Favorite Baby Items: Take 3 (Breastfeeding Edition)

If you've missed the previous posts to this series...

• Favorite Baby Items: Take 1
• Favorite Baby Items: Take 2

Going through this mommy journey, I've been so thankful for all of the help and recommendations from all of my mommy friends and family - which is what inspired this series of posts. If I can help new or soon-to-be mommys even just the slightest based on my own experience, I hope to! :) This take on my favorite baby items is dedicated to breastfeeding and the tons of products related to breastfeeding that are available! I'm exclusively pumping, so these recommendations may be different for those mommas that aren't pumping just yet and/or that are able to nurse. Regardless - here are some helpful items that I love that have made pumping a little easier for me, in no particular order:

Hands-Free Pumping Bra - The Simple Wishes Hands-Free Pumping Bra has made pumping much easier and it makes a world of a difference not having to hold the flanges from your breast pump each session. This one came highly recommended to me and I'm so thankful that I received it as a shower present!

Nipple Cream - I swear by Lansinoh Nipple Cream. While you don't necessarily need to use nipple cream each time you pump, I use it after each pumping session and I swear it's one of the main reasons that I haven't experienced any issues or discomfort! I tried a few brands that I had received as samples and Lansinoh's cream has been my favorite.

Medela Quick Clean Breast Pump & Accessory Wipes - These are great to use between each pumping session so that you don't have to sterilize your pump parts after each pump. I used these throughout the day and sterilized all my parts in the steam bags (below) once a day.




Vehicle Lighter Adapter - This was a huge lifesaver, especially in the beginning when I was pumping every 2-3 hours. When having to leave the house to go to doctors appointments or other places, I'd pump right before leaving and would usually always need to pump again before we arrived back at home. The car adapter allowed me to stick to my pumping schedule to keep up my supply and also made the opportunity to leave the house much, much easier!

Up & Up Milk Storage Bags - These are my favorite brand of storage bags. I read a ton of reviews on different brands of storage bags and these came highly recommended! They are sturdy, are great quality and they're great for freezing flat. My second recommendation for storage bags would be the Lansinoh brand. They've received a lot of reviews from moms indicating that they leaked when thawing from the freezer, but I haven't had any issues with them yet.


Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags - These are wonderful for quick sterilizing. You can use each bag 20 times. I use these bags to sterilize my breast pump parts, bottle caps, and you can also use them to sterilize bottles and nipples. They're great for pumping on the go or at work - it's easy to pull the bag out, put your parts in and quickly pop them in the microwave to sterilize when you need to.

Medela Bottles - You can't have too many of these bottles! The more you have, the less time you're spending washing and sterilizing bottles each day. Now I have about 30 of these bottles (thank goodness for great hand-me-downs too!), and I can go a full day without sterilizing pumping bottles - giving me so much more time during the day.


Kiinde Kozii Breastmilk / Bottle Warmer - This is an awesome warmer that also has great reviews online. It's fast and doesn't overheat the milk like other brand reviews have reported. What's nice is that you can pop frozen freezer bags right in to thaw, or you can pop in a bottle to warm.



While there are a TON of breastfeeding products available, and many more that I've used and could recommend, I think that this is a good list of my favorites :)

Healthy Snacking - Be Prepared!

Having such a busy lifestyle already, in addition to recently becoming a new mom, it's even more important for me to make sure that we have readily accessible healthy snacks for when we need them! 

Let's be honest - there's always snacks readily available; however - most of the time when we're in a hurry and only have a few minutes to grab something, we resort to grabbing whatever is easiest which often tends to be a not-so-healthy option. I'm not saying that we'll never enjoy a not-so-healthy snack or indulge in a treat every once in a while (because that would be both a lie and depressing) - but I want to try to make a better effort to have healthier options ready to go for when we need them!

I briefly talked about having healthy snacks in my Meal Prep Blog Post. Some of the easiest snacks that I love having ready and that are simple to prep are:

Sliced Bell Peppers 

(To store: Bag them in individual sandwich bags)

Fruit Salad 

(To store: Use small ziplock containers - snack sized, ready to go!)

Celery Sticks with Peanut Butter 

(To store: Bag the celery in individual sandwich bags and the peanut butter in small tupperware containers)

Hard Boiled Eggs 

(To store: Whatever is easiest for you - if that's having them all in one container in the refrigerator or to bag them individually. To make things even easier on myself, I like to peel the eggs ahead of time, before putting them in the refrigerator, so that I don't have to worry about peeling them when I'm ready for a snack).

Apple Slices 

(To store: Bag them in individual sandwich bags)

What are some of your favorite snacks? Let's all make an effort to make things easier on ourselves and have health(ier) snack options available when we need them! :)

Favorite Baby Items: Take 2

If you missed my "Favorite Baby Items: Take 1" blog post, click here to view it! I want to share another five of our favorite baby items that have helped make life so much easier (again in no particular order)! :)

Bath Rinser - We have the Skip Hop Moby Waterfall Rinser. Bennett loves bath time. This rinser has been amazing, specifically because of the little soft head piece on the end ensuring water doesn't go on his face when rinsing his hair. Thankfully, he doesn't mind when water gets on his face - but our little man has so much hair, that we have to rinse his head quite a few times to ensure we get all of the shampoo out of his thick locks! It also doubles as a rinser for the rest of his body as well :)

Diaper Pail - We have the Ubbi Diaper Pail. Our little man is a poop machine! I did a good bit of research on diaper pails before building our baby registry, and I'm happy I did because this one is amazing! It completely blocks odor, matches perfectly with his nursery, is slim in shape (doesn't take up much room at all!) and you can either use the Ubbi Bags made for the diaper pail, or you can use regular trash can bags!



