jennifer
When preparing for the babes to arrive, we almost decided to skip the highchair completely.  Most of them are ugly.  Most of them are huge.  And most of them are disgusting germ and filth factories.  Then we happened upon Phil and Teds Lobster.

We ended up receiving this as a shower gift, but it sells for around $80 at Target and Amazon.  We absolutely LOVE this high chair.  It clamps (hence the name) on to the table with just a few twists of the handles, but they're out of reach for baby so there's no chance of him loosening them on his own.  It takes up so little room in the kitchen, that we don't even notice it.  It seats Finley right at the table with us, which he loves and which makes feeding time simple while we are eating also.  And as you can see below, the back of the chair comes up so high that he is supported very well.


It comes with a plastic tray that slides right in between the clamps and can just be thrown in the dishwasher after meals.  (And the tray had the cutest lobster coloring sheet in the box.)



But you don't have to use the tray; baby can belly up to the table just like you.


The chair fabric is great quality and can be easily wiped down (like after Finn turns to put his mouth on the side of the chair before swallowing all of his pears and carrots.)  And you can even remove the fabric completely and handwash.  (I'm betting you could even toss it in the washing machine if you wanted, but we haven't tried that yet.)

But our very favorite thing of all, is how portable it is.  The fabric and handles collapse in upon themselves when removed from the table and the whole thing folds up flat and has a little carrying bag. So, we take it with us everywhere--the grandparents' houses, the office, the patio, and best of all, to restaurants.   No more using those germ-ridden, dirt-laden chairs at eateries.  We just bring in the lobster, clamp it on, and we're good to go.  Then we can wipe it down or wash it once we're home.  

I believe it comes in black and red.  And it does have a safety harness....oh, yeah, which we always use...  Of course, you're not supposed to use it on a single center pedestal table, and the book that came with it had a bunch of other precautions about types of tables (like card tables and glass top tables).  It is supposed to accommodate a child up to 3 years or 37 pounds.  We'll see...it does seem like it would be quite a tight fit for a 37 pound three year old, but as of now, our 20 pound six month old has plenty of wiggle room.

If you have questions, leave them in the comments below, but overall we have yet to find a complaint about this chair.  

We give it five clean diapers!
👍👍👍👍👍





jennifer
It turns out the third trimester of pregnancy, having a newborn, running a local political campaign, and keeping a law firm up and going takes up any free time for blogging.  It's been awhile.  And since I have a peacefully napping 6 month old beside me, I'm going to skip the "Everything You Need to Know about the Third Trimester" and "Everything You Need to Know about Birth/A Newborn" posts and move right on into the here and now.  For me, there wasn't much to tell about the third trimester anyway, except that you get so huge you can't do much more than flounder around.  (I clearly remember the day I was literally rolling off the couch and my brother said, "Man, you are huge, aren't you?"  Thanks, for that...) We did end up having quite an eventful birth, so maybe on a slow day I'll get around to sharing that story.

I'm finally starting to feel like my head is above water.  The campaign is over, the office is on fire, and every day the babes is giving me more and more time to do something other than nurse, change diapers, and entertain him every second.  So, with this new found time, I'm not cleaning my house or doing laundry, or preparing meals ahead of time, or working more at the office...I'm hoping to blog more.  I will still share funny stories as they happen--like the crazy Friday I had last week that started out as my first innocent outing alone just to get a manicure--but I also plan to change things up a little here too.

By no means am I an expert mama.  I mean, on the scale of mothers, I would have to be in the bottom one percent when it comes to experience.  This is my first baby and he's only been in our nest for 26 weeks.  But, I do spend a lot...maybe too much...time trying to perfect this new full time job of being a parent.  I am constantly trying to do things better, find the right tools, and make everything fun and enjoyable at the same time.  Besides the sheer happiness that our little man brings to us constantly, I really have enjoyed all of the gadgets and gizmos that come with having a baby (except for how much room they take up in our little abode and how many of them we have to drag around with us when we go anywhere).  I am always trying to find the "just right" everything and I thought maybe it would be helpful to share some of that here for others.  I also am thrilled when I learn a good tip from another parent, so I thought I could pay it forward and share anything insightful and helpful that we've come up with here too.

And lastly, when I moved from the city back to my hometown, I wanted to blog more about the things I really appreciate about small town living (of course, there's lots of things I don't appreciate too, like Target being an hour away from me), so I hope to do some of that here also.

But for now, the new boss is starting to stir, so I'm going to go back to nursing, changing diapers, and entertaining--until I have another free minute.
 Hope you'll stick with me, even though I've been so intermittent over the past few years!