17 Things That Saved Our Bacon During Callie's First Year

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now (at least a couple of months - I originally thought it would be a nice one-year recap on parenthood, but we're now into Cal's 15th month, so obviously I'm a little behind).  Oh well.  I don't even know if anyone who reads this blog even cares about something like this.  I do have a really close friend, a sister-in-law, and a cousin (I'm looking at you Marcy, Shelly, and Perla) who are all expecting baby girls in a couple of months, so maybe it could be helpful to them?  (At least a starting point for ideas - I know every baby is different and I'm definitely not trying to sell anything here!)

But even if it's not, I'm going to post it anyway.  Maybe it can come in handy as a reference for Blanchard Baby 2.0 (nope - not an announcement).  (Or maybe, more likely than not, any future siblings of Callie won't give a hoot about these tricks and I'll be writing up posts specific to them when they are 14 months old, too.)  At any rate, I figure I can keep these little tips and recommendations recorded as another form of my Callie Listography.  And if it does save some future parent-to-be a headache or two, well, then that's just an extra bonus.

Note to all non-pregnant readers (i.e. grandparents): I'll throw some photos and/or videos of Callie into the mix to keep your attention if you dare read on.

Shall we begin?  Okay.  Hang on tight.  You may need to grab a snack and a drink.  This is a long 'un.

Seventeen Things that Saved Our Bacon During Callie's First Year
(in no particular order - just as they came into my head while I typed this list)

1) The Boppy (also affectionately referred to as "The Bop")

Why I love it: This is seriously a genius invention!  While I was in the hospital I had to prop three or four pillows all around me for me to lean against/prop my arm on and for Callie to lay on while nursing.  It was awkward and clumsy, but it worked.  Then we got home and a couple weeks later Paul and Kim brought the beloved Bop (a wonderful hand-me-down gift from Laurel and Heather, Gregg's sisters) and I never looked back.  We used this for practically every feeding at home up until Callie was about 10 1/2 months old when her breastfeeding sessions became short and sweet and she was big enough to not need the extra propping.

But it's so handy for so many other things besides breastfeeding!  We used it to prop a one-month-old Callie up on the floor or our laps so she could see what was happening around her.  Plenty of lap naps were with Cal's head resting on The Bop.  When she was learning to sit by herself, we wrapped it around her waist so if when she toppled over, she had a soft landing.  We used it for tummy time propping (which she hated, but we did it anyway).  It even made a great rest in our giant rocking recliner chair to prop my arm up while holding Callie during her naps for the first three months of her life.

(Bonus, the slipcover makes for easy clean-up when you have spit-up or leaky diaper problems.)  Long live the Boppy!

Less desirable qualities: not super portable, so just used at home

Cost: $40 (Though I got mine for free, and I know that there are other knock-off brands out there for less (or even just the cost of shipping) - or maybe you could make your own, Pinterest-style.)


2) Itzbeen Timer

Why I love it: Oh my heavens!  This little gadget saved my poor mommy mush brain in those first few months.  I couldn't remember anything - from what day it was to the last time I took a shower.  This timer let my poor, tired, overwhelmed brain have a little rest so I didn't have to spend precious energy trying to remember how long it had been since Callie ate and which side I should start nursing on next.  It was so simple and it became my side-kick.  Just push the button when you start feeding and slide the reminder bar from left to right.  It starts counting the minutes, giving you a constant visual of how much time has passed since whatever happened that you want to track.  Bam.

Other super-great features (that I still use and we're not breastfeeding anymore):

• the nightlight - more like a little pocket flashlight, it's great for finding lost binks in the dark
• the clock - I don't wear a watch, so this is helpful in letting me know what time it is in the middle of the night
• the asterisk button became my medicine dosing button - during teething time, it was great for me to give Cal some Tylenol and the push the button so I knew when it was time for another dose if needed.

