It’s been a while since I’ve posted about things we’ve been loving, lately–things that make life with Finn a little easier. Now that he’s 6.5 months old, we’ve outgrown many of the things we originally coveted. He can basically crawl out of his Rock ‘N Play now, for instance.

But there’s some new stuff that has come in handy, and these are the things that, currently, we can’t live without.

1. Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit

At around 3.5 months, we decided to transition Finn out of his Halo swaddles at night. It lasted about two days, and then he started showing signs of the dreaded 4-month sleep regression. Immediately, I took to the trusty internet and found many moms singing the praises of this sleepsuit. We tried it, loved it, and have never looked back! Finn sleeps like a charm, and he’s never woken up in the middle of the night since we started using it.

For most naps, he sleeps in a sleep sack, as we want to try to make the looming transition out of the sleepsuit a little easier, but if he’s really fighting a nap, the sleepsuit always does the trick!

2. Noggin Stik

The Noggin Stik is one of the best-rated baby toys on Amazon. So, for Christmas, we ordered it for Finn. It was the first gift he opened, and for those first couple of weeks, he seemed relatively uninterested in it. “Well, that was a dud!” I thought.

Then, sometime in January, once his grip improved, he took a liking to it, and he has been obsessed with it ever since. Not only does it rattle and light up, but it also has a mirror on the bottom. It has provided hours of distraction (which reminds me–the battery needs replaced)! It is definitely his most favorite toy.

3. Plastic Chain Links

These seem so simple–and cheap! But they are really great for chubby, little baby hands. They are easy to grip and good to chew on. One set comes with plenty of links, allowing us to have some in the car, in the diaper bag, at home, at the nanny’s–you get the idea! They are a quick and easy method of entertainment, and Finn really enjoys them. All of that for $5? Sold!

4. Aquaphor

Can we buy stock in this stuff? It’s the perfect remedy for dry baby skin, faces chapped from drool, diaper rash, craddle cap, chapped lips… I could go on. Very early on, when Finn started showing signs of dry, sensitive skin, our pediatrician recommended that we “slather” this stuff on him twice a day.

At his latest check-up, she said that we should start putting it around his mouth every time we change his diaper. Since he’s drooling so much, this helps prevent drool rash.

Truthfully, in this dry winter air, I find myself sneaking in and stealing a scoop for myself, too.

5. Zutano Booties

I went a little crazy, buying Finn lots of baby shoes that he really didn’t need. But, in pretty much every photo you’ll see of him, he’s wearing these booties. He wears them nearly every single day. They are cute, warm, and easy to put on. He’s very close to outgrowing his first pair, sadly, and we’re already planning on buying another.

6. Silicone Baby Food Freezer Storage

Finn has started eating solids, and we try to give him a “meal” at around dinnertime each day. Usually, I just put whatever we’re eating in the food processor. I like making his food. It really doesn’t take much time at all, it’s cheaper than buying pre-made baby food, and I can control what goes in it.

When I make a batch of something–like lentil stew or sweet potatoes or cinnamon pears–I usually make enough for a few days. So, I fill these silicone trays with the leftovers, pop them in the freezer, and have little pre-portioned rounds of baby food for a later date. When they are frozen, I put them into little freezer bags, labeling them with the ingredients and the date. Without much effort, we’ve already accumulated several bags of possible meals, and it makes busy evenings much easier.

I’m going to try to post about the things we find useful more often, as the internet is overloaded with lists of “must haves” for new parents. The reality is, there is a lot of stuff we could do without, but there are also some things that we find invaluable. And, as Finn changes so rapidly, our must-have items change, too.

This is a very bad, red-eyed selfie of our first flight with Finn. It was taken way, way early (like EARLY) last Saturday morning, as we traveled to New Mexico to visit Sona’s family.

It was our first trip with a baby, and, leading up to it, we were more than a little anxious.

Since Sona and I travel a lot, we knew we’d be breaking in Finn’s baby wings pretty early. With  school being out for the winter and Sona’s time off (which was completely consumed by maternity leave, last year) renewed, we decided that early January was a good time for his first trip, and the flight to New Mexico seemed like a reasonable start.

Since Finn is, mostly, a great baby, we weren’t really nervous about how he’d behave. (Though, we were a little concerned about how much we’d be getting him off-schedule, especially on travel days.) Instead, most of our anxiety centered around HOW MUCH CRAP we’d have to pack for him.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate just how much stuff parents have to schlep through airports? I mean, REALLY.

A couple weeks before we left, we began making lists. One day, Sona came home with the most meticulous (and ridiculous) list of everything we’d typically use for Finn during an average week. We’re talking: “11 onesies, 14 washcloths, 47 diapers…” You get the idea.

