Hatchlings

This post has nothing to do with wedding photography. You’ve been warned 🙂 First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes the… we know how it goes! Today we’re talking about babies!

As we approach our 5th year in business, it’s only natural that the couples we’ve worked with over the years are now starting their own families. This year especially, so many of our couples have reached out to tell us the good news that they’re expecting! It’s so exciting, and we’re just so happy for everyone! We’re hearing the good news of expectant Birds Brides on the regular, and it feels like almost every other week a new “hatchling” has come into the world! All these babies! It brings us so much joy to see so many of our couples moving into this next journey together, and today we just want to wish all of our expecting couples a healthy pregnancy, and our new mama and daddy birds an easy transition into parenthood. Congrats to all of you! These babies are adorable so keep sharing photos with us!

For fun, we thought we’d share a top ten list of baby items that we both really love. Whether it be from Betty’s experience raising her two children, or Maggie’s experience with her little ones, or our combined experience with today’s recent baby gear, these are the things that have worked for us to make life easier and more fun! Some new school, some old school. These are the things we love for our babies.

 

1. Swaddle Sleepers

These are the best darn things ever invented! Both of Maggie’s boys have slept very well in these swaddle sleepers, and they’re so easy to put on. Betty just wishes they were around when she had newborns. What makes them awesome is how secure they are, which means baby isn’t going to unravel themselves or get loose. Chubby Cheeks is still sleeping in one of these, and he’s almost 5 months old. The Nuroo brand is amazing. It’s a soft, cool fabric (which you want, so baby doesn’t overheat) and it grows with baby, which means you won’t need to buy more sizes as baby grows! Chubby Cheeks loves his Nuroo sleeper!

 

2. Muslin Blankets

 

These blankets are our go-to, all purpose baby blanket. Their light, woven material is perfect. These blankets are breathable which is safest for baby, and they roll up to be nice and small, easy to pop in your diaper bag. We bought a pack of 4 for Chubby Cheeks and the seemingly expensive investment has been more than worth it. We use these blankets as carseat covers, nursing covers, burp cloths, floor mats for laying and playing on, swaddle blankets at the hospital, you name it! We never leave the house without two at a time, and Chubs pretty much has one near him all day. They’ve become his “blankie”. Our favorites are the Aden and Anais brand. They get softer and softer every time you wash them! And we wash these a lot!

 

3. Baby Carries

 

Maggie especially loves to carry and hold her babies, and we’re both realizing now how much easier it is to have Chubs in a carrier when we’re out, giving us two hands to wrangle Sweet Cheeks with 😉 When the boys were tiny infants, we’ve loved the Moby wrap. It’s great for little ones who still need a lot of head and neck support. Maggie usually wore this one around the house with both of her boys, as well as trips to the store. The Moby takes a little time to get the hang of, but it becomes rather easy after you give it a few shots. Best to put this wrap on yourself before leaving the house, to avoid struggling with it out in public. The Moby gets used until about the 2 month mark. Then, once we have babies who are big enough to safely ride in a structured carrier, we go to our Ergo carrier. It’s like a backpack that you strap around yourself, pop the baby in, and clip at the back. It takes no time to get situated and both of The Cheeks have loved being in this carrier. We’re not experts at all when it comes to baby wearing, but there is an awesome group, Baby Wearing International Southern Maryland which does have a ton of expert advice on different carriers, wraps, slings. Local mamas and dads, check them out! Ergo makes several different versions of their carrier, and we’ve got our eye on their new performance, mesh carrier for the hot months.

 

4. Arms Reach Co Sleeper

 

As a breastfeeding mama, Maggie decided she wanted her boys to be right next to her side of the bed at night, making it easier to get in and out of nighttime feedings. Sweet Cheeks slept in a regular size Pack-n-Play, but with Chubby Cheeks we learned a true co-sleeper was a much better option. The mini version fits nicely next to the bed without taking up much space! The breathable, mesh siding is safest for baby and it’s nice to keep all the newborn necessities in the bottom bin. Chubby Cheeks is getting close to 20 pounds, so soon we’ll need to transition him into a different crib when he goes over the weight limits on the co sleeper, but so far it’s been amazing! The best part is Maggie can see baby’s face right from the bed as she sleeps.

