Baby paraphernalia six months in

Little Iddo is almost six months old. There is evidence of her presence in our family in every room of the house. I quite enjoy it. These are some of our favorite baby items that she enjoys or that make things easier for us.

Travel & Safety

Britax Marathon Car Seat – There’s no way I could carry an infant seat with my back and shoulders as they are. And we didn’t like the idea of buying a car seat she’d use for less than a year before we had to buy another one. This one has worked great. Yes, she looked super tiny in it when we brought her home from the hospital. But she was super tiny.

BRICA Baby In-Sight Auto Mirror – It’s such a comfort to be able to glance in the rear view mirror and check on her. When it’s just her and me in the car it’s a real peace of mind. And I can watch her play with the light and shadows on her hands.

Baby K’tan Baby Carrier – This was recommended by a friend and I love it. We’ve been using it since she was born. It’s t-shirt material so it’s been super easy to wash when she spits up on it. It doesn’t add that many more layers when I’m wearing it. It’s compact when I’m not wearing it. I keep it partially on me when I’m driving as an extra reminder there’s a baby in the back seat. It’s comfortable for my back and shoulders. It kept (almost) everyone from touching her when she was born. I’ve breast fed her in it at football games. She’s about 17 pounds and we’re still going strong with it.

AngelCare Movement & Sound Monitor – Definitely worth the cost. It’s gone off twice and that is two times too many, but we’ve been able to immediately get in there and wake her up when it’s happened. I don’t need a video monitor because I’m not going to watch it when we’re all sleeping. Sound and motion are plenty.

Diapering & Cleaning

Flip Diapers – We have 8 covers, 27 full sized inserts, and 12 newborn inserts that we use at night to double up with a regular insert for extra absorbancy. They work great. The only blow-outs we’ve ever had were when she was wearing disposable diapers (so basically when we’re at church), making me curse disposables and praise cloth all over again. We did use disposables at first because we were keeping baby oil on her backside so the meconium would slide right off and that worked great.

Planet Wise Wet Bags – The small size is the perfect size for holding wipes, a few diapers, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. It’s what we grab most from our diaper bag. The medium size is perfect to keep in the diaper bag for when I decide she’s wearing cloth when we go out or for when she spits up all over everything she’s wearing.

First Year’s Infant To Toddler Tub – She HATED the bath at first. But this has been great. She still reclines in it. It’s easy to fill and empty. There’s a thermometer so we know we got the temperature right. Before she figured out splashing we used it on the counter and now we set it inside the regular tub.

We bought a few bundles of cheap washcloths at Wal-Mart and keep a stack in every room  in addition to the flannel burp cloths we have to catch spit-up or clean up what we don’t catch.

Sleeping, Eating, & Playing

Aden + Anais – The muslin swaddle blankets are wonderful, especially in our weather. They made swaddling her easy with their size and how thin they are. And one easily stashes in the diaper bag. The one or two times I’ve covered up while breast feeding in public I threw one of these blankets over my shoulder. Now that she wiggles more she sleeps in a sleeping sack and it’s great. If she spits up on it (which she has, it’s often what wakes her up), I can rinse it out in the morning and have it be dry by night.

I bought myself a Crane elephant humidifier several years ago. The mist comes out the trunk! Iddo gets to use it in her room now. They say babies and young kids can catch 10-12 colds a year. And really the only thing you can do for them when they get one is keep them comfortable and help them breathe with a humidifier. Iddo’s working her way through cold #2 right now.

Kushies Washable Nursing Pads – We bought two packages. Should’ve bought three. The flannel is super absorbent. Because I’m apparently part cow I frequently double up on them and that covers it. I can’t imagine how many disposable ones I would’ve gone through by now. A tube of lanolin has also been a life saver and I have some basic spaghetti strap tank tops I wear underneath my shirts so I don’t expose my belly when she’s eating.

Toy links – we hang toys on her activity gym with them. We put several on one like a rattle for her. She chews them, shakes them. They’re great.

I made an activity gym for her. She even sat at it in the bouncy chair we got from some friends, which was great for her reflux to keep her more upright. Some other friends gave us an excer-saucer, and she loves that. We got her a Bumbo when she outgrew the bouncy chair. We just bought a Fisher-Price booster seat for her to use as a high chair now and a booster seat when she’s a bit bigger. Brett and I were able to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the same time while she sat at the table and watched us.

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Sure it’s true that you just need a place for the baby to sleep and a way to feed and diaper the baby. But there are things that make all that easier. And nobody, babies and parents alike, likes to be bored. I think some of the things we’re getting her for Christmas are so we have something new to play with her. She’d be happy with the cereal box Brett is going to get her.