't account for every emergency.

If you are a new parent wondering about the logistics of traveling with baby, you can relax because we are giving you a peek into our carry-on for baby. This is exactly what we'll be packing for our cross-country trip with kiddos this month, and has worked well for us on all of our adventures. Are you ready to start? Great, let's break down our packing list by category: food & snacks, soothing & comfort, playtime, clothing, changing, and just for parents.

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