 

5. Easy Baby Clothes

 

You know what baby’s don’t need? Jeans. They’re stinkin’ adorable and we love cute and fashionable baby outfits. But no, you do not need or even want to dress baby up every day. Plus they’ll be covered in spit up in 45 minutes anyway. Our favorite comfy, easy baby clothes come from Carters. Carters brand is great for long torso babies, they stand up to excessive washing, and seem to last forever. Onesies for the summer months are usually all we put our babies in around the house, and easy zip up sleep-n-plays for the cold months. Done and done!

 

6. Medela Freestyle Breast Pump

For the mamas who are breastfeeding, especially those who are returning to work while breastfeeding… we give you the best breast pump known to man. (Or at least in our opinion!) This pump has a chargeable, battery powered machine which makes life so easy. It’s always best to pump near an outlet when you can, but when there’s nowhere to pump that’s quiet and has electricity, the battery powered option is handy dandy. Maggie knows ALL ABOUT THIS, and has pumped in a moving limo twice this year during wedding season, not to mention on the floor in the corner of a hotel lobby a couple of times. This breast pump for the win! Another one that’s totally worth the investment.

 

7. Sophie the darn Giraffe

 

We wish we had bought stock in this damn giraffe 5 years ago. Turns out, there’s something magical about the all natural rubber she’s made with. Both boys have loved this thing. It soothes their teething troubles very well, and has become a favorite toy. Don’t fall over when you see the price tag, it’s crazy we know. But this was a lovely gift from LuLu that we’ve used for both boys and it’s another “well worth the investment” item on our baby list. Put it on your registry 😉

 

8. Triple Paste

Maggie spent many years, through college and after, working in early learning centers. One huge lesson she learned was how amazing this diaper cream is! The babies who had this stuff in their cubby were always diaper rash free. It’s amazing, and always does the trick. It’s seriously the best stuff. Get the smaller jar. Since you only need to use a tiny amount at a time, you may never go through the big jar.

 

9. Bouncy Seat

There’s about 8 thousand different baby sitting contraptions out there. The Bump will make you think you need all of them. You don’t. We usually have our babies in a carrier, on the floor or in our arms, so we haven’t had a need for so many different “places to put” baby. But… you’re going to have to pee every once in a while and when you need a safe place to let baby sit while you shower, make breakfast, mix up a bottle or do a little at little downward facing dog, a simple bouncy seat is all you need. In our experience, the less expensive the better and more comfortable for baby. The bigger contraptions with plush head rests, battery powered noise machines and attached toys are overload. Eventually an exersaucer or jumper will be fun, but for at least the first 6 months this little seat has been all we’ve needed.

 

10. White Noise App

This is by far the biggest life saver for us! LuLu has this white noise fan app on her phone, and she lives by it! Chubby Cheeks takes after his Grandfather, and requires a fan to fall asleep and stay asleep. Luckily, whenever LuLu is with the baby she can access this fan app anytime she needs it. She’s the baby whisperer and can always get Chubbs to fall asleep in seconds. A tight swaddle, the fan app and patting his tush is all it takes… plus LuLu 😉

 

So there you have it! Our list of favorite things for a new baby. These have been our personal life savers and we just wanted to share them with you! Congrats again to all of our Loves Birds who are welcoming their new chicks 😉

 

 

 

And let us say this… to all of the couples out there who are struggling. To the couples who wish the test would just say positive this time. To the couples who are hoping, praying, begging for a baby… we know. We know. We can empathize with what you might be feeling, though we do not fully understand your precise emotions because we’re not you. But we have both felt the longing to become pregnant, and to hold a baby that we feared would never come. We’ve gone through 6 years of infertility before having a baby. We’ve experienced pregnancy loss… losses. And we know for some of you this blog post is kind of annoying. It’s actually a little painful. And we just want you to know we haven’t forgotten about you. We’ll never forget these struggles of infertility, and we’ll always feel a twinge (more than that) of pain when we remember the babies we lost. So again we say… we know, we feel you, and we’re sorry. If you ever want to talk, just give us a call and share your story. We’ll be praying that stork arrives soon for you.