We still loved and used a lot of the same things as before during the past few months, but as Meredith has grown and developed, new items and routines have made their appearance. Here are some new things we loved.
>Ergo baby carrier (mine is in sienna sunset.) – I’ve tried a few slings and wraps and such, but this is my carrier of choice. We couldn’t use it until Meredith could hold her head up well, but there is an infant insert if you want to use it earlier. Anyway, I love that it goes over both shoulders and has tons of lower back support, I love that all you do is clip her in, I love all the pockets, I just love it. I find it very easy to put on and much faster than the stroller for quick errands. Meredith is happy in it, too.
>iHome. Our nightly routine that usually works is that we bathe and change Meredith, then around 7:30 I sit down with her in the rocker, dim the lights, and nurse her. Hopefully she falls asleep and I place her in the crib, and I go about my business. We use this iHome to play this album of lullabies for her. It changes colors (although we don’t use that feature much, it’s still neat), is small and cute, and has good sound. We actually used the seahorse for awhile, which worked great too, but sometimes I need more than 5 minutes of music, and with this I can just leave it on repeat. We do take the seahorse with us if we’re traveling though!
>Video monitor. We have this really nice one thanks to some generous church ladies, and it’s been great. We use it after we put Meredith down for the night. We set the big screen next to our living room TV, and thanks to the open layout of our house we can see it from the kitchen and laundry room. I take the handheld set with me into the craft room if I’m going to spend some time in there. Anyway, we need the video because with the music playing in the room the sound monitor is all thrown off. And our house is big enough that I might not hear her if I’m not close by.
>Jumperoo. We are borrowing this from a friend, and I am so grateful for it. Meredith loves it to pieces and it’s extremely adorable to watch her bounce up and down and play with the toys. We use it almost every evening while we do chores to get ready for the next day.
>Teethers. She doesn’t have any teeth yet, but she certainly loves to chew and drool. We use these things constantly, along with bibs. (But we haven’t gotten into any serious teething yet, so no recommendations there!)
From SEL:
We love our ihome. We use it often. Our summer infant monitor froze, so we’re not fans of those.
Sophie the Giraffe was great for M when she was teething!
From kapachino:
Oh no, I hope that was just a fluke and our monitor doesn’t break too! Did you find a brand you like better?
I know lots of people love Sophie the giraffe, so I’m definitely keeping that in mind for later. :)
From Elizabeth:
We still love our Ergo at 12 months, so here’s to hoping you get lots more use out of it!
We tried a video monitor, but something about all the signals in the house made it not work. I really, really want one still, so maybe we’ll give that one a shot.
From kapachino:
Another reason I love the Ergo is that you can use it for so long!
That’s so strange about the video monitor! I’m sure you can get one for much cheaper than this. We really didn’t need such a fancy one, but it was a gift. For example, the color screen is really unnecessary and you could really get away with just the handheld unit!