Baby Products I Could Not Have Lived Without This Past Year

This post has been a long time coming. So many of you have asked my favorites in a lot of these categories, so here are my opinions! Feel free to leave your own. Or, if there is something that you couldn't have lived without be sure to let me know so I can try it!

Equipment:

1) Bugaboo Stroller for the navigating the city streets

2) Maclaren Quest Stroller for traveling and trips around town that require a taxi

3) Jumperoo

4) Swing

5) Baby Bjorn

6) Bumbo

7)  Playmat

 8) Alphabet Playmat

 

Nursery:

1) Pottery Barn Harper Crib

(I found mine at the Pottery Barn outlet!)

2) Beautiful Crib Bedding and Accessories from Monarch Creations

(see right sidebar for coupon code)

3) Pottery Barn Rocker Dream Swivel Glider

(We found ours at the Potter Barn outlet!)

4) Colgate Classica I Foam Crib Mattress

5) Waterproof Lap/Crib Pads

(great for changing table so you don't have to change your cover every time and also good in basinette/crib...you can't have enough of these!)

6) Rumble Tuff Changing Pad'& Rumble Tuff Changing Pad (4 sided)

7) Pottery Barn Canvas Toy Storage Bags

(I bought mine on Craig's List brand new!)

8) Storage Baskets for baby

Feeding:

1) Born Free Bottles (worked the best for my reflux child when I quit nursing)

2) Nuby Sippy Cups (we like the straw cups the best)

3) Munchkin Spoons

4) Bumkin Bibs

5) Earth's Best Soups

6) Baby Mum Mums

7) Gerber Organic Apple/Strawberry

8) Yogurt Melts

9) Green Puffs

10) YoBaby 

Bath Time:

1) Fisher Price Whale Tub

2) Pottery Barn Towel for infants

(this was one of my favorite when Baby J was little)

3) Mullins Square Towel for bigger baby and toddler (they have two sizes and the larger size is perfect for our 1 year old)

4) Skip Hop Whale Spout Cover

(great for the bathtub when they start moving around!)

5) Bath Organizer

6) Squirt Toys

7) Johnson and Johnson Moisture Care Wash and All Over

8) Mustela for Cradle Cap, Mustela All Over, Mustela Relaxing Bath

9) Stool for Mama and Baby

(I use it when I give J a bath every night!)

Diaper Bag:

1) The Pottery Barn Ultimate Diaper Bag (it is AWESOME!)

2) Monogrammed Wipe Holder

3) Diaper Holder

(don't forget to use the code MMMBLOG!)

4) Snack Cup

5) Formula Holder 

6) Pacifier Holder

7) Pampers Swaddlers until they crawl

8) Huggies Little Movers from crawling to walking

9) Pampers Sensitive Wipes

Toys:

1)Sophie

2) Winkle

3) Crazy Eye Panda Bear

4) Lovie

5) Step 2 Car

6) Music Table

7) Blocks

8) Melissa and Doug Puzzles

9) Drum Set

10) Radio Flyer Wagon

 

Favorite Baby Clothes Brands:

1) Kissy Kissy

2) Magnolia Baby
3) Bailey Boys
4) Funtasia Too
5) Carriage Boutiques

6) Anavini

7) Kellys Kids
8) Amanda Remembered
9) Little English
10) Castles and Crowns

11) Shrimp and Grits

12) Claire and Charlie

And so many more...

Favorite Websites:

1) Julianne Originals

(my favorite for monogrammed bibs, football bibs and monogrammed gowns)

2) A. Tierney

(the BEST monogrammed burp cloths and monogrammed sun hats)

3) Palmetto Princess and PST Designs

(great custom longalls, I've ordered from both)

 

4) Diapers.com

(Don't forget to enter code MMM blog for $10.00 off your first order)

5) Amazon

(We bought the amazon prime membership and I LOVE it!)

6) Alice.com

(Get $10.00 off your first order of $50.00)

7) Ebay 

8) Etsy 

9) Best Dressed Child 

Books:

1) Pat the Bunny

2) 123 NYC Counting Book

3) Halloween Jack ( or any of the other Roger Priddy funny face books)

4) That's Not My Dinosaur

5) Toes, Ears and Nose

6) The Very Hungry Caterpillar

7) Touch and Feel Animal Books

8) Usborne Truck Book

9) Barnyard Dance (or any Susan Boyton book)

10) Goodnight Moon and Goodnight New York City

11) Peek-a-Moo

Travel:

1) Travel Sleep Sheep

2) Maclaren Quest

3)  Foogo Thermos for milk on the plane or on the go (it keeps 12 ounces cold for up to 12 hours!)

