5. The Breathablebaby Mesh Bumper. When I was prego with Boo, I was so excited to pick out his bedding. We found a really cute bumper, sheet, and crib skirt on eBay. I was a little reluctant about the bumper because of the risks of suffocation, entrapment, etc. But, this one was really thin and fit tightly against the crib rails and I figured we could use it until Boo became mobile. Well, let's just say it lasted until I had to change the crib sheet for the first time! It took me forever to get the sheet off and a new one back on with the mattress pad in place and with the crib bumper on! After wrestling with the mattress and bumper for um about twenty minutes, I quickly untied the knots (yes, knots b/c I was trying to safely attach the bumper) and tossed the bumper under the crib! So, one problem was solved...easier to change the sheet. Another problem emerged...papeyers going behind the crib in the middle of the night! Oh brother! So, I found this wonderful mesh bumper! It's very thin (although padded enough to provide cushion for rolling babies) and easy to change the sheet. The mesh makes it breathable so, if baby ends up with his face in it, he can still breathe. And, it keeps arms, legs, and papeyers safely in the confines of the crib!! Hallelujah!! The only drawback is the color selections. Only a few colors as of now and they're mostly pastel.
4. Halo Sleepsack. We used to swaddle Boo Bear, but when the time came for the arms to be free, this is what we went with for nap time and nighttime. It just seemed like the footie jammers were too hot for summertime and just a onesie would be too cold. We didn't want to put a blanket on him because of suffocation, etc. Our solution...to wear a long sleeve onesie and a light weight sleepsack. I love knowing he's not wrapped up in a big blanket, that he's not roasting in footie jammers, and let's face it...he's ADORABLE all snuggled up in it! See video!
3. Jump and Go. See our previous post video about this great doorway jumper. This is truly how I've been able to cook this week!
2. The Swaddleme wrap. This is a must have for newborns! G quickly outgrew the receiving blankets for swaddling. He was just too big. We'd often find him awake, totally out of the blanket. So, we tried leaving his arms out of the receiving blankets, and that didn't work either because his flailing arms would wake him up! With the swaddleme wrap, he was snug as a bug in a rug! This worked great for us until he wanted his arms FREE! Although, I will admit, after a while the Velcro didn't work as well as we would have liked.
And our #1 baby product is...the Summer Infant Handheld Video Monitor!
I don't know what we would have done without this one! We debated about whether we should spend the extra money on this video monitor. Our friend, Rachel kept telling about how much she loved it, so we decided to go for it, especially after receiving a bunch of gift cards and a coupon for this particular monitor in the mail. I'm sooo glad we did! If we didn't have this gem, I would have been in his room all the time (probably waking him up)! You can even see him breathing, the picture is so good! When we hear him cry, we can take a peek at the screen and see if he needs his papeyer, if he's stuck on his belly, or if he has everything and is just fussing (in which case we leave him for 5 minutes before going in). It's also entertaining. We watch him play with his papeyer, talk, roll around, spin, etc. I'm so glad we took your advice Rachel and got this monitor!!! For those of you with 2 babies, a friend of mine has the monitor and 2 cameras and one camera is set on channel A and the other on channel B so she can switch b/w the rooms on the handheld device.
Honorable Mentions: So, as I was typing this up I thought of a couple more things to add, but with the bulk of the post complete and how difficult it is to go back and add photos (does anyone have this problem?) I thought I'd just list them here.
1. Crib Mobile! Thanks BeBe for this one. It allows for some independent play with his "friends".
2. G's ya-ya (security blankie). He uses it to help him fall asleep. So cute to watch him knead it while drifting to sleep. Thanks to Granny for getting us another one, should we ever lose the original!!
3. Baby Einstein DVD's. Okay, here's the deal. I'm not crazy about letting G watch TV. I don't want him to be a couch potato. But, there are times when nothing else works!!! So, we save it for those times when we don't know what else to do with him and it almost always guarantees about 30 minutes of entertainment for our Boo!
Do you have any to add to the list?
Oh, and the best baby use for a non baby product goes to.... our large inflatable exercise ball!! G wasn't much on rocking, but he loved to bounce! For the longest time it was the only way we could soothe him...hold him, sit on the ball and bounce. I even watched Oprah one day with him in the baby bjorn and me bouncing on the ball! ha! Luckily he's able to soothe himself a little bit better now (with papeyer and ya ya in tow) and we haven't had to bounce that much lately.
