Gil at 3 Months

***I will add the pictures later!***

Baby Gil, you are 3 months old!

Gil is weighing in at 12 lbs, 8 ounces (20%), as of this past Friday.  Which is yet another drop in percentile.  He started out so big and is just not gaining that much!  But he just doesn't love eating.  It's so different than Jack as a baby--that kid would have eaten constantly, if I let him!  But Gil nurses for a little bit and then he's done.  I've even started trying to offer him a bottle of pumped milk afterward and he won't have it.  Hopefully his weight will settle into a percentile soon!

He wears 3 to 6 month clothes.  He is a LONG baby!  Where do I get these tall kids?  He's in size 2 disposables, and his cloth diapers are set to small sizes too (although I did switch out the newborn inserts).

I feel like we are finally over the colicky-ness, or at least almost!  Gil still has some moments at bedtime, but he's a pretty happy baby the rest of the time.  He is struggling some with naps.  I am sure this trip down South is going to wreak havoc on his schedule.  I am not looking forward to fixing it when we get home!

He isn't a huge dream feed fan, so I've quit doing that.  I wish he was, because I could get a longer stretch of sleep, but he just wants to sleep through it!  He is slowly stretching out his night sleep.  A 5 1/2 hour stretch is the normal now, but he has given us several 6 or 6 1/2 hour stretches lately.  At this point, Jack was sleeping 8 hours at night, but Gil is tinier.  He just needs to eat more, and I am encouraged when I see his stretches getting gradually longer.

Gil is a pretty sweet little guy.  He's not a big laugher, but his smiles completely melt me!  He is the cuddliest little guy!

Likes: cuddles, being held, people watching

Dislikes: getting buckled into his car seat, riding in the car (sometimes...sometimes he loves it!)

This is going to be a big month for Gil.  We are leaving tonight to fly to Mississippi, where he will meet lots of family.  I know my little cuddle bug is going to love all of the hugging and holding!

Happy 3 Months, sweet Baby Gil!

Playing Catch Up

Actually, I feel like perhaps every blog post lately could have this title!  Life is just a little crazy over here at the Evans house right now--full of school, doctors visits, crying babies, wild and fun toddlers--you know, the normal.

So here's a little catch up of life lately:

T     H     A     N     K     S     G     I     V     I     N     G

We stuck around State College for Thanksgiving this year.  We had plans to spend time with two different groups on Thursday.  But on Tuesday night, we both just looked at each other and said, "Let's cancel and just stay  home."  It was the perfect decision for us this year!  I got a little sad on Thanksgiving night, but other than that, we mostly just enjoyed being lazy and staying in our pj's half the day!

The day before Thanksgiving we got probably 6 inches of snow.  I'm with Lorelai--I think the first snow is magical!

This little guy is showing his Vermont roots.  He LOVED the snow.  He played in it for several hours both Wednesday and Thursday.

This guy, not so much.  We didn't stay out for long, because it was cold.  But he wasn't a huge fan.  

But I think he did enjoy being our little Turkey!

Seriously, how cute is that baby butt with feathers on it???

B     O     T     T     L     E

So Jack was a champ at taking a bottle.  Actually, Jack was just a champ at eating in general.

A quick reminder picture.  Jack the CHUNK!  As my friend said last night, Jack didn't have a neck for at least the first year of his life!

Gil is not the same way.  If he isn't really hungry, he doesn't care to eat.  And he doesn't want to eat too much.  He's just a little pickier.  And I didn't start him on the bottle soon enough.

I'm not trying to wean; I just want to be able to leave him for more than 2 1/2 hours before I need to be back again.  So I put a cry for help on facebook, gathered up all of the advice, and put it to action!

And this, my friends, is the result.  Actually this picture is from last week, and he only drank an ounce.  Yesterday, he had two bottles instead of nursing sessions, and he did great!  One was 4 ounces!

So here's what advice helped:

* Try out different bottles.  We tried out our Dr. Brown's (we have TONS because that's what Jack used), Medela (came with the pump), Nuk (borrowed from a friend), and Tommee Tippee (borrowed from a friend).  If those didn't work, I was going to order the Adiri because I have heard they are great. But he seems to really like the Tommee Tippee the best.