Less desirable qualities:

• didn't use all the timer buttons - didn't care about the diaper one and always forgot to push the sleep one, so most of the time it was overkill to have at least two buttons that were never used
• back clip broke off, so couldn't use that
• super confusing to figure out how to set the clock the first time we needed to change it after daylight savings time hit or the batteries died (but once we read the manual online it wasn't so bad after all)

Cost: $24.99 (Again, I got mine for free - THANK YOU Laurel! - but it would be so worth the cost to me if I had to buy another.  You could also check out some of the (many, I'm sure) apps out there that are cheaper or freer for your smart phone users.)


3) Big Red Yoga Ball

Why I love it: I bought the big red yoga ball before Callie was born after our birth class instructor suggested it could be a useful tool during labor to help relieve pain during contractions.  She also mentioned that she bounced her first baby, who was rather colicky, on one of these constantly during the first few months of her life.  Little did we know that we, too, would be spending hours bouncing Cal on the ball.  If other people who came to visit wanted to hold Callie, they often had to do so while bouncing on the ball.

We even got to the point where we took the ball with us to places we needed/wanted to go; places like Homesteak for hot dog roasting with my sisters, the church for presidency meetings, Telluride for our leaf-peeping trip in the fall. It's not necessarily portable all blown up, and it takes a little while to pump up with the included pump, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  And the thing simply worked.  Don't believe me?  Watch this:

Callie was calmed by the bouncing, and once we could get her to fall asleep on the ball, we could usually lay her down in her crib, or at least move to the more comfortable rocker/recliner.

Even now, we don't use it for bouncing/calming, but it makes a great toy for rolling back and forth.

Less desirable qualities:

• it takes a little while to get used to the balance on the ball
• portability is not really high, but like I said above, we didn't let that stop us

Cost: ~$10 at Walmart (cheap and SO worth it!)


4) Lamaze Turtle Toy

Apparently his name is Flip Flop Fred

Why I love it: This is a simple little toy that was great when Callie was really tiny, just learning how to grab and grasp onto things.  I loved it because it was soft and when she'd wave her little arms around, the inevitable bonk on her head didn't hurt like other rattles made of hard plastic.  It's bright and colorful and fun for babies to look at.  And the best part to me is the crinkling sound it makes when you scrunch it up.  It's not an obnoxious sound at all.  And it actually was a super helpful sound during our first major drive (to Denver, 2 hours away) with Callie in tow.  She was screaming her head off in the car and we were at our wits end to know what to do to help - no binky, no stopping to bounce (yeah, we took the red ball on that adventure, too!), nothing was making her settle down.  Finally, I grabbed this toy from the diaper bag and started bending it and crunching it so it made the crinkling sound.  She paused her tears.  I kept crunching and crinkling.  She stayed quiet.  I kept squishing and swishing.  And we made it to Denver at last.  Phew.

Less desirable qualities: none whatsoever (unless you really hate the sound of the crinkle)

Cost: ~$9 on Amazon (we didn't buy ours, but it was a much loved gift from Grandpa and Grandma Elwood)


5) Doorway Bouncer

Officially name: Graco Bumper Jumper (in Little Jungle design)

Why I love it: I love it because Callie loves it!

She got it for her first Christmas, when she was 6 months old (she probably could have started in it a little sooner than 6 months, but we wanted to wait till Christmas to give it to her, just because), and used it till she was crawling at around 10 months (we put her in it a few times after she started crawling, but once she was mobile she'd much rather explore than be stuck in one place for long).  It was extra handy when I was trying to get dinner made to plop Callie in the bouncer in a doorway near the kitchen.  She could see me and bounce to her heart's content and I could work with both hands and talk to her at the same time.  Win win for all of us.  Plus she's just too cute when she's jumping.  See what I mean?

I like that the straps are adjustable, so as her legs got longer she could still have the space to bounce higher and higher.  I like that she was able to feel like she was in control and able to move herself a bit before she was actively crawling.  I like the bumper and tray to keep her from bonking into the doorframe when she gets especially wild.  I like that the spring and straps feel heavy duty and sturdy.

