Editorial for the day

THINGS I COULD HAVE NOT LIVED WITHOUT

when the babies first arrived...a clickable list:

Koala Baby Thermal Blankets

These blankets are perfect to wrap up newborns, they are stretchy and wash well.  They aren't flannel so they don't get too hot.  

I've heard though that if you don't want to do old fashioned swaddling, you can now purchase the Miracle Swaddle blanket.  I wish they would have had these when L&Z were newborns.

Medicine Pacifiers

I can't find a picture of the ones we have, but we bought them at Walgreens.  Thank you to Savannah who told be about them, these pacifiers are also medicine dispensers.  Why is that good?  Because a lot of times when you try to cram 3/4 of a tsp of medicine into a baby's cheek, they will throw it back up all over you.

Wipe Warmer

Though it may seem like a frivolous baby item, wipe warmers are fantastic.  When doing a 2am diaper change, nothing wakes a baby up faster than a freezing cold cloth running across their butt.  This little device actually kept our babies asleep during middle of the night diaper changes. (thank goodness the poop at night stage is over with, well for now)

Disposable Pads

During the early weeks, the bladders and bottoms of babies are way out of control and things will spurt out at any moment, especially while changing their diaper on a changing pad.  These throw away pads laid over the top of our changing pad and saved lots of changing pad cover laundry.  There was one day that we went through 10 of these things.  Things were just squirting out all over the place.

Mylicon
Oh how I love you. Some people say that this stuff doesn't work, but I thank the heavens for it. For the first 3 months, our babies would squeal and scream in gas pain. We started adding this to each and every bottle and like magic no more pain. Lots of noises coming out, which is better than staying in.

Bottle warmer

There is nothing worse than a crying hungry baby.  This device allowed me to heat their bottles up in under 2 minutes.  Running it under hot water would have taken about 5.  Think 3 minutes is not a big deal?  Stay in a room with a screaming child for 3 full minutes, you may change your mind.

Dr. Brown's Bottles
Yes they may have extra parts, but they work great. Less air, less trouble, less mouth explosions.

Dr. Brown's Drying Racks

Dishwasher safe, easy to use, stackable, love these racks.

Swaddle Me Cotton Blanket (Lily) & Halo SleepSack (Zane)

Now that they're older, the wrap up blankets don't fit them anymore.  Lily, who still loves to be swaddled, uses the cotton Swaddle Me blanket.  Don't buy the fleece kind, those are way too hot and if your baby gets cold in the cotton one, you can always put a blanket on top of them.  Zane, who is a stomach sleeper, sleeps in the zip-up sleep sack at night.  It keeps him warm and because he creeps, tosses and turns ALL night long, it stays safely on him.

Ring-A-Links

ok, they didn't need these as newborns, but they're great to have now!
These rings have many uses. They keep toys attached to other toys...you can hang things from attachment bars...you can attach toys to strollers or car seats...prevent sippy cups from falling to the floor...and they serve as teething rings too. Lily always seems to have one in her mouth these days. (Buy at least 2 packs)

Diaper Champ
Because Diaper Genie sucks. Diaper Genie requires you to buy special bags for it, diaper champ will take any trash bag. They're quick, easy to operate one handed and aren't so big that lots of diapers pile up before you need to take them out.

Sleep positioner

Newborns can wiggle all over the place and they need to feel snug when they sleep.  These positioners let you have peace of mind that they aren't going anywhere and keep them feeling secure.

That's all I have for now.  But I may think of more later.