4) Britax Roundabout 50 (The best option for our family since we don't have a car in the city and we only rent. We wanted it to be on the smaller side, but the 50 makes it go up to 50 pounds! It is GREAT!)

5) Carseat travel bag (fits a Britax)

Search for Shelves

Here is another one of my search lists. This time for wall shelves. We ended up using some white ones I had bought a long time ago and then I polka dotted them myself! Pictures to come!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pottery-Barn-Wall-shelf-with-hanger-rack_W0QQitemZ180310497175QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item180310497175&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50#ebayphotohosting

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p7143/index.cfm?pkey=cledge%2Dshelf&cm_src=oldlink

http://www.hangupsbyteri.com/item/Polka_dot_wooden_wall_shelf/302

http://www.target.com/Chunky-36%E2%80%9D-Shelf-Espresso/dp/B00098DNMU/qid=1229356385/ref=br_1_11/186-1989116-3194533?ie=UTF8&node=699140011&frombrowse=1&rh=&page=1


http://www.target.com/Mahogany-2-floating-Wall-Shelf/dp/B001H3C26Y/qid=1229356439/ref=br_1_21/186-1989116-3194533?ie=UTF8&node=699140011&frombrowse=1&pricerange=&index=tgt-mf-mv&field-browse=699140011&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=1

http://www.target.com/Wood-Ledge-Dark-English-Oak/dp/B000X36MIS/qid=1229356439/ref=br_1_47/186-1989116-3194533?ie=UTF8&node=699140011&frombrowse=1&pricerange=&index=tgt-mf-mv&field-browse=699140011&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=1

http://www.alldecorativeshelves.com/wall-decorative-shelves/wall-decorative-shelves/grandedecorativefloatingwallshelfespresso.cfm

http://www2.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?ItemID=1427fe8&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=STY&ShowMenu=T&ShopBy=0&SearchString=wall+shelves&RefPage=SearchDepartment.aspx&s4PageSize=15&CmCatId=searchresults&Search1Prod=True&S4Filter=N%7c0%7cNtt%7cwall+shelves%7cNtk%7csearch_all%7cNao%7c0%7cNty%7c1%7csid%7c11E3A379CDE2%7cNtx%7cmode%2bmatchallpartial%7cNtpr%7c1%7cNtpc%7c1

white options:
http://www.ballarddesigns.com/Wall-Decor/Wall-Shelves/Cafe-Shelving-10-Deep/p/2127?path=1%2C2%2C1468%2C1544%2C0&iProductID=2127

Crib Bedding

Here is another one of my search lists. This time it is for crib bedding. I hope it helps one of you! Here is the one I bought in case you are just joining us. Happy shopping!

http://www.albeebaby.com/banana-fish-confetti-boy-four-piece-crib-bedding-set.html

http://www.poshtots.com/Bedding/Baby-Bedding/All-Baby-Bedding/Jack-Baby-Bedding/15/1228/2355/11071/PoshProductDetail.aspx

http://www.poshtots.com/Bedding/Baby-Bedding/Boys-Baby-Bedding/Cosmopolitian-Baby-Bedding/15/222/1330/16177/PoshProductDetail.aspx

http://www.distinctivenurseries.com/Frog-Rhapsody-by-Little-Bunny-Blue--4-Piece-Crib-Set-_p_339-839.html

http://www.distinctivenurseries.com/Harrison-by-Little-Bunny-Blue--4-Piece-Crib-Set_p_339-2599.html#

http://www.distinctivenurseries.com/Henry-by-Serena-Lily--Crib-Set_p_339-2689.html#

http://www.distinctivenurseries.com/McKenzie-by-Maddie-Boo--4-Piece-Crib-Collection_p_339-3552.html

Getting Back to "Normal"

