Five Faves: Baby, baby!

Linking up with Jenna again today!

I thought it'd be fun to revisit this time last year, when we were getting ready to welcome Baby Ruthie and bring a newborn into our house for the first time in five years.   We'd gotten rid of most of our baby stuff, since we'd had to move across the country and less stuff = less cost, and I was starting to think about what kinds of things I needed to have around.   There wasn't much on my "must have" list....very unlike when we first brought Joseph home and I thought we needed oh so much stuff....and I thought it'd be fun to boil it down to my five favourite baby goodies (minus the car seat because, well, that's kind of self-explanatory that it's a "must have").....

Here we go!

1.

Diapers

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I'm a cloth diaper fan, after being converted to cloth when Joseph was about 8 months old.  We were struggling to find a disposable diaper that didn't make him break out in a rash (darn redheads and their sensitive skin!), so we switched to cloth.  I've never gone back!   We do use disposables here and there (when traveling, when I forget to start the laundry, when we have a babysitter), but we primarily use these diapers.  I bought them 10 years ago, with Joseph, and they've now on their 6th baby of use, since we loaned them out a couple of times to friends.  Love love love them.

2.

A Moby Wrap

I was such a clueless first time mom with Joseph.  Baby wearing?  What the heck is that?

I learned quickly when Mr Graham came along.   Sitting down and cuddling a baby who wanted to sleep, or carrying a baby around everywhere just wasn't alway an option when I also had a 17-month old toddling around.   The Moby was by-far my favourite wrap for a young infant, and it was the first thing to go onto my "must have" list when we went shopping for Miss Ruthie.

3.

Bottles

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I knew, from previous experience, that breastfeeding wasn't going to be an exclusive thing for me and Miss Ruthie.   I'd tried so incredibly hard with the three boys to make it an exclusive thing, and each time, I ended up having to supplement with formula and I felt like an incredible failure of a mother when we moved that way.   I decided with Miss Ruthie that I wasn't going to push me or her as hard as I had with the boys (No pumping.   No medications.  Supplements, maybe, but no pharmaceuticals.   No weight checks.)   The stress of the constant scrutiny and worry and then the mad dash to the store to buy bottles and formula just wasn't going to happen, especially because Mr Theo was coming home a mere month after Ruthie was born.   Just nope.

I'd learned with the three boys that these bottles were our favourite brand. They went back on the "must have" list, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they now had a glass bottle version available.    Definitely a top-five item for us.

4.

A good swing

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This swing may have been the best investment, ever, this time around.  Because of it, I've actually gotten sleep while the baby was stuffed up/sick.   And Ruthie's gotten naps while the big kids were being, well, the big kids.   I love it and will probably cry on the day that Ruthie grows out of it.    It moves so smoothly, and so quietly, and ....best feature......it PLUGS IN!   No more constant supply (and purchasing) of batteries.  No more running out of batteries just when you need it most.....I seriously love this thing!

5.

A Co-Sleeper

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I'm kind of cheating on this one, because we already owned it (it was the one piece of baby stuff that I didn't sell when we moved, because I loved it that much and it works great as a portable crib when babysitting other people's babies!), but it would definitely be on my must-have list if we didn't already own it.

We typically don't bedshare (unless I happen to accidentally fall asleep while feeding the baby!), because of some previous experiences that Mike had in medical school/residency.   Once you see a bad outcome, it's awfully  hard to forget it, unfortunately.   Instead, we co-sleep with one of these side-car contraptions with our babies.   For me, it's a great compromise between bedsharing and the whole "baby-must-be-in-her-own-crib" viewpoints.   She's still close enough for me to soothe at night or to wake up quickly and get to her as soon as she starts to fuss, but yet she's slightly removed from our actual bed and those bad memories.

Our co-sleeper is similar to this one, just a slightly older model (and different colour).  I've been extremely happy with it and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to buy one!

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So, there you have it, my "must-have" list that had to be marked off before Ruthie made her appearance last spring.   Once we'd checked these things off, I was actually able to relax my pregnant-mom-crazy-brain slightly and focus on the actual process of bringing our little girl home.   

Kind of.   

I still had a good chunk of that crazy-brain, even after securing these things.   Knowing that Mike was leaving 2 weeks after my due date to fly around the world and bring Mr Theo home helped keep a little bit of that crazy-brain around.......

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Have a great day, y'all!