The flannel sheets are out, Christmas music has started to fill the house, and the hot drinks seem to be on auto-refill these days. If you’re anything like me, you had all the best intentions of Christmas shopping early, like in the summertime early, but alas here we are the week of Thanksgiving with an underwhelming amount of gifts crossed off the list. 

In hopes to make it easier on you to find the perfect gift for a sweet new baby, new parents, or to stock up on black Friday for baby-on-the-way, I threw together a simple list of our favorite things.

S O L L Y  B A B Y  W R A P

Hello, survival. The first few weeks are rough. Navigating healing, breastfeeding, and the baby getting used to being outside in this big world. Our little cutie wanted nothing to do with being put down and this thing saved our lives. My husband jumps at any chance to wear her and my heart soars that he loves it so much. She’s close, hands are free, and mom and dad are happy. Baby is happy. The fabric is so soft and breathable and they have the BEST colors and designs. All of the wraps are so cute. If you can swing it, I would even say getting two isn’t a bad idea. We've had some run-ins with blowouts while wearing her and there was no place else she wanted to be but we had to wash it. Plus you get to alternate colors/styles. 

S N U G G L E  M E  O R G A N I C

Remember how I said Maeve wanted nothing to do with being put down? She was also that way for sleep. If we tried to put her down to sleep there would be no end to the crying. She could handle about 5 minutes on her own (10 max) and then all the fury was unleashed until she was held again. The Snuggle Me Organic is a cozy, safe place for her to feel like she is still being held and sleep peacefully. You should have seen the victory dance my husband and I did the first time she slept on her own. There’s so much more to say about this which you can read all about here. 

P U J  T U B

This cute little bath time support for newborns is so great. The material is soft, it’s easy to store, dries quickly, and I love the minimalist design. 

B A B Y  B L I N G  B O W S

I’m not really into super girly stuff. Not a huge fan of pink. I tried avoiding the color at all costs but that’s a pretty tall order for a baby girl on the way. Big girly bows and headbands were also on that list of items to avoid. I found Baby Bling Bows and they are pretty much the only hair accessory I will buy her. They are the exception. They are so unbelievably cute. They have so many other colors than just pink and adorable patterns. When my daughter got here she didn’t have a ton of hair and I already was deliberately not dressing her in pink so everyone thought she was a boy. These were a really cute way for me to dress up my girlie a little bit and not have to do it with a big fluffy dress or outrageous purple flower on her head.

P R O M P T L Y  J O U R N A L 

Cue all the sentiments and the tears. Oh, this journal is everything and more. It takes you from baby’s firsts through 18 years of life. There’s different prompts for every year. Space for notes and highlights, photographs, and it’s all in a beautiful, compact, easy to store journal. I cannot get enough of this thing and honestly wish there were more fun prompts. My favorite baby book by far. 

A R T I F A C T  U P R I S I N G  P R I N T S

Prints are so important. In this day and age, having a baby means there’s not enough space on your phone anymore. Photo overload. That’s all well and good to take thousands of photos of that cute little gummy smile, but what’s even better is printing them out. Go the extra step and print them out to put into a baby book or journal. I personally have always loved the 5x5 square prints from Artifact Uprising and have been putting them in my Promptly Journal. 

These have been some stand out items in the first 3 months in our household. Some are items I couldn’t survive without and some are items I didn’t realize how much I would love them. 

Now that you’ve got a few items taken care of from that list of yours go eat some turkey and rest easy knowing your gift-giving game just got a little bit stronger.