These are a few of my favorite things

When I was pregnant I was on the prowl for all the newborn necesities - only problem was, I didn't have a newborn and therefore had very little knowlege of that the necessities were.

Oh, many people told me "you'll need this", or "you'll want that", or "don't waste your money there", but you really don't know what you'll want, need, or expressly have to have, until you have a baby to use it with.

So, for my reference and reflection more than anything, here are the top ten things that got us through our first year with Levi:

The Miracle Blanket: Levi was swaddled in this until he was 5 months old. Yes, Five. See those flaps over the arms? they go under the back. Not even my houdini baby could make it out of this swaddle. I credit it with HUGE amounts of sleep.

The Boppy Pillow: I took my boppy everywhere. I took it to church when we went to the cry room, I took it on the airplane when Levi was 3 months old, I took it to friends houses. Until Levi was able to support his own head, I took that thing everywhere. Thank you Boppy, for saving my shoulder.

The Moby Wrap: Actually, I have a friend's baby sleeping on me in the Moby this very moment. Levi and I went on lots of walks this way. True, it does take a bit of "fabric oragami" to get it on, but man, is it comfortable.

The Bullet Blender: I suppose I should give some credit here to my stick blender, but between the two of them I made all of Levi's food. Easy. Cheap. Tasty (even to me, bonus!)

(Blogger removed this picture - I officially hate blogger. I'm so sick of going back in and fixing margins that I say, if you want to know what a bullet blender is go to www.buythebullet.com . Forget the picture, I'm done)

The Medela Suplimental Nursing System: To be fair, I HATED this thing. But, I think it truly saved our nursing career. If you know what it is and what it does, great, otherwise don't worry about this one.

The Exercauser (also known, in our household as "the disk" or "the spinner"): I cannot begin to count the number of times I stuck Levi here so I could simply get a moment's respite. He was a FUSSY baby until he was nearly 6 months old. But, certain things would hold his attention temporarily. This was one, and Praise the Dear Lord for the friends who loaned it to us!

Bum Genius Diapers and Rockin' Green Detergent: Do I need to say any more than this? We've saved oodles of dollars, and many pounds of land fill refuse. No amonia stink. Simply two great choices.

The White Noise Machine: Why didn't I find this thing sooner? This is the same one we use, on "waterfall" setting. It blocks out a lot of our creaky floor problem (although, not all of it) and allows me to do a few things around the house while my light sleeper naps.

Blackout Fabric: While I was looking in to the posibility of buying black-out curtains ($$$) I found this stuff at Joanne Fabrics. $5.99 a yard. I took thumb tacks and tacked it up to the window frame. Now, I can't even see my feet in his room without the light on. Brilliant!

I intended to go a little more in depth in this post, but with a sleeping babe on my chest (and no idea when one of the two in the house will awaken) I better wrap this up for fear of never finishing it.

Now, what are a few of your favorite things?