Mommy Must Haves

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Mommy Must Haves blog post. I absolutely love doing them because I feel like it’s a great way for me to share products that have worked for me as a mom, and for all of you to share products with me that have worked for you! And now that I’m pregnant with my second baby, I’m especially curious to know what products you guys have loved because I feel like I’m learning all over again. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s almost like I forgot what it’s like to have a newborn and forget what works and what doesn’t.

So anyway, today on the blog I’m sharing my top 5 favorite product/items Molly has used as a toddler! And I’m sharing two additional products, that I not only use with Molly now that she’s 16-months-old, but I’ve used with her since infancy! Now that’s getting your moneys worth out of a product! And as all of us moms and dads know, most baby products are good for a couple months and then they move on to something else. So it’s great when something is useful from infancy to toddlerhood!

Here are my current favorite products…

Camilia Teething Relief Drops

So many parents know the dread of teething all too well. Your baby has countless sleepless nights, is not eating well and seems to be in so much pain. It’s heartbreaking. And we went through it really early with Molly. She’s has had 12 teeth for what seems like forever now! Well really she has had 12 teeth for probably 4 months now. She got a lot of teeth really early on and it was super rough on her. And right now she’s starting to drool a lot again and has many wake ups in the middle of the night which lead me to believe she’s going to start cutting new teeth again really soon! Through all this teething, Camilia teething drops have been an absolute lifesaver for us! They are a natural remedy that I feel good about giving my daughter. And I definitely think they help a lot! We also have an amber teething necklace that we use on her that many of you have seen her wearing in my photos. Sometimes we put it around her ankle because we don’t like her sleeping in it and after she wakes up we just get lazy and don’t put it back around her neck.

Growth Chart

Growing up, my parents used to measure me and my brother’s and sister’s height in one of the door frames in our house. I, like many people, have very special memories of that. However, it makes me super sad to think that that door frame is now probably painted over and will never be seen again. So when Kevin and I started charting Molly’s growth, we knew that we wanted to do it on something that we could take with us from home to home. We tend to move a lot in general and we knew the house we are in right now wasn’t going to be a house we stayed in much longer – never mind our forever home. So after bit of research I discovered the most adorable growth charts by Tiny T Workshop! Yay for small businesses! It’s like a giant ruler that you put on your child’s wall to measure their growth each year. And you can take it with you from home to home. An amazing woman named Rachel (she’s truly the sweetest!) makes the growth chart and she can customize them for your family. Plus, you can choose the color and font you want to use to go with your home decor or child’s room. I went with white and black because I just like the clean look of it. We took Molly‘s first height measurement at her 1st birthday party and plan to do it every year on her birthday. I love that this is something we’ll have with us forever. She’ll even be able to take it with her when she owns a home of her own and has children of her own one day.

A Great Toy Box

Now that Molly is getting a little bit older her toys are everywhere! So a toybox is an absolute must for a parent of a toddler if you don’t already have one. So many of you have been asking me about the one that I have in my living room, so I thought this post was a good chance for me to share that with all of you. It’s just under $100 and the style of it fits well within our home. It doesn’t come assembled however. So be prepared to put it together once you receive it in the mail. That said, I put it together by myself and it wasn’t hard at all.

Cute Coats

Given that it’s fall and winter is quickly approaching I just had to share some of the adorable coats that Molly has. It’s totally a must have for your kiddos! This cute little coat by baby gap is one of my favorites. You can see pictures of Molly wearing it below. I also really love this jacket that is actually a boys jacket but I think it works as a unisex jacket. I’ll post some pictures of Molly wearing that jacket soon too!

Lots of Loveys!

Loveys completely changed our lives! I know that sounds dramatic but it’s true! It’s funny, because I actually got quite a few loveys for Molly at her baby shower and thought “what am I gonna do with all these mini stuffed animal/blankets?” Well little did I know those little blanket/stuffed animals saved me! Have you guys read my blog on sleep training yet? If you haven’t, you can read it here. And as you’ll see in that blog, adding a lovey to Molly‘s crib to snuggle up with at night truly helped her sleep through the night! Our sleep coach recommended we try it when she was nine-months-old and it was such a comfort for her! When she would wake up in the middle of the night and cry she would find her lovey in her crib, hold it tight, and fall soundly back to sleep. Please make sure to check with your doctor before adding anything into the crib with your infant. But I will say that my doctor told me that this was one of the safest things I could introduce to the crib early on to help my little one sleep. It was a game changer for us and hopefully will be a game changer for all you sleep deprived parents out there! This is Molly‘s favorite lovey. She likes to nibble on the long ears!  Although she has about 10 of them at this point. All different animals!

