We haven’t done one of these guides in awhile. In the beginning we did really well without too much stuff. Then, around 3 months the stuff sneakily starts to proliferate. Because, you see, for us at least around 3 months Gracie really went from a primarily dormant creature, to a real little person. And that is so exciting, to finally have your little baby be engaging and want to do things, that we at least got suckered into every little activity/brain stimulater out there.

First of all, this is what we have continued to use from our one and two month guides. We are still swaddling, I know I know, I tried to break it about a month ago but then she straight up stopped sleeping, so we are taking it slow. The aden & anais are good, but we have had to replace ours as they tend to shred after about 2 months of heavy use. The soothies are still essential, and we are using her carseat and baby bjorn chair.

From the two month guide I am surprised and impressed that she still loves her chair. We never got a big fancy swingy rocker, and I kept expecting that we would regret it, but this guy is still one of the favorite activities in her circuit. I also keep expecting her to get sick of her mat, but she keeps discovering new fun ways to play on it.

She also loves this owl by the same company.

Now above, I mentioned Gracie’s circuit. We have a sort of baby gym set up in our playroom where Gracie goes through her daily exercise machines. There is the mat and the chair, and around 3 months we added her office.

She absolutely adoooreesss her office and gets all of her best work done in there. I highly endorse this particular office, as we had one before that I thought was cute but that just didn’t work for Gracie. So I went on a research mission and this one came out the winner.

The final activity in her circuit is her bouncer. We have this in the doorway between our kitchen and playroom and Gracie loves to bounce and twirl around and watch me cook.

Now I am highly aware that is a lot of gear. At first I was like “no electronic toys” “no gear”…and now I am way over it. This stuff works and she LOVES it and I love having new ways to interact with baby girl and watch her grow into her own little person.

On the smaller toy side of things she is enjoying

This pink unicorn Santa gave her for Christmas. 
As well as this picnic basket full of rattles and squeezies. Both from Melissa and Doug who pretty much make the cutest toys, and are  non-electronic, classically cute, and anti-chemically as well.

Now this.

This is the most important baby tool we own. I read about it over on one of Modg’s guides, she swore that it was a miracle worker as her baby would not take a passie and this was the only thing that calmed him down. Sweet. I’ll take 20. I don’t know why, but this guy has the same affect on GrayBaby. She LOVES it. She is mesmerized by it. She can be in the middle of a Level 10 ragefest, and this little thing puts her back in her happy place. We try to limit its use, because we don’t understand its power and don’t want to abuse it lest it loses its effectiveness. But. Just get it.

Also, I want to backtrack a bit and talk about strollers. I ignored all warnings and went with the cutest one I found. And it is super cute. But now it lives with my mom for when we visit her house. I would take Gracie on the trails around Austin with it and felt like I was on the Iditarod pushing a 1000 pound load.  And chick weighs like 15 pounds. And then I looked around and noticed that literally every single person had the same stroller. That was not mine and looked nothing like mine. And had one front wheel. And looked lean and mean.

So I tested it out, and duh. That is because the Bob is the best if you actually plan on doing anything outdoorsy or athletic with your baby in tow. Which, to be honest, is not one of my primary priorities, but when the urge hits I need to be well prepared. The other thing I like about the bob is that the carseat attachment so that I can push Gracie in her carseat just attaches onto the regular stroller seat. You don’t have to take one thing off and switch it out. Which would be particularly handy when traveling for instance, so that you could bring your carseat and your stroller and just hook it all together. Two in one is the goal of all baby gear.

The baby carrier is the other item I did some considerable research on and we are a huge fan of the Beco Baby Carrier

It’s the only one I found where you can position your baby to face front, or into your bosom…On your side or back. Gracie likes to face front and take on the world, so that versatility is a must for us.

Finally…and this one is big. Gracie is finally eating “solids”. By the way, whoever came up with calling this stage in baby eating “solids” is confused. STILL, we are so excited to be here. Gracie has always had bad acid reflux, and even though we got the pain from her reflux under control she still is like a baby geyser spit up machine. We go through about four totally soaked outfit changes a day. Both of us. So I have been looking forward to getting something “solid” in her tummy to hopefully hold things down a bit ever since I got the go-ahead from the pediatrician at four months to start introducing foods.

But as usual, GrayBaby had other ideas. I pureed peaches, bananas, roasted and mashed sweet potatoes, butternut squash, rice cereal, pears…nada. And let me tell you, preparing sweet potatoes for baby consumption is not a quick process. After about a month of rejection, I switched to these prepared baby foods so at least when Gracie told me to shove it, I wouldn’t have spent an hour cooking and cleaning to get to that point. 

Sprout is organic baby food backed by Tyler Florence. The packaging is eco friendly and is part of their up cycling program. All of these things are nice, but what really matters is that their apple puree finally ended Gracie’s food ban at 5 1/2 months. We have now also tried their pears and they are a huge hit as well. Gracie LOVES this food, is spitting up a lot less, and I now get to enjoy watching my baby eat “solids” which is one of the most hilarious baby activities yet. I will retry doing my own purees once she has moved through a few more of the Sprout packs, but these are great if you aren’t interested in making your own, and for traveling etc.

Because we had such a slow start feeding I still haven’t invested in a high chair. So far we have been using the Bumpo with its tray attachment, but I am thinking she is ready for a big girl chair. 

I have been tempted by all of the cute design-y fancy high chairs out there, but all of my friends SWEAR this Ikea chair is the way to go. Good price, easy to clean, easy to maneuver. Not bad looking. I’m goin’ for it. 

We also love this bib- it catches the food that doesn’t make it into Gracie’s bell, and its silicone and easy to clean.

Finally, and this one is kind of silly but we like it. My friend Melanie gave me this necklace…

They are called chew beads and they are rubbery, non toxic, in our experience non-breakable jewelry that your baby can chew on. Since Gracie has been a teething fiend and everything goes in her mouth these days, they are a big hit.

They come in different styles and colors, and are actually pretty cute for what is essentially a wearable baby toy.

OK! So that’s all we got for today. Now it is your turn. What are some other great baby toys/tricks/products for 5+ month old babies? Your beach baby tips were SO helpful, because of weather we only spent one day in the pool but all of your diaper/sunscreen/toy tips were spot on. So help a sister out again!

Also…I enjoy doing these but they are time consuming. Is it worth it? Do y’all find this helpful or are the majority of you not into all the baby talk? Let me know!