Ladies and Gentlemen, year one, especially the first half of year one, is all about survival. As you go through it, you develop strategies that help you make each and everyday easier for yourself. What’s that all about? Below is a list of items that I used to help me make my life easier. But before you read this list, note that I wasn’t paid by any of these products, nor did I receive any kickbacks. I just really like them and thought I’d share with you all. They probably should pay me though (wink). 

1. Kushies Waterproof Change Pad. Not the big one (I mean you need the big one too, but the one that’s pretty much a blanket with a liner that can fit in your diaper bag.) This soft little blanket is the sheez. It’s super soft, and when your baby pees on it, the flannel absorbs it a bit so that the pee isn’t just rolling off like some of those rubbery/plasticy change pads. It also can be washed and dried. Plus it’s soft AF, so the baby likes to be on it.
2. Duck Brand Easy Liner. Put this under your changing pads at you changing stations. It keeps the changing pads from slipping around. You can also put some on the seat of your high chair if your babe is slipping around a bit. I also recommend having a changing station on each floor you plan on being on in your house. Having all your diaper needs on each floor in one constant place makes your baby brain work less hard. You’re welcome.
3. A Jolly Jumper. This is what happiness looks like my friends. If you don’t have a proper door for the original, get the standalone one. It’s pricier, but it’s worth it. Check mom groups to see if someone is offloading theirs. 
4. A Bottle Sterilizer. For the first month of Leila’s life she needed to be supplementing because the girl was losing weight and wouldn’t really latch. I was also recovering from a cesarian. So we set up a dish station in our master bathroom. I had a bin to hand wash all the bottles and my nipple shields, then we put them in the bottle sterilizer, and then dried them on the bottle rack. If I had to go up and downstairs at night for every feeding, I would have gone mental. MENTAL.
5. Boon Lawn Drying Rack. You can fit so many bottles and nipples on that tiny thing!
6. The Munchkin Miracle 360 Sippy Cup. It really is a miracle how many times it’s been thrown and how little water has hit my floors.
7. CeraVe Bebe Lotion. Soft baby skin alert. For the first 9 months of Leila’s life I only used coconut oil, olive oil or on dry patches Vaseline. Her skin was soft, but not as soft as I pictured it would be. Then mid-summer with all the swimming and the sunscreen, I could not keep up with her dry skin. I asked my doctor about it and he recommended this stuff. Oh boy was he right. Her skin is now the softest thing on earth. Like silk directly from the worm, or the fur of an angora bunny pre-slaughter. Except…SOFTER! I can’t recommend this lotion more. It’s fantastic.
8. Soothers. Not only do they supposedly help reduce the likelihood of SIDS, they also get the baby to stop crying. They also look super cute when they look up at you with wide eyes sucking their little soother.
9. Sleep Sacks. Why don’t these come in my size?
10. Kirkland Baby Wipes. Best wipes ever.
11. Sudocrem. Best bum cream. Light feeling but goes on nice and thick. But not too thick. And works so fast!
12. Rubberduckies. They make bath time and anytime so much fun. The beak is also perfect for little chewers.     
13. Carina Organics Baby Shampoo & Body Wash. Smells so good and lasts forever. That said, I bathe my babe once or twice a week. Anything would last forever at that rate. You also don’t feel like you’re bathing your child in cancer causing chemicals.
14. Face cloths. For wiping, washing and gnawing. Face cloths for everything!
15. Books. Books for reading and chewing. B is for Bear, Goodnight Moon, Good Night Gorilla, The Hungry Little Caterpillar and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes are the bees knees.
16. Things that rattle. The rattle Leila likes the most is the one that I made from a Medela baby bottle and cap filled with rice. Makes the best noise I think.
17. A good breast pump. OR a Baby Brezza if you’re using formula. The BB is pretty much a Keurig but it’s for formula and has no wasteful plastic cups. It’s amazing. I don’t have one because I was lucky enough to primarily breastfeed, but I’ve seen it in action and it’s glorious.
18. Nursing Pillow, in particular the Jolly Jumper Boomerang. I had no idea life could be so good until I used my friends. I bought my own two weeks later. It’s AMAZING!
19. A Monitor. AKA peace of mind.
20. Your cadillac stroller, and an umbrella stroller. I keep an umbrella stroller at my moms so I don’t have to pack ours when we go there.
21. Pack and Play! A portable bed. I use a dirty-ish sheet on it so that Leila feels like home everytime she goes to bed at someone else’s house.
22. Plushy stuffy animals. Ones your babe can lather with affection. It’s so darn cute! 
23. The EZPZ Mini Mat. When your baby starts to eat real food, you’ll want a plate that is also a placemat that also sticks to the table so they can’t throw it.  
24. Aden and Anais Muslin Swaddling Blankets. They really swaddle the best.
25. A vibrating chair. This saved me in the first 4 months of motherhood.

Now, I’m not saying go out and buy all this stuff, but I am saying accept hand me downs and loans of these things, register for these things. You can definitly survive without them, but in my case, these things made my life so much better. Besides, look at this sweet thing: