Being a Mom + Must Have Baby Items

I think the biggest thing that scared me in being a mom was reading all these blogs that although are realistic, kind of put a dark victimizing cloud over motherhood that made it hard for me to look forward to. Yes I appreciate the honesty but I feel like they were all missing something. Within the first month or so yes I've been pooped on, peed on, spit up on and woken up at night but when it's your own baby, the poop, pee and spit up don't gross you out. People writing some of these blogs forgot to mention the overwhelming love you feel for your baby and how that love makes you do anything for him! 

Right when I gave birth I didn't have that overwhelming feeling of perfect love explained in the movies. I think I was more distracted that this huge baby just came out of me. Of course I knew I'd love him right away but day by day my love for him has grown ten fold. It's like getting to know someone first. My heart bursts thinking about how lucky I am to be his mom.

There are hard days, hard nights and a lot of crying. I'm not perfect, I pray for strength, patience and charity every day to learn how to care for my babe. But I can already tell, motherhood is so, so worth it. It's already made me a blubbering mess- you should have seen me trying to finish this slideshow. ALL the FEELS.

Now that I'm a month into being a new mom what are the things I have reached for over & over again and that I can't live without?

Glow

This is the app I chose and love to track feedings, sleepings and diapers. Honestly I don't have the best memory. So when the nurses asked me how many diapers he goes through a day, without this app I'm like... uhhh? A lot? Maybe some people think this is overkill but I'm such a visual person it's helped me so much. I can physically see patterns that Brooks naturally has, what side I fed him on last, how much he is sleeping and has helpful articles I read while feeding him in the middle of the night.

Happiest Baby on the Block Book

Thank you to my wonderful SIL who gave me this book to read! It's a short easy read with such valuable information in it. If you don't want to purchase or read the book, go look at his YouTube videos. This has worked EVERY TIME when my babe is crying a lot. The 5 S's are 1.Swaddle 2.Side/Stomach position (for soothing not sleeping) 3. Shhh's 4.Swinging 5. Sucking. I've only had to do the first 3 and it works every. single. time. Watch this video if you aren't going to read the book. It's only 7 minutes!

Baby Swing

Also kudos to my SIL Jen for getting us a swing! At first I didn't think that I wanted a swing because I had the Rock n Play (below) but I use both in different ways. This swing goes along with the 5 S's from above. We weren't looking for anything fancy, just something that did the job and didn't take up too much room. This swing has 6 speed settings, music and other noises. It also has a vibration option but we haven't bought a battery for that. This is in our living room and is the perfect place to put my babe down during the day.

Auto Rock n Play

I knew I wanted this from the beginning because of how it can fold and be put away when not using it (hello minimalist family here). This is in our bedroom and I use it when I'm desperate and Brooks won't go back to sleep on his own. It rocks on it's own, has 2 speeds, has music/noises, and has a setting to stop the rocking/music after 30 minutes. If I do want to use it during the day, it's so easy to move! Having both the swing and the rock n play was a good move for us because the swing is louder and bigger- it'd be a tight squeeze in our room.

Pack n Play w/ Changer

When purchasing baby items I didn't want to buy something that only had one specific use then be essentially useless after a period of time. Thus I couldn't bring myself to buy a bassinet. When you transition baby to the crib where do you put it? It's just be more stuff to find a place to store and decide if we want to keep it for next baby. We don't have a ton of storage space in our home so I went with a pack n play instead! This is in the corner of our room by my side of the bed. The right side is flips and is a napper on one side and a changing table on the other (napper is shown in picture). He sleeps on the left side and when I have to change him I do so on the right side. Super easy. He's right there, I can change him right there, then feed him and put him back down. PLUS this acts as a bed when we're traveling, camping, out of town etc. Multiple uses!

Muslin swaddle blankets & Swaddle Sacks

Everyone told me about Aden & Anais swaddle blankets and I didn't understand the hype but now I do. I was gifted a lot of these which was awesome because they seem kind of expensive. I know I did see some cheap ones at stores like Home Goods. These are great because they're light weight and don't have to worry about my babe overheating (it's still warm in Texas right now!). They have just enough stretch to really swaddle them in tight.

SwaddleMe

I switch off between these and the muslin blankets when I swaddle him during the day. Just depends on how I'm feeling or what's in arm's reach honestly. If swaddling with a blanket is confusing to you, these are easy to figure out.

Halo

This was a gift from the hospital and I love it! This is what I swaddle him in at night. It's a soft warm fabric so right now I strip him to his diaper and swaddle him in this for the night. I love that there's a zipper so I don't have to fumble with snaps in the middle of the night during a diaper change when my babe is screaming for food #RealLife. Plus it has an adaptation that when they start rolling over and moving you can swaddle them with their arms out.

Boppy

This is an arm saver especially in the middle of the night! I love that you can use it for different things at different ages (propping, sitting up and tummy time). I don't know how it compares to the Breast Friend... but the way I've used the boppy it's so easy to put on with one hand while my babe is in the other. I'm not sure if I'd always like to have to use both hands to buckle the nursing pillow? I don't know!

Washable Nursing pads

I was gifted these and I like how soft they are, plus they're environmentally friendly! I read the amazon reviews and some people have problems with them sticking(ouch). However I don't have that problem. Also it seems like if you do leak a lot these might not be heavy duty enough. I guess I don't leak a ton because they work for me!

Baby Sleeps Sounds

This free app has 20 sounds and a timer with a fade out option. It's been a life saver to calm my babe! We have a white noise machine for at night but this is great for when I'm not at home and he's fussing.

White Noise Machine

After using my phone A TON I decided I needed something else. Brooks responds really well to white noise, it almost always calms him down. Like I said we use this at night. I use to just fade it out when we go to bed but I'm currently experimenting with having it on all night to see if he sleeps longer and more soundly. Obviously I wouldn't buy this until you know if your babe likes white noise. Most babies do but you never know!