* Warm the milk.  Again, Jack just wanted to eat...you could serve him cold milk and he would gulp it down!  Baby Gil, not so much.  So warming the milk is really important.

* Have someone other than mom feed him.  I've asked a few friends to try and Bech has been trying.  Although for the second bottle feed yesterday, I was able to feed him!

* Don't feed him when he is already angry/upset/hungry!  I think this is perhaps the biggest advice that helped.  I tried giving him the bottle after feedings or when he first woke up but wasn't really fussing.  This method has been really helpful.  Hopefully, we will soon be to the point where we don't have to do this, but I think it is helping him calmly get used to the bottle.

So hopefully that will help someone out.

C     H     R     I     S     T     M     A     S

We are in full swing Christmas excitement around here.  I'm going to be honest, we aren't really doing the Anne Voskamp book at night.  I tried it the first night, and I think it's still just a little over Jack's head.  Hopefully next year will be different.  But Jack loves to read about Mary and Joseph going to "Beckleham."

I absolutely love Christmas and I love Christmas decorations.  Jack is the perfect little guy for me, because he gets so excited about all things Christmas (Bech, not so much!).

My mom sent a package with some dollar store Christmas happies for Jack.  I wrapped them one night and put them under the tree, thinking we could open one a day for the next several days.  Jack gets up REALLY early and comes into our room.  We always send him back to his room, telling him to play quietly.  Well last week after I wrapped the presents, he didn't go back to his room.  I came downstairs 15 minutes later and he had unwrapped every last present!  He was so excited.  I'm pretty he thought that was Christmas morning.  

So, yeah, we need to work on that waiting to open presents thing...

B     A     B     Y   *   G     I     L

Baby Gil is finally coming out of his colicky stage.  As long as he stays on his schedule, he is a happy, smiley little guy.  He still has a little bit of a witching hour at night, but I think part of that is because we don't get him down at time (putting two kids to bed is tough!).

I tried to get him to smile in this picture, but instead, he gave me his emo face.

We are pretty crazy about this little (almost 3 month old!) baby.  Jack loves to make him smile and tells Gil that he is his favorite.  

M     I     S     S     I     S     S     I     P     P     I

We head home in less than a week!  We will be in Mississippi for a little over 2 weeks and I can't wait. I plan on taking a nap EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Do you hear that, family?  Every day.

I also plan on playing family board games, eating yummy sushi, lots of laughs, and lots of resting.  I am worn out!  And I am sure that my family will be happy to hold Baby Gil and give me a break!

We are flying home this year.  I don't mind the drive home (we love staying with our friends in Nashville).  But I didn't really want to do it with a 3 month old.  We would have had to stop every 3 hours for almost 30 minutes each time!  That adds almost 3 hours to our trip time!  

So instead, we are flying with a 3 month old and 3 1/2 year old.  Really, I'm not sure which idea would have been crazier!  Jack was a dream to fly with at this age, so let's hope Gil will be too.  And I plan on bringing Jack's kindle with a new movie loaded and some Dimeatap (just being real, y'all).  I think we will get through it!

The Advent Season

Today is the first day of Advent.  Yesterday, we lit the first candle at church, the candle of hope.  Tonight, we will start a new family tradition and read from Unwrapping the Greatest Gift.

I can honestly say that I have never entered into an Advent season this weary.  Two years ago was a rough year, but, in some ways, this year has been harder.  I just feel, well, spent. 

I am tired of doctors offices, medical tests, and unknowns.  I am tired of not being able to console a crying baby and of unnecessarily snapping at my three year old.  I am just physically tired and I want a full night of sleep!

I told Bech that I am glad to enter into the Advent season this tired.  Because it makes what Advent is about all the more thrilling and exciting.

A friend shared this link on facebook, and it was medicine for my soul.

"Would we be so filled with joy at his arrival if we weren’t so filled with longing already?

If Christmas is for the joy, then Advent is for the longing."

Advent is for the longing. 

The longing for a Savior.  

The longing for peace.  

The longing for, as Sally Lloyd-Jones and Tolkien phrase it, 

everything sad to come untrue.

It sounds crazy to say this, but I am glad.  I am glad that because of present circumstances, I can feel this longing, I can celebrate that much more and feel deeply the longing for Christ.  

" A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!"

