As a new mom, I was intent on finding baby items to make my new baby girl happy and comforted,  as well as to further her baby development. What I hadn’t realized is that while you can buy the entire baby store to please your little one, they will tell you what makes them happy. And often, the items that babies enjoy are surprising and downright confusing. During my daughter’s first year, these five items best comforted, engaged, and put a smile on her face.

1.    Tags Among the many baby items my daughter received as a newborn was a baby blanket with fabric tags; leaving me to question the tag appeal. It didn’t take long, however, for her to develop an affinity for tags, and simply holding a tag in her hand was the ultimate soother. Finding the tag on her bib, blanket, clothing, or even an extra large tag in furniture stores became both exciting and calming.

2.    Squeaky toys Before entering mommyhood, I heard about certain sounds that can calm a baby, like white noise and crinkly toys. My daughter had other plans, however. Squeaks were what made her happy, specifically squeaks she could make herself. She loved and laughed away at baby toys that squeaked to the touch.

3.    Remotes My sister, who has girls slightly older than my daughter, gifted me with a musical remote control. Of all the objects to turn into a toy, I wondered, why a remote? That was until my daughter became old enough to move on her own. She would roll, slither, crawl, bend, and more to get her hands on a remote. I soon understood the appeal, with the many buttons, shapes, colors, and lights displayed on a remote. My baby liked the toy, but she loved the real remote that I, in turn, gifted her.

4.    Phones Like the remote, my daughter found phones, particularly smart phones, to be an amazing invention (like the rest of us!). Before turning one, she figured out how to swipe a touch screen and look at photos (all of her) on my phone. To engage her interest, I gave her a variety of baby items in the form of toy phones. It’s most fascinating, though, to watch her expression as she discovers the ability to change a screen display with her finger.

5.    Lift-the-flap books Like finding hidden holiday presents in your parents’ closet, my baby got great joy out of books that let her lift the flaps to reveal surprise information and visuals. Once she became capable of doing so by herself, she took pride in her discovery. It was a great way for us to actively read together, and the perfect item to add to our baby toys repertoire.

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I have two sweet 3½ month old baby girls, and already they are developing little personalities with special preferences for specific things. From the moment we brought Brooklyn and Bailey home from the hospital, it’s been an adventure as we discover what baby items calm them down, make them laugh, and help them sleep.

Both of my girls respond very well to the classic five S’s: swaddling, shushing, swinging, sucking, and side positions. The minute they start acting tired, we wrap them up in a blanket or sleep sack, give them a pacifier, rock them a little in our arms, a swing, or a sleeper, and they are knocked out. They also love the sound of the white noise machine we run in the background during nap time. I also have an app on my phone that makes the sound of a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer that can instantly turn a fussy baby into a content baby. Since day one, our girls have also loved one thing above all of their other baby items -- their pacifiers. They are starting to take it less frequently, mostly just at nap time or fussy moments, but it definitely helps them go to sleep.

Bailey also loves to look at mobiles, or anything dangling above her. As soon as we put her in the crib, she will look up at the mobile and just start cracking up with huge smiles and laughter. Brooklyn loves bath time in her little whale tub. The warm water is really soothing to her, and she’s discovering how to make the water splash around by kicking and moving her arms. Both girls squeal in delight when placed on the changing mat. I’m not sure what it is about diaper changing time, but it’s often the most happy and smiley they will be all day. Who would have thought a changing mat would be the baby item that they’d most enjoy?

We have a variety of other baby items, like baby toys, rattles, stuffed animals, and baby noise makers for the girls. They really like a pair of stuffed pink elephants that my friend brought them in the hospital. The ears are stuffed with paper that makes a crinkling noise, and the tail has a rattle. It’s also very soft, and they like having it rubbed on their cheeks. On their activity mat, they have a light-up song player shaped like a star with a variety of colors. When I turn it on, they will stare at it mesmerized. They really like anything that plays music.

Each day as their baby development continues, I discover new baby items that delight them, especially as they become more aware of their surroundings. It’s amazing to think of what they’ll be getting into in just a few short months.

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If my sweet, six–month-old baby boy could talk, I'm sure he'd say his favorite thing is food.

Of course he also really likes his sister and pulling hair, but food is his number one priority. When he's not eating, though, there are a few other simple baby items that bring a smile to his face and make my job as a mom just a little easier.

For starters, my kids loved their infant swing. From the moment they would go in, they'd both smile and coo. We chose a model with a lot of bells and whistles, and our kids were absolutely mesmerized by their infant swing. As long as they were moving in their infant swing, they were happy. I was able to put them down during the day and get stuff done, because they were entertained and content.