Less desirable qualities:

• it's a bit clunky to maneuver (you need two hands to get it up but can manage getting it down with only one) and store (not bad, but it doesn't fold up super tiny)
• it luckily fit our two doorframes that were near where we wanted her bouncing most often, but we tried some others just for fun, and the ceiling clearance was too low for the clamp to fit over the top of the door; on that same note, if you don't have actual doors around your main living space, it might not be super useful, since you need a frame for it to hook onto

Cost: We got ours for $31.99 on Amazon


6) Disposable Bed Liners

Why I love it: On a suggestion from my parents, we bought a package (exactly like the one shown above - it was the smallest package Walmart had to offer) of these disposable bed liners to use as changing pads for diaper time with Callie.  They worked great for protecting our bed or carpet (or anything else we happened to be changing her diaper on - we kept one in the diaper bag, too) and I didn't feel bad when she soiled or soaked one.  I just tossed it in the trash.  We stopped using them once her diaper changes became less hazardous (oh, after 6ish months or so, I'm guessing; I honestly can't remember for sure).

Bonus, they made great sliding mats for Callie to practice her leg pushes on:

I'm not sure how to embed this one, 

so you'll just have to click this link to see it

Less desirable qualities:

• they're rather large - we folded them up at first and then resorted to cutting them into fourths to make them more manageable
• there are ton in a package - because we folded/cut them, we only used 6 total liners (we reused them until they were the scene of a poopy or peepee accident) meaning we have 12 left just sitting there in the bathroom cupboard taking up space; if they made a smaller package, I'd definitely buy that one instead

Cost: I can't remember what we paid, but it looks like they're less than $6 for an 18-pack on Walmart.com (not much at all and a little goes a long way)


7) Burp Cloth Over Head Trick

Why I love it: This was our simple little hack to get Callie to fall asleep during the day (ie when it was light out) when we weren't at home for a regular nap in the dark.  It's ideal for places like church, airports (and airplanes, for that matter), the woods, the beach . . . let your imagination go wild!  We'd just swaddle her up, pop the bink in, and drape a burp cloth over her eyes.  Do a little bouncing to get her to sleep and bam, she's out.

Less desirable qualities: only thing I can think of is that it appears to others that we're suffocating our daughter, but really we're not!

Cost: absolutely free, because even if you don't have a burp cloth (and I'm sure you have a burp cloth) you can use other things like bibs, blankets, beanies pulled down low over her eyes . . .


8) Box Fan White Noise

Why I love it: It's no secret that Callie was not the best sleeper as far as baby sleeping goes (she's been doing a lot better the last 3 1/2 months or so, but those first 11 months of her life were not easy by any stretch of the imagination).  One thing we've found that really helped was having white noise in her room.  Cheap and versatile way to get said white noise?  The beloved box fan!  I think we actually bought this fan in the first place because our apartment was super hot last summer and we needed the cooling action that fans in general provide.  But since then, its sole purpose in life has evolved to provide white noise for Callie's nap and bed times.

Fan and big red ball make their appearance in
the background of this darling photo.

Less desirable qualities: Not necessarily with this particular fan itself, just the idea of white noise in general - you do have the problem if/when your baby becomes dependent on white noise to sleep of figuring out how to get her to sleep when you're away from home and your trusty box fan, but there are other options that we've employed for that: someone else's box fan (or regular fan) when we're visiting another home, the bathroom fan turned on and bed situated near the bathroom door (or right in the tub) of a hotel room, or a free white noise app on the good ol' iphone.  All seem to help cut out any background sounds or voices and provide an even, soothing white noise for a restful night's sleep.  (And really, I can't blame her for "needing" the white noise - I, too, sleep better with a fan on, which is why we've acquired another box fan for our bedroom, too.)

Cost: We got this one at Walmart for less than $20


9) Aden + Anais-Style Swaddle Blankets

Why I love it:  Callie loved to be swaddled from Day 1.  We started using the small, flannel receiving blankets from the hospital, but eventually she grew out of those and we switched to these, which were so graciously handed down to us from Callie's aunt and cousins in Virginia (thanks, Victoria, Katie and Elisabeth!).  They're big, soft, thin, breathable and oh-so cozy.

