Did I ever mention that there’s an anniversary week?
It’s true.
My friends Andrew and Erin got married 6 days before my sister and her husband (the same year) and four years later (I think? or was it three?) Danny and I got married right in the middle of their anniversaries.
Of the anniversary couples, my sister and her husband had a baby first, then Danny and I did, and now Erin and Andrew are. I told Erin that I would make a list of all the things we used and loved, and then thought it would be easier as a blogpost because I could share links.
Then I thought maybe I should just share it with everyone
so anyone who wants this info can have it.
So, here you go!
GEAR:
Car seat that attaches in stroller.
We got this relatively cheap one, and we loved it. Rosemary stayed small enough that we JUST had to switch her out of it (at 17 months!) We also bought another base so we could move the actual seat from car to car without too much trouble.
I know some people swear by strollers that cost thousands of dollars, but I just didn’t see how those were that much better. At first I felt like we needed one of those more expensive strollers just because everyone else bought them (just when you think you’ve escaped peer pressure, it’s back and combines with mom guilt for a double whammy!)
The one that we have has worked wonderfully. It’s relatively lightweight; I can lift it with one hand. It folds easily and can hold lots of stuff in the bottom and even on the top. Now that she’s old enough, Rosemary sits up in it and uses the cup holder and the snack tray. It’s held up very well and was worth every penny, even though it wasn’t too expensive!
Carriers, Carriers, Carriers.
To each his or her own with these wraps, but I liked the Solly Baby better because it was lighter and took up less space. It’s similar to the Moby wrap, just not as heavy. I liked it being lighter because she was born in summer in California! Note: I also like these above two wraps because they are one size fit all. There are a few that are like shirts that I didn’t go for because I wanted Danny to be able to use them too. Also, it may be intimidating to use the wraps at first. Don’t worry! You’ll get the hang of them!
I used wraps for the first three months mainly, then used the LilleBaby after that.
We also have an Ergo Baby and a Beco carrier. I got the infant insert for the Ergo Baby and used it maybe once. Rosemary REALLY wanted to be face out once she could hold her head up, and the Ergo didn’t have that option. We had to wait a bit until it was safe for her hips to be that way. The Beco worked well once she was face out, but she was too small and it sort of swallowed her up. I need to try them again now that she’s bigger.
A small soft blanket
Crucial and easy to find. We found ours at Ross. This is a similar one. You can even make it yourself.
A changing pad
We got this in green, and yes, it’s pricey, but here’s the thing: I did NOT want to mess around with washing diaper pad covers all the live long day. At the time we did not have laundry on site (still don’t actually) so this was perfect. Seriously worth every penny.
Diaper bag?
We just knew that we were NOT going to ever use a diaper bag and would more likely just throw something in a bag we already had. Why? Not sure. So this was perfect.
And now that Rosemary’s older, this is all we use.
Diaper Pail:
For a while we had a diaper service and had this diaper pail that worked well.
Now we just put non poop ones in the regular trash (well, Rosemary does. She throws away her own diapers!) and take poopy ones out to the street trash bin ASAP.
Gerber prefold cloth diapers.
We needed a bunch of these for the homebirth and we use them ALL THE TIME. They’re great for cleaning up spills, wiping snotty noses, stopping milk from spraying all over the place, basically for everything. Get these!
Teethers?
She loved this banana thing, and this other round teething toy from Target. Got some freezable gel ones and she sort of liked those as well. She also had a wooden one that I made years ago (Bacon!) that she loved; here are some good ones.
TOYS:
Crinkle is king!
Rosemary LOVED crinkle toys at a very young age.
We got this book and it was her favorite for MONTHS.
Music!
We play music (a TON of Raffi and Emily Arrow) from spotify, but she also really LOVES this toy. I know some people are against things that make noises (we generally are) but at least this is classical music and there aren’t THAT many lights. She still plays with this.
Little noise makers.
She has some shakers I bought at a guitar center, but these are way cuter! She really likes shaking them now, and liked us to shake them for her when she was smaller.
Cars!
Any kind of little car that you can hold onto the top and roll works well. We also like this set from Melissa and Doug. Rosemary’s loved them since she played with her cousin’s set at 3 months! And they can go older once they figure out the pullback technique (we’re still working on it!)
Puzzles!
