The things they couldn't live without in First Year!

The other thread go me thinking it would be nice to know what are the things you couldn't live with out in First year. My boys are just 2 months old and I love our FP Swings, they take naps in them and the longest one is close to 3hrs if they were in the cribs the nap would only sleep for 30-45 mins tops.
So, so far swings are utlimate livesafer for us.
White noise CDs love them they block the noise in our house while the boys are sleeping.

Lets here it ladies.

 

The first few months, We definitely could not live without the Boppy Newborn Loungers!! We used them all the time until my girls were about 6-7 months old. One of the few baby items that we actually got our $$'s worth of!

 

1. The Moby
2. Baby Einstein videos (great for making dinner!)

Im sure there are more but those are whtas coming to mind!

 

mine are only 4 months but so far i can't live without these...

two fisher price woodland animals rocker/swings (they love it and sleep a lot longer during the day then taking naps in their cribs)

two boppy bouncers

baby einstein baby sounds dvd

playmat with dangling toys they can grab on to

two cribs

our rocker and ottoman

and the changing table since it seems to be the boys favorite place...everytime we put them on it them smile.

 

Oh I forgot two VERY important ones - COFFEE & my sense of humor!!! :rotflmbo:

 

Bouncy seats.

Lullabies/fan for white noise.

Sleep positioners.

Receiving blankets.

Double snap n go.

Backpack diaper bag.

Electric hand mixer for formula.

Dropins bottles.

Disposable diapers and wipes.

Changing station (currently on our dresser, soon to move to the changing table in their room).

Baby gates, including the superyard to fence off my dining room.

Exersaucers.

Bibs.

Highchairs.

 

YES!!!! I 2nd that. I need my Dunkin Donuts Coffee(I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad you can buy it at the store now).

We haven't gotten too much into our stuff, but just with having Merrick home, it would have to be...

Our Itzbeen - It's perfect, espicially with Nat and I passing eachother when I come home from work and she is going out the door to see Marlee. She hands me the Itzbeen and says "Later". I can look at it and see when he is due for his next feed(time since last feed), and when he is due for his 12 hours meds. I don't have to keep a notebook, remember to write things down, etc. Each time he is fed, we just reset the timers.
Also, if I give her a break during the night with him< i don't have to wake her and ask when he ate last, I just grab it. That way, if he is crying, I can look and see that it might have only been an hour since his last feeding, so it's not because the lil man is hungry.

The Bottle Warmer - Perfect! Before we(one of us) goes to bed, we put his 2 bottles and the ice pack in there and fill up the measured amount of water to perfectly heat the amount of formula in the 2 vials. It's makes it so easy and beats walking to the fridge each time...we never have to leave our room.

 

I almost made a post about this, but my VERY favorite, favorite, favorite, (did I mention FAVORITE) thing thus far is:

The Kiddopotomus Swaddle Me. I bought 2 on craigslist to try... now I'm an addict. Almost everything the boys have is 2nd hand (DH & I are unemployed right now), but once I started getting jealous of my DH if I got the kid who had receiving blankets to be swaddled in, in the middle of the night, I marched out to BRU & bought 3 more new. :lol:

Other things:

FisherPrice Aquarium swing. They BOTH love it... whoever's not in it stares at it from a bouncy seat next to it on the floor.

EZ 2 Nurse pillow

Snap N Go stroller


Things we SHOULD have stocked up on:

Rechargeable batteries (D size... see swing above)

 

Graco lovin hug swings! I tried the sweetpeace swing and they did not like it at all!

Miracle blankets

Soothie brand pacifiers

FP bouncers

Baby Bjorn

Graco sound machine and nightlight

 

Things we still use daily and lurve:

Contoured memory foam pillows (use them instead of boppies, love that dip!)

Electric hand mixer - invaluable when mixing clumpy formula like Enfamil AR or when thickening formula

Rival electric hot pot (most consistent, quick bottle warmer I've found, and heats 2 at once)

Snap N Go

Playtex Ventaire bottles (soooo much easier to clean than Dr. Browns and keep just as much air out of our boys' tummies)

Lullaby Soundspa Projector (our boys love to listen to the music while watching the projector turn round and round on the ceiling or wall)

Nursing/sleep bra (if you nurse or PUMP this bra is awesome and works for hands free pumping! I gave up nursing months ago...but still use this bra to sleep in because its so comfy too!)

 

:good: Two very important things, not only in the FY but throughout parenthood. :lol:

Papsan Swings. :good:

Bouncy seats!!

Double snap-n-go

Swaddle blanket. :wub: Only thing that got my dd to sleep.

 

Definitely the swings! I had to laugh about the rechargeable battery comment above. My mom recently went into one of my cabinets the other day and saw a boatload of "C" batteries. She asked me why I had so many. I replied that I didn't want to chance running out since for a while that was the only place they'd sleep! And here it is almost 2 1/2 years later.... :rofl: Now I just have to wait for the bigger toys that require those batteries!

 

-Fisher Price Lamb Swing

-D SIZE BATTERIES FOR SWING!!!

-Pack N Play with changing table(we leave it in the living room so I can change the babies during the day there, also since the babies never slept in it I use it as toy/play gym storage if I don't want my living room cluttered!)

-pacifiers

-Boppys

-play gym

 

My girls are now 5 months

2 FP Aquarium (travel) Swings
2 FB aquarium Bouncy seats

1 exusaucer
1 jumperoo

2 - floor activity mats

Snap and Go

Changing table for living room (1st floor)

Video Monitor (didn't get this until 3 months and wished i had it earlier

I wish I would have stocked up on batteries.

 

i can honestly say that everything we have, we use!

- 2 boppys (we STILL use them at 6 months!)
- 2 swings
- PLAYMAT they LOVED it and love it even more today!
- 2 exersaucers (So far they love playing in them!)
- changing table
- co sleeper
- 2 cribs
- snap and go - so shocked to see so many disliked it! I STILL USE IT!
- 2 infant carriers
- BIBS
- soothies

 

some of our favorites
-Gum drop pacifiers(they wouldn't take any other kind of soother)we had two binki links so we could keep a set of soothers attatched
to their car seats and never had to worry about them throwing them out
-Papsan swing
-2 papsan chairs(they slept in these for two months)
-receiving blankets(we had to swaddle it was the only thing that kept them calm)we also warmed them up in the microwave when they
were cranky
-jumperoo
-razberry teethers-they use them alot now and they are easy to hold
-hand mixer and large tupperware measuring bowl great for making 64 ounces of formula at a time
-sleep sheep(we have the little ones because they fit in their issolettes in NICU)they love the whale sounds
-Bob revolution twin stroller-love that it is light weight and good on all terrains.