If we could do our registry over again

It's been almost 4 years since we painstakingly created our baby registry. When I was 16 or so weeks pregnant, Mike and I went to Babies R Us on a Sunday afternoon, grabbed a registry barcode scanner, walked around aimlessly, felt overwhelmed, scanned only two things (crib and stroller) and then headed home. I did the rest of it online -- sitting comfortably on my couch. That way, I could read reviews and see everything in a much more organized manner.

I promised this post to a few pregnant friends who read my list of "Favorite Things" and wanted to know how it all turned out. Would I still buy the same items? Are some of the high price tags worth it?

Below is a run down of most of the items on the list and how we feel about them now. I'll also be following up this post with a list of things that weren't on this original list of newborn/baby items but should be, and then lastly I'll share what books and toys we're loving now (like we did a year or so ago). I always love seeing other people's recommendations, so I'll share ours :)

So without further ado…

Stuff we still love

Wubbanub pacifiers

Oh, the wub. How I wish Aurelia ever took a pacifier. Never the less, whoever invented the Wubbanub is a genius. It is a Soothie pacifier attached to a little stuffed animal. They make all different kinds of animals including giraffes, dinosaurs, dogs, and monkeys. Carina loved her kitty more than anything until she broke it when she was about 18 Months old. Up to that point, it was the only pacifier we had for her. After it broke, we went through about 10 soothe pacifiers until we took them away last summer. The wubs are so much easier to keep track of and are so much cuter. 

Gerber Birdseye Prefold Cloth Diapers

Everyone told me to get a few packs of these, because they are the best burp cloths and I didn't listen. I registered for and bought pretty burp cloths. The pretty ones look nice, but they aren't absorbent at all. I think most of them are in the trash at this point. These Gerber cloth diapers are so absorbent sometimes I can't even tell that there's spit up all over them! In comparison to the fancy burp cloths, these are super cheap, too.

Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets
These swaddle blankets are truly the best. We probably have close to 20 different receiving blankets and these are the only ones that we use to swaddle anymore.  They are large and a little bit stretchy; perfect for swaddling! We actually bought another set after it became clear that these were the be-all end-all of swaddle blankets. The prints are super cute, too.

Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes
This little toy plays four different classical music songs including Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Spring (one of my faves). We kept it on the changing table and would give it to the girls during diaper changes because these little squirmies need a distraction. I've bought this as a baby shower/new baby gift for friends a couple times.

MAM Oral Care Rabbit
I bought this on the recommendation of some of the Bump ladies and I am so glad I did. You slip your fingers in the bunny's ears and rub baby's gums. Neither of the girls has been fond of teeth brushing (read: hysterical screaming), but they tolerated this much better than the other (3 or 4) baby toothbrushes we've tried.

Itzbeen Pocket Nanny
It's no secret that I'm obsessed with the Itzbeen. It has been a life saver. Every time you feed baby or change her diaper, you press the button and a timer starts counting. This means at any given time you can see how long it has been since you fed or changed her. I cannot live without this item. We used it just as religiously with Aurelia as we did with Carina and will absolutely use it for any future babies. I know there are phone apps out there that do the same thing but the ease of pushing a button vs. swiping into your phone, into an app, and recording the data can't be beat. I am a heavy iPhone user but will never trade this for an app.

Halo Cotton Swaddle Sleepsack
At around 4 months Carina outgrew our aden + anais Swaddle Blankets. We looked at a number of sleep products like SwaddleMes, the Woombie, and the Swaddlepod, but decided against those designs because we weren't sure for how much longer she would need to be swaddled. This sleepsack, on the other hand, can be used as a sleep blanket with or without the velcro swaddly part. When Carina no longer needed to be swaddled, we unhooked the velcro and took off the swaddle. As soon as we started using this sleepsack, she was back to sleeping through the night almost every night!

