Top 5 (Plus 1)

Awhile back I was thinking about my favorite baby products and I came up with a list of 5 that have worked fantastically for us!

1. The Miracle Blanket


(This is Ellington sleeping at my parent's house. I would never be brave enough to risk waking her up from a nap. My mom took this one weekend while they were babysitting.)

This is BY FAR my most beloved (yes, beloved!) baby product. Ellington always needed to be swaddled to sleep, but as she got older she always managed to get out of a swaddle...even though I got really good at it! When she got colic a tight swaddle was even more important. I was talking with my mom about a blanket that I had heard about called The Miracle Blanket. When I first saw this blanket (before Ellington was born) I thought it was kind of extreme, but I was willing to try anything. A couple of weeks later one appeared in my mailbox (thanks Mom!). We started using it and have never turned back!!! Ellington sleeps great in it and I don't know what we would have done without it! Unfortunately at 6 months old she's about too big for it, but it has served us well and has helped us get some great sleep! I recommend this to EVERYONE! You can click on the link above to see a little video about how it works.

2. The Diaper Champ

We love our diaper champ! We only put wet diapers in it (the others go straight outside!) and we never have an odor in Ellington's room. The thing that I love the most about it is that you can use any kind of garbage bag. Other diaper pails require you to buy a specific type of bag that is much more expensive.

3. Video Monitor



When I first heard about video monitors I thought they were a bit much. I mean, babies survived for hundreds of years without them, right? Before I had Ellington I babysat for a family that had a video monitor. I saw how handy and useful it could be, but it wasn't something on my "must have" list. I registered for it, but because of the price I doubted that we would get it. Well, we received it as a hostess gift at a baby shower and it has been FANTASTIC! I love that at nap time I know that she has fallen asleep. She takes such sort naps I think without it I would think she had never even gone to sleep. I also love that when she is fussing I can look at see if she's really awake or fussing in her sleep. I think if I just had a sound monitor I would go in her room more often. The peace of being able to see her is so reassuring. When she was a newborn I would stare at the screen to look for the rising and falling of her chest! Even though it's a pricey item I think it is totally worth it!

4. Sound Machine

Ahhh...the white noise machine. I love it! I have always slept with a noise machine and I knew that I would put one in the baby's room. The noise helps Ellington know that it's time to sleep and it helps keep out other distracting noise, especially during the day.

5. Praise Baby DVDs

I know you may be thinking, "You have a degree in Child Development and you let your baby watch TELEVISION??!!". Yep, that's right. Judge if you want. :) For 30 blissful minutes every day Ellington watches a Praise Baby dvd. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the dvd shows various images and clips to praise music. Before I had a baby (you know, back when I was the perfect parent) I was NEVER going to let my baby/toddler watch tv and I looked down on those who did. We were going to be interactive and do learning activities all day. It was going to be perfect. Haha. We started letting Ellington watch it back when she was REALLY fussy in the evening. It always calmed her down! Now we do it every day about 6:00. We use that time to either eat supper or to do meal prep if we are going to eat after Ellington goes to bed. Poor Ellington had to watch the same one every day for awhile, but she got two new ones for Easter so she has a little variety now!

I thought of this list awhile back when I first started the blog, but never got around to posting it. Since then I have another favorite baby item...the Bumbo!!! I love it and we use it a lot! I use it in the kitchen the most. I put Ellington in it when I'm unloading/loading the dishwasher and pretty much anything else that needs to be done in the kitchen. Don't worry...she's always right next to me! Our kitchen isn't big enough to worry about her falling. :) I also use it occasionally on the desk by the computer. She loves sitting in it and we love how easy it is for her to be sitting up while we are trying to get something accomplished!