"And, one day, when he comes back to rule forever, the mountains and trees will dance and sing for joy!  The earth will shout out loud!  His fame will fill the whole earth--as the waters cover the sea!  Everything sad will come untrue.  Even death is going to die!  And he will wipe away every tear from every eye.  

Yes, the Rescuer will come.  Look for him.  Watch for him.  Wait for him.  

He will come!"

Gil at 2 Months

Gil actually turned two months old almost 2 weeks ago.  At least I took the pictures then, right?

Sweet Baby Gil is two months old!  I know it's trite, but these first two months have flown by!

Gil is a tall string bean.  He weighs 12 pounds (40%) and is 24 1/2 inches long (96%).  For comparison, Jack was about 14 pounds at 2 months.  This guy just isn't the chunk that his big brother was!  But he is every bit as tall.  If you know Bech and I in real life, this is strange, because neither one of us is extremely tall.  Not sure why we have these tall kiddos!

Gil still fits into some 0 to 3 month clothes, but we are in mostly 3 to 6 month clothes now.  He is just so long that we need the extra length!  His cloth diapers are set to a pretty small size, but we bought some size two disposable diapers the other day.

This month Gil started smiling.  He is happiest in the morning or right when he eats (who isn't?).  He gives me the sweetest smiles when he wakes up!

We have given sweet Gil lots of nicknames:  Gilly boy, Gilly bean, and (my creation and personal favorite) Gilbo Baggins.

Likes: cuddles, smiling, baths

Dislikes: being cold, changing clothes, getting buckled into his car seat

We are back into Babywise this time around.  He is on a 3 hour schedule.  We start the day about 7 a.m. (give or take 15 minutes).  He goes down for a nap (or he has to sleep on the way to drop Jack off at school!) at 8.  He can only handle about an hour of wake time.  He eats at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 a.m., 3:30 or 4 p.m. (I vary this because we have to get Jack at 4).  We usually cluster feed at 6 and then 8 p.m.  He goes down for the night and gets a dream feed at about 10:30.  He's been pretty regularly giving me a 5 hour stretch, which means he only wakes up once after his dream feed!  But some nights, he wakes up more than that.

He had a week or two of bad naps, but he seems to be over that.  One thing I was great at with Jack but not so good at with Gil is putting him to bed awake.  We would swaddle Jack and lay him down, and he would fall right to sleep.  But Gil has a different temperament.  We swaddle him and hold him until he is drowsy or asleep and then lay him down.

I'm constantly surprised by how different than Jack he is.  First of all, he looks so different!  His eyes are completely different.  The jaundice is almost completely gone, so we can tell that he definitely has different coloring.  And that hair...so dark!  He looks so much like Bech to me!

But more than that, they are so different in temperament.  Jack was such an easy baby.  I was reading Jack's 3 month update the other day.  In it, I wrote, "There are days that go by where I hear him cry maybe once (and usually only cause he woke up from a nap!).  I am so thankful that he is such a good baby--it makes my crazy schedule a little easier.  Of course, I do know this means I am probably due for a colic-y baby next time around! (I was a second child and had colic!)"

Y'all...so true.  We have definitely had an adjustment with this little guy.  He cries a lot more.  It was really tough at first, because I kept trying, to no avail, to fix things.  But Gil is just more of a crier.  I think we are over our colicky days, for the most part, but he still is just much fussier.  But he is absolutely the sweetest, and I wouldn't trade him for the world!

Happy 2 months, Baby Gil!

5 on Friday

First of all, thank y'all for your sweet facebook (and blog, thanks, Courtney) comments on my post on Grace!  I am so encouraged to have such sweet friends!

Now, time for my favorite type of post... 5 on Friday!

O     N     E

Gil is two months old today!  Ahhh...how do I already have a 2 month old?

This little chunk is a much tougher baby than Jack ever was, but every bit as sweet and kissable.  He's kind of serious, but I managed to capture one of his rare smiles.

He has his two month appointment (with the dreaded shots!) on Monday, so I'll wait until then to do his update, so I can include his measurements.

T     W     O

Well, it's the holiday season, which means...

Red cups!  I love when Starbucks releases these!

And this year, they released a new holiday drink, the Chestnut Praline Latte.  Since I am a gold card member (read, obsessed), I got to try this out earlier this week.  It's okay, good even.  But I have to remain loyal to my white chocolate peppermint mocha.  It's like drinking Christmas!

