Baby Gear: Six Months In

Now that Claire is six months old already {still can't get over it!} I thought I'd share some of the baby items we've purchased and loved since her birth. 

Diapering

We started using our cloth diapers when we moved to Seattle back in July. They are working out great so far! I don't foresee us purchasing more than our original set of twelve unless we have another little one while Claire is still in diapers. I won't go into detail about how we wash them because there's already so much information online {here's a really great post about the exact same diapers we use} but I will say that we just have to wash them every other day. Easy peasy. We do have several accessories that go along with cloth diapering: 

- Planet Wise hanging wet bag. A sweet gift from our lovely friends, Tim and Abigail. We store all the dirty diapers in here until it's laundry time. It does at great job of keeping the stench at bay and we can just toss it in the wash along with the diapers. 

- GroVia cloth wipes. We have thirty-six of these and that's more than enough. We keep a spray bottle filled with water on Claire's dresser and just mist the wipes before using them. They get tossed in the wet bag too and then into the same load as everything else.  I get a weird sense of satisfaction from not needing any sort of diaper pail or trash can in the nursery! 

- Bum Genius diaper sprayer. This attaches to our toilet and is used to spray down particularly messy diapers before they're stored in the wet bag between washes. It becomes more and more of a necessity as babies start solid food and other things also become more...solid. 

Feeding 

- Life Factory glass bottles. Ever since we had to start supplementing with formula, Claire usually nurses three times and has three to four bottles a day. When she outgrew the smaller four-ounce bottles, we invested in two more nine-ounce ones. So, now we have two of the small size and four of the large size. When we introduce a sippy cup of water in a few months, we'll bring out the small bottles again with the coordinating sippy cup tops.

-The First Years single electric pump. I had a manual pump, also by The First Years, that I used for most of the summer. With all of our traveling, I did a lot of pumping and it eventually bit the dust. Besides the forearm workout, it was actually really nice to have a manual pump on our trips because I could easily use it on the go. I'm weird about nursing in public and Claire was a very slow eater back then, so it was easier to give her a bottle while we were out and about. Now, I use the electric pump every night while we're watching tv after Claire's gone to bed. I was a little worried about our decision not to shell out the big bucks for a Medela pump, but it's only used once a day and I've had no problems so far {almost two months in}.

- Munchkin formula dispenser. Just a few bucks at Target and so nice for when you're out of the house all day.

- Baby Bullet. This was a surprise gift from my parents. Being the expert coupon-clippers they are, they got it for a steal at Macy's. Since we don't have a food processor, it's been really handy for whipping up Claire's purees.

- Fisher Price healthy care booster seat. A very sweet gift from our awesome friends, Brett and Natasha. Since it's used with a regular chair, it's a great space-saver for apartment living. After my experience as a nanny, I knew I wanted a booster seat with absolutely no fabric so it would be really easy to wipe down. Even the fabric that is supposed to be stain-repellant always gets gross when confronted with baby food. The price also can't be beat!

- Baby Bjorn bibs. Well, they can be put in the dishwasher. And they're pretty darn cute!

- Gerber soft bite infant spoons. Since we just started purees, they're the only baby dishes or utensils we've needed so far.

Nursery



- Ikea Gulliver Crib. I like the simple lines and I love the price tag. But, we didn't really enjoy how two of the pieces were broken and Adam had to drive all the way back to Ikea to replace them.

- Simmons Kids Slumber Time Naturally crib mattress. We were planning to get a mattress at Ikea when we picked up the crib, but all the mattresses there seemed weirdly soft. This was the firmest one we found in store at Target.

- American Baby Company quilted waterproof mattress pads. We have three of these, along with three crib sheets, and that seems to be the perfect number for us. We got them on sale and were surprised to find that they really are just pads rather than normal mattress covers that go around the mattress like fitted sheets do. Getting them to stay in place while changing the sheets is a little annoying, but not really a big deal.

- Angelcare movement and sound monitor. Did you know that when someone returns an online purchase to a store, Target automatically marks it down to fifty percent off? We were planning to buy a more basic monitor, but when we saw this one for about the same price, of course we couldn't pass it up. When we were really worried about Claire in the beginning, the motion sensor gave us so much peace of mind.

- Munchkin changing pad. We just have one cover for this, a Goodwill find, but in the first couple of weeks when diaper changes tended to get a little out of control, a back-up would have been really nice.


Toys and Books

 - Evenflo doorway jumper. Claire is pretty petite, so she's just now big enough for this. But she {usually} loves it! Today she had such a fit of the giggles while sitting in there. Honestly, I love having something to contain her when I need to get a few things done. And I love that it's so much more compact than an exersaucer.

- Haba baby's first blocks and Green Sprouts stacking cups. We don't have a Bumbo chair, so we sometimes sit Claire in her high chair to play. She loves pushing the blocks around on the tray, unstacking the cups, and throwing everything around for her mom to pick up. It's endless fun. 

- Sassy go go bugs. These were the first toys Claire was really interested in. She was happy to stare and smile at them in her car seat forever, it seemed like.

- Bright Starts lots of links. Claire is a huge fan of these, especially when she's in a teething mood. 

- Melissa & Doug linking crab and Gund rainbow caterpillar. Rattles are always a hit. She has these and several others that were received as gifts. She's especially obsessed with a little musical dog; you can see Claire mauling him in this video.

- The Bible For Little Ones and The Catholic Faith For Little Ones. I love all the board books from the Magnificat. We also gave Claire the "My First Pictures of Easter" one {for Easter, obviously} and the "My First Bedtime Prayers" one as a baptism present. The illustrations are so sweet! 

Random Stuff 

- Babies R Us stroller rain cover. Well, it's pretty rainy here in Seattle and we live within walking distance of our regular haunts {the grocery store, the library, etc} so this definitely comes in handy. 

- Bricca UV Alert sun shades. With all that rain, we don't have to worry too much about sun exposure here, but these are still nice to have for longer car trips. Although, I'm pretty sure we forgot to bring them on our trip to Vancouver, so clearly they don't get a lot of use. 

- J.L. Childress stroller and car seat travel bags. We flew to Texas and Florida when Claire was really small, so we checked everything else and just kept her in the baby carrier. Our car seat and stroller {just the regular Graco stuff} have made it through four flights unscathed. We've just used the regular pack-n-play storage bag so far, but how cute {and smart!} are these travel bags?

- Booginhead pacifier holder. After lunging to retrieve Claire's pacifier off the dirty floor at church for the thousandth time, we finally got some pacifier holders. Then, she promptly decided she doesn't need pacifiers anymore, of course. 

- Skip Hop outdoor blanket and cooler bag. This bag zips out to a wipeable outdoor blanket and has an insulated pouch. It's perfect for picnics when the sun is shining! We also use it every week for play group; I just use the insulated pouch to bring along some toys.

P.S. I also chatted way too much about baby gear right after Claire made her big debut!