You don't have to get the actual Aden + Anais brand blankets if you don't want to (they're kind of expensive).  I made the one pictured above on the left from some stretchy cotton gauze (it's also called bubble gauze, apparently) material I bought at JoAnn's.  I think you can get more exciting colors online (try fabric.com).  Just a simple hem with a zigzag stitch of contrasting-colored thread and you've got a cute and functional swaddle blanket for less than $10.  (That's a big savings off the name brand, though I must say, I really do love the real thing - they seem so much softer than the one I made.  That said, we used both equally and Callie didn't seem to prefer one over the other.)

Less desirable qualities: cost is the only thing, I'd say - so ask for it as a gift at your shower, or find someone to hand them down to you, or make your own (it's easy, I promise!)

Cost: Ranges from $20 (for one) to $50 (for a four pack) of the real-deal Aden + Anais; less than $10 to make your own


10) Multiple Binks

Why I love it: The nurse in the hospital handed us three individually wrapped binkies like the ones above as we were leaving.  It was sort of like, "Sssh . . . don't tell anyone I'm doing this, but, here ya go."  Apparently in pro-breastfeeding hospitals, they aren't supposed to be offering things like formula or binkies.  But we used formula (practically had to beg for it at one point) and were given the binkies to use on our way home - and Cal was a champion breastfeeder.  So I didn't fret too much about the binkie thing.  Plus, they're really handy.  I know some people worry about breaking the habit, but so far we seem to be transitioning slowly away from them and Cal understands that they're only for naps and bedtime.  She seems to be okay with it.  Which makes me pretty okay with it, too.

Way back when the bink was bigger than her face!

But the real point of this tip is that we had have three of these suckers.  (Ha, ha . . . no pun intended.)  One lives in the diaper bag for places like church and the car.  It's the one that is tethered to the bink leash so we can clip it to her clothes and prevent runaway binks in the store or someplace germy.  The other two live in her crib.  She needs both for some reason.  She loves to hold one and suck on the other.  And if she throws one overboard, she has a backup for sucking.  Hey, it works for us.

Less desirable qualities:

• I suppose the dependency on binkies can be a turn-off, but I think setting some rules when Cal was old enough to really understand (about 11 months-ish) helped and is helping us ease away from the bink.  I certainly don't think she'll still be suckin' on this thing when she's going to kindergarten!
• more binkies available means more binkies to lose in the middle of the night . . . and then more binkies to have to track down by the light of the itzbeen timer

Cost: We got ours free (she's still using the ones from the hospital!), but they're only a couple of bucks from Walmart or Amazon


11) Monitor With Motion Sensor

Why I love it: Oh my heavens!  I love, love, love this thing!  Where to start?  First of all, it's like a regular monitor in that you can hear when your baby cries during the night.  This is what I wanted when I first started looking into monitors since Callie's room is across the apartment from our room and I didn't want to risk her crying and me not hearing her because I was too deep asleep.  (Reality is that I'd probably not sleep, instead laying awake listening to make sure I heard her cry.  That's what I was doing when she was in our room (only I was listening for her breathing) and that sleep deprivation stuff is nothing to be joked about!)  I like that you can set it for constant sound transmission (so you hear every grunt and groan) or you can set it to only transmit when the sound in the room crosses a certain threshold (ie crying or talking) of noise (which you can set to your specific circumstances).  Great stuff.

But, the best part to me is that blue square up there.  That is the motion sensor pad that goes underneath Callie's crib mattress.  It's nice and thin so there's no weird lump like the princess and the pea or anything.  It just fits perfectly underneath.  It is attached by a cord (not pictured) to the sort of cone-shaped device with a halo on top (looks like an angel).  That is the sound detector, too.  A little light on top flashes when it is detecting motion - even breathing counts as motion! - in the crib.  If it does not detect motion (breathing) for 15 seconds, it sounds one beep on the baby's room monitor as sort of a "Hey baby!  You're sleeping really deeply and haven't taken a breath for a while!" alert.  That's usually enough to cause the baby to take a breath or stir, but not enough to wake her all the way.  If, after 15 more seconds, no movement is detected in the crib, a crazy loud alarm sounds both in the room and in the hand held monitor that lives on my nightstand usually, but is totally mobile and even has a carrying clip so you can take it with you during the day (or outside when you want to watch the fireworks for the 4th of July, but you don't want to wake your sleeping little one to join you).  Yes, we've heard that alarm, but only because Callie had rolled off the part of the mattress where the motion sensor pad was, or because we forgot to turn off the monitor when we picked her up.  (They make another model that has two motion sensor pads, to fully cover more of your crib mattress area, if that is something you feel you'd need.  The part about forgetting to turn it off?  Well, you just sort of learn to not forget!)