We have a vehicles one and a dinosaurs one. Though it says 3 and up I think, or maybe 2 and up, the pieces are big enough that Rosemary could play with them when she was very little. She’s finally getting that they’re puzzles now and it’s pretty cute!
Shape sorter!
They just feel so classic, don’t they?
This is another Melissa and Doug toy that she played with before the intended age; she wasn’t sorting the blocks but she was stacking them and holding them and carrying them around. She’s not starting to figure out the sorting bit.
Puppets!
We found one at a thrift store, but here are some similar ones.
Finger puppets are fun too.
Blocks blocks blocks!
This girl loves blocks. She has a bunch of these that we’ve bought at thrift stores, so many that we actually bought a storage container to hold all of them. She also has some wooden blocks that I’ve had forever, but these are similar.
The little square blocks are helpful too, easy to stack.
We bought her these HUGE blocks, two sets actually, and set up a little climbing area near our bed that she still loves. It really helped her practice climbing, and we were lucky to get both sets on super sale at Target.
Baby!
Well the exact one they aren’t making any more, but this is a similar one from the same company!
Books, of course books!
Any board book that you like and the baby likes works well!
Go to the library and get a BUNCH of them out!
Need more recs? Follow me on Instagramg1 and look out for my monthly recaps of boosk I read with Rosemary. First one is here.
Push and pop toy
We have a vintage one of these but anything like this will work. Rosemary was really proud when she could do it on her own.
Crinkle Fish.
One of our friends got us this, which we dubbed, “Crinkle Fish” and she’s played with it her entire life. Seriously a great deal.
Rings?
She got some of these rings for Christmas from one of her aunts because her cousin loved them. She did too; loved seeing them linked together or apart, and they can serve as teethers too.
Balls!
Any kind.
When she was really little she had a soft one, and then a few ball pit balls.
Now she has a spiky one and a bouncy one, both from the dollar store
that she plays with all the time.
Stacking cups:
We have this set that we’ve used in the bathroom to pretty good results.
And this set, no joke, has been the envy of everyone at the playground.
It clips together with the little ring that comes with it, and they are great for scooping sand. We literally keep them with the stroller so we can have them ready when we go to the park. We always end up sharing them and a parent ALWAYS ends up asking where we got them. Seriously. Get these and win the playground forever.
Eggs?
Got a set of these at the (can you guess?) thrift store and she LOVES them. They’ll grow along with her too; they have different matching opportunities that she’ll get when she’s older.
Board games?
Well, we are board game obsessed, so it makes sense that we’d have some for Rosemary. We have some from HABA because they make sturdy, large pieces, and we’ve been able to find them on sale! We watch her closely of course, but she’s played with them so much that she knows how to roll a die by now! It’s great!
We have this one, this one, and this one for her so far.
EATING:
Bibs?
We didn’t really use bibs too much for her drooling: we just let her drool.
But we did use bandana bibs occasionally (bonus, it makes your kid look instantly more stylish!) and then wipeable bibs when she started to eat.
Drink drink drink!
We liked these bottles when she had to have stored milk (and these bags to store milk, and this pump) and then, when it came to water, we used first this and now this water bottle.
I also used this milk saver, not to actually save milk but to stop it from spilling! To clean the bottles we loved these cleaning tools and this drying set.
Eat eat eat!
These take and toss snack containers that we actually don’t toss (do people do that?) Are great, as are these utensils and we started with these spoons and now use these.
MAMA NEEDS:
My breast friend!
Who ever thought you needed a breast friend? You do. This thing was a lifesaver!
Reusable breast pads.
These things are great and the disposables are just a waste and a bit annoying.
I only had three sets of reusable pads and I had two boxes of disposables and I never touched the disposables!
Mama clothes and such:
Wear anything that feels comfortable. For me that was a lot of skirts with elastic waistbands and maternity shirts! As far as nursing bras go, I was stressed out. How did I know how big I was going to get? I got a few bras from this company, including the sports bra, that I still wear to this day.It also doubles as a hands free pumping bra! I also liked the nursing tanks; you can find those anywhere.
And I love these leggings. Still wear them!
I also wore their support tank ALL through pregnancy; it allowed me to wear all my regular pants. Pricey, but worth it. I recommend getting black; I wore the white a lot and it got pretty dirty!
I also love this company; they make great hoodies and they stretched to fit me pregnant and still fit me not pregnant. Never buy full price; they are always having sales.