Lansinoh Disposable Nursing Pads
I was using reusable nursing pads at first, but after I leaked through one, my bra, my shirt, and the blanket that was covering me, I knew it was time to try something else. These are great; they have an adhesive backing and will stick to your nursing bra or tank really well, and in over 3 total years of breastfeeding (whoa…) I've never leaked through one. I tried free samples of other brands but always came back to these. If you're nursing, get these. You'll thank me.

Medela PersonalFit Breastshields
It is IMPERATIVE that you make sure you have the right fit while pumping. Otherwise it can be painful and decrease your output. I was using the wrong size for a few weeks when Carina was a newborn and it was painful and I was frustrated that I wasn't pumping much milk. Most breast pumps come with the most popular size (24 mm) and I had no idea that they weren't actually "one-size-fits-all". Check out the guide on the Medela website to see if you have the right fit.

Munchkin Dishwasher Basket

I don't know how I would clean all of my pump parts, the girls' bottle parts,   zippy cup parts, etc. as efficiently if it weren't for this basket.  I just throw everything in there; no hand washing necessary. Saves me so much time. It's been in our dishwasher ever day pretty much since Carina was a few weeks old.

Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags
Anyone who breastfeeds and pumps breastmilk will need a means in which to store said milk. When I started pumping when Carina was 3 weeks old, I poured the milk in these bags when I was done, and then lay them flat in the freezer. These bags hold up great and are super easy to use.

Simple Wishes Hands-Free Breastpump Bra
This bra is amazing and a must-have for anyone who needs to multi-task. I used it at work when I pumped, and I was able to keep on working while I pump. It is so absolutely worth the money for anyone who is planning on pumping at work. It's comfortable and adjustable in size so it's easy to get the perfect fit. There are removable straps that you can use if you need additional support. I've since bought another so I can keep one at work and one at home (as needed).

My Brest Friend Pillow
This pillow literally has become my best friend. It is thick and supportive (not mushy like the boppy) and has a back rest. You don't have to hold the baby in position; your arms are free! It is adjustable and can fit snugly enough that you can stand up and walk around while baby is feeding. It also has a pocket that you can put your cell phone or lanolin in.

Inglesina Table Chair
We've used this chair for both girls and they much prefer it to our giant clunky high chair. The levers under the arms are completely adjustable, so you can attach the seat to tables of any thickness. It folds up really nicely, so it's perfect to bring to restaurants or take with you when you travel. We picked this brand as opposed to others because it had the best reviews on Amazon for table chairs under $50.

ERGObaby Baby Carrier
The Ergo was great for multitasking with both girls. When you have little ones who refuse to be put down, putting them in this will let you get some chores done. In my experience, it often lulled a nap-refusing baby to sleep. It was definitely a must-have for grocery shopping with a newborn and a toddler, too.

Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo
Take my eyes but not this jumper! This is akin to baby crack; both girls had so much fun in it. You can see for yourself in this video of Carina in it. When they weren't tall enough to reach the ground from the lowest setting (the height is adjustable), we simply put a thick Chemistry text book under their feet. Worked great.

Fisher Price Precious Planet Swing

Carina and Aurelia both slept in this swing every night for a few months when they were newborns. They LOVED it and slept through the night and what tired Momma & Daddy don't want sleep? This particular model is great because you can use it with either batteries or the plug-in adapter. I would make love to this swing if I could. I'm not kidding. I tested a different brand/type of swing for a Mom's Panel I'm in when Aurelia was a newborn and it didn't even compare. I'm not sure if they sell this exact model anymore, but look for any of the Fisher Price cradle swings. Same idea and function.

Fisher-Price Playtime Bouncer, Precious Planet
Both Carina and Aurelia could sit in this bouncer all day. But don't worry, I didn't let them. It's stored in Aurelia's closet now and if I'm cleaning or rearranging in there, they still like to take it out and play with it. If you can handle the cuteness, take a look at the video of her adorable 'dancing'. This was my go-to item when I need a few minutes to pee or get something to eat.

