These are a few of my favorite things

Dear Readers,
Like any good 'mommy blogger' (ew, I seriously hate that term!), I figured I'd better do the old baby product recommendations post. I often find these really helpful myself, so I thought I'd throw my own two cents in as well :) As a special treat, you can also see lots of pictures of Elliot modeling many of these must-haves in his dollar bills diaper because clearly a dollar bills diaper is an absolute must for any ballin' baby.

Here are a few of our favorite baby items for babies 0-3 months old:

Skip Hop Treetop Friends Activity Gym

There are like 8,000 options out there when it comes to play mats, but this one caught my eye because it has a big tree on it (and we all know how much I love trees!). Aside from being super cute (I mean if I'm going to have baby crap all over my house, it might as well be somewhat pleasing to look at, ha), it has a lot of great developmental activities included with it. El loves batting at the toys and looking at himself in the mirrors. It also comes with a nice little pillow that works great for tummy time:

Rockabye Baby 

Rockabye Baby has instrumental lullaby versions of pretty much any band you can think of, and they are awesome. I stream them through Spotify, but you can also get the albums on iTunes. My favorite is probably a toss-up between the Weezer and Beatles albums. It's really fun to rock Elliot to sleep to all the songs I grew up with, and he really responds amazingly well to the calming tunes. 

Leachco Podster Infant Seat

My friend Courtney recommended this and I can't thank her enough. Definitely one of the best $40 I've spent on baby stuff so far. We use this chair for everything. He naps in it, sits in it in the bathroom while I shower, and just loves to sit in it and be entertained :). We use it way more often than our bouncer or swing because it is a) so comfy and b) so easy to move around to wherever we need it.

Arms Reach Mini Co-Sleeper

I have loved having Elliot right next to me at night. It's almost like he's sleeping in bed with me, but I don't have to worry about the dogs jumping on him, or his 6'10, 300 pound giant of a dad rolling over on him :) The top bar can be lowered for easy access, and the side facing me is mesh so I can look right in and see my boy sleeping (or not sleeping...haha) whenever I want:

We are going to have to switch to the full-sized version soon because my kid is crazy long and heavy, but most normal-sized babies should be able to stay in it for longer I would think!

Cloud B Gentle Giraffe

This cute little guy plays four different soothing sounds, including white noise, and can be easily attached to anything. El loves the white noise for sleeping, and its really nice that we can easily take it with us in the car or wherever we're going if we need to. 

Udder Cover

Okay, so this is the dumbest name for a nursing cover ever (like you don't already sort of feel like a cow when you're nursing, thanks for rubbing it in!), but I literally couldn't live without this thing. It makes nursing in public (which I do often) so much easier and more enjoyable. The material is nice and lightweight so Elliot doesn't get all hot and sweaty under it. And the best feature is that the top has a plastic piece sewn inside that makes it so you can easily look down and watch your baby while they nurse. I've used this at friend's houses, at the mall, at restaurants, everywhere. Hands down my favorite nursing-related item I own.

Brica Day and Night Light Musical Mirror

If I didn't have this car mirror, I'd still be sitting in the backseat with Elliot during every car ride. What makes this one especially nice is that it has a remote control that clips on the front visor so that you can turn on a light to check on baby at night, and even turn on lullabies if they need some help calming down while you're driving. Love it.

Baby Buff Rattle

In addition to being ridiculously cute and hilarious, Elliot really enjoys playing with this toy. It was the first toy he was able to hold onto and move around, and seems to really like the sound it makes. Doubles as an awesome photo prop :)

Dollar Tree pinwheel

This pinwheel from Grandma has provided literally hours of entertainment. El loves to stare at the colors and watch it spin around and around. A $1 baby toy? Best value you can get anywhere--so much bang for your buck with this one!

...and one thing I wish I would have thought of:

A deep freezer for all my frozen breastmilk

Our regular freezer is currently overflowing with bags of my milk. Its shoved in next to the frozen corn, snuck in behind the chicken sausages, everywhere. I started looking around on craigslist for a cheap used freezer, but no luck yet. It would most definitely come in handy right about now!

Alright, Elliot's squirming around on my chest and I can tell he's about to wake up screaming for food any second now, so that's all for today. Happy Friday everyone!

Love,

Kristin