Besides an endless amount of diapers, wipes, and clothing, your sweet little one will go through all sorts of toys. Toys are the bridge to your sanity and the only way that you'll manage a shower or even a quick solo trip to the bathroom. It may sound crazy to invest in toys for your baby when they will simply outgrow them in a few months, but trust me, you'll need your sanity, so get the toys.
Pictured above: Lulyboo Lounge-To-Go
Be sure to check out my blog post: Newborn Essentials I Could Not Live Without
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Let's dive into my top 15 baby toy favorites for newborns to six months old:
If you're looking for a large, non-slip, and waterproof play mat, this mat is for you! It's double-sided and is easy to fold up and store or you can leave it out for your baby to play on. I love that it's padded so that as Bentley is learning to crawl, roll around, and sit up if he falls, the playmat breaks the fall. It also muffles the sound of him playing if he bangs his feet on the floor in excitement.
Bentley love, loves this activity center. It's a little over $100, but it provides hours of entertainment per day. It's adjustable depending on how tall your baby is, too, which means it can grow with them. Bentley was able to start using this around five and a half months as his feet were finally able to hit flat at the platform. This particular activity center has different textures and toys attached, and once Bentley got the hang of it, he started jumping up and down in it, spinning around in it, and found his cute little voice. It's the perfect activity center to put him in if we need him to be in one spot, get some chores done, or tire him out. haha!
High Contrast books are so great for babies. They love to see them, but these have textures, and a crinkly sound, so it hits several senses that babies are learning and experiencing. Even beyond six months, these have come in handy, and Bentley still loves them.
Kick & Play Piano Activity Gym
Babies love stacking cups...or anything that they can do time and time again. Stack, crash, repeat. The stacking cups that we have and are linked are muted tones because let's be honest, all of the obnoxiously bright baby toys get a little overwhelming and start to make your home look like a toy store...opt for muted tones. You can thank me later. haha!
Stock up on books that have visually appealing pictures, adorable stories, and have touch & feel components. Bentley loves to touch and feel his books, so I think he pretty much expects something to touch on every page. Having all of the textures helps him learn and stay interested in the book longer.
Little man has been teething for months. I mean full-on drooling and soaking onesies, lack of sleep when he's in pain, and now on the flip side, dropping, chomping down on everything and taking extra naps now that he's growing again. This teething mitt has been a lifesaver. Babies have such a habit of throwing things or maybe not holding something all that freat, but that's where the teething mitt comes in. It adjusts and velcros so that your little one can chomp on it and not drop it on the floor every two seconds.
Once your little one gets a little better at holding onto things without dropping them constantly, teething rings have become a staple in our household. We have one on every floor and be sure to have one in his diaper bag when we travel somewhere. Our little dude loves the soothing feeling a teether provides.
A bath seat isn't really a toy, but it provides a good twenty minutes of fun before bedtime. This particular bath seat can be used from five months to ten months. We started using it a little closer to six months, but I wish we had started using it sooner. We were using a tiny newborn tub, but Bentley's feet started to hang off the edge and he became too mobile, so we knew it was time to upgrade and get this one for him to use.
Bentley loves bath time and he started to splash in the water and play with some bath toys that Grandmom & Pop brought for him. We originally started using plastic stroller toys until we go true bath toys, and he loves those just the same! So, throw any waterproof toy in the tub and have fun with your little one!
A special thanks to Fabletics for this fabulous set for today's post.
I just had to let you know that my outfit (Fabletics Pivot Pink Outfit Set) is currently 70% off for new VIP members. Fabletics is always running amazing deals, but this one is the best I've ever seen! Stay tuned for new Fabletics sets and deals. Be sure to follow along on Instagram!
A special thanks to Wayfair for sponsoring today's post.
When Chris and I started dreaming of what our patio was going to look like, we knew that we didn't want to do a traditional paver patio. I searched on Pinterest, and never really found a patio design I liked. I found our large pavers and knew that I wanted to put the marble chips in between them. To us, we thought of it as a European-inspired garden and went from there!
Chris came up with the idea to add porch swings, and I was completely sold! That's when my friends at Wayfair come in. We had a vision, and to make our vision come to life, we started searching for porch swings, lighting, and more!