Stuff we're "meh" about or would do differently

JJ Cole Car Seat Cover
These are a good alternative to the JJ Cole Bundle Mes because they don't go between baby and the car seat (and hence won't void your car seat's warranty). We have 2, but honestly I think a thick baby blanket works just as well.

Fisher-Price Precious Planet Tub
This thing is huge and takes up a ton of space. I'm not sure there are many great alternatives out there, but we'd probably try to find something less bulky. Maybe one like this that looks like it fits in the kitchen sink - The First Year's Infant To Toddler Tub.

ERGObaby Original Infant Insert
Neither of the girls was very comfortable in the Ergo infant insert. I've heard you can use a wrapped up receiving blanket and it works just well. And anyways, I found the Moby Wrap to be better suited for the newborn stage.

Fisher-Price Rainforest Peek-a-Boo Soother, Waterfall
Carina enjoyed this, but it eats batteries. We've since opted for the Soundspa Lullaby Sound Machine and Projector. We have one for each of the girls' rooms now. They're not perfect (the projector motor craps out every now and then) but they are comforting and can stay on all night (instead of shutting off after 20 minutes).

Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller
I really liked this stroller, BUT -- if you are planning on having more than 1 kid, I'd really consider a single stroller that can convert into a double. I wish we had done this. Because now we have this stroller, and also the Double, and they both take a lot of space. If we could do it all over again I think I'd go for either the phil&teds Navigator or the Baby Jogger City Select.

Fisher-Price Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym
Both girls enjoyed this gym but it falls apart every freaking 5 minutes. We have to constantly put the four corners of it back into the play mat and snap the top back together. Maybe we just got a defective one? I won the Tiny Love My Nature Pals Move & Playmat at BlogHer shortly before Aurelia was born and like this one a lot better.

Boppy Nursing Pillow
I didn't use the Boppy for nursing, I much prefer the My Brest Friend Pillow for that -- we used it for baby lounging. Just a place to hang out when the girls couldn't yet sit up on their own. In retrospect, any old pair of pillows would have done just fine (and have done just fine).

Fisher-Price Precious Planet Mobile
We didn't use this mobile much past the first few months for either of the girls. We opted for the Soundspa Lullaby Sound Machine and Projector and handmade mobiles instead. We took the little animals off and the girls still play with them, though.

Fortunately, there really haven't been any items that we initially liked only to find them unbearable later on. Just a few things for which we probably would have considered other options had we known then what we know now.

Moms out there, please feel free to add any advice or must-have items, or things you wish you hadn't bought.

My princess problem

Sure, my girls love princesses. But I'm an enabler of the worst kind. If it's Disney and it wears a dress, they probably have its manifestation in doll form in not 1, not 2, but 3 sizes. And pajamas….books…and games. And 9 times out of 10, they didn't even ask for it. I can't help it. I think I love having these princess things around more than they do. As evidenced by the Disney princess calendar hanging in our bedroom.

There's princess bedlam in our house:

Clockwise from top left: 1. princess toddler dolls fill our shopping cart. Carina pretends they are pirates and they sail in the shopping cart pirate ship. 2. "squishy" princess dolls on Carina's bed. They are not all hers, she plundered a few from Aurelia's crib. This is a nightly occurrence. 3. princess orgy in the garage of their dollhouse. There are usually more naked ones than there are today. 4. princess figurines. I think we have close to 30 of them. Yikes.

I was mostly a tomboy growing up and couldn't be bothered with anything even remotely girly, so I'm not sure where this obsession has come from. As a matter of fact I much preferred animals (The Lion King was my favorite movie) to dolls and at any given moment until I was probably 12 15 you could find stuffed animals strewn about my bedroom.

And then I birthed girls. Maybe I'm living vicariously through them since I essentially ignored Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine when I was a little girl. No surprise -- I preferred Flounder & Sebastian, Lumiere (he's the shit, no?) and Abu & Rajah. After I saw Tangled for the first time I put the soundtrack on loop every day (even further confession: I LOVE Mandy Moore). Little baby Carina loved to dance to the songs.

