...and Tyler makes three!: Baby items that keep me sane...

Over the last 5 1/2 months, I've discovered there are a handful of baby items that I absolutely cannot live without...they're what keep me sane...seriously!

I think hands down, one of the very best baby items we have is the Baby Bjorn. It's the 'active' style so it has back support, which I really need these days! Any time of day if Tyler's fussing, I'll just plop him in the Bjorn and voila! Happy, fuss-free baby! An added bonus is if I take him outside in the Bjorn..woohoo..silence!!

I'd have to say Tyler's infant car seat/carrier is also one of the top items we use pretty darn often..and not just because he's in it whenever we drive. We've gotten ourselves into a bad little habit...when we've tried everything to get Tyler to sleep and it's just one of those nights that he doesn't want to go to sleep, we resort to the trusty 'ol car seat. Sam will walk up and down the hallway probably 50 times until he finally falls asleep. I do have a picture of this happening, but Sam's in his boxers and I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate me posting that!

Sophie is also on my sanity list! Tyler absolutely looooves this crazy giraffe. We were at Islands for lunch the other day, and a mom sitting in the booth next to us asked if Tyler really likes Sophie (as he was gnawing on her neck) because she can't get her daughter to chew on it. That's a shame, because this giraffe has eased Tyler's teething pain..I can tell because his squeals of discomfort and his irritability are instantly gone when Sophie makes an appearance. Sophie seems to distract Tyler enough that he forgets about the pain. I guess that's what it is!?!

Up next: Exersaucer!! This thing has been a lifesaver! When my arms & back have had enough of holding a 19 pound baby around all day, this wonderful invention saves the day! The house can stay somewhat organized, laundry can be done, dinner made, dogs fed and much more..all thanks to the Exersaucer!

I had never heard of Calm Baby until Shannon raved about this DVD for about 8 minutes straight. She said this was her lifesaver when the triplets were babies- they all just loved it. We have a few Baby Einstein videos, but Tyler always seemed to get bored with them, so with one of our gift cards, I ordered this DVD online. Tyler loves it! The music is very calming and the images are all water...fountains, rain, etc. It comes with a soundtrack CD also, which came in super handy on our long drive to Lake Havasu. We turned on Calm Baby music...and just a couple of minutes later, Tyler was out!

The last item on my sanity list is the wonderful sound machine I ordered from Target. Between the dogs barking at the mailman and Sam's power tools going off in the garage, I was getting nervous about Tyler being woken up from naps. There are several different sounds on here...I started using the white noise, but them my Mom made me realize that it just sounds like annoying, stressful TV static; so we switched it to the waterfall sound. Muuuuuch better! This sound machine makes just enough of a constant noise that the little noises around the house won't wake him up..it works!! A happy, well rested-baby makes a happy Mommy! :-)