Wayfair always has great quality items at an affordable price, too. I was able to find our Zain Hardwood Porch Swings and I am obsessed with them. They look even better in person and they come with everything you need to properly and securely hang them. The stain is a beautiful color and goes with our European-inspired theme to tie in natural-looking elements.
Along with the porch swings, we purchased Outdoor Blub String Lights to give us some ambient lighting under the deck. It creates the prettiest atmosphere after dark, and these lights stretched and hung under our 10'X10' deck perfectly. We hung them with small hooks into the wood beams. We have them on a timer so that they come on from dusk to dawn every day.
We also got darling Pathway Lights to put throughout our garden beds. I just love the look of lighting throughout a garden, and these lights are solar-powered, so they don't need a battery or electricity. They also come on at the same time as our string lights, which is perfect!
I love, love all of the plants and flowers that we have planted in the ground, but I wanted a couple of other plants throughout the space. I found this cement-looking Self-Watering Hanging Planter and I love the natural elements it brings to the space as well. I ended up putting a hanging plant directly into it, and it's the perfect fit!
Want to DIY your own patio?!
Check out my post >>> DIY PAVER AND MARBLE GRAVEL PATIO WITH MULCH BEDS & PORCH SWINGS
If you're looking to create a space like ours, be sure to check out the links within my post and the links below to see more options to help create a beautiful space in your own home. If you're dreaming up a space like we did, Wayfair can help make your dream a reality!
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Zain Hardwood Porch Swings || More Porch Swings
Outdoor Blub String Lights || More String Lights
Pathway Lights || More Landscape Lighting
Self-Watering Hanging Planter || More Planters
Our kitchen has turned into our dream kitchen, and I'm obsessed. I didn't want to go for the traditional kitchen backsplash, because #1: What's the fun in that? and #2: Nothing is traditional in this house. We've definitely done a ton of projects on our newly-built home, yet I feel like we'll always be changing or adding something. This time, it was time to tackle the kitchen, and gosh, did tile take our kitchen to the next level!
This project was my first tiling project ever, so it was a little more costly than most of our projects in the past because we had to purchase a lot of tools. The good thing is we have the tools necessary to do tiling projects throughout the rest of the house, and we've already completed another tiling project--our hall bathroom.
DIY Modern Farmhouse Bathroom with Tile Wall and Dark Grout
The Before //
At the end of this post, you'll find links to all of the products and tools we used to complete this project as well as any decor items I could link for you!
First things first, PREP YOUR SPACE. I cannot stress this enough. Prep your walls by filling in any holes with spackle, and then you will need to take 100-grit sandpaper to your entire wall area that you will be tiling. This helps to rough up the wall and allows the tile adhesive to stick a little better. We've heard mixed reviews on this step, but honestly, it's worth doing. It took all of five minutes and it gave me a little peace of mind knowing that even though it was an extra step, it would help our tiling project be that much more successful.
Once you've sanded the entire wall, you'll have a bit of a mess, so take old towels or paper towels and wipe your wall and counters down. Next, you'll want to tape plastic to your countertops. We cut open trash bags and taped them to the counter. This will protect your counters and make for a much easier clean-up. Tile adhesive and grout are very messy. Do not skip this step.
After your wall is prepped, you'll want to start on your second row of tiles--unless by some miracle your countertops are perfectly level, then you can skip this step. When you check your countertops and even your wall, nothing will be level. Our house is not even two years old yet, and it is so unlevel due to normal house settling within the first couple of years. Chances are, you'll have the same issue, so starting at the second row of tiles will be sure your tiles are straight and you can cut the first row of tiles to different widths to create the illusion of a full tile.
When you're putting up the second row aka your first row on the wall (confusing, I know), make sure you either use a laser level or an actual level when you're putting them up, otherwise your tiles will become crooked very quickly. Also, your second row should start 1 tile width or less from the countertop so that you can easily fill in that first row next. It's up to you if you want to start your initial tiling process from the corner, an edge, or the center. Since we wanted the tiles to be perfectly centered with the kitchen faucet, we chose to start there and work our way out to the sides. This is the most time-consuming part, but it's worth it to have a wall full of straight tiles.
I put up the second row of tiles along the entire span of our tile project, so both walls in our kitchen. When you're putting up a smaller section of tiles at a time, you'll want to put the adhesive on the tile directly instead of putting the adhesive onto the wall. Once you get past the first two or three rows of tiles, the project starts to move along very quickly!
