Happy Friday, Everyone :)
4 months ago, which is so crazy by the way, I wrote a TTF post about Olivia’s daily essentials. While there are a few key items that are still the same in our day to day, there are also quite a few new ones. Because of this, I decided to put together a new list of Olivia’s daily essentials.
I decided to say Olivia’s essentials, rather than the general word, “Toddler”, because I know all babies are different and use a variety of different things, every day. These are just a few things that seem to be in rotation for us.
Without further ado, I give you ten of …
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
1. Pampers Cruisers- we still very much love our Pamper’s Cruisers. Olivia hasn’t grown too much, so she’s still comfortably in a size 5!
2. Aveeno Baby Lightly Scented Wash & Shampoo- Around 16 months, Olivia started getting yeast infections far too often for my liking. I was really worried about it, so I tried to change a few things to see if it would get better. Her bath wash was one of those things. We now use Aveeno Baby Lightly Scented Baby Wash & Shampoo. Not only does it smell so good, but it doesn’t seem to make her eyes red, and even better than that, she hasn’t had a yeast infection since we’ve made the switch!
3. Pampers Natural Clean Unscented Wipes- This was another thing we decided to switch. We noticed that when Olivia had a rash, and we still tried to use wipes on her tush, she would cry. We didn’t want to completely give up on pampers, so we switched to their natural clean wipes and we’ve really noticed a difference.
4. Olivia the Pig- Olivia is still very much obsessed with this dang pig. And actually, if it wasn’t for said dang pig, I think I may have lost my sanity by now. Olivia is always very quiet when this show is on….maybe even a little too quiet. But on days that I need to really get something done, or if she is just one nerve away from making this mama pull her hair out, Olivia the Pig comes to my rescue and buys me as much time as I need. In fact, she has been even more helpful lately because Olivia has been falling asleep in the car a lot more often and if Olivia the Pig is on, she is wide awake the entire car ride. Who knew I’d rely on a pig so much? Not I.
5. Playtex Lil’ Gripper- Target had these babies on sale a few weeks ago, they come in a two pack, at the time they were only four dollars, and they are amazing. I love that they hold more, now that Olivia is drinking more, and they never spill. The only complaint I have is that those plastic stoppers that come with all Playtex sippy cups AL.WAYS. seem to go missing in our house and it drives me mad. I wish I could just order a pack of those from somewhere……
6. Safety 1st onBoard 35 Air Infant Car Seat- So this is kind of a big one. We had Olivia in the car seat that came with her stroller until she was about 8 months. We were able to keep her in that one for so long because she was always on the tinier side and took forever to outgrow it. Although our onBoard 35 is way heavier, we were so happy when we finally switched her into it, and kicked ourselves for not doing it sooner. This is the car seat she came home in, and I honestly think that the only reasons why we switched back to the little pink one was because it was lighter to carry, and because it conveniently snapped right into our stroller (obviously). This car seat is SO padded and comfortable, was super easy to install and carries up to 35 pounds. The reason why I am bringing our car seat into the mix this time is because I would like to know your opinions. We love that Olivia is rear-facing, and plan on keeping her like that until the end of the year, even longer maybe. My question to you mamas is 1.) at what age did you switch to a forward facing car seat? and 2.) which forward facing car seat do you recommend?
7. Pen & Paper- Olivia is very into drawing lately, and you can tell that she thinks she’s a big girl when she does it! Really any writing utensil is her jam, pen, pencil, crayon, chalk….. I always keep a pen and notebook (mine is the same brand as the one shown above, but not the same design…although I may go get one of these because they’re only $3.99!) in my bag so that if she ever starts to get impatient if we’re maybe at a restaurant, or taking forever at the grocery store, I just whip out the pen and paper and she is good for a solid amount of time. Bonus points to the restaurants that already offer crayons and paper for children.
8. Milk- Also known as liquid gold in this house. Olivia’s three favorite things to drink are water, tea, and milk. With the exception of whether or not my tea is in a Starbucks cup, Olivia will always choose milk. It’s the first thing she wants in the morning, and it seems like she also uses it kind of like a comfort thing. When she starts to whine, we ask her, “What would you like, Olivia?” and she always says, “Mil? Miiil?”. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not but I really don’ care. I’m just glad she isn’t a fan of juice!
9. Ikea Bowls- Okay, anyone that’s been to Ikea knows that it’s kind of like another Target, only you just don’t go as often. It’s still the same hypnotizing store that makes you leave with wayyyyy more than you intended on. And the cheap prices don’t help either. Anyway, so I went into Ikea a few weeks ago to buy some wedding centerpiece stuff and before I could even get up to the showroom, I saw these really colorful bowls, six of them to be exact, and they were only $1.99! Of course I had to buy them, I couldn’t help myself. And honestly, we use them a lot more than I thought! They’re great for goldfish holding, soup holding, mac and cheese holding, little enough for Olivia to carry around, and my favorite part is that they hold up very well in the dishwasher. These are bowls that you will use time and time again, and I cannot recommend them enough!
10. Books- Olivia is still very much interested in reading, and I love it so much. She always brings me books to read to her, and if we’re both having some quiet time, she searches for a book, and will sit on the floor in the corner of her mat and read quietly (and sometimes not so quietly!) to herself and it is the most amazing thing to watch. She points to pictures of things she recognizes, and calls out the correct name, and since we’re working on colors, she is always very quick to point out which color (right now her faves are green and blue and sometimes purple!) is which on each page. This is one of her current favorite books.
It may seem a bit boring, but in all honesty, it was hard to even think of 10 things (and I’ll probably be able to think of more later, of course!)! Our girl is very simple. She loves to dance, sing, run, and play outside, but I also wanted to give you a glimpse into a few of our favorite objects, and I would love to know what your’s are too (even if you don’t have kids)!
One more announcement:
I plan on talking more in depth about the changes on my blog on Tuesday, but I just wanted to point out that I finally got around to making a Facebook Page for my blog! Rumor has it that Google Reader is going away on Monday, so if you want to still keep up with us (which I hope you do!), you can follow Oh Hey Baby through Bloglovin, OR if you don’t feel like you can commit to another reader yet (I understand the whole trust issue!), you can like my blog on Facebook, and keep up with us there! I’m obviously also on Instagram and Twitter, and you can also find all of these links at any time through the social media buttons at the top right of the screen, right under the word “Follow!”
xo,
Katie
*Don’t forget: if you’d like to guest blog for my 10 Things Friday series, I’d love to have you! Just write out a list of 10 things, it can be anything (i.e. 10 books you should read, 10 things about myself, 10 reasons why I love my dog….anything!), and send it over in an email ( ohheybabyblog@gmail.com )! I can’t wait to hear what everyone comes up with! :)