I want to start by thanking each of you that took the time to leave me a comment with your condolences and prayers after the death of my Grandmother. Grandma was an absolute amazing woman and I already miss her dearly. I think I cried after reading each and every comment and I really appreciate the support from my sweet readers. I truly believe God has a plan and although I may not understand his plan and his timing, I know it is perfect. At this point, it looks like baby J and I will get to attend my Grandmother's funeral and he will get to meet his 5 great uncles and aunts and some of his 2nd cousins. The service is set for the first week of April in Palm Springs, CA. While it is strange to not have a service right now, it is what worked for my Mom's large family and I know it is going to be a perfect service. Grandma planned it all out--down to the each song and prayer, so how could it not be perfect? She did a lot of other planning as well. She set aside money for her Priest and her good friend Sister Eileen to each go on special surprise trips. They don't even know this yet, but Father will be sent to Assisi and Sister will be sent to Ireland complements of my Grandmother. She also requested her home in Palm Springs not be sold for two years (good thing with the market), but she wants her family to be able to gather there for a few more vacations if they chose. She truly left no stone unturned. I am so lucky to have had her in my life.

In other news....as of yesterday, I am 9 months pregnant!!! I feel like a whale about 1/2 the time and I'm amazed at my body the other 1/2. Who knew it could do this? I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty uncomfortable. I'm VERY ready for baby J to make his big entrance. I start my weekly appointments on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to our appointment this week, maybe the doc will have an update for me!

The nursery is almost done, I'm waiting on some boxes my Mom is shipping and I promise I will post pictures. I'm trying to get all of my last minute errands done and checking things off my list left and right. I feel like I'm getting close. A and I went to a nice dinner here on Friday night. It was a fabulous date with my wonderful husband after a long week! The chocolate souffle we shared was to die for! We picked out baby announcements from The Paper Cafe. I'll share soon. We put together the baby swing this weekend. A's had two failed attempts at installing the chandelier, but insists "he can do it." I'm just going to let that one slide for now. We are ordering our Bugaboo tonight. (It only takes a couple days to get here so we held out until the last minute.) Our rug came in and looks really cute! I haven't packed my bags yet because I feel like that might jinx me and I'll have to be pregnant longer. But, I'm going to start laying out the things I'm going to pack. Any suggestions of things I should not forget?

On Saturday, a few of my NYC friends hosted a baby shower for me. It was absolutely perfect and I had a blast visiting with the girls! I broke down on Friday night and went to Destination Maternity for a new dress. I promised myself since I would probably only wear it once, I would buy something cheap...but something that actually fit and flattered my large bump. I lucked out and found this brown dress from Motherhood. I wore some brown maternity tights (yuck) and then dressed it up with my gold Tory Burch flats and some gold pearls. Solid colors really do look best at 9 months. =) Baby J and I were spoiled with generous gifts. I will post some pictures as soon as my friend sends them to me. We had great food including red velvet cupcakes and yummy spinach/artichoke dip. It was a really fun day. Tomorrow, at lunch, my coworkers are having a small shower for me as well. I am overwhelmed with the love and support of all my new NYC friends. I can't wait to share baby J with them.

I hope each of you is doing well and had a great weekend.

Crib Furniture Search

Here's another example of one of my searches...

You've seen my choices for my nursery, but I wanted to share with you my list of cribs, gliders and changing tables that I looked at. So many of you are pregnant, maybe your perfect pieces are among these and I'll be able to point you in the right direction!

Cribs

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/345-madison-crib.html

http://store.babycenter.com/product/seasonal-special+categories/davinci/davinci/jenny+lind+3-in-1+crib.do?asc=false

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/pk352/index.cfm?pkey=rromnurcon

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/sw640/index.cfm?pkey=rromnurque

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/cf10/index.cfm?pkey=rromnursaf



Changing Tables

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/345-madison-four-drawer-single-dresser.html

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/345-madison-seven-drawer-dresser.html

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/k6542/index.cfm?pkey=rromnursto

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/w5221/index.cfm?pkey=csalfrn%7Cb

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/sw660/index.cfm?cm%5Flid=2&pgid=pk358&cm%5Fsrc=rel

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/p109/index.cfm?pkey=rromnursop

http://www.giggle.com/p/19876/Jenny-Lind-Style-Changing-Table.aspx

Armoires

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/345-madison-door-chest.html

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/345-madison-two-drawer-armoire.html

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/345-madison-two-door-armoire.html


Gliders

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products_g/k5220/index.cfm?pkey=cfrnrck%7Cb

http://roomservicehome.com/prodinfo.asp?number=FF147201

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/p505/index.cfm?pkey=rromnursto

Project Dream Nursery

Sick of baby talk yet? Sorry--I'm less than 8 weeks away from J's due date and I've got baby on the brain!

