Infant Must Haves - Fall 2011

In the past I've occasionally done some posts with our current "must haves" (4-5 mo, 15 mo).  I thought the time surrounding James' birth was as good a time as any to update these lists.  I found when shopping for James that a lot has changed in almost three years!  There are a lot of new products out there that weren't available when Charlotte was born but a lot of it is the same also.  So here are the things that I had to have for James before he was born.  I'll try and do a post with what we actually used in a few weeks!

Baby Tracker

I've tweeted maybe about the Baby Tracker but I don't think I've blogged about it.  We used one when Charlotte was born and it was great for this OCD, Type-A Mom to keep up with feedings, naps, diapers, etc.  It also came in handy reminding me what to do schedule wise with James at first!

Car Seat Arm Cushion

Why hadn't someone thought of this when Charlotte was born?!?!  Those car seat carriers are monstrous and weigh so much that they dig into your arm while you're carrying them and your baby around.  I love that Padalily has now come up with a cushion for the handle so that you don't feel (as much) like your arm is going to be cut in half while you're carrying the car seat!

Diaper Bag

It's hard finding a diaper bag that isn't too girly and, honestly, this one doesn't really scream "boy" but I finally decided that the bag was more for me than it was for him so I was going to get what I wanted.  I fell in love with the Petunia Pickle Bottom Juniper Berry Cosmopolitan Carryall and Jason was sweet enough to appease my want.  I feel like it's a good size and that I'm going to enjoy carrying it for the foreseeable future! 

Memory Foam Changing Pad

Now this makes me feel sorry for Charlotte having to get changed on a plain old plastic changing pad.  James has his very own memory foam changing pad from Ah Goo Baby!  It's a little smaller than I imagined that it was going to be (length-wise) but amazingly it rolls up about as tight as Charlotte's plastic pad so it doesn't take up too much space.  The germaphobe in me especially loves that you can take the foam part out and wash the cover which, to me, is honestly my favorite feature!  As a sidenote, I ordered mine from Zulily so if you're looking to get it and not pay full price I'd watch there for another sale.

Diaper/Wipes Bag

When Charlotte was born I made a diaper holder for her diaper bag but even though I had it on my to-do list all summer, I just never found time to make James one.  Oh the sadness of being the second child! :)  So I went to Etsy to find one and found this one at Baby Penelope and snatched it up.  I was very pleased when it arrived because it's great quality and will help me keep James' diaper bag a little more organized.  I love having diaper bags like this, especially when they get a little older, because it makes it easy to just have this packed and switch it out between bags when we start switching from diaper bag to backpack, etc.

Wetbag

I bought a wetbag for Charlotte when she was born but it's made up of fabric with pink flowers and I'm still using it for her so I need another one for James.  I again searched Etsy and found this one from Sweet Bobbins.  When it arrived I was again impressed with the quality and it's bigger than Charlotte's which is nice.  These come in so handy at all ages because I try to keep an extra outfit in the bag so that if a blowout or accident happens I can stick the dirty clothes in the wetbag and put the clean clothes on without getting anything else in the diaper bag dirty.

Elephant Ears

When Charlotte was born it didn't even cross my mind that she wouldn't be able to hold her head up for a while and might need a little more support than the standard car seat could provide.  So Mom had to run out for an emergency Target run to find some head supporters that we used at the beginning when she was in the car seat.  Since then they've come up with "elephant ears" to help support babies heads and I love the look of them more than the plain ones we had for Charlotte!

Bag Tags

My go to paper source is Doodle Bugs Paper.  Kacey gets me set up with everything from stationery to stickers to calling cards.  But one of the first things that I ordered after we found out James was a boy were multiple sets of notecards and bag tags.  I chose the blue fish tags and ordered three for James.  It makes me happy to have such fun tags to go on his bags and having multiples mean that I don't have to switch them around when we switch bags.  

Little Brother/Big Sister Outfits

I found a "Little Bro" gown for James in Tuscaloosa and searched high and low before getting My Personalized T-Shirt to custom make me a "Big Sis" shirt for Charlotte to wear that matched the look of James' gown.  I love seeing them in their coordinating outfits! The first of many, many more to come!

*Note: No one asked me to review any of this and I wasn't given anything to write this post.  These are all my genuine opinions!