Baby Proofing Tips & Tricks

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When we made our move into our home one of our first priorities was creating a safe space for our baby girl. In hindsight, creating our baby registry safety items and all the newborn needs should definitely have been a priority. It’s very easy to become pulled into all of the sweet little clothes and nursery pieces, but in reality, your child’s health and safety are always what is most important. With so many products on the market to sift through it can be hard to know where to begin, and what products will be the best suited to babyproof your home for the many stages a little one transitions through.

Through experience, I learned the best time to start babyproofing is before your little one arrives where you can scan through each room.

There will always be never-ending to-do list items and a lack of sleep once your little arrives, so starting early and taking the safety precautions room by room is the best way to get started without feeling overwhelmed by the tasks. I’ve put together a few tips to help you get started if you have a little one on the way or have a baby that is moving toward becoming mobile with crawling or pulling him or herself up for walking.

Another great resource to seek out is How to Baby Proof Your Home in a Weekend. This concise article provides practical safety information and how-tos for creating a safe space for your baby to explore.

Safety Starts Outside

First off, begin by scanning the outside of your home. Yes, that’s right the outside. If emergency services were to need to reach your home, make sure your house number and access to your home are available. Once inside, go through each room making. a list of potential hazards. You will want to see things from your little one’s point of view, so don’t be afraid to get down on your hands and knees to look for exposed outlets, rugs that may need pads, and any cords from devices that need to be removed.

Baby’s Nursery

It’s an exciting time creating or designing the space for your little to join one day. Now you want this special place to not just bring comfort, but peace of mind that no matter what stage your little is in they will be safe within their room.

Aside from a mobile that can be installed safely from birth-when baby can sit up there are a few other nursery pieces that should be avoided altogether, or removed once the baby is crawling. Blanket ladders have become a popular home furniture item, but its leaning structure and layering of blankets can pose a risk once the baby is crawling and trying to pull themselves up. The same goes for faux floor plants that could easily tip and floor lamps that can become a fire hazard if tipped. Be sure to plug all outlets with outlet safety covers within the nursery and throughout the home. Depending on how often each is used there are different options that cover the entire outlet and cover or ones that cover the outlet.

On All Floors…or Fours.

A smoke and carbon monoxide detector should be installed on each floor of the home. Don’t forget to check/change the batteries, such as during daylight savings. I loved this set because it has a 10 year battery life. A way to remember to check in with batteries is to set an alert in your phone on these dates as a reminder to check their functioning. I recommend this option, as it is a two-in-one and finding one with long battery life.

Take a look at all exposed cords and move them along with power strips out of reach of your little one best as possible. A common tip is covering the outlets with safety covers. This is a massive pack of the simple press in covers that can be removed easily. If there’s any furniture that has sharp corners or edges there are corner protectors that are removable that can be applied with an adhesive. Additionally, in the kitchen finding a way to make sure cabinet doors, stove knobs, and drawers cannot be pulled open is also essential once your little one is on the move.

We went with the magnetic option for the cupboard door safety locks since you cannot see the safety lathes from the outside. This set comes with 20 magnetic baby proofing pieces for drawers and cabinets.

For the stove knobs, the choices were less "hidden” so we went with this clear option that came as a pack of 5. The cap is easy to open, stays attached, then clips closed easily while cooking. Now that our little one is reaching up to touch these they were a must have. We also try to use the back burners more than the front ones in case of a spill or boil over.

There are many other areas to later consider the more mobile baby becomes and tall! These areas include bathroom cabinets with cleaning /beauty products, toilet seat covers that cannot be lifted, door knobs, and top and bottom of stairwells for baby gates.

I hope this summary of items and spaces can best support you in your baby proofing phase of parenthood!





Siena's NYC Birth Story During Covid 19

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There are so many emotions still flowing though me when I think of bringing our surprise bundle of joy into the world on April 8, 2020. Siena’s unique birth is something we’ll always cherish and one day will share with her. Since it was during an unusual and rare time in the world, I knew I’d want to share it with you all., especially as it may be helpful to other soon to be Mom’s having to deal with the same situation. This post is quite lengthy, but hey so is 9 months of carrying a human, then trying to recap the last month during a global pandemic!

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It’s not every day that a baby is brought into the world in times like these! COVID-19 is something no one expected or had time to prepare for. Then throw having a baby into the mix made, and it made everything much more interesting to say the least.