I love it because I can sleep now, knowing that I don't have to strain to hear if Callie is breathing or crying.  The monitor is on duty all night so I can get the precious sleep I need to be a functioning mom.

A few other little things I love about it:

• the "tic" feature - you can have the sound on or off (I always have it off), but the little pendulum still swings back and forth on the hand held display, letting me know that the monitor is working and picking up movement in her bed
• the sound lights - sometimes I will think I hear something from Cal's room, but I'm not sure if it's really her or something I heard outside.  I can check the monitor to see that yes, she's up and talking to herself because the lights on the side of the monitor screen have lit up.  The lights stay a few seconds past the actual sound, so you can know if you really did hear something in her room and now she's back asleep.
• lots of customization and adjustment options for volume, vibration, sensitivity, etc. so you can get it just right for you and your family
• out of range indicator - super great for when you want to watch those fireworks, but you're not sure if your monitor will still be alerting you to things if you go too far.  Beeps if you're out of range, and then you just move a few feet and sit down on a big rock and enjoy your evening.
• can be used with or without the motion sensor pad - we've brought the monitor on vacations to grandparents' homes and left the motion sensor pad at home since it doesn't really work well in a pack 'n' play crib.  We still had the option of hearing her wake up from naps if we were upstairs or outside, and she didn't have to sit alone in her bed screaming her head off until we heard her.
• there's a nightlight on the baby's room portion (the one that looks like an angel) - it's handy, but a bit bright for all night use, I think

Less desirable qualities:

• I don't care for the giant temperature display.  Sure, it's nice to know the temp in the baby's room, but I think I'd much prefer to have a clock in its place.
• the cords - definitely a choking hazard if they're not carefully placed out of the way.  I think there might have even been a recall about that?  At any rate, be careful, as always!

Cost: $82.99 at Target is what we paid (we had a gift card from Gregg's boss eating a hole in our pockets).  But it looks like we got a good deal because now they're about $100 - shop around and see what you can find price-wise.  I think the peace of mind that comes with this monitor is totally worth the cost.  Totally!

12) Jogging Stroller (even though I've never jogged with it and never will)

Why I love it: This is a great little (biggish) stroller.  I love a lot of things about it, including:

• big tires go over gravel and dirt and bumps with ease
• easy to steer - that swiveling wheel in the front can be locked if you're jogging
• lots of storage in the cupholders (I never thought I'd love lots of cupholders, but I do, and not just for cups) and pocket on the back and basket underneath
• easy to fold up, though it does take two hands to tackle
• seat reclines almost to 180 degrees (and when it's all the way upright, it's not quite 90 degrees, but it's okay)
• the shade can move so it's totally in front of Callie's face, but the mesh part allows her to still see out - this is my favorite part, I think!  When we're walking into the sun, I can move the shade so it's actually shading her, but instead of her staring into the inside of a piece of fabric, she can still see out because there's a strip of mesh along the bottom
• our carseat snaps right in, so before she was big enough to sit up by herself (we first used it this way around March when she was 9 months old), we still got many miles of stroller walks in

Less desirable qualities:

• I really have little need for the built-in ipod speakers.  Seems silly, but if you dig it, more power to ya.
• The front wheel wobbles pretty bad lately, so I always have to have it in locked position or I rumble Callie right out the top.  (I think this might be an installation error and would probably be an easy fix, but my easy fix is to just keep the front wheel locked and everyone is happy.)