Our trip to Disney in December only served to fuel the fire. We had dinner with the princesses at Norway in Epcot and I think we met and photographed the girls with each and every princess we could find.

Okay, not quite princesses - but hilarious nonetheless

And don't tell Mike, but I'm already looking into planning a return trip, hopefully right before Christmas 2015. Maybe? (Pretty please, Mike?)

Then we saw Frozen. I've been completely sucked in, and so have the girls. The fact that the story is about two sisters helps me justify watching it over and over again and thank goodness the merchandise is sold out everywhere or else I'm sure we'd have too much of it. I must have ALL THE PRINCESS THINGS.

They can thank the "Easter bunny" for our latest acquisitions:

Merida & Cinderella dress-up dresses

Sofia the First & Tinkerbell hair clips

::sigh:: I {clearly} need a princess intervention.

BUT HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS?

The 10th Circle of Hell

I am fairly certain that had Dante come in contact with modern children's toy packaging, he would have included it as the 10th Circle of Hell in his Inferno.

I dread opening toys we receive as gifts or buy for the girls because the packaging is almost always nothing short of obnoxious. Twist ties, molded plastic, tape, string, and elastics stuck to or woven through cardboard or more plastic. Who on earth comes up with this? I speculate that none of them are parents.

4 Reasons I Hate Toy Packaging:

(Or, why I want to throat punch toy companies)

1. It's frustrating
In addition to purchasing toys to enrich and engage my daughters, I can't lie; I buy them so I can relax for a few minutes while they play. But when I attempt to rip Princess Jasmine away from her cardboard backing only to find 15 different twisty connections securing her in place and there is an impatient toddler screaming, "open it! Open it! Open it!" all the while I begin shaking with anger. And of course Carina only plays with her for a minute and then discards her, opting to throw the empty box around instead. I spent more time freeing Jasmine from her twist tie bondage than Carina did, playing with her.

My sister attempting to free one of my niece's birthday gifts yesterday - she cut her finger just after I took this

2. It can be injurious
Raise your hand if you've ever been hurt by jagged plastic or gotten a cardboard box paper cut. There have been a couple of occasions in which I have sliced my finger, cursed the invention of plastic, and then vowed to never buy another toy again.

3. It can be counter-productive
Carina lost one of her precious Princess figures last week (Rapunzel) and was quite sad. The Disney Store was having a big sale so I bought her a replacement - the Rapunzel set. As I was fumbling with the molded plastic to get the figures out, Rapunzel broke. She was wedged in there so tightly that the sheer force of setting her free snapped her plastic hair. WHY, Disney store, why? All that packaging is supposed to keep things from breaking, right?

I can feel my anxiety level rising from simply the thought of extricating the 7 dwarfs

4. It's wasteful
You don't need to put everything on display anchored by ties or tape or that ridiculous molded plastic (or God-forbid a combination of those...ugh). Our kids will beg us to buy it anyway with just a pretty picture on a box and everything thrown inside. And then we won't need to recuperate or go to anger management classes afterwards. Forget the frivolous 8 or 9th twist tie or double layered plastic; less is more. Do it up, toy companies. Parents everywhere will thank you, and likely buy more toys.


"This complicated packaging is so awesome!" said no one EVER.

Just kickin' it! CLOSED

It has always frustrated me that most clothes, toys, and products designed for babies and toddlers can only be used for a short period of time. You spend a fortune on things that are grown out of or tossed aside in just a few blink-of-an-eye months. That's why I was intrigued by Kickboard USA's Mini Micro 3in1 - a scooter designed to grow with your child.

The Mini Micro 3in1 can be used from age 1 all the way up to age 5. It has 3 different age-appropriate styles of ride, starting with a ride-on seat at age 1, a Mini scooter with short O-bar steering at age 2, and the Mini Micro 3-wheel kickboard scooter with T-bar at ages 3-5.

