Bloom Fresco review

This is a long awaited review for Alexis' high chair. I had researched high and low and looked everywhere for a high chair that fit into these categories for our family:

1. Easy to clean
2. Can be used at out island and at our dining table. This meant that the chair could be raised high enough for a kitchen counter and low enough for our dining table
3. Easy to move (must have wheels)
4. Longivity. Must last through years of use as Alexis grows
5. Stylish enough for our newly remodeled kitchen.
6. Comfortable and fun for Alexis
7. Rotation (I learned from our Orbit stroller how easy this makes life)

So, I found one high chair out of all the high chairs out there that served actually fulfilled all 7 requirements.

I'll go into detail about each one:

1. The chair is pretty simple and clean in design so there isn't many places for food to fall. It comes in 2 tray sizes so it catches a lot of the food (and liquid). There is a pad that all you have to do is wipe of the mess along with the shoulder pads.

2. The chair is on some sort of hydraulic pump so it is super easy to adjust to any height. There aren't preset heights that the chair can be at so you aren't stuck if you have weird table or counter height.

3. Now, it has 2 very small wheels and it isn't the easiest to move. You've got to tilt it to a specific angle to get it to roll. Not the best in design but I does roll and move.

4. I bought this later on for Alexis once she started eating solids but you can actually tilt the seat so the baby can lay flat. With the harness, it is safe to put a newborn in it to sleep. Amazing!! And, because these is no arm rest attached, your child can probably use it till the age of 4 or 5. You can remove the tray and scoot the chair up to a table or counter.

5. Just look at the picture below. You can customize the padding to your child's favorite color, The base comes in nickel, black chrome, white, and black. You customize it into any combination you want. All of our guests that come into the house thinks its some spaceship. A cool spaceship but its definitely not your ordinary high chair. We got a black chrome with purple padding. Love it!

6. Alexis loves it. She loves having her legs roam free on the bottom so she can conveniently knudge her dad. She uses the large tray to draw on and keeps her crayon in the tray. She eats well with is and makes a huge mess but she eats in it. She's even learned to buckle herself in. Safety first!

7. Who wants to roll out the high chair and twist their back to get the baby out. We turn the chair around, take of the removable tray, and she's out. In fact, sometimes, Alexis spins herself around while waiting for her food. And when she gets upset with us, she turns herself around so we get the look at the back of the eggshell.

After using it for a year and half, it was a hefty investment but we've used every function of it except for the newborn functions. Although its expensive, its an item I plan on selling after we are done with it and I think I can get a decent price for it later. It's help up well and not one bit of wear and tear on it yet. It also doesn't take up very much room so that's been helpful although wasn't originally one of my requirements for a high chair.

Guilty, I splurged!

You  know how every once in a while you see something so cute and you imagine your little one with it and you can't resist buying it even though its insanely expensive? Well, I just did that on a bath towel. When I went home to tell my husband about what I just did, he looked at me like he should have cut up my credit card.
This is what I purchased from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child for $44 (for a towel):

Isn't it cute??? I know, cute but crazy.

In my defense, my daughter had been using her newborn towels for 2 years until I finally got her this grey elephant one.

After waiting weeks for it to arrive, I was actually pleasantly surprised with the quality. It is HUGE in size and extremely soft. My daughter is ridiculously cute in it and she loves it. She yells for her elephant and plays with the trunk while wrapped in it completely. And here is the best part: My husband actually said she was the cutest thing in it and he loves it too!

I've washed it twice in the washing machine and dried in the dryer and it just keeps getting softer. It didn't start falling apart like some of her newborn bath towels I bought at BuyBuyBaby and Babies R Us.

Besides the ridiculous price, it is great in size and extremely soft. Its fun for bath time. So, when you are in the splurge mode, I highly recommend this towel! Couldn't find anything like it in the other baby stores.

Compassion for ALL mothers/parents

I never really knew this existed until I became a mother. But, we are not very nice to each other as mothers. We tend to act like high schoolers and band together into cliques. Breast feeding moms vs formula moms. Stay at home moms vs working moms. Single moms vs Moms in relationships.
Why? Why must we be #TeamBreastfeedingmom vs #TeamFormula or #TeamNoVaccines?

Is there only 1 or 2 ways to raise a child?

I've concluded that when our children were born, we gave our of our compassion to our children and family that we forgot about others. All moms need compassion and understanding. Has a breastfeeding mom ever wonder about the struggles that the formula mom is going through? How bad that formula mom must feel that she can't do what her body is suppose to do, feed her child? Or, has the formula mom ever felt bad about the breastfeeding mom having no where to feed her child? Or the struggles and pain that the breastfeeding mom goes through with her body?

What about the stay at home mom having compassion for the working mom that has to hand her child every morning to someone else to raise her child? The hours and events that the working mom misses out on her growing child. What about the stay at home mom that has no one to talk to all day but a toddler? Catering to everyone else and missing social interaction? The stay at home mom that had to give up her career, something that she has worked all her life for?

I can go on and on about all the pros and cons of every side but I think we really need to stop judging people and making rude comments. I write this blog today because of an article that I read on Yahoo news called "Wait, Breast isn't Best?" and it reminded me of all the rude and mean degrading comments I got from other moms out there about why my child wasn't exclusively breast fed or why do I want someone else raising my child? Yes, those were the exact words moms have said to me. More than once. One mom said to me "Maybe no one told you but breast feeding is best. You're just poisoning your child with chemicals". I had to use ALL of my self control to refrain myself from cussing her ignorant self out.

So, lets just be nice to one another. Lets stop creating all these #TeamBlahBlahBlah and just use one hashtag #TeamMom. Lets be nice to one another and offer help. Offer someone to talk to, offer your heart. We are moms, we are dads, we are parents, we know how to have compassion.

This is a quote from today's article on Yahoo:
Jessica Shortall writes over on The Shriver Report:
"This 'breast is best' thing has taken on a tinge of accusation and a tone of judgment. 'Breast is best' no longer comes across only as: "…so leave the poor woman alone who is trying to nurse her hungry baby on a park bench." It no longer comes across as: "provide a lactation room for new mothers at your workplace -- one that does not require her to sit on a germy toilet while she produces food for a baby." Lately, it's starting to sound a bit like: "…so if you don't do it, you obviously don't love your baby or want what's best for he/she."