My Favorite (Useful) Baby Item...

Okay, so there are really like a million "favorite items" I have...our Pack N' Play system (was super awesome when he was a newborn and fit into the "newborn napper" and the "bassinet" insert was even awesomer for longer...we are going on a week-long trip at the end of the week to get out of Daddy's hair so he can do some training from home and taking the PNP without the insert (which means I need to remove the poles from the bag too) and using it like a "normal" PNP to sleep in), the Fisher Price Kick and Play Piano (he still plays with this), the other piano toy my Mom bought him, pretty much all of the VTech, Fisher-Price, and Leap Frog toys (fun and educational), my Ergo (!), the stroller, his set of blankies (hand made by his Mommy {me}), all the clothes and toys I manage to pick up the first Saturday of the month at the Quarter Sale at Sweet RePeat...the list goes on and on!

The "old" high chair...this is pretty much how it always gets used...as a "stuff catcher".

Today though, when I say my "favorite baby item", I am referring to our high chair!  We had a high chair...we didn't need another one, but I am so glad I made the decision to buy it! Our original high chair was a gift from Gabriel's grandparents...it was a previously loved high chair that they had bought from a coworker when their oldest grandson came up for a visit.  It worked, but I am not a fan of the hard plastic high chairs that offer a reclining back so you can leave your baby there to pass out at the dinner table (or the whole day).  Besides, I don't think it offers a fully upright position to eat in, this is essential in Baby-Led Weaning (Feeding, not true weaning...but for ease, I still call it BLW)!

NOT my photo...I borrowed this one from Amazon's site.

So, what did we get?  We got a Regalo Easy Diner Portable High Chair!  Current price on this high chair on Amazon (that link will take you right to it) is $17.80!  I paid $19-something for ours...but I would gladly pay double or triple that after having used one.  In fact, most "clip on" high chairs will run you $40-80 or more!  I was skeptical of this chair and left it sitting in my "shopping cart" for weeks while I tried to decide if the $20 was worth "blowing" if it didn't work out.  Then, I was watching 19 Kids and Counting (I know...it's a stupid "reality" TV show and I think they're all a little bit nuts, but I enjoy watching it anyway...) and the oldest son (the married one) had one hooked up to the dining room table for their toddler!  Well, I said...if the frugal minded (I assume he's frugal having to grow up in a house with that many siblings) Duggar thinks it's worth the $20, I'll give it a shot!

Dinner at Olive Garden!

 We love this high chair!  Not only does it work well at home, it is super easy to toss in the car and take with us!  Our biggest issue eating out was the baby...he's gotten old enough not to fit into the car seat we could take in with us (and he wanted to be up and "involved" anyway so he never stayed in it any more anyway) and he just didn't "fit" into the high chairs provided at restaurants!  Those are designed to hold much larger babies (toddlers really) and the straps are gross, stretched out, and most of the time don't even work.  So, we bring our own!  It has a 5-point harness system, he fits in it, the straps work, and he sits right up at the table with us!  Last night, he ate the tomato slices off of my meal (his favorite food currently)...he got 3 of the 4 slices of Roma Tomato and all that was left of them were 5 or 6 small bits that fell on the floor (only 3 of them hit the floor, the others he was just too full to eat and he pushed them away)!  That photo from the Olive Garden was taken after he ate!  He also got a little of the under side of a bread stick...his first experience with white bread and "soft" bread (he normally gets dry toast)!

Enjoying some Cucumber at Red Robin!

Every time we take him out with this chair, we get compliments about how nice it is...I wonder sometimes if I'm the only Mom that searches Amazon (and the like) for items that are useful...I mean, we all need high chairs...I know we can't all afford a Stokke for at home (even if we all want one...) and even those big high chairs are super expensive...how can we all miss the under $20 high chair?  Anyway, point is...this is an awesome little high chair!  If you go look at the "user submitted" photos on Amazon though...the last few photos complaining about the Velcro not holding the weight of his/her 14.5 pound baby....yeah, that's not where the metal arms go through...that's the padding that wraps around the hole that the metal arms go through.  It is stitched together very well and easily holds the weight of my 21-pound 7.5-month old!  As a side note to the high chair mentioned above....I found one at the resale shop I love going to for $180, still out of my price range though, so someone else got it, lol.  Last night, I swear half the wait staff walked by just to get a peek at our high chair!  They always tell us how nice it is not to have their big bulky high chairs sticking out in the middle of the walking space (they do still have to go around this, but it takes up way less space) and how nice it is to see our little guy being "involved" in dinner!