The Most Useful Baby Gears So Far

Almost all the baby gears either we bought or were given to us by kind hearted friends and co-workers are very essential. But there are two that really made a huge difference in our post-baby lives.

1. Exercise Ball

I bought this toward the end of my pregnancy, when all the chairs that used to be comfortable were no longer so with my newly acquired mess.

When Noah reached his 3-week mark and suddenly became more fussy, i did some research and learned that holding a crying baby and bounce on this exercise ball could calm babies down.

We tried and it worked like magic. Till this day, this ball is still the most calming device we have for an angry Noah.

2. Cradle Swing

We first tried place Noah in this when he was fussy, it just made him even more upset. But he did enjoy it when he was happy, he would coo to the mobile and his own reflection in the mirror for a long time. A perfect self-entertainment device for Noah.

Then ZM started using it when Noah wants to get to sleep but couldn't. The swing did a great job rock him to sleep. Later ZM discovered the most amazing use to this day: Noah sleeps much better in the swing AFTER falling asleep in our arms. Used to be we put him down, then he would wake up in less than 10 minutes, crying. Putting him in the swing seems to extend Noah's sleep session to at least an hour, sometimes over an hour.

It was so amazing to be able to count on Noah's newly found longer sleep period. I managed to make pancake for our breakfast a few mornings ago. I haven't been able to do that since Noah was born. I'm thinking of making bread in a few days. Ah, even the thought of it makes me smile--slowly we are getting our normal life back...some aspect of our normal life at least.

There is light at the end of the tunnel!

======
Oh, and on the baby update front: Noah used to only coo when he was happy. Today he started making some cooing sound when he was upset! Hmmm... maybe i shouldn't call those "cooing", baby-cursing?!