My Top 10 Baby Item Picks

Having had a baby for a year now I feel like I have a much better understanding of what kids actually need/don't need!  It is really hard registering for baby showers when really you have NO idea what you actually need or what you really could do without.  I have a number of friends and family members that are pregnant (or will be soon!), and many have asked me what I think they should get.  Well here are my top ten:

1.  Video baby monitor:  We have the Summer Infant brand one, from Target.  I really like it, no complaints.  I've also heard good things about the Motorola brand ones.  The older Briana gets, the more handy this thing is! 

2.  Interactive Bouncer:  By interactive I mean one that has lights and sounds, the works!  We have the Fisher Price rainforest bouncer, but I'm sure there are a million out there.  We used it often times for meal time! 

3.  Immersion hand blender:  If you plan to make your own baby food (which you should; its easy, cheaper, and good for baby!) an immersion blender is the easiest way to do it.  I speak from experience, I had a Baby Bullet and it worked terrible. Bonus: this isn't just for baby food, make yourself a milk shake!

4.  Chicco travel system: We have been SO happy with both the car seat and stroller.  The stroller is huge and takes up the entire trunk of your car, but we still use it tons.  We did have to buy an extra base so we could have one for each car.  The car seat is easy to use; easy to tighten and loosen.  Also......get a good convertible carseat.  We rocked the infant car seat until she was 10mon old, and when I was looking into buying the next one I read a TON of reviews.  We ended up getting a Britax one, and have loved it! Bottom line is don't go with the cheapo car seat, they are more difficult to use and not as comfortable for baby. 

5. Box Fan:  Yep, you heard me right.  A plain ol' box fan you used while living in the college dorms.  They are the best for white noise, they sell fancy shmancy white noise machines but this works great.  This way you don't have to tip-toe around during nap time or ignore phone calls because you are afraid to wake baby up!  And research shows that by putting a fan in the room to circulate the air lowers the risk of SIDS significantly. 

6.  Play mat:  Babies struggle with entertaining themselves....especially from the ages of 4mon-7mon.  A play mat with hanging toys, lights, and music is the perfect way to entertain them for like almost 10minutes!  You can get a LOT done in 10min :) 

7.  Swing:  And not just a boring one, one with multiple positions that can swing side to side.  Briana lived in the swing for the first 3 months, and then continued to nap in it until she was almost 6 months old!  The only reason I got rid of it was because we were selling our house and I was trying to de-clutter.  I would tuck a blanket around her in the swing and out she'd go! I would recommend getting one with an AC adapter, the one we have only uses D batteries.

8.  Carrier:  We have used the carrier way more than I thought we would, and I really imagine using it a lot more for any other babies we may have some day.  After reading a ton of reviews I decided to go with the Beco, mainly for the option of facing forward.  This carrier is great on my back (most of the babies weight is on your hips), I am able to wear it for extended periods of time no problem.  I am not sure how it works with little babies, she was 7mon old when we got this one.  But we used Baby Bjorn tons before we got this one as well (it just wasn't as nice on my weak, old, nurses back). 

9.  Exersaucer:  Once they are able to crawl/walk this is the only way to contain them safely!  I am so sick of ours sitting in the living room, but I use it almost every day while I shower.  Briana is just about done with it though (cries the second I put her in, but usually is ok with her movie on for 15min).  But if you need to go do something and can't worry about baby getting into something this is great!  We started using this at 4mon old, babies like to be upright and looking around, so this was perfect early on.  I didn't include a link to this one because we have an older version (shout out to garage sales!), but really any will get the job done!

10. Boppy Pillow:  Especially for breastfeeding, new babies are floppy and hard to coordinate getting them on the boob!  The boppy pillow is perfect for supporting baby while you are trying to figure out your shirt, nursing bra, lanolin ointment, and breastpad.  We also used it to put her in on the couch (GASP!  Yes...she napped in the boppy on the couch) and when she woke up at 5am we put the boppy pillow between our heads in bed and put her there to buy a few more hours of sleep. 

Well I obviously could keep adding things to this list we have found very helpful this past year, but I'd say this is a good representation of what we used the most!  Feel free to add comments of other things you felt like you could not have survived without that first year.  And anything we should absolutely have going into year 2.......