Baby Essentials 101

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but never got around to it.  Since one of my goals for this week is to blog (semi-) more regularly I told myself to sit down and just get it done. 

When you're expecting you receive lots of (welcomed!) baby tips.  Aside from any old wives tales, I took (and still do) and advice sent my way.

That being said, I thought I'd share our lifesavers over the last few months. The list is long so I'm going to come back in a few weeks (or months - ha!) and share the rest.  Here's what Monkey (and us, really) can't live without

1. Bright Starts Spots & Stripes Safari Gym. Monkey. Loves. This. Thing.  We loving refer to all of the animals as her friends. When we place her on the mat her face lights up.  She'll lay on the mat and talk to them about her day for hours two rounds of the music.  The key to this is the lights and music that come from the belly of the zebra.

2. TrimFit Socks.  These are the best socks ever.  They stay on Monkey's feet (sometimes for days at a time).  The key is to get the ones with the little ball thingies on the ankles.  They are a booger to find (is that a phrase? I'm thinking not), but I do believe Von Maur sells them.

3. GumDrop Pacifiers. Monkey got one of these (only one, I tried and tried to pretend we lost it to get more) in the hospital.  It has a perfect cut out for her nose (unlike these) and it super soft.  She's now at the point where she'll take anything (hey, it's better than sucking her thumb - and and easier habit to break too), but I broke down and ordered 10 of these as soon as we got home from the hospital.

4. aden + anais. Everything aden + anais is great.  We love the swaddlers since they are at least double the size of regular receiving blankets. Monkey loved to be swaddled but wouldn't stand having her arms swaddled too (good thing we only got one SwaddleMe - which was never used). Now we've moved on to the sleep sacks for night time (note to self: get the cozy sleeping bag), but still use the swaddles during the day.  There isn't a product of theirs we don't love.

5. Sophie. To be honest, I didn't think anyone would get Sophie for us, but they did (Thanks Rick and Rachel) and Monkey loves her.  She loves her squeaks and she loves to try to put her in her mouth (which right now consists of her opening her mouth hoping we bring Sophie to it). 

6. Medela Pump in Style. This has been my personal life saver (along with the pumping bra).  I cart this sucker up stairs, down stairs, to work, to my parents house, and on long road trips (gotta love the battery pack).  C thought I was crazy to buy this before Monkey was born (thinking we'd never need it). Turns out we did.  I can't think of a single other thing that has helped us more (other than family and friends, duh).

This lit isn't complete yet, but I'll stop for now.

Are there any baby essentials you can't live without?