baby crap – other things classified as “gear”

Ok, here’s another installment.  Things that are still considered “gear” but not as major as all that other stuff that I was talking about yesterday.

Baby Carriers

Our favorite is our Ergo and we use it all the time.  Specifically, we have an Ergo Performance Carrier in Grey with the original infant insert.

This is our first outing with her in the Ergo with the infant insert – she was about 4 weeks old.

We chose the Ergo over, say, a Baby Bjorn because of its design.  The way the straps are configured, the majority of the weight is carried on your hips as opposed to your back.  Personally, I am well aware of the fact that my hips and legs are considerably stronger than the rest of me so I’d rather have a baby’s weight carried there.  It also just seems to be more comfortable for baby since it’s a more natural hip/leg position over basically being suspended by the crotch like in a Baby Bjorn.  The only drawback is that she can’t face forward when worn on the front but she’s been in it often enough right from the start that she doesn’t know any better.

We went with the Performance version over the others because it’s supposed to be cooler than their standard models and well, Will is a furnace.  At the time they only had one version of the infant insert but now I see that they’ve come out with a performance version of the insert.  Since we’ve never tried out a standard version, we can’t really talk to the difference.  But we’re very pleased with it so far.  I actually reach for it when I want to go out for a walk rather than getting out the stroller.  It’s also been so great for traveling that we check our stroller right on through to our destination.

 
Right before this trip I ordered the organic teething pads since she was making a mess out of the straps but they hadn’t arrived yet.  They’ve been super handy though I’ve since learned that you can get fancy ones on Etsy (Red Charlotte for example).  There is one thing that I wish I had – a stuff sack – because when not in use, the Ergo becomes an unruly octopus.

We also tried a Moby as a less cumbersome alternative to the Ergo but we never really got the hang of it.  We’re certainly going to keep it – maybe we’ll get it with the next one.

I’ve also got a pouch sling thing that I got on Zulily but I’ve never been comfortable with it.

Entertainment thingys

Since we were starting out somewhere so small, I didn’t want to get too much stuff like seats and swings and the like.  So to start with, we didn’t have any of it.  Then she got diagnosed with reflux and had to spend so much time upright and I needed something so that I could put her down.  I chose a basic bouncer seat – the Fisher Price How Now Brown Cow Bouncer Seat from Target.  All it has is toys to bat at and it vibrates.

Can we just say lifesaver? We made sure it went everywhere with us (as long as we were traveling by car) until she outgrew it.

This happened a lot:

A-mazing!

We got a play gym early on but we didn’t set it up until after we moved so she was about 3 months old before we introduced it to her.  It was a hit.  Actually on occasion, 6 months later, it still is!

It’s the Fisher Price Deluxe Musical Mobile Gym.  It’s honestly not annoying because the music turns itself off.  But the flashing lights kind of freak her out.  I will admit that it took a friend (one without kids) to show me that you can just turn it on by hitting the big red button on the top of the motor.  Aaaaand we’d been using it for about 4 months at that point.