The Spencer's

I forgot this item the other day when I was pre-blogging my blog post for Kelly's Korner show us your baby gear so I decided to do a blog post on the one item that I think everyone should own. I feel a little silly because of what it is but it really has been a lifesaver for us. We made our first trip back to the United States while Jacob was transitioning to food. I knew we needed a high chair of some sorts that we could travel with and move from house to house as we visited everyone. I wanted a plan simple high chair like this:

But, when we stepped into ToysRus we ended up buying the Fisher Price Rainforest Healthy Care Booster Seat. I didn't want to part with the extra money for the toy part because I didn't think Jacob would use it for long but it has proven to be the best purchase ever. We loved it so much we left the one we bought in N.C. and ordered another one to be shipped out to Japan. At 13 months old, Jacob still gets excited to see us carry this into a restaurant. Yes, we get funny looks but I just think people are thinking that we must really love our little boy to carry something so ridiculous with us. But, it is magical and he is the best baby anytime we go out to eat with him. Buy one. You won't regret it!!! Nor will you ever have to make your husband take off his belt to wrap around your child because the strap on the highchair at Chili's is busted or worry about your child coming down with a cold from the germs that remain on those nice restaurant high chairs!!

Over at Kelly's Korner this week is all about Baby products. Here are a few, well pretty much all of my favorites and the reasoning why I fell in love with them. I really only can say there is one product I didn't find useful but you will have to read to find out what..Here goes! Also, here is a link to other posts I have written about baby products that I love..

We bought a Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Sip 30/30 for our soon to be baby. My husband likes to research. He did all the research for this item and even ordered it from Amazon while on a deployment to Thailand. Too bad he forgot that our Amazon account is linked to our email so I knew it was coming so it wasn't a surprise.

We liked the safety features of this and according to my husband it had a "cool" factor like no other one that he had seen. It has a comfort dry micro fiber fabric that in our opinion helped our son stay cooler here in HOT Okinawa. My only complaint was that we couldn't fit him and one of the extra infant headrest in there but he did just fine without one. We also had a Graco Safe seat for my husbands car so I could also drive his car during deployments and that seat didn't even compare to this seat. We sold that seat! I never liked it.

In my opinion a pack n play is a must. I probably would have wanted a cute little all wood tiny bassinet if we would have been stateside and that was practical. We did actually look into getting a custom one made here but that turned out to be rather pricey but we bought a pack n play instead. Jacob slept in this pack n play for two months by our bed. Unfortunately, some of the models have been recalled due to the sides collapsing down on children. The only model sold on base here was on of the ones in the recall so we have our full purchase price back and are busily looking for a new pack n play. My favorite feature was the mobile. Jacob would stare and kick every time the mobile was on. It lasted long enough for me to get a shower without turning off. I even kept it when we trashed the pack n play in hopes that it will fit on our next pack n play. I think the changing table and the diaper/baby item sorter could have been left off. We never used either. It was much easier to take him to his room to change him. I think a pack n play is a more practical solution long term than a plain bassinet is because this product can grow with your child.

A play gym is also a must! Jacob was under his at one day old. I think I just thought that if we showed him everything REALLY early he would love it. I actually have a video of him under it the very first time we used it. He LOVED this thing. Even at 9 months when I put it up finally he still played with it. From time to time he even finds it in the bag under our bed and will pull it out and play with the giraffe. This baby product literally entertained him for hours and was the first place he actually rolled over! Love love love it!!

The bouncer was another one of Jacob's favorites. It also had to be one of my favorites. He never really fell asleep while using it but he did have a lot of firsts in it. This particular bouncer has a monkey and frog that move by the waterfall on the top and he started to track those items early on with his eyes. He also would reach and hold on to the monkey or the bird and not let go. He loved to get this thing bouncing as he got older. He was so much fun to watch as he would smile and giggle while bouncing. Some nights it was useful in helping me get dinner done and on the table because all Mom's know there is a certain time that all babies want to be held and it happens to be at dinner time of course!!

We bought a big swing for our little apartment. I do not thing we got enough use out of this item at all. Jacob would sleep in but we rarely even used it. And we never used the silly tray attached to it. I thought it would be nice because it would swing like a cradle or a traditional swing but it wasn't worth the money in my opinion. Plus the motor on the swing was louder than I would have liked. It didn't eat thru the batteries but next time a swing with an AC adaptor is the way to go if we get a full size swing instead of a travel size swing. I'm leaning towards a smaller swing next time around. We had no place to keep this swing so for $60 it is happily on it's way to England for another military families child-to-be that bought it from us here in Okinawa. I can't say a swing is a MUST have. Maybe for some babies it is but not our baby.

Another one of my husband's research items was a BOB Sport Utility Stroller. BOB does make one with a swivel front wheel called a Revolution but we opted for the permanent fixed wheel. Why? Simply my husband thought it would be better for running. He wins. He did the research. I loved this stroller and well I still do love it but I don't use it nearly enough. I took Jacob out for a walk in it 24 hours after he was born. Yes, I am nuts to go walk as soon as we arrived home from the hospital but I needed something to do while my husband went and bought cool boy clothes since we waited to find out boy or girl. He loved his first stroller ride. We went on walks every single day for the first 6 months. We added the infant car seat adaptor to it and it was worth every penny. Now we have the snack tray attached to it but poor Jacob can't see over it so it is coming off soon. We have the additional console for drinks as well and love it. I am going to upgrade to a dualie when the time comes!

We bought this Chicco liteway stroller here at the BabiesRus in Okianwa. We had looked at it while I was pregnant and I looked for it online but it wasn't due to come out in the U.S. till October 2008 and then the release date kept getting pushed back. So, finally in November we went and bought it. We probably paid about $50 more than the asking price in the states but it has been well worth it. I love the fact that it leans so far back and Jacob can comfortably sleep in it. It folds up nicely and is light weight so I have to disagree with the reviews written about it being heavy but maybe that is because I carry around an almost 25 lbs kid every day and carry groceries up three flights of stairs once a week. The handles on it are very comfortable and it's easy to push. My husband says it has 'the tightest turn radius' in it's class. It really can turn in a full circle with ease. The shade adjusts with ease and provides decent sun coverage but of course does not compare to the coverage Jacob gets from the BOB stroller. The storage underneath is small but the diaper bag hangs neatly on the back so no complaint here. I wish ours had the padded neck straps!! I took this home to visit family and it worked out perfectly. It did actually become more of a luggage cart instead of a stroller but even with that it did wonderful.

Last but not least is my Baby Bjorn. I had one break and you can read about that here. But, I still love it. Luckily, we had two so I just started to use my husbands. Words cannot describe how many uses there are for this product and I can't tell you how many times we used it. I used it up until Jacob was 10 months old. We upgraded to a Kelty carrier while we were back home and we love it!!!