First Year Must-Haves
I cannot believe baby girl is almost one! Everyone says that babies grow up so fast and they aren't lying. Besides the obvious (naps, wine and friends!), these are the things that I could not have lived without for this first year.
1. We loved our Britax travel system (B-Safe and B-Agile). I read a million reviews and test drove every stroller at Babies R' Us while I was pregnant and I decided on the City Mini stroller. However, Daddio talked me into the Britax (I don't know how, I'm pretty hard to convince anyways but at 6 months pregnant I was a force to be reckoned with) but for the first and only time in his life he was right. I love the Britax. The stroller is light weight, folds with one hand and only takes up half of our Honda Civic's trunk. It rides smooth, has a large canopy and the best part is that the car seat clicks in so easily. So when baby girl decided to nap in the car we could just click her into the stroller without waking her. Love, love, love it. Added bonus is that the Royal Baby, Prince George used the British version of the same car seat, so it must be good.
2. I am obsessed with Pottery Barn Kids. Like most of their products, their hooded towels (and washcloths) are awesome. They are great quality, absorb well and are super soft.
3. Baby girl loves tags and mirrors so this was one of her favorites for almost the entire year. It stands up for tummy time in the early days and later on baby girl would pick it up and put her face right up against it and wave. Hours of baby entertainment.
4. The car seat cover was great for blocking the sun in the car or for keeping a dark, calm place for baby girl to nap while we were strolling. You can usually get this half off or free (just pay s&h), try promo code "FBLOVE" and check out their facebook page.
5. We love our Fisher Price Space Saver high chair. We started using it at about 5 months and it converts to a booster seat for the later years. It is easy to clean and straps to any chair.
6. When baby girl started standing on everything we didn't have much furniture that was the right height. We had a pack of toilet paper we weren't allowed to open because it was perfect height and she loved it so much! We got this LeapFrog musical table from baby girl's aunt and it was perfect. It is sturdy enough to pull up on and entertains her while standing. It plays a ton of songs and makes a lot of different noises so she can get a lot of exercise dancing and bouncing while holding on.
7. I made 99% of baby girl's baby food and I used this Cuisinart immersion blender for everything. It made baby food prep fast and easy and it is easy to clean. Bonus, I now use it to make smoothies for myself.
8. This is the other half of my baby food prep. Once I puréed her food I poured it in this Beaba tray and froze it. I had a whole freezer of ziplock bags with little frozen food cubes. (Check out my posts on baby food basics here and transition to finger foods here)
9. Books! Baby girl rarely sits still long enough for a whole book but something about the cadence of Dr. Seuss's and Sandra Boynton's books, she just loves. Our close family friend/3rd mother to me/lifetime educator gave baby girl most of these books. She knows what babies love! Warning, you will probably memorize half of Boynton's books. "Hey I'm a chicken!!"
10. When we finally decided on baby girl's name I bought this PBK chamois blanket and embroidered her name on it. Not only did I want to seal the deal and not change her name again before her arrival, I had gotten one for our nephew a few years earlier and I loved how it felt. It is soft and warm and the perfect size! We brought her home from the hospital cuddled up with this blanket and are still using it.
11. The 30 Day Shred DVD has three workouts that are only 20 minutes each. Some days that is all of the free time a mama can get and Jillian makes it feel like an hour long workout. You need a couple of hand weights for the workouts but that's it. It definitely will help keep you sane when baby is napping and you just need to move!