From Infancy to Toddlerhood!

These last two mommy must haves are two of my favorites because they aren’t just essential for one stage of your babies life. I’ve used the bottom two products from when Molly was an infant all the way up to now and she is 16-months-old. So you’ll definitely get your moneys worth out of these products! Because we all know how quickly kids usually grow out of things.

Car Seat Canopy

When I originally got this car seat canopy cover I totally thought it was something I would only use when Molly was an infant. However, I still use it to this day! Let me explain why. I, like many parents, have trouble with Molly‘s naptime sometimes. There have been times where she’s falling asleep in the car for her actual naptime and only got a quick 15 minute catnap. However, I find when that happens, it’s almost impossible to get her to lay down for a nap in her crib later in the day. There’s been days where she hasn’t even napped because she just would cry in her crib until I went to get her. It’s been really frustrating at times and some days Kevin and I just didn’t know what to do. However, we started to realize that when we were out and about if we put her in her car seat she would usually doze right off if we were strolling her around. In fact, our sleep training coach called this a “911 nap” when you don’t have any other option to get them to nap so you have to take a car ride. That’s when we realized we could put her in her infant car seat in her nursery with the lights low and rock her in the stroller until she fell asleep. It works like a charm!

Obviously in an ideal world she would fall sleep on her own in her crib. But let’s face it, infants and toddlers it don’t always do what we want them to. Let’s be real, they hardly ever do what we want them to! Ha! So that’s why Kevin and I still use the infant car seat whenever we know Molly‘s going to need to take a nap on the go! However, we need to cover her up to make sure she doesn’t get super distracted by the outside world! We absolutely love these car seat canopy covers. I actually have three of them because their designs are so cute. The heart one in the photo below might just be one of my favorites. I also have a pink and white striped one and a black and white one. Yes, this car seat canopy was super important when Molly was an infant for obvious reasons. The reason parents have car seat covers is to keep not only the sun but the outside world and germs away from the little one. But like I said above, I never thought it would be so useful for so long! This car seat canopy cover is one of our most useful and best purchases we made as parents! And we get to use it for baby number two now! Oh and I got in touch with the brand and got you guys a discount code for a free car seat canopy. That’s right, FREE! Or $50 off the site in general! Just use code ALI when you check out. I know you guys are gonna love it as much as I do!

Joovy Spoon Baby Walker + NIVEA Foaming Silk Mousse Body Wash!

You’re probably wondering why I paired these two products together. I swear there’s a reason for it and I’ll explain.

When I originally got this baby walker I thought we would only use it while Molly couldn’t walk on her own. However, I found that it has been useful to me well after she started walking! Yes, in the beginning before she could walk, we would put her in it to help her get around and get used to using her legs. We even fed her in it. I know many of you ended up getting one of these for yourselves after seeing them in my Instagram stories. I got so many messages from other moms saying how much they loved it too!

Anyway, the way we use it now is a great way to keep her safe and occupied while I’m in the shower! Any parent out there with a toddler or infant knows how hard it is to get in the shower sometimes. And knowing that Molly is running all over the place I absolutely can’t get in the shower unless I have her situated somehow. Well, what I do is put this baby walker in the bathroom with me and put a few washcloths under the wheels so she can’t roll around too much. Then I put toys on the tray so she stays occupied. Don’t get me wrong, they’re really quick showers! But I think we can all agree that a one minute shower is better than no shower at all! Ha!

Now this is where NIVEA Foaming Silk Mousse Body Wash comes in! I always use it when I take a shower so even though I’m only in there for a couple minutes (or less sometimes), it gives me a luxurious experience and allows me to pamper my skin! And I really feel like this wouldn’t be a complete mommy must have’s list without something for the mommies to indulge with! This body wash is legit like a standup bubble bath in my shower! If I had time for a bath, I would totally take one, but yeah, that’s not happening.

Tell me what you think!

Well there you have it! I absolutely love all of these products and I hope you guys find them useful too! And like I said above, please share your favorite products with me in the comments below! And if you’ve used any of the above products, I would love to hear what you think of them! I’m so grateful for the community of parents on my blog and how over the last 16 months, you guys have been there to support me and support each other! I’m so excited about my journey with this next baby knowing that I can share it with all of you and learn and grow with all of you! Luv you guys!