Things Loved 0-3 Months

On Saturday my baby will turn 3 months old...  Where has the time gone???

Because my mind is like a sieve, I wanted to record our favorite things from this time in her life.  In case, you know, any other babies come along and I can't remember my own name, let alone what baby gear we liked.  Something about motherhood, seriously, it makes your brain turn to mush.

I did a LOT of research on baby gear while I was pregnant.  I carefully selected pretty much everything we bought, and there really isn't much that I don't like.  So without further ado, here's my things loved, 0-3 month edition.

1.) Aden & Anais Swaddling Blankets.  Ruby doesn't really sleep without being swaddled.  She fights it like a champ, and there are (many) times where she gets an arm (or a leg?!) out, but these things are seriously the best.  We have several other swaddling contraptions that are supposed to make your life easier, but she hates them.  Plus, these are so cute.  I get compliments on the star print all the time.

2.) Homedics Mini White Noise Machine.  After we brought Ruby home from the hospital after her jaundice episode. we realized that she'd been sitting in a bassinet that made a constant humming sound.  And she liked it.  After Keith spent a night in the bathroom with the fan running, we knew we needed a white noise machine.  This one was only $10 at Target, and has 4 sounds: heartbeat, ocean, white noise, and rain.  I prefer the rain.  It eats batteries like nobody's business, though, which is a major drawback.

3.) Chicco Keyfit 30.  Did you know that Chicco is pronounce "key co"?  Yeah, I didn't either, until very recently.  Anyway, Ruby doesn't love being in the car seat, but she should because this one is pretty great.  It is SO easy to use and install.  Being the safety-conscious mommy that I am, I wanted her seat to be in the center of the car.  My car only has LATCH on the outboard seats, but I could safely install the base in the center and it took about 2 seconds.  The seat is quite user-friendly.  It is quite stylish in the "Limonata" color (another thing I get compliments on), and I liked that it fit her when she was under 6lbs.

4.) Beco Butterfly II.  Since my baby decided she hates her car seat, this baby carrier has saved my life.  Or, you know, my sanity.  I will admit, it took me a bit to figure out how to use it because the instructional DVD only shows the newborn carry with baby's legs spread out.  But once I learned to "froggy" her legs in there, we've been golden.  Plus, now I have two hands free to hold a basket or a shopping cart.  The Beco also has an inner panel that will make it so I can wear her on my back and put her on by myself when she's bigger, which will be SO handy.  I bought it on a daily deal site for only $60.  Nice!

5.) Wubbanubs.  I was pretty anti-paci at first.  I kind of still am, BUT since Ruby has decided she hates riding in the car, these really help.  Because it has the little animal attached, I can reach back into her car seat while she's screaming (and I'm driving), find it easily, and put it back in her mouth.  I also like that it won't fall out of the Beco when she spits it out while I'm wearing her.  They come in lots of animals (I wanted the pony, Keith said no, so we compromised with a long horn bull, lol - it's quite the conversation starter) and is worth the $13.

6.) Baby Jogger City Mini.  This might be my favorite piece of baby gear.  It's also the first "big" baby thing we bought.  We were both suckers for the purple, and I was worried it would be discontinued so we actually bought it before we found out Ruby was a girl and decided we were ok with purple for a boy.  I LOVE this thing.  It reclines all the way, so we can use it now, and has a huge sunshade so I can use it now, in the summer, without having to worry about her getting burned.  She likes the two peepholes in the top, too.  I like that it is super light, and folds up with one hand.  We got a "parent console" so almost every day I load it up with a drink, a burpie, dog poo bags, and my phone and off we go for a 1-2 mile walk around the neighborhood.

7.) Motorola MPB33 Video Monitor.  This thing is fantastic.  Ruby has slept in her crib since around 6 weeks.  I am totally a paranoid first time mom, though, and need to check on her constantly.  This thing limits my obsessiveness quite a lot!  I can see that she's fine, or that she's making noises but isn't really awake.  The battery in the parent unit seems to last a long time, too.  It doesn't interfere with our wifi either, which I'd read was a downfall of many other video monitors.

