So, we’ve been at this parenting thing for a solid month now, and while I am in NO WAY a pro, there are a few tricks and tips I’ve learned over the past month. The most important being, what items have made the past month, transitioning to parenthood easier for us. So today, I’m going to share those details with you!

+ Podster– Joey’s boss gifted us this and holy cow has it been the most helpful thing EVER. It’s basically a baby bean bag and is so easy to set up on the couch, floor, etc, anywhere you want to prop baby up when you can’t hold them. Avery actually naps quite a bit in hers sitting on the couch next to me.

+ Boppy- so necessary for saving your arms while breastfeeding.

+ Swaddles- you can honestly never have too many and with spit ups, we’ve changed swaddles as much as we’ve changed clothes. They’re also so versatile, can be used for diaper changes, as a cover for breastfeeding, or on the floor as a cover for tummy time. Pottery Barn Kids makes some of my favorites!

+ Back support pillow- something to help support your back while breastfeeding because believe me, you’re going to spend A LOT of time sitting up right, especially during those lovely cluster feeding days/times.

+ Bassinet

+ Rocker- so helpful for when baby is fussy.

+ Open-legged onesies/gowns – need to have easy access for the millions of diaper changes.

+ Burp cloths (TONS)- we have like 4-5 in every one of our “hang out” spots so we can clean up spit up at a moments notice.

+Diapers– duh, but we got a subscription to the Honest Co. diapers and for the newborn phase, we’re actually using Huggies. They gave us some at the hospital and they’re so much better than the Honest diapers, here’s why- they have a stripe down the front/back of the diaper that is yellow and turns blue when baby has a wet diaper. This makes keeping track of how many times baby has wet their diaper vs. having bowel movements or both, much MUCH easier.

+ Baby wipe warmer– Avery cried (like bloody murder) when she was wiped with cold wipes in the hospital for the 2 days we were there. Once we got home and started using the wipe warmer, diaper changes became SO much easier.

+ Stroller– We absolutely LOVE our stroller! Joey did months of research on strollers and I also have a good friend who helped us out as well, THANK YOU DANIELLE!

+ Car Seat– The capability of car seat to stroller was something super important to us. The car seat is by the same brand as our stroller and easily transitions from the car to the stroller if we need to run an errand and baby falls asleep in the car- we can easily swap the seat out and use the car seat as the “stroller” seat- this is HUGE because, you’re not going to want to wake your sleeping baby!

+ Baby Dream Machine– My mom got us ours and it’s amazing! It’s a 5-in-1 device: humidifier, white noise machine, essential oil diffuser, and red light therapy machine.