A Modern Family: Top 5 Favorite New Baby Finds

After 11 weeks of parenthood, we've definitely discovered new items that we wish we would've known about when registering for baby items...and items we thought we would use but rarely find them functional in our world. Tonight, I thought I would highlight our top five favorite items (acknowledging most of them were new discovereis post-birth that make our life easier, happier or healthier!)

5. My Brest Friend - a nursing pillow. The "boppy" is most common for this tool on the market and we did receive a boppy, however, after one visit to the Lactation Consultant, we quickly learned the benefits of "My Brest Friend" are plentiful - the back support, curve on the front pillow and the nice little pocket is super handy.

4. A Diaper Caddy - we have two from JJ Cole- but this is our favorite style - the drawer pulls out and is great for storing diaper rash ointment and misc. supplies, the top fits every wipes container and the back stores the diapers...plus it has a convenient pull out mat to change Miss L on in our living room.

3. Toys - yes, we have plenty of toys...but these "Lamaze" toys are all the rage. This one pictured below is ours and has a backside of black and white pattern (which she loves), the wings make a crinkle and crunchy sound, there is a mirror, and lots of other attiributes to stimulate the young, ever-growing mind. A fellow mommy-cousin of ours gifted us this.

2. Pacifier Holder - they are difficult to find if the baby uses the "Soothie" brand of pacifiers. A dear friend of mine enlightened me about this brand, "BooginHead," and then gifted us one the following week. We now have two - just in case! Wish we would've had these for our trip as we dashed through MDW, DTW and ORD terminals. Luckily, we never really had a mishap of the paci flying across the luggage-filled halls of the terminal.

1. Sleep Sheep - zzzzz. This one is very important. I learned of the sleep sheep at a friend's baby shower last year, all of the new moms raved about its ability to mimic the sound of mom's heart beat from the womb. New babies are soothed to hear this familiar sound once again. It also has other sounds, two timers and straps to the spindle on the exterior of the crib. Great! But then are world was rocked by the discovery of "Sleep Sheep on the Go!" - this portable version is smaller and can easily be strapped to the car seat or stroller. This worked great for our trip - ride from Indy to Detroit...and the flights. We are very happy to have been recently gifted the mobile version.