I'm looking and thinking about the following for the nursery:

I would really like to pull the blue and white polka dots out of the bedding and use those as much as I can. I also love my Central Park Andy's Gang Toile, so that will look cute in other places too. Any suggestions and or thoughts?

1) Large and deep wall shelves in an espresso or mahogany finish like these (overpriced) or super cute blue/white polka dots (but I don't like the depth on this one) to hang/BOLT over the changing table and put baskets (hence why I need the larger depth) in them to help with storage issues in my small NYC apartment. I love these, but I'm thinking the white would not look so good with all of my dark wood. Thoughts?

2) Baskets for above shelves. Seen any cute and affordable ones? I love these with the dark brown basket and green/white polka dot liners, but these would work with the blue or green ribbon.

3) A great price on a chandelier. I'm thinking either this one or this one or this one. If you know of a cuter one that is a better price or how to get a better price on one of these please do tell!

4) Some really cute chandelier shades--maybe in a blue/white polka dot (like the bed skirt from my bedding) or matching toile chandelier shades from the same place that made my bedding or one of these (thanks for the website Blissful Belle)

5) A really cute rug--either blue with white polka dots, white with blue polka dots (thinking this one will get too dirty too fast, blue/green polka dots , green and white stripes like my hallway, or maybe just blue. I'll go with whatever comes in at bargain price! Seen any that will work with my decor??

6) Daisy painting for over crib is being given to me for Christmas. =)

7) Blue/White polka dot letters with ribbon being done by my friend S from Two Girls and a Glue Gun.

8) Mobile--why are they all so ugly? I can't seem to find one that even blends with my bedding. I'm searching for a blue/white polka dot mobile that has music. Anyone seen something like this? I'll settle for one that is baby blue/green/white. This is the only one I have found that blends so far. Oh, and I can't break the bank. $65.00 is not a good price for a mobile.

9) Diaper Caddy like this one in green and white polka dots or this one in blue and white damask or maybe this one in the dark basket with blue or green liner. Or maybe I should just get the one that matches the bedding. Fairy Godmother?

10) Rubber Ducky in (your guessed it--blue and white polka dots)

11) This would be pretty on the side wall by the kitchen. This would be cute for the shelves. Sure would be nice to have a pillow that matches my bedding.

I'm stopping now to go out and buy a lottery ticket. Can't wait to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Sweet Dreams Baby J!

I've got my bedding and it is perfect! (You can find it here at Monarch Creations) The nursery certainly is not finished...but it's a start!! Lots left to do!!

Mama Went Shoppin'

So on Sunday, the most wonderful husband in the world actually took my joke of "renting a U-Haul next time we go to the Pottery Barn Outlet" seriously. He took the subway to Harlem and showed up at our front door on the Upper East with my chariot...a U-Haul cargo van he had rented for the day! Happy 24 weeks to me! We departed the city for the Tanger Outlets in Riverhead on Long Island and I swear it felt like Christmas morning (it was even really cold). Our mission: finish up buying baby furniture. My promise: if he did this I would shut up about it! Ha, Ha! Our mission was a success and we got amazing deals and I'm so excited to finally have everything. We picked up a glider, a changing table/dresser and a long dresser.

Here is the changing table/dresser all set in its little spot. Time for a prettier trashcan.

Up close the Pottery Barn Thomas changing table--it matches our crib quite well! It has a matching topper (for $149.00) that we can buy if we want, but I'm not sure we really need it. I think I can just put the changing pad on here. Thoughts?

Here's the crib and the dresser in Baby U's tiny little nursery...this is what you get for living in the city! We are going to try to put up a wall with french doors if our apartment building will let us.

Here is the long dresser we got for the entry hallway (that is basically part of the nursery). It's the Kendall extra-wide.

And here is our glider where I know I'll spend many days/nights! It's the Dream Swivel Glider in stone twill. It might be the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in!


