Months 8 and 9 Must Haves

I didn’t get to write this one last month- what with having to check a gazillion papers, write a 200 question final and clean up a classroom and all. I mean I love my job, but sometimes it really gets in the way of my blogging. We need to get that under control.

Anywho- on to the list:

Go Baby Go- Crawl Along Drum

Dear lord- is this child obsessed with this toy. He loves to pick it up, turn it over, and play with the little daisies on the sides. It snaps apart into two side by side drums, so we can take it in the car to keep him occupied...and the best part is it has a volume control so you don’t have to hear it loud all the time. Thank you, Fisher Price, for that genius adaptation.

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn with Friends Musical Table

We received this as a baby shower present- and for awhile we had the legs off and Grayson would play on it. Now that we're standing it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread to play on. He loves pressing all of the buttons- over and over and over again- and walking around playing with each of the four things. Right now we like the music option the best, but as he grows he can learn letters and even Spanish from this little table. I love a toy that will grow with him, and doesn’t only last us 2 months.

Beco Baby Carrier

For the first few months of his life- Grayson was super content to hang out in the baby K'tan. Then old chunkers got too big for that, so we had to look for a better carrier option. I was going back and forth between this carrier and the Ergo- but ultimately chose this one because of the ability for the Bean to face outwards. We have this pattern, the robots, and it is super cute. It is also ridiculously comfortable- I wore Grayson for 5 hours at the Pittsburgh Marathon and my back didn’t hurt at all. It folds up nice and small, so I just toss it in the basket of the stroller and when he decides he’s had enough I stick him in and hes as happy as a clam. It also puts him at the perfect height to help push shopping carts, which is a big thrill. I love, love, love that the baby can be worn on the front, back or hip and face in or out- it just makes for a very versatile carrier that can be used for a long time.

Nuk Learner Latex Spout BPA Free Cup

Mr. Picky will only drink from two types of sippy cups and this is the first one that he would try. The handles make it easy for him to pick up, and the cup isn’t too heavy for little hands to hoist up. Plus the handles make it easy to tote around for Mommas too. He still loves to pull this around with him as he crawls around, which I don’t mind because it doesn’t leak all over the place.

Nuby 2 Count Super Spout Easy Gripper

This is the other. Once we had it down with the Nuk cup, we tried these out. He took to them really well, besides the fact that he prefers to drink from it upside down. They are a bit heavier and bulkier than the Nuk cups, and seem to give more liquid out at once so I would wait until the Bean is 6 + months for these for sure. One thing that thrills me about this particular cup is that it fits in the cup holder of the stroller and car seat- unlike the Nuk cups with those pesky handles.

Safety 1st Complete Air 65 Convertible Car Seat

It was getting to darn hard to lug the Bean around in his infant seat (Chicco Keyfit 30), the time had come to graduate to a big boy seat. After doing tons of research and trying out a few various car seats in our car/at Babies R Us, we ultimately decided to go with this seat for several reasons. First was its tall shell- Grayson is tall so he probably would outgrow the Britax pretty quick (not something I was willing to do with the price tag for one of those bad boys). Second was its rear facing weight limit of 40 pounds, allowing him to rear face longer. Third was its ease to install and work. It was one of the easiest seats to install with the Latch, and it felt really solid once it was in. We had looked at the Evenflow Triumph, but for the life of me I could not loosen the harness with that red lever thing. With the CA65 it was the same system we were used to with the Keyfit- so it worked well. Last was the price- we got ours on sale at Babies R Us for 115 each- which was something to consider when we had to buy three separate seats. So far, we love this seat. He has plenty of leg room rear facing, with lots of room to grow. He can see out the window now, which makes him a happy camper and its really easy to get him in and out of. Hopefully we will continue to love it as much as we do- since we're in this for a long time!

Pampers Extra Protection Nighttime Diapers

With all of this extra water we're drinking because of the heat- someone started to wake up when his poor little diaper couldn’t take it anymore at about 2 am. We tried Huggies Good Nights- but they leaked all over the crib leaving one unhappy sheet changer. When I saw that Pampers had a Nighttime version, I bought a small pack and we haven't looked back. Seriously, if your kiddo wakes up in the night needing to be changed you need to get your hands on a night time diaper. Eight un-interrupted hours is well worth having to remember to put on the diapers with the sleeping characters of Sesame Street if you ask me. Just remember to buy one size up for nighttime dipes!
 

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Workbench

He's his father’s kid- and loves tools. The current thrill of the day, taking that hammer and beating not only the colorful nails and screws on the bench but everything in his little wrecking ball path. As he gets better with the aim this will probably become a bad thing, but for now its just really cute to see him crawl-chase the dog with a hammer.

Thats all for now I think- if you missed months 1-7 be sure to check them out here!