LARGE STUFF/ ACTIVITIES:
Bouncer!
Rosemary LOVED this thing, and we liked how portable it was. We brought it out with us to other people’s houses, and she still likes the little toys that came with it. We never got one of those HUGE expensive ones (jumperoos they’re called or command central or ignore your kid central! We just didn’t like the idea of all the lights and sounds, the price, or that it would take up so much space in our little living space!)
Activity block
DO IT! This helped Rosemary learn to stand up and she was OBSESSED WITH IT for about eight months. For a while it was one of her only toys.
Art supplies
started with egg like crayons, moved on to skinny markers and colored pencils, beeswax crayons. Used finger paints at a very young age too. We got a set that had little plastic tubs, and I would let her dip her hand into the paint on the lid only. We still do this. We got something similar to this at a thrift store too. Got them on her hands and then pressed her hands to paper. She liked the texture! As far as paper goes, anything will work. I got her a big notebook for coloring and a little notebook as well, just whatever they had in store. We also use packaging when we get packages in the mail!
Kick and play piano
We got the “boy version” which should really be the regular version because the other version was just WAY TOO PINK. This grew with her, the sounds were not annoying, and she really loved to play the piano. Also has a nice mobile so we didn’t need a separate one of those.
Swimming
We started swim lessons with Rosemary when she was about seven months; she loved being in the tub and when we moved to a place that only had a shower, we knew we wanted to do something to keep her love of the water alive. We’ve had fun with it and she is adorable in her bathing suit!
Storytime
I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but we are at the library A LOT. We went to storytime A TON when she was younger. It was a great way to learn new songs, hang out with other parents, and have Rosemary play with other kids (at our library there was sort of a free play time after storytime in the same room with blocks and toys). Seriously, check out your library!
Playgrounds
Yes, when they’re tiny they can only really go in that baby swing, but they’re so FREAKING cute when they’re in it! When they get bigger, look out! They’ll be climbing and sliding and running!
Clothes!
These tights worked wonders for the early days because she wouldn’t keep socks on.
Any type of zip up sleeper worked.
This company makes AMAZING and durable clothes: we really like their pajamas!
We mostly got clothes given to us and then bought some at thrift stores.
A nice zip up hoodie served us very well.
She did not wear shoes until she could already walk, and when she did we got some broken in stride rite shoes.
We also love these slippers because otherwise she’ll try to pull her shoes off!
She would not keep a hat on, but we tried our best!
AROUND THE HOUSE
Bath time!
We love this tub and still use it.
She also has this vintage Noah’s Ark set that she loves to play with in and out of the tub. I’ve linked it to Amazon but you can frequently find them on Ebay too.
As far as other tub toys go, she’s got some rubber duckies, that’s it.
Like, from the dollar store.
My sister has one of these and we need to get one for the dumping of the water.
First Aid
Oh, this little kit is good too for all the baby needs.
Finally, we like this forehead thermometer. We haven’t had to use it much but when we did it was EASY.
Clothing Storage
When we lived in a three bedroom, we had room for a nice dresser.
Danny found one at a thrift store and refinished it.
But, no room for that in the studio we live in now!
I researched and found that I wanted this EXACT storage unit from Ikea.
The next day we headed to the Goodwill.
“Maybe you’ll find something you like there,” said Danny.
“The only way we’re leaving with something is if they have this EXACT thing there,” I said.
And guess what?
They had it!
Okay, there were things written on the bins with sharpie that Danny used alcohol to get off. And one skinny drawer is missing, and instead of two skinny drawers on one side there’s one big one.
But who cares?
It’s perfect!
It’s perfect for a few reasons:
Rosemary could use it to hold herself up. There was always a draw/hand hold at her height, and when she got taller, she could cruise by holding onto the top.
It’s just enough stuff to be out without being overwhelming.
And it doesn’t take up too much space!
Here’s how we divide things up:
Left side: three skinny drawers.
Top: Onesies
Middle: Pajamas
Bottom: next size up clothes.
Center: Two skinny drawers
Top: Pants
Middle: Cloth diapers
Bottom (no drawer): some wipes and diapers.
Right side: one skinny drawer and one big drawer.
Top: skinny drawer with misc. clothes. Socks, bathing suit, hats, mittens.
Bottom big drawer: small toys.
