Fisher-price baby swing
Our friends gifted us this adorable baby swing and it has been wonderful! Sometimes when Nellie cries, the swing calms her down. She also just loves hanging out in the swing listening to the music it plays. It can go in two different directions and she loves swinging both side to side and front to back. It has also been super helpful to keep her upright as the doctor told me I need to do so for 30 minutes after every feeding, so if I need to do my make-up or get ready, I can do that while she sits in the swing!
Little tikes changing mat
At first I had a different changing mat that required a changing cover, but little Nellie loves to play this fun game where as soon as we take her diaper off, she pees. So I found this wipeable changing mat and it was a game changer! It was so much nicer to not have to worry about getting the changing mat cover ruined and I can easily wipe it down if she makes a mess!
Baby Shusher
This thing is genius. It is literally just a recording of a human being saying "Shh" over and over again but it works wonders. Nellie doesn't love being put in her carseat, and when we play the shusher for her, it usually helps calm her down! We normally use it with her in the car, but I have used it in the bassinet when she was having a hard time taking a nap as well! I loved it so much that I bought one as a gift for my friend when she was pregnant with her second baby!
Parker Baby Co Backpack
I am not sure how I started following Parker Baby Co on Instagram but I wanted this backpack long before I was ever pregnant. It is spacious and I think it is super cute! I also like that it's not too girly so Bryan is fine wearing it too! It has a ton of pockets and the ones on the sides are insulated which I am sure will come in handy when I use it for snacks in the future. I also think it is big enough for when I have two children and need to carry things for both of them! It comes with a travel changing mat which I can't count how many times I've used. That is for sure a must!
Pehr Storage Bins
I actually bought the smaller pint size bin for our dog Pretzel's toys, but my mother in law bought her so many that it was overflowing so I decided to buy a bigger storage size one to match and I put them in Nellie's nursery. We have a wall with two shelves but the books kept falling off so now I just keep our most read books on the wall and the rest go in the big storage bin. I think they are adorable and they're also super practical. The smaller bin has Nellie's Lovevery toys in them (my amazing coworkers/bosses bought me a subscription to lovevery and I absolutely love it!)
halo swaddle
When we came home from the hospital I forgot that my friend gifted me this swaddle so for the first week or so I simply used a blanket and tried my best to swaddle as tight as I could like they did in the hospital. Thank goodness I remembered this shortly after because this is a million times easier than using a blanket! You just use the velcro to keep the little arms down and now almost anytime Nellie is crying and is clearly tired, I just stick her in the swaddle and she falls right to sleep! Pro tip: these come in different sizes. She is wearing a newborn size in the photo below but she has actually outgrown that one and now uses a size 3-6 month since she is in the 95th percentile for her height!
boppy pillow
I absolutely loved the Boppy for the first couple weeks of Nellie's life. It made breastfeeding so much nicer because I didn't have to hold her up with my arms, she could just rest on the pillow in my arms so it wasn't as exhausting for her 40 minute long feedings every two hours. Now she is much faster and eats only about 10-15 minutes total so I don't use it as much, but I am sure it will come in handy for when she can sit up on her own - the doctor told me I could start practicing with it to prop her up too since she has good head control so I am still glad I have it!
The best burp cloths
Nellie has reflux and has been spitting up A TON!! So I've tried several different types of burp cloths and these are the most absorbent. A family friend made me some super adorable ones that I also love but those ones you can't buy so these are my other favorite! I think they are super cute and they just work so well. Another added bonus is that a six pack is only $13 on Amazon - gotta love that next day shipping too.
Bonus: Diaper trick
A few things I've learned about diapers. First of all, the Huggies brand runs a tad smaller than the Pampers brand, so since I have a lot of different brands that were gifted to me, when I moved Nellie up from newborn to size one, I put her in the Huggies first and once those run out I will put her in the Pampers size ones that I have. My doctor also showed me that on the diapers, there is a place that shows you exactly where the little straps should attach. Once your baby gets too big for the diapers, they won't reach the edge of the design indicating that it is time to move up a size.
