Baby Essentials With Summer Infant

Summer Infant SwaddleMe Wiggle blankets | Zozubaby bow

Hi loves! Thanks for visiting the blog today! This post is for my new and expecting mama friends! I have learned SO much about mama essentials and great products since becoming a mom and I really want to share my knowledge ;) I know when I was expecting little Gracie I did sooo much research!

The first thing I want to share is what I've been doing to help Grace stay warm (and safe) at night. I am so paranoid about SIDS, but Grace sleeps much better in her own room away from me so that she doesn't smell me haha. If she smells me, she wakes up! (TIP: Moms whose babies wake up all the time, try letting them sleep a little farther away and see if it works! You'd be surprised!) Anyway, during the summer I used to let Grace sleep in only a onesie and socks. We would swaddle her too when she was little, but now that the winter months are upon us, I've started putting her in sleepers. We don't swaddle anymore since she rolls over, but I still want her to be warm! I loved my sleepsack, but honestly it was way too much fabric. I was so happy to find these Summer Infant SwaddleMe wearable wiggle blankets because her little arms fit through and it zips right up over her sleeper! The fabric is lightweight so it can go over her sleepers and I don't have to worry about her getting too hot (another risk for SIDS) Plus, these prints are just darling :)

As mamas, we have so much to worry about and keep track of, so knowing baby sleeps okay is crossing a biiiig worry off of that list ;) If you decide to try one out, let me know! I'd love to hear about your experience with the wearable blankets!

Summer Infant SwaddleMe Wiggle blankets

Summer Infant SwaddleMe Wiggle blanket 

Another product that I just can't live without is some sort of carrier, ring sling, or woven wrap. Grace loves to be held, but I also love to do dishes, housework, and even have conference calls, but when she's fussy, I cannot get anything done. So, the wraps and carriers save the day! Below I've highlighted two of my favorite wraps lately. I used my Happy Baby Wrap when Grace was a newborn, but I recently discovered that it's amazing for her now even though she's bigger - we've been wrapping with this cute polka dot wrap almost everywhere we go.

I am also excited to try a new form of baby wearing with the ring sling! This Tula ring sling in Love Noir is just gorgeous, and I keep envisioning how great it looks with my Fall wardrobe ;) 

Tula wrap conversion ring sling

 Summer Infant Bentwood High Chair

Since Grace is nearing 6 months old, she has started sitting up unassisted! Which means we get to start using her Summer Infant Bentwood high chair! She absolutely loves to see the world from this view because she used to have to lay on her back all the time haha. I find that for a few minutes each day (since she isn't eating solids yet) she can sit in here and watch our dog, watch me do the dishes, play with her toys... I even made her a toy today out of a water bottle and rice. She played with it for like 30 minutes in her high chair! I love watching her learn and explore.

I have an exciting announcement too - Grace will be starting solid food soon, so I plan to document that journey! I'll be making her baby food from scratch, and I can't wait to post about it and share with you what products I needed to do that ;)

Thanks so much for reading and following along. If you have any questions about what I posted or have suggestions for other baby-related posts, please let me know via email or in the comments below! I always read them :)

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Living in Color Baby | HALO SleepSack Swaddle

HALO SleepSack Swaddle (exact one in first and second picture)

Happy Friday! This post is for all of my new mama followers! Maybe you have six kids, and a newborn, or you are a first time mom, but as a new mama who is always discovering awesome (and helpful) things I feel obligated to share ;) I'm not sure if you are into swaddling, or sleep-training, but my experience is that the swaddle really helped Grace start sleeping through the night at around one month old! I am so fortunate that she was a great sleeper from the start, but I worked really hard on keeping her awake throughout the day and keeping the windows open to show her daylight and starting a bedtime routine for her so she found her schedule very predictable.

The HALO SleepSack Swaddle saved our lives though! For the first few weeks I would swaddle Grace with muslin blankets, which I loved, but I'd wake up throughout the night desperate to check on her and make sure she hadn't wiggled out of her swaddle and pulled her blanket over her face. Everyone told me I would check on her a million times, but I didn't believe them! Ladies, the struggle is real. After we tried out the SleepSack Swaddle, (which has a velcro flap that stays tightly secure all night) I slept so much better. I didn't have to worry about her smothering herself. SIDS is a scary thing (Plus I always kept her sleeping on her back!) The SleepSack is wearable and you can swaddle arms-in or arms-out.

Fast forward three months later and we've got a baby who sleeps 8-10 hours a night and ADORES her swaddle, but now she rolls over! It was time to break her of her swaddling ways, so we starting putting her in her SleepSack with one arm out, and we had to do this for 3 weeks straight before she started sleeping okay with her arms out. Now that she doesn't need her arms swaddled, I figured I'd be okay and could have her sleep in her crib with just her footie pajamas on, but honestly I like how the SleepSack makes her feel snug, and since her arms out it poses no risk. The HALO SleepSack is actually safer because like I said above it's a wearable blanket so the baby can't use her little hands to pull it up throughout the night.

I know sooooo many mamas who use the SleepSack, and love it, so if you are having sleep troubles, or are expecting a baby, make sure to add this to your registry! If you want to hear more about my sleep-training method (a flexible version of Babywise and ideas from French parenting book Bringing up Bebe) go ahead and email me! I love talking all things baby ;) Have a great weekend!

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