10. Changing Pad Liners
Much like the ultimate crib sheet in the 0-3 month post, this changing pad liner is soft terry on the top and waterproof plastic on the bottom. I'm not sure how Will knows, but the second that diaper comes off it's like a cue to let it fly. Pee, poop - whatever it is, it seems to happen whenever the diaper is off. The diabolical little baby usually laughs about it too! The liners help with the mess, once again you just lift the soiled liner right off and throw it in the hamper without having to mess with the cover underneath. I also throw one of these in the diaper bag/purse/car as a make-shift and lightweight changing pad.
9. Pacifier
Not sure when Little Will became a pacifier baby, but all of a sudden this made sense to him again. We try to only give this to him when he is sleepy and it's one of his cues that it is almost nap time. He starts rubbing his eyes and - pop - in goes the pacifier. He still hasn't quite figured out how to put it back in on his own and usually ends up chewing on the plastic, hey, whatever works.
8. Jumparoo
I can remember a time when we tried to put him in the jumparoo and we had to stack boxes underneath so that his toes could reach a surface. Now that he is a little bit older and a little bit longer, his toes hit the ground. My how time flies. This is also known as 'Mission Control' - Will loves to move from one activity area to the next and goes through several full rotations before he realizes he's been there before: "wait, this lizard rattle looks just like the one I saw 3 minutes ago". It's really cute when he gets into full fledged jumping. He throws one arm up in the air like he's riding a bull. Also puts him at the perfect height to grab the kitty's tail when she saunters by. For sure a staple in our living room and this one will be coming to the beach with us this month. 
7. Bottle Drying Rack
Although the styling is a little too modern for my taste, the function is awesome (and anyone who knows me - knows that I am function over form any day). The stiff but flexible grass keeps the bottles and various parts in place for ample drying. I'm pretty sure I'll keep this thing around even when Will is grown up because it doubles as a fantastic wine glass dryer. No more broken stemware!
6. Ergobaby Front Carrier
There have been some times when Will is super fussy and won't calm down unless he is being carried around. He doesn't care if I have laundry to do, dishes to clean, food to make, errands to run, and chores to do; he just wants to be held. Click this front carrier in place and I have a comforted baby and I still have two hands free to do what I do. I'm a big fan of multi-tasking - ask Brett, he can tell you ALL about my multitasking, but this thing helps me take my post-baby productivity to a whole new level.
5. Sleep Sheep
4. Footed Pajamas
I'm not entirely sure what ALL baby clothes are not footed pajamas. They are soft, comfortable, easy to access for diaper changes, inexpensive, and still super cute. Just like I like to wear stretchy pants when I go out to the chinese food buffet, we found that Will drinks more formula when he doesn't have uncomfortable/tight pants pressing into his gut. Footed pajamas rule out the need for socks - which inevitably will be kicked off leaving your baby's feet cold and uncovered. Further, I don't understand how baby cloth manufacturers think its a good idea to forgo the inseam buttons - do they really think that diaper changes are unnecessary for infants this age? Will has an entire drawer devoted to footed pajamas and 95% of the time it is the only drawer I open to dress him. I'm in no rush to dress him in real-looking clothes, he has the rest of his life to wear jeans and button up shirts - this is the only time it is acceptable to wear pajamas 24/7 and I'm gonna let him soak it up.
3. Pump
If I was gone for more than 3 hours without the Little One, this thing would get toted around with me. Brett would refer to this thing simply as "The Medela" (kinda the same way he says "Rutgers - the Scarlett Knights" - if you have heard it you know what I mean) and we got to be very good friends when I returned to work after my three months of maternity leave were up. With this I pumped over 7 gallons of milk that were donated to a milk bank to help needy infants and it pumped countless other gallons of milk for my own Little Will.
2. Daily Tracker
When we first started Will at daycare we really wanted them to fill out a tracker to know when/how much he ate, when/how long he slept, and other important information (i.e. hitting milestones, allergy symptoms, etc). Since Will was spending the majority of his weekdays at daycare, we just wanted visibility into his daily life for reports back to the doctor and to help keep his schedule on track when the weekends rolled around. The ladies at the daycare were very reluctant to fill out this information even though it would take less than 30 seconds to fill out each day (VERY FRUSTRATING). We were very happy that our new nanny was willing to fill it out. I was better able to track the amount of food he was eating, how long he was sleeping, if there were any serious spit-ups/vomits, fussy periods, poops, etc. This help us see that he was starting to develop his own little schedule. And we always know where he is in his day when we get home from work. I know this might make people think I am crazy (which admittedly I am) but I'm able to answer the doctors questions with confidence when they ask me about his behaviors and bodily functions. No funny anecdotes here - just piece of mind.
1. Camera
My push present from Brett was a nice DSLR Nikon camera. My Mom has a camera similar to this one and we can share lens and attachments. I mostly keep it on automatic settings, but I have started experimenting with the shutter speed and the fstop (I think that's what it's called). Picture quality is great to capture all of the very special moments. Little Will is ever evolving and we use this to document the changes. Now if I could just find the time to upload the pictures to facebook and this blog. Stay tuned... one of these days I will get my act together.
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