My Favorite Things

Before Ben was born, I asked all our friends what baby items they thought were absolutely necessary to have. While I bought everything they reccomended, I haven't had a chance to use all of them yet - for example, the baby monitor - I can't even bare to put him in his crib upstairs alone :)

Here are the things that I think have made a huge difference in our first month with Ben: (Sarah, I'm thinking of you as I write this)

Sheet savers and waterproof pads - you need these everywhere - they will save you from having to wash the changing pad cover and your and baby's sheets often.

Soothie Pacis - the kind they give you in the hospital - thank God you can also buy them at Target. Ben won't take any other kind. Though, I warn you that they're nice when you have a baby that likes to suck, they can be a pain when he wakes up every time it falls out of his mouth.

Baby Papasan chair - this seems to feel most like being held.

Pack and Play with a changing part and bassinet - we use this more than his changing table upstairs! It's basically a downstairs nursery.

Medela microwavable sanitizing bags - you can quickly clean pacis that fall on the floor and anything else that needs to be sanitized without having to run a whole dishwasher.

Baby Gap or Old Navy one piece layette pj's - they have feet and fold-over mittens, great for cold weather and no need to worry about socks or cold hands.

Lots of little wash clothes if you have a boy - for diaper changes, even though they don't prevent a mess completely they make clean up a lot easier!