Must Have Items 3-5 Months

My son made 5 months on Christmas Day, so I'm going to post the items that make our days a little easier.

1. Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail

I prefer this diaper pail over the infamous diaper Genie! The diaper genie essentially makes a big sausage link of dirty diapers. The Arm and Hammer Diaper pail uses 1 bag that snaps closed for easy disposal. I have never had a problem with diapers making my nursery smelly!

2. Infantino Go GaGa Deluxe Twist & Fold Gym

This play mat was a life saver! My neighbor gave this to me as a baby shower gift and told me this would be my saving grace. I thought she was overreacting, but ladies it's the truth! Even before my son was really able to play with the toys he enjoyed looking at them. Often times it was the only way I was able to put him down. It also gave him a great place to learn how to roll over and scream during tummy time :)

3. Munchkin Time Saver Bottle Warmer

I breast feed my son and probably wouldn't have needed this; however, I had a surgery over the Christmas holidays and my mom had to give my son frozen breast milk for about 2 days. This is definitely a necessity for a breast fed baby if you plan to go back to work. They are used to warm milk.

4. Baby Einstein Musical Motion 2 in 1 Stationary Jumper

I know this looks like a space station, but my son loves it! It was a blast to watch him explore each station and bounce. It gives him exercise while stimulating his senses etc. It doesn't make a lot of noise which I liked!

5. LeapFrog My Puppy Pal- Scout

We love Scout! You can program it to know your child's name, favorite color, favorite food, and favorite animal. It teaches colors, how to spell your name, sounds that animals make etc.

6. Vtech Sit to Stand Learning Walker

Although we aren't quite sitting up on our own yet, we love to play music on the little piano and "talk" on the phone. I have found at this age we aren't ready to physically do a lot on our own but we sure do want to be constantly on the move! It is also difficult to stay engaged in any one activity for too long!

7. Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature Added Comfort Bottles

Again, we breast feed but when we do need bottles we like these. The avent and medela bottles are great too, but these have an anti-colic system with them.

8. Colic Calm

I really should have posted this in my 0-3 month must have list, but I forgot. I don't know how because it was a God sent. This is an all natural oral drop to help with colic. The drops are black and stain clothes and burp cloths, but who cares when your sweet baby finally gets relief!

9. Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether

These have become really popular recently. My nephew had one 4 years ago when he was a baby and he loved it, so we gave it a try. My son loves it too! When teething it's a must!

10. Cornstarch

I know you must be wondering how in the world I use cornstarch! It should be called diaper rash miracle powder. I put it in a shaker and put it on with each diaper change. We do use the infamous Boudreaux's Butt Paste too, but this is way cheaper!

Favorite Products 0-3 Months

I thought I would share some of my favorite baby products. I know it is really overwhelming to try to decide what things you need, especially if you are a first time mom. There is so many things out there, but you can only have so much before you run out of room! I will put my most favorite in order from 1-13. I hope this helps you put your registry together! 

1. Fisher Price Rock and Play

This is great because it is light & compact. I take it EVERYWHERE with me. I used it in the living room or whenever we visited family. We absolutely LOVE our Rock and Play!

2.Summer Infant Assured Co-Sleeper

We co-slept when my son was 0-4 months. This gave me piece of mind that I wouldn't roll over  him at night. It also made it really easy to breast feed at night. He was eating about every 2 hours at night. In the beginning it takes several minutes on each side, so this allowed me a little bit of shut eye in between. Plus, I found the baby to be more comforted. He spends 9 months in the womb attached to you and then all of the sudden we expect our children to sleep in a big crib in a dark room alone.

3.Graco Duet Soothee Swing & Bouncer

I'm all about double duty! The less junk the better for me, so when I was picking out a swing I knew I wanted it to be a bouncer as well. Often times when my son was over stimulated time in his swing in a quiet room helped to calm him. It also has a great vibration feature on the seat, classical music, and calming nature sounds. My son is 5 months and he still LOVES to be in his swing.

4.Britax B-Agile Travel System 

When selecting a car seat we looked at all of the safety ratings. This travel system wasn't the cheapest, but it certainly isn't the most expensive! It has great safety ratings and the car seat can snap right into the stroller for easy shopping etc. The car seats are not light so this helps a lot. The stroller is great as well. You can collapse the whole stroller using one hand and it turns on a dime.

5. Aden+Anais Swaddle Blankets

We live in southern Louisiana where it is really hot, so we found these blankets to be the perfect weight in July when he was born. It is really large so it makes swaddling easy. It shows you how to easily swaddle on the back of the package. Again, our children are all curled up in a tight space in the womb and when they are born most are comforted by being swaddled.

6.Swaddle Wraps

These are great as well. There is not swaddling talent necessary. You put your child in the pocket and use the Velcro to close them into the wrap!

7.  Summer infant Bather

I selected this bather because it collapses for easy storage

8. Crane Cool Mist Humidifier

We used this a lot in the beginning. Sometimes the babies get amniotic fluid in their lungs and this helped him work it out. Remember when you use electronics like this to always use distilled water. Regular tap water has chlorine in it and will ruin the humidifier.

9. Munchkin Warm Glow Wipe Warmer

This item isn't totally necessary, but we enjoyed it. When the baby is already mad due to a wet diaper it really makes them mad to put a cold wet wipe on his bum.

10. Pampers Swaddlers Diapers

We selected these diapers mostly because my husband had a hard time telling if his diaper was wet or not. These diapers have a yellow indicator that turn blue when wet.  We are using the size 2 now and we still haven't had any leaks.

11. Nuk Pacifier

Every baby will decide which pacifier he will take. My son tried Avent, Tommy Tippee, and NUK was the only one he would take.

12. Medela Pump in Style Advance

I had to use my pump to help my milk come down because my son was delivered via c-section. 

13. Medela Quick Clean Micro Steam Bags

These are AMAZING!! 2 oz of water with all of the pacifiers my son dropped and any breast pump parts and the items are sanitized. Each bag gets 15 uses!

Love at First Sight

I'm totally new to this blogging stuff, but I thought I would give it a try. I wanted to share my experiences to maybe help even one mom out there. Being a first time mom means every day is a new adventure. Each day my little man teaches me something new! My boy made 5 months on Christmas day, but I'm going to start from day 1. Here we go...

I had decided from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I wanted a drug free delivery. My husband supported me 100% in the decision and we started to take the necessary steps towards our goal. We took Bradley Method classes. This is a husband coached labor. He uses the techniques learned during the class to help you get through each contraction and remind you of your goal. Unfortunately, my labor and delivery didn't go as planned. My son was 10 days late and I had to be induced.

Induction increases your risk for a c-section and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. One c-section could determine your future deliveries. After about 12 hours of labor I gave in to the epidural. After 17 hours of laboring with about 3 hours of pushing, I found my self in the operating room. It was not the birthing experience I planned or hoped to have. I was so sick from the medicine they gave me for the surgery I couldn't even look at my son after he was born. I was trying not to vomit while I was open on the table. I was robbed of those first moments to look at my beautiful baby and hold him and kiss him.  I just had to remind myself the most important thing is a healthy baby and a healthy mom.We had a healthy 7lb 8oz baby boy.

Starting my journey as a new mother trying to recover from surgery presented many challanges. I was unable to sit up, walk, pick up my baby, hold him, etc. The good news is, every day is a little easier than the last, as far as recovery. I was lucky enough to have a very supportive husband and family who helped me take care of our son until I was able to do it on my own.




I think the best things I learned through this experience was
a) Your baby is in charge.
b) Things don't always go as planned no matter how much you prepare.
c) Use a midwife for my next delivery