Month Two and Three Favorites

Today is notable because my babe rolled over for the first time! Normally babies roll belly to back first, but Gretchen rolled back to belly!

This is what happened:  I stuck her in her play gym while I sat on the couch to eat my lunch.  She was making some noises which I just brushed off because she likes talking to herself.  Then Dave looks at me and says, "did you put her on her belly?" I told him no because 1. she hates being on her belly so why would I do that when I am trying to get  5 peaceful minutes to feed myself? and 2. I would never do that while I am not giving her 100% of my attention because I wouldn't want her to smoosh her face into the ground and suffocate.  So I looked up to see her like this! I MISSED HER FIRST ROLL!

Luckily she has done it several times since then so I didn't really miss out.  She mostly does it when I am not looking though. What is especially ironic is Gretchen hates tummy time so she will roll herself and then get pissed off because she can't roll back! So I let her fuss a little and then roll her back. Usually right when I roll her back she will do it again! It's like the exact opposite of a turtle being flipped on his back. It looks like it is going to be a long couple of days/weeks until she figures out how to get back on her own.

Anyway, I thought I would share my favs for months two and three:

myBaby SoundSpa - I love this!  Gretchen needs white noise to sleep and before we got this we used an app on our phones (#inconvenient).  This sound machine has six different sound choices and will play white noise continuously or has 3 different timer settings...we never use the timer because once the sound goes off baby is up.  It also has adjustable volume and gets pretty loud which for Gretchen is necessary.  Her Sleep Sheep ain't got nothin on this sound machine.

Summer Infant SwaddleMe - Once Gretchen was around a month old she was a master swaddle destroyer which sucked because left unswaddled her startle reflex will wake her up every 5 minutes.  You can get these swaddles super tight and they will stay tight gracias a la ingenious invention of Velcro!

Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags - Breastmilk is liquid gold.  Let me say that again...Breastmilk is liquid gold.  I work so hard for every single drop I get that I would rather mix it with some Nesquik and drink it myself than dump it down the drain.  These storage bags are awesome because they have ounce marks on them and freeze flat which helps you save some space.  When you are ready to use the milk just pop the bag in some hot water and it is defrosted and warm in a minute!

Nosefrida The Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator - The idea of sucking boogers out of your baby's nose is a little nauseating at first.  Well the Snotsucker has a filter and unless you have a super human vacuum powered suck, you will never get the boogers/snot even close to the filter.  This works a million times better than those nasal bulb syringes.  Seriously, use it once and you will be in love.

Sassy Baby Disposable Diaper Sacks - I got these before I gave birth and for about the first 3-4 weeks I asked myself why I wasted money on them. Then came her first blow out in the car while we were driving to Bellingham and there was no where to stop except the side of the road (you can read about that here). I was so glad I had these because I didn't want to throw her clothes out the window or put them in my diaper bag all poopy! I also didn't want to have to litter a dirty diaper! Since then, these come in handy all the time and they smell good too!

Baby Einstein Play Gym - Gretchen loves this...especially the starfish that lights up on it. At first she would just endlessly stare then she would bat at the toys, and how she spins herself around in 360s on it!

Baby K'tan Baby Carrier - My go to when I am desperate to get her to nap! This is also awesome for when we go out anywhere and don't want to bring the stroller. She loves being snuggled up close and tight and almost always falls asleep.

Summer Infant Sparkle N' Splash Tub - She has outgrown her $7 Bath Sponge and graduated to a baby tub.  I assure you she is much cuter than the baby in the link because she enjoys hanging each of her legs off the sides of the sling so they are soaking in the water.  Also, you can tell she is gaining weight because each day she sinks a little lower in the sling covering more of her body in water (we make sure to fill the tub up nice and high).  What can I say?  The girl loves baths!

Summer Infant Video Monitor - As explained here, Gretchen has lost her magical ability to sleep anywhere. We try to have her nap in the crib for at least one nap a day and she goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 every night - which Dave and I do not.  This monitor is the best because we can catch her before she fully wakes up which helps get her back to sleep more easily AND we can obsessively check to see if she is still breathing instead of going up stairs all the time.  One of my favorite features is that you can talk to her from the monitor so when she wakes up and is crying we can say something and it normally calms her down a little bit...either that or she gets a look of extreme confusion on her face. AND once she outgrows the monitor we can use it as a walkie talkie!