T     H     R     E     E

A friend just had a baby, and I took her a meal last night.  Can I be honest?  When I make people meals, I look for recipes that look yummy to me too!  That way I can just make a double batch and feed my little family as well.

It is getting cold here (snowflakes sighted this morning!), so I wanted to make a soup.  Okay, I used that as an excuse to make a soup.  I would eat soup and sushi every day (with a little Mexican thrown in), if I could.  I found this copycat Panera tomato soup recipe and paired it with Hawaiian roll ham and swiss sandwiches.  SO good.

It was really easy and simple and took relatively few ingredients.  I would suggest blending the soup a tad.  I used our immersion blender, which is one of my favorite kitchen tools.  It is extra helpful if you are a soup junkie like me.

If you've never made or eaten the ham and swiss sandwiches before, then your life is not complete.  I grew up eating these every Christmas eve (paired with my mom's tomato soup).  Google and you can find a myriad of recipes.  The one suggestion I would make is not to use onion powder (as some recipes suggest).  Instead, I always grate part of a small onion (using a small grater) into the butter/poppyseed/Worcestershire sauce mixture.

F     O     U     R

I've been working on a Christmas wish list, and I came across this book:

Happy Handmade Home

Anyone read this?  It looks good, and seems to be recommended by the same people who like The Nesting Place, so I am intrigued.

F     I     V     E

Well, we are still sick over here in the Evans household.  Jack started getting sick Wednesday night, and we finally headed into the pediatricians office this afternoon.  Another one of my boys with pneumonia.  Ugh!

I think we caught it pretty early though, so I am hopeful that we can get Jackie boy feeling better soon.  And I am hopeful that Gil will not get it!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Grace

If I had to pick a word right now that summed up the past couple of months, it would be Grace.

The past couple months have been really tough.  We had the scare over Gil's brain size (which, thankfully, turned out to be nothing, but still gave Bech and I two weeks of immeasurable worry).  Then Bech has had some health issues.  We moved and had a baby.  I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Gil is having to get his blood drawn once a week because he is still hemolyzing my blood (I think I phrased that right?) and is still jaundiced.  Bech is on his second round of antibiotics for pneumonia (the first didn't get rid of it!).  Plus, I think Gil might be a touch colicky.

I'm not the kind of person who asks for help easily.  I like to take care of everything on my own.  But the past few months, I haven't been able to do that.  

You know how some Christians struggle with overusing grace (Romans 6:1)?  I'm the other side of that equation.  I struggle with thinking I can do it on my own, not realizing my great need for God's grace.  And not realizing my need for grace and help from the body of believers.

My friends mother-in-law was in town a couple of weeks ago, and so she came along to our Bible study.  She said something that has been resonating through my head and heart since.  We are reading David Platt's Radical  and were talking about how we could show the gospel to those in our Church.  I thought of basic ideas: help in the nursery, teach Sunday school, bring meals, etc.  And this woman, who is recovering from a pretty major knee surgery right now, said, "We can show others the gospel by accepting help from them."

Wow.  

And that's where I am right now.  Having to accept grace from others, having to have grace on myself when everything isn't perfect or when I feel weak.

The past few months that has manifested in several ways.  Sweet Amanda has had me cry to her multiple times at Spring Creek Park (I feel like you should be charging me therapy session fees!).  Countless people have brought meals to me.  One friend was messaging me and found out Bech had pneumonia, so she simply replied, "I'm bringing you dinner tomorrow."  It was great...I didn't even have a chance to refuse!  There have been afternoons where I have picked Jack up, brought Jack and his crying brother home, and we have watched Curious George for the millionth time.  When Gil started screaming in Trader Joe's the other day, a sweet worker pushed my cart and had me point to what I needed so I could shop and comfort Gil at the same time.

What an amazing, tangible taste of gospel grace!

And one of my biggest hopes is that when this season of craziness dies down (and before another one invariably starts again), my actions towards others will be as full of grace too--that I will notice those in need of a little help and reach out to them as swiftly and kindly as I have been reached out to these past few months.

5 on Friday

O     N     E

We are on the mend...thank goodness!