Any time one of the drawers gets too full (especially the toys) we reevaluate and get rid of stuff. This makes it really easy to move through each phase of clothing and not hold onto too much.
A comfy play surface
Foam things for play area. We got these ones with letters and numbers because our carpet is not plush at all. Worked well until she started pulling out the numbers and middles of some of the letters! Other good option are these, these, and these.
A little lounger/vibrator chair.
We got one from a thrift store (are you sensing a trend?) that didn’t have any toys and we used it a few times. Sometimes she loved it and other times she didn’t. This is something similar.
A seat for a baby to eat in!
Since we don’t have regular chairs (we sit on folding chairs to eat and play games) we knew we wanted a stand alone high chair. Luckily our friends gave us their old Ikea one! This one is similar.
This thing.
The ever famous Bumbo. Don’t buy it new because EVERYONE uses them but only for seriously a month or so so you can always find them used. We got ours from a friend but I was just in a consignment store and there were at least 20 of them, no joke, for pretty cheap.
Car stuff
I can’t remember the exact one that we have but we really like the back seat mirror and the window shades for the car.
Rockin’ in style:
I did NOT want a wooden rocking chair. How are those even comfortable? So we went out and got a LazyBoy from Goodwill. After Danny cleaned it, it was our go to hangout spot. We rocked Rosemary to sleep in it and occasionally slept in it ourselves!
MEMORIES
Some sort of thing to do their handprint or footprint or both.
The App InkCards for sending out picture postcards to family or even to yourself!
This journal that documents all 18 years in one place.
This letter board for milestone moments.
The app one second everyday to record progress and cute moments.
Shutterfly for calendars and photo books (wait for sales!).
Parenting books:
So you feel like you’re doing it right
This book is super popular for a reason. I loved reading it and figuring out what was going on with my baby in those first three months.
To laugh your ass off
This book is going to celebrate you for doing all things parenting. Hey, someone needs to, right?
To figure out how to divide things up
Having a kid shifts a marriage. This book is about making sure things stay great while raising your kid. Lots of research and good ideas, and funny stories as well as real life examples.
The sleep solution:
A note on sleep:
Whatever way works for you guys is the way that works. Period.
At first I felt like we were doing it wrong with Rosemary; she slept after she drank milk, usually in my arms, and struggled when she got put down. She didn’t like any of the swaddles or sleep sacks. Then I felt even more like a failure when we visited NY and saw how Rosemary’s cousins (8 months older) were so great at sleeping.
Well, first of all, they were EIGHT months older. They (and their parents!) had eight more months to figure out what worked for their kid. And what worked for Rosemary worked for us. We didn’t have room to set up a crib in any room when she was born so she slept with us. That worked wonders with her nightly feedings.
She is just now (at nearly 18 months) sleeping in her own crib.
Strange?
Maybe.
But we enjoyed having her cosleep with us and we wouldn’t change it for anything.
It can feel like you will NEVER get the sleep thing right; I’m guilty of googling sleep coaches at all hours of the night. But they WILL eventually go to sleep. And they WILL eventually go to sleep on their own. Read up on it and decide what you want to do.
A slim book for inspiration:
I love the author Amy Krouse Rosenthal and she hit it out of the park with this book.
A quick but great read.
Things we didn’t use:
Note: This doesn’t mean we don’t believe in them.
It just means we didn’t use them with Rosemary for whatever reason.
Pacifiers: didn’t use one once. Rosemary just didn’t like them.
Push to walk things: Ehh. Rosemary liked the activities on them but wasn’t thrilled with them particularly and didn’t like walking with them.
Those command central things that you sit the kid in with all the gadgets: Again, eh.
A swing (like the one you put them in to go to sleep): they’re pretty expensive and don’t always work.
A play pen: she hated it. But I could see how they would be a good idea in theory. We bought a nice one and we’re now using it for a stand in crib.
Those reach in snack cups: Never got the hang of them. And never snacked 24/7
Any Rosemary sized furniture. Cute but not necessary and no room for it!
Sippy cups: She went right by them.
Whew!
Well, I hope that helps.
I know it will help me when we have baby number 2 to remember everything we used and loved. The links above are not affiliate links and were the links that I could find the easiest.
Anything I missed that’s essential? Let me know in the comments.
If I think of something I’ve forgotten, I’ll add it in later.
Alright!
Bye for now,
Kathy Ellen
