A lot has changed in just a few months. Baby A is now super mobile and thisclose to walking. With all those changes, our list of musts has changed too. The basics are still super important and we still use most of those every day. But in addition to the previous list, we have baby-proofed the house (and are working on house proofing the baby!), updated her wardrobe and learned a lot.
More Baby Proofing:
- Child Baby Safety Cabinet Lock Latch / 2 Pack / Color White We use these for cabinets that we don’t really care if she gets into, such as the tupperware cabinet.
- 8 LOCKS + 2 KEYS – Premium Magnetic Cabinet & Drawer Safety Locks for Home Baby Proofing by far the best and easiest to use cabinet locks. They weren’t awful to install, you can hardly tell they are installed and are super easy to use!
- Safety 1st Grip n’ Twist Door Knob Decor Covers – Black – 3 ct We have these on the doors that lead outside and the bathroom doors. A can’t reach the knobs yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
Feeding:
- Magic Bullet Baby Bullet Baby Care System It helps to have an extra blender since we make most of her food.
- Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup, Green/Blue, 7 Ounce, 2 Count A really doesn’t understand how these work yet but I’m sure she’ll get a hang of it eventually.
- Nuby Garden Fresh Freezer Tray with Lid (Colors may vary) These make freezing homemade baby food a breeze. I can’t imagine making our own food without them!
- NUK Freezer Tray ditto above
- OXO Tot Baby Blocks Freezer Storage Containers – Green see above again
- Spuni BPA-Free Feeding Spoon in Neon & Playful Pink specifically designed for breast-feeding babies these spoons are great and a bit less messy than the traditional spoons!
- Sage Spoonfuls Spoonfuls Big Batch Storage Set – 4 oz – 12 ct These are wonderful for mixing flavors and for the block created by the Nuby and the Nuk freezer trays.
- Gerber Graduates Soft-Bite Infant Spoons in Assorted Colors, 2-count These are A’s preferred spoons now. Mostly because she likes chewing on the metal ends, which I’m sure feels great on her gums!
- Soft Bib 2 Pack (Blue/Blue) These are a must with all the rice puff she’s been eating lately!
- aden + anais Muslin Burpy Bib, Jungle Jam, 2 count we used to use these as burp rags, now we use them as bibs. They’re great because she just pulls off these: Neat Solutions 8 Pack Multi-Color Solid Knit Terry Feeder Bib, Girl . But the snap means the aden + anais ones actually stay on!
- Plum Organics Baby Food Variety Pack of Fruits and Veggies 2nd Foods with Article by K. Jergenson We use these for school and to keep as an emergency snack in the diaper bag. They actually taste like real food, I promise!
- Nuby No-Spill Super Spout Grip N’ Sip, Red and Blue, 4 Plus Months, 2 Count We have these and fill them with water so A can get used to drinking from them.
- Most of our recipes come from Start Fresh: Your Child’s Jump Start to Lifelong Healthy Eating by Tyler Florence. Plus, I don’t have to fake liking the food if I make it.
- Some of our other recipes from: Bébé Gourmet: 100 French-Inspired Baby Food Recipes For Raising an Adventurous Eater We anticipate using this more and more as she gets older.
Teething necessities:
- Baby Banana Bendable Training Toothbrush, Infant We have two and she LOVES them.
- Nuby Icybite Hard/Soft Teething Keys We gave these to A on a very long road trip and she was very happy.
- Hyland’s Baby Teething Tablets, 67 Doses of Natural Baby Teething Pain and Irritability Relief, 135 Count These are great in between Advil doses.
- Baltic Amber Teething Necklace For Babies A doesn’t wear this enough to reap the benefits honestly.
- Bright Starts Teether, Chill A doesn’t love these but will gnaw on them in a pinch.
- Teething Bling gemstones necklace moonstone I love that no one can tell this is a teether until I point it out!
- Infant’s Advil This works a lot better than the Tylenol we started out using. It lasts longer and A takes it a lot better. We prefer the dye free because no one needs a purple spotted couch.
- NUK Soothasaurus Rubber Dinosaur Sensory Development Toy, Assorted Colors I received one of these as a Smile360 mom and A actually loves it more than her beloved Sophie. The squeak is easier to obtain and the rubber is a different texture.
Toys:
- Fisher-Price Baby’s First Blocks and Rock Stack Bundle She loves these! The next toys we buy will be a set of wooden blocks!
- Random ball she pulled into the cart at Babies R Us
- Books we could swim in books. A has a bookshelf in her room that is nearly brimming with books. Board books for now and some chapter books for later. She is getting more and more interested in reading as she gets older.
Misc:
- We love the rash guard from Hanna Anderson for A’s swimming lessons. It’s great for the swim diapers and great for keeping ahold of a wiggly baby!
- Munchkin Nursery Projector and Sound System, White This has replaced our on the go version except at school. We just needed something that wasn’t going to eat batteries every couple of days. This one plugs in. She is really ambivalent about the projector though.
Things A has outgrown or is quickly growing out of:
Swaddles – as soon as she could roll over we stopped using these. We tried the wearable blankets, but A wasn’t in to them. She now sleeps with a lovie and a very light blanket in her crib. Yes, she can roll over. yes, she can pull it away from her face. Yes, we check on her regularly throughout the night. Yes, she is still getting up a couple of times a night to nurse.
Nursing pillows – A just doesn’t like them anymore. Which means less work for me, so I’m all for it.
Play mat– pretty much as soon as A could roll over and crawl away, she became super uninterested in her playmat.
Jumper/Exersaucer – She tolerates this still for short periods of time, but actually prefers her pack and play because she can pull up to standing and can move around.
Pacifiers – she can take them or leave them except at nap time and bed time. Sometimes she just doesn’t want them at all.