These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

Recently I had the pleasure of baby shopping in anticipation of the arrival of my cousin's baby boy! While I was hoping they would have a girl (I could clothe their child forever!!!) we are thrilled to have another cousin close in age, many play dates in our future. The first thing I realized about my shopping experience was that I viewed shopping for baby showers very differently than before I was a mother. Instead of buying something off her registry, I decided to buy her a gift basket filled with a few of my favourite things. Here is the letter I included with her gift to explain my gift choices:

Dear Brittney and Darrin,

Hold onto your hats, shit’s about to get real!! (LOVE THAT BOOK!) *see an earlier blog post! In an effort to help you prepare for when it “gets real”, here are some things the girls received that quickly became our favourite things! (in no particular order)

1. The Diaper Genie: awesome, because when the sh!t happens, this thing makes sure you don’t have to keep smelling it! We love ours, in fact we got two at our shower and just kept them both!

Note: It’s a bit of a pain to first figure out how to get the rings in the first time and the cheapest place to buy the replacement rings is a 3-pack at Costco. We also got you the 1 year warranty for the diaper genie, just in case yours gets a lot of use! LOL

2. The Hooded Towel: super easy to wrap the baby up and cute as heck! The hood rocks because you can towel dry their hair and behind their ears. Never forget behind the ears. We did in the beginning and both girls basically got a yeast infection behind their ears from water staying trapped there.  **Don’t forget I’ll give you my “Whale of Tub” if you need one because we’ll be done with it by the time “he” arrives.

3. The Bath Pitcher: Wasn’t really sure what to call it, but we love this thing for bath time when you need to do the rinse cycle! The flexible part allows you to touch your babies forehead and ensure no water goes in his face.

4.  Zippered PJs: Darrin this one is basically for you. (Shawn hates the button up PJs) I’ve changed enough PJs that I could do it blindfolded, but let’s face it, zippers are way easier than buttons! My Mom was smart and got you some different sizes!

5. Onesies that DON’T go over your head: Darrin this one is also for you. Babies basically live in onesies and sleepers, it’s pretty sweet, except when you have to change them out of one of these outfits. This is one outfit when you LOVE the buttons!

6. Face clothes: to say the girls have over 50 of these would  be no exaggeration! We use them all the time, especially when feeding. Having lots is great because let’s face it, sleeping, eating and showering are all way more important than doing laundry.

7. The Sleep Sheep: A really cute sheep that plays waves, rain, a heartbeat (that sounds totally creepy) and a really weird whale mating sound. However, he comes with a timer that lets him play this white noise for 25 or 45 minutes before turning off. We use the Sleep Sheep as a sleep cue for the girls so they know it’s bedtime. It’s also really good at blocking out noises around the house when they are trying to fall asleep (including one another! Haha)

8. Sophie the Giraffe: This ridiculous toy is THE BEST teething toy around. Not kidding. My girls don’t care for the refrigerator gel ones that get cold, I think they are too big or too hard to hold. The way they chew Sophie, basically everywhere, is really cute. Plus she’s very easy to hold so the girls like to play with her as well use her as a teething ring.

9. Oball Rattle: the first toy the girls were actually able to pick up on their own and play with. Easy for them to play with, it’s soft, makes noise…what’s not to love! This toy is still a favourite for the girls.

10. The Lamaze Giraffe: We have the bird and horse and keep this toy strapped to our stroller for some walking entertainment but the girls love Lamaze toys. They make great sounds and are easy to grab, this toy is also still a favourite of the girls.

11. The Teething Picture Book: hahaha you read Dawn Dais’ book, enough said. I just had to make sure you had one of your own! LOL All joking aside, the girls like to play with because it makes noise and is easy to grab onto!

12. The Bug Teething Ring: You’ll notice a trend with my kids by now, if it’s easy to hold, brightly coloured and they can chew it, we like it!

13. Health Care Stuff: Here are some supplies that friends bought for the girls which turned out to be life savers. The Gripe Water was huge when the girls were under 4 months. Sometimes they would have gas or an upset stomach and nothing we did seemed to cure it. A little gripe water and the girls felt better right away. The Hyland’s teething tablets have been clutch for us. Basically we just put one or two under their tongue and they dissolve right away. Even though it’s just herbal it seems to make a big impact. The Saline Spray was another important item for us as the girls got very stuff up in the winter. This made eating and sleeping very hard for the girls. Although it totally sucks injecting something up their nose (I’ll volunteer to help the first time with this) it is totally worth it and makes them feel so much better! The Johnson wipes are really good for cleaning their hands and face, especially once they start eating solids. The travel pack of bathing supplies is the kind we use with the girls. No cry shampoo is the best!

So sorry that I couldn’t be there. I was really looking forward to it. I know my parents are excited to bring the girls to the shower to see everyone! Hope you enjoy the girls favourite things!!!

Love,

Melissa