Just like I was meaning to post about Cooper's room approximately 14 months ago, I was also meaning to do this approximately 3 months ago! Time flies when having little ones around . . . they keep you extra busy, even if you only have 1!
However here is a list of our top 10 favorites + must haves from Cooper's 1st year of life!
10. Mr. Moo is Cooper's favorite friend + blankie, from
Angel Dear. I was introduced to this product by a friend of a friend in the DSM area before heading back to work, so Cooper was only a couple months old. It was like icing on the cake when I realized they had a cow! This gal had them for her boys and began introducing them while nursing. At this point, Cooper wasn't nursing, but I still tried to introduce when he would eat. He, of course, was only 9 weeks old and wasn't taking too much interest in the awesome blankie. However, when Cooper was 8 months old he stayed a couple nights at Blank Children's Hospital. We brought Moo along just as a reminder of "home" and Cooper became super attached! Moo hasn't left his side since . . . we've actually had to purchase another one so one can stay at baby school for a week at a time (come home for baths on the weekend). Angel Dear is smart and sells these little animals in two packs or three packs and calls them "A Pair & A Spare" - how cute! Currently, Moo gets to have breakfast with Cooper in the morning and ride along to baby school.
9. The
NoseFrida!!!!!!! Seriously, the best snot sucker, EVER! Well, the ones you get from the hospital aren't too bad either, but this is awesome. While I was still pregnant we met some new neighbors and I was asking for registry item tips and she highly recommended this. She warned me that it sounds gross and may take a little getting used to, but worth it. I couldn't agree more. . . I've talked several moms into putting it on their registries! Since Cooper has care given to him outside of the home, he's prone to what they call "daycare nose" and boy did he have it his first year of life. We've even used it recently as that stuffy nose is coming back.
8. aden + anais: Probably one of the best brands I've ever been introduced to by a friend in Minnesota who had a little boy older than Cooper. We have quite a few items from this place, but burpy bibs are one of our favorites! They start out as a burp rag that a mom can put over her shoulder and it fits so nicely around the curve of your shoulder and neck. When you're over that stage of your newborn's life and they are now 6 months, sitting up and learning to eat . . . you can put it around their neck and snap it together for them to wear as a bib! Cooper still drools, so we continue to use these all day everyday, even though he turned 15 months old today!!
7. More
aden + anais! I told you it was one of my favorite brands, so it shouldn't be a surprise they showed up twice on my top 10 list. We were given this exact moo cow swaddle as a gift from my friend in MN that introduced me to a+a, while I was still pregnant! She knew and understood my love of cows at that time and turns out I've successfully passed that onto Cooper, or maybe forced would be a better word. :) Anywho . . . these swaddles can be used for more than just swaddling. When Cooper was a newborn we would use it a lot as a burp rag or blanket to lay or play on while on the floor. He now uses one everyday at baby school as a light blanket.
6. We had quite a few different
HALO SleepSacks, but this one from
pottery barn kids was our favorite. It operated the exact same as any other HALO SleepSack, but it was just so amazingly soft and warm. The time we used it was when it was Winter in IA and we needed to ensure Cooper was comfortable, not too cold or hot, and this was the perfect material. Ours is the exact same as shown, except we had "Hitsman" embroidered on the chest area. We didn't want to do a blue one or embroider Cooper on it, as we hope to have a second baby who will use it as well!
5. Carter's pajamas might be the best and are pretty darn cute! Since Cooper was born 3 weeks early and fell into the "Newborn" weight category, our lovely neighbor went out and picked up a few of these cute pjs and dropped them off at our house to use when we got home from the hospital. They were even a little too big on him at first. We continue to purchase the Carter's pj's for each size that he is in.
4. TommeeTippee Bottle Warmer was pretty much a life-saver! I mentioned above that Cooper didn't nurse right away, but I had the supply . . . so I chose to strictly pump and use bottles immediately. The bottle warmer was small enough to drop in his diaper bag and take with us everywhere we went. I remember taking it to a wedding when he was just over a month old! It was great to have in the middle of the night when Nick was up feeding Cooper and needed the timer on it to remind him how long the milk had been "warming." We used the super cute
TommeeTippee bottles too, I just loved the squaty look and stars!
3. The
medela Pump In Style Advanced Backpack was also a life saver! Like I have said a couple times now, Cooper didn't nurse right away. I was making more than enough supply and wanted to be able to use it. Every time Cooper ate, I pumped . . . so yes, that was every 3 hours on maternity leave for 9 weeks, even in the middle of the night. I tried to keep that up at work as well, but it was a lot more difficult than I had ever anticipated. I had built up some supply to help out, but as I continued to pump less and less at work, it obviously slowed down my supply. By month 5, my supply was down and Cooper was really hungry one night . . . I decided to try nursing again and IT WORKED! This helped boost supply and I was able to continue to pump at work. However, by month 8 we had started mixing formula with the remaining breast-milk that I had. We made this decision because I realized I wasn't able to keep up with how much this kid was eating and we were going on a trip to Mexico and it would've been a lot to bring the pump with me and all of the milk back, or I would've been pumping + dumping a lot.
2. A video monitor may be considered a nice-to-have to most people, but it has turned into a necessity for us! We have the
Summer Infant Slim & Secure model. We originally had it sitting on the edge of the crib, so we could get a closer view of Cooper, but since he moves around more and knocks things off the side of the crib, we now have it hanging above his crib. You can see that in pictures from his
Room post. It's really nice to see what the little guy is up to . . . if he truly needs something or if he'll work through a few minutes of crying and fall back to sleep on his own.
And here is the . . . .
1. The
Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play is also another baby item that came highly recommended to us while I was still pregnant, particularly from a friend in MN and our neighbor! It's so lightweight and collapses easily for travelling. We used the rock 'n play from birth until approximately 5 months of age with Cooper. It was our bassinet for the first couple weeks for him, right next to our bed. It would go with me upstairs or downstairs, wherever I was doing something, so he could snooze or hang out in it. This is definitely another item I try and encourage all mom's to register for. My mom even told me it's her favorite item and she tells all new pregnant mama's to register for it, too!
.JPG)
.JPG)
