To be honest, I have been feeling a lack in inspiration... trust me, I have plenty to write about in terms of material. I mean my 2 year old shit on the floor last week & my son had a recent trip to the ER. But I am struggling to put together a piece that feels both authentic & substantial.
That being said, in an effort to find inspiration I went back and read some of my favorite blogs. Almost every single one of these women talk about their favorite, must have baby products. SO… here you are friends, Samantha Smith’s top 10 baby products, you’re welcome! Owlet Monitor This. Is. EVERYTHING. I seriously love this little piece of magic. I spent who knows how much time standing over Holiday watching her breathe. Let’s be real she is two and I still get up to check and make sure her chest is rising and falling. The owlet monitor is a little sock that wraps around your baby’s foot and gives constant stats directly to your phone. I literally check Wyatt’s Oxygen and heart rate several times a night right from my phone! I also subscribed to Owlet’s connected care, which gives you averages of your baby’s oxygen level, heart rate, and sleep time. Recently this little jewel has become FSA/HSA approved!! Holler! Truly the best $300 pre tax dollars you’ll ever spend. **When asked what would be the absolute necessary product you would need if I was gone for a period of time, my husband answered that the Owlet monitor is a must for dads!** Snuggle Me We co slept with Holiday all the time. Which was both wonderful & scary at the same time. A huge source of my anxiety following giving birth to Holiday were these huge decision that you make as a parent, like whether to co sleep or not. I knew that there may be times with Wyatt that Steve and I would have Wyatt in our bed so the Snuggle Me Organic was a logical purchase for us. It is a lounger that is made from all organic materials. The lounger has a center sling in which the baby is cradled in and the sides of the lounger should prevent you or your partner from rolling over into the baby’s space. In our house we use it for sleeping, lounging in the living room, and is one of the only ways I can get a shower in on those crazy days when Wyatt has to be in the room with me wherever I go. - I just set him up in the lounger on the floor and generally with the white noise and steam from the shower he gets probably one of the best naps! They also have super cute covers that are machine washable, which is perfect for expert blowout-ers like my son :) Premium Auto Rock 'n Play Sleeper with SmartConnect ... OMG this thing right here is straight up amazing. There were so many nights that I would sit in my living room with Wyatt in his sister’s old rock n play and with my foot in the side of the rocker and a glass of wine in my hand I would rock him until he fell asleep. The premium auto rock n play rocks all by its damn self! The rocker also has a built in sounds machine and a projector that projects a little show on to the inside of the overhead canopy. Oh! And bonus you can control ALL of this from your phone! HALO - SleepSack Wearable Blankets - Safe Sleep for Babies Do you even swaddle bro? Both of my kids are burrito babies. The more snug the swaddle the better. Take this evening for example, Wyatt was WIDE. AWAKE. Bright eyed bushy tailed, whatever cute obnoxiously awake-ism you want to use..he was it. After a while though, like all small humans, he started to get fussy. Insert Halo Sleep Sack. I swaddled him, stuck a binky in his mouth and Voila! He’s asleep in literally like 2.5 seconds! I was shocked as hell to find out when we were in the hospital after I had Wyatt that FMC used these sleep sacks for their newborns!... see! I knew I was doing something right. Little Remedies® Gripe Water | Little Remedies Burp, Fart, Grunt, repeat! My were and still are HELLA GASSY. I feel like the first two months of both of their little lives were spent red faced & pushing out some sort of gas. “But on the third day…” oops sorry wrong story, no but seriously, insert Angel choir here, GRIPE FREAKING WATER has saved us! Magic little homeopathic bubbles to help calm the bubbliest of bubble guts, i.e. my children. You can use it in their bottles, before or after feedings, at bed time, whenever! If you have a gassy tiny human, go buy this stuff! In our house we use the Little Remedies brand, but I’m pretty sure all gripe waters are created equal Kiinde Pumping System Pump, Pump, Pump it up! I struggled to breastfeed with both of my babies. So I pumped and am still pumping to this day. The nice thing about this time around is I have the Kiinde, which comes with Every. Single. Pump adapter so that you can pump into little storage bags to help keep air out and gas at bay for your little one! The system also comes with a special bottle warmer that is like a jacuzzi for breast milk, the theory behind it is it gently heats the breast milk, so that it does not lose any of the essential nutrients. I serious love this thing! Oh! And you can purchase the system as well as any extra parts using your FSA as well! Baby K'tan Baby Carriers and Wraps Not all wraps are created equal! With Holiday I had tried several different baby wearing gadgets and was unsatisfied with all of them. But with Wyatt I had read several reviews about the k’tan wrap and decided to give it a try. It is SO easy to use… easy enough my husband put it on last night, put Wyatt in it and did dishes… yes, he is amazing, and no he is not available… duh. I went grocery shopping today with both kids, both two years or younger and had my hands to grab my groceries and intercept my daughter from grabbing a grapefruit that would’ve caused a good section of the produce section to become a tripping hazard. The wrap had two loops that you can easily maneuver, as seen in the instructions either in the packaging that the wrap comes in or on their website. Place them over your head, put your arms through them, follow few more steps and you are good to go. Baby wearing at its finest! Lovey My family is big on loveys. I had Charlie, a stuffed bear my dad gave me for.ev.er. Seriously you can ask my siblings, my parents, my best friends, my husband, this little guy went everywhere with me...well into be considered an adult I must add embarrassingly. Charlie has been to Mexico, Peru and Spain, as well as encountered drunken trips in Vegas and Portland… anyways enough about me… I mean Charlie… Holiday has her “mimi” its a blanket that she sleeps with every. Single. Night. This blanket is a huge source of comfort for her. She cries for it when she is upset, when she first started at school we allowed her to bring it with her as she adjusted to her new normal. Kids get freaked out over stuff and if a blanket or a bear can make shit just a little less scary I say let them have it! *fun fact - I read an article that if you and family members sleep with various blankets and then introduce them upon bringing a new baby home from the hospital, it will help the child identify with those people and their specific scents.** WubbaNub Infant Pacifier Anyone who knows me after I had my daughter, knows I have a love hate relationship with wubbanubs. First, they are amazing. The little animal attached to the pacifier not only allows for a little buddy but has also helped keeping the pacifier in place for a fussy or sleeping baby but it also makes it a lot harder to lose. Holiday used the SHIT out of her wubbanubs (yes there were multiple) we weaned her from these little guys only a few months ago… yes she is two, yes the pacifier states 0 to 6 months. Don’t judge hater. Prosecco Mamas, drink the hell up! Personally I am on my 3rd glass of prosecco for the evening and I have to say I pretty impressed at the fact that I can still spell. A little indulgence goes a long way… screw moderation! ...and thank God for spell check. Xoxo, Sam
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AuthorFull time working mama, anxious /introvert & sometimes chronic over sharer. On the wild runaway train of raising a pre-teen stepdaughter, a sassy toddler and welcoming a newborn. Archives
February 2018
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