Fiona has lived in hand me downs since she was born. With the close spacing of 3 kids, all in a 5 year gap, I haven’t had to buy new stuff for Fiona which has been nice on the wallet. But the researcher in me loves browsing online and in stores at all the cute products that have come out in the last few years. If Fiona were my first baby, I would definitely be considering some of these baby products.
1) Play Gym – I have loved this playmat since before Fiona was born. The cute factor of this one won me over and I would have totally bought it for all the photo opportunities if Fiona had been my first. A close second would be this new Skip Hop mat as I like the feature of being able to put your cell phone in the bar so you can get some overhead shots and videos. The photographer in me can really appreciate the thought put into that.
2) Graco 4ever– Fiona is currently in the Graco Snugride which I bought new when Juliet was born because Drake’s old one got ruined during Hurricane Sandy. By the time Fiona outgrows it I’m wondering what her next car seat will be. Drake is still in his Britax Marathon and I still like him in the 5 point harness system and might keep him in there for another year. He is on the smaller side and I feel more comfortable with him in that. By the time he moves out of it, the car seat might be past its expiration date. My friend told me about the Graco Forever which is a 4 in 1 convertible seat meant for 4 lbs to 120 lbs. It transitions from an infant rear facing seat all the way up to a backless belt seat. Since Fiona will be in car seats the longest, I like that she can use one chair all the way up to when she is out of car seats completely. For infants I do like the ease of being able to take the carrier in and out of the car if they are sleeping, but this car seat sounds like a great option once they are too large for baby carriers.
3) Little Unicorn Swaddles – I have blogged about these before but when Drake was born swaddles weren’t as popular as they are now so prints and designs were very limited. Nowadays there are so many brands besides Aden & Anais and of all the companies out there Little Unicorn is my favorite. I did buy one swaddle for Fiona as I loved the red poppy color, but I could easily buy 10 more if I didn’t have so many others already.
4) Go Glass Bottles – When Drake was a baby I used glass bottles until I switched to pumping and it was easier just to use the Medelas since I was pumping right into them. After that my glass bottles didn’t get much use anymore. If I could do it over again I think I would have liked to have stuck with the glass, especially with our family moving more and more away from plastics. Go Glass has wonderful reviews and the designs are adorable. I actually ordered the sippy cup set for Fiona for when she is a little older as I wanted to try the brand out.
5) Teeters – Just like swaddles the teething landscape has changed a great deal since Drake was a baby. We had the ever popular Sophie but I guess other companies caught on that cute animal teethers were the way to go and now there are so many cute and fun options. I’m partial to this Sola the Goat one from CaaOche as it resembles a sheep and I collect sheep items for Fiona.
6 & 7) Strollers – These strollers are two of the coolest ones I have ever seen. They are vastly different from one another but so cool in their own unique ways. The Pockit Stroller is a stroller that can literally fold up so small it can fit inside your handbag or backpack. Watching the video and seeing how compact it becomes is crazy, especially when unfolded it looks like the single stroller I own. If I only had one kid left in strollers I might seriously consider this one.
The Entourage is a whole different kind of animal from the Pockit stroller as it can expand itself in so many formats. The appeal to me is the storage space! My double stroller has the teeniest basket in the world and I end up not only pushing a heavy stroller, but lugging a huge bag of stuff. Seeing the ease of storage and expansion on this stroller is mind blowing (though so is the price). In another life I would have loved to have gotten this stroller as my double instead of the one I have now.
Are there any products you’d buy instead of the ones you did the second time around?
pea / 8 posts
Yes yes yes to the Pockit stroller. We just bought it a few days ago and it’s so convinient to leave in the car and not take up any space!
persimmon / 1310 posts
Just thought I would chime in on the car seat as we considered that one as well. People do love that seat, but there are complaints that the backless booster isn’t so good; a lot of people end up buying another backless when they get to that point. Graco makes a very similar seat called the Milestone that just lacks the backless option. We went with the Milestone because the cupholders on it are removable (they aren’t removable on the 4Ever), which gives you the option to narrow the seat when needed. So when someone needs to sit next to the seat, or we need to install her cousin’s seat next to it, we remove the cupholder so everyone can fit.
cherry / 110 posts
It’s amazing how fast the market changes!