April 2019

There are so many wonderful Easter and spring related books out right now (some are classics, some are new found favorites, and some are spin offs of the famous original book). Here are some of our current favorites that will surely become a household favorite of yours as well. All are linked here as well, simply click on the text in grey 🙂 Happy reading everyone!!

Easter is Coming

Here, a mother tells the story of Easter to her young children.

First Easter

Wonderful book for young children to learn about Easter.

God Gave Us Easter

Papa bear explains lovingly to his little cub the story of Easter.

The Story of the Easter Bunny

Story about how the Easter Bunny came to be.

We are the Gardeners

This book needs no introduction as it is flying off the shelf! Written by none other than Joanna Gaines herself!

The Tiny Seed

A wonderful classic…perfect to read to little ones about the onset of spring.

How to Grow Happiness

The Chung family love any books by Kelly Dipucchio (Antoinette & Gaston). This book is also wonderful and teaches young ones about the hard work that goes into gardening and growing happiness.

Little Blue Truck’s Springtime

Wonderful book for babies and younger toddlers, with lift the flap details.

Princesses Save the World

The sequel to the famous Princess Wears Pants, this one is about how important bees are in pollinating (perfect for Spring)!

The Little Rabbit

We love the Christmas book written by the same author. This one is just as beautifully illustrated. About a little girl and her toy bunny that comes alive~

Too Many Carrots

A bunny loves carrots a little too much, and its friends decides to help!

The Good Egg

The dynamic duo who wrote “The Bad Seed” does it again with this hilariously fun read about an egg that “cracks” under pressure in trying to be too good.

Click Clack Peep

A spinoff of the runaway hit “Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type,” we cannot get enough of its spinoffs. This one is adorable with the rhythmic animal sounds and the little hatched duckling that won’t go to sleep!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of UPPAbaby. The opinions and text are all mine.

The number one question I get asked across the board from new moms and veteran moms alike is–“what is the one thing you can’t live without as a mom,” or asked another way, “if you could purchase just ONE big ticket item before the baby comes, what would it be”? And I don’t even hesitate to answer that it is my UPPAbaby VISTA stroller.

I am always hesitant to recommend baby products (even those that worked beautifully for me) because all products are really baby dependent…For example, you don’t know if your baby will like a lounger, rocker, bouncer, or a swing (and so it is best to wait and test out the products before committing to them before the baby is born). Additionally, you don’t know if your baby will sleep in a crib, or a bassinet or co-sleep with you. Moreover, even with essentials, you don’t know if your baby will be strictly breastfed, bottle-fed or a mix of both…and even then you have no idea what kind of bottle your baby will take to! You may prefer glass bottles, bottles that ease colic, or bottles that mimic breastfeeding, etc.

There is just ONE exception and that is the stroller. The UPPAbaby VISTA I recommend universally across the board. To expectant first time mothers, to new moms of twins, to moms with a baby and toddler, and even veteran moms with multiple children of varying ages. And that’s because the UPPAbaby VISTA grows with your family. It comes with both a Bassinet and a Toddler Seat that you can switch over to once your baby can sit up and is strong enough to hold his or her head up.

Toddler seat on upper bracket in forward facing position.

The Bassinet by itself is incredible–super cozy with machine washable lining and an extendable canopy with UV ray protection and an additional mesh netting that fully extends for even more coverage. It also pops out easily with just one click of a button from the stroller frame in case you need to park your stroller but want to keep your baby in the bassinet (for example, many restaurants require you to park strollers out by the entrance). Personally, my daughter was quite colicky when she was born. So for the first six months of her life I used to go on hour long walks with her in her bassinet every single day (the stroller was literally and figuratively a life saver).

And then once she was old enough, we moved her into the Toddler Seat which is already included. And I had a love affair with their Toddler Seat too. You can have the seat front or rear facing, recline all the way back (for when they fall asleep), and also have it completely upright and switch out the handle bars for their snack tray so that they can eat while on the go (UPPAbaby also has the BEST accessories and they have them ALL–everything you could think of, they have). And just like the Bassinet, the Toddler Seat also has a fully extendable canopy and an adjustable foot rest. I mean…It makes ME want to be a kid again just go ride in such comfort!

Toddler seat in rear facing position on upper bracket

Toddler seat rear facing on upper adaptor shown above.

And THEN when my son was born, I fell in love with the VISTA even more! You can easily purchase the upper adaptor and the UPPAbaby RumbleSeat to convert the stroller into a DOUBLE STROLLER! I love that even as a double stroller, it takes up no additional footprint (some double strollers are so cumbersome, can’t get through doorways, can’t fit on sidewalks, can’t be maneuvered easily, the list goes on). So I had my son in the Bassinet (or the UPPAbaby MESA carseat–which we also LOVE), and my daughter in the RumbleSeat facing out. This worked out beautifully because that way she can easily step into and out of the seat since it sits lower to the ground too.

Now, my son is 13 months old and my daughter is 3.5 years old. So now in lieu of the Bassinet, I have the Toddler Seat on top for my son facing out (I used to have it face in– looking towards me, but now he enjoys looking out and around), and my daughter continues to sit in the rumble seat below (also looking out). The configurations are endless!!! For example, my friend who has newborn twins uses the double configurations to fit in two car seats or two bassinets (depending on their needs), and it works BEAUTIFULLY.

What next? My husband and I actually love and adore babies and are hoping to add another little baby to the family. And with that, the VISTA will still be there right along side us! UPPAbaby also has a PIGGYBACK that you can clip on to the stroller. So now my daughter can cruise along on the piggyback, my son will move over to the RumbleSeat, and we will bring out our trusty Bassinet again.

But honestly, the moment we became an UPPAbaby family was actually when our stroller broke! We were flying to NYC, and I had gate checked my VISTA. When the crew brought out our stroller, I noticed that they had broken the stroller frame (completely destroyed). I waited in line by the baggage claim, I called the airline company…all to no avail. I was desperate…I cannot live without my stroller. So I filled out the Customer service form on the UPPAbaby website about what happened, and within that very hour, I got an email from a live person. She asked if I had registered my stroller and when I had bought it. I told her I bought it in 2015 (I was pretty sure my warranty had run out too because I bought it such a long time ago), and I told her that I did not register the stroller (I was in a newborn baby crazy phase of no sleep, and the last thing I thought to do was register a stroller). She emailed back right away and after a few additional information and photos, she told me a new stroller frame was being shipped that day and forwarded me the tracking number!! I had a brand new stroller frame in three days!!!

I honestly do not care how wonderful, or how beautiful, or how affordable a product is if the back end/customer service is atrocious. Because you just never ever know what may happen with a product (especially when it relates to your children–you know it will go through some wear and tear :). And I was blown away by the customer service team over at UPPAbaby. I had posted this whole scenario from beginning to end on my Instagram account @aenny04, and I was FLOODED with comments and DMs from other moms on how they ALSO had the most amazing experience with UPPAbaby. One mother messaged me and said that their stroller frame broke while they were at Disney World (they had parked their stroller and when they came back, it was moved elsewhere and broken). She sent in a form (similar to what I did), and they overnighted a brand new stroller frame to her hotel!!

So I cannot cannot cannot recommend the UPPAbaby VISTA enough to all the moms out there. The stroller is like an extension of you…I always say it is only second in line to my husband in terms of how much I rely on it hahaha. And it truly has been the gift that just keeps on giving.