Because of the limited selections at the outlets it really forced me to "just decide already." I probably never would have picked the stone twill fabric, but you know what--it works. We have to have our glider in the living room because the baby's nursery is not big enough so it blends quite well and it is SO COMFORTABLE! A sent me an email on Monday saying he was sad that his work chair didn't glide. A and I estimate that we saved around $2,000 by buying our furniture at the outlet! Way to go us! Now--on to that crib bedding, a mattress, my Daisy painting, a rug and some shelves maybe...he just thought I was done. =)

Nursery Art Vision

I have a vision. It started with this picture from Serena and Lily's website (which I adore.) See the painting above the crib--yeah it is fabulous. Well, I want to incorporate it into Baby U's nursery. But, I want the dog to be Daisy and I want a little more playful look. I want something in between the picture above and the pictures below. The below pictures are a little too playful for my "look that I'm going for." I want the nursery to have a preppy cute and classic look and I want a Daisy painting that incorporates something in the middle.

I found these precious puppies from this fabulous Etsy artist.

And this cute painting is at Ladybugs and Lilypads.

I could do a puppy picture like one of these:






Or a big girl picture of her in Central Park (need to take some more of those!)



Any thoughts or ideas?

Reader Question

Dear MMM,

The reason I am writing is that my sister-in-law and I are both pregnant :) She is due on January 7th and I am due on April 9th. Her shower is coming up soon and my mom and I really want to give her a large stuffed animal or a rocking horse for the nursery. Unfortunately, her animal theme is monkeys and I am having a TERRIBLE time finding anything cute. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

A


Thanks for reading...here is what I found just playing around:

http://rockimals.com/whimsical_rocking_animals.htm
(they don't have monkeys but really cute other animals--I love the giraffe)

http://www.squidoo.com/monkeyfun (there is a big monkey floor pillow here)

I'll keep looking though!

Congrats to you both! M

Baby Bedding!

Mrs Preppy shared her FABULOUS crib bedding plan and I felt the need to join in on the fun.

I'm in love with this baby bedding. I've searched high and low to find something a little more budget friendly that I love this much, but no such luck just yet. The walls to my nursery are light green (see above) and I think this would look just scrumptious for Baby U. It is also a Central Park Toile which just seems so appropriate for my Big Apple baby! You can find it here at Spoil The Baby and here at Rosenberry Rooms (and yes, they have it in pink and green too.) What do you think--is it worth it if Momma R buys it for me or should I let her pay for 1/2 our stroller (we're going with the Bugaboo Cameleon in chocolate brown)? For the record, she's in love with it too. Each time I look at it, I love it a little bit more. Why can't I fall in love with something that's $100 or does that not exist?

Our Crib!

A took me to Long Island this past weekend and we went to the Pottery Barn Furniture Outlet. My dream crib just happened to be there...and on sale...so we couldn't pass it up! We also found the perfect changing table/dresser and we bought it too--only to find that it wouldn't fit in our minivan that we had rented! So we had to return it. I did manage to get my Ultimate Diaper Bag in Chocolate Brown...now it just needs a monogram. I'm hoping he'll take me back again soon--that place is so much fun!

Rock a Bye Baby, Swivel/Glide a Bye Baby?

We're on the hunt for a glider! This is what we've looked at so far. We went on Monday to look at the Babies R Us chairs and I was not pleased so that leaves Pottery Barn--which of course you can't see in person. Does anyone else have a good suggestion? I would love any advice!


Babies R Us
Dutalier Sleigh Glider
$254.99


Babies R Us
Upholstered Chocolate Chenille Square Back Rocker
$339.00


Babies R Us
Upholstered Ivory Chenille Rocker
$399.00


This one is the Dream Rocker and Ottoman from Pottery Barn Kids

I would probably cover it in:
A Fabric-Natural Twill: $849 for down cushions or $749 for polyester
C Fabric-White Dot Maltese or Light Green Linen: $949 for down or $849 for polyester
D Fabric Almond Maxi Dot or Beige Floral or Cream & Cocoa: $1049 for down or $949 for polyester


This one is the Dream Swivel Glider, Ottoman & Recliner

I would probably cover it in:
A Fabric-Natural Twill: $949 for down cushions or $849 for polyester
C Fabric-White Dot Maltese or Light Green Linen: $1049 for down or $949 for polyester
D Fabric Almond Maxi Dot or Beige Floral or Cream & Cocoa: $1149 for down or $1049 for polyester