Baby gifts are so much fun and I think part of the fun is thinking about what you would have liked when you were a kid. Now that I’ve had a baby and have had a chance to use all of the gifts, I know what gifts will save your life in the middle of the night! My other favorite gifts are the ones that I think he will remember when he’s older and what items he’ll always cherish.

These are some of my favorite favorite gifts that I received that weren’t on our registry.

Fill in the Blankie

These blankets are so wonderful and such a great keepsake! A friend of ours in Dallas sent one to us after Hudson was born and it lists his full name, birthdate, time of birth, and weight.

The examples shown below are for a baby’s baptism, but these blankets can pretty much be used for any occasion and you can personalize them however you want to.

So precious! And they are perfectly packaged!

 

Engraved iPod and Docking Station

Todd gave me an iPod nano for Mother’s Day with Hudson’s name engraved on the back so we could have all of Hudson’s favorite music playing in his room. We already have a Bose docking station for our living room, but we needed another one for the nursery. Todd got the Sony Dream Machine because it has FM andAM radio and a clock. (and it’s not nearly as expensive as the Bose version) When you’re timing every feeding, nap, and diaper change, a clock is completely essential!

We’ve already over-played all of the songs on Hudson’s iPod, so we’re in the market for more tunes for him. Now I can’t imagine sitting in the nursery for so many hours without a soundtrack. Seriously, this is a great gift for a mom-to-be!

 

Sleep Sheep

The Sleep Sheep is a really cute sound machine. It has four different soothing sounds like a mother’s heartbeat, waves, rain, and whales. It clips on the outside of the baby’s crib and makes noise for 30 minutes while your baby is falling asleep. It has seriously been a lifesaver.

And… it puts me to sleep, too. I can hear the Sleep Sheep in the baby monitor while I’m trying to fall asleep and it puts me to sleep immediately.

 

Swaddle Designs blankets

Now that we swear by the soothing and calming methods in The Happiest Baby on the Block, we have to have the ultimate swaddling blanket.

Some say that the hospital blankets are the best swaddling blankets, but that’s just not true. The Swaddle Designs blankets are a perfect square and are just big enough to wrap all the way around the baby and tuck in nicely.

They also have some handy-dandy swaddling instructions in case you forget which side folds up and which side folds down. We love these blankets!

So next time I have a baby shower to attend and all of the good items have been purchased off the registry, I’ll be picking up one of these great gifts for mom and baby. What is your favorite gift to give at a baby shower?

Right before I found out I was pregnant, I helped launch Weight Watchers Wednesdays with my blogging buddies, Mojito Maven and LyndsAU. It was only a week later that we found out we were expecting and the WWW had to go out the window for the next 9 months.

I was concerned with how much weight I was going to gain, but because I was so sick for so long, when I finally started feeling well exercise was the furthest thing from my mind. At 5’8″ I ended up gaining 42 pounds. My doctor never told me that I was gaining too much weight or that she thought I should try to cut back. This is what I looked like at the very end of the pregnancy.

taken June 3, 2009 (the day before I was induced)… and seconds before I fell down those stairs!

So because so many of my pregnant friends have been concerned about weight gain and how to manage it while you’re pregnant, I have pretty good news.  I saw the tummy in the above picture for many weeks and would wonder every day how that big tummy was ever going to go back to normal. I lost 20 of the 42 pounds while I was in the hospital. I had a baby that weighed nearly 10 pounds and I lost 2 quarts of amniotic fluid. I don’t even know how much water I was retaining, but 20 pounds was just gone like that.

Now, two weeks after Hudson was born, ten more of those pounds have come off– on their own– and probably with the help of breastfeeding. I can’t be too sure how it’s coming off. My appetite isn’t nearly what it was when I was pregnant and I’m BUSY. I don’t even have time to think about what I’m going to eat. 

So, be encouraged, pregnant friends. I’ve lost 30 pounds in two weeks. I’m sure the last 12 pounds won’t be so easy.

taken June 19, 2009– two weeks after Hudson was born

The muscles in my stomach are completely gone and my skin has lost a lot of its elasticity. After my six week post partum check up I’ll be back in the gym to correct all of that. I didn’t have any stretch marks while I was pregnant, but as soon as I delivered him I looked at my stomach and it was half the size that it was two seconds before and I could see stretch marks immediately on my lower stomach. Oh well. 

Here are some recent pictures of baby Hudson. We’re just so in love with him!

celebrating his one week birthday with a cake ball made by Jenny of Lucky in Love

my mom ordered a stork for our front yard!

Fiona thinks that Hudson is her baby

tummy time!

Daddy time