Our Favorite Things: Six Weeks

Woah.  Sawyer is six weeks old already.  How did THAT happen?

I'm still working on both getting my regular blog fixed (could take forever, don't hold your breath) and finalizing Sawyer's blog - it's up and ready but I still need to tweak a couple of things.  If you want an invite, please leave me your email address so I can send you one if I haven't already.  I know a few of you said you wanted one but I don't have your email addresses!!

I'm also working on another blog that will have cleaning tips, recipes and other stuff I'm picking up on as a newly minted work at home Mom.  Again, nobody hold their breath because I'm lucky if I go to the bathroom lately, let alone do anything productive.

SO, that out of the way, I wanted to post some of my favorite and helpful baby things we've used during the first month and a half of this party.  FYI, nobody is paying me to say any of this and nobody sent me stuff to review.  All these things were either given to us as gifts or purchased by us for the baby.  I just thought it might be helpful to some of you and good for me to someday look back on and show Sawyer the ancient way of raising babies!

 

First, my most favorite baby thing EVER is this Graco Sweetpeace Swing.  I call it the BMW of baby swings.  It's amazing and I use it many times every day.  If it fed the baby for me I wouldn't have to do anything.  OK that's not really true but it's close.  I got it in the Vance design because I felt like it was the most neutral, but there are several different design options.  Regardless of the color, it does amazing things.  My favorite features:

• Swings back and forth or side to side depending on which way you face the chair.  I love this because he likes to swing different ways and sometimes I want to rotate him to face away from the window or whatever.
• Removeable chair that rocks and vibrates.  This is AWESOME because if Sawyer is sleeping and I want to shower, I just pop the chair out and take him with me.  This is also awesome if you have a Graco infant carrier (which we don't) because if the baby is in their carrier, you can just pop the chair out and pop that in and use it.  Amazing.
• MP3 Hookup with a surprisingly good speaker - plus there is a little drawer to store the iPod in.  There are also several options of white noise sounds and a selection of slow and fast baby music.  It's FANTASTIC.

 

Next, Aden + Anais Swaddle Blankets. They have a two different types, the bamboo muslin and the cotton muslin.  My most favorite are the bamboo because they are SO SO SO soft, but they are more expensive and frankly, the cotton ones are almost as soft and just as awesome.  Plus they are far easier to find as most baby stores carry them whereas I've only seen the muslin on the Aden + Anais website, on Amazon and at Nordstrom.  I am of the opinion that one cannot have too many sets, especially in Phoenix.  Sawyer sleeps much better when he's swaddled but it's so stinking hot here normal blankets would make him a sweat bomb.  These are breathable and perfect for us.  Plus they have such cute designs and keep coming out with more.  I am dying to get the jewel toned set.  So fancy.  Aden + Anais also has awesome bath towels, sleep sacks, satin edged lovey blankets and burp cloth/bibs.  It's a fantastic company with great customer service.  One of my sets had a blanket with holes in it right out of the box and they sent me a whole new set without any hassle at all.  Winning!

 

Ah the Moby Wrap.  I use this all the time.  Sawyer loves to be held and while I love to hold him, I'm not so good at getting things done with only one hand, so he spends a lot of time in the Moby.  I am also a fan of attachment parenting and the recommendation to carry your baby with you as much as possible to help them feel "part" of your every day routine.  We also use the Moby to go on walks in the morning with the dog if I'm not feeling like hauling out the stroller.
This brings us to our stroller.  While I don't encourage anyone to go out and pay full price for one of these suckers, I sure do love our Bugaboo Cameleon.  I got it on Craig's List sooooo cheap (it had all the extras like infant carrier kit, a cup holder, toddler wheel board and diaper bag hooks plus the family threw in a Maxi Cosi Micco carrier and two car seat bases.  Sweet!).  I started looking during the first pregnancy and just kept my eye on listings until I found the cheapest one I'd seen, so I would recommend going that route.  This thing rules.  With a conversion kit it works with our Maxi Cosi carrier, you can adjust the handle to face the baby, the small wheels can be in front for easy navigation or the big wheels can for "off-road" situations...the list goes on and on.  I use the bassinet right now for our morning walks and Sawyer usually falls right to sleep.  It's a little tricky at first to figure out how to open and close it but once you get the hang of it, it's not hard at all.  I highly recommend it as long as you get it used.

 
I knew I wanted Sawyer to sleep in our bedroom for a while but I also knew we didn't have a big enough bed for him to be IN our bed and I definitely knew I didn't want to have to get out of bed to go get him a zillion times a night.  This is where our Arms Reach Co-Sleeper Mini comes in.  Once again, I kept my eye out and got it much cheaper on Craig's List.  I love that it also functions like a much smaller pack-n-play so we can take it on trips with us.  If you aren't familiar with these, it has a system that allows you to secure it to the side of your bed and then one of the sides slides down so the baby is easily accessible.  Now, there's still a lip so it's not like the co-sleeper mattress is exactly even with you (which is what I thought) but it's still so easy to reach over and grab him in the middle of the night and then slide him back in when he's done eating...if I don't fall asleep first.


For bath time, we use a Puj Tub.  Yet again, this was a Craig's List find.  I normally wouldn't buy a bath tub used but someone had twins and was given two of them and never even opened one, so it was brand new in the box, still sealed in plastic.  I love using it.  It's made out of really soft foam and it's easy to fold and fits in our bathroom sink.  It holds the perfect amount of water with drainage holes that work perfectly so that I can keep warm water running on Sawyer but not make a mess.  I love that I don't have to bend over the tub to bathe him, especially in those first weeks when my c-section was still tender.  I also love that it's BPA free and is made so that it won't get all yucky moldy.  Also, since it unfolds totally flat it's easy to store by hanging on the back of our bathroom door.  The only bummer is that it is only supposed to go to 17lbs which, at the rate Sawyer is growing, will last us another five minutes or so.

 

Finally, diapers.  I know every baby is different and every mom has a different opinion on diapers, but we have found that, at least for the newborn stage, Pampers Swaddlers are the bomb diggity.  The hospital had the Pampers so it was what we used first, but I had some Huggies newborn size at home so when we ran out of the hospital stash we tried those.  No bueno.  First, something about the way those diapers were shaped allowed Sawyer to pee straight out of the top of the diaper EVERY time.  Second, they weren't as absorbant at all.  I could go all night with one Pamper but had to change the Huggies two or three times.  The Pampers seem like they won't be as good because they are so thin but it's deceiving.  My favorite part is how they work with the super fun baby poo.  They have this mesh layer that sucks everything behind it and away from the baby's skin.  Love.  I also love that I am a member of Amazon Mom and with that plus Subscribe and Save I am able to get huge boxes of the Pampers for about $0.14 a diaper and two day delivery.  Turns out I don't like leaving my house anymore.  Weird.

There are so many other things I love but those are the main ones I wanted to share with you.  I'll try to do this every couple of months.  Let me know what things you love for babies!  I'm always up for trying new stuff!!