Once you have the second row of tiles level along the entire span of your project, it's time to fill in that first row of tiles. You will have to trim the width of each tile--remember this is when you will be creating the illusion that there are full tiles on that first row, but chances are, as you move along the wall, there will be a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch variance depending on how bad your home has settled and walls have shifted. When doing this step, you also want to make sure you are consistent with your tile pattern. We did a classic tile pattern, so you will see the edge of the first tile will hit the center of the second tile.
You also won't be able to use the tile cutter for this step, you will need to use a wet saw. A tile cutter is only able to take as small as 1 inch off, so chances of getting a perfectly straight line spanning the length of your tile is not likely. I got lucky a few times after A LOT of practice, but it creates too much tile waste if you mess up, so the wet saw was a Godsend. Thankfully, my parents were up helping with this project, so my Dad was able to teach me how to use the wet saw properly so I could use it in future projects, too!
Note: When using a wet saw, ALWAYS use eye and hand protection.
In the photo above, my Dad is measuring where to set the saw before we made a cut, which is why he doesn't have his goggles or gloves on yet, but as soon as the saw was turned on, we both always had on goggles and gloves. When a tile is cut on a wet saw, it shoots out tile shards, which are sharp and will cut you if you are not protected. Just ask my knee and about how it felt when I wore ripped jeans to complete this project and knelt down on tile shards. haha!
In order to hide your tile's edges where your entire tile project will end, you will need an edge piece. (See photo below) They are super inexpensive made of either plastic or metal and allow you to create a clean edge of tile for your project. Once we had the first two rows of tile up, we put in the last two pieces on each row to create the ending of the pattern. These tiles weren't exactly whole tiles and half tiles like the traditional pattern alludes to, mainly because we wanted our tile to end at a certain spot in line with our cabinets and not the countertop.
Once you're a little farther up the wall past your first couple of rows or so, you'll be able to take your tile adhesive and apply it to a good portion of your wall, and put tiles up super quick. It is definitely a tedious task, but well worth it for the stunning end results.
You will become a tile cutting master by the time you're finished with your project, but make sure to order 10% extra tile than you think you'll need to account for half tiles and for ones that break while cutting...because, yes, it happens.
Prep //
Tile & Grout //
Mapei Warm Gray Sanded Grout Caulk
OmniGrip 1 Gal. Maximum Strength Tile Adhesive
Tools //
5-Gallon Spiral Mixer (for mixing grout)
Carbide-Tipped Drill Bit (for drilling through tile)
Hand Saw (for cutting tile edge trims to size)
Blue Hawk 4-Piece Caulk Tool Kit
The Jonestead patio is finished, and guess what?! We did it ourselves!!! I dreamed up our patio design for months before we were actually able to start it. This project took two full weekends, but honestly, I'm pretty impressed that we were able to update our backyard so dramatically in just two weekends.
Here's a little sneak peek at our patio...
Now that you've seen a little sneak peek, you have to see the before. It was such a drastic difference, and this DIY paver patio has turned our backyard into usable space and it's beautiful!!
See, I told you!! The before of our backyard is so sad and we were never out here. I wanted to make the most of our small backyard, and so I had a brilliant idea to design and execute our DIY paver and marble gravel patio with mulch beds & porch swings. The porch swings are one of my favorite additions to our home and I'm so excited for Bentley to be able to grow up with porch swings just like I did as a little girl!
Now, I'll walk you through how we turned our boring, basic backyard into our darling paradise. With a little math, muscles, blood, sweat, and tears, you too, can have a DIY paver patio. Let's get started!
First things first, measure your space and measure again! I used Photoshop to plan out our patio down to the inch to make sure everything would look good, but you can also use stakes and string. I ended up using the stakes and string method to help me mark where I needed to dig out the grass. Once you have your stakes and string in place, use a flat shovel and spade shovel to help edge around where the string is. I'm glad I took the time to create a mark in the grass and dirt with the shovel all the way around because as I started to dig out the grass, the grass was already cut in a clean line, which made it easier to have clean edges in the end. I basically just shoved the shovel down about 2 inches all around the string line.
 Zain Hardwood Porch Swing // More Porch Swings |
 Outdoor Blub String Lights // More String Lights |
 Pathway Light Pack // More Landscape Lighting |
 Self-Watering Hanging Planter // More Planters |
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