Infant Indespensables

August 28, 2014 by ahritzak 2 Comments

Alliteration = Always. In other news, it’s that time of year again. Back to school means late nights, stress, long hours at the school preparing a boiling classroom, stress, an inevitable facial breakout, and surprise, surprise a smaller blog presence (please don’t take this as me complaining, I’m just being dramatic….and truthful). Please bear with me as I get back into the routine and continue to beg my mom and grandma to write guest posts (per request).

Since it’s Wednesday, I know you’re dying to hear what we’ve been up to which can be summed up in two words: classroom preparations (more on that coming soon…ish). However, in between sojourns to and from the school, we did manage to accomplish something around the house: taking apart the co-sleeper that is attached to our bed (no we did not dismember Elliot, I’m referring to the actual sleeping contraption). Why is this significant, you may ask? Well, it’s not but it does end the”we have tons of baby crap” chapter in our household (for now). This was the last of the baby gear that we needed to pack away in the basement *tear* so I decided to do a final round-up of some of our favorite items from Elliot’s inaugural year of life.

Note: I realize that the pictures are numbered in a bizarre order. There are 2 reasons for this. a) I have zero eyes for graphic design and b) I thought I’d order the items from most important to most frivolous (but still necessary). Now onto my very qualified reviews:

1 & 2. Ciao! Baby High Chair and Inglesina Hook-On High Chair: It may seem ridiculous to have more than one high chair (In fact we have a third, more traditional high chair that we rarely use so I’d say two is enough 😉 ), but I can assure you that we’ve gotten our money’s worth out of both of these.  The camping chair is super convenient for eating outdoors and is easy to clean/hose (literally) off. We used it at my parents’ pool all summer and for Elliot’s cake non-smash. Moving along, I believe I’ve sung it’s praises before, but the clip-on high chair has been our go-to ever since Elliot could sit up on her own. We take it to every restaurant (no yucky, germ infested high chair for us) and at home we use it on our kitchen island for every mealtime.

3. Lavender Oil: Literally between this and breast milk, we are able to cure all our ailments in this household. You name it, we’ve tried it: eye infections (breast milk not lavender oil), ear aches, rashes, headaches, sleeplessness, diaper rash, stretch marks, mosquito bites, and on and on I could go.  I should probably go ahead and start bottling my breast milk/lavender oil concoction because I love it so much! I haven’t got Justin 100% on board with buying the entire Essential Oil kit…yet. It is definitely going on my Christmas list, so you better watch out because on December 26th, Imma ’bout to become a real oil nut!

4. Britax Convertible Car Seats: I’ve already confessed my love for this brand here, but I’m going to say it again. I LOVE Britax! We graduated to a convertible seat (which means it can go rear or forward facing) when Elliot was around 6 months old because her infant seating was starting to get heavy. We got the Advocate for my car and the Boulevard for Justin’s car, and we cannot sing their praises enough. Not only are they one of the safest seats on the market, but they have a lot of convenient features, and they are made in the U S of A!

5. Ergobaby: I snagged this at TJ Maxx for an amazing price when Elliot outgrew the Moby Wrap. Oh. My. Gosh. What would I do without it?!? I loved baby wearing to begin with, but this just intensified it. This carrier is easy to use, comfortable, versatile (can be worn in the front or on your back), and is a great way to stay bonded with your baby when you’re out and about. My favorite thing about wearing Elliot is that I can constantly be talking and engaging with her while we are running errands and she’s close enough to snuggle and kiss. Also, I just finally figured out how to nurse while wearing her, mommy high five for the win!

6. Baltic Amber Necklace: I was a little skeptical about these at first, but I thought I might as well try one, and so I started putting it on Elliot at about 4 months old. People ask us all the time if we have noticed a difference with her wearing it. Honestly, I have no idea. I really have nothing to compare it to, but I will say this, Elliot is now 13 months old, has 10 teeth, and we have never known when she’s been teething (other than some minor drooling. see #7). For now, I’m certainly on team amber necklaces, but who knows, maybe we just got lucky with an easy teether?!

7. Scabib: It’s exactly what you think, a scarf and a bib combined. When Elliot went through her heavy drooling phase, I struggled to find stylish bibs that would not detract from her fashion sense (first world problem I know). It seemed like every bib on the market had obnoxious colors, cutesy little butterflies or animals, stupid sayings like ‘beary hungry,’ or the absolute worst: all three combined onto one bib. Ugh! Enter the scabib. They’re very stylish and you can find them in neutral colors. Phew! Bib crisis averted!

8. Moccs (preferably gold, but we don’t play favorites and own other colors): Before you go judging me on spending $60 on a pair of baby shoes, I won them on an instagram giveaway! My usual go-to mocc shop is Feather Feet (google it because for some reason their website is down right now and I can’t link to it). Besides being super adorable, these moccs are nice because they have a soft sole which is good for babes just learning to walk. I’m going to continue making this claim for as long as Justin will eat it up, and then I will have to find a new excuse to fuel my mocc addiction. Yes, this might not be a necessity per se (but a scabib definitely is 😉 ), but if a baby needs shoes anyways, you might as well go with these!

Well, that wraps it up for me! It’s been fun looking back at some of our fav baby products and it will be interesting to see if these things will stand the test of time when baby #2 makes an appearance someday (no this is not a hint or announcement).