Burp Cloths - You can't have enough of these! We were lucky enough to have been gifted a TON of burp cloths that were handmade by my girlfriend Ashley's grandmother. (Side note - she's amazing and is the one that made all of our nursery bedding, curtain and receiving blankets). It's crazy how many we go through. Others that are great that I'd recommend are the Aden by Aden + Anais Burpy Bibs. I love their shape - it makes it easy to throw over your shoulder and hugs your neck; and also it has a snap so that it can double as a bib for your baby.

Nose/Snot Sucker - We have the NoseFrida. This was something that every single mom recommended to me. The first time it was explained to me, I immediately gagged and swore I'd never want to use it. It however, is amazing! (I made Eric use it first - haha). It definitely makes sucking out the nose nastiness quick and easy!



Onesies - We love these Carters Short-Sleeve Body Suits. Because it's winter, we put one of these onsies under each of Bennett's pajamas and outfits that he wears. The quality is great and you can never have too many (in my opinion!) We were lucky to be given plenty of these in 3M, 6M and 9M sizes - so we are stocked for a little while! :)

Favorite Baby Items: Take 1

First, I can't believe Bennett is already a month old. Time has been flying by! Over the past month I've definitely been able to identify our favorite items thus far that have been either life savers, or that have just plain and simple made life much easier! I'm going to try to post five items every couple of weeks that we couldn't live without. To start, here are my first few items that we've loved and have made life easier thus far (in no particular order):

Rock 'N Play - We have the Fisher-Price Deluxe Newborn Auto Rock 'N Play. Bennett slept in this next to our bed for the first few weeks before we moved him to his crib. Not only did it ease my mind having him right next to our bed, it also made night time feedings so much easier, and he loved it! Even though he's no longer using it to sleep in overnight, I can still use it for instances like taking a shower or getting dressed and ready for the day while he's awake - he'll happily rock in it in our bathroom while I'm doing these things, and my mind is still at ease because I can see him! Also - it's so light and compact that we can easily move it between floors if we want it in the kitchen or living room, or if we need to travel with it for him to sleep in.



Target Bins - Yep, from the dollar aisle! These bins were $3 each and have been so helpful! They don't look exactly like this one pictured but are pretty similar. It's made out of thin plastic and they are so easy to clean when needed. I have bins for:

• Dirty Bottles: This bin sits next to the sink to keep all of the dirty bottles that are ready for sterilization together. It makes it so easy to have everything in one place and without adding and mixing into the clutter of regular dishes that are often collecting in the kitchen sink.
• Pumping: This bin sits next to my bed and breast pump and keeps all of my pumping accessories in one place for easy access when needed. I like having these items in a bin that I can easily move, for when I need to pump in different places in the house.
• Clean bottles ready for pumping: This bin is close by to my pumping bin so that I can easily grab two bottles to connect to my breast pump when ready. Again - having everything clean and all in one place makes things so much easier! 
• Baby Cabinet Organization: We have one big cabinet in our kitchen that is designated for baby things! Anything from extra bottles, bottle parts, breast pump parts, feeding accessories, bibs, etc. Having little bins to neatly organize each of the above keeps everything neat and tidy, and I can quickly identify where things are when I need them.

Swing - We have the Graco Simple Sway Swing - This is Bennett's favorite swing! He absolutely loves it and 90% of the time, it rocks him right to sleep when we put him in there (whether intentional or not)! :) 

Microwave Bottle Sterilizer - We have the Avent Microwave Steamer. Self explanatory, it makes sterilizing bottles so much easier (and fast)!

Video Baby Monitor - We have the Levana Astra 3.5" PTZ Video Monitor. It is amazing! We can zoom in, pan around the room with it, it has incredible night vision, tons of nursery music that can be played from it and also has the option for us to talk to Bennett from our end of the monitor, if we'd like! If you're a parent with more than one child, or if you prefer to have more than one camera to use for other rooms in your home, you can connect and sync additional cameras to your monitor for multiple camera use. This gadget is one of the only reasons I felt comfortable moving Bennett to his crib overnight while he was just three weeks old. I could easily see and hear him at all times if needed :) I'd love to get another camera to connect to this eventually for our living room where his above favorite swing is located, for those times when we take Tucker outside or find ourselves doing something else in the house while he's sleeping in his swing. Again, a mom at ease is a wonderful thing! :)

So that's it! These are my first five items. Check back for another five favorite items - we already have so many recommendations/suggestions! :)

Crock Pot Ribs

Eric actually found this recipe online and we decided to try it last weekend! We bought a huge pack of ribs at Costco and will be able to make 3 meals out of it :) We froze two big portions, and kept 2 racks out for this recipe! Enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

- 3 lbs Ribs

- 2 cups BBQ sauce

- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

- 4 tbsp. Cider Vinegar

- 3 tsp. Oregano

- 1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

- 1 tbsp. Cayenne Pepper

- 1 tbsp. Chili Powder

- Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Salt and pepper the ribs.

Combine BBQ sauce, brown sugar, cider vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and chili powder in a small bowl. Note: Eric recommends using a little less oregano in the mixture - it was a little overpowering.

Place ribs in the crock pot and cover the ribs in sauce.

Cook on low for eight hours or high for four hours.

Once the ribs are done, spoon the BBQ sauce in 

the slow cooker over the ribs before removing. 

The ribs will fall off the bone - so delicious... 

We're looking forward to making these again! :)