The Best Baby Items - At least in my opinion....

Now that I have my own child I totally have this whole parenting thing figured out - like what works best for a baby and of course, I have the right to judge your parenting skills. Totally kidding. Parenting is a journey, but so far we have been incredibly blessed with a fantastic baby. I wanted to share a few of the items that have worked best for us in these past 8 weeks. Sidenote: I cannot believe it has been 8 weeks already!  

Disclaimer: We have SO many other items that are critical to our every day sanity, but these are just a few I chose to highlight in this post.

E has been rooming in with us. Don't worry, she sleeps in the bassinet in her pack & play. The layout of our room has this little nook area with a light. Within the first week, we bought and installed (by we I mean J) a dimmer switch for the light. Genius. We are able to turn the light on low to change her in the middle of the night. I also dim it when we are doing her bedtime routine and getting ready for bed. In all honesty it is just easier on the parents since J is early to bed and early to rise.

This was one of the best gifts I received post delivery. We were gifted a 6 month subscription to emeals. Every Wednesday I get an email with 7 dinner meals and a grocery list to go along with it. This means that the majority of my grocery shopping is already written out for me AND the meals are already planned! We eat at home a lot and I pack J his breakfast and lunch each day for work so having emeals is an enormous help. I know I will appreciate it more when I return to work. You can choose a plan each month. We started with the Publix plan which was awesome because the meals were planned around the different deals that Publix had going on that week.You can choose plans from clean eating, low fat, slow cooker, paleo, gluten free, etc.

My family made fun of me for using the Baby Connect app, but it is great! I mainly use it to enter her stats at the doctor appointments, vaccinations, when she has been fed (bottle & nursing) as well as the number of diapers. I like to know that she is fed as evenly as possible from each side. You can also add users to enter her information and view it. So when J is with E, I can log in and see when she last ate, etc. It also helps so much with the doctors ask about her eating and diapers - you just pull out your phone! I know I could keep track of it all, but it's much easier to use this app.

When my sister came to visit she suggested using the Netflix account on my iPad for the nursing sessions. I am forever grateful. It helps pass the time when I feed E and J uses it too when she takes her nighttime bottle. I have also expanded my list of tv shows which I know thrills J! So far I have become hooked on Revenge, Once Upon A Time and I just started Army Wives - which I have cried during each episode. I'll probably breeze through this series as well so I am open for suggestions.

We do not swaddle E during the day, but she does sleep in her Woombie Air at night. She has crazy hands and I firmly believe that this helps her sleep. Around 4 weeks she started sleeping in long stretches at night (anywhere from 4-9 hours). I'm terrified her great sleeping will disappear when I go back to work, but we will see. I purchased two woombies and have been very happy with them so far. They are snug, but very strechy so she can move a bit. It also helps me when I feed her because she's confined.

My BFF Double L and I match....Even our Brest Friends match. I think this is a fantastic nursing pillow. It doesn't just fit on you, it buckles around you which gives a lot of support. It also has a little pocket to keep your phone, chapstick, etc. for your nursing sessions. I did not have a C-section, but it claims to be a great pillow for moms who fall into that category.

I know people may laugh at this and say "Give it a few months and you won't sterilize everything or wait until baby number 2 and you won't care that the paci fell on the ground." I assure you that we are not crazy sterilizers for our baby stuff. However, I do sterilize after washing bottles and especially after using my pump. I have this sterilizer plugged in right next to my sink and love the convenience. Surprisingly it holds SO many items (which is great for bottles like Dr. Browns that have a ton of parts) and is very simple to use. It runs for 10 minutes and automatically shuts off when it is done. It has been one of my favorite items thus far and I know I will appreciate it more when I go back to work and have to prep my pump bag and her bag each evening.

Hands down this has been the best gift we received. The Fisher-Price Rock 'N Play Sleeper has been a lifesaver. My plan was to keep this item downstairs for her to nap in during the day. E was jaundice when we left the hospital and we had to keep her on a biliblanket at home for 24 hours. This went on for 2-3 days which made it difficult for her to sleep in her pack & play. That's where this item came in - she was able to keep her blanket on and sleep comfortably in this sleeper. I did move her to the pack & play at night because I was nervous she would be used to sleeping at an incline and that would backfire when we tried to transition her to the crib. It's a great item to contain the baby and it is very easy to take with you while traveling or going up and down the stairs.