Baby Gear

One of the hardest things to do while pregnant is picking out all of the various baby items. There are far too many choices in each category and then there are reviews to go through and recommendations given by friends.

So I’m going to share some of the things we ended up with and my opinions on these items!

Car seat: we have the Chicco Keyfit 30 and I absolutely LOVE it. It’s not too big, not too heavy. The size limits are 30lbs or 30 inches whichever comes first. It’s a very stylish carseat and doesn’t have a corny print that you would get tired of easily. It’s an all around great car seat!

Stroller: we actually have TWO strollers right now. We have the Chicco Cortina that came with the car seat as well as a BOB jogging stroller that we just bought recently.

I absolutely love the Cortina. It’s very compact and not heavy at all. It has one handed folding and one feature I really like is that when you fold it, it is upright. I disliked my sister’s stroller because you had to bend down to the ground to pick it up after it was folded. Also, I love that I can maneuver it really easily. Especially one handed. The only things I’m not so fond of are that the storage basket underneath is slightly hard to access with the infant seat in and that there is only one cupholder on the console.

And for the new addition. The BOB. We LOVE this stroller! I’ve used my parents many times with Makayla and that’s part of why I knew I wanted to get one. It’s a great stroller for walks. It handles really well on bumpy terrrain. The sun canopy is extremely large. Also, our car seat is able to be attached to it as well.

Bouncer seat: we have the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders bouncer.. It’s very lightweight and is at a great recline.. my only complaint is that batteries don’t work very well for very long..

Jumperoo: we have the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo and it’s AWESOME. Jake loves it. It’s bright, the toys are awesome and he loves the music and lights.

Playmat: we have the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders play gym.. I don’t really have an opinion on it because Jake just doesn’t use it very often. Hopefully when he gets a little older he’ll like it better.. But right now it just sits in a corner..

Infant carrier: we have quite the assortment of these..

The first one we bought was the Baby Bjorn. Gage seems to like it, but I’m not a fan. It was fine when Jake was tiny and we were desperate to get him to nap, but now he just gets way too heavy in it!

The next one I bought was the Ergo. I absolutely LOVE it. It’s a very comfortable carrier to wear baby in and he never feels too heavy in it.

The final one we own is the Moby. After constantly fussing with tying, then getting him situated, Jake was just not having it. So we gave up.

High chair: we haven’t bought one yet, but I think we’re going to get the Graco Duodiner. It doubles as a normal highchair and a portable booster that can strap onto a regular chair.

Swing: this was a hand me down from my sister.. It’s the Graco Lovin’ Hug Swing. It’s quite the entertaining piece of baby gear. You have to give it a push to get it started because it doesn’t seem powerful enough to go on it’s own. And after a while, it slows down to an almost dead stop.

Pack n Play: we have the Chicco Lullaby. As far as the sleeping area goes, we wouldn’t know anything about it because Jake only slept in it probably 5 times total. However, we use the changing table portion CONSTANTLY throughout the day and it’s great!

Bottles: we use the Dr. Brown bottles. We started using these because of Jake’s reflux/gas. They supposedly help cut down the gas drastically. They seem to be working well, the only downside is that there are SO many parts to have to wash!

Monitor: we have the Summer Infant video monitor. It’s a great monitor. The picture is nice and clear and the sound is great. However, if I could have done it again, I would have gone with the slightly upgraded model. The handheld is skinnier and not as bulky, and the volume control has up and down buttons. I tell Gage every night that I wish ours had that (ours just rolls up and down). I’m constantly fidgeting with the volume because I’m worried that it’s not loud enough or too loud at nighttime.