One of my goals this week was to actually write a  five favorites post and link up to Hallie’s wonderful blog. I had originally intended this post to be good to go yesterday – but c’est la vie of a newborn and mom who is figuring it all out day by day. Anywho – here are the five things that I think have made our lives somewhat bearable this first month of babydom. I feel like I’m really just posting this for posterity’s sake because I know that one day we will forget how hard life is with a new babe and we will bring another little cherub into this world, somehow forgetful of the sleepless nights and haggard outlook on life that tend to come with said little bebe. So for future me – these are the five things that helped you through the first month with a tiny human, hopefully they’ll help the next time around too!

1. My Brest Friend – Oh good Lord almighty. This pillow really had become my best friend. I was referred to this nursing pillow by a wonderful friend and coworker who had her sweet girl this time last year. Not only is the name of this product pure gold and never fails to make me smile (I also laugh when my students fart and make poop jokes sooo…color me mature). We even had our first little pooptacular blowout on the Brest Friend and taking the cover off, washing, and recovering wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. You can adjust the tightness of the strap and it has back support. The brest of friends.

2. Homedics Sound Spa – It took us all of two nights with our little princess in our room to resort to using the sound machine when we go to sleep. I’ll be honest, the use of this is more for the two grown-ups in the room because this girl could sleep through a hurricane (she slept all morning during some very loud, annoying, beep beep beeping construction outside our window). This babe makes all sorts of weird noises at night and the first two nights with her home I could. not. sleep. because of her snorts and coughs and coos which at the time I was just SURE were signals for I’M ABOUT TO STOP BREATHING. Enter the sound spa – they drown out her noises just enough for some bearable sleep for the adults but it’s still quiet enough that I can hear her when she really does need me.

3. BornFree Nursing Night Light – So I won’t lie – I totally saw this on Pinterest and thought that it was fake or didn’t lead to an actual link and I totally ordered it at 4 a.m. during a frustrating feeding session where I turned on my bedside lamp and woke up my husband, once again. While I know these next few weeks are full of the sleeplessness, I figure one of us should get SOME sleep. This little light provides a fair amount of light so that you can actually see what’s going on and the clip holds onto even super skinny straps. My only complaint is that the vibrate setting is kind of loud and terrifying in the middle of the night if you don’t realize that it buzzes if you fall asleep. But now I know and the super jumpy side of me is a-ok.

4. Moby Wrap – When I first started this post I put down “coffee” for numero cuatro – however, after today I think that my Moby Wrap precedes my caffeine intake. For the past couple of days we’ve had a stage-five clinger on our hands and she will only nap on someone during the day. I can’t blame the poor girl because I feel like she is gaining at least a pound a day between how heavy she feels and how often she is feeding. I tried wearing her around in our Baby Bjorn but I still felt like she was either too far away from me or that it was better suited for our walking ventures. I was pretty intimidated by the super long yardage of fabric that was supposed to magically hold my baby up – but now that I have watched a couple of videos and read the pamphlet thoroughly I’m sold. Call me crunchy but I’ll babywear any day if it means she can not be a huge fusspot and I can get SOME things done.

5. BabyCenter App – I’ll be honest, this app could really be number one on my list. Recommended by a friend with a newborn only a month ahead of us this app had seriously held us together the first month. Especially at our first few doctors appointments where they ask you how many wet diapers your baby is having in a 24 hour period or how many times you nurse a day. Without this app I really would have had to just stare blankly at my doctor in my sleep deprived state. I really couldn’t tell you how many times I nurse a day. A lot. How many wet diapers a day? Does 72 sound right? Because I feel like that’s how many she has. The best part of this app is that you can connect a child between devices so this app is now on our iPad and both of our phones. It’s magical.