Every couple of months, a friend on Facebook posts this: What Should I put on My Baby Registry?

Its hard to figure out. Amazon and Target want you to register for absolutely everything under the sun! What do you really need? This is not a comprehensive list, these are just some of the things that have stood out in the past year as being really amazing or not so amazing

Diaper Bag

The diaper bag is one of the things my husband and I have really hated. We opted for a messenger bag style. It looked nice and gender neutral which I felt was important because we’d both be using it at times and seemed to have good compartments. Its super annoying and awkward to carry. We SO wish we had a backpack carrier. Also the flap that closes it is magnetic… in other words, it doesn’t close. This site here is called House of Flynn and they have some really amazing bags. Like really amazing. They have a lot of really feminine designs but a couple of leather ones as well.

Baby Carrier

For baby carriers, I got two and have been really happy with both. The one I used most for the first 2 months was the K’tan. I was really intimidated by the prospect of tying a newborn to me with a big strip of fabric. The K’tan made it nice and simple because its basically pre-tied. One possible drawback for this is the K’tan is purchased for each body type, so the K’tan we bought only fit me and not my husband. That didn’t really matter though because he just used our other baby carrier!

The Becco Gemini is the best baby carrier you’ve never heard of. I seriously have no idea why everyone doesn’t have one of these. One of the biggest assets of this baby carrier is the baby can be on your back, on your front facing in, on your front facing out, or on your side. I had this idea before I had a baby that the baby would just like whatever it got used to. NOT SO. Our daughter hated facing us until she was about 4 months old and started sleeping on her tummy. She only wanted to face out before that. Another bonus of this baby carrier is the really cute patterns. And unlike the K’tan, this could be adjusted for me or my husband to wear. We’ve taken her on countless hikes in this thing and have never had aching shoulders or backs.

Jammies

When I was pregnant a friend told me to make sure I got zip up infant jammies because you don’t want to be dealing with the snaps in the middle of the night diaper changes. I personally didn’t find the snaps very difficult in those days. However. I LOVE the zip up jammies now that I’ve got a child who wants to flip over and crawl off the changing table as soon as possible.

Cloth Diapers

When I was pregnant, I found a lot of joy in researching different things for baby. Researching things for the baby helped me imagine what it was going to be like to have the baby here with us! The first baby thing that arrived in the mail were cloth diapers. I remember adjusting them all to newborn size and putting them all away in the dresser and explaining to my husband how to change a diaper. It was very exciting.

Anyways… after all my research, I decided that the Softbums diapers were the best option for us. First of all, the shells (that cute outside part) is completely separate from the pods (the absorbent part). This means if the baby just peed, you can change the pod and reuse the shell. This allows you to have fewer shells then pods. This also means you can wash (or dry) the pods without the shells allowing less wear and tear on the more fragile shells.

I also felt this cloth diapering option was really easy. The diapers themselves are really similar to the diapers you’re familiar with, so putting them on and taking them off requires no additional skill making them easy for babysitters or grandmothers to use. Finally the thing that really sets the softbums apart from the rest of the p

ack is their toggle system. Softbums has elastic legs that you can stretch out for a toddler or make tighter for a newborn. This allows for a really leak free solution that fits babies comfortably from newborn to potty-trained.

Diaper Rash Cream

Burts Bees Multipurpose Ointment is probably made of pixie dust. This stuff is seriously amazing. I know someone who used it for their chapped lips.

Baby Monitor 

A baby monitor is another thing that we did not do right the first time. We got a very simple audio baby monitor. Its great, but I can’t tell you how many times I wish we’d had video. Just get the video.

Car Seat

What Should I put on My Baby Registry? Obviously a car seat but which one?! There’s so many choices and this decision feels so critical!

I wish I could link to this article I read, but it was from a long time ago and I can’t find it. The general synopsis was this. It was written by an EMT who had arrived at the scene of countless car accidents. The conclusion was this: regardless the carseat, if the child was strapped in correctly, they did not suffer any major injuries. You’re supposed to be able to feel confident that if you were to hold the seat upside down, your child wouldn’t slip out of the straps. Also they buckle goes across their chest not their tummy.

Regardless, I researched car seats and was very happy with the reviews of the Chicco Keyfit 30. In addition to being safe, it was fairly lightweight. Which is important because you end up carrying these awkwardly shaped devices around everywhere.

As a side note, we got Chicco Bravo stroller with it and have been pleased with it. We don’t have very specific stroller needs though. (Besides that we’re both tall and haven’t found an umbrella stroller that works for us yet)

Rocking Chair

This is not the one we got but it has the same features that I’m going to recommend. First it has a high back. You want something that you can rest your head back on. Second, it has those little side wings. In the middle of the night when I come in to nurse I lay my head to the side, rest it on that with my eyes closed. I definitely recommend sitting in one of these before buying to make sure it fits you.

Rock n Play

You can thank your lucky stars that you’re a mom who gets to live in the days of the rock n play. Babies LOVE this thing. I mean love it. So you as a parent love it too. It would soothe our daughter often times during the witching hour evenings. It was also great for when I would be headed over to a friends house, I could throw it in the trunk and easily set it up for her to take a nap in.

Bumper Jumper 

The Bumper Jumper (or the Bouncer as we call it) is entertainment for the whole family. This is another contraption that some people don’t end up using but we (and I mean all of us) have enjoyed this so much. Our little one would bounce in this forever if we let her. I’ve even seen her try to take a nap in it .

Car Seat Accessories

You heard that right. Not just a car seat. Accessories. Just two things. Car Seat Toys are excellent. I had never even thought of this, but a friend bought me one of these. I put them on the car seat a couple weeks before the baby was born. I remember sitting in the back seat with our newborn girl driving home and giggling to myself about these carseat toys, which were clearly completely irrelevant. I was shocked how quickly they did become relevant. Within just a couple weeks, she was locked in on watching those toys. Now she’s almost 1 and she still plays with these toys!

The other thing that we got at about month 2 and just LOVED is a mirror. It is so nice to be able to look in the rearview mirror and see how the baby is doing. Is she sleeping? Is she breathing? Did she pull her blanket over her face? Is she smiling? You can know the answer to these things if you have a mirror!

Pack N Play

Since we had a crib and a rock n play, for some reason I thought we wouldn’t need a pack n play. We did. Its perfect for traveling. Its also perfect for when you have a mobile baby to have a safe contained place for them to play while you get some things done around the house. Its also nice when you go over to a mom friend’s house and they already have one so you don’t have to bring one. At least for the sake of hospitality, get one of these. Although I will say we didn’t use it until our daughter outgrew the rock n play.

Activity Mat

What would we do without our activity mat? I have heard of babies who aren’t interested in these. Maybe I’ll have one someday. But for now, I don’t believe it. Our little girl LOVED this thing. It was the only toy we needed for months it seemed.

Baby and Newborn Photos

If you’d love newborn photos, register for them! If you want a baby’s first year plan, register for it! In addition you can register for things like 3 framed prints for a gallery wall, an 8 x 8 album, a box of heirloom matted prints, etc. If you’re in the Asheville area or beyond and you’re hoping to have some newborn photos taken, I would love to serve you. But please get them taken somewhere. Its really incredible how quickly the little baby grows up. I love having quality newborn photos of our daughter, but I regret not hiring someone to take pictures just so we could have a quality photo of the three of us when she was newborn.

 

PS. I don’t get anything for mentioning these products or linking to them… but it’d be a lot cooler if I did.