Today I’m sharing just a few of the items that Olivia (and we!) have been loving since my newborn favorites: baby #2 post. Enjoy!
Exersaucer
We got a hand-me-down exersaucer from some friends whose son is eight months older than Tommy. Tommy liked the exersaucer but nowhere near as much as Olivia does. You can see her in it in the six months and seven months update posts. Olivia routinely spends at least an hour in the exersaucer every day, usually in a few 15-20 minute increments in between other activities. During Tommy’s birthday party this summer, she stayed it in for a solid two hours straight. The model we have is close to five years old and is no longer available, but I’m linking something similar. She’s crazy about a bunch of the toys and jumps up and down in it all the time.
Hard rattle
I cannot even explain how much more both my kids have loved their hard rattle (similar) more than their soft rattles. As it’s made entirely of plastic without any fabric components, the sound it makes is very different and much louder. Both of my kids have had a range of baby/toddler percussion instruments than they like. But hands down, the hard rattle has been the winner for both of them.
Baby paper
Baby paper is another toy that we had for Tommy and that he liked but that Olivia absolutely loves. As soon as she was able to start grabbing toys, she went for the baby paper. It’s in constant rotation with her baby toys and always one that puts a smile on her face.
Lovey bunny
I got Olivia the Mary Meyer lovey bunny for her first Easter basket. It has a smaller, flatter head than some similar lovey animals, which makes it easier for babies to hold, even from a very young age. It’s also incredibly soft and has the sweetest little face. Sometimes she’ll snuggle with it in her bouncy chair or rocker, which is about the cutest thing ever.
Infant-to-toddler rocker
I’m trying not to talk about too many of the same items that I covered in my newborn favorites post for Olivia. But there are a few things that I’m mentioning again because we’re still using them all the time, and they’re the best. The infant-to-toddler rocker is one of them. Olivia is quickly outgrowing the bouncy seats and really needs to be swaddled AND strapped in to fall asleep most of the time. Then we move her to her crib. The rocker is so perfect for that. She still loves hanging out in it sometimes with her toys, too.
Bath chair
As Olivia isn’t sitting up on her own yet, I’m still using the bath chair with her for every single bath. It has been the best. Even when Olivia was tiny, I never worried about her slipping. She still does so well in it. The chair makes it so easy to wash her, especially her hair, without worrying about her slipping, even with just one adult. I love that you can fold it up, too, so it doesn’t take up your entire bathroom all the time.
Muslin blankets
Obviously, Olivia is way too big for me to swaddle her with muslin blankets now. But she has always loved sleeping with one, pretty much right from the beginning, and just generally likes to have one with her. So we go through a ton of them because I’m always grabbing one for her rocker or car seat or wherever she’s hanging out at any given time. Most of the muslin blankets that I have are from Target, similar to this Aden + Anais set.
Love to Dream Swaddle UP Original
Olivia still has to be swaddled any time she’s sleeping for a long stretch, including naps. The Love to Dream Swaddle UP Original is the first one that really worked for her as a newborn. So we’ve stuck with it, and it’s continued to help so much. She can flip herself over in it and then almost always wants help flipping back, even though she can do it herself. But she’s all over the place if I unzip the arms, so for now we’re making it work with the arms in place.
Shorts
I bought Olivia some new shorts, as we really didn’t have much smaller than 12-month size for Tommy. I got the Simple Joys girls’ bike shorts, which are so cute, as well as a couple of the baby play shorts from Primary, which are so soft and a little looser fitting. The Simple Joys shorts are available in a huge range of sizes, as well as a few different colors. Primary has similar shorts for all ages as well.
Onesies
I wanted Olivia to have a few more girly onesies for this summer. I picked up this Grow by Gerber onesies set. A lot of Gerber onesies run ridiculously small, but this set has been sized perfectly for her, even with her being long. It’s so hard to find baby sets where you love every single color/pattern, but this is one of them. I love the more neutral color/pattern set as well and am going to pick them up in the next size. You can see the shorts and several of the onesies in my six months and seven months updates.
Bows
I bought a couple of sets of bows for Olivia right away, which I cover in my newborn favorites post for her. I still love both of these sets and have Olivia wear those bows all the time. As it’s clear that Olivia won’t have anywhere near enough hair for a ponytail or pigtails any time soon, this past month I bought her a few more bows. I got this Little JoJo bows set because I love the range of fabrics and prints. I also bought a handful of headbands from GoldenDotLane on Etsy. It’s hard to find turban bows in patterns and varied fabrics, and GoldenDotLane fit the bill perfectly.
Primary swimsuit
The only swimsuit I’ve been having Olivia wear this summer is this baby rash guard from Primary. I also picked up a couple of Primary’s cloth swim diapers. We’ve done a handful of splash pad/wading pool days and some smaller beach excursions. So I needed something for her but not a ton of gear. The rash guard fits well and offers so much more coverage than a regular girl swimsuit while still being really comfortable.
Sit and stand stroller
I talked in my newborn favorites post for Olivia about how I wasn’t going to buy the Joovy Caboose sit and stand stroller until the summer when Olivia could sit up in the seat. Then I found out that it has a newborn seat attachment. So I bought it right away and started using it this spring. As Olivia still isn’t sitting up independently, I’m so glad that I didn’t wait forever to buy it, and that we’ve been able to use it all this time. I have taken the Joovy for a ton of longer outings with both kids like the zoo and petting farm. It’s awesome for excursions where I know that Tommy won’t want to walk the whole time. We often take it for longer walks in the neighborhood as well.
Stroller fan
After an incredibly hot, very sunny zoo outing, in which Olivia got very stuffy in the stroller with the shades pulled up, I knew that we needed a fan. I actually picked up a couple of stroller fans, so she and Tommy can each have one. For a few outings, like the Renaissance Faire, we all made use of the fans ha. They don’t have an incredibly long charge on the highest setting. But they have a pretty good run time on the lower settings. For an all-day outing or on vacation, I’d even think about bringing along an external battery or something similar, so you can keep them charged.
If you’re looking for even more baby favorites for this stage of life, I wrote a separate baby favorites: 6 months post for Tommy!
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Pin this post for easy access to the six-month-old favorites later!
