misosouper, a shopping blog

In recent memory, no other product has revolutionized my life like the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer.

Since baby P has come home, we’ve been sleeping in separate beds:  Mr. Misosouper across the house (in walkie talkie distance, of course), and me in the guest room, on newborn duty.  He gets to rest at night and I get to rest during the day, a setup I highly recommend.

So in the wee hours, if I haven’t blearily rolled over to feed/change/check on baby in the past 3 hours, the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer sounds a gentle alarm to wake me up.  Press the buttons to reset, and repeat, until morning.  (There’s a bonus button, which I used the first couple of nights home to remind me to take my pain meds.  As if I would have forgotten.)

The Itzbeen Baby Care Timer even comes with a nightlight, which I have used for several diaper changes when I’m too lazy to turn on the lamp.

Yes, I know reviews of this gadget have already been posted all over the internet.

But add my exhausted, grateful voice to the chorus.

Such a great idea!

We recently refinished an armoire for my daughter’s room. One concern I had was the off gassing and VOC in many paint finishes. I was thrilled to find “Original Milk Paint” in a neighborhood store selling bookshelves. Milk paint is obviously made from milk, it comes in a powder form and all you do is add water and mix. It is environmentally safe and does not give off any odors. The finish is transparent and gives furniture or walls a slightly aged appearance with a bit of transparency. The ingredients in the paint include: milk protein, lime, clay, and earth pigments such as ochre, umber, iron oxide, lampblack. The lime is alkaline (toxic) in powder form but becomes totally inert when mixed with the slightly acid milk. There is no lead, chemical preservatives, or fungicides. Milk paint contains no hydrocarbons or any other petroleum derivatives. We are thrilled with the results and my husband spent one entire weekend painting the armoire, as it needed two coats. I also plan to apply a paste wax finish to protect the paint and give it a pretty and subtle sheen. I choose Clapham’s Beeswax Polish. It is made in Canada with an old family recipe; museums and fine furniture refinishers use it. Best of all it has a slight lavender scent, but also comes in unscented if you are adverse to lavender.

Our sweet baby has finally arrived.

She is on the big side of preemie.

She is happy, healthy, and home, but needs lots of attention.

Thanks for being patient, and as always, awesome.

Now that my daughter is sleeping in a big-girl bed, we are in need of a newer grown up modern nightlight. The room is a fusion of vintage family heirlooms and modern storage pieces and a “Woodland” area rug from Pottery Barn Kids. I found three lamps/nightlights that put off a subtle glow to keep the room lit at night yet promote peaceful slumber through the night.

I love the adorable house design of the OXO Candela Roomi (top left, $29.99 at Amazon.com) because it is two lights in one. The unit’s charger has a luminescent panel that’s always lit, and the lamp lights up if the power goes out. The rechargeable lamp stays lit for up to 8 hours and is cool to the touch. Next the Grobag Egg Color Changing Thermometer ($24.99 at BabiesRUs) is an egg shaped nightlight that changes colors according to the current temperature in the room. The smart Grobag Egg nightlight glows red when it’s too hot, blue when it’s too cold, and yellow when it’s just right. I’m sure that all kids will get a kick out of the changing colors of this light as well. Another light that would be a sure fire hit at my house is the MyPetLamp Dachshund by Offi (bottom, $59 at RacksandStands.com). All kids go through an obsession with pets and my daughter is in that stage right now. A cute little puppy would be the perfect friend to keep her safe and secure at night.

Read more over at TheFind!

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When it comes to baby gear, second kids often get the shaft.  (Which conjures up images of a poor third baby I know, who slept in a dresser drawer because the crib was ruined.)  The stuff you bought for your first–or at least, the stuff I bought for my first–is stained, torn, and sticky.  And that’s just the gear that didn’t get thrown away.

For our new baby, I’m starting her off fresh with a Wee Wood of the Month subscription to Little Alouette’s fabulous collection of teethers, blocks, rattles, and toys.  Made of smooth Ohio maple, these hippos, stars, and bunnies (oh my!) are blessedly toxin- and battle-scar free.