8.) Baby Kaed Shanti Diaper Bag.  I knew I'd need a bigger diaper bag.  I also knew I didn't want it to scream "diaper bag!".  The ones I'd been eyeing were $200-300.  I didn't really want to spend that much.  Enter this bag!  I had signed up for MyHabit, an Amazon daily deal site.  One night, I was sitting on my couch holding my phone and got an email.  It was a MyHabit flash diaper bag sale.  I decided to make a quick decision and scored this bag for $27.  It originally retails for $145 (although now it looks like you can only get it in blue, and for $117 - maybe they aren't making this style anymore?  sad).  I get a lot of compliments on this, too.

9.) iPhone 4.  I don't know what I'd do without this thing.  I spend a LOT of time nursing.  Ruby's not the best conversationalist while eating, so my phone entertains me.  I also got a baby app (Total Baby) when we got home from the hospital to keep track of diapers and feedings.  I still use it now, it is so helpful.

10.) Cloth Diapers.  Ok, I take it back.  THIS is my number 1 favorite baby product.  I knew I wanted to go cloth before I was even pregnant.  I spent tons of hours in the 14 months it took us to conceive researching cloth.  Once pregnant, I compiled a newborn stash of Green Mountain prefolds, covers (Proraps, Thirsties, Bummis Super Brites), Lil Joeys, and Kissaluvs 0 fitteds.  She wore her NB diapers for over two months, and we never once had a diaper blowout.  Poop never got on clothes.  She doesn't get rashes, and her fluffy bum looks so cute.  She now fits into our one-size stash of Bum Genius (Elementals, 4.0s, and Freetimes), Tots Bots Easy Fits, OhKaty!, Blueberries, KaWaii, Thirsties AIO, Rumparooz, and fitteds (Bububebe, Goodmama, Old School Cool).  I love them all.  And I just ordered a Swaddlebees that I am just itching to try.  OMG laundry, poop in washer!  No.  Laundry is not a big deal.  None of our stuff has poop on it.  It is so so so easy to do, and I love that we don't have to spend all our dollars on nasty, smelly, chemical-filled disposables.

11.) Carter's Onesies.  I like Carter's.  The quality is good, you can find it anywhere, and while there are a bunch of items that have cartoony animals on them (I can't stand that crap), there are a lot that don't.  Ruby is long and skinny.  Carter's onesies are long and skinny.  As much as I like Gap and Old Navy, their onesies are short and wide.  That just doesn't work on my kid (especially with the above-mentioned cloth diapers).

12.) Yoga Ball.  I bought this when I was pregnant and could no longer easily get up and down off the floor.  I needed something comfy to sit on at work, and as a bonus, I'd heard that bouncing on a yoga ball can help baby put pressure on your ladyparts, getting things ready for labor.  I needed all the help I could get, since there was a possibility I'd need to be induced early.  We kept the ball inflated at home, and one night during some extreme fussiness, decided to bounce Ruby on it.  It worked like a charm.  Ever since then, the ball has lived in her room (Keith is actually sitting on it with her right this minute) and is usually the only thing (besides nursing) that will soothe her when she is being a total grouchbaby.  My thighs and core will thank her later, I'm sure.

13.) Sassy Look Book.  We call this her "crack book" because when she looks at it, it totally cracks her out.  Basically, it's just a soft foam book that has black and white graphics on each page.  Babies love that stuff.  She is no exception.  As soon as we hold it up, she gets all intense and concentrates really hard on the page (her favorite is the white page with the black squares).  It's apparently supposed to be a photo album too, so I guess when she gets tired of being cracked out from black and white images we can put some pictures in there for her.

14.) Trumpette Socks.  Ruby has tiny feet.  At (almost) three months old, not only can she not wear 0-3 shoes, she can't even wear newborn sized shoes!  I guess I really shouldn't have bought her those 0-3 flip flops after all.  She'll fit into them in, oh, November.  Anyway, because she's got freakishly small feet, socks don't stay on them.  Except for these.  These ones stay on.  AND they're cute.  I wish I had more, but they are ridiculously expensive.  I got these on MyHabit though, so I didn't pay that much.  I hear that normal-footed babies have trouble keeping socks on too, so I'd recommend them to anyone.

So there you have it.  My things loved for baby 0-3 months.  Can I believe we've survived three months of parenthood?  Hardly.  Even more unbelievable is that my little girl is three months old already (sob!).