Cost: We paid $107.10 on Amazon (after our complete-your-baby registry 10% discount was applied - pretty nice little perk: I didn't tell anyone about my baby registry, but I created it anyway, just so I could save 10% when I bought the stuff I was going to buy anyway)

13) The Internet (specifically the parenting-related info I found there)

Why I love it: The biggest reason I love this, I think, is the feeling of not being totally alone in the world.  There is always someone on a blog or an article or a forum that is going through the exact same thing at the exact same time that I am at each stage of this journey as a first-time mom.  And while I didn't always find answers or solutions to whatever it was I was dealing with, just knowing I wasn't the only one trying to figure things out was enough a lot of the time.  That said, there were a few sites where I did learn a few things that were helpful to me:

• 5 S's: I actually read the book The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp, but there is a lot of info on the web about his famous 5 S's (Swaddling, Side/Stomach Position, Shushing, Swinging, Sucking).  While Callie wasn't by his definition a colicky baby, she definitely had her hours of unhappiness those first few months (what Karp calls the fourth trimester), and implementing at least four of the five S's (see numbers 9 (swaddle), 8 (shushing aka white noise), 3 (swinging aka bouncing on the big red ball) and 10 (sucking) in my list here) really helped us help Cal to calm down.
• Wonder Weeks: Supposedly the wonder weeks are periods of fussiness (the authors referred to it as a time of the 3 C's: crankiness, clinginess and crying) just before or during the time all babies go through various developmental leaps.  They're predictable and very well documented.  I didn't buy the app (since I don't have a smart phone), but it will alert you when a wonder week is about to happen so you know when to expect these fussy times.  I usually ended up looking them up when Callie was crankier than usual for no apparent reason.  More often than not, it coincided with one of these wonder weeks and I felt like I could at least move on with my life, knowing there wasn't a lot I could do but love Callie through it.
• Growth Spurts: Ditto what I said about the wonder weeks.  Sometimes just knowing that it's a typical time for a growth spurt helped me realize that not only was it okay that Callie seemed to be eating more than usual (no, I wasn't running out of milk!), it was totally normal and expected.
• Wholesome Homemade Baby Food: When it was time for Cal to start trying new solid foods, this site was super helpful to me in knowing what was okay to feed at certain ages and opened my eyes to new ideas for foods to try that I never would have considered.  It's full of info and recipes, and I used only a tiny portion of what was available, but I feel like it's the best resource I found on DIY baby food.
• Babycenter.com: I signed up for the weekly emails during pregnancy and I'm still getting them every week now.  I think they're a great, quick resource of info for learning what to expect about every single aspect of having and raising a baby.  Confession time: I also spent way more time than is really decent reading the drama of the birth board forums - holy moley, it helped me be grateful for my boring and simple life!  (But here I also felt that sense of community knowing that other moms were pulling their hair out trying to get their babies to sleep more than an hour straight in their cribs, too.)
• Sleep/Wake Time Chart:  This wasn't something that I adhered to rigidly or anything like that, but it was helpful to me to have an idea of what to shoot for in getting Callie the sleep that she needed.  I always kept it sort of tucked away in the back of my head.  Sleep, I've learned, really does beget slee, meaning if your baby naps well, then she generally sleeps better at night, which means she'll nap well again.  And on and on.

Less desirable qualities: It's the internet and there is always the chance of getting sucked in and spending way too much time in its depths.  Oh wait, is that just me?  Anyway, I try to set limits on my computer time these days, only opening my laptop when Cal is napping or after she's in bed.  But it's definitely a work in progress and I'm trying to find a healthy balance.

Cost: Just what you have to pay for your internet service.


14) Baby Signs

Why I love it: It was so great to be able to know what Callie wanted long before she could say anything verbally.  I really feel like it helped her to not be frustrated when she was trying to communicate to us.  We only used a handful of signs: milk, more, all done, eat/food, water (which started looking exactly like food when she did it), and shoes.  She made up one on her own for binkie (she clicked her tongue) and night-night (she waved goodbye) which we figured out eventually.  I just checked out a couple of books from the library - they even had them in board book form in the baby section - found the signs I thought would be most helpful and started signing them while I said what they meant in regular conversation and interactions throughout the day.  We started with one sign at a time when she was about 9 months old.  She picked them up quickly over the next few months and even now that she's starting to say real words, she still uses signs for things she can't say yet.  It's great!

