8 Month Loves

Well, since she is teething, teethers are some of her favorite things right now.  She still enjoys Sophie and the lollipop from posts past, but we've added a few new favorites to the collection.  Both of these were ones I saw on someone else's blog of "must haves" so I made sure to register for them!

Infantino Vibrating Strawberry Teether

If you bite down on the tip of the strawberry it vibrates.  This is suppose to be soothing...a massage for the gums, if you will.  I've been trying for Olivia to use this for a few months now.  She has taken to the teether in the last month or so, but still doesn't bite down on it.  Sometimes I push down on it for her.  She seems to like it, but she can't figure out how to vibrate it herself.  Either way, she enjoys chewing on it.

Razbaby RaZ-berry Teether

She likes this one even better than the strawberry.  Probably because the strawberry is rather big and heavy and this is the size of a paci.  She chews on all parts of it--the textured raspberry, the leaves, and the stem.  She loves it.

(Both came from Babies R Us, but I couldn't find the link.)

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Table

This was one of her Christmas gifts and she loves it.  We've been using it without the legs for the past two months, but have recently been trying it out with the legs some days.  The laptop is by far the favorite.  From the very beginning she loves to open and close it or she tries to eat it.  Her second favorite is the phone.  We play with this daily.  Then Michael and I walk around the house singing "Hello, the phone is ringing so I say hello.  Good bye, when I'm done talking then I say Good bye. Good bye!"  You know exactly what I'm talking about if you've ever had one of these! :)

Evenflo Exersaucer

I wasn't sure if we were ever going to use this thing.  If you remember (from a loooong time ago), this was Little Man's.  My boss use to set stuff out on the porch monthly and some donation place would come and pick the stuff up.  She always said I could take anything if I wanted it.  I have been holding on to this thing for years!  I couldn't link it because it doesn't even exist anymore.  Of course, there are newer and nicer models.  Truth be told, I probably should have just let this be donated and got a new one.  It's temperamental, shows some wear, and took forever for her to be able to sit in.  She started using the jumperoo at 3 1/2 months, so I figured she could do the same with this.  The seat is so big that it took a long time for her to be able to stabilize herself (as in not until about a month ago!).  She loves it though.  She flips the "book" pages back and forth over and over. She jumps around.  She pulls on the things to make music (when they work).  She tries to put any piece she can in her mouth.  It's great entertainment.  Unfortunately, it's already on the highest setting and she's already pretty tall for it.  Hopefully we'll get a little more time out of it.

Graco High Chair

(I didn't link this because the Little Hoot style is no longer available, so there really isn't a link.)

Not to many people have an "old school" high chair any more.  Most people use the space saver seats and just attach it to a chair they have.  We do have a travel booster that we could do this with, but I really wanted a high chair too.  Call me crazy.  I guess I wanted one because sometimes I'm just old school. :)  I also wanted one because we only have a 2 person table.  Attaching a space saver to the seat would not allow for family dinners.  I am really glad we went this route.  Sure, it takes up some space, but I think it makes eating easy for us.  I also like the height of our high chair.  I tend to stand and feed her and it is just the right height.  We also sit at the counter for most of our meals and it can pull up to the counter and be high enough to still be part of the dinner.  We sometimes use the high chair at work and I am not a fan of that one.  Olivia seems to enjoy our high chair too.  I know that if she's in her high chair I don't have to worry about her.  She can't go anywhere/fall out and she will sit and play with toys while I cook if necessary.

Puffs

The purpose of puff is to get a child to use a pincher grasp.  It's a good first finger food because it dissolves in her mouth.  Although we want to try to keep Olivia's diet as pure as possible, I am not opposed to these.  The ingredients list is all organic (fill in the blank with fruit or vegetable).  Sure, they are fortified with some vitamins and minerals, but much better than all the ingredients in Cheerios.  Regular puffs have soy in them and some have dairy.  The soy that is in them is from the oils and not the proteins, so Olivia probably could have handled them just fine.  However, I've read that some babies with MSPI had issues so I wanted to try to avoid them if possible.  Happy Baby puffs have no soy and no dairy, are organic, and have half the sugar of regular puffs.  Winner!  She loves them.  She isn't great on her pincher grasp yet, but she can get them in her mouth.  They are also great for times when you need to distract her (at a restaurant) or settle her (at a play date where she is going nutso because she doesn't like strangers in her face!).

Halo Wearable Blanket SleepSack

When we broke the swaddling habit at 4 months we went right to sleep sacks.  Olivia already grew out of the ones that we got as shower gifts and is now in the bigger size.  We have one cotton and one fleece one.  She sleeps in them every night.  Her room is the coolest in the house and Michael likes it cool at night.  She seems comfortable in her pajamas and the sleep sack.  I don't think I'll be having her wear one until she's 2 (did you know they sell them that big?), but while she is still a baby and not suppose to have blankets in her bed they are great.