Monitor:
We have the regular AngelCare with sound and motion. Brian also purchased a home security camera to use as a video monitor. It had some issues staying connected to WiFi (part of its security features to keep it from getting hacked) but because of that it almost is never connected. We do still have and use the AngelCare monitor, just now since Caidyn is much bigger we disconnected the motion part and just use it for sound (if we are going outside during her nap or bedtime. She can walk and get out of her bed so if she needs something she comes to get us).
If I did it again, I'd just get all in one video monitor from AngelCare. The motion monitor went off twice and although she was alright, we'll never know if the noise jolted her awake from a deep sleep, if us rubbing her and starling her did, or if they were false alarms and I'd never want to know. And for that peace of mind, we are very thankful.
Car Seat and Stroller Combo:
We have the Baby Trend Expedition car seat and jogging stroller. It was not what we registered for - but my grandmother gifted me with that jogging stroller. We ended up purchasing the matching car seat since it clicked in to make a travel system. (It is also a fun pink and blue with cute embroidered flowers on the shade canopy - which is great since Ellie is a girl so we can reuse it!). We LOVE this car seat and we really enjoy the stroller as a jogging stroller. **This car seat has straps that are long enough to tuck up and out of the way of the bottom of the car seat. This wasn't something we would have looked for in a car seat, but once we discovered it, we loved it! Someone had lent us their Chico Keyfit 30 as an additional car seat. We hated it because the straps wouldn't stay up. Meaning if I had a sleeping baby I was trying to put into the car seat I had to not only lay this baby down gently, but then pull the straps out from underneath gently and hope the baby didn't wake up.
HOWEVER,
We found this stroller storage wasn't quite big enough for us. Maybe because we are cloth diaper people, but probably because we had a normal sized diaper bag. Around Caidyn's first birthday we ended up purchasing the City Select by Baby Jogger as a daily use stroller and resigned the Expedition just for jogging. This was worked great for us, BUT... there is no adapter for the Baby Trend car seat for this City Select stroller...
Our solution is just going to be to purchase the bassinet adapter for the City Select but our second choice (and what we would have done if Ellie was a Chase and wasn't going to go in our floral car seat) was to get the Graco infant car seat. We went to the store and tried it out and the straps are long enough to tuck up with that seat, too!
We had at least 6 nice muslin blankets. Aden and Anais are my favorite, but there are so many now it doesn't matter. Caidyn still LOVES all of hers and I've already bought 5 new ones for Ellie. They were amazing, but I can't swaddle with them. So we also got some velcro swaddlers. Also amazing. Not picky about brand... but we loved them no matter what!
Our high chair was our only real bad call...
We registered for (and were gratefully gifted) one that sits on top of an existing chair. We have a counter height table and chair set and we were concerned a regular high chair might not be high enough to be convenient to feed with. Well we have since ruined one of our chairs with the amount of yuck that got underneath the chair and onto the cushion (how? I'll never now). Additionally, there were a few other things I hated. The straps were not removable, and obviously got gross after someone learned to eat there. They started out white and ended up yucky and I couldn't take them off to clean them. Additionally, the tray that was dishwasher safe was not dishwasher sized... how inconvenient? To top it off, the cushion for the chair wasn't a wipeable fabric. If something got on it the whole thing had to be machine washed. This time we'll be going for this one - the OXO Tot Seedling High Chair. The reviews I've read have it meeting all of those needs! I'm excited to try it out!
One piece we LOVED was our Tiny Love Rocker Napper! We used this as a bassinet in our room (I liked it better than the Rock and Play so many people rave about since we could put the AngelCare monitor pad underneath her while she was sleeping in it!), an additional place to put her down that was safe and easily moveable (so I could bring it to the bathroom while I showered, kitchen while I cooked/did dishes) and she actually really enjoyed! On the tile floor when she got big enough she could kick her feet an the whole thing would rock moving the toys around causing her to giggle and laugh even more! We could also prop up the end where we put her head when she got a cold to add some elevation to help her tiny sinuses drain. Once we converted it to a chair she was so content there! We loved it!
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