these are a few of my favorite {baby} things: PART TWO

Last November, I wrote about six of our favorite baby products.  Pretty soon after I wrote that post, I started thinking of items I'd forgotten to mention so since that time I've been meaning to write a follow up post.  Now that baby is about to turn one (!), I am finally getting around to it.

I love to read reviews - please tell me I'm not alone in this!  We rarely, rarely buy something on a whim.  Usually I've researched the different options carefully or gotten suggestions from other people.  That's why I like writing reviews.  Please note that I am receiving NO compensation from any company for writing about these products.  These are simply the products that we love and I'm writing about them because I think you'll love them too.  Bear with me on the pictures...most of them were iPhone pictures that were taken for the picture, not specifically to showcase these product.  :)

1. Britax B-Ready Stroller

We cannot say enough good things about our stroller.  We would buy it again in a heartbeat!  My favorite part is that the seat is very easily switched from facing the world, to facing the parent.  I love that Hadden can face us in his stroller!  We also liked that we bought one stroller that could be a single stroller, a double stroller, a jogging stroller (not perfect, but it definitely works) AND be a travel system with baby's carseat.  The wheels are big and sturdy, so they go over all the bumpy sidewalks in our neighborhood.  The price tag is a bit intimidating, but the past two years Amazon has been running a special (for most of the month of July, I believe) where the stroller is discounted AND you get a stroller accessory for free.  We chose a free 2nd seat so now we can go places with friends and we won't have to buy a new stroller if/when we have a second baby (no plans in the future, so don't go spreading rumors!)


2. Planet Wise Diaper Pail Liner

As mentioned in the previous post of recommendations, we cloth diaper using BumGenuis Freetime AIO diapers.  What I didn't mention is the pail liner that goes along with them.  We have two of the Planet Wise Pail Liners and use them with a metal trashcan (like this one).  It works great!  When it's time to wash the diapers, I take the whole bag out and empty it in the washer.  If you plan on cloth diapering, you should give these a try!


3.  Real Nappies Diaper Liners (biodegradable and earth-friendly!)

For all the people who think cloth diapering is the most disgusting thing you've ever heard of, here's the secret.  Use liners!  We use Real Nappies and find them to work very well.  I'm not going to go into details, but here's the basic idea: you just lay a liner on top of the clean diaper before you put it on.  When it's time to change the diaper, the liner goes into the toilet while the diaper goes into the diaper pail.  Easy peasy.


4.  Stacker Set

My sister bought this Green Toys My First Stacker as little gift for Hadden's birthday, but gave it to him early.  I have been SO surprised at how much he likes it!  He concentrates exceptionally hard on getting those pieces together and although he is still far from mastering it, I like seeing how he's using his brain.  Over the past month we've practiced stacking large to small, small to large and by color.  We also learned that if you spin the pieces on a smooth surface, they spin like tops - this will buy you an extra five minutes of "happy".  :)  An added plus of this lovely toy is that it is made in the United States and made of recycled materials.

5.  Books!

 The picture above was when I ran into a store to pick up a new book for Hadden and came out with seven books instead!  If you can't tell, we love books around here!  It's the one thing that we'll never have enough of.  We are pretty picky about everything the books he has, but thankfully there are many, many wonderful children's books to choose from.  Some of our current favorites are:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (and the other two companion books seen above)
• Where, Oh Where is Huggle Buggle Bear?
• The Big Red Barn
• Touch and Count with Peter Rabbit
• My First Photo Album (you can add pictures of family members:)

6.  Car Mirror

This was one of those things that I didn't think to register for, but someone bought me anyways, and I sure am glad they did!  We were given the Prince Lionhart mirror.  It's so much easier to check on baby and put his soother back in with one of these!  Plus, Hadden loves looking at himself in the mirror.  He was much happier with someone to look at on our drives! :)  I like that the Prince Lionhart has two clips on the bottom where you can hang toys.

7.  Ikea Highchair, tray and cushion

We bought the Ikea Antilop highchair and tray and the Barnslig cushion.  If you have the luxury of living near an Ikea, you can go get all three of these items for a whopping total of $30.  Unfortunately we don't live near an Ikea so we bought each piece separately (they aren't all sold online) and ended up paying much more than that in shipping costs.  However, it was still cheaper than the majority of the highchairs out there.  I love that it is compact and is aesthetically pleasing while still being practical.