Less desirable qualities: nada

Cost: nada


15) Fisher Price High Chair Booster Seat

Ours looks just like this, only the colors are all switched.

Why I love it: This high chair really fits well with my minimalist tendencies (unfortunately I also have some pack rat tendencies, so my life is kind of a tug-of-war sometimes . . . but that is a whole other post!).  It's small, lightweight, and simple.  It's easy to use, easy to set up on your existing kitchen chair, easy to move when you need another chair around the table, and easy to take with you on camping trips or even to a restaurant.  Easy and small.  That's what I love.

Less desirable qualities: The straps seem to be extremely delicious to Callie, and are thus covered in harded food-slobber debris from her mouth.  Gross.  (I realize this is not exactly a problem with the chair, but more with our daughter, but I just thought I'd get it out there.)

Cost: ~$25, give or take (we were lucky enough to get one from Grandpa and Grandma Elwood, so we didn't spend a cent, though I'm seriously considering buying one for them to keep for all the grandbaby visits that are sure to happen in the next decade plus)


16) Prunes

Why I love it: After starting solid foods, Callie had some issues.  She loved the food going in, but coming out it was a little, shall we say, difficult to pass.  We found that a healthy dose of baby prunes in her diet kept things running smoothly.  Regularity.  'Nuff said.

Less desirable qualities:

• Callie wasn't a huge fan of the taste at first, so we had to mix them in with her other food.  But she got to where she loved her prunes and when she saw the package coming from the cupboard to the table, she got quite excited about the prospect of that yumminess for dinner.  (Actually, they don't taste half bad.  Really.)
• When she first started eating solid foods there was no way she'd finish a whole carton of prunes (even though it's only a couple ounces).  I found rather than tossing the package, I could dollop spoonfuls (all she would eat at a time back then) onto some wax paper in single serve portions and freeze them.  Once frozen, I'd just pop the discs into a ziplock baggie and grab them as needed.
• I never made these from scratch, though I'm sure there's some way you could do it.  I just seemed like a headache to me, so I forked over the dough to buy boxes and boxes of prunes.

Cost: ~$1 per package (which contained two 2.5 oz containers)


17) Front Carrier

Why I love it: This was Gregg's birthday gift from his parents when he turned 30 the week before "Toasty" arrived.  We did some research and looked at all the much more expensive options and decided to give this cheap one a try.  It was perfect!  Easy to get on and off (once you figure it out - there is a slight learning curve).  Fully adjustable so both of us could wear it (though it actually took very little adjusting as we switched back and forth).  Options for baby to face toward the wearer or out to see the world (Callie definitely loved the latter option better, as evidenced by the famous Monday Night Hike picture below).  

We wore this thing lots of places, but mostly to the grocery store (saved me on my solo trips when she was too small to sit in the cart seat, but hated laying in her carseat in the basket (plus I needed the space there for food!)) and on hikes/walks (it was especially great for me in the winter when the paths weren't plowed and I couldn't get the stroller out, but we could still get out and tromp through the snow a bit to save us from cabin fever).  Simple, cheap, got the job done.  We were happy.

Less desirable qualities: it does pull on your shoulders a bit if you wear it for a long time (or your baby is really fat - that wasn't a problem for us; in fact I think she'd still fit in it today, but we've stopped using it because her legs are getting so long they hit our legs when we try to walk, especially uphill).

Cost: get it on Amazon today for a mere $16.29!  (A steal indeed!)

Well now, you made it through the most gargantuan post in the history of posts.  At least on this blog anyway.  Congratulations!  I hope it was helpful.  (Or at least entertaining if you just skimmed through to see the pictures - don't worry, this is a judge-free zone!)  Thanks for being here today.