In becoming new parents Kevin and I prepared to the extent we felt comfortable, but didn’t overthink the birth itself. We took the approach that anything unpredictable could happen and trusting in your doctor throughout the process is essential. Since I was fortunate to have a smooth and healthy pregnancy I knew I wanted the delivery to be as healthy and with limited interventions as possible. Like anything in my life I like to be well informed, lean toward facts, and data for a lot of my decision making. After reading up on pregnancy and child birth Kevin and I did discussed what our birthing philosophy would be. We did have a loose birth plan that we later refined with our doula and discussed with my OBGYN. Building your birth plan is always a personal decision and we felt confident we found the one that worked best for us. We had joined Park Slope Parents in Brooklyn and started to connect with other April 2020 expectant parents. It was a great way to share feelings and seek support. We had prepared to take a child birth class but when circumstances changed in NYC all the in person classes were put on hold. More on that later, but fortunately I had connected us with a virtual doula that became very essential throughout the pandemic and I can thank for a smooth as possible labor and transition into parenthood.

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My due date of April 2 came and went in the height of the pandemic. My Doctor began discussing a possible induction once I was past 40 weeks. This wasn’t ideal but the baby had to make his/her debut so we scheduled it late as possible for April 10. I got to work to try any natural remedy and utilized our doula for labor inducing strategies. For those of you who know me, when I have my mind set on something, I’m quite persistent. From raspberry leaf tea, inverted positions upside down, in home workouts, curb walking, long walks, and bouncing on my birthing ball I did everything I could. As Kevin worked from home, he found it all very comical.

The policies within the hospitals continued to change with what seemed like every press conference the state governor of New York held. I had already been attending my weekly pregnancy appointments partnerless. I was wearing a mask and entering through the Hospital’s Emergency Department as the location of my OBGYN office was at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Originally we were told birth partners and doulas were no longer allowed to join birthing mothers in labor and delivery. This was absolutely crushing when we found out the news. I remember crying and feeling like a dark cloud just loomed over us as we wondered if we were making the right decision to stay in New York City. We knew our hospital offered world renowned care as one of the top 5 hospitals in the country, but now at what cost for risk of exposure to COVID 19? Ultimately, we decided to stay since my new date was less than two weeks out. Switching everything to an upstate doctor I didn’t have a rapport with and having to pack everything up felt so daunting. After accepting the news and ordering a phone clamp to Facetime in my husband for delivery I prepared with our doula for me to birth alone.

A week later we received information that the policy had changed and birth partners would be allowed for delivery! They would have their temperatures taken, be required to wear PPE, and leave after delivery once I was transferred to recovery. This moment felt like a giant weight had been lifted, but in the back of my mind I was still fearful of him being taken away from my side if I were to test Covid positive.

In early March I had a bad cold that started at the end of February. One of the strangest symptoms was that I lost my sense of taste and smell. But at that time, it was not a well known symptom of COVID, and there was no access to testing to check.

Hospitals in NYC had started swabbing pregnant woman admitted for labor, but at our location they were not also testing husbands. I tried not to think about this.

On the morning of April 7 my contractions started but had not progressed enough for me to head to the hospital. We had planned to labor at home as long as possible to avoid any further exposure in the hospital. A full 24 hours later, on the morning of April 8 my contractions had become very close together and our doctor recommended we head to the hospital. We grabbed our bags, took a quick photo of just the two of us and headed to the hospital around 6:00 am with the help of a very supportive friend with a car, who had been taking us to countless appointments so we could avoid public transit.

The drive into Manhattan had never looked so desolate between contractions. It was like everything had been frozen in time and left to itself. Upon arrival I entered triage, had my vitals taken, was examined, and was dilated to almost 4cm. I was told I would be admitted. I was also swabbed for COVID 19 and was told I would receive the results hours later. Kevin met me in the delivery room after having just his temperature taken and from here we set up our space with some relaxing music and met our amazing labor and delivery healthcare staff.

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Labor progressed throughout the morning and around 1:00 pm my contractions had picked up while I was awaiting my epidural. A doctor entered and I noticed the nurses had changed into different PPE. The doctor told us that my COVID results were back and I had tested positive, even though I was asymptomatic.

We were told Kevin would have to leave the hospital since he had been exposed to me and they needed to limit further exposure risk to their staff. We were completely heartbroken and in tears. After so many ups and downs I was at a loss (and still very much in labor).

