Baby Gear

This is a different post than I usually do. Kelly is hosting a tour of your favorite baby gear items and I thought I would participate because choosing baby gear was definitely a hard decision for me. I would spend hours each night researching different brands, features, safety ratings, prices, etc., to try and find the perfect items. At first I was so overwhelmed and I was blessed to have so many friends who helped me by telling me what was worth the money and what wasn't. That's what Kelly is trying to do with her tour - help people who are going to have a baby figure out what they need. I don't think I have anyone who's pregnant reading my blog, but I thought it would be fun to look back over things anyway and it gives me an excuse to dig up old pictures of Aaron!

First and foremost is the Pack N Play that is in our bedroom. The absolute best thing we had! Without doubt. We registered for it and decided that if we didn't get it we would not buy it. Thank the Lord that someone got it for us! I have "sold" this exact same Pack N Play to three other moms already. The sound soother, the changing table, the shelves for "stuff" - it's just great. It worked out perfectly when Aaron lived in our room when he first came home, but we are still using the changing table and we use the Pack N Play as an actual playpen now that he's older. We love this thing. It is the best gift we got!

The second best gift we got was the bouncy. We actually didn't get the one we registered for, but it would not have mattered. Aaron has been in several bouncies and he just loves them all. We have only ever had the cheapest of bouncies - not those fancy ones with all the bells and whistles that cost a lot of money. I'm sure those are great, too, but the point is that Aaron just loved the bouncy - any bouncy.

In fact, we almost bought a second bouncy because we were carting this one all over the house. We may do that when we have another child. The one we had cost less than $30.

The thing that we absolutely used the most and had to buy many more of were swaddle blankets. There are different opinions on swaddling your baby and I know some babies don't take to it, but ours did and the swaddle blankets made it SO easy. We would gladly buy stock in the company that makes them!
As far as 'toys' go, we had the activity mat, activity gym, exersaucer and jumperoo. There were times in Aaron's life that he loved each one of those things, but the phases never seemed to last very long. Honestly, I was glad that we had received those things as gifts and I'll definitely pull them out for the next child, but Aaron always did really well on the floor with a blanket, so...
Oh, the swing. This wonderful, wonderful swing. There was a period when Aaron LOVED the swing. It was also (relatively) short-lived, but so worth having it for the time when it was his favorite thing. That was a fussy age and the swing was wonderful.

Here's something that I didn't use as much as I thought I would. People sing the praises of the Boppy. I mostly used it for photo ops. While I was in the hospital, my husband bought a glider/rocker that I swore I wouldn't use (Papa John witnessed this conversation). I used that thing constantly. All the time. Still do. Probably the best money we ever spent. This is why I submit to my husband - he is much wiser than I am. Anyway, the way the arm rests are on that chair, I didn't need a pillow for feeding Aaron. I did need one when I fed him on his bed, but I just grabbed a regular pillow from the bed for that. So the Boppy was somewhat wasted on me, though it did make for good pictures of Aaron.

The Bumbo is another such item. I was told the Bumbo was the greatest thing ever. And it was. For about four weeks. Up until he was certain age, he wouldn't get in the thing. Once we decided he liked it, it was wonderful. But then he learned to sit on his own and wouldn't have anything to do with it again. Maybe if he had taken longer to learn to sit or he had taken to the Bumbo earlier, I could have gotten more use out of it.
Here's something that I didn't use. I don't even have a picture of it. I am sooo glad that this was a hand-me-down. Our travel system stroller with the infant carseat. Aaron hated the infant seat. He hated it pretty much from the beginning. We went to a convertible carseat very early and it made a huge difference in road trips for us. As far as the stroller, I used it one time. Once. It was traumatic and I never used it again. Then he got big enough to go jogging with Daddy, so the jogging stroller that Grandad and Mimi gave us went into use big time. That's what we use for walking now. And when I go anywhere (like the zoo), I just throw the umbrella stroller in the trunk. It is so easy and it works well for little outings. We bought the A&M umbrella stroller when we were pregnant. It's one of the few things we bought and it was well worth the investment.
Other things that we didn't use: we did not go with a diaper genie or diaper pail of any kind. My friend told me about Sassy Sacks and that's what we use. They are easy and smell good and take up no space. It was the way to go for us. The same friend told me not to get a wipe warmer because it dries out the wipes. So we didn't and we haven't had any problems. I think those may be the only two baby items we did not get, though. We were SO blessed by our friends and relatives and Mr. Aaron has absolutely reaped the rewards. And, as a parting gift, here's a picture from today. Aaron and I had lunch with my friend Allison and her beautiful daughter Kate. Kate is just precious. Aaron thinks so, too.