I feel like all of the sickness is almost gone from our house, at last.  Gil, though, is still rocking the jaundice.  This morning, I took him to get his second heel prick (he got one last week).  He is still having a little trouble with our blood types.  I'm a positive and he's a negative, and this can be one of the side effects.

But he sure looks cute smiling, yellow skin and all!

T     W     O

This is our first year to celebrate Halloween!  

I didn't grow up celebrating Halloween and didn't think I wanted my kids to celebrate.  But after hearing two different people make similar arguments (William Bondurant and Alex Watlington--I'm pretty sure neither read my blog!), I thought we'd try this year.

Jack and Gil were Sully and Mike from Monsters, Inc., one of Jack's favorite movies.  I think Jack had a great time!  He actually trick or treated three times--once at Grad housing, once at school, and once with friends last night.

T     H     R     E     E

But let's not forget that today IS Reformation Day!

Here's a quick little informative post, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about.

F     O     U     R

I know I talk about Fall all the dang time, but one of my favorite things to do in the fall is to make chili. Bech was sending signals (and by signals, I mean telling me) that he was a little tired of my tried and true chili recipe. So this week, I changed things up with this white chicken chili recipe.

(photo from the linked blog)

Y'all, this chili is SO good!  It is the perfect amount of spicy and creamy.  I made it for dinner Wednesday night, and it was a fairly big batch.  Bech, Jack and I ate it for dinner, then Bech and I ate more yesterday, and I just finished it off.  That's how good it was.

F     I     V     E

About two and a half weeks ago, we finally got back into the cloth diaper swing of things.  I had 22 pocket diapers (bumgenius and fuzzibunz) from when Jack was a baby.  I wanted to add a couple of more to the mix, so I decided to try some prefolds and covers.

We are using Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap covers, along with Osocozy prefolds and Snappis.  And I love them!  I was a little hesitant, because this is a pretty old school method.  But I think they do a great job. We haven't any blowouts, and they don't leak anymore than the pockets.

I am still glad I have the pockets (and that I used them with Jack).  We got such a great deal on them, and they are so easy for daycare workers to use.  But these are pretty fun for me!

We are headed to DC in just an hour or two, so we can spend the weekend with KK and Big Dave.  I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Fun Fall Weekends

I started getting regular in my blogging and then disappeared again! 

Right about when my family left, Bech started getting sick.  He seemed to get better, then I got sick for about a week.  Then I got better and he got sick again...this time with pneumonia!  Now it's been a week, and he is finally on the mend (he ran a fever for a week straight!).

Last weekend, as I was getting better and Bech was getting sick, we headed to Wasson Farm for their fall festival.  Last year, we got our pumpkins from Way Fruit Farm (which was really fun), but I wanted to try out another local farm.

Wasson Farms is beautiful!  The hayride was really long (much better than Way's).  Bech got a whoopie pie (Pennsyltuckyians LOVE them for some reason) to split with Jack, and I sampled some local wine.  We skipped the petting zoo (and Jack has no idea...it's better that way!).

Look at all of the pumpkins!!!

My two sweet boys.

Jack takes pumpkin choosing very seriously.

Also, he needs a haircut.

After Wasson, we headed to a friends for a chili lunch.  This is Jack's best frienemy, P dawg.  The boys love to play together, and by play together, I mean fight.

I love this little wild man so much!

This past weekend, my sister and brother-in-law drove up from DC to help me out.  Katy kept offering to clean or cook, but I can do that.  What I needed was some help getting both boys out of the house this weekend so that Bech could have some peace and quiet to rest.

Fun story--Katy showed up in this oversized, monogram top with gray leggings.  I looked down...I was wearing the exact same outfit!  Great minds...!  Don't worry--I changed!

We headed to Harner Farm to check out their corn maze.  I have a weird obsession with corn mazes.  Plus, we hit up Wasson Farms last weekend

It's actually a "scary" corn maze, so I wasn't sure at first how Jack would do.  But I think the scary aspects were totally over his head.  He thought everything was just silly.  Like this "blood bath" in the picture.  We called it a dirty bath, and he laughed.  I don't think we will be able to get away with this maze next year! 

Jack LOVED having KK and Big Dave here this weekend.  He thinks they are the coolest, and he literally stood at the window and bawled when they left on Sunday.  Here he is with his two best friends.

