Pregnancy Purchases.

     Thus far I have been so shocked at the speed of this pregnancy that I feel like I have had little time to plan ahead for whats about to come, however I knew that specifically there were plenty of things on my mind that I wanted to do "differently". The beauty of your first born is the gift of learning, you would never call them the "guinea pig" of motherhood but there is no denying the fact that they teach us everything we do know! Even still, as I sit here and want to pretend that I have everything mapped out because I have been-there-done-that.. this new baby will require needs of their own that I am entirely unfamiliar with. The very best I can do is prepare, prepare for what I do know and be very open to the unknown. Periodically throughout this pregnancy I plan on sharing with you little things I find as must have purchases for our second little bundle, take them or leave them I hope you are able to find a few things on our lists that you yourself can indulge in and hopefully find great use of!

1. Natursutten Rounded Pacifier (as pictured above)
We never truly explored the world of pacifiers after Carter was born, we were given a few at birth and just felt that he would enjoy them like any other baby we knew. We were very wrong. I had no clue that breastfed babies often times wouldn't take a pacifier at all, yet I knew that for my own sake I wanted him to have one so badly. Unfortunately we spend way too much money store hopping and buying new, unheard-of brands only for him to decide against them and eventually we just gave up all together. When he was about 6 months old was the first time I had ever heard of the Natursutten pacifier series and knew from that moment on we would be investing in them whenever another child rolled around, and here we are creating a stash! We purchased the Rounded Pacifier which is said to be easier for breastfed babies to enjoy as it mimics the nipple of their mother, this being one added benefit of many:

• They are 100% natural, made from pure natural rubber from the tree Hevea Brasiliensis.
• The protein that can often times spike an allergy to latex is removed during production of the pacifiers to keep them safe.
• Made exclusively in Italy, all pacifiers adhere to the European Unions concerns for safety, health and environment.
• No artificial coloring.
•  No cancer causing substances.
• No hormone disturbing substances.
• No chemical Softeners.
• No parabens, PVC and phthalates. 
• They are molded as one piece to avoid any cracking or separating, allowing no room for dirt or germs to grow!

We purchased our Natursutten Pacifiers through Ryan and Rose, and plan on purchasing more after the little one arrives, I have only heard amazing things and cannot wait for our little one to enjoy them.

| http://www.natursutten.com/100-natural |

2. Ryan and Rose Binky Clips

Well this one is a given! Along with pacifiers we need a way to keep them attached to our little ones. This was one of my biggest frustrations in the binky process with Carter, they were always on the floor therefor I was always washing and re-sanitizing them all day long. Especially because he refused to keep them in his mouth. The older he got the more interesting they looked and he used them as a toy and our dog would find them shortly after.. I'm sure you can imagine what happened next. 

Ryan and Rose and ran by the super mom Lindsey Ferrell, who after having her own kids felt the need to create a binky clip of her own. The ones on the market were either unattractive or too long to serve their purpose, and she did it! She created insanely adorable, perfect length binky clips for little ones. One thing that drew my to Ryan and Rose was their wide variety of gender neutral clips. As most know we wait until birth to find out the gender of our baby and this proves to get harder and harder each time, not because we want to cave in and find out, but because there is progressively less and less gender neutral options available to us team green parents. All clothes, toys, accessories and decor seem to be strongly gender specific now days making shopping more stressful than necessary. Being able to search for fun things that will work for either gender certainly makes life easier!

• These clips are all handmade with loads of love.
• They range from 5.5-7 inches in length to aid with sanitation, i.e. keeping them off of the dirty floor!
• The clips themselves are universal and can be attached to anything.
• The metal on the clips are lead free!

The short length and long lives of these gems are why I will continue to build my stash (I have no shame in having one for every day of the week.. or month)

| http://ryanandrose.bigcartel.com/about |

3. Rock-N-Play Automatic Rocker

This item almost needs no explanation.. Carter lived in his rock and play for months, as well as slept in it nightly until he went to his own room. The incline of the rock-n-play is desirable to infants, and keeps them safe from harm of asphyxiation (choking on spit up). The sides of the rock-n-play are made from a mesh to ensure that it stays breathable and temperature sensitive, and it comes up on either side of your child almost mimicking being held in a parents arms. We truly didn't know what sleep meant until whipping out this device, and plan on using it again. 

     When I was scrolling the internet one day I saw an add for a rock-n-play that rocked itself and nearly cried. Our rock and play being the oldest model did nothing but sit there and had to be rocked manually. I cannot even begin to describe how many hours of my night were spent with my arm hanging from the side of the bed rocking and rocking the rock-n-play while Carter snoozed away. They then created a newer model that added a vibration and noise option. Adding a white noise at night helps an infant soothe as well as drown out other noises that could potentially wake him or her such as you turning around in bed or a dog barking off in the distance. The newest model that have created took ideas from all the previous models as well as added the automatic rocking technology.

• New rock-n-play auto rock comes with two rocking speed options.
• The vibration option was discontinued.
• There are 12 options of songs and 3 nature sounds to play while your little one sleeps.
• You can set a timer of 30 minutes or 6 hours of continuous rocking motion in order to avoid long nights of rocking it yourself.
• Comes with a attachable toy.
• Can be plugged into a wall or battery operated, this option to me is a huge one as we spent way too much money on batteries to sustain Carters devices!
• Easy to clean removable pad.

| http://www.fisher-price.com/en_US/brands/babygear/products/Auto-Rock-n-Play-Sleeper |

4. Newborn Cloth Diapers

We were given an amazing six months worth of disposable diapers for after Carter was born, and we used every last one of them! After reaching the point where we ran out we knew that we didn't want to have to spend the ridiculous amounts of money on disposables and wanted to try to save as much as possible. That is when we decided on cloth, I was nervous as I didn't want to have too much work on my plates being a stay-at-home-mom as well as a small business owner, however we were to pleasantly surprised with how easy it truly was. 

We were recommended to use pockets or all in ones, but decided to try prefolds first.. they are extremely intimidating and seem impossible to use as they are the old fashion versions of cloth diapers without any snaps. Just a big cloth square that you somehow had to get onto your baby. After using them and finding out that they were much easier to wash and maintain we LOVE prefolds! We plan on getting a variety of pockets and prefolds in all sizes, especially since we are lacking in any newborn sizes considering we waited 6 months to start Carter. Some of our favorite brands, and brands we have heard great reviews on are:

• Bummis
• BumGenius
• Apple Cheeks
• Charlie Banana
• Lalabye
• Econobum

Such a small list of accomplishments before baby, and such a long way to go with time just flying by. Cannot wait to share more of our Pregnancy Purchases with you, cheers to a happy, healthy nine months momma bears!

-T