Once you become a parent, you quickly realize things make your life easier, and what things feel more like propaganda (usually after the fact though). So I thought I would share a few of our favorites with you.
This is a sling. I have used one with both of my girls. Neither Jason, nor I, are huge fans of the removable car seats. They always seem so bulky and awkward to me, on top of the fact that they tend to cause me back pain. I also like the car seats we have used with Abigail and Shilo because they can be used from birth (rear-facing) until they move into a booster seat. But in all honesty, I like holding my babies. There's nothing better than feeling them against you as they sleep, and hearing all the sweet little noises they make as they sigh. I don't really wear this around the house, but doctors appointments, shopping, church, you name it, and you can find Shilo in it snuggled up against me. The other great thing about it is that it's extremely versatile. When Abigail was little she liked to lay in it. Shilo likes to be up and down with her legs all curled in. I can still wear Abigail on my hip in it if I need to, or on my back. It's an item that has gotten more use than I would have ever imagined. I made mine, but you can find them by googling 'ring sling.'
The Alpha Omega car seat. It is rear facing from 5-35 lbs. A five point harness forward facing car seat. And the harness can be taken out to make it a belt positioning booster seat with a back on it. I am passionate about car seat safety, and trying to do what is the very safest for my children. This car seat meats that requirement, saves money since we are buying one instead of four, and is SO easy to adjust the shoulder height, tighten/loosen the belt, and lean it back a little for long car trips so if by some crazy chance, Abigail falls asleep, her head isn't bobbled forward.
Bum Genius 4.0 diapers with snaps (we have had Velcro, but definitely prefer the snaps). These diapers can be used from about seven pounds all the way through potty training. They adjust to fit length, and around the waist. The snaps make it impossible for littles to pull them off. They are super easy to wash, dry, and put back together. They have saved us TONS of money (perhaps you will pick up on this theme throughout this post). And best of all, with all the fun colors and designs, they are super cute, like way cuter than any disposable diapers I have ever seen. We are on our second kiddo with ours, and our affinity for them has only grown.
To go along with the diapers, are these wipes. I know lots of people make their own cloth wipes, or use regular wash rags. I registered for wipes with Abigail because they were cute. I am not sorry. These wipes are much softer than a regular wash rag, large enough to only use one per a change, and thick. We ended up buying a few more after we already had some because we loved them so very much. They are called 'Thirsties Fab Cloth Wipes.'
I know these are sort of hard to see, but these are Aden+Anais brand Muslin blankets. We love swaddling, and these blankets have all the perfect properties for swaddling blankets. They are large enough to use for quite some time. They are thin enough to not overheat baby (although they have thicker for people who want that). Plus, added bonus, they come in some super cute designs!!
If you use bottles at all, a bottle brush is amazing. You can get a basic one where the small end pulls out a smaller brush perfect for getting inside of nipples. You can find a basic one at any box store for a couple of dollars. This has made my washing of countless bottles much faster than a regular wash rag.
A forehead thermometer. I could seriously kiss who ever came up with this. You turn it on, put it up to the child's forehead, push a button, move it from the top of their forehead down to the side, and it gives you their temperature. You can take it while they are sleeping without waking them at all. We first saw one of these when Abigail had her tumor removal surgery in Chicago. The hospital there used them, and so I came home and began searching. There is a huge variance in price range, but we purchased the Vick's brand one for thirty dollars at Wal-Mart. With a three year old who runs extremely high temps. really easily, this has been well worth the investment, and much more accurate than the armpit!
I saved my very favorite for last. My handsome husband (who is a wee bit blurry here, Mama's not great with the new camera yet), and my two beautiful daughters. You can't find them online or in a store, and I'm not even that great at sharing them. However, they all three enrich my life in more ways than I could put into words, and are irreplaceable and invaluable in making me who I am.
So does that bottle brush have a nipple brush that pops out of he handle? If it does, then that's the same one that we had almost 15 years ago when our oldest and I both had serious issues and had to do bottle feeding. Loved that thing. Made life easier. Just curious as to why you like the snaps on your BG diapers better than the Velcro? We've got two little ones in the home daycare I work in that use both and I prefer the Velcro. They go on so much faster. Although I haven't seen any that are adjustable in length now that I think about it. We cloth diapered our oldest back before it became popular again and everyone thought I was nuts!!! It wasn't as easy to find the covers as it is today. Gerber had just come out with a Velcro closure cover that held a regular old Gerber cloth diaper without pins. Many older ladies that saw them thought they were fantastic. They were almost identical to the BG Velcros. Anyway, it was fun reading the baby "stuff" that's important to you.
ReplyDeleteStacey Greathouse
I really love the car seat you have but we actually had to have the smaller carrier car seat because our cars are so small that the full size reversable car seat did not fit backward in our cars. We actually had to put the front passenger seat all the way forward and life the handle so it went forward so the bigger car seat would fit backward.....Bummer, I know.
ReplyDeleteAll great products though!