our favorite things (0-3 months)

I thought I would document some of our favorite things from the first three months of the boys life.  

1. Rock 'n Play Sleeper - We actually have three of the Rock 'n Play Sleepers.  We received two Rock 'n Play Sleepers as a gift and then a friend let us borrow another Rock 'n Play Sleeper to make it easier on us.  We absolutely love these things!!  If I would have had extra cash around the house we would have bought a fourth Rock 'n Play Sleeper for the house.  They are easy enough to fold up and move around the house but it makes it so much nicer to just have to move a baby between the bedroom and living room instead of a baby and a Rock 'n Play Sleeper.  We used these continuously at night and during the day during the first two months of the boys life.  We have just gotten ride of the Rock 'n Play sleeper in the living room.  We now just have the two upstairs in the bedroom that the boys sleep in at night.  I am dreading the transition for the Rock 'n Play Sleepers to the cribs.  I also recommend the Rock 'n Play sleepers if you have a baby dealing with reflux issues.

2. Boppy - These are a must have for any twin momma!!  We have used our boppy pillows since the boys turned about one month old.  We own two boppy pillows.  These are essential for feeding two babies at one time.  The boys also like to use these to take little cat naps in during the day.  They are super soft and mold around the boys like perfect.  We even have it down pat now where we can lay the boys in the boppy pillows and support the bottles with our legs.  Got that right!!  We can feed two babies and use the remote control all at the same time.  I still look forward to the day when the boys can hold their own bottles!

3. Bumbo Baby Seat - Kara is obsessed with the Bumbo baby seats.  We have two of these.  And they are starting to grow on me.  Our boys had excellent head control from an early age.  And these have come in handy for sitting Jakob straight up after his bottles to help with any reflux issues.  The boys love to sit in them.  Of course because they are still a bit young there are limited for the amount of time they can actually stand to sit in the Bumbo.  However, I imagine these will be great when the boys are starting to eat some finger foods.  It will be a nice alternative to the high chairs.  We started putting the boys in the Bumbo seat at about 2.5 months.

4. Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump - What can I say?  This was by far the best baby shower gift.  I never opened the breast pump until after the boys were born because I wasn't even for certain that I would need it.  The boys are now 3 months old and I have used this breast pump over 600 times!!!  It is easy enough to pack up and take with me on the go.  There are times that I would like to be mobile when I pump but I know that the suction power that comes with this breast pump is almost equivalent to the hospital grade pump that I used quite a bit while the boys were in the NICU.  I am hoping this breast pump has a lot more life left in it!

5. Miracle Blanket - We received a miracle blanket from a friend.  It was a lifesaver when Jakob was dealing with his severe reflux issues.  We initially used receiving blankets to swaddle the boys when they got home from the hospital.  But of course they quickly outgrew the receiving blankets.  Plus it was super easy for the boys to kick out of the receiving blankets.  We decided to try this blanket one day and WHOA!! we never turned to another swaddle blanket for Jakob.  It snuggled Jakob nice and tight and it was impossible for him to kick out of it.  The boys are no longer swaddled at night but we did use this blanket with Jakob for the first two months of his life.

6. You Tube - We love free fun!!  This is a video of black and white images set to music.  We would lay Jakob on a blanket and prop up the iPad and the video would not only entertain him for minutes on end it would also put him to sleep.  I would use this with Jakob on the rare occasions that Alex was fussy and needed my attention in the evening.  I actually have video of both boys watching the video on two separate iPads.  Can we say spoiled much??  We used this video until the boys were about two months old.  They now prefer color images to black and white images plus they have sadly discovered the television.  Now we just pop in a video to entertain them for a few minutes.  

7. Dr. Brown's Bottles - I have a love / hate relationship with these bottles.  We struggled to find a bottle that worked for Jakob and eventually these bottles won out.  Both boys use these bottles and I absolutely love them for reducing the amount of air the boys swallow while drinking their milk.  We actually have occasions where the boys don't burp after eating I think due in part to the bottles.  However ... The boys are taking 10 bottles a day!  This means we are cleaning bottles all the time and unfortunately the Dr. Bown's bottles have 6 pieces to them which means we are cleaning 120 pieces a day!  That's the not so cool part.  And right now we clean bottles by hand because we don't have enough bottles to run the dishwasher.  Did I mention our water bill has increased a bit?  Good thing I don't have time to shower anymore.

8. Boon Grass Countertop Drying Rack - This goes hand and hand with the above item.  We clean a lot of bottles and these drying racks are the best!  I had only registered for one drying rack and a fellow twin momma immediately told me to buy more than one of these drying racks.  I looked at her like she was crazy.  But it is sadly true.  Most of the time these drying racks are filled to the brim with bottle parts.  In fact, we could easily use a third drying rack if we had more counter space.  These drying racks are great because they in themselves are also easy to clean.

9. Fisher Price Rainforest Swing - We are borrowing this swing from a friend.  The reason I love it is because it can be plugged into the wall.  No one ever told me that I would have to purchase stock in a battery company after the boys were born.  We need batteries for everything!  This swing can be run without batteries and with the amount of time the boys spend in the swing I am very glad we aren't depending on batteries to keep it running.  I also like that the swing can either be used moving forward and backwards or side to side.  Plus the seat itself is adjustable.  We recently moved the swing around in our living room and it is now positioned so the boys can look our the window when the use it.  They absolutely love this!

10. Gerber Side Snap T-Shirts - The boys lived in these t-shirts for the first two months of their life!  I know many people don't like the t-shirts but because we swaddled the boys all the time and it is summertime (in which our temperature was in the 90's most days) we usually just put the boys in a diaper and a t-shirt.  Plus it made changing diapers every couple of hours in the beginning a breeze.  We could just unwrap the boys at night and change a diaper without having to undo a sleeper.  The boys are now in sleepers but we commonly dress them in just a t-shirt and diaper if we are not planning on going anywhere during the day.  These are also great to shove in the diaper bag in case an outfit gets ruined while we are out and about for the day.

11. Infantino Swift Classic Carrier - We would be lost without these carriers!  The best part is the cost.  We used a Moby in the beginning when the boys were on the small size but I found it difficult to deal with a fussy baby and try to wrap the Moby by myself.  We use these carriers instead of the stroller when we are out shopping.  It frees up our hands and it allows us to go off in separate directions if we need to do so.  I also think the carriers draw less attention to the "twin spectacle" than a big double stroller.  I'm sure the quality of a more expensive carrier would be great but with two boys we cannot justify the cost of an expensive carrier.  We also use these in the house if one of the boys is fussy.  They love to do chores with us!

I think that is all for now.  I might add another item if I think about it.  I think I might also do a "What not to buy list!" too.

Mary