Kevin said goodbye to me, and I watched as he left the hospital room. Leaving me all alone to labor. Even after the birth I think back and I feel like this moment was taken from us. We later discovered this policy changed back to normal just two weeks after our birth. Coping with that moment has been a big part of my postpartum recovery.

We made the decision that I should not have to birth alone since the hospital informed me I was allowed to have an additional support person by my side. My childhood best friend joined me for the birth and we zoom called in Kevin, once he got home. We are so happy we made that decision, Talitha helped me through every tough contraction and encouraged me throughout the delivery. She stayed with me long after to support us. It is a day I will never forget and feel so grateful for to have such supportive friends in our lives that really stuck by our sides.

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At 11:46pm, after two hours of har labor and pushing I delivered a baby girl, Siena Rae Siskar. Choosing to keep her sex a surprise was such a fascinating experience and so incredibly special. It helped get me through the labor! We chose to name her after our favorite city in Italy, where our love story began over 10 years ago. And Rae, is in honor of Kevin’s late father, Raymond.

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We feel incredibly blessed to welcome our healthy baby girl, whom tested negative for COVID over three times during the next two weeks. My husband and I later tested positive for antibodies after staying in quarantine in Brooklyn for over two weeks and were glad to not have any symptoms once home with Siena. We feel so grateful to have Siena as a Rae of light through this time. And are so appreciative of all the support from friends and family as she made her arrival. Kevin has been the most incredible dad and very hands on as he helped so much with Siena during my recovery period which definitely took longer than I expected. Siena is absolutely precious and we cannot get enough of cuddles as a new family of three!

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If you’re interested in hearing more about our birth story my husband published a much more refined post with more baby photos here. I’m also participating in a breast milk study for mothers who tested positive with Covid. You can read more about that here and my hospital bag packing list here.

If you have any questions about safe guarding yourself and your family as an expectant mother, newborn care amidst the pandemic please leave a comment or you can contact me at colleenmarie@colorsofcolleen.com. We are all in this together mamas!

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Gender Neutral Baby Nursery Reveal for Our NYC Apartment

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As we patiently await the arrival of Baby S, who is running fashionably late (just like his or her mama), I thought I’d share some pictures of the little nursery space we have put together for him/her. Since we live in a one bedroom apartment in NYC we had to get creative and work smart with our space. This babe won’t need much in the beginning anyway, so this little one will be rooming bedside us for the first few months.

We chose a gender neutral whimsical theme that went with our pre-existing furniture and space. We’re reusing our dresser for the changing table and will transition it into a baby’s room eventually so I switched out the hardware with gold that matches baby’s crib. Since I’ll be off through summer as a teacher, we actually have our crib upstate for now, so we have it when we visit both of our families.

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We had registered with Pottery Barn Kids (PBK) for most of our nursery needs. I like how versatile their pieces were and most of their products take into account baby safety and health. The furniture is Greenguard gold certified and they offer a range of organic cottons for bedding. We picked out this crib for baby and our family gifted us this adorable crib skirt and these metallic star sheets from PBK.

Bedroom Details

Gold Mirror I Dresser I Hardware I Keekaroo Changing Pad I Diaper Storage Caddy

This little babe will be sleeping in the Snoo in the beginning. We had heard some great reviews on this form of bassinet and loved the science behind it, with safety it’s top priority we will be giving that a try. I’ll definitely create a Snoo review blog post later on to review how the it works for us.

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I styled this bookcase after being inspired by Kendal Kramer’s for her little’s nursery. It was the perfect gender neutral minimalist blend. If you don’t follow her blog, Styled Snapshots I recommend you do. As another NYC blogger she has a great balance between baby products, recipes, and fashion for mamas out there! I liked the leaning book case design and it fit perfectly right next to our dresser along with a wooden wall hanger for baby’s towels.

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Now all we’re missing in this little space is the baby! We cannot wait to find out what he or she will look like! I’ve done some deep cleaning and nesting to prepare so it’s been a waiting game to say the least. We’ve had plenty of time to get set with everything happening in regard to the pandemic so enjoying our last few days just the two of us best we can and getting lots of rest!

Hope you enjoy these little details as much as I did coordinating it all. I’ve linked all of our items in the widgets below. If you have any specific questions please leave me a comment below!