Baby blankets with animals attached are another must-have in our household. These are a great security item to introduce when your little one is old enough. They're small enough to take everywhere, and machine-washable. They're also a great tool in establishing a bedtime ritual. My babies would get their baths, have a bottle, and then as I read them a story, they'd get to snuggle their lovey. Here’s a little parenting tip from me to you: If your child becomes attached to a specific one, I highly suggest buying at least one extra.

Another inexpensive and ingenious idea is a mesh feeding bag. This has been a baby item staple when it came to getting my kids through teething. Both of my munchkins started teething at four months, and they didn't like to gnaw on anything hard or plastic. They loved to chew blankets and burp cloths but would often gag themselves. So I started putting cold, wet baby wash cloths in the feeder bag, and they loved it. My kids were also very eager to start solids, so these were great when I introduced apples and pears. I could throw a chunk of the fruit in the bag and they'd sit happily in the high chair, just chomping away.

While this baby items list might be modest, it's truly what made my little ones happy at this stage. Soon, it will all be replaced with things like dirt and trucks, but for now, my baby’s wants are easy. If only my three year old were the same way!

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There’s no doubt about it: Picking a name for a new baby can be rather stressful. When my husband and I were casting about for a baby name for our second daughter, we debated for many weeks. Eventually, we stumbled upon the beautiful name Fiona, and we knew that we had found the perfect moniker for our new baby.

We didn’t know the sex of our next child, so we had to come up with both boy and girl baby names. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a single boy name we both liked. Nicholas was okay, though very popular at the time; my brother-in-law suggested Hector, which wasn’t exactly embraced. I liked Gordon, my dad’s name, especially because of the alliteration with Geddes (our last name). Linus was on the list but didn’t sound right with our last name. I started to worry we’d never find a boy’s name that my husband and I both liked!

We tried taking our family history into account when choosing baby names. Geddes is a Scottish name, and with my Irish maiden name (Kelly), we considered many picks from these parts of the world. I also love Russian names -- the language and its literature were my major in college -- so names such as Anastasia were also considered.

We named our first child Isabel, which to me, was easy to pronounce and spell and had a musical quality. I wanted the same for my next child. I loved Ruby, June, and Rosemary for girl names, but my husband would have none of these.

Finally, we hit upon Fiona, but not because we found it in a baby name book. Instead, I happened to be reading the novel, Fiona Range by Mary McGarry Morris when I was pregnant, and we both thought it was perfect. It’s easy to say and spell, plus it hits the Scottish and Irish note. Her full name is Fiona Kelly Geddes, and it truly suits her.

I learned that choosing a baby name takes time and often, many hours of research. Don’t get frustrated if you don’t immediately find a name both you and your partner love. The perfect baby name will come to you eventually!

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When my daughter, Morgan, turned 7 days old, I noticed that we’ve reached a big baby development milestone-- her umbilical cord stump fell off. Until then, we gave her washcloth baths to avoid getting that area wet.

Under the instruction of her doctor, we knew once her cord fell off that it was safe to give her a tub bath, so I started preparing my baby bath time toolkit. It included:

• Towel with hoodie to keep her cozy and cute from head to toe
   
• Gentle baby shampoo and wash for that irresistible clean baby smell
   
• Washcloth to get inside her fingers, behind the ears, under the neck and in her many folds
   
• Diaper for immediate coverage, as “accidents” were a regular occurrence

When the time finally arrived, we took off her diaper and laid her in her baby bath seat, where she could be comfortable and supported. Although we knew she was ready for this baby development milestone, there was still a lot to do to keep her safe. To prevent her from becoming cold, we placed a warm washcloth on her belly. I quickly -- but gently -- washed her head to toe while my husband documented the experience. It was certainly a sprint, as I was terrified of her uncontrollable bowels.

Of course we made sure there was still enough time for belly kisses and bath time tunes.

For a baby who was solely capable of lying like a blob all day, I was surprised at the level of grime she had accumulated. This came at the perfect time, since our little one was in desperate need of a bath!

Surprisingly, Morgan loved the water from the minute we put her on her baby bath seat. She seemed to enjoy the gentle massage of the washcloth, and I enjoyed staring in awe at this perfect little person we had welcomed into our lives a week ago.

Once the cleaning mission was accomplished, my husband held his arms with the towel while I lifted Morgan out of the tub. Little did I realize how slippery a wet and wiggly newborn is. Her body felt as though she was given a butter bath, but all 7 pounds of her couldn’t escape my loving hold.

As we wrapped her up and dried her off, I knew we had rocked this baby development milestone, and that our bath time future would involve playful giggles, water kicks, and rubber toys. But for now, belly kisses would do just fine.

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