Here's Carina using the ride-on seat (ages 1+). She scoots across the floor and exclaims, "weeeee!" We've been itching to take it outside for a couple weeks now but it has been so cold and now with 3 feet of snow on the ground it's looking like we'll keep it inside for a little longer. If you're crazy enough {like us} to let your kid ride it in the house, take comfort in the fact that the wheels are smooth and sturdy and won't scratch up your floor.

I love how simple and user friendly the steering is. You just tilt the bar to the right to turn to the right, or to the left to head off in that direction. We haven't had to use the brake in the back yet, but I'm glad it's there.

Carina isn't quite coordinated enough to use the short O-bar (designed for ages 2+) without the seat yet, but she does enjoy trying. She also likes to line up all of her princesses and let them ride on it. "Princesses scoot!"

As she grows older, the short O-bar can be replaced with a T-bar (below, top right). In addition to the interchangeable steering methods, every part is replaceable. So, if a wheel gets worn out or a hand grip tears, it can be easily replaced. It seems to me that it would take a long time to get to this point, though; the materials and construction of the scooter are solid.

About Kickboard USA:
Kick scooters, mini scooters, children's scooters - that's what we do at Kickboard USA! As the exclusive USA distributor of Micro® Mobility products we proudly offer a variety of award-winning scooters for kids and adults. For over 15 years, Micro® has been providing the highest quality kickboard® scooters. Employing a powerful combination of Swiss design and cutting-edge technology, Micro’s® scooters have won numerous international awards for design and quality.

Shop:

At Kickboard USA you'll find scooters for toddlers, kids, and adults!

Win:
To one lucky reader, Kickboard USA is generously offering a Micro Mini 3in1. Winner can choose Pink or Blue.

How to Enter:

This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. Click "Read More" below and then follow the instructions on the widget. Make sure to click "Enter!" after you complete each entry. All currents count! The giveaway is open to residents of the US only and ends at 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, February 19th.

The first entry is mandatory - Visit Kickboard USA and tell me which scooter you like best! Once you complete this entry, the widget will give you the option of completing the rest. Complete more steps for more chances to win!

Carina's new {relatively cheap} favorites

If you're anything like us, you have entirely too many toys. We've started trying to cycle them because otherwise a vast majority would never get any playtime. But there are a number things that we won't put away because Carina is obsessed with them. Here are her favorites that are $15 and under.

1. Fancy Nancy books - Carina loves the illustrations and the new vocabulary words that Nancy "teaches" in the book. She now says "Mmm, delectable!" (below right) whenever I give her something to eat. It's adorable.

2. IKEA Train Set - not only does she like to push the train along the track, she also enjoys lining up her princesses on it.

3. Sofia the First figure playset - this show is Carina's new favorite and she goes crazy over this little playset. She carries it around most of the day. No joke - she takes Sofia, Princess Amber, and Prince James in the bath and crib with her.

4. Llama llama books - I got this whole set through my Mother-in-law's Scholastic book order thingy for $14 and I think I've read them each at least 100 times. Before most of her naps, Carina makes me read at least 3 of them. She loves the llama and his tantrums.

5. Melissa & Doug Reusable Sticker Pad - Carina has spent hours and hours playing with this. It comes with 5 scenes and ~30 stickers per scene. It's just like the colorforms I played with when I was little. The under the sea scene is her favorite.

6. Sofia the First book - this book is adorable. The illustrations are exactly like the show and Carina has made me read it 4 times in a row.

7. Disney Look and Find books - just like Where's Waldo? but much easier, obviously, and with Disney characters. When we first got it for her birthday, Carina enjoyed looking at the pictures but couldn't really "find" any of the objects. Now she can find them all!

Note: All of these were either purchased by us or were holiday gifts (not sponsored). I just wanted to share what she's currently loving with you and I'm sure she'll enjoy looking back at this some day...

What toys or books is your little one crazy about these days?