I was determined to condense as much as possible. It helped that we were staying with family and, therefore, were able to do laundry. So, we packed much less than we’d actually use, knowing we could wash halfway through the week and use everything all over, again.

We also only took 3 bottles, two that were in our carry-on bags, planning to just wash them as soon as they were used.

So, the suitcase situation actually ended up not being quite so bad, and we didn’t feel like we had to pack much more than we typically would for ourselves.

But the carry-on situation was another matter.

First, we needed to take a stroller–but not our very large, very heavy stroller. Before Finn was born, I’d spent a lot of time researching travel strollers, knowing that it was something we’d get a lot of use out of. After reading reviews and blogs by lots of parent travelers, we registered for–and received–the Maclaren Mark II. It’s only 7 lbs, collapses with one hand, and can be carried over-the-shoulder with the ease of a large umbrella.

We LOVE it! Technically, Finn shouldn’t use it until he’s 6 months, but after giving it a test-run at home, we were confident that he’d be just fine. And he was! He seemed super comfy and very happy. Is it the sturdiest stroller? The most comfortable? The one with the most storage capabilities? The prettiest? No. But it’s the best thing we could find for traveling, and that’s what we needed.

We also had to take our car seat, since we planned to rent a car the entire time. Plus, we had to have it for the cab ride to and from the airport. There was LOTS of deliberation about whether we should rent another, gate check ours, keep it for the plane, etc. Eventually, since we knew Finn would never sit in it during the plane ride, anyway (he HATES his car seat), we decided to check it with baggage.

I know many people advise against doing this, but we decided it was worth the risk. Sona and I just can’t possibly travel as much as we do, carrying a baby, a stroller, a car seat, a diaper bag, a purse, and who knows what else through airports all over the globe. So, we bought a very nice, padded car seat carrier, and we took our chances.

On the way there, the car seat was lost, which caused a few hours of panic, but it was returned to us–in great condition–later that evening.

We also carried on our diaper bag, a backpack (used for my laptop, our jackets, and the Baby K’tan), and a tote bag (for wallets, phones, snacks, Xanax, etc.). (I’m kidding about the Xanax–maybe.) The diaper bag and the tote bag both looped over the stroller handles, which meant that we didn’t really have to carry that much, at all.

All in all, it was MUCH easier than we thought it would be. All of it. Getting to the airport. Checking all of our stuff. Getting through security (though that was the biggest PIA). Flying.

Finn couldn’t have been better behaved, especially since–on the day we flew out–he had about 6 hours less sleep than usual.

We flew Southwest to New Mexico, and the flight attendants were all super accommodating and kind. Both flights (we had a layover) were full. So, we didn’t end up with a free seat, but we made do. Sona nursed Finn during take-off and landing to help with ear pressure, and he mostly napped while in flight. Honestly, Sona and I were much worse for wear than he was.

In New Mexico, we played it pretty low-key, spending most of the days lounging, eating, and chatting with Sona’s family. Finn was his usual self, and the change in scenery didn’t seem to phase him.

We stayed in Sona’s brother’s hotel and had a roomy 2-bedroom suite. He got us a crib, but it was so low that I couldn’t even reach into it. So, Finn slept in the middle of a king-size bed, surrounded by a towel bumper, the whole week. He didn’t wake up once–NOT ONCE. We couldn’t believe how well he slept, considering it was all completely new to him.

He napped really well at Sona’s mom’s house, too–also, in the middle of a bed.

Throughout the week, Finn enjoyed the non-stop attention of family. He also enjoyed the diaper-less playtime that Sona’s Indian family strong-armed us into trying. He only peed on the floor every ten minutes. And his face. He may have peed on his face, too.

The way back was easier than the way there, mostly because we had a later flight and were more rested. We flew American Airlines back to Chicago, and we even managed to score a free middle seat on the flight from Dallas to home. That was a MAJOR bonus and such a luxury. Finn slept in the seat for most of that flight.

If we were rich, we’d probably buy him a seat each time, as it was much, much more comfortable for all of us. Since we’re not, we’ll just tough it out–whatever allows us to have more vacations. 🙂

And, aside from a minor blip wherein a flight attendant tried to shame us for changing Finn in our seats, the trip back was as uneventful as the trip there.

Finn was a tad bit fussier than normal the first couple days home, but I think that was just his transitioning back to a more regular schedule. And, considering how well he did while we were gone, I don’t think we can complain.

All in all, our first trip–and our first flights–went much better than either of us anticipated. I think it quelled a lot of worries we both had about how we’d keep up our busy travel schedules with a baby in tow.

His baby passport should be arriving any day, and we plan to put it to good use. We’ll be a little more confident–and not just naively ambitious–about planning trips, now.

Here are some Insta snaps of our trip: