Month 3 Must-Haves

It seems three month olds don't have time to sit still and have their picture taken, there are more fun things to do!  Like trying to stand up and beating up their stuffed elephant.  ;)

I can't believe it's time for me to be writing this post again, already!  Where is the time going?!  We're still using just about everything from last month, but we've added in a few more things this month.  It's wild to me how fast he's growing and changing.  This month he's really started interacting with us more and more, and it's so fun to see!

Once again, most of these are not technically "must-haves", they're just our favorite things that helped us through this month, I realize everyone's lists may be a little different. ;)

You can find our lists for Month 1 here, and Month 2 here.

Munchkin Dishwasher Basket

I can't believe I've neglected to put this on here before now!  We have used this thing every single day since Henry was born!  We actually have two so that there's always one in the dishwasher and one out on the counter collecting pacifiers that a certain someone likes to see how far he can spit out.  It's so nice to be able to corral all the pacifiers and bottle parts.

Sophie La Giraffe

This is one of those things that almost every new mother lists as a must-have and I never really understood why.  Yes, she's super cute, she squeaks, and I could see where she would make a good teether.  She's also crazy expensive for what she is.  Easily 4 times the price of most other teethers.  But, Henry absolutely adores her!  I thought he was still a little young for her, but brought her out for him to play with anyway, and he grabbed hold of her immediately!  He loves chewing on her little ears and mouth, it's funny because you can hear his gums squeaking on her when he chews on her.  We've not gotten the same kind of response with any other toy he has, it's crazy!  I also like that she's made in France not China.  We prefer to buy things manufactured in the US, Canada, or Europe when we can, just as a personal preference.

NUK OrthoStar Pacifiers

In my Month 1 Must-Haves post I mentioned that Henry only would take a NUK pacifier.  Well, we decided to try out their new Ortho-Star pacifiers, and he prefers them to the old style.  It's absolutely crazy to me that he has a preference about such things, but he definitely does!  I really tried hard to see a difference between the two styles, and it looks to me like the new ones have a flatter, wider nipple on them.  We use these at nighttime and they stay in longer than the regular NUK pacifiers, which means more sleep for us, and this month that was in short supply, so anything that helped was greatly appreciated!!!

Footie PJs

Pretty sure this is from the day after we came home from the hospital, but it's one of the only pictures I have of him in pjs.  Apparently I don't take a lot of pictures at bedtime.

The swaddle at nighttime finally met it's end.  I mentioned in my post last month that we were going to have to move up to the size small Halo Swaddle Sleepsack soon, and we did early this month.  I was a little disappointed with the size small though because it seemed like the "wings" that kept his hands down were smaller than on the newborn size.  As a result he was able to get his hands out much easier than before.   After about a week of waking up every single time to one or both of his hands out, (one time he even managed to get a FOOT out, still haven't figured that one out!!!), we decided it might be time to stop the swaddling.  Besides he was getting awfully close to rolling over, and I didn't want him rolling over in the crib while swaddled.  We had a rough couple of nights when we first stopped the swaddle, but he slowly got used to it.  Since discontuing the use of the swaddle sack, he's been sleeping in footie pjs.  He's still warm enough, and there are no loose covers/blankets in the crib to increase the risk of SIDS.  Plus, I'm of the opinion that footie pajamas may just be some of the cutest articles of clothing ever. ;)

Coconut Oil
I'll talk more about this in my upcoming cloth diaper post, (I've been working on it, but it's getting LONG, I may have to split it up into cloth diaper WEEK!), but it's the only thing that we found that FINALLY got rid of any trace of diaper rash!  Hallelujah!  I was admitedly very skeptical about it's effectivness before we started using it, but it honestly works like a dream!  We use a jar of organic, unrefined coconut oil, so I like that there are no weird chemicals or ingredients I can't pronounce on his cute little bum, and as an added bonus he kind of smells like he's been at the beach! ;)

Medela Fresh Breast Milk Labeling Lids

Thanks to Henry's 12 Week Wonder Week colliding with his 3 month growth spurt, combined with my husband working lots of overtime, and us being crazy busy, I was seriously sleep deprived for much of this month.  It was way worse than even when he was a newborn, at least husband was off for a few weeks then!  I always try to keep one bottled of pumped milk in the fridge so that Henry will not start refusing bottles and I can escape the house every once in a while.  Well, this month these date lids were a life saver!  Without them there is no way I would have been able to keep track of when I had pumped the milk in the bottles.  Mine came with my breastpump, but I'm debating getting a couple more.  I was super stoked when I realized they would fit bottles other than the Medela, (which are not my fav).

Sigikid Bunny Lovey

Our friends Craig and Jenny brought this little guy back with them from a trip to Germany last fall, and Henry just loves it!  It and Sophie the giraffe are the only "toys" that he really seems to care anything about.  He seems to go to sleep better when he's holding on to this too.  I always take it away when he goes to sleep in his crib though.  At what age can babies start actually sleeping with lovies??  I feel like he might stay asleep longer if he could hold on to it all night, but I don't want to do anything that might increase suffocation risk!  Yes, I am that mother, the crazy, paranoid one.  I think I earned my right to be. ;)

Recliner
As I mentioned several times already, sleep was in short supply in our house this month.  About halfway through the month I ended up moving our recliner into our bedroom during naptime one day.  Since then there have been several times Henry and I have slept in it.  Seriously a lifesaver this month!

Cloud b Sleep Sheep

My parents got this for Henry for Christmas, (yes, he got lots of Christmas presents before he was even born, the child might be a little spoiled).  We tried it out when we first got home from the hospital and he hated it!  Everytime we turned it on he would wake up and stare at it like it was posessed!  Hence the using Yo Yo Ma as white noise during month 2!  Well, after a month and a half of the same cd every. single. night.  I had my fill!  I switched this on to the waves setting one night, and Henry slept really well with it on, so now we use it every night!  The great part is when it's in his crib, I can barely hear it! ;)

The Windi

Henry is a pretty gassy baby, and this is the only thing we've found that actually seems to help!  Well, that and getting rid of all dairy in my diet.  I would kill for some rocky road ice cream right about now!!!  Because the elimination of dairy took care of the worst of the gassiness, we've only had to resort to using this a few times, but when we have it's been immediate relief for him!

Giraffe Mat

This picture is from when he was only a few weeks old, but it's the only one I had that showed the whole giraffe.

Again with the giraffes!  I've been thinking for a while I need to do a post on the giraffe love we seem to have going on in this house; Henry has TONS of giraffes!  We got this giraffe as a gift, and we use it everyday!  It's so incredibly soft and Henry just looks so relaxed laying on it.  I put him on it and sing him songs, complete with hand/foot motions until he laughs and laughs.  We love it.  I tried putting him on his tummy on it one day and he tried to eat the 'fur' so it's been relegated to back play only. ;)

That pretty much wraps up month 3!  We are officially out of the newborn phase!! Crazy!!!  He is just such a blast now, we are having so much fun being his parents!

Oh!!  And for all those who have commented/emailed asking how we like our stroller/car seat, (we still LOVE both!!), Britax is bringing back the Free Ride event, (that's how we got our car seat for free!), July 1st!  Just a heads up! :)

They've made a few changes to the stroller for the 2012 model, most notably new wheels, which I think make an already great stroller even better.  We haven't had any trouble with our wheels, but I've read a few reviews of people who have, so they've fixed it for the new model.

Jennifer