Guest Blog: What I Couldn’t Do Without
Karyn Agosto is mom to Isabel, aged 2½. A busy working mom, she and her husband spend as much quality time as they can with their daughter, be it on road trips to see family and friends or simply spending their Saturdays chasing Isabel around the house, her new favorite game. She shared with us the three things she recommends most often; you can find her other must-haves and don’t-buys on weeSpring.
By my fifth month of pregnancy, I was absolutely positive we were having a girl. I’d only look at girl’s clothes and bedding when I shopped, and I baby girls consumed my dreams. It’s cliché, but when she arrived, it was absolutely love at first site. We had a daughter, and it was amazing, so right and more calming than I ever could have imagined.
Joe, my husband, is the lone male in our family and took on fatherhood like a well-trained athlete. Isabel has unconditional love for her daddy, but I notice a lot of personality traits that she and I have in common. I picture lots of loud and opinionated fights ahead of us, but we have a perfect triangle in our family. Sometimes we can’t imagine adding another person, but we also can’t picture ourselves or Isabel growing old without a partner-in-crime and someone to boss by her side.
When I was pregnant with Isabel, I was working at Parents.com. Fisher Price was one of my clients, so I spent plenty of time picking the brain of the client I worked with—who also happened to be a new father. He told me that without their Newborn Rocker, his family would have had countless sleepless nights. While we never had to use it at bedtime with Isabel, she loved the snug fit and being upright. And I loved it because I could easily move it around the house, tuck it away, or bring it along when we traveled. It has become my go-to shower gift; it’s a new-mom must and is affordable. I left it to a friend with a colicky baby, and she told me, “Your rocker saved our family vacation.”
Pre-Isabel, I received a Swaddle Design swaddle blanket – and when I discovered that they cost between $20 and $30, I nearly hard a heart attack. No way was I paying that for a blanket a baby would poop and puke on!
Fast forward to our third night home from the hospital, when I realized our lone Swaddle Design blanket was dirty. Panicked, we tried ten different swaddles while Isabel screamed like a wild woman. The next morning, I was off to the baby store to buy more Swaddle Designs – and we never looked back. Money means nothing when it comes to your sleep, and I think they’re the best out there. They wash great, come in cute patterns but most importantly, the size allows for perfect and tight swaddling.
My other favorite: the UppaBaby stroller. I call it my long-lost love (and I found it after having a not-so-great experience for the first six months with my CityMini). I pay more attention to the UppaBaby than to my husband (just kidding…sort of). They have amazing customer service (they replace parts quickly, easily, and without question), and the basket is to-die-for. I put $150 worth of groceries in the basket last week. And you can take the cover off and throw it in the washing machine. It’s my stroller soulmate.
But strollers are a pretty personal decision: I didn’t get along with the CityMini because I needed storage and my tall husband had issues with the handle height too. My biggest lesson for moms… wait until the baby arrives to buy your stroller, because you won’t know what matters most to you until you’re ready to use it. You have to kind out what kind of “stroller mother” you are.
