can't live without...7-10 months

Yay! Another 'need for baby' list. I, too, thought "Oh, I won't overload my house with baby things" when I was pregnant. I still subscribe to that sentiment, but some things just make life easier = more time to actually spend with your baby = win win. Here are some of those things for us.

Baby Brezza (or similar) Baby Food Maker

This. Thing. It's amazing. Babies, at least mine, start eating a ton of food around this time! Wow. Sienna started slowly around 6 months, but now, at almost 10 months old, she's quite the eater! It may seem a little spendy to buy this, but trust me, it's worth it. You can steam and pureè the food all in one setting. It's very easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and doesn't take up much counter space. I do have a regular sized food processor, but it's SO overkill for baby food. I leave this out and use it daily to cook sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, apples, and a bunch of other fruits and veggies. I even made myself some quick cilantro pesto today for lunch! LOVE. Note: I purchased mine gently used on eBay. Through a mishap, they forgot my order and sent a new one to make up for it! Check out eBay!

Amazon Prime (for diapers, formula, dog food, etc.)

I do love buying local, but now is not the time to worry about killing myself to get to every mom and pop shop for all of our every day items. I'm sure most of you already have Prime, or at least order from Amazon, but 2-day shipping is WORTH IT. We get diapers, dog food, formula and many of my really good quality supplements/vitamins from Amazon. They come right to your door. It's given me so much more time to focus on cooking for Sienna, cleaning the house a bit better, writing a blog...Taking babies in and out of car seats to go to 5 different stores on a regular basis is just not worth it to me right now. Be sure to buy local produce though and support your farmers, then it balances out ;)

Boon Silicone Feeder

I mentioned the Munchkin Mesh Feeder in my previous post, what to get moms and babies 0-6 months postpartum.  I still love that thing, mostly now for putting frozen fruit in for Sienna to chew on when she's teething. The mesh feeder is pretty annoying to clean, though. We got this Boon feeder recently in our Citrus Lane box and I love it. It's so easy to clean and Sienna loves eating any kind of food from it: avocados, applesauce, blended fruits and veggies, etc. Fabulous.

Play Yard/ Foam Tiles/Safe Play Area 

So. I really wanted to be the Montessori mom, letting my child roam freely throughout our house exploring, learning and developing. All very fine and good...until you have to go to the bathroom, change the laundry in the icky-floored basement, have 2 seconds to yourself...imagine that! I love having a little setup in our living room where I know Sienna is safe to play when I'm out of the room for a minute. The foam tiles add a nice floor to her area, since we have wood floors. This gives her quite a bit more room to crawl than the traditional play pen. Judge if you will. Mama's happy and baby's safe.

I can't find them on Costco's website, but we got our 2' gray foam floor tiles for $12.99 in the store, half the price of some I ordered from Amazon.com.

Portable High Chair

We love our Inglesina. It travels well and is great for restaurants. We also took ours on vacation and it was wonderful to have. It takes up SO much less space than other high chairs and folds away into it's own little attached bag. Sienna is quite petite and fits so much better in this than the giant wooden chairs at most restaurants. The cover is washable and the seat is padded, making it more comfortable for her to sit in a for (a bit) longer. I also got this gently used on eBay. 2 thumbs up.

Someone to keep your baby!

We have been traveling a lot for the past 3 months, but now that the holidays are long past and we are back from our latest trip, I'm SO glad we found a sweet gal who is going to do some nannying for us. It's time, mamas. I'm ready to start doing more design work again and it's almost impossible to squeeze that plus housework plus cooking ALL into a couple of nap times...doable, definitely, but not easy.

What's also not easy at this point is taking Sienna to ANY appointments anymore. She's crawling these days, super social and does NOT want to hang out in that baby carrier while I'm seeing the doctor, chiropractor, etc. Rachel is only going to come here and there to stay with her, but I cannot tell you how freeing it is to think I might actually have time next week to go work at a coffee shop for a bit! Holy! I'm so excited. I know it's not always affordable, but even if you do it once a month, give yourself some time! Seriously. It's amazing. She was referred by a friend, so ask around to your friends who have kids just starting preschool. They may have just let go of a fabulous nanny!

Have any things to add to the list? I'd love to hear them! I can't believe little S is almost 10 months old. 1 year will be here in a flash. xo