This is a very, very simple design and I love it.  It is easy to put together and I've read that other people even take it on car trips because it's so easy to disassemble.  Because it's so utilitarian, it is easy to clean - there aren't many places for food to get stuck.  We spray it with a water/vinegar mixture and wipe it down with a cloth and it stays very clean.  The cushion goes into the laundry (along with whatever else I'm washing) every so often and it's held up very well.  The one complaint I have read about this highchair is that it is very hard to get the tray off.  We put the tray on the day we received it and haven't taken it off since which has worked out fine for us.


8. Security Blanket

When I decided to get Hadden a "lovey", I chose a Aden + Anais Muslin Security Blanket.  The muslin is soft and breathable, but what Hadden really loved was the silk edge.  It came in a pack of two, which is perfect because everyone and their mother tells you to make sure you have two of whatever item your child decides to love.  We have one for the crib and one for the diaper bag, but he likes to carry them around (usually he carries them around in his teeth - silly boy!).  They wash well which is a major plus.  We bought them from Target for less than half of the price on Amazon.


9. Secure-A-Toy

This was another thing that wasn't on my registry, but was a great baby gift!  We have used Secure-A-Toy for his soother and for toys.  Last month when we took a long road trip, I could easily turn around and attach a toy for him to play with.  When he was bored with it, I could pull it back and attach a new toy.

10.  Raffi DVDs

We love Raffi.  There's no way around it.  I could write a whole post (or four) on all the things we love about him, but I'll try to keep it brief.  :)  We have a DVD containing three Raffi concerts filmed between 1984-1993.  It is hilarious to see the outfits and hairstyles from the 80's, but Raffi's songs and his kind, respectful demeanor are timeless.  My sister said it like this: "He seemed so genuine and respectful.  We had noticed in watching the Wiggles, Barney, and other similar children’s musicians, that they all seemed to pander to the crowd.  With Raffi there was true respect and joy."

These are the only shows that Hadden watches, but he loves them (at this point we only watch the first two...the Broadway one is a bit too old for him)!  He knows all the songs and we usually sing along to them.  He gets excited when he hears the music.  It's been a fun way for our family to connect because Caleb and I have watched these so many times that we have it memorized - even the speaking parts!  We sing the songs in the car and at home and love seeing Hadden connect to music at this young age.



Hope that you find some new favorite products from this list!  :)




**as stated above, I get NO compensation from any company for recommending these products.  These are simply the brands that we use and would recommend to others based on our experience.

shoe recommendations for erythromelalgia

Warm weather is here!  We've been soaking it up with trips to the playground (sometimes twice a day!) and family walks.  One thing was stopping us though: my Erythromelalgia!  Too many walks were being cut short due to pain so my husband announced that it was time for me to invest in some new shoes.  I googled around to see what shoes were recommended for Erythromelalgia, but I didn't see too many suggestions, so I thought I'd share my choices here.

We looked through several different options for shoes and talked through the pros and cons.  My husband encouraged me to get two pairs: one for activity and one for style.  Obviously wearing any kind of closed toed shoe (especially athletic shoes!) is a no-go in the summer with Erythromelagia so we needed the "activity pair" to be super comfortable and good for long distances, but still open.

I've heard so many good things about Birkenstock's so I wanted to try these Kairo Sandals (sold through American Eagle), but we decided they were too expensive and not versatile enough.  My sister has a pair of Saltwater Sandals.  They are supposed to be incredibly comfortable and durable.  I'd still love a pair some day, but I was afraid that they would be too hot around my toes to be an every day pair.

For the "activity shoes", we ended up choosing these Teva Zirra Sandals.  I couldn't be happier!  We bought them for walks and special activities, but I've ended up wearing them all over the place!  They were very comfortable from the time I first put them on.  My Erythromelagia has still flared up while wearing them, but the shoes don't seem to be contributing to the problem.  I would feel comfortable doing all sorts of activities in these shoes, so I definitely recommend them to others with Erythromelagia looking for a replacement for athletic shoes.  

The second pair I went with were these American Eagle Braided Sandals.  I had a similar pair for the past couple of years, but last fall they were falling apart!  I ended up getting this replacement pair because they served me well.  They pair equally well with shorts or a sundress so I like how versatile they are.  My one complaint is that they are not comfortable for a long time.  Running to the grocery store or spending the morning at church?  No problem.  But when I was trying to use them to go on walks?  Definitely a bad idea!

