little one

I remember feeling a little overwhelmed when we found out we were going to have a baby and we started thinking and planning for all that we needed to have this new little one in our home. It was daunting to look at ALL the baby stuff and trying to figure out what we needed…there is so much stuff out there! I would walk into a baby store and browse the aisles and end up just walking out because it was just so confusing. I mean, how many kinds of bottles and pacifiers and car seats can there be? Apparently, like a million.

It drives me crazy to have extra, unused things around my house, so I knew that I wanted to stick with the bare essentials while also making sure we really did have what we needed to make our baby comfortable and cared for. I read blog posts and baby websites and parenting books, and what was funny to me was everyone seemed to have their own individual ideas of what was “essential.” I kept a running list for myself on Baby List of the things I thought seemed like a good idea, and some things stayed on the list until purchased and some things got deleted after further research or thought. There were some things I ended up purchasing that I never really used, and our local baby consignment shop has some brand new or barely used items for sale. Live and learn, right? But now that we’re three months into taking care of our little girl, I have a much better idea of what my baby needs and my own essentials list has developed. Everyone is different and each mama will have her own set of priorities for what her baby needs…these are just mine!

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Moses basket – Originally I was wishing for one of these because I thought they were just super cute, but it has actually ended becoming one of my top essentials! My mother-in-law gifted us one of these baskets, and we used that as Ayla’s bed for the first few months. Even though she outgrew the basket and we moved her into the crib in her own room after about two months, I still use it almost daily. I’ll put her in it and have her in the kitchen or laundry room with me, or set her outside on the deck for a while and she loves it! It’s the handiest thing to have a small and portable place to keep her.

Jogger stroller – I’m not a runner but I do like to take walks so I knew we wanted a stroller that was walking friendly. So far we love the Graco one we got! We purchased the stroller/car seat combo, so the car seat clicks right into the stroller, which was super helpful for when Ayla was a newborn.

Swaddle blankets – Cozy blankets are a definite must-have for a baby and I am totally sold on the Aden + Anais muslin swaddles. I saw countless mamas recommending the A + A brand, and in my experience, it has lived up to the expectation. These blankets are lightweight, yet cozy…and they seem to get softer the more you wash them!

Changing pad liners – My aunt recommended these to me and they are definitely a top essential for me. I use these pads everywhere that I change a diaper…on the bed, car, floor, etc. They’ve saved us from having to wash sheets or scrub the floors many times.

Baby Shusher – This one might seem a little silly, but we use it so much that it had to make my list. The Baby Shusher is designed to mimic the “shush” sound that a baby hears in the womb, which we often naturally do as parents when we try to soothe them. We used the method from The Baby Whisperer when we were working on sleep training Ayla, which basically calls for creating a kind of bedtime ritual with swaddling, soothing, and shushing. Shushing loud enough and long enough is hard work when you’re sleep training, and this silly little product was so super helpful especially during those training weeks. I still use it often when I put her down for a nap, and it’s just kinda one of her signals that it’s time for her to sleep now.

Sleep onesies – I’m a huge fan of the Gerber brand onesies because they are stretchier than other brands I’ve tried, which makes them easier to put on and get off. I use these on Ayla for her pajamas, because even though I think the real baby sleepers are super adorable, I felt like putting her in a warm sleeper plus a swaddle was just a little much.

Bubble-b-gone – Ayla didn’t have a lot of problems with digestion when she was newborn, but the times that her tummy was gassy and uncomfortable, these drops were so helpful! I would just put a few drops in her mouth and once she swallowed it, she would usually have a good burp within a few minutes.

A few favorite non-essentials::
– Baby Monitor 3G
– bath sponge
– Mamaroo seat

What about you: what is one thing you consider a baby essential?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Sometimes it’s easy to think the little things don’t matter.

And in all reality, sometimes they don’t. We can do things, say things, think things that have little to no impact on our lives or those around us. But sometimes those little things that seem so small and insignificant can turn into things much bigger than we realize. And it’s only by their compound effect over time that we suddenly see what the little things can do, either to us or to someone else.

I talk to Ayla a lot, even though she’s too small to fully understand what I say. I talk to her when I’m nursing her, bathing her, changing her diaper, putting on her clothes…or when she’s just sitting in her swing watching me or when we’re driving along in the car. I tell her about what is going on or what we’re planning to do or just whatever conversations come to mind. It might seem silly to talk to such a little person who doesn’t know what’s going on, but I really believe that talking to her now is a way of showing her respect as a person and developing a relationship with her.

One of the little things that I’ve become aware of in my conversations with her is as simple and small as one little word. I caught myself doing this thing in the first few weeks of her life, and the day that I realized it was the day that I stopped. It’s such a little thing really, but I think it’s something that over time could create thought processes and beliefs about herself that I don’t want for her. Whenever she would do something good or that I liked, (i.e. burp after eating, going to sleep easily, not getting worked up when I would dress her, etc.) I would praise her with the words “good girl.” There’s really nothing inherently wrong in saying this…I mean, she was being a good girl. But one day I was giving her a bath and she was being so good and I looked her in the eyes and told her she was a good girl…and something inside of me suddenly just didn’t seem to feel right in calling her that. It was odd at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t ever want to call her a good girl again.

Because what I don’t want for her is this: I don’t want her to ever believe that her goodness or value is dependent on what she does. If she does good, than she is good. I realized that if I were to repeatedly tell her “good girl” when she did something good, there is a good chance that over time she would come to believe that she had to do to be good. She was a good girl only when she did good.

But I want something different for my little girl’s heart.
I want her to know that because of Jesus she is good.
I want her to grow up knowing that her identity is rooted in something greater than what she does or doesn’t do.
I want her to believe that her parents are proud of her and love her no matter what.

So now when she does something good, I just tell her “good job.” I want her to know that she did good, but whether she did that good or not, it doesn’t change who she is or how I see her. She’s a good girl who does good jobs.

It’s just a little thing, but sometimes those little things actually really matter.

What about you: what are some little things in your life/speech/actions that could potentially cause bigger effects than you realize?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!