What helped us (3-6 months)

Mia is almost 8 months, which is absolutely crazy!  When I see other people hold her, I realize just how big she is these days and how much she has grown.  So I thought I should do another post about what has helped us from 3-6 months.  

Sophie the giraffe teethers- Mia loves these teethers.  She gnaws on everything she can get her hands on, but she will usually get frustrated because she cannot hold the object just right to soothe her gums.  She does not have that problem with these teethers.  She is able to hold them with ease and gnaw away on them.  We have the original Sophie the giraffe and the textured teether.  They are on the pricier side for a teether, but I think they are worth it.  

You can find both teethers on Amazon

Toys- Around 3 months is when Mia actually started "playing" with her toys.  She was more interactive and started testing out what her toys could do.  Her favorite toys were her Oball rattle, her Freddie the firefly, her Spot's Toys soft book, her blocks, and her ring o' links.   

Kick and play gym- Mia's play mat has been the most used toy she has!  It has three different positions you can put it in and we have used all three.  Mia rolled over for the first time on her play mat.  I really think the animals on the sides of the bar helped her learn to roll over.  Even as a newborn, Mia loved her play mat, she would just stare and stare at her reflection.  Around 3 months, she started batting at the toys on the bar and kicking the piano.  This mat made tummy time more tolerable.  She sat for the first time at the piano.  And now that she is mobile she still crawls back to it to play with the toys on the bar and the piano.  

Lay and play

Tummy time

Sit and play

Jumper- Mia loves to bounce.  She bounced in people's laps way before we bought her this jumper.  Her love of bouncing brought on this purchase.  We bought her the jumper right before she turned 4 months.  When we first got it, she could not reach the ground, so we improvised with some textbooks.  We would only let her bounce for about 10 minutes a day at first (that's all the excitement she could take), but eventually she got the hang of it and loves it.  Mia has the Baby Einstein Jumper, but she also likes my niece's Fisher Price one as well.    

Back in the textbook days...

Boon grass drying rack- Once I went back to work, the bottles, nipples, and breast pump parts started piling up to be cleaned, sanitized, and dried.  This drying rack can hold A LOT and it's cute.  You can even add flowers and branches to hold smaller pieces/attachments. There is a larger version, the lawn drying rack.  I kind of wish I had the larger version now that Mia has even more items to dry with her sippy cups.      

***Mia is finally getting over her first cold and I want to do another post about what helped us get through that as well.  With cold and flu season rearing its head so early this year, I have a feeling it's going to be a long, rough winter.  Nothing is worse than seeing your baby miserable and sick, boo!  

Random Mia pic... Have a great weekend!