I breastfeed...and use formula. On most days, Nugget is fed primarily with breastmilk and 1-2 bottles of formula. I'll discuss more about this combination in a later post, but I have to let you know the life-saving "toy" George and I found to help mix our formula, the Baby Breeza Pro Advanced Formula Mixer!   Our challenge was that in the middle of the night, we were trying to mix formula in the dark...followed by 5ish minutes of trying to get it warm- bad combination. Then we found this Baby Breeza that both warms and mixes the formula in under 15 seconds. NO, it's not a typo- in just 15 seconds you can have 5+ ounces of formula, warm and ready for your baby. This is a God sent for those middle of the night feedings!

​

As a first time mom, I was clueless when it came to creating my baby registry. I scrapped through what felt like dozens of registries, navigating the "perfect" bottles, textured bath cloths, sizable baby tubs and electronic gadgets. Yet, it wasn't until "Nugget" arrived that I became more clear about what was really needed. Here's my "go to" list that I'd order all over again:

  1. DockATot: This baby was/is a LIFE SAVER! It made Nugget feel just like he was still in the womb, all snuggled up! George and I waited to use until Nugget could raise his head.

2. Owlet: I legit spent the first 3 weeks of Nuggets life sleeping on the floor arms length to his crib. As a new mom, I just couldn't bare the thought of something happening to him when I turned my head. Soon, I gained my peace through prayer and the Owlet. This device wraps around his foot and send notifications to my phone if his heart rate or oxygen fall (or get too high in the case of the heart rate).

3. Zip Up Onesies: There are few things more adorable then a chunky baby in a onsie! However, in the middle of the night, those cute onesies present a hardship when you're trying to work through 1,000 snappy buttons, a dirty diaper and a screaming baby (*wooosssaaahhhh*). For us, the zip up onesies worked like a charm and made changing our sleeping baby MUCH easier.

4. Diapers, diapers and MORE diapers! We chose to go with Pampers, putting 5 boxes of "NB" size diapers on our registry. I also put 2 boxes of sizes 1-3, knowing Nugget would grow into them. Nugget doubled his weight pretty quickly, so he was only in the "NB" size for 6ish weeks. We registered at Target where you can return non-opened diaper boxes. So even if we'd ordered too many, we could have traded an un-opened box  of diapers for the next size up. PS: Pampers has an app in which you get free money for money spent on diapers #WIN. PSS- We found the best prices on diapers at Sam's Club.

5. Boppy Lounger : Nugget loves to lounge on this Boppy so much that we have two for our home and even sent an additional one to his sitter.

6. WubbaNub Pacifier: By day 4 of life, Nugget let us know that he NEEDED his pacifier (lol). However, EVERY time the pacifier fell out of his mouth, screaming pursued. To put it in context, just think of how many times a pacifier can fall out of a baby's mouth...now imagine yourself staying up all night to continuously put that pacifier back into their mouth. Yeah, it's exhausting. We ended up purchasing a WubbaNub Pacifier, which came with a small stuffed animal attached. It was perfect for helping to hold the pacifier in Nugget's mouth.

​7. Dr. Brown's Bottles- Our favorite bottles are Dr. Browns. Nugget is super gassy, but these bottles definitely help! 

8. Pack N' Play: This was one of those items we got in multiples! We use one pack and play in our living room- this is where we change Nugget and also where he hangs out when we aren't holding him during the day. We also put one in our office- the small size was perfect! 

9. Diaper Rash Cream- I can't say enough great stuff about this! Buy it and thank me later.

10. Changing Table- We chose a crib/changing table combo that worked seamlessly for us. It's super convenient and we love the sleek look!