show us your life - baby gear

i have never done a 'show us your life' that's hosted by kelly's korner before, but i decided i would do one today. it's on baby gear. and i thought i have a baby, so here i am! i have bought and received a lot of things that i LOVE, and some not so much. so, i'll tell you what my favs are, and what my not so fav things are too.

before i start, i'll tell you something that has really helped us save a lot of money. well, we haven't saved money, but my mom has. we really haven't had to buy much for addison because my mom buys her a ton of stuff. but my mom has bought a lot of stuff from her friends, and from garage and yard sales. it's mainly toys, but still. she can get some great deals. and addison loves all the stuff she gets!

these aren't in any order. i like these things equally (and if i like one more than another, i'll let you know!) (i tried to either provide a picture of what i'm talking about, or a link to where you can buy one online)

1. jump-a-roo
my mom got this for addison from one of her friends. and addison loves it. which means i do too. it has 4 different heights, so you can adjust it for how big your baby is. addison started in the shortest setting when she was 4-5 months, and now she's at the highest setting. she used to just stand and chill in it, but now she jumps. and when she gets on a roll, she can jump for a long time. forget about watching tv. addison will drown the sound out with her constant jumping. but i don't mind. it's pretty entertaining :)

2. boppy pillow
i had planned on breastfeeding addison, so i thought this pillow would be great for that. well, breastfeeding didn't work out too well for us, but the pillow still came in handy. addison used to lay in it when she would take her bottle, and she would go to sleep in it too. i would put it on the floor and she would watch tv. once she got a little bigger, she started sitting up, she could be propped up in the boppy. the best part was that you could change the covers. they have so many cute covers, and when your baby spits up on one, you can just take it off, put a new one on, and wash the dirty one! (my mom and i got 2 unused boppy's at a consignment sale for $16 a piece. they usually go for about $30 a piece)

3. clean water infant tub
i received this as a baby shower gift. i don't think i would have bought it myself, but since it was a gift, i kept it. i don't use it anymore, but we did until addison was about 6-7 months. it was really good because it had a built in thermometer to tell you if the water it too hot or too cold. it really came in handy.

4. bath tub seat
since addison is out of her infant tub, we got her a seat that attaches to the bathtub. i don't really trust her sitting up by herself in the tub, so this works out perfect. she sits and plays, and it's really easy for us to give her a bath.

5. car seat/stroller system
my mom bought a car seat/stroller system from her friend. i kind of wished i had bought a new one, but by the time i wanted a new one, addison had almost grown out of it, so it would have been pointless. the one we had worked just fine. my mom found extra bases for the car seat on craigslist, so we all had a base in our car (me, chris, my mom and my dad all had a base). it was so easy to take whatever car we wanted. and when addison was little, we could put the carseat in the stroller without disturbing her. it worked out very well.

once addison got her helmet, we decided to get her a new carseat. we got one for my car, since i'm the one who usually takes her everywhere. we used the old one in chris's car for a while, then we got a new one for his car. the one's we got are evenflo and they are convertible carseats. they are rear facing now, but can be changed to front facing when needed. and they can also be changed to booster seats. so they will last us a while.

6. pack and play
we got a graco pack and play as a baby shower gift and used it as a bassinet until addison was 6 months. we had it in our room, and i just liked having her close. my mom and dad both have one as well, and when they keep her, that's where she sleeps. at our apartment, addison's room was on the other side of the apartment. i didn't like being that far away from her, so i kept her in our room. once we moved into our house, we didn't set up the pack and play and she has been sleeping in her crib ever since.

7. diaper genie
i don't really love our diaper genie, but it's the best solution to the diaper problem. it keeps the smell in, until you go to put a new diaper in. then you get a big whiff of the stinky stuff in there. but it really isn't bad. i would rather just have a few whiffs than smell it all day long!

8. swing
we also had a graco swing (that was worth $150 and my mom bought from a lady NEW STILL IN THE BOX for $50!!!). it worked really well for us. if addison was really fussy, we would put her in the swing and it would soothe her. it had noises and those helped her go to sleep. we don't use it anymore, but we used it a lot when she was a little bitty baby.

9. high chair
one of chris's customers actually got us our high chair. they must really like him! i love our high chair because it's so cute. it's all girly with pink and brown. it reclines, which was nice when i was first putting addison in it. and it also can be different heights. it came with 2 different covers, so if one got dirty, there was an extra. and you can remove the large tray to clean, or to make it easier to get your baby out.

10. hippo seat

this thing is AMAZING. if you plan on feeding your baby always at the kitchen table, just get one of these instead of a high chair. we feed addison in the living room, so it wouldn't work out for us all the time, but it works great at restaurants. i take mine to my dad's every time he keeps addison because it's so easy to just grab and so easy to set up. i would definitely say it's a must have!

here are some things that are small, but i couldn't live without:

pacifier - a MUST have for us. addison can't go to sleep without hers. she doesn't get it when she's awake unless she's really fussy, but we give it to her for bed time.

pacifier clip - once addison started taking her paci out of her mouth, we got a paci clip. we had one that didn't clip on very well, and addison would pull it right off. so we got a really good one. and it's a lot cuter than her other one too :)

shopping cart cover - my mom also got this off of craigslist (not the one in the link. that's just some at babies r us) and i love it. it's padded so addison doesn't have to sit on that hard shopping cart wire. and it keeps her from touching the nasty germs.

kangaroo links - these are great for keeping toys attached to something. whether it's the stroller or high chair.

bundle me lite - i got this to keep addison warm since she was born in the winter. i really liked it a lot, and i could cover her when we went outside with it

head and body support - i also got this because i thought it would keep addison warm. and it seemed to. it also was a head support for her. we got a bigger one once she got bigger, and it didn't have the fuzzy stuff on it since it was summer.

now for the things i didn't like so much. there aren't many, but there are some.

1. "bouncy" seat
i registered for a bouncy seat, and got it. once i had it put together, and put addison in it, i realized it wasn't bouncy. i was quite disappointed. the box said it was a bouncy seat, but it wasn't. just look out for stuff like that, and make sure it's what you want. i should have taken mine back, but i didn't.

2. swaddle blankets
we got one of the swaddle blankets and never used it. i didn't necessarily dislike it, i just thought using regular blankets was just as easy.

i think that's it for my dislikes. not very many!

this has been fun. it took me a while to figure out what all i liked and disliked, but hopefully it'll be helpful!