Finding functional shoes might not seem like a big deal to most people, but with Erythromelagia it is a challenge.  I'm grateful to have found these options so I can stop worrying about my pain and enjoy the litte things like an evening walk with my family and pushing my son on the swing.

**All opinions are my own.  I received no compensation from any company for writing this - I am simply sharing my experience.

these are a few of my favorite {baby} things

**See PART TWO of this post here

While I was pregnant, I kept seeing Pinterest links to lists of "must have" items for baby.  It was always interesting to see what one mom consider an absolute essential and another mom said she never used.  Clearly all moms are different and all babies are different so there can't be one definitive list.  : )  However I still decided to share some of our favorite things that we use all the time and that have made the first three months easier.  

We waited a couple months to begin cloth diapering to allow ourselves time to adjust to having a baby. Now we use them fulltime unless we are traveling or have company here.  Before Hadden came I did tons and tons of research into all the diaper brands and kinds and we ended up picking BumGenius Freetime All in One Diapers.  They work great for us!  It was definitely an investment to buy these diapers (and we are grateful that a few people gave them to us as baby gifts), but we'll be able to use them with other children and in the long run, we will be saving money and helping the environment.  It took us a little while to get the hang of it and to get on a washing schedule, but it works great for us now.  Plus how cute is Hadden in that diaper?!

It took me until this week to buy this, but I should have invested in these SwaddleMe wraps a long time ago.  They are wonderful!!  Hadden sleeps swaddled up and we tried so many different blankets, but he could kick his way out of all of them and then wake up crying.  And I was always a terrible swaddler - Caleb had to do it each night because mine would come undone in about five seconds.  These wraps are super easy to use.  Now he is snuggled up happily and he is sleeping for longer periods, which means we are too (a-mazing!).  They come in three different sizes so you can get one that fits your baby snugly.

Evidently some people suggest waiting a few weeks before giving a baby a pacifier to ensure that they learn to latch correctly.  Some people feel very strongly about this, which is understandable if your baby had problems eating and the pacifier was making it worse.  However, Hadden (from the moment he was born) wanted something in his mouth.  We actually started using these in the hospital (at the suggestion of a nurse) and have used them ever since.  They keep us all happy. : )  We tried switching him to the "normal" pacifiers and he doesn't like them, so, for now, we're sticking with the Philips Soothie Pacifiers.  If you took in the other pictures on this post, you'll see that it makes an appearance in a lot of them as well.  That's because we ALWAYS have one with us!

Ahh.  I love our sling.  It was probably the thing that I was most excited about getting from our baby registry (thanks grandma mays!).  And it has proven to be just as wonderful as I thought it would be.  Again, I did lots of research into the safety, durability and wearability of different slings and decided that the Sakura Bloom would be the best fit for us.  It's lovely.  And comfortable.  We get lots of compliments when we use it and people often ask where they can buy one.  Hadden loves to be in it and I love to wear it.  Sometimes Caleb uses it too.  : )  I cannot recommend this highly enough.  

The cute little newborn hats are sometime hard to get on and off quickly and I'm pretty picky about having his head covered.  So we were looking for a winter hat that would be easy to put on in a hurry and was still cute and we found the perfect on a The Children's Place (I can't find this hat on the website, but there are other cute ones like the giraffe one!).  You can tell from the picture that he's still growing into it, but it should fit him all winter and it definitely keeps him warm.

We debated a long, long time on getting a baby bath.  I did a ton of research into different kinds.  Some people thought it was a waste of money because you only use them for a few months.  Plus then you have to store this bulky thing somewhere.  Other people swear by them.  We didn't own one for the first month or so, but I did NOT like bathing him without one.  He was too little and slippery for me and it made me nervous.  And he cried the whole time, which didn't help.  We ended up just going to Target to look at different kinds and buying the Munchkin Bath Cradle.  It was less than $10 which why we picked it.  I'm going to be honest.  It's not perfect. It's a sponge, so after bath time is done it has to dry somewhere.  But it has been SO great!  Now Hadden loves to take baths!  It doesn't take up very much room either.  He's three months old and we'll probably still be using it for another month or so.  We have already gotten our moneys worth (many times over) and we'd recommend this to anyone who was looking for a cheap solution for baby baths.

And there you have it!  Six things that we recommend to make life with a newborn a little easier.  : )

**Want more reviews?  See a follow up post here