These are a few of my Favourite Things

I was on the phone with a friend tonight and we got chatting about all the 'stuff' that seems to come hand-in-hand with having a little human. After hauling all of said stuff halfway across the city, I am realizing just how much baby gear we have accumulated. When all is said and done, if pressed, I could really pare (is that how you spell that??...hmmm never spelled that word before) down to a few select items that I love and use desperately. Here's my short-list.

1) My (wait for the cheesy name) Breast Friend-- Yes, you heard me. My breast friend. My breast friend is a breast cushion- I shouldn't mock it too much, because I have spent hundreds of hours squeezed into this cushion. It made breastfeeding so much easier, especially at the beginning. I love this model because it has a velcro band (which makes it easy to walk around the house wearing my 'shelf') and is much firmer than the boppy. Love it.


2) Oxy-Clean for Babies-- Okay, it took me 3 months to figure out how to get rid of neon yellow baby poo from previously white and pure onesies. You think that babies drinking only 'liquid gold--aka breastmilk' wouldn't emit such nucleur colours that are impossible to clean. I finally went on the Today's Parent chat forum and asked what people used and someone suggested Oxyclean--and let me tell you, it works! It may be killing the world slowly, but it works. Today I drove across the city to buy two more bottles from ....I'm even more embarassed to admit it--Walmart. That's the only place I've seen it and I've looked for it a-plenty. After 2 days of having a poopy outfit in my sink and no more oxy clean I went on a mission. Okay- how come my blog always comes back to the bowels.

3) Baby Bjorn-- When Sophie was first born I had troubles putting her down. Who knows if it was from the traumatic birth, and being separated from her for the first 9 hours of her life, or if I would have been that way anyway. Anyway, I didn't want to put her down, ever. As well, it was the winter, and the thought of her being cold in the stroller was too much for me. Whenever we went outside for the first 5 months of her life, it was in her carrier. I still use it all the time, and now use it when shopping, running errands, or around the house when Soph needs some hands-on time.


4) Ikea Sheepskin Rug-- This rug has been through a lot in the past 7 months. I've seen them for muchos dollaros (over a hundred) in many baby stores--but Ikea has them for 35 bucks! It is super snuggly warm in the winter--when we finally got our stroller I put it under her back to keep her warm on long walks. We have had countless 'naked time' sessions on our rug (a few pees too....haven't quite figured out how to clean it yet....if anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it!). For the last week Sophie has been sleeping on her rug, on the floor of her new room! Soph continues to require boobage to sleep and is an extremely light sleeper that wakes easily if she is transferred (hence why she was sleeping in our bed for the past 6 1/2 months!). When we moved to our new house and she finally now had her own room, I thought it would be a good transition time. She has done exceptionally well and is adorable all cuddled on the floor on her sheepskin. Anyway, the sheepskin continues to be my friend. Sorry sheep--


5) Baby Beluga Board Book-- Sophie's favourite song in the world- that I wouldn't have realized unless we had been given the book. She smiles when she sees the cover. This song has saved my bacon many times--like today when I was driving home in rush hour stopped in traffic and she was really exausted and starting to lose it. I sing Baby Beluga and she stops. I sing anything else she starts. I start Baby Beluga again she stops. I don't stop again until I get home. I think I need to pay Raffi some royalties.
The morning before our house closing there was another driving moment with 'Beluges" Picture both Sophie and I crying and me driving and pathetically singing Baby Beluga with tears rolling down my face (it involved intense sleep deprivation (Soph had been up every hour), driving for two hours across the city to get a bank draft for our downpayment (which was due in one hour), driving forever back across the city--this time with an unhappy camper crying only to get to the bank to realize that they wouldn't accept the draft because there was no "&" on the draft!!! I was going to have to do it all over again because of a freakin "&" that was the first bank's fault!! Anyway, this is sounding very silly and insignificant, but at a very stressful time hours before our houseclosing, with extremely large amounts of money, a crying baby and an emotional exausted mom, it makes for a disaster. Anywho- I digress.
As an aside- Sophie now turns the pages of her books--it happens to be the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.

6) Bathtub--Any one will do. Sophie loves the tub. For the first 6 months of her life she did not know what the tub was, because bathing happened so infrequently. Every bath was like a new experience, because it had been such a long time! I used to worry about her being so little and getting cold in the water, or the water being too hot (I know, say it with me "awwww, first time mom". Anyway, for the past 2 or three weeks we've been bathing Sophie almost every day. The two of us bath together. And it's now my favourite time of the day. Often Sophie is a bit fussier from dinnertime until bed, and the bath is a great way to make her really happy, and fill the time between dinner and bedtime. A little naked baby squealing with happiness in the tub--nothing better.

7) Chair-- In our case it was our reclining blue chair (with the vibrating option :) Before Sophie could hold up her head this was her chair while we cooked dinner, or ate dinner. This pic was taken the first dinner home from the hospital (delicious chili courtesy of Robyn and Adrian). As Sophie got bigger and dinner became a more 'high needs' time (to say it nicely) we simply flick the switch to add vibrations (we call it 'Stage 2') it can usually buy us time to gulp down some more dinner. Stage 3 involves another switch and adds music and lights. Sometimes that buys me time to snarf down a bit more food. Anything that enables me to eat my dinner is my friend. Nuff said.

8) Digital Camera-- I guess that's a no-brainer but I love it. I love being able to email people pictures easily and have a slideshow screensaver to see all that darn cuteness all day long. The only bad part of a digital camera is that I'm really bad at getting actual photos printed---I'm even worse at mailing family members photos--yikes. Brett bought me a really good one before Soph was born and it was worth every penny.


9) Zooper-- of course-- my ticket to freedom and movement in the out of doors. This little stolling friend has already clocked hundreds of hours, and has helped me evolve from a 'kept' housewife into a blossomed and travelled hip mom (okay, well let's not push it). I explored every nook and cranny of our old neighbourhood and am now loving exploring our new one. Love the Zooper. Love it.



10) Chamois Changetable Cover (or quite frankly anything made of chamois) --This was my guilty pleasure. It's hard to describe the incredible feeling of this fabric, how soft it is, but let's just say that it is worth every penny. And let's just say that I have three--and at times that's been a very good thing. My justification is that a) I had a gift certificate and b) I got so much from my sister's that we basically had to buy nothing. c) I wish that they came in adult sizes.