My little cowboy!

Saturday night we watched the Ole Miss game.  Here are Jack and KK teaching you how to put your "fins up" for the landsharks!

I am normally not the hugest football fan (at least compared to Southerners).  I usually just check the scores online; I rarely actually watch the games.  But this year has been different, because we've actually been good.  It was really hard to lose Saturday night.  But LSU is our biggest rival, and I knew that anything could happen at that game!  I just hope our team doesn't get defeated.  Now onto beating Auburn and State!  Hotty Toddy!

Jackie Boy

I feel like my sweet firstborn has kind of gotten the shaft lately.  So, Jackie Boy, this post is all about you!

This is Jack on his first day of preschool.  Needless to say, Jack was the only smocked child there.  But doesn't he look cute?

He is loving preschool and doing really well!  Sometimes he doesn't want to go in the morning, but I always have to drag him out when it's time to leave.  He eats really well there (I think peer pressure helps his picky eating!), plays well, but rarely naps.  I think he's napped 4 times.  

And I can already tell that he is learning some too.  He's never been too interested in letters, but he has started saying more of them.  And he likes to count now too!

This is how Jack chose to walk in the first day of school.  And I totally let him...you're only 3 once, right?  Why not wear your Thomas blanket on your head?

Jack is doing Soccer Shots at school, a special program where you leave the classroom for an hour every Friday and learn soccer skills.  We went to watch him a few weeks ago--so cute!  He was really serious about all of the directions the coaches were giving.  

Jack continues to be our little wild man at home.  He is struggling right now with obeying us right when we say it, but we are working on that.  

He loves to play outside.  Graduate housing has a playground, and he loves playing there in the afternoons.  He is also very into puzzles and legos.  Oh yeah, and the Lego movie!  He seems to be almost over his trains, which is sad to me.  He will still play with them some, but he prefers his legos.

He loves reading books with us (maybe I'll have a bookworm?).  His favorites right now are Corduroy and Pat the Bunny (I pulled it out for the baby and Jack has reclaimed it!).  He also really loves books where you find things (like Where's Waldo).

Jack has been an AMAZING big brother.  I am continually amazed at how sweet he is to his brother.  He wakes up in the morning, runs into our room, and immediately asks, "How Gil going?"  He loves to give Gil hugs and kisses and he loves to hold him.  I am so thankful!

Jack, you are our little wild man, and I couldn't love you more!  You make me laugh constantly.  Thanks for your sweet hugs and cuddles.  You are my favorite.  I love you to the moon and back!

Favorite Baby Gear (thus far...)

I did a similar post after Jack was a month old.  After reviewing that post, I am amazed at how different my list is this time around!  Perhaps it's that I am only focusing on the new things that I love (I mean, I still love my boppy pillow), but also each baby is so different.

So here's what we are loving this time around:

Aden + Anais Swaddle Blanket

from Amazon

I absolutely LOVE Aden + Anais.  I think they are an amazing brand.  We have several of their baby items, including their baby shampoo.

With Jack, we didn't use one of those swaddle only blankets, because he could bust out of the velcro.  We just wrapped him up super tight in Aden + Anais muslin blankets.  But this swaddler has snaps instead of velcro...it's amazing!  No busting out of this blanket!

Baby Gowns

We used gowns with Jack too.  Love love love these!  Gil wears a gown every night.  They make middle of the night feedings SO much easier!

Mam Pacifier

I know, I know...nipple confusion, whatever.  With Jack, I was much more worried about introducing a pacifier too early.  But Jack was always a great nurser, and we dropped the pacifier pretty easily at 23 months old.

So this time around, I am not stressing the pacifier issue.  And these are Gil's favorites.  We tried some of the "soothies," but he wasn't having it.  Plus, I think these are better orthodontically (or something like that), so that's a good thing, right?

Boon Grass Drying Rack

I feel like everyone who has a baby has this drying rack.  But last time around, we didn't get it.  I didn't think we really needed it.  

This time we got it, and I LOVE it.  At this point, I mostly use it for drying pump parts, but we have given Gil a couple of bottles.  And it is great.  Your bottles dry really fast, plus it looks really cute on your countertop!  Win win.

If you are going to have a baby anytime soon, I highly recommend all of these items!