Jenny's Newborn Must Haves

Jack is about two and a half months old and I still am astonished at how much gear this kid needs. He is our second child, even, and I still had forgotten since Ellie about the amount of stuff it takes to manage life with a newborn. 

In the last few weeks, I've been compiling a mental list of all the things I couldn't have gotten through the last few months without. I give you: Jenny's Newborn Must Haves.

1. Rock 'n Play Sleeper

We did not have this with Ellie. Words can not express how much I love it. 

Up until a few days ago, this is what Jack slept in exclusively. I can pull it right up next to my bed. It folds up very easily so I can take it anywhere, like if we were going to visit the grandparents. The best part about this thing is that it rocks on its own. This has rocked Jack to sleep so many times. It can rock for 6 hours or 45 minutes, or it can be still. It also vibrates and plays music, but I don't use those features very often. It's not too big and he sleeps so well in it. Just this week we moved him upstairs to his crib - but we will continue to use the Rock 'n Play when we go out of town or to other people's houses. I can not say enough how much we've used this. 

2. My Little Snugabunny Bouncer

I've used this so much with both of my babies. It props them up, it's cozy enough for them to sleep in, it vibrates, and Jack LOVES to look at the birds. He kicks and smiles at them all the time. Ellie didn't love the birds as much but Jack is obsessed with them. I use this bouncer all the time. It's Jack's main station to sit in in the living room when I'm working around the house. I also pull it into my bathroom and he sits there while I shower and get ready. I also have Ellie's old one upstairs and he sits in that when we are in Ellie's room, if I'm folding and putting away laundry, or if I've giving Ellie a bath. It's just where he hangs out and I love this thing. 

3. The Boppy

Look, I know most people know about the Boppy pillow but this has been another thing we have used a lot to prop Jack up when he's sleeping or eating. I used it a lot in the hospital and immediately after we got home because I could use it as a pillow for him and support for me, while it was also really gentle and nice on my abdomen post c-section. Hooray for Boppy's!

4. MEALS

Y'all, my people can cook. Whether it was friends, family, or our church family, we were definitely very well taken care of when it came to food. I can not tell you how much this saved our lives. I was not yet at a point that I felt that I could go to the store and cooking seemed so daunting. But, the troops rallied and sent out a meal calendar and for about 6 weeks we had 2-3 meals a week brought to our home. It's made me want to be better about doing this for other people cause I can not say enough what a gigantic, huge help this was to us. AND IT WAS SO GOOD. I need to do this for other people more. It's my New Years Resolution or something like that :) BRING PEOPLE FOOD, Y'ALL. It's a MINISTRY. 

5. The Bottle Station - The Baby Brezza Formula Pro and the Avent Drying Rack

Let's talk for a minute about the Baby Brezza, or as it is lovingly referred to in our home, the Baby Keurig. LIFE. SAVER. We are a formula household and I soooo remember when Ellie was an infant that we would stand in the kitchen in the middle of the night, mixing a bottle with one hand and holding a screaming infant in the other, and waiting for it to be the right temperature. It was GOOD TIMES Y'ALL. 

The Baby Keurig has solved all of our issues. We push a button and in 20 seconds we have a mixed bottle at the right temperature. Literally 20 seconds. It's amazing. We can select how many ounces we want. There are different settings for different brands of formula since they all their differences. It's amazing and we use it all the time.

We set up a little bottle station where we used to have all the wine things in our house because this is our life right now. 

Bottles have lots of different parts and pieces so I have really loved having the Avent drying rack. It has a specific spot for each piece and that's been helpful when it comes to washing bottles.

I WASH BOTTLES ALL THE TIME. IT IS ALL I EVER DO IS WASH BOTTLES.

Anyways, we are slowly coming out of the newborn fog and things are slowly getting back to normal, but we continue to use the Baby Keurig and will for the next year or so. I'm so thankful for all these advances in newborn technology! :)