Sanity Must-Haves

I love the Moby Wrap and so does T Junior.

We received a ton of really great things for T Junior pre- and post-birth. Our friends and family were so generous it was overwhelming. He got adorable clothes, fun toys, necessary equipment and gadgets, handmade items and much, much more! Here are some of those things that are helping to keep the sanity in our house right now:

MOBY WRAP
www.mobywrap.com
T Junior is going through a "it's-nighttime-so-I-am-going-to-be-fussy" stage. Lucky for me, I have the Moby Wrap. I put it on, wrap him in it and go for a walk around the neighborhood. The wrap hugs him tight against me, doing the same thing swaddling does (calms him down, puts him to sleep, makes him feel safe).

• Sanity Review: This ingenious baby carrier can hold a preemie or children up to 45 pounds. It can even carry twins! According to the Moby Wrap Web site, the wrap was "created by two mothers in search of the perfect baby carrier." I have another front baby carrier that works just fine, but both T Junior and I prefer the Moby Wrap, which is (to be very basic) a long piece of fabric that you wrap and tie around your body and your baby. T Junior was six weeks old when we first tried it on a walk. I knew he felt secure because he nodded off in less than five minutes, which I hadn't intended -- it wasn't even nap time! (T Junior is a curious kid who doesn't like to sleep for fear of missing something great.) The fabric is 100% cotton and has just enough stretch to it. It is comfortable and isn't too heavy for walks on a warm summer evening (tested on an 80-degree July evening in Seattle). With T Junior in his wrap, I feel tremendous arm-freedom (that's an official mommy term). Thank you to my mom for sending me this life-saver.
  
  
• Cost: The Moby Wrap that I have sells for $39.95 on the company's Web site, and it comes in 12 colors. You can click here to find a retailer. The Web site also has a wrap with UV protection for $44.95 that comes in two pretty summer hues. The Moby D ($59.95) is made with special, more luxurious fabrics than the Moby Wrap and is shorter in length than the original wrap. The Moby Select collection features three wraps with special original designs. The Batik Floral, Batik Vine and Organic Moby Wraps are $69.95 each.

"THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK" BOOK
By Dr. Harvey Karp
www.happiestbaby.com
Without the advice from this book I think there still wouldn't be any sleeping going on in our house. Thanks to Dr. Karp's 5 S's, we all get our much-needed Zs at night, thank you very much. (Read my previous entry on Dr. Karp.)

• Sanity Review: The book was recommended by one of the nurses who teaches the new baby class at Valley Medical Center in Renton. We bought it, but (like fools) didn't read it until we were severely sleep-deprived at the end of our son's first week. Life with our new baby was so much easier once we put Dr. Karp's theories into action.
  
  
• Cost: The paperback is $13.95 on the Web site. There also is a DVD for $25.95. We have not seen it, but our friends had it and found it useful.

FISHER-PRICE PAPASAN CRADLE SWING
www.fisher-price.com
We put this swing on our Babies 'R' Us Baby Registry and received it one night on our front porch. Mr. T (a gadget freak) could barely contain himself as he tore open the box. You would have thought the swing was for him. As it turns out, it kind of is. Yes, T Junior swings in it, but since he naps so well in the swing it gives us some time to ourselves. This is how we were able to eat dinner during the first couple weeks with T Junior, and he still loves it at nine weeks. Part of what makes this swing special is that T Junior has the option of either swinging side-to-side or front-to-back. We tried both and it quickly became obvious to us that our baby prefers side-to-side swinging. Thank you to Mom and Dad Williamson!

• Sanity Review: The swing we have is yellow and green -- perfect for either sex. Above the swing is a mirrored mobile featuring moving bees and leaves that T Junior can gaze at. There are several speed and sound options, and you can choose whether or not to turn on the mobile. Our only complaint is that the mobile and music only run for seven minutes. To start them again, there is a handy reset button, but if you are doing something you have to remember to run back over to the swing before your seven minutes is up. T Junior sometimes used to wake up when the babbling brook stopped abruptly. Click here for the manufacturer's description.
  
  
• Cost: This swing retails for about $140, according to the Fisher-Price Web site, but I saw it on Amazon.com for about $100, so shop around.

Three-day-old T Junior in the Fisher Price Papasan Cradle Swing.

KIDDOPOTAMUS SWADDLEME WRAP
www.kiddopotamus.com
T Junior sleeps in his SwaddleMe every night. If he's fussy, he almost always calms down as soon as he's wrapped tight. I don't know what moms did without it.

• Sanity Review: We learned within the first couple of weeks of T Junior's life that he liked to be swaddled. We used receiving blankets early on, but around his fifth or sixth week he was getting the hang of breaking out of it like an Incredible Hulk baby or something. The beauty of the SwaddleMe is it fastens with Velcro making it easy to wrap him in (especially in the middle of the night) and hard for him to bust out. Our only complaint is that the wrap is too large for a newborn. There was too much room in the leg area for T Junior; he liked to have his legs wrapped up tight. Once he got to five or six weeks, he was beginning to straighten his legs out so it wasn't an issue anymore. We were thrilled to be able to begin using the SwaddleMe wrap. There are several different SwaddleMe designs and many prints. We have the basic wrap, but you can also buy the wrap in fleece or flannel. There's even one that can be used in car seats. Check out the Kiddopotamus Web site.
  
  
• Cost: The basic SwaddleMe wrap retails